Earth Release

"I knew Shigure would always win when no one expected it!" Kakashi Nao was delighted after realizing that Shigure had turned the tables on them.

"Sorry, miss, but you lost!" Shigure suddenly emerged from Violet's body, giving her a huge fright.

"Ah!" Violet could not help screaming. Anyone would be scared half to death if they saw someone crawl out of their own body—let alone a young girl.

"Idiot! She actually had her genjutsu reflected back at her!" Katsuhira Yoshida muttered with a slight frown. Then he looked at Shigure's eyes—the three white tomoe—and was immediately startled.

"Three white tomoe? Could this be a Kekkei Genkai mutation? This guy had already awakened the Uchiha Clan's Kekkei Genkai without anyone noticing—and it was a Three Tomoe Sharingan?!"

"No wonder even Violet, who could use advanced genjutsu, lost to him," Katsuhira Yoshida realized.

"Release!" Saori Suzuki had already run to Violet's side and dispelled the genjutsu for her. Only then did Violet understand that her genjutsu had been reflected by the opponent before her.

She raised her head and looked weakly at Shigure. "Sorry, I wasn't skilled enough. I lost."

Violet was somewhat dejected. She had not expected fighting an Uchiha with a Three Tomoe Sharingan to go so poorly, much less that Shigure would reflect her genjutsu back at her. As she stepped down, she memorized the appearance of the young man before her.

"Uchiha Shigure, one day, I will defeat you."

Shigure assumed his stance once more and said, "Best two out of three. Come on, final round."

The Genin called Katsuhira Yoshida stepped forward. Under Shigure's White Rinnegan, he could clearly see that Katsuhira's chakra flow was far greater than that of an ordinary ninja.

"Hmm? This guy's total chakra reserves seem rather high."

"It looks like he has chakra reserves comparable to a Jonin's, but compared to me, they're still nothing," Shigure thought with narrowed eyes.

"Uchiha Shigure? I never expected you to awaken a Three Tomoe Sharingan without a sound. A Kekkei Genkai like that should consume quite a bit of chakra, shouldn't it?"

"As long as I stall long enough, you'll run out of chakra and collapse. Am I wrong?" Katsuhira Yoshida made a simple guess.

Yet even he had not guessed that Shigure's White Rinnegan consumed barely any chakra and required only a thought to activate.

Naturally, Shigure was not stupid enough to tell him that.

"You think I'll let you stall me?" Shigure said disdainfully, though his hands were already forming seals at tremendous speed.

The sight left the Suzuki Team utterly stunned.

"What? Such fast hand seals! Is he really a Genin?"

"Even Jonin—no, not even anyone I've ever seen—could form seals as fast as he can!" Teacher Suzuki began to question reality itself.

Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu! Shigure had already finished forming his seals. He took a fierce breath, then spewed flames from his mouth. His highly refined chakra, perfect chakra control, and the White Rinnegan's observational prowess made the enormous Great Fireball even more threatening.

"What? How is that possible?! Is that really the Great Fireball Jutsu?!"

"How could it be so huge?!" Katsuhira was stunned by the sight, but he was no ordinary ninja. He immediately used the D-rank Body Flicker Technique to evade Shigure's attack. At the same time, his hands swiftly formed the seals for an extremely powerful Water Style ninjutsu.

Water Style: Great Waterfall Technique!

"Hmm? This Katsuhira is indeed quite capable. He's clearly much stronger than Kakashi and Kurenai, but I've got a big move too!" The instant Shigure used the Body Flicker Technique to leap into the air, he had already finished forming another set of seals.

Earth Style: Earth Style Wall! A massive Earth Style Wall rose rapidly beneath Shigure, as enormous as a mountain. Even Saori Suzuki, a Jonin, could not believe its power and scale.

"You're kidding, right?! That's an Earth Style Wall?!"

The Earth Style Wall directly blocked the impact of the Great Waterfall Technique. Shigure stood atop it, completely unharmed.

"He used the Earth Style Wall as a stepping stone. I don't know why, but the ninjutsu he uses becomes so incredibly powerful and wide-ranging! That Earth Style Wall is like a mountain!" Saori Suzuki analyzed in shock.

"So this guy doesn't just reflect genjutsu... His ninjutsu is this terrifying too?!" Violet exclaimed from the side.

"You bastard!" Katsuhira had not expected that even the Great Waterfall Technique would fail to defeat Shigure, while costing him a great deal of chakra.

Furious, Yoshida prepared to charge straight at Shigure and crush him using his taijutsu and physical advantage.

However, charging at an opponent so recklessly was obviously an extremely unwise move for a ninja.

Shigure formed seals once again. By the time Yoshida reacted, Shigure had already finished.

Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!

Shigure had naturally copied this technique from his senior brother Jiraiya. It was one of Jiraiya's signature ninjutsu.

The once-solid ground instantly softened, and the green earth immediately transformed into a bottomless swamp.

No matter how formidable Katsuhira Yoshida was, he was still only a Genin. Even if he possessed strength comparable to a Jonin's, charging recklessly at Shigure was nothing less than courting death.

"Ah!" Katsuhira Yoshida screamed as his body sank into the swamp.

"That's Earth Release."

"The Uchiha Clan actually has an Earth Release chakra nature!"

No one had expected Uchiha Shigure's Earth Release ninjutsu to reach such an extraordinary level. Everyone knew that Konoha predominantly used Fire Style, and the Uchiha were especially renowned for their mastery of Fire Style ninjutsu.

Based on Katsuhira Yoshida's judgment, his Water Style should have completely countered Shigure's Fire Style.

That was why he had spent so much chakra to use Water Style: Great Waterfall Technique. Yet he discovered that Shigure's Earth Release was absurdly impressive—and among the Five Element Ninjutsu, Earth Release countered Water Style.

The first Earth Release technique Shigure used had instantly disrupted Katsuhira's original plan. On top of that, Shigure had directly unleashed an A-rank Earth Release ninjutsu with an enormous area of effect—Swamp of the Underworld.

"This guy is clearly just a Genin, so how can he possess such powerful ninjutsu?!" The members of Team Two were not the only ones astonished. Even Kakashi Nao was too shocked for words. He had never imagined Shigure had surpassed him by so much.

Shigure... he's so strong. Kakashi Nao silently made up his mind that after watching this match, he would return to the Hatake household and diligently practice his swordsmanship.