In the Hokage Office, Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi sprang to his feet, not even bothering with the chair that toppled beneath him.
His eyes shone with intense excitement and affection.
"Simplified Hand Seals! Those are actually Simplified Hand Seals!"
"He really managed it!"
"What monstrous talent!"
"He can perform any Water and Earth Ninjutsu after seeing it once! After just one day of Taijutsu practice, he can fight Neji to a draw without his Byakugan activated!"
"And now he has Simplified Hand Seals on top of that!"
"My heavens, his talent rivals even Lord First's!"
"Given enough time, he'll surely become Konoha's pillar! Its protector, or even its Hokage!"
"I must personally train and brainwash a child like him!"
"Make him loyal only to me and Konoha!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi righted his fallen chair and sat down again, lighting his dry pipe and taking a few puffs.
"Whew. Sorry, Danzo. This is all for Konoha!"
In a corner outside the Match Arena, Danzo watched everything unfold.
Excitement gleamed in his lone eye. His body trembled slightly, and the fingers of the hand braced against the wall had turned white.
"Calling that talent monstrous would be no exaggeration!"
"He's hardly inferior to our teacher!"
"He's only ten. There's still plenty of room for growth, and he can still be molded. Once I bring him into Root, place Root's Cursed Seal on him, and brainwash him..."
"In less than three years, he'll become a killing machine, a powerful pawn in my bid to become Hokage!"
"Hiruzen, your ideals aren't suited to Konoha. It's time I became Hokage!"
"You must give me this child! Time to see those two old fossils!"
With that, he vanished into the shadows.
Inside the Match Arena, two enormous water dragons roared as they charged at Neji.
Confidence filled Zhou Cheng's eyes. He had already calculated how long Rotation lasted, and these two water dragons were timed to strike Neji at precisely the right moment.
Neji would have no time to dodge, much less form hand seals for another ninjutsu. He would have to use Rotation again to block the Water Dragon Bullet.
Sure enough, the moment Rotation ended, Neji saw another pair of water dragons charging toward him.
His eyes filled with anger and frustration. Zhou Cheng had no sense of fair play!
"Eight Trigrams Palm-Rotation!"
Once again, the water dragons were held outside Rotation, leaving even more water pooled across the arena!
Zhou Cheng glanced around and nodded slightly. It was almost enough, but casting B-Rank Ninjutsu in succession was leaving him a little short on chakra!
One Zhou Cheng leaped twice to return to the other's side, then sat down to mold chakra.
He planned to recreate the scene where Naruto had used Shadow Clones to gather Senjutsu Chakra and then transfer it back to his original body.
He would have the clone mold chakra, then dispel it, allowing the chakra it had molded to return to the original.
This move caused another uproar among the spectators.
"What's he trying to do? Give up the match?"
"No, he wants to use his Shadow Clone to mold chakra, then feed it back to his original body!"
"Molding chakra during a fight? Is there something wrong with his head?"
"Won't that tell Neji which one is the original?"
"He won't last more than a few minutes like that!"
"How much chakra can he mold in a few minutes? It won't even be enough for one ninjutsu!"
"What a joke!"
A flicker of surprise appeared in the Jonin's eyes, but they quickly regained their composure.
Indeed, he couldn't mold much chakra in just a few minutes, and this would also expose his original body.
As long as Neji defeated the original Zhou Cheng, it wouldn't matter how much chakra the Shadow Clone molded.
They all thought Zhou Cheng was still too young. He hadn't thought things through and was far too naive.
When Rotation ended, Neji looked at Zhou Cheng with anger burning in his eyes!
Using Rotation twice had consumed a considerable amount of his chakra. He no longer had enough to perform some of his more powerful Secret Techniques, including Rotation.
Seeing Zhou Cheng keep his Shadow Clone out of the fight made Neji feel he was being looked down on.
To act so arrogantly even with his Byakugan activated-Zhou Cheng was asking to die!
Neji pushed off the ground and charged at Zhou Cheng.
The standing Zhou Cheng also pushed off, rushing to meet him.
They began another Taijutsu exchange.
Zhou Cheng could clearly feel the strain. With his Byakugan activated, Neji's Taijutsu had risen by more than one level. The boost the Byakugan gave his Taijutsu was enormous.
Now Neji's moves were faster and stronger, with chakra behind every strike.
And every attack targeted Zhou Cheng's chakra acupoints. If one of those points was hit, he might not even be able to move his body, let alone use chakra. Defeat would be certain!
As Zhou Cheng gradually fell under Neji's relentless pressure, the spectators smiled as though this was only natural.
Of course. How could Zhou Cheng possibly be Neji's match? He had only briefly suppressed Neji earlier by relying on ninjutsu.
But ninjutsu required chakra. How much chakra could Zhou Cheng's ten-year-old body possibly hold?
"Hahaha! The tables have turned! Neji's sure to win!"
"That brat Zhou Cheng wanted to keep Neji pinned down with ninjutsu. Running short on chakra now, isn't he?"
"Seeing him get beaten back really makes me happy! Hahaha!"
Hearing those remarks, Haku and Naruto clenched their fists in anger, their chests heaving.
If the composed Shikamaru beside them hadn't held them back, they would already have rushed over to argue with those people.
Hinata and Ino, meanwhile, looked deeply worried. They no longer hoped Zhou Cheng would win; they only wanted him to come out unhurt.
Sasuke watched the two fighters with blazing eyes. He, too, wanted a proper fight against an evenly matched opponent like that. Only then could he learn more about his own shortcomings.
Instead of playing house with a bunch of dead lasts every day.
He wanted enough strength to kill that man.
Seeing Sasuke's expression, Sakura stopped pestering him and simply stood beside him, watching quietly.
Her inner self, however, raised a fist fiercely.
Zhou Cheng, Neji, neither of you is as handsome as my Sasuke, and neither of you is as strong!
My Sasuke is the strongest!
Among the Jonin, Guy flashed his gleaming white teeth and gave Kakashi a thumbs-up. He had finally beaten Kakashi for once.
"Kakashi, I won this time! Five minutes have passed, and Zhou Cheng still hasn't lost!"
Kakashi rolled his dead-fish eyes at him and raised one finger. When he wasn't on a mission, all he wanted was to read Icha Icha Paradise in peace, not compete.
"I owe you one! Come find me when you've decided what our next contest will be!"
Asuma took a drag on his cigarette, inwardly envying the deep friendship between Guy and Kakashi.
"I reckon Zhou Cheng can last another three minutes!"
Guy immediately turned at that and spread his hand.
"I say five minutes!"
Then both of them looked at Kakashi.
Kakashi didn't speak right away. Instead, he took another careful look at the Match Arena. That kid Zhou Cheng has something else up his sleeve. All the water covering the arena is part of his setup!
With his exceptional intelligence and combat awareness, he understood Zhou Cheng's plan after reviewing the course of their fight.
"I say Zhou Cheng can win!"
Kakashi's words made the Jonin around him turn to give him strange looks.
Zhou Cheng could win? Was he joking?
The situation couldn't have been clearer. Zhou Cheng was already at a disadvantage, pinned down by Neji's attacks. He was visibly faltering, retreating as he fought!
How could he possibly turn this around? With the chakra his Shadow Clone had spent a few minutes molding?
With a ten-year-old body that had only trained for a month, his chakra-molding speed couldn't even match a Genin's. The amount he could mold in a few minutes was pitiful!