The Gamer: Naruto World - Chapter 66

“Ha!”

Neji and Hinata rushed towards each other, exchanging blows one after another. Hinata threw a palm and Neji shifted, dodging the attack then countered. Hinata similarly blocked and shifted from the attacks then again countered.

Palm, block, shift, fingers.

“Still the same, Hinata-sama. Slow!” Neji found a weakness in Hinata’s rain of palm attacks. Seizing the chance to deflect her hands, Neji sent a palm attack straight to her abdomen.

Finding holes in her attack and deflecting her hands, by this action, Hinata was not a bit hesitant. As the palm drew nearer, Hinata made use of her natural flexibility to dodge the palm and countered it with a kick, straight to Neji’s right arm.

“Way to go, Hinata,” Naruto shouted, making everyone in the hall look at him.

“Ag.” Neji held back the acute, sharp pain coming from his shoulder then hurriedly jumped a couple of meters back.

Seeing every pair of eyes focused on him made Naruto nervous, as he shrank back and asked, “What did I do?”

Hayate coughed as he looked at Hiruzen then at Naruto. “Uzumaki Naruto, please don’t interfere in the match.”

“I was just cheering. How’s that interfering?” Naruto grumbled, not understanding the proctor called him for just cheering.

“Just watch for now, Naruto.” Kakashi sighed then looked back at the match. How could he make this knuckleheaded Genin under him understand?

“You should already know, Hinata-sama. On how it will end and how you will be humiliated once again. Like I have said before… you can never win against me.” The veins around Neji’s eye pulsated as he glared at Hinata.

“I’ll prove it to you, Neji nii-san. It’s not the same anymore.” Hinata pushed through with her palm and kicks, cutting on Neji’s zone. Her hits were getting onto Neji and while most of her attacks were blocked, she was able to land hits and block many of Neji’s chakra points in Neji’s hands.

“No… Hinata-sama.” Neji who was blocking suddenly changed his pace, going from defense to attack. Instead of dodging Hinata’s palm strikes, Neji deflected them and at the same time used that opportunity to jab a couple of chakra points. Then with a stomp and twist, his palm went deep into her abdomen.

Hinata fell on the ground, a line of blood coming down from her mouth but Neji didn’t continue. Instead, he watched Hinata stand up again. ‘For a second, I thought she would…’

“Again.” Hinata stood back up and immediately took a stance. ‘I can do it. I can…’

“Come on, Hinata. I know you can do it.” Naruto gritted his teeth looking at the fight. Even though Hinata was trying her best, Naruto felt that it was somewhat odd.

“Neji nii-san.”

“Hinata-sama.”

Both Neji and Hinata rushed, engaging in close combat. Attacking and defending, one after another.

Palm, finger, forehand, elbow.

Signs of struggle appeared on Hinata’s face as time passed but Neji slowly and calmly adapted to Hinata’s attack pattern. Standing to the title of ‘Genius’, Neji quickly reversed the situation and gained upper hand, pushing Hinata, one step after another.

“Hinata is losing ground.” Raito murmured looking at Hinata being pushed back.

But what’s worse is that she was getting hit. Getting hit by Hyūga’s attack means they are injecting chakra in your body, targeting chakra points in the body, blocking the chakra flow, which will eventually lead to chakra stagnation.

Hinata was also trying her best to block the attacks but Neji was like a ghost, predicting future and passing her guards like raining water passing through the gaps.

With each hit Neji was closing another chakra point, making her weaker and weaker.

Gritting her teeth, Hinata thrust both of her palms forward, palms fully open, releasing a large amount of chakra at once.

Neji seems to have predicted the attack as he crossed his arms and gathered chakra in defense but the attack still pushed him half the stage back.

“That looks like vacuum palm of Hyūga clan but…” Asuma commented. From the look of things that jutsu took more than needed chakra from Hinata.

“She should have used gale palm instead of that.” Naruto banged the railings as he looked at the panting Hinata.

“That was a weak one, Hinata-sama,” Neji said then returned to Hyūga’s Gentle Fist Stance.

Activating her chakra, Hinata walked towards Neji and changed into Hyūga’s Gentle Fist Stance too.

Before Raito and Naruto could shout out, Kakashi started explaining, “Hyūga clan is one of the biggest clan in Konoha and they have their own rule. Clans have the say when it comes to their clan members and to interfere with them is not good.”

Kakashi went a step further in explanation. “When two Hyūga met in the same ring, such as today, which rarely ever happens in public, they will only use clan techniques and nothing else, not even the basic three from the academy.”

“That’s so stupid.” Naruto gritted his teeth. In the past months, Hinata had learned many Ninjutsu and Genjutsu, and also had used them on the missions several times.

Since Naruto and Raito had somewhat forced her to learn some of the jutsus, they felt guilt within their heart. The reason being jutsus are cool, from Naruto and different kinds of jutsu will help in different kinds of the situation by Raito.

What if Hinata only learned gentle fist all this time? Would she be able to defeat Neji? There was no clear answer but the chances would be higher than right now.

“She was born in the Hyūga clan and you cannot change that. Some rules have to be followed even if we don’t like them.” Kakashi sighed.

