"Rankyaku!"
Using Geppo to adjust his position in midair, Might Duy swung his leg down and unleashed a sharp crescent slash.
The air blade tore downward and struck Blue B beneath him, smashing him straight into the ground.
Boom!
Blue B crashed hard, the impact carving a crater into the flat arena floor.
"Raaagh!"
Under the influence of the Eight-Tails' chakra, Blue B could no longer maintain clear reason.
The only thing keeping him from losing himself completely was his obsession.
He had to defeat Might Duy.
He had to restore Kumogakure's reputation.
"Shigan: Tornado."
This was a move Might Duy had created under Kizaru's guidance.
With chakra protecting his body, he spun at high speed from above, using the rotation to increase the piercing power of Shigan.
Sensing the threat, Blue B stretched out the two tails formed from Tailed Beast chakra. They moved like flexible arms, whipping upward to seize Might Duy.
But Duy's rotation was too fast.
Combined with the violent chakra surging through his body after opening the Eight Gates, the two Tailed Beast tails could not fully stop his attack.
A heavy collision rang out.
Shock waves burst in every direction.
Smoke swallowed the arena.
Within that cloud of dust, Might Duy's Shigan struck Blue B again.
At the same time, Blue B's two tails finally wrapped around Duy the moment his rotation slowed.
Blue B slammed into the ground from the force of the impact, but his two chakra tails remained raised in the air, tightly binding the struggling Might Duy.
"Die!"
With a savage roar, Blue B swung his tails and smashed Duy into the ground nearby.
Blue B slowly pushed himself up from the crater. The pain from the attack only made his anger burn hotter.
"I'll kill you!"
His voice sounded less and less human.
The Tailed Beast chakra leaking from his body intensified.
A third tail slowly grew from his back.
Facing Might Duy, who was trying to stand again, Blue B lowered his body. Three chakra tails swayed behind him as he opened his mouth.
Black and white chakra began to gather.
The yin and yang chakra of the Tailed Beast condensed into a sphere.
The out-of-control jinchūriki was instinctively forming the strongest attack of a Tailed Beast.
A Tailed Beast Ball.
"Hokage, Blue B is losing control!"
On the viewing platform, the Third Raikage sensed that something was wrong and shot to his feet.
In truth, he was already beginning to panic.
But Sarutobi Hiruzen remained seated, his expression calm.
"Do not worry. The examiner will handle it."
The Third Raikage, the Third Tsuchikage, and Ebizō had already left their seats. All three of them turned to look at him.
At a time like this, he was still acting calm?
Defeating a Tailed Beast jinchūriki and subduing one in a crowded venue without causing casualties were completely different matters.
"Hokage, there are civilians and dignitaries in the audience. You know what will happen if that attack goes off."
Although Kumogakure had no friendly relationship with Konoha, the Third Raikage was still a responsible Kage.
He did not want to see a large number of innocent people die in a place like this.
His hands tightened around the armrests of his seat.
Sarutobi Hiruzen still looked as if everything was under control.
"Kizaru has already moved."
Hearing Hiruzen's words, the three of them immediately looked back toward the arena.
A flash of golden light crossed the field.
In the next instant, Kizaru appeared in front of Blue B as if he had teleported.
With both hands still in his pockets and that lazy, crooked smile on his face, Kizaru raised his glowing right foot.
Then he kicked Blue B directly in the head just as the jinchūriki was gathering the Tailed Beast Ball.
Blue B's body blurred.
A golden afterimage flashed.
The jinchūriki was sent flying across the arena and slammed into the concrete wall with a thunderous crash.
His entire body became embedded in the thick wall like a mural.
Kizaru's kick plunged the excited audience into dead silence.
Most of the spectators were civilians. None of them had expected that the tall, oddly dressed examiner could possess such overwhelming power.
"Fugaku, watch closely."
Among the spectators, the Uchiha clan head spoke to his son in a low voice.
"That is Shimura Kizaru's power. The kind of power that could stand against Uchiha Madara."
Uchiha Fugaku stared at the arena.
Kicking away an out-of-control Tailed Beast jinchūriki was not something he could do. He had to admit that clearly in his heart.
"As long as Kizaru is in the village, Konoha will not fall into chaos. Schemes and secret plots lose their meaning in front of absolute strength."
Those words were not only meant for Fugaku.
They were also meant for the Uchiha seated nearby.
