Chapter 200: Three-Tomoe

"Hmph... aside from the reconnaissance function of the Byakugan, the Hyuga family's true means of self-defense is the Gentle Fist..."

"The true essence of the Gentle Fist lies in the application of chakra; there is no need for physical contact at all. One only needs to transmit chakra to easily control an opponent. You shouldn't have used those steel wires to deal with me!"

Hyuga Neji spoke eloquently, his face glowing with spirit. Sasuke Uchiha, having failed a move, knelt on the ground, feeling half his body go numb, completely unable to move.

This was only because Hyuga Neji had held back. If they were truly life-and-death opponents, Hyuga Neji would have had the confidence to directly rupture the opponent's internal organs with the transmitted chakra, rather than just paralyzing half their body.

"D... damn it!"

Having been beaten up again on a whim, the "Sunny Pillar" was filled with resentment. This is how duels between ordinary ninja go; because they are strong in offense but weak in defense, even someone as strong as a Jonin can be instantly killed by a Genin if the opponent finds an opening—let alone Sasuke Uchiha, whose current strength is not even equal to Hyuga Neji's.

"It seems I have won this match... Do you want to do it again? This time, you didn't show the qualities sufficient to become a Genin."

Hyuga Neji spoke with an air of indifference. With his strength, he was actually stronger than the average Chunin; at the very least, a Chunin like Umino Iruka was by no means his match. Therefore, when dealing with ordinary graduating students before, Hyuga Neji would always wait until they had exhausted their full strength and tried their best before knocking them down.

This time, because he had been provoked by Sasuke Uchiha and Uzumaki Naruto, and coupled with the bet with Lee, he did not hold back in the slightest.

Hearing Hyuga Neji's words, Sasuke Uchiha felt the rage in his heart surge violently. His indomitable fighting spirit burned crazily, and the chakra that had been dormant in his body surged rapidly like a great river.

On the other side, in the Hokage Office, a smile appeared on the corner of Uchiha Feiyu's mouth. He manipulated the mind of this young Uchiha, crazily increasing his fighting spirit and rage while sensing the feeling of the opponent's inner demon entering his body and completely merging with his emotions.

"It's just like a marionette... Is this the power of the Heavenly Demon Secret? Silently interfering with the opponent's mind, manipulating their inner demons, and ultimately making them one's own puppet..."

And most importantly, the so-called inner demon is actually just another side of the personality; it is still the same person, and there has been no change in either spirit or Soul.

"This is a capability far more terrifying than the God-Controlling Technique or the Mangekyo's Kotoamatsukami, because the so-called inner demon is a spontaneous change from the person themselves; there are no traces of external interference to be seen at all! Once successful, it is almost impossible to resolve... At least, the chakra system certainly cannot resolve it."

Of course, being able to be so smooth was also because Sasuke Uchiha's own strength was weak, which is why he was easily parasitized by Uchiha Feiyu's inner demon. If it were some powerhouses, it probably wouldn't have been so easy to succeed.

Back at the examination site, following the tricks Uchiha Feiyu had performed, the flames of rage in Sasuke Uchiha's heart grew higher and higher. A strong feeling of unwillingness transformed into a key, once again unlocking the potential in his eyes.

The Sharingan, which originally had only one Tomoe, spun at high speed. In an instant, it split into a second and then a third Tomoe. As the Sharingan evolved, the chakra fed back into his body stirred the Hyuga chakra that had been controlling half his body like silk and nets, allowing him to regain his ability to move.

"It's not over yet!"

The Three-Tomoe Sharingan brought Sasuke Uchiha a completely different feeling. The entire world seemed to have slowed down; even the dust in the air and the expressions on everyone's faces were easily captured by his eyes.

It was as if in an instant, his entire being had been reborn. The powerful Yin Release chakra increased Sasuke Uchiha's chakra volume twofold in a flash, and it also gave him a sense of ease when controlling his chakra.

Looking at Sasuke Uchiha, who had stood back up with a high fighting spirit, and the three Tomoe in his eyes, Hyuga Neji had a feeling of "f*ck" for a moment.

Damn it! This is just a graduation exam! You opened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan just like that? Are you kidding me? Is your mental endurance really that low?

With such low endurance, how did you manage to hold out until today to open the Sharingan? You aren't playing with me, are you!

Could it be that you had already unlocked the Three-Tomoe long ago, and were planning to make a stunning debut today, and I just happened to run into it?

