"Seriously… we barely played for fifteen minutes and you're already telling us to line up. Didn't you say we'd get half an hour?"
The little black-haired girl, Yuhi Kurenai, puffed out her cheeks in protest, then grabbed Uchiha Mai's arm and shook it twice, her voice turning sweet and clingy.
"Mai-nii, dance again after class, okay?"
"Next time. Definitely next time."
Mai replied in the most perfunctory way possible, smoothly pulling his arm free without drawing attention. Sorry, but I'm not into lolis - come back in ten years.
Seeing that Mai wasn't going to dance anymore, the surrounding kids quickly lost interest. With disappointed sighs, they drifted over to Murakami Keinin and lined up.
Being a little older than the rest, Uchiha Mai stood at the very back of the formation, lost in thought.
It had been more than four years since he transmigrated into the Naruto world, and during that time he had clearly felt the atmosphere in Konoha growing more and more tense.
Just looking at the Ninja Academy was enough. When he first enrolled, the pace had been relaxed. From first to sixth year, the schedule wasn't tight, and aside from theory classes and practical training, there was still a decent amount of free time every week.
As the years passed, that free time was steadily squeezed out. Today, only a few short minutes remained.
War was approaching.
After everyone assembled, Murakami Keinin quickly checked the attendance register and announced,
"It looks like everyone had a good time. However, due to special circumstances, today's schedule will change slightly. We'll be adding an extra sparring match to evaluate your abilities."
He paused briefly before continuing.
"You may freely choose your opponents. If you are challenged by a student from a higher grade, you may not refuse - but you may concede."
The moment he finished speaking, Sarutobi Asuma, who had never liked Uchiha Mai, raised his hand and shouted without hesitation,
"Sensei, I want to challenge Uchiha Mai!"
Asuma's irritation toward Mai was nothing new.
As the son of the Third Hokage, Asuma had always received a certain level of preferential treatment at the Academy. Around him gathered a group of followers, forming something like an overconfident school gang - very chuunibyou in spirit.
The so-called "boss of the sixth year."
In the ninja world, people matured early, fell in love early, and even married early. Before he had even entered the Academy, Asuma had already taken a liking to the little Yuhi Kurenai.
One day it was candy, the next a hairpin. Things had been going pretty well - until he started attending the Ninja Academy.
In that tiny environment, two natural disasters of appearance appeared: Uchiha Mai and Kakashi Hatake. Not in talent - just in looks. The vast majority of girls became devoted fans of the two.
Girls liking handsome faces? Totally normal.
A year later, Kakashi graduated, but left behind an even more eye-catching Uchiha Mai.
At first, it was still tolerable. Mai followed the cold, aloof route, like early-series Sasuke: quiet, melancholic, ignoring everyone. He broke hearts wherever he went, but never actively pursued anyone.
Asuma reassured himself every day: it's fine, Ku - ah, Kurenai is still young. It's normal to like a pretty face at this age.
When she grows up, she'll understand who really cares about her.
Convincing himself that, as the leader of the sixth year, he should be magnanimous, Asuma never went out of his way to cause trouble for Mai.
But a few months ago, everything changed.
Mai was still cold and distant - but now he'd become far more aggressive, and far more creative.
One day he'd pose gloomily on a tree branch, chin resting on one hand. The next, he'd play a harmonica by the river, silhouetted against the sunset. Then he'd be singing and dancing on the school field… rap included. Only a basketball was missing.
Combined with that absurdly handsome face, who could resist?
Damn it - why couldn't someone that handsome be me?
Watching Kurenai sink deeper and deeper, Asuma felt as if knives were carving up his heart. My Kurenai… how did you fall for a pretty face like that?
His anger finally erupted. Asuma pointed at Mai and shouted provocatively,
"You effeminate pretty boy! If you're really a man, don't you dare refuse my challenge. Today I'll rip off that mask of yours and let everyone see that you're nothing but a useless pretty face!"
"Yeah!"
"Asuma, you're the best!"
The boys around them erupted into cheers, wishing they could replace Asuma and smash that beautiful face themselves.
Uchiha Mai was, without exaggeration, public enemy number one among the boys.
In the entire school, the only ones who still got along reasonably well with him were the muscle-brained Might Guy and his clansman, Uchiha Obito.
Obito liked Nohara Rin, who liked Kakashi, so he had no reason to hate Mai.
"…Sigh."
Mai let out a quiet sigh. Kids in the ninja world really matured too early. Fighting over girls at what was basically elementary school age… this was on another level.
"I don't think I'm effeminate," Mai said calmly.
His looks were the Leonardo DiCaprio-at-his-peak kind - sharp features, strong brows, deep eyes. His skin was fair, but there was nothing feminine about him.
"Your name is effeminate," Asuma shot back.
Uchiha Mai: "..."
Well… there was no arguing with that. The character "Mai" was indeed more commonly used in girls' names.
