Kiyoshi looked at Kotarou with a faint seriousness in his eyes.
He knew Kotarou might have some ability, but he had never imagined this junior would actually dare challenge him, a jōnin, in front of everyone.
The other great clans suddenly lost all interest in hurrying into the village.
How could resting inside compare to watching a good show?
They opened up the space in the middle, leaving a clear field for the two Uchiha to fight.
"Ding!"
[Detected: host is about to engage in battle with an Uchiha jōnin. Pre-settling previous rewards.]
"Ding!"
[Host has led the Senju division to complete a mission with zero casualties. Reward: jōnin-level chakra reserves, 500 points.]
"Ding!"
[Host has altered the Whirlpool Country storyline. Reward: jōnin-level combat techniques, 2,000 points.]
"Ding!"
[Host has altered Nagato's storyline. Reward: Fire-style ninjutsu mastery, fire-style ninjutsu power doubled, no hand seals required, 5,000 points.]
[Current points balance: 14,050. Achievement unlocked: "Quite Well Off."
Reward: A-rank ninjutsu Sabaku Sōsō (Desert Funeral) (already mastered).]
As the system's voice faded, the stream of rewards quickly fused into Kotarou's body.
After only a moment, he came back to his senses.
The corner of his mouth lifted.
He had originally planned to win this one by using a clever trick.
Now it seemed… he no longer needed to.
Seeing Kotarou form the seal of confrontation, Kiyoshi hurried to mirror it himself.
The Uchiha clan might be arrogant, but in front of someone who challenged them openly, whether the challenger was strong or weak, they would offer respect.
"Kotarou, you're the junior here, so I'll let you make the first move."
Kiyoshi drew a kunai and raised it into a guarded stance.
It was common knowledge that shinobi as a profession excelled in offense and were weak on defense.
Kotarou smiled faintly, then began to form hand seals.
They were the standard seals for Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique).
Kiyoshi's lips curved in a cool smile. He was planning to use the same jutsu to give Kotarou a lesson.
But his expression suddenly froze.
This brat had only completed three seals, and the jutsu was already firing!
He himself had only formed two!
Kiyoshi rushed to use Kawarimi no Jutsu (Substitution Technique), narrowly evading the attack, then locked his gaze on Kotarou.
If he had reacted a moment slower just now, he might have gone down in history as the first ninja ever killed by a Gōkakyū no Jutsu…
This brat…
A thought flashed across Kiyoshi's mind.
Kotarou smiled again.
As expected, Gōkakyū no Jutsu was indeed a jutsu that "couldn't quite manage to kill people."
Even boosted by his fake shortening of the seals, it still hadn't burned Kiyoshi to death.
What he didn't realize was that, in Kiyoshi's eyes, Kotarou had already become a mortal enemy.
He couldn't tell whether Kotarou had somehow modified the Great Fireball itself, or if Kotarou truly could cast ninjutsu without hand seals.
Kiyoshi would much rather it be the former.
Because for the latter… if you looked through all of Warring States history, the only ones known to do that were Madara and Hashirama.
If Kotarou could do the same, then…
Before he could think any further, Kotarou leapt into the air, twisted midair, and three massive fire bullets of Hōsenka no Jutsu (Phoenix Sage Fire Technique) roared toward Kiyoshi.
Kiyoshi's eyes flew wide.
That big?! What the hell is with this kid…
He moved with Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique), narrowly slipping past the attack, but his clothes were still partly scorched by the flames.
From those two ninjutsu exchanges alone, Kiyoshi understood one thing very clearly:
in ninjutsu, he could not win against Kotarou.
So he drew shuriken and flung them at him.
Kotarou drew his sword.
Clang, clang, clang, clang.
He deflected every shuriken cleanly.
When Kotarou glanced toward Kiyoshi's previous position, he suddenly realized Kiyoshi had disappeared.
His mind was still catching up, but his body had already moved on its own.
