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[Konoha2] Chapter 73: Total Concentration — Finally Caught the Red-Eye Disease!
🕑 Added 2025-06-05 17:17:53 +0000 UTCTime quietly slipped by, and it was now November 14th.
Sage Mode training wasn’t going as well as hoped.
Sensing natural energy without the aid of Wood Release was proving quite difficult.
That evening, Hajime sorted through the memories returned by his clones.
He had basically mastered Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall.
As for Water Release, he had also grasped one technique—Water Formation Wall.
This meant Hajime now had two new defensive techniques, making his abilities more well-rounded.
“For now, I’ll stick with just these two Earth and Water Release jutsu. I need to refine them and reach the point where I can cast them rapidly,” Hajime thought.
“Even if I can’t get to the level of clapping my hands and shouting a name to summon a technique instantly, I should at least minimize the hand seals as much as possible.”
He definitely didn’t want to be one of those “honest” types like Zabuza or Kisame.
Given the way the “meta” worked nowadays, he didn’t want to be left behind when it got updated—keeping up was everything.
Before he realized it, the clock ticked past midnight.
His status bar refreshed.
Hajime immediately turned his attention to the permanently solidified status bar panel.
>【Swordsmanship Expert】【Poison Immunity】【Calling a Stag a Horse】
It actually worked!
Hajime hadn’t held out much hope.
He’d already returned the elk to the Nara Clan the day before. After a few days of studying it, there was no way his Transformation Technique could realistically achieve the exaggerated effect implied by the status "Calling a Stag a Horse."
Still, his skill had definitely improved.
At the very least, his transformations now looked more real—almost indistinguishable from the original.
And yet, even now, he found the newly solidified 【Calling a Stag a Horse】 to be somewhat underwhelming.
Mainly because he couldn’t understand the underlying principle behind it. That made studying and improving it incredibly difficult—he didn’t even know where to start.
“If taken literally, it feels more like a rule-based ability than anything else,” Hajime muttered to himself.
If it really meant what he suspected… then it was terrifying.
It would mean he could turn anyone into anything—permanently.
That would be completely broken.
Anyone who crossed him? Instant transformation. Game over.
“Too bad… really too bad.”
Shaking his head, Hajime looked back at the refreshed status bar panel—then suddenly, a spark of inspiration flashed through his mind.
“Wait a minute. A rule-based ability…”
“‘Calling a Stag a Horse’—literally, turning a deer into a horse…”
A smile crept onto his face.
“But does it have to be an actual moose or a giraffe?”
“What about Shikaku?”
“What about Shikamaru?”
“What about anyone whose name has the word ‘Shika’ (deer) in it?”
Hajime thought this was definitely something worth testing.
If it worked, then this ability had far broader possibilities.
Still a bit underwhelming—but not as underwhelming.
....
> Current Status: Total Concentration
> Note: In this state, your mind is highly focused and your attention is fully centered.
> Refresh Countdown: 167:57:55
Looking at the new status, Hajime instinctively began thinking about how to solidify it permanently.
As a shinobi, being focused and concentrated was something drilled into students from their academy days—it was essential for chakra refinement.
But to maintain such focus consistently and over long periods?
That was a far greater challenge.
If achieved, though, it would have an immense impact on both learning and combat performance.
It was the kind of effect that made all the difference—silently, invisibly.
But… how could he solidify it?
Based on past experiences, if he could do it, the status would become permanent.
So how different was the current state of Total Concentration from the kind of focused states he’d experienced before?
Hajime reflected carefully.
His conclusion: there was indeed a significant difference.
In this Total Concentration state, anything he did was executed with his entire mental capacity. Not even the slightest distraction crept in.
It was so intense that even his previously trained multitasking skill no longer worked.
“Looks like I’ll need to go back to ninjutsu for this…”
A plan began forming in Hajime’s mind.
To train a jutsu that demands total concentration and a highly focused mind—if he could master it while in the 【Total Concentration】 state, then even after that state ended, he would still retain the skill. And that would be enough to solidify the status.
If successful, Hajime would be able to enter a state of complete mental focus at any time, no matter what he was doing.
“Mind Body Switch Technique!”
“Spirit Transformation Technique!”
