The courtyard buzzed as the first match of the Elite Class tournament was called.
Raizen Tsukihana vs. Tetsuo Ironblood.
The air itself seemed heavier. Everyone knew this fight would set the tone for the tournament — and everyone knew these two carried something to prove.
Raizen walked into the circle with his head held high, the sting of past defeats burning like coals under his skin. Today, he would show them all. Not the weak boy who had fallen to Reina and Karui, but the fighter molded by months of grind, by sparring until his body broke, by carrying the teachings of Mizue, Daichi, and Aika.
Tetsuo entered with a wolfish grin, twirling a kunai before tossing it aside. His broad shoulders radiated confidence, the kind earned by breaking dozens of opponents in spar after spar.
"Get ready to go down, kid," he barked, voice booming so even the back rows heard. "You had your little shine in the other exams. But when it comes to fighting, you're in my world. Time to drag you back to reality."
Raizen didn't answer. His single eye locked onto Tetsuo, unblinking.
The ref raised his hand. "Begin!"
⸻
Tetsuo lunged first, eager to establish dominance with a crushing straight to the face. The crowd leaned forward, expecting Raizen to crumble.
But Raizen didn't flinch. He met the strike head-on, parrying with crisp precision, his hand snapping Tetsuo's wrist aside. In the same breath, his body twisted and unleashed a brutal haymaker across Tetsuo's jaw.
The sound cracked across the arena.
Tetsuo stumbled back, blood flecking his lip. For a moment, the crowd was silent — stunned. Then the roar erupted.
"Raizen countered him!"
"He's never moved that fast before!"
Karui's eyes widened. "What the hell? He actually tagged Tetsuo…"
Reina folded her arms, forcing a smirk. "Don't get excited. One lucky punch doesn't make him dangerous."
Omoi muttered, calculating. "…No, that wasn't luck. His timing was exact."
On the sidelines, Takuma's half-lidded eyes opened slightly. The brat's faster. Cleaner. That wasn't instinct — that was training.
⸻
The fight didn't slow. Tetsuo charged again, but Raizen was already ready.
He slipped under a wild hook, driving his fist into Tetsuo's ribs.
He baited a feint, then punished it with a low kick that staggered the larger boy.
He met Tetsuo's clinch head-on, shoulder-checking him backward — strength on par with Daichi.
Every movement was sharp, deliberate. Raizen wasn't flailing anymore. He was reading.
He fought like Mizue — baiting, redirecting, punishing.
He fought like Daichi — standing tall, absorbing blows without breaking.
He fought like Aika — unpredictable, wild knees and sudden spins catching Tetsuo by surprise.
And through it all, he fought like Raizen — relentless.
A flurry of blows drove Tetsuo back against the edge of the circle. Raizen hammered forward:
• A brutal shoulder slam into Tetsuo's nose, spraying blood.
• A haymaker that whistled past his ear, forcing him to duck — only for Raizen's knee to rocket upward and crack into his face.
Tetsuo reeled, blood streaming down his nose. The crowd erupted, half in disbelief, half in awe.
"Raizen's overwhelming him!"
"He's fighting like a completely different person!"
Samui's gaze sharpened, cool and clinical. "He's improved. His form, his timing, even his choices. He's not the same fighter he was."
Karui bit her lip, teeth grinding. "…Since when did he get this strong?"
Takuma exhaled smoke, his thoughts calm despite the roar of the crowd. Mizue's precision. Daichi's grit. Aika's chaos. He's carved their styles into his own. That's what makes him dangerous — he learns faster than anyone else here.
⸻
Tetsuo wiped blood from his nose, his grin finally gone. His eyes were sharp now, calculating.
He's improved. Reaction time's tighter. Counters sharper. He's punishing every mistake. If I keep rushing, he'll break me down. I can't fight him like this…
Tetsuo began circling, his heavy steps now measured. He threw probing jabs, sloppy on purpose, watching how Raizen responded.
Raizen batted them aside, confidence surging. He pressed forward again, tackling Tetsuo to the ground and hammering blows down — but Tetsuo guarded, rolling away, resetting.
On the sidelines, Reina sneered. "He thinks he's winning. Just wait."
Takuma's eyes narrowed. Careful, brat. He's reading you now. Tetsuo's no fool. He's looking for the seam in your armor.
⸻
Tetsuo feinted to Raizen's good side, slipping low. His fist cracked into Raizen's left ribs — the blind side.
Raizen flinched late, pain jolting through him.
