A single tiny oversight could lead to massive consequences.
The Third Hokage blamed himself, convinced that his own carelessness had caused this critical intelligence leak.
"It'd be child's play for Iwagakure to uncover Shen's identity. They might already know—" He winced at the sudden throbbing in his head, gripping his forehead tightly.
Suddenly, a sharp, rhythmic ringtone—*"Ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding"*—burst from his pocket.
Seeing the familiar number light up on his cellphone screen, the Third set aside his troubling thoughts for now and answered the call.
"Third old man, guess what? I've got ideas about [Sealing Technique] now! Surprised? Thrilled?"
Hearing that teasing tone—so unmistakably *him*—the Third immediately knew who it was: Konoha's infamous troublemaker, finally figuring something out after all.
"Brat, you're serious about this? Don't even think about tricking me!"
After all, disguise is a fundamental skill for ninjas.
But Shen on the other end caught a subtle shift in his voice—something different, more fragile than usual.
"Scared, Third old man? If *I* dare go to the battlefield, what are *you* afraid of?"
Feeling guilty, the Third opened his mouth—but couldn't bring himself to say the words aloud. "Alright, I'm busy with something else. We'll talk later."
He dreaded the thought that revealing to Shen his identity had been compromised would cause the boy to fall back into that icy coldness he showed last night.
After hanging up, he decided to bury this incident deep inside his heart.
At this point, whether stopping Shen from going to war or revealing the truth about his exposure could push him closer to Madara's path.
But this secret wouldn't stay hidden forever.
Even if they created distractions, it would only make the enemy more suspicious.
"I have to find a way to make him stronger—at least strong enough to protect himself."
The Third believed that as long as Shen was powerful enough, he'd find a way to get out alive—unless, of course, he ended up facing a Kage or Hanzo himself.
Meanwhile, the moment Shen walked through his door and heard that dead tone from the phone receiver, his mood soured instantly.
"My dearest idiot brother... long time no see. How about we have a good ol' throwdown between brothers, huh?"
Fugaku, who had just finished going over the clan's losses, spun around and bolted out, muttering as he ran: "Shen, I've got to check on Mikoto. She must've been scared out of her mind last night."
Shen's mood darkened even further—until suddenly, inspiration struck.
"Hey, listen up—get those trash grads from the academy out to the training grounds. The village ones, obviously! What do you *mean* 'no time'? Anyone who skips out? Let's just say they'll *personally* live to regret it!"
As soon as he hung up, he dialed again. "Deputy Head, I'm in a seriously foul mood right now. Round everyone up fast—I gotta vent some rage!"
Nayou, who had just spoken briefly with her two elder brothers about the damages sustained at the Hyuga clan compound, silently set her phone down.
"Hiashi, Nisai—do either of you have time now?"
"Nope, super busy!" [x2]
The next second, both Hiashi and Nisai slipped away.
Their ears were perfectly fine, and the previous conversation had been loud enough. The younger sister even asked if she was free; anyone could see that showing up meant definitely getting beaten up.
The two figures fleeing like gusts of wind caused Nayou's previously upturned lips to fall instantly.
She took out a small white notebook and wrote two large lines on it before turning her head toward the side: "Elder Chaoxia, are you free?"
"I'm not," muttered the unfortunate Hyuga elder, who really wanted to say just that, but the pride of the main house wouldn't allow him to do so.
"I am free, ma'am."
"Great." Nayou replied while her eyes started wandering around.
Under her gaze, several fearless members of the Hyuga clan all claimed they were completely free—as long as it didn't involve sparring with her personally.
"You guys will face very strong opponents."
"It doesn't matter, ma'am; our Hyuga clan is the strongest in Konoha!"
"I look forward to your performance."
In high spirits, Nayou thus set off toward Konoha's training grounds accompanied by a large group of Hyuga clanspeople.
However, when they arrived, Konoha's training ground was already in ruins.
"Don't ever claim to be from my Uchiha Shen's clan again!" repeated three times.
Shen Uchiha and his two Shadow Clone Techniques looked down coldly at fifty fallen clansmen lying on the ground.
One against fifty may sound overwhelming, but with two Shadow Clone Techniques who shared his exact awareness, it wasn't overwhelming at all.
Right now, Shen alone equaled an entire squad—a highly elite one capable of seamless teamwork.
Watching from afar, the fifty Hyuga clansmen under Nayou's lead suddenly had second thoughts about stepping in.
Elder Chaoxia, naturally, wouldn't be scared like them.
"Ma'am, I'll go first." He activated his Hyuga Byakugan and strode alone toward the center of the training ground, directly before those three identical-looking people.
"Interesting." After dodging an incoming Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm, Shen tossed the Chakra Channeling Blade to one of his clones.
Fire Chakra from within his body flooded into his fists. The next second, he threw a punch far away, radiating heat intense enough to instantly evaporate moisture in the air.
The scorching shockwave caused Chaoxia's expression to grow serious.
Initially, he had somewhat doubted the shocking records attributed to the opponent, but this purely Chakra-based sphere, bearing striking similarities to the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm, immediately made him discard any contemptuous thoughts.
Chaoxia stepped back with his left foot and started rapidly rotating his body.
While initiating Huitian, he even saw a pair of crimson eyes intently observing every move he made.
"Copying with your Sharingan? Please—the main house's secrets aren't that easy to mimic!" As he canceled the rotation technique, veins around Chaoxia's eyes bulged outward.
His hands were soon enveloped in pale blue Chakra. [Lion Heads of Huitian Formation] appeared around his arms before he swiftly charged forward.
"Huitian can also be achieved, huh?" Facing the ferocious charge of Chaoxia, Shen chose instead to step his left foot backward.
Watching from the sidelines, Nayou observed how he used his left foot as a pivot point and began spinning in place.
"Is that Wind Chakra Mode?"
Chaoxia's fist made contact with the barrier in front of Shen, and immediately she sensed something was off.
"He's using high-speed rotation to weaken my attack with Wind Blade," he quickly pulled back his right hand, a portion of its chakra shaved off.
The once-majestic [Lion Heads] technique had lost most of its form.
"I have to admit, you're not just among the younger generation—you might be the most talented person I've ever seen," Chaoxia lowered her center of gravity, her expression turning serious.
"Is that so? How about this?" Shen replied. With those words, both his hands were wrapped in a crimson sphere of chakra.
"This is—" Chaoxia stared in shock at the two red chakra [Lion Heads] forming on Shen's left and right hands.
In an instant, Shen vanished from the spot and reappeared behind Chaoxia, bringing along even fiercer crimson [Lion Heads].
Chaoxia spun around and shouted angrily, "Don't underestimate the Byakugan! Your speed isn't even worth looking at!"
This wasn't the same lightning nature as before—it was fire-based energy filled with fury!
The moment their fists met, the pale blue chakra was instantly overwhelmed by a wave of red.
The increasingly intense crimson glow caused everyone at the training ground to squint their eyes.
[Boom!!!]
An explosion-like sound wave rippled outward from the two fighters at the center.
From within the blazing crater, a black figure stepped forward.
"The next one."
Those blood-red eyes, brighter than the flames themselves, showed clearly who had won the sparring match.
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