Mingyou's Trial

"Yota, do you think all Uchiha are this arrogant? A useless second-generation heir like him actually dared to talk to us like that."

"Who knows? Since he dared to be so cocky, let's show him what pain feels like."

Their conversation was filled with malicious intent. They drew the Ninja Tachi from their backs, turned around, and began closing in on Mingyou step by step.

A faint smile appeared on Mingyou's lips. In the past, he would have been so frightened by the pressure coming off these two that he would have collapsed to the ground.

But Mingyou now possessed the strength of a jonin, and with the Three-Tomoe Sharingan assisting him, dealing with these two would not be much of a problem.

Sure enough, the two ninjas had completely underestimated Mingyou's strength. They did not even intend to use ninjutsu, simply swinging their tachi at him.

Clang—

Clang—

Mingyou also pulled a kunai from his Ninja Tool Pouch, continuously parrying the attacks of the two men.

These two ninjas were probably newly promoted jonin as well, yet Mingyou found fighting them extremely difficult.

He should have been able to block their attacks easily, but he was still half a beat too slow and got kicked by one of them.

He should have been able to strike back and injure them, but he hesitated for a moment and missed the best chance to attack.

This had nothing to do with strength. It was entirely due to his lack of combat experience.

Although Mingyou had gone from possessing the strength of a genin to that of a jonin in just one day,

his combat experience was still stuck at the genin level. That was not something that could be improved easily; it required long periods of tempering.

"Since that's the case, I'll use you two to get some practice."

Mingyou muttered inwardly. He did not even use his Sharingan, nor did he care about the pain from the repeated punches and kicks.

He merely avoided the lethal strikes of the Ninja Tachi and did his utmost to maneuver around them.

"Hey! Yota, stop wasting time with this brat."

"You're right. Killing one useless Uchiha shouldn't cause any trouble."

One of the tall, skinny ninjas leaped backward, opening up a short distance. Holding his Ninja Tachi, he drew a semicircle in front of himself.

"Konoha Style - Crescent Shadow Dance Slash!!"

A dazzling crescent-shaped blade light appeared before the tall, skinny ninja.

The blade light tore through the air with a sharp howl as it flew straight toward Mingyou.

You have copied a Konoha-Style sword technique, Crescent Shadow Dance Slash.

"Sharingan!!"

Mingyou gathered the Chakra in his body into his eyes. As his eyeballs spun continuously, they turned crimson, and three black tomoe emerged in each eye.

Through the vision of the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, he could see the immense Chakra contained within the crescent-shaped blade light.

Countless long, sharp spikes lined the outer edge of the blade light.

A smile curled across Mingyou's lips. It seemed the true danger of this technique was not the attack power of the crescent-shaped blade light itself.

It was those long, slender spikes extending outward. Most people would only focus on dodging the blade light and fail to notice those spikes.

Anyone with slightly slower reactions would certainly be hit and pierced with countless invisible holes by those spikes.

But enhanced by the perspective of the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, Mingyou saw through every one of those insidious tricks.

Whoosh—

Mingyou leaped upward and casually evaded the blade light.

With a loud crack, a tree as thick as a water barrel behind Mingyou was cut cleanly in half, its sturdy trunk toppling over at an angle.

"Nani— Is that... the Sharingan?"

The tall, skinny ninja was slightly startled. Before accepting this surveillance mission, he had heard that this young Uchiha master was merely a useless recent graduate who had not awakened the Sharingan.

"No way... It's actually the Three-Tomoe Sharingan."

The short, fat ninja also cried out in shock. He stared in disbelief at the three tomoe in Mingyou's crimson eyes.

Not everyone of Uchiha blood could awaken the Sharingan, but anyone who could awaken three tomoe was undoubtedly an Uchiha genius.

"Konoha Style - Crescent Shadow Dance Slash!!"

Then, something even more terrifying happened. Mingyou held a kunai and swung it before himself, creating a small crescent-shaped blade light that flew toward the tall, skinny ninja.

"Nani? Why can he use the sword technique I created?"

The tall, skinny ninja's face drained of color. He was incomparably familiar with this technique. Although the crescent-shaped blade light was smaller, that was only because of the weapon.

He had spent years studying and developing this blade light into a sword technique of his own.

It could be considered an advanced sword technique among ninja sword arts. It was precisely because of this ultimate move that he had been able to join Root back then.

Yet this Uchiha youth before him had copied it after seeing it only once. He clearly found such an absurd thing difficult to accept.

"Yota, it's the Sharingan. That guy's Sharingan can copy techniques. Be careful."

The short, fat ninja warned him, gripping his Ninja Tachi as he watched Mingyou with wary eyes.

"Who sent you? Tell me truthfully, and I can consider sparing you."

Mingyou found this amusing. These two knew far too little about the Sharingan.

The Sharingan could not simply copy ninjutsu. Rather, through the powerful observation ability of its ocular technique, it could memorize the methods used by an opponent to perform ninjutsu.

This was merely the result of the Sharingan's powerful observational ability. From the Sharingan's perspective, everyone else's movements became much slower.

Mingyou's method, however, was even more outrageous. The system copied things for him automatically, so there was no need for him to painstakingly observe with the Sharingan at all.

"Water Release - Water Formation Wall!!"

The tall, skinny ninja did not answer. His fingers flew as he formed several hand seals in rapid succession.

He opened his mouth and spat fiercely, releasing a stream of water. The farther it surged outward, the more violent it became.

In the blink of an eye, a towering wave formed before him, churning with foam as it swept toward Mingyou.

"Lightning Release - Lightning Serpent!!"

The short, fat ninja rapidly formed hand seals as well. As the wave erupted, a dazzling mass of lightning gathered at his fingertips.

The lightning extended outward, taking the shape of a python.

Electric currents crackled all over the python's body, producing a series of sharp pops.

Soon, the Lightning Serpent plunged into the wave, and the surging water began to flash with crackling electricity.

You have copied a portion of overflowing Lightning Chakra. Lightning affinity constitution +36.

You have copied a portion of overflowing Water Chakra. Water affinity constitution +29.

"A change in nature caused by combining ninjutsu? Impressive."

Mingyou was slightly startled as he watched the electrified wave crashing down from above.

Covering the soles of his feet with a faint blue film of Chakra, Mingyou leaped onto a tree behind him.

Mingyou's figure flickered continuously between the trees, evading every wave.

When the water gradually receded, not even a drop had touched the corner of Mingyou's clothes.