Red Light Cluster, Kekkei Genkai

Beep—

As the whistle sounded, Ryusuke and Sasuke Uchiha moved almost in perfect sync, reaching into their Ninja Tool Pouches and flinging three shuriken each from between their fingers.

The six shuriken collided midair, scattering a few sparks.

Whoosh—

Before the shuriken had even hit the ground, Ryusuke and Sasuke Uchiha vanished from where they stood, their bodies turning into afterimages.

The two afterimages collided at a speed too fast for the naked eye to follow.

Appearing before each other with Body Flicker, Ryusuke and Sasuke Uchiha gripped kunai in reverse, slashing and thrusting at one another.

Their attacks came at incredible speed, yet they were either blocked by the other's kunai or deflected by the metal plates on the backs of their gloves.

Even while locked in close combat, Ryusuke and Sasuke Uchiha kept throwing kicks at each other.

Whenever one of them caught an opening, both Ryusuke and Sasuke Uchiha repeatedly used Body Flicker or the Substitution Technique from the Three Body Technique to evade the other's attacks.

Their battle left everyone present dazzled, making them keenly aware of the gap between themselves and the Top Student and second-ranked student in the class.

Whether it was attack speed, movement speed, combat experience, or battle intelligence... they were simply on completely different levels.

Even Iruka and the female teacher, who had thought Ryusuke and Sasuke Uchiha might suffer fatal injuries and had nearly intervened several times, clicked their tongues in amazement.

Without a doubt, based on their fundamentals alone, both Ryusuke and Sasuke Uchiha already possessed the ability to graduate from the Ninja Academy.

At their age, Iruka and the female teacher had been just like those watching students. They had not even been qualified to carry shoes for these two geniuses.

Yet in the next second, Iruka and the female teacher's expressions changed drastically.

The students watching were equally dumbfounded.

After another exchange failed to leave Ryusuke wounded, Sasuke Uchiha suddenly leaped back and opened the distance between them. Wearing a smug smile in midair, he formed the Sign of the Snake with both hands and shouted, "You've lost! Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

His hand signs changed rapidly. Sasuke Uchiha's cheeks puffed up, and he exhaled a wisp of flame.

The flame swiftly expanded into an enormous fireball that came crashing toward Ryusuke.

The orange-red blaze illuminated everyone's faces.

At that moment, every student felt a terrifying wave of heat.

"Not good!"

With a shocked expression, Iruka was about to use Body Flicker to save Ryusuke.

But in the next instant, he too was left staring in disbelief.

Ryusuke formed hand signs as well, and his speed was even faster than Sasuke Uchiha's. He gave a low cry, "Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"

A stream of water burst from his mouth, swiftly forming a massive wall of water. Like a gigantic watery hand, it slapped the incoming fireball aside.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle...

A sound like boiling water rang out as dense steam spread through the air, swallowing Ryusuke and Sasuke Uchiha.

The white mist formed by the steam lasted for more than ten seconds before finally dispersing.

When the fog cleared, Ryusuke and Sasuke Uchiha reappeared before everyone's eyes.

At the same time, the victor of this No-Rules Duel was revealed.

Sasuke Uchiha stood frozen in place, his eyes vacant and his face filled with disbelief.

Ryusuke, meanwhile, was already standing behind him, a kunai pressed against his throat.

Beep—

The whistle sounded.

Iruka was the first to recover, immediately announcing the result. "The battle is over. The winner is... Ryusuke."

"So... so amazing!"

"N-Ninjutsu... Sasuke and Ryusuke actually both used ninjutsu! Was that their true strength?"

"If they can already use ninjutsu, Ryusuke and Sasuke should be strong enough to graduate early, right?"

"..."

Iruka's voice snapped everyone back to their senses.

In an instant, the training ground erupted.

Cries of amazement and discussion rose from every corner.

Ryusuke and Sasuke Uchiha, whose battle had ended, remained where they were.

Sasuke Uchiha had yet to recover from the shock. Clearly, he could not accept that even after learning Fire Release, he had still lost to Ryusuke.

And with the white fog blocking his vision just now, how had Ryusuke used Body Flicker to get behind him?

Could he know a Sensing Technique too?

Ryusuke, on the other hand, had been drawn to the dazzling red light that suddenly flashed from Sasuke Uchiha's body.

Once the visual effect faded, a red beam flew out of Sasuke Uchiha and landed on the ground, forming a floating Red Light Cluster.

After the Red Light Cluster was automatically collected and flew into his body, Ryusuke immediately came back to his senses.

"Thanks for the lesson!"

Rather than checking the Red Light Cluster right away, Ryusuke walked up to Sasuke Uchiha and held out his index and middle fingers.

Hearing that, Sasuke Uchiha finally recovered.

Looking at Ryusuke with complicated eyes, Sasuke Uchiha also extended his index and middle fingers.

After forming the Seal of Reconciliation, Sasuke Uchiha turned and left.

Every time he had lost before, Sasuke Uchiha would wear an unwilling expression before throwing down some harsh words at Ryusuke.

But now, Sasuke Uchiha said nothing.

Clearly, losing to Ryusuke in a battle without any rules, where anything could be used and he had gone all out, had dealt a huge blow to the proud genius.

Until he mastered new ninjutsu or awakened his Sharingan on his own, Sasuke Uchiha likely would not regain the pride and confidence he had shown earlier whenever he faced Ryusuke.

Ryusuke returned to the group, halfheartedly dealing with his enthusiastic classmates while distractedly watching the duels that followed.

In reality, Ryusuke was staring at the Virtual Panel only he could see, looking at the Red Light Cluster inside his Space Backpack.

A new grade had appeared!

Over the past few years, Ryusuke had obtained a few items as well, but they had all been white Light Clusters.

The items within those Light Clusters had all been the most ordinary things.

The most valuable had been the Sensing Technique he had obtained from Sakura.

It was also one of Sakura's greatest improvements over the past few years.

Inside the white fog just now, Ryusuke had used the Sensing Technique to lock onto Sasuke Uchiha's position before using Body Flicker to appear behind him.

White meant common, mostly ninjutsu and certain techniques—things that could be acquired later through training.

Blue meant precious, generally talents and abilities one was born with, or those that could be changed through effort and external means.

Gold meant legendary, divine items capable of defying fate itself.

That was how Ryusuke defined those three colors.

And now, a new color and grade had appeared.

Was it above blue, or below it?

As for being above gold, that was impossible. After all, Sasuke Uchiha's greatest treasure was Indra's Chakra, which was at most on the same level as Naruto's.

So Ryusuke checked the information on the Red Light Cluster.

When the information appeared, Ryusuke was instantly overjoyed, nearly letting his expression change.

The information displayed by the Red Light Cluster was clearly... Kekkei Genkai: Sharingan (Red).