Naruto: Uchiha's Harem

"I... cough! cough!... I'm just physically weak, not sick! cough!..."

"See? If senpai starts coughing during the mission—"

"I won't! Yūgao, why are you looking at me like that too? I can hold back my coughing. Yūgao, you know I... cough!..."

Hayate realized that the hole he had dug was now burying him, and he grew increasingly anxious.

And when he got anxious, he couldn't help but cough.

'This sharp-tongued Uchiha brat is turning the tables on me...'

'No, I have to prove myself, or else Yūgao will really try to convince me to stay here.'

"Let's have a match, Uchiha Kage. If your strength earns my approval, I'll let you come with us to the Land of Water. Otherwise, you'll stay here."

———

"Remember, never mention in the village that Kage single-handedly repelled Uchiha Itachi..."

As soon as they returned to Konoha, Yūhi Kurenai once again reminded her two students.

"All the geniuses of the Uchiha clan... I think Kage must have considered this before choosing to hide his strength."

The Uchiha clan was never short of geniuses, but none of them met a good end, like Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi.

"I understand, sensei," Aburame Shino nodded seriously.

Not to mention that Uchiha geniuses never had good endings, but just the fact that the Uchiha clan was wiped out in a single night made Shino believe that Kage's low profile was definitely the right move.

"And we'll be taking a break from missions for now. Before Kage returns to the village, I'll be giving you special training."

It was almost time for the Chunin Exams.

Kurenai believed that after this life-and-death battle, her students would surely shine during the exams.

"Yes!"

"Good, dismissed for today!"

Finally, they could go home, take a comfortable bath, and get some proper sleep.

As for Uchiha Kage, if he dared to return to the village too late, she would definitely make him understand the authority of a sensei.

Kurenai silently added this in her heart before turning to head home.

"Wait, Kurenai! You're back in the village and didn't even say anything? How about grabbing a drink later?", At the corner, a breathless Sarutobi Asuma finally caught up to Kurenai, who was on her way home.

"Asuma? No, not today. I plan to rest properly. Let's do it another time," Kurenai was well aware of Asuma's recent pursuit of her. Although she wasn't opposed to this childhood friend of hers, her mind had been preoccupied with a certain troublesome student lately, leaving no room for Asuma.

"Right, you just got back. You should rest. I'll catch you another time...", Before Asuma could finish, he noticed that Kurenai, who had been in front of him just moments ago, had already disappeared.

He couldn't help but feel a bit melancholy.

'What is Kurenai thinking? Does she dislike me now?'

———

"Sorry, Hayate can be a bit childish at times, but he's not a bad person..."

Yūgao felt a headache coming on as Hayate suddenly challenged Kage to a ninjutsu duel.

"It's fine. I also want to see Hayate-senpai's strength."

In fact, this was exactly what Kage wanted.

Hayate's strength might not be impressive, but he possessed the 'Transparent Escape Technique,' which allowed him to become invisible.

This was a great ability, and Kage had been wondering how to acquire it. Now, Hayate was offering it to him on a silver platter.

"Don't worry, Yūgao. I won't hurt him."

Hayate confidently formed the seal of confrontation.

To restore his image in Yūgao's eyes, he decided to showcase his strength properly and make this Uchiha brat, who looked down on his physical weakness, submit to him.

"Then, please guide me well, senpai."

Until he could extract Hayate's ninja fragment, Kage had no intention of holding back.

"Be careful. Hayate's bloodline limit is almost impossible to see through without the Byakugan."

Yūgao kindly reminded him.

She also believed that Kage had no chance of defeating Hayate.

After all, the Transparent Escape Technique's advantage was too great.

"Is that so?"

What a coincidence.

As Kage absorbed more of Hinata's ninja fragments, his mastery of the Byakugan had also improved.

"Keep your eyes wide open, brat."

Hayate announced the start of the match and then used his most proud technique—

'Transparent Escape Technique: Invisibility.'

In an instant, Hayate's entire body became transparent.

In this state, he could even hide his chakra presence.

It was the perfect stealth technique. However, once he attacked, the invisibility would be significantly reduced.

Moreover, aside from the Byakugan, wind-style ninjas who could sense airflow were also the bane of the Transparent Escape Technique.

"He completely disappeared. Hayate-senpai is really amazing."

While clearly seeing Hayate's every move, Kage pretended to be blind and 'randomly' swung his fist.

Thud!

"Huh? Did I hit something?"

"Cough!..."

Hayate had planned to sneak up on Kage and toy with him.

Caught off guard, he didn't expect Kage to suddenly throw a punch and ended up getting hit squarely in the face.

'This brat's luck is too good!'

'But you won't be so lucky next time... Huh?'

Thud!

Before Hayate could strike, he felt the world spinning around him.

"I told you, senpai's coughing can be heard."

Kage tripped Hayate, causing him to fall to the ground and revealing him from his invisible state.

"You..."

A somewhat flustered Hayate no longer cared about using the Transparent Escape Technique to mess with Kage. He directly drew the long sword from his back.

"Let me show you the power of Konoha's swordsmanship!"

He had almost forgotten that even without the Transparent Escape Technique, he wouldn't lose to a mere genin in a straight fight.

'Genjutsu: Tree Binding Technique!'

Kage smiled slightly as he watched Hayate charge at him, then activated the genjutsu he had prepared.

"What is this..."

Hayate couldn't believe his eyes as tree roots suddenly sprouted from the ground beneath him, binding his body with branches.

His sword-wielding stance was frozen in place, unable to move.

"It's the Binding Technique Kurenai-sensei taught me. I didn't expect it to work on the first try."

Although, in reality, it was because he had absorbed Kurenai's ninja fragment that he could use this technique.

"A genjutsu?"

Hayate quickly closed his eyes and began channeling his chakra to break free from the genjutsu's effects.

After a while, he finally managed to dispel the technique that had immobilized him.

"Hmph, it's... it's not that impressive. My swordsmanship is still..."

"Enough, Hayate!"

Seeing that Hayate still intended to attack Kage, Yūgao coldly stopped him.

"You've already lost. If Kage had wanted to, you'd be dead by now."

"I...", Hayate reluctantly sheathed his sword.

"I got lucky. I was preparing the genjutsu the entire time Hayate-senpai was invisible, so he fell for it easily."

After picking up the ninja fragment that had fallen from Hayate, Kage didn't press the attack further.

Since they still had to work together on the mission, he decided to leave Hayate some dignity.

"In a straight fight, I probably wouldn't be a match for Hayate-senpai."

"That's what I thought... So that's how it was."

Hearing this, Hayate felt much better.

"Hayate, take a break for now."

Yūgao couldn't help but massage her temples. It seemed that the long period of peace had indeed caused Hayate to regress.

He couldn't even see such an obvious situation.

"In any case, let's rest here for now. Once Kakashi-senpai arrives, we'll head to the Land of Water together."

'But why hasn't Kakashi shown up yet? It isn't that far from the Land of Waves.'

'Could it be... something happened?'

———

"This is... Transparent Escape?"

At night, after burying the corpses of the rogue ninjas, Uchiha Kage walked alone to the lakeside, quietly gazing at the moon and his own reflection on the water's surface.

Then, after activating Transparent Escape, the reflection in the lake silently disappeared, and even the shadow beneath his feet was gone.

'A perfect invisibility technique, except that attacking will reveal me.'

'To be precise, mobilizing chakra and sudden bodily movements would interfere with the duration of Transparent Escape.'

'This jutsu would definitely be great for escaping.'

'However, I'd rather not encounter battles where I need to flee…'

"Hmm?"

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