After a brief moment of calm, the grand assembly hall immediately erupted into chaos.
Compared to Kakashi and the first batch of jonin who had tried entering Takamagahara, the quality of the Hidden Leaf shinobi gathered in the hall at this moment was obviously much lower.
Thus, they couldn't calmly analyze and judge like the previous jonin had.
After exiting Takamagahara, their first reaction was astonishment, which quickly turned into excitement and a strong desire to share.
"Who did you choose as your opponent?"
"The terrain even changed! It was so realistic!"
"The time doesn't add up. I remember clearly fighting for nearly an hour inside, so how come only a dozen minutes have passed?"
"As expected of a Mangekyo Sharingan dojutsu!"
Exclamations, praises, joys, doubts—various voices intertwined, making the entire hall as noisy and chaotic as a marketplace.
The improvement of a shinobi's strength mostly occurs in stages.
Take an ordinary shinobi as an example: from the ninja academy to genin stage, that is, from six or seven years old to eleven or twelve, strength generally improves steadily.
But when a shinobi exceeds fourteen or fifteen years old, the improvement in strength begins to accelerate sharply.
Talented shinobi often successfully become chunin, or even special jonin, during this stage before the age of twenty.
And those screened by the village this time to experience Takamagahara were mostly young genin, chunin, and some special jonin with great potential.
Their characteristics were that they were all very young, highly malleable, and in the rising phase of their strength. As long as they could surpass themselves and cross a threshold upward, genin could become chunin, chunin could become special jonin, and special jonin would have hope of冲击 true jonin.
Therefore, the village had them experience Takamagahara first.
These people also didn't disappoint the village leadership's expectations. Many had gained a lot in Takamagahara, either exchanging with companions or lowering their heads in contemplation, digesting their gains from Takamagahara themselves.
Those who had gained quite a bit also included Shinji's peers.
The peers who could mix with Shinji, the ninja academy chief, were almost all the elites among their cohort. Even those who were once dead last, like Naruto and Rock Lee, now had strength far exceeding ordinary academy students.
So even without Takamagahara, they were currently in a phase of rapid strength advancement. After experiencing Takamagahara, their gains were naturally more than ordinary people.
After exiting Takamagahara, Sakura, Ino, Hinata, and Tenten, the girls, gathered together, chattering nonstop.
Shikamaru hid alone in a corner, seeming to ponder something.
Choji, Kiba, and Rock Lee excitedly conversed.
On the staircase.
Haku and Karin exchanged a glance.
Haku spoke first. "Who was your opponent?"
"Hiruko," Karin paused, then asked, "And you?"
Haku shook his head with a wry smile. "The imaginary opponent Shinji arranged for me was Ranmaru."
"Ranmaru?!"
Karin slightly furrowed her brows.
This opponent was very tricky even for her.
Because her Kagura Mind's Eye could indeed bypass Transparent Release to sense Ranmaru, but Ranmaru not only mastered Transparent Release but also Swift Release, so her Kagura Mind's Eye perception often had a certain lag.
If relying solely on Kagura Mind's Eye, she could protect herself, but killing or capturing Ranmaru alive would be extremely difficult.
Haku said, "Facing this kind of enemy, I really had no way. I gave it my all and could only barely manage to hold my own against him."
Having mastered Breathing Technique and awakened the Mark, Haku's own speed wasn't slower than Ranmaru's. Plus, he could use Ice Release to create absolute defense. So although he fought bitterly for nearly an hour, he didn't lose to Ranmaru.
Of course.
Ranmaru could wait at ease for the exhausted opponent, so if there was no time limit, Ranmaru would definitely win in the end.
Karin's expression wasn't great. "My results here aren't too satisfactory either."
Haku asked, "Did you win or lose?"
Karin let out a light sigh. "Won four matches, lost three!"
Unlike Haku's nearly hour-long stalemate with Ranmaru, in the one hour in Takamagahara, Karin and Hiruko had divided victory seven times, with her winning four and losing three.
In the four wins, three were her using Adamantine Sealing Chains to catch Hiruko and instantly kill him. One was her using Wood Release to trap Hiruko and wear him down to death.
The three losses were all her attacks being dodged by Hiruko with Swift Release, then falling into passivity and ultimately defeated by Hiruko.
Although it was just a short hour of combat practice, it gave Karin quite a few insights, making her understand where her weaknesses lay.
On the platform.
Kakashi's brows were tense.
This time, the imaginary opponent he chose was still Hiruko. After an hour of bitter fighting, he still couldn't find a method to counter Hiruko.
Dark Release, Swift Release, Steel Release—these three Bloodline Limits blocked almost all his attack methods except for the Mangekyo Sharingan dojutsu. So unless he activated Kamui, even he, hailed as the "Hidden Leaf's number one technician," found it hard to spot Hiruko's flaws.
But he still couldn't fully trust Shinji, so he didn't dare practice Kamui in Takamagahara.
Of course, he actually understood that practicing Kamui in Takamagahara was the most appropriate choice. After all, practicing Kamui in reality would truly consume dojutsu power, while in Takamagahara, it required no dojutsu power consumption.
Sasuke's expression was even worse beside him.
"Ten times…"
He murmured to himself, his expression somewhat dazed and lost.
In the nearly one-hour combat practice in Takamagahara, he had lost a full ten times, and each time ended in utter defeat.
Undoubtedly.
The Uchiha Itachi Shinji created wouldn't hold back like the real Uchiha Itachi. So the one Sasuke faced in Takamagahara was a ruthless version of Uchiha Itachi, and the result was self-evident.
"It must be a problem with Shinji's dojutsu. How could he… be this strong?" Thinking of this, Sasuke rushed right in front of Shinji in one step and asked, "Shinji, the Uchiha Itachi you simulated in Takamagahara, was it strengthened?"
Looking at Sasuke's eager face, wanting to get an affirmative answer from him, Shinji felt a bit awkward.
The creative ability in his Takamagahara originated from Tsukuyomi, so he could only create the 'Uchiha Itachi' he thought of. But in reality, the true 'Uchiha Itachi' was definitely stronger than what he imagined.
Moreover, the Uchiha Itachi he created in Takamagahara neither used the divine tools Totsuka Blade and Yata Mirror, nor activated forbidden techniques like Izanami. So upon closer comparison, not only was it not strengthened, but it was actually a low-end version!