The Labyrinth

Naruto: Tales of Ashihara

Kakumei – Arc 3: Naruto Next Generation

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Chapter 74 – The Labyrinth

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In front of the gigantic flat building that will serve as the ground for the second part of the Chunin exam, all the participants who passed the first step look at Tenten and Sagan who are standing before the crowd, ready to explain the rules. The Ninja Tool specialist takes a deep breath in, and repeats what she just said.

"The Labyrinth! It is the name of the monument you can see behind me. Inside of this reinforced semi underground fortress is nothing but an enormous maze with countless paths and dead ends. Very few are those who could get in and out of it. Rumors are you can find the remains of those who failed before you as you wander inside."

After this remark, she hears the sound of many of the young ninjas simultaneously gulping down. Of course, this causes a lot of chitchat among the genins. Tenten just waits to have everyone's focus again.

"So that's what you were talking about." says Aoki to Kaza Kamizuru who's still standing next to her. "A maze, huh? This sounds dangerous."

"Sure it does!" answers Abachi, the youngest of the two twin teammates of Kaza. "This monument and territory actually belong to the Daimyo of Earth. I wonder how they got his agreement to use it for the exam…"

Before their conversation can go on, Tenten resumes her explanation as the rest of the crowd calmed down.

"You, the participants, will be sent inside with your teams. You have two days to find the exit and get through. The walls are too tough for you to damage, and there is absolutely no opening to the roof. So you'll have to make it across the old way. But be careful, as we filled the place with wild animals and monsters… Of course, only reaching the end isn't enough of a test! Each participant will be given a scroll that he'll have to carry around. To be qualified for the next step, you have to exit the labyrinth with at least 2 scrolls, and they can't both be from the same squad. This means, in order to pass this part, you necessarily have to disqualify at least one other participant. And obviously, getting out with more than 2 scrolls will secure a ranking and a place for the next step."

The crowd goes nuts again, but this time, Sagan gets silence quickly by loudly completing what his colleague said.

"One last thing. As Miss Tenten just said, there are also many creatures inside. Among them is one specific high class summoning animal. This one bears a unique golden scroll. This scroll will instantly qualify the 3 members of the squad who bring it to the exit for the next step. Be careful however if you encounter this creature, it cannot be taken down by any three way team. I'd even say the chances of one of you managing to get the golden scroll are close to none."

"Teams will all get in by a different entrance in 15 minutes." adds Tenten. "Wait to hear your names being called and get to your doors."

The young ninjas go chatting around again before they enter the maze and begin the last step. Izuna and Inoue just look at each other worriedly while Boruto calmly searches around to find Shinki and his team that he didn't see today.

Next to this team, a group of three young girls from Kumo come running to Aoki. One of them, dark skinned, white haired, wearing a purple uniform and an oversize flak jacket, jumps to her friend's neck to hug her.

"AOKI! We're fucking screwed!" she yells.

"Calm down Maroi." says Aoki as she holds the girl's shoulders and steps away. "Why? Does it sound that complicated?"

"Let's see… Crazy monsters, an inescapable maze, and on top of that, other teams have to beat us up to qualify." says Narui, second member of the team. "We can assume that, to pass, we have to be better than at least half of everyone here."

Narui is a tall white blond haired girl with deep black eyes. She wears her headband as a bandanna over her messy long hair. Next to her is Saeko, the third girl of the team. She has brown skin, deep green eyes, and blue pinkish hair. Saeko stares around, sees Izuna quietly spectating, and recognizes him.

"Girls, that's the crazy guy who got us all to pass the first part!" she exclaims, getting all her friends' attention.

"Oh so it was you!" says Aoki to Izuna, surprised. "I heard of such a thing happening but didn't know who did it."

"It wasn't me alone." says Izuna who embarrassingly scratches the back of his head. "I just made the diversion. She is the one who got the kunai." he adds with his hand raised toward Inoue.

Inoue gently smiles and shyly looks away, not really wanting the praise for this risk. Narui and Maroi look at the two Konoha-nin with respect, admiring their courage.

"We also had a massive leak of the answer in our room, although it was less intentional." says Aoki.

"Yeah, I heard about that." says Maroi before turning around to point her finger at Yukai. "Here's the dumb nut responsible for this."

