c3: A Brand New Sharingan
"Good morning…"
"Morning…"
Not long after Uchiha Sasuke arrived at Training Ground Three, a yawning Naruto Uzumaki and a visibly exhausted Sakura Haruno showed up one after another.
Sasuke gave a small nod in acknowledgment.
It was not aloofness, nor was he deliberately trying to appear cool. Since waking at 4:20 that morning after returning from Teyvat, he had been carefully analyzing the changes within his body.
During the night's exploration in that other world, after resonating with the power of Anemo at the Statue of the Seven, something fundamental had shifted within him. When he returned to the shinobi world and circulated Chakra through his coils, he discovered that the previously unstable flicker behind his eyes had stabilized completely.
He had awakened the Sharingan.
Not the incomplete, accidental manifestation triggered by intense emotion described in Uchiha clan records but a fully controllable dōjutsu he could activate at will.
With a subtle focus of Chakra toward his optic nerves, the world shifted.
His pupils turned crimson, and a single tomoe rotated slowly within each eye.
The new Chakra system from Teyvat had not merely granted him access to unfamiliar elemental manipulation; it seemed to have refined his Chakra control to such an extent that his clan's Kekkei Genkai had synchronized perfectly with his body.
After activating the Sharingan, the environment appeared layered with new depth.
The small river beside Training Ground Three shimmered with a faint azure hue under his vision, the grass radiated a soft emerald glow, and when he quietly formed hand seals and released a small test spark of Fire Release Great Fireball Technique the flames burned a deep, saturated crimson that seemed more distinct than before.
Ordinarily, the Sharingan enhanced perception, allowed prediction of movements, and copied hand seals. But this…
This coloration was different.
It was not genjutsu detection, nor simply heightened clarity.
Combined with what Paimon had explained about elemental power, Sasuke suspected that his Sharingan was now perceiving elemental affinities layered within the environment itself. In the shinobi world, nature transformation required molding Chakra into Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth, or Water. Perhaps this altered vision was allowing him to see similar elemental compositions directly.
If so, it was a function no standard Sharingan possessed at least none recorded within the Uchiha clan before its destruction at the hands of Itachi Uchiha.
For now, however, he had no concrete conclusion.
He would need to return to Teyvat and question Paimon further.
Time passed slowly.
Naruto and Sakura, having arrived early due to Kakashi's instructions the previous day not to eat breakfast, gradually slumped onto the grass from hunger and fatigue. Sasuke remained standing, conserving energy and observing the surroundings with measured calm.
It was nearly noon when their jōnin instructor finally appeared in a swirl of leaves.
His visible eye curved lazily as he raised a hand in greeting.
"Yo. Good morning."
"You're too slow!"
Naruto and Sakura immediately jumped up, pointing accusing fingers at Kakashi Hatake.
They had been waiting for hours, stomachs growling.
"Ah… well, you see, a black cat crossed my path, so I had to take the long way around."
Kakashi offered the same absurd excuse recorded in Academy rumors.
Seeing the disbelief on their faces, he coughed lightly, then pulled an alarm clock from his vest and placed it atop a wooden stump at the center of the training ground.
The hands read 11:10.
"I'll set this for noon."
He adjusted the dial, then produced two small bells tied with red strings.
"For today's exercise, your task is simple. Take these bells from me before the alarm rings at twelve."
He shook them gently. The crisp jingling echoed across the clearing.
"Anyone who doesn't obtain a bell… will not get lunch."
"Eh?!" Naruto cried out in alarm.
"And," Kakashi continued casually, pointing toward the wooden post beside the stump, "that person will be tied to that log and forced to watch while I eat."
Only then did the three genin fully grasp the malice hidden beneath his relaxed demeanor.
"So that's why he told us not to eat breakfast yesterday…"
Naruto clenched his stomach dramatically.
Sakura, however, narrowed her eyes.
"Wait, Kakashi-sensei… why are there only two bells?"
Kakashi's visible eye curved into a crescent.
"Correct. There are only two bells."
"That means at least one of you will fail."
"And that person will be sent back to the Academy."
His tone remained cheerful.
"At minimum one fails. At maximum… all three of you fail."
Naruto gulped audibly.
"You may use shuriken, kunai, or any ninja tools. Come at me with killing intent."
"If you don't fight seriously, you won't stand a chance."
"That's too dangerous, Sensei!" Sakura protested.
"Yeah!" Naruto added quickly. "You're the guy who got hit by a blackboard eraser yesterday"
Before he could finish, Kakashi vanished in a blur of speed.
"In this world," Kakashi's voice sounded from directly behind them, "the dead last are usually the ones who bark the loudest."
His single visible eye drifted toward Sasuke.
"But the quiet ones are often the most troublesome. Right, Sasuke?"
That single sentence provoked all three at once.
Naruto bristled at the phrase "dead last," a label he had heard repeatedly at the Academy. Without thinking, he drew a kunai, spun it into a reverse grip, and charged recklessly.
