Chapter 76:
"Calm down, Kushina, calm down."
From the moment this started, Kushina had been gritting her teeth, ready to storm off and pummel Dr. Katasuke to death with her little fists for encouraging her grandson to cheat.
"For the safety of the Hidden Leaf, please remove your black cloaks so we can verify your identities."
On special orders from Hiashi Hyuga, two Hyuga clan members serving in the Anbu appeared before Minato and Kushina.
"Hey, what's that!" Minato suddenly pointed behind the two Anbu operatives.
"...Don't try such obvious distraction tricks to sneak away in front of us." One of them spoke while signaling the other with a glance.
Both of them pulled out shuriken, ready to subdue them with force the moment they showed any resistance.
"Boruto, get behind me!"
Naruto stepped in front of Boruto, staring down Otsutsuki Momoshiki and Otsutsuki Kinshiki, with Sasuke instantly flashing to Naruto's side and drawing his katana.
"Well, well. Have you all forgotten about me?"
Otsutsuki Urashiki also appeared before Naruto and Sasuke.
"Min—SpongeBob, who are those three?" Kushina quickly corrected herself mid-sentence and clutched Minato's sleeve.
Minato's face turned grave. "They're the enemies that the Flaming Cloud Evil God encountered last time. They're extremely tough."
As the two figures suddenly appeared in the Konoha stadium and Naruto stood at the ready like an enemy had arrived at the gates, murmurs began to ripple through the crowd.
"Hmph, so many lowly creatures getting in the way." Momoshiki swept his Byakugan gaze across the crowd.
"Should we eliminate them first?"
Kinshiki asked, and Momoshiki nodded. "That might be a good idea…"
"Hey, hey! Who do you think you are? Don't you see I'm in the middle of a scientific ninja tool demo—"
Dr. Katasuke stomped over to Momoshiki, fuming. He had fought hard for this opportunity to promote scientific ninja tools. And he knew very well—once the Chūnin Exams were over, the Hidden Leaf would lock him up unless the other villages also began researching scientific tools. Only then would Konoha be forced to release him.
"Stop! Don't go near them!"
With Naruto's strength, stopping Katasuke was no issue. Aside from protecting Boruto, another reason he did so was because he was hoping the enemy would kill Katasuke.
After all, Katasuke had brought this upon himself—it wasn't Naruto's problem.
But things didn't go as Naruto expected. Whether out of caution toward Naruto and Sasuke, or simply disdain for Katasuke, Kinshiki didn't kill him. Instead, he blasted him away with a surge of chakra.
Kinshiki planted both hands into the arena, and with a quake-like tremor, cracks began splitting through the ground as the stadium started to collapse.
"Kakashi, go help the villagers. Don't worry about me."
Sitting in a wheelchair, Might Guy addressed Kakashi. While most of the time he was a hot-blooded fool, when it came to Kakashi, he was frighteningly perceptive.
"Kakashi, go. I'll take care of Guy."
Kakashi nodded at Shunhi, then flickered over to a villager about to be crushed by falling rubble and carried them to safety.
"With this kind of chaos, I doubt the others who care about the Hidden Leaf will just sit on the sidelines."
[Grandma Knock Chat Group]
Husky: SpongeBob, Patrick, Flaming Cloud Evil God—you're authorized to assist Konoha.
...
No one replied to Shunhi, but upon receiving the command, Minato and Uchiha Itachi—who had been hesitating—immediately sprang into action. As for Orochimaru, he was too absorbed in his research to bother with the chat group.
"Patrick."
Minato took Kushina's hand and tossed a Flying Thunder God kunai. The sudden action made the two Anbu agents tense up.
"...Hey, did you just see something flash past in an instant?"
...
Luckily, this Chūnin Exam event was held on a grand scale, with many powerful shinobi in attendance as spectators, along with help from the other four Kage. As a result, although the Konoha stadium collapsed, no civilians were killed—only some were injured.
"It's those two again!"
Boruto stared at the all-too-familiar Momoshiki and Kinshiki before him.
"Boruto, go join the others. These are not enemies you can handle..."
Just glancing aside to speak to Boruto gave Momoshiki the opening he needed—he teleported in front of Naruto and sent him flying with a single kick.
Momoshiki completely ignored Boruto, striding toward the direction he had sent Naruto flying.
"...Stop! You bastard...!"
Boruto's shout caught Momoshiki's attention. The moment the Byakugan gaze fell on him, Boruto panicked, tripping over his own feet and falling.
Desperately, Boruto hurled jutsu after jutsu using his scientific ninja tools, but without exception, each one was absorbed by Momoshiki's Rinnegan on his left hand.
"Boruto, he can absorb ninjutsu. Leave the rest to me."
A kunai landed beside Boruto. In a flash of yellow light, Minato appeared beside him, holding a Flying Thunder God kunai in his left hand and placing his right hand on Boruto's shoulder.
Minato looked toward Kushina. After a moment of hesitation, she nodded and took Boruto away.
Minato didn't want Kushina facing such a dangerous enemy. Fortunately, Kushina was more concerned about Boruto, and she trusted in her husband and son's strength.
"Hey, who are you..."
KWHACK!
Kushina smacked Boruto on the head with her little red fist. "Where does a kid get off asking so many questions? Hurry up and come with me."
"No! My dad—"
Boruto tried to resist, but received another fist to the head.
"Believe in Naruto's strength. And SpongeBob is there to help him too. It'll be fine."
Kushina patted Boruto's head, then scooped him up while he was stunned and quickly retreated.
"Uchiha Sasuke, where do you think you're going?"
Urashiki tangled with Sasuke, but Sasuke had no interest in fighting—Kinshiki was hunting his daughter.
"Get lost!"
Sasuke's katana clashed with Urashiki's red fishing line.
"No can do. It's not every day I meet an opponent with the Rinnegan."
Although Sakura was nearby, she had no aerial combat ability. After slipping past her at an opportune moment, Kinshiki closed in on Sarada.
"Sarada!"
Even using his Rinnegan's space-swapping ability, Sasuke only managed to move Sarada away from Kinshiki—right into the path of the even more dangerous Urashiki.
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