Chapter 6: The Top Student
Hinata's sudden change didn't escape Ryuzen's notice.
He had seen the shy girl who could barely lift her head just minutes ago transform into someone with genuine determination in her eyes. It was surprising, but not unwelcome.
"I'm coming," Ryuzen said seriously. "If I accidentally hurt you, please don't mind it."
Hinata nodded firmly. "Yes."
She formed the Ram seal—the Seal of Confrontation—directing it toward Ryuzen. Then she settled into the Gentle Fist stance of the Hyuga clan, her small hands opening into palms, her pale eyes fixed on him with an intensity he hadn't seen from her before.
No more words were needed.
Ryuzen moved.
He shot forward, closing the distance between them in an instant. Hinata stepped to meet him, her palm already swinging toward his face. The strike was fast—surprisingly fast for someone so young, for someone so timid. Her form was solid, her aim precise.
If Ryuzen had continued his charge without adjusting, that palm would have connected squarely with his cheek.
But Ryuzen's vision, sharpened by months of assimilating the world's greatest swordsman, caught every detail of her movement. He saw the strike coming before it was even fully extended.
Smack!
His hand snapped up, striking her wrist from below and knocking her palm harmlessly away. The impact disrupted her balance, left her arm extended and her body momentarily open.
Hinata's eyes widened in surprise.
Ryuzen didn't hesitate. He flowed from deflection into offense, grabbing her extended arm with both hands. In one smooth motion, he twisted his body, using her momentum against her. She flew over his shoulder and landed on her back with a soft thud.
Before she could react, Ryuzen was on top of her, one knee pressing gently but firmly against her chest. His hand hovered near her throat—not touching, but close enough to make the point clear.
In a real fight, it would already be over.
"It's over! Ryuzen wins—perform the Seal of Reconciliation!"
Iruka's voice rang out immediately.
"SO FAST!"
"How did that even happen?!"
"Ryuzen-kun is amazing! It was over in an instant!"
The students exploded with commentary. Girls who had been watching with barely concealed admiration now had stars shining openly in their eyes. Even some of the boys, despite their jealousy, couldn't deny what they'd just witnessed.
Ryuzen rose smoothly and extended a hand toward Hinata. "Sorry about that. Are you okay?"
Hinata stared at his offered palm for a heartbeat. Then, instead of taking it, she scrambled to her feet on her own, face burning crimson. "N-no... it's okay!"
She ducked her head, hiding her expression from him—and from everyone else. But inside, her heart was racing.
Ryuzen-kun was so strong. So cool. So...
She couldn't even finish the thought without wanting to hide under a rock.
Ryuzen withdrew his hand without comment, watching her for a moment longer. In truth, Hinata's strength wasn't weak at all. Among their peers, if she could overcome her kindness and hesitation in combat, she would rank among the strongest of the future Rookie Nine. Her Gentle Fist foundation was solid—her talent was genuine.
The reason she had lost so quickly wasn't because she was weak. It was because Ryuzen's combat instincts, honed through Mihawk's memories, allowed him to identify and exploit openings in an instant. Against someone with no real combat experience, that was an insurmountable gap.
They formed the Seal of Reconciliation—a brief moment of hand signs acknowledging a fair fight—and exited the training area.
"Next match: Inuzuka Kiba versus Toda Motoki!" Iruka called out.
Ryuzen returned to his spot at the back of the crowd as the next pair took the field.
"Ino Yamanaka versus Nishikawa Megumi!"
Match after match unfolded as the afternoon wore on. Unlike Ryuzen's instant victory, most students were evenly matched. Even those from ninja families—Shikamaru, Ino, Choji, Kiba—hadn't yet developed skills that significantly separated them from their peers. They were children still learning the basics, not the powerful shinobi they would one day become.
The training ground filled with the sounds of struggle: grunts of effort, the thud of small bodies hitting the ground, Iruka's occasional corrections and comments.
Dusk arrived, painting the sky in shades of orange and purple. When the final match concluded, Iruka dismissed them for the day.
Ryuzen didn't head straight home. Instead, he began his evening run through the village streets, maintaining the schedule he'd established weeks ago. Two hours later, exhausted and hungry, he stopped at a small restaurant to pick up a packed dinner.
Back home, he showered quickly, ate, and then settled into his meditation posture. Chakra extraction was a slow, patient process—one that required daily consistency to show meaningful results.
At eleven o'clock, Ryuzen finally stopped meditating. He rose, walked to a cabinet, and withdrew a scroll.
Unrolling it, he revealed the instructions for the Shadow Clone Technique.
