Lost in his lazy musings, Shiki sauntered up to the arena at a leisurely pace. Seeing such a dismissive opponent standing before him, Uchiha Hanabi felt a dull rage boiling within him.
"Ah, so it's you, Shiki. Laugh while you can, because very soon, you won't find anything funny at all," the boy from the Uchiha Clan hissed coldly.
Although Hanabi had yet to awaken his Sharingan, rigorous clan training had already allowed him to master a considerable arsenal of ninjutsu. It was worth noting that the Ninja Academy only taught the basics of chakra control and the Three Basic Techniques: the Transformation Jutsu, the Clone Jutsu, and the Substitution Jutsu. Hanabi, however, was already freely utilizing Fire Release ninjutsu. For him, participating in these schoolyard bouts was akin to taking candy from a baby—a walk in the park that required no real effort.
Looking at his pompous and arrogant opponent, Shiki wiped the faint smirk from his face and, with deliberately exaggerated fear, drawled, "Whoa, so you're from the Uchiha Clan... How terrifying."
"You bastard!" Hanabi flared up.
Shiki's reply, seasoned with his trademark, teeth-grindingly irritating intonation, could drive absolutely anyone up the wall. Hanabi was at that exact adolescent age where one's blood boiled at the slightest careless word. As a recognized genius of the proud Uchiha Clan, he simply could not physically tolerate such mockery. But it wasn't just Hanabi—even the spectators watching the scene unfold could barely suppress the urge to march down there and smack the insolent brat themselves.
"Let me go! I'll go out there right now and beat the stupid out of him myself!" Kushina growled furiously, trying to lunge toward the arena. Fortunately, Minato managed to grab her arm just in time.
"That guy is just insufferable..." Minato sighed, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. Despite them being good friends, Shiki possessed a truly unique talent for driving people crazy and making enemies out of thin air.
"You bastard! I'll make you feel the true power of the Uchiha Clan on your own skin!" With a furious roar, Hanabi dashed forward and charged at Shiki.
The latter merely raised a hand lazily to scratch the back of his head, his entire demeanor displaying an extreme degree of exhaustion with the whole situation. To his credit, thanks to his clan's training, Hanabi's basic combat skills were top-notch. Closing the distance in the blink of an eye, he poured all his strength into a powerful punch aimed squarely at his opponent's face.
Faced with such an attack, Shiki's first move was to leisurely tuck the hand he had just used to scratch his head back into his pants pocket. Then, like a tipsy reveler, he swayed slightly and leaned back, playfully evading the incoming fist.
However, an Uchiha's attacks were never so straightforward.
"Gotcha!" Hanabi shouted triumphantly, sharply pulling his arm back.
As it turned out, the punch had merely been a feint. The real threat lay in his legs! Using his forward momentum, Hanabi swiftly spun around and launched a devastating leaping kick. Given that Shiki hadn't created any distance due to his own overconfidence, under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have had a single chance to react to such a lightning-fast strike.
Unfortunately for the young Uchiha, Shiki was anything but an ordinary Academy student. The monstrous reaction speed he had inherited from Admiral Kizaru allowed him to parry such lunges with ease. With a barely perceptible shift of his torso, Shiki caused Hanabi's leg to cleave through nothing but empty air. But the humiliation didn't end there: Shiki casually caught his opponent by the ankle, spun him in the air like a ragdoll, and hurled him right back to where he had started his attack.
"You guys from the Uchiha Clan are all as strong as monsters. How terrifying..." Shiki drawled mockingly, shoving his hands back into his pockets.
"You're just mocking me!" Hanabi roared.
There wasn't an ounce of genuine acknowledgment of his opponent's strength in Shiki's tone. On the contrary, it sounded like an elaborate, blatant insult to the entire great clan! Even the faces of the adult Uchiha representatives present in the stands darkened noticeably with obvious displeasure. Shiki, however, couldn't care less about their feelings. As long as it increased his synchronization progress, they could drag Uchiha Madara himself out here arm-in-arm with Fugaku—it wouldn't faze him in the slightest.
Completely losing control of himself from such brazen provocation, Hanabi swung both arms, sending a whole swarm of shuriken flying through the air. For safety reasons, wooden weapons were used during the exams, but with enough throwing force, even those could easily tear flesh and shatter bone!
And then, Shiki finally made his move. Staring at the dense wall of projectiles bearing down on him, he continued to mutter impassively, "How scary..."
A cold glint flashed across the lenses of his dark shades.
Rokushiki: Kami-e.
His body suddenly seemed to lose all weight, swaying smoothly in the air. Eight or nine shuriken reached their target one after another, but Shiki appeared to dodge each one at the very last second, a hair's breadth away from disaster. He moved like a weightless sheet of paper, effortlessly caught and carried aside by the air currents generated by the flying projectiles. No matter how hard Hanabi tried, he simply could not physically land a hit on him!
"What kind of movement technique is that?" the spectators in the stands wondered in bewilderment, completely failing to understand how Shiki was managing to avoid taking any damage. From the outside, it looked as though he wasn't putting any effort into it at all!
However, a spark of genuine interest flashed in the eyes of the Third Hokage.
"Looks like a highly skillful taijutsu," came a raspy voice from a dark corner where Shimura Danzo was lurking.
The Third merely gave a barely perceptible nod, not uttering a single word.
"Phew, I sure got lucky there," Shiki said, playfully dodging the final wave of attacks and theatrically patting his chest. "A little bit closer, and I would've been turned into a pincushion."
By this point, Hanabi's face was flushed red with anger. A child who had absorbed the dogma that "the Uchiha Clan is the strongest in the world" since he was in diapers simply could not bear such blatant mockery of his family's honor.
Two kunai slid from his sleeves straight into his palms. Pushing off the ground with all his might, Hanabi dashed toward his opponent, pushing himself to his absolute limits. The kunai, into which the boy had poured all his endless resentment and fury, hurtled straight for Shiki's face. The latter merely twisted his torso slightly, playfully evading the strike. But at that exact moment, the blade of the second dagger came crashing down from the left. Shiki finally deigned to take a step back.
Seizing this tiny opening, Hanabi formed hand seals at lightning speed.
Shadow Clone Jutsu!
Two Hanabis simultaneously launched an attack from different sides. For a brief moment, it seemed as though Shiki was backed into a corner, for two fists would find it hard to fend off four hands.
"I think it's about time to wrap this up," he drawled lazily, extending his index finger forward.
Shigan!
A dull pop rang out, and one of the clones instantly dissipated into a puff of white smoke. As for the real Hanabi, Shiki sent him flying high into the air with a powerful kick.