"If the enemy doesn't move, I don't move. If the enemy moves, I move first."
Hyuga Neji watched Naruto cautiously, his Byakugan locked firmly onto every twitch of Naruto's muscles. Neji trusted his reflexes completely. As long as he controlled the rhythm of the fight, he could drag Naruto into the Hyuga clan's combat range and finish the battle with Gentle Fist.
In the spectator stands, Hyuga Hinata nervously clasped her hands together, her pale eyes moving back and forth between Neji and Naruto. One was her cousin, the acknowledged genius of the branch family. The other was the person she admired most. For a moment, she genuinely didn't know who she should support and could only pray neither of them would be seriously injured.
Naruto suddenly raised his hands and crossed two fingers.
Neji's expression sharpened instantly.
Shadow Clone Technique!
No, not just Shadow Clone the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, Naruto's signature ninjutsu and the very technique forbidden by the Scroll of Seals. In everyone's minds, Naruto's battle style had already become synonymous with endless clones and overwhelming stamina.
Sure enough, white smoke exploded with a "Bang!"
But unlike usual, Naruto only created a single shadow clone.
The clone immediately pressed its palm against Naruto's hand, beginning to help shape chakra.
Rasengan.
Neji narrowed his eyes slightly, confusion appearing on his face. Why only one clone? Naruto could create hundreds at once. If he wanted to overwhelm someone with Rasengan attacks, he should obviously use numbers.
At this moment, Neji still hadn't realized the seriousness of the situation.
After all, although the Flying Thunder God Technique was recorded in Konoha's history as the legendary jutsu of the Fourth Hokage, very few younger shinobi had ever actually witnessed it. No one would casually associate Naruto with that technique.
"Neji~ I'm coming!"
Naruto grinned mischievously as he warned him loudly.
Neji immediately adjusted his stance. Chakra surged through the tenketsu in his body as both palms opened. The moment Naruto charged forward, Neji planned to intercept him with the Hyuga clan's taijutsu and drag him into close combat.
The shadow clone beside Naruto suddenly disappeared in another puff of smoke.
Naruto held a completed Rasengan in one hand.
His body leaned forward slightly.
Then
He vanished.
Neji's pupils contracted violently.
Byakugan!
The veins around Neji's eyes bulged as he instantly scanned the entire battlefield. Unfortunately, the branch family's Byakugan possessed one fatal flaw:
The blind spot behind the first thoracic vertebra.
And the Flying Thunder God kunai Naruto had thrown earlier was planted perfectly within that blind spot.
In less than an instant, Naruto appeared directly behind Neji beside the marked kunai, golden hair fluttering as the Rasengan spun wildly in his palm.
At that moment, countless spectators froze.
That image…
Golden hair.
A Rasengan.
And instantaneous movement faster than the eye could follow.
For many older shinobi present, an unforgettable figure overlapped perfectly with Naruto's silhouette.
The Fourth Hokage.
The Yellow Flash of the Leaf.
Minato Namikaze.
"That's the Flying Thunder God Technique!"
"There's no mistake! That's Lord Fourth's jutsu!"
"Flying Thunder God plus Rasengan… and that blond hair…"
"Wait… doesn't that kid actually resemble Lord Fourth a little?!"
"No, no way… Naruto's surname is Uzumaki!"
"But Lady Kushina's surname was Uzumaki too!"
The whispers spread through the arena like wildfire.
For years, Konoha had hidden Naruto's identity as the Nine-Tails jinchuriki while simultaneously suppressing information about his parents. But now, standing on the battlefield beneath the sunlight, Naruto looked almost identical to the hero who once saved the village from the Nine-Tails attack.
Meanwhile, Naruto slammed the Rasengan toward Neji's waist without hesitation.
Neji's instincts screamed danger.
"Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven!"
Chakra exploded from every tenketsu in his body as Neji spun rapidly, forming the Hyuga clan's absolute defense.
The Rotation successfully formed
But too late.
Naruto's Rasengan had already connected with the outer edge of the spinning chakra barrier. The unstable rotational force of the Rasengan collided violently against Kaiten's chakra shell, and because Neji had activated it in such a rush, the rotation lacked sufficient speed to fully deflect the attack.
Boom!!!
Neji was blasted backward like he had been struck by a cannonball.
His body spun wildly through the air several times as he desperately tried to disperse the force using chakra control, but the impact was too overwhelming. Before he could stabilize himself, he had already crashed outside the arena boundaries.
The victor was decided instantly.
Silence filled the entire arena.
No one had expected the battle to end this quickly.
More importantly, nobody expected Naruto to suddenly fight using the Fourth Hokage's signature combat style.
One after another, people subconsciously turned toward the VIP seats where Hiruzen Sarutobi sat smoking his pipe.
Hiruzen Sarutobi awkwardly pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
Everyone looked at Hiruzen.
Hiruzen looked toward Chinatsu.
Meanwhile, Chinatsu sat there with crossed legs, leisurely turning her head away and whistling innocently as if none of this had anything to do with her.
Beside her still lay the unconscious assassin from earlier.
Hiruzen stared at Chinatsu for a long moment before covering his face helplessly.
"I can't do this anymore… I'm almost seventy years old and the pressure's still this high. Jiraiya, Tsunade one of you had better come back soon, or I'm going to die in this office…"
With the first day of the tournament over, the audience gradually dispersed.
The finals would continue over the next two days, and naturally the entire village began discussing the matches excitedly on the way home.
But this time, the discussions weren't about ordinary combat details.
They were about Naruto.
Or more specifically
About whether Naruto Uzumaki was actually the son of the Fourth Hokage.
Meanwhile, after the matches concluded, Hiruzen Sarutobi began interrogating the assassin who had attempted to attack Chinatsu earlier.
Initially, Hiruzen assumed the man was merely a bounty hunter from the underground black market. After all, Chinatsu's bounty had already become quite famous among rogue ninja and underground organizations.
But the truth completely exceeded his expectations.
"You're saying Danzo ordered this assassination?"
Hiruzen stared at the kneeling shinobi in disbelief.
"Has that old fool gone insane? If Chinatsu discovers Konoha officially targeted her, all the trust I barely managed to maintain will disappear instantly!"
The bound shinobi suddenly raised his head and roared furiously:
"Lord Danzo is already dead!!!"
"He was killed by that woman!"
"What's wrong with avenging Lord Danzo?!"
Hiruzen's eyes widened.
"Danzo… is dead?!"
This was the first time Hiruzen had learned the truth.
For months, Danzo Shimura had mysteriously disappeared without explanation. Hiruzen originally believed Danzo was secretly operating somewhere in the shadows as usual.
He never imagined the man had already been dead this entire time.
The Root shinobi continued speaking with bloodshot eyes.
After Danzo disappeared, Root members secretly investigated his whereabouts. The only clue they discovered was that Danzo's final known action involved summoning Chinatsu.
At first, they refused to believe she possessed the ability to kill him.
But everything changed during the Chunin Exams.
The moment Chinatsu unleashed that terrifying large-scale explosion in the Forest of Death the "World Nuclear Peace Technique," as she jokingly called it the surviving Root members became convinced.
Only a monster like that could have killed Danzo Shimura.
The Root operative suddenly burst into hysterical laughter.
"You think I'm the only one?!"
"Everyone in Root wants her dead!"
"We'll avenge Lord Danzo no matter what!"
Hiruzen silently listened to the man's madness before leaning back heavily in his chair and sighing.
Assassinate Chinatsu?
With Root?
Hiruzen suddenly had a strange feeling.
Even if Chinatsu stood completely still and allowed them to attack freely… they probably still wouldn't be able to kill her.
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