"Shishi Rendan!"
Landing a powerful punch to his opponent's face and following it with a downward hammer kick, Sasuke literally buried Akado into the ground. Everyone was stunned by what they had just witnessed, even the Jounin in charge of one of the Otogakure teams, who smiled excitedly as if he were admiring Sasuke.
"Yoroi Akado is unconscious. The winner is Sasuke Uchiha, who advances to the final exam."
"That's the way to do it!"
Naruto and Sakura raised their hands as they celebrated Sasuke's victory.
"Seriously... They're so annoying."
Tired from the physical exertion, Sasuke was about to collapse to the ground, but Kakashi caught him before his body touched the floor.
"You're not passing out here. First, I need to deal with that thing on your neck," he whispered into Sasuke's ear.
"What? But I want to watch the others fight."
"Sorry, but you can't do that."
After that, Sasuke and Kakashi left the area. At the same time, the medical shinobi carried Akado straight to the infirmary.
"Well... We don't have much time, so we have to continue. We'll also choose the names of the next participants at random."
Hayate looked at the screen. In less than a second, the names were chosen:
Asahi Toru vs. Yakushi Kabuto
'It's my turn...' Toru thought, jumping into the battle arena without making a sound.
'You can do it, Toru-kun,' Hinata thought. She was nervous because she was afraid Toru would be seriously injured, but she trusted that wouldn't happen.
As for Ino, she was simply going to watch without saying anything. Although she couldn't hide the fact that she was a little nervous; after all, her teammate was about to risk his life in this exam.
"Looks like luck isn't on my side this year," Kabuto said, adjusting his glasses and looking at Toru. "I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but I won't hold back. I want to become a Chunin too. I assume you feel the same way."
Toru nodded without saying anything, and Kabuto allowed a faint smile to form on his face.
"If you're ready, can I start the fight?" Hayate said, but Toru and Kabuto simply looked at each other in silence.
"Uh... Well... Begin!"
Hayate jumped backward to avoid getting caught in the middle of the fight.
"Here I come, Asahi Toru!" Kabuto said, throwing three shuriken.
Pulling the daggers from his sweater sleeves, Toru blocked the shuriken. Kabuto looked at this suspiciously.
"You're fast, but let's see how fast you can dodge this," Kabuto said, pulling out a kunai and rushing at Toru.
Metal clashed against metal. Kabuto was fast, swinging his weapon with great agility, but without changing his expression, Toru quickly blocked each strike and attempted to counterattack.
His daggers whistled through the air with every swift movement, long slashes narrowly missing Kabuto, but he was agile enough to dodge them as well, so the fight began with both of them displaying a similar level of skill.
"It's like watching some kind of wild dance..." Sakura whispered.
Toru leaped from side to side to dodge and spun his daggers around, delivering fast, sweeping strikes intended to cut. It was like a dance to some extent, but once you noticed all the bloodlust in every movement, the perception of that "dance" changed completely.
As Toru became more and more savage, Kabuto created some distance and adjusted his glasses. The battle had only just begun, and his mysterious smile suggested there was something more going on. However, he didn't have time to keep being mysterious because this time, Toru was the one who launched himself into the attack.
His hands were like the wind, sweeping from side to side with razor-sharp trails that nearly cut Kabuto's neck. The latter did everything he could to block the daggers with his kunai, but Toru suddenly became so fast that the blade grazed Kabuto's chest.
Blood spilled, and the other participants frowned.
Watching everything with a satisfied smile on his face, the Jounin in charge of the Otogakure teams looked pleased, excited, ecstatic...
"That strength, that agility, that speed. Everything is perfect," he whispered. "But you still have yet to discover that..."
Back on the battlefield, Kabuto stepped back and pressed his palm against his chest.
"I thought you were going to kill me," he said, but Toru interrupted him by appearing right in front of him. "Whoa! Wait!"
