The ground in the center of the examination room shook violently, as if bombarded by heavy explosives.
Kimimaro's eyes narrowed, a sudden unease gripping him.
Boom!
His heartbeat thundered in his chest. Black markings began to spread across his face.
Curse Mark—Release!
"Hhhhhh…"
A strange rushing sound echoed in the sky, like the roar of a raging ocean storm.
Kimimaro looked up.
On the fence at the edge of the examination room, Yuichi stood tall.
Terrifying chakra surged wildly from his body. It pulled at the very moisture in the air, drawing it into a spiraling torrent around his arm.
Kimimaro's expression twisted. The ominous feeling inside him grew stronger by the second. His eyes locked tightly onto Yuichi's arm.
What kind of ninjutsu is that…?
The Konoha shinobi and even the Anbu in the audience froze. Their eyes bulged as they stared at Yuichi.
That overwhelming chakra.
That deafening roar of water.
Everything about it screamed that this ninjutsu was no ordinary technique.
The violent chakra storm even lifted rubble from the ground and hurled it into the sky.
"What is this Water Style ninjutsu? I've never seen anything like it before!" someone shouted in shock.
Even the Anbu exchanged uncertain looks. None of them recognized it. How could such terrifying chakra fluctuations exist?
Bang—Bang—!
Yuichi's move clearly wasn't something anyone could take lightly.
Kimimaro wasted no time. He immediately urged his bloodline, growing a layer of dense bone beneath his skin as armor against the coming strike.
Yuichi's cold gaze pierced him.
What will the reward be… after I kill him?
Kimimaro glared back, but in the next instant—Yuichi vanished.
Kimimaro's eyes widened. He had been watching Yuichi intently, yet the man's figure had disappeared completely.
The perfect Body Flicker Technique… it doesn't even require hand signs.
That kind of speed was beyond even the Body Flicker Technique—it was something else entirely.
"—!!"
The roar of water erupted behind Kimimaro. His instincts screamed. Without hesitation, bones burst from his back like spears, stabbing toward Yuichi.
In that instant, his body looked like a hedgehog of bone.
Yuichi raised his right arm. The swirling torrent of water condensed into a deadly spear.
With a sharp motion—
Whoosh!
"Water Style: Hard Vortex Water Blade!"
The watery spear slammed into Kimimaro's back.
His hardened bone spurs resisted briefly before shattering under the high-speed rotation.
Kimimaro felt the fracture in his body. His eyes went wide.
His kekkei genkai—Shikotsumyaku, the Dead Bone Pulse—could create bones harder than steel. Yet they had been broken outright.
That meant only one thing: this jutsu could truly wound him.
For the first time, Kimimaro, who had always dismissed physical attacks, felt the shadow of death.
Boom!
Yuichi flashed in front of him and drove his fist into Kimimaro's face.
Kimimaro's mind reeled.
He attacked me from behind, but in less than a fraction of a second, he's in front of me?!
His eyes rolled, catching only the fading afterimage of Yuichi.
A split second later—
The vortex of water exploded where Yuichi had first struck.
Buzzing!
A massive water column shot upward, carrying a spiraling storm into the air.
Water roared through the examination room, crashing down in torrents.
High above, Yuichi appeared at the guardrail once more, his cold gaze fixed on the raging waterstorm below.
The water rose higher and higher—nearly twenty meters—towering even above the rooftop where the Third Hokage fought Orochimaru.
Hiruzen turned his head, stunned by the sight.
The power… it's even stronger than before.
The deafening roar of water echoed through all of Konoha.
Shinobi fighting in the village paused, looking toward the exam grounds, where a spiraling storm of water pierced the sky.
The spectators—Konoha shinobi and Anbu alike—were frozen in awe.
Even Kurenai's usually calm expression faltered. Her eyes widened with disbelief.
I've never seen such a Water Style jutsu before… Could it be…?
The waterstorm raged for ten seconds before finally collapsing, falling back as heavy rain.
It was as if a sudden downpour had swallowed the arena.
Yuichi narrowed his eyes through the rain.
Anyone else would have died already. His vitality is… monstrous.
With that thought, his figure vanished again, hidden by the sheets of rain.
None of the shinobi saw him move.
In the flooded arena, Kimimaro staggered to his feet. His body was battered, his blood dripping down shattered bone spurs. Jagged fragments of white bone jutted grotesquely from his flesh.
What a terrifying ninjutsu… it almost—
But before the thought was complete, a blinding light appeared before him.
Even through the rain, it shone brighter and brighter, swelling in his vision.
Kimimaro froze.
That wasn't ordinary light.
It was chakra.
High-density chakra, spinning in a white hand—moving closer to his face.
Rasengan!
Bang!!!
The swirling sphere slammed into Kimimaro's face, blasting him into the ground.
Crash!
The Rasengan's violent roar mixed with the downpour as Kimimaro's body smashed into the earth.
Blood spattered across the ground, only to be washed away instantly by the storm.