Teacher Ibuki frowned.
"What if something goes wrong...?"
"What could possibly go wrong?" Yamagami Kazuumi cut him off. "We're standing right here watching. If anything really happens, we'll step in."
He turned his head and looked back toward the field.
"Besides, don't you want to see what your class is capable of too?"
Teacher Ibuki fell silent, then instinctively looked over at the training ground. The students still had no idea what was happening.
Guy was leading the warm-up, Obito was trailing after Rin, Uchiha Toru was standing to one side, Kakashi was leaning against a tree, and Shin-chan was squatting on the ground doing who-knew-what.
"Fine." Teacher Ibuki let out a sigh.
The two of them hid in the bushes and watched quietly.
On the field—
The upperclassmen made sure both teachers were gone, then poured out from hiding.
At the front was Yamashiro Taiga, with the same boys from the other day beside him, plus even more students no one recognized, all from his class.
They swaggered right in and surrounded the field.
The students of Class A froze.
"What's going on?"
"What are they doing here?"
"No way..."
Taiga walked to the front of the group, folded his arms, and swept his gaze over the crowd.
It finally settled on Uchiha Toru.
"Well, well, the Uchiha brat." He grinned. "Weren't you pretty cocky the other day?"
Uchiha Toru looked at him without saying a word.
Taiga took a step forward.
"What's wrong? Your teacher isn't here today, so now you're scared?"
The group behind him burst out laughing, loud and mocking.
Guy stepped forward.
"What do you want?"
Taiga glanced at him.
"You're the green one who got beaten up the worst last time, right?"
Guy's face flushed red. "Youth—"
"What youth, what youth." Taiga cut him off. "Today I'm going to show you what real strength in numbers looks like."
With a wave of his hand, the upperclassmen slowly started closing in.
The students of Class A instinctively shrank backward and huddled together.
Someone whispered, "We're done for... there are too many of them..."
"What do we do if the teacher isn't here...?"
"Run?"
"Run where? We're surrounded!"
Obito gritted his teeth and stepped to the front.
"What's there to be scared of? We'll fight them."
But his hands were shaking.
Uchiha Toru slowly stepped out too.
"You came for me, didn't you?" He looked at Taiga. "Let the others go. I'll stay."
Taiga laughed.
"Let them go?" He shook his head. "Wasn't your class feeling pretty capable yesterday? Today, not a single one of you is leaving."
He rolled his wrists.
"One beating and we'll call it even."
At that moment, a lazy voice sounded from the back of the group.
"Oh."
Everyone turned around.
Shin-chan was standing there scratching his head, wearing an expression of sudden realization.
"Now I remember."
Uchiha Toru looked at him.
"Remember what?"
"Some guy came to tell me earlier that the upperclassmen were coming to make trouble."
Uchiha Toru froze.
"You already knew?"
"Yeah."
"When did you know?"
Shin-chan thought about it. "During break."
Uchiha Toru's mouth twitched.
"Then why didn't you tell us sooner?"
Shin-chan blinked.
"Because I saw Teacher Asagi on the way back."
"And then?"
"And then I forgot."
Uchiha Toru fell silent.
At the side, a cross-shaped vein bulged on Obito's forehead.
"You forgot something that important just because you saw a pretty teacher?"
Shin-chan tilted his head and thought about it.
"Teacher Asagi really is very pretty."
Obito opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
Guy looked confused. "So... who exactly are they here for?"
"Not for anyone specifically." Uchiha Toru took a deep breath. "They're just here to make trouble. Shin-chan knew, but forgot to tell us."
Guy froze for two seconds, then suddenly raised a thumbs-up.
"Shin-chan, even the way you forget things is youthful!"
Shin-chan raised a thumbs-up too.
"Right?"
Uchiha Toru looked at the two of them and suddenly felt a headache coming on.
Across from them, Taiga's face was getting darker and darker as he watched this whole group of first-years casually chatting among themselves.
"Hey, what are you idiots muttering about?"
"We're talking about youth."
"What youth, what nonsense." Taiga couldn't be bothered to listen anymore. He waved his hand. "Everyone, get them!"
Guy was the first to charge.
"Youth!"
He threw a punch at the closest upperclassman. The guy sidestepped easily, and two more jumped in at once, grabbing Guy by the shoulders as fists and kicks came raining down on him.
"Stop!"
Obito gritted his teeth and rushed forward to help, only to get kicked in the stomach by another student and sent flying backward, landing hard on the ground.
"Obito!"
Rin screamed.
Guy and Obito were trapped in the crowd, struggling to get back up as punches and kicks kept falling on them.
Some of the Class A students were already screaming and backing away. A few of the timid ones had started crying.
"What do we do..."
"There are too many of them..."
"Where's the teacher... why isn't the teacher back yet..."
The whole field had descended into chaos.
And then—
"Get away from them!"
Uchiha Toru's voice exploded across the field. His hands were already moving rapidly through hand seals.
Snake. Ram. Monkey. Boar. Horse. Tiger.
Taiga's grin froze.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
A huge ball of fire burst from Uchiha Toru's mouth and slammed into the open ground two meters in front of the crowd.
Boom!
The flames exploded outward, scattering sparks everywhere, and a blast of heat swept across the field.
The upperclassmen surrounding Guy and Obito cried out and stumbled backward, instinctively raising their arms to shield their faces. The burning heat rushed at them, and no one dared step forward.
At that exact moment, a silver blur shot into the crowd.
Hatake Kakashi, one hand on Guy and the other on Obito, grabbed them both by the backs of their collars and yanked.
In one motion, he dragged both of them out of the crowd.
Then Kakashi let go and stepped in front of them.
The entire thing took less than three seconds.
Taiga froze.
The others behind him froze too.
The flames were still dying out across the open ground, black smoke curling upward.
Uchiha Toru stood beyond the flames, breathing hard.
"Still want to fight?"
No one moved.
More than twenty upperclassmen, frozen in place by the presence of a single first-year.
But Taiga gritted his teeth and still refused to back down.
"What are you all scared of? He's the only one who knows Fire Style. Everyone else here is useless." He shouted over his shoulder, "All of you, together! He doesn't have that much chakra."
Two of the upperclassmen exchanged a glance, then moved around Uchiha Toru and rushed straight toward Shin-chan.
Shin-chan looked up and blinked.
"Huh?"
They were already right in front of him.
And then—
Splat.
A sticky mass landed squarely on the face of the one in front.
"What the—?!"
He screamed, stumbled, and pitched forward, taking the guy next to him down with him.
The two of them crashed into a tangled heap, their faces and hands covered in transparent slime that wouldn't wipe off no matter how hard they tried.
Shin-chan stood where he was, tilting his head as he looked at the two boys on the ground.
~~~
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