Shinra gave the unconscious Mira one last glance before turning around. As he climbed the stairs back to the spectators' stand, he reflected on the fight.
'That went mostly according to plan. If her taijutsu had been a tad stronger, I might've had to go a little more aggressive. At least now I can focus on studying the other participants.'
He hadn't expected Mira to adapt so quickly, but that was precisely why the fight had been worthwhile. The Sharingan had allowed her to keep pace with movements her body could barely handle, forcing him to approach the fight differently than he would against an ordinary genin.
More importantly, he had won without revealing his Lightning Release or swordsmanship. The delayed-impact technique was now out in the open. Anyone who fought him later would have to account for it, but that was an acceptable price to pay.
By the time Shinra returned to Inumaki and Hyori, the next two participants were already making their way toward the arena.
Nara Shinomiya looked like a typical member of his clan. His indifferent gaze and apparent lack of interest in everything around him reminded Shinra of a certain lazy genius. Fortunately, he wasn't sporting the infamous pineapple hairstyle, or Shinra might've mistaken him for Shikamaru.
'I wonder how much of the clan's shadow manipulation he's learned?'
His attention shifted to Shinomiya's opponent.
Hachiman Sho was a genin from Takigakure. Aside from his bald head, there wasn't much about him that stood out. He carried himself calmly, showing neither the arrogance of a prodigy nor the nervousness of someone overwhelmed by the occasion.
'Hachiman Sho… Where have I heard that name before?'
Shinra searched his memory, but nothing immediately came to mind. The name reminded him vaguely of something from his previous life, more specifically a shrine. Unable to make the connection, he eventually put the thought aside.
Down in the arena, Shinomiya stopped several meters away from his opponent. Instead of taking a fighting stance, he reached into his pouch and produced a small candle.
The arena fell silent as he placed it on the ground near the edge of the arena.
Hachiman stared at the object, then at Shinomiya.
"What are you doing?"
Shinomiya ignored him. He retrieved a lighter, lit the wick, and watched the flame settle into a steady glow.
"Here's the deal. By the time this candle completely burns out, I'll have won the match. If I haven't, I'll forfeit."
Hachiman blinked.
"Are you serious?"
"Yes."
"Are you looking down on me?"
"You're welcome to attack me if you don't like the arrangement."
Hachiman's expression soured. The other genin was either mocking him or so confident in his abilities that he could afford to behave like an idiot. Neither possibility was particularly flattering.
He glanced at the proctor, who appeared relatively relaxed. The rules didn't prohibit a contestant from making such a wager, and whether Shinomiya followed through on it was none of his concern.
"Fine. I'll play along."
Once both contestants were within fighting distance, the proctor stepped back.
"Begin!"
Hachiman moved first. He formed a short sequence of hand signs and released a burst of wind toward Shinomiya, forcing the Nara to abandon his position. Shinomiya dodged without much difficulty, retreating across the arena while Hachiman followed with a succession of kunai throws.
Shinomiya didn't retaliate. He kept moving, occasionally changing direction to avoid being cornered, while the candle continued burning behind him.
From the stands, Shinra maintained an equal focus on both Shinomiya and the candle.
'The candle is either a prop to distract his opponent or he's using it to extend the reach of his technique. Placing it at the edge of the arena would be an odd choice for the former.'
The answer became clearer when Hachiman finally attempted to close the distance.
Shinomiya stepped aside, allowing his opponent to rush past him. At the same time, his shadow stretched across the ground toward Hachiman's feet.
Hachiman noticed the movement and immediately jumped away.
"Shadow Possession!"
The shadow beneath him twitched, but Shinomiya failed to catch him. Hachiman landed near the opposite side of the arena, looking down at the ground with renewed caution.
"So that's what you're waiting for," he muttered. "Did you think I'd fall for such an obvious attack?"
Shinomiya scratched his cheek.
"You're quicker than you look."
Despite his lazy expression, the Nara was already reconsidering his approach.
