Chapter 440: The Inhumane Uchiha
After Shisui recovered from his injuries, Obito's team had already returned to Konoha. Mugetsu assigned Shisui to a new squad.
Shisui had no objections. With his current strength, he truly was not strong enough to operate alone on the battlefield.
"You must be Shisui, the Uchiha joining our squad," the captain said the moment Shisui arrived. "I'm Takagi Shinji. I'm a Special Jonin, and I mainly specialize in Fire Release."
Even if Shisui was only joining temporarily, introductions were necessary.
It was not about ceremony. It was about survival. On a battlefield, everyone needed at least a basic grasp of each other's abilities. Even if they could not coordinate perfectly, they had to avoid dragging one another down.
Once Takagi said Shisui's name, his three disciples immediately looked over with open curiosity.
That name had been everywhere lately.
Even ninja stationed far behind the front lines knew about Kakashi's team and their achievements. Takagi's disciples were stationed on the same battlefield where the skirmish happened, so they had heard even more.
All the Konoha ninja across the entire front had learned of Mugetsu's strength, and the genius reputation Kakashi's team had earned.
Shisui's appearance, however, did not match the legend in their heads.
"He's so small. Is he really eight years old?"
"How do you train enough at eight to fight the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist?"
"Or maybe the Seven Ninja Swordsmen are not as scary as people say. He does not look that strong."
They murmured without thinking, half curious, half doubtful.
Shisui did not react. He simply stepped forward.
"I'm Shisui Uchiha," he said calmly. "My ninja rank is Chunin. I specialize in Fire Release and genjutsu."
Takagi nodded, then looked at his three disciples.
"I'm Kobayashi Kenji. Chunin. I can use Wind Release."
"My name is Uesugi Tooru. Chunin. I specialize in Fire Release."
"I'm Miyashita Yuki. Chunin. I can use basic Medical Ninjutsu."
They introduced themselves one after another.
Takagi folded his arms and thought for a moment.
"To arrange tactics properly during missions, I need to understand your abilities through a practice battle," he said. "We also have a mission soon, so we stop before anyone gets seriously hurt."
Normally, Takagi would have his disciples test the newcomer.
But Shisui was a recently famous Uchiha genius. Takagi chose to show respect and step in himself.
More importantly, he was not fully confident he could defeat Shisui. Even if eight of him ran into the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, they would only know how to run. Shisui and his team had actually beaten them.
"Please instruct me," Shisui replied, nodding. That had been his intention as well.
"Sensei, let me do it," Tooru volunteered, stepping forward before Takagi could move. "If you watch from the side, you can observe more clearly."
He was usually the most outstanding among the three, and he wanted to see the gap between himself and a true genius with his own eyes.
"Even if he started training at three, that's only five years," Tooru thought. "I've been a ninja for more than five. I should not lose too badly."
He did not believe he could win, but he believed he could at least hold out for a while.
"Are you sure?" Takagi asked, not immediately agreeing.
Takagi knew Tooru's level. He was decent among chunin, but that was all. He was not in the same world as a monster like Shisui.
"Yes," Tooru said seriously. "It's rare to run into someone like Shisui. I want to test myself."
Takagi considered it, then nodded.
"Fine. Go."
He also wanted to use Shisui to humble Tooru a little.
That overconfident mindset could get someone killed on a mission.
"Begin!"
The moment Takagi gave the command, both moved.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Tooru sprinted forward, pulling shuriken from his pouch and flinging them at Shisui in rapid succession.
Shisui's expression did not change. He flicked his wrist and threw shuriken of his own.
Clang! Clang!
Metal struck metal. The shuriken collided and dropped together.
Takagi watched closely and nodded to himself.
On the surface, it looked like an even exchange.
But Shisui had waited until Tooru finished throwing, then intercepted every single shuriken anyway. In that situation, doing it perfectly was not "basic skill."
It was control.
When Tooru closed within five meters, he suddenly burst chakra and used the Body Flicker Technique, appearing at Shisui's side with a punch.
Shisui shifted slightly, as if he had already seen it coming.
The punch missed.
Tooru immediately stepped back and snapped out a kick, but Shisui also retreated a step at the same time, and the kick missed as well.
Tooru pushed his body to the limit, launching a relentless chain of strikes.
He could not even brush Shisui's clothes.
Tooru's jaw tightened.
His taijutsu was getting him nowhere.
He jumped back, formed hand signs, and drew a deep breath.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
The flames surged out.
Shisui's eyes flickered with brief surprise.
"Mugetsu sensei's ninjutsu…"
When Mugetsu had been teaching nature transformation, he developed five D rank techniques, then later created corresponding upgraded C rank techniques. Great Fireball Technique was one of them.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
Shisui formed hand signs as well.
But to avoid injuring his teammate, he deliberately reduced his chakra output, weakening the technique's power.
Even so, the difference was obvious.
Tooru had trained Fire Release for years. Before the fireballs even collided, he could tell Shisui's was stronger.
"So the gap is still this big," Tooru thought bitterly.
Boom!
The two fireballs collided.
Shisui's Great Fireball swallowed Tooru's without pause.
Tooru's fighting spirit was almost completely smothered, but instinct screamed at him to move.
Whoosh!
Before he could fully react, Shisui finally attacked.
Kunai in hand, Shisui used the Body Flicker Technique and surged forward.
By the time Tooru realized what happened, cold steel was already pressed to his neck.
"So fast…" Tooru's pupils shrank, his face full of shock.
He had thought he could last longer.
He did not expect Shisui's Body Flicker to be this terrifying.
Shisui withdrew the kunai and put it away. This was only a practice fight, meant to stop before serious injury.
