"Is it someone from that team again?"
Kankuro, who had woken up at some point, stood on the spectator gallery, his expression dark as he watched Sakura on the field.
But soon, a gloating smile appeared on his face. "Hehe, against Gaara, that girl is dead meat."
Gaara was the strongest and most terrifying member of their team. He had never seen anyone survive a fight with Gaara.
Just during the second exam, Gaara had slaughtered three teams of candidates, leaving not even their bones behind. Anyone who witnessed such ferocity would be terrified.
"She's definitely dead, but that's good. Gaara can take revenge for us," Temari, who had also woken up, said expressionlessly.
Both she and Kankuro had been defeated by members of the same team, which was a huge blow to their pride. Now that their strongest member, Gaara, was facing someone from that team, it was the perfect opportunity to vent their frustration!
On the field, Gaara stood with his arms crossed, speaking coldly to Sakura.
"The ones I wanted to fight were Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki. I didn't expect to run into a woman like you."
Opposite him, Sakura raised an eyebrow in surprise upon hearing this. "Oh, so you wanted to fight Sasuke and Naruto? What a pity. They were matched against your two teammates and beat them both."
This guy in front of her was constantly emitting a menacing aura that made her uncomfortable, and his words clearly looked down on her. So, her reply was laced with barbs.
"They are nothing compared to me," Gaara said without emotion.
"Then let's test that," Sakura said with a smirk.
"Ahem, I declare the final preliminary match officially started," Hayate Gekko announced, seeing both were ready.
Whoosh!
As soon as the match began, Sakura struck first, rushing up to Gaara and throwing a heavy punch.
Thud!
However, to her surprise, her fist was blocked halfway.
"What is this?"
Her eyes widened, finding the scene before her somewhat incredible.
Directly in front of her, a hard wall of sand had formed, blocking her fist and catching her attack firmly!
"Huh, this person can control sand."
On the spectator gallery, Goku was also a bit surprised by this scene.
From the start of the preliminaries until now, he felt like his eyes had been opened wide. First, he saw someone using their body as a hive for bugs, then someone who could control shadows, and now someone controlling sand.
'Where did this sand come from?'
On the field, after her first attack failed, Sakura didn't continue. Instead, she retreated a distance, eyeing the floating mass of sand and Gaara behind it.
Soon, she noticed that the cork of the gourd on Gaara's back had been opened at some point.
'So it's stored in the gourd.'
Knowing the source of the sand, she made up her mind. 'Controlling sand for defense, huh? Let's see if you can block everything!'
With that thought, she charged forward again, launching a barrage of attacks from all around Gaara.
But whether she punched or kicked, all her attacks were blocked by Gaara's sand.
'Hehe, that Shield of Sand is Gaara's absolute defense. It protects him from all angles automatically. How could a woman like you possibly hurt Gaara!'
On the gallery, seeing Sakura attacking relentlessly but failing to harm even a hair on Gaara's head, the smile on Kankuro's face grew wider.
In his eyes, Sakura's death was approaching. Once she exhausted herself from attacking, Gaara would kill her with ease!
'This sand is really annoying.'
On the field, after multiple failed attacks, Sakura stopped. Continuing like this was meaningless and would only waste her stamina.
A thought crossed her mind: 'Looks like it's time to take off the weights.'
Although they had removed their weights when they encountered Orochimaru, they had only sealed them back into scrolls after he left and hadn't worn them immediately.
But after reaching the tower and finishing the second exam, they had put them back on. And they hadn't taken them off even for the preliminaries.
Tap, tap, tap!
To prevent Gaara from launching a surprise attack while she removed her weights, she jumped back to a safe distance before starting to unbuckle the weights on her legs.
"Hm? What is she doing?"
Apart from Naruto's group, no one else in the arena knew what Sakura was up to.
"Hehe, I didn't expect this guy to force Sakura to take off her weights," Naruto said loudly, his voice carrying clearly to those around him.
"Weights? Why wear something so troublesome?" Shikamaru squinted, looking repulsed.
"Are those things actually useful?" Kiba crossed his arms, looking puzzled.
"Weights? Probably just a few dozen pounds at most. What use are they? Whether you wear them or not, you won't touch Gaara," Kankuro thought disdainfully.
But in the next moment, his expression changed.
After Sakura unbuckled the weights from her legs, she didn't place them down gently. Instead, she deliberately lifted them to shoulder height and suddenly let go.
BOOM!!
With a loud crash, dust billowed, and two large, crack-filled craters appeared in the floor.
"What the...?!"
Kankuro's eyes bulged, and the corner of his eye twitched.
How heavy were those weights for the girl to smash the ground like that just by dropping them??
But the shock wasn't over.
After removing the leg weights, Sakura took off her wrist weights as well. Thud, thud! The two loud impacts deepened the craters she had just made.
'Hehe, surprised you all, didn't I?'
After removing the weights, Sakura looked around at the spectators, feeling a bit smug at their shocked expressions.
Originally, she hadn't intended to make such a big commotion. But since these people had been whispering about her, she had to let them know just how exaggerated her weights were. Otherwise, it would be a disservice to her days of hard training.
"Hmph. Even if your weights are heavier than expected, you still won't be able to break through Gaara's defense."
After a moment of shock, Kankuro composed himself.
He admitted this woman was somewhat unusual, but he still didn't believe she could harm Gaara.
This was a conclusion drawn from watching Gaara grow up all these years!
On the field, very few people weren't surprised by Sakura's weights, and Gaara was one of them.
While Sakura was removing her weights, he stood with his arms crossed, quietly staying in place. Even when the weights smashed into the ground with a huge commotion, his expression remained unchanged.
"You don't seem to care?" Sakura couldn't help but ask.
"Why should I care?" Gaara said expressionlessly.
"Aren't you afraid I'll break through your defense?"
"Heh."
Gaara didn't answer, only letting out a cold sneer.
That sneer was filled with supreme confidence in his defense and deep disdain for Sakura.
Sakura said no more. She intended to show him with her actions:
His defense could be broken!