Dominating the First Year

"Hey, get out of the way!"

A well-meaning warning echoed through the corridor. If he took a solid punch from someone of the Akimichi Clan, a dislocated joint or broken bone would count as a minor injury—one that might keep him in the hospital for ten days or half a month!

But then a scene that stunned everyone watching unfolded before their eyes. The little kid, three grades below them, didn't retreat. He clenched his fist and charged forward, clearly intent on meeting force with force!

"Good heavens!"

"What kind of teacher raised a student like that?"

"Didn't he see the huge 'Food' character? Doesn't he know it's the Akimichi Clan's crest?"

"Does he think being young means he'll get special treatment?"

"Ridiculous."

A cruel, disdainful grin appeared on Rin Sarutobi's face.

"That Akimichi Hishi is a brute who knows nothing but how to use his strength. He's someone even I wouldn't want to face, and this idiot thinks he can trade punches with him? He's asking to be humiliated!"

Of course, a few boys and girls in dark blue ninja uniforms showed no surprise. Instead, a hint of amusement and pity appeared in their haughty eyes.

"Only a fool would underestimate the Uchiha—and that kid—like this. It's a terrible choice."

"You should know that even Lord Yashiro called Arata a second Itachi!"

"Enjoy your despair!"

"Just like they did back then."

Unlike the confidence of the other members of her clan, Izumi Uchiha couldn't help clenching her fists.

She believed Arata could fight opponents above his level, and that he might even be invincible in the academy. But that was only in a one-on-one fight. The three blocking his way were this year's Ino-Shika-Cho, and they were as close as brothers despite belonging to different clans. If Akimichi Hishi got hurt, Yamanaka Reki and Nara Mori wouldn't just stand by and watch.

The Sharingan was powerful, but even against three capable older students who worked exceptionally well together, it might not be enough to give him the upper hand.

As the girl's thoughts raced, the two boys' fists slammed into each other.

Hishi held nothing back. Being strict and merciless with his junior was his way of looking out for him.

After all, the clan elders had warned them that though the era they lived in seemed peaceful, undercurrents still ran deep.

Arata didn't give an inch either. His expression was as calm as still water. The hulking boy before him was no more threatening than the training posts he used every day.

"Crack."

The crisp sound of bone rang through the corridor, and everyone's heartbeat seemed to skip.

Whose strength had won?

The answer came quickly.

"Argh!"

A pained scream burst from Akimichi Hishi, built like a bear, and he dropped to one knee in the corridor.

His features twisted in agony, his round face flushed bright red. His right arm hung limp, while his left hand trembled as he tried to touch the injured limb, afraid of making it worse.

The Akimichi Clan was famed for its strength, yet one of them had been overpowered in a contest of strength? The result was beyond anything the older students had expected!

That was Akimichi Hishi!

They'd lost more than a few times to his strength in their usual sparring matches.

By contrast, Uchiha Arata remained utterly composed. After pulling back his fist, he stood ramrod straight, like a sturdy pine. It wouldn't have been an exaggeration to say that he'd struck casually and still had plenty of strength to spare!

The contrast was simply too shocking.

"Hishi!"

"Arata, that was too much!"

A sharp shout drowned out the commotion around them.

Seeing his friend injured, Nara Mori moved first. As his fingers pressed together, a stretch of black shadow shot out from beneath his feet. At such close range, in such a narrow corridor, the kid before him had nowhere to run.

Mori wasn't the only one. Yamanaka Reki was a beat slower, but he formed Hand Seals in an instant as well.

They could bear the reputation of ganging up on a junior. Besides, this was just a bit of "tough love" from their seniors!

"Arata, look out!"

Izumi Uchiha could no longer suppress her agitation. Her calm gaze wavered, and a pair of Two-Tomoe Sharingan appeared in her eyes.

"They're really going to gang up on him three to one!"

"That's too much!"

But before she could push past the students in front of her and join the fight, the kid at the center of the "storm" moved again. More precisely, his eyes moved.

Without even glancing at the shadow about to reach him, Arata stared straight at Yamanaka Reki. A Single-Tomoe Sharingan glimmered in his crimson eyes, radiating an invisible menace.

He had no intention of letting anyone invade his mind and turn him into a puppet on strings.

"Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique."

A surging wave of ocular power erupted in an instant.

"Dammit!"

The moment Yamanaka Reki saw those scarlet eyes, he tried to shut his own.

No one wanted to look directly into the Sharingan. Even with mental strength far beyond that of his peers, he didn't dare!

But it was too late.

He never would have guessed that, although Mori had struck first—and that shout had been one of his usual tricks to draw an opponent's attention—the kid before him would choose to attack him first.

Still, it didn't matter.

There were three of them, and they'd already learned how to counter the Sharingan in their matches against their classmates.

But despite thinking that, when wedge after wedge drove into his spiritual form, Yamanaka Reki couldn't help letting out a scream even more anguished than Hishi's.

The Uchiha's genjutsu tortured both body and mind!

By then, Nara Mori's Shadow Imitation Technique had reached Arata's feet. But with only a hair's breadth left to go, Mori abruptly lost control of the technique!

It wasn't because he'd fallen under a genjutsu too.

A sharp shard of ice had silently appeared right in front of his eye. With the slightest push, his right eye would be gone!

Following the ice shard back to its source, Mori saw the kid they'd underestimated raise his right arm, one finger pointed straight at him.

Clearly, he was the one who'd used this Ice Release technique!

"Fighting two of us at once while distracted?"

"How is that possible?"

"Can he use a ninjutsu without Hand Seals?"

Questions thundered through Nara Mori's mind. Cold sweat beaded on his back and soaked into his clothes. The shard of ice radiated a bone-chilling cold. It hadn't even touched him, yet it looked ready to blind him.

"Two Kekkei Genkai!"

"So this is what it means to have two Kekkei Genkai?"

Mori's heart trembled, his pupils contracted, and his memories flashed back to three years ago. At the time, a clan elder had warned their generation: "Another genius has appeared among the Uchiha. He's mastered a second Kekkei Genkai. His name is Arata. Don't provoke him without good reason."

But he'd been young and arrogant, convinced that the bond between Ino-Shika-Cho could overcome any enemy. He hadn't paid the warning any attention.

He'd never imagined that, on the very day they graduated, he'd get a firsthand taste of the helplessness of being utterly outclassed.

It wasn't just the three youngsters from Ino-Shika-Cho. Every older student watching had fallen silent with fear. From Akimichi Hishi's attack to Yamanaka Reki's scream and Nara Mori's surrender, it had all happened in the blink of an eye.

Yet that instant was more than enough to etch Arata's name into their minds, just like Itachi, who had applied to graduate after only one year in their class!

The shock he left behind was even more immediate!

Not far away, Rin Sarutobi's cruel grin froze on his face. The amusement in his eyes was gradually replaced by a surging fear.

"How long would I last against him?"

He didn't know.