'Boom!'
A dull thud echoed through the arena.
"Ugh... ah!"
Hyuga Himon cried out in agony, his body lurching uncontrollably forward until he barely regained his footing at the edge of the arena.
A searing pain shot through his back.
The Hyuga Clan possessed two formidable defensive techniques: the Eight Trigrams: Heavenly Rotation, an absolute defense technique exclusive to the main family, and a method of enveloping the body in Chakra to form a protective shield.
However, the former was a secret art only accessible to the main family, while the latter required exceptional Chakra control beyond the grasp of a mere ninja academy student.
Had Hyuga Himon not activated his Byakugan to spot Mikami Yuu's attack and instinctively tense his muscles, that kick might have knocked him unconscious.
"Yuu-kun, you're amazing!" Nohara Rin exclaimed, covering her mouth in astonishment.
"Nice one!" Obito cheered, pumping his fist enthusiastically.
Strictly speaking, Obito and Mikami Yuu's relationship was only lukewarm.
In fact, Obito often felt a vague sense of unease due to Mikami Yuu's closeness with Nohara Rin.
However, Obito harbored an even stronger disdain for the Hyuga Clan, who clashed endlessly with the Uchiha.
As the saying goes, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend," and he couldn't help but feel a smug satisfaction at seeing the Hyuga scion humiliated.
The other academy students erupted in a cacophony of shock and disbelief, stunned by this sudden, dramatic reversal of fortune.
At the edge of the arena, Teacher Oki and Teacher Himura, who were simultaneously overseeing the Three-Body Technique test and closely observing the arena's dynamics, turned around in unison, their faces etched with disbelief and shock!
"Th-this... this is... Space-Time Ninjutsu?!" Teacher Oki's voice trembled as his gaze locked onto Mikami Yuu in the arena, unconsciously recalling the image of a certain blond-haired figure.
As a veteran teacher who had retired from the Chunin Corps to teach at the Ninja Academy, Oki had personally witnessed Namikaze Minato's brilliance firsthand.
The dazzling Flying Thunder God Technique, once seen, could never be forgotten.
Yet Oki also knew that geniuses like Namikaze Minato—who had risen to the rank of elite Jonin while still in his teens—were exceptionally rare.
Even Kakashi, who had graduated at the astonishingly young age of five just two years prior, paled in comparison to that legendary figure.
And now...
Could it be that another genius of such caliber had emerged?!
"No, that's not right!" Teacher Himura, observing more closely, shook his head and declared rapidly, "A Ninja Academy student couldn't possibly master that level of Ninjutsu... It must be the Substitution Technique! Just an extremely fast Substitution Technique!"
"He used those shuriken as substitutes and activated his technique the moment he was struck by the Gentle Fist, creating an effect similar to Space-Time Ninjutsu!"
The logic held up.
But...
'How could he move so fast?!'
On the arena floor, the battle raged on.
Hyuga Himon, a shinobi clan scion trained from childhood, had been hit hard but hadn't lost his composure.
Just as he was about to fall off the arena, he slammed his palms down hard to halt his momentum.
With a desperate, somewhat clumsy backflip fueled by his strong core muscles, he landed back within the arena.
Kneeling on one knee, he gasped for breath and glared upward.
"Damn you, Mikami Yuu! Sneaking in an ambush like that..."
Across the arena, Mikami Yuu's figure split into four identical white-haired youths, clearly employing a Clone Technique once again—this time with an unusually large number of clones.
The four identical figures instantly spread across most of the arena, encircling the barely steady, panting Hyuga Himon!
Originally, Hyuga Himon had intended to use his Byakugan to pinpoint Mikami Yuu's true form.
But...
"Huh?"
Hyuga Himon froze in place.
In his field of vision, the Chakra flow patterns within all four Mikami Yuu were faint and identical, as if... they were all clones?!
'How could this be possible?'
'Where's the real one? Did he hide beneath the arena?'
The Byakugan, renowned for piercing through all illusions, had failed him.
Hyuga Himon stood rooted to the spot, momentarily paralyzed by confusion.
He frantically scanned his surroundings, every nerve taut, cold sweat trickling down his cheeks.
"Hey, Hyuga! What are you just standing there for? Did you get kicked stupid? Hahaha! If you want to give up, just say so already! Don't waste our time!"
Obito, never one to let a good spectacle pass him by, was the first to start heckling.
The other students, equally bewildered, whispered among themselves, unable to understand why Hyuga Himon had suddenly frozen.
"Shut up, you dead-last loser!"
Hyuga Himon snapped, stung by Obito's taunts and consumed by humiliation and fury.
He roared, "Forget it! If I can't tell them apart, I'll destroy them all! I'll force your real body to reveal itself!"
If all the clones vanished without Mikami Yuu's true body appearing, then he would win the match by default!
"Haaah!"
Hyuga Himon let out a low roar, his body surging forward like a tiger entering a flock of sheep.
He lunged at the nearest clone, the palm wind from his Gentle Fist strikes razor-sharp.
'Bang!'
The first clone shattered with a single strike.
Then the second, and the third...
As clone after clone exploded into white smoke, Hyuga Himon's frustration grew. He still couldn't pinpoint the damn real body's location!
His Chakra was being rapidly depleted by these blind attacks.
When only one clone remained, Hyuga Himon planted his feet, charging forward with renewed force, but his gaze darted to the sides, desperate to anticipate where Mikami Yuu might reveal himself.
Just then...
An unexpected twist!
A shuriken lying on the ground suddenly detonated into a cloud of smoke without warning.
From within emerged a hand, faintly coated with Chakra, that shot out like lightning, its fingers aligned into a blade, aiming for Hyuga Himon's ribs!
"Wh...?!?"
Hyuga Himon never anticipated such a turn of events.
Before he could react, he felt a sharp blow to his kidney, instantly draining the strength from his body.
His wrist was then seized, and using his own momentum, Mikami Yuu executed a swift back throw!
'Thud!'
Dust billowed.
Hyuga Himon crashed headfirst off the arena in a humiliating heap, letting out a pained groan.
Mikami Yuu reappeared in Hyuga Himon's former position, exhaling softly, his gaze calm to the point of indifference. "The match is decided. You've lost."
"Now, will you apologize to the Three-Body Technique?"
As Mikami Yuu's words hung in the air, the entire training ground fell into utter silence.
Sunlight streamed down onto the white-haired youth's hair and onto the dazed Hyuga prodigy sprawled at his feet.
The latter struggled to lift his head, opening his mouth as if to speak, but no sound emerged immediately.
The match was over.
A member of the Hyuga Clan, even with the Byakugan activated, had lost to a commoner ninja who relied solely on the Three-Body Technique.
If this had happened to someone else, Hyuga Himon might have dismissed it as a joke.
But now, he was the one who had suffered this humiliation.
In that moment, Hyuga Himon felt his pride and sense of superiority as a scion of a noble clan utterly crushed.
The piercing gazes around him felt like needles in his back.