"Who are you calling an idiot, you arrogant jerk?" Naruto whipped around to face Sasuke, jabbing an accusatory finger toward the Uchiha's face.
Sasuke's eye twitched with irritation. "I'm talking to you," he responded coldly. "You big idiot who barges into other people's fights uninvited. Get out of here."
Naruto paused for a moment, reluctantly acknowledging to himself that Sasuke had a point, but his pride wouldn't allow him to back down. "This guy caused me trouble before," he insisted. "I need to settle things with him first."
"That's not my concern," Sasuke replied dismissively, his attention already shifting back to Gaara.
Throughout their heated exchange, the Sand ninja observed them with an eerily blank expression. Suddenly, his emotionless face twisted into something resembling amusement.
"Pointless squabbling," Gaara remarked, his voice unnervingly calm. "Two chattering fools."
Without warning, his hands formed a rapid sequence of seals. The sand from his gourd responded instantly, streaming outward and coalescing into a dozen shuriken-shaped projectiles that launched toward both Naruto and Sasuke with devastating speed.
"Swish! Swish! Swish!"
Recognizing the imminent danger, both boys leapt away in opposite directions, narrowly evading the barrage of sand weapons.
"I've never heard of anyone who can manipulate sand at will like this," Chiharu murmured, her brow furrowed in concentration as she analyzed Gaara's unusual abilities. The five basic elemental natures—fire, water, earth, wind, and lightning—formed the foundation of most ninja techniques. Yet Gaara's sand manipulation seemed to transcend these conventional categories, operating with an almost sentient precision.
Having successfully forced Naruto and Sasuke to retreat, Gaara remained motionless, his sand hovering around him in anticipation of their next move.
"This guy is no ordinary opponent," Naruto called out, his expression uncharacteristically serious as he glanced toward Sasuke from across the clearing.
The Uchiha nodded in silent agreement. What made Gaara particularly unsettling was the fact that he had barely moved during the entire encounter—the sand seemed to respond to his will with minimal physical effort on his part.
With each passing moment of the Chunin Exams, Sasuke encountered more individuals whose abilities defied his expectations. Though he'd yet to unleash his full arsenal in this confrontation, the outcome remained uncertain even to his analytical mind.
As both Naruto and Sasuke prepared to launch a coordinated assault, Chiharu approached them with Sakura supported carefully at her side.
"Brother, Sasuke, wait a moment," she called out, her voice cutting through their battle focus.
"Chiharu, just take Sakura somewhere safe and protect her," Naruto replied without taking his eyes off Gaara. He cast a competitive glance toward Sasuke. "He's mine."
Rather than retreating as instructed, Chiharu stood her ground. "I know you both want to defeat him," she said calmly, "but surely you can see that this opponent isn't someone who can be dealt with easily."
She glanced meaningfully around the clearing before continuing. "It's already the fourth day of the survival trial, and we're still some distance from the central tower. There could be other teams lurking nearby, waiting for an opportunity like this."
Her voice dropped to a more strategic tone. "If you engage in a full-scale battle with him now, even if you win, you'll be in no condition to defend against subsequent challenges."
With uncanny insight into both boys' psychology, she added, "Given your personalities, you'll never agree to work together against him. And afterward, would either of you accept being protected by the other when you're weakened and another team attacks?"
Chiharu understood both Naruto and Sasuke profoundly. Their mutual rivalry meant that neither would fight at anything less than full intensity against Gaara, regardless of the consequences. And neither would ever accept protection from the other in the aftermath.
Sasuke and Naruto exchanged glances, each releasing a dismissive snort that nevertheless acknowledged the wisdom in her words.
"As long as you pass this exam," Chiharu added with a slight smile, seeing their resistance wavering, "you'll encounter them again eventually. Then you can fight without restraint."
Both boys' eyes gleamed with reluctant acceptance. Passing the exam remained the priority, regardless of personal grudges.
Walking away from Gaara without confrontation felt like a humiliating retreat, but Chiharu's logical assessment had created a face-saving justification for both of them.
"Heh," Chiharu smiled inwardly, satisfied that her diplomatic intervention had succeeded.
Her satisfaction was short-lived, however, as a green blur suddenly erupted from the surrounding forest.
Rock Lee burst into the clearing, disregarding the restraining calls of his teammates. His round eyes immediately sought out Sakura, widening with concern at her disheveled appearance.
"Sakura-san! Who has injured you like this?" he demanded, righteous indignation evident in his voice.
The pink-haired kunoichi looked away with a mixture of embarrassment and resignation, unwilling to answer his dramatic inquiry.
"It was him," Chiharu offered helpfully, gesturing toward Kankuro with a seemingly innocent smile.
