"Speaking of which, Kakashi-sensei, your rescue speed was quite a bit faster than I expected."
Naruto remarked, nonchalantly tucking the Kusanagi Sword he had acquired into his belt.
"It wasn't long after the proctors sent out the distress signal that you all arrived."
The fight between him, Kisame Hoshigaki, and Itachi Uchiha seemed long, but in reality, the entire process had been remarkably brief. Given the distance from the Forest of Death to Konoha's residential area, Kakashi and the others' response time was indeed impressive.
But unexpectedly, Kakashi was stunned upon hearing this.
"What distress signal? We received an order from the Third Hokage that an intruder had appeared at the second exam site and we were to rush over immediately."
These words made Naruto frown.
Something was wrong.
Orochimaru's target had never been them.
In just a few breaths, Naruto pieced together the strange turn of events, realizing that he, Kakashi, and the other jonin had been baited into a perfect diversion.
While Naruto was still confirming the situation with Kakashi, on the other side, a look of anxiety appeared on Temari's face as she watched her comrades being captured one by one.
She and Kankuro were barely holding off the attacking ANBU. As genin, the two siblings were still out of their league against elite operatives. If the ANBU hadn't been under orders to capture them alive, she and Kankuro might have already been killed.
Temari's gaze shot to Gaara, who was already half-covered in swirling sand. She no longer cared why their Sand Village support had failed to arrive and shouted desperately.
"Gaara, now!"
Gaara's sand was effective against ordinary candidates, but against a large number of well-trained and coordinated ANBU ninja, it proved inadequate. Several attacks from the jonin managed to break through his defenses, enraging the psychologically unstable boy.
"Damn it! All of you, just die!"
With Gaara's roar, more fine sand instantly enveloped his body, morphing him into a monstrous form. Ominous bluish-purple stripes appeared on the sand's surface as Shukaku the One-Tail's chakra poured out wildly from his body. In the blink of an eye, his form swelled to a terrifying size.
"Hm? That's!"
Kakashi and Naruto both heard the commotion. When they looked back, they saw the rampaging Gaara had already entered a semi-tailed beast state. With the support of this massive chakra, the surrounding ANBU couldn't get close, and a few were even seriously injured by his claws.
"Is this the jinchuriki of Sunagakure?"
Kakashi knew some intelligence about the Sand ninja, so he quickly realized the boy's true identity.
These words were also heard by Naruto.
This state... is this what a jinchuriki is?
Looking at the monstrous visage, Naruto thought to himself that from appearances alone, calling a jinchuriki a monster wasn't an exaggeration.
But why don't I have this state?
Naruto was puzzled, and Kurama in his consciousness space was even more so. Was it that he didn't want to influence Naruto? He couldn't! When Naruto was still weak, Kurama had been thrown into a small black room by an invisible force, unable to do anything but serve as a chakra battery. When he finally "got out of prison," his jinchuriki had mutated, possessing an incredibly thick spiritual presence. Not to mention making him rampage, even forcibly pulling him into a conversation took considerable effort. He was increasingly unable to understand this host of his.
Puzzled as he was, after seeing the rampaging Gaara easily throw off the ANBU's suppression and about to attack everyone indiscriminately, Naruto decided not to watch any longer.
It seemed their side was not the enemy's main target, so he had no more time to waste here.
Without another word, Naruto stomped on the ground. His figure instantly vanished, then reappeared directly above Gaara.
An iron fist fiercely struck Gaara's ferocious head, directly shattering the sand armor and exposing Gaara's real body underneath.
The change was too fast. Before anyone could react, the monster that had been tearing through the battlefield was slammed into the ground by the suddenly appearing Naruto.
The rescuing ANBU and jonin looked at Naruto's figure. Some recognized him, some were less familiar, but all were staring in disbelief.
On the contrary, the candidates who had witnessed Naruto single-handedly fight two powerful intruders showed much less shock in their eyes.
Hmph, making a mountain out of a molehill. This is just the beginning.
"Gaara!"
The only ones in the entire place concerned about Gaara's life or death were his siblings, Temari and Kankuro. They didn't care that the rampaging Gaara had almost attacked them too. They even ignored the terrifying, godlike Naruto in front of them and rushed over. As his older sister, Temari knew she was no match for Naruto but still chose to lift her fan to shield her brother.
Kankuro carefully checked Gaara's injuries.
Naruto didn't stop them, just lightly clenched his fist, a hint of confusion on his face.
This feeling... why does it feel so right? As if I was naturally supposed to beat this guy up.
Suddenly, Naruto's expression changed. Before he could even speak, he quickly rushed toward Gaara. With his speed, Temari and Kankuro couldn't react at all. By the time they realized and tried to resist, they were already grabbed by the scruffs of their necks and pulled aside.
"Everyone, get away from here!"
Hearing Naruto's shout, the candidates' bodies reacted faster than their minds, almost mindlessly obeying his command. Although the ANBU and jonin were a beat slower, their speed was even faster. After Naruto's warning, everyone quickly moved away from the fallen Gaara.
An ominous chakra presence erupted from Gaara's body, rapidly covering the surroundings. Countless grains of sand were driven by this chakra and gathered together, then began to form a giant body as large as a mountain.
It was fortunate that the crowd had already dispersed, otherwise this debut alone might have caused casualties.
"What is that monster!"
"It's... it's a tailed beast!"
"Everyone, form a formation, quick! Use restraining jutsu!"
Some lost their will to fight after seeing Shukaku's oppressive figure, while the professionally trained jonin immediately decided to first try using ninjutsu to restrict the monster's movements.
"Roar!"
Although he didn't use the Feigning Sleep Jutsu, because Gaara had lost consciousness, Shukaku was able to temporarily take full control of this body. He roared loudly, as if wanting to vent his years of imprisoned dissatisfaction.
But Shukaku's moment of glory hadn't lasted more than a few seconds before a small figure abruptly appeared at the tip of his nose.
"Hm?"
Shukaku was still puzzled when he saw Naruto in front of him step on the air and instantly disappear.
"I don't have time to waste with you here!"
This was the last sentence Shukaku heard while conscious after being imprisoned for years and briefly released.
Knowing he might have been tricked, Naruto naturally wouldn't continue to waste time according to the enemy's wishes.
A massive amount of chakra was gathered in Naruto's palm, forming a Rasengan much larger than a person. Then the Rasengan made intimate contact with Shukaku's head. The constantly rotating force quickly ground Shukaku's sand shell to dust. After throwing the Rasengan, Naruto let the uncontrolled sphere explode naturally, blasting Shukaku into a daze.
It could only be said that such large-sized enemies were more suitable for him, much easier to deal with than that slippery Itachi Uchiha.
Then Naruto's gaze noticed the exposed jinchuriki body.
He clenched one hand into a fist.
Originally, Naruto wanted to give him a wake-up punch.
But at the last moment, seeing Gaara's peaceful young face in his unconscious state, and thinking of his similar background, he then recalled Temari and her brother shielding him earlier.
Tsk, consider yourself lucky.
Grabbing his head with one hand, Naruto forcibly pulled Gaara out of Shukaku's body and threw him in front of the two siblings.
He didn't intend to say anything to them, as they were still technically enemies invading Konoha.
"I'll leave these people to you. I have to go somewhere else."
Naruto didn't plan to explain much, and quickly left amid Kakashi's confused "Where are you going?" call, leaving a scene of chaos behind him.
[Chapter Complete]
***
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