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"Since we've known each other, this seems to be our first real fight."
Ryūsei looked at Shikamaru standing opposite him, a slight smile on his face as he raised his index and middle fingers in the Seal of Confrontation.
"Ah… My grades were too poor. Sorry I never got matched up against you," Shikamaru replied, scratching his head with one hand while his other hand also formed the Seal of Confrontation.
A closer look would reveal that his eyes were no longer their usual dead-fish state, but held a serious glint.
Ryūsei is an student!
This was the consensus of all students in the Ninja Academy's 60th intake.
For anyone else, if Sasuke or Naruto lost, they would feel extremely unconvinced and aggrieved.
But losing to Ryūsei? Even Sasuke and Naruto had grown accustomed to it over these six years.
As one of the first to recognize Ryūsei's hidden depths, Shikamaru knew perfectly well he was no match for Ryūsei.
However, his brain told him that if Ryūsei only displayed the abilities he had shown so far, then he might just have a chance at victory.
After all, the Nara clan's Shadow Imitation Technique was nothing to scoff at.
The arena was large, but even with Ryūsei's massive chakra reserves and strong Water Release prowess, he couldn't possibly flood the entire place.
If his shadow could just restrain Ryūsei, he would win.
So, for days, Shikamaru had been thinking about how to trap Ryūsei and had prepared over a dozen different plans.
And now, it was time to put them into action!
Seeing both contestants form the Seal of Confrontation, Hayate once again raised his arm and announced loudly, "The second match: Hoshina Ryūsei versus Shikamaru… Begin!"
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!—
Shikamaru immediately leaped backward, creating distance between himself and Ryūsei.
While still in the air, he reached into his ninja tool pouch, pulled out three black pellets, and hurled them towards Ryūsei.
The three pellets landed in front of Ryūsei, and to his left and right, then exploded into three puffs of smoke that enveloped him.
Upon landing, Shikamaru formed hand seals. A black shadow extended from his feet, its tip splitting into several black serpent-like tendrils that rapidly slithered towards the smoke.
No one saw the faint red powder that appeared and then vanished within the white smoke.
Immediately, three Ryūseis burst out of the smoke, hands held behind their backs in a standard ninja-run posture, charging towards Shikamaru.
Seeing the encroaching shadows, the three Ryūseis immediately fanned out, attempting to surround Shikamaru. There was no sign of them using long-range Water Release attacks.
Shikamaru also had no time to ponder why Ryūsei wasn't using long-range attacks. Watching the three Ryūseis separate, he first controlled his shadow to attack the nearest one—the one coming straight at him.
A second later, his pupils constricted.
He had expected this Ryūsei to use the Body Flicker Technique to dodge the shadow. Instead, to his surprise, the figure ignored the approaching shadow entirely and continued charging straight at him.
Just as Shikamaru began to think this Ryūsei was a Shadow Clone, and was about to glance at the other two Ryūseis out of the corner of his eye to analyze which might be the real one…
The shadow made contact with the frontal Ryūsei. But the expected outcome—the body freezing solid or transforming into white smoke—didn't happen.
Instead, the shadow passed through Ryūsei's body, yet Ryūsei kept running towards him.
"A mere Clone Technique?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, surprised Ryūsei would use such a low-level jutsu.
But a second later, as if realizing something, his expression changed. "No, that's not the Clone Technique. This is… Genjutsu!"
The Clone Technique is very similar to the Shadow Clone Technique. Without a perception eye like the Byakugan or certain special sensory techniques, it's impossible to tell with the naked eye which is a clone and which is a shadow clone.
The way to find out is simply to make contact.
The Clone Technique merely creates an illusion with chakra, like a mirage in the desert; a single touch makes it disappear.
A Shadow Clone, however, is a physical entity even the Byakugan cannot see through.
If the Ryūsei before him was just an illusory clone, it should have dissipated the moment the Shadow Imitation Technique touched it.
But it didn't. It kept running towards him.
