On the night of the Nine-Tails, I shattered the Tailed Beast Ball with a single punch.

"Form the seal of opposition," the teacher shouted.

Both Kabuto and Hanayo skillfully formed opposing hand seals.

At the Ninja Academy, during combat training, the opponent would form a confrontation hand seal at the beginning to signal their intention to attack, and a reconciliation hand seal after the battle to symbolize that they were comrades.

After completing the opposing hand seals, Hanayo quickly activated his Byakugan, with the veins around his eyes bulging, indicating a rapid increase in his observational abilities.

Whoohoo!

Dou's breathing rhythm changed, suddenly becoming rhythmic, like a steady, babbling brook.

Sun Breathing was too difficult to learn. Kabuto tried hard to learn it, but he still couldn't master it. In the end, Nagasawa taught Kabuto the Water Breathing technique that he had modified.

As a result, Kabuto's Water Breathing technique worked remarkably well with him, so he learned it very quickly.

Because of his Byakugan, Hanayo was able to see through Kabuto's body and sensed something was wrong.

But Kabuto had promised to do his best, so of course he wouldn't go back on his word.

Kabuto immediately entered a state of full concentration breathing, preparing to unleash his strongest attack.

Concentrating on breathing was extremely taxing on his energy, and he could only maintain it for a minute and a half before he couldn't go on.

He used a trump card move right from the start, which shows how much he values ​​Hanayo.

"Water Breathing, First Form: Water Surface Slash".

With the immense speed brought by his full concentration breathing and chakra burst, Kabuto moved like a rapidly flowing stream of water, slashing horizontally towards Hanayo with his hand as if it were a sword.

"How could this be? It's so fast!" Hua Yang looked at Dou in disbelief as he ran at top speed.

Although Hanayo saw through Kabuto's actions thanks to the powerful observational abilities of her Byakugan, her body couldn't react in time. She could only hastily strengthen her hands with chakra and then hold them up in front of her.

boom!

Having taken the hit head-on, Hanayo was sent flying five or six meters away by Kabuto, crashing heavily to the ground.

...a deathly silence fell over the air.

Even Kabuto's biggest female fans couldn't believe it. Although they firmly believed that Kabuto would win, they didn't expect that Kabuto would defeat Hyuga Hanayo in one move.

"Kabuto is indeed the strongest!"

A series of gasps immediately erupted from the crowd.

"Kabuto Yakushi wins, perfect score!"

The teacher looked at Dou with surprise. Although Dou had performed well in the basic training, it was nothing special; many people could do that.

But the teacher really didn't understand that chop to the neck, or the speed and power of that move. He had never taught that technique.

Ignoring the cheering crowd, Kabuto quickly walked up to Hanayo and helped her up as she struggled to get up.

Because Kabuto's performance was so amazing, everyone forgot about Hanayo, who had been sent flying.

After helping Hanayo up, Kato noticed that Hanayo's usual lively and cheerful smile was gone, and her complexion looked terrible.

"You know, I have a ninja brother who taught me some taijutsu," Kabuto explained, feeling a little embarrassed.

Hua Yang is still a girl, after all. It's normal for her to be unhappy if you knock a girl away on the spot.

Chapter 130 Learning from Kabuto

"Kabuto, let me have some peace and quiet." Hanayo walked to the tree with a dejected look, squatted down, poked the ground with her finger, and muttered things like "Impossible," "This is not right," and "This is not ninja."

Kabuto initially wanted to reach out and grab Hanayo's hand, but after thinking about it, he ultimately let go.

After all, he was the one who embarrassed Huayang. At this moment, if he gets too close, it will only make Huayang more embarrassed. It would be better to let Huayang calm down by herself.

What Kabuto didn't know was that Hanayo didn't blame him for knocking her away.

After all, it was Hanayo who asked Kabuto to go all out, and he knew that very well.

Hanayo simply began to doubt her own abilities.

Could it be that the elders in her clan were actually lying to her? Was she actually quite incompetent?

But she's clearly more capable than the other students.

Hanayo couldn't understand why Kabuto would completely overwhelm him in his area of ​​expertise.

However, Hanayo quickly stopped thinking about it. Since she had been defeated by her friend, she should focus on training and try to win next time.

In terms of physical skills, she didn't want to lose to Kabuto.

Because that was her only talent!

She was prone to messing things up since she was little, and this was the only aspect of her that would be praised.

……

"Itachi, what do you like to eat? I like takoyaki."

Sitting by the river, Uchiha Izumi asked Itachi with a smile.

"..." Itachi didn't really want to talk to Uchiha Izumi. Ever since Uchiha Izumi met him here last time, they often bumped into each other here and would come up to chat with him in a familiar way, which made Itachi wonder if he should change the training location.

However, this place has special significance; it's where he met Kabuto, and the location is indeed quite good, which is why Itachi didn't actually change to another training location.

“Three-colored dumplings…” Itachi answered Uchiha Izumi out of politeness, not letting her become a soliloquy.

