The training ground was deathly silent.
Everyone, including the Konoha higher-ups on the high platform, was still immersed in the theory of’Supercritical Water Physics-based Fire Style’ that overturned the common sense of the Ninja World, unable to fully snap back to reality.
The Chunin teacher in charge of the test scrambled frantically to the warehouse, trembling as he hauled out a brand new crystal ball.
His movements were cautious, as if he were handling not a testing tool but an explosive tag ready to detonate at any moment.
‘Bring out the backup.
Continue the test.’ Tobirama’s voice betrayed no emotion, as if the earlier ‘incident’ were merely an insignificant interlude.
He turned around, placing a hand on Naoki’s shoulder.
The grip wasn’t strong, but it carried an undeniable air of authority.
‘And you,’ Tobirama lowered his voice, the muscles on his usually stern face seeming to twitch slightly,’stay put.
Don’t leave until the ceremony is over.’
After delivering that instruction, he gave a slight nod to Hiruzen and Danzo.
‘I have some matters to attend to in the office.’
Before the words had fully left his mouth…
Tobirama’s figure vanished from the spot, accompanied by the unique spatial distortion characteristic of the Flying Thunder God Technique.
He ran away.
The Second Hokage had actually, in full view of everyone, used a flimsy excuse and simply run away!
He needed an absolutely quiet place to properly sort through the absurdity of today’s events.
That’supercritical water’ nonsense was just for outsiders!
Only he himself knew clearly that the texture of that Chakra just now, that will to incinerate everything, was exactly the same as that man’s!
But this was clearly his own biological grandson!
Tobirama felt his brain was more shattered than the machine that had just exploded.
With his grandfather’s’strategic retreat,’ the final mountain of pressure pressing down on Naoki vanished.
He let out a long, internal sigh of relief.
He had finally managed to bluff his way through.
Now, he didn’t want to do anything except find a corner to collapse into a puddle of mush and sleep soundly, making up for the mental exhaustion drained by both the system and his second grandfather.
However, he couldn’t move.
The ‘King’s Contempt’ micro-expression management granted by the system was still active.
His body, also due to the effects of the ‘Constitution Recovery Potion,’ stood ramrod straight, like a spear piercing the heavens.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was the first to snap back to reality.
He cleared his throat, proactively helping the teacher maintain order and directing the remaining students to continue their tests.
The look he cast toward Naoki was filled with undisguised admiration.
Truly the grandson of our teacher!
To even make water techniques burst into flames…
Is this the pinnacle of’Scientific Ninjutsu’?
I must find time to seek his guidance properly!
On the other side, Danzo Shimura’s gaze was like a branding iron, firmly fixed on Naoki.
He didn’t believe a word of that’supercritical water’ nonsense.
That was clearly the purest, most domineering fire!
A power born for destruction!
Teacher Tobirama, you are still too conservative in the end!
This kind of power is precisely the sharp sword Konoha needs to stand atop the Ninja World!
Look at him, an eight-year-old child, after releasing such power, his expression remains unchanged, as if he had merely performed a trivial task.
This caliber, this coldness…
This child must absolutely not fall into the hands of a moderate like Hiruzen!
In the crowd, Uchiha Kagami rubbed his eyes, then rubbed them again.
He even wondered if he was under a Genjutsu.
Staring at Naoki’s youthful yet coldly arrogant face, only one thought filled his mind.
Is our Uchiha fire…
this domineering?
‘Hey!
Tsunade, look!
Boss Naoki is amazing!’ Jiraiya waved his fist excitedly.
Tsunade pouted, muttering under her breath, ‘Hmph, so what if he just made the fire a bit bigger…
What’s so great about that…’
Despite her words, her beautiful eyes never left Naoki for a moment.
As for Naoki, the center of everyone’s attention, all he wanted to do at that moment was sigh.
However, the wind may wish to be still, but the trees will not cease!
The icy system prompt tone rang out again, ill-timed, devoid of emotion, yet carrying an undeniable force of compulsion.
[Warning!
Insufficient display of majesty!]
[Mission ‘Majesty at the Entrance Ceremony’ not yet fully successful.]
[A true powerhouse must not only display destructive force but also the pinnacle of skill!]
[Next operation initiated: Display Uchiha Madara’s signature hand seal speed!]
Naoki’s mind buzzed.
Again?!
Does this damn system want to drain me dry and kill me on the spot?!
I’m just an eight-year-old child!
But his body was no longer under his control.
A force, different from the explosive Chakra earlier but even more refined, surged from the system template like quicksilver, instantly taking over all his nerves and muscles.
He felt his hands no longer belonged to him.
Those hands, manipulated by an invisible force, slowly rose, assuming a starting posture before his chest.
‘He…
what is he going to do?’
‘Is he going to unleash a technique of that magnitude again?’
‘No!
Look at his hands!’
Everyone’s gaze was firmly nailed to Naoki’s excessively pale, small hands.
