2 days later.
Max finally made it to Konoha. He had taken thing slowly since he had the time, also because he needed to prepare himself to fight in the next phase of the test.
As he mad his way towards the office of the Hokage, he noticed more movement than usual. He saw some AMBU go in and out of the office of the Hokage, so he waited for a while outside until the Hokage had the time to talk to him.
After the last batch of AMBU exited the office, Max entered and faced the Hokage.
"Max, I heard that everything went well in your mission. With the additional info gathered by you, we are now waiting to see if we can identify the package." The Hokage said as he smokes his pipe. "We also got the second phase of your test ready. Raido will take you to the test grounds for you to take it."
"You won't witness the fight?" Max asked.
"I shall go there after I deal with some things. If you finish the fight before I get there, I'll be impressed." The Hokage said as he dismissed him.
Max looked at the Hokage with some worry. Since the chunin exams were going on as they spoke, Max could only imagine that something had happened. Still, he exited the office and followed Raido, who was already waiting for him outside the office.
"Did something happen with the exams?" Max asked Raido as both walked.
"Maybe. I still can't disclose anything for now, since we still don't have all the facts." Raido told him.
Raido had gotten to know Max for months now, so he let some info go. Still, he didn't say the full story.
Max knew that this was the most that he could get out of Raido, so he didn't push for more. He changed the conversation as he spoke about the things that he saw on his mission and how easy it was.
Raido laughed when he heard that the jounin in charge of witnessing the test got discovered by the enemy. He told Max that there were a lot of people and places in this world, so been prepared for the unknown is something hat every ninja needs to have in mind always.
Max didn't refute that, since he only got know about ninjas not so long ago.
They made it to the testing grounds as they continued their conversation. When they got there, Baki, the jounin of Sunagakure, was already waiting for them with other ninjas.
Of the ninja present, 4 ninjas were from the sand apart from Baki, which meant that they were the opponents that he needed to face.
As Max entered the testing ground, the other ninja that were there to witness the fight left the ground.
Max also noticed that Kakashi, Guy, Asuma and Kurenai were there to witness the fight. This made Max smiled and he waved at them.
They got a little embarrassed when they noticed that the sudden action of Max made them the focus of the other ninja. Still, they were professionals, so they waved back at him while they didn't show anything on their faces.
Max got to know them in the months that he spent in Konoha. Guy and Kakashi were the only ones that spared with him in multiple occasions, so Max knew them best.
Asuma and Kurenai only met him a couple of times. Max didn't like Asuma that much since he confronted Max that time and he only saw Kurenai when she was with Asuma which made thing a little awkward.
Still, Max knew that Asuma had his reasons to say what he said. That made Max respect him.
Max also noticed that Inoichi wasn't there to witness the fight. He got a little down at the beginning after noticing that, but he remembered that something was going on with the exams so Inoichi should be helping with that.
Baki made his way to the center of the training grounds and signaled Max and the other group to take their positions. "The second phase of the test is about to begin. The rules are as followed: the fight will end when one side admits defeat or are no longer able to continue. Since this isn't a fight to the death, I shall interfere at any point if I deem that one side is no longer able to continue.
Since chunins from my village are the ones participating. Apart from Hayate and me, any of the jounin present can interfere if the please."
Max looked at the ninja of Sunagakure. They were 3 men and one woman. They didn't have any difference with what the wore, so Max couldn't get anything by what they had on.
'They are even covering their faces. So serious.' Max said as he rested his right hand on his katanas.
Max had already taken out 2 katanas from his arsenal and had them in his waist. He knew that most of his data should have already be known to his opponents, so there was no need for him to hide his weapons. Even though he was still hiding most of them.
The sudden motion of Max was noticed by his opponents, but they still didn't move a muscle while they waited for the start of the fight.
"Those guys are taking this a little too serious." Kakashi couldn't help but to comment as he revealed his Sharingan.
"Says you, but you still decided to watch the fight with your left eye." Guy commented. "Still, I can understand why you do it. Max's speed is faster than Lee's."
