Two-Tomoe

As Taichi continued clashing with them, he gradually overlooked—or rather, misjudged—the timing.

Before he knew it, the eye power Taichi had used for the Binding Illusion was nearly exhausted. Yet he had not noticed and remained engrossed in battle.

Gradually, the other ninja broke free from the illusion. However, he did not show it, instead secretly signaling to his teammate.

They intended to kill Shikaki first!

Previously, they had not known that Taichi was from the Uchiha clan—and that he had awakened the Sharingan!

With that, it became somewhat difficult for the two of them to proceed according to their original plan. Therefore, he decided to deal with Shikaki first!

Thus, although he had already broken free of the illusion, he continued pretending, waiting for an opportunity!

Finally, while Shikaki held an absolute advantage against the two genin, he still made a mistake. After all, Shikaki was not a machine and was bound to make errors. Normally, such a minor mistake would have meant nothing to him; he would have had every chance to recover.

Unfortunately, this small mistake gave that ninja the opportunity he needed!

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

"!!!!" Only then did Shikaki react, but it was already too late. Feeling the scorching heat of the Great Fireball, he felt death closer than it had ever been!

"Boom!!!"

The tremendous explosion jolted Taichi out of his immersion in battle!

"Shikaki!!!"

Taichi stared at where the fireball had exploded, as though time itself had stopped. Scenes of everything from when he first met Shikaki until now flashed through his mind.

"I'll kill you all!!!!" As Taichi let out a heart-rending roar, the Sharingan in his eyes began spinning rapidly!

A second tomoe gradually appeared. Yet even after evolving into the Two-Tomoe Sharingan, the tomoe in Taichi's eyes continued to spin furiously! Clearly, the Sharingan's advancement had not yet ended!

However, just as the third tomoe was about to emerge, Nakamura's voice interrupted the process.

"Calm down, Taichi. Shikaki is fine! The enemy is still here. Focus on the fight!"

Hearing that, Taichi hurriedly looked over. Sure enough, Shikaki was standing behind a stone wall, fear still lingering on his face. After all, when death came unwillingly, few people could face it calmly.

It turned out Nakamura had been secretly following them all along. Though this was merely a Shadow Clone, it was only a Great Fireball Technique. Nakamura had flashed in front of Shikaki and blocked it with an Earth Style: Earth Wall.

Therefore, once Taichi saw that Shikaki was unharmed, he relaxed, and the Sharingan's evolution came to a halt as a result.

It stopped at two tomoe. However, although the Sharingan had ceased evolving toward three tomoe, its eye power had already come extremely close to that of a Three-Tomoe Sharingan!

After confirming that Shikaki was all right, Taichi turned to look at the two men and said coldly,

"Teacher Nakamura, don't interfere. I want to kill them myself!"

Nakamura glanced at the two tomoe in Taichi's eyes and considered it. He believed that Taichi should have no problem dealing with those two now. Besides, Nakamura himself was watching from the side.

There was no way anything unexpected could happen, so he agreed to Taichi's request to fight.

Having obtained Nakamura's permission, Taichi said icily, "Then the second round begins!"

While things changed on Taichi's side, Shiro had nearly recovered as well!

It was not that Shiro's opponents did not want to stop him from restoring his Chakra; they simply could not. Although Blue Snake could not fight at full strength because it had to protect Shiro, the gap between them and Blue Snake remained difficult to overcome.

Thus, the battle reached a stalemate.

However, by the time Shiro had restored his Chakra, the Dragon Tooth Warriors had nearly been used up as well. After all, they were only for show. They might frighten people at first, but amid such chaotic fighting, they were easily caught in the crossfire.

Not even counting the enemy, Blue Snake alone had crushed several of them to death.

Once the enemy bandits realized they were merely for show, much of the fear in their hearts vanished, and they charged forward one after another.

Therefore, by the time Shiro had mostly recovered his Chakra, they were nearly all dead as well.

Shiro released his hand seal, stood proudly atop Blue Snake's head, and said, "Are you ready to die?"

"Heh, arrogant brat. Who dies is still uncertain!" With that, he charged at Shiro!

