At the center of the arena, Ren stood calmly beneath thousands of watching eyes.
A light breeze brushed across the battlefield, stirring his short white hair.
Opposite him stood Toki of Iwagakure.
The Stone shinobi was broad-shouldered and stocky, with dark skin and a thick frame that made him look more like a brawler than a conventional ninjutsu specialist. Yet the chakra gathering beneath his feet told a different story.
His eyes were locked on Ren.
No hesitation.
No fear.
Only open fighting intent.
Shikaku glanced between the two contestants.
Then his hand dropped.
"Begin!"
Toki moved instantly.
He crouched low and slammed both palms against the ground.
"Earth Release: Earth Rising Spears!"
RUMBLE—!
The battlefield shook.
Stone cracked violently beneath Ren's feet as several sharpened pillars of rock erupted from the earth at once. They came from different angles, converging on him like the jaws of a trap.
There was no testing strike.
No cautious probing.
Toki had opened with a killing move.
The audience gasped.
Ren merely brought his hands together.
Chakra surged through his scalp.
His white hair exploded outward.
In the next instant, every strand hardened like steel and intertwined into a dense shield around his body.
"Ninja Art: Needle Jizo!"
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The rock spears crashed into the hardened hair.
Sparks flew.
Fragments of stone scattered in every direction.
The force of the barrage pushed the white shield inward slightly, but not a single spear managed to penetrate it.
Toki's expression sharpened.
He didn't withdraw his hands.
Instead, another wave of chakra poured into the earth.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Wave!"
Whoosh—!
The solid battlefield suddenly softened.
Within dozens of meters around Ren, packed earth collapsed into a thick, churning swamp.
Mud surged around his feet.
Then several enormous hands formed from the mire and rose upward, fingers dripping with sludge as they reached for him.
Ren's eyes remained calm.
A wall of flame erupted around him.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Wall!"
BOOM—!
Orange flames roared upward.
The mud hands that approached Ren immediately began to crack and dry under the heat.
His Great Fire Wall was essentially an evolved application derived from the Great Fireball Technique. More importantly, it inherited the ability to raise its temperature dramatically.
Ren deliberately held back.
There was no need to produce the terrifying white-hot flames he was truly capable of creating.
Even so, the fire surrounding him reached nearly nine hundred degrees.
Water evaporated instantly.
The mud beneath his feet baked solid.
Within seconds, Ren had created a patch of stable ground in the middle of the swamp.
Then he moved.
His figure shot forward.
Kunai and shuriken appeared between his fingers.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Dozens of ninja tools flew through the air.
But rather than traveling in simple straight lines, they collided with one another midway.
Clang!
Clang!
Sparks flashed.
The weapons changed direction again and again, weaving an intricate web around Toki.
The spectators immediately erupted.
"What kind of throwing technique is that?!"
"They're bouncing off each other!"
Toki swung his kunai desperately.
Clang!
He knocked aside one shuriken.
Another curved toward his shoulder.
He twisted away.
A third appeared behind him.
Toki's pupils contracted.
Only then did he notice something else.
Thin steel wires.
Ren's fingers tightened.
The wires connected the scattered weapons together.
Then he inhaled.
"Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!"
FWOOSH—!
Flames raced along the steel wires.
The fire crossed dozens of meters almost instantly, surging toward Toki from several directions at once.
"Damn it!"
Toki slammed his hands together.
"Earth Release: Earth Style Wall!"
RUMBLE!
A thick wall of stone rose before him.
The flames struck.
BOOM—!!
An explosion shook the arena.
A wave of scorching air swept outward, forcing spectators in the nearest seats to shield their faces.
Smoke rolled across the battlefield.
Ren watched calmly.
Strictly speaking, the final stage of the Chunin Exams was no longer truly an examination.
The selection process had largely been completed.
Now, these matches were closer to exhibitions.
Village leaders watched.
Merchants watched.
Foreign dignitaries watched.
Ordinary civilians watched.
This was Konoha showing the strength of its next generation to the world.
And Ren understood one simple truth.
Winning wasn't enough.
He needed to win beautifully.
He had at least nine methods that could have ended the battle against Toki almost immediately.
Some would have left Toki unconscious.
Several would have killed him.
But where was the fun in that?
If Ren drew the White Fang's short sword, crossed the battlefield in an instant, and ended everything with one slash, the audience would barely understand what had happened.
That wouldn't satisfy them.
So Ren had chosen something else.
