Thinking along these lines, Maki refocused his attention on Temari and Naruto. His expression showed calm anticipation.
I'll wait for Temari to complete her friendship with Naruto. Then perhaps Gaara will follow suit and befriend him as well. Once all three of my students have established these connections, we can finally depart and return home.
It never occurred to Maki that Naruto wanted to befriend not only his students, but Maki himself as well.
If Maki had known this detail, he probably wouldn't be watching the upcoming battle quite so comfortably.
The confrontation between Temari and Naruto was imminent, tension building like gathering storm clouds. Seeing the atmosphere gradually intensify, Shino and the other Konoha friends felt faint excitement ripple through their ranks. Soon they'd have another like-minded partner joining their circle.
Sasuke casually walked over to where the Nine-Tails sat on a large boulder. He settled down beside the fox and reached into the bag of melon seeds the Nine-Tails held, extracting a generous handful. He began cracking them methodically, completely at ease.
When the Nine-Tails noticed someone stealing his snacks, irritation flared immediately. But seeing it was Sasuke, he decided not to bother making an issue of it. No point quibbling with a fellow victim of Naruto's "friendship process."
"Sunagakure shinobi, Temari, requesting guidance!" Temari gripped her three-star fan firmly, her expression deadly serious. She addressed Naruto across the impromptu arena with formal respect.
"Konohagakure shinobi, Uzumaki Naruto, requesting guidance!" Naruto naturally maintained an equally serious demeanor, returning Temari's formality with perfect propriety.
Temari looked down at the massive three-star fan in her hands, then across at Naruto standing empty-handed. Her brow furrowed slightly. "Please draw your weapons, Naruto."
"My weapons are my fists." Naruto's voice carried absolute confidence. "My entire body serves as my arsenal."
Hearing this declaration, Temari nodded in acceptance. Truthfully, she felt relieved by his response. Naruto's overwhelming strength already made her feel completely outmatched. If he actually wielded additional ninja tools, any hope of putting up a respectable fight would evaporate entirely!
With that settled, Temari stopped talking and opened her fan.
The three-star fan spread wide behind her like massive wings. The fan's ribs extended outward, revealing a single painted star against the metal surface. The three-star fan, true to its name, bore three stars total. The more stars revealed through opening, the more devastating the attack's power.
With one star exposed, wind immediately picked up around Temari's position. The air currents spun together rapidly, forming a concentrated storm. Like a miniature tornado, it raged toward Naruto with violent intensity.
The wind possessed cutting edges sharp as blades. The moment it made contact with Naruto's body, it should have delivered brutal slicing force. Within the swirling storm, chaotic wind blades tore and slashed at everything they touched, creating an audible cutting sound against Naruto's clothes and skin.
But that terrifying wind technique, capable of shredding trees and stone, failed to leave even the faintest mark on Naruto's body.
Naruto stood within the tornado's center, motionless as a mountain. Completely unaffected.
How is this possible?!
Witnessing Naruto remain perfectly calm inside her tornado, Temari's heart shook violently. She'd genuinely never expected Naruto could maintain such composure within her technique. And this was without even activating that transformation she'd heard about, the one that made him grow to five meters tall.
From this observation, even in the Forest of Death against Orochimaru, Naruto wasn't showing his full strength?
Considering this possibility, Temari felt genuine astonishment spread through her chest. Orochimaru's power level matched her father's, the current Kazekage. If Naruto hadn't been fighting at full capacity against Orochimaru, what did that mean?
Doesn't that suggest Naruto might already be invincible among active shinobi?
The moment Temari entertained this possibility, she didn't dare pursue the thought any further.
Originally, before coming to Konoha for the Chunin Selection Exams, Maki-sensei had explained to the three siblings how Konoha's growing power threatened Sunagakure's position. How their village was falling dangerously behind. He'd used this reasoning to persuade them to participate in the Konoha Crush operation.
At the time, Temari had felt tremendous internal conflict. Because once the Konoha Crush plan went into effect, countless tragedies would unfold. Husbands would lose wives. Wives would lose husbands. Fathers would lose children. Children would lose fathers. An endless series of heartbreaking events that Temari genuinely didn't want to witness or cause.
But this was a major strategic decision for Sunagakure. As the daughter of the current Kazekage, as a loyal Suna ninja, refusing such a plan had been impossible.
