Suguru limited himself in this fight with Tatsuya.
Shadow Clones, Sharingan, Taijutsu, Body Flicker, and canonical Fire Release. It was a good handicap for a jounin vs. chuunin sparring match. Of course, a meeting between Sharingan users would always come with a little Genjutsu.
That was nonnegotiable.
Suguru's Sharingan blazed crimson against the daylight, its three tomoe spinning lazily as he observed Tatsuya's reactions. The younger Uchiha's face was a mix of nervous vigour.
Apprehension clouded his gaze. Terrified of the implications brought about by Suguru's eyes.
The genjutsu Suguru had cast wrapped around Tatsuya's consciousness like a silken web, subtle at first, yet glaring upon contact.
'Let's do a classic,' Suguru smiled, his vast reserves of chakra pouring into his gaze.
Within seconds, Tatsuya found himself standing in a field of cherry blossoms, their petals swirling in an unnatural pattern.
"Break it," Suguru commanded, his voice echoing strangely in the illusory world. "Show me how much you've learned from Itachi."
Tatsuya's chakra flared, disrupting the flow of the Genjutsu. The cherry blossoms, however, hadn't shattered like glass.
"Ho?"
It was an impressive amount of chakra.
But it wasn't enough for Suguru's Genjutsu.
'…A monster,' Tatsuya thought. His breathing had quickened, but his stance remained firm.
"Not bad," Suguru acknowledged. "Try again?"
A large amount of chakra was suddenly built up in the small body of the Uchiha.
—Crack.
Finally, something happened. The Genjutsu had finally shattered as it should have.
Both technique and chakra quantity were sufficient, after all.
"Good," Suguru smiled. His body twitched.
"..!" In reply, Tatsuya's instincts screamed.
Without warning, Suguru flickered forward, his body moving with a speed invisible to the naked eye. Only those with heightened visual prowess could even hope to keep track of his movements.
Tatsuya whirled around, his Sharingan at full throttle, tracing Suguru's path.
However.
—Fwoosh!
In the next moment, Suguru's fist stopped just short of Tatsuya's face, the displaced air ruffling the Uchiha's dark hair.
A bead of sweat poured down Tatsuya's cheek.
'This isn't like before, where I could still exchange blows…' Tatsuya thought.
If, in the past, Suguru had been a mountain he had to climb for his revenge, now, this Ghost was a completely different beast.
The mountain was growing. At a pace faster than Tatsuya could flicker.
"Your turn," Suguru said, leaping backward to create distance between them.
Luckily, this was a spar.
If not, then…
Tatsuya touched his neck, feeling as if a blade could've slit his throat just now. He nodded.
"Alright,"
[Snake » Ram » Monkey » Boar » Horse » Tiger]
His hands formed seals with practiced precision.
Chakra was built up, and a breath was gulped in. The temperature began to rise.
'Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!'
A massive sphere of flame erupted from Tatsuya's mouth, hurtling toward Suguru with devastating speed.
Suguru's eyes narrowed, his Sharingan tracking the attack's trajectory with perfect clarity. He countered with his own set of hand seals.
This was the fighting style of Copy Ninja Kakashi.
'Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!'
—BWOOM!
The two fireballs collided in midair, creating a spectacular explosion that sent waves of heat washing over the training ground. Through the smoke and embers, Suguru could see Tatsuya's silhouette, already moving to capitalize on the momentary blindness the explosion had caused.
Unfortunately for Tatsuya…
—Step.
Suguru took a step forward, leaving a stationary after-image behind. Then, he took another step forward.
—Step.
…And another afterimage formed.
With a swoosh, the afterimages themselves had begun to move. Each one eyed Tatsuya with intrigue as the latter burst forth from the flames.
…Only to find four different attacks headed his way.
"Crap!"
A hurried exclamation.
Tatsuya realized that he could not dodge. Parrying was thus the second-best option.
—Clap!
Opting first to block one of Suguru's fists, he smacked it away.
—Thud!
The next one, a shin, was caught by his forearm, just barely protecting his skull. Feeling the momentum, Tatsuya allowed his body to bend like bamboo in a storm.
Then—
The air whistled as Tatsuya began to counter. His hand pulled the leg down, slamming the supposed clone…
Only to realize that it was but an afterimage.
Suguru's third attack — a true axe kick — forced Tatsuya to defend his head with both arms. The Taijutsu was already as terrifying as it was.
