Chapter 168: Battle Plan, Diversion and Trade

Chapter 168: Battle Plan, Diversion and Trade

_________ POV Narration_________

"So it's just that? That was the plan? To overwhelm the Uzumaki brat with Nature Energy-enhanced jutsu?"

The Raikage's question seemed to resonate with the other leaders as well, as they all looked at Ken for answers.

"Well, I'd say it's better for you to turn your gazes back to the arena... Just using Nature Energy regularly won't win the fight in this case, so my pupil will have to get creative."

Enhancing an attack with Nature Energy was never going to be a big deal for someone who was already considered a perfect sage.

But the actually effective strategy was to overwhelm the Uzumaki prodigy with easy-to-defend attacks, followed by one enhanced with Nature Energy.

It would be hard to tell the attacks apart for anyone who didn't practice Senjutsu.

And Takehiko specifically had 0 training fighting against sages. How could he? Senjutsu users were almost non-existent in the Shinobi World. Hell, the Uzumaki didn't even have 1.

But a simple Water Dragon Bullet wasn't going to be able to take down a Uzumaki.

Takehiko walked out of the broken wall of the arena with a slight limp, and a mad look on his wet face. His soaked clothes and bruises were enough to indicate that he had completely failed to judge his opponent properly.

"That... Won't work twice." The Prodigy's voice now sounded darker, a dangerous tone seeped into it as his gaze promised to take down Ume, his younger opponent.

"..." Ume didn't respond, instead she pointed a hand sign to the sky.

"Hiding in Mist Technique!"

In an instant, the entire arena was covered in a thick mist, making the viewing experience a lot worse for the regular folk present.

The leaders could still track the children's movements within the mist, however. Some had a bit of difficulty, but Ken specifically didn't really have a problem with the mist. Not much of a gaze to obscure for him after all...

Surprisingly, despite being passive most of the fight, the first one to move now was Takehiko.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

In an instant, all of the mist was blown away by a powerful gust of wind which left Takehiko's mouth as soon as his Jutsu was finished.

In front of him were now 3 assassins instead of just one, and they were all rushing towards him.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

"Wind Release: Gale Palm!"

Two of the clones formed a cooperative attack, one spitting out a gigantic fireball towards Takehiko, whilst the other pointed its palm towards the fireball and fanned the flames to a dangerous degree.

The other did not use a technique, instead pulling out a scroll and jumping towards the sky, tracking out a multitude of different weapons and chucking them towards Takehiko from different angles using chakra threads.

The assassin was not deterred though, driven to strike back. Her arm immediately got covered in scales, and her claw extended to rip out a chunk of her opponent's torso.

Takehiko hissed in pain as he whipped his chain with Ume still attached to it, effectively throwing her a great distance away and sending her crashing into the wall of the arena.

He then followed that up by entangling her in all of his chains, pulling on her every limb and seemingly almost wanting to rip her apart then and there out of anger.

"Takehiko of the Uzumaki Clan advances forward!"

The fight got called at that moment, but the prodigy's chains lingered for another moment, wondering whether or not to choke the assassin a bit, as a parting gift for all of the humiliation.

But before he could even seriously consider that he felt a cold gaze on his back, one that made all of the hairs on his back stand straight, looking up, it was none other than the gaze of his mentor.

The look his teacher's eyes gave was quite clear. 'If you do not put her down, I will make sure you suffer.'

It didn't matter how much Yorihikko cared for Takehiko. If the prodigy was not smart enough to understand that antagonizing the Dark Brotherhood was a bad idea, then training him was already a waste of resources and time.

But Takehiko proved that he was at least smarter than a rock, as he placed Ume on the ground this time instead of outright dropping her.

He then limped off, going back to his corner to tend to both his physical injuries and his hurt ego.

The final exchange was something that everyone found impressive. It was clear to everyone that Ume/Number 7 was outmatched, but it was also clear that she had put up a valiant effort.

The sheer grit it took to run towards your opponent whilst grinding your own insides whilst caught in their move was not something many could claim to have, let alone a child Ume's age.

Regardless, the finalists of the Chunin Exams were now decided... And the following fights were going to be even more competitive.

'Let's see... The match-ups are... Huh. It seems like Tatsukio and Morita will be going at each other first. Takehiko will be sitting this one out.'

Ken slowly stood up, his ears perking up before he stood up from his chair.

'Now then... To check on Ume.'

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Hey there! Hope you liked the chapter!

Trying to keep the more frequent uploads going, had to revise a chapter for the OP ff tho, though that one's nearing its end tho, so that's pretty good innit? ;)

Story Shoutout: Transcendence: The Versatile Demoness

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