The moment of the finals finally arrived.
The setting sun was slowly sinking behind the massive rock mountains on the outskirts of Sunagakure, dyeing more than half the sky in a scorching yet somber orange-red.
The afterglow gilded the enormous circular arena with a heavy layer of gold, while also stretching the shadows of the two figures inside the field long across the ground.
The stands were roaring with noise, the waves of sound almost overturning the scorching air that had been baked under the sun for an entire day.
Shouts of anticipation, speculation, and encouragement intertwined into a surging sea of clamor.
Inside the arena, two figures stood silently facing one another.
Somewhat unexpectedly, the shinobi serving as the referee for the finals did not appear inside the field immediately as the previous referees had.
"I watched your previous match…" Karura spoke first. Her voice was gentle, her gaze resting on Shinichi, carrying a nearly apologetic complexity of emotion. "Your duel with your companion… it was truly astonishing. That posture of burning with everything for one's conviction—it is worthy of admiration."
Her expression did not resemble that of a shinobi about to engage her opponent in a life-and-death struggle; rather, she seemed like a gentle and composed girl next door.
"In your earlier match, your expenditure should have been quite great, correct? Such a duel may not be fair."
"Only…" She slightly lowered her eyes. "I have a reason I must win. I am sorry."
Her words were sincere, revealing the conflict in her heart, yet for the village, for the Kazekage's order, she had to win.
"Senpai, you are too polite." Shinichi slightly shook his head, his expression calm. "Standing here, we are opponents. Please have no concerns, and I ask that you… fight with all you have."
"Let us temporarily stop this exchange."
At that moment, a cool and crisp female voice suddenly rang out within the arena, interrupting the somewhat unusual atmosphere between the two.
The instant the voice sounded, a tall figure had already appeared between them like a ghost.
She was a young female shinobi of Sunagakure, with a well-proportioned and tall figure. Her skin was unusually fair for a desert native. She wore her black hair neatly tied up, and only two streaked locks at her forehead were dyed in a striking orange-yellow, adding a touch of brightness and unruliness to her cool temperament.
Her appearance was extremely abrupt. Aside from the very few experts in the stands who possessed sharp perception or extraordinary eyesight, almost no one saw how she entered the field. It was as if she had been standing there all along. That eerily swift speed instantly suppressed some of the noise both inside and outside the arena.
Pakura?
Shinichi's gaze slightly tightened, surprise rising in his heart.
The newcomer's outward features matched what he knew, but he didn't see at all how she cut into the arena. In his vision, he only barely caught a vague afterimage that had nearly blended into the air—so fast it exceeded the bounds of ordinary Body Flicker Technique.
Could it be that in this world, Pakura, aside from Scorch Release, had also mastered Swift Release?
A thought flashed through his mind.
"So fast!"
Jiraiya in the stands was also one of the few who could make out that fleeting trajectory. Instinctively, he began comparing her to his own beloved disciple, Namikaze Minato, who was likewise famed for Body Flicker Technique and speed.
"Kazekage-dono," the Third Hokage said with a chuckle as he took a puff of smoke, his gaze landing on the tall figure with orange-and-black hair in the arena. "This one should be the genius shinobi of your village who has risen to fame in recent years—Scorch Release Pakura, yes? Seeing her today, she truly lives up to her reputation. This speed alone is genuinely astonishing."
The Third Kazekage's expression remained calm, yet the slightly upturned corner of his mouth still betrayed a trace of unconscious pride. "Hokage-dono, you flatter her. Pakura does have some talent in speed and ninjutsu, but she still needs more tempering."
Inside the arena, Pakura seemed not to hear the exchange from the stands at all.
Her gaze swept calmly over Shinichi and Karura, without any extra emotion, as if she were merely carrying out an ordinary assignment. In a clear, crisp, strictly official tone, she announced: "I am the referee for this final match, Pakura."
"The finals—begin now!"
The moment Pakura's cool voice fell, Shinichi's figure abruptly blurred. With a long blade in hand, he became a black trace that tore through the air, launching a sprinting iaijutsu strike along the most direct and most ferocious straight-line path, his target pointing straight at Karura.
