Chapter 61: The Finals Begin
After hearing the news, Naruto was also taken aback for a moment.
He originally thought the finals would start in a month, but he didn't expect them to come so soon—only one week away.
But that was fine. Naruto was also looking forward to the next phase of his plan.
During that week, the genin participating in the finals worked hard to improve their strength.
Sasuke was taken away by Kakashi, who said he wanted to further guide Sasuke's chakra nature transformation. Naruto knew Kakashi was going to teach Sasuke the Raikiri.
And during this time, Naruto didn't slack off on his training either, because he knew Konoha wouldn't stay peaceful for long.
But something unexpected happened this week—the Third Hokage didn't send anyone to talk to him!
That really caught Naruto off guard.
Naruto thought that exposing some of his strength last time would get the Third Hokage's attention. At the very least, he expected the old man to call him in for a conversation. But surprisingly, the Third Hokage remained very calm and showed no intention of approaching Naruto at all.
Naruto had no idea what that old fox was thinking.
During the week, Temari came to see Naruto. She wanted to test his attitude toward Konoha and the Sand Shinobi.
Naruto naturally didn't like Konoha—he even said he hated it. But he couldn't easily trust the Sand Shinobi either, even though they might still be useful to him.
So Naruto gave an ambiguous answer.
Although Temari was dissatisfied with his response, she knew this kind of thing couldn't be rushed. She would have to take it slowly.
Soon, the week passed quietly.
The day of the highly anticipated Chunin Finals had finally arrived!
On this day, Konoha was crowded with people. Quite a few visitors from other villages had come to watch the Chunin Finals!
Promotional broadcasts for the finals were everywhere, and the whole village was packed!
And the finals venue was even more crowded!
The finals were held in a circular arena.
The stands around the arena were completely full. The audience was excited and full of anticipation. When they saw the genin participants arriving, they started shouting their names one by one.
Clearly, these finals were highly anticipated!
When Naruto arrived at the circular arena, he was also amazed—the scene was incredibly lively.
Soon, all the genin had arrived except Sasuke.
Seeing that Sasuke hadn't shown up, Naruto wasn't surprised. Sasuke was probably still training or on his way. After all, the technique he was learning wasn't easy to master.
The new examiner, Shiranui Genma, frowned when he noticed Sasuke's absence.
But since time was running out, Shiranui Genma decided to ignore it and announced:
"Uchiha Sasuke hasn't arrived yet, and we won't wait. Let's begin."
Then, Shiranui Genma started announcing the finals format.
The finals worked the same way as the preliminary rounds—a one-on-one battle system. The winner would advance to the next round.
But this time, instead of a lottery, they would use a machine to determine the matchups.
Soon, to everyone's anticipation, the results appeared on the machine that decided the fight schedule!
After looking at the names the machine had matched, Shiranui Genma announced:
"First round! Uzumaki Naruto versus Hyuga Neji!"
Hearing this result, the audience immediately erupted with cheers!
One was the mysterious Uzumaki Naruto, who had shown incredible speed before.
The other was the rare genius of the Hyuga clan, Hyuga Neji.
These two facing off—it was going to be very interesting!
In the special section reserved for jonin, Guy and Kakashi were both slightly surprised when they heard the matchup.
But Guy quickly flashed his big grin and said confidently to Kakashi:
"Kakashi, who do you think will win between those two?"
Kakashi looked deeply at Naruto for a moment, then said calmly:
"Probably Naruto."
Hearing Kakashi's words, Guy laughed a few times, then shook his head.
"Not necessarily. Neji didn't use his full strength against Hinata the other day. He has even stronger moves."
Kakashi smiled and didn't argue with Guy.
He knew Guy was saying that because he didn't truly know Naruto.
The more Kakashi interacted with Naruto, the more mysterious he found him—and the more he felt Naruto was unfathomable.
While the two jonin were talking, Neji and Naruto both stepped onto the battlefield.
Neji was also surprised when he heard his opponent was Naruto. But he quickly recovered. He clearly believed he wouldn't lose—he was full of confidence.
On the wide battlefield, the two faced each other.
Naruto looked at Neji calmly and said:
"Do you still want to fight?"
Neji was taken aback by Naruto's words, then sneered.
"Do you really think you have a chance to win?"
"Don't be so arrogant, Uzumaki Naruto. I hate people like you—people who pretend to understand things when they actually know nothing."
