Uchiha Tekka didn't hesitate anymore and immediately activated his three-tomoe Sharingan.
A powerful summoned beast could greatly boost a ninja's combat strength.
He had no intention of losing to Aburame Shino because of this Giant Bee.
More importantly, Shino was only nine years old. If he lost, he'd be mocked by other clan members for ages.
They were the proud Uchiha, after all.
"Bee Senbon Jutsu!"
Countless tiny bees appeared all around Shino.
With a flick of their tails, dense volleys of half-transparent stingers shot out at high speed.
Tekka's eyes widened on instinct.
The exceptional perception granted by the three-tomoe Sharingan let him immediately see through the incoming bee senbon.
"Body Flicker!"
Chakra burst from Tekka's legs, and he slipped past the storm of stingers in an instant.
"Fire Style: Dragon Fire Jutsu!"
The moment he landed, Tekka spat out a huge flaming dragon.
The Giant Bee promptly hurled out the earlier beehive.
Tekka's lips curled.
The fire dragon curved upward mid-flight, swerving around the beehive and roaring straight toward Shino.
That was the control level of a true jōnin.
"Bee Bomb Jutsu!"
Shino stood his ground and raised both hands.
A swarm of bees surged up to meet the giant fire dragon.
Continuous explosions rang out like strings of firecrackers.
The dragon was blasted full of holes in an instant.
"Another type of bee?"
Tekka frowned.
But he quickly calmed down.
He still hadn't gone all out.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Tekka spat a massive fireball straight at Shino.
At the same time, he charged in on a diagonal line, rapidly closing the distance.
Shino immediately gave a command to the Giant Bee.
She took to the air, her two huge pairs of wings beating, generating a violent gust that stopped the fireball midair.
"Fire Style: Dragon Fire Jutsu!"
Tekka formed hand seals again, and another giant fire dragon burst forth.
"Bee Bomb Jutsu!"
Shino reused the same trick.
But as the dragon blew apart under the explosions, Tekka's figure vanished.
"On your left."
Tekka's voice came from the side.
Shino turned his head on reflex and locked eyes with a pair of scarlet three-tomoe Sharingan.
"Genjutsu: Shiranui."
Shino froze on the spot.
So this was the invincible Sharingan…
Tekka couldn't help the smile tugging at his lips.
Then a mass of bees suddenly shot out from Shino's sleeve.
"Won't work."
Tekka reacted instantly, spitting out a Great Fireball.
The fireball crashed into the swarm. In that instant, melted honey wax poured down like a waterfall.
"What the—?"
Tekka was standing too close and got drenched head to toe in the stuff.
He suddenly found he couldn't move a muscle, his expression going rigid.
Right then, the "Shino" who had been caught in the genjutsu dissolved into honey.
It was the Kamizuru clan's secret technique: Beewax Clone Jutsu.
"...?"
Tekka stared, stunned.
When had he used a Beewax Clone?
A second later, Shino crawled out from inside the beehive.
In fact, the moment Tekka had charged in at him, Shino had already guessed his plan.
It really wasn't hard to figure out. Tekka was an Uchiha with a three-tomoe Sharingan—of course he was going to use genjutsu.
Once Shino realized that, he simply went along with it.
Of course, the real MVP was the honey wax.
Shino raised his hand, and his Parasitic Insects flew out, halting right in front of the immobilized Tekka.
Tekka opened his mouth, but in the end he could only surrender.
"Winner: Aburame Shino!"
Iruka shouted, unable to hide his excitement.
He clearly hadn't expected this outcome.
In fact, most of the spectators hadn't either.
"He actually won…?"
Surprise showed on Uchiha Fugaku's face.
"Tekka lost because of lack of intel," Aburame Shibi said modestly. "If they fought again, Shino definitely wouldn't win."
In reality, Shino hadn't even used his Fire-Feeding Bugs or Explosive Bugs.
"A loss is a loss. There's nothing more to say," Fugaku said, shaking his head.