"Yeah… Dumb nut, heh?" simply comments Yukai, keeping his real intention for him.

Suddenly remembering the first part, he steps away and looks around for Yukiko, the Kiri-nin who discreetly helped him during the written exam. Saeko looks at Izuna again and gets back to the topic of his action.

"Still, I had to thank you on behalf of my team. Without you we wouldn't have gotten through the proctor's attention." she says in all honesty.

Izuna, flattered, blushes a bit. Inoue, feeling weird about the way these two look at each other, gets in the middle.

"That proctor was my father." she says. "I needed Izuna's help to get him to move."

"Ah yes, sorry. This boy took the risk, but you got us the answer. So I should thank you too." apologizes Saeko. "What are your names again?"

"I am Inoue Yamanaka." answers the girl. "He's Izuna Uchiha."

"Uchiha?" Maroi exclaims. "Uchiha? You mean like Sasuke Uchiha? Or Madara Uchiha?"

"Got a problem with this name, girl?" says Boruto who now comes closer to the group. "This Sasuke is his father, so what?"

Boruto looks meanly at Maroi. Since he really despises the people hating on Izuna's clan, he stepped in to defend his friend again, just like many times before. The Kumo-nin just looks at him awkwardly for a moment. Narui gets between the two of them.

"No. Not at all. No problem, dude." she says to calm the situation. "Right, Maroi?"

"… You kinda look like the 7th Hokage." comments Maroi on Boruto, not answering Narui's question.

"Yeah, because he's my dad." quickly responds Boruto.

"WHAT?" Narui, Maroi and Saeko exclaim together when they hear this being told so calmly by Boruto.

The Kumo trio all make flabbergasted faces upon learning that they were speaking with Naruto Uzumaki's son. Suddenly, they hear their name being called by the proctors.

"Shit! Crap! Gotta go!" exclaims Maroi.

"Sorry for bothering you!" Saeko adds. "Thanks again, and see you later!"

They hurry to leave before having any time for more chat, leaving Boruto unsettled by their excessive reaction to his last statement.

"What's up with them?" he asks.

"I don't think you realize who your father is, Boruto Hyuga." says Yukai who comes closer to them again since he didn't find Yukiko.

"Right? I keep telling this to him and he never gets it." comments Izuna.

"Your father. Naruto Uzumaki. The 7th Hokage. The New God of Shinobi. Leader of the free world, and Protector of Peace." Yukai says in a dramatic voice. "He's the reason for the Shinobi Union, for this exam, and for why we're all still alive. He's the hero who saved Konoha, won the 4th Great War, befriended the Biju and defeated the Otsutsuki of the lands of Heart."

"He also defeated the Daitengu." adds Izuna.

"Maybe he did, I don't know what that is. What I'm trying to say is…" resumes Yukai. "Boruto, your father is, with Lord Raikage, my greatest inspiration. He's the hero who inspired my ambition to become the next Raikage."

"You don't even see what's best about him." says Izuna, very happy about that conversation. "In the village, he uses his Tajuu Kage Bunshin to be present for every villager who needs him. He's also a wise and fair sensei. I couldn't hope for better. He is, just as for you, my greatest source of inspiration. I can only hope to be one day…"

"… Half of the ninja he is…" Yukai finishes Izuna's sentence and stares at him with eyes full of stars. It feels like he just found someone who exactly understands his dreams and values. He stays quiet, silenced by an odd brotherly feeling. Aoki takes advantage of the silence to slip in her word.

"Yeah yeah. Keep dreaming, Yukai." she argues, with an inducing look. "You can't become the next Raikage, because that's gonna be me."

Yukai stares at her with a smile, happy to be reminded of this rivalry. Inoue, glad to see a friendly foreign team, looks at Ru who didn't say a word until now.

"What about you?" she asks him. "Do you also want to become Raikage?"

Ru just shrugs his shoulders, without answering. He doesn't understand the appeal of this dream. Actually, the situation of being in the middle of this team makes him even doubt any ambition he may have. At this point, he doesn't even know if he'll stay a shinobi.

Aoki's team then hear their names being called, and leave Konoha's Team 1 alone.