The most crowd-pleasing strategy possible.
Give Toki room to perform.
Counter with flashy ninjutsu.
Show Konoha's versatility.
Then finish with something memorable.
And judging by the reactions from the stands—
It was working perfectly.
"That kid really is Konoha's strongest newcomer!"
"Did you see those shuriken?!"
"That wasn't throwing anymore. That was art!"
"The Iwagakure ninja isn't weak either. His Earth Release is incredible."
"Are these really genin?"
"Genin? This looks like two jonin fighting!"
An elderly civilian grabbed the railing dramatically.
"To witness a battle like this with my own eyes... even if I die today, I have no regrets!"
The ninja spectators, however, noticed considerably more.
"Was that Needle Jizo?"
One chunin frowned.
"That's Jiraiya's technique."
"Ren is Minato Namikaze's student, and Minato is Jiraiya's disciple. He probably learned it through that connection."
"That doesn't make it easy."
Another shinobi shook his head.
"Jiraiya's hair techniques are notoriously difficult. Ren used it almost instantly."
Nearby, Shinku Yuhi watched the battle with narrowed eyes.
Something bothered him.
He had personally fought Ren before.
He knew better than most people what the boy was capable of.
"Strange..."
Another ninja turned toward him.
"What?"
"His strongest area isn't ninjutsu."
Several people looked over.
Shinku continued quietly.
"His kenjutsu is more dangerous."
The others froze.
"Kenjutsu?"
One shinobi frowned.
"I thought Minato said his student was a Fire Release genius. Didn't he supposedly train the Great Fireball Technique until it surpassed ordinary B-rank Fire Release?"
"Wait."
Another person cut in.
"Isn't he studying medical ninjutsu too? I've seen him at Konoha Hospital several times over the past few months. Sometimes he was even with Lady Tsunade."
Silence.
The surrounding shinobi slowly looked at one another.
Fire Release.
Advanced shurikenjutsu.
Jiraiya's hair techniques.
Kenjutsu.
Medical ninjutsu.
And apparently Water Release as well.
Shinku's expression grew increasingly complicated.
There were shinobi capable of developing multiple disciplines.
Jiraiya.
Orochimaru.
Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Each of them could be considered an all-rounder.
But they were Kage-level monsters.
Even when they had been young, they were already exceptional jonin.
Ren was ten years old.
How could one child possibly have enough time to develop so many different combat systems?
Shinku stared at Ren.
One uncomfortable possibility entered his mind.
Could Ren genuinely be one of those terrifyingly rare shinobi whose talent allowed him to advance in nearly every direction simultaneously?
Was this...
what a true genius looked like?
The fight continued.
Toki was beginning to reveal why Iwagakure had allowed him to represent the village.
His Earth Release flowed seamlessly between offense and defense.
Stone walls.
Mud waves.
Rock spears.
Terrain manipulation.
None of the techniques alone were extraordinary.
But Toki chained them together with impressive skill.
Then his hands slammed down again.
"Earth Release: Earth Stone Dragon!"
ROAR—!
The ground split apart.
A massive dragon surged upward.
Its body was formed from dense earth mixed with hardened stone, its jaws lined with jagged rock.
Compared with the more common Earth Dragon Bullet, this technique created a smaller construct.
But what it lacked in size, it gained in durability.
The stone dragon lunged.
Ren's feet tapped the ground.
Whoosh!
He drifted backward with such lightness that his body seemed almost weightless.
CRASH!
The dragon's jaws smashed through the place where he had been standing.
Mud and shattered stone erupted.
The beast twisted.
It attacked again.
Ren shifted sideways.
Another miss.
Again.
Again.
Again.
He moved like a swallow darting through a thunderstorm, every attack missing him by inches.
Toki's breathing grew heavier.
His patience finally snapped.
"Hey!"
He glared across the battlefield.
"Konoha ninja!"
The dragon charged again.
Ren slipped past its jaws.
Toki roared,
"Can you do anything except run like a rat?!"
Several Iwagakure shinobi in the stands immediately joined in.
"Fight him!"
"Stop running!"
"Boo!"
Ren stopped.
A faint smile touched his lips.
"...Heh."
He had originally planned to let Toki continue for a little longer.
The man still had several visually impressive techniques left.
Ren would have allowed him to use them.
Then he would stage a dramatic counterattack.
But if Toki was getting impatient...
Fine.
Ren would stop being considerate.
He watched.
Not Toki's hands.
Not the dragon.
His breathing.
