“Since Hyuga Neji has lost consciousness and cannot continue the fight, the winner of this match is Raijin of Amegakure…” After announcing the result, ‘Itachi’ watched Raijin glance at the unconscious Neji—who was being carried away by Konoha’s Iryo-nin—and then left the arena.

Of course, before leaving the arena, Raijin didn’t forget to point his finger at Naruto in the Konohagakure’s waiting room and pointed his finger at the Jinchuriki of Konohagakure as if saying that you are the next.

From the VIP stands, ‘Kuroto’ observed Raijin’s action of provoking Naruto before exiting the arena and turned to look at the unconscious Neji with a thoughtful expression.

Just then, Onoki spoke up, “Hmm… so Hokage-dono’s disciple was defeated. I guess he didn’t have what it takes to beat that kid from Amegakure…”

‘Kuroto’ nodded with a chuckle. “That’s true. As I mentioned, although my disciples are talented, they’re still inexperienced and haven’t fully realized their potential. Losing to such a strong opponent isn’t necessarily a bad thing for Neji—it’ll help him grow stronger.”

Onoki looked at ‘Kuroto’ in surprise. He hadn’t expected the Hokage to accept his disciple’s defeat so calmly and murmured to himself, ‘Well, if Raijin is who I think he is, and the Hokage knows it too… then it’s no surprise he can accept the result without batting an eye…’

Ay frowned. ‘But that Raijin… what technique did he suddenly use to get even faster?’ As a user of the Lightning Chakra Mode, he can tell Raijin hasn’t fully mastered it, so his speed shouldn’t have increased that much. It was almost like Raijin was as fast as him at his top speed!”

Knowing that Raijin hadn’t perfected the Lightning Chakra Mode, Ay was concerned. If Raijin could move that fast with an incomplete mode, how fast would he be once he fully mastered it?

‘And isn’t he improving a bit too quickly?’ Ay wondered, thinking about how rapidly Raijin’s skills were developing.

“Is it too late already?” That thought crossed his mind, but he quickly shook his head. “No, he’s still not strong enough… there’s still time. I don’t think he’ll fully master the Lightning Chakra Mode during the Chunin Promotion Exam, so that must be my first task after the exams…” With that thought, he calmed down and looked forward to the next match.

The Mizukage yawned and murmured disinterestedly, “Can we get this over with quickly?”

Since his ninjas failed to qualify for the quarterfinals, he didn’t care who was fighting and showed little interest.

The other Kages mostly ignored him, understanding his lack of enthusiasm, and instead looked forward to the next match. Only six candidates remained: one from Kumogakure, one from Iwagakure, one from Konohagakure, one from Sunagakure, and two from Amegakure. All the Kages knew these remaining shinobi were exceptional, so the upcoming battles would be just as intense as the ones involving Raijin against Hyuga Neji and Uchiha Sasuke.

‘Who will fight next…?’ That question lingered in everyone’s mind.

“Damn it, Neji lost too!” Naruto muttered in frustration, slamming his fist on the ground. He was furious at Raijin, especially after Raijin had pointed at him.

“It can’t be helped. Raijin was way out of his league,” Kakashi said calmly as he finally let go of Naruto, relieved the boy had settled down. Naturally, now that he had confirmed Raijin’s identity as a member of Amatsukami, Kakashi wasn’t the least bit surprised that Raijin was the one who won.

Clenching his fist, Naruto declared, “I’m going to avenge both Sasuke and Neji…”

“Is that so?” Kakashi murmured. “Well, you’ll certainly get your chance. If you want to avenge Sasuke and Neji, you need to use that opportunity.” After a brief pause, he added, “But before that, you’ll have to win your own match. That won’t be easy—none of the remaining ‘Genin’ will be easy to defeat.”

After all, the ones who remained were Darui from Kumogakure, Deidara from Iwagakure, Samsara and Tengu from ‘Amegakure,’ and Itsuki from Sunagakure.

‘Kuroto probably wants Raijin to fight Naruto as well, so he’d want Naruto to advance to the next round,’ Kakashi reasoned. ‘That means Naruto might end up facing Itsuki from Sunagakure.’

