Mission Reward, Gentle Fist

Beizawa stopped in his tracks.

If it had been an ordinary second-year class, he would have agreed without hesitation.

After all, his class was brimming with talent. Every member of the Konoha Twelve could challenge opponents above their level.

But Second Year Class A was no ordinary class. It had Neji Hyuga.

In the original story, the early-stage Neji Hyuga had undoubtedly been the strongest among the Konoha Twelve.

Even Naruto Uzumaki had relied on the Nine-Tails Chakra to defeat him during the Chunin Exams.

And for now, he had no way to draw upon the Nine-Tails Chakra.

Sasuke Uchiha had yet to awaken his eyes, and the others were even less of a match for Neji Hyuga.

But with a different format for the sparring match, victory might not be impossible.

For example, a contest of Chakra Control.

However, the reason Beizawa stopped was the mission that had suddenly appeared.

[Another class has challenged your class. As the class leader, you should accept the challenge.]

[Current Mission: Defeat Second Year Class A in the Friendly Match.]

[Mission Reward: Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms.]

Beizawa's eyes lit up.

The reward was genuinely quite good.

The Byakugan and the Gentle Fist were what had allowed the Hyuga Clan to stand firm in the ninja world for a thousand years.

Though the Hyuga Clan could not produce an ultimate powerhouse like Madara Uchiha, they were more than capable of dealing with most ninja.

Gentle Fist was a general term. Its most representative techniques were the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms and the Heavenly Spin.

If the Heavenly Spin was S-rank in difficulty, then the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms was probably A-rank.

It was worth noting that both Taijutsu techniques belonged to the Hyuga Main Family and were not passed down to the Branch Family.

"So? Beizawa."

Seeing that there was hope, Mizuki asked again.

He truly wanted to beat Beizawa just once.

Even if the victory was unfair, a win was still a win.

"Fine."

A thought crossed Beizawa's mind as he said, "But I have one condition."

"What condition?"

Mizuki hurriedly asked.

"If First Year Class A wins, you have to grant me one request."

Beizawa spoke unhurriedly.

He had thought of the mission to send Mizuki to prison.

Given Mizuki's character, he would definitely make a move as long as he was given a suitable opportunity.

Beizawa intended to use this request to give him that opportunity.

"Fine."

Mizuki paused, then asked, "What if First Year Class A loses?"

"Wouldn't losing be perfectly normal?"

Beizawa asked in return.

"...?"

Mizuki's mouth twitched.

You shameless bastard! You refuse to take even the slightest loss!

"I'll come find you once I've decided on the contents of the friendly match."

Beizawa smiled and turned toward the office.

"When your class gets crushed, let's see if you can still smile."

Watching his retreating back, Mizuki unconsciously clenched his fists.

Though he did not know what kind of competition Beizawa would come up with, it definitely would not favor Second Year Class A.

But Mizuki was confident. Before absolute strength, any scheme or trick was useless.

Second Year Class A had a full year's lead over First Year Class A. If they still lost under those circumstances, he might as well bash his head against Hokage Rock.

Beizawa returned to the office and found Sasuke Uchiha waiting for him.

There was no need to think about why.

"My Shadow Clone will take you to train."

Teacher Beizawa formed hand seals with both hands and created a Shadow Clone.

"Thank you, Teacher Beizawa."

Sasuke Uchiha followed the Shadow Clone out of the office.

Teacher Beizawa watched his departing figure, deep in thought.

If Sasuke Uchiha awakened the Sharingan, could he defeat Neji Hyuga?

Overall, there was a chance, but it was a slim one.

The reason was that the One Tomoe Sharingan had no particular advantage against the Byakugan.

Besides, helping Sasuke Uchiha awaken his eyes would also be troublesome.

After all, he had only awakened the One Tomoe Sharingan on the night of the Uchiha Clan Downfall.

For the time being, Teacher Beizawa could not think of anything that would give him such an enormous shock.

