It's Finally Over, Going Home to Plant Cotton~

"Lariat!"

At the start of the match, Kiraru let out a beast-like roar. Arcs of electricity coiled around his body, transforming him into a violent blue bolt of lightning. He left a series of sonic booms in the air as he tore through it, rushing toward Qi Luna with the force of a thunderbolt.

Facing speed and power that far exceeded a genin—or even most chunin—Qi Luna gasped.

Even if my Kagura Mind's Eye can track Kiraru's movements, if it were anyone else, they would find it hard to dodge or block this attack!

Qi Luna thought to herself, yet her hands moved without the slightest hesitation.

"Water Style: Water Formation Wall!"

A curtain of water appeared abruptly between the two, cutting off Kiraru's line of sight. By the time he tore through the water with his lightning, Qi Luna's figure had already vanished!

"Uzumaki Style: First Form: Violent Step!"

"Uzumaki Style: Second Form: Break: Adamantine Sword Flash!"

Using the water screen as cover and the high-speed movement of the Uzumaki Style Taijutsu, Qi Luna perfectly evaded Kiraru's attack while launching a counter-offensive. Several golden chains coiled around her right hand, and the spikes at the tips of the chains interlocked in front of her fist, forming a sharp drill that blasted toward Kiraru at high speed!

As a bloodline ability of the Uzumaki Clan, the Adamantine Sealing Chains possessed the unique effect of suppressing chakra. Even a Tailed Beast would have to respect their edge, so the Lightning Style chakra wrapping Kiraru's body provided no defense at all. It was easily torn apart by the Adamantine Chains, the drill aiming straight for Kiraru's head!

Although the defense failed and his Lightning Style chakra felt faintly suppressed, Kiraru reacted instantly, tilting his head to dodge the attack.

"Too naive!"

"Uzumaki Style: Second Form: Chaos: Adamantine Sheath Breaker!"

The Adamantine Chain drill, which Kiraru was about to evade, instantly split into nine chains, blooming like flower petals. Even though Kiraru dodged with all his might, the chains still left a wound on his left cheek!

"Are you trying to kill me? You Konoha bastard!"

Having narrowly escaped death despite giving his all, Kiraru lost the mood for his awkward rapping. Realizing his opponent was no ordinary character, he became highly tense.

"You actually dodged that?"

As expected of the one who will inherit the name "Bee" in the future!

Qi Luna couldn't help but marvel at Kiraru's agility; his body was not only powerful but also remarkably flexible, though she kept the latter thought to herself.

"Don't get too cocky! Don't get carried away, you Konoha bastard!"

"Ninja Art: Wild Heron Blade Dance: Four Blades!"

Kiraru cursed at Qi Luna, then drew the four spiked short blades from his back and tossed them into the air. After catching them precisely with his joints, he launched another attack at Qi Luna with a bizarre set of movements.

Facing Kiraru's high-frequency, continuous attacks—which looked ridiculous and absurd but were lethal in every strike—Qi Luna dodged and wove, or blocked with her Adamantine Chains, while her mouth twitched uncontrollably.

It's clearly the most comical movement, yet it produces the most effective attacks. He's younger than me, and he's already showing the prowess of a "Killer Bee"!

"Nice sword skills. Why don't you try my ninja taijutsu?"

"Uzumaki Style: Fifth Form: Blade Cloud Roll!"

As she spoke, Qi Luna channeled a massive amount of chakra from within. The chakra adhered to and coiled around her body, forming a protective layer like a cloak!

"A jinchuriki! No... that's not it! It's just Water Style chakra with nature transformation. Is it a ninjutsu similar to the Lightning Armor? Did he develop this himself? What a genius!"

It wasn't just Kiraru and the members of the various foreign delegations in the stands who were shocked; even the Third Hokage of Konoha, Sarutobi Hiruzen, was equally surprised by Qi Luna's development of ninjutsu.

This child is like me; she must not be left alive!

This was the first thought in the minds of the foreign delegates, and even a one-eyed man leaning on a cane in a dark corner felt the same way after witnessing this scene!

"Uzumaki... a bunch of stray dogs, yet they keep producing geniuses! How arrogant!"

"Wasn't there a little girl from the Uzumaki Clan in the second round? If we have the chance to bring her into Kumogakure, it will be her supreme honor!"

"Heaven really favors Konoha, always having a steady stream of geniuses emerging! Why can't they be from our Iwagakure?!"

"I remember our village captured a red-haired girl a while ago, right? Even though she's just a 'blood bag' with no talent for being a ninja, who knows, maybe her descendants will have such strong talent..."

The delegates in the stands had their own calculations, but these thoughts could not affect the battle in the arena for the time being.

Wrapped in her chakra cloak, Qi Luna used a whip kick to deflect one of Kiraru's stabs, then followed up with a spinning kick that sent Kiraru flying. As she moved her limbs, she condensed water blades from all over her body and fired them at the spot where Kiraru landed.

"Lava Style: Rubber Ball!"

A young Kumogakure jonin with a lightning-patterned eye patch appeared abruptly in the center of the arena. He spat out a rubber sphere that encased Kiraru, protecting him from the barrage of water blades.

"I am Dodai of Kumogakure. I concede this match on behalf of Kiraru!"

With that, he left the arena, carrying Kiraru inside the rubber ball.

It didn't cut through? It seems I need to put the nature transformation training for Wind and Lightning elements on the agenda!

Seeing the "Rubber Uncle" Dodai step in to save Kiraru, Qi Luna wasn't surprised at all, though she was dissatisfied that her Uzumaki Style ninja taijutsu failed to break his defense.

As for Dodai conceding on Kiraru's behalf, neither the proctor, Inuzuka Gaku, nor the foreign delegates had any objections. They only sighed, feeling that the remaining matches would just be "exhibition matches" within Konoha. Perhaps to prevent them from gathering useful intelligence, the Konoha ninjas would likely just go through the motions.

Sure enough, in the seventh match, Nara Shikaku and Akimichi Choza actually scrambled to concede. It was Nara Shikaku who suffered from his own lazy personality; he even "lost" the act of conceding, forced into winning a spot in the next round...

Until finally, Yamanaka Inoichi advanced by default.

With this, Konoha had secured all eight spots in the quarterfinals of the Joint Chunin Exams!

And the second round was even more absurd!

First match:

Namikaze Minato relied on his absolute speed advantage to defeat Kushina.

Second match:

Akimichi Yoshimaru was struck by Shirokumo Hayama's Wind Style: Vacuum Sword, and after sustaining a minor injury, he conceded directly.

Third match:

Nonou chose to forfeit, citing that she had exhausted her limited chakra in the previous round.

Fourth match:

Nara Shikaku failed to lose to Yamanaka Inoichi and was forced to advance once again...

In the semifinals, Minato and Qi Luna emerged victorious again.

In the final match, after Qi Luna used Minato to verify her Vortex Style ninjutsu and taijutsu once more, she also voluntarily conceded and left the testing grounds...

In contrast, the delegates from the various ninja villages merely wore expressions of "as expected" before departing one after another.

Now, as long as they negotiated the terms of the ceasefire agreement with Konoha the following day, they could leave Konoha and return home to grow cotton...