Hey guys, here is the new chapter hope you will liked and read thru everything.
If we hit 100 PW I post a extra chapter.
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Kimimaro didn't wait for the tension to settle. With a dense bone blade extending from the palm of his right hand, he thrust forward. His movement wasn't abrupt or loud; it was a silent glide, a deadly dance that closed the distance in the blink of an eye.
"Watch out!" warned Hinata, her eyes bulging with veins as her Byakugan perceived the sharp alteration in the white-haired ninja's chakra network.
"His energy flow is concentrating throughout his entire body!"
"I don't care how tough he is, I'll crush him!" roared Chōji.
Leaping forward, Chōji channeled his chakra using the Akimichi clan's signature jutsu, expanding his right arm until it became a mass of muscle and sheer weight the size of a house. He brought down a crushing punch intended to bury Kimimaro into the floor of the dunes. The impact shook the sands of the canyon, raising a dense curtain of dust.
However, Chōji's fist never hit the ground.
Kimimaro had stopped the massive attack by receiving the impact directly on his left arm, from which a reinforced bone structure sprouted and absorbed all the kinetic energy. He didn't even drop to one knee. With chilling composure, Kimimaro pivoted on his heel and extended the fingers of his free hand. Five bone bullets Shikotsumyaku: Teshi Sendan (Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets) shot out at top speed directly toward Chōji's face.
"Gatūga!"
Two whirlwinds of claws and fangs intercepted the projectiles in mid-air. Kiba Inuzuka, alongside Akamaru, deflected the bones at the cost of sustaining bloody scrapes across their shoulders, landing heavily on either side of Chōji.
"Damn it! His bones are absurdly hard!" grunted Kiba, wiping his cheek. "I barely scratched his skin and it felt like hitting a solid mountain!"
"Don't try to clash with him directly," interjected Shikamaru from the second line of attack, holding a kunai attached to a fishing wire with three explosive tags. "Chōji, take a step back. If we try to win with raw strength, he's going to wear us down before the night ends."
A few meters away, the rear guard front was no less brutal.
Kankurō moved his fingers with surgical mastery, manipulating the nearly invisible chakra threads holding Karasu in the air. The puppet, suspended between two rock pillars, opened the compartments in its torso once more, firing a hail of needles laced with purple poison.
"Your bugs are annoying, glass-boy," Kankurō sneered, snapping his wrist. "But the desert air belongs to Suna. Let's see if your insects can breathe this!"
A thick violet gas began to pour from Karasu's joints, expanding rapidly on the canyon breeze. The poison threatened to cover the entire floor of the ravine, choking off all escape routes for Team 8 and Team 10.
Shino Aburame, however, remained unfazed inside his high-collared coat. His Kikai bugs didn't try to charge through the toxic cloud; instead, they gathered by the thousands, forming a buzzing, living barrier.
"Your needles and gas are effective against human beings," Shino said in his emotionless voice.
"However, my insects adapt their metabolism to the chakra they consume. The gas you deploy does not break our formation because my Kikai do not need air to seal the perimeter they devour the chakra you use to sustain the cloud."
Kankurō frowned as he noticed the chakra threads controlling Karasu losing tension, becoming heavy and unstable as Shino's swarm drained their energy.
"Tch... what an annoying guy," Kankurō muttered.
While the individual clashes escalated, Shikamaru Nara stayed crouched behind a rock formation on the southern slope. His brown eyes obsessively scanned every inch of the battlefield. He calculated the angle of the moon, the enemy's endurance, and above all, the cost of every single move.
'This is completely out of proportion,' Shikamaru thought, gritting his teeth as he estimated how long they could last against Kimimaro. 'That guy is an impassable physical wall for Chōji and Kiba. The puppet user has area control and poison that would force us to burn through all the emergency antidotes Ino is carrying. And the girl... she controls long-range combat with massive destructive power.'
Suddenly, a deafening blast shattered his thoughts.
"Don't get distracted!"
Temari had swung her three-giant-moon fan top to bottom. The Fūton: Atsugai (Wind Release: Pressure Damage) created a transparent shockwave that sliced clean through the rock Shikamaru was hiding behind, reducing the monolith to rubble and forcing him into a last-millisecond backflip to avoid being torn apart.
Ino had to leap to the right, dodging stone shrapnel flying like bullets.
"Shikamaru! We can't hold this line for long!" Ino yelled, recovering her balance. "If that crazy girl fires another blast like that, she's going to corner us against the rocks!"
"Don't move!" a serene voice called out from the front line.
Hinata Hyūga stepped forward twice, placing herself right in the vortex where Temari's cutting air current was gathering momentum. The Hyūga clan heiress clenched her fists, lowered her stance, and focused her chakra.
"Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm!"
She launched a compressed air thrust charged with Gentle Fist chakra directly into the path of Temari's gust.
The collision of energies triggered an acoustic explosion that rang in everyone's ears. Hinata's force didn't just neutralize the Suna kunoichi's wind blade; it carved a gap right through the air current, dispersing the residual pressure against the canyon walls.
