Inferno

The arena was packed to the brim, not a single seat left empty. The third exam was structured as a traditional tournament—one-on-one duels where the winner advanced to the next round until a final champion was determined. Unlike the previous rounds, this stage was a grand public spectacle, deliberately designed to promote the fame of the young shinobi and, more importantly, to boost Konoha's prestige and economy.

The influx of visitors brought merchants selling their wares, nobles placing bets, and countless spectators eager to watch the battles. More people meant more money flowing into the village, from lodging and food sales to weapon shops profiting from shinobi inspired by the matches. The tournament wasn't just a test of strength—it was an investment in Konoha's prosperity.

The opening fight was crucial; it set the tone for the entire event. Traditionally, at least one participant was a high-profile shinobi, but this time, both were from minor villages. Representing Takimura was Mizuki Kasai, while her opponent, Nora Arasami, was from Kaiketsu (灰血).

The crowd roared in excitement as both kunoichi stepped into the arena, their movements slow and deliberate as they approached the center. The judge who stood between them was not from the Senju clan this time, but instead from the Uchiha. 

"While lethal attacks are permitted," he began with a calm but stern voice, "if you are deemed to be specifically going for the kill or using forbidden techniques, you will be disqualified." Though his words were directed at both competitors, his sharp gaze remained locked onto Nora's.

The girl smirked, tilting her head. "Don't worry, I won't damage her too much." Her tone was light, but her eyes glinted with something cruel. For a moment, she was the spitting image of her guardian.

Mizuki didn't hesitate to fire back. "I'd be more worried about yourself. Or do you, like your friend, enjoy burning away your own life force?"

The audience didn't understand what Mizuki was referring to, but the tension between the two was enough to send the crowd into a frenzy. Cheers and applause erupted, feeding the intensity of the moment.

Nora's smirk widened. "I don't need that technique to kill you, weakling. This time, no one's coming to save you—like they did your friend." She was enjoying this trash talk, especially since she was winning - or at the very least that's what she thought.

Mizuki didn't reply, but the flicker of fire in her eyes spoke volumes.

The Uchiha judge raised his hand. "Are you both ready?"

A brief silence fell over the arena.

"Begin!"

The moment the judge's hand dropped, Nora vanished, flickering behind Mizuki in an instant.

But Mizuki was already prepared.

"Wind Release: Dust Spiral."

The ground trembled as fierce winds erupted around Mizuki, kicking up a swirling storm of dust and debris. Nora barely had time to halt her attack before the thick veil of dust obscured Mizuki entirely. She hesitated, waiting for the winds to settle. But instead of dying down, they grew stronger, expanding outward until half the arena was swallowed in a dense, suffocating cloud.

The spectators murmured, straining their eyes to catch a glimpse of the fighters through the haze.

Then, something unexpected happened.

"Look, Mommy! A butterfly!" a small child's voice rang out from the stands, pointing excitedly.

The audience turned their gaze to the arena, where a single, eerie butterfly glowed in the dust-filled air, its wings fluttering with an unnatural grace. Then, as if summoned by an unseen force, another appeared. Then ten. Then twenty.

Then hundreds.

The arena was bathed in an ominous crimson light, the flickering glow of countless butterflies moving gracefully, their delicate wings stirring the dust in mesmerizing patterns.

Nora's stomach tightened.

[What the hell is this?]

She had expected Mizuki to use Scorch Release—they all saw how she fought in prelimenaries—but this? This was something else entirely.

A bead of sweat rolled down her temple.

[If even one of those things touches me, I'll be burned. Badly.]

Her fingers clenched around her blade. Every instinct screamed at her to retreat, but that wasn't an option. Her entire clan was raised on the philosophy that retreat was worse than death. Close combat was their foundation, their pride, and their way of life. But how was she supposed to fight when she couldn't even close the distance?

[Water Release? No… I'd need a massive amount to counter this heat.]

Mizuki, meanwhile, stood firm within the crimson storm. Her expression was composed, her body unmoving, but her eyes told another story.

There was a fire in them.

Not wild nor raging like in the Forest of Death.

