A short while later, within the Uchiha clan's private training ground, Ren and Uchiha Inabi stood several meters apart.
A number of young Uchiha ninja had gathered around the field, eager to watch the confrontation. Fugaku stood among them with his arms folded, while Shisui watched quietly from nearby.
Uchiha Inabi was only twelve years old, yet he was already a Chūnin. Alongside Uchiha Yashiro and Uchiha Tekka, he would eventually become one of the clan's more recognizable elite members.
Although Itachi had easily defeated the three of them in the original timeline, that did not mean they were weak. Compared with most ordinary ninja—even compared with many members of their own clan—each of them possessed impressive talent.
Inabi, in particular, had the potential to become a powerful three-tomoe Sharingan Jōnin.
At that moment, he stared directly at Ren. Scrutiny filled his gaze, accompanied by the unmistakable pride shared by many gifted young Uchiha.
"So, you're Ren?" Inabi asked. "The newly promoted Special Jōnin who has caused such a stir throughout the village?"
Ren met his gaze calmly. "That's me."
"I've heard plenty about you." Inabi's hand settled upon the hilt of his sword. "But the title of genius isn't something an ordinary person can carry so easily."
"Is that so?"
"Of course."
Inabi lifted his chin, his confidence growing beneath the attention of his clansmen.
"Those outsiders may call you a genius, but the truth is simple. You're merely an ordinary civilian who took first place in a Chūnin Exam where no true Uchiha elite participated."
A faint smile appeared on Ren's lips, but he said nothing.
Inabi mistook that silence for hesitation.
He drew his ninja sword in one smooth motion. Crimson light flashed within his eyes as two black tomoe emerged in each pupil, slowly rotating around the center.
The pressure surrounding him changed instantly.
"Today, I'll show you what true swordsmanship looks like."
Inabi lowered his center of gravity and pointed the blade toward Ren, assuming the opening stance of his clan's sword style.
"Uchiha Style, Uchiha Inabi. Please advise me."
The young Uchiha watching from the edge of the field immediately began whispering among themselves.
"Inabi already has two tomoe in both eyes!"
"His Fire Release and swordsmanship are among the best of our generation. Even the elders say that he'll become a Jōnin."
"But that white-haired guy is supposed to be a genius too, right?"
"Hmph. He's on the same team as Obito, the former dead last. How strong could a civilian like him possibly be? He only stood out because everyone else in that exam was mediocre."
"That isn't entirely fair. Obito has awakened two tomoe too. His Sharingan appeared late, but his strength has improved a lot. I watched him train a few days ago. Honestly, he might not be much weaker than Inabi now."
"Obito? Are you serious?"
The discussion continued, but Ren ignored every word.
His fingers closed around the hilt of his sword.
The instant the blade left its sheath, the Mind Blade Domain silently unfolded.
The murmurs surrounding the training ground disappeared.
The wind vanished.
Even the presence of the watching Uchiha faded from Ren's perception.
Within his world, only three things remained—the opponent before him, the weapon in Inabi's hand, and the sword held steadily within his own.
"Hatake Style, Ren," he said. "Please advise me."
The atmosphere tightened.
Then both of them moved.
The tomoe in Inabi's eyes spun rapidly. His Sharingan captured Ren's posture, the movement of his shoulders, the shift in his center of gravity, and even the slight tension running through the fingers wrapped around his sword.
I can see everything!
Inabi stepped forward and launched a direct thrust. His blade tore through the air with a piercing whistle, aimed precisely at the center of Ren's chest.
Confidence flashed across his face.
"Got you!"
Ren moved his sword.
Clang—!
A sharp metallic impact rang across the training ground.
Something spun high through the air, flashing beneath the sunlight before plunging point-first into the dirt six or seven meters away.
The field fell silent.
Ren calmly slid his sword back into its sheath.
"I'm sorry," he said. "It seems Senior Inabi didn't get to enjoy himself."
Inabi remained frozen in his attacking stance.
His hands were empty.
He slowly looked down at them, then turned his head toward the sword buried in the ground behind him.
