Wasting Talent?

The classmates watching from the side were even more speechless. At first, they had thought it would be some especially powerful Ninjutsu.

"Um..." Ueno Juri stepped in to salvage the situation. "Nawaki's technique is indeed Ninjutsu. He has just learned it and is not yet familiar with it, and he was overly nervous just now. Still, being able to do this at his age is worthy of praise."

"If you work hard from now on, I believe you will make great progress! Keep it up!"

Ueno Juri patted Nawaki on the shoulder.

"The teacher's right, Nawaki. You're amazing—you've even learned Ninjutsu. Even if it's just spitting, little flying insects definitely won't be able to escape it. Maybe you should consider becoming an exterminator in the future," Hyuga Matsuba said, quietly "showing concern" from the side.

"Shut up! Hyuga Matsuba, are you insulting my intelligence?!" Nawaki was about to lose his temper.

Hyuga Matsuba looked at Nawaki pityingly.

"Isn't the answer obvious? I am insulting you. Otherwise, ask everyone what they thought of your performance just now."

Nawaki was left speechless and began making excuses again. "I already said I was too nervous! I was awesome before! My sister was there at the time. If you don't believe me, go ask her!"

"Do you think the others will believe you?" Hyuga Matsuba raised an eyebrow at the classmates nearby.

"I think you definitely can!" Yamanaka Inoichi shouted loudly.

"Really?! Inoichi, from now on, we're brothers bound by life and death!" Hearing that bit of approval, Nawaki was so happy he did not know what to say.

"I think you definitely can't use it!" Yamanaka Inoichi had been waiting to say that. As soon as he finished, he dashed away.

"Shut up! Just wait and see! Once I really show you all! My dream is to become Hokage. A little Ninjutsu like this is a piece of cake to me!"

After throwing out that harsh declaration, Nawaki stormed off.

Everyone burst into laughter and stopped discussing it. The classmates all knew Nawaki well enough that he would probably forget this whole thing in a few minutes. In other words, his brain simply did not work very well.

"Matsuba, do you want to fight me?" Namikaze Minato challenged Hyuga Matsuba.

"Hey, Minato, what kind of huge blow did you suffer? You know what Matsuba can do. How could you possibly beat him?"

Before Hyuga Matsuba could respond, Nawaki, who had just run off, came back to join the excitement and immediately began mocking Namikaze Minato.

"That makes sense! Minato, even if everyone thinks you're impressive, you..." Ueno Juri trailed off, worried that saying it in front of so many people would hurt the child's self-esteem.

Objectively speaking, Namikaze Minato was not weak, but among all these classmates, he was not ranked particularly high either.

The reason was that both his parents were civilians with ordinary abilities. Minato had not been exposed to much Ninjutsu since childhood, meaning he had effectively lost at the starting line.

Even though Minato was highly perceptive, he had only been studying for a short time. Compared to the other students, who had trained since childhood and had the innate support of their clans and parents, the difference in strength was rather great.

Given enough time, Minato might be able to defeat a few people, but right now, his chances of winning were slim.

Namikaze Minato and Uchiha Mikoto were the students who worried the teacher least in the class. Since he was also very talented, Ueno Juri did not want this match to discourage him and make him lose confidence in training.

"How about this, Minato? Go look down on Nawaki instead. You two even share the same dream, so you can practice and improve together."

Hyuga Matsuba curled his lip. In truth, the future Minato would be a formidable figure, but at present, his strength was truly beyond description. Hyuga Matsuba almost felt embarrassed to bully him.

"That's right! Do you dare compete with me?!" Nawaki got fired up again, thinking it was a great suggestion.

Nawaki's reaction left Minato unable to refuse. He had wanted to use a fight to gauge his own level from the start, so he agreed at once.

"Be careful, and stop at the right time. Friendship comes first!" Ueno Juri supported this kind of sparring, but as their teacher, she still had to remind them.

"Still, I just can't understand what you do every day. You're wasting your time. Such a pity, with talent as great as yours."

Ueno Juri turned to point fingers at Hyuga Matsuba again. She had said those words hundreds of times already, but Hyuga Matsuba acted as though he had never heard them.

Hyuga Matsuba had brute strength, yet he did not study or train seriously. He spent every day slacking off and cutting corners, and Ueno Juri's impression of this student was getting worse and worse.

Hyuga Matsuba once again acted as if she were talking about someone else, turning around and beginning to swing his blade seemingly absentmindedly.

The defining trait of his swordsmanship was speed. Because gravity was activated within his body, his speed was currently very slow, but once he withdrew that gravity, his speed would be beyond words.

When he had obtained Ryujin Jakka, he had also gained all of the blade's abilities, including Fuzhan, which Yamamoto could activate through his own strength.

Even if Hyuga Matsuba's swordsmanship would only be considered child's play in another world, this was the Naruto World. Here, his abilities could already be called second to none.

If it came to swordsmanship here, even the renowned strong fighters of Konoha might not necessarily be able to defeat Hyuga Matsuba.

The sword techniques here enhanced the power of attacks by erupting Chakra over a short period of time, but aside from that one trait, they truly had no other strengths.

That was merely Hyuga Matsuba's own inner opinion. Perhaps true swordsmanship was not like that, but he had not seen it yet, so he could not reach a conclusion.

There was also the Land of Iron, famous for its swordsmanship. Perhaps that place had some obscure yet powerful experts.

After practicing for a while, Hyuga Matsuba began to rest. If he kept going, he might exhaust himself to death.

He released the gravity within his body and washed his face. On closer inspection, the ground where he had trained had sunk slightly.

Looking around, Mikoto was quietly refining her Chakra off to one side, while a large group of people had gathered elsewhere to watch a spar.

But the main characters were not Nawaki and Minato. They were Choza Akimichi and Uchiha Ken.

Although Uchiha Ken was unpopular in class and went straight home alone as soon as school ended, it was not yet time for school to let out, so he could only remain there.

After seeing Nawaki defeat Minato in such a dashing manner, he suddenly wanted to make a name for himself too.

He stepped forward to challenge Nawaki. Nawaki, riding high on his excitement, agreed, but after just one match, Nawaki lost.

Uchiha Ken then became unbearably full of himself. He challenged many classmates and beat them all soundly.

Just now, Uchiha Ken had used the Great Fireball Technique to successfully defeat Hizashi Hyuga. That was real Ninjutsu, and for a time, no one could match his limelight. He felt as though he had become the leader of the class.

That arrogant attitude once again drew the disdain of his classmates. If there had been no Hyuga Matsuba in the class, Uchiha Ken's face alone could have been considered quite handsome.

But at this moment, seeing the pairs of disdainful little eyes around him, he understood just how much they disliked him.

With such an overbearing, self-important temperament, and a face that was only moderately good-looking, how many people would be willing to play with him?