Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Two figures continuously darted and shifted positions.
With every clash, sparks flew brilliantly.
The duel between the long sword and the kunai never ceased.
After several exchanges, Hiruko found himself being suppressed by this kid named Tenya.
Moreover, as time went on, this suppression became more apparent.
If this continued, he might end up defeated here.
Hiruko had always been wary of Tenya's swordsmanship.
Experiencing it firsthand now, Hiruko felt as if he was seeing the shadow of the legendary White Fang.
That suffocating pressure, that exquisite swordsmanship, and that calm and focused demeanor reminded Hiruko of the fear he once felt under White Fang's dominance.
Compared to the legendary Sannin, he feared Konoha's White Fang more.
The man who stood at the pinnacle of the ninja world!
He thought that after White Fang's suicide, the nightmare buried in his heart would dissipate.
But who would have thought that this Tenya would make him recall that nightmare buried deep within once again?
He admitted that he was scared!
This prey's strength had surpassed his expectations, and if he didn't end this soon, he wouldn't be able to leave.
By now, Konoha's ANBU were probably already on their way.
He didn't have much time left.
One last attempt!
Clang!
Another fierce clash.
But this time, Hiruko didn't continue the engagement. Using the momentum from the collision, he swiftly retreated.
At the same time, he commanded the nearby summoned beast again.
"Attack with all your might, kill him!"
Roar!
With a loud roar, the creature formed from multiple summoned beasts charged at Tenya once again.
In an instant, pillars of flame shot out like lasers, one after another. The feathers on its body detached and shot out like bullets, covering an area of a hundred meters.
Facing this wild assault, Tenya's expression remained calm.
The gleam in his eyes seemed to give him immense confidence.
The beast's ferocious attacks looked impressive, but to Tenya, they were full of flaws.
By following these flaws, he could not only evade the attacks but also approach the beast.
Ultimately, he could completely deal with this annoying creature.
Under the beast's wild assault, Tenya continuously dodged and evaded, avoiding the attacks one after another.
At this time, Hiruko stood not far away, observing everything happening on the battlefield.
He had hoped that the summoned beast created using the Chimera Technique could take down Tenya or at least injure him.
But the results were disappointing.
The fused summoned beast didn't cause Tenya much trouble, not even managing to hurt him.
Seeing Tenya getting closer to the summoned beast, Hiruko couldn't help but act.
He quickly formed several seals, a cold smile appearing on his face.
As Tenya approached the beast, Hiruko suddenly shouted, "Explode!"
The previously weakening beast suddenly seemed to have taken a stimulant, its entire body rapidly swelling.
The tumors covering its body expanded like inflated balloons.
In an instant, its size tripled.
Boom!
With a loud explosion, the beast instantly turned to nothingness.
A giant pit, fifty meters in diameter, was left at the site.
Hiruko slowly approached the pit but didn't find Tenya's body.
"Could he have been blown to pieces?" Hiruko sighed, "What a pity!"
Just as he turned to leave, his body suddenly froze, his eyes staring straight ahead in disbelief at the figure that had appeared.
"You... you're still alive!"
Tenya dusted himself off calmly and said, "You seem disappointed!"
In the critical moment, Tenya had used Earth Release to burrow underground, barely escaping the explosion.
Had he been a bit slower, he might not have survived, or at best, would have been severely injured.
Additionally, he made an unexpected discovery.
There was another observer deep underground.
He wasn't sure how long this person had been lurking.
Seeing Tenya looking so relaxed, Hiruko decided not to engage further and tried to leave.
But he had already missed the best opportunity to escape.
Had he fled during the explosion, he might have escaped by now.
But to confirm Tenya's death, Hiruko wasted his perfect chance to leave.
Shoo! Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!
He threw several kunai with explosive tags at Tenya and turned to flee.
With several swift movements, Tenya not only avoided all the explosive kunai but also closed the distance to Hiruko.
"Hiruko, you can't escape!"
"Ride the Wind!"
With that, Tenya's speed surged, almost making him seem like he was flying.
