Karin was stunned for a moment. She couldn’t believe that someone would actually like her hair. For the longest time, she had been bullied for the color of her hair.

It’s just that she never knew that they were just jealous of her hair color.

That red hair truly dazzled her beauty. It’s just that Karin never understood it. So, hearing this from the mouth of someone who just saved her, it caught her off guard.

She lowered her head as she bit her lips, tears falling down her eyes.

Menma saw this but he didn’t say a word. After all, she needed to realize this on her own.

As they continued to walk for a while, Menma noticed someone. He raised his head and saw a young man standing on the branch of a tree.

“It’s you!”

Menma showed a surprised expression on his face

“And, I am surprised to find you here.” The person standing on the branch of a tree was none other than Sasuke. After talking, he jumped down from the branch and stood in front of Menma.

“I always wanted to battle you after you returned. Now is the perfect chance.” Sasuke excitedly revealed his Sharingan and clenched his fist as he spoke.

Hearing his words, Menma frowned and shook his head.

“Right now, we don’t have to fight. Not to mention, there is a final round where you can have a one-on-one battle against each other. So, let’s wait till then!”

“No, I can’t wait.” Sasuke’s body was trembling as he was asking for the battle. He continued to say “In the final round, I will fight against Naruto. So, I have to defeat you right now before I can face Naruto.”

Menma frowned even more but he quickly smiled and asked.

“So, are you saying that without defeating me you can’t defeat Naruto?”

Suddenly, a cold look appeared on his face. Sasuke clenched his fist and said.

“Yes, Naruto told me that only you are his rival. I won’t accept that. He is the person that I have accepted as my rival. So, I must defeat you to show him that only I can be his rival.”

Menma suddenly lost his smile and a dangerous look appeared in his eyes.

“Are you telling me that you want to fight me just because Naruto told you that I am his rival?”

Sasuke’s Sharingan started spinning and three Tomoe appeared in his eyes.

Menma’s expression turned cold as he asked.

“Then, haven’t you considered that the battle between us might attract more trouble from other villages Shinobi, or even affect Naruto and Sakura?”

“It doesn’t matter. Naruto is powerful enough to pass this exam by himself. And, I am going to defeat you before anyone arrives here. Menma, I have successfully unlocked Three Tomoe Sharingan. You can’t defeat me anymore.”

Sasuke shook his head and immediately formed hand signs. He jumped in the air and released a hot breath out of his mouth, followed by a massive fireball.

[Fire Style- Great Fireball Jutsu]

The span of this fireball was at least ten meters wide. It seemed like after two years, Sasuke has grown a lot stronger. But, this made Menma unhappier.

Just next to him was Karin. And, unlike him, she wasn’t strong enough to face such Ninjutsu.

Menma quickly made a hand sign and released cold breath out of his mouth, followed by a massive spray of water, forming a giant wall in front of him.

[Water style- Water Wall]

Bang!

“Karin, stay far from this battle.” Menma turned his head at Karin and quickly shouted.

Karin who was still in a state of shock trembled upon hearing his words.

“Menma, you are distracted.”

Sasuke’s voice came from the massive clouds of smoke. The collision of Fire and Water created enough smoke to cover the entire area.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Three massive shurikens moved out of the smoke and rushed toward him. Seeing this, Menma quickly took out his Kunai and struck them. With the Chakra Enhanced Strength, he managed to push away those Shurikens but one of them suddenly transformed into Sasuke.

[Fire Style- Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu]

A volley of small fireballs rushed toward Menma. Seeing these fireballs, Menma quickly slammed his hands on the ground and massive walls of earth emerged.

[Earth Style- Earth Wall]

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Suddenly, Menma sensed something behind him. The sound of thousand birds chirping rang from behind.

“Menma, I told you I will end this battle quickly.”

It turned out that Sasuke who used the previous attack was just a Shadow and using Shuriken as a distraction, he came behind Menma, preparing his attacks.

