Given Shisui's reputation as Shunshin no Shisui, Kaze had no intention of holding back.
The moment his words fell, Kaze drew a kunai, coating every inch of its surface with crackling electricity—lightning surging from his Devil Fruit ability.
Without hesitation, he drove the electrified blade straight at Shisui's back.
In terms of timing, speed, and angle—this strike was nothing short of perfect.
Puff!
Just as the kunai made contact, Shisui's body burst into a cloud of white smoke.
"This is..."
"Shadow Clone Jutsu?"
The realization hit Kaze instantly.
Besides his mastery of high-level genjutsu, Shisui had also refined the Shadow Clone Technique to its absolute peak.
He could summon multiple solid clones in an instant, each nearly indistinguishable from the real one.
Combined with his Sharingan's illusions, this technique had allowed him to eliminate countless enemies on the battlefield without taking a scratch.
Still...
Kaze wasn't disheartened by Shisui's substitution.
In fact, if Shisui had been defeated that easily, he would've been the one feeling disappointed.
"I'll give this Jōnin exam everything I've got."
Shisui's voice rang out from behind, carrying that classic "mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind" vibe.
Kaze spun around—and saw Shisui had already launched his next attack.
Before even a single breath could pass, more than a dozen shuriken flew from his hands in a flash.
"So fast…"
Kaze couldn't help but admire it.
Because these weren't from some Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique.
Shisui had physically thrown more than ten real shuriken within the span of a breath.
His hand speed was unreal.
Clang—clang—clang!
But the real surprise came after.
Instead of flying directly at Kaze, the shuriken collided mid-air, altering their trajectories with every clash.
Front and back. Left and right.
Each one moving unpredictably.
As he threw the final shuriken, Shisui's hands formed a new seal with a snap.
"Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
'As expected of the Uchiha clan's genius…'
Kaze couldn't help but admire Shisui's display as the steel rain closed in.
Even with his Sharingan active—every detail of the battlefield laid bare before him—he still couldn't immediately find a flaw in the formation.
The shuriken moved with such precision, such calculated chaos, it felt like the entire forest had turned into a trap designed just for him.
No choice.
In a flash, Kaze stepped back, hands moving in a blur as he whipped out every last kunai he had.
Whssht!
His throws sliced through the air like a storm, stirring up a ferocious blast of wind that slammed into the incoming shuriken, knocking many clean out of their deadly arcs.
The gust disrupted the entire formation—scattering the rest of the spinning projectiles.
Kaze had forcefully torn a hole straight through Shisui's ironclad net.
The next moment, his feet lit up with crackling blue lightning, and with a burst of speed, he launched himself into the air, leaping straight out of the deadly storm of blades—charging directly at Shisui.
"He's coming."
In that same instant, Shisui's calm eyes sharpened.
Seeing Kaze break through his shuriken formation with ease, his Sharingan gleamed—three tomoe spinning as he tracked every motion with crystal clarity.
With a slight flick of his wrist…
The shuriken that had clattered to the forest floor suddenly sprang back into motion—lifting off the ground and streaking through the air like guided missiles, zeroing in on Kaze's back.
From a shadowy perch among the trees, one of the ANBU from Root watching the battle couldn't help but gasp.
"The shuriken… they're moving again?!"
To the Root ninja observing from the shadows, what they were witnessing practically defied the laws of physics.
(T/N: Does the ninja world even have physics? Even if they do I believe that its different from our physics.)
"No way… Look closer. There's a thread—barely visible—looped around Shisui's wrist."
"It's wire. He's using wires to manipulate the shuriken for a second attack."
(T/N: Seriously chakra threads!? The OG needs to do his homework. But I managed to fix it. You're welcome.)
Another ANBU member, face half-hidden behind his mask, narrowed his eyes and spoke grimly. His tone held a note of respect—even awe.
The wires Shisui used were specially treated—thin as strands of hair and glinting only in just the right light. Without deliberate focus, even trained eyes would miss them.
But then again…
In the chaos of real combat, who had the time—or luxury—for that kind of careful observation?
In a true life-and-death battle…
That one overlooked detail could mean your throat getting slit before you ever knew you were in danger.
"…Tch."
Just imagining it made several Root operatives instinctively suck in a sharp breath.
They'd all heard of Shisui's reputation.
Now they were seeing why.