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Meanwhile, in the crowd of ninjas waiting to be called, Shinki is with his squad. He is inspecting a wide container that he brought with him for this part. Shakiro, his teammate, curiously looks at him opening the large vase.

"What is this thing?" he asks.

"A gift from my father." says Shinki. "It contains what I need to make the best use of my Kekkei Genkai."

He infuses his chakra inside the container and uses his Jiton to control what it contains. A cloud of black powder that he controls and shapes.

"Is this…?" asks Shakiro, who finds it similar to something else.

"Satetsu, Iron Sand." tells Shinki as he puts it as a mantle around him. "The weapon of the 3rd Kazekage himself."

Metal Lee and Namonaki, sitting close to Shinki's team, see him put on this sand mantle and make frightened faces.

"So… Some dude is really gonna use a Kage's weapon to fight a bunch of genins…" mocks Rebekka, who doesn't take it seriously.

She then notices Mira Fuhatsu sitting quietly near her teammates with earbuds on. Rebekka stands up and discreetly goes to the girl's back. Once she's close enough, she catches both her earbuds and tries to pull them out. But, to her surprise, Mira raises her hands and catches both hers before she can lay them on her ears.

"I heard you coming." says the Suna-nin.

"The hell? How? Don't you have music on?" asks Rebekka, startled.

"Yes I do. It's just that I could also hear your steps. You weren't sneaky enough."

"Really, so what are you listening to?"

Mira hesitates a moment, unsettled by this girl's chill, and then takes off her earbuds by herself. She turns around and puts them in Rebekka's ears to let her listen. The Konoha-nin tries not to be bothered by the very low sound level and focuses to hear.

"What's that, desert folk music?" she wonders. "Also your sound is way too low."

"Too low for you. If I set it higher it'll be too loud for me."

"And? Don't you like it loud?"

Their discussion is also interrupted by names being called.

"Team Kankuro: Sabaku no Shinki, Shakiro Araya and Mira Fuhatsu." says Tenten. "And Team Mizuno: Mariko Uchida, Mio, and Teru Uchiha."

Mira takes back her earbuds and leaves with her team, but not without waving goodbye at Rebekka. Metal Lee, upon hearing the names that were just called, hurries to stand up and look around.

"Teru?" he says. "Teru is here?"

"Lee!" he hears someone yell. Behind him, he sees Teru approach with his teammates, on the way to the doors.

"Oh, Teru!" Lee exclaims as he runs toward his friend but stops, realizing that Teru's name just being called means he can't stop to chat. "Let's see each other after this part of the exam."

"Sure!" yells Teru who hurries to follow his team and just passes by to clap in Metal's hand.

"So he's one of your friends from Konoha, is it?" asks Mio.

"Yes. I'll introduce you to each other later. First, let's get done with this maze." he confidently says.

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The participants are being called to get to their doors one after another until everyone stands in front of his entrance and gets his scrolls. Still waiting to be called, Kawaki stands at ease with all the participants of Hikari sitting behind him. He hears the teams of his village getting called one after another, and sees the crowd in his back shrink while he quietly remains analyzing the other participants.

Next to him, his two teammates stand up and get by his side. Mikitaka, the white haired, red eyed mercenary invited by Meinu, holds his cheek on which he now has the same symbol that Kawaki has on the shoulder.

"So what's our plan for this one?" he asks. "Do we still have to act like weak asses?"

"We… At least I shouldn't reveal my abilities to anyone." responds Kawaki. "Avoiding encounters with other teams would be good. So I propose we go after the beast with the golden scroll."

"Great idea, captain." says Iwabe Yogu, the third member of Kawaki's squad. "This will make it more interesting than the written thing."

Iwabe is a brown young man with black eyes and red hair shaved on the sides and back. He has a single strand going down his face between his two eyes, and a teenage mustache. Kawaki looks at him, with an authoritarian face, and speaks.

"You should also hide your jutsu, Iwabe." he says, just as he hears a particular name being called.

"Team 1: Boruto Hyuga, Inoue Yamanaka, Izuna Uchiha." calls Sagan.

"Izuna Uchiha?…" Kawaki wonders at first before hearing the last name. "Oshio, looks like your father's other son is here too."

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As planned, 15 minutes after the instructions were given, every team had its scrolls and was ready to enter the maze. Tenten, after leaving a little time for suspense and silence, raises a paper note she holds in her hand.

