"Activate the barrier, now!"
The proctors panicked as they watched Sasuke and Tenten unleash a barrage of weapons. The small arena was flooded with projectiles, many of which skimmed dangerously close to the heads of the onlookers.
At this rate, if those two kept going, the nearby shinobi would undoubtedly get caught in the crossfire.
Without hesitation, the Konoha proctors leaped around the perimeter of the arena, swiftly forming hand seals to erect a barrier, encasing Sasuke and Tenten within.
From the second-floor balcony, Naruto watched the two competitors furiously hurl weapons at each other, his whole body buzzing with excitement.
Gripping the railing tightly, he shouted at the top of his lungs, "Damn it! Don't underestimate Sasuke's Nine Clan Power!"
A deeply embarrassed Kakashi and Sakura quickly distanced themselves from the noisy blonde, trying to avoid the attention his antics were drawing. Only Hinata, blushing, kept glancing at Naruto with a soft smile on her lips.
Sakura, noticing this, suddenly remembered something about Naruto and Sasuke. After hesitating for a moment, she sidled over to Hinata and struck up a hushed conversation.
Naruto noticed the two whispering, but being too far away, he couldn't catch what they were saying. However, he did spot Hinata letting out soft exclamations of surprise every now and then, her gaze frequently flicking in his direction.
Naruto, seeing Hinata's worried expression, mistakenly thought she was concerned for him. Flashing her a bright smile, he winked.
As Naruto and Hinata exchanged their silent signals, down in the arena, Sasuke and Tenten were at it again, each pulling out another sealing scroll.
"Hey!!" Tenten's voice rang out in disbelief as she watched Sasuke pull out yet another scroll. "How does an Uchiha even have that many sealing scrolls?!"
Everyone knew the Uchiha clan excelled in shurikenjutsu, but this guy... He was throwing way more shuriken than even she could handle!
"Pathetic," Sasuke sneered, acting all high and mighty. He whipped out ten more scrolls at once, quickly performing hand seals before flinging a fresh wave of weapons toward Tenten.
In an instant, tens of thousands of shuriken filled the air, raining down like a violent storm.
Sasuke continued to empty his scrolls, his hands crossing in rapid succession before pulling back on thin wires attached to the thrown projectiles.
Suddenly, the trajectory of many shuriken shifted, changing directions mid-flight.
Initially, the weapons only targeted Tenten from the front, but with Sasuke's manipulation, they now attacked from all sides.
The sheer number of projectiles Sasuke had thrown could rival the combined assault of a thousand shinobi.
From the stands, Naruto's imagination ran wild. He could almost picture Sasuke leading the entire Uchiha clan in battle against Tenten.
"What the hell!?" Tenten gasped, barely managing to dodge the relentless rain of shuriken. "Is this really how the Uchiha fight?!"
Even though Tenten wasn't as agile as Neji or Lee, she was still among the most skilled in her class. Yet even with her abilities, she couldn't avoid being grazed by the sheer volume of weapons.
And as if things couldn't get worse...
Sasuke was still pulling out more scrolls!
He gave her no chance to breathe, let alone fight back. At this rate, she wouldn't even have time to unfurl her own scrolls to counterattack.
There was one thing that irritated Tenten even more. Her movement space was rapidly shrinking. In just a few minutes, the entire arena would be filled with Sasuke's shuriken. At that point, she wouldn't even have a place to stand.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
As Tenten struggled to dodge, several more shuriken whizzed by her ears, making sharp slicing sounds in the air.
She prepared to leap out of the way, only to realize these shuriken weren't aimed directly at her.
Sasuke, now standing motionless in the center of the arena, had his hands expertly wrapped around thin steel wires.
"Give up," he said coldly. "You have nowhere left to run."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Tenten halted her movement, frozen in place.
Gaara, observing from the sidelines, let out an amused snicker. "Interesting."
In the harsh glare of the arena lights, it was clear that the entire battlefield was now laced with countless steel wires, ready to slice through anyone who dared move.
Sasuke's precise control over the battlefield left everyone in awe.
But the crowd's reaction was more muted than expected. After all, they'd just witnessed Sasuke throw what appeared to be close to one hundred thousand shuriken.
And that didn't even include the exploding tags he used earlier...
The ninja from Takigakure exchanged uneasy glances. The amount of ninja tools Sasuke had thrown in this single battle was more than their entire village's arsenal combined!
The Third Hokage trembled as he watched the arena, shakily reaching for a pill bottle.
Such a wasteful fighting style...
Naruto must have taught him this!
The Third could already foresee a bleak future for the village if the next generation of ninja followed Sasuke's example. If everyone fought like this, the entire Konoha treasury would be emptied in no time.
Ugh... The Hokage winced, feeling his blood pressure spike.
"I surrender..." Tenten finally gasped, clearly beaten. "But seriously, how many scrolls do you have?!"
Even as she admitted defeat, Tenten couldn't help but voice her frustration.
She'd always prided herself on her ninja tool skills, but looking at Sasuke now...
He was a walking arsenal!
Sasuke scoffed, lifting his shirt to reveal rows upon rows of mini sealing scrolls tucked inside his clothes.
From just a quick glance, it was obvious he had at least dozens left.
"What the hell!!" Tenten cried, her voice filled with disbelief. "Are you fighting me with your entire family fortune!?"
The entire arena fell silent.
They were all ninja. But this... this was on another level.
Did Sasuke not care about living expenses? Or savings for the future? Where did he even get the money for all these tools?
Naruto winced as he watched, feeling his own wallet ache in sympathy.
He had asked Sasuke before how many scrolls he carried, but the guy had always dodged the question, saying "not that many" with a straight face.
His earlier joke about Sasuke's Nine Clan Power? Well, maybe it wasn't a joke after all.
It looked like Sasuke had truly sold off his entire clan's inheritance for ninja tools!
The real Nine Clan Power.
"Cough, cough..." Proctor Hayate, having finally recovered, appeared in the arena. "The second match... goes to Uchiha Sasuke."
After announcing the winner, Hayate moved to carefully disentangle the wires surrounding Tenten.
The battle was over, but Sasuke didn't leave the arena. Instead, he bent down like a farmer, carefully picking up the ninja tools he had scattered during the fight.
Gone was the confident and untouchable Sasuke. Now, he was hunched over, painstakingly gathering every single shuriken.
Naruto, watching Sasuke's pitiful figure from the sidelines, couldn't help but burst into laughter.
"Hahahaha! Sasuke, you were so cool throwing those shuriken earlier, but look at you now!"
"Shut up!" Sasuke snapped, turning his head, his face red with embarrassment.
As the crowd watched him silently collect his weapons, Sasuke wished the ground would swallow him whole.
But with so many ninja tools strewn about, he had no choice but to retrieve them all.
Seeing how long it would take, Hayate coughed twice, announcing a one-hour break before the third match.
Just as Hayate was about to turn away, Naruto sidled up to him, whispering quietly...
"Hey, uh... Hayate-sensei, I saw a guy with your girlfriend going home together last night..."
Clang!
Hayate froze, the senbon in his mouth falling to the ground with a sharp clink.
His face twisted in pain, tears welling up in his eyes as the truth finally hit him.
"I... I knew it!!"
Naruto: Huh?