The location was the training ground inside the Shakuka Town stronghold.
The sun was shining brightly.
Yuu rapidly formed several hand seals, then opened his mouth.
"Fire Release: Dragon Flame Release Song Technique!"
"Roar—!!"
Accompanied by a clear dragon's cry, a mass of orange flames erupted from Yuu's mouth.
It quickly split into several dragon heads that twisted through the air from different directions before charging toward the Earth-Style Walls that had been erected in advance.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Several thick walls were smashed apart in succession.
Amid the thunderous explosions, the four dragon heads converged into one point.
After an earth-shattering blast, they transformed into waves of scorching heat mixed with shattered rocks that swept outward in every direction.
Left behind was a blackened crater whose edges flowed with crimson molten rock, along with wisps of white smoke rising into the air.
If someone had been standing there just now…
they probably would not even have a complete corpse left.
After confirming the technique's effects, Yuu exhaled another breath of hot air.
The moment he released his hand seals, a familiar figure popped up inside the galgame system.
[Dragon Flame Release Song Technique (Phoenix Sage Fire Technique): Hyaa! As expected of Little Mikami and me! When the two of us join forces, we're ridiculously amazing! Nobody can survive even one round against us!]
[Phoenix Sage Fire Technique: Hmm… "Dragon Flame Release Song." This new skin's name sounds pretty damn good. The dragon is the symbol of an emperor! Congratulations to me—I'm becoming emperor!]
[Great Fireball Technique, Dragon Fire Technique: …]
Alright.
Yuu had long since grown accustomed to Phoenix Sage Fire occasionally blurting out strange nonsense like this.
Ever since their first [Encounter], that technique had always possessed such a wild personality.
Compared with it, Dragon Fire Technique seemed almost too normal and completely out of place beside the other two Fire Release techniques.
But that was not important.
What mattered was that Yuu had already "learned" the Dragon Flame Release Song Technique.
And it had taken only one or two days.
How should he put it…
Yuu genuinely did possess some talent for Fire Release.
Although that "talent" was somewhat artificial—not something he had possessed from birth, but rather granted by the galgame system's [Heavenly Fire Judgment] trait—the end result was the same.
The affinity toward fire granted by this trait allowed Yuu to practice any Fire Release ninjutsu far more smoothly and naturally.
Things like shape transformation and nature transformation, which others needed long periods of trial and error to understand, came to him almost like instinct.
Everything simply fell into place.
Therefore,
Yuu had managed to take an advanced Fire Release technique like Dragon Flame Release Song from beginner level to practical mastery in such a short amount of time.
For an ordinary Fire Release user, this would have been almost unimaginable.
At this moment,
sounds of people sucking in cold breaths came from around the training ground.
"Hiss—!"
"Y-You've got to be kidding me, right?"
Obito stared at Yuu with his Sharingan wide open, his mouth hanging agape.
"Yuu only saw Clan Head Fugaku demonstrate it yesterday morning! How much time has even passed since then…? How did he learn it this quickly?!
"Damn it! Fire Release is supposed to be the Uchiha clan's specialty…"
Nearby,
Shisui said nothing.
He merely glanced subconsciously toward Uchiha Fugaku.
Fugaku looked equally astonished.
As the head of the Uchiha clan, he understood better than anyone how difficult the Dragon Flame Release Song Technique was.
Even he, someone regarded as highly talented, had only begun learning the technique after becoming a jōnin.
And even with careful guidance from the previous clan head, it had taken him three or four days merely to achieve an initial grasp of the technique.
To truly reach the point where he could use it freely in battle had taken several more weeks.
Back then, Fugaku had even felt rather proud of himself.
After all, most members of the Uchiha clan had taken even longer.
But now…
it seemed he had merely been a frog at the bottom of a well.
Before a true genius like this white-haired brat, everyone else simply paled in comparison.
Perhaps only Uchiha Madara in his youth could have matched him.
"What a shame… If only Itachi were here…"
"If he could personally experience the atmosphere of the battlefield at this age and witness the caliber of these geniuses, he would surely grow even better.
"He might even accomplish things similar to them…"
At this moment, Fugaku once again regretted not bringing Itachi with him when he left the village.
He had missed an excellent opportunity to pull up the seedling to help it grow.
Compared with the three Uchiha,
Rin and Kurenai did not think nearly as much.
The two girls simply applauded Yuu happily.
When he returned to the edge of the field, they handed him a towel and water one after another.
"Thanks, Rin. Kurenai."
Yuu drank several mouthfuls of water, then smiled toward Fugaku.
