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[— Manga Scene —]
"So basically everyone is headed to the tower, right?"
"Then setting traps near there would be best."
Team Hinata, Kiba, and Shino were discussing their plan among themselves when Kiba suddenly sensed the arrival of guests.
"Hey, already. Where are they…?" said Kiba.
"Heh… Kids, standing in the open. Do they want to be found? Looks like they've sensed us."
"Hehe… but they don't know exactly where we are." The shinobi who had been speaking suddenly noticed something wrong with his companion.
"What's wrong? You're turning blue." He then saw a leech sucking blood from his teammate, and in the next moment, dozens of leeches began dropping on them. "Ahhhhh!!!"
Kiba and the rest of his team looked toward the source of the screams with mischievous smiles.
"Guu… Damn it…"
"Huh!?" Before they even realized how bad the situation was, they had already been caught in the real trap.
"Leaf Village jumping leeches will sense life forms and attack in groups. Five minutes of sucking and you'll be in the next world. Realizing that and setting traps where the enemy might escape to. One down!!!" Kiba explained how they had worked with nature itself to create a perfect trap.
"Uwaa!!"
"Ahhh!!!" Their screams could be heard even outside the Forest of Death.
"Sounds like it's started," Anko said with a smile.
[— End Scene —]
"Kiba… this member of my clan looks like he's on a picnic…"
"Eliminating a few weaklings using jumping leeches and beginner traps isn't something to feel proud of…"
"Isn't Akamaru with you? Why not take them down in a face-to-face fight?"
The one speaking among the members of the Inuzuka clan was a fierce-looking fourteen-year-old girl.
She was already a Chunin at this stage. Her name was Inuzuka Tsume, and apparently, she would be Kiba's mother in the future.
But she didn't know that yet. All she knew was what she had seen in the manga up to this point.
"…And I haven't seen anything from you yet… Hinata looks more useful than you… and that Aburame kid is even more mysterious than you… Tsk."
Tsume clicked her tongue as she flipped to another page of the manga.
Ever since the Naruto manga appeared a few months ago, one thought had been constantly disturbing her mind… would she ever be qualified to appear in the events of this manga someday?
If that happened, how would she react?
Would she feel happy? Well… she had felt happy before, when that child named Inuzuka Kiba first appeared. With his animalistic look that resembled her so much, he seemed like a young male version of herself…
But she never thought he might be her future son or anything like that, because she had never even considered relationships in the first place.
All she thought about was becoming stronger and fiercer alongside her canine companion, Kuromaru.
That was why she assumed he might be her nephew, or the child of another clan member, or perhaps just a fictional character in the manga whose name happened to be tied to the clan.
However, the other members of the clan did not share that view. They were almost certain she might be Kiba's mother.
At this moment, many pairs of eyes from the clan, including Tsume's brother, were staring at her with strange expressions.
'Didn't you do the same thing during the Chunin Exams?'
Everyone knew how she had used natural traps to defeat her opponents in the same way Kiba had just done.
…
Not far from the Inuzuka clan were the members of the Hyuga clan.
"I'm looking forward to seeing Neji's performance… he might be the strongest of his generation."
"Stronger than Sasuke and Naruto?"
"Well, why not? What's stopping that from being the case?"
"But they're the protagonists of the story…"
"So what? Being the protagonists doesn't necessarily mean they'll be the best, right?"
"Well, arguing about it now is pointless. Let's just see what happens. From this point onward, there will be fights and battles. The teams that survive the guillotine of failure will be the strongest."
"So save your breath…"
On the pages of Chapter 46, the first page showed the various teams spreading throughout the Forest of Death.
The first team shown moving gracefully between the branches of the trees was the team of Neji, Rock Lee, and Tenten.
Then came the scene of the small trap set by Team Kiba, Hinata, and Shino.
Speaking of Hinata, her timid appearance, weak confidence, and shy, gentle demeanor made her seem rather weak in the eyes of the Hyuga clan members.
Because of that, no one took her seriously yet, and all attention was focused on the only clan boy who had appeared so far: Hyuga Neji.
However, for the clan leader Hyuga Masanori, the situation was completely different. For some reason, he favored Hinata.