No wonder he was hailed as the strongest of the Uchiha, the famed Shunshin no Shisui of the Third Great Ninja War.
He was terrifyingly precise.
Unreasonably fast.
A ghost on the battlefield.
Even Kaze, with his Sharingan active and lightning crackling through his limbs, hadn't noticed the glint of wire—not until it was too late.
By the time his instincts screamed the warning, the shuriken were already closing in—less than three inches from his back.
Too close to block.
Too close to dodge.
"Got him," Shisui murmured, half-lidding his eyes with calm certainty. His voice carried no malice—just the confidence of someone who had played this scenario out in his head a dozen times.
But the very next instant—
CLANG!
A sharp metallic ping echoed through the trees as every single shuriken suddenly rebounded with violent force, flying in every direction like they'd just hit an invisible wall.
The wires snapped instantly, recoiling with a twang, as if they'd been cut by raw power alone.
"What…?!"
Shisui's eyes widened slightly.
Even the Root ninja flinched at the sudden sound.
Then they saw it—
A faint shimmer in the air surrounding Kaze's back. Not a shield. Not chakra.
Lightning.
Pure, crackling, high-voltage lightning had surged across his back at the perfect moment—arcing in a dense current that repelled the incoming steel.
"His lightning… defended him?"
No hand seals. No warning. It had activated purely through reflex.
It wasn't a jutsu.
It was instinct.
Not a single shuriken escaped the fate.
All of them—without exception—were violently repelled, scattered across the forest floor like broken dreams.
Even someone as composed and calculating as Shisui couldn't hide the shock that flashed across his face.
He couldn't understand it.
He'd been observing Kaze the entire time, carefully analyzing him with his Sharingan—watching for even the faintest fluctuation of chakra.
And yet… there had been nothing.
No signs of a technique.
No warning at all.
"What… is going on here?"
The question wasn't just on Shisui's mind. Hidden among the shadows, every Root operative watching from the treeline was just as baffled.
How?
How did every one of those perfectly-aimed shuriken get deflected without a single move?
And why hadn't anyone seen it?
As Shisui's expression twisted in confusion, Kaze's lips curled into a slow, knowing smirk.
The truth was deceptively simple.
Right at the moment those shuriken closed in, Kaze had generated a localized electromagnetic pulse using his Devil Fruit ability—coating his body in a magnetic field strong enough to repel the metal projectiles with precise bursts of polarity.
An elegant, invisible counterattack.
With zero chakra involved.
And because it was all done through his Lightning Fruit—not a ninja technique—it had completely slipped under the radar of Shisui's Sharingan.
The next instant—
Kzzzt!
A crackle of blue lightning burst at Kaze's feet as he lunged forward. His left hand gripped a lightning-coated kunai, swinging it down at Shisui with deadly speed.
Of course…
Shisui's heart might've been shaken, but his hands didn't falter.
With a smooth, fluid motion, he drew the short blade from his back—a gleaming wakizashi—and raised it just in time to meet the incoming slash.
CLANG!
The clash of metal rang out like a bell through the woods.
Sparks flew.
Powerful shockwaves rippled from the collision, tearing through the field and ripping tufts of grass straight from the earth. The very air seemed to split from the force.
For a brief moment, their eyes locked—both refusing to back down.
And then…
Shisui narrowed his gaze.
He made his move.
Without hesitation, he unleashed his strongest illusion—casting it directly through his eyes, aiming to overwhelm Kaze's mind with pure ocular force.
His Sharingan spun faster, its tomoe blurring as he poured in more power, trying to overwhelm Kaze's visual perception with sheer intensity.
This wasn't a subtle trick or a light suggestion—it was a brute-force genjutsu assault.
He was attempting to dominate Kaze's Sharingan.
To crush it.
But—
Kaze didn't look away.
Didn't flinch.
The crimson in his eyes burned just as fiercely—his own Sharingan locking with Shisui's in a clash of pure will.
Three tomoe to three tomoe.
The air between them seemed to thrum with invisible pressure as the two visual powers collided—like two blades grinding against each other, neither willing to give an inch.
(T/N: In an attempt to make Kaze feel more upfront and less low-key, I revealed his Sharingan earlier than in the original. In the OG version, this is actually the chapter where it gets exposed, so I had to rework the chapter a bit to keep it consistent. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed the chapter—and since we've made it this far, I'm shamelessly asking for some power stones to keep me motivated. Please donate me some power stones.)