Naruto's simple, crude, and unreasonable Multiple Shadow Clone Technique instantly ignited the atmosphere of the entire circular arena to its first boiling point!
In the stands, tens of thousands of eyes were fixed on the astonishing scene below.
Hundreds of identical orange-clad boys let out a noisy but powerful roar, like a surging, broken dam, rushing fiercely from one end of the arena towards the three members of the Iwagakure's team!
The visual impact and sense of oppression brought by that scene far exceeded any complex or subtle Ninjutsu duel. Ordinary people loved watching this kind of simple, crude action!
"Oooooh—!!"
"Go! Konoha kid!"
"Th-This is way too many?!"
"Do your best! Konoha lads!"
Cheers, screams, shouts, whistles...
All kinds of sounds mixed into a deafening wave of noise, almost lifting the sky above the arena.
When had ordinary civilians ever seen such a spectacle?
It was like a small-scale military charge!
Adrenaline surged through everyone's bodies, hot blood rushing through their veins along with the booming footsteps and shouts.
In the competitor rest area, members of other Ninja Villages' teams also widened their eyes.
Karui's golden pupils widened to the size of saucers as she sucked in a breath of cold air: "Th-This many solid shadow clones?! Are you kidding! Is that kid's Chakra infinite?!"
Omoi, standing beside her with a lollipop in his mouth, subconsciously raised his hand to rub the back of his neck. His usual worried expression was replaced by intense surprise. He clicked his tongue twice, mumbling indistinctly: "Lucky... we didn't draw this guy in the lottery. Otherwise, just cleaning up these clones would be enough to give us a run for our money, probably..."
He didn't finish his sentence, but both Karui and Atsui understood his implication.
The two were stunned for a moment, then looked at each other. Karui quickly leaned closer to Omoi and lowered her voice, asking in a tone only the three of them could hear: "Could it be... 'that'?"
Omoi slowly nodded, his gaze fixed on the orange figures on the field that were constantly being depleted and replenished. His voice was grave: "Other than 'that' thing... I can't imagine what kind of constitution could possess such a vast, nearly... Tailed-Beast-level amount of Chakra at this age."
"Even if he is an Uzumaki."
Karui and Atsui's hearts sank simultaneously.
As Kumogakure's Ninja, and especially disciples of the Eight-Tails' Jinchuriki, Killer B, their understanding of Jinchuriki far surpassed that of Ninja from other villages.
That inhuman Chakra Reserves, tenacious vitality, and the possible risk of going berserk… each Jinchuriki was a nuclear-level deterrent force.
They realized this seemingly carefree Konoha's Genin in front of them was most likely the legendary Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki!
This speculation instantly added a layer of gravity and caution to their demeanor.
Not far away, Temari and Kankuro instinctively turned their gazes toward Gaara.
Karin, on the other hand, completely ignored the issue of Chakra Volume. Her eyes were only on Menma. She cupped her face in her hands and gazed adoringly: "Menma-kun is so handsome... Even the way he commands from behind is so imposing..."
Kurotsuchi glanced at her helplessly, her gaze mostly falling on Deidara and Ku, her brow furrowed.
'What is Grandpa up to?'
At the center of the arena, the battle had entered a white-hot phase in an instant.
The tide of Naruto's shadow clones instantly surrounded and divided the trio of Deidara, Ku, and Kirara.
Although their individual strength wasn't great, a swarm of ants could kill an elephant. Hundreds and thousands of punches, kicks, and kunai came from all directions, making the scene chaotic.
"No matter how many come, I'll blow them all away! Hah!"
Far from panicking, Deidara laughed boisterously with excitement, his blue-green eyes sparkling with fervent passion.
His hands moved like butterflies through flowers, constantly pulling pre-prepared clay from the ninja tool pouch at his waist and stuffing it into the mouth on his palm. He infused Chakra, then, without even looking, scattered it towards the densest crowds around him!
White clay spiders, centipedes, grasshoppers, like a white plague with a life of its own, fell into the groups of shadow clones, and then—
Boom boom boom boom—!!!
A series of dense explosions rose one after another, the pungent smell of gunpowder instantly permeating the air.
Each explosion cleared a small area, blasting several or even a dozen shadow clones into dispersing white smoke.
Deidara was like a tireless explosion artist, wantonly splashing his 'works' among the crowd. The light of the explosions reflected off his face, slightly twisted with excitement.
However, the number of Naruto's shadow clones was truly too great, and they were relentless, unafraid of death.
