Sasuke's eyes burned.
Hanataki's attack seemed to stretch into eternity before him.
Naruto's wide, uncomprehending eyes, his body frozen. To Sasuke, every detail was crystal clear.
A wild, frantic heat bloomed in Sasuke's chest. He could feel his own blood scorching through his veins.
He didn't think. Couldn't think.
His entire being screamed a single, primal command.
Don't let Naruto die!
Absolutely not!
This idiot wasn't just some kid he'd grown up with.
He was… irreplaceable.
In that moment, Sasuke understood. The annoyance, the rivalry—it was all a lie. Naruto held a place in his heart far heavier than he'd ever admitted.
Heat built behind his eyes. Power swelled, gathering, condensing. Sasuke knew this feeling. His brother, Itachi, had explained it.
The world snapped into hyper-focus.
A blur of black shot past Hanataki.
Naruto jolted.
He stared, dumbfounded, at Sasuke, who now held him in a tight grip.
"Sasuke…"
Tears of pure, unadulterated emotion welled in Naruto's eyes.
Sasuke didn't spare him a glance. He clutched Naruto and exploded backwards, putting thirty meters between them and Hanataki in an instant. Of course, that distance was only possible because Hanataki was holding back. Otherwise, they'd both be skewered.
Hanataki's gaze landed on Sasuke's serious face, then dropped to his eyes. He froze.
"…Nani?"
He distinctly remembered from the anime. Even during the massacre, Sasuke had only awakened a single tomoe.
His eyes shifted to Naruto, still cradled in Sasuke's arms.
A deep, profound look entered his eyes.
So… this was the power of friendship, huh?
If only Itachi had picked a different target back then, maybe Sasuke wouldn't have been such a late bloomer.
Conclusion: Naruto was Sasuke's true reverse scale. The one he pretended not to care about, yet was capable of igniting a full three-tomoe Sharingan.
"The Uchiha clan's Sharingan," Hanataki stated flatly. Outwardly, he was all cold arrogance. Inwardly, his mind was racing, planning exactly how to 'hold back' convincingly. "A pity. It's still not enough."
Sasuke gritted his teeth. He'd never seen someone more infuriatingly smug than this bastard!
"Sasuke, you can put me down now."
Naruto's gaze drifted to Sasuke's hand, still locked tightly around his waist. His expression was complicated.
So it was true. Sasuke's feelings had been buried deep all along. Only in a crisis could you feel his true heart.
Naruto looked at Sasuke, his eyes soft and meaningful.
Sasuke felt a sudden wave of nausea. He glanced down, found the source, and his face twisted in disgust. "Could you not look at me like that? It's disgusting." He looked like he'd swallowed a fly.
He opened his hand.
Naruto hit the ground with a solid THUD.
On the other side of the clearing, Sakura, who had just kicked the bulky Amefuri five meters back, exploded. "COULD YOU TWO SAVE THE FLIRTING FOR LATER?!"
This was a critical moment against the enemy!
Sakura's words struck Sasuke like a thunderbolt. "F-flirting?!"
He finally lost the battle, turning away from Naruto and retching.
Naruto: "…"
That really hurt his youthful heart.
Watching these two protagonists who kept breaking the scene, Hanataki couldn't think of a graceful way to throw the fight.
"Forget it."
"Leave it to fate!"
He sighed.
"Hah!"
Naruto scrambled to his feet, brimming with renewed vigor. He glared at Hanataki, ready for round two. The earlier setback meant nothing.
"Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Once again, a small army of Narutos appeared. Hanataki's silver wires lashed out like whips, cracking the air. POP! POP! POP! One by one, the clones vanished in puffs of white smoke.
Sakura, watching from a distance, nearly ground her teeth to dust. "Idiot! That move doesn't work on him!"
But the real Naruto was already closing in. As he neared Hanataki, a jet-black liquid splashed from a vial in his hand.
"Heh! This is my real move!"
Naruto backpedaled furiously, a wide grin splitting his face as he watched the liquid arc through the air toward Hanataki's face.
Hanataki found the liquid vaguely familiar. A massive slab of diamond erupted from his palm, shielding his entire body. The black droplets hit the diamond's surface and… sizzled, eating deep pits into the crystal.
As the diamond shattered, recognition dawned.
Hanzo's salamander toxin.
Damn.
They were just giving this kid anything to play with? Was this stuff even safe to hand out?
