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Chapter – 1118 The first match of Quarterfinals
🕑 Added 2024-11-18 17:52:20 +0000 UTCAmegakure Waiting Room
“Raijin of Amegakure and Hyuga Neji of Konohagakure, please come to the arena,” Itachi announced.
Hearing the call, Raijin exhaled calmly. “Well, looks like I’m up first this time,” he remarked, standing up from his seat.
“Best of luck, Raijin-sama,” Tengu and Samsara said in unison.
Raijin gave a small nod. “I’ll be back shortly,” he replied confidently before exiting the waiting room.
As he made his way toward the arena, Raijin contemplated the upcoming matchup with Neji. Should he defeat Neji swiftly, or give the match some time and test Neji’s skills? If he really wants, Raijin is confident of ending the fight in mere moments. All he has to do is use the Mangekyō Sharingan Dōjutsu Taikyokuzu and trap Neji in the Yin-Yang Prison World. The current Neji had no means of breaking out of such a powerful Genjutsu, and his soul would be confined within the Yin-Yang Prison World, leading to a quick defeat.
‘But then again, I don’t even need to use Taikyokuzu.’ In fact, even without relying on the power of Fugaku’s Mangekyō Sharingan, Raijin knows he can still overpower Neji with ease… ‘But… where’s the fun in that?’ he thought as a playful smirk curved his lips.
“Since I went through the effort of stimulating Sasuke and pushing him to his limits, then it’s only fair I do the same for Neji,” Raijin mused. Neji, after all, is his first disciple, and proper training is essential.
Despite Neji being his first disciple, Kuroto had never explicitly tested out Neji himself. Let alone testing the boy, he hadn’t even spent much time training the boy personally. Before Neji was in the Ninja Academy, he left Neji’s training to Hizashi. When Neji enrolled in the Ninja Academy, the training was left to the academy instructors before it was handed over to Itachi. After he graduated from the academy, Neji’s training was left to Guy, and for the preparation of the final stage of the Chūnin Preparation Exam, he left Neji’s training to Mukai. Meanwhile, he personally devoted his attention to both Naruto and Sasuke and, of course, to himself.
‘Now that I think about it, I have been very unfair towards Neji… obviously, he is the first disciple, yet I never gave him much personal attention,’ thought Raijin with a sigh.
Although he did provide Neji with the necessary resources every time and also gave him opportunities that could help with his growth and development, such as giving him the opportunity to go to Mount Myōboku, Okina Buta, as his personal Summon, the opportunity to learn from Itachi, the scroll of the Byakugan chakra Mode, and later the chance to personally be trained by Kohinata Mukai.
But is that really what Neji wants from him?
True, Neji probably desires powerful Jutsu and the opportunity to learn so that he doesn’t fall behind and can keep up with Sasuke and Naruto, but more than that, he probably wants Kuroto to teach him a thing or two personally, right? Yet, Kuroto never once taught him anything personally.
‘Sigh, I really need to give him some personal attention…’ sighed Raijin.
Of course, something like that can only be done sometime after the conclusion of the Joint Chūnin Promotion Exam, for now, all he can do is personally test Neji’s progress as Raijin of Amegakure.
Since that’s the case, a test is in order for him.
Although he knows that, unlike Sasuke’s case, Neji’s Byakugan wouldn’t evolve under pressure, that didn’t mean Raijin couldn’t stimulate him. In fact, this matchup was personally requested by Raijin as an opportunity to push Neji beyond his current limits and shatter whatever shell confined his potential.
With that thought, Raijin stepped into the arena, his eyes brimming with anticipation.
…
Amegakure Waiting Room
“Raijin of Amegakure and Hyuga Neji of Konohagakure, please come to the arena,” Itachi announced.
“It’s my turn…” Neji murmured as he stood up.
“Neji, be careful. This guy is dangerous,” Naruto said with a serious expression.
