Fortunately, Hiruzen Sarutobi was an old fox himself.
Without showing any reaction, he calmly turned to the next page while giving Shinya Uchiha another glance.
A three-tomoe Sharingan at such a young age…
Another genius like Shisui?
When Shinya noticed Hiruzen looking at him, three tomoe gradually emerged within his crimson eyes.
Hiruzen immediately put on a kindly smile and nodded.
“In that case…
very well.
I’ll make a special exception and arrange your jōnin promotion exam for tomorrow.”
Shinya didn’t dare neglect his manners.
“Thank you, Lord Third.”
Seeing how respectful Shinya was, some of the wariness in Hiruzen’s eyes faded.
Even so, he instinctively continued,
“It’s because Konoha has shinobi like you and Shisui that the village can continue growing stronger.”
“You must remember: where the leaves of Konoha dance, fire burns.
The shadow of the fire will illuminate the village, and once again, new leaves will sprout.”
The same old Will of Fire speech.
And somehow, people actually bought into it.
Seeing Hiruzen wave his hand in dismissal, Yashiro understood the hint and led Shinya out of the Hokage’s office.
On the way back to the Uchiha clan district, Yashiro glanced at the silent Shinya and asked another question.
“What did you think of what happened back there?”
The Third Hokage had supposedly stepped down.
Yet he had bypassed Minato Namikaze entirely and personally arranged Shinya’s jōnin promotion exam.
And from the moment they entered the office, Yashiro himself hadn’t even bothered asking the Fourth Hokage for permission.
Clearly, the fact that the newly appointed Fourth Hokage was little more than a figurehead had already become common knowledge among Konoha’s upper ranks.
Shinya activated his Sharingan and confirmed that there were no Hokage-affiliated ANBU following them.
After thinking for a moment, he summarized his opinion in a single sentence.
“Their relationship is extremely abnormal.
But considering the Fourth Hokage only recently took office…
perhaps this kind of situation is also understandable?”
Yashiro nodded approvingly and didn’t press him any further.
For someone so young, possessing this level of political awareness was already impressive.
“Once you become a jōnin, I’ll support you during the clan council.
But if you want a greater voice within the Konoha Military Police Force, you’ll have to earn that yourself.”
Yashiro didn’t even bother asking whether Shinya was confident he could pass the jōnin exam.
An Uchiha who had awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan was invariably among the elite of shinobi.
If Shinya couldn’t even pass a jōnin promotion exam after awakening those eyes, it would be an embarrassment to the Uchiha name.
That was the pride of the Uchiha.
Among shinobi of the same level, they believed no one could defeat an Uchiha who had awakened the Sharingan.
…
The next day, Shinya’s jōnin promotion exam arrived as scheduled.
After putting on his combat gear, he made his way to one of Konoha’s training grounds.
There, he saw his opponent.
White hair.
A forehead protector covering his left eye.
A black mask hiding the lower half of his face.
And an overall air of laziness, as though everything around him was a troublesome chore.
It was none other than Kakashi Hatake.
The shinobi who possessed a single Sharingan, had copied more than a thousand techniques, and would eventually become famous throughout the shinobi world as the Copy Ninja.
Kakashi looked almost exactly as Shinya remembered him.
The prodigy who had become a jōnin at only twelve years old had lost two of his closest friends during the Battle of Kannabi Bridge.
Ever since then, he had become increasingly withdrawn and listless.
The moment Shinya realized Hiruzen had chosen Kakashi as the examiner for his promotion test, he understood the old man’s intentions.
You want Kakashi to defeat a true member of the Uchiha clan and use me to build his reputation?
Fine.
Then today, I’ll show you what a real Sharingan looks like.
Just because someone had a Sharingan transplanted into their eye didn’t mean they truly knew how to use it.
Hiruzen Sarutobi stood in the viewing area beside the training ground.
Seeing that both participants were ready, he raised one hand.
“The jōnin promotion examination for Shinya Uchiha will now…
begin!”