Therefore, Shikamaru quickly tried to disrupt the flow of chakra within his body, attempting to break Ryūsei's Genjutsu.
Yet, the Ryūsei before him still didn't vanish. It had already closed the distance and was now throwing a punch aimed directly at Shikamaru's face.
Acting on instinct, Shikamaru released the Shadow Imitation Technique, drew a kunai from his pouch, and swung it in a reverse grip towards Ryūsei.
The result was predictable: the kunai and his arm passed right through the figure.
But bafflingly, the illusory clone before him still didn't disappear, and its fist connected squarely with Shikamaru's face.
Thwack!
The force of the blow distorted Shikamaru's expression, his entire face rippling in a wave-like motion, a testament to the power behind Ryūsei's punch.
In the next instant, Shikamaru's feet left the ground, and he was sent flying over a dozen meters away.
Shikamaru landed in a daze, his brilliant mind completely blank.
Witnessing this scene, a large number of ninjas in the spectator stands involuntarily rose to their feet.
Even Hiruzen and Orochimaru on the VIP platform looked shocked, nearly standing up themselves in their excitement.
"The… The Phantom Instantaneous Body Technique!"
"Is it real? Is that really the Phantom Instantaneous Body Technique? How… how is this possible?!"
"He doesn't have the Sharingan. How did he master this technique?"
"Incredible. Just how exceptional must his mastery of the Body Flicker and Genjutsu be to accomplish Shisui's unique secret technique?"
"…"
The ninja community within the audience was in an uproar.
Many younger ninjas, along with the civilians nearby, listened with bewildered expressions.
Their reaction was understandable. After all, the Uchiha clan had been extinct for several years.
As was well known, two superstars emerged on Konoha's side during the Third Great Ninja War.
One was the "Fourth Hokage," Minato Namikaze. His Flying Thunder God Technique earned him great military merits, and he was known as the "Yellow Flash."
The other superstar was Uchiha Shisui, who, from a distance so great even the Byakugan required its long-range sight to see, could instantly defeat enemies with a single glance, trapping them in a world of Genjutsu.
Yet, despite his unbelievably powerful Genjutsu, Uchiha Shisui's epithet was—"Shunshin no Shisui" (Shisui of the Body Flicker).
Just as Minato was called the "Yellow Flash" due to his Flying Thunder God Technique, Uchiha Shisui's title, "Shisui of the Body Flicker," came from the technique he developed—the Phantom Instantaneous Body Technique.
The principle was simple: it was a Body Flicker technique fused with Genjutsu from the Sharingan and the basic Clone and Body Flicker techniques taught at the Ninja Academy.
Yet, aside from Uchiha Shisui himself, no one else in the entire Uchiha clan, or even the vast shinobi world, had been able to master this technique.
The effect of this technique was to use the E-Rank Clone Technique to create one or more phantom clones. The real body would then attack alongside these clones.
Ordinarily, a Clone Technique's phantom dissipates upon touch, but Shisui's clones, infused with Sharingan Genjutsu, would not.
When an enemy attacked Shisui's clone, discovering it was merely an illusion and letting their guard down, Shisui would instantaneously switch places with the phantom clone, making the illusion solid.
Then, the next moment, that solid entity might become an illusion again.
It was precisely because of this that Shisui's enemies could never tell which was his real body. They were forced to defend against every single one of Shisui's attacks, lest an illusory strike turn real in an instant.
Countless individuals died at the hands of Shisui's Phantom Instantaneous Body Technique.
This technique, in some ways as powerful and fearsome as the Flying Thunder God Technique, made Uchiha Shisui famous across the shinobi world, and he became the strongest member of the Uchiha clan while still in his teens.
After Shisui's death, however, this technique, whose core relied on Sharingan Genjutsu, became a legend, much like the Flying Thunder God Technique.
And now, this technique had reappeared. No wonder the ninjas who knew of Uchiha Shisui were so utterly shocked!
*****
T/N: Please check the new fic;)