Genjutsu

Uchiha Shu turned to Iruka. "We can end this now, Iruka-sensei."

Is it over already?

Iruka was slightly taken aback. He hadn't expected the fight to end so quickly.

But judging from their brief exchange, the two were indeed on completely different levels.

Just as he raised his hand to announce the result, a roar suddenly rang out beside him.

"AAAAH!!!"

Sasuke, who had just been kicked to the ground, suddenly scrambled to his feet and charged at Xiu with a roar. His eyes were bloodshot, and he looked utterly irrational.

Clearly, Xiu's actions had deeply wounded his pride.

"Asshole! Die!"

Whoosh—

Another straight punch shot toward Xiu's face. Xiu stepped back half a pace and casually dodged it.

"Even after being knocked down, you still refuse to admit defeat? How terrifying~"

As Xiu spoke, he effortlessly evaded Sasuke's attacks. "But your punches are weak, your reactions are slow, your footwork is sloppy. You dance so ugly that you're disgracing the Uchiha name."

"Shut up!" Sasuke roared, his voice carrying a faint note of anguish. "I'll definitely defeat you!"

"Defeat me? With your left hand doing one slow move and your right hand doing another? Don't make Lord Xiu laugh~ What are you going to fight me with, your head?"

Uchiha Shu scoffed. "Three Tomoe against someone who hasn't awakened his eyes yet—even if I win, it'd just be bullying. How about this? Use whatever means you want. Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Genjutsu, Shurikenjutsu—you've learned them all, haven't you? Why not show me?"

Hearing that, Sasuke regained a little of his composure. Knowing now wasn't the time to force things, he gave a cold snort. "Hmph, you said it. Don't regret it!"

Iruka frowned slightly, feeling that Xiu was being a little too overconfident.

He wanted to stop them, but then reconsidered. If this could curb Xiu's arrogant nature a little, it wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.

Besides, with him, a Chunin, present, he could control the situation immediately if anything went wrong. Not to mention that several teachers had come over to watch.

As he thought that, Sasuke suddenly retreated, widening the distance before raising his hand and flinging three shuriken at Uchiha Shu.

As the shuriken tore through the air, a faint smile appeared on Xiu's lips.

To be fair, Sasuke's Shurikenjutsu was pretty good. Both his accuracy and force were above average, completely unlike what someone his age should have been capable of. It was clear he had trained hard.

But—

"Didn't I tell you..."

Meeting Sasuke's probing gaze, Xiu slowly raised his hand and flicked his fingers at the incoming shuriken.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The three shuriken seemed to strike a steel plate, letting out a series of crisp rings before being knocked away!

"If a ninja gets killed by shuriken, they might as well kill themselves. Clearly, you didn't listen to what I said, Sasuke~"

As his words fell, the field went deathly silent.

Iruka's eyes widened. "He... he knocked them away? With his fingers?"

"He's so strong..." Ino froze for two seconds, then pink hearts appeared in her eyes as she let out an even more excited scream. "Aahhh! So handsome! Xiu really is the most handsome!"

In contrast, Sakura looked as if the sky had fallen, her eyes filled with despair.

At this point, even these girls who had only recently enrolled could see the enormous gap in strength between the two.

"That's impossible..."

Seeing Xiu knock away the shuriken with nothing but his fingers, Sasuke froze in place, his face pale. That scene, which overturned all common sense, nearly crushed all his fighting spirit.

Xiu continued with a smile. "When faced with something beyond your understanding, your first reaction isn't to think of a countermeasure, but to deny it and run away? Interesting..."

"Tch, shut up!"

Sasuke roared, as though Xiu had struck a sore spot. But those words made his mind clearer instead.

I'm no match for him in Taijutsu, and shuriken are useless...

There's no way I'm surrendering. If I want to win, I can only start with Ninjutsu and Genjutsu.

But Xiu had the Sharingan—Three Tomoe at that. As a member of the Uchiha Clan, Sasuke knew the Sharingan's abilities better than anyone.

