Whoosh!
A fierce gust of wind surged forward, covering a wide area.
Gaara's expression remained indifferent. With a thought, a torrent of sand erupted from his gourd.
Under Gaara's control, the sand spread out directly in front of him, forming a powerful, semi-circular barrier.
Bang!
The violent wind slammed into the sand.
Crack!
Clatter!
Although the wind managed to shear off parts of the sand barrier, it failed to break through completely.
"Sand!? He has a jutsu like that?"
Seeing this, Naruto's pupils constricted slightly.
This was completely outside his expectations. Naruto had no choice but to switch tactics.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
He unleashed a massive amount of chakra. Even though he wasn't the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki in this timeline, as someone with partial Uzumaki lineage, his chakra reserves were still far beyond those of an ordinary ninja.
Poof!
Poof!
Poof!
Poof!
Dozens of puffs of white smoke appeared out of nowhere. As they cleared, fifty or sixty solid clones of Naruto instantly filled the arena.
"Oh! Oh! Oh!?"
"Is that...?"
"The Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
"Young Master Naruto knows such a high-level technique?"
"And he can create so many solid clones?"
The knowledgeable observers in the stands all showed looks of surprise.
Opposite him, Gaara's expression grew colder, and a thick killing intent emanated from his brow.
'Don't worry, Mother. Soon... I'll let you taste this guy's blood soon!!'
A bloodthirsty glint surfaced in Gaara's eyes.
"Sand Binding Coffin."
Facing the countless shadow clones converging from all directions, Gaara's aura suddenly spiked.
Rumble.
The sand surged outward, forming clump after clump, moving to entrap the clones.
"What is this?"
"Huh?"
"Ugh?"
Most of the clones charging forward were caught by the sand. Without the preliminary match between Gaara and Lee from the original story, there was zero intel on Gaara.
Naruto had never heard of an ability to manipulate sand like this.
Once a shadow clone was restrained, escape was nearly impossible. The sand spread rapidly, enveloping the clones completely.
"Sand Burial!"
Immediately after...
Gaara clenched his hand.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
The sand imploded one after another.
Most of the shadow clones were wiped out instantly, but ten or twenty managed to break through the blockade, reaching Gaara's close range.
They leaped forward.
"Gotcha!"
Just as a look of joy appeared on the faces of the leading clones...
"Shield of Sand."
From all four directions, layers upon layers of sand walls shot up.
"What!?"
The sand blocked every single attack from the clones.
"He can do that too!?"
Seeing this, Naruto's eyes went wide.
But it wasn't over.
After neutralizing the clones, Gaara gave a cold smile.
"Giant Sand Burial!"
He molded a massive amount of chakra.
The ground began to churn.
"What is it this time?"
The shifting earth moved to swallow the remaining clones—and the real Naruto—whole.
The ground beneath them began to sink.
"Not good!"
Naruto's face changed. He immediately burst out with more chakra, retreating rapidly to create distance. But some clones were too slow and were dragged underground.
Rumble!
Accompanied by a dull, heavy sound that made the audience gasp...
Clatter!
The ground shook violently, crushing everything beneath it.
The captured clones were annihilated instantly.
Only a few clones and the real Naruto managed to pull back to a safe distance.
In less than twenty seconds, dozens of Naruto's shadow clones had been almost completely wiped out.
"That Sand kid is strong."
"Is a jutsu of that scale really something a genin can use?"
"Manipulating sand... is that a Kekkei Genkai?"
"This just got difficult to handle."
It wasn't just the civilians; even the Konoha ninja in the stands were staring wide-eyed at Gaara.
Based solely on the power he just displayed, Gaara had already surpassed the vast majority of Chunin.
Jonin like Kakashi, Guy, and Asuma watched Gaara with solemn expressions.
"Fine then! I want to see if your defense really has no openings!"
Naruto took a deep breath.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
He molded his chakra again.
And then...
Before the shocked eyes of the ordinary ninja...
Poof!
Poof!
Poof!
Poof!
Poof!
Naruto created over a hundred shadow clones.
He had doubled the number.
"That guy... does he seriously have that much chakra!?"
In the contestant's gallery, Kankurō and Temari looked stunned.
To have that much chakra... forget genin, even Jonin couldn't squander it so recklessly!
Seeing the army of clones, Gaara's expression turned even darker and colder.
Rumble!
He didn't hold back either.
He poured his chakra out.
Clatter!
A sandstorm rose to meet them.
Facing the wave of sand...
The clones converged from all directions without hesitation.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
They spread out, charging recklessly toward Gaara in the center.
Layers of sand exploded outward.
Poof!
Poof!
Bang!
Attacks collided constantly.
"Wind Style: Vacuum Wave!"
"Wind Style: Wind Cutter!"
"Wind Style: Blade of Wind!"
Different clones unleashed different Wind Style jutsu. Naruto seemed intent on using this dense barrage of attacks to whittle down Gaara's sand barrier, hoping to break through to close range and deliver a fatal blow.
At the very least, he intended to use human wave tactics to exhaust Gaara's chakra.
Because of this, the battle unfolding below looked incredibly spectacular. The ordinary spectators were completely mesmerized.
Only the experienced ninja could see just how crude Naruto's tactics were—and how much chakra was being wasted in the process.