Asuma and Nara Shinen had not joined forces with Hyūga Homon because they believed none of them could defeat Ren alone.
At least, that was what they had told themselves.
Their original reasoning had been entirely practical. Homon's Byakugan could observe nearly the entire battlefield, locate hidden defenders, identify traps, and guide the attacking team toward the safest route to the platform. Allowing someone with such a valuable ability to become trapped in a prolonged duel would be wasteful.
Therefore, the plan had been simple.
The three of them would eliminate Ren immediately, freeing Homon to support the main assault. Once the strongest defender was removed, Asuma and Shinen could join Guy and overwhelm whatever resistance remained on the platform.
The match would end within minutes.
However, beneath that tactical justification lay a more personal motive.
Asuma and Shinen had both ranked at the top of their year before Ren's sudden rise. They had spent years being praised as two of the academy's most gifted students—one the son of the Third Hokage, the other a brilliant child of the Nara clan.
Then Ren overtook them.
During the previous examination, he claimed first place without facing either of them directly. Asuma had quietly wondered whether that victory had been earned or merely handed to Ren by a fortunate arrangement of opponents.
Shinen had questioned it as well, though he had been more careful about expressing his doubts.
Today was supposed to settle the matter.
Instead, Homon lay injured on the ground, Asuma's sleeve had been scorched, and the stone barrier behind them was still burning from Ren's Great Fireball Jutsu.
Their three-person ambush had accomplished nothing.
Shinen stared through the fading flames, his thoughts racing.
Their intelligence had been incomplete.
Ren was not merely an academy student who had refined the Three Basic Jutsu. He possessed at least one C-rank Fire Release technique, and he could use it well enough to overpower Asuma's Wind Release by exploiting its elemental weakness.
If Ren knew one elemental ninjutsu, there was no guarantee he did not know others.
"The intelligence was wrong," Shinen said sharply. "Continue with the original plan and finish him quickly. He has already used a C-rank technique, so his chakra reserves should be reduced."
Asuma understood immediately.
They could not give Ren time to recover or scatter more kunai across the field. His enhanced Substitution Jutsu grew more dangerous with every potential exchange point he created.
Asuma surged forward.
At the same moment, Shinen lowered his stance and reshaped his shadow. Instead of sending it toward Ren in a single line, he spread its leading edge into several thin branches.
The shadow crawled across the uneven earth, using the shade cast by stones, weapons, and nearby students to extend its reach. Its purpose was not merely to capture Ren.
Shinen was cutting off his escape routes.
Ren retreated as the first strand approached his left foot.
Asuma entered from the opposite side and swung a wooden kunai toward his ribs. Ren twisted away, caught Asuma's wrist, and attempted to pull him into the shadow's path.
Asuma released the weapon before Ren could complete the maneuver. He stepped inside Ren's guard and drove one elbow toward his chest.
Ren blocked with his forearm.
The impact forced both boys apart.
Shinen's shadow slipped between them.
Ren leaped over it, but Asuma was already waiting when he landed. A kick swept toward his knee, forcing him to twist in midair and accept an awkward landing.
Asuma attacked again.
Their coordination was becoming tighter with every exchange. Shinen controlled the terrain while Asuma applied constant pressure, denying Ren the concentration necessary to perform a larger ninjutsu.
The three figures moved rapidly across the earthen slope.
Ren jumped onto a protruding stone, avoided one branch of shadow, and ducked beneath Asuma's kunai. He drove a palm toward Asuma's chin, but Asuma leaned back just far enough to evade it.
Asuma countered with a punch.
Ren raised his shoulder, allowing the strike to glance off before slamming his knee toward Asuma's abdomen.
Shinen extended his shadow between them again.
Ren was forced to abandon the attack.
To the students watching from the platform, the battle appeared chaotic. Wooden weapons collided, fists struck guards, and shadows twisted across the dirt like black serpents. Yet there was a clear pattern hidden beneath the violence.
Every time Ren attempted to counterattack, Shinen forced him to move.
Every time Ren moved, Asuma drove him closer to the edge of the slope.
Step by step, they were cornering him.
Ren noticed it as well.
He deliberately allowed himself to be pushed toward a narrow section bordered by a cracked stone wall. It left him with only three possible routes of escape.
Shinen's eyes sharpened.
He believed their opportunity had arrived.
Asuma saw the signal in his expression and immediately disengaged. His fingers blurred through a rapid sequence of hand seals.
"Got you!"
Ren's back was almost against the wall.
Asuma inhaled, concentrated chakra in his lungs, and released it in a condensed burst.
"Fire Release: Flame Bullet!"
A blazing projectile tore through the air.
Unlike the broad Great Fireball Jutsu, the Flame Bullet concentrated its power into a smaller and faster attack. The fire screamed toward Ren, leaving a wavering trail of heat behind it.
At the instant Asuma attacked, Shinen stopped looking directly at Ren.
Instead, he focused on the scattered wooden kunai surrounding the battlefield.
