Deathly silence blanketed the arena.
For a brief moment, it felt as though everyone had been transported into the Konoha Library rather than standing inside the Chunin Exams venue.
Earlier, Pakura's instant kill could at least be explained. Even if it was terrifying, most experienced ninja could tell that it was the result of a Bloodline Limit. But what had just happened now was different. The entire venue was submerged in an atmosphere of absurdity mixed with instinctive fear.
Spectators, exam candidates, and ninja from every village stood frozen in place. Even Iruka Umino, the chief examiner positioned at the center of the arena, looked as though his mind had gone completely blank.
No one understood what had just happened.
Or rather—nothing seemed to have happened at all.
There were no hand signs. No clashes of taijutsu. No thrown ninja tools or sudden bursts of chakra. Hiroki had simply stood there, unmoving, and then—
The Iwagakure ninja named Oishi collapsed the instant the examiner announced the start of the match.
If it had ended there, people might have assumed it was a sudden illness or a freak medical emergency. However, when Oishi's teammate rushed forward to question what had happened, he collapsed mid-sentence in the exact same posture, his body striking the ground beside his companion.
It was as though some supreme deity had written their names down the moment the match began, stripping them of the right to remain standing.
Shock and confusion rippled through the arena.
"Oishi! Mahi!" the last remaining Iwagakure examinee shouted in horror. His voice trembled, and so did his legs, but he did not dare step forward.
On the highest viewing platform, the Third Hokage allowed himself a faint smile as he glanced toward the other two Kage.
—
The other two Kage deliberately ignored the fact that the Third Hokage was standing right beside them.
They both understood perfectly well what this was. It was not an accident—it was dominance.
"Ōnoki," the Third Kazekage said heavily, his voice stripped of its usual calm. "Did you see it clearly?"
The Third Tsuchikage did not respond immediately.
Instead, his short figure slowly floated upward from his seat. His eyes burned with intensity as he stared at the unnaturally calm teenager standing at the center of the arena.
"Genjutsu…?" Ōnoki muttered, only to deny the idea a moment later. "No. There were no hand signs. Unless it was eye-based casting, or some other unorthodox method—but even then, what kind of Genjutsu can directly damage the body?"
Ōnoki had once personally witnessed the Genjutsu of the strongest Genjutsu specialist in history—the Second Mizukage.
Even with the aid of a summoned creature, that Genjutsu had been so refined that even the Second Tsuchikage, a sensory specialist, struggled to identify it. Yet even then, Genjutsu had only served as a support. It still required Ninjutsu to deliver the killing blow.
But what they had just witnessed was different.
Two enemies had collapsed instantly, without resistance or follow-up attacks.
Ōnoki had lived for decades and fought countless powerful opponents. He had seen bizarre Kekkei Genkai and terrifying secret techniques, yet this scene completely exceeded the limits of his understanding.
"Hiruzen!" Ōnoki suddenly snapped, turning sharply toward his longtime rival. "Is this the trump card you've been hiding? What kind of Bloodline Limit is this?!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi calmly lifted his pipe, though he did not light it. He tilted his head slightly, wearing a perfectly timed expression of mild confusion. "Ōnoki, what are you talking about? It looks to me like a particularly powerful Genjutsu, likely fueled by the child's strong mental energy. Perhaps the ninja from your village simply lacked sufficient willpower."
Nonsense.
Ōnoki was so furious he nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.
Genjutsu? What kind of Genjutsu attacked directly without any visible medium? This resembled the secret techniques of Kato Dan—methods that targeted the soul itself.
Moreover, if it truly were Genjutsu, how could none of the Kage present detect it?
Yet Ōnoki could not refute him.
Because the truth was simple.
He had seen nothing at all.
A chilling sensation crept up from the soles of his feet.
When had Konoha acquired such a monster?
Suddenly, a thought struck him. His mind connected this scene to the reason the Chunin Exams were being held in the first place—Konoha capturing Hanzo alive.
Capturing Hanzo alive…
Could it be—
Ōnoki turned his gaze toward the Third Kazekage.
At the same moment, the Third Kazekage looked back at him.
"Sasori," Pakura asked quietly, her usual laziness completely gone. "Did you see it clearly?"
Sasori remained as calm as a still, ancient well.
His reason for coming to Konoha had been simple—to witness the Third Kazekage's revenge. If that revenge failed to satisfy him, he had already considered turning the Third Kazekage himself into a human puppet.
As for Konoha's White Fang—
Sasori had heard the man was currently in the village.
Nearby, a drop of cold sweat slid down Minato Namikaze's temple.
As Hiroki's classmate, Minato understood better than anyone how rapidly Hiroki had grown. Even so, this technique completely exceeded his expectations.
What was it?
How did he do it?
Minato's thoughts raced. It was clearly a hand-sign-less technique, like the one Hiroki had demonstrated during his spar with Tsunade. But was it Brain Overload? Or some advanced form of Genjutsu?
Brain Overload was supposed to require physical contact—but given Hiroki's talent, temporarily bypassing that limitation was not impossible.
Still…
How?
Hiroki, meanwhile, sighed inwardly.
How boring.
How lonely.
How empty it felt to be invincible.
He looked down at the two ninja lying on the ground with faint melancholy. Their defeat was identical to Uchiha Yoshihiro's.
Hiroki had already prepared his Ninjutsu before stepping into the arena, skipping the hand sign process entirely. The moment the match began, he simply connected his opponent to his "network" and activated the technique.
Brain Overload: Activate.
That was all it took.
When the second person rushed forward, the result was naturally the same.
Afterward, Hiroki remained perfectly still.
Part of the reason was that, although he had ended the match instantly, he had not yet fulfilled the Third Hokage's request. The battle had ended too quickly, leaving him no time to copy his opponents' Ninjutsu.
At that very moment, he was urgently transferring data from their Memory Banks into his own.
Another reason made him even more irritated.
That cursed Zhuangbishaung.d file had appeared again, consuming most of his memory.
Seriously—where was the fun in that?
With a cold snort, Hiroki shut it down, then closed the Resource Manager entirely. He raised his head and swept his gaze across the stunned audience before fixing it on the Hidden Sand Village seating area.
His eyes landed directly on Pakura and Sasori.
"Do you want to come up together?" he asked calmly. "Taking revenge for those two from Iwagakure might make me take things a little more seriously."
Pakura snorted and turned away without replying.
Sasori remained leaning against the railing, silent.
"Ahem!" Iruka Umino finally recovered.
After glancing at the Third Hokage, then toward the Hidden Sand Village, he looked back at Hiroki, who was still standing motionless in the center of the arena.
Iruka took a deep breath and forced his voice to remain steady.
"Iwagakure examinee Oishi and his teammate have lost the ability to fight. The winner of this match is Konohagakure's Sawada Hiroki!"
Even after the announcement, the arena remained silent.
Then, without warning, Hiroki pulled a strange severed arm from his waist and casually tossed it onto the ground.
In the next instant, countless slick, pitch-black vascular tentacles spilled out, wrapping around the unconscious Iwagakure ninja. The arm then moved on its own, crawling back toward Hiroki.
The pupils of the Third Kazekage and Ōnoki contracted sharply.
Earth Grudge Fear.
Kakuzu's arm.