As for Naruto Uzumaki and the Nine-Tails, he did not dare touch that matter at all.

"Looks like I'll have to approach this from another angle."

Teacher Beizawa picked up a brush, pondered for a moment, then wrote two lines on a scroll: Chakra Form and Chakra Control.

A contest of Chakra Form was simple—whoever's ninjutsu had the greater power won.

Teacher Beizawa had thought of Sasuke Uchiha's Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique. With Sasuke participating, taking first place would not be much of a problem.

Chakra Control needed no further explanation. They could do tree climbing and water walking.

But Mizuki might not necessarily agree to a competition involving only those two events.

Teacher Beizawa thought for a moment and added two more.

One was a Physical Fitness Test, and the other was actual combat.

With Naruto Uzumaki involved, the Physical Fitness Test was practically a sure thing.

Actual combat was undoubtedly what Mizuki most wanted to see.

If every student from the two classes fought one-on-one, First Year Class A would definitely lose.

Geniuses could challenge those above their grade, but geniuses were rare.

Most of First Year Class A were ordinary students. Being short a year of experience, it was only natural that they could not win.

So Teacher Beizawa planned to use a Best of Five format.

After all, there was only one Neji Hyuga.

In short, they would compare quality, not quantity.

"When should it be held?"

Teacher Beizawa rubbed his chin and fell into thought.

Once he gave these four events to Mizuki, Mizuki would definitely conduct targeted training.

Teacher Beizawa was not worried, though. With the same training, it came down to whose talent was greater.

He had nine of the Konoha Twelve, while Mizuki had three. Who held the greater advantage was obvious.

Teacher Beizawa calculated the timing and decided to hold it after the next Monthly Exam.

One month was neither too long nor too short.

It would be basically impossible for Mizuki to complete special training in that time.

But for Sasuke Uchiha, Hinata Hyuga, Ino Yamanaka, and the others, it was just about right.

After finishing the scroll, Teacher Beizawa went to Mizuki's office and handed it to him.

Mizuki read through it once and readily agreed.

In his view, there was no suspense in any of the four events.

For the first three events, Neji Hyuga would definitely take first place.

In the final actual combat event, he could also secure one victory. They only needed two more wins from the other students.

In short, the advantage was his.

Rather than returning to his office, Teacher Beizawa headed straight to Kurenai Yuhi's home.

He needed to help Yakumo Kurama become a psychological Medical Ninja as soon as possible. That way, he could establish contact with Tsunade and then find a way to complete the mission.

"Beizawa, you came at just the right time."

The moment Kurenai Yuhi saw him, she hurriedly waved him over.

"You look so happy. Did you complete the Art of Truth-Telling?"

Teacher Beizawa walked over and asked.

"It's not the Art of Truth-Telling. It's Yakumo's Kekkei Genkai."

Kurenai Yuhi said with a smile, "Yakumo, demonstrate it for Beizawa."

"Alright."

Yakumo Kurama took out a painting.

Under Beizawa's watchful gaze, the white cat in the painting seemed to come alive. It leaped out and landed on the ground.

"Meow."

The white cat walked up to him and rubbed its head against his pant leg.

Beizawa crouched down and reached out to stroke its head.

"Isn't it just like a real cat?"

Kurenai Yuhi explained, "This is an illusion Yakumo developed based on her Kekkei Genkai. It's called Illusionary Arts: True Life."

"I have Teacher Beizawa to thank for the suggestion."

Yakumo Kurama said softly, "He was the one who told me to use painting as a way to unleash my Kekkei Genkai."

Beizawa was somewhat surprised, though not too much.

After all, Illusionary Arts: True Life had been mentioned in the original work. Put simply, it made the contents of a painting become reality.

He suddenly thought of his wager with Mizuki.

Yakumo Kurama's Kekkei Genkai was undoubtedly at the Mangekyo Sharingan level. She might even be able to defeat Neji Hyuga.