The close combat between Hinata and Neji continued but it was clear that Neji had the upper hand and Hinata was lagging behind because of all the blocked chakra points and the skill difference.

Hinata’s health points dropped steadily as Neji’s finger and palm attacks landed on her continuously. It now looked like a one-sided beating and while Hinata was still able, she could not retaliate back. All her retaliations were immediately broken and with it, came a big blow.

“Sensei, let’s stop the match.” Raito let go of the railing and looked at Kakashi. “This match is already…”

“Then…” Kakashi also thought that the match had no meaning by now. It only acted as Neji’s playground for breaking Hinata.

“No! Wait.” When Kakashi nodded and was ready to call off the match, Naruto interrupted.

“She is still fighting.” Naruto grabbed Kakashi and shouted. “She can do it.”

Raito grabbed Naruto’s hand which was grabbing Kakashi’s and pulled it. “She is fighting a losing battle. If Neji gets serious then…”

“She can do it,” Naruto retorted with gritted teeth.

“Haa!” Hinata charged with all her speed with a palm strike ready to be released.

However, Neji, who was the target, just smirked looking at Hinata. Dodging the attack, Neji sent a palm attack, right to her heart area. The amount of visible chakra erupting from Hinata’s back gave everyone the idea of how lethal the attack was.

“Hinata!” Naruto shouted and Hayate quickly moved towards Hinata.

Hinata was still conscious from Hayate’s point of view but the situation was not in her favor. So, Hayate asked in a low voice, “Do you still want to continue?”

“…” Hinata, still clouded from the attack, barely heard what Hayate was saying but the situation was clear, if she did not stand up in any second now, she would lose the match.

“I won’t…” Hinata struggled standing up.

Hayate could only back out in this situation.

“I won’t give up. I-I…” Hinata had bruises over her hands, face, and insides of her clothes. The dirt from falling on the ground mixed with the blood from her mouth, her breathing was shallow and quick as she again took the gentle fist stance.

Neji frowned as he looked at Hinata. His fist tightened and anger appeared in his face.

‘Why is it always like this? Why do I always have to give it to them?’

“Just lay on the ground.”

‘Even when it’s always the same.’

“You will never win against me! Never!”

“I still want to try…” Hinata tried bringing a smile to her face as she faced Neji.

“I don’t want to give up just yet. I want to…” With chakra gathered on her palms, she charged towards Neji.

“Then I’ll show you no mercy.” The anger in Neji’s face disappeared as chakra gathered in his palms.

Neji looked at Hinata, charging towards him. Sneering, Neji kicked off the ground and charged towards Hinata.

Just as they got close to each other, Hinata thrust her right palm towards Neji’s right shoulder. However, Neji dodged the palm and countered with his palm to Hinata’s abdomen. Hinata, who had already predicted the attack, spun on her heels as she targeted Neji’s left arm with finger thrusts.

“Hmph.” Neji snorted as he reacted with his right palm, striking Hinata’s forearm.

A crisp sound of bone cracking was heard by the high level viewers on the hall, as Neji jabbed several points in a blink of an eye, paralyzing Hinata.

With gritted teeth, Neji stabbed with his right towards Hinata’s throat. Next, he just closed his eyes and let out a breath, as he felt a heavy pressure on his body.

Holding Neji from behind was Gai, his hand across Neji’s front. Holding his wrist from the right was Kakashi, then a palm onto his chakra center was Kurenai, crouching in front of him and Hayate covered Hinata from Neji’s view.

As for Hinata, she was pulled back by Raito then he used [Heal] on her, hidden from everyone’s eye by the careful manipulation of chakra.

Seeing Naruto run towards him, Raito gave him a hard kick to the stomach, making Naruto kneel and cough.

On the viewing gallery, Shikamaru closed his eyes and rested his head on the railings. “Naruto had it coming.”

“Four Jōnin to stop a small Genin like me,” Neji sneered then loosened his body which made Kakashi and Gai let go of him.

“[Fuin].” However, Kurenai pushed her hands forward, the bandages from her arm circling Neji’s waist. The character seals in the bandages formed pitch-black needles which stabbed Neji, sealing his chakra.

“Neji!” Gai grabbed Neji’s shoulder and threw him towards the viewing gallery.

Neji was not affected by the seal on his chakra center nor the fact that he had been thrown high up in the air by his own Jōnin. Neji just tapped on the wall and manipulated his body, hands on the wall, as he slowly landed.

Neji landed to face a very irate group of ninjas. While Shikamaru was rather calm about all this and Chōji gave Neji a stink eye, Ino pushed Neji, beating him down with words.

Lee, Neji’s teammate, did not even look at him but jumped down to the stage.

[Rock Lee vs Gaara]

“We need to bring her to the medical ward.” One of the medics looked at Kakashi and said, and at the same time, they shifted Hinata onto a stretcher.

“Hm.” Kakashi nodded and walked beside the medic-nin together with Naruto and Raito.

Raito looked back at the stage and saw Gaara, who was looking at him. Then Raito looked at Lee, who was stretching.

Opening [Mind-voice Transmission], Raito connected with Lee and spoke in his mind. “Lee, this guy is dangerous…”

“…Do your best.” Raito didn’t know what he should say to Lee. Ask him to surrender when the time comes? Quit now to prevent something that may or may not happen? There is no way he could do that and training with Lee for the past several months showed that Lee is a very, very stubborn, and stupid kind of person.

