__________ POV Narration __________

Akio sighed, his grip on his sickle getting tighter and tighter as he stepped down onto the spotless arena.

It had already been cleaned from the previous fight, and now it was ready for his. His sight was set on the opponent...

Uzumaki Takehiko. the red-haired teenager was a lot less 'on-edge' by comparison. He was about the same size as Akio and built similarly.

His weapon of choice was a pair of two sabres that were strapped to his back, similar to the blades that the Uzukage carried.

He strutted into the arena with a swagger, his demeanour clearly displaying a certain level of confidence.

"Jeez, it's finally my time! I was almost falling asleep out of boredom..." The Uzumaki teen started stretching a bit, almost as if he was preparing for a light workout.

"Hmm? I figured you'd use the opportunity to study your opposition a bit..." Akio was not usually talkative, but in such situations, he needed a better understanding of his opponent.

"Opposition? These dregs? Hah! Don't make me laugh... I only came here to win." Takehiko seemed to hold back a laugh as he spoke.

For a moment Akio tensed up, his brows furrowed and he wondered if his opponent was trying to get to him. But it seemed that Takehiko was trying no such thing.

There was no follow-up to that statement, he just let it float in the wind. Nothing more than an offhanded arrogant remark.

But his confidence was odd to most of the leaders present. Well, it was strange for everyone but Yorihhiko, who knew his limits best.

"This young man... He may wield a powerful bloodline, but that is not a good enough reason for such confidence." Mifune squinted a bit at the young Uzumaki.

"Hmph, I assure you that his confidence is not unfounded! You shall see!" Yorihhiko was still overwhelmingly proud of the young prodigy their village had produced. Any shame he may have felt otherwise was erased by said pride.

But the rest of the contestants that were paying attention all now stared at Takehiko with quite a bit of anger, Kushina included.

"Oh, but it is unfounded..." Ken was thankfully there to pour a bucket of cold water on top of the Uzukage's head.

Before the Uzukage could even respond, the Blind Assassin continued.

"Showcasing this level of confidence against opponents you have no information against is just foolish... You are raising him up to die, Yorihhiko."

Carefulness was something that Ken had deeply engrained into all of his students to try and prevent such a demeanour from appearing.

Not even Tatsukio, someone who was leagues above all of his peers, showcased that type of 'confidence'.

Sure, Yue was somewhat similar to the Uzumaki child, but she was essentially the one failed student that Ken had.

"Tsk... We do have an idea of Number 5's strength... We did see Number 2 and 4 duke it out earlier... But you'll understand where his confidence comes from when the fight starts."

He couldn't quite argue against Ken, as he respected the Assassin's opinion. He hadn't forgotten the helping hand that Ken had extended towards him.

In a sense, the survival of the Uzumaki Clan was inherently due to Ken's interference during, what would have been, the start of the Second Shinboi War.

Currently, Yorihhiko was the only person to really know what had happened during that part of history. And he was willing to take that secret to his grave.

It really was the least that he could do. But that didn't mean he was not the least bit annoyed that his Whirlpool Village needed an outsider to assist it.

Now, he wanted to showcase to him, as well as the other leaders of the Three Corners Alliance, that the Uzumaki were strong.

He felt the need to prove himself in a sense. As even during the previous war his Uzumaki Village had only gotten the chance to fight some dregs when coming to the Dark Brotherhood's assistance.

Even if it was a large number of dregs, it was still nothing to brag about. He needed something better.

The future generation of his clan overwhelming all others was a good way to go about this.

Of course, no matter how great a talent he could foster, it was nothing compared to Ken... But at least he could come up with someone better than all of the people under the Blind Assassin.

And that talent he found was none other than Takehiko.

A young man who had proven himself to be above most other shinobi, not just from his generation... But throughout the Uzumaki Clan, he was significantly powerful.

And that was all thanks to the Bloodline he wielded.

The Adamantite Sealing Chains were superior to ALL other bloodline limits. And Yorihhiko wanted to prove that with the Chunin Exams.

Back in the arena, Akio was still a bit taken aback by his opponent's proclamation.

But none of that was shown through his mask, he simply waited for the whistle to sound out, to signal the start of the match.

And the moment that sound broke through the air, he turned into a blur.

His sickle was already trying to harvest Takehiko's head within the first second of the match, making even the referee take a step back.

