Uya had quite a lot of respect for this man.
Or rather, Uya respected people like Might Duy, Might Guy, and even Rock Lee.
He himself now practically belonged to that same sort of person.
Inside the ninja tool shop, a crash rang out, and even the ground seemed to tremble.
"I'm very sorry."
Watching the ninja tool shop owner struggle to carry a pile of training weights and dump them on the floor, Might Duy gave an embarrassed smile.
"Honestly..."
The shopkeeper looked at Might Duy and said with a hint of impatience, "Take them, take them!"
As Might Duy turned to leave, the shopkeeper muttered, "What's the use of only training in taijutsu? You'll be a genin your whole life."
Might Duy heard those words and paused briefly, but he did not turn back. Carrying the weights he had bought, he strode away.
Looking down on others like a snob.
As Uya watched this scene, those words suddenly surfaced in his mind.
He knew just how terrifying the true strength of Might Duy, the Eternal Genin, was.
But Might Duy really was just like he was in the original story. His temper was so good that he could endure such mockery and walk away.
Shaking his head, Uya walked into the shop.
"Give me two of those weights... just two will do."
"You want those weights too?"
The shopkeeper looked at Uya in some surprise, not expecting such a young child to be so enthusiastic about taijutsu as well, and quickly brought out two.
They looked like nothing more than two unremarkable blocks of iron, but they were extremely heavy in his hands.
"They're even heavier than I imagined. Looks like I won't be able to use them anytime soon."
Uya felt rather helpless.
But he had already bought them, so that was that.
Turning to leave the shop, Uya's gaze flickered slightly as he searched for the figure of Might Duy, who had just left.
He found him very quickly, because he stood out too much.
Following Might Duy into an unoccupied stretch of woods, Uya watched him put on all those frighteningly heavy weights and then begin training like mad.
Even Uya could not help marveling at that kind of training.
He truly lived up to being the man who had opened the Eighth Gate of the Eight Gates Released Formation in the original story and outright killed four of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.
If that ninja tool shopkeeper knew how absurdly powerful Konoha's Eternal Genin, Might Duy, really was, Uya wondered whether his jaw would drop clean off.
As he watched Might Duy train, Uya gradually realized that his own training methods were far too crude in comparison.
He felt a surge of delighted surprise.
Without hesitation, Uya committed Might Duy's entire training routine to memory.
Although Might Duy was only a genin now, Uya believed that no one in all of Konoha could surpass him in taijutsu.
He certainly could not go wrong learning from him.
After discovering where Might Duy trained, Uya would quietly run over to take a look whenever he had time between his own training sessions.
After all, he had neither the Byakugan nor the Sharingan. If he wanted to secretly learn, he could only carefully memorize it bit by bit.
After nearly a month of learning from Might Duy, Uya had made tremendous progress in taijutsu. Both his physical strength and speed had almost reached the standard of a full-fledged genin.
During this time, Uya had finally managed to put on those two weights, though only barely.
His power of tremors had also grown considerably.
In a clearing.
Uya clenched his fist, and a somewhat dim white light appeared. Then he hammered his fist toward a wooden post in front of him.
Crack!!!
Cracks spread through the air like a shattering mirror.
Uya's fist did not directly touch the wooden post. It was still a foot away, but cracks appeared in the post under the tremors before it abruptly shattered.
"My power of tremors has gotten a lot stronger." A trace of excitement showed on Uya's face.
If he faced the same C-rank Great Fireball ninjutsu that Uchiha Izumiya had used before, Uya was confident he could shatter it with one punch, leaving not a single flame!
However, throughout this month, Uya had never seen Might Duy practice the Eight Gates Released Formation, which left him a little disappointed.
What he very much wanted to understand now was the power of the Eight Gates Released Formation.
"I should go see whether Might Duy is practicing the Eight Gates Released Formation again."
After a moment's thought, Uya turned and headed in the familiar direction.
However, before Uya reached the street, a youth wearing a forehead protector and a ninja uniform approached him head-on.
This was a chunin.
Konoha's genin wore forehead protectors, while chunin had special uniforms. Jonin uniforms differed slightly from chunin uniforms in the number of pockets.
This made it convenient to determine a ninja's rank, as well as which ninja village they belonged to.
Only powerful figures who stood above ordinary jonin and had already made a name for themselves throughout the Shinobi World would forgo uniforms and freely choose whatever clothes they liked.
Those people no longer needed clothing to identify themselves.
Upon seeing Uya, this chunin made no attempt to conceal the cold arrogance on his face and walked straight over.
"Do you need something?"
Facing this chunin, Uya asked calmly.
Even though he could tell at a glance that this person had come looking for trouble, Uya showed no fear, responding without servility or arrogance.
After all, this was inside Konoha, and on a street at that. No one would dare act recklessly.
Yet, to Uya's surprise, the chunin before him actually did act recklessly!
"You're that outsider whose village was destroyed, the one who survived by luck and joined Konoha, aren't you? Uya, was it?"
The chunin spoke with a lofty, arrogant tone right from the start.
The other party had clearly come looking for trouble, and as a chunin, he was plainly someone Uya could not shake off. Instead, Uya's expression grew even calmer.
At the same time, Uya thought rapidly.
He was very unwelcome in Konoha, but he should not have provoked anyone.
Wait...
Suddenly, Uya remembered how he had defeated Uchiha Izumiya at the Ninja Academy over a month ago.
At the time, Uchiha Izumiya had wanted to kill him and had even used ninjutsu like the Great Fireball. Naturally, Uya had not held back either. When he finally defeated Uchiha Izumiya, his tremors had broken at least several of his bones.
Uchiha Izumiya would have had to spend at least a month in bed.
Then this person before him was undoubtedly a member of the Uchiha Clan.
"What's your relationship to Uchiha Izumiya?"
Rather than answering the other party's question, Uya asked one of his own.
A hint of surprise appeared in the ninja's eyes. He clearly had not expected Uya to guess his background instantly.
"My name is Uchiha Kan. I'm Uchiha Izumiya's older brother. Since you've figured it out, break one of your own arms."
Uchiha Kan's tone was very flat, as though this were only natural.
Hearing those words, even Uya was briefly taken aback.
This was the Uchiha Clan?!
How arrogant!