“Neji-kun, don’t let your guard down,” Mika added. “We still don’t know what tricks he might have up his sleeve.”
Lee too, stepped forward, trying to offer his own warning. “Neji-kun—”
“It’s alright,” Neji interrupted. “I know… I’ll be careful.” With that, he turned around and began to walk out of the Konohagakure Waiting Room. He isn’t a fool. He knows very well how dangerous Raijin is. He had already faced him once during the second phase of the Joint Chūnin Promotion Exam a month ago, and he’d witnessed the result of Sasuke’s fight. He understood the need for caution and didn’t need everyone to remind him.
Guy seemed to understand Neji’s thoughts and simply said as Neji was leaving, “Neji… all the best. Give it your all.”
“I will, Guy-Sensei,” Neji replied with a nod before stepping out of the Waiting Room.
Standing beside Guy, Kakashi watched Neji thoughtfully, then glanced at Kuroto, seated in the VIP section. Kakashi wondered to himself, ‘Did Kuroto specially arrange this?’
Now that Kuroto had confirmed Raijin’s identity as a member of Amatsukami, Kakashi reflected on some strange things he had noticed about the Amegakure Genin squad throughout the Joint Chūnin Promotion Exam.
From what Kakashi recalled, Raijin, Samsara, and Tengu had often focused their attention on Konoha’s Genin teams—especially Naruto’s squad and Neji’s squad. Maybe it was just a coincidence, and he was overanalyzing it, but there was also the possibility that these Amatsukami members were carrying out a mission for Kuroto. Although Kuroto had said that these three ninjas were in Konoha as a precaution against Akatsuki, Kakashi couldn’t shake the feeling there might be more to it.
“Are you using the Amatsukami members to push these kids to unlock their potential?” Kakashi murmured to himself. At least this could explain why the three of them were participating in the exam.
Given how much attention and effort Kuroto had dedicated to these children's growth over the past few years, Kakashi wouldn’t be surprised if Kuroto had taken advantage of Raijin, Samsara, and Tengu’s presence in Konoha and assigned them the task of helping the kids.
They couldn't deny that Sasuke awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan after his fight with Raijin. Kakashi still vividly remembered the reaction from Sasuke’s family when they learned of his awakening. Maybe he was just speculating, but you never know.
‘Yeah, it’s no coincidence that after fighting Sasuke, Raijin is now fighting Neji,’ Kakashi thought quite certain of his conjecture.
Even if Kakashi had made such a guess, he wasn’t entirely opposed to the idea. After all, Kuroto was acting in Konoha’s best interest, and he wasn’t doing anything that would harm the village. The stronger Konoha’s next generation of ninjas became, the stronger the village would be.
Of course, Kakashi also understood that not everyone might agree with Kuroto’s methods or intentions. Because of that, he decided not to discuss it much with anyone—unless he noticed something truly concerning. A little suffering isn’t necessarily a bad thing—after all, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. In any case, he was okay with the children's struggles if it helped make them stronger.
While Kakashi was lost in thought, Neji and Raijin had arrived at the arena. Itachi glanced at both of them, and after confirming they were ready, he signaled the start of the match. “Begin!” he announced before leaving the arena with a quick body flicker. As always, the arena was surrounded by a Four Purple Flame Formation to keep the audience safe.
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T/N: I'm really sorry for not uploading chapters more frequently.
I’ve been struggling with writing these fight scenes, especially the Raijin vs. Neji battle, no idea how it would play out, which has left me feeling stuck. That’s why there haven’t been any new chapters in the past few days.
The Raijin vs. Neji fight will take about two to three chapters to wrap up. Once it’s done, I’ll try to release updates more regularly.
Thank you for all of your patience and continued support.
Comments
John
Huh? What do you mean? You’re translating this stuff…right? Shouldn’t your work be entirely focused on translating? Are you giving the OG story your own spin? I’m all for it, just pls keep in mind that we’re paying monthly for a good amount of content pls
bears
take as much time as you need
