By the time Rin finished tapping, Arthur found their discovery more than worthwhile. Because one of the voices Shigeru had intercepted was Alice's.
Arthur now knew two critical pieces of information.
First, Alice was actively running a vast sensory net across the Sand Village, specifically monitoring Team Rin. Second, the intercepted audio revealed a sense of frustration within the allied ranks. Both the Leaf and the Sand leadership were operating under the belief that they had entirely failed to uncover any trace of Arthur's hidden empire.
Back in the hotel room, Kaiyo dropped her arms and let out a quiet breath. "So what do we do now?"
"Good question," Shigeru said, turning his gaze toward Rin.
As far as Rin was concerned, there was nothing they could do on their own. They were cut off in enemy territory. But she knew one thing with absolute certainty: Arthur had received the message, and he would already have a plan in motion.
Hundreds of miles away, he was already seen stepping out onto the balcony of Sun Stream Plaza. He raised his arm, allowing a small messenger bird to flutter down and rest on his forearm. He then tied a rolled scroll to the bird's leg.
To the naked eye, the paper was entirely blank. But Arthur had woven his chakra directly into the fibers of the parchment. If anyone else intercepted the bird and applied their chakra, the paper would burn.
Only Rin's artificially modified chakra signature could illuminate the ink.
✟
Three days later in the outskirts of the Sand Village, the surviving teams stood to wait for the second round to commence.
Arthur monitored his team closely through Rin. They had received the bird, decoded the invisible text, and understood his new directives perfectly.
None of the other teams or the proctors seemed suspicious of them. In fact, the atmosphere among the teenagers was surprisingly cooperative. The Genin were far too focused thanks to the lesson instilled by Margaret's first round.
None of these changes bothered Arthur as he swept his gaze over the proctors. Fugi was standing near the village gates and organizing the logistics. Since he was still here, it only meant that Margaret and her allies were intentionally letting the man play his hand so they could deal with him out in the isolation of the desert.
Temari soon stepped forward and explained that the second stage would be exactly the same format as the traditional exams Arthur remembered.
The stage took place in the Devil's Desert. Each squad was given either a heaven scroll or an earth scroll before entering the wasteland. They had exactly three days for the entire team to navigate the terrain, secure the opposite scroll from a rival team, and reach the central tower.
Just like last time in the Forest of Death, every team was required to sign liability waivers.
Team Rin signed the papers without a second thought before being handed a heaven scroll.
Not a few moments later, the round began.
Dunes stretched endlessly in every direction as Team Rin walked with a steady pace. They were suppressing their chakra while fighting against the coarse sand that was stinging their exposed skin.
Thirty minutes into their trek, a cloud of dust settled over the crest of the nearest dune, revealing three figures blocking their path. Team 7.
"Are ya sure they have the opposite scroll?" Naruto asked, leaning forward to squint through the glare of the sun.
"Positive," Karin stated, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "My senses never lie."
Arthur figured this exact scenario would happen. With Karin acting as Team 7's primary tracker, they possessed a tactical advantage. Using her Mind's Eye of Kagura, she could read chakra signatures for miles.
And because Rin's team was purposefully suppressing their chakra levels to look weak, Team 7 chose to attack them out of everyone else in the desert.
When the two teams finally met, Shigeru stepped to the front of the formation.
"Naruto Uzumaki," he announced. "I've been meaning to meet you."
"Huh?" Naruto replied, tilting his head in genuine confusion. He then looked over his shoulder. "Hey Sakura, how does ugly know me?"
The insult didn't faze Shigeru whatsoever. He cracked his neck and tried to step up, eager to test the famous Jinchūriki of his clan.
But Rin immediately threw her arm out, stopping him in his tracks. "I'll take him on instead."
Kaiyo quickly wrapped her arms around her shoulders in a stubborn hug to hold her back. "No way! I wanna go at him first!"
Karin and Sakura watched in deadpan silence as Team Rin weirdly bickered back and forth in the middle of the wasteland.
"Are they really arguing over who has the right to fight?" Karin eventually asked.
Before the Leaf kunoichi knew it, the enemy squad was standing in a tight circle, aggressively playing rock, paper, scissors to decide the vanguard.
"That sure is a strange team," Sakura commented to Naruto.
