At last, the decisive moment came.
Clang!
The wooden kunai in Ren's hand crashed against Asuma's with enough force to send both weapons spinning out of their grasp.
For a split second, neither boy had a weapon.
Asuma reacted first.
He drove forward immediately, twisting his body and throwing a punch toward Ren's chest, intending to press the advantage before Ren could recover.
But Ren had been waiting for exactly that.
The instant Asuma committed to the strike, Ren's body blurred.
Substitution Jutsu!
With a soft shoo, he vanished from the spot.
Asuma's punch hit nothing but air.
Before he could react, Ren reappeared behind him, his movement clean and efficient. At the same time, he caught one of the falling wooden kunai out of midair and stepped in close.
By the time Asuma started to turn, the tip of the wooden blade was already pressed lightly against the back of his neck.
Ren's breathing was rough, but his voice remained calm.
"It's over."
Asuma froze.
His body instinctively tensed, as if he wanted to keep fighting, but only for a second. Then the tension drained out of him. He let out a helpless little laugh and raised both hands.
"…Alright. You win."
He still had some energy left. If this were just a stubborn spar between boys, he could have forced the fight to continue a little longer.
But that would have been meaningless.
Because if the kunai had been real, his throat would already have been cut.
A loss was a loss.
And Asuma, for all his pride, was not the kind of person who would deny what had just happened.
Ren lowered the kunai and stepped back.
Only then did the full wave of exhaustion hit him.
His legs suddenly felt much heavier than before, and a dull ache spread through his shoulders, arms, and back. Chakra depletion, physical strain, constant focus, the pressure of fighting three strong opponents in succession—it all crashed down on him at once.
Still…
A faint smile appeared on his face.
He had really done it.
One against three.
This battle had squeezed nearly everything out of him. Other than the deeper traits of his Transformation Technique and Substitution Technique—and the Eight Gates, which he had deliberately kept unused—he had already revealed almost all the tools he was willing to show.
And that was enough.
More than enough.
After taking a few breaths, Ren slowly straightened and looked around the battlefield.
Most of the fighting had already ended.
That was only natural. Most Academy students at this age relied on basic taijutsu, the Three Basic Techniques, and perhaps a little simple genjutsu. Once someone was knocked down hard enough, the battle usually ended there.
There were only a few scattered clashes still going on across the field.
The loudest of them—
Of course—
Was Obito and Might Guy.
Ren's eyelids twitched slightly.
Those two really had a talent for turning every ordinary rivalry into a life-and-death blood feud.
Over the past few years, Obito had lost to Guy again and again during school tests and sparring matches. Four times? Five times? Probably more. The exact number didn't matter. What mattered was that every loss had piled up inside him like dry firewood, and today, with the pressure of the graduation exam on top of it all, the fire had finally exploded.
The two of them were already black and blue.
Their clothes were dirty, their faces were swollen, and both were breathing like broken bellows.
And yet—
Neither of them had any intention of stopping.
They just kept getting back up and charging each other again.
A few students nearby had already stopped watching their own matches and were staring at the spectacle in stunned silence.
Then, suddenly, Obito found an opening.
His eyes lit up.
He jumped back, brought his hands together, and formed seals with desperate speed.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
A fireball roared out from his mouth and rushed toward Guy.
Compared to the Great Fireball Ren had used earlier, Obito's version was clearly smaller—about a meter across—and noticeably less stable at the edges. It still looked impressive to ordinary students, but beside Ren's solid and forceful version, it seemed a little thin.
That was only natural.
Obito's fire technique had been forged through his own daily training, through repetition and trial and error. Ren's, on the other hand, had been refined through the system's absurd method of "understanding" and optimization. They looked similar on the surface, but the depth was not quite the same.
Still, a fireball was a fireball.
And for one instant, it looked as though Obito had actually won.
The flames surged straight toward Guy's face—
But Guy, who was already deep in the madness of battle, did something that made everyone watching nearly choke.
He crossed his arms in front of his face, lowered his body, and charged straight through the fireball.
Pale green chakra-like steam rose faintly from his body as he forced his way through the flames.
Then he emerged from the other side—
Hair smoking.
Sleeves scorched.
Fist already flying.
"Take this!"
Boom!
His flaming punch landed squarely on Obito's face just as Obito was starting to celebrate.
Obito spun and crashed to the ground.
For one ridiculous moment, sparks were still flickering in Guy's bowl-cut hair.
Not far away, Rin and Kurenai both stared in disbelief.
"Guy…"
"Obito…"
Rin's voice trembled.
Kurenai's eyes widened as she looked between the two boys.
"It's just a graduation exam… are they trying to kill each other?"
Ren silently agreed.
It was honestly difficult to argue with that assessment.
And just as things threatened to become even more absurd—
A stream of water burst down from above.
"Water Release: Water Chaos Wave!"
The torrent was far stronger than the water technique Ren had used earlier. It crashed over the battlefield like a falling river, instantly swallowing the remaining flames and cooling the scorched ground in a burst of steam.
At the same moment, a white figure flashed into the middle of the field like lightning.
