Chapter 43 (Patreon)

BOOM!

The dark-red Ranged Slash towered nearly eighteen meters high and stretched five or six meters across. Like a rampaging elephant, it tore forward with overwhelming force, crushing the ground in its path.

The instant the dark-red light erupted, an intense sense of danger swept over Neji Hyuga and Genma Shiranui.

Thanks to Mihawk’s earlier warning, both of them threw themselves aside at the last possible moment.

They had only just escaped the slash’s direct path when the resulting shock wave struck them, hurling them through the air.

The massive Ranged Slash ripped open the arena floor, carving out a trench several meters wide and deep. It continued for hundreds of meters before crashing into the enormous wall surrounding the stadium.

The entire venue shook violently.

A dense cloud of dust filled the arena.

When the dark-red light finally vanished and the dust slowly settled, everyone stared at the scene before them in stunned silence.

The entire arena had been split in two.

A massive trench ran straight through the field, while the wall—more than ten meters high—had been completely severed. Through the enormous opening, they could even see the buildings of the village outside the stadium.

The sight left the entire audience speechless.

The civilians were simply terrified by the destruction, but the shinobi present understood enough to feel something far worse.

Horror.

“Y-You have to be joking! Can swordsmanship really produce an attack like that?”

“Is it some kind of kekkei genkai? No—even a kekkei genkai shouldn’t be this ridiculous!”

“Who exactly is that silver-haired boy?”

“He’s not an ordinary genin! There’s no way a genin could do something like this!”

Voices filled with disbelief erupted throughout the stands.

Just as Kurenai Yuhi and Zabuza Momochi had been shocked when they first witnessed Mihawk release a four-or-five-meter-tall Ranged Slash, the shinobi in the audience were unable to accept what they had just seen.

That slash had been nearly eighteen meters tall.

Even Hiruzen Sarutobi and Orochimaru, who was disguised as the Fourth Kazekage, rose from their seats in shock. Their eyes were fixed on the destruction below.

“That slash contained no detectable chakra fluctuations,” the disguised Orochimaru said, a faint tremor entering the Fourth Kazekage’s voice. “And yet its destructive power was undoubtedly comparable to an S-rank jutsu.”

The hand holding Hiruzen’s pipe trembled slightly.

“A twelve-year-old with strength that of a Kage…”

S-rank jutsu were classified as the highest level of techniques, abilities that most shinobi could never learn no matter how much talent or effort they possessed.

Once a shinobi mastered a technique of that level, they possessed enough destructive power to threaten even a Kage.

The slash Mihawk had just released clearly possessed power comparable to an S-rank jutsu. Its destructive force might have even surpassed Kakashi Hatake’s Raikiri.

That single attack showed that Mihawk had already begun stepping into Kage-level territory.

A twelve-year-old with Kage-level strength.

And unlike the monsters raised during the brutal years of war, Mihawk had been born and trained during an era of peace.

Just what kind of terrifying existence was he?

Throughout the stadium, the Otogakure and Sunagakure shinobi secretly positioned in preparation for the upcoming invasion stared at Mihawk.

Their eyes were filled with undisguised killing intent.

Neji sat motionless on the ground.

He stared at the enormous trench and the severed wall, his face completely drained of color.

Mihawk calmly returned his sword to its sheath.

He pointed toward the trench that stretched across the arena.

“This is the wall standing between you and me.”

Neji said nothing.

He had been so thoroughly overwhelmed that he could not even force out a response.

“I used to think the same way you did,” Mihawk continued slowly. “I thought I was destined to live an ordinary life.”

His red eyes remained fixed on Neji.

“Unlike people like you, I wasn’t born with a kekkei genkai. I came from an ordinary civilian family.”

Mihawk paused briefly before continuing.

“But then I thought about the Fourth Hokage—the legendary shinobi who saved this village.”

“It’s said that he was also born without the support of a powerful clan. Even so, he changed his fate. He became the Yellow Flash of the Leaf, and eventually, the Fourth Hokage.”

Mihawk’s expression remained calm.

“If he could do it, why couldn’t I?”

He glanced at the destruction caused by his slash.

“Now that I’ve come this far, fate doesn’t seem so impressive anymore.”

Mihawk did not continue.

Those were the only words he could think of to make Neji reconsider his beliefs.

Whether Neji understood them or not was entirely up to him.

Neji’s expression changed drastically.

Mihawk turned away and began walking toward the passage leading to the waiting room.

Before leaving, he spoke one final sentence without looking back.

“Treat Hinata better from now on.”

Neji’s body stiffened.

Genma watched Mihawk’s departing back, his eyes filled with complicated emotions.

“That kid…”

Neji slowly pushed himself to his feet.

His head remained lowered, and the shadow cast over his face made his expression impossible to see.

He turned and began walking toward the opposite passage.

“Proctor,” Neji said quietly. “I surrender.”

Genma looked at him with a hint of pity before raising his voice.

“The winner of the first match is Nerona Mihawk!”

“That was incredible!”

“Is he even human? What was that dark-red ninjutsu?”

“Ninjutsu? That was swordsmanship!”

“Swordsmanship? Then is that boy an incredibly powerful swordsman like the legendary White Fang of the Leaf?”

The moment Genma announced the result, the stadium’s frozen atmosphere exploded.

The spectators who had finally recovered from their shock began shouting in excitement and awe.

After witnessing that slash, none of them could continue treating Mihawk as an ordinary genin.

Even the civilians with little knowledge of shinobi combat understood one thing.

That boy was already an overwhelmingly powerful shinobi.

Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Mihawk entered the passage and returned to the waiting room.

The moment he appeared, the remaining examinees turned toward him with undisguised surprise.

Temari and Kankuro, in particular, became even more wary of him.

In their eyes, Mihawk was a monster on the same level as Gaara.

Mihawk walked over and stopped beside Hinata.

Shino Aburame adjusted his sunglasses before asking in his usual emotionless voice, “Mihawk, was that your full strength?”

“My full strength?”

Mihawk blinked, seemingly surprised by the question.

The corner of his mouth then curved upward slightly.

“Yeah. That was everything I had.”

Shino stared at him.

His answer had been far too casual and obviously insincere.

Even Shino could not stop himself from drawing in a sharp breath.

A monster.

That terrifying slash had not even been Mihawk’s strongest attack.

Shino was right.

The slash Mihawk had released was nowhere close to his true full-power strike.

He had not used Armament Haki to reinforce his arms, nor had he put all of his physical strength behind the attack.

Even so, he had used roughly seventy percent of his strength.