Here's @riojiyo131, your trusted writer.
You can now get early access to Chapter 84 of Re: Naruto Uzumaki on my Patreon. You can also read up to Chapter 22 of Naruto: Satoru Senju.
patreon.com/riojiyo131
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In the blink of an eye, Reika appeared in front of Gaara, brandishing her sword with the intent to end the fight in a single blow.
Gaara's eyes widened in surprise. Reika was incredibly fast... even faster than Rock Lee.
A sand barrier instinctively rose to protect him, but Reika's sword cut through it like butter.
Even so, that instant was enough for Gaara to replace his body with a Sand Clone.
"Tch," Reika clicked her tongue in annoyance.
Without stopping, she launched at him again and struck his chest with a powerful kick that sent him flying through the air.
"And to think I was worried at first..." she murmured to herself with disdain.
Her Sharingan glowed intensely.
"A month ago, I thought Gaara would be a formidable opponent. What a disappointment... now he's nowhere near my level."
Thanks to the impact, she could see Gaara's sand armor beginning to crack.
She couldn't help but mock the armor mentally, the same armor she had been so thoroughly warned about.
Rock Lee had struggled with that armor, but she...? She had nearly destroyed it with a single kick.
Finding himself at a disadvantage, Gaara smirked maliciously before covering himself completely with his sand, forming an impenetrable sphere.
On top of the sphere, the sand began to swirl until it formed an eye.
Connecting his chakra to the eye, Gaara began to observe the outside from within the sphere.
Reika snorted in amusement before attacking the sphere with her sword, but was repelled by a swarm of sand spikes that nearly pierced her.
Realizing her sword was useless against Gaara's defense, she stepped back and sheathed her weapon.
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get close without being repelled. However, her speed kept her out of Gaara's counterattack range.
There was no way someone like Gaara could hurt her.
"It's time to try another approach," she said with a smile, leaping backward to exit the attack range.
Electricity began to gather in her left hand. The chirping of a thousand birds echoed throughout the stadium.
But the most attentive, those who had seen the technique before, knew it wasn't the usual Chidori.
At least, not exactly.
From the stands, Kakashi frowned as he saw Reika executing a new variant of the Chidori.
It wasn't the first time she had created her own Chidori variant, and Kakashi couldn't help but be impressed.
Unfortunately —or perhaps fortunately— he didn't have time to analyze it calmly.
"Kakashi, let's go eat after this. It's a date..."
"Kakashi, you don't have a girlfriend, right?"
"Kakashi, wouldn't it be nice if Obito came back too?"
"Kakashi, how strong are you now?"
"Kakashi, do you still have Obito's Sharingan?"
"Kakashi, do I look cute now that I'm older?"
Rin wouldn't stop bombarding him with questions. It was already hard enough to process the fact that she had come back to life without having to put up with this!
Give me a break, woman!
Kakashi pretended not to hear her and kept watching the fight, much to Rin's annoyance, who puffed her cheeks like a child.
"You're so mean to me, Kakashi! After all these years, we should be catching up! Mhpm!"
Kakashi put his hands on his head, on the verge of collapse.
Back in the arena, Reika pointed her left hand at the sand sphere.
"Chidori Eisō!!"
Thanks to her mastery of shape manipulation, Reika had transformed the Chidori into a spear of pure lightning.
From her hand, the blade extended at incredible speed, piercing the sphere from side to side.
Reika canceled the attack and clicked her tongue, convinced she had missed. Gaara didn't appear to be dead or even stopped. Had he dodged it?
At first glance, there was only a hole in the center of the sphere. But inside, Gaara was in pain.
The attack had pierced his abdomen. It wasn't a fatal wound, but it was serious.
And for someone as disturbed as him, who had never been injured or seen his own blood...
"Mom... what happened...?" Gaara muttered, speaking to himself—or rather to the One-Tail Beast sealed inside him.
He could feel the blood dripping from his abdomen, staining the ground.
He tried to cover the wound with his hands, but upon seeing the blood...
A harrowing scream broke the silence, shaking everyone present.
Several in the audience covered their ears, unable to bear it.
But the ones most horrified were the Sand Village ninjas. Especially Temari and Kankurō.
"BLOOD!!! IT'S MY BLOOD!!!"
Reika scoffed in amusement at Gaara's screams and shrugged.
Did he really think she wouldn't be able to hurt him?
As Gaara continued screaming, Reika wondered if she should kill him once and for all.
She had stopped attacking to give him a chance to surrender, but those screams were seriously starting to irritate her.
Just as she was about to move again, something stopped her.
Hundreds of feathers began to fall from the sky, gently floating over the audience, which began to fall asleep one by one.
Reika frowned. She recognized it immediately.
It was a Genjutsu.
To her surprise, the Genjutsu wasn't coming from Gaara, her opponent in this fight.
Reika's gaze immediately shifted to a Konoha ANBU ninja.
