Akimichi Yumi, who had been staring straight at Kaito's handsome face, squeaked in panic. She instantly released her Partial Multi-Size Technique, arms raised defensively as she cautiously checked her surroundings for changes.
"Yumi! It's genjutsu—disrupting your chakra flow!" Nara Ha shouted.
Yumi nodded hard.
Under Ha's watchful eyes, she formed a seal—
"Release!"
Ha: "..."
…Did you ever get caught in the first place?
On the other side, Unma had sprinted over to force Yamanaka Tai back into his own body, then retreated to Ryūun's side.
Unma: "..."
Are you kidding me? Was that even a real illusion?!
Ryūun rubbed her temples. She had clearly heard Kaito call out the illusion name before casting—yet her head was only slightly dizzy afterward.
Meanwhile, Kaito was drenched in cold sweat.
A small bird carrying a surveillance camera had perched on the rocks nearby.
It had been recording everything.
Kaito just hadn't noticed it until now—
but the entire monitoring room had seen every second.
Orochimaru replayed Kaito's hand seals in his mind.
The seals themselves were correct…
So why did the technique fail?
A talent issue… perhaps?
Sarutobi Shinnosuke, however, was ecstatic.
When Kaito first appeared—confident, coordinated, and nearly wiping out the Ino–Shika–Chō formation—Shinnosuke's heart nearly exploded.
Now?
He laughed.
"I've been saying it from the start—Kaito is useless. I don't even know why he bothers taking the chunin exams. Honestly, we should revoke his qualification and stop wasting exam resources."
Yūhi Shinku's expression darkened immediately.
"That's enough! Kaito's plan was sound—he simply got nervous and slipped up."
Orochimaru chuckled softly.
"But now the advantage he built is gone~ how unfortunate."
Kaito exhaled deeply.
"Yes. That was my mistake."
He jumped down from the rock, looking as if he were pressing Yumi again—
but suddenly charged toward the easiest target: Yamanaka Tai.
"Take one down first. Block them!"
"Got it!" ×2
Realizing she wasn't actually trapped, Yumi snapped back to her senses and quickly formed seals.
"Ninja Art: Multi-Size Technique!"
In an instant, the plump girl ballooned into a giant, round form.
Then—arms pulled inside, body tucked inward—
"Konoha-Style: Human Boulder!"
"Crap!"
Unma spat out the senbon he had been biting, but the green spinning boulder slammed into him before his warning could finish.
He barely dodged and turned to Kaito:
"Kaito! I can't block this kind of attack!"
Tai sneered.
"No one can stop Yumi once she gets going."
Crack, crack—
The boulder smashed through stones like a living bulldozer, leaving fractures in its wake.
"Annoying technique…" Kaito muttered, sidestepping just before Yumi barreled past him and skidded to a stop beside Tai.
Yumi dissolved the jutsu and puffed out her cheeks proudly.
"Hmph! Don't underestimate our formation!"
But Kaito only stared at them with perfect calm.
"Idiots.
You just fell for it."
Only one figure now stood in the open ground—
Nara Ha.
Unma and Ryūun had already moved, kunai in hand, forming a pincer around him.
Ha sighed dramatically.
"What a hassle. Fine, fine. I surrender~"
He raised both hands, looking harmless as a kitten.
Ryūun narrowed her eyes.
"Hand over your scroll and we might consider letting you leave."
"Sure."
Ha pulled out the Heaven Scroll.
The two chunin hopefuls widened their eyes—
a perfect match for their Earth Scroll.
Ha saw their reaction and casually tossed the scroll into the air.
Both Ryūun and Unma instinctively leapt up to catch it—
—and instantly froze midair.
Ha smiled faintly.
"Shadow Imitation: Success."
"You—!" Ryūun's red eyes flared with anger.
"You dare trick us?!"
"Mutual trickery," Ha replied lazily.
He had already burned through a huge amount of chakra fighting earlier teams, then tracking, then extending his shadow during the earlier clash with Kaito.
All he could do now was hold the two in place for a little longer.
"Plan B."
"Yes, sir!" ×2
Kaito stared deadpan at his two teammates getting held hostage again.
Honestly…
Just beat the Nara kid up and take the scroll—
do you two even WANT to become chunin?
Konoha's education really is too gentle…
"Multi-Size Technique!"
"Human Boulder!"
Yumi spun up again, charging straight at Kaito.
Kaito dodged, catching the moment Tai began forming hand seals.
He mirrored them instantly.
"Mind Transfer—!"
Tai's jutsu struck empty air, or rather—
a body with no consciousness inside.
"Substitution?!"
POOF!
A wooden log appeared where Kaito had been.
A smoke bomb detonated overhead—
BOOM—
White fog swallowed the battlefield, blocking all sight, even the surveillance feed.
Within the haze—
Kaito created several shadow clones, let them dissolve, wasted no effort refining chakra, then simultaneously activated two basic E-rank techniques:
Clone Technique + Transformation Technique.
Then—
He added Earth Release.
When the smoke cleared—
There were now two Tai's and two Yumi's standing there.
"What—?! One of them is fake! Don't panic!" Ha shouted.
His warning made Tai and Yumi look sharply at the "duplicates"—
which meant neither noticed the real Kaito slipping underground, tunneling silently behind them.
"Die, imposter!!" Tai roared, flinging kunai at one duplicate.
The clone twisted aside.
Yumi lunged with a punch—but the clone danced away again.
Several seconds passed—
still no giveaway.
Ha's brow finally snapped into a knot.
A creaking noise rose from beneath him.
Damn it—! We're being played AGAIN!
"Earth Release: Headhunter Jutsu!"
"W–wait—aaah—!!"
In the monitoring chamber—
Sarutobi Shinnosuke's face was drained of all colors.
Kaito had decisively eliminated all three members of the Ino–Shika–Chō trio by removing one of their forehead protectors—
a symbolic "death" in the survival exam.
Even Orochimaru nodded.
"Impressive. His tactical execution rivals that of the Nara clan."
Shinnosuke's expression twisted.
"Heh… even so, ninja are about ninjutsu—"
"Not always," said Yūhi Shinku calmly.
"Many chunin are promoted primarily for their command ability.
Especially the Nara clan shinobi—their direct combat isn't even considered strong."
Shinnosuke's cheeks twitched violently.
He had been thoroughly, utterly humiliated.
The Ino–Shika–Chō he trained…
defeated by Kaito, a so-called failure genin.
He stormed out of the room, slamming the door, and took a hidden ANBU passage to escape the exam grounds.
Meanwhile—
The chunin survival test continued…
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