"See you all in two days. Good Luck!" she says as she unseals a firework blast from the seal, marking the beginning of the second part of this exam. All the young ninjas rush in through their door and are met with the endless hallways and creatures of the Labyrinth.

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As the survival test begins, the 7th Hokage is in the Tsuchikage's office with the organizers of the exam and Kurotsuchi. He is intrigued by the condition of this part's course.

"So there is no equipment or means to sense inside the maze?" he asks. "How do we make sure nothing bad happens then?"

"We had the same worries, but Lady Tsuchikage remains confident about this." say Temari.

"Keep it cool guys." says Kurotsuchi, who's leaning back on her seat with her feet on the desk. "It makes it all just a bit spicier. And why are you even freaking out? I heard that you don't even accompany your squad on missions, Hokage. Why wouldn't they be fine now?"

"I never participate in their missions, but I always look over them from a distance." answers Naruto. "But anyway, I'm not worried about my kids specifically. I'm worried for all of them. There's some sort of armored bull that's out of league for a regular chunin team inside there."

"It's one of Akatsuchi's personal summoning beasts." answers the Tsuchikage, still acting unworried. "It was living hidden in a cave on our highest peak, which is also the highest in the world, before he found it. There's plenty of such impressive creatures in the wild. There's also the Ryuchido where a tribe of giant sage snakes live somewhere in the mountain chain."

"I heard plenty of monsters also are in Shin no Kuni." comments Temari. "There's giant winged lizards, giant squids, and giant wolves. Lots of impressive animals."

"There's giant squids in the land of Lightning too, near the Genbu island, which is a giant turtle." says Shikamaru. "There are actually many ninja animal hidden villages across the world. I know of a feline village in the land of Fire, and a monkey village led by Enma, the summoning of the Sarutobi's leader. There once was a rivalry between these two but not anymore."

"Let's not forget the Biju!" exclaims Kurotsuchi. "I actually have 2 of them living in this land. I don't think anything surpasses them in terms of size."

"Actually, I saw Naruto fight a mysterious dragon long ago." answers the Nara. "An actual hundreds meter long black dragon. It was so powerful it could manipulate weather and natural energy. There's still a giant hole on Mount Sojo, pierced by one of this thing's strikes. Its chakra was completely undetectable, even for Naruto."

The Hokage, having understood that the topic of discussion irreversibly changed, walks around and tries to find something interesting in this office, unwilling to take part in the new conversation.

"Maybe with your new sage mode, you'd be able to sense it…" says Shikamaru. "It was no ordinary creature, but a beast summoned and controlled by Katashiki Otsutsuki."

"An Otsutsuki dragon?" asks Kurotsuchi. "Does it have any connection with the Dragon Sage mentioned by Momoshiki Otsutsuki?"

"Wait a minute…" says Temari, adding more confusion to this discussion. "Isn't Sakura Uchiha and the 5th Hokage's summoning slug actually 10 times taller than we think?"

"Katsuyu?" says Shikamaru. "I think yes. Its real body lies in the Shikkotsu forest and no one has enough chakra to summon it."

"Hokage,…" Kurotsuchi says to get Naruto's attention. "You're friends with all the Biju, and also with the toads of Mount Myoboku. So you probably know lots about the great fauna, don't you?"

Naruto, who isn't paying attention to what's being said at all, picks up a letter that lies on a shelf next to the desk. He quickly reads through and is amused by its corny content and vocabulary. He then checks the signature.

"I'm sure I've seen this name before, but I don't remember where." he says. "Say, Tsuchikage, who is Daisuke again?"

The Tsuchikage almost falls off her chair and turns all red out of embarrassment. She stands up with her hand now enclosed in a reinforced Doton glove and punches the Hokage violently. Naruto, knowing he must have tackled her, lets her hit him and flies through the wall, leaving him to fall down on the village.

Before he does, he stops mid air and quickly comes back to the office unharmed. He lays the letter back on the shelf and looks at the hole in the wall.

"I hope the walls of this Labyrinth are stronger than this." he says, to bring back the topic of the exam.

"Don't worry about this." says Shikamaru. "You'd need physical strength like that of Lady Tsunade or the 4th Raikage to get through."

