Among the cheers and shouts. We took up our positions. This time, the referee had changed. And for the first time, I saw the white fang of the leaf from up close. He was quite well built, and his iconic white hair seemed to shine in the light. I expected those nasty rumors about him to show up any day now. Before it had been too close to the war. His legend was still too fresh, but now, with so much time passing. The discrediting rumors could gain traction.
We made the seal of confrontation and began. I immediately raised the Lost Mirror, lightning sense, and took out the 3 Cluster Grenades. I had tried to think of a better name. But honestly, Nothing else suited it. Shinzo also threw a Great Fireball, confusing me. When it reflected, he spoke, "So it can be used multiple times, huh? Nota one trick pony." I saw him jump and dodge.
I won.
I understood his reason for not rushing in and finishing me. The reason for this fight was pride. He wanted to show Uchiha dominance. And that will cost him. If he had run in. I would have lost. Shogeki or other standard justus couldn't stop him. But these could.
With his mobility restricted a bit as he dodged. I threw the three grenades in a way that they gave him an opening. Not to escape. There were many. But to show his pride. He could stand in the middle, and the tags would explode all around him. But no explosion would touch him. That was the only way to lure him. Otherwise, trying to throw a tag onto a Uchiha? Dream on.
And cool it was. When the trigger tags went off. Shinzo looked like a red-eyed demon risen from flames, or so they said, until a second passed and the entirety of that side of the arena went up in chain explosions. The fire rose and merged into itself as the whit fang disappeared. Only to appear after a flash with a badly burning Uchiha in his arms. His half sleeves are burning. He wouldn't have been injured if he hadn't had to literally jump into the explosion headfirst to save Shinzo. He was injured, and people noticed. A few more explosions occurred before settling down. Before Deidara of the Akatsuki made his tricks famous. The kind of bomb I just unleashed was new for them. It was devastating for them.
The crowd was stunned into silence. The shinobis were actually taking notes of the devastation. I had overestimated Shinzo. He was just a Chunin. And this was my ultimate move short of Flames of the Call. More importantly, it was an unseen move. I saw my threat level visibly rise in the eyes of the clan Shinobis. That was nearly an A rank explosion. But the thing was, I had more of them. Sure, I needed a whole two days of rigorous grinding to recover one. But that did not change the fact that I had more of them in my hand, ready for another volley.
The White Fang Hatake Sakumo didn't even pause. He ran directly out towards the hospital nearby. Leaving the crowd in silence. A wealthy merchant from the highbox broke it, "So, he won, right? You owe me 500 Ryo!"
-----
I stood in the Hokage's office. "Ren, what the hell was that?"
"I call it a cluster grenade."
"And when did you make this?" he drawled, trying out the strange name. "Cluster Grenade"
"I didn't. It's still incomplete."
"Incomplette? It was an A-rank Explosion I just saw! And you used only three of them!"
"Lord Third. Just so you know, these are extremely expensive to make. Each of them costs 30 explosion tags. And many of them can actually be recovered from the blast site by the enemy."
I told him the drawbacks.
"I see. So it would take a skilled tag maker, making 5 tags a day, to make one in a whole week."
"Yes, even I, with my Yami, can only produce one every one every 2 days, of rigorous working."
"Why haven't you submitted its design to the village? You said your clan will submit its research," Danzo spoke in a tone of accusation.
"Two things, one, it is still incomplete, and two, it is not a Fuinjutsu seal. It is a physical arrangement with modified explosion tags. It is essentially a placement technique like the tag stacking that is taught in the academy for bigger explosions."
"But that was way deadlier than tag stacking. The explosions had multiple epicenters. A hundred stacked tags won't cause that much widespread damage."
"Cluster grenades won't do as much epicenter damage as stacking."
"I promised you copies of all the Fuinjustu my clan made. Not all the inventions I did."
"Fine, Fine, Keep it." The Hokage relented.
"But Hiruzen!'
"It is his creation. If we force him to hand it over when he clearly doesn't want to. What message are we sending to all other clans?"
Danzo quitened. He understood the implications of forcing a clan to hand over their justu.
But he still glared at me with looks that could kill.
All of you get out. I want to talk to him
----
He smoked silently. "What a day, huh, little Ren."
"Yes, it was quite the day."
"You do understand what this will lead to, right?"
"I could give you the tribute I had promised in cluster bombs," I spoke.
While the Hokage paused.
"Huh? I meant the reputation you have gained. And keep those cluster bombs of yours. Everyone needs an ace up their sleeve."
"The reputation?"
"Those bombs of yours. Anyone can activate them, correct?" I nodded.
"Which means your clan is now a true medium threat. Ordinary clans will not use so many tags just for one move. Maybe one at max as a last resort tool. But you, in three months of preparation, could churn out enough of them to arm each of your clan members with two or three of them. So far, you have been gaining political and monetary power. But a weapon that took out a Uchiha Chunin. No matter the circumstances, which were absurd. Makes you into someone the mediocre clans will need to be wary of. And that, my boy, makes you and your clan a target."
"We didn't expect such high performance from you. I know that, novelty of it was the reason you won. But now you have actually gained the reputation of a Fuinjutsu Prodigy. I had wanted to keep that under wraps for a while longer."
Prodigy? Me? Oh right. I was thinking in my terms. Making a new Fuinjutsu seal or a new stacking technique after 20 made you talented. Doing so at 13 made me a monster. I will have to lie low for a while after this.