Naruto: Starting with Creating a Genius Persona

Chapter 111 Exposing Match-Fixing (14/16)

On the field, Shinichi Higashino and Isshin stood silently facing each other, twenty meters apart.

After a brief silence, the arena was instantly filled with a deafening roar of cheers, the sound almost lifting the dome of the arena.

"Shinichi! Do your best!"

"Let that despicable outsider witness the true strength of Konoha's genius!"

"We believe in you, Shinichi!"

"Charge! Shinichi, for Konoha!"

The cheers were more enthusiastic than ever before, and many villagers knew this hardworking and outstanding young genius who always had a gentle smile on his face.

Even those who didn't know him were struck by the resolute figure of the young man standing before a formidable enemy, showing no sign of backing down.

Inspired by his indescribable, endearing composure, I couldn't help but shout out loud.

"Shinichi, it's okay even if we lose! Safety first! You're still our pride!"

These words drew angry stares from many people around, who thought it was disheartening to say such discouraging things at a time like this.

The man, oblivious to everything, muttered to himself, "That's right. Shinichi is such a good kid, sensible, hardworking, and amazing. Win or lose, he's a good kid, the pride of Konoha. Please, please don't let him get hurt!"

Those around were taken aback, but upon closer reflection, they realized that what he said made sense.

However, at this crucial moment when the whole village is working together with one heart and one mind, it sounds a bit awkward, and could even be said to weaken the momentum.

On the field, the two seemed oblivious to the commotion around them.

"Konoha Chunin, Shinichi Higashino."

"The Land of Iron, Ashina Ryuuichi."

They simply exchanged names, keeping it extremely concise.

The referee took a deep breath and swung his arm down sharply: "The match begins!"

"boom!"

Almost at the same instant the word "begin" was uttered, the burly warrior opposite him had already turned into a blurry afterimage!

As always, it was ferocious, violent, and unpretentious, with pure power and speed squeezing the air and emitting a chilling shriek!

The katana in his hand transformed into a blindingly bright, cold light that tore through the field of vision, carrying the power to split mountains and shatter rocks, and slashed down towards Shinichi!

Simple and direct, yet it perfectly embodies the aesthetics of violence, as if it were about to cleave the slender boy in front of it and the ground beneath his feet in two at any moment!

However, what shocked all the audience members was that their pupils constricted and their breath caught in their throats.

Faced with the overwhelming onslaught of this humanoid beast, Shinichi, a boy who was tall for his age but still incredibly thin compared to the towering figure of the other side, did not choose to dodge or form hand seals to release ninjutsu!

He pushed off with his foot and advanced instead of retreating!

His figure shot out like an arrow released from a bow!

His right hand instantly pressed onto the hilt of the sword at his waist. With a clear, ringing sound, a standard samurai sword gleaming with cold light was drawn from its sheath. He gripped it tightly with both hands and fearlessly slashed upwards at the terrifying blade that was about to strike down!

He actually chose to confront them head-on!?

Clang!

At the center where the two figures met, a terrifying metallic roar, like the sound of a great bell, erupted, far surpassing any previous clash of weapons!

A visible ring of air suddenly exploded outwards from the two of them, sweeping up dust and debris in all directions!

"Crackling!"

The solid arena ground beneath their feet instantly became covered with a dense web of cracks, like a fragile cookie, and the cracks continued to spread into the distance!

The shockwave and dust dissipated slightly.

In the arena, Zhenyi held two swords and steadily blocked the cleaving blow that was powerful enough to cut through boulders and steel!

His feet were deeply embedded in the broken stone slabs, yet his posture was as steady as a rock. Only the black hair on his forehead was blown back by the strong wind, revealing a pair of eyes as calm as a deep pool!

It's blocked?!

It's blocked from the front?!

The monstrous samurai who defeated two Jonin in a row with his mighty slash was blocked head-on by a Chunin?!

"Oh?"

Yixin's wild expression paused slightly, revealing a hint of surprise for the first time.

He looked into the calm eyes on the other side of the blade, his voice low but clear: "Not bad strength! Much more solid than it looks."

Before he finished speaking, his eyes flashed, and the blade that had been blocked suddenly yanked back, sending sparks flying. It then transformed into an even more violent and dense barrage of blade light, pouring down on Shinichi like a storm!

Slash, chop, sweep, and flick – each strike is simple and direct, yet it combines power, speed, and angle to the extreme. The wind from the blade tears through the air, emitting a shrill, ghostly wail!

Almost at the same instant, Shinichi also moved. He gripped the hilt of his sword tightly with both hands, and his chakra surged within him, flowing into his limbs and the blade.

