A few days ago, Akatsuki Organizationās Base of Operation
āThe Art of Shadow Clones!ā x2
Poofā¦ Poofā¦
With two simultaneous poofs of white smoke, two figures appeared out of thin air in the dingy underground cave, the two figures that suddenly appeared looked identical to their respective casters Sasuke and Neji, and silently stood beside each of the two.
Looking at each of the two Shadow Clones created by Sasuke and Neji, Shinichi smiled slightly, and nodded, āYes, although there are still some flaws in the Shadow Clones the two of you have created, it should be more than enough to fool a chunin who doesnāt rely on Dojutsuā¦ā
When Sasuke and Neji heard the praise, they were suddenly overjoyed.
The Shadow Clone Jutsu is not an ordinary Jutsu, its difficulty is ranked at B-Rank, and even among all the B-Rank Jutsu, it is among the most difficult and unsafe ones.
Because Shadow Clone Jutsu causes rapid depletion of Chakra Reserves, it is considered dangerous, as such, usually only those of at least Jonin-level can safely use this Jutsu. And this is just the āShadow Clone Jutsuā, not the advanced, āMulti-Shadow Clone Jutsuā which is considered unsafe to the point of being listed as a Forbidden Jutsu.
Because of the dangerous nature of the Shadow Clone Jutsu, the parents generally donāt allow young children to come in contact with this B-Rank Jutsu, as such, neither Sasuke nor Neji was allowed to touch this Jutsuā¦
But Shinichi is different from them, he has no such concernā¦ Uchiha Shinichiāāwho has seen the depths of the Shinobi World from the eyes of Akatsukiāāknows better than those living in Konoha that the Shinobi World is an ever-evolving battlefield where only the fittest, finest, courageous, cleverest, and the luckiest survivesā¦ And if someone wishes to survive then regardless of which category they fit into, they must at least have the ability to protect themselves.
As such, Shinichi who was bored as hell because of staying at this base for so long and not being able to do anything decided to teach the Shadow Clone Jutsu to the two kidsā¦
But Shinichi must admit that he was really surprised by the talent of the two kids. He didnāt expect that the two children, Sasuke and Neji would be so talented that in just a few tries both of them managed to learn the Shadow Clone Jutsu.
In fact, rather than Sasuke, whose talent he had already expected, Shinichi was more surprised by Hyuga Nejiās talent, the kid might be a child belonging to the branch division of the Hyuga Clan, but Shinichi has personally witnessed that Neji is more of a natural genius than Sasuke, even if Sasuke has already awakened the Sharingan, in Shinichiās eyes, Neji is still more genius, thereās no doubt about thisā¦
At the same time, Shinichi also understood why did Hyuga Kuroto decide to take Hyuga Neji as his discipleā¦ The best thing about Neji is his level-headed character and calm demeanour, which somewhat reminds Shinichi of Kuroto, only with the lack of wickedness.
When thinking of Nejiās sensible character, Shinichi turned towards Sasuke who was extremely excited and felt triumphant after mastering just the Shadow Clone Jutsu, and his face sank because Sasuke sort of reminded Shinichi of himself, āThis kidā¦ Canāt let him become a reckless guy like me!ā
āAhem.ā Shinichi coughed lightly to attract the attention of the two kids, then scowled, āSasuke, whatās there to be so happy about? All you have done is learn a Jutsu, learning is just the first step, and it is also the easiest stepā¦Ā As far as I see, you have yet to make it yours.
You must not forget one important point, however strong or useful of a Jutsu you learn unless you make it yours, which means, unless you are able to smoothly deploy it in your combat tactics, it is just a Jutsu, not your Jutsu.
Remember, whether a Jutsu proves to be useful in the battle, or it becomes just wastage of Chakra is only a moment of single thoughtā¦ So donāt think that just because you learned a Jutsu, you have mastered it as well.
