Powerful yet Unnoticeable Aburame Yui

After Hanfu stepped down from the training ground, the inseparable duo Kotetsu Hagane and Izumo Kamizuki walked up together and immediately started their bout.

The two were evenly matched in strength, though Kotetsu Hagane's taijutsu was slightly better, allowing him to narrowly defeat Izumo Kamizuki by half a move.

Following that, the test continued. One student after another entered the training ground to spar in pairs, a chaotic mess of rookies pecking at each other.

Kashima Isamu dutifully recorded everyone's combat performance. Soon, only the last two students remained out of the thirty.

One of them was Inuzuka Sa!

As for the other person...

Hanfu looked at her, completely bewildered. "Eh, she is..."

The final person was none other than Aburame Yui!

Hanfu knew there was such a person in the class—after all, she was from the Aburame Clan—but what was up with this lack of presence?

He hadn't noticed her in the classroom at all before; it was as if she didn't exist!

Aburame Yui wore a trench coat that covered most of her body, and the collar was extremely high, obscuring everything below her eyes.

As expected, people from the Aburame Clan all dress like this, but...

Hanfu looked up at the scorching sun, then back at Aburame Yui's thick trench coat. Is she really not hot?

"Alright, Inuzuka Sa, Aburame Yui, it's your turn."

Kashima Isamu smiled.

"Yes!"

"Woof woof!"

Inuzuka Sa placed her ninja dog Shiromaru on her shoulder, then walked onto the training ground and picked up a dozen shuriken for her ninja tool pouch.

At the same time, Aburame Yui had already reached the center of the training ground. She kept her head slightly lowered, her high collar hiding her expression. With her eyelids drooping and her gaze fixed on the ground, she gave off an aloof and cold impression.

The students of Class 8 looked at Aburame Yui with a hint of fear. When she stepped onto the field, no one spoke; they even intentionally slowed their breathing.

Hanfu recalled the past and suddenly realized that this low-key, introverted girl with zero presence was actually the top-performing student in their class!

No wonder she was left for last.

Hanfu had initially thought it was simply because her presence was so low that no one noticed her, but now he understood: the biggest reason was that she was the strongest in Class 8, so no one wanted to fight her!

As for why Inuzuka Sa was also left for the end, Hanfu instantly pieced together the reason.

Among the thirty students in Class 8, the ones with the best backgrounds were Aburame Yui and Inuzuka Sa. Both were children of prominent clans with their own pride; even if they won against commoner students, they probably wouldn't feel much satisfaction... right?

"I'm coming at you!"

While Hanfu was lost in his own thoughts, Inuzuka Sa let out a sharp cry and launched the shuriken in her hand with fierce intensity.

Accompanied by a piercing whistle through the air, the rapidly spinning shuriken crossed the five-meter distance in an instant, suddenly descending upon Aburame Yui's right shoulder!

In the next moment, Aburame Yui lifted her eyelids, revealing that her clear, black-and-white pupils were already crawling with dense swarms of insects. At first glance, it looked like a pit of bugs!

"Hiss!!"

Hanfu drew a sharp breath. Although he knew the Aburame Clan were insect users, that scene was so visually shocking that his legs nearly went weak.

As for the other students, they shrieked repeatedly. Some of the timid girls even closed their eyes, not daring to look at the "freak" that was Aburame Yui.

Iruka stood beside Hanfu and said, "Although Yui is the strongest student in our class, she is also the least popular. Her fighting style is just too, too..."

Iruka looked at the insects swarming around Aburame Yui with a hint of fear, not knowing how to describe it.

"Perhaps she would be better off wearing a pair of sunglasses."

Hanfu remarked. In the original series, many members of the Aburame Clan wore sunglasses. Hanfu had initially thought they were just trying to look cool, but now it seemed it might have something to do with what he had just witnessed.

After all, the visual impact of a person's pupils being covered in crawling insects was simply too terrifying.

