Naruto: Starting with EMS

Chapter 8: The Three-Tomoe Sharingan

When it came to taijutsu, Nan didn't know much. He planned to head out and ask around—luckily, his original body was still staying within the Uchiha clan compound and hadn't gone anywhere.

Because of the ongoing war, the clan district was unusually quiet.

Most of the Uchiha were shinobi, and many had already been deployed to the frontlines. With so few people left behind, the streets felt practically deserted.

Nan originally intended to stroll through the area casually, hoping to run into a familiar senior to ask for advice.

But to his frustration, after walking around for quite a while, he hadn't seen a single familiar face—not even an ordinary villager, let alone a ninja.

So he decided to leave the clan grounds and either ask someone outside or head to the village library to look for information.

Just as he stepped outside the compound gate, a small figure came jogging back from the opposite direction.

Nan immediately recognized him—it was none other than Uchiha Shisui, the clan's top prodigy before Nan's own rise.

Shisui was two years older than Nan and had awakened his one-tomoe Sharingan at the age of seven.

He had enrolled in the academy two years earlier and was expected to graduate within the year. Nan wondered how far he had progressed since then.

Shisui spotted Nan at the same time, and the two greeted each other.

"You heading out?" Shisui asked. "Something going on?"

"Not really," Nan replied. "Just walking around."

"Did you skip school today?" Shisui asked, raising an eyebrow.

Nan casually told him about using a shadow clone to attend class in his place, then countered with a grin, "Aren't you supposed to be in class right now? Playing hooky too?"

Shisui paused for a moment, then answered seriously,

"Actually, I applied for early graduation. My exam is coming up soon.

If things go well, I'll become a full-fledged ninja soon and head to the battlefield with the other clan members."

Nan frowned slightly.

"The war's gotten that bad? They're sending fresh genin straight to the front lines?"

"Not exactly," Shisui replied. "To be honest, I'm already beyond genin level. You might not believe this, but my Sharingan has already evolved to two tomoe—I've caught up to you."

He said it with clear pride.

Nan's expression lit with realization.

"That explains it. No wonder the clan is willing to send you to the battlefield."

With a two-tomoe Sharingan, Shisui was definitely more than just a genin.

He had always specialized in Body Flicker techniques and genjutsu.

While his high-speed movement was impressive on its own, the evolution of his Sharingan meant his genjutsu would be significantly more powerful—enough to threaten even chūnin-level opponents.

This was the fearsome potential of the Uchiha's Sharingan: their growth didn't follow conventional logic or pacing.

All it took was the right trauma or trigger, and someone could awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan—catapulting them to Kage-level power regardless of their previous skill level.

Nan was living proof of that.

Hearing Shisui speak so proudly, Nan couldn't help but smile slightly.

"Catch up to me? You're still a bit behind."

As he spoke, he activated his own Sharingan.

He didn't reveal the Mangekyō—just the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

If he went any further, he feared he might give Shisui a heart attack on the spot.

Even so, the sight left Shisui absolutely stunned.

He had awakened his Sharingan at seven and evolved it to two tomoe at eight—a rate that was already considered outrageously fast.

But Nan had activated his Sharingan at just five years old—and it had started with two tomoe.

At the time, even the entire Uchiha clan could barely believe it.

While there had been rare cases of a first awakening manifesting at two tomoe, never had it happened so young.

Still, it was somewhat understandable, considering the emotional trauma he had endured with the loss of a loved one.

But now—only a year later—he had already reached the three-tomoe stage.

That level of Sharingan was essentially a direct ticket to becoming a jōnin.

With a little bit of training in genjutsu, a three-tomoe Sharingan could grant a user power capable of threatening even elite-level ninja.

It would be more than enough to qualify for the title of Special Jōnin.

And that was just scratching the surface.

The three-tomoe Sharingan offered tremendous benefits:

incredibly enhanced dynamic vision,

advanced perception of movement,

and most importantly, the ability to copy nearly any jutsu on sight.

As long as he increased his chakra reserves, it wouldn't take long for Nan to become a full jōnin.

Historically, the fastest any Uchiha had ever reached three tomoe was at age thirteen.

That individual had become a jōnin two years later, at fifteen.

And Nan?

He was only six.

Not even half that age.

If things continued at this pace, how long would it take for Nan to become a jōnin?

Three years? Two? Maybe even just one?

Given the talent Nan had already demonstrated, it wasn't out of the question.

A jōnin under the age of ten—

That might soon become a reality for the Uchiha clan.

Shisui had always felt a bit dissatisfied about being replaced as the Uchiha's number-one prodigy—maybe even the top genius in all of Konoha—by Nan.

Previously, his impression of Nan had been that of a medical ninjutsu genius.

Having awakened the Sharingan at age seven himself, Shisui had always believed he was the Uchiha's brightest star.

But once Nan awakened his Sharingan, Shisui was forced to confront a difficult truth:

Even in terms of ocular prowess, Nan might surpass him.

Still, this realization didn't break him.

Instead, it motivated him.

From that point forward, he doubled down on training, pushing himself to awaken stronger dōjutsu and catch up to Nan.

Just recently, he had finally reached the two-tomoe stage.

Thinking he had closed the gap at last, he couldn't resist boasting a little when he ran into Nan today.

What he hadn't expected was that Nan had already awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan.

Instead of narrowing, the gap between them had only grown wider.

That realization stung.

Nan, however, was completely unaware of Shisui's internal struggle.

What he was thinking was this:

Shisui is about to become a full-fledged ninja, and he's two years older than me. Maybe he knows more about the village than I do.

This might be a good chance to ask him a few things.

Nan was planning to train in nintaijutsu—a hybrid of ninjutsu and taijutsu.

To do that, he needed to understand the current state of the village's Lightning Release users and taijutsu specialists.

In order to develop a new combat style like nintaijutsu, mastery of both fields was essential.

So he asked Shisui who, in Konoha, had the highest level in Lightning Release and in taijutsu.

To Nan's surprise, Shisui actually had a fair amount of knowledge on the topic.

Shisui explained that there were a few people in the Uchiha clan who could use Lightning Release, and a handful more across the village.

But in terms of true expertise, there were very few.

Lightning Release simply wasn't widely used in Konoha.

The bigger issue was that the village had very few Lightning-style techniques in its archives, making it a poor path for development.

So even for those whose chakra nature was lightning, many opted not to pursue that path.

Most of the Lightning Release users in Konoha were either descended from—or were immigrants from—the Land of Lightning.

Many had likely come to the Land of Fire because they couldn't make it in their homeland, and none had really stood out as exceptional shinobi.

As for the most skilled Lightning Release user currently in Konoha?

According to Shisui, it was likely a young man named Hatake Kakashi.

But even Kakashi was just a chūnin.

Though known as a prodigy, he was still quite young.

Shisui wasn't entirely sure how strong Kakashi really was.

As for taijutsu specialists?

Shisui admitted he didn't know much.

After all, what made a ninja a ninja was their use of ninjutsu.

Pure taijutsu specialists were exceedingly rare.

Most people who couldn't use ninjutsu wouldn't even try to become a shinobi.

And those who could use ninjutsu wouldn't normally invest that much effort into taijutsu.

After listening to Shisui's explanation, Nan came to a sobering realization:

If he wanted to develop a new style of nintaijutsu in Konoha, it was going to be far from easy.

He couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

Just then, Shisui looked at him with a gleam of determination and made a request—

"Want to spar?"