'The advantage of learning a clan's secret technique is having experienced shinobi teach you how to use it. The downside is that information about the technique and its weaknesses often spreads through enemy shinobi who survive an encounter with it.'
Hachiman had recognized the threat before Shinomiya could catch him. There was little point in repeatedly attempting the same approach when his opponent knew what to expect.
The Takigakure genin changed tactics. Rather than charging again, he began circling Shinomiya, careful to stay beyond the reach of the Nara's shadow. Shinomiya continued retreating, seemingly content to let the candle burn.
Several spectators began whispering. From their perspective, the fight had turned into an embarrassing game of keep-away. Even Taeko looked unimpressed, whilst the Yamanaka teammate was quietly watching the match.
"Is your teammate always this lazy?" someone asked her.
Taeko popped another chip into her mouth.
"Lazy? He's putting in considerably more effort than usual."
Shinra, however, had stopped watching Shinomiya.
He was watching the candle.
The flame had shortened, and wax had begun pooling around the base. As the candle burned down, the flame moved closer to the ground, changing the angle at which its light struck the arena. The shadow cast by the candle's body stretched farther across the floor, gradually reaching beyond the area it had covered when the match began.
'Not bad…'
Shinra followed the shifting shadow, then looked back at Shinomiya's movements. The Nara had been steering Hachiman around the arena from the beginning, gradually guiding him toward a position where the candle's changing shadow could become useful.
'So that's his plan. As the candle burns lower, the light source moves closer to the ground, extending the shadow toward the center of the arena. Placing it at the edge gives him a way to reach areas his own shadow couldn't cover as easily.'
It was a clever refinement. Shinomiya's win condition was catching his opponent with Shadow Possession, but against someone who knew his tricks, that would be difficult to accomplish. By exploiting the candle's changing position, he had prepared an additional angle from which to threaten Hachiman. The trick wasn't simply the growing shadow; it was how he had spent the entire match guiding his opponent toward it.
Hachiman appeared to reach the same conclusion a moment later. His eyes flicked toward the candle, and his expression changed.
He immediately threw a kunai at it.
Shinomiya had been waiting for that.
The moment Hachiman committed to the throw, the Nara moved. His shadow shot across the ground, taking advantage of his opponent's attention shifting toward the candle. Hachiman twisted aside to avoid it, but the movement carried him into the section of the arena Shinomiya had spent the entire fight guiding him toward.
The shadow stretched around the candle's base before changing direction and reaching Hachiman's shadow from the side. With his attention divided between the incoming technique and the candle he had tried to destroy, Hachiman reacted a fraction too late.
The shadows connected.
Hachiman froze.
For a moment, he struggled to break free, but the connection held. His kunai struck the ground beside the candle, missing it by inches.
Shinomiya yawned.
"Honestly, you could've saved us both some trouble by standing still."
He raised his hand, forcing Hachiman to lower his weapon and kneel.
The candle's flame flickered as a breeze passed over it, then steadied again.
The proctor watched the contestants carefully. Hachiman struggled against the technique, veins bulging at his temples as he tried to force his body to move. Shinomiya maintained the connection without much visible effort, but the longer he held it, the more chakra he would have to spend.
Eventually, Hachiman's resistance weakened. He could neither reach Shinomiya nor free himself, and continuing to struggle would only exhaust him further.
"…I surrender."
Shinomiya released his technique and retrieved the candle, slipping it into his pouch as though he had merely finished an ordinary training exercise. Hachiman rose to his feet, looking thoroughly displeased.
"…Did you plan for this exact scenario from the beginning?"
"This was simply one outcome," Shinomiya replied. "But this way, I got to watch a candle burn."
He walked toward the stairs.
Up in the stands, Shinra leaned back in his seat, a thoughtful expression on his face.
'So that's how Naras fight. Give them enough time to prepare, and they can turn the entire battlefield into a weapon.'
Shinomiya hadn't been particularly fast, nor had he demonstrated overwhelming strength. Instead, he had spent the entire fight guiding Hachiman toward a position where his opponent's options gradually disappeared. The candle had been a distraction, a weapon, and a timer all at once.