However, although Karura did not like fighting, her reaction was not slow in the slightest—after all, her raw strength was there.
She did not even form seals. With only a slight movement of her slender fingers, the scattered grains of sand across the field responded instantly, condensing and shaping into dozens of sand shuriken with razor-sharp edges. Accompanied by a shrill tearing sound through the air, they spread like a precise great net, covering the front half of Shinichi's charging path!
Shinichi's charging momentum did not slow at all, yet his body made an unbelievable series of minute sways and offsets mid-dash—like a fish weaving through dense reefs—barely letting most of the sand shuriken skim past his clothes by the narrowest of margins.
The few that truly could not be avoided were precisely knocked aside by swings of his katana. As the blade struck the sand, bursts of yellow dust erupted into the air.
In this charge-and-evade exchange, the distance between the two closed once again!
'What incredible speed—what agile footwork!'
'I can't be careless!'
Karura's gaze tightened slightly. Her palm had already lifted, giving a light sweep toward Shinichi's position.
More sand from the ground, like soldiers answering a monarch's command, surged up in a vast torrent. In the blink of an eye, it condensed into a gigantic sand palm large enough to cover nearly half the arena. Its five fingers splayed wide, carrying a heavy, light-blotting, all-crushing momentum as it viciously seized downward at Shinichi!
Shadow fell in an instant, and the fierce wind pressed down so hard that breathing momentarily stalled.
Shinichi's gaze was as sharp as a blade. Chakra erupted violently beneath his feet, and his speed increased yet another fraction beyond its limit!
Bursting forth with even greater speed and at an even trickier angle, he charged diagonally forward to the side!
Almost at the very last instant when the five fingers of the giant sand palm suddenly clenched together with a dull crashing sound, he slipped out in extreme peril through a gap between the fingers so narrow it was nearly nonexistent!
At the same time, while moving at high speed, his hands had already completed their seals.
Fire Release: Great Fireball!
A massive fireball, far exceeding the usual diameter, burst from his mouth like a falling miniature sun. Carrying terrifying heat that distorted the air itself, it tore through the sand-laden air and blasted straight toward Karura, who remained standing in place as if she had no time to evade!
Yet Karura's expression remained calm—or rather, she had no need to evade at all.
When the blazing fireball reached about three meters in front of her, the sand on the ground surged upward at high speed as if it possessed life and perception.
Boom!
A sand wall that appeared thin yet was extremely sturdy rose instantly from the ground, like a massive ancient shield standing firmly before the fireball.
The fireball slammed violently into the center of the sand wall, bursting into a skyful of streaming flames and black smoke. The surface of the wall was scorched pitch-black, emitting a terrifying sizzling sound, yet it ultimately failed to break through.
The shield stood unmoving, and behind it, even the hem of Karura's clothing was not stirred by the heatwave.
The first exchange was completed in a flash of lightning, so fast that many spectators had yet to react.
Karura's palm swept lightly once more, and another wave of sand surged up from the side like a yellow waterfall, crashing toward Shinichi, who had just landed, with a force meant to engulf everything.
Shinichi drew a deep breath. Relying on his exceptional speed and precise control over his body, he weaved and shifted nimbly through the gaps in the crashing sand wave and the relentless assault of sand spikes and sand spears—like a storm petrel persistently cutting through a tempest—again and again narrowly avoiding encirclement, and stubbornly, step by step, closing the final distance between them.
In the next several exchanges, the pattern was almost a repetition and intensification of the same rhythm:
Shinichi continually broke through the gaps in the sea of sand's attacks, pushing the distance to its limit before unleashing fierce sword slashes, explosive taijutsu strikes, or ninjutsu bombardments from cunning angles.
Karura, meanwhile, remained firmly at the center, controlling the seemingly endless sea of sand with her will. The sand shield would always appear at the most critical moment, in the most appropriate shape and thickness, precisely where it was needed.
Every one of Shinichi's attacks—whether the tangible edge of blade and fist, or chakra-infused flames—was blocked, absorbed, and neutralized.
Attack and defense as one, calm and unhurried.
The flowing sand seemed like an extension of her will, forming an absolute domain that appeared flawless.
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