Within Ten Steps, I Am King

Seeing Ryōken obtain the scroll, Little Wolf immediately perked up his ears, wagged his tail, and wore a proud expression that practically said, Come praise me.

Ryōken smiled, stepped forward, and patted his little head in encouragement.

Little Wolf immediately narrowed his eyes, lifted his head high, and looked utterly pleased with himself.

"The first one is already in hand. Looks like Little Wolf's nose is pretty reliable after all."

Ryōken murmured to himself, feeling rather pleased. At this rate, the ultimate rating was practically within reach.

As if he had heard the doubt in Ryōken's words, Little Wolf gave a snort and proudly turned his head away.

"Alright, let's go. Next one."

Not long after, Ryōken arrived beside a large tree with no one around.

Little Wolf was continuously growling at a crack in the tree.

Ryōken stepped forward and looked into the crack. Sure enough, a scroll was hidden inside.

A trace of delight immediately appeared in Ryōken's eyes.

If he had needed to search for these hidden scrolls himself, it would probably have taken quite a bit of effort.

Ryōken and Little Wolf set off once more.

Before long, they unexpectedly ran into a three-man squad head-on.

Ryōken's build was unique even among the reserves, making him very easy to recognize. The three on the other side identified him at a glance.

"Put down the scrolls, and I'll let you leave."

His voice was as calm as ever, though he knew that was almost impossible. Even if they knew Ryōken was strong, they would not be willing to give up without trying.

Besides, they had formed a three-man squad, likely aiming for the qualification to pass the test. With the strength of three people combined, they truly might have had a chance of succeeding.

Unfortunately, they had run into Ryōken.

Ryōken was answered by three kunai flying toward him in a triangular formation. The difference was that the one in the rear had an Exploding Tag attached to it.

Ryōken did not care. With a casual sweep of his longsword, he knocked all the kunai away, then grabbed the one with the Exploding Tag and tossed it back.

Boom!

The Exploding Tag detonated, its blast echoing through the forest and startling a flock of birds into flight.

The three-man squad all took a step back, wariness flashing in their eyes.

Such fast reflexes.

Even so, they could not simply submit. They exchanged glances.

The latter two abruptly began forming hand seals.

Konoha Great Whirlwind.

The other one suddenly charged forward and fiercely kicked at Ryōken, his leg cutting through the air with a howl.

Ryōken remained expressionless. He did not even draw his sword, instead fighting the taijutsu ninja with nothing but fists and kicks.

Bang!

The moment they clashed, the taijutsu ninja was shocked. What tremendous strength! Yet in order to hold Ryōken back, he could only endure the piercing pain and force himself onward.

His face beneath the mask had turned bright red, entirely from the pain.

Every one of Ryōken's attacks was like a giant hammer, crashing heavily against him.

"Move!"

Hearing his companion's voice, the taijutsu ninja felt as though he had been granted amnesty. Borrowing the recoil, he sprang far backward before steadying himself and looking toward his companions.

Whoosh!

A terrifying torrent of water transformed into the shape of a flood dragon and suddenly slammed toward Ryōken, carrying overwhelming force.

More terrifying still, a lightning dragon wreathed entirely in electricity followed alongside the water dragon. The two intertwined and resonated with each other, nearly unstoppable.

A cold gleam appeared in all three squad members' eyes, and they finally relaxed.

The two ninja casting the jutsu were twins, born with astonishing coordination. Even so, they had practiced for a long time before mastering this move, whose power had nearly reached the limits of what they could achieve.

It could be said that below jonin level, no one could possibly do better.

Unless one was a true jonin, there was no way to block this B-rank composite ninjutsu.

Seeing such overwhelming power, the taijutsu ninja instantly felt that the injuries he had just suffered were worth it. If they could eliminate Ryōken, this monster, early on, what did a little injury matter?

With the combined strength of the three of them, they could not find an opponent anywhere in this Forest of Death.

Yet had they ever considered this?

If a monster could be measured by common sense, would he still be a monster?

"A composite ninjutsu?"

Watching the intertwined twin dragons rush toward him, Ryōken showed a slight hint of surprise.