In the gaps between explosions, more shadow clones immediately filled in, attacks from fists, feet, and ninja tools raining down like raindrops.
"Earth Release: Rigid Rock Technique!"
Ku narrowly avoiding a clay spider, rolled away from the blast's shockwave and immediately formed hand seals.
He opened his mouth and spat out a large amount of hard earth mixed with Chakra. It sprayed forth, quickly combining and shaping in mid-air, instantly condensing into a rock giant about three meters tall, with a burly stature and blurred features!
The rock giant let out a silent roar, raised its large fist made of solid rock, and brought it down hard on the approaching Naruto's shadow clones!
Boom!
The ground shook slightly, and three or four shadow clones that couldn't dodge in time were directly pounded into white smoke.
The rock giant took heavy steps, swinging its arms like two human bulldozers, charging recklessly through the sea of shadow clones. Wherever it passed, clouds of white smoke rose, temporarily relieving the pressure on Deidara's flanks.
"Oh dear, really... So many rude people charging at once, not an ounce of consideration for a lady."
Kirara, dressed in her gothic lolita attire and holding her delicate purple parasol, stepped back lightly like an aristocratic lady strolling through a storm, maintaining a subtle distance from the front line.
She looked at the orange figures rushing towards her, a slight, ambiguous smile appearing on her delicate face. An eerie gleam quietly flickered in her purple pupils.
"So enthusiastic..." Kirara tilted her head slightly, a chuckle that carried a hint of mischief coming from her mouth, the lower half of her face wrapped in bandages.
"Then play with me properly."
As soon as she finished speaking, the light in her purple eyes intensified slightly. A peculiar Ocular Power, carrying a strong mental disturbance, rippled out like water waves, precisely enveloping the dozen or so shadow clones charging at the front.
The next moment, a strange scene occurred.
The forward-charging movements of those dozen or so shadow clones abruptly halted. Their fierce expressions instantly turned to bewilderment and terror.
"Eh?! M-My body... won't obey?!"
"Damn! I can't move! What's going on?!"
"Hey! What are you doing?! You're hitting the wrong person!"
These dozen or so shadow clones, as if they were puppets on strings, stiffly turned around and swung their fists, attacking the other shadow clones beside them!
For a moment, small-scale chaos and mutual killing broke out within the shadow clone group, further slowing the offensive.
Deidara glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw Ku and Kirara each holding the flanks, his heart settling slightly.
He had confidence in the strength of the two teammates the old man had forcibly assigned to him, especially Ku.
Then, Deidara's main attention returned to the black-haired boy opposite who had barely moved, and the Hyuga girl behind him who had activated her Byakugan and looked alert.
"Take out the Byakugan girl first!" Deidara decided in an instant.
The Byakugan's ability was troublesome. Its ability to see Chakra movement had some counter against his small clay bombs, so it had to be removed first.
As for the blonde kid, indistinguishable from the countless shadow clones, he could clear them out later with a large-scale explosion.
His hands quickly reached into the special ninja tool pouch at his waist, the mouth on his palm beginning to greedily chew and mix the explosive clay.
Chakra was injected frantically, the clay rapidly deforming under his control.
"Art is an explosion! Kats!"
Deidara swung his hands forward. Dozens of lifelike centipedes, small birds, grasshoppers, and small snakes, molded from clay, like a white miniature army, emitting faint hisses and wing-fluttering sounds, streaked across the air, swarming towards Menma and Hinata in the distance!
These clay creations contained unstable compressed Chakra. The moment they approached a target or were impacted, they would instantly detonate!
"Menma-kun! Look out!" Hinata's Byakugan clearly 'saw' the violently fluctuating Chakra Clusters inside those white little animals. She immediately stepped half a step forward, positioning herself slightly in front of Menma, assuming the Gentle Fist starting stance, ready to defend using Revolving Heaven or Vacuum Palm.
However, Menma was faster.
"Step back, Hinata. Leave it to me." Menma's gentle voice sounded in Hinata's ear as he stepped forward, actually shielding her behind him.
This subtle action caused Hinata's cheeks to flush slightly, a warm current flowing through her heart, but her Byakugan's vigilance did not relax in the slightest.
Menma's hands shot out to the ninja tool pouch at his lower back, lightning-fast drawing two strangely shaped kunai.
The blades of the kunai were no different from usual, but firmly tied to the ends of the handles were several explosive tags inscribed with complex formulas!
Menma's gaze quickly locked onto the positions of Deidara, Ku, and Kirara, especially their slightly scattered positions due to dealing with the shadow clones. The muscles in his arms tensed instantly, Chakra poured into his arms, and he suddenly hurled them forward!
