After the battle between Hinata and Ino ended, the third exam of the Chunin Exams finally reached its main event:
Gaara vs. Sasuke Uchiha!
Many spectators in the stands had come specifically to watch Sasuke Uchiha fight. These spectators included people from other parts of the Land of Fire, neighboring countries, and even many of Konoha's own villagers.
Ironically, back when the Uchiha clan was still around, the people of Konoha despised and rejected them. This was due to the Uchiha police force's strict and sometimes overbearing nature, often causing friction with the villagers. But now, with the Uchiha clan gone, they were praised and revered. People were even willing to pay large sums of money for tickets to see Sasuke fight.
It's fortunate there wasn't a war going on, or Konoha's civilians and shinobi, even the high-ranking officials, would miss the Uchiha clan even more. After all, it was widely known in the shinobi world that the Sharingan's one-on-one prowess was nearly unbeatable.
Whoosh—
Gaara emerged from the contestant tunnel, arms crossed as he stepped into the arena, his expressionless face clearly hidden beneath the defense of his sand armor.
As Genma Shiranui checked his watch, preparing to declare Sasuke Uchiha disqualified due to his absence, a gust of wind carrying a few falling leaves suddenly appeared in the arena. In the next moment, two figures appeared before everyone's eyes.
These two were none other than Kakashi Hatake and Sasuke Uchiha.
"Looks like we made it in time. We're not late, are we?" Kakashi, striking a pose with his Icha Icha Paradise book in hand, asked Genma Shiranui.
Genma rolled his eyes. "You were just a few seconds away from your student being disqualified. You really should work on your habit of always being late."
It was clear from Genma's tone that he was on familiar terms with Kakashi, as he had once been one of the Fourth Hokage's personal guards.
"As long as we're not late," Kakashi replied, putting away his book. He then turned to Sasuke, who had a few white bandages on his body but was brimming with confidence. "I've taught you all I can. Now it's up to you to show what you've got, Sasuke."
With those words, Kakashi vanished with a Body Flicker.
"So, you're my opponent?" Sasuke looked at Gaara, who had left a strong impression on him a month ago. With an air of confidence, he smiled and said, "It's great that you're my first opponent."
"Before I face Yagyu, I'll use you as a warm-up."
Much like in the original story, Sasuke had grown cocky after his recent power-up. Since he hadn't seen the battle between Lee and Gaara, and aside from Yagyu, whom he had never beaten, he didn't take anyone else seriously.
Gaara, on the other hand, remained silent, his expression unchanged under the protection of his sand armor.
Just like Sasuke, Gaara didn't take his opponent seriously either. In Gaara's mind, Sasuke's performance in the previous round had been too weak. If that was the full extent of his power, Sasuke wouldn't even be able to break through his automatic sand defense.
Currently, Gaara only regarded two opponents as worthy: the one who had fought him, Lee, and the one who had mastered Water Release and displayed powerful body flicker techniques and illusions, Yagyu.
As for Sasuke Uchiha, Gaara had almost forgotten his name.
Seeing that both contestants were ready, Genma Shiranui took a few steps back and raised his hand. "The third match: Sasuke Uchiha vs. Gaara... begin!"
Whoosh—
Sasuke didn't bother testing his opponent with tools; he immediately used the Body Flicker Technique and disappeared.
In the blink of an eye, he reappeared at Gaara's right side, launching a punch aimed at Gaara's face.
Gaara's sand automatically rose to defend, but it failed to block Sasuke's punch. However, this attack was just a feint. In the next moment, Sasuke reappeared on Gaara's other side and threw another punch.
Sasuke's speed was so fast that Gaara's automatic sand defense barely kept up, narrowly managing to block the second punch.
Both Gaara, whose face was covered by the sand armor, and the others watching from the stands, including Sakura and Lee, were stunned.
They were especially shocked because the speed and taijutsu techniques Sasuke was now displaying were nearly identical to the ones Lee had used a month ago after removing his weights.
Watching Sasuke continually shift positions and attack Gaara, trying to break through his sand defense, Lee, now fully healed and sitting in the audience after being eliminated in the previous round, couldn't help but feel a wave of emotion.
Only he knew how much effort it had taken to achieve that kind of speed.
His bandaged arms and legs bore the scars of his grueling training—scars that seemed like they would never fade.
Yet Sasuke had gained the same results in just a month.
This was the difference between ordinary people and geniuses. It felt like they lived in completely different worlds.
Lee clenched his fists, feeling a deep sense of bitterness.
Bang!
At that moment, Sasuke broke through Gaara's sand defense and shattered the sand armor on Gaara's face with a punch.
