Neji knew all too well—villains talk too much and die for it. His attack was swift, precise, and ruthless. He struck Naruto with a bizarre technique unlike anything anyone had seen before, not giving him the slightest chance to use his Shadow Clone Jutsu.
Naruto didn't even have time to react before collapsing, eyes wide with disbelief. But Neji didn't stop there. He stepped forward, quickly jabbing Naruto multiple times to seal off every single tenketsu and chakra point in his body.
On the spectators' platform, several shinobi couldn't help but twitch at the sight. Honestly, what Neji was doing now was textbook overkill—a finishing stab after the kill. A good habit, maybe, but he was being way too thorough... and brutal.
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked a bit embarrassed. He shot a quick glance at Rasa, only to see the Kazekage's face completely expressionless, not even blinking—as if he'd been wearing that same look since the moment he stepped into the stadium.
Something felt off.
Hiruzen tested the waters and tried making small talk with Rasa.
...
On the field, just as Genma Shiranui was about to declare Neji the winner, Naruto suddenly began to stir. A surge of fierce chakra erupted from him, a crimson energy slowly wrapping around his body. The blast of power nearly sent Neji flying.
Naruto stood up, teeth clenched.
"You've got to be kidding me! Today's way too important for me to lose! I just made a bold promise to Hinata—there's no way I'm going to lose to a bastard like you, looking like a complete loser!"
Forming the Ram seal, he summoned a swarm of Shadow Clones.
"I will beat you today!"
The sudden twist in the match left the crowd breathless. First Neji revealed his abnormal form, and now Naruto had shown his trump card. No one in the audience could take their eyes off the arena, afraid they might miss even a second.
What they didn't know was that Naruto's outburst had triggered something deep inside Neji. Memories of that Neji from the manga—brainwashed by Naruto's speech—flashed before his eyes. That scene had become a deep-rooted obsession, his inner demon.
Whether Naruto was using Nine-Tails chakra or not, Neji had entered the Chūnin Exams for this exact moment. Beating a berserk Naruto in front of everyone didn't have any real benefit... but damn did it feel satisfying!
"Destiny... will be shattered by my hands!" Neji grinned, his face twisted, voice laced with wicked glee.
Naruto, using the Nine-Tails chakra, forced his way through the blocked tenketsu. On the surface, he looked unstoppable—but only he knew the toll it was taking.
Though the Nine-Tails chakra could flow through his body, every time it passed a sealed tenketsu, it caused a painful, swelling pressure—like it was about to burst. This was the backlash of breaking through such extensive chakra blockage by force. He didn't know if it would leave permanent damage.
As Naruto launched a barrage of clones, Neji's Byakugan suddenly turned pitch black. The moment his gaze swept across the clones, they began to crumble—crushed by a psychic shockwave of emotions: sorrow, despair, apathy, depression... overwhelming negativity.
With each Shadow Clone destroyed, those dark emotions fed back into the original. This was a hard counter to Naruto's technique. After all, Shadow Clones transferred their memories and sensations back to the user. That was both their strength—and their greatest weakness.
A normal person would've crumbled under the emotional overload of so many conflicting memories. Even Naruto, supported by Asura's chakra, couldn't recover right away. He'd never experienced psychological attacks like this before. His resistance was limited.
"The winner of the first match: Hyūga Neji!"
Even as Genma announced it, Naruto stood frozen, blankly staring. Right now, he hated that he wasn't just some carefree slacker—he was frustrated beyond belief.
In the stands, everyone had seen Neji's terrifying abilities. Curious and uneasy glances kept flicking toward Hyūga Hiashi. The missing Caged Bird Seal, the blackened Byakugan—Neji was hiding a lot of secrets.
Hiashi's face remained calm, but a storm raged in his heart. He was used to hiding his emotions—but this time, silence was the only way to mask his growing unease.
...
"The second match—"
Just then, an ANBU appeared beside Hiruzen Sarutobi and whispered something in his ear. The Third Hokage's expression changed immediately.
"The exams are temporarily suspended!" he called out, standing up abruptly. "This is an emergency! We are under attack! Everyone remain calm and stay where you are. Konoha will ensure your safety!"
He wasn't overreacting. The ANBU had just reported that the Hyūga compound was engulfed in a dense fog. Everyone sent in to investigate had vanished without a trace.
"Third Hokage, do you need Sunagakure's assistance?" Rasa offered with an oddly warm smile.
"This is a Konoha matter, no need to trouble the Kazekage-dono," Hiruzen replied politely. "The situation is urgent, so I ask for your cooperation in keeping the Suna shinobi in place for now."
"Very well," Rasa nodded.
Hiruzen felt slightly reassured at Rasa's easy agreement—but the next moment, everything unraveled.
BOOM!
Right before his eyes, the Fourth Kazekage exploded like a balloon.
There was no blast from explosive tags, no deafening roar, no scorching heat wave that incinerated everything it touched. What followed was something invisible to the naked eye—yet horrifyingly real.
A wave of intense radiation spread in all directions like a nuclear detonation. This wasn't any jutsu known in the shinobi world—this was an otherworldly corruption born from demons.
Reality itself began to distort. The sky above the arena turned a rust-colored red, like it had been stained with dried blood.
Screams echoed through the crowd. Terror was spreading fast.
Starting from where Rasa had stood, Konoha's buildings began to rot, collapse, and melt into grotesque fungal masses, oozing with a stench that made people gag. Even the stone slabs and stairways were decaying.
Corpses began to mutate—growing scales, tumors, or something worse. They twisted and deformed into nightmarish monsters.
This... this was hell on earth.
Hiruzen's heart pounded. His reflexes had saved him from the worst of Rasa's self-detonation, but the threat wasn't over yet.
Rasa was beyond dead—but Hiruzen could only glare at the remaining Suna shinobi, expecting them to give some explanation or at least do something about this.
But to his shock, only Temari and Kankurō seemed even remotely upset by Rasa's death. The other Suna ninja didn't flinch. Their eyes didn't even move.
"What... the hell is going on?" Hiruzen's mind blanked for a moment.
And in that moment—a sword shot up from beneath the ground, stabbing straight at him.
"Orochimaru!"
Hiruzen blocked the blade with his staff, but the force drove him onto a nearby rooftop.
"Four Purple Flame Formation!"
A group of nondescript Sound ninja formed the Four Purple Flame Formation, trapping Hiruzen and Orochimaru within the barrier.
"You've grown old, sensei," Orochimaru's raspy voice echoed ominously. "Even your mind has dulled."
Hiruzen tore off his ornate fire cloak, revealing the battle armor hidden underneath.
"I had a bad feeling about this from the start. Orochimaru... this was all your doing, wasn't it?"
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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