After learning about the Hashirama cell experiments, several leaders of the Uchiha's militant faction had started to grow restless again.
Now, after hearing the clan head's warning, their expressions turned ugly.
They were unwilling.
But even they had to admit it.
The Uchiha clan could not match Shimura Kizaru.
Not only the Uchiha, but the other clans seated throughout the audience also fell silent after seeing Kizaru kick away the rampaging jinchūriki.
How many good deeds had the ancestors of the Shimura clan done?
How much merit had they accumulated for a monster like Shimura Kizaru to be born among their descendants?
"How troublesome…"
Kizaru smiled lazily, hands still in his pockets, as he watched Blue B struggle to pull himself out of the wall.
To avoid firing a laser that might blow through the wall and hit the audience above, Kizaru did not follow up with a beam.
Instead, he turned into light and flashed in front of Blue B.
"Raaagh!"
Blue B, whose consciousness had already been swallowed by the Eight-Tails, roared furiously at Kizaru's sudden appearance.
Still wearing that careless smile, Kizaru reached out with one hand and pulled Blue B out of the wall.
He grabbed the back of Blue B's neck through the Tailed Beast chakra cloak as if lifting a cat.
Then, with Blue B's tails continuing to grow behind him, Kizaru carried him back to the center of the arena.
"Duy, go rest."
Kizaru spoke to Might Duy, who had only just managed to stand and was still somewhat dazed.
Then he released Blue B and dropped him onto the ground.
"I…"
Might Duy looked at his teacher, still unable to fully understand what had happened.
"You won."
Kizaru smiled at him.
"Go on. Take a break. I have to deal with a little trouble now."
"Little trouble?"
Might Duy looked at Blue B, who was now crawling on all fours in front of Kizaru, and nodded blankly.
He was obedient by nature. Since Kizaru had said so, he used an explosive leap and left the arena.
"Raaagh!"
Blue B had grown four tails by now. He had completely taken on the posture of a beast, raising his head toward Kizaru and roaring in fury.
"So noisy…"
Kizaru sighed, raised his leg, and stepped heavily on Blue B's head.
Blue B struggled violently.
The four tails on his back shot toward Kizaru like spears.
Under Gyūki's control, Blue B wanted to break free from this humiliating restraint.
Kizaru's right hand turned black with Armament Haki.
He reached out and caught the first tail that came at him.
Then he lifted his foot, shifted his weight, and swung Blue B into the air by the tail.
Blue B spun half a circle through the air under Kizaru's monstrous strength before being slammed heavily into the ground.
Kizaru took one step forward.
Golden light gathered around his raised right foot.
Then he stomped down on Blue B's chest.
Boom!
A muffled impact shook the arena.
The ground beneath Blue B caved in deeply, and the entire venue trembled.
"Hokage, are you trying to have our jinchūriki killed?"
The Third Raikage had been worried about the audience moments ago.
Now, his concern had shifted entirely to Kumogakure's jinchūriki.
"Raikage, forgive him."
Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at the Third Raikage with a smile.
"Kizaru is still young. He does not always know how to hold back."
It was the same excuse Danzo liked to use whenever Kizaru caused trouble.
Young?
What kind of young person beat a Tailed Beast like this at ten years old?
Beside the Third Raikage, Ōnoki, who was seeing Kizaru fight for the first time, could not help feeling grateful for the decision he had made during the Second Shinobi World War.
Ōnoki had many ways to subdue an out-of-control Tailed Beast jinchūriki.
But this was the first time he had seen someone beat one unconscious with nothing but hands and feet.
With that kind of physical power, Kizaru was practically a humanoid Tailed Beast.
The Golden Flash, Shimura Kizaru.
A monster among monsters.
That was the evaluation Ōnoki silently gave him.
As if to live up to that name, Kizaru stepped down hard.
Blue B finally lost consciousness.
The Tailed Beast chakra covering his body vanished and retreated back inside him.
It was almost as if the demon inside him had decided, I cannot afford to provoke this man. I am leaving.
After successfully suppressing the rampage of the Eight-Tails' jinchūriki, Kizaru adjusted his sunglasses and casually brushed the dust from his clothes.
"Medical team, carry him out."
At Kizaru's order, three medical-nin waiting in the passage immediately rushed forward with a stretcher.
They lifted Blue B from the pit and placed him onto it.
