Seeing that his escape route had been completely cut off, the man's heart sank. He immediately pulled a signal flare from inside his flak jacket—but before he could fire it, Maki's figure closed the distance in an instant.
"Damn it!"
The intruder barely twisted away.
Bang.
Maki's right leg slammed into the man's right arm. Pain shot up his nerves, forcing him to loosen his grip.
The flare slipped from his hand and clattered onto the dirt.
He didn't even have time to recover it.
A cold glint cut toward him like a shadow, forcing him to retreat again with clumsy, frantic steps.
The dispersing clouds parted, letting moonlight reveal the intruder's face—pale, thin, and fatigued.
It was Gekkō Hayate, the sickly chief examiner of the Chunin Exams' third stage.
"Well, well… isn't this the Chunin Exam examiner?"
Maki looked at him coldly.
"What brings you sneaking around at this hour?"
"Sunagakure… Otogakure… what are you planning? Sand is supposed to be Konoha's ally!"
Hayate's voice cracked between disbelief and fury.
"And you—Uzumaki Menma. You intend to betray Konoha? Why?!"
His sickly demeanor was gone; for once, Hayate looked ready to kill.
What shook him most wasn't the Sand–Sound conspiracy…
It was Menma.
Konoha's Nine-Tails Jinchūriki standing among its enemies.
The burst of Nine-Tails chakra earlier—Hayate knew it wasn't a genjutsu or a trick.
It was real.
And the psychological shock was enough to shatter him.
Menma stared back expressionlessly.
To him, Hayate was just a special jōnin, an extra who happened to be in the wrong place. Menma had neither the time nor the patience for pointless dialogue.
"Heh… allies?" Maki said with a cold smirk.
"Does Konoha truly treat Sunagakure as an equal? Our patience has reached its limit. This twisted relationship ends now."
A murderous aura pulsed between Maki's brows.
"Wind Release: Wind Blade."
He didn't waste another word.
Boom.
Wind pressure exploded outward.
Hayate's heart clenched as Maki accelerated—faster than anything he'd seen.
"Tch!"
Desperate, he unsheathed the katana on his back.
"Dance of the Crescent Moon!"
Cold steel flashed. He knew he couldn't win—not with Maki here, another Hidden Sound infiltrator nearby, and Menma behind them.
His only chance was escape.
Clang!
But Hayate had underestimated Maki.
And overestimated himself.
Maki was a top-tier Sand jōnin—one of the strongest in Sunagakure outside the Kazekage.
Their clash lasted only seconds.
Shhk!
Maki slipped through Hayate's guard.
The wind blade cleaved across his abdomen.
Hayate staggered, breath hitching, staring down at the blood spilling from the deep gash. He felt his life leaking away too quickly to comprehend.
'…Yūgao…'
His lover's face flickered across his fading thoughts.
Darkness swallowed everything.
Hayate collapsed forward.
Dead in seconds.
Without hesitation, Maki drove the wind blade into Hayate's skull and twisted.
Even a corpse could reveal information—especially in Konoha, where the Yamanaka Clan could read memories.
Menma watched silently before disappearing into the night with a single leap.
Maki glanced in the direction Menma left, a strange glint in his eyes.
"Konoha's Nine-Tails Jinchūriki… Heh. This truly is Sunagakure's blessing."
He vanished as well, leaving Hayate's lifeless body cooling in the barren clearing.
Hayate's death was another silent alarm for Konoha.
No solid proof, but a special jōnin assassinated during exam week could not be ignored.
Even for Orochimaru alone, heightened alert was inevitable.
With only two or three days remaining before the Chunin Exam finals, the entire village's tension spiked.
But the civilians remained blissfully unaware.
On the day of the finals, the whole village crackled with festival-like excitement.
Menma, fully armed, opened his door to bright sunlight and a buzzing atmosphere.
His lips curled into cold mockery.
"Twelve years… time for you all to remember. I hope you can still laugh when it begins."
He scanned the cheerful crowds—children, merchants, shinobi, tourists.
They enjoyed the peace Konoha provided.
And in the moment of reckoning, they would pay the price.
Menma had every reason to resent these people.
He did not burn for revenge, but if he could watch Konoha descend into suffering…
he would welcome it.
"Let's go. The next stage begins."
Menma strode toward the arena.
When he arrived, more than an hour remained before the finals—but the stands were already full.
JOIN MY PATREON TO READ 50+ CHAPTERS BEFORE PUBLIC RELEASE OR PURCHASE FOR LIFETIME ACCESS!
WE ARE CURRENTLY ON CHAPTER 161 ON PATREON.
Patreon.com/HACKDWORLD