The wind swept over the sandy ground, sending a fallen leaf spinning into the distance.
The vast training ground was crowded with children in their teens. Furuya Daisuke's intentions were simple.
They would continue the practical combat exercise that had just been interrupted, though there was one difference.
To give their new classmate a grand welcome, Furuya Daisuke had decided to arrange some intimate physical interaction!
Tōka stood among the crowd, yet somehow apart from it.
He narrowed his eyes at Furuya Daisuke's expression. "Hmph, so he really wants to use the practical exercise to establish his authority?"
Tōka was no six-year-old child. Even mentally, he was not much younger than Furuya Daisuke.
This kind of situation could not faze him. At worst, he could simply surrender before the fight began.
But as a man, how could he admit defeat without fighting?
"If I can't overpower them, I can only outsmart them." Tōka's gaze swept over the children one by one.
Might Guy, the dead last in everyone's eyes, was the most deeply hidden dark horse in Tōka's view.
If the Eight Inner Gates erupted, he could absolutely crush every student present.
So Tōka shifted his target to a child wearing goggles—Uchiha Obito.
A formidable figure who would stir up the world in the Fourth Shinobi World War, but Obito was a genuine dead last at this moment!
Even so, Tōka's odds of winning were not high.
He was the dead last of the Elite Class, and a sixth-year student about to graduate.
Even a plucked phoenix was still a phoenix!
In a direct fight, Tōka had no chance of winning.
"Since this is to welcome our new classmate, for the first round, let our new student Tōka take the stage!" Furuya Daisuke said solemnly.
As he spoke, he took the lead in applauding. His expression was so sincere that there did not seem to be the slightest trace of pretense.
Tōka silently walked out of the crowd and onto the sandy ground.
He acted as though he had not seen Furuya Daisuke's performance. It was simply too hypocritical and affected.
"Then..."
Seeing Tōka step onto the sand without the slightest hesitation, Furuya Daisuke paused briefly before considering whom to send out.
His gaze swept across the students one by one. Without question, the strongest student present was Sarutobi Asuma.
However, Furuya Daisuke's gaze rested on Asuma for only a second before moving away.
Tōka had been personally brought here by the Third Hokage.
Send the Third Hokage's son to fight?
Who knew how blatantly he might hold back!
Besides, Furuya Daisuke had noticed that Tōka was not physically strong. At only six years old, even if he had cultivated chakra, he would not have much.
In other words, both Tōka's taijutsu and ninjutsu were very weak.
"I can't send someone too strong. If he loses too badly, the Third Hokage will lose face."
With that thought, Furuya Daisuke made up his mind.
Tōka stood expressionlessly on the sandy ground. He appeared somewhat at a loss, but he had taken in every change in Furuya Daisuke's expression.
Just as Furuya Daisuke settled on a candidate, Tōka suddenly spoke.
"You, the shorty with the goggles!"
Hearing the word "shorty" and seeing Tōka looking in his direction, Uchiha Obito instinctively looked to either side.
To his shock, both Rin on his left and Gai on his right were taller than him!!
"Stop looking around. I mean you!"
At that moment, Tōka's voice sounded again, and he raised a short finger to point at him.
Obito's face first turned red, then darkened completely, as though someone had smeared ink over it.
"What did you say? You damn brat!!"
Obito rolled up his sleeves and charged onto the sandy ground, completely ignoring Furuya Daisuke beside him.
Obito was utterly enraged. Images of his classmates looking down at him flashed through his mind...
He was both embarrassed and furious!!
Girls matured earlier than boys, so it was perfectly normal for Rin to be taller than Obito!
And it was normal for Gai, who specialized in taijutsu, to be taller than Obito—even taller than Rin.
Tōka had only said it to deliberately provoke Obito. Otherwise, there would have been no suspense in the battle.
"Since that's the case, the first round will be Tōka versus Obito!"
Furuya Daisuke did not stop Obito when he stepped forward.
On one hand, Obito was from the Uchiha Clan. On the other, his strength ranked second from last!
If Tōka lost to someone like that, even the Third Hokage would have nothing to say.
The Elite Class students did not underestimate Tōka just because he was six. Instead, they watched with eager anticipation.
Because before this, there had been a genius named Hatake Kakashi who graduated from the Ninja Academy at five and became a Chunin at six!
And Tōka had, after all, been personally brought here by the Third Hokage.
Even if he could not compare to Kakashi, he should not be some useless rookie. Besides, his opponent was Obito, the dead last.
Smack!!
Obito clenched his right hand into a fist and slammed it into his open left palm.