Temari's eyes widened in genuine surprise as she held her iron fan firm.
"That girl... she doesn't just block with that same technique, she can also project long-range impact strikes using the Gentle Fist," Temari murmured to herself.
Hinata didn't lower her guard. The veins around her pale eyes bulged while she kept her three-hundred-and-sixty-degree vision locked on the enemy team.
"Shikamaru," Hinata called out without taking her eyes off Temari. "I've analyzed their positions. The chest isn't being guarded directly by Kimimaro or Kankurō; they are acting as decoys to keep us trapped in the center of the valley. The chest's lock is connected to a trap seal underneath the sand."
Shikamaru blinked, and in that instant, every piece of the puzzle clicked together in his mind with the clarity of a shogi board.
Hinata's analysis revealed the core truth of the situation: they were fighting the wrong battle.
'Why are we trying to defeat three monsters who know this terrain better than we do?' Shikamaru asked himself, a wry yet confident smirk forming on his face. 'The point of the exam isn't to eliminate rival teams on day two. The goal is to get the key and secure our survival. Getting into a battle of attrition against bone-hard strength and poison is suicide and instant elimination.'
Shikamaru brought his fingers together in front of his face, forming his signature concentration hand seal.
"Listen up, everyone!" Shikamaru ordered in a low voice that resonated over the hum of the insects and the wind just enough for his teammates. "Switch formations immediately! Forget about taking down the Suna trio! The primary objective is the key in the chest!"
Kiba, who was bracing to charge back in with Akamaru against Kimimaro, stopped dead in his tracks, confused. "What are you talking about, Shikamaru?! We've got them cornered!"
"Don't be an idiot, Kiba!" Shikamaru snapped back smoothly. "We don't have them cornered, they're stalling us. Look around. If we keep this up, in ten minutes Ino and Chōji will run out of chakra, Shino will lose his bugs to the poison, and we'll be sitting ducks. Shino, Hinata! I need your cover now!"
"Understood," Shino replied instantly.
The bug user expanded his arms. Instead of attacking Kankurō, he commanded thousands of his Kikai insects to burrow straight into the sand, tunneling underground toward the bronze chest.
Simultaneously, Hinata read Shikamaru's intentions through her Byakugan. She knew exactly what move was needed to seal the strategy.
"Eight Trigrams: Palm Rotation!"
Hinata spun on her axis at blinding speed. The blue dome of her Kaiten didn't just repel another barrage of Kankurō's needles; the immense rotational force acted like a massive fan right in the middle of the ravine.
At that moment, Temari, frustrated by Konoha's impenetrable defense, unfolded the third moon of her massive metal fan, prepared to end the clash in a single sweeping strike.
"Let's see you repel this, Leaf kunoichi!" Temari shouted. "Wind Release: Great Wind Net!"
Temari fanned with her whole upper body. A colossal hurricane-force gust descended upon the low ground. The slicing wind pulverized the surrounding rocks, kicking up tons of fine sand accumulated on the upper dunes.
That was precisely what Shikamaru was waiting for.
When the force of Temari's Fūton slammed into the rotational energy of Hinata's Kaiten, the physical dynamics of the ravine collapsed. The whipped-up sand didn't fall back down; instead, it was caught in the clashing airstreams, generating a massive, localized sandstorm that blinded the entire valley within seconds.
An impenetrable wall of dust and wind engulfed both teams, dropping visibility to zero.
"Damn it!" Kankurō coughed, covering his face with his sleeve as the sand whipped against him and threatened to unbalance Karasu. "I can't see a thing! Temari, you kicked up way too much dirt!"
"Shut up! It wasn't just me, the Byakugan girl used that jutsu to whip all of it up!" Temari retorted, shielding her eyes against the gale.
In the middle of the blinding yellow storm, Kimimaro remained motionless. His refined senses caught a subtle movement beneath the surface. He was about to take a step toward the chest to secure it, but before his foot could hit the ground, a thin shadow slithered under the noisy sand, springing up directly beneath his physical shadow.
"Shadow Possession Jutsu!"
Shikamaru's shadow, extended through the dust in the darkness created by the storm, locked onto Kimimaro's feet, instantly paralyzing the Shikotsumyaku user.
Kimimaro tried to move his body, but his arm refused to respond, mimicking the static posture of Shikamaru, who was hidden several meters away in the dark.
'A shadow paralysis jutsu...' Kimimaro analyzed mentally, without showing a shred of panic. 'A clever technique. However, holding my weight and chakra will cost him a massive amount of energy.'
"You're right, bone guy," Shikamaru's voice called out weakly over the roar of the sandstorm. "I can't hold you for more than five seconds. But five seconds is more than enough for an infiltration specialist."
By the bronze chest, the sand gave way.
A dense swarm of Shino's Kikai insects erupted from the earth, wrapping around the locking mechanism. The bugs didn't try to break the bronze; instead, they devoured the chakra formula sealing the inner compartment, popping the lock open with a metallic click.
