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[— Manga Scene —]
In the arena, Naruto and Neji stood face to face, the examiner between them.
And above, on the contestants' balcony, the others lined up watching: Gaara with his arms folded, Shino, Shikamaru, Temari, Kankuro.
And in the stands, Kiba leaned forward with Akamaru on his head.
"This time he won't be able to win with a fart like he did before. He can see the chakra points."
"Avoid close combat…"
he muttered, narrowing his eyes.
"Did Naruto understand that?"
And beside him, Hinata laced her fingers in front of her chest and said nothing.
And down below, sweat ran along Naruto's brow, and the bulging veins around his opponent's eyes stared him down.
"…"
'They're the chakra points…'
'And theoretically, if you strike them precisely, you'd be able to stop the flow of an opponent's chakra, or increase it… simply put, you'd be able to control it however you please.'
'If he hits my chakra points I won't be able to use chakra. So I have to avoid close combat with him.'
Then the boy raised his fingers into the seal.
"!"
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu — Shadow Clones!!!"
The smoke exploded, and the clones shot out in every direction, kunai drawn in their hands.
And in the stands, Sakura's eyes widened.
"Smart move, Naruto."
"Heh, what an interesting kid."
said a voice nearby.
"The Shadow Clone Jutsu is a jonin-level technique. I didn't know he could use it…"
"Now we don't know who's going to win."
And in the arena, Neji's eyes narrowed for the first time.
"Shadow clones?!"
Before him stood the clones, perfectly identical, their chakra networks glowing in his sight one by one… every last one the same.
'I see… if the chakra is distributed evenly among the clones…'
'…then even my Byakugan cannot tell me which is the real one.'
Then the boy straightened, and his features returned to their cold.
"But there is only one real one."
"Heh, don't act so tough! Come on, if that's what you want…"
And in the stands, Tenten shook her head slowly.
"It's no use. Against Neji's defense… he doesn't just attack."
And in the arena, Naruto's face and his clones' hardened in the same instant.
"Hey!"
"Stop"
"underestimating"
"ME!!"
[— End Scene —]
…
Konohagakure:
In the reading hall, something happened that had not happened in eleven volumes.
The readers stopped at a page… then went back to it.
"Wait. Wait, wait. Read that bubble again."
"Which one are you talking about, man?"
"The one above his head: theoretically, if you strike them precisely, you'd be able to stop the flow of an opponent's chakra…"
"And what about it?"
"Naruto said it. That Naruto. The kid who failed the clone exam three times… explaining the theory of chakra points in the middle of a fight."
"…"
"Man, you're right — I didn't even notice, I was too caught up in the excitement!"
For the hall had grown used to one thing across all eleven previous volumes: Naruto shouts first and thinks later, if he thinks at all. He attacks head-on, loudly, and leaves the planning to others.
And now, in the opening pages of the finals, that same boy stands in silence, reads his opponent's eyes, deduces the rule of the fight, and builds a decision on it.
Avoid close combat!
"When did this kid learn to think?"
asked another shinobi in the middle rows — and he wasn't being sarcastic. He was genuinely asking.
"During the month we didn't see."
his friend answered without lifting his eyes.
"The artist only showed us the summoning. It seems Jiraiya-san taught him some other things that month."
…
In another corner of the Art Store, Kushina was gripping the volume with both hands, her eyes shining.
"Did he say theoretically?"
"I believe so."
Minato replied, holding back a laugh.
"Minato, Naruto used the word theoretically! In a correct sentence! About chakra points!"
"So it seems."
"I just want that man in the stands to hear it. The one who said two pages ago, why did they let him get this far."
But Minato wasn't quite listening to her either.
He had stopped at Neji's line.
If the chakra is distributed evenly among the clones… then even my Byakugan cannot tell me which is the real one.
'Look at this.'
'An eye that sees everything… and a technique that makes everything identical. The first reveals differences; the second erases them.'
'The boy didn't choose shadow clones because it's his only technique.'
'He chose it because, out of every technique in this world… it is the precise opposite of the Hyūga eye.'
Minato turned the page slowly, ignoring the excited Kushina beside him.
