Naruto: Threads of Crimson

Looking at each other, Shisui and I smiled, exchanging a brief, silent understanding as we made our way onto the lush grass of the forest. The afternoon sun hung low in the sky, casting long shadows that stretched across the clearing.

The air was warm, but there was a tension building—like the calm before a storm. We stood across from Arata, the Hyuga who believed we were just kids, unworthy of being taken seriously. But he had no idea what we could do.

Shisui stood beside me, reaching into his ninja bag, his eyes narrowed with focus. I could feel his determination radiating off him, and I was right there with him. We had trained too hard, pushed ourselves beyond limits most would have deemed impossible for kids of our age to let this Hyuga look down on us like we were nothing. He might have been underestimating us, but that was going to be his first mistake.

For a few long moments, no one moved. Arata stood there, composed and still, as if daring us to make the first move. 'Fine. If he wants us to strike first, we will.'

I dashed forward, my voice cutting through the silence, low but clear enough for everyone gathered to hear. "You must feel inadequate." My eyes never left his, challenging him directly. "To verbally assault your fellow Leaf shinobi… there must be something in your life that you feel isn't adequate. So what is it?"

Arata stood still like a stone statue, his stoic facade standing firm. Shisui and I moved in unison, I took a route that would take me head on with Arata, and Shisui darted around to flank him. Arata's expression was still, but his body tensed in preparation to defend himself.

"Is it being stuck in the shadow of the main branch, never allowed to reach your full potential?" I taunted as Shisui threw a quick kick at his head. Arata dodged easily, of course, but it was just the beginning of the fight.

"I can tell you right now, the Uchiha clan doesn't have that problem," I continued, keeping my voice level, deliberately poking at the sore spot every Hyuga seemed to have. "If you're strong, the clan doesn't care where you came from or how pure your blood is. It will give you all the resources you need to succeed. It's how Shisui and I were able to graduate after only a year."

I threw a cross aimed at his chest, which Arata whirled around to dodge, followed by an elbow strike that he ducked around. He scoffed, finally breaking his silence. "And that's how your clan will end one day. It'll eat itself alive." His words bitter, as if he had rehearsed them a thousand times.

I smirked, knowing I was starting to get under his skin. "Is it that every success you have will always be tied to your clan, and not you?" I said, dodging beneath a palm strike he aimed at my shoulder. "It'll never be yours alone. Everyone will believe you only achieved what you did because you were born a Hyuga."

As I dodged another palm strike to my other shoulder, Arata managed to land a firm, sharp strike to Shisui's shoulder, sending him sliding back a few feet. But the frustration was mounting. His mouth had turned into a slight frown now, and his brow was beginning to twitch—small signs, but they spoke volumes for a Hyuga. I could see the tension in his clenched fists, the restraint holding back the anger he was trying to control.

Shisui bounced back into the fray as if the hit hadn't fazed him, and we moved together, keeping up the pressure. Watching closely with my Sharingan, I could tell Arata was inching closer to his tipping point. His fists were clenching tighter, his attacks growing just a fraction more aggressive.

"Maybe it's none of the reasons I just mentioned," I mused, dodging another strike. "Perhaps it's the fact that you're being kept as a slave to the main branch. They could kill you and your entire family off with just a thought, couldn't they?"

And that did it.

Like a dam breaking, the emotions he had kept bottled up spilled over, boiling to the surface. His face twisted into a nasty scowl, the veins around his Byakugan bulging even more prominently. "Do NOT talk about my family that way!" he growled, his voice laced with venom as he lashed out, abandoning the calm precision of his earlier attacks. His Gentle Fist strikes came at us with one after the other, more vicious now that his anger had taken hold.

Shisui and I both dodged, keeping up with the increased speed and force of his attacks. His strikes were sharper now, fueled by rage, but that also made them predictable. Each hit came with more power, but the control was slipping.

Glancing into Shisui's eyes, the world seemed to slow down around us, time stretching as the connection between us deepened. The feedback loop kicked in, and suddenly, I felt Shisui's chakra gently invade my mind, pulling me into his genjutsu. His voice echoed in my head, calm but questioning, "Are you sure it was the best thing to play mind games with a fellow Leaf shinobi, Shiro?"