Shino's outstanding performance showed him how much the Aburame clan was changing.
If Shino could master the Kamizuru clan's secret arts, then other Aburame could too.
On top of that, there was the Sea Exploration Team.
Without anyone noticing, the Aburame clan's strength and status were steadily rising.
Fugaku wasn't worried they'd threaten the Uchiha.
What he was thinking about was the Uchiha clan's future Hokage prospects.
Even if they didn't actively try to win the Aburame over, they at least couldn't afford to offend them.
In fact, that was the attitude the Uchiha needed to maintain toward all of Konoha's current clans.
Being Hokage wasn't just about fighting and killing.
Tekka's defeat didn't hit Fugaku and the others hardest—it shook Sarutobi Asuma's group more than anyone.
As for the Advanced Class students, they'd already seen Shino use Kamizuru techniques before, so they weren't that surprised.
"Did I… fall into a genjutsu or something?" Asuma rubbed his eyes.
Before the match began, he'd thought Shino wouldn't last three minutes against Tekka.
Uchiha Inaho had been thinking the same thing.
When he'd first gotten Kitazawa's notice, his immediate reaction had been, Did something get mixed up? You want me to spar with a ninja academy student?
What a joke. With his skill, he could beat those brats with one hand tied behind his back.
But now, he realized how naive he'd been.
"Asuma-senpai," Hagane Kotetsu reminded him quietly, "Shino isn't even the strongest student in the Advanced Class."
He and Kamizuki Izumo had watched the Student Council selection battle at the academy a long time ago.
Back then, Asuma had still been one of the Fire Daimyo's Guardian Twelve, so he had no idea how monstrous Naruto and the others really were.
"..."
Asuma's expression froze.
Was he going to end up like Tekka—losing to a Advanced Class kid?
Impossible. Absolutely impossible.
"Thirteenth match: Hyūga Neji vs. Hyūga Homon."
Iruka called out loudly.
"A Byakugan and Gentle Fist showdown, huh?" Inuzuka Tsume mused. "Feels like Neji's at a disadvantage."
Shikaku nodded.
The Hyūga, with their Byakugan and Gentle Fist, had a big edge over other ninja.
The Byakugan's powers of x-ray vision, telescopic sight, and perception made it easy to see through any movement.
Combine that with Gentle Fist's chakra point strikes and you were doubly favored.
But if your opponent was another Hyūga, those advantages vanished.
"It'll come down to experience and fundamentals," Chōza said.
If both sides had the Byakugan and Gentle Fist, whoever had more experience and better physical conditioning would be more likely to win.
That was why Tsume thought Neji was at a disadvantage.
He was just too young.
"Did Kitazawa teach Neji any other jutsu?" Fugaku asked, noticing how calm Hiashi looked.
"More or less," Hiashi answered after a small pause.
Fugaku's eyes sharpened.
No wonder Hiashi had been so supportive of Kitazawa all day.
Just what had Kitazawa taught Neji that made him change his attitude this much?
The others exchanged glances, each silently guessing.
"Neji, I didn't expect we'd end up sparring one day," Homon said as he walked onto the field, smiling. "Since we're here, let me see how far our clan's Gentle Fist prodigy has come."
He knew Neji well, and they were both from the branch family, so to him this wasn't really a formal match. It was more like a Gentle Fist exchange.
As a jōnin, Homon was confident he could still give Neji a few pointers.
Neji opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end he stayed silent and quietly drew his bow— the Fatefeather Bow.
"...?"
A question mark practically appeared on Homon's face.
What was going on?
You're a Hyūga ninja and you're not using Gentle Fist? Aren't you afraid of getting chewed out by the clan head later?
"The match begins!"
Iruka shouted.
Homon forced down his confusion and activated his Byakugan.
He stared at Neji's Fatefeather Bow as he began to close the distance rapidly.
Neji immediately drew and loosed an arrow.
In that instant, Homon caught a glimpse of the arrow—a flicker of Yin Release.
He dodged on reflex, and the Yin arrow whistled past into the distance.