Tetsuo's grin returned. "All that training… and you still forgot your blind side."
Raizen's chest clenched. His friends — Daichi, Mizue, Aika — had never pressed his weakness. Out of loyalty. Out of kindness. And now it was being ripped wide open.
Takuma exhaled smoke slowly. There it is. They protected him too much. Never tested him where it hurt most. And now… it's going to cost him.
⸻
From that moment, Tetsuo hunted the weakness like blood in the water.
He circled left, hammering Raizen with hooks to the temple, straights to the jaw, kicks to the ribs. Each one landed cleaner than the last.
Raizen staggered, fighting to adapt. He swung wildly, but Tetsuo slipped through. He tried to grab, but Tetsuo broke free and punished with a snapping uppercut.
The crowd's cheers shifted into uneasy murmurs. They could see it — Raizen was strong, sharper than ever — but he was crumbling against the blind side assault.
Samui's lips pressed tight. "…he's fighting two battles. Against Tetsuo, and against himself."
Omoi's frown deepened. "…If he ever fixes that weakness, he'll surpass all of us."
⸻
Raizen bled from his lip, body trembling, but he refused to fall. His single eye blazed.
Tetsuo's grin widened. "Time to end it."
He lunged. A vicious straight aimed at Raizen's good eye — Raizen ducked, late but alive.
But the real strike came next — a whip kick crashing into Raizen's blind side temple. His head snapped sideways, vision blurring.
He swung a desperate right hook, but Tetsuo slipped under, circled left, and jabbed two fingers into Raizen's good eye.
White-hot pain blinded him.
I can't see—!
Tetsuo swept his legs out and wrenched him into a crushing headlock. Raizen thrashed, but the ref's hand shot up.
"Winner: Tetsuo!"
⸻
The courtyard buzzed with stunned voices.
"He was winning…"
"Raizen was dominating until—"
"His blind side… that's what cost him."
Reina smirked viciously, satisfied.
Karui scowled, silent for once.
Omoi shook his head. "No… that wasn't weakness. That was growth. If he patches that hole, none of us will keep up."
Samui's eyes lingered, cool and assessing. "He's already more dangerous than he looks."
Takuma lit another cigarette, his voice a low murmur lost under the crowd's roar.
The brat grew. Faster, sharper, stronger. He even stole the best of his friends. But kindness left scars too. They never attacked where it hurt. They never broke him there. Now someone else did.
The ref had already declared it.
Winner: Tetsuo.
Raizen lay on the dirt, chest heaving, his body trembling from exhaustion and bruises. Slowly, painfully, he pushed himself to his feet. His fists hung limp at his sides, his gaze fixed on the ground.
Not a word. Not a glance. He turned and began walking out of the arena.
But Tetsuo's voice rang out, sharp and venomous.
Tetsuo: "I told you you'd lose. You're pathetic. A loser who ignored his greatest weakness. Scum like you doesn't deserve to be a shinobi. You'll drag down whatever team you're put on. Do the world a favor — crawl back to your parents and curse them for ever giving birth to someone so useless."
The words cut deeper than any punch.
Raizen froze mid-step. His fists clenched. His shoulders shook. Then slowly, he lifted his head.
And the world seemed to darken.
⸻
His chakra exploded outward in a violent wave, crashing into the arena like a storm. Dust and pebbles lifted from the ground as the pressure thickened. The crowd gasped. Some of the younger students staggered, clutching their chests. A few collapsed outright, unable to withstand the suffocating weight.
Karui's face drained of color. "What… what is this?!"
Reina's smirk faltered, her eyes widening despite herself.
Omoi's calm shattered; he clenched his fists, muttering, "That's… monstrous."
Even Samui's mask slipped, her lips parting in shock.
And for the first time all day, Takuma's half-lidded eyes snapped fully open. The cigarette fell from his lips, forgotten. His gaze locked on Raizen, serious and razor-sharp. …So that's what he's been holding back.
⸻
Raizen's voice was a growl, low and shaking with fury.
"…Shut your mouth, Tetsuo."
Then he moved.
The surge of speed was unreal. One heartbeat he stood trembling in fury — the next he was across the ring, blurring toward Tetsuo with a fist cocked. The killing intent in that punch was suffocating.
Tetsuo's eyes widened, his body frozen. He couldn't even react.
That strike would have dropped him unconscious — maybe worse.
But before the blow could land, a blur of robes appeared.
BANG.
Principal Kanzō's palm slammed into Raizen's gut, cracking like thunder.
