Misae was clutching Hiroshi's arm so hard her nails nearly dug into his flesh.
Hiroshi endured the pain and didn't dare make a sound.
Toru's mother glanced at Misae and said softly, "He'll be fine."
Misae nodded, but her hand didn't loosen.
Obito stood in the crowd, his mouth moving like he wanted to say something, but when he saw Rin's expression, he swallowed it back down.
Guy clenched his fists, eyes burning. "Shin-chan, burn your youth!"
Yūhi Shinku looked at Shin-chan and waited a while without rushing him.
Shin-chan lifted his head. "Teacher."
"Mm."
"I can't think of one."
"Can't think of what?"
"I can't think of which ninjutsu I should show."
Yūhi Shinku fell silent for a moment. "You know plenty of ninjutsu. Just choose one."
Shin-chan shook his head. "That's not the problem."
"Then what is?"
Shin-chan thought about it and said seriously, "I'm trying to figure out which ninjutsu is the strongest."
Yūhi Shinku froze.
"I want to show the strongest one," Shin-chan said. "But I haven't figured out which one is the strongest yet."
The audience went quiet for a second, then someone laughed.
"This kid's pretty picky."
Misae finally loosened her grip.
Hiroshi rubbed the nail marks on his arm and let out a breath of relief.
"You don't need to show your strongest one," Yūhi Shinku said, knowing that Shin-chan had learned quite a few low-level ninjutsu. "Just show the one you're best at."
Shin-chan tilted his head and thought about it, then nodded.
"Okay. I get it."
He walked to the center of the field and began forming hand seals.
The first seal was the starting motion for Fire Style.
Someone in the audience whispered, "It's Fire Style!"
But Shin-chan's hands paused. From the corner of his eye, he glanced toward the spot where Uchiha Toru had been standing earlier.
Fire Style had already been used. Using it again would be boring.
So the seals in his hands smoothly shifted into the starting sequence for Water Style.
"Water Style?" someone asked in confusion.
But Shin-chan paused again.
If he used Water Style, would the water splash back and get him wet? He was wearing new clothes today. If he got them wet, Mom would scold him when he got home.
So the seals changed again.
Earth Style.
Shin-chan formed a few Earth Style seals, thought about it, then shook his head.
Earth Style was too dirty. Getting covered in mud wouldn't look good either.
He switched to Wind Style seals, but halfway through, his brows furrowed again.
Wind Style was invisible and intangible. Would the audience find it boring?
Might as well use Lightning Style.
So the seals changed again.
His hands moved very quickly, and it actually looked quite impressive.
But Shin-chan soon hesitated again.
Would Lightning Style be too noisy?
The audience outside the field was stunned.
"What... is he doing?"
"He's forming seals, can't you tell?"
"I can see that, but he's gone through so many kinds already. Which one is he actually using?"
"No idea, but it feels really impressive. His hand seals are so smooth, I can almost see afterimages."
"It must be a big move. Definitely!"
Obito stood in the crowd with his mouth hanging open, unable to close it.
Rin blinked. "Shin-chan... knows so many ninjutsu."
Guy clenched his fists. "He must be struggling over which ultimate technique to use!"
The Third Hokage took the pipe from his mouth and narrowed his eyes.
Several clan heads beside him had subtle expressions.
Those who knew what they were looking at had already realized this wasn't him preparing some grand ultimate technique. He was repeatedly switching chakra natures.
Normal ninja decided what jutsu to use before forming seals. Who changed halfway through?
Yūhi Shinku's brows tightened more and more. He knew what ninjutsu Shin-chan had learned, but Shin-chan's seal sequence right now was complete nonsense.
He took a step forward, ready to stop him.
But Shin-chan's hands didn't stop.
He finished the final Lightning Style seal and pressed his hand to the ground.
"Ninja Art: Big Mess Jutsu."
Fire, water, earth, wind, and lightning—five colors of chakra surged out at the same time, tangling together in midair before rushing forward with a roar.
The light was dazzling, the momentum enormous.
It even blew Yūhi Shinku's hair backward.
Someone in the audience cried out.
"Five natures?"
"That's impossible!"
"How can a first-year kid use five chakra natures at the same time?"
However—
Halfway through, that brilliant mass of light began canceling itself out.
The fire was half extinguished by water. Part of the water was absorbed by earth. The wind knocked the lightning off course, and the lightning shattered the earth.
By the time it landed on the ground ten meters away, all that remained was a muffled poof.
A tiny pit was blasted into the dirt.
Its power wasn't even as impressive as a single rock kicked up by Kakashi's Earth Wave Jutsu.
The audience fell silent for a moment.
"That's it?"
"I thought it was going to be some huge technique."
"It looked impressive, but it only made a tiny hole?"
Shin-chan stood where he was and turned to Yūhi Shinku. "Teacher, I finished showing it."
Yūhi Shinku opened his mouth, then instinctively looked toward the platform.
The Third Hokage slowly put his pipe back into his mouth. He looked at the grinning little brat in the field and was silent for three seconds.
"Interesting."
In the audience, the villagers looked at each other.
"What... was that just now?"
"I don't know. It looked like there was fire and water and wind?"
"So was it strong or not?"
"I don't know either—"
Obito stared at Rin with his mouth open. "Did he... did he just use five ninjutsu at the same time?"
Rin blinked, unsure. "It looked like... five?"
"Five." Obito's voice changed pitch. "How can one person use five ninjutsu at the same time?"
Flames seemed to rise behind Guy. "Shin-chan divided his youth into five equal parts, and every part was burning!"
At some point, Misae had started gripping Hiroshi's arm again.
This time, Hiroshi didn't feel the pain, because he was stunned too.
"Honey," Misae said, her voice slightly airy, "what exactly did Shin-chan just do?"
"I'm not sure," Hiroshi said, swallowing. "But it seemed kind of amazing?"
Toru's mother, sitting nearby, stared wide-eyed as well. Her lips moved, but in the end she only said, "Your son... really is extraordinary."
Misae didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
On the field, Yūhi Shinku looked at the list and remained silent for a long while.
"Nohara Shinnosuke."
"Here!"
"This ninjutsu of yours... did you make it up yourself?"
"Mm." Shin-chan nodded. "Because I couldn't figure out which one was strongest, so I just released everything I knew."
Yūhi Shinku was silent for a few more seconds.
His knowledge of ninjutsu told him that using different chakra natures at the same time was fundamentally impossible.
Chakra natures interfered with each other. Ordinary people couldn't even properly control two, let alone five.
But the facts were right in front of him.
That meant this child's chakra control had already reached an unbelievable level of precision.
"Pass."
When Yūhi Shinku wrote that line on the list, his hand paused slightly.
Honestly, one could never know what was going on in this kid's head.