From the stands, seeing his son finish the fight without a scratch, Hyuga Tianren was overjoyed.
But he merely kept a faint smile on his face, revealing none of his feelings.
Hyuga Yumiko, the elder seated closest to him, spoke up in praise. "Young Master Hoshishaku is the greatest genius our Hyuga Clan has seen in a hundred years!"
Hyuga Tianren agreed, but all he said was, "He did all right. Pretty well."
Across from them, Elder Hyuga Kazuya's eyes widened in disbelief. "Clan Head, he did far more than all right! That Kureha Kurama—I doubt anyone in the clan besides you could beat her. And Young Master Hoshishaku managed to capture her without a scratch. It's unbelievable! Capturing someone is much harder than killing them!"
Hyuga Tianren stuck to the same reply. "Heh, he did all right. Pretty well."
No one knew that he was so delighted he could feel every pore on his body opening.
A short distance away, a small group of Hyuga clan members were celebrating with particular enthusiasm, joining in with the villagers' cheers.
They were Hyuga Yunfei, Hyuga Shiin, Hyuga Ren, and Hyuga Kenshi.
Apart from Hyuga Shiin, the other three often sparred with their young master as part of their daily duel missions. But they were far too weak to have ever seen his true strength.
Now that they had, their joy was no less than the Clan Head's.
Farther away, Hyuga Yueye watched the arena with a look of resentment and melancholy. Sarutobi Hiruzen's face was twisted with jealousy and hatred, Shimura Danzō looked gloomy, Utatane Koharu seemed conflicted, and Mitokado Homura sat silently with a dark expression.
As fellow students of Senju Tobirama, they had lost their matches right at the start and missed out on joining their teacher's Genius Class.