Chapter 27: Uchiha Shisui

Chapter 27: Chapter 27: Uchiha Shisui

Carefully sizing up the rather short Uchiha standing before him, Hyuga Kagami’s thoughts immediately began to wander.

Uchiha Shisui.

A young man who had influenced Itachi’s entire life, and who had indirectly contributed to the Uchiha clan’s extermination. A young man who wholeheartedly wished to reconcile the clan with the village, only to suffer Danzo’s ruthless betrayal and sneak attack.

After losing one of his Mangekyo Sharingan, he had resolutely chosen to take his own life in silence, all to prevent the conflict between his clan and the village from escalating.

This Uchiha, whose talent might even have surpassed Itachi’s, brought his brief yet dazzling life—one that had flashed across the world like a comet—to an end in an almost tragically sorrowful manner.

"How tragic!"

Thinking of Shisui’s future, Hyuga Kagami couldn’t help sighing inwardly.

Shisui’s tragic fate had much to do with his own naivety. He should never have revealed his Mangekyo Sharingan, and even more so, he should never have disclosed a fearsome ocular technique like Kotoamatsukami to the village’s higher-ups.

Putting himself in their shoes, if he were the Hokage and a powerful Uchiha possessing Kotoamatsukami appeared among a clan already plotting a coup, Hyuga Kagami doubted he would be able to rest easy either.

Hyuga Kagami reined in his wandering thoughts and smiled. "I’ve heard many legends about the Sharingan. I hope I’ll get the chance to fight you this time and experience the Sharingan’s power firsthand."

Shisui smiled as well. "Compared to your Byakugan Kekkei Genkai, Senpai, the Sharingan doesn’t have any particular advantage. Still, I’m also very much looking forward to sparring with you."

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Shisui turned and left.

Shisui was well aware of the village’s current suspicions toward the Uchiha, so he deliberately kept a certain distance from the village’s other shinobi. It was both to protect himself and to protect them.

Watching Shisui’s departing figure, Hyuga Kagami let out a soft sigh.

The reason the Uchiha coup seemed so absurd was entirely because, of the clan’s three greatest experts, some were merely going through the motions while the others had outright turned against the clan.

There was no need to even mention Shisui and Itachi, the two who had turned against their clan. Just looking at the clan head, Uchiha Fugaku, it was clear that he had essentially been pressured by his clansmen into planning the coup. He himself had never possessed any particularly strong desire to rebel. That was why, after discovering that his own son had turned against the clan, he simply gave up resisting and sacrificed his own life to allow Itachi to follow his chosen ninja path.

In truth, if the entire Uchiha clan had been united, whether their coup could have succeeded was difficult to say, but they absolutely could have left Konoha devastated.

In fact, Shisui alone could have relied on Kotoamatsukami to sweep away Konoha’s entire leadership.

Just as Hyuga Kagami was inwardly lamenting all this, Guy sidled over and muttered quietly, "Huh? This Shisui guy is really famous, but he seems like a pretty easy Uchiha to get along with!"

Genma, a senbon held between his teeth, snorted. "That depends on who he’s dealing with. Kagami is from the Hyuga clan, so of course he’d be polite to him. If it were you instead, he might not even bother giving you the time of day."

Asuma also came over, his expression turning serious. "That guy is no pushover. If you run into him during the assessment, you’d better be extremely careful."

Guy looked curious. "Just how strong is he?"

"I heard he has a record of killing three Kirigakure Jonin. He’s recognized as a genius even within the Uchiha clan!" After a brief pause, Asuma continued, "I also heard the old man say that he’s been strong enough to be promoted to Jonin for quite some time. This Special Jonin selection is basically just a formality for him."

Everyone nearby exclaimed in shock, "What!?"

Looking at their stunned faces, Asuma shrugged. "What’s so surprising about that? Take a good look around. The Uchiha only sent him. That alone should tell you something."

Hearing this, everyone immediately began paying closer attention.

Although the venue was packed with people, they discovered that among all the shinobi present, Uchiha Shisui really was the only one wearing clothing bearing the Uchiha clan crest.

Their hearts immediately sank.

Asuma clearly hadn’t been lying. Of the roughly fifteen promotion slots available, one had indeed already been reserved for the Uchiha.

Of course, it couldn’t really be called favoritism. With Shisui’s strength, passing the selection would be effortless. If anything, reserving a single slot like this actually prevented the Uchiha clan from sending even more clansmen to compete for the remaining positions.

Hyuga Kagami, however, noticed that he also seemed to be the only member of the Hyuga clan participating in the assessment.

He wondered inwardly, "Could it be that the clan reached some sort of agreement with the village and reserved a spot for me too?"

Noticing the slight change in Hyuga Kagami’s expression, Asuma waggled his eyebrows and patted him on the shoulder. "You noticed it too, huh? Your Hyuga clan must’ve secured a spot for you as well."

Hyuga Kagami crossed his arms and deliberately put on a displeased expression. "How unnecessary!"

As for getting preferential treatment through connections, claiming that he was actually opposed to it would be far too hypocritical. But with all his former classmates standing around him, both sentiment and propriety demanded that he at least appear disdainful of such privileges.

As his teammate, Guy wholeheartedly agreed. "Mm-hmm! With Kagami’s strength, there’s no way he’ll have any trouble with this assessment."

Everyone else had also heard about Hyuga Kagami’s recent achievements and knew that his strength had indeed been improving rapidly, so they nodded along in agreement.

Besides, in their minds, it was only natural for members of prestigious clans to enjoy certain privileges. It might be surprising, but it certainly wasn’t something worth making a fuss over.

At that moment, the Third Hokage appeared in the examination grounds.

Everyone participating in the assessment was an experienced shinobi, so the Third didn’t waste time with unnecessary words and immediately announced the rules.

This assessment would primarily test combat ability. As long as a candidate possessed sufficient combat strength—or had some exceptional specialty in a particular field that others could scarcely match—they would be able to pass.

Because of this, Kekkei Genkai shinobi and those who practiced secret techniques had an easier time being promoted to Special Jonin than ordinary shinobi.

The assessment would consist of randomly drawn matches.

After the officials drew the lots, Hyuga Kagami’s opponent in the first round turned out to be one of his former classmates—

Kurenai Yuhi.

At Training Ground No. 9.

Hyuga Kagami stood with one hand on his hip and calmly said, "Kurenai, your luck isn’t very good."

Kurenai’s expression was somewhat gloomy. She remained silent, her face tense as she stared fixedly at Hyuga Kagami, seemingly searching for an opening.

As a genjutsu-type shinobi, facing a shinobi with an ocular Kekkei Genkai was indeed extremely troublesome.

It was common knowledge that both the Byakugan and the Sharingan possessed a certain degree of resistance to genjutsu. While neither could be said to grant complete immunity, ordinary genjutsu would inevitably be far less effective against shinobi possessing these ocular Kekkei Genkai.

Hyuga Kagami was actually quite curious about how resistant his Tenseigan was to genjutsu. So instead of taking the initiative and attacking first as he normally would, he simply stood there and quietly waited for Kurenai to make her move.

Hyuga Kagami’s calm composure placed enormous pressure on Kurenai, giving her a faint sense that something was wrong.

Under the pressure of the standoff, Kurenai eventually lost her patience.

"Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death!"

The moment Kurenai made her move, she immediately used the genjutsu she was most proficient in, one of her family’s secret genjutsu techniques.

Hyuga Kagami’s mind went blank for an instant—

Then, in the very next moment, everything returned to normal, as though nothing had happened at all.

Kurenai exclaimed in shock, "How is that possible!?"