Shinji glanced at the people around him, nodding silently.
He had been somewhat worried before, afraid that someone might notice he was holding back. Now, it seemed that worry was rather unnecessary.
Clearly, he had underestimated his own performance just now.
As a shinobi academy student, he had consecutively defeated Shinno, who had unleashed the Eight Gates Release up to the seventh gate, the Gate of Shock, and Hiruko, who had fused multiple Bloodline Limits and even seemed to possess a pair of Mangekyō Sharingan.
This record, no matter who looked at it, was impeccable! In such a situation, no one would think Shinji was going easy. On the contrary, everyone was relieved that Shinji was by their side this time, or the consequences would have been unthinkable.
"What a pity…"
Still gazing at the retreating fusion beast, Shinji murmured softly.
"Yeah, we were so close to saving Uncle Han and seizing that pair of Mangekyō Sharingan!"
Kurotsuchi was also filled with regret.
Facing formidable Akatsuki members like Shinno and Hiruko, she hadn't dared to hope for much. It was Shinji who gave her that hope, but things took a sharp turn, leaving her unable to help but sigh in frustration.
Darui's face remained dark.
Having been thoroughly beaten by Shinno and Hiruko, especially being repelled by Hiruko's Storm Release, this humiliation was hard for him to let go. Even his usual laid-back demeanor was replaced by a spark of fire in his eyes! On the Hidden Leaf side.
Yakumo, Karin, Haku, Kimimaro, and Neji all wore varied expressions at this moment.
After the intense battles, everyone had sustained injuries to varying degrees, with Neji being the most severely wounded and Yakumo having expended the most energy.
So, watching the fusion beast rapidly escape, they didn't pursue on their own.
After all, this was a mission for the village, and without orders from their leader, they didn't dare overuse their strength, fearing it might expose their identities and disrupt their leader's plans.
Shinji withdrew his gaze, glancing at the group beside him, secretly feeling satisfied.
He had to admit, after several operations, whether it was Haku, Karin, Yakumo, or Neji, they had all matured significantly.
In truth, with their strength—capable of standing toe-to-toe with the Demon King Ryūhei Ubuyashiki—if they had acted without restraint, keeping Shinno and Hiruko would have been effortless.
It was precisely because of this that their restraint today was all the more commendable! Then, Shinji recalled the thought that flashed through his mind when he saw the pair of suspected Mangekyō Sharingan in Hiruko's eye sockets.
If Hiruko's ritual could enhance eyes—or, more precisely, elevate the level of dojutsu Bloodline Limits—then Shinji had essentially found a new channel to acquire high-level dojutsu Bloodline Limits.
This was of immense significance to Shinji.
Far more important than seizing a single pair of Mangekyō Sharingan!
For someone like Shinji, who wielded Susanoo Tomoshibi and could control and fuse dojutsu Bloodline Limits, powerful dojutsu Bloodline Limits were something he could never have enough of.
However, in the shinobi world, not to mention high-level dojutsu Bloodline Limits like the Mangekyō Sharingan, even ordinary dojutsu Bloodline Limits were extremely rare.
The Uchiha clan, with their Sharingan, had been wiped out. The Chinoike clan, with their Ketsuryugan, had been exiled for years and torn apart by internal strife, nearly extinct.
The rebellion of the Hidden Mist's Bloodline Limit clans had led to the Hogan clan being eradicated by the Hidden Mist. And while the Hyūga clan, with their Byakugan, still existed, aside from a few main branch members, the rest were branded with the Caged Bird Cursed Seal, making it impossible to acquire their Byakugan.
It could be said that Shinji possessed the divine ability to fuse dojutsu Bloodline Limits but lacked enough dojutsu Bloodline Limits to fuse.
The few powerful dojutsu Bloodline Limits he currently possessed were the result of scraping together every resource he could find.
The Rinnegan he now wielded was created by exhausting nearly all of the Uchiha clan's past reserves and barely repairing a few damaged Mangekyō Sharingan.
The Koryugan he transplanted to Yakumo was fused after consuming a large number of ordinary Ketsuryugan and Hogan.
The enhanced Byakugan he transplanted into the "biological exoskeleton," fused from two high-purity Byakugan, was obtained through a risky battle against the Ōtsutsuki clan on the moon.
According to his previous plans.
No matter how hard he tried, at best, he could only hope to acquire one more pair of his own Rinnegan, and if the Tenseigan Plan succeeded, one pair of Tenseigan.
Beyond that, there were essentially no other ways to acquire high-level dojutsu Bloodline Limits.
But the pair of suspected Mangekyō Sharingan in Hiruko's eye sockets gave him a glimpse of a new channel to obtain dojutsu Bloodline Limits—that was the real reason he had been lost in thought and hesitant to act earlier! Swish, swish, swish. Soon, accompanied by a series of whooshing sounds, a large group of shinobi arrived at the battlefield where Shinji and the others were.
The newcomers were none other than Kakashi and his team, who had gone to intercept the demon Mōryō, along with reinforcements from the Hidden Cloud, led personally by the Fourth Raikage.
Seeing that Shinji and the other students were unharmed, Kakashi let out a sigh of relief before asking, "Where are the Akatsuki members?"
The Fourth Raikage, meanwhile, looked at Darui. Seeing Darui covered in injuries with a grim expression, he immediately asked, "What happened?"
Yakumo and Kurotsuchi hurriedly stepped forward, explaining how they had pursued Shinno, defeated him, and then encountered Hiruko and Kurosuki Raiga, who had been sent by Akatsuki as reinforcements. They recounted how they repelled Hiruko but failed to pursue, allowing the Akatsuki members to escape via the fusion beast.
Upon learning that Shinno had become the Zero-Tails jinchūriki, that Hiruko had fused multiple Bloodline Limits and even seemed to possess a pair of Mangekyō Sharingan, both Kakashi and the Fourth Raikage furrowed their brows.
Then, when they heard that Shinji had single-handedly defeated Shinno in his Gate of Shock state and, in a genjutsu duel, used a three-tomoe Sharingan to overcome Hiruko's Mangekyō Sharingan, Kakashi, the Raikage, and the others all looked at Shinji in astonishment.
Feeling the gazes directed at him, Shinji's face showed no pride, remaining calm as ever.
But this calmness, in the eyes of the many jōnin, came off as arrogance—a unique Uchiha disdain for their enemies.
"Is this the real him?"
Kakashi felt a bit emotional. He had observed Shinji before and found him much more amicable than the average Uchiha.
Now, he realized that Shinji's previous kindness was likely a form of self-preservation. Deep down, he was still a quintessential Uchiha.
Others had their own thoughts.
Hearing about Shinno and Hiruko's bizarre abilities, they had initially been wary. But learning that Shinji had single-handedly defeated both of them, they all breathed a sigh of relief. Even the Fourth Raikage felt that Yakumo and Kurotsuchi's descriptions of Shinno and Hiruko might have been exaggerated.
If they were truly that strong, how could they have been defeated by a Hidden Leaf shinobi academy student?!