Later, to prevent the boys from retaliating against his two deskmates or reporting the incident to their teachers and parents, Uchiha Chi challenged them to a fight. He told them to gather their people, and they all agreed to meet tomorrow evening at the small grove near the edge of the village to settle the score.
Having received a beating, the boys were naturally resentful. Their first instinct was to call for backup to save face. In particular, Uchiha Chi had torn up their homework notebooks, cutting off any path of forbearance and leaving them completely in over their heads.
Uchiha Chi also wanted to take the opportunity to stir up some trouble; after all, such a rare chance could not be wasted. Moreover, he realized that staying too quiet was not a good thing. It had made everyone think he was a pushover—to the point where they even started bullying his friends. If he didn't react now, their next step of pushing their luck might be to target him directly.
Once it was all over, Uchiha Chi escorted his two deskmates home. First, he received their sincere expressions of gratitude. Then, through their conversation, he learned that this situation had been going on for about half a month. At the very beginning, it was only a matter of doing those few boys' homework. The two girls had wanted to resist, but they simply couldn't fight back and could only endure it in silence. Fortunately, back then there wasn't too much homework, and they managed to keep up.
As they gave in and resigned themselves to their fate, more homework notebooks were added. By now, when they returned home, they no longer had any time to practice the ninja arts taught at the academy. If this continued, they would surely be washed out during the advancement exams.
One could see just how malicious those boys' intentions were. Consequently, the two girls had been under immense pressure recently, and they felt a heartfelt gratitude toward Uchiha Chi for helping them solve the problem.
Fortunately, Uchiha Chi had stepped in to help them in the end, giving them hope. However, the two girls still worried about Uchiha Chi's situation tomorrow. In the end, Uchiha Chi gave them his word in the name of the Uchiha Clan, finally setting their minds at ease.
Returning home that evening, because he had walked both deskmates back to their houses, he was much later than usual. Yet Uchiha Chiri did not ask many questions. After dinner, just like any other day, she guided the brother and sister as they began practicing their swordplay once more. The only difference from the beginning was that the two of them had now reached the seventh form.
This form was "Push," a very commonly used move in sword combat. Once they had gained a basic grasp of it, Uchiha Chiri required them to spar with each other, though they were restricted to using only this move. Through sparring, their rate of progress far exceeded what it was when practicing alone.
For some reason, Uchiha Chiri insisted that they spend a full month mastering each individual form. Uchiha Chi felt as if Uchiha Chiri's obsessive-compulsive disorder was acting up.
Uchiha Chi desperately wanted to ask her: at one form per month, it was obviously impossible to learn all thirteen forms in a single year—wouldn't that be asymmetrical? But in the end, he suppressed his curiosity, fearing he would get beaten.
The next day, because their homework notebooks had been torn up, a total of seven students failed to hand in their assignments. Among them was a member of the Sarutobi Clan, Sarutobi Zhang. Their homeroom teacher flew into a rage, feeling that someone was openly defying his authority, and promptly chased all seven of them out into the hallway to stand facing the wall as punishment.
They were forced to stand there for the entire morning, the physical punishment ending only when the noon lunch break arrived. Afterward, they were made to redo their assignments, bringing that matter to a temporary close. Meanwhile, Uchiha Chi now knew who his enemies were and was silently making preparations.
That afternoon, when school let out, Uchiha Chi exchanged a glance with Sarutobi Zhang and his gang, made a provocative gesture, and strode out ahead of the rest.
Following closely behind were the seven boys led by Sarutobi Zhang, heading straight for the small grove behind the academy.
His two deskmates, Mizutani Hayun and Tachibana Taki, hesitated for a moment before summoning the courage to follow as well. This pleased Uchiha Chi greatly; after all, no one wanted the people they helped to be cowards, even if he didn't really care either way.
What the ten of them did not know, however, was that trailing behind them was a teacher—the school's dean of students, a Special Jonin.
Clearly, their homeroom teacher, deeply experienced in the education industry, had long since sensed a problem and reported it. The school had specially arranged for this teacher to follow closely behind, worried that these students might not know their own strength and cause an accident.
Once everyone had arrived, before the other side could speak, Uchiha Chi took the initiative. Putting on a sanctimonious expression and playing the role of a peacemaker, he said, "Look, everyone, we're classmates after all. Even though you were in the wrong, as long as you admit your mistake, apologize to the two classmates behind me, get them to forgive you, and promise never to do such things again, I think we can let this matter go. What do you think?"
Before the others could speak, the ones who had been thoroughly thrashed by Uchiha Chi yesterday shouted with resentment, "Uchiha Chi, you aren't scared, are you? You were acting all tough yesterday, what happened today? Could it be you're afraid of our boss? If you're scared, get lost right now! The Uchiha Clan is nothing special anyway!" With that, several of them burst into laughter.
The reason these boys harbored such deep resentment was not only because they had received a beating yesterday, but also because they had been lectured one by one by their fair-weather friends during punishment duty today. Sarutobi Zhang, in particular, had even slapped a few of them across the face because of the homework incident.
Since their status was lower, they hadn't dared to resist. So, the moment they thought they saw Uchiha Chi backing down, they immediately felt emboldened, speaking without thinking and wanting to vent their grievances on him, completely forgetting what kind of existence the Uchiha Clan was.
Uchiha Chi first cursed them mentally as "three idiots," then cast a gaze as cold and sharp as a knife upon them. This was the fruit of his sword practice over the past few months; clearly, Uchiha Chi had integrated his swordplay down into his very bones.
Only then did he speak. "The Uchiha is the premier clan in Konoha, and the greatest noble house in the Shinobi World. You are not qualified to judge them. Watch your words lest disaster follows." The boys were so frightened that they choked back their laughter right in their throats, and their expressions looked utterly comical.
Mizutani Hayun and Tachibana Taki couldn't help themselves and burst out laughing, perfectly illustrating the saying: "Laughter doesn't disappear; it only transfers."
Sarutobi Zhang then stepped forward and said, "Uchiha Chi, what's so great about relying on your clan's abilities? If you're really that good, beat us all to the ground, and naturally we'll listen to you. If you can't, then get lost back where you came from!"
Sarutobi Zhang wanted to define this incident as nothing more than a routine schoolyard brawl. Although he didn't know a school teacher was trailing them, he was naturally adept at putting on a facade.
"Have some shame, Sarutobi Zhang. You're supposed to come from Lord Hokage's clan! You forced your classmates to do your homework for you, and now you think you're in the right?
Bullying people and acting like you're the justified one—is this the kind of education Lord Hokage gives you? Stop playing innocent. I'm telling you right now: the Uchiha Clan does not abandon its friends."
Uchiha Chi said with unwavering certainty. Although he didn't know if a teacher would actually follow them, he figured that with so many people, how could the academy's teachers fail to notice? The possibility of someone tailing them was extremely high. He would just assume the teacher was already here, and since justice was on his side from the start, he naturally had to contest every inch.
"What homework? I don't know anything about that. All I know is you bullied my friends, and I'm here to get back at you for them." Clearly, Sarutobi Zhang refused to admit his wrongdoing in this matter. He flatly denied any knowledge of it and instantly prepared to resort to violence.