The night grew deeper, and the moonlight poured over the earth like liquid silver.

Most of the training grounds in the Uchiha Clan Compound were empty, with only the rustling of wind through the leaves.

In a corner of an auxiliary training ground usually used by Genin, Uchiha Kenji was curled up on the ground, his body trembling violently and uncontrollably.

His eyes were tightly shut, his face was as pale as paper, his forehead was covered in cold sweat, and he kept muttering unintelligible gibberish.

The genjutsu that Kei had placed upon him had long since been dispelled when he left.

But that hundredfold amplified, repeating experience of death, like the most vicious curse, had left an indelible mark on his mental world.

Even though he was now free from the genjutsu, the pain of shattered bones and the sensation of torn internal organs would still haunt his mind like a ghost, constantly invading his thoughts.

Mental trauma is far harder to heal than physical injury.

As for Kenji now, let alone picking up a Kunai, he couldn't even muster the focus to stand up.

His prized taijutsu and his pride as an Uchiha elite had all been crushed to pieces during those short three seconds of genjutsu.

A series of footsteps approached from afar and stopped in front of him.

Kenji's body stiffened abruptly; he didn't even dare to open his eyes.

The fear instilled in him by the owner of those footsteps had already seeped into his marrow.

He thought the other party had come to finish him off completely.

In the Uchiha clan, wiping out the defeated was nothing unusual.

"You, what do you want to do?" Kenji's voice became hoarse and trembling with fear.

However, the fatal blow he expected did not come.

Instead, a gentle and pure mental energy, like a warm current, slowly flowed into his chaotic mental world.

Wherever that energy passed, those bone-deep death illusions were smoothed out one by one, and the shattered mental fragments were reassembled and bonded together.

In just a few breaths, Kenji felt the tearing pain in his mind rapidly recede, and control over his body returned to him.

He opened his eyes in bewilderment, meeting a pair of deep, black eyes.

In those eyes, the eerie, rotating Mangekyō Sharingan pattern from the day was gone; they were as calm as deep water, revealing no emotion.

Uchiha Kei stood there quietly in front of him, looking down at him.

"You, why..." Kenji was completely unable to understand the other's actions.

First, using the most cruel means to destroy his mind, and now, easily healing him.

This capriciousness made him even more afraid.

Kei did not answer his question, nor was he interested in looking at his bedraggled, survivor-like appearance.

He just stepped back calmly a few paces and stood still in the open field.

Then, under Kenji's puzzled gaze, he slowly assumed a starting stance.

It was a posture he had never seen before: feet shoulder-width apart, center of gravity lowered, hands protecting his front one after the other. His entire posture resembled a leopard ready to pounce, full of stability and a sense of power.

No hand signs, no mobilization of a large amount of Chakra.

The next moment, he launched.

He did not use any Body Flicker Technique; he simply stepped forward, relying on pure physical strength.

The hard ground cracked instantly beneath his feet, and his entire body shot out like a cannonball.

A plain, unadorned straight punch; the fist didn't even stir up much wind, but Kenji's Sharingan clearly captured that the moment Kei threw the punch, a force started from his heel, rotating sequentially through his ankle, knee, and hip, like twisting a whip, knitting his entire body weight and power into a single rope, finally penetrating outward from his fist without reservation.

Boom!

The fist struck the huge wooden stake used for testing strength in the training ground.

That hard iron-wood stake, which required several adults to encircle, snapped from the middle the moment it was hit, the upper half blown away directly, disintegrating into countless fragments in the air.

Kenji's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

This, what terrifying explosive power!

He could be certain that the Chakra the other party used was minimal; this was almost pure physical strength!

But what shocked him even more was yet to come.

Kei's movements did not pause in the slightest, and the demonstration continued.

Punching, whip kicks, elbow strikes, knee strikes—every movement discarded all flashy, impractical maneuvers, simple to the extreme, yet also lethal to the extreme.

His footwork was agile yet steady, maintaining absolute balance with every movement.

Every one of his attacks was full of suffocating explosive power and penetrating force.

Kenji watched, mesmerized. His prized Uchiha Style Taijutsu seemed like a child's dance compared to this brand-new fighting style, full of simplicity and the aesthetics of violence.

He finally understood that his defeat was not unjust.

The other party didn't win by relying on the Mangekyō Sharingan genjutsu at all; even if he only used taijutsu, Kenji wouldn't have lasted three moves.

When Kei demonstrated a close-quarters combo, his movements were so fast that only afterimages remained in Kenji's Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

A fluid set of combo attacks made the air crackle with sonic booms, finally ending with a heavy, powerful axe kick.

Boom!

The ground was smashed into a half-meter-deep pit, with cobweb-like cracks spreading all around.

Kei slowly retracted his leg and stood still again, his breathing not in the slightest bit disordered, as if that high-intensity demonstration was just a warm-up.

He turned around and looked calmly at Uchiha Kenji, who had sat up from the ground, his face full of dullness and shock.

Kenji's worldview was completely overturned at this moment.

He had always firmly believed that the Uchiha's strength came from the Sharingan, and that taijutsu was only an auxiliary.

But today, Kei showed him a brand-new path that could also lead to ultimate strength.

His pride was crushed to pieces, but deep in his heart, a desire more primitive and stronger than pride began to grow wildly like weeds.

That was the desire for power.

Kei watched the light constantly changing in Kenji's eyes, from shock and unwillingness to the final fanaticism and desire, and he knew the time had come.

He slowly opened his mouth and asked that soul-piercing question.

"Want to learn?"

Kenji's body shuddered violently.

"I can teach you."

This short sentence exploded in his mind.

The desire to become stronger overwhelmed all fear, jealousy, and hatred at this moment.

He remembered how he had been defeated by Kei in one move, remembered his helplessness in the death illusion, and then looked at this brand-new taijutsu before him that was enough to start a school... Struggle, hesitation, pain—all kinds of emotions intertwined on his face.

In the end, all emotions turned into determination.

Uchiha Kenji, this once-arrogant elite, struggled to stand up from the ground, tidied his tattered clothes, and then, under Kei's calm gaze, knelt on one knee, lowering his once incomparably proud head.

"Lord Kei." His voice was hoarse but carried a tremor of rebirth, "Please, please teach me!"

He chose to submit.

Not because of fear, but because of the purest yearning for power.

Kei looked at Kenji kneeling before him, his eyes devoid of any victor's triumph, only calm.

He had accepted his first follower.

He had not only crushed his opponent in terms of strength but also conquered him in terms of philosophy.

"Stand up." Kei's voice came, emotionless yet possessing an irresistible force, "In my team, there is no need for kneeling cowards, only warriors who want to become stronger."

Upon hearing this, Kenji's body trembled, and he slowly stood up.

He looked at Kei, no trace of hostility left in his eyes, only fanatical worship and devotion.

With Uchiha Kenji, this former "elite," as a sample, as the first "spark" to be ignited, his reform plan finally had its first solid fulcrum.

Next, he would use this little spark to ignite the entire field of the Uchiha.