At that moment, the attention of all the surrounding students, including Teacher Oki, was drawn to the scene.
Nohara Rin hesitated, wanting to mediate, but couldn't figure out where to start.
The situation had escalated too quickly; even she, who had been standing nearby the entire time, couldn't understand how Yuu-kun and Hyuga-san had suddenly come to blows.
Nearby, Obito, Shiranui Genma, and Asuma, standing further away, wore bewildered expressions.
They could only pull their companions aside and whisper to each other:
"Hey, hey, what's going on?"
"No idea. Seems like Mikami-san and Hyuga Himon are arguing about the Will of Fire..."
"I support Mikami-san! He's so handsome—he must be innocent! The Hyuga Clan is just bullying him with their power—how despicable!"
"Ooh, are they going to fight? Come on, come on! I want to see blood flow like a river!"
"..."
Hyuga Himon, the person involved, was still somewhat dazed, but he no longer cared to think about it.
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, he felt his honor as a member of a noble clan had been challenged, and his face flushed crimson: "Fine, a duel it is! Come on!"
Hyuga Himon immediately leaped onto the arena platform.
Mikami Yuu followed suit.
"Hey, don't fight here..."
Nohara Rin tried to intervene, but in the blink of an eye, both boys had already climbed onto the platform.
She had no choice but to find Teacher Oki.
Oki was in a dilemma.
Ordinarily, brawling among students would be strictly forbidden.
But...
What did it mean to say that "denying the Three Body Technique is denying the teaching principles of Konoha Ninja Academy and the Will of Fire"?
At first glance, the statement seemed absurd, but upon closer examination, the logic actually held up quite well.
In fact, Oki and Himura were precisely the kind of people Hyuga Himon had described—those who "could only practice low-level ninjutsu."
Born commoners, they had already been promoted to Chunin, but they still knew very few C-rank ninjutsu and relied heavily on basic techniques like the Three Body Technique and Body Flicker Technique in their daily work.
So, on a personal level, they were rather displeased by Hyuga Himon's words.
"Ahem, Rin," Oki said, clearing his throat, "the official combat training hasn't started yet. Private sparring between students is perfectly acceptable. There's no need to be so anxious..."
Oki cleared his throat.
"Don't worry," he said.
"If things get out of hand, Teacher Himura and I will step in."
In that brief exchange...
Mikami Yuu and Hyuga Himon had already taken their positions, glaring fiercely at each other.
Mikami Yuu swiftly formed hand seals: "Clone Technique!"
'Poof!'
Instantly, three clones materialized beside Mikami Yuu, charging toward Hyuga Himon.
This tactic was a common opening move for most ninja academy students.
Against opponents of similar skill, it could easily confuse them. However...
"Byakugan!"
Hyuga Himon also formed hand seals, his voice low and intense. A vein bulged on his forehead as he activated the Byakugan, the Hyuga Clan's bloodline limit.
The chakra pathways within his opponent became crystal clear in his vision.
"Hmph, child's play! Against my Byakugan, such crude clone techniques are meaningless!"
With a single glance through his Byakugan, Hyuga Himon pierced through the clones' blurry outlines and faintly illusory chakra signatures, pinpointing the real Mikami Yuu among the duplicates.
The genuine body's chakra flowed most vividly, its aura radiating with tangible presence.
"Found you!"
A cold smirk tugged at Hyuga Himon's lips.
He planted his feet firmly, launching himself at the exposed original like an arrow loosed from its bow.
With a swift shift of his palms, he adopted the opening stance of Gentle Fist, the air faintly whistling as his palms moved.
"Gentle Fist!"
Faced with the wind-splitting palm strike, Mikami Yuu's eyes narrowed.
Contrary to Hyuga Himon's expectation that he would dodge sideways, he lowered his center of gravity, braced his stance, and met the strike with a punch of his own!
'Bang!'
Fist met palm, producing a dull, resounding thud.
'This guy...'
A flicker of shock crossed Hyuga Himon's eyes. 'This commoner's strength... something's off! How could he withstand my Gentle Fist strike?'
'During our Ninja Sparring session over a month ago, he wasn't nearly this strong!'
Across from him, Mikami Yuu felt a jolt of his own.
'As expected of the Hyuga Clan, specialists in taijutsu. Even with my physical enhancements, that clash sent my blood surging. If I'd taken that blow with my body from two weeks ago... half my arm would have been shattered.'
'The gap between ninja clan heirs and commoner children truly can't be bridged with a mere 3-point increase in physical stats.'
'Bang! Bang!'
After a brief flurry of punches and kicks, Mikami Yuu immediately leaped back a short distance, disengaging from the fight.
Lowering his center of gravity slightly, he placed one hand on his ninja tool pouch, his gaze fixed on his opponent.
Engaging the Hyuga Clan in taijutsu was clearly a foolish choice.
If their Gentle Fist struck an acupuncture point, it would disrupt his Chakra flow, rendering him unable to use ninjutsu.
Moreover, the mission Mikami Yuu had triggered required him to stake his victory on the Three Body Technique.
And he had to win decisively!
'Huff...'
With a deep exhale, Mikami Yuu had already formulated his complete strategy.
Across from him, Hyuga Himon, though slightly better off, puffed out his chest deliberately, attempting to regain some ground with words: "What happened to your earlier bravado? Just a 'commoner genius' who only knows the Three Body Technique? Judging by your condition, you can barely stand, can you?"
"...Stop barking," Mikami Yuu retorted.
Hyuga Himon's face flushed crimson again.
He growled under his breath, pushing off the ground with renewed force, moving even faster than before, his Gentle Fist stance tightening further.
"You're all talk... This ends now! Prepare to witness the true essence of the Gentle Fist—the Eight Trigrams Palm..."
Seeing the figure rapidly closing in, Mikami Yuu swiftly drew several wooden training shuriken from his waist pouch and flicked his wrist sharply.
'Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!'
The shuriken whistled through the air in a V-formation, aimed at Hyuga Himon's face and either side of his chest and abdomen.
"Too slow!"
Hyuga Himon had long since predicted the shuriken's trajectory. With a nimble sidestep, he slipped through the gaps between them like a fish through water, showcasing the effortless grace of the Hyuga Clan's taijutsu.
"Is that all your tricks amount to? How utterly pathetic!"
Before the words had even left his lips, Hyuga Himon had closed the distance to less than two meters from Mikami Yuu.
His palms flashed forward like dancing butterflies, chakra converging at his fingertips. "It ends here... Gentle Fist Technique: Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms!"
"First Palm!"
A palm strike imbued with sealing chakra slammed viciously into Mikami Yuu's chest.
From the sidelines, Nohara Rin couldn't help but gasp aloud. "Yuu-kun, watch out!"
Just as Hyuga Himon's first palm was about to strike Mikami Yuu—
'Bang!'
A soft explosion erupted, and a cloud of smoke billowed out.
Before their eyes, "Mikami Yuu"'s body instantly transformed into a... wooden shuriken?!
"What?!"
The triumphant smirk froze on Hyuga Himon's face. His pupils constricted sharply as alarm bells blared in his mind.
Simultaneously, behind him, a shuriken he had narrowly dodged—one that had landed harmlessly on the empty ground beside him—exploded in another cloud of smoke, revealing Mikami Yuu's true form!
'Substitution Technique!'
Moreover, it was a seal-less, instantaneous activation, an extreme replacement completed in just 0.2 seconds!
"Hah!"
Appearing behind Hyuga Himon, Mikami Yuu wasted no time.
He twisted his torso, channeling all his strength into his right leg, unleashing a devastating side kick that cracked like a whip against the Hyuga's exposed back before he could even turn around!