Naruto: The King Behind the Curtain

At the same time, by the side of a small river.

Eerie mist cloaked the area like a shroud, occasionally interrupted by horrifying and desperate screams from within.

"Don't come any closer! Stay back!"

"He's a monster! This guy is nothing but a demon!"

Zabuza stood calmly atop the river surface, watching with cold indifference as three Hoshigakure shinobi made fools of themselves in the thick fog. "You pitiful weaklings are only good for one thing—serving as bait!"

"Scream louder! Make it even more agonizing!" Zabuza lightly tapped the water surface with the tip of his foot, gliding forward like a ghost.

Just as he was about to swing his tanto, a ripple suddenly shot through the water from outside the mist.

"He's here?" Zabuza shifted his gaze slightly and dodged sideways in an instant.

The next moment, three shinobi dressed in Ame attire stepped into view.

The ninja standing in the center finally spoke. "It's just a survival exam. There's no need to kill anyone, right?"

Zabuza narrowed his eyes at them momentarily before smirking. "Interesting. Aside from that guy, there are others meddling too."

"That guy?" The leader looked surprised. "You mean someone else has come to rescue shinobi from other villages?"

Zabuza sheathed his blade. "You've probably heard of him already—the Konoha prodigy, Seiki Shimaseki."

The leader nodded, then asked in confusion, "But didn't he have a bet? With his reputation, this Death Forest shouldn't be able to contain him, should it?"

Zabuza gave a chilling smile. "This forest alone certainly couldn't hold him back. It's his foolish sense of mercy that holds him back."

One of the Hoshigakure shinobi staggered to his feet, clutching his chest. "I understand now! You intentionally wounded us severely so we'd beg help from him. No wonder those Tayuya ninjas warned us earlier to watch out for you!"

Zabuza sneered arrogantly. "That guy's strength is incredible. I hardly had a chance to fight back at all. But what does strength matter? With just these weaklings, I kept him busy and lured him right into my trap!"

The Hoshigakure ninja exchanged stunned glances. In their eyes, Zabuza was already overwhelmingly powerful. Yet he was saying he couldn't even fight back against Seiki Shimaseki!

The Ame trio were equally shocked too, though for different reasons. They were amazed to learn that another ninja existed in this brutal and indifferent world who, like them, held onto beliefs of peace.

While they were still lost in thought, Zabuza sprang into action, launching himself forward using [Swift Dash] toward the weakest point in their formation.

He could tell they were all reasonably strong shinobi. In a one-on-three situation, he naturally needed to resort to tricks.

Even if his opponent was merely a "blind man."

Yet that "blind" Ame shinobi reacted astonishingly fast.

[Earth Release: Earth and Stone Dragon]!

A massive earth dragon instantly took shape, unleashing over a dozen giant mud boulders directly at Zabuza.

"Just what kind of chakra is this? Its volume is absurdly huge! Also, how can this blind man's sensor ability be so sharp?"

Zabuza's pupils contracted sharply. With no time to form hand seals, he could only weave through the mud bullets with agile footwork.

But before he could close in on his opponent, he saw that blind shinobi launching another Great Vacuum Cannon straight at him.

Unable to advance further, Zabuza had to halt abruptly and hastily jumped backward.

"So this is another genius who can pressure me!" Excitement flickered in Zabuza's eyes. "Definitely came to the Chunin Exams at the right time!"

"I'll leave some marks on the other two first to prevent interference with my movements!" With this thought, Zabuza rapidly formed hand seals and launched a Water Dragon Bullet toward the purple-haired kunoichi among the trio.

[Water Dragon Bullet!]

Hua!

The purple-haired kunoichi transformed into countless paper scraps to evade the attack. Then the falling paper shards transformed midair, slicing toward him like razor-sharp projectiles.

This wasn't all. The lead ninja whom he'd previously ignored seized the opportunity to launch a Water Gun technique too.

Caught between both attacks, Zabuza couldn't dodge in time and was directly blasted away.

Like a skipping stone across water, he bounced several times across the river surface before slapping hard onto it with a 'plop'.

"No way — not just that blind guy, but all three of them are powerful! What the hell? Since when did Amegakure produce such capable genin?" Zabuza painfully stood up, his expression full of disbelief.

Though these three appeared older than him, he was still a prodigy from Mist while they were merely ninja from insignificant Amegakure.

Even worse, he suspected they might be hiding some of their strength.

"These Chunin Exams are getting more interesting by the minute. Just wait — I'll definitely return!" After throwing those threatening words, Zabuza's figure slowly sank beneath the water.

Witnessing this, the lead ninja let out a sigh. "Hell, this is tricky — if we show off too much, we'll draw unwanted eyes. But if we don't, we can't get rid of him either."

The 'Blind' ninja remained silent for a moment. "Then should we chase after and kill him?"

The kunoichi blinked but didn't object.

If all three of them went all out, taking down that Mist ninja wouldn't even take much effort.

The leader shook his head. "Better not. Our demonstrated power level hasn't been excessive yet. But killing him would genuinely attract unwanted attention."

At that moment, the three Hoshigakure ninjas approached, their eyes sparkling with admiration.

"You guys are amazing! Actually defeating Zabuza Momochi, one of the most feared shinobi in the Five Great Shinobi Villages (including Konoha, Suna, Kumo, Iwa, and Mist)!"

"Unbelievable! Truly worthy of being Amegakure, the village having the Half-God of the Shinobi World. Compared to our humble little Hoshigakure, you guys are on a whole different level!"

The lead ninja smiled slightly. "We just benefited from our age advantage. By the way, what are your plans now?"

The three Hoshigakure ninjas looked at each other hesitantly before replying with less confidence, "Right now we're injured, so passing the exam seems unrealistic. However, if our wounds don't receive treatment soon, they might worsen."

"It's quite awkward, but we'll have no choice but to seek help from that Konoha genius now."

After considering for a moment, the lead ninja said, "Since you're already injured, why don't we escort you there?"

The Hoshigakure ninjas looked stunned. "What? Really? But we're Hoshigakure ninja..."

"The boundaries we set for ourselves don't have to be permanent," the Lead Ninja said gently. "Why do we always set limits for ourselves? In my opinion, we're all part of the shinobi no sekai. No boundary is truly unbreakable!"

Seeing the sincerity in his eyes, a warm feeling welled up inside the three Hoshigakure ninja. "I understand now. Thank you!"

On their way, the Purple-haired Kunoichi couldn't help but ask, "Yahiko, are you thinking about looking for that Konoha ninja?"

Yahiko nodded excitedly. "Konan, Nagato, don't you think he's just like us?"

Nagato smiled gently. "You planning on inviting him into our group?"

At this question, Yahiko suddenly looked somewhat discouraged. "No. Although our goal is peace, from the perspective of these major countries, we're nothing more than an obstacle to their interests. Before we accumulate enough strength, we can't expose our ideals to these powerful nations—not even if the other party shares the same dream as us."

But as he spoke, his solemn tone suddenly turned cheerful. He winked at them and added with a grin, "Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on him for now!"

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