What Is a Hyuga?!

"You're looking down on who...?"

Kakashi's attacks were completely exposed before Shinichi Hyuga's Byakugan.

His offensive was not particularly fierce. In Shinichi Hyuga's eyes, it posed no threat at all. Such attacks were nothing more than children playing around.

Naturally, Shinichi Hyuga knew this was far from Kakashi's true level. The other party had most likely treated him as an ordinary brat.

However, although Shinichi Hyuga sincerely believed he had never thought too highly of himself and had always regarded his talent and abilities with a proper attitude—

Having been born into the Hyuga Main Family, he had spent years hearing praise and flattery. Now that he had suddenly encountered someone like Kakashi, who clearly did not take him seriously, his emotions could not help but stir.

Shinichi Hyuga frowned slightly and swiftly stepped forward. Seeing through Kakashi's attack path, he raised his left hand and deflected it to the side. Shinichi Hyuga's defensive movement resembled Taiji cloud hands, looking soft and lacking any real killing power.

Yet the counterattack that followed after knocking aside Kakashi's arm was overwhelmingly fierce.

"Gentle Step Twin Lion Fist—Half-Step Crashing Fist!"

Deep-blue lion-shaped Chakra rapidly wrapped around Shinichi Hyuga's fist. He thrust his right foot forward and drove his fist out with explosive force.

Unlike his usual training sessions, Shinichi Hyuga was incomparably serious in this fight against Kakashi. He had brought the Gentle Step Twin Lion Fist to the most perfect state he could currently achieve.

"Bang!!!!"

A dull boom rang out across the clearing.

Shinichi Hyuga's counterattack was swift and fierce, something Kakashi had never expected.

The instant Kakashi realized his opponent had casually blocked his attack, he knew something was wrong. But before he could react, Shinichi Hyuga's fist had already smashed heavily into his lower abdomen.

Because of the vast difference in their sizes, Shinichi Hyuga's point of attack had been particularly tricky.

At that moment, Kakashi felt as though he had collided with a wild horse charging at full speed. The immense force from his abdomen dragged his body backward, sending him flying four or five meters through the air before he crashed heavily into the ground under the astonished gazes of the spectators.

The intense pain left even a battle-hardened young ninja like Kakashi with a brief moment of blankness in his mind.

Dust scattered everywhere. Kakashi rolled several times across the ground before barely coming to a stop at the tips of Asuma's shoes.

The young Asuma Sarutobi had yet to grow his full beard. He was only a few years older than Kakashi, but compared with Kakashi, who had already become a Jonin, Asuma was merely an "unordinary" Chunin. And the reason he was considered unordinary was largely because of the halo brought by his Hokage father.

He was familiar with Kakashi, and seeing that Kakashi seemed to have taken a heavy blow, he could not help crying out in concern.

"Hey, Kakashi!! Are you alright?"

Yet the moment Asuma's words fell, Kakashi, who lay before him, suddenly turned into a puff of white smoke and vanished without a trace.

However, a half-meter-wide black hole remained in the ground where Kakashi had disappeared.

"?!"

"A Shadow Clone?"

Asuma muttered under his breath, his expression somewhat dazed. He had not seen when Kakashi had formed the hand seals and cast the ninjutsu.

When he looked back toward the field, he happened to see Shinichi Hyuga, who had just sent Kakashi flying with a single blow, seemingly sense something. With a backward leap, he swiftly withdrew from his original position.

"Earth Release—Double Suicide Decapitation Technique."

The instant Shinichi Hyuga left that spot, a pair of arms suddenly burst from the ground beneath where he had been standing and grabbed at empty air. Immediately afterward, Kakashi sprang out of the earth as well.

After missing two attacks in succession, Kakashi could not help looking solemnly at Shinichi Hyuga, who stood not far away. Doubts rose in his heart.

This guy...

When did Konoha gain someone this strong...

As he thought, Kakashi reached into the Ninja Tools pouch at his waist, quickly pulled out several Shuriken, and flung them directly at Shinichi Hyuga.

Two flew toward Shinichi's eyes, one toward his heart, and another two toward his knees.

