Seeing that this Uchiha named Shinichi was about to start a fight right at his doorstep, Hyuga Kagami had no choice but to accept the challenge.
They moved to a secluded grove. After scanning the surroundings, Kagami let his gaze linger briefly on a large tree in the distance before turning to Shinichi. "Alright, let's spar here," he said.
Shinichi nodded proudly. "Let me be clear, I'm not like Shisui. I don't hold back."
"Oh," Kagami responded nonchalantly.
Shinichi twitched. "Hey! Are you even listening? I'm serious—if you're not careful, you could die!"
Kagami sighed. "I really do have things to do. Can you hurry up?"
"Damn you!" Shinichi activated his Sharingan, glaring fiercely. "You arrogant fool. Today I'll show you the true power of the Uchiha!"
With that, he quickly formed hand seals. "Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Kagami flickered to the side, narrowly avoiding the fireball.
Taking advantage of the fiery cover, Shinichi used the Body Flicker Technique to close the distance, his Sharingan spinning rapidly.
In an instant, their eyes locked.
Kagami was stunned for a moment, then his head drooped as if he'd lost his soul. He stood dazed, motionless.
Shinichi curled his lip. "Pathetic. How did Shisui lose to this loser?"
Muttering, he approached Kagami. From his Sharingan's view, Kagami's chakra flow was completely disrupted, clearly under a genjutsu. Shinichi let down his guard, planning to put a kunai to Kagami's throat before dispelling the illusion for a good dose of humiliation.
But just as he raised his arm, Kagami suddenly ducked and struck out with both palms.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
A flurry of strikes sent Shinichi crashing to the ground, unconscious, his face frozen in shock.
Clapping his hands, Kagami said calmly, "Alright, come out."
Whoosh—
A figure landed in front of him. It was none other than Uchiha Shisui.
Shisui glanced at the fallen Shinichi, then bowed with a smile. "Thanks for your hard work, senpai."
Kagami had noticed Shisui secretly tailing Shinichi earlier. Seeing that Shisui hadn't warned him in advance, Kagami had guessed that Shinichi probably wasn't a big threat. Otherwise, Shisui would have given him a heads-up.
"These nuisances won't be popping up daily, will they?" Kagami asked.
Shisui shook his head seriously. "Of course not. Shinichi might be a Special Jonin, but after losing this badly, the troublemakers in the clan will need time to regroup. A few days at least before the next challenge."
Kagami groaned. "So this is going to be a regular thing now?"
Shisui hurriedly reassured him. "Don't worry. The clan won't send elite jonin. At most, just average jonin."
Kagami scowled. "So what, I'm going to end up fighting half the Uchiha? Are they going to start calling me the 'Uchiha Bane' or something?"
"Hehe... thank you for your effort, really!"
Shisui laughed awkwardly, then hoisted the unconscious Shinichi over his shoulder and quickly ran off.
"Hey! Don't run off so fast! At least give me some intel next time!" Kagami called after him.
This victory had come easily thanks to Shinichi's arrogance. By using his Tenseigan to scramble his chakra flow, Kagami had tricked Shinichi into thinking he was caught in a genjutsu. But if it had been a more cautious Uchiha, things might not have gone so smoothly.
"Don't worry, senpai!" Shisui's voice echoed faintly from afar. He was counting on Kagami to keep the increasingly unruly Uchiha in check and would be sure to support him however he could.
With that settled, Kagami continued on to the Forest of Death as planned.
Thanks to yesterday's experience, he collected poisons with increased efficiency. In under two hours, he had double the amount of venom sacs and glands he had gathered the previous day. Task accomplished, and then some.
Just as he was about to head home to start mixing compound toxins, a rustling sound came from the forest.
Kagami stopped and looked toward the noise.
From the thick underbrush, the same scruffy little wild boar he had encountered yesterday suddenly emerged, staring at him with blank curiosity.
"Huh? You're still alive?!"
Kagami was surprised. Based on the potency of the snake venom in the carcass, that boar should have been dead ten times over if it had eaten it.
"Did it not eat the snake corpse, or... did it remove the venom sacs first?"
Just as this thought struck him, Kagami's brow furrowed. He had just realized that the boar, which previously had no chakra flow, now had a faint trickle of chakra within its body.
"What the...?"
This change shocked him even more.
It was rare, but wild animals could occasionally learn to use chakra. Such cases were incredibly uncommon, typically involving intelligent, strong, and aged animals. Kagami had never heard of a young boar managing this feat.
The little boar trotted up to him and squealed, "Hururuuu..."
"You want food? I don't have anything you can eat," Kagami began, then paused thoughtfully. Reaching into his pouch, he pulled out a thumb-sized venom sac and tossed it on the ground. "How about this?"
Wild animals usually have an instinct to avoid danger. Kagami wanted to test whether this unusual boar would eat the venom sac.
The stench alone should have made it retreat. Most animals wouldn't even get close, let alone eat it. Any creature that dared to would certainly be out of the ordinary.
Kagami expected it to sniff or lick the sac first at the very least. But to his surprise, the little boar jumped up, wiggling its rear, and gulped the venom sac mid-air.
Kagami raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Now that's interesting..."