Lee's attention snapped toward the Sand puppeteer. Despite his typically comical appearance, the intensity that transformed Lee's expression was anything but amusing. His normally round, enthusiastic eyes narrowed dangerously, sending an involuntary shiver through Kankuro.
"Leaf Hurricane!" Lee exclaimed, driving his foot into the ground with enough force to crack the earth beneath. His body rotated with incredible speed as he launched himself toward Kankuro, leg extended in a powerful spinning kick.
The velocity of his movement created an audible displacement of air—a miniature sonic boom that testified to the power behind the attack.
Kankuro's fingers twitched frantically as he recalled his puppet to serve as a shield. The wooden construct barely interposed itself between Lee's kick and its master in time, simultaneously releasing a spray of poisoned senbon from concealed compartments in its mouth.
"Clink! Clink! Clink!"
The deadly needles never reached their target. A volley of precisely thrown kunai intercepted them mid-flight, deflecting every one of the poisoned projectiles.
Before Lee could press his advantage, Gaara materialized between them. Sand flowed from his gourd, forming a dense barrier that intercepted Lee's second kick. The impact sent ripples through the sand shield but failed to penetrate its defense.
"Such speed, and what remarkable defense!" Lee exclaimed, leaping backward to reassess the situation.
Tenten and Neji emerged from the forest's edge, the former twirling a kunai around her finger while the latter maintained his characteristic stoic demeanor.
"Thanks for the cover, Tenten," Lee called out with a grateful smile.
"You could have dodged those needles yourself," she replied with a good-natured sigh. "Your reflexes are more than quick enough."
Beside her, Neji's pale eyes narrowed with disapproval. "You rushed in without authorization," he stated coldly. "Your lack of team awareness continues to be problematic."
Lee struck a dramatic pose, thumb raised and teeth gleaming. "To protect someone precious to you, any rule can be broken! That is the power of youth!" he declared with passionate conviction.
Neji's expression remained unimpressed as his attention shifted to assess Gaara more thoroughly. What he saw caused even his disciplined composure to falter slightly.
A disturbing smile had spread across Gaara's face—not the expression of someone amused, but rather the grin of a predator discovering unexpected prey.
"The people of Konoha are far more interesting than those cowering weaklings back in my village," Gaara observed, his eyes taking on a manic gleam that sent warning signals through everyone present.
The malevolent intensity behind that smile made even Neji's heart skip a beat. There was something fundamentally wrong about the red-haired Sand ninja—something that transcended normal human malice.
"What are your names?" Gaara inquired, his gaze fixed upon Lee and Neji with unsettling interest.
"I am the Handsome Green Beast of Konoha, Rock Lee!" Lee announced with a formal bow, his instincts recognizing the dangerous aura emanating from his potential opponent.
"Hyuga Neji," the Byakugan user responded calmly, though his body remained tensed for immediate action.
"Gaara," Temari interjected, landing beside her younger brother with evident concern. "We should withdraw for now. Too many Leaf ninja are gathering—the situation is becoming unfavorable."
Her worry wasn't for Gaara's physical safety—she had no doubts about his ability to defend himself against these opponents. What concerned her was the possibility that he might lose control entirely, with consequences that none of them could predict or contain.
Gaara regarded her briefly before shifting his attention back to the assembled Leaf genin. He noted that Naruto and Sasuke, though clearly agitated, seemed to have decided against immediate confrontation.
Even Lee, despite his impulsive entrance, appeared to recognize that Gaara represented a level of threat beyond what he could handle alone.
After a moment of tense deliberation, Gaara turned away. "Let's go," he commanded, leading Temari and a visibly relieved Kankuro away from the clearing and deeper into the forest.
"I never would have imagined someone like him existed in the Sand Village," Lee remarked once the Sand siblings had disappeared from view.
No sooner had Gaara's team departed than a shadowy figure materialized at the forest's edge. Tenzo—known to the ANBU as Yamato—surveyed the clearing with evident concern.
"That boy genuinely intended to kill Naruto and Sasuke just now," he stated grimly.
The jōnin explained that at the precise moment Gaara had released his killing intent, Tenzo had deliberately made his own presence known. It was only the fear of ANBU intervention that had prevented Gaara from unleashing a potentially lethal attack.
Looking at Naruto and Chiharu standing in the clearing, Tenzo shook his head in disbelief.
"The Namikaze family actually allowed their children to participate in the same exam as that opponent," he murmured. "If Kushina knew about this..."
He shuddered visibly at the thought of the Red Hot-Blooded Habanero's reaction should she discover the genuine threat her children had faced. With a final concerned glance toward the Namikaze siblings, Tenzo vanished in pursuit of Gaara's team, determined to maintain surveillance on the dangerous Sand ninja.
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