Gamble

Danzo failed to answer Hirzuen, but a frown still appeared on his face.

'What is wrong with this boy? He wasn't supposed to use this set of jutsus.'

Hiruzen was not the only one alarmed, all experienced shinobi who saw him in the second war were also alarmed. Daichi also furrowed his brows at the scene but decided not to do anything about it.

The same could not be said for Fugaku who was sitting beside his father. He couldn't help but yell,

"Is he trying to kill him?"

His outburst only garnered looks from the other clan heads sitting around them.

"Cool down Fugaku, your behaviour is not befitting of the future Uchiha Clan head. Also, have some faith in Renjiro."

Back on the stage, Tenku shouted, "Wind Release; Vacuum bullets!"

He used one of his father's signature jutsus. The vacuum jutsus developed by Danzo was among the most destructive wind jutsus ever created.

To learn jutsus of such calibre just showed how Tenku was talented as well as dangerous.

Despite having a considerable distance between them, Renjiro still found it difficult to dodge the bullets. The bullets were moving at high speeds as Tenku continued to shoot the bullets from his mouth.

"Shit!"

One of the bullets grazed Renjiro's left thigh. At first, he thought that the bullet only left behind a shallow wound, but with the amount of blood dying his pants red, he knew there was more to the wound.

'This is Dangerous!'

Seeing that he could dodge other bullets heading his way, a shadow clone appeared in front of Renjiro. The shadow clone took the full brunt of the attack. Before it was dispelled, Renjiro stepped on it to jump higher to avoid other bullets.

'This is my chance!'

Once Renjiro landed, he realized that Tenku had stopped releasing the bullets and was panting. Clearly, releasing such attacks was taking a toll on him.

"Just give Up!" Tenku urged as he threw a punch at Renjiro.

"Now why would I do that?" Renjiro retorted.

"Fine, don't say you weren't warned."

Tenku took a deep breath as he used another wind vacuum jutsu, Vacuum Wave. 

This time, Renjiro was prepared. He moved his abdomen and took a crab-like stance as he dodged the wave.

Before Tenku could adjust his target, Renjiro shifted his weight to his hands. Using his legs he clasped Tenku on the neck and performed the scissor takedown on him. 

Tenku slammed hard on the ground. As he got up to his feet, he was visibly disoriented and staggard for a moment. Tenku tried to get his bearing, only to hear voices around his shout.

"Flame Wave"

"Wind Wave"

"Flame Wave"

"Wind Wave"

Renjiro had made three more shadow clones and repeated his previous attack. Tenku crashed into the same hole in the wall Renjiro did a few minutes ago.

Renjiro and his clones flickered next to him, but Tenku was quick and released a vacuum jutsu that dispelled the clones and blew Renjiro away. The jutsu slashed on Renjiro, piercing his skin and dying his whole outfit red.

"Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves!!" Tenku muttered, he barely had enough energy left and was just holding on.

'Why doesn't he just stay down?' Tenku lamented on seeing Renjiro get up.

Tenku wanted to repeat the same thing, but Renjiro was quicker and punched him, disrupting the flow of chakra for his next jutsu.

"You sure like blasting those jutsus. I guess I should also try them."

"You bastard." Tenku tried to punch Renjiro. Instead of dodging, Renjiro redirected it and their hands met.

Not in the romantic sense, but they performed the rat seal. Tenku continued throwing punches and only became aware of what Renjiro was doing after they completed the fourth hand sign and Renjiro said,

"Here's your Enlightenment, Vacuum serial waves!"

For a moment, there was a pin-drop silence in the arena as the vacuum waves caught Tenku at point-blank range. 

They also made deep cuts on him, gifting him with the same treatment he dished at Renjiro a few minutes prior.

How did Renjiro perform the same jutsu, that Tenku did a few minutes prior? It's pretty simple. From the first time Tenku used the vacuum bullets jutsu, Renjiro's keen eyes caught a minute detail.

Tenku had not really mastered the jutsu, otherwise, why would he need more than four signs to actually perform it?

'Is he Danzo's son? Still, this is good. If he already knows one vacuum jutsu, then if I push him, he might show me more. These Jutsus are the premium wind jutsus in Konoha. I am not sure if I'll ever see Danzo or someone else use them again, so I better utilize this opportunity.' Renjiro schemed.

When Tenku used the Vacuum Serial waves, Renjiro was elated. Even as he lay there with cuts all over his body, he was contented.

Once Renjiro knew he couldn't keep pushing Tenku, he decided to take a gamble and try out the jutsu. It was a risky idea, but it paid off as he flawlessly performed the Jutsu with him only receiving minor wounds on his arms as a drawback.

Fortunately or unfortunately, he had already received far worse wounds from the fight for the drawback to matter.

Back to the present, Tenku crashed into the ground and lost his consciousness. At that time, the proctor's voice echoes out in the arena.

"Winner; Uzumaki Renjiro!"

"Yeah!!!!!" The crowd roared as the match was concluded. A challenger had won against the top rank. Renjiro effectively became rank 1 while Tenku dropped to rank 5.

"Finally," Renjiro said as he dropped to the ground. He did not collapse, he just sat there. 

'I actually enjoyed that!' He thought as medic-nins rushed in to Tenku and Renjiro and attended to both of them.

After a few minutes of medical ninjutsu, Renjiro made his way to the platforms. Tenku was in a worse condition so he did not return.

With only four people left who could still issue a challenge, the ceremony was bound to end soon.

Rank four, three and two did not issue any challenge as they were contented with their current ranks. 

Tenku still had a chance to issue a challenge, but since he was out of commission, the chuunin final exams concluded.

While most people liked how the finals ended, Danzo was mad.

'After all that planning, this boy showed his whole hand to the village and still lost.'

Daichi and Fugaku were happy because this brought honour to the Uchiha clan, despite Renjiro not Bearing their name. It was an open secret he was one of them.

Miwa even got to have a satisfying 'I told you so moment' with her colleague. Whether it was positive or negative, none of those emotions would change what had happened.

With the ranking finalized, the top twenty genins from the initial thirty two were called forward and the Hokage declared that they were now Chuunins of Konoha and the land of Fire in general.

The initial plan was to promote only half the number of genins but rank seventeen to twenty showed exceptional promise that Hiruzen decided to promote them since the Village was in dire need of them

As a gesture, the Daimyo who was still present was asked to hand the former genins their new green flak jackets to signify their rank promotion.

Every one of the new chuunins was on cloud nine as this was what they had been working hard for the last month if you counted their final preparations.

For Uzumaki Renjiro, this was only the second step in the dangerous path he had decided to tread.

End of Arc One.

=====

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