Chunin Exams End

"What! The entire Root organization has been wiped out!" Danzo slammed his hand against the table and roared upon hearing the news.

Root was his trusted inner circle, his capital, and with the war between Konoha Ninja Village and Sunagakure only days away, Root was meant to serve as the vanguard—yet now, this.

Anger burned incessantly in Danzo's chest as he pondered who could have committed such an audacious act.

Sunagakure? Orochimaru? Or perhaps the Third Hokage?

He dismissed Sunagakure first; if they had known of his movements, they wouldn't have stopped at just destroying Root—they would have seized the opportunity to launch a full-scale assault on Konoha.

The remaining two were both suspects: Orochimaru hated Konoha, and the Third Hokage did not want to start a war.

"I understand now! The Third has actually colluded with Orochimaru to eradicate Root. That cowardly Hiruzen! He only knows how to compromise in domestic and foreign affairs, never once considering reform. I will never let you succeed; Konoha will not return to that weak past."

Danzo gritted his teeth as he spoke. It was no wonder he reached this conclusion; Orochimaru was, after all, the Third's disciple, and it was possible they had struck some sort of deal.

After all, the Third would never have done it himself, just as the jonin who opposed Danzo would never directly defy his orders.

As for Feng Yao, he had been like a ghost from start to finish, with no information on him to be found—which was to be expected, as the photograph was completely wrong.

The lack of information led Danzo to a false conclusion. He looked at his only two remaining trusted subordinates, Aburame Torune and Yamanaka Fu, who usually followed him as bodyguards and thus had escaped being slaughtered.

"Hmph, it doesn't matter. As long as I kill the Fourth Kazekage tomorrow, this war will happen whether you like it or not. You will have no choice."

As he spoke, he touched Shisui's eye. If it became necessary tomorrow, he would use this eye to control Orochimaru.

Danzo's strength had been severely weakened, and the jonin in the village did not respect him at all. He had intended to use this war to gain the village's trust, but now the Third had come out to stir up trouble.

On the other side, having wiped out Root, Feng Yao arrived at a house far from Konoha.

Inside, Naruto and Sasuke were tied up tightly.

Just as Feng Yao prepared to walk over and untie them, the two figures suddenly turned into logs.

Substitution Technique!

And Sasuke, hiding on the eaves, launched his attack.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

Sasuke spat a massive fireball from his mouth. An explosion echoed from within the house, and the entire room collapsed in flames.

Yet, Feng Yao stood in place, completely unscathed.

"I didn't expect you two to break free on your own. Come down; don't force me to use violence."

"Who would listen to a weird guy like you with bandages! Multi Shadow Clone Technique!"

Naruto, hiding to the side, couldn't sit still. He rushed out and created thousands of clones, hoping to overwhelm the opponent with sheer numbers.

Feng Yao formed hand seals and once again summoned his psychic beast, the Cold-Heart Sea Lion.

A wide-range Water Style jutsu cleared out Naruto's shadow clones, and he easily captured the two of them.

"You bastard, let me go! Why did you capture us? Where is Sakura!"

Naruto struggled frantically, while Sasuke's face was filled with unwillingness.

The future Seventh Hokage and the future ninja who would shake the world, Sasuke, could only be easily captured by him before they had grown into their power.

He set the two down, looking at Sasuke first, considering whether he should find a way to turn him.

But this blockhead was obsessed with revenge. Even if he told him the truth about Itachi, the boy would likely rush off to find Itachi for answers or scream about taking revenge on Konoha. Someone like Sasuke was not suitable to be used as a subordinate.

As for Naruto, he couldn't win a debate against the boy, and he had essentially watched Naruto grow up—whether in his previous life on Earth or in this Naruto world—so Feng Yao had no intention of harming him.

"I have no malice toward you. Capturing you was a last resort. Don't act recklessly; once things settle down, I will let you go."

After explaining, Feng Yao used even tougher ropes to bind the two again.

Then, amidst Naruto's cursing, he returned to Konoha Ninja Village.

The third stage of the Chunin Exams was about to begin.

Outside the circular arena sat the feudal lords of various countries and the contestants, with Danzo sitting in the high seat at the center.

Feng Yao and the other qualifying contestants stood in the middle of the arena, waiting for the official start of the matches.

This might have been just a competition to them, but for Danzo, Feng Yao, and Orochimaru, this was already a battlefield.

"Hey, relax. You need to bow to the audience."

The chunin in charge of the exam spoke to the group.

Before long, the Fourth Kazekage arrived at the arena with his entourage, accompanied by two other Sunagakure ninja.

Danzo stood up with a hypocritical expression.

"Welcome, Lord Kazekage. Please, enjoy the matches of our Konoha ninja."

The Fourth Kazekage did not reply. Danzo's words implied that aside from Konoha's ninja, the matches of other countries were not worth watching.

Facing this blatant insult, the Kazekage endured it.

Just wait. Konoha will be destroyed today! The Kazekage thought to himself, feeling much more comfortable, while his eyes glanced toward Orochimaru's direction.

Orochimaru was disguised as a random Konoha ninja, sitting on the periphery.

"Just wait! Feng Yao, after today, this perfect body of yours will be mine."