Insight, copying, hypnosis...

In that case, not only had he never learned Genjutsu, but even if he had mastered it, its effect on Xiu would probably be negligible.

By comparison, Ninjutsu carried the risk of being copied, but that required extremely high chakra control. Even if Xiu truly possessed that level of control, as long as he didn't see the hand seals...

I can win!

As thoughts raced through his mind, Sasuke suddenly retreated.

With a bang, a smoke bomb exploded beneath his feet.

Xiu gave a faint sneer, unconcerned.

Suddenly, six shuriken flew out of the smoke—three from the left and three from the right—flying past Xiu from both sides.

Just as everyone thought Sasuke had missed, the shuriken suddenly traced an astonishing arc. They crossed and collided behind Xiu, glinting with strands of silver light before flying back in front of him, binding him tightly like a cocoon.

"Steel wires wrapped around the shuriken?" Xiu's expression changed drastically. "Not good, I was careless!"

"It's over, Uchiha Shu!"

Sasuke's cold, arrogant voice came from within the smoke.

A gust of wind blew through, dispersing the smoke. Sasuke rapidly formed hand seals with both hands. "This is the price for underestimating me, Uchiha Sasuke! Prepare yourself! Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

Boom—

Scorching chakra burst from his mouth, swiftly forming a massive fireball more than ten meters across.

The fireball churned with rolling heat as it sped toward Xiu!

"Not good! Watch out!"

Seeing Xiu about to be swallowed by the fireball, Iruka finally snapped out of his shock and rushed toward him, but it was already too late.

Boom!

The fireball slammed heavily into Xiu, and a charred figure rolled out of the flames.

"How did this happen?"

Sasuke stared at the charred figure before him, his eyes filled with disbelief. He never imagined that guy would be defeated so easily, before even the teacher had time to stop them.

This is bad. Did I just kill someone...?

Looking at the charred figure barely clinging to life, Sasuke stood there at a loss, yet somehow felt that something was off.

Just then, the completely charred Uchiha Shu on the ground trembled as he raised a hand, extending his index and middle fingers toward Sasuke as if trying to touch something.

But the next second, his fingers suddenly pointed forcefully to the side.

Sasuke followed the direction he pointed and saw another Xiu standing where he was, arms folded as he watched him leisurely.

Sasuke's pupils suddenly contracted. He whipped his head around and saw that the "Uchiha Shu" he had just turned into charcoal was spreading like ink in water, slowly fading into the air.

"Hey! Sasuke!" In the distance, a blond kid shouted at Sasuke with an exasperated look, as though he wished he could rush over and fight in Sasuke's place. "Xiu's over there! What are you doing, idiot?!"

"All right, quiet down, Naruto." Iruka held Naruto back, sounding helpless. "Sasuke fell under Genjutsu."

"Genjutsu? What's that?" Naruto tilted his head, leaving Iruka speechless for a moment, unsure how to explain it.

From the perspective of the onlookers, they could only see Sasuke suddenly wearing a strange smile, like he had eaten poisonous mushrooms, as he attacked an empty patch of ground. That was clearly a sign that he had fallen under Genjutsu.

"You... forget it. Just watch quietly." Iruka sighed and looked toward Sasuke, who was gradually turning red with rage. His tone was complicated. "A Kekkei Genkai truly is a natural advantage."

In the field, Sasuke gritted his teeth, his eyes faintly reddening as his toes curled hard inside his shoes. "When... when did this happen? You even mastered Genjutsu?"

"Not really yet~ I just felt like I might be able to do it, so I gave it a try. I didn't expect it to actually work."

Uchiha Shu pinched his chin, recalling the sensation from earlier. "Come to think of it, the whole automatic awakening thing was something I made up. Though I did awaken automatically, that's true... But it seems Genjutsu really doesn't need to be learned. I really wasn't lying to you this time~"

Faced with Xiu's repeated humiliation, Sasuke finally broke completely, and tears fell from his eyes despite himself.