"Jūzō, what's the meaning of this Ringo Ameyuri?"
As Biwa Jūzō approached, the first thing that greeted him was Yagura Karatachi's impatient question.
"The report you submitted didn't mention that Ringo Ameyuri could use jutsu without hand seals."
His tone wasn't exactly polite, though his expression wasn't angry—rather, it was filled with excitement.
After all, for the Jōnin like Reirun who hoped to claim the Thunder Sword: Kiba, having an opponent like Ringo Ameyuri suddenly emerge—a girl capable of seal-less Lightning Release—was the worst possible news.
But for the Mizukage Yagura, it was an absolute blessing.
A dark horse like this one? He could never have too many.
The more hidden prodigies appeared, the stronger his future Seven Ninja Swordsmen would be.
"Mizukage-sama, I truly didn't know she'd mastered a seal-less Lightning Release," Jūzō defended himself at once. "During the previous evaluation, she never showed any sign of such an ability."
He himself found it hard to believe—he never imagined Ringo Ameyuri could be this powerful.
After all, that's a Lightning Release without any hand seals!
To be honest, facing the current Ringo Ameyuri—who could unleash such jutsu as casually as breathing—he wasn't confident he could win. At least, not in a flat, open training field like this, where there was no room to maneuver or retreat.
"Jūzō, earlier… I saw you paying special attention to that Ringo girl."
At that moment, Genji spoke slowly.
Clearly, Kyoichi wasn't the only one who'd noticed Jūzō's particular interest in her.
"Elder Genji," Jūzō froze for a moment before hastily explaining, "I only paid attention to Ringo Ameyuri because she performed exceptionally well during the previous evaluations. Her Lightning Release mastery is quite high—honestly, on par with that Raiga Kurosuki fellow. I thought she might be Reirun's biggest rival. That should've been included in my report…"
He trailed off, glancing toward Yagura.
Yagura blinked but said nothing.
"It was indeed mentioned," Anjō Oniyuzu spoke up. "On Ringo Ameyuri's page, it was written that her Lightning Release proficiency was remarkable, and that she could become an obstacle to Reirun in the fight for the Kiba. But looking at things now, it seems their positions have reversed. Reirun's the one who's become her stepping stone."
"No, no—that's not even accurate," Oniyuzu corrected himself with a long sigh. "Reirun didn't even manage to trip her up."
In the training field, the outcome was already clear.
Reirun, unable to dodge in time, was struck squarely by the roaring lightning. With a crackling sound, he crashed to the ground, the floor beneath him shattered and scorched.
He was still breathing—but only barely. Anyone could see the fight was over. Not only was he out of the running for the Kiba, he wouldn't be able to compete for any other sword either. That kind of injury would take at least five or six days to recover, if not longer.
Meanwhile, Ringo Ameyuri—
The red-brown–haired girl stood quietly in the middle of the arena, her twin braids rising like antennae on either side of her head. Her hands hung loosely at her sides, her eyes cold and unreadable, her face as icy as stone.
Compared to the bloodthirsty, wild smile she'd worn during battle, she looked like a completely different person now.
But the most striking part wasn't her expression—it was that she hadn't taken a single hit.
Reirun, a renowned veteran and one of Kirigakure's top Lightning Release experts, hadn't even managed to touch her.
"Someone, take Reirun down and send him to the medical ward," Yagura ordered.
Then he sighed softly. "He got careless."
"Indeed," Jūzō nodded. "But I can't really blame him. None of us knew Ringo Ameyuri had mastered seal-less Lightning Release. If we'd known earlier, even if she'd gotten the first strike, he wouldn't have been beaten so one-sidedly."
"There's no such thing as 'if only we knew'," Genji said flatly. "This is what happens when you lack overwhelming strength and fail to do your intelligence work properly."
Harsh as it was, he wasn't wrong.
Soon after, Reirun was carried out of the field and sent to the medical ward, where the med-nin were already waiting on standby—injuries, and even deaths, were an inevitable part of these real-combat selection battles.
Once Reirun was taken away, another Jōnin immediately stepped forward.
Within moments, a new battle broke out.
Though Ringo Ameyuri's seal-less Lightning Release had left everyone awestruck, most of the Jōnin weren't so easily scared. They weren't the kind to shrink back at the sight of one defeat—especially since Ameyuri's earlier barrage of techniques must have consumed a large amount of chakra.
If they could drag things out long enough, perhaps they could still bring her down.
"...Elder Genji, do you think Ringo Ameyuri can keep winning?"
After a moment of silence, Yagura asked as he watched the fierce new battle unfold.
"Do you even need to ask?" Genji rolled his eyes irritably. "Why waste my time with such an obvious question? If you just wanted to change the subject, at least come up with a better excuse."
"Haha..." Yagura gave a dry laugh. "I panicked for a second—couldn't think of anything else to say."
Meanwhile—
"Ringo Ameyuri's got this," Kyoichi said firmly.
"...Kyoichi, is her chakra really that massive?" asked Yūsuke in disbelief.
"If your chakra is one," Kyoichi replied casually, "then Ringo Ameyuri's would be around fifty."
He shot his cousin a sideways glance, the number making Yūsuke's jaw drop.
"Fifty... You mean her chakra is fifty times mine?"
Yūsuke was dumbfounded.
No wonder Kyoichi had said she was guaranteed to win. With that much chakra, she didn't even need to worry about being worn down in a prolonged fight.
"...Who even is she? How could someone have that much chakra?" Yūsuke asked instinctively.
"I can't answer that," Kyoichi said, shaking his head. "Maybe... she's just born with it. A rare natural prodigy."
Nagato's vast chakra came from the Uzumaki bloodline—that much was certain. But this girl... he couldn't say why she possessed such overwhelming reserves.
At that moment, Mei Terumī's expression shifted slightly, as if recalling something unpleasant.
"I might know why," she said quietly. "I once heard my father mention that the Ringo clan was personally supported by the Third Mizukage. Supposedly... a few among their younger generation inherited the bloodline of the Uzumaki clan."