Everyone had their own schemes, and at this moment, only the contestants in the tournament remained single-minded, thinking of only one thing: winning this match.

Because there were nine participants, the bracket required Feng Yao to compete in an extra match, and all of them were against Sunagakure.

Danzo did not care about the tournament itself; he wanted Konoha to emerge victorious, to let the feudal lords of every nation present know that Konoha was the most powerful hidden village.

The matches against Kankuro and Temari went without saying. Kankuro forfeited directly to focus on the upcoming plan, and Temari was no match for Feng Yao either; a single Flying Thunder God allowed Feng Yao to secure an easy victory, effectively wiping out the entire Sunagakure squad by himself.

As the tournament progressed, the atmosphere gradually intensified, and the various factions grew increasingly solemn, knowing that the moment the Chunin Exams ended would be the time to strike.

This time, without Gaara, the tournament proceeded smoothly to its conclusion: the final match.

To Feng Yao's surprise, the person who ended up in the finals against him was Rock Lee.

He had successfully defeated Neji Hyuga in his match.

Feng Yao could tell that Rock Lee was very happy right now.

"The match begins!" The Chunin official started this final bout.

However, Feng Yao spoke first: "You already used the Hidden Lotus when you beat Neji, and your muscles are severely torn. You cannot beat me, and that would be true even if you hadn't used the Hidden Lotus."

Feng Yao greatly admired this genius of hard work and was even mentally considering ways to recruit him into his own ranks.

Rock Lee, however, smiled slightly, placing his left hand behind his back and gesturing with his right for Feng Yao to make the first move.

"You are Dosu, right? I can tell you are a genius too. Regardless of whether I can win or not, I must stand here and fight you, because this is my Ninja Way!"

Feng Yao looked deeply at Rock Lee. Can hard work truly surpass talent?

Not exactly. Rock Lee could easily defeat Sasuke at the beginning, but later, when Sasuke stood at the pinnacle of the ninja world, Rock Lee had only opened the sixth gate.

But hard work does have its rewards; it may not necessarily surpass those chosen by heaven, but it will certainly make one better.

Feng Yao summoned the Katsuyu Sage to provide a simple treatment for Rock Lee's muscle tears.

He did this not only for a fair fight but also to build some goodwill.

"Thank you, Dosu. I will fight you with everything I have."

With that, Rock Lee directly opened the first gate, the Gate of Opening, then opened the Gate of Healing to boost his stamina, and charged toward Feng Yao at high speed.

"Leaf Whirlwind!"

Rock Lee executed a spinning high kick, a common taijutsu move of the Strong Fist Style.

"Rokushiki: Iron Body."

Feng Yao wanted to defeat Rock Lee head-on using taijutsu so that his opponent would be convinced of his loss. Lee's foot felt as if it had kicked a steel plate, but he did not lose heart; he retreated and began to circle Feng Yao at high speed.

He then rushed in front of Feng Yao and unleashed an upward kick. Aiming for Feng Yao's chin, he sent him flying—this was the opening move of the Primary Lotus, intended to be followed by further attacks in the air.

An ordinary person would naturally be unable to dodge this in mid-air and would be forced to take the hits.

But Feng Yao was different; he tapped his feet slightly.

"Rokushiki: Geppo."

Feng Yao changed his trajectory in mid-air, preventing Rock Lee from connecting his follow-up attacks. Seeing that his opponent's taijutsu was no weaker than his own, Rock Lee's fighting spirit burned even brighter.

"Eight Inner Gates: Gate of Life! Gate of Pain!"

Rock Lee's body began to turn crimson, and a visible green aura covered his entire frame. Violent energy erupted across the arena, whipping up gusts of wind.

"Take this!"

Rock Lee moved; even a simple step caused the ground to shatter. But no matter how fast the taijutsu was, Feng Yao could fully analyze his opponent's movements.

He used Geppo to dodge while using Iron Body to clash directly with Rock Lee. The scattering debris and dust blinded the spectators.

As the dust settled, Rock Lee had lost. The audience was in an uproar; who could have imagined that the final winner would be an obscure Sound Ninja?

After the referee announced the result, Feng Yao helped Rock Lee up.

"Your taijutsu is very strong, Dosu. But just you watch, one day, the lotus of Konoha will bloom once again."

Looking at Rock Lee's slightly chuunibyou declaration, Feng Yao just nodded calmly. By that time, he might even be able to crush the Otsutsuki Clan with his bare hands.

It seemed as if everything had come to an end with the conclusion of the tournament.

At this moment, on the high platform, the Kazekage looked at Konoha's defeat and mocked Danzo: "It seems the Konoha ninja didn't take the top spot after all, hahaha."

Just as he was laughing, Danzo made his move.

"Wind Style: Vacuum Wave!"

He spat out a sharp, sickle-like gust of air from his mouth, seemingly intending to slice the Kazekage's body in two.

"Magnet Style: Gold Dust!"

The Kazekage had not expected Danzo to strike so suddenly and blocked the attack in a rush. They hadn't even initiated their plan yet, but that no longer mattered; since the other party had torn off the mask, there was no need for him to hold back either.

He roared toward the direction of Gaara and the others!

"Move out! Destroy Konoha!"