In the Hidden Cloud Village, the "AB Combo" of the Raikage and Killer Bee were massive idols in there.
As a result, the Cloud had the highest number of participants signing up for the 2v2 tag team tournament.
Everyone partnered up with their best friends, trying to copy the legendary duo's teamwork.
But...
"PERFECTED EIGHT-TAILS BULL LIGHTNING LARIAT! HAH!"
"WHAT?!"
Seeing the two Konoha kunoichi down in the arena execute the AB Combo's signature move, the Raikage leaped out of his VIP seat in shock.
This wasn't just some random Cloud jutsu being pirated—this was the Perfected Eight-Tails Bull Lightning Lariat!
It not just merely a symbol of the village, it was the exact technique used by generations of Raikages to select their tag partners!
Back when he was nominated as the next Raikage, his father ordered him to select a partner from the entire village.
Countless shinobi attempted the Double Lariat with him, but only Killer Bee succeeded.
Having comparable strength wasn't enough.
What was required was a telepathic connection, the ability to synchronize raw power, and pinpoint chakra control.
Such flawless synchronization was incredibly rare, even among blood brothers.
'How the hell could these two pull it off?!'
In the entire Shinobi World, only the AB Combo and the original Naruto and Sasuke had ever achieved such flawless coordination.
Their legendary "Scorch Release: Halo Hurricane Jet Black Arrow Style Zero" (Minato name for the jutsu) required insane chakra ratios, yet these two women executed the Double Lariat flawlessly on their first attempt.
No one would find Naruto and Sasuke's synergy weird.
Their twisted bond was obvious to everyone.
But these two...
"Hokage, did you train them?!" the Raikage demanded, quickly deducing the trick. "They lowered the requirements by using the pinpoint chakra control of medical ninjutsu, didn't they?!"
"That's correct," Tsunade smirked, taking a sip of sake.
"Um..." Sarada suddenly spoke up.
Makoto had brought the group up to the Kage balcony for a clearer view of the matches.
"Lord Hokage, are they... 'partners'?" Sarada asked cautiously.
In her original timeline, her mom and Aunt Ino were just close friends and bitter rivals.
But ever since discovering her father's unholy romance with the Seventh Hokage, Sarada began questioning every single relationship in Konoha.
The so-called "friendships" she grew up believing in might just be a facade concealing a village full of degenerate secrets!
"I suppose so," Tsunade replied casually, giving Sarada a curious glance.
Sakura and Ino were both her disciples and worked side-by-side in the Medical Department.
Tsunade assumed the kid was asking if they were inseparable work partners.
"Ugh!"
Sarada clutched her chest, stumbled backward, and collapsed into her seat.
Even the Fifth Hokage confirmed it... This world truly needed a great cleansing, just as the Uchiha ancestor had warned her!
...
"Nice hit, Forehead."
"You too, Ino-pig."
Down in the arena, the pair just knocked out another team and exchanging a high-five.
"Their relationship is just like Naruto and Sasuke's," Kakashi observed, his lone eye curving into a nostalgic smile as he watched his student.
"Sasuke used to smirk and call Naruto a loser all the time too."
'Damn it, Kakashi, why do you always have to relate everything back to them?!'
"Huh?!" Sarada snapped her head toward the masked Jonin, as if she was taking a massive damage.
Sakura and Ino's relationship was like Sasuke and Naruto's?! It was confirmed again!
Her entire family tree was a lie!
"Oh, who's up next?"
Tsunade frowned as she saw the two Cloud representatives stepping into the dirt for the next bracket.
"Lord Hokage shouldn't mind our roster, right? The Mizukage has a subordinate with a stolen Byakugan standing right behind him," the Raikage preemptively defended, anticipating Tsunade's complaints.
One of the fighters entering the arena was the Akimichi kunoichi from the cursed photograph.
But her age...
"She's still a Genin at her age?" Tsunade asked, raising an eyebrow.
She couldn't shake the feeling the Cloud was pulling some shady tactics again.
"When our forces 'rescued' her from the battlefield years ago, she was a Genin. She hasn't taken the Chūnin Exam since then, so legally, she remains a Genin," the Raikage offered a shameless excuse.
Tsunade couldn't argue.
After all, Konoha Genin once turned the legendary Seven Ninja Swordsmen into a joke. And a Sand Genin went straight from the Chūnin Exam to becoming the Kazekage.
The Genin rank was the most dangerous demographic in the world, there was no room for criticism!
Tsunade recognized Akimichi Rianko due to her massive, plump physique and her recent ties to Naruto's breeding rumors.
As for her partner, Tsunade couldn't place the guy at all.
She couldn't tell if he was a Cloud native or another kidnapped Konoha asset.
"Lord Raikage," Tsunade suddenly smirked, an evil idea crossing her mind. "I just had a thought. If our Nara Clan used their Shadow Possession Jutsu to control a teammate and force them to execute the Lightning Lariat, wouldn't the sync rate between them be 100% perfect?"
Annoyed by the Raikage's smugness, Tsunade threw out a hypothetical designed to piss him off.
Never mind that the Nara Clan lacked the physical stats for Taijutsu, the real question was the legal loophole.
It definitely got under the Raikage's skin as his expression instantly soured.
It was one thing for two elite medical kunoichi to coordinate the attack—they were Tsunade's personal disciples.
But the Nara Clan was an entire clan.
If they could pirate the Perfected Lightning Lariat using shadows, the Raikage's signature exclusive move would become cheap, mass-produced Konoha jutsu's!
'Damn it! This is outrageous!'
For the first time, the Raikage felt the sting of something akin to intellectual property theft.
...
Down below, the proctor dropped his hand.
"Next match: Konoha's Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino versus the Hidden Cloud's Akimichi Rianko and Sarutobi Umazane! BEGIN!"
"Sarutobi?!" Tsunade's expression shifted.
She hadn't realized the unfamiliar guy was from the Third Hokage's clan.
Sarutobi Hiruzen, who was watching the match from a secluded corner of the stadium, also stiffened.
The Sarutobi Clan specialized in Fire Release, which meant...
"FATTY PEAR, STOP TESTING THE WATERS AND GO ALL OUT!" Umazane slapped his chest twice, signaling Rianko.
"RIGHT!"
"HUMAN BOULDER TECHNIQUE!"
Rianko clapped her hands together, tucking her head and transforming into a massive, rolling ball of flesh that hurtled toward Sakura and Ino, making the ground quake.
"This move isn't anything special. It's just the standard Akimichi boulder. Could it be...?" Shikamaru muttered from the stands, his tactical brain whirring.
"FIRE RELEASE: GREAT FLAME TECHNIQUE!"
Umazane formed hand seals and unleashed a massive torrent of fire from his mouth.
But instead of targeting the Konoha girls, he blasted the inferno point-blank at Rianko, who was still rolling forward at top speed!
The flames engulfed the Human Boulder.
Rianko's massive reserves of body fat and oils served as a highly combustible fuel, instantly intensifying the blaze into a roaring firestorm!
The terrifying, high-speed spinning inferno charged toward Sakura and Ino with the force of a meteor.
This technique was essentially a flesh-and-blood version of the Fire Release: Rasenshuriken!
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