Chapter 70:
"You're really unlucky to have run into me." Boruto looked at Hassaku standing before him and taunted him before the match.
Hassaku gripped his Executioner's Blade tightly and stared back at Boruto. "I'm not the same person I was before."
They had met once before, during the Konoha Ninja Academy's field trip to the Hidden Mist Village. At that time, Hassaku had been in a sorry state—partly due to Shuyu being present.
"The match begins now!"
Hassaku was the first to strike, pulling out his Executioner's Blade without holding back. The blade sliced through the air with a howling sound as it came down toward Boruto. As a brute, Hassaku had no idea whether the Hidden Mist was strong enough to go to war with Konoha, nor did he care if injuring Boruto would damage relations between the two villages.
All he knew was that he had to bring glory to his village, to his country. Hassaku of Onomichi just wanted to bring honor to his ancestors.
Boruto narrowly dodged the blade, then looked down at the short kunai in his hand and compared it to Hassaku's massive Executioner's Blade.
They clearly weren't on the same level.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Three Boruto clones charged toward Hassaku, each wielding a short kunai.
"Useless, useless!"
Hassaku swung left, then right. The clones with their short kunai stood no chance against the sheer force of the Executioner's Blade.
"Rasengan!"
Boruto hurled a small Rasengan, which had a slightly cute vibe to it.
"So the Shadow Clones were just a distraction—the real attack was the Rasengan."
Kakashi observed with a satisfied nod. At last, Boruto was using tactics, even if this one was fairly basic.
The small Rasengan flew a short distance through the air before suddenly vanishing.
"Huh? That's it?"
Kakashi muttered in disbelief. Was the Rasengan just a feint, too? Did Boruto have something else planned?
"That's your Rasengan? Seriously? That's hilarious. Anyway, this fight is over, I—"
Before Hassaku could finish his sentence, a heavy blow struck his abdomen. A swirling imprint appeared where he was hit, sending him flying.
"That was awesome, Boruto!"
Konohamaru cheered.
"This means Boruto won, right?" Moegi said.
Kakashi narrowed his eyes and shook his head. "The Rasengan going invisible was surprising, but it was too weak. It couldn't have done any real damage—just caused a bit of pain at most."
As if confirming Kakashi's assessment, Hassaku staggered back to his feet, picking up the Executioner's Blade that had fallen beside him.
Boruto's face, which had been basking in the glow of victory, froze with awkwardness.
"You didn't think you'd actually won, did you, brat?!" Hassaku glared at Boruto with a ferocious look, his body scraped and battered. "Making the Land of Water great again—starts right here!"
Hassaku charged at Boruto again with his Executioner's Blade.
Boruto's hand trembled slightly as a small scroll popped out from the scientific ninja tool on his wrist.
"Wind Style: Wind Cutter Formation!"
Boruto slapped his hand on the ground, releasing chakra from the scroll into the air, forming a vacuum current that enveloped Hassaku in a barrage of indiscriminate, blade-like wind slashes.
"Dammit! You think wounds like these are enough to stop me?!"
Gritting his teeth through the pain of countless cuts from the wind currents, Hassaku swung his Executioner's Blade in a wide arc, forcibly breaking through Boruto's Wind Cutter Formation.
Bleeding heavily, Hassaku wobbled as he stood in front of Boruto, looking like he could collapse at any moment.
"The village... and the Land of Water..."
After mumbling a few words, Hassaku collapsed in front of Boruto.
Seeing the state Hassaku was in, Shunhi instantly understood—yet another fool who had been brainwashed by the daimyo of the Land of Water. It was obvious now: among the Seven Ninja Swordsmen participating in the Chūnin Exams, aside from Kagura whose situation was still unclear, the other six were all under the thumb of the daimyo.
"Onomichi Hassaku is unable to continue fighting. The winner: Boruto Uzumaki of the Hidden Leaf!"
As Konoha's medical team carried Hassaku away on a stretcher, Naruto awkwardly said to Chōjūrō, "Your village's ninjas sure are passionate about their home."
After all, it was his own son who had injured Hassaku.
"It's fine, Naruto. Being a ninja is a dangerous profession by nature."
Chōjūrō shook his head. Whether he truly believed that or was simply afraid of Konoha's power was anyone's guess.
"The second match: Mitsuki versus Arashi! Will both contestants please enter the arena!"
As Mitsuki calmly passed Boruto at the edge of the field, he said, "Congratulations, Boruto."
Boruto nodded, replying listlessly, "Yeah. You too, Mitsuki."
Once Boruto disappeared from view, Mitsuki stepped onto the field to face his opponent: Arashi from the Hidden Sand Village, who wore a purple-striped mask over his face.
"Quarterfinal Match Two: Konoha's Mitsuki versus Sunagakure's Arashi. The match begins now!"
Arashi drew a giant tachi almost as tall as himself.
Mitsuki and Arashi were the same kind of ninja—calm and composed no matter the situation.
"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands."
Snakes shot out from Mitsuki's arms. His body, modified for flexibility, allowed his arms to stretch like rubber.
Because of that, even while there was still distance between them, Mitsuki's snakes were already reaching Arashi—but all of them were cut down by his swinging tachi.
"Wind Style: Breakthrough!"
Mitsuki inhaled deeply and released a blast of invisible air pressure. It only managed to slightly disrupt Arashi's trajectory, buying a little time.
"Wind Style: Vacuum Blade!"
Even though his attack had been evaded, Mitsuki remained calm, immediately following up with another jutsu. Countless invisible vacuum wind blades flew at Arashi.
This time, dodging was no longer an option. Arashi didn't even try—instead, he used his tachi to block the blades. Still, a few of them managed to slip through and strike his body.
"Not even a hint of hesitation..."
"I remember Father once told me—Sand Village ninjas excel in poison and puppets."
"Anyone would instinctively react to being injured. But you didn't flinch at all. That means... the one I'm fighting right now is a puppet."
Mitsuki clashed directly with Arashi, blocking the tachi with his kunai. Then, green, snake-like chakra began to radiate from around Mitsuki's body—he had activated a portion of his Sage Mode.
Strictly speaking, this wasn't the full Sage Mode from Ryūchi Cave. It was a Curse Mark-based Sage Mode that Orochimaru had developed, drawing on Kabuto's sage training experience.
These snake-shaped chakra tendrils around Mitsuki were similar to Naruto's Tailed Beast Chakra—they could take physical form and had sensory abilities.
One of Mitsuki's snake chakras crawled along Arashi's body, tracing the chakra thread that controlled the puppet.
"Found you."
Mitsuki looked up toward the shade canopy above the stands.
"The contestant is not present on the battlefield. According to the rules, Konoha's Mitsuki wins by default."
Though Arashi was among the more talented puppet users of his generation in Sunagakure, he had a fatal flaw—he was shy around strangers. In battles against unfamiliar people, his performance would drop drastically.
Gaara had entered him in this Five Village Chūnin Exam in hopes that he'd overcome this weakness.
Whether it would backfire and worsen Arashi's social anxiety instead, Gaara wasn't concerned. After all, how much worse could it really get?
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