From the sidelines, Hatake Kusuo clenched his teeth in equal parts frustration and grudging relief. Yet even so, a smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "I knew it. Shigure… he always turns it around somehow."
The dust cleared.
And then, from the shimmering outline of Katori Sumire's genjutsu, something grotesque unfolded—a hand sliding out of her shoulder, another from her ribs.
"Wha—?!" she gasped, her eyes bulging in disbelief.
And in the next heartbeat, Shigure's full form crawled out of her very body, conjured illusion into physical terror.
"Sorry," he spoke smoothly, unruffled. "But you've lost."
"A—ah!" Sumire squealed in horror, stumbling back, kunai shaking in her hand. Anyone would—the idea of being used as a vessel, of a boy silently pulling himself out of you—it cut deeper than any blade.
"Idiot! He reflected it," Yoshida Kappei muttered with a scowl from the sidelines. Yet his eyes widened as he registered Shigure's pupils more fully. The three tomoe spun like ivory against blood-red. "Three white tomoe? Could it be… a variant of the Sharingan? A mutation? He's already awakened the full three-tomoe Sharingan!"
That revelation only deepened the icy weight settling in Suzuki Saori's chest. No wonder her most gifted student, adept in advanced genjutsu that could even trap Chunin, had fallen so completely.
"Remove it!" she barked, lunging to Sumire's side. Her kunoichi fingers pressed fast along the girl's flow of chakra, breaking the reversed illusion. Slowly, Sumire blinked back to awareness, trembling, cold sweat across her face.
She looked up at Shigure, her voice bitter but soft. "…I lost. I wasn't strong enough. But remember my words, Uchiha Shigure. One day, I'll defeat you. I'll wipe that calm smirk from your face."
Shigure gave her nothing but a steady glance.
He turned back to the open field, raising his hand in beckon. "Best of three. The last one—come."
The Final Challenger
Yoshida Kappei stepped forward, his gait unhurried, expressionless. Unlike Hideichi's brute-force swagger or Sumire's prideful fire, Kappei moved with eerie confidence. Bland, almost forgettable…but in his ordinariness lurked calculation, an undercurrent that made Kusuo's skin itch from afar.
Shigure's Sharingan told him more. He narrowed his gaze and tracked the boy's chakra.
"Hm. That flow… it's higher than yours, Kusuo. Higher than Akane's too." His eyes thinned. "His total reserves rival a seasoned chunin. Surprising."
Suzuki Saori's smile grew faint on the sideline. "Now you see. Kappei has always masked his strength. That ordinary face deceived you. But his chakra—" her eyes glinted, "not less than a senior ninja already."
Kappei raised a hand. "Uchiha Shigure. You flaunt those eyes too freely. That three-tomoe form must drain chakra with every rotation. If I delay you long enough, you'll collapse under your own weight, won't you?"
Of course, only half a truth. What he could never grasp was that Shigure's unique Sharingan consumed almost nothing. His visual clarity was like breathing—costless, constant.
But Shigure would not trouble himself to explain. He only smiled lightly.
"You think you've seen through me? Wrong."
His fingers blurred.
Speeds Unseen
Kappei's eyes widened. Even Saori stiffened.
"That speed—!"
Hand seals whipped through Shigure's fingers like the crackle of lightning, faster than even most jonin could dream of.
"Katōn: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"
The roar of flame burst outward, swelling into a great fireball. Yet this was not the crude academy demonstration. This was fire molded with flawless control, blazing red with refined chakra, an orb wider than three men across. Heat forced even spectators to shield their faces.
"My god—" Saori's breath caught. "That's… not the fireball of a Genin. Not even close."
Kappei's teeth clenched. His legs blurred in an instant body-flicker, evading as the fireball devoured the ground he'd just stood on. Cinders rained around his silhouette as his own hands flew, as desperate in speed as they were trained.
"Suiton: Takiryū no Jutsu!"
Water roared from his chakra, a rolling tide unfurling into a crashing waterfall that surged across the field. Every droplet hammered with force enough to sweep whole teams aside.
Kusuo staggered back, eyes wide. "Waterfall Technique? At that scale?!"
Shigure's Counter
But Shigure was already moving. His body flickered through the air, landing in a skid, and his hands clapped into new signs.
"Doton: Doryūheki—Earth Flow Wall!"
And from the earth it rose, an immense wall of stone, cresting like a mountain. Dust cascaded down its sides as the waterfall slammed high against it. But the wall held.
"This is…!" Saori froze, disbelief rattling her voice. "That's no simple barrier… its range, its strength—it's monstrous. That's a jonin's scale jutsu!"
Shigure stood atop the stone bastion calmly, cloak rippling as water ran down the wall like rain. His Sharingan glimmered red through the mist.
"You'll need more than that," he said flatly.
Even Sumire, still pale from her illusion's rebound, gaped from the sideline. "So he isn't only illusions or fire-style…his earth-style is equally terrifying?"
Yoshida's Gamble
Kappei gritted his teeth, sweat rolling down his unseen brow. Even my strongest suiton… pushed aside. How? How does a Genin command this scale?
It infuriated him. Fear sharpened into reckless resolve. He surged forward, muscles coiled, chakra buffeting his body.
"Then I'll crush you with my own hands!"
But to charge headlong at an Uchiha's Sharingan—at this boy's Sharingan—was suicide.
Shigure's seals blurred faster still, each strike of his fingers purposeful and deadly.
"Doton: Yomi Numa!"
The earth betrayed its own form. With a sickening lurch, ground once firm turned into soft, consuming mire. Grass and dirt dissolved into liquid sludge as if dipped into some unholy abyss. The air smelled of wet loam and death.
"What—!?" Kappei's cry tore upward as his legs sank instantly, waist-deep in the sucking mud.
"The Swamp of the Underworld," Shigure intoned, eyes cold. "A forbidden earth technique."
Ripples bubbled outward like a living maw. The more Kappei struggled, the deeper the weighted muck devoured him. Chakra flared wildly around his body, thrashing, but the swamp did not care; it wanted only to consume.
"No…! Impossible! Earth Style—of this scale? From an Uchiha?!" Kappei's panic curdled into raw dread. "I can't—move…"
He writhed uselessly.
On the edges of the field, gasps echoed. Even Saori's carefully maintained mask shattered, her eyes wide in disbelief. "An Uchiha with that caliber Earth jutsu?"
Shockwaves
Every witness faltered. Kusuo stared, fists trembling. "Shigure… his ninjutsu, his hand seals… they're far beyond me. He's already sprinting ahead."
A flare of envy scorched his chest, but it carried admiration too. Fine. If that's the gap, then when I return to the Hatake estate—I'll train until my sword never falters again. I'll cut open my own path.
"Kappei…" Sumire's voice finally cracked as her teammate sank further into the mire. Even she could not hide uncertainty now.
Hideichi groaned faintly where he lay unconscious, mercifully spared the terror of seeing it.
And Suzuki Saori, for once, simply stood motionless. Her perfect poise gone, replaced with the strain of reality snapping at her pride: This boy is not ordinary. Not a Genin. Not at all.
The Field Falls Silent
Shigure's hand sealed once more, anchoring. His crimson gaze measured the half-buried Kappei, writhing hopelessly, and his tone was colder than steel.
"This is the end."
The swamp bubbled ominously, eager to finish its prey.
--
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