Summoning Beast: Taiyi!

"The assessment begins!"

Sarutobi Nagakawa loudly announced from outside the barrier.

Though he had no idea why Tang Ping was receiving such special treatment, he had no way to defy the higher-ups' arrangements.

Whoosh!

Kakashi lowered his body and charged forward.

Of course, he understood what this order meant.

But to keep the Hatake Clan from being disgraced again, no matter how unreasonable the order was, he had decided to carry it out. He could not repeat that person's mistakes.

Watching Kakashi rush straight at him, Tang Ping cursed inwardly.

Damn it!

Facing someone who completely ignored verbal persuasion, he genuinely wanted to cry.

Wasn't the world of Naruto supposed to be all about talking people down? Why didn't it work for him?

It seemed verbal persuasion only worked when paired with protagonist plot armor. For a nobody like him, he should stop dreaming.

But Tang Ping had no time to think further.

Even if his opponent was Kakashi, the famed "Fifty-Fifty," he had no intention of waiting to die.

He retreated rapidly while forming hand seals.

Though his seal speed was nowhere near that Uchiha Great Filial Son's flashy one-handed, eight-seals-per-second level, he could still manage several seals a second.

"Boar—Dog—Rooster..."

He quickly formed several seals.

"Summoning Technique!"

Tang Ping shouted softly as he slammed his right hand heavily onto the ground.

Whether he could survive against Kakashi before he evolved into "Fifty-Fifty" depended entirely on this technique.

That single Summoning Technique drained all his Chakra.

Fortunately, the technique did not consume much, since the other side could bear most of the cost. Otherwise, with his Chakra reserves, he would not have been able to use it.

Even a proper genin would have all their Chakra drained by a C-rank ninjutsu, on average.

That was why genin on the battlefield generally fought by throwing Shuriken and using kunai, rarely using Chakra to cast ninjutsu.

Never mind whether they knew any techniques—the consumption alone could drain them dry.

Boom!

White smoke erupted.

Kakashi, who was charging forward, instinctively stopped and backed away, muttering to himself.

So he isn't a dead last...?

After receiving the order, Kakashi had gathered intelligence and learned that Uchiha Tang Ping was completely dead last. He had not expected him to hide himself so deeply.

The smoke quickly dispersed!

A massive crow nearly as tall as a person now stood between them.

Its body was covered in interwoven golden-black feathers. Five upright golden plumes on its head formed a crown, and it possessed one more claw than an ordinary crow.

It looked rather strange!

But no one would mistake it for an ordinary crow.

"A Ninja Crow?"

Uchiha Fugaku muttered from a tree at the edge of the training ground.

As the Uchiha Young Clan Leader, he had only come to make an appearance today, yet he had not expected to witness this.

But he knew one thing clearly.

This Ninja Crow had definitely not been raised by the Uchiha Clan.

After all, the clan focused on nurturing the Ninja Cat Clan. Ninja Crows were only raised on a small scale within the clan, and there was no way one could be this powerful.

After summoning his greatest trump card, Tang Ping did something no one expected.

He suddenly shouted toward the edge of the training ground, toward Sarutobi Nagakawa outside the barrier.

"I surrender!"

Yes, he surrendered directly.

He had summoned his Summoning Beast only to create an opportunity to surrender, not to fight to the death.

Unfortunately.

Tang Ping noticed that his homeroom teacher merely watched his movements in confusion, with no intention of intervening.

Though the man was slick and evasive by nature, he would never stand by and watch a student fall into danger.

That left only one possibility.

The barrier!

It could not only prevent the battle's aftershocks from spreading, but also block sound, completely denying him the chance to call out his surrender.

Damn it!

Tang Ping was furious inside—that old bastard Danzo clearly wanted me dead!

But no amount of anger would help. He first had to overcome the crisis before him.

Because Kakashi charged at him again, killing intent blazing in his eyes.

Hmph!

Since you want me dead, I'll make you die first.

All the fear and unease Tang Ping had suppressed for so long erupted completely.

He wanted to lie low only because he knew how dangerous this ninja world was. It was not because he truly wanted to die. Now that someone had crossed his bottom line, it was no wonder he suddenly snapped.

No matter how many concerns or fears he had, they were worthless before a life-threatening danger right in front of him.

"Taiyi, kill him!"

Tang Ping ordered as he pulled farther back.

His combat ability truly was not strong, so his dead-last performance had not been fake at all.

Otherwise, did he really think those experts could not see through a Ninja Academy Student's level?

Caw!

