"Not bad—truly legendary Sharingan. Your insight is terrifying," Yogetsu Hozuki praised before continuing, "I admit defeat in this battle. But if we cross paths again, I'd like to challenge you once more. Only sword techniques next time."
"Anytime."
Sasuke grinned as he accepted Yogetsu's challenge. Once Hayate Gekko announced the result, he turned and made his way back to the spectator stands.
"Oh my, this kid's injuries are serious. He looks pale—clearly lost too much blood. We'll need good medicine to fix him up properly."
Two greedy-eyed doctors rushed over, their hungry gazes making Yogetsu feel deeply uneasy.
Chapter 255: Art Is Patrick Star [Part One]
"What do you want from me? I'm not sick! I just need water—I'll be fine!" Yogetsu shouted through clenched teeth, struggling to his feet and trying to run.
But before he could even take a step, Haku slapped a sealing tag onto him. Zabuza followed swiftly, skillfully tying Yogetsu up with practiced ease.
"Why're you running?" Zabuza chuckled joyfully. "See what happened? Your wounds tore open again—bleeding like crazy now!"
"Let me go! I don't want to go to the hospital with you people! I can walk there myself—I don't need help!" Yogetsu pleaded, twisting furiously despite being bound like a caterpillar.
The sealing tag drained every drop of chakra in his body, leaving him powerless to escape the ropes.
"Heh, too late," Zabuza smirked, hoisting Yogetsu over his shoulder and marching out. "You're on Konoha territory now—you really think you can get away that easily?"
A group of genin who had seen these unscrupulous Konoha doctors haul away several critically injured patients silently swore: they'd rather die than ever enter a Konoha hospital again.
"Fighters, step forward: Tenten of Konohagakure and Retzu of Iwagakure."
After hosting several matches, Hayate Gekko looked bored—none of it truly excited or involved him.
"My opponent's from Iwagakure?" Tenten said, surprised yet curious. "They say shinobi from Iwa excel at defensive techniques."
"Just try to leave something intact after the fight."
Sakura twitched her lips uncomfortably. She feared the arena might be destroyed by the end of Tenten's match.
"Don't worry, if anything breaks, we can always repair it."
Tenten smugly patted her coin pouch. "It won't cost us much—an arena? Come on. I've got this."
"Fine then—if you're happy, that's all that matters," Sakura gave up. She knew full well that with Tenten's unique abilities, her fights were destined to be spectacular—trying to restrain her was pointless.
Retzu from Iwagakure was a man with wild, spiky hair—the moment he entered the ring, he impatiently barked toward Hayate.
"Hey, Konoha examiner, why did you pair me up with such a little girl?"
"The match-up is automatically selected by the system. It's got nothing to do with me," Hayate Gekko immediately shifted the blame onto the electronic system. But truth be told, anyone could understand that although this device claimed to randomly select matchups, ultimately the control still rested in Konoha's hands. After all, it was Konoha who decided which two people would end up fighting.
"Tch, damn annoying!" Retzu muttered while picking at his ear, clearly dissatisfied. He shouted toward Tenten who had just jumped into the arena, "Hey, how about we make a deal?"
"What kind of deal?" Tenten appeared calm on the surface, but inside she'd already sentenced Retzu to death. Dared he call her a little girl?!
"I can tell you've worked hard to reach this point in the Chunin Exams, so why don't you just forfeit? Otherwise, once we start fighting, I won't go easy on you."
Retzu said stroking his chin. His fighting style tended to be quite brutal; harming such an adorable-looking girl would really bother him emotionally.
"I don't need your pity!" Tenten rolled her eyes in disbelief. Did this guy really think he'd already beaten her with his tone?
"You shouldn't say that!" Retzu shook his head and continued, "Although you might think you don't need my mercy, I still struggle with my own conscience. You're just too cute! What if I accidentally ruin your beautiful face?"
"Why thank you for the compliment!" Tenten chuckled mockingly. "But I suggest you worry more about yourself. Underestimating your opponent will cost you!"
"Fine then. Since you refuse to forfeit, I'll have to steel myself. Just hope you won't regret it later."
Seeing no signs of surrender from Tenten, Retzu sighed helplessly. "Girls like you? I've seen plenty. All tough talk until they hit the ground hard."
"Hehehehe..." Listening to Retzu ramble on, Tenten suddenly burst into laughter. And yet, for no clear reason, Retzu couldn't shake a creeping sense of dread.
"Oh well, that poor kid..." Sakura and Hinata exchanged looks and offered silent prayers for Retzu in their hearts — as if mourning someone already lost. They knew Tenten hated being underestimated most of all, and Retzu's actions were basically asking for death.
"Respected Examiner, please step back further now, or I'm afraid you might get caught in the crossfire."
Tenten smiled sweetly as she kindly warned Hayate Gekko, maintaining this gentle expression until Hayate ran all the way to the exit passage for cover. Then, her smile vanished instantly as she shot Retzu a cold, sharp glare.
"Little girl, ready yet? Here I come!"
Ever considerately reminding Tenten, Retzu threw out two shuriken before charging forward after them straight toward Tenten.
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