บท 28: Fight

Fugaku, with a fluid movement, drew his own kunai. With precision, he channeled chakra to his feet, exponentially increasing his speed.

In the blink of an eye, Fugaku lunged at Hiashi, his kunai cutting through the air with a whistle.

Hiashi, despite his exhaustion, managed to raise his own kunai just in time to block the attack.

The clash of metal against metal echoed in the courtyard, followed by a choked gasp from Hiashi as he was pushed back by the force of the impact.

Hiashi stumbled, crashing into several spectators who fell like dominoes.

Cries of surprise and pain rose from the crowd but were quickly silenced by what came next.

Fugaku, without losing a second, began forming hand seals at an astonishing speed.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!" he shouted, inhaling deeply before exhaling a massive fireball that expanded to four meters in diameter.

The burning mass headed directly towards Hiashi, who, with his chakra reserves nearly depleted, barely managed to throw himself to the side.

The fireball grazed him, the heat scorching his clothes and hair, before hitting the ground and leaving a smoking crater several meters deep.

A stunned silence fell over the courtyard, broken only by the crackling of flames and Hiashi's exhausted panting.

Nawaki was the first to recover from the shock. "You're crazy!" he shouted, his face red with anger as he approached Fugaku. "You tried to kill Hiashi! This is no longer just a training fight!"

Fugaku turned to Nawaki, his eyes still glowing with the red of the Sharingan. A cold smile appeared on his lips. "The weak deserve to die," he responded with chilling calm. "If he can't survive this, then he doesn't deserve to be called a shinobi."

Chen stepped forward, intervening. "Tsk tsk! As expected of the son of the Uchiha clan patriarch, daring to use ninjutsu at the Academy, you really are arrogant."

Fugaku, noticing Chen for the first time, narrowed his eyes. "And who are you?" he asked, his voice dripping with disdain. "I don't recognize any clan traits in you. Are you some clanless nobody?"

One of Fugaku's followers leaned in to whisper in his ear.

Fugaku's eyes lit up with malicious understanding. "Ah, I see," he said, his smile growing even crueler. "You're that 'trash' from the Hyuga clan. The one born without Byakugan."

Chen felt his blood boil, seeing Fugaku's arrogant face.

Fugaku, confident in his own talent, looked at Chen with barely disguised contempt. In his mind, he already saw himself surpassing legendary Uchiha like Madara, leading his clan to unprecedented heights. Compared to those ambitions, Chen was nothing more than an insignificant insect in his way.

"You're not even worth talking to," Fugaku declared, his voice laden with disdain. "It would be lowering myself to your level, and I have more important things to do than waste time with a worthless..."

But mid-sentence, he fell silent.

The air grew dense and heavy as Fugaku, eyes burning with fury, looked at Chen and Mikoto's hands.

"Mikoto!" Fugaku roared, his voice filled with contempt. "How dare you disgrace the Uchiha clan like this? Have you forgotten who you are?"

Fugaku's words fell on Mikoto like an avalanche, crushing her spirit. She felt her heart shrink in her chest, and a shiver ran down her spine. Instinctively, she lowered her head, her eyes fixed on the ground as shame and fear took hold of her.

She tried to let go of Chen's hand, her mind clouded by panic and confusion.

But Chen did not let go. On the contrary, he tightened his grip, silently conveying his support.

Mikoto felt a spark of courage ignite within her, fueled by the warmth of Chen's hand.

Fugaku, seeing that Mikoto did not immediately yield, intensified his verbal attack. "If you don't let go of that trash right now, I will expel you from the Uchiha clan! Do you understand me?!"

The threat hung in the air. Mikoto knew Fugaku had the power to carry it out. Since the death of her grandfather, a respected elder of the clan, a year ago, and having lost her parents long before, Mikoto had become an ordinary member of the clan.

Mikoto's heart pounded wildly. She felt the world spinning around her, and she clung even tighter to Chen's hand, as if it were her only anchor in a storm.

Her eyes filled with tears she refused to shed, and her face visibly paled.

But something inside her rebelled. Despite the fear, despite the crushing pressure of the clan's expectations, Mikoto found a reserve of strength.

She lifted her gaze, facing Fugaku with a mix of terror and determination.

"No," she said with a trembling but firm voice. "I will not leave Chen."

Fugaku seemed to grow in stature. "Then I expel you, Mikoto. You are no longer one of us."

The words fell like a hammer, and Mikoto felt the ground open up beneath her feet.

Everything she had known, her identity, her home, crumbled in an instant. She clung to Chen with desperation, her body trembling uncontrollably.

Chen, who had remained silent until then, couldn't bear to see Mikoto so devastated.

In a movement that defied everyone's perception, he let go of Mikoto's hand and disappeared.

Before anyone could blink, Chen reappeared in front of Fugaku.

The air seemed to distort for an instant, and then, with superhuman speed and strength, Chen launched a direct kick to Fugaku's stomach.

The impact was brutal. Fugaku, completely caught off guard, was sent flying backward, soaring through the air like a leaf caught in the wind.

His body traveled several dozen meters before crashing heavily to the ground, raising a cloud of dust.

A deathly silence fell over the scene. No one moved, no one breathed. All eyes were fixed on Chen, who stood where he had struck Fugaku, his stance relaxed but exuding a dangerous calm.

Hiashi and Hizashi, supporting each other, watched the scene with eyes so wide they seemed ready to pop out of their sockets.

Mikoto, who had been holding Chen's hand just moments before, now stood paralyzed, her mouth slightly open in an expression of absolute astonishment and gratitude. In that moment, she understood that her life had changed forever, but she no longer felt afraid.

Nawaki, on the other hand, reacted in a peculiar way. He rubbed his eyes vigorously, as if he couldn't believe what he had just witnessed.

Then, he blinked repeatedly, looking alternately at Chen and the spot where Fugaku had landed.

"What... what just happened?" Nawaki murmured, his voice filled with incredulity.

The scene was, without a doubt, shocking. Chen, despite being noticeably taller than most children his age, was still shorter than Fugaku. And yet, he had managed to send the Uchiha flying a distance that seemed to defy all logic.

The spectators, slowly recovering from the initial surprise, began to murmur among themselves.

Some looked at Chen with a mix of fear and awe, as if they were in the presence of some kind of monster or natural phenomenon.

Others, clearly Fugaku's sympathizers, gave him reproachful and disgusted looks.

Nawaki, unable to contain his astonishment any longer, finally exploded:

"Chen, you're... you're a monster!" he exclaimed, though his tone was more of admiration than fear. "First you destroy the target like it's paper, and now you kick someone about to graduate and send them flying like a ball! And you're only five years old! You're... you're... you're abnormal!"

Chen turned to Nawaki, a playful smile dancing on his lips. "Abnormal? Well, maybe it's because I don't have the Byakugan and God decided to compensate me with immense strength," he joked.

Then, adopting a more serious tone, he added, "As the Sage of Six Paths used to say: 'When one door closes, another window opens.'"

Nawaki's eyes widened even more. "The Sage of Six Paths? That legend? Did he really say that?"

Chen nodded solemnly. "Of course. I read it in a very old book. It's a historical fact that the Sage of Six Paths spoke those wise words."

Nawaki seemed completely absorbed by this new information. His face went through a series of comical expressions: amazement, confusion, and finally, a kind of enlightenment.

"Wow," Nawaki sighed. "The Sage of Six Paths was really wise." Then, with an expression of intense concentration: "I wonder if the Sage left any window open for me…"

________

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