Kakashi looked at Guy weirdly. "I can understand why he only used taijustu and kenjutsu with you. But you have to remember that he is now a ninja."
"Something that you know that we don't, Kakashi?" Kurenai said as she looked at him.
"You'll see soon enough." Kakashi only said that.
"That brat better pass this." Asuma couldn't help but to say.
"You really need to cut him some slack Asuma." Kurenai told him. "Even though the Hokage is taking a great chance by doing this, you need to have faith in his decision."
Asuma only grunted as he took out a cigarette and lit it.
Baki looked at both groups to confirm that they were ready. Seen that they were, Baki started the fight.
"Go"
The squad of Sunagakure decided to make a formation before anything else. They knew that Max specialized in attacking with his speed, so they had prepared a formation just for dealing with that.
As they made that move, they also noticed that Max wasn't charging at them. Instead he was doing hand signs.
Seen this, Baki frowned but didn't say anything.
Max had made believe that he was going to use his blades when he rested his hand on top of them before the start of the fight. That move was a little sneaky, but it was still acceptable.
Earth style: Mud Wall Jutsu
Max finished his hand signs and a mud wall rose in front of him. The wall was a little taller than him, so he was suddenly hidden by it.
When the aquad noticed this, they quickly took out their weapons. The squad was doing a diamond formation. The ninja in the front had two daggers in his hand. If Max saw them, he would relate them to the 'Sword Breaker' dagger that he had in his book of bladesmith.
The two ninjas by the side didn't have any weapons on them, but anyone could see that their pouches were full, which meant that they were going to use jutsu and tools to flank him. The only woman in the back didn't have any weapons also, but she had both her hands reaching forward.
"Puppet Jutsu? They are taking this too serious." Kakashi said as he saw the formation.
"Still, one can see that they are only at the chunin level. Since they didn't take the opportunity to attack, they are going to experience hell in a moment." Guy said as he saw Max finish his hand sign.
Asuma and Kurenai only nodded
*BOOM*
Max finished his hand signs and kicked the mud wall in front of him. The kick that Max sent was too powerful, so the wall quickly broke and pieces of earth got sent at the Sunagakure ninjas.
Fire style: Exploding Flame Shot Jutsu
Max wasn't done. He sent small fireballs at those pieces of earth, which exploded on contact. Apart from the explosion of the fireball, the chinks of earth also got sent randomly at the squad.
Seen such an intense attack, the group decided move their formation to another one. The woman in the back jumped back as she maintained her hand stretched while the other three regrouped as they prepared to defend
Wind Release: Air Curtain Jutsu
The trio blew air and quickly deflected the earth pieces. Max saw how they were defending and threw 3 more exploding fireballs at them.
One of the fireballs hit the center of the air curtain which quickly ignited it, while the other two hit the ground in front of the trio.
The trio was ready for that. The woman in the back quickly pulled them back as they also jumped back. This made them escape the sudden explosion made by Max.
"They are risking a lot by using air to defend against that fire jutsu." Asuma said as he saw how big the explosion was after getting aided by the wind jutsu.
As the group recovered from the impact, Max had already change gears and was making his second wave of attacks. He took out a scroll from his pouch and threw it to the side.
Fire Dragon Tail Sweep
A big cloud was came out of the scroll. The image of an earth dragon was made by the smoke as it sweep at the group with its tail. As the smoke banished, 5 giant shurikens were making their way them.
As surprised as they were with the sudden attack, they still reacted and jumped back to evade the passing shurikens.
"Bad choice." Guy said.
As the shuriken passed by them, one of them suddenly moved and hit the other ones making them suddenly stop in front of the group that was jumping back.
It was then that they noticed that the shurikens had explosive tags on them, which got lit when the other shuriken hit them.
*BOOM**BOOM**BOOM**BOOM**BOOM*
5 explosions assaulted the group. One of the squad got sent flying as he was unconscious. One of the jounin that was close to the ninja intercepted him and took him out of the testing grounds.
The other two were revealed later with some injuries, while the woman had only light ones.
