Chapter 96: Flames and Lightning

The crowd cheered loudly at Jiraiya's win as Shiro was helped off the wall by multiple shinobi.

Tsunade was happy to see Jiraiya win, as she wished to see the match between him and Orochimaru in the next round.

The battlefield was cleared at an extreme speed, with the anticipation for the semifinal being extremely high.

"The next battle will be between Sakumo Hatake and Kenta Uchiha." the announcer said.

Both Kenta and Sakumo emerged from the opposing tunnels, with both of them staring directly at each other with determined looks on their faces.

~Kage Booth~

"Oh, could this perhaps be a battle of swordsmen? It'll be interesting to see the Kenjutsu skills that Konoha has. I wonder if their skill could even rival some of the shinobi from Kumo?" Onoki spoke while slightly glancing at A and Hiruzen.

"I believe that both groups have excellent Kenjutsu skills. I simply hope that one day our Villages can wield our blades on the same side." Hiruzen spoke with a soft smile while not causing any tension between he and A.

~Battlefield~

Back on the ground, Kenta and Sakumo stared at each while both held the hilts of their blades.

"BEGIN!!"

Upon the beginning of the match, Kenta immediately activated his Sharingan and drew his tanto.

Sakumo made a similar movement as his blade was quickly unsheathed.

Kenta burst with speed by propelling himself with fire under his feet, while Sakumo enhanced his body with lightning to enhance his speed to great levels.

The two met in the middle, with both blasting clashing and causing sparks to fly.

Kenta immediately went on the offensive by stepping back before going for a side slash on Sakumo.

Sakumo countered by flipping his blade with his wrist, after which he thrust the blade at the shoulder of Kenta.

Kenta twisted his body to avoid the attack, with him following it up by slashing toward the neck of Sakumo.

Sakumo once again countered, though this time his counterattack was successful as he slashed Kenta's arm after blocking his attack, with this being thanks to his superior speed.

These sequences continued for quite some time, with Sakumo always having the upper hand and being able to get more and more attacks to hit Kenta.

Kenta seemed to be growing angrier and angrier at his weakness, with him stepping back and coating his blade in Fire Chakra, giving it a crimson color.

He then let the Fire Chakra grow uncontrollably, letting the flames burst upon the blade, yet still in a manner that he could control.

Sakumo, seeing Kenta growing serious, responded by coating his blade with electricity. Yet instead of glowing like lightning, it created small sparks while vibration at a high frequency.

The two then once again began their Kenjutsu battle, yet the power in each slash was far superior to what they were originally using.

The clashes also resulted in damage to them both, with the flames on the blade slightly burning Sakumo every time they met, while the small sparks from Sakumo's sword were attacking the nerves of Kenta.

The two then unleashed fully powered slashes at each other, with it creating a powerful explosion.

Sakumo took a heavy breath before going back into his combat position after being knocked back by the explosion.

He then looked up through the smoke, though what met him was a bloody red-colored eye, with it having 3 tomei's inside of it.

"Let's finish this!!" Kenta said as his blade erupted in powerful flames once more.

However, unlike the uncontrolled nature of the previous versions, this time the flames were concentrated in such a way that Kenta seemed to simply be holding a hilt that made a blade from fire.

Sakumo didn't waver in the face of Kenta's new technique, with his blade beginning to hum at an even higher frequency

The two both went into their respective Kendo stances, though Sakumo's seemed to show no fear or anxiety and was extremely steady, while Kenta's contained all his emotions like anger and his desire to win.

They both went in for the finishing blow at the same moment, with both being fully determined to win the match.

The clash seemed to happen before the eyes of the crowd could see, and even many Genin and Chunin were unable to view exactly what happened.

Yet the Jonins in the crowd were able to see the attack, showing them that the Sakumo's speed was to such a degree that he was capable of both dodging Kenta's attack while slashing Kenta across the chest.

The two appeared in opposite positions as Kenta fell over with his Sharingan no longer activated and the fire on his blade completely extinguished.

Sakumo panted heavily while standing as the Lightning Chakra on his blade finally ceased and the humming of the blade stopped.

The crowd, after realizing who the winner was, erupted into cheers for the match.

"The winner of this match is Sakumo Hatake!!"

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