Chapter – 440 Sasuke vs Kimimaro

Just as Anko waved her hand, Sasuke threw a pair of Shurikens toward Kimimaro at the same time rushed towards Kimimaro with a Kunai in his hand.

The pair of Shurikens were easily countered by Kimimaro with a bone protrusion, at the same time, he easily countered all of Sasuke's offensive with his excellent taijutsu skills.

Sasuke soon noticed that he won't be able to gain an advantage in Taijutsu so he threw another pair of shuriken and leaped backward all while weaving hand signs.

Snake – Ram – Monkey – Boar –

Looking at the hand signs used by Sasuke, Anko's face sank and she muttered in surprise, "The kid from the Uchiha Clan has already mastered the Uchiha's signature Fireball Jutsu? Just how old is he? If I am not wrong he isn't even at the age of starting the academy… how is he able to sue Fire Style?"

Outside the circle, even the disguised Orochimaru licked his lips in anticipation, "Tsk Tsk, Uchiha Sasuke has mastered a C-Rank Jutsu at such a young age… hmm, he truly is the younger brother of Itachi."

On the other end of the field, Uchiha Mikoto had a proud smile framing her face upon seeing Sasuke's use of Fire Style Jutsu. She already knows that Sasuke has mastered the C-Rank Jutsu of the Uchiha Clan, after all, she daily saw Sasuke going by the lake and practicing there day and night, only to come home with several burns on his mouth.

But opposite to Sasuke, Kimimaro still had a plain look on his face, he easily cut the two shurikens with his bones, then continued to look at Uchiha Sasuke, he was waiting for Uchiha Sasuke to use the Sharingan, he wants to see what the Sharingan is capable of.

Horse – Tiger –

Sasuke who had almost completed the hand signs by the time he landed back on the ground smiled to himself, 'Let's see how you take the Uchiha Clan's Fireball Jutsu.'

'Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!'

And instantly, scorching flames appeared out of Sasuke's mouth and rushed towards Kimimaro, from the distance it appeared as if these flames will completely swallow Kimimaro.

"Oh no… he won't die right?" Anko was acting as the referee suddenly panicked upon looking at the intensity of the flames and her heart was almost in her throat.

When she thought about it, the kid from Otogakure is barely 10 years old, how can he resist the Fireball Jutsu at such a close range? Even she when at this age probably didn't have the ability; and at that age; she had only graduated from the academy.

Feeling the scorching heat from the fireball, the surrounding villagers felt their lips being; and all of them had a stunned expression on their faces.

While the adults all had serious expressions on their faces. No one had expected that Sasuke, who is only about seven years old could perform a Class-C Fire Style Jutsu; being able to use this Jutsu alone makes him on the same level as midclass Genin.

Even the Patriarch of the Hyuga Clan, Hyuga Hiashi had a serious expression.

Compared to Uchiha Sasuke of the Uchiha Clan, who can already perform Class-C fire style Jutsu, his own daughter Hinata's progress is very slow. Hinata still makes mistakes in the basics of Hyuga's Gentle Fist.

Neji's face was calm, he was analyzing Uchiha Sasuke and Kimimaro.

Hizashi said to Neji, "Neji, pay attention to Uchiha Sasuke, he may become your rival in the academy."

Neji nodded earnestly, "Yes Otou-sama, his strength is much stronger compared to many."

Because Hyuga Hizashi did not die, therefore, Neji is not so dark or angered at his fate for being a member of Branch House, he was indeed affected upon realizing what that Curse Seal meant, but there was not so much anger, only a bit of sadness and silence.

Anyway, back to the matter of Uchiha Sasuke's Fire Style Jutsu.

The use of ninjutsu requires not only requires a sufficient amount of Chakra but also a good level of Chakra Control. And Chakra Control is exactly what the Children find difficult to master because of their immature minds and restless attitude.

This is one of the main reasons why Uzumaki Naruto, sucks at using Jutsu, although he has abundant chakra because of his Uzumaki lineage and the presence of Kyuubi inside him, however, his chakra control is extremely poor, this especially affects him and makes it difficult for him to master even the basic three-body techniques of the E-Rank.

This is the reason why everyone was highly surprised by the fact that Uchiha Sasuke can already use a C-Rank Jutsu.

After using the Jutsu, Sasuke looked in the direction of his father and mother from the corner of his eyes, he saw his mother smiling but his father did not have a smile, rather he was looking in the direction of Kimimaro with a serious expression, and only thought was raised in Sasuke's mind, 'Why is Otou-sama looking at him, instead of me?!'

…

On Kuroto's side.

Kuroto currently sat on the edge of the roof of a tall building and behind him stood Kurenai, both of them were obviously watching the battle between Uchiha Sasuke and Kimimaro.

After seeing the Fireball Jutsu used by Sasuke, Kurenai said with an impressed tone, "He is Itachi's brother alright, no doubt about it." Then after a pause, Kurenai continued, "The kid from Otogakure is going to suffer if he does not do something."

