"Please confirm your opponents."
Genma Shiranui held a list for all the examinees to see.
There were eight teams in the entire Third Exam. Aside from Uchiha Itachi and Akihara Kagura, every other team was competing at full strength with three members.
The competition would consist of three rounds: eight to four, four to two, and two to one.
Unfortunately, Akihara Kagura and Uchiha Itachi had been assigned to different brackets. That meant that if these two examinees participating in the Chunin Ninja Exams alone wanted to meet, they would each have to make it through the first two rounds and single-handedly defeat two three-man teams.
"We're done for..."
"We're facing that brat in the first round..."
"Don't panic. We haven't wasted these past few days. We've all learned new ninjutsu. We might still have a chance to turn this around..."
The team facing Akihara Kagura in the first round immediately became restless.
Every team present had seen Akihara Kagura's performance in the Forest of Death. Every one of them believed their chances of defeating him were slim.
"We're facing that brat in the second round..."
"Damn it, we're the ones facing that brat in the second round!"
The two teams that might face Akihara Kagura in the second round also became restless.
"Why don't you all come at me together?"
Akihara Kagura could not help replying.
When it came to little matters like this, Akihara Kagura was always quite willing to help others.
"Hey, chief examiner!"
"Can you let all three teams come at me together?"
"Any other teams that want to fight me can come too!"
"..."
The examinees present all looked rather displeased.
"No."
Genma Shiranui swiftly rejected the proposal.
As the chief examiner of this test, Genma Shiranui had long heard some important details from his friends Namiashi Raidō and Aoba Yamashiro: a brat called Akihara Kagura was a major problem in the Chunin Ninja Exams, and he had to be watched carefully.
"The focus of this exam is not victory or defeat."
Genma Shiranui swept his gaze over everyone present and explained the meaning of the Third Exam once more. "Even the winner may not be promoted, and even the loser may still succeed in being promoted. The purpose of the assessment is to examine your team's tactics..."
"Understood."
The examinees gradually calmed down.
The first match happened to be Akihara Kagura's.
The moment the chief examiner announced the start of the test, the three opposing ninjas swiftly threw shuriken, trying to stop Akihara Kagura from forming hand seals!
"As long as we stop that brat from forming seals..."
"Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!"
Akihara Kagura had already brought his fingers together.
Roots burst from beneath the ground and rapidly grew into three enormous trees!
The three giant trees swiftly extended countless vines and branches toward the three opposing ninjas, quickly binding every one of them to the trunks!
"Why..."
"Such a powerful ninjutsu..."
"Only needs one hand seal..."
"There's no time to stop it unless we dispel his technique head-on..."
The three opponents looked listlessly at Akihara Kagura, who had not moved even a single step. Their faces were filled with frustration as they could not understand why his ninjutsu was so simple.
"Winner, Akihara Kagura!"
Genma Shiranui announced the winner with a frown.
The entire audience erupted in an uproar.
No one had ever seen a ninjutsu with such simple hand seals yet such overwhelming power. Those ninjas who had created ninjutsu themselves felt this even more deeply!
"Are all Wood Style Ninjutsu like this?"
Aoba Yamashiro stared at Akihara Kagura below, dumbfounded. "He only needs one hand seal to release a technique of this level?"
"Yeah, the technique can actually be even more powerful..."
Mitaraishi Anko stood beside Aoba Yamashiro and continued nonchalantly, "When I first saw it, that brat's Wood Style gave me quite a scare too..."
"These Genin examinees..."
Namiashi Raidō glanced over the other examinees and slowly continued, "Not one of them should be his match, if this ninjutsu does not consume much chakra..."
"Tenzo."
Kakashi Hatake looked at Tenzo standing beside him and asked, "I remember you have a similar technique. Its range seemed even larger than this one?"
"No... that's not it."
A bead of cold sweat appeared on Tenzo's forehead as he shook his head. "That technique is Wood Style: Birth of the Sea of Trees, which I simplified from the First Hokage's Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence. Both the hand seal sequence and its power are far inferior. Because I could not learn Deep Forest Emergence, I had no choice but to reduce the technique's power..."
"Theoretically, he has already learned this technique successfully, and it is even stronger than mine. Wood Style is life energy activated through chakra. I can sense that the life energy in the arena is far denser than that of my Wood Style..."
This technique...
Shimura Danzō had once taught it to Tenzo as well.
Unfortunately, Tenzo had not learned it. He had merely relied on his own understanding to develop the Wood Style Bloodline within his body and recreate the effect of Deep Forest Emergence.
Tenzo turned back to Kakashi Hatake, his face somewhat pale. "Senior Kakashi, this child's talent for Wood Style is actually far greater than mine. Shouldn't you consider..."
"Keep it up. You can definitely do it."
Kakashi Hatake calmly patted Tenzo on the shoulder.
It was not only the people in the audience who were in an uproar. The examinees in the arena all looked grim as well. A powerful ninjutsu that could be cast with a single hand seal was practically an overwhelming dimensional advantage against these Genin examinees.
After the first round ended, four teams remained in the arena.
However, the next team that had to face Akihara Kagura had already lost all confidence.
The only reason this team had remained was not because they had performed particularly well, but because their previous opponents had performed even worse.
"Maybe that technique consumes a lot of chakra?"
"But in the Forest of Death, that brat did not look like he lacked chakra. He even has another technique that can summon a Wood Dragon..."
"Don't lose heart!"
One Genin saw his two teammates looking dejected and tried desperately to persuade them. "Even though we'll definitely lose this match, maybe our performance in the last battle will still get us promoted!"
The second round: four to two.
Akihara Kagura's opponents in the second round met the exact same fate as the previous team. They were effortlessly hung from the trees.
Compared to Akihara Kagura's swiftly ended matches, Uchiha Itachi's battle against another team was far more interesting and drew a chorus of cheers from the arena.
Although Uchiha Itachi's battle against his opponents also ended in a crushing victory, he eliminated the three members of the opposing team separately with taijutsu, ninjutsu, and Genjutsu. Even the Third Hokage, who had been sitting upright on the main viewing platform, praised Uchiha Itachi's beautiful performance.
The third round: two to one.
The entire arena fell silent.
No one had expected the Chunin Ninja Exams to produce such a situation. The two examinees who had entered the exams alone had actually become the final opponents.
And...
The two children were exactly the same age.
Both children possessed top-tier Kekkei Genkai in the ninja world.
Someone in the audience let out a sigh, and it unexpectedly won the agreement of many others.
"The First Hokage Hashirama Senju, who once possessed the power of Wood Style, and Madara Uchiha, the Ninja God of War who once possessed the Sharingan..."
"With these two children standing here, they really do feel a little like those two figures from historical legends, as though this were a cycle of fate..."
Quite a few people in the audience seemed dissatisfied with the Uchiha Clan. Some even began muttering about history. "Perhaps their outcome will be the same as it was in history. Uchiha Itachi is unlikely to be a match for Wood Style..."
"Impossible!"
"Big Brother will definitely win!"
Second Pillar, sitting beside his mother, shouted in dissatisfaction. The brat's noisy voice was loud. "That guy can never be Big Brother's opponent!"
First update!
A fated encounter!
Before you continue