Izumi kept Shinju's hopes and warnings close to heart and began moving quietly within the Uchiha clan. On the other side of Konoha, the academy's annual field combat trials had begun.
At the highest tier of the viewing stand, the Third Hokage Hiruzen puffed on his pipe with Minato seated beside him. They watched calmly as the young ninja clashed below.
Iruka stood at the sideline, match list in hand, sweat already beading on his brow. He had just announced another result.
"Winner, Naruto!"
Out on the field, Naruto offered a hand to his fallen opponent and hauled him up, his trademark grin blazing. It was his fifth straight win against students in his year, each match wrapped up clean and fast.
Iruka's mouth went dry as he watched that blond figure. He knew Naruto was a prodigy—his performance since enrollment had been monstrous—but he hadn't expected him to shine this brightly during a live trial under the eyes of the entire school and the village leadership.
"Next is the final event, the cross-grade challenge." Iruka raised his voice, announcing the headliner. "Challenger: Naruto. Opponent: top of the graduating class, Kazama Hiko!"
The moment that name dropped, a ripple tore through the stands. Kazama Hiko was the standout of this year's graduates, a master of wind release with flawless taijutsu, already eyed by several jonin instructors. Letting a lower-grade student challenge him—this had never happened in past trials.
Sasuke stood in the crowd, eyes locked on Naruto. These years, he had trained like mad and long since outpaced his peers—yet the distance between him and Naruto didn't seem to shrink. That guy always reached, with ease, heights Sasuke had to claw toward with everything he had.
On the field, Kazama Hiko stepped up opposite Naruto. He was a head taller, his expression proud, carrying the confidence of a class's number one.
"Naruto, I admit you're a genius," Hiko said. "But the gap between grades isn't something talent alone can bridge. Surrender now and keep some dignity."
Naruto rolled his wrists and grinned.
"Quit yapping. You only know after we fight."
Iruka drew a deep breath and slashed his hand down. "Begin!"
Kazama Hiko flashed through hand seals—fast.
"Fūton: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)!"
A gale bloomed from nothing, kicking up grit and sand as it roared at Naruto. Naruto didn't meet it head-on; he sprang back and formed seals just as quickly.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)!"
Poof! Poof!
Two shadow clones popped into being at his flanks, forming a triangle to pen Hiko in.
"Child's play." Hiko snorted and spun, casting wind again and shaping a small tornado that shredded the two clones with ease.
While he answered the clones, Naruto's real body had already surged in from Hiko's blind spot.
Hiko reacted fast. He chopped back in a knife-hand strike. But Naruto, as if he'd read it beforehand, dropped his center at an impossible angle, sliding under the blow while sweeping Hiko's legs with a scything kick.
They crashed into a blistering taijutsu exchange. Fists and feet cracked like drumbeats, too quick for most students watching to follow.
Up on the stand, Hiruzen blew a smoke ring, eyes flashing.
"Minato, you've got two good sons. Naruto's battle sense and fundamentals are already at chunin level."
Minato only smiled, saying nothing, gaze fixed on his son.
On the field, Hiko—stalled after failing to break through—grew impatient. He snatched a gap to disengage, hands flying through a far more complex chain of seals. Chakra surged from him like never before.
"This is the Kazama clan's secret art! Losing to this should still make you proud!"
"Fūton: Kaze no Yaiba Ranbu (Wind Release: Wind Blade Dance)!"
Dozens of near-invisible, hair-fine wind blades birthed from the air itself, weaving a heaven-and-earth net that locked down every path of escape.
Iruka's face changed. The range and cutting power of this technique went far beyond the genin bracket.
Standing inside the ring of blades, Naruto's expression turned serious for the first time. He could feel the keen, biting intent riding those edges.
Just when everyone thought he was about to lose, Naruto shut his eyes.
A heartbeat later, they snapped open. In those blue irises, a thread of gold flickered.
Golden chakra surged up off Naruto like fire, sheathing his body in a visible, flowing cloak of light.
On the stand, the corner of Minato's mouth lifted.
In the crowd, Sasuke's pupils contracted. What was that?! That chakra…
Hiko didn't notice the change. He slammed his hands together.
"Die!"
The wind blades screamed from every angle, converging on Naruto at the center.
Naruto's figure vanished.
An instant before the blades could touch him, he became a bolt of gold, slipping through the gaps and out of sight.
Hiko's strike whiffed. The blades scythed empty air and carved deep furrows across the ground.
But where did he go?
A chill pricked Hiko's heart. He darted his eyes about—
A calm voice rose behind him.
"You're strong. But… still far from enough."
Hiko's body locked up. He felt annihilating force gathering at his back. He tried to turn, but nothing obeyed.
Forcing his head around, he saw a sight he would never forget.
Naruto was already behind him, right hand cradling a high-speed, spinning sphere of blue chakra. Around it, several razor-like streams curled like blades.
"…My goal is the Hokage—beyond even my old man!"
Naruto thrust the sphere forward—then stopped it one centimeter from the center of Hiko's back.
Cold sweat burst across Hiko's skin; his soul nearly fled. The orb never touched him, but the raw wind pressure from its rotation was very real.
A visible shockwave erupted from Naruto's palm, blasting forward. The ground at Hiko's feet erupted into a crater more than three meters across—purely from pressure.
Hiko himself was flung away, tumbling through the air before crashing down and blacking out on impact.
Silence fell over everything.
Students and teachers alike were struck dumb. What level of battle was this? They stared at the vast pit at center field, then at the blond boy still haloed in the fading gold of his chakra.
Sasuke clenched his fists. Frustration and a burning urge to chase swelled in his chest. That golden power, that wind-wreathed sphere… He swore he would master them someday.
In the crowd, Sakura and Ino looked at Naruto, shining like a little sun, and—for the first time—felt he might be even cooler than the usually taciturn Sasuke.
On the stand, Hiruzen set his pipe down and exhaled a long breath. He murmured to Minato at his side, "Konoha's future can rest easy."
Shaken back to himself, Iruka hurried to the center, checked Hiko's condition, and, finding only unconsciousness, struggled to raise his hand.
"Winner, Naruto!"
The trials were over.
Students drifted off in clusters, but the quake of Naruto's earth-shaking bout etched itself into their memories.
Iruka and the Third Hokage didn't leave at once. They traded a look and saw the same decision in each other's eyes. Together they walked down from the stand and went straight to Minato.
"Minato." The Third's expression turned grave.
Iruka gathered his nerve. "Lord Fourth, about Naruto, we have a proposal."
"This academy has nothing more to teach him."
"We are unanimous—Naruto should graduate early and become a full-fledged genin!"
(End of Chapter)
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