I inwardly shrugged in response, my gaze still fixed on Arata. "Maybe not, but I don't care. You saw how he was looking at Reika and us. If he didn't want this fight, then he shouldn't have asked for it so badly."

Another jab came at my forearm, which I barely dodged. Using the momentum, I flipped into the air, pushing off a nearby tree to redirect myself toward Arata's flank. He dodged again, but I started to see the patterns in his fighting style and a way that we could use it against him.

I glanced at Shisui's eyes as he jumped away as well and saw the world slow down a fraction more "I'm going to do that again," I whispered through the genjutsu, my voice steady as I relayed the plan to Shisui. "When I do, flicker around him and throw as many punches as you can. Distract him. Make him overextend." Shisui nodded.

In perfect tandem, we moved. Shisui flashed across the battlefield, throwing rapid jabs and feints. Meanwhile, I bounced off another tree again, aiming once more for Arata's flank. This time, his dodge was more sluggish, a fraction later than before. "Hehe, it's really such an overlooked aspect of the sharingan, being able to see the patterns within an opponent. I can tell that he's cracking right now."

There was no verbal response from Shisui but I could see his speed pick up even more as he understood the situation as well.

I pressed harder, my voice low and unrelenting. "Do you feel it? That inadequacy gnawing at you? They'll never let you rise above. You'll always be just another tool for the main branch. You'll never have your own legacy." Each word was cutting into him and my smile was beginning to grind on his nerves as well.

His teeth clenched, his eyes narrowing as his frustration boiled over. His fingers jabbed toward me with renewed effort, and I felt the impact of three direct strikes to my right arm, the sensation of my chakra pathways being sealed off. Pain shot through me.

'Damn, is that painful.' I shook my arm, stepping back for a moment to regain my footing. Arata was skilled, no doubt, but we could both see his control slipping.

Deciding to follow through on my prior plan of attack, I decided to throw something else into the mix. "Since he's starting to wear out, I'm going to try and use genjutsu. Normally, I know it wouldn't work on a Hyuga; they can see through illusions almost instantly. But he's mentally drained, so perhaps this could give us the opening we need." I spoke mentally to Shisui again.

Appearing in front of Arata once more, I moved in closer, engaging him directly. His fingers flew toward me again, but instead of dodging entirely, I began redirecting his strikes with my hands, focusing on the brief moments of contact. With each touch, I released small, almost imperceptible bursts of chakra, trying to see if he would notice. The goal wasn't to overwhelm him with this genjutsu, but to subtly shift his perception for just a split second.

Arata's scowl deepened as he realized what I was doing. "Really?" he sneered, his voice filled with disdain. "Are you so naive to believe that you can put a Byakugan user under a genjutsu?"

He lashed out with another barrage of strikes, his movements sharp and controlled, but I could see it—the cracks beginning to form in his armor. His frustration was clouding his judgment, making him less precise with each passing second. His attempts to maneuver around Shisui's relentless attacks were growing more rushed.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Back near the edge of the clearing, Lucy and Akira stood murmuring to Reika, their eyes trained on the battle unfolding in front of them. The rhythmic dance of strikes and counterstrikes between Shisui, myself, and Arata seemed to captivate them.

"They're incredible," Lucy muttered, her typically half-lidded eyes now open with amazement. "I haven't seen anyone this talented since I watched Kakashi spar with his father using a sword a couple of years ago. You weren't exaggerating about these two."

Reika kept her arms crossed, the faintest smile tugging at her lips. "I know, and it's not just the talent. It's their drive. They don't just want to be better, they need to be better. They thrive off pushing each other, competing with a kind of joy most people lose when they become shinobi."

"The thing that throws me off is the fact that they're Uchiha clansmen." Akira cringed at the wording used but couldn't think of any other way to put it. "It's rare to see Uchiha like this. So many of them… well, let's just say they don't often produce shinobi who aren't blinded by their own pride." He scratched the back of his neck, clearly uneasy about making such an observation out loud.

Reika didn't deny it because everyone outside of the Uchiha recognized that fact. "You're not wrong, Akira. A lot of the clan is proud—sometimes to their detriment. But these boys… they're different. They have something I can't quite put my finger on. I'd like to say I had a hand in shaping them, but honestly, I have no idea how they turned out this way when they've been surrounded by the usual Uchiha attitudes their whole lives."

