(You all come at me.)
"Let the match begin!" the referee announced.
"Whoosh, whoosh!" Two shuriken flew from Uchiha Itachi's hand.
Seeing Uchiha Itachi's standard opening move, Takiji sneered. "Ha! You think shuriken throwing at that level can hit me? That's pathetic!" He readied his kunai, intending to knock Itachi's shuriken out of the air.
Mirai heard him and curled his lip. Even he couldn't fully predict the shuriken thrown by Itachi. The guy was way too confident. Itachi's talent with shuriken and kunai was beyond anyone else's; no amount of hard work could bring someone to that level.
Sure enough, just as Takiji was about to knock Itachi's shuriken away, the two projectiles suddenly changed direction right before reaching him. He had no time to react.
"Slash!" The shuriken cut two gashes into either side of Takiji's face. Blood began to run down his cheeks. The wounds weren't deep, and the bleeding soon stopped, but it felt like an insult. He'd just been loudly mocking his opponent, and now his face had been cut—apparently with Itachi even holding back.
Takiji wiped his face. When he saw the blood on his hand, his expression twisted with rage. "You bastard! You bastard! How dare you hurt me!"
The sight made several ninjas shake their heads. With an attitude like that, even decent ability wouldn't be enough to graduate. He needed to learn to control himself. Otherwise, even if he graduated, he'd only cause trouble for his own side.
"You little brat! I won't let you get away with this!" Takiji rushed at Itachi, kunai in hand. Itachi drew his own kunai and met him head-on. Takiji intended to use his strength and speed to defeat him.
But there wasn't much difference between them physically. Itachi was shorter, but stronger and faster.