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It was finally time. Neji Hyuuga would pay for his crimes against his family member, and Naruto’s friend, in blood. Naruto put a booted foot up on a chair and tied it tight with jerking motions. He closed his eyes and closed his gloved hand. He needed to calm down.

After Temari’s actions against him, Naruto hadn’t had sexual intercourse with anyone, obviously distressing those he had. He tried to put up a false front, but he was sure Mikoto and Ayame saw through it. He had a lot of anger at himself for what happened.

He put that anger towards training, never really letting go of it. He would get his revenge, in time. While with a minor concussion and just waking up, he didn’t want her to be punished, he later decided that he did want her punished. Punished a more fitting way, but it would take some time.

Naruto grabbed the jacket and pulled it on, before tucking his mother’s sword along his back, glancing back at it. During his training, he learned the little secret the sword had, and couldn’t wait to see Neji’s face when Naruto pulled it out at a key moment.

Naruto tucked several scrolls into the pockets of his jacket and pants before running a hand through his hair. He heard a knock at his door and headed over to open it, showing Sasuke wearing a different outfit. This one was black, and with a high collar. Naruto mentally shrugged at it. “I’m ready to go.” He said as he walked out of his apartment and locked his door.

Sasuke watched Naruto for a bit. His mother would have never lived it down had he been late to the Chunin Exams and so he had decided to get back from his training with Kakashi late last night. He had been so exhausted; that he had woke much later than he usually had. Usually he was up at 6 to start training for the day, today he woke up at 10, giving him two hours to get ready for the Exams. “Is that Itachi’s old ANBU outfit?” Sasuke questioned. He could swear he saw it before.

Naruto looked down at it. “Yeah, you’re mom gave it to me. Said she was going to give it to you, but you weren’t there and she remembered that I was wearing that orange jump suit.” Naruto said before looking up to Sasuke.

Sasuke looked Naruto over in the outfit. “It looks good on you Dobe, more professional.” He said. They took to the rooftops, jumping across leisurely towards the Stadium.

Naruto glanced over, noticing a speed increase from Sasuke. It was… impressive, but he wondered how long Sasuke could keep it going for. It didn’t matter, if they fought, he would show Sasuke that he had come a long way since being the class Dobe.

They dropped down and approached the stadium at a steady pace, Naruto’s mind whirling through the plans he made. His sealing shot through the roof, and he was confident to say he knew more than Jiraiya did. The old hermit would deny it, but Naruto could tell by how Jiraiya got him working on a Fire Based Ninjutsu. That took him a while, but it would be worth it in the end.

Naruto almost let a small smirk spread across his lips. By the fourth week of training, Jiraiya had nothing else to teach him, and so they began to spar. Jiraiya was a great sparring partner. He didn’t pull his punches, but lowered himself to a skill level that could help Naruto.

Naruto paused at a hallway and summoned a Shadow Clone, handing the clone a small sealing tag. Naruto watched the clone take off, before heading into the waiting room. They still had some time before the match would start. Naruto felt his anger flare, seeing Temari, but he beat it down and just stayed away from her. Now wasn’t the time.

The Naruto clone headed up towards the Kage Box. There, he waited for Sarutobi to make an appearance before going over to the aged Sandaime. “Naruto-kun, shouldn’t you be down with the other contestants?” Sarutobi asked, sounding a little surprised to see the blonde

The clone gave a grin. “I’m just a Shadow Clone Ji-san, wanted to get a hug for good luck, see if that Hokage’s Wisdom can’t rub off on me.” Naruto said and headed over to the Sandaime.

Sarutobi shook his head at the blonde’s antics, and hugged the boy. He felt Naruto’s hands slide under the Hokage robes, and against the battle armor he was wearing. “Good luck down there Naruto-kun.”

“Thanks Ji-san.” The clone said, patting the Sandaime on the back, planting a Hirashin Marker on the Sandaime’s armor. “Stay safe up here.” The clone said before giving a bit of a salute and dispelling

Sarutobi wasn’t a fool, and knew the blonde put something on his armor. There had been a brief flare of chakra after all. He supposed it was possible, that the boy had learned his father’s signature technique. Jiraiya had told Sarutobi that Naruto had surpassed even the Sannin’s skill level in sealing already, plus there were a few Hirashin Kunai on display at the Shinobi Academy. If the boy was gifted enough, he could reverse engineer the Hirashin design and utilize it for his own abilities.

