Chapter 26: Jonin-Level Taijutsu—An Overwhelming Advantage

"What? He just took off his weights. I thought that kid had some kind of secret technique."

Darui’s teammate let out a sigh of relief.

Cee also relaxed and said, "Still, being able to suppress Darui’s normal state with taijutsu at that age... Uchiha Reiji really is a genius."

Suddenly—

BOOM!

The ground shook violently!

"What happened? An earthquake?"

Darui’s teammate steadied himself, looking around in confusion.

"No!"

Cee stared down at the arena, cold sweat trickling down his forehead.

"It’s that guy’s weights!"

Just how heavy are those weights?!

Down in the arena, Kakashi, who was serving as the referee, couldn’t help twitching the corner of his mouth.

Just how does Guy train this kid? Those weights are ridiculous...

"That guy!"

Darui, who had already activated his Lightning Release stimulation, exclaimed in shock.

Only now did he realize why their earlier collisions had felt strange.

He had been hitting the weights strapped to that kid’s body!

Through the cloud of dust kicked up by the discarded weights, a figure suddenly shot forward at incredible speed!

BOOM!

A powerful punch came straight at Darui.

Darui immediately raised both arms to block it, yet the tremendous force still drove him backward!

What incredible strength!

His heart filled with shock.

Then he looked up—

And saw those crimson eyes.

The Sharingan?!

Darui immediately recalled the information he had heard about this famous kekkei genkai.

Wary of the opponent’s genjutsu, he quickly shifted his gaze away.

"Relax. I’m not using genjutsu this time."

Reiji grinned.

He leaped into the air, then brought one leg crashing down with tremendous force!

BOOM!

The ground exploded beneath him!

Darui hurriedly jumped backward, his heart pounding.

If that attack had landed directly, he estimated that he would have immediately lost the ability to continue fighting.

However—

Remembering Reiji’s words, anger began to rise within Darui.

"I’m not using genjutsu this time"?

Did that mean Reiji could defeat him even without genjutsu?

What an insult!

Lightning Release chakra surged violently throughout Darui’s body.

His hands blurred as he rapidly formed seals.

"Storm Release: Laser Circus!"

Thread-like beams of lightning shot toward Reiji one after another!

Yet Reiji casually released a fire dragon.

The enormous flames instantly blocked the incoming lightning.

"A ninjutsu without hand seals?!"

Darui was shocked once again.

Such a powerful Fire Release technique didn’t require hand seals?

Normally, the more powerful a technique was, the greater the difficulty of controlling its chakra, and therefore the more hand seals it required.

But Reiji hadn’t even paused.

Darui had no time to dwell on the matter.

He watched as several strands of lightning curved around behind Reiji.

A smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

His Storm Release combined the Lightning and Water chakra natures.

It possessed the destructive power of Lightning Release while retaining the ability to manipulate its form like Water Release.

This time, you’re finished!

But—

Just as Darui expected the lightning to strike, Reiji shifted his body slightly.

He avoided the attack with ease, as though he had known exactly where it would come from.

"I only need to listen to the sound of the wind to determine the direction and distance of an attack."

Reiji smiled lightly.

This was another technique Might Guy had taught him.

Without the Sharingan’s ability to observe his opponent’s movements, Guy had developed his own method of sensing an enemy through the sound of the wind during high-speed combat.

The two exchanged several more rounds of ninjutsu.

Darui’s Lightning Release possessed tremendous destructive power, but every attack was blocked by Reiji’s seal-less Fire Release.

Darui’s heart gradually sank.

Ninjutsu can’t suppress him.

Genjutsu? Forget it. I’d be lucky if he doesn’t use it.

Taijutsu...

Am I really going to have to rely on taijutsu to win?

Before Darui could even formulate a strategy, Reiji had already charged forward!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ground repeatedly exploded beneath their feet.

Heavy impacts rang through the arena.

The sound of high-speed movements tearing through the air echoed continuously.

Reiji’s figure became so fast that he was almost impossible to see.

"What incredible speed! That’s practically Jonin-level!"

"Uchiha Reiji’s taijutsu may already be on par with mine!"

"He’s only ten years old! Did he really not activate the Eight Gates?"

The Jonin in the viewing stands were all stunned.

The taijutsu Reiji was displaying had completely reached the Jonin level!

Some spectators even began wondering whether he had secretly activated the forbidden technique, the Eight Gates.

"No. He hasn’t."

Hyuga Hiashi activated his Byakugan and carefully observed Reiji.

"There hasn’t been any noticeable surge in his chakra."

The surrounding Jonin erupted into discussion.

Everyone knew that opening the Eight Gates caused a dramatic increase in chakra.

And since even the Byakugan couldn’t detect such a surge—

Did that mean the Uchiha Reiji fighting below was actually using nothing more than his normal strength?

He was only ten years old!

Even Kakashi had already been twelve when he became a Jonin.

Reiji had only demonstrated Jonin-level taijutsu so far, but it seemed that possessing genuine Jonin-level combat strength wasn’t far beyond him.

"Just as expected of our Uchiha genius."

"I really want to see Reiji fight Itachi. I wonder how strong the two of them would be against each other now."

The Uchiha spectators were practically beaming with pride.

This was their Uchiha genius!

And there was another genius who had yet to even enter the arena.

The clan heads of the surrounding shinobi clans couldn’t help feeling envious.

With talents like these, the Uchiha clan would likely remain prosperous for decades to come.

Down in the arena—

Two figures continued fighting at incredible speed, with lightning and flames occasionally colliding in midair!

But the situation was obvious.

Darui had already fallen into an absolute disadvantage.

His ninjutsu was ineffective.

Genjutsu was out of the question.

And his taijutsu was being completely overwhelmed!

For the first time, Darui felt genuinely lost.

How am I supposed to defeat an opponent like this?

Reiji was suppressing him in practically every aspect!

Even their chakra reserves were comparable!

He couldn’t even rely on dragging out the battle until Reiji ran out of chakra.

Sorry, Lord Raikage.

I’m afraid I’m going to disappoint you...

Darui thought bitterly as Reiji’s fist slammed into him, sending him flying backward.

One punch after another crashed into his body.

Even with Lightning Release stimulating every muscle in his body, the pain was still intense.

THUD!

Darui’s body crashed onto the ground.

And finally—

Reiji stopped attacking.

Darui lay there, staring blankly at the sky.

His mind was completely empty.

"Winner: Uchiha Reiji!"

Kakashi announced the result.

The viewing stands erupted into thunderous cheers.

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