"Three-colored dumplings? I thought a genius like Itachi wouldn't eat the sweets that ordinary children like us eat, and that it would be some more mature food," Uchiha Izumi said with some surprise.

Itachi started to miss Kabuto. His conversations with Kabuto were very pleasant; they would discuss the meaning of life, how to end war, and various ninjutsu techniques…

Quan would only talk to him about games and food.

Every time Itachi finished talking with Izumi Uchiha, his only feeling was that his precious time had been wasted.

“Food has nothing to do with whether it’s ripe or not,” Itachi retorted seriously.

Last time, he saw an adult who was a ninja buying three-colored dumplings, and he even gave him a portion, telling him to go to the dumpling shop in the west of Konoha to buy dumplings and to mention his name.

Although Itachi ultimately failed to learn the ninja's name, he was deeply impressed by the ninja.

It wasn't just because of the dumpling, but because of that ninja's different understanding of desire.

“Of course there’s a connection. I’ve never seen an adult eat three-colored dumplings,” Uchiha Izumi insisted on her point of view.

For a moment, Itachi didn't know how to refute. Simply saying something without evidence wouldn't work. Unless he produced a picture of the adult eating three-colored dumplings, it would be difficult for either side to convince the other. So Itachi simply stopped talking and quietly looked at Uchiha Izumi.

Izumi Itachi stopped talking and just stared at her with a deep, melancholic gaze, then chuckled.

"Itachi, you're so funny. If you don't agree with me, you can argue with me." Uchiha Izumi smiled, her eyes narrowing.

“Without evidence, I don’t think I can convince you,” Itachi explained.

"Why wouldn't I believe you? I believe everything Itachi says." Uchiha Izumi said, still smiling as she looked at Itachi.

“You didn’t believe me just now…” the honest Itachi said.

"That's because I wanted to see your reaction, Itachi," Izumi Uchiha said, covering her mouth and chuckling.

"Why don't we practice shuriken a little more?" Itachi commented.

"I don't have the talent of someone like Itachi, so practicing too much is useless. Just practice until you're at a decent level."

I heard that starting this year, the Ninja Academy will implement a policy called Medical Ninja Specialty Students.

Those who wish to become medical ninjas can choose to become special talents and receive medical ninja training.

Uchiha Izumi thought for a moment and then told me a piece of news that had been circulating in the village recently.

“This is a good thing; the village will have more medical ninjas,” Itachi replied.

He was taken to the battlefield when he was four years old, so he knew how dangerous the battlefield was. Having a teammate who knew medical ninjutsu could save lives in critical moments.

"I want to become a special talent student so that I can heal Itachi in the future," Uchiha Izumi said with a smile, looking at Itachi with hopeful eyes.

Will Itachi be moved by her words?

She sacrificed so much time to talk to Itachi.

Itachi thought for a moment and realized that Izumi, instead of training properly, was interfering with his training. Even if he learned medical ninjutsu, it would be difficult for him to become a powerful medical ninja.

Moreover, he had already met someone who knew medical ninjutsu, and that person was Kabuto.

There are always scrapes and bruises in battle, and after each battle, Kabuto would use medical ninjutsu to heal himself and Itachi.

Itachi felt that rather than entrusting his body to Izumi, it would be better to entrust it to Kabuto, whose abilities were trustworthy.

“Kabuto knows medical ninjutsu; you can learn from him,” Itachi said after thinking for a moment.

Saying he didn't believe it would be too hurtful, so the kind-hearted Itachi chose a more tactful approach.

Uchiha Izumi: ...

What the heck? It's fine if I'm not moved, but why do I have to learn from Kabuto?

Although Izumi has never met Kabuto, she has heard about him from Itachi many times.

Uchiha Izumi wanted to go to Kabuto and ask him how she could become so close to Itachi.

I just wanted to be friends with Itachi, but it was so difficult.

Itachi was unlike any other person Izumi had ever met her before; Itachi possessed a special charm that attracted her.

Itachi felt his strength had almost fully recovered, and after thinking for a moment, he said to Uchiha Izumi:

"Izumi, I'm going to start training in ninjutsu. You should go back and train too. For a ninja, strength is very important."

Izumi gave Itachi a somewhat resentful look, but in the end, she left to go back and train.

She understood that she couldn't go too far, otherwise it would become clingy and make Itachi feel disgusted.

Izumi didn't want to spend so much time, and in the end, she only made Itachi Uchiha hate her.

Furthermore, Izumi had roughly figured out some of Itachi's personality traits.

She is quite gentle; even if the child walks up on her own, she won't ignore her. She is also quite mature, and her thoughts are different from those of ordinary children.

'Itachi, I'll make you acknowledge me sooner or later,' Izumi thought to herself.

Itachi didn't think as much as Izumi did; he always regarded Izumi as a somewhat enthusiastic Uchiha.

In his mind, the only people he could call friends were Shisui and Kabuto, both of whom were irreplaceable.