After throwing the Shuriken, Kakashi did not immediately pursue. Instead, he reached down and rubbed his lower abdomen, seemingly trying to ease the pain that way.

At the same time, he pulled aside the eyepatch covering his left eye, revealing a scarlet Sharingan. Three black tomoe revolved within it as he stared at Shinichi Hyuga in the distance.

In truth, Kakashi was nowhere near as composed as he appeared.

Shinichi Hyuga's attack had landed squarely on his lower abdomen. Yet after being sent flying, Kakashi had endured the pain and immediately counterattacked to make up for his earlier mistake.

While using a Shadow Clone to briefly confuse his enemy, his real body had swiftly used Earth Release to burrow underground, intending to trap the opponent before him with the Earth Release ninjutsu he excelled at.

However, his seemingly perfect plan had been detected by the sharp Shinichi Hyuga and easily evaded. At the same time, the pain Kakashi had forcibly suppressed earlier now surged back like a tide, forcing him to stop and rest briefly.

Kakashi had no choice but to throw Shuriken at his opponent, because when he had just cast his jutsu, he had already felt something wrong with his body. Extracting Chakra had become somewhat difficult.

After using two ninjutsu in succession, Kakashi needed a moment to rest and gather himself.

Of course, knowing his opponent's identity, Kakashi could roughly guess why extracting Chakra had become so difficult. It was probably... because he had been struck by the other party's Gentle Fist...

"Hyuga..."

Even though they were both Konoha Ninja, this was still Kakashi's first time personally experiencing the terror of the Gentle Fist.

The Shuriken shot toward Shinichi Hyuga. Faced with their comprehensive and tricky attack angles, Shinichi Hyuga's response made the surrounding spectators reevaluate him.

Shinichi Hyuga casually raised a hand and directly unleashed an Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm. The high-density Chakra shockwave instantly knocked away the Shuriken, then continued rushing back toward Kakashi with fierce force.

"!!!"

Kakashi clearly had not expected Shinichi Hyuga to have not only mastered the Gentle Fist at such a young age, but also possessed this kind of mid-to-long-range attack capability.

Within the Sharingan's vision, the trajectory of the Air Palm was clearly visible.

With a completely undignified donkey roll, Kakashi swiftly rolled away from his position. The Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm swept past him and shot into the sky.

At Shinichi's age, he was short, and the Air Palm had been aimed at Kakashi's head, where the most vital chakra points were located. Now that Kakashi had dodged it, the Air Palm did not accidentally injure the other ninjas watching nearby.

Although Kakashi's evasive movement had been embarrassing, Shinichi's small face grew more serious as he studied Kakashi's current state.

That Gentle Fist strike had successfully landed, but it had merely sealed ten chakra points, including Zhongji, Guanyuan, Qihai, and Tianshu. While it had become extremely difficult for Kakashi to extract Chakra, it was not enough to completely block his Chakra.

Since this was only a sparring match, Shinichi had no way to truly strike to kill. Otherwise, that blow would not have merely sealed Kakashi's chakra points—it would have completely destroyed the relevant meridians in Kakashi's lower abdomen.

If this had been a life-or-death battle, Kakashi's lack of intelligence and blind confidence in his own strength would have been enough to cost him his life.

Even more than a decade later, after Kakashi became a more mature ninja, he had not changed this flaw. His blind confidence in his own strength had caused him to suffer greatly at Itachi Uchiha's hands. If the other party had not been after Kakashi's life, then after being struck by Tsukuyomi, he would have had no chance of surviving.

For Shinichi Hyuga, killing his opponent might have been easier than making him admit defeat...

That Air Palm had been a show of force, a warning, and a display of strength, yet no one seemed to realize it.

Neither the Third nor the Fourth Hokage had called a halt, so naturally Shinichi Hyuga could not declare himself the winner.

More importantly, Shinichi was very interested in Kakashi now that he had activated his Sharingan and gotten serious!

Lowering his head slightly to avoid Kakashi's gaze, Shinichi Hyuga pushed off the ground and dashed forward, closing in on Kakashi.

Facing the rapidly charging Shinichi Hyuga, Kakashi no longer dared harbor even the slightest thought of underestimating him. He lowered his center of gravity and faced him seriously.

The battle began once more.