"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Uzumaki Naruto formed a seal with both hands and shouted.
In a blink, thirty shadow clones appeared around him.
"Your Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu is useless against me now."
Uchiha Sasuke watched Naruto and his clones rush in and shook his head.
Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!
He stood his ground, hands flashing through seals as chakra roared from his mouth.
Heat washed out; a massive fireball bloomed out of thin air.
Sweat beaded on the clones' foreheads as they scrambled to either side of the fireball.
Manipulating Shuriken Technique!
Sasuke glanced left and right, then coolly flicked three kunai to each side.
The kunai sliced the air and struck six clones cleanly in the heart.
Poof, poof, poof!
Six clones burst into smoke and vanished.
Sasuke's hands moved like a pianist's.
Guided by his wires, the six kunai wove a mesh of blades midair, and the clones caught within it were carved up in different ways.
"Leaf Whirlwind!"
Naruto seized an opening, chakra bursting from his legs as he flashed in front of Sasuke.
Body Flicker!
Sasuke's eyes narrowed; he slid back a step and slipped past the kick.
Naruto's foot hit nothing but air and he pitched forward, stumbling.
Genjutsu: Unknown Fire!
Sasuke had been locked on Naruto since the start.
Barring surprises, this had to be the real body.
He didn't hesitate—he cast genjutsu.
End this fast.
A towering blaze had just surged up when a huge tail lashed through and snuffed it out—
Naruto snapped back to himself to find three Sasukes standing before him.
He realized in a flash: a replay of that last spar.
Yeah… I can't win in close-quarters.
Thinking that, Naruto quickly pulled back.
"...?"
Sasuke blinked.
What's this?
With Naruto's personality he should be pressing the attack right now.
Why is he retreating?
That brief pause was all it took for the other clones to swarm in.
Sasuke lost his window to cast another genjutsu.
Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu!
Sasuke reacted fast. He and his two clones spat fire in unison.
In an instant the field was cleared; the remaining clones were wiped out.
"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Naruto split off a fresh wave of clones.
"Whew—almost got nailed by your genjutsu again!" he said, patting his chest in relief.
"You can dodge for a while, not forever," Sasuke replied evenly.
Naruto's odd retreat nagged him, but he brushed it aside.
Then he stiffened.
The thirty clustered clones broke formation and spread into three squads, each two to three meters apart.
"A surround?"
Sasuke's voice went cold. "Pointless."
"It's not a surround," Naruto corrected, eyes lighting up. "It's ninja tools!"
A hiss of wind.
All thirty clones whipped out two kunai each.
The first squad threw.
Twenty kunai hurtled toward the three Sasukes in a tight barrage.
"What?"
Sasuke's pupils shrank.
He's ditching taijutsu… for kunai?
All three Sasukes dodged outward in a hurry—
—and the other two squads let fly at once.
With the first wave added in, sixty kunai spread like three great nets, blanketing the three Sasukes.
"Damn it!"
The barrage was too dense. With no clean counter, Sasuke could only keep evading.
For a moment, he and his two clones looked downright harried.
The sudden swing made the spectators murmur in surprise.
"How did it turn like this?" Uchiha Fugaku frowned.
He hadn't expected the flow of the fight to flip so sharply.
Sasuke had held a huge advantage at the start.
"As expected of Minato's son," Uchiha Mikoto said, following the exchange like the jōnin she was. Naruto had switched to the correct approach.
"Good thing it's only kunai," said Uchiha Itachi, analyzing calmly. "Naruto's throwing form is rough, and Sasuke's got the Sharingan. He'll read the trajectories and counter soon."
The one-tomoe Sharingan's biggest edge is insight.
Wave after wave or not, Sasuke could see the lines and slip through them.
"Not bad," Fugaku allowed, his tone softening. "An Uchiha won't be beaten by mere kunai."
Not far away—
"Did Naruto actually change his fighting style?" Hiruzen Sarutobi sounded genuinely surprised.
"Hokage-sama," Nara Shikaku asked, puzzled, "isn't combining shadow clones with kunai throwing… normal?"
"You don't know Naruto," Hiruzen said, shaking his head. "He's been painfully one-note—taijutsu, then more taijutsu."
Shikaku paused, replaying Naruto vs. Rock Lee. True enough.
And from Naruto's big, brash personality, a sudden switch-up didn't fit.
"It's Kitazawa," Tsunade said offhandedly.
She'd fought Kitazawa and watched several of his bouts.
He had a grab-bag style—rotating through techniques, a little like Hiruzen himself.
