For more than ten days in a row, Kawadera Uchiha had cast genjutsu on Shingu Senju every night.
Kawadera Uchiha didn't know whether Shingu Senju had improved, but his own [Illusion] had increased by 0.1, reaching 8.4.
It was the result of his own talent and practice.
One night, Shingu Senju took almost an hour to wake from the genjutsu.
"Fifty-three minutes? You're improving way too slowly.
Kid, I'm using genjutsu to torment you. I'm tormenting you badly.
Could you stop looking like you're enjoying it every time? You're making me feel like a failure."
Shingu Senju quickly wiped the smile from his lips and looked up at Kawadera, who was frowning at the top of the stairs.
He knew it wasn't good, either, but seeing Mitsuki every night was just too wonderful.
Kawadera said, "Looks like I've been too gentle with you. From now on, I'll be much rougher."
Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique!
In Shingu Senju's vision, the scarlet Rinnegan suddenly turned into a blood-red sky.
The ground spun and warped, and the scenery changed in an instant. He found himself on a grassland, surrounded by the endless explosions of Explosive Tags.
The battlefield. He was back on the battlefield.
Kanzuki Senju appeared and rushed past Shingu Senju, who was sitting helplessly on the ground.
Kanzuki Senju was stronger than him, so she was always the one charging ahead.
The next instant, a pillar of white light from a barrier shot down.
Kanzuki Senju's figure crumbled like dust.
It started with her right arm, then her shoulder, right chest, hips, legs...
All he saw was Kanzuki Senju's profile, still covered in peach-like, adorable fuzz...
In an instant, Kanzuki Senju was pulverized within the Dust Release barrier.
Only the ponytail on the left side of her head remained, tossed wildly by the wind.
Despairing, Shingu Senju raised his hand and caught the pale-gold strands of hair.
"No!"
Despair and pain engulfed Shingu Senju.
If only he'd been a little stronger, he would've been the one charging at the front, and Mitsuki wouldn't have died.
Guilt and pain consumed Shingu Senju.
Overcome by unbearable anguish, he fainted instantly.
Seeing the useless Shingu Senju, Kawadera felt the burden on his shoulders grow heavier.
Shingu Senju's [Illusion] should've been around 5.
With resistance to genjutsu like that, how could he stand against Fugaku Uchiha?
Fugaku Uchiha's [Illusion] was around 7 now. The young clan head was an exceptionally gifted genius.
There were still more than two months left. Kawadera didn't know whether Shingu Senju could catch up.
One day, Ishiya Uchiha suddenly came looking for Kawadera.
Kawadera thought something serious had happened, but it turned out the Police Force was short-handed and wanted him to fill in temporarily.
Ishiya Uchiha was the clan's intelligence chief. The Police Force had probably asked him to lend them someone, so he'd volunteered Kawadera, who was on leave.
After getting a Police Force uniform that didn't fit very well, Kawadera sat in the duty room and waited for an assignment.
A few minutes later, Squad Leader Hiroshi Uchiha burst through the door.
Seeing Kawadera alone in the duty room, he said, "Come with me! We've got a disturbance to deal with!"
"Sure!"
Kawadera still had no idea what the Police Force usually did.
Hiroshi Uchiha used the Body Flicker Technique across the rooftops. That privilege was reserved for Police Force ninja, Anbu Ninja, and Jonin.
Ordinary ninja had to walk, or Konoha would descend into chaos.
At the entrance to a tavern, Hiroshi Uchiha said, "Once we're inside, restrain everyone causing trouble!"
The raucous din inside could be heard even through the tavern's doors and windows.
As soon as Kawadera stepped inside, he raised a hand and caught a cup flying at him from the side.
Hiroshi Uchiha thought, As expected of a ninja from the clan's Intelligence Division. He's pretty quick.
Kawadera could only sigh. The squad leader had told him to restrain everyone causing trouble, but there were way too many of them.
The tavern had ten tables. The people at the six in the middle had already broken into a brawl, while the onlookers along the walls cheered them on and egged them on.
