All three of us stood at equal distance from one another, forming a triangle across the arena floor. The proctor stood off to the side with his hand raised as the three of us sized each other up. For a second, I felt like wild west music should have been playing in the background while we exchanged looks. "Ready," he said, a grin spreading across his face as he expected a brutal and entertaining all-out brawl. "Fight." The moment the word left his mouth, he flickered away to safety, leaving the field to us.
To everyone's surprise, none of us moved.
I exhaled slowly and studied Fuyumi. He watched both of us carefully, his expression calm but calculating while thin traces of his cold chakra began seeping into the air. The temperature around him was already starting to drop. Kaen, however, was staring straight at him, rage burning openly in his eyes before he turned his gaze toward me.
What I saw there surprised me.
For a moment, his eyes almost looked like he was begging. I knew exactly what he wanted. I also knew Shisui would probably give me a two-hour lecture later, followed by a three-hour one from Sena about teamwork, about not underestimating your opponent, and about ending fights quickly with the least amount of wasted chakra in case of further battles. But Kaen's eyes were haunting.
I sighed, then smiled and gave him a small nod.
Kaen's expression changed instantly. The tension in his face softened into a genuine smile before he spoke out loud. "Thank you, Noa. I appreciate you letting me have this."
I shrugged and turned away from them both. Slowly, I walked toward the far edge of the arena, then turned my back to the barrier wall and leaned against it casually while the spectators sitting along the top of the wall stared down at me with open disbelief, watching one of the three finalists apparently decide to relax in the middle of the Chunin Exam final fight.
Fuyumi looked extremely pleased with this development. Even though he kept his guard up, it was obvious he was relieved not to be facing both Konoha shinobi at once. His attention snapped back forward when Kaen stepped toward him with a vicious snarl. The pressure rolling off him was thick enough that even the air felt heavier. It was both a little disturbing and, strangely enough, a little charming to see how far he would go for those he cared for.
"I will break you for going after Sena even though she gave up," Kaen said, his voice low but carrying easily across the arena. "The pain you feel will be because of that. I wanted you to know before I make you scream."
A dark smile slowly appeared on Fuyumi's face.
At the same moment, Kaen's eyes spun as the three tomoe Sharingan bloomed to life. Fuyumi reacted instantly, forming multiple sheets of ice between them in the blink of an eye. He had already created enough layers to distort Kaen's image, placing them at slightly different angles so his body appeared warped through the frozen surfaces. It was a clever defense. With his real position blurred behind shifting reflections, Kaen would have trouble locking eyes with him clearly enough to cast genjutsu.
Kaen responded immediately, his hands weaving through seals without hesitation as a large fireball erupted from his mouth. The roaring sphere of flame barreled across the arena and smashed through the first ice sheet directly in front of Fuyumi, melting it instantly. Fuyumi only grinned and kept creating more. Ice formed again and again, rising from the ground and condensing out of the freezing air around him as new sheets replaced the old ones.
If this turned into a battle of attrition, Fuyumi would likely outlast Kaen. His ice techniques consumed far less chakra than the constant fire attacks Kaen would need to break through them.
Kaen's eyes suddenly burned brighter red as the fireball shifted shape. Instead of spreading wide like a normal Fire Release attack, the flames collapsed inward, compressing into a thin stream of concentrated fire. The color deepened until the core of the attack burned almost blue. Fuyumi's eyes widened in shock as the infernal stream tore through every ice sheet in its path in a single violent line, turning them to steam and shattered fragments before slicing straight through Fuyumi's body and splitting him cleanly in half.
A collective gasp rose from the spectators. A smile appeared on my face.
The body shattered into fragments of ice as Fuyumi stepped out from behind another sheet several meters away, completely unharmed. He was smart enough to use an ice clone to test Kaen's attack.
Still, he kept his distance from me, careful not to provoke me into interfering, and the pleased look from earlier had vanished from his face. Kaen did not advance. With the Sharingan active, he could clearly see the dense concentration of ice chakra gathering in front of Fuyumi. Instead of rushing in blindly, he stayed where he was, forcing Fuyumi to keep spending chakra maintaining his defenses. Honestly, despite the way Kaen often acted like a crazed warrior, he used his head extremely well.
