In the eyes of Sarutobi Shinnosuke, Uchiha Chi was simply trying to crush him using his own strengths. What left him helpless, however, was that Uchiha Chi gave him no opportunity to fight back whatsoever.
Due to Sarutobi Shinnosuke's initial misjudgment, he had no chance to weave hand signs or deploy The Three Techniques, falling immediately into a disadvantageous position with no hope of a comeback. In desperation, he decided to risk it all with the Clone Technique.
The outcome, however, was entirely predictable. Having long anticipated Sarutobi Shinnosuke's intentions, Uchiha Chi seized the moment as his opponent attempted the risky move and smashed a fist straight into the bridge of his nose, bringing tears to his eyes. Before he could follow up with another attack, the teacher intervened.
The instructor then announced to the class, "The winner of this duel is Uchiha Chi. Both sides, form the reconciliation seal."
Several students began to cheer and applaud enthusiastically—after all, students at this age were full of hot blood—with Mizutani Hayun and Tachibana Taki leading the excitement.
The teacher quieted the cheering crowd and began to lecture: "Sarutobi Shinnosuke, your advantage lies in The Three Techniques. Yet right from the start, instead of showcasing your strengths, you tried to match Uchiha Chi in Taijutsu. Once you were suppressed, you couldn't find a single opening to use The Three Techniques, could you? You failed to display your true strength at all. Now do you understand where you went wrong?"
Although the teacher could tell that Uchiha Chi had not exerted his full power, as an instructor, it was only natural to encourage a defeated student—especially since that student was the Hokage's son. If the boy lost his confidence from being beaten down, the Hokage would certainly intervene.
Though he secretly detested Sarutobi Shinnosuke, the teacher could never let it show; after all, a man had to make a living.
More importantly, he had no inkling of Uchiha Chi's true power, or else he would have offered his critique much more tactfully.
From then on, Sarutobi Shinnosuke challenged Uchiha Chi at regular intervals—sometimes every three to five days, and no more than half a month at the slowest. He challenged Uchiha Chi more than a dozen times consecutively, and every single time he came within a hair's breadth of success, yet that tiny margin was what kept success forever out of reach.
With the Second World War looming, political affairs within the village had noticeably increased lately, leaving Sarutobi Hiruzen with virtually no time to concern himself with his eldest son. Sarutobi Shinnosuke, for his part, lacked the courage to bring the matter up with his father.
However, an internal academy exam was approaching, at which time his Hokage father would surely carve out time to inquire about his progress. He had no idea how to tell his father that he had lost to an Uchiha; surely that would bring deep disappointment to a father whose recognition he so desperately craved.
Because of the mounting pressure, Sarutobi Shinnosuke had not challenged Uchiha Chi for nearly ten days. Busy as he was, Uchiha Chi noticed his absence and, after a brief moment of reflection combined with the intelligence he gathered daily, quickly deduced the whole story.
So, after school one afternoon, he deliberately engineered a chance encounter with Sarutobi Shinnosuke. Following a friendly negotiation and at Sarutobi Shinnosuke's earnest request, Uchiha Chi ultimately agreed that in their next combat class, they would focus primarily on The Three Techniques, with Taijutsu taking a secondary role.
After pondering it for a moment, Uchiha Chi accepted. He figured he would throw the boy a bone, letting him experience the enthusiastic cheers of the crowd and the glory of victory.
Once someone who loved showing off tasted that high, he would be utterly unable to bear the agony of losing it again, and at that point, the boy would surely satisfy many of his reasonable demands. However, to prevent Sarutobi Shinnosuke from overthinking things, Uchiha Chi simply requested that the boy treat him to a lavish feast at the Akimichi clan's barbeque restaurant.
Seeing this, Sarutobi Shinnosuke nodded in agreement. After all, with the fight centering around The Three Techniques, he felt his advantage was overwhelming and victory was right before his eyes. Compared to the impending triumph, such a minor request was nothing at all. They agreed to go the following evening.
Thus, during the combat class the next day, the two faced each other once more. Because Uchiha Chi had won so many times before, the rest of the class held no suspense regarding the outcome, and the initial passion was largely gone.
Seeing this scene pierced Sarutobi Shinnosuke's heart deeply, making him even more obsessed with securing a victory. The two formed the opposing seals, and at the teacher's cry of "Start!"
They rushed forward, but instead of opening with Taijutsu as they usually did, both simultaneously executed the Clone Technique. Yet, through Uchiha Chi's deliberate concealment of his skill, he moved a step slower than Sarutobi Shinnosuke.
In the ensuing battle, the two deployed The Three Techniques back and forth. Once again, through Uchiha Chi's intentional underperformance, Sarutobi Shinnosuke's advantage grew larger and larger, while Uchiha Chi stood swaying like a candle in the wind, barely managing to hold his ground.
Finally, just as Sarutobi Shinnosuke's Chakra was nearly exhausted and he was about to collapse from fatigue, Uchiha Chi decided it was time. Putting on a display of completely depleted Chakra, he voluntarily conceded defeat.
At the teacher's behest, the two formed the reconciliation seal. Standing before the cheering crowd, Sarutobi Shinnosuke slowly began to float on cloud nine.
The teacher cast a strange look at Uchiha Chi, but asked no further questions, pretending not to notice anything amiss. Instead, he announced directly, "Uchiha Chi, through this duel, you should recognize your flaws. Your hand signs are too slow, and your mastery of The Three Techniques is not as proficient as Sarutobi Shinnosuke's.
You consumed far too much Chakra while using The Three Techniques, leaving you with none left by the end. I hope you will take this lesson to heart and master The Three Techniques to perfection as soon as possible, or else minimize their use in combat and focus on playing to your strengths instead."
"Thank you for the guidance, Teacher. I understand. I will practice diligently and make the most of my strengths in battle while avoiding my weaknesses." With that, Uchiha Chi bowed respectfully to the teacher.
The instructor looked on, highly satisfied with Uchiha Chi's attitude, silently praising him as expected of someone from an ancient clan. Down below, Mizutani Hayun murmured, "Taki-kun is just too gentle."
"Totally, totally," Tachibana Taki echoed in agreement.
At that moment, Uchiha Chi felt that his two desk-mates were really not bad at all—no wonder so many people enjoyed having lackeys. He happily decided to take them both out for barbeque after school. After all, he hadn't specified that he was going alone, and surely Sarutobi Shinnosuke wouldn't mind.
When the time came for dinner that evening, having two extra people tag along was no big deal to Sarutobi Shinnosuke—just a little pocket change.
The four of them enjoyed a magnificent meal. Sarutobi Shinnosuke happily paid the bill, after which Uchiha Chi and the other two walked off together, leaving Sarutobi Shinnosuke looking utterly forlorn. At that instant, Sarutobi Shinnosuke felt the joy of victory quietly slipping away from him.