"Naruto, why didn't you use that earlier?" Sakura yelled, utterly baffled. He'd been inches from getting his neck snapped and hadn't pulled it out?
Naruto scratched his head with a sheepish grin. "I forgot I had it!"
Sakura: "…"
A subtle hum filled the air.
Thin steel wires sang through the air, lancing in from all directions, weaving a dense, inescapable net. Hanataki took a step and felt a wire tighten around his ankle. He looked up.
High on a thick branch, Sasuke Uchiha stood, looking down at him with pure disdain.
The wires glinted faintly. From Hanataki's perspective, he was completely surrounded by a cage of gleaming steel.
"Fire Style: Dragon Fire Jutsu!"
The wires must have been treated. A massive dragon of flame roared to life, surging down the steel lines. Instantly, the entire net ignited, fire racing toward Hanataki.
Naruto added his own push. "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
Where he'd learned that jutsu was anyone's guess. The flames, fueled by the wind, roared with terrifying intensity. In under a minute, anything inside would be ashes.
"We did it!"
Naruto whooped with joy. He and Sasuke were perfectly in sync! While he'd been throwing poison, Sasuke was setting the trap. The moment Sasuke used Fire Style, he was ready with Wind.
He was very pleased with their teamwork.
"Could it really be that easy?"
Unlike Naruto's celebration and the faint smile in Sasuke's eyes, Sakura was skeptical. More importantly, the three Rain ninja showed zero concern. Either they didn't care about their teammate, or they knew this level of attack wasn't enough.
And!
A vein throbbed on Sakura's forehead.
Why was she still fighting three Rain ninja by herself while Sasuke and Naruto were already celebrating? Weren't they supposed to be a team?
Resentment simmered.
Naruto's triumphant grin didn't last.
A sudden, bone-deep chill made him shiver violently.
"Did it just get cold?"
He rubbed the goosebumps on his arms, looking at Sasuke. Sasuke had them too, but he wasn't making such an undignified show of it. His eyes were locked on the flames, which were dying down… unnaturally fast. He began to slowly back away.
Naruto followed his gaze.
The next second.
A wave of absolute cold exploded outward.
Naruto and Sasuke felt their bones scream with frost. The sheer force of the chilling aura blew them off their feet, sending them tumbling head over heels before they skidded to a stop.
Sasuke dropped into a low stance, ready. Naruto copied him.
The flames were snuffed out in an instant.
The sound of rapid freezing filled the air.
Naruto stiffened. "It's… not winter, is it?"
Sasuke didn't answer. Ice crawled up the steel wires with terrifying speed.
BOOM!
A deafening crack. Every wire in the cage shattered.
A storm of razor-sharp ice shards blasted toward Team 7. The three Rain ninja—Amefuri, Fubuki, and Shigure—leapt back instantly, leaving Sakura fully exposed to the icy barrage.
Sakura's face paled. Her mind raced, calculating the density of the shards, the gaps, the optimal dodging path—
Naruto's brain just short-circuited at the sight of the overwhelming spray.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
A voice called from behind them.
A massive snake materialized at their backs, its enormous body coiling to shield Naruto and Sasuke.
"Kabuto-senpai!"
Naruto cried out in relief at the sight of the newcomer.
Kabuto Yakushi gave a slight nod, his focus entirely on Hanataki. Naruto Uzumaki, adopted by the Hokage himself, could not be allowed to come to harm. This Rain genin… was absurdly strong.
Seeing Kabuto, Hanataki felt an invisible weight lift. Good. Holding back wouldn't be such an exhausting performance now.
Kabuto pulled two scrolls from his pouch, offering them to Naruto and Sasuke. "You two, retreat."
Naruto immediately refused. "No way, Kabuto-senpai! We'll fight with you!" He declared it with righteous fervor.
Kabuto: "…"
That really, really wasn't necessary.
Alone, he could escape even if he couldn't win. With these two in tow, escape was no longer guaranteed. To put it bluntly, they'd be liabilities.
Sakura understood Kabuto's dilemma, but she didn't try to persuade Naruto. She knew him too well. The boy was a stubborn mule. Impossible to move, especially now.
Kabuto saw it too. His eye twitched. With a mental command, the giant snake coiled around all three genin and deposited them a safe distance away to watch. He then turned his full attention to Hanataki, mind sorting through the intel.
