The Ox Talisman: Overwhelming Strength Beat All Skill, and Mizuki Was Thrashed in the Exam Room!

The next day, at the graduation exam at Konoha Ninja Academy.

The atmosphere inside the spacious exam room was tense and oppressive.

Two examiners sat behind the podium. One was Umino Iruka, who had a horizontal scar across the bridge of his nose. The other was Mizuki, with long silver hair and a gentle smile.

"Next, Sasuke Uchiha!" Iruka called loudly.

A cool-looking boy in a high-collared blue shirt stepped forward, his hands rapidly forming hand seals.

"Poof!"

A puff of white smoke flashed, and three perfect clones, identical to Sasuke, appeared beside him.

"As expected of the Uchiha Clan's genius! A flawless Clone Technique. Full marks!" Iruka put a check on the score sheet in satisfaction.

The students watching from outside the exam room immediately let out gasps and lovestruck squeals.

"Sasuke is so handsome!" Sakura Haruno clasped her hands over her heart, her eyes sparkling.

"Tch, what's so great about that?" Naruto Uzumaki held his hands behind his head and curled his lips in displeasure.

Mizuki smiled and nodded beside him, but his gaze swept toward a corner of the exam room from time to time. When he saw Shengu Xuan sitting quietly in that corner, completely unharmed, an extremely well-hidden shadow flickered deep in his eyes.

What happened to Daisuke and those other two useless idiots? Didn't I tell them to cripple this brat? Why doesn't Shengu Xuan have so much as a scratch? Mizuki cursed inwardly, but maintained his gentle smile.

"Next, Shengu Xuan!" Holding the list, Iruka frowned slightly. He actually felt considerable sympathy for this student, who had very little chakra and had spent years at the bottom of the class, but the ninja world was cruel.

Shengu Xuan stood and walked unhurriedly to the center of the podium under the students' mocking or sympathetic gazes.

"Hey, hey, look! It's that loser with zero chakra!"

"He actually dared to come to the exam? He can't even use the Three Basic Techniques. Did he come up here to embarrass himself?"

"I heard he got lost on the outskirts of the Forest of Death yesterday. Probably scared him stupid, hahaha!"

Ignoring the whispers around him, Shengu Xuan calmly looked at the two examiners before him.

"Shengu Xuan, the exam is on the Clone Technique. Begin when you're ready," Iruka said gently, trying to ease Shengu Xuan's nerves.

Shengu Xuan formed no hand seals. He did not even take his hands out of his pockets, merely saying flatly, "Iruka-sensei, I can't mold enough chakra to use the Clone Technique."

At those words, the entire room erupted in laughter.

"Hahaha! Saying he can't use ninjutsu like he's proud of it! Who does he think he is?"

Iruka sighed and was just about to mark a cross on the score sheet when Mizuki, who had remained silent beside him, suddenly spoke.

"Iruka, wait."

Mizuki stood and walked over to Shengu Xuan with that nauseatingly fake smile on his face. "Shengu, as a teacher, I've always believed every student has their own strengths. Since ninjutsu isn't your forte, why don't we try a different assessment?"

Iruka froze. "Mizuki-sensei, that's against the rules..."

"Special circumstances call for special treatment." Mizuki interrupted Iruka and turned toward Shengu Xuan, a viper-like viciousness flashing through his eyes. "Let's test your taijutsu and reflexes. I'll throw three shuriken at you. As long as you can dodge or block them, you pass. How does that sound?"

The entire room instantly fell silent.

Having a Chunin at Jonin level throw shuriken at a civilian student with no chakra? How was that an exam? It was outright one-sided slaughter!

"Mizuki-sensei! That's too dangerous!" Iruka shot to his feet.

"Relax. I know my limits." Mizuki sneered, giving Iruka no chance to stop him.

Both his hands instantly reached for his ninja tool pouch.

But what he pulled out was no ordinary kunai or shuriken. It was an enormous, coldly gleaming-Fūma Shuriken!

"Whoosh!"

Without so much as a warning, Mizuki snapped his wrist. With a terrifying shriek that tore through the air, the enormous Fūma Shuriken became a blur and shot straight toward Shengu Xuan's neck!

That speed and power made his murderous intent unmistakable!

"Shengu Xuan! Dodge!" Naruto's eyes widened as he shouted in terror.