'If I have to fight him later, I'll need to pressure him before he can establish control. And I can't afford to focus on his shadow alone.'
Shinomiya returned to his team's seats, where Taeko immediately began questioning him about the candle. He ignored most of her questions and settled into his chair, apparently ready to take a nap.
The proctor waited for the arena to be cleared before announcing the next match.
The following fight was considerably less subtle. Two genin from the remaining teams took their positions, and the moment the signal was given, one rushed forward with a pair of tonfa while the other retreated behind a series of explosive tags. The fight ended when the first genin used a substitution to slip past the trap and struck his opponent from behind, forcing a surrender before either contestant suffered serious injuries.
Shinra watched without much enthusiasm. Neither fighter had demonstrated anything particularly unusual, and the match offered little beyond a reminder that even straightforward jutsu could be dangerous when used intelligently.
The next contest proved more entertaining. A genin from Kusagakure relied on wire traps and concealed senbon, attempting to immobilize his opponent before delivering a decisive strike. His opponent, a broad-shouldered shinobi from one of the smaller villages, endured the initial assault and forced him into close combat, where the Grass genin's lack of physical strength became a liability.
After a brief struggle, the larger boy secured the victory.
Shinra filed away what he had seen. The Grass genin's traps were effective, but their placement had been too obvious once he understood the pattern. Against someone more cautious, the result might have been different.
As the contestants left the arena, the proctor glanced at the board before announcing the next pair.
"Yamanaka Yomen versus Tiga of Sunagakure!"
Shinomiya clicked his tongue as he glanced toward the arena.
'Two of our members got selected in the preliminaries. What rotten luck!'
He looked at the Sunagakure genin's smiling face. Despite the lack of obvious hostility, something about Tiga's expression made Shinomiya uneasy.
He turned toward his quiet teammate, who was getting ready for battle.
"If you find yourself at a major disadvantage, it's better to forfeit. You can always participate next year."
The fair-haired boy nodded calmly before making his way down the stairs. He stepped into the arena, adjusting his forehead protector as he approached the center. His opponent followed more slowly, carrying himself with a calmness that contrasted with the tension in the stadium.
Tiga wore no particularly distinctive equipment beyond the steel claws covering his fingers. His clothing was practical, his posture unremarkable, but the unmistakable grin on his face gave him the air of a predator who wanted to toy with his prey.
Shinra watched him take his position.
'Steel claws. What an odd choice of weapon.'
The proctor raised his hand.
"Begin!"
Yomen acted first, attempting to keep his opponent at a distance while searching for an opening to use his clan's mind-affecting techniques. Tiga gave ground without complaint, avoiding direct confrontation and allowing the Yamanaka to dictate the early pace.
The two circled one another, exchanging a few tentative attacks. Yomen threw a kunai to force Tiga to move, then advanced when the Sand shinobi dodged to the side. Tiga's claws flashed, but Yomen started weaving hand signs:
'Wind style: Great Breakthrough.'
He managed to keep out of the claw's reach and retreat before the exchange could become dangerous.
As soon as he had created enough distance, Yomen decided to step things up a bit and retrieved a few more kunai from his pouch.
Shinra noticed the tags placed near the handles and thought, 'Explosive tags. It's unfortunate that I burned through mine to escape from Sasori. I only have a few left in case of an emergency.'
Yomen threw two kunai in quick succession. Tiga avoided the first, but the second struck the ground near his feet and detonated. The blast forced him to jump aside, and Yomen used the opening to prepare another attack.
For a moment, it seemed as though the Yamanaka was slowly whittling the Sand genin down. He continued throwing tagged kunai, forcing Tiga to dodge while carefully maintaining enough distance to prevent his opponent from reaching him with those claws.
Then Yomen's movements began to falter.
He tried to retrieve another kunai, but his fingers wouldn't close properly around it. The weapon slipped from his grasp and struck the ground. He stared at his hand, confused, before attempting to pick it up.
His fingers moved, but they seemed to respond more slowly than they should have.
'What…?'
