Head Pat

Silence.

At that moment, every sound vanished in an eerie hush, and everyone stared blankly at the scene before them.

Kakashi had lost far too quickly and easily. No one had expected that.

They knew Akiyama Shun was strong, and they'd considered the possibility that he could beat Kakashi.

But Kakashi was one of the top talents, too. They'd assumed the two would at least struggle against each other for a while.

Instead, the fight ended in no time!

Akiyama Shun had completely crushed Kakashi!

At that moment, many of the students felt even more relieved. Thank goodness they weren't number eleven.

The other students were just watching for fun, but Uzuki Yugao was different.

She practiced Konoha Style Swordsmanship, and when she saw Akiyama Shun use that move, her small hand tightened around her sword.

The teachers watching from the sidelines were dumbfounded, too.

What had they just seen?

An A-rank sword technique from Konoha Style Swordsmanship: Dance of the Crescent Moon!

You could count on one hand the number of people in all of Konoha who knew that technique!

When had Akiyama Shun learned it, and how had he learned it!?

And what was that just now?

The students couldn't tell, but with their trained eyes, the teachers had recognized it at once: Shadow Clone!

He knew that, too!?

"Do you want to keep going?"

Akiyama Shun flourished his sword and sheathed it.

"Again!"

Kakashi got to his feet and quickly used the Body Flicker Technique to move away. He didn't pick up his short sword. Instead, once he was at a safe distance, he pulled out a Kunai.

Since Kakashi had chosen not to use a weapon, Akiyama Shun didn't use one either.

He put some force into his right arm and casually tossed his sword away. Its scabbard struck the ground and stood upright.

Seeing that Akiyama Shun was ready, Kakashi aimed the Kunai in his hand and threw it at him.

But while the Kunai was still in flight, Akiyama Shun had already thrown a Shuriken. It struck the airborne Kunai and blocked the attack.

Not only that, Kakashi noticed a faint glint between Akiyama Shun and the Shuriken.

Wire!

Akiyama Shun twisted the wrist holding the wire, sending the Shuriken and Kunai flying toward Kakashi at the same time!

Kakashi had no time to block. In a desperate move, he leaped to the side and dodged the attack.

"Fire Style!"

As soon as Kakashi regained his balance, his hands began moving rapidly!

"Snake–Goat–Monkey–Pig..."

Oh, so he was forming Hand Seals? Then I'll do the same!

"Fire Style..."

Seeing Kakashi prepare to use a jutsu, Akiyama Shun began forming Hand Seals, too. Even though Kakashi had started first, Akiyama Shun's hands were clearly faster.

"Goat–Horse–Snake–Dragon..."

The moment the two began forming Hand Seals, the crowd burst into cheers again.

These students had only been at the Academy for six months. When had they ever seen anything like this? Asuma had used Fire Release once before, but he'd completely overwhelmed his opponent, so there hadn't been much to watch.

This time was different. Akiyama Shun and Kakashi were evenly matched.

Both of them were forming Hand Seals, clearly preparing to clash with ninjutsu!

A battle of jutsu was always exciting!

Kazama Shinya watched from the sidelines, frowning.

He wasn't surprised that both of them could use ninjutsu. It wasn't as if he'd never seen talented ninja before.

But the Hand Seals Kakashi was using were familiar to him. They were the standard seals for the Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu, the first Fire Release jutsu many ninja with fire-nature chakra learned.

Asuma had used this jutsu earlier, for example.

But the seals Akiyama Shun was forming...

Wait!

By then, Akiyama Shun and Kakashi had both finished forming their Hand Seals. Strictly speaking, Akiyama Shun had been about 0.3 seconds faster.

"Fire Style: Great Fire Dragon Technique!"

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

As Kakashi released his chakra, a ball of orange flame, blazing with intense heat, surged toward Akiyama Shun.

Kakashi's Fireball Jutsu was a cut above Asuma's in both power and range.

Still, it was only a Fireball Jutsu.

An orange dragon's head made of flame, hotter than the fireball by far, slammed into it!

