The upperclassmen at the side started jeering too.
"So that's all the courage the Uchiha clan has?"
"I think he's just scared of embarrassing himself."
"He's only five, after all. How strong could he really be?"
Uchiha Toru's hands clenched into fists.
Standing nearby, Hyuga Kazuki watched the scene and suddenly felt uneasy. He instinctively glanced toward the child in the red shirt.
That little brat was squatting on the ground, studying ants like he hadn't heard a thing.
But Kazuki had seen firsthand just how freaky that kid was.
He couldn't help tugging at Yamashiro Taiga's sleeve and lowering his voice. "Taiga, that's enough..."
Taiga turned to look at him, frowning.
"What? You scared?"
"No..." Kazuki hesitated. "There's... someone in this class you really don't want to mess with."
"Who? That Uchiha kid?"
"No." Kazuki didn't know how to explain it. "The one in red."
Taiga followed his gaze.
A little kid in a red shirt was crouched there with his butt in the air, watching ants. He looked dumb as a post.
Taiga snorted.
"That one? Kazuki, did something break in your head?"
"No, he's really—"
"Enough already." Taiga cut him off impatiently. "Since when did you get this cowardly?"
Then he turned back around and glared at the crowd.
"So, Uchiha brat, are you coming or not?"
Kazuki opened his mouth, but in the end said nothing. He'd already warned them. Whatever happened next wasn't his problem.
Uchiha Toru stood in the crowd with his head lowered, both fists tightly clenched.
Those words stabbed into him like needles.
So this is all the Uchiha clan amounts to.
Coward.
Uchiha Toru slowly lifted his head and walked step by step into the middle of the field.
"There you are." Taiga looked at him and crooked a finger. "Come on. I'll even let you have the first move."
Uchiha Toru stopped in place. His hands started forming seals.
Snake. Ram. Monkey. Boar. Horse. Tiger.
Taiga's smile froze.
The smiles on the other upperclassmen's faces froze too.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
A huge fireball burst from Uchiha Toru's mouth and shot straight at them.
"Waaahhh!"
The upperclassmen screamed and scattered in panic.
The fireball exploded in the middle of them, and a wave of heat swept over the field.
Taiga stumbled to regain his footing. Smoke curled off his clothes, and even a lock of his hair had been singed.
Uchiha Toru lowered his hands and looked at him.
"Still want to continue?"
Taiga's face turned green, then white.
The other upperclassmen exchanged glances, none of them daring to move forward.
Kazuki had already backed away several steps the moment Uchiha Toru started forming seals. Now he was standing far off to the side, showing absolutely no intention of getting involved.
By all rights, this was the point where they should have backed down.
But Taiga couldn't bring himself to lose face.
He was an upperclassman. If he got scared off by a single first-year brat, how was he supposed to show his face after this?
So he gritted his teeth and said, "Fine."
Uchiha Toru looked at him, his expression unchanged.
"You're not my opponent."
Taiga's face flushed red.
"What did you say?"
Uchiha Toru's gaze swept over the upperclassmen behind him.
"Come at me together."
Taiga froze.
The upperclassmen beside him froze too.
"H-How arrogant!" Taiga's voice was trembling. "Who do you think you are?"
Uchiha Toru didn't answer. He just stood there, waiting for them to attack.
Taiga clenched his jaw and waved his hand.
"Get him together. He's only one person."
The others hesitated.
"But..."
"What are you scared of? There are five of us. You think we can't take one kid?"
They hesitated again, but slowly started closing in.
Kazuki stayed where he was, not moving.
"Kazuki," Taiga snapped. "What are you doing?"
Kazuki shook his head, voice firm. "I'm not going."
Taiga's face twisted with anger, but he didn't have time to curse him out, because Uchiha Toru was already forming seals again.
"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"
Small flames shot from Uchiha Toru's mouth in all directions, scattering like flower petals.
The three upperclassmen charging in front didn't even have time to react before the flames grazed them, instantly burning holes through their clothes.
"Ahhh!"
"It's hot!"
They screamed and stumbled backward.
But the flames kept coming.
One of them flew straight toward Taiga's face.
Taiga's eyes widened.
His legs felt nailed to the ground.
I'm dead.
That was the only thought left in his head.
Just as the flame was about to slam into his face, a transparent streak flashed in from the side.
Pop.
The flame stopped in midair.
Something seemed to wrap around it. It struggled twice, then went out with a soft pfft.
Taiga stared blankly ahead. Something dangled in front of his face.
Transparent. Sticky. Slightly glistening.
It looked like... snot.
At the edge of the crowd stood an unfamiliar boy, his hands still in a seal.
"Secret Technique: Wild Snot Dance."
The entire place fell silent.
At the side, Teacher Ibuki lowered the hands he'd just raised to form seals, shock on his face. His own reaction had been slower than his student's.
Bo-chan reeled his snot back in, expression unchanged, voice flat as ever. "Dangerous. Almost hit someone."
"W-Who are you supposed to be?" Taiga asked in a shaky voice.
"Bo-chan."
And that was all.
At the edge of the field, everything went dead silent.
Uchiha Toru slowly lowered his hands and looked at Bo-chan, his expression complicated.
"Fire Style is strong," Bo-chan said slowly. "But you didn't control it well."
Uchiha Toru was silent for two seconds.
"Yeah."
Bo-chan nodded, then turned and walked back to the edge of the crowd, quietly standing there again.
As if nothing at all had happened.
The field stayed deathly silent.
The jaws of the kids in class were practically on the ground.
Guy was trembling all over with excitement. "Youth! This is the power of youth!"
Obito was sitting on the ground, mouth hanging open, unable to close it.
Kazuki had stayed far out by the edge of the training field the whole time, never once coming closer.
He glanced once at the red figure still squatting on the ground watching ants, then at Uchiha Toru standing nearby.
Then he silently took another two steps back.
Good thing he hadn't gone in earlier.
The field gradually quieted.
The upperclassmen were gone, and the cheering had stopped too.
Teacher Ibuki stood off to the side, having watched the entire thing from beginning to end.
From Guy and Obito getting beaten, to Uchiha Toru cowing the whole field with a single Great Fireball, to the Phoenix Flower Jutsu almost causing a disaster, and finally the new kid stopping it with snot.
As the teacher, from beginning to end, he had done nothing.
He had just stood there like an idiot.
Teacher Ibuki slowly lowered his head, his voice rough.
"Line up."
The children gradually walked over and formed rows again.
Teacher Ibuki looked at them and suddenly felt hollow inside.
"I'm the teacher... So how is it that I can't even keep control of the situation...?"
~~~
Patreon(.)com/Bleam
— Currently You can Read 50 Chapters Ahead of Others!