Lucy shifted her attention from the fight back to Reika, her tone thoughtful. "It's not hard to understand why most of them end up the way they do, though. The clan is steeped in tradition, rigid expectations, and a history that weighs heavily on every member. It sounds like much more of a drag if you ask me." Her words trailed off as she glanced back at the fight.

"Yeah, you're right," Reika sighed. "But these two, they're not letting any of that hold them back. They represent what the Uchiha could be at their best—talented, driven, and humble in the way they approach their training. The question is, where will all of this take them?"

"They're still young," Akira murmured, his tone softer now. "But if they keep this up, they're going to be some of the best shinobi this village has ever seen."

Reika nodded, her lips pressed together in a thin line. "That's what I'm afraid of," she whispered, more to herself than anyone else.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Back in the fight, Shisui and I exchanged a glance, silently agreeing to step up our game. Shisui cranked up his speed, his body becoming a blur of motion. Even for someone as skilled as Arata, keeping up with Shisui's rapid strikes was becoming an impossible task. For the first time, the Hyuga was being forced onto the defensive, his Byakugan struggling to track Shisui's relentless assault.

Meanwhile, I stayed close, my words a quiet weapon alongside the genjutsu I'd been weaving throughout the match. "Your Byakugan can't help you when your own mind fails you," I whispered, slipping under one of his swings and landing a quick punch to his side.

Arata's frustration was palpable, and I pressed further. "Perhaps if we take your eyes and give them to someone stronger—someone both more mentally and physically capable—they'd make better use of them than being forced into a corner by a couple of kids." The glow of my Sharingan intensified, the tomoe spinning faster with every passing second.

As the last line was spoken, I couldn't help but laugh—a genuine, almost unsettling laugh—as I watched the array of emotions flash across Arata's face in that split second.

"Would you SHUT UP!" Arata's roar was filled with anger as his face flushed red. He lunged forward, aiming a strike directly at my sternum with the Gentle Fist technique.

Slap

I deflected his hand effortlessly, sidestepping his attack. In that moment, I put Arata under a genjutsu. Arata's balance faltered, his footing slipping for just a second—exactly the opening we needed.

Shisui and I moved in unison, seeing this happen through our Sharingan, closing in for the final blow, our fists aimed for either side of Arata's head. Victory was in our grasp.

But suddenly, we were frozen, our bodies locked in place mid-strike. My eyes darted to the side, and there stood Lucy, her hands forming the Shadow Possession Jutsu seal, her lazy gaze now sharp with control.

"That's enough," she said, her tone calm but firm. "Let's not kill each other over a sparring match, shall we?"

Released from her jutsu, Shisui and I took a step back, while Arata stormed off in silence, his pride clearly wounded. The tension that had filled the clearing dissipated, leaving behind the chatter of the surrounding shinobi who were there to witness the whole fight happen.

Reika approached us with a wide smile. "You two did great," she said, reaching over to ruffle Shisui's hair before turning to me. "I couldn't be prouder of both of you."

Akira joined in, his massive hand clapping us on the back. "You boys are something else," he said, shaking his head in admiration. "To be able to control the battlefield like that, with barely any information on your opponent—it's incredible, Shiro." His praise hit home, and I couldn't help but smile, still catching my breath from the fight.

"And you, Shisui," Akira continued, turning his attention to my friend, "turning the Body Flicker into a combat tactic—that's something I didn't expect to see in my lifetime. You've definitely taken it to a whole new level."

Shisui grinned, his messy hair even more disheveled from Akira's ruffling. "Thank you, sir," we both chimed in unison, bowing slightly in respect.

But before we could bask in the praise for too long, Reika tossed the supply scroll to Akira. "It's not much," she said, "but more supplies should be coming soon. We just finished dealing with Kumogakure on our eastern borders, so things have been a bit tight."

Akira caught the scroll effortlessly, his expression softening as he nodded. "Stay sharp, kids," he said with a grin. "You're going to need it out there."

With that, our mission was complete. Reika gave a final nod to Lucy and Akira before turning to lead us back toward Konoha.

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(A/N: Pretty cool chapter right? Got some insight into how Shiro will fight when he can't use genjutsu but also some idea of how much he's been studying up on how to get underneath someone's skin using words.)