Before leaving, the three medical-nin could not help looking back at Kizaru several times.
The man who had just stopped a rampaging jinchūriki had no injuries on his body.
His clothes were only slightly dusty.
He was absurd to the point of being unreasonable.
Author's Note:
Third update, 8,800 words. Mission complete. I'm going to sleep.
Ten days had passed since the Chūnin Exams ended.
Among all the candidates, Might Duy, the oldest participant, had taken first place.
Naturally, he was promoted to chūnin by the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen.
As for Duy, the rough gem Kizaru had discovered, Hiruzen had already intended to promote him. Winning first place in the Chūnin Exams simply gave him the best possible reason.
The only thing Hiruzen regretted was that Might Duy's personality and style were truly unsuitable for the Anbu.
There was no way to bring him into the Anbu for training.
Not only Hiruzen, but even the calculating Danzo gave up on the idea of bringing this talent into Root after observing Kizaru's disciple for a few days.
Aside from Might Duy, two other Konoha genin were promoted to chūnin in this Chūnin Selection Exam.
They were Namikaze Minato and Aburame Shimi.
With that, Namikaze Minato became the youngest chūnin in the village, setting a new record in Konoha's history.
Kizaru, of course, was not counted in that record.
He had been promoted straight from genin to jōnin, and still held the record for the youngest jōnin.
After the Chūnin Exams ended, the Konoha genin who had participated returned to their normal lives.
Minato's temporarily formed elite genin team was also disbanded.
After all, Minato would continue training outside the village under Jiraiya's guidance.
Nawaki returned to Orochimaru's research institute and continued training under his teacher.
Only Might Duy received special arrangements from the Third Hokage.
Hiruzen personally assigned him to a balanced chūnin team, allowing him to continue carrying out missions while sharpening his abilities and experience.
After arranging the futures of the village's young shinobi, Sarutobi Hiruzen and Danzo shifted more of their attention toward diplomacy and politics between the hidden villages.
The Third Raikage, A, the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, and Sunagakure elder Ebizō each led their delegations out of Konoha the day after the Chūnin Exams ended.
While they were still in Konoha, the three sides had not reached any clear agreement of cooperation.
However, certain trends had already begun to show.
The Tsuchikage and the Raikage met privately several times.
When they left Konoha, they even departed together.
Under the pressure created by their behavior, Ebizō was forced to prepare a fallback plan.
He took the initiative to express Sunagakure's sincerity to the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, stating that Suna was willing to advance and retreat together with Konoha.
Hiruzen, who had already developed his own ideas regarding Sunagakure, was naturally very satisfied with this.
However, he did not force Ebizō to make a final declaration.
He merely promised that if Sunagakure encountered a problem they could not solve, they could seek help from Konoha.
As an old fox of the shinobi world, Sarutobi Hiruzen understood one thing very clearly.
If a matter was pushed too hard, or if one acted too eagerly, the other side might be driven to the opposite extreme.
He only needed to wait.
Once Sunagakure truly fell into trouble, Konoha could extend a helping hand and gain the greatest say in return.
As usual, Kizaru did not pay much attention to village-level diplomacy or politics.
In his view, as long as Konoha continued down the path he had envisioned, the other four great nations would not pose any real threat to the village.
Wind, Earth, Lightning, and Water.
To Kizaru, those four nations were nothing more than dry bones buried in a grave.
At present, there were only two serious matters in the village that Kizaru cared about.
The first was the Ninja Academy, which he was responsible for, along with the related reforms.
Although Kizaru hated trouble and had a slippery personality, he was still serious about the work that fell under his responsibility.
A person could be lazy.
A person could cut corners.
But their laziness could not be allowed to harm the work or interests of others.
When it came to work, Kizaru would always find the easiest and least troublesome way to complete it.
But he would not simply refuse to do it.
After all, if one occupied a position, one had to carry out the duties that came with it.
The second matter Kizaru cared about was the Hashirama cell transplantation technology Orochimaru was researching.
He had no strange or excessive motives for paying attention to it.
He simply hoped the technology could make money.
A lot of money.
After all, the Shimura clan's investment amount was the same as the Sarutobi clan's.
As long as this technology could be successfully developed and put into civilian use, Kizaru would gain both fame and profit.
The direction of the entire research project had been given by Kizaru.
The commercial development plan had also been proposed by Kizaru.
Even the distribution of interests had been arranged by him.