Ride the Wind was a new skill unlocked when his role-playing percentage reached 40%.
This skill allowed for rapid movement, but Tenya rarely used it.
Because it consumed a lot of chakra!
Unless absolutely necessary, Tenya wouldn't use it.
Hiruko had attacked him multiple times and was on Tenya's must-eliminate blacklist.
Since they had crossed paths, he would thoroughly eliminate this threat.
He didn't want to be constantly targeted by this person.
With the aid of the Ride the Wind skill, Tenya caught up with Hiruko in no time.
Without any unnecessary words, he launched an attack at Hiruko.
Boom!
With a single strike, accompanied by rising smoke, Hiruko disappeared again.
Another shadow clone!
Tenya continued his pursuit.
Using shadow clones repeatedly was also a burden on Hiruko.
He considered engaging Tenya in close combat.
But thinking of Tenya's terrifying swordsmanship, he chickened out.
As his chakra depleted, Hiruko became more and more fatigued.
Before he could lament, a sharp pain suddenly hit his chest, and a long sword had already pierced through his back, emerging from his chest.
It wasn't until then that Hiruko realized his heart had been directly pierced.
He struggled a few times before quickly losing his life.
Tenya pulled out his sword and couldn't help but half-kneel, gasping for breath.
The continuous attacks had drained him significantly.
Both his stamina and chakra were nearly depleted.
He could barely manage one more attack.
He was almost at his limit!
At this moment, a massive chakra surge emerged from the depths of the ground.
A figure was rapidly tunneling through the earth, clutching a blade tightly in his remaining right hand. In an instant, he burst out from the ground, directly stabbing at the weakened Tenya.
Thud!
Tenya's body was directly pierced.
Poof!
A burst of white smoke rose, and the Tenya before him turned into a log.
"This is... the Substitution Jutsu!"
"Not good!"
Before Kisame Hoshigaki could react, a dazzling sword light suddenly flashed by.
Immediately, a familiar voice sounded in Kisame's ear, "Kisame Hoshigaki, I've been waiting for you!"
Kisame felt a wave of dizziness, and in his blurred vision, he saw a headless body that looked familiar.
"That's... me..."
Barely lifting his eyes to look at his own body, Kisame Hoshigaki completely lost his life.
Plop!
Tenya couldn't hold on any longer and collapsed completely to the ground.
Taking down Kisame Hoshigaki had exhausted the last of his energy.
Now, even a regular wild beast could easily take his life.
"Over here, gather here!"
A few masked Konoha ANBU appeared in Tenya's sight.
Soon, more Konoha ninjas arrived.
In the crowd, Tenya saw a familiar figure.
It was none other than his former instructor, Yūhi Shinku.
"Sensei, you're here!"
Yūhi Shinku looked at the lying Tenya and then at the surroundings, which looked like they had been bombed, momentarily at a loss for words.
Judging by the destruction, there must have been a high-intensity battle here.
Yet, it seemed like only Tenya had survived.
Just how strong had this kid become?
Yūhi Shinku was genuinely curious.
"Tenya, what happened here?"
Yūhi Shinku walked over to Tenya and couldn't help but ask.
"Sensei, it's better to find a doctor for me first. If you delay any longer, your student might just die!"
Tenya reminded helplessly.
Yūhi Shinku crouched down and checked Tenya's condition.
After a while, he calmly said, "It's just exhaustion. Rest here for a while."
With that, Yūhi Shinku and the accompanying ANBU began to investigate the surroundings.
With such a big commotion, if they didn't hurry to get some answers, they would all be in trouble.
Causing such a mess during the Chuunin Exams, who knew how it would end?
As he thought about this, Yūhi Shinku quickened his pace.
"Shinku-senpai, there's something here!"
Following the direction of the voice, Yūhi Shinku saw an ANBU who seemed to have discovered something.
When he got closer and saw what it was, Yūhi Shinku could hardly believe his eyes.
"This... this is Hiruko..."
Yūhi Shinku then turned his gaze towards Tenya in the distance, feeling quite unsettled.
"What on earth happened here?"