Chapter 29: A Massive Increase in Strength — Hiruzen’s Plans

Reiji first checked his system panel.

[Overall Strength: Jonin (Mid)]

[Sharingan Prowess: LV3 (500/5000)]

[Chakra: LV3 (1000/2000)]

[Chakra Nature: Fire, Lightning]

[Talents: Sharingan, Taijutsu, Lightning Release]

[Lightning Release: Your talent for Lightning Release is unparalleled. You can effortlessly master, improve, and develop all kinds of Lightning Release techniques.]

"My chakra increased that much?!"

Seeing the chakra stat, Reiji couldn’t help clicking his tongue in amazement.

He had already sensed the enormous increase in chakra when he awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

But he hadn’t expected it to increase by more than double!

He remembered that before the Chunin Exams, his chakra score had been only 450.

Now it was 1,000!

The boost brought by the Three-Tomoe Sharingan was truly enormous.

However—

When Reiji looked at his Sharingan prowess, the corner of his mouth twitched.

500/5000!

That gap...

Wasn’t it a little ridiculous?

It was a full tenfold difference!

Sharingan Prowess LV3 corresponded to the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

LV4 should correspond to the level of the Mangekyo Sharingan.

In other words—

The ocular power of a freshly awakened Mangekyo Sharingan was ten times greater than that of a freshly awakened Three-Tomoe Sharingan!

Reiji had thought the gap between the Three-Tomoe Sharingan and the earlier stages was already enormous.

He hadn’t expected the difference between the Three-Tomoe and Mangekyo stages to be even more absurd.

"The maximum values for Sharingan prowess and chakra at LV3 aren’t even the same..."

After noticing this, Reiji was slightly surprised.

The upper limit for Sharingan prowess at LV3 was 5,000, while the upper limit for chakra at LV3 was only 2,000.

He couldn’t figure out the reason for the difference yet, so Reiji temporarily put the matter aside and began examining the abilities of the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

Aside from its enhanced perception and increased genjutsu capabilities, the Three-Tomoe Sharingan possessed another extremely important ability:

Seeing the flow of chakra within the human body.

Although it couldn’t observe every tenketsu and meridian as clearly as the Byakugan could, the Sharingan could still see the flow of chakra when an opponent performed a ninjutsu and reproduce it.

Combined with the Sharingan’s ability to copy hand seals, the Three-Tomoe Sharingan gained the ability to copy ninjutsu!

Overall—

This upgrade had genuinely resulted in a massive increase in strength!

The Three-Tomoe Sharingan combined with his enormous increase in chakra—

Not to mention his taijutsu, which had already reached the Jonin level—

Had directly allowed his strength to skip past the Weak Jonin stage!

He wasn’t far from reaching the level of an Elite Jonin either!

"Whew..."

Reiji let out a long breath.

"Now that I’m at the Jonin level, I finally have some ability to protect myself."

What did Jonin-level strength mean?

Even if he faced Uchiha Madara, he could at least dance around for a couple of moves before having his neck snapped!

And he also possessed the Eight Gates, a supreme life-saving technique.

His sense of security had increased tremendously!

In this dangerous shinobi world, the only thing he could rely on to protect himself was strength.

Not some vague and illusory Will of Fire.

The Will of Fire...

Was precisely the excuse used to send Hyuga Hizashi to his death as a scapegoat!

After sorting out his current strength, Reiji finally turned his attention to his newly acquired talent.

"The subject analyzed was Kakashi, but I only obtained a Lightning Release talent?"

After thinking about it, Reiji roughly understood why.

Although Kakashi had mastered changes in all five basic chakra natures, his greatest specialty was still Lightning Release.

At the age of twelve, he had independently developed an A-rank Lightning Release technique.

That alone demonstrated the level of Kakashi’s Lightning Release talent.

Compared with Lightning Release, Kakashi’s aptitude in the other chakra natures was somewhat weaker.