Even if it wasn’t a Hirashin Marker, it wasn’t hurting Sarutobi, and it was under his robes so it wouldn’t be noticed. He seriously doubted the blonde would do anything to hurt him and so decided to just leave it.

Naruto shook his head at how his clone planted the marker. Ah well, at least the clone was humorous. Naruto followed everyone else out to the center of the arena, noticing the new proctor. Naruto’s brows furrowed at the sight of the Jonin chewing on the senbon. He wondered what happened to the other proctor. Naruto stood at the left end of the line, beside Shino, and then it was Sasuke, Shikamaru, Neji, Temari, Kankuro, and then finally Gaara. He noticed that Dosu guy missing.

“My name is Genma; I’ll be the proctor for the finals. Here’s the new line up.” Genma said holding up a piece of paper. Dosu was missing, and so Shikamaru was facing off against Temari. Other than that, nothing changed. “Hold your heads up proudly guys, these people are here to see you.”

The Sandaime Hokage stood up, ending his brief talk with the Kazekage. “Welcome one and all to this year’s Chunin Exam Finals!” he called out, silencing the crowd with a Jutsu to make his voice louder and able to be heard by everyone. “This year we have a wonderful bunch, and we wish them all good luck in becoming Chunin. Let us begin!” sometimes, the best speeches were short and to the point.

Genma looked over the fighters. “First match, Hyuuga Neji versus Uzumaki Naruto, will the fighters stay and everyone else vacate the arena?”

Naruto stepped away from the group, and watched everyone but the Proctor and Neji walk away, heading up towards the Fighter’s Box. Naruto then moved to stand a ways in front of Neji and rolled his shoulders a bit. It was soon time.

“Rules are the same as the Preliminaries, got it?” Genma asked, watching the two nod. “What I say goes, instantly.” He said in a threatening tone. “Hyuuga Neji versus Uzumaki Naruto, ready? Begin!” he shouted, leaping back a little bit

Neji’s Byakugan flared to life, the bulges around the eyes acting almost as an intimidation factor. “You should give up Uzumaki-san, it is not your fate to win here today.” He said

Naruto reached behind his back with his left hand and drew his mother’s sword, the low ringing tone of the metal scraping against the sheath and ominous tone. Naruto put his right hand to the blade, and yanked it down feeling the cut through the leather of the gloves he wore as his head began to bleed. Tightening his right hand into a fist, he held it out at Neji. “I vowed to Win.” Naruto said with an emotionless tone as the blood dripped down to the ground. Naruto could feel the cut already healed, and channeled a bit of chakra into the seals that would auto repair the glove. Naruto realized that using his own blood was not as significant as using Hinata’s blood, but he wouldn’t make her bleed for such a thing.

Neji shifted his right foot forward, and held his hands up in the standard Gentle Fist stance. “Then you shall fall like the loser you are, like the Loser that Hinata-sama is.” Neji said.

Naruto held the sword in his hand, casually to his side as he reached into the Ninja pouch on his right hip. He pulled a single piece of paper out, and channeled chakra into it before throwing it at the advancing Hyuuga.

Neji paused in his advance and closed his eyes, protecting his precious Dojutsu. He didn’t need his eyes open to see because the Byakugan allowed him to continue seeing. The paper exploded, but not like an explosive would. His Byakugan shut off, as the flash bang tag went off, causing his eyes excruciating pain.

Naruto dashed in, having closed his eyes at the last second so they wouldn’t take the full brunt of the Flash Bang. Sure, he was seeing a few spots, but nothing like had he been watching with a Dojutsu active or something. Naruto swiped upwards, a splash of crimson being seen as Neji was cut from his right hip to his left shoulder. Nothing major, it was rather superficial and made Neji leap backwards away from the sword wielding blonde. Naruto stood there, watching as Neji’s tan coat got soaked in the Hyuuga’s blood.

Neji grit his teeth from the pain of the cut. It wasn’t deep, but it sure did hurt. He opened his eyes and risked his Byakugan once more. He hadn’t expected the Flash Bang, and he sure as hell wasn’t expecting the blonde to actually cause him bodily harm. He was expecting nothing more than a poseur with the sword.

