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In the area assigned to the Konohagakure delegation, Sasuke Uchiha remained leaning with his back against the stone wall of the balcony, arms firmly crossed over his chest and his eyes fixed on the empty floor of the combat arena.
Although his chakra reserves were not at one hundred percent and his body was still dragging the physical exhaustion and thermal stress caused by his fierce encounter against Daiku's Shakuton during the trial in the desert, his expression showed not the slightest trace of doubt or weakness. His sharp features maintained a coldness, analyzing every detail of the environment with a calculating calm.
Beside him, Naruto Uzumaki rested his fists heavily on the stone railing, leaning forward to observe the freshly leveled terrain with a scowl of obvious annoyance.
"That guy from Iwagakure is a total block, Sasuke," Naruto commented without taking his eyes off the arena, frowning as he pointed his thumb toward the Stone delegation. "Even from here I can tell he can take a Rasengan, so don't get careless if you don't want me to be the only one qualifying for the finals."
"I know exactly what I'm facing, Naruto," Sasuke replied in a calm, deep, and untroubled voice, using one of his hands to casually adjust the headband on his forehead. "I don't need you to remind me of what is obvious, let alone give me warnings at this point."
Kakashi Hatake, who stood a few paces to their left with his back straight and his hands deep in the pockets of his tactical vest, tilted his head slightly toward his student. His single visible eye examined the Uchiha's posture with a mix of professional sternness and tactical evaluation.
"Sekka doesn't look like an ordinary genin, Sasuke," Kakashi intervened, dropping his voice to a low, guarded whisper so only Team 7 could hear. "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but I managed to get information on him, and he uses Bakuton (Explosion Release). Don't make the mistake of thinking he's just a brawler using brute force. His combat style turns every contact with his fists, his tools, or his own chakra into a deadly detonation trap. Your chakra reserves are tight for this fight. Attempting a direct battle of attrition or getting into a close-quarters exchange against an explosion user is suicide."
"I understand, Kakashi-sensei," Sasuke answered, pushing off the stone wall with a fluid, elegant movement and no sign of hesitation. "If hand-to-hand combat is an impossible option against his element, I'll make sure he plays by my rules from the very first second."
Naruto glanced at him sideways. For a moment it seemed like he was going to drop one of his usual taunts or arrogant remarks, but noticing the absolute determination in the Uchiha's eyes, he clenched his fist tightly and let out a challenging, competitive grin.
"Konoha can't afford to stay at zero on the board while Suna and Iwa show off their victories in front of everyone. If you don't score this point, I'll have to fix this whole mess myself."
Sasuke didn't bother responding with words. He merely offered him a brief sideways glance, loaded with restrained and unyielding confidence, before stepping forward and vaulting over the thick stone railing of the balcony. His body cut through the air gracefully and landed with utter lightness in the exact center of the underground ring, absorbing the impact without making a sound.
On the opposite side of the circular balcony, the Iwagakure delegation watched the Leaf fighter's entrance closely. Sekka, a genin with a broad build, shoulders robust as stone columns, and knuckles reinforced with thick, heavy metal plates, took a step forward.
"Don't spend too much time playing down there, Sekka," Deidara called out from Iwa's balcony, leaning his elbows on the stone as he fixed his long blonde bangs with a gesture of deep boredom. "Blow him to pieces as fast as possible to show all these villages what true art really means."
Sekka let out a mocking, confident smirk, adjusting the leather straps of his combat gloves. Without saying a single word, he leapt from the Iwa platform and landed heavily on the stone floor of the arena. The impact of his ninja sandals echoed through the surface, kicking up a small cloud of dust to the sides.
In the center of the battlefield, Malenia walked with a firm step between both contestants, evaluating the stark difference in styles and builds between the agile Uchiha and the imposing tank from the Stone.
"Fifth match!" the examiner announced in a booming voice that echoed clearly throughout the entire arena. "Sasuke Uchiha of Konohagakure versus Sekka of Iwagakure!"
Malenia observed both ninja for one final second, noting the ice-cold focus in Sasuke's eyes and Sekka's stance.
