Just as Sasuke's trembling hand was about to plunge the kunai into his own stomach,
Arata's eyes sharpened.
A deep pulse rolled through the air—
BOOM!
A surge of golden chakra erupted from his body like a living flame.
The wave of power tore through the suffocating pressure that filled the clearing, scattering the deadly killing intent of both Kakashi and Zabuza in an instant.
For Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura, it was like suddenly feeling sunlight after being trapped in a frozen storm.
Their breaths returned. Their hearts steadied.
The kunai slipped from Sasuke's grasp, clattering to the ground.
He looked up, eyes wide.
"T-That chakra… it's Arata's. So strong… so warm…"
He'd seen Arata's taijutsu before — but this? This was something else entirely.
The sheer weight of that chakra made his skin prickle.
Naruto and Sakura both exhaled shakily, unaware that it was Arata who had saved them from the crushing aura.
Meanwhile—
Deep within Naruto's body, inside the dark, endless seal, two enormous crimson eyes opened.
Chains rattled softly in the darkness as the Nine-Tails raised its massive head.
"That chakra…"
"So familiar… and yet… not the same."
Its deep, rumbling voice echoed through the chamber.
"Could it be… that man's power?"
The beast's pupils narrowed, filled with a mix of hatred and disbelief.
Memories stirred — of thick forests, a man in red armor, hands pressed in seals…
the Senju Hashirama.
"Impossible… but that chakra — it carries the same life force."
It snorted, tails flicking lazily behind the bars of the seal.
"Hmph. Whatever you are, boy… you're nothing like him."
With that, the fox lowered its head again, eyes closing.
But the faint trace of unease lingered.
Back in the real world, Zabuza had frozen where he stood.
He could still feel the aftershock of that chakra burst — heavy, suffocating, alive.
"What was that just now…?"
Even an elite jōnin like him had never felt pressure like that.
That wasn't ordinary chakra — it was vast, primal.
And it had dispelled his killing intent as if swatting away mist.
He narrowed his eyes, expression grim.
"So this kid isn't just tagging along. That chakra… it's monstrous."
Kakashi turned his head slightly, watching Arata's calm figure through the thinning fog.
He understood instantly.
The clash of killing intent had been too much for the genin — Sasuke nearly lost control, and even Naruto and Sakura had been paralyzed.
If Arata hadn't released his chakra, they might've broken completely.
Still, what shocked Kakashi most wasn't the timing — it was the growth.
"His chakra… it's even stronger than before. Has it been growing since that night?"
He thought back to the explosion that nearly wiped out half the forest —
the night Arata had drained every drop of chakra in his body.
"Maybe that power changed him," Kakashi thought. "But this rate of growth… it's unnatural."
Arata's gaze flicked toward the mist.
He could feel Zabuza's chakra moving, faint but clear.
"Kakashi-sensei," he said quietly, "you take point. I'll back you up."
Kakashi looked over, surprised. "You can sense him?"
Arata nodded once. "His chakra signature's in the mist — steady, near the lake."
Kakashi's visible eye widened. "You have chakra sensory abilities?"
That ability belonged to trained sensory-type ninja, and even among them, only a few could pinpoint enemies through a thick Hidden Mist Technique.
But Arata spoke as if it were nothing special.
Zabuza had no idea he'd been spotted.
Confidently, he molded his own chakra and split off a water clone.
Arata's voice was calm. "He's at the lake. Front left."
Kakashi focused his Sharingan toward the direction — and there he was.
Zabuza stood atop the water, half-shrouded by fog, his massive sword resting on his shoulder.
But before Kakashi could move, another Zabuza appeared out of nowhere — right in front of Tazuna.
The old man froze, eyes wide.
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura barely had time to react.
Their instincts screamed danger, but their bodies refused to move — the killing aura pinned them down like iron chains.
The blade came down—
A flash.
A metallic clang.
And then — nothing.
The killing intent vanished like smoke.
Zabuza's strike had stopped mid-air.
Tazuna stumbled backward, pushed away by an unseen force.
The tip of a kunai pressed against Zabuza's chest.
Everyone looked up.
Arata stood there — calm, silent, his kunai buried deep in the jōnin's heart.
Water dripped from the wound.
Not blood.
Arata's eyes narrowed. "A clone."
The "body" dissolved into a splash of water at his feet.
Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura could only stare — mouths open.
Kakashi, watching from the lake, smiled under his mask.
"Well done, Arata."
Even if it was just a water clone, if Arata hadn't intercepted it, Tazuna would've been dead before any of them could react.
The old bridge builder collapsed to the ground, breathing hard.
His heart was pounding so fast it hurt.
He looked up at Arata — the boy who'd just saved his life — and all he could think was:
This kid… doesn't belong in the same world as the others.
Sasuke's fists tightened.
"The gap between us… it's this big?"
He could barely stand under the weight of Arata's presence.
If he couldn't even catch up to him, how could he ever defeat that man?
"I need to get stronger. No matter what it takes."
Naruto stared too, speechless.
He couldn't reconcile it — the quiet boy from the Academy, the one no one noticed — now stood shoulder to shoulder with Kakashi himself.
"Same age… same class… so why is he so far ahead?"
The thought burned.
Sakura, though, felt something else — a calm sense of safety.
Arata's presence had that effect. The way he moved, the way he fought — quiet, precise, unshakable.
Out on the lake, Zabuza narrowed his eyes, truly studying Arata now.
"He took down my clone that easily? Impossible…"
A cold realization crept over him.
"That kid's no ordinary genin. His reactions, his speed — that's jōnin-level."
His grip on the sword tightened.
He'd come here expecting to face one elite jōnin and three fresh rookies.
Now, it was one elite jōnin… and one monster in the making.
A one-on-one had just become a one versus two.
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