[Woooo, after years and years and years of waiting, we've finally reached the one arc you absolutely cannot skip in a long-running series—the tournament!]
[Here it comes, here it comes—liftoff!]
[Three minutes! I want to see blood!]
[Bring it! Bring it!]
"Mmmwaaah~"
On-screen, Naruto had just woken up.
He rubbed his stomach.
"Still no response, huh?"
The apartment was as cold and empty as ever.
It felt strange to Naruto—unfamiliar, somehow.
That "demon fox" had only made him breakfast a handful of times, and yet for some reason, he'd already gotten used to her being around.
—That person probably wasn't the real "demon fox."
Even someone as dense as Naruto had started to piece things together.
The real Nine-Tails' power wasn't that gentle.
But who that person actually was—Naruto couldn't figure it out.
Or rather, he didn't dare think about it.
He finished eating, tied on his forehead protector, and opened the door.
"Well then—I'm heading out~"
He pushed the door open and left his room.
After Naruto's segment ended, the camera cut to Hanabi.
"Good morning, Hanabi."
Arriving at the entrance hall, Hanabi found Hinata already there.
Hinata had changed into a different outfit.
Her hands and body were wrapped in bandages—her usual casual clothes almost entirely replaced by a "bandage suit."
"Good morning, Onee-sama. Do your best today too!"
"Mm—you too, Hanabi!"
Because of the circumstances of her earlier match, Hinata had essentially lucked into advancing.
Meanwhile, the stronger Neji had run into Rock Lee—who was absurdly powerful—and the two of them had both been sent packing.
For the past month, Hinata had been training under Neji.
Hinata's opponent was Tenten—Neji's own teammate.
Neji knew Tenten's capabilities, and he knew Hinata would have a hard time against her. So for the entire month, he'd been training Hinata within an inch of her life.
The bandages wrapped around Hinata's hands and body were proof of that.
It wasn't a fashion statement. Hinata genuinely needed those bandages to cover her injuries.
After the scene with the Hyuga sisters, the broadcast cut to the other finalists.
Then the camera shifted again—this time to the gates of Konoha.
The great gates swung open as servants and shinobi escorted palanquin after palanquin into the village.
In the distance, the Third Hokage stood watching the scene.
"It's finally time."
After leaving the house, Hanabi and Hinata headed straight for the arena.
Certain "filler" scenes from the anime didn't happen here.
But this jump straight to the action only heightened the sense of pressure for the audience.
Standing in the center of the arena, the examinees had all taken their places.
Hanabi, Hinata, Naruto, Shikamaru, Temari, Tenten, Shino, Choji.
Nine contestants.
As for Sasuke—he still hadn't arrived.
"Where's Sasuke?"
Naruto was the first to notice.
"Ahem—relax, everyone. Face the audience. Cough, cough, cough."
Hayate Gekko hadn't died, so the finals still had their original, official examiner presiding.
"Sasuke isn't here yet?" The Third Hokage looked down from the stands at the scene below.
"Sandaime-sama, we've already dispatched ANBU to search, but there's been no word. Kakashi says he was taken by Hyuga Hanabi for training." The speaker was the guard beside him—Raidō Namiashi.
"Is that so… They're supposed to be opponents, yet she still trained him. Don't tell me Sasuke overslept…"
The Third didn't think Hanabi would knock Sasuke unconscious and keep him from competing.
She was clearly stronger than Sasuke—the Third could see that much.
So his best guess was that Sasuke had trained too hard and forgotten about the match.
"This is a problem…"
Hyuga clan versus Uchiha clan.
More than a few dignitaries had come specifically for that spectacle today.
If Sasuke simply didn't show, who knew how much pressure the Daimyō would put on him.
And just as the Third was mulling it over, someone sauntered up beside him.
The "Fourth Kazekage."
Or rather, Orochimaru disguised as the Kazekage.
Orochimaru hadn't used a Transformation Technique. He'd employed the Vanishing Facial Copy Technique—a jutsu that directly stripped the target's face to use as a disguise. It was one of the most extreme disguise methods in existence. Even the Third hadn't detected that this man was Orochimaru.
"Oh—welcome, Kazekage-sama." The Third set aside his concern about Sasuke for the moment and greeted the "Kazekage."
"Why hasn't Sasuke-kun arrived yet…"
Up in the spectator seats, Sakura sat with Ino.
Sakura was about to graduate from the Academy again, and she'd come to watch Sasuke's match before her commencement.
But Sasuke was nowhere to be seen.
"Relax, Sasuke's definitely going to show up," Ino said. She'd watched Sasuke's earlier matches and had plenty of confidence in him.
"Mm." Sakura turned her gaze to the arena. "But you know, Hanabi's outfit is really something—she looks so casual. It's an exam arena, but she's dressed the same as always."
Hanabi, in her kimono with her red umbrella, looked less like a competitor and more like someone out for a spring stroll.
"Huh—wait a second?"
Sakura suddenly noticed something. Hanabi's own hands were folded neatly in front of her, but the umbrella was being held by a separate pair of arms.
"Puppet prosthetics? Hanabi fights with those things?"
A pair of arms—not connected to her body, yet seemingly linked by some invisible thread—were gripping the umbrella like puppet limbs.
"Hanabi's definitely sitting pretty right now," Ino quipped. "During the preliminaries, she took out her opponent with a single Genjutsu and never lifted a finger. I can explain the other fighters' matches if you want, but Hanabi's? I genuinely don't understand."
—Come to think of it, Sasuke wouldn't be reduced to tears and surrender by a single Genjutsu from Hanabi… right?
"Hm? I think Sasuke's here!"
Ino suddenly caught sight of something.
In the arena, a gust of leaves swirled up out of nowhere.
When the leaves scattered, a figure appeared at the center.
Uchiha Sasuke.
He knelt on one knee, eyes lightly closed, the picture of effortless cool.
The moment he appeared—before the match had even started—a murmur of excitement rippled through the stands.
"Whoa—it's Sasuke!"
Sakura was instantly fired up.
"Now that's Sasuke for you!"
Ino's eyes went wide too.
What could you do? Sasuke's charm was just that irresistible.
"I'm not late, am I?"
Sasuke smiled, his face full of cool confidence.
"Cough, cough—no. You're right on time." Examiner Hayate Gekko coughed twice.
"Hahaha! Sasuke, you nearly showed up late to a match this important—that's no good!" Naruto yelled from the side.
Hanabi, meanwhile, was scanning the spectator stands.
Sasuke being here meant Hikari was here too.
Hanabi had originally expected Sasuke to replicate the original storyline and arrive at the last second.
But Hikari would never allow Sasuke to be late for a fight against Hanabi—so the moment it looked like he'd miss the start, she'd grabbed him and hurled him straight into the arena.
No one else had noticed, but Hanabi had seen it.
Mm—Sasuke hadn't been trying to look cool on purpose. He'd just been thrown in, and the Body Flicker and misdirection were his way of covering the awkward landing.
"Sasuke…" And once Sasuke made his entrance, Orochimaru, behind the Kazekage's disguise, turned his gaze toward the boy as well.
For the entire month, he hadn't found a single opening to get close to Sasuke.
There seemed to be a mysterious and powerful guardian lurking around the boy—someone even Orochimaru couldn't easily approach. His Cursed Seal "gift" remained undelivered to this day.
And now, seeing Sasuke again after a full month, Orochimaru was even more delighted.