Chapter 98: Explosion of Youth! (3)
'An afterimage!' Lee realised, before his foot even made contact. In truth, he had already noticed Shinji rapidly moving away after launching his second kick. But his body was too slow to react properly, a consequence of the weights holding down his feet that at his moment felt more like an anchor.
The moment Shinji sensed Lee's other foot coming at him from a direction he could not properly block, he decisively used [Flash Step] fuelled by wind nature chakra to disappear from Lee's sight to reappear behind the bowl-haired genin who was helpless to stop his next move.
Unlike Lee, from the audiences' perspective, all they could see was Lee kicking through Shinji, only to realize that it was only an afterimage, and the Rookie of the Year was already behind the spandex-wearing genin.
"LEE!" A feminine voice yelled out, cutting through the silence in shock, but that verbal warning could extend no aid towards the target of her concern.
Shinji extended a finger enhanced by [Shinkyoken] and poked his opponent's torso. The finger, unnaturally straight like that of an estoc, pierced through Lee's defenceless back.
Lee immediately reacted by furiously swinging back, a continuation of his initial Konoha Senpuu, but Shinji had already retreated, evading the kick that was more of an emotional response than any sort of measured, rational retaliation to the surprisingly brutal attack.
However, vicious though it may have been, Shinji's attack was neither ruthless nor sadistic. The point of impact was chosen specifically, a result of Shinji's medic-nin training, to deliver a non-lethal and superficial injury, even if it was a tad bit bloody.
Sure, he could have thrusted his entire hand through the back of Lee's torso like a hot knife through butter and crushed his heart right at that very moment of vulnerability, but such an act would have been exceedingly senseless and pointedly idiotic. Shinji would have gained nothing from fatally wounding his opponent when they were only engaging in a friendly duel.
The only reason why he was even willing to shed blood was the knowledge that he could close up the wound after the fight was over.
Feeling his flesh being pierced, Lee leaped away from his opponent at the surprising turn of events, who graciously elected not to pursue. The genin reached back to nurse his injury and flinched when he felt piercing pain on his back, shocked to find the unmistakable crimson hue of blood staining his fingers when he brought his hand back to inspect it.
A martial art that could cut and pierce with one's hands as easily as it would with a knife… what a terrifying taijutsu style, Lee grimly observed.
"So this is what you meant by a deadly martial art. My eyes have been opened." He sighed in admiration, but his sharp eyes found its way on to the hardwood floorboards. More specifically, the point at which Shinji had used his [Flash Step] had been shattered, leaving splinters and shards of wood in his wake.
'That speed, I saw him moving but my body wasn't fast enough to react. How hard must he have trained to achieve such an agility? I have been too conceited… to think that there was another who have similarly pushed himself to the extremes of human limitations!' Though Lee's thoughts were self-deprecating, it contained admiration and delight. It was also very wrong.
"I warned you." Shinji replied and knowingly eyes Lee's ankle warmers. Though he may have won that exchange, Shinji was still very aware of just how fast and strong Lee could really be once he removed the weights around his ankles. However, that was also precisely his goal since he had a bonus objective to complete.
The flesh wound he gave Lee as well as the knowing look was a statement, one that said 'I will only make you bleed more if you don't get serious.'
Lee's thick brows furrowed, but he also had on an expression of delight. 'As expected, he must have noticed that I was still holding back due to my training weights. I was worried that I would only be disappointed by the supposed Rookie of the Year, but instead of disappointment, all I can feel is excitement!'
"I understand, Shinji-kun. Allow me to reciprocate your sincerity." Lee spoke with conviction, before sitting down. He then slipped off the orange ankle warmers to reveal a pair of ankle weights strapped to his leg.
Amongst the audience, Hinata had on a mocking smirk, "Weights? Futile. Does he think removing some measly little weights will be enough to deal with Shinji?"
Tenten returned that jeering with her own confident smile. "It's a clichéd training. But one that has been taken to the extreme by Lee. Don't underestimate him just because he can't use genjutsu and ninjutsu, because in terms of taijutsu… Lee is a monster!"
Instead of throwing it to the side, Lee gently placed down his weights on the floor of their arena, not revealing to the audience the full intensity of his extreme training routine.
"YOSH! Now I can finally move freely!" He exclaimed as he stood back up while staring excitedly at his opponent.
Shinji felt his muscles tighten, fully aware of how fast Lee was going to be now that he was getting serious. As a result, he knew that before Lee warmed up to his new speed, he had to strike first!
[Flash Step]!
Shinji reappeared next to Lee, his hand already layered with chakra that was both penetrative and protective.
'I shouldn't hurt him too badly. So aiming at his vitals are out. Somewhere that can be easily healed… okay, I will tear up his arm then!' Shinji decided as his knifehand sped towards Lee's appendage.
Until a kick crashed into his torso and sent Shinji flying backwards.
'Fast…!' Was his only reaction before Lee reappeared behind Shinji and threw another kick towards his opponent.
This time, Shinji was able to react properly by blocking it with his arm. The impact was several times stronger than before, showing just how much those weights had really been holding Lee back. But just an instant after the connection, Lee disappeared again and his fist slammed into Shinji's sides.
Shinji flew away but was able to catch himself in mid air and land on his feet.
The damage wasn't significant, but it was also nothing to scoff at. He had layered protective chakra all over his body, so it was really only the momentum that had sent him flying rather than any sort of real damage.
But what surprised Shinji the most was how fast Lee really was. He had the bitter realization that the only way for him to match that speed was with the activation of his Sharingan.
