Training Class

The days that followed were quite ordinary for Hyuga Soji. Every day consisted of going to and from school, training in the Gentle Fist, and developing his Byakugan.

This routine lasted nearly two months, and the time shifted from the cool March weather into the sweltering heat of May.

Over those two months, Soji learned far more theoretical knowledge than he had in the entire past year.

It included all kinds of wilderness survival skills, identifying medicines, and more, greatly broadening Hyuga Soji's horizons.

That was the advantage of learning at school. There were no profound ninjutsu techniques, but in terms of fundamentals, it far surpassed the major clans.

Then, at last, the school's Training Class arrived.

All the children had long been unable to hold themselves back. After studying textbook knowledge for so long, everyone was eager to get their hands dirty.

Even Soji felt the same. Though theoretical knowledge was what he lacked most right now, all talk and no practice made for hollow skill. Practice was the proper way to uncover truth.

"Today, we'll be holding our first Training Class: Ninja Tool Throwing. When I call your names, each of you will perform ten throws with Kunai and ten with Shuriken."

As soon as the teacher finished speaking, every child looked excited.

"Tch, it's just throwing ninja tools."

Of course, among the excited children, there would always be an untimely voice.

Without even looking, Soji knew the one who would say something like that had to be Uchiha Homura.

Over the past two months, Uchiha Homura had not provoked Soji again, but every time he looked his way, his gaze burned with intensity.

Soji was seriously about to lose it. If he wanted to fight, then come fight. If not, then stop staring at him with that look that could make people misunderstand, hey!

As for Uchiha Homura, today's ninja tool throwing would be his first contest against Hyuga Soji. He absolutely had to win!

"Oh my, Homura is really fired up to fight Soji."

Minato Namikaze truly never missed an opportunity to tease the two of them.

Over the past two months, Soji and Minato had also grown close at an incredible pace. If strangers saw them walking together now, they would definitely think they had known each other since childhood.

Also, Uchiha Homura had a pretty good relationship with Minato, so the three of them had recently been spending a lot of time together. That made Soji feel embarrassed about beating the other guy up.

Still, perhaps because the Hyuga Clan and the Uchiha Clan were naturally incompatible, Uchiha Homura always liked targeting Hyuga Soji.

"Uchiha Homura, can you stop targeting me all the time? Inoichi, Shikaku, and Choza were all born into ninja clans too. Go target them instead. And Minato, stop fanning the flames."

Soji was utterly speechless at the two beside him.

One liked targeting him, while the other liked stirring things up. Soji felt he must have had terrible luck in eight past lives to have met them both.

"Hey, hey, Soji, is it really okay for you to kick trouble our way like that?" Soji's attempt to dump the problem on them was immediately caught by the Ino-Shika-Cho trio.

"Haha, Shikaku, Choza, Inoichi. When did you three sneak up behind me without making a sound?"

Seeing the three of them looking at him as if to say, Don't try changing the subject, Soji guiltily turned away.

Over those two months, Soji had not only become close with Uchiha Homura and Minato Namikaze, but had also become good friends with the Ino-Shika-Cho trio.

Uchiha Homura was no longer as distant with everyone as he had been at first. At the very least, he no longer rejected classmates who took the initiative to approach him.

Girls were the exception, of course. Soji had no idea whether something was wrong with that guy's preferences, but he always coldly rejected girls who approached him. Yet those girls ate it right up—the more Uchiha Homura rejected them, the more girls liked him.

When it came to popularity with the girls in class, Minato Namikaze ranked first, while Uchiha Homura could rank second.

In modern terms, Minato Namikaze was the warm, considerate type, while Uchiha Homura was the domineering CEO type.

As for Soji, although he was fairly good-looking, those Byakugan of his were not very popular with some girls. After all, even when the Hyuga Clan did not activate their Byakugan, being stared at by them still put a lot of pressure on ordinary people.

The group continued chatting and fooling around as they waited for the teacher to call their names so they could go up and practice throwing Kunai and Shuriken.

"Next, Uchiha Homura."

It was finally Uchiha Homura's turn. He first glanced back at Soji, then coolly walked toward the training target.

The target was about twelve meters from the throwing line and roughly 0.8 meters in diameter. Alternating white and red rings represented different scoring zones.

"Hmph. It starts today."

Uchiha Homura spoke blandly, then picked up a Kunai and threw it.

"Whoosh, whoosh." "Thud, thud."

As the sounds rang out, everyone watched two Kunai strike the target one after the other, both landing dead center.

"Ten points. Ten points."

The teacher announced the two scores in succession, sounding quite pleased.

After all, more than half the students before him had already thrown ninja tools. Aside from the occasional lucky child hitting ten points, most could only land in the middle or lower scoring zones, and some even missed the target entirely.

When Uchiha Homura threw his first two Kunai, his standard form alone was beyond what ordinary children could match.

Uchiha Homura continued throwing.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. Whoosh, whoosh."

"Ten points. Ten points. Ten points. Ten points. Ten points. Nine points."

The teacher announced Uchiha Homura's scores one after another.

"Tch, there's no room left in the ten-point zone already." Uchiha Homura was dissatisfied that his eighth Kunai had only scored nine points.