“I won’t be using another Flash Bang.” Naruto told Neji. “I don’t have a need to. I’ve already cut you, and fighting will only irritate the wound. You’ll be slower, weaker, more cautious, and I’ll be giving you more cuts as the fight progresses. You can save face now, and give up, or we can continue.” Personally, Naruto wanted Neji to continue. He wanted to bleed the Hyuuga.

Neji’s face turned to a scowl. “I will not give up. It is Fated that I win today.” Neji said defiantly. He then rushed the blonde once more refusing to be put on the defensive by the blonde.

Naruto moved out of the initial strike, and swiped out with his sword. Neji leaned back from the swipe, and tried for a palm thrust at Naruto’s wrist. Naruto lashed out with a spin kick, slamming his foot into Neji’s side before he thrust the sword at Neji’s shoulder. Neji spun away from the thrust, and hit the sword with his hand, deflecting it to the side like he did with Tenten several times. He then moved in to disable the blonde’s arm. Naruto bent out of the way, and came up, taking a swipe once more at Neji, feeling contact as Naruto cut Neji on the side of the head, cutting the headband away and making the side of Neji’s face drip with blood.

Naruto looked at the revealed seal with barely hidden disgust. As a Seal Master, seeing such a thing was… Well quite frankly it was crude and barbaric, and disgusting to no end. Still, Naruto would not feel pity for the Hyuuga.

Neji reached up to the side of his face, wincing as his fingers touched the blood. He sunk his stance a little lower, and shifted his feet a bit. He knew the Uzumaki would not wait long. This battle would be over soon.

Naruto carefully removed the end cap to his sword and tucked it away, reaching for a kunai at the same time with the same hand. He flicked it at Neji, who pivoted to dodge it. Naruto then reached up to the guard of the sword and separated it, watching the four pointed star come apart without a problem. Naruto then snapped them back together, and flicked the Shuriken shaped guard at Neji who again pivoted.

Neji was unsure what the blonde was doing by removing these parts of his sword. But he stayed on his toes, expecting the worst to happen. He watched as Naruto began to unravel the fabric around the hilt of the sword. He was caught off guard by the blonde rushing forward, with the sword drawn back in a dual handed position. Neji dodged the left hand coming up, and knocked the blonde’s hand away. His eyes widened at the sight of the right hand coming up.

A standard battle ready Katana was about a quarter of an inch thick near the base of the blade, where it would be at its thickest. The sword Naruto’s mother used was a little over a half an inch thick at the base of the blade. Through a series of complex seals that Naruto was studying, the blade was able to stay together so long as the pieces of the hilt were still on the blade. When Naruto removed the cap, the guard, and the fabric around the hilt that had the majority of the seals woven into it, Naruto was capable of splitting the sword into two identical swords, doubling the amount of danger Neji was in. As evident by the second cut across his chest, forming a bloody ‘X’ that Neji now had carved into his chest.

Naruto let the Hyuuga leap back, dripping blood from yet another wound. Naruto glanced at Genma who was watching with a calculating eye, almost as if trying to decide if he should call the match or not. Naruto directed his gaze back to Neji, watching the Hyuuga. “Will you give up, or keep losing blood?” Naruto asked.

Neji snarled. “Why do you try so hard Uzumaki-san? You cannot defy Fate. I am hailed as the greatest Hyuuga Prodigy since the founding of the village. You are a dead last nobody; you failed the Academy Exam twice, and from my understanding somehow passed after failing a third time. So why do you keep trying against your obvious superior?”

Naruto watched Neji for a bit before looking behind himself and scratching a line in the ground. Naruto stood right in front of it, holding both swords at his sides. “Knock me past the line Hyuuga Neji and I will tell you why I fight.” Naruto said, bringing the swords up into an ‘X’ across his body

Neji charged forward and suddenly stopped, just outside the reach of the swords. “You’re within the range of my Divination.” He said, sinking into a lower stance.

