Raizen and Karui locked eyes with the last two enemy genin, the air thick and tense, like a drawn bowstring ready to crack.
"This ordeal's gone on long enough," Raizen said fiercely, a sharp glint igniting in his good eye. "Let's end it here, Karui."
Karui's grin darkened with excitement. "Finally. I was getting bored."
In perfect unison, they surged forward, blurs of motion crashing into the remaining foes. Steel flashed, chakra crackled, and the clearing exploded into chaotic close quarters.
Raizen squared off with the taller genin, stepping in with a palm aimed at his chest.
The tall genin slapped Raizen's hand aside, redirecting his approach.
Raizen spun with the deflection—heels whipping in a tight arc—and his kick cracked into the genin's chin with a sharp, satisfying blow.
"Gh—!" The tall genin staggered back, blood spewing from his mouth. "Damn, kid. You hit harder than your teammates. But power alone won't—"
Raizen drove his foot into the guy's shin with another crack, silencing him.
"Do you ever shut the hell up?" Raizen snapped, planting a foot on the genin's thigh and springing off like a springboard.
Mid-spin, his hand darted into a pouch, emerging with a tagged kunai. He hurled it down, layering it with gale techniques that caught and flung the tag in a whirlwind.
Takuma had drilled those small E-rank clearing jutsu into them to clear campsites.
Raizen, of course, used them to create a devastating explosion.
The tall genin's eyes widened. He flickered away, body blurring—
But the explosion still rocked him, hurling him into a tree, leaves scattering in a shower.
Smoke curled, bark splintered.
"Tch... crafty brat," the tall genin muttered, rushing up and throwing up his clever just as a lightning-shuriken tore through the air, ricocheting off with a hiss.
Raizen touched down a few meters away, pale chakra webs snapping from his fingertips. They twisted around the clever, pulling and tugging until the genin had to abandon or be entangled.
Raizen's threads snapped toward the genin like striking vipers.
A lightning bolt flashed across his peripheral vision.
Raizen reached desperately for cover—a log, a rock—anything—
But the bolt struck his chest.
Pain exploded, and he was thrown back, web lines shattering. He skidded through dirt and leaves, fingers spasming. Both kunai flew from his hands.
His arms went numb up to the elbows.
"Shit," he hissed through clenched teeth.
The tall genin roared and charged, cleaver poised for a brutal horizontal swing. The blade clashed with Raizen's crossed kunai, metal shrieking. The force drove Raizen backward; his grip broke, and the kunai spun away.
He stumbled, lungs burning, chest still buzzing from the lightning.
"Haha! What's wrong, little man?" the genin taunted, stalking forward. "Don't run now. It was just getting interesting."
Raizen backed another step, mind racing. I can't trade blows like this... Need to shut his brain off, not just his body.
He scanned the terrain, threads of chakra pulling invisibly along the ground and into the trees—mapping escape routes and vantage points. If he could break the line of sight and lure him into a trap—
The smile on the genin's face sharpened. "Evasive tricks won't save you."
He clapped his hands, chakra flaring.
"Lightning Style: Electromagnetic Murder!" he shouted.
Lightning erupted across the ground in a cracking torrent, racing toward Raizen.
"Shit—" Raizen thought, pivoting desperately.
The world erupted in white light.
An explosion lit up the entire clearing, smoke billowing, lightning arcs dancing across scorched earth.
For a moment, it was chaos—noise, static, destruction.
When it cleared, Raizen lay crumpled, burned, and still—his clothes blackened, skin blistered.
The tall genin doubled over, chest heaving, chakra ragged, arms trembling from overexertion.
"You're an... interesting opponent, little weaver," he rasped hoarsely. "Persistent. Annoying. But your tactics weren't enough."
Hours of brutal combat—tracking, fighting, watching the enemy rise each time he thought he'd finished them. One fell, only for two more to attack even harder.
But this time, he'd felt the lightning hit. Felt the power surging through him.
"This time, I'll make sure you don't get back up," he vowed.
He reached down to grab Raizen's arm—
But his hand met emptiness.
No resistance, no weight.
Frozen, the genin stared. "What's... what's going on? An illusion?"
He scanned the trees, the ground, the smoke—nothing but silence.
Then, a steady hiss echoed nearby.
He looked around, wary.
Mist began to creep in rapidly, darkening into a thick fog that reached his ankles, then knees.
"W-what...?" he stammered.
The hiss grew louder, like static crackling through wires, sending a jolt of panic rushing through him.
"I... I have to get out of this," he muttered, quickly forming seals and flickering away—only to slam chest-first into an unseen barrier.
White lines shimmered in front of him—the strands of a chakra web forming a dome that trapped the entire clearing.
He recoiled, heart pounding, as fog swirled behind him. The hiss escalated into a crackling hum.
A calm voice emerged from within the mist. "You're in my birdcage," Raizen whispered. "Running won't help."
Lightning arcs flickered around the webbed dome, which faintly shimmered blue in the fog.
"Unless," Raizen added, voice flat, "you think you can fight your way out while being electrocuted."
The hissing intensified—a relentless, needle-like sound that pressed on the tall genin's nerves, making his breath shallow.
He spun in the fog, kunai at the ready, eyes wide and frantic. Every direction was the same pale gray. Every step made the web flicker brighter.
