The Uchiha Start Selling the Hype

Before long, the Uchiha Clan's kids had dug two holes at each end of the field. They then brought out spiral poles, secured and buried them, and raised them into a large horizontal bar.

"Isn't that a horizontal bar? There's already one over there. Why are they making another one?" the onlookers wondered.

"That's not a horizontal bar," one of the Uchiha replied after hearing this.

Next, the Uchiha children brought out a net and two more long, thin spiral poles. After some deft handling, they quickly fixed a standard soccer net onto the frame.

"What is that?" the crowd asked in surprise.

"That's a goal," an Uchiha answered.

"A goal? What's it for?" Everyone was even more confused.

"It's for training," another Uchiha answered.

"Training? Training with a goal? How do you train with that? Does it even work?" The crowd was completely baffled.

"Of course it works. Not only can you train with it, you can play with it too. You'll find out soon enough," Uchiha Mion said proudly.

"That's right. Uchiha Chuan designed it," Obito added, his tone full of pride.

"Hey, Obito, are you ready over there?" an Uchiha at the other end called out.

"We're ready!" Obito shouted back.

"Who's going to be the referee?" someone asked.

"Kakashi, can you be the referee? These are the rules." Obito suddenly handed Kakashi a rulebook.

"Let me take a look first." Curious about what Obito and the others were planning, Kakashi immediately took the rulebook and examined it carefully.

Asuma, Kurenai Yuhi, Genma Shiranui, Ebisu, Might Guy, and the others gathered around as well, watching curiously.

"Stilt Football!" Asuma read the title on the rulebook in surprise.

"Stilt Football? So those things earlier weren't crutches—they were stilts!" Someone immediately realized what they were and cried out.

"What does Stilt Football mean? Do you play soccer on stilts?" someone asked, taking the name at face value.

"That's right. Stilt Football is soccer played on stilts." By then, Uchiha Mion, Obito Uchiha, and the others were already standing steadily atop their stilts. Obito in particular had even taken out a soccer ball and was juggling it in midair with his stilts. His movements were somewhat clumsy, but they were still more than enough to amaze everyone.

"Wow, Obito, you're amazing!" Seeing Obito continuously kick the ball up into the air with his stilts, Rin Nohara praised him without reservation.

"Hehe, this is just average." Obito modestly replied with pride, though his face was full of smugness.

"Tch, it's just kicking a ball on stilts. What's so impressive about that? I could do it too." Asuma and Kakashi had finished reading the rules by then, and Asuma spoke with complete confidence. In his eyes, it was just a simple game with nothing difficult about it.

"Is that so? Then you can form a team and play against us. The rules are one half, meaning forty-five minutes. Whoever scores more goals wins. The winning team stays on the field, while the losing team steps down and a new team comes up to challenge them. We can play a match first and show you how it works. You probably aren't familiar with it just from reading the rules." Obito immediately proposed.

"Tch, you think we're afraid of you? You Uchiha can just wait to lose to our Sarutobi Clan!" Asuma declared proudly. He had been worrying about how to find a way to challenge the Uchiha Clan, and Stilt Football was exactly what he wanted.

"Kakashi, have you got it? We're just waiting on you, referee." Obito turned to Kakashi.

"I've got it, but I don't have a whistle," Kakashi replied.

"Hehe, we came prepared. Here." Obito handed him a whistle.

Kakashi did not hesitate. He took the whistle and gave it a sharp "beep."

"Players from both sides, take the field!" Kakashi shouted.

"Go! Go! Victory!"

"Uchiha are invincible!"

In an instant, the players from both sides erupted with astonishing fighting spirit, and the atmosphere grew heated.

"Wow, they look so imposing! This is getting so exciting!"

"Yeah, yeah! I'm looking forward to it now!"

The students immediately got fired up, no longer caring that these were the Uchiha they usually disliked.

"Wow, go Uchiha!" The girls were especially captivated by the Uchiha boys' good looks, cheering for them with flushed faces.

