When Uchiha Yuan stepped into Class 9 of the Fifth Grade, he immediately felt dozens of gazes turn toward him.
Among them, one was especially intense. Yuan followed it and saw that it came from Uehara Isamu—the same boy who had provoked him earlier.
Uehara's eyes were filled with venomous resentment, glaring straight at him. On either side of him, several other students were also shooting Yuan hostile looks.
At that moment, a boy stepped forward, frowning.
"Uchiha Yuan," he said coldly, "you and your clansmen bullying a classmate together… you've really disgraced our entire clan."
"So this is the so-called Uchiha Clan, the 'greatest family of Konoha'? You people only know how to gang up on the weak."
"As expected of the sinister Uchiha—arrogant and violent."
"They've always been like this, looking down on everyone else. Who in this school hasn't been bullied by an Uchiha?"
"Yeah! My older brother's class has one too—mean as hell. He's already injured several classmates!"
"Hmph, I heard the Uchiha Police Force didn't even show up the night the Nine-Tails attacked. If they had, the casualties in the village wouldn't have been so heavy. Maybe even the Fourth Hokage wouldn't have died!"
"I heard that too. Damn it, how could the Uchiha Police get away with such a huge failure? The village should've punished them!"
"No wonder my father gets furious every time he mentions them. One of their squads lost all but three members that night."
"..."
As the words fell, murmurs rippled through the classroom. Students whispered to one another, their eyes full of suspicion and hostility as they turned toward Uchiha Yuan.
Yuan's face was calm, but inwardly he couldn't help but sigh.
This was the Uchiha Clan's situation in the village. Many people had always been dissatisfied with them—and now, with rumors spreading, that hostility had only deepened.
The Uchihas were furious about these slanders, of course. But with their pride, they would never stoop to explaining themselves to the villagers.
The boy who had confronted him belonged to the Hyūga Clan. His pale, pupil-less eyes—those of the Byakugan—were filled with contempt as he stared back into Yuan's Sharingan.
In Konoha Village, ever since the Senju Clan's decline, the only clan capable of rivaling the Uchihas' status was the Hyūga.
At some point, people even began saying that the Hyūga were the "true foremost clan of ocular jutsu."
Naturally, the Uchiha Clan disagreed—after all, the Sharingan was the strongest eye technique of all.
Because of that, relations between the two great clans were delicate, to say the least.
Yuan believed this growing rivalry was no accident. Someone must have been deliberately sowing discord between the two families.
Still, unlike the other clans, the Uchihas did hold some respect for the Hyūga—the Byakugan did possess abilities worthy of acknowledgment.
But the Hyūga, with their proud lineage, refused to yield. They'd long wanted to replace the Uchiha as Konoha's most powerful clan.
Thus, even in the Academy, Hyūga and Uchiha students competed fiercely.
Now, looking at the Hyūga boy standing before him, Yuan was puzzled.
What the hell? What did I even do?
Then it hit him. He turned his head toward the back row, where the plump Uehara Isamu sat.
Of course—it must have been something Uehara said that twisted the story and made everyone misunderstand.
Yuan swept his sharp gaze around the classroom. Instantly, the murmuring stopped.
He looked back at the Hyūga boy. "Hyūga Kyo," he said evenly, "I don't know what you've heard, but it isn't true."
"To say I ganged up with my clanmates to bully someone? Ridiculous."
"Don't try to deny it," a girl sitting by the window cut in. "Everyone saw it!"
Yuan replied calmly, "What you see and hear isn't always the truth. Sometimes, what you think you saw isn't what really happened."
Then he extended a finger toward Uehara Isamu, sneering. "The Uchiha name will not be slandered by cowards. Uehara Isamu, after class—meet me at the training field."
With that, he walked to a seat and sat down.
The classroom fell silent. A few students stole glances at him, uneasy.
In the front row, a boy with paint markings on his face turned around toward Uehara. "Uehara Isamu… you weren't lying to us, were you?"
Earlier, when Uehara had run back into the room, everyone had asked what happened. Too embarrassed to admit he'd run away in fear, he claimed that Yuan had gathered his clansmen to beat him up.
Now, Uehara looked at Yuan—shorter, leaner—and a nasty grin crept over his face.
"Hmph, if it's just him alone, I'll show everyone what an 'Uchiha' is really worth," he said. "I'll teach him a lesson he won't forget."
The Academy classrooms were fan-shaped, with tiered seating. Yuan had chosen a spot in the very back row.
From there, he let his gaze sweep across the room.
Each class at the Ninja Academy had about thirty students. The lower the class number, the more highly regarded its students.
After six years of training, most who failed to qualify as proper genin came from the lower-ranked classes.
Students were divided between those born into shinobi clans and those from civilian families.
Children of civilians had to undergo aptitude tests to see if they possessed ninja potential.
Clan students, on the other hand, always wore their family crests proudly on their clothing.
In Yuan's class, only seven students came from established clans—the other twenty-three were from civilian families.
Uehara Isamu, the one who had picked a fight with him, was from a civilian ninja family.
Still, Yuan could sense that Isamu's physical vitality was notably stronger than even some clan students'.
As he glanced around, Yuan's eyes fell on the boy sitting one seat away—a quiet youth with snow-white hair.
He paused for a moment.
Didn't expect to be sitting next to him.
The emblem on the boy's clothes bore the crest of the Hatake Clan.
And when one mentioned the Hatake, one name immediately came to mind—the White Fang of Konoha, Hatake Sakumo. He had been the clan's brightest star.
Even the proud Uchiha held deep respect for Hatake Sakumo, though they only truly regarded the Senju as their equals.
The Hatake were a small clan to begin with. After Sakumo's death, only his son Kakashi's reputation as a prodigy kept the family name alive.
This boy beside Yuan was named Hatake Haruka.
Perhaps sensing Yuan's gaze, Haruka turned to look at him. His eyes were wary—guarded, even.
Ever since the White Fang incident, the entire Hatake Clan had suffered quiet repression within the village.
Kakashi, already a renowned genius and close to Namikaze Minato, was largely untouchable. But the other Hatake weren't so fortunate.
Over the years, because the hero Sakumo had been branded a traitor, the rest of the Hatake had become outcasts—avoided and scorned.
That was why, even at the Academy, Hatake students were often the targets of bullying.
Hatake Haruka had always been invisible in class—silent, withdrawn, isolated from everyone.
Yuan had been his classmate for five years, yet they had hardly ever spoken a single word.
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