He had studied Ren's movements carefully.
Whenever Ren used his Substitution Jutsu, he exchanged positions with one of the prepared objects within range. Shinen could not predict which kunai Ren would choose, but he did not need to.
His shadow split and stretched toward the most likely destinations.
The moment Ren reappeared, the Shadow Possession Jutsu would seize him.
It was an excellent trap.
There was only one flaw.
Ren did not use the Substitution Jutsu.
He completed a different series of hand seals and turned directly toward the approaching flames.
"Water Release: Wild Water Wave!"
A torrent of clear water erupted from his mouth.
The rushing stream collided head-on with Asuma's Flame Bullet. Fire and water consumed one another in a violent burst, producing a sharp hiss that swept across the training ground.
Steam exploded outward.
Within seconds, a thick white mist swallowed Ren, Asuma, and Shinen.
Visibility vanished.
Shinen's prepared shadows weakened as the mist diffused the sunlight across the battlefield. He immediately withdrew the thinner branches and concentrated the technique around his own position.
He listened carefully.
Water dripped from the scorched stones. Somewhere to his left, Asuma's sandals scraped across the ground.
Then footsteps approached from the front.
Shinen released his technique and drew a wooden kunai. Shadow Possession required a visible path and a stable target; inside the mist, relying on it would consume chakra without guaranteeing success.
A blurry white figure emerged several meters ahead.
Shinen narrowed his eyes.
The figure accelerated.
He waited until it entered striking range, stepped forward, and thrust the wooden kunai into its chest.
The weapon connected.
For an instant, Shinen felt resistance.
Then the figure rippled.
Splash!
It collapsed into an insubstantial distortion before disappearing completely.
Shinen's heart tightened.
"A Clone Technique?"
It was not a Water Clone. There was no physical body and no burst of water—only an illusion created by the academy's most basic E-rank Clone Technique.
Ren had used an elementary ninjutsu to manipulate his vision.
The realization came too late.
A faint disturbance moved through the mist behind him.
Shinen turned sharply, but a white sleeve had already entered the edge of his vision.
Ren stepped inside his guard and struck the side of his neck with a precise hand chop.
The blow was clean and controlled.
Shinen's body went rigid. A muffled sound escaped his throat as his legs lost their strength.
Ren caught his shoulder before he struck the ground and lowered him onto the damp earth. Shinen was unconscious, but his breathing remained steady.
With one E-rank illusion and a single taijutsu strike, Ren eliminated the strategist controlling the battlefield.
Ren exhaled slowly.
His chakra reserves had fallen considerably.
Although his body and chakra capacity had improved, he was still only nine years old. Most children of his age—even those from shinobi clans—could use only a few C-rank techniques before exhaustion began affecting their movements.
Ren had already used the Great Fireball Jutsu and Wild Water Wave in quick succession. He had also maintained a partial Transformation Technique while fighting Homon and activated his Substitution Jutsu several times.
Creating a Water Clone would have consumed too much of what remained.
The ordinary Clone Technique, however, required almost nothing.
More importantly, Shinen had been expecting Ren to use a complex technique. That expectation made the simplest deception far more effective.
Ren straightened and turned toward the sound of approaching footsteps.
A figure emerged from the thinning mist.
Asuma held a wooden kunai in one hand. Damp hair clung to his forehead, and his breathing had become heavier, but his eyes remained steady.
He glanced down at Shinen's unconscious body.
His jaw tightened.
Homon had been defeated.
Shinen had been defeated.
He was the only one left.
Ren rolled one shoulder, trying to ease the growing strain in his muscles.
"You've used two C-rank ninjutsu," he said. "So have I."
The mist drifted between them, forming pale ribbons around their feet.
"Neither of us has enough chakra left to keep throwing techniques around," Ren continued. "Let's finish this with taijutsu."
Asuma's grip tightened around the kunai.
He could have retreated and regrouped with the rest of the attacking team. From a purely tactical standpoint, that might have been the wiser decision.
But Asuma was the Hokage's son.
Retreating after Homon and Shinen had already fallen would feel like admitting that Ren stood above all three of them.
"Fine," Asuma answered. "Let's finish it."
He steadied his breathing and lowered his center of gravity.
For several seconds, neither boy moved.
Then Asuma exploded forward.
Ren met him halfway.
Their wooden kunai collided with a piercing crack. Despite being training weapons, the force behind the impact sent sparks flashing between them.
Asuma twisted his wrist and slid his blade along Ren's, aiming for the fingers gripping the weapon. Ren released the kunai, caught it with his opposite hand before it could fall, and slashed toward Asuma's shoulder.
Asuma leaned away.
The wooden point missed his vest by a finger's width.
He answered with a kick to Ren's ribs.
Ren blocked, but the strike drove him two steps sideways. Asuma pressed forward with a downward slash, forcing Ren to raise his kunai.
Crack!
Wood struck wood.
The weapons trembled beneath the pressure.
