52. A Spar

"That's all for today! You are free to leave now." Koga dismisses them and returns to his office.

"We did it! We really did it!" Haru and Chomu celebrate and dance wildly in joy.

Only Yuji maintains a calm expression while ignoring the intense gaze of other students, especially the death gaze of a group of four particular students.

He raises his head and stares at the sky.

'Minato's and others' classes must also have ended by now. There is something that I want to try and I need their help with it.' Yuji recalls the shadow clone jutsu, the Jounin performed earlier.

'That shadow clone technique seems way too useful to be ignored. I have to master it to explore its potential. I am sure it will come in handy in the future.'

He turns around to leave.

"Hey, you there! Stop!" Someone's furious cry echoes in the surroundings.

Yuji ignores it and continues to walk forward.

"You bastard! Are you ignoring me on purpose?"

Akio picks up a stone from the ground and throws it toward Yuji with full strength.

Hmm…

Yuji frowns as he senses a pebble aiming at his head.

Thack…

Without even turning around, he catches the rock before it could hit his head.

"What's your deal?" Yuji frowns and glares at the Uchiha kid.

"Damn it!" Akio's face turns red as Yuji easily shrugs off his sneak attack.

"Let's fight!" Akio makes a seal of confrontation towards Yuji.

'I don't have time to entertain some kid. I will better use this time to improve my abilities. Strength is all that matters.' He clenches his fists as he recalls his previous helplessness against his assailants.

'However, if I ignore him now, then he and others like him might keep pestering me to no end. So, I will accept his challenge and then pretend to lose.'

"Alright!"

Yuji also makes a seal of confrontation and formally accepts Akio's duel.

As soon as the duel starts, Yuji and Akio take a combat stance. Akio carefully analyzes Yuji's body movement and looks for an opening.

'Huh! He isn't as brash as I thought him to be.' Yuji is surprised by Akio's serious expression.

None of them make any move and look for an opportunity to strike an opening. Both of them move around in a circle while staring at each other.

'He is too cautious! At this rate, it will lead to nowhere. In that case…'

Yuji pretends to trip on a stone and tumbles.

"This is my opportunity!"

Akio uses this opening and strikes Yuji's stomach with a punch. As soon as Akio's punch connects with Yuji's body, Yuji adjusts his stomach muscles and disperses the force from the punch to the ground.

Yuji falls to the ground. He holds his stomach and pretends to be in pain.

"I lost!" He conceives defeat.

Akio stares at his fist and Yuji's pained face.

'Why do I feel like I hit something soft and there was no force behind my punch?'

Hmph…

He snorts at Yuji and leaves.

"Boring! And here we thought we will see something interesting!" The rest of the students also vacates the training ground.

Chomu and Haru walk toward him after everyone leaves.

"Are you alright?!" Haru stretches a hand towards Yuji.

"I am fine!" Yuji stands up on his own and wipes the dust from his clothes.

"Hey, what do you think about hanging together with us?" Chomu offers him.

"I am sorry, but my friends are waiting for me." Yuji declines his offer.

"Your friends?! You mean the kids from your previous class?"

"Yes!" Yuji nods and leaves the training ground.

A few meters away from the training ground,

"Interesting!" Koga muses in wonder.

"This kid has more potential than I thought. From his early movements, I can see that he has plenty of experience in spars of this level or even a scale higher. He even adjusted his body muscles to mitigate the force from the punch throughout his body and disperse it to the ground.

But what makes me so surprised is that despite such talent and prowess, he admitted his defeat. Kids around his age tend to show off a lot to impress other kids or their seniors. But this kid… interesting!" Koga wonders with a smile.

"He is an interesting kid! I must keep an eye on him for his potential."

Whoosh…

He flickers away from the spot.

Outside the academy,

Yuji patiently waits for his friends to leave the academy. Nawaki and the rest walk out of the academy with depressed faces.

"Why are you so depressed, Nawaki?" Yuji asks him.

"Yuji, it's you!" Nawaki hugs Yuji and mourns on his shoulder.

