"To think they could be combined like this... truly a genius beyond my reach. But the more this is so, the more my burning passion ignites!" The fighting spirit in Guy's eyes blazed, "The Third Gate, Gate of Life, Open!"
A visible green Chakra erupted from Guy's body, his skin slightly reddening. The sheer pressure alone allowed one to intuitively feel his power.
This time, Guy didn't charge directly at Sasori. Instead, he began moving at high speed around the arena, so fast that he almost left afterimages.
"Konoha Shinryu!" The moment he reached his top speed, Guy suddenly changed direction, his body spinning like a top as he charged towards the puppet.
His kick stirred up a tornado, completely submerging the puppet.
"Boom!"
With a loud crash, Sasori's composite puppet was utterly shattered, parts scattering everywhere.
Guy knelt on one knee, breathing heavily, but a victorious smile was on his face.
"That Guy, to actually hid such a powerful move," Obito bit his shirt, his face full of envy and jealousy.
He was the classic type who worried about his friend losing, but was also afraid of his friend performing too well.
'Even Guy is going to surpass me?' Asuma stared intently below, making a decision in his heart, 'I'll start doubling my training when I get back, I shouldn't be thinking of smoking and drinking.'
"It seems I did somewhat underestimate you. I should employ slightly more serious methods." Sasori's tone was calm as he summoned ten new puppets from a scroll.
Seeing this, even the Third Hokage showed some surprise: "This child can manipulate ten puppets simultaneously? To my knowledge, only Chiyo-dono in your village can accomplish that, correct?"
Rasa stood behind the empty chair, smiling as he said: "He is indeed a genius among puppet masters."
Onoki then asked: "I heard Chiyo-dono has a grandson hailed as a genius puppet sculptor. I wonder, who is the greater genius between him and Hiruko?"
The smile on Rasa's face stiffened slightly: "Haha, they each have their strengths, it's hard to compare."
Guy gritted his teeth, forcing himself to stand up.
His muscles protested, his Chakra was nearly depleted, but the flames of youth burned in his heart: "I can still fight! The Fourth Gate, Gate of Pain, Open!"
Up in the stands, Setsuna couldn't help but facepalm: "I knew it. It was impossible for him not to get carried away."
Sasori shook his head: "A pointless persistence."
He flicked his fingers lightly, and the ten newly appeared puppets launched their attacks simultaneously.
This time, the attacks were more fierce, the coordination more seamless.
Guy barely dodged the first wave of attacks, but chains from the second wave of puppets entangled his legs, slamming him heavily to the ground. Poison needles shot forth from the third wave of puppets.
At the critical moment, Guy erupted with his final strength, pushing off the ground with his hands, his body springing up like a coil.
"Youth Explosion!" He roared, breaking free from the chains and delivering a flying kick that shattered the nearest puppet.
But Sasori seemed to have anticipated this move. When Guy landed, he found his feet firmly trapped by mechanisms that suddenly appeared from the ground.
Simultaneously, blades from two puppets were pressed against his chest and back.
"It's over," Sasori said flatly, his fingers twitching slightly, causing the puppet blades to pierce Guy's skin slightly, blood seeping out.
The arena fell silent. The strength Guy had displayed was immense, and in previous years, he would have been a strong contender for first place. And yet, he couldn't even make his opponent take a single step.
After a moment of silence, the venue erupted into overwhelming cheers.
"Hiruko! Hiruko!"
"Haha, as expected of our Sunagakure's genius."
After all, it was Sunagakure's home ground. Seeing their village's genius perform so exceptionally naturally excited and filled them with pride.
Medical-Nin quickly entered the arena, placing the exhausted Guy on a stretcher.
As he was carried out, Guy met Setsuna's gaze from the stands. His body stiffened instantly, remembering his promise before the match. He decisively closed his eyes, pretending to have fainted.
Soon, the judge issued the next instruction: "The second match: Chiaki Setsuna versus Pain."
Nagato jumped down from the stands, his gaze towards Setsuna somewhat complicated.
Initially, his impression of Setsuna was one of wariness. After all, Setsuna's unrestrained, reckless style of action really didn't seem like that of a good person.
But after the second phase of the Chunin Exams ended, he discovered that Setsuna, like them, had actually protected examinees from other villages. This made him think that Setsuna's true nature was kind, perhaps even sharing their ideal of peace that transcended national borders.
"Your strength is considerable. Therefore, I will go all out from the very start!" Nagato formed hand seals, his Chakra surging like the tide. The ground trembled, the air hummed.
"Summoning Technique."
A giant shadow enveloped the arena. A giant bird with a wingspan exceeding twenty meters tore through the clouds, diving down.
Exclamations rose one after another from the spectator stands. This was clearly not a summoned creature an ordinary Ninja could control.
"It's not over yet." Nagato continuously formed more hand seals. Six massive puffs of smoke exploded in succession.
Seven summoned creatures of various shapes instantly occupied over half of the entire arena. The crowd in the stands was shocked into silence. This was simply not a level that should appear in the Chunin Exams… it was a full-blown, war-level summoning army.
'No Rinnegan patterns or black rods. Meaning these summons aren't corpses yet?' Setsuna pondered internally, then smiled slightly. "Using living summons against me might not be a good idea."
Nagato didn't understand the meaning behind Setsuna's words: "Then come and try them."
The next second, the seven summons attacked simultaneously.
The Bird dove down, dropping explosive eggs like a bomber, the Ox roared as it charged, its horns burning with Chakra flames, the Giant Crab's massive pincers snapped shut as it advanced like a boxer, the Centipede emerged from underground, spewing venom, the Hellhound pounced and bit madly, its speed fast as lightning, the Chameleon attacked stealthily while invisible, its long tongue whipping towards Setsuna's back, the Rhinoceros crushed forward like a mountain range, making the entire arena tremble.
Seeing this onslaught, even those who knew Setsuna's strength couldn't help but break into a cold sweat for him.
However, when these summoned creatures charged to within reach of Setsuna, it was as if they had seen some terrifying phantom. They actually prostrated themselves at Setsuna's feet.
'It seems the intimidating presence I trained in the Toriko World is somewhat useful.' Setsuna smiled faintly, casually punching the Bird into the ground, then grabbing the Centipede's antennae and sweeping it like a whip, freely lashing out at the other summons.
Yet even so, the remaining summons still dared not resist, allowing Setsuna to whip them.
Witnessing this scene, the crowd in the stands was momentarily bewildered, 'Could this be a fixed match?'
'And even if it were fixed, they should make it look somewhat plausible, right? This was just insulting our intelligence.'
"What is going on?" Nagato couldn't understand. Using the Rinnegan to temporarily share the vision of one of the summoned creatures, he finally saw it: behind Setsuna was a crimson, condensed phantom of a demon, as if it had slaughtered countless powerful beasts, causing these summoned creatures to instinctively feel terror.
Nagato understood: 'His presence alone can intimidate summoned creatures... No wonder he said living summons aren't very useful against him.'