"Huh?"
For several long seconds, his mind refused to accept what had happened.
He was twelve years old and already a Chūnin. His Fire Release was excellent, his swordsmanship was polished, and multiple clan elders had praised him as a future Jōnin.
Yet his opening attack had been destroyed in a single exchange.
Not blocked.
Not evaded.
Destroyed.
Uchiha Inabi had lost in one move.
That wasn't how this confrontation was supposed to unfold.
The watching Uchiha youths stared blankly at Ren. Their expressions had shifted from amusement to utter disbelief.
Most of them had not even seen how Ren knocked the sword from Inabi's hands. To their eyes, it seemed as if a portion of the battle had simply vanished—as if someone had removed the crucial moment between Inabi's thrust and the sword flying away.
Only Fugaku and Shisui understood what had happened.
Sharp light appeared in their eyes.
Inabi's attack had not been weak. Although he had underestimated Ren, his stance, timing, and technique were all fundamentally correct.
Ren had simply been better.
His counter had struck at the exact instant Inabi's momentum reached the point where it could no longer be altered. The angle was perfect, the timing flawless, and the force concentrated upon the weakest point of Inabi's grip.
A fraction earlier, and Inabi could have adjusted.
A fraction later, and the blades would have collided directly.
Ren had found the one fleeting opening between those two moments.
That single strike had already surpassed ordinary swordsmanship.
Fugaku silently imagined himself standing in Ren's position. Even with his superior strength and experience, he could not guarantee that he could reproduce such a clean victory.
He would defeat Inabi, certainly—but it might require three or five exchanges.
Ren had needed only one.
Inabi's face flushed red as humiliation and anger surged through him.
"Again!" he shouted. "I was careless just now! I didn't have time to dodge—"
"Inabi!"
Shisui's voice cut across the field.
He walked forward, his normally gentle expression unusually firm.
"A loss is a loss. On the battlefield, your enemy won't give you a second chance because you were careless."
Inabi clenched his fists.
Shisui stopped beside him and lowered his voice slightly.
"Remember what happened today. Train harder and make sure you never repeat the same mistake. That is the proper path for a ninja."
He then turned toward Ren.
"As for the next match, I'll take his place."
Ren offered no objection.
His victory over Inabi had not triggered any response from the gala system. Most likely, the difference between their abilities had been too great. Neither the system nor Hatake Swordsmanship itself considered that brief confrontation a meaningful victory over Uchiha Style swordsmanship.
Shisui, however, was different.
Even without the Mangekyō Sharingan, the boy possessed extraordinary potential. His present strength should already be approaching the Special Jōnin level.
If defeating Shisui still wasn't enough, Ren might have to challenge Fugaku personally.
Of course, that would introduce another problem.
It wasn't that Ren had absolutely no chance of winning, but defeating the Uchiha clan head inside the Uchiha compound would be politically awkward. Fugaku might lose considerable face before his own clansmen.
More importantly, Fugaku had displayed very little of his true strength in the original story. Even whether he possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan had remained uncertain.
There was no guarantee that he didn't have one or two terrifying trump cards hidden away.
Shisui entered the field and drew his sword.
"Senior Ren, I'm coming."
"Come."
Shisui vanished before Ren had even finished speaking.
His speed was on an entirely different level from Inabi's. He crossed the distance in an instant, unleashing the fierce and aggressive swordsmanship of the Uchiha clan.
A flash of steel swept toward Ren's throat.
Ren raised his blade.
Clang—!
The collision sent a violent gust rolling across the field. Their clothes snapped in the wind, and their hair was blown backward by the force.
Ren's eyes brightened.
"Now this is more like it."
Three black tomoe rotated within Shisui's crimson eyes.
He twisted his wrist, forced their blades apart, and immediately launched another attack. The Sharingan's dynamic vision allowed him to observe the smallest changes in Ren's posture, transforming his sword strikes into a continuous storm.
Slash after slash descended without pause.
Shisui's ability had improved enormously since their spar several months earlier. His current swordsmanship could hardly be compared with what he had displayed back then.