And, it was really fast. He managed to form Chidori in a matter of seconds. Sasuke’s speed was fast he slammed his Chidori from behind. His Sharingan was capturing every single movement of Menma so he was sure that it would work.

“No!”

Karin’s shouted from behind with horror in her eyes.

[Chidori]

Bang!

Sasuke’s Chidori struck Menma but suddenly, a horror look appeared in Sasuke’s eyes. Because the next second, Menma turned into a puff of smoke and disappeared.

“Sasuke, I thought I was helping you get stronger, slowly changing your perspective of others. But, it seems like something can’t be changed. Of course, I won’t admit defeat right now.”

“So, I have to take an extreme method to make you understand this.”

Menma’s voice rang from behind. Before Sasuke could turn around, Menma had already thrown a punch. His fist struck Sasuke on his chest and his body flew like a cannonball.

Bang!

He struck the tree and fell to the ground, coughing out blood.

[Fire Style- Fire Bullet Jutsu]

Menma raised his hands and sharp fire bullets emerged from his fingertips. Unlike before, he didn’t make any seal at all.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Although Sasuke was injured, he could still feel the heat of the fire bullets. He raised his eyes and immediately formed a few hand signs.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Whoosh!

As soon as they struck him, the white smoke burst out and a few seconds later, there was a piece of wood burned by those fire bullets.

Menma had already seen him using Substitute Jutsu so he quickly decided to counter after finding him. But, Sasuke was quite good at hiding. Until he made a single move, Menma couldn’t find him that easily.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Suddenly, several small electric currents in the shape of Senbon moved toward Menma from a certain direction.

[Chidori Senbon]

These were extremely fast and precise attacks that could only be done with the help of Three Tomoe Sharingan.

[Wind Style- Great Breakthrough]

Menma swung his arm and a massive hurricane dashed toward those Senbons at an incredible speed. Wind was the nemesis of Lightning so the massive hurricane easily destroyed all of those Senbons.

‘Damn it! He is doing it again. He can use Ninjutsu without forming any seals. How is it even possible? Seals are necessary to extract Chakra in order to form a Ninjutsu.’

Sasuke used his Sharingan to capture every single movement of Menma’s Chakra. And, this shocked him. Whenever Menma uses the flow of his arms to perform a certain Ninjutsu, he didn’t require any kind of seals.

And, more importantly, the flow of Chakra was still the same whenever certain seals are used.

While Sasuke was shocked by it, Menma immediately understood Sasuke’s position and his body suddenly disappeared.

This caught Sasuke’s attention.

‘Damn it! Its Body Flicker Jutsu. Once again, he did without any hand signs.’

Unfortunately, he was wrong. This wasn’t Body Flicker Jutsu but rather Shave. It was an extremely powerful Taijutsu that allowed him to strike the ground ten times in less than a second to move at the speed of sound.

With this move, he instantly appeared behind Sasuke. Although this speed caught him off guard, Sasuke had the preparation of his own. He instantly turned around and blue lightning appeared on his hand.

There was no mercy on his move. There was a jealous expression on his face. And, without any trace of guilt, he used one of his strongest attacks.

But, he didn’t notice a Kunai behind him. The moment he released a sharp line of a lightning bolt, Menma’s figure instantly disappeared in front of him.

[Flying Thunder God- Second Stage]

[Heaven Breaking Fist]

Menma appeared behind Sasuke. The Chakra violently flowed through his arms and condensed on his fist. He swung his arm and his fist struck Sasuke’s back.

Bang!

A symbol appeared on his back while Sasuke flew toward the ground with extreme speed. There was a crack on his back as well.

Bang!

“Ahhhhh”

Sasuke fell on the ground heavily while coughing out blood and screaming in pain. Menma instantly disappeared and appeared above him. Although there was no killing intent in his eyes, he still lifted his feet and condensed Chakra into his feet.

Just when he tried to stomp Sasuke’s back, a figure dashed toward him and caught Sasuke.

Bang!