"You damn brat, don't cry when you lose later!" He straightened his body and roared aggressively.
"Oh." Tōka still stood casually, replying with a single indifferent word.
Obito's face turned purple with rage. With a furious roar, he lowered his body and rushed forward with his fist raised.
Brave but foolish, impatient and impetuous.
A sharp glint flashed through Tōka's eyes as he instantly judged Obito's state of mind.
Slow speed, unsteady footwork.
Watching Obito charge toward him, Tōka gave another assessment.
He trained a little normally, but he was not someone like Gai who could persevere consistently.
Obito threw an anger-filled punch without holding back, directing every ounce of his strength straight ahead.
Before the fist arrived, its force had already reached him.
Tōka narrowed his eyes and suddenly threw his body backward.
Thud.
Without the slightest suspense, Tōka's body flew through the air like a kite with its string cut, tracing an arc before crashing onto the sandy ground.
A cloud of yellow sand burst outward, scattering dust in all directions.
Everyone froze slightly and stared in surprise at the scene on the sand.
"Did Obito succeed?"
"He got knocked down in one hit?"
"Is he really that weak?"
Everyone thought Obito had sent Tōka flying with a single punch. Only three people knew what had truly happened.
As an elite Chunin who had survived the Second Shinobi World War, Furuya Daisuke's eyes were exceptionally sharp.
"He knew he couldn't block that punch, so he pretended to fall and dodged it?" Furuya Daisuke muttered before shifting his gaze back to the field.
This six-year-old did not seem as weak as he had imagined.
Assessing the situation and seizing the initiative.
That was Furuya Daisuke's assessment of Tōka!
On the sandy ground, Obito stared blankly at Tōka as he got up and dusted off his clothes, utterly confused.
He had clearly just...
Obito stupidly looked at his own fist.
Maybe... it seemed... perhaps... he had not hit him?
Whether a fist struck hard bone or soft flesh, there would be a distinct sensation.
But just now, he had felt nothing at all.
In the instant Obito lost focus, Tōka formed a new impression of him.
Not ruthless enough, his attacks lacked ferocity.
Puff! A dull sound jolted everyone awake.
Tōka swiftly adjusted himself, leaned forward, and kicked off the ground, shooting forward like an arrow.
"What? That kid actually took the initiative?"
"Ooh, ooh, ooh!! Is Obito about to be defeated?"
"As expected of the dead last. He got scared stupid by a six-year-old!"
A wave of noisy chatter rose from the Elite Class students, and it was precisely that noise that snapped Obito out of his daze.
Seeing Tōka charge at him while bent low, Obito instinctively raised both arms and crossed them in front of his body.
Tōka's gaze sharpened. He raised two fingers in a sword hand—using only one hand!
"What?"
"One-handed hand seals?"
"Is that the Tiger Seal? Or the Ram Seal?"
Hearing the crowd's startled cries, Obito was even more shocked. He subconsciously took a step back while leaning his body backward.
Tōka turned a deaf ear to the surrounding jeers and thrust out his hand as if striking an acupoint.
His sword fingers pointed directly at Obito's chest!!
"That's not a hand seal. It's the Hyuga Clan's Acupoint Striking Technique?"
As the Uchiha Clan's sworn rival, Obito naturally knew what such a gesture meant.
But Tōka did not have the Byakugan!
Still, Obito did not dare gamble. The terrifying part of the Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist was that once hit, one chakra point would be sealed.
Even if it was not a critical chakra point, continuing the fight would gradually lead to defeat.
In other words, when fighting the Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist against an opponent of similar strength, being hit once was equivalent to being hit countless times.
The Gentle Fist sealed chakra points and prevented chakra from flowing. As one side weakened and the other gained the advantage, defeat was only a matter of time.
His thoughts passed in an instant.
By then, Tōka and Obito were less than three steps apart. Obito had no time to think further.
Obito's feet slid as he desperately retreated.
As long as he could widen the gap by one zhang—no, even one foot—he was confident he could evade Tōka's move.
"It's over. I can't pull away!" Obito watched the tiny fingers, now less than three inches from his chest, his face ashen!
Suddenly!!
Tōka changed his hand gesture, turning his sword fingers into an open palm before pushing forward.
A modest force erupted against Obito's chest. Already leaning backward, Obito's feet slipped.
Thud!!
The same scene played out again.
But this time, Tōka had fallen on his own, while Obito had been pushed down by Tōka!
Time seemed to stop as the scene froze.
On the sandy ground, one child stood firmly in a horse stance, expressionlessly extending an open palm.
