"Do you have any idea why they changed the match format suddenly?" asked Uzumaki Keiko.
Hearing her question, Shikamo thought for a bit before shaking his head.
He replied, "I don't know. But I do know that Hokage or his advisor must be responsible for this decision."
"Even if they didn't devise the plan to change the match format, they were at least responsible for giving the green light to it," he continued.
As he finished speaking, Nara Shikamo couldn't help but look at Seimei strangely.
After all, the Hokage was the legendary God of Shinobi, Senju Hashirama. And the only Hokage Advisor was Hashirama's younger brother, Senju Tobirama.
And Seimei was Tobirama's son.
Did that mean Seimei knew about it all along, and now he was playing dumb?
This guy did have a history of playing dumb while watching the drama unfold with a bucket of popcorn in his hand.
When the others saw Shikamo gazing at Seimei strangely, they could also more or less understand his thoughts.
Even the dumbest among them, Sarutobi Yuto, understood that the sudden change in rules in such a publicly organized competition needed Hokage or his advisor's approval.
So, he and others also mimicked Shikamo's movements and glanced at Seimei with meaningful looks.
Seimei, feeling all of his teammates' gazes locking onto him, raised an eyebrow in confusion.
Uchiha Touma asked, "You didn't know about the change in rules for the final match today?"
A series of metaphorical question marks appeared on top of Seimei's head as he asked back, "And how would I know that?"
Shikamo responded, "But Seimei, lord Hokage is your uncle, and his advisor is your father."
Hearing this, a sudden enlightenment hit him. The metaphorical question marks above his head vanished with a poof, and a bright imaginary light bulb appeared in their place.
He replied, "You're giving me too much credit. I really had no idea about these changes or the lottery draws. I was surprised to hear them, too. Just like you guys."
Seimei continued, "What's done is done. Lamenting the change of rules won't do us any good. Instead, we should come up with a plan to decisively defeat our respective opponents. I can see that a few matches will be a headache."
Uchiha Reina chimed in, "This is the life of a ninja. Always unpredictable."
"So, we must learn how to deal with unexpected situations. Unsavory surprises can show up any time. All we can do is adapt and face it head-on."
Although Reina said it plainly, Seimei couldn't help but think that she wasn't exactly talking about the competition here.
What's up with this girl?
Why is she suddenly offering life advice?
So strange.
Usually, she would make fun of things and throw one or two sarcastic remarks.
Did she eat something wrong today?
However, Seimei only pondered for a while before shrugging these thoughts away.
They have more important things to worry about.
For example, the first match of the finals in which Sarutobi Yuto was about to participate.
--------------------
"I just had to face this guy, huh?"
Sarutobi Yuto muttered to himself as he looked at his opponent, Hatake Kenshin.
Hatake Kenshin originated from the esteemed Hatake clan, recognized for their unparalleled mastery of Kenjutsu and Lightning Release techniques.
In fact, the Hatake clan was one of the few clans in the entire Shinobi continent who had successfully integrated nature release into their Kenjutsu to create an incredibly lethal and effective combat style.
And Hatake Kenshin wasn't just a random clan member of the Hatake clan. His entry to class 2-S and its final team for this competition spoke volumes about his capabilities as an exceptional ninja.
Although his friend, Seimei, often joked about a random dog-loving, perverted, 50-50 masked man or the inventor of the thousand years of death technique, White Fang, he warned him to always be on his guard when facing any ninja from the Hatake clan.
Even though the Hatake clan is a small Shinobi clan that originated from ancient samurai, their Kenjutsu is fast, deadly, and extremely unpredictable.
They have perfectly combined the best qualities of a ninja and a samurai, creating a formidable fighting technique.
Although the Hatake clan produces very few ninjas every generation, every single one of them can give average ninjas or samurai a run for their money.
Yuto thought before he began analyzing his opponent.
According to the intelligence we have gathered, Hatake Kenshin prefers delivering fast and precise blows with his short sword.
He is fast, strong, and often uses Lightning Release Ninjutsu to paralyze his opponents to land a final, lethal strike with his sword.
I have to keep an eye on every single one of his movements.
I must avoid his Lightning Release Ninjutsu to avoid being paralyzed. If it hits me, I am done for.
It would be better if I could keep my distance and use Elemental Ninjutsu to deal with him. But it's just wishful thinking.
