"WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THIS!" The Thunder nation's Daimyō stood up.
("Oh!")
("What interesting developments!") Orochimaru stared at Sasuke as though he would devour him whole.
("Not bad…") Jiraiya praised as he looked at the match.
"Oh…"
"I'm not surprised, he's the copy ninja Kakashi's student after all…" another daimyō commented.
The thunder nation's daimyō flared up; however, he no longer argued considering Kakashi's name in the Bingo book for having copied over a thousand ninjutsus was a well-known fact.
"Damn it!" The daimyō cursed as he sat back down on his seat.
Meanwhile, back on the battlefield…
Sasuke stood a few metres away from Gaara clad in his lightning natured chakra.
"Hmm…?" Gaara stared at Sasuke with a curious expression.
("Let's see, if I am able to get some damage in…") Sasuke thought as he rushed towards Gaara.
(Whoosh!)
The stadium could only see a jet stream as Sasuke's speed reached insane levels, much faster than Lee's original top speed.
("Sasuke will consume a lot of chakra if he continues to battle this way…") Lee continued to stare at the battlefield intensely, while others watched in silence.
The sand shield became active around Gaara once again.
(Boom!)
(Boom!)
Sasuke sent ripples across the barrier.
("What?")
("He is just as fast as my sand…") Gaara stared in surprise at Sasuke.
("I wonder, why he is not using that blade of his…") Naruto thought.
"Hey, Naruto!" Sakura called out.
"Huh?" Naruto looked at her.
"When did Sasuke get a sword?" Sakura asked.
"He got it about a month ago… I think…" Naruto said slowly.
"Oh yeah?"
"Did you win your battle?" Naruto asked.
*Ugh!* Sakura was stuck.
("Do I have to tell him of all people that I lost…") Sakura felt uneasy…
"Umm…." Sakura fidgeted around with her fingers…
"Shikamaru!" Naruto turned to see Shikamaru who stood behind him.
Sakura completely froze at this moment…
"Naruto!" Shikamaru called out.
"How did your match go buddy?" Naruto asked.
("No one asked about me…") Shino thought as he watched their interaction from a few meters away.
"My match?"
"Umm…." Shikamaru suddenly saw Sakura waving her hands indicating him to skip the subject.
("Such a drag….") Shikamaru thought.
"Naruto…"
"I lost my battle against that one named Temari from the Sand village," Shikamaru said.
("Good Job!")
("Shikamaru!") Sakura gave a thumbs up.
"You were probably lazy to become a chuunin."
"I guess that's why you lost the battle," Naruto said.
"You understand me well…" Shikamaru replied.
Naruto brought his face closer and spoke in a low voice…
"Ah!"
"Don't worry Shikamaru."
"You will become Chuunin anyways." Naruto stood upright and gave a thumbs up to Shikamaru with a grin on his face.
"No way…" Shikamaru murmured, thinking of the duties he would have to face later on as a chuunin.
"All I wanted was a life free from studying, and now I have landed myself in a bigger problem than I thought…"
"Why me of all people….?" Shikamaru cursed himself for being too intelligent.
"Mm…" Naruto saw Shino standing at the corner of the balcony.
("Wow, it's been a long time since the last I saw Shino wearing that light blue jacket that covered the lower half of his face…")
("He always covered the upper part of his face, and wore a green flak jacket.") Naruto thought back to how Shino looked like when he was Boruto's teacher back in the academy.
("To think that silent guy became a great hit with the kids…") Naruto thought as he walked towards Shino…
"Shino!" Naruto called out.
"Mm…" Shino turned around to see Naruto standing next to him.
"Uzumaki Naruto…" Shino stared at Naruto.
"How's it goin?" Naruto placed his hand over Shino's shoulders.
("Funny, I don't remember him interacting with me at all…") Shino thought as he looked towards Naruto.
"What do you want?" Shino asked.
"How was your match?" Naruto asked.
"I ended up in a draw against my opponent," Shino said.
"I see…" Naruto murmured.
"Naruto!" Shino called out.
"Mm?" Naruto looked at Shino.
("I want to know, what he did back there…") Shino thought.
————FlashBack————
Outside the tower.
Shino stood near the entrance receiving reports from the insects on what was going on…
"The Genins, Jounins, and even the ANBU members have left the hall…"
"But Naruto is inside all alone with the sand guy…"
"Hinata has also run inside now…" Shino murmured to himself.
He then turned towards the direction in which the evacuated people and the Hokage was…
"There is something more to this than meets the eye…"
——End Of FlashBack————
"Back in the forest of death when everyone was evacuated, what were you doing inside?" Shino asked.
"Huh?" Naruto froze on the spot he stood.
"What are you talking about Shino?" Naruto asked.
(BOOM!) Sasuke's fist broke through the sand barrier following which Gaara narrowly dodged.
