Ninja Academy Conflict

"Yosh! The next lesson is an outdoor practice class! Kakashi, let's have a match!" Once again, that energetic, hot-blooded youth Might Guy raised his thumb high and issued a challenge to his desk mate, as if he hadn't been the one standing around like a nameless mob during the theory class just a second before...

"Tch, Guy. Just don't embed your shuriken in my target again. Stop making a fool of yourself trying to challenge Kakashi." Not far away, Asuma Sarutobi stretched lazily and bantered with Guy.

After a while, mutual understanding among the classmates had deepened considerably. Although Kakashi was indeed as powerful as the rumors said, far surpassing the rest of them, he possessed very little arrogance. As for Might Guy, whom Kakashi had taken a fancy to as his so-called lifelong rival, he existed at the very bottom of the class in terms of strength.

They were all boys, so they didn't watch their words too closely, but Guy's optimistic and cheerful personality also earned him a lot of points. With Kakashi acting as a big tree to lean on, Guy got along reasonably well with his classmates.

"No, no, no, Asuma, don't worry, today I'll definitely hit every single target!"

With that, he threw an arm around Kakashi's shoulders, and the two walked out of the classroom together to wait for the outdoor training class to begin.

The effective target-shooting distance for Ninja Academy students was ten meters. A group of first-year students formed two lines, stepping up in turn to throw darts and shuriken.

The front students performed mediocrely, but when it came to Uchiha Tekka, the gap between him and the previous classmates was immediately visible the moment he made his move.

All ten darts accurately struck the target, and several hit the bullseye. As for the shuriken, he threw them all at once, and every single one hit home.

This drew a wave of admiration, along with praise from the instructor.

"Tekka-kun's shurikenjutsu is fantastic; everyone should learn from him."

Tekka could not hide the smugness written across his face, but to maintain his persona as an Uchiha genius, he forced his expressions under control, looking aloof and detached. This only made a group of little fangirls shriek.

One had to admit that the genetics of the Uchiha clan were indeed quite good; he had rarely seen anyone among them who was ugly.

When it was Guy and Kakashi's turn, Kakashi gave a standard, middle-of-the-road performance, hitting every target without rushing or hesitating, and without showing off like Uchiha Tekka. Yet anyone who knew what they were looking at could tell that Kakashi's shurikenjutsu was clearly superior to Tekka's. Because the shuriken he threw were evenly distributed across the target with high visual appeal, and the time interval between each throw was extremely consistent, he looked completely at ease.

Seeing this, Uchiha Tekka frowned. He was a formidable opponent.

Guy must have practiced shuriken throwing more at home this week, as he performed well this time, managing to hit the targets at the very least with no misses.

After finishing the two rounds of shuriken practice, it was time for the routine taijutsu sparring.

In this segment, the teacher could arrange sparring matches between students of similar strength, or students could initiate free challenges.

Uchiha Tekka, who had lost a step in the shuriken segment, hadn't yet opened his mouth to challenge Kakashi when Obito Uchiha beat him to it.

Obito had jumped in before all the other classmates who wanted to spar with Kakashi. During class, he usually spent ninety percent of his energy focused on Rin Nohara, his classmate; discovering that the girl he secretly loved kept her eyes fixed on Kakashi the vast majority of the time, he couldn't help burning with jealousy.

For a long time, Kakashi had deliberately minimized contact with Obito, having already made up his mind that he didn't want the Sharingan anymore. In case Obito dug out his own eyeball later and he said he didn't want it, wouldn't that be awfully awkward...

The instructor, who had been preparing to counsel Obito, suddenly heard someone calling out to him from afar.

"Hey, you guys wait for me a moment. You can do some training first. Don't spar while I'm gone, to avoid any danger. Asuma, you're the class monitor, keep an eye on things." With that, the instructor flashed away.

"Never mind all that, come on, Kakashi! I'm going to defeat you!"

Paying no heed to what the teacher said before leaving, Obito clapped his fists together, ready to press on with his challenge against Kakashi.

"Hey, hey, Obito. The teacher just left, and you're already ignoring his words like this? That's not great." The go-gooder Asuma felt a slight headache.

Before Asuma could finish speaking, Obito launched his attack, kicking off hard with his rear foot and rushing toward Kakashi.

He swung his right hand, completely unconcerned about the opening across his torso.

