At the Uchiha Clan Land, within a training field surrounded by woods and rivers.
The elder with a head of white hair, Uchiha Shikora, stood outside the arena gripping his cane, his eyes fixated on the two combatants within.
Only ten years old, Uchiha Ruri's black hair danced as she unleashed shuriken from her hands, swift as lightning, toward the Jonin Uchiha opposite her.
This Jonin Uchiha was named Uchiha Rika, about twenty-five or twenty-six, a scar on his face adding a fierce aura to him.
He opened his Three-Tomoe Sharingan, and the shuriken, rapid as lightning, had its trajectory instantly seen through. He wielded his kunai and deflected the shuriken.
However, the shuriken carried tremendous inner force. When deflected, that force transferred onto Rika's kunai, causing his body to freeze up for a brief moment.
Such strength! Rika's eyes grew solemn.
Rika realized that Ruri hid a technique of inner force in her thrown shuriken. If blocked by a weapon, this force would transmit through the weapon and cause the opponent's body to stiffen momentarily.
The duration of the freeze depended on the physical traits of the person.
If a Genin encountered this, they wouldn't be able to move freely for several seconds, leaving them vulnerable to the next volley of shuriken, which would inevitably turn them into a pincushion.
Even he, a powerful Jonin, experienced this momentary stiffness.
Though the freeze lasted barely a blip for him, Ruri took advantage of the opening, quickly forming seals with both hands:
"Fire Style: Mighty Dragon Fire Technique!"
A gigantic, dragon-shaped entity, four or five meters long.
Formed from high-temperature flames, carrying terrifying impact power and the ability to burn enemies to ashes.
Boom!
The ground exploded, gouging a huge crater.
Jonin Rika narrowly dodged, his hair singed; his figure a bit disheveled. Three-Tomoe Sharingan spun as he turned and swung his kunai.
Clang!
The petite Ruri, compared to Jonin Rika, attacked with a kunai, only for it to be blocked.
At this moment, their Sharingan met directly, with donjutsu unleashed toward each other simultaneously.
After donjutsu was released, Jonin Rika felt a sharp pain in his eyes and a fleeting fatigue, forcing him to retreat.
He gasped, staring at Ruri across from him. Her Sharingan was still at the Two-Tomoe stage; though she too was breathing hard, it was noticeably less than his own.
The most critical thing—his opponent was only ten years old and still had Two-Tomoe Sharingan, yet dared to confront his Three-Tomoe Sharingan head-on with donjutsu.
And in the end, wasn't under his illusion technique's control—a truly unthinkable feat.
Speed, nervous reaction, dynamic vision, strength, ninja technique usage, donjutsu, and more—in every category, even as a Jonin, he found her extremely troublesome.
His only winning strategy was that his chakra amount exceeded Ruri's. As long as he waited for her to run out of chakra, victory would be his.
Jonin Rika sighed quietly. To win by exhausting a little girl's chakra felt dishonorable.
But being defeated by her would be even more humiliating.
So next, he had to keep up the pressure and slowly drain Ruri's chakra completely.
Ruri seemed to read Jonin Rika's plan. She immediately pulled out a special soldier rations pill from Haku's custom ninja tool bag, preparing to take it, when Uchiha Shikora, who'd been spectating, called out:
"Alright, stop now, Ruri."
Ruri returned the soldier rations pill to her ninja tool bag and made a seal of reconciliation toward Jonin Rika.
Jonin Rika also made a seal of reconciliation toward Ruri.
"You're truly amazing, Ruri. At this level, even most Jonin would have trouble against you."
After finishing the seal of reconciliation, Jonin Rika stepped forward and showered Ruri with praise, holding nothing back.
Having such a strong and outstanding genius emerge in the clan was a cause for great celebration.
She truly lived up to being the Uchiha Clan's prodigy!
Ruri nodded in acknowledgment. Her current strength owed much to her own effort and talent; but Haku's contribution couldn't be overlooked either.
If not for him developing that new medicine using Natural Energy to enhance the body, she wouldn't have grown so quickly.