"OOOHHH!!!!" The crowd cheered.
Shino turned away from Naruto to look at the battle.
("NICE GOING SASUKE!") Naruto shouted in his mind as he turned to look at the battle as well.
"Is that the sand armor?" Sasuke asked with a mocking expression.
Gaara did not give any reaction.
"I'll tear it off!" Sasuke said in an arrogant voice.
Gaara remained silent as he continued to stare at Sasuke.
"If you are not coming then I will!" Sasuke shouted as he drew his sword from its sheath.
"He's finally drawn out his sword…" Sakura and Shikamaru murmured.
(Bz!)
(Bz!) (Bz!)
The sword was coated in Lightning natured chakra.
("He can do that to his sword too…") Gaara thought.
"Hmph!" Sasuke snorted following which he dashed towards Gaara.
("I'll no longer hold back then…") Gaara thought as he sent his sand forth to face Sasuke.
(Whoosh!)
A small cloud of sand flew towards Sasuke.
("Looks like he is going offensive this time.") Sasuke smiled as he brought his sword to the front and continued to dash.
(Whoosh!)
(Whoosh!) (Whoosh!)
(Whoosh!) (Whoosh!)
The sand cloud separated into smaller blobs and flew towards Sasuke.
(Clang!)
(Clang!) (Clang!)
(Clang!) (Clang!)
Sasuke slashed apart all the blobs.
(Whoosh!)
Sasuke continued to dash.
(Whoosh!)
One of the blobs reformed and chased after Sasuke.
(Bang!)
The blob hit Sasuke, causing him to lose balance and almost fall.
"Damn it!"
Sasuke cursed.
(Whoosh!)
The other blobs also recovered from the slash and chased after Sasuke.
(Boom!)
Sasuke ran at top speed with the blobs barely managing to chase him down, despite which the blobs did not seem to give up.
("There's no way I would have been able to dodge them all…") Lee thought as he continued to watch the match.
Gaara knew that the speed of the blob was not enough.
He now needed something to slow Sasuke down drastically.
(Whoosh!) Gaara sent some sand into the ground following which he signaled the remaining sand that was chasing after Sasuke to return.
(Whoosh!)
The blobs reformed back into a sand cloud and returned to Gaara.
Hah!
Hah!
Hah!
Sasuke panted trying to regain his breath.
("Looks like you are already tired, Uchiha Sasuke…") Gaara said.
"AWWW COME ON!!!"
"SHOW US THE POWER OF THE SHARINGAN ALREADY!!!!" Some people amongst the audience cursed.
Sasuke glared as he turned towards the direction where the voice had originated from.
"Are you giving up?" Gaara asked.
"Hmph!"
"I haven't shown you anything yet!" Sasuke said.
Gaara frowned.
"I take it, that you wish to continue this match…?" Gaara asked.
"Yes!" Sasuke said.
Gaara shook his head, following which he waved his hand.
("Boom!")
Sasuke felt the ground shake, following which the ground under his feet turned into sand.
("What?") Sasuke stared in horror at the sand that prevented him from lifting his ninja sandals.
Gaara also gestured for the sand around him to gather at Sasuke's feet.
(Whoosh!) The sand soon covered Sasuke's legs, completely immobilizing him in the process.
"Give up now, and you will be able to retreat without any harm," Gaara warned.
"Tsk!" Sasuke continued to wriggle his leg out.
("Looks like he will not give up easily…")
("Maybe I'll turn down the power of the sand burial to crush his body lightly so that there won't be any major damage…") Gaara thought of making Sasuke retire from the match safely…
< Sand Shower! >
Gaara called out, following which the sand in the area slowly gathered around Sasuke from head to toe, burying him in a thin layer of sand.
("No way…")
("Is he going to kill Sasuke…?") Naruto was alarmed.
("He's not going to kill him here, will he?") Rasa doubted, meanwhile, the people continued to watch the match silently.
< Sand Burial! >
Gaara called out.
(Bz!)
(Bz!) (Bz!)
(Bz!) (Bz!) (Bz!)
< Chidori Stream! >
Sasuke called out, following which the sand around him lost mobility and fell weakly onto the ground with some of the granules turning to ashes from being fried by the thunder natured chakra that circulated around his body...
*Sh!*
Dust covered the area around Sasuke completely blocking anyone from seeing what happened to Sasuke…
As seconds passed, the dust cloud cleared up slowly.
"Hey…"
"Look at it…" someone amongst the audience said.
"Is that what I think it is….?" A man asked.
"It definitely is…" another man answered.
(Whoosh!)
A small gust of wind immediately cleared the scene revealing Sasuke who stood there with no harm…
Gaara stared at Sasuke, especially at his face where the eyes were.
("Those eyes…") Gaara continued to stare.
< SHARINGAN! >