Chapter 44 (Patreon)

Neji’s plan worked. Naruto’s shadow clones hadn’t finished surrounding him, leaving an opening he could exploit.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

He slipped behind nine of the clones in rapid succession and struck them down. As they dispersed, the hurricanes they had been controlling quickly faded.

Neji sneered and moved toward the next clone. At his speed, it might not take long before all fifty were gone.

Naruto realized he had made a mistake. He’d underestimated both Neji’s speed and his stamina.

Even so, he still had other options.

He knew Neji’s abilities well: Revolving Heaven, Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, and an endless supply of lectures about fate.

A dozen shadow clones stopped controlling their hurricanes, turned toward Neji, and hurled a barrage of kunai and shuriken at him.

Neji gave a contemptuous smile. Chakra surged from the chakra points all over his body as he began spinning rapidly.

“Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven!”

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Every weapon was knocked away. Not one reached him, and the force of his rotation carved a broad crater into the ground.

Neji stopped spinning and sneered at the Narutos around him.

“Surrender. You can’t defeat me. With this much difference in strength, your fate is already decided.”

“A person’s talent is determined at birth. Everything they can achieve is decided from the moment they’re born.”

“I hear your dream is to become Hokage. Do you really believe just anyone can become Hokage?”

“Only those born with that destiny can take the title. Wanting it won’t change anything. Fate has already decided our lives, and no one can escape what’s been chosen for them.”

“There is only one fate we all share equally: death.”

Crack!

While Neji was absorbed in his speech, the ground beneath him burst open. A hand shot up from below, wrapped in a sharp white blade of wind that turned the entire palm into a weapon.

Neji tried to evade it, but Naruto’s strike was too fast for him to avoid completely.

The blade pierced straight through his right foot, leaving white bone exposed in the wound.

“Aaargh!”

Neji cried out in pain and pushed off with his left foot, retreating before another attack could reach him.

But his right foot was crippled. He could no longer move with anything close to his former speed and agility.

“Hahahaha!”

Dozens of Narutos laughed together at the sight of him balancing awkwardly on one leg.

That brief laugh was enough. Naruto wasn’t going to stand around gloating or ease up on his attacks. He wouldn’t give Neji time to recover and counterattack.

“Wind Style: Hurricane!”

“Wind Style: Hurricane!”

The forty or so Narutos still standing unleashed another wave of hurricanes, sending them sweeping toward Neji.

This time, he couldn’t escape.

Dozens of hurricanes struck him at once. The winds lifted him off the ground and hurled him into the air, spinning him helplessly like straw caught in a storm.

Blades of wind slashed across his body, opening wound after wound. Blood covered him from head to toe, as though he had been submerged in it.

At the same time, the hurricanes battered dozens of trees around the arena, stripping away their leaves. They fluttered down and gradually carpeted the ground.

Neji’s bloodied figure spun amid the falling leaves, a sight as sorrowful as it was strangely beautiful.

The spectators stared in shock. Some could no longer bear to watch.

No one had imagined the match would turn out like this.

Naruto had no intention of killing Neji. The boy was unfortunate enough as it was. He dispelled his shadow clones, and the hurricanes died away.

Neji’s limp body dropped from the air. Genma Shiranui stepped forward and caught him.

Looking at the unconscious, gravely injured boy, Genma sighed before announcing the result.

“Winner of the first match: Naruto Uzumaki!”

…

Sasuke’s match against Gaara was supposed to come next. Whatever he and Kakashi were doing, however, they still hadn’t arrived.

The spectators began voicing their dissatisfaction. The Third Hokage was about to disqualify Sasuke when Orochimaru, posing as the Kazekage, suggested giving him another chance.

The daimyō and the visiting dignitaries were clearly eager to see the Uchiha boy fight. With so many important guests waiting for that match, the Third Hokage had little choice but to postpone it.

That put Shino Aburame’s match against Kankurō next.

Kankurō, however, immediately forfeited. He intended to keep the hidden mechanisms of his puppet, Crow, as a surprise weapon until the Konoha Crush began.

His sudden withdrawal raised suspicions among the onlookers, including the Third Hokage.

The second match instead became Shikamaru against Temari—the woman who would one day become his wife.

It would prove every bit as exciting as Naruto’s fight with Neji, with Shikamaru’s remarkable intelligence shaping the battle.

Temari entered the arena carrying her enormous fan, eager to fight.

Shikamaru found the whole thing troublesome and was about to forfeit, but Naruto gave him a timely shove off the contestants’ balcony.

He landed sprawled on the arena floor and glared up at Naruto. Every curse he knew raced through his mind. At that moment, he badly wanted to beat Naruto senseless.

He still had no desire to get up, but Temari suddenly swung her fan toward him.

Shikamaru had to dodge. He quickly put some distance between them and gave her a helpless look.

“Wind Style: Wind Scythe Jutsu!”

Temari swept her fan, sending a cutting gust toward him. Dust billowed up, and loose leaves whirled through the air.

Shikamaru took the opportunity to use his Shadow Possession Jutsu, but his shadow couldn’t reach her.

Temari drew a line in the dirt with her fan to mark its limit, then looked at him contemptuously.

“So that’s as far as your shadow reaches? How disappointing.”

Shikamaru ignored her. He glanced up at the sky, then closed his eyes and brought his fingers together in his familiar thinking pose.

In the stands, Kurenai Yūhi wondered whether he was preparing some unusual jutsu. Asuma Sarutobi explained that this was simply what Shikamaru did whenever he encountered a difficult problem.

The boy was a genius with an IQ of over two hundred.

Seeing Shikamaru apparently trying some mysterious trick, Temari unleashed another Wind Scythe Jutsu.

More dust rose, and leaves scattered upward. Buffeted by the wind, they lingered high above the arena.

Shikamaru evaded the attack and used Shadow Possession again. This time, his shadow stretched a little farther, but it still fell short of Temari.

She used her fan to draw another line in the ground, marking its new limit.

Then she raised the huge fan to block Shikamaru’s view and hid behind it, preparing to use the Clone Jutsu and finish him with a single attack.

Before she could act, her body froze.

Shikamaru’s Shadow Possession Jutsu had caught her.

For an instant, Temari couldn’t believe it. Then she noticed what was happening.

Leaves were drifting down from above. As they descended, an increasingly clear pattern of dappled shadows spread across the arena floor.

Shikamaru had used those shadows to extend his own. It had slipped around Temari’s fan and connected to the shadow at her feet.

Naruto’s dozens of hurricanes had stripped those leaves from the trees. Temari’s repeated Wind Scythe attacks had then carried them high into the air. Only now were they gradually falling back down, ready for Shikamaru to use.

Throughout the fight, he had deliberately drawn her into measuring his shadow’s reach again and again. Afraid it would suddenly stretch farther, Temari had focused on the ground near her feet.

That kept her from noticing the threat overhead. Meanwhile, Shikamaru had repeatedly induced her to use Wind Style, letting her own attacks carry the leaves into the sky.

All of it had been part of Shikamaru’s plan.