Hearing the muttering from Naruto,
Bibi Dong spared a bit of her attention and couldn't help rolling her eyes at Naruto. She replied indignantly, "You little brat! How could I possibly know the exact timing at a moment like this? You should be grateful I can give you a rough estimate!"
A flicker of disappointment crossed Naruto's eyes,
but he put the thought out of his mind and began meditating cross-legged, seizing every second to recover his Soul Power.
Under the night sky, the azure Soul Power vortex and the crimson bonfire beside it complemented each other. The scene was so calm and peaceful that Naruto and Bibi Dong's worries seemed almost unnecessary.
Looking on the bright side, Naruto's Shadow Clone had acted with extreme caution. Very little had been exposed; perhaps Tang Hao hadn't noticed the connection between them.
Or perhaps Tang Hao would simply take Tang San and leave in a hurry, with no time at all to bother with Naruto.
Or perhaps Tang Hao was cautious and clearheaded enough to realize Naruto had run off, pursue him only briefly, then give up as soon as he lost the trail.
Any of those things could happen.
As time passed, the quiet endured. No one disturbed the stillness of the night.
Those possibilities gradually took hold in their minds.
It seemed,
they really were safe...
[The second round of the Chunin Ninja Exams would take place in a forest.]
A cold electronic voice suddenly rang in Naruto's ears. He frowned as he recovered his Soul Power, nearly slipping out of his meditative state.
The system?
Why was it suddenly acting up at a time like this?
Besides, Naruto couldn't see what his current predicament had to do with the Chunin Ninja Exams.
To escape, he'd even painfully given up the free "Ninja Academy Graduation" reward from the Witness System. Where had this Chunin exam come from?
Though confused, Naruto got no answers. The system simply continued on its own.
[The Genin fought in the forest, battling to steal one another's tokens. It should have been an ordinary exam, but then Naruto on the field suddenly heard the Nine-Tails shout, "Run, brat! That's Orochimaru!"]
Naruto's brow furrowed tighter and tighter.
What Orochimaru?
"Brat! Run!"
Dong Trumpet suddenly shouted from within the Sealing Space. Naruto's eyes snapped open, and before he could even get to his feet, the ground beneath him was already trembling violently.
What was happening?
Boom!
As he wondered, a thunderous, earth-shattering roar exploded in the sky.
A blast of air swept past with a howl. Naruto turned toward the sound, his eyes slowly widening. In the distance, the dark mountain range's towering ridge had somehow shattered with a deafening crash! A huge hole had been blown through it!
Enormous chunks of mountain rock flew in every direction, slamming into the ground and setting off earthquakes. Through the breach, a figure trailing a blood-red comet tail hurtled forward like a meteor!
What the hell, was that Orochimaru?
Naruto cursed inwardly and rapidly formed Hand Seals. Purple-black Soul Power surged out from behind him, his aura instantly rising to the Spirit King level as he shot forward!
He found Naruto!
Tang Hao's eyes were bloodshot, and his face was weary. He was overjoyed, a cruel smile curling his lips as he streaked across the sky in a terrifying arc of blood-red light.
He swung the dark Clear Sky Hammer in his hand and smashed it toward the ground!
"Where do you think you're going?!"
The Clear Sky Hammer, crackling with electricity, tore through the air with a howl and rapidly grew larger!
The electric light illuminated Naruto on the ground. He glanced back as a yellow and a purple Spirit Ring appeared beneath him, then launched the Chains of Heaven from his hand.
He poured the purple-black Soul Power inside him into the chains as if it cost him nothing!
"Second Soul Skill: Lock Array!"
The Thousand-Year Soul Ring beneath his feet flickered like a faulty lightbulb, flashing dozens of times in succession. Countless pitch-black chains emerged from thin air, shooting out with a clatter and sketching dozens of bizarre arrays across the sky.
As the chains locked into place, the space inside the arrays was fixed, forming dozens of overlapping spatial shields that gleamed like glass!
Boom!
Like a meteor crashing to earth!
Dozens of shields shattered in an instant, and the Clear Sky Hammer slammed into the ground.
