Kankuro didn't take Naruto's "ball-rolling" seriously.
But while working up that ball, Naruto was plainly an easier target to hit, and Kankuro wasn't about to let the chance slip.
Maybe because it was his first time forming one, Naruto was still clumsy at it, getting interrupted over and over—a far cry from the way he'd churn out Rasengan after Rasengan late in the "original."
"Hanabi," Kakashi asked, cutting straight to it. "Can you really do this move?"
"What does Kakashi-sensei think?" Hanabi shot back.
"Sasuke's version folds in nature transformation, but strictly speaking, Inferno Style doesn't require knowing the Rasengan itself—because Inferno Style's final spread is more like bursting all the energy out at once. It's more of a derivative spun off from a 'failed prototype.' The difficulty isn't in the same class as the Rasengan."
Kakashi had kept his Sharingan open the whole time, watching.
And as far as Kakashi knew, the only person who'd ever studied the Rasengan was Hanabi.
"—Forget it. Whatever you do, do not say you were the one who reconstructed this."
Kakashi put on his teacher's face, and even called Sasuke over too. "You two—this move Naruto's using right now, just pin it all on me. Listen well: absolutely do not say Hanabi reconstructed it herself, understood?"
Learning the Rasengan and "reconstructing" the Rasengan were two completely different tiers of difficulty.
Kakashi was doing this for Hanabi's sake.
"Honestly, this move isn't even that hard. It bears a certain resemblance to Revolving Heaven," Hanabi said.
"Revolving Heaven, hm..."
That, too, was an absolute-defense technique—one only the Byakugan could use.
"Even so, you can't go around saying that carelessly," Kakashi pressed on.
Take Revolving Heaven, for instance: Neji's could only be deployed close around his body, while Hyuga Hiashi's could expand into a massive sphere—shaving away the very ground.
But Hyuga Hiashi's Revolving Heaven was a technique learned from the main house, whereas Neji's was likewise "reconstructed"—the difficulty between the two couldn't be spoken of in the same breath.
Going from zero to one is a great deal harder than going from one to ten.
"Is it really such an incredible move?" Even Sasuke was startled.
"Incredible or not is beside the point. The key thing is that this jutsu is a seal-less technique created by the Fourth Hokage himself, and the number of people who can perform it is vanishingly small..."
[Saying it like that, I'm starting to wonder again. Naruto's mom couldn't actually be connected to the Fourth Hokage somehow, could she]
[Grass (a type of exclamation), the production team is killing us—still hasn't dropped a single hint up to now]
[Dying, I'll bet the question of Naruto's parentage won't get touched before episode 300]
[Squad Seven's all sandbagging their real strength]
[Hiding it so long the championship's gone by the time they stop]
[Throwing shade, huh—next year's definitely the most promising year]
[Wrong, it's already the year 5202, next year's 6202, you're the one throwing shade]
The chaos-gremlin audience seemed to end up gabbing about some match over on the other side?
But none of that mattered. What mattered was the story over here.
While Kakashi was briefing Squad Seven, Naruto over there got knocked down again.
"Damn it!"
Because he needed to "roll up the ball" solo, Naruto kept getting interrupted left and right.
"Damn it, I'm definitely gonna show you! Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
In one breath Naruto conjured several dozen shadow clones.
Kankuro went slack-jawed at the sight.
"Are these solid?! Shadow clones?!"
Shadow Clones split chakra evenly among all the copies. Forget dozens—for an ordinary person, even three or five could sometimes drag down their fighting strength.
"Damn it!"
Kankuro set Karasu to "sweeping" the shadow clones again.
"Yosh! Sorry to keep you waiting!"
But over there, Naruto had seized the moment to complete the Rasengan.
"Just as I thought."
Seeing the finished Rasengan appear, the Third couldn't help but think of the Fourth.
"Was it Kakashi who taught Naruto this move?"
He guessed.
"With no fire-nature transformation, it won't burst open!"
This time Kankuro didn't go near Naruto either, just sent the puppet driving straight at him.
"Hah!"
Naruto shoved the Rasengan forward one-handed and slammed it right into Karasu's body.
And then, the once-sturdy puppet was simply blown apart by the single blow.
"What—this move is actually that powerful?!"
Kankuro was floored.
Kankuro knew exactly how tough Karasu was—and for one jutsu of the opponent's to take Karasu apart was honestly terrifying.
"But—who said a puppeteer can't control a puppet after it's been taken apart?!"
A flick of the Chakra Threads in Kankuro's hand, and those scattered puppet pieces were still firmly under his control.
The puppet, bristling with all manner of lethal blades, stabbed once more toward Naruto, who'd already spent his Rasengan.
"Die—!"
But under Kankuro's shout, this Naruto promptly went poof into a puff of white smoke.
"That's my special move!"
Countless Naruto voices came from behind that crowd of shadow clones.
And right after, several more Naruto came charging in—every one of them with a Rasengan in hand.
Huh?
Kankuro wondered if he was dreaming.
You can do that?!
A whole pile of Naruto charged at Kankuro.
"You've gotta be kidding me!"
Kankuro stared, dumbstruck.
Just how absurd was this guy's chakra reserve?!
And those spinning spheres had smashed Karasu apart outright—slamming into a human body, wouldn't that turn a person into shreds?
Kankuro drew a deep breath, then fixed Naruto with a grim stare.
Then, slowly, Kankuro raised his hand.
"I! Forfeit!"
Loud and clear.
The Rasengan halted a centimeter from Kankuro's face.
Kankuro was utterly numb.
[Nothing to fear]
[Oh my, there goes my boomerang]
[Dying]
[First one in the Chūnin Exams to forfeit]
[Dying. Hahaha.]
[Even the corners of his mouth are twitching]
Hanabi seized the chance to scoop up some Popularity Points, too—since this highlight had been driven and engineered by Hanabi as well.
The one putting on the show wasn't Hanabi herself, true, but Hanabi's goal had been to hand Naruto a "highlight moment," and this counted as one—a minor highlight, anyway.
The bigger highlight was still to come.
Hanabi also knew, though, that Kankuro hadn't pulled out all his tricks—a poison-gas release, for one. But that one wouldn't have targeted Naruto alone; it definitely wasn't fit to appear in an exam arena.
After Naruto came the last group's match: Tenten versus the Sound's Kin Tsuchi, with Shikamaru drawing a bye.
Kin fought by using her weapons to throw off her opponent—but the Tenten across from her had nothing if not ninja tools. Put simply, she was loaded.
Under that immense barrage of weaponry, the Sound's last entrant left standing could only declare defeat.
And with that, all ten of the advancing competitors were confirmed:
Hyuga Hanabi, Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, Gaara, Temari, Hyuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Choji, and Tenten.
After this came the tense, thrilling segment of drawing lots for the next round's opponents.