Kakashi and Hozuki Mangetsu poked their heads out from behind Hatake Satoru, both looking at Naruto with curiosity.
They couldn't help it—being near Satoru was just too comfortable.
When Gaara kicked up that sandstorm thing, Satoru's barrier technique was basically god-tier.
If you stood next to him, no sand got in your eyes, and you didn't get a mouthful either.
The guy was basically a human sand shield.
Kimimaro hadn't been fighting Gaara for very long, but the moment they noticed this, both Kakashi and Mangetsu squeezed in next to him to avoid the sandstorm.
"Uh… so, about the guy with the dark circles..."
Naruto, after seeing the lower half of Kimimaro get blasted, was momentarily at a loss for words.
He glanced at Hatake Satoru, who looked completely relaxed, then looked toward the railing—but without leaning out, you couldn't see anything down below.
What now? Should he ask the teacher to go down and collect Kimimaro's body?
But they seemed to be on good terms, so it was kind of awkward to bring that up.
Sasuke gave a side glance to Naruto, who was still struggling to find the right words, then said to Hatake Satoru with a blank face—
"He wanted to warn you that Gaara was going to crush Kimimaro, but he came too late. So now he's not sure if you should go down to save him or gather his corpse."
Sasuke didn't have Naruto's level of empathy or compassion—he just stated the facts.
And seeing how calm Hatake Satoru looked, Kimimaro probably wasn't in serious danger.
"Well, the two of them are still down there just fine."
"Seriously, if something really bad were going to happen, someone would've stepped in by now."
"You sure worry a lot, huh?"
Kakashi casually glanced down and raised an eyebrow in surprise, but his voice still sounded lazy and laid-back.
"If you're so worried, just stay here and watch from here. That way you two don't get left behind over there~"
Even if they weren't that close, Naruto still seemed to care pretty fast.
Guess that's just how Naruto is.
Hatake Satoru glanced at Sasuke—clearly, he wasn't as concerned.
Naruto and Sasuke moved over and looked down with the others.
The sand around Kimimaro started to fall away, revealing him still standing.
There was some blood on him, and parts of his face had no flesh, just bone and exposed teeth.
Most noticeable was the layer of white bone that had covered parts of his body. As the sand faded, the bones slowly fused back in.
Kimimaro's face also gradually returned to normal.
Gaara loosened his clenched fists slightly and stared at Kimimaro in surprise.
"No way… What was that stuff covering his body?!"
Temari looked down in disbelief. Kimimaro might be the first person to ever survive Sand Burial.
There were actually things sand couldn't crush?
After those pale bones retracted, Kimimaro looked like he wasn't even hurt.
Could this guy have both ultimate defense and attack, just like Gaara?
"Gaara is already way beyond the level of a genin. That guy… don't tell me he's even stronger," she muttered.
And the moment either of them found an opening, it turned into a deadly move. These two weren't just fighting seriously—they were fighting like their lives were on the line.
Others were just trying hard. These two were out there trying to kill each other.
Kankuro could really feel what it meant to watch monsters fight.
Sure, they were all about the same age, but in a real fight, these two were on a whole different level.
Kimimaro wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and looked up at Gaara, who was still a bit shocked.
"If I hadn't covered myself with a layer of bone, I'd probably be dead already," he said.
Up till now, no one their age had ever come out of Sand Burial alive.
Even the ones who barely made it out were dead within minutes. Kimimaro might be the first to come out unharmed.
Gaara's face twisted slightly before turning into a twisted grin.
Temari and Kankuro felt a chill run down their backs.
This was just the exam—just the preliminaries, in fact.
These two ending up against each other was seriously bad luck. At this point, they probably wouldn't stop until one of them dropped.
And Gaara was a jinchuriki. If he lost control now, this whole place might get completely destroyed.
Though honestly, it was already halfway wrecked anyway.
Kimimaro leaned forward slightly, twisting his body into a strange position. He reached behind his neck, and suddenly a sharp bone started to stick out.
When Kimimaro pulled the entire thing out, everyone around gasped in shock.
"Is that a bone? He just pulled that huge thing out like it was nothing?"
"It looks really flexible too… is he using it like a whip?"
"These two aren't fighting like normal people at all. I have no idea what's going to happen next."
The students and the Jonin instructors nearby all started murmuring to each other.
If this is the kind of stuff we're going to see, then if I ever run into guys like them in the actual Chunin Exams, I'm just gonna quit right away.
What Genin could deal with something like this?
He literally pulled out his own spine!?
Most of the people here had only trained with normal ninjutsu. Seeing something like this left them completely stunned.
Gaara's sand, at least, is still part of nature. But pulling out bones like that… that's just beyond what people think is humanly possible.
Compared to that, the finger bullet thing earlier was nothing—ripping out your own spine is just straight-up scary!
Kimimaro had clearly figured out something about the way Gaara's sand works, but when it comes to Kimimaro's bones, Gaara probably didn't get much insight.
At this point, Gaara was pretty much just chasing the thrill of killing. Now that he'd met someone on his level, all he wanted was to kill Kimimaro.
Kimimaro's spine had real weight to it. When he swung it through the air, it made sharp slicing sounds—it probably hurt a lot to get hit by it.
Because of the wide range of Kimimaro's attacks, Gaara was forced to stop his usual stand-in-place defense style.
Maybe because he was used to standing still while fighting, he didn't move as fluidly in hand-to-hand combat as Kimimaro did.
Luckily, the sand shield still gave him some protection. If not, Kimimaro would've turned him into a spinning top by now.
And instead of slowing down, Kimimaro's movements with the spine only got faster the longer he used it.
A few swings even moved faster than Gaara's sand shield could react.
At the speed Kimimaro was going, hitting Gaara seemed like only a matter of time.
But why the hell was this guy suddenly so fast?
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