Unfortunately for him, Ren had changed even more.
After unlocking several traits of Hatake Swordsmanship, surviving repeated battles, and exchanging blows with experienced swordsmen such as Yūhi Shinku, Ren had begun to develop the foundation of a true swordmaster.
Shisui's attacks were fast, precise, and dangerous.
But in Ren's eyes, they were no longer unfathomable.
Their blades collided again.
Shisui suddenly poured Fire-nature chakra into his weapon.
"Uchiha Style: Sword-Leaping Flame!"
Fire erupted along the blade, wrapping the steel in blazing orange light. Heat washed across the field as Shisui brought the burning weapon down with tremendous momentum.
Ren expanded the Mind Blade Domain to its limit.
His center of gravity dropped.
Time seemed to slow.
Every movement Shisui made separated into distinct lines within Ren's perception—the turn of his shoulder, the path of his elbow, the shifting pressure beneath his feet, and the trajectory of the flaming sword.
Ren parried using the smallest possible movements.
He stepped aside.
Blocked.
Twisted his wrist.
Countered.
From a distance, he resembled an unyielding reef standing in the middle of a raging sea. No matter how violently the waves crashed against him, he refused to move.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Metallic explosions echoed one after another. Sparks scattered through the air, mingling with fragments of flame as their swords crossed faster and faster.
The young Uchiha spectators had fallen completely silent.
They hadn't known Shisui's swordsmanship was this powerful.
Shisui was quiet and rarely showed off. During ordinary clan spars, he usually limited himself to his opponent's level, making each match appear evenly balanced.
Now, however, his true strength was on full display.
And Ren was still holding his ground.
Inabi's face gradually lost its color.
Watching Ren defend against Shisui's relentless assault, he finally understood how absurd his earlier challenge had been.
Ren hadn't defeated him because of luck.
He had ended the battle in one strike because Inabi had never been worthy of a second.
Even Fugaku watched with growing astonishment.
On the field, Shisui realized conventional swordsmanship would never break through Ren's defense.
Unless…
His eyes sharpened.
"Then try this!"
Chakra erupted beneath Shisui's feet.
"Illusion Body Flicker!"
His figure blurred and divided.
One Shisui became three.
Three became eight.
In the blink of an eye, more than a dozen Shisuis surrounded Ren. Each held a sword, and every figure attacked from a different direction and angle.
This technique was the origin of the title Shisui would one day make famous throughout the ninja world—Shisui of the Body Flicker.
Unlike ordinary clones, his illusions did not disappear when struck. They moved continuously, hiding his true body within a shifting formation that made identifying the real attack almost impossible.
A storm of blades closed around Ren.
Yet instead of retreating, Ren grinned.
"You can flicker? Fine. So can I!"
Several clones burst into existence around him.
Using Substitution Jutsu: Simulated Flying Thunder God, Ren rapidly exchanged positions with his clones. His body flickered five or six times in a single breath, creating the illusion that several Rens were fighting more than a dozen Shisuis simultaneously.
The training ground erupted.
Blades collided from every direction. Sparks flashed through the dust as violent currents carved gouges into the earth. The spectators could no longer distinguish real bodies from illusions.
Inabi rubbed his eyes, staring in disbelief.
"He copied Shisui's Illusion Body Flicker Technique?! How is that possible?"
"He didn't copy it," Fugaku said.
The three tomoe of his Sharingan turned rapidly as he followed every movement on the field.
"That is an entirely different technique. He is combining the basic Clone, Substitution, and Body Flicker Techniques, then switching positions at such speed that it imitates the Flying Thunder God."
Fugaku's expression became increasingly complicated.
"As expected of Minato's student. The concept is brilliant, but the execution is even more impressive."
For one brief moment, an almost ridiculous thought crossed Fugaku's mind.
If I had a son, I would want him to be like Ren.
Once Shisui used the Illusion Body Flicker, he had revealed his greatest trump card.
Ren, meanwhile, still possessed his monstrous strength and Nerve Activation Technique.