Raito looked back at Hinata who still had blood coming from her mouth then looked at the two medic-nin by her side.

“Kakashi, I will go too,” Kurenai asked Kakashi and went with the medic-nin.

“Raito, it will be your turn next. Go back.” Kakashi pulled Raito, who was about to go with Kurenai and the medic-nin.

“I will look after her.” Naruto rushed, running by Raito.

“Naruto,” Raito called to which Naruto turned.

Instead of words, Naruto was pulled by his collar and pushed to the wall by Raito. “We are not done with this. We are going to have a long talk after the preliminary is over.”

Naruto turned silent as he looked at the hands holding his jacket’s collar and pushing him to the wall. That force and those cold words, Raito was at him, at his decision and his stupid sense. Gritting his teeth, Naruto raised his hands and grabbed Raito’s sleeves as something hot burned his c.h.e.s.t.

“I understand.” Naruto squeezed out these words as his eyes moistened.

Raito let go of Naruto and said, “Go.”

Naruto looked at Kakashi then back at Raito and nodded, hurriedly running towards Hinata’s direction.

“Raito, you are going back.” Kakashi stood between Raito and passageway leading to the inner chambers.

“Sensei… I promise I will go back on time.” Raito promised then added. “My healing technique is far better than anyone… even old- Hokage-sama said so.”

“Did he now?” Kakashi grabbed Raito then turned back at the hall.

Raito looked at his party member tab and frowned as Hinata’s health points continue to decrease steadily. “I know medical techniques.”

“Sure.” Kakashi ignored Raito and continued dragging him towards the hall.

Gritting his teeth, Raito grabbed Kakashi’s wrist and said, “She is… friend.”

“…Oh.” Kakashi looked at Raito in amus.e.m.e.nt and twirled Raito into an unescapable grappling technique. Grabbing him tightly, Kakashi used ‘[Shunshin]’ and flashed away from the spot.

On the stage, Lee dodged the sand barrage and tried counterattacking but was always stopped by the sand around Gaara. Gaara did not even look at Lee as sand continued to be his sword and shield.

Dodging the sand barrage, Lee hopped everywhere and only calmed down when Gaara stopped his sand attacks.

‘His attacking speeds will catch up to me if this keeps going on for another hour. I can’t waste that much time.’ Lee stood on top of the giant hand seal and looked at Gaara.

Squatting down Lee’s grabbed the weights and unhooked their locks. ‘I should be able to surpass the sand’s speed now.’

“Are those weights?” Temari looked at metal bars with had kanji for ‘Guts’ and sneered. “How much can they even-”

Boom!

Lee let go of the weight and as they touched the ground, a loud sound and cloud of dust erupted.

“It’s too much.” Kankurō sweated as he looked at Lee jumping.

“This Gai…” Hiruzen smiled softly looking at the weights and the energetic Genin.

Anko looked at Lee and thought about weights. “Are weights in fashion again? Raito did tell me that they were using weights…”

Whoosh!

“Huh?” Gaara turned his head, again and again, noticing the blur that just passed by him.

“Straight!” After circling Gaara a couple of times, Lee choose the area furthest away from Gaara and dashed forward in a straight line, his fist corked back.

‘He’s coming.’ Sand exploded from the mouth of gourd, forming giant demonic hands, blocking the view between himself and Lee, and the sand around him turned into walls.

“Punch!” The sand forming walls were immediately destroyed by Lee’s punch but it was ultimately stopped by the demonic hands.

Before the other hand could move for capturing Lee, Lee jumped high up in the air and rolled as he came falling down. “Drop Kick!!”

Ino covered her ears on hearing Lee shout. “You don’t have to shout, Lee!”

“No, it’s all about exploding with youth!! Go, Lee!” Gai shouted with stars twinkling in his eyes, teeth shining like a brightly lit bulb.

“Proctor, please stop him,” Ino grumbled still covering her ears then she looked towards her left at the empty area.

“Hinata will be alright,” Asuma reassured.

“I am not worried.” Ino pouted, turning in the opposite direction.

Shikamaru looked sideways where Sasuke was and could not help but click his tongue. It was clear that Sasuke was using Sharingan to copy Lee’s and Gaara’s attack. Even though Gai saw it, he didn’t say anything to Sasuke. It depends on who uses it, for what it becomes.

“Her tenketsu are blocked. We have to open them, fast.” One of the medics attached Hinata to the monitors and checked her vitals.

“She has internal bleeding, abdomen, about 150 ml.” Another medic using diagnostic jutsu placed her palm over Hinata’s abdomen and sides reported.

“Simple fracture, right radius and ulna, transverse.” Another medic reported.

“Don’t start until the blocks are removed.” An older medic was standing a bit further away from the bed, looking at the monitor.

“Hinata.” Naruto looked through the glass at Hinata and the medics.

“Don’t worry. She will be fine, Naruto.” Kurenai looked at Naruto and smiled.

“Who among you has finished all of the chakra control exercises in the third volume?” The older medic asked to his subordinates.

