Asami Ri vs. Uchiha Tekka

Chunin Ninja Exam, Third Round, second match.

When the names "Asami Ri vs. Uchiha Tekka" slowly scrolled onto the big screen, another uproar broke out in the stands.

"Another match between teammates?" Asami Ri raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that a little too much of a 'coincidence'?"

He instinctively looked up, his gaze passing over the noisy stands toward the very top of the examination tower.

Asami Ri silently pondered the Hokage's intentions.

Does he want to test my limits this way? Or does he want to see the difference between civilian ninja and clan ninja?

At the referee's signal, the two walked into the center of the arena.

Uchiha Tekka's normally indifferent expression turned serious. He pressed a hand against the Ninja Tool Pouch at his waist, his gaze sweeping over Asami Ri like a blade.

"I've been sick of that idiot Hyuga Hiko and his reliance on his bloodline for a long time. That kick of yours felt good to watch." Tekka took a deep breath. His eyes turned blood-red, a single tomoe slowly rotating in each pupil. "But the Uchiha aren't like the Hyuga. Out of respect for your strength, I'll go all out from the very first second."

"Couldn't ask for more," Asami Ri replied calmly.

"Third Round, second match. Begin!"

The instant the signal sounded, neither charged blindly. Instead, both shifted sideways at high speed.

Uchiha Tekka flicked his wrists in a blur, sending several shuriken along strange arcs.

The shuriken collided precisely in midair, altering their original trajectories and cutting off all of Asami Ri's escape routes from several blind spots.

But in Asami Ri's eyes, Celestial Pivot broke those flying shuriken down into linear paths marked with vector arrows.

He whipped his arm diagonally, releasing a kunai. It slipped precisely through the gaps between the shuriken and struck the crucial collision point, setting off a series of sharp metallic clangs.

Amid the falling ninja tools, the two exchanged another volley of kunai, each blade aimed straight at where the other's foot would land next.

"That ability to predict... it's like they're fighting from a script," someone in the audience murmured in amazement.

As the distance closed, both exploded into action.

The ground beneath Asami Ri's feet cracked under the burst of his Body Flicker Technique.

It perfectly embodied the simplicity, power, and balance of offense and defense in Konoha taijutsu.

Guided by Celestial Pivot's markers, every heavy punch and side kick he threw targeted the precise instant Uchiha Tekka's balance faltered.

Yet Uchiha Tekka's One-Tomoe Sharingan spun rapidly in his eyes, displaying the elegant, deadly rhythm of Uchiha-style taijutsu to its fullest.

Rather than meeting Asami Ri head-on, he used agile footwork to slip past the edges of his punches. The knife-hand strikes and elbow blows he launched in response always intercepted Asami Ri's line of attack first.

A strange phenomenon unfolded in the arena: both fighters were striking second yet arriving first.

Asami Ri had barely begun a kick when Uchiha Tekka was already moving to intercept it.

And before Uchiha Tekka's palm descended, Asami Ri had already shifted to absorb the blow and counterattack.

Both anticipated the other's movements.

The battle reached a fever pitch, with no trace of a gap left between their moves.

Asami Ri abruptly cut his Konoha Whirlwind short in midair, forcibly twisting his waist to turn it into a knee strike.

Celestial Pivot calculated Uchiha Tekka's attack trajectories in Asami Ri's mind, allowing him to dismantle Tekka's attacks at the right angles.

Meanwhile, the Sharingan gave Tekka extraordinary dynamic vision, letting him catch the slightest tremors in Asami Ri's limbs as though watching them in slow motion.

Uchiha Tekka rode the force of the impact into a backflip and drew a kunai from his Ninja Tool Pouch before landing.

Seeing this, Asami Ri also drew a kunai from his Ninja Tool Pouch.

Their blades met.

The two kunai crossed within a tiny space, producing metallic clashes as rapid as a sewing machine's clatter.

