All Caught in Genjutsu! The Jōnin's Shock!

Ibiki Morino's gaze rested on the relaxed black-haired boy for two seconds.

A survivor of the Uchiha Clan. His file said he had awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

But what concerned Ibiki Morino wasn't that. It was Sahiro Uchiha's demeanor.

He was too relaxed.

This wasn't the carelessness of someone who had given up, nor the stupor of someone overwhelmed by the rules. It was the composure of someone looking down on the entire exam as though it were a joke.

Thirty-seven minutes into the exam, something changed.

Ibiki Morino sensed it.

One of the assistant examiners stood beside the classroom's right-hand window, hands clasped behind his back, his posture as precise as a textbook illustration.

He stared straight ahead, his expression stern, exactly as he had been when the exam began.

But Ibiki Morino noticed something wrong.

The assistant examiner's pupils weren't their usual black. They were an almost translucent gray-white.

Genjutsu.

Someone had placed the assistant examiner under genjutsu.

Ibiki Morino's pupils contracted sharply. His gaze swept across the other assistant examiners.

One, two, three...

Five.

All five assistant examiners had been caught.

Ibiki Morino's eyes widened. He looked back at Sahiro Uchiha.

Sahiro Uchiha still had his eyes closed and leaned against his chair, the faintest curve at the corner of his mouth. He looked as though he were sleeping soundly—or enjoying something no one else could perceive.

He was refining chakra. Ever since he'd gained Indra's Chakra, Tailed Beast Chakra, and the Senjutsu Chakra of the Cursed Seal, the rate at which he refined chakra had grown exponentially day by day.

Ibiki Morino stared hard at the boy.

All five assistant examiners had been caught.

Not a single examinee in the classroom had noticed anything strange.

The Genin bent over their papers didn't even know the assistant examiners beside them had become empty shells. Their pupils were gray-white, their breathing steady, their heartbeats normal, but their minds had been dragged into some unknowable world.

In the shadows on the exam hall's second floor, four figures stood concealed, staring through the Observation Window at the room below.

Might Guy's thick brows drew together. "That kid... what technique did he just use?"

No one answered him.

Because no one could.

Kakashi leaned against the wall, his one visible eye wide, shock surging through it.

He could sense that a mysterious force had taken control of all five assistant examiners.

This was genjutsu infiltration of the highest order.

Kakashi suddenly remembered what the Third Hokage had told him: Sahiro Uchiha's strength had been seriously underestimated. His file could no longer be trusted as a reference.

Only now did Kakashi realize he had still underestimated him.

The cigarette in Asuma's mouth had burned down to the end. Ash fell onto the back of his hand and left a red mark, but he didn't notice.

His lips parted slightly. He stared blankly at the exam room below and unconsciously turned his head toward Kurenai.

"This is beyond a Genin... No, it's beyond a Chunin..."

Kurenai didn't answer.

She stood there with her hands at her sides, her fingertips trembling faintly.

Not from fear, but from shock.

Yes, she was a genjutsu expert.

But she was a Jōnin.

Sahiro Uchiha was a Genin.

A twelve-year-old Genin.

He had infiltrated the senses of five Chunin at once and completed the entire technique without her noticing. His speed, stealth, and control had each reached a level that even she, a genjutsu expert, found unbelievable.

She couldn't have done it.

But Sahiro Uchiha had.

Right under the nose of one of Konoha's strongest genjutsu Jōnin, a twelve-year-old Genin had carried out a textbook-perfect genjutsu infiltration that even a Jōnin couldn't have managed.

A chill ran down Kurenai's spine.

Might Guy's voice broke her train of thought.

"Kurenai... you're a genjutsu expert too... If he can do this, what level has he reached?"

Kurenai was silent for a long time.

One boy had quietly taken control of the entire exam room.

"The Uchiha Clan," she finally said. "Now I understand why that name could make the entire Shinobi World afraid."

"It wasn't how many Ninjutsu they had. Their understanding of power had gone beyond what ordinary ninja like us could even imagine."

Kakashi leaned against the wall without speaking. His fingers unconsciously drew Icha Icha Paradise from his pocket, then closed it gently and put it away again.

He wondered whether he should have a proper talk with Sahiro Uchiha after the exam.

Not as his teacher, but as a fellow ninja with a Sharingan. He wanted to ask about Sahiro Uchiha's training and what it felt like.

The exam continued.

Sahiro Uchiha leaned back in his chair and opened his eyes a fraction. A crimson gleam flashed deep in his pupils and vanished.

Then something chilling happened.

The four Jōnin watching the exam from the second floor—Kakashi, Might Guy, Asuma, and Kurenai—all sensed a subtle shift in the air behind them.

Someone was there.

There was a fifth person in the room.

Kakashi reacted first, his right hand darting toward the pouch of Kunai at his waist.

But his hand stopped halfway.

Because he saw the person's face.

Sahiro Uchiha.

He leaned against the wall by the window, legs casually crossed and hands in his pockets, looking as comfortable as if he were sunning himself on his own balcony.

"Hello, everyone."

Sahiro Uchiha didn't speak loudly, but his voice seemed to plunge the entire room into icy silence.

Might Guy's thick brows shot up. His eyes widened like saucers, and his outstretched finger trembled with shock.

"You... aren't you in the exam room?!"

The cigarette slipped from Asuma's mouth, its glowing tip hitting the floor. He didn't notice. His wide eyes held nothing but disbelief.

"How is this possible..."

His voice came out hoarse, as though something were lodged in his throat.

Kurenai reacted at once.

As a genjutsu Jōnin, her first instinct was to break the genjutsu. Her hands flashed through Hand Seals, and chakra burst from the points across her body.

"Release!"

Nothing happened.

It wasn't genjutsu.

Kurenai's fingers began to tremble beyond her control.

If this isn't genjutsu, what does that mean?

It meant Sahiro Uchiha really was in two places at once.

Kakashi slowly withdrew his hand from his pouch of Kunai.

He fixed his Sharingan on Sahiro Uchiha. Turmoil raged in his eye, but his voice was remarkably calm.

"Shadow Clone!"

"Correct." Sahiro Uchiha tilted his head, his smile deepening.

The Shadow Clone Technique.

A Forbidden Technique created by the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju. It could create a physical clone identical to the original, with all of the original's memories and combat ability. The moment the clone was released, all its experiences and information returned to the original.

But the technique had one fatal flaw: it divided the user's chakra equally.

Two or three Shadow Clones were the limit for a Jōnin. Any more, and each clone's fighting strength would drop dramatically.

A Chunin couldn't even use the technique safely. They lacked the chakra to sustain a clone.

Yet Sahiro Uchiha could keep a Shadow Clone taking the written portion of the Chunin Ninja Exams while his real body came to the second-floor room and appeared silently behind four Jōnin.

Though the four Jōnin surrounded him, not one had sensed his arrival.

That meant he had entered the room and reached that spot without making a sound, leaking any chakra, or causing the slightest unusual shift in the air.

It meant that if Sahiro Uchiha had wanted to kill any one of them just now, that person would already be dead.

A low gulp rose from Might Guy's throat. For the first time, utter disbelief crossed his ever-enthusiastic face.

"But... your chakra... how could you possibly..."

He couldn't finish. He didn't even know how to ask.

A twelve-year-old Genin was maintaining a Shadow Clone for the written exam while infiltrating the Jōnin's observation room at such speed.

It was an absurd display of ability.

Asuma frowned.

"That technique is forbidden."

"It's a Forbidden Technique from the Scroll of Seals. Even a Jōnin needs the Hokage's permission to learn it. How could you possibly know it?"