After a brief conversation with Kingpin, Charles hung up the phone.
On the other end, Kingpin leaned on his cane, looking out of the floor-to-ceiling window at the view of Hell's Kitchen. He couldn't help but realize the growing gap between himself and Charles.
While he remained confined to Hell's Kitchen, Charles had continuously dismantled several organizations with centuries of history.
This realization prompted Kingpin to make a decision: he would expand into the Japanese market and was already calculating what kind of gift he should give Charles to avoid appearing stingy.
Once Charles ended the call, his phone continued to ring incessantly. His Adjudicators, as well as leaders of other underground factions, called to express concern for his safety.
Even Elder Markham, who was in the desert, representing the High Table, inquired if Charles needed any support or assistance.
After dismissing all the calls, the leader of the Belarusian gang finally arrived with ten burly men from the Belarusian Mafia. After a brief bow, she asked, "Elder, these are our finest ten young men. How would you like them to assist?"
Charles observed the ten men behind her and said, "Go to the stage and defeat one of our students here. You can use cold weapons."
Upon hearing Charles's instructions, her men, dressed in matching black suits and armed with short knives, promptly ascended the stage. They appeared quite intimidating.
Charles glanced at Naruto, who stood nearby, and said, "Naruto, defeat all of them without killing anyone. That's your victory condition."
Confident, Naruto replied, "Don't worry, Lord Charles. I'll defeat them quickly."
With that, Naruto leaped to the center of the stage, about six meters away from him.
The leader of the gang had been somewhat concerned about Naruto since he appeared to be just a child. She worried about what would happen if her men accidentally hurt him.
However, when Naruto effortlessly covered the distance in a single leap, her concerns vanished. She understood that under the Elder's command, even a child who appeared to be only six or seven years old possessed extraordinary strength.
Seeing Naruto standing ready on the stage, Charles announced, "The match begins!"
Following Charles's declaration, the ten members of the Belarusian Mafia immediately charged toward Naruto, brandishing their knives.
In the audience, Iruka had faith in Naruto's abilities but still felt some concern for his student.
Naruto was not the most inattentive student before his graduation, and he had not yet mastered the three basic Techniques, not to mention his poor control over chakra. If he were to get cut, he could still get injured.
Meanwhile, Rock Lee was excitedly shouting, "Naruto, do your best! Defeat them!"
Sasuke, on the other hand, found this assessment rather dull. A group of ordinary people without chakra, even if they knew some martial arts from this world, would not be a challenge for him.
Seated next to Charles, Shizune summoned Tonton and held the pig in her arms while watching Naruto's performance.
On the stage, Naruto faced the charging group without any fear. In fact, he moved even faster than them.
Naruto's speed was not impressive to the few ninja in the audience, and it might even seem slow to them. However, to the brutes on the stage, it was terrifying.
In an instant, Naruto closed the gap between him and one of them, delivering a powerful punch that sent the burly man tumbling off the stage.
Seeing Naruto's incredible strength, those nearer to him swung their knives.
"Bang!"
Instead of striking Naruto's body, their knives hit a substitution jutsu log, creating a sound akin to metal clashing.
Naruto had immediately used the substitution jutsu to appear outside of the encirclement.
"Shadow Clone: Double Strike!"
In the next moment, another Naruto appeared on the stage, but this one immediately collapsed on the ground, appearing lifeless and convulsing for a couple of seconds.
In the audience area:
"Hahaha!"
Seeing this scene, Charles, Shizune, and Rock Lee couldn't help but burst into laughter.
Charles even commented, "Truly an unexpected performance by Naruto Uzumaki. It's quite entertaining!"
Iruka, sitting to Charles's right, felt somewhat embarrassed and said, "Naruto still needs practice with the Shadow Clone Technique, but at least he can use it."
Only Sasuke remained unimpressed, wearing his usual cool expression. He muttered, "This guy is such an idiot."
The leader of the mafia was somewhat shocked by Naruto's performance, particularly the sudden appearance of the log and the lifelike clone. These abilities left her greatly surprised.
Back on the stage, Naruto, having realized his failure in using the Shadow Clone Technique, scratched his head in embarrassment. He immediately dispelled the clone and lay on the ground as the clone turned into a white mist and disappeared.
At this point, the other nine mafia members regained their composure and quickly turned to attack Naruto.
"Swish!"
One of the mafias threw his knife directly at Naruto. Naruto shouted and managed to dodge it, narrowly avoiding getting hit. The knife impaled itself into the edge of the stage.
"Prankster's Art of Oil!"
In the next second, Naruto pulled out a special bucket of paint from his ninja pouch and instantly splashed it toward the thugs in front of him.
A large amount of paint flew out from Naruto's bucket at an incredible speed, crashing into the men in front of him and sending them crashing to the ground.
Those on the sides and in the back of the stage were relatively unaffected, just slipping on the spilled paint. However, the three directly hit by the paint weren't so fortunate.
Naruto's paint was a special concoction and, combined with his enhanced strength, was akin to a wall of water. It immediately knocked the three thugs straight off the stage, rendering them unconscious.
The few who slipped on the paint struggled to get back on their feet, but their movements were slow and unstable due to the slippery surface.
Three of them managed to regain their footing and rushed toward Naruto, while the other three picked up the fallen knives from their unconscious comrades and joined the assault.
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