He Wins Twice, Itachi Wins Zero, Thus Three Wins!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Three shuriken flew out, tracing arcs through the air before striking the target twenty meters away.

Although they didn't all hit the bullseye, they at least landed on the target, and there was indeed a clear, curved trajectory.

"Not bad." Shisui walked up to the target to inspect it.

"The arc angle was 12 degrees, one change in direction, landing deviation... 1.3 inches to the left, 0.8 inches to the right, and the last one 2.1 inches. For a self-taught practitioner, this is already quite rare."

Qingyu felt a sense of relief.

"However..." Shisui turned around, his smile remaining, but his gaze turning sharp.

"You made a fundamental mistake."

"A mistake?"

"You are using too much 'force'." Shisui walked back and took a shuriken from Qingyu's hand.

"The Uchiha throwing technique isn't about how much strength you have or how powerful your chakra is; it's about 'Heart-Intent'."

"Heart-Intent?"

"Correct." Shisui placed the shuriken flat on his palm.

"What were you thinking about when you threw it? 'Rotate the wrist like this,' 'adjust the chakra like that,' 'the angle must be exactly so many degrees.' Your head was full of techniques and data, wasn't it?"

Qingyu nodded honestly.

"That is why your shuriken has 'form' but no 'soul'," Shisui said.

"It is merely executing your commands, rather than 'becoming' an extension of your will."

Qingyu listened, feeling a bit dazed; this sounded rather metaphysical.

Inside his mind, Izuna suddenly clicked his tongue.

Izuna: This sounds familiar.

"This kid's way of putting it... I think I've heard my brother say something similar. He said, 'The highest level of shuriken isn't the shuriken itself; it is the very thought of wanting to kill'."

Tobirama: "Idealistic rhetoric, but it cannot be denied that in certain extreme fields, one's mental state does indeed affect chakra precision and ninjutsu efficacy. There is experimental data to support this."

Tobirama: I have experimented on it!

Qingyu: Authority...

Ignoring Qingyu's confusion, Shisui continued: "Come, let's try a different approach. This time, when you throw, don't think about any technical details. Just think: 'I am going to hit that bullseye'."

"Just... that simple?"

"Give it a try."

Qingyu picked up a shuriken, stared at the target thirty meters away, and chanted silently in his heart: Hit the bullseye, hit the bullseye, hit the bullseye...

Whoosh!

The shuriken flew out!

It traced a crooked, wobbly arc through the air, didn't even graze the edge of the target, and buried itself directly into the tree trunk behind it.

Qingyu: "..."

"Pfft." Shisui couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm not laughing at you. I just remembered that when Itachi tried this exercise for the first time, he also threw his shuriken into a tree and nearly hit an Anbu passing by."

Qingyu felt even more awkward.

However, Itachi nearly hurt someone, but he didn't, so he had one win.

He had one win, Itachi had zero wins.

So he had two wins.

He had two wins, Itachi had zero wins, so three wins!

With three wins, one can achieve ten thousand wins!

Victory!

Itachi: If you've got the guts, come win on the Red Moon Night! See if I don't wipe you out!

"It's alright, we'll take it slow." Shisui patted his shoulder.

"This 'Heart-Intent Style' of throwing is different from what they teach at the academy, and even different from what most Uchiha teach."

"It's more like a technique for 'intuitive combat'. Once you master it, your shuriken will be a fraction of a second faster than others, the direction changes will be more natural, and you might even be able to change the trajectory once more after it has already left your hand."

"I can change the trajectory after it's already been thrown?!" Qingyu was shocked.

Are you telling me your bullets can turn corners?!

"Theoretically, yes," Shisui blinked, "but I haven't reached that realm yet. In the clan, perhaps only the Clan Head and a few elders can pull that off."

Qingyu suddenly recalled that in the original story, Itachi Uchiha seemed to have demonstrated this absurd maneuver.

Shuriken would collide with each other in mid-air, altering their trajectories to ultimately strike the target from a blind spot.

So this wasn't a plot cheat—the Uchiha actually possessed this kind of legacy?

[Ding!]

[System Prompt: Special training scenario detected.]

[Hidden quest triggered: Hand of Heart-Intent.]

[Quest details: Under Shisui's guidance, gain an initial understanding of the "Heart-Intent Style" shuriken throwing technique, and by the end of the training, successfully complete one "Heart-Intent Lock" throw (hit rate ≥ 80%).]

[Quest reward: Unlock special passive "Combat Intuition (Basic)"—slightly increases reaction speed and decision-making accuracy during critical moments.]

[Failure penalty: Shisui's favorability will decrease, and subsequent special training content may be reduced.]

Qingyu looked at the system prompt and steeled his heart.

Go for it!

Over the next two hours, Qingyu experienced the most "abstract" training session of his ninja career.

Shisui's teaching style was nothing like a teacher's; he was more of a guide.

He rarely corrected Qingyu's movements directly, instead constantly asking questions:

"Do you feel the shuriken is a 'tool' right now, or 'part of your hand'?"

"How far do you think the target is? Don't measure the distance with your eyes; use your 'senses'."

"If you closed your eyes, could you still 'see' the bullseye?"

Qingyu felt his head swelling like a bull's.

Shisui: Pressure!

Several times, he nearly blurted out, "Senior, can we be more practical? Just tell me how many degrees to rotate my wrist."

But looking at Shisui's earnest expression, he swallowed the words back down.

Inside his mind, the two big shots were also engaged in a heated discussion.

Izuna: "This method... is a bit bizarre. In our era, practicing shuriken meant training until it became muscle memory. Where did all this 'feeling' and 'heart-intent' come from?"

Tobirama: "But the data shows a distinct difference. Those few throws Qingyu made 'by feel' just now—although the hit rate was unstable, two of the shuriken followed an exceptionally smooth arc, with an air resistance coefficient 7% lower than a standard throw. This can only be explained by 'unconscious chakra optimization'."

Izuna: "So this kid's method is actually forcing the practitioner into a kind of 'semi-subconscious' state, letting the body's instincts make the adjustments? Interesting..."

Tobirama: "Qingyu, for the next shuriken, try focusing your attention entirely on the 'target point' at the moment of release, and forget that you are even throwing anything."

Qingyu tried to follow the instruction.

He picked up a shuriken, looked at the bullseye, and then... tried his best to "forget" that he had a shuriken in his hand, simply "thinking" about that red dot.

Whoosh!

This time, the shuriken's flight path was exceptionally fluid, tracing an almost perfect parabola, and then...

Thud!

Dead center! Although it wasn't the absolute middle, it had landed within the red circle!

"Beautiful!" Shisui clapped.

"That's it! 'Think' of the target, don't 'control' the flight process. Let your body complete the operations in between on its own."

Qingyu looked at the shuriken embedded in the target, feeling a bit dazed.

For that last throw, he hadn't thought about any technique at all; he had just... wanted to hit it.

He suddenly understood one thing: perhaps "Heart-Intent" wasn't metaphysics, but the ultimate freedom that comes after internalizing all techniques into instinct.

Could this metaphysical training method actually be useful?

Well, that's fantastic!

From now on, he would just shout about "feelings," "bonds," and "friendship," and go straight into power-up mode!