Kankuro looked around in confusion. "What... what's happening?"
"It's an illusion, we've been caught in a genjutsu!"
Temari, with a determined look on her face, closed her eyes and bit her lip, trying to use the pain to break free from the illusion. But when she opened her eyes again, everything was exactly the same.
"Damn it! Damn it! You should die!"
Gaara, already provoked, grew even more frantic.
The darkness around his eyes began to swallow up the human light in his gaze, replaced by madness and violence.
Kankuro looked frantically at Temari. "What should we do?"
"Run... run quickly!"
Temari said, turning around and rushing off without looking back.
"Wait for me!"
Kankuro quickly followed.
Not far away, several figures were scattered across a large tree.
Indeed.
These were the jonin leaders from the various villages.
At first, they thought this was just a boring academy test, with the only thing of interest being to see how strong Yakumo Kurama's Wood Release really was. Perhaps to see how strong the newly resurrected Wood Release could be?
However, as the test progressed, their astonishment never stopped.
First, the Iwagakure squad, led by Kurotsuchi, and the Kirigakure squad, featuring Chōjūrō and Suigetsu, had been unexpectedly tangled up by two ordinary academy student squads from the Hidden Leaf, leaving many of them in shock.
Then, Kimimaro single-handedly subdued the entire Kumogakure squad, leaving their leader in utter disbelief.
If all that had only been surprising, then the true shock came from the battle between Yakumo Kurama and the Hidden Leaf's three geniuses.
They watched, wide-eyed, as an earth-shaking battle of ninjutsu unfolded in front of them. For a while, no one knew what to say.
After a long silence, the leader of the Kumogakure squad finally spoke.
"Has the Hidden Leaf gone mad? Or have I gone mad? These are just academy students?!"
Terumi Mei of Kirigakure stared blankly at the surging tree sea in the distance. "So, this is the Wood Release? No wonder the elders in our village were so nervous!"
The leader of Iwagakure's squad, Kurotsuchi, scowled. "So this is Uchiha, huh? These two kids are barely eight or nine years old, and they can already do something like this!"
Meanwhile, Chiyo from Sunagakure, though also paying attention to the fierce battle between Yakumo Kurama and the Hidden Leaf's three geniuses, was more focused on watching Gaara's movements.
So, when she saw Gaara encounter Naruto Uzumaki, she froze for a moment, then became anxious, fearing Gaara might go berserk and kill the Hidden Leaf's Nine-Tails jinchuriki.
However, what happened next exceeded her expectations.
The Nine-Tails jinchuriki from the Hidden Leaf, who had little fame and had been kidnapped several times by the Akatsuki organization, suddenly unleashed an impressive number of Shadow Clones, to the point that even she, an experienced expert, was stunned.
"Just what kind of monsters are these academy students from the Hidden Leaf?!"
For a moment, all the jonin leaders from the four villages had similar thoughts.
Meanwhile, back in the Hidden Leaf, they were also closely monitoring the situation!
Standing on the crown of a tree, Tsunade's face was grim as she observed the chaotic battlefield where Yakumo was fighting.
Honestly, the situation was a bit beyond her expectations.
She had thought that with Yakumo's current strength, even if Shinji, Sasuke, and Neji teamed up, they should have easily been able to defeat her.
But as the battle dragged on, Yakumo still hadn't been able to take down the three of them.
The resilience of the two Uchiha was far beyond her expectations!
Shizune, standing by, quietly asked, "Lady Tsunade, don't you think things are getting too chaotic? Should we call off the test?"
Tsunade shook her head. "The situation is still under control, no need to rush."
She was well aware that if the test was stopped now, Yakumo would be left with regrets. Since they had come this far, it was better to let the battle continue, allowing Yakumo to fully defeat the Uchiha and put an end to this obsession.
Meanwhile, Jiraiya and Kakashi were watching the fierce duel between Naruto and Gaara.
"I never expected them to run into each other!" Kakashi said after a pause. "Jiraiya-sensei, should we call it off?"
Jiraiya pondered for a moment and said, "Let's wait and see."
On the battlefield—
Yakumo stood poised on the branches, staring intently at Shinji.
On the other hand, Shinji, with a white ninja cat on his shoulder, skillfully darted through the sea of trees, his figure moving with the grace of a ghost.
Sasuke, also in the trees, was clearly in a much worse state than Shinji. His clothes were torn, and his face bore several cuts.
He was breathing heavily, his expression anxious.
"Damn it!"
Looking back at Yakumo, whose form loomed impressively through the tree canopy, a deep sense of helplessness rose in Sasuke's chest.
They had followed the plan, yet they still couldn't figure out how to deal with Yakumo.
Ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu, even explosive tags — everything they had used, but they still couldn't handle Yakumo's Wood Release.
And with Shinji and the ninja cat's combined ninjutsu finished, they could no longer maintain their formation and were forced to retreat in a disorganized panic.
"Could it be... time to use that move?" Sasuke thought, his face darkening.
When Tsunade had been training Yakumo and Jiraiya had been training Naruto, Kakashi had also set up a special training for Sasuke.
During that training, Sasuke had barely mastered Kakashi's signature move, Chidori!
"With my current chakra level, I can only use Chidori once, so I must find the perfect opportunity to strike!"
Thinking this, Sasuke observed the battle.
Shinji and he, both in retreat, had no better options.
Neji, on the other hand, had been completely swallowed by Yakumo's tree sea. Although there were continuous roars and whirlwinds, and wood splinters flying everywhere, showing Neji was still desperately fighting, it was clear to anyone watching that he wouldn't hold out much longer!
"Looks like I'll have to work with Shinji!" Sasuke immediately made up his mind and signaled Shinji.
Shinji, noticing the gesture, smiled and nodded, then turned to face Yakumo, drawing her attention to himself.
Sasuke made up his mind and, with a few swift leaps, jumped far outside the battle circle, disappearing into a dense patch of grass.
Whoosh!
In an instant, the palm of his right hand began to glow with a brilliant blue lightning!
"My chance is only once! I must strike when Yakumo is distracted by Shinji and defeat her once and for all!"
Sasuke activated his Mangekyo Sharingan with all his strength, searching for an opening in Yakumo's defense.
At that moment, a rustling sound came from the grass beside him. He quickly turned his head, only to find himself locking eyes with Shion, who had popped her head out of the grass.
"Shion?!"
"Sasuke?!"
Both of them froze in shock.