"...Hada Anna wins!"
With Gekko Hayate's announcement, silence once again descended upon the First Training Ground, and the entire venue fell into an eerie hush.
For a long, long time, no one reacted.
Only the white mist from the smoke bomb slowly spread, faded, and vanished.
In the end, aside from the pits left by footsteps and the shattered ground, it was as though nothing had happened.
Of course, Ikeda Ichiro still remained pressed against the wall. But after hearing that announcement, Hada Anna, who had been pinning him down with her knee and completely restricting his movements, lightly hopped down with a tap.
"Huh—? S-surrendered?"
That strange silence could not possibly last forever. Soon, a girl's incredulous, disbelieving cry shattered it completely.
At the same time, she voiced the thoughts in everyone's hearts—whether they were mature and steady, proud geniuses, or simply people who were not yet good at controlling their emotions.
Yeah!
That was it?
It ended just like that?
At that moment, nearly everyone had the same thought.
That was way too sudden!
Why had he surrendered?
Weren't they evenly matched? Wasn't there still hope? What kind of joke was this?
Even some experienced shinobi shared that doubt, whether they were Konoha staff, Anbu elites hidden in the shadows to protect the Hokage, or examinees and observers from other villages.
Perhaps to Konoha's newcomers, Ikeda Ichiro's tactic of throwing scrolls merely seemed novel and impressive. Coupled with the contrast between his ordinary appearance and the unexpectedly formidable strength he had displayed against a powerful opponent, they felt that he might have a chance to turn the tables.
It was simply because Ikeda Ichiro had exceeded their expectations, giving them the impression that a dark horse had emerged.
But for these people, it was different.
The Konoha staff