While Hyuga Neji's mind was running wild, he still maintained a calm face and pulled out the starting stance of the Gentle Fist. In his expression, one could even faintly see a hint of caution.

He had to be cautious; the Three-Tomoe Sharingan is basically a pass for a Jonin. As long as an Uchiha unlocks the Three-Tomoe, they will definitely become a Jonin, and will even be quite a bit stronger than the average Jonin.

With the copying ability of the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, one can learn a large number of ninjutsu in a short time. Furthermore, the Three-Tomoe Sharingan comes with a Genjutsu bonus, and dynamic vision can also enhance taijutsu. It can be said that it can directly make an Uchiha a ninja without blind spots.

Hyuga Neji was very confident in his talent, but no matter how confident he was, he didn't think his current strength could contend with a Jonin. In fact, even against a Special Jonin, Hyuga Neji didn't have much confidence in winning.

Looking at Hyuga Neji's cautious expression, Sasuke Uchiha gave a light huff, his face full of arrogance. His figure flashed, and he rushed up again.

This time, Sasuke Uchiha had learned his lesson. He didn't use any tricks like Kunai combined with steel wires, but prepared to have a round of taijutsu dueling with Hyuga Neji first.

Although the Hyuga Clan, with their Byakugan and Gentle Fist, can be called the top tier of the entire Hidden Leaf in taijutsu, Sasuke Uchiha felt that he had awakened the Three-Tomoe and, relying on his powerful dynamic vision, might be able to make up for the gap in taijutsu between the two!

Well... it was mainly because Sasuke Uchiha didn't know many offensive ninjutsu. He only had two Fire Release ninjutsu, the Great Fireball Technique and the Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique, plus one Lightning Release ninjutsu, the Thunder Release: Gratitude Wave. If he just let go and used ninjutsu attacks, he definitely wouldn't be able to hit Hyuga Neji, who also had astonishing dynamic vision.

Therefore, he could only use taijutsu to entangle him first, and then use ninjutsu as his trump card for victory—using taijutsu and the Shuriken Throwing Technique as probes, and then using ninjutsu and Genjutsu as the finishing blow. Basically, the battles of ordinary ninja follow this flow.

However, it was clear that Sasuke Uchiha had truly underestimated the Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist—the Hyuga Clan has relied on the Gentle Fist to survive for hundreds or thousands of years. Although they have never held the title of "boss" among the Bloodline Limit families, they have always been stably ranked in the top three. From this, one can see the exquisiteness of the Gentle Fist.

The Uchiha Clan possesses the Sharingan, and their conventional ninjutsu are varied, with the Mangekyo being even more bizarre; the Senju Clan possesses the Sage Body, and their chakra is so abundant it can be called "ton-chakra," with every one of them being a ninjutsu battery.

The Hyuga Clan relies on just one Gentle Fist to barely maneuver and contend with the various ninjutsu of these two ninja families for so many years. After thousands of years of polishing, it can already be called an unbreakable, marvelous technique.

Compared to Sasuke Uchiha, who needs to study ninjutsu, taijutsu, and Genjutsu, Hyuga Neji only needs to study the Gentle Fist. With taijutsu moves stronger than Sasuke Uchiha's, talent not inferior to Sasuke Uchiha's, plus a training time far exceeding Sasuke Uchiha's, it would be a miracle if Sasuke Uchiha, who had just awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, could win!

After the two sides exchanged dozens of moves, Hyuga Neji found an opportunity. His fingers tapped lightly on Sasuke Uchiha's wrist. Sasuke Uchiha felt his wrist go slightly numb, and he instantly lost half his strength; even the Kunai he was holding in his hand fell to the ground in an instant.

Subsequently, Hyuga Neji slapped Sasuke Uchiha's chest with his palm. Sasuke Uchiha felt a violent, twisting pain in his internal organs and directly spat out a mouthful of blood as he flew backward.

"Is this the power of the Three-Tomoe Sharingan? It seems the Uchiha Clan's Bloodline Limit isn't as powerful as you said!"

Hyuga Neji said with an arrogant face, though in reality, he was secretly calling himself lucky—after truly engaging, Hyuga Neji had changed his mind. Sasuke Uchiha clearly hadn't awakened the Sharingan long ago, otherwise, he wouldn't have been so easy to deal with.

After awakening the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, besides the growth in physical fitness and chakra, the most important thing for the Uchiha Clan is the ability to copy a large amount of ninjutsu and taijutsu, rapidly enriching their combat skills. In addition, they can learn some unique Sharingan Dojutsu of the Uchiha Clan.

