Golden Crow Style Taijutsu!

"Begin!"

After making the announcement, Minato Namikaze immediately used the Body Flicker Technique to leave, returning to the edge of the arena beside Pakura and Kitsuchi.

Tang Ping leaped backward at once to open up distance, his hands beginning to form seals.

Against an opponent skilled in the Cloth Binding Technique, engaging at close range would be giving her every opportunity to shine.

Of course, that would be another matter if she knew Adamantine Sealing Chains.

But her Cloth Binding Technique was merely a beggar's version of Adamantine Sealing Chains—not even worthy of being called a knockoff.

Fire Release: Flame Bullet!

Tang Ping opened with a C-rank ninjutsu bombardment, giving his opponent no chance to calmly deploy her Sealing Technique.

Having studied Sealing Technique with Kushina Uzumaki for some time, he had gained a much deeper understanding of such special techniques, making them far easier for him to handle.

Boom!

A Flame Bullet the size of a cartwheel blasted apart the ground where the Sunagakure girl had been standing.

"So powerful!"

"As expected of a genius who made it through the previous rounds!"

"He's a Konoha genin? Why have we never seen him before?"

The spectators in the stands naturally grew excited at the sight of such an impressive ninjutsu.

This was exactly what they had come to see.

Genjutsu battles and the like might have been more dangerous and powerful, but to them, they were naturally far less entertaining than flashy ninjutsu.

Their conversation also made Tang Ping's reputation clear.

He was a complete nobody.

That was the difference between having the village promote you and not having it do so.

If he had been part of the Hokage Faction, he might have long since been given the title of "genius."

Whoosh!

The sound of something cutting through the air came from behind him.

Before his change in mindset, Tang Ping might have panicked somewhat.

But after experiencing death at such close range, he could now face this kind of situation calmly.

Whoosh!

Flames ignited around his right hand. Then he spun and leaped up, using the momentum to swing his right arm backward.

Golden Crow Style Taijutsu: Oni Burning!

Bang!

The strike knocked aside the white cloth winding toward him.

Tang Ping pressed his advantage without mercy. The moment he landed, he dashed forward several steps like lightning, grabbed his opponent by the throat with his still-burning right hand, and lifted her up as a large amount of flame poured into her body.

Golden Crow Style Taijutsu: Koto Moon Sun!

The effect of this stance was simple.

It injected flames into the opponent's body, then made them erupt instantly, blasting apart the target in his grasp.

Brutal and powerful.

It could only be said that Tang Ping had not spent this time solely developing ninjutsu while neglecting taijutsu.

More importantly, he had seen a lot and had plenty of wild ideas!

The fighting moves he had seen in games before his transmigration could all be recreated with some effort.

Before his transmigration, those moves would have had no possibility of being used in reality.

But in the ninja world, a world with all-powerful Chakra, those fighting moves had a chance of becoming reality.

Moreover, Tang Ping could have Uchiha Shizuka help him test how Chakra could be used in conjunction with the moves, saving him time and effort.

That was why he had developed quite a few powerful taijutsu techniques lately.

Whether it was the defensive Oni Burning or the brutal Koto Moon Sun, both were taijutsu techniques he had developed himself.

He named this kind of Nintaijutsu, which used flames as support, the Golden Crow Style.

With Flame Fist, he could bring the effects of this Nintaijutsu to their fullest.

Boom!

The body Tang Ping held was blown apart from within by flames.

Yet he did not rejoice at the destruction of his target.

Because the feel was wrong!

The fact that all three chief examiners had failed to react already said everything.

If she had truly been facing death, leaving the others aside, Pakura would definitely have stepped in to save her disciple.

That was her disciple—a bond even closer than blood. How could she possibly have remained indifferent?

"Cloth Binding Sealing Formation!"

A woman's sharp shout rang out.

At the same time, the ground beneath Tang Ping abruptly turned white, and strips of white cloth coiled around him like giant pythons.

Only then did Juan emerge from behind an upright camouflage cloth.

Visual deception!

From behind, anyone would have spotted her easily.

But from Tang Ping's angle, he had no way of seeing Juan crouched behind the camouflage cloth.

As expected of Pakura's disciple.

Those few moves alone could have caught even a Chunin off guard.

"I won!"

Seeing Tang Ping wrapped up like a zongzi in her white cloth, Juan began to relax.

All she needed to do was step forward and place a seal on him to end the battle.

But the moment she approached, she sensed that something was wrong.

Bang!

A fist wreathed in raging flames burned through the white cloth and sent her flying.

Golden Crow Style Taijutsu: Wild Bite!

It used flames to increase the explosive force of a punch while adding extra damage.

That blow sent Juan flying more than ten meters, and the sound of bones shattering could be heard clearly.

One-punch KO!

The battle ended with that single punch.

Juan had been knocked unconscious, so the fight could only end there.

Tang Ping did not dare to step forward and finish her off, either. She was not someone without backing.

Her teacher was watching from the side.

If he really dared to take the opportunity to strike again, it would not be impossible for her teacher to "accidentally" slip up while stopping him.

An Elite Jonin, perhaps even a Quasi-Kage-level powerhouse, was not someone he could handle at his current stage.

It was only because Minato Namikaze was here that he dared to act without so many reservations.

It could only be said that the third round was not merely about fighting and killing—it was also about connections and social considerations.

Against contestants from small ninja villages, he could strike hard, and they could only endure it meekly.

But when facing opponents from major ninja villages with backgrounds of their own, he had to think things through more carefully.

That was why clear-headed Tang Ping did not pursue. Instead, he took several steps back to make his stance clear.

Seeing Tang Ping's actions from the edge of the arena, Minato Namikaze's eyes filled with approval.

Someone with a truly reckless temperament would not survive long on the battlefield.

The most typical example was Nawaki Senju. He had died directly in an Exploding Tag trap. If not for the Senju name, he would definitely have become a textbook cautionary tale.

"Juan... Juan, are you all right?"

Pakura used the Body Flicker Technique to appear beside Juan, who had been sent flying by Wild Bite.

An ordinary person would have died beyond doubt from that blow.

But ninjas had Chakra, so even though the attack could smash apart a wooden dummy, it was not beyond saving.

"...Teacher?"

The first thing the unconscious Juan saw upon waking was her own teacher.

"I'll take you to the infirmary now!"

Seeing that her disciple was all right, Pakura finally relaxed. She picked Juan up and quickly left.

The rules of the competition were meant to restrain small ninja villages, not major ninja villages.

Only after Pakura carried her disciple away did Minato Namikaze step forward to announce the result.

"The match is over. Uchiha Tang Ping is the winner!"

Pakura's intervention represented Sunagakure's automatic forfeiture. Announcing it now was merely giving them some face.

The Konoha villagers in the audience found this result extremely surprising.

"How is that possible?!"

"Never saw that coming!"

"Were all those rumors false?"

Uchiha Tang Ping!

He was Konoha's notorious "Dead Last," a "waste"—so much so that many villagers used him as a bad example when scolding their own children.

Before this, everyone had assumed Tang Ping had only made it into the third round by riding Kakashi's coattails.

But this one-on-one battle had made them realize that he did not seem to be anything like the rumors claimed.

Tang Ping did not waste any time either. Once his victory was announced, he headed straight back to the contestants' stands to rest.

There were still several rounds of battles ahead. He needed to recover as much as he could.

At the same time, he began calculating the gains from this match in his heart.