But when she looked to her right, Naruto had already stepped past her.
"No need to fight over me," he called out to them with confidence. "I'll fight all three of you at once!"
The old Sakura would have yelled his name and berated him for such an idiotic idea. But she didn't make a sound. She trusted the monster William had forged. Even Karin watched with mild interest, not sensing any actual danger.
Team Rin stopped their game. They looked at Naruto, recognized the quiet confidence radiating from him, and smiled at one another.
"You're really that poised, huh?" Shigeru asked.
Arthur watched intently from his throne as the wind slowly blew across the battlefield.
"Go on," Naruto began. "You can get the first move."
"Big mistake!" Shigeru shouted. He drew his sword from his back and sprinted forward, kicking up a trail of dust. Kaiyo followed instantly to flank the blond boy.
Naruto waited until the steel was inches from his face, then dodged left. Kaiyo neared him, but he planted his hands on her shoulder and flipped backward over her. The moment his shoes touched the ground, he backflipped again, clearing an underground ambush just as Rin erupted from the sand beneath his feet.
"Wow!" Kaiyo commented, sliding to a halt. "He's pretty skilled."
Shigeru didn't let up. He threw his sword directly at Naruto's chest, then quickly slammed his hands together in a specific seal.
As Naruto twisted his torso to dodge the flying steel, the sword emitted a piercing, high-frequency sound wave. The sonic blast forced Naruto to cover his ears and squeeze his eyes shut.
"Good goin'!" Kaiyo cheered, preparing to strike while he was stunned.
But Shigeru narrowed his eyes. The Naruto staggering in the sand suddenly dissolved into a puff of white smoke.
"Right above you," a voice echoed from the sky. The three of them looked up to see the real Naruto falling straight down with a blue sphere howling in his palm. "Rasengan!"
Boom!
The three dove out of the way just as the attack slammed into the desert floor .
The shockwave threw a blinding curtain of sand into the air. Rin used the dust cover to sprint right behind Naruto, grab him by the collar, and swing him directly toward Kaiyo's waiting technique.
Naruto, however, twisted his body, extended his legs, and used Kaiyo's raised forearms as a springboard. He then kicked off her guard and flipped gracefully before landing on a nearby rock outcrop.
Shigeru was on him instantly with his sword to deliver a flurry of slashes.
Naruto swayed and ducked, evading the steel with impeccable timing.
"You guys are better than I thought," he said, leaping backward to gain some distance. "Guess I'll have to go all out!"
He then stretched one palm toward them. Rin braced herself, fully expecting another Rasengan. Instead, she was met with something entirely different: three glowing chakra chains sprang forth from his palms!
One chain wrapped securely around Shigeru's sword, locking his arm in place. The other two chains whipped outward, tightly entangling Rin and Kaiyo before they could weave a single hand sign.
With his enemies restrained and their chakra actively being suppressed, Naruto formed a Rasengan in his free hand and yanked the chain holding Rin.
"Get over here!"
Her eyes widened as the howling sphere of chakra crashed right into her chest.
Ka-boom!
Massive clouds of dirt and debris kicked up, and when the dust finally settled, Naruto stood alone in the small crater. There was no Rin in sight.
"That was impressive," a voice said from behind him.
They all turned to see Rin's form slowly climbing out of the surrounding dunes as loose sand tricked down her body.
Naruto looked at her, genuinely interested as to how she had evaded a direct hit. There was no way she could have used a standard Substitution jutsu when his chains were actively nullifying her chakra network.
Then it dawned on him: when she had ambushed him from underground earlier, she had sent a shadow clone while her true body remained buried. It was a flawless tactical misdirection.
Naruto chuckled. Because that sort of tactical misdirection was his style of fighting.
Retracting his chains, he shifted his footing and dropped low into a completely different stance: one arm behind his back and the other extended forward with his palm open.
Arthur instantly recognized the posture. It was the Green Beast fighting style.
"Been a long time since I got this riled up," Naruto grinned as the air around him began to hum.
Before he could launch himself forward, Rin pulled out the heaven scroll and tossed it casually to Sakura.
The act utterly baffled Team 7 by the sudden halt in the fighting.
"But why?!" Sakura begged.
"What else is there to know?" Rin flatly answered, brushing the last of the sand from her sleeves. "We forfeit."