'So cute… I think she'll be my granddaughter.'
Masanori had a gentle expression as he looked at Hinata in the manga, something his wife quickly noticed.
"I think Hinata will surprise everyone later on…"
The clan leader's wife, mother of Hiashi and Hizashi, smiled as she spoke, causing everyone to turn their heads toward her.
Since they respected the clan leader's wife deeply, they could only nod in agreement… at least outwardly.
…
At this moment, Kushina felt extremely irritated. Her hair almost seemed ready to turn Super Saiyan God from anger.
"That annoying little girl…"
'It would be OK if it were Sasuke-kun, hehehe…'
In the next scene, Sakura punched Naruto when he wanted to go pee, while her inner thoughts revealed a completely different attitude toward Sasuke.
This made Kushina hate Sakura to the bone.
Not because she thought Naruto was her son and shouldn't be treated that way, but because she could see that Naruto's feelings toward Sakura were sincere, while Sakura treated those feelings like garbage.
This made her extremely angry, and she wasn't the only one who felt that way.
"This is really annoying, especially since it happens so often."
Even Minato, who usually didn't care about these "comedic" scenes, found it irritating. Bullying Naruto and hitting him every time, while not daring to do the same with Sasuke… it was truly unpleasant.
"See? I told you, Minato! Even you're annoyed!"
Kushina finally calmed down a little.
"Wait, what!? Even you, Sasuke!!"
Just as Kushina was about to explode with anger again after Sasuke punched Naruto harshly, Minato pointed to the next scene.
Kushina followed his finger.
"Where's the real Naruto?"
This was Sasuke's question after he had hit Naruto. Sakura thought he was trying to appear like he was "punishing" him in front of her. But...
"What!? Isn't that the real Naruto? Impossible! What happened…?" exclaimed Kushina.
...
[— Manga Scene —]
"What are you saying all of a sudden?" Naruto wiped the blood from his mouth while staring at Sasuke, who had just punched him.
"Your shuriken holster is on your left side. He's right-handed."
"And the main difference is that you don't have the scratch that the examiner put on Naruto's cheek."
"You're a fake loser who's even worse at transformation than Naruto," Sasuke explained intelligently.
In the next moment, "Naruto" exploded into smoke, and another person appeared.
"Unlucky!! You figured it out! Oh well!! Which one of you has the scroll?!" It turned out to be a shinobi from Amegakure trying to steal their scroll.
"I'll just take it by force then!!"
[— End Scene —]
A surge of dopamine rushed through the members of the Uchiha clan. They had always admired Sasuke's performance, his ability to notice the smallest details and defeat enemies at the right moment.
And now, when that Rain Village shinobi thought he had fooled Team Seven, Sasuke kicked him and exposed his little trick.
"Trying to fool an Uchiha with a cheap transformation? What an idiot…" Fugaku mocked with a smile.
Beside him, Mikoto was smiling as well, not because Sasuke recognized the fake Naruto, but because Sakura's fantasies had failed. She, too, was annoyed by the girl's behavior.
"Oh, is that the Mythical Fire Flower Jutsu? I wonder who taught him that…"
"It's the perfect jutsu for this fight against that Rain shinobi…" Clan leader Hugaku smiled as he watched Sasuke finally begin fighting.
The battle had begun… and it didn't seem like it would be a simple one.
The fight was fast. In the next moment, the Rain shinobi used an Explosive Tag.
Thanks to his quick thinking and reflexes, Sasuke managed to avoid the explosion, but that exposed his back to his opponent.
"Looks like the real Naruto has returned…"
Seeing Sasuke successfully stab the enemy with a kunai and wound him with Naruto's help, Hugaku was pleased to see teamwork return again.
"That's right. One moment of carelessness means certain death in conditions like these."
Fugaku agreed with Sasuke's warning to Sakura.
The battle was intense.
It wasn't just about protecting the scroll anymore… But about protecting their lives, and that was far more important.
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Upcoming chapter titles (spoilers):
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Chapter 130: End of Volume Five!
Chapter 131: Contrasting Perspectives on the Manga.
Chapter 132: Conqueror's Haki Shakes Kirigakure!
Chapter 133: Two More Art Stores Open!
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