After the matchups for the first preliminary round had been decided, everyone returned to the walkways lining the surrounding walls, leaving the center of the tower to the two contestants.
Sakura looked a little worried. The Taki ninja named Kegon, the genin from Takigakure, looked far older than them—completely like an adult.
"Hey, Sensei, no matter how you look at it, that guy doesn't seem like a genin."
"Yeah, he's probably one of Taki's jōnin."
"Huh? Jōnin can participate in the Chūnin Exams? Isn't that against the rules?"
Makoto explained, "It's not against the rules. Every village determines its own ninja ranks. There's no unified certification system or standard in the shinobi world. If Takigakure says he's a genin, then he's a genin.
"Besides, there's a pretty huge strength gap between the ninja of small villages and those of the major hidden villages. Sometimes they'll let some of their stronger ninja participate in the Chūnin Exams hosted by the major villages to earn a bit of prestige for their village. We usually don't police it too strictly."
It was Sakura's first time hearing about something like this.
"Then… will Sasuke be in danger?"
"Definitely. He might even get hurt. So, Sakura, get your shoulder ready to comfort him afterward. Maybe if Sasuke gets touched enough, he'll finally fall for you?"
Naruto: "..."
Sakura: "..."
Very good. Now she was completely reassured. Sasuke was definitely going to be fine.
After teasing his student a little, Makoto was in an excellent mood. Sakura was just too concerned for her own good and had completely forgotten how strong her teammate actually was.
You could tell just by looking at Naruto—he wasn't worried in the slightest.
An Uchiha with a Three-Tomoe Sharingan might still lack the all-around refinement of a true jōnin because of his age, but at minimum, he already possessed jōnin-level combat strength.
Taking down a jōnin from a small hidden village would not be a problem at all.
What felt strangely familiar to him was that, in this world as well, Sasuke was still the first one to fight in the preliminary rounds.
Thinking of Sasuke's opponent from the original timeline, Makoto spread out his senses for a moment and discovered that Orochimaru was nowhere inside Konoha. He had long since left.
This time, none of Konoha's genin teams included Yoroi Akadō or Misumi Tsurugi, nor was there any sign of Dosu Kinuta's Sound ninja squad.
In recent years, the Land of Rice Fields had indeed established an Otogakure, but officially, it had been founded by the Fūma Clan under the orders of the Daimyō.
In reality, however, Orochimaru was still the one operating behind the scenes. Outside of the Akatsuki, he had used the Land of Rice Fields Daimyō's funding to build another experimental base.
Orochimaru had not hidden this from Makoto, and Makoto had passed the intelligence on to Minato, causing the ANBU to halt their investigation.
For this Chūnin Exam, Otogakure had symbolically sent two squads, but unfortunately, neither passed the second round. They were all eliminated.
All that could be said was that not getting to witness the glory of the Six Paths Dosu really was a little regrettable.
...
Once everyone had left the arena floor, Hayate stood between the two contestants and gestured with his hand.
"Then, the two of you may begin."
The moment Hayate finished speaking, he jumped to the side and closely observed the battle.
He had already explained the rules for one-on-one combat. Any means could be used—even killing the opponent was allowed. However, to avoid unnecessary deaths, he would intervene at critical moments.
The instant Hayate spoke, Kegon immediately launched the opening attack.
He did not underestimate his opponent just because of his age. No matter what, the other party was still an Uchiha. That surname was famous throughout the entire shinobi world.
This was also his first time fighting someone from the Uchiha Clan, so he remained extremely cautious.
After seeing Sasuke casually evade the few kunai he threw, Kegon immediately closed the distance at top speed, intending to capitalize on an adult's advantage in strength and win through taijutsu.
There was no way he would try to compete with an Uchiha in ninjutsu or genjutsu.
But he quickly discovered that this Konoha genin, who had only recently graduated from the Academy, possessed terrifying physical strength.
After blocking several waves of Kegon's attacks with a kunai, Sasuke had already lost interest in the fight. Seeing that the other man still dared to look directly into his eyes, he realized that Kegon had probably never encountered an Uchiha before.
The three tomoe in the boy's eyes flashed for a brief instant.
The battle was over.
Kegon was disrupted by the genjutsu for just a moment. By the time he regained his senses, a kunai was already pressed against his neck.
The winner had been decided.
Takigakure's so-called "genin" looked rather dejected. He had never expected to lose so casually.
The contestants from the other villages immediately began whispering among themselves, unable to understand why the Taki ninja had exposed such a fatal opening. Only a handful of people had caught that fleeting crimson flash.
This young Uchiha had already awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan at such an age.
Konoha truly was overflowing with talent.
A famous saying of the shinobi world:
'When facing a Three-Tomoe Uchiha in a one-on-one fight, flee without hesitation.'
And the weight behind those words was only continuing to rise.
"The winner: Uchiha Sasuke."
Hayate stepped forward and announced the result.
"Alright, you two may return now. Leave the arena to the next match."
