"What a powerful combo move… Looks like all three of them have been hiding their real strength."
Perched up in a tree, Shino Aburame muttered to himself as he watched the rising dust clouds from the forest clearing.
At the same time, he was already on the move—sending out swarms of insects under the cover of the dust, quietly guiding them toward Kurenai Yuhi, aiming to snatch the bell from her waist while she was distracted.
Unfortunately, Hinata had already tipped their hand.
As a jonin from the sensory unit, Kurenai's perception skills were nothing to scoff at.
Startled by Hinata's combo technique, she had already activated her sensory jutsu the moment the smoke enveloped her.
The positions of the three—Kenjiro, Hinata, and Shino—as well as the approaching insects, were all instantly exposed.
POP!
Like a balloon bursting, a sound echoed through the smoke.
When the dust finally cleared, the only thing left on the ground was a chunk of wood with insects circling around it.
Substitution Jutsu!
Team 8 didn't look the least bit surprised.
Hinata, veins bulging at her temples from the activation of her Byakugan, scanned her surroundings. In her black-and-white vision, nothing was hidden—not Shino concealed on a tree branch, not Kurenai moving through the forest using the white smoke as cover, nor Kenjiro closing in like a blur, already making his move.
Seeing Kenjiro appear right in front of Kurenai and launching into an attack, Hinata's lips curled up slightly. Her eyes had picked up something no one else saw.
She pulled out a strip of cloth, nodded once toward Shino's location, and vanished.
The low hum of insects soon followed.
Elsewhere in the woods, the clash of steel rang out—sharp and rhythmic.
Zoom in—a boy and woman, barely a few centimeters apart in height, locked in a blade fight, each gripping a kunai in reverse grip, exchanging fast and precise strikes.
Kenjiro aimed his blade at Kurenai's vital spots—stab, slash, sweep—every strike full of speed and decisiveness. So fast, in fact, that even someone as seasoned as Kurenai could only fall back and defend.
At first, she stayed calm. Her combat experience gave her confidence.
But very quickly, her eyes widened, pupils contracting sharply as her expression changed drastically.
"Impossible?!"
She even gasped aloud.
Kenjiro knew exactly what had shaken her—his smirk said it all.
And then—poof—he vanished in a puff of white smoke.
At that exact moment, three voices rang out from different parts of the forest:
"Fire Style: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
Three blazing orange fire dragons, each about four meters long, roared out from three directions, surrounding Kurenai like the evening sun setting ablaze the woods.
There was no time for a body flicker, and genjutsu was useless here. Kurenai could only form hand seals quickly and shout:
"Water Style: Water Formation Wall!"
A waterfall-like stream burst from her mouth, spinning with her body to crash into the incoming flames.
Explosions and hissing steam echoed through the forest, and thick, white mist began to fill the air, spreading rapidly—even reaching the clearing where the test started.
"Cough, cough…"
Kurenai emerged from the mist, coughing and slightly staggered.
Suddenly, she paused, her expression freezing.
Then came the familiar sound:
Ding-a-ling…
The soft, clear chime of a bell, growing closer.
A gust of wind scattered the mist. Team 8 stepped out from the trees.
At the center, Kenjiro walked forward with an easy smile, twirling the bell in his fingers as he looked at Kurenai.
"Sensei, would you say we've passed?"
"…Impressive. I was on guard the whole time, and you still managed to steal the bell."
Kurenai looked at the spotless Team 8, then down at her own somewhat disheveled state. She was a little embarrassed, but more than anything, she was happy.
She smiled, full of praise. "Strong abilities. Great tactics. I lost fair and square."
"No… a shinobi's battle is a battle of information."
Kenjiro shook his head gently and replied with a grin, "We only got the bell so easily because you revealed your specialty too early and didn't gather enough intel on us. If this were a real fight, life or death, it wouldn't have gone so smoothly. We only won because you went easy on us."
Hearing this, Hinata and Shino—who had deliberately kept a step behind Kenjiro—both turned to look at him in surprise, their thoughts running wild.
'K-Kenjiro-kun… That was so smooth…'
'Wait, you can say stuff like that? Is that… flattery?'
Even Kurenai blinked in surprise. Then, her smile widened, and her gaze toward Kenjiro softened, full of approval.
"You really know how to talk."
With the awkwardness melted away, she quickly regained her usual cool demeanor. She stepped forward and gave Kenjiro a pat on the shoulder, then threw an arm around Hinata's shoulders.
"Come on, let's go celebrate the official formation of Team 8. Sensei's treating you all to a big meal."
Walking down the forest path toward the town center, Kurenai glanced curiously at Kenjiro.
"Kenjiro, how did your Shadow Clone break my genjutsu during the fight?"
Genjutsu disruption was taught in the academy. All it required was disturbing one's chakra flow.
Easy in theory. Hard in practice.
Especially during combat—where focusing chakra to interrupt it usually meant forming hand seals, which wasn't something you could just do mid-fight.
What had shocked Kurenai wasn't that Kenjiro himself had broken free.
It was that his clone had shrugged off her genjutsu like it was nothing.
"That's top secret, Sensei."
Kenjiro raised a finger to his lips with a wink. "In the world of shinobi, information is everything. Secrets are what make men more interesting."
As he said this, he tossed a flirty wink at Hinata, causing her to blush and lower her head in embarrassment.
"You're not a man yet—you're still a brat," Kurenai rolled her eyes. "Come back and say that again when you're twenty and can drink with your sensei."
She didn't press the issue, though.
But deep down, her evaluation of Kenjiro had already surpassed that of both Hinata and Shino, despite them being from prestigious clans.
Massive chakra reserves, powerful fire-style ninjutsu, a mature personality, and sharp shinobi instincts…
At that moment, Kurenai finally understood why Kenjiro had been able to dominate the academy and stay at the top—above even the elite clan kids.
Kenjiro didn't respond to her teasing. Just smiled quietly.
Of course, he wouldn't tell her the real reason he was immune to her genjutsu.
It wasn't just because of his overwhelmingly strong Yin-style chakra.
It was because he could cast and manipulate chakra without even forming seals.
Where others had to use hand signs to control chakra, Kenjiro didn't need to.
He was the natural-born nemesis of genjutsu.
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