Chapter 90: The Winner is Decided
Mieko desperately dodged, but was hit multiple times by wind attacks from Wind Blast and took a Great Breakthrough head-on, causing her to fly back dozens of meters and crash to the ground.
She cried out in pain as she was cut and thrown through the air.
The forest was still burning, so Kaito's wind techniques became superheated. Despite her high resistance to fire as an Uchiha, this hurt her even more.
She tried to stand up.
"Ah, that hurts! But I finally have some distance. I need to make good use of it."
She was about to use all her remaining chakra for a Combustion Blast, but her Sharingan noticed a chakra signature underground.
"Is he preparing another sneak attack? Wait! His chakra is very high. Finally, he's attacking with his main body! I just need one chance, and I'll win!"
Kaito's arm emerging from the ground interrupted her thoughts.
As he rose from the ground, he grabbed her by the neck, slammed her down, and simultaneously pinned her with his right hand. He looked at her and said, "You've lost. Give up."
But Mieko, despite her pain, smiled.
Kaito, caught off guard, looked directly into her eyes!
"Sharingan."
The next moment, the scene before Kaito's eyes changed. The Mieko he was holding transformed into flames and escaped from his grasp. The burning trees around him began to move and close in on him.
Mieko readjusted herself in mid-air and laughed triumphantly.
"You looked into my eyes!"
She laughed even harder and said, "Kaito, I won! In a fair fight, no one can rival the Uchiha Clan!"
The burning trees transformed into tree creatures and spat flames at Kaito.
But he ignored the illusory damage. He looked at Mieko and sighed.
"You really need to know when to give up."
In the real world, Kaito's Wind Clone saw Mieko casting a genjutsu on his Shadow Clone and couldn't help but chuckle.
One of the Wind Clones whispered, "Sensei, protect her."
He expended all his chakra, forming a wind wolf that pounced on the Shadow Clone, dispersing it.
As Renjiro appeared using Body Flicker and dispersed the wind wolf, its claws continued striking toward Mieko's abdomen.
In the genjutsu world, as Kaito's Shadow Clone said those words, it disappeared in the real world due to being destroyed.
Unaware of what had happened, she released her genjutsu and saw her sensei standing next to her, with three of Kaito's Wind Clones still watching her. Renjiro announced, "Kaito is the winner."
Mieko, not understanding, asked, "What happened...?"
Unfortunately, the Sharingan genjutsu had exhausted her last bit of chakra. She fainted before she could finish her question.
Renjiro checked on her and called out loudly, "How much longer are you going to hide?"
Hearing this, Kaito emerged from underground and, with a smile, appeared next to Renjiro using Body Flicker. The Wind Clones dispersed on their own.
Renjiro looked at Kaito and said, "Well done. Now pick her up and go to where Hodaka is. I'm going to put out the fire before it consumes the entire training ground."
Kaito nodded. He picked up Mieko and used Body Flicker to reach Hodaka's location. He placed Mieko next to him.
Hodaka had already witnessed the outcome of the battle with his Byakugan. Seeing Kaito unharmed, he sighed and thought, "What else could I have done to win this battle?"
Kaito knew Renjiro would likely use Water Release to extinguish the fire, so he had been focusing on sensing their sensei's chakra. He said to Hodaka, "You should also watch where sensei is with your Byakugan."
Hodaka nodded and activated his Byakugan again.
Renjiro had already leaped high into the air—almost a hundred meters up. At this height, he began gathering massive amounts of chakra.
Both Kaito and Hodaka were shocked by the amount of chakra Renjiro was amassing. Kaito swallowed and said, "Such immense chakra! As expected of an elite jonin! This is the first time I've seen him seriously use a high-level technique."
A hundred meters in the air, Renjiro formed hand seals, casting Water Release: Water Severing Wave.
He expelled a massive amount of water from his mouth. The water flowed down from beneath him like a waterfall, then spread in all directions, covering an area of about five hundred meters!
Kaito and Hodaka were shocked once again. Hodaka asked, "Hey, Kaito, there's no water source nearby. How did he create so much water?"
Kaito said, "I don't know. I'll have to ask him later."
Hearing this answer, Hodaka chuckled and said, "If we could summon this much water, all our opponents would be washed away."
Kaito nodded and added, "Not all, but most."
He thought, "Isn't this very similar to what Tobirama-sama used? No wonder Renjiro-sensei's Water Release is so powerful. The Second Hokage probably left all the detailed information about his Water Release techniques in the Senju Clan's library."
The flood extinguished all the flames, releasing large amounts of steam into the air.
Renjiro checked if any fire remained. After confirming there wasn't, he appeared before his students using Body Flicker.
Seeing Renjiro's display, Hodaka felt genuine admiration for his teacher for the first time.
Although the training Renjiro provided was excellent, seeing such a powerful demonstration always left a deeper impression on a ten-year-old.
Renjiro walked toward Mieko, picked her up, and placed her on his right shoulder.
While Hodaka was still awestruck, Renjiro walked behind him, grabbed him by the back of his collar with his left hand, and lifted him up.
This startled Hodaka. Realizing how he was being held, he immediately began flailing his arms and legs in the air, completely losing the composure characteristic of the Hyuga Clan, and he shouted, "Put me down, sensei! What are you doing?"
Kaito saw the comical scene before him: a burly Senju jonin, with a proud Uchiha girl resting on his right shoulder, and a dignified Hyuga boy flailing desperately in his left hand.
The next second, he couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"Hahahahaha! Oh my god, this is hilarious!"
This laughter annoyed Hodaka, and he flailed his limbs even harder, then was lightly slapped by Renjiro, who said, "Why are you struggling? I'm taking both of you to the hospital."
Hodaka replied, "Sensei, I can walk!"
Renjiro asked, "Walk on one foot? I don't have an hour to waste."
Hodaka continued to complain, "But sensei..."
Unfortunately, he was completely ignored by Renjiro.
Renjiro looked at Kaito and said, "Once they've recovered from their injuries, we'll go on a mission. Until then, don't do any high-intensity training—it's best to rest completely."
Kaito nodded, still smiling at the scene before him.
Renjiro was about to leave when a thought suddenly came to him.
He looked at Kaito and said, "The A-rank technique reward is from me personally, not from the village or the Senju Clan. So you can only request techniques that I know or can easily obtain."
This instantly stopped Kaito's laughter. However, before he could protest, Renjiro had already vanished using Body Flicker!
Kaito muttered to himself, "Clever bastard."
On the way to the hospital, Renjiro breathed a sigh of relief, thinking, "Good thing I made that clear, so he can't bother me about it later. That kid asked the Third Hokage for a sword worth tens of millions of ryo. If I hadn't clarified this, who knows what kind of technique he would ask me for!"
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