"Naruto! Look out!"
The moment the two special kunai left his hand, Menma called out loudly towards Naruto's main body, his clear voice a warning.
Naruto's main body, hidden among the countless shadow clones, was directing their fierce attack. However, he had an instinctive trust and reaction to Menma's voice.
Almost the instant he heard the shout, he and the dozen or so shadow clones nearby, as if they had rehearsed it long ago, tacitly scattered rapidly to the left and right, creating a narrow corridor through the surging orange sea!
At the same time, the front-line shadow clones that had been tenaciously engaging and attacking Deidara's trio did not retreat. Instead, as if receiving some kind of suicidal order, they charged even more crazily, using their bodies to restrict the trio's movement space, even actively embracing the clay bombs Deidara threw!
"What?!" Deidara's pupils contracted as he saw the two kunai flying through the air, explosive tags tied to their handles, and also saw the unusual actions of the shadow clones.
A strong sense of foreboding instantly seized him!
Just as the two kunai reached the midpoint of the arena, about to enter the interception range of Deidara's clay bombs,
Menma's hands suddenly came together in front of his chest, forming a hand seal!
"Ninja Art: Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!"
Hum—!
The two speeding special kunai rapidly split.
One became two, two became four, four became eight...
In the span of just a breath, the two kunai had turned into over a hundred!
They were not illusions... each one gleamed with the cold light of metal, forming a dense metal storm. Emitting a sharp, piercing shriek, they struck indiscriminately, saturating the area where Deidara's trio stood, at a speed far exceeding before!
And this was just the beginning!
What was even more astonishing was that, along the trajectory of these split kunai, the explosive tags on their tails also began to burn!
The next moment, hell descended.
Boom boom boom boom boom boom—!!!
The kunai fell like a torrential storm of rain. The instant they made contact with the target, the explosive tags tied to them also burned out!
Hundreds of explosions overlapped and resonated within an extremely short time!
Orange-red fireballs bloomed like countless death flowers in the center of the arena, madly expanding, linking together, forming patches!
The deafening explosions continued without pause, converging into a terrifying roar that tore at eardrums!
The blast of heat, extreme to the point of being scorching, spread wildly outwards like a tsunami, kicking up a sky full of dust and broken stones!
The dazzling white light and rolling thick smoke instantly swallowed up most of the arena, also devouring the figures of Deidara's trio!
The shockwave of the explosion even caused the spectator stands, far from the arena, to tremble noticeably. Spectators in the front rows were thrown about by the violent blast, screaming in terror. The pungent smell of gunpowder rolled in, enveloping large sections of the bleachers.
"Oh my god!!"
"Wh-What Jutsu is this?!"
"To-Too terrifying!!"
After a brief moment of dead silence, even more fervent exclamations and shouts followed!
Many spectators stood up excitedly, craning their necks to see the situation at the epicenter of the explosion.
This power, this spectacle, comparable to the large-scale Ninjutsu bombardment of two nations at war!
In the competitor rest area, sounds of gasping filled the air.
Even fellow classmates like Shikamaru and Sasuke were dumbfounded. Choji's mouth hung open, the potato chips in his hand falling out.
Suigetsu stretched his neck long, his mouth wide enough to fit an egg. Pointing at the distant, not-yet-dispersed smoke and dust plume, resembling a small mushroom cloud, his voice changed pitch: "H-How much money did that cost?! Are Konoha's Genin this rich?!"
He seemed to already see countless silver pieces disappearing in the explosion, his heart bleeding.
At the same time, he subconsciously touched his own neck, for the first time deeply doubting whether his clan's secret technique, [Hydrification Technique], could withstand this kind of continuous, dense to the point of madness bombardment.
Karui's pretty dark-skinned face also twitched uncontrollably. She even subconsciously started counting on her fingers, her voice dry: "A single standard-power explosive tag retails for about two thousand ryo... That wave just now, the split kunai definitely numbered over a hundred... Th-This single round of attack cost at least... two hundred thousand ryo?!"
This number made her dizzy.
For context, a B-rank mission, with the possibility of fighting hostile Ninjas, requiring team of Chunins to undertake, had a starting price of only one hundred fifty thousand ryo!
'Two hundred thousand ryo was enough for the down payment a decent property in Kumogakure, or a fine Ninja Sword… all to hear a bang in just a few seconds?'
'Was this the tactic of that Konoha's Genin?'
'No, this was simply throwing money at people!'