Fuyumi suddenly shot forward, running straight at him. Kaen responded by throwing several kunai in quick succession, but Fuyumi ignored them as thin ice shields formed in front of him. They were not thick, yet they did not need to be. The ice plates redirected the kunai just enough to ruin their aim while Fuyumi slipped past them easily, until his eyes widened as he noticed the small explosive tags attached to their handles igniting.
He reacted instantly, forming a dense sphere of ice around himself just as the explosives detonated. A chain of powerful blasts shook the arena, sending dust, steam, and shards of ice flying in every direction. Luckily, I had already plugged my ears with my fingers. Grinning as I thought to myself, "Kaen had finally decided to open his purse in pursuit of justice for his beloved," I let out a quiet chuckle as the smoke slowly cleared.
Above the arena wall, one of the spectators leaned toward another and said in a grim tone, "The Tyrant is enjoying the blood sport and does not even care to help his own village's genin." My mouth fell open. I looked up at him, pointed directly at the betting ticket still clutched in his hand, and said, "You are the one enjoying the blood sport since you even placed a bet on it." The man immediately fumbled and tried to hide the ticket inside his clothes before muttering, "Do not accuse me of such things, monster."
I narrowed my eyes at him, which was apparently enough to frighten him because he quickly ducked down behind the wall, disappearing from sight.
I shook my head and looked back at the fight just in time to see Fuyumi emerging from the battered remains of his shattered ice sphere. He looked slightly battered, his clothes torn in a few places, while his chakra flared dangerously around him as cold vapor rolled off his skin. Kaen noticed immediately and flickered backward, putting distance between them as he prepared for what he assumed would be Fuyumi's ultimate technique. Instead, Fuyumi began weaving hand signs.
Kaen reacted at once, running through his own sequence of seals. Somehow he finished first and launched several small fireballs toward Fuyumi, the flames streaking across the arena in quick succession. At that exact moment, Fuyumi completed his jutsu.
"Ice Release: Frost Veil." The air chilled instantly with frightening speed.
Fuyumi slipped aside from the incoming fireballs, letting a few pass while thick ice sheets rose in front of him to block the rest. The mist spread rapidly from his position as freezing chakra seeped into the arena, and within seconds a dense, icy haze covered most of the battlefield. The swirling frost was a smart method of weakening Kaen's visual advantage by distorting vision and turning the entire arena into a pale fog of drifting ice crystals.
Kaen did not hesitate. He immediately started forming another set of hand seals, but a massive ice spear suddenly burst from the mist and nearly impaled him. He twisted away at the last possible moment. Then more followed. Spears and razor shards erupted from the freezing haze again and again, forcing Kaen to abandon his hand signs as he moved through them in a fluid dance of evasion. Each attack came from a different direction, emerging from the mist without warning, but Kaen's Sharingan spun steadily as he dodged every single one of them with precise movements.
Fuyumi was attacking at full power now, flooding the entire area where he expected Kaen to be with lethal ice constructs. Unable to see clearly through the mist himself, he simply overwhelmed the battlefield with constant attacks. Kaen, however, kept moving through the storm while reading the pattern, slowly plotting a safe path through the barrage and toward his vengeance.
Kaen could have retreated toward my side of the arena, which was outside the effective range of Fuyumi's ice chakra. That would have forced Fuyumi to move closer and break the advantage of the mist. But Kaen apparently considered that cheating.
I glanced to the side and accidentally met Shisui and Sena's eyes. The looks they gave me could have burned a normal person to ash where they stood. I immediately looked away and pretended I had not noticed them while attempting to whistle casually.
I failed miserably.
Unfortunately, the spectators above the wall interpreted my behavior very differently. To them, it looked like I was bored that no one had died yet.
---
A/N: Countdown to the end of the arc. 7 chapters to go 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