Naruto already had a huge volume of chakra; only the seal kept him saddled with the "dead last" label.
Yuto tore away half the sealing formula inside Naruto—similar in spirit to what Jiraiya once did.
Meanwhile, Iruka walked back from Ichiraku with a tangled look on his face.
If he wanted Team 7 to do what he had in mind, routine missions wouldn't cut it. And after what just happened, there was no way they'd be sent into a combat mission.
That left one last route: the Chūnin Shiken (Chūnin Exams)!
Maybe only the Exams could pull Team 7 out of their current state.
After wrestling with it, Iruka firmed up his decision.
Early next morning.
Hokage's office.
"What? You want Team 7 to enter the Chūnin Exams?"
Hiruzen looked at Iruka in surprise. The surprise wasn't that Naruto's team might enter, but that someone as steady as Iruka would propose it.
After all, they'd only just graduated—less than a year ago.
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
Iruka bowed and summarized what he'd observed in the three.
"I see. I'll need to think it over," Hiruzen said after a pause.
Iruka nodded, turned, and left without disappointment.
Since the Third hadn't rejected it outright, there was hope.
——
Kumogakure.
Near the central mountain range.
BOOM!
Thunderous impacts rippled across the mountains.
A blue flash like lightning blinked into existence in front of Killer B—then slammed a fist into him.
Pain lanced through B's gut. He flew back, smashing a massive boulder to gravel.
"B, looks like your training's slipped."
The Fourth Raikage, A, spoke coolly as his brother crashed.
Crack!
B shook his head, climbed out of the rubble, and looked at A, rapping under his breath.
"Fool—yo… A's still strong, no joke, but I ain't slackin', bro."
As he finished, B's body moved.
Kenjutsu: Akurobatto (Acrobat)!
He struck a peculiar stance, clamping seven or eight blades at once, and blitzed toward A with unpredictable lines and blinding speed.
A laughed, dropped a fist, and hammered the ground.
Stone erupted.
A storm of jagged rocks blasted into the air. A's hands blurred, and the airborne stones fired like shells straight at B.
B spun his entire body. Every stone that reached him shattered on contact, sliced clean.
Chōon-soku Shindō Raiton-tō (Supersonic Vibrating Thunder Swords)!
Raiton (Lightning Release) flowed over B's body, then into all seven blades with nature transformation.
A strange gleam ran along the edges. At a frequency no ordinary eye could catch, the swords began to vibrate at extreme speed.
Whoosh!
With a ripping boom, B vanished, leaving only an afterimage.
In the blink of an eye he stood before A, seven blades tracing impossible arcs as they passed through A's frame.
Zzzap!
No blood—just a burst of lightning.
A turned to bolts and dispersed. The leftover charge crawled along B's blades and poured into his body.
Raiton Bunshin (Lightning Clone)!
B's body tensed as he scanned the area. A mere clone's residual current couldn't hurt him.
"Fool—yo… where you at—there you at."
He kept the rap flowing while adjusting his chakra, ready for the counter.
Girochin Doroppu (Guillotine Drop)!!
KRA-KOOOM!
A colossal detonation rolled through the range, a scream woven inside it.
"Fool—yaaah—"
"Dammit—hurts—"
B's sing-song howl echoed up from the mountain's heart.
On a high rock at the outskirts—
Mabui sat with her bronze legs swinging, bored out of her mind.
Hearing the distant, half-rap, half-scream from deep within the range, the corner of her mouth twitched, though her face stayed calm.
Clearly not the first time.
After a long while, the booming finally died.
With a flash of blue lightning, A appeared a short distance before Mabui.
She blinked, hopped down from the rock, and hurried over with a bow. "Raikage-sama."
A nodded, rolling his shoulder. "Just finished warming up. What is it?"
"Kiri sent someone. Says they have important intel to exchange with Kumo."
Mabui's face was solemn.
Oh?
Interest sparked across A's features. "Where is he? Bring him."
Mabui nodded and signaled.
After a short wait, two Kumo shinobi arrived with a middle-aged Kiri ninja—plain features, Kiri forehead protector, nothing special.
They bowed to A and withdrew without concern the man might try anything.
"Raikage-sama," the Kiri ninja said with respectful composure.
The Five Kage stood as equals, the highest authorities in the shinobi world. Ordinary ninja naturally showed respect.
"Shouldn't Kiri be busy trading blows with Konoha right now? Surprised you have time to come calling on Kumo," A said with a cold smile, his rough voice rolling over the man.
"I'm just a regular shinobi. I have no say in village decisions," the Kiri ninja replied, expression flat.
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