Ueki no Housoku

Synopsis

God' isn't a position for life, and the current God's term in office is almost up. Switching things up, he decides to chose the next God through a series of battle games and tournaments. The tournament isn't actually fought between the God Candidates, but between junior high school students chosen by the various 'God Candidates' and granted a special power and talents called 'zai.' The winning student gets a blank 'zai' as a reward, to write in whatever ability or talent they want, while their God Candidate becomes the next God.

Kousuke Ueki is one such junior high school student, chosen by Kobayashi and bestowed with the peculiar power to change trash into trees. Neither Kobayashi and Ueki are particularly interested in the tournament, but in order to protect himself and his friends from other chosen students, Ueki gets forced into participating. Driven by his image of 'justice', helped by the guidance and worry of the people who gather around him, Ueki is drawn deeper into the tournament, finding reasons to fight with the intent to win, instead of just to survive.