"Fourth Gate, the Gate of Pain, open!"
Having opened the fourth of his eight gates, the limit of his current ability, the surface of Rock Lee's skin had turned a deep red, a symptom of the rapid expansion of his capillaries. A massive amount of blood, circulating at high speed, rushed into his blood vessels. The sheer volume of blood under his skin gave him a dark complexion, and his chakra reached its peak.
"Dead Calm."
Kimimaro met him with the strongest form of Water Breathing, a profound and esoteric sword technique. To his surprise, Lee's attacks were now creating something akin to air cannons, though they were still many times weaker than Guy's.
"Cough, cough..." At the critical moment, Kimimaro's illness flared up again. The constant coughing disrupted his control and output, giving Lee another opportunity.
With the fourth gate open, Lee finally went on a rampage. He was unbelievably fierce, hammering Kimimaro with a barrage of blows, driving him into the ground. He finished with a flurry of air cannons—a weakened version of the Morning Peacock.
"Is... is that Lee's true strength?"
The spectators were already stunned. After opening the fourth gate, Lee's speed was impossible for the naked eye to follow. They could only vaguely see a dark shadow flying around Kimimaro, who was forced onto the defensive.
Finally, with an all-out strike, Lee drove Kimimaro deep into the ground, kicking up a cloud of earth and leaving a deep crater. Not satisfied, Lee used the last bit of time he had with his gates open to unleash his weakened Morning Peacock.
[Dance of the Seedling Fern!]
Suddenly, a forest of bone-white trees erupted from the now-calm earth, densely packed spikes piercing the ground as they grew at an incredible rate.
In the end, Kimimaro had been forced to release his Shikotsumyaku. Even he had a temper after being beaten on for so long. Although Lee's fourth gate still couldn't break his defense, the blows hurt.
"Ahhh!"
A pained scream. Lee, caught off guard, perhaps because his strength was nearly spent or the power of the Eight Gates had run its course, couldn't dodge the Dance of the Seedling Fern in time. Or perhaps he never could have dodged it. The entire arena, and even parts of the spectator stands, were overrun with the bone forest. Lee, at the center of it all, had nowhere to run.
Like the Deep Forest Emergence, Kimimaro's bone forest was terrifyingly large. As he leaped out from among the towering bone trees, he had transformed.
His body was already in the state of the Dance of the Larch, wreathed in bone-white armor, and the Mark had appeared on his face—[The Mark: Sage Mode].
In this human version of Sage Mode, Kimimaro's strength was not much different from his curse mark level two in the original timeline. Both used natural energy, but Orochimaru's curse mark clearly put a much greater strain on the body, as could be seen from the pained expression on Sasuke's face when he used it. Uchiha Nagi's Sage Mode, however, had been modified to be the most suitable for human cultivation, with the fewest side effects. In terms of overall strength, it was superior to Orochimaru's curse mark.
"You must have used some kind of forbidden jutsu. I will repay you with the respect a strong warrior deserves, by killing you with my full strength," Kimimaro said indifferently to Lee.
He unleashed his Shikotsumyaku: Dance of the Clematis: Flower.
His body became a giant bone drill, shooting toward Lee. This was the technique that even Gaara's ultimate defense, the Shield of Shukaku, could not block. If history hadn't changed, Kimimaro would have died from exhaustion right after breaking the shield, allowing Gaara to escape by the skin of his teeth.
But in this timeline, Kimimaro was in much better condition. Lee, unable to dodge, was pierced through the chest and thigh, and left hanging on the bone forest of the Dance of the Seedling Fern, forced to watch as death approached.
"LEE!"
Just as Kimimaro's ultimate technique was about to turn Lee into a pile of minced meat, someone finally intervened. A green shadow flashed by, and Kimimaro's attack hit nothing but air.
Lee, who had been impaled on the bone forest, was rescued by Guy. But Guy didn't dare pull out the bone spikes piercing his body, for fear that the massive blood loss would kill Lee instantly.
"Guy-sensei... I... haven't... lost... yet..."
After uttering his last words, Lee shakily stood up and struck a pose before fainting. Guy's tears flowed freely.