"You don't understand the Uchiha," Mai replied vaguely.
Do you have any idea how much weight this name carries? Just by having it, I'm already ahead of most of the clan.
"Enough talk! Are you accepting or not?"
Asuma stepped forward, pressing the issue.
"One-on-one. If I win, you're never allowed to talk to Kurenai again. If you win… I'll shout 'Grandpa' at you in front of everyone."
Beauty belongs only to the strong.
In the office, Sarutobi Hiruzen nearly had a heart attack. His hand trembled as he fought the urge to rush out and slap his son twice.
If he calls Mai 'Grandpa'… then what am I supposed to call him?!
Yuhi Kurenai, her face burning red, covered her cheeks with both hands in embarrassment. The boss of the sixth year and the school's heartthrob fighting over her…
Wasn't this exactly the kind of melodramatic scene you only saw in trashy romance novels?
"Stop… don't fight over me…"
The corner of Mai's mouth twitched. How am I supposed to accept this? If this reaches the Third's ears, I'm dead. Especially since I'm an Uchiha.
"Change the condition," he said.
"If I win, you'll be my sparring partner for one month."
"Deal."
Asuma agreed immediately. A sparring partner? Basically a lackey. No big deal.
Seeing that the terms were settled, Murakami Keinin nodded in satisfaction. He'd known someone would challenge Mai - being a male public enemy wasn't a joke.
Asuma, as the Hokage's son, already had strength at the level of a genin. He wasn't weak. Perfect for testing Mai.
Now all that remained was to see how much substance this Uchiha really had.
Even the weakest Uchiha was still an Uchiha. On top of that, Mai's grades were always average to good. At the very least, he should be able to hold out against Asuma for a while.
Add that absurdly handsome face, throw in a bit of verbal hype, and voilà - a late-blooming, low-key prodigy.
The children backed away and formed a wide circle, almost perfectly divided by gender. The boys cheered for Asuma, the girls for Mai.
Obito hesitated for a moment, then dragged Guy over to the girls' side, standing next to Rin.
Uchiha Mai narrowed his eyes slightly. At last, he could test whether the golden finger he'd obtained months ago was actually worth anything.
When he first realized he'd reincarnated as an Uchiha, he'd felt both excitement and fear. The strongest bloodline family in the ninja world - high risk, high reward.
But after a few years in Konoha, reality hit hard. This body's talent was only mediocre. In the best-case scenario, he might become a jounin.
A normal jounin. In other words, cannon fodder.
And that was the optimistic scenario. He'd arrived just a few years before the Third Shinobi World War. Whether he could even survive to adulthood was still an open question.
It was a war that would engulf the entire ninja world, so brutal that even freshly graduated kids would be sent straight to the front lines.
And the Uchiha would definitely take part. Uchiha Shisui would only earn the title "Shisui of the Body Flicker" near the end of that war.
With death looming, how could he not be gloomy? How could he not act like a cold, distant kid?
Fortunately, heaven hadn't sealed every path. A few months ago, his long-awaited golden finger finally awakened. The problem… it was kind of trash. Or, as the system put it, "full of potential."
Basically, whenever he struck poses, acted stylish, or shouted over-the-top lines, he gained a certain amount of "Fashion Value."
By spending that value, he could draw characters and randomly obtain their items, abilities, or talents.
And so, under the coercion of a ruthless system, Uchiha Mai embarked on the path of ultimate showmanship, with no turning back.
After months of effort, he'd accumulated two draws.
The first gave him Floyd Mayweather's shoulder-roll defensive technique.
The second gave him the flying triangle choke of Lin Siqi from the movie Unbeatable.
Mayweather - an undefeated boxing champion, famous for his impeccable defense.
Lin Siqi - a movie character specializing in submission techniques.
After that, Mai nearly wanted to manifest the system as a Gree refrigerator, smash it to pieces, stuff it into a concrete barrel, and dump it into the sea.
What the hell is this?!
This is the ninja world! What use do I have for boxing and grappling when even genin can run up walls and throw ridiculous jutsu?
The system explained that these were only half-star skills from half-star characters, and that higher-tier characters would unlock as the host grew stronger.
Besides, there were no useless skills - only useless users.
Were Konoha's taijutsu or Ultraman Leo's "cosmic fist" really superior to Mayweather's techniques?
If you were as strong as Ultraman, even a basic punch would become world-shattering. The problem wasn't the technique - it was you.
Mai had no way to refute that. The system talked too much and always seemed to have a point.
Thinking about it… maybe it wasn't wrong.
There are no trash skills. Only trash users.
Encouraged by that thought, Mai trained relentlessly with those two techniques for months, using them as a foundation to learn and adapt more moves.
The results were obvious - his strength had genuinely increased. The system wasn't completely useless.
And now, against Sarutobi Asuma, it was finally time to shine.
Months of training were about to be put to the test.
(End of Chapter)