The crowd gasped. Everyone thought Raizen would crumple. But instead…
⸻
Raizen doubled over, pain exploding through his core — but instead of falling, he straightened again, his eye wild, his chakra flaring hotter.
He roared.
"Damn you! You don't know how it feels — none of you know how it feels to be cursed with this blind eye!"
His voice carried raw anguish.
"You think I don't see it? The whispers. The stares. You think I don't know I'm weaker? If I had a normal eye, Tetsuo — you'd be on the floor right now! You know it!"
He glared at all of them — every Elite, every student watching.
"I hate all of you! All you do is talk, mock, and assume. None of you have ever walked in my shoes! If you were me, every single one of you would have given up already! But I'm still here! I'm still fighting!"
His chakra spiked again. The ground cracked beneath his feet. The weight pressed down harder, suffocating. Students screamed and stumbled back. Two collapsed unconscious. Even the Elite felt their knees tremble.
Reina clutched her chest, unable to breathe.
Karui staggered, eyes wide with fear.
Omoi swallowed hard, sweat beading.
Even Samui, calm as ever, whispered under her breath: "…What… is he?"
Takuma's jaw tightened, his hand twitching toward his weapon pouch. This pressure… this isn't a child. This is something else.
⸻
Before Raizen could say another word, Kanzō moved again.
His hand chopped cleanly into the side of Raizen's neck.
The boy's body stiffened, his eye rolling back, and then he crumpled unconscious to the dirt.
The suffocating pressure vanished instantly. The crowd gasped for air, students sagging in relief.
Kanzō stood over Raizen's body, his expression unreadable but his voice like steel.
Kanzō: "That's enough."
Silence swallowed the arena. No one dared speak.
For the first time, every single Elite — even Reina — looked at Raizen not as a weak link, but as something terrifying.
Takuma lit a new cigarette with trembling fingers, exhaling slowly. His gaze never left Raizen's unconscious form.
Brat… if you can control that storm, not even Tetsuo will be able to stop you.
Raizen's body hit the ground with a dull thud after Kanzō's strike to the neck. The suffocating pressure of his chakra vanished at once, leaving the courtyard gasping for air. Students clutched their chests, some still shaking, a few sprawled unconscious where they had collapsed under the weight.
Silence followed.
Every eye turned toward the old principal standing over Raizen's fallen form, his robe stirring faintly in the aftershock of power. Kanzō's face was calm, but his presence filled the space heavier than Raizen's storm had moments before.
He raised his voice, sharp enough to cut through the haze.
Kanzō: "Let this be clear to all of you. What you just witnessed is not strength. It is not courage. It is recklessness — power without control. And power without control is nothing but chaos."
The students flinched under his tone.
Kanzō looked down at Raizen, then swept his gaze over the rest of the Elite Class.
• Reina crossed her arms, smirking, though the twitch in her jaw betrayed unease.
• Karui swallowed hard, her earlier bravado crushed to silence.
• Omoi's eyes narrowed, still calculating.
• Even Samui's calm expression faltered, the faintest crease of her brow showing thought.
And at the edge of the ring, Takuma finally ground out the last of his cigarette, eyes sharp and unblinking. For the first time, the jōnin looked serious.
Kanzō's voice rang out again:
Kanzō: "Understand this — potential is meaningless if it devours those around you. Discipline is what makes a shinobi, not raw chakra. And yet…"
He let the words hang, gaze narrowing on Raizen's unconscious body.
Kanzō: "This boy's will to fight, even cursed with one eye, has carried him this far. That will cannot be ignored. He remains in this exam — but hear me, Raizen Tsukihana. One more outburst like this, and you are finished. You will not disgrace this academy again."
The weight of his words pressed down heavier than Raizen's chakra ever had.
The silence cracked when Reina scoffed under her breath.
Reina: "Tch. If he's what passes for potential these days, then this class really is a joke."
But she didn't meet Kanzō's gaze when his eyes flicked toward her.
⸻
Kanzō turned back to the arena. His voice lowered, steady as stone.
Kanzō: "The next matches will continue. Consider this your lesson, all of you. In Kumogakure, power without discipline is a storm that drowns its own village. And I will never allow a storm I cannot control."
With that, he gestured for Raizen's unconscious body to be carried away. The arena remained hushed, every student shaken — not just by Raizen's fury, but by the reminder that Kanzō stood above them all.
At the edge of the stands, Takuma finally spoke, his voice a low mutter no one else caught.
"Control it, brat. Control it… or you'll be crushed long before you ever rise."