Inventor of Ninjutsu (Pseudo)

"I'm going to use a new ninjutsu, Big Brother."

From somewhere among the clones came Uchiha Gen's voice.

As soon as he spoke, the clones' attack speed and frequency rose sharply.

Madara frowned, sensing that something was off. He felt that these clones were growing stronger and stronger.

Thud!

The sensation of hitting a real body snapped Uchiha Madara back to attention. He fixed his gaze on that clone and launched into a combo, but the surrounding clones kept harassing him, landing several punches on him.

"The winner has been decided!"

Seizing an opening, Madara punched the clone before him in the stomach. Yet the expected solid impact never came. With a pop, the clone vanished.

"What?"

It was still a clone? How was that possible? Where was Gen's real body?

Uchiha Madara looked at the dozen or so clones still surrounding him. Out of habit, he wanted to activate his Mangekyō Sharingan, but forcibly held himself back.

"You're pretty troublesome, Gen! I'm going to use ninjutsu now!"

"Got it, Big Brother!" *15

"...Fire Release: Overblaze Wind!"

Whoosh!!

A scorching blast of air howled forward. A series of popping sounds rang out, and Uchiha Gen looked around. All the clones had kicked the bucket.

"Well, this move is really cheating against clones that can't take hits."

"Petty tricks are useless before a true powerhouse, Gen!"

"Well..."

Yet Uchiha Gen was not discouraged. The Substitution Clone Technique was merely an appetizer.

Although he had to handle clan affairs and make time to remotely control his useful pawns, he still had plenty of time to train.

His Breathing Technique had now reached mastery. While his cells still could not compare to Hashirama Senju's, injuries that normally took an ordinary person a week to recover from only took him a day.

Moreover, when it came to ninjutsu, he had thoroughly cultivated three other Chakra nature transformations. Using the authority in his hands, he had also extensively learned every ninjutsu in the clan.

But he had always kept a low profile. No one knew Uchiha Gen's true strength.

"Next, I'm bringing out my trump card. Big Brother, be careful not to get hurt."

"Don't worry. Come at me."

Madara was not being overconfident. In combat experience, age, strength, and status, he surpassed Uchiha Gen. On top of that, he still had the Mangekyō Sharingan as his trump card.

Uchiha Gen took a deep breath. The Breathing Technique constantly circulating within him was like a furnace receiving fresh fuel. His heartbeat rapidly broke past five hundred beats per minute, and his skin turned faint red as his blood rushed through his body at incredible speed.

"Earth Release: Earth-Style: Earth Wall!"

Uchiha Gen called out his first ninjutsu directly, which also served as a warning to Madara that he had begun.

An earthen wall rose, concealing the movements behind it. Madara swiftly closed in and struck the wall with his palm, yet his Chakra-enhanced blow failed to break through the low wall.

"The quality of his Chakra has clearly increased. How interesting."

In that brief pause, the ground beneath Madara suddenly softened and sank. He immediately leaped away on reflex.

The moment he landed, a large earth-colored hand emerged from beneath his feet and grabbed his ankle.

"Oh? The range of the technique is this wide?"

Bang!

Madara's figure burst into a cloud of smoke. A moment later, several hundred meters away, Madara appeared on an inconspicuous branch high in the air.

"Fire Release: Fire Flow Arrow!"

In less than a second, his dizzyingly fast hand seals formed the technique. He spat dozens of small fireballs from his mouth, sweeping across the Training Ground at tremendous speed.

After explosions like a bomber carpet-bombing the area, craters littered the field, yet Uchiha Gen was nowhere to be seen.

Outside the Training Ground, Izuna watched with eager excitement. He had never expected his seemingly unremarkable third brother to now be able to stand toe-to-toe with their eldest brother. Though his eldest brother had not gone all out, his third brother also possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan.

Within the field, Madara's ninjutsu forced Uchiha Gen into nothing but evasive maneuvers through sheer overwhelming pressure.

"Tch, this won't work. I have no chance in a direct clash right now. It'll be easier once I have Sage Chakra in the future."

Uchiha Gen's mind raced. He scooped up a chunk of stone from the ground and threw it at Madara as though it were a kunai.

However, the brothers would no longer let their guard down around anything Uchiha Gen threw. Madara keenly sensed that there was something wrong with those stones.

An old trick still worked when used well. Uchiha Gen did not expect it to accomplish anything; he merely wanted to close the distance.

"Close combat again?"

Madara frowned. Did Gen think that just because he was fast, he could take advantage of him using that unique Three-Body Technique? That was a little too wishful.

"After fighting the Senju so many times, I learned a few things from them too."

"Super Strength!"

Boom!

The Uchiha Gen who had just approached was directly struck into a cloud of smoke. He immediately appeared beneath Madara's fist and launched an attack.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Madara moved quickly, each of his punches producing sonic booms. Yet whenever his attacks struck Uchiha Gen, they were neutralized by the Substitution Technique. For a time, the two were evenly matched.

"I see."

Madara's perception was keen, and he immediately understood Uchiha Gen's method. He had truly mastered the Substitution Technique and Clone Technique, actually using the clone itself as a medium and the Substitution Technique to make fine adjustments to his position.

"Rasengan!"

In the midst of their exchange, a ball of Chakra suddenly appeared in Uchiha Gen's hand. Madara forcibly redirected the fist he had been about to throw, twisting his body to an almost unbelievable angle and dodging the attack.

"Rasengan? Did you invent it? Its destructive power feels pretty good!"

Madara openly praised him. If he had not dodged quickly just now, his Susanoo might have been triggered.

"Hehe, it's decent."

"Let's stop here for today. I more or less understand your strength now. Use the rest of the time to show us those wild and imaginative ninjutsu of yours."

"Alright!"

When Izuna saw that they had stopped fighting, he immediately ran in.

"Big Brother, Third Brother! Who won?"

"It was just a spar. There's no need to fuss over it." Madara scolded him as usual. "Our little brother may truly be a genius in ninjutsu, one seen only once in a century. Today, the two of us will have a good lesson."

Uchiha Gen nodded at Izuna, lightly tidied his messy hair, and found a patch of ground that was still relatively intact.

"The Three-Body Technique—I explained it to both of you before, but there are still some little tricks I didn't mention."

"The Clone Technique is an auxiliary ninjutsu based on luring and deceiving the enemy. However, after I added excessive Chakra and a small amount of Yin-nature Chakra to it, I could clearly sense the difference in the clone through my consciousness. Unfortunately, I don't have much Yin-nature Chakra, so this ninjutsu is still under development."

What Uchiha Gen was actually describing was the Shadow Clone Technique. But the real reason was not, as he claimed, that he lacked Yin-nature Chakra—it was his mental focus.

To a certain extent, a Shadow Clone actually split off part of the original body's consciousness. That was why, when it was released, it brought back its memories and sensations, allowing it to serve as a proxy for training.