"Ah, thanks for the compliment, but…" Kakashi drawled, "that refined way of using Lightning Chakra Mode isn't something I taught him."
Might Guy blinked. "Huh? You didn't teach him? Did Sasuke figure it out himself? The body control and chakra precision that takes… even with the Sharingan, it's…"
Kakashi shook his head, speaking in a complicated tone.
"It was… that person."
He paused, as though choosing his words carefully, then added,
"On paper he's still listed as a 'Genin,' yet now… he's someone we Jonin have to formally address as 'sir' on certain occasions."
Guy's eyes snapped wide. "You mean…!?"
"Yeah, exactly what you're thinking," Kakashi admitted outright.
"As expected of him!"
Guy exclaimed, "Not only does he stand ahead of us in strength and wisdom, he even trains the next generation with such… creativity!"
He didn't finish—because the situation on the field changed again!
Cough… cough, cough…
Gaara staggered to his feet from the crater in the wall, grains of sand sliding off him.
He looked down at the glaring crimson smeared across his palm and trembled slightly.
First, in the Forest of Death, he'd been crushed by that Tejima Shinichi; even Shukaku's power had been forcibly suppressed… That crushing defeat and terror still rooted itself in him like a nightmare, jolting him awake every night since.
And now… this Uchiha Sasuke!
This guy who only hops around with that annoying Lightning Release!
He had actually… "Actually… injured me!!"
Gaara's voice hissed through clenched teeth, sand whipping around him in a frenzy.
The sight set every onlooker's heart racing—Leaf, Sound, and Sand—each with their own worries.
It felt as though they would clash at any second!
Sasuke stood in place, watching Gaara's furious yet battered state, a scornful smile tugging at his lips.
"I heard," he began, "that during the second exam you fought Shinichi."
"And lost badly."
Sasuke lifted his gaze, scarlet Sharingan locking onto Gaara.
"I thought anyone who forced him to act would at least have some weight…"
His tone was flat, stabbing deeper than any open taunt.
"But looking at you now…"
Sasuke shook his head, clearly unimpressed by Gaara's current display.
"—That's all you amount to."
"Shut up!!!"
Gaara's head jerked up in a roar, the last trace of rational clarity swallowed by rage.
"Losing to him—I accept it! His power—I acknowledge it!"
Gaara howled, "But you, you Uchiha rat who only knows how to scurry—who do you think you are?! You dare judge me?! You dare make me bleed?!"
"Uchiha rat?!"
The phrase seemed to flip a switch; Sasuke's eyes chilled, his body tilting forward. Lightning exploded beneath his feet.
"I'll say it once more… the honor of the Uchiha is not to be defiled!!!"
"Go… die!!!"
Sasuke's roar thundered across the field, lightning bursting beneath him.
Yet—
The instant the lightning flashed, instead of charging forward he abruptly shot backward!
Chakra detonated beneath his feet, hurling him in reverse; in a blink he'd opened the distance and landed steady at the far edge of the arena.
That retreat, contradicting his declaration, even gave the berserk Gaara pause.
A battle cry followed by a full withdrawal?
But the next moment Gaara's rage at being toyed with surged, along with a deeper alarm: 'What is this Uchiha preparing?!'
"You think… you can really manage it?!"
Gaara slammed both palms onto the ground!
Torrents of sand erupted, spiraling upward in layers to envelop him… In seconds a colossal sphere sealed him inside, its surface forming a single cold, giant Third Eye that stared down at the outside world.
'Absolute Defense!!!'
The Third Eye slowly turned, locking onto Sasuke at the edge of the field.
"Hmph…"
From the sidelines Sasuke had clearly expected this terrifying defensive shift.
"Hiding in your turtle shell?"
With that, his hands flashed through seals in front of his chest!
Ox – Hare – Monkey!
Chakra surged, and a shrill chirp—like thousands of birds—burst from his palm in blazing white light.
"Then…"
Sasuke lifted his head, Sharingan tomoe spinning wildly as he locked onto the cold Third Eye and the sphere beneath it.
"Along with your shell…"
He funneled every last scrap of chakra, plus the insights into Lightning nature transformation honed through a month of hellish training, into this single strike!
"I'll blow straight through it…!!!"
"Chidori—!!!"
Sasuke's roar merged with the piercing thunder, turning into a blue-white bolt that shot toward the sand sphere!
"Hmph! Presumptuous!!"
From inside the sphere came Gaara's furious snarl.
"There's no way you can injure me while I'm in 'absolute defense'!!"
At his words, the sphere abruptly extended several razor-sharp sand spears, sealing off almost every angle of approach or evasion.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Sasuke's Sharingan had already traced every spear's path!
Mid-charge, he twisted and shifted at impossible angles, slipping through the gaps by millimeters.
Distance closed to zero in an instant.
"Shatter—!!!"
Lightning flared in Sasuke's eyes as his Chidori-clad right palm slammed against the sphere under the Third Eye's gaze!
BOOM—!!!
The Chidori's lightning bored a fist-sized hole clean through.
Blinding light poured into the opening.
Thud—!
The sound of blade piercing flesh rang in Sasuke's ears.
Time seemed to freeze for an instant.
The entire arena fell dead silent.
In the stands, countless people stared, mouths agape, no one able to make a sound.
Temari and Kankuro's faces were ashen.
Leaf Genin like Sakura clapped hands over their mouths, eyes wide with shock.
