Ice Release vs. the giant

"You lost."

Just as in their first battle, Kakashi had used a clone to draw the blonde-haired woman's attention while his real body quietly slipped behind her under cover of the smoke she had created herself.

The blonde-haired woman sneered. "Did you forget that your shuriken can't threaten me?"

As she spoke, the blonde-haired woman prepared to jump away.

But Kakashi smiled and replied calmly, "I'd advise you not to move."

"I declare the winner of the first match: Kakashi of Konoha!"

The Kumogakure jonin stepped forward to announce the victory.

"Why? I haven't even..."

The blonde-haired woman argued her case, but before she could finish, she suddenly discovered that Kakashi had somehow covered her back with explosive tags.

One explosive tag would have no effect on the blonde-haired woman, but what about ten? Or twenty?

Kakashi's battles were not simply exchanges of ninjutsu, but battles of wits that made use of all the information currently available.

Kakashi and the blonde-haired woman, Xing, had already fought once during the second exam, and each knew something of the other's abilities.

"Not bad. You almost fooled me, too."

Liumu watched Kakashi come down from the stage and raised a hand to pat his shoulder.

Kakashi replied, "I won't lose to the same person twice."

"Heh!" Liumu smiled faintly at that and said nothing more.

"Second match: Han of Kirigakure against Lantu of Iwagakure!"

"Kirigakure!" Hearing the name, Liumu immediately turned toward Kirigakure's group. When he saw the white-haired girl step forward, he muttered, "Han, Han. That's not a great name. Sounds like someone who's fr*gid."

"It's her, that Ice Release ninja."

Watching Han's retreating figure, Suiguang hurried over to Liumu and stood on tiptoe to look toward the center of the crowd.

Just as Liumu had expected, Han's appearance immediately drew everyone's attention.

As though she truly matched her name, the air around her seemed to grow a little cooler the moment she appeared.

Lantu was the big fellow from Iwagakure who could control the Stone Giant.

Once the match began, Lantu immediately put distance between himself and Han. After rapidly forming hand seals, he slammed both hands against the ground. The Stone Giant appeared again, and Lantu stood atop its head, controlling its enormous palm as it swept toward Han with a roar.

But...

"Th-this is..."

Without warning, Han, who had not moved at all, slowly closed her eyes. A visible chill instantly burst from around her fair body and enveloped the giant.

"A kekkei genkai!"

Watching the icy air around Han from the second-floor stands, Yuhi Shinku spoke in a low voice. Then his gaze sharpened as he stared straight at Han on the stage, saying nothing more.

Almost instantly, a layer of frost covered the Stone Giant and Lantu atop its head, and both came to a complete halt.

"I declare the winner of the second match: Han of Kirigakure!"

"As expected of a kekkei genkai! She ended the fight so quickly."

At the sight, Kakashi glanced sideways.

After all, the Stone Giant had put him under enormous pressure back then, yet now, against Han and her kekkei genkai, it had not even lasted a minute.

"No need to envy her. Having a kekkei genkai isn't necessarily a good thing."

"Oh?"

Hearing Liumu's reassurance, Kakashi looked at him in puzzlement.

Liumu explained, "Kekkei genkai are powerful, sure, but most of them place an unimaginable burden on the ninja themselves. Whether in terms of their bodies or their lifespans, they're far worse off than ordinary people like you and me."

Konoha had many clans with kekkei genkai. For instance, the Uchiha Clan possessed the Sharingan, and overusing their eyes would cause severe side effects such as disorientation, dizziness, and even temporary blindness.

"How do you know all that?" Suiguang asked curiously.

"Uh..." Liumu scratched the tip of his nose at the question. "Oh, right. Master Jiraiya told me."

An Ice Release kekkei genkai user like Han had appeared as early as the third match, drawing the attention of nearly everyone present.

Not far away, the Kirigakure jonin also smiled at Han's outstanding performance.

"Next match..."

As the Kumogakure jonin spoke again, the fourth match finally brought a ninja from Kumogakure itself into the ring.

"Zoromu of Kumogakure against Cheng of the Land of Crafts!"

"Cheng? Brother Cheng?"

Hearing the name, Liumu suddenly pictured a girl with long, straight black hair, along with a famous saying from the internet: You laugh at Brother Cheng for dying young; Brother Cheng laughs at you...

"What!"

Just then, while Liumu was still lost in his memories, a startled cry suddenly erupted in unison from the spectators.

Liumu turned toward the stage in confusion. Only then did he see that the Kumogakure ninja in the fourth match had already collapsed unconscious, his eyes rolled back. His clothes, shriveled all over from lightning strikes, made it clear how powerful an attack he had suffered.

"What happened?"

Most Kumogakure ninja were supposed to wield lightning release chakra, so why had a Kumogakure ninja now lost to the very ninjutsu he specialized in?

Kakashi said gravely, "That ninja from the Land of Crafts has a weapon that's anything but ordinary."

It turned out that as soon as the match began, the Kumogakure ninja had unleashed several lightning strikes at his opponent. Unexpectedly, the ninja from the Land of Crafts had not dodged at all. Instead, just as the lightning was about to strike him, he had suddenly drawn the blunt sword at his waist.

After the blunt sword absorbed the lightning, the ninja from the Land of Crafts closed in and turned his opponent's own methods against him, defeating the Kumogakure ninja with Kumogakure's own ninjutsu.

"Absorbing ninjutsu?"

After hearing Kakashi's account, that was the first phrase that came to Liumu's mind.

At that moment, the jonin from the various villages at the edge of the arena were no less shocked by the Land of Crafts' weapon than the genin watching below.

The Land of Crafts made its living selling ninja tools, but who could have imagined that such a previously unremarkable little country could secretly develop such an extraordinary weapon?

"The winner of this match... is Cheng of the Land of Crafts."

After announcing the result, the Kumogakure jonin ran straight to the Kumogakure genin to examine his injuries.

Judging by the expression he showed afterward, the genin probably had not suffered anything serious.

To a village, genin represented hope, and the children taking part in this Chunin Exams in particular were undoubtedly the most outstanding talents among the current generation of genin.

Precisely for that reason, the Chunin Exams would never permit a situation in which lives were endangered.

If any sign of such a situation emerged, a jonin or even a higher-ranking ninja would immediately intervene to stop it.

"You're up next."

Kakashi glanced at the screen and spoke to Liumu beside him.

"Yeah."

With that, Liumu pushed his way through the crowd and walked straight onto the stage.

Looking at his opponent's face, he complained with a grim expression, "You're a guy, yet your name is Hashimoto Asuka!"