High above the battlefield, Minato Namikaze watched from the academy rooftop. His expression had changed several times since the fight began, and he no longer tried to hide his surprise.
"Incredible," Minato murmured. "He's only nine?"
Hiruzen drew from his pipe.
"Nine years old," he confirmed.
"He has already mastered Fire Release and Water Release, and he can use both under battlefield pressure," Minato said. "That would be impressive even for many Genin."
Learning the techniques was only one part of what impressed him.
Using them correctly was far more difficult.
Ren had deployed the Substitution Jutsu the instant he detected Shadow Possession. He had exploited the interaction between Wind and Fire Release to turn Asuma's attack against him. Then, when Asuma used Fire Release, Ren countered with Water Release and transformed the resulting steam into concealment.
Inside that concealment, he had ignored Asuma and eliminated Shinen first.
It was the correct choice.
Asuma was the stronger direct combatant, but Shinen's ability to control Ren's movement made him the more dangerous tactical threat. By removing him first, Ren transformed a two-on-one battle into a straightforward duel.
"He isn't simply reacting," Minato said. "He understands the purpose behind every technique. He creates situations where even basic ninjutsu becomes dangerous."
Hiruzen's gaze remained fixed on Ren.
"The Great Fireball Jutsu probably came from his father, Tajima," he explained. "Tajima learned the technique before volunteering for border duty. As for the Water Release scroll, it came from Rin Nohara's father."
The academy maintained detailed records on every student. Children were investigated before enrollment, and Ren's sudden growth had attracted enough attention for Hiruzen to order an additional background check.
There was nothing suspicious in the report.
The sources of Ren's techniques were legitimate.
What the investigation could not explain was how he had learned them so quickly.
"His father has spent most of the past two years stationed near the border," Hiruzen continued. "He rarely returns to the village. Rin's father gave Ren the Water Release scroll, but he did not personally teach him."
Minato understood the implication.
"He learned both techniques largely on his own."
Hiruzen nodded.
Minato looked back toward the battlefield.
"It isn't only his ninjutsu," he said. "His explosive strength is enough to overpower a Hyūga trained in the Gentle Fist, yet he still has the stamina to fight Asuma. His tactical judgment may be even more valuable than either."
He paused as Ren redirected one of Asuma's attacks and nearly struck his shoulder.
"Even if he loses now, no other student has contributed more to this examination."
Hiruzen did not answer immediately.
Below them, Ren and Asuma separated before colliding again.
Minato's eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
"Another genius has appeared in Kakashi's generation."
The word genius was used too often in the shinobi world. Children with unusual chakra reserves were called geniuses. Clan heirs who learned family techniques early were called geniuses. Students who graduated ahead of schedule were called geniuses.
Ren was different.
He possessed no famous bloodline, no secret clan technique, and no powerful family standing behind him. Everything he had displayed had been built from ordinary techniques that other students dismissed as unimportant.
Yet in his hands, those techniques had defeated three of the strongest children in the academy.
Hiruzen exhaled a dense cloud of smoke.
"A child without the backing of a major clan, yet blessed with exceptional talent and a deep understanding of the Will of Fire," he said. "If properly guided, he may one day become one of Konoha's pillars."
His expression remained warm, but his gaze deepened.
A promising child was valuable.
A promising child who could be shaped early was even more valuable.
On the battlefield, Ren had no knowledge of the discussion taking place above him.
His entire focus remained on Asuma.
Asuma was a genuinely capable opponent. His ninjutsu, taijutsu, weapon skills, chakra control, and instincts were all strong for his age. He possessed no obvious weakness that Ren could exploit.
He was well-rounded, disciplined, and stubborn.
Twice, Ren attempted to break through his guard with aggressive combinations. Twice, Asuma held his ground and forced him back.
Continuing to attack recklessly would only waste stamina.
Ren changed his approach.
He slowed the pace, parried Asuma's strikes, and began using the duel to refine his own movements. Every exchange taught him something—the angle of Asuma's guard, the rhythm of his breathing, the slight shift of his rear foot before a forward lunge.
Asuma noticed the change.
Ren was no longer trying to overwhelm him.
He was studying him.
That realization placed even more pressure on Asuma than the earlier attacks.
Both were approaching exhaustion. Their chakra was low, their muscles were aching, and their breaths had become increasingly ragged.
At this stage, elaborate tactics no longer mattered.
The duel would be decided by a single mistake.
Asuma knew it.
He gritted his teeth and forced strength back into his trembling fingers. This was not only about passing the graduation examination or winning the attacking team's battle.
His father was watching.
Kakashi was watching.
Every student who once regarded Asuma as one of their year's strongest was watching.
He refused to lose his place to someone who had appeared from nowhere.
Ren read the determination in his eyes and tightened his grip on the wooden kunai.
Once, Asuma had stood at the top of their year.
Now, Ren occupied that position.
The former strongest and the current strongest lowered their bodies at the same moment—and prepared to decide everything in one final exchange.