He raised his blade high to block.
Clang!
The jōnin combat techniques had already fused completely into muscle memory, pulling his body into the correct motion to parry.
The ring of metal echoed out.
Kiyoshi's face filled with disbelief.
This kid's combat technique and combat sense were already no worse than his own.
Once Kotarou fully grasped the situation, this time he didn't bother with hand seals.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)!"
Kiyoshi immediately retreated, but the scorching heat of the fireball still seared his skin.
He had seen it clearly. Kotarou hadn't formed a single seal.
This was a genius.
But the Uchiha clan did not pride themselves on swordsmanship and fire jutsu alone.
Kiyoshi's eyes turned red as his three-tomoe Sharingan spun into view.
The other Uchiha around them all sucked in a sharp breath.
Three-tomoe.
Kiyoshi-senpai was taking this seriously.
"Kotarou, that's enough. I acknowledge your strength. If we continue this any further, we may not be able to control the outcome."
Kiyoshi spoke solemnly now.
He had already admitted Kotarou's power.
But what Kotarou wanted was far more than that.
"Kiyoshi-senpai, please come at me with everything you've got."
As he spoke, he stirred his yin-nature chakra, and both his eyes shifted, the tomoe spinning into a two-tomoe Sharingan.
The faces of the watching Uchiha all changed.
Jōnin-level combat technique and fire release, plus the two-tomoe Sharingan.
That didn't mean Kotarou was mediocre.
It meant his talent was monstrous.
Everyone knew that an Uchiha with a three-tomoe Sharingan could possess jōnin-level combat power, relying on the eye alone.
But Kotarou already had jōnin-level strength with just two tomoe.
That meant once he awakened three tomoe, he would be able to absolutely crush ordinary jōnin, and might even be able to clash head-on with a Kage-level powerhouse.
A sense of affection for such talent stirred in Kiyoshi's heart.
No matter how much Kotarou resented the Uchiha clan, he was still one of them by blood.
So he decided to end this match with genjutsu.
Genjutsu: Sharingan (Sharingan Genjutsu).
Using the illusion cast directly through the eye itself.
Three tomoe against two tomoe… it should be trivial.
Just as he believed he had already ensnared Kotarou, Kotarou flickered forward and slammed a whipping kick into Kiyoshi, sending him crashing to the ground.
Kiyoshi's eyes went wide. His Sharingan was beaten back into plain black pupils by the blow.
"H-How… how is this possible, you… weren't you supposed to…"
Struggling to his feet, Kiyoshi had been ready to brag in triumph, convinced that victory was already his.
Who would have thought Kotarou would simply interrupt the casting and drop him with a kick.
"Oh?
I wasn't supposed to be caught in the genjutsu, was I?
Isn't genjutsu something that targets the mind, the heart?"
Kotarou smiled faintly.
"I can only say I should thank the clan… for all the 'care' they've shown me all these years."
"That 'care' is precisely what allowed my heart to become this calm."
Kiyoshi fell silent.
He knew Kotarou wasn't wrong.
Then a hand reached out to him.
Kiyoshi looked up. It was Kotarou.
He opened his mouth to speak, but Kotarou only shook his head.
"Let's form the seal of reconciliation."
Kotarou said nothing more, simply watching him quietly.
Kiyoshi nodded.
After forming the reconciliation seal with Kotarou, Kotarou pulled him back up.
Kiyoshi murmured a quiet "thank you," then returned to the ranks.
He was no longer as arrogant as he'd been at the beginning.
Instead, he looked at Kotarou with genuine admiration.
He studied Kotarou's face closely, frowning slightly. He felt as if he'd seen that face somewhere before…
His vision blurred for an instant, and he seemed to see, in the depths of his memory, that clan leader from the Warring States era… the man who had once stood on the battlefield, scythe in hand and war fan on his back.
A jolt ran across his scalp.
This brat's features… why did they look just a little like Madara's…?
(End of Chapter)
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