Chapter 38 (Patreon)

Kabuto’s withdrawal left seventeen candidates. Hayate Gekkō, the referee, began explaining the preliminary matches.

“The preliminaries will now begin. Each match will be an actual one-on-one fight. Cough, cough...”

“With seventeen candidates remaining, there will be eight matches, and one candidate will receive a bye. The winners, along with the candidate who receives the bye, will advance to the third exam.”

“There are no restrictions on how you fight. A match ends when one opponent dies, loses consciousness, or admits defeat. Cough...”

The electronic display on the arena wall lit up.

“We’ll now select the opponents for the first match.”

Names scrolled across the screen before stopping on the first pair.

Sasuke Uchiha versus Yoroi Akadō.

Both were registered as Konoha shinobi. Yoroi, the man wearing dark glasses, was one of Kabuto’s teammates, but neither his identity as a spy nor Kabuto’s was publicly known.

According to the official records, Yoroi was an unimpressive genin who had graduated several years earlier and performed only low-rank missions.

Before Sasuke stepped into the arena, Kakashi stopped him.

“Don’t use chakra. If you do, the curse mark could flare up again. It could even kill you. If that happens, I’ll stop the match myself.”

Sasuke felt a surge of frustration. With that restriction, even ordinary ninjutsu was out of the question.

He walked to the center of the arena opposite Yoroi, while the others gathered to watch.

Naruto deliberately kept his gaze away from Orochimaru, who was disguised as the jōnin instructor of the Otogakure team. He wanted to avoid attracting his attention.

He wasn’t especially afraid of Orochimaru. He simply wanted the Konoha Crush to proceed as planned, without anything distracting him.

The match began.

Yoroi hurled a shuriken. Sasuke raised his kunai to block it, but pain from the curse mark suddenly tore through him, dropping him to the floor.

Yoroi immediately closed in.

Sasuke seized the opening as he approached, countering with taijutsu and catching him in a hold.

But Yoroi showed no sign of alarm. His eyes held a mocking amusement.

He pressed his right hand against Sasuke’s chest.

Sasuke’s strength began draining away at once.

Yoroi punched him in the chest and broke free of the hold. Before Sasuke could react, his right hand was pressed against Sasuke’s forehead.

Only then did Sasuke understand.

Yoroi could absorb chakra through physical contact.

He intended to drain all of Sasuke’s chakra. That was exactly what Orochimaru wanted: once Sasuke exhausted his own reserves, he would have to rely on the curse mark’s power.

Sasuke grimaced as his chakra continued to drain, then suddenly kicked Yoroi away.

“Sasuke, think about how Lee beat you!” Naruto called from the sidelines, grinning.

Sasuke frowned, irritated by the reminder, but he immediately understood what Naruto meant.

Yoroi attacked again. Sasuke gritted his teeth and dodged each strike, waiting for his chance.

At last, he saw an opening.

His foot struck Yoroi in the face, launching him into the air. Sasuke followed, appearing behind him.

But just as he prepared to continue, the curse mark flared and began spreading across his body.

Orochimaru looked pleased.

Kakashi and Anko watched anxiously.

Then, to their astonishment, Sasuke forced the curse mark back through sheer willpower.

He resumed his attack.

A series of punches and kicks struck Yoroi in midair. As Yoroi reached the floor, Sasuke drove a final kick into his abdomen.

He had taken Lee’s Shadow of the Dancing Leaf and adapted it into his own combination.

The Lion’s Barrage.

Yoroi was defeated.

The spectators stared in surprise. Lee could only gape, stunned to see his own movements turned into someone else’s finishing move.

Sasuke had barely enough strength left to stand. As he began to collapse, Kakashi appeared behind him in an instant and caught him neatly, bracing one knee against his back.

Kakashi then hurried him into a secluded, empty chamber, where he intended to use the Evil Sealing Method to contain the curse mark.

Naruto had little interest in that. Whether Kakashi would encounter Orochimaru afterward didn’t concern him, either.

Instead, he watched the badly injured Yoroi being carried away, his gaze full of disdain.

Chakra absorption sounded formidable, but to Naruto, it seemed far less useful in practice. If Yoroi could turn the chakra he stole into a real source of power, as Samehada did, it would be a different story.

Besides, Yoroi had managed to touch Sasuke several times during the fight. Why hadn’t he simply used a kunai to stab him?

His approach hardly seemed like a shinobi’s.

A shinobi fought to complete a mission and achieve a goal. Showing off an ability for its own sake meant nothing.

With that attitude, Yoroi deserved to lose. Naruto couldn’t imagine him ever rising beyond genin.

...

The second match was Shino Aburame against Chōji Akimichi.