At this moment in the training ground, Aburame Yui had already released a large number of insects to fly through the air. She had switched from offense to defense, the dense swarm gathering in the air to form plumes of black smoke that circled Inuzuka Sa, striking from the left and right.

Inuzuka Sa dared not stay in one place and kept dodging, while simultaneously firing with both hands. Shuriken spun rapidly through the air, streaking toward Aburame Yui.

"Woof, woof woof!"

Shiromaru was also barking hard, attempting to scare off the insects with its high-pitched, puppy-like cries.

Although Shiromaru was a ninja hound, it was still young and unable to join the battle; the only help it could offer its little master, Inuzuka Sa, was this barking.

Facing Inuzuka Sa's shuriken, Aburame Yui did not call her insects back to defend her, but instead crouched down to dodge.

Consequently, those few shuriken flew straight toward Kashima Isamu, who was standing behind Aburame Yui.

Kashima Isamu calmly tucked his notebook under his arm and caught the shuriken with his bare hands.

Yui is reaching her limit too!

Kashima Isamu dropped the shuriken to the ground, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

Although the Aburame Clan could host insects inside their own bodies, they required Chakra to be fed. After all, Yui was only in the second grade and her Chakra was limited, so the number of insects inside her body was certainly not high. The fact that she chose to dodge rather than use her insects to block Inuzuka Sa's shuriken showed that she had already released all the insects within her body to fight. In other words, Yui was currently in a defenseless state!

Therefore, as long as Inuzuka Sa could hold on, victory would definitely be hers. But unfortunately, Inuzuka Sa, who was being relentlessly chased by the insects, was also rapidly exhausting her stamina. Especially when she realized there was only one shuriken left in her Ninja Tool Pouch, she knew she had lost this match again.

"I give up."

Inuzuka Sa gasped for air and surrendered with refreshing frankness.

At the same time, the insects chasing her in the air stopped immediately, flew back to Aburame Yui, and crawled into the collar and cuffs of her trench coat, vanishing in an instant.

Although it wasn't the first time everyone had seen this, the mental image of countless bugs crawling all over one's body still made them shudder.

"The winner of the final test is Yui!"

Kashima Isamu recorded their performances as he spoke. "The test is over. Everyone, return to the classroom. Theory class starts in ten minutes!"

"Yes!"

"What a pity, Sa."

Anko supported Inuzuka Sa, who was physically exhausted, and offered encouragement. "You almost won."

"No, Yui went easy on me," Inuzuka Sa said with a wry smile. "Her insects weren't chasing me with full force; otherwise, I would have lost much sooner."

"Woof woof."

Shiromaru barked twice, looking a bit unhappy. It was still too small and hadn't been able to help its little master at all.

"You did your best too, Shiromaru. Thank you."

Inuzuka Sa patted Shiromaru's head as it lay on her shoulder, smiling to reveal two small dimples.

"Still, Yui is just too strong. She's definitely the strongest student in our year. I think she's not even any worse than those upperclassmen."

Iruka looked on with admiration. "I wish I were as strong as her."

"That's easy. Just raise a few thousand insects inside your body," Hanfu said, hooking his arm around Iruka's neck and whispering in his ear.

"No, absolutely not!!"

The mere thought of thousands of insects crawling on him made Iruka's scalp tingle. "Hanfu, please, don't say such terrifying things."

"That's prejudice. If Yui heard you, she'd be so sad," Hanfu teased.

"E-even so, I still don't want to." Iruka was a man of principle.

Hanfu shrugged. He guessed the other students in the class felt the same way; while they envied Aburame Yui's formidable strength, they were also terrified of her insects. Consequently, everyone kept their distance from her, making the already low-profile Aburame Yui seem practically invisible.

So, if he were to approach Aburame Yui right now and butter her up, Hanfu figured there was a high chance he could gain her favor, and then... collect?

Hanfu rubbed his chin, deep in thought.

Seeking recommendations!

Thanks to book friends Shadowover and Kishimoto Yeshi for their support!