"Hey, hey, that's cheating! According to the rules of the competition, unless the contestant gives up or is incapacitated, no one from the outside can interfere! Is this how you do things in Konoha? You see your own people about to die, so you just ignore the rules and rush in to save them?"
"Shameless, Konoha!"
Shinobi from some of the smaller nations began to jeer. The Konoha side remained silent.
In the Chunin Exams, killing an opponent in the arena was an unspoken rule. Guy rushing in to save Lee before he surrendered was a clear violation.
But this was Konoha's turf. They were the hosts. The other shinobi could curse all they wanted, but there was nothing they could do.
Guy no longer cared. He picked up Lee and ran for the emergency room, hoping to save his beloved student's life.
"Ahem! Due to severe damage to the arena, the competition is suspended. We will move to another location later. Today's matches are now concluded," the proctor announced, reading Konoha's official statement.
A chorus of boos came from the crowd.
"Kimimaro, are you okay? Why did you activate the Mark? Can your body handle it?" Amaru asked, concerned, as she helped Kimimaro up. Genya came over to help as well.
"Cough, cough... I won't die just yet. But I probably can't participate in the next matches. I'll have to forfeit." Kimimaro's body, from forcibly using Sage Mode, was now extremely ill. He couldn't continue fighting.
"It's okay, leave it to us. We'll win the next matches. I think it's my turn next," Amaru said, full of confidence. As a jinchuriki, her strength was debatable, but her chakra reserves were definitely immense.
At least comparable to the One-Tails.
And thanks to the real waterfall where she constantly practiced tug-of-war, she was a perfect jinchuriki. Unlike Gaara, who couldn't borrow Shukaku's chakra, Amaru not only had her own vast reserves, but also the Zero-Tails as a nuclear battery.
Her strategy was simple: get on stage, use a few Great Exploding Water Colliding Waves, and win with a map-clearing attack. Simple and brutal.
The next day, as expected, the first match was Amaru's debut.
Her opponent was Gaara's sister, Temari. The moment Temari stepped onto the stage, she exuded a powerful, commanding aura. With a single Wind Style jutsu, she blew away half the trees in the arena.
Amaru didn't hold back either. She started with one Water Style jutsu, and then a second one followed immediately.
"Water Style: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"
A monstrous flood instantly turned the new arena into an ocean. The spectators, though prepared, were still caught in the deluge. Those who could swim swam; those who couldn't were rescued by Konoha shinobi.
"Are you kidding me? Another map-clearing attack? Can't you fight normally instead of just using your ultimate moves?" Temari fumed.
"Haha! I'm the weakest of my team. All I have is chakra. What else can I do but use big moves?" Amaru laughed happily. "Take this! Water Style: Multi-Water Dragon Jutsu!"
A normal Water Dragon Jutsu was a single dragon. The Multi-Water Dragon Jutsu was a dozen. With the vast ocean created by her previous attack, Amaru could cast her water dragons much faster, the water being readily available.
Temari opened her fan and managed to disperse two of the water dragons before quickly raising her hand and shouting, "I surrender! I give up!"
Amaru stopped her attack. "Huh? Why did you give up so quickly? Let's keep fighting!"
"Do you think everyone is a chakra monster like you? Go fight that blond kid. You're both monsters anyway." Temari rolled her eyes and leaped out of the flooded arena.
Blond kid?
Amaru looked at Naruto. That kid was indeed a monster, with so much chakra...
"Hey, hey, blondie! You got the guts to fight me next? Watch me get revenge for Genya!"
Naruto looked around, then pointed at himself, realizing Amaru was talking to him.
"I, the great Naruto Uzumaki, accept your challenge!"
As the two of them were setting up their match, Gaara appeared in the distance, muttering to himself like a madman.
"Two monsters... monsters just like me... Shukaku, do you feel it? Kill them... I have to kill them!"
"Hehehehe..."
Thanks to the immense chakra and life force of his Tailed Beast, Gaara, whose throat had been slit by Kimimaro, had miraculously survived with the continuous help of the medical ninja, pulling through the period where he couldn't breathe.
