Points could only be obtained by dismantling talents.
Kenjiro had learned this at the age of three.
Back then, in order to reasonably appear near the Hyuga clan and establish connections, he had made friends with a group of children and played ninja games with them.
Due to his overwhelming popularity, some kids became jealous, leading to occasional fights.
Among them, a few had white-ranked ninja aptitude talents.
When those talents were dropped, the system prompt offered the choice of fusion or dismantling.
After dismantling those talents, Kenjiro gained twenty-five points—each white-ranked talent yielded a random single-digit amount of points.
Now, dismantling a purple talent granted him a four-digit sum of points.
Even blue-ranked talents could now be upgraded.
"So, how many points are required to upgrade a blue-ranked talent?"
Curious, Kenjiro tapped the plus sign next to Chakra Control.
Immediately, his status panel changed again.
[Host: Kenjiro]
[Talents: Otsutsuki Bloodline (Red), Super Kage Aptitude (Gold), Bloodline Limit: Byakugan (Purple), All-Attribute Physique (Purple), Chakra Control (Purple), Medical Genius (Blue)]
[Points: 793]
Chakra Control had upgraded from blue to purple.
Meanwhile, the plus sign next to Medical Genius had disappeared.
His points had also decreased by 999.
"The ranking system is white, green, blue, purple, gold, and red. Dismantling white talents yields single-digit points, dismantling purple talents grants four-digit points, and upgrading blue talents requires a three-digit extreme value of points. Is this amount random or fixed?"
Kenjiro pondered, "If it's a fixed extreme value, does that mean upgrading from white to green costs 9 points, green to blue is 99, blue to purple is 999, purple to gold is 9999, gold to red is 99999, and red to an unknown new tier requires 999999 points?"
He had no way to verify this. He didn't possess low-ranked talents, nor did he have excess points to experiment with.
Even if he did, he wouldn't waste them on upgrading low-level talents.
Aside from unique talents like Byakugan and Chakra Control, he had no intention of upgrading anything below red.
Once he awakened the Tenseigan, he'd gain access to overwhelming abilities.
If developed to the limit, he could even attain Six Paths-level strength.
With just those eyes, he could survive until the final battle of the Shippuden era.
Rather than wasting points on weak talents, it was better to focus on upgrading his Otsutsuki Bloodline.
If his Otsutsuki Bloodline were to evolve again, its purity would surely match or surpass that of the extraterrestrial Otsutsuki clan.
Perhaps then, he might even develop differently-colored Rinnegan, or abilities like Karma and divine techniques.
Of course, this was all speculation. Such things were still far off for him.
------
September 1st arrived.
The second semester of the Ninja Academy began.
This semester, Kenjiro finally attended classes in person, though only for the afternoon sessions.
Mornings still consisted of academic subjects, while afternoons now included taijutsu duels in addition to physical training and shuriken practice.
Unfortunately, these duels were randomly assigned by Iruka Umino, and Kenjiro wasn't paired with Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, or even Hinata.
"Iruka-sensei, can I request a match against Sasuke?"
Upon hearing about the random pairings, Kenjiro took the initiative to ask Iruka for a match against Sasuke.
Iruka hesitated but ultimately shook his head. "Taijutsu duels aren't meant for personal challenges. Their purpose is to prepare you for real battles, where you might face evenly matched opponents, weaker foes, or even stronger enemies."
"You must adapt to all situations—fair fights, overwhelming victories, and crushing defeats. Growth comes from struggling in battle, feeling the satisfaction of victory, and experiencing the bitterness of defeat."
"Understood, Iruka-sensei."
Seeing that Iruka wouldn't grant his request, Kenjiro didn't push further.
Instead, he planned to challenge Sasuke after school.
However, Sasuke's response made Kenjiro's expression twitch slightly.
"Sasuke, want to have a match?"
"Sorry, I'm not interested. I have to go home and train."
At this stage, Sasuke wasn't the cold avenger from the original story. Even so, he rejected Kenjiro's challenge without hesitation and eagerly ran home.
After the Nine-Tails' attack, the Uchiha clan had been forced to relocate to the Naka River, the outskirts area due to suspicions of their involvement in the disaster.
Without mastering the Body Flicker Technique yet, Sasuke had a long walk home from the academy.
Right now, he only cared about training with his older brother and had no time to waste on Kenjiro.
Kenjiro didn't even get a chance to provoke the Uchiha clan or provoke Sasuke into a fight before the latter vanished from sight.
With a sigh, Kenjiro gave up for the moment.
He also refrained from challenging Naruto.
Although the term-end exams hadn't yet determined the top student, Naruto had already secured the title of worst performer in the first semester.
Even the weakest students knew how to read the word "Chakra."
Yet Naruto, even by graduation, still mispronounced it. His academic performance was as bad as his Chunin Exam tests—either left blank or randomly filled in.
Physically undernourished, his athletic abilities were also below average.
If an honors student like Kenjiro suddenly challenged a dead-last like Naruto, it would easily draw attention from the Anbu or, worse, from Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura, who had been keeping tabs on Naruto.
While Hiruzen might not be a problem, Danzo would likely suspect Kenjiro of knowing too much or being a pawn sent by someone to get close to Naruto.
To avoid unnecessary trouble, Danzo might take action against him.
That was a situation Kenjiro wanted to avoid.
So, for now, his targets were limited to Hinata and Sasuke.
Since Sasuke had refused, Kenjiro didn't insist.
It was now September of Konoha Year 54—only three months until the end of the year.
Next year would mark the infamous Uchiha massacre.
By then, as a vengeful avenger, Sasuke would certainly not refuse a duel.
Thus, the next day, Kenjiro continued attending classes in person but did not ask to fight Sasuke or challenge anyone after school.
Fighting Sasuke or Naruto would have been ideal.
But the other students weren't bad either.
This year's class not only included two future saviors of the ninja world but also the next-generation Ino-Shika-Cho trio and the sensory squad.
Every student had at least white-ranked ninja aptitude.
Each of them carried talents, and even if they only dropped white ones, dismantling them would still yield a few points.
Meanwhile, the Konoha 9 had blue, purple, and even gold or red talents.
Obtaining just one would be a massive gain.
Since he wasn't sure if Shadow Clones could generate talents, there was no way Kenjiro would skip his afternoon classes.
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