"Ah, so Shisui is participating in this Chunin exam." Anko was a little surprised when she heard the referee's voice.
After Shisui graduated, Anko hadn't seen him, so she didn't know he directly joined this Chunin exam.
"Even though we're from the same class, some people get a little proud from minor achievements in practical exams, while others are already about to become Chunin. The world is truly uneven." Kotetsu sighed.
Anko's "trouble radar" instinctively activated. Her gaze shifted from the center of the arena to Kotetsu sitting beside her.
She could tell there was meaning behind his words.
"Kotetsu, you're right. I shouldn't be proud just because I ranked in the top four in the grade's practical exam. Shisui is the one we should look up to." Izumo replied with a look of guilt, as if Kotetsu's words were directed at him.
A trace of guilt flashed across Anko's face. She was wondering if she had been a bit too rough with her friend and should have been gentler.
Out of Anko's sight, Kotetsu gave Izumo a thumbs-up. They worked together so perfectly-it was like a combined technique.
Izumo returned a smile to Kotetsu, then refocused his gaze on the center of the arena. Shisui and Tekka stood facing each other, the Seal of Confrontation between them, ready for the battle to begin.
Looking at the calm expression on Shisui's face, Tekka felt an unusual calmness in his heart as well.
Although the battle hadn't started, Tekka already knew the outcome.
Without a doubt, the winner would be Shisui, not him.
The gap in their abilities was too large; Tekka couldn't see even the slightest hope of victory.
Unlike Obito, when Tekka met Shisui, Shisui was already a genius of the Uchiha clan. Therefore, Tekka felt no psychological burden about losing to Shisui-after all, he had never won against him since childhood.
"The battle begins!" The referee shouted, stepping back after the two were ready.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Tekka quickly formed hand seals, concentrated his chakra, and launched a fireball at Shisui.
Even though this was a battle with an obvious outcome, Tekka had to fight with full effort-that was the proper demeanor of an Uchiha.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Shisui also liked to use the Great Fireball as his opening Ninjutsu and immediately launched one after the referee's announcement.
Even though it was the same Ninjutsu, the same technique used by different people could vary in strength. Factors affecting its power included the amount of chakra, the level of Nature Transformation, and Ninjutsu proficiency.
Having awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan and having trained Flame Breathing to above the Constant level, Shisui naturally outclassed Tekka in every aspect. Tekka could only try to dodge the engulfing fireball.
Shisui, having gained the advantage, naturally would not let Tekka dodge easily and immediately threw his ninja tools.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Several shurikens, thrown at tricky angles, successfully left wounds on Tekka.
"As expected of Shisui, he dominates in every aspect," Uchiha Inabi admired.
Although Tekka was in a sorry state, Inabi knew it wasn't Tekka's fault-Shisui was simply too strong. Even if he himself, a Chunin, had gone up against him, the result would have been the same.
In Inabi's view, Shisui now might already be capable of fighting the Jonin of the Uchiha clan.
Under Shisui's relentless assault, Tekka collapsed in less than a minute.
"Uchiha Shisui wins," the referee announced.
The audience seats instantly became lively.
Uchiha Shisui was known as a genius within the Uchiha Clan and was recognized as a super genius across the entire Academy, but in the wider Konoha, Shisui wasn't exactly famous.
After all, Uchiha ninja wouldn't boast about their prodigies to outsiders, and the Academy had limited influence-few people paid attention to Academy students unless their status was special.
But after the first match, things were different; anyone with a keen eye could see that Shisui's abilities were extraordinary.
However, due to the strength of his opponents, they couldn't determine whether Shisui's abilities could reach the level of Kakashi or Obito.
"Before there was an Uchiha Obito, and now there's an Uchiha Shisui-Uchiha really is Konoha's top noble family," a ninja exclaimed.
Among ordinary ninja, it's extremely rare to produce a genius of this caliber-truly one in a thousand-but the Uchiha had produced two in a row.
Hearing the praise for Shisui, Fugaku showed a faint smile. These were the future of the Uchiha Clan.
"The most important thing for a ninja is strength. As long as you're strong enough, everything will turn out well," Fugaku said earnestly.
In Fugaku's view, the Uchiha Clan's predicament was easy to solve: produce someone strong enough to become Hokage.
Fugaku felt that he himself had little hope-he was nearly thirty, and his abilities could hardly improve significantly.
But Shisui and Obito were different; they possessed ninja talents even stronger than Uchiha Kagami. If Itachi also had such talent, then decades later, one of the three of them would surely become Hokage.
Itachi didn't fully understand Fugaku's meaning, but he quietly took his father's words to heart.
