RWWOKS Chapter 161

After sending the boy flying, the woman quickly followed up with a series of shots from her crossbow, launching three arrows in succession.

Sasuke, unable to use his chakra, found his taijutsu greatly weakened, and he couldn’t even activate his Sharingan. Fortunately, his combat instincts were sharp. Using the strength in his core, he twisted his body just in time, barely avoiding the sharp arrows.

He landed lightly, but the opponent was already upon him with a sliding tackle, knocking his left foot off balance. Using her hand to prop herself up, the woman executed a high-level spinning kick.

Poor Sasuke, like a sandbag, was kicked several times in a row before finally getting hit by one of her arrows in his left shoulder.

As the boy lay on the ground in pain, the female reincarnator loaded another arrow and smiled, “What’s the matter, little brother? Don’t like women who take charge?”

With a provocative glance upward, her words angered both Naruto and Sakura.

“Sasuke, what are you doing? Get up and fight back!” Naruto shouted in frustration.

Hearing his friend’s cry, Sasuke gritted his teeth and forced himself to stand. It’s not like he didn’t *want* to fight back! If only he could activate his Sharingan, he wouldn’t have been hit so easily by her taijutsu.

Grimacing in pain as he clutched his neck, Sasuke once again felt the cursed seal pulsing. It was as if it was whispering to him, urging him to use its power to defeat any enemy.

Unlike his fight with Yoroi Akado, this reincarnator had superior abilities across the board. This wasn’t someone he could take down easily. If he didn’t want to lose here, borrowing the power of the curse mark was his only option.

“You forced my hand,” Sasuke murmured, making up his mind. When he opened his eyes again, the hesitation from before had vanished.

Purple chakra surged from his body, the immense power coursing through him was intoxicating.

In an instant, he was in front of the woman. Without any need for fancy moves, Curse Mark Sasuke delivered a single punch that sent her three feet into the air.

With the woman looking at him in disbelief, Sasuke followed up with a flurry of punches and kicks, knocking her around so forcefully that she couldn’t even touch the ground.

With his overwhelming strength, Sasuke forced the woman to admit defeat in just a few exchanges.

Seeing this, Orochimaru, who had been quietly watching from the crowd, couldn’t help but smile.

“Excellent, it seems Sasuke is adapting well. Perhaps it’s time to bring him over sooner.”

The match ended in an unexpected way, and all eyes in the arena were now fixed on Sasuke Uchiha.

“It looks like the last Uchiha is stronger than we thought,” someone muttered in awe.

Many had assumed that Sasuke’s Sharingan would eventually be taken by someone else. But after seeing this, no one was confident enough to say they could defeat him in a direct fight.

Little did they know, Sasuke hadn’t even reached his full potential in the Chunin Exams yet. Once he mastered the Chidori and achieved Lee’s speed, he could dominate even Gaara. With the added power of the curse mark, he could even hold his own against Naruto’s Nine-Tails form. If he awakened the Three Tomoe Sharingan, he might just claim the title of the strongest Genin.

With Orochimaru and Kakashi watching over him, hunting Sasuke down would be more difficult than killing a Kage-level ninja.

The crowd was unusually quiet as the side matches continued, with familiar characters stepping up one by one and easily taking down their opponents. Soon, it was Fang Bo’s teammate’s turn.

“Watch me win this,” Guren said with a confident smile as she leaped into the arena without even waiting for her opponent to be announced.

“Go get ’em, sis!” Yaoyao cheered, waving her hands excitedly. She hoped they could all make it through this together.

In her last match, Yaoyao had luckily gone up against a healer. Even though the opponent had many impressive techniques and plenty of scrolls, Yaoyao had no shortage of tools herself. After a long, boring battle of attrition, she managed to scrape by and pass the first round.

Whether she could keep up this luck in the next fight was still up in the air.

Guren was strong, and her Crystal Release techniques were devastating. But she happened to be matched up against one of the acknowledged strongest reincarnators.

“Sorry,” Yordle said with a nod toward Fang Bo as he jumped into the ring to face Guren.

The fight was intense. Guren’s massive crystal formations filled the entire arena. But in the end, Yordle unleashed his hidden trump card, “Ghost Hand,” delivering a powerful slash that left Guren seriously injured and depleted of chakra.

After winning his match, Yordle ignored everyone and headed to the rest area to recover.

Soon after, Gaara entered the ring and casually killed a reincarnator.

Three seconds to surrender? That wasn’t an option. Either you surrendered at the start, or you got crushed into a bloody pulp by his sand.

One by one, the top-tier fighters took the stage, as did the members of Konoha’s “Rookie 12.” However, most of the rookies didn’t stand a chance against the reincarnators.

If it hadn’t been for the constant interventions from the Jonin instructors, it’s doubtful many of the Rookie 12 would have survived.

After about two hours, the first elimination round was over, wiping out a large portion of the reincarnators.

As for the main characters, Gaara, Sasuke, Naruto, Neji Hyuga, Lee, Temari, Kankuro, and Shikamaru Nara had all made it through.

The rest, including the formidable Shino Aburame, were eliminated.

But the first round was just the warm-up. The second round, after a brief rest, would be the real challenge.

