Even under Seiki's increasingly fierce attacks, Shuunen strolled forward casually, like taking a leisurely walk in the garden. With a mere wave of the kunai in his hand, he easily deflected all the shuriken flying at him from various directions.
Then, step by steady step, he steadily closed in on his opponent.
"All your efforts are meaningless before this Sharingan. This is the true glory of the Uchiha—an unbridgeable gap you ordinary people can never close! As a Medical Ninja, how will you deal with my close-range attack?"
In Shuunen's opinion, although his taijutsu wasn't particularly strong, it should be more than sufficient to handle a medical ninja.
After all, Shuunen had witnessed Seiki's battle two months ago—his opponent's taijutsu was far inferior to his own.
The only real threat was that annoying medical ninjutsu.
However, Seiki let out a helpless sigh. "Mr. Shuunen, has anyone ever told you—you're really… talkative!"
Then, right before Shuunen's disbelieving eyes, Seiki rapidly closed the distance and smashed his knee directly into Shuunen's abdomen, sending him flying.
Enduring the bitter pain threatening to force bile out of his throat, Shuunen struggled to get up, shouting bitterly and angrily again, "Why... why does a Medical Ninja like you even know taijutsu?!"
Seiki paused thoughtfully. "Isn't it reasonable for me, as a Medical Ninja, to learn some basic taijutsu for self-defense?"
Of course, he would never abandon training in taijutsu—after all, he had been secretly coveting Tsunade's monstrous strength.
As for his previously mediocre taijutsu skills, that was completely because he lacked proper guidance. When it came to physical techniques, he hadn't had proper guidance to rely on.
After becoming "close friends" with Asuma, naturally, he started receiving Asuma-sensei's personal instruction.
Although Takayuki Takenouchi was merely a tokubetsu jonin, he indeed possessed remarkable teaching abilities. At the very least, Seiki had managed to temporarily fill the gap in his taijutsu.
Shuunen whined pitifully, "But… but just two months ago, your taijutsu was clearly worse than mine!"
Nodding, Seiki replied naturally, "Yeah, but that was two months ago!"
If Naruto Uzumaki could fight against Six Paths Pain within one year, then it shouldn't be a problem for Seiki Shimaseki to improve his taijutsu a little within two months.
Shuunen tilted his head in confusion. Even battle data gets outdated eventually, but two months? That's just too fast!
"If he keeps improving at this pace, wouldn't it mean… if I fight him again in a couple days, I'd just get instantly defeated?" Thinking about this possibility, Shuunen instinctively shivered.
In other words… is this my only chance to defeat him?
"There's nothing to fear. It's just taijutsu, after all—at least his genjutsu should have no effect on me who possesses the Sharingan… or maybe at least minimal effect?"
Shuunen hesitated to think further—he was afraid. He worried that continuing down this path would drain away his fighting spirit altogether.
[Clone Jutsu]!
Quickly forming hand seals, Shuunen created five clones and surrounded Seiki.
Yet Seiki rushed without hesitation straight at one of them, completely ignoring the attacks coming from the other "Shuunens."
"As expected, this guy's sensor ability is too strong!" Shuunen cursed inwardly. No longer pretending, he slashed a kunai in his right hand toward Seiki while secretly gripping a bundle of steel wires with his left.
Seiki slightly tilted his head to dodge the attack, then drove an elbow straight into Shuunen's chest.
"Now!" Shuunen neither dodged nor evaded, deliberately taking the blow. Ignoring the sharp pain in his chest, he sent the bundle of wire strings lashing toward Seiki.
Then—[Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique]!
The flames rapidly spread along the wires until completely engulfing Seiki.
"This level of attack is nowhere near enough." Having remembered the battle from two months ago, Shuunen knew full well that his opponent was also a master of Body Replacement techniques.
Just as Shuunen searched for an opening to launch another attack,
the blazing fire dispersed, revealing a charred corpse crashing heavily onto the ground.
Shuunen: "???"
A sudden sense of deep offense flooded Shuunen—he absolutely refused to believe this opponent could be killed so easily.
"Wait, could this again be his genjutsu?" Alertness surged within him. Right on cue, chaotic voices suddenly echoed in his ears again.
"This fight is over. How boring."
"So this is the prestigious Uchiha clan? Hilarious!"
"Come on, no one actually thinks the Sharingan is that powerful, right?"
Hearing these sounds, irritation boiled inside Shuunen. "Damn it, I've fallen for his genjutsu again! Snap out of it, now!"
Yet at this moment, the charred corpse lying on the ground suddenly dashed straight at him.
Before Shuunen could even react, a familiar icy sensation touched his neck once more.
Still stunned, Shuunen whispered, "Wait... Am I still trapped in the genjutsu?"
Seiki quietly withdrew his kunai with a light chuckle. "My 'corpse' isn't under any illusion—but those voices you heard were."
So that was sound-based genjutsu... Shuunen instinctively opened and closed his mouth, unsure what to say next, as if all his strength had left him, and he slumped to his knees on the ground.
"I've lost—even with the Sharingan, I was defeated by an ordinary person. The honor of the Uchiha clan has been utterly shattered in my hands!"
He didn't dare to lift his head or look at the people around him, feeling countless mocking and hostile gazes piercing his back.
Seiki turned to walk away, but hearing those words, he paused mid-step. "Honor doesn't disappear just because of one defeat. Rather than a single loss, the honor you speak of vanished the moment you first bullied the weak."
Startled, Shuunen lifted his head abruptly, shouting hysterically at Seiki, "What do you know? It was only thanks to me that nobody dared badmouth the Uchihas at school!"
Meeting the other's gaze calmly and purely, Seiki asked, "Is that really how you feel?"
For some reason, Shuunen couldn't bear to maintain eye contact, hesitating before weakly asking, "S-so what? What's wrong with that?"
A faint smile tugged at Seiki's lips. This guy was seriously naive—and kind of cute in a weird way. Manipulating him felt like taking almost no effort at all—almost amusing.
"If you genuinely believed your own words, my genjutsu wouldn't have ensnared you at all."
"That's exactly why you're afraid of being exposed - because deep down you know they never truly accepted you, and even those so-called 'companions' of yours speak ill of the Uchiha behind your back."
"No, that's not true! They fear me! They respect the Uchiha name!"
"This is just the lie you've told yourself, a fantasy world to make yourself feel better. Tell me, has the Uchiha clan really come to rely on lies to numb themselves?"
At this point, even Shuunen himself became confused. "Could it be... that I've been deceiving myself all along?"
Seeing how utterly devastated and psychologically shattered Shuunen looked, like someone completely broken, Seiki felt it was about time to stop.
"At the very least, I'm sure that arrogance and bias can't be wiped out with violence alone."
Instinctively, Shuunen asked, "Then what should I do?"
"Do you love your family?"
Though somewhat embarrassed, the influenced Shuunen still nodded. "Yes."
"And do they love you?"
"They do."
With a serious expression, Seiki began his huayou (eloquent persuasion): "Kindness goes both ways. If you don't love the world yourself, how can you expect the world to love you? And if that's still not enough, then add some time to it. Time will prove everything."
Suddenly hit with this bowl of heartwarming soul soup (lingxiao jitang), Shuunen felt completely healed and uplifted.
As Seiki turned to leave, watching his retreating figure, Shuunen shouted loudly, "I understand now! I'll strive to change all this!"
This time, Seiki didn't stop walking, he merely waved his hand. "But first, go apologize to them for what you've done before."
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