Since Gaara had never been touched in battle, his experience in taijutsu was nearly non-existent.
Fearing that Sasuke might be able to use techniques as devastating as Lee's, Gaara hastily covered himself entirely in sand, forming a massive sand sphere.
Inside the sphere, Gaara finally felt secure and used his Third Eye to control the sand from within to attack Sasuke.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
Outside the sand sphere, Sasuke tried to break through Gaara's defense with a Fire Release attack.
However, after the fireball exploded, the sand sphere remained unharmed.
Sasuke wasn't discouraged. Instead, a sly smile appeared on his face.
He stopped wasting chakra and turned to run up the tall wall of the arena.
Gathering chakra in his feet, Sasuke climbed the wall like a lizard and then formed hand seals.
Crackle... crackle...
The sound of a thousand birds chirping filled the air as Sasuke's right hand emitted a blue-white ball of lightning. Gripping the lightning in his palm, he charged downward.
As he descended, Sasuke's hand was so close to the wall that the crackling lightning left a deep, gouged trail along the surface.
"Chidori!"
Sasuke charged toward the sand sphere, his lightning-covered hand piercing through the formidable defense.
"Ah!"
A scream echoed from inside the sphere. When Sasuke withdrew his arm, it was stained with blood.
Seeing this, Yagyu's shadow clone, along with many others in the audience, narrowed their eyes.
Hidden in the back of the stands, disguised as a member of the Leaf's Anbu, Kabuto Yakushi formed hand seals and softly whispered, "Genjutsu: Temple of Nirvana Technique."
Countless white illusionary feathers began to fall from the sky like snowflakes.
The spectators who had been cheering for Sasuke's impressive performance and feeling satisfied with their tickets quickly became captivated by the feathers.
As they stared at the feathers, their eyelids grew heavy, and their once-excited expressions turned drowsy.
Within moments, all the civilians and nobles had fallen asleep. Even some of the lower-ranked shinobi were affected.
When the feathers touched those who had fallen asleep, they instantly dissipated.
The people touched by the feathers were plunged into a deep slumber, unlikely to wake even if beaten or torn apart.
"It's a large-scale genjutsu! We're under attack!"
Only those with Yin Release chakra or those who reacted quickly and were strong enough managed to resist the effects of the feathers. These individuals quickly formed hand seals to dispel the invading Yin chakra.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—
The sound of rushing wind filled the air as figures leaped from the stands.
These were Sound ninjas disguised as civilians.
As they discarded their disguises, they immediately began fighting the Leaf shinobi in the stands, with many civilians caught in the crossfire.
Over at the VIP section, Orochimaru, disguised as the Fourth Kazekage, had already taken Sarutobi Hiruzen hostage and leaped onto the rooftop.
A transparent purple barrier quickly rose, surrounding the rooftop.
The battle between master and student was about to begin.
"Stop pretending—those two Sand ninjas have already fled. It's just us here."
Yagyu's shadow clone kicked the lying Shikamaru. "Go wake up Naruto and Choji and help the others."
"This is such a hassle... This kind of situation is way out of our league as genin."
Shikamaru scratched his head and reluctantly stood up.
While Yagyu's shadow clone was organizing the genin in the contestants' area, chaos had already erupted in the village outside the arena.
The Sound ninjas in the arena were just a small fraction of the force; the main army, along with the Sand ninjas, was outside.
As soon as the signal was given, they began wreaking havoc throughout Konoha.
Some Sound ninjas scattered around the village, taking out scrolls and blood vials to summon giant snakes from Ryuchi Cave.
The surprise attack from the Sound and Sand forces caught Konoha off guard.
However, thanks to the guidance of the special jonin, the village's shinobi quickly followed emergency protocols—some banded together to repel the attackers, while others escorted civilians to the shelters.
Due to the lack of manpower, the Anbu, who were originally stationed at the Hokage building, also left to support the village's defense efforts.
In no time, the Hokage building was left with far fewer guards.
No one noticed the cloaked figure wearing a white mask who had quietly snuck into the Hokage building.
That figure was none other than Yagyu's real body.
After using the Shadow Clone Jutsu at home, Yagyu had sent his clone to the exam while his real body donned a cloak and mask. Using the Red Eye illusion to hide himself, Yagyu watched the match from afar while searching for his target inside the Hokage building with his far-sight and X-ray vision.
Now, with both his Red Eye and Kagura's Mind Eye active, Yagyu had a complete view of both the inside and outside of the Hokage building, as well as his target, all from a god-like perspective.
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