"Fire Style: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
Obito quickly formed hand seals, channeling all his chakra into his mouth. At lightning speed, he completed both nature transformation and shape transformation, then unleashed a blazing dragon of fire that surged toward Uchiha Tekkō.
During their earlier close-range combat, Tekkō had grown increasingly surprised the more he fought Obito.
He hadn't expected that just over a school break, Obito would have improved so much—far more than he had progressed in third year.
Seeing Obito start a jutsu, Tekkō immediately began his own seals, ready to clash head-on with him using ninjutsu. He didn't believe Obito had improved in both taijutsu and ninjutsu.
He couldn't believe he would lose to Obito in a ninjutsu clash.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Tekkō unleashed his chakra and blew out a person-sized fireball toward Obito.
On one side was a fierce, flaming dragon with fangs bared; on the other, a raging fireball. The two techniques were about to collide.
"I'm so jealous… they already know offensive ninjutsu."
Many of the watching students were envious. Some of them hadn't even fully mastered the Clone, Substitution, and Transformation Techniques—let alone had access to learn more advanced jutsu.
"Wait, this guy's supposed to be the dead-last?" students from other classes exclaimed. They'd initially come to watch Uchiha Tekkō's strength but were shocked by the powerful fire jutsu Obito was wielding.
"With that level, he's more like an honors student."
"But I still think Uchiha Tekkō might be stronger. His fireball looks a lot bigger than Obito's fire dragon," someone commented.
He figured in a direct clash, the larger Fireball Jutsu would win.
"That's the Uchiha for you. But this Uchiha Obito was hiding his power really well. Even if he's not as strong as Tekkō, he could still take first place in my class—too bad his written grades are awful." Kimura Sunjin said this while scoring the two, clearly impressed.
Students from prestigious clans really were different. When he was a student, he'd just been happy to master the three basic techniques.
Based on his taijutsu and ninjutsu performance, even if Obito got eliminated early, Sunjin planned to give him a high score.
Just as the two ninjutsu were about to collide, Obito's fire dragon suddenly rose upward, avoiding the fireball and continuing its charge toward Tekkō.
Meanwhile, Obito began moving rapidly, dodging the fireball while still controlling the fire dragon.
Tekkō hadn't expected Obito to fight so "unfairly"—avoiding a direct jutsu clash. But it was too late to change tactics; Fireball Jutsu couldn't turn mid-air.
As the fire dragon closed in, Tekkō realized he couldn't dodge in time and braced himself for injury.
That's when Auron, who had been ready all along, stepped in. Using the Body Flicker Technique, he appeared beside Tekkō and pulled him away, placing him outside the combat zone.
"Thank you, sensei," Tekkō said to Auron, grateful for the save. Without him, injury would have been unavoidable.
Auron nodded, then announced the result:
"First match: Uchiha Obito wins."
The observing students were stunned. The tide of battle had shifted in a single moment.
They'd expected a head-to-head ninjutsu clash, but Obito pulled off a clever move and ended the match instantly.
If Auron hadn't stepped in, Tekkō might have been seriously injured.
"This Uchiha Obito is not to be underestimated," one student said, now wary of him.
Tekkō's giant fireball had looked impressive, but it was hard to hit anyone with it under normal conditions.
Obito's Great Dragon Fire Technique, however, was different—though the attack radius was smaller, it was more agile and much more likely to hit.
"Nice job, Obito!" Rin Nohara cheered with a big smile.
She was truly happy for him. Winning against Tekkō in a real combat exam meant that no one could call him the class dead-last anymore, even if his theory grades were weak.
In the end, strength spoke loudest for a ninja.
As Obito walked back, he heard Rin's praise and broke into a proud, joyful grin.
"Heh, I told you I had this."
Obito's heart was filled with gratitude toward Auron.
He knew this change was thanks to becoming Auron's disciple and receiving his daily, meticulous guidance.
If it had been the old Obito, he'd have been beaten silly by Tekkō during the taijutsu phase alone.
[Disciple Uchiha Obito's trust level has increased. Current trust level: 3]
As Auron was reading off the names for the next exam match, a system message popped up.
He glanced at Obito, who was grinning while chatting with Rin.
"Guess being a love-struck fool has its advantages," Auron thought with a chuckle.
