Konoha Notes.

Chapter 482 Make amends

Chapter 482 Make amends

Karin did attract some attention when Ebisu took her away, but when she quietly returned to Irukaban's stands, no one noticed her anymore.

The sight of Neji being engulfed by the flames of the Great Fireball drew several screams.

"Hey, are you really okay?"

"A powerful fireball won't kill anyone."

"The teachers are all watching."

These scattered discussions were clearly audible because the vast majority of people's eyes were firmly fixed on the center of the training field, holding their breath in concentration.

When Karin returned to her friends, she heard Naruto say in a low voice, "What's wrong with Sasuke? Is he completely afraid to fight Neji in taijutsu? His movements are completely different from usual."

Kiba turned his head upon hearing this: "Have you forgotten that you lost to Hinata, Naruto?"

"Um, um—if we do it again, I won't lose this time!" Naruto said, indicating that he was different now, and then he couldn't help but look at Hinata.

The Hyuga girl whose name was mentioned blushed instantly and silently buried half her face in the collar of her hoodie.

This reaction immediately deflated Naruto's initial momentum. No matter how many times he had faced such an opponent, it was truly disheartening.

"Shh! Naruto, be quiet!"

Ino put her arm around Hinata's shoulder: "Last time Hinata didn't even really use Gentle Fist. Even if we had to compete in taijutsu again, you still wouldn't win."

Hinata lifted her eyes slightly from her collar: "Taijutsu also relies on the circulation of chakra within the body."

"Sasuke-kun's choice was correct: keep your distance, use ninja tools, and avoid frequent close combat that could lead to your pressure points being sealed."

"But—that won't work on Neji-nii."

"He has become stronger."

She watched the figure leave the flames, and the lightning that Sasuke was poised to strike.

Naruto was drawn to the sharp cry and the cracks in the ground.

"What kind of technique is that—"

Upon seeing the blazing white lightning and the suddenly spinning blue chakra stream, Kiba forgot to continue teasing Naruto.

"This level of ninjutsu—" His Adam's apple bobbed, "Have those two already pulled this far ahead of us? Is this the level of the special training class?"

"Damn it, once I have my own ninja dog companion, I'll also—"

His whisper was drowned out by the deafening crash of the collision in the next instant.

Lightning bolts collided violently with the swirling chakra barrier!

A blinding flash of light erupted, and a blast of air sent debris flying in all directions. Students in the front rows of the stands instinctively raised their hands to shield their eyes; a few pieces of debris grazed them, but they forgot even to cry out in pain.

The Chidori, with its thrusting force capable of piercing through rock, only managed to penetrate a short distance when it touched the rapidly rotating chakra barrier before being deflected by a powerful rightward tearing force.

The force traveled up Sasuke's arm and spread throughout his body, threatening to fling him away.

In the Sharingan's vision, the flow of chakra in the Rejuvenation Technique was clearly visible, but his body couldn't keep up with this sudden change in power.

Hyuga Neji—is there even such a move?!

Sasuke gritted his teeth, braced his feet firmly against the ground, and tried to push his arm to the left to resist the spinning force.

The lightning suddenly intensified for a moment.

He felt the barrier loosen, his body seemed to break through the innermost layer of defense, and he could even see the innermost outline of Neji.

Just a little bit more —

However, the speed of the spinning top suddenly increased in the next moment.

A greater force erupted from the point of contact.

The muscles in his arm groaned, and his bones cracked.

At the last moment, Sasuke released the control over Chidori. The deafening thunder stopped abruptly, and the remaining lightning scattered like fireflies.

Using the force of the backflip, he curled up and completed a slightly disheveled but maximum force-dissipating recovery maneuver in mid-air.

When Sasuke landed, his right hand hung at his side, his fingertips trembling uncontrollably, and his entire arm was filled with numbness and tingling.

In the center of the arena, Neji had stopped spinning. He stood still, watching Sasuke, and did not choose to pursue him again.

The extent of the injury to the opponent's right arm has exceeded the limit to which this intra-school competition should continue.

Just then, Gekko Hayate, who had made the same judgment, appeared between the two.

"The victor is Hyuga Neji."