A small silver key bearing the exam symbol dropped straight into Akamaru's mouth, as he had crept down silently alongside Kiba under the cover of the howling wind.
"Got it!" Kiba shouted, grabbing the key Akamaru brought him. "Shikamaru, target acquired!"
"Retreat formation! Now!" Shikamaru commanded.
Shikamaru released the Shadow Possession Jutsu, stepping back as fatigue began to show in his posture. Chōji hoisted Ino onto his back to boost their getaway speed, while Shino ordered his bugs to lay down an extra smokescreen to mask their scent trail.
Hinata, acting as Konoha's steadfast rear guard, kept her Byakugan active until the very last second, guiding her teammates through the sandstorm toward the northern exit of the canyon.
"The enemy team is holding their position," Hinata reported clearly while keeping pace next to Kiba. "The bone user is moving with his team, but the visibility is keeping them from pursuing directly without risking an ambush."
"Great job, Hinata," Shikamaru praised, breathing heavily as he picked up the pace. "We secured the key without losing anyone to poison or severe injuries. That was the real checkmate."
At the center of the ravine, the sandstorm slowly began to settle as the wind gusts lost their power.
The dust fell back to earth, revealing the broken, open bronze chest on the ground. Of the six Leaf shinobis, not a single trace remained only a trail of footprints already being erased by the shifting desert dunes.
Kankurō walked up to the chest, kicking the bronze lid in frustration upon seeing the empty compartment inside.
"Tch... They took the key," Kankurō grumbled, adjusting Karasu on his back. "Those Konoha guys weren't trying to fight us from the start. They used us to create that storm and stole the objective right out from under our noses."
Temari snapped her three-moon fan shut with a sharp click and stowed it in her tactical holster. She looked in the direction Team 8 and Team 10 had fled, letting out a long sigh that blended annoyance with a touch of tactical respect.
"That shadow kid... he's no ordinary ninja," Temari admitted, fixing her wind-mussed hair. "He read his team's limitations perfectly and used my own strength against me to create the ideal cover. He's the most dangerous one on that team."
Kimimaro silently approached his teammates. The bone spurs protruding from his shoulders and palms slowly retracted back under his skin, leaving his body intact without a single scar.
"Should we track them down, Kimimaro?" Kankurō asked, looking at the white-haired ninja. "We can still catch up to them, and they're probably still missing their second key."
"There is no need," Kimimaro answered in his usual calm, monotone voice, staring into the night horizon. "They achieved their goal intelligently and minimized their losses. Besides, that wasn't the only chest with a key in this sector of the desert. Forcing a blind chase in the middle of the night will waste unnecessary resources. Plus, there are still three days left; there will be plenty of chances to find them."
Temari nodded in full agreement. "Kimimaro is right. The dawn of the second day is almost upon us. Let's regroup with Gaara's team and secure our own key in the next sector."
The three Sunagakure shinobi turned around, disappearing into the dark rocks with the same cold elegance they had arrived with, leaving behind the ruined ravine as a silent witness to a battle decided by brains over blades.
Several kilometers away, under the shelter of a natural rock crevice that shielded them from the desert wind, the six Konoha shinobis finally stopped to catch their breath.
Chōji collapsed onto the sand, pulling out a bag of rations to restore the chakra burned by his expansion jutsus. Kiba examined the silver key under the light of a tactical flashlight, wearing a proud smirk as Akamaru barked happily by his side.
"We pulled it off!" Kiba cheered, raising a fist. "We swiped the key right from under those Suna guys' noses. We're geniuses!"
"Don't get ahead of yourself, Kiba," Shino said, adjusting his dark glasses. "The strategy worked because Shikamaru spotted the enemy's blind spot at the precise moment. If we had stayed in direct combat for three more minutes, the amount of poison in the air would have taken out half our squad."
"Shino's right," Shikamaru chimed in, leaning back against the rock wall and looking up at the stars. "Fighting those three head-on was insane. That bone guy wasn't even using half his power, and the fan kunoichi has devastating range. Winning doesn't always mean destroying the enemy; on a real mission, winning means completing the objective and coming back alive."
Ino stepped up to Hinata, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"You were incredible back there, Hinata," Ino said with a genuine smile. "Your Kaiten and your reading of the battlefield were the key to making Shikamaru's plan work. You've changed so much since the academy."
Hinata looked down slightly, a warm blush dusting her cheeks, but her posture remained steady and tall. She deactivated her Byakugan, letting the strained veins around her eyes rest.
"Thank you, Ino," Hinata replied softly, yet filled with conviction. "I just did what I had to do to protect my teammates. We still have a long way to go, and we need to get our second key."
"The second day of the exam is just beginning," Shikamaru muttered, closing his eyes to rest for a few minutes. "The Demon Desert still has plenty of surprises in store for us... and things are only going to get more complicated."
With the key secured and the alliance between Team 8 and Team 10 strengthened after surviving a trial by fire though they would soon have to split up the Leaf claimed a major tactical victory in the heart of enemy territory, as the sun of a new day began to peek over Sunagakure's horizon.