"Admit defeat…"
A faint voice came from above his head.
Uchiha Eikō's entire body trembled, as if abruptly waking from a nightmare.
How… how can this be happening!?
His eyes widened, veins bulging, fingers digging into the hardened dirt beneath him.
He couldn't comprehend it.
He—an elite from the Uchiha clan, a member of Konoha's esteemed police force—had been defeated so easily.
And not just defeated… defeated by an unknown civilian.
Humiliation and disbelief twisted together, igniting something ugly inside him.
A raging fire surged in his chest.
"DIE!!!"
The moment Yagami sheathed his sword and turned his back, Uchiha Eikō snapped—completely losing control.
With a feral shout, he hurled a kunai with killing intent.
It flickered toward Yagami's spine like lightning.
"Shit!!"
All three observers froze.
They had just been admiring Yagami's Atomic Slash—none of them expected Eikō to suddenly attempt murder.
Even Minato, the wielder of Flying Thunder God, had no time to intervene.
Boom!
But instead of blood—
There was a puff of thick white smoke.
Yagami's body split apart into wooden oak.
A substitution log.
And not just any log—the same one he'd used earlier to practice shuriken throws.
"It seems my explanation in the Hokage's office wasn't enough for Danzo…" Yagami thought calmly.
He had used Body Replacement Technique to evade the attack.
Hiruzen and Danzo both exhaled—relieved, but also shaken.
In truth, Yagami had already expected this outcome.
The moment he saw the murderous look in Eikō's eyes after losing, he secretly formed the substitution seal.
Then he deliberately turned his back.
He wanted to provoke Eikō into attacking.
To force Danzo and Hiruzen to reveal their reactions.
And it worked perfectly.
In bullet time, Yagami saw it all:
Hiruzen's expression—shock, worry, but no malice.
Minato—pure alarm.
Danzo—a mix of surprise, suspicion… and something unreadable.
"Is the Uchiha clan really this shameless? Sneak attacks now?" Yagami thought as he shifted his gaze back to Eikō.
Eikō had returned to his senses as well.
Realizing what he had just done, his face drained of color.
"Uchiha Eikō, are you trying to kill your comrade!?"
Hiruzen stormed forward, fury erupting through his normally calm demeanor.
"I—!" Eikō choked, lost for words.
A moment ago, blinded by rage, he had acted purely out of humiliation.
Now that clarity returned, fear crawled up his spine.
Yagami could see it clearly...
Eikō was arrogant, short-tempered, and dangerously impulsive.
"The match was already over! And you still attempted a sneak attack!" Minato shouted as he approached.
Seeing a "civilian" reprimand him lit Eikō's temper again.
"Hmph! Since it's over, I'm leaving!"
With no regard for how disgraceful he looked, he turned and leaped away, fleeing the scene in anger.
At this time, the Third Ninja War had not yet begun.
Minato was not yet the Yellow Flash.
So in Eikō's eyes, Minato was nothing more than another civilian—beneath him.
He could tolerate the Hokage's scolding…
But he refused to accept rebuke from the likes of them.
"See? This is the Uchiha clan…" Danzo muttered beside Hiruzen. "Arrogant. Conceited. Unruly."
Hiruzen frowned, temples throbbing.
The Uchiha clan… a thorn buried deep in Konoha's flesh.
But at present, no solution existed.
"Lord Third, did I pass the test?" Yagami asked, cutting through the tension.
As a reincarnator, he knew all too well the political rift between the Hokage's faction and the Uchiha.
But it had nothing to do with him. He had no desire to get involved.
"Certainly," Hiruzen answered with a firm nod.
Yagami had not only defeated a Sharingan-wielding Jōnin—he crushed him.
"Come with me," Hiruzen said, turning toward the Hokage building. "Once we update your records, you will officially be a Jōnin."
"Yes!"
Yagami followed, excitement building.
His first system mission was finally complete.
He could already feel anticipation boiling inside him.
Yagani was eager to see what reward the lottery would give him.
"That reminds me," Hiruzen suddenly said, glancing back. "That sword technique you used earlier… what exactly was it?"
Danzo and Minato subtly leaned closer, curious.
A technique that unleashed a flying slash without chakra?
That was unheard of.
"This is simply the result of years of training," Yagami replied smoothly, spinning a story without hesitation.
He claimed that during a mission long ago, with his chakra depleted, he accidentally released a sword slash.
Since then, he had swung his sword a thousand times every day to recreate that moment.
After years of perseverance, he finally mastered it—achieving unity of sword and self.
"A genius… without question," Hiruzen whispered in awe.
He had seen many swordsmen in his lifetime.
But someone capable of unleashing such a technique without chakra?
This was a first.
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