The young Uzumaki was also taken a back, barely managing to take a step back to avoid getting his head sliced off.

But Number 5 didn't stop there, instead he stomped towards the opponent's chest, aiming to break off some ribs.

Takehiko's response time was surprisingly fast however, as he managed to put his guard up in time.

He was still sent flying a few meters off, rolling on the ground as he scrambled to take out his sabres.

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The two of them clashed blades a few times, sparks flying out through the arena as Takehiko struggled to keep up with Akio's speed for a few seconds, before eventually getting accustomed to it.

"Fire Release: Mist Blaze Technique..." While fighting, Akio managed to make a few hand signs, and he slowly started spreading a special type of gas around his opponent.

As the gas spread, the two of them continued to clash. The Uzumaki Prodigy even managed to leave a few small cuts on Number 5's clothes. showcasing his superiority when it came to Kenjutsu at least.

But as the invisible gas spread out around him more, Takehiko couldn't help but start covering his face, holding his breath as he felt that the gas which had been spread out was poisonous in some way.

But oh, how wrong he was...

Akio was not going to give him any time to figure that out however, he immediately made a few hand signs and brought a finger to his mouth.

"Fire Style: Blazing Dragon!"

The young assassin immediately spat out a gigantic flaming dragon from his mouth, it twirled around in the air and headed straight for Takehiko.

The moment the spark from the dragon came in contact with the gas that had already been spread around him, it sparked into a flame.

A gigantic explosion shook the entire arena, causing most of the other contestants present to shield their eyes from the smoke.

"The ranks within the brotherhood are not only calculated based off of strength, Yorihhiko." Ken smiled underneath his mask as he slowly rested his chin onto his open palm.

"W-well, that does make sense since you're all assassins, not shinobi... But how would this 'Number 5' rank when it comes to actual fighting strength?"

The Uzukage's interest was piqued. He was still confident in his prodigy, but he was not one to ignore the truth in front of him.

Competition was going to be fierce.

"If I was to give an estimate... Then he is similar in overall fighting power with Number 4. He just specializes in different things." Ken already knew that Bull and Akio were similar in both strength and skill.

But the stark difference between them was their fighting style.

"One specializes in brute force and taijutsu, the other in agility and Ninjutsu..." The Hokage had also already noticed the difference between the two.

It was relatively obvious at the end of the day.

The Uzukage mumbled a bit as he pondered on those words, the scene in front of them all was still shrouded in smoke, both fighters were likely recollecting themselves.

Or rather, Akio had managed to turn the situation into an assassination. As now his opponent had no way of knowing when he'd attack, and from where...

"Still... That doesn't mean he can win against the genius we fostered..." Yorihhiko's confidence was still not faltering.

In an instant, Ken tilted his head.

A loud clang was heard from the gigantic cloud of smoke, then the sound of chains unfurling and stretching rang out throughout the arena.

In an instant, the smoke was blasted away by the sheer strength of the chains.

It gave everyone in the arena a clear look at how the Adamantite Sealing Chains manifested.

A dozen golden chains had sprouted out of Takehiko's back as he panted, they whipped around the arena and broke everything in sight along with blowing away the smoke.

Kushina couldn't help but sweat when seeing them.

'So that's our family's...'

She had not awakened her bloodline limit yet. It was unknown if she even would... But seeing it in action did make her a bit fearful.

Aside from Fuinjutsu, the Adamantite Sealing Chains were the greatest strength of the Uzumaki. A skilled user could even tie down a tailed beast momentarily.

A dozen users could indefinitely seal one in place.

As a bloodline, the chains could only really be matched by the Sharingan of the Uchiha, and the Byakugan of the Hyuga.

The only one among the leaders to be slightly impressed by those chains was Mifune.

But Ken had already 'seen' a much more skilled user of the Uzumaki Bloodline in Uzumaki Kazue, Kushina's older brother.

And the Hokage was already well aware of every recorded Bloodline. He had also seen it in the past as well.

The only thing that he found impressive was that the Uzumaki Clan Member as young as Takehiko had managed to awaken it.

After all, despite its strength, it was such a draining move that even using it required one to reach above a certain threshold when it came to chakra reserves...

'I guess his bloodline is pretty pure...' Hiruzen gave Yorihhiko a sideways glance as he thought of that, unsure what to think of the conclusion he reached.

Akio was however still nowhere in sight.