Trust levels were notoriously hard to raise, and each level offered substantial benefits—including improved gains and more chakra returned via the disciple feedback system.
Don't let the earlier returns fool you—those were small only because disciples like Shisui weren't in their rapid growth phases yet.
Once they hit that stage, if Shisui gained 10,000 chakra, having a higher trust level could mean an extra 10,000 chakra for Auron as well.
Auron had only expected to have one disciple reach trust level 3 within a semester.
Obito achieving it in just one month was a pleasant surprise.
The remaining matches weren't as intense as the first. There were no more situations that required a teacher's intervention, so Auron just sat and scored the students' performances, casually chatting with Kimura Sunjin.
If he hadn't been proctoring, Auron might have wandered off using his appraisal skill to search for overlooked geniuses.
He had four disciple slots and had only used three so far—one was still open.
Until he knew whether more slots could be unlocked, Auron didn't want to waste the last one on someone below potential grade S.
The higher the disciple limit, the greater the future returns.
There were plenty of geniuses in Konoha, and the shinobi world was vast. No need to rush. One more disciple wouldn't bring immediate gains anyway.
Auron opened his status panel for a quick look:
Name:Auron
Age: 18
Chakra: 5300
Skills: Water Style – Water Severing Wave, Fire Style – Great Dragon Fire Technique, Water Style – Water Formation Wall, Wind Style – Pressure Damage...
Evaluation: You've mastered numerous jutsu, including many high-level ones. You can handle almost any situation. Ordinary jōnin are no match for you.
His power-up pace had been decent—gaining 1,000 chakra in a month and going from knowing only two jutsu to dozens, including powerful ones like Water Severing Wave.
Looking at his panel, it was clear he could crush his pre-transmigration self.
By noon, the first two rounds had concluded.
Might Guy, however, hadn't had the chance to overturn his image like Obito had. His opponents were too average, and while he won cleanly, it wasn't enough to impress the crowd.
But Auron knew that would soon change—because in the afternoon, the class would determine its overall champion in the final round.
At noon, in the teacher's office, instructors were discussing what they'd seen during proctoring.
"That Hyūga Homon from Class 1 is amazing. No one in his class could last a minute against him," said Ikeya Isamu enviously.
"Looks like he'll be top of the grade again this time."
Ikeya deeply wished he were Class 1's homeroom teacher instead of Class 2's. That way, the bonus would be his, and he could afford fancy dates.
But that was never going to happen—top students wouldn't be assigned to different teachers.
"Not necessarily. That Uchiha Obito from your class looked pretty strong. He might give him a run for his money," said Kimura Sunjin.
"You must've gotten the name wrong. You mean Uchiha Tekkō, right? He's definitely skilled," Ikeya replied with a confused look.
"I'm not that old yet. I said Uchiha Obito, and I meant it," Sunjin insisted.
"Obito? That can't be right. What kind of power could he have?" Ikeya looked at him suspiciously, thinking he was joking.
Obito was known as the class dead-last—if he was strong, he wouldn't have that nickname.
"Why would I lie? Obito's first opponent was your Uchiha Tekkō, and he beat him clean," Sunjin replied.
Seeing that Ikeya still looked doubtful, Sunjin pulled Auron into the conversation.
"Auron-sensei was co-proctoring with me. If you don't believe me, ask him."
Ikeya looked to Auron.
Auron nodded and said, "It's true. Just like Sunjin-sensei said—Obito beat Tekkō in the first match."
"Huh… That's bizarre," Ikeya scratched his head, baffled.
He believed Auron—after all, Auron was a teacher who had earned full staff approval within a month of joining. The guy was practically legendary.
"But how did Obito beat Tekkō?" Ikeya couldn't wrap his head around it.
The guy was supposed to be the dead-last—how did he beat the former class champion?
It's not like some mysterious mentor descended from the heavens and secretly taught him advanced jutsu…
Watching Ikeya's reaction, Auron chuckled inwardly. If Obito's performance threw him off this much, he'd be totally bewildered when Might Guy revealed his true strength.
Still, Ikeya had lucked out this time. Auron figured his bonus was probably safe.
Though now that he thought about it—credit where it's due—Ikeya had at least put in some effort.