Inside the Ninja Academy of the Hidden Leaf, a classroom suddenly fell silent. Without exception, everyone present was dumbfounded. They stared at the two suddenly vacant seats, mouths agape, unable to utter a single word.
Naruto... Sasuke... They were gone!!
Shikamaru tapped his finger lightly on the desk, his expression gradually becoming solemn. So, Naruto and Sasuke were chosen? Is it truly random?
No, he couldn't analyze it yet. Everything was moving too fast—the mysterious light curtain, the preview of the future... it was all too much.
"Tch! We're about to graduate, and then this happens. What a drag," Shikamaru couldn't help but complain.
"Naruto... will they be okay?" Choji lowered his voice, speaking cautiously.
Aside from Shikamaru and Choji, Sakura, Ino, and the others looked at each other, unsure of what expression to make.
Meanwhile, in the Hokage's office:
"Why Naruto and Sasuke?"
The Third Hokage's reaction was the strongest. He shared the same doubt as Shikamaru—why those two specifically?
The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki and the Uchiha survivor.
Were they chosen because of those identities? But they had vanished from the village in an instant... After the incident, the Third found out immediately, and because of it, a thought surfaced in his mind.
Could it be... that the warning was real?
The news of Naruto and Sasuke only caused a stir in the Hidden Leaf; other villages mostly just focused on Sasuke's "Uchiha" surname. Men with flexible minds like Kakashi understood that the best course of action was to remain calm.
Panicking was useless, and worrying was meaningless. Only by further understanding the information provided could they devise a next step.
Winning by remaining unchanged was the wise move.
The entire ninja world seemed to quiet down, everyone silently waiting for the next change in the light curtain.
About ten minutes passed...
Flash!!
The image on the light curtain quickly became clear. It was a medium-sized arena with no obstacles, surrounded by what looked like a forest of trees. In the center of the field, two figures stood opposite each other, staring.
Who else could it be but Naruto and Sasuke!
Both were expressionless but stared intensely at one another, the tension between them palpable.
"Sasuke, all that stuff... You saw it too, right?" "Yeah. Unbelievable."
In two separate small rooms outside this Duel Arena, Naruto and Sasuke were waiting. Each held a mobile phone. There was a microphone at the top of the phone, allowing them to communicate with each other in their respective rooms. They realized their experiences had been identical.
"A Ninja Mobile Game, huh?"
Sasuke tightened his fist, a unique expression appearing on his face after learning something miraculous. It was... a mix of surprise and joy! He looked around and stomped on the ground.
The sensation was extremely realistic—it didn't feel like Genjutsu. It felt as if he had truly switched worlds in an instant.
Ten minutes ago, he had arrived here—a tiny room empty of everything except the phone. The moment he picked up the device, he learned many things, including what he was expected to do here.
A game, but also a battle! This was a form of combat distinct from the conventional ninja way; they would use the device to control their characters.
"Eh? I'm in here? Let me look... Sakura, Shikamaru, Kiba, Choji... Ah! Sasuke's here too!"
Naruto toyed with the phone and found twelve characters, including himself. They were all his classmates, very familiar faces. The only difference was that all twelve wore headbands—proof of successfully graduating from the academy.
"Hehe~ Looks like we're the ones who graduated, Believe it!" Naruto said, sounding rather proud.
Besides the ninjas, there were Summons and Secret Scrolls. Summons were much more interesting than ninjas to Naruto; he spent the practice time looking through them repeatedly before deciding on Enma.
Not for any tactical reason, but simply because he looked cooler than the dogs, snakes, or toads.
As for the Secret Scroll, Naruto was a bit conflicted. He only had ten minutes to get used to the controls, so he could only play around in the practice arena for a bit.
And now, ten minutes later, Naruto's controlled [Uzumaki Naruto] and Sasuke's controlled [Uchiha Sasuke] were about to go to war.
That's right—they both instinctively chose themselves to take the field!
This led to the scene everyone saw on the light curtain: Naruto and Sasuke standing in the Duel Arena, ready to fight. As spectators, many didn't understand the complexities yet; they simply thought the two were going to have a physical bout.
In the center of the screen was a 60-second countdown. On either side were the avatars of Naruto and Sasuke, followed by their health bars. Though still confused, since a fight was coming, there was nothing left to do but watch.
[3] Naruto was nervous; the palms of his hands gripping the device were sweating.
[2] Sasuke took a deep breath, his eyes wide as he stared at the screen, blood vessels practically bulging.
[1] Inexplicably, as they watched this, many in the ninja world felt their hearts skip a beat, sensing they were witnessing the starting point of a new era.
[BATTLE START!]
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
The moment he could move, Sasuke decisively released his first skill, spitting a massive fireball forward. Naruto jumped, startled; the fireball, nearly hitting his face, was a bit intimidating, but unfortunately, the range wasn't long enough.
To put it simply, Sasuke whiffed his skill.
However, an instant before the fireball ended, Naruto also used his first skill, summoning a shadow clone for assistance while the main body charged forward with a Rasengan.
As a result, he ran straight into the tail end of the fireball. His skill was interrupted, and he entered a "hit" state.
Sasuke was delighted and immediately rushed forward to follow up with his second skill—Lion Combo. But the range of Lion Combo was even shorter; not only did it fail to connect, but he was hit by Naruto's frantically tapped second skill and launched into the air.
With that, Sasuke lost the first wave of momentum.
In a new, unopened shop in the Hidden Leaf Village, Ryuma was repeatedly face-palming.
Is this the legendary "True Noob" tier?
Starting the match standing still on the X-axis and dumping both skills at once... whoever gets the first hit is literally just down to whose skill has more range.
Oh, right—and the Instant Substitute!
In the arena, Sasuke clearly didn't want to take any damage. He immediately used his Substitute to drop down and try to basic attack (M1) Naruto.
Naruto refused to be outdone; after being hit once, he also used an Instant Substitute to basic attack Sasuke, but he hit nothing because Sasuke had already turned and run away.
"Not bad, not bad," Ryuma applauded without hesitation. "This is the first time the ninja world has witnessed a 'Single-Tap Substitute Bait'!"
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