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After the forced calm had returned to the store following Rob's intervention, eyes turned once again to the pages of the manga, where the third fight was about to begin.
Tension still hung in the air, but curiosity about witnessing the Sand Village's abilities had begun to overtake the lingering feelings of anger.
…
In Sunagakure, the Third Kazekage straightened in his seat, his eyes tracking Kankurō, who carried something large wrapped in bandages on his back.
"Puppet art… let's see how this boy puts our skills to use in the future."
He smiled as he looked at the open manga pages before him.
...
[— Manga Scene —]
"His neck broke…" Rock Lee said, staring at the scene in shock.
"Hah?" Naruto was stunned.
"Nonsense…" Gaara said with a strange expression.
"Damn… you idiot… You made me kill you…" Misumi, who had believed he had killed his opponent, felt a pang of guilt.
When he tried to release his stretching technique, Kankurō's face turned toward him, cracked like a puppet's, grotesquely terrifying.
"So, is it my turn now?" A rough voice emerged from Kankurō's broken body.
"What?!!" Misumi was thrown into shock as he found himself embraced by a horrifying puppet body with the same crushing force he had applied moments before.
"This… is a puppet?!" Now the truth of the matter dawned on him.
Elsewhere, the bandages fell away from the body he had previously assumed was the puppet.
'That one is the real one? He's a puppeteer?!'
"If your bones are broken, you become more flexible, right?" Kankurō said, having reclaimed complete control in the simplest of ways.
"Stop— Aaaggh!!!" Misumi screamed in agony as the puppet came close to shattering his bones entirely.
"Though I could easily break your neck."
'Oh, I almost ended the match too early…' The referee felt relieved he had not stopped the fight earlier, and announced, "Unable to continue fighting. The winner, Kankurō!!"
"Two against one, that's cheating!! Is this allowed, Kakashi-sensei?!" Naruto turned to Kakashi with the question.
"That's not cheating. That's Puppet Jutsu."
"It's a technique that controls a puppet using chakra; it's no different from shuriken or any other tool."
"Then let the fourth match begin," said the referee.
"Good grief, there are so many weirdos here," said Naruto.
"As if you're the one who should be saying that…" Kakashi shot back with dry sarcasm, implying that Naruto was the strangest one present.
[— End Scene —]
Grandmother Chiyo was studying the illustration of the puppet Karasu with expert eyes, slowly turning the pages as she analyzed every joint and every chakra thread rendered in the drawing.
"Not bad…" Chiyo murmured, her voice carrying a tone of both nostalgia and measured appraisal.
"This boy Kankurō has a good touch, but he still relies on bandages and physical concealment. True artistry doesn't need to hide behind bandages; it requires making the puppet the reality, and reality the puppet."
She turned toward young Sasori, who was watching with an eerie silence, his brown eyes unblinking.
"What do you think, Sasori? Do you see your future in those threads?"
Sasori did not respond immediately. Instead, he ran his small fingers along the edge of the page as though feeling the texture of wood.
"It lacks soul…" he said in a quiet voice.
He looked like a child who could already see a future where he would walk a path unlike anyone else in the art of puppetry.
This manga was only showing him just how singular he would one day become.
"Wooden puppets break, rot, and need repairs. Art that does not endure forever is not true art. But…" he paused for a moment, looking at the shattered Misumi. "I liked the sound of breaking bones. That part… was real."
Ebizō felt a chill run through him, hearing that. This child seemed… stranger, even, than Gaara in the manga. What was wrong with him? No one could say.
"My dear grandson… You must pay close attention. This manga is a treasure for you, it reveals many things that should not exist, and it will serve you greatly," his grandmother Chiyo said.
Hearing that, Sasori gave a slow nod.
…
Kankurō's victory in the manga pages was far more than a passing triumph for the readers of Sunagakure — it was the restoration of wounded pride after chapters of witnessing Konoha's dominance.
In the corridors of the Art Store, professional Sand ninja began exchanging looks of satisfaction tinged with careful restraint.
"Look at that movement on the page," said one of the puppeteer jōnin, pointing his finger at the precise illustration of the chakra threads.
"Kankurō didn't just control Karasu; he camouflaged his own chakra signature so it merged with the wood of the puppet. That level of deception is what defines the Suna Academy. Konoha may have the Sharingan, but we are the ones who can make reality look like an illusion without needing any special eyes."
Beside him, another ninja smiled with dry amusement as he observed Naruto's reaction in the manga.
"That jinchūriki from Konoha thinks using puppets is cheating? What a moron! In the desert, if you can't deceive your enemy, you're dead before you draw a single kunai."
"Kankurō proved that the Sand shinobi are the silent predators of this exam."
Grandmother Chiyo, who had been listening to these murmurs, raised her voice slightly so all could hear.
"Don't grow overconfident."