On the other side was a half-grown boy with a stunned expression, his backside on the ground and his hands braced behind him to support his upper body.
Not slow, and physically agile.
Still very weak, but flexible enough.
After that brief exchange, Tōka had gained a preliminary understanding of his body. As expected of a body nurtured on the moon for a thousand years.
Before everyone had recovered from what they had just witnessed, they saw Tōka extend a hand again.
"Tōka is going to press his advantage!"
"It's over. Obito can't dodge in this state."
"Is he really going to lose to a six-year-old?"
Obito's face flushed with shame as he struggled to get up.
But because he moved too quickly and lost his balance, he fell back down halfway through!
Seeing this, everyone thought even less of Obito.
A childish voice slowly rang out at that moment.
"I surrender." Tōka extended a hand toward Obito.
Everyone was dumbfounded. "Huh??"
"What did he say? I didn't hear that clearly."
"Did I just hallucinate?"
"The wind must be too strong. It messed up our hearing!"
Obito blankly stared at the small hand before him, unsure whether he should take it.
A faint smile hung on Tōka's lips. Sunlight shone across his face, and to Obito, he looked just like a fairy.
For a moment, Obito simply stared at him in a daze.
"I surrender." Tōka repeated himself, his voice clearer and louder.
"Why?" Obito came back to his senses and frowned at Tōka. He did not want a victory handed to him out of pity!
Tōka curled his lips and looked speechlessly at this awkward child.
Inside the Hokage Building, the Third Hokage stood before a crystal-clear glass orb, watching what was happening at the Ninja Academy.
Obito did not know why Tōka had surrendered.
As a scholar of the Ninja World, the Third Hokage could naturally see it clearly.
In terms of ninjutsu, Tōka had no chakra. Even if Obito could only spit out a fist-sized fireball, it would be enough to give him trouble.
In terms of taijutsu, Tōka had never trained before and relied entirely on his body's agility. If the fight continued, he would only end up being beaten senseless.
In terms of genjutsu, Obito—Obito of the Uchiha clan! Even without awakening the Sharingan, he was stronger than someone like Tōka, who did not even fully understand the theory!
The reason Tōka appeared to hold the advantage in their fight—
Was merely because he understood young Obito's personality and had laid traps step by step, guiding the battle's course.
Before the battle had even begun, Tōka had provoked Obito with his words.
Then, while Obito's offensive was at its fiercest, he had deliberately created a false impression.
Taking advantage of the instant Obito lost focus over whether he had hit his opponent, Tōka launched a series of "fierce" attacks.
First came the fake one-handed hand seal, throwing the enemy's senses into confusion.
Then came the fake Gentle Fist, intimidating his opponent's mind.
The final palm strike that pushed straight ahead was his real move.
Everything had been calculated... it was nothing more than borrowing a tiger's might to frighten others.
And the tiger's might Tōka borrowed was naturally that of the Third Hokage!
It was precisely because the Third Hokage had personally brought Tōka to register at the Ninja Academy that he had created a false impression in everyone's eyes.
A six-year-old brat had been personally brought to the school by the Hokage and inserted into the sixth-year Elite Class!
Although most people looked down on Tōka, mocked him, and believed he had used connections to get in through the back door—
They would still subconsciously wonder whether the brat possessed some secret technique, whether he might be a genius like Kakashi.
Watching the school through a crystal ball, the Third Hokage felt utterly conflicted.
Could such meticulous thinking really belong to a six-year-old brat?
Thinking back to when he was six, he seemed to have still been playing with mud, right? Or perhaps he had already stopped...
"This brat is good. Give him to me!" A gloomy, hoarse voice suddenly interrupted the Third Hokage's thoughts.
"Give him to you?" The Third Hokage raised an eyebrow and did not directly answer Danzo's request.
However, as an "old friend," Danzo could naturally tell that the Third Hokage had already rejected his proposal.
Danzo did not give up and continued, "He is so young, yet his thoughts run so deep. Someone like that will not be easy to control!"
"Let me train him!"
The Third Hokage clenched his pipe between his teeth, white smoke drifting out to obscure his eyes.
Danzo showed no fear and stared straight at the Third Hokage.
"We'll discuss this later." It was a rejection that did not quite count as one, yet it did not completely deny Danzo's proposal either.
With that, the Third Hokage turned away, leaving Danzo only his back.
Danzo gave a cold laugh at those words, though inwardly he sneered, Hiruzen, you're still as indecisive as ever!
The unpleasant conversation ended with Danzo leaving the room, leaning on his cane.
Before you continue