Gaara was fast. Hanataki was faster.
Their figures blurred. Gone. Two streaks of movement clashing, clashing, clashing again. Impossible to track.
You couldn't follow the fight. But you could see its intensity in the scars left on the clearing. Shattered trees. Deep gashes in the earth.
Hanataki's leg snapped out like a whip. A spiderweb of cracks bloomed across Gaara's Sand Armor. Gaara used the momentum to leap back, putting two meters of space between them.
His expression was grim. Sand whispered around his feet. His armor was fractured in multiple places. Hanataki, meanwhile, hadn't even broken a sweat. His breathing was steady. Calm.
He's stronger. Gaara realized it then. Far stronger than I estimated.
Sand congealed in the air above him. Two gigantic hands formed, palms wide, and slammed down to crush Hanataki.
They were fast.
And utterly useless. The silver-white light from Hanataki's disc flared. The massive hands dissolved mid-air, collapsing into harmless, mundane sand that pattered to the ground.
Gaara gritted his teeth. The gourd on his back erupted. Every last grain of sand poured out, churning, roaring, rising like a tidal wave intent on drowning the world.
It surged forward, a tsunami of grit and fury, aimed to bury Hanataki completely.
"Sand Waterfall Funeral!"
A vein throbbed at Gaara's temple.
The sand crashed over Hanataki. Swallowed him whole. A sickening crunch echoed through the clearing—the sound of bones being pulverized.
Gaara let out a sharp breath. Relief.
"He's… dead?" Kiba, watching from a distance, sounded stunned. He'd thought the Rain ninja was a powerhouse. All talk?
Hinata's Byakugan flared to life. Her face paled. "No."
"Did you really think that would work?"
The voice came from behind Gaara. Low. Familiar. Amused.
Gaara's pupils shrank to pinpricks.
If Hanataki was here… then what was buried in the sand?
His eyes shot to the receding sand pile. Among the debris lay the shattered, mangled remains of a puppet.
Kankurō, who had been locked in his own struggle with Shigure's group, suddenly found his hands empty. He stared at the pile of scrap wood at his feet.
"…"
What was the point now? His puppet was scrap. Destroyed by his own brother.
He shot Gaara a complicated look. Without the One-Tail, Gaara's childhood had been… normal. Or as normal as it could be for a shinobi family. He was their little brother. They got along.
"Whatever." Kankurō wiped a hand down his face. His brother was his brother.
Gaara instinctively tried to put distance between himself and Hanataki.
His body refused to move.
He looked down, expression turning sick. His feet were encased in a substance with the clarity and hardness of diamond. One solid hit from Hanataki, and his legs would shatter like glass.
He knew it. Hanataki knew it.
Temari was the first to break off her attack. She stared at Gaara, worry stark on her face.
"We yield!" she shouted at Hanataki. "We'll give you the scrolls!"
Kankurō nodded fiercely. A scroll was just a scroll. They could steal more. But Gaara? Gaara was their brother. Gaara was the future Kazekage. Losing him wasn't an option.
"We have one Heaven scroll and two Earth scrolls!" Temari called out.
They'd taken them from other teams after entering the forest. One of the Earth scrolls even came from another Rain team. They hadn't killed anyone, though.
Hanataki wasn't planning on breaking Gaara today anyway. He had to save some drama for a certain bushy-browed genin's moment in the sun.
"Toss them over."
The diamond prison around Gaara's ankles dissolved. Three scrolls sailed through the air into Hanataki's waiting hand.
He kept one Earth scroll, incinerating the others with a flicker of silver flame. Somewhere, several more teams were disqualified without ever knowing why.
Shigure accepted the remaining scroll solemnly, storing it with great care in his pouch.
Gaara retreated to his siblings' side. Temari's eyes flickered nervously to Hanataki. "Can we go?"
A slight nod.
The three Sand siblings vanished into the trees.
"We should leave too. Quickly," Shino urged his teammates.
Kiba and Hinata didn't answer.
"Maybe… possibly… it's a bit too late for that?" Kiba squeaked, staring at the figure who had materialized silently behind them.
Hinata, hands shaking, immediately fumbled out their scroll. "Our… our scroll… you can have it… can we go?"
Hanataki stared.
Well. That was… efficient.
He took the scroll and reduced it to ash. Then he gave a slight, dismissive wave.
Team 8 vanished faster than the Sand siblings had.
"Man, that was close," Kiba panted once they were a safe distance away. They'd put a lot of forest between them and that clearing.
Hanataki's group continued their trek toward the central tower. To reach it, they had to cross the entire forest. They were only about halfway.
"Pick up the pace," Hanataki ordered.
Four shadows leapt through the canopy, branches bending under their weight.
Time blurred. Eventually, through a break in the dense green, they saw it—the brick-red spire of the central tower, peeking above the trees.
"Good. No need to rush now."
Hanataki slowed his pace. The goal was in sight. No point in exhausting themselves in the final stretch.
He dropped from the branch, landing softly on a patch of moss.
"G!"
"YOU!"
"YOU ARE!"
The shout was so loud it sent a flock of birds exploding from the trees.
Hanataki looked over. A very familiar, very loud, very orange figure was pointing at him, jaw hanging open.
"Naruto Uzumaki."
"SASUKE! SAKURA! GET OVER HERE!" Naruto bellowed.
From a distance, two voices answered, dripping with annoyance.
"I'm not coming to watch you take a leak again!"
"Naruto! I'm a girl! Have some decency!"
Naruto looked like he might cry. "IT'S AN ENEMY! FOR REAL THIS TIME!"
No response.
Sasuke's voice was bored. "You used that excuse already."
