Shimura Nozomu's Outburst

The next day.

As soon as Hatake Harukaze entered the classroom, he smiled and greeted Uchiha Yuan, "Yuan, good morning."

"Harukaze, good morning."

The interaction between the two immediately drew the attention of others in the classroom.

These two had always kept to themselves in class. The difference was that Uchiha Yuan was subtly ostracized by everyone, with no one wanting to get close to him; whereas Hatake Harukaze displayed a reclusive personality, never approaching others.

Now, the two appeared to be very close, which couldn't help but arouse curiosity.

However, for the rest of the time, Hatake Harukaze and Uchiha Yuan sat alone in the corner of the classroom as usual, with no interaction.

After school at noon, the students took out their packed lunches.

Uchiha Yuan's lunchbox contained several cute rice balls, prepared by his younger sister, Izumi.

Just as he finished his lunch, he suddenly turned his head to look at the classroom door.

Almost simultaneously, Uchiha Shisui appeared at the classroom door. He waved at Uchiha Yuan, signaling him to come out.

"Shisui, what do you need me for?"

Uchiha Yuan followed Uchiha Shisui to a small grove behind the school building.

Uchiha Shisui looked at Uchiha Yuan and sighed softly, saying, "Yuan, I heard you had a conflict with Shimura Ken, Sarutobi Akagi, and others from the sixth grade."

Uchiha Yuan couldn't help but be surprised, "How did you know?"

Uchiha Shisui said, "The fight between you guys has spread among the students; Shimura Ken and the others are furious and have vowed to get revenge."

He then added with a troubled expression, "They're all saying that we Uchiha are bullying people again."

Uchiha Yuan sneered, "Shisui, why do you even bother with them? They're just a pack of incapable mongrels barking."

Uchiha Shisui reached out and patted Uchiha Yuan's shoulder, saying, "Yuan, I've always wanted to change how the villagers view our Uchiha Clan, so I hope you won't get into fights with others anymore."

"Shisui, do you know why I clashed with Shimura Ken and the others?"

"Sorry, I'm not entirely sure."

Uchiha Yuan met Uchiha Shisui's gaze. After a moment of silence, he continued, "Shisui, you're too soft and too naive. Constant compromise and concession won't change the villagers' perception of the Uchiha."

Upon hearing this, Uchiha Shisui frowned slightly.

In his opinion, Uchiha Yuan could have handled the situation more gently. However, Uchiha Yuan's mindset was the same as that of many other clan members, who only knew how to intimidate others through forceful means.

Just then, the sound of rapid footsteps approached quickly from outside the grove.

Then a group of youths appeared, surrounding the two.

There were nearly twenty of them, including students from several grades of the Ninja Academy.

"Shimura Nozomu, Sarutobi Aoki, what do you think you're doing!"

Uchiha Shisui recognized the two youths at the front and couldn't help but frown as he asked.

Shimura Nozomu was a tall and strong youth, playing with a shuriken in his hand.

Compared to him, Sarutobi Aoki, who stood beside him, appeared quite frail.

Shimura Nozomu hooked the shuriken with his finger, spinning it rapidly. His eyes revealed a venomous and sinister gaze, sweeping over Uchiha Shisui before landing on Uchiha Yuan.

"You're the Uchiha Yuan who injured my brother."

Uchiha Shisui whispered to Uchiha Yuan, "His brother is Shimura Ken. Sarutobi Aoki beside him is Sarutobi Akagi's second brother, and one of the people you injured yesterday. They're probably here to cause trouble for you."

Sarutobi Aoki glared angrily at Uchiha Yuan and said, "That's right, we're here for Uchiha Yuan."

Shimura Nozomu said sinisterly, "Uchiha Yuan, you injured my brother. So, whatever injuries my brother sustained, I will return them to you tenfold today!"

As he finished speaking, he raised his hand and flicked it fiercely. The rapidly spinning shuriken shot towards Uchiha Yuan.

A fierce clang of metal against metal rang out. It was Uchiha Shisui who had acted.

A shuriken had appeared in his hand at some point, which he used to knock away Shimura Nozomu's attacking shuriken.

"Shimura Nozomu, how dare you use a shuriken!"

Uchiha Shisui shouted sternly.

At the Ninja Academy, if students fought, it was assumed they would only use fists and Taijutsu. To avoid injuries, ninja tools like shuriken and offensive ninjutsu were not allowed.

"Uchiha Shisui, this has nothing to do with you. This is between us and Uchiha Yuan."

Shimura Nozomu sneered.

Uchiha Shisui's expression suddenly changed because he realized Sarutobi Aoki, who had been standing beside Shimura Nozomu, was gone.

The next moment, Uchiha Shisui felt a strong gust of wind from behind. Then he saw Sarutobi Aoki flash into view, grab Uchiha Yuan by the shoulder, and leap away with him.

"Crack!"

With a violent collision sound, Sarutobi Aoki landed, returning to Shimura Nozomu's side.

On the other side, Uchiha Yuan was brought down by Uchiha Shisui, who had grabbed him with one hand.

In the previous instant, Uchiha Shisui caught up to Sarutobi Aoki at an even faster speed, taking Uchiha Yuan from his control.

"Shisui, thank you."

Uchiha Yuan spoke, rarely feeling shocked by the speed Shisui had just displayed.

"Uchiha Shisui, this is between us and that kid. If you're going to interfere, we'll beat you up too!"

Shimura Nozomu said coldly.

At this moment, a young boy ran quickly from outside the small grove and shouted at Shimura Nozomu, "Shimura-dono, Uchiha Minami is bringing a group of Uchiha over."

Shimura Nozomu's expression immediately turned very ugly upon hearing this.

The other youths around also showed unease. Facing a group of Uchiha, they weren't confident they could fight them.

Shimura Nozomu gave Uchiha Yuan a deep look and said, "Kid, you got away today, but you won't be so lucky next time."

With that, he leaped away. In the blink of an eye, the entire group had left the small grove.

Uchiha Shisui frowned and said, "Yuan, I'll talk to Shimura Nozomu, but you need to be careful from now on. Don't provoke them again."

Uchiha Yuan said helplessly, "Shisui, sometimes it's not that you want to cause trouble, but trouble comes to find you."

Then, he told Shisui about Shimura Ken and his group bullying Hatake Harukaze.

"Shisui, Shimura Ken and the others were bullying a classmate in my class. Do you want me to just sit by and do nothing when I encounter such a situation?"

After a moment of silence, Shisui could only sigh helplessly.

He said to Uchiha Yuan, "You did the right thing. I was reckless."

"Shisui, although the clan members are arrogant, most of them are not unreasonable."

As the two spoke, a group of Uchiha youths rushed into the small grove.

Uchiha Yuan saw Uchiha Shinsuke and Uchiha Eiji among them.

The leader was a boy about thirteen years old with shoulder-length hair.

He glanced at Uchiha Yuan, then looked at Shisui and asked, "Where are Shimura Nozomu and the others?"

Shisui replied, "They left quickly when they heard you were bringing the clan members."

"A bunch of cowards."

Uchiha Minami snorted disdainfully.

Then he looked at Uchiha Yuan and said, "Don't worry, as long as we are here, no one will be able to bully any member of the Uchiha clan."

"Thank you, Minami-senpai," Uchiha Yuan said.