With his Sharingan active, Motomu felt little Anko's slow-motion resistance was utterly futile.
She had been jumping around just moments ago, but in an instant, he had pinned her down, her arms locked behind her back.
Anko, pinned beneath him, squirmed and wriggled like a caterpillar.
When Motomu applied pressure to her joints, Anko let out a sharp cry.
"Ow! Ow, ow, ow! Let go, I give up!"
"Class One, Uchiha Motomu wins!"
The teacher's voice rang out at just the right moment.
As Motomu stood up and let go, Anko, with tears practically welling in her eyes, sprang back up like a coiled spring.
"You jerk!"
"That hurt so much! You're buying me dinner tonight, or I'll never forgive you!"
Deactivating his Sharingan, Motomu turned around.
"And why should I?"
"Because you were so rough!"
Anko chased after him, looking like a small animal with its fur standing on end.
"I'm a girl, you know! You actually pinned me to the ground like... like..."
"A caterpillar," Motomu helpfully suggested.
"Don't say that word!" At the mention of it, Anko's face flushed with embarrassment and annoyance.
"I want BBQ!"
"Fine."
"Huh?"
Motomu's sudden agreement caught Anko completely off guard.
"BBQ... BBQ is really expensive. If you can't afford it..."
"Shut it. A man never says he can't!"
They performed the Seal of Reconciliation.
Motomu and Anko parted ways, and he returned to the Class One lineup.
"That was so cool, Motomu-kun!"
"Motomu-kun, you're amazing! You made that little fox from the other class surrender immediately!"
"Motomu-kun, I want to have your babies..."
Greeting him were the idol-worshipping reactions of the girls in class, along with an excited, red-faced Obito who asked what it felt like to fight with the Sharingan as if he were the one who had won.
After quickly brushing Obito off...
A somewhat sinister, raspy voice spoke from the side.
"Uchiha Motomu, can you still fight?"
"With you, the class has an even number of students."
Motomu looked at the teacher who had addressed him.
In his fight with Anko, he hadn't even used his trump cards yet.
Another match was exactly what he wanted.
Regardless of his opponent, Motomu decided he would use the technique he had acquired yesterday right from the start to test the waters.
Ending his train of thought, Motomu casually agreed.
The matches for Class One began quickly.
Familiar faces like Guy, Yuhi Kurenai, and Shiranui Genma took the stage one by one.
Motomu realized the teacher was giving him time to recover his stamina.
In no time, only Kakashi, Obito, Asuma, and Motomu were left without a match.
"Kakashi."
"Obito."
Standing beside him, Obito's face beneath his orange goggles was set in a look of grim determination.
On the other side, in Motomu's line of sight, Kakashi still looked as listless as ever.
With Teacher Oki's shout of "Begin!"
The two quickly engaged in combat.
A scene similar to the original story unfolded. Kakashi and Obito first traded blows in hand-to-hand combat. Obito, having undergone Motomu's supervised training, clearly displayed the strength he had built up over years of hard work.
Matching Kakashi almost blow for blow, Obito found an opening and sent Kakashi flying with a kick.
The excited younger brother figure immediately pressed his advantage.
But at the very moment his kunai plunged into the fallen Kakashi...
Poof!
Kakashi's battered form instantly transformed into a log amidst a cloud of smoke.
While Obito was still in a state of shock, a kunai was already quietly pressed against his neck.
"Kakashi wins."
As soon as the teacher spoke, another wave of cheers and applause broke out from the girls.
Among the girls, only Rin watched Obito and Kakashi with a worried expression.
Watching Kakashi perform the Transformation and Substitution Jutsu, Motomu was incredibly envious.
Without anyone to teach them, he and Obito were just like ordinary civilians; they didn't even know the most basic Three-Style Jutsu.
Obito's loss wasn't unfair. Motomu knew that if he were up there without his Sharingan, he would be no match for the analytical Kakashi either.
With his Sharingan and Psychokinesis, however, he might just have a chance at an upset victory.
"Next match."
"Motomu."
"Asuma."
Hearing his name, Motomu snapped back to attention.
He saw Sarutobi Asuma already forming the Seal of Confrontation.
Motomu activated his Sharingan!
The flow of chakra within his opponent's body became clear.
Motomu intended to go all out from the very beginning.
As the son of the Third Hokage, Asuma would surely know a few basic Three-Style Jutsu.
He had to stay alert; it would be best if he didn't give his opponent any chance to perform a jutsu.