The conclusion was inevitable.
In the middle of the chaotic exchange, Ren's nerves suddenly accelerated.
For a fraction of a second, everything became clear.
He saw Shisui shift his footing while transitioning between attacks. The opening was tiny—almost invisible—but it existed.
Ren struck.
His blade transformed into a silver arc, slipping through the narrow gap in Shisui's defense from an impossible angle.
Shisui's Sharingan saw it.
His body simply could not react in time.
The edge of Ren's sword scraped across his chest armor, leaving a thin mark before stopping beside his neck.
Every illusion disappeared.
The battlefield became still.
"It's over," Ren said.
Victory and defeat had been decided.
Wind swept across the scarred training ground. Dust drifted between the two swordsmen while their uneven breathing became the only sound.
The watching Uchiha youths stood with their mouths open, unable to utter a word.
Shisui slowly lowered his weapon and released a long breath.
"I lost." A bitter but sincere smile appeared on his face. "As expected of you, Senior Ren. That was incredible."
"It's only because I'm older than you," Ren replied. "When I was your age, I wasn't nearly as strong."
That was the truth.
A year ago, he had not completed Hatake Swordsmanship's challenge. Even now, he had needed the Nerve Activation Technique to break through Shisui's Illusion Body Flicker.
As for who would be stronger once Shisui reached his current age, that remained uncertain.
It would depend on which was more unreasonable—the Sharingan or Hatake Swordsmanship.
Fugaku finally walked onto the field.
"Excellent swordsmanship, Ren." His gaze held unmistakable respect. "It seems Konoha has produced another extraordinary swordsmanship genius. When you have time, visit us again. I believe Shisui and the others would welcome more opportunities to exchange techniques with you."
He then turned toward Inabi, and his expression hardened.
"Inabi, did you understand what happened today? There will always be someone stronger, and a sky beyond the sky you can see. Engrave this defeat into your heart and reflect upon your arrogance."
"Yes, Clan Head," Inabi answered hoarsely.
There was no resentment in his eyes when he looked at Ren. The Uchiha respected strength, and Ren had proven his beyond question.
Instead, a fiery determination burned within Inabi's gaze.
He clearly wanted another match—after he had trained enough to avoid being humiliated in a single strike.
Ren exchanged a few polite words with Fugaku before leaving the compound.
Only after passing beyond the Uchiha district did he turn his attention toward the gala system.
A new notification floated before him.
[Hatake Swordsmanship favorability increased by 4.]
[Current favorability: 68/100.]
[Special Event—The World's Greatest Swordsmanship]
[Progress: 2/8]
[Defeated: Konoha Style Swordsmanship, Uchiha Style Swordsmanship]
Then Hatake Swordsmanship's familiar voice appeared.
[Hmph. Little White-Hair, after practicing for so long, you finally look somewhat like a person who knows how to hold a sword.]
Ren's mouth twitched.
[But don't become arrogant. That boy's Uchiha Style swordsmanship was passable, but it hasn't reached its peak. More importantly, he has yet to combine it with the Third Power.]
[If you wish to reach that level, you still have a very long road ahead of you.]
Ren stopped walking.
"The Third Power?"
His eyes narrowed with surprise.
"You know about that?"
Could the Hatake clan's ancestors have crossed blades with Mangekyō Sharingan users during the Warring States Period?
More importantly, what exactly did Hatake Swordsmanship mean by combining Uchiha swordsmanship with the Third Power?
Was it talking about Susanoo?
Ren imagined a swordsman holding a short blade while charging directly toward that gigantic chakra warrior. The image was so absurd that only one explanation came to mind.
Was he supposed to learn from a certain unnamed Fifth-and-a-Half Hokage candidate and try stabbing Susanoo with a short sword?
Before he could laugh at the idea, another message slowly emerged before his eyes.
[Hatake Swordsmanship: Who told you the Third Power was merely Susanoo?]
Ren's smile vanished.
And for the first time since entering the Uchiha compound, a genuine chill ran down his spine.
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