Kakashi.
He appeared between Obito and Guy in an instant, grabbing one boy by each wrist before either of them could continue.
"You two. That's enough."
His voice was cold and sharp.
"Do you actually want to die?"
Neither Obito nor Guy answered.
Mostly because they were too stunned to do so.
Kakashi's eye narrowed.
"Go see a medical ninja. Now."
At almost the same time, Oki-sensei and Himura-sensei stepped forward and announced that the fifteen-minute time limit had ended.
The exam was over.
The tension that had gripped the field slowly began to loosen.
Medical ninja who had been waiting nearby immediately entered the grounds to check injuries and start treatment. Students who had been knocked down were helped up. Bruises were examined, cuts were cleaned, and the more dramatic fighters were forcibly separated from each other.
On the attacking side, Nara Shinen had already regained consciousness. He sat to one side rubbing his neck, looking deeply aggrieved. Hyūga Homon stood in silence nearby, his Byakugan long since deactivated, his expression stiff with frustration.
Asuma, now calmer, glanced toward Ren with a complicated look.
He wasn't angry, exactly.
But he clearly wasn't happy either.
A defeat was still a defeat.
And losing in front of everyone—especially after trying to prove Ren's earlier first-place result had been exaggerated—was not something he would forget anytime soon.
On the defending side, Obito had fresh bandages wrapped around part of his face and was already making noise again.
"Kakashi! Tell me! Which side won?"
Kakashi ignored him completely.
"Kakashi! Don't pretend you didn't hear me!"
Still no answer.
Rin, sitting nearby, sighed and patted the stone step beside her.
"Obito-kun, just sit down and rest for a bit. The teachers will announce the results soon."
Then she turned toward Ren.
Her eyes softened slightly.
"Ren-kun, are you alright?"
Ren was leaning against a tree trunk now, too tired to pretend he wasn't exhausted.
"I'm fine," he said with a small smile. "Just a little tired."
"A little?" Rin repeated, sounding unconvinced.
Then she looked at him properly, and the admiration in her expression became impossible to hide.
"What you did just now was amazing. You fought three people by yourself… and Asuma was one of them." She hesitated, then admitted, "I really didn't think you'd become this strong."
Ren gave the most modest answer he could manage.
"I just got lucky."
Before Rin could say anything else, Obito, who had somehow recovered enough to be annoying again, shoved himself into the conversation.
"I was amazing too!"
He jabbed a thumb at his own chest.
"If I hadn't held Might Guy down, how could Ren have won so easily? And in the end, Guy lost to me! If Ren gets first place, then I should at least be second, right?"
"…Twentieth, at best."
This time it was Kurenai who answered.
She had just walked over, still clearly exhausted herself. Her breathing was heavier than usual, and a faint flush lingered on her face, but her eyes were bright with excitement.
"I think first place is definitely Ren's," she said. "There's no suspense at all."
Then she glanced toward Asuma's side and added, with a surprisingly sharp little smile, "It's a shame Asuma and the others weren't on our team. Otherwise, maybe they wouldn't have lost so badly."
Obito looked betrayed.
"Hey! Why does everyone ignore my contribution?"
"Because your contribution was getting punched while on fire," Kurenai replied.
Rin tried not to laugh.
She failed.
Even Ren let out a tired chuckle.
As their voices drifted around him, Ren leaned his head lightly back against the tree and half-listened to the conversation.
At the same time, familiar text boxes began flashing through his mind.
---
[Transformation Technique: Congratulations, little Ren. You won again. And this opponent was much tougher than last time. Being able to pull that off was truly impressive.]
[Clone Technique: Hmph. It was alright. A shame you didn't use my lovely new form, but fine, I'll accept this. You worked hard. I wonder which ninjutsu you still haven't used yet? It's so hard to guess.]
[Great Fireball Technique: …Even though no one is talking about me right now, I still find all of you very annoying. Also, I strongly advise you not to mention that technique. If she shows up, this guy named Ren is finished.]
[Eight Gates: ?]
---
Ren nearly jumped on the spot.
No. Absolutely not.
He had deliberately avoided using the Eight Gates in this exam.
Partly because opening only the First Gate at this stage didn't offer enough value to justify exposing it.
But more importantly—
Because he was afraid.
Who knew what the Eight Gates' personality would do if it got too excited?
Force him to run a hundred laps around the village?
Make him do one thousand push-ups at midnight?
Convince him that youth was worth setting himself on fire for?
All of those seemed terrifyingly possible.
He stared inwardly at the floating question mark as if watching a fuse approach a powder keg.
Fortunately, after a pause, the next line appeared:
[Eight Gates: Hm. I'm a little annoyed you didn't bring me into the battle, but I do like your tactical style. That's what youth is all about! Go wash up and rest. Tomorrow, I'll come find you for training! Don't you dare run away!]
Ren: "..."
That was somehow even worse.
He closed his eyes.
For the first time since the fight ended, true despair touched his heart.
Winning first place in the grade felt wonderful.
But tomorrow—
Tomorrow, apparently—
He was going to die.
--------------------------------
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