Everyone once again turned their attention to the electronic screen.
After flickering for a moment, the result appeared:
[Hyūga Neji VS Atsui]
Neji showed no particular reaction, but Lee looked disappointed instead.
"Damn it, I really wanted to take that guy's place and become Neji's opponent."
Guy said, "Lee, it's alright. Believe that youth will hear your wish. So work hard. As long as both of you defeat your opponents, you'll meet in the final rounds."
"Yes, Sensei! I'll use victory to prove the meaning of youth!"
"That's the spirit, Lee."
Neji and Tenten often felt out of place around them because they simply were not youthful enough.
Tenten said, "Neji, good luck."
"Thank you. The fight will end quickly."
Across from them, Atsui felt slighted. Anger practically burst from his eyes. Konoha's people really were all bastards.
The generously endowed Samui patted her younger brother on the shoulder.
"Be careful. This could be their way of provoking you."
"I know."
The siblings both had the typical Kumogakure look—blond hair and pale skin, extremely pale. Together with darker skin tones, they were one of Kumogakure's two signature appearances.
In truth, Samui, Omoi, and Karui all belonged to Killer B's squad, with the latter two even being Killer B's disciples.
However, the rapping fool obviously did not dare run around Konoha recklessly. Both he and Gyūki had been psychologically scarred by Makoto.
So this time, Samui served as the team's jōnin leader. In order to achieve good results, she had even pulled her exceptionally strong younger brother into the squad.
...
Neji and Atsui stood facing each other, glaring with wide eyes.
You could say the two of them held at least a bit of a grudge against each other.
Because of Kumogakure's stunt years ago, Neji's father had nearly been forced to sacrifice himself in place of the clan head. Meanwhile, during the last war, Kumogakure had suffered heavily at the hands of the Hyūga Clan.
The Byakugan was immensely effective against ambush tactics, and the Gentle Fist also countered taijutsu. Unfortunately for Kumogakure, nin-taijutsu was precisely what their village specialized in.
Atsui knew one thing very clearly: he absolutely could not let the other party touch him. If that happened, it would all be over.
The moment Hayate announced the start of the match, Atsui drew his longsword and slashed forward with force.
Cloud Style: Flame Slash — First Break!
Scorching Fire Release chakra condensed onto the blade. As Atsui swung downward, it transformed into a crescent-shaped flaming slash that shot toward his opponent.
In the spectator stands, Sasuke found the technique very familiar. It resembled the Flame Leap series from the Uchiha Clan's swordsmanship style. His Shisui-nii was especially skilled at it, and Sasuke himself could use it as well.
So he wanted to see how this Hyūga prodigy of Konoha's younger generation—someone often mentioned alongside himself—would deal with it.
Neji merely raised a hand and shattered the flaming slash into scattered sparks with a single strike.
Eight Trigrams Vacuum Wall Palm!
Condensed chakra burst from his palm and transformed into a shockwave, preventing the fierce flaming slash from getting close.
Seeing this, Atsui began circling Neji at high speed, occasionally swinging out arcs of flame.
Neji stood unmoving like a mountain, calmly dealing with everything. He did not even turn his head once. The Byakugan possessed nearly three hundred and sixty degrees of vision—there was no possibility of being ambushed.
And even if he did possess that one-degree blind spot, it was not something a nin-taijutsu fighter like Atsui could exploit.
None of the spectators were surprised by strength that far surpassed ordinary genin.
This was the joint Chūnin Exam hosted by the Five Great Shinobi Villages. Any contestant capable of surviving the second round and standing here could not possibly be a true genin. There were plenty among them who already possessed jōnin-level strength.
Atsui calculated his remaining chakra reserves. He knew he could not continue this endless expenditure. If this dragged on, his opponent might still be standing while he himself would already be drained dry of chakra and unable to fight.
So while moving at high speed, he consecutively unleashed three flaming slashes to seal off Neji's movement paths. Then his real body used the Body Flicker Technique to rush forward and attack from behind Neji.
Cloud Style: Flame Slash — Twin Flash Strike!
This technique used high-speed movement to instantly appear before the enemy and unleash two rapid slashes in succession to finish them off.
Even though this was Konoha's home ground, Atsui still aimed directly for vital points. Kumogakure ninja were not just reckless—they were ruthless.
But this time, Neji did not shatter the flaming slash as before. Instead, he leapt forward and spun through the air, narrowly avoiding the flaming blade by a hair's breadth. Without even needing to search for where his opponent was, he turned and struck out with a palm.
Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!
Unlike Vacuum Wall Palm, Vacuum Palm compressed its chakra even further, turning it into a concentrated point-impact attack.
Before Atsui's slash could even land, an invisible palm strike carrying tremendous force slammed into his body. Not only did it disrupt the flow of his chakra, it also blasted him away and sent him crashing heavily into the wall of the tower.
Atsui felt as though every bone in his body had fallen apart. He no longer had the strength to continue fighting.
If this had been a battlefield, he would already be dead.
The victor had been decided.
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