On the training grounds, the two boys stood facing each other.
"You've got this, Shinichi!" Takashi's rough voice was the first to break the silence.
"Go get him, Shinichi!"
"Show him what we're made of!"
"Go, Shinichi!"
Following Takashi's lead, the rest of Class 2 erupted in cheers, a clear testament to Shinichi's popularity within his class.
Faced with this sudden wave of support from Class 2, the students of Class 1 fell silent for a moment. Then, as if triggered by some collective instinct, they began shouting back.
"Take him down, Kakashi!"
"Show them the power of a true genius!"
"You can do it!"
Kakashi was naturally aloof and rarely socialized, but his overwhelming talent, calm and mature demeanor, and the radiant halo of his "Hokage Potential" had garnered him immense popularity among his peers, who naturally idolized strength.
Among the cheers, the voice of a girl with short brown hair and purple markings on her cheeks rang out the clearest.
"Go, Kakashi! You can do it!" Rin Nohara cupped her hands around her mouth. Her small face was flushed red with excitement, her bright eyes locked onto the silver-haired boy's back.
"Hmph!" Seeing this, Obito Uchiha loudly chimed in, "Hey! You! Guy from the other class! Give it your all! You better beat that arrogant jerk into the dirt!"
"First match of the practical combat assessment: Shinichi Higashino versus Kakashi Hatake. Form the Seal of Confrontation!"
In the center of the field, Shinichi and Kakashi simultaneously raised their right hands, forming the traditional half-tiger seal in front of their chests to complete the standard opening etiquette.
The difference was in their eyes. Shinichi's gaze was steady and locked onto his opponent. Kakashi's eyes remained completely placid, almost casual.
"I look forward to our match, Kakashi."
The moment the words left his mouth, Shinichi exploded forward like a tiger that had been lying in wait. He tore through the air, the wind howling around him with a scalp-numbing screech, crossing the distance in a fraction of a second to pounce directly in front of Kakashi!
So fast!
Kakashi's pupils shrank to pinpricks. The casual look vanished from his face instantly. There was no time to dodge; he could only cross his arms defensively in front of his chest at lightning speed.
Boom!
A dull, heavy impact echoed across the field as fist met flesh. Kakashi felt like a sledgehammer had slammed into his arms. They went instantly numb, the bones feeling as though they were about to shatter.
The sheer force threw him backward involuntarily. He skidded for more than ten meters, his heels plowing deep trenches into the dirt before he barely managed to stop himself.
But before the dust could even settle, another gale-force attack arrived!
Kakashi had scarcely stabilized his stance when the next strike descended. A dark silhouette materialized in front of him. A right leg, straight and rigid as a steel whip, swept out with explosive, earth-shattering power.
The kick tore through the air like a massive battleaxe swinging down. The resulting shockwave was so strong it blew Kakashi's white hair back from his forehead.
"Is that the Leaf Wind Splitter?!" On the sidelines, Takashi's jaw dropped. He knew that move better than anyone; it was a Strong Fist Taijutsu technique Master Chen had taught him. He couldn't believe Shinichi had learned it just by sparring with him a few times.
In the center of the field, Kakashi's expression drastically changed. But he was a true genius; having trained under the White Fang since childhood, his combat instincts were phenomenal.
In that life-or-death fraction of a second, relying on astonishing flexibility and reaction speed, Kakashi violently threw himself backward and to the side.
Mid-roll, he slammed his wrist against the ground and instantly flared his chakra. Using that single point of leverage, his body sprang up like a coiled spring. His right leg whipped out in a vicious arc, aiming a brutal upward kick squarely at Shinichi's chin!
However, it was as if Shinichi had completely anticipated the counterattack. He shifted his feet lightly and precisely to the left, allowing the lethal high kick to graze past his nose by a hairsbreadth.
Simultaneously, Shinichi formed a palm strike with his left hand, his fingers rigidly tensed like solid iron. He launched a whistling palm strike from below, viciously aiming to swat Kakashi under the jaw.
Smack!
