"Damn it! That is my treasure, and you dared to break it!"
Kankuro stared, his eyes practically splitting with rage, as he watched his beloved puppet being destroyed by Naruto.
That was the very first puppet he had ever used.
Although he hadn't crafted it himself, he had poured endless effort into maintaining it. It was, without a doubt, the treasure he currently cherished most.
He never imagined it would meet such a cruel fate today!
"Hehe, my bad, my bad. I used a little too much power," Naruto said, scratching his head with a look of sincere apology.
After spending so much time with Goku, Naruto had unknowingly adopted those expressions and habits that could drive a person absolutely mad.
"You jerk, just apologizing is..."
Kankuro hung his head low, his body trembling slightly, as if the anger over his destroyed puppet was beyond his control.
But beneath his lowered head, a sinister smirk suddenly curled at the corner of his mouth as he silently finished his sentence in his heart:
'...is not enough!'
Whoosh!!
Suddenly, the Crow puppet in front of Naruto moved. From its shattered head, a retractable spike shot toward Naruto with lightning speed.
The spike reflected a sickly green glint—it was clearly coated in poison!
"Heh heh."
Only then did Kankuro lift his head, a triumphant smile on his face.
Just because his Crow puppet had its head kicked off didn't mean it couldn't move!
?!!
Faced with this sudden strike, Naruto's body tensed up. He truly hadn't expected the thing to still function with a broken head!
Without a single conscious thought, his body moved on its own, dodging the attack in the most efficient way possible, escaping by a hair's breadth.
In this moment, the results of Goku's "rock-throwing evasion training" began to show!
"Damn it! He actually dodged it!"
Seeing Naruto evade his surprise attack, Kankuro clenched his fist in frustration.
To ensure this attack succeeded, he had intentionally exaggerated his anger to lower Naruto's guard.
He never expected that even after falling for the act, Naruto would still manage to dodge an attack he was sure would land!
"Phew! That was close."
Naruto, having dodged the ambush, put some distance between himself and the Crow puppet, letting out a small sigh of relief.
"You're really annoying. I don't want to take my time playing with you anymore."
Originally, Naruto wanted to spar slowly to see if there were any techniques he could learn. However, seeing that his opponent only used underhanded poison tricks, he realized there was absolutely nothing worth learning here.
It is worth noting that the reason Naruto initially wanted to spar and learn was because of something Goku had once told him.
Goku had said: "Naruto, when we fight others, our goal isn't just to decide a winner. We should also aim to learn from them and make ourselves stronger. Only then can we keep improving and fight even more powerful opponents!"
Recalling these words, Naruto thought to himself: 'Master Goku, I really can't see anything worth learning from this guy. I'd better not waste any more time.'
With that thought, he pushed off with his right foot, his body shooting toward Kankuro like an arrow from a bow.
Seeing the incoming attack, Kankuro hurriedly manipulated Crow to block in front of him.
'Damn it, if the poison needle launcher wasn't broken, he definitely wouldn't have been able to dodge just now.'
Kankuro was still hung up on the failure of his previous attack.
In his view, if the poison spike attack had been a poison needle barrage—which was faster and harder to detect—Naruto would never have been able to escape.
Boom!
Just as Kankuro was distracted, Naruto blasted the Crow puppet away with a Ki Blast, and before Kankuro's pupils could even dilate in shock, Naruto landed a heavy kick on him!
Bang!!
Propelled by the immense force, Kankuro flew through the air in an arc before slamming violently into the wall, his head slumping to the side as he lost consciousness.
"Kankuro!"
Seeing the turn of events, Temari rushed down to the arena to check on Kankuro. She breathed a sigh of relief upon finding he was merely unconscious.
Hayate Gekkō then approached to confirm Kankuro's condition. Seeing that he had lost the will to fight, he made the announcement: "Winner of the first preliminary match: Naruto Uzumaki!"
As soon as the words fell, Naruto raised his hand in a peace sign, shouting happily toward Goku and the others: "I won, hahaha!"
Although the opponent wasn't particularly strong, this was his first battle, and it held great significance, so he was incredibly happy.
"Not bad, Naruto. You got us off to a winning start," Sakura praised with a beaming smile as he jumped back up to the spectator stand.
"Hehe, it's all thanks to Master Goku's teaching," Naruto said, smiling goofily at Goku.
"Cough, cough, cough!"
Beside them, Kakashi suddenly began coughing violently, as if he had developed asthma.
Seeing Sakura frantically making eye signals at him, Naruto asked in confusion, "Sakura, did you get sand in your eye? Why do you keep blinking?"
Smack!
Sakura slapped her forehead, looking utterly helpless.
This guy... sometimes he seems smart, so why is he so dense right now?!
After the match between Naruto and Kankuro concluded, the names on the large screen began to cycle again, quickly deciding the roster for the second match.
[Tenten vs. Rain Genin A]
'Your teammate, huh? I'll have to get a good look at her skills!' Naruto thought to himself, glancing at Rock Lee, who was chatting with Might Guy nearby.
Lee had mentioned before that his teammates were strong, so Naruto was very curious about Tenten's abilities.
Soon, the match began. Under a barrage of overwhelming ninja tools summoned from Tenten's scrolls, the Rain Genin was covered in injuries within moments and shouted his surrender.
"That fighting style is quite interesting," Goku said, arms crossed, watching Tenten's attacks with interest.
"Is it? I think it's boring. Hand-to-hand combat is way more fun," Naruto said, wrinkling his face.
He had assumed Lee's teammates would also have impressive taijutsu skills. Seeing that she only used ninja tools for long-range attacks left him largely disappointed.
After Hayate declared Tenten the winner, the screen cycled through the names again:
[Rock Lee vs. Misumi Tsurugi]
"Whoa, it's Bushy Brow's turn!" Naruto's face lit up with excitement upon seeing the names.
Since their brief skirmish over half a month ago, he hadn't fought Lee again and wondered how much his strength had grown.
Beside him, Goku also looked forward to this match.
"Burn with the power of youth, Lee!"
"Yes! Guy-sensei, I will definitely burn with youth!"
Tap.
After a passionate exchange with Might Guy, Rock Lee leaped effortlessly into the arena. He gave a thumbs-up to his opponent—a man wearing circular glasses with the lower half of his face obscured—and flashed a blindingly white grin.
"I am Rock Lee! I look forward to our match!"
Opposite him stood Misumi Tsurugi. As a spy planted in the Leaf Village by Orochimaru, Misumi was desperate to prove he was superior to Kabuto. He, too, had expectations for this match.
However, he wasn't looking forward to fighting Rock Lee. He was looking forward to winning quickly so he could showcase his skills in the finals, forcing Lord Orochimaru to acknowledge his strength—and acknowledge that he was better than Kabuto.
At this moment, looking at the weirdo in the green jumpsuit and bowl cut standing before him, Misumi felt nothing but disdain.
'Someone who just tries to attract attention like this can be a ninja?'
Thinking this, he looked at Rock Lee and sneered coldly: "Rock Lee, is it? Are you ready to lose to me?"