"He… he's flying!"
"That boy… he can actually fly!"
"Ninjas can fly too?! T-That's amazing!"
"Those two guys don't look easy to mess with. Looks like this match is going to be even more intense than the last!"
"..."
As they looked at Izayoi, who was hovering in the air with no visible wind barrier around him and seemingly free from gravity, the crowd was silent for just a few seconds—then the arena erupted.
Shouts of amazement, loud chatter, and excited cheering exploded from every corner.
Unlike the ignorant civilians, the ninjas present wore expressions of shock and awe.
"A flying ninja? That brat… did he learn Iwagakure's Earth Style: Light-Weight Rock Technique?"
"Is it ninjutsu? A secret technique? Or… a kekkei genkai?"
"Oh, it's him! The rookie ranked number one this year—he's the genius who mastered five chakra nature transformations! If I remember correctly, he even developed his own version of the Fourth Hokage's Rasengan and fused two nature types to create a Storm Style secret technique."
"Don't tell me… this flying jutsu is something he created too? That's insane ninja talent!"
"..."
Voices of disbelief echoed even among the seasoned shinobi.
Even elite jonin like Hatake Kakashi and Might Guy were visibly stunned.
"A-Amazing… Oniichan can fly…" Hanabi stared, wide-eyed.
Upon hearing that, Hiashi Hyuga—who also had trembling eyes—immediately turned to the stands where the participants were seated, the veins near his temples bulging.
Seeing the other examinees all frozen in shock while his elder daughter simply smiled calmly, he finally deactivated his Byakugan, unable to calm the storm in his heart.
It looked like Izayoi and Hinata had realized someone was watching them a long time ago.
Otherwise, there's no way the intel would have been this different.
Five nature transformations… the Rasengan and Storm Style secret technique… and now this flying jutsu…
Neither the guards nor even he himself had any clue about any of this.
These two little brats—how well they've kept things hidden!
"Konoha really is a cradle of geniuses. Even a flying ninja, one of the rarest in the world, has appeared," Orochimaru said in the VIP section, equally impressed.
Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't speak—he silently took a drag of his pipe, his eyes gleaming with joy.
Incredible… truly outstanding!
Lord Hashirama, Lord Tobirama… you were right.
With the Senju bloodline merged into Konoha, the village's future is full of hope.
An Uchiha orphan, a Jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails, a mysterious bloodline ninja prodigy… Konoha will rise again in this generation.
Becoming the center of attention, Izayoi slowly floated down to the right side of Genma Shiranui.
Genma glanced deeply at Izayoi, then raised his arm and shouted, "Round two: Izayoi VS Gaara… begins now!"
As soon as he gave the signal, Genma instantly leapt backward, putting distance between himself and the two contestants.
Even ordinary people could sense from their entrances that this fight would be intense—let alone someone like Genma, who once served as the Fourth Hokage's guard.
Whether it was Izayoi or that gourd-carrying, black-eyed brat, both of them had overwhelming presence and chakra levels.
The match began. Gaara stood with arms folded, staring blankly at Izayoi, completely unfazed by his flight.
But this wasn't because Gaara had incredible composure—rather, hidden beneath his face was a mask of emotion. His real face was covered by a sand armor, and beneath that, he wore an expression of bloodthirsty madness.
As if responding to its master's will, the massive gourd on Gaara's back popped open on its own, and sand began surging out in large amounts. Defying gravity, it gathered around Gaara, waiting for his command.
In the next second, Gaara spread his arms wide and made the first move.
But instead of the sand circling him attacking, it was the ground beneath Izayoi that suddenly rose in twin waves of sand from both sides, like a pair of grasping hands trying to entrap him.
"Sand Binding Coffin!"
With Gaara's voice, the sand waves merged, twisting together like a giant rope.
Since becoming a living weapon, countless people had died to this combo of "Sand Binding Coffin" and "Sand Burial."
But this time, there was no blood soaking the sand.
Gaara looked up—and saw a white-robed figure floating high above. Izayoi had already vanished and reappeared in the air at some point.
Hovering in the sky and looking down at Gaara, Izayoi murmured in a voice only he could hear:
"In my current state, I'm not here to play childish ninja games with you."
As his words fell, Izayoi immediately raised both hands, forming a huge blue-and-white energy sphere. Then, the white within the sphere rapidly turned into a deeper shade of blue than the outer layer.
