"Everyone else has an opponent. Where's mine?"
"It doesn't matter. Let's just kill the shrine maiden first."
Yitai, the last of Huang Quan's four subordinates, glanced around and realized no one had targeted him.
A flicker of regret crossed his face.
Then he looked at Shion—standing behind Sasuke—and gave an ugly grin.
He formed hand seals and prepared to attack.
The next second—
He froze.
He slowly looked down at his chest.
A lightning-coated blade had pierced straight through his heart.
"So… you're my opponent?"
His head twisted unnaturally, rotating a full 180 degrees to stare at Sasuke standing behind him, a strange smile still on his lips.
Sasuke snorted coldly and pulled the lightning blade free, slicing Yitai cleanly in half.
Crack.
Yitai shattered into a pile of stones.
---
"Incredible. So that's the genius of Konoha. Seeing it in person is very different from watching it on TV."
Yitai's voice echoed again.
He reappeared from another corner, expression serious.
"Earth Style: Hardening!"
Rocks surged over his body like a tidal wave, encasing him in a massive stone giant.
"I'm invulnerable now. Even a Uchiha genius like you can't—"
"Can't what?"
Sasuke's hand slowly withdrew from the stone giant's chest.
Raikiri still crackled in his palm.
The massive rocky body began to fracture.
Yitai's real body was revealed inside.
His eyes widened in disbelief. A charred hole burned through his chest—no blood, just blackened flesh.
"Uchiha… can't be this strong…"
He collapsed.
Dead.
Sasuke looked down with clear disdain.
"These abilities are flashy, but your foundations are unstable. External power can't replace real strength."
To ordinary shinobi, they might have seemed unstoppable.
Against true elites?
They were nothing.
With a soft pop, Sasuke's body dissolved into smoke.
---
"That… was just a clone?"
Shion and Shiho stared in shock.
"They're just small fry. Not worth mentioning."
Sasuke spoke casually, utterly unbothered.
Shiho's eyes shone with admiration.
"No wonder Konoha is the strongest village…"
Soon, Hinata arrived, dragging the unconscious Shizuku behind her.
Despite his slippery Water Style and water clone escape technique, Shizuku had ultimately been defeated.
Kusuna fell next—overwhelmed by Shino's parasitic insects.
Finally, Shikamaru arrived, dragging Setsuna bound tightly by Shadow Imitation.
"Am I last?"
He scratched his head.
He'd needed to circle through trees, baiting and maneuvering before finding the perfect angle to trap his opponent.
It was a complete victory.
Just slower.
"How troublesome… are we expecting reinforcements?"
He muttered.
---
"Enemy cleared. We move."
Sasuke pulled out a modified sealing scroll.
The four captured enemies were sealed inside.
Naruto had enhanced the scroll—able to seal not just objects, but living beings as well.
Shiho exhaled in relief.
"Lady Shion… maybe the sprite isn't as terrifying as the legends say."
Shion remained silent.
Her eyes were clouded.
For years, she had foreseen death.
Every prediction had come true.
No one escaped fate.
She had accepted it.
Fate could not be defied.
But now—
These Konoha shinobi had punched a crack in that belief.
Could destiny… actually change?
---
Meanwhile—
Neji's group was still locked in brutal combat.
"These damn things are endless!"
"Hold on! Their regeneration is slowing. Hokage-sama was right—nothing is immortal!"
"I'm more worried we'll run out of chakra first!"
Kiba swallowed a soldier pill.
They'd rotated countless times.
Stone puppets continued flooding through the valley.
Broken fragments piled into hills.
From those hills, new soldiers would rise again.
Chōji panted heavily.
He'd stopped using full expansion mode—it drained too much chakra.
Neji stood at the front line, sweat soaking his clothes.
Each Eight Trigrams Palm shattered another puppet.
"This battle is good for growth… but there are too many."
Everyone felt it.
Their skills were sharpening.
They were discovering weaknesses, refining technique, consolidating fundamentals.
But fatigue was setting in.
Rotations accelerated.
Rest intervals shrank.
Breathing grew ragged.
Only Rock Lee still fought like a madman.
"Ahhh! Ada! Ada!"
His strikes became cleaner, more efficient.
He'd learned to use less force for the same destructive result.
One punch—one shattered puppet.
Perfect.
---
Suddenly—
Naruto, lounging on his cloud, narrowed his eyes.
"Hm? Why withdraw the chakra?"
In the distance, stone puppets began collapsing one by one.
The chakra animating them was being pulled back to its source.
"Leaf Great Whirlwind!"
Lee spun through empty air.
His target crumbled mid-motion.
Lee blinked.
Neji and the others stared around in shock.
The entire canyon was filled with inert stone.
Silence.
"What's going on?"
"These puppets are controlled by the sprite. If they've stopped… has the sealing ritual begun?"
"Neji, what now?"
"We move. To the Land of Marsh. Sasuke might need backup. Can you still fight?"
"Of course we can!"
"Don't overdo it. Take a few minutes to recover."
"We'll rest on the way!"
They began marching.
Chattering.
Arguing.
Still determined.
---
High above, Naruto squinted toward the Land of Marsh.
"A monster, huh? Interesting…"
Something felt off.
His intuition rarely failed.
This sprite—
It didn't feel like just a sprite anymore.
There was something else mixed in.
Something… strange.
-------------------------
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