He straightened, only to feel his legs grow strangely heavy. His balance shifted, and he stumbled before managing to steady himself. He had no recollection of being struck by anything, so how did he end up getting poisoned?
Tiga watched him struggle as a smirk made its way to his face
Yomen tried to retreat, but his feet dragged against the ground. He forced himself to move faster, unwilling to let his opponent take advantage of whatever was happening to him.
It was no use.
His knees buckled, and he fell forward. He caught himself with one hand, but even that simple movement required more effort than he could manage. His breathing grew uneven as he struggled to push himself back up.
Tiga approached without hurrying.
"Having trouble standing?"
Yomen tried to answer. His lips parted, but the words wouldn't come. Panic began to replace his confusion as he realized that the problem wasn't limited to his hands and legs.
Tiga crouched a short distance away, studying him.
"That's unfortunate. I hope my next match would be someone a little more exciting."
The Sand genin rose again, his smile never leaving his face.
"W-what's wrong with him? Why isn't he surrendering?" Taeko asked, her voice faltering.
Shinomiya's expression had lost its usual indifference. He watched Yomen attempt to move, then looked at the unnatural movements of his body. He knew the rules as well as anyone. A contestant who could no longer fight was defeated, but until the proctor declared the match over, the other participant was free to decide what to do.
And Yomen couldn't even speak to surrender.
Down in the arena, Tiga stood over the fallen genin. He looked almost disappointed as he flexed his fingers, the steel claws catching the light.
Yomen's eyes followed him. His body remained stubbornly unresponsive, and the fear in his expression grew as Tiga took another step closer.
"Don't worry," Tiga said pleasantly. "This won't take long."
He raised his hand.
Yomen could do nothing.
Tiga drove his claws into Yomen's chest.
The Yamanaka's body jerked, then went still.
For a few seconds, nobody in the stands spoke. The suddenness of the killing had left the spectators struggling to process what they had witnessed. Yomen had entered the arena with a sensible plan, used his weapons effectively, and even forced Tiga to retreat several times. Yet once his body began failing him, all of that preparation had become meaningless.
The proctor stepped forward and examined the scene before turning toward the spectators.
"The match is over. The winner is Tiga of Sunagakure."
A murmur spread through the stands.
The medical team entered the arena, but their efforts were limited to confirming what had already become obvious. They covered Yomen's body and carried him away while another medic inspected the ground where the fight had taken place.
Tiga watched them leave before turning toward the Sand delegation. His expression had barely changed throughout the match.
Shinra remained still, his attention fixed on the bloodstained claws.
'Poison? But when and how did he land it?'
He replayed the fight in his mind, searching for the moment Yomen might have been exposed. He hadn't noticed any obvious projectile, nor had Tiga landed a clean hit that would explain the sudden collapse. The scratches on Yomen's forearm were the only visible injuries he'd received before losing control of his body.
Whatever method the Sand shinobi had used, it had been subtle enough to escape casual observation.
The proctor stepped away from the arena and gave a brief cough, covering his mouth with one hand. He paused before lowering it, his gaze flickering toward the medical team. Then he straightened and resumed his duties, leaving the incident unremarked upon.
Shinra noticed the gesture but couldn't make much of it.
Across the stands, several competitors had reached the same conclusion. The earlier matches had been opportunities to assess one another's abilities, but this one had changed the atmosphere entirely. Poison was dangerous enough when delivered through a weapon or a concealed needle. If Tiga had found a way to administer it without either, then the usual methods of reading an opponent might not be enough.
Shinra watched the Sunagakure genin leave the arena. An accompanying jōnin fell into step beside him, keeping close as they headed toward the exit.
'If I end up fighting him, I can't afford to let him control the pace.'
Shinra had no intention of making the same mistake.
The first casualty of the preliminaries was a genin from Konoha, but this was the Chūnin exams death wasn't uncommon and if Tiga's method of fighting left him no choice but to kill, then Shinra would make sure he was the one who walked out of the arena.
The proctor cleared his throat before calling for the next match.
The preliminaries continued.