"Thank you for your guidance earlier, Fugaku-senpai. It was thanks to your demonstration that I managed to grasp the essence of this technique…
"I only practiced it a little just now. I hope I didn't embarrass myself in front of everyone."
"…"
Fugaku looked at Yuu with a complicated expression before sighing.
"No. Your talent for Fire Release is simply extraordinary. My guidance merely added flowers to brocade…
"What a pity. If you had been born an Uchiha, you would surely have become even more outstanding."
"Hmm?"
What Fugaku actually meant was that if Yuu possessed the Uchiha clan's constitution, he might have achieved even greater accomplishments in Fire Release.
But to everyone else, those words sounded slightly different.
"Fugaku-senpai, that doesn't sound quite right…"
Kurenai muttered with some dissatisfaction.
"Are you saying ordinary people are destined to be inferior to those born with kekkei genkai?"
Honestly, she was probably the most qualified person present to say such a thing.
After all, the Yūhi clan's specialty in genjutsu was almost completely countered by the Uchiha.
Any Uchiha who awakened a three-tomoe Sharingan, even one who did not specialize in genjutsu, could rival a veteran jōnin like Yūhi Shinku in terms of spiritual power.
And the Mangekyō was practically a dimensional suppression.
It was only because the Uchiha clan's employment opportunities inside Konoha were restricted that Yūhi Shinku had not already lost his livelihood.
Uchiha Fugaku was momentarily speechless.
Shisui quickly stepped in to smooth things over.
"Cough… We all serve Konoha. There's no distinction between superior and inferior.
"A kekkei genkai only gives someone a slightly faster starting point. It doesn't determine their final accomplishments.
"Lord Hokage, Jiraiya-senpai, and Orochimaru-senpai don't possess kekkei genkai either, do they?"
"That's true."
Afterward,
Shisui, Obito, Rin, and Kurenai each took turns training for a while.
Rin's Super Strength was already quite respectable.
After all, Super Strength depended most heavily on chakra control, while medical ninjutsu was one of the best ways to train chakra control.
Practicing both together allowed them to reinforce one another.
At this point, Rin's chakra control alone had already surpassed Kakashi's and Shisui's.
As for Obito…
he had the worst chakra control out of everyone present, so there was no point comparing him.
Kurenai's genjutsu-taijutsu style had also begun taking shape.
While sparring against Shisui, with the latter intentionally concealing the power of his Mangekyō, the two could fight at roughly a forty-sixty ratio.
There were even occasional moments when Kurenai gained the upper hand.
Unfortunately, Kurenai's overall stats were still insufficient.
Even when she created an opening, Shisui would quickly counter her and reverse the situation, eventually defeating her.
This left the girl somewhat depressed.
Seeing this,
Yuu handed back the towel he had used earlier and smiled.
"Don't worry about it too much, Kurenai.
"Shisui is a genjutsu genius of the Uchiha clan. Being able to fight him to this extent is already impressive.
"Once you become more proficient with your genjutsu-taijutsu style, it'll be hard to say who wins."
"Really?"
Kurenai raised her head, a hint of expectation appearing in her eyes.
"Of course."
Yuu nodded confidently.
"If we have time later, I'll practice with you."
Although he was not particularly proficient in genjutsu, Yuu's spiritual power was extremely strong.
Furthermore, the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique he had practiced before was also a form of visual genjutsu.
With that foundation, it would not be difficult for him and Kurenai to spar and learn from one another.
The frustration on Kurenai's face immediately vanished, replaced by happiness.
After comforting her,
Yuu watched Rin spar with Obito while glancing toward Fugaku.
"Fugaku-senpai, have there been any discoveries along the Land of Waves coastline lately?"
"Nothing significant so far.
"However, patrol teams encountered two Kiri squads over the past few days. Judging from their numbers and movement patterns, they should be remnants from the forces that survived the previous surprise attack.
"They immediately withdrew when they saw us and didn't dare engage.
"Should we send additional manpower to eliminate them?"
Fugaku asked.
"No need."
Yuu casually replied,
"As the art of war says: a defeated army grieves, and a grieving army is destined to win…
"Our own forces also suffered considerable losses during the previous defensive battle.
"For now, we should focus primarily on resting and recovering.
"There will be plenty of opportunities to kill Kiri ninja later."
"Hmm?"
Uchiha Fugaku froze for a moment.
Then his eyes lit up.
"'A defeated army grieves, and a grieving army is destined to win'…
"Profound! Captain Yuu truly possesses extraordinary talent! Every word is a pearl of wisdom!
