Konoha, Training Ground Nine.
Two figures moved back and forth across the clearing at high speed, their shinobi blades colliding again and again in showers of sparks.
Despite their young age, there was nothing childish about the force or precision behind their strikes.
Their movements were polished far beyond what one would expect from ordinary shinobi.
They were two of the Uchiha clan’s brightest young talents: Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Shisui.
Clap, clap, clap.
The two boys broke off their spar when an untimely round of applause came from nearby.
Turning toward the sound, they found a young man with short, tousled black hair approaching in a fitted black outfit.
“Uncle?”
“Riku-sensei?”
“Good afternoon, you two.” Riku walked over with an easy smile and tossed the half-eaten skewer of dango in his hand toward Itachi.
“Training this hard even at noon?
As expected of the future of the Uchiha.”
Itachi caught the dango and immediately noticed something different about him.
“Uncle, why are you wearing glasses?”
“Because I intend to stand above the heavens,” Riku replied calmly.
“…”
The corner of Uchiha Itachi’s mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.
‘There he goes again.’
His uncle had a unique talent for answering perfectly ordinary questions like a lunatic.
“I came up with a new technique recently, and I wanted our resident super-genius Shisui to help me test it.” Riku turned toward the boy wearing a Konoha forehead protector.
For once, that was not empty flattery.
Uchiha Shisui was only twelve, yet he had already distinguished himself on the battlefield against Kirigakure and earned the name Shisui of the Body Flicker.
“A technique you created yourself, Riku-sensei?” Shisui’s interest was immediately piqued.
“Uncle, don’t.” Itachi forgot all about the dango in his hand as a look of pure exasperation crossed his face.
“Your Spiraling One Thousand Years of Death and Supercharged Chidori Ball aren’t going to work on Shisui.”
Shisui blinked.
“What’s the Spiraling One Thousand Years of Death?
It sounds powerful.”
“Trust me,” Itachi said with a weary sigh.
“You don’t want to know.”
“Relax.
This one is a real technique.” Riku ruffled his nephew’s hair, then walked to the center of the training ground.
Only then did Itachi notice the long sword hanging at his uncle’s waist, its hilt a pale blue-green.
That was strange.
Very strange.
As far as Itachi knew, almost everything Riku used revolved around taijutsu and fighting with his bare hands.
Since when did he know swordsmanship?
“Riku-sensei, here I come!”
Excitement appeared on Shisui’s face as he drew the short blade strapped across his back.
Whoosh!
His body blurred.
In the blink of an eye, he had crossed the distance between them and appeared directly in front of Riku, his short sword sweeping horizontally toward him.
Shisui’s reputation was well deserved.
Even this simple Body Flicker Slash had been nearly impossible for most Kirigakure shinobi to defend against.
Seeing his movement was one thing; making the body react quickly enough was another matter entirely.
Yet Riku seemed to know exactly where the attack would come from. The source of this chapter is g.com.
His long sword flashed from its sheath and swept upward.
Clang!
Steel struck steel with a sharp metallic crack.
‘He blocked it?!’
Uchiha Itachi’s pupils contracted, his mouth falling slightly open as the forgotten dango remained in his hand.
When he had been sparring with Shisui earlier, it had really been more of a lesson than a proper fight.
Shisui had never once taken him seriously.
This was different.
The Body Flicker Slash was one of Shisui’s signature techniques, something he would never use against Itachi because Itachi simply could not defend against it yet.
According to their father, anyone below the level of a special jōnin who faced that attack head-on would most likely be killed or crippled.
And yet his uncle was supposed to be nothing more than a chūnin who spent most of his time teaching.
So how—
Before Itachi could finish the thought, something strange happened in the clearing.
Mist began to rise.
It rolled across the ground like vapor lifting from a boiling surface, quickly swallowing Riku’s body.
Then his silhouette split apart within the haze, multiplying into dozens of identical figures, each holding the same long sword.
