In the arena, after Sakura declared her surrender, those who could sense ki, like Goku and Naruto, showed little reaction. However, everyone else reacted differently.
"That woman..."
Kankuro was still reeling from the shock of Gaara's defence being breached when Sakura's sudden surrender left him completely bewildered.
"Why is Sakura giving up? Isn't she in a great position? That guy can't even fight back!"
Seeing her best friend surrender, Ino was baffled.
"No, look closely at their conditions."
Shikamaru's usual laziness was gone, replaced by a serious expression as he analysed the situation.
"Although Sakura has had the upper hand, the damage she inflicted on Gaara isn't significant."
"Attacking Gaara clearly consumes a lot of her stamina. Look at her now; she's panting heavily, and her face is much paler than before."
Hearing this, Ino looked closer and saw that it was true. Sakura looked much worse than at the start of the match, hunched over and obviously exhausted.
"Now look at Gaara. He's been taking hits, but his sand defence absorbed most of the impact."
"Even when his defence was broken later, he only took minor damage. It's nothing serious for him."
"Comparing the two, Sakura actually hasn't gained the upper hand, unless she could have finished him off in one blow."
"Like those energy blasts at the end—they were probably meant to take him down instantly. It's a pity she didn't succeed."
After Shikamaru's lengthy analysis, Ino finally understood why Sakura had surrendered. She couldn't help but feel regret for her friend.
If Sakura had faced any other opponent, she would have won by now.
However, what neither of them knew was that while Sakura's surrender was indeed related to stamina exhaustion, there was a more critical reason.
"Too bad. Sakura used up too much of her ki. If she keeps fighting, she won't just lose; she'll collapse from exhaustion," Sasuke said, crossing his arms and glancing at Naruto, who looked frustrated beside him.
"Yeah, I know," Naruto replied sullenly.
If he hadn't known this, he, who always preached never giving up, would have been shouting at Sakura right now, angry at her for quitting.
Indeed, the most important reason for Sakura's forfeit was that she didn't have enough ki left to continue the fight.
The reason for her depletion wasn't just the massive consumption from flaring her ki, but fundamentally because her ki reserves were low to begin with.
Once she flared her ki, her reserves plummeted.
If she couldn't defeat her opponent before her ki dropped below a safe level, she had basically no hope of winning.
Unless she was prepared to fight to the death and drain every last drop of her ki, victory was impossible.
But this was just a match. There was no need to go to such extremes.
On the field, the proctor Hayate Gekko hadn't expected Sakura to surrender either suddenly. He asked for confirmation, "Are you sure?"
Sakura nodded. "Yes, I'm sure."
"Alright. In that case, I declare..."
Just as Hayate was about to announce the result, a sudden change occurred in front of him, cutting him off mid-sentence.
Gaara, realising Sakura intended to quit, was overcome with murderous rage. He commanded a wave of sand to sweep towards her.
"I haven't had enough yet! You can surrender after I kill you!"
His words were filled with savage cruelty.
"This guy..."
Seeing the attack coming, Sakura was surprised. Was he really going to be this relentless?
She gritted her teeth, preparing to dodge.
Even exhausted, she was confident she could evade his attack.
Boom! Boom! Boom!!
But before she could move, several ki blasts shot down from above, blasting the incoming sand apart with loud explosions.
She looked back and saw Naruto standing on the railing of the spectator gallery, pointing at Gaara and shouting,
"Hey! If you haven't had enough, I'll fight you!!"
Beside him, Sasuke smirked. "If that's not enough, there's me too. Though I doubt it'll come to that."
On the other side, Rock Lee, not wanting to be left out, raised his hand. "Me! Me! Me too!!"
"Naruto, Sasuke, Lee... you guys..."
Sakura looked at them, deeply moved.
But the person being pointed at felt very differently.
Gaara's face twitched, furious that his attack had been interrupted.
In his mind, Sakura should have been crushed, allowing his mother—represented by the sand—to taste what he imagined to be her delicious blood.
But he had been stopped, and not just by one person.
Seeing this, the thought he had suppressed earlier resurfaced. He prepared to unleash his full form and turn this place upside down!
But just then...
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Three figures suddenly appeared beside him.
"Enough, Gaara. Don't forget our plan," Baki growled in a low voice, scanning the area to ensure no one else was close enough to hear.
Gaara was the key to their plan to attack Konoha. If he exposed himself now, the entire plan would go up in smoke.
"Gaara, look at me. Listen to me. You can kill all these people when the plan starts. There's no rush," Temari said boldly, placing a hand on Gaara's shoulder and looking him in the eye.
"Yeah, yeah, Gaara. Just endure it for a few more days," Kankuro added, too desperate to be afraid of Gaara in this state.
Whether it was one of them specifically or the collective effort, the madness in Gaara's eyes gradually faded.
After a moment, he calmed down completely, showing no trace of his previous bloodlust.
"I will definitely kill them."
After saying this in a flat, emotionless tone, he turned and walked away.
Seeing this, Baki signalled Temari and Kankuro to follow him. Then, he turned to Hayate Gekko to apologise. "Apologies. Gaara tends to get carried away in a fight. I've already reprimanded him. About the match...?"
There was a rule: once a contestant forfeited, the opponent was forbidden to attack them further.
He was afraid that Gaara's attack would cause the proctor to disqualify him for violating the rules.
Although Gaara not advancing wouldn't stop their plan to release the One-Tail in the arena during the finals—since spectators could enter too—everyone else from the Sand Village had already been eliminated.
If Gaara were eliminated as well, the Sand would have no finalists. It would be a huge loss of face for the Kazekage when he arrived in Konoha, and they would become the laughingstock of other ninja villages once the news spread.
Even if their plan to attack Konoha succeeded, it wouldn't change that fact.
Hearing his apology, Hayate didn't answer immediately. Instead, he looked up at Hiruzen Sarutobi.
After Hiruzen gave a slight nod, Hayate looked at Baki and said, "Considering we are allies, I will overlook Gaara's mistake this time. But only this once."