Therefore, the system had only taken interest in his Lightning Release talent and amplified that one.

But Lightning Release was already excellent.

Among the five basic natures—Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, and Lightning—Fire and Lightning were generally regarded as the most destructive.

"Now that I’ve obtained the Lightning Release talent, I’ll have another type of ninjutsu to use in battle."

Reiji was completely satisfied.

Previously, his only chakra nature had been Fire.

If he wanted to learn techniques of other natures, he would have needed to spend time mastering the corresponding nature transformation.

Now, however, things were different.

With Lightning added to his chakra nature, he could directly learn Lightning Release techniques!

Without hesitation, Reiji went to find Uchiha Fugaku and requested a large number of Lightning Release techniques.

At the same time, he also requested the remaining Fire Release techniques that could only be obtained after reaching Chunin rank.

Great Fire Annihilation, Great Fire Destruction, and Dragon Flame Song.

Once an Uchiha became a Chunin, they could apply to learn all the clan’s standard ninjutsu.

However—

After examining the Lightning Release techniques recorded by the Uchiha clan, Reiji was somewhat disappointed.

He searched through them carefully but couldn’t find many Lightning Release techniques that caught his eye.

The only one that really interested him was a technique called:

Lightning Release: False Darkness.

Reiji had some impression of this technique.

It was one of Kakuzu’s signature Lightning Release techniques in the original story.

Its power was tremendous.

Kakashi had needed to use both hands to perform Lightning Cutter in order to block it!

After effortlessly mastering all the Fire and Lightning Release techniques he had requested, Reiji still felt somewhat unsatisfied.

"Looks like I’ll still have to learn Kakashi’s Chidori."

Chidori had enormous potential for further development.

After Kakashi eventually taught it to Sasuke, Sasuke developed countless variations and made extensive use of it.

"My relationship with Kakashi is fairly good. I wonder if he’d mind letting me... borrow the technique."

...

Hokage’s Office

"Hiruzen, what are you planning to do about Uchiha Reiji?"

After learning the results of the Chunin Exams, Danzo could no longer sit still.

He immediately went to see Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Ten years old.

Passed the Chunin Exams alone.

Possessed Jonin-level taijutsu.

Defeated numerous geniuses without even using the forbidden Eight Gates.

And ultimately won first place in the Chunin Exams.

Such a genius—

Yet he was an Uchiha.

If Reiji had been a civilian shinobi or a member of some minor clan, Danzo would have already sent people to recruit him.

Or he would have directly asked Hiruzen to hand him over.

"...I’m planning to have Shisui approach Uchiha Reiji first and test how he feels about the Will of Fire."

As Hiruzen spoke, he handed Danzo a report.

"There happens to be some movement from Kirigakure. I’ll send Uchiha Reiji there as well. Shisui can take the opportunity to observe and interact with him on the battlefield."

Danzo frowned.

Uchiha Shisui?

The strongest genius of the Uchiha clan’s current generation.

Although he served in the Police Force, he was frequently dispatched by Hiruzen to perform various other missions.

In other words, within the Uchiha clan, Shisui could be considered one of Hiruzen’s people.

Thinking of this, Danzo couldn’t help feeling somewhat envious of the Hokage’s position.

With the Hokage’s glorious public image, Hiruzen could attract some Uchiha shinobi to work for him.

Unlike Danzo himself.

Whenever the Uchiha were concerned, he was always the one playing the villain.

Within the Uchiha clan, he was practically hated by everyone.

"After making contact with him, what do you intend to do?"

Danzo stared directly at Hiruzen.

"If he fully understands the Will of Fire and genuinely has the village at heart, we can allow him to join the Anbu afterward."

Hiruzen spoke calmly.

The Uchiha clan’s resentment toward the village had been growing stronger recently.

He had to do everything possible to bring the talented members of the Uchiha’s younger generation under his control.

Then Hiruzen suddenly realized something.

He frowned and looked at his old friend.

"Danzo, don’t do anything unnecessary."