Chapter 443: Inside Job
The seed candidate, Tenten, defeated the Hidden Sand Village's Temari with lightning speed, causing the atmosphere inside the entire stadium to heat up instantly.
However, when too many people gather, it easily becomes incredibly noisy. Little Tsukika, resting in Masahiko's arms, couldn't take it and covered her ears. Masahiko raised an eyebrow slightly and cast a soundproofing barrier around her. He watched as she hesitantly took her hands away, looking around in panic; she could see everyone opening their mouths, but couldn't hear a single sound...
"Great Ancestor! Waaah... I've been blasted deaf!" Tsukika turned her head and began to cry.
The corner of Masahiko's mouth twitched. Seeing the concerned glances from Kushina and Minato nearby, he pondered how he should explain... He really didn't mean to scare Tsukika on purpose.
He hurriedly canceled the barrier. Before he could even offer a word of comfort, the rowdy noise inside the arena was completely suppressed by the perfectly synchronized voices of two specific individuals...
"Ohh-su! Youth! Tenten!"
Tsukika gave a violent shudder, turning her head toward the direction where the voices that allowed her to 'recover her hearing' had come from. However, Masahiko immediately covered her eyes.
"Don't look, it'll burn your eyes."
In the very first row of the stadium's west-side stands, Guy and Rock Lee were standing with their feet on their seats, perfectly synchronized as they flashed thumbs-up and glistening white teeth. Combined with their green jumpsuits, it gave an especially... brain-dead impression.
The surrounding crowd scattered as far away from them as possible. Only Neji had no way to escape, his Byakugan rolling so hard they turned even whiter...
As for that silly cat, since Tenten wasn't by its side, it had actually attached itself to Hoshino. It was probably because Hoshino had been in close contact with Masahiko recently, so she carried Masahiko's scent on her body...
And with this fat cat riding on her back, Hoshino finally couldn't stand on her tiptoes anymore.
"Hahaha, Guy still has that headache-inducing personality," Minato scratched his head and broke the silence, though his laugh was slightly awkward.
"S-So terrifying!" Karin was the second to snap out of it, hurriedly looking at Kimimaro beside her to heal her nearly blinded eyes.
Inside the stadium, the atmosphere that had been fired up by the first duel completely cooled down. Even though Tenten was the victor, she received looks of profound sympathy from the entire audience. Even Temari was looking at her with pity...
"Fat Cat, help me scratch Lee to death!" Tenten was very calm; she didn't intend to commit master-murder...
The west-side stands began a flurry of cat-flying and Lee-jumping. However, the spectators worried they might see another eye-burning scene, and since the big screen had already begun its second roll, they all shifted their gazes away.
"Shikamaru Nara vs. Dosu Kinuta!"
Seeing this, Masahiko muttered under his breath: "Shikamaru facing this mummy, he should be able to win. It's fine. With twenty-one candidates competing, if he wants to make the top eight, he has to win one more round. Farm safely, don't throw."
Shikamaru still wore that lazy, listless look, being pushed and prodded along with countless urgent instructions by Asuma before slowly ambling into the center of the arena... However, his opponent was even slower, failing to appear for the longest time.
Masahiko paused, turning his head to cast a glance at the 'Fourth Kazekage', who simply nodded back to greet Masahiko...
"Dammit! I told Orochimaru not to attack the village, but did he actually order those three from the Hidden Sound Village to pull out?!" Masahiko furiously rubbed Tsukika's little head.
Yet that was exactly the case. Shikamaru won by default, eliciting... cheers from many spectators in the crowd. Quite a number of people had wagered on Shikamaru.
Masahiko cursed inwardly: "This is a total inside job!"
Fortunately, because Dosu was absent, and his teammates along with their instructing Jonin hadn't appeared either, the upcoming random drawings wouldn't include those other two Hidden Sound genin. Otherwise, Masahiko would have called the police.
"This way, there will only be ten victors in this round. Selecting the top eight from ten people..." Masahiko rapidly calculated in his head.
The big screen rolled once more.
"Naruto Uzumaki vs. Kiba Inuzuka!"
Masahiko let out a long sigh of relief: "Excellent, time to farm safely for a wave!"
"It's Big Brother's turn!" Tsukika kicked her little legs backward. "Great Ancestor, can that silly brother of mine win?"