"Kankurō won because his opponent was arrogant and relied on a transparent physical technique. But look at Kakashi…" she pointed to the scene where Kakashi stood with Naruto.
"He's breaking down the puppet technique as casually as if he were reading a children's book. Konoha knows our weaknesses, and we must be far more creative if we want Suna's puppets to remain the strongest."
…
In another corner of the store, young Baki, nine years old, was staring at the manga pages with a focus that far exceeded his age.
He had no idea that the powerful man dressed in jōnin gear supervising the Sand team in the manga was himself, years from now.
But he felt a strange pull toward that stern figure all the same.
"Look at that jōnin overseeing the Sand team…" Baki whispered to his fellow students, his eyes gleaming with an intense ambition.
"He carries a terrifying presence, and it seems like he's the one who honed the skills of those three siblings. I hope to become a shinobi with a gaze that sharp someday."
Even as he said it, he never imagined that he himself was that very person.
Baki was analyzing Kankurō's movements in the fight, not as an instructor, but as a student hungry to surpass.
"Using chakra threads for physical camouflage… that's a brilliant idea. At our academy, they teach us that the puppet is the tool, but this boy in the manga turned himself into the tool and made the puppet the reality. That's the kind of shinobi I want to become: someone no enemy can predict."
Young Baki did not yet realize that reading this manga now, at the age of nine, had already begun shaping the person the world would one day come to know.
He watched Gaara in the manga, and a question stirred inside him.
'Gaara… why does everyone feel afraid of him even when he's silent? Does power in Suna always have to mean isolation?'
Baki sighed deeply as he turned the page, aware that the manga was not merely presenting him with a story; it was presenting him with a new standard of power that surpassed everything he had learned in academy lessons up to this point.
…
While Sunagakure's Art Store hummed with pride and military analysis, the Art Store in Konoha was living through a completely different kind of anticipation.
With the next two names appearing on the electronic screen in the manga, whispers rose throughout the room.
Sakura Haruno VS. Yamanaka Ino
In one of the comfortable seats, Inoichi Yamanaka sat up and adjusted his long blond hair as he watched the stunned expression on Ino's face in the manga.
Beside him, Shikaku Nara and Chōza Akimichi exchanged meaningful glances.
"Inoichi, it seems your clan's girl has her moment now," Shikaku said with a smile.
"But it's a difficult matchup… not just in terms of combat, but because it's against Sakura."
Inoichi sighed deeply, his eyes following Ino's expression in the manga.
"Ino is a strong girl, but her heart is tender. In the manga, we see their relationship is complicated, all because of that boy, Sasuke. I hope Ino doesn't hesitate to use the clan's techniques because of her emotions."
…
On the other side, Kizashi and Mebuki were watching with visible tension.
They were not high-ranking shinobi like Inoichi, but they felt a pride they couldn't quite explain watching Sakura reach this stage.
"Sakura… it looks like she's about to fight the heiress of the Yamanaka clan?" Mebuki whispered, gripping Kizashi's hand.
"Look at her, she looks so determined. I didn't know she had this kind of strength inside her."
"Do you think she can get through this?"
Kizashi asked with a smile, genuinely curious how far Sakura could go.
[— Manga Scene —]
"Sakura VS. Ino… Begin!"
The two girls stood face to face, and memories began to flow through the manga pages, memories of a red ribbon, a rose not yet in bloom, and words spoken long ago.
"Ino… I won't lose to you anymore." Sakura said as she tightened her headband.
"Heh… A bud that hasn't bloomed yet is trying to talk big?" Ino replied with a smile that concealed a great deal of hesitation.
The fight began with a swift exchange of physical strikes, but everyone knew the real battle was being waged in their minds.
"If you keep thinking of me as the crybaby Sakura from before, you're going to hurt yourself. Fight me seriously, Ino!!" Sakura cried out with a resolute look.
"I'm glad to hear that… I'll come at you with everything I have, just like you asked…" Ino wiped her mouth as she prepared to rise again.
[— End Scene —]
"What an incredibly long flashback about two little girls!"
"Seriously… even Sasuke didn't get a flashback like this…"
"Sasuke? Even Naruto didn't get one…"
"Well, never mind… it looks like the manga will wrap up with the Sakura and Ino fight. But man, when does Naruto actually get to fight?"
"The real question is who his opponent will be…"
"Will it be Gaara?"
"I doubt it. Gaara feels like the final boss. He must be going straight to the Third Exam."
"Alright, let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'm genuinely enjoying the Ino and Sakura fight, this is amazing!"
The shinobi who said that last part received strange looks from his companions, who could clearly see the peculiar expression on his face as he leaned eagerly into the pages.
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Upcoming chapter titles (spoilers):
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Chapter 166: The Mind Transfer Technique of the Yamanaka Clan. (The end of the volume)
Chapter 167: A New Future Takes Shape!
Chapter 168: Ancient Family Grudges?
Chapter 169: More Girls' Battles?
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