Uchiha Yakumaru

"Kekkei Genkai are truly convenient."

Feeling the progress Hyuga Hane had made, Dai sighed inwardly.

However, he quickly adjusted his mood, and the green steam rising from his body grew even more intense.

"It seems the Gate of Limit has nothing left to teach you, so take a look at this move."

"Eight Inner Gates, Sixth Gate, Gate of View, open!"

Seeing flames attach to Dai's fists as the Gate of View opened, Hane's pupils constricted, and he instantly dodged several meters away.

"Morning Peacock!"

The burning shadows of flaming fists enveloped the entire area, destroying everything in their path.

So this move was taught to Guy by Dai? Truly terrifying, Hyuga Hane mused to himself.

Guy could go toe-to-toe with Kisame just by opening the Sixth Gate of the Eight Inner Gates.

If he relied solely on the Konoha Strong Fist Style and the Gate of Limit without using Gentle Fist techniques, he would never be able to withstand such a lethal skill of the Gate of View.

"Hane, you are only fifteen now. You will certainly be able to open the Gate of View in the future, but I cannot be certain about the Seventh Gate beyond that."

Dai looked at Hane solemnly.

"I will now teach you all the taijutsu moves I have created; whether you can use them or not depends entirely on you."

"Yes!" Hane nodded heavily.

The two trained until late at night before parting ways.

The next day, Hyuga Hane received a notification from the Anbu.

The Jonin examination would begin in one day!

As a vital combat force for a ninja village, Jonin are a key standard by which each village measures its strength.

Currently, due to the war, excluding Special Jonin, Konoha only has about one hundred Jonin left, each one serving as the core and captain of a squad.

In critical moments, these individuals can even become commanders of a theater of war, which speaks to their strength and status.

On the day of the exam, Hyuga Hane was taken by the Anbu to an underground training ground.

Twenty people had already arrived there ahead of time.

Hyuga Hane observed them quietly; he recognized most of them, though it was only a one-sided knowledge of their intelligence and abilities.

The only one he was unfamiliar with was a youth wearing the Uchiha clan crest.

When Hyuga Hane looked at him, the Uchiha youth keenly sensed it, turned his head, and saw a pair of Byakugan.

"..."

A member of the Hyuga Clan, huh.

The youth's expression visibly soured, and he sneered, "Is everything fine within your clan now? You actually have time to come out for the Jonin exam?"

Recent internal affairs within the Hyuga Clan had caused quite a bit of trouble for the Military Police Force.

Some bodies of Hyuga clansmen had not been discovered by patrol units in time and were seen by villagers, leaving the cleanup work to them.

Not only did they fail to catch the culprit, but the higher-ups also acted as if they didn't want to investigate further, which had been irritating the Uchiha of the Military Police Force for a long time.

Hyuga Hane watched him indifferently for a moment, then shifted his gaze away, no longer looking at him, and turned to observe the others.

"You..."

The blatant disregard made the youth even more furious, but thinking of the impression the Hyuga Branch Family left on him—mostly a group of gloomy and withdrawn guys—he felt it was only natural.

So he could only say unpleasantly, "Hmph, observing won't help. The Jonin exam tests strength; if you're a piece of trash without enough power, don't bother coming. My name is Uchiha Yakumaru, a Special Jonin. Pray you don't run into me."

Hyuga Hane, who originally hadn't intended to pay him any mind, wore a strange expression for a moment and turned to look at him.

"Uchiha Yakumaru?"

"What, have you heard of my reputation?" Seeing Hyuga Hane respond, Uchiha Yakumaru's sour expression improved slightly, and he looked at him with his arms crossed. "Seeing that you're only about fifteen, this is your first time taking the Jonin exam, right?"

"If you run into me, you won't even get a chance to show what you can do, let alone become a Special Jonin."

Konoha does not have a specific exam for promoting to Special Jonin, only for promoting to Jonin.

After all, a Special Jonin is simply someone with an outstanding ability but insufficient overall strength to serve as a Jonin; there is no need to set up a separate exam for them.

One only needs to record the abilities of the ninjas eliminated during the Jonin exam and select suitable candidates from among them.

But if one performs too poorly in the exam, they can only continue to stay at the Chunin level.

So...

"If you apologize to me properly on behalf of the Hyuga Clan, I might just let you off."

Hyuga Hane did not reply.

This Uchiha Yakumaru before him clearly thought of him as a mere Chunin.

"I haven't heard of your reputation; I just think your name is very similar to Yaku-senpai."

Yakumaru... this name is surprisingly fitting for an Uchiha.

The person who named you was quite farsighted.

"Uncle Yaku-mi?" Uchiha Yakumaru frowned, his arrogant expression vanishing as he looked Hyuga Hane up and down. "Did you retreat from the Mist Village Battlefield?"

Uchiha Yaku-mi was a direct subordinate of Uchiha Fugaku, having always served him with the utmost dedication.

Originally a high-ranking member of the Military Police Force and a relative of his, he was currently active on the Mist Village Battlefield alongside Clan Head Fugaku due to the needs of the war.

Thinking of this, his expression softened. "Since you are a comrade of Uncle Yaku-mi, I won't hold this against you."

"I suppose I can show you mercy when we meet and let you show off a bit."

"Are you trying to get disqualified by discussing such things before the exam?"

A gentle voice came from behind. Yakumaru's expression stiffened, and he turned his head reluctantly to see the smiling Fourth Hokage.

"Lord Hokage, I wasn't..."

"I know, but underestimating an opponent is a major taboo, Yakumaru."

Namikaze Minato smiled warmly. "Hane is just like you; he is also a Special Jonin."

"...?"

Uchiha Yakumaru stared wide-eyed at Hyuga Hane.

A fifteen-year-old Special Jonin, a genius on the verge of becoming a Jonin, not much different from himself—and he was acting like a novice here?

A Chunin participating in the Jonin exam might be overestimating their own abilities, but a Special Jonin who dared to participate was essentially a sure bet.

Yet this member of the Hyuga Clan had been observing those Chunin as if he were wary of them, leading him to believe the other was participating for the first time.

What a lunatic!

Ignoring Uchiha Yakumaru's gaze, Hyuga Hane said respectfully, "Lord Hokage."

Observing those Chunin and gathering intelligence on them was necessary for him; after all, in a few years, these people would be the backbone of Konoha!

"Mm."

Nodding in response, Namikaze Minato looked at Hyuga Hane with satisfaction. "You must maintain this level of vigilance in the future as well."

After all, he had been tempered on the battlefield, which made his mindset different from Yakumaru's.

Although Uchiha Yakumaru was also a Special Jonin, he was a ninja the Uchiha had kept in Konoha, and he had grown up during the peaceful period between the Second and Third Shinobi World War.

His temperament lacked tempering, and when combined with the arrogance unique to the Uchiha Clan...

He likely viewed this exam as nothing more than an optional test.

For a ninja, even a single Explosive Tag could threaten their life, and Chunin were far more dangerous than Explosive Tags.

If he underestimated them, he might very well capsize in the gutter.

Minato recalled the time he rescued Kushina; the ninjas who had kidnapped her had underestimated him just the same.