The stadium still echoed with the clash of Uchiha steel and the bursts of chakra from the duel. Spectators leaned forward, breathless, as Uchiha Shigure and Uchiha Shisui locked eyes across the battlefield.
Shisui looked composed, though the fatigue was visible in his stance. "I should explain why I've been hiding my identity as Yoshida Kappei…" His tone carried the weight of regret, but also calm determination.
Shigure waved him off before the words could gain momentum. "It's fine. The Third will explain everything after this. What matters right now—our battle isn't over!"
The crimson glow of his Sharingan spun wildly as he lunged forward, his afterimages flashing with shunshin speed. Shadow clones dispersed across the arena, each drawing steel or preparing seals.
Shisui's eyes flared in response. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! Sharingan!" His clones rushed in to counter, steel on steel echoing like a storm.
The clash intensified. Both Uchiha fought as if dancing—their footwork flowing, their blades striking with elegance and brutality alike. Shuriken shrieked through the air, genjutsu flickered like mirages, and bursts of elemental chakra lit the stage.
An experienced shinobi might have marveled at their technique; the academy students could scarcely follow the speed. For Shigure, though, the fight was more than a test of strength. Each of Shisui's movements was another piece to absorb—his parries, his cuts, his rhythm. Shigure mirrored it, molding Shisui's swordsmanship into his own growing style.
But the strain was mounting for one of them.
Shisui struck his cousin's clone with a vicious slash, only for another Shigure to step in, relentless. His chest heaved. "He's younger, smaller, but his chakra…" His pupils shrank in disbelief. "Does he have no limit?!"
The pressure escalated until his muscles screamed. "No… If this continues, I'll lose. Losing is fine, but—" His jaw clenched. "Losing to my cousin is too humiliating!"
He flickered backward in retreat, the distance sharp and sudden. Shigure slowed, curious at the break. Then—black feathers.
Crows erupted like a tidal wave from Shisui's silhouette. They cawed, spinning in a crimson storm as his kaleidoscopic genjutsu set its snare.
The onlookers stirred in confusion. "Why aren't they moving anymore?" whispered Mitokado Homura.
Beside him, Sarutobi Hiruzen's expression tightened. "Genjutsu. They've entered a battle of illusions. Shisui's true genius lies not in swordplay, but in his eyes…" His gaze softened with pity. "Shigure, without Sharingan of equal power, may already be at a disadvantage."
But the Hokage was wrong.
Shigure stood calmly within the abyss of crows. His Sharingan, already at its fully matured three tomoe, spun in unison with another power—Byakugan veins burning faintly at his temples. The blood of Uchiha and Hyūga had mingled in him, yes, but his lineage had carried something deeper, a resonance closer to the Ōtsutsuki than either clan could imagine.
Against genjutsu short of the Mangekyō, Shigure did not even need to dispel. The illusions cracked against his spiritual power and snapped back like a mirror.
Shisui's body spasmed. Blood spilled from his lips as the backlash swallowed him. His knees shook, katana jabbing into the ground for support. "Your…your spiritual power…this intensity... And that chakra—does it not run dry at all?"
Shigure's answer was cool, disarming. "Maybe it's because I'm both, Shisui. Uchiha and Hyūga. Maybe that's why my eyes are what they are."
He raised a special kunai, its tip gleaming like it thirsted for the continuation of the duel. "Shall we go on?"
Shisui wheezed. Sweat dripped down his cheek as he shook his head. "No. I have no stamina left. And no chakra to give." His body gave in, collapsing, though his consciousness lingered. He had lost—not to exhaustion alone, but to his cousin's terrifying growth.
The silence in the arena was deafening. Then the examiner stepped forward, checked Shisui, and raised his voice:
"I declare! Victory goes to Uchiha Shigure, champion of the Chūnin Selection Exams!"
Cheers erupted. The crowd had watched an Uchiha prodigy fall to another even younger prodigy. Rivalries, pride, legends—they whispered already of this duel as one to be remembered.
Sarutobi Hiruzen stepped into the center, smiling, tapping the examiner on the shoulder. "Well done, Shinnosuke. A fine job today."
Shigure froze at the name. "Shinnosuke? Sarutobi Shinnosuke? The First Son of the Third, father of Konohamaru?" The revelation added weight to an otherwise fleeting detail.
But all attention shifted back to the Hokage as the man raised Shigure's hand. "The winner of this Chūnin Exam—my disciple, Uchiha Shigure!" His aged voice carried pride tempered by wisdom.
Whispers shot through the stands. Shigure, only five years old, was being recognized before the village like no other. Then Hiruzen smiled faintly, his eyes firm.
"On this day, I award him not only the title of champion but advancement. From this day forth, Uchiha Shigure will serve as Konohagakure's Jōnin."
Gasps swept through the exam hall. A leap from Genin to Jōnin at this age… It defied every precedent.
But not everyone celebrated.
A voice like cold steel cut across the stadium. "Wait, Hiruzen! He cannot take that rank!"
From the shadows beside the Hokage's stand, Shimura Danzō emerged at last. His face, half-wrapped in bandages, was grim as stone.
Shigure's eyes narrowed. "So, it's you."
Hiruzen turned, weariness in his sigh. "Danzō…You saw his strength. You saw what he carries. Why not acknowledge it?"
Danzō's voice lowered to a growl. "Because it is reckless! Since Konoha's founding, no shinobi has ever vaulted from Genin to Jōnin without climbing the ranks. It undermines discipline, breeds arrogance! He is five years old. At this rate he will ruin himself."
Shigure clenched his fists. The excuses tasted like poison in his ears. "Nonsense. Excuses from a coward."
Danzō's eyes sliced toward him. "What did you say?"
Shigure stepped forward, voice carrying across the crowd. "You heard me. You're afraid of me. That's why you'd rather cage me with rules."
The crowd stirred, sensing the provocation.
"Afraid?" Danzō repeated, his brow twitching.
Shigure's grin was sharp. "Then prove it! You were once the elite guard of the Nidaime Hokage, right? Now you're assistant to the Hokage himself. Your power should be beyond Kage-level. Then fight me." His words rang like a challenge carved into steel.
"If you don't dare, the whole village will laugh. And if you lose—you admit I have the strength to face Kage-level power. And then no one will deny my rank."
The crowd roared as the tension spiked, hungry for another battle. The momentum swept through civilians and shinobi alike.
Danzō's scowl deepened. Trapped by pride, by politics, by his own name. If he agreed, he risked scandal whether victory or defeat. Yet refusal sounded worse—a coward's silence before the youngest prodigy of Konoha.
Hiruzen raised a hand gently. "Danzō. He is still a child. But if he asks for a lesson, then as a senior, perhaps it is fitting you be the one to teach it."
Shigure raised his kunai high. "Face me, Danzō!"
The crowd erupted. "Yes! Let them fight!" Their voices boomed like thunder around the stone walls of the arena. A duel between the shadow of the Hokage and the new champion—between the past and the future.
Danzō's lone eye narrowed, dark as midnight.
"Very well… Uchiha Shigure. You asked for this."
And so, with the entire village watching, the battle between Konoha's old shadow and its blazing prodigy was about to begin.
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