Without even calling out the name of the move, Izayoi simply hurled the enormous energy sphere downward.
"Air Sand Shield!"
Seeing the energy sphere crash down and sensing the Water Release nature transformation within it, Gaara didn't hesitate at all. He crouched down and slapped the ground, consuming a massive amount of chakra to turn the earth into sand. The sand rose into the air, forming a huge shield to block the energy sphere.
BOOM—
A thunderous explosion followed. The energy sphere couldn't pierce through the sand shield. It burrowed about a third of the way in before detonating, transforming into a massive water tornado.
The water tornado spun like a drill, continuing to dig into the sand shield while spewing out vast amounts of water, making the sand even heavier.
Izayoi never expected this move alone to finish Gaara off.
Almost in the same instant that he threw the energy sphere, Izayoi raised his hand again to form another one.
This time, the energy ball was only the size of a basketball.
Then, two ping-pong ball-sized energy spheres appeared within it, one blue and one white, rapidly rotating as the main sphere shifted from blue and white to blue and white in two distinct cores.
The genin and jōnin who had watched the preliminary matches in the Tower of the Center were all very familiar with this technique. It was the recently famed S-Rank Storm Release secret technique sweeping through the Konoha jōnin circle.
They all thought Izayoi was about to unleash that Storm Release secret art named "Judgment."
But as the stunned and wide-eyed ninja watched, another energy sphere formed inside the already-combined energy ball.
At first, this new sphere was also blue and white, but within two seconds, it turned a fiery orange-red.
Even those unfamiliar with nature and shape transformations could clearly see that this sphere contained the power of flames.
As the three colored spheres—lightning white, ocean blue, and flame red—swirled together in the energy ball, some spectators began flashing hand signals discreetly.
Hiding in the back, disguised as a member of the Konoha ANBU, Kabuto Yakushi was already preparing to make hand seals and cast jutsu.
The three spheres rotated clockwise within the energy sphere, resembling the tomoe in a Sharingan.
After several rotations, the blue sphere suddenly reversed direction and spun counterclockwise, colliding with the incoming white sphere. The red sphere followed right after.
Their collision was like shattering a glass orb—the three contained liquids burst forth, mixing rapidly into a new color:
A glowing, fiery blue with flowing energy.
"Secret Technique… Radiant Pulse Cannon!"
Izayoi declared the name of the jutsu, then hurled it downward.
At that moment, the water tornado below had just shrunk and dissipated. The floating sand shield now had a massive crater in it.
Almost like it had a homing device, the cyan energy ball dove precisely toward the crater.
As it fell, its speed rapidly increased.
Its size—originally basketball-like—began to swell like a water balloon, and its shape morphed from a sphere to a cylindrical beam of glowing cyan light.
Unlike "Judgment," which scattered like a waterfall of electricity, this cyan beam—both inside and out—glowed with orange-red flames, emitting an aura of annihilation detectable to anyone with sensory abilities.
"Are you kidding me?! That could kill someone!"
Outside the sand shield's coverage, Genma Shiranui quickly body-flickered toward the high walls for safety.
Gaara, too, sensed the breath of death—like his "mother" was whispering in his ear.
Without any hesitation, Gaara made hand seals and muttered, "Feign Sleep Jutsu!"
He closed his eyes and instantly entered deep sleep.
Then, his gourd and body turned to sand. The sand shield and the earth below also transformed into surging waves of sand, burying Gaara completely.
BOOOOOOM————
The cyan beam landed right in the center of the sand waves.
A deafening explosion rocked the heavens, its echo spreading across the entire central district of Konoha.
The massive arena trembled violently.
Spectators nearest the blast covered their ears, grimacing in pain—their sense of hearing utterly overwhelmed.
Those standing farther outside the arena were so frightened by the sudden explosion and tremors that they collapsed to the ground.
All throughout Konoha, villagers paused their activities and turned to look toward the arena.
A giant mushroom cloud rose into the sky.
Before anyone could react, countless shadowy figures burst forth from every direction, launching surprise attacks on the patrolling ninja.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
A loud shout rang out from an unknown direction, shrouded by a massive white mist. From it, a giant three-headed snake emerged out of thin air, rampaging its way through the village gate.
Back in the arena, where most spectators were still reeling and partially deaf, white feathers began to fall gently from the sky. A powerful wave of drowsiness spread among them, and they dropped into slumber one after another.
The Konoha Crush Plan—had officially begun!