"So fast…"
A cold sweat broke over Homon's back.
He didn't have time to think. Another Yin arrow was already on its way.
Homon frowned, slapped it with one palm, and instantly felt a chilling aura.
He flared chakra into his hand and shattered the arrow.
Then he used the Body Flicker without hesitation.
Before he could reach Neji, another Yin arrow came streaking at him.
Helpless, he had to meet it with both palms again.
As soon as he shattered this one, he realized Neji had already used the opportunity to widen the distance again.
Just as Homon stepped forward, the sound of an arrow tearing through the air rang out.
The Yin arrows were semi-transparent to begin with, and at that insane speed, he had no choice but to keep responding to them.
So began an extended tug-of-war.
"That bow is insane!" Tsume blurted.
She could tell Neji wasn't using any other jutsu. In other words, he was holding a jōnin at bay with just a bow.
"How can a single bow hold that much Yin chakra?" Shikaku muttered, baffled.
Yin Release was rare, but the Nara clan's techniques were Yin-based, so he recognized the nature of the arrows at a glance.
A cold aura spread through the air.
Fugaku activated his three-tomoe Sharingan.
He immediately spotted the bow's secret.
"There's a Yin-based monster sealed inside that bow," he said, clicking his tongue. "Which filthy rich man pulled that off?"
Wait. Don't tell him it was Kitazawa again.
Before this, Fugaku had assumed Kitazawa had just taught Neji some powerful jutsu. Now it seemed the real key was the bow.
"Now it makes sense," Inoichi said, suddenly enlightened.
But in his heart, he was thinking the same thing as Fugaku: This is… insanely extravagant.
"That bow was a gift from Kitazawa," Hiashi said with a small smile, noticing everyone's expressions.
"..."
Fugaku unconsciously clenched his fists.
Did Kitazawa favor Neji more?
No, not necessarily.
Kitazawa had also given Sasuke the Sword of the Thunder God.
That was a weapon that had belonged to the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama.
"Even so, relying on just the bow won't be enough to beat Homon," Chōza said, watching the field.
Despite being suppressed, Homon was still using Gentle Fist to steadily close in on Neji.
"Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!"
Homon suddenly exploded with terrifying chakra.
This was his best shot, and he wasn't about to waste it.
"Spiral Arrow!"
The moment Neji saw his hand seals, he guessed Homon was about to use Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms.
He immediately poured all his chakra into a Yin arrow.
At the same time, the sealing formula engraved on the bow went wild, greedily drawing on the Zero-Tails' chakra.
The howl of cutting wind filled the air.
The spinning Yin arrow shot out.
"Something's wrong!"
Homon instantly sensed that this Yin arrow wasn't like the others.
He twisted his wrist and struck it with one palm.
The instant his chakra hit, it was drained away by the spinning chakra wrapping the arrow.
Then that spinning chakra turned razor-sharp, slicing open his palm.
Homon grimaced from the pain, but it was too late to dodge.
He had no choice but to pour all sixty-four Gentle Fist strikes into the Spiral Arrow.
The arrow finally vanished, but both his hands were left covered in blood.
"I surrender!"
Homon blurted.
The spectators on both sides of the field fell silent.
"That bow could rank among the best in the entire ninja world, and Kitazawa just gave it to Neji?" Sarutobi Hiruzen asked, utterly baffled.
In his long life, he'd seen many ninja tools, but almost none that could surpass this bow.
The real core was the Zero-Tails sealed within it.
The Zero-Tails wasn't on the level of a tailed beast, but outside of a handful of top-tier ninja, there weren't many who could defeat it.
You could tell from the Spiral Arrow's power.
Neji's chakra had only provided the spin. The real force behind the Spiral Arrow had come from the Zero-Tails.
"That's just who Kitazawa is," Kurenai said with a smile.
Kakashi nodded slightly.
Kitazawa's way of doing things was definitely… unique.
"Truly admirable," Master Chen sighed.
Anyone else, after getting such a powerful weapon, would use it themselves—not hand it off to a student.