Moonlight Gale appeared between the two.

Sasuke stood up and gripped his right shoulder and wrist with his left hand.

"The Seal of Reconciliation".

Neji stepped forward and extended his index and middle fingers. Sasuke did the same with his left hand, hooking his two fingers together.

"Is this what you've obtained, Hyuga Neji?" Sasuke asked.

"You are different from me." Neji neither boasted nor explained.

The medical ninjas who had been waiting on the sidelines quickly stepped forward and guided Sasuke away to receive treatment.

Neji followed behind, intending to linger in the rest area before returning to his class; he didn't want to be met with the excessive enthusiasm from the stands.

Only now did the students in the audience realize that the outcome of the match had been decided so quickly.

Immediately, the clamor erupted.

"What kind of technique was that lightning release just now?"

"The fight isn't even over yet, so why did Hyuga Neji win?"

"He's had the upper hand the whole time."

"Sasuke's hand looks injured—"

Moonlight Gale had no choice but to raise the loudspeaker.

"Quiet!"

After the noise subsided, he continued to explain: "As an intra-school competition, the result can be determined when one side has already suffered a relatively serious muscle injury."

"Continuing will only worsen the injury, which defeats the purpose of training."

"Regarding the tactical choices and judgments made by Hyuga Neji and Uchiha Sasuke just now —"

"Next, please welcome the Jonin instructor of the special training class, Might Guy, to give you an analysis."

Moonlight Gale tried to hand the speaker to Kai, but Kai no longer needed it.

He stood in the center of the field.

At first, Kai explained the suppressive power of Gentle Fist on users of physical techniques in a very serious manner, but he also emphasized that even though Gentle Fist has excellent effects, it is still based on strong basic physical qualities.

"No matter how fast you watch, it's meaningless if your actions can't keep up."

As he spoke, Kai's tone gradually became more impassioned.

"Just now, Sasuke wasn't unaware that forcing his way through would injure him! But if he gave up then, he would never have a chance to win this match!"

"Yes! When facing a powerful enemy, the courage to confront them head-on, the determination to take a step forward even knowing that injury is possible, is what gives victory a chance!"

"Fearless, burn until the very last drop is gone—"

In the stands, Iruka smiled helplessly as he listened to Kai seemingly drifting away from the topic.

He heard the uneasy voices in the classroom.

"Sasuke seems to have suffered very serious injuries."

"Such collisions are inevitable, aren't they?"

"There's a medical team here, so there won't be any problems," Iruka said. "I'll go visit Sasuke in a bit. You all need to listen carefully to Guy-senpai's instructions."

At this moment, someone whispered, "What's the use of knowing? Even Sasuke, who has mastered such powerful ninjutsu, lost—and Neji Hyuga doesn't seem to have suffered any serious injuries."

"As expected, what Teacher Green said is very true for us—"

Iruka immediately turned around: "No."

"I've faced similar moments before, too. It was a few years ago when I went to Kumogakure to take the Chunin Exams."

"At that time, the teacher's teammates were the teacher below, Gekko Hayate, and another ninja with excellent swordsmanship."

"But even with them as teammates, we still encountered an opponent we couldn't beat in the finals."

Naruto asked, "Then Iruka-sensei still got promoted, didn't he?" He vaguely remembered that Iruka had said he got promoted when he went to Kumogakure to take the Chunin Exams.

"Yes—" Iruka was about to continue.

"Iruka-sensei must have played a very important role," Sakura guessed.

Iruka looked a little embarrassed. In fact, his only role was to turn the two-person team into a three-person team, which meant making up the numbers, since the two people in the team were both Chunin from the Anbu.

But he couldn't say that to the students.

"At that time, all the participating teams in the village were very frustrated." Iruka chose to tell another part of the story, "But Captain Shuji, who was leading the team, said that as a team leader, a Chunin needs more than just personal combat ability; judgment and decision-making are even more important."

"As an individual, one cannot defeat an opponent, but as a member of a team, as long as one plays one's due role, one's significance is no less than that of someone responsible for direct combat."

Naruto then asked, "Was Iruka-sensei promoted because of his excellent judgment and decision-making abilities?"

Iruka remained silent.

