'Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!'
A massive fireball erupted from Sasuke's lips, expanding rapidly as it hurtled toward the Hoshigakure shinobi. Blazing with defiance.
Heat rippled through the area, vaporizing the surrounding moisture and causing the air to boil.
The three Hoshi-nin's eyes widened in shock. The tallest one, a lanky teenager with Hoshigakure's star emblem headband, threw his hands forward.
"Come on!!" he shouted, his palms glowing with unusual purplish chakra.
A defensive construct available to practitioners of Star Training.
Thus.
A translucent shield of star-shaped energy materialized in his hands, but the fireball crashed against it with tremendous force. The barrier cracked instantly, unable to withstand the raw power of Sasuke's attack.
It crumbled like reinforced glass.
"It's too strong!" A female Hoshi-nin cried out, her purple-tinged chakra flaring around her hands as she attempted to reinforce the barrier.
The third member, a stocky boy with short cropped hair, leapt backward.
"Use the scroll! Use it now!"
"Damn it!" The female shinobi hissed due to the strain yet still reached into her pouch to pull out a scroll marked with unfamiliar symbols.
This scroll wasn't of Suguru's creation. Instead, it was composed of something else.
Something somewhat celestial in its make. Glittering with specks of borrowed light painted on dark parchment..
She unfurled it with a flick of her wrist just as Sasuke's fireball shattered their barrier completely.
"Star Chakra Jutsu: Mysterious Peacock Method!" the three shouted in unison.
Their bodies began to glow with the same strange purple-pink chakra. Feather-like projections of energy formed around them, creating a secondary shield that absorbed the remaining flames.
The tallest Hoshi-nin staggered backward, blood trickling from his nose. "That was close. These Konoha genin are stronger than we expected."
"Their Uchiha can use such a powerful Fire Release already," the female shinobi whispered, her star chakra dimming unstably around her. "We need to retreat and regroup."
The stocky boy nodded, his breathing labored from maintaining the chakra shield. "Indeed… Sensei hasn't prepared us for this level of combat. We need to conserve our chakra."
Sweat beaded on their foreheads as the unusual chakra continued to emanate from their bodies, the feather-like projections wavering with each breath they took.
Unfortunately for them:
Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he observed the strange chakra emanating from the Hoshigakure shinobi, eyeing its uniqueness.
More unique than even the chakra of Tailed Beasts.
After all… it was an otherworldly chakra.
Thus.
Without hesitation, he reached into his pouch and withdrew several shuriken, holding them between his fingers. The cold gleam of their craftsmanship was a staple.
"Mitsuko, Sakura, stay back," he commanded, his voice steady despite the strain of the Cursed Seal pulsing beneath his skin.
With heavy usage of his chakra, the Cursed Seal of Heaven throbbed. Wishing to be used.
Nonetheless, with practiced precision, Sasuke launched the shuriken toward the Hoshi-nin. The metal stars cut through the air in a wide arc, seemingly missing their targets.
The female Hoshi-nin smirked at what appeared to be poor aim.
"Hm…?"
Though, her smile vanished when she noticed the nearly invisible wires attached to the shuriken, all leading back to Sasuke's fingers.
She noticed a moment too late.
—Fwhip!
The Uchiha tugged sharply on the wires, causing the shuriken to change direction and encircle the three Hoshigakure shinobi.
"He's binding us!" the stocky boy shouted, his star chakra flaring in response.
Wasting no time, Sasuke's hands moved through a series of seals, his Sharingan spinning as he channeled another bout of his chakra.
[Snake » Dragon » Rabbit » Tiger]
Ignoring the spike of pain on his neck, he heaved another breath.
"Fire Release: Dragon Fire Jutsu!"
Flames erupted from Sasuke's mouth, racing along the wires toward the trapped Hoshi-nin. But instead of a single stream of fire, the jutsu split into three distinct dragon-shaped flames, each targeting one of the Hoshigakure shinobi.
"Damn it all!"
The tallest Hoshi-nin attempted to reinforce his star chakra shield, but the first dragon-flame smashed through it, singeing his arm.
He cried out in pain as he fell backward, his back hitting the bark of a massive tree.
"Ah!"
The female shinobi fared slightly better, managing to deflect part of the second flame with her chakra feathers, though the heat still scorched her clothing and left her gasping for air.
"Keheuk!"
The stocky boy took the full brunt of the third flame, his star chakra shield collapsing entirely under the intense heat. He collapsed to his knees, his skin charred from the attack.
"That jutsu of theirs…" Mitsuko whispered to Sakura, her Byakugan active. "It's like some kind of poison. It's so weird. The chakra in their bodies is basically a drug!"
As for how that worked… Mitsuko was unsure. Left only to stare, she couldn't decipher anything further as she lacked the knowledge base to mimic Suguru's analytical process. Mitsuko couldn't help but wonder where their proctor was.
A small, curious flame burned in her heart.
"If only Suguru-kun was—"
"Was what?"
—Blink.
Startled, Mitsuko and Sakura jumped, while Sasuke nearly choked, still breathing out his flames. A silver haired boy had been standing beside them at some point.
"Why are you so surprised?" An innocent smile had been plastered across Suguru's face. "I'm always watching."
He then directed his gaze towards the incapacitated Hoshi-nins.
"Are you curious about their chakra?"
Suguru asked the question but had no reason to answer. He didn't let anyone answer in the affirmative or negative.
"Hehe… You'll have to come see me after this round if you are. I'm still the proctor, so I can't interact with you all that much."
Nonetheless, Suguru decided to feed the fire of curiosity in Mitsuko's heart.
"Here's a hint though: their chakra has been enhanced by a so-called Star."
* * *
"…?"
Suguru's consciousness waned slightly due to the sensory input of his dispersed clone.
The forest, the heat of battle, the scent of burnt flesh — all of it flooded his mind before resolving into an observation that he had expected from none other than himself.
His clone had been a diligent observer, meticulously documenting the Hoshi-nin's chakra signatures and physical characteristics. It had cycled through the Sharingan and Byakugan according to required situations.
Memorization with the Sharingan or minute observations with the Byakugan. The two Dojutsu worked perfectly for a scientific observer.
"…Oho?"
While he replayed his clone's memories, there was a detail his clone had almost missed.
A faint, almost invisible mark on the skin of the Hoshi-nin, revealed only when Sasuke's flames had scorched away a layer of their clothing.
It was a swirling pattern, subtly different from any seal he'd encountered before.
Suguru's mind instantly connected the dots.
"…Sensei,"
The unusual chakra, the ability to utilize the Mysterious Peacock Method — a technique he'd only seen in the less-canonized fillers of the original timeline — using Star Training…
It was no longer that hard to figure out how these unkown things appeared in this exam.
These shinobi hadn't simply survived the dangerous Star Training of Hoshigakure. They had been made to survive it.
Their psychiques had been tampered with and altered to allow them to absorb and utilize the meteorite's energy without succumbing to its lethal effects.
Of course, who else could help them achieve this?
Orochimaru.
And maybe Sasori as well.
After all, Orochimaru had always been fascinated by the idea of enhancing human potential.
A slow smile thus spread across Suguru's face. He wanted to laugh.
'Isn't this… an opportunity for me?'
If Orochimaru could manipulate human physiques to enhance a person's ability to absorb external energies, what other possibilities lay hidden within that field of research?
What other enhancements could be unlocked?
Is the star the only thing that can create such an effect?
Suguru's mind began to race at the prospects.
'Returning home was indeed a wise choice on my end.'
First the Gimmick Cards idea and now this?
The main plot was as inspirational as it was exciting.
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