The clearing wasn't large, and the voices of Uchiha Daishi and the others all carried clearly to Uchiha Eiji's ears.
It was only then that he noticed—under his flurry of attacks, Uchiha Yuan hadn't moved a single step. He was still standing exactly where he'd been from the start.
In that instant, a wave of deep humiliation surged up within Eiji's chest.
Uchiha Yuan… I'll make you move your feet if it's the last thing I do!
At that moment, Eiji's goal changed.
He already knew he had lost—after dozens of attacks had been blocked with casual ease, that much was obvious. But he couldn't accept that he couldn't even make the other man move.
So, in the following exchanges, he began to hold back his strength, disguising his intent with feints.
After all, even if he went all out, Uchiha Yuan would simply block every strike with ease.
After a few rounds, during one exchange, Yuan caught one of Eiji's flying kicks with a straight punch—and at that precise moment, he felt a sudden surge of chakra fluctuation coming from Eiji's body.
Using the recoil from the clash, Eiji flipped backward, forming rapid hand seals in midair.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
A torrent of blazing flame burst from his mouth, forming a fireball over a meter in diameter that roared toward Uchiha Yuan.
A faint, confident smile tugged at the corner of Eiji's lips. Uchiha Yuan, let's see if you still stand still now!
But in the next instant, the fireball shattered with a thunderous burst.
A violent gust of compressed air tore outward from within the flames, sweeping past Eiji's side.
Scraps of cloth fluttered through the air—his left sleeve was ripped apart by the shockwave.
The smile on Eiji's face froze.
In front of him, Uchiha Yuan still hadn't moved an inch.
Yuan maintained his straight-punch stance, arm still extended—apparently, that single punch just now had been the result of him getting slightly serious.
Withdrawing his fist, Yuan walked calmly up to Eiji and said, "You've lost."
Eiji remained silent, his gaze slightly dazed.
Just then, his two companions came running up. One of them shouted angrily at Yuan, "Don't get cocky, Uchiha Yuan! Brother Eiji only lost because he let his guard down!"
Before they could say more, Eiji spoke. "Hayato, Kotarō, there's no need. I lost."
The Uchiha were proud, but they revered strength. Once victory and defeat were decided, they wouldn't make excuses.
He raised his head slightly and looked at Uchiha Yuan—and saw the faint gleam in his eyes, where a single black tomoe was slowly spinning into existence.
It was the awakening of the Sharingan.
Uchiha Hayato and Uchiha Kotarō gasped in shock and joy.
"That's amazing, Brother Eiji! You've awakened the Sharingan!"
Touching his eyes, Eiji felt a surge of elation—he could clearly sense that his vision had sharpened, become clearer and farther-reaching.
In the distance, he could see insects flitting through the tall grass. When he focused on them, their flight paths seemed to slow down, every motion distinct and deliberate.
But when he looked back, he noticed something strange about Yuan's expression.
There was a trace of surprise, but no envy, no jealousy—only calm, as though the awakening of a Sharingan was something utterly trivial.
By contrast, Uchiha Daishi and the others who had gathered around after hearing Hayato's shout were all staring at Eiji's eyes with open admiration and even awe.
Yuan was indeed surprised—he hadn't expected Eiji to awaken his eyes so suddenly.
Then Eiji spoke up. "Uchiha Yuan, I lost. According to our bet, you may make one request of me."
"I've heard your family has books on chakra cultivation," Yuan said. "I'd like to borrow one for reference."
"Borrow… a book?"
Eiji blinked, stunned.
He had expected Yuan to demand something humiliating—after all, he himself had said that if he won, he'd make Yuan crawl on the ground and bark like a dog.
Seeing Eiji hesitate, Yuan frowned slightly. "Is that request difficult to grant?"
"No," Eiji said with a complicated expression. "It's just… I'm surprised by your choice."
With that, the three of them left the clearing.
Uchiha Yuan sat cross-legged on a large rock at the edge of the training ground. Before him, Uchiha Daishi and his group stood in three neat rows.
They were Yuan's personal guard—his loyal followers.
All of them came from branch families of the clan, those deemed to have low ninja potential—precisely why Uchiha Eiji had called them "trash." As a result, they were often bullied and mocked by other clan children.
Yuan, himself born from a branch family, had once taken notice of them.
It was after they'd lost a scuffle with other Uchiha children and sat there bruised and dirty that Yuan appeared before them and asked quietly if they wanted to become stronger.
At the time, Daishi and the others had thought he was mocking them.
After all, Yuan looked even smaller and frailer than they were. Enraged, they charged at him—only to be floored one after another in a matter of seconds.
From that day on, they became his followers.
Yuan knew well that if he wanted to change the fate of the Uchiha clan, he needed not only personal strength but also a force of his own.
A single spark can ignite a prairie fire.
He would build his own power, starting with these children whom the clan had cast aside as useless.
He would give them light, give them strength.
And in return, they would give him their loyalty.
"Who exactly is this Uchiha Eiji?" Yuan asked.
Daishi quickly replied, "Big Brother, Eiji's the one who used to bully us all the time. We've been training here with the straight-punch drills you taught us, and he must've heard about it and come looking for trouble."
Yuan's gaze swept slowly across Daishi and the others. "And how many moves did it take him to defeat you?"
"I lasted seven," one said.
"I didn't expect him to have mastered the Body Flicker Technique. I only lasted five," another muttered.
"But after training with the conditioning method you taught us, Big Brother, his punches don't hurt as much as they used to," Daishi added.
Listening to their words, Yuan nodded slightly. "Even if the clan says you lack the talent to be shinobi, don't give up. Mastering taijutsu alone can make you strong.
If you keep training seriously, the day you surpass Uchiha Eiji won't be far away."
The taijutsu method he'd taught them was something Yuan had developed himself—born from his habit of using spiritual perception to observe the flow of blood and energy through his own body while he trained, gaining insights into the workings of strength and motion.
After offering them a few corrections on their posture and breathing, Yuan turned and left the clearing, leaving Daishi and the others to resume their interrupted training.
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