Both sides immediately took up their positions, with Obito standing in front of the goal as goalkeeper.

"Obito, you're really useless. You actually chose to be goalkeeper," Asuma said disdainfully when he saw Obito guarding the goal.

"Tch, what do you know? It's called teamwork," Obito replied proudly.

"Obito, you're amazing. You even know about teamwork," Rin Nohara said in surprise.

"Hehe, of course." Obito became even happier, his face brimming with smugness.

"Since we still have classes this afternoon, we won't flip for sides. We'll use the sides you're currently occupying." Kakashi stood at the sideline with the whistle in hand, his tone calm and composed. He had already explained the rules in detail, and now he handled his role as referee with ease.

Was this what one should expect from genius Kakashi? Or perhaps ninjas simply could not be judged by ordinary standards.

"Now, choose who attacks first," Kakashi continued, his gaze sweeping across both teams.

"We'll attack first!" the captain of the upper-year Uchiha Team said without hesitation, his tone full of confidence.

"Alright, the match begins!" Once the attacking side had been decided, Kakashi blew his whistle, and the match officially began.

At once, the upper-year Uchiha players surged forward. As upperclassmen, they were stronger and more skilled at moving on stilts than Obito's group. The problem they had two days earlier, when their dribbling was either too hard or too soft, had been completely corrected after two days of training.

"Stop him!" Uchiha Mion immediately shouted.

"Watch my stilt flying tackle!" In an instant, a figure rushed out at high speed on stilts. It was Obito. He launched into a fierce sliding tackle at the upper-year Uchiha dribbling the ball.

"I jump!" The upper-year Uchiha clamped his legs together, catching the soccer ball firmly between his stilts. He then leaped into the air with the ball, easily avoiding Obito's sliding tackle.

"Wow, that's amazing!"

"He actually caught the ball between them!"

"That was incredible!"

A wave of cries rang out from outside the field. Catching a moving soccer ball between two stilts was no simple feat. It was a round ball—hard enough to clamp even when it was still, let alone while it was moving!

"Tch, what's so great about that? If it were me, I'd definitely do better than him." Watching the Uchiha steal the spotlight, Asuma felt extremely annoyed and wished he could take his place. In that brief moment, all the students had accepted Stilt Football and had even begun cheering for the Uchiha's impressive performance.

"You're not getting past!" Uchiha Mion rushed over and blocked the upper-year Uchiha.

Bang! The two crashed into each other fiercely, then rebounded away. The ball rolled off to the side.

"Damn it!" The upper-year Uchiha immediately moved to rush for the ball.

However, Uchiha Mion charged in again and blocked him firmly. At the same time, another lower-year Uchiha had already gotten the ball and kicked it toward the other side.

The lower-year Uchiha on the other side received the ball and immediately drove straight toward the opposing goal.

"Don't even think about it!" The upper-year Uchiha launched into a sliding tackle.

The lower-year Uchiha quickly passed the ball away, while he himself was knocked down by the upper-year Uchiha's sliding tackle.

"Attack! Keep attacking!" the lower-year Uchiha players shouted.

But the lower-year Uchiha who received the ball did not dare attack recklessly, because three upper-year Uchiha had already surrounded him. He could only pass the ball backward.

The lower-year Uchiha behind him received it and sent another pass forward.

Another lower-year Uchiha kicked the ball high into the air, then suddenly spun through the air and struck the soccer ball with a vicious kick, shooting directly at the goal!

"Cheap trick!" the upper-year Uchiha goalkeeper said disdainfully.

The next moment, he leaped into the air as well and slammed a heavy kick into the incoming ball, sending it flying away.

"Wow, that's amazing! So cool!"

"Uchiha! Uchiha! Uchiha!"

In an instant, the cheers shook the entire Konoha Ninja Academy and even reached the nearby Konoha Hospital and Hokage Office Building.