"Come on, then. Show me this surprise you've prepared."
Danzō stood where he was, hands hanging at his sides, eyes sharp, voice flat and steady.
"Then try not to blink, Uncle."
Kizaru didn't waste another word. His hands flashed through seals, and Wind Release chakra surged from his mouth.
Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves!
Several fierce streams of compressed wind chakra shot forward like twisting wind serpents, rushing straight at Danzō.
Facing the incoming attack, Danzō advanced instead of retreating. Using the Body Flicker Technique, he burst forward, weaving cleanly past the "wind snakes" before drawing a kunai and coating it with Wind Release chakra.
He closed in on Kizaru in an instant.
Taking advantage of the opening created while Kizaru was still controlling the ninjutsu, Danzō slashed downward with the wind-enhanced kunai.
Kizaru immediately abandoned control of the technique and leapt back, widening the distance between them and avoiding the close-range strike.
"If this is all you've got," Danzō said coldly, holding the kunai before him instead of pressing the attack, "then you won't be passing my test."
Kizaru kept smiling, completely unaffected.
Rolling his neck lightly, he answered in a lazy tone, "So impatient, Uncle. That was just the warm-up."
Just the warm-up?
Hiruzen, who was already inwardly marveling that a six-year-old could use Wind Release ninjutsu at that level, became even more interested after hearing that.
He was deeply curious about Kizaru's Light Release bloodline—the power to manipulate light itself—and his anticipation for the battle only grew stronger.
"Then show me the rest," Danzō barked, moving again.
His hands formed seals at high speed.
Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere!
From his mouth, he fired a barrage of nearly invisible air bullets packed with cutting Wind Release chakra.
This time, Kizaru reacted exactly the way Danzō had earlier.
Instead of retreating, he surged forward.
Using the Body Flicker Technique, he shot up into the air—then his entire body transformed into a streak of light and came blasting straight toward Danzō.
This was the first time Danzō had ever seen Kizaru fight with his bloodline technique.
He sensed danger instantly.
But Kizaru was simply too fast.
Before Danzō's brain could fully relay the command to move, the light had already reached him.
"That one—!" Jiraiya blurted from the sidelines.
As the first victim of this move, he recognized it immediately.
Orochimaru and Tsunade, who had also seen it before, narrowed their eyes with clear anticipation.
Hiruzen noticed his three disciples' reactions, glanced at them briefly, then returned his attention to the battlefield.
By then, Kizaru had already reappeared right in front of Danzō.
He shifted back into human form, and in the next instant, a blinding burst of light exploded from his body like a flash bomb, stabbing straight into Danzō's eyes.
Just like Jiraiya before him, Danzō had no time to react properly to such a sudden attack.
Pain stabbed through his eyes.
His vision blurred instantly, and tears began streaming out uncontrollably.
"You ever been kicked at the speed of light, Uncle?"
Kizaru asked it with a bright smile, but his body never paused.
His right leg rose, photons gathering around his calf as golden light flared. Then he kicked out at terrifying speed, aiming straight for Danzō's side.
But unlike Jiraiya, Danzō possessed far more combat experience.
The moment his vision was taken, he had already chosen his response.
His hands flashed through seals.
Substitution Technique!
The instant Kizaru's light-speed kick connected, it smashed into a block of wood instead, blowing it apart into countless splinters.
Looking at the shattered wood scattered across the ground, Kizaru grinned.
"Mm... much sharper than Jiraiya-nii."
You two are fighting. Why do I keep getting dragged into this?!
Jiraiya felt like he'd been stabbed again for no reason.
With Hiruzen beside him, and Tsunade and Orochimaru both looking at him with varying degrees of contempt, his heart turned cold.
Ignoring his hopeless disciple, Hiruzen kept his eyes fixed on Kizaru.
What a gift.
The more he watched, the more pleased he became, and before he even realized it, a smile had formed on his face.
Danzō felt much the same.
Though he had been startled by Kizaru's sudden and lethal attack, the surprise was mixed with genuine satisfaction.
A bloodline ability combined with Body Flicker, used this smoothly and this effectively...
Danzō approved of it immensely.
It seemed he had judged the boy too harshly.
Kizaru had not grown arrogant.
He had simply grown stronger.
Nice. Just as expected of the child I chose.
Though his heart was full of approval, Danzō's face remained cold as ever.
Having shifted positions with the Substitution Technique, he stood elsewhere on the field with his eyes half-closed and said icily,
"Why did you speak just now? Once you take the enemy's sight, any sound you make gives away your position. If you'd stayed silent, you could've pressed the advantage further."
The next instant, Danzō suddenly grunted.
A sharp pain shot through his arm.
Standing where he had been, Kizaru still wore that same easy smile. His right hand was raised, index finger extended, the tip glowing with golden light.
He had taken the advice seriously immediately.
Without wasting a word, Kizaru flicked his finger forward.
A laser shot out.
Then another.
And another.
Several beams of light tore toward Danzō's arms and legs in quick succession, all aimed to wound rather than kill.
But the instant they struck—
Boom!
Danzō's body turned into wood once again.
"Another Substitution Technique?" Kizaru mused. "You really are troublesome, Uncle."
Almost the moment Kizaru finished speaking, a figure dropped from the sky behind him, a blade of condensed Wind Release chakra in hand as it slashed down toward his back.
But Kizaru had already sensed it.
He twisted sharply, golden light flashing over his right leg again, and spun into a back kick.
Moving second but striking first, Kizaru's kick landed before the Wind Blade could reach him.
Boom!
The figure behind him didn't go flying.
Instead, it burst into white smoke.
A shadow clone.
Kizaru wasn't surprised.
If anything, his expression brightened slightly as he looked around, searching for the real Danzō.
And just then, from the woods to his right, a shuriken infused with Wind Release chakra came tearing through the air.
Kizaru answered instantly.
He kicked out again at light speed, releasing a crescent-like laser slash that shot toward the incoming shuriken.
The two attacks collided.
Boom!
A violent explosion erupted, kicking up dust, gravel, and broken earth in every direction.
As the smoke and debris swirled around the field, Kizaru calmly slipped both hands into his pockets again.
His smile deepened.
"Heh... now this is getting interesting."
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