Suddenly, the Hokage makes a surprised face and then squints his eyes, which does not go unnoticed by the Tsuchikage and Shikamaru. He explains what just happened.

"One of the clones from the office just disappeared, which brought to my mind Shino's mission report."

"Oh, so how did it go?" asks Temari, aware that her former sensei Baki also went on this mission.

"They didn't meet the new sovereign. However, they found a few clues on him. A young man called Oshio, who is not the heir of Gozen Tomoe. Still, he's an ally of her clan."

"And? Is he also an ally to us?" asks Shikamaru.

"Here's the problem. It's hard to tell. They didn't meet him but one of his associates. And he was a servant of Sojobo 5 years ago."

"… But Sojobo's dead for now." Shikamaru theorizes. "This Oshio must have more humane politics."

"Indeed. He's apparently worshiped as a savior, a god, by the people."

"So just like you across the Union…" comments Kurotsuchi.

"A god? Nah! Call me a hero if you want. But I'm no god. There ain't no gods among ninjas." says Naruto embarrassed by these praises. "Whatever, it just makes me eager to meet this Oshio. Just as much as I want to meet Buto Isshin of Ame again."

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In the maze, after the first hours of this exam, The few most efficient teams already found the exit but didn't leave yet because they still need to collect other scrolls. Many teams already crossed paths with monsters and other participants. Some left traces on their path to make sure not to get lost. A few of them came across human remains, just as they were told they would.

Deep in the ways of this maze, Aoki with her teammates Yukai and Ru are calmly walking. They didn't find the exit for now, but already came across a team that they easily defeated and robbed off their scrolls. They're following small light orbs that Yukai places at each corner to make sure they don't get lost.

"Should we collect more scrolls or just find the exit?" asks Ru to his teammates.

"We're not just any genin team." says Aoki, staying careful and using her sensory abilities to inspect the surroundings. "Leaving with just 2 scrolls each would be lame. We have to get more."

"We still have to look for the exit though…" says Yukai who takes a wide step further and reaches a corner where he leaves another light orb.

"… Uh?" exclaims Aoki who now senses a chakra just around the corner on Yukai's right. "Someone is there!"

Yukai turns around by the left clumsily, inadvertently preventing himself from noticing the enemy on the right, and looks to Aoki, confused by this sentence. He is suddenly struck by a water stream propelling him through the hall. Aoki and Ru run to see who is responsible for this. Yukai, crushed in a wall, shakes his head.

"Did not see that coming." he says, despite having been warned by his teammate.

Aoki sees Jinbei, the Kiri-nin who just used this Suiton jutsu standing with his two teammates Kaori and Yukiko behind him. Ru is the first to engage in combat by performing a few hand seals.

Raiton – Denki Shuriken

A few shurikens made of lightning appear in his hands and he throws them toward the team, 3 per target. Being up close compared to the others, Jinbei is struck by the supersonic projectiles, but Kaori and Yukiko dodge them by leaping aside. Ru makes a lightning staff and runs forward to knock Jinbei out of the way. As he does so, Aoki throws her jutsu to the two Kiri girls.

Ranton – Denki Mizudama (Electric Waterball)

She throws a water ball toward the two girls, but Yukiko steps forward and calmly prepares to get hit in her open hand that she raises toward the ball. When it hits, the ball simply evaporates, due to her Shakuton that she uses to vaporize any liquid almost instantly. However, Aoki is more clever than they expected. This water ball has a lightning bolt enclosed and hidden inside that is freed by the water's evaporation.

The released electricity strikes Yukiko and knocks her away. Kaori, being the last standing, hurries forward to reach the enemies. Ru, still holding his electric staff, also goes to her. When they both collide, Kaori dodges the Kumo-nin's weapon by getting on her knees and slams her fist into the ground.

Bakuton – Jiraiken

The impact between her hand and the ground causes an explosion that pushes Ru away, causing him to crash in the ceiling and then fall back to the ground. Kaori, as a user of this Kekkei Genkai, is totally unaffected by the explosion and remains steady on her knees. However, before she can notice, Aoki jumps through the smoke lifted by the blast with her knee forward.

