Chapter 460: Want to Cry
Right now, Masahiko stood at a mere 1.52 meters. Among the six children surrounding him, Toneri stood a solid seven or eight centimeters taller, while the others were roughly on par with his height.
Yet, despite Masahiko simply standing there in absolute stillness, the oppressive presence naturally radiating from his being made the six children feel as if they were squaring off against a hundred-meter colossus. No one dared to make a rash move.
Masahiko watched the other children track down the Sound Four, waiting until all eight of them had completely vanished from his line of sight before shifting his gaze onto the six in front of him.
Huh? Eight plus six equals fourteen, right? We're missing one person, what's the deal? After a brief hesitation, Masahiko let out a light cough: "Did Konoha seriously only dispatch fourteen brats to pursue us?"
The six exchanged looks, suddenly relaxing completely. This opponent couldn't even count properly; he was utterly not worth mentioning, entirely not worth mentioning...
Masahiko's expression froze for a moment, and he began to doubt his own math. It seemed... no one was missing?
"Fire Style: Dragon Fire Jutsu!"
Capitalizing on his daze, the six children launched a highly coordinated assault. Sasuke executed a Fire Style feint, while the other five closed in from the flanks, preparing for a collective gang-beating.
"Ah, right, Shino wasn't there!" Realization dawned on Masahiko's face. Gently waving his hand, the roaring dragon-shaped fire in front of him was swatted into complete scatter with a single open palm...
The five children brought their footsteps to an abrupt halt, instantly leaping backward to recreate distance. The arena floor plunged into a temporary, deathly silence.
"Fat Cat, stop sleeping! Get up and save our lives!" After a long pause, Tenten broke the silence.
"Meow~ Do not disturb this queen's slumber."
Tenten pouted, placing the Fat Cat back down on the ground. This cat was getting lazier by the day; it was completely beyond saving. Focusing her mind, a thick shroud of crimson chakra seethed and rolled out from around her body, notably more potent than during the Chunin Exams. Simultaneously, the fingernails on both of her hands sharpened into jagged, lethal claws. Ever since she was attacked, the Fat Cat had continuously plied her with 'tonics' to drink.
"Lee!"
"Ohh! Fifth Gate, Gate of Joy, Open!"
The two 'glowing' children moved in tandem. One shifted with feather-light agility, vanishing in a blur, while the other moved with a heavy, thunderous force, shattering the earth beneath his feet. They materialized on Masahiko's flanks in a fraction of a second—one lunging with claws, the other driving a sharp kick.
Masahiko systematically raised his right hand and left foot, clamping down on Tenten's wrist while executing a clean stamp that sent Lee flying away.
"These little cat claws, fascinating."
"Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms!"
"Oh? You can already execute one hundred twenty-eight palms?" Using his left hand like a blade, Masahiko gave Tenten a quick nail trim, tossing the utterly flabbergasted girl aside, before systematically raising his palm to intercept Neji's strikes tier by tier.
The piercing shriek of a thousand birds chirping rang out as Hoshino charged ferociously from the flank.
"Neji, fall back! Fire Style: Dragon Flame Song Jutsu!" Sasuke wove hand seals with lightning speed, expelling four colossal fire dragons simultaneously, completely locking down Masahiko's avenues of escape from above, below, left, and right.
"You've already mastered the hardest technique to grasp among A-rank Fire Style? Impressive." Masahiko raised his hand...
Ten minutes later.
The six children surrounded Masahiko exactly as they had at the start, but every single one of them was panting violently. In particular, the excruciating agony tearing through Lee's body after opening the Gate of Joy left him barely capable of maintaining his stance.
Appraising Masahiko, who had intercepted every single one of their attacks with bare hands without moving his feet a single inch, a profound sense of sheer powerlessness welled up within the hearts of the six children.
"He shouldn't be this absurdly powerful, even if it were Big Brother..." Sasuke muttered under his breath.
Tenten was also on the verge of failing to maintain the Two-Tails' chakra shroud. Turning her head to glance at the Fat Cat, which was still snoring up a storm, she hollered: "Fat Cat, stop sleeping! People are actually going to die here!"
"Snore-meow..."
Tenten: "..."
Toneri grit his teeth, stepping forward a couple of paces. His pair of blue eyes seemed to turn even more bottomless as a serene shroud of green chakra slowly blanketed his body.
Sasuke was startled: Toneri actually possesses this kind of power? Green chakra, what on earth is this?