"Since you've already called him a silly brother, then of course he'll win!" Masahiko responded with a chuckle.
Tsukika blinked her large eyes, looking bewildered for a long while before turning her head away to ignore Masahiko...
When Naruto took the stage, he brashly waved his hand toward Masahiko's side. However, only Minato gave him a warm smile; everyone else reacted completely flatly... because Kiba was too weak.
The Inuzuka clan's Beast Human Ninjutsu was a type of nintaijutsu utilized in combination with a ninja hound, so Kiba could also be considered a taijutsu ninja.
However, Naruto didn't even use Shadow Clones. Using only his bare fists and feet, he head-on suppressed both Kiba and Akamaru.
Smack! Smack!
Amidst the heavy sounds of clashing limbs, Kiba's signature ninjutsu, Fang Passing Fang, was directly intercepted by Naruto's dual fists, followed by... continuous body blows.
"Third round victor: Naruto Uzumaki!"
"That smelly brat has progressed pretty fast," Karin muttered softly. "But he's still far from my level!"
Masahiko smiled and shot her a sidelong glance. Karin wasn't a taijutsu ninja; in another two years, she would probably have to rely on the art of explosives...
The big screen rolled once more.
"Sakura Haruno vs. Ino Yamanaka!"
"Guaranteed win, guaranteed win. Another wave of farming safely."
Sakura had obtained Masahiko's manuals after all, so she was considerably stronger than in the original timeline. The two girls hadn't 'turned on each other' because of Sasuke either, so this battle proceeded rather blandly, with everyone keeping it perfectly friendly... In the end, Sakura held a slight edge.
The big screen rolled once more.
"Choji Akimichi vs. Hoshino Uchiha!"
"Tsk! The situation is excellent!"
The little fat kid was thoroughly thrashed and abused.
The big screen rolled once more.
"Shino Aburame vs. Kankuro!"
Masahiko pursed his lips: "Between these two, would it be a bit unethical for me to want Kankuro to win? Forget it, let Shino win instead."
Ninjas of the Aburame clan had always been highly mysterious in the eyes of the Konoha villagers, wrapping themselves tightly all day long and rarely making a move.
Making a move under the watchful eyes of the public this time satisfied the curiosity of many villagers, but they would have preferred not to have seen it...
The moment the sky-blotting swarm of bugs appeared, Masahiko covered Tsukika's eyes once more.
"Great Ancestor, is there something else I'm not allowed to look at?"
"Ah..." Masahiko responded calmly.
...
"Sixth round victor: Shino Aburame!"
Sparse cheers rang out through the arena once more. Quite a few people had wagered on Shino. The reason it didn't erupt into a massive din again was because Shino had also sustained injuries—or rather, he had been poisoned—and was carried out on a stretcher.
The big screen rolled once more.
"Sasuke Uchiha vs. Neji Hyuga!"
Masahiko's expression completely warped: "An inside job!"
Having these two fight right now made him feel incredibly uncomfortable. However, the live audience was highly expectant. A genius of the Uchiha facing a genius of the Hyuga was the most spectacular match-up to watch so far.
The duel was indeed highly magnificent. Sasuke was incomparably stronger than his original counterpart, and Neji, due to the pressure brought by Tenten, was also far stronger than in the original timeline. Various unique taijutsu of the Hyuga clan firmly suppressed Sasuke for a period. However, in the end, Sasuke still held a slight upper hand.
Driven by necessity, he exposed his trump card—the three-tomoe Sharingan—ahead of schedule, drawing a collective gasp from the crowd.
Masahiko exhaled a light breath: "It's fine, it's still under control. Farm safely!"
Beside him, Kushina suddenly turned her head and said: "Great-grandfather, haven't you noticed who's left?"
Masahiko was startled. After a brief contemplation, his expression abruptly took a massive turn. The remaining ones... were little Hinata and three absolute powerhouses: Toneri, Gaara, and Rock Lee!
"This bracket... there's definitely a conspiracy behind it, right?"
The big screen rolled once more, grinding to a halt before Masahiko's utterly dumbfounded eyes...
"Toneri Otsutsuki vs. Hinata Hyuga!"
"Holy crap, this is absolutely an inside job!"
☆☆☆
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