Watching Obito Uchiha suddenly burst out laughing across from him, Namikawa Yū could not help shaking his head inwardly.
Though he had long known what Obito's personality was like, seeing it now still surprised him somewhat.
Had he not read the entire story, he would never have imagined that Obito would turn out like that later on.
"Then, please show me what you can do, senior."
He unfastened his ninja gear, took out a kunai, and pointed it at Obito.
"I won't go easy on you!"
Obito Uchiha shouted, then charged forward.
Namikawa Yū watched him, showing no reaction for the moment, and simply retreated in silence.
"Take this!"
Obito rushed forward and threw a punch straight down.
The powerful blow came crashing down, but unfortunately, it failed to hit Namikawa Yū.
At the crucial moment, Namikawa Yū became a blur and vanished from where he stood.
"The Body Flicker Technique..."
A surprised voice came from a distance.
Kōi Akiya looked at Namikawa Yū ahead of him, surprise appearing on his face. "That level of proficiency with the Body Flicker Technique really is rare."
Although the Ninja Academy's students were considered prospective ninja, they actually did not know many techniques.
A technique like the Body Flicker Technique was considered a basic skill that essentially every student had to learn.
However, it truly was rare for anyone to master it as well as Namikawa Yū had.
Never mind genin-even some chunin had only about this level of proficiency with the Body Flicker Technique.
Unsurprisingly, Obito immediately fell at a disadvantage.
By the standards of a Ninja Academy student, he was actually not that bad.
If one had to describe it, his situation was actually somewhat similar to Naruto Uzumaki's in later years: both were decent in actual combat but terrible at theory.
Judging purely by his actual combat ability, he definitely met the standard for a genin.
He could even be considered fairly good among genin.
Unfortunately, none of these advantages were of any use against Namikawa Yū.
His basic techniques are poor, but his taijutsu is fairly good.
Standing behind Obito, Namikawa Yū had various thoughts flash through his mind. If this is all he can do, he won't be difficult to handle.
He reached out, pressing one hand forward.
The kunai in his hand instantly stabbed forward.
"You fell for it!"
Obito's excited voice rang out in front of him.
At some point, he had already turned around. From the look of it, he had been waiting for this opening all along to counterattack.
The next moment, he charged straight into Namikawa Yū's chest and struck hard.
Bang!
A loud noise rang out, and the fight looked quite intense.
"The fight looks quite intense."
Kōi Akiya shook his head. "Unfortunately, the gap in their abilities is simply too great."
When he spoke of the gap in ability, he was referring not to Namikawa Yū, but to Obito.
The scene before them looked intense, but in reality, someone like Kōi Akiya could tell at a glance that Namikawa Yū was far above Obito's current level.
The only reason the fight looked so intense was that Namikawa Yū was deliberately making it that way.
In truth, given his ability, if he wanted to, he could defeat Obito on the spot before Obito could even react.
"Interesting. Is he being considerate of the other boy's pride? Or is he deliberately doing this?"
A middle-aged man stood on a raised platform, a smile coming to his face as he watched the exchange below.
He looked about fifty years old and was in the prime of his life.
Below him, the moment Kōi Akiya noticed him, his expression changed dramatically.
"Lord Third!"
He hurried forward and bowed to him. "I didn't expect you to come."
"Haha, Akiya, there's no need to be so formal."
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Kōi Akiya before him and shook his head with a smile. "I just happened to be passing nearby, so I came to see what was going on."
"Don't mind me. Just carry on as usual."
With Namikawa Yū's current standing, he was naturally not important enough for the Third Hokage himself to come specifically to watch his match.
The Third Hokage merely happened to be nearby.
"I thought he was a genius like Kakashi, but he seems to fall a little short."
The Third Hokage watched from the sidelines for a while, then could not help shaking his head.
A few years earlier, Kakashi had also applied to graduate early.
He had watched from the sidelines then as well.
From his perspective, compared with Kakashi back then, the Namikawa Yū before him still had a long way to go.
Apart from his outstanding Body Flicker Technique and taijutsu, there seemed to be little else worth praising.
"Still, perhaps his opponent is too weak to force him to reveal more of his techniques."
Hiruzen Sarutobi watched the scene below, murmuring to himself.
A ninja's performance against an enemy depended not only on the abilities they possessed, but also very much on their opponent's level.
If the opponent was too weak, they could win with only the most basic ninjutsu, and there would naturally be little to say about it.
Everyone present could tell that Namikawa Yū was holding back.
Still, there were also people genuinely cheering for Obito.
"Obito, you can do it!"
In the crowd not far away, a girl called out loudly, cheering Obito on.
She was Nohara Rin, one of Obito's few friends at school.
Beside her stood a boy with half his face covered.
It was none other than Kakashi Hatake.
Both Kakashi and Rin were Obito's friends.
In terms of rank, Nohara Rin and Obito were both still students at the Academy, while Kakashi had long since become a chunin. The gap seemed enormous.
But they had been friends back in their Ninja Academy days and had maintained that original friendship ever since.
Recently, some rumors circulating outside had left Kakashi in a poor mood, so Nohara Rin had dragged him over to cheer for Obito with her.
While Nohara Rin cheered for Obito, Kakashi could not help frowning.
"His opponent is far stronger than Obito."
He saw at a glance that Namikawa Yū was holding back and could not help shaking his head. "A waste of time."
In his view, Namikawa Yū could defeat Obito whenever he wanted.
Dragging things out like this was nothing but a waste of time.
"Hey, Kakashi, don't say that."
Nohara Rin did not think there was anything wrong with it and said with a smile, "Obito-kun is working really hard too."
"Maybe he also thinks Obito-kun is a good opponent, and that's why he's doing this."
"Rin!"
Up ahead, hearing Nohara Rin cheering behind him, Obito immediately felt encouraged again.
His fighting spirit instantly grew stronger, and he seemed to have regained his strength.
Unfortunately, though his determination was admirable, his ability ultimately fell a little short.
"You should take a good rest, Obito."
Namikawa Yū smiled. "If you keep this up, you'll strain your muscles."
The next moment, he reached forward with one hand and tripped Obito at an inexplicable angle.
A kunai thrust forward, coming to rest precisely against Obito's throat.
"The winner is Namikawa Yū."