"Shimura Kizaru, Hyuga Toda!"
As the words of Kiyoshi landed, under everyone's gaze, Kizaru walked forward from the back of the crowd.
Toda stood at the forefront of the crowd, with Kiyoshi not far behind, his gaze fixed on Kizaru, who had stepped forward.
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Toda silently adjusted his own state of mind.
Kizaru's astonishing performance just now made Toda acutely aware that he was definitely not a match for this great demon king-like figure.
"Shimura Kizaru, I acknowledge that you are a true genius! Your strength is indeed formidable, but I, Hyuga Toda, will not admit defeat. I will do my best, using the strongest taijutsu of the Hyuga clan, to defeat you!" Clenching his hands tightly at his thighs, Toda silently and heroically affirmed within himself.
If only Kizaru could read minds, he would certainly mock Toda for self-proclaiming to possess the strongest taijutsu in the ninja world! Who dares to claim their taijutsu are the strongest before the man who nearly kicked off the grand finale in the future?
"Kizaru, I will give my all, I hope you will too!" Staring directly at Kizaru in front of him, Toda said earnestly.
Kizaru looked down at this guy who was already 'burning up' and couldn't help but touch his head, silently remarking in his mind, "Are the kids in the ninja world already entering their edgy teenage phase?"
Watching Toda, with a face of both heroism and passion, Kizaru knew without a doubt that this guy had already cast himself as the hero about to challenge the villainous demon king.
"So, you see! Kids shouldn't indulge in too many edgy novels and anime; it's easy to get carried away with wild thoughts!"
Despite the teasing, Kizaru didn't dampen Toda's enthusiasm. He smiled, nodded, and replied, "The Hyuga clan is indeed impressive!"
"That's for sure!" Toda answered seriously.
"Alright, both of you, step up and take your positions, the duel is about to begin!" Speaking up, Kiyoshi looked at Kizaru, constantly signaling to pay attention to limits.
Kizaru understood the unspoken message in the teacher's eyes and smiled, nodding in acknowledgment.
Under the watchful eyes of all the students and the teacher, the two walked to the center of the arena, facing each other.
"Go, Toda-kun!"
Perhaps due to sympathy for the underdog, many classmates voiced their support and cheers for Toda!
Toda didn't think much about it. Hearing the cheers from around him only strengthened his determination to defeat Kizaru!
After glancing at the two students on the field, Kiyoshi took a deep breath and shouted loudly, "Begin!"
Hearing the signal to start, Toda immediately moved. Instead of retreating to create distance, he charged straight toward Kizaru.
Kizaru's displayed ninjutsu abilities in the ninja tool throwing exam made Toda realize that his only chance of victory lay in closing the distance right from the start and engaging Kizaru in combat using his own adept taijutsu.
Toda knew about Kizaru's exceptional physical abilities showcased during the entrance test. Engaging Kizaru in hand-to-hand combat might not necessarily give him the upper hand, but compared to Kizaru's displayed Wind Release ninjutsu, Toda believed that closing the distance and engaging in hand-to-hand combat was his only hope to defeat Kizaru!
Facing the rapidly charging Toda, Kizaru stood still, not even moving from his spot, hands still in his pockets.
Kizaru's response ignited a fire of anger within Toda. In the process of his charge, he activated the Byakugan, chakra surging from his hands. Approaching Kizaru, Toda utilized his one-month practiced Gentle Fist technique.
With his right hand formed into a palm, taking advantage of the height difference, Toda struck towards Kizaru's abdomen.
"You despicable guy, this is the price for underestimating me!" Seeing his right palm about to strike Kizaru's abdomen, Toda's eyes gleamed with anticipation.
"How frightening!" With his head lowered, Kizaru saw Toda's attack about to hit him.
In the blink of an eye, Kizaru finally moved. He twisted his body, evading Toda's right-hand strike by the smallest margin.
Immediately after, almost in an instant, Kizaru's right leg lifted, sending out an afterimage, and directly sent Toda flying.
Kizaru's swift counterattack at that moment made the watching teacher and students involuntarily exclaim.
"Brilliant, it was truly brilliant!"
Whether it was the perfectly timed movements to evade attacks or the fierce leg techniques when counterattacking, everyone present clearly recognized that Shimura Kizaru, this great demon king, possessed astonishing talent and strength in taijutsu as well.
Seeing Toda being sent flying into the air, Kiyoshi instinctively opened his mouth, wanting to take advantage of the opportunity to end the match and declare Kizaru the winner.
But as Toda was flying in the air, rolling his eyes, he noticed the teacher's action and hastily shouted, "I can still co…"
"Bang!"
Toda's words hadn't finished yet, and he crashed heavily onto the ground.
Suppressing the pain that scattered through his entire body, especially from the area where he was kicked, Toda, disregarding his embarrassment and anger, quickly got up from the ground and shouted, "I can still continue!"
Watching the determined student unwilling to admit defeat, after hesitating for a moment, Kiyoshi closed his mouth.
Seeing the teacher quiet down, Toda looked back at Kizaru and continued, "I said before, show me your full strength, you jerk, don't underestimate me!"
Shouting loudly, Toda charged once again towards Kizaru.
"What an amazing guy!" Kizaru exclaimed.
As he spoke, Kizaru began to form hand seals, saying, "Then be careful! If you can't catch this, you might die!"
"Kizaru!" Hearing Kizaru's words, Kiyoshi quickly shouted, tensing up his body.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere!"
After taking a deep breath, a large amount of wind chakra, imbued with nature transformation, spewed out from Kizaru's mouth, forming a massive transparent sphere of wind in front of him.
The enormous transparent wind sphere resembled an air-guided missile, heading straight towards Toda.
"Am I going to die? Is this it for me?"
Facing such a terrifying ninjutsu for the first time, Toda, charging forward, was scared stiff and froze in place.
"Quick, get out of there!" Seeing Toda seemingly petrified, Kiyoshi shouted while rushing forward.
Not only Kiyoshi, but even the Hyuga clan's branch Jonin, secretly watching from outside the school grounds, couldn't remain hidden and instantly used Body Flicker to rush into the field.
Even faster than the Hyuga branch Jonin were the Third Hokage Hiruzen and Danzo. They had already started moving when Kizaru began forming hand seals.
In almost the blink of an eye, the air-guided missile unleashed by Kizaru had already reached in front of Toda. Kiyoshi, the closest to Toda, had reached in front of him, but faced with Kizaru's powerful attack, he didn't have a good way out and could only choose to block it with his body in front of his student.
Hiruzen and Danzo, rushing from outside the grounds, were just a little bit away. It seemed that everything was happening too fast to intervene.