Flying Knee

She hits Kaori right in the face with her knee and sends her fluttering away to Yukiko. Yukai, who just now gets out of the wall he was sent into, looks forward to seeing their opponents and notices the face of one of the girls Aoki is menacingly walking toward.

"It was foolish of you to dare cross paths with the daughter of the Raikage." brags Aoki. "Now I'll have to take your scrolls."

The two girls, not yet ready to give up, try to stand up. The Kumo-nin, with no intention to hold back, coats her arm in lightning and clenches her fist. As she gets ready to jump forward, she's surprised by her teammate getting in the way. Yukai is standing between Aoki and the Kiri-nins, as a barrier to stop her.

"What are you doing?" she asks.

"We're not robbing them." he says. "I won't let you."

"What's up with you? They attacked us first."

"Doesn't matter. This girl… I recognize her." he says while looking back to see Yukiko. "Without her, I wouldn't have gotten the answer to the previous test. Without her, we'd be in Kumo crying about it."

Aoki eases herself. She already had such arguments with Yukai and she knows how pointless it would be to reason with him. Yukai turns around and gets closer to Yukiko and Kaori.

"You, I don't know your name, but without you, I wouldn't have passed the first part. As a way to thank you, we let you go."

"You're the boy who leaked the answer to the first test…" Yukiko confusingly notices. "I should thank you on my friends' behalf. Without you, I had no way to give them the answer."

"Don't thank me for this. It wasn't fully intentional." says Yukai.

Yukiko makes a flattered face, nicely surprised by this boy's humility. Yukai then looks at Aoki.

"We should look for the exit." he says.

"Um… We found it." says Kaori. "It's actually just straight forward this way. Go right every time you need to and you'll find it."

Aoki raises both her eyebrows, glad about this help. Behind her, Ru and Jinbei stand up. She, acting as the leader of her team, gets behind Kaori and follows her advice silently, leaving them to go on peacefully with their exam.

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At the same time, Shinki and his team are at another end of the maze. Mira Fuhatsu is using a hair that she lengthens as much as possible with a Hair manipulation jutsu to mark their way and not get lost. They already encountered many creatures that they took down or ran away from, and found a squad that they robbed from their scrolls.

Far behind them, Maroi, Narui and Saeko, who are just out of a second fight, are roaming around. Their first encounter got them to lose 2 of their scrolls, but a second encounter got them new ones. They each have one scroll only, and only Saeko still has her original.

As they run around hopelessly, Saeko takes care of leaving marks in the soil with Doton to mark their way. While doing so, she notices a blond hair that seems to draw a path on the ground. The hair of Mira.

"Look at that, girls." she says as she pulls it from the ground. "What should I do about this?"

"Pull on it." says Narui. "Someone's probably on the other end. We'll either get this person closer to us alone by pulling it, or separate them from their landmark."

Saeko shrugs her shoulders and pulls on the hair as hard as she can, holding it firmly.

On the other end, Mira has her hair ripped off her head and exclaims in surprise. Shinki and Shakiro look behind to see the hair going down the path backwards.

Kugutsu no Jutsu

Shakiro hurries to connect a chakra thread to the fleeing hair in order to grab and pull back on it. Shinki holds on the hair with a limb he shapes with his iron sand and, with all his strength, brings the hair toward them. Strengthened by the chakra flow through it, the hair doesn't break.

On the other end again, Saeko is suddenly lifted up and brought toward the Suna team unwillingly as she firmly holds the hair. Narui and Maroi panic and try to follow her, but she flies off too fast for them to track. Saeko has the right idea to let go of the strand before being brought to Shinki, but ends up alone in the middle of the maze, lost and alone. Narui and Maroi run randomly through the many paths to find their friend but only get more lost and further away.

Alone in the maze, Saeko stands up and decides to keep going alone.

"No choice." she says to herself. "I'll just keep placing our stone marks on my way. Maybe Maroi and Narui will stumble upon them and find me."

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Meanwhile, Boruto with Izuna and Inoue are running through another part of this giant brain teaser. The team is calmly following Boruto who leads them through with his Byakugan. They didn't meet any team until now and just wander around to figure the ground out.

As they go around. Boruto suddenly stops, as if he noticed something important. Inoue and Izuna wait for him to explain.

"There's holes in the walls forward." he says, with a confused voice.

