Generally speaking, although Naruto's tactics were a bit crude, it was the correct approach for him. With his vast reserves of chakra, he could easily afford to outlast his opponent in a battle of attrition. However, in this fight, Naruto had chosen the wrong opponent. Even though his chakra reserves surpassed 99.99% of ninja in the world, placing him at the pinnacle of the ninja pyramid...
Facing a Tailed Beast was a different story.
Human chakra, no matter how vast, is ultimately finite.
Even titans like Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha—who could easily crush the Nine Tailed Beasts and treated the mighty Nine-Tails like an insect—could not compare to the Nine-Tails in terms of raw chakra quantity, even if you combined both of their reserves together.
The Nine Tailed Beasts were fragments of the Ten-Tails itself.
Even though the Nine-Tails inherited more than half of the Ten-Tails' chakra, leaving the remaining half to be split among the other eight, the One-Tail Shukaku's chakra was still beyond what any human could match.
Against Gaara, Naruto's tactic of attrition was a mistake.
If it really came down to a battle of stamina...
The loser would undoubtedly be Naruto, not Gaara.
However.
Gaara wasn't the type to play the long game.
In his eyes, the only way to fight was to kill the enemy with the most vicious means possible. Naruto's relentless attacks had already thoroughly grated on Gaara's nerves.
Poof!
Bang!
The shadow clones seemed endless.
He would wipe out one batch, only for another to take its place.
"Bastard!"
Gaara's patience had reached its limit.
At this moment, all thoughts of the "plan" were thrown out the window.
"Sand Shuriken!"
Using his sand to crush another wave of clones but failing to clear the field, a look of intense ferocity twisted Gaara's face.
Clap!
He slammed his hands together.
"Desert Wave!"
A massive wave of sand rose up.
"Is that...?"
"What?"
Reflected in the constricting pupils of Kankurō, Temari, and Baki...
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
The swirling sand rapidly enveloped Gaara.
In just a few seconds...
A massive sphere of sand appeared before the tens of thousands of spectators.
Naruto paused for a moment, stunned. But his shadow clones, following their original orders, continued the attack.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
As they closed in...
Countless sharp spikes suddenly erupted from the giant sand sphere. Caught off guard, the clones were all impaled and destroyed instantly.
"What is that thing?"
"Huh? He wrapped himself up?"
"Won't that block his own vision?"
"But that defense looks really strong. Young Master Naruto can't break through at all."
"Is this the so-called 'Absolute Defense'?"
"Is he planning to exhaust Young Master Naruto with this?"
Tens of thousands of ordinary spectators in the stands widened their eyes, staring curiously at the sand sphere encasing Gaara.
"Gaara, you idiot!!! It's not time yet! Why are you acting on your own!?"
Standing on the far left of the stands, Baki's expression turned ugly.
There was still a short while before the plan was officially supposed to start.
Initially, seeing Naruto use such human-wave tactics to trade blows with Gaara had made Baki quite happy.
Chakra consumption!?
That was the last thing a Jinchuriki feared.
It was a perfect way to stall for time openly.
They just needed to wait until the forces outside were ready, send the signal, and then Gaara would go full Tailed Beast mode.
Then, he and Kabuto would lead the infiltrated elites to cause chaos inside the stadium.
But now, Gaara's unauthorized action threatened to ruin everything. Baki's face was grim.
Now, he could only pray that the forces outside were already prepared, so the timing discrepancy could be kept to a minimum.
In another shadowy corner, Kabuto, disguised as an ANBU, narrowed his eyes slightly. His hands clenched and unclenched, muscles subtly tensing, clearly ready to strike at any moment.
In the contestant's gallery.
Menma narrowed his eyes, glancing at Temari and Kankurō, who were visibly nervous.
'Starting the Tailed Beast transformation already?'
He shifted his gaze to the stands where Baki and Kabuto were. With his powerful sensory abilities, Menma could easily pinpoint their locations.
The "Konoha Crush" was supposed to start with Gaara, Baki, and Kabuto acting in unison. Once they moved, Orochimaru up on the high platform would strike at the Third Hokage.
'Come on... come on. Let this village know true pain!'
Beneath Menma's calm exterior, his heart was filled with cold killing intent.
The undercurrents were raging.
Yet, no one in the village had detected the looming disaster.
Down in the arena.
Naruto, still the protagonist of the moment, looked at the giant sand sphere with a troubled expression.
Over the last few moments, he had tried everything he could think of, but he couldn't even scratch the sand barrier.
"How am I supposed to deal with this thing!?"
Naruto scratched the back of his head.
Simple-minded as he was, even he could tell that the Sand ninja wasn't wrapping himself up for no reason.
He was definitely preparing some powerful jutsu inside.
He absolutely couldn't just sit and wait.
"I was planning to save this jutsu to surprise Menma and Sasuke later, but... forget it! I'll use it here!"
Naruto muttered to himself.
A second later.
With a thought...
A shadow clone appeared directly beside his main body.
The main body extended his right hand, and the shadow clone placed both hands over it.
This incredibly familiar scene...
Seeing it, Menma's pupils couldn't help but contract slightly.
'Rasengan!?'
Just as Menma subconsciously uttered the name in his mind...
A massive amount of chakra instantly gathered in the palm of Naruto's right hand.
A sphere of swirling blue chakra formed, radiating an intimidating aura.
Others might not know.
But Menma was absolutely certain: Gaara's sand barrier would not be able to withstand the impact of the Rasengan!
After all, in the original story, the Chidori had pierced that barrier and wounded Gaara while he was transforming.
The Rasengan could definitely do the same.
'Is it going to play out just like the original story!?'
Just as Menma thought the plot was going to follow the original script exactly—and was considering abandoning his participation in the "Konoha Crush"—
"Genjutsu: Temple of Nirvana!"
In the next second.
A flurry of white feathers, dense as a blizzard, drifted down from the sky.
Filling Menma's vision!