Seeing that no one was answering, he looked at his own hands and shook his head, “Notify Hokage-sama and get a seal master, hurry.”

“I’ll go-”

Bam!

Raito opened the door violently, hitting the medic who was about to go out.

“I’m a seal master. Level? About seven I think.” Raito walked in introducing himself.

“Sorry.” Looking at the unconscious medic, Raito looked surprised as he hurriedly bowed.

‘You don’t look like sorry at all.’ Kakashi looked at the medic-nin then at Raito’s face.

“Kakashi.” The head medic walked out smiling towards Kakashi.

“We have seals ready.” The female medic-nin took out a scroll and gave it to Raito. “You have less than ten minutes to familiarize yourself then-”

Raito tossed the scroll to Kakashi then removed the bandages on his hand to reveal a double circled seal with a red center.

After applying chakra on the seal, a thin layer of ink from the two circles traveled towards the red dot then towards Hinata’s c.h.e.s.t, right at the point of the manubrium. A seal appeared similar to that of Raito’s hand then the ink traveled all over her body lining the chakra pathway.

While checking Hinata’s status tab, Raito kept feeding chakra to the seal. Only after confirming that the [Blocked Chakra Pathway] disappeared from Hinata’s status tab, he stopped.

“The blockage disappeared.” The female medic-nin running diagnostic jutsu exclaimed in surprise.

“Bring the water bucket, prepare for incision, and administer the medicine.” The head medic immediately ordered then looked at the medic who was still unconscious.

“Kurenai, standby for [Healing Palm] technique.” The head medic ordered Kurenai the looked at team seven. “Leave the room.”

“Hai.” Kakashi nodded then pulled Naruto and Raito back.

BOOM!!!

Just as Kakashi stepped outside, the dust cloud exploded in the corridor sweeping everywhere.

Kakashi only had time to throw Raito and Naruto back, and close the door.

“[Eight Trigrams: Vacuum palm]”

A sudden force exploded carrying the dust together with it, pushing everything back.

After the dust cloud was pushed back, Kakashi turned to see Hyūga clan leader, Hyūga Hiashi with his palm extended.

“Hiashi-sama.” Kakashi bowed making Naruto and Raito bow too.

Pulling back his hand, Hiashi bowed back. “Kakashi-san.” Then he looked through the small glass, at his daughter

“Raito, go ahead. Prepare for your match.” Kakashi patted Raito shoulder then stood beside Hiashi to face at Hinata’s room.

“Hai.” Raito nodded then ran towards the stage.

‘Baka-Raito. Why did I have to do that?’ Raito cursed himself for revealing too much. But on the second thought, Hinata could have already told her father and clan about the Fuinjutsu.

“I shouldn’t have.” Raito clenched his fist as he reached the stage.

On the destroyed stage, Gaara laid in the center, and Lee, the one who had just performed [Front Lotus], one of the forbidden Taijutsu techniques, was panting hard looking towards the ceiling.

“Finally.” Lee stood up but his body seemed weakened by this attack. With a smile on his face, Lee walked towards where Gaara was.

Crack

Upon reaching, Gaara, who was laying on the ground, cracked, like a porcelain doll, color faded and the whole of the body turned into sand.

“How could it be?” Lee gritted his teeth as sand flew around then gathered into one place.

Hidden in the sand, Gaara revealed himself then extended his hand. On his will the sand gathered together, hurdling towards Lee.

‘Dodge, dodge.’ Lee struggled as he tried dodging the sand but the sand chased after him and occasionally dealing damage.

“Ahh!!” Sand continuously attacked Lee, pushing and oppressing him.

“You are slow again,” Gaara commented as more and more sand came out of the gourd.

The sand pooled under Lee and it crept upwards, ready to grab Lee.

‘[Second Gate: Gate of Healing – Open].’

Lee immediately broke free of the sand, disappearing from Gaara’s sight.

“His strength… recovered!?” Gaara was surprised by Lee’s recovery as he could again feel the passing blur in the corner of his eyes. The sand from Gaara’s gourd exploded, creating shields around him.

BAM

Crack!

Lee’s kick cracked open the sand guard and kicked Gaara away.

But Gaara easily neutralized the force and countered with sand bullets.

Lee dodged them and appeared within Gaara’s range. Strong determination burned in Lee as he started spinning.

Right leg enveloped in swirling winds followed by currents of air moved towards Gaara.

Feeling the change, the sand from the gourd erupted, forming hands, heading towards Lee.

“Fly away, [Konoha Taijutsu – Gust].”

Boooom!

“Argh!” Gaara was sent flying towards the other end, forming a human-shaped outline on the wall.

Lee was breathing faster but his eyes were glued to Gaara. The sand around Gaara was still lively but the sand armor covering Gaara was in pieces. Under the expressionless mask of sand, Gaara hid his maniacal smile and the crazy eyes, which were hungry for battle and blood.

“Crazy.” Kankurō frowned as he looked at Gaara, at his maniacal smile, which was quickly masked by the full-body sand armor.

“It’s not going to be easier, is it?” Lee took a deep breath the exhaled.

Crossing his arm, Lee focused inside his body. The hemispheres of the brain traveling down to the spine… opening the first point.

“[Third Gate: Gate of Life – Open].”

