I'm in Konoha, and I started with Ashura Chakra.

Chapter 54 Shocks the Entire Audience, Hiruzen Sarutobi's Excitement

"...Revive the crisis!"

Watching the crashing waves, Hyuga Neji's eyes widened. He didn't even have time to be shocked by Yagyu's one-handed hand seals. He quickly rotated his body to release chakra from various acupoints and used the Eight Trigrams Palm: Rotation, a technique that only members of the main family were qualified to learn, but which he had learned by relying on his own talent.

A huge hemispherical energy shield immediately appeared.

It wasn't that Hyuga Neji wanted to use the Rotation Defense, but rather that he had no choice but to!

Yagyu's one-handed hand seals were executed so quickly that no one could react in time.

Moreover, his water jutsu was too exaggerated. The water waves, which were higher than the stands, would definitely fill the entire hall when they crashed down, and Hyuga Neji would have no way to dodge them.

As soon as the energy shield formed, waves crashed heavily against the rotating hemisphere.

boom--

With a deafening roar, an astonishing torrent of water surged outwards, instantly filling the entire hall and forcing Moonlight Gale to teleport back to the second-floor stands.

Just as the water level was about to reach the stands, the water seemed to break through something and surged towards other parts of the first floor of the tower.

Yagyu gathered chakra in his feet, stood on the surging water, and squatted down to insert his palms into the water.

A small whirlpool appeared, the water swirling upwards, coiling around Liu Sheng's forearm like a snake.

As the water level dropped rapidly, the energy shield, which had not been shattered by the waves, continued to spin at high speed.

But no one's gaze was on the energy shield; instead, it was fixed on Liu Sheng's palm.

Suddenly, a water spear appeared in Liu Sheng's hand.

The Jonin in the stands all narrowed their eyes as they stared at the water spear.

Even Hiruzen Sarutobi and Kakashi Hatake were shocked!

Might Guy, no longer acting so nonchalant, was about to take the initiative to help Hyuga Neji admit defeat.

Unfortunately, he was still a step too slow.

whoosh-

A piercing whistling sound echoed throughout the stadium.

Yagyu leaped high into the air and hurled the water spear in his hand.

Like a shooting star, the rapidly spinning energy shield shattered instantly with a "crack".

Hyuga Neji spun around and fell to the ground.

Next to him, a water spear formed by flowing water was stuck in the ground, with the spearhead and shaft submerged in the ground.

The next second, the water cannon exploded with a bang.

The terrifying suction force, like an invisible giant hand, grabbed Hyuga Neji's body and spun him around at high speed in the air.

The moisture in the air gathered again, turning into water flow and forming a vortex eye.

The water flow manifested as more and more water, and in the blink of an eye, it formed a huge waterspout.

The astonishing suction force caused all the ninjas in the stands to quickly grab the handrails, gather chakra in their feet to grip the ground, and fight against the water tornado.

"The Fifth Gate of the Eight Gates Formation - Gate of Blockage - Open!"

Just as the waterspout was about to destroy the hall and the second-floor stands, a loud shout suddenly rang out.

Immediately, a figure radiating green flames flew out of the stands like an arrow and kicked the water tornado.

The terrifying waterspout was instantly shattered by a single kick, and the chakra and water flow transformed into a raging storm that swept through the entire hall and the second-floor stands, leaving everyone soaked to the bone.

The person in the figure was Might Guy.

After the rain stopped, Might Guy landed with the unconscious Hyuga Neji in his arms.

"The battle is over, the winner is—Yagyu."

Moonlight Gale instantly returned to the hall and announced the result of the duel.

The entire room fell silent!

Regardless of gender, whether they were genin or jonin, or even Hiruzen Sarutobi, no one cared that they had become soaked to the bone.

All eyes were fixed on Yagyu, who was using hair gel to comb his wet hair.

"Gurgle..."

Someone swallowed hard, breaking the silence that was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Trembling voices rang out one after another:

"S...S-rank Water Release!"

"There's no mistake, this kind of change in nature and form is definitely a Water Release technique of the ultimate level!"