The resulting blast of air flipped up the entire patch of earth. Even the towering trees around it snapped in half, leaving behind nothing but bare ground and a pitch-black crater.
Tang Hao descended from the sky with an air of pride,
picked up the Clear Sky Hammer and rested it on his shoulder, then lowered his head to look at the ground—and at the blood-covered young man struggling to get up.
"So it really was you!"
Sensing that familiar trace of Soul Power, Tang Hao's eyes widened in fury. Then he suddenly let out a sinister laugh, despite himself.
"Hahahaha! You sure made me work to find you! To flush you out, I searched all over Nuoding City, then scoured hundreds of miles around here!"
"Tell me! Who the hell are you?"
Tang Hao's smile vanished. A cold glint flashed in his eyes as the Clear Sky Hammer in his hand whirred ominously, its head pressed against Naruto's chest.
The Soul Power inside him made no sense. His Spirit Rings made no sense. He had Self-Created Soul Skills Tang Hao had never seen before—and a face so nauseating to look at!
Tang Hao would dig out this man's secrets...
one by one!
Naruto struggled to catch his breath, lifted his eyes to meet Tang Hao's gaze, and spoke gravely. "You might not believe this... but I'm actually Tang Chen, the one who disappeared."
Crack!
Tang Hao's face turned as dark as iron, the veins on his forehead suddenly bulging. His Clear Sky Hammer swung down instinctively—but instead of blood and gore, a fireball soared into the air!
Boom!
Having taken several Explosive Tags head-on, Tang Hao swung his Clear Sky Hammer with a howl. The resulting blast of air easily scattered the black smoke and sparks. Behind the smoke, dozens of Narutos bearing flames swarmed toward him.
Tang Hao had no time to react. A massive mushroom cloud rose into the sky!
Boom!!
Beside the bonfire, Naruto—who had earlier transformed into a tree stump—returned to his original form. Gritting his teeth as he endured dozens of sets of death memories, he began forming Hand Seals, slowly but resolutely.
"Lend me all your Soul Power!"
"Don't die!"
From within the rising fireball,
"Get away from me!"
With Tang Hao's furious roar, Soul Power poured out like a tsunami. The entire fireball, mushroom cloud and all, was like a balloon being pricked. In an instant, the Soul Power blasted it apart, leaving nothing behind.
Tang Hao looked disheveled. Half his shabby clothes had been blown away, exposing a body covered in scars. Even his eyebrows and hair had been singed, and sparks still flickered across them.
The veins that had bulged along his neck now crawled across his face. First, this bastard had hurt his son right in front of him; now he'd toyed with Tang Hao again and again!
The anger that had built up in his chest was like a volcano, waiting to erupt.
The spiritual power of a Titled Douluo surged outward.
That man couldn't have gotten far!
But before Tang Hao could lock onto him, the other man's brazenly unleashed Soul Power gave away his position.
Not far behind Tang Hao, purple light flared. Purple-black Soul Power, even more powerful and surging than that of a Titled Douluo like him, erupted from the ground, forming a dazzling pillar of light!
Tang Hao turned around in disbelief, the blast of air forcing his eyes shut.
A corner of his memory stirred.
It was him!
At that moment,
Naruto was immersed in an ocean of purple-black Soul Power.
The overflowing Soul Power threatened to burst Naruto's body apart. That terrifying, god-level Soul Power was far beyond anything Naruto could handle at his current level.
But he only needed to hold on for an instant. His hands completed the final Hand Seals. The Multi Shadow Clone Technique truly lived up to its reputation as a Ninjutsu tailor-made for a Jinchuriki.
So how many Spirit King-level Shadow Clones could Naruto create with god-level Soul Power?
The answer was thirty thousand!
Pop!
A continuous chain of sharp pops rang out as countless clouds of smoke rose and intertwined, covering the land before vanishing in an instant. Behind the dissipating haze stretched a pitch-black ocean made entirely of people, their countless figures carpeting the ground as far as the eye could see.
Naruto's real body struggled to stand. The stabbing pain in the meridians throughout his body could knock him unconscious at any moment.
He glanced almost imperceptibly into the distance, then looked away and fixed his gaze on Tang Hao at the center of the crowd.
What would you do next?
Before you continue