With the Chunin Exams over and the other village shinobi gradually leaving, the Shinobi Academy resumed classes.
After washing up, Uchiha Shinji arrived at the school early.
Sitting at his usual seat, he discreetly observed Haku and Karin, noting that while they seemed preoccupied, they didn't exhibit any unusual behavior.
The classmates, however, were all abuzz, discussing the competition between Uchiha Shinji, Neji, and Sasuke to master the Shadow Clone Jutsu. Occasionally, someone would steal a glance at Uchiha Shinji.
Clearly, the matter was still spreading and gaining attention.
At that moment, Neji entered the classroom.
He glanced at Uchiha Shinji before taking his seat.
The atmosphere in the classroom grew tense.
"Hey, who do you guys think will win?"
"My dad says it'll definitely be Uchiha Sasuke. He's a Chunin, so his judgment has to be right!"
"I think Neji's stronger!"
"Uchiha Shinji's no slouch either. After all, he's already mastered the C-rank Fireball Jutsu!"
Hearing these whispered conversations, Uchiha Shinji could only sigh in exasperation.
From the start, he never intended to compete with Neji and Sasuke—those little brats. Although, technically, his own body was only eight years old.
But somehow, what should have been a minor matter was blowing up into something bigger, completely against his original intent.
"Gossip really is part of human nature…"
Shaking his head, Uchiha Shinji refocused his attention on observing Haku and Karin.
He had a world to save, after all!
Before long, the bell rang, signaling the end of morning theory lessons.
As the students began their free activities, Uchiha Shinji called Haku over, and the two chatted while eating their lunch.
Feigning casualness, Uchiha Shinji asked, "You seem a bit off today. What's going on?"
Haku quickly shook his head. "Oh, nothing's wrong! Maybe I just didn't sleep well last night, so I'm a bit out of it this morning."
"Don't overthink it. Just focus on the present," Uchiha Shinji advised, his words carrying a hint of meaning before he returned to his lunch.
Haku hesitated for a moment before nodding.
At that moment, a classmate approached Uchiha Shinji and said, "Uchiha Shinji, someone's looking for you. They want you to meet them in the grove behind the school."
"Looking for me? Who?"
The classmate shrugged. "I was just asked to pass the message. I'm not sure, but you'll find out when you go."
Uchiha Shinji glanced at Haku. No one at the Ninja Academy should have any particular reason to seek him out, so his first thought was that his actions from the previous night had been discovered.
Yet, Haku seemed as distracted as ever.
Uchiha Shinji then cast a glance toward Karin, who was quietly eating her lunch alone, and saw nothing unusual there either.
With a puzzled mind, Uchiha Shinji thought, "Strange, who could it be?"
He had been to the grove behind the school a few times, so he quickly made his way there.
But as soon as he entered the grove, the scene that greeted him caught him by surprise.
Sasuke stood there with one hand in his pocket, Neji had his arms crossed, and the two of them were encircled by dozens of older students.
"What is...?"
For a moment, Uchiha Shinji couldn't figure out what was going on.
Sasuke, with his usual cocky attitude, said, "Hurry up. We're just waiting for you!"
As soon as Sasuke finished speaking, the group of older students surrounding him began jeering.
"Hey, you little brat, get over here already!"
"These underclassmen sure are getting too big for their britches!"
"Hmph, today we'll show them who's boss!"
Watching the crowd of older students surrounding Sasuke and Neji, Uchiha Shinji finally realized what was happening and couldn't help but adopt a strange expression. "Wait... am I about to get bullied?"
Bullying wasn't uncommon in the Hidden Leaf.
From Uzumaki Kushina to Hyuga Hinata, it seemed even those from prestigious clans with bloodlines and status weren't immune to being picked on by kids.
Even Uchiha Itachi had been bullied by upperclassmen during his time at the academy. It was only after an incident where teachers discovered that the Itachi coming to class every day was just a Shadow Clone that things changed.
But having this happen to him now? It felt almost absurd to Uchiha Shinji.
The commotion in the grove didn't go unnoticed by the academy's teachers.
Iruka and the recently recovered Mizuki hurried toward the grove, but before they could enter, they were stopped by an ANBU operative tasked with protecting Sasuke.
The ANBU operative smiled. "Don't worry, nothing serious will happen."
Iruka, however, wasn't pleased. "This kind of behavior needs to be stopped. They're still just kids! What if someone gets hurt?"
The ANBU operative glanced over coldly. "They may be kids, but they're also shinobi."
Iruka retorted, "So we're just supposed to watch?"
The ANBU operative replied, "Aren't you even a little curious to see how these three will handle the situation? Don't forget, they aren't just any academy students—they're Uchiha and Hyuga!"
Back in the grove:
"You three really don't respect us older students, huh?"
"Hmph, I thought you guys were supposed to be geniuses, but turns out you're just kids!"
"Those little brats supposedly took down the Nine-Tails? The village must've made a mistake!"
The older students surrounding Uchiha Shinji, Sasuke, and Neji began pushing and taunting them.
Uchiha Shinji quickly scanned the group.
Most of them were around eleven or twelve years old, about to graduate, and there were at least twenty-seven or twenty-eight of them.
At that moment, Sasuke looked at Uchiha Shinji and Neji and said, "Hey, let's see who can take down the most of them."
Neji didn't respond with words, but his activated Byakugan made his stance clear.
"This is so annoying…"
Uchiha Shinji groaned inwardly.
Although he had been through several real fights by now and was no longer the clueless rookie he was when he first arrived in this world, his combat style mostly relied on overwhelming opponents with Susanoo. He had no finesse—just brute force.
So now, being expected to engage in a taijutsu brawl with this many older students left him feeling a bit overwhelmed.
It wasn't that he feared losing to Sasuke or Neji.
Winning or losing didn't matter to him at all!
The real problem was that the original Uchiha Shinji had been one of the best in the class at taijutsu, second only to Neji. Yet, the current Uchiha Shinji couldn't even defeat Haku, who was ranked twenty-something in the class at taijutsu.
Even though Haku had likely been holding back during the exams, indicating his actual rank should be higher, it was clear that Uchiha Shinji's taijutsu wasn't nearly as good as it should be.
Facing almost ten times as many upperclassmen, losing wouldn't be the worst thing. But if someone realized how much his taijutsu had declined compared to the original Uchiha Shinji, suspicions might arise, and that would be disastrous.
"You little brat! You looking to die?"
Sasuke's earlier challenge had enraged the older students, and one of them, a large, burly boy, grabbed Sasuke by the collar.
Sasuke ignored the student holding him and activated his Sharingan. Turning to Uchiha Shinji and Neji, he said, "Whoever knocks out the most wins."
The older students burst into laughter. "You think you three can fight back?"
"Full concentration!"
Uchiha Shinji sighed.
Even if he were going to lose, he couldn't afford to lose too badly. He had to go all out to avoid raising suspicion.
With a quick burst of speed, he lunged at the nearest opponent!