Bang—!
A dull impact rang out.
"Ugh—ah!"
Hyūga Kamon let out a scream. His body lurched forward uncontrollably, stumbling and half-flying until he barely managed to steady himself at the edge of the ring. His back felt like it was on fire with searing pain.
The Hyūga had an absolute defense technique known as Rotation, and they also had methods of coating the entire body with chakra as a protective layer. But the former was a secret art only the main family could master, and the latter required extremely high chakra control—far beyond what a mere Academy student could do.
If Kamon hadn't seen Mikami Yuu with his Byakugan and instinctively tensed his muscles, that kick might have knocked the breath right out of him.
"Yuu-kun, that was amazing!"
Rin covered her mouth, eyes wide with shock.
"Nice one!"
Obito pumped his fist hard.
Strictly speaking, Obito's relationship with Mikami Yuu was only so-so. He even often felt a vague sense of danger because Mikami Yuu was so close to Rin.
But he disliked the Hyūga clan even more—since the Uchiha and Hyūga never saw eye to eye. The enemy of your enemy is your friend, and seeing Kamon get humbled like this was pure schadenfreude.
The other students erupted into an uproar too, stunned by the lightning-fast reversal.
By the platform,
Ooki-sensei and Himura-sensei—who had been both running the Three Basic Jutsu test and keeping an eye on the ring—turned at the same time, faces filled with disbelief.
"Th-this… is this… space-time ninjutsu?!"
Ooki-sensei's voice trembled. His eyes locked onto Mikami Yuu on the ring, and he unconsciously recalled the figure of a certain blond-haired man.
As an old teacher who had once served in chūnin squads before coming to teach at the Academy, Ooki had personally seen Namikaze Minato's brilliance. That dazzling Flying Thunder God—once you'd seen it, you never forgot it.
But Ooki also knew that a genius like Minato—someone who became an elite jōnin in his teens—was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of rarity. Even Kakashi, who graduated at five just a couple of years ago, looked ordinary compared to him.
And now…
Had a second such genius appeared?!
"No—no, that's not it!"
Himura-sensei had been watching more carefully. He shook his head and spoke rapidly:
"An Academy student can't possibly have mastered a technique of that level… It's Substitution Technique! Just an unbelievably fast Substitution!
"He used those shuriken as substitution mediums, then triggered the jutsu at the instant he was about to be hit by Gentle Fist—that's why it looked so similar to space-time ninjutsu!"
Logically, it made sense.
But still…
How could it be that fast?!
On the ring,
the fight continued.
Hyūga Kamon was, after all, a clan kid trained from childhood. Even after taking that heavy hit, he didn't lose his composure.
At the instant he was about to tumble off the ring, he slammed both palms down hard, stopping his forward momentum. Then, using powerful core strength, he performed a slightly awkward backflip, landing back inside the ring. He dropped to one knee, breathing hard, and looked up.
"Damn you, Mikami Yuu—sneaking an attack…"
Across from him,
Mikami Yuu split into four—clearly he had used Clone Technique again, and the number this time was unusually high. Four identical white-haired boys instantly covered more than half the ring, surrounding Hyūga Kamon, who had only just regained his footing and was still short of breath.
Originally, Kamon intended to use the Byakugan to identify Mikami Yuu's real body.
But—
"Huh?"
Hyūga Kamon froze.
In his vision, all four "Mikami Yuu" had shallow, identical chakra flow signatures—like… they were all clones?!
How was that possible?
Then where was the real body—did he hide under the ring?
The Byakugan, said to see through all illusion, had suddenly lost its edge.
Hyūga Kamon stiffened in place. For a moment he didn't know what to do. He could only scan around in suspicion, every nerve drawn tight, cold sweat sliding down his cheeks.
"Hey, Hyūga, what are you standing there for—did that kick knock you stupid? Hah! If you're gonna surrender, say it already—don't waste time!"
Obito, never one to mind his own business, was the first to yell.
The other students, not understanding what was happening, began whispering too, confused why Kamon had suddenly stopped moving.
"Shut up, dead last!"
Obito's words hit Kamon right where it hurt. Shame and anger surged together.
He roared: Screw it! If I can't tell them apart, I'll smash them all and force the real body out!
If every clone disappeared and Mikami Yuu's real body still didn't show, then by that logic… Kamon could count it as a win!
"Hyah!"
Hyūga Kamon growled and launched himself again—like a tiger plunging into a flock of sheep—pouncing on the nearest "Mikami Yuu"! The palm wind from Gentle Fist was razor-sharp.
Bang!
The first clone was dispersed with a single palm.
Then the second. The third…
As one clone after another exploded into white smoke, Kamon's anxiety only grew. He still couldn't tell where the damn real body was! Meanwhile, his chakra was draining rapidly in this blind assault.
When only one clone remained, Kamon pushed off the ground again and rushed forward. But his eyes were already flicking to both sides, trying to see where Mikami Yuu planned to reveal himself from.
And then—
something changed in an instant.
A shuriken on the ground suddenly—without warning—burst into smoke. A hand coated in a thin layer of chakra shot out like lightning, fingers together, chopping toward Kamon's ribs!
"Wha—?!"
Hyūga Kamon never expected anything like that. Before he could change moves, he felt a vicious strike slam into his side. His strength scattered instantly.
Then his wrist was seized in a tight grip. Using his own forward momentum, his attacker yanked hard and threw him into a brutal back suplex!
Thud!
Dust flew up.
Hyūga Kamon crashed off the ring, head down and feet up in a painfully humiliating sprawl, letting out a cry of pain.
And Mikami Yuu appeared where Kamon had been standing. He exhaled lightly, his gaze calm to the point of indifference.
"It's decided. You lost."
"Now—can you apologize to the Three Basic Jutsu?"
As Mikami Yuu's words fell, the entire field went dead silent.
Sunlight caught the tips of the white-haired boy's hair—and also the dazed Hyūga "genius" at his feet. Kamon lifted his head with difficulty, lips parting as if to say something in protest, but no sound came out right away.
The outcome was settled.
A Hyūga elite, with Byakugan activated, had lost to a civilian ninja who only used the Three Basic Jutsu… If it had happened to someone else, Kamon might have laughed at it as a joke. But now he was the one living it.
For a moment, he felt the pride and superiority of a great clan heir being ground into dust. And the countless stares aimed at him made his skin crawl, like needles pressed to his back.