The Shadow Clone. In the original story, it was practically a cheat code for training. The ability to create solid, functional copies of oneself that could gather information, perform tasks, and—most importantly—transfer their experiences back to the original upon dispersion. For someone like Ryuzen, who desperately needed more hours in the day, mastering this technique was essential.
If he could learn it, he could send a shadow clone to school in his place while his real body trained. The clone would attend classes, learn the material, and when it dispersed, everything it experienced would flow back to him. It was the perfect solution.
The technique itself wasn't complicated. It required only a single hand seal—the Ram seal. The difficulty lay in chakra distribution. To create a stable shadow clone, the user had to divide their chakra evenly between themselves and the clone. Uneven distribution would cause the clone to destabilize and disappear. Insufficient chakra would cause it to fade rapidly once it began exerting itself.
For the next half hour, Ryuzen attempted again and again to form a stable clone. Most attempts resulted in shimmering copies that vanished within seconds. A few times, he managed to create something that looked right, only to have it dissolve the moment it tried to move.
Finally, on what felt like his dozenth attempt, a shadow clone materialized that actually resembled him. It stood there, looking around with mild curiosity, before promptly disappearing after exactly thirty minutes of doing absolutely nothing.
Ryuzen checked his chakra reserves. The failed attempts had consumed a third of his total energy.
He'd been refining chakra since he was five and a half years old. His reserves were considerably larger than most children his age. And yet, even with that advantage, the best he could manage was a clone that lasted thirty minutes without doing anything. If he allocated half his chakra to a clone, it might last an hour—but then he'd be left with half his reserves, severely limiting what he could do himself.
An hour wasn't enough. Not for a full school day.
Ryuzen glanced at the clock. Past midnight already. With a sigh, he rolled up the scroll and set it aside. Practice would continue tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that. He had time.
For now, rest was more important.
Morning arrived with the sharp insistence of his alarm clock.
Ryuzen went through his routine automatically now: morning exercise, breakfast, shower, school. The rhythm was comfortable, familiar.
The assessment period continued. During the last class of the morning, Iruka announced a surprise quiz on the Three Basic Techniques. Unlike taijutsu or shuriken throwing, this could be conducted right in the classroom—each student simply needed to demonstrate their proficiency with the Clone Technique, Transformation Technique, and Substitution Technique.
As expected, Ryuzen scored highest.
It wasn't surprising. His mental age was over twenty, and he'd had over a year in this world to adapt to its logic and systems. While his natural talent might not match prodigies like Kakashi Hatake or Itachi Uchiha, compared to actual six-year-olds just beginning their training? There was no comparison.
In the afternoon, Iruka conducted the shuriken throwing assessment. Ryuzen's throws were precise, consistent, and deadly accurate. By the end, his scores rivaled even Uchiha Sasuke's.
The third day brought the theoretical examination in the morning, followed by the kunai close-combat assessment in the afternoon.
Once again, Ryuzen dominated.
Mihawk's inherited combat experience gave him an edge that no amount of natural talent could match. He could read opponents, anticipate their movements, and end fights in an instant. His shuriken skills, while not inherited, had improved rapidly thanks to the sharpened perception and hand-eye coordination the template provided. And theory was simply a matter of study—something his mature mind handled easily.
When the fourth day arrived, Iruka stood before the class with his clipboard and announced the results.
"Top student for this assessment period: Yagyu Ryuzen."
No one was surprised.
But the reaction was immediate.
Ryuzen had already been well-known in the Academy for his appearance. His silver hair and crimson eyes, combined with that quiet, confident aura, had drawn attention from the very first day. Now, with the title of top student attached to his name, that attention exploded.
The girls who had initially been intimidated by his cold demeanor found their courage returning—and multiplying. They flocked around him between classes, during lunch, after school. Notes appeared on his desk. Confessions were whispered in hallways.
Even older students—seniors from higher grades—began coming by to catch a glimpse of the mysterious top student who had apparently appeared from nowhere.
Ryuzen bore it all with the same quiet, unbothered expression he always wore. He didn't encourage them. He didn't acknowledge most of them. He simply existed, going about his business as if the chaos around him was happening to someone else entirely.
But inside, he was already thinking ahead. The Shadow Clone Technique couldn't come soon enough. If he had to endure this circus every day while also trying to train, he'd never make progress.
In the back of the classroom, Hinata watched the crowd surrounding Ryuzen's desk. Her fingers tightened on the edge of her seat. She'd spoken to him. She'd fought him. She'd even thanked him.
But watching all these other girls swarm around him, laughing and chattering and trying to get his attention...
A new feeling stirred in her chest. Something unfamiliar. Something that made her pale eyes harden just slightly.
She didn't know what to call it yet.
But she knew she didn't like it.
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