At the instant Shinju snatched the blade, Gamabunta reached out to grab it back.
But Shinju clutched the short blade tightly and slammed it forward with brute force!
Smack!
The strike knocked Gamabunta's hand away.
Beside the battlefield, Gamabunta's two brothers, Gamahiro and Gamaken, were watching the fight with rapt attention.
"That kid's strength after entering Sage Mode… it's actually greater than Bunta's."
Gamahiro, carrying twin swords on his back, spoke in shock.
"Truly an astonishing kid. He's only been here on Mount Myoboku for what, three days? And he's already cultivated senjutsu to this extent."
Gamaken, who carried a giant fork and shield, looked equally dumbfounded.
"It's been a long time since I've seen a genius like this."
...
On the battlefield, after Shinju seized Gamabunta's short blade, he struck again and again with heavy blows, each one slamming into Gamabunta.
Gamabunta couldn't understand it—why did this scrawny kid possess such terrifying strength?
In the end, after being struck on the body over a dozen times by the back of Shinju's blade, Gamabunta bent his legs and leapt back far into the distance.
Shinju was straightforward, dropping the blade in his hand.
"You lost."
Gamabunta's orange face turned red.
He wanted to deny it.
But the one-sided battle had been witnessed by every toad present. There was no way to refute it.
So, sulking, he hopped back over to Shinju's side. Though his face was full of unwillingness, he still said,
"You win, kid. You've really got some skill."
Shinju accepted the praise without guilt, and replied,
"That's nothing—you haven't even seen half of what I can do."
After this battle, Shinju was completely accepted by the toads of Mount Myoboku.
...
At the temple in the back mountains of Mount Myoboku.
Fukasaku reported every detail of Shinju's training progress to the Great Toad Sage.
The Great Toad Sage was half-dozing, eyes half-closed in a half-sleeping, half-waking state.
After hearing Fukasaku's full report, the Great Toad Sage nodded.
"That boy didn't disappoint me after all."
"Last night, I had another dream. I saw a ball of white light descend from the heavens… I saw it collide with a ball of red light…"
"What does it mean? Could it be that Shinju has another destined rival?"
Fukasaku's face filled with doubt.
But the Great Toad Sage could not give an answer. He only narrowed his eyes and said,
"Leave me. I want to sleep."
Fukasaku obeyed and withdrew.
...
More than twenty days later.
In Konohagakure, at the exam arena.
Today was the final round of the Chunin Exams. The ten winners from the preliminaries would face off one-on-one in this final stage.
The judges would grade their performance in battle.
In other words, victory alone wasn't the deciding factor for promotion. The candidates' ability to perform under pressure in the heat of battle was even more important.
Just as the Third Hokage had said a month earlier, not only were the daimyos of various countries attending, even the Kazekage of Sunagakure had come.
At this moment, the Hokage and Kazekage sat side by side on the high platform of the exam arena, announcing the start of the matches.
In the stands, Ino looked worried.
"The matches have already started—why aren't Naruto and Shinju here yet?"
"Who knows? If you're late, I heard you get disqualified automatically."
Shikamaru answered lazily, then sighed with zero enthusiasm for battle.
"If I had it my way, I wouldn't even fight in the finals. What a drag."
"It's a good thing my Sasuke arrived on time. If he got disqualified, that would've been a real shame," Sakura teased from beside him.
Not far from them, Hinata was sweating nervously for Naruto.
"Naruto-kun, please hurry to the arena… If you're too late, you'll be disqualified…"
...
At the highest point of the stands.
A frown appeared on the Third Hokage's face. He pulled his attendant close and asked,
"Where did Jiraiya take Naruto and Shinju?"
"We don't know either."
The attendant replied awkwardly,
"ANBU investigated. All they found was evidence of summoning at a riverbank outside the village. And Naruto and Shinju haven't been home once in the past half month."
"That Jiraiya… If he wanted to take those two kids, he should've at least told me…"
The Hokage sighed.
"In that case, we'll have to disqualify them. At such a solemn occasion, we can't keep the leaders of the nations waiting."
Just as the Hokage was about to have his attendant inform the proctor to disqualify Naruto and Shinju, the Kazekage suddenly said,
"Hokage-dono, why not wait a bit longer? Your village has produced a genius on par with the Yellow Flash. Everyone is eager to see him."
The Hokage hesitated. "But we can't let their tardiness disrupt the order of the exams."
The Kazekage replied considerately,
"It's fine. Their matches can be postponed until later. Start with the others first."
"If by the end they still haven't returned, you can cancel their qualifications then. Reaching this stage alone is no small feat."
The Kazekage's words were exactly what the Hokage himself had been thinking. He accepted the suggestion with a nod.
"Kazekage-dono is truly considerate. Very well, we'll do as you say—Naruto and Shinju's matches will be postponed."
As the Hokage stood and loudly announced the postponement, a glint of greed flashed in the Kazekage's eyes behind him.
...
The matchups for the third stage of the finals were:
Naruto vs. Neji
Shinju vs. Gaara
Temari vs. Shikamaru
Shino vs. Tenten
Sasuke vs. the Rain ninja.
Since Naruto and Shinju hadn't arrived, the last three matches would take place first.
Hearing that he was in the first group, Shikamaru put on his usual troubled face.
He hadn't even wanted to come. It was only because of his dad and teammates that he was here at all.
Now, walking helplessly onto the stage, he realized his opponent was a woman and muttered,
"What a troublesome woman…"
Temari overheard his mumble and immediately unstrapped the giant fan from her back.
"Don't make me smack you with this!"
After their short exchange, the new proctor, Genma Shiranui, clapped his hands together.
"Begin!"
In the arena, Shikamaru and Temari clashed fiercely.
Sasuke, however, wore a worried look.
Over the past month, he had learned a lot training under Kakashi. He thought he might finally be able to exchange a few blows with Shinju.
But now Naruto and Shinju were nowhere to be seen.
What was going on?!
Had something happened to them?
Or maybe…
After training under Jiraiya-sama, they no longer cared about the Chunin Exams?
"Relax."
Kakashi placed a hand on Sasuke's shoulder.
He could clearly see how much Sasuke valued his two teammates. So he reassured him,
"With Jiraiya around, nothing will happen to those two. Besides, Shinju has Flying Thunder God. If he hasn't shown up yet… chances are he just overslept."