After the graduation ceremony, Shisui was indeed not assigned to any squad.
Just as Shin had anticipated, he was sent straight back to the clan to continue training under their direct supervision.
More importantly, he had awakened the Two-Tomoe Sharingan right there—provoked by Shin's words. From that moment on, the Uchiha Clan would never allow him to wander freely outside again.
Shin had originally urged him to keep it hidden, but he wasn't an Uchiha.
He couldn't truly grasp the clan's pride—or the sheer, overwhelming significance the Sharingan carried within their bloodline.
Shisui had also explained that once the Sharingan awakened, a person's Chakra fundamentally changed.
Ordinary Ninja without sensory abilities might not notice, but to an experienced Three-Tomoe Uchiha, it shone like a blazing torch in the darkness. Concealment was simply impossible.
An eight-year-old with a Two-Tomoe Sharingan—a prodigy scarcely recorded across the entire history of the Uchiha Clan—had instantly become their most precious treasure.
Why waste time letting him run missions in some ordinary squad?
The outside world was far from peaceful. If such a Genius died midway through growth, it would be an immeasurable loss to the Uchiha Clan.
A Genius who dies before maturing is meaningless.
Of course, the clan didn't lock Shisui away like a fragile flower in a greenhouse. That would stunt his growth just as surely.
Instead, veteran clan elites would personally guide him through true blood and fire.
They were paranoid, unwilling to trust outsiders' protection—including the Village itself. And frankly, some people inside the Village were far more dangerous than enemies outside.
Danzo: "…"
What? The naturally evil Uchiha produced an eight-year-old Two-Tomoe Genius? Let this old man have a look!
Gekkō Hayate followed standard Ninja procedure, obediently joined a squad, and began his lively Genin life.
Of the original four, only Shin and Yūgao Uzuki remained together. Hayate could still be seen occasionally, but Uchiha Shisui?
He vanished completely.
As for Shin, aside from occasionally guiding Yūgao, he poured every spare moment into the cultivation he loved so deeply.
---
Time does not stop for war. As time flows, war only grows more cruel.
Early summer arrived, the air warming beneath a blazing sun.
In a training ground far from the Village's main district, Shin gripped the short blade his father had given him and infused it with Wind-nature Chakra.
The weapon was an ancestral blade of the Higashino Clan, forged with a generous amount of Chakra Metal, allowing Chakra to flow through it smoothly and without resistance.
If it were made entirely of pure Chakra Metal, how perfect it would be—unfortunately, that was nearly impossible. The ore was so rare that its price alone could make Kakuzu explode on the spot.
Sharp Wind Chakra condensed along the blade, forming a visible, tangible sheath—but that was far too conspicuous.
Shin continued suppressing it until the Chakra faded to near invisibility, compressing it tightly within the blade itself. The sword appeared ordinary once more, yet its essence had been utterly transformed.
With a few casual swings, several faint crescent-shaped blades sliced through the air, drilling cleanly through multiple towering trees before finally dissipating.
This was the primary offensive technique he had developed after arduously refining the Wind element's cutting property—razor-sharp and lightning-fast.
Best of all, its scale was adjustable. Tiny blades like bullets that could stop a heart instantly, or massive arcs capable of leveling an entire forest.
The inspiration for this seal-less Ninjutsu came from Danzo's B-rank Wind Release: Vacuum Wave and Vacuum Serial Waves, as well as the future jōnin Shirakumo Hayama's A-rank Wind Release: Vacuum Sword.
That technique was still more than a decade away. For all Shin knew, that senior hadn't even developed it yet. If not, then this copyright belonged to him.
Efficiency mattered deeply to Shin. He despised techniques that enemies could easily dodge—wasting Chakra was the same as wasting life.
That was why he was dissatisfied with the Vacuum Wave line, which required hand seals and expelled wind from the mouth.
Vacuum Sword needed fewer seals, but its blades were still far too obvious.
Relying on his exceptional Chakra-control ability, Shin fused the strengths of both techniques and refined them into an instant, high-speed, near-invisible blade wave.
He named it: Wind Release: Shadowless Sword.
