The Third's concerns were crystal clear to Kakashi.
The Akatsuki organization was brimming with so many Mangekyo Uchiha, enough to make anyone wary and apprehensive. Now that the Hidden Leaf Village finally had its own Mangekyo Uchiha, they had to tread carefully.
Moreover, Sasuke was still not even eleven years old. No matter how much of a prodigy he was, he was still a bit green. Sending him to the battlefield now could lead to irreversible regret if something went wrong.
Stepping out of the Hokage Building, Kakashi let out a sigh.
The Third's reasoning convinced him, but he had no confidence in persuading Sasuke. Just thinking about Sasuke's reaction to being excluded from missions gave him a headache.
Shinobi Academy.
Ding-a-ling-ling.
The crisp sound of the class bell interrupted Shion's challenge to Sasuke.
Or rather, the moment Sasuke activated his Mangekyo Sharingan, the challenge was already over. After all, Sasuke had declared he wouldn't use his Sharingan.
"Tch!"
Sasuke spat lightly, his expression tinged with irritation.
His frustration wasn't due to the sudden bell but because he realized that without using his Mangekyo dojutsu or high-powered techniques like Chidori, he couldn't quickly deal with Shion and Lee standing before him.
Hearing the bell, Lee glanced at Shion. "Shion, class is starting!"
"What lousy timing!" Shion grumbled, then turned to Sasuke. "Sasuke, this isn't over. After school, I'm challenging you again!"
"Fine, I'll be waiting!"
Sasuke deactivated his Sharingan and turned toward the school building.
The onlookers, seeing the challenge paused, also headed toward the classrooms.
At that moment, Neji and Tenten approached Lee.
Tenten patted Lee's shoulder, her face full of curiosity. "You sneaky guy! You've improved so much without saying a word! I noticed, you know—your kicks were so strong, even Sasuke couldn't block them. How'd you do it?"
Neji's face showed no curiosity; he had already figured it out.
Lee lifted his pant legs, revealing the heavy weights strapped to them, and scratched his head. "Sasuke suggested a spar, and I got so excited I forgot to take off my weights."
"What!?"
Tenten's eyes nearly popped out at the sight of the hefty weights on Lee's legs.
Then, she understood.
With such exaggerated weights on his legs, Lee's kicks were like swinging massive hammers. No wonder Sasuke couldn't block them.
Neji, however, thought deeper.
Even with those weights, Lee could give Sasuke that much trouble. If he removed them, wouldn't he be even more formidable?
Then Neji glanced at Shion, thinking to himself, Everyone's growing stronger. I can't afford to slack off either!
On the other side.
Shion sidled up to Uchiha Shinji. "So, how was my performance today?"
Shinji replied casually, "Eh, so-so."
Shion pouted, a bit indignant, and muttered, "Why? I forced Sasuke to use his Mangekyo Sharingan!"
Shinji said, "So what? If Sasuke got serious, you'd definitely lose."
At this stage, if they ranked all the students at the Shinobi Academy, Sasuke would undeniably be second only to Yakumo in terms of visible strength.
Kimimaro was plagued by his Bloodline Limit illness.
Neji's strength was on par with Sasuke's when he had the three-tomoe Sharingan, but he was clearly outmatched now that Sasuke had awakened his Mangekyo Sharingan.
Shinji himself was, on the surface, just a three-tomoe Uchiha.
Karin, Haku, and others couldn't reveal their true strength at the academy.
Naruto, as the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, had immense potential but wasn't a match for Mangekyo Sasuke at this point.
As for Shion, if she used her priestess sealing techniques in a surprise attack, she might succeed.
But if both sides went all out in a sudden clash, Sasuke's chances of winning were clearly much higher than Shion's.
Shion pursed her lips. "I just wanted to test him!"
"You're challenging him a bit too early." After a pause, ensuring no one was watching, Shinji lowered his voice. "The 'Breathing Technique' may not be as intricate as chakra, but there's still a lot for you to dig into!"
Shion said, "But I've already mastered 'Total Concentration'!"
"For you, 'Total Concentration' is just the starting point!" Smiling slightly, Shinji continued, "As a priestess, you were born with a physique far beyond ordinary people. That physique is your greatest cheat code for mastering the 'Breathing Technique'!"
"Hehe!"
The mention of cheating perked Shion up.
Shinji went on, "Other swordsmen practicing the 'Breathing Technique' need to constantly temper themselves, squeezing every ounce of potential from their bodies to advance. But you? You just need to unlock the treasure trove of your body and take a little to have more than enough to spare. So don't waste that talent!"
His advice was sincere.
Having practiced the 'Breathing Technique' himself, he could clearly feel that Shion's progress had surpassed his own.
Part of it was because he had to split his focus on other matters, but the main reason was that his physique wasn't as robust as Shion's.
Or rather, for a priestess born with tailed-beast-level chakra, who could reach Six Paths-level power by merging with her dark side's creation, 'Moryo,' there were few in the shinobi world with a stronger physique than hers.
"Got it!" Shion nodded obediently, then asked with curiosity, "So, what's the next stage after 'Total Concentration'?"
Shinji thought for a moment.
For ordinary swordsmen, the 'Breathing Technique' could be broken down into many stages, but for Shion, such fine divisions were unnecessary.
So he said, "The next stage is called 'Marks,' a secret technique that artificially boosts your heartbeat and body temperature to enhance your physical abilities across the board!"
Shion blinked. "Marks?!"
Shinji nodded lightly. "Yep. The way to tell if you've reached the 'Marks' stage is simple: check if your body develops large-scale markings!"
"What, markings? They won't show up on my face, will they?"
Shion grew nervous.
Shinji shook his head. "No need to worry about that. The reason it's called 'Marks' is because, for ordinary swordsmen, reaching this stage means they've pushed their body's control and potential to the absolute limit, to the point where their body can't sustain it. Most don't live past 25."
Turning to Shion, he added, "But for you…"
Shion quickly asked, "What about me?"
Shinji smiled. "For you, I'm not even sure if your body would show 'Marks,' the sign of overdrawing your life force…"