As expected of ANBU ninja. Even as reserves, they were far from ordinary.

In such a short instant, they had already arranged a battle plan.

This was the second time Ryōken had seen composite ninjutsu.

The last time had been during the combat assessment, when Minato Namikaze used a wind-fire composite ninjutsu. That time had caused Ryōken quite a bit of trouble.

But Ryōken's strength was no longer what it had once been.

He did not even need to use Fleeting Light.

Swoosh!!

Almost no one saw how Ryōken drew his sword.

The longsword seemed to appear out of thin air in his hand, then he fiercely swung it toward the incoming twin dragons.

Terrifying green sword aura surged along the blade, its edge so brilliant it seemed tangible, as though it could split everything in two.

This was Limitless Sword Aura!

The Wuji Swordsman's secret of cutting all things—the ultimate sword aura. With one slash, it was nearly unstoppable. Severing a ninjutsu was naturally no difficulty.

Without a sound.

It was as if space itself had frozen.

The lightning dragon and water dragon, intertwined together, suddenly halted in midair.

Slash!

In a single instant.

A brilliant flash swept past.

This powerful B-rank composite ninjutsu was forcibly cleaved apart down the middle.

Water scattered everywhere, with residual electric arcs flickering within it.

"How is that possible?"

The three could no longer remain calm and cried out at once.

The way they looked at Ryōken was filled with shock and disbelief.

How could he be this strong?

"I'll give you one last chance. Put down the scrolls."

"Let me remind you, I don't have a very good temper."

Ryōken slowly paced forward and stood among the three, calm and composed.

The trio, who had nearly given up, saw Ryōken being so arrogant as to stand in their midst.

They exchanged glances, uncertainty flickering in their eyes.

Sigh.

Alpha Strike.

A faint sigh suddenly rang out.

Their hearts jolted amid their swirling thoughts.

They only felt waves of icy chill continuously prickling at their necks.

Cold sweat instantly covered their heads, and terror filled them.

Ryōken calmly walked toward them, one step at a time.

"W-We'll give them to you."

All three were trembling. They were only reserves, and their usual lives consisted more of training and sparring. They had never experienced that feeling of being on the brink of death like they had in that instant.

Now, they only wanted to send Ryōken, this plague god, away as quickly as possible.

The three simultaneously reached into their clothes, took out their scrolls, and handed them to Ryōken.

Ryōken gave them a brief glance, put them away, and turned to leave.

If it had to come to this, why resist in the first place?

Ryōken shook his head and muttered inwardly.

Why did they insist on making him use violence? Everything had been unavoidable.

Since he had decided to obtain the ultimate rating, Ryōken naturally would not hold back.

This was a world of the strong. Only by doing everything to the very best could one possess the mindset a true powerhouse should have.

If one cowered and hesitated, then no matter how strong one was, failure would still be unavoidable.

Just like Yakushi Kabuto in the original story. He had nearly controlled the entire Fourth Great Ninja War on his own. Yet what had Madara Uchiha called such a figure, one capable of covering the skies with one hand?

A rat!

Because Kabuto had not even dared to show his own courage. How could he possibly earn the recognition of a man who looked down upon the world?

Those who cowered and hesitated could never become powerhouses who looked down upon the world.

Only by facing difficulties head-on, displaying one's talents to the fullest, and doing everything to the very best could one possess the bearing of a true powerhouse.

Naturally, every scene of this was seen by the ANBU ninja monitoring from the shadows.

"What an arrogant little brat."

"Doesn't he even need to rest and recover?"

"Is he really so certain he can keep winning all the way through?"

The full-fledged ANBU and Squad Leaders were all observing this examination.

Ryōken had made no effort to conceal anything along the way, so naturally, all of it had fallen into their eyes.

One after another, they muttered to themselves, suddenly feeling that those from the same generation as Ryōken were rather pitiful. No matter how hard they worked, they could not erase the absolute gap in strength.

It seemed that the first ultimate rating in history was about to be born.

That was what the Squad Leader thought.

Thanks to Hehe—Names Are So Hard for the tip!