New talent

The sun was high in the sky, and we were all gathered in the fighting arena, located at the very center of the academy compound. Again, the academy of Kirigakure was more of a military settlement than a real academy, but whatever. After a tiresome agility training in the obstacle course, we were allowed to fight. 

You heard me right, sparring was considered free time in here.

But who was I to refuse that?

"Wow ~ they are fighting again?", a student exclaimed

A crowd had gathered, and while it was a bit annoying, I just happened to be in the middle of it.

In front of me stood a woman, irritated and red from embarassement. 

"You had no right to do this!", Arya shouted

It was none other than that Yuki brat. Just because of her ability to create ice cube, she thought herself to be quite superior. Well, it was not completely off the truth, considering that there were only three major clans and seven clans in total, which was a bit low for a major village like Kirigakure. As if it was not enough, she just happened to belong to the most noble of them, as a Yuki clansman.

However, I was not weak either, and in this village, there was a policy known as the law of the strongest.

"What do you mean? She needed to learn", I spat

In front of me, there was a young teenager called Ana. She was a taijutsu expert who was very hard working. She sat next to me, but she was a devious follower of the other girl angry at me, namely Arya Yuki.

Usually, I would be quite light in my spars, but she did happen to tell the teacher that I was ditching the lessons with a water clone, which earned me a month's worth of chores. So, I did not leave her a choice but to spar with me, and spar hard.

Well, let's she paid the price. Of course, it took a lot of blackmailing to learn the one who told the teacher, but I ended up slowly making my way to the truth and rightfully punish the culprit, which earned me the title of 'Silver Demon', a title that I quite disliked. 

Her right arm was bending in an awkward angle, and her whole body was covered in cuts. I had made sure to make the combat last as long as possible to deal as much damage to her as possible. Blood was spilling on the ground, and unfortunately, it was the break time for intructors, so there was no one overseeing the scene. 

Well, even if Gecko was here, he would only stop it. The bloody mist had never been merciful to the weak.

"Let's fight", I continued

Arya, who had been avoiding me like the plague for the past two months after I started to grow stronger, did not refuse this time. Instead, she just lunged at me with a kunai. 

*SWOOSH*

However, a plain attack like that was bound to fail. 

I knew better than underestimating a Yuki clansman, but it's not like I had been sitting idle for the past months either. She was afraid that I would catch up to her, but the truth is that I had been growing just fine without sparring with her. That was one nice perk of having a battle crazy rival with a special physique. Biwa continued to spar with me times and times again, and he could heal in just one day. He was the perfect punching bag.

"Shurikenjutsu: Shadow Shuriken [D]"

I threw four shuriken, which she parried with ease, but she was quickly surprised as she realized that those shuriken were hiding four other shuriken in their shadows. It was an optical trick, which consumed little chakra, yet was surprisingly more lethal than some C-rank jutsu. Without the shuriken mastery skill that I had learned, I would have never managed to pull this off. However, the fruit of throwing 100 000 shuriken was finally showing.

*SPLASH*

Not expecting a jutsu so early in the fight, Arya panicked, and barely dodged one, receiving the other three on her chest and leg. She immediately knelt from the pain, but I never planned on stopping here. I was going to inflict fear in her. Was I evil?

No.

But I had a mission.

[Silver Demon - D-rank Mission

You have bullied more than ten academy students in your class, and suceeded in fighting Biwa to a standstill in many fights, earning yourself a reputation of demon. In Kirigakure, strength is seen as appealing. Becoming a demon is often synonymous with more value in the eyes of the population and higher ups. Solidify this reputation

Task - Inflict fear on your classmates (Progress: 68%)

Rewards - Proportional to the fear factor]

Was I slave to the system?

Arguably yes. But just as it was playing with me, I was planning on exploiting it. D-rank missions were very rewarding, and I was certainly not going to miss out on the rewards.

As I advanced, I pulled out my sword and used the Mist Kenjutsu Art's third form, a simple thurst filled with chakra that had the potential to cripple her. 

Unfortunately, the Yuki Clan was not to be looked down on.

*BOOM*

"What do you think you are doing?", a panting instructor said

[You have dealt 123 damage to [Instructor Tori - Lv. 30 Chunin]. Bleeding ailment activated]

An instructor, who had heard the commotion, had rushed to the scene, and attempted to block my strike. However, the Mist Kenjutsu Art was not so easily blocked, and even if he was a chunin, he took some damage, causing everyone to gasp at the scene of an instructor bleeding.

Even Biwa, who was watching uninterestedly from the sidelines, opened his mouth in an 'O' shape.

"He grew stronger again", he muttered