"BEGIN!"
The very instant the examiner's arm cut through the air, Sekka didn't waste a single microsecond. Driven by the aggressive military doctrine of Iwagakure, he channeled a dense mass of chakra directly into his palms and charged forward with a heavy, frontal, and overwhelming rush.
"Let's see if those famous eyes of yours can dodge this, Uchiha!" Sekka roared, closing the distance at an impressive speed for his size and throwing a straight right point-blank at Sasuke's face.
In a fraction of a second, Sasuke's dark eyes shifted. The Sharingan activated instantly in his pupils, revealing the three red tomoe spinning at high speed. Through the heightened vision of the dojutsu, Sasuke could see with crystal clarity the hyper-dense, unstable, and glowing accumulation of chakra concentrated on Sekka's knuckles.
The Uchiha immediately realized the trap: blocking the strike with his forearms or trying to deflect it with his palm meant the immediate detonation of the explosive charge against his own body, tearing his limbs apart at point-blank range.
Relying on his extraordinary reflexes, Sasuke didn't try to stop the attack. At the last microsecond, he bent his knees and ducked, leaping to the side and letting Sekka's fist pass a mere few millimeters above his head. The gust of wind generated by the force of the strike displaced his black bangs. Taking advantage of the Iwa genin leaving his stance exposed after the momentum of the blow, Sasuke spun on his axis and executed a low sweeping kick aimed at Sekka's shins to trip him up.
BOOM!
However, before Sasuke's leg could make physical contact with his opponent's skin, Sekka reacted with brutal, instinctive speed. He released a concentrated pulse of explosive chakra from the sole of his boot directly against the stone ground. The spontaneous blast acted as an expansive shockwave that repelled Sasuke's foot in midair, shattering his attack and sending him tumbling noisily across the surface of the arena.
Sasuke reacted mid-flight, digging the blade of a kunai into the cracks of the stone to brake his slide and snapping back onto his feet in the blink of an eye. He maintained a low, defensive stance, feeling the draft of hot air and soot floating around him.
"His entire body functions as a proximity detonator," Sasuke cold-headedly analyzed in his mind, adjusting his footing while his Sharingan scanned every flow of energy in Sekka's anatomy. "He doesn't just use Bakuton to launch offensive short-range attacks; he uses small explosions defensively to create shock shields that prevent direct physical contact. Conventional Taijutsu is completely useless. A single prolonged hand-to-hand exchange and the shockwave will tear me apart."
Sekka didn't give him a single second to catch his breath. Taking advantage of the spatial distance, he slammed his palms together in front of his chest and drove them violently into the arena floor.
"Explosion Style: Subterranean Mine Network!"
The bright, volatile chakra propagated through the cracks and fissures of the earth at a blistering speed. The ground beneath Sasuke's feet began to glow with an incandescent light and suffocating heat, threatening to detonate in a chain reaction from below.
Sasuke didn't panic. His brain processed the options at lightning speed. With impressive manual agility, he wove three hand seals on the fly and exhaled a rapid, hyper-concentrated burst of air.
"Fire Style: Fire Dart! (Katon: Gōkyūkyū)"
Instead of wasting his reserves on a gigantic fireball that would drain his energy, Sasuke launched a small but fiercely intense spark of compressed fire straight into the glowing cracks in front of him. The Uchiha's flame made contact with Sekka's Bakuton chakra halfway, triggering a premature detonation of the underground network far from his position.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A series of chain explosions echoed throughout the ring, kicking up a thick screen of smoke, pulverized rock, and dirt that completely obstructed both fighters' line of sight. Sekka let out an arrogant laugh from inside the dust cloud.
"Nice intercept attempt, Uchiha! But you can't hide from a demolition specialist behind a little smoke!" Sekka yelled, gathering chakra in both arms to generate a circular shockwave to clear the area.
However, when the gust of air cleared the cloud of smoke, Sasuke was no longer there.
Taking advantage of his opponent's temporary blindness, Sasuke had moved stealthily and leapt up to the top of one of the decorative stone pillars bordering the arena. From that elevated position, he reached into his tool pouch, pulled out four reinforced steel shuriken, and threw them in a curved, coordinated arc toward Sekka.