Asami Ri controlled his kunai's ring with his fingers to vary his reach, every thrust aimed directly at Tekka's carotid artery or wrist.

Tekka pushed the Uchiha style's flair and ruthlessness to their limits. His kunai was like a venomous snake, constantly clinging to Asami Ri's blade, turning his opponent's force against him as he searched for the tiniest openings in Asami Ri's guard.

The sparks from each collision flickered like a swarm of stars. They exchanged dozens of blows in seconds, their steps weaving past one another without a single wasted movement.

It was an ultimate contest of precision and computational power, where even a microsecond's delay would mean defeat.

With neither able to break through, they slammed their kunai together once more, then used the force to spring backward amid a spray of sparks.

Their feet carved long, deep furrows through the ground. Before their backward momentum had even stopped, their hands blurred into afterimages, completing complex hand seals as they slid.

"Lightning Release: Lightning Ball!"

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

Asami Ri's fingertips flickered. Several deep-blue, high-voltage Lightning Balls formed out of thin air and shot forward with piercing shrieks.

Uchiha Tekka's chest swelled, and he violently expelled a scorching fireball several meters across.

Blazing red light swept over half the arena. The air warped fiercely in the heat, and the Lightning Balls looked small before the enormous fireball.

Facing the roaring wave of heat, Asami Ri's gaze sharpened.

"Activate—Overclock Mode."

In an instant, the world in Asami Ri's eyes seemed to switch to slow motion. The flow of Chakra throughout his body surged past its critical threshold, and his skin grew hot as blood rushed through it.

"Konoha Strong Whirlwind!"

He sprang into the air in a flash, his body spinning like a high-speed drill. Explosive Chakra enveloped his right leg, whipping up a powerful gale.

BAM!!!

The dull thud of bodily impact actually drowned out the roar of the flames.

Asami Ri's kick struck the fireball squarely at its core. His powerful physique, combined with Chakra, forcibly shattered the massive fireball, sending streams of fire scattering across the sky.

After kicking the fireball apart, Asami Ri rode the force back to the ground. The red glow in his eyes quickly faded, and he swayed slightly.

Overclock Mode still placed too great a strain on his body.

"Whew... it's over," he murmured. Having left overclock mode, he did not pursue. Instead, he loosely curled one hand as though manipulating invisible strings.

Uchiha Tekka was caught in the gap between expending one burst of strength and gathering the next. He had just hurriedly fired several small fireballs with Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu, neutralizing the Lightning Balls coming at him head-on.

But before he could breathe a sigh of relief, his Sharingan caught several Lightning Balls that had already veered off course tracing bizarre arcs through the air.

"What? That level of control!"

Tekka realized in shock that the Lightning Balls had not dissipated. Instead, they had used the aftermath of the earlier collision as cover to circle into his blind spots.

One Lightning Ball attacked from behind, another blocked his front, and one on either side sealed off any room to move. The last plunged down from overhead with a thunderclap like a verdict.

Five attacks as one. An inescapable trap.

Uchiha Tekka froze in place. His Sharingan spun furiously, but he found that no matter which direction he dodged, he would run straight into that lethal lightning.

At the critical instant before the Lightning Balls touched Uchiha Tekka's clothes, a three-pronged shuriken sliced through the air without warning and embedded itself in the ground beside him.

Then a brilliant flash of gold filled Uchiha Tekka's vision.

BOOM—!

The Lightning Balls crashed together, erupting into a dazzling burst of lightning.

Yet the center of the explosion was already empty.

Several meters away, at the edge of the stands, Minato Namikaze rested one hand on the shaken Uchiha Tekka's shoulder, his expression gentle.

After saving Uchiha Tekka, he said nothing. He merely gave the panting Asami Ri a slight nod of approval.

Then the golden light flashed again.

Minato Namikaze and the kunai vanished together, leaving behind an arena full of astonished spectators and a battlefield half scorched black.