He said, "I'm going to check on Sasuke. Anyway, don't be discouraged. The match isn't over yet, so keep watching."

He hurriedly left the stands, and what he heard was his old teammate, Moonlight Gale, taking back the speaker and turning up the volume, drowning out Kai, who was still chattering in the center of the field.

"Thank you for the explanation, Might Guy. Next up is the second round—"

Moonlight Gale's gaze swept over the two people waiting on the sidelines.

"Gaara versus Deidara".

Naruto's attention was immediately drawn back.

Gaara is very strong, and this became known to everyone shortly after he arrived.

As for Deidara, he was a name that appeared on the list of the special training class, but he really showed his talent when he prepared what seemed to be a huge explosion at the closing ceremony of last year's martial arts competition.

But by then, he had stopped going to the venue area because of the autograph incident.

Could that guy be a match for Gaara?

However, what happened next exceeded everyone's expectations.

The Jinchuriki of the One-Tailed Beast no longer restrained his use of sand. He rode on a platform formed by the sand and flew above the training ground.

After Deidara gave Guy and Rock Lee a thumbs-up, he also rode the Nendoroid and flew into the sky.

Then, the explosion began.

Hummingbirds, owls —

Clay creations exploded one after another in the air, on the ground, and on Gaara's sand.

Meanwhile, the sand surged and transformed into countless tentacles, chasing after the sky.

Two people were in the air. One stood on sand, the other rode a bird. Explosions and sandstorms tugged back and forth between them, each collision causing the students in the stands to instinctively lean back.

Even the Chunin teachers from each class stood in front of the stands to prevent the battle from affecting them.

No one speaks.

The gasps of surprise subsided after the first few explosions, replaced by an even deeper silence than in the first battle.

The first battle, although both sides moved very quickly and ended very quickly, was at least a battle of powerful ninjutsu and taijutsu within the realm of understanding.

The second battle, however, was a completely unimaginable experience.

As spectators, they could appreciate the spectacle, but they weren't spectators; they were students at the Ninja Academy who had witnessed many advanced combat training sessions.

But never has a single event reached this scale.

The backgrounds of these two individuals confirm that they may appear in martial arts competitions in the future.

Then came despair.

If we encounter such an opponent in the future, how should we defeat him? Or, to put it simply, how should we fight?

"A draw."

Many students only snapped out of their daze when the sound of moonlight and gusts of wind came through the loudspeaker.

The two people in the air have landed.

"Why is it a tie?" someone asked quietly.

"It's due to space limitations," someone next to me replied, their voice slightly weak. "If we keep playing like this, the training ground will have to be demolished—"

"Moreover, if an accident occurs in the sky, the teachers won't have time to react."

In the following third, fourth, fifth, and sixth matches, although there were no more scenes that defied common sense like the second match, the basic level they demonstrated was still unmatched by their peers.

When the final match ended and Moonlight Gale announced the completion of today's exhibition, a long silence followed in the stands.

Then, the students began to silently get up and leave.

No one discussed the competition that had just taken place, and no one commented on who was stronger or weaker.

The crowd dispersed, but a small area near the exit of the training ground saw a surge of people.

Green Sunflower stood there, surrounded by a dozen or so students. He was answering some questions. Occasionally, laughter would drift over, creating a subtle contrast with the silence of the surrounding crowd.

At the highest point of the stands, Shuji watched the crowd gradually disperse below.

"That's the underlying reason for the suggestion I just made," he said.

"People will always have a stage they crave. Some people can accept their mediocrity in some aspects, while others will still yearn for opportunities to showcase themselves."

Samui said, "Shuji is as gentle as ever."

Shuji denied this: "I have always been a very pragmatic and petty person."

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Samui asked, "Is Shuji indicating that he will remember the unpleasantness of our conversation?"

"Yes."

Samui stood up: "Well then, it seems I need to work harder to improve my role."

"Only someone as pragmatic as Mr. Shuji can forget about that little unpleasantness."

"I understand what happened today."

"That's what the female ninja from Kumogakure said."

"If subsequent attempts fail to meet Mr. Shuji's expectations, I am willing to lend him more money to make up for it."

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