"I knew it! Shigure always finds a way to win!" Hatake Kusuo grinned in relief, thrilled to see Lucien turn the tables.
"Sorry... but this round is mine."
Lucien's body slipped out from within Violet's own like a phantom. She shrieked, stumbling backward in terror. The sight of someone crawling free from inside her body was grotesque, leaving her shaken to her core.
"Idiot... her genjutsu got reflected back at her!" Yoshida Kappei muttered, brow furrowed. But when his eyes caught the unmistakable three white tomoe spinning in Lucien's gaze, his heart lurched.
"Those eyes... the three-tomoe Sharingan?! Already awakened at this age?"
"No wonder... even Violet's high-level genjutsu couldn't touch him."
Suzuki Saori rushed forward, severing the illusion still lingering in Violet's mind. When it lifted, she was drenched in cold sweat, her chest rising and falling with tremors.
Weakly, she looked up at him. "I... lost. I miscalculated..."
Disappointment clouded her face, but behind it burned a growing fixation. As she stepped off the field, retreating in defeat, her eyes lingered on Lucien's figure.
Uchiha Shigure... One day, I'll catch up. I'll defeat you.
Lucien raised his voice coolly. "Two down. The last one—come."
Yoshida Kappei stepped forward, his expression unreadable, though his chakra pressure was undeniable.
Lucien's Sharingan flared. His chakra... higher than most fresh Genin. Almost Jonin-level reserves. But still... not enough compared to me.
"Uchiha Shigure," Kappei said quietly, "you've unlocked three tomoe, but a technique like that drains chakra. All I have to do is endure. Eventually... you'll collapse."
Lucien's lips curved in contempt. As if the Sharingan exhausts me. For me, opening it is no more taxing than breathing.
"Think I'll let you stall for time?" His words dripped with disdain as his hands blurred through seals faster than any Genin had the right to.
The Suzuki team froze in disbelief.
"Those seals... too fast!"
"Not even most Jonin can move like that!" Saori's eyes widened in awe.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
Lucien inhaled, then expelled a colossal blaze. The enormous fireball roared forward like a miniature sun. Its heat scorched the field, chakra so concentrated it turned the flames into a monstrous wave of destruction.
"This... this is really the Great Fireball?!"
"How can it be this massive?!"
But Kappei's reflexes saved him. In a flicker, his body darted away, dodging in time as his hands flew into seals. His chakra surged like a crashing river.
"Water Style: Great Waterfall Technique!"
A roaring deluge cascaded forward, threatening to quench the flames.
"Tch. This one's stronger than Kusuo and Hongdie combined," Lucien admitted as he weaved his own seals midair, yet calm never left his eyes.
"Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall!"
The ground split, erupting upward in a gargantuan barrier of stone and soil that rivaled a mountain. It towered across the field, blocking the incoming tide of water with immovable force.
Even Saori was dumbstruck. "That wall... just how large can he make it? Is this really Earth Flow Wall?!"
Violet, still pale, murmured in astonishment, "His power... it doesn't stop at illusions. His ninjutsu too... terrifying..."
From atop the wall, Lucien stood unscathed. His eyes stayed locked on Kappei. "That your best?"
Kappei's calm broke. Rage churned his aura as he lunged forward recklessly. Muscles tightening, he sought to crush Lucien hand-to-hand.
But against an Uchiha? Simple brawn was death itself.
Lucien's fingers had already finished weaving.
"Earth Style: Yellow Spring Swamp!"
The ground beneath Kappei rippled, soil softening into treacherous mire. Grass and dirt melted into an endless swamp, sucking him down with ruthless force. Panic filled his face as his body sank helplessly into the grasping muck.
"Wh—what?! Swamp... this is Earth Escape too?!" His voice cracked with terror.
Gasps echoed across the field.
"An Uchiha... with Earth Style?!"
"Impossible... their clan is famed for Fire Style!"
Kappei himself had believed his Water jutsu would overwhelm Shigure's Fire arsenal. But instead, Lucien countered with dominating Earth Style, flipping the tables. Earth smothered water, nullifying his carefully chosen tactic.
And this wasn't mere Earth Style. It was a wide-scale, A-rank swamp technique, taught only to seasoned masters.
"He copied it... this is Jiraiya's Swamp of the Underworld..." someone whispered.
The swamp gurgled, Kappei's chakra draining rapidly as he screamed, swallowed by the mire.
"This guy... a Genin? And already wielding such terrifying scale ninjutsu?" Saori could hardly believe her own eyes.
Even Kusuo, sitting injured at the sidelines, clenched his fists hard.
Shigure... you've already gone so far beyond me.
But instead of jealousy, determination flared.
"I'll train... harder than ever. I'll reclaim my pride with my blade..." Kusuo vowed silently, his gaze burning with the fire of resolve.
P.S. This chapter focused on Lucien unveiling his versatility—breaking clan stereotypes by revealing his mastery of Earth techniques, overwhelming even high-level Water Style. The imagery of him summoning a mountain-like wall and a deadly swamp marks a turning point in how others perceive him.
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