Chapter 23: The Snake's Move
Takahashi held Hinata with one arm, his face dark with anger. The section of the spectator stands where she had been was destroyed, leaving a huge gap.
Luckily, his quick reaction had deflected the chakra blast. The spectators were terrified, but their focus was split. Some were shocked by Gaara's destructive power, but more were staring at Takahashi. No one had seen clearly how he'd reached Hinata's spot in an instant.
Kurenai Yuhi had been chatting with her student. She never expected something like this to happen during the exams. It was an unprecedented failure. She rushed to Hinata's side. "Are you okay?!"
Under the gaze of everyone around, Hinata shyly pulled away from Takahashi's embrace. "Sensei... I'm fine."
Kurenai let out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness she was unharmed. Otherwise, as her teacher, the shame would be unbearable. "Good, that's good. This was my mistake. I didn't expect this. But that Sand Village boy has no manners, attacking the spectators! He should be disqualified!"
But right now, Takahashi just wanted to teach Gaara a lesson. Future Kazekage or not, who did he think he was with a tailed beast?
He floated slowly down from the sky. This display of power left the others stunned. What kind of jutsu was this? They'd never seen anything like it.
The tailed beast chakra around Gaara was growing more violent. He was already cloaked in the One-Tail's shroud.
Suddenly, a brilliant light erupted from Takahashi's hands, forming into a long sword made entirely of condensed light. Particles of light shimmered along its blade. This was one of the derived abilities of the Glint-Glint Fruit: the Sword of Totsuka.
Thanks to the Super-Soldier Serum, he was now highly skilled with weapons, even ancient ones like this. His proficiency with kunai and shuriken had also improved greatly.
Kakashi was deeply shocked. This is definitely not the Flying Thunder God. He's manipulating light itself. Can chakra even do this?
The sharp blade of the light sword swept across the ground, leaving an impossibly clean cut. It showed just how sharp this sword was. No tailed beast cloak would stand against it.
Gaara's greatest confidence was his "Absolute Defense." But seeing the light sword, his pupils shrank to pins. This blade radiated a threat that promised his death. He abandoned his defensive stance, planning to meet Takahashi head-on.
But Gaara had one fatal flaw: even without his defense, he couldn't match Takahashi's speed.
Their figures clashed in an instant. A splash of blood appeared on Takahashi's face—a scratch from the tailed beast's power. But Gaara... his eyes widened as if he wanted to speak.
"How... could you...?"
Then he vomited a mouthful of blood. The tailed beast cloak wrapped around him flickered and dissolved.
"Gaara!" Temari screamed. She jumped down from the stands and ran to his side. "Are you okay?! How do you feel? We forfeit! Stop fighting!"
Gaara tried to raise a hand to stop her, but found he didn't even have the strength for that. He couldn't understand how he had lost. Even with the tailed beast's power, he had been utterly crushed.
Takahashi dismissed the light sword. He hadn't wanted to use this move. It was a hidden card, something to surprise a future enemy. But there was no choice. The situation left no room for holding back.
The move had drained him. He felt deeply tired. If not for the strong willpower from the serum, his condition would be even worse.
He pulled out a few soldier pills and quickly swallowed them. He had a feeling Orochimaru was about to make his move. Since his plan had been disrupted, if he wanted to continue, he'd have to speed things up before Konoha could prepare.
Sure enough, just as the proctor was about to announce the result, a violent explosion sounded from outside.
All the jonin present jolted. What was that?
Takahashi reacted instantly. If things went as planned, the Third Hokage probably couldn't win. While his death might not change the big picture, Takahashi felt the Third was at least slightly better than Tsunade. It gave them one more option and kept that troublemaker Danzo from running wild.
He turned urgently to Might Guy. "Guy-sensei! Go check on the Third Hokage! Orochimaru's target might be him! Leave this arena to me!"
Both Guy and Kakashi were startled. They didn't know why Orochimaru would target the Hokage, but since Takahashi suggested it, they couldn't ignore it.
But with so many people in the arena, Kakashi hesitated for a moment. "Guy, you go check on Lord Third. I'll stay here and guard the place."
The moment Guy left, people in the arena began collapsing one after another. Takahashi knew instantly what it was—the Sound ninja and their allies were attacking.
Suddenly, a powerful shockwave shot toward the weakened Gaara. Takahashi countered with a laser from his hand, canceling the attack out.
It was the three-man team from the Sound Village. The one who had attacked, Sakon, sneered, looking at Takahashi and the others with clear ill intent.
Kakashi wasn't having an easy time either. He was being swarmed by many attackers. Kurenai Yuhi had gone out with Guy to help others in the village.
Aside from Takahashi and Kakashi, there were very few ninja left who could still fight.
The bandaged Ukon spoke pretentiously, "We're here to kill Gaara this time. Lord Orochimaru will be very pleased. Go meet your father in the afterlife."
Hearing this, Temari was horrified. "You bastards! What did you do to my father?!"
Faced with such a "stupid" question, the Sound ninja laughed loudly. "Hahaha! What do you think? Your Sand Village is so unlucky. The Third and Fourth Kazekage, both assassinated. I wonder who the unlucky Fifth will be."
Temari's eyes turned red, tears welling up. Kankuro directly attacked with his puppet, firing a volley of needles, but the attack was canceled out by a sound wave blast.
"Temari, don't listen to them!" Kankuro yelled, though a tremor was clear in his voice. "The Kazekage would never be killed by punks like this!"