Riku’s voice came from all of them at once.
“This is the technique I created.”
A faint blue glow spread across the blade.
“I call it Kyōka Suigetsu.”
The light vanished almost as quickly as it appeared.
“What an incredible technique.”
Shisui’s expression became serious.
His eyes had already turned scarlet, three tomoe slowly revolving around each pupil.
‘There.’
His gaze snapped to the left.
Flames flared along his short blade as he struck.
Clang!
The short sword collided with Riku’s long blade, and the surrounding mist dispersed in an instant.
“As expected of the three-tomoe Sharingan.” Riku sighed and returned his sword to its sheath.
“Looks like this technique won’t work on you.”
“Your technique is amazing, Riku-sensei!” Shisui replied earnestly.
“Using the refraction inside the mist to redirect someone’s perception and confuse their senses…
ordinary genjutsu can’t accomplish anything like that!”
Itachi was staring at Riku as though he had only just met him.
Apparently his uncle was capable of creating something besides ridiculous nonsense like the Supercharged Chidori Ball.
His father had been completely wrong.
His uncle was not some mediocre shinobi wasting his potential as an Academy instructor.
He was a genius!
“I should get to class.” Riku gave them a gentle smile.
“You two keep training.”
He turned and left the training ground.
The moment he passed beyond the next fork in the path, however, the black-clad Riku suddenly changed.
His figure blurred and became Uzumaki Kushina in her long crimson dress. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
The red-haired woman stared ahead in disbelief, looking thoroughly bewildered.
“That was Kyōka Suigetsu?”
“Now you’ve seen it for yourself.”
The real Riku stepped out of empty space beside her, smiling.
“That is the power of Complete Hypnosis—absolute control over all five senses.”
The hypnosis had already taken effect the instant Riku drew his sword.
From that moment onward, the “Riku” fighting Shisui had actually been Kushina.
The two of them had switched places before the battle even properly began.
“That’s terrifying.”
Kushina slowly exhaled, then turned her bright eyes toward him.
“But why hypnotize Itachi too?
Because of you, that boy isn’t nearly as extreme as he was in the original story anymore, right?”
“Just an extra precaution.”
Riku smiled faintly.
“Besides, if I couldn’t fool Itachi, how was I supposed to fool the ‘strongest Hokage’ hiding in the shadows and spying on us?”
His smile widened.
“You don’t want to keep sneaking around every time you visit Naruto, do you, Big Sis?”
“Hmph.
At least you have a conscience.”
Kushina immediately brightened and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek.
This time, Riku did not simply stand there and accept it.
He turned his head and kissed her back.
For all her aggression, Kushina had almost no defense against someone returning the favor.
It did not take long before her face reddened and she retreated in embarrassment, dissolving into blood mist and fleeing back into Riku’s body.
Riku’s hand closed on empty air.
He stared at it for a moment before laughing helplessly and opening the group chat.
[Riku-sama] [Group Owner]: Tested it.
The Sharingan can’t see through Kyōka Suigetsu.
[I’m Not a Hair-Gel Guy]: As I expected.
[Doujin Artist]: FUCK, that pisses me off!
Why do YOU get everything?!
Aizen-bro has only been in the group for half a month and you’ve already copied Kyōka Suigetsu?!
[Riku-sama] [Group Owner]: Correction: half a month has passed in YOUR world!
It’s been almost six months over here!
[I’m Not a Hair-Gel Guy]: Six months?
Two years have passed on my side.
[Doujin Artist]: HOLY SHIT!
[Riku-sama] [Group Owner]: Damn!
[Doujin Artist]: The more I think about it, the angrier I get.
That bastard group owner has it made now!
With Kyōka Suigetsu, he can hypnotize whoever he wants.
Give it a little time and every married woman in the shinobi world will probably be pregnant with his kids!
Riku nearly spat blood when he read that.
[Riku-sama] [Group Owner]: You fucking—