Masahiko's brow creased slightly. This was... Tenseigan Chakra Mode! Executing it with a pair of eyes that hadn't even evolved into the Tenseigan yet...
"Stop! Stop! No more fighting, no more fighting." Masahiko ripped his face mask away. "Toneri Otsutsuki, Tenten, Rock Lee—the three of you are officially promoted to Chunin!"
The six stared at each other in complete bewilderment. The chakra around Toneri's body slowly tapered off. "You... are the proctor?"
Masahiko let out a chuckle, canceling the Transformation Jutsu applied to his hair to reveal a thick, vibrant mane of short red hair. "It's me, Toneri."
Toneri stood entirely frozen: "Who?"
Masahiko: "..."
"Great Ancestor?!" Sasuke wore a face full of absolute disbelief. "Did that idiot Naruto find out beforehand?"
Masahiko raised his eyebrows: "You got hoodwinks by Naruto."
Sasuke: "..."
The others steadily snapped out of it. Upon learning that he had officially become a Chunin, Lee executed a jubilant leap... only to fail to get back up after landing.
"Lee!" Tenten and Neji immediately rushed over to check on his condition.
Hoshino let out a soft smile, standing back up on her tiptoes as her mind drifted to another realm entirely, completely ignoring the chaotic world around her...
Masahiko shook his head helplessly. Stepping forward a few paces, he plopped his rear down squarely on top of the cat ball, beginning to narrate the cause and effect of this exceptional Chunin Exam while simultaneously mending Lee's torn muscle fibers.
The cat ball: "Meow?"
Five minutes later.
Masahiko tapped his finger against the void, tearing open a human-sized black vortex out of thin air. "Come with me, I'll take you to see how the exam for the other eight is progressing. Sasuke, I'll grant you the opportunity to personally evaluate Naruto in a bit, so stop brooding."
Hearing this, a 'sinister grin' crept onto Sasuke's face: "Thank you very much, Great Ancestor."
Masahiko stepped into the vortex: "Speaking of which, where on earth did Shino go?"
The six children looked at each other in complete silence.
"Fine, I get it."
The Final Valley.
Following the instructions of the 'Lord', the Sound Four had fled all the way here, but they hadn't hidden inside the lake.
The eight children pursuing them hadn't brought the Fat Cat along, so the four decided to teach these brats from Konoha who didn't know the depth of the heavens a thorough lesson right here.
However, under the tactical coordination and deployment of their 200+ IQ captain, Shikamaru, the Sound Four were completely decimated and humiliated.
The Ino-Shika-Cho trio immediately drew away Jirobo, who lacked a few mental gears, preventing the Sound Four from executing any coordinated team jutsus, and the battle unfurled from there.
Naruto engaged in a one-versus-two, leaving the twin brothers Sakon and Ukon struggling mightily just to hold their ground against him. Sakura assisted Hinata and Kiba in countering the Genjutsu-specialist Tayuya, while Sai kept Kidomaru completely pinned down.
Under flawless tactical arrangements, the Sound Four were quickly knocked unconscious one after another. The Konoha pursuit squad achieved a flawless, total victory!
"Ah! What is that!" Sakura suddenly let out a sharp cry of alarm, drawing everyone's focus.
Six tiny black vortexes had manifested out of thin air at some point, and inside every single vortex was a lone eye—a highly horrifying sight...
"Brother Neji's eyes, Toneri-kun's eyes..." Hinata grew instantly tense.
The vortexes expanded, and Masahiko stepped out with a face full of beaming smiles. The total defeat of the Sound Four had systematically netted him another 120 Witness Points!
"Congratulations to you all, every single one of you is officially a Chunin!"
"...Ohh! Great Ancestor!" Naruto let out a jubilant cheer. Catching the murderous glare Sasuke was directing at him, he subconsciously... made a funny face back at him with a guilty conscience.
Sasuke's fury soared straight into the stratosphere.
Masahiko chuckled. Just as he was preparing to offer a thorough explanation to the thoroughly bewildered children, the corner of his mouth suddenly twitched, and he snapped his head toward the south.
The heavy, droning hum of parasitic insects rippled through the air as Shino's figure came sprinting toward them at maximum velocity.
"...Is it already over?"
"Eh? Shino, why on earth did you come running from that direction?" Naruto asked with a face full of confusion.
Shino: "..."
He felt so wronged, he just wanted to cry.
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