Kakashi, who had no intention of coddling Obito, merely glanced indifferently at Obito's flaw-ridden attack. Half-turning, he delivered a back kick that struck Obito's abdomen with even greater speed.

Abruptly struck by this blow, Obito vomited a mouthful of bitter water, and his whole body flew backward, crashing into the tree behind him.

His first sensation was excruciating pain in his abdomen, followed by a feeling of seeing stars. Obito had already lost the ability to continue fighting. Having done all this, Kakashi acted as if nothing had happened; even his breathing rhythm remained completely unchanged.

"The winner, Hatake Kakashi!" Might Guy, who loved nothing more than stirring up trouble, temporarily served as the referee.

"Hmph!" In the upper-class student formation in the distance, which was also having a class, an Uchiha student with a cold expression walked over in dissatisfaction.

"Hey, white-haired brat. Obito is just the failure of our clan; don't think that beating him makes you some kind of big deal." Uchiha Kaze was an elite student in the fifth year. His strength was already enough to rival most Genin, though he lacked experience in many aspects.

"And then? Does the senior have something to say?" Indifferent, Kakashi had no intention of pandering to this textbook case of the red-eye disease. Arrogance, conceit, and looking down on everyone were common flaws among most Uchiha clan ninja.

"Your attitude pisses me off, kid." Kaze had originally only intended to dent Kakashi's momentum, but he hadn't expected to be ignored. As a senior elite student, he felt that he had been provoked by a newcomer and his face had lost dignity.

He walked forward a few steps, crossing the neutral zone that originally separated the two classes.

He stepped right up to Kakashi, towering over him.

"Kid, want a beating? Don't think that just because you're in the Ninja Academy, you're actually a ninja."

"When you say that kind of thing, you'd better have the strength to back it up, or it'll just become a joke. I don't think you have sufficient strength."

"Then you'd better not cry when you go running to the teacher to file a report."

Without a superfluous word, Kakashi silently formed the sign of confrontation in front of his chest, signaling that his opponent could begin the match.

"Such an arrogant brat, I have to teach you a lesson!"

With that, ignoring etiquette, he channeled chakra directly and rushed forward.

Compared to Obito, Uchiha Kaze had a better grasp of the fundamentals. Without so many openings, his solid punches and kicks showed that he had put in plenty of effort.

Blocking Kaze's sweep with a horizontal arm, Kakashi seized the moment before his opponent could change his stance and launched a direct front kick straight at his center. Kaze hadn't expected Kakashi's taijutsu level to be so high; Obito had lost too quickly earlier, leaving him without enough information.

Crossing his arms to block the kick, Kaze used the sheer force of the heavy blow to leap backward. Realizing that relying solely on taijutsu wouldn't subdue his opponent in a short time, his expression growing steadily darker, Kaze hardened his heart. He planted his feet apart and rapidly formed hand seals.

He took a deep breath. The Uchiha's signature trick.

Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique.

Given this kid's strength, he should be fine; at most, he'd just suffer burns and lie at home for a few days.

"Stop!"

"Stop, Uchiha Kaze!"

Cries of alarm from the two classes' teachers echoed from the distance. School leadership had just called both teachers away. The two instructors, returning at that exact moment, turned pale with fright when they saw Kaze forming seals to use a ninjutsu. But the distance was too great, and it was already too late to stop him.

He could have easily dodged away. But thinking of the crowd of onlookers behind him, he couldn't guarantee that all of them would be able to get out of the way; even though they had cleared a certain distance because of the fight, there was still a possibility of collateral injury.

He braced himself. Crossing his arms to protect his front, he weathered the fireball. The moment the fireball engulfed him, a faint layer of chakra surged from within his body, wrapping around his upper torso to prevent burns from the high heat.

The instant the heat wave subsided, he immediately channeled chakra to the soles of his feet, executing an unpracticed Body Flicker Technique. He had to finish this quickly; this shadow clone didn't have much chakra left.

Seeing Kakashi choose to take the hit head-on without dodging, Uchiha Kaze felt victory was within his grasp and extinguished the massive fireball, especially since his own chakra was running low.

Before he even had time to issue his victor's declaration, he felt a foreign object pressing against his back...

Having finished all this, Kakashi hadn't even had time to deal with the two teachers who had rushed to his side before his chakra reserves ran out, forcing him to dispel the Shadow Clone Technique.

Amidst a puff of smoke, three figures with varying expressions remained in the clearing, along with a surrounding crowd of students with their mouths hanging open.