Sakura sighed. "We believe in you, Naruto. You can handle it."
On the ground, Hanataki exchanged a look with his team. Really? The boy who cried wolf?
Naruto gulped, looking helplessly at Hanataki. Then he puffed out his chest, trying to look brave. "I-I won't lose to you!"
Inside the seal.
Kurama tried to warn him. Kid, don't be stu—
"RAAAAH!" Naruto charged.
Kurama gave up. Fine. Consider that a silent, dignified fart.
One second later.
Naruto went flying.
THUMP.
He landed ten meters away, skidding to a halt right at the feet of his approaching teammates.
Sasuke looked down at his friend, at the clean, dusty footprint stamped on Naruto's chest, and finally believed him. He and Sakura each grabbed a leg and yanked Naruto backward.
Naruto, being Naruto, bounced right up. The three of them fell into defensive stances, eyes locked on Hanataki and his team.
"If you hand over your scrolls voluntarily, you may leave," Shigure announced, stepping forward. He knew the drill.
Hanataki sighed internally.
Had he considered, for even a moment, that this time he was here to personally help a certain "second-place" loser awaken his Sharingan?
Yes. Because life had been too kind to little Sasuke. Too easy. His precious eyes still hadn't shown even a flicker.
Clearly, what the boy needed was a solid dose of reality. A good, old-fashioned beatdown.
The threat worked on most people. It had zero effect on Naruto Uzumaki.
"As if!" Naruto roared, striking a pose. "Giving up without a fight goes against my ninja way!"
A smirk touched Sasuke's lips. Yeah! These fools had no idea what an Uchiha was capable of.
The only sane person on the team, Sakura: "…"
Actually… maybe… handing over the scroll was the best option. These Rain ninjas had been in the Forest of Death for days. Their clothes were spotless. Not a speck of dust. Think about what that meant.
But her two moronic teammates wouldn't notice a "small" detail like that if it bit them.
Sakura's eye twitched.
Naruto, needing to hype himself up, charged again. "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Dozens of Narutos flooded the clearing, fists raised, all screaming as they descended on Hanataki.
Silver-white light radiated out from Hanataki in a pulse.
Poof. Poof-poof-poof-poof.
Puffs of white smoke erupted around Hanataki before any clone could get close. The real Naruto, fist pulled back, found his punch casually blocked by one of Hanataki's hands. The other hand shot out and closed around his throat.
"So weak," Hanataki mused, almost disappointed. How could he be this weak?
Then he felt it. The sensation of flowing water against his palm. Naruto's form liquefied, slipping through his fingers like a stream.
…Right.
He'd forgotten. Hanzo had taught this brat a thing or two.
"Water Body Flicker. Hn."
"Heh! Tricked ya!" Naruto's voice chirped from directly behind Hanataki.
Hanataki didn't need to look. He could feel it. The idiot had formed the hand seal for the One Thousand Years of Death.
Hanataki's eye twitched. A single, violent spasm.
He had never wanted to murder someone so badly in his entire life.
Golden threads of light erupted from the ground, wrapping around Naruto in an instant, cocooning him tight. Naruto tried to activate the Water Flicker again. Nothing. His chakra was completely sealed.
"?!"
Naruto's face morphed into a mask of pure horror.
"Don't treat the Chunin Exams like a playground," Hanataki's voice was flat, deadly. His hand found Naruto's throat again.
He squeezed.
Just a little.
The air left Naruto's lungs in a choked gasp. His face flushed a dark, mottled red. Veins bulged at his temples.
"NARUTO!"
Sasuke and Sakura moved as one. They were intercepted by Shigure and his two teammates.
Sakura's fist hammered against a black umbrella. The whole frame shuddered.
"Damn," Baiu grunted, straining. "The girl looks delicate. Packs a hell of a punch!"
The umbrellas could block ninjutsu—except the most powerful ones. Sasuke and Sakura couldn't break through immediately. Not fast enough. They watched, desperate, as Naruto's struggles grew weaker.
Sakura's whole body began to tremble.
"You… bastard!"
Her teacher's voice echoed in her head. Calm. Focus.
She took a slow, deep breath. Forced the panic down. Chakra gathered in her fist, concentrating into a single, devastating point.
She took three steps back. Then she launched herself forward.
"DIE!"
Her fist connected with the umbrella's surface.
BOOM.
A sound like thunder. Followed by a sharp, sickening crack.
"Crack!"
The sound froze Shigure's team. On the inside of their umbrella, along the reinforced frame, a fissure had appeared.
The ground beneath their feet cratered, fracturing into chunks.
Hanataki watched, nonplussed.
The one who needed to snap wasn't snapping. The one who shouldn't was going ballistic.
As the three Rain ninja re-engaged with a now-ferocious Sakura and a frantic Sasuke, Hanataki released Naruto.
Naruto collapsed to the ground, coughing, gasping, vision swimming with black spots.
"Let's try a different method, then."
Time to up the stakes.
"Wait!" Sasuke's voice cracked. The cool act vanished. "We'll give you the scroll! Just let him go!"
Sakura didn't hesitate. She flung their scroll. It landed at Hanataki's feet.
He glanced at it. A wisp of silver fire ignited it, turning it to ash in a heartbeat.
"You—!" Sasuke's hands balled into fists, knuckles white. He glared at Hanataki with pure, unfiltered hatred.
"Even now," Hanataki said, his voice dropping to a chilling whisper. A smile touched his lips—a smile full of killing intent. "You still think… this is about a scroll?"
His hand rose. Silver-white light, brighter and sharper than before, coalesced into a searing blade of energy aimed directly at the still-gasping Naruto.
"Naruto!"
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