Obito-Style Fire Release

The second stage of the Chunin Exam: team battle matches!

Rin and Kakashi anxiously waited for the king of tardiness, Obito. There were only five minutes left before the second exam, yet Obito was nowhere to be seen.

"Don't tell me Obito is late again?" Duke asked kindly. He could still help out with yesterday's written test, but today he was powerless. The matches involved physical contact, and his Ice Clone would be exposed.

"Hehe!"

Rin gave a dry laugh and secretly glanced at the clock. Three minutes remained. Kakashi paced back and forth in agitation, scratching his silver hair into a bird's nest. Obito was driving him insane.

"I'm heading back to my team first. See you later—and... good luck."

As Kakashi and Rin remained trapped in anxious anticipation, Duke tactfully walked away and joined Aisuma and the others to study the match roster. As the name implied, the team battle matches pitted two squads against each other; the winners advanced to the next round, while the losers were eliminated.

Duke looked over the brackets and found them rather interesting. Nearly every team would face a Genin squad from its own village in the first round. Supposedly, the matchups had been decided by lot by the squad leaders—fair, impartial, and transparent, with no human interference. Anyone with half a brain would remain skeptical. It was far too fake. Not even a kindergarten would try to fool children so clumsily.

The Shixiao Squad's match came early. Their opponents were Ibiki, who had helped Duke tremendously during the written test, and two nameless extras. (In the original story, it was the tuberculosis-ridden Hayate. Judging backward from his age at death, he should only be three or four years old now, so he would not appear here.)

A team made up of commoners faced Konoha's current strongest squad of privileged second-generation kids. The outcome was obvious. Asuma and Kurenai slaughtered their opponents from start to finish, while Duke assisted them with a few cover maneuvers, and they easily claimed victory.

After that came Genin matches from other ninja villages. Several small villages were eliminated in the first round. The victorious Sand Ninja and Rain Ninja were thoroughly disgusted by the draw; their victories had been built upon the blood and tears of their own village's ninja, so they could not feel happy even after winning. The plan to make Konoha lose face badly in this exam ended in failure.

"Kakashi, Rin!" Obito came running over in a cloud of dust.

"Great, I'm not late." Since the team match had not begun yet, Obito wiped his sweat in relief.

"Idiot, you're already an hour late! If our match hadn't been scheduled so late, we would've been eliminated long ago for lacking enough people!" Kakashi transformed into a roaring beast, wildly spraying Obito with saliva.

"Don't get worked up, Kakashi. This means our luck is good. Even heaven is on our side. We'll definitely get an ideal result today." Rin grabbed Kakashi and gently tried to persuade him.

"Yeah, Kakashi, you need to learn to stay calm." Obito wiped the spit from his face and shamelessly said, "Relax. Everything is going according to my plan."

At those words, Kakashi's nerves, which had only just calmed down, snapped again. "Bastard, I'm definitely going to kill you today."

"I had a reason I had to be late." Obito could only explain, "There was an old lady visiting relatives at Konoha Hospital. Her hands and feet weren't very convenient, so I kindly helped carry her things. Oh, right, she even gave me a piece of candy. Good deeds really do bring good rewards!"

After saying that, Obito pulled out the candy and stuffed it into his mouth, his face full of bliss. Kakashi could only let it go. Helping lonely elderly people was a fine tradition in Konoha, and such behavior deserved encouragement. Even Captain Minato could not criticize it, much less him.

"Match seventeen is starting! What are you three still standing around for?" the match proctor roared. The three immediately hurried over and stood at attention.

Including Duke, every Konoha Genin focused their attention on this match for one reason only: Konoha's greatest prodigy, Kakashi, was taking the field. Everyone looked forward to seeing his performance.

"Kakashi is so popular. As expected of the youngest Genin in Konoha's history," Kurenai said with repeated clicks of her tongue.

"I'm pretty amazing too!" Asuma felt a little jealous. Driven by male instinct, he did not like Kurenai praising another boy.

"You have no popularity because you're ugly," Duke added, stabbing straight through his heart.

Asuma was stunned. Pointing at his own face, he found it impossible to accept. "Kakashi's mask covers half his face, while I don't have anything covering mine. How could I possibly be worse-looking than him?"

"It's precisely because you don't have anything covering your face that I said you're ugly." Duke shook his head. Asuma was still so ignorant. As his friend, Duke felt it necessary to lend him a hand. "Asuma, don't deceive yourself. Being ugly isn't your fault. You need to bravely face reality. When you realize you're both ugly and pathetic, don't be sad, don't be upset. At least your judgment is correct."

"Who would face that kind of reality?! You say I'm ugly, but you... uh, you really aren't ugly." Asuma had swallowed expired chicken soup and wanted to fire back, but when he saw Duke's ridiculously beautiful face, he immediately fell silent.

"Hehe!" Kurenai covered her mouth and giggled.

Kakashi's team was facing the squad led by Might Guy. The other two members were Ebisu and Genma Shiranui, the future restrained teacher and Chunin Exam proctor. According to rumors, Genma had a beautiful younger sister named Mai, though no one knew whether that was true.

The match began. Might Guy charged forward first, flashing his gleaming molars as the engine of Youth blazed to life.

"Kakashi, my lifelong rival! Guided by fate, let us decide the victor!"

