Chapter 324: The Pressure of the Hokage's Son
"This must be one of the genius ninja of our Land of Fire."
Seeing Might Guy end the match in an instant, a Land of Fire official finally relaxed and smiled.
Kisame had also won easily, but a single kick that decided everything was on a completely different level in terms of impact.
"As expected, Konoha's ninja really are superior. He must be the strongest contestant here," someone in the audience exclaimed.
From the perspective of ordinary people, it was simple. Might Guy rushed out, and the very next second the Mist ninja was already embedded in the wall. Most of them did not even see when Guy closed the distance. His speed was far beyond what their eyes could follow.
In their minds, Might Guy had already become the strongest participant in this Chunin Exams.
"That eternal genin's kid is actually this strong?"
Some of the ninja who knew Might Duy rubbed their eyes in disbelief.
They did not know why that long time genin, Might Duy, had been promoted to chunin, but those who looked down on him before had never stopped doing so. In their hearts, a man like that could not possibly have a terrifyingly strong son.
But idle speculation would always be smashed by reality sooner or later. Guy used overwhelming strength to declare to everyone that he was strong. Very strong. Strong enough to defeat an opponent in less than half a minute.
The smile on Genji's face vanished. Noguchi Nobuhide had lost too quickly, without even managing to block a single move. For Hidden Mist, it was simply humiliating.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, by contrast, only allowed a faint smile to show on his face and said nothing.
Down below, Might Guy released the Eight Gates and relaxed his breathing, turning to face the stands. He spotted a familiar green figure wildly waving both arms and replied with a radiant smile of his own.
He wanted his father to be proud of him today.
"The fourth match: Kurosawa versus Inuzuka Midori. Contestants, please enter the arena."
As Guy returned to the waiting room, Hiruko called out the names for the next battle.
"Now I am the only hope. Come on, Midori!"
Inuzuka Midori tried to cheer herself up in her mind.
Aburame Nao had fallen in the preliminaries, and Nara Shiosui had just lost to Rin in the second match. She was the last remaining member of their team.
She had fought Kurosawa before and knew this Mist ninja was troublesome. Even so, she refused to fall here. Since two of them had made it to the third stage, at least one of them should advance to the second round. If all of them were wiped out in the Top 16, would that not make their entire team look pathetic?
Kurosawa rose calmly and walked toward the arena, not taking this battle too seriously at all.
He was not truly a genin. Aside from monsters like Kisame and Might Guy, Kurosawa did not believe he would lose to anyone.
"Little Midori, do your best!"
Because they had fought side by side before, Obito enthusiastically waved and cheered for her.
"Either call me Inuzuka or call me Midori. Little Midori sounds terrible," she snapped, turning to glare at him.
"Alright, Little Midori," Obito answered without thinking.
If she were not about to fight, Midori honestly wanted to punch him.
She did not bother correcting him again and quickly jogged out to the arena.
"Why not surrender now? That way you will not get hurt, and either way you will lose," Kurosawa said in a flat tone.
Midori's teeth clenched the moment she heard that. Remembering the old grudge from the Forest of Death on top of that, her anger spiked to the maximum. She swore silently that even if she could not win, she would at least take a piece of flesh off him.
On her shoulder, Bai Maru sensed her fury and bared his sharp little teeth at Kurosawa.
"Begin!"
As soon as Hiruko gave the signal, Midori immediately activated Medical Ninjutsu, her hands glowing as she dropped into a low stance, while Bai Maru leapt down and transformed, taking on Midori's appearance and stacking with her.
"Pointless resistance."
Seeing that she had no intention of surrendering, Kurosawa formed hand signs.
"Hidden Mist Technique."
A thick veil of mist surged out, swallowing the entire arena and completely obscuring the fighters from view.
Many spectators were left dumbfounded. With the view entirely blocked, what were they supposed to watch?
"Come on, guess. Heart, thigh, head, arm. Which part do you think I will attack first?"
Kurosawa's voice floated through the mist like a ghost.
But although she could not see him, Midori remained calm. Others might fear this kind of jutsu, but the Inuzuka clan's secret techniques were the natural counter to this style of fighting.
"I will hit that big head of yours first, freak! Try eating this punch!"
Midori inhaled sharply through her nose, locked onto Kurosawa's scent, and immediately charged, Bai Maru beside her in lockstep.
Bang, bang.
Even in a two on one, Kurosawa handled the assault with composed and measured movements.
"What is going on? Was that just a coincidence? Or something else?"
He had not expected Midori to find him so quickly and so accurately.
