Next match: Tenten vs. Temari. Temari wins!
The fight went exactly like before—Temari easily took the win with her fan attacks.
Then came the next round: Hyuga Hinata vs. Kin!
Naruto didn't expect Hinata's opponent to change from Neji to Kin, but it wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
Rather than getting beat up by Neji, it was better for her to take on someone she could actually handle and build up her strength step by step.
"That girl uses wires with bells to cast genjutsu. When you fight her, end it quickly—don't give her the chance to use the sound of the bells," Naruto said as Hinata passed by him.
Hinata paused, glanced at Naruto, her cheeks slightly red. "Thank you, Naruto-kun."
Naruto nodded and added, "Don't hold back. Be decisive."
"Yes!" Hinata seemed to draw a lot of courage from Naruto's words.
Knowing Kin's ability ahead of time, Hinata shut off her hearing and used that moment of Kin's carelessness to land a set of Gentle Fist strikes.
She moved in without hesitation.
The only problem was, she still went too easy on her.
Hinata held back, giving Kin a moment to catch her breath—hoping she'd just surrender on her own.
That kind of naïve thinking made Naruto want to jump in and kick Kin himself.
Luckily, Kin was just too weak. Even with the chance to fight back, she couldn't really do anything.
Hinata ended it by knocking her out with another clean strike.
"Next time, don't hold back," Naruto told Hinata as she returned to the stands. "If you keep being soft like that during a mission, you'll be putting both yourself and your teammates in danger."
"S-sorry, Naruto-kun," Hinata answered nervously, like a child being scolded.
Naruto looked at her and said, "You don't owe me an apology. You didn't do anything wrong to me. I just want to see you do better next time."
"Yes! I will, Naruto-kun!" Hinata said seriously, clearly taking it to heart.
Still, Naruto knew… people's personalities don't change that easily.
And being kind isn't really a bad thing—it's just that being a ninja is...
Just then, the next match list popped up.
Naruto vs. Rock Lee!
Naruto hadn't expected his opponent to change from Inuzuka Kiba to Rock Lee.
But this fight might be a bit more fun?
"Kakashi! Looks like my student is finally fighting your team! What a fiery, youthful battle this will be! I can feel the passion burning already! Kakashi, how about we have a real man-to-man fight afterward?"
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
"..."
Down in the arena, Naruto and Rock Lee were already in position.
"Seventh match of the Chunin Exams: Uzumaki Naruto vs. Rock Lee. Begin!" called Hayate Gekko.
As soon as the words left his mouth, Rock Lee vanished and launched a kick at Naruto.
So fast!
All the Genin watching were stunned by Rock Lee's speed.
But even with that speed, Naruto easily blocked the kick.
"Take off your weights. Don't say I didn't give you a chance to show your stuff," Naruto said calmly, then let go of Lee's leg.
Lee took two steps back, sweat forming on his forehead.
He hadn't expected such a serious kick to be caught so easily by Naruto.
But... this matched the strength he'd seen from Naruto before.
Lee wasn't scared—he was excited.
He looked up at the stands where Might Guy was watching, as if asking for permission.
Might Guy saw the look and flashed a grin, showing off his shiny teeth as he gave Lee a big thumbs-up. "Lee, take them off! This is your moment to follow your ninja way!"
"Yes, Guy-sensei!" Rock Lee said with determination, then sat down and began removing the weights from his legs.
He and Naruto weren't far apart, but he didn't worry at all about being attacked while he did it.
Because he knew Naruto wouldn't... and didn't need to.
"Kakashi, your student's pretty strong, I'll give you that... but Lee is my best student. He's not going to lose that easily!"
Guy smiled as he said it, teasing Kakashi.
But Kakashi just kept a blank face and said nothing.
Can Lee really beat Naruto?
You can't even beat him…
At that moment, Rock Lee took off all his weights.
One by one, pieces of metal engraved with the word "Willpower" clanked to the ground.
But since he didn't drop them from high up this time, they didn't have that same dramatic effect as before.
"It's just some metal plates. What difference can it make?"
Temari, who had been mentally cheering for Naruto, looked unimpressed.
But the next moment, she saw Rock Lee vanish like he had teleported!
"What?!"
Temari stared in shock at the spot where Rock Lee had just been.
How fast was that?
At least twice as fast as before, right?
So those weights he was wearing before...
Temari didn't even want to think about how heavy they must've been.
Right then, Rock Lee launched another attack at Naruto.
Now that the weights were off, he was so fast that even afterimages were left behind. At this speed, not even Naruto could easily follow him with his eyes or react based on instinct.
So Naruto didn't bother trying to block his kick. If he missed, it'd be awkward.
Besides, Rock Lee couldn't hurt him anyway, so there was no need to waste effort.
The moment Lee's kick touched Naruto's body, Naruto's body automatically turned into light.
Lee's full-force kick passed right through Naruto's body, and he stopped a short distance away, stunned.
Didn't hit him?
In disbelief, Lee kicked again—and once more, it went straight through Naruto!
A genjutsu?
Not just Lee—everyone watching looked confused as they stared at Naruto.
What kind of jutsu was that?
Naruto didn't answer anyone. A flash of golden light shot from his body, and in the blink of an eye, he appeared in front of Rock Lee—with his foot less than a centimeter from Lee's face!
"Still want to keep fighting?"
Gulp.
Lee swallowed hard, staring at Naruto's leg in disbelief.
Fast.
Way too fast.
So fast that not just Lee, but everyone watching—including Hiruzen Sarutobi—couldn't react at all.
"It's that golden light jutsu again..." Hiruzen looked grim. It wasn't the first time he felt like Naruto was slipping out of his control.
But even knowing that, there wasn't much he could do. Even if he fought Naruto himself, he might not be able to win!
"I... lost."
Lee finally came back to his senses. He bowed to Naruto, eyes full of stubbornness and frustration—but also respect.
That kind of respect was something Sasuke didn't have. When Sasuke lost to Naruto, all he showed was anger and frustration... maybe even a bit of jealousy.
Hearing Lee admit defeat, Naruto lowered his leg, put his hands in his pockets, and turned to walk away—leaving behind a cool, confident back.
Just then, Hayate Gekkō finally snapped out of it and announced, "The match is over! The winner is Uzumaki Naruto!"
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