One battle after another began and ended, yet no one again displayed the overwhelming power that Shisui had shown.
When the second round started, Shisui continued to easily defeat his opponents, and the battles were smooth and effortless.
"The talents displayed by Uchiha Obito and Uchiha Shisui have already surpassed Kagami. But with Minato and Mutsuki guiding them, there shouldn't be any problems," Hiruzen thought to himself, lightly stroking his goatee as he watched the fights.
Hiruzen was not as obsessed with the Uchiha issue as Danzo, but he still treated the clan with caution.
This was because the Uchiha had truly attempted rebellion before. During the Second Hokage's rule, a hawkish Uchiha named Uchiha Setsuna tried to stage a coup. The Second Hokage dispatched ANBU to suppress it, and this incident caused the Uchiha to be monitored by ANBU for many years.
By now, since the Uchiha had generally behaved themselves, the level of surveillance had eased considerably, usually only one or two ANBU being assigned to watch them.
If it weren't for their sensei being Mutsuki, Hiruzen would have selected one of them to join ANBU for training.
There was no malice-purely a desire to strengthen the education of the Will of Fire-but with Mutsuki around, Hiruzen could feel reasonably at ease.
Round after round of battles gradually deepened the audience's understanding of Shisui's abilities.
Focusing solely on dominance in battle, Shisui's performance was stronger than Obito or Kakashi. In the previous Chunin exam, even by the third round, the eventual winner Kakashi had fought with great difficulty.
Unlike Shisui, who remained composed and effortless until defeating the last opponent.
Of course, even ordinary people could understand the reason: in the previous exam, there were too many strong candidates, so by the third round, the differences between them were small, making the fights grueling.
This time was different. Although there were other Genin performing well besides Shisui, none were on the same level as Obito or Guy.
"Damn, if I'd known, I wouldn't have been an examiner. I should have taken the Chunin exam again," Obito said, looking at Shisui standing in the arena and receiving cheers from the crowd with envy.
In the last Chunin exam, he hadn't even made it to the finals, being eliminated in the semifinals by Kakashi.
In this Chunin exam, Obito could only say that if he hadn't encountered Shisui, he could have easily reached the finals.
"A Chunin taking the Chunin exam?" Kakashi said in disbelief.
"You have no right to say that to me. Last year, you had been a Chunin for several years and still shamelessly took the Chunin exam," Obito replied indignantly.
If Kakashi hadn't blocked his path, he would have at least placed in the top two.
Kakashi twitched at the corner of his mouth. "This was arranged by Minato-sensei and the others, not because I wanted to participate."
To be fair, when he was notified to take the Chunin exam, Kakashi himself was a little stunned-he had been a Chunin for several years and now had to take it again.
But after participating, Kakashi understood: this was Konoha's precautionary policy, meant to prevent the Chunin exam from going wrong and letting Hidden Mist achieve a sweeping victory.
Konoha didn't co-host the Chunin exam to glorify Hidden Mist; it was to demonstrate strength and attract commissions. The performance of the examinees was the real contest between Konoha and Hidden Mist.
The results proved Konoha's concerns were valid. Hidden Mist was even more unscrupulous. Kakashi noticed that several Hidden Mist ninja didn't even behave like Genin, especially the team with the shark-faced member.
"No way, next time I need to ask Mutsuki-sensei," Obito thought, wanting to take first place in a Chunin exam.
Kakashi's expression tensed. He felt that Mutsuki would never agree to such a reckless idea.
If an examinee who didn't become Chunin participated in the next exam, only to find that the examiner from the previous round was now taking the exam alongside them-imagine the psychological trauma for the examinees.
"Rather than worrying about that, you should be more concerned about the upcoming internal battle. Didn't you notice? Three months is almost up," Kakashi reminded him.
In truth, Kakashi hadn't paid much attention either. Time passed quickly during immersive training.
Recently, Guy had been trying to challenge Kakashi, attempting to use the pressure of battle to break through the Eight Inner Gates. That's when Kakashi remembered and used it as an excuse to buy time.
"Haki is still a little short... I don't know if I can catch up in time," Kakashi said anxiously.
The cost of losing was far too severe; even he didn't want to lose.
Hearing this, Obito's expression also grew serious. He had endured enough of those painfully grueling days of exams.
"This time, I absolutely won't underestimate my opponent." Obito thought to himself.
The lesson from his previous failure had been far too painful. Now, Obito had a determination to win no matter what.
"Shisui, don't underestimate my determination not to fail!" Obito felt very confident.
He had thoroughly studied Shisui, and with his own solid abilities, he was certain he could win this time.
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