"Hit him! Aim for his crotch! Make his wife live like a widow!"
"Your wife already ran off with someone else! Don't be scared. Stick your hips out and offer up your crotch!"
"Yeah! Gouge out his eyes! Sneak up and jab his eyes with your thumb!"
"Use chopsticks as Senbon! Don't use them like Kunai! Stab him! Do you even know how to use a weapon?"
"Boiling water! Just use boiling water! That's the way!"
The air reeked with the stale, heavy stench of yesterday's vomit.
Every step stuck to the soles of his shoes.
The light fell on the filthy tables.
Splashed liquor hung in the air as a fine mist.
Beyond the hazy liquor mist and dim yellow lights were the drinkers' bloodshot eyes, their slanted, triangular eyes, their gaping mouths, and their faces, twisted with rage or flushed with excitement.
One look was all it took for Kawadera to fall in love with the place.
He wouldn't believe himself if he claimed he wasn't a little crazy.
What was he supposed to do if his madness started showing?
As the newcomer, how could he let Senior Hiroshi Uchiha do all the work?
Kawadera held four Shuriken between the fingers of each hand, each with a wire attached, and hurled them out.
The sound of them slicing through the air was drowned out by the shouting.
A drinker raising a bottle to smash someone had his arm caught in the wire.
A drinker pinning someone down and pummeling him struck the wire with his fist.
A man holding a stool watched it slip from his hands. A Shuriken had gone through one of its legs, leaving it dangling in midair.
The eight wires stopped most of them in an instant.
Hiroshi Uchiha nodded again and again. As expected of an Intelligence Division elite—he was far more capable than clan members who'd joined the Police Force straight out of the Academy.
Once the brawl was under control, only one man was still shouting especially loudly. Eight of his fingers were broken; only his thumbs remained.
"I'm an elite Chunin of the Sarutobi Clan!
You know the Sarutobi Clan, don't you? We're the village's greatest ninja clan, now and in the future!
Elite? Do you even know what that means? My clan values me so much!
If I hadn't charged too far ahead alongside that idiot from the Senju Clan, I wouldn't have ruined my fingers!
I—"
Kawadera recognized him. He was Tombo Sarutobi, whom he'd met briefly on the front lines.
Back then, Tombo Sarutobi had constantly flattered Takashi Senju, the Senju squad leader.
He'd wanted Takashi Senju to remember the Senju Clan's glory and charge at the front, so he could hide behind him.
As it turned out, Takashi Senju had indeed charged at the front—just a little too aggressively, which had led to Tombo Sarutobi getting caught in the disaster, too.
Hiroshi Uchiha did nothing to deal with the Sarutobi Clan member slumped on the ground, shouting nonstop.
Kawadera tacitly followed suit, doing nothing as he listened to the man's curses.
"The Senju Clan is finished! They're almost all dead!
The Uchiha Clan is useless! They even need my Sarutobi Clan's permission to leave the village!
My Sarutobi Clan is the biggest ninja clan in Konoha!"
A drinker nearby couldn't stand it anymore and hurriedly covered Tombo Sarutobi's mouth.
"You're drunk! Shut up already!"
Hiroshi Uchiha gave Kawadera a look. Kawadera used the Body Flicker Technique to close in, seized the arms of the man trying to reason with Tombo, and twisted them behind his back.
"Everyone causing trouble is coming with me to the Police Force to sober up!"
He took out wire and tied up the troublemakers one by one.
The thin wire around their wrists hurt enough to sober most of them up. They turned and glared viciously at Kawadera.
But the sight of Kawadera's Sharingan sobered them up a little more.
Fear of being under the thumb of the Uchiha Police Force kept them from saying anything.
Only Tombo Sarutobi kept cursing and shouting.
More and more people gathered to watch, and more and more listened.
Hiroshi Uchiha and Kawadera exchanged a knowing look, deliberately letting Tombo Sarutobi keep shouting.
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