"If they're just clones…" Nawaki slammed his fists together. "It's not impossible to win."
Shadow Clones split the user's chakra among each copy—the more clones there were, the weaker each one became.
And Akira had created twenty-seven clones.
That meant their chances weren't zero.
"Mushi-hime, let's go."
"Got it."
Mushi-hime nodded. Countless insects swarmed out of her body, quickly wrapping around Nawaki.
With a burst of speed, Nawaki charged straight at Akira's clone, both fists empowered with monstrous strength.
Akira sidestepped effortlessly.
Nawaki stomped forward, spun sharply, and launched a heavy punch.
"Not bad. You've improved," the clone remarked.
With one hand, Akira actually caught Nawaki's punch and flipped upside down midair, spinning before kicking toward Nawaki's face—
—but a swarm of black insects crawled up first, shielding him.
Bang!
So hard.
The insects were blasted apart, but Nawaki remained unharmed.
He grabbed at Akira's leg—
only to catch an afterimage.
Akira had already withdrawn his leg midair.
"Insect Bind!"
Mushi-hime stretched out her hand.
Countless insects formed rope-like chains, wrapping toward Akira.
Bang!
Substitution Jutsu.
Akira's body turned into a kunai, caught by the insect chains, while he reappeared a short distance away.
Flipping midair, he landed and took a deep breath—
"Fire Style: Flame Bullet!"
A stream of blazing fire shot toward Mushi-hime.
Because Akira didn't use hand seals, she had no time to react.
The flames hit her directly, her body and clothes instantly turning to charred black.
But suddenly—
Two hands burst out from her mouth.
A completely unharmed Mushi-hime emerged.
"Insect Replacement Technique!"
The burned remains fell apart into piles of dead insects.
She really was like a female version of Orochimaru—her techniques eerily similar.
Akira glanced at her soaked appearance.
Compared to Orochimaru's grotesque form, Mushi-hime looked…
surprisingly appealing.
A sticky little girl versus a sticky grown man—
yeah, there was definitely a difference.
Wait… what am I thinking?!
"Earth Style: Seismic Fist!!"
Nawaki slammed his fist into the ground.
Sharp stone spikes erupted beneath Akira, forcing him to flip backward to evade.
"Combo!!" Nawaki roared.
More spikes burst upward in rapid succession, forcing Akira into continuous retreat.
At that moment—
Another Akira clone knocked out a candidate.
[Experience +1210]
"Barely qualified."
That clone glanced toward another clone being pressured by Nawaki.
He flicked several kunai toward Nawaki and Mushi-hime.
"Whoosh!"
The clone's body suddenly expanded, muscles bulging as his clothes tore apart.
A demonic face formed across his back.
Oni Back.
He punched straight at Nawaki.
Bang!
A puff of smoke.
Nawaki's body turned into countless glowing red insects.
"What—?!" the clone froze in surprise.
"Seismic Fist doesn't need to be maintained continuously!" Nawaki's real body appeared behind Mushi-hime.
Mushi-hime raised both hands toward the clone.
"Our target was never that clone—it was you all along."
"Detonate… now!!"
BOOM!!
The insects covering Akira's clone exploded.
Flames swallowed it whole.
As the smoke cleared, the clone vanished completely.
From the stands, Akira's real body nodded in approval.
"Nice teamwork."
"They calculated that the clone only had enough chakra for one long-distance substitution, blocked its vision with terrain, and coordinated perfectly."
The trap had been set the moment Nawaki used Seismic Fist.
Akira turned toward Orochimaru and Jiraiya.
Both of them had also created clones, currently evaluating the candidates.
"That Seismic Fist—no hand seals?" Akira asked.
One of Orochimaru's clones explained,
"Nawaki developed it himself. It injects chakra into the ground to disrupt its structure and force whatever's beneath to erupt upward."
"I helped refine it, but it's highly dependent on the environment."
Strictly speaking, it wasn't even a true Earth Style technique.
It simply forced whatever was underground to burst out.
If there was nothing solid beneath, the technique was useless.
"The exam's about to end," Jiraiya remarked.
After all, these genin were facing Akira.
Even his clones weren't easy to defeat.
Anyone who tried brute force had already failed.
To succeed, they needed:
StrategyPlanningCalculationCombat ability
All four aspects had to meet the standard.
Those who could withstand the clones had decent combat ability.
Those who could counter-kill a clone—
had the qualifications of a chunin.
Out of twenty-seven candidates—
only seven remained standing.
The other twenty were already unconscious.
Nawaki and Mushi-hime were among the seven.
After successfully taking down one clone, they were now attempting a second—
but were being completely suppressed.
The others were in similar situations, struggling to show their worth.
"Nawaki, Nara Yoshimaru, Sarutobi Kozo, Hinata, Hijikata Jushiro, Aburame Mushi-hime…"
Orochimaru read off the names.
"These are the ones qualified for promotion."
The rest had only played supporting roles.
These six had demonstrated leadership, coordination, and strength.
"And me," Akira added, pointing at himself.
"…And you, Hyuga Akira," Orochimaru said flatly.
Even though you basically forced your way through.
"Alright, that's enough. The battle ends here."
The qualified candidates had already been determined.
Continuing would just waste time.
"No," Jiraiya said suddenly.
"Maybe there's still a miracle."
"A ninja's battle shouldn't be stopped midway."
"Exactly," Akira agreed with a grin.
"How can a ninja fight just end like that?"
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
One by one—
every Akira clone ignited with blue flames.
Akira's lips slowly curled upward.
The fight—
had just escalated.
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