"Uchiha Feiyu, it's finally our turn to fight! This time I'm definitely going to beat you. Kurenai, just watch—I'll avenge you!"
Yūhi Kurenai, who had just burned through all her chakra flinging genjutsu at Feiyu to absolutely no effect, was now sitting below the stage, resting. Hearing Asuma's declaration, she could only roll her eyes helplessly.
"Boys really are childish…"
"Exactly, exactly! Asuma's super childish, right, Rin?"
Uchiha Obito instantly jumped in, picking up her words with a big grin as he stood at Nohara Rin's side, practically wagging his tail as he spoke. Rin's face froze into a polite but slightly awkward smile.
These kids were all still under ten—way too young to talk about "love"—but their little crushes were blunt and pure, full of show-off energy, like peacocks spreading their tails.
Across from Asuma, Feiyu just rolled his eyes, watching the idiot dig his own grave. The more confidently Asuma talked, the higher he put himself—and the more humiliating it would be once he lost.
A teacher standing by the arena waited for Asuma to finish, then said to the two of them:
"Form the Seal of Confrontation. The match begins."
They each formed the opposing seal, and then Asuma, without another word, yanked out a pair of metal knuckle blades from his pouch and lunged straight in.
These fist blades weren't the chakra-conducting "Flying Swallow" knives he'd use in Shippuden—just plain steel. Even so, knuckle blades were vicious, tricky weapons; in the hands of someone who knew how to use them, they were extremely hard to deal with.
Unfortunately for him, Feiyu was no longer the same as before.
He didn't even bother opening his Sharingan. His body just tilted lightly one way or the other, and every one of Asuma's strikes missed by a hair.
Each slash came within a centimeter of him at most, but no matter what Asuma did, he couldn't even cut the hem of Feiyu's clothes.
"A-amazing… that bastard Uchiha Feiyu… Asuma's attacks don't work at all! He keeps dodging at the closest possible distance… is this the power of the Sharingan?"
Obito stared, stunned, then his expression slowly turned proud.
"Once I awaken my Sharingan, I'll definitely be able to do that too!"
"Look carefully," a calm voice said near his ear. "Can't you see Feiyu isn't even using his Sharingan?"
Obito jerked, then whipped his head back toward the arena, staring wide-eyed at Feiyu's face.
Sure enough, Feiyu's eyes were perfectly normal black and white—no trace of scarlet tomoe.
"Th-this… what the heck? He can do that without the Sharingan?!"
"It's simple," the voice explained. "Feiyu's completely controlling the tempo and distance of the fight. Asuma's talent for battle just isn't in the same league."
"Ohhh, I get it—wait, Kakashi?! Why are you here? Aren't you already a Chunin? Why are you watching Academy brats take their graduation test?"
Obito finally processed who was talking to him. The voice was familiar yet not quite the same as his classmates', and when he turned around, he saw white-haired Hatake Kakashi standing right next to him and squawked out loud.
"Idiot…"
Kakashi rolled his eyes and ignored Obito, instead raising his voice toward the training field:
"Feiyu, how long are you planning to play around? Hurry up and finish Asuma already."
Hearing Kakashi, Feiyu chuckled softly. His figure flashed backward, opening distance. Asuma, who was still hacking away with his twin blades, was drenched in sweat. He exhaled a long breath, chest heaving.
"You bastard… you're this strong and you're not even using the Sharingan… were you toying with me this whole time before?!"
He gritted his teeth. In all their past sparring, he had never really won, but at least he'd been able to trade blows—take three hits, land one.
This fight, though, made it painfully clear: Feiyu had just been humoring him back then. The gap between them was way bigger than he'd ever imagined.
"Uh… honestly, I only got this strong very recently," Feiyu said. "I kinda had a sudden breakthrough. …Forget it. You probably wouldn't believe me anyway."
Seeing the look on Asuma's face, he shut his mouth.
It wasn't just Asuma—Kakashi didn't believe that Feiyu had learned White Fang's sword style in such a short time, either.
The way Soul Marshal (Fú Líng) let Feiyu "learn" was something no normal ninja could even imagine. Techniques people trained a lifetime to master took him just a few days of being possessed and "demoed" to fully pick up.
"You take me for an idiot?" Asuma growled. "I can't believe you hid this deep… but I'm not going down that easily!"
"Let me show you the signature technique that our Sarutobi clan has studied more than anything!"
As he spoke, he flew through hand seals, drew in a deep breath, and bellowed:
"Fire Style—Grand Blaze Technique!"
A roaring torrent of flame surged toward Feiyu and engulfed him. The fire raged for a moment and then died down, leaving only a charred, log-shaped chunk of wood behind.
"A Replacement Technique… and so fast…"
Asuma's flames had emptied nearly eighty percent of his chakra. When he saw that all he'd burned was a substitution log, his face went pale and visibly collapsed.
"Incredible, incredible—what an astounding technique…"
Feiyu's body slowly shimmered into view off to the side, looking genuinely impressed. Asuma straightened up, forcing himself to act unfazed.
"Of course it's incredible," he snapped. "Our Sarutobi clan's fire style is one of the best in the entire village. Grand Blaze is our signature fire jutsu."
"Who said I was talking about your fire style?" Feiyu asked, dead serious. "I don't buy that the Sarutobi clan's fire style is stronger than the Uchiha's anyway. What I meant is—how the hell are you managing to talk clearly while breathing fire?"
"You—! That's what you're focusing on?!"
Asuma nearly fainted from rage.
"Sure, the Uchiha's fire style is strong," he shot back. "But aside from your Great Fireball, what other fire jutsu do you even know?"
"Okay, okay. I admit it—you've got me beat in fire style," Feiyu said, unbothered. "So? You still wanna keep going?"
Looking at Feiyu's utterly casual expression, Asuma clenched his fists.
"This time I lose," he said through his teeth. "But Uchiha Feiyu—just you wait. I will surpass you someday!"
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