But the battle was different—it was the only exam capable of directly determining the strength of their supported genius.
The discussions heated up even more.
"I think Sasuke Uchiha will definitely come out on top!"
"He's just a pretty boy; the truly powerful one should be Hyuga Ao."
"Tch! Then why hasn't Ao ever beaten Sasuke in an exam?"
"Do those things really reflect real strength?"
A frail boy suddenly interrupted, "Actually, I think Shiki Uzumaki might win."
"You still don't know anything about it?" Jason and Mark, who had been arguing earlier, stared at the boy sandwiched between them as if seeing a ghost.
"Shiki Uzumaki has already lost *all* of his talent!"
Chapter 60: Buried Sword Techniques
No matter how intense the discussions below were, they ultimately couldn't decide who would win.
Only after a real fight could the victor be known.
Although many children currently wished to achieve excellent results in combat,
most consciously avoided thinking about two people—Sasuke Uchiha and Hyuga Ao.
Fate itself seemed to have already decided their places—first and second—for these two prodigies of Konoha's most prestigious clans.
"If I also had a Kekkei Genkai," many kids thought to themselves, "would I possess the same talent as them?"
Thinking further, their gazes inevitably shifted toward that red-haired child.
Didn't Shiki Uzumaki claim to be from one of the great clans?
Previously, his talent used to be truly enviable, but now it's completely gone. How bitterly ironic.
Because no one had ever even heard of the Uzumaki clan.
Shiki Uzumaki felt these pitying gazes from other children like sharp words of mockery with no attempt at concealment.
Looking at them, why did he feel like someone broken beyond repair, destined to be looked down on forever?
He tidied up his clothes slightly, calming his mood.
It looks like he couldn't keep a low profile anymore; if he did, they'd probably treat him as good as dead.
Shikamaru patted Shiki Uzumaki's shoulder and asked, "It's time for the match now. Are you really okay?"
"There's no use in making empty promises. You'll understand once I win," Shiki Uzumaki replied with sudden confidence.
"What nonsense!" Shikamaru cursed, then fell silent.
This second round of the exam was, in fact, the final round.
However, due to the large number of participants, they were divided into several sub-examination areas.
Of course, this distribution wasn't random—it followed a specific arrangement.
According to what the Ninja Academy teachers explained, the top five students from previous exams were assigned accordingly—the first-place student went to Examination Area One, the second-place student to Area Two, and so forth. When reaching fifth place, the cycle restarted back at Examination Area One.
And so on.
This method effectively prevented situations where one examination area contained only weak competitors while another held only strong ones.
It was actually quite fair.
However, there were exceptions. Some candidates were assigned separately due to special circumstances.
Shiki knew his assignment was an exception. According to the rules, he should have been placed in the First Examination Area alongside Sasuke Uchiha. But instead, he was sent to the Fourth Examination Area.
Though officially called four examination areas, they were really just four open fields. Each had a teacher positioned at its center.
Shiki soon arrived at his designated spot—the Fourth Examination Area—which also had quite a few familiar faces.
Take Sakura, for example—she actually ranked first among the examinees here.
Even Shiki found this hard to believe. He had always assumed that during this early stage, Sakura was merely a background character—so pathetically weak it was almost ridiculous.
During the Chunin Exams, her match against Ino had been one of the weakest performances during the entire event.
Sakura, who could barely perform any Ninjutsu beyond the Three Body Techniques and whose Taijutsu was nothing short of pitiful, managed to become the top performer in her Examination Area. Shiki couldn't help but think—this really was the sad side of exam-focused education.
Although his current relationship with Sakura was fairly decent, right now, he secretly hoped she would face some setbacks. Only after suffering a few defeats would she begin to grow.
Since his name hadn't been called yet, Shiki simply looked around.
Suddenly, three rather familiar figures appeared before him.
They were the kids who mocked him that morning: Ida Jouji, Takaya Kosshi, and Takada Kozo.
The three stood together chatting, occasionally glancing toward him. Shiki knew immediately they were likely talking about him.
"Fate brings enemies together again," he thought. Never did he expect such a coincidence—to meet all three of them here in the same Examination Area.
Soon, the battles began.
For students from the Ninja Academy, the fights were often quite dull.
Shiki watched as most fights devolved into simple kunai throws and clumsy melee brawls. From his point of view, their movements felt agonizingly slow.
He began to understand why someone like Sasuke was already seen as a genius.
It's just that the competition was way too weak—like raising a young lion among sheep; even the fiercest instincts would dull over time.
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