Mock battle

Another half month passed, and Ryo was now on the day of the academy exam, the first test being held shortly before the middle of the year, with the last one scheduled for the final month of the year. Ryo sat in his seat listening to Yuuto and Haruka talking to him.

"So, I'll be able to use my ninjutsu in combat! This is going to be so exciting, I'm ready to throw some punches at someone!" Yuuto was enthusiastic, while Haruka chuckled lightly, responding to Yuuto, "Ha! If you end up against me, you won't even understand what's happening!" She spoke while Ryo remained silent.

The three had interacted several times in the past few months, as they sat together in the same row. However, Ryo limited his interactions to a few responses at most. "Yes. I imagine everyone is eager for the test today. Good luck to both of you as well," Ryo said. Seeing Ryo's reaction, Yuuto teased, "Eh... You're so dull."

After a while, everyone walked to an open field beside the academy. The written tests had already been completed, leaving only the mock battle test. Asuma had drawn the pairs for the first round, and he soon announced the matchups. Ryo's opponent was Sarutobi Denji, a boy with a particularly conceited demeanor, possibly due to being from the Hokage's clan.

Ryo hadn't spoken to him before, but he knew that the boy was skilled with a staff similar to the one Hiruzen used, although less mystical, just a normal weapon, but the boy was already proficient with it.

The fights would occur one by one, as it was a fight where they were allowed to use what they had learned but with no intention to kill their fellow classmates. Ryo knew he couldn't openly use the coins; he had a limit on how much he could use them. Nevertheless, he still had jutsu to use, as well as taijutsu and a few other tricks.

The first fights went by quickly. Hyuuga Takeo won his match swiftly by using Gentle Fist to close Akimichi Haru's chakra points. Then, in a similar fashion, Hyuuga Yane defeated Senju Iwarabe.

In the third match, it was Ryo's turn to fight the young Sarutobi. "Take your positions!" Asuma called out, with the two boys walking to the center. Denji twirled his staff around, creating a gust of wind as he moved it, then slammed it onto the ground, raising a cloud of dust.

"Let's go, kid. Today, I'll show you why the Sarutobi clan is the best with weapons!" He said with evident pride in his clan. Asuma sighed, looking at Denji from the corner of his eye. "Are you ready?!" He asked, and as both nodded, Asuma flickered back, signaling the start of the match.

As soon as the signal was given, Ryo jumped a few meters back, reaching for the small compartment on his waist to grab three shurikens, throwing them with one hand. Denji, on the other hand, charged towards Ryo at high speed, brandishing his staff to deflect the projectiles that embedded into the ground around him.

But Ryo was prepared for this. As Denji finished deflecting the shurikens, Ryo made a single hand seal. "Earth Release: Rock Projectile!" A piece of earth broke beneath his feet, hurled towards Denji, who halted his charge to sidestep the incoming projectile, planting his staff into the ground for support as he launched himself away from the path of the stone projectile.

As this happened, Ryo switched places with the rock projectile using the substitution jutsu. By the time Denji realized it, it was too late to react. Still in mid-air, he had no time to perform any hand seals, and a punch came straight towards his stomach.

As the punch connected, Denji felt the impact, his hand loosening its grip on the staff as he was thrown backwards, falling to the ground with both hands on his stomach. "End of the match. Winner: Ryo," Asuma announced calmly as a medical ninja approached Denji to assist him.

After Ryo won, he had some classmates looking at him with astonished gazes. They hadn't expected Denji to lose so quickly, especially without even using a single jutsu. Asuma had also analyzed Ryo's movements, recognizing how calmly he had created an opening to win the battle easily.

The next matches were less eventful. Haruka easily won her match by trapping her opponent in a genjutsu, causing him to lose. Yuuto won his match with the help of his dog, Maru. With that, the winners advanced to the next stage. Now, Ryo was going to face a real challenge.

He was pitted against Takeo, the one he had fought against a few months ago. However, now, now Ryo was confident he could defeat the Hyuuga, with jutsu at his disposal and a trick up his sleeve, he was ready for this.

Having faced many challenges and fights against Kentou, Ryo felt that Takeo wouldn't pose a real challenge to him, as Takeo was also a student from the academy. Thus, Asuma once again announced the beginning of the match.

Like in the first match, Ryo stepped back to throw shurikens, but Takeo anticipated this, quickly forming a seal and saying, "Water Release: Water Bullets!" He spat out three balls of water at high speed. Ryo responded swiftly, but he was still in the air. Performing hand seals, he executed a backflip, and at the moment he was upside down—closest to the ground—he slammed both hands onto the ground. "Earth Release: Stone Wall!" A wall of stone began to rise in front of Ryo, shielding his body from the water bullets, but one of them grazed Ryo's leg, drawing blood before the wall covered both combatants.

Observing the situation, Takeo realized the hit and thought, "He was injured in one leg. If I press him, the fight will be over soon." He looked at the earth wall as he said, "It's over, Ryo. Surrender and go to the medical ninjas to heal yourself." But he received no response. Instead, he activated his Byakugan, looking surprised at what he saw through the wall.

Ryo was already standing, seemingly unharmed. And worse, he had just launched a jutsu against the stone wall, and this time, the jutsu was stronger than the one he had used in the previous duel.

"Earth Release: Rock Projectile!" Ryo had healed himself while falling to the ground. The wound hadn't completely closed, but as it was only a graze, it had only affected his skin. Now, he overloaded the rock projectile as he fired it at his own wall, easily piercing it. The large stone projectile lost some of its power as it pierced the wall, but it still retained significant force. Seeing this, Takeo didn't move out of the way but prepared to stop the jutsu.

[ Author here!

We already have 24 power stones, thank you very much! If we reach 40 I will release another chapter !. 

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