He strode forward and charged, brandishing his long sword, meeting the deadly net of blades head-on with equal ferocity and speed!

"Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!!!"

The dense, almost simultaneous clanging of metal was like the most intense war drums, beating wildly!

Each collision sent out blinding sparks, and each impact created a visible shockwave!

The two figures transformed into two blurry, rapidly moving, colliding, and separating masses of light and shadow in the center of the wide arena.

The blade flashed like a bolt of lightning, crisscrossing and cutting through everything in its path. The already cracked floor was repeatedly plowed by the claws of a giant beast, with gravel flying everywhere and dust billowing. The entire area was quickly turned into a mess, with ravines and gullies, and almost no part of the ground was intact!

"My God! Shinichi... he actually managed to go toe-to-toe with that monster?!"

"Although I always knew he was strong since he was a child and had never stopped weight training, this is just too... too exaggerated!"

"Have you all forgotten? When this child first started school, he carried a huge boulder, like a small mountain, to school every day! I've seen that scene countless times!"

"I know that. My home is near the ninja academy. I used to see him a lot in the mornings back then... but later it seemed like he didn't do much memorization anymore. I thought he gave up or switched to something else..."

"Looking at it now, it wasn't giving up at all! It was clearly just that ordinary weight-bearing was no longer effective!"

The audience gasped, discussed, and exclaimed in surprise, as many seemed to rediscover the boy who had fought so fiercely against the monster warrior.

The deep-seated impression of "diligent genius" overlapped with the violent, aesthetically pleasing battle scene before him, creating a powerful impact.

On the high platform, Koharu Utatane, the advisor, still hadn't fully recovered from her astonishment. She couldn't help but turn her head again to look at the Third Hokage beside her, who was puffing out smoke, and asked in a low voice, "Hiruzen, are you sure Shinichi really doesn't have the blood of the Senju clan?"

At the beginning of Konoha's founding, the Senju clan gradually withdrew their surnames in response to the First Hokage's idea of ​​"the clan integrating into the village".

Although they do not exist under the name of a clan, the village still has a large number of Senju descendants, most of whom work in the Ministry of Education and the Ninja Academy, engaging in education-related work. (Official setting: Ryou Shinden)

The strength and physique that Shinichi is displaying at this moment, far exceeding that of his peers and even many adult Jonin, inevitably makes people think of other things.

Hiruzen Sarutobi slowly exhaled a puff of smoke, his gaze still fixed on the two figures locked in fierce combat. He shook his head and explained, "We've repeatedly checked his background. Shinichi is indeed not related to the Senju clan by blood."

"I can only say that this child is truly gifted, just like Hiruzen when he was young," Mitokado Homura said with a smile, adjusting his glasses.

Upon hearing this, a hint of reminiscence flashed in the Third Hokage's eyes. He smiled but remained silent.

The fierce battle on the field has reached a fever pitch; to everyone else, it is a head-on clash of titans.

But only Shinichi himself knew that he was throwing the match, using his left hand against his right, and was still figuring out how to make it more visually appealing, more dramatic, and more impressive for the audience.

"Haha! That was great! Let's do it again!"

With a wild laugh, Yixin seemed even more excited by his inability to break through. He suddenly changed his move, using his sword to deflect Shinichi's parry. His left hand had somehow clenched into a fist, carrying immense and unstoppable force, and like a battering ram, he thrust it straight into Shinichi's chest and abdomen!

Shinichi seemed to have anticipated this. He didn't retract the sword that had been deflected by the parry. Instead, he used the end of the hilt to slam the incoming fist. At the same time, he changed his footwork and slid sideways like a fish, trying to deflect the force and counterattack.

However, Isshin's combat experience was so rich that his fist unexpectedly changed direction halfway through, turning into a claw with five fingers like hooks, actually trying to seize Shinichi's wrist holding the sword!

At the same time, his right leg swept silently towards Zhen's lower body like a steel whip!

Zhenyi's eyes narrowed instantly, and he changed his move just as quickly. With a flick of his wrist, the blade flipped and met the iron claw that was grabbing at him with its edge, forcing it to withdraw its hand. At the same time, he bent his left leg and used his knee to block the sweeping kick!

"Bang!"

With another muffled thud, the two figures swayed simultaneously. The already cracked ground beneath their feet could no longer withstand the force, exploding into a spiderweb-like pattern of fissures, with rubble shooting out like rain!

Before the smoke and dust had cleared, the two figures clashed once again, like taut bowstrings released from their tension!

With a loud laugh, Yixin unleashed a powerful and fierce slash that tore through the air with his long sword, which carried an even greater ferocity than before!