Across from them, Fugaku, Shikaku, and the others fell into thoughtful silence.
The bow's power had far exceeded their expectations.
But since Kitazawa had given such a weapon to Neji, they couldn't help wondering what he was planning.
"Winner: Hyūga Neji!"
Iruka announced.
Neji stepped down from the field.
The Advanced Class students all knew he'd been practicing archery recently, but the bow itself still blew their minds.
Sasuke's face stiffened.
What was going on?
When had Neji gotten that bow?
He'd spent the last while at home getting used to his three-tomoe Sharingan, so he had no idea about the reconstruction of the Box of Ultimate Bliss.
"Neji, whose bow is stronger, yours or Hinata's?" Tenten asked curiously.
Sasuke froze again.
There was another bow like that?
A strong sense of crisis washed over him.
"I don't know," Neji replied, shaking his head.
"It's fine, we're about to find out," Tenten said, turning to smile at Hinata.
After thirteen matches, they'd already figured out the pattern: the matchups roughly followed the rankings from the previous field exam.
"Fourteenth match: Hyūga Hinata vs. Namiashi Raidō!"
Iruka called out loudly.
Namiashi Raidō was a special jōnin, but after receiving the Cursed Seal of Earth, his strength exceeded that of a normal jōnin.
Hinata walked to the center of the field.
Raidō watched her with a grave expression.
Homon's crushing defeat in the previous match made it impossible for him to relax.
Still, there was no way a bow that strong existed twice, right?
A second later, Raidō's expression completely changed.
Not just his—Fugaku, Chōza, and the others were equally dumbfounded.
Kitazawa had given Hinata a bow too?
What kind of price had the Hyūga clan paid for this?
In truth, Hiashi himself didn't fully understand why Kitazawa had gifted them two bows.
Standing in the middle of the field, Hinata tightened her grip on her Moonchaser Bow.
Its name came from Kitazawa's sword, Zangetsu.
One cut the moon, one chased the moon—they were both aimed at the same target.
But Moonchaser and Fatefeather weren't the same.
The Moonchaser Bow had Satori sealed within it.
Once Hinata got used to the bow, she'd discovered to her shock that she could faintly sense the emotions of her enemies.
"The match begins!"
Iruka retreated to the sidelines.
Raidō instantly activated Cursed Seal of Earth: Second Stage.
Without the Byakugan, he had to rely on the Eightfold Cursed Seal of Earth to forcibly boost himself.
He vanished from where he stood.
His black-bladed katana slashed toward Hinata.
Unlike Kotetsu and Izumo, Raidō's curse mark focused mainly on speed.
He was an assassin-type ninja.
In the original story, he'd even managed to land a hit on Kakuzu with lightning-fast attacks.
But Hinata dodged—and immediately counterattacked.
Raidō flickered left, avoiding the Yin arrow as he closed in again.
Hinata pulled away once more, as if she'd predicted his movements.
"...?"
Raidō was puzzled.
But he didn't slow down; he sped up instead.
The black katana in his hand moved like a phantom, striking at Hinata again and again.
She slipped past every blow by the skin of her teeth.
"Has Hinata's Byakugan really reached that level?" Shikaku asked in surprise.
"It's not just her Byakugan," Fugaku said, shaking his head. "It's the bow."
He'd seen it clearly with his three-tomoe Sharingan.
"The creature sealed in her bow is a Yin monster called Satori," Itachi explained. "It can sense emotions."
He'd fought Sasuke when Sasuke was possessed by Satori, so he knew exactly what it could do.
Everyone fell silent.
They all wanted a bow like that.
Only Hiashi sat there grinning from ear to ear, a completely different person from his usual stoic self.
"Spiral Arrow!"
Hinata seized an opening and loosed a spinning Yin arrow.
Raidō's black katana had just cut through empty air, his body leaning forward—almost like he'd thrown himself at the shot.
At the last split second, Kitazawa appeared and punched the Spiral Arrow away.
~~~
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