Kakashi ignored him. Instead, Obito leaped out and said disdainfully, "I'm clearly Kakashi's lifelong rival! You dead last, you've only been out of sight for a few days and you already dare act so arrogantly? You really don't take me seriously!"

"Aren't you the dead last?" Might Guy froze. It was true that he had been specially admitted, but his grades ranked only second from the bottom in class. Obito was firmly in last place, unshakable and unmatched.

Having his dirty secret exposed, Obito flew into a rage. "I'm not the dead last anymore! Let me show you how hard I've worked lately!"

"Fire Release: Great Fireball..."

Obito took a fierce breath, but suddenly his face flushed red before rapidly turning blue. The candy in his mouth had lodged in his throat, unable to go up or down. Just as he was about to choke to death, Might Guy saved his life.

"Konoha Hurricane!"

Obito caught the powerful kick squarely with his tender little face, protecting the teammates behind him. Borrowing the force of the blow, he spat out the candy stuck in his throat. Killing two birds with one stone—what a perfect battle plan. The Genin watching from the sidelines all felt inferior, while clutching their stomachs and laughing to express their boundless admiration.

"Ahahaha—"

"Is that guy an idiot?"

"I didn't think Konoha had someone so interesting!"

The ninja from other villages laughed with all their might, while the Konoha ninja all wore expressions that said they did not know him. Fortunately, Obito had passed out with foam at the mouth; otherwise, he surely would have been angered to death.

Rin was held up by Ebisu, while Kakashi faced two opponents alone and still held the absolute upper hand. Taijutsu, ninjutsu, swordsmanship, and combat experience far superior to that of other Genin—without Obito causing trouble, his talent as a ninja was displayed in full. His casually cast ninjutsu paired with efficient swordsmanship left Might Guy and Genma unable to resist. They were knocked down in no time, and Ebisu soon followed in their footsteps.

"So amazing. Rather than a team victory, it would be more accurate to call it Kakashi's victory alone."

"He graduated very early. He's completed far more missions than us, and his combat experience is beyond anything people his age can match."

"Konoha has a Genin like that?"

"It's frustrating, but he really is strong!"

"Even Konoha's Uchiha probably can't compare to him, right?"

"..."

Other than Kakashi's standout performance, Duke found the rest of the day's matches merely so-so. Nothing was exciting, and no one caught his eye. In truth, this year's Genin were exceptionally strong, all elites from their respective villages. Duke simply had standards too high, which was why he thought it all amounted to child's play.

When the matches reached the second round and ten of the forty teams had emerged victorious, the proctor declared the exam over. Everyone had more or less been injured, and there was no point in continuing. The third stage would begin half a month later. That half-month was for the Genin to recover from their injuries and gather intelligence. The proctor reminded them that the third stage would be an individual advancement match, and like the second stage, it would end after only two rounds. The Chunin Exam was not a breeding ground where Genin would fight until only one remained. Its original purpose was to observe whether Genin were qualified to become Jonin. Intelligence gathering, team matches, and individual matches—those were enough. There was no need to determine an ultimate champion.

"Individual battles. The match I've been waiting for is finally here."

Asuma was brimming with energy. In these matches, his team had not encountered any particularly strong opponents, and his confidence had soared. Among the Genin, he did not take anyone seriously except Duke and Kakashi.

"Don't get overconfident, Asuma!" Kurenai kindly warned. "A lot of people have held back their strength. They're much stronger than what you saw."

"I know that too. But Kurenai, they aren't the only ones holding back. So am I." Asuma struck a bodybuilder's pose. Unfortunately, the biceps on his skinny arms were still developing, making him rather unconvincing.

"Kurenai is right, Asuma. You're too proud. Be careful not to capsize in a ditch!" Duke swept his gaze over the oversized thick eyebrows in the distance, where Might Guy was embracing someone and shouting about Youth. Might Duy, whom Duke had been keeping an eye on, had performed terribly. He had been confused by a simple Illusion Technique and easily let his opponent draw first blood. Duke found it baffling and could only assume that Might Duy was hiding his strength, or that he did not want to strike too heavily against a ninja from his own village.

"This isn't pride. It's confidence. It's affirmation of my own strength," Asuma stubbornly insisted.

"Don't blame me for not warning you when you suffer later." Having said all he needed to say, Duke did not continue.

"Who besides you could make me suffer? Kakashi? That guy is only a tiny bit stronger than me. I have a way to deal with him." Asuma had no idea where his confidence came from. "And of course there's Kurenai. Kurenai's Illusion Technique is really powerful, hahaha..."

"He didn't listen at all." Watching Asuma throw back his head and laugh, Kurenai felt worried. This was not confidence. It was arrogance.

"He'll understand after he suffers a loss once. This Chunin Exam is the perfect opportunity for him to wake up. Luckily, our village is hosting this exam. The proctors won't let the Third Hokage's son be placed in real danger."

"There's something I find strange. From what I observed, I didn't find any Konoha Genin who matched the unbeatable powerhouse you mentioned. Did they hide themselves well, or..." Kurenai's expression turned peculiar. As a naturally meticulous Illusion Technique user, she possessed exceptional insight when it came to observation, yet she had found nothing. She had not discovered anyone capable of threatening Duke.

"There is a kind of person who may remain ordinary their entire life, but when they carry out their own ninja way, they become stronger than anyone else!"

"So that means this person doesn't exist?"

"Who knows? Maybe he'll never have a moment in his life when he carries out his ninja way!"

"..."