Rasa and Minato Namikaze were still fighting Muren Uchiha with full force.
Meanwhile, things inside Konohagakure were much quieter.
Sitting in the pit at the center of the Grand Arena, Kazuyama Gekkō had somehow acquired two watermelons and was happily eating them.
"Hey, Dad, aren't you going to deal with all those stone walls outside?"
"If they really fall, our house would be flattened too."
A circle of people stood around him—mostly this year's examinees. All spectators had long since been escorted out of the arena.
Michihito picked up a slice of watermelon and ate while voicing his confusion, though he didn't seem worried. With his old man here, nothing major was likely to happen.
"Yeah, Uncle Kazuyama, the whole area's surrounded by stone walls! And what was that shaking earlier?"
"Man, this is such a pain. I wonder what's happening outside. Did Konohagakure get attacked?"
"Don't talk nonsense, Shikamaru. How could our village possibly be attacked?"
All twelve of the Genin from their age group were inside the arena. It was the Chūnin Exams—even those who failed the earlier rounds came to cheer for their teammates. But the giant fireball that hit the canopy earlier, and the tremors rumbling through the village, made it clear to them that Konohagakure was under attack.
"Alright, all of you, just sit down and eat your watermelon."
"Gaara, Senko, come eat watermelon."
Kazuyama Gekkō didn't care what the kids were muttering—he simply kept eating. To him, those stone walls weren't a problem at all.
"Sensei, did you already send clones to handle the stone walls?"
"Of course. What else would I do? Gaara, our fight's not finished. Want to keep going?"
Senko was still itching to finish her earlier fight with Gaara.
Seeing his daughter getting fired up again, Kazuyama Gekkō tossed a watermelon rind at her.
"Fight, fight, fight—do you kids do anything else?"
"Your strength is obvious to everyone. Becoming Chūnin is only natural."
"Anyway, the melon's gone. Time for me to move around a bit."
"Otherwise that bastard Minato will complain that I didn't do any work."
Kazuyama hadn't moved earlier because his clone was already handling the stone walls. By the time he finished talking, every single wall had already turned into crystal—transparent crystal.
Flying Thunder God activated, and Kazuyama vanished from the arena, leaving the kids staring at each other in amazement.
"This Flying Thunder God Technique is truly incredible… appearing without a trace, disappearing without a shadow."
"Exactly. Both Hokage-sama and Lord Kazuyama built their fame in the ninja world with that technique."
Kazuyama, unable to hear their admiration, had already reached the crystal walls. Staring at the completely crystallized structures, a wicked grin slowly spread across his face. Anyone who knew him would understand instantly—someone was about to suffer.
...
"Gold Dust Drizzle!"
"Rasengan!"
Rasa and Minato Namikaze's battle with Muren Uchiha raged on. Even with Susanoo's immense power, defending against two Kage-level shinobi forced him into a near-complete defensive stance. The greatest problem was chakra consumption, and Muren felt his reserves draining rapidly.
"Hmph! I can't keep wasting time on you."
"I didn't gain anything this time. I was underprepared. Just you wait, damn Konoha!"
"Sooner or later—"
"Huh?"
Thud!
Though unwilling, Muren understood this mission had failed. But he wasn't bothered—he had failed countless times. One more didn't matter. With Black Zetsu recovering all the Sharingan, the mission was acceptable enough.
Except now, he couldn't leave.
His Susanoo was suddenly pinned down by something—immensely heavy and massive.
"What is this?!"
"Damn it!"
Pressing both palms together, he poured his remaining chakra into Susanoo, barely managing to shrug off the crushing weight. Just as he exhaled slightly, Susanoo was crushed again by another falling mass.
"What's going on?"
"Hokage? Was this you?"
Rasa was still trying to drown Susanoo in Gold Dust, but the repeated crashes even disrupted his technique. Seeing no one else who could be responsible, he looked toward Minato Namikaze—who returned the same confused look.
"Hahahahaha!"
"Pretty amusing, isn't it? Your own creation landing right on top of you."
Kazuyama Gekkō's mocking voice echoed across the battlefield. Hearing it, Muren instantly understood what was crushing him.
Those stone walls? But why couldn't he see them clearly?
Damn it—Crystal Release?
"Kazuyama?"
"What did you—"
"Those stone walls? You already dealt with them?"
Seeing Kazuyama appear, Minato instantly understood. If Kazuyama had transformed all of those massive stone walls into crystal and then thrown them here using Flying Thunder God, it would absolutely drive the enemy up the wall.
"Just rocks. I turned them all into crystal."
"See? Two already landed on him."
"Don't worry, there's more."
His voice faded, and so did he.
Another heavy impact followed.
Thud!
A huge cloud of dust erupted.
"Damn you, Kazuyama Gekkō!"
Muren's enraged roar rose from within the smoke, though it didn't change the fact that he was being crushed repeatedly under crystal structures.
"Don't worry, we're not done yet!"
Muren had erected numerous stone walls outside the village. Kazuyama had simply crystallized all of them and hurled them onto him one after another via Flying Thunder God.
Boom!
The sound of crystal structures smashing down was deafening. Rasa quickly withdrew his Gold Dust, and Minato ordered Gamabunta to retreat to avoid being caught in the destruction.
The violent crashes continued—more than ten in total—before finally stopping.
The plain was gone, replaced by enormous crater-filled pits shrouded in smoke.
"Hmph. He escaped?"
"Dispelled Susanoo and ran using dōjutsu? Not a bad trick."
In Kazuyama's perception, even after dropping more than ten crystal walls on him, Muren Uchiha's chakra suddenly vanished—clearly slipping away through his dōjutsu.