Lee’s skin turned red as the air around him changed. Tendrils of bluish chakra combined to form a spiral around Lee, changing the pressure around him. Corona lost, turning his eye fully white and veins began bulging around Lee’s face.

Swish.

Lee disappeared making a huge cloud of dust for all to take. The next moment Gaara was seen flying high in the sky then another, he was falling on the ground. The sand around him was busy catching up to Gaara but Lee’s attacks were so strong and his speed was too fast for the sand to react.

‘My sand.’ Gaara tried summoning his sand but he was interrupted repeatedly by Lee’s powerful strikes.

“Haaa!” Lee appeared below Gaara, just the moment he was about to fall on the ground. Stomping on the ground, Lee’s leg was like a straight rule, 180 degree straight, as his kick landed on Gaara’s back.

“Argh!!!” The sand covering Gaara shattered into pieces and flew high up in the air.

“It’s time to end this.” Lee stomped on the ground once again then flew high up, higher than Gaara was and in the end, he was standing on the ceiling of the hall.

“[Fourth Gate: Gate of Pain – Open].”

With a powerful stomp, the ceiling collapsed and Lee darted towards Gaara like an arrow. With a turn, Lee had a fist and stomp plunged deep into Gaara’s body.

“[Hidden Lotus].”

Opening the fourth gate and increasing the strength beyond his body limit. Lee’s attack went beyond his capacity, dealing a great deal of damage to Gaara but at the same time Lee felt the tear in his knee ligaments. Not only that but the entire of the right arm and leg had some kind damage, like fracture, muscle, and skin tears, vessels bursting.

“Omf.” Arching backward, Gaara dropped like a cannonball towards the stage and as he crashed, Gaara destroyed the stage, raising a dust cloud.

At the same time, Lee also dropped on the ground and lay on the ground like a fish out of water but his eyes were still open, looking at where Gaara was supposed to be. “It’s over.”

“Is that sand?” Gennai’s shouting alerted Lee.

Deep within the crater made by Gaara, he laid on the sand made from his gourd. Gaara was beaten up pretty badly as he lay on the sand, paralyzed. With the help of the sand, Gaara floated, coming out of the crater but it seemed that even his chakra was depleted.

But Raito who looked above Gaara’s head narrowed his eyes. He still had half of his health left and more than three fourth of chakra.

Using [Mind Voice Transmission] Raito immediately connected to Lee but just as he was about to instruct Lee, Raito felt his connection severed.

[-100 HP]

“Don’t interfere.” Raito heard a vague voice in his mind and after that, he felt a stabbing pain on his head.

“Not cool.” Raito quickly recovered due to the gamer’s power but the scene in front of him was not good at all.

Sand had grabbed Lee’s hand and feet, and because Lee had already injured his right hand and leg, he could not dodge it.

Lying down on the ground, Gaara looked at Lee who was trying to free himself from the sand. “[Sand Binding Coffin].”

“Ahhhhhh!” Lee screamed in pain as under Gaara’s sand manipulation. The sand squeezed Lee’s hand and leg, refusing to let go and as Gaara’s grip got tighter, the crushing power became powerful.

“Lee!”

Continuing that, even more sand went towards Lee.

“I have to go.” Raito gritted his teeth as he stood up.

[Gamer’s mind activated.]

[Successfully resisted “Mind Thorn” and “Mind Shackles”]

[Skill ‘Mind Thorn’ analyzed successfully. Please purchase using points from the library.]

[Skill ‘Mind Shackles’ analyzed successfully. Please purchase using points from the library.]

The heavy feeling on his mind disappeared and with that Raito hurriedly went through a series of hand seals.

But before Raito could activate the jutsu, Gai appeared in front of Lee and destroyed the sand wave with a flick of his hands.

Gaara looked at the scene weirdly, not knowing why anyone would save someone. “Why… save him?”

“…Because he is an important subordinate who I care for,” Gai replied looking straight at Gaara.

“Important subordinate who he cares for?” Temari looked at Lee and Gai who looked so much the same.

“They must be father and son.” She murmured thinking about her father

‘Those are things Gaara can never understand.’ Baki looked at Gaara who looked completely unharmed now.

“Winner, Gaara,” Hayate announced, looking at Gaara. Since the Jōnin of the team had already intervened the conclusion was set.

“My ninja way… I will prove it.” Lee stood up weakly but there was a lot of blood on his arms and legs. Even with all the damage, Lee was standing and facing Gaara.

“Sorry, Lee.” Gai grabbed Lee pressing acupoints, forcing him to sleep.

“Medics, hurry,” Hayate called while checking Lee.

The medics ran past Raito and went towards Lee. They checked on Lee with diagnostic jutsu to look for anything that might require special care during transferring and transportation.

[Yoshizawa Raito vs Kankurō]

Raito grabbed the arm of the lady medic-nin, carrying the stretcher and looked at Lee. “Lee.”

“Oi, what are you doing?” The medic-nin, who was slammed down by the door earlier, frowned, looking at Raito.

“Please leave it to us.” The lady medic-nin looked at Raito’s grave face and consulted.

“Hey, didn’t you hear me!?” The man was holding the front of the stretcher so, it was difficult for him to see what Raito was doing.