His chakra rhythm.
His posture.
Anger had disturbed all three.
There.
A tiny pause.
Ren's center of gravity dropped.
His right hand moved toward the short sword on his back.
Toki's eyes widened.
Ren twisted his waist.
Drew.
And slashed.
SHING—!!
For a fraction of a second, there was only light.
A brilliant silver arc crossed the battlefield.
The White Fang's blade struck the stone dragon directly across its head.
BOOM—!!!
The collision detonated like an explosive tag.
A circular shockwave ripped outward.
Dust.
Mud.
Stone fragments.
Everything exploded in every direction.
The spectators nearest the battlefield instinctively raised their arms to cover their faces.
"What happened?!"
"I couldn't see!"
"That blade—!"
Then the dust shifted.
The entire arena fell silent.
The stone dragon had stopped.
A crack appeared across its head.
Then another.
Then dozens.
Crack.
Crack-crack-crack!
The massive Earth Stone Dragon shattered from the head downward.
Its head collapsed first.
Then nearly half its body disintegrated into fragments.
One slash.
Ren had destroyed it with one slash.
Toki stared.
"What...?"
His face went pale.
"One strike?"
Ren didn't answer.
Stone fragments were still raining from the air when his hands began forming seals.
Rat.
Ox.
Tiger.
Only three.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"
SPLASH—!!
Water erupted into existence.
A huge stream spiraled upward before condensing into the shape of an enormous blue dragon.
Its head formed.
Then its neck.
Scales rolled across its body.
Clawed limbs emerged from the swirling current.
The dragon raised its head.
ROAR—!
Water vapor filled the battlefield.
Several shinobi in the stands immediately stood.
"Water Dragon Bullet?!"
"Only three hand seals?!"
Normally, the Water Dragon Bullet Technique required an absurdly long sequence of seals.
But three days earlier, Hiruzen Sarutobi had personally taught Ren the technique.
And now—
Ren had apparently mastered it.
In three days.
At least, that was what everyone watching would believe.
Ren thrust one hand forward.
"Go!"
The water dragon attacked.
BOOM—!
It tore across the battlefield, washing away the remaining mud beneath it as it charged directly toward Toki.
"So fast!"
Toki's expression changed drastically.
His hands slammed against the ground.
"Earth Release: Earth Style Wall!"
RUMBLE!
A thick earthen barrier rose.
The water dragon hit it.
BANG!
The wall trembled.
For one second, it held.
Then cracks spread across its surface.
Toki's eyes widened.
"No—"
CRASH!
The Earth Style Wall collapsed.
The water dragon burst through.
And struck Toki directly.
BOOM—!
His body was swallowed by the torrent.
"PFFT!"
Blood flew from his mouth as the water carried him across the battlefield.
He slammed into the protective barrier surrounding the arena.
The impact sent water exploding nearly ten meters into the air.
Ripples spread across the barrier.
The audience shouted in alarm.
Toki fell.
THUD.
He landed heavily on the soaked ground.
For several seconds, he didn't move.
Then his fingers twitched.
He pushed one hand beneath himself.
Slowly—
Painfully—
He tried to stand.
Ren gave him credit for that.
Toki's chakra was nearly exhausted.
His body had taken a direct hit from a B-rank Water Release technique.
And he still intended to fight.
Unfortunately...
Ren wasn't finished.
His hands formed another seal.
Heat suddenly rolled through the arena.
Toki froze.
The water covering the battlefield began to steam.
FWOOSH—!
Flames gathered beside Ren.
They twisted upward.
Expanded.
Then took shape.
A second dragon appeared.
But this one was made entirely of fire.
"Fire Release: Grand Dragon Fire Technique!"
ROAR—!!
The blazing dragon raised its head.
Compared with the water dragon from moments earlier, it was even larger.
More violent.
More imposing.
Heat distorted the air around it.
The spectators stared in disbelief.
Water.
Then fire.
Two enormous dragons.
Ren had originally considered using both techniques simultaneously.
A water dragon and a fire dragon attacking together.
A perfect double-dragon spectacle.
Unfortunately, reality had limitations.
Simultaneously controlling Fire Release and Water Release while maintaining both elemental transformations was considerably more difficult than simply having the chakra affinity for each.
Perhaps someone with Boil Release could accomplish something similar more naturally.
Ren couldn't.
Not yet.
But one after the other?
That was more than enough.
Toki stared at the enormous flame dragon.
He had only just managed to get onto one knee.
