Naruto lifted his head slightly and gave a weak smile. "Did I… get eliminated?"
Tsunade snapped, "Don't talk. Come back with me and rest."
With a blur of motion from Tsunade and Orochimaru, Naruto and Sasuke were taken out of the exam arena.
"Did Naruto and Sasuke just get eliminated?" Choji couldn't help asking.
"I don't know. By the rules, if you lose the ability to fight, you're eliminated…" Shikamaru felt a bit of pity. If the two of them hadn't insisted on fighting each other, getting into the top ten would've been a breeze.
He dared say that among the ninja on the field, aside from Gaara, no one else could truly stand against them.
But the matches continued. Just then, a pair of genin from the Ghost Lantern clan stepped into everyone's view. Before the crowd could react, they had already fired water bullets and blew the heads off two ninja from minor nations.
Two headshots. The two minor-nation ninja fell where they stood, and only then did blood gush out of their skulls in a single surge.
A wide splash of scarlet—
It stained the ground beneath them. Ino's eyes widened in horror at the scene. "They killed them."
Shikamaru looked much calmer. "From this moment on, this is no longer a simple Chūnin Exam."
"What do you mean? How could this happen? Weren't the rules clear that killing isn't allowed?" Ino kept staring at the two terrifying men with white hair.
One looked about two years older than them; the other seemed around their age.
Shikamaru pulled Choji and Ino back in a tactical retreat and explained as they withdrew, "Those two are Mangetsu and Suigetsu of the Ghost Lantern clan."
According to rumor, Mangetsu was a genius of the Ghost Lanterns. But during a battle with the Eight-Tails' jinchūriki, he mysteriously disappeared and his whereabouts have been unknown ever since.
As for his younger brother Suigetsu—though he didn't have his brother's talent—because of the terrifying power of his kekkei genkai (bloodline limit), he'd made quite a name for himself outside the village.
He had betrayed the Land of Water. Why he would appear here now… Shikamaru still couldn't figure it out.
In truth, aside from Kaede, no one could make sense of why the two brothers from the Ghost Lantern clan were here.
Suigetsu shared a fated bond with Sasuke. No matter how Kaede tried to nudge the story of this world little by little with his own strength, people with bonds still had a way of meeting again by other means.
After Suigetsu betrayed his village, he encountered Sasuke and followed him into the Anbu. This time, he had slipped into the exam lineup with him as well.
As for Mangetsu, he hadn't been turned into a "statue" by the Eight-Tails. He only faked defeat in that battle to erase his trail—and privately made contact with members of Akatsuki.
His goal was to collect all the blades of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.
Kisame's Samehada was on his list. So he and Kisame made an agreement: after this mission ended, the two would have a duel, and the loser would hand over one weapon to the winner.
In other words, if Kisame won, Mangetsu would pick one weapon from the swords he had acquired from the Seven and give it to Kisame.
If Kisame lost, he would hand Samehada over to Mangetsu.
Why they took this promise so seriously was something only they knew.
Perhaps this was just the way of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. Because of Kisame, Mangetsu decided to join this operation.
In the course of the mission, he unexpectedly ran into his younger brother Suigetsu—
And that was how the scene just now came to be.
(End of Chapter)
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