This learning period doesn't need to take long. An Uchiha with a copying eye can fully learn a large amount of ninjutsu and taijutsu skills within just one day. The time spent on Sharingan Dojutsu might be longer, but it won't exceed three days.

However, although the time is short, the Uchiha's strength will undergo a reborn change. Once the standard training for the Three-Tomoe Sharingan is completed, it is enough to allow an ordinary Genin to possess Jonin-level qualities in the shortest possible time!

If Sasuke Uchiha had truly completed this kind of training, then Hyuga Neji would definitely not have been able to beat his opponent no matter what.

"Damn it..."

Sasuke Uchiha clutched his chest, wanting to crawl up. He didn't expect that even though he had already opened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, he would still lose so easily—in fact, if he didn't have the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, he wouldn't have been able to fight Hyuga Neji for dozens of rounds either; he probably would have had his acupoints sealed by the opponent within ten moves.

But clearly, this arrogant Uchiha wouldn't think about so many problems, and at the same time, Uchiha Feiyu had already lost interest in him.

Continuing to provoke Sasuke Uchiha's emotions might even allow him to awaken the Mangekyo, but awakening a Three-Tomoe in a graduation battle was already exaggerated enough. Directly awakening the Mangekyo was really a bit "not human."

Not to mention Sasuke Uchiha's current age; if he awakened the Mangekyo, nine times out of ten he would be completely drained—that neurotic older brother of Sasuke Uchiha's is a typical example. The reason Itachi Uchiha died so early was partly due to the huge psychological pressure, and partly due to the over-exploitation of his body by awakening the Mangekyo too early.

However, Sasuke Uchiha's performance was definitely more than enough for him to pass the graduation exam. Once he studied for another two days, being a Special Jonin wouldn't be a problem at all.

On the other side, Uzumaki Naruto had already been knocked flying by Lee for the third time, but every time he was knocked flying, he would crawl back up.

The thought of Uchiha Feiyu lurking deep in Uzumaki Naruto's heart didn't make any move at first—Sasuke possesses the Uchiha bloodline and can open his eyes directly when his emotions are agitated, but Uzumaki Naruto doesn't care about that.

He doesn't have the Nine-Tails in his body right now, so even in a state of extreme emotional agitation—that would at most be excitement for a whole day; it wouldn't improve his Power Level in the slightest, and might instead reveal more openings.

However, although Lee's Strong Fist level was quite high, it didn't have the special attack properties like Hyuga Neji's Gentle Fist. Plus, this was a graduation exam after all, and Lee couldn't directly beat Uzumaki Naruto to death or cripple him, so he had to hold back when attacking, which resulted in him not having beaten Uzumaki Naruto to the ground even now.

After all, even without Ashura Chakra and the Nine-Tails, Uzumaki Naruto still possesses the Uzumaki Clan's bloodline, and his recovery ability and toughness far exceed those of ordinary ninja. Don't look at how many punches and kicks he took in the battle just now; in reality, he only suffered some superficial injuries.

"Hmm... the ability to control one's mindset using inner demons has already been tested, so let's move on to another experiment!"

Uchiha Feiyu felt that he had completely permeated Naruto's mind. With a shift of his own thoughts, Uzumaki Naruto felt many techniques he had never learned before instantly emerge in his brain.

Regarding this strange situation, Uzumaki Naruto had no doubts at all, and instead chose one of the techniques without hesitation and unleashed it:

"Boiling Blood!"

In an instant, Uzumaki Naruto's heart began beating at three times its normal speed, and the high-speed circulation of blood turned Uzumaki Naruto's skin a deep red, while simultaneously causing his body's strength, speed, defensive power, and explosive power to surge dramatically!

This was knowledge derived from the Blood Scripture, which could not even be called a cultivation method or a divine ability, but rather just a very minor technique—yet it was not something a ninja who possessed only chakra and had never cultivated Dharma Power could learn in an instant.

However, Uzumaki Naruto used it instantly, and even felt as though he were using it with ease; regarding all the knowledge surging within his heart, Uzumaki Naruto did not feel any doubt, as if he had been born having cultivated it before.

As the ground was trampled, with a loud 'Bang!', Uzumaki Naruto seemed to transform into a streak of golden light, his speed several times faster than before, appearing directly in front of Rock Lee:

"Leaf Hurricane!"

Watching the lower leg sweep toward him, Rock Lee's pupils constricted sharply; he raised his arms to block, but was ultimately half a step too slow and was kicked flying directly.

(End of this chapter)