The Phantom Seal

A routine mode and a battle mode—he had to establish a way to switch between them.

Uchiha Rei was still powerful. Even with his chakra suppressed to Genin levels, he could defeat an ordinary Jonin with his Sharingan and combat skills.

However.

His imagined enemies had never been Jonin.

They were the shadows, the Six Paths.

They were the beings who truly stood at the pinnacle of the Ninja World.

"If it takes too long to switch my chakra with Genjutsu... I might not even finish a single hand seal before an enemy kills me." Uchiha Rei murmured, sounding as if he were considering the matter—or making one final gamble.

He closed his eyes and slowly stirred the chakra within him. He gathered and compressed what remained, refining it bit by bit as if forging a sword. Soon, a mass of concentrated chakra formed between his chest and abdomen, along with the concentrated essence of the poison in his body.

"This won't do. I need to seal it away," he judged calmly.

Chakra flowed along his meridians as Uchiha Rei guided it into the tissues deep within his body. He didn't let it dissipate completely. Instead, he wrapped it in a thin film of chakra, like a sealed scroll, locking it securely inside his cells.

"This part... I'll call the 'Phantom Seal,'" he murmured.

As long as he released the seal, he could instantly restore his original chakra output and awaken his Mangekyo again.

The Phantom Seal allowed him to maintain a Genin-level amount of chakra in his daily life. That could both slow the spread of the poison and allow him to regain his strength in a real battle.

Uchiha Rei let out a long breath. "The Phantom Seal is safer than drinking that potion from the Third Elder."

He silently compared his current condition with the alternative.

If he took the potion, he'd need fifteen days of rest, during which he wouldn't be able to fight;

but now, he'd stretched the time it would take for the poison in his body to spread to a full month—thirty whole days!

"And I still have my strength."

In the Ninja World, surviving and holding on to one's strength was already the greatest victory.

With the danger of the poison in his body temporarily under control, Uchiha Rei's expression softened a little. He formed hand seals.

"Shadow Clone Technique."

As a wisp of smoke curled through the air, his clone appeared before him. Without a word, the clone nodded slightly, then leaped out the window and disappeared into the moonlight.

Uchiha Rei coughed lightly, feeling his chakra suddenly plunge, like a floodgate had just opened.

"...So this is what Genin-level chakra feels like. I haven't experienced it in a long time." He rubbed his temples and gave a bitter laugh.

The sensation of losing his strength stirred a long-forgotten unease in his heart.

The helplessness of having everything taken from him, of being left to face the storm of the Ninja World barehanded, infuriated him.

"I have to find Tsunade as soon as possible... Otherwise, when the poison surges again, I'll be done for."

He murmured to himself, his gaze gradually growing resolute.

At least he still had trump cards.

The Phantom Seal, the Mangekyo, Kurama Genjutsu, the Yasakani no Magatama.

He wasn't a pawn who could be manipulated so easily, nor was he a tool in the hands of Konoha's leadership or the Uchiha clan.

Even without the curse of the Caged Bird Seal, he knew that the cage he was trapped in was sturdier than any Kekkei Genkai's shackles.

"As long as I'm alive, I'll find a way to break it."

The night breeze was cool. The Shadow Clone had already slipped into Rei's little house in the center of Konoha. As usual, it checked the special mark set on the doorframe. After confirming no one had entered, it gently opened the door and went inside.

Everything was as it had been, as if nothing had happened.

The Shadow Clone sat down to rest.

At dawn the next day, Uchiha Rei headed alone to the Public Training Ground.

The sky had only just begun to brighten, but a familiar green figure was already training there.

"One thousand... one thousand and one..."

The voice was booming, full of passion and youthful vigor.

The man was Might Guy.

He wore his signature green jumpsuit, and his thick black hair seemed to blaze like a flame in the morning light.

"I did a thousand more sets today... That's youth for you!!"

His voice rang across the entire training ground.

Uchiha Rei stood at the edge of the training ground, his expression calm. Guy's exuberant enthusiasm was a little much, but Rei paid it no mind and began jogging silently around the field.

It was a basic yet important form of training.

Physical training activated the cells, helping them bear chakra more effectively. And for Rei, who was forcibly suppressing the chakra poison, increasing his cells' capacity was tantamount to extending his life.

One lap, two laps, three... Uchiha Rei ran at a brisk pace, his stride steady and strong.

Before long, the green figure appeared beside him again.

"Wahaha, Uchiha Rei!! Let's run together!!"

Might Guy ran alongside him without a hint of hesitation. He even gave a thumbs-up and flashed his trademark dazzling smile. "Taijutsu is a man's romance!"

Uchiha Rei glanced sideways at him. He and Might Guy weren't close—in fact, they might as well have come from different worlds. Yet Guy always managed to strike up a conversation with anyone, his enthusiasm impossible to refuse.

The two were contemporaries, and both were Konoha Jonin.

Might Guy was strongest in Taijutsu, while Kakashi Hatake was known for his Ninjutsu.

Uchiha Rei, meanwhile, had shown talent in both Fire Release and Genjutsu.

"In that case..." Might Guy's eyes suddenly lit up. "Let's have a youthful showdown! Fifty laps around the field. First one to finish wins!"

Before the words had left his mouth, he shot off like an arrow.

Uchiha Rei shook his head helplessly, but he wasn't about to back down. He knew that running faster could improve his stamina and help his cells absorb chakra more efficiently.

"We're only twenty. Why are we pushing ourselves so hard?" he murmured, then quickened his pace and chased after him.

On the training ground, two figures raced like the wind, crossing paths and leaving blurred footprints in the morning light.

Before long, the fifty-lap race had a winner.

Uchiha Rei's better pacing and stamina management gave him a slight edge, and he reached the finish first. By then, both he and Might Guy were drenched in sweat, their training clothes soaked and clinging to them like a burden.

"Since I lost!" Might Guy suddenly turned and punched the sky. "I'll punish myself with a hundred more sets of gravity training!!"

Watching Guy's utter seriousness, Uchiha Rei gave a faint smile. "I'll join you. Actually... I started running half a lap before you did. I'm the one who really lost."

Might Guy looked as if he'd been struck by a tremendous shock. He froze for an instant, then his eyes lit up.

"You... You're willing to train more with me?"

His voice trembled slightly. The look in his eyes was more fervent than if he'd seen the most beautiful woman in the world.

For years, he had trained so intensely that even his comrades couldn't keep up. He'd had no one to sweat alongside him; he'd always trained alone.

Rei's "I'll join you" just now had broken that solitude.

"Great!! Then let's have a second youthful showdown: a hundred sets of gravity training. Let's see who finishes first!!"

With that, the two strapped on sandbags and threw themselves into their training.

Just over ten minutes later, Might Guy finished first, turning the tables once again.

"To celebrate my victory!" He leaped high and landed upside down, his voice booming. "I'll reward myself with a hundred handstand push-ups!!!"

Uchiha Rei wasn't about to be outdone. A rare smile appeared on his face. "I lost, so I'll do two hundred."

The two plunged into another bout of intense Taijutsu training. Sweat spattered the ground, sparkling like morning dew.

Meanwhile, a thicket of trees at the far end of the training ground rustled slightly.

Hidden behind it were two Konoha Anbu Ninjas, their presence concealed.

"His chakra signature is very weak."

The speaker was a ninja wearing dark glasses, a member of the Aburame Clan. Insects swarmed around him, and his tone was calm.

The other was from the Hyuga Clan. He had already deactivated his Byakugan. "His chakra level is around the Genin standard..."

The two exchanged a glance, then vanished silently from the edge of the training ground.