Meanwhile, in the Hokage Office…
Senju Tobirama was staring intently at the live broadcast in the crystal ball through his invented ‘Telescope Technique.’
He had just felt a chill over his own ‘Physics-based Fire Style’ explanation, but at least he had managed to suppress the incident.
Next, he just needed to take that brat back home, administer some family discipline, and the matter would be over.
But the next second, the image in the crystal ball caused his pupils to contract sharply.
All the hairs on his body stood on end.
‘That starting posture is…’
At the Ninja Academy training ground…
Naoki’s hands moved.
Swish-swish-swish-swish-swish—!!!
No one could follow his movements!
The students and Genin present saw only a dizzying blur of afterimages, as if a dozen hands were forming seals simultaneously!
A sharp whistling sound even tore through the air—the sound of fingers slicing through it at extreme speed!
Hare, Horse, Monkey, Boar, Bird, Ox, Tiger, Dog, Rabbit…
One textbook-perfect seal after another switched at a speed that surpassed the limits of dynamic vision.
Fast!
Absurdly fast!
The Ninja teachers present, including the Jonin-level clan heads hidden among the crowd who had come to observe the ceremony, all jolted up from their seats in shock!
They asked themselves: even they could absolutely not perform hand seals so swiftly, so precisely!
This was no longer mere skill; it was art!
The violent aesthetics belonging only to the most elite Ninja!
Among the crowd, the few members of the Uchiha Clan were as if struck by lightning.
‘These hand seals…
this speed…’
Uchiha Kagami, the moderate leader favored by Tobirama, could no longer maintain his composure.
His Three-Tomoe Sharingan had unconsciously activated, his crimson pupils desperately trying to capture Naoki’s movements.
Yet, even so, he could only barely make out a blurry, fading trail of shadows.
A storm raged within him: Impossible!
This hand-sealing style, this overwhelmingly domineering presence…
It’s the most ancient, most efficient Fire Style school of the Uchiha Clan!
Only…
only the great one recorded in the annals would possess it!
In a hidden corner of the Uchiha Clan Compound, a middle-aged man with a sinister face and fanatical eyes was watching this scene through a high-powered telescope.
He was the leader of the Uchiha radicals, the fervent follower of Madara—Uchiha Setsuna.
His body trembled violently, not from fear, but from extreme excitement!
‘This is it!
This is the feeling!’
‘This Chakra!
These hand seals!
They are exactly the same as the posture of Lord Madara in his youth, recorded on the stone tablet at the Naka Shrine!’
‘Senju…
a white-haired Senju…
How is that possible?!
Could it be…
Could it be that bastard Tobirama stole Lord Madara’s cells?!
No, that’s not right.
This must be Lord Madara’s reincarnation!’
A flame named ‘ambition’ blazed in Uchiha Setsuna’s eyes.
A mad plan took root in his heart: He must…
must welcome this ‘holy child’ back to the Uchiha!
On the high platform…
Hiruzen’s mouth hung open wide enough to fit a rice ball.
Danzo’s breathing became heavy and ragged.
He looked at Naoki as if gazing upon a divine weapon capable of cleaving the entire Ninja World.
As for Orochimaru, he had already pulled out a small notebook, frantically scribbling something with a charcoal pencil while drooling, muttering to himself, ‘Muscle memory…
nerve reflexes…
surpassing limits…
This isn’t scientific!
It’s so beautiful!
Naoki-kun, you are my god!’
In the Hokage Office…
BANG—!!!
Senju Tobirama slammed his palm down on the desk in front of him.
The desk, personally crafted by his elder brother Senju Hashirama using Wood Release and which had accompanied him for over a decade, instantly cracked all over and collapsed with a crash.
He stared fixedly at the crystal ball, his handsome face now as dark as a pot bottom.
Physics-based Fire Style?
To hell with Physics-based Fire Style!
What physicist could form hand seals so fast they leave afterimages?!
These hand seal gestures, this rhythm—he would never forget them for the rest of his life!
That was the signature movement of that man on the battlefield every time he unleashed his world-destroying Fire Style!
‘Uchiha…
Madara!!!’
Tobirama ground the two words out through clenched teeth.
The Chakra within him ran wild uncontrollably, coating the walls of the entire Hokage Office with a thin layer of frost.
He wanted to immediately use the Flying Thunder God Technique to rush over, grab that little brat by the collar, and demand an explanation!
But he couldn’t.
He was the Hokage.
He couldn’t admit before the entire village that his own grandson…
resembled his lifelong nemesis.
At this moment, with all eyes watching and the atmosphere tense to its breaking point…
Naoki’s hands stopped.
The storm of hand seals came to an abrupt halt.
Everyone saw it clearly.
Those hands belonging to the white-haired Senju brat finally settled into a seal that every Fire Style Ninja was intimately familiar with—
Tiger!
The most commonly used final seal for Fire Style!