And besides Hiruzen, the only one who could make Naruto change like this was Kitazawa.
"If Kitazawa taught him, then it tracks," Hiruzen said, first taken aback, then pleased. "Kitazawa's taught him well!"
He'd worried Naruto's style was all brawn, no flexibility.
Turns out he can adapt—if he's willing to learn. A very good sign.
"But that much won't threaten Sasuke," Tsunade said, eyes narrowing.
"Agreed," Hiruzen said, gaze dropping to Sasuke.
Having adjusted to the kunai rhythm, Sasuke finally caught his chance.
Body Flicker!
All three Sasukes surged forward at once.
In a blink they were on top of the three Naruto squads.
Manipulating Shuriken Technique!
Each Sasuke whipped six kunai.
Poof, poof, poof!
Naruto's clones popped out of existence one after another.
"Sasuke, you're amazing! As expected of my lifelong rival!" Naruto said, excited to see Sasuke use a Kitazawa-style sequence.
"Your throwing form is terrible," Sasuke said, tamping down the fatigue churning inside.
Physically, he was no match for Naruto.
From the start he'd been sprinting, spitting fire, working wires—no time to breathe.
His body was screaming.
But with so many eyes on him—Fugaku and Itachi among them—he had to keep his cool for the Uchiha's sake.
And he wasn't wrong: if Naruto's throws were sharper, Sasuke might already have lost.
"This ends here, Naruto," Sasuke declared. "You're going to lose again!"
"Sasuke!" Naruto grinned, a tooth glinting. "You're about to see the surprise I saved just for you!"
Sasuke's breath hitched.
Multiple Shadow Clones plus kunai isn't the surprise?
Explain to me what "surprise" means, exactly?
He had no time to ponder, because Naruto was charging again.
"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Running, Naruto formed the seal.
Another thirty clones burst out of the smoke.
They jumped in front of him the instant they appeared and swarmed forward.
"I told you—this won't work."
Sasuke snorted and flew through seals.
He didn't know why Naruto had gone back to his opening tactic, but he'd take it.
Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu!
Sasuke tilted his head back and spat a string of small fireballs, while his two clones unleashed the Manipulating Shuriken Technique.
Under the triple assault, Naruto's clones vanished in droves until only three remained—three Narutos in a triangle, two in front and one in back.
Body Flicker!
Sasuke lunged without hesitation.
As the air sang, his two clones flicked four kunai past him, tagging the front two Narutos ahead of his arrival.
Poof. Poof.
Both disappeared.
"Knew they were clo—… what the—?"
Sasuke jerked to a halt, eyes wide.
A blue sphere of chakra had gathered in Naruto's right hand.
The air shrieked as it spun.
Compressed to the limit, the rotating chakra revealed its most terrifying face.
"Rasengan!"
Naruto didn't hesitate—he drove it straight at Sasuke.
To cast genjutsu, Sasuke had to face him head-on.
Naruto exploited that, using two clones as cover while he formed the Rasengan.
As for hurting Sasuke—he wasn't worried.
Before the match, Kitazawa had told him, Use it without fear. I'll step in.
Sasuke felt an unprecedented sense of danger.
Too late to dodge.
At that instant, Kitazawa appeared and yanked him aside, just enough to slip the blow.
Boom!
With its target gone, the Rasengan slammed into the ground.
The earth split, stones exploded upward, and a massive crater yawned where it hit.
Sasuke staggered back a step and collapsed to a seat, staring at the devastation like he was dreaming.
So this was Naruto's "surprise"?
"Winner: Uzumaki Naruto," Kitazawa said after a glance at Sasuke.
"I… I lost?" Sasuke blinked back to himself, blurting out.
"By the rules, I interfered to help you, so the fight ends here," Kitazawa explained.
Sasuke opened his mouth, but couldn't argue.
He had lost. Without Kitazawa's help, he'd have eaten that Rasengan.
Judging from the crater, taking it head-on meant likely death.
In other words, Naruto now had the power to kill him.
How…?
Sasuke stood there, disbelief written all over his face.
He was supposed to be the one winning.
From the stands, cries erupted—louder than any before.
"Was that—Rasengan?!" Nara Shikaku shot to his feet, exclaiming.
He wasn't alone. Some were even teary-eyed.
Because that was the technique created by the "perfect shinobi," the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato.
More than a few of them had fought at his side.
A handful even knew Naruto was Minato's son.
Which made this moment—Naruto using the Rasengan—all the more meaningful.
"Naruto actually learned the Rasengan?"
