Taking the Blade

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A person's outward bearing could reflect their truest inner self.

Naoki believed that without question.

Hiiragi Uchiha's visible immersion in swordsmanship reflected his pride in his own blade work, and his trust in the sharp short blade in his hand.

It was precisely that pride in his swordsmanship, and that trust in his weapon, that made him unconsciously take risks whenever he fell into a fierce battle.

He had never noticed that flaw.

Or rather, in the entire Uchiha Clan, aside from Shisui, no one had noticed it.

And small details could sometimes decide victory or defeat.

After a round of close-quarters fighting with Hiiragi, Naoki took the initiative to retreat and began using the grove's terrain to fight a mobile battle with him.

Shnk.

With a sharp whistle as the short blade split the air, another tree as thick as a man's torso was cut in half.

Counting that one, eight or nine large trees in the grove had already suffered under Hiiragi's blade.

Borrowing the smoke and dust kicked up by the falling trunks, Naoki once again widened the distance between them.

Hiiragi shouted with killing intent, "Coward! Can you do anything except hide?"

Naoki's face remained calm. "Can you do anything except cut down trees?"

"You!"

Hiiragi was briefly speechless.

Naoki did not continue mocking him. He devoted all his attention to dealing with Hiiragi's attacks, each wave fiercer than the last.

Hiiragi truly deserved to be called one of the Uchiha clan's elites. Even without genjutsu or ninjutsu, his strength was absolutely jonin level. With his refined swordsmanship enhanced by the Sharingan, he was all sharp edges.

Honestly, without using Revolving Will or the Third Kazekage human puppet, Naoki did not have many good ways to deal with Hiiragi. If not for the intelligence Shisui had passed him in advance, this fight would have been troublesome.

Naoki's current tactic was simple: drag it out.

He would drag things out until Hiiragi grew restless and his killing intent filled his chest. Only then would Hiiragi reveal an opening.

Like most Uchiha, Hiiragi did not have particularly good patience. After chasing Naoki and attacking wildly for a long time, his emotions grew increasingly unstable.

Each move and each form brimmed with killing intent. But excessive killing intent inevitably reduced variation.

As a result, in Naoki's Tenseigan, more and more openings appeared in Hiiragi's swordsmanship. Several times, Naoki could already have barely seized a chance and counterattacked with Eight Trigrams Palms.

But Naoki was not in a hurry.

He trusted the intelligence Shisui had sent him, but he trusted his own eyes even more.

After another chase, the two of them leapt out of the now-ravaged grove one after the other and reached a lake, startling the villagers washing clothes by the shore into cries of alarm.

Standing on the surface of the lake, Naoki panted lightly and said, "Looks like you are stronger than the last one."

Hiiragi roared, "A man who only runs and hides has no right to judge us Uchiha!"

As soon as he finished roaring, Hiiragi coughed violently several times.

There was no doubt that his stamina had never been especially good. Coupled with the agitation of killing intent he could not release, he had consumed far more energy than Naoki.

Knowing that the moment had arrived, Naoki smiled. "Runs and hides? Your shallowness is honestly shocking."

Before Hiiragi could answer, Naoki launched the attack himself.

Hiiragi's spirit lifted at once, and he immediately swung his blade toward Naoki.

In an instant, waves churned across the previously calm lake as the two clashed fiercely amid the spray.

The moment they exchanged blows, Naoki felt that Hiiragi's swordsmanship was much messier than before. The killing intent was still blazing, but his blade had lost a measure of speed and gained a great deal of viciousness.

But killing intent alone could not kill anyone.

An opening.

Inside the Tenseigan's vision, Naoki found one opening after another in Hiiragi's movements.

Still, he did not hurry. What he was waiting for was not merely a chance to defeat Hiiragi. He was waiting for a chance to take the short blade from Hiiragi's hand.

He wanted to crush Hiiragi's confidence completely.

A few breaths later, that chance finally appeared.

Naoki did not hesitate. He immediately changed his palm into a fist and drove it straight toward Hiiragi's chest.

Just as Naoki expected, Hiiragi not only did not retreat, but answered attack with attack and swung his blade at him.

'Exactly. You like taking risks.'

The corner of Naoki's mouth lifted slightly.

At the same time, his feinting fist suddenly swept upward, striking Hiiragi's blade wrist. His other hand followed the motion and took the short blade.

The entire disarm happened in the blink of an eye.

By the time Naoki retreated with the blade, Hiiragi was still frozen there, unable to react.

Playing with the short blade in his hand, Naoki said lightly, "It really is a good blade. The person using it just lacks polish."

"You..."

Naoki tossed the short blade back to Hiiragi. "You lost."

After speaking, he ignored the stunned Hiiragi and left the lake.

Not long after, Shisui appeared in front of Naoki and asked, "Senior, did it go smoothly?"

Because Hiiragi was strong, Shisui had not been confident he could follow him silently. Unlike the previous time with Shinichi, he had not watched the entire fight.

Naoki nodded. "Smooth enough. But that Hiiragi is strong. If I had not agreed with him beforehand that we would compete in taijutsu, the result would have been hard to say."

During the battle, Naoki had looked calm and unbothered, as if he had not taken Hiiragi seriously at all. In reality, under the condition that he could not use Revolving Will or the Third Kazekage human puppet, this was roughly Naoki's current limit.

If they had not restricted the match to taijutsu from the start, whether he could beat Hiiragi would have been uncertain.

Shisui smiled. "I was not worried about you at all, Senior."

"You know some methods are inconvenient to use inside the village." After a pause, Naoki continued, "If the Uchiha send someone stronger next time, I may really be unable to handle it."

Against Hiiragi, Naoki had already used tricks. If the Uchiha sent a jonin stronger than Hiiragi next time, his chances would not be high.

And Naoki accepted the Uchiha challenges not only to temper himself, but also to use the Uchiha name to build his own reputation.

The Uchiha might not be liked, but their name carried weight. Even if the village's shinobi did not say it out loud, in their hearts, they had long equated the Uchiha with elite strength. Since the village higher-ups were also deeply suspicious of the Uchiha, stepping on the Uchiha was the most efficient and safest way to make a name for himself.

Shisui quickly promised, "Please rest assured. With Hiiragi losing this time, the clan should not send anyone else to challenge you for a while."

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