"What? How? Who's strong enough to destroy these?" asks Izuna, once again putting his own strength in doubt.

A few meters forward, they find the said hole and to their surprise, discover a chain of cavities dug in the walls drawing an easy path through the maze. They all look at each other and gulp down their dry saliva, worried about what they might find on this path. Curious about who could be responsible for this, Boruto goes forward. Inoue and Izuna hesitatingly follow.

"There's like dozens of walls pierced on this path. Who has the strength to go through so easily?" asks Inoue.

"I think I know who." says Izuna who stops and points forward to show something.

Through one of the holes they can see the head of a giant red hairy bull with wide silver horns. This creature, judging by its size and look, has to be the one who holds the golden scroll. Boruto smiles, thinking he gets a chance to collect this prize, but stops when he hears Inoue's remark.

"I don't feel any of its chakra. I don't feel it at all." she says. "Why isn't it moving?"

"And why is its head on ground level?" adds Izuna.

Boruto runs forward to the head and the team discovers a horrifying scene. Not only do they find out the head of the creature is actually lying there separated from its body, but they also find the said body blasted and spread around. Pieces of guts, muscles, stone armor and limbs of the giant bull are lying all around, upholstered against the walls and ceiling as if a supersonic train just ran through the creature.

Hesitatingly walking through these, they suppose the responsible is the same as the one who pierced the walls. But who could have such strength? Suddenly, Boruto senses a chakra that even Inoue can't detect. He gets startled and runs in a specific direction. Inoue and Izuna follow him to prevent the team from spreading around. When he reaches the place where he just sensed this, he finds 3 people. A white haired man with a tattoo on his face wearing a black uniform. A brown skinned boy with red hair. And a tall young man with a brown mohawk-like mullet haircut.

This last person has the same symbol tattooed on the white haired one's face, but on his right shoulder. When Boruto sees him, he also notices a red tattoo mark that was spread on his left arm disappearing into his hand. Now, for an unknown reason, can easily sense the chakra of this man that she couldn't detect a second ago. She arrives with Izuna behind Boruto and sees Kawaki's squad who didn't notice them until now, at least they think.

"Iwabe, did the kids behind me notice my mark?" the foe team's leader asks his teammate.

Iwabe, who had not noticed them, sees the three Konoha-nin standing in their way.

"Uh? I-I Don't know." he says.

Mikitaka turns around, looks at the team too, and makes an astonished face.

"Is this bad or good?" he asks. "Kawaki, it's the Hokage's brat."

Kawaki turns around and sees Team 1 stepping back. He looks at them and analyzes their faces. The one in the lead looks a lot like Naruto Uzumaki indeed. He doesn't know anything about the girl on the right, but the guy on the left… Black hair with pink strands, black eyes… It has to be Izuna Uchiha.

"Oshio… Sorry, I stumbled upon your…" he starts to say, while looking at the mitsudomoe tattoo on his shoulder.

"What is he saying?" asks Inoue.

Izuna and Boruto don't answer. They just make terrified faces since they noticed what this man is holding in his right hand. Inoue, not getting an answer, follows their gaze and sees it too. The golden scroll. This man, Kawaki, is who must have destroyed that Jonin level giant bull and pierced through all these indestructible walls.

This person holds in his hand the most valuable prize of this exam. Izuna doesn't say anything. He just wished he had to fight the bull instead. Inoue just waits to know if her teammates will decide to run away like she wants to or not. Unfortunately for her, Boruto didn't measure the danger like she did.

He takes a step forward, closer to this menacing squad. The three men all turn around to face him and wait for what he has to say. Boruto tries not to be intimidated. As he tries to focus on something else than their looks, he realizes that the chakra he felt coming from Kawaki isn't as tremendous as it seemed earlier anymore.. Out of curiosity and determination, he takes one more step forward.

"Guys, We'll have to take this golden scroll from you." he firmly proclaims, engaging his teammates in this battle with him.

Inoue and Izuna look at each other again, breathe in together and accept their friend's decision. They go to stand next to him. Iwabe makes a confused face. Mikitaka starts grinning out loud. Kawaki, after a short silence, sighs.

"I would have let you go. You had a choice, boy." he says to Boruto. "And you made it wrong."

.

End of Chapter 74 – Next Chapter: A real fight