To test it, Kurosawa used the Body Flicker Technique to shift positions several times, but Midori still tracked him almost immediately each time.
There was no point wasting any more chakra. Kurosawa canceled the Hidden Mist Technique.
If he left it up, the mist would turn into nothing more than a convenient tool for Midori to hunt him with.
After that, Kurosawa used Water Release and his sword in earnest.
Midori was the strongest in one on one combat on her team, but against a chunin level opponent like Kurosawa, she quickly found herself at a disadvantage.
Fresh wounds opened one after another across her body, but she refused to back down. She had already sworn that even if she lost, she would not let Kurosawa walk away unscathed.
She changed her approach and adopted a trade blows style of fighting. She no longer bothered dodging his attacks. Instead, whenever Kurosawa struck, she used that opening to launch a counterattack of her own.
Kurosawa was cautious by nature, but faced with Midori's reckless, self sacrificing style, even he could not remain untouched.
At last, Midori grabbed his sword with her bare hand, gripping it tight even as blood ran down her fingers. In that instant, Bai Maru used Fang Over Fang, drilling into Kurosawa's right leg and tearing it badly.
Seeing him injured, Midori collapsed, a satisfied look in her eyes.
If she were stronger, she would have wanted to do even more. For now, this was already everything she could manage.
"The winner is decided. Kurosawa wins."
Hiruko immediately announced the result.
Kurosawa glared down at the fallen Midori but did not dare move in to strike again.
"This is troublesome. I have to fight that kind of monster in the second round."
Victory did not make him happy. What was so impressive about a chunin defeating a genin?
What weighed on him more was how to minimize the injuries he would suffer in the next fight, because his second round opponent would be Might Guy.
The heavily wounded Midori was quickly carried away by the medical ninja, and Kurosawa limped back to the examinees' area to receive treatment.
Seeing Kurosawa win, Genji's expression finally eased a little.
Out of the three matches between Konoha and Hidden Mist so far, Hidden Mist had won two. For now, they still held the advantage.
"The fifth match: Uchiha Obito versus Asuma Sarutobi."
"Asuma Sarutobi? That is the Third Hokage's son, right? So he is already old enough to join the Chunin Exams."
"Uchiha Obito, I have never heard of him. The Third's son should win, right?"
Most of the audience naturally leaned toward Asuma. It was not because they knew what jutsu he used or how strong he was, but simply because he was the Hokage's son.
For them, as the Hokage's child, it was only proper that he win. If he lost, that would feel wrong.
"They dare to look down on our Uchiha?"
Inaho frowned deeply as he listened to the chatter around him.
Having been defeated by Obito himself, he knew better than anyone how strong Obito was. Even among chunin, Obito stood on the stronger side.
"No matter. Obito will prove the excellence of the Uchiha with his strength," Yashiro said calmly.
In his opinion, Obito might not be able to defeat Kisame or Might Guy. Those two were monsters. But beating Asuma should be no problem at all.
The reason was simple. If Asuma had that kind of talent, then as the Hokage's son, his reputation would have already spread through Konoha.
Inaho nodded and turned his full attention to the center of the arena.
Down on the field, the noise of the crowd blurred together. Even so, most ninja had sharp senses. They could more or less guess what was being said.
Asuma could not make out the exact words, but he could easily imagine the content.
It was nothing more than people saying that, as the Hokage's son, he ought to win.
He had heard that same line since he was a child.
If he won, it was only natural. That was what the Hokage's son was supposed to do. If he lost, then it meant he had not trained properly. How could the Hokage's son be so weak?
"It is easy for them to say. Obito is not an easy opponent," Asuma thought, looking at Obito, who was happily waving toward the stands with a big grin.
He was not confident about this fight. Asuma still remembered Obito's Fire Release in the preliminaries with crystal clarity.
A full month had passed since then. Obito would only be stronger now. Asuma honestly did not know what to expect.
If he could not win and disappointed those people in the stands, he would not feel sad. In fact, a small part of him might even feel relieved.
But he would not deliberately throw the match either, because there were people present whose opinions truly mattered to him.
He did not want Mugetsu to see him lose without a fight and think all that training had been meaningless. He did not want Hiruzen to watch him crumble easily. He wanted to prove himself with his own strength.
Asuma glanced up into the audience. From here it was impossible to see clearly, but in his mind, he could picture a blond figure somewhere up there, watching him with a gentle smile.
"That kid is going to be crushed by Uchiha Obito," Tsunade said as soon as she heard Asuma's name announced.
