"Give it up! Danzo's dead now, so there's no need for you to keep fighting for him."
Kazama spoke calmly, effortlessly deflecting attacks from Yamanaka Fu and Aburame Torune.
"Utter nonsense! Danzo-sama is a master of unparalleled strength. There's no way a kid like you could defeat him! Prepare to die!"
With that, Aburame Torune unleashed his trump card.
"Secret Technique: Poison Dust Jutsu!"
"Amaterasu!"
Kazama countered with a tri-colored Amaterasu infused with otherworldly flames, instantly incinerating the poisonous dust in midair.
"Mind Transfer Jutsu!"
"Tsukuyomi!"
Before Yamanaka Fu could complete his technique, Kazama pulled both him and Torune into the illusionary world of Tsukuyomi.
"Killing you two would be child's play," Kazama said. "But since you haven't committed any great evils, I'm sparing your lives. I killed Danzo to avenge the Sanada clan, not to make an enemy of Konoha. Now, I'm giving you two choices: one, be tortured to death in my Tsukuyomi genjutsu; or two, swear loyalty to me from this day forward. Danzo treated you like tools, but I'll treat you as comrades, standing by your side through thick and thin!"
Hearing Kazama's words and feeling the terrifying weight of his power, Yamanaka Fu and Aburame Torune realized he wasn't lying. It seemed Danzo really had been defeated by this guy.
And truth be told, Danzo had never treated them well.
As the saying goes, people climb to higher places, just as water flows to lower ones.
With that in mind, Fu and Torune immediately pledged their loyalty to Kazama.
"Excellent! From now on, you'll work alongside Zabuza and Haku. It won't be long before Orochimaru leads his forces to attack Konoha. You'll seize the opportunity to intercept Orochimaru's subordinates, while I take on Orochimaru himself!"
"Yes, sir!"
After giving his orders, Kazama invoked the Yang Flame power of his Yin-Yang Dual Flames.
In an instant, Zabuza and Haku's injuries were completely healed.
Seeing Kazama's flames work such a miracle—restoring the wounded to full health in mere moments—Fu and Torune's respect for him deepened even further.
The four of them then set out to carry out Kazama's commands.
Meanwhile, Kazama returned to the third stage of the Chunin Exams.
Once his clone was out of sight, Kazama himself appeared beside Naruto.
As he dispelled his Wood Release clone, Kazama received a message from it that left him torn between laughter and frustration.
It turned out Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke had already completed their exams.
Naruto, in particular, had used the Thousand Years of Death Barrage—a technique Kazama had taught him—to defeat Inuzuka Kiba, even curing Kiba's constipation in the process.
But Kazama? He was so strong that no one dared to challenge him.
"Damn it! I was hoping to absorb other ninjas' jutsu during the matches to unlock the Fallen Heart Flame!"
Just as the Third Hokage was about to declare the preliminary exams over, a scruffy-looking ninja stepped forward.
"Why hasn't anyone fought Sanada Kazama? Isn't this just letting him advance automatically? I'm not okay with that!"
The other competing ninjas snickered at the guy's foolishness.
It wasn't that no one fought Kazama—it was that no one *dared* to.
"So, are you saying *you* want to challenge Sanada Kazama?" asked the proctor, Moonlight Gale, barely suppressing a laugh as he approached the ninja.
"That's right! I, Hyuga Heppei, will take on Sanada Kazama in a duel!"
"Who the heck is this Hyuga Heppei? He's got the guts to challenge a monster like Sanada Kazama?"
The crowd buzzed with curiosity about this mysterious Hyuga Heppei.