Secretly gripping a senbon in his hand, Motomu locked his gaze onto Asuma.
Forming the Seal of Confrontation with one hand, Motomu lunged forward the very instant Teacher Oki shouted for them to start.
Whoosh!—
The senbon flew out, and Motomu's focus immediately centered on it through his Sharingan.
Asuma blinked, startled by Motomu's attack.
Motomu's opening move took him by surprise. Asuma recalled the fight between Motomu and Anko he had just witnessed.
In his mind, he had already pegged Motomu as a close-quarters fighter. He hadn't expected him to start with a ranged attack.
"But it's fine. A senbon at this speed without any guiding wires is something I can easily handle."
He let go of the shuriken he had gripped in his ninja tool pouch and pulled out a kunai instead.
Predicting the senbon's flight path, he stepped to the side while glancing back at Motomu.
When Asuma saw him, he only saw Motomu's deactivated Sharingan. Motomu wasn't even looking at him anymore.
"You..."
"You lost."
As soon as the words left Motomu's mouth...
Asuma felt a slight chill on his neck. Startled, he reached out to touch the area where the sensation came from.
A small cut had appeared on the left side of his neck, just breaking the skin.
Was the carotid artery right below that spot?
When did that happen?!
I'm sure I dodged that senbon!
Cold sweat trickled down Asuma's forehead as he recalled what the old man at home used to say.
On the battlefield, what often decided life and death was the ability to gather intelligence on the enemy.
Why would a senbon without wires curve?!
If this had been a real life-and-death struggle...
He would have died before he could even show his true strength, all because of unknown information about his enemy!
Even Teacher Oki, who was marking scores on the roster, looked completely bewildered.
He had seen it very clearly!
The moment Asuma stepped aside to dodge the senbon, it had miraculously accelerated and changed direction in mid-air!
The same question that plagued Asuma surfaced in Oki's mind.
Why would a senbon without wires curve?
Looking at the fan emblem on Motomu's back, Oki's confusion cleared slightly.
It made sense now.
'Is that the Uchiha's Manipulated Shuriken Technique?'
'As expected of the Uchiha genius whom the Sannin took the initiative to contact.'
With that thought, Teacher Oki immediately announced the result.
"Uchiha Motomu wins!"
"Alright, that's all for today's testing. You're all dismissed."
Below the stage, Asuma wiped away the blood from his wound and hurried to block Motomu's path.
"How... how did you do that?"
"An information gap. Your eyes can't see my methods."
After saying that, Motomu pushed past the anxious, knowledge-seeking youth blocking his way.
'Old Ma, I hope this serves as a profound lesson for you.'
'If you ever encounter that Zombie Duo in the future...'
'Perhaps you won't die such a pathetic death at Hidan's hands if you remember today.'
Time flew by.
Four in the afternoon.
Submerging his consciousness into his dantian, Motomu followed his muscle memory, perfectly merging one part physical energy and one part spiritual energy.
[CHAKRA +1]
Motomu slowly stirred from his chakra refinement.
Since finishing the test and grabbing a meal at Obito's house, Motomu had been sitting in cultivation for over four hours.
Calculating the time, Anko should be getting out of school soon.
Motomu felt a twinge of hesitation. He had asked about the prices at the BBQ restaurant on his way home, and it was indeed quite expensive.
A meal for two would cost around a thousand ryo.
If converted to common currency, that was nearly five hundred dollars.
That was enough to buy Anko tricolor dango for a long time!
Motomu's hesitation vanished when he recalled how thin her arm had felt when he grabbed it.
She was so skinny, practically skin and bones.
Even so, she still buys me dango.
'It's my duty to help raise her!'
'What is Orochimaru even doing?!'
'His disciple is practically starving to death.'
'Wait! No!'
Motomu suddenly realized something.
'Lord Orochimaru... has he even taken Anko as his disciple yet?'
Little Anko, who loved sweets, shouldn't be thin by any means.
If Orochimaru hadn't come for her yet...
Then everything made sense.
Anko was a six-year-old orphan living all by herself.
'At least I have my cousin Obito and a grandmother who feeds me every day.'
'It's a miracle she hasn't starved to death!'
Grabbing the money left over from his tuition and ninja tool purchases from his nightstand, Motomu rushed toward the Academy.
...
Crash!
In a secluded alley near the Ninja Academy.
Anko, covered in dirt, propped her arms against the ground, trembling as she tried to stand up once more.