Hajime quickly identified jutsu that aligned well with the 【Total Concentration】 status.
Immediately afterward, he decisively ruled out the Spirit Transformation Technique.
Not because he couldn’t obtain it.
Hajime was confident that with techniques like the Dreamwalker or even the Rasengan in hand, he could easily exchange them for the Spirit Transformation Technique.
In fact, he might not even need to—he could just apply directly to Danzo and receive it.
But the Mind Body Switch Technique was already available to him, and he’d laid some groundwork with it.
Hajime was confident he could master it within seven days.
“I'll go with the Mind Body Switch Technique. With the support of the 【Total Concentration】 state, training it will be much smoother.”
“As for the Spirit Transformation Technique... I can tackle that after I solidify the 【Total Concentration】 status.”
Having made his decision, Hajime immediately dispatched clones to the Forest of Death to begin training the Mind Body Switch Technique.
By the time morning came and Hajime woke up, he reviewed the memories from his clones—and discovered:
Under the 【Total Concentration】 state, he had already managed to barely master the Mind Body Switch Technique.
“Excellent. This is powerful!”
A new day had started on a high note. Hajime hummed a cheerful tune as he got up to wash up, did his morning training, had breakfast, and then left the village.
According to the intel previously provided by Shimura Daichi, today the Uchiha clan had a scheduled transaction with Amegakure.
After leaving the village, Hajime waited in silence, hidden within the forest along the roadside.
Sure enough, around 9 a.m., Uchiha Yuto and Uchiha Masakazu appeared with a small group, just as the report had said.
Once the Uchiha passed by, Hajime began tailing them from a distance.
The Uchiha moved quickly. By evening, they had already entered the Land of Rain. They rested for just one hour at the border, then resumed their journey.
Hajime shadowed them all the way, following them into a desolate little town.
“They’re here.”
Less than thirty minutes later, a Rain Ninja squad arrived at the building Hajime had been watching from the shadows.
“Time to move…”
Hajime formed hand seals, and three Wood Clones emerged from his back. They immediately used the Transformation Jutsu, disguising themselves as Sand Ninja.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Under cover of night, four blurred figures burst into the building where the deal was taking place.
“Who's there?!”
Two Uchihas who were counting money instantly sensed the disturbance and shouted.
The three Rain Ninja, startled, reached for their kunai—but the sound of something slicing through the air followed instantly.
“Explosive tags—scatter!”
One Uchiha roared, and the room filled with sharp metallic clangs.
The kunai with explosive tags had their trajectories skillfully deflected by the Uchiha using their own thrown weapons.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Flames erupted inside the building, which collapsed almost instantly.
The Uchiha leapt out unscathed.
But the three Rain Ninja weren’t so lucky—the redirected explosive tags had gone off right next to them. They were blasted away and now lay injured.
Meanwhile, the real Hajime, hidden in the shadows, had just finished forming hand seals.
Dreamwalker Technique — Group Hypnosis!
The three Rain Ninja instantly grew drowsy, even the Uchihas who hadn’t awakened their Sharingan were similarly affected.
However, Uchiha Yuto and Uchiha Masakazu only faltered briefly—their eyes grew blood-red, glowing brighter by the second—and they remained completely unaffected.
“Genjutsu!”
“Masakazu, take the others and fall back!”
Yuto shouted as he flung a flurry of shuriken toward a Wood Clone that was charging at him.
Masakazu, moving swiftly, broke the genjutsu on his comrades with a few quick flickers of motion.
But at that moment, the three injured Rain Ninja suddenly stood up—then lunged at Uchiha Yuto, who was locked in combat with a Wood Clone.
“What the—this isn’t good. They’re under genjutsu control!”
Masakazu quickly realized the situation and shouted,
“Yuto! Be careful, the Rain Ninja are being controlled!”
“Damn it! Someone’s casting genjutsu from the shadows!”
Just as the words left his mouth, the roar of rapidly moving air echoed all around them.
Masakazu turned his head—only to see a storm sweeping in from the side.
Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!
There was no time to react. Masakazu and the others were caught in the violent gale, lifted off the ground, and blown away.
As the wind began to subside, Masakazu quickly adjusted his posture midair. He reached into his ninja tool pouch, pulled out a shuriken attached to steel wire, and threw it—wrapping it around a stone pillar to stabilize himself.