The daggers grazed his neck, but he pulled back and recovered just in time. Toru, however, now standing a short distance away, crossed his daggers and took a stance for a burst of speed. His eyes flashed with a brief, mysterious light, and he whispered:
"Gyakusatsu no Mai:"
"Huh?"
"San Yōgai."
Toru disappeared, causing the others to search for him with their eyes. The rookies took a moment to find him, but the Jounin looked upward. Naruto followed their gazes and widened his eyes in disbelief.
"What the hell?!"
Hearing Naruto, everyone looked up. There was Toru, diving toward the ground.
Kabuto felt himself in immense danger, but a nervous smile formed on his face. Death was approaching him in less than a second, yet he remained there, ready to receive the attack.
Then, one of the daggers collided with his kunai, producing a loud noise that echoed throughout the entire room.
For a fraction of a second, Toru remained suspended in midair while, at the same time, Kabuto felt as though his feet were about to sink into the ground. The next instant, Toru aimed his other dagger to stab straight through him, and a faint, fiery flash caught Kabuto's attention. One second later, he was sent flying toward the other side.
He rolled across the floor several times until he finally came to a stop. Kabuto tried to get back up, but he felt as though his body were as heavy as a stone.
Although few noticed it, Toru's daggers ignited with flames for a millisecond. Using their hilts, he struck Kabuto in the heart, liver, and forehead; three vital points in an instant.
"That was surprising. I thought I was going to die," Kabuto said. He got up from the floor, but by then, every rookie from Konohagakure had their jaws hanging open.
"If that Taijutsu had hit me, I definitely wouldn't have walked away alive..."
Kiba trembled for a second. Not even with his own fighting style could he have done anything, even if he had used Akamaru as a human shield...
'Toru is really strong... Stronger than Sasuke.'
Sakura was nervous. Sure, she had seen Toru fight during their Academy training, and he was a great hand-to-hand fighter, but how the hell was he this strong?! Had he been hiding most of that talent for himself?
"Damn, that hurts a lot. I think I'm going to cry."
Kabuto was joking, but he did it to hide the scare Toru had given him. His breathing was heavy, but somehow, he managed to conceal it from his opponent. However, Toru had noticed something.
"You lied. You said you weren't going to hold back, and you still did. That was your mistake."
Kabuto laughed modestly.
"I thought I could win without much effort, but I underestimated you far too much. I'm sorry."
Reflecting on his past decisions, Kabuto raised his kunai again, preparing for what came next. Smiling, he tried to endure the pain from Toru's attack before launching himself at him with everything he had.
Once again, the exchange of blows became extreme, but Toru's superiority was obvious. Kabuto had made a mistake by not fighting at full strength from the beginning. Now he was weakened by the previous attack, and Toru was cornering him more and more.
Flashes, strikes, a knife fight that kept going on and on.
The others watched attentively.
"I've heard rumors about the Asahi... The few of them who fight are said to be strong, intelligent, and, above all, experts at killing," said Kankuro, the mummy-looking guy. 'But I don't believe this. Neither of them is fighting to kill the other...'
Back in the fight, Kabuto kept retreating. The daggers continued grazing him, leaving deeper and deeper cuts. Blood was already staining his clothes, and exhaustion was written across his face.
Retreating once again, he raised both hands and said:
"I surrender!"
Toru stopped dead in his tracks, and the rookies fell silent for a few seconds. Then...
"What?!" they shouted in unison.
"Hm... You're a coward, Kabuto!" Naruto said.
"I'm sorry, but he's very strong. There's nothing I can do about that anymore. I got overconfident, and he beat me. Besides, I don't want to die, so I'm done here. Goodbye."
Covering the wound on his chest with his hand, Kabuto left the arena, leaving Toru confused.
'How strange... I guess that makes sense,' Toru thought.
Hayate approached. He was genuinely confused.
"This is unexpected... Asahi Toru is the winner and advances to the final exam."
[Second Match Results:
Asahi Toru vs. Yakushi Kabuto
Time: 5.23 minutes
Winner: Asahi Toru
Decisive Move: Kabuto surrendered due to his injuries.]