In Kakashi’s opinion, if Naruto went against any of the remaining ‘Genin,’ it would be hard to say if he could qualify. None of them were pushovers—Deidara and Darui wouldn’t lose easily, and it would be tough for Naruto to beat either of them. On the other hand, if Naruto faced Samsara or Tengu, things would get complicated, because Raijin had personally pointed at Naruto, implying that a fight between them was bound to happen.

‘Either Samsara and Tengu won’t fight Naruto, or if they do, they’ll probably just give up…’ Kakashi thought.

While Kakashi was considering these possibilities, ‘Itachi’ announced the candidates for the next match. As Kakashi had guessed, it matched his expectations exactly.

“For the next match in the quarterfinals, Deidara of Iwagakure and Samsara of Amegakure… please come to the arena,” ‘Itachi’ announced, calling the next two participants.

As soon as Deidara’s name was called, many people became excited, eager to see him fight. After all, Deidara is considered the favorite to win the entire Joint Chunin Promotion Exam. Many believe he’s the strongest Genin this year and want to see more of his abilities.

Of course, people were also looking forward to Samsara’s performance. In her previous fight against Temari—who is the current Kazekage’s disciple, the former Kazekage’s daughter, and widely regarded as a candidate for Rokudaime Kazekage—Samsara defeated her without even making a clear move. That showed just how dangerous she can be. Now, everyone wants to see her go up against the supposed strongest Genin.

While most were excited for the match, Onoki felt nervous. ‘I hope nothing goes wrong,’ he thought. If his suspicions are correct and Samsara is a member of Amatsukami, that could spell trouble.

‘If Deidara uses Dust Release on that girl and something terrible happens to her, it’ll be big trouble for all of Iwagakure. No matter what, I can’t let him do that,’ Onoki thought, quickly sending a message to his granddaughter, who stood beside Deidara.

Iwagakure Waiting Room

“Haha… finally it’s my turn,” Deidara laughed as he stood up to leave the Iwagakure Waiting Room for the arena.

But suddenly, Kurotsuchi stopped him. “Hey… Deidara-kun, wait a minute. Jii-sama has a message for you.”

“Huh? Why should I care what he says? Tell him I’ll win,” Deidara said, waving his hand casually and continuing to walk.

Kurotsuchi ran after him, her expression serious. “I said, wait a minute.”

Deidara frowned. “What is it?” He couldn’t figure out why she looked so serious.

Without explaining, Kurotsuchi handed him Onoki’s message. “Jii-sama says no matter what, you must follow this—or he’ll label you a rogue shinobi.”

“What? Is he completely senile?” Deidara muttered, annoyed, as he read the note. He had to take Onoki’s threat seriously. “‘Don’t use Dust Release against Samsara’? Why wouldn’t he want me to use Dust Release?”

Kurotsuchi shook her head. “I’m not sure. Maybe he doesn’t want you to kill her.”

“But my explosions could kill her too,” Deidara pointed out.

Kurotsuchi shrugged. “Maybe he thinks your explosions won’t kill her.”

Deidara’s expression turned cold. “So he thinks my explosions aren’t strong enough, huh?” He nodded. “Fine. I’ll just use my art to kill her. That’s what I want anyway—to show off my art!”

Leaving those words behind, Deidara walked out of the waiting room.

Amegakure Waiting Room

As Raijin arrived at the waiting room, Samsara’s name was announced: “For the next match in the quarterfinals, Deidara of Iwagakure and Samsara of Amegakure… please come to the arena.”

Right away, Samsara stood up, bowed to Raijin, and said, “Then I will be going, Raijin-sama.”

Raijin nodded. “Yes… You know what to do, right?”

“Yes, Raijin-sama,” Samsara replied.

“Then go,” said Raijin.

With that, Samsara left the Amegakure waiting room and headed for the arena.

At the arena

Deidara and Samsara arrived at the arena one after the other and took their positions across from each other. Deidara slipped both hands into his shinobi pouches, while Samsara stood casually.

After confirming both ninjas were ready, Itachi was about to signal the start of the second quarterfinal match. Suddenly, Samsara raised her hands and declared, “I withdraw from the Chunin Exams…”

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