Uchiha Hirohiko

"I lost." Yukina conceded readily. She did not seem at all dejected over losing the spar; only the light in her eyes flickered as she looked at Chiba.

Chiba withdrew his hand and held out the Seal of Reconciliation.

Yukina reached out and formed the Seal of Reconciliation.

Neither of them said much. After forming the seals, Yukina returned to the crowd.

But now, the students, Uchiha Hirohiko, and even Teacher were all staring dumbfoundedly at Chiba in the middle of the field.

This... was the strength of the fourth-from-last? That was incredible! He shattered the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm with one punch. What kind of power was that?

Could a seven-year-old really do that? Teacher recalled himself at seven. Back then, he had not even properly mastered the Three Body Techniques.

At the same time, Teacher began doubting his own judgment. He had treated such a taijutsu genius like an invisible nobody. That invisible nobody who always slept through class had actually been a genius capable of defeating Hyuga Yukina? Only then did Teacher realize that he had been biased against Chiba because of Chiba's father, that traitor. Normally, if any other student slept in class, he would never have turned a blind eye.

But this traitor's son was someone he did not want to teach.

The boy had traitor's blood running through him. Every time Teacher thought of it, he could not help but feel disgusted. Seeing him sleep every day and perform terribly in class had somehow made Teacher feel relieved, so he had simply let him be.

Yet he had never expected this boy to be such a genius, capable of defeating the Hyuga Clan's genius through taijutsu alone! The Hyuga Clan was a great taijutsu family, and the Gentle Fist could be called the strongest taijutsu!

He had been blinded by the identity of traitor's son and overlooked such a genius! No, it was still too early to say that Taki Chiba was a genius! Taijutsu alone proved nothing! There were plenty of taijutsu ninja, but how many of them ever became Jonin?

Several thoughts raced through Teacher's mind as he stubbornly denied Chiba's talent. Only after Chiba had returned to the crowd did he snap back to his senses and announce, "Taki Chiba wins this match!"

"Who's next?"

No one answered.

Everyone was still stunned by Chiba shattering the Vacuum Palm with a single punch and could not react for a moment. Even Uchiha Hirohiko, the genius who had emerged after Kakashi and the Uchiha Family prodigy most likely to graduate early at the age of seven, wore an incredulous expression. Possibility after possibility flashed through his mind.

Could I do that if I were in his place?

Chiba, however, secretly smiled bitterly. His right hand was shaking badly and throbbing with pain. Though he had shattered the Vacuum Palm, the recoil had injured his hand as well. He would not be able to muster strength in it for a while.

Still, Chiba was somewhat surprised. He had just realized that the chakra he had refined in that instant had reached the level of a near-Genin, nearly double his previous chakra reserves. Otherwise, he could not have shattered Yukina's Vacuum Palm.

Could it be that constantly activating Gate of Life Mode during this time had increased the amount of chakra in my body? Could Eight Gates Mode passively increase chakra reserves too? As Chiba pondered this, he subconsciously reached for a bun to take a bite, only to find the bag that held them completely empty.

Where was my bun? Chiba looked around and found the half-eaten bun lying quietly on the ground, covered in dust.

Chiba's face immediately darkened.

It had obviously fallen out during the spar.

"Who's next?" Seeing that no one had responded for so long, Teacher called out again.

"Me." This time, someone answered. Uchiha Hirohiko stepped out from the crowd.

The moment he spoke and appeared, everyone snapped out of it. Seeing that the top student of the entire grade had taken the field, they immediately threw Chiba's feat of shattering the Vacuum Palm with one punch to the back of their minds.

Even if he shattered the Vacuum Palm, he could not possibly be Hirohiko's match!

How could Taki Chiba compare to Hirohiko?

"Hirohiko! Ah! Hirohiko is taking the field!"

"I'm so excited! As expected of Hirohiko, even the way he walks is so cool!"

"We finally get to see Hirohiko fight! This is great!"

The girls immediately grew excited. Some cupped their chins in their hands, their little cheeks flushed and their eyes filled with hearts, while others were already cheering and jumping with delight.

Uchiha Hirohiko merely walked to the center of the field and looked at Teacher.

Listening to the girls' screams, Teacher could not help but smile bitterly. He really was popular...

"Uchiha Hirohiko, who do you choose as your opponent?" Teacher asked.

Uchiha Hirohiko swept his gaze over the crowd.

"Ah! Hirohiko looked at me! He looked at me!"

"Nonsense! He was obviously looking at me!"

"Ah, I really wish I could spar with Hirohiko..."

The girls were already in an uproar.

Uchiha Hirohiko glanced over them, and his gaze settled on Chiba.

"I choose Taki Chiba." Uchiha Hirohiko casually tossed out the words.

Me? Chiba was still regretting the bun he had not finished when he suddenly heard this and froze.

It was not just him. Everyone else froze as well.

Taki Chiba again? Hirohiko was interested in him too?

"Taki Chiba, take the field again." Teacher said rather helplessly.

Chiba had no choice but to step forward once more.

Looking at Uchiha Hirohiko before him and the intense fighting spirit in his eyes, Chiba felt a little helpless.

His right hand could not exert much force right now. Chiba had originally planned to rest for a while before taking the field and choosing Uchiha Hirohiko himself, but he had not expected Uchiha Hirohiko to choose him instead.

Chiba quietly clenched his right fist. It was still a little weak and sore, but it should be enough for a fight.

Uchiha Hirohiko had already formed the Seal of Confrontation and was waiting for Chiba to finish preparing.

"Wait a moment!" Chiba raised a hand and said.

Uchiha Hirohiko frowned, lowered his hands, and said, "What?"

His face was cold, and his words were equally brief. Combined with that handsome face, it set off another round of screams from the girls below.

"So cool!"

"Taki Chiba, what are you doing? Stop dragging this out!"

"Exactly! Why do you need to wait? You're going to lose soon anyway!"

"Yeah, yeah! We want to watch our heartthrob. You just need to lose properly!"

Hearing the girls shouting from below, Chiba twitched his mouth. These little brats...

But Chiba soon noticed a gaze among the girls, one that was different from the rest.

He turned to look and saw Hyuga Yukina watching him, a faint, almost imperceptible smile flashing across her face.

She was clearly the only one supporting him amid all the criticism.

Chiba turned away and looked at Uchiha Hirohiko. "Wait for me. I need to prepare."

Uchiha Hirohiko nodded. "How long?"

"A few minutes." Chiba began removing the weights from his legs.

"Fine." Uchiha Hirohiko nodded.

A few minutes was no problem! That was what he thought.