Soon, the day of the First-Year Tournament arrived.
Students from each class followed their respective teachers to the Academy training field.
Once most of the participants had gathered, Minato Namikaze stepped forward to give the opening speech. This time, however, Danzō Shimura and Hiruzen Sarutobi had also come.
On one hand, this year's class was considered an exceptionally talented generation. On the other hand, they wanted to see the energetic spirit of these young children.
At the same time, the heads of the major ninja clans had also come to watch the competition.
As for why?
Simple—each of them wanted to observe how their own children performed.
After Minato finished speaking, Fugaku Uchiha stepped forward to announce the rules.
The competition was divided into eight groups: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H.
Each group would compete within its own arena, and the winner of each group would advance to the quarterfinals.
Those eight finalists would then fight according to bracket order until a final champion was decided.
Interestingly, the members of the Rookie Nine were almost perfectly spread across the eight groups.
Morning Matches
After an entire morning of matches, most of the Rookie Nine crushed their opponents with ease.
Whenever members of the Rookie Nine faced each other, however, the battles became far more intense and lasted much longer before a winner emerged.
By noon, the Top Eight had been decided:
Group
Winner
A
Hinata Hyūga
B
Chōji Akimichi
C
Satsuki Uchiha
D
Sai
E
Karin Uzumaki
F
Naruko Uzumaki
G
Sakura Haruno
H
Nagi
The quarterfinal matches would take place in the afternoon.
For now, it was lunch break.
Lunch Break
Everyone sat casually on the field and took out their bento lunches.
Watching the peaceful scene, Hiruzen, Danzō, and the others smiled slightly.
Everything they had worked for was to ensure that children could grow up in peace without the burdens of war.
Nearby, Minato, Fugaku, and the other adults were eating their work lunches while discussing the morning matches and chatting about everyday matters.
Meanwhile, on Nagi's side—
Naruko noticed that her father was nearby, so she felt a bit embarrassed and didn't exchange food with Nagi this time.
Hinata, however, didn't care at all. As usual, she exchanged lunch with him.
Looking at Nagi expectantly, she asked:
"Nagi, what did you bring today?"
Nagi opened his lunchbox.
"Competition-special rice balls."
Inside were four neatly arranged onigiri. One of them was noticeably larger than the others.
Hinata didn't show any disappointment at the simple meal.
Instead, she happily placed a huge fried egg into Nagi's lunchbox.
"Hehe, Nagi, this is a fried ostrich egg. It's very nutritious. Do your best in the upcoming matches—I'm looking forward to meeting you in the finals."
"Yeah. I'm looking forward to it too."
Nagi handed the largest rice ball to Hinata.
Hinata took a bite with eager anticipation, then closed her eyes and carefully savored the taste.
"The filling inside is very rich. Each ingredient complements the others perfectly. And paired with the rice… mm, it's excellent."
A blissful expression appeared on her face.
Nagi had just picked up the ostrich egg with his chopsticks and was about to take a bite—
When he suddenly felt a wave of killing intent.
He quickly tried to locate the source.
Nearby…
Hiashi Hyūga had been chatting casually with Minato about parenting.
By chance, he noticed Hinata exchanging food with someone beside her.
At first he assumed it was two girls trading lunch, which seemed rather cute.
But then he suddenly realized—
Wait… isn't that a boy?
And when he saw his daughter smiling happily after eating the boy's rice ball—
A smile she rarely showed even to him—
Hiashi nearly lost his composure.
His face filled with killing intent as he glared at Nagi.
It felt as though his Byakugan was about to activate on its own.
Meanwhile, Hinata noticed her father's reaction.
She glared fiercely at him.
Hiashi immediately deflated.
He crouched on the ground in a depressed state, drawing circles in the dirt with his finger.
"She yelled at me… she yelled at me… She actually scolded me for a boy…"
Afternoon Matches
The tournament resumed shortly afterward.
Match 1
Hinata Hyūga vs. Chōji Akimichi
The two formed the Seal of Confrontation.
Chōji attacked first.
"Partial Expansion Jutsu!"
His arm rapidly enlarged, forming a giant fist that slammed toward Hinata.
Hinata didn't even blink.
She calmly caught the punch with one hand.
"What?!"
Chōji was stunned.
He knew Hinata was strong, but he didn't expect this level of strength.
Hinata forced his arm down to the ground and followed up with an elbow strike to his chest.
"Eight Trigrams Crushing Strike!"
Chōji was knocked back several meters.
Suddenly he realized something was wrong with the flow of his chakra.
"My chakra… did she hit my chakra points?"
But Hinata gave him no time to recover.
She delivered a powerful kick.
Chōji blocked with his arms, but the force numbed them instantly.
In that brief moment of hesitation—
Hinata seized the opportunity and struck his chin with a punch.
Chōji collapsed unconscious.
Winner: Hinata Hyūga
Match 2
Satsuki Uchiha vs. Sai
Under Satsuki's relentless barrage of shuriken attacks, Sai never had the chance to use his Super Beast Imitating Drawing Technique.
He was forced into defeat in an extremely frustrating manner.
Winner: Satsuki Uchiha
Match 3
Karin Uzumaki vs. Naruko Uzumaki
Their fighting styles were quite similar.
Naruko had the advantage in chakra reserves and physical strength, while Karin excelled in healing and regeneration.
After a long and exhausting battle—
Naruko ultimately emerged victorious.
Winner: Naruko Uzumaki
Match 4
Sakura Haruno vs. Nagi
Sakura's father, Kizashi Haruno, loudly cheered for his daughter from the sidelines.
He was extremely noticeable.
Sakura looked embarrassed.
"Sorry, . Just pretend my dad isn't there."
"Okay."
They formed the Seal of Confrontation.
Sakura attacked first.
She had always felt Nagi was unusual, so she didn't dare underestimate him.
"Enhanced Strength!"
The muscles in Sakura's arm suddenly swelled as she threw a powerful punch.
Nagi responded with a punch of his own.
BOOM!
Their fists collided.
Sakura was pushed back more than ten steps.
"What?!" ×N
Everyone watching was shocked.
Kizashi Haruno's technique—Body Activation—was famous for its explosive strength. Even the Akimichi Clan had studied it before.
Yet Sakura had lost in raw strength.
Sakura herself was equally shocked.
She quickly pulled several shuriken from her ninja pouch.
Before she could throw them—
Nagi knocked them all out of her hands with his own shuriken.
Left with no choice, Sakura continued fighting with taijutsu.
Earlier, Nagi had sensed a strange chakra flowing into his right hand—one that didn't belong to the five basic chakra natures.
Seeing Sakura charge in again, he decided to test it.
After more than a dozen exchanges, Nagi felt he had gained enough control over this chakra.
In the next instant—
He used the Body Flicker Technique to appear behind Sakura.
His hand formed a blade shape and stopped at her neck.
Sakura could only surrender.
Winner: Nagi
Outside the Arena
Danzō and Hiruzen narrowed their eyes.
"...Hiruzen."
"Yes. I saw it too."
"That looked like Tsunade's monstrous strength."
"And the way it was used… it didn't resemble Tsunade's style."
"It looked more like…"
"…our teacher's."
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