Learning a Jutsu means being able to use a Jutsu, but mastering it means, being capable of using the same Jutsu in the midst of the battle to gain any kind of advantage over your enemyā¦!ā
Sasuke smiled contemptuously and said, āShinichi-san, you are looking down on me too muchā¦ donāt forget that I am the youngest awakener of Sharingan (Sasuke isnāt aware that Uchiha Izumi awakened her Sharingan at the age of six), so I am the most genius in the Uchiha Clan, even my Nii-san, and Shisui-Nii-san who are both considered unparalleled geniuses of the Uchiha Clan pales in my comparisonā¦ā
Shinichi squinted at Sasuke and nodded to himself, āYeah, this kid is definitely like how I used to be when I was his ageā¦ā
But before Shinichi could say anything to Sasuke, Neji respectfully bowed to him and expressed his gratefulness, āUchiha Shinichi-san, thank you for teaching us a Jutsuā¦ā
Because of Nejiās respectful attitude towards him, Shinichi was a little embarrassed, and waved his hand awkwardly, āNo worriesā¦ all I did was teach you two the Shadow Clone Jutsu, itās not that big of a deal, and sooner or later the two of you would have learned it anyway, so thereās no need to be so polite and respectfulā¦ā
Neji nodded lightly, āAlright.ā
After that, Shinichi shifted his attention back to Sasuke who had a smug smile that made him very uncomfortable and asked with twitching eyebrows, āSasuke, I remember that you earlier mentioned that Shisui and your brother Itachi generally teach you stuffā¦ so what do they usually teach you? And HOW do they teach you?ā
āHehā¦ Nii-san and Shisui-nii-san teach me a lot of things, and I have already mastered everything they have taught me up until now including all the Shurikenjutsu and Taijutsu of the Uchiha Clanā¦ā said Sasuke with a proud smile, and then added, āEver since I awakened my Sharingan, all my training sessions with nii-san and Shisui-nii-san include actual combat training in which I am able to fight back and forth with the two of themā¦ā
āLearned all the Shurikenjutsu and Taijutsu of the Uchiha Clan? Actual Combat Training with Shisui and Itachi? And you are able to fight back and forth with the two of them?ā Shinichi raised his eyebrows in shock, then grinned, āNo wonder you are such a bratā¦ both Shisui and Itachi seem to adore you too much, and as such, they are spoiling you rottenā¦ā
Sasuke frowned, and questioned, āWhatās that supposed to mean?ā
Shinichi shook his head, and continued, āHeh, well I guess I canāt blame them; they do look at you as their younger brother and wants to protect you, and canāt really bring themselves to hurt youā¦ but still, I didnāt expect that even at this age, you are still playing ninja gamesā¦ when I, or Shisui, or Itachi were your age, were already on the battlefields of war between nations!ā
Sasuke was displeased, and said with a pout, āItās not a ninja gameā¦ we even use real Shuriken and Kunaiā¦!ā
āOh, you think so? You think that Shisui and Itachi are serious in the so-called ācombat trainingā?ā asked Shinichi with a smirk.
Sasuke replied immediately, āObviously! Is there even a need to ask such a stupid question?!ā
Shinichi nodded lightly, and said, āIn that case how about we also do combat training, I am going to show you what real combat training is likeā¦ā
āHumph, alright! I am ready any time!ā said Sasuke with a cold snortā¦
Shinichi grinned ear to ear and beckoned Sasuke to attack himā¦
āSasukeā¦ maybe itās not such a good idea.ā Whispered Neji to Sasuke, while looking at Shinichi, Neji had a bad feeling. He is different from Sasuke, Neji is trained harshly by his Otou-san and can feel that Uchiha Shinichi is even more dangerous than his Otou-san, therefore, he was a little worried about Sasukeā¦
Sasuke said to Neji, āDonāt worryā¦ even if canāt kill him, I should at least be able to defend myselfā¦ā
Neji wanted to continue to persuade Sasuke, but seeing Sasukeās face that showed he has no intention to back down, Neji swallowed his words and moved to the sideā¦
With the coast clear Shinichi folded his hands over his chest, and said, āCome at me with all youāve got kid, otherwise, this wonāt even be a tad bit interesting.ā
Sasuke saw that Shinichi was being casual, so he issued a fair warning, āShinichi-sanā¦ because you taught me a Jutsu, so I will give you a fair warning, you have to be carefulā¦ otherwise, you will get seriously hurt.ā
As he said so, Sasuke transferred Chakra into his eyes, causing the one-tomoe Sharingan to activate, then quickly weaved the hand seals of a Fire Style Jutsu, and shouted,Ā āFire Style: Fireball Jutsu!ā
Boom!
