The Ninja Academy, that afternoon.
Several classes were training in separate sections of the field.
In the area belonging to Class 9, their instructor, Sarutobi Retsu, was arranging the order for the one-on-one sparring matches.
Just as he was about to call Hyūga Kyo's name, a voice suddenly interrupted him.
Hyūga Kyo stepped out from the line and said,
"Teacher Retsu, for this match, I'd like to spar with Uchiha Yuan."
At his words, Sarutobi Retsu's gaze turned toward Uchiha Yuan, who was standing among the onlookers.
Uchiha Yuan stepped forward with a faint smile.
"Teacher Retsu, I have no objections. In fact, I'd love to witness the might of the Hyūga clan's Gentle Fist."
Sarutobi Retsu nodded slightly.
"Very well then. This match will be between Hyūga Kyo and Uchiha Yuan. Both of you, prepare yourselves."
"Form the seal of confrontation."
Standing several meters apart, Uchiha Yuan clasped his hands together in the seal of opposition.
"Kyou," he said, "show me your full strength."
Hyūga Kyo's expression grew solemn.
"Don't worry. I won't be holding back."
Their match drew every eye in the training field—even students from nearby classes stopped what they were doing to watch.
After all, this was a duel between a Uchiha and a Hyūga—definitely something no one wanted to miss.
Normally, instructors avoided pairing students from two great clans against each other, as such matches could easily spark disputes. Rivalries—both open and hidden—always existed among the major clans, and even the smallest incident could escalate when family pride was involved.
"Begin."
As Sarutobi Retsu's voice fell, Uchiha Yuan was the first to move.
He leapt high into the air, body twisting mid-flight, and with a sharp crack of air splitting apart, his leg came whipping down toward Hyūga Kyo like a thunderbolt.
"Eight Trigrams—Vacuum Palm!"
Kyou reacted instantly, springing backward to evade, and then countered with a powerful palm strike.
Boom!
The Vacuum Palm collided with the whipping leg and exploded into a burst of pressure that rippled across the field.
Uchiha Yuan didn't slow down. His legs blurred, kicking out in a storm of shadows.
"Eight Trigrams—Twin Palms!"
"Four Palms!"
"Eight Palms!"
"Sixteen Palms!"
"Thirty-Two Palms!"
Hyūga Kyo's palms struck out one after another, steady and precise, deflecting every incoming kick.
Uchiha Yuan lightly tapped his foot on the ground, his figure rising gracefully like a bird before drifting backward, widening the distance between them once more.
"Wow, that taijutsu was insane! Did you catch how many times he kicked?"
"I think it was eighteen!"
"No, twenty-one!"
"I only counted nineteen!"
The students of Class 9 were left awestruck.
Unlike the earlier sparring matches, this one started at full intensity—completely on another level.
Among the crowd, Uehara Isamu watched Uchiha Yuan with a scowl, his eyes glinting with disdain.
So what if your taijutsu is strong? Ninjas are defined by their ninjutsu. Your chakra reserves are far below Hyūga Kyo's.
On the other side, Senju Gen's gaze burned with excitement, his eyes gleaming with battle intent. He had seen it clearly—Uchiha Yuan had unleashed a total of twenty-eight kicks.
"Byakugan—activate!"
The veins around Kyou's temples bulged as his Byakugan flared open. In the next instant, he shot forward.
He first sent a Vacuum Palm flying, the gust of chakra-charged air roaring toward Uchiha Yuan.
En's hand sliced through the air like a blade, cleaving the attack apart.
At the same moment, Kyou appeared right in front of him, both palms thrusting forward in a rapid blur.
"Eight Trigrams—Thirty-Two Palms!"
In a flash, dozens of strikes slammed into Uchiha Yuan's body in a rapid succession of thud-thud-thud impacts.
Sarutobi Retsu's expression changed—if En took the full brunt of that technique, he could be seriously injured.
Just as he was about to intervene, Uchiha Yuan suddenly moved. His form flickered, and in the blink of an eye he appeared right before Hyūga Kyo.
With his right hand extended, his two fingers together like a blade, he jabbed straight into Kyou's chest.
Then, pulling back, he flipped backward lightly and landed several meters away.
Hyūga Kyo's body froze in place.
A few moments later, he coughed a few times, deactivating his Byakugan. His expression complicated, he said quietly,
"I lost."
After they formed the seal of reconciliation, Uchiha Yuan replied,
"Kyou, thank you for the match."
Kyou looked at him deeply, then turned and stepped away in silence.
He understood clearly that during the entire exchange, he hadn't even forced Uchiha Yuan to go all out.
And judging by what he had seen through the Byakugan, En's strength was far beyond what he had imagined.
When Kyou unleashed the Thirty-Two Palms, he saw the chakra inside Uchiha Yuan's body.
The Hyūga's Gentle Fist was famous across the ninja world precisely because, with the aid of the Byakugan, it could disrupt an opponent's internal chakra flow.
Yet what Kyou saw just now defied logic—inside Uchiha Yuan, his chakra was like a blazing flame frozen still, completely motionless.
In other words, he had taken all Thirty-Two Palms with his body alone.
That meant his physique was unimaginably durable.
What astonished Kyou even more, however, was that final strike.
When En's two-finger jab hit his chest, his entire body went numb, losing all sensation instantly.
Kyou immediately realized that Uchiha Yuan's technique resembled the Hyūga's Gentle Fist in principle—both targeted the body's acupoints and chakra pathways.
Sarutobi Retsu quietly exhaled in relief.
Good… looks like Kyou's chakra still isn't enough to bring out the full power of the Gentle Fist.
Just as he was about to arrange the next sparring pair, Senju Gen stepped forward.
"Teacher Retsu," he said, "I'd like to spar with Uchiha Yuan next."
A Senju versus an Uchiha?
Sarutobi Retsu hesitated. "Gen, En has already fought one match. Choose another opponent."
Senju Gen turned to Uchiha Yuan. "En, would you be willing to fight me?"
Uchiha Yuan shook his head regretfully. "Apologies. After fighting Kyou, I don't have the strength for another match."
Senju Gen was currently the strongest in Class 9, ranked among the top five in the entire grade.
He was likely already on the village's radar, which meant that Uchiha Yuan rarely interacted with him—they were merely classmates in name.
If En won, it could draw unwanted attention from the village. If he lost, the Uchiha clan would surely scold him.
Either way, it would do him no good.
So his refusal was decisive.
Back among the crowd, Hyūga Kyo watched him with quiet confusion.
From what he could see, Uchiha Yuan's chakra and body showed no sign of fatigue or injury—so why refuse Gen's challenge?
In Kyou's eyes, Uchiha Yuan's physical strength was no less than that of Senju Gen.
Senju Gen looked disappointed at first, but soon smiled.
"En, then let's have our match next time."
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