407 Learning Ninjutsu in a Glance

The moment the two mysterious figures appeared, Shinju finally understood why he'd felt so uneasy these past two days.

"They must be of Kaguya's clan."

Shinju guessed.

One was tall and one short, one heavyset and one lean. Both had Byakugan eyes, wore white robes, and had horns growing from their foreheads.

And their paper-pale skin—at a glance, it was clearly connected to Kaguya!

Suspended in midair as they suddenly descended upon the Chunin Exam arena, the two radiated extreme arrogance, like gods untouched by the mortal world, their eyes filled with contempt and indifference.

Their gazes swept across everyone present, as if searching for something. But after scanning the area, they didn't find what they wanted.

The slimmer white-robed man, his head covered with a veil, frowned slightly.

"I can sense tailed beast chakra. It should be nearby."

"Hey. Hand over the tailed beast here."

The white-robed man shouted, using as few words as possible, as though saying even one extra sentence to such inferior lifeforms would lower his status…

After hearing the Ōtsutsuki's demand, Shinju thought to himself, as expected.

So they really did come for the tailed beast chakra!

At that realization, Shinju's expression changed again! (≖╻≖;)

That explained everything—why Killer B had disappeared!

They'd taken Killer B for the Eight-Tails!

Not far from Shinju, the Raikage clearly realized this too. He roared furiously at the Ōtsutsuki in the sky,

"So it was you who took B?! (ꐦ°᷄д°᷅)"

Faced with a question from a lower species, the veiled man didn't answer. He only shouted again,

"Hand over the tailed beast!"

On the ground, Shinju pressed, "You're from Kaguya's clan, aren't you?"

The veiled man sneered. "Someone like Kaguya thinks she's worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as me?"

"I am Ōtsutsuki Momoshiki. I have come here to complete the mission Kaguya failed to accomplish back then!"

After Momoshiki finished speaking, the burly man beside him continued,

"I am Lord Momoshiki's guardian, Ōtsutsuki Kinshiki."

Shinju nodded. "I see…"

The Raikage beside him: ꐦ≖ ≖

They ignored his question, yet answered Shinju's instead!

These two were doing it on purpose, weren't they?!

Enraged, the Raikage erupted with lightning all over his body and roared, "I'll kill you!!"

"Bang!!"

The Raikage bent his knees and leapt, shattering the platform beneath his foot as he transformed into a world-shaking bolt of lightning, charging toward Ōtsutsuki Momoshiki in the sky!

...

Midair, Momoshiki wasn't afraid in the slightest. He didn't move at all.

"There are always ants who don't know their place."

In the next instant, a blood-red axe formed of chakra appeared in Ōtsutsuki Kinshiki's hands, blocking in front of him!

"Bang!!"

Relying on his powerful physical body, the Raikage slammed straight into Kinshiki's red chakra axe!

"Clang clang clang clang clang clang—!!!"

In the blink of an eye, the two collided dozens of times!

By now, the Raikage was already panting heavily.

Meanwhile, Kinshiki's face wasn't even flushed—his breathing steady, completely unscathed!

"Kaguya's clan… really is powerful…"

Knowing he wasn't a match for this Ōtsutsuki, the Raikage lowered his head and looked toward Shinju below, intending to seek help!

Just then, Ōtsutsuki Momoshiki suddenly moved. Like a ghost, he slipped right up beside the Raikage and slammed his right palm into the Raikage's chest!!

"Bang!!"

Under the impact of tremendous force, the Raikage fell from the sky. At the same time, the lightning chakra enveloping his entire body vanished!!

Shinju keenly noticed this, his eyes narrowing in thought!

...

The next instant!

"Boom!!"

The Raikage hit the ground, smashing a human-shaped crater into the very center of the arena!!

Soon, the Raikage's voice echoed up from the pit.

"Shinju, what the hell are you doing?! Just watching the show?! (ꐦ ಠ 皿 ಠ)"

On the high platform, Shinju looked speechless.

"You charged in without even knowing what the enemy's abilities were…"

"Did you buy your title of Raikage or something?"

Raikage: "..."

"You—"

He'd charged in so confidently because he thought he had Shinju as a teammate.

Who knew Shinju didn't treat him like one at all! (*꒦ິ⌓꒦ີ)

Shinju said, "Alright, your body's tough enough. A fall like that won't hurt you. I'll get revenge for you."

After shouting this, Shinju pulled out a communicator with his right hand and spoke into it,

"Are you ready? If you're ready, open fire!"

An electronic voice replied from the communicator, "Roger!"

...

The next instant!

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh—!!!"

Dozens of chakra beams lit up the entire sky like daylight!!

And every single one of those beams struck Ōtsutsuki Momoshiki and Ōtsutsuki Kinshiki in midair!!

In the stands, everyone lost their composure!

"My eyes! My eyes are about to go blind!!! (꒪⌓꒪)"

"This is way too bright—it feels like the sun's been dragged right in front of us!"

"Why are you all focusing on how bright the beams are? The things firing those beams are what we should really be worried about!"

"Those are chakra cannons! Konoha has deployed dozens of chakra cannons inside the village!! Σ( ° △ °|||)︴"

"I vaguely remember the Hidden Cloud putting the entire village's resources into building just one cannon…"

"This place shouldn't be called a village—it should be called a fortress!"

In the viewing stands, Shikamaru watched the chakra beams streak across the sky and leaned over to Shinju.

"When did you set all this up?"

Shinju smiled. "I started building these chakra cannons after becoming Hokage. But today's the first time they've been used…"

Shikamaru said, "I'm asking when you sent people to actually fire them…"

Shinju replied, "Yesterday. I had Naruto assign a few trusted people to guard them…"

"Better safe than sorry. Didn't expect we'd really need them today. ( --0027▿ --0027 )"

Shikamaru hesitated.

"When you set this up… did you consider that these chakra cannons are insanely powerful? If they explode midair, they could level the entire village… ꒦ິ^꒦ິ"

Shinju said matter-of-factly, "Of course I considered that. The Barrier Team has been on standby the whole time. The moment the cannons fired, they'd immediately deploy a barrier covering all of Konoha. ( ˝ᗢ̈˝ )"

Sure enough, as soon as Shinju finished speaking, a blue barrier enveloped the Chunin Exam venue!

Above the barrier!

"Boom boom boom—!!!"

The chakra cannons struck Momoshiki and Kinshiki, triggering violent explosions. Even the barrier shook from the blasts—but thankfully, it didn't shatter!

In the arena stands, people began chattering excitedly.

"I hereby declare this the greatest fireworks display of the century!"

"Such a magnificent explosion… this grand spectacle is exactly as Deidara would have wanted! (⊙o⊙)"

"With so many chakra cannons—and a steel fortress not far outside the village—no wonder the Sixth Hokage said Konoha was safe when people were sent to decode Kaguya's scrolls…"

"Wait… don't you think the explosions are getting smaller? I think I can see the two people inside the beams…"

"Now that you mention it… it does seem that way!"