The First Story
"No problem yet."
Uchiha Sasuke's tone was calm, though he was sweating slightly. Even though his opponent was a Sound Ninja Village kunoichi who was clearly much weaker than him, the opponent's sound-based Genjutsu still forced him to activate his Chakra to invigorate his body and dispel the illusion before he could win.
Refining and gathering Chakra would naturally reactivate the Cursed Seal...
However, the reactivated Cursed Seal only brought pain; it didn't affect his actions, much less directly erode his body and consciousness.
Lin Ke nodded, standing quietly behind as the eight participants went up to draw lots.
The final results were:
First match: [Uzumaki Naruto VS Temari], second match: [Rock Lee VS Gaara], third match: [Uchiha Sasuke VS Nara Shikamaru], and fourth match: [Aburame Shino VS Dosu Kinuta].
In other words, if Naruto won, his next match would be against the winner of Rock Lee and Gaara, and if Uchiha Sasuke won, he would face the winner of Aburame Shino and Dosu Kinuta.
It was an elimination tournament.
[This is a complete mess...]
Lin Ke looked at the lottery results and, comparing them to what he knew from the original story, felt a strange sense of absurdity.
[Troublesome...]
Nara Shikamaru wore a troublesome expression. Facing a well-known genius of this generation was going to be very tricky.
Rock Lee, on the other hand, jumped up and cheered excitedly, seeming very satisfied with the lottery results.
"What the..." Uzumaki Naruto was probably the most dissatisfied. Fighting a woman, even if the opponent was a female ninja, felt very awkward.
Uchiha Sasuke retreated to the back of the crowd without any reaction. He had no interaction with Nara Shikamaru, his only impression of him being a troublesome classmate.
His experience of being easily killed by Lin Ke during training at the Training Grounds had made him completely lose interest in other guys of the same level.
His long-term goal was to kill Uchiha Itachi, and his short-term goal was to catch up with Lin Ke.
"Well then, thank you all for your hard work. See you in a month, dismissed—" With the Third Hokage's order, the ninjas dispersed in twos and threes.
Haruno Sakura looked at Uchiha Sasuke leaving with Lin Ke, a worried expression on her face.
[Sasuke...]
...
Ten minutes later, in the medical room.
"My Chakra... is disappearing..."
Uchiha Sasuke gave feedback.
[Part of the Mystical Palm Technique's ability is to dispel natural energy. What I'm sensing, the thing being pushed away, is Chakra mixed with natural energy...]
Lin Ke placed his palm on the Cursed Seal, a look of realization appearing in his eyes. After a few minutes of testing, he confirmed part of the Mystical Palm Technique's ability.
The mere presence of his palm nearby caused the Cursed Seal to stall. Initially, when he sensed something being pushed away from Mitarashi Anko, he assumed it was natural energy being repelled. It wasn't until Uchiha Sasuke gave feedback just now, that the Chakra entangled with the Cursed Seal was disappearing out of thin air.
He then realized that natural energy and Sage Art Chakra were two different things, which overturned his guess that his palm could touch high concentrations of natural energy.
Natural energy was everywhere; he simply couldn't sense it. Even if it was dispelled by the Mystical Palm Technique, he wouldn't react. What he had been sensing all along was just Chakra mixed with natural energy—
That is, Sage Art Chakra.
Moreover, this perception wasn't brought about by the Mystical Palm Technique; it was his own perception as a semi-sensory ninja towards Chakra.
The ability of the Mystical Palm Technique, or rather, part of its ability, was to forcibly dispel natural energy and Chakra containing natural energy.
Accelerating, dispelling natural energy...
[Isn't this still an effect that only appears to slap Sages?]
That was Lin Ke's first reaction, and after barely holding back his emotions, he formally created the Chakra Scalpel with complex feelings.
Although the Cursed Seal might be beneficial for the development of the Mystical Palm Technique later on, the focus now was to destroy Orochimaru's means of resurrection. Anyway, there were plenty of people with Cursed Seals. Orochimaru's Northern Hideout was still holding Jugo, who was born with the ability to become a Sage...
"!" Uchiha Sasuke was slightly surprised when he saw the Chakra Scalpel, but he was much calmer than Mitarashi Anko, not even moving.
"This kind of Chakra Scalpel won't touch the flesh." Lin Ke still explained as usual. As he began to cut the Chakra structure inside the Cursed Seal, he asked calmly, "Sasuke, what are you pursuing power for?"
After more than half a month of getting along, they had established a certain 'friendship', so it was time to go a little deeper.
If he didn't hurry, both Orochimaru and Uchiha Itachi would make a move on his newly favored meat shield.
"Revenge." Uchiha Sasuke said concisely, "I want to kill that man..."
"Uchiha Itachi?" Lin Ke clearly felt the other party's muscles tense up after he said this name.
"Interested in hearing a story?"
He asked in a relaxed tone.
Uchiha Sasuke simply remained silent.
"Before the founding of Konoha Village," Lin Ke had already prepared his words, and his opening immediately jumped back more than sixty years.
"In that era of war, the Senju clan and the Uchiha clan, as the two most powerful ninja clans, were constantly at war..."
The seated Uchiha Sasuke raised his head, his eyes full of astonishment. The beginning of this story made him feel a little strange.
The other party was clearly a ninja younger than him, so how did he know about the events of that era?
Or was it purely fabricated? Seeing him looking at him, Lin Ke removed the last bit of Chakra, took two steps back, and said, "Try gathering Chakra."
After Uchiha Sasuke concentrated and refined his Chakra, he reached out and touched the Cursed Seal that seemed to no longer exist, and said, "I can't feel that thing at all anymore."
"So, would you like to hear the rest of the story I was telling?" Lin Ke asked with a smile.
Uchiha Sasuke hesitated for a moment, but did not get up, and said, "Tell me."
Lin Ke sat down opposite the desk and continued to tell the 'story'.
From the battles between the Senju and Uchiha, to the bond between Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara, and then to the Senju's victory, Senju Hashirama did not kill Uchiha Madara, but chose to sacrifice himself to regain the other's friendship.
In the story, he seemed to be standing behind history, witnessing everything that happened with his own eyes.
Uchiha Sasuke listened quietly.
The story of the Senju and Uchiha joining forces to establish Konoha Village was not a secret, but the way the Uchiha joined the alliance... made it somewhat unacceptable to him. However, he still did not speak out to refute or stop him.
He had a much higher tolerance for those he cared about... his comrades, and the glory of the Uchiha was currently not more important than killing Uchiha Itachi.
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