In the stands, Kurenai looked down at the terrifying explosion scene below. A layer of fine cold sweat seeped out on her smooth forehead.
As a Genjutsu-type Ninja, she was most wary of tactics known for their sheer destructive range and firepower.
Even during the Third Great Ninja War, battles that used over a hundred explosive tags were rare.
Kurenai's gaze was grave as she whispered to Asuma beside her: "An explosion of this scale... in terms of coverage, duration, and stacked power... has already exceeded the defense limit of a conventional Jonin. If a seasoned Jonin is careless and trapped in the center, they would definitely be obliterated..."
Asuma didn't answer immediately. He frowned, unconsciously rubbing the stubble on his chin with his fingers, his gaze fixed intently on the gradually dissipating smoke and dust, as if trying to remember something.
A few seconds later, he spoke slowly, with some uncertainty: "This Jutsu... Why do I feel like I've heard of it somewhere..."
His gaze involuntarily drifted towards Kakashi, who was squinting his right eye, also looking thoughtfully at the arena.
Meanwhile, in the highest VIP viewing stand, Orochimaru, disguised as the Land of Rice Fields' Daimyo, Shigen Yamamoto, leaned forward slightly with interest. He gently shook his folding fan and murmured to himself: "Interesting."
Beside him, the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, had lost his usual gentle smile. It was replaced by an extremely complex, grave expression, and a trace of trance.
His gaze seemed to pierce through time and space, returning to that era of war, looking at that astonishingly talented teacher, the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama.
'The core concept of this Jutsu...' Hiruzen's heart was in turmoil.
'How similar it is to the Forbidden Technique, the Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags Jutsu, developed by Tobirama-sensei! Both use special summoning or clone mediums to achieve infinite chain reactions and fixed-point detonation of explosive tags, resulting in devastating, large-area destructive effects.'
'Only, Sensei used Edo Tensei as the medium, while this Menma uses the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique.'
Although the mediums were different, and the complexity and danger of the Jutsu were worlds apart, the tactical concept of 'infinite detonation, fixed-point elimination' was exactly the same!
'How had this Menma thought of this?'
'Just the formula of this Jutsu could earn it an A-rank Ninjutsu rating.'
'And it was created by a young civilian genius?!'
What shocked Hiruzen even more was the effortless calm with which Menma performed the Jutsu, and the nearly perfect tactical coordination of Naruto's shadow clones.
This was definitely not spontaneous, but a tactic meticulously designed and repeatedly rehearsed!
If this kind of Jutsu had suddenly appeared on a stalemate battlefield during the Second or Third Great Ninja War, it could have directly changed the outcome of a large-scale battle!
However, before Hiruzen's shock could subside, the scene revealed in the center of the arena by the gradually dissipating thick smoke and dust made him, and all the spectators, cry out in disbelief once more!
There, standing quietly in the epicenter of the explosion, was a semi-transparent barrier with a radius of about five meters, perfectly cubic, emitting a soft white glow.
The ground behind the barrier was completely intact, forming a stark, glaring contrast with the terrifying, moon-like landscape surrounding it, which had been completely plowed by the explosion, covered in scorched black craters.
Ku stood in front of Deidara and Kirara, his hands maintained in a forward-pushing position. A layer of fine sweat had seeped out on his forehead, and his eyes held some helplessness and sigh.
At the critical moment, he had used the Kekkei Tota, [Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique], using the terrifying power of Dust Release, capable of decomposing matter to its atomic level, to completely annihilate all the incoming kunai and explosions from the front and upper flanks!
This required an extremely high level of control over Dust Release, and the consumption of Chakra was also immense.
Ku hadn't expected that, so soon after the match started, he would be forced to use this trump card.
But he had no choice. Faced with an explosion of that scale and density, ordinary Earth Release Wall or defensive Ninjutsu were powerless.
The white light of the Dust Release slowly faded, revealing Ku's slightly panting face.
Deidara looked up at the chaotic, scorched earth ahead, as if ravaged by a natural disaster. Then he looked at the intact ground beneath his feet. Instead of feeling fear, his blue-green eyes burst forth with an unprecedented, almost blazing, ardent light!
His gaze pierced the gradually settling smoke and dust, looking at the black-haired boy opposite whom he had initially somewhat overlooked.
"So..." Deidara's voice trembled slightly with intense excitement, even carrying a hint of fanatical, almost kindred-spirit joy at finding a soulmate.
"You are also an artist pursuing the 'beauty of instantaneous sublimation and destruction', Yeah!!"