A sickeningly solid sound rang out. Kakashi's vision went entirely black, stars exploding behind his eyes. The violent concussion blanked his mind for a split second, and his body tipped backward, completely out of control.
Shinichi didn't give him a single moment to breathe. The instant Kakashi lost his balance, Shinichi drove a devastating heavy kick straight into his abdomen!
Like a sandbag hit by a speeding train, Kakashi curled inward and rocketed backward faster than before, crashing violently into the trunk of a large tree at the edge of the training grounds.
The thick trunk shuddered violently, raining dead yellow leaves down upon him.
"Cough!"
Kakashi slumped to the ground, clutching his aching stomach and coughing violently as his mind finally began to clear.
He gritted his teeth, planting a hand on the ground to push himself up and keep fighting. But a sudden, icy sensation pressed quietly against his throat.
Like a ghost, Shinichi had closed the distance again. A kunai rested gently against Kakashi's neck.
He lost!
The entire training ground plunged into a dead, absolute silence.
The cheers, the discussions, even the sound of the wind seemed to have been abruptly choked off by an invisible hand.
Students from Class 1, students from Class 2, and both homeroom teachers stared dumbfounded at the impossible scene unfolding before them.
Even students and teachers from other classes conducting assessments further down the field had noticed.
The super-genius Kakashi Hatake, the boy who carried the radiant title of "Hokage Potential," the brightest star of their generation.
In a direct, head-to-head clash, he had been overwhelmingly crushed.
The sun beat down relentlessly, but it couldn't melt the heavy, near-solid blanket of shock and utter bewilderment that smothered the field.
How is this possible!?
The question exploded in the minds of nearly everyone present. They stared at the standing figure of Shinichi Higashino. He was a civilian orphan with no prestigious family background, no inherited Bloodline Limit, and supposedly, a kid who only knew the three most basic Academy Ninjutsu.
Sure, he had excellent grades and was a model student, but in the Ninja Academy, that made him as ordinary as ordinary could be.
What they didn't know was that Shinichi possessed an advantage uniquely his own.
It was the power of traits forged from years of meticulously, painstakingly crafted public perception.
[Robust], [Kenjutsu Apprentice], [Tenacious]... these White-tier traits weren't just empty titles. They were actively, continuously optimizing and enhancing his physical constitution.
His [Robust] trait was particularly impactful. Back when he worked at the blacksmith shop, he had realized his raw strength already surpassed that of many adult blacksmiths—a profession entirely defined by physical power.
And when the White-tier [Robust] evolved into the Green-tier [Innate Godly Strength], Shinichi's power experienced an explosive, exponential leap, multiplying several times over.
As for Kakashi, he truly was a once-in-a-century genius. But he was bound by an insurmountable, objective limitation: his age.
He was only five years old. No matter how transcendent his talent, there was a biological ceiling to his physical development, bone density, and muscle capacity.
Without the active enhancement of chakra, his raw physical strength would never match Shinichi's.
And Shinichi possessed a monstrous, monstrously overpowered physique for his age, built upon the stacked effects of the trait system and years of relentless training.
His baseline stats in strength and constitution were simply too high compared to anyone his age.
More importantly, there was the matter of mentality and preparation.
Kakashi perhaps hadn't outright underestimated Shinichi, but a lifetime of being entirely unrivaled among his peers had subconsciously bred a sense of casual confidence.
He might have assumed that this opponent—the boy he first saw hauling a massive boulder to school—had some decent strength or a few tricky Taijutsu moves.
But he never could have anticipated that Shinichi's strength was so incomprehensibly massive. He never expected the very first strike to be an overwhelming, avalanche-like assault that completely shattered the upper limits of what his body could endure.
Meanwhile, Shinichi had been plotting this exact moment for five years!
"Did you hear? Lord White Fang's child was born..."
"I heard. I think they named him... Kakashi?"
No one knew that five years ago, sitting on the steps of the orphanage in the western district, a one-year-old toddler staring blankly at the sky had heard two passersby chatting. And in that moment, something within his eyes had ignited.