089 Naruto Mobile Game

"Push up, push up!!"

"Don't relax, don't be careless!"

"Ah! Damn it!"

"Idiot! If you lose, then shut up!"

"Stay calm! The advantage is ours!"

On the Hokage Rock, the initial quiet was long gone; no one could keep their mouth shut.

As the battle grew increasingly intense, they truly found it hard to remain calm, as if a kind of heated excitement had taken over.

Not to mention anyone else—Shikamaru was like this too.

Hmph! Ha! Roar!

"I won." Shikamaru let out a long breath, his tightly tensed body relaxing slightly.

His luck was pretty good—three consecutive wins.

Though this time it really was luck. It was his first time entering cross-server and pulling off a clean three-win streak; none of his three opponents were particularly strong in both power and technique.

He glanced around to observe the others. Some had already put their phones down, while others were still fighting hard.

Among them, Naruto's expression looked a bit strange.

"No, wait—you released your summon just like that? Hey, summons don't get refunded to you like that."

"I baited a substitution… huh? Wasn't he already down? And he still subbed out?"

"Is this guy throwing on purpose? He has to be, right? What's going on, dattebayo!"

Staring at the word "Victory," Naruto felt a little dazed.

It was rare for him to feel this way, but this opponent's playstyle was just way too reckless.

How should he put it… should the title of NO.1 in unpredictability be handed to you?

As the saying goes, wild punches can beat a seasoned master. Caught off guard, he even lost one of his ninja.

In Sunagakure, Gaara put down his phone.

Not far away, Rasa noticed this and shook his head in disappointment. As expected, he shouldn't have placed any hopes on this kid.

Rasa had just watched the entire match, and he couldn't understand what Gaara was doing at all. It was like watching a baby touching a game for the first time—completely freeform.

Yes, his playstyle was that free.

What Rasa thought, Gaara neither knew nor cared about. After losing, he exited the tournament page and went to the friends page.

Silently reciting that name in his heart, he typed it in. The next moment, a player appeared.

As expected. Gaara's expression didn't change, but inside he felt a surge of joy—cross-server friends could be added!

What was there to hesitate about? He sent the request.

"Hmm? 'Love My Own Shura'? Isn't this the guy from just now?"

Naruto looked at the pop-up page, a little puzzled, but still casually tapped "Accept."

Maybe it was because they were cross-server opponents in the same room, so the system bluntly told you someone wanted to add you as a friend.

Naruto didn't think much of it and moved on to fight the next opponent. Not long after, a broadcast message appeared.

[Uzumaki Naruto] defeated [Kazekage]

"Nice! We're into the top eight!"

Sakura was beaming with excitement, unable to stop herself from pumping her fist.

"Wide forehead, what does that have to do with you?" Ino mocked Sakura as usual.

"Hey, I contributed too, okay!" Sakura charged over, and the two pressed their foreheads together, butting like bulls.

The others were already used to it.

"I really didn't expect this organization to make it this far." Hero Jiraiya sighed with emotion.

Top eight—win one more and they'd be in the final four. Win again, and it'd be champion and runner-up.

Three matches. Only three matches left to victory.

"How should I put it… I don't see how we could lose." Asuma smiled.

"That confident?" Kakashi smiled too.

"No. I just feel that with these people here, no matter what, we'll keep fighting. We won't allow the possibility of losing."

Hearing this, Kakashi didn't speak. His gaze swept over everyone present.

Some were happily fantasizing, some were calmly thinking, some were resting… everyone was already prepared to fight to the very end.

He suddenly understood—they would win. This wasn't blind faith, just the simplest kind of belief.

Obito, this is the team you believed in, isn't it?

"Ah le le le~ We're really lucky, huh? To have won so many times!"

Tobi scratched the back of his head, grinning foolishly, half like he was amused, half like he was pleasantly surprised as he spoke.

"Tobi! I've told you so many times— as a member of Akatsuki, you should be more taciturn. You know, act cooler! Mm!" Deidara lectured.