'Just one question: does he know that he did that…'
'…or is his instinct smarter than he is?'
Minato wondered with a smile.
…
And in the eastern section of the store, the Hyūga clan was split between two feelings at the very same moment.
The first was pride.
"Did you see how fast he read his opponent?"
said a young jonin, his finger on the analysis panel.
"One look. One look, and he understood that an even distribution blinds the eye to the real one. Jonin with twenty years of experience need minutes to arrive at that."
"You must be exaggerating."
"Well, maybe I am — but that boy Neji really is remarkable."
"He said it in a calm voice, then invited him to attack. He isn't just reading the situation… he's managing it."
As for the second feeling, no one said it out loud.
It was in the line spoken by the girl with the twin buns in the stands.
It's no use. Against Neji's defense… he doesn't just attack.
Hyūga Hizashi read that, then slowly raised his eyes, and his gaze met his brother Hiashi's across the row.
They exchanged no words.
But both were thinking the same thing: the boy's own teammate knows something about his defense. Something that makes her believe Neji has already settled the match before it even finishes.
And if that defense is what they suspect it is…
then the boy Hizashi suspects to be his future son is about to reveal one of the house's guarded arts, in a public arena, before the eyes of five villages.
'And the artist of this manga…'
both brothers thought as they returned their eyes to the page.
'…will draw it in every last detail.'
…
A few rows away, Hatake Sakumo was reading the scene with his son Kakashi seated on the bench beside him, as always.
"Dad, the decision is correct."
"Which decision?"
"Avoiding close combat. Against a Byakugan user, distance is life. And the clones solve the distance problem: they attack up close with bodies you don't mind losing, while you stay far away."
"Correct."
Sakumo replied curtly.
"But there's a gap."
said Kakashi, his eyes on the fight in the page.
Sakumo looked at his son. "Say it."
"Clones vanish in one strike. And his opponent doesn't waste strikes. So the question isn't whether the clones land… it's how many seconds they buy him before they run out."
"And what does he do with those seconds?"
"That, I don't know."
said Kakashi, his eyes on the last page.
"And I suspect that's exactly what the Hyūga doesn't know either."
Hearing that, Sakumo smiled — happy that his son was developing at an astonishing pace, especially with the way he used what he saw in the manga to sharpen his knowledge and his combat ability.
Truly, the talents of this era were extraordinarily lucky to have the manga — because it would make them far stronger than their own future selves.
…
At the head of the hall, Hiruzen Sarutobi made no comment on the tactics.
He had gone back to an old page — in his memory, not in the volume.
'Eleven volumes ago, I sat in this very seat and read about a boy failing the clone exam for the third time.'
'A single clone, pale, half-dead on the floor. And they failed him, and they were right to.'
'And today he opens the Chunin Exam finals with dozens of clones from a jonin-level technique… and uses it not as power, but as a counter to an eye that can read the flow of chakra itself.'
The old man blew out his smoke slowly.
'The same boy. Very nearly the same technique.'
'All that changed is that someone, one night, told him he wasn't a failure.'
…
Behind the counter, Rob lifted his eyes over the hall drowning in its pages, and caught with the store's sense dozens of inner voices rearranging what they thought of Uzumaki Naruto.
'They always looked down on him. The idiot who's good for nothing but shouting.'
'Some of them even made a habit of laughing at him… but.'
'The coming pages are going to raise the ceiling very, very far… and I want you to remember exactly where he started. Never underestimate Uzumaki Naruto.'
[+55 AC from Hatake Kakashi]
[+22 AC from Hyūga clan elder]
[+…]
Rob ignored the piling notifications, and turned his eyes back to the manga page to enjoy the fight himself as well.
For even though he already knew the outcome of this battle, it was still a pleasure to reread the manga he had drawn with his own hand.
And in the drawn arena, on the final page of the chapter, the clones had all launched themselves at the boy standing in the center.
And the boy standing in the center…
did not take a single step back.
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Upcoming chapter titles (spoilers):
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Chapter 224: Absolute Defense
Chapter 225: Hard Work… Is Just an Illusion!
Chapter 226: The Bird in the Cage!
Chapter 227: The Shocking Revelation!
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