The battle turned around in an instant. Ringo Ameyuri, who had clearly been on the verge of defeat, successfully turned the tables at the last moment, drawing astonished exclamations from quite a few genin watching nearby.
Even Deidara nodded to himself. "It was just a little short, yeah!"
"Yeah. Hanaka was really strong. What a shame."
Da Yan behind him nodded repeatedly as well.
As winners who had both participated in Iwagakure's selection battles, it was not as though they had never fought each other before.
Overall, the lineups of Iwagakure's two teams were actually very similar.
Each consisted of one Explosion Release user (Deidara: ???), one Lava Release user, and one genin specializing in Earth Release.
As the only two people on the teams without special abilities, Da Yan and Hanaka actually got along rather well.
After all, in a sense, neither of them could be considered a true "genius."
Because Iwagakure possessed highly refined training methods for all kinds of Kekkei Genkai compatible with Earth Release, true geniuses in the village could master a Kekkei Genkai suited to them at a very young age.
There were only two reasons one could not learn them. The first was poor learning ability, and the second was incompatible innate chakra affinities.
Ninety-nine percent of Iwagakure's ninjas were born with Earth chakra. Beyond that, the proportions declined in the order of Lightning, Fire, and Wind.
Those with Water chakra were practically rare animals.
Unfortunately, Da Yan and Hanaka possessed only a single Earth chakra affinity.
That meant they were fated to have no connection with Kekkei Genkai.
Even so, they had not given up on themselves. Instead, they idolized Kitsuchi, the Third Tsuchikage's son, and aspired to become Earth Release powerhouses like him.
However, the two had chosen different paths.
Da Yan