"Haha, then come and try! Blue Snake, you've worked hard. Take care of those two genin, then go back and rest. This one is mine!"

"Yes, Lord Shiro!"

"Heh!" Shiro grinned as he rushed forward.

"Reinforcement, begin!"

With a clang, Shiro engaged him in close combat.

Although the opponent was older than Shiro, in terms of combat skill, Shiro—who had already brushed the threshold of Eye of the Mind—was clearly far superior.

This was only natural. Whenever Shiro projected a Noble Phantasm, he also gained the corresponding combat experience and techniques. Therefore, it was only expected that Shiro would surpass his opponent in combat skill.

Besides, were you a mage trying to play close combat with an Archer? That was a little naive.

As for his opponent, feeling Shiro's refined combat techniques made him increasingly jealous, and his movements began growing chaotic.

That was not hard to understand. Those sent here at a time like this were usually mediocre types with little talent. Otherwise, they would not have been sent here to die.

Therefore, Shiro did not need to spend much effort to finish him off. Of course, that was also because Shiro had plenty of Chakra; otherwise, it would not have been so easy.

After all, with Reinforcement Magecraft enhancing Shiro, the difference in physical ability caused by their age had been erased, and Shiro had even faintly surpassed him. Combined with Shiro's superior combat skills, his opponent began making repeated mistakes toward the end.

If Shiro still could not win under those circumstances, he might as well smash himself to death with a block of tofu.

After killing his opponent, Shiro intended to immediately head toward Taichi and Shikaki, because he had just heard the system notification.

Ding! Detected scattered eye power nearby. Absorbing... Absorption complete!

As far as Shiro knew, Taichi was the only one nearby capable of producing eye power. The Sharingan was called the Eye of Misfortune precisely because it evolved through intense emotional upheaval when someone dear to its wielder was harmed!

Therefore, either Taichi had faced a threat of death and his Sharingan had evolved, or Shikaki had been injured—perhaps even suffered a life-threatening danger!

Neither possibility was something Shiro wanted to see, so he did not even want to deal with the remaining bandits before rushing over to them.

Although Shiro knew Nakamura would certainly be watching from the shadows, what if Nakamura made a mistake?

Therefore, Shiro did not want to place his hopes on that!

"Wait, Shiro. Taichi and the others are fine. My Shadow Clone just sent word. Don't panic. Deal with them first! The mission isn't complete yet."

Nakamura stopped Shiro first, then turned to look at the fleeing bandits.

After hearing Nakamura's words, Shiro stopped and decided to obey Nakamura's order.

After all, Nakamura had no reason to lie to Shiro about this, so Shiro turned toward the bandits.

"Projection, begin!"

"Báthory Erzsébet!" (Note 1)

Note 1: Noble Phantasm Name: Blood Maiden (Báthory Erzsébet)

Rank: E-

Owner: The prototype of the vampire Carmilla, the Blood Countess of Hungary, Elizabeth Báthory.

Appearance: A Magic Spear created by weaponizing Csejte Castle.

Legend: Its prototype was the castle where Elizabeth reigned throughout her life, the Prison Castle Csejte. A demonic castle where hundreds of young girls were tortured and eventually killed. By bathing in tubs filled with the girls' blood, Elizabeth maintained great Mana and beauty.

Ability: When the Noble Phantasm Blood Maiden is deployed, the Magic Spear regains its original majesty and transforms into a gigantic loudspeaker. It is a sonic destruction weapon that maximizes Elizabeth's dragon breath and releases terrifying ultrasonic waves into the surroundings. One of the world's greatest singing talents—censored—and the stage created by directly transforming the castle into a gigantic loudspeaker combine into a song that can only be described as hell on earth. Furthermore, no matter how wide its range, it remains an Anti-Personnel Noble Phantasm rather than an Anti-Army Noble Phantasm.

Finally, thanks to Ai, Kaede, cbvbf, Crimson Feather Fall, Wolf Howl Under the Sculpted Moon, Guangfu, Young Master Jie, Song Shenhong, Tianxiang Longyu, Passerby Please Ignore, Luoyang Is Beautiful, Tang Sect Ohmygog, and Tianping Xiaohui for your recommendation votes. Thank you for your support!