Chapter 9: Last Ten Minutes? He Counterattacks and Wins!

"It really is a One-Tomoe Sharingan."

Uchiha Fugaku activated his own Sharingan and carefully examined Reiji’s eyes before speaking.

Whoosh!

For a moment, it was not just the Uchiha shinobi who became restless. Everyone present was thrown into an uproar.

"He awakened his Sharingan at seven? I was only just awakening mine at twelve!"

"Has anyone in the clan ever awakened it this early?"

"I’ve never heard of it. There may have been someone in the past, but there definitely weren’t many."

"Judging from his appearance, he probably awakened it earlier and only used it now."

"After seeing Itachi’s Shadow Clone earlier, I thought Itachi had lost somewhat unfairly. But now that I think about it, Reiji didn’t even use his Sharingan in their previous battle."

Uchiha Itachi’s face was slightly pale.

An inexplicable sense of humiliation surged within him.

His opponent had clearly already awakened the Sharingan, yet he had not used it when fighting him earlier.

What was that supposed to mean?

Among the students, a group of children were also whispering among themselves.

"What’s the Sharingan?"

"It’s the Uchiha clan’s Kekkei Genkai. That Reiji guy has already awakened the Sharingan!"

"So Reiji’s strength improved so quickly because of this?"

"Yeah! No wonder Reiji suddenly became so strong!"

Hearing this, the adults nearby were suddenly stunned as well.

They had already learned about Reiji’s usual grades.

Although he trained very diligently, his grades had only been above average.

If he had not suddenly defeated Itachi in the previous practical combat assessment, Reiji would have remained practically invisible among the Uchiha clan.

Only after hearing the children’s words did they realize it.

No wonder Reiji’s strength had suddenly increased so much.

It turned out he had awakened his Sharingan!

"If that’s the case, maybe Itachi is still stronger."

"Yeah. Itachi was already such a genius without awakening his Sharingan. Once he awakens it, his strength will increase tremendously again."

"I wonder how Reiji will perform if the two of them fight again after they’ve both awakened their Sharingan."

Some people placed greater importance on Reiji, believing that awakening his Sharingan earlier was itself a sign of strength. However, most still felt that Itachi, who had displayed such genius without even awakening his Sharingan, was more impressive.

Hearing these discussions, a flame also began to burn within Uchiha Itachi’s heart.

A strong desire to awaken his Sharingan suddenly surged within him.

A desire for power!

If he awakened his Sharingan too, Reiji should no longer be his opponent, right?

That’s right!

Thinking this, Itachi firmly strengthened his resolve.

Once he returned home, he would ask his father and Shisui how to awaken the Sharingan!

At the center of the battle stage.

Reiji and Sarutobi Aoki were locked in close combat.

Fists and kicks flew back and forth, repeatedly producing the sound of air being torn apart.

Sarutobi Aoki was growing increasingly irritated.

Three minutes had already passed, yet he still had not managed to defeat his opponent. He had not even managed to inflict any significant damage!

Instead, Reiji occasionally landed a hit on him!

More often than not, Aoki would throw a powerful punch, only for Reiji to cleverly evade it in advance and counterattack while taking advantage of the momentum. Aoki repeatedly found himself unable to react in time.

The Sharingan was practically cheating!

Sarutobi Aoki was furious inside and cursed inwardly.

And this was only the One-Tomoe Sharingan!

From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of his clan leader nearby. His brows were slightly furrowed, seemingly displeased that Aoki had yet to defeat his opponent.

Sarutobi Aoki became even more anxious. He broke away and retreated, rapidly forming hand seals.

"Fire Release: Flame Bullet!"

However!

The moment the flames were spat out, a much larger fireball was already rushing toward him from the opposite direction!

Damn it!

In his haste, he had forgotten that his opponent also knew Fire Release—and could even use it without hand seals!

Sarutobi Aoki hurriedly leaped backward, escaping the range of the Great Fireball. Just as he prepared to charge forward again, he saw Reiji already waiting in the direction he had retreated.

Reiji pressed his index and middle fingers together and held them upright in front of his mouth.

Another hand-seal-less Great Fireball!

This time, there was nowhere for him to dodge.

The attack struck him head-on. He coughed violently amid the smoke, intense pain spreading through his arm as the flames scorched it.

He had just tried to leap backward and escape the smoke when several shuriken suddenly tore through it with a series of sharp whistles, flying straight toward him.

Fuck!

Sarutobi Aoki cursed inwardly.

They were inside the smoke. How had his opponent determined his position?!

He raised his painfully injured arm and barely knocked away several shuriken. Just as he focused his attention on the front, the sound of something cutting through the air came from behind.

A kick slammed into his back, sending his body stumbling forward.

A small hand grabbed his arm, twisted it behind his back, and pressed it there. A kunai was held against the front of his neck.

"You’ve lost."

A calm voice came from behind him.

"..."

Even after the smoke had completely dispersed, Sarutobi Aoki remained stunned, standing motionless.

He... had lost?

From the beginning of the battle until now, not even five minutes had passed...

"The outcome has been decided. The assessment is over."

Tamura-sensei’s voice brought him back to his senses.

Pain from his arm once again surged into his brain. His body was charred in places, and he was covered in dirt and soot.

A medical ninja hurried over. Sarutobi Aoki looked at Reiji and opened his mouth, but he had no idea what to say.

Whoosh!

The surrounding crowd had been silent for quite some time, but now they exploded like a huge rock crashing into a calm lake.

"He... won? Wasn’t he only supposed to last ten minutes?"

"Did anyone notice how long it took?"

"It should have been less than five minutes."

Five minutes...

The group looked at one another in silence.

Earlier, during Uchiha Itachi’s battle, they had thought his performance was already extraordinary.

A first-year Ninja Academy student, a child barely over seven, had completely suppressed a Genin who had already graduated two years ago from beginning to end!

However!

Reiji’s performance was even more outrageous!

He had faced an obviously stronger opponent, not only defeated him, but done so even faster!

So fast that even the spectators had not fully understood what had happened.

"How did he win just now?"

Someone asked in confusion.

He had only seen both of them use ninjutsu. Reiji had used Fire Release twice, after which the Genin had remained inside the smoke.

It was only when the smoke had just dispersed that he realized the battle was already over.

As for how it had ended, he had absolutely no idea.

Uchiha Fugaku thought for a moment before speaking.

"There are two main reasons he was able to win so quickly."

"First, his ninjutsu doesn’t require hand seals, allowing him to cast it instantly and catch his opponent off guard."

"Second, he awakened the Sharingan, giving him the ability to engage in close-quarters combat and maintain an advantage."

"After using the first Great Fireball, he could also rely on the Sharingan to predict his opponent’s movements and accurately launch the second Great Fireball."

"As for using shuriken to locate his opponent within the smoke, that was also thanks to the Sharingan’s enhanced perception."

"Finally, he seized the opportunity to get behind his opponent and finish the fight in one move."

Having said this, Uchiha Fugaku wore an appreciative expression and concluded, "Overall, it was a good tactic. Simple, but it made full use of his strengths."

The others slowly thought through Reiji’s tactics and nodded with complicated expressions.

The tactics themselves were not complicated.

But the two things that had allowed him to win—the Sharingan and hand-seal-less ninjutsu—were the truly important factors.

What had originally been an assessment where he only needed to hold out for ten minutes to pass had unexpectedly turned into a direct counterattack and victory.