The Adamantite Sealing Chains were dancing around madly, breaking everything in sight, burrowing in the ground like snakes and lashing out towards the skies with anger.

"Coward! Hiding won't help you forever!" The young prodigy shouted as he sweated in exertion.

Even though he had unlocked his clan's bloodline ability already, that didn't mean he could use it for a prolonged period of time...

He had managed to use them in time to avoid more serious injuries during the previous combination Jutsu that Akio had used, but he had still received plenty of burns.

Those injuries also had their toll on him, and he knew that he would not be able to keep up his current pace forever.

In the real world, that would've surely spelt his death against a true assassin, someone like Ken for example... But he was currently in a tournament against others his age.

Akio eventually had to strike back at the raging Uzumaki.

He burst out of the earth from Takehiko's right side, his sickle covered in flames and aiming to slice open the Uzumaki Prodigy's stomach.

But Takehiko was expecting it. He turned his head to the side as soon as he felt the earth move. With a simple flick, one of his chains turned and struck the young assassin.

It whipped him with force, before wrapping around him in an instant.

"Check mate!" Takehiko smiled as he made a hand sign and walked up to his opponent with a cocky smile.

But before he could gloat further, the opponent he had caught turned into smoke, swapping with a log that had a paper tag on it.

The Uzumaki flung the log away in that same instant. The log exploding near the wall of the arena harmlessly.

The young Uzumaki then dug his chains into the ground, and quickly started vibrating them with force.

The entire building shook, a spiderweb of cracks spread throughout the entire arena as the walls seemed to be threatening to give out once more.

"Found you!" Takehiko shouted as one of his chains wrapped around and pulled up the broken form of his opponent.

Akio had certainly seen better days, his legs were both bent in odd directions, his strategy had not worked at all.

The earthquake had managed to gravely injure him. The outcome was clear already.

Still, Takehiko raised his opponent to almost the roof of the arena, just like a cat gloating after he had caught a rat.

"Winner! Uzumaki Takehiko!"

As soon as the referee said those words, the chains around Akio unwrapped, allowing him to fall towards the broken ground.

"..." Ken's position became slightly less relaxed as he cracked his neck, almost breaking it from the sound of it.

He seemed to be about to stand up, leap and catch Akio. But he didn't need to in the end.

Instead, someone else intercepted the falling assassin in mid-air, before landing on the ground with a heavy thud, one knee bent.

It was none other than the One-Legged Devil, Tatsukio. His back was to the leaders as he slowly placed his brother on the ground and heaved a deep sigh.

"Hoh? Number 1 came out to save his little brother?" The Uzumaki Prodigy spoke slowly as he faced off against Tatsukio, the tension between them almost breaking the air around them.

In an instant, a chain came out of Takehiko's back, and was immediately pointed towards Tatsukio.

At that moment, Ken finally decided to move. Before the leaders by his side could even blink, he was already in the middle of the arena, the golden chain that Takehiko had shot out caught firmly in his grasp.

"Huh?" The Uzumaki Prodigy was taken aback, he slowly glanced toward Ken's seat, where traces of his afterimage were still present.

The Prodigy couldn't help but sweat bullets when seeing Ken of all people stopping his attack.

He tried to move the chain, but it didn't even budge against the grasp of the Legendary Assassin.

'S-shit... I knew he was absurdly powerful, but he's still supposed to be part of our generation right?... I should still stand some chance against him, right?!?' Takehiko was panicking greatly internally.

But on the outside, he was still running on the high of winning his fight.

"The Red Dot in person is coming out to protect his students? That's so cut-" Takehiko was about to gloat at Ken of all people, but his mouth was clasped shut by Yorihhiko.

"Sorry for this one's impudence, Lord Ken..." The Uzukage gripped his disciple's mouth and immediately dragged him off elsewhere.

Ken just 'stared' in their direction for a few seconds before turning around slowly.

"Thank you for the help Master... But we can take care of ourselves." Tatsukio slowly bowed towards him, before disappearing

Ken himself turned into a blur and reappeared back in his chair.

The Hokage gave the Anbu presiding over the match a stern gaze as he turned to Ken and also apologised.

They were more than definitely going to interfere and stop Takehiko, but Ken was just a lot faster than them, and then Yorihhiko acted fast enough to save some face.

Regardless, the round had been a mess. But at the very least the preliminaries were over...