Chapter 27: The Will of Fire and the Cage Bird — Three-Tomoe Sharingan

"Darui actually lost! Damn it, I even bet on him taking first place!"

"That young Uchiha is incredible! He actually defeated a Cloud shinobi genius three years older than him!"

"As expected of the Uchiha clan. I wonder how strong that other Uchiha, Itachi, is."

"So Konoha really is still powerful. They have so many talented young shinobi."

"..."

As for Darui’s two teammates, they were practically speechless with bitterness.

Darui had actually been eliminated in the very first match!

Up in the stands, Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi listened to the surrounding discussions from afar and nodded in satisfaction.

Sure enough, arranging Darui and Uchiha Reiji as the first match had been the right choice.

The Cloud Village had only sent Darui to Konoha for this Chunin Exam.

Their goal was obviously to have Darui take first place and humiliate Konoha.

But now, Darui had been defeated in the very first match of the third stage.

The Cloud Village was practically going to become a laughingstock.

And all of this was thanks to him, the Hokage.

With only a little maneuvering, he had effortlessly restored Konoha’s reputation.

What Hiruzen hadn’t expected, however, was Reiji’s strength.

He had defeated the highly anticipated genius of the Cloud Village without even activating the Eight Gates.

This level of talent was in no way inferior to Kakashi’s when he had been young...

Thinking of this, Hiruzen secretly frowned.

He wondered how receptive this child currently was toward the Will of Fire, and whether Reiji could eventually be made to serve Konoha.

Once Reiji became a Chunin, his team with Might Guy would be disbanded.

Looks like I’ll have to find a way to test him afterward...

Hiruzen silently made up his mind.

The matches continued.

One contestant after another took the stage.

Uchiha Itachi had also fought his opponent. He defeated him effortlessly with a single genjutsu, once again drawing a wave of astonishment from the spectators.

The various clan heads of Konoha grew increasingly envious of the Uchiha clan.

Having two geniuses like these in a single clan was something they would consider a blessing even if they had only one.

Before long, it was time for Reiji’s second match.

"Next match: Uchiha Reiji versus Hyuga Genzo."

Kakashi announced the matchup.

Reiji walked onto the stage and stood opposite Hyuga Genzo.

He looked at his opponent’s face, then recalled his name.

Nothing.

He couldn’t remember him at all.

He was probably a character who had never appeared in the original story.

Judging from his forehead protector, he was most likely a member of the Hyuga branch family.

The shinobi of the Hyuga branch family had one common characteristic.

Some wore their forehead protectors around their necks.

Some tied them around their waists.

Some wore them around their arms.

But the members of the Hyuga branch family almost invariably wore their forehead protectors properly on their heads.

The reason was obvious.

They needed to conceal the ugly Caged Bird Seal.

Hyuga Genzo stared solemnly at Reiji.

After watching Reiji’s previous battle, he already understood that he wasn’t his opponent.

Even though he had recently mastered the Eight Trigrams Palm: Rotation, he still couldn’t possibly defeat him.

Reiji hadn’t even needed to use the Eight Gates to defeat him!

They were simply on completely different levels.

And yet—

A wave of sorrow rose within Hyuga Genzo’s heart.

He had participated in this Chunin Exam because the elders of the main family had ordered him to.

They had demanded that he give everything he had and achieve a good result.

He could already imagine it.

Even if he fought his opponent with everything he had and still lost, the main family elders would not be satisfied.

They might even become furious and punish him with the Caged Bird Seal.

This was the fate of the branch family.

A damnable fate.

Genzo forced himself to compose his emotions and looked toward his opponent.

Suddenly—

For some reason, he felt as though Uchiha Reiji had seen straight through his thoughts.

He shook his head, dismissing the ridiculous idea.

Then he heard Reiji speak.

"You’re clearly a member of the branch family. Did you participate in this Chunin Exam because you wanted to restore the Hyuga clan’s reputation?"

There was undisguised disdain in Reiji’s voice.

The Hyuga clan wasn’t the only one hoping to use this Chunin Exam to restore its reputation.

Konoha was doing the same.

The reason was naturally connected to the Cloud Village’s diplomatic incident several months earlier.

But what did the Hyuga clan’s reputation have to do with a group of branch-family shinobi who didn’t even possess freedom?

Hyuga Hizashi, the younger brother of the clan head, had even been forced to become a sacrificial pawn.

"...I have no choice."

Hyuga Genzo replied expressionlessly.

"I see."

Although Reiji had never had much contact with the Hyuga clan, he could roughly guess what Genzo was going through.

It was nothing more than the main family forcing a talented branch-family member to participate in the Chunin Exam in order to improve the clan’s reputation.

And the reason Reiji could understand this was simple.

He didn’t believe in the Will of Fire.

Within Konoha, the Hyuga branch family could be considered one of the groups least capable of embracing the Will of Fire.

A group of people who didn’t even possess their own freedom, constantly being trampled beneath the main family—

How could they possibly believe in something like the Will of Fire?

Because he shared that perspective, Reiji could understand Genzo.

"I’ll fight you seriously."

Reiji’s expression softened slightly.

"At least you’ll have something to report when you go back."

"..."

Hyuga Genzo froze.

He... understood why Genzo had participated in the Chunin Exam?

For some reason, Genzo suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to burst into tears.

...

The battle began.

Hyuga Genzo fought with everything he had and used the Rotation he had only recently mastered, fully demonstrating his strength.

However, in front of Reiji’s overwhelming taijutsu, he eventually exhausted every last ounce of strength and collapsed from exhaustion.

Medical shinobi hurried over with a stretcher.

Before being carried away, Genzo used the last of his strength to turn his head toward Reiji.

With difficulty, he uttered a single word.

"...Thank you."

Reiji watched silently as he was carried away.

Then he raised his head and gazed toward the sky, his thoughts swirling.

Has the light of the Will of Fire ever truly shone into the cage of the Hyuga branch family?

At that moment—

A chill suddenly flowed into his eyes.

Reiji immediately understood.

His Sharingan had evolved to the Three-Tomoe stage.

PLEASE SEND POWER STONES

AND ADD TO COLLECTION