"Inabi, write that down immediately! This is a fundamental principle of warfare. It must be studied carefully!"
"Yes!"
Uchiha Inabi immediately pulled a small leather notebook from his pocket and began scribbling rapidly, as though copying down some legendary secret manual.
"…"
Yuu was rendered speechless.
No, seriously…
you're actually writing that down?
He had only been making a joke!
Did they really need to treat it this seriously?
Mm…
then again, there really did not seem to be many military texts in the Naruto world.
The era of ninja villages had only existed for a few decades.
Most ninja lacked a deep understanding of warfare, while those who did understand it were usually too busy improving their strength or dealing with village affairs to sit down and write books.
To them, ideas such as an arrogant army is bound to lose or a grieving army is bound to win genuinely qualified as military theory.
"Alright. That's enough training for today.
"Fugaku-senpai, please continue monitoring the coastline over the next few days. If anything new happens, report it immediately.
"Be more cautious during patrols. Don't attack rashly and fall into an ambush.
"Also, have the interrogation team pay more attention to the prisoners. See if they can extract any useful intelligence from the captured Kiri ninja.
"If they can't, that's fine too. We can take our time."
"Understood."
Uchiha Fugaku nodded solemnly, then turned toward Inabi.
"Write those sentences down too."
"…"
"You guys continue training. I have something to handle. See you later."
Yuu shook his head helplessly.
After glancing at the sky, he waved and turned toward the interior of the stronghold, heading for the prisoner detention area.
This was the most heavily guarded section of the entire Shakuka Town stronghold.
However, for Yuu, who currently served as commander and had established enormous prestige through the previous battles, entering the place was no different from walking through his own backyard.
The moment he approached, several chūnin guards immediately saluted.
"Captain Mikami!"
"Mm. I'm going inside to take a look."
Yuu nodded slightly and entered a prison cell reinforced with Earth Release.
Inside,
Raiga Kurosuki sat leaning against the wall.
After several days of recovery, most of his wounds had already healed.
Hearing footsteps, he raised his head and looked toward Yuu with gloomy eyes.
"Yo~"
Yuu smiled.
"Want to get out of here, wielder of the Lightning Blades?"
"…"
Raiga snorted coldly and turned his head away, too lazy to respond.
Yuu did not mind.
"I'll give you a chance.
"Have a swordsmanship match with me.
"You may use your usual Lightning Blades: Kiba.
"If you win, I'll let you leave."
"…You're serious?"
Raiga abruptly turned his head and stared at Yuu, his voice hoarse.
"Of course.
"I guarantee it in the name of the White Reaper."
The corner of Yuu's mouth lifted slightly.
"But if you lose, you return here quietly and continue being a prisoner.
"How about it?"
"…"
After repeatedly confirming that they would only compete in swordsmanship and that Yuu would not use any strange "space-time ninjutsu" or Fire Release,
Raiga accepted his challenge.
Once his restraints were removed, he followed Yuu to an open area behind the side of the stronghold.
The moment the twin Lightning Blades: Kiba returned to his hands,
the aura around this member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen changed noticeably.
It was as though he had become an entirely different person.
A vicious light ignited in his eyes.
Then he suddenly stepped forward and charged, his body transforming into an azure afterimage!
Crackle—!
Brilliant lightning erupted from the twin blades and shot toward the clouds!
…
The entire battle lasted only a few minutes.
By the time a Konoha squad that knew nothing about the situation hurried over and reached the forest clearing,
the fight had already ended.
Raiga Kurosuki was kneeling on one knee.
Blade wounds crisscrossed his body, and his eyes were unfocused.
Yuu stood calmly opposite him.
He slid the White Fang short blade back into the sheath behind him, then lifted his chin toward the arriving Konoha ninja.
"Take him away and treat his wounds.
"Don't touch the Lightning Blades. Leave them there. I'll deal with them later."
"…Understood."
After the Konoha squad departed,
Yuu rolled his neck and looked toward a certain point in empty space.
Several lines of text floated there and quietly flashed past.
[Special Event — "The World's Greatest Swordsmanship" Progress: 6/8]
[Defeated: Konoha-Style Kenjutsu, Gekkō Clan Secret Swordsmanship, Uchiha-Style Swordsmanship, Kirigakure Style: Thunder-Shock Slash, Kirigakure Style: Heavy Swordsmanship, Lightning Blade Art]
"Already six…"
Yuu narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Only two left…
"Should I sneak away for a few more days and find somewhere to complete the remaining two?"
~~~
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