He did not even manage three full steps.
Smack.
In an instant, Kakashi caught Naruto's wrist effortlessly and twisted his arm upward. The kunai was redirected and pressed flat against Naruto's own forehead.
Naruto froze.
"Don't rush," Kakashi said lazily. "I haven't said start yet."
The ease with which he restrained Naruto stunned them.
Even Sasuke's Sharingan, activated silently, had barely tracked the initial movement.
So this… was the gap between genin and jōnin.
The bell test had not even begun, yet the difference in level was already painfully clear.
A drop of cold sweat slid down Sasuke's forehead, and he instinctively took two quiet steps back.
"Is this a jōnin… I couldn't see his movements at all."
Even with his newly awakened Sharingan activated, the instant Kakashi intercepted Naruto had been almost imperceptible. Sasuke had only caught the afterimage of motion—no clear trajectory, no readable muscle shift beforehand. The predictive ability of his single-tomoe Sharingan was not yet refined enough to track a veteran elite.
Kakashi casually released Naruto's wrist.
"But… it seems you've got killing intent in your eyes now too," Kakashi said, glancing directly at Sasuke. His visible eye curved slightly. "Hehehe. Those are some good eyes. I like them."
The emphasis was subtle, but Sasuke understood.
Kakashi had noticed his Sharingan.
"It's about to begin," Kakashi announced lazily.
"Ready."
"Start!"
The moment the word fell, Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto scattered in three different directions.
Sasuke sprinted toward the forest edge without hesitation. With practiced agility from years of Uchiha clan training, he leapt onto a thick tree trunk, adhered his feet using controlled Chakra output, and quickly ascended to a concealed branch high above ground level. Once there, he suppressed his Chakra signature as much as possible, minimizing unnecessary leakage—an instinct drilled into him during Academy stealth exercises.
From that vantage point, he observed Kakashi, who remained standing casually in the clearing as if this were nothing more than a leisurely afternoon.
High ground provided visibility.
Visibility provided options.
From above, he could analyze movement patterns, detect blind spots, and retreat in multiple directions if necessary. Charging recklessly on flat terrain against a jōnin was suicide.
Just as Sasuke was calculating possible attack angles combining shurikenjutsu feints with Fire Release follow-ups he saw a lone figure standing boldly in the center of the field in front of Kakashi.
Uzumaki Naruto.
"Hey, hey, hey, Kakashi-sensei! Let's have a fair and square showdown!"
Sasuke's eye twitched.
From his perch, he had to physically restrain himself from leaping down to knock sense into his teammate.
Facing a jōnin head-on, in an open clearing with zero cover, was the exact opposite of shinobi combat doctrine. No concealment. No deception. No teamwork.
In battle, Naruto lacked coordination.
In strategy, he lacked restraint.
Even Kakashi blinked in disbelief.
"Kid… is there something wrong with your head?"
"There's something wrong with your head!" Naruto shot back, clenching his fist before charging forward.
What followed was almost painful to witness.
Against the current Naruto fresh out of the Academy, with poor Chakra control and minimal tactical awareness Kakashi did not even bother using ninjutsu. He casually pulled out a small orange book titled Icha Icha Paradise and held it open with one hand.
While reading.
With minimal footwork and effortless sidesteps, Kakashi avoided Naruto's wild punches and clumsy kicks. Each of Naruto's strikes cut through empty air. Within seconds, Kakashi pivoted smoothly behind him without Naruto even realizing.
"A ninja should never expose their back to the enemy," Kakashi said flatly.
Then he formed a hand seal—Tiger.
Sasuke's Sharingan caught the seal instantly.
For a split second, Sasuke expected Fire Release.
Instead
"Leaf Hidden Taijutsu Secret Technique…"
Kakashi's hands shot forward.
"One Thousand Years of Death."
With brutal precision, Kakashi drove his fingers into Naruto's most vulnerable point.
Naruto's scream echoed across the training ground as he launched forward like a projectile, soaring through the air before plunging headfirst into the small river nearby with an enormous splash.
Water erupted upward.
Silence followed.
Even from his elevated position, Sasuke felt an involuntary tightening at the thought of that impact.
He had genuinely anticipated a Fire Release technique when he saw the Tiger seal. Instead, their jōnin instructor had demonstrated overwhelming dominance without expending meaningful Chakra at all.
This was not eccentricity.
This was disparity.
Kakashi had not taken Naruto seriously for even a moment. He had not needed to.
From his branch, Sasuke slowly clenched his fist.
The familiar bitterness rose in his chest.
This feeling
Of being underestimated.
Of being dismissed as insignificant.
It was the same suffocating sensation he had felt the night Itachi looked down at him, eyes calm and unreadable.
Sasuke's crimson Sharingan rotated slowly.
If brute force would not work, then strategy would.
He would not rush.
He would observe.
And then he would strike.