[Rock Lee]

[Status – Unconscious]

[Right Leg fracture, Right arm fracture, Minute fracture all over the body, Exhaustion, Multiple muscle tear, multiple lacerations…]

[Right Leg Fracture – Lower one-third of the femoral fracture, Stellate Patellar fracture, Tibia, and fibular fracture…]

[Right Arm Fracture – …]

The description went on and on, and various tabs came with pictures; with skin layers removed, another with muscles removed, and another one with a focus on the bones only.

“Little brother, don’t use any healing technique for now. We will have to do surgery and do everything one by one. You may have seen the fracture of the patella; that is of comminuted type and there is a high degree of deviation too.” Seeing the familiar pattern for diagnostic jutsu and bluish chakra on Raito’s hand, the lady medic-nin immediately warned. “His injuries are far complicated to just use healing jutsu.”

The elderly medic-nin, who was with Gai, looked at Raito and Lee then spoke up, “I have seen your technique with my own eyes on the Hokage tower but I must say… the current you will do more harm than good.”

“What the… I.” Raito pulled back the chakra on his hand then looked at old medic-nin then at Lee sadly. “Sorry, Lee.”

“This…” Raito took out a potion from his inventory, then using water manipulation, made Lee drink the entire thing.

“What was that?” The elderly medic-nin asked in curiosity as some of the bruises started healing under his eyes.

“These are heart preserving medicine. It has some healing effect.” Raito lied as he saw the health points recovering. But the health bar never became full, it was stuck at thirty percent.

“If you have time, come to the hospital sometime.” The elderly medic-nin patted Raito’s shoulder then went with his subordinates and Lee.

“Hai.” Raito nodded then turned to face Gai who was standing blankly.

“Gai-sensei.” Raito had his head down, not daring to look at Gai’s gloomy face.

Just when Raito was about to pass Gai, Gai said, “Raito… Lee worked for his dreams. He will be fine.”

“I’ll leave first.” Raito walked away with heavy steps. As he looked at the repaired stage, nasty thought haunted Raito’s head.

“I hope you won’t surrender.” Exhaling a breath of foul air Raito walked towards the stage slowly.

“What the heck? This Konoha shinobi is so slow.”

“Proctor, how long do I have to wait?”

Kankurō made an annoyed face, waiting for Raito. He was standing on the repaired stage and by his side, a human-size thing, covered in white cloth.

“Sorry, I was busy doing something important.” Raito walked in with a small smile on his face.

“… Like taking care of the friend just now.” Kankurō felt his face twitching, looking at Raito. He could not help but remember those moments before the Chūnin exam.

Raito froze as Kankurō mentioned Lee.

“I may accidentally kill you,” Raito said while taking out the stone beads from the inventory secretly and making a bracelet out of them. “So try your best to live.”

Everyone narrowed their eyes at Raito’s statement, while some in annoyance, others in caution.

Cough… “No one is going to die under my watch. So, free to go all out.” Hayate looked at both of them and coughed.

“Thank you, proctor-san.” Raito smiled and took out a wooden staff from his inventory. “I’ll be sure to go all out if he lasts that long.”

Raito looked at the Suna shinobi standing at the viewing gallery and looking at him. ‘Just keep watching.’

Seeing the staff taken out from thin air alerted Kankurō. Grabbing the puppet closer, Kankurō activated his chakra. ‘This guy…’

Cough… cough… Hayate walked forward then looked at the two. “Yoshizawa Raito, Kankurō, Fight!”

Instead of attacking, Raito straightened his back. He had a small smile on his face as Raito took a few steps forward.

Looking at Kankurō’s alert face, Raito spoke up. “Should I attack first?”

“Hmph.” Kankurō snorted, retreating backward and waving his hands. As he waved his hands, the cloth covered puppet moved in front of Raito and Kankurō.

“It’s good that you decided not to switch places.” Raito tilted his head and looked at Kankurō.

“What are you saying?” Kankurō frowned, looking at Raito. Just before walking into the hall, Kankurō contemplated whether to switch places with his puppet or not. How would this guy know?

“[Bloom].”

Black tentacles erupted from the ground and covered the thing inside the cloth. It happened in an instant that Kankurō couldn’t even move his fingers in time. By the time, he reacted, the black things wobbled for a few seconds before changing into a spherical shape.

“Karasu,” Kankurō shouted trying to reconnect with the puppet named Karasu, inside the spherical ball.

“I learned a lot from your brother.” Raito raised his arms and his hand like a claw, just as Gaara did a while back. “Like his sand, I am also using the earth in the same way.”

“I hope I can let you experience them,” Raito added and started clenching his fist. The spherical ball in the air turned smaller and smaller until it turned into the size of the pinky.

“…”

Raito smiled happily and clenched the small ball, keeping it in the inventory. To make it more dramatic, Raito clenched his fist tighter and did a few wrist circles. In the end, when Raito opened his fist, stone dust fell from his palm.

Kankurō looked at Raito dumbfounded. This guy just destroyed his puppet under a few seconds. Placing his hand on the scroll at his back, Kankurō comforted himself.

With a swipe, Kankurō threw a kunai tied with explosion talisman towards Raito. “[Explode].”

