A Genin's Provocation (Part 1)

Arashi's brows instantly knitted tight.

He remembered that voice.

Uchiha Tekka—the guy who had bullied Obito and Rin before and been taught a lesson by him.

He slowly raised his head and looked toward the direction the voice had come from.

At the entrance to the training ground stood a group of Uchiha clansmen.

The one leading them was Uchiha Tekka, a gloating smile on his face.

And beside Tekka stood a boy who looked a few years older than them.

The boy wore the Uchiha clan uniform, with a forehead protector on his brow that marked him as a ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village.

His gaze was arrogant as he looked Arashi over where he lay on the ground, as if inspecting garbage.

He spoke, his tone full of disdain and contempt. "Tekka, this kid doesn't even look six. You actually got beaten by him?"

"That's right, Sato!" Tekka hurriedly nodded, not minding the insult in the slightest. Instead, an aggrieved look appeared on his face.

"You have no idea! This brat must have stepped in some kind of dog-shit luck—he actually awakened the Sharingan, same as you."

"He's been relying on the Sharingan to bully people everywhere! Last time, he maliciously ambushed me when I wasn't paying attention. That's why I got hurt by him."

"And this time, who knows what nasty trick he's cooking up, lying here playing dead!"

He deliberately painted Arashi as vile, and the Uchiha youths around him chimed in.

"That's right! This guy only knows how to sneak attack!"

"He's basically trash who only knows underhanded tricks!"

"Sato, you have to avenge Tekka and us!"

The ninja called Sato curled his lips into a cold smile.

His name was Uchiha Sato. Three months ago, he had graduated from the Ninja Academy and become a genin.

Among the Uchiha clansmen who graduated in the same period, his talent was considered fairly outstanding. Not only had he mastered the Three Body Technique and the Great Fireball Technique, he had also awakened a pair of One-Tomoe Sharingan during a recent mission.

That had made him extremely arrogant, especially when facing "brats" still studying at the Ninja Academy. He felt a condescending sense of superiority.

Tekka had come to him and exaggerated Arashi's "evil deeds," describing Arashi as a "villain who relied on the Sharingan and sneak attacks to gain the title of 'genius.'"

Sato already couldn't stand anyone in the clan stealing more attention than him, much less a brat who hadn't even graduated yet.

So he immediately agreed to Tekka's request and came over to "teach a lesson" to this ignorant fool who didn't know the height of the heavens or the depth of the earth.

Sato took a few steps forward and looked down at Arashi lying on the ground, his tone contemptuous. "Kid, if you kneel and apologize to Tekka and the others, we can let this matter pass."

Arashi rolled his eyes. He slowly stood up from the ground and patted the dust off his body. His eyes were cold, as if he were looking at a swarm of noisy flies.

"Get lost." He spat out only one word.

"What did you say?!" Sato's face instantly darkened.

A Ninja Academy brat actually dared to speak to him like that?

Tekka immediately jumped up as well. "Uchiha Arashi! You've got a death wish! Sato is an official genin! He's also a genius of our Uchiha! How dare you talk to him like that!"

The people around them barked even louder.

"That's right, that's right, Uchiha Arashi, you're practically asking to die!"

"Exactly! Our Sato has one more tomoe than you do, and you still dare talk to him like that? You're dead! Dead!"

"Yeah, yeah, you'd better crawl down like a dog and crawl through each of our crotches. Maybe if Sato is feeling merciful, he'll let you off!"

"That's right, hurry up and crawl. Otherwise, no one in heaven or on earth can save you!"

"Heh heh heh, I've never experienced someone crawling through my crotch before. Don't think we don't know—you're just a mongrel bastard with no one raising you now. No one's going to back you up."

Seeing their swaggering, dog-backed-by-its-master arrogance, and hearing their words grow more vicious by the second, Arashi was instantly furious. "You bunch of mangy dogs, shut your damn mouths!"

"Genin? And a 'genius'? Hmph."

Arashi gave a scornful laugh and slowly straightened up.

"A genius is just the threshold for meeting me."

"A mere genin—take your lackeys and get the hell out, now!"

"You... you... you... you're asking to die!" Sato was so furious he could barely get the words out.

He suddenly stepped forward, and chakra fluctuations several times more vast than Kakashi's spread out from him.

In this world, where bloodline determined the upper limit of potential, the Uchiha had greater potential than ninja of every other clan. And that was even more true for an Uchiha who had awakened the Sharingan. In chakra alone, ordinary ninja could hardly hope to match them.

"Since you're so eager to die, today I'll show you the gap between a Ninja Academy brat and a real ninja!"

Before his words had even fallen, Sato's figure had already moved!

His movement speed was fast—even faster than Kakashi's.

His hand-seal speed was even swifter. In less than a single second, he cast a ninjutsu. "Ninja Art: Clone Technique!"

Bang!

Smoke spread, and three Satos appeared in the field, forming a triangle that surrounded Arashi.

Arashi remained unmoved and said coldly, "Petty tricks. Aren't you arrogant because you rely on the Sharingan? Today, I won't use the Sharingan. I'll let you see what a strong person really is!"

The three Satos shouted at the same time, "All talk. Watch closely! This is what a strong person is!"

With that, the three Satos formed hand seals again. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

Three basketball-sized fireballs, carrying scorching heat, roared toward Arashi!

The surrounding Uchiha clansmen cried out in alarm.

"So strong! I can feel the air around us being burned until it warps!"

"Sato really is amazing! That kid is dead for sure now!"

Tekka was even more ecstatic, as if he could already see Arashi burned into charcoal by the fireballs. He even started chanting a slogan.

"Sato, Sato, victory over evil! Take down little Arashi, punish the villain~"

Facing the roaring fireballs and the disgusting words that twisted black into white all around him, Arashi stood motionless in place.

The instant the fireballs were about to hit him, he moved!

He did not form seals, nor did he dodge normally. Instead, he abruptly fused the "qi" in his body with his chakra and poured it into his legs!

Whoosh!

His figure was like a ghost as, at an unbelievable angle, he narrowly avoided the Great Fireball.

The Great Fireball brushed past his shoulder and smashed into the rock wall to the side, letting out a thunderous boom and blasting out a charred black patch.

"What?!" Sato's pupils shrank, disbelief appearing on his face.

Such speed!

How could this kid be so fast?!

It was not just Sato. The mud-legged onlookers around them were all stunned as well.

Uchiha Arashi had actually dodged a Great Fireball coming from behind him so easily.

"Do you only know how to dodge?!" Sato flew into a rage out of embarrassment. The three clones moved at the same time, lunging at Arashi from three different directions, kunai in hand.

Arashi's eyes were icy. Instead of retreating, he advanced.

He condensed his "qi" in his right fist and charged straight at one of the clones.

Boom!

His punch blasted out, and that clone instantly turned into smoke and dispersed.

"Here!" Sato's true body roared, swinging his kunai as he stabbed toward Arashi's back.

Arashi seemed to have eyes on his back. Without even turning his head, his left foot suddenly kicked backward!

Bang!

The kick landed solidly in Sato's abdomen.

"Urgh!" Sato groaned, his body flying backward like a kite with its string cut. He slammed into the ground and slid a long way.

"Sato!" Tekka and the others' expressions changed drastically.

One move! In just one move, Sato had been defeated?

"No, did I see that wrong? Where's the one-sided beatdown I was expecting? How did it turn into this kind of one-sided beatdown?" Tekka's eyes went as wide as copper bells as he murmured.

The surrounding people fell silent. No one dared make a sound.

Sato struggled up from the ground, his face pale, and a trace of blood even seeped from the corner of his mouth.