This is Youth!

No, it was not even a wall. The violent airflow was forcibly disintegrated by an invisible force half an inch from Ling Xuan's palm.

The wind-attribute chakra composing the tornado was instantly shattered, reduced to the most basic, harmless energy particles. As for the cutting currents that had been whipped up, they were smoothly guided to either side by another force.

In the end, the gale capable of destroying everything parted silently and tamely before Ling Xuan, like waves divided by the hand of a god; it did not even stir a single strand of his hair.

The wind stopped.

The entire arena fell into a deathly silence.

Everyone stared at this incredible scene, dumbfounded, their minds blank.

"Wh... what just happened?" a genin asked, stuttering.

"The wind... he... blocked it with his hand?"

"No, he didn't block it! It... it vanished! Temari's ninjutsu just... disappeared into thin air!"

"How... how is this possible?!"

Temari herself stood frozen in place, looking at her empty fan, then at the unscathed Ling Xuan, her eyes filled with incredulous horror.

Her strongest ninjutsu, the one she took the most pride in, had actually been... neutralized by the opponent with a single hand, so casually?

This completely exceeded the scope of her understanding!

"Your wind is ineffective against me."

Ling Xuan lowered his hand, calmly stating a fact.

His Eye of Truth had long since analyzed the energy composition, flow pattern, and core chakra frequency of the Kamaitachi Technique. What he had just done was not a brute-force block, but the release of a minute Annihilation Field with the exact opposite polarity to her chakra frequency.

This was a technique unique to him, one he could only execute after reaching a profound depth of understanding regarding chakra nature transformation.

It required instantaneous, precise calculation and control of energy down to the decimal point.

To others, this was a miracle.

To him, it was merely a simple math problem.

"What... what exactly... did you do?" Temari's voice trembled for the first time.

Ling Xuan did not answer her question.

His figure vanished from where he stood.

Temari's heart immediately went on high alert; without a second thought, she swung her fan, attempting to use the wind to protect herself.

But it was too late.

The moment she swung the fan, a cold hand had already silently pressed down upon her massive iron fan.

Ling Xuan had appeared before Temari at some point, his hand resting on the fan's surface, appearing to exert no effort at all.

Yet, Temari felt as if her fan were being crushed by a great mountain; no matter how much strength she used, she could not move it even a fraction of an inch.

"Your second weakness," Ling Xuan's voice sounded in her ear. "You are overly reliant on your weapon. Once you lose your fan, your combat effectiveness drops by at least seventy percent."

"Let go!" Temari was both shocked and furious. She abandoned the fan and drew a kunai with her other hand, stabbing toward Ling Xuan's chest.

However, Ling Xuan simply tilted his body slightly to dodge with ease, while the fingers of the hand pressing on the fan exerted force.

"Crack!"

The massive iron fan, forged from a special alloy, had its sturdy ribs forcibly cracked by his pure finger strength!

Temari's pupils shrank violently!

What kind of terrifying monster strength was this?

In the moment she lost her focus, Ling Xuan's other hand transformed into a hand-blade and struck the back of her neck.

Temari's vision went black, her body went limp, and she lost consciousness.

Ling Xuan caught her falling body, laid her gently on the ground, and then picked up the cracked iron fan, tossing it aside casually.

The entire process was fluid and clean; from his first move to the end of the fight, it took less than five seconds.

"..."

The entire arena remained in a deathly silence.

If Ling Xuan's neutralization of the Kamaitachi Technique had brought the crowd incomprehensible shock, then the overwhelming speed, power, and textbook-precise combat technique he displayed now filled everyone with a fear that reached the depths of their souls.

Is this really a genin?

Even an experienced jonin could not have won so easily, so effortlessly, could they?

"The... the winner is Ling Xuan!"

The proctor, Hayate Gekko, finally reacted after several seconds of stunned silence and announced the result.

Ling Xuan walked back to the viewing platform calmly, as if he had only performed a trivial task.

"Li... Ling Xuan... you... you're too amazing!" Naruto said, stuttering as he looked at him, his eyes filled with fanatical worship.

Sasuke silently clenched his fists. He looked at his own hands, calloused from training, then at the composed Ling Xuan, and for the first time, his belief in his own genius was shaken.

It was a sense of powerlessness, as unreachable as gazing up at the starry sky.

"Monster..." Gaara muttered from the corner, watching Ling Xuan with a raspy voice, the first spark of something called fighting spirit igniting within his hollow eyes.

On the second-floor viewing platform.

"Asuma, Guy... did you see his movements just now?" Kakashi's voice was grave, as it had never been before.

"I couldn't," Asuma shook his head with a bitter smile. "I only saw him raise his hand, and Temari's wind vanished; then, he was already standing right in front of her. His Body Flicker Technique... no, that wasn't a Body Flicker. It must be a more advanced movement technique."

"This is youth!" Guy-sensei's eyes welled with tears. "I never imagined that, aside from you, Kakashi, Konoha would possess such a powerful genius. The blood in my veins has already begun to burn!"

Only the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, watched the calm youth below while puffing on his pipe, his eyes deep and unfathomable; no one knew what he was thinking.

He can both comprehend the principles and apply the power...

Furthermore, these two aspects have already begun to fuse perfectly within him...

Ling Xuan... what exactly will you bring to this world...

The preliminaries continued after Ling Xuan's crushing victory.

Yet, all the subsequent matches seemed somewhat lackluster by comparison.

In the end, ten people qualified for the third official exam through the preliminaries.

They were Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Ling Xuan, Neji Hyuga, Shikamaru Nara, and Shino Aburame from Konoha; Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari from Sunagakure; and Dosu Kinata from the Sound Village.

"Very well, everyone," the Third Hokage stood up and addressed all the candidates who had passed the preliminaries. "Congratulations on earning your place in the final battle."

"The third exam will take place one month from now at the Konoha arena, where you will engage in one-on-one elimination matches before the feudal lords of various nations and all the spectators. The order of the matches will be determined by a draw."

"You may use this month to train as you please and improve yourselves. I look forward to seeing even more spectacular performances from you in a month's time."

With the Third Hokage's announcement, the long and brutal Chunin Exams preliminaries finally drew to a close.

But everyone knew that this was only the beginning.

A storm, gathering the strongest geniuses of the new generation, was currently brewing.