"There was a surprise arithmetic test today, and I did terrible in the exam. The instructor scolded me for my poor performance and since then I am not in a good mood." Nawaki narrates his sob story.

"It's your own fault for always asking Yuji for help during the exams. Now, since Yuji isn't in the same class as us, it's about time you study on your own." Kushina rebukes him.

"But that's too much of a hassle! Please don't Tsunade Nee-san about it." Nawaki requests.

"I won't!" Grandma and Tsunade Nee-san are quite busy with something important and I don't want them to needlessly worry about you. However, if you didn't score well in the next exam, then I will definitely tell them about it." Kushina warns him.

"Kushina, you are the best!" Tears flow from Nawaki's eyes.

"Yuji, how was your first day in the class?" Minato asks Yuji.

"It was quite troublesome!" Yuji narrates the entire series of events to them.

"That's really troublesome. It's great that you didn't stand out a lot or else those pesky seniors will bully you to no end." Inoichi nods at him.

"Dealing with all of this is such a pain!" Shikaku mutters.

"Oh! I have heard about that Chomu guy." Choza munches a rice cake as he speaks.

"You know him?" Yuji is surprised to hear something useful from Choza's mouth.

"I don't know much but I think I know a bit about this condition. His mother and my mother are close childhood friends. Apparently, during a mission, his mother used a forbidden Akimichi clan technique to save my mother's life. At that time, she was pregnant with a child. So, the child was also affected by the side effects of the forbidden technique." Choza gives a brief explanation.

"Hmm… that's the reason for his strange illness." Yuji nods in understanding.

"So, what plans do you guys have for today?" Nawaki asks in excitement.

"There is something I want to try today. So, I need you guys' help with it." Yuji requests them.

"Oh! What could it be?" The rest of them wonder.

"Is it a new Taijutsu technique?" Nawaki punches the air.

"Is it a new powerful ninjutsu?" Kushina speculates.

"Is it a genjutsu technique? I heard only fourth and fifth-year students can learn genjutsu techniques." Inoichi asks in excitement.

"Not. It's none of them." Yuji shakes his head.

"Is it a new food dish?" Choza asks in slight excitement.

"No! It's not related to food." Yuji shakes his head.

"Oh!" Choza loses his excitement.

"Then what it is?" Minato asks him.

"Let's go to our training spot!" Yuji walks forwards. The rest of the group follows him.

------------------------

A few minutes later,

At a spot behind the Hokage monument,

"So, what's this new technique that you want to practice?" Nawaki couldn't hold his curiosity.

"It's a clone technique!" Yuji answers him.

"Clone technique!" Everyone tilts their head in wonder.

"Isn't a clone technique just used for distraction and confusing the enemies? It's not useful in a fight at all." Nawaki's high hopes for a new technique are crushed.

"No, it's not that! It's an advanced technique." Yuji shakes his head and speaks mysteriously.

"What if I tell you that this clone technique can fight alongside you and can even do your homework for you?" Yuji gives a simple example for Nawaki to understand.

"This clone technique can do my homework. Such an amazing technique!" Nawaki's eyes shine in excitement.

"Yuji, hurry up and teach this technique to me. I can't wait to master it and let it complete my arithmetic homework." Nawaki grabs Yuji's collar.

"Ugh… this guy is hopeless!" The rest of the group stares at Nawaki with pity.

"Umm… I am sorry to dash your hopes. But this clone technique shares its knowledge with its user. So, if you don't know any information, then your clone also won't have that information. In simple terms, this clone can't do your arithmetic homework since you don't know anything about arithmetic." Yuji confronts Nawaki with the bitter truth.

"Ugh… then what's even the use of this technique?" He grumbles.

"This clone technique has a physical form, so that means it can do all of your other works," Yuji adds. He turns towards Nawaki and continues.

"Also, Lord Second… that means Nawaki's granduncle was the one who invented this technique." He reveals the origin of the technique.

"Why didn't he make a technique to finish my arithmetic homework?" Nawaki grumbles.

"…"