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In the open field, Ryūsei and Sasuke stood two meters apart, staring each other down.
Iruka stood between them and called out, "Both parties, form the seal of confrontation."
Upon hearing this, Ryūsei and Sasuke both raised their right hands, extending their index and middle fingers in the prescribed gesture.
Iruka took a few steps back, lifting the whistle hanging around his neck as he announced, "The rule is that whoever falls first loses. Begin!"
Peeep—
As the whistle sounded, Ryūsei and Sasuke lowered their hands and charged at each other.
Once in close range, Sasuke raised his right fist and threw a straight punch.
Ryūsei sidestepped the attack and reached out to grab Sasuke's arm, intending to flip him over with a shoulder throw.
However, Sasuke seemed to have anticipated this. His punch wasn't committed—the moment his fist extended, his left shoulder tensed, and with a sharp twist, he retracted his right arm. Then, dropping low, he swept his leg in a low kick, aiming to knock Ryūsei off his feet and end the fight.
But what happened next left Sasuke stunned, and both Iruka and the entire class wide-eyed in disbelief.
Sasuke's carefully calculated sweep didn't connect as he had expected—instead, his leg passed through empty air.
Ryūsei, who had been standing right in front of him, whooshed out of existence in an instant.
The next moment, Sasuke felt a pair of hands grip his shoulders and yank him forward.
Because of his sweeping motion, Sasuke was already leaning forward, facing the ground. The sudden force sent him flying, resulting in an unceremonious faceplant.
Witnessing this, Iruka's first reaction wasn't to announce the result but to stare at Ryūsei in shock. "That was… the Body Flicker Technique?!"
"Wh-what just happened?"
"Did Ryūsei just disappear and reappear?"
"That's the Body Flicker Technique! It's something only the upperclassmen know—I've seen my brother use it before."
"My dad's used it too."
"That's… amazing!"
The murmurs of astonishment reached Sasuke's ears.
Scrambling up from his embarrassing fall, he glared at Ryūsei and demanded, "Again!"
Peeep—
Iruka blew the whistle sharply. "The match is over! The winner is Hoshina Ryūsei!"
Whoosh—
Almost the moment Iruka finished speaking, a blue light suddenly flashed around Sasuke's body.
A beam of blue energy shot out from him and landed on the ground beside them, materializing into a hovering blue orb.
Seeing this, Ryūsei's eyes lit up, and he fell into deep thought.
Whether it was Naruto or Sasuke, the "drops" only appeared after he had knocked them to the ground. He hadn't subdued them, knocked them unconscious, or killed them—it was simply the moment Iruka declared the match's result.
This condition seemed similar to certain fighting games where the outcome was determined when time ran out.
No matter the method, as long as the opponent was defeated, did the game system's loot-dropping function activate?
"Damn it!"
While Ryūsei was lost in thought, Sasuke muttered in frustration under his breath.
However, since his clan hadn't been massacred yet, the current Sasuke wasn't as obsessive about winning or upholding his family's honor.
Following Iruka's reminder, he walked up to Ryūsei and extended his index and middle fingers.
"Thank you for the match!"
Snapping out of his thoughts, Ryūsei returned the gesture, forming the seal of reconciliation before returning to the group.
Just like during the exam half a year ago, Ryūsei paid little attention to the subsequent matches, clearly preoccupied with something.
It wasn't until the taijutsu sparring session ended that he finally sorted out his thoughts and refocused.
As he made his way to the survival training exam site, Ryūsei wore a polite, mask-like smile to fend off the enthusiastic classmates crowding around him. Meanwhile, he summoned the virtual panel—visible only to him—to inspect the blue orb that had been automatically collected into his spatial inventory.
[Spatial Inventory: Yin Affinity (Blue)]
Seeing the description, Ryūsei froze.
Yin Affinity? Even chakra natures can drop?
Chakra natures were divided into seven types: Yin, Yang, Wind, Fire, Water, Earth, and Lightning.
Specialized ninja tool shops sold chakra paper that could detect a person's elemental affinity, but those papers only tested for Wind, Fire, Water, Earth, and Lightning. Yin and Yang were considered hidden natures.
The five basic natures could be either innate or learned later, but Yin and Yang were exclusively innate—unless one's body underwent some drastic change.
Ryūsei had previously tested his chakra nature and found he possessed two: Water and Earth.
As for Yin and Yang, he wasn't sure if he had them before awakening the game system, as the virtual panel hadn't displayed them.
But after fusing with Asura's chakra, he was certain he had gained Yang Affinity.
And now, he had obtained Yin Affinity from Sasuke.
Once he absorbed it, Ryūsei's chakra natures would be Yin, Yang, Water, and Earth.
The thought instantly lifted his mood.
Clicking on the virtual panel, he absorbed the blue orb. Then, he mused to himself, 'Gold and blue… I wonder how many tiers these orbs have.'
But more than the orb's rarity, Ryūsei was more curious about the drop mechanics.
After some reflection, he realized why he had only gotten two "drops" in the past six months.
It was because of the nature of "victory."
In games, victory could be achieved in many ways—timeouts in PvP, defeating the opponent, best-of-three matches, and so on.
There were also monster kills, clearing certain mechanics, etc.
Different victories yielded different ratings, affecting drop rates and rewards.
The fact that Ryūsei had only gotten two drops in so long was likely due to low ratings—these victories were too simple, hence the abysmal drop rate.
Of course, this was just speculation.
Right now, he had no way to test this theory.
After all, he couldn't just beat his classmates unconscious or kill them, could he?
That would end his ninja career before it even began.
To verify his hypothesis, he'd have to wait until after graduation.
As his gaze fell on Sasuke ahead of him, a bold idea suddenly flashed through Ryūsei's mind.
But the next second, he dismissed it as sheer madness.
'What am I thinking?'
The Uchiha massacre, orchestrated by Konoha's higher-ups—was that something a nobody like him, who wasn't even a genin yet, could interfere with?
Even Ryūsei was startled by his own audacity.
After altering his fate, he had grown a bit too bold and arrogant—this wasn't good.
In a ninja world filled with shadowy manipulators, he had to move cautiously until his strength reached a point where he feared no one.
With that, Ryūsei steadied his emotions and prepared for the final exam.
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T/N: Any writer here that know how does "Topic" work? Does it help to gain more readers? how do I filled them?. I can tell you how mine currently looks if it help.