Sekka didn't even bother to dodge. He raised his forearms, protected by metal plates, to block the thrown weapons.
The exact instant the shuriken struck the plates on his forearms, Sekka's Bakuton chakra detonated them in midair, reducing them to useless sparks and shrapnel. However, a faint smile of satisfaction appeared on Sasuke's face from atop the pillar.
The destruction of the shuriken was precisely the outcome he was aiming for.
The metal weapons were not the primary attack; they were tied to high-tensile steel wire strings, extremely thin and coated with an almost imperceptible layer of chakra. With the force of the detonation triggered by Sekka, the shockwave didn't snap the metal cables; instead, the tension of the explosive force sent the steel wires flying in calculated directions, rapidly wrapping around the Iwa ninja's shoulders, arms, and torso.
"What the hell is this...?" Sekka muttered, trying to break his arms free through sheer force, only to discover that the metal threads were geometrically tensioned from three different pillars in the structure.
From atop the column, Sasuke held the main end of the cables between the fingers of his left hand. His three red tomoe read every fluctuation of chakra in Sekka's body with absolute precision.
"I suggest you don't try to detonate the wires directly with your Bakuton," Sasuke explained in a cold, firm, and calculating voice that echoed across the arena. "If you use your explosive chakra on the metal, the thermal energy will travel instantly through the cords and trigger the explosive tags I just attached to the base of the structure right behind you."
Sekka turned his head slightly and his eyes widened in surprise: at the base of the pillar standing less than a meter behind him, the wire strings connected directly to four explosive tags hidden among the cracks. If he tried to use his element to destroy the cables, he would trigger the collapse of solid rock right onto his own head.
"You little brat..." Sekka growled, clenching his jaw as he began channeling Doton (Earth Release) chakra to harden the outer layer of his skin and cut through the threads using the friction of a rock armor.
On the upper balcony, the Sunagakure delegation watched the Leaf shinobi's maneuver attentively.
"An impeccable tactical read," Haku commented in a calm, analytical tone. "The Uchiha negated the advantage of hand-to-hand combat, blocked the direct use of Bakuton, and trapped a heavier opponent using the very force of his own detonations against him. All of that without wasting his chakra reserves."
"But the Iwa kid is no novice," Asper added from the same balcony, adjusting his gloves. "He's using Doton to cover his body. The moment he breaks those cables with the hardness of rock, the Uchiha will be back in a dangerous position."
In the arena, Sekka began to overpower the resistance of the steel wire using the volume and hardness of his skin-armor of rock. The cables creaked under extreme tension.
"Your little trick is over, Uchiha!" Sekka roared, managing to free his right arm after snapping one of the wires. "As soon as I finish tearing through this wiring, I'm going to grind you into the stone!"
Sasuke, however, showed not the slightest hint of concern or panic. His Sharingan eyes, cold and piercing, remained fixed on the thick layer of Doton chakra Sekka had just activated over his skin to break free from the trap.
"He used the Earth element to counter the tension of the wire and protect his body against impacts..." Sasuke analyzed in a fraction of a second, while his brain processed the elemental laws. "Earth is dense, heavy, and extremely resistant to physical attacks and fire. However, Earth possesses an absolute and unavoidable elemental weakness."
Sasuke knew perfectly well that his body wouldn't last in a drawn-out fight. He didn't have the chakra margin to miss his next move. He needed a strike of pure penetration, a definitive blow that would pierce through the Doton armor, disrupt Sekka's chakra flow, and end the match in a single hit.
Without a second thought, Sasuke leapt from the top of the pillar, descending in a steep trajectory toward the center of the arena. While flying through the air, he wove a sequence of hand seals with blinding speed, fluidity, and precision.
Rat... Ox... Dog... Bird... Monkey.
Upon completing the Monkey seal, Sasuke placed his left hand over his right wrist to stabilize the focused energy.
CHIRP! CHIRP! CHIRP!