However, this time Shinichi did not choose to confront the attack head-on. His footwork was like a butterfly flitting among flowers. At the last second, he slid to the side and skillfully used his long sword to deflect, guide, and parry the opponent's downward slash, diverting the violent force by a few points. This was a superb technique of deflecting force in swordsmanship!

Taking advantage of the moment when Isshin's sword strike was deflected and his body was slightly sluggish, Shinichi twisted his waist and turned around, his right leg drawing a perfect arc like a steel whip, whistling through the wind, and fiercely lashed towards Isshin's chest!

Leaf Whirlwind!

"Bang!"

A solid impact rang out, and for the first time in a head-on physical confrontation, Isshin's massive body was struck and he staggered backward, his feet carving two deep furrows in the ground. He retreated more than ten meters before regaining his footing!

"Hit!"

"Shinichi has the upper hand!"

"Well done, Shinichi!"

A deafening cheer erupted from the stands, and many people stood up excitedly, as if they had seen the dawn of victory.

With his sharp eyes, how could he let go of this golden opportunity to press his advantage?

Chakra erupted from his feet, and his figure followed closely like a shadow, his long sword thrusting straight at the opening exposed by Isshin's retreat!

However, just as the knife tip was about to touch his body...

"Drink! Hah!!!"

A furious roar, like that of an ancient beast, burst forth from Yi Xin's chest, and his right foot stomped down hard like a giant elephant!

"BOOM!!!"

The entire arena seemed to tremble! Centered on his right foot, the solid ground was struck as if by an invisible giant hammer, suddenly caved in and cracked, forming a crater several meters in diameter!

At the same time, a visible, violent wave of chakra, like the raging waves of a stormy sea, suddenly erupted from his body, sweeping wildly in all directions like a tangible hurricane!

As Zhenyi followed closely behind, he felt an overwhelming force crashing down on him, as if he had run into an invisible wall of steel!

The blade he used to parry emitted a hum that seemed to be straining under the strain. He was thrown back like a kite with a broken string by the shockwave, which was purely generated by the burst of chakra. He tumbled several times in the air before he could barely adjust his posture and slid backward for several meters before finally coming to a stop.

"What?!"

"This chakra?!"

Exclamations of surprise echoed through the arena once again.

"My blood is boiling!"

A roar filled with unbridled arrogance and fighting spirit resounded, accompanied by a rumbling wave of chakra energy that had not yet fully subsided.

With a wave of his right hand, a halberd with a ferocious and exaggerated shape and a blade that gleamed with a cold, eerie light appeared in his hand the next moment!

"They're coming, Konoha ninjas!"

The moment the words left his mouth.

boom!

The already cracked stone slab beneath his feet was violently jacked up from below by an invisible force, and then shattered completely!

A deeper and wider crater suddenly opened up, spewing up rubble and dust!

And that burly figure, using the force of the violent stomp, soared into the sky!

While suspended in mid-air, he raised the halberd high above his head, channeling all his bulging muscles and boiling chakra into his right arm.

The halberd blade sliced ​​through the sky, emitting a chilling shriek that sent shivers down one's spine. It was as if even the air itself was being torn apart and repelled by its mass and speed, sending out visible white shockwaves to both sides!

Like wielding a raging thunderbolt falling from the heavens, or a legendary giant axe capable of splitting mountains, he concentrated his immense power, speed, fighting spirit, and chakra into this strike that descended from the sky, and smashed it down on the area where Shinichi was below, without any fancy moves, with devastating force!

Before the halberd blade even arrived, the wind pressure generated by its terrifying mass and horrifying downward momentum had already crashed down like a real meteorite, forcing the ground around Zhen Zhou to cave in and crack inch by inch!

At the critical moment, Shinichi gripped the hilt of his sword tightly with both hands, raised the long sword horizontally above his head, and channeled chakra into his arms and the blade, using the blade to meet the devastating blow that came from the sky!

"clang!!!"

An unprecedentedly loud roar resounded throughout the entire stadium!

It was as if two iron mountains had collided, with blinding sparks and a visible ring-shaped shockwave erupting from the center of the impact!

Click!

A soft yet heartbreaking cracking sound came from the blade in Shinichi's hand.

The next instant, he was hit head-on by a speeding train, his feet left the ground, and he was thrown backward!

Shinichi's body carved a deep trench tens of meters long in the ground, and the flying debris flew in all directions like cannonballs, hitting the distant barrier with loud bangs!

Finally, his back slammed heavily against the hard stone wall at the edge of the arena with a dull thud, barely stopping his backward fall.

That's about it, time to start the next exhibition match...