The Lineup Is Set

"Both sides, get ready. Begin."

The two teams competing in the fifth preliminary match entered the training ground together and began fighting at proctor Tarui's command.

"Explosion Release: Explosive Shuriken!"

The Stone Ninja with the Explosion Release bloodline limit went by the single name Shu. He pulled several shuriken from his ninja tool pouch, infused them with Explosion Release chakra, and hurled them toward the Cloud Ninja.

"Lightning Release: Beast Mimicry: Tortoise Shell Armor!"

The eldest of the Cloud Ninja triplets, who had the character for "sea" tattooed on his arm, stepped forward. He formed hand seals, and raging lightning enveloped all three brothers, gradually taking the shape of a turtle shell that spun continuously.

The explosive shuriken struck the lightning shell and immediately detonated. The iron shuriken shattered into more than a dozen fragments, battering the lightning turtle until it shook and its rotation slowed considerably.

"Lightning Release: Beast Mimicry: Lightning Python!"

The second Cloud Ninja brother, who had the character for "mountain" tattooed on his arm, widened his eyes. His Lightning Release chakra formed a lifelike giant python of lightning that lunged straight at the nearby Stone Ninja team.

Though enormous, the lightning python was a construct of chakra and moved with incredible speed. In the blink of an eye, it reached the Stone Ninja, opened its massive jaws crackling with lightning, and snapped at Shu, who was closest.

As the lightning python lunged at him, a trace of disdain appeared on Shu's face. He shifted aside to evade its attack and coated his right hand with Explosion Release chakra.

"Explosion Release: Flame Explosion Fist!"

His powerful fist slammed straight into the lightning python's vulnerable spot just below its head. A violent explosion followed, blasting the python in two.

Yet the severed lightning python did not vanish. Instead, it dissolved into a dense mass of lightning that surrounded Shu.

Poof!

The surrounded Shu turned into a piece of substitution wood, while his real body appeared beside his teammates.

The first exchange seemed lengthy, but in reality, it had lasted only a few seconds. After briefly probing each other's abilities, the two sides began fighting in earnest.

The Cloud Ninja triplets were all ninjutsu specialists who used a form of Beast Mimicry Lightning Release resembling a secret technique.

The eldest excelled at imitating sea creatures and primarily handled defense and restraint; the second excelled at imitating land animals and primarily fought head-on; the youngest, with the character for "sky" tattooed on his right arm, excelled at imitating airborne creatures and primarily searched for openings, using Lightning Release's speed to deliver a lethal blow.

Compared with the Cloud Ninja team, which relied entirely on ninjutsu, the Stone Ninja team's abilities were far more well-rounded.

Shu, who possessed the Explosion Release bloodline limit, attacked with his powerful Explosion Release; Aono, who possessed the Steel Release bloodline limit, primarily defended against physical attacks and disrupted the enemy formation with taijutsu to create openings for his teammates; the final Stone Ninja, Natsumi, not only summoned a leopard-shaped beast at the elite chunin level, but also caused the Cloud Ninja considerable trouble with her skilled genjutsu attacks.

Kazuhiko Uchiha had paid particular attention to both teams. They were evenly matched, trading blows with neither gaining a clear advantage, and the battle had all but become a prolonged war of attrition.

Victory would therefore come down to which side could hold out until the end, or which possessed a powerful trump card capable of crushing the other.

After another inconclusive exchange, both sides retreated to a safe distance. They took a brief rest while watching each other like predators, bloodlust beginning to gleam in their eyes. Clearly, neither side intended to drag the fight out any longer. They were ready to settle it with their trump cards.

Each of the three Cloud Ninja brothers created a shadow clone to guard him. Their real bodies formed an equilateral triangle, pushed their Lightning Release chakra to its limit, and began forming hand seals in unison.

"Lightning Release: Beast Mimicry: Lightning-Winged Kirin!"

As they completed their hand seals, their chakra converged above the center of their formation, gradually merging into a fierce kirin with a pair of lightning wings.

The Lightning-Winged Kirin threw back its head and let out a long roar. More than a dozen basketball-sized lightning balls formed inside its gaping maw, then shot toward the Stone Ninja.

"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"

"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"

"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"

The three Stone Ninja's expressions changed drastically. Without coordination, they each used their strongest defensive ninjutsu, raising three earthen walls to block the lightning balls' path.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The lightning balls struck the walls, setting off a chain of explosions. The earth crumbled into dust that blanketed the entire battlefield.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The Cloud Ninja gave them no chance to catch their breath. They sent the Lightning-Winged Kirin charging wildly, attacking with its enormous body and the power of Lightning Release.

"Captain, I'll stop it. Steel Release: Adamantine Body!"

When he saw the Lightning-Winged Kirin kick Natsumi away, Aono's eyes immediately reddened. He unleashed his Steel Release secret technique and charged at the Lightning-Winged Kirin.

"Aono!"

Seeing Aono trembling all over from the electric shocks, Shu cried out. He did not waste the opening Aono had created for him. Using an Explosion Release secret technique that inflicted heavy damage on both his enemy and himself, he created three Explosion Release shadow clones and sent them lunging toward the three Cloud Ninja brothers.

"Explode!!!"

Shu roared, and the three shadow clones exploded instantly. Raging flames destroyed the Cloud Ninja's shadow clones and continued surging toward the three brothers, who could not move while maintaining the Lightning-Winged Kirin.

Whoosh!

A Cloud Ninja jonin appeared in front of the three brothers and extinguished the surging flames with a Water Release technique.

"The Stone Ninja team wins the fifth preliminary match. Medical team, treat the candidates immediately."

The moment the jonin intervened, the Cloud Ninja team was deemed to have lost. Proctor Tarui immediately announced the result and had the medical ninja waiting nearby treat the injured candidates.

With the preliminaries over, the lineup of candidates officially advancing to the third exam was set.

The Cloud Ninja's Samui team, the Cloud Ninja's Nintaijutsu team, the Stone Ninja's bloodline limit team, the Stone Ninja's ninjutsu team, the Sand Ninja's Ye Ming team, and Kazuhiko Uchiha, who formed a team of one.

After gathering all the successful candidates, proctor Tarui took out sixteen cards with identical backs and told them, "The third exam will take place at the Cloud Ninja Arena in one week. The matches will be individual battles, so come up one at a time and draw a card to determine your opponents."

The candidates stepped forward in order to draw their cards. Kazuhiko Uchiha drew a card bearing a red number three.

"The cards in your hands come in two colors, red and blue. The person with the same number as you will be your opponent in the first round."

"The second round will be divided into two groups. Numbers one through four will be Group A, and numbers five through eight will be Group B. Number one will face number two, number three will face number four, and so on, with four people advancing to the third round."

"In the third round, the two winners from each group will face each other. The winners will advance to the final."

Tarui explained the third exam's match rules to the candidates. After confirming that everyone understood, he dismissed them.

With everything here finished, the shadow clone dispelled itself, sending its memories of the preliminaries back to the original.

Kazuhiko Uchiha received the shadow clone's memories and was about to review them when the system's notification sounded again. To his surprise, the system had refreshed with another new set of missions.