A sharp, deafening, and terrifying screech, identical to the furious chirping of thousands of birds gathering, echoed powerfully within the entire arena. A massive discharge of bright blue electricity, wrapped in intense sparks of white light, erupted in Sasuke's right hand, illuminating the ring with a bluish glare.
On the Konohagakure balcony, Kakashi Hatake crossed his arms over his chest, watching every microsecond of the execution.
"There it is," Kakashi whispered under his breath. "Sasuke's exact answer to break Iwagakure's absolute defense."
Sekka, seeing Sasuke descend from the sky with thunder roaring in his hand, ripped through the remaining wires with a brutal tug. He gathered all his remaining Bakuton chakra into his right fist to meet the assault head-on.
"I don't care how much electricity you generate with that hand! My explosion will disintegrate you before you even touch my skin!" Sekka roared, throwing a terrifying uppercut.
Sasuke used his Sharingan to calculate the precise trajectory of Sekka's punch. In mid-descent, he made a subtle adjustment to the angle of his torso, dodging the fist by an imperceptible margin.
The ultra-high frequency of the Raiton (Lightning Release) didn't just destabilize and shatter Sekka's Doton armor through strict elemental advantage; the electrical vibration severed the flow of Bakuton chakra in his arms before the detonation could even trigger.
"CHIDORI!"
With a devastating and unstoppable surge, Sasuke's right hand, wrapped in the blade of blue light, aimed for Sekka's heart, but the latter, moving at the very last moment, shifted—causing the blow to drive cleanly through the thick stone armor on Sekka's shoulder, piercing directly into the primary junction point of his chakra pathway system.
A destructive electrical discharge surged through the Iwa fighter's entire body in the span of a microsecond. The high-frequency current completely overloaded Sekka's nervous system, instantly paralyzing his muscles and shutting down any ability to react or detonate.
Sekka froze completely on the spot, eyes wide in shock from both the electrical current and the surprise of having been impaled.
Sasuke landed behind him with flawless grace, smoothly withdrawing his hand from his opponent's shoulder. The intense blue light and the screeching of the Chidori faded peacefully into the air.
Lacking the chakra to support his body's mass and with no neural control over his limbs, Sekka collapsed heavily forward, falling face-first onto the stone arena, completely out of cold and unconscious.
Sasuke remained standing, breathing calmly and composedly as he deactivated his Sharingan, returning his pupils to their natural black color. Although the physical exertion showed on his face, his posture remained firm, dominant, and victorious.
A deathly silence hung over the arena for a couple of seconds until Malenia stepped up to Sekka's prone body to check his condition.
"Contestant Sekka of Iwagakure is unable to continue!" Malenia declared in a loud voice, raising her arm toward the Leaf balcony. "The winner of the fifth match is Sasuke Uchiha of Konohagakure!"
"THAT'S IT! YOU SHOWED THEM HOW IT'S DONE!" Naruto shouted with a massive grin.
On Iwa's balcony, Deidara clicked his tongue in clear annoyance, crossing his arms.
"Tsk... he let his Bakuton get neutralized by simple wiring and a direct elemental attack. What a complete lack of artistic vision," Deidara grumbled.
Kitsuchi, on the other hand, watched Sasuke with interest.
"It wasn't careless on Sekka's part, Deidara," Kitsuchi analyzed. "The Leaf Uchiha read the fight from the very first second. He knew he couldn't touch him in a hand-to-hand exchange and used every tool at his disposal to force him into using Doton, where he held the exact elemental advantage. That Uchiha possesses great combat intelligence, typical of his clan."
Down in the arena, Kakashi offered Sasuke a subtle nod of approval as the young Uchiha walked calmly back toward the stairs leading up to the competitors' balcony.
With Sasuke Uchiha's brilliant and sharp tactical victory, Konohagakure finally secured its first qualifier in the tournament, tightening the standings:
Sunagakure: 2 qualified (Karin, Daiku)
Iwagakure: 2 qualified (Deidara, Kurotsuchi)
Konohagakure: 1 qualified (Sasuke Uchiha)
Kumogakure: 0 qualified