On the playground, amidst a group of students, there was a particular group that stood out.
They all had black hair and wore black robes. With haughty expressions, behind their robes made of cotton and linen, there were embroidered red - and - white flame - shaped fan patterns.
The surrounding students avoided them like the plague, keeping their distance and making them stand out from the crowd.
The Uchiha Clan!
After witnessing Kaze Shimura's actions just now, an Uchiha sneered and said, "Guys from the Shimura Clan are still as arrogant as ever!"
The Shimura Clan and the Uchiha Clan had always been at odds, with open and secret frictions, so the members of the two clans couldn't stand each other.
In the middle of the group, a Uchiha girl wrinkled her willowy eyebrows, turned her beautiful eyes and glared at the speaker. "Hane, watch your mouth!"
The girl had straight black hair. Her appearance resembled Mikoto Uchiha about seventy or eighty percent, but her facial features were more delicate and her temperament was a bit colder.
Hane Uchiha's face changed slightly. He nodded slightly and respectfully replied, "Yes, Sister Vivi."
Vivi Uchiha was a genius second only to the young clan leader, Fugaku, within the clan. Moreover, she came from a noble family, and several Uchihas implicitly regarded her as their leader.
Soon, the battles began.
One by one, the students whose names were called walked to the open space in the center and started rounds of duel assessments.
At the beginning, most of the students on the field were civilian ninjas.
Without family inheritances, they only knew one or two types of Ninjutsu, and their Taijutsu was limited to what they had learned in class. When they fought... it was like sparring weakly.
After watching a few rounds, Kaze Shimura found it boring and stopped paying attention. He turned his head and started chatting with Minato and others beside him.
I don't know how much time had passed when Minato was called up. With just a couple of swift moves, Minato easily defeated his opponent.
After finishing the fight, he even said to the opponent, "Although we're opponents, you're not bad!"
After Minato came down, Kaze Shimura gave his head a hard rub, leaving Minato looking utterly confused.
"Next group, Kaze Shimura, versus Vivi Uchiha!"
Hearing the teacher's voice, Kaze Shimura on the field subconsciously looked at Vivi Uchiha not far away, and she happened to be looking at him too.
Their gazes crossed in the air. Kaze Shimura could clearly see that the girl's lips curled up into a disdainful smile.
Kaze Shimura's little face immediately darkened.
Who do you think you're dissing? Others may be afraid of your Uchiha Clan, but I, Shimura...
[Vivi Uchiha's current attributes are as follows:
Killing power: 14
Speed: 15
Defense: 11
Chakra: 13]
Damn it, I'm no match for her!
Vivi Uchiha's speed and killing power were basically at the level of a Chunin. She would definitely crush him!
"...Maybe I should just surrender?"
Watching Vivi Uchiha, who had already walked to the center of the field one step ahead of him, Kaze Shimura started to have second thoughts.
However, at that moment, a light screen appeared in front of his eyes.
[Option 1: Surrender without hesitation just to make the beauty smile... even if it's a mocking one.]
Completion reward: Speed +1. As the saying goes, 'A man without speed won't win a woman's love.'
[Option 2: You carry the honor of the Shimura clan. Even if it means risking your life, never give up the fight! Completion reward: 2 free Attribute points.]
"Oh, this situation..."
Kaze let out a soft sigh, and his eyes grew even more determined.
He had already intended to give up the fight, but after seeing the System's options, he suddenly felt that he should stand up for himself!
Although he didn't care about his own reputation, he couldn't let others look down on the Shimura clan.
"I will never give up," Kaze murmured to himself as he also started walking towards the center of the arena.
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining 2 free Attribute points!]
Behind Kaze, Kushina waved her small fist and shouted loudly, ignoring the strange looks from the people around her.
"Come on, Kaze! Databane! Take that chick down!"
Minato saw this and gently shook his head.
Although he also hoped that his friend could win, even he would have to put in some effort to deal with Vivi Uchiha.
With Kaze's current strength, it would be extremely difficult for him to defeat her.
Hearing this, Hane Uchiha sneered again: "Knock Sister Vivi down? That Kaze? How arrogant!"
One of the Uchihas beside him was a bit annoyed: "Can you stop sneering, Hane? I'm about to throw up."
Hane: "..."
In the open space in the middle of the crowd.
Kaze stopped approximately four or five meters away from Vivi Uchiha and immersed his mind in the System interface.
He added all the 2 Attribute points he had just obtained to his speed!
[The host's current attributes are as follows:
Killing power: 9
Speed: 15
Defense: 11
Chakra: 12]
"Now, my speed is on par with hers. As long as I don't engage in a head - on fight, I should be able to fight," Kaze thought to himself.
Seeing the two stand still, the teacher waved his hand: "Get ready!"
The two raised one hand and formed the opposing hand seal.
"Start!"
The moment the teacher shouted "start", Vivi Uchiha rushed towards Kaze. With a wave of her right hand, a sharp Kunai appeared in her hand.
Kaze also quickly picked up a Kunai and with a tap of his toes, he moved sideways.
Thud!
When Vivi reached the spot where Kaze had been, Kaze had already dodged to another place.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Vivi attacked again, and Kaze dodged again. After several quick movements, the distance between them remained the same.
"This guy's speed isn't slower than mine... Use Ninjutsu!"
Vivi made a quick decision. While running, she flicked her right hand, forcefully throwing the Kunai in her hand at Kaze in front of her.
Then, she quickly formed hand seals with both hands and spat out a fireball with a diameter of over a meter towards Kaze.
Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!
"Ding!"
Kaze raised his hand to block the incoming kunai. With his other hand, he directly formed a single - hand seal, slapped his stomach, and released a ninjutsu at an even faster speed.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
A howling gale spat out from Kaze's mouth, meeting the blazing fireball hurtling towards him and successfully diverting it.
With a loud 'Todoroki,' the fireball slammed into the ground, burning numerous craters of varying depths and sizes on the ground.
"Damn it! This is tough!" Kaze murmured to himself.
Vivi Uchiha's killing power was much higher than his. His ninjutsu was not on the same level as hers; it could only play a blocking role. Furthermore, he consumed more chakra than she did.
"However, as long as I can hold on for ten minutes, this duel will be over."
Thinking of this, looking at Vivi Uchiha charging at him again, Kaze pushed off with his feet and started dodging in a zig - zag manner.
Ten minutes later.
The teacher flashed between the two of them and stopped the duel.
"That's enough, two students. This round is a draw."
From the stands came Hane Uchiha's disgruntled voice: "All he does is run around. He doesn't even dare to face Vivi directly. How can this be a draw? If they continue fighting, he's surely going to lose!"
It was obvious to everyone that Kaze's condition had deteriorated significantly, and he would soon be defeated by Vivi Uchiha.
However... after all, this was not a real battle but just a practice duel.
Vivi Uchiha gave Kaze a cold look, didn't form the reconciliation hand - seal with him, and left without looking back.
Kaze gasped for breath, and a faint bitter smile appeared on his face involuntarily.
This time, he truly felt the gap between himself and the strong among his peers.
But it didn't matter. Anyway, it was still early before graduation, so there was no need to panic!
As long as he was given enough time to level up, he could beat Vivi Uchiha!
Thinking like this, Kaze regained his calm and composed state of mind.
However, when he got home after the assessment, Kaze was completely floored by a single sentence from Tanzō.
"What, Father? You want to send me to the battlefield?!"