But there was nothing he could do. Seven Kunai were already embedded in the ten-point zone. If he forcibly tried to stick the eighth one in, it would definitely knock a Kunai already there out of position.

With no other choice, Uchiha Homura aimed for the nine-point zone.

"Whoosh, whoosh."

"Nine points. Nine points."

The final two Kunai also scored nine points.

Thus, Uchiha Homura's ten Kunai earned seven ten-point scores and three nine-point scores, for a total of ninety-seven points.

"Excellent. Next is Shuriken throwing." The teacher was extremely satisfied with Uchiha Homura's results, inwardly praising the Uchiha Clan as expected.

If nothing unexpected happens, he'll definitely score above ninety again.

For Shuriken, throwing was even more difficult than with Kunai.

Kunai had handles, fixed shapes, and long, slender bodies. Ninjas could not only throw them, but also use them as close-combat weapons.

Shuriken, on the other hand, were basically only used as thrown hidden weapons. In most cases, no one used them in close combat.

There were also many kinds of Shuriken, which were first divided into Stick Shuriken and Wheel Shuriken.

Stick Shuriken came in single-pointed and double-pointed varieties. The single-pointed ones were commonly known as Flying Needles, while the double-pointed ones were called Senbon.

Wheel Shuriken were the kind of thrown hidden weapons most people knew. They ranged from three to eight points.

The four-pointed Wheel Shuriken was currently the most widely used and was also what they would use in this training. If mishandled, it might not hurt the enemy at all and could even injure the user!

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. Whoosh, whoosh."

This time, Uchiha Homura swiftly threw six Shuriken in one go. To him, throwing Shuriken was not much different from throwing Kunai.

"Ten points. Ten points. Ten points. Ten points. Ten points. Nine points."

However, the scores announced by the teacher made Uchiha Homura's expression turn ugly. He had not expected just five Shuriken to fill the entire ten-point zone.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh."

"Nine points. Nine points. Nine points."

Only the last one remained.

Uchiha Homura wanted to take a chance. There was still a tiny gap in the ten-point zone. If he handled it well enough, he might be able to score another ten.

He held his breath and focused with utmost concentration.

"Whoosh." "Clang."

Damn it.

From the moment the Shuriken left his hand, Uchiha Homura sensed something was wrong. Sure enough, the outcome confirmed his suspicion.

"Eight points." The teacher announced the score for the last Shuriken.

Uchiha Homura's total score for ten Shuriken was also out: five ten-point throws, four nine-point throws, and one eight-point throw due to a slight mistake at the end.

The last Shuriken had collided with one in the ten-point zone, causing it to shift position and stick in the eight-point zone. More dangerously, Uchiha Homura's risky move had nearly knocked the ten-point Shuriken out of the target. His heart had leapt into his throat at the time, but fortunately, it did not fall.

"Tch, I could've gotten ninety-five points."

"Who told you to be so greedy?" Soji seized the opportunity and shot back without mercy.

"Hmph. Now let's see what you can do." With that, he shoved his hands into his pockets and swaggered away from the target range.

Naturally, Uchiha Homura's performance earned a round of applause.

Though he acted as if he could not care less, Soji and Minato Namikaze, who knew him well, could easily tell that Uchiha Homura enjoyed this sort of attention.

Even the teacher lavishly praised Uchiha Homura's skill in throwing Shuriken and Kunai.

Children of the Uchiha Clan really do produce powerful ninjas every year. The teacher could not deny feeling envious.

"Homura-kun is so handsome!"

"Yeah, yeah!"

"And he's so good at throwing Shuriken and Kunai too."

"I'm going to faint."

The girls' lovestruck reactions naturally drew dissatisfaction from plenty of boys toward Uchiha Homura.

"Tch, isn't he just a little more handsome, a little stronger, and from a better clan?" One boy grumbled indignantly.

"Exactly! I don't know what those girls even see in him." Another boy immediately voiced his agreement.

"Then... do we have anything that beats him?" another boy quietly asked.

"Shut up! I just don't like the sight of him!" The first boy seemed somewhat embarrassed and angry.

"Tsk, tsk. What is wrong with these people?" Shikaku Nara felt helpless about the other classmates.

Whether it was the girls' wild comments or the boys' sour tone of envy, jealousy, and resentment despite being unable to compare, he had no idea how to mock any of it.

"Sigh, Shikaku, you'll get used to it. I bet it'll be even worse when Minato goes up later." Soji had long gotten used to it. These two were truly exceptional at attracting attention, so he consoled Shikaku.

Minato was better off. Because he got along well with everyone, although he also drew the girls' attention, the boys were not overly jealous of him.

But Uchiha Homura did not get such treatment. Sasuke Uchiha from the original story was a perfect example—without exaggeration, he was the public enemy of all boys.

The arrogance etched into the bones of most Uchiha Clan members truly made it hard for ordinary people to talk to them calmly. It was not that they rejected interacting with others, but their attitude was often unbearable.

After recording Uchiha Homura's ninja tool throwing scores, the teacher began calling the next name.

"Next, Hyuga Soji. Please get ready."

Soji, who had been chatting, froze when he heard the teacher call him. He had not expected to be right after Uchiha Homura.

Now it would be impossible for everyone not to compare him with Uchiha Homura.