The clash between Gaara and Rock Lee had reached its boiling point.
Roars shook the arena like waves crashing against cliffs.
Dust swirled through the air as Lee's green figure flashed across the battlefield at blinding speed. The match had become the center of everyone's attention.
In a far corner of the stands, almost invisible to the eye, Crane sat quietly, his presence thinner than air.
He wasn't watching the fierce fight.
His gaze… was fixed on the highest VIP box.
[Byakugan Insight (Trial Version)], Activated.
The world shifted in his vision.
Flesh and stone faded into an intricate lattice of glowing threads, countless chakra flows weaving together into an energetic network.
The Third Hokage's chakra glowed like a gentle yet massive sun, stable, noble, and deep.
But next to him, the "Kazekage"...
Crane's pupils shrank.
That wasn't human chakra.
It was cold, thick, invasive, like a venomous serpent coiled beneath the sun, out of sync with everything around it.
Orochimaru.
He was here.
Crane calmly shifted his gaze, sweeping across the crowd with precision.
The Sound Four.
Orochimaru himself, disguised as a Grass-nin.
All present.
There was no fear in his heart.
Only a hunter's suppressed thrill.
To the others, the Konoha Crush would be a catastrophe.
To Crane?
It was a grand feast.
He had even watched, from a treetop high above, the exact moment Orochimaru branded Sasuke with the cursed mark.
With his eyes, enhanced by the Byakugan, he had seen the vile chakra burrow into Sasuke's neck, infecting his meridians like a living parasite.
And he chose not to intervene.
Because he knew,
A stronger, more desperate Sasuke Uchiha would stir chaos deeper than anyone could predict.
During a break in the preliminaries, the hallway bustled with ninja.
Crane casually carried a cup of water around a corner, "accidentally" bumping into the three Sound-nin.
They barely looked at him.
One shoved him aside with a sneer.
"Out of the way, weakling."
In that fleeting brush of limbs, Crane's fingers made brief, invisible contact with each of them.
Not a soul noticed.
But the system echoed calmly in his mind:
[Contact Successful. Copying… Core Principle of 'Sound Bullet' Acquired]
[Contact Successful. Copying… Core Principle of 'Sonic Drill' Acquired]
One month of preparation began.
Naruto was hauled off by Jiraiya for brutal training.
Sasuke received personal guidance from Kakashi.
And Konoha… seemed to completely forget Crane ever existed.
Just as he wanted.
In his rundown apartment, a transformation unfolded in secret.
He fused the Water Style from Zabuza… the Gentle Fist stance from Neji… and now, the sound-based combat principles from the Sound-nin.
His learning speed bordered on inhuman.
His power surged, quietly, relentlessly, with each passing day.
Night.
Crane glided across the rooftops of Konoha like a phantom.
His mastery of Silent Killing had reached perfection.
He tracked the bespectacled, mild-mannered medic-nin known as Kabuto Yakushi.
And witnessed him meeting with Baki, elite Jōnin of the Sand, in a deserted alley.
He overheard the entire Konoha Crush plan.
From the shadows, Crane stood silent.
In that moment, he didn't feel like a player on the board,
He felt like a god beyond the board, coldly watching the so-called "masters" fumble their pieces.
He also saw Sasuke battling inner demons.
Torn between rejecting and embracing the cursed mark's power.
One night.
Crane stood at the edge of the woods where Sasuke trained alone.
He condensed a thread of chakra on his fingertip, so faint it was nearly imperceptible.
Infusing it with tension, frustration, and the thirst for power, he released it.
A silent ripple of sound-based chakra drifted into Sasuke's ear.
It was like the whisper of a devil.
Fanning the flames of his deepest desire for strength.
On the eve of the finals.
Crane once again infiltrated the empty arena.
But something caught his eye.
A detail never mentioned in the original timeline.
Kabuto.
He was below the main viewing platform, carefully etching a complex seal array into the floor.
Crane narrowed his eyes.
Activating Byakugan Insight, he scanned the formation.
The chakra signatures it gave off weren't for offense.
Nor defense.
They pulsed with something else entirely,
Soul resonance.
This wasn't for battle.
It was something much more sinister.
Finals Day.
The stadium was packed to bursting.
Crane sat at the very top, wedged into a shadowy corner, completely invisible to the crowd.
When "Kazekage" Orochimaru entered under the eyes of thousands, those golden serpent pupils scanned the arena casually.
Then, briefly, paused.
Just for half a second.
Right in Crane's direction.
His heart stopped.
A chill ran from tailbone to scalp.
Did he see me?!
No. Impossible.
His "background character" disguise was flawless!
Wait…
Crane's eyes sharpened.
Orochimaru wasn't looking at him.
He was looking at…
The sealing array Kabuto had planted.
Directly beneath Crane's seat.
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200 P.S = 1 Extra Chapter