It was contained. Controlled.

She took a step as one of the butterflies flew very close to her. [unfortunately, I can't control them once they manifest, however, they will follow the initial order I give them which is to fly around a certain area and to never clash with me, no matter what.] This was the first technique Mizuki created, she saw Kaoru working on his water guardian a few times after he was defeated effortlessly by Maki's predator's pact. Mizuki got inspired and wanted to create something that would be her own, her brand technique.

"Scorch Release: Butterfly Inferno"

The biggest weakness of Mizuki's technique was that if the butterflies touched her, she would also take damage. However, without an external force disrupting them, they would never collide with her on their own.

Nora's mind raced.

[This technique must have taken a massive amount of chakra. If I find a way to counter it, I should have the upper hand.]

But before she could devise a plan, she noticed something odd.

Mizuki was moving.

Not fast—just a slow, deliberate walk. But despite her movement, the swarm of crimson butterflies remained centered around her. They followed her like a living aura, constantly shifting and multiplying, though at a slower rate than before.

[She's not trying to leave the area… she's spreading it.]

Realization struck.

[If she has enough chakra to keep this up, the whole arena will be covered. I'll have nowhere to run.]

Nora clenched her jaw. She had to test something.

Wind was her primary element. If Mizuki's butterflies behaved like flames, then strong wind should be able to push them back toward their creator.

Her hands moved in a blur, weaving a rapid sequence of seals. She inhaled sharply, gathering chakra into her lungs, then exhaled a powerful gust aimed at a small cluster of butterflies.

Her muscles tensed, she maintained extreme focus. Nora needed to be ready to flicker away the moment something felt off.

The wind struck.

For a split second, it looked like her plan might work. The butterflies wavered, their formation shifting slightly.

Then—nothing.

They resumed their fluttering, completely unfazed.

Nora frowned and pushed harder, increasing the force of the wind. But it was like blowing into a bonfire that refused to sway.

Then she noticed something alarming.

The wind wasn't even reaching them.

It swept around them, as if an invisible barrier shielded them from external interference.

Her breath caught in her throat.

[Wind is useless?]

If a weak gust couldn't disrupt them, did she really want to risk a stronger blast? If these butterflies were scattered throughout the arena, unlike Mizuki, they wouldn't avoid her.

The thought of her own wind techniques sending burning insects flying toward her made her hesitate. She took another glance at fiery butterflies and tried to analyze them.

[They're not just fire… they exist within their own updraft, protected by something similar to heat cocoon. Wind release doesn't counter them—it might even make them faster.]

A faint smile flickered across Mizuki's face as she watched Nora's failed attempt.

The crowd erupted into cheers.

Even the most casual spectators could see how overwhelming Mizuki's technique was. The proctors kept making notes as they analyzed the battle.

Meanwhile, in the stands, a man wrapped in bandages leaned slightly toward Hiruzen, his voice laced with intrigue.

"It's still early, but this girl will be a menace on the battlefield," he mused. "Such a pity she isn't from Konoha… or doesn't belong to Konoha."

Hiruzen didn't respond. He didn't even glance in the man's direction.

Lately, ignoring those closest to him had become a habit.

First his student.

Now his best friend.

A shadow passed over his features as he exhaled quietly, lost in thought.

[Sensei… Minato… I think you're in a better place than me.]

Despite his thoughts, Hiruzen's face remained impassive as he continued watching the fight.

"Sensei, did you know Mizuki was working on this technique?" Kaoru asked, leaning so far over the railing that one weak push could send him flying into the arena. Shin was standing beside him, his face was stoic and emotionless as always.

"Yes, I knew," Shin replied without taking his eyes off Mizuki. His face remained indifferent, but there was the faintest trace of pride in his voice.

Kaoru frowned, still analyzing Mizuki's technique. "Sensei, why didn't the wind work? The moment I saw those butterflies, I thought wind would be their weakness. I even figured a strong gust would force them to crash into Mizuki herself. I thought it was a beautiful technique, but easy to counter."