She possessed a kind heart beneath her tough exterior. That kindness explained why she'd always stayed close to Gaara, keeping him under observation. After all, someone needed to restrain Gaara's violent impulses. Otherwise, with his temperament and complete lack of moral boundaries, who knew how many tragedies he'd cause?
Gaara's personality was fundamentally twisted. He acknowledged no distinction between good and evil, only personal preference. Among the siblings, Gaara showed some measure of respect for his older sister. But for Kankuro? Their brother was simply a potential target, someone Gaara might kill casually if the mood struck.
However, during the preliminaries before the third exam, Temari had received a message from Maki. The Konoha Crush plan had been indefinitely postponed. They could return to Sunagakure immediately after the exams concluded.
At that moment, Temari had felt profound relief. At minimum, she wouldn't need to create tragedy with her own hands.
Now, having witnessed just a fraction of Naruto's true strength, Temari felt even more fortunate. If the Konoha Crush plan hadn't been postponed, if Sunagakure had actually attacked Konoha with Naruto present, things would have gone catastrophically wrong. Not only would the invasion have failed, Sunagakure might have suffered devastating losses. Losses that would push their already precarious village position from bad to genuinely desperate.
Thank goodness. Thank goodness it was stopped.
But she remained in active combat. She needed to devote herself fully to this battle. Temari understood in her heart that given Naruto's overwhelming strength, he obviously wasn't just bullying them for entertainment. Naruto genuinely wanted friendship.
Even if his method of establishing that friendship was somewhat... unconventional.
"Three-Star Weasel Scythe!" Having resolved her internal conflict, Temari immediately unleashed her full power. The three-star fan behind her spread completely open, revealing all three painted stars. The strengthened wind raged with multiplied fury, sweeping forward in a devastating assault.
Watching the enhanced storm engulfing his position, Naruto finally took action. He stepped forward.
With that single step, the ground beneath Naruto's feet immediately exploded. Gravel sprayed outward in all directions, creating a vacuum zone where his foot had landed. An invisible wave of pressure burst from beneath his stance and flew outward in a perfect circular plane.
Everyone standing nearby felt an intensely powerful wind blade pass through their position in an instant. The cutting force was surgical in its precision.
Then Naruto vanished. Instantaneous Movement activated.
When the assembled observers came back to their senses and looked down at themselves, they discovered the bottoms of their pants had been severed cleanly, as if cut by an impossibly sharp blade. The fabric edges were smooth and neat, perfectly uniform.
But what truly shocked everyone was that only the fabric had been cut. Not a single leg hair had been damaged. Not the faintest scratch marked anyone's skin.
The Nine-Tails and Sasuke, who'd been sitting on the boulder contentedly cracking melon seeds, had been watching the battle with casual interest. Suddenly they felt the stone beneath them shift forward. The massive boulder, which must have weighed several tons, had been physically pushed backward down the slight incline by nothing but air pressure.
Maki's heart hammered in his chest with genuine terror. Such tremendous force. Such impossibly precise invisible air blades. He truly deserves his reputation as the boy who made Orochimaru's body explode.
Konoha's genin are this terrifying?!
In a flash of clarity, sudden understanding struck Maki like lightning. Perhaps Orochimaru had been absolutely correct to unilaterally cancel the Konoha Crush operation. The decision might have actually saved them all.
If Sunagakure had attacked and Naruto had responded with even one serious kick, the outcome remained genuinely uncertain. No, actually, the outcome was quite certain. Sunagakure would lose. Catastrophically.
As this realization crystallized, Maki's body broke out in cold sweat despite the morning chill.
By the gods, I was actually planning to return to the village and persuade Lord Rasa to proceed with the attack even without Orochimaru's participation. I was going to argue that Sunagakure should strike alone, independently.
If they'd actually done that, it would have been Sunagakure's complete destruction. The village's final doom.
His perspective had shifted completely within seconds. After returning this time, instead of advocating for war, he needed to actively prevent Lord Rasa from attacking Konoha under any circumstances.
After taking that initial devastating step, Naruto didn't stop his advance. Seven consecutive steps carried him forward with mounting power, each footfall releasing similar waves of pressure. Finally, he and the storm created by Temari's fully-opened three-star fan met at the center point.
Staring at the violent tornado directly before him, Naruto drew back his fist.
Then he punched forward.
The void itself seemed to explode from the impact. Visible ripples spread outward through the air like waves across water's surface...