“Two points.” Naruto dodged the two thrusts, cutting Neji in both legs, unwilling to give the ground he had despite his surprise at Neji closing in so quickly. “Four points.” Naruto dodged the next three, but took a shot in the shoulder. He made sure to give Neji a cut along his bicep in retaliation. “Eight points.” Five strikes dodged, three struck. Two in his right arm, a second in the left one and Neji received a cut to his abdomen horizontally. “Sixteen points.” Ten dodged, three in his right leg struck true, two in his left leg, and one in his abdomen. Neji received a cut along both arms, going from thumb up to elbow. “Thirty-two points.” Fifteen dodged, six to his abdomen struck true, three in each shoulder, five in his left leg making it almost give out. Neji received two vertical cuts down, from shoulder to hip. Naruto’s back foot was beyond the line. “Eight trigrams Sixty-Four-“ before Neji could finished the comment, Naruto drove his foot upwards, refusing to take the anymore attacks.

Neji’s eyes went wide as he fell to the ground, unable to breath from Naruto’s foot driving up into his groin. It was a dirty, cheap tactic and the glare he tried to give through the tears of pain wanted to convey that sentiment.

Naruto spun on his heel and connected his other foot with Neji’s head, using his heel so he didn’t make the Hyuuga’s head explode. He watched Neji fly off, collapsing from the loose of blood and the pain of his wounds. Naruto panted some as he watched Neji.

“Winner: Uzumaki Naruto!” Genma shouted loudly

Naruto put both his swords up and retrieved the objects to hold them as one. Sheathing his sword, he walked over to Neji on the medic’s stretched and he stared down at the Hyuuga, placing Neji’s headband on his chest. “I fight so others can achieve their dreams. I fight for others. Lee who wishes to be a splendid Shinobi without Ninjutsu or Genjutsu, Hinata who wants to become the Hyuuga Clan Head so that she can remove that disgusting seal from your forehead. I fight to give them that chance, and so they know that they have someone that believes in them. I fight because Fate has no hold over those that choose to throw off its shackles, just as Lee and Hinata have done” Naruto said before turning and heading over to the fighter’s box, limping a bit as he did so.

It started off as a low whisper, but as Naruto got to the entrance to the stair well, he heard it and smiled. Cheers of his name, applause, the people screaming out for the great match he gave them. It was… nice, different, and it sounded great.

Naruto headed up to the fighter’s booth and looked at Sasuke. “See you in the next round.” He told him before moving to sit down and rest. He was in a lot of pain, despite only really being poked by Neji.

Naruto closed his eyes and breathed, listening to the crowd as Sasuke no doubt put up an impressive fight. However, when he heard what sounded like a thousand screaming birds, his eyes opened and he stood up, just in time to watch as Sasuke drove a lightning covered fist through an orb of sand.

Sasuke smirked as he held his hand in the orb, showing that he too was able to penetrate Gaara’s defense. The Chidori was an impressive technique, and though he had hoped to not have to use it, Gaara’s defense had finally called for it.

“Is that it?” Gaara asked, the sand moving him out of the orb and away from Sasuke. In another universe, the Uchiha might have been late, causing Gaara to listen to the voices in his head and become distracted, he might have had to kill fools with disgusting blood that only riled the voices up, and Uzumaki Naruto might not have shed so much blood and satisfying Gaara’s own bloodlust for a time. With all these things not happening, Gaara was able to make his defense stronger and even move himself towards the back of the orb, allowing him to move out of it and away from Sasuke’s attack. “If that is the extent of your power Uchiha, then allow me.” Gaara said holding his hand up, palm out and his thumb downwards, his fingers curled. “Sand Burial!” He then began to slowly close his hand making the sand squeeze down on the Uchiha’s arm. Bones could be heard popping, as the Uchiha screamed out in pain.

Blood began to soak the sand, and Genma moved to step in. “CHIDORI!” Sasuke yelled out, shooting the lightning technique to try and loosen the sand. He drew his hand back and fell back, up to his elbow a blood broken mess.

Gaara looked upset by the Uchiha escaping and moved his sand after the fallen boy. Sand began to crawl up his legs, with Sasuke moving to try and get away from it. But he was exhausted, hitting his current limit on the Chidori. Soon Sasuke was backed into a wall of the sand and it encased him. Sasuke had heard about what it did to Lee, hell Kiba had said what Gaara had done to the Ame Ninja. He swallowed his pride. “Proctor, I forfeit!” Sasuke shouted, not so obsessed with his own power that he thought he could continue to take on Gaara.

“Winner: Sabaku no Gaara!” Genma shouted, moving to intervene, moving faster when he saw Gaara still applying pressure to Sasuke.

