Three days later, at noon.
**Training Ground Three, Konohagakure.** The blazing sun hung directly overhead, baking the flat yellow earth until it radiated waves of scorching heat.
The air shimmered and warped beneath the merciless temperature, while cicadas shrieked from the surrounding trees, making the summer heat feel even more oppressive.
Shuji arrived precisely on time.
He wore Konoha’s standard dark-green shinobi uniform, his forehead protector sitting neatly in place.
In the middle of the otherwise empty training ground, two figures were already waiting for him.
Both wore ANBU’s standard dark-gray, high-collared uniforms.
Expressionless animal masks concealed their identities—and whatever emotions might have been hidden beneath them.
One was noticeably taller.
There was an almost imperceptible laziness in the way he stood, and several stubborn strands of silver-white hair protruded from the edge of his mask, gleaming conspicuously beneath the sunlight.
The other was slimmer and appeared perhaps a year or two younger than Shuji.
He stood perfectly straight, like a spear planted into the ground, so silent and motionless that he almost blended into the background.
“Special Jōnin promotion assessment.
Candidate: Shuji.” The taller, silver-haired ANBU spoke first.
His voice was deliberately flattened by the mask, yet the distinctively unhurried drawl beneath it still sounded strangely familiar.
“The two of us will conduct your evaluation.
Your task is to demonstrate the ninjutsu you have mastered.” His gaze settled on Shuji through the eyeholes of the mask.
“Evaluation criteria: power, control, efficiency, and adaptability in actual combat.” A brief pause.
“Begin whenever you’re ready.” No greetings.
No unnecessary conversation.
Typical ANBU efficiency.
The instant those words left his mouth, the silver-haired ANBU blurred without warning.
Shuji’s pupils contracted.
He threw himself sharply to the right.
CRACKLE—!
A blinding streak of blue lightning tore through the spot where he had been standing a heartbeat earlier, scorching the earth black and filling the air with the sharp stink of ozone.
The silver-haired ANBU had appeared there, his right hand engulfed in violently dancing lightning.
**Lightning Release: Raikiri!** The technique’s power had clearly been restrained, but the explosive speed and razor-sharp killing intent behind the attack were more than enough to reveal the pressure of an elite ANBU shinobi.
“Combat reaction: pass.” The flat voice came from behind the mask.
But the assault didn’t stop.
His left hand flashed through hand seals.
**Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!** A massive sphere of roaring flame erupted forward, its scorching heat swallowing the space around Shuji and sealing off his escape routes.
Shuji’s eyes sharpened.
His hands moved through seals with fluid speed.
**Water Release: Water Formation Wall!** A dense wall of water surged upward from the ground and intercepted the fireball with perfect timing.
HISSSSS—!
Water and fire collided.
A violent cloud of steam exploded outward, instantly blanketing a large portion of the training ground in thick white mist.
Using the steam as cover, Shuji retreated at high speed while his hands shifted into another sequence of seals.
**Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!** A violent gale erupted outward from his position.
The blast not only tore the dense mist apart in an instant, but continued screaming toward the silver-haired ANBU, attempting to disrupt his rhythm and force him off balance.
The ANBU flickered through the raging wind like a ghost.
His movements were unnaturally smooth, almost as if he could predict the path of every pressure current before it reached him.
His hands formed another seal.
**Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!** A solid wall of earth burst upward, taking the gale’s frontal impact head-on.
But the instant the wall rose— Several razor-sharp wind blades curved around from the sides, striking from angles hidden beyond the earthen barrier!
“Tch.” A nearly inaudible click of the tongue slipped from behind the mask.
The silver-haired ANBU twisted his body at an angle that looked almost impossible, narrowly slipping between the blades.
One sliced silently through the hem of his uniform.
“Wind Release control: excellent.” At that moment, the shorter ANBU—who had remained motionless until now—finally moved.
His hands came together rapidly in front of his chest.
Chakra surged through him, every motion carrying an almost mechanical precision.
**Wood Release: Silent Strangle Technique!** Several tough wooden tendrils erupted from the earth beneath Shuji’s feet like venomous snakes awakening from sleep, whipping toward his ankles with frightening speed.
Shuji’s heart jolted.
Wood Release!
Yamato?
There was no time to dwell on it.
**Earth Release: Rock Collapse!** The hardened ground around Shuji’s feet cracked apart and abruptly caved inward, forming a shallow crater.
The emerging tendrils were immediately obstructed and squeezed by the collapsing stone, their momentum faltering for a fraction of a second.
That fraction was enough.
Shuji sprang into the air.
Before he reached the peak of his jump, his hand seals were already complete.
**Lightning Release: Ground Walk!** Blue arcs of electricity spread across the shattered earth like a spiderweb, racing directly toward the shorter ANBU who had just completed his Wood Release technique.
