Since you want to watch, I'll let you watch your fill.
Uchiha Xin sneered inwardly.
Then came the fifth bandit extermination mission.
This time, the enemy was a vicious band of mountain bandits, numbering as many as fifty.
The battle reached a fever pitch.
Three bandits wielding large cleavers forced Uchiha Xin into a corner.
He deliberately left an opening, letting a blade slash down past his shoulder and leave a shallow, bloody cut.
"Ah!"
Uchiha Xin cried out, his eyes suddenly widening.
The single tomoe in his pupils began spinning rapidly. Then a second black tomoe split off within them.
The Two-Tomoe Sharingan.
Standing a short distance away and overseeing the battle, Genma frowned deeply at the sight.
Something's wrong.
This is too deliberate.
Five consecutive days of intense bandit extermination, and now his eyes suddenly evolve to two tomoe when his life isn't even in danger.
Genma was certain someone was pulling strings behind the scenes, deliberately pushing this child's Sharingan to evolve.
"Mission aborted!"
Genma shouted, instantly becoming a streak of lightning as he charged into the enemy ranks.
Senbon shot from his mouth like a torrential downpour, each one striking a bandit's vital point with precision.
In less than half a minute, the remaining twenty-odd bandits all fell dead.
"Pack up. We're returning to the village immediately!"
Genma's tone was stern and brooked no argument.
He hurried out of the bandit stronghold with the three of them, heading swiftly toward Konoha.
On the way back, the sky gradually darkened.
The four of them darted through the dense woods.
Suddenly, Genma stopped dead, instantly drawing two kunai and shielding the three behind him.
Whoosh.
Whoosh.
Whoosh.
Seven or eight dark figures dropped from the surrounding treetops and encircled them.
They all wore tight-fitting gray clothing and plain white masks without any markings.
Bone-chilling killing intent radiated from them.
Root.
Genma recognized their identities at a glance.
He quickly scanned the surroundings, and his heart sank.
The opposing force was formidable, led by a Special Jōnin.
The rest were all Chunin, and there was even a Jonin with a concealed presence hiding in the shadows.
"Go on ahead! I'll cover your retreat!"
Genma shouted without looking back, his hands rapidly forming hand seals.
Without the slightest hesitation, Uchiha Xin turned and sprinted toward Konoha.
Ichirō Kawaguchi and Shino Kobayashi followed close behind.
The three fled several kilometers in one stretch, stopping only when they could no longer hear the fighting behind them.
Uchiha Xin leaned against a large tree, panting slightly.
Just then, something unexpected happened.
Ichirō Kawaguchi, who had been following behind him the entire time, suddenly attacked.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere!"
Kawaguchi spat several high-pressure wind bullets from his mouth, sending them hurtling toward Uchiha Xin's back.
Caught completely off guard, Uchiha Xin took the wind bullets squarely and staggered forward several steps.
Before he could regain his footing, Shino Kobayashi had already closed in.
"Water Release: Water Prison Technique!"
Kobayashi formed hand seals, and a massive surge of water appeared out of thin air.
It instantly enveloped Uchiha Xin, forming an indestructible sphere of water.
Kobayashi kept one hand inside the water prison, maintaining the ninjutsu.
Ichirō Kawaguchi strolled leisurely up to the water prison.
Looking at the immobilized Uchiha Xin inside, he broke into a smug, vicious grin.
He relied on his status as a Root member and Lord Danzo's backing.
He had no regard whatsoever for this Uchiha orphan.
"Some Uchiha genius you are. You're just trash who can't even guard against his own teammates."
Ichirō Kawaguchi mocked him without restraint.
"So what if you've awakened two tomoe? Before Root, you're worth less than an ant."
Just as Kawaguchi was getting carried away with himself.
Five Root figures wearing plain white masks descended from above, landing steadily around them.
The Special Jōnin leading them shot Kawaguchi a cold glance and cut him off.
"Enough talk. Take him away."
The Special Jōnin's voice held no emotion.
Just as this Special Jōnin was about to step forward and take over the water prison.
A calm voice suddenly sounded from behind them all.
"Take whom away?"
Everyone jolted and whipped around.
Uchiha Xin was leaning leisurely against a large tree more than ten meters away, his arms folded across his chest.
Meanwhile, inside the water prison Shino Kobayashi was maintaining.
The imprisoned Uchiha Xin vanished without a trace in a puff of white smoke.
A Shadow Clone.
Realizing they had been tricked, their expressions changed drastically.
The Special Jōnin reacted swiftly and immediately gave the order.
"Attack!"
The five Root ninja drew their ninja blades simultaneously and charged at Uchiha Xin as five dark streaks.
Faced with this ferocious attack, Uchiha Xin merely shook his head slightly.
His black pupils instantly turned scarlet.
Three black tomoe spun rapidly within them.
Then the tomoe linked end to end, instantly transforming into a sharp five-pointed star.
The Mangekyō Sharingan.
A powerful wave of ocular pressure erupted outward from Uchiha Xin.
The Special Jōnin at the front felt a roar inside his head, and his movements instantly froze.
"Genjutsu: Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique."
Uchiha Xin spoke calmly.
With Mangekyō-level ocular power driving the genjutsu exclusive to the Mitsudomoe, its power increased geometrically.
The world before every Root ninja present, including Ichirō Kawaguchi and Shino Kobayashi, instantly lost its color.
They saw countless massive wooden stakes shoot out of the void, brutally piercing their limbs and torsos.
In reality, all seven collapsed to the ground with a series of thuds, completely unconscious.
Uchiha Xin quietly watched the seven people lying on the ground.
Without the slightest hesitation, he drew a sharp kunai from the ninja tool pouch on his leg.
He stepped forward and walked up to the Special Jōnin.
With a turn of his wrist, the kunai precisely slit the man's throat.
Blood gushed out, staining the fallen leaves on the ground red.
Then he did the same to the remaining Root ninja, slitting their throats one by one.
Ichirō Kawaguchi and Shino Kobayashi lay in pools of blood, their faces still bearing the terrified expressions they had worn when caught in the genjutsu.
Uchiha Xin knew very well that Danzo had placed the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal on every Root member's tongue.
Once they tried to reveal secrets about Danzo and Root.
The cursed seal would activate, paralyzing their entire bodies or even killing them.
Interrogating these people would be a complete waste of time.
Only the dead would not reveal the secret that he had awakened the Mangekyō.
After dealing with everyone, Uchiha Xin wiped the blood from his kunai on a leaf and returned it to his ninja tool pouch.
His figure flickered, becoming an afterimage as he sped back the way he had come.
He had to check on Genma Shiranui's situation.
A few minutes later.
Crouching in the shadows of the treetops, Uchiha Xin activated his Sharingan and watched the battlefield ahead from afar.