Thinking of this, some warmth appeared in her usually indifferent eyes, and a faint smile crept onto her lips.
To Jonin Rika, that smile was thanks to the sincere praise from a fellow Jonin of the clan.
Elder Shikora now stepped into the arena.
Now in his sixties, he was an elderly ninja—retired, but still willing to burn the last of his passion for the clan, striving to train Uchiha ninjas who could win the Hokage position from the Senju bloodline.
"Elder Shikora."
Ruri bowed slightly; he had once taught her personally.
Now that she'd defined her own path, Ruri no longer needed Elder Shikora's instruction. Yet for his dedication to the clan, she still felt deep respect and gratitude.
"Ruri, while you work hard on training, don't forget to relax a bit. Cultivation should have tension and release."
In Elder Shikora's eyes, for Ruri to contend with Rika to an almost draw proved she must devote all her time to training outside of battle.
So he hoped Ruri would occasionally relax during practice, not wanting her to burn out her potential too soon.
His attention toward Ruri even surpassed that for the other Uchiha heir, Uchiha Fugaku.
If anyone in the Uchiha Clan could restore the glory of the Mangekyo Sharingan, he believed it was Ruri, without a doubt.
"Understood. Elder Shikora, if there's nothing else, I'll be going now."
"Wait, this is a scroll containing B-Class Fire Style Jutsu. Take it home and study it. With your strength, you're ready to learn high-level Fire Style techniques now. This was left by 'that person'."
Uchiha Shikora spoke with meaningful intent.
Ruri was momentarily stunned.
'That person' referred to the previous Uchiha Clan Leader, Uchiha Madara.
That ninja who'd turned away from the clan and the village.
In the current Uchiha Family, few people would speak Madara's name outright; when they mentioned him, they'd use 'that person' as a substitute.
Ruri took the Fire Style scroll from Elder Shikora, thanked him again, and rushed home.
"Ruri just keeps getting stronger. Two years ago I could easily tease her. But now, the Two Tomoe Sharingan's donjutsu is putting pressure on my Three Tomoe Sharingan—unbelievable. What exactly did you do to make her so strong?"
After Ruri left, Jonin Rika couldn't help but praise Elder Shikora's teaching methods.
Elder Shikora smiled and shook his head, "Rika, do you still not understand? The donjutsu of the Sharingan varies from person to person. The number of magatama is only a baseline; it's not the sole yardstick for donjutsu strength. Besides, Ruri achieved this through her own efforts; I only helped a bit."
Jonin Rika sighed—he knew this all too well.
But the thought that a ten-year-old girl could surpass him in just a few years left him dispirited.
After all, he'd been young and admired, once hailed as a Uchiha prodigy ninja.
"Rika, you're also an elite Jonin raised by the clan. Have a little more faith in yourself."
"Elder, it's not a lack of confidence, just that today's youngsters are way too overwhelming. Still, I'd like to know: after Ruri graduates, who will be her Jonin squad leader? How will the Third Hokage arrange things?"
Rika didn't believe the Third Hokage lacked backup data on Ruri, the Uchiha prodigy, so he was very curious about who the Third Hokage would assign as Ruri's Jonin leader.
If their strength wasn't enough, Ruri might take control and the Jonin would become a laughingstock.
But if the Jonin was truly strong, even the Sannin weren't quite up to the mark, in Rika's opinion.
"Hatake Sakumo."
Elder Shikora uttered this name.
Rika's body trembled, cold sweat breaking out, looking incredulously at Elder Shikora.
As if the name carried a terrifying magic—Rika, a seasoned Jonin, couldn't help but brim with awe in his eyes.
"Wait, Elder, are you joking? That man is…"
"Only then can I and the Third Hokage truly rest easy with each other."
The Third Hokage needed the Uchiha Clan to provide fighting strength for this war.
And the Uchiha Clan needed a powerful Jonin squad leader, one who could win Ruri's respect and protect this prodigy.
That was exactly what Elder Shikora meant.