Kizaru had drawn a giant piece of cake for the entire village, gaining countless friendships and future benefits.
But as long as that cake was not truly made, the friendships and benefits he had gained would remain empty promises.
Fortunately, Orochimaru did not disappoint him.
In just over a month, the research made great progress.
After confirming that the weakened version of Hashirama cells was harmless to living Uchiha and could enhance the power of the Sharingan, the Uchiha clan increased the number of members they provided for cooperation.
This time, there was no need for the clan head or elders to persuade anyone.
Those Uchiha shinobi who pursued power volunteered to contribute to their clan and village.
With sufficient research funding and research materials, Orochimaru's development progress became very promising.
In two months, Orochimaru successfully transplanted the weakened version of Hashirama cells into ordinary Uchiha who were not shinobi.
No adverse rejection reactions appeared.
Immediately afterward, Orochimaru spent another month successfully transplanting an improved and weakened version of Hashirama cells into a civilian shinobi with no Uchiha bloodline.
This civilian shinobi was only an ordinary chūnin.
In order to obtain merit and exchange for higher-level ninjutsu for his children, he voluntarily participated in the Hashirama cell transplant experiment.
Fortunately, the transplant trial was relatively successful.
There were no major adverse reactions.
The only issue was that he remained unconscious for three days.
Three days later, the chūnin woke up.
After half a month of observation, it was confirmed that his physical condition, cell activity, and chakra reserves had all improved greatly.
According to Orochimaru, this civilian chūnin, whose potential had already been exhausted and who should have had almost no room left to grow, now had hope of reaching jōnin level.
The success of this transplant trial greatly boosted the confidence of Konoha's higher-ups.
The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, personally brought Kizaru to the Konoha Research Institute.
There, he warmly encouraged Orochimaru and the other research shinobi, and also granted them substantial rewards.
In addition to encouraging Orochimaru and his team, Hiruzen also expressed concern for the civilian chūnin who had taken the initiative to participate in the transplant experiment.
Moreover, apart from the mission rewards, both Sarutobi Hiruzen and Kizaru personally gave the civilian chūnin one B-rank ninjutsu each.
Hiruzen gave him a B-rank Fire Release ninjutsu.
Kizaru naturally gave him a B-rank Wind Release ninjutsu.
The actions of this teacher and student pair, Sarutobi Hiruzen and Kizaru, moved the civilian chūnin to tears.
He immediately expressed his willingness to devote his life to the village.
Encouraged by the Hokage himself, the morale of the research institute's shinobi rose sharply.
Under Orochimaru's leadership, they stayed up late every day and worked overtime, almost living inside the research institute.
With their motivation pushed to such a high level, the research progress accelerated greatly.
One week after Sarutobi Hiruzen's visit to the Research Institute, the weakened version of Hashirama cells was successfully transplanted into a civilian with no shinobi bloodline.
At that point, the civilian development of Hashirama cells could basically be declared a success.
When this good news spread, the happiest person was not Konoha's higher-ups.
Nor was it the ninja clans who had invested in the project.
It was Hatake Sakumo.
Sakumo had never forgotten the original reason this plan had been developed.
Kizaru had wanted to save his wife's life.
On the day he received news of the successful experiment, Hatake Sakumo visited the Shimura clan alone.
At Kizaru's residence, Sakumo brought no gifts.
He also did not say many words of gratitude.
He simply made a solemn promise to Kizaru.
As long as Kizaru did not betray the village, Hatake Sakumo would do anything for him to repay this kindness.
It was the promise of a man.
The promise of a true shinobi.
Kizaru did not refuse.
He calmly accepted Sakumo's promise.
He understood that politely refusing at a moment like this would only insult Hatake Sakumo's resolve.
After accepting the promise, Kizaru smiled and helped him up.
"Sakumo-san, we're comrades who have walked through life and death together."
His tone was still lazy, but there was rare sincerity behind it.
"Your wife and child are part of that bond too. I couldn't just stand there and watch her die."
Kizaru's words moved Hatake Sakumo deeply.
Right then, Sakumo made a decision.
He asked Kizaru to watch over his unborn child as his godfather.
Kizaru smiled, adjusted his sunglasses, and agreed.
"Oooh… being a father already? That sounds troublesome."
Then, after a brief pause, his smile widened slightly.
"But I suppose I can't refuse this one."
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