Lock and Kakashi already knew the exam format from Yagyu Murichi. So even with the weight of hundreds of eyes watching from the stands, neither boy looked nervous.
Kakashi carried himself with a quiet, sharp calm. Lock, on the other hand, felt only a spark of defiance. If I'm going to make waves in this world… then let's make them properly.
The assessments were to be taken separately. Kakashi stepped forward first.
His opponent was a young shinobi, maybe eighteen or nineteen. Compared to him, Kakashi barely reached his waist—a child against a grown man. But the chūnin didn't underestimate him.
"My name is Furukawa Yuki," the examiner introduced himself formally. "I'll be your opponent today. The rules are simple: survive five minutes against me without being defeated, and you pass."
He was polite enough. But Kakashi's reply was cold and cutting:
"I'm not here to survive. I'm here to beat you."
The words rang across the training ground. Murmurs rippled through the crowd.
Furukawa stiffened, his composure cracking. To be challenged so brazenly—by a boy barely five years old, and in front of half the village—was almost insulting.
"Idiot," Lock muttered from the sidelines, rubbing his forehead. He knew Kakashi well enough to see the shift. This wasn't arrogance—it was grief. The death of Sakumo Hatake had warped something in him.
From the stands, Jiraiya whistled. "Hah, White Fang's kid's got a mouth on him."
Orochimaru's lips curved faintly. "Mouths like that are born from pain."
"You want pain, snake-face? I'll give it to you!" Jiraiya barked back, earning another sharp look from Tsunade.
Hiruzen, however, only frowned. He knew Kakashi's strength wasn't the problem. His heart was. Sakumo's death had left the boy untethered, his ideals brittle. That would be harder to fix than any technique.
Still, Konoha owed the Hatake family. As Hokage, Hiruzen would protect this boy no matter what.
"Enough talk," Furukawa snapped, temper flaring. "Show me your strength, brat. I won't go easy."
Kakashi didn't answer. He simply drew a short tanto from his side, his expression ice.
The proctor—a jōnin this time, handpicked by the Hokage—stepped between them. "Both ready? Begin."
Kakashi moved first.
He shot forward like lightning, tanto flashing. Despite the height difference, his movements were sharp, precise, and deadly quick—like a civet darting for its prey.
"Clang! Clang! Clang!"
Steel rang out as Furukawa parried blow after blow. Years of battlefield experience kept his guard steady, but Kakashi's speed forced him onto the back foot.
Gasps spread through the crowd. This wasn't a child's spar—it was a true fight.
"Tch—Substitution!"
Furukawa vanished in a puff of smoke, reappearing at range. His hands blurred through seals.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
A roaring inferno rushed across the field.
But Kakashi didn't falter. His own seals snapped into place almost instantly.
"Earth Style: Earth Wall!"
The ground surged upward, a wall of stone shielding him from the flames. Heat licked the barrier, smoke rising, but the boy stood unharmed.
Now it was no longer a simple exam. It was a duel between shinobi.
Minutes passed, and Kakashi's momentum never waned. The crowd watched in stunned silence as the tiny figure clashed against the fully grown chūnin, neither yielding.
"Unbelievable… he's holding his own."
"He's not just holding his own—look! He's pushing Furukawa back!"
Among the students, jaws dropped. Obito clenched his fists, jealousy twisting his face. "Damn it… show-off. Lock, you'd better beat him later!"
Lock shot him a glare. Beat him? At this pace, even I'd have to stay invisible just to keep up. He couldn't deny it—Kakashi's growth since Sakumo's death was staggering.
On the field, Furukawa's strikes grew more desperate. Kakashi's blade and movements were honed sharper with every exchange, his grief fueling his resolve.
At last, a decisive opening. The boy's tanto cut across Furukawa's guard, knocking him flat to the ground.
Silence fell.
The impossible had happened: a five-year-old academy student had defeated a full-fledged shinobi.
The crowd erupted into an uproar. Shinobi and civilians alike leaned forward, eyes burning with awe.
"The White Fang's son… truly a genius."
"No, more than that. This is something else entirely."
On the stands, Hiruzen's expression darkened beneath the smoke of his pipe. Power was never the question. The question was whether Kakashi could carry its weight.
Lock exhaled slowly. He had wanted to step into the spotlight quietly, to grow in the shadows. But after today, standing beside someone like Kakashi… there would be no hiding.
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