Will

"Argh…"

As Ren was struggling to get back up, Ozawa appeared next to him and kicked him in the gut, knocking him a few feet away.

Coughing out blood, Ren felt the cold ground through his cheek. Looking up, he saw Fugaku, who had his eyes closed, as if he had given up on him.

'…'

"Hahaha! Is this all you've got? So you were just bark, no bite…"

Ozawa slowly walked up to Ren, taking out his sword from its sheath. Seeing this, Ren clenched his fist tightly. He wasn't going to lose here… He still had to fight that person.

"Argh!"

Ren screamed as Ozawa stabbed his sword into his shoulder. In the quiet room, his screams were the only thing that resounded.

Placing a hand on his shoulder, Ren gnashed his teeth.

'I can't lose!'

"Die!"

Ozawa raised his sword, and then quickly slashed down. Activating his Sharingan, Ren was able to see it coming and rolled away at the last moment, dodging the blow.

Placing his hands on the ground, he pushed the ground with his hands and feet, making him jump to the roof. Once there, he stuck his feet to it with chakra.

Everyone looked up, surprised by the sudden turn of events. Looking at Ren, Fugaku smiled. Finally, the kid was showing some backbone.

"What the hell are you-"

Before Ozawa could finish speaking, Ren threw a slew of shuriken his way, forcing him to parry them with his sword.

Noticing that the last few were about to miss, he lowered his guard and smiled, only to realize that one of them was a kunai and had a paper bomb attached to it.

"Good…!"

Fugaku let out a small smile as he watched the kunai hit the floor, exploding in the process. He could see that Ren had used the shadow shuriken technique, creating a successful diversion.

Ozawa was sent flying as he screamed in pain. Being hit by a paper bomb at point-blank range was never good.

Heavily injured, he landed near the shuriken that had previously missed their target.

"I'm not finished!"

Ren pushed his feet on the roof and landed on the ground, performing hand seals at a quick speed. Inhaling some air, he shouted.

"Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu!" (Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!)[1]

Ren bit his teeth as three bursts of flame headed directly towards Ozawa, landing on his body and making him scream.

"As expected of an Uchiha… Those 'missed' shuriken were attached to wire strings…"

Hiruzen smiled... The Sharingan was a fearsome tool indeed.

Once the fire settled, Shigeo ran up to Ozawa's scorched body and raised his hand. Thankfully, he was still breathing.

"Ozawa Aki is unable to continue… The winner is Uchiha Ren!"

"He's better than I thought… Those eyes of his..."

Rasa still had his arms crossed as he observed Ren. Earlier, he only saw him as a mere cockroach, but he now had to re-evaluate him. As for his teammate, he would discipline him once they got back to Suna.

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[1] Not to be confused with the 'Great' dragon fire technique, the user spits flames from their mouth that, like a dragon, quickly travel forward in a straight direction. Upon contact with a target, the affected area is engulfed in flames. Whereas the Great Fireball Technique will burn everything in the vicinity, the Dragon Fire Technique is more narrowly focused at its initial target, likened to a projectile. It's a C-rank technique.

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Don't forget to drop some stones!

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