One of the stone beads in Raito’s wrist flew up and immediately transformed into a shield, blocking the whole of the explosion.

“[Erasing Wind].” Gentle winds blew by, dispersing the smokescreen created by the explosion.

Tink, Tink, Tink

Senbon fell beside Raito after hitting the stone shield. In a distance away, Kankurō stood with a puppet slightly bigger than he did. Three-Eyed four-armed humanoid with spiky brow hairstyle and covered by a cloth.

“Such a creepy doll.” Raito looked carefully at the puppet and found that there were a lot of hidden mechanism inside its body.

Small triggers inside its body activated by the chakra threads.

“This is Karasu 1.5.”

“1.5?”

“Hmph.” Kankurō moved his fingers, causing Karasu to move too.

Tak, tak, tak.

Although a puppet, under Kankurō’s manipulation, Karasu appeared in front of Raito. Several curved blades erupted from his arm as it swung towards Raito.

The black stone beads exploded and like mud and coiled around Karasu’s arm, stopping the swing.

“This kind of thing-”

While Raito was speaking, the wrist on Karasu’s hand extended, opening a hidden chamber and launching scalpels.

Swish.

Under the effect of [Fast Thinking], the scalpels moved in slow motion. Moving the staff in the front, Raito easily blocked all the scalpels then destroyed Karasu’s arm.

‘That attack was from a close distance. What a freak.’ While thinking that, Kankurō moved his fingers triggering some more hidden weapons.

Karasu opened the mouth, launching giant needles, coated in poison.

‘Now the poison gas-.’ The finger which was gonna move stopped. The long needles plunged into Raito’s front, but neither did he dodge or tried to dodge them.

‘It’s better to be careful.’ Kankurō thought and moved his finger. The lower part of the abdomen open, releasing poisonous gas to Raito’s face.

Raito stood still and slightly raising his right arm. “[Purple Poison Refinement Art].”

The long needles were pushed out as a small stone bead appeared out of Raito’s jacket. If not for the holes on his clothes, nobody would believe that he was just made a pincushion.

Looking at the holes on his clothes, Raito looked at Kankurō with a drop of purple liquid hovering above his hand. “This is something I learned from your brother just now. Sand armor, it’s something like that.”

“…” Kankurō took a step back, his hand quivered and his tongue felt dry.

“Oh, and poison doesn’t work on me,” Raito added with a smile, adding the purple drop in the bottle.

[Purple Poison]

Amount – 60ml

Poison ingredient – 260

Looking at the poison bottle, Raito tilted his head and looked at Kankurō.

Just as he thought of using the poison on Kankurō, Raito found a pair of eyes locked on him. Under his ‘[Chakra Sense]’, he saw that Anko was shaking her head slightly.

‘That blows!’ Raito shrugged then kept the poison bottle inside his inventory.

“[Crush].”

Ignoring the dumbfounded Kankurō, Raito swung his staff vertically downwards crushing Karasu and revealing all kinds of hidden weapons inside.

“Do you wanna give up?” Raito shouted while looking at Kankurō’s angry face.

“Of course I won’t. Even though I may not have my puppets with me, I can do much more.” Kankurō replied while taking out scrolls from his back.

“I carry my village’s pride on my back. I will never surrender.”

Raito listened to all of Kankurō’s murmuring and let him open the scrolls, taking out all kinds of weapons like things. “Pride, huh?”

“[Lance].”

Needles made up of stone erupted from below, piercing Kankurō’s hands.

“Argh!!!” Kankurō howled in pain as he threw his head backward. The earth needles cut the skin, revealing bones and muscles, and many blood vessels, as it started bleeding.

“Kankurō!” Temari shouted in horror looking at the scene then she turned her head towards her Jōnin leader. “Baki-sensei.”

Baki ignored Temari and looked at the stage below.

In front of Kankurō, there were two trees made of rocks, their needle-like branches piercing his hands, mostly at the tip, where his chakra threads to control puppets usually comes out from.

“I suggest you quit when you have… some time and life left? It will not be shameful or anything. You will just be saving yourself… your life.” Raito thought about his words for a moment then shrugged.

‘Kankurō can’t back out.’

“Sensei!!” Temari glared at her teacher and shouted.

Instead of attacking and ending the whole thing, Raito waited. Opening Kankurō’s status tab, Raito started reading his description.

“Raito’s chakra control is getting better.” Hiruzen sighed looking at the earth needles, piercing Kankurō. Those needles only pierced the skin around Kankurō’s hand, his bones were very safe in this case.

From time to time, Raito glanced at Gaara then at Kankurō.

“Why aren’t you doing anything at all, Kankurō? I am giving you all this time so we can start the fight.” Raito asked feigning confusion.

“You bastard…” Kankurō showed his teeth as sweat drops covered his forehead.

“Proctor-san, my opponent is not fighting back nor is he surrendering. What should I do?” Raito asked Hayate innocently.

Hayate rolled his eyes in the inside but maintained a potato face outside.

“Man, it’s such a pain.” Raito stretched then walked towards Kankurō. “I’ll be starting then.”

From Kankurō’s scroll all kinds of hidden weapons could be seen; some big, some small, while some looked normal, others looked creepy.

‘[Avatar].’

