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You can now get early access to Chapter 77 of Re: Naruto Uzumaki on my Patreon. You can also read up to Chapter 21 of Naruto: Satoru Senju.
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"Is-that my father…?"
Neji Hyūga froze in the middle of the battlefield, unable to process what his eyes were showing him.
His hands trembled slightly as he watched Hizashi and Hiashi chatting calmly in the stands, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
His father… was there… alive.
"What the hell is going on?!" he thought furiously. "Have I been lied to all these years?! Have I been deceived?!"
His heart was pounding, his breath ragged. Reality seemed to collapse around him.
That was when the voice of his opponent, calm and almost distracted, reached his ears.
"You didn't know…?"
Neji turned his head abruptly. Naruto Uzumaki was a few steps away, looking in another direction, as if none of it mattered.
"Know what?!" Neji shouted, beside himself.
"Lately the dead have been coming back to life," said Naruto with a shrug, in a carefree tone. "Amazing, isn't it? I wonder who the genius behind that might be…"
Neji's eyes widened in surprise. "Come back from the dead…?" He looked at his father again, his chest burning with confusion. "Could it be true?"
He tried to focus, inspecting his Chakra for any disturbance.
No, he wasn't trapped in a genjutsu. He had ruled out that possibility immediately. What he saw was real. Everything was real.
Even Hayate Gekkō, the match's supervisor, looked puzzled for a moment. He glanced at the Hokage's viewing box, as if looking for some kind of explanation.
The Third Hokage simply nodded calmly.
Then Hayate took a deep breath and raised his voice.
"Let the first match of the third test of the Chūnin Exams begin! Naruto Uzumaki versus Neji Hyūga!"
Since the Hokage didn't seem worried, neither would Hayate.
The crowd erupted into applause and murmurs.
In the arena, Neji didn't move, only taking the Gentle Fist combat stance.
Naruto, on the other hand, began walking toward him with his hands in his pockets, as if he were out for a stroll.
Neji frowned. That behavior unsettled him.
He jumped back instinctively, trying to gain some distance.
"What are you planning…?" he muttered through clenched teeth.
Naruto stopped, smiling mockingly.
He didn't plan to drag out this fight for too long.
"Since you're backing off, I'll attack from afar. Hope this works… I haven't fully mastered this technique yet," he said, slowly raising his right hand.
His tone was amused, almost like he didn't believe his own words.
Neji activated his Byakugan immediately. Naruto's chakra was… immense. He could see it. Circulating throughout his entire body.
Naruto was like a beacon.
A small portion of Naruto's chakra gathered in the palm of his hand.
"RASENGAN!!"
A bright blue orb roared as it materialized in his hand. The crowd went silent. Some stood up from their seats, holding their breath.
In the waiting room, Sakura stood up abruptly.
"What is he doing?! The Rasengan doesn't work at a distance! And he says he hasn't mastered it?! What the hell is wrong with him?!"
Shikamaru looked at her with a raised eyebrow, nearly rolling his eyes.
"What a drag… can you shut up for a second?"
Sakura shot him a death glare, her eyes burning with fury.
Shikamaru calmly raised his hands.
"Okay, okay… I was just thinking out loud. Troublesome."
Sakura watched the match with a frown, biting her nails.
Why had Naruto said he hadn't mastered the Rasengan? What was he plotting?
Was he trying to deceive him for a specific reason?
The next scene answered Sakura's question, and she watched with surprise.
Naruto threw the Rasengan at Neji. The orb zipped through the air, fast as lightning, though it seemed unstable, wobbling from side to side.
Neji watched the projectile approach. It was fast, yes, but not impossible to dodge.
He smiled.
"Too predictable."
As Neji prepared to jump aside and dodge it… the Rasengan vanished in the air just before hitting him.
Neji frowned.
"That's it…?"
That's when he felt a brutal impact in his stomach.
"GAAH!!"
The Rasengan, reappearing out of nowhere, had slammed into the center of his stomach. His body was hurled through the air, spinning before crashing to the ground hard. A pool of blood stained the earth.
"Tch. That's why you shouldn't trust the technique your enemy shouts, idiot. That wasn't a Rasengan. It was a Faded Rasengan."
If Naruto had shouted the full name of the technique, Neji wouldn't have hesitated to jump when he saw it vanish.
In the stands, the crowd burst into murmurs.
"How did he do that?!"
"Wasn't that the kid who always failed at the ninja academy?"
