As the jōnin hosting the match left, the battle roster on the big screen shrank into a corner.
The footage of the selection matches appeared in the center of the screen.
The first match: Kagami Uchiha vs. Ryona Yamanaka.
On the field, Kagami Uchiha, wearing the Uchiha Clan Crest, and Ryona Yamanaka, a yellow-haired girl from the Yamanaka Clan, bowed to each other before the match began.
Ryona Yamanaka immediately used the Yamanaka Clan's Mind Body Switch Technique.
Kagami Uchiha, who had been forming Hand Seals to release a Fire Release technique, was taken over.
Just as Kagami Uchiha (Ryona Yamanaka) was about to raise her hand and surrender, a figure suddenly appeared behind Ryona Yamanaka's real body and pressed a kunai to her neck first.
Seeing this, the examiner immediately declared the result: Kagami Uchiha won!
In the Second Waiting Room, Yuto and Yun Fei hadn't understood what happened and voiced their confusion.
Xingzhuo explained, "A skilled Shadow Clone Technique can fool the Yamanaka Clan's secret technique. Kagami Uchiha used a genjutsu at the very start of the match, distracting Ryona Yamanaka for an instant. From that moment on, Kagami Uchiha's real body was already hiding behind Ryona Yamanaka. The outcome was decided right then."
The second match was Mitokado Homura vs. Hyuga Yueye.
Seeing the names on the big screen, Xingzhuo raised his eyebrows in surprise.
How did my brother, the one who'd been brought up all wrong, end up here too?
Last year, his chakra was only a few hundred, wasn't it? Had he already broken a thousand?
On the field, Mitokado Homura and Hyuga Yueye bowed to each other, then immediately sprang into action.
Mitokado Homura knew how terrifying the Hyuga Clan was in close combat, so he quickly retreated, intending to create some distance.
But Hyuga Yueye sent several empty-palm strikes his way, forcing Mitokado Homura to stop and dodge.
They closed the distance quickly. Mitokado Homura suddenly took out a Sealing Scroll and used an unsealing technique to retrieve the blades inside, hurling them at Yueye one after another.
But Yueye was a taijutsu ninja, with no shortage of speed or reflexes.
He quickly dodged the incoming blades, closing the distance between them.
Finally, when they were less than ten meters apart, Mitokado Homura leaped up and pulled out two more scrolls. He unfurled them both, raining all kinds of blades down on Hyuga Yueye from midair like a scattering of petals.
Hyuga Yueye's response was direct: he used Rotation to block them.
The two were locked in a contest, each trying to outlast the other's supply of blades and chakra.
Mitokado Homura soon ran out of blades, losing his most effective means of attack. Before he could use a ninjutsu, Yueye closed in and struck him in the chest with a palm, knocking him unconscious.
The examiner stepped forward and announced Hyuga Yueye as the winner of the second match.
None of the competitors in the next few dozen matches were people Xingzhuo knew.
But one thing was worth mentioning: at this stage, Konoha really had a great many geniuses.
Almost every clan had at least two geniuses.
Among them were even prodigies who were already approaching the level of a jōnin at a very young age!
They were the kind of geniuses who could hold their own against Kakashi from the original story!
They were only eleven or twelve years old, yet each one was more formidable than the last.
Of them all, Xingzhuo thought the strongest was a girl of fourteen or fifteen named Kureha Kurama.
Her illusion technique, blending the real and the unreal, had instantly taken down Foshou Yuhi, who came from another genjutsu family.
At last, it was Hyuga Yunfei's turn in the next round.
Before Yunfei left, Xingzhuo encouraged him. "Just do your best. Don't push yourself too hard."
Yuto, on the other hand, said the exact opposite. "Big Brother Yunfei, you've got to give it your all and beat them!"
Hyuga Yunfei pressed his lips together, then sincerely thanked Xingzhuo and Yuto before leaving the waiting room.
Soon, the two competitors on the big screen finished their match, and Hyuga Yunfei entered the field.
To everyone's surprise, his opponent was Shimura Danzō!
On the field, Shimura Danzō stared at Hyuga Yunfei with a gloomy expression and sneered.
"You're that cocky brat's lackey, aren't you? Even a nobody like you is qualified to enter the Genius Class selection?"
Hyuga Yunfei shook his head and brushed back his hair, revealing the Caged Bird Seal. Then he said coolly, "It's too early to say who the weakling is. Instead of wasting your breath, let's settle this with our fists."
In the waiting room, Yuto nervously grabbed Xingzhuo by the arm.
"Xingzhuo, do you think Big Brother Yunfei can win?"
"He can," Xingzhuo said confidently. "I guarantee it."
It was nothing like the first time they'd met the year before.
With Xingzhuo's guidance and resources, as well as their daily sparring sessions, Hyuga Yunfei's strength had improved dramatically.
Yunfei had originally been at the level of a Genin, but after a year, he'd already reached the level of an elite Chunin.
As for Shimura Danzō, Xingzhuo could tell that his chakra had only just reached the Chunin threshold. Even if he was a genius, could he really surpass Yunfei?
On the field, as soon as the referee announced the start, Hyuga Yunfei blurred forward and charged at Shimura Danzō.
Like Mitokado Homura, Shimura Danzō chose to create distance.
But he had a wider range of techniques, using Wind Release Ninjutsu to attack as he retreated.
Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere!
Transparent balls of wind shot toward Hyuga Yunfei one after another.
He dodged them with quick sidesteps, then used the Multi Shadow Clone Technique, creating two clones that ran off in different directions.
His aim was obvious: he planned to surround Shimura Danzō from several angles.
When the other boy used the Multi Shadow Clone Technique, mist blocked Shimura Danzō's view. Unable to tell which was the real body, he had no choice but to use Wind Release: Vacuum Wave on the clone in the middle.
The wide-area Wind Release hit Hyuga Yunfei directly.
But with a muffled thud, the figure that had been hit dispersed into mist. The attack had missed.
Shimura Danzō's expression darkened. At his current level, every ninjutsu took a huge amount of chakra.
Neither of his two techniques had worked, and he didn't have much chakra left to use.
With that in mind, he used the Clone Technique too.
But it wasn't the Shadow Clone Technique, just the ordinary Clone Technique.
Shimura Danzō clearly meant to confuse his opponent with clones, use the opening to create distance, and then unleash a wide-area Wind Release technique.
But he didn't know that the Byakugan wasn't only useful for scouting. It could also see the flow of chakra inside a person's body.
A clone's body was little more than a cloud of chakra, with no chakra flow at all. How could Hyuga Yunfei be fooled?
So he and his Shadow Clone quickly closed in on the real target. While Shimura Danzō stood dumbfounded, he unleashed his strongest technique.
Eight Trigrams Palm: Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!
Hyuga Yunfei sacrificed his last Shadow Clone to restrain Shimura Danzō, while his real body used the most powerful move in his arsenal.
Two palms, four palms, six palms, eight palms...
When he reached the thirty-fourth palm, Hyuga Yunfei sent Shimura Danzō flying, avoiding any irreversible injuries.
The medical staff had already rushed over. They gathered around and carried away Shimura Danzō, who was limp as a dead dog. The referee stepped forward and declared Hyuga Yunfei the winner.
A moment later, Yunfei left the field and looked toward the security camera, silently thinking, Young master, I'll keep up with you.
Before you continue