Chapter 11: Rules and Exceptions
According to Konoha's regulations, any descendant of a shinobi clan who successfully awakened their bloodline limit was granted automatic admission to the Ninja Academy, bypassing the standard entrance exam. This was the unspoken privilege that gave the Ino-Shika-Chō trio their earlier confidence. In essence, the moment Reitō activated his Byakugan, he had already secured his place.
However, this clause had been so far from anyone's mind regarding the "clan tail" that it had been effectively forgotten. Uchiha Fusa, convinced such a thing was impossible for Reitō, had never even considered it.
The stunned silence in the room stretched until the chūnin named Ino cautiously broke it. "Uchiha-senpai? This… does the child pass?"
Uchiha Fusa drew a sharp breath, his mind scrambling. "Impossible… How could he of all people…?" But the evidence was irrefutable, pulsing in the veins around the boy's eyes. More than that, the speed and seal-less ease of the activation spoke not of a recent, struggling awakening, but of practiced, instinctive control.
Just as Fusa floundered, a piece of buried gossip surfaced in his memory. A slow, triumphant smile crept back onto his face. "I must admit, I'm surprised you managed to awaken your clan's bloodline," he said, his tone regaining its condescending edge. "But I recall a certain… detail. It's said your Byakugan is congenitally flawed. That even activated, its vision is no better than a normal person's. Tell me, boy, what is the actual functional range of your 'White Eyes'?"
Reitō felt a chill. The Uchiha's intelligence on Hyūga affairs was disturbingly precise. He met Fusa's gloating gaze and answered with flat honesty. "It's true. My Byakugan is impaired. My effective observational range is ten meters."
"Hah!" Fusa couldn't suppress a short, victorious laugh. There it was. The flaw. With such a crippled dōjutsu, the "automatic admission via bloodline" argument felt hollow, almost pathetic. The other two examiners' faces fell into expressions of sympathy and regret.
Reitō, still unaware of the automatic admission rule, saw only another hurdle. As Fusa began to relax, believing the matter settled, Reitō spoke again, his voice cutting through the room.
"Although I cannot demonstrate the full capability of the Hyūga's bloodline limit…" he stated, his tone leaving no room for interruption, "I can perform a C-rank ninjutsu."
Before anyone could process the words, his hands flew through a sequence—Ram, Serpent, Boar—with crisp, undeniable proficiency.
Bam!
In a blur of displaced air, he vanished from his spot and reappeared precisely at the other end of the assessment room.
The Body Replacement Technique. Flawlessly executed.
Uchiha Fusa's triumphant expression shattered, replaced by slack-jawed disbelief.
Chapter 5: Provoking a Chūnin
The assessment room was dead silent once more. Hyūga Reitō had just upended their expectations for a second time. Not only had he awakened a bloodline limit (however flawed), but he had also mastered a standard Academy C-rank technique to a degree of speed and certainty that many graduates struggled to achieve.
By any objective standard, his performance was exceptional. More than enough for admission, and easily qualifying for the elite Class A.
The two junior examiners looked to Uchiha Fusa, awaiting his verdict, their own opinions clearly leaning toward acceptance.
Fusa's face was a storm cloud. Allowing this branch family reject, this "tail feather," into Class A—to sit alongside Uchiha prodigies as an equal—was an unbearable thought. It would be a permanent joke at his clan's expense. He could already hear the whispers in the village.
He had to stop it. But how? The boy had just met and exceeded the public criteria.
"Senpai?" Ino prompted again, sensing the dangerous tension.
Fusa gave a stiff, almost imperceptible nod of acknowledgment, but his eyes remained locked on Reitō, dark with calculation. He would not—could not—let this happen.
Think. The boy had a flawed Byakugan. That was a weakness, but not enough. He had the Body Replacement. That was a strength. To block him from Class A, he needed a legitimate, publicly defensible reason. Something that would satisfy the other examiners and any potential review.
His gaze swept over Reitō's calm, confident posture. That very confidence gave him an idea. A malicious, petty, but potentially effective idea. A smirk, cold and sharp, slowly returned to Uchiha Fusa's lips.
"I see you have some basic competency," Fusa began, his voice deceptively smooth. "But the Ninja Academy, and especially Class A, does not admit students on 'basic competency' alone. We judge potential. We judge adaptability under pressure. Your… trick with the Body Replacement is a single, rehearsed maneuver. A one-trick pony has no place on the battlefield, where conditions are never ideal."
He leaned forward, his eyes glinting. "You claim you deserve a spot among the best? Then prove you have more than a single parlor trick. Prove you can think on your feet, not just follow a memorized sequence."
He gestured to the chūnin who had been standing by the door, a man with a stern face and scars on his arms. "This is Morita, a veteran of the western border. He will serve as your live opponent for a simple test. Land a single, clean hit on him—anywhere—within three minutes. Do that, and your place in Class A is secure. Fail…" Fusa let the word hang, the threat clear. "Fail, and we will reconsider if the Academy is the right place for you at all."
It was a blatant setup. A genin candidate, even a talented one, landing a hit on an experienced, alert chūnin in a controlled setting was nearly impossible. It was a test designed not to measure, but to break. The other examiners shifted uncomfortably but said nothing, unwilling to challenge Fusa's authority.
Reitō looked from Fusa's smug face to the impassive veteran, Morita, who cracked his knuckles, his expression unreadable. The trap had been sprung. The path to Class A now led straight through an unfair fight.