Hidden Leaf, training ground by the Uchiha lakeside.
At this moment, two young men were here, drenched in sweat from their intense training.
One of them had pale blond hair and, using his only remaining arm, held a knight's great spear as he charged forward with all his might.
The other had jet-black hair and wore a black high-collared short-sleeved shirt with a standard Hidden Leaf shinobi plate armor over it. Currently, he gripped the hilt of the ninja blade on his back with one hand, his eyes watching the approaching enemy with caution.
Indeed, the two individuals currently engaged in combat training at the Uchiha lakeside training ground were the first man to manufacture and master a Quinque, the survivor of the Hidden Steam Village, Arima Kushan.
His opponent was the Uchiha genius recommended by Kakashi and personally appointed by the Third Hokage as Arima's protector—the son of the Uchiha Clan Leader, Itachi Uchiha.
Facing Arima's attack, Itachi's expression became slightly serious.
His palm moved with incredible speed to draw the ninja blade from his back, striking heavily against the incoming spear.
Against such a powerful thrust, Itachi, who was relatively less specialized in pure taijutsu, naturally chose not to meet it head-on.
Instead, he used the counterforce from the collision between the blade and the spear to tap his toes on the ground, pulling away like a cunning leopard to create distance again.
As an elite ninja proficient in combat, Itachi would certainly not just hide.
The moment he flipped in mid-air, several shuriken had already left his hand.
There were four in total.
Two flew directly toward Arima's face, while the other two traced strange, curved arcs through the air, flanking him from the left and right.
Furthermore, the speeds of these four shuriken were all different.
This meant Arima could not simply calculate a single horizontal sweep to deflect them all; he had to dodge or block multiple times.
This was the beauty of Shurikenjutsu.
As expected of the Uchiha Clan, who are called the masters of Shurikenjutsu.
Arima sighed with emotion. He had been in the Hidden Leaf for several months and had been studying under Itachi for a month, so he had gained some understanding of this number-one shinobi clan.
Among their skills, exquisite Shurikenjutsu was one of the Uchiha Clan's trademarks.
In fact, the Shurikenjutsu demonstrated by Itachi Uchiha was indeed breathtaking. Facing attacks from the front, left, and right, Arima's offensive momentum was forced to a halt.
However, after so much training, Arima's strength had improved by leaps and bounds; he wouldn't be helpless against such an attack.
Just as his words fell, the knight's great spear in his hand thrust out with a boom, easily knocking away the two shuriken coming from the front.
Immediately after, he took a step back, swinging the spear to sweep away the shuriken on the left.
By this time, the shuriken on the right had already come whistling in.
The spear was too late to turn back to the other side.
At that moment, Arima's remaining palm gripped the spear handle tightly and yanked it violently to the right, using the handle to precisely block the incoming shuriken.
Great progress.
Itachi evaluated silently in his heart.
The reason he didn't say it out loud was that he was not someone who liked to talk much during a fight.
But his counterattack was far from over.
He raised one hand, and four thin lines reflected a silvery-white light under the sun.
These four long lines started from Itachi's fingertips and connected to the four shuriken that Arima had just blocked.
As Itachi Uchiha's four fingers pulled with different strengths and directions, the shuriken that had just been sent flying actually traced arcs again, rapidly closing in toward Arima at the center.
Once these four shuriken finished their contraction, Arima would be firmly bound like an insect caught in a spider web.
Facing Itachi's exquisite shuriken technique, Arima did not become frantic.
After all, this level of control was as simple as drinking water for Itachi.
His palm first loosened and then tightly gripped the handle of the Quinque.
"Quinque Form Transformation: Swordsman!"
Arima's gaze suddenly became sharp.
If he couldn't even break through this kind of lockdown, how could he talk about revenge?
As massive power erupted from his arm, the huge knight's spear was swung around. During this process, a spiral crack emerged from the surface of the spear.
Following that, the giant spear unfurled along these suddenly appearing spiral gaps, turning into an incredibly sharp and flexible long sword!
Arima brandished the long handle, and the sword seemed to have a life of its own, twisting through the air as nimbly as a long snake.
Not only did it block the four surrounding shuriken, but it also used its sharp blade to cut the thin lines Itachi used to control them!
Losing Itachi's control, the four shuriken fell powerlessly to the ground.
Arima launched his attack again, running while lashing the long sword toward Itachi Uchiha.
This time, Itachi did not choose to dodge. Instead, his hands quickly formed signs, condensing chakra in his mouth before it erupted as a scorching fireball.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
The grass beneath their feet was instantly scorched black by the massive fireball, which was as tall as two people. The rapidly rising air temperature told Arima just how dangerous this strike was.