Something was off... Reika was sure he was an enemy in disguise.
Just as she was about to intervene, her attention was drawn to the area where the Hokage and Kazekage were seated.
A massive explosion shook the stadium.
The stands trembled. Dust rose. The screaming began.
Temari and Kankurō hurriedly descended to the arena to help Gaara, who could barely stay conscious.
"What the hell is going on...?" Reika murmured, turning her head in all directions, trying to make sense of the chaos erupting around her.
...
"Aunt Kushina, I'm too young to have kids!" exclaimed Karin, struggling as Kushina held her in a bear hug. "I'm only 15!"
Kushina puffed her cheeks like a spoiled child, completely oblivious to the drama she was causing.
"So what? The sooner you start, the more grandkids I'll have to spoil... I'll be the best grandmother in the world!"
Just imagining herself surrounded by grandchildren made her eyes light up. She could already see herself knitting scarves and cooking homemade ramen for a dozen little Uzumaki.
"But Naruto and I aren't even dating!" protested Karin, red as a tomato. "Naruto already has a girlfriend…! I don't…!"
"That doesn't matter!" replied Kushina with a determined smile, as if she had everything planned. "I'm telling you, it doesn't matter! Naruto can take you as his second wife!"
"W-WHAT?!" Karin shrieked, her eyes about to pop out of her head.
While they kept arguing, Naruto remained on the sidelines, pretending not to hear anything.
Though deep down, Naruto was thankful to his mom for the assist.
Karin looked at him desperately, silently begging for help, but he deliberately ignored her.
If he intervened, his mother would start teasing him instead. He wasn't willing to take that risk.
"Wait... another Chidori variant...?" Naruto suddenly whistled in surprise, focusing his gaze on the arena.
He himself had created multiple variations of the Rasengan, but Reika… Reika had done the same with the Chidori.
That coincidence made him smile in awe.
Even more, what truly impressed him was how strong Reika had become in just a month of training. His gaze automatically shifted to Izuna.
Maybe, after all, his true calling hadn't been war... but teaching.
It made sense. After all, his brother Madara was the one who turned Obito—the least promising Uchiha of his generation—into a global-level threat.
It seemed Izuna had inherited that talent too.
Suddenly, Naruto shifted his gaze to a pair of figures sitting a few meters away: Shisui and Pakura.
Their conversation caught his attention.
"Pakura-san, have you thought about what you'll do after this? Are you going back to Sunagakure?"
Despite the noise in the stadium, Naruto could hear every word clearly.
Until now, Pakura had completely ignored Shisui, but that question pulled her out of her bubble of silence.
"Go back to that village? All I want is to destroy those damn traitors…" she murmured coldly, her voice laced with resentment.
Shisui frowned, surprised by the intensity of her words. Naruto, on the other hand, had expected an answer like that.
"Even the innocent...?" asked Shisui, in a soft yet firm tone.
Pakura hesitated for a moment. She clenched her fists tightly.
"That..."
"As I understand it, it was Rasa, the Fourth Kazekage, who betrayed you, right, Miss Pakura?" Shisui continued.
Pakura interrupted him, raising her voice slightly:
"But that bastard is already dead...!"
"Then… doesn't that mean you have nothing left to avenge? After everything you've suffered… don't you think you deserve, at least, to be happy, to move on with your life?"
Pakura's eyes widened in shock. Shisui's words struck her deeper than she expected.
Why keep carrying a hatred that no longer had a clear target?
She knew it herself: she could never direct her revenge at Gaara, Temari, or Kankurō, Rasa's children.
They were just kids at this point. But every time she looked at them, the memory of Rasa haunted her, and her anger spiraled.
However… now she began to doubt.
She looked at Shisui, and for the first time in a long time, allowed herself to imagine a different future.
"You know… you could stay in Konoha. I'm sure we could find a place for you in the Uchiha Compound. After all, it's pretty… empty now."
Pakura looked at him in silence for a few seconds. Then, without a word, she cupped Shisui's face in her hands and pulled him toward her.
Shisui barely had time to react before her lips met his.
"Eh…?" he mumbled, completely red and disoriented.
Pakura slowly pulled away, a mischievous smile on her lips.
"How do you expect me to hold back… after you say such sweet things with that pretty face of yours?"
She gently caressed Shisui's cheek, who remained frozen, as if he had just stepped into a dream he didn't want to wake from.
Naruto, who had seen everything from the corner of his eye, turned his attention back to the arena, mouth agape and eyes wide.
"Shisui… and Pakura…?"
He had seen Shisui try to flirt with her unsuccessfully since they were revived by the system.
And now she had made the first move… just like that?
Naruto blinked, convinced he was hallucinating.
Maybe they had drugged him…?
But then, a harrowing scream pulled him out of his thoughts and made him frown.
"BLOOD!!! IT'S MY BLOOD!!!"
Gaara's scream echoed throughout the stadium like a howl from the depths of hell.