The masked shinobi showed no trace of panic.
His hands came together again, steady and precise.
**Wood Release: Wood Locking Wall!** A row of thick wooden pillars erupted from the earth and curved inward with perfect symmetry, enclosing him inside a seamless wooden shell.
Lightning crackled violently across the dark-brown surface, leaving black scorch marks wherever it struck.
The wooden defense didn’t budge.
At the same time, the silver-haired ANBU silently closed in from Shuji’s flank.
A kunai rested in his hand, wrapped in fine, vicious threads of lightning that hissed like the fangs of a venomous snake.
The weapon stabbed toward Shuji’s exposed ribs with a piercing shriek.
Shuji was still airborne, with nothing beneath his feet to push against.
He didn’t panic.
His fingers rapidly formed two seals—Snake, then Dragon.
**Wind Release: Gust!** A powerful burst of compressed air exploded outward.
The recoil hurled Shuji sideways just before the lightning-coated kunai could reach him.
He landed several meters away, breathing a little harder now.
A thin sheen of sweat had appeared along his forehead.
The silver-haired ANBU landed as well.
For a moment, he simply observed Shuji.
“Practical application of ninjutsu: highly proficient.
Chakra reserves…” He paused briefly.
“Abundant.” The evaluation was objective.
Based on what Shuji had demonstrated so far, there was no question that he possessed the qualifications of a Special Jōnin.
But the assessment wasn’t over.
The shorter ANBU stepped forward.
The hollow eyes of his mask locked onto Shuji as his hands once again came together before his chest.
**Wood Release: Nativity of a World of Trees!** RUMBLE—!!!
The earth convulsed.
Countless massive, twisted roots burst from underground like ancient serpents awakening from a thousand-year slumber.
They grew.
Spread.
And multiplied at a terrifying rate.
The once-open training ground was swallowed almost instantly by a rapidly expanding miniature forest overflowing with primitive vitality.
Green branches and leaves swayed beneath the blazing sunlight, beautiful at first glance—yet every trunk and root carried crushing, constricting force.
From every direction, the living forest closed in on Shuji at the center, threatening to bind and crush him beneath an ever-tightening cage of wood.
The silver-haired ANBU retreated several steps, his hidden gaze fixed intently on the battlefield.
Faced with the overwhelming forest, Shuji drew a deep breath.
A shadow clone appeared beside him.
At the same time, chakra surged through his body faster than ever before, refined and transformed at tremendous speed.
His real body’s hands moved so quickly through seals that they left afterimages.
**Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bullet!** A crimson fire dragon erupted from his mouth with a thunderous roar.
It wasn’t enormous, but the flames had been compressed to an extraordinary density, radiating terrifying heat as they tore into the advancing trees.
At the same moment, Shuji’s shadow clone completed its own seals.
A violent current of wind surged to life.
Wind fed fire.
BOOOOM—!!!
The crimson fire dragon suddenly swelled several times larger as the gale poured into it.
Its temperature skyrocketed.
Crimson flame brightened into a blinding white-hot inferno.
The result was no longer merely a fire dragon.
A raging dragon of flame and wind roared across the battlefield, charging directly toward the forest’s right flank—the section where the Wood Release regenerated more slowly and its structure was slightly weaker.
RUMBLE—BOOOOM!!!
A deafening explosion tore through the training ground.
Wherever the white-hot firestorm dragon passed, the incredibly resilient Wood Release branches were ripped apart like rotten timber and dry grass.
They shattered.
Burned.
And disintegrated into a storm of ash and sparks.
A blackened corridor of destruction was forcibly carved straight through the living prison, its surface glowing with residual heat while acrid smoke billowed into the air.
Shuji shot through the hellishly hot passage directly behind the tail of the blazing wind dragon.
He burst free of the forest and landed firmly on a cleared stretch of scorched earth.
His breathing was slightly heavy.
Several parts of his shinobi uniform had been blackened and curled by the heat, and soot stained his face.
Yet his eyes remained calm.
Through the shimmering heat haze, they locked firmly onto the two ANBU ahead.
The training ground had been devastated.
A huge blackened gash had been ripped through the miniature forest, its edges still burning.
Broken branches crackled in the flames.
The smell of charred wood filled the scorching air.
Gradually, the fire weakened, leaving behind twisting trails of bluish smoke and a field littered with charcoal-black debris.
The silver-haired ANBU stared at the passage Shuji had forcibly blasted through the Wood Release forest, then at the figure standing at its far end.
After a brief silence, he spoke.
“Ninjutsu combination…
timing, power, and control: excellent.” He lowered the lightning-wreathed kunai in his hand.
When he spoke again, his voice had returned to that deliberately emotionless ANBU monotone.
**Assessment complete.
Qualification for promotion to Special Jōnin: confirmed.**