Arima made a split-second decision, quickly releasing his grip on the Quinque and performing hand signs with his single hand.
"Earth Style: Mud Wall!"
A stone wall rose with a rumble, blocking the incoming fireball.
Even so, the violent explosion still produced a huge amount of smoke.
Itachi Uchiha's figure bypassed the smoke, charging out from the side with his ninja blade in hand.
Just as he was about to bring the blade down, Itachi suddenly froze in place because the Quinque "Swordsman" that Arima had just stopped controlling had appeared beside him at some unknown time.
Moreover, the sharp blade was right next to his neck.
Looking at the halted Itachi, Arima showed a hint of a smile.
"I caught you, Itachi."
To his surprise, Itachi smiled faintly. Did you really... catch me?
A round of crimson light erupted from Itachi's eyes, and two black tomoe spun continuously within the scarlet pupils.
Arima was stunned for a moment, and then he saw Itachi gradually crack apart.
Yes, literally crack apart.
Countless cracks appeared on his body, and after breaking into myriad small pieces, they turned into crows and took flight, reassembling into a new Itachi in mid-air.
"Is this... Genjutsu?"
Arima found that he seemed to have no power to resist; only Itachi Uchiha's slowly spinning crimson eyes remained in his vision.
A palm lightly touched Arima's shoulder. Only through this external stimulus did Arima suddenly wake up like he had just had a nightmare, his heart racing.
He panted and turned to look at the newcomer.
Kakashi, wearing his mask, smiled at him and said, "You're not bad, kid. You managed to force Itachi to use two tomoe in just one month."
"Senior Kakashi?"
Arima turned around. After seeing clearly who it was, he sighed in discouragement. "This level of strength is still far from enough."
Kakashi didn't offer much comfort.
After all, compared to the dream Arima wanted to achieve, this level of strength was indeed insignificant.
As an eyewitness to the Destruction of the Hidden Steam Village, Kakashi knew exactly how terrifying the power of the Jashin Religion was.
Even Lord Jiraiya, one of the Sannin, could do nothing about it...
With Arima's current strength, actually seeking them out would be a suicide mission.
While the two were talking, Itachi also came over to them.
"Senior Kakashi."
He first greeted Kakashi.
With his gentle and quiet personality, Itachi was different from other clansmen; he didn't have any hostile thoughts toward Kakashi, an outsider who possessed a Sharingan.
"Even if Senior Kakashi hadn't acted, Arima-kun probably could have broken the illusion himself, right?"
Itachi's eyes returned to their normal black color, and then he looked down at the Quinque by Arima's feet.
Kakashi noticed this as well, scratched his head, and gave a self-deprecating laugh. "It seems I was meddling where I wasn't needed."
Arima hurriedly said, "No, not at all. If Senior Kakashi hadn't stepped in, I would have had to make the Quinque attack myself to regain consciousness..."
Itachi looked at Arima with a smile. "In any case, Arima-kun's progress is quite rapid. I'm afraid I'll have to use my full strength in our next match."
Hearing Itachi say this, Arima also joked with a smile, "Then you'd better be careful, Itachi-kun. Don't end up being unable to defeat me even with your full strength."
Itachi didn't speak, only offering a faint smile.
Although he acted quite approachable on a daily basis, as a genius of the Uchiha Clan, Itachi still had his own pride.
In other words, he didn't truly believe Arima would surpass him.
Especially in such a short period of time.
"Alright, seeing you two getting along so well puts my mind at ease. I'm going to the Hokage Building to report on my mission now."
"Bye!"
After giving a greeting, Kakashi quickly vanished from the spot.
Watching Kakashi leave, Arima remarked with emotion, "Senior Kakashi must be going to perform a very important mission, right?"
Itachi nodded. "With Senior Kakashi's strength and seniority, the missions he performs are generally quite important."
After a brief moment of reflection, Arima threw himself back into training.
His daily training hours and his focused attitude during the process made even Itachi Uchiha feel somewhat inferior.
Arima's daily training was divided into four parts.
First was exercising his body and performing taijutsu training.
Second was training his synchronization with the Quinque and developing new offensive methods for it.
Third was practicing the ninjutsu taught by Itachi.
Fourth was attempting to fuse ninjutsu into the Quinque's attacks.
Among these, the fourth point was the most challenging part.
Through practicing ninjutsu during this period, Arima had already tested his chakra natures.
Earth, Lightning, and Fire—three types of chakra natures.
However, as for how to fuse the corresponding ninjutsu into the Quinque, Arima had no leads for the time being.
As for the second point, Arima had made significant progress.
He had already developed three forms for the Quinque in his hand: Knight, Swordsman, and Shield Guard.
These corresponded to three combat styles: thrusting, slashing, and defense.