Kaoru wasn't even looking at Shin anymore—he just expected an answer. And he wasn't the only one. People around them subtly leaned in, trying to eavesdrop.

"It's simple," Shin began, "Those butterflies aren't just fire; they're chakra constructs. They absorb air to sustain themselves, and their movement follows a fixed pattern sustained by Mizuki's chakra, so as long as she supplies them with chakra it will be very difficult to move those butterflies from their fixed pattern. On top of that, they generate intense heat, creating a thermal cocoon around them."

A curious girl sitting nearby spoke up, unable to contain herself. "Does that mean wind is useless against them?"

Shin didn't mind the interruption. "Not entirely. A strong enough gust would scatter them, no question. The real problem is that the butterflies instinctively avoid Mizuki, so if they're blown off course, they'll spread out unpredictably. It would be much harder to dodge them in the middle of battle than it is now while they're contained in a fixed pattern. And that only if Mizuki has not improved the technique further after we tested it. Nora was smart—she tested a weaker wind first instead of blindly throwing everything she had."

As he finished speaking, Shin suddenly flinched, his sharp gaze shifting toward the Kaiketsu guardian.

[That despicable woman,] he thought, his expression darkening.

Nora shrugged uncomfortably. "Alright then, since sensei gave her order, I have no choice but to obey."

She quickly formed hand seals and inhaled deeply, her chest expanding nearly twice its normal size.

"Wind Release: Spiraling Gale!"

A counter-rotating vortex erupted from her mouth, rapidly expanding as it sucked in dust, debris, and loose objects before violently expelling them outward in chaotic spirals. The vortex moved steadily toward the mass of floating butterflies

[As soon as it reaches the butterflies, they'll start raining down everywhere. Most of them will be flung toward me, but some will definitely be thrown at Mizuki. The difference is, I have the better position. She's boxed in—vortex in front, butterflies behind. I, on the other hand, can move freely.]

Nora tensed her entire body, her muscles coiling like a spring. Faint wisps of steam rose from her skin—it wasn't quite like Hora's technique, but it was similar. She was clearly preparing for an all-out offensive.

The vortex crept forward, and even experienced shinobi in the audience held their breath. The battlefield was turning into chaos.

It started raining butterflies.

Those that collided with the ground or walls left scorched trails in their wake. The ones flung wildly through the air slowly regained stability and fluttered back toward Mizuki, trying to return to their original pattern. The battlefield became a swirling storm of glowing crimson embers, unpredictable and lethal.

Through it all, Mizuki walked forward, her expression did not falter, even once. She was the same indifferent Mizuki.

Nora observed the thinning butterflies, her fingers tightening around the hilt of her blade. Open spaces were forming in Mizuki's defense, gaps just big enough to squeeze through. But she didn't rush in just yet.

[Patience. The vortex is doing its job. Let her waste her chakra trying to stop it.]

Mizuki, however, had no intention of letting this drag on. She formed hand seals.

"Scorch Release: Concentrated Fireball."

A massive sphere of fire materialized between her and the vortex. Instead of being pulled in, it released an intense heatwave upon impact with the ground. The sudden thermal shift disrupted the vortex's trajectory, causing it to veer sideways and dissipate harmlessly.

That moment of distraction was all Nora needed.

In an instant, she flickered behind Mizuki, slipping through one of the gaps left by the scattered butterflies.

"As I expected—just like your friend, you crumble the moment your defense is broken."

Her blade sliced through the air, aimed directly at Mizuki's shoulder.

For the first time since the fight began, Mizuki's face froze—her eyes widening slightly in genuine surprise.

**

A/N - 

Did you like Mizuki's new technique? I think it fits her perfectly - graceful and absolutely lethal if you get too close.

Should I dedicate a chapter to Mizuki's and Nora's backgrounds next? I feel like it's time we start diving into the backstories of the side characters. Let me know what you think!

Character Notes:

Mizuki – Grateful – "Finally a chapter where Im running the show."

Shin – Emotionally Unavailable – "Yes, I knew about the technique. No, I did not warn you. Yes, I enjoyed watching your confusion."

**