I Predicted That You'd Predict My Prediction

Uchiha Rin had barely finished speaking when she abruptly flicked her hand.

With several sharp whistles through the air, a few kunai shot toward Hyuga Satoru, all aimed at vital spots.

"Wood?"

Hyuga Satoru's pupils contracted when he saw what the kunai were made of.

She knew my ability could control metal, so she'd switched all her ninja tools to wood in advance?

Once he figured it out, a grave look crossed Hyuga Satoru's face. He twisted backward, narrowly dodging every kunai.

Uchiha Rin reached for the pouch at her waist and threw another volley of wooden kunai. They collided with one another in midair, changing trajectory until they formed an airtight net that swept toward him.

Hyuga Satoru's heart jumped. She was using the Uchiha Throwing Technique with wooden kunai? The rebound of metal and wood was completely different.

The same throwing technique was much harder with wooden weapons!

She hadn't gained an advantage using that move last time. Was she trying it again, but with wooden kunai?

Hyuga Satoru gave a wry smile.

She really was a try-hard!

It was easy to imagine how much she'd trained in secret to recreate that move with wooden kunai.

With a metal kunai in hand, Hyuga Satoru retreated, batting away every incoming weapon. Fortunately, the electrical current had greatly boosted his reflexes, so he could handle this kind of attack with ease.

He glanced around. Uchiha Rin had vanished from where she'd been standing. A rush of air sounded beside him as her slender leg swept toward him, the tip of her foot aimed at his chest.

Hyuga Satoru twisted aside. Her foot skimmed past his chest, the wind of her kick howling.

Is she getting serious?

Sensing the pressure, Hyuga Satoru didn't dare take her lightly. He activated his Byakugan and entered combat mode.

The sharp smacks of bodies colliding echoed through the woods, shaking leaves from the trees until they carpeted the ground.

"Why don't you use Gentle Fist?" Uchiha Rin asked curiously.

"I'm not a fan of it. Gentle Fist is too rigid, and it has too many limitations."

Hyuga Satoru raised a palm to block her sweeping leg, then drove his right fist toward her upper thigh, forcing her to retreat.

"But breaking down the techniques and targeting weak points suits my rhythm better."

Uchiha Rin nodded. If he'd used standard Gentle Fist, its predictable attacks might not have put her under so much pressure. But Hyuga Satoru's strikes had no set pattern. Every blow targeted a weak point, leaving her flustered.

Seeing that she couldn't gain an advantage up close, Uchiha Rin hopped back to open some distance and formed Hand Seals.

Recognizing the order of the seals, Hyuga Satoru raised an eyebrow and said dismissively, "You're still using the Great Fireball? Wasn't last time lesson enough?"

But Uchiha Rin acted as if she hadn't heard him. She drew in a deep breath, then spat out a blazing orange-red fireball.

Hyuga Satoru's heart jumped. The Great Fireball wasn't aimed at him-it was aimed at the open ground between them!

With the distance so short, the fireball slammed into the ground at once. Orange flames scattered the fallen leaves, and dark smoke burst outward with flying sparks, swallowing Hyuga Satoru.

Hyuga Satoru had no choice but to jump back at once.

The moment he cleared the blast radius, a cold gust suddenly rushed up behind him.

Before he could react, a slender arm hooked around his upper body, pinning his arms and torso in place. A wooden kunai pointed at his throat.

Uchiha Rin held the wooden kunai against Hyuga Satoru's throat, a hint of pride on her lovely face. She spoke softly.

"I win!"

Heh...

She'd taken advantage of my dismissive attitude toward the Great Fireball, blasted the ground to force me to dodge in a hurry, then predicted where I'd land and circled around to attack from behind?

Though the main reason was that I'd let my guard down and failed to dodge.

Still, Hyuga Satoru couldn't help praising her. Uchiha Rin's tactical thinking was already on par with that of an average Genin.

But...

"Do you really think you can beat me with just that? You're being a little naive."

The corner of his mouth curled up.

"Did you forget about my other Kekkei Genkai?"

Uchiha Rin's pupils contracted as if she'd remembered something. Her gaze drifted downward, and a chill crept up her spine.

A metal shuriken floated beside her throat, slowly spinning.

"When...?"

Her voice trembled. The pride from moments before had vanished.

"The moment your Great Fireball exploded, I used Magnet Release to control four shuriken and make them hover around us. The moment you showed up, those shuriken would've taken your life. In other words..."

"I predicted that you'd predict my prediction!"

At his words, Uchiha Rin looked around and found the other three shuriken slowly spinning in the air around her.

"Magnet Release... What a terrifying ability."

"I lost..."

The kunai drooped away from Hyuga Satoru's throat. Uchiha Rin's eyes had lost their former sparkle, leaving only disappointment and dejection.

"Hey, don't give up on yourself. Your Sharingan hasn't awakened yet, after all. If you had it, the outcome might've been completely different."

Worried she might lose heart, Hyuga Satoru tried to comfort her.

"Don't comfort me. I'm not that fragile."

Uchiha Rin shot Hyuga Satoru a cold look, and the spark returned to her eyes.

"Tell me, what's your condition?"

Uchiha Rin put the wooden kunai back in her ninja tool pouch and stared coldly at Hyuga Satoru.

Before their match, she'd agreed to his condition. Now that she'd lost, she had to honor their deal.

She believed she had at least that much integrity.

"But I'm warning you. If you ask for anything outrageous..." Uchiha Rin bit her lip. "Even if it costs me my life, I'll kill you!"

"That won't be necessary!"

Noticing the chill in Uchiha Rin's voice, Hyuga Satoru rubbed his head and smiled.

Then he took a sheet of paper from his clothes and handed it to Uchiha Rin.

"Your Uchiha Clan has a good relationship with the Ninja Cat Clan, right? Cat Granny is one of the biggest ninja tool merchants in the Shinobi World. I'd like you to help me get this made. I'll pay for it."

Uchiha Rin froze.

She took the drawing. It showed a weapon resembling a crossbow, but unlike anything she'd seen before.

"That's it?"

Uchiha Rin looked up at Hyuga Satoru in surprise.

"What did you think it was?"

Hyuga Satoru rolled his eyes.

He'd already asked at most of the ninja tool shops in Leaf Village, and it was very difficult to have such a precision Electromagnetic Cannon custom-made. The Uchiha Clan was on good terms with Cat Granny, the Shinobi World's biggest ninja tool merchant, and was the clan in Leaf Village with the easiest access to ninja tools.

In other words, he was just making use of Uchiha Rin's connections.

"Leave it to me. Don't worry about the money-it's no big deal."

Uchiha Rin said generously.

"Really... Then thanks, Rin."

Hyuga Satoru was taken aback. Her offer left him feeling a little embarrassed.

He'd asked about the price in advance, and even the cheapest version of this weapon would cost tens of thousands of ryo. He'd planned to ask Uchiha Rin to give him a discount because they were classmates.

He hadn't expected her to offer to do it for free!

This girl...

Could she be rich?

Hyuga Satoru's eyes lit up.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Uchiha Rin asked, puzzled.

"Nothing!"

Hyuga Satoru swallowed. Uchiha Rin was a cool, long-haired little girl, and the way she looked at him made his heart race.

At that moment, a voice sounded in his mind.

Don't become a convicted lolicon!!!

"But there's something I'm curious about."

Uchiha Rin said hesitantly.

"Why is your Magnet Release so powerful? I thought ordinary Magnet Release couldn't control shuriken and kunai so easily. Otherwise, Sunagakure wouldn't be the weakest of the Five Great Villages."