To add natural laws to the sheer swiftness behind that strike was simply abusive.
However.
—Grip.
Tatsuya grinned, taking a page out of Suguru's book of grapples. He was able to catch the exact moment when the Afterimage Clones became real.
Suguru felt Tatsuya's grip tighten around his ankle, turning into a familiar aikido technique that would normally lead to a throw.
The younger Uchiha had learned well, adapting Suguru's own tactics against him. A flicker of pride crossed Suguru's mind, quickly replaced by an instinctual blankness of the mind.
'What significant improvement... However— Using my own techniques against me...'
It was arrogant.
With his Sharingan active, Suguru could see Tatsuya's muscles tensing, preparing to leverage his body weight to flip Suguru onto his face.
He watched as Tatsuya's grip tightened further, pulling his clone down from where he stood.
"Haha," a giggle left Suguru's lips.
Indeed.
The one facing Tatsuya at this moment was actually a Shadow Clone— not the main body or its afterimage. It was quite unfortunate for the Uchiha. After all, his technique was sound against an ordinary opponent.
But Suguru was an avid user of Shadow Clones. In fact, even Naruto could've won in a similar way.
Thus.
As Tatsuya began the throw, Suguru made the revelation.
—Smack.
Another Suguru slapped Tatsuya upside the head. Confusion pierced the latter's mind as he slammed down the supposed main body.
Only to realize.
—Poof!
That 'main body' exploded into smoke the moment the boy exerted enough force.
Suguru buzzed with amusement as Tatsuya still stumbled backward from the unexpected slap.
The confusion in the young Uchiha's eyes was priceless. He looked as if he'd seen a ghost.
"…Since when?" Tatsuya asked, but no reply came.
Instead.
Suguru once again formed hand seals..
'Shadow Clone Jutsu!'
Now, there were three more perfect copies of himself. Each clone adopted a different stance, their movements perfectly synchronized as they began to circle Tatsuya.
"Hehe," all four Sugurus laughed in unison, their voices overlapping in a disorienting chorus.
Tatsuya's Sharingan darted between them, attempting to discern the subtle differences in chakra flow that would betray the real Suguru.
However, that was already difficult even for the Byakugan. What made the Sharingan any different?
The first clone charged forward, engaging Tatsuya in Taijutsu.
When Tatsuya countered with a swift kick, the clone vanished in a puff of smoke, only for another to appear at his blind spot.
—Swhish!
"Too slow," Suguru taunted, his voice seemingly coming from everywhere at once.
Suguru and his clones utilized the Body Flicker Jutsu with such mastery that they left afterimages in their wake, creating the illusion of multiple Sugurus moving simultaneously.
First, the Shadow Clones.
Now, the Afterimage Clones.
Which ones bore weight?
'All of them,' Suguru let out a cackle of delight.
Each flicker was precisely calculated, leaving Tatsuya defending against weighted phantoms while more attacks came from unexpected angles.
A dull kunai grazed Tatsuya's cheek, thrown by a clone that had already dispelled itself.
"Whoa..!"
When Tatsuya reflexively touched the small cut, Suguru's real hand had already snatched the headband from Tatsuya's forehead.
"Looking for this?" Suguru appeared five meters away, dangling the headband between his fingers before he vanished in another flicker.
Another Suguru appeared behind Tatsuya, now wearing the headband at an angle reminiscent of Kakashi.
Before Tatsuya could react, this Suguru clone also disappeared, only for the headband to materialize around Tatsuya's neck like a necklace.
Then, there was silence.
Followed by Tatsuya's sigh.
"…I get it." Tatsuya raised his hands in defeat.
"No wonder you're called the Ghost. It's hard to keep up with your movements despite these eyes of mine."
"Of course it would be. I keep feeding you false information." Suguru finally appeared completely, no longer a blur of either movement or clone.
"The Sharingan isn't as useful as you think it is when there are a lot of things going on."
Suguru pointed to his own head.
"Our brains can only handle so much."
Like a bucket being filled to the brim and then overflowing.
With Suguru's constant moving and flickering, as well as all of the traces he would intentionally leave behind, Tatsuya couldn't process it all.
Even with the enhancements of his Dojutsu.
It was akin to an older Sasuke battling Killer Bee. Tracking all of the jinchuriki's rapidly moving swords and figuring out which one was about to strike?
Yeah…
Good luck with that.
Such were the Sharingan's limits.
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