The finals arena.
A thunderous boom rang out.
The water dragon crashed into a massive hand of compressed sand, and a shockwave blasted outward from the collision in every direction, trailing howling winds that tore through the arena.
The water dragon and the sand hand shattered at the same moment.
The hand broke apart into cascading sand that rained down across the ground, while the dragon dissolved into countless droplets that poured from the sky, pattering down on both combatants.
... This guy's sand really isn't ordinary.
As she watched both techniques collapse at once, Sakura's brow tightened slightly.
She had already noticed Gaara weaving Earth Release chakra through his sand.
But what she had just used wasn't an ordinary Water Dragon Bullet. It was the Second Hokage's modified version.
Her teacher Maruboshi Kosuke had once told her proudly that during the last Great Ninja War, he had used this very technique to instantly shatter an Earth Dragon Bullet released by a Hidden Rock jonin in a direct head-on exchange.
It was common knowledge that Earth Release countered Water Release.
To achieve a result like that while working against the elemental disadvantage said everything about the technique's depth.
... Beyond his ability to manipulate sand, there's a Sand Shield surrounding him that automatically reacts to incoming attacks.
And it's not slow. I have to strike him before that automatic defense can respond.
While Sakura was quietly working through her analysis of the opponent...
"Oh?"
Gaara let out a soft, surprised sound, a trace of something unexpected crossing his face.
Water Release did counter sand to a degree, but Gaara's sand was no ordinary sand.
The relationship wasn't as straightforward as simple elemental countering. On top of that, once he had identified Sakura's affinity for Water Release, he had already mixed Earth Release chakra and rock fragments from the ground into his sand.
By all reasoning, his sand should have shattered her Water Release instantly. The result had surprised him.
Still turning that over in his mind, Gaara's brow drew together.
He raised a hand, and a surge of yellow sand poured from the gourd on his back, forming a circular shield that blocked the falling droplets from reaching him.
"Something's wrong with that rainwater?"
Up in the stands, Kurenai watched this and frowned, her expression puzzled. "Wasn't she using a Water Dragon Bullet?"
As a Konoha jonin, Kurenai's eye was sharp.
She had already spotted that Gaara was working Earth Release into his sand.
What she hadn't expected was for Sakura's Water Dragon Bullet to hold its ground against that, and stranger still, the rainwater itself seemed to carry some additional effect.
"That's no ordinary Water Dragon Bullet, Kurenai."
Asuma, seated beside her, caught her words and gave a quiet laugh. As the son of the Third Hokage, he was privy to certain things his peers were not.
He drew in a breath, exhaled a ring of smoke, and said, "That's the Second Hokage's Water Dragon Bullet."
"The Second Hokage!?"
Kurenai's eyes went wide, but understanding came quickly. She murmured to herself, "No wonder. If it's one of the Second's techniques, that explains it."
"No wonder Team Seven's students are this strong."
Kurenai let out a faint, wry smile and shook her head.
Having watched Team Seven during the preliminaries, she had already realized their ability was in a completely different category from the other students in their year.
She had been puzzled by it at the time. Now things were becoming clearer.
One was the last survivor of the Uchiha, Uchiha Sasuke, whose name as a genius had been known throughout Konoha since childhood.
And his teacher was Kakashi, the most gifted and capable among their entire generation.
One was Uzumaki Naruto, carrier of the Uzumaki clan's extraordinary constitution, who had received personal guidance from the man once considered Konoha's greatest taijutsu master, Chen Baojun.
And even the one down there on the field right now, Haruno Sakura, born a civilian with no clan behind her, had command of the techniques of the Second Hokage, a Water Release grandmaster.
Though who exactly had taught her remained unclear.
With a lineage gap that wide, what was there to compare?
"I wouldn't put it quite like that, Kurenai." Asuma shook his head and smiled. "Our students actually have decent bloodlines too. Don't forget, they all come from established clans."
"But beyond heritage, what really matters more is that those kids in Team Seven work incredibly hard."
Asuma's voice carried a note of genuine admiration.
His own three students all had real talent.
The problem was that one found everything too troublesome and was too lazy, one spent more time talking about Sasuke and fixing her appearance than she did training, and the third wasn't much better.
"Seeing this gap in ability with Team Seven will probably push the kids to grow, don't you think?"
"Yes." Kurenai nodded, about to add something when she let out a sharp cry of surprise.
"Is that!?"
Down in the arena, Sakura had been weaving left and right to avoid Gaara's sand attacks while steadily closing the distance.
Then her foot hit the ground, and her speed spiked in a single instant, jumping up by more than one full tier.
Catching Gaara completely off guard, she surged at him like a galloping horse and slammed her fist squarely into his head.
"The Fourth Hokage's Body Flicker!?"
Recognizing the familiar movement, Kurenai's eyes snapped wide and she called out in shock.
For their generation, the First, Second, and Third Hokage, and even the Legendary Sannin, were figures whose reputations carried the weight of legend, something distant and not quite real.
The Fourth Hokage was different.
They had watched him themselves, from their academy days, as he climbed from a Konoha jonin into the legendary name "Yellow Flash," and finally into the office of the Fourth Hokage.
Kurenai had never been the Fourth's student.
But for their generation, he was the one they looked up to most. She had seen his fighting style with her own eyes.
"I think so..."
Asuma took a long, slow pull of his cigarette, his reply carrying a note of genuine surprise.
The gap really is growing wider.
They looked at each other. The same thought surfaced in both their minds at the same moment.
It's going to be tough for our kids to catch up to Team Seven.
They steadied themselves and fell into silence together, turning their attention back to the arena.
... This guy still had another layer of defense?
After sending Gaara flying with one punch, Sakura watched him slowly push himself back to his feet, her gaze cooling.
Crack, crack!
The Sand Armor that had encased his entire body fractured into pieces, crumbling apart and sliding down his face in streams of loose sand.
Gaara raised a hand and wiped the blood that had seeped from the corner of his mouth. Rather than showing anger, he smiled. An unsettling smile.
"Pain. How long has it been since I felt this?"
"Heh heh heh. What a wonderful feeling."
The composure that had settled over him moments ago was gone. A dense, frenzied killing intent surged outward, and the slow, spreading grin on his face made him look terrifying.
Gaara was actually injured?
Up in the stands, Baki, Kankuro, and Temari all stared as Sakura's strike connected with Gaara, first with disbelief, then with a jolt of something deeper when they saw him take damage.
Baki felt unease stir in his chest at the unexpected turn.
In his estimation, Gaara's strength was more than enough to steamroll the Konoha Genin from start to finish.
Even if he were to take any damage at all, it should have come from a shinobi of some distinguished bloodline, someone like an Uchiha or a Hyuga. Not from this unknown civilian-born girl.
'Lord Kazekage, are you certain your decision was the right one?
Konoha may not be as weak as we imagined.'
Baki found himself turning his gaze to the "Fourth Kazekage" seated in the central viewing box.
___
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