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[— Manga Scene —]
The two forces collided, and the ground between Naruto and Neji exploded, swallowing them both in a cloud of dust and flying debris. Several moments passed before the smoke began to clear, revealing Neji first, lying on his back inside a shallow crater, one arm trembling at his side.
"My body… I can't move."
A short distance away, Naruto's body lay motionless on the ground as well. Neji stared at him with difficulty, then his eyes shifted toward the nearby hole, and the pieces began to come together in his mind.
'He dug a tunnel underground… Even when he's already beaten, he still believes he can win and keeps thinking about his next move.'
He heard footsteps and raised his eyes to find Naruto standing before him, exhausted and covered in dust and wounds, but still standing.
"You made a clone in that situation? Your best ninja technique… isn't that right?"
Naruto looked at him for a moment before saying, "I… failed the Academy graduation exam three times. And with my rotten luck, ninjutsu was always the worst part of the exam for me."
Neji remained silent as Naruto continued, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu… Shadow Clone Jutsu. It used to be my worst technique."
Neji's eyes widened slightly.
Naruto turned away from him and said, "So don't talk to me about destiny, or how you can't change it. You… were never a loser like me."
Silence fell for a moment before the proctor's voice rang across the arena:
"The winner… Uzumaki Naruto!!"
[— End Scene —]
…
Konohagakure:
For one second after the result was announced, the Art Store remained silent. Then voices erupted from every corner.
"Naruto won!"
"He really beat Neji!"
Discussions quickly spread among the readers. Some flipped back through the previous pages, retracing how the battle had turned around in its final moments, while others kept staring at the final scene, where Neji lay on the ground and Naruto stood before him as the proctor announced a result that left no room for argument:
The winner… Uzumaki Naruto!!
In the southern section, Kushina reacted faster than anyone else. Her fist shot into the air, a wide smile spreading across her face as she exclaimed, "He won! He actually won!"
She immediately turned toward Minato as though the boy's victory were somehow a personal triumph of her own.
"I told you! I knew he'd do it!"
Minato raised an eyebrow, barely hiding his smile. "A few pages ago, you were yelling because Neji knocked him down."
"I was excited. There's a difference!"
Kushina immediately turned back to the final scene, her smile growing even wider. There was none of the concern she had shown when the Nine-Tails' chakra emerged, nor the heavy contemplation that had accompanied the sight of another jinchūriki drawing upon the power of the beast sealed inside him.
The battle was over now.
Naruto was standing.
For her, that was enough.
Minato, meanwhile, looked back over the final pages before saying, "And the best part is that he didn't rely on the Nine-Tails' power to finish it."
Kushina glanced at him, and Minato pointed toward the hole Naruto had emerged from.
"The Nine-Tails' chakra brought him back into the fight after his body could no longer continue on its own, and it gave him the strength he needed to face Neji again. But the move that decided the outcome was different. A Shadow Clone, misdirection, and then an attack from underground at the exact moment Neji believed his opponent was finished."
Kushina studied the pages he indicated before returning her gaze to the final scene.
"That makes it even better, then. He took what he needed from the Nine-Tails… and then won his own way."
"Yes." Minato smiled as he looked at the blond boy. "He wasn't the better fighter for most of the match, but he was the last one standing."
Kushina glanced at him from the corner of her eye.
"You look proud."
"And you?"
"I'm not even trying to hide it."
Minato laughed, while Kushina lifted the volume slightly and reread the declaration of victory. On her face was the smile of a woman who still didn't understand what connected her to that child in the future, but who had stopped trying several volumes ago to convince herself that he was merely some strange boy who happened to resemble the two of them.
…
A short distance away, Kakashi had gone back three pages for the third time. Sakumo watched him for a while before finally asking, "What are you looking for?"
"The moment he created the clone."
"And you haven't found it?"
Kakashi shook his head and turned the page again before answering with a frown, "No. Which means Neji didn't find it either."
The corner of Sakumo's mouth lifted slightly.
"He has the Byakugan, doesn't he?"
"That's why it's annoying." Kakashi leaned closer to the volume, tracing the scenes with his eyes. "He could see Naruto's chakra network, and he managed to deal with his attacks throughout the match. But even then, he didn't realize the Naruto in front of him at the end was a clone until the real one came out of the ground."