He'd met Team 8 with Shino earlier in the forest. As fellow Leaf ninja, they'd shared what they knew. Bottom line: this Rain ninja was dangerous. But how dangerous? No one knew.
Kabuto raised a hand. A churning river of snakes erupted from his sleeve, slithering toward Hanataki at terrifying speed. His style was eerily similar to Orochimaru's—both students of Ryūchi Cave. And just as disgusting.
Without a second thought, Hanataki transmuted the advancing snake-river into diamond. Much prettier to look at. The diamond crumbled, and with it, the snakes.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!"
Kabuto formed the seals. Water swirled from the ground, coalescing into a roaring dragon that dove for Hanataki, jaws wide.
Hanataki shot a blast of intense cold from his palm. The water dragon froze solid mid-lunge. A light tap, and it shattered into a million glittering pieces.
Kabuto's eyes narrowed. He blurred forward, closing the distance. Green chakra coated his hand—the scalpel-sharp Chakra Scalpel—as he aimed a slicing strike at Hanataki's throat.
Hanataki caught his wrist easily. But before he could crush it, Kabuto's wrist seemed to liquefy, slipping through his grip like water.
Hanataki: "…"
These kinds of jutsus were truly disgusting.
Kabuto was fluid, agile, a master of close-quarters taijutsu and medical ninjutsu. Yet he couldn't land a single meaningful blow. He realized it quickly: pure taijutsu wouldn't win this. And in their brief exchange, he'd found no obvious weakness.
He'd even tried a genjutsu, channeled through the birds in the canopy earlier. Complete immunity.
The opponent's ninjutsu was potent, likely a Kekkei Genkai, or something even rarer. His taijutsu foundation was flawless. Kabuto disengaged, putting space between them, his expression grave as he strategized.
"My, it's lively here."
A bright, clear voice floated down like a feather.
Everyone looked up.
Tenten landed lightly on the grass, neat, clean, and full of mischievous energy, showing no trace of hardship from the Forest of Death.
Neji Hyuga landed beside her. His pale eyes held a natural, oppressive weight that made people want to look away.
Rock Lee, however, was the odd one out. His green spandex was stained and torn, a stark contrast to his pristine teammates.
"Tenten! Neji! Lee!"
Naruto cheered.
Sakura's face darkened the instant she saw Lee.
Lee immediately zipped to her side. "Sakura! Are you unharmed?"
"I'm fine," Sakura said flatly. What was with this bushy-browed weirdo? Hadn't she rejected him already?
Lee sighed in relief.
A predator recognizes another. Neji's gaze immediately locked onto Hanataki. Now, both Kabuto and Neji were focused on the single Rain ninja.
"Rain Village?"
Tenten voiced the question, her eyes curious as she studied Hanataki and his teammates. Neji had mentioned this Rain ninja was strong. What luck, running into him just as the exam's time limit was nearing.
"Ha ha ha! Looks like you're the ones who should run now!"
Naruto laughed, emboldened by their growing numbers. He felt incredibly safe.
"Naruto."
Sakura's temple throbbed, unable to stand his premature celebration. They hadn't even scratched the surface of the enemy's power. What gave him the idea that numbers alone guaranteed victory?
"Though time is short, a single exchange should still be possible."
A faint, ghostly green aura ignited around Neji.
Dark spheres—Truth-Seeking Orbs—materialized and floated behind his back.
An invisible pressure radiated from him, thick enough to choke on.
With Neji's entrance, the level of this confrontation skyrocketed.
A silvery-white light erupted around Hanataki in response.
"Then let me witness the true strength of the Leaf's so-called top genius, Neji Hyuga."
The nine black orbs orbiting Neji were suddenly engulfed in that eerie green chakra, spinning slowly behind him. The oppressive force intensified.
One by one, the chakra-sheathed orbs shot toward Hanataki from different angles, sealing every possible avenue of escape. Their speed defied the eye. Their destructive potential was palpable.
Those standing near Neji got a direct, gut-level understanding of his power.
Sasuke's eyes darkened. This was the strength of a ninja just one year his senior?
Naruto was awed. As expected ofSister Tsuruki's student! I need to train harder!
Tenten's eyes shone with admiration. Neji in battle was… dazzling.
A shadow of profound loneliness crossed Rock Lee's face. The gap between him and Neji was no longer something hard work could bridge.
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