Sasuke's arm, along with the fading glow of lightning, had plunged deep inside the sphere through the ragged hole!
He held the thrusting stance, one knee slightly bent to support his body, panting heavily, sweat soaking his hair and clothes—but those Sharingan eyes were fixed unblinkingly on where his arm had plunged.
"Did it land?"
"Did… did it work?"
In the stands, someone swallowed hard and muttered.
Even Kakashi and the other Jonin watched with rapt attention!!
Down below, the corner of Sasuke's mouth twitched upward uncontrollably.
He could feel the warmth and wetness in his palm, and the tiny tremor of lightning bursting through flesh.
'He'd done it!'
Chidori… had indeed pierced the sand sphere and wounded Gaara inside!
"Feel that…?"
Sasuke sneered, voice low.
"This is… the power of the Uchiha."
'That laughable "absolute defense" of yours…'
He twisted his wrist slightly, letting the last sparks savage the wound.
"…before these eyes, it's meaningless."
'And this is the price you pay for provoking the Uchiha…'
Yet from within the sand sphere came no sound—only Sasuke's own hand could feel what stirred inside!
The next instant—
"Ugh… aaaaah—!!!"
Gaara stared at the spot Sasuke had injured and screamed again!
"To bleed again… and here in Konoha?!"
Gaara's body shook uncontrollably!
First that Wood Release monster had crushed every shred of his confidence with overwhelming force; now this Uchiha brat, with the very speed and skill he'd dismissed, had broken the so-called absolute defense and truly wounded him!
Blow after blow, sharp as a file, shaved away his already twisted, fragile pride and very reason to exist!
'Unacceptable! … Absolutely unacceptable!'
"Why… why is it always Konoha… that hurts me?!!"
Gaara's mind snapped entirely!
At the same moment, Uchiha Sasuke's face changed drastically!
The arm he'd thrust into the sand sphere had felt only warm blood and muscle tremors—now it suddenly shifted!
Some indescribable solid mass squeezed his arm!
'That sensation… could never be human tissue!'
"What the hell?!"
A chill shot through Sasuke; the unknown instantly overrode everything!
He stamped both feet against the violently quaking sphere, chakra erupting beneath his soles, and hurled himself backward with all his might!
Screech—!!!
With a grating squelch, Sasuke ripped his arm free!
But what came out with his arm was not just flesh.
Clamped around his forearm was a huge, violet-glowing claw of ill omen!
In the stands, Sunagakure's Jonin leader Baki went deathly pale the instant that claw appeared, eyes filling with horror and furious dread!
"Damn it… out of control again! Can't you stick to the plan?!!"
The plan had been for Gaara to release Shukaku's power to create chaos—controlled, directed chaos—not for Shukaku's force to manifest as a solid claw seizing an Uchiha!
It would leave Sunagakure completely on the defensive, perhaps even provoke Konoha into an all-out premature counterstrike!
The situation veered headlong into an abyss that none had foreseen!
In an inconspicuous corner of the stands, Yakushi Kabuto—disguised as a Konoha Anbu—coolly surveyed the rapidly worsening scene, glanced at Baki's livid face, then at the back of the Kazekage in the VIP box.
"The plan… has hit a snag."
Behind his mask Kabuto smiled and murmured,
"But no matter. Shukaku's rampage will only serve as a better distraction…"
He raised both hands, forming the Tiger seal—the signal to activate the Temple of Nirvana Technique. This meant plunging the remaining spectators and low-rank ninja into sleep and deterring Konoha from retaliation.
"Then let the chaos," he murmured, his gaze hardening as chakra gathered at his fingertips, "become absolute. Begin—"
Yet his hand seals froze halfway…
Kabuto's composure vanished, pupils shrinking!
An icy spike of dread shot up his spine!
Whoosh—!!
A cold blade flashed from his blind side!
"What?!"
The sudden strike wiped Kabuto's calm clean away!
No time for seals!
He forcibly severed his chakra flow, yanked both hands inward at an impossible angle, sprang back, and in the same heartbeat snaked a hand into his ninja tool pouch, drawing a special kunai to parry without even looking!
Clang—!!!
Steel rang, sparks flew!
The kunai barely caught the chilling edge that had nearly kissed his wrist!
The impact numbed his arm and sent him stumbling two steps back.
Kabuto jerked his head up at the attacker.
A kunoichi in standard Konoha Anbu gear, animal mask, striking purple short hair, narrow ninja blade in hand, stared back coldly.
"Konoha Anbu? How…?"
Kabuto's heart sank—but what made his face blanch was the upheaval that swept the arena next!
Almost the instant he blocked that strike… an order detonated in the minds of every Konoha ninja who knew of the Konoha Crush Plan and lay hidden at key points throughout the venue!
"Commence operation!"
"Move—!!!"
In the temporary command room, Inoichi Yamanaka—wearing the headset for the mind-transmitting device—relayed the command directly!
With that telepathic order…
Swish! Swish! Swish!!!
Across the arena, scores of "civilians," "merchants," "noble attendants" who'd looked panicked or half-asleep moments ago erupted into action!
"Enemy attack—!"
"It's Sunagakure and Otogakure!"
"Strike—!!! Wipe out the infiltrators!"
Shouts and orders exploded from every direction at once!
The entire Chunin Exams arena blew into chaos!
In that instant the disguised Orochimaru, Kabuto, Baki and the rest stared in utter disbelief!!
Chaos had indeed ignited.
But not by the script they'd written!
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