As Aoba took out a paper bomb, Kankuro had no choice but to summon another new puppet, Salamander, to prevent his puppets from being destroyed.
Salamander was a defensive puppet, powerful enough to withstand most powerful ninjutsu attacks.
The destruction of his other puppets didn’t matter much, but if Crow were destroyed, Kankuro couldn’t think of any other way to win.
After all, the boy standing before him wasn’t an ordinary genin.
His strength had already surpassed that of many chunin.
Kankuro controlled Salamander and made it swallow the component with the paper bomb attached to it.
A violent explosion immediately erupted inside.
Salamander opened its huge mouth and spat out a cloud of murky smoke.
Only one component had been blown apart, so Crow was preserved.
Its torso had been destroyed, leaving only its head and limbs.
Crow’s head and limbs could already be controlled separately by a puppet master, so the damage didn’t have much effect on the puppet’s combat ability.
However, Kankuro had already wasted too much time and attention.
During that time, Aoba had already closed the distance.
Combined with the basic interference provided by his clones, his attack was devastating against the distracted Kankuro.
A series of taijutsu combos left Kankuro battered and bruised.
Finally, a beautiful flying kick settled the outcome of the match.
The winner was decided.
Kankuro had lost!
Returning to the stands, Aoba took out a soldier pill and started chewing on it.
The battle just now had actually consumed quite a bit of his stamina.
To avoid exposing ninjutsu with an unknown origin, he could only use basic techniques such as Shadow Clones.
Of course, there was no need for him to go all out in the Chunin Exams anymore.
“Aoba-nii is so strong!
No wonder he’s my big brother!” Seeing Aoba’s performance, Naruto was practically worshipping him.
Sasuke meanwhile wore an envious expression.
“What incredible insight.
It’s even surpassed my Sharingan!” Seeing how much his two students were paying attention to Aoba, Kakashi couldn’t help sighing.
“Natsume Aoba.
What an outstanding junior.” The most shocked of all were Koki and Otsuki.
Their eyes widened.
“Aoba, when did you get this strong?!” “Yeah!
Everyone else was slacking off, but you secretly got stronger.
Are you even our teammate anymore?” Aoba rolled his eyes.
“I was before.
Not anymore.” Ever since the chunin who had been guiding them had died, Aoba had always carried out missions alone.
He had only temporarily found teammates for the Chunin Exams.
Now that they had passed the second stage, the rest consisted entirely of individual matches.
Naturally, their status as teammates was over.
“Aoba-niisan, congratulations.” Hinata also hurried over to congratulate him.
“Hinata, you need to do your best too!” Aoba smiled in response.
However, he knew that Hinata would probably be eliminated.
Her opponent was Neji, the genius of the Hyuga branch family.
The difference between their talents wasn’t something that could be made up through hard work alone.
Both of them were members of the Hyuga clan.
The difference was that one belonged to the main family while the other belonged to the branch family.
As a genius of the branch family, Neji had always hated the main family because his father had died in place of Hinata’s father.
The Caged Bird Seal on his forehead constantly reminded him that the fates of the main and branch families could never be changed.
Thus, when facing Hinata, the heiress of the Hyuga main family, Neji showed absolutely no mercy.
The instant they exchanged blows, both activated their Byakugan and attacked with the Gentle Fist.
Hinata’s talent as a shinobi could only be described as ordinary.
No matter how hard she trained every day, the gap between her and Neji continued to grow.
After only a few exchanges, she began struggling to defend herself and was struck in her chakra points.
The Gentle Fist worked by injecting chakra into an opponent’s chakra points, disrupting the flow of chakra while damaging their vulnerable internal organs.
As the battle continued, the damage wasn’t immediately obvious.
That was, until Hinata suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.
Her internal organs had been injured.
“Is this all the strength the main family has?” Neji struck Hinata with his palm and sent her crashing to the ground.
“Just give up!” But how could Hinata possibly give up?
She still wanted to pass the Chunin Exams together with Aoba.
