Chapter 34: Shisui’s Blind Devotion—and Using Someone Else’s Blade to Kill

After eliminating the only Jonin, Reiji found it effortless to deal with the remaining Kirigakure shinobi with his current strength.

Sarutobi Korin, however, was furious.

"Why did you drag the fight out for so long when you could have dealt with that Jonin from the beginning?!"

He had heard what Reiji said earlier.

He was merely using his opponent to gain real combat experience.

It was practically psychological torture.

At first, Korin hadn’t believed him.

But after seeing Reiji’s enhanced Chidori effortlessly pierce through the Kaguya Jonin’s defense, he had no choice but to believe it.

Then he looked at his own miserable condition.

Naturally, his anger boiled over.

Reiji turned around and glanced at him, almost amused.

You looked down on me so much earlier, and now you actually have the nerve to criticize me?

He immediately replied without the slightest courtesy.

"Sorry. I didn’t expect that, as the team captain and a Special Jonin, you wouldn’t even be able to withstand a single attack from the enemy."

This Special Jonin was rather lacking in actual combat experience.

"You!"

Sarutobi Korin glared furiously at Reiji, too angry to speak.

His face burned with embarrassment.

Reiji, however, couldn’t care less.

The deepest-penetrating Kirigakure forces had been eliminated. Once the supply route was restored, the mission would be over.

There was naturally no need for him to show any respect toward this temporary captain.

Did he even deserve it?

Over the following period, Reiji periodically formed temporary teams with various shinobi to carry out missions against the Kirigakure forces.

He frequently fought Mist shinobi of all levels.

His experience in genuine life-and-death battles accumulated rapidly.

Whenever he wasn’t on a mission, he continued researching Chidori.

He could feel it.

His improvements to Chidori were almost complete.

In a forest, Reiji, Uchiha Shisui, and Uchiha Tekka waited quietly.

A Kirigakure squad would be passing through this area shortly.

"Reiji, you’ve worked with members of the Sarutobi clan before. What did you think of them?"

Uchiha Tekka wore a strange expression, almost as if he was looking forward to hearing the answer.

"Terrible."

Reiji didn’t bother hiding his opinion.

"Their actual strength is vastly overrated. Their personalities are awful. They rush forward when there’s something to gain, but want to run when there’s danger."

Tekka immediately burst into laughter and slapped Shisui on the shoulder.

"Shisui, hear that? Reiji thinks the same thing about the Sarutobi clan!"

In reality, Reiji wasn’t alone.

Among the Uchiha who had previously worked alongside Sarutobi shinobi, opinions of the Sarutobi clan were generally poor.

Shisui could only smile bitterly.

"The Hokage is extremely busy with official matters. Perhaps he’s overlooked disciplining his clansmen."

Reiji curled his lips.

By now, he was completely unsurprised by Shisui’s answer.

He had spent quite a bit of time with Shisui recently.

How should he put it?

Uchiha Shisui was practically a blind devotee of Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Whenever information came up that reflected poorly on Hiruzen, Shisui would somehow find a way to explain it away on his behalf.

There was only one explanation.

Hiruzen’s usual appearance as a kind, benevolent old grandfather was simply too convincing.

But Reiji remembered something from the original story.

During the Allied Shinobi Forces’ battle against the Ten-Tails, Iwagakure brought Lava Release, Kumogakure brought Storm Release, Kirigakure brought Water Release, and Sunagakure brought Wind Release.

They were all shinobi proficient in bloodline limits or specialized elemental techniques.

But when it came to Konoha?

Konoha practically pulled out an entire army of Sarutobi clan members!

When the Uchiha fall, the Sarutobi feast.

Hiruzen had been Hokage for decades.

He certainly had raised his own clan well.

"Enough. Don’t talk about it anymore."

Shisui interrupted the two.

"The enemy is coming."

Uchiha Tekka snorted before changing the subject.

"Reiji, in a moment I’ll let you see Shisui’s genjutsu."

"This isn’t something that Inaho’s mediocre genjutsu can compare to."

"Oh?"

Reiji became interested.

He activated his Three-Tomoe Sharingan and looked toward the Mist shinobi approaching in the distance.

They were still several hundred meters away.

Suddenly—

One of the shinobi in the approaching squad collapsed for no apparent reason.

His face twisted in agony.

Clearly, he had fallen victim to a genjutsu.

"This far away?"

Reiji couldn’t help being surprised.

"How did you do that?"

At a distance of several hundred meters, it should have been impossible to cast a genjutsu directly.

The Sharingan wasn’t the Byakugan.

Shisui explained calmly:

"I developed a small trick involving genjutsu."

"A trigger-based genjutsu trap."

"I set the trap along their route beforehand. The trap itself simply happens to contain a genjutsu."

Reiji nodded, looking as though he had learned something new.

So genjutsu could be used like this!

He could roughly understand the principle.

Chakra was attached to an object within the trap. Once the target came into contact with it, the genjutsu would be triggered.

In the original story, Uchiha Itachi had once used genjutsu through his finger.

But Shisui’s application was even more impressive.

"Shouldn’t we go after them?"

Reiji looked at the retreating Mist shinobi.

Among them was Ao, the Kirigakure shinobi who possessed the Byakugan.

He had apparently recognized the famous Shunshin Shisui and immediately abandoned the mission.

"No need."

Shisui shook his head.

"If possible, I don’t want to cause unnecessary bloodshed."

Then he suddenly remembered the task Hiruzen had given him.

Shisui turned toward Reiji.

"Reiji, if you were the captain, what would you do?"

Reiji answered without hesitation.

"Obviously, I’d chase them down and eliminate them."

"They’ve already stepped onto the battlefield. That makes them enemies who need to be eliminated."

"Besides, if we can eliminate as much of the enemy’s fighting force as possible and reduce their ability to continue the war, won’t peace come sooner?"

Uchiha Tekka nodded repeatedly, deeply agreeing with him.

Although he didn’t quite understand what Reiji meant by fighting force, that didn’t stop him from understanding the overall idea.

"I see."

Shisui nodded.

Then he fell silent.

No one knew what he was thinking.

At the rear of the battlefield, where the command center overseeing the war against Kirigakure was located—

Sarutobi Korin was still complaining.

"Why didn’t you tell us earlier that Uchiha Reiji was this strong? I wouldn’t have been injured so badly!"

Sarutobi Shinnosuke, who was serving as the overall commander of the anti-Mist operations, looked at him with irritation.

"Why do you think I assigned him to your team in the first place?"

"I wanted to use his strength to help you accumulate battlefield experience!"

"Without enough accomplishments, even my father wouldn’t be able to promote you to a full-fledged Jonin!"

Sarutobi Korin suddenly understood.

Then regret immediately filled his face.

If only he hadn’t offended Uchiha Reiji so early.

Otherwise, perhaps he could have used Reiji’s strength to accumulate some mission accomplishments.

Just then—

A Root shinobi wearing a mask covered in intricate patterns entered the room.

"I’d like to check the deployment positions of the shinobi on the front lines."

Sarutobi Shinnosuke frowned.

He assumed Danzo had given the man some confidential mission and didn’t stop him.

The Root shinobi accepted a document.

He quickly located the name Uchiha Reiji, memorized the relevant information, and immediately left.

Next, according to Lord Ryoma’s plan, they still needed to find a way to pass the information on that document to Kirigakure.

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