A burst of commotion.
Then silence.
At dusk, beneath the glow of the sinking sun, the atmosphere seemed to grow somewhat desolate. The rookies all looked at Naruto and Neji before them with extremely complicated expressions. Only a few seconds of silence passed.
Then Naruto gently broke the strange atmosphere.
"Genjutsu!"
It happened almost before anyone noticed.
The chakra that erupted from Naruto in an instant.
A surging golden glimmer.
In the blink of an eye.
A faint golden glow appeared in Naruto's pupils.
The moment his gaze met Sai's.
"Hm!? This is bad!"
"What are you doing, Naruto!"
Might Guy tried to intercept him, but he was a fraction too late.
A special technique that acted directly on the mind.
Over the years, Naruto had combined the Nine-Tails Chakra with his own understanding of Sealing Jutsu to create this genjutsu. It had little power to cause harm. Even a ninja as strong as him, or only slightly weaker, could easily resist it. But against a ninja far weaker than himself, it had the terrifying ability to control their thoughts and rewrite a short stretch of their memories!
Of course, this technique worked much like a Sealing Jutsu that overlaid someone's thoughts. If a ninja who specialized in this area broke it, the covered and rewritten memories would return. But in the current Shinobi World, Naruto knew only two people capable of doing that: Uchiha Itachi and Orochimaru!
So Naruto had no need to worry about that.
The technique took effect immediately.
The moment Sai's thoughts were completely overwritten and he fell unconscious.
Naruto paid no mind to Might Guy, who had moved straight into a combat stance, or Kakashi, who had lifted his headband to reveal his Sharingan.
In an utterly calm voice, he said, "Don't be nervous, Guy,