Uchiha Akihime

After leaving the training ground on the outskirts of the Hyuga Clan, Kageka Maple was absentminded. Even after returning home, she tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep...

At midnight, a small figure leaped and flickered swiftly through the Death Forest like a nimble ape. Upon reaching a certain spot, she stopped and landed on the ground, watching the figure just ten meters away from her.

"I didn't expect you to come so early. Looks like you don't say it out loud, but you really do care about our scheduled fight, don't you?"

The little girl with long straight black hair and dark eyes spoke. Though surprised, she had a guess as to why Yuzuru had appeared here. He must have come to scout the Death Forest in advance so he could gain a terrain advantage in the coming battle... Wasn't that clearly because he was wary of her, Uchiha Akihime?

"..."

Yuzuru remained silent. He had no idea where this little Uchiha girl's sense of superiority came from to make her think such a thing. Had she forgotten that crushing defeat from a year ago?

When she was around five years old, Akihime had heard of Yuzuru, the Hyuga Clan's greatest prodigy, and secretly challenged him. Unfortunately, she had been easily defeated in less than one exchange, and in an utterly humiliating fashion... Since then, Akihime's goal and dream had been to defeat Yuzuru and reclaim the Uchiha Clan's glory and pride!

"Fine, then let me show you the results of my year of hard training! You'll definitely be shocked!"

Akihime looked at the silent Yuzuru, becoming even more convinced of her guess. Brimming with fighting spirit, she spoke to him.

"Fine. Let me see how much this generation's Uchiha prodigy has grown."

Yuzuru spoke calmly.

"Take this!"

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

Akihime gave a sharp cry and formed hand seals. Chakra gathered in her mouth, and her chest swelled slightly. The next second, as her chest compressed, she spewed a massive fireball toward Yuzuru.

Yuzuru's expression did not change. He made no move to evade, as though Akihime's ninjutsu had frightened him senseless.

Most students at the Ninja Academy were still learning how to refine Chakra, yet Akihime was already capable of using a C-rank ninjutsu. Her talent for ninjutsu was clearly monstrous.

The enormous fireball landed before Yuzuru and exploded with a thunderous boom, like fireworks bursting in the night. A wave of heat surged outward, making Akihime immediately raise a hand to shield her face from the heat and dust.

"Did I hit him?"

After the heat wave faded, Akihime jogged to where Yuzuru had been standing. Aside from a scorched patch of ground, there was no sign of him.

"Not bad ninjutsu, but it's too slow."

A voice suddenly sounded behind Akihime, startling her into breaking out in a cold sweat. When she turned around, however, Yuzuru was nowhere to be seen.

"What good is powerful ninjutsu? Any technique that can't hit its target is just wasting Chakra..."

Yuzuru's voice sounded behind Akihime again. Then he kicked her in the rear, sending her into an intimate encounter with the ground as she sprawled there like a frog.

"Ptooie! Ptooie! Ptooie!"

Akihime spat out the dirt and grass in her mouth, then turned to glare at Yuzuru with an embarrassed, furious expression. "How can your Body Flicker Technique be so fast?!"

A year ago, Akihime had at least been able to see Yuzuru's afterimage when he used the Body Flicker Technique. Yet after a year of hard training, she could not even see his afterimage anymore.

"Don't think that one year of hard training means you can catch up to me. Even if you're an Uchiha prodigy, if you want to catch up to me... you're still thousands of years too early!"

Yuzuru slowly walked toward Akihime while using words to shatter her pride, all while building up his own image as mysterious, powerful, and invincible.

"Damn it!"

Akihime clenched her fists and slammed them heavily against the ground. Yuzuru's words had undoubtedly struck her heart, cracking her pride and filling her mind with thoughts like, So I'm actually this weak, Yuzuru is the true unparalleled genius, and Why did I have to be in the same generation as Yuzuru?

"Is this all an Uchiha prodigy amounts to? You suffered only one or two setbacks, and you're already giving up on your dreams and goals? Didn't you say you wanted to defeat me? Then why are you still lying there like a frog?"

Seeing Akihime's spirits beginning to sink, Yuzuru immediately started provoking her.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"

Hearing Yuzuru's words, Akihime roared at him in fury. She sprang to her feet, rapidly formed hand seals, and poured all the remaining Chakra in her body into her mouth at once. It transformed into another enormous fireball that shot toward Yuzuru.

Yuzuru did not evade immediately. Instead, by the fireball's light, he saw the change in Akihime's eyes. A smile appeared on his lips. At the instant the massive fireball drew near, he used the Body Flicker Technique to dodge. When he appeared again, he was right in front of Akihime.

"As expected of an Uchiha prodigy. You awakened your eyes just like that."

Yuzuru leaned close to Akihime's face. His Byakugan was activated, a sapphire-blue glow shining in his eyes. As he intently observed Akihime's Two-Tomoe Sharingan, he praised her in an irritating tone.

"W-What?"

Akihime looked at Mingxi, whose face was nearly pressed against hers. The anger and irritation on her face vanished in an instant, replaced by an indescribably shy expression. She stood there stiffly like a puppet, not daring to move at all.

After a moment, Yuzuru slowly stepped back from Akihime. He noticed something unusual about her expression, but said nothing further. Instead, he produced a mirror from somewhere and handed it to her.

Akihime blankly accepted the mirror and looked at Yuzuru without understanding.

"Look at your eyes."

Yuzuru pointed at Akihime's eyes.

Akihime raised the mirror and saw the striking scarlet color in her eye sockets...

"...I awakened my eyes!"

Akihime cried out excitedly. At only six years old, she had not only awakened the Sharingan, but had also skipped the one-tomoe beginner form and manifested it directly as a Two-Tomoe Sharingan. In the Uchiha Clan's history, no one had ever awakened a Two-Tomoe Sharingan at her age. It was enough to prove how terrifying her talent was—a monster among prodigies, one in a hundred... perhaps even one in a thousand!

"They really are fine eyes."

Yuzuru's sudden words made Akihime's excited voice abruptly stop. Her scarlet eyes shone with a chilling light beneath the night sky as she stared at Yuzuru's activated Byakugan. Her confidence restored and overflowing, she immediately declared arrogantly, "I've awakened the Sharingan. No Body Flicker Technique can hide from these eyes!"

"Idiot."

Seeing Akihime regain her confidence after awakening the Sharingan, Yuzuru merely shook his head and said that one word. It instantly enraged Akihime, causing her to lose the calm a ninja should have possessed.

"Damn it! I'll make you pay for underestimating these eyes of mine!"

After angrily saying that to Yuzuru, Akihime charged at him once more...