In exchange for a thousand points of chakra, a vaguely humanoid figure made up of chakra appeared in Raito’s field of vision.

“Hmm.” Hiruzen felt minute chakra wave but he could not see anything.

“Hokage-sama, is something wrong?” Anko who was beside Hiruzen turned and asked.

“…Nothing.” Hiruzen pinched his beard then shook his head.

The avatar quickly walked beside Kankurō and drilled into him like tendrils of smoke.

On the other end, Raito walked with a staff on his hand and yellow-brown chakra covering it. As time passed, the brownish staff turned black and the weight increased.

“Chakra Flow? Elemental?” Anko frowned, looking at Raito.

“I just gave him a book.” Hiruzen murmured which Anko heard.

“So this is your mindscape.” Raito appeared in a small building. Walking inside, Raito saw Kankurō sitting on a table and eating his meal with his sister, Temari. Raito ignored them and walked into a weird room. The room was entirely black but one side of the room had a scroll hanging out and touching the handle of the scroll was a man.

“Sensei?” Raito called out.

“Raito?” Turning around Inoichi shouted in surprise.

“What are you doing here!?” Both of them cried out in surprise.

“Well, whatever. Just come here and help me.” Inoichi pointed with his chin on the newly erupting scroll hanging on the wall. “I just started. There were quite a lot of mental defense but the pain he just experienced helped me dealing with them.”

“Since you are here, let’s start.” Inoichi turned back and continued his jutsu.

“Hai.” Raito walked towards the scroll then stretched out his hand. Chakra immediately came out of his hand and linked with the scroll.

[Extract and create a book regarding, ‘Kankurō’?]

[YES | NO]

‘Yes.’

Chakra spread from the Raito’s hand towards the scroll and disappeared beyond the dark wall. After a couple of dozen of seconds, chakra returned to form a black ball that transformed into a book with a black cover and yellowish title ‘Kankurō’.

[Gained book ‘Kankurō’.]

“Just link the info to me. You must be fighting right now, right? I don’t know how you are doing this but… it will take some chakra even-”

“I am done.” Raito tossed the book towards Inoichi then flashed out of Kankurō’s head, fleeing from Inoichi’s lecturing.

Inoichi grabbed the book and sighed. Connecting with the book, he verified a few of the contents and then flashed out of Kankurō’s mindscape.

Outside, Raito lost focus for a second but everything returned to how it was. Raito was swinging the black and heavy staff and moving towards Kankurō.

With half a rat seal, the earthen needles became thinner and thinner as it retreated. However, just as Kankurō was about to enjoy his freedom, his hands and legs were bound by the black-colored earth.

Seeing the blackish substance crawling up to him, Kankurō’s face changed as he began to desperately struggle. “Don’t come near me. Stay back!”

“You monster! Stay back.”

Before Raito could swing the staff, Baki who was on the viewing gallery jumped in between Kankurō and Raito with sweat on his face.

BAM

Nevertheless, before Baki could say anything, Raito swung his enhanced staff, straight towards Kankurō’s knee, counting Baki as thin air. “[Cut]”.

“Argh.” Baki gritted his teeth as piercing pain assaulted his hand. The vibration of the strike traveled towards his arm, making him feel that the bones on his hand were going to shatter.

“We surrender.” Baki turned to face the proctor and declared.

Baki looked at the smiling Genin in front of him and took a deep breathe then he looked at his hand where the staff meet his hand.

“Oh, sorry.” Raito apologized as he pulled back his staff. Raito’s action of pulling the staff was too slow making Baki frown.

“Mn.” Even when Raito pulled the staff back, Baki felt extreme pain on his palm. As he looked at his left palm, Baki found that a layer of skin was pulled off along with the staff.

“Winner, Yoshizawa Raito.”

“Kankurō, snap out of it.” Baki gave Kankurō a tight slap and splashed some water on his face. The blackish earth had already transformed back into small stone beads and disappeared when Baki came between Raito and Kankurō.

Baki sighed then pressed Kankurō’s shoulder, passing chakra into him and making him sleep.

Medics ran to Baki’s side and looked at Kankurō. Baki nodded and gave Kankurō to them. “Please.”

“Please, you too.” The medic caught Baki’s hand and looked at the damage then looked back at Raito who was dealing with Temari.

“You… what did you do to him?” Temari walked with her fan pointed towards Raito and glared at him.

“Temari.” Baki snapped Temari out of anger but there was still resentment in her eyes. They could neither curse nor attack because… just because they were in the center of Konohagakure and not Sunagakure.

“It was just a Genjutsu and it was just his brother. Why is he so scared of his ‘own’ brother?” Raito grumbled then moved back, creating some distance between them.

Raito looked at Gaara with a smile then his eyes landed on Temari. Within the smile, deep anger was hidden. ‘Physical injuries are nothing compared to the mental one.’

While the Gamer’s mind neutralized all kinds of extreme emotions, it could not erase the memories of the event, leading to the blooming of that emotion. That moment of anger kept repeating in Raito’s head from the moment he walked on to the stage until now.

Hayate coughed as he asked all the participants to come down to the stage.

“As the proctor of the third round, I declare the end of the preliminary round.” Hayate raised his hand and declared to everyone in the hall.