Baki saw how the group acted after the explosion and sighed. He didn't expect for Max to have such an overwhelming attack strategy. Still, he knew that all of this only happened because the squad decided to be passive instead of attacking at the start.
The trio knew that they things were bad at the moment, but they also knew that Max had spent most of his chakra in those attacks. If they could secure their formation again, the advantage will go back to them.
Leaf Whirlwind!
Sadly for them, Max was far for done. He jumped in the middle of their formation and kick them. With Guy's technique, Max sent the trio in different directions, separating them.
"Perfect!" Guy said when he saw Max do a Leaf Whirlwind.
"Leaf Whirlwind and Fire Dragon Tail Sweep. Teaching those techniques to Max is a little too much, Guy." Kakashi said to Guy.
"Maybe. But, he learned Mud Wall and Exploding Flame Shot from you." Guy said as he glared at Kakashi. "Fire Dragon Tail Sweep should be a jutsu that he and Tenten developed together, and Leaf Whirlwind got introduced in the taijustu scroll list years ago. On the other hand, I don't believe that Exploding Flame Shot is on the ninjutsu list. And, such a high level jutsu isn't something that Max should be able to get with his Rank."
"Huh? Guy, did you say something? Is better for you to focus in the fight. Max just did something that even I didn't know that he was capable of doing." Kakashi looked at Guy and signaled him to watch the fight.
'AGHHH. You did it again Kakashi!' Guy said as he clenched his fist and fire burned in his eyes.
"He can do that too?" Kurenai asked with surprise.
"I was going to ask you if you taught him that." Asuma said.
"If you look at the face that Hayate is making, you can see that that was a form of kenjutsu that even he didn't recognize." Kakashi said as he covers his left eye. "That was a technique original of him."
On the field, Baki was shaking his head as he walked toward the trio of his village. He was mad that the intelligence division of the leaf didn't include such jutsu when they shared Max's abilities, but he Knew that complaining about it won't go anywhere.
The trio in question were still standing up and facing Max, but each of them were acting strange as they stood in place.
They had kunais in their hands as they were guarding against some kind of attack. Max, on the other hand had three small knives in his hand. He looked at Baki and Hayate as he aimed at the trio for confirmation.
'They expected a close quarters fight. Sadly for them, I'm also dangerous at long range too.' Max thought as he waited for a decision from the jounins.
Hayate knew that the fight was over, but he let Baki do the announcement as he was looking at the condition of the sand ninjas.
He was also still impressed with the technique that Max just did. Apart from Yugao, he hasn't seen that much talent from anyone else in the village.
Baki in the other hand was now looking at one of the trio of the sand. He remembered how things got to this point, which disappointed him.
After Max separated the trio with the Leaf Whirlwind, he took out his katana and did a weird dance with it.
The trio were staggered and sent back so they could only watch as Max did those moves. After recovering, they remembered that Max could sent a slash towards his enemies from long range. Expecting such attack from him, they quickly took out their kunais and waited to see who the target was going to be.
They already had a strategy for that situation. Counting on that Max had already spent so much chakra with his assault, they planned to face those slashes head on as they advanced at him.
Max on the other hand had just finished his dance with the motion that he did every time when he sent a Blade Wave.
One of the trio saw a Blade Wave sent in his direction and he parry it. He got surprised as the Blade Wave was stronger than what he had expected, but this made him even more confident that their plan was going to work.
With how strong the Blade Wave was, Max shouldn't have more chakra to face the other two. Even if he had enough mana to send another Blade Wave, it wasn't going to be strong enough to matter.
The ninja waited as he still parried the Blade wave. His confidence increasing as the seconds passed.
*THUD*
Out of nowhere, the ninja saw Baki touching his head. As the ninja looked at Baki, he noticed that there was no Blade Wave in front of him. This made him realized that he had fallen for Max's trick.
Genjutsu
The ninja looked at the other two of hos squad and saw that they were doing the same thing that he was doing in the genjutsu, which was parring a Blade Wave.
Max in the other hand lowered his knives as he saw Baki interfere. With a smile, he looked at the jounin of his village that were looking at him and gave them a thumbs up.