"Because the problem wasn't with his eyes."
Kakashi looked up at his father.
Sakumo pointed toward Neji lying on the ground.
"The Byakugan didn't stop working. Neji stopped looking. The moment he saw Naruto lying in front of him, he was convinced the result had already been decided. So he stopped asking himself whether what he was seeing was real."
Kakashi remained silent for a few moments before saying, "So Naruto didn't fool the Byakugan… he fooled the person using it."
"Exactly."
Kakashi looked back at the page, and this time his gaze toward the hole was slightly different.
"The plan was still dangerous. If Neji had noticed the ground, kept the Byakugan focused on him, or simply hadn't gotten close enough, it would've failed."
"Correct."
"And if Naruto hadn't had enough strength left to dig after everything that happened, it would've failed too."
"Correct."
Kakashi frowned. "Then why are you smiling?"
"Because you're looking for a perfect plan in a battle that ended with a plan that worked." Sakumo pointed toward Naruto. "The boy didn't have ten options from which he could choose the best one. He was on the ground, his opponent believed he was finished, and he found one opportunity and used it."
Kakashi stared at the page for a while before muttering, "It was still reckless."
"That's also true."
The two fell silent for a moment before Sakumo looked back at Neji.
"In terms of skill, Neji was better than him for most of the match. He controlled the distance, dealt with the clones, had the right defense when he was surrounded, and forced Naruto more than once to fight the way he wanted. But he made one mistake at the end."
"He thought the battle was over."
"Yes. Naruto didn't."
Kakashi said nothing after that. He returned his gaze to the page where he had been searching for the timing of the clone and remained there longer this time.
…
Elsewhere in the store, Might Duy and his son were incapable of receiving the result with the same calm.
"Gai! Did you see that?!"
"I saw it, Dad!!"
Gai's fists were clenched in front of him, his eyes shining with excitement, while Duy pointed toward the final scene.
"He fell, got back up, and then found another way to keep fighting until the very end! That's the perseverance I'm always talking about, Gai!"
Gai nodded furiously, tears already gathering in his eyes.
"Neji was better than him at taijutsu, and he had the Byakugan and the Hyūga techniques, but Naruto still didn't give up!"
"Exactly!"
Duy slammed his fist into his palm, the enormous grin on his face nearly surpassing his son's enthusiasm.
"Strength isn't about being the best person when the battle begins. Strength is continuing to search for one more step when it looks like there's nothing left!"
"Dad…"
Gai's eyes filled with tears, and Duy raised a thumb toward him.
"Gai…"
The boy raised his thumb in return, and father and son shouted at the same time:
"THAT IS YOUTH!!"
Laughter rose from some of the nearby readers, but neither Duy nor Gai noticed. They were completely absorbed in Naruto, who had become, over the course of a single match, yet another example to be added to a long list of morning speeches and training sessions that Gai would happily suffer through in the future.
…
Where the Nara sat, however, the scene was completely different.
Nara Hikitsu watched his son, who had said nothing since the result was announced, before finally asking, "What do you think?"
Shikaku's eyes moved between the pages.
"Neji lost before the final blow."
"When?"
Shikaku pointed toward the scene where Naruto lay on the ground.
"Here. Throughout the match, Neji was better at gathering information. He watched the clones, understood how to respond to Naruto's attacks, and used his techniques at the right moments. But here, he stopped treating Naruto like an opponent who could still do something and started treating him like a loser who simply hadn't realized he'd already lost."
Hikitsu smiled faintly.
"Arrogance?"
Shikaku thought for a moment before answering, "Partly, but not entirely. Neji entered the match already convinced of the outcome. To him, Naruto was someone who didn't have enough talent to defeat him, and everything that happened at the beginning only confirmed that belief. When Naruto fell in front of him at the end, he had no reason to question what he already believed."
"And then Naruto came out from under his feet."
"Yes."
Hikitsu pointed toward the hole.
"And what do you think of the winner's plan?"
"Bad."
His father looked at him, then laughed.
"Bad?"