The instant Hiruzen dropped his hand—
Shinya Uchiha and Kakashi Hatake disappeared from the field at the same time!
Clang!
Metal crashed against metal.
Kakashi disengaged almost the instant their weapons collided.
Using the Body Flicker Technique to evade Shinya’s follow-up attack, Kakashi simultaneously hurled several shuriken to disrupt his movements.
His hands rapidly formed seals.
“Earth Style: Swamp of the Underworld!”
Apparently aware that Shinya’s talent for ninjutsu was considered relatively ordinary, Kakashi seemed intent on keeping his distance and wearing him down from range.
Shinya threw several shuriken of his own.
Each one struck Kakashi’s projectiles with pinpoint accuracy in midair.
At the same time, he used the Body Flicker Technique to close the distance while rapidly forming hand seals.
Then he opened his mouth.
“Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!”
A roaring mass of flames erupted toward Kakashi.
Shinya being “bad” at Fire Style was only true when compared to other Uchiha of the same rank.
Now that his overall abilities had risen to the level of a jōnin, the old intelligence on him was already outdated.
The Fireball Jutsu was technically only a C-rank technique.
Yet when Shinya used it, its power far exceeded what anyone would expect from a C-rank jutsu.
After all, the rank of a ninjutsu represented how difficult it was to learn.
It did not place an absolute limit on its destructive power.
From the viewing area, Hiruzen narrowed his eyes as he watched Shinya exchange blows evenly with Kakashi—and even begin gaining the upper hand.
Another genius…
If only he were an Uchiha like Shisui, someone who placed the village above the clan.
Why does the Uchiha clan produce geniuses so easily?
Faced with the wall of fire rushing toward him, Kakashi slammed one hand against the ground.
“Earth Style: Mud Wall!”
A wall of earth erupted from the ground, complete with several carved dog heads, blocking the incoming fireball.
Shinya had never understood why Kakashi was so obsessed with this unnecessary sense of ceremony.
The guy already had limited chakra reserves, and the transplanted Sharingan constantly drained even more of it.
Yet somehow, he still insisted on adding decorative dog heads to his Mud Wall.
What was this, performance art?
His Fireball Jutsu had been blocked, but Shinya wasn’t surprised.
He continued rushing toward Kakashi.
Just as he was about to close the distance—
Two hands suddenly burst from beneath the ground and grabbed his ankles.
“Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu!”
Shinya was immediately dragged underground until only his head remained above the surface.
Kakashi emerged beside him a moment later.
Seeing this, Hiruzen smiled with satisfaction.
As expected of Kakashi, the son of the White Fang.
He hasn’t disappointed me.
Kakashi looked down at Shinya, whose expression remained completely unchanged.
“It’s over.”
But the supposedly trapped Shinya suddenly gave him an eerie smile.
“What made you think the one you caught was my real body?”
Poof!
“Shinya” vanished in a cloud of smoke.
The pupil of Kakashi’s exposed eye contracted sharply.
Not good.
A shadow clone!
But when?
He hadn’t seen Shinya form the hand seal at all!
The Shadow Clone Jutsu was a technique created by the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, specifically suited to countering visual perception.
Even the Sharingan couldn’t simply distinguish a shadow clone from the original by sight.
But Kakashi no longer had time to wonder when Shinya had created it.
His exposed eye rapidly scanned his surroundings.
Trusting the combat instincts forged through countless battles, Kakashi immediately swung his ninja blade behind himself at an angle.
Just as he expected—
Shinya appeared in an instant.
Clang!
Shinya’s short blade crashed against Kakashi’s ninja blade once again.
And the moment Kakashi turned his head—
He found himself staring directly into Shinya Uchiha’s crimson eyes.
Three scarlet tomoe slowly revolved within them.
Damn it!
As a shinobi who possessed a Sharingan himself, Kakashi understood those eyes better than almost anyone outside the Uchiha clan.
And he knew one of the most important rules when fighting an Uchiha whose Sharingan was active.
Never look directly into their eyes.