"They're fighting, they're fighting!"
"Look, look!"
"That's the Taijutsu the teacher taught us!"
"That Sarutobi in the back looks like he's losing."
In an instant, countless heads appeared in the windows along the side of the Teaching Building.
They watched the fight and shouted.
It was the first day of school!
The Ninja Academy really was exciting!
After several consecutive exchanges of fists and kicks, Uka Senju seized an opening and kicked Sarutobi Gensei, who had been dodging the whole time, high into the air.
Going up against a Senju in Taijutsu?
Watching Gensei fly through the air, Uka planned to finish him off with a combo and not waste any more time!
He quickly followed up with a little hop, his right fist drawn back like a bow before coming down!
"Crack!"
A puff of white smoke appeared, and two pieces of wood fell where Sarutobi Gensei had been standing.
"Substitution Technique!"
"It's the Substitution Technique!"
"Look, where did he go?" the spectators shouted.
The moment his fist made contact, Uka sensed something was wrong. He couldn't pull back in time, so he followed through and broke the Substitution Wood.
He calmly took two steps back and looked around for Sarutobi Gensei.
During the brief time he had fought Uka Senju, Sarutobi Gensei had cursed the Senju's freakish body nonstop in his mind.
At the same time, he was glad he had used the Substitution Technique. If he'd been knocked down in one combo in front of so many people, he would've made a complete fool of himself.
Hiding off to the side, Sarutobi Gensei regulated his breathing. Chakra coursed rapidly through his body, easing the pain.
A moment later, when the ache in his arm had eased somewhat, he immediately formed hand seals.
Snake-Ram-Monkey-Boar-Horse-Tiger!
Following the changing seals, chakra flowed through the corresponding pathways and gathered in his throat.
Compress, compress, compress-now!
Looking toward Uka Senju, who had stopped and was waiting for him to perform his technique,
a trace of anger flashed in Sarutobi Gensei's eyes before he spat out a fireball the size of a water tank.
Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique
After spitting out the fireball, he ignored the discomfort caused by the heat in his mouth.
He continued forming hand seals and sent a whirlwind toward the flying fireball!
Wind Release: Great Breakthrough
"Wind-Fire Combination Ninjutsu!"
"Is the Sarutobi Clan really that powerful?"
"They're the Hokage's clan, after all. They can't be weak!"
"Are we in the same year as them?" the spectators nearby discussed among themselves.
Turning his gaze, Uka spotted Sarutobi Gensei by a tree, where he had used the Substitution Technique to escape.
Uka Senju had wanted to go over and knock him out immediately, but he hadn't expected the guy to try using Ninjutsu.
He slowed his steps, wanting to see what sort of trick his classmate could pull off.
Fire Style?
Could that thing actually burn someone to death?
Wind Release!
A Combination Ninjutsu. Interesting!
Thinking of his own Earth-Water Release, which he had only just begun learning, Uka Senju gave his opponent a thumbs-up in his mind.
To have trained his Ninjutsu to the point where he could combine techniques, even preliminarily, by his second year-this Sarutobi had good talent for Ninjutsu.
Watching the Combination Ninjutsu fly toward him,
the enormous fireball, nearly five meters across, swelled rapidly with the wind behind it!
Uka calmly mobilized his chakra. A distinctive blue film appeared over his body, the hallmark of Senju Nintaijutsu!
His physical abilities doubled across the board!
Feeling the change, he concentrated chakra in his right hand and compressed it again and again.
He had stumbled on this new application while planning to "create" his own Superhuman Strength Technique.
It had no special abilities. It was just using his abundant chakra to bully people!
But it was very effective for the situation at hand!
He stamped down hard and leaped into the air, charging toward Sarutobi Gensei through the Wind-Fire Release.
"The Senju charged straight into it!"
"What's that blue light?"
"He's charging straight into the Combination Ninjutsu?" The scene before them sent the spectators into an excited discussion.
"Boom-"
A fist wrapped in blue light slammed into the Ninjutsu.
The chakra compressed several times surged out from the middle of the fist, visible to the naked eye.
In an instant, the Wind-Fire Ninjutsu was torn to pieces down the middle!