His chakra reserves were almost empty.
His defensive ninjutsu had already been broken.
And the next attack would almost certainly put him in the hospital.
Possibly somewhere worse.
The anger disappeared from his face.
What remained was exhaustion.
And resignation.
Toki raised one hand.
"...I surrender."
The flame dragon remained suspended beside Ren.
Shikaku immediately stepped forward.
"Enough."
He looked toward Ren.
"The match is over."
Then his voice rose across the entire arena.
"Winner—Konoha's Ren!"
For one heartbeat, silence filled the stadium.
Ren lowered his hands.
The enormous fire dragon collapsed into a storm of flames.
Then—
The arena exploded.
"HE WON!"
"REN WON!"
"THOSE DRAGONS WERE INSANE!"
"Water Release and Fire Release!"
"Did you see the Water Dragon Bullet?! Three seals!"
"Three!"
"How does someone cast that technique with three hand seals?!"
"Konoha's geniuses are monsters!"
"Iwagakure never had a chance!"
Cheers rolled through the stands like a tidal wave.
Near the edge of the spectator area, Asuma and Obito stared blankly at the battlefield.
Their mouths were slightly open.
Neither spoke.
They were among the people who understood Ren's abilities best.
Or at least they had believed they were.
But every time Ren fought seriously—or even semi-seriously—their understanding of his strength seemed to become outdated again.
Obito finally muttered,
"...Since when could he do that?"
Asuma slowly shook his head.
"I've stopped asking."
Beside them, Rin and Kurenai visibly relaxed.
Rin's shoulders loosened.
A bright smile appeared on her face.
Kurenai's eyes remained fixed on Ren as he stood amid the settling steam and dust.
Farther above, Tsunade sat beside Shizune with her arms folded.
The corner of her mouth curved upward ever so slightly.
"Hmph."
Shizune glanced at her.
Tsunade immediately flattened her expression.
"Too flashy."
She scoffed.
"Exactly like that idiot Jiraiya. Always trying to make everything dramatic."
A pause.
Then she added,
"But..."
Her eyes returned to Ren.
"...it was acceptable."
Meanwhile, a completely different argument had already begun inside Ren's system.
[Grand Dragon Fire Technique: Hmph! See? In the end, you still needed me to finish things. No defense can stand before this young lady!]
[Phoenix Sage Fire Technique: ...]
A dangerous heat seemed to radiate from the message.
Then—
[Phoenix Sage Fire Technique: Waaaaah! Why didn't you use me?!]
[Phoenix Sage Fire Technique: There were thousands of people watching!]
[Phoenix Sage Fire Technique: I wanted to show off too!]
[Phoenix Sage Fire Technique: This is unfair!]
Ren's eyelid twitched.
Another message appeared.
[Water Dragon Bullet · Tobirama Version: Acceptable. I am satisfied with this arrangement.]
[Water Style: Raging Waves Technique favorability +2]
[Current Favorability: 95/100]
Then came another.
[Clone Technique: ...]
No words.
Just an almost tangible sense of resentment.
Ren sighed internally.
Yes, yes. Everyone did wonderfully.
I'll use you next time.
Stop complaining.
He mentally threw out several perfunctory compliments until the noise finally began to settle.
Then he looked toward the opposite side of the battlefield.
Two Iwagakure shinobi had entered the arena and were helping Toki away.
Toki looked exhausted and humiliated, but there was no hatred in his expression.
Ren had given him a proper stage.
He had allowed him to demonstrate his strength.
And when the time came to finish the battle, Ren had given him the opportunity to surrender.
That was enough.
Ren turned.
Under thousands of gazes—admiring, excited, jealous, calculating, and wary—he walked calmly toward the competitors' rest area.
The cheers continued behind him.
Yet while most spectators were still discussing the spectacular water and fire dragons, the experienced shinobi in the stands were thinking about something else entirely.
Needle Jizo.
Advanced shurikenjutsu.
Fire Release.
Water Release.
Kenjutsu capable of destroying a B-rank Earth Release construct in one blow.
Medical ninjutsu.
And Ren was only ten years old.
For the first time, several foreign shinobi stopped looking at him as merely a talented child.
Their expressions became serious.
Because genius was one thing.
But a ten-year-old who already had almost no obvious weakness was something else entirely.
And the Chunin Exams were not over yet.
----------------------------------------------
Extra chapters available in Patreon⚡
[Www.patreon.com/Samurai492 ]"
_________________________________