A Thousand Mile Pursuit

Hearing the murmurs from Naruto, Bibi Dong diverted her focus and couldn't help but roll her eyes at him, retorting indignantly, "You brat! How could This Seat possibly time this perfectly? It's good enough that I could give you a rough estimate!"

A trace of disappointment flashed in the depths of Naruto's eyes.

However, he extinguished the thought, turning instead to sit cross-legged in meditation, seizing the time to recover his spirit power.

The azure vortex of spirit power and the crimson campfire beside him complemented each other in the night, appearing so calm and peaceful that the worries of Naruto and Bibi Dong seemed somewhat superfluous.

Looking on the bright side, Naruto's Shadow Clone had been extremely careful when acting, exposing very little; perhaps Tang Hao hadn't noticed the connection between the two of them.

Or perhaps Tang Hao had simply taken Tang San and hurried away, having no time to concern himself with Naruto.

Or perhaps Tang Hao was cautious and rational enough that, upon discovering Naruto had fled, he only pursued briefly before giving up immediately after failing to find a trail.

All of these were possibilities.

As time passed, the tranquility remained, and no one broke the silence of the night.

These possibilities gradually occupied their minds.

It seemed, they were truly safe...

[The venue for the second stage of the Chunin Exams is a forest.]

A cold electronic voice suddenly rang in his ears. Naruto, who was in the middle of recovering his spirit power, frowned, nearly snapping out of his meditative state.

System?

Why is it acting up at a time like this?

Furthermore, Naruto couldn't think of any connection between his current situation and the Chunin Exams.

To make his escape, he had even painfully sacrificed the "Ninja Academy Graduation" gift from the Witness System, so where did this Chunin Exam come from?

While he was puzzled, the system didn't care and continued on its own.

[The genin are slaughtering each other in the forest, snatching tokens from one another. This was supposed to be an unremarkable exam, but Naruto on the field suddenly heard the Nine-Tails shout, "Run, brat! That's Orochimaru!"]

Naruto's brow furrowed even tighter.

What Orochimaru?

"Brat! Run!"

The Dong Trumpet inside the Sealing Space suddenly screamed. Naruto's eyes snapped open, and before he could even stand, the ground beneath his feet began to shake violently.

What was happening?

BOOM!

While he was still confused, a heaven-shattering roar exploded in the sky.

A shockwave whistled past. Naruto turned his head toward the sound, his eyes slowly widening as he saw the distant, pitch-black mountain range. The towering ridge had shattered at some point, splitting open to reveal a massive hole!

Huge fragments of rock splashed everywhere, slamming into the ground and triggering an earthquake. At the breach, a figure dragging a blood-red comet tail was streaking across the sky like a meteor!

This is Orochimaru?!

Naruto cursed inwardly, his hands moving in a blur to form seals. Purple-black spirit power surged from behind him, his aura instantly climbing to the Spirit King stage as he shot forward like a bullet!

Found you, Naruto!

Tang Hao, his eyes bloodshot and his expression weary, was instantly overjoyed. A cruel smile curled at the corners of his mouth as he carved a terrifying blood-red arc through the air.

He swung the pitch-black Clear Sky Hammer in his hand, slamming it heavily toward the ground!

"Where do you think you're going!?"

The Clear Sky Hammer, wreathed in arcs of electricity, whistled as it tore through the air, expanding rapidly!

Naruto, illuminated by the electric light on the ground, looked back. Two spirit rings—one yellow and one purple—emerged beneath his feet, and the Chains of Heaven shot out from his hands.

He poured the purple-black spirit power within his body into them as if it were worthless!

"Second Spirit Skill, Lock Array!"

The thousand-year spirit ring at his feet flickered like a faulty lightbulb dozens of times in succession. Countless pitch-black chains emerged from the void, clattering as they shot out to outline dozens of eerie formations in the air.

As the chains locked into place, the space within the formations was fixed, forming dozens of layered, glass-like, reflective spatial shields!

BOOM!

It was like a meteorite striking the earth!

The dozens of shields shattered instantly, and the Clear Sky Hammer slammed into the ground.

