Chapter 39: Who would win? Wood Release or Sharingan?

"Please confirm your opponent."

Shiranui Genma held a list for all the examinees to see.

In the third stage of the exam, there were a total of eight teams. Apart from Uchiha Itachi and Akihara Kagura, the rest of the teams were fully staffed with three members each.

The entire competition was divided into three rounds: from eight to four, from four to two, and then the final showdown.

Coincidentally, Akihara Kagura and Uchiha Itachi were placed in two separate halves of the bracket, meaning these two individual participants in the Chunin Exam had to beat two three-person teams in the first two rounds to face each other.

"Done for..."

"We have to face that kid in the first round..."

"Don't panic, we haven't wasted these past few days for nothing. Everyone has learned new ninjutsu, and there might still be a chance to turn defeat into victory..."

The team that faced Akihara Kagura in the first round immediately became the center of attention.

All the teams present had seen Akihara Kagura's performance in the Forest of Death, and each team believed their chances of defeating him were very low.

"We're facing that kid in the second round..."

"Damn, we're the ones facing that kid in the second round!"

The two teams that might face Akihara Kagura in the second round became the center of attention.

"How about you all go together?"

Akihara Kagura couldn't help but respond.

In these small matters, Akihara Kagura was always happy to help.

"Hey, proctor!"

"Can you let those three teams go up together?"

"Other teams that want to fight me can come up together too!"

"..."

The faces of the examinees present turned sour.

"No."

Shiranui Genma quickly rejected this proposal.

As the main proctor of the exam, Shiranui Genma had already learned from his friends Anko and Yamashiro Aoba about an important matter: a kid named Akihara Kagura was a big trouble in the Chunin Exam and needed special attention.

"The focus of this exam is not on winning or losing."

Shiranui Genma scanned the people present and once again interpreted the meaning of the third exam: "Even the winner may not be promoted, and even the loser may be successfully promoted. The purpose of the assessment is to examine the tactics of your teams…"

"Understood."

The minds of the group of examinees gradually settled down.

The first exam happened to be the Akihara Kagura contest.

As soon as the chief examiner announced the exam, the three ninjas of the opponent quickly threw out shurikens, trying to stop Akihara Kagura from forming hand seals!

"As long as we stop this kid from forming seals…"

"Wood Release: Advent of a World of Flowering Trees!"

Akihara Kagura had already closed his fingers.

Roots drilled out from the ground, quickly growing into three huge trees!

The three gigantic trees swiftly extended countless vines and branches towards the three opposing ninjas, rapidly binding the enemies to the tree trunks!

"Why…"

"Such a powerful ninjutsu…"

"He just need to form one hand seal…"

"It's impossible to stop it in time, unless we directly break his jutsu…"

The three opponents looked at Akihara Kagura, who hadn't moved a step, with despair and frustration on their faces, unable to understand why the other's ninjutsu was so simple.

"The winner, Akihara Kagura!"

Shiranui Genma announced the winner with a frown.

There was a stir in the entire audience.

No one had ever seen such a simple but powerful ninjutsu. Especially those ninjas who had created ninjutsu themselves felt it more profoundly!

"Is all Wood Release ninjutsu like this?"

In the audience, Yamashiro Aoba looked at Akihara Kagura below, somewhat dumbfounded: "Just need to form one hand seal to release such a level of jutsu?"

"Ah, actually the power of the jutsu can be even greater…"

Mitarashi Anko stood beside Yamashiro Aoba, nonchalantly continuing: "When I first saw it, I was also taken aback by that kid's Wood Release…"

"These Genin candidates…"

Then, Aoba looked at the other candidates with a similar glance, slowly continuing: "Probably none of them is a match for him, if this ninjutsu doesn't consume much chakra..."

"Tenzo."

Hatake Kakashi, looking at Tenzo standing beside him, asked: "I remember you also have a similar technique, seems like your technique covers a wider range?"

"No… it's not like that."

With a drop of cold sweat on his forehead, Tenzo shook his head: "That technique is a simplified version of the First Hokage's [Wood Release: Advent of a World of Flowering Trees], called [Wood Release: Nativity of a Sea of Trees]. It's far inferior in both hand-seal steps and power, as I couldn't learn the original technique, so I had to reduce the power of my version..."

"Theoretically speaking, he has already successfully learned this technique, and it's even stronger than mine. Wood Release is activated by the life energy of chakra, and I can sense the life energy in the field, which is much denser than my Wood Release..."

This technique…

It was also taught to Tenzo by Shimura Danzo.

Unfortunately, Tenzo couldn't learn it and only managed to reproduce the effect of the original technique by developing his own Wood Release Kekkei Genkai based on his understanding.

Turning his head to look at Hatake Kakashi, Tenzo's face was somewhat pale: "Kakashi-senpai, this kid's talent in Wood Release is actually much stronger than mine, maybe you should consider it..."

"Keep it up, you can do it."

Hatake Kakashi calmly patted Tenzo on the shoulder.

Not only were the people in the spectator stands astonished, but the faces of the candidates on the field also looked ugly. After all, a powerful ninjutsu that can be cast with a single hand sign was like a dimension-reducing strike for these Genin candidates.

After the first round, only four teams were left in the field.

However, the next team that had to face Kagura Akihara's team had already lost their confidence.

The reason this team was left wasn't that they performed well, but because their opponents in the previous match performed worse.

"Perhaps this technique consumes a lot of chakra?"

"But in the Forest of Death, this kid didn't seem to be short of chakra. He even had another technique that could summon a Wooden Dragon…"

"Don't lose heart!"

A Genin ninja looked at his two teammates with some dismay, trying hard to persuade them: "Although we are bound to lose this round, maybe our performance in the last battle will allow us to advance!"

Second round, four into two.

In the second round, Akihara Kagura's opponent, this team's encounter was exactly the same as the previous round's opponent, easily hung up on a tree.

Compared to Akihara Kagura's quick match, the battle between Uchiha Itachi and another team was much more interesting, attracting cheers from the audience.

Even though Uchiha Itachi's battle with the opponent ended in a crushing manner, he eliminated the other team's three members using Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, and Genjutsu. Even the Third Hokage, sitting in the main spectator stand, praised Uchiha Itachi for fighting beautifully.

Third round, two decide one.

The entire arena fell silent.

No one had expected that in the Chunin Exam, such a situation would arise, two solo participants in the Chunin Exam turned out to be the final opponents.

Moreover...

These two youngsters were of the same age.

Both of these youngsters possessed top Kekkei Genkai in the ninja world.

In the audience, someone let out a sigh, which resonated with many others.

"Once possessing the Wood Release ability, the First Hokage Hashirama, once possessing the Sharingan, the Ninja Ashura Uchiha Madara..."

"These two youngsters standing here, it feels like they resemble those two legendary figures from history, like a reincarnation of fate..."

In the audience, there seemed to be a lot of dissatisfaction with the Uchiha clan, and some even started discussing history: "Maybe their outcome should be the same as in history, Uchiha Itachi is unlikely to be a match for Wood Release..."

"Impossible!"

"Big Brother will definitely win!"

Sitting next to his mother, Uchiha Sasuke protested loudly, the little boy's noisy voice was loud: "That guy will definitely not be a match for Big Brother!"