Tsunade kept it cooler than Shikaku, but she was still stunned.
"Well?" Hiruzen asked with a broad smile.
"His future won't be any lesser than Minato's," Tsunade said after a two-second blank.
"I thought so too," Hiruzen said warmly. "Konoha's future is in good hands."
Tsunade fell silent, gaze sliding to Kitazawa.
No doubt: Kitazawa had taught Naruto the Rasengan.
Hiruzen could use it too, but as Hokage he had no time.
Kitazawa was a teacher at the Academy—perfectly placed to train him.
Still, Tsunade could hardly imagine a seven-year-old mastering the Rasengan.
It was a miracle. She had no idea how Kitazawa had pulled it off.
"Rasengan, huh?" Fugaku said after a pause. "Then Sasuke lost fair and square."
He didn't blame Sasuke.
At the same age, he probably couldn't have beaten Naruto either.
This was the Rasengan—peak chakra shape transformation, an A-rank technique.
It had no business being in the hands of a seven-year-old.
"I… I don't even know what to say…" Mikoto murmured.
A first-year using an A-rank Rasengan—how was that reasonable?
"..." Itachi started to speak, then didn't.
Honestly, Sasuke had done great—near perfect for his age.
With that talent and strength, he'd crush the Academy for years.
He should have stayed number one until graduation—if not for this curveball.
There was someone even more ridiculous: Naruto.
Not only did he have a huge chakra pool, he'd learned the Rasengan.
"How is it the Rasengan?" Kakashi stood before he knew it.
He knew that technique like the back of his hand.
"Kitazawa taught him," Kurenai said with a small, proud smile.
Kakashi fell quiet.
Before, he might've believed he'd teach Naruto better than Kitazawa could.
But with Naruto pulling out the Rasengan… he wasn't so sure.
In teaching, he probably couldn't beat Kitazawa.
Down on the floor, the competing students were just as slack-jawed.
They didn't know the Rasengan, but that crater told them everything about its power.
"Rasengan…?" Kiba felt the world go dark.
He'd thought the Hellhound would let him hang with Naruto for a few rounds. One Rasengan later—dream over.
The Hellhound was tough, but not tougher than the ground.
If the earth was cratered, he wouldn't fare better.
"Did Kitazawa-sensei create that jutsu too?" Karin asked, thinking of Kiba's Hellhound.
"No," Shikamaru explained. "That's the Rasengan, created by the Fourth Hokage."
"Kitazawa-sensei actually taught it to Naruto?" Kiba said, green with envy. "Man, I wanna learn it too!"
"It's not that easy," Shikamaru said, shaking his head. "It's an A-rank technique."
He kept one thought to himself.
He remembered his dad mentioning the Fourth Hokage was blond, too.
Follow that thread and things got… complicated. He decided not to.
Blond wasn't that rare anyway—Tsunade and Ino were both blond.
"So Naruto learned an A-rank jutsu?" Ino said, incredulous.
"As expected of Naruto!" Rock Lee burned with zeal. "I can feel my youth igniting! After the exam I'll run fifty extra laps!"
Neji's fists clenched.
The Rasengan's power was too great; he couldn't take it head-on.
His only shot was to seal Naruto's chakra points before the Rasengan formed.
But with all those clones… that was its own problem.
A real headache.
Neji sighed inwardly.
He'd always thought he was the standout of his generation, untouchable at the Academy.
Now Class 1-A had dragged him back to reality.
"Sasuke-kun must be feeling awful," Sakura said, worry on her face.
"That's battle—sometimes you win, sometimes you lose," Ino said, patting her shoulder.
Voices blended together until the words were indistinct on the floor.
But to Sasuke it felt like he could hear every praise for Naruto—and every jab at him.
The cockier he'd been a moment ago, the more humiliated he felt now.
He'd talked so big at Naruto…
Fugaku and Itachi had probably heard every word.
The thought of facing them as the loser filled Sasuke with a cocktail of emotions.
Shame, fury, humiliation, and stubborn refusal surged up.
Chakra began to boil inside him; the single tomoe in his eyes trembled.
At its limit, the single tomoe split—into two.
"Sasuke, your eyes…?" Naruto noticed the change.
"Two-tomoe Sharingan," Kitazawa said with a smile.
"Two tomoe?" Sasuke blinked.
He came back to himself and finally felt the surge of new power within.
"Ha… hahaha!"
Sasuke burst out laughing before he could stop himself.
In under a minute his strength had skyrocketed. He couldn't hold back the joy.
It felt like he'd climbed from hell straight into heaven.
~~~
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