Kuroto just smiled and shook his head at Kurenai's judgment.

Uchiha Sasuke is indeed a very talented child and indeed nobody amongst his peer can match up to him, but unfortunately, Kimimaro is not ordinary either. Not to mention is older age compared to Uchiha Sasuke, Kimimaro has been personally trained by Orochimaru for many years now, and Orochimaru is not the type of person who would be lenient to you in training, which is why there was no way Kimimaro would be hurt by a mere Rank-C Jutsu.

…

Back to the battlefield.

Accompanied by the howling wind, the fireball quickly covered the distance between Sasuke and Kimimaro, burned the ground black, and rushed straight towards Kimimaro.

At this moment, everyone's eyes were focused on Kimimaro, they were all curious about how this ten-or-so-year-old kid is going to deal with the crisis in front of him.

Of course, Konoha ninjas on the side were also ready to make their move to rescue Kimimaro should that become necessary, after all, Kimimaro is a shinobi from Otogakure, and both Villages are going to be forming an alliance so they can't have any casualties at the moment else it would leave a bad taste in the mouths of everyone.

However, what caught everyone's eyes was the unperturbed and calm face of Kimimaro.

'Does he have some trick up his sleeve?' was the thought in everyone's mind.

Whoosh… Boom…

Soon the fireball collided at the position where Kimimaro stood, but just an instant before it many shinobi witnessed Kimimaro's figure disappearing from the position with the sound of breaking past the wind.

"Wait… what happened, he did not dodge that, is he… is he dead?" Villager 1.

"He has to be, no one can survive something like that!" Villager 2 and villager 3 said in a panic.

"Calm down, he is alive and well, and dodged that fireball at the right opportunity." A Shinobi answered, then thought, 'Although that Jutsu the boy from Otogakure used.'

'The Body Flicker Jutsu?' was the thought in the minds of all shinobi.

Unlike the ordinary villagers who were at a loss for what happened and if the kid from Otogakure was still alive or not, the shinobi at the field recognized the Jutsu used by Kimimaro at a glance and soon locked Kimimaro's new position.

Soon everyone's eyes turned towards Sasuke and feeling the gaze of everyone on him, Sasuke quirked his lips in a triumphant expression.

Because of the fire burning in front of him, Sasuke's vision was obscured, and since he has yet to awaken the Sharingan, as such Sasuke was unable to see the disappearance and reappearance of Kimimaro at the last instant because the speed of Kimimaro was too fast for Sasuke's motor skills to the process. He only felt a gust of wind, but that was caused by the resulting impact caused by the collision of the fireball with the road.

As such, Sasuke assumed that the kid from Otogakure was swallowed by his fireball Jutsu.

But soon Sasuke realized that something is wrong because his mother was not smiling, rather she was looking at him with worry, and at this moment, a cold voice came from behind him, "Why are standing in a daze?"

"What?! How?" Shocked Sasuke soon realized that his attack was somehow dodged, he instantly tried to use substitution Jutsu but he was too late… Smash… As Sasuke was suddenly punched in the face and he flew out.

At this moment, Kimimaro walked forward towards the collapsed Sasuke, and thought to himself, 'He is still not activating his Sharingan… but why? Is it because I am going too easy on him?'

Sasuke quickly got up from the ground, and muttered in shock, "But how? That Jutsu was supposed to defeat you!"

Whoosh… Smash…

Sasuke did not get his answer, instead, he got another punch in the face by Kimimaro who again used Body Flicker Jutsu to appear Sasuke in less than an instant.

This time the punch was harder than before, and Sasuke rolled over more distance and collapsed on his butt.

As Sasuke was again knocked to the ground, sounds of murmurs spread on the square.

All the Shinobi, whether of Konoha, Suna, Taki, or Kusa, all focused their eyes on the ten-year-old Kimimaro.

Kimimaro's use of 'Body Flicker Jutsu' twice in a row not only stunned Sasuke who was full of confidence but even the referee Anko was also shocked.

Uchiha Fugaku's face was serious but he said nothing, even before the match began, Fugaku could see that the kid named Kimimaro was extremely strong for his age. But even then, he allowed Sasuke to fight, there are several reasons for doing so, one of them is the hope that Sasuke will overcome that something that has been preventing Sasuke's growth.

Uchiha Mikoto was also worried but upon looking in the eyes of Sasuke which clearly showed that he has yet to give up, she chose to remain silent too.

On the Hokage Building, Sandaime who was also observing the battle asked Nara Shikaku, "What is the name of that child of Otogakure?"

Shikaku went through his memories, and stated, "According to the intelligence gathered by us in the short period, he seems to be one of the last two surviving members of Kaguya Clan from Kirigakure, his name is Kaguya Kimimaro of Shikotsumyaku."

"Kaguya Kimimaro? What is a child of the Kaguya Clan doing in Otogakure?" mumbled Sandaime to himself as he focused back on the field.

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