From outside the mist, Raizen crouched on a low branch, threads trailing from his fingers into the haze, layering his trap by instinct.
First, Genjutsu: Whisper Thread—his voice crawling into the genin's ear.
Then Genjutsu: Mist Veil—thickening the world into a suffocating, shifting blur.
Finally, he wove the battlefield in wires and lightning, feeding chakra through the lines until they hummed like snarling snakes. Lightning Style: Birdcage.
The name was stolen—borrowed from a manga villain who used strings to turn a country into a prison. Raizen admired that genius and claimed it for himself.
Inside the fog, the tall genin's composure finally shattered.
"I–I give up! Call off your tags! Now!" he shouted.
Raizen's lips curled into a cruel smile.
He'd faked the threat well—body language, chakra flares, muffled counts. All to make the illusion convincing. But his last tag had already blown earlier.
He loosened a thread, and body-flickered behind the panicked boy. The illusion still had him by the throat, but Raizen slid silently through his own wires, reappearing behind him. With a flick of his fingers, he tightened the web dome inward, threads closing like a trap's jaws.
Chakra-wires snapped around the genin's torso and arms, pinning him in place.
"W-What—?!" he stammered.
Raizen sent a measured pulse of lightning through the wires—just enough to seize his muscles, not fry them.
The genin jerked once, eyes rolling back, then went limp, the kunai slipping from his grip and clattering into the web.
Raizen exhaled, letting the chakra drain from his fingers. The hiss faded, the fog lifted, and the Birdcage went dark.
The tall genin sagged in the webbing like a trapped beast.
Raizen dropped beside him, landing heavier than intended. His legs trembled, his chest aching from the earlier lightning hit.
"Damn everything," he muttered, voice strained. "Damn this exam. Damn, being a ninja. This life is just too stressful."
He stared at the unconscious genin, knowing if he'd been fresh—if he hadn't wasted chakra on Karui and Reina first—he wouldn't have needed to fight alone.
"Twice," Raizen whispered. "Twice I show up at the end and finish off someone my team bled for."
Images flickered—their sacrifices: Reina standing when she should've fallen, Karui taking hits to open a path, Aika calling on her chakra even when breathless.
"They've really been doing the heavy lifting," he admitted softly.
He activated his web-sense again, threads spreading through soil and up trees, every vibration and chakra imprint echoing back.
Nothing nearby—except—
Karui.
He shot forward, senses sharp.
Karui planted her foot squarely into her opponent's chest with a thunderous thump.
The second genin flew back, hit the ground hard, and didn't get up.
Karui stood, exhausted but fierce, hands on her knees, braid frizzed, dirt smudged across her cheeks. Tiny arcs of lightning crawled across her knuckles.
"Stay... down," she panted.
Raizen emerged from the trees, dragging the unconscious genin in his wires like a battered parcel.
Karui looked up, grinning despite her fatigue. "Took your time, web-head."
Raizen snorted. "Had to talk your boyfriend into a nap."
She glared at the unconscious boy and spat aside. "He talks too much to be my type."
They shared a tired, knowing smirk and hauled their foes back to camp.
The scene at the camp was a chaos of scorched trees, torn-up dirt, and scattered shuriken and kunai, the fire long out, leaving only ash and embers.
Reina sat against a rock, bandages showing through tears, Aika leaning on her, eyelids heavy.
When Raizen and Karui arrived with the prisoners, Reina's shoulders finally loosened.
"You alive?" she asked, voice hoarse.
"Barely," Karui dropped her genin with a thud.
Raizen carefully lowered his, noting the charred hole in his shirt and red skin underneath. "They're out. Both of them."
Aika looked at Raizen's shoulder, concern in her eyes. "Y-You got hit."
Raizen shrugged casually. "He missed anything vital. Probably. If I die later, I'll let you know."
Reina shot him a deadpan look. "You don't get to die. That's an order."
Before he could reply, a flare shot high, bursting into a white flower over the forest. Then another, blue this time—their signal.
"Third phase complete. Time limit reached. All combatants, cease hostilities!"
Raizen let his head fall back, muttering, "Thank the Sage."
Karui's grin was fierce. "We passed."
Reina's grip tightened on her sword, then relaxed slowly. Aika blinked away tears of relief, pretending it was just smoke.
Leaves rustled as Takuma-sensei landed nearby, inspecting the devastation. Behind him, proctors moved to tag and bind the unconscious enemies.
"Well," he said, eyeing the wreckage, "you didn't burn the whole forest. I'm impressed."
Karui snorted. "We tried."
Takuma's gaze swept over each of them—Reina steady despite her injuries, Aika drained but alert, Karui bruised and buzzing, Raizen upright mostly by sheer will.
"Third phase: Guard the rendezvous. No backup, unstable terrain, multiple squads." He smiled faintly. "You adapted. Improvised. And most importantly…"
He looked at the unconscious genin. "You didn't die."
"That one shouldn't be the bar," Raizen muttered.
Takuma ignored him. "Squad One—Raizen, Reina, Karui, Aika. You've completed all three phases."
Karui's grin widened; Aika sagged with relief. Reina's exhausted smile held a dangerous edge. Raizen exhaled deeply, feeling the weight lift.
For the first time, the battlefield settled into silence.
Raizen stretched his sore shoulders and looked at his team. "Alright, whose turn is it to carry me back? Because I am DONE walking."