End It Quickly

Sasuke staggered toward the arena, every step like walking on knife blades. He shoved away Sakura's supporting hand.

"Sasuke!" Sakura cried out, her voice trembling with tears. She wanted to go forward, but Kakashi stopped her with an outstretched arm.

"Let him go," Kakashi said in a low voice. "This is his own battle."

Sasuke's opponent, Akato Yoroi, was a Konoha Genin—and in truth, a Sound spy planted by Orochimaru. He had already been waiting in the arena. Seeing Sasuke looking as though he could collapse at any moment, he revealed a scornful smile.

"Match... begin!" Gekko Hayate announced weakly.

Without the slightest hesitation, Akato Yoroi formed hand seals, his body becoming a blur as he charged forward. He specialized in absorbing his opponent's chakra. Against someone in Sasuke's condition, there could not have been a more suitable target.

Sasuke barely raised his head. His scarlet Sharingan turned with difficulty, tracking his opponent's movements. He wanted to counterattack, but the Curse Mark on his neck flared up at that moment. Black patterns spread across his skin, and the excruciating pain made his body go limp, nearly dropping him to his knees.

"Now!" Akato Yoroi's palm was about to press against Sasuke's chest.

In the stands, Kakashi clenched his fist.

At that moment, an image flashed through Sasuke's mind: Naruto subduing him barehanded. That unreasonable charge, those joint-breaking strikes precise to the slightest margin, that method of dismantling the human body as if it were made of parts.

Humiliation ignited within him like fire.

"Ahhh!"

Sasuke let out a suppressed roar, not from pain, but from rage. He forcibly twisted his body, abandoning every graceful evasive maneuver and slamming his shoulder straight into Akato Yoroi's arm.

Bang!

A dull impact rang out. Akato Yoroi felt as though his palm had struck an iron plate. A savage force rebounded through his arm, numbing it.

Sasuke did not stop. Using the incomplete Warhammer-style Taijutsu he had copied with his Sharingan, he launched a frenzied counterattack. He abandoned ninjutsu and his familiar fighting rhythm, leaving only the most primal, brutal style of trading injury for injury.

He threw a punch at Akato Yoroi's face. His opponent tilted his head aside, and Sasuke's fist missed—but his knee was already driving viciously into the man's abdomen.

Akato Yoroi recoiled in pain, but Sasuke followed him like a shadow. The Curse Mark on his neck flickered between light and dark. Every surge of agony made the scarlet in his eyes deepen, and his movements become more ruthless.

This was no longer a duel between Genin. It was the savage biting and tearing of beasts.

At last, Sasuke caught an opening and chopped the side of Akato Yoroi's neck with his hand. Akato Yoroi's eyes rolled back, and he collapsed unconscious.

"Winner, Sasuke Uchiha!"

Sasuke stood where he was, gasping for breath, his body swaying unsteadily. He had won, but it had been an utterly miserable victory. He turned and looked toward Naruto in the stands.

Naruto merely watched him calmly, then turned to Kakashi beside him.

"The safety on this weapon isn't very reliable," Naruto said, his words reaching Kakashi clearly. "It needs reinforcement."

Kakashi's cheek twitched, leaving him speechless.

The next names appeared on the screen.

[Naruto vs Kiba Inuzuka]

"Whoa! It's finally my turn!" Kiba shouted excitedly, leaping down from the stands. Akamaru atop his head barked wildly as well, equally fired up.

"Hey, Naruto!" Kiba pointed at Naruto below the stands and grinned. "Didn't think a dead last like you could make it this far! Watch me take you out in ten seconds!"

Kiba's taunt drew a wave of laughter. To most people, Naruto was still that poor student who only knew how to cause trouble.

Naruto said nothing as he slowly walked into the arena.

"Don't get cocky, Kiba," Shino said from nearby, pushing up his sunglasses. "His chakra is very strange."

"Relax, relax!" Kiba waved him off carelessly.

Gekko Hayate raised his hand. "Match... begin!"

Before the words had even faded, Kiba and Akamaru lunged forward.

"Ninja Art: Beast Man Clone!"

"Fang Over Fang!"

Two rapidly spinning tornadoes rushed Naruto from opposite sides, their howls tearing through the air as they reached him in an instant.

Anko raised an eyebrow in the stands. "Not bad speed."

Asuma nodded as well. "Kiba's explosive power is indeed strong."

But Naruto did not move.

He neither formed hand seals nor dodged. He simply stood there in silence, allowing those two deadly tornadoes to close in.

"What is he doing?!" Even Neji's Byakugan could not discern Naruto's intentions.

Just before Fang Over Fang's claws were about to tear Naruto apart—

Naruto moved.

His body shifted aside by the slightest margin, precisely avoiding the spinning cores of Kiba and Akamaru. Then he leaned forward, dropped his shoulder, and exerted force.

An elbow strike.

There was no chakra enhancement—only pure physical strength. From the most vicious angle, it smashed into the exposed spine on Kiba's back as he spun at high speed.

Bang.

The sound was dull, like a hammer striking flesh.

Kiba's rotation stopped instantly. He did not even have time to scream before he and Akamaru flew away like discarded sacks, tumbling through the air and crashing heavily into the wall. They lost consciousness at once.

The entire arena fell deathly silent.

Everyone's mouths hung open, unable to believe what they had just seen.

Fast.

Too fast.

Less than fifteen seconds had passed from the start of the match to its end.

Even Gekko Hayate froze. After coughing several times, he finally stammered, "W-Winner... Naruto."

Naruto turned expressionlessly and walked out of the arena, as if he had merely swatted a fly to death.

In the Jonin section of the stands, the atmosphere was grave.

"That just now..." Kurenai's expression turned serious. "That was a purely lethal technique. The timing, angle, and force—there was not a single unnecessary motion."

Asuma exhaled a ring of smoke, but even the haze could not hide the shock on his face. "How did he learn that? Kakashi, did you teach him?"

Kakashi gave a bitter chuckle. "I can't even do that myself."

Asuma patted Kakashi on the shoulder and forced an ugly smile. "Kakashi, I really envy you. You have such an outstanding student."

"You want him?" Kakashi replied weakly. "He's yours."

Naruto returned to the contestants' waiting area, leaned against the wall, and closed his eyes. The other examinees unconsciously moved farther away from him. That invisible pressure made it hard to breathe.

Footsteps stopped before him.

Naruto opened his eyes and saw Rock Lee in his green jumpsuit. Beneath his thick eyebrows burned a pair of fiery eyes.

"Naruto!" Lee's voice rang out. "Your taijutsu is incredible! Please, you must fight me—"

"Your taijutsu is excellent," Naruto interrupted. His ice-blue pupils swept over Lee from head to toe as though assessing an object. "Your will is worthy of recognition as well."

Lee froze.

Naruto continued in his calm, even tone. "You have the makings of a qualified Berserker."

Berserker? Lee did not understand what the word meant, but that did not stop him from sensing the acknowledgment within it.

"Don't die without value."

After saying that, Naruto ignored him and closed his eyes again.

The words did not sound encouraging in the slightest, yet Lee's blood began to boil instantly. He felt that this was recognition from one strong person to another! A form of motivation on a higher level!

"Ooooooh! I can feel it! The flames of youth are burning!" Lee struck his classic passionate pose, then turned around to prepare for his battle with Gaara.

In a corner, Shikamaru yawned as he took all of this in.

"This is... getting more and more troublesome."

Compared to Naruto, even a lunatic like Gaara seemed a little more normal.