Gaara's Sand Armor was something everyone knew about.
After all, during the preliminary matches, if not for that automatic layer of protection, he would have been defeated outright by Rock Lee.
But this time...
The sand armor failed.
Countless bone spurs erupted upward, piercing through the defense and striking Gaara's body directly. In the blink of an eye, blood splattered across the ground, and Gaara was reduced to a blood-soaked figure.
The sight made the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, rise to his feet instantly.
Temari and Kankurō froze in shock, their eyes locked on the battlefield.
What… what were they looking at?
Gaara—invincible among his peers—was bleeding.
And this wasn't a nosebleed.
Sasuke stared at Kimimaro with a grim expression. In his mind, he replayed the attack again and again, wondering whether he could have stopped it.
The answer was obvious.
Other than using the Substitution Technique to escape at the last possible moment, there was no way to counter it.
His Chidori had only just been completed. It was a pure single-target technique—how could it possibly block a wide-range eruption of bone spikes like that?
What terrified him most was the speed.
Even with the Sharingan, he could barely follow the motion. And seeing it didn't mean avoiding it was possible.
Gaara was sent flying, blood trailing through the air, before crashing heavily at Kimimaro's feet.
Slowly, he lifted his head.
A pair of distorted, furious eyes locked onto Kimimaro.
"How dare you…!" Gaara snarled. "How dare you make me bleed!"
Boom!
An ominous wave of chakra erupted violently from his body.
Standing above him, Kimimaro remained calm and indifferent. He already knew what that chakra was.
The One-Tail.
Gaara had been pushed far enough. It wouldn't be long before Shukaku responded.
Moments later, massive, earth-colored chakra limbs began to crawl out from Gaara's body, stretching toward Kimimaro.
But such slow, clumsy attacks were meaningless.
They couldn't even touch him.
The moment this abnormal scene unfolded, the entire audience rose to their feet. No one could look away.
Rasa's face darkened. He glanced coldly toward the Gensōkyō side before shouting down at the arena.
"Gaara! What do you think you're doing?!"
The shout pierced through Gaara's madness.
The One-Tail's chakra limbs trembled… then slowly receded back into his body.
Unlike another timeline, Orochimaru had not killed Rasa. And Namikaze Kirito's goal was never the destruction of Konoha.
So Rasa forcibly halted the rampage.
After all, this was still a public Chūnin Exam.
If the One-Tail completely broke loose in Konoha, the Sand Village would be forced to pay compensation—and in its current state, that would be catastrophic.
Even if relations with Konoha were destined to sour, this was not how to tear that relationship apart.
"Tch. Boring."
Seeing Gaara suppress Shukaku, Kimimaro muttered coldly, turned around, and began to walk away.
Boom!
Suddenly, the situation changed again.
Kimimaro's words became the final trigger.
Gaara's consciousness shattered, and he collapsed instantly as Shukaku's chakra erupted once more—far more violently than before.
"Seal the area immediately!" Sarutobi Hiruzen barked.
"Activate the barrier! Do not let the tailed beast damage the village!"
The order was issued without hesitation.
"Hahaha! I'm out again!"
A savage voice echoed across the arena.
"Damn you, Rasa! Damn the Sand! Damn Konoha! I'll crush everything!"
A gigantic tanuki materialized before everyone's eyes.
Shukaku.
The massive body alone filled the entire arena. The stands erupted into chaos—screams, panic, people scrambling to escape.
Konoha's sealing teams rushed in at once.
Sand shinobi joined them, erecting barriers in an attempt to lock Shukaku in place.
"Damn it… damn it… Gaara… Gaara…"
Rasa gritted his teeth and leapt down from the high platform.
He activated Magnet Release, moving to suppress Shukaku directly.
After all, Magnet Release was one of the few abilities that could restrain the One-Tail. And Shukaku, being the weakest of the tailed beasts, could still be suppressed under the right conditions.
If this were the Nine-Tails in full form, Rasa wouldn't stand a chance—no matter how many hands he had.
Hiruzen was about to intervene when he suddenly noticed Namikaze Kirito standing in the spectator stands.
Kirito stepped forward to the edge of the platform and looked directly at him.
Half-smiling.
Hiruzen's pupils shrank.
He sat back down immediately.
He couldn't move.
If Kirito made a move now, no one present could stop him.
"Hehehe…"
A soft laugh drifted over.
"What's wrong, Hokage-sama? Can you really keep sitting there?"
Hiruzen replied calmly, "With the Kazekage's help, the One-Tail will be suppressed soon. My place is here."
"What a devoted Hokage," the Gensōkyō figure said lightly.
For some reason, Hiruzen's unease only deepened.
As Rasa rushed toward Shukaku, a familiar white-haired figure suddenly appeared in front of him.
Kimimaro.
Shukaku's enormous body blocked most lines of sight—only a handful of people noticed what was happening here.
"Genin of the Gensōkyō," Rasa said coldly, "what is the meaning of stopping me?"
"My lord has instructed me," Kimimaro replied indifferently.
"Now is not the time to suppress the One-Tail."
"Your lord?" Rasa frowned. "You mean someone from Gensōkyō?"
Kimimaro didn't answer.
He simply stood there, unmoving.
"In that case," Rasa said decisively, "you are my enemy."
He began forming hand seals—
But suddenly, water surged up and wrapped tightly around his body.
His arms were restrained completely.
A droplet rose, forming into a human head.
Suigetsu.
"Hehehe," Suigetsu grinned.
"Kazekage-sama, why don't you stay put for a bit?"
"Gensōkyō again… damn it!" Rasa roared, struggling uselessly.
Meanwhile—
Shukaku slammed its massive body against the barrier again and again.
Cracks spread rapidly.
The barrier was about to collapse.
Shukaku opened its mouth.
Chakra condensed.
A Tailed Beast Bomb.
Hiruzen finally stood up.
But the moment he turned, a chilling presence washed over him.
The wind blew.
The veil of the Gensōkyō figure lifted.
Hiruzen's eyes widened.
Every hair on his body stood on end.
"Orochimaru…?!"
"How are you here…? Gensōkyō? Or—"
The realization hit him like ice down his spine.
Slowly, he turned his gaze back toward Namikaze Kirito.
Kirito smiled and waved playfully.
That same unreadable smile lingered on his lips.
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