Book excerpt: Fierce battle competition, comedy, and an epic coming-of-age story--somehow Kosuke Ueki manages to remain true to himself through it all. A group of powerful beings called tenkaijin are holding a special tournament. The rules of the game--each tenkaijin selects a kid in junior high to be his champion and grants him a special power. The kids take each other on in heated battle, but if they hurt innocent bystanders, then they lose one of their natural-given abilities. Every time they win a battle, they gain a new ability. The ultimate winner of the tournament is granted any power of his choosing, and the tenkajin who he represents succeeds in becoming the next god. Kosuke Ueki has been chosen to fight in the tournament. His special power--the ability to turn garbage into trees. In a world of powerful celestial beings, an epic contest is being conducted to select the next king! Each Celestial selects a kid in junior high to be his champion and grants him a special power. The kids battle it out--losers are eliminated, and the winners are granted new talents! Seemingly ordinary Kosuke Ueki has been chosen to be a contender in the tournament. Granted the power to change trash into trees, Ueki has two disadvantages to overcome--one, he doesn't know he's a participant in the tournament, and two, how the heck can anyone win a battle with the power to turn trash into trees?