Entrance Exam Selection (4)

The waiting room fell into an uproar once again.

This was the second time since the tournament rules were announced.

It was for no other reason than the fact that Shimura Danzō's looks, which were not far behind Hoshishaku's, had captured the attention of many girls.

However, the sight of him being carried out like a dead dog had shattered that aesthetic filter, leaving many of those girls looking dissatisfied and disillusioned.

On the arena floor, the next round of duels began. One of the participants was an old acquaintance of Hoshishaku's, his fellow disciple—Sarutobi Hiruzen—and his opponent was a boy from the Uchiha Clan who looked rather arrogant.

Sarutobi Hiruzen vs. Uchiha Kaede.

The giant screen continued to display prompts: "Next pair of contestants, please enter the preparation area: Senju Yuto vs. Nara Harumiko."

Seeing this predicted matchup made Hoshishaku frown.

Why did it have to be someone from the Nara Clan?

In his view, Yuto was fine in every regard, except that his intelligence was somewhat lacking.

If he fell into the hands of the Nara Clan, would he even be able to come out unscathed?

Thinking this, he watched Yuto, who didn't know the meaning of nervousness, stand up excitedly to head toward the preparation area. Hoshishaku quickly offered a reminder: "The people of the Nara Clan are very clever. Aside from their clan's secret Shadow Possession Jutsu, you must be careful not to fall for their schemes."

Senju Yuto clearly didn't take it to heart, saying excitedly, "I know, Hoshishaku! I'll definitely win in style."

At this moment, the black-haired Uchiha girl in the front row stood up and scanned the room with her gaze.

When she saw Yuto walking toward the preparation area, she shot him a fierce glare, then looked toward Hoshishaku, huffed, and sat back down.

Her behavior left Hoshishaku feeling puzzled, but the battle on the electronic screen soon drew his attention.

Unlike half a year ago, Sarutobi Hiruzen had improved significantly.

At least, he had quickly ended the fight against a one-tomoe Chūnin Uchiha.

The techniques were the same ones from their last brawl, but the combinations between his ninjutsu were much smoother.

After he won and exited the arena, Yuto soon arrived on the field.

Opposite him was a thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl with a frizzy hairstyle.

On the arena floor, Senju Yuto wore a look of supreme confidence.

The girl opposite him, Nara Harumiko, studied him earnestly, her gaze lingering thoughtfully on his hair color.

When the referee called for the match to begin, Nara Harumiko suddenly formed hand seals and created a clone.

This clone didn't rush to approach Yuto; instead, it watched its own original body with great interest.

The clone's expression seemed to say: Can you control this opponent?

The answer was: No.

The moment Nara Harumiko's Shadow Possession Jutsu touched Yuto and interrupted his hand seals, it was immediately broken through.

Just as Yuto prepared to form seals for a Water Style technique, the girl opposite him suddenly dispelled her clone and raised her hand in surrender.

This forced Yuto to interrupt his ninjutsu once again, leaving him feeling stifled and confused by his own victory.

In the waiting room, Hoshishaku was stunned, but he soon realized what had happened.

Intelligence aside, the Shadow Possession Jutsu had a glaring weakness.

If the opponent's chakra was significantly higher than the user's, the Shadow Possession Jutsu became meaningless.

The Nara girl was still young and likely knew no other ninjutsu besides her clan's secret arts. That was why, upon realizing her opponent possessed the Uzumaki Bloodline, the clone had worn that specific expression.

But Yuto didn't just possess the Uzumaki Bloodline; he also possessed the Sage Body inherited from his father.

At only seven years old, he already had nearly 100,000 points of chakra.

This amount of chakra had firmly stepped into the threshold of the Kage level.

How could Nara Harumiko possibly win?

Realizing he had been worrying unnecessarily, Hoshishaku couldn't help but chuckle.

Since this guy Yuto wasn't going to die young, what was there to worry about? Even if his body were cut in two, the Sage Body would likely heal it on its own, right?

On the screen, Yuto exited the arena, looking completely bewildered by his win. Soon, the next round's preview popped up: Hyuga Hoshishaku vs. Utatane Koharu.

Seeing this result, the corners of Hoshishaku's mouth twitched slightly.

This fellow disciple, who was five years his senior and had joined the sect a year earlier, was quite a handful.

Ever since he had pinned Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō down and beaten them, Utatane Koharu seemed to have distanced herself from them, instead growing closer to Uchiha Kagami and Torifu Akimichi.

She also frequently lingered near the Hyuga Clan grounds, trying to manufacture "chance encounters."

To be honest, at twelve or thirteen years old, Koharu was quite beautiful.

Xingzhuo could guarantee that Koharu's looks were in no way inferior to Ino from the original work.

But the problem was, he had no feelings for Koharu whatsoever, and he was only seven years old!

Utatane Koharu was practically a beast; she wouldn't even spare a seven-year-old child!

Coupled with the stereotypical impression of the "two old fogies" from the original work, Xingzhuo had absolutely no desire to develop a romantic relationship with Koharu.

That was why he had always gone out of his way to avoid her.

But now, they had to fight?

On his way to the preparation area, Xingzhuo thought about his strategy with some irritation.

Should he defeat her violently to make her understand that he was a cold and heartless man?

The battle on the field ended quickly, and Xingzhuo was urged to step onto the stage.

Walking toward him from the opposite side was Utatane Koharu, her face full of joy.

The stands surrounding the arena were packed with villagers, roughly estimated to be over a thousand people.

In a situation like this, wouldn't it feel terrible to lose too embarrassingly?

Snuffing out the idea of striking Koharu hard, he quickly formulated his combat objective: to defeat his opponent like a gentleman.

The Jonin referee on the field suddenly spoke up: "Battle start!"

The next moment, the once smiling Koharu suddenly threw four shuriken and began weaving hand seals.

Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!

After Xingzhuo brushed away the incoming shuriken with his Ink Secret Technique, he didn't dare to be careless against the incoming Fire Dragon Flame Bullet and directly pulled out a blank Sealing Card to absorb it.

Seeing that her attack had no effect, Utatane Koharu continued to weave hand seals to release a ninjutsu:

Fire Style: Ash Pile Burning!

A large cloud of burning ash spewed from her mouth, rolling toward Xingzhuo.

This was a wide-range Fire Style ninjutsu, and Xingzhuo could not guarantee that his Sealing Card could seal all of the burning ash.

Thus, he helplessly used the Unsealing Technique, aiming the Fire Dragon Flame Bullet he had just sealed back at Koharu and releasing it once more.

Don't misunderstand; he didn't intend to use the Fire Dragon Flame Bullet to counter the Ash Pile Burning, but rather intended to use the wind absorbed along with the Fire Dragon Flame Bullet to blow all of the incoming Ash Pile Burning back at her.

On the other side, Utatane Koharu kept observing her opponent while spewing the ash cloud.

Having witnessed Xingzhuo's methods, she naturally understood what kind of power the opponent could unleash with the Unsealing Technique.

Therefore, she decisively gave up maintaining the Ash Pile Burning ninjutsu and ran to the side, dodging the assault of her own two techniques.

Only after running to a safe distance did Koharu realize that her junior disciple (?) seemed to be giving her a lot of face today, only countering without launching any active attacks.