Genjutsu operates by interfering with an opponent's five senses. The vast majority of genjutsu relies on visual input, so in theory, if one closes their eyes, most genjutsu will fail to take effect.
"I see!" Might Guy exclaimed, as if he had just glimpsed a wide, shining road to countering genjutsu-type ninja.
"Are you an idiot?" Uchiha Obito scoffed. "How are you supposed to fight with your eyes closed? You can't see your opponent's movements—this is basically asking to die!"
As one bottom-ranked student, being able to look down on another bottom-ranked student was a rare chance to feel superior, and Obito was clearly enjoying it.
If Yūhi Kurenai knew Hagoromo better, she wouldn't have been so emotional. After all, Hagoromo was especially good at provoking his opponents.
"Fine, then stick to your strategy," Kurenai said through clenched teeth. "Don't regret it when you lose!"
Without waiting to see if Hagoromo was ready, she flicked her wrist and threw two shuriken straight at him.
She might be a genjutsu specialist, but that didn't mean she only knew genjutsu. She was perfectly capable of using shuriken and kunai as well.
Hagoromo's eyebrows twitched, and he immediately opened his eyes.
She's pretty ruthless.
The two shuriken were flying straight toward his chest.
That said, for any ninja, frontal shuriken attacks were rarely effective.
Hagoromo swiftly drew a kunai from his pouch and precisely blocked the incoming blades.
Clang! Clang!
Both shuriken were knocked aside without deviation.
"Weren't you going to fight with your eyes closed?" Kurenai mocked when she saw him open them.
Instructors generally didn't interfere with verbal exchanges during combat, as such conflicts could be part of psychological warfare.
Hagoromo was capable of disturbing his opponent's mindset—but that wasn't his goal right now.
The reason was simple.
He just enjoyed trash talk.
"Huh? Didn't I say it already?" Hagoromo replied with an innocent expression and a tone of sincere curiosity. "Closing my eyes is to deal with your genjutsu. Did you use genjutsu just now? Oh… so this is Yūhi Clan genjutsu. We usually call this kind of thing 'shuriken.'"
"Hagoromo's awful personality…"
The same thought flashed through the minds of his three close acquaintances simultaneously.
As expected, Kurenai grew even angrier, and in the next instant, three more shuriken shot toward Hagoromo.
Once again, Hagoromo deflected them and said calmly, "Let's forget the shuriken. Aren't you going to use genjutsu? If you don't, you'll lose. I'm better at shuriken throwing than you."
At that moment, Kurenai suddenly noticed a shuriken curving in a wide arc toward her.
"When did that happen?!"
She hadn't seen Hagoromo make any throwing motion at all. There had been no warning—how had he launched the attack?
However, because the shuriken had taken such a wide curved path—entering from her blind spot—it had lost much of its force by the time it reached her. She reacted quickly and blocked it with her kunai.
Clang!
Hagoromo's attack seemed to have failed.
Kurenai was just about to mock his shuriken jutsu—
When she suddenly heard a panicked shout from the sidelines:
"Watch out! It's Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!!!"
"What?!"
Hagoromo hadn't thrown one shuriken—he had thrown two.
Both followed the same wide arc. One high, one low.
The lower shuriken was hidden perfectly within the shadow of the upper one, skimming along the ground at barely ten centimeters above the surface. When it reached a point one meter in front of Kurenai, it suddenly surged upward at high speed, shooting straight toward her chest!
With the warning, Kurenai immediately realized the danger and dodged in a panic.
The shuriken sliced through her sleeve, leaving a shallow cut along the outside of her arm.
If no one had warned her, that shuriken would have robbed her of mobility—causing an injury that would take weeks to heal.
"Sarutobi Asuma!" Instructor Aizawa barked sharply. "This is a one-on-one match! Any outside warning is strictly forbidden! If you interfere again, Yūhi Kurenai will be failed immediately!"
His tone was furious, showing no regard at all for Asuma's status as the Hokage's son.
This attack should have decided the match. Asuma's warning turned it into a minor hit instead.
"Yes, sensei," Sarutobi Asuma replied, lowering his head obediently.
He knew he was at fault. When he saw Kurenai about to be injured, he had shouted without thinking.
What should have been a decisive move ended as a light wound—this was entirely his responsibility.
Two shuriken flying in perfect synchronization, combined with Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique.
The difficulty of this jutsu far exceeded common ninja understanding.
After all, these weren't massive Demon Wind Shuriken(Fūma Shuriken)—they were standard shuriken, less than ten centimeters in diameter.
Kurenai checked her injury. It was only a scrape—nothing serious.
The real problem was her right hand holding the kunai, which was still numb and partially paralyzed.
In an instant, she understood what Hagoromo had done.
"You… infused Lightning Release into the shuriken?" Kurenai asked, her voice unsteady.
There were only a handful of students in the entire academy capable of using elemental ninjutsu proficiently. More importantly, she was certain that since the start of the match, Hagoromo hadn't formed a single hand seal.
So the question was—
How did he use Lightning Release?
Hagoromo merely shrugged, offering no answer.
"Then how did you perform Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique with such small shuriken?" she pressed, unwilling to give up.
This time, Hagoromo answered—because his urge to explain was burning.
"To make two small objects follow the same wide curved trajectory, retain acceleration at the final moment, and stay synchronized isn't easy. It involves magnetic fields, magnetic declination, Coriolis force corrections, and applied calculations. I summarized it into a somewhat complicated formula, but actually using it requires strong mental processing ability…"
"Magnetic…?" Kurenai murmured.
At this point, she would have preferred he not explain. The unfamiliar terminology made her dizzy.
"From a physics perspective," Hagoromo continued calmly, "a magnetic field is an electric field. Electricity and magnetism are inseparable. Or rather—electricity is magnetism, and magnetism is electricity. Lightning Release, when you break it down, is simply the application of electricity."
Kurenai: "..."
Instructor: "..."
Classmates: "..."
Everyone was screaming internally:
What in the world are you talking about?! Why don't we understand a single word?!
They began glancing at one another—some people were nodding thoughtfully.
So he understands it?
Not wanting to look stupid, everyone else quickly began nodding along as well.
"Obito," Guy whispered seriously, "did you understand what Hagoromo meant?"
"Huh? Me? …Of course I understood," Obito replied stiffly. "Do you need me to explain it to you?"
Guy might not be the sharpest tool in the shed, and sometimes he behaved like a rare specimen—but no one wanted to be treated like an idiot.
After staring deeply at Obito for a moment, Guy nodded.
"No, no need. I think I understand it too."