"Oh oh, cool is art! But senpai, aren't you pretty talkative sometimes too?" Tobi teased.

"What! Tobi!" Deidara flew into a rage.

"So noisy!" Hidan shouted. "If you don't prepare properly for the next round, be careful you lose, bastards!"

Oh?

Deidara shot Hidan a sideways glance and suddenly smiled.

"I don't remember when someone who lost gained the right to talk here. What do you think, Tobi?"

"Yeah, yeah. Someone who got knocked out in the first round has the least right." Tobi waved his hand.

Hidan exploded in anger, veins bulging on his forehead. He shouted about offering the two of them to Jashin-sama and swung his scythe as he rushed over.

But as he passed Kakuzu, Kakuzu grabbed him, and no matter how he struggled, he couldn't break free.

"Hey, Kakuzu, you lost too. Can you really stand this?" Hidan complained angrily.

"What they said is correct." Kakuzu replied flatly.

A loss is a loss. Saying it a hundred times won't change anything. Being mocked by the victor is something you can only endure.

Of course, that wasn't the only reason. More importantly, he couldn't quite grasp the situation.

Kakuzu noticed that when they were being mocked like that, Itachi, Kisame, and Zetsu—the three in the same group as him—had no reaction at all.

What else could that be but wariness?

"That's enough, Deidara. They're about to assign the next matchup. Don't say anything unnecessary." Sasori said in a deep voice.

After speaking, he didn't forget to glance at Tobi, thinking to himself whether this Tobi guy was still playing the fool.

All that could be said was that ever since the last information conference, no one in Akatsuki dared to look down on Tobi anymore.

"Oh oh, matchmaking has started!" Deidara suddenly picked up his phone as the remaining eight organizations rapidly scrolled by.

"We won't get matched with those super hotshot guys, will we?" Tobi said casually.

Swish!

[Akatsuki One] VS [Uzumaki Naruto]

Akatsuki members: ...

Staring at the opposing organization, Tobi was speechless, thinking to himself that this had to be that trash Kakashi's fault!

"Pain." Konan looked toward Pain.

"It's nothing." Pain's expression was unusually cold. "Even if half the organization has already been eliminated, we will still walk to the very end!"

[Unfortunately, your organization has been defeated]

As these words popped up, the phone screen turned gray. Tobi opened his mouth as if to speak, then stopped.

No one in Akatsuki said anything. Even Hidan stopped making a fuss. Each of them held their phone and silently turned to look at Pain.

Pain: ...

[Uzumaki Naruto] defeated [Akatsuki One]

"This… how is this possible? Akatsuki ended just like that? Absolutely impossible… cough, cough, cough!"

Nagato's face was full of disbelief as he shouted wildly, his voice growing hoarse as he broke into violent coughing.

What kind of joke was this? They didn't even make it past the top eight. Didn't all those early fantasies turn out to be nothing but a dream?

Rustle, rustle, rustle—

A pile of paper pieces formed into a person in front of Nagato. Who else could it be but Konan?

Looking at the person who had stayed by his side all these years, Nagato suddenly calmed down.

"I'm sorry, Konan. Yahiko's revival will have to be delayed a bit longer. I thought this way I could secure it faster and more forcefully." Nagato said in a low voice.

"So that really was your purpose." Konan's eyes were complicated as she let out a soft sigh.

"I wanted him to see the ninja world as it is now, to hear about Akatsuki from him, and… to know how he views me."

Looking at the person ahead who spoke with his head lowered, Konan seemed to see the boy from many years ago who always followed behind her and Yahiko.

So that's how it was. All these years, you never changed. The you who claimed to be a god actually desired nothing more than the most ordinary dream of a normal person.

Konan walked over and smiled.

"Nagato, next time, let's work hard together again!"

"Thank you, Konan." Nagato said softly.

At this point, today's tournament came to an end. The final winner would be decided at noon tomorrow.

Today's victors—there were only four organizations.

[Hokage]

[Iwagakure's Shadow]

[Name of Iwagakure]

[Uzumaki Naruto]