Shino was intelligent, talented, and already strong enough to fight at a chūnin’s level. Chōji was still a timid genin who struggled to find the courage to fight.

When Shino sent a mass of insects closing in from every direction, cold sweat soaked Chōji’s body.

He couldn’t bring himself to attack.

Instead, he surrendered.

The Konoha shinobi watching shook their heads.

His father, Chōza Akimichi, was a formidable shinobi with an imposing build. The Ino–Shika–Chō formation he belonged to was famous.

Yet his son had surrendered without even putting up a fight.

...

The third match was Kankurō against Misumi Tsurugi, Kabuto’s remaining teammate.

Misumi could soften and stretch his body—a rubber man whose ability reminded Naruto of Luffy.

Kankurō’s confidence bordered on arrogance, but he had the skill to justify it. He set the bundle from his back on the floor with a heavy thud, then waited for Misumi to attack.

Misumi rushed forward and struck first.

Kankurō raised an arm to block, but Misumi’s limbs suddenly extended, winding around his body and locking him in place.

Then Misumi wrenched his neck.

A sharp crack rang out.

The genin watching were stunned. Had Kankurō really been killed so quickly?

Suddenly, “Kankurō’s” head turned a full 180 degrees until he was staring directly at Misumi.

The sight was like something from a nightmare, and Misumi nearly wet himself.

The figure he had trapped was Kankurō’s puppet, Crow, disguised as its master.

The real Kankurō had been hidden inside the bundle all along, controlling the puppet with chakra threads.

Crow’s limbs closed around Misumi in return. Under Kankurō’s control, the puppet strangled him until he lost consciousness.

The third match went to Kankurō.

...

The fourth match was Sakura Haruno against Ino Yamanaka.

They had gone from childhood friends to rivals in love, both determined to win Sasuke’s affection. Their history alone could have filled a tearful television drama.

Now the draw had brought them face-to-face again, and neither intended to back down.

They exchanged blows with full force. Punches landed with solid thuds, each girl aiming straight for the other’s face.

Naruto watched from a distance, thoroughly absorbed.

All he needed now was a bag of popcorn.

Ino proved the craftier of the two. She pretended to fail a Mind Transfer Jutsu, but it was a feint. She had secretly used the hair scattered across the floor as a chakra snare, binding Sakura in place.

Then she used the real Mind Transfer Jutsu.

Her consciousness entered Sakura’s body. All she had to do was surrender in Sakura’s place, and the match would be hers.

But Sakura had something Ino hadn’t anticipated.

Inner Sakura.

That fierce, almost separate personality forced Ino’s consciousness out of her body.

By then, the struggle had exhausted both girls.

They lunged forward one last time, each landing a blow to the other’s face.

Both collapsed.

Neither qualified for the third exam.

...

The fifth match was Temari against Tenten.

Naruto felt a certain fondness for the girl with twin buns and her familiar style of dress. Unfortunately, her abilities simply weren’t enough for this match.

Tenten relied on overwhelming her opponent with ordinary ninja tools. Temari wielded a superior weapon: an enormous folding fan marked with three purple circles.

Tenten threw weapon after weapon at her, but Temari swept every attack aside with her fan.

The difference in their strength was plain.

Before long, Temari unleashed her Wind Scythe Jutsu and knocked Tenten unconscious.

She showed little concern for her opponent’s safety afterward, flinging Tenten toward the floor littered with discarded weapons.

Fortunately, Lee leaped forward and caught her in time.

...

The sixth match was Shikamaru Nara against Kiba Inuzuka.

Back at the Academy, those two, along with Chōji and Naruto, had often skipped class together. They were friends who had spent plenty of time playing instead of studying.

Their personalities, however, couldn’t have been more different.

Shikamaru found almost everything troublesome. He had little interest in competing or fighting and would much rather spend his time doing nothing.

Kiba was fiercely competitive, convinced that he was the best and eager to prove it.

He regarded Shikamaru with open contempt. As far as he was concerned, Shikamaru was still weak. Winning this match would take only a few minutes.

Then Shikamaru’s intelligence made that confidence look foolish.

Kiba opened by throwing two smoke bombs at him.

He rushed into the smoke alone, intending to overwhelm Shikamaru with a barrage of attacks.

Instead, he ran straight into the opening Shikamaru had been waiting for.

Shikamaru’s shadow stretched beneath Kiba’s feet.

The Shadow Possession Jutsu caught him before he could attack.

Akamaru immediately rushed to his master’s rescue.

Shikamaru moved, forcing Kiba to mirror him. Kiba collided with Akamaru head-on, and the impact knocked the dog unconscious.

Just like that, Shikamaru won with little effort.