One Against a Group

"Let all you Dead Lasts watch closely!"

Hyuga Sho shouted.

He showed no fear in the face of everyone's encirclement.

"Hard work can determine our own lower limit!"

At that moment.

Hyuga Sho's words reached Might Guy, Uchiha Obito, and the other underperforming students... even spreading throughout the entire school.

Then.

Hyuga Sho struck forward with a palm.

Just as everyone thought the move was nothing special.

The palm slammed into the student's body with a bang!

It sent the Academy Student at the very front flying.

He crashed into the others behind him.

With that single blow, seven or eight Children toppled backward onto the ground together.

Hyuga Sho's move.

Was like lighting a powder keg.

The entire scene descended into chaos.

It didn't matter whether they were lower-year students.

Or upper-year students.

Students who believed themselves stronger than the Dead Lasts surged forward all at once.

Leaving only Might Guy and the others staring blankly at the scene.

Some of them were upset by what Hyuga Sho had said earlier.

Some wanted to join the excitement and vent the darkness in their hearts.

Yet Hyuga Sho was like a mountain standing on a plain.

No matter how they attacked, they couldn't shake him in the slightest.

With the "Hardening Jutsu."

Hyuga Sho simply stood there.

Taking the punches and kicks of the others head-on.

An Academy Student raised his fist.

He swung it toward Hyuga Sho's head.

Hyuga Sho caught his fist directly, twisted it viciously, and sent him screaming to the ground.

Another person attacked from behind.

A Leaf Whirlwind swept straight toward Hyuga Sho's lower back.

Hyuga Sho shifted sideways, trapped his right leg beneath his armpit, and then spun—

Using him as a weapon, he began whirling him around.

Bam, bam, bam!!

The spinning body rotated 360 degrees, knocking an unknown number of people flying.

The Academy Student being used as a weapon rolled his eyes back, foamed at the mouth, and passed out.

Finally.

Hyuga Sho threw him into the crowd, knocking down who knew how many more people.

"Hmph... Hyuga Sho really does have something wrong with his head. What an idiot."

Kakashi stared at the scene of Hyuga Sho fighting everyone alone.

He shook his head, his face full of disdain.

"I really thought he was clever."

Kakashi was irritated by his mistaken judgment.

For half a year.

He had observed and speculated repeatedly.

He had considered the possibility that Hyuga Sho might be a shrewd person.

But in the end, he discovered...

This Hyuga Sho really was hopeless.

"Heh, someone from the Sarutobi Clan has joined in too. Just like Asuma, the Sarutobi Clan generally has plenty of brute strength. If Hyuga Sho wants to defeat them—"

Kakashi did not finish speaking.

Because.

The Sarutobi Clan boy he had described as powerful was knocked flat by a single punch from Hyuga Sho.

"There are Uchiha Clan members here too. Even a Dead Last like Obito, the worst in his class, would still rank in the upper-middle range here. And these people are countless times stronger than Uchiha Obito."

The next moment.

The Uchiha boy Kakashi had favored was kicked in the head by Hyuga Sho and instantly collapsed, unable to rise.

Kakashi: "..."

As Hyuga Sho continued making his moves.

One Academy Student after another, whether they were Children from ordinary families.

Or members of a one-generation lineage.

Even those belonging to Konoha's powerful noble clans.

They were all taken down by Hyuga Sho.

Relying on the Byakugan of the Hyuga Clan.

Even with its penetrating ability missing.

That did not stop Hyuga Sho from using the Byakugan's "insight" to its fullest.

All Rigid Fist Taijutsu was completely exposed before Hyuga Sho's eyes.

If there had been a member of the Hyuga Clan who knew Gentle Fist among his opponents, it might have been different.

Hyuga Sho might not have been able to see through the way they exerted their strength.

The key point was.

No one from the Hyuga Clan had come up to help.

Although Hyuga Sho usually did not speak much with the others, the Hyuga Clan's "Branch Family Members" had not yet reached the point of harming one another.

After all.

Everyone had the Caged Bird Seal on their foreheads.

Branch Family Members... had it hard.

The moment someone moved or raised a foot.

Hyuga Sho already knew what they intended to do.

Thus.

Hyuga Sho countered every move, and every strike carried tremendous force.

While counterattacking.

He used the "Hardening Jutsu" to endure their blows head-on, while simultaneously rebounding the impact back at them.

So many people had charged at him.

Yet not one of them had managed to make Hyuga Sho fall even once.

"This Hyuga Sho...!"

Kakashi's eyes widened slightly, and he felt a little astonished.

"Can hard work really take someone this far?"

Kakashi worked very hard.

Especially since his father was the famed "Konoha's White Fang - Sakumo Hatake," a man so renowned throughout the Shinobi World that even foreign ninja would tremble at his name.

But even though Hatake Kakashi had received elite training from childhood.

His hard work... had still stopped at the level of an ordinary person.

It was absolutely impossible for him to be like Hyuga Sho.

Training all day long as though he had activated a cheat.

Never becoming discouraged, never complaining.

Opening his eyes to train.

Closing his eyes to sleep.

Doing everything possible to improve his strength.

This was a merciless training machine beyond anyone's imagination.

"So this is... Hyuga Sho's hard work..."

Nearby.

Brilliance shone in Hyuga Mami's eyes.

It was as though her worldview had been refreshed, and she had come to know Hyuga Sho all over again.

"Perhaps I can do it too..."

Hyuga Mami remembered the Genjutsu she had learned earlier.

While practicing Gentle Fist, she could practice other abilities as well.

Just like Hyuga Sho.

"Doka Degree 14.7%...14.8%...14.9%..."

His movements flowed smoothly.

Hyuga Sho watched the numbers constantly jumping before his eyes and fought with growing courage.

This was another part of his plan to defeat Kakashi.

He was taking advantage of this opportunity.

Challenging all the Academy Students in the Ninja Academy.

Knocking them down one by one.

Thereby improving his Doka Degree.

Even though none of them were opponents for Kakashi or Hyuga Mami.

And he could not gain a great deal of experience from them.

Every little bit added up.

Hyuga Sho felt himself growing stronger bit by bit.

The blood in his heart... began to heat up.

In just a few minutes.

Dozens of people already lay sprawled across the ground at his feet, groaning without end.

The so-called "Minnow Killer."

Hyuga Sho had proven it himself.

The Remaining People still surrounded Hyuga Sho, but the encirclement had clearly widened considerably.

For a time, no one dared to step forward.

This fierce battle.

Had not only left top students like Asuma and Yūhi Kurenai astonished.

Might Guy, Uchiha Obito.

And the "Dead Lasts" from the other classes and grades were also utterly shocked and unable to believe it.

"Hyuga Sho... actually defeated the top students..."

"Not just that. Even the geniuses in those classes were taken down..."

"Hard work... I want to work as hard as Hyuga Sho too!!!"

Hyuga Sho's actions inspired them.

A surge of indescribable passion and emotion rose in their hearts.