Just as Genma started to move, and the Uchiha cried out in pain, a black chain of energy lashed down on the cocoon that surrounded Sasuke. The sand fell apart, like it was nothing as Naruto landed beside the fallen Sasuke, glaring over at Gaara. In either of Naruto’s hands were black chains of chakra, much different from the golden ones he used during the preliminaries.

“Save it Gaara.” Naruto said, watching as his fellow Jinchurikii no doubt was pissed at being denied his kill.

Gaara glared at the blonde, but turned and began to walk away. He had felt the very chakra in his sand get destroyed. Not absorbed, but destroyed, like it had been blasted away. The blonde Uzumaki was proving to be a better prey than the Uchiha was.

Naruto turned to Sasuke as the medics came out. ‘You alright Teme?” Naruto asked.

Sasuke glanced up at Naruto. “Fractured arm, maybe broken. Hurts like hell,” he winced a bit as he was put on the stretcher. “But it hurt worse training with Kakashi-sensei. Watch yourself in the next round Dobe.”

Naruto nodded and backed away, letting them take Sasuke away. Naruto then turned and headed back to the fighter’s box, contemplating on how effective his chains had been. It was something he had been working on, instead of absorbing the chakra, destroying it. It was harder, but more effective.

Up in the Kage’s box, Orochimaru contemplated starting the Invasion. He could nab the Uchiha now, when he was weakened and kill Sarutobi. But at the same time, the Kyuubi brat was showing… promise. He could see more if he let the exams continue just a little bit longer. Temari had failed her mission he had sent her on. Kabuto had checked and yet, three weeks later she wasn’t pregnant. If the Kyuubi brat fought Gaara, then he would be weakened… and he could be captured.

He stayed the signal to start the exam. He knew Kabuto would understand his reasons.

Naruto stayed back in the corner, listening as Genma called for Kankuro and Shino’s match. Naruto narrowed his eyes at Kankuro when he gave up without even stepping foot in the ring. He knew the Invasion was going to happen, but couldn’t figure out why Kankuro would just give up.

As much as Naruto wanted to get right to his match with Gaara, he went over to Shikamaru who contemplated giving up. “Your mom is watching Shika, and I could have sworn she was polishing a cast iron frying pan yesterday.” It was a blatant lie, he didn’t see Shikamaru’s mom at all, but Shikamaru didn’t know that.

Shikamaru twitched before jumping over the railing, showing more movement than Naruto had seen of the lazy Nara in well... Ever. Naruto watched the fight go on. It was… boring in a sense. It took a long time, and it was clearly the battle of the mind. It hurt Naruto’s head just watching. But as Shikamaru caught Temari, Naruto knew he would have lost to the lazy Shadow User. He shook his head as he watched Shikamaru give up, claiming to be out of chakra.

Naruto leapt down as Genma called for both him and Gaara. Naruto moved a fair distance away, to where he would be able to make his Chakra Chains if necessary. Naruto’s mind was going at a thousand miles an hour, trying to figure out what he could do, how he could beat Gaara. He was confident he could, but there were so many unknowns… Still, Naruto calmed himself down, ready for the fight.

“Semi-Finals Round 1: Sabaku no Gaara versus Uzumaki Naruto!” Genma called out and looked at the two. ‘Ready?” they both nodded. “FIGHT!” he then jumped away

Naruto then jumped away from Gaara, surprising everyone, even as Gaara’s sand came out. Naruto landed by the closed doors to the arena and pulled out some sealing tags. He slapped them onto the door, in a three by three style. Naruto channeled his chakra to the tags. “Seal.” He said, a basic barrier forming along the seals, making sure no one and nothing could get in or more importantly out.

Naruto pulled a dark blue scroll from his chest and flicked it open all the way, showing 10 seals on the paper, the seals done in the Kanji for Water. Naruto then tossed the scroll into the air, putting his hands into a hand seal. “Seals: Release!” Naruto called out, channeling his chakra to the scroll that was in the air, fluttering. All ten seals burst open, pouring out a rushing torrent of water like ten dams being broken.

It had taken Naruto two weeks, and every source of naturally flowing water in Konoha that he could find to fill the seals up with enough water. He couldn’t just go and drain a lake after all, that would be harmful to whatever was living there, so he had to set up a relay that would drain the water from rivers and such in a way that wouldn’t be too much water taken.