"Why?" Mugetsu turned to her and asked.
"Haha, because Asuma could not read the room and called her Auntie," Jiraiya cackled before Tsunade could respond.
Mugetsu's expression twitched slightly. Tsunade's words were nonsense, but her conclusion was correct. The gap between the two boys was simply too large. For Asuma to win, he would need to be at his absolute peak in every respect, while Obito would have to be strangely off his game. Only under those absurd conditions might Asuma have a chance.
"But if you ask me, at Asuma's age, calling you…"
Jiraiya glanced at Tsunade's slowly rising fist and wisely swallowed the rest of his sentence. Tsunade did not hold back when she punched.
"Begin."
Hiruko's voice echoed through the circular arena. Mugetsu shifted his focus back to the field.
"Flame Breathing, total concentration."
Obito quickly entered his full concentration breathing state, dramatically increasing the speed at which he could perform Fire Release chakra nature transformation.
Even so, he did not immediately activate Flame Breathing Chakra Mode. That would burn through his reserves too quickly. He would first test Asuma's strength before deciding whether it was necessary.
Asuma also immediately engaged his basic breathing, boosting his own abilities.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
Asuma drew three kunai from his pouch, infused them with Wind Release chakra, and hurled them straight at Obito.
"Fire Release, Great Fireball Technique."
Obito gathered chakra, completed the nature transformation in his throat, and spat out a torrent of flames.
The blaze swelled into a huge fireball that roared toward the incoming kunai.
The wind imbued blades were powerful, but they were still not enough in the face of Obito's Great Fireball. All three were knocked aside and clattered to the ground.
Asuma did not try to meet the fire head on. He immediately dodged out of the way instead.
Obito had not expected the Great Fireball to hit Asuma in the first place, so he was already moving as the flames roared forward. He poured chakra into his legs and sprinted in.
Even though Asuma was clearly behind Obito in terms of breathing technique, physique, and other fundamentals, he had not wasted the past month either. He had deepened his mastery of Wind Release and, under Mugetsu's guidance, learned a set of self acceleration techniques using Wind Release, on top of his basic breathing.
With the boost from Wind Release, Asuma did not immediately fall behind. On the surface, the two clashed back and forth, appearing almost evenly matched.
Of course, that balance was only on the surface.
"Obito is this much stronger than me? When did his taijutsu get this terrifying?"
Asuma had originally thought he might gain an advantage in close combat with his new techniques, but as the exchange dragged on, he felt more and more at a loss.
After roughly gauging Asuma's taijutsu, Obito activated his Sharingan. His eyes turned crimson, and two tomoe slowly spun into motion.
With the Sharingan open, his perception skyrocketed. Countless gaps and weaknesses appeared in Asuma's attacks and movement in Obito's eyes.
Asuma, already starting to fall behind, was immediately driven into a full disadvantage. Obito pressed him step by step, forcing him into a corner.
One of the guards present subconsciously glanced at Hiruzen when he saw Asuma being pushed back, but the Third Hokage's expression remained the same as it had been for the earlier matches. There was no noticeable change.
"He is actually suppressing the Hokage's son. This Uchiha Obito is really strong."
"Could it be that he is going to win?"
No shinobi was foolish enough to openly insult the Hokage's son on such a public stage. Even if they thought it, they would only complain quietly in their hearts or grumble in private later.
If it were a civilian, the Hokage might not care. But a ninja? If a ninja did not have the sense to watch their mouth, there would always be subordinates willing to handle the matter for their leader.
Uchiha Fugaku watched Obito steadily pressing the attack and nodded slightly. In his judgment, Obito was almost guaranteed promotion to chunin this time.
"As a chunin, he could enter the Police Force right away. If he joined us, he would definitely receive the best guidance," Yashiro said with some regret, thinking back to Obito's earlier refusal.
In his mind, the best teachers for Uchiha were always other Uchiha. No one understood the clan better than themselves.
Realizing he was losing in taijutsu, Asuma had no choice but to change tactics. He pushed his Wind Release to the limit, using it to sharply accelerate and open some distance.
He had even less confidence in his ninjutsu, but at this point he had no choice. If he did not use Wind Release techniques, Obito's taijutsu alone would overwhelm him.
"Those people out there are probably already saying I did not train hard enough. You people who only talk have no idea how strong my opponent actually is," Asuma thought bitterly as he formed hand signs.
"So fast. Then I will answer with ninjutsu too."
Seeing that he could not close the gap and that any further rush would mean eating a Wind Release head on, Obito also began forming hand signs for Fire Release.
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