After an hour’s break, Moonlight Guy announced the start of the second round.

The first match? The Sea Fighter “Cang Yue” versus the prodigy Neji Hyuga.

This immediately piqued Fang Bo’s interest.

Seeing the “Scales of the Sea Fighter” armor in person, he felt a mix of emotions. He hadn’t expected to encounter such high-level gear so soon.

However, as the battle unfolded, he realized his assumptions were off.

Just like Yordle’s earlier intel, Cang Yue’s armor was one of the lowest-grade sets in the Sea Fighter’s arsenal, not even possessing a guardian constellation. Otherwise, his stats wouldn’t have allowed him to wear it.

The proof? Neji’s Gentle Fist was able to inflict significant damage on it.

“It can’t even defend against Gentle Fist?” Fang Bo was a bit disappointed.

He had thought about trying to take the armor for himself during the break, but now it seemed like the Scaled Armor wasn’t even as good as his Memory Armor.

“I guess I don’t need it after all.”

Just as it seemed the fight would end with Cang Yue’s defeat, the Sea Fighter suddenly powered up mid-battle.

The armor shimmered with a radiant glow, and to everyone’s surprise, Neji’s Gentle Fist was no longer effective.

Though the armor was underwhelming, it still had some hidden tricks.

As soon as Cang Yue unleashed his special move, the effect was immediate and unexpected.

Neji’s Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms didn’t cause any damage and instead gave his opponent the chance to charge up a powerful attack.

“Achoo!”

“Damn, why did it suddenly get so cold?!”

As Cang Yue prepared his ultimate move, the temperature in the arena suddenly dropped to freezing levels. Frost even began to form on Neji’s arms. Just as Neji tried to retreat, his opponent delivered a devastating punch.

**Aurora Blast!**

A freezing gust of air swept through the entire arena, instantly engulfing the area.

By the time Might Guy realized what had happened, Neji had already turned into an ice sculpture.

“Neji!” Guy, careful not to damage his frozen student, hesitated to move.

Eventually, the medical-nin rushed over to assess the situation, finally managing to free Neji from the ice and begin treatment.

As they carried Neji away, a solemn Moonlight Guy announced Cang Yue’s victory.

From his spot on the sidelines, Fang Bo watched the frost cling to the walls. He extended his hand to touch the icy surface, and only after feeling the warmth of his fingers did the ice begin to melt.

“Impressive power,” he remarked, nodding in approval.

The conversations around him provided some answers to his questions.

“That guy’s pretty strong.”

“Yeah, his armor probably has some sort of damage immunity.”

“Wait, doesn’t that make him invincible?”

“Not quite. Those kinds of abilities usually have limits—like they can only block damage below a certain threshold or for a limited time.”

“Got it. So the armor gives him a temporary defense boost.”

“Exactly.”

After listening to the discussions, Fang Bo pieced together the mystery behind Cang Yue’s power. If they ever faced each other in the future, he would need to come up with an effective strategy.

Thinking about the attributes of Cang Yue’s armor, Fang Bo couldn’t help but reflect, “Looks like I’m not the only one stirring up trouble.”

If he could get his hands on high-level gear like the Memory Armor, then naturally, others could do the same.

With the strongest fighters from all five spaces gathered here, it was no surprise there were some who could break the norm.

Without such abilities, they wouldn’t have made it to the grand stage in the first place.

“I’ve really underestimated everyone,” Fang Bo reminded himself. He wasn’t invincible yet, and he needed to make the most of the upcoming break to maximize his gains; otherwise, his chances of winning it all were slim.

Amid the glistening frost, the next round of matches began.

When Yaoyao’s name appeared on the board, her eyes immediately filled with tears as she looked at Fang Bo.

Her opponent wasn’t just anyone—it was Jugo, the fighter Fang Bo had ranked as a top-tier threat.

Knowing Jugo’s strength, Yaoyao realized that even three of her wouldn’t stand a chance against him.

Seeing the teary-eyed girl next to him, Jugo unexpectedly showed a softer side. He patted Yaoyao on the head and then made a surprising announcement: “I forfeit.”

Jugo’s agreement with Fang Bo had been fulfilled once they reached the central tower. He had stayed around to see if they would end up matched against each other, perhaps even take out a couple of strong opponents.

But luck wasn’t on his side, and both of his matchups weren’t the ones he had hoped for.

Rather than continue, Jugo decided to let Yaoyao take the win.

When Moonlight Guy announced the result, Fang Bo glanced at the overjoyed Yaoyao. This short, adorable girl must have had some hidden charm to win the favor of Jugo, Guren, and even Karin, who had considered her a close friend before leaving.

Come to think of it, Fang Bo himself had a “Charisma” trait called “Artistic Aura.”

Most of the time, he simply forgot it was there, subconsciously overlooking it.

“Maybe it’s been working all along, and I just never noticed.”

By the time Fang Bo snapped out of his thoughts, the next fight was already underway.

The second round was packed with excitement. After the forfeit, the next match was sure to be highly anticipated.

“Finally, it’s my turn!”

Lee jumped over the railing, assuming his iconic Strong Fist stance.

And his opponent was…

**(To be continued)**

Series Navigation

<- PreviousNext ->