Chapter – 23 Crushing the Opponents

After two opponents were defeated by the first year’s team, the third opponent came to the arena, and coincidently, this was also a girl.

In the profession of ninjas, the number of Kunoichi is definitely smaller than the number of shinobi, and even in that smaller proportion, there are rare few Kunoichi who actually excel in this profession.

Why was Senju Tsunade a bid deal in the canon? Why was it that almost all the Kunoichi in Konoha admired Tsunade? The reason is simple, it’s because Tsunade is one of the very few examples of a Kunoichi who has actually attained such a level of strength and achievements, otherwise, most of the Kunoichi are just average soldiers, in fact, most of the Kunoichi work in the medical department as the healer or nurse.

Biological differences and psychological differences are naturally some of the more important factors why it’s very difficult for an average Kunoichi to surpass an average shinobi.

This is why when Tatsumi realized that from the first year, all the three trainees that got selected for the next round were Kunoichi in training, he was surprised.

And this particular Kunoichi, just from the hairstyle, it’s safe to say that she is a member of the Nara Clan. Looking at the girl, Tatsumi couldn’t help but wonder, ‘She looks a lot like Shikaku, did he have a younger sister or something?’ Just because no such person appeared in the canon does not mean that she did not exist, after all, ninja is a high-risk profession, not to mention the second great shinobi war and the third great shinobi war.

“But compared to Shikaku, this girl seems somewhat of a serious person,” muttered Tatsumi to himself. He is no stranger to Nara, after all, he has a good friendship with the current heir of the Nara Clan. The two often skip boring classes together and watch clouds from the rooftop of the academy but unlike Shikaku who finds everything troublesome, this little Nara is different, and she is looking at him with a vigilant gaze.

Finally, it was time to introduce one another. Nara-chan bowed politely and spoke, “I am Nara Kiko, please take care of me Uchiha Tatsumi-senpai.” Then she took out a Kunai from the shinobi bag tied around her waist and leaned down slightly.

“Likewise, Uchiha Tatsumi,” nodded the young Uchiha as he too prepared for the fight.

Once the two had formed the seal of confrontation, Orochimaru signaled the start of the match, “Begin!”

Naturally, Tatsumi snapped his fingers the moment the match began, but, unlike the previous two times, this time the result was a little different, it didn’t work, Kiko did not fall into Genjutsu and dashed toward him.

“I see, smart child,” mumbled Tatsumi as he noticed a pair of cotton balls stuffed in Kiko’s ears. Perhaps she had closely observed the match between Tatsumi and Minto and took inspiration from that.

Tatsumi smiled as he saw Nara-chan rushing at him with her Kunai, in response, he took out a Kunai from his Shinobi bag as well and defended himself from Kiko’s attack. He deflected the first attack using his Kunai which was followed by a kick by Kiko that Tatsumi avoided by ducking down at the right moment. Using the momentum of her previous kick, Nara-chan turned around and slashed her Kunai at a non-lethal spot against which Tatsumi defended with his Kunai.

The moment the two Kunai collided, there were sparks. Tatsumi smiled, “It seems, I am being underestimated here,” and winked at the girl.

Immediately the girl’s cheek reddened, and then her eyes became dazed, apparently, she had fallen into a Genjutsu.

Tatsumi smiled, ‘Heh, the sound is not the only medium of transmission, you know.’ His Genjutsu skills are unparalleled in the Konoha Ninja Academy, and since Nara Kiko had taken measures to protect herself from the sound, Tatsumi just relied on a Visual Genjutsu. Sharingan is not the only means of using Visual Genjutsu… just like Itachi used his ‘finger movement’ as a medium for the visual Genjutsu in the canon, Tatsumi used ‘wink’ as a medium for casting the visual Genjutsu.

By the time Tatsumi left the arena, Nara Kiko had already fallen asleep. Looking at his younger sister, Shikaku sighed, “Such a drag, now I have to go home since I have to bring her back too…” Then he stood up from the crowd of onlookers in the audience and hurriedly ran to the arena to retrieve his little sister back.

Outside the arena, Minato couldn’t help but mutter in doubt, “When did he weave the hand sign?” He couldn’t see Tatsumi weaving the hand signs, moreover, Tatsumi was holding a Kunai in one hand, so it shouldn’t be possible for him to make the hand signs!

Orochimaru blinked in surprise as he looked at Tatsumi with an intriguing gaze, “Interesting, one-handed hand signs? Who would have thought… this boy is certainly…”

“Hoo… this Uchiha boy, I guess he is good, at least he is saving my work, are children these days so good?” muttered Tsunade-hime as she looked at the young boy. So far Tatsumi has fought against more than a dozen trainees today, however, there was barely anyone who required medical treatment from her because most of his opponents were defeated using Genjutsu.

Originally, she thought that coming to the ninja academy would be a waste of time, and it would be very troublesome to treat those injured children, but thanks to children like Tatsumi, her job became relatively easier, and she developed a positive image of the boy named Uchiha Tatsumi.

“Earlier you clearly spoke that the boy is a pervert just like Jiraiya, so how come now he is so good all of a sudden?” asked Orochimaru. He could obviously that Tsunade-hime only praised Tatsumi because he indirectly helped her avoid working extra.

“Humph, don’t you dare mention that bastard in front of me!” Tsunade-hime snorted coldly, though her cheeks were slightly reddened upon recalling the thing that Jiraiya did to her. Realizing that she was getting embarrassed, Tsunade-hime quickly shook her head, and asked Orochimaru, “What do you think of these children? I didn’t think you would be very interested in them either.”

Orochimaru sighed, “It can’t be helped Tsunade, Sarutobi-Sensei ordered us… so I had to come,” then he paused, and added in a solemn tone of voice, “Besides things are moving… the surface might be calm; however, this is just the calm before the storm… undercurrents in the shinobi world have started to stir waves… I fear that sooner or later…”

Tsunade nodded with a serious gaze, “I know,” then she yawned tiredly and said, “Let’s not talk about those things for now, it might affect the mood…”

Orochimaru nodded, “Hmm,” then returned to the arena, and addressed the audience, “Well, that’s the end of fights between the first-year vs the second-year, next will be a battle between the third-year vs the fourth year… trainee from both sides, please come forward.”

Tatsumi curiously looked at the participants from the third year and the fourth year. In fact, the majority of underdog dogs who would go on to become top dogs in the future are concentrated in the second year, a few are present in the first year while the rest are in the fifth and the sixth year, while Fugaku has already graduated from the academy.

In the sixth grade are the Hyuga brothers Hiashi and Hizashi, who are about to graduate, while in the fifth year is another Hyuga, but this one is a girl, named Hyuga Tsukiko.

As for the third year, there is one person who is really good… it’s Aburame Shibi, the heir of the Aburame Clan, for the rest, it’s nothing too outstanding, and don’t even talk about the third year, no one is good enough to be considered very talented.

The competition between the third year and the fourth year ended soon, and it was without too many surprises. Exactly as Tatsumi had guessed, the three trainees from the third year easily defeated the three trainees from the fourth year.