Tenten immediately became delighted after hearing Naruto's response.
Filled with confidence, she stepped onto the arena together with him. Judging from the smile on her face, anyone unaware of the situation would think she actually had a chance of defeating Naruto.
Tenten: Even if I can't win, I'll still fight with everything I have!!!
As soon as the proctor announced the start of the match, Tenten immediately pulled out a summoning scroll from behind her back.
Whoosh!
The scroll opened instantly, releasing the sealing formula stored inside.
A massive storm of kunai and shuriken filled the air.
What everyone imagined the audience was thinking:
"So many ninja tools! Amazing!"
What everyone was actually thinking:
"Holy crap! That's so expensive!!!"
The kunai and shuriken flying across the battlefield were all genuine steel ninja tools.
In normal circumstances, a ninja capable of throwing twenty or thirty shuriken during a battle was already considered wealthy.
But Tenten's quantity was outrageous.
It resembled Naruto's Multiple Shadow Clone Technique more than ordinary weapon usage.
After today, Tenten's reputation as a "rich woman" would probably spread throughout Konoha… no, perhaps throughout the entire ninja world.
"Naruto! Take this!"
Tenten shouted loudly toward the fake Naruto played by Chinatsu.
At the same time, she quickly analyzed how Naruto might defend himself.
Would he use the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique to block everything through sheer numbers?
Or would he use the Flying Thunder God Technique Chinatsu had previously taught him to instantly evade?
While Tenten was still thinking
Naruto suddenly smiled.
Then he raised one hand.
A familiar sphere of swirling chakra instantly condensed in his palm.
"Rasengan?!"
The audience immediately erupted into noise.
More importantly
Naruto formed it one-handed.
Usually, Naruto required a shadow clone to stabilize the chakra rotation of the Rasengan.
But now he had completed it alone.
Even Hiruzen Sarutobi and Kakashi widened their eyes slightly.
Has Naruto improved again overnight?!
Unfortunately…
Their shock came far too early.
Because the next second, the Rasengan in "Naruto's" hand expanded wildly.
The chakra sphere instantly ballooned into a gigantic vortex several times larger than a normal Rasengan.
The incoming kunai and shuriken were swallowed directly into the spinning chakra storm before they could even approach Naruto.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The ninja tools were instantly shredded into fragments and scattered everywhere.
Tenten froze completely.
Her shock wasn't merely because Naruto's Rasengan had suddenly become gigantic.
It was because
All her ninja tools were gone.
Gone!
Even Tenten recycled damaged ninja tools after battle.
Broken blades could still be reforged.
Worn shuriken could still be reused.
This was the first time in her entire life that she had thrown out so many ninja tools without recovering even a single one.
Tenten slowly raised her head and stared at the enormous Rasengan, which was now almost five or six times taller than her own body.
She swallowed hard.
Then suddenly
She understood.
Naruto doesn't want me to lose too miserably!
Tenten immediately revealed an enlightened expression.
Without hesitation, she raised one hand.
"I surrender!"
The audience burst into thunderous cheers.
Naruto's popularity instantly exploded upward.
Even more terrifying
Many girls in the audience besides Hinata Hyuga were now cheering loudly for Naruto.
This scene almost moved Chinatsu to tears.
"Waaah… our unwanted Naruto actually has admirers now…"
"And it's happening years earlier than in the original story…"
"I'm so touched…"
Somewhere in heaven:
Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki: "Um… we're his parents…"
Chinatsu: "You're his parents. I'm his older sister. No conflict, no conflict."
Chinatsu even decided that if she died in the future and met Kushina in the Pure Land, she would absolutely force Kushina to properly make up for all the suffering Naruto experienced during childhood.
With Tenten's surrender, the next semifinal naturally became:
Gaara versus Sasuke.
Backstage, Gaara sat silently with his eyes closed.
"Sasuke" beside him also remained silent.
Fortunately, although Chinatsu herself was extremely talkative, Sasuke's personality was naturally cold enough that pretending to be him was relatively easy.
"It's our turn."
"Sasuke" crossed his arms and spoke indifferently, perfectly imitating Sasuke's arrogant tone before turning toward the exit.
At that moment
Gaara suddenly opened his eyes.
Just before "Sasuke" walked out of the room, a blade of sand instantly shot toward Chinatsu's neck.
The attack stopped less than an inch away.
Chinatsu frowned and turned around, her expression practically screaming:
"What are you doing?"
Gaara calmly withdrew the sand.
"I was just warming up."
"Sorry."
"Let's fight properly in the arena."
"I won't lose to you."
After speaking, Gaara walked directly past Chinatsu toward the battlefield.
Chinatsu secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Little brat… your instincts are really sharp.
She knew very well what Gaara had just done.
That attack wasn't truly meant to kill her.
It was a test.
If she had instinctively dodged or counterattacked the way the real Sasuke would, her disguise would immediately collapse.
Meanwhile, Gaara's thoughts were equally serious.
Definitely fake.
If that had truly been Sasuke, then the moment I attacked, even if he couldn't completely evade it, he would never stand there without reacting.
And after dodging, the real Sasuke would absolutely have counterattacked immediately with Chidori.
Gaara narrowed his eyes slightly.
Naruto is fake.
Sasuke is fake.
And Chinatsu disappeared too.
Did something happen to her?
Gaara slowly walked onto the battlefield with a grave expression.
The fake "Sasuke" followed shortly afterward.
Standing opposite each other, Gaara finally spoke coldly:
"I don't know who you really are."
"And I don't know why you're impersonating Naruto and Sasuke."
"But after I defeat you…"
"I'll hand you over to the Hokage."
As Gaara finished speaking, sand immediately began swirling violently around his body.
Ever since Chinatsu helped stabilize Shukaku's influence over him, Gaara's control over his sand had become much more refined than in the original timeline.
Without constantly losing himself to bloodlust and madness, his combat power had actually become even more stable and dangerous.
I'll protect my sister.
Gaara's killing intent spread throughout the arena.
Before the match even officially began, everyone present could already sense that the pressure from this battle far surpassed the previous match.
But did the audience care?
Not at all.
All they knew was
The real show had finally begun.
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