"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
Obito quickly formed hand signs, channeling chakra into his mouth, completing both nature and shape transformations at lightning speed, unleashing a fierce, blazing dragon that surged toward Uchiha Tetsuhiko.
Tetsuhiko had been increasingly astonished during their close combat. He never expected that just a vacation could lead to such growth in Obito; his progress since third grade was astounding.
Seeing Obito perform ninjutsu, Tetsuhiko immediately began his own hand signs, preparing to clash directly with Obito. He refused to believe that Obito's taijutsu had improved so much while his ninjutsu hadn't seen any advancement.
"There's no way I'll lose in a ninjutsu duel," he thought confidently.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!" Tetsuhiko unleashed his chakra, hurling massive fireballs the size of a person at Obito.
On one side, there was the ferocious, toothy fire dragon; on the other, the imposing fireballs. The two techniques were about to collide.
"I really envy them; they've all learned offensive ninjutsu," some students watching murmured, feeling a bit jealous. Many hadn't even mastered the body flicker technique, let alone learned new ninjutsu with no resources to do so.
"Wait, you call this the bottom of the barrel?" Other students from different classes were shocked. They expected to see Tetsuhiko's strength but were surprised that Obito could perform such a convincing fire technique.
At this level, he could hardly be considered the weakest; he was closer to an honor student.
"Still, I feel like Tetsuhiko is slightly stronger; his fireballs look a lot larger than Obito's fire dragon," one person commented, believing that in a ninjutsu duel, size mattered.
"Truly an Uchiha; I never expected Obito to be so deep," murmured Kimura Saito as he graded both. "Even if he's not as strong as Tetsuhiko, his strength is likely to place him at the top of my class—too bad his theoretical scores are terrible."
The students from powerful clans were truly different. During his student days, he was just happy to have mastered body flicker.
With his taijutsu performance and displayed ninjutsu, even if he got eliminated early, he'd give Obito a high score.
Just as the two techniques were about to clash, the fire dragon suddenly ascended, avoiding the fireballs, and instead continued to dive toward Tetsuhiko.
Obito swiftly moved, dodging the fireballs while controlling the dragon.
Tetsuhiko hadn't expected Obito to play dirty by avoiding the ninjutsu clash, and he found himself unable to respond; the fireballs couldn't change direction.
Realizing the fire dragon was closing in and seeing no escape, Tetsuhiko braced himself for impact, ready to take the hit.
At that moment, Muyu, who had been prepared, used body flicker to appear beside Tetsuhiko, whisking him away from the battlefield and setting him down safely outside.
"Thank you, teacher," Tetsuhiko said gratefully. Without Muyu's intervention, injury would have been unavoidable.
Muyu nodded in acknowledgment and announced the result: "The first match goes to Uchiha Obito!"
The onlooking students were still processing the rapid turn of events.
They had expected a fire release showdown, only to see Obito pull off a clever trick that ended the fight in an instant.
If it weren't for the teacher's intervention, Tetsuhiko might have been injured.
"Obito is no joke," some students thought, eyeing him warily.
Tetsuhiko's towering fireballs looked impressive, but they were generally hard to hit with.
Obito's Great Dragon Fire Technique, on the other hand, was much more agile, making it easier to hit opponents.
"Great job, Obito!" Rin Yuhara cheered for him, her face beaming with happiness.
She was genuinely proud of Obito for winning against Tetsuhiko in a practical exam. Now, even if his theoretical scores were low, no one would call him the weakest anymore.
In the end, a ninja's strength spoke for itself.
When Obito walked over, he heard Rin's praise and a proud smile spread across his face. "Hehe, I told you I'd be fine."
Obito felt immense gratitude toward Muyu. He knew the change was due to becoming Muyu's disciple, receiving his careful guidance every day.
If it were the old him, he'd likely have been beaten to the ground by Tetsuhiko in a taijutsu contest.
[Disciple Uchiha Obito's trust level increased; current trust level: 3]
As Muyu was reading through the exam roster, a message popped up from the system.
He glanced at Obito, who was grinning and chatting animatedly with Rin.
"It seems being love-struck isn't all bad," Muyu mused internally.
Trust levels were notoriously hard to raise; even a single increase offered a significant boost, doubling the rewards and enhancing the effects of teaching returns.
Though the chakra gained from previous disciples had been low, that was because Shisui and the others hadn't yet entered a period of rapid growth.
Once they reached that phase, if Shisui gained ten thousand chakra and increased a trust level, that would translate to ten thousand chakra.
Muyu expected that achieving a trust level of three during a semester would suffice.
Obito reaching level three in just a month was an unexpected gain.
The upcoming battles lacked the intensity of the first match, with no instances needing the teacher to step in. Muyu sat back, grading students' performances while occasionally chatting with Kimura.
Had he not been monitoring the exams, Muyu might have wandered around, looking for any overlooked talents.
He had four disciple slots and had filled three, leaving one vacant.
Without knowing if he could increase his disciple capacity, he was reluctant to fill that last slot with anyone below an S potential.
The higher the disciple limit, the more rewards he would gain in the future.
Konoha had many prodigies, and the ninja world was vast, so he wasn't in a hurry to fill the slots. Adding one more disciple wouldn't yield immediate benefits.
Muyu opened his panel to check his attributes.
[Name: Yuhara Muyu]
[Age: 18]
[Chakra: 5300]
[Skills: Water Release: Water Severing Wave, Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique, Water Release: Water Barrier, Wind Release: Pressure Damage...]
[Evaluation: You have mastered numerous ninjutsu, including several advanced techniques, allowing you to handle various situations; ordinary jonin are no match for you]
His strength had indeed increased quickly; he had gained a thousand chakra in a month and expanded his ninjutsu from two techniques to dozens, including powerful moves like Water Severing Wave. Just looking at the panel, he could easily outclass himself from when he first arrived.
The morning passed swiftly, and the first two rounds of battles wrapped up quickly.
However, Might Guy hadn't managed to redeem himself like Obito; his opponents were relatively average. Although Guy handled them cleanly, it didn't quite change anyone's perception of him.
Yet Muyu knew this was just a matter of time, as the internal class practical exam would conclude in the afternoon, determining the overall class champion.
(End of Chapter)