Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Six shuriken instantly flew from Ruri's palm, with no hesitation at all, attacking Hakushi from different angles.
The Uchiha Clan has always been skilled at throwing shuriken and kunai.
Even though Hakushi had worked hard on that himself, he couldn't guarantee he'd surpass Ruri in that area.
But after battling Ruri countless times over the years, he was already familiar with most of her attack patterns.
He pulled out a kunai to quickly block, sparks flashing in the dimly lit forest.
Then, another six shuriken whizzed toward him.
Without letting the second round of shuriken close in, he knocked them all aside, and his figure burst into motion, closing the gap with Ruri to start a close-range blade fight.
The speed at which they swung their kunai was as fast as lightning, ripping through the air, bringing a heavy and deadly atmosphere.
Just then, Ruri suddenly started forming a seal with one hand.
Hakushi was mildly startled, his body reacting instinctively.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
One-Handed Seal!
Hakushi couldn't help but be surprised that Ruri had mastered that trick.
He'd only ever seen one-handed seals in textbooks—very few could actually pull it off.
But thinking about the Uchiha Clan's expertise, while not everyone might know it, they definitely had techniques and training for this sort of thing.
After all, when it comes to ninja talent, Ruri was the most outstanding person Hakushi had met.
And not just in combat—in learning, too.
Hakushi had no idea Ruri could do a one-handed seal before this match, and at such close range, suddenly activating Fire Style Ninjutsu—when that massive fireball swept toward him, Hakushi was scrambling, barely dodging it.
The tree hit by the fireball burst into flames, crackling and exploding, before crashing down with a loud boom.
"That was close… Good thing…"
Hakushi let out a sigh of relief, subconsciously meeting Ruri's gaze, about to speak—when his body suddenly trembled and the world spun upside down.
Ruri's pupils spun rapidly—their black color had turned blood-red—and in each blood-red eye, two magatama-shaped black marks appeared, like tadpoles.
Those mysterious and dangerous pupils spun in Ruri's eyes, sending out an illusion technique that Hakushi had no way of physically defending against, piercing through all his defenses and plunging him deep into her powerful illusion.
Hakushi dryly swallowed, forcing out a wry smile.
He hadn't expected Ruri to master one-handed seals, but even less expected her, like Ayane, to have awakened their Uchiha Clan's Kekkei Dojutsu—the Sharingan.
And not just that, but at the two-tomoe level.
Seeing Ruri's smooth, skilled release of illusions, it was clear she already had great control over her Sharingan.
In Konoha Village, there's a common belief: awakening the Sharingan is much more difficult than awakening the Byakugan.
The Byakugan is more about support and strategy in battle, whereas the Sharingan represents power and strength.
There's a saying in the Ninja Realm: if you encounter an Uchiha Sharingan ninja one-on-one—run.
Meaning, facing an Uchiha ninja solo, there's pretty much no chance of winning.
At that point, forget about victory—just use your brains to escape.
Opening the Sharingan not only means Uchiha ninjas can use powerful visual-based illusion techniques more easily—it also boosts their dynamic vision by leaps and bounds.
With Hakushi's scientific training routine, Ruri's dynamic vision was already impressive.
Now with her Sharingan active, even those Uchiha ninjas with Three Tomoe might not beat Ruri in dynamic vision.
Improved dynamic vision means Ruri can read all her enemy's attack patterns.
As long as she sharpened her reflexes, even a Jonin couldn't take her down easily.
Hakushi used to think he and Ruri were evenly matched, maybe 60/40—but now it was more like 90/10.
Hakushi truly realized one thing: against Sharingan illusions, if you aren't prepared in advance, you're basically defenseless.
"I con…"
He hadn't even finished saying "cede."
Ruri walked over, lifted her foot, and ruthlessly stomped on Hakushi's face.
"..."
Hakushi's face stung.
That was crushing.
He wasn't exactly a nobody, he was a hidden genius, too.
Now, he was just so helpless.
Reality is brutal.
"Ruri, next time you step on my face, could you please take your shoe off first? Your sole seriously hurts my face."
As soon as Ruri heard Hakushi's whining from where he lay on the ground, she immediately shot him a look like someone judging a worm with absolute contempt.
He actually wanted her to take off her shoe to stomp his face? Pervert!
"Honestly, you're always this annoying!"
Ruri's frustration with Hakushi wasn't just because he spent too much energy on his research. What annoyed her even more was Hakushi always hiding his abilities and letting those idiots in their class underestimate and mock him.
Now that they'd made it to third year, Hakushi still clung to his whole concealment act.
Facing people weaker than him, he'd willingly lose, then let them laugh at and insult him, finally acting like he didn't care and just walking it off with a smile.
This was the real source of Ruri's irritation.
If Hakushi showed his real strength—even against their Chunin homeroom teacher Fujimura Daiga—he'd have a fair shot.
She didn't know why Hakushi always kept his power hidden, but his attitude toward life really ticked her off and made her uncomfortable.
"Eh, it's just kids messing around, no reason to take it seriously. You know, adults don't pick fights with kids."
Hakushi sat up from the ground, now freed from Ruri's illusion, smiling casually as he explained.
Ruri was speechless.
That sounded like he was trying to pretend he wasn't a kid himself.
"By the way, when did you awaken your Sharingan?"
Hakushi asked with interest.
"The day the clansmen came back from the battlefield—I wasn't feeling great, and it just happened."
Ruri said it with a blank face, as if awakening the Sharingan was nothing special, nothing complicated about it at all.
"Really? I heard awakening the Sharingan requires an intense emotional trigger… Looks like that's not just a rumor, huh?"
She must've thought about how so many clansmen never came home alive from the battlefield—and even if they did, they came back as crippled ninjas. That emotional upheaval probably sparked her Sharingan awakening.
Ruri didn't argue, deactivating her Sharingan and restoring her normal black eyes.
Keeping her Sharingan active during battle still puts a strain on her at the moment.
"Hey, um—Ruri…"
Hakushi stood up and walked over with a flattering smile.
"Out with it. What's up?"
Ruri instinctively stepped back.
To her, Hakushi's expression only ever meant bad news.
"So… I'm totally broke from my research, I can't even afford food anymore. Can you, like, support me for a while? It won't be long—I'll pay you back once I graduate and start taking missions…"
Hakushi shamelessly asked Ruri to basically sponsor him for a while.
Ruri silently pulled a kunai from her ninja tool bag.
"If you've got a death wish, I can make it happen right now."
...
In the end, after signing a bunch of slave contracts, Ruri reluctantly agreed to support Hakushi—for now.