"That day, you—someone who has no idea how heavy the burden of the branch house is on my shoulders—dared to lecture me without any shame!"
Hearing Neji's angry words, Naruto shook his head.
He knew Neji was talking about what he'd said during Neji's fight with Hinata. Naruto didn't need to say anything more about that.
Because next, he would prove it with actions.
"Come on. Use your strongest move," Naruto said calmly.
Seeing Naruto's calm expression, Neji frowned in anger. He stopped talking, activated his Byakugan, and prepared to launch his attack!
With his Byakugan active, Neji extended his palm. An image of the Eight Trigrams appeared in his mind instantly.
Once the Eight Trigrams image appeared, Neji locked onto Naruto and shouted:
"Gentle Fist, Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!"
The same move that had beaten Hinata that day!
But this time, Neji's speed and strength were both significantly improved!
As soon as he unleashed the Sixty-Four Palms, Neji rushed toward Naruto like a torrential storm!
Seeing Neji attacking with the Sixty-Four Palms, Naruto shook his head. He didn't dodge or evade—he simply stood there quietly, waiting for Neji's attack.
When everyone saw this, they were stunned, unsure what Naruto was doing.
All they could see was that each and every palm strike from Neji hit Naruto's body perfectly, striking his chakra points!
After the sixty-four palms were fully delivered, Neji took a deep breath, stepped back, and created some distance.
Looking at Naruto, who had taken all sixty-four palms without dodging, Neji sneered and mocked him:
"Arrogant and conceited. No matter what kind of master you are, once you're hit by my Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, your chakra points will be completely blocked. Chakra won't be able to flow."
"You're already useless!"
But upon hearing Neji's words, Naruto didn't show the panic Neji had expected.
Instead, Naruto shook his head and said with a faint smile:
"That's it?"
Neji froze for a moment, unable to respond.
Then, suddenly, the chakra in Naruto's body exploded outward!
That massive chakra eruption came with a terrifying pressure that appeared instantly!
Feeling that enormous chakra, Neji used his Byakugan to look at the chakra flowing freely through Naruto's body. His eyes went wide in disbelief as he yelled:
"How is this possible!"
Neji couldn't believe it!
After being hit by his Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, Naruto was completely unharmed—and he could still control the flow of his chakra normally! Just like a regular person!
He just couldn't understand it!
What Neji didn't know was that his attacks hadn't touched Naruto at all.
All over the surface of Naruto's body was a thin film formed by Kido. These membranes acted like body armor, blocking every single one of Neji's strikes!
Neji's Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms couldn't break that defense at all!
And this was exactly a Kido technique!
Bakudo #81, Splitting Void!
Naruto had divided the light wall of Splitting Void into countless small sections and scattered them across his body, blocking Neji's attacks.
With the defense of Splitting Void, even if Neji's Eight Trigrams Palms were ten times stronger, they still couldn't break through!
Looking at Neji, who was so shocked he couldn't believe his eyes, Naruto didn't bother explaining. He didn't give Neji time to react either. He simply said:
"My turn. Use your strongest defense."
After speaking, Naruto raised his finger!
Lightning flashed at his fingertip, gathering into a bright, shining point aimed directly at Neji, ready to explode!
When Neji saw Naruto was about to attack, he was startled for a moment but quickly reacted and assumed a defensive posture.
A massive amount of chakra burst from Neji's body as he started spinning at high speed!
The chakra gushing out of him, combined with Neji's high-speed rotation, formed a visible white spherical barrier around him!
The barrier covered Neji's entire body and protected him.
Then, Neji shouted:
"Gentle Fist, Eight Trigrams Palms—Revolving Heaven!"
At the same time, the white lightning on Naruto's fingertip shot forward instantly!
Naruto's calm voice rang out:
"Hado #4, White Lightning!"
The White Lightning fired like a bullet, moving at the speed of light straight toward Neji!
In an instant!
The laser-like white lightning touched the barrier protecting Neji. There was a buzzing sound!
Almost in the blink of an eye, the barrier shattered instantly! The White Lightning pierced straight through the Revolving Heaven—that spherical barrier! A clear hole was left in the circular shield!
At that moment, Neji stopped spinning and revealed himself.
He stared at Naruto in disbelief, his eyes wide, his face full of horror. It seemed he still couldn't accept what had just happened.
Naruto had pierced through his strongest defense with just a single finger.
How could that be possible?