In an instant, the resulting shockwave overturned the entire patch of land, snapping even the surrounding tall trees in half. All that remained at the scene was a barren surface and a pitch-black crater.

Tang Hao landed proudly from the air.

He raised a hand to pick up the Clear Sky Hammer and slung it over his shoulder, then looked down at the ground, at the blood-covered youth who was struggling to stand.

"It really was you!"

Feeling that familiar surge of spirit power, Tang Hao's rugged face first twisted into a glare, then he couldn't help but let out a sinister laugh.

"Hahaha! You've certainly made me search for you! To drag you out, I've scoured Nuoding City and searched every inch of this land for hundreds of miles!"

"Speak! Who exactly are you?"

Tang Hao wiped the smile from his face, a cold glint flashing in his eyes as he pressed his Clear Sky Hammer against Naruto's chest, the weapon whistling with latent force.

The illogical spirit power within his body, the impossible spirit rings, the self-created spirit skills he had never seen before, and that face that made him sick just to look at!

Tang Hao was going to dig out this person's secrets...

Bit by bit!

Naruto caught his breath with great difficulty, raised his eyes to meet Tang Hao's gaze directly, and said in a solemn tone, "If I say it... you might not believe me, but I am actually the missing Tang Chen."

Crack!

Tang Hao's expression turned as dark as iron, the veins on his forehead bulging instantly. His Clear Sky Hammer slammed down instinctively, but instead of flesh and blood flying, a fireball erupted into the air!

BOOM!

Taking the full force of several Explosive Tags, Tang Hao swung his Clear Sky Hammer with a roar, the resulting shockwave easily blowing away the black smoke and sparks. From behind the thick haze, dozens of Naruto clones wreathed in flames swarmed forward.

Without giving Tang Hao a second to react, a massive mushroom cloud rose into the sky!

BOOM!!

Beside the campfire, Naruto, who had previously transformed into a tree stump, returned to his original form. Gritting his teeth to endure the influx of dozens of death memories, he slowly and firmly formed hand seals.

"Lend me all your spirit power!"

"Don't die!"

Inside the rising fireball, "Get lost! All of you!"

Accompanied by Tang Hao's roar, a tsunami of spirit power poured out. The entire fireball, along with the mushroom cloud, was like a punctured balloon, instantly blasted apart by the spirit power and vanishing without a trace.

Tang Hao looked disheveled; half of his tattered clothes had been blown away, revealing a body covered in scars, and even his eyebrows and hair had been singed by the flames, still carrying glowing embers.

The bulging veins crawled from his neck all the way up his cheeks. First, this bastard had harmed his son right in front of him, and now he had been toyed with time and time again!

The rage building in his chest was like a volcano, waiting to erupt.

Spirit power at the level of a Title Douluo surged outward.

This person wouldn't get far!

Before Tang Hao could even lock onto him, the opponent's unbridled, arrogant spirit power voluntarily exposed his position.

Not far behind Tang Hao, a purple light ignited. A purple-black spirit power, even more vast and surging than his own as a Title Douluo, rose from the ground, forming a dazzling pillar of light!

Tang Hao turned back in disbelief, unable to open his eyes against the shockwave.

A corner of his memory was awakened.

It was him!

At this moment, Naruto was immersed in an ocean of purple-black spirit power.

This overflowing spirit power threatened to burst his body; such terrifying, god-level spirit power was far beyond what Naruto could handle at his current level.

However, he only needed to hold on for an instant. As his hands completed the final seal, he realized the Multi Shadow Clone Technique was truly a ninjutsu tailor-made for a Jinchuriki.

So, how many Spirit King-level shadow clones could Naruto create with this god-level spirit power?

The answer was thirty thousand!

Poof!

A continuous series of explosions rang out as countless plumes of smoke intertwined, shrouding the earth before dissipating in an instant. Behind the vanished mist lay a pure, pitch-black ocean composed of a sea of people, figures stretching as far as the eye could see, covering the ground.

Naruto's true body struggled to stand, the stinging pain in his meridians threatening to make him pass out at any moment.

He cast an imperceptible glance into the distance before retracting his gaze to look at Tang Hao in the center of the crowd.

What will you do now?