Battle Against Uchiha Iwa

Uchiha Iwa's sudden stunt practically threw Hoshi's back out. This kid had actually improved after going up against him twice—and he was even telling him he could deduct his points.

So he was really using Flash to initiate a fight, implying that Hoshi wasn't good enough, huh?

Teacher Mitsui wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said, "Your rankings are very close, so challenging him won't cost you any points. Hoshi, do you want to fight Uchiha Iwa? Everyone gets one chance to refuse a challenge. You may decline."

Teacher Mitsui had clearly noticed the conflict between the two, so he quietly gave Hoshi a meaningful look, hoping Hoshi would snuff out the dispute before it escalated.

But Hoshi was no pushover. Having been provoked by Uchiha Iwa three times in a row, he had no intention of giving the other boy an easy way out. He slowly parted the crowd, stepped into the field, and said, "Teacher, I accept his challenge."

Seeing that this clearly would not end peacefully, Teacher Mitsui said nothing more. He merely tensed his muscles in secret, ready to prevent any accidents.

Hoshi and Uchiha Iwa took their positions in the field. After each put away six unsharpened kunai, they formed the Confrontation Seal together as required.

The moment the hand seal was complete, Uchiha Iwa impatiently launched his attack.

Although he had disliked Hoshi for a long time, that did not mean he had lost his precious intelligence.

Hoshi was still holding a Wooden Sword. Charging in stupidly would be no different from handing himself over for free.

Uchiha Iwa did not rush in recklessly. Instead, he first pulled three kunai from his Ninja Tool Pouch and threw them at Hoshi.

Uchiha Iwa's throwing skills were quite good. The three kunai shot toward Hoshi in a triangular formation, accurately sealing off his escape routes.

This was an introductory technique of Uchiha Style Shurikenjutsu. It effectively restricted an enemy's movements; whether they moved left, moved right, or stayed still, they would have to face at least one kunai.

Only after throwing the kunai did Uchiha Iwa pull out another one, gripping it as he rapidly closed in on Hoshi.

The students at the edge of the field held their breath. Could Hoshi evade such an attack? Yet as he watched the whistling kunai fly toward him, Hoshi felt no nervousness. Two months of sparring with Sakumo had given him excellent reflexes.

He could block even Sakumo's blade when it stabbed at him from close range, much less the kunai flying at him now.

Hoshi remained where he was without moving. Only when the kunai in the center entered his striking range did he swing the Wooden Sword in his hand.

The Wooden Sword struck the kunai with a light clang, directly altering its trajectory and sending it flying off into the distance.

That precise interception made many of the children, who had thought Hoshi only brought the Wooden Sword to school to look cool, widen their eyes. So he had not been boasting—he truly possessed impressive swordsmanship.

With the kunai in front of him knocked away, the other two naturally missed as well.

But Hoshi's danger had not been resolved, because Uchiha Iwa had already used the opportunity to close in.

He channeled some Chakra into his feet, stomped down hard, and leaped toward Hoshi, thrusting the kunai in his hand at Hoshi's face.

Teacher Mitsui frowned deeply at the sight. The boy was so young, yet his attacks were already this vicious. It showed poor character. Mitsui felt that he would need to speak to the boy's parents about this in the future.

Hoshi frowned as well, but this much was still manageable.

He took half a step back to widen the distance between them, then flipped his originally downward-slashing sword upward, striking Uchiha Iwa squarely on the wrist.

Pain shot through Uchiha Iwa's wrist, and his hand loosened. The kunai fell to the ground, but he still refused to give up. Even while in midair, he tried to smash his elbow into Hoshi.

Hoshi slipped backward, avoiding the elbow strike, then slammed the hilt of his sword into Uchiha Iwa's back.

Uchiha Iwa cried out in pain and lost his balance. Before he could adjust his posture, he crashed to the ground with a heavy thud that made quite a few children wince.

Seeing how badly he had fallen, Hoshi did not press the attack. After all, he was only six years old. If he really hurt the other boy, that would be troublesome too.

But while Hoshi spared Uchiha Iwa, Uchiha Iwa did not spare him. Still unwilling to admit defeat, he reached out while everyone was distracted and grabbed the kunai Hoshi had knocked away earlier.

At the same time, his other hand reached for his Ninja Tool Pouch.

Holding two kunai, he threw one first. Then, gritting his teeth, he quickly climbed to his feet, reversed his grip on the other kunai, and attacked Hoshi again.

Many students cried out in alarm. Jiraiya was so angry that he practically jumped up and down, loudly calling Uchiha Iwa despicable.

Teacher Mitsui's gaze toward Uchiha Iwa grew increasingly cold. As his favorable impression of the boy plummeted, his hands quietly began forming Hand Seals.

If Hoshi could not avoid this attack, he would intervene in time to stop Hoshi from getting hurt.

Amid everyone's cries of alarm, Hoshi finally reacted. He barely dodged the kunai Uchiha Iwa had thrown, but Uchiha Iwa had already rushed right in front of him.

It was over. The surrounding students closed their eyes one after another, unable to bear watching what came next. Jiraiya and Sakumo's eyes were so wide they nearly burst with bloodshot veins.

If Hoshi was truly injured by Uchiha Iwa's sneak attack, they would never let that guy off.

Little Tsunade in the distance clenched her fists as well. That Uchiha Iwa was actually this underhanded. She really wanted to beat him up badly.

Uchiha Iwa wore a vicious grin as he drove the kunai in his hand toward Hoshi's stomach with all his strength. He could hardly wait to hear Hoshi scream.

Though the kunai was unsharpened, a stab like this would still leave the guy hurting for ten days or half a month. He had only been careless earlier, that was all.

The true victory still belonged to me, Uchiha Iwa. A pretentious guy like that only deserves to scream beneath my feet.

With that thought, Uchiha Iwa grinned savagely and stabbed the kunai into Hoshi's body. But in the next second, his smile froze on his face.

Because the panicked-looking Hoshi before him suddenly turned into a wooden log with a bang.

Hoshi had actually used the Substitution Technique to evade the attack! As Uchiha Iwa stood there in a daze, Hoshi silently appeared behind him. This time, Hoshi did not hold back. He raised his foot and kicked Uchiha Iwa hard in the backside.

Uchiha Iwa was kicked a long way away. After tumbling out of the fighting area, he slid across the ground for quite some distance before barely coming to a stop.

Teacher Mitsui did not hurry over to help Uchiha Iwa up. Instead, he first announced, "Uchiha Iwa has fallen out of bounds. The winner is Hayate Hoshi."

Only then did he slowly walk over to help Uchiha Iwa to his feet before saying to Hoshi, "Come form the Reconciliation Seal. No matter what, I hope that after today's match, your grudge will end here."