"Far too risky." Shikaku began counting the possibilities on his fingers. "He had to leave the clone in a convincing position, dig without Neji noticing, preserve enough strength to attack, and predict that his opponent would move close enough to the right spot. If any one of those things failed, the match was over."
"But it worked."
Shikaku sighed. "Because he read Neji correctly."
"Then revise your judgment."
Shikaku thought for a moment before saying, "A bad plan… against most opponents. A good one against Neji at that exact moment."
Hikitsu's smile widened.
"Better."
Shikaku looked up at him. "Same result."
"No, it isn't. You started by analyzing the plan on its own, then remembered that plans don't fight in a vacuum." Hikitsu pointed toward Neji. "You don't need a move that works against every shinobi in the world. You need one that works against the man standing in front of you."
Shikaku returned his gaze to the pages and offered no argument this time.
…
The eastern section of the Art Store, however, remained quiet.
Masanori said nothing, and neither Hiashi nor Hizashi spoke. Before them, the final scene displayed a clear result: Naruto standing, Neji on the ground, and the proctor announcing the defeat of the boy whom the pages had described only a short while ago as the strongest genin in Konoha.
Hiashi stared at Neji for a long time. Throughout the battle, he had witnessed a level of Gentle Fist mastery that could not be ignored. He had seen the Rotation, the Sixty-Four Palms, and the Byakugan wielded with enough confidence to make the future boy fully deserving of the reputation that preceded him.
Neji had not lost because he was weak, nor had the battle revealed some deficiency in his talent. He had faced an opponent who refused to accept the outcome Neji had assigned to him until the very last moment, and in the end, that had been enough.
Hizashi, meanwhile, wasn't looking at the winner.
His eyes remained on his future son lying on the ground, and on the words Naruto had spoken before the result was announced: the technique he had once failed at had become the technique he used to deceive Neji, and the child Neji had called a failure was the one left standing at the end, telling him not to speak of a destiny that could never be changed.
There was no anger on Hizashi's face at his son's defeat, nor disappointment at seeing the most gifted Hyūga of that future generation fall. He simply remained silent, staring at a face that carried his clan's features and his blood, realizing that the defeat Neji suffered today might have been the first thing in a long time to happen to him that did not fit the world he had built inside his own mind.
Between them, Masanori was even quieter.
He reread the final scene, then partially closed the volume while keeping one finger between the pages. Several chapters earlier, he had watched his future grandson stand before his opponent and tell him that no one could escape their destiny. Then he had seen the seal on his forehead, heard the story of his father, and learned everything that had led that child to believe those words.
And now that same child lay on the ground, defeated by a boy who had spent years failing at the very technique he had used to decide the match.
Masanori raised his eyes from the volume and looked first at Hiashi, then at Hizashi.
He said nothing, and neither of them needed to ask what he was thinking.
After everything today's pages had revealed about the future of their clan, Neji's defeat was not what weighed most heavily upon the silence between them.
…
Discussions continued throughout the Art Store. Some readers spoke about the Nine-Tails' chakra that had brought Naruto back into the fight, others about the Shadow Clone and the underground attack that decided the result, while still others were far simpler about it. They cared less about how it had happened than about the fact that the boy who entered the arena as the underdog had walked out as the winner.
Behind his counter, Rob watched all of it alone as system notifications streamed before his eyes.
[ High-Level Reaction Recorded ]
[+…]
[+…]
[+…]
Rob glanced over the numbers for a moment before returning his gaze to the open volume, to the scene that carried the final result.
The winner… Uzumaki Naruto!!
A small smile appeared on Rob's face.
Ever since the first volume, these readers had watched the annoying kid who painted on the Hokage Monument, failed at the Academy, and shouted to anyone who would listen that he would become Hokage.
And today, that same kid had stood before the strongest genin in Konoha, before a genius who told him his fate had already been decided…
…and knocked him to the ground.
Rob lifted his cup and took a small sip before saying to himself:
"Not bad, Naruto."
Then he placed the cup back on the counter and returned his attention to the readers.
Only one match had ended.
The Chūnin Exams were far from over.
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Upcoming chapter titles (spoilers):
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Chapter 230: The Truth
Chapter 231: Shikamaru vs. Temari!
Chapter 232: A Shadow Within a Shadow!
Chapter 233: An Innovative Fighting Style!
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