And now, Gaara had become even more unhinged. During the competition, he had first sensed the Nine-Tails within Naruto. Like repelling magnets, Shukaku's intense hatred for the Nine-Tails had affected Gaara. Then, today, he had sensed the presence of the second artificial Tailed Beast, the Zero-Tails. This was like pouring oil on a fire. Gaara became even more frantic, on the verge of losing control and going on a rampage.
After a day of rest, the Konoha shinobi had managed to clean up the flooded arena and repair the half-destroyed spectator stands. To be honest, this year's Chunin Exams had far exceeded all previous ones. A few genin had fought at a Kage level, destroying the arena several times. This had never happened before.
After the repairs, the matches were announced to continue the next day. This time, it was Gaara versus Sasuke.
"Oh, it seems Sasuke might not make it in time. I wonder if Lord Kazekage would like to wait? If not, we can declare Sasuke absent and disqualified."
"Heh heh, such an exciting match. How could we miss it just because someone is absent? Let's wait for them."
Hiding in the crowd, Uchiha Nagi looked up at the two Kage on the high platform. If he wasn't mistaken, that Kazekage was Orochimaru. He still couldn't figure out what that snake was up to. If he wanted revenge on Konoha, why kill the Kazekage? But if he didn't, why involve him, someone who everyone knew had a grudge against Konoha?
Sasuke was late, but Gaara chose to wait, so he wasn't immediately disqualified. After about ten minutes, Sasuke finally arrived, fashionably late like a true protagonist.
"It's about to start..."
Kakashi and his student, Sasuke, stood dramatically on a high wall. A few leaves, from who knows where, swirled around them, adding to the effect.
"Ahem," the proctor coughed. "Since Uchiha Sasuke has arrived, I now declare the match... begin!"
Sasuke made a cool entrance, landing in the arena. Gaara just stared at him coldly. After discovering two others of his kind, his interest in Sasuke had waned. He just wanted to kill him quickly so he could get on with fighting the other two "monsters."
The moment the match was announced, Gaara, the long-range mage, attacked with his sand. Sasuke, after a period of special training with Kakashi, was much faster, and the sand couldn't catch him.
SWISH—
He threw a few shuriken at Gaara, which were automatically blocked by his sand. Gaara then created a sand clone to fight Sasuke.
POW!
Sasuke nimbly dodged the clone's attack and landed a punch on its face, sending the real Gaara, who was used to being protected by his sand and wasn't very agile, flying.
But the sand armor under his skin absorbed the damage. After a moment of shock, Gaara began to laugh wildly.
"Hahahaha... you're good... very good..."
Then, the sand swirled around his body, forming a sphere, an absolute defense. Sasuke tried to attack again, but each time, the sand sphere would shoot out spikes to block him.
Faced with the hedgehog-like sand ball, after trying various methods to no avail, Sasuke finally made a decision.
He formed a series of hand seals and unleashed Kakashi's signature jutsu, the Chidori.
Zzzzzzt!
The sound of electricity filled the arena, a crackling sound like a thousand birds chirping.
"That's... Kakashi's jutsu, the Raikiri. Also known as... the Chidori," the proctor recognized it instantly.
"CHIDORI!"
Lightning crackled around Sasuke's hand. As if to show off, he wasted some energy by dragging the Chidori along the ground, carving a deep trench as he charged.
"Ahhh!"
A scream came from inside the sand sphere. Gaara's absolute defense had been pierced by the Chidori, and he himself had been struck in the shoulder.
At that moment, Kabuto, sitting in the stands, suddenly saw feathers falling from the sky. This was their signal. The attack had officially begun.
Kabuto quickly formed a hand seal, and a large-scale genjutsu spread through the crowd. On the high platform, Orochimaru suddenly attacked the Third Hokage, taking him hostage on the roof. The Sound Four immediately appeared and cast a barrier, trapping them inside.
At the same time, outside Konoha—
A group of Sand Village shinobi, their faces filled with hatred, along with Sound Village shinobi, all performed the summoning jutsu. Using Orochimaru's contract, they summoned a horde of giant snakes, nearly the size of Gamabunta.