Faced with the incoming kunai, Uchiha Yuan swiftly formed hand seals.
"Bang~"
A puff of smoke appeared, and a wooden log had replaced the spot where Uchiha Yuan had stood.
"Thud thud thud~" All the kunai stuck into the wooden log.
At the same time, taking advantage of the smoke, Uchiha Yuan used a Body Flicker Technique to charge toward Asuma Sarutobi.
Uchiha Yuan chose not to use the Teleportation Technique, but rather the Body Flicker, because the former could emit slight spatial fluctuations. Yuan wasn't sure if the Third Hokage could sense those waves, so he opted for the stealthier Body Flicker.
In battles among genin, the Body Flicker Technique offers a significant advantage. A genin who can use it has far superior speed and burst movement than their opponent.
Sarutobi Asuma, upon seeing Uchiha Yuan disappear within the smoke, realized Yuan had mastered the Body Flicker.
Asuma immediately threw a smoke bomb to conceal his position, and then used the direction of the smoke's movement to deduce Uchiha Yuan's approximate location.
He formed hand signs: "Fire Style: Flame Bullet!"
"He figured out my position from the smoke flow? Not bad! As expected of the Third Hokage's son," thought Uchiha Yuan as he saw the incoming fireball.
Of course, that was just his thought. His hands didn't stay idle. He quickly formed hand signs and exhaled a large fireball to meet Asuma's attack.
Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu vs. Fire Style: Flame Bullet.
Both were C-rank, both were Fire Release, and even had similar effects. The victor would be determined by who injected more chakra into the technique.
"Boom~" The two fireballs collided, and the heat wave dispersed the smoke.
Only now did the spectators clearly see the situation on the field.
The Third Hokage glanced at the two fireballs and immediately knew Asuma had lost this clash.
Although Uchiha Yuan launched his Great Fireball slightly later, it clearly contained more chakra than Asuma's Flame Bullet, and its power was greater.
This showed that Uchiha Yuan's chakra control was significantly superior to Asuma's.
As the Third Hokage expected, Yuan's Great Fireball overpowered Asuma's Flame Bullet.
Taking advantage of the explosive shockwave, Uchiha Yuan vanished from Asuma's sight with another Body Flicker.
After dodging the fireball explosion, Asuma found that Uchiha Yuan had completely disappeared. He quickly scanned the area but couldn't locate him.
After a moment of hesitation, Asuma chose to force Yuan out of hiding.
He leaped high into the air, performed hand signs again, first releasing Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Jutsu, and then Wind Style: Great Breakthrough. The wind enhanced the fire, making the Phoenix Fire more powerful as it rained down around him.
After casting three jutsu in a row, Asuma had depleted more than half his chakra.
Still, he reasoned that Uchiha Yuan was likely in a similar state. Although Body Flicker consumes less chakra than typical C-rank jutsu, Yuan had used a Great Fireball with heavy chakra injection.
Doing the math, both had likely used three C-rank jutsu. They were on equal footing, so there was no need to be afraid.
As multiple fireballs fell, Asuma spotted Yuan's figure. He drew a shuriken and threw it at a very tricky angle toward Yuan.
Then Asuma saw Uchiha Yuan's pupils had turned red.
Using the dynamic vision of the Sharingan, Yuan locked onto the shuriken's trajectory and dodged it with a subtle tilt of his body.
Seeing this, Asuma gritted his teeth and decided to use his trump card.
If one shuriken didn't hit, what about ten or a hundred?
He flung a handful of shuriken and quickly formed hand seals: "Ox - Dog - Dragon - Rat - Dog - Boar - Snake - Tiger."
Watching from the platform, the Third Hokage frowned. "Those hand signs... Is that the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique? When did he learn that?"
As the last sign completed, Asuma's thrown shuriken instantly multiplied into dozens.
The Third Hokage was slightly disappointed. His own Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu could produce tens of thousands of shuriken at once.
What Asuma performed was just the surface level, and due to his limited chakra, he could only create dozens. Its power wasn't even one percent of the full technique.
"If that's Asuma's trump card, then he's going to lose," thought the Hokage.
Dozens of kunai shot at Uchiha Yuan from all directions, seemingly sealing off every escape route.
Asuma believed that not even the Sharingan's dynamic vision could help Yuan dodge all of them. His teacher or the Hokage would probably step in to save him.
As he thought this, Asuma glanced toward his teacher and the Third Hokage, but noticed neither of them made a move.
His heart sank. He quickly looked back toward Yuan.
Uchiha Yuan didn't dodge—he took the kunai head-on.
"Splash~" The Yuan who was turned into a pincushion dissolved into water.
"A water clone?! How is that possible…"
Asuma's sentence was cut short as he felt a chill on his neck. He turned slightly to see Uchiha Yuan's kunai already pressed to his throat, a pair of scarlet Sharingan eyes gazing at him coldly.
"When did you use the water clone?" Asuma asked, unwilling to accept defeat.
"During the interval between your Phoenix Fire and Great Breakthrough techniques. At that moment, all your focus was on preparing the next jutsu, and the fireballs from Phoenix Fire partially blocked your vision. I used that chance to form the seals. From that angle"—Yuan pointed toward the Hokage and the teacher—"they could clearly see me forming the clone."
Hearing this, Asuma gave a bitter smile. No wonder they hadn't stepped in—it was all part of Yuan's strategy.
"I concede. You win, Uchiha Yuan!"
Uchiha Yuan smiled slightly, withdrew his kunai, and deactivated the Sharingan.
The students were shocked by Asuma's surrender.
"Asuma actually lost?" Genma Shiranui said in disbelief.
"Did Uchiha Yuan become that much stronger after awakening his Sharingan?" Kurenai Yuhi added.
"It's probably not just the Sharingan," said Ibiki Morino. "Uchiha Yuan's ninjutsu and taijutsu are strong too. He even learned the Body Flicker like Asana Hyuga."
"I didn't expect that guy Uchiha Yuan to be this strong already!" said Obito, his tone conflicted.
…
Meanwhile, the students of Class 2 were also discussing fervently.
It was clear that Uchiha Yuan defeating Sarutobi Asuma had taken everyone by surprise.
After all, he was the Hokage's son!
(To Be Continued...)