Exchange

"I lost." Shisui gave up resisting. The blood-red pupils of his Sharingan slowly faded, returning to black.

His feelings were complicated, but there was no resentment, jealousy, anger, or anything of the sort. Instead, he felt a sense of recognition and delight toward Kagetsu.

"You actually won?"

Before Shisui and Kagetsu could form the Seal of Reconciliation, an energetic voice forcefully seized both of their attention.

Anko leaped to their side and stared at Kagetsu in astonishment, her eyes filled with suspicion.

The first thing Kagetsu saw when he opened his eyes was Anko's scrutinizing face, almost pressed against his own.

"Why did you suddenly become so strong?" Anko circled Kagetsu suspiciously, her tone somewhat jealous. "Did Orochimaru Sensei secretly teach you some powerful ninjutsu?"

"You have quite an imagination." Kagetsu withdrew the Shadow Nerves from Shisui, drawing them bit by bit back into his own shadow, then lazily answered Anko's question.

"I guessed right, didn't I? No, I'm going to find Orochimaru Sensei! He has to teach me a powerful Forbidden Technique too!" Anko said indignantly.

"That should be a Kekkei Genkai, right?" Shisui looked at Kagetsu and offered an uncertain guess, recalling what had happened when he was caught.

Could a Shadow Secret Technique act upon inanimate objects, give them substance, and alter their form?

That had to be a deeper application of Yin Release!

Strictly speaking, he had lost because of intelligence and information. He had never expected Kagetsu's Yin Release to have such a trick up its sleeve.

The Training Ground was not particularly large. After their repeated pursuit and evasion, stepping over the same places was unavoidable. Shisui simply had not expected Kagetsu to have prepared something like that.

Even his Sharingan had failed to notice it.

Unless one was strong enough to be utterly unmatched, a ninja's battle was a battle of intelligence and information.

Based on today's spar, all the intelligence he had on Kagetsu clearly needed to be discarded entirely.

"Kekkei Genkai?" Anko instinctively stopped complaining. Her gaze dropped to the shadow beneath Kagetsu's feet, then rose to his face, and her expression gradually changed.

"Isn't that the Nara Clan's Shadow Secret Technique? Or that new secret technique Kagetsu created?"

Shisui did not answer Anko. He could not determine whether it was a bloodline ability or a secret technique either. However, as Kagetsu's opponent, his firsthand experience had made him more sensitive to it than Anko, who had merely watched.

"It's a Kekkei Genkai." Kagetsu nodded and admitted it.

The three of them would likely remain Orochimaru's disciples and subordinates for some time in the future, carrying out missions together. Kagetsu had never planned to hide it from Shisui and Anko anyway.

"You awakened a Kekkei Genkai?" Anko, who had been listening intently from the side, widened her eyes in shock.

A Kekkei Genkai!

To a ninja, a Kekkei Genkai was equivalent to a guarantee of strength.

Only powerful ninja could create a Kekkei Genkai. That was what Anko firmly believed. Yet seeing a companion she spent every day with suddenly possess one still came as a considerable shock.

"You can think of it that way." Kagetsu nodded.

"Isn't the Nara Clan a Secret Technique Clan?" Anko still found it hard to believe, though she knew Kagetsu would not lie about something like this.

"Does that mean the Nara Clan will become a Kekkei Genkai Clan in the future?"

Anko and Shisui exchanged a glance. Both had thought of that possibility.

After all, in many outsiders' eyes, Secret Technique Clans and clans with Kekkei Genkai shared quite a few similarities.

"What is your Kekkei Genkai? Is it that shadow under your feet? Does its ability need to be kept secret?" Once Anko accepted the fact that Kagetsu possessed a Kekkei Genkai, she immediately began asking curiously. But after asking, she felt that she was prying into the Nara Clan's secrets and promptly shut her mouth.

Inquiring into another clan's secret techniques was a taboo that could easily make others angry and suspicious. Only because Anko and Kagetsu were teammates under the same teacher and knew each other so well had she blurted it out.

"It just makes using Shadow Secret Techniques more convenient, and it has a few other uses." Kagetsu did not want to explain his abilities in detail. In truth, he was still figuring out how to develop more abilities based on his shadow's properties and familiarizing himself with his Kekkei Genkai.

Anko and Shisui nodded in understanding and did not ask further.

As long as they remained on the same team, they would eventually see and judge the abilities of Kagetsu's Kekkei Genkai for themselves. There was no need to rush.

"Did you develop this Kekkei Genkai together with Orochimaru-sama?" As if recalling something, Shisui leaned closer and quietly asked Kagetsu.

Shisui knew very well that Kagetsu had always served as Orochimaru's assistant, helping him conduct all kinds of Kekkei Genkai experiments. The Uchiha Clan and the Kurama Clan, who had joined later, both possessed Yin Release Kekkei Genkai.

The Nara Clan's Shadow Secret Technique also belonged to Yin Release Secret Techniques.

Shisui guessed that Kagetsu had found some sort of inspiration through the experiments and then awakened his own Kekkei Genkai.

"Yes." Kagetsu nodded again. Since Shisui had supplied such an explanation, Kagetsu naturally went along with it. It had been his excuse from the start.

Otherwise, could he possibly say that his Kekkei Genkai had awakened on its own after the incomplete Soul King's Left Hand fused with him?

"Congratulations." Shisui congratulated him sincerely.

In Shisui's eyes, Kagetsu, having awakened a Kekkei Genkai, would inevitably become a powerful ninja in the future. As the team's support, controller, and something like its brain, he could also give enemies a sudden surprise at crucial moments during missions and turn the tide against the odds.

Kagetsu's appearance was simply too deceptive. Combined with his skilled Medical Ninjutsu, enemies would certainly identify him as a Medical Ninja at first glance.

"Let's rest, then continue." After the spar ended, Kagetsu did not leave immediately. This was completely unlike the Kagetsu who usually spent entire days in the Laboratory, and even carefree Anko sensed that something was off.

But Kagetsu said nothing more and instead began considering how to develop more uses for his Kekkei Genkai.

Though they all belonged to Yin Release, the Uchiha Clan's Yin Release was focused entirely on the mind, spirit, and eyes. The Sharingan reflected the hearts of the Uchiha. Their bloodline ninjutsu all relied on the Sharingan to activate.

The Kurama Clan's Yin Release, on the other hand, was focused entirely on Genjutsu. They used powerful spiritual energy to construct extraordinarily realistic illusions and inflict harm upon others.

His Shadow Release was focused entirely on shadows. The incomplete Soul King's Left Hand seemed to have fused with his spirit, granting his shadow life through Yin Release Power.

Kagetsu could sense that his shadow seemed to possess a will of its own.