Sasuke's brows knitted tightly. At that speed, even activating my Sharingan might not let me dodge it completely. That loser is dead!

Yet, facing this lethal strike, Shengu Xuan remained where he stood, his hands in his pockets, without even blinking.

Just as the Fūma Shuriken came within ten centimeters of his neck.

[Ding!]

[Attack carrying intense hostility against the host detected!]

[Congratulations to the host on unlocking a new ability: Ox Talisman (strength to uproot mountains, might unmatched beneath the heavens-absolute domination through power)!]

Boom!

An utterly savage power instantly awakened inside Shengu Xuan! He felt his muscles and bones fill with divine strength capable of shouldering an entire mountain!

Shengu Xuan finally moved.

He slowly drew out his right hand and spread his fingers, reaching toward the rapidly spinning Fūma Shuriken that could slice through steel.

"You're asking to die!" A trace of cruel delight flashed in Mizuki's eyes. Catching a Fūma Shuriken barehanded? This brat's entire arm will be shredded!

The next second.

"Clang-!!!"

A deafening crash of metal striking metal exploded through the exam room!

No blood sprayed. No arm was severed.

The entire room fell deathly silent.

Everyone's eyes widened, their eyeballs almost bulging from their sockets, as though they had witnessed the most unbelievable sight in the world.

Shengu Xuan's right hand gripped the Fūma Shuriken's blade like an iron clamp! In his hand, its enormous momentum and destructive force seemed to become a toy, stopping instantly!

"Th-this... how is this possible?!" Mizuki's smile instantly froze, and cold sweat abruptly soaked his back.

Catching a blade barehanded? And a chakra-infused Fūma Shuriken at that?! What the hell kind of monstrous body is that?!

"Mizuki-sensei, you seem a little weak."

Shengu Xuan raised his head slightly, Mizuki's terrified face reflected in his pitch-black eyes.

"Crack-"

Shengu Xuan abruptly exerted force with his right hand.

The Fūma Shuriken, forged from refined steel, was actually crushed to pieces in his hand like a biscuit! Metal fragments pattered to the floor!

"Monster..." Sasuke sucked in a sharp breath and clenched his fists.

"Since you've finished testing me, it's my turn now."

Before his words had faded, Shengu Xuan stamped his right foot hard against the floor.

"Boom-!!!"

The Ox Talisman's terrifying strength erupted without restraint!

With Shengu Xuan's right foot at its center, the hard stone floor of the entire exam room instantly cracked like a spiderweb and collapsed! The tremendous shock wave became a tangible surge of air, instantly sending the surrounding desks and chairs flying and knocking the nearby students sprawling!

Using that terrifying recoil, Shengu Xuan shot forward like a cannonball from its barrel, appearing before Mizuki in an instant.

So fast! Mizuki had only enough time for that thought to flash through his mind, not even enough to form the hand seals for the Substitution Technique.

Shengu Xuan's seemingly slender fist had already slammed hard into Mizuki's abdomen.

"Bam!!!"

A muffled impact rang out.

Mizuki's eyes instantly bulged. His mouth opened wide in a soundless scream, and blood mixed with stomach acid sprayed out. His entire body flew backward like a kite with its string cut, smashing through the exam room's thick wall with a boom and embedding itself in the rubble, his fate unknown.

One punch!

Just one punch to take down a Chunin instantly!

Deathly silence filled the exam room. Iruka, Naruto, Sasuke-everyone stood petrified, their brains completely incapable of thought.

But it was not over yet.

Shengu Xuan withdrew his fist, looked at Mizuki lying like a dead dog in the hole in the wall, and snapped his fingers.

"Snap."

More than a dozen pitch-black arms suddenly extended from the shadow beneath Mizuki. Four Shadow Ninjas emerged from the wall's shadows and forcibly dragged the gravely injured, unconscious Mizuki out as though hauling a dead pig.

Then the Shadow Ninjas produced black chains and suspended Mizuki upside down in midair at the very center of the exam room!

Having finished, the Shadow Ninjas respectfully dropped to one knee behind Shengu Xuan, their scarlet eyes coldly surveying the room.

Shengu Xuan dusted off his hands and turned toward the utterly stupefied Iruka, the corners of his mouth lifting into a harmless smile:

"Iruka-sensei, do my taijutsu and Summoning Technique count as a pass?"