Hyuga vs. Uchiha, Part Two

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Such a high-intensity contest of ocular power was a heavy burden for both Naoki and Shisui. That strange close-quarters battle could not last long.

Naoki supported himself with one hand on the ground while breathing heavily.

At this moment, his entire body ached, and his calves had begun trembling. If he did not brace himself with one hand, he might not even be able to keep his footing.

That exchange had tested not only ocular power, but also each person's control over their own body.

Changes in technique separated by the smallest margins placed an enormous burden on the muscles throughout the body. Naoki's muscles had been under high pressure at every moment. Even though the exchange lasted only a short while, its intensity was comparable to sparring with Guy for an entire afternoon.

Shisui on the other side looked even worse. His head was covered in sweat, and he panted heavily, clearly short on stamina.

Shisui had not paid much attention to Itachi's earlier praise of Naoki. It was not arrogance. He truly had the qualifications to look down on the vast majority of so-called geniuses in the village.

But after this exchange, he personally understood how strong Naoki's ocular power was. He had never imagined that after awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan, he would be at a slight disadvantage in a contest of insight.

Neither of them rushed to stand. By tacit agreement, they rested for a short while.

A moment later, Naoki steadied his breathing and stood first. "Continue."

Shisui seemed not to have fully recovered, but he forced himself to stand and nodded with a serious expression.

Naoki lowered his body slightly, then stomped hard, jolting two shuriken lying near his feet into the air. He grabbed one in each hand and threw them toward Shisui in one smooth motion.

At the same time, his figure blurred as he rushed after the two shuriken toward Shisui.

After suffering enough in the earlier taijutsu exchange, Shisui no longer dared let Naoki close in easily. He immediately formed hand signs and shouted, "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

In an instant, an enormous flame erupted from Shisui's mouth, almost covering the entire training platform.

Seeing the Great Fireball surge toward him from every direction, Naoki had nowhere to dodge and could only activate Rotation again.

For a time, the training platform became a giant furnace, and one with a fan inside it. Naoki, using Rotation in the middle of the flames, was like that fan in the furnace, stirring Shisui's Great Fireball Technique into chaos.

The chunin watching around the platform fell into disorder again, dodging the scattered flames in miserable fashion. Even the Third Hokage had no choice but to retreat a short distance.

On the platform, Naoki did not feel good after forcibly enduring the Great Fireball Technique.

Rotation was a defensive method aimed at physical attacks. Against ninjutsu, its effect was greatly reduced. Although Naoki had blocked Shisui's Great Fireball Technique, he had consumed three or even four times as much chakra as Shisui. Even though his chakra volume was higher, that exchange ratio was something he could not endure.

Fortunately, after blocking the Great Fireball Technique, Naoki had already closed in on Shisui.

"Body Flicker Technique!"

Knowing how terrifying Naoki was in close combat, Shisui ignored his body's fatigue, formed hand signs again, and used his trump card.

Along with Shisui's still-young voice, more than ten figures of Shisui appeared on the training platform, like shadow clones.

Naoki immediately stopped attacking. Beneath his goggles, the captivating Tenseigan swept across the platform, trying to find Shisui's real body. But for some reason, every Shisui on the platform looked like the real one, leaving him unable to distinguish the true body for a moment.

Naoki did not know much about Shisui's Body Flicker Technique, but he knew Shisui had the title Shisui of the Body Flicker. Since the words Body Flicker were enough to become his title, there had to be something special about his technique.

At that moment, the dozen-plus Shisui figures on the platform spoke at the same time. "Senior Naoki, I'm going to attack."

The voices came from every direction, making it difficult for Naoki to distinguish them.

The moment Shisui finished speaking, a storm of attacks followed.

Surrounded by more than ten Shisui figures, Naoki struggled to defend himself. Not only did he look battered, several blade wounds quickly appeared on his body. With no other choice, he used Rotation again and barely blocked the assault of Shisui's Body Flicker Technique.

After winning a brief chance to breathe, Naoki finally had time to observe Shisui's Body Flicker Technique.

Gradually, he saw some clues.

Shisui's Body Flicker Technique seemed to create afterimages through ultra-high-speed movement, using one real body to produce the scale of more than ten real bodies and making it difficult for the enemy to resist.

Unlike Guy's rapid movement, however, Shisui's Body Flicker Technique was not pure taijutsu. Like the Hyuga clan's Gentle Fist, it mixed ninjutsu and taijutsu. Although it required hand signs, its effect surpassed Guy's rapid movement. Because of that, even Naoki, who possessed the Tenseigan, had failed to see through it at the first moment.

In the end, however, Shisui's Body Flicker Technique was still taijutsu in nature. As long as an attack was taijutsu, then aside from a few monstrous forbidden techniques, Rotation could handle most of it.

After making up his mind, Naoki simply stopped attacking and devoted himself entirely to defense.

When it came to chakra, he was not afraid of Shisui.

After blocking several more rounds of Shisui's attacks, Naoki wiped the fine sweat from his forehead and said, "If this is all there is to it, your Body Flicker Technique can't do anything to me."

Shisui also realized this. He decisively stopped using the Body Flicker Technique and said while panting hard, "Senior, I am not your opponent. I lose this match."

Naoki froze. He had not expected Shisui to concede so easily.

Shisui smiled helplessly and explained, "My chakra is almost exhausted, but you still seem to have strength left. If we continue, I will definitely lose."

Looking at the exhausted Shisui, Naoki suddenly understood something.

The awakening of the Mangekyo Sharingan had certainly been a qualitative improvement for Shisui, but that improvement was purely in combat power. It did not improve his constitution. Instead, it increased the burden on his body and weakened him to a certain degree.

On top of that, Shisui was still young and his body had not fully developed. The burden of the Mangekyo Sharingan was even heavier for him.

At its essence, the Mangekyo Sharingan was more like an abnormal mutation of the bloodline. It was inherently unstable.

Before evolving into the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, it was a double-edged sword for any shinobi. The more often it was used, the greater the harm to the user's eyesight and body.

This also explained why Danzo dared attack Shisui so brazenly.

First, the burden of the Mangekyo Sharingan on the body far exceeded that of the ordinary Sharingan. In combat, Shisui would subconsciously avoid using the Mangekyo.

Second, Danzo acted in the name of the village. That put the weight of the larger cause over Shisui and made Shisui unwilling to kill him.

In the end, as long as Shisui did not dare go all out and slaughter his enemies, then to Danzo he was only a slightly troublesome elite jonin.

But if Shisui set aside every restraint and used everything he had, then forget Danzo. Even the Third Hokage might be controlled by Kotoamatsukami and killed in an instant.

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