In truth, if Shisui had gone all out, he could have ended it instantly at the start.
But he wanted to understand his new teammate's level, and he wanted to give Tooru some face. He only got serious after a few exchanges.
"Tooru, you're a little overconfident," Kenji could not help saying.
On the surface, it looked like they traded a few moves.
In reality, the moment Shisui decided to take the initiative, Tooru was finished.
Yuki stared, still stunned.
"His strength really lives up to the rumors…"
Hearing about it and seeing it were different things entirely.
An eight year old dominating a sixteen year old chunin was the kind of scene that stuck in your brain.
Tooru did not even respond to Kenji's jab.
He had one thought looping endlessly.
"This guy is eight?"
He could accept Shisui's Fire Release being stronger. Talent mattered in ninjutsu.
But Shisui's taijutsu made no sense.
How could an eight year old body have that kind of movement and control?
"Did he start training in the womb?" Tooru could not help wondering.
A hand patted his back, dragging him out of it.
Takagi sighed.
"Now you've seen what a true genius looks like. You still have a long way to go."
Then Takagi turned toward Shisui without waiting for Tooru's reply.
"Shisui, do you want to rest before fighting again, or start now?" Takagi asked. "That guy's level is too low. You were holding back to avoid hurting him, weren't you?"
"Let's start now," Shisui answered.
He had not exerted himself much. There was no need to rest.
Tooru rubbed his back and stepped aside, watching with a grim expression. The only part that really hurt was the pat his sensei gave him after the fight. Unbelievable.
"Sensei is a jonin," Tooru thought. "This should be different."
A Special Jonin was still a jonin. The gap between that and a chunin was real.
Tooru expected Takagi to force Shisui to reveal his true strength.
But what happened next surprised him.
The rhythm of Shisui's fight with Takagi looked strangely similar to the previous one.
In taijutsu, Takagi could not gain any advantage. He was even forced to retreat step by step.
In Fire Release, Takagi was still suppressed. When they used Fire Release at the same time, Takagi's technique was swallowed again.
Takagi's three disciples watched with wide eyes.
Same nature clashes made comparisons brutally honest. There was no elemental advantage to hide behind. The stronger technique simply crushed the weaker one.
Takagi losing that clash meant he was inferior to Shisui in Fire Release training.
"Sensei actually…" Kenji stared, dumbfounded.
Their guiding sensei was the jonin they had the most contact with.
Seeing him driven back until his back was drenched in sweat by an eight year old felt unreal.
Shisui remembered the rule. Stop before serious injury.
Once he felt he had seen enough, he proactively withdrew, which spared Takagi what little dignity remained.
Whether from exertion or the heat of Shisui's Fire Release, Takagi's face was slightly red.
He exhaled slowly.
"Truly monstrous," he thought.
He had expected Shisui to be strong, but the reality still shocked him. It felt like facing a truly formidable jonin, not a child.
And with Takagi's combat experience, he could tell Shisui was still holding back.
If Shisui went all out, Takagi would be injured.
Takagi forced himself to relax his shoulders.
"Having such a teammate is a good thing," he told himself.
Even if it was embarrassing.
He had just lectured his disciple, then got dominated himself immediately afterward.
And so, Shisui officially joined Takagi's squad and began a new stretch of missions.
They were teammates, but Shisui could clearly feel it.
He had not integrated into their atmosphere.
The three disciples carried a subtle sense of distance toward him.
Shisui had not felt that in a long time.
He only remembered it from when he went out with the Uchiha elders.
After entering the academy, he spent most of his time training with Mugetsu. Later, he was usually with Mugetsu and the other disciples. That kind of quiet separation never existed there.
This time, it did.
It made Shisui uncomfortable, because he had not done anything to deserve it.
He had a guess why, but he could not be completely sure.
Still, Shisui did not isolate himself because of it.
He continued doing what he always did.
On a slightly dangerous mission, an enemy launched a sneak attack at the perfect moment.
Shisui's Sharingan caught it.
He moved instantly, countering the ambush and stopping it before it could land.
Kenji and Yuki avoided injury entirely because of him.
After that mission, the subtle distance disappeared.
"Shisui, thank you so much!" Kenji said, genuinely grateful. "If you didn't move that fast, we'd probably be stuck in bed for a while."
Yuki smiled, then jabbed Kenji in the side with her elbow.
"Hiss!"
She immediately turned to Shisui, embarrassed.
"Sorry. Kenji isn't very good with words," she said quickly. "Shisui, please don't take it to heart."
From their time together, it was obvious Shisui was not cold.
But Yuki believed Uchiha had a strong clan identity, and she worried he might be offended.
"I don't mind," Shisui answered, shaking his head.
If someone truly slandered the Uchiha Clan, Shisui would be upset.
But was Kenji really slandering them?
Not necessarily.
Based on Shisui's understanding of his own people, some Uchiha truly did disregard those outside the clan. Completely.
And that confirmed his earlier guess.
The reason his squadmates had not accepted him at first was not because he defeated Tooru and even overwhelmed Takagi.
It was because of his name.
Uchiha.
Because he was a temporarily assigned Uchiha ninja, his teammates instinctively kept a little distance.
Shisui even believed Takagi might have felt it too, but Takagi was older and far better at hiding it.
Shisui fell into thought that night.
"I have to change the image of the Uchiha among Konoha's people," he realized.
Not every Uchiha would have the chance to prove themselves through action the way he had.
Many clan members carried arrogance from being the strongest noble clan. If outsiders treated them with distance, they responded with even harsher distance.
Even if they realized it was a misunderstanding, pride would keep them from explaining.
And pride, Shisui knew, could poison a village just as easily as any jutsu.
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