Swish, swish, swish.
Amid a series of wind-breaking sounds, figures descended from the sky, arriving at the battlefield weary and dust-covered.
Among them were Sasuke, Yakumo, and Neji's teammates, who were slightly slower, as well as elite jōnin from the village like Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Kakashi. However, upon seeing the situation on the battlefield, they all wore the same astonished expressions as Sasuke and the others who had arrived first!
The first thing that caught their eyes was a pile of black-clad figures stacked into a heap, while the person they had come to rescue was leisurely sitting atop it.
Beside the pile, Shinji's two teammates, Haku and Karin, stood quietly.
The three of them didn't look like they had just endured a fierce battle at all. Aside from some sweat, there wasn't a single noticeable wound on their bodies.
This scene was so striking that it left those who had arrived with heavy hearts staring at each other in disbelief.
"How is this possible!?"
"Hiss… Did Uchiha Shinji do all this?"
"Not a single scratch on them…"
After the initial shock, the doubt on the jōnin's faces didn't fade—it only grew stronger.
From the situation before them, the intel from the village was undoubtedly correct: a shinobi army had indeed attacked Uchiha Shinji's squad.
But this outcome was simply unbelievable!
To create a pile of bodies like that, the number of attackers had to be at least twenty, if not more.
If the intel was accurate and the attackers were all elite members of Root, with four or five jōnin-level powerhouses among them, then by all accounts, Uchiha Shinji's squad should have struggled to even protect themselves. It should have been impossible for them to take down all the attackers nearly unscathed, as they had now.
At that moment, Shinji, the focal point of everyone's attention, slowly stood up from the pile of bodies and waved a greeting to the crowd. "Is this part of the test too?"
Jiraiya spoke up, "Are… are you all okay?"
Shinji lightly hopped down from the pile. "What do you mean?"
Jiraiya suddenly felt his question was redundant, his expression freezing for a moment before he said, "As long as you're fine, that's what matters!"
The others displayed a range of expressions.
Sasuke, while breathing a sigh of relief, fixed his red dojutsu eyes on the pile of black-clad figures.
According to Kakashi's analysis, these attackers should all be elites. Yet now, stacked like garbage by Shinji, it was hard to associate these black-clad figures with the term "elite."
Sasuke wasn't the only one thinking this.
Kakashi was also scrutinizing the pile of black-clad figures, whose fates were unclear, his brows furrowed.
With his keen eye, he could tell that nine out of ten of these figures were Root shinobi, judging from the details of their clothing and the standard ninja tools scattered on the ground.
However, since most of the Root shinobi wore masks, obscuring their faces, he couldn't yet determine if there were any jōnin-level powerhouses among them.
Then, Kakashi's gaze shifted to Shinji.
One person and one cat!
This nostalgic scene reminded him of the Third Shinobi World War, when Uchiha shinobi often brought ninja cats to the battlefield.
For the Hidden Leaf shinobi embroiled in war, those Uchiha might not have been the easiest to get along with, but they were the most reliable allies on the battlefield!
As for Kakashi himself, he had encountered many Uchiha clan geniuses.
Like the kind and passionate Uchiha Shisui, the wise and mature Uchiha Itachi, the proud and impulsive Uchiha Sasuke, and so on.
But someone like Uchiha Shinji, with his laid-back yet composed demeanor, was a first for Kakashi. At least among the Uchiha he knew, none shared this same aura.
Nearby, Yakumo stared blankly at Shinji, with a white cat perched on his shoulder, her mind drifting back to the moment she lost to him.
Back in the Forest of Death, she, who had mastered Wood Release and was brimming with confidence, had also fallen to this one-person, one-cat duo.
"Thinking about it, I still haven't truly beaten Shinji even once!"
Amid her wistful thought, a spark of fighting spirit surged in her heart.
She had never felt this way before, yearning to defeat Shinji and stand as the undisputed top of the ninja academy with an impeccable stance!
Then, Yakumo's thoughts shifted, and she glanced at Tsunade beside her with a hint of doubt, her eyes signaling toward the pile of attackers stacked like garbage. Were these really Root's elites?
Sensing Yakumo's confusion, Tsunade didn't say anything, only shaking her head slightly.
The scene before her was beyond her expectations as well, so until the identities of the attackers were confirmed, she couldn't say much.
But her gaze toward Shinji grew a bit more complex.
From start to finish, she had never seen Shinji as a threat to Yakumo. Yet, the moment she saw Shinji sitting atop that pile of bodies, a faint unease stirred in her heart.
She wasn't sure if this unease stemmed from his Uchiha identity or simply from Uchiha Shinji himself!
Neji, however, chuckled lightly and shook his head.
He had lost count of how many times, whenever he worried something might happen to Shinji, Shinji would prove with actions who the true number one of the ninja academy was!
The other Hidden Leaf shinobi were also staring at Shinji, many of them thinking to themselves, Is this the ninja academy's number one genius?
Some had long heard of Shinji's name, while others knew little about him. But after this incident, Shinji left an indelible impression on their hearts.
Powerful!
For a shinobi, there was no better label than that!
Even if the black-clad figures defeated by Uchiha Shinji were all chūnin, taking down so many chūnin without a scratch was enough to prove Uchiha Shinji's strength.
Not to mention, the composure Uchiha Shinji displayed made it seem like dozens of attackers were nothing more than a minor inconvenience.
Among the crowd, only Shion remained the calmest.
From the start, she wasn't too worried about Shinji's safety. What a joke—Shinji was "A," the leader of the Akatsuki, a figure standing at the pinnacle of the shinobi world!
It was only under the influence of the crowd's emotions that she had started to feel a slight panic, worrying if something unexpected might have happened to Shinji.
Now, seeing Shinji's usual composure, she realized how unnecessary her worries had been.
At the same time, as she glanced at the shocked, puzzled, or complicated expressions around her, she secretly rejoiced in her heart.
Because among everyone present, only she knew Shinji's true identity. If Shinji hadn't just given her a glance, she might not have been able to resist jumping out to brag to the others!