Saruto Hyuga: The Last Generation

43.) The Chunin Exams: Individual Matches

"Are you ready?" Orochimaru asks, signalling Boruto and Sarada next to the hospital bed.

"Yes." Saruto replies. He pulls on the long white bandage around his head and slowly opens his eyes.

"You're carrying the eyes of one of the most powerful people in history. Try it out." Boruto encourages. Saruto activates his mangekyo sharingan which shocks his parents. It's completely natural for one's mangekyo sharingan pattern to change when it turns into an eternal mangekyo sharingan but this was different. Saruto's mangekyo sharingan pattern is one of the most complex in Uchiha history but there is usually a minor addition to the pattern when it turns eternal. For Saruto, it reduced the pattern. Instead of it's former complicated design, it was much simpler. It didn't look like just random lines anymore.

Less lines... does that mean the power of the mangekyo sharingan weaken? What caused the reverse effect? More importantly, what does it mean? Questions rang through Sarada's head. This surely was a unique case but not many people held eternal mangekyo sharingan so hopefully it wasn't a bad symbol... or was it? Sarada looks over to her husband who only looks shocked without words. The two look at each other but stare back at their worried son.

"Don't worry, your mom and I are just being total weirdos. Nothing to worry about kiddo. How about we get you ready for today's competitions?" Boruto awkwardly rambles.

"Can you get me a mirror?" Saruto demands. Orochimaru hands the boy a mirror and Saruto looks into his own eyes. He too was shocked at the design but didn't show it. He deactivates his sharingan and activates his byakagan, drawing blood from his eyes from the immediate shift. His eyes suddenly turn from his normal light blue byakagan to a darker blue and he screams in pain. He holds his head in confusion and his parents look at each other again in worry.

"This will be an interesting journey."

———

Here in the chunin and jonin exam colluseum is the suriving three groups from the villages of the lands of water, fire and wind.

The Konoha team that Saruto trained prior to the chunin exams barely managed to pass the written test but couldn't beat Saruto's father in the fighting field. After all, he did watch them train and studied their every move.

The three groups were the third generation team seventh who fought the second Hokage; the noticeable team from the village hidden in the mist who fought the third Hokage: and finally, a group from the village hidden who barely made it out of the yellow flash's grasp.

As the shinobi world shrunk even slower since the time of young Naruto, there were much less people in the colosseum viewing seats. The five kage sat in an individual boxed spot, viewing the three groups who tremble in excitement, fear or self importance.

"Let the matches begin!" Says long time chunin proctor and old man, Rock Lee, after he explained the long lines of rules and basic explanations.

———

And so it began just before mid-day. Young shinobi left either defeated or victorious.

The first battle was a hidden sand shinobi and one of Hamako Kawasaki's teammates. The hidden mist proved to be powerful as this strong kunoichi took down her opponent within minutes.

The next match was Asuma against Hamako's other teammate, a male shinobi with his noticeable infamous weapon of lightning rods. It was quite a long battle but Asuma closed victoriously.

The third match was Hamako himself against another shinobi of the hidden sand. Hamako had showed his strong self confidence and abilities to the crowd as he took his opponent down less than one minute.

The next  battle of the first groups put Minakami against the last standing sand user. The battle was long and hard for both shinobis but it finally concluded with Minakami as the victor.

The numbers were uneven so a hidden mist shinobi had to go twice. The hidden mist shinobi to go against Saruto was a yielder of "Kiba," a seven swordsman of the mist weapon. Saruto was a smart kid and knowing every single thing about lightning and "Kiba" didn't help his opponent lead a hit even once. Needless to say, he won this round without much struggle.

Only five young genins were left for the second stages of the chunin exams. More people filter in the colosseum in interest to the growing conflict.

The first battle of the last rounds was Asuma and Hamako's surviving teammate. Asuma won the round, deflecting the hidden mist's large wave with unexpectedly strong wind chakra his grandmother passed to him.

The second battle was quite shocking as Minakami went against her own kind and was forced to fight Hamako. Their abilities were matched but Hamako at the last moment managed to get a heavy hit on Minakami who went down unconscious. Asuma ran down to assist his teammate as Saruto only looked at the screen in the locker room in eyes set for vengeance.

Before the computer can pick who would be doubling for the second rounds to fight Saruto, Hamako stood up and shocked everyone by volunteering.

Saruto smiles to himself and walks out to the bare grounds to face his opponent.