"Water vortex, water spear, water tornado, wait... this... isn't this the Second Hokage Tobirama's Water Release: Hard Vortex Water Blade?!"

"He really is a descendant of the Senju clan!"

"..."

The murmurs echoed throughout the arena, and the Jonin who recognized the Hard Vortex Water Blade looked at Yagyu with renewed interest.

If they were still somewhat skeptical of Hyuga Neji's speculation before, they are now almost entirely convinced.

Silver hair and red eyes, monstrous chakra reserves, terrifying mastery of Water Release techniques, and the ultimate Water Release techniques developed by the Second Hokage... This is practically a teenage version of Tobirama Senju!

Ignoring the stares of the others, Yagyu walked up to Might Guy and smiled, "My attack just now avoided his body. He should just be suffering from drowning and severe chakra depletion. Let me heal him."

"Then I'll have to trouble you, young man."

Having already checked Hyuga Neji's physical condition, Might Guy grinned.

He showed no blame or dissatisfaction whatsoever for Yagyu's near-killing of his student.

Watching Yagyu treat Hyuga Neji, Hiruzen Sarutobi in the stands trembled slightly as he held his pipe, his emotions running wild and indescribable.

When Yagyu was at the Ninja Academy, Hiruzen Sarutobi had already taken notice of this commoner orphan.

After all, the 60th Konoha Youth League is truly exceptional.

Naruto's generation of newborns represents the future of Konoha.

Their growth means that the weakened Konoha will be reborn.

If they die, it means that the great tree of Konoha has completely withered.

Therefore, anyone who dares to harm this generation of newborns will be crossing Hiruzen Sarutobi's bottom line.

Even Shimura Danzo, whom he had always tolerated, would be met with no mercy from Hiruzen Sarutobi.

At the same time, Hiruzen Sarutobi also placed great importance on the growth and safety of this generation of newborns.

Therefore, he appointed Kakashi Hatake as a Jonin instructor for Naruto and Sasuke Uchiha, Asuma Sarutobi as a Jonin instructor for the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, and the genjutsu expert from Konoha as a Jonin instructor for Team 8.

Even Hyuga Neji and Tenten, who graduated a year earlier than Yagyu and the others, were assigned by him to be Jonin instructors.

Of the four instructor Jonin, three are elite Jonin.

This shows how much Hiruzen Sarutobi valued the Konoha 12.

Yagyu was not originally on Hiruzen Sarutobi's list of priorities.

It wasn't until he became the top student, and held the top student position for two consecutive years, and became very close to the heirs of the Hyuga clan and the Yamanaka clan, that he truly caught Hiruzen Sarutobi's eye.

Hiruzen Sarutobi also used the Crystal Vision Technique to observe Yagyu several times. He saw Yagyu teaching Ino and the other two girls how to climb trees and walk on water, as well as medical ninjutsu. He then discovered that Yagyu had excellent chakra control and was a promising talent.

After seeing Yagyu demonstrate his Water Release and Sensory Techniques, Hiruzen Sarutobi decided to take a gamble.

He wanted to see if Yagyu possessed Yin-attribute chakra.

Therefore, when it came time to choose his class, he chose Kiba Inuzuka over Yagyu.

After receiving the answer from Kurenai Yuhi, Hiruzen Sarutobi's initial expectation for Yagyu was simply that he become Konoha's next generation of genjutsu experts.

Unexpectedly, he greatly underestimated this ordinary genius!

An enormous amount of chakra, such mastery of Water Release techniques, and Tobirama's Water Release: Hard Vortex Water Blade...

Regardless of whether this boy is a descendant of the Senju clan or not, his physical talent and Water Release ability could easily train him to become a bootleg Second Hokage!

Even if he's just a copy of Tobirama, Yagyu can still become a towering tree in Konoha!

Once Naruto and Sasuke Uchiha have grown up, Konoha will return to the era of having the Legendary Sannin!

In this way, he wouldn't be ashamed to face the previous Hokage!

(End of this chapter)