Five Minutes

Haruno Kizashi's "Perfect Defense" created a vacuum zone directly around his body; those weak "Phoenix Sage Fire" fireballs were scattered by the scythe-wind before they even traveled halfway.

Taking advantage of his opponent's hesitation, Haruno Kizashi did not falter, dragging his giant scythe as he used a Body Flicker technique to close the distance.

The attack range of a scythe twice his height was not to be underestimated. With a single horizontal sweep, a deep bloody gash was left across the chest of the genin, who had failed to dodge in time.

However, this genin was not one of those ordinary genin trapped in endless D-rank missions; having just returned from the front lines of Kikyo City, his combat experience was at its peak.

Facing the second incoming scythe-wind, he quickly lowered his center of gravity, pushing off with his back foot and pivoting with his front, moving in a Z-shaped pattern through sheer coordination.

This low-to-the-ground, body-flicker style made it impossible for Haruno Kizashi's giant scythe to easily lock onto the target, allowing the genin to quickly close in on him.

Yet, just as the genin threw a shuriken as a feint and lunged forward with a kunai, Haruno Kizashi squeezed the handle of his weapon. The long, giant scythe rapidly retracted, shrinking down to a quarter of its original size.

Haruno Kizashi was able to spin the shrunken scythe with one hand; after quickly deflecting the incoming shuriken, he channeled his chakra and struck his lunging opponent with a single, decisive blow.

This scythe was no cheap trinket; it was a custom-made mechanical weapon that Haruno Kizashi's parents had paid a high price for in the Land of Artisans.

Although it lacked the ability of Touma's black iron rod to stretch and deform at will, it was more than sufficient to facilitate a variety of flexible, tactical maneuvers.

The Haruno family was not short on money; they were a well-known merchant family in the Land of Fire, and having finally produced a child with decent ninja talent, they were determined to support him with everything they had.

The four sets of ninja tools Haruno Kizashi used, each tailored for different combat templates, were all custom-ordered by the Haruno clan in the Land of Artisans, costing a massive sum of several hundred thousand ryo.

Some might ask, if these four mechanical tools cost hundreds of thousands of ryo, wouldn't Touma's black rod—which could stretch and deform at will using chakra—be even more expensive?

It was indeed more expensive. Touma remembered that when he was three or four years old, several ninja tool brokers had come to their home to beg his mother, Takako, to sell the black rod, with offers reaching as high as a million ryo.

However, faced with the temptation of such a huge sum, Takako chose to hold onto the memory of her late husband rather than trade the rod for money.

According to what Takako knew, the process by which Dou Huan had originally obtained the black rod was entirely a matter of luck.

Dou Huan had received it as a prize while participating in a watermelon-smashing game during the Summer Festival on Tanzaku Street. At the time, the black rod was merely a consolation prize; it was only after Dou Huan brought it home and accidentally infused it with chakra that he discovered its unique properties.

Dou Huan did not know what material the black rod was made of. He had once taken it to Manten-do for appraisal, but even they could not provide a definitive conclusion.

The appraiser only speculated that it might contain a small amount of Chakra Proliferation Alloy, which allowed the rod to deform at will under chakra control, but they could not estimate the exact composition or its true value.

Touma had also speculated that there were few abilities in the original story that could freely change size and shape; the only one that came close was the black-eyed dōjutsu of Ōtsutsuki Isshiki, "Sukunahikona." Surely, this black rod couldn't be a divine artifact of Ōtsutsuki Isshiki!

Haruno Kizashi's match was declared over once his opponent's chakra was exhausted. The fight had featured a few reversals, sweeping away the gloom the spectators felt after the consecutive losses in the first two matches.

Aburame Shibi was ranked thirty-fifth, but his luck was rather poor; he drew a chunin—and a capable one at that, a ninja named Kizashi Moku who was about to participate in the jonin promotion exam.

Kizashi Moku was no nobody in Konoha; he was the idol and goal for many civilian ninjas.

Back when he graduated from the Ninja Academy, his instructor had once declared that, given his talent, he would be limited to a genin for the rest of his life.

In truth, beyond his mediocre aptitude and narrow meridians that couldn't hold enough chakra, his nerve reflex speed was also very slow. This made him prone to being caught and defeated by opponents during taijutsu exchanges because he couldn't keep up with their speed.

The instructor hadn't been malicious; he simply wanted the student to choose a different path and not waste his life as a combat ninja, suggesting that the Intelligence Division's analysis or code-breaking departments could better utilize his abilities.

However, Kizashi Moku did not accept his fate. He began spending vast amounts of time studying human anatomy and scouring ancient books for a solution.

Hard work pays off. In the sixth year after graduation, just as he reached adulthood, he saw a glimmer of hope for solving his meridian issues.

According to the materials he found, a predecessor from the Warring States period had successfully found a way to solve the problem.

The method involved a combination of internal and external practices: using a breathing technique to guide chakra to vibrate at high speeds within the meridians, while consuming nourishing secret medicines to enhance the resilience of the meridians, thereby continuously raising the upper limit of chakra storage.

Unfortunately, that predecessor from the Hagoromo clan was too old, and the effects of repeatedly exercising his meridians were not very significant, failing to truly solve his own problem. However, according to his theory, as long as the practitioner was young enough, the results would surely be far better than his!

Of course, this Hagoromo predecessor only left behind the general principles and the concept of the secret medicine formula; he provided no details on how to use the breathing technique to guide chakra, how to use chakra to vibrate the meridians, or what the specific ingredients for the medicine were.

Yet, faced with this dilemma of having no answers, Kizashi Moku did not give up. Instead, he crammed basic medical ninjutsu and herbal knowledge, and he actually succeeded in perfecting this meridian-expansion technique.

After several years of cultivation, at the age of 27, Kizashi Moku successfully trained himself to possess an average level of chakra for a chunin.

After another three years of training, the 30-year-old Kizashi Moku had been specially approved by the Third Hokage to have his name added to the list of candidates for the jonin squad.

Coupled with the intentional and unintentional publicity from the Hokage's office, Kizashi Moku's popularity among civilians and civilian ninjas was very high.

Therefore, when he appeared in the center of the arena, the spectators spontaneously gave him a warm round of applause, turning the cheeks of the slightly socially anxious Kizashi Moku bright red.

Of course, facing a ninja of this caliber, the judging panel in the VIP box could not possibly expect the newly graduated Aburame Shibi to secure a victory.

If such a low-probability event were to occur, it would either mean Kizashi Moku was holding back significantly, or that Aburame Shibi had been replaced by someone else.

After all, the Aburame clan had never been a clan skilled in direct combat. Their ninjas were positioned within the village to be responsible for gathering and transmitting intelligence and providing battlefield perception within a certain range; they were never classified as combat-type ninjas.

Therefore, after balancing the combat power of both sides, the judging panel limited the fight to five minutes. As long as Shibi could last five minutes against the senior Kizashi Moku, he would be judged to have successfully passed the exam!