The scroll landed in the water, and the torrent was silenced but not stopped. Naruto had used every precaution he could, to make sure that the scroll would last long enough to empty the water. Already, he could see the confusion on Gaara’s face as the water level was already up to their ankles. Naruto put his hands in the Tora hand seal. “Water Style: Liquid Bullet!” Instead of coming from within, Naruto made the technique come from the water around him. Three orbs of water shot through the air, aimed at Gaara

Naturally, the sand moved and took the hit, getting soaked as the three shots hit it dead on. Gaara frowned as he watched the sand move away, slower than what it usually would. He commanded the wet sand to attack Naruto, and it still moved slowly.

Naruto shot out another three orbs of water, slamming into the sand and making it break away, too soaked with water to maintain shape. Naruto stayed serious, even at Gaara’s furious face. No doubt Gaara figured out what Naruto was planning. The water was up to their knees and still rising, with Genma standing on the water

Gaara hardened his sand, knowing it wouldn’t last long in the water. He shot it down and under his feet, before making it rise up, water running off of his sand, taking a lot with him. Still, he had plenty to float on. He commanded the soaked sand up out of the water, and this time made it disperse into particles. He then had to exert his control with his hands, to keep the particles in the air while the water flowed away.

Naruto stared up at Gaara, watching his fellow Jinchurikii return his sand. Still, with the water at waist deep, Naruto had the turf advantage. Gaara however had the high ground. Naruto would win this, slowly if he had to. Naruto only knew two other Water Techniques though. The Hidden Mist Jutsu wasn’t going to help in this match, even if he could use the lack of visibility to his advantage. The second one was purely defensive, and wouldn’t work in the situation

Gaara was much in the same boat as Naruto. He wasn’t sure how to proceed. Even if he made his sand the densest it had ever been before using it on the Uzumaki, the waist deep water would allow the blonde to struggle and fight, freeing his legs and waist long enough to get under water and get free from the rest of the sand. But the Uzumaki couldn’t throw off Water Jutsu at Gaara; he’d just disperse the sand again into the particles, and bring it back when it had no water in it.

Naruto stared up at Gaara debating as the water kept rising. On one hand, he could just use his Chakra chains and destroy the sand cloud that Gaara was standing on, but he doubted the boy knew how to swim and the water wasn’t stopping any time soon. Naruto glanced around at the murky water before pulling another scroll from his pocket. He made sure all of his scrolls were water proofed the night before. He unsealed a breather and tucked it into his mouth. He then went under the water, the seals in the breather allowing for the oxygen in the water to move into his mouth. On one hand, Gaara couldn’t see him; on the other he couldn’t see Gaara.

Still, Naruto swam around and soon poked his head up out of the water. “Water Style: Liquid Bullet!” Three orbs shot straight up, aimed for the cloud Gaara was standing on. Gaara’s shield moved and guarded it, getting soaked in the process. “Hyoton: Crystal Ice Mirrors!” he called out and instead of forming a dome, or using the water around him, Naruto concentrated the ice on the soaked sand which began to crystalize, before breaking off and falling into the water, floating a bit. Naruto then quickly dove under the water, Gaara shooting some Sand Shuriken at him

Gaara tried to draw the sand out of the ice, but it wasn’t responding to his call. He tried lifting the entire thing with his chakra in the sand, but it didn’t respond to his call. His sand reacted to another three shots of water, before the soaked fell, once more frozen.

Orochimaru watched as Gaara was systematically taken down. First the unstable Jinchurikii lost the turf advantage, now he was losing his sand. He sent the signal to Kabuto to start the invasion.

Naruto paused as a smoke screen enveloped the Kage’s box, and a Genjutsu began to fall around them. He released it and quickly stood up on the water as Temari and Kankuro moved over the water towards Gaara.

“Get Gaara out of here!” Baki called out, blocking the Senbon launched at him by Genma.

The three headed his words, and quickly took Gaara way while Naruto moved over to Genma. “Orders?” the blonde asked launching a few shuriken at Baki.

Genma looked at the blonde before looking at the Suna Genin leaving. “Go get them kid, stop whatever they’re planning.”

Naruto gave a salute before rushing off. He had a Jinchurikii to stop.

End

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