Itachi Uchiha

Although he had yet to face Itachi, everyone already saw Yuun as the strongest of their class. With the Byakugan supporting him, along with techniques like the Gentle Fist and Rotation, Yuun's combat ability completely crushed those Genin who had just graduated.

The consequence of showing off in public was being made to stand as punishment by the teacher, but he received praise upon returning to the clan. The reason was that there was an Uchiha known as a genius in Yuun's class. To the Hyuga Clan, Yuun becoming the strongest of their class was a vicious blow to the Uchiha's pride. Although the Byakugan countered the Sharingan to some extent, once the Sharingan evolved into the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, its value surpassed that of the Byakugan. Moreover, the Uchiha clan truly had no mediocrities, and their standing in the village had always been higher than the Hyuga's.

Anyone with discerning eyes could see that Yuun's title as the strongest was somewhat inflated. The advantage of a bloodline limit was simply too great; to truly judge who was stronger, they would have to wait until adulthood. But the uninformed spectators kept egging things on, and the Hyuga Clan was more than happy to see anything that could undermine the Uchiha. That was how the matter spread.

"Hyuga, are you free this afternoon?" One day, Itachi, dressed in a skintight outfit, approached him. "I want to challenge you."

"Sure! Where?" Hana Inuzuka suddenly popped out, clearly eager for trouble. After being defeated by Yuun once, Hana had restrained herself considerably. After all, the Inuzuka clan's fighting style was indeed countered by the combination of the Byakugan and Gentle Fist. Unless she was vastly stronger than Yuun, facing Rotation would only leave her helpless.

"Hey, hey, Hana, I don't think I've agreed yet." Yuun helplessly pulled Hana Inuzuka off his back. It was technically a nice perk, but Yuun still had lingering fears about Hana's condition that day. Whenever she lay on his back, he worried that she might suddenly hold a grudge and claw him.

"Would you even refuse?" Hana Inuzuka said righteously.

"..." Yuun had no answer.

"Then it's settled. I'll wait for you at the training grounds during taijutsu class this afternoon. Don't stand me up." Itachi's stiff expression loosened slightly. He was not yet the genius who, several years later, could crush ordinary Jonin in combat. The pressure from both his clan and outsiders still weighed heavily on him.

"I'll be there on time. Don't stand me up." Yuun held out his fist toward Itachi. Itachi froze for a moment, then understood and bumped fists with him.

"Yuun, you have to beat that guy flat!" Hana Inuzuka excitedly dragged Yuun up from his seat. "Let's go work out some tactics. We have to beat that annoying bastard so badly he can't get up for half a month."

"I haven't even had lunch..." Yuun wailed as Hana Inuzuka dragged him away, leaving behind a classroom full of students engaged in heated discussion.

Because the war had not yet fully ended, teachers generally did not interfere much in fights or challenges between students. Only when there was a chance of serious consequences, like Yuun's previous duel with Hana Inuzuka, would the teacher punish them by making them stand. But this time was different. One side was the recently famous Hyuga, while the other was an Uchiha with overwhelming combat strength. If they really fought, even an ordinary Chunin teacher might not be able to stop them. Thus, their class teacher did not even have time for lunch before rushing to the Hokage to request support. At the very least, they needed an experienced Chunin to help. Otherwise, the Chunin instructors at the Ninja Academy, who had not fought for years, truly would not be able to handle it.

As for stopping the challenge, that was impossible. During wartime, the school wished its students could become fighters worth three men before they even graduated. For slightly older grades, the school would even arrange opportunities for them to draw blood. In that era, a ninja who had never killed anyone was simply unimaginable.

"Then, first form the Opposition Seal." Yuun and Itachi's teacher presided over the duel. Without saying anything more, Yuun and Itachi each raised one hand and formed the seal.

"Ready, begin!"

At the command, Yuun, who had long been poised to strike, charged half a step toward Itachi without hesitation. Eight Trigrams Palm: Rotation!

Bang! The moment the rapidly spinning chakra spread outward, Itachi, directly in front of Yuun, turned into a log and vanished.

"The Substitution Technique? Hmph, Byakugan!" Ninjas born into great clans could not be judged by ordinary standards. Even if five-year-old Itachi used the Substitution Technique, something normally taught only after graduation to Genin, it was nothing surprising.

The Byakugan allowed three-hundred-and-sixty-degree vision. As long as someone remained within its range, they could not hope to hide.

"Found you!" Given the strength of both duelists, along with Anbu and medical ninjas standing by, the school had provided ninja tools that Genin could use for this duel. There were no nice things like Explosive Tags or flash bombs, but five kunai, fifteen shuriken, a small bundle of wire, and one smoke bomb were more than enough.

Though he had no particular talent for throwing ninja tools, the Byakugan bloodline naturally resisted advanced ninjutsu, and he had no long-range attack methods in the early stages. Yuun had therefore still made time to train hard in throwing ninja tools. His accuracy could not compare to a genius like Itachi, but it ranked among the better students in their class.

The moment Yuun spotted him, Itachi retreated without hesitation and threw out two kunai at the same time. One knocked aside Yuun's shuriken, while the other flew straight at Yuun. If Yuun wanted to pursue him, he would first have to block Itachi's attack.

"If you're trying to drain my chakra, you're daydreaming." Yuun swept the kunai aside with his palm. After learning the Gentle Fist and Rotation, he had also mastered the technique of releasing chakra externally. Blocking a single kunai was no difficult task. If that kunai had been thrown by a Chunin or Jonin, Yuun naturally would not have been so arrogant, but Itachi's current strength was not enough to make Yuun take it too seriously.

"..." Itachi did not reply and simply threw another two kunai.

Yuun still swept them aside with his palm. He could see clearly that they were just two ordinary kunai, without wire or anything else attached. The outcome of this duel had been decided from the very beginning. The current Itachi could not possibly be Yuun's opponent. Even if Itachi had not revealed his equipment, Yuun could have used the Byakugan to know every detail of it.

Fortunately, the duel had no restrictions on terrain or time. Itachi could fight Yuun with guerrilla tactics, and as long as he did not run out of Konoha, it would not count as a violation. Of course, Yuun did not mind if Itachi intended to slowly wear him down. After all, Yuun was not the one being chased around, and it was the Uchiha who would lose face.

After learning the Gentle Fist, Yuun pursued complete control over every trace of strength in his body. He had not trained with weights for over a month. Although his endurance remained, his explosive power had declined considerably. On top of that, he was not going all out, so Itachi soon ran beyond the Byakugan's field of vision.

Even after losing Itachi's trail, Yuun continued moving unhurriedly. He knew Itachi wanted to test the range of his vision, so rather than focusing his sight in any particular direction, he simply maintained a field of vision with a hundred-meter radius as he slowly moved. His chakra reserves were plentiful, and years of consistent training had given him a powerful physique. Though that had also affected his flexibility and somewhat hindered his Gentle Fist training, that inconvenience was insignificant compared to the benefits. He had no desire to end up like Neji Hyuga when he fought Naruto Uzumaki during the Chunin Ninja Exams—unable to maintain the Byakugan due to a lack of chakra at the crucial moment, only to be caught off guard and defeated by Naruto Uzumaki.