Damn it. I should have focused on learning a few Genjutsu.
It's going to be a tough match.
Kunai, oh my kunai…Today, I must rely on you.
Don't disappoint me!
"The first match of the final round. Sarutobi Yuto of Team 1-S Vs. Hatake Kenshin of Team 2-S…"
Yuto snapped out of his internal monologue and refocused his gaze on his opponent, Kenshin.
His body entered battle mode. His chakra began to flow through his chakra network rapidly and permeated into his entire body to reinforce his physique, elevating his strength, speed, reflex, and defense significantly.
He was ready to strike at any moment.
And then, the referee finally declared the beginning of the match.
"Now…begins!"
As soon as the words fell, Yuto quickly grabbed a total of 10 shurikens in both hands and threw them at Kenshin with precision.
Whoosh~ Whoosh~ Whoosh~ Whoosh~ Whoosh~
Four shurikens blocked Kenshin's escape path on his left and right, four shurikens targeted his stomach, liver, right lung, and heart, and the final two traveled toward his throat and head.
A precise formation created by shurikens that could severely injure or kill an average Genin.
However, Hatake Kenshin was no ordinary Genin. He was a ninja with a top-tier Chunin-level ninja's combat prowess.
His eyes showed no panic as he swiftly unsheathed his sharp, gleaming, short sword.
Ding~ Ding~ Ding~ Ding~ Ding~ Ding~
With a swift motion, he slashed his sword multiple times within the blink of an eye, successfully deflecting six incoming shurikens targeting his body, and let the other four shurikens pass by his left and right side.
However, before he could even think of rushing forward toward Yuto to engage in a melee, he suddenly saw an intense wave of scorching, orange flame in his field of vision.
Turned out, Yuto immediately performed a series of hand seals to cast one of the basic yet signature C-rank Fire Release Ninjutsu of the Sarutobi clan, Fire Dragon Bullet Jutsu, right after throwing the shurikens at Kenshin.
Just when the incoming flame and its searing heat threatened to engulf Kenshin, he immediately activated the Body Flicker Technique to dodge it and moved toward his right while trying to close the gap between him and Yuto.
But Yuto was no pushover.
He quickly tracked Kenshin's location. As soon as Kenshin's figure reappeared, 9 meters away from him, toward his left at 10 o'clock direction, he hurled another round of 10 shurikens at him.
Meanwhile, he also activated the Body Flicker Technique to retreat 40 meters away from his previous location and began forming a series of hand seals.
While forming the hand seals, he couldn't help but mutter, "Hehe…the prediction and tracking training with Uchiha Touma finally paid off."
On the other side, Hatake Kenshin deflected all the shurikens once again before launching himself toward Yuto.
Crackle! Crackle!
His short sword was crackling with tiny arcs of lightning, which was clearly the result of the specialized Lightning Release Chakra Flow Technique of the Hatake clan.
When he was a little less than 15 meters away from Yuto, he witnessed at least 12 orange arrows made of flame being condensed around his opponent.
Yuto, who successfully condensed his Fire Release chakra into blistering fire arrows, let out a grin and launched them at Kenshin.
Fire Release: Flaming Hail
However, the incoming blazing arrows didn't make Hatake Kenshin's expression falter at all.
He simply covered his sword blade with more lightning chakra and slashed it at the incoming arrows.
Fizzle~ Fizzle~
To the audience's delight and Yuto's surprise, the lightning-covered sword attacks neutralized the flaming arrows, reducing them to countless tiny sparks of flame.
Kenshin wasted no time and quickly arrived right in front of Yuto and slashed his blade at him in a downward motion.
"Damn," cursed Yuto as he used his kunai to block the sword slash from Kenshin.
Unfortunately for Yuto, Kenshin's sword, empowered by the Hatake clan's special Lightning Release Chakra Flow Technique, cut through the plain, metallic kunai of Yuto that wasn't even empowered by chakra flow due to his haste.
At the next moment, Kenshin's sword cleanly struck Yuto's right shoulder blade.
Most of the audience thought that this strike would injure Yuto heavily, making Kenshin the final victor.
But to their surprise, right after Kenshin's lightning-infused sword hit Yuto, he turned into a figure made of solid earth and crumbled into several fragments in front of their eyes.
Kenshin's eyes furrowed for the first time.
"An Earth Clone?" He murmured.
The battle was far from over.
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