Chapter 78: Ragdoll
The crowd went electric immediately they heard Renjiro challenging the top rank. Only five people were left with their last chance of ranking up.
They also wanted to see why no one had challenged the first rank. He had not used his two chances since he had more to lose if he used them.
This only made the crowd desperate to watch him get challenged. Surely being in the first rank meant that he was one of, if not, the strongest genin among the the challengers.
In the stands, Shimura Isagi, a jounin, remarked, "Why did your Nephew challenge him, Miwa? He might be good, but from what I have seen, he might not win."
Miwa, on the other hand, just smiled. "How did you expect to see much from him when no one has pushed him to a wall? You have always spoken highly of that boy, so I am sure this is going to be a good battle."
Back at the platforms, A brown-headed boy just humphed as he followed Renjiro to the arena. His name was Shimura Tenko.
He did not outrightly use Intimidation on his fellow genins to ensure he did not get any challenges coming his way, but his reputation did create a similar effect.
If Tenko wanted, he would have participated in the previous chunin exams and even passed, but he was advised not to and forced to follow a path laid out by his father so that he could make a name for himself during this iteration of the exam.
So far, everything had gone according to plan. He had been among the first teams to clear the Forest of Death days prior to the deadline. He also easily won his three matches in the preliminaries earning his rank.
He was almost going to finish the finals without receiving a challenge until Renjiro challenged him. He had seen Renjiro's previous matches and wasn't really impressed.
'Either way, winning this match would still ensure that my objective will be met.'
Meanwhile, Renjiro was perplexed. 'Tenko Shimura. Why does the name sound familiar, it seems like I am forgetting something.'
"Begin!"
With the signal given, both sprang into action heading towards each other.
"Bam!" Both genins clashed as their fists met they then jumped back. It was clear that they were probing one another.
'He is strong! Now I remember why the name sounded familiar. He was the guy the academy instructors were calling a prodigy.
He had graduated before I enrolled but the instructors still praised him. I am sure he is a capable shinobi, but he is no Itachi.'
Tenku did not waste more time and closed in on Renjiro while throwing a left hook. Renjiro ducked and counteracted with a sweeping kick intending to sweep Tenko off his feet.
Unfortunately, Tenku sees the attack and he does a backflip while throwing five kunais at Renjiro. Instead of dodging, Renjiro grabbed the moving kunais in pairs and redirected them back to their sender.
Tenku uses a kunai he was holding to deflect the incoming projectiles.
"I was wondering why no one challenged you. I thought you were strong, but I guess the rest were cowards."
Renjiro knew that a fight was as much mental as it was physical. Taunting his opponents was not beneath him because gaining an inching in a mental exchange would make the fight easier for him.
Tenku's face darkened as he heard Renjiro, but after a moment it reverted to his previous expression.
'He has good control.' Renjiro Thought.
"Don't worry, let me enlighten you," Tenku said as four shadow clones appeared next to him. All clones of him headed towards him.
Renjiro tilted his head as he dodged the clone holding a kunai. He flipped backwards while throwing, dispelling the clone.
While he was in the air, he got ahold of the nape of the other two clones intending to shove their head to the ground as he landed, but it seemed that Tenku had other plans.
The original Tenku smirked as Renjiro was met with a blinding light. Just as his feet were inches to the ground, the two clones he was holding exploded.
The impact of the explosion sent Renjiro crashing to the ground twice in succession before rolling.
'What just-'
Renjiro did not have time to express his shock as he opened his eyes to a view of Tenku in the air directly above him. His foot was outstretched clearly targeting Renjiro's abdomen.
Tenku shouted, "Wind Barrage!"
Quickly gathering himself, Renjiro rolled to the side as he avoided the kick and turned his head. What he saw shocked him! A couple of meters away from him, there were cracks on the ground.
'Did he do that with his foot? No, he must have used a wind jutsu to reinforce his foot.'
After concluding the most likely case, Renjiro quickly rose and flickered a metre away. Tenku did not give Renjiro any moment to breathe as he appeared behind him attacking with a kunai.
Renjiro tilted his head avoiding the strike, but Tenku retracted his arm and hit Renjiro on his cheeks with his elbow. He followed with a kick to the side which Renjiro blocked with his arms.
The genins continued trading blows for a while until when Tenku had enough of it and jumped several meters back. Yes, they were trading blows, but none of Tenku's connected since Renjiro had fast reflexes.
He, other the other hand, received the full brunt of a majority of Renjiro's strikes. He had always been proud of his physique but it seemed to be made of iron.
"What? Is this too much for you?" Renjiro said with a taunting smile.
Tenku scoffed and retrieved a shuriken which he threw towards Renjiro's direction.
As the shuriken neared, Tenku made a hand sign and five more similar appeared. From the trajectory, Renjiro concluded that Tenku was targeting his head and limbs.
'I have to dodge this!'
Renjiro jumped, almost making a split in the air. He also moved his head leaving him in an unnatural position in the air which Tenku took advantage of.
He appeared behind Renjiro and shouted, "Infinite Breakthrough!!"
Renjiro was pushed by winds to the nearest wall surrounding the arena. He crashed into the wall but he did not take long before he regained composure and headed towards Tenku.
Tenku repeated the jutsu sending him back crashing at the same wall. This time he did not get up.
'Is this how Hyuro felt? Because it is really annoying!' he thought as Tenku was meters from him. Renjiro turned his head and used genjutsu on Tenku.
At least that is what he thought, but Tenku just scoffed and said,
"I was getting lessons on how to avoid genjutsu even before I got into the academy, what makes you think that your attempt will succeed."
Tenku spammed the infinite breakthrough again. Since Renjiro was already close to the wall, he took the full brunt of the attack.
Immediately the winds stopped, a shadow clone appeared next to Renjiro. With a hand sign from both him and the shadow clone, Renjiro used his first combination jutsu.
"Flame Wave!"
"Wind Wave!"
Tenku widened his eyes as the wind and flame expelled by Renjiro combined and exploded right in front of him. The Impact took Tenku from one end of the arena to another.
Tenku's figure flailed in the air like a ragdoll as he covered the arena's diameter, crushing into the wall.
Cheers echoes around the arena. This was by far the most entertaining fight the village had seen the whole day.
"That was oddly satisfying," Renjiro muttered as take a moment to gather himself, something he would regret soon.
"I agree that you might be good, by other's standards, next time choose your battles well." Tenku began making hand signs.
'What is he on about-' Renjiro's instincts flared as Tenku finished preparing his Jutsu.
Back in the podium above them, Hiruzen turned to the man sitting beside him and asked, "Danzo, why would you teach a genin such a dangerous jutsu?"
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