In front of Akiyama Shun's fire dragon, Kakashi's fireball was like a toy. It didn't even stand a chance. The moment they collided, the fireball was scattered!

The flaming dragon's head barreled through the fireball without the slightest loss of force and charged straight at Kakashi!

Even from over ten meters away, Kakashi could feel the terrifying heat coming from the orange-red dragon's head!

If that jutsu hit him...

"Water Style: Water Formation Wall!"

Just before the Fireball Jutsu could hit, Kazama Shinya had already moved in front of Kakashi.

As he released his jutsu, a wall of water formed around them.

When the Great Fire Dragon struck the Water Formation Wall, it let out a sizzling hiss as the water evaporated.

Kazama Shinya didn't dare stop feeding chakra into the jutsu until the Great Fire Dragon had vanished completely.

What the hell!

Even though he'd blocked Akiyama Shun's attack, Kazama Shinya still felt his scalp tingle.

It wasn't that blocking the attack had been particularly difficult. It was that a jutsu like the Great Fire Dragon was something a child Akiyama Shun's age shouldn't have been able to use!

And that was on top of the Shadow Clone and Dance of the Crescent Moon he'd used earlier...

Where the hell had I ended up?

Was this still a first-year Ninja Academy practical exam?

"Are you hurt?"

Akiyama Shun's weak yet concerned voice came from a distance.

The jutsu had been terrifying, but Akiyama Shun hadn't actually been trying to kill Kakashi. He also knew that it couldn't possibly kill him.

Besides Kazama Shinya, Sarutobi Hiruzen was probably spying on them through that Crystal Ball, and there were likely a few Anbu nearby, ready to step in if anything went wrong.

In short, Kakashi's life was in no danger. That wasn't something he needed to worry about.

Kazama Shinya looked over and saw that the whole stretch of ground had been scorched black by the intense heat. At the far end of the blackened path stood Akiyama Shun, who looked utterly exhausted.

That move had taken a huge amount of chakra from him, too.

"...I lost."

Kakashi's expression was bewildered, with a hint of helplessness.

He'd worked so hard to master ninjutsu so he could beat Akiyama Shun in practical class, only for his opponent to pull out something like that?

What else could he do?

He'd give him the win.

Hearing Kakashi concede, Kazama Shinya hurried over between them and loudly announced, "Akiyama Shun is the winner! Now, the two of you, perform the Seal of Reconciliation!"

Kazama Shinya spoke very quickly as he announced the result, eager to get it over with. He was afraid the two might want to fight again, and Akiyama Shun might pull out another incredible jutsu. He couldn't take any more surprises.

After Akiyama Shun and Kakashi performed the Seal of Reconciliation,

Akiyama Shun reached out and placed his hand on Kakashi's head, stroking it twice as Kakashi watched in confusion.

"...What are you doing?"

"Trying to cheer you up."

Hearing Akiyama Shun's words and feeling the hand still stroking his head, Kakashi couldn't hold it in anymore.

"I'll beat you next time!"

With that, he quickly ran off.

Heh heh heh!

This feels great!

Akiyama Shun grinned. Patting someone's head in real life was much more satisfying than doing it in a game.

When Akiyama Shun left the fighting area and walked toward the crowd, the students finally came to their senses. Their enthusiastic cheers soared into the sky!

"Akiyama Shun!"

"That was so cool, Akiyama Shun!"

"What was that jutsu? I heard 'Great Fire Dragon.' Isn't that a B-rank jutsu?"

"Haha, I knew you could do it!"

After Akiyama Shun's match ended, a few more students took the field to fight.

Their battles, of course, weren't nearly as intense as Akiyama Shun and Kakashi's.

Before long, the practical exam was over.

The scores for the practical exam were simple to calculate. Kazama Shinya just had to grade each student's performance, and the results were available right away.

There was no question about first place. It was Akiyama Shun.

Kakashi came in second. He'd lost to Akiyama Shun, but that didn't mean he was weak. His performance spoke for itself. Unless he was up against Akiyama Shun, even the whole class working together couldn't beat him.

Yuhi Kurenai came in fourth, just behind Asuma.