"Who would have thought the kid would grasp Snow Sennin Mode under Yuriko's tutelage." Konan said in a tone full of praise and slight jealousy that Ringo had someone with such potential in her village.
She didn't envy her sister-wife too much. She had the original Snow Sennin under her leadership since Yuriko Yukimi was officially a ninja from the Village on the Other Side. But Konan understood that talented individuals were a commodity that one could never have enough of.
"Yeah, Ringo called all the favors Yuriko owed her from losing various bets over the years." Rei chuckled, "You should have seen the face Yuriko showed when Ringo told her that she wanted her to share her best technique. I bet Yuriko instantly regretted ever getting into Ringo's debt."
"Heh. As if. Yuriko would have never shared her way of attaining Sennin Mode if she didn't approve of the kid. You know that and you also know how tough Yuriko's personal requirements are. Not one person in the Village on the Other Side managed to score an apprenticeship under her so far." Konan said with a slightly annoyed tone. She didn't like that one of her SS-rank ninjas didn't find an apprentice even after years of trying. "That's why I find Ringo's situation a bit enviable."
Frankly, she was even less thrilled that when Yuriko finally found herself an apprentice, it was somebody outside of the Village on the Other Side. It simply rubbed her the wrong way but fortunately for Haku, Konan would not prevent Yuriko from teaching him just because he didn't belong to her village.
Rei stayed silent. He could have rebuked Konan quite easily because it wasn't that there were no people fulfilling or even surpassing Yuriko's initial expectations. The final requirement was simply too restricting. She didn't care about bloodline but one had to be able to form snow with their chakra.
Not many bothered to try, much less spent time practicing such a skill.
He could argue that Konan never promoted or tried to encourage people from attempting to clear all Yuriko's expectations nor did she ever add such skill into the repertoire their ninjas had to learn. She could have done a lot of things to help Yuriko find an appropriate apprentice.
But... why would he pour oil into the fire? Rei would rather have an idyllic afternoon of watching kids beating each other up with her than a pointless argument.
"I understand. You are right, dear." He nodded, sneaking his hand into Konan's, which made her smile and lean on him.
...
While Rei and Konan discussed the revelation of Haku's new ability, the fight in the arena was starting anew.
Naruto was clad in a bijuu cloak with three tails swishing behind him... Kurama did not give him more chakra because Naruto's body was still too young to handle more and he did not have much control yet either. Three tails were the current Naruto's limit as far as safety went.
Haku, on the other hand, was as if clad in a freezing cold chill that spread all around him. The air was glittering from microscopic particles of icy mist floating all around Haku that came to existence from freezing the air itself.
Every experienced ninja in the audience had an ugly expression upon seeing it. If the boy could freeze the air around him in this manner while not really focusing... they did not want to see what he could do with proper focus to an enemy that got too close.
Naruto, however, didn't care and charged forward.
The boiling hot chakra of a bijuu clashed with the chillingly freezing energy of the Snow Sennin Mode as Naruto's fist collided with Haku's forearm and the entire arena was once again engulfed in smoke, this time, however, it was one created by a clash of very hot and cold air, sending a sizzling hiss throughout the surroundings.
The smoke was instantly blown away as Naruto and Haku exchanged another blow, this time it was Haku who attacked and Naruto blocked. They were revealed only for a moment as their clash once again produced a lot of smoke, covering them.
With every strike, they produced smoke and continuously blew it away because of the force of their next blow, involuntarily creating a spectacular show as they danced in a flurry of taijutsu moves all over the arena and devastating the surroundings.
Ice shards formed and evaporated in seconds. With every step, Haku froze a patch of ground but with every move, Naruto instantly turned that ice into the water... it didn't take long for the arena to be full of mud but neither of the boys was affected by it.
Haku simply froze it all over again while the heat Naruto's cloak was giving off solidified the mud under his feet almost instantly.
The audience watched in stunned silence. Nobody could have expected the Chunin Exam finals to be so spectacular. The matches before this one were special in their own ways but here civilians and ninjas alike saw raw power clashing against raw power. They saw how monstrous a fight between two ninjas could be.
The ground cracked with every step of the two combatants. The surroundings froze and heated up constantly, so much so it was obvious any unfortunate civilian bystanders that got too close would be either frozen or evaporated... or both at the same time.
Even some chunins would have a hard time surviving in such a clash.
The sounds of fists continuously meeting flesh resounded throughout the arena with the intensity of thunder and force enough to create a wave of air strong enough to generate powerful winds capable of blowing out the ever-generated steam from the drastic temperature changes in the arena.
The fight was brutal and Naruto was as always more of a brawler while Haku was nimble and relied more on technique than the power of his fists.
Unfortunately for Naruto, Haku's shortcoming of raw power was covered by the senjutsu chakra augmentation and unfortunately for Haku, Naruto's overreliance on tanking enemy blows was compensated by the sturdiness of his bijuu chakra cloak.
The two boys were at a stalemate, neither capable of delivering the decisive blow.
Rei watched the clash and understood why the two boys were unable to prevail over the other. Naruto's chakra was powerful but it was all over the place, completely uncontrolled. Making a Jutsu with chakra like that would be a miracle. Hence, he had to depend on his fists and enhanced physical prowess.
Not that his blows were weak. As he was now, with just three tails, he could probably match or surpass most jonins in taijutsu as far as speed and strength went.
Haku, on the other hand, seemed too new with senjutsu. Rei could clearly sense the boy struggling with maintaining the Sennin Mode. His internal energies were barely balanced. If he tried to use a Jutsu, he would be done for as his energies would get out of control too.
The spontaneous freezing of the area around him was a clear testament to Haku's lack of control.
It was a funny coincidence. Both boys couldn't control their 'power-up' state for different reasons and that prevented them from going 'all-out'.
It was probably for the best.
'Just a pity the winner is obvious.' Rei thought after watching the taijutsu bout between boiling bijuu chakra and chilling senjutsu chakra for a few minutes while using his chakra senses.
The audience was still mostly silent, enamored by the showcased fight. The people were on edge, having no clue who from the two boys would win since they were pretty evenly matched.
Naruto could not score a proper hit on Haku and Haku could not damage Naruto through his bijuu cloak.
Around an hour passed like that and this fight was officially the longest one in these Chunin Exams finals so far, yet, it seemed to also be the most interesting one for the audience. For the entirety of its duration, the fight was fast-paced, neither of the combatants slowing down even slightly. In fact, its intensity only increased with time.
Alas, it had to come to an end.
As Naruto was about to strike Haku, his bijuu chakra cloak suddenly completely vanished, leaving him totally open and frozen in shock when Kurama retracted his chakra back into the seal.
A second later, Naruto's body was engulfed in excruciating pain, causing his eyes to widen.
Haku did not hesitate and delivered a swift blow to Naruto's chin, causing his head to tilt to the side.
"Eh?" His face showed a disbelieving incomprehension as he fell unconscious and his knees crumbled under his weight, causing him to sprawl onto the ground.
Haku gave the unconscious Naruto a small respectful smile, "I am sorry, Naruto-kun. This is my win." He promptly fell onto his knees as he deactivated the Sennin Mode, gasping for breath.
The winner of this fight was Haku.