"Boom-"
The sparks went out, and the dust kicked up by the Ninjutsu gradually settled.
Uka Senju stood where Sarutobi Gensei had been standing.
With his foot planted on the head beneath him, he said, "Do you understand now what we can do?"
Ignoring the foot on his head and the voice, Sarutobi Gensei remained lost in the sight of his Combination Ninjutsu being broken!
How could it have been broken so easily?
With just one punch!
How had it broken just like that?
Was that really the Wind-Fire Combination Release he had painstakingly trained?
He got no response.
Uka Senju thought he'd hit him too hard and knocked him out. He quickly bent down to take a look, only to see Sarutobi Gensei's blank expression.
His steps faltered. Somewhat puzzled, he asked, "Did you shut down?"
Seeing that his opponent still wasn't responding,
Uka had lost interest in continuing to beat him up.
He lifted his foot, somewhat listlessly, and walked toward his companions, who had already finished off their opponents.
As for Sarutobi, who was lying there?
The person standing on the roof would take care of him!
"Let's go. Class is about to start!"
"Okay!" Aburame Kaun, who had taken a kick to the stomach, was brushing off the footprint on his shirt.
Hearing Uka call him, he stopped fussing over his clothes and headed upstairs with an unconcerned look.
They had faced two people at the start, so he'd taken a kick. But after Uka took one of them off his hands,
fighting Sarutobi Genshi?
He'd had a great time!
That guy was all bark and seemed soft everywhere else. He hadn't improved much over the summer, either.
For someone who had already mastered the Aburame Secret Technique, it was too easy.
He hadn't even given him a chance to use the Substitution Technique. He'd finished him off in one combo!
He'd given him a perfect Insect Bath.
"Let's go!" Hatake Bunkei answered with a grin. He'd had it easy, too. His opponent had been much stronger than Sarutobi Genshi,
but for the Hatake, a family of Swordsmanship, the advantage was enormous at the lower-ranked ninja levels!
Watching the two of them, Uka Senju smiled and led the firecrackers up the wall!
Those two had explosive tempers, but they had the strength to back them up.
Aside from him, the two of them and Kurama Shimei were the strongest in the group.
So Uka wasn't at all worried about how their fights had gone.
As the three left, the spectators who had stuck their heads out continued discussing.
"The seniors are so strong!" said one first-year.
"Yeah, yeah, especially that move that broke the Ninjutsu!"
"So cool!" said another first-year.
"Those six are really strong!" said a second-year.
"Who do you think we could take on?"
"Even the weakest one, Sarutobi Genshi, might be more than we can handle!" said one second-year who always told it like it was.
"That really hurt!" said another second-year.
For first-years like them and students in the second-year regular class,
the taijutsu battle between Hatake Bunkei, Aburame Kaun's Secret Technique battle, and the Nintaijutsu match between Uka Senju and Sarutobi Gensei
had all been incredible!
Those weren't battles they could fight in yet. They were the kind of battles they longed for!
"Sawa, I've already gotten even for you. If I weren't worried you'd have no one to fight in Practical Combat Class, I'd have put him in the hospital for a few days today!" Aburame Kaun said, patting Inuzuka Sawa on the shoulder as he climbed back through the window to his seat.
"Woof, woof!" Black Wolf wagged his tail and barked at the person who'd stood up for him.
If he hadn't been held back, he would've gone down and bitten the person who'd wanted to skin him alive.
"Haha, Kaun, Black Wolf's thanking you!" Inuzuka Sawa said with a laugh, looking at his friend who'd gotten even for him. "Don't worry. Just watch how I deal with him in Practical Combat Class."
"Uka, have you improved your Nintaijutsu again?" asked a black-haired girl in a white tracksuit when she saw Uka come in through the window.
Hearing the question from the girl of her clan in the row ahead, Uka Senju sat down and looked at those light blue eyes. "Mm, a little, I guess!"
"You're still making progress so quickly. I still can't control its flow properly!"
"Then keep trying a little at a time, like the Clan Elders taught us. Flow is the foundation. You can only get there by constantly trying this stupid method!"
"Ugh, this is driving me crazy!" Senju Harumi, the black-haired, blue-eyed girl, complained, dissatisfied with her progress.