But in the very next moment, he caught two figures closing in from his left and right out of the corner of his eye.
Time seemed to slow down as the Wood Clones launched their attacks.
He released the wire, drew a kunai in each hand.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Sparks flew as Masakazu parried the attacks midair. After several clashes, he was struck in the abdomen with a loud thud, sending him flying back.
Boom!
He slammed into a wall, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth as he slumped to the ground, back pressed against the cracked surface.
Gritting his teeth, Masakazu rapidly formed hand seals. He inhaled deeply, then exhaled a torrent of fire, forming a massive fireball.
Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!
The next moment, the fireball split in two, cleaved by a single strike from one of the Wood Clones.
At the same time, another Wood Clone emerged from the side and punched Masakazu hard across the face.
His face twisted from the impact, spit flying from his mouth.
Masakazu’s body flew sideways, his head spinning.
Before he could even hit the ground, the Wood Clone followed up with another blow.
BOOM!
His body smashed into the earth, creating cracks that spread out across the ground before the terrain sank slightly.
Masakazu vomited a mouthful of blood with a painful gurgle, just as a sharp agony surged from his eyes straight into his brain.
“Your eyes… I’ll be taking them.”
The Wood Clone dug out his eyeballs, then with a swift slash, slit Uchiha Masakazu’s throat.
Almost at the same time—
On the other side, Uchiha Yuto let out a bloodcurdling scream.
He had been holding his own against one Wood Clone and three Rain Ninja. After breaking the genjutsu on them, he was caught off guard by Hajime's true body, who snuck in and gouged out his eyes.
Blinded, Uchiha Yuto was promptly finished off.
One minute later.
The battle was over.
Both sides of the transaction were completely annihilated.
All the ninja tools and money now belonged to Hoshita Hajime—along with two pairs of Two Tomoe Sharingan.
Leaving the corpses behind, Hajime vanished into the night.
He exited the Land of Rain and returned to the Land of Fire. Only then did he stop, setting up a wooden cabin deep in the forest to spend the night.
Inside the cabin.
Hajime opened a sealing scroll and took out three glass jars.
These were specially prepared containers designed for eyeballs, pre-filled with a preserving solution that would keep them viable for a long time.
Enduring the pain, Hajime carefully extracted his own eyeballs and placed them into an empty jar for preservation. Then, he took one pair of Sharingan and implanted them into his sockets.
With Hashirama cells in his body, he didn’t need medical ninjutsu—the eyes were plug-and-play.
After waiting a moment, Hajime slowly opened his eyes. A crimson glow lit up the darkness.
“Magnificent…”
Hajime looked toward a bug zipping through the dark—the rapid flutter of its wings was perfectly visible to him.
Looking down at his own arm, he saw—
A flow of bluish chakra coursing through it.
“With these eyes, both my taijutsu and kenjutsu should improve by at least one tier.”
Hajime was thoroughly pleased.
This had been his first battle with the Uchiha clan. In close combat and tool-throwing skills, they truly were formidable.
And his Dreamwalker Technique had failed to put both of them under hypnosis instantly.
Although group hypnosis likely diluted the effect, the Sharingan’s built-in genjutsu resistance was undoubtedly real.
Getting used to the new eyes, Hajime couldn’t help but marvel:
“No wonder awakening the three-tomoe stage almost guarantees elite jonin level strength.”
“This really is the world of legendary eyes. What a cheat!”
He sealed away his original eyes and the extra pair of Sharingan into the scroll, then lowered his gaze and attempted to deactivate the Sharingan.
Agonizing pain shot through his eyes. Gritting his teeth, Hajime tried to control the eyes that didn’t originally belong to him.
As expected, he failed.
“Good thing I came prepared.”
Hajime took out a pair of colored contact lenses and put them on. Instantly, his eye color returned to normal.
And this didn’t affect his ability to use the Sharingan.
As for the chakra drain from keeping a pair of Sharingan active all the time—
Hajime tested it briefly.
No problem at all.
“Next up… is the three-tomoe form.”
Hajime’s anticipation only grew.
The feeling of getting stronger—was utterly addicting!
(End of Chapter)
