Chapter 16

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Six shurikens instantly shot out from Ruri's palm, without the slightest hesitation, and attacked Shiro from different angles.

Throwing shurikens and kunai has always been a specialty of the Uchiha clan.

Even Shiro, who had put in a lot of effort in this area, could not guarantee that he would surpass Ruri.

However, over the years, he had fought Ruri countless times, so he was well aware of many of her attack patterns.

He quickly drew a kunai to block, and sparks flew in the dimly lit forest.

Then, another six shurikens flew over.

Without letting the second wave of shurikens get close to him at all, he deflected them all. Shiro's figure darted forward, closing the distance with Ruri, and engaged in close combat.

The speed at which both of them swung their kunai was like lightning, tearing through the air and creating a solemn and heavy atmosphere.

At this moment, Ruri suddenly began to form hand seals with one hand.

Shiro was slightly startled, and his body instinctively reacted.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

A single hand seal!

Shiro was surprised that Ruri could perform this technique.

He had only seen single-hand seals in textbooks, but very few people could actually do it.

However, considering the Uchiha clan's accumulated knowledge, while not everyone could do it, there were definitely training techniques for it.

After all, Ruri's talent as a ninja was the best Shiro had ever seen.

This was not only evident in combat but also in her studies.

Before this battle, Shiro did not know that Ruri could form hand seals with one hand. At close range, she suddenly launched a fire jutsu, and the massive fireball came close, making Shiro struggle to barely dodge it.

The trees hit by the fireball burned fiercely, crackling and popping, and then crashed to the ground with a loud thud.

"Phew, that was dangerous. Fortunately..."

Shiro let out a sigh of relief and instinctively met Ruri's gaze, about to speak, but his body involuntarily trembled, and the world spun around him, upside down.

He saw Ruri's pupils rapidly spinning, changing from black to a blood-red color, with two comma-like black tomoe in each red eye.

These mysterious and dangerous eyes, spinning in Ruri's eyes, released a mental illusion that Shiro could not physically defend against, piercing through all his defenses and trapping him in a powerful genjutsu.

Shiro's throat felt dry, and he forced a bitter smile.

He had not expected Ruri to learn how to form hand seals with one hand, but what he had not anticipated even more was that Ruri, like Ayane, had awakened the Uchiha clan's bloodline limit—the Sharingan.

And it was in the two-tomoe state.

Seeing Ruri's incredibly proficient use of genjutsu, it was clear that she had already mastered her Sharingan.

In Konoha, there is a general understanding that the difficulty of awakening the Sharingan is much higher than that of the Byakugan.

The Byakugan is more focused on assistance and strategy in battle, while the Sharingan represents power and strength.

There is a saying in the ninja world: when facing a Uchiha with the Sharingan, one-on-one, you must run away.

This means that in a one-on-one battle with an Uchiha, there is no chance of winning.

At such a time, one should not think about how to win but rather focus on how to escape.

The activation of the Sharingan not only means that Uchiha ninjas can more easily use powerful visual genjutsu, but their dynamic vision also improves significantly.

According to the scientific training methods provided by Shiro, Ruri had already made significant progress in her dynamic vision.

Now that she had activated her Sharingan, even Uchiha ninjas with three-tomoe Sharingan might not surpass her in dynamic vision.

The enhancement of dynamic vision means that Ruri can see through all of her opponent's attack patterns.

As long as she enhances her reaction speed, even a jonin would find it difficult to defeat her easily.

Shiro, who originally thought he had a fifty-fifty or forty-sixty chance against Ruri, now felt it was more like a ten-ninety split.

He realized that facing the genjutsu of the Sharingan, if one is not prepared, it is very difficult to fight back.

"I give..."

The word "up" had not yet left his mouth.

Ruri walked over, lifted her foot, and mercilessly stepped on Shiro's face.

"..."

Shiro felt a sharp pain in his face.

He was hit hard.

He was no small-time genius himself.

Now, he had become so easily defeated.

Reality was cruel.

"Ruri, next time you step on my face, could you please take off your shoes first? Your shoe sole really hurt my face."

Hearing Shiro's sarcastic remark from the ground, Ruri looked at him with a disdainful gaze, as if he were a worm.

To ask her to take off her shoes and step on his face—pervert!

"Really, you still make me so annoyed."

The reason Shiro annoyed Ruri was not just because he diverted his extra energy to research, but also because he always hid his true strength, leading to underestimation and ridicule from his classmates.

Even as they entered third grade, Shiro did not change his style of hiding his abilities.

Facing those weaker than him, he willingly accepted defeat, endured their ridicule and belittlement, and then pretended to be indifferent, smiling it off.

This was the root of Ruri's annoyance.

If Shiro showed his true strength, even against their chunin teacher, Fujimura Daigoro, he might have a chance of winning.

She did not know why Shiro hid his strength, but his attitude towards life instinctively made her angry and very annoyed.

"Well, it's just a bit of play between kids, no need to take it seriously. You know, adults don't hold grudges against kids."

Shiro sat up from the ground, the genjutsu having been dispelled by Ruri, and smiled, explaining casually.

Ruri was speechless.

His words made it seem like he was not a kid himself.

"By the way, when did you awaken your Sharingan?"

Shiro asked with interest.

"On the day the clan members returned from the battlefield, I felt a bit uneasy, and it suddenly opened."

Ruri said expressionlessly, as if awakening the Sharingan was not a significant event, with no complicated process.

"Is that so? I heard that awakening the Sharingan requires very strong emotions. It seems this is not just a rumor."

It must have been because she thought of many close clan members who did not return from the battlefield, or even if they did return, they became disabled ninjas, causing her emotions to fluctuate dramatically, and she accidentally awakened the Sharingan.

Ruri did not deny it, and she retracted her Sharingan, returning to her normal black eyes.

Continuously using the Sharingan in battle would be a burden for her at this stage.

"Ruri..."

Shiro stood up from the ground, walking towards Ruri with a pleading smile.

"What is it?"

Ruri instinctively took a step back.

Shiro's expression made her think nothing good would come of it.

"Um... I'm out of money for my research, and now I can't even afford to eat. Could you support me for a while? It won't be long, just until I graduate and can do missions to pay you back..."

Shiro shamelessly asked Ruri to support him.

Ruri silently pulled a kunai from her ninja tool pouch.

"If you want to die, I can fulfill that for you right now."

...

In the end, after signing a series of indenture contracts, Ruri reluctantly agreed to support Shiro.