"Come on, knock that smug Hyūga brat down a peg!" Uchiha Obito shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth.
"Go, Fenghuo!" Kurenai Yuhi cheered. She had just finished mooching lunch from the Academy cafeteria and was now full of misplaced confidence.
Sarutobi Asuma glanced around nonchalantly, chewing on a stick of pocky with an unreadable expression.
Rin stood nearby, clutching Obito's sleeve with concern. "Obito, are you sure Fenghuo is ready for this?"
Obito grinned. "Don't worry, Rin. Fenghuo's changed. He's going to surprise everyone! I mean, he's practically been reborn!"
"Tch, everyone knows Uchiha Fenghuo's a dead-last." someone whispered nearby. "If he didn't have the Uchiha name, he'd have flunked out already."
"Didn't he challenge Hatake Kakashi last term and get humiliated?"
Most of the watching students murmured with skepticism, clearly betting against Fenghuo.
"Hyūga Shinmune's gonna wreck him in under a minute!"
"More like thirty seconds. You're being generous."
"Hahaha, this is gonna be good."
In the center of the sparring grounds, instructor Aoba Yamashiro (disguised with sunglasses and a bandana, pretending to be impartial) stood between the two challengers: Uchiha Fenghuo and Hyūga Shinmune.
He outlined the standard Academy duel rules—no lethal force, no tools, no outside interference—then raised his hand.
"Begin!" With a flicker of Shunshin, Aoba vanished.
Hyūga Shinmune reacted instantly. He slid back into the Gentle Fist stance, arms loose but ready, Byakugan not yet activated but his posture sharp and precise.
Fenghuo blinked slowly.
'Looks like Tai Chi...' he mused. But he didn't move.
"Is Fenghuo frozen?"
"Maybe he hasn't registered the match started..."
"He's probably too scared to move, hahaha!"
Shinmune narrowed his eyes. "Uchiha Fenghuo, if I strike first, you won't get the chance to fight back."
Fenghuo suddenly asked, "Hey. Know how villains usually die?"
Shinmune blinked. "What?"
"By talking too much."
Fenghuo stomped the ground. Several small stones shot toward Shinmune.
"Pathetic," Shinmune scoffed. "You think we're kids on a playground?"
With a casual wave of his arms, he slapped the stones away.
"Watch out!" someone in the crowd yelled.
Shinmune flinched. "Already? He hasn't even—"
Then he felt it: a gust of wind near his cheek. He turned just in time to dodge a sweeping side kick.
"When did he—?!"
Fenghuo's earlier stone throw had been a feint—he'd used the Substitution Jutsu to reposition during the distraction.
Shinmune steadied himself, but another kick came from the opposite side.
"Tch!" Gritting his teeth, Shinmune tumbled into a backward roll, evading again.
"Impressive," Shinmune admitted. "Looks like you've been training. But using Taijutsu against the Hyūga clan? That's pure arrogance!"
Chakra flared from his tenketsu points. He blitzed forward with startling speed.
"Gentle Fist—Eight Trigrams: Two Palms!"
Whump!
His palm struck Fenghuo's shoulder—only, it wasn't Fenghuo. His hand passed through.
"Wha—!" The image flickered and vanished.
"Another Substitution?"
Too late—Fenghuo, now behind him, swept Shinmune's legs out with a vicious low kick.
"Gwah!"
Shinmune flew forward, butt over heels, landing hard.
The crowd went dead silent.
"Did that just happen?"
"Did Hyūga Shinmune just get knocked flat by Fenghuo?"
Obito cackled. "Told you all! Ha! Who's the idiot now?"
Asuma scratched his chin, eyes narrowing. "That Substitution speed... It's almost on par with Shunshin. He chained three in under ten seconds."
Shinmune groaned and staggered to his feet, face red with embarrassment.
Fenghuo stood tall, arms akimbo, doing his best impression of a self-important action hero.
"Just give up. I won't laugh at you. Much."
"...You're already laughing!" a classmate muttered nearby.
Shinmune trembled with rage. His pale eyes darkened with chakra surge.
Veins bulged around his temples.
"He activated his Byakugan!"
"At age six?!"
"What a genius!"
Even Aoba's face turned serious. "So the pressure finally pushed him... That's early for a branch family member."
"Fenghuo's in trouble now," Rin whispered, clenching her fists.
"He'll be fine," Obito said, though his voice wavered. "The Sharingan's just as good as the Byakugan!"
"...He hasn't awakened it yet." someone reminded him.
Shinmune stepped forward, chakra flowing sharply now. "You should be grateful. Without this humiliation, I might never have awakened these eyes."
Fenghuo only smiled.
"Wanna bet these eyes still can't catch me?"
He kicked more stones and blurred into movement with another Substitution.
But—
"I told you. In front of these eyes... you're transparent."
Shinmune's Byakugan tracked Fenghuo's chakra thread and airflow pattern precisely. He struck before Fenghuo's next jutsu finished.
"Eight Trigrams: Two Palms!"
Fenghuo's hands flew through seals.
"Tiger–Rat–Boar–Dog–Ox–Serpent!"
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
A burst of flames roared toward Shinmune—chakra-enhanced and hotter than expected from an Academy student.