"A waste of time! Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
Seeing Naruto's pathetic display, Gaara erupted in fury.
In his mini-Shukaku form, Gaara wasn't limited to sand anymore—he'd started using Wind Release too.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa—where am I?! What's going on?!"
The freshly summoned Gamakichi hadn't even grasped the situation yet.
Who am I? Where am I? What am I supposed to do?
"Long story—just run!"
Naruto scooped up the little toad he'd just summoned and took off.
[BGM just tanked out of nowhere]
[I'm dying—I thought he was about to power up]
[Lmao, I thought this was gonna be another action spectacular]
[Comedy-routine protagonist]
[Hanabi's the one who does bits on purpose. Naruto's the involuntary comedian]
[I can't, let me pause and laugh for a sec]
[Bro, is your laugh threshold that low?]
[Take it too seriously and you miss the point. Good shows are rare these days—you gotta savor every bit]
"That guy Naruto..."
Sasuke had finally come to, arriving at the competitors' platform.
He'd expected to see an intense battle, but instead Naruto was delivering a performance that left everyone speechless.
"WAAAAAH!" Clutching the little summoned toad, Naruto ran for his life.
How to put it—the sight was genuinely comical. Even the audience wasn't sure what expression to make.
"Oya, oya." Kakashi scratched his head. "Big speech, and now he's running for the hills..."
"Sasuke..." Everyone else's eyes were on Naruto, but Orochimaru's gaze was locked on Sasuke. The moment Sasuke appeared on the platform, Orochimaru couldn't look away.
[Wait—the Kazekage keeps staring at Sasuke?]
[Holy crap, don't tell me that's the villain Orochimaru]
[Could be. That would explain everything Hanabi just did]
[666]
After the chaos-gremlin audience connected the dots, Hanabi's popularity surged again—her fan count was closing in on 100,000.
"Seems like this kind of build-low-then-soar reversal works too."
As long as you weren't afraid of things going off the rails, it was fine.
Wait—no.
For those bloodthirsty chaos-gremlins, wouldn't things going off the rails actually make for better drama?
Nah, never mind.
She wasn't Naruto. Losing control of the bit would wreck her whole persona.
You had to keep the persona consistent to earn more popularity.
If the slip-ups happened in emotional territory—between lovers or friends—well, that was just a harmless little game. Nothing to worry about, nothing to worry about~
"Damn it... DAMN IT!"
The Summoning Jutsu had produced nothing but a little toad, and now all Naruto could do was dart all over the place.
"Wind Release: Infinite Sand Cloud Great Breakthrough!"
Naruto's frantic dodging drove Gaara past his limit. He launched an even bigger attack.
The horrifying sandstorm tore skyward, nearly engulfing the spectator seats.
Several Jōnin reacted just in time, using ninjutsu to block it.
"Hey, hey, hey—is this really a Genin match?! Even a Jōnin couldn't handle that!"
Sarutobi Asuma had just used Wind Release to scatter the sand headed for the spectators. He looked left and right at his colleagues.
"He is a jinchūriki, after all." Kakashi rose to his feet, quietly shifting into combat readiness.
The situation was getting bad.
Something on the Sand side had gone haywire.
Bottom line: this was trouble.
"BOOM!"
Naruto was blasted into a wall, then tumbled down onto the sand below.
To protect Gamakichi, he could only brace for the impact.
"It's over."
Gaara loomed over Naruto.
"Pathetic. You thought your flimsy words could convince me? If that's the case—then I'll just have to destroy Konoha."
Only Naruto heard the second half.
"...?!"
Naruto's eyes went wide with shock.
"Before I even entered this exam, I'd already made up my mind. If I can't find my answer—I'll destroy this village."
Maybe he couldn't take Hanabi alone. But if the full Shukaku came out, even that woman probably couldn't stop it.
And there would be others to keep her busy.
"If I can't find my answer, I'll destroy everything here."
"Like hell you will!"
Naruto staggered to his feet.
"You're just taking it out on everyone else!"
Naruto was furious.
"All you really want is a friend—someone who cares about you! You melodramatic brat!"
—I was the same way.
Naruto was enraged.
Because he'd been in the same place, he understood Gaara completely.
Gaara was just a lonely, miserable kid.
Just like he had been.
"Then stop me!"
Sand surged and gathered.
Something was taking shape within the storm.
Terrifying chakra was converging.
And in that moment, Naruto understood—that terrifying chakra meant Gaara really could destroy all of Konoha.
Every Jōnin in the vicinity sensed it.
The Third Hokage stood.
Orochimaru, beside him, rose as well.
Sand and Leaf shinobi began squaring off.
This was no longer the kind of power that belonged in an "exam."
The situation was spiraling out of control.
"Bring it on!"
Naruto gathered his chakra one more time.
"This time—with my own strength—come on—"
"Adamantine—Sealing—CHAINS!!!"
Countless chains erupted from behind Naruto.
They coiled around the sandstorm.
The towering silhouette was torn apart. Then the chains lashed around the mini-Shukaku Gaara and locked him down.
In an instant, the wind and sand vanished.
Silence fell.
"Hah... heh... I... I finally did it..."
Naruko's voice rang out.
"This fight was that intense? Naruto actually managed to restrain that monster?"
Sakura, rubbing sand from her eyes, slowly blinked them open.
By the time she could see, Naruto had already bound Gaara in chains.
"Huh? Is that the Transformation Technique?!"
Sakura remembered Naruto had a jutsu that turned him into a girl—the one that had gotten Iruka-sensei back in the day.
But something wasn't quite right.
The Naruto before her was panting hard, and her long hair wasn't in twin tails—it hung loose.
"Naruto actually 'yanked' Kushina's chakra out?"
Hanabi understood what had happened.
Naruto couldn't use Adamantine Sealing Chains. But Kushina could.
Kushina hadn't responded to Naruto this whole time.
So what Naruto just did was use his own chakra to physically drag Kushina's out by force.
That was why his body had changed.
"That's something else."
Hanabi had expected Gaara to be the one evolving. She hadn't anticipated that Naruto would break through first.
This time it really was Naruto's moment in the spotlight.