Points in this system are only obtained by dismantling ("breaking down") talent entries. Izayoi had already known this since he was three. Back then, in order to hang around the Hyuga clan without looking suspicious, he'd made some friends his own age and played "ninja games" with them. Because he was so popular, some kids got jealous and picked fights with him.
Among those kids were a few who had White-tier "Ninja Aptitude" talent entries. After defeating them and obtaining these entries, the system prompt also offered merge or dismantle as options. When Izayoi dismantled those entries, he ended up with 25 points total—dismantling a White-tier entry yielded a random single-digit number of points each.
Now, dismantling a Purple-tier entry suddenly netted him four figures' worth of points. And now his Blue-tier entries had become upgradable.
"So how many points does it take to upgrade a Blue-tier entry?"
Curious, Izayoi tapped the plus sign next to Chakra Control. Immediately, his system interface changed:
[Host: Izayoi]
[Talent Entries: Otsutsuki Bloodline (Red), Super-Kage Aptitude (Gold), Kekkei Genkai: Byakugan (Purple), All-Attribute Constitution (Purple), Chakra Control (Purple), Medical Genius (Blue)]
[Points: 793]
His Chakra Control entry had upgraded from Blue to Purple. The plus sign next to Medical Genius was gone, and his total points had dropped by 999.
"The tiers are White, Green, Blue, Purple, Gold, and Red. Dismantling a White entry gives you a random single-digit number of points. Dismantling a Purple entry gives you four-digit points. Upgrading a Blue entry seems to cost three digits—likely 999. Is that fixed or random?"
Izayoi mused to himself:
"If it's consistently at these so-called 'extreme' numbers, maybe that means 9 points to go from White to Green, 99 from Green to Blue, 999 from Blue to Purple, 9999 for Purple to Gold, 99999 for Gold to Red…and 999999 to go beyond Red?"
He wasn't sure. Right now, he didn't have any entries below Blue or a mountain of points to experiment with. And even if he did have spare points, he wouldn't bother upgrading low-tier entries. Aside from something special like Byakugan or Chakra Control, he had no intention of pumping points into sub-Red entries.
So long as he awakened the Tenseigan, he'd have more than enough "dimension-crushing" techniques at his disposal. If he perfected them, he could easily reach a Six Paths level of power. Just those eyes alone would be enough to carry him to the final battle of Shippuden.
Rather than sink points into "throwaway" talent entries, it'd be better to use them to upgrade Otsutsuki Bloodline itself. Once that jumped another tier, he'd likely match the purity of the Otsutsuki clan out in space. Who knows—maybe he'd evolve into some new color of Rinnegan, or even unlock "Kāma" marks and divine abilities. Of course, that was all speculation, and still a long way off for him.
…
September 1st arrived. The Ninja Academy's second semester began.
For this term, Izayoi finally decided to show up in person to classes—but only for the afternoon sessions. While the morning lessons were still academic, the afternoons now included taijutsu sparring in addition to PE and shuriken-throwing.
Unfortunately, the taijutsu matchups were assigned randomly by Iruka, so Izayoi didn't get matched with Naruto, Sasuke, or even Hinata.
"Iruka-sensei, can I request a match against Sasuke?"
When Izayoi heard it was random, he actually approached Iruka and tried asking for a fight with Sasuke.
Iruka hesitated, then shook his head. "There aren't any special accommodations in taijutsu training. The point is to remind you that your enemy might be equally matched, weaker, or even stronger than you. You have to get used to all of those scenarios—an even fight, crushing someone, or being crushed yourself. You learn from tough battles, gain a sense of accomplishment from victories, and taste bitter defeat. And keep on growing."
"Got it, Iruka-sensei."
Seeing Iruka's refusal, Izayoi let it go. He decided he'd challenge Sasuke himself after school. But Sasuke's response left Izayoi mildly exasperated.
"Sasuke, want to have a match?"
"Sorry, not interested. I need to get home and train."
This Sasuke, who wasn't yet a bitter "Avenger," wasn't that cold, but he still turned Izayoi down outright, dashing off with a hint of excitement. After all, following the Nine-Tails Incident, the Uchiha clan had been suspected of orchestrating the attack, so they'd been forced to relocate from the central district to near the Naka River. Getting home from the Academy required a decent walk, and Sasuke—who hadn't learned the Body Flicker yet—didn't want to waste time. He was eager to train alongside his older brother.
Izayoi didn't even get the chance to provoke him or use some "Uchiha pride" taunt; Sasuke was gone in seconds. Feeling helpless, Izayoi considered pivoting to challenge Naruto—but decided against it.
Even though the official "year-end exam" to determine top student hadn't happened yet, Naruto's overall first-semester performance had been dead last. At least the other struggling students could pronounce "chakra" correctly. Naruto would still get it wrong after graduation, so his academic record was basically near zero. And he was a bit undernourished, so his PE scores weren't impressive, either.
If an elite student like Izayoi suddenly challenged the Academy's bottom-dweller, it might catch the attention of the Anbu—or even Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura, who kept an eye on Naruto. Hiruzen might not be a big problem, but Danzo would suspect Izayoi knew something secret or think he was a pawn sent by some unknown party to get close to Naruto. They might take measures to "handle" the situation, putting Izayoi in a bad spot. He wanted no part of that.
So Izayoi's immediate targets remained Hinata and Sasuke. Since Sasuke had refused, Izayoi didn't push him. It was already September of Konoha Year 54; in a few more months, the year would end. Next year would bring that "tragic clan annihilation." At that point, when Sasuke became a full-fledged Avenger, he definitely wouldn't turn down a chance to fight Izayoi.
On the second day, Izayoi still came to school in person but didn't ask for another match with Sasuke or corner him after class. Yes, it would be fantastic if random matching put him against Sasuke or Naruto. But the other students weren't useless either—this year's batch included the new generation of Ino-Shika-Cho and the Sensor Team. Even the worst among them at least had a White-tier "Ninja Aptitude" entry. Each one had some sort of entry, and even a mere White-tier dismantle would earn single-digit points. Meanwhile, the "Konoha 9" collectively had Blue, Purple, even Gold and Red-tier entries. Claiming any of those was a massive windfall.
Since Izayoi wasn't sure if a shadow clone could trigger talent drops, he wasn't about to skip the afternoon classes.
~~~
Patreon(.)com/Bleam
— Currently You can Read 70 Chapters Ahead of Others!