With a Body Flicker, Shin appeared deeper inside the forest. His toe lightly brushed a hair-thin tripwire, instantly triggering the trap.
A storm of kunai and shuriken erupted from every direction, converging toward the figure at the center.
Shin remained perfectly still.
His sword arm blurred into afterimages as countless Wind Blades intercepted each projectile with pinpoint precision.
Clink—clink—clink—clink!
A continuous cascade of sharp impacts rang out. None of the weapons reached him; they were severed mid-air and fell uselessly to the ground.
Unlike before, when he had merely deflected them, this time every kunai and shuriken was cleanly split in two, their cut edges smooth as mirrors.
Finally, a thick log—launched by elastic force and momentum—hurtled toward him, only to be shredded mid-flight by a rapid succession of Wind Blades. Crack after crack echoed as splinters exploded outward.
Shin was extremely satisfied with the result.
Next, he needed to develop auxiliary attack techniques and defensive Ninjutsu—all of them instant. He already had clear ideas.
Hand seals might look impressive, but they were inefficient. Fine for demonstrations or teaching, perhaps—but in real combat, Shin only cared about speed, precision, and lethal immediacy.
Who would stand around reciting seals in the middle of a fight? Not him.
After finishing his tests, Higashino looked at the broken kunai and shuriken scattered across the ground and silently congratulated himself for using worn-out training tools instead of brand-new steel ones. Those things were expensive.
He extended his right hand. Chakra gathered and formed a swirling gust that swept the shattered weapons into a pile and dropped them neatly into a prepared pack.
Chakra really was convenient in daily life—when it wasn't being used to kill.
Cleaning up after every training session was his habit. A Ninja must protect his secrets. Higashino Jiro had drilled that rule into him countless times.
So Shin always trained with his sensory perception active, alert for observers.
Right now, several figures entered his awareness.
He recognized two Chakra signatures immediately. The other two were unfamiliar—especially one that felt bright and powerful.
He instantly guessed who it was.
Shin gathered the wires strung between the trees and concealed himself atop a nearby trunk.
Soon, a loud voice approached.
"I told you I wasn't oversleeping! I just helped an old lady on the way!"
A lazy voice replied, "Whatever. I don't expect you to help. If you don't hold us back, I'll be grateful."
"What did you say, bastard Kakashi? Who's dead weight?!"
"The louder the mouth, the smaller the worth."
"Argh—damn it, stuck-up Kakashi! I'll kill you!"
"Obito! Kakashi!" A crisp female voice spoke only their names, yet it instantly silenced the quarrel.
Trailing behind them, a handsome blond Ninja wearing a green flak jacket and an outrageous pompadour smiled helplessly, clearly accustomed to his students' bickering.
But when he reached the area where Shin had trained, that smile faded. His eyes scanned the grass and scattered wood chips.
The dense Uchiha Obito noticed nothing.
Kakashi did.
"...Minato-sensei?" he asked quietly.
Minato glanced around, then shook his head. "Not battle traces. Someone trained here and left—most likely a comrade from the Village."
Kakashi nodded and said nothing more. Training grounds like this often bore such signs.
The four continued on, their voices fading into the distance along with their familiar squabble.
From his tree, Shin smiled faintly. He had just confirmed that Minato possessed exceptionally sharp perception.
Yet the sensory awareness born of Shin's Natural Energy cultivation was subtler, refined—capable of concealing his presence completely.
Minato would only detect him if he entered Sage Mode. If he even had it yet.
Watching the four figures disappear, Shin felt a quiet pang in his chest. This might be the last time he ever saw that team so harmonious.
By his estimation, Obito and the others were twelve now.
Soon, fate would tear them apart and send them down wildly different paths. The tragedy of the Ninja World was distilled within this single small group.
He had never once considered interfering.
First, he had no interest.
Second, he lacked the power.
Third—and most importantly—it was too dangerous. He couldn't explain what he knew without endangering his friends and family.
Above all, this was not his former world. In the Ninja World, the boundary between life and death is blurred.
Someone had already shattered the laws of heaven and earth, muddying the cycle of reincarnation itself.
Here—Death is not the end of life.