Half a year ago, Hyūga Shinzo challenged Fūka and ended up wetting his pants after getting beaten up. Since then, he has been the target of countless jibes and ridicule, especially from within his own Hyūga clan.
The news of Hyūga Shinzo's Byakugan activation reached the Hyūga main family, sparking intense debates among the elders for half a month. They eventually decided to prematurely brand him with the Caged Bird Seal, ostensibly to prevent the prized Byakugan from falling into enemy hands. But the real reason was their fear that his talent might become uncontrollable in the future.
Shinzo didn't understand the politics behind it; he only knew that if it weren't for Fūka, none of this would have happened. His hatred for Fūka grew day by day.
Shinzo reached up to touch his forehead, where his bangs covered the seal, but it couldn't hide the caged bird in his heart. He had spent the last six months training relentlessly, despite the enormous pressure and mockery. His mastery of the Hyūga clan's Gentle Fist had reached eight strikes, shocking even his father, Hyūga Daichi, who remarked that if Shinzo had been born into the main family, he would be groomed to be the next clan head.
"Damn it!" Shinzo glared at Fūka, who was standing in the center of the training ground. His fists clenched tightly. He had been confident that he could defeat Fūka, but now, that confidence was crumbling.
In the middle of the training ground, Uchiha Roku's legs trembled, his determination fading like snow under the sun. 'He didn't even use ninjutsu, and yet he's pushed me to this point. Damn it!'
Roku opened his mouth, but his words failed him. He scanned the crowd, noticing that none of his classmates looked at him with the admiration given to a victor. Instead, their eyes were filled with pity, disdain, or indifference.
He had wanted the entire school to watch him, but now, he wished everyone would forget he existed.
"Uchiha Fūka, you, you..." Roku stammered, unable to think of anything to regain his footing.
Fūka, hands in his pockets, spoke with unwavering resolve, "If you want to surrender, apologize to Uncle Might Duy. Otherwise, this fight continues!"
"You... don't push your luck!" Roku's face flushed red as he shouted back, "Surrender to you? Keep dreaming!"
"That's a shame!" Fūka stopped wasting words and, in a blur of speed, closed the distance between them. "Leaf Whirlwind!"
His leg, moving like a whirlwind, struck Roku in the midsection with a fierce gust of wind.
Bam!
"Ahhh!"
Roku was sent flying like a broken sandbag, rolling across the ground for several meters before finally stopping. He blinked once, then twice, and quickly decided to play dead.
At that moment, Roku's lackeys rushed in.
"Uchiha Fūka, how could you be so ruthless to a fellow Uchiha, and a classmate at that?"
"You're a disgrace to the Uchiha name!"
"Let's get him!"
It was a chaotic mess. Fūka hadn't expected Roku's underlings to be so shameless as to gang up on him in a fair duel.
Before he could react, the group of kids charged at him, only to be sent flying even faster than they'd approached.
"Ah!"
"Oof!"
"Ugh!"
"Eek!"
"Bwah!"
"Yikes!"
Somehow, all six of them ended up piled on top of Roku, like a stack of logs.
Roku's face turned as red as a tomato, his eye twitching furiously. He was on the verge of cursing out loud, but if he opened his eyes now, he'd only be met with more ridicule from Fūka's crowd. So he had no choice but to keep up the act, though he felt like he was about to explode.
"Enough!"
A furious shout echoed from the school gate, and a tall figure appeared in the center of the field in an instant. With a casual wave of his hand, the kids piled on Roku were sent tumbling, groaning in pain.
"Uchiha Fūka, treating your clanmate so harshly—you're too cold-blooded," the newcomer said, his words leaving no room for argument. "The Uchiha clan's Sharingan is the strongest bloodline limit in the ninja world, yet you forsake it to train in taijutsu. And now, you use that taijutsu against your own clan. Hmph, you're insulting the Uchiha name!"
Fūka narrowed his eyes at the man who had suddenly appeared. He was wearing the Uchiha clan's emblem, and his defense of Roku made it obvious. Fūka smirked. "So, I beat up the kid, and now the parent shows up? You must be Uchiha Roku's father. Like father, like son!"
"Watch your mouth!" Uchiha Yohoshi barked, and in the next instant, his eyes transformed, revealing a pair of blood-red Sharingan with two tomoe each, locking onto Fūka. "Do you have a death wish?"
The surrounding students screamed in fear and instinctively started to run away.
"Double-tomoe Sharingan... must be from the Konoha Military Police Force," Sarutobi Asuma muttered darkly.
"This is the Ninja Academy. The Military Police Force has no business here."
Asuma scanned the area, a mix of anger and confusion brewing in his mind. The duel had been going on for a while, but not a single teacher had shown up. And now, a member of the Military Police Force had appeared, escalating the situation. Yet everything remained eerily quiet.
"Could this be some sort of conspiracy?" Asuma frowned.
"Asuma, what do we do now?" Kurenai and Rin asked, their faces tense.
Asuma looked at the scene. Yohoshi stood with a cold expression, while Fūka's face grew more serious by the second.
"This is beyond what we can handle. We need to inform Teacher Kiyone right away!" Asuma decided.
"I'll go!" Obito and Guy shouted at the same time.
"I'm faster since I've been training in taijutsu. I'll go!" Guy said and immediately bolted towards the school building.
"That idiot!" Obito grumbled, then turned back to the battlefield.
Asuma grabbed him by the arm. "Where do you think you're going?"
"I'm going to help Fūka!" Obito declared, full of righteous indignation.
"Don't make things worse, Obito!" Rin shouted from the side.
Obito looked displeased, thinking that with his skills, he could at least block a Fireball Jutsu or two.
Meanwhile, on the top floor of the Ninja Academy, two middle-aged men stood observing the scene below.
"Danzo, is this really necessary?" The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, dressed in his ceremonial robe, puffed slowly on his pipe.
Beside him stood the leader of Konoha's Root, Shimura Danzo.
"The Uchiha Military Police Force has grown more reckless by the day. I've seen their dissatisfaction, and a coup is only a matter of time!" Danzo replied coldly. "Hiruzen, you need to pay more attention to this."
Hiruzen exhaled a plume of smoke. "The Uchiha have always been problematic, but they hold key positions in the Military Police Force. Their power and prestige are at an all-time high, making them Konoha's most powerful clan. Why would they risk everything in a coup?"
Danzo narrowed his eyes and scoffed, keeping his thoughts to himself. There were things he couldn't say out loud, even to Hiruzen.
"What are you planning to do next?" Hiruzen asked.
Danzo looked down at the two Uchiha in the field and smiled. "Uchiha Yohoshi has overstepped his bounds by interfering in a fair duel at the academy. He should be punished to send a warning to the Uchiha clan to curb their ambitions. And as for that boy, Uchiha Fūka... I find him quite interesting."
Hiruzen's expression turned pensive. He suddenly felt as though he had heard that name before.
Uchiha Fūka...
Where had he heard it?