Suddenly, a large fireball sprayed out of Sasukeās mouth, it shouldered the surrounding air and rushed straight towards who stood akimbo not too far away.
The huge fireball engulfed the entire room in intense fiery heat, and accompanied by a howling sound, slammed into Shinichiās location causing an explosion big enough to spread cracks all over the place.
Whooshā¦
āHuh?ā Sasuke raised his eyebrows and looked at the surroundings with a frowned expression, āWhere is he?ā Sasuke is not completely certain, but he feels that he did catch a glimpse of Shinichiās shadow whizzing past the fireball a moment before the fireball hit the target location, therefore, Shinichi shouldnāt have been hurt.
Neji who had his Byakugan activated from the start saw it clearly, the moment that fireball was about to come close to him, Shinichi used a body flicker Jutsu to disappear from his position, and rushed towardsā¦ āSasuke is carefulā¦ he is coming for you!ā
Whooshā¦
""
Even before Neji issued the warning, Shinichi had already crossed the distance and stood in front of Sasuke!
The dark shadow that suddenly appeared over him gave Sasuke a bad feeling, and even before Sasuke had the opportunity to make any reflexive action, or look up, he felt his body involuntary arch as intense pain came from his abdomenā¦
Smash! Ā Bangā¦ Crackā¦ Plopā¦!
Followed by the intense pain, his feet were lifted off of the ground, and by the time he came to understand what was happening, he was heavily smashed into one of the walls causing the rocks to sink in and cracks to spread all over it as he collapsed on the ground with a muffled sound.
Neji who was at the side looked at the entire process and was dumbfoundedā¦ in fact, it would be better to say that he was barely able to understand what exactly happened, as it happened in a very short timeā¦ And all he saw was Uchiha Shinichiās figure abruptly appearing in front of Sasuke, and the very next instant Sasukeās body flew out and crashed into the wall.
When Neji looked at Shinichi, he noticed that Shinichi didnāt even have his Sharingan activated and couldnāt help but mutter in shock, āIs this the true strength of a member of the Akatsuki Organization?ā
At this time, a spiralling whirl appeared in the room, from which the masked man walked out, he casually glanced at Sasuke who had collapsed on the ground, and hadnāt recovered yet, and said to Shinichi with a chuckle, āShinichi, donāt go too farā¦ā
Shinichi said with a smile, āDonāt worry, I am not going to kill themā¦ I just wanted him to clearly see what the Shinobi World is likeā¦ā
The masked man narrowed his eyes slightly, he looked at Sasuke for a moment, then glanced at Neji on the other side, and finally turned towards Shinichi.
The masked man is quite curious, it is well known within Akatsuki that Shinichi is extremely lazy, careless, and sloppy, but suddenly he has become so attached to the two children that were kidnapped from Konoha. If it was just Sasuke, the masked man might still be able to accept it with a pinch of salt, after all, Sasuke is a genius Uchiha is worth training to be recruited into the Akatsuki Organization, but why Hyuga Neji?
Given Shinichiās arrogant and condescending character, he should be dismissive of Hyuga Neji, after all, Hyuga Neji is not only a member of the branch division of the Hyuga Clan, but he is also Hyuga Kurotoās disciple and the masked man knows that Shinichi has a grudge against Hyuga Kurotoā¦ So why?