She wanted to become a chunin with him, take on missions together with him.
How could she give up here?
So she continued struggling back to her feet and charged at Neji once again.
But in a battle between shinobi, an unwillingness to give up alone could never change the outcome.
Neji knocked her down again.
Hinata got back up again.
And then he knocked her down once more.
Seeing this, Aoba in the stands could barely continue watching.
Even though he already knew how the story would unfold, he still felt that the girl was pushing herself far too hard.
Yet he couldn’t interfere with Hinata’s decision.
All he could do was continue watching the match.
After being knocked down several times, Hinata’s words about the branch family and main family finally enraged Neji.
He immediately charged at the girl in fury, intending to kill her!
The hatred that had accumulated within him ever since his father’s death had completely overwhelmed his reason.
At the critical moment, several jonin watching the match prepared to intervene.
But Aoba reacted even faster.
He arrived in front of Neji just in time and blocked his path.
Aoba had anticipated this scene long ago and had been watching the battle closely, allowing him to react even faster than the jonin.
“Get out of my way!” Seeing Aoba blocking him, Neji had no intention of stopping.
If a jonin had intervened, he might have been unable to resist.
But Aoba was also only a genin, and Neji’s strength had already surpassed that of an ordinary chunin.
Why would he take someone like that seriously?
Aoba had no intention of fighting Neji.
He simply scooped Hinata into his arms and used the Body Flicker Technique to instantly appear in front of the medical-nin waiting nearby.
“Take her for treatment, quickly!” Compared to fighting, Hinata’s safety was obviously more important right now.
The medical-nin didn’t hesitate either.
They immediately lifted the stretcher and carried the injured girl away.
Konoha’s medical system was highly developed.
Although Hinata’s injuries were serious, she could be treated once she was taken to the emergency room.
“Aoba-niisan… am I useless?” The injured Hinata looked at the boy with deep insecurity.
I’m still too weak.
“No.
You’re a perfectly capable shinobi,” Aoba said.
Only after watching the medical staff disappear from sight did Aoba turn back toward Neji.
“Hinata has always called you Neji-niisan.
How could you bring yourself to try to kill her?” Having read the original story, Aoba naturally knew what Neji was thinking at this point.
But after seeing Hinata injured, he still couldn’t suppress the anger rising inside him.
“Are you trying to stand up for her?” Neji’s expression became provocative.
“Let me give you some advice.
The gap between civilian shinobi and clan shinobi is an insurmountable chasm.
There’s no way you can defeat me.
That’s fate.” Hearing this, Aoba laughed.
“Your talk about fate is childish.
The reason you can’t change your fate isn’t because fate is unchangeable.
It’s because you’re too weak!” “Weak people can’t change their fate.
Only the strong have the power to decide their own fate!” Aoba’s words struck Neji right in the heart.
Hinata had merely spoken aloud the painful reality that had been standing between the branch and main families, yet it had been enough to enrage him and make him want to kill her.
And now Aoba had gone even further, directly exposing the true nature of the fate that bound him.
When all was said and done, Neji’s reputation as a genius was somewhat undeserved.
Perhaps he was talented enough compared to ordinary shinobi, but talent was the one thing the shinobi world had never lacked.
Without reaching the level of a Kage, he couldn’t truly stand against an entire clan.
If Neji possessed Kage-level strength, then even if he still couldn’t break the Caged Bird Seal, the Hyuga main family would have no choice but to treat him with respect.
The Hyuga clan was one of Konoha’s great clans.
After the Uchiha clan’s massacre, they even shamelessly proclaimed themselves Konoha’s foremost clan.
Yet the entire clan didn’t possess a single Kage-level shinobi.
No wonder they had so little influence among Konoha’s higher-ups.
In the shinobi world, strength was the only real authority.
Once you possessed enough strength, changing your fate was often as easy as turning over your hand.
“I’m weak?
Then let me see just how strong you are!” Neji lost his temper once again and rapidly charged toward Aoba, launching an attack.