"Amazing." Shinji breathed out a heartfelt praise.
Lee smiled in reciprocation, a feeling of pride blossoming within him. Hearing such a compliment from someone he was quickly starting to see as a rival was cathartic. This was vindication! It was proof that all the blood, sweat and tears he had put into his rigorous and painful training was worth something after all.
"Thank you." Lee replied, a genuine appreciation for Shinji's one-word comment.
As much as Shinji wanted to compete with him over their taijutsu, he also decisively came to the conclusion that unfortunately he just could not compete with his opponent solely with martial arts.
Lee was someone who had dedicated the better part of his career to taijutsu because he couldn't use ninjutsu or genjutsu. Therefore, he channelled all of his time, all of his energy, his entire being into taijutsu. On the other hand, Shinji distributed his time equally to all three major facets of the shinobi arts. So in comparison, Shinji's own comprehension towards taijutsu could only be considered as trifling.
However, that also meant Shinji had methods aside from taijutsu that could be used to deal with Lee.
The other genin, upon seeing the initial success of his taijutsu, did not want to surrender this opportunity. And so Lee sped forward, his motions looking less visible than a blur to the other genin watching their fight.
"I-impossible, he is even faster than Shinji-kun?" Hinata exclaimed, hardly trusting her own all-seeing eyes. Yet, the truth was undeniable.
Shino's eyes widened, though the sight of his astonishment was hidden behind his dark shades and high collar. He was one of the few people in the village who was truly familiar with how fast Shinji could be, having seen him go all out more than once or twice. As a result, seeing this unknown genin who he had previously thought little of surpass that speed was simply astonishing.
Tenten quirked an eyebrow. Although what she wanted to do so dearly right now was to gloat and rub it in the faces of her cocky kouhai who was so cocky, she herself was rather surprised at how the fight was progressing.
Firstly, she didn't think that Lee would have been pressured so heavily to the point where he would have to remove his weights just to gain an advantage. Secondly, Lee's opponent was actually fast enough to keep up with Lee when her teammate was only just a few steps away from going all out.
Thus, she couldn't find it in herself to gloat when she was also caught by surprise.
Lee arrived next to Shinji a backfist rocketing towards his opponent, who parried with a knifehand while simultaneously delivering a razor sharp kick towards Lee. A less proficient martial artist would have had their hand shredded by Shinji's parry using a Shinkyoken-enhanced knifehand, but Lee was skilled enough to block without having his own digits bloodied.
The bowl-haired genin moved underneath the kick, only to realize that the kick was only a ruse. Shinji used a one-footed [Flash Step] at that moment to reappear behind Lee, who was busy evading the attack.
In that one second Lee took to realize Shinji had disappeared and reappeared behind him before turning around, Shinji's hands blurred, forming several handseals in an instant.
'Genjutsu: Nise no Kage Doto-Sei!'
A surge of invisible and ephemeral chakra shot towards Lee like a spike, piercing through his cranium and entering his brain. The chakra worked through his neural pathways, layering a coat of chakra on certain parts of the brain to re-wire what Lee would see and hear.
The one second Lee took to realize Shinji had disappeared and turned around was a second too long as within that moment of diversion, Shinji had already performed and executed his genjutsu without Lee even seeing or knowing about it.
The bowl-haired genin turned and rushed towards Shinji, who was already prepared to face him. The two exchanged blows, chakra enhanced fists met chakra enhanced kicks, and together they formed a veritable whirlwind of taijutsu moves. The hardwood floor beneath them cracked under the sustained pressure of the two fighting upon them, while shockwaves occasionally exploded out from particularly powerful connections.
'Amazing, even after I took off my weights he can still match me blow for blow! Truly, he is the person who have managed to surpass geniuses despite being of civilian birth!' Lee thought to himself in admiration, excited to be trading blows with Shinji who he was quickly starting to view as a rival.
On his peripheral view, he could see his teammate Tenten shouting something, but he couldn't decipher what she was saying. The sound was too muted, likely from the blood rushing to his ears from his excitement. But even if he couldn't hear what she was saying, he knew she was cheering him on.
Or at least, that was what Lee believed.
In truth, what Lee saw with his eyes were vastly different from what the rest saw with theirs. False Shadow Equivalency; it was a genjutsu technique Shinji found and learned from the Uchiha Jutsu Repository. It created a phantom opponent, the duplicate of the user, in order to mislead the target while simultaneously hiding the actual user away from the target's sight.
Genjutsu functioned by controlling the chakra flow of a target's cerebral nervous system, and in doing so influenced their five senses. False Shadow Equivalency targeted three of these five senses – sight, sound and touch. It was not only able to create a phantom doppelganger for Lee to clash with but also replicate that sensation of flesh hitting flesh every time they exchanged blows.
The entire time Lee thought he was fighting with Shinji, he was actually just fighting the air!
Of course, any genjutsu master would have scoffed at such a substandard genjutsu. A true illusionary technique was able to replicate and deceive all five of the target's senses. The False Shadow Equivalency, being able to influence only three of those five, would only be considered second rate.
This was not something Shinji could do anything about, however. The Uchiha Jutsu Repository had a wide array of jutsu scrolls stored in them, and that was precisely the case for genjutsu. However, a vast majority of the genjutsu techniques located in the Uchiha Jutsu Repository was ocular genjutsu! Meaning, these genjutsu required the Sharingan in order to activate and use them, which was a pre-requisite Shinji obviously could not make use of – not now.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone