Chapter 2 Triple Speed

As the class order became increasingly chaotic, the girls began to argue, and the boys seemed on the verge of fighting. The Chūnin teacher finally lost patience and sternly reprimanded them.

"Quiet!"

"Next, Uchiha Obito!"

The authority of the Chūnin teacher was still intact. After his reprimand, the class quickly quieted down. Uchiha Obito glanced angrily at Ryo before walking up to the podium.

After glancing at Nohara Rin, he took a deep breath, clenched his fist, and secretly encouraged himself. This time, he was determined to outperform Ryo in the test.

Bang!!

After forming a seal with both hands, white smoke flashed.

The clone that appeared next to Uchiha Obito looked unstable and crooked. Although it technically counted as a clone, it was easy to tell it was a fake.

"50 points."

The Chūnin teacher gave Obito a glance.

The Uchiha clan, often hailed as a group of geniuses, had members who were typically top students in the school. However, Uchiha Obito was an exception.

"Ahh... I'll try again..."

Naturally, Obito was dissatisfied with his score of 50 points. He immediately formed seals again, but due to his increasingly unstable mindset, he failed on his second attempt at the clone technique.

The third and final attempt wasn't much better than the first, and his score only reached 55 points, failing to pass the line of adequacy.

"..."

Ryo watched this scene, and only one thought crossed his mind.

Obito's transformation into a villain is truly absurd!

All because he witnessed Nohara Rin's death, this guy who lagged behind suddenly transformed into a major villain, awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan and gaining access to one of the most powerful abilities, "Kamui." Not only did his combat experience and personality undergo a 180-degree change, but he even went on to attack Konoha, release the Nine-Tails, and indirectly kill Minato Namikaze, one of the most powerful figures ever.

It's simply ridiculous!

If he hadn't known the original story, Ryo couldn't have imagined that someone as bad at the clone technique as Obito could become one of the future big bosses of the ninja world.

Shaking his head, Ryo shifted his gaze away.

As for Obito, Ryo didn't have much opinion on him. After all, Uchiha Madara was the real mastermind lurking in the shadows. Even without Obito, Madara would have found another puppet like Uchiha "Daihuo" or Uchiha "Daisui."

Having enough strength himself was what mattered most.

After all, the Third Shinobi World War was set to begin in a year. During wartime, there wouldn't be any graduation exams. At nine years old, ninja students were forced to graduate early, which meant that if Ryo wanted to stay in school, he could only stay for one more year.

"I wonder if I can reach the level of a jōnin in a year's time..."

Ryo pondered.

In the Third Shinobi World War, most genin and chūnin were mere cannon fodder. Fortunately, he was in Konoha. If he had been in another village, even jōnin would be considered expendable since there were people like Minato Namikaze who could take out fifty jōnin in a single blow, a true cheat code of existence.

If he could unlock a few more time-based abilities, he would be able to dominate the ninja world purely through the power of time. Unfortunately, the only ability he could use right now was the time acceleration associated with the first "position" he had unlocked.

He still had to rely on ninjutsu and taijutsu for now.

Just as Ryo was lost in thought, a crisp sound rang in his mind, like the ticking of a clock marking a significant moment.

"Hm?"

Ryo let out a small sound, a flicker of joy appearing in his eyes, and he immediately closed them.

Once he closed his eyes, a massive, silvery-white clock materialized in the dark world before him. The clock appeared ghostly and illusory, with golden hour and minute hands clearly visible.

The hour hand hadn't moved and still pointed to the 1 o'clock position.

In the center of the clock face, a mechanical-looking text display panel appeared. However, instead of showing dates, it recorded the multiplier for time acceleration.

"No new abilities unlocked, but..."

Ryo mused.

Click!

With a thought, the mechanical display clicked, turning from 0 to 1, then from 1 to 2, finally stopping at 3.

"Just as I thought, I can now enter a three-times acceleration state."

Seeing the number on the display, Ryo exhaled in relief.

When he first arrived in this world, he could only control time acceleration within the range of 1 and 1.5 times speed. About a year later, he heard the same chime, and the maximum speed increased to 2 times acceleration.

Now, the limit had increased to 3 times.

"It seems to have increased at around the same time last year... Maybe my time acceleration limit will increase once every year?"

A thought crossed Ryo's mind.

He couldn't confirm it for sure, but it seemed like there was some pattern to it. Whether it held true or not, he'd know by the same time next year.

He was slightly disappointed that he hadn't gained any new abilities. He wondered when the ability associated with the 2 o'clock position on the clock would be unlocked.

However, even with just time acceleration, he was already incredibly strong.

In the state of time acceleration, everything around him seemed to slow down by several times, while his own speed and reaction time improved without any drawbacks!

If an ordinary chūnin could accelerate time by five times, they could easily defeat a jōnin. If a jōnin could accelerate by five times, even one of the Five Kage wouldn't necessarily be able to win!

This applied to Ryo as well!

As long as his normal strength reached the level of a chūnin, he would be able to contend with jōnin. If he reached the level of a jōnin, few people in the ninja world would be able to touch him.

This was only at five times acceleration. If his illusory clock could one day push him to ten times speed or beyond, the ability to manipulate time alone would be an incredibly terrifying power.

"How strong would I be with eight gates open in a ten-times acceleration state?"

Ryo imagined the scene.

It would be an enormous air cannon, ten times the power of "Evening Elephant," breaking through the clouds and shattering the moon created by the Sage of Six Paths into countless fragments in space.

At this thought, Ryo couldn't help but take a deep breath, needing a few seconds to return to reality.

Ten-times acceleration combined with the Eight Gates technique was still a distant goal, but the Eight Gates was definitely something worth considering. It was likely one of the most compatible techniques with time acceleration.

As for other techniques...

Although time acceleration wouldn't make released ninjutsu fly faster, the speed of forming hand seals and the casting speed of techniques would increase, which was still very effective! 

The speed at which a jutsu is cast could make all the difference in a battle. For example, the terrifying Flying Thunder God technique's strength lies in its lack of hand seals or casting delay.

Speaking of which...

Now that Ryo could activate triple speed, back when he had only double speed, he could easily defeat Kakashi, who was already a chūnin. In his current triple speed state, he should be able to easily handle most elite chūnin, though jōnin might still be slightly out of reach.

"...Close to special jōnin level?"

Ryo estimated his current strength, concluding that he was likely just below the level of a special jōnin. However, by this time next year, reaching that level seemed attainable.

In the ninja world, only when one reached the level of a special jōnin could they barely be considered a "stronger" ninja. Chūnin and genin were mostly cannon fodder during times of war.

Above special jōnin were jōnin and elite jōnin, and beyond that was the Kage level. While the term "Kage level" wasn't formally used in this world, elite jōnin were considered the pinnacle. Still, in Ryo's opinion, shinobi like Sakumo Hatake and Danzo, whose strength far surpassed that of regular elite jōnin, could be called "Kage level" to help distinguish them.

(End of this chapter)

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