And so, Yorin and Shisui arrived at the clan's large training grounds.
After the Senju were wiped out, the Uchiha became Konoha's largest ninja clan.
Even if their diplomacy had flopped and Konoha's folks found them hard to stomach, the top-dog foundation was still there. Naturally, the Uchiha training grounds were first-class in the Konoha—big, well-equipped, and busy. Every day crowds of Uchiha trained here—killing with their eyes or blasting Fire Style like mad.
Because of that, word that Uchiha Yorin and Uchiha Shisui were going to have a "friendly spar" spread through the clan in a heartbeat.
Men young and old perked up at once; one after another, they practically wished they could hitch a ride on the Flying Thunder God just to hurry back and watch Shisui pound Yorin.
"Go get 'em, Shisui!"
"Teach him a proper lesson!"
"Hmph, it's not like I rushed back just to see Shisui beat up Yorin or anything!"
Obviously, if they stopped to think, they'd realize everything Yorin had done was for the Uchiha.
But right now, the men—and the women, too—had no interest in calm reflection. They just wanted to bash Yorin's skull in; if they couldn't do it themselves, watching Shisui do it would do nicely.
"What a mindset. He still hasn't awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan."
At this moment Shisui only admired Yorin even more.
If he were the one getting blamed and resented like this, his mentality might have snapped already.
Caught in the meat grinder between village and clan, Shisui's "choice" would be suicide to prove his resolve—not living on as stubbornly as Yorin.
"In that respect, I'm not as good as Yorin-nii," he couldn't help thinking—when a kunai whooshed past his bangs. From the far side came Yorin's voice:
"Don't zone out, Shisui. It's a one-on-one—keep your head in it."
"Yes!"
The next second, Shisui vanished.
Body Flicker.
In a sense, the most bugged—and most practical—technique in the Hokage world. To outsiders it makes a ninja's speed look like literal teleportation.
Of course, Yorin wasn't an outsider.
"Left—? No, right."
What appeared on the left was only an afterimage; the real Shisui materialized on the right.
Yorin's correct read was met with a sharp clang of steel to his right—
—followed by a rapid, unbroken chain of ringing clashes.
Both men Body-Flickered nonstop, constantly adjusting position, angles, and timing—blocking and slipping the other's strikes while aiming for unguarded lines.
Fights between taijutsu specialists are simple—and nerve-wracking.
Simple, because the flow is the flow. Nerve-wracking, because the tiniest shred of "slower" means you're dead.
A hair slower in speed—you die. A hair slower to react—you die. Even if your speed and reactions are fine, if your power and technique aren't there—you still die.
Simple. Efficient. Lethal.
You can break strong genjutsu. You can dodge big ninjutsu. But this kind of close-range mowing—once it's on top of you, there's no dodging, no breaking free. You just die.
That's why body-flicker specialists in taijutsu are the ninja world's scariest reapers.
In an instant—before you even register it—your neck's cut, and in the next instant the killer is gone. A master of Body Flicker can kill faster than many ninjutsu aces.
Like Konoha's White Fang once did.
Like the Yellow Flash does now.
And like Konoha's Flame Claw and Shisui of the Body Flicker do today.
Watching light and shadow flow across the field, the continuous clash of blades turning into a single ringing line, most of the onlooking Uchiha felt a chill at their throats.
They couldn't help asking themselves: if I were facing Shisui or Yorin… could I stop this?
The answer: "No." The strength of kenjutsu plus Body Flicker is that no matter how "invincible" you are—if you react a fraction slower, or move a fraction slower—before you can unleash your invincible move, you're already dead.
Some thought, Fine, my taijutsu's not great and my reactions lag—but I've got the Sharingan. I can hard-CC with genjutsu to buy time and win, right?
Sure.
On the condition your speed and reactions are still almost fast enough. If you're any slower, your genjutsu and Sharingan won't come out in time, either.
Worse, Yorin and Shisui are both Uchiha—ordinary genjutsu won't work on them anyway.
"Terrifying… and reassuring."
Sensing the crowd's mood, Fugaku spoke up, quietly but clearly enough for the right ears.
At his words, the Uchiha relaxed.
Right. Whether Yorin or Shisui, they're ours. The stronger they are, the stronger we are.
We're comrades, clanmates, family.
Who would cut down family with their own hand? That'd be beneath even beasts—pure scum.
With that thought, even the most suspicious among them settled. Back on the field, the two young twin stars of the Uchiha had, by silent agreement, paused.
Three minutes of high-intensity combat. Not much chakra used; a light sheen of sweat.
Yorin: "That's enough feeling each other out."
Shisui: "Mm."
Crowd Uchiha: "What?! That speed and reaction—that miracle-smooth Body Flicker—was just the feeling-out phase?!"
Ignoring the crowd's puzzlement and shock, round two exploded the instant they moved.
Shisui's trump card was speed—faster than before—so fast it pushed the limit of time itself—so much so that even Minato Namikaze thought that, at very short range, Shisui was faster than he was!
At full tilt, Shisui could erase a standard jōnin without effort; they wouldn't even see him before he cut them down.
Yorin judged Shisui's Speed stat to be well above 10—at least 12, maybe higher.
Realizing "sparring speed" wouldn't cut it against Yorin, Uchiha Shisui decided to "get serious."
Phantoms? Afterimages? Something else entirely?
What had just flashed by?!
In a single instant, the result was decided.
Going all in, Shisui blitzed Yorin. His Body Flicker created a hallucination-like effect—like he was appearing at several, even dozens of angles around Yorin at once!
In the very next heartbeat, the mirage vanished. Shisui stood in front of Yorin, chest heaving, eyes wide with disbelief.
"What… just happened?!"
To follow the exchange, every Uchiha watching had activated their Sharingan. Even then, the dynamic vision of those eyes couldn't fully track it.
So the ones who couldn't see turned to the jōnin with three tomoe.
Maybe only those veterans could tell what had happened.
Of course, seeing as spectators didn't mean they could block either man's strikes.
"In that single instant, Shisui used Body Flicker at least twenty times, striking for Yorin's vital points from all sides.
In the process he threw sixteen kunai and seventy shuriken… but—"
"But Yorin blocked them all."
Fugaku said gravely:
"Not 'at least twenty.' In that instant Shisui Body-Flickered twenty-seven times. Yorin did it sixteen times.
In pure speed, Yorin is a shade behind Shisui. But his head is sharper, his technique more seasoned, and his power slightly higher.
He blocked everything Shisui threw and, at the end, landed a hit. With the flat of the blade, of course."
"…So Yorin wins this one?!"
"He actually beat Shisui? Is the Flame Claw of Konoha stronger than Shisui of the Body Flicker?"
"It's not real combat—just a spar. One result doesn't prove much, right?"
"Sure, but still—"
The buzz didn't touch the two on the field.
After a brief silence, Shisui tipped his head back and sighed. "I lost."
At the same time, the system chimed:
[Emergency Quest · Outshine the Uchiha · Complete. Reward: Yang Release nature transformation; large chakra increase (Stamina +2).]