Upon receiving the order, Taiyi—the Ninja Crow—had its pupils abruptly turn golden-red as it locked onto the rapidly approaching Kakashi.

Whoosh, whoosh!

Several Shuriken flew toward Tang Ping first.

Whoosh!

But Taiyi spread both wings, and the massive gale they whipped up blew the Shuriken away.

Size equaled strength!

That formula was the truth in the ninja world.

A Ninja Beast's size did not represent everything, but a larger body definitely carried enormous advantages.

Kakashi vanished amid the gale as he rushed forward.

Taiyi suddenly raised its right claw. Intense flames wrapped around it as the claw came crashing down.

Bang!

The ground within several meters of the descending claw shattered, while vast flames burst forth like a fountain.

Seeing Taiyi's display of power, everyone from the same class was utterly stunned.

"So strong!"

"Am I under a genjutsu?"

"How could Tang Ping have such a powerful Summoning Beast? If it were mine..."

Beyond their shock, they were consumed by envy, jealousy, and resentment. They wished such a powerful Summoning Beast belonged to them.

A powerful Summoning Beast could truly send a ninja to the peak of life.

The Three Sannin, Konoha's top-tier celebrity group, were the best example of that.

Even the others were so shocked, let alone his two best friends.

Honda Taka and Yamaa Koji exchanged looks, wondering if the friend they usually saw had been an illusion, because he had always either skipped class or laid around doing nothing.

Just as everyone was stunned.

Whoosh!

A figure burst from the shattered ground and lunged at Taiyi.

It was Kakashi.

Clang!

The short blade in his hand was blocked by Taiyi's sharp beak.

Beak thrusts, claw strikes, wing sweeps!

Taiyi forcibly withstood Kakashi's swift and vicious assault.

And that was not all.

Whenever Kakashi tried to get around it, Taiyi, nearly as tall as a person, would take the initiative to attack and force him to defend himself.

Though it was a Ninja Crow, with the aid of its wings, its short-range aerial lunges were no slower than Kakashi's.

After several exchanges, it beat Kakashi until he was completely out of options.

Realizing taijutsu was useless against Taiyi, Kakashi leaped back to create some distance, then formed hand seals and took a deep breath.

"Fire Release: Flame Bullet!"

A fireball the size of a cartwheel shot from his mouth.

Take note: the Great Fireball Technique was an Uchiha secret technique. Compared to Flame Bullet, it was more powerful and consumed less Chakra. There were quite a few Fire Release secret techniques like it, which was why they had the right to call themselves the "strongest Fire Release clan."

Caw!

Facing the incoming Flame Bullet, Taiyi spread its wings and inhaled. The surrounding air suddenly surged.

Seeing this.

The ninja watching nearby panicked.

"That's...!"

"Stop it!"

"It's too late!"

They could tell from the momentum alone that the coming attack would not be weak. It posed no threat to them, but it was extremely deadly to a Ninja Academy Student who was not even a genin.

But with the Sealing Barrier in place, it was already too late for them to intervene.

Boom!

Violent waves of flame erupted forward from Taiyi, instantly swallowing the area several meters ahead.

Boom!

"Kakashi!!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi forcibly shattered the barrier and rushed into the training ground. Only after discovering that Kakashi had merely fainted from the heat did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.

On the other side.

Taiyi, having unleashed its full-power attack, ran out of Chakra and forcibly ended the summoning, vanishing away.

Whoosh!

Tang Ping was immediately surrounded.

"Uchiha Tang Ping, we suspect you are a spy from another ninja village. Come to the Anbu for investigation!"

The leading Anbu ninja shouted coldly.

Tang Ping did not argue upon hearing this, because he had no standing to do so.

In terms of status, he was only a Ninja Academy Student, not even a genin.

As for strength, even if he went all out, he was still below genin level. Even if Taiyi fought desperately, it could only threaten a chunin—and only against an enemy who knew nothing about it.

So whether in status or strength, he had no room to argue.

Reasoning with them?

Sorry, being a ninja was not a profession that cared about reason.

Still, he did not regret it.

Kakashi had attacked him just now with the determination to kill him.

Only those prepared to be killed had the right to kill!

Kakashi surely understood that principle as well.

The fact that he had survived Taiyi's attack was entirely due to his own ability, not because Tang Ping had deliberately held back.

If you were trying to kill me and I still held back, I would be a complete idiot.

But Tang Ping did not hate Kakashi either.

Because the one who truly wanted him dead was not Kakashi, but that old bastard Danzo.

He had not expected that after hiding for so long, he still had not escaped.

Just as Tang Ping was considering whether to take a desperate gamble.