Chapter 40 – Konoha Crush Begins Early, and the One-Tail Is the Opening Act
Blue markings crawled across its sandy body.
A long, whip-like tail thrashed behind it.
The One-Tail, Shukaku, had fully manifested.
The moment the fifty-meter tanuki appeared, the arena turned into a screaming madhouse.
Civilians who remembered the Nine-Tails attack fifteen years ago went pale as ghosts and stampeded for the exits.
The Chunin Exam finals instantly became a city-wide evacuation.
"YAHAHAHAHA—!"
"At last, I'm FREE!!!"
With Gaara's consciousness completely submerged, Shukaku roared at the sky.
Its bloodshot eyes locked onto Naruto.
"I smell that stinking fox on you! I'm gonna kill you!!"
Naruto just gave it a cryptic little smile.
"Finally. Took you long enough."
He didn't even glance at Shukaku's threat.
A tailed beast that didn't know how to use its own power was just a big dumb animal.
And he happened to be loaded with anti-tailed-beast sealing arts.
"Tailed beast?!"
On the jonin stands, every instructor's face went white.
"The One-Tail Shukaku?! What the hell is Sunagakure planning?!"
They had all lived through the Nine-Tails attack. They knew exactly how bad this could get.
"We have to evacuate civilians—especially the Fire Country nobles and the daimyo!"
Asuma barked, scanning his fellow jonin.
Kakashi, Kurenai, and Guy all nodded grimly.
If those VIPs died in Konoha, the Fire Country would explode into civil war.
Kakashi took charge.
"Asuma, Kurenai—handle civilian evacuation with the ANBU. Minimize casualties."
He turned to Guy.
"Guy and I will back up Naruto. His safety is critical for the village."
"Got it. Be careful!"
In the blink of an eye, the four jonin vanished.
Contestant balcony.
The second Shukaku appeared, Kankuro and Temari froze.
"Damn it!"
"Why is it happening so early?!"
"We're not at the planned signal yet!"
The plan was already in motion; there was no turning back.
Kabuto, Orochimaru's mole in the crowd, didn't hesitate.
He formed seals.
"Temple of Nirvana Technique!"
White feathers began snowing down across the entire arena.
Every civilian still in the stands collapsed into sleep.
A good chunk of the rescue shinobi dropped as well.
"Genjutsu? The plan's moving early…"
Marky, one of Orochimaru's hidden agents, looked toward the VIP box.
There, Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi and the disguised "Kazekage" were already staring each other down.
The Temple of Nirvana wasn't strong enough to knock out every ninja.
Seasoned shinobi quickly dispelled the drowsiness.
Among the rookie twelve, Sasuke, Sakura, Shikamaru, and Inojin all shook it off instantly.
"Naruto's still down there! Shikamaru, what do we do?!"
Inojin panicked, turning to the resident genius.
Sakura did the same.
Shikamaru stayed silent, brain running at full speed.
Then Sasuke's calm voice cut through.
"Don't worry about that idiot."
He walked to the railing, hands in his pockets, staring down at the boy and the tanuki.
"When it comes to handling tailed beasts, even the old man Sarutobi can't compare to Naruto."
The other three jolted.
Shikamaru's eyes narrowed in understanding.
"So that's it. All these years I knew you two were hiding something… or rather, protecting something."
Sasuke did
n't answer.
At that exact moment—
KABOOOOOM!!!
A earth-shaking explosion dragged every gaze back to the arena floor.
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