"How can someone like him be so strong?!"
Naruto ignored the audience in the stands, with clear disdain, while Neji struggled to get up, gasping.
"You said I was too predictable…?" he asked ironically.
Neji clenched his teeth. His ribs were burning. His vision trembled.
"What kind of technique was that…?" Neji murmured, coughing.
Naruto didn't bother explaining anything.
"I remember you said a while ago that only an ignorant child would believe they could face a Hyūga on equal terms…"
Naruto crossed his arms.
"I suppose you meant that only an ignorant child from the Hyūga Clan would think they could face an Uzumaki."
Neji looked up with effort, clutching his stomach.
Naruto looked toward the stands, where Hiashi and Hizashi were watching him in silence. Then, he raised his middle finger in their direction with total contempt, wearing a slightly arrogant smile.
The crowd fell silent. Some laughed. Others didn't know how to react.
"Are you starting to understand, Neji? Talent alone isn't enough."
Naruto raised his hand again. This time, a dark orb formed, with white rings spinning around it.
"As you've realized, effort can inevitably overcome talent…"
"But this is what happens when talent also makes an effort."
"RASENRINGU!!"
A dark orb of chakra began to form in Naruto's palm, dense and vibrant, compressed. Around it, several white rings spun rapidly, aligning around the core.
"I suggest you dodge it," Naruto murmured, emotionless, his gaze fixed on Neji with utter indifference.
This wasn't a simple Rasengan.
It was the Rasenringu, an advanced technique and one of the most powerful Rasengan variants, born from the chakra of a tailed beast. A deadly fusion between the Bijū Bomb and the Rasen-Shuriken.
A highly dangerous technique, developed in secret during weeks of intense training, where Naruto had poured every last drop of his energy.
This was the same technique used by Naruto's dark counterpart, Menma.
The Rasenringu was the counterpart to the Rasen-Shuriken: unstable, brutal, faster, and much more devastating.
It was his hidden card. His final blow.
But Naruto knew his Rasenringu would never reach Neji.
The orb shot forward with a deafening whistle.
Hiashi stood up from his seat. Hizashi didn't hesitate for a second.
In the blink of an eye, Hizashi appeared in the arena, grabbed Neji in his arms, and leapt out of the attack's range just before the Rasenringu hit the ground.
A muffled explosion rocked the arena. A smoking crater remained in its place.
Half the combat arena, and part of the nearby stands—where thankfully no one was hurt—had completely vanished. Only smoking debris and a deep crack remained, stretching from where Naruto had fired his technique.
For a moment, the entire stadium was silent.
No one breathed. No one moved.
Until someone, from up high, dared to say:
"Is that… a technique a Genin-ranked Ninja can use?"
"No, that's impossible. I've never seen anything like it… When did Naruto become this powerful?"
"That was an S-rank technique! An explosion like that… not even an average Jōnin could stop it!"
"And that kid is the Nine-Tails Demon Fox? Impossible!"
"NARUTO! NARUTO! NARUTO!"
The chant began in a single row and, like an unstoppable wave, spread throughout the stadium.
"NARUTO! NARUTO! NARUTO!"
A tide of applause, cheers, and jubilation thundered through every corner of the stadium.
But Naruto didn't smile.
His expression was cold, with a furrowed brow.
He spat on the ground in disgust and murmured hoarsely:
"Damn hypocrites."
No one seemed to hear him over the noise.
He was still the same child who had cried alone, night after night, not understanding why he was hated. The same child who begged for affection, who was rejected in shops, expelled from the orphanage, and ignored by adults.
The same one who was forced to look for food in the forest because he wasn't allowed to buy in their stores.
Maybe Naruto hadn't lived all of that personally, but he possessed the memories, the emotions, everything, of the original Naruto.
Now they praised him. Chanted his name with devotion.
And Naruto walked among them with his hands in his pockets, without looking back, without looking at anyone, without lifting his gaze.
Hayate watched him from the arena, his mouth still slightly open in surprise. It took him several seconds to react.
"Naruto Uzumaki…" he finally declared, in a voice that barely hid his disbelief, "…is the winner."
But Naruto was already leaving, walking away from the cheers.
Naruto had once wished to be recognized by the villagers like this moment.
But now that he was, it didn't feel much better.
And as he walked away, the eyes of the entire stadium followed him—some in awe, others in guilt.
He had ceased to be the pariah of the village.
But he wasn't interested in being their hero.