Seeing Jugo Tenbin smash a huge gap into the sand wave with just one punch, Kankuro, Temari, and Gaara were all stunned.
Gaara, who had released this sand wave, naturally understood its strength the most.
Although it was made entirely of sand, it contained his chakra. Moreover, since the sand wave acted as a fluid, normally one's hand should sink into the sand.
Even with great strength, it should only create a small hole instead of such a massive gap.
This indicated that the force behind Jugo's punch far exceeded the strength of the sand itself.
Already taking advantage of this opening, Jugo had rushed to a position within a single step from Gaara. The cursed seal transformation on his arm spewed large amounts of chakra from its tip, greatly increasing both the speed and power of his punch.
With no time to perform ninjutsu, Gaara quickly crossed his arms to block Jugo Tenbin's punch.
But could such a cursed seal-enhanced strike really be blocked easily? The punch landed directly onto Gaara's hands, and the immense force caused his crossed arms to slam heavily into his own chest.
Gaara's eyes widened, and he suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.
Meanwhile, the chakra spewing from the tip of Jugo Tenbin's cursed arm surged even more. With an even stronger impact, Gaara was sent flying straight up into the air before vanishing from sight.
Kankuro and Temari stared in stunned silence at what had just happened.
Jugo Tenbin turned his head toward Uzumaki Sōnagi, asking, "What about these two?"
Kankuro and Temari felt their hearts tighten, nervously swallowing hard before hurriedly unstrapping Crow Puppet and Three-star Fan, preparing for battle.
"They're too weak—don't even bother me. Besides, we still haven't collected our scrolls yet. Hand over your scrolls—and get lost."
Without hesitation, Temari immediately pulled out three scrolls from her ninja tool pouch and placed them on the ground.
Seeing that Kankuro and Temari remained rooted in place after handing over the scrolls, Uzumaki Sōnagi frowned and said, "What? Do I need to personally escort you away, or are you planning on fighting us?"
The reason Kankuro and Temari hadn't moved earlier was because they feared Uzumaki Sōnagi wouldn't keep his word. They dared not expose their backs to him. Temari handing over the scrolls was merely a test. She hadn't expected them to actually let her team walk away.
Realizing the truth, Kankuro and Temari immediately departed, heading in the direction Gaara had been sent flying.
Jugo Tenbin released his cursed seal state, picked up the scrolls, and stuffed them into his ninja tool pouch.
He then asked, "Now that we have complete scrolls again, shall we proceed directly to the tower?"
Uzumaki Sōnagi thought for a moment before replying, "Let's go to the tower entrance first. As Elder Aranori said, if too many people pass into the second exam, there might be an additional round to reduce the number of qualifiers—pointless extra work. We'll wait until the final exam starts one month later."
"I'm going to defeat Neji Hyuga in full view of everyone!"
Kimimaro Kaguya and Jugo Tenbin nodded in agreement, saying, "Alright."
...
Kankuro and Temari had already found Gaara. Seeing his current state, both felt a jolt in their hearts.
Gaara's entire body developed cracks—these fractures appearing in the Sand Armor covering his body.
Normally, Gaara would always maintain a protective layer of sand over his skin.
At the same time, swirling sands surrounded him. These sands came from Gaara's gourd, automatically protecting him.
When he was blasted into the air, the sand from his gourd cushioned his fall, keeping him from hitting the ground.
Now standing on the ground, Gaara's arms hung limp at his sides, visibly swollen—likely broken—and blood trickled from the corners of his mouth.
With a pained grimace, Gaara muttered, "This is pain? It hurts... really hurts..."
Kankuro grew extremely anxious. "Hey Temari, this isn't good! This is Gaara about to lose control!"
Temari looked terrified too. "If he loses control here, we're finished!"
Kankuro and Temari approached Gaara from both sides.
"Gaara, stay calm!"
"Don't lose control here!"
"Snap out of it! Temari and I will treat your arms right away!"
Despite their pleas, Kankuro and Temari's words fell on deaf ears. Gaara gathered two orbs of sand and hurled them at Kankuro and Temari, sending both flying.
Just as Gaara was about to lose control and resonate with Shukaku's chakra, the resonance suddenly stopped.
Gaara glared fiercely toward his left—he had sensed the presence of another Tailed Beast. The Shukaku inside him felt it too.
Only other Tailed Beasts could trigger such a response in Shukaku.
Among the Jinchuriki here, besides Gaara himself, there was only Naruto Uzumaki.
Though Shukaku deeply disliked the Nine-Tails, it wasn't stupid. If it tried to take over Gaara's consciousness and cause trouble here, wouldn't that be walking straight into a trap?
Since Shukaku had no intention of causing trouble, Gaara couldn't lose control after all. He gradually regained his composure, and his fractured arms and injuries began healing rapidly.
Seeing Gaara calm down, Kankuro and Temari both exhaled in relief.
Meanwhile, Naruto Uzumaki, who was heading toward the tower, glanced toward his right.
Naruto had sensed something too. At the same time, the Nine-Tails told him, "Naruto, that brat with the smelly raccoon dog on your right was about to lose control, huh? Still such a coward, eh? When he sensed my presence, he couldn't lose control anymore. What a useless fellow."
The Nine-Tails mocked Shukaku—its mutual hatred for Shukaku was well known among all the Tailed Beasts.
The Nine-Tails often ridiculed Shukaku for having only one tail, claiming it was weaker than the rest, while Shukaku believed its true strength wasn't reflected by the number of tails alone. Being underestimated always annoyed Shukaku, but since it couldn't beat the Nine-Tails, it just had to bottle up its frustration.
That's exactly why Shukaku hated the Nine-Tails more than anyone else—and why the Nine-Tails couldn't stand Shukaku either.
The Nine-Tails suggested, "Hey Naruto, how about we go beat up Gaara while we still can?"
Naruto Uzumaki thought for a moment before saying, "No need for that. Since Sunagakure sent a Jinchuriki to Konoha for the exams, and Chinya has come to Konoha as well, there might be some connection between these two matters. We shouldn't allow meaningless conflicts to interfere with Chinya's plans."
The Nine-Tails scoffed, "Hmph, why so cautious?"
Naruto replied, "Still better to be cautious. After all, we're still in Konoha right now. There'll be chances later."
The Nine-Tails grunted, "Later, I'm gonna beat up that Jinchuriki together with that raccoon dog!"
Naruto smiled and agreed, "Sure, no problem."
...
Meanwhile, inside the tower deep in the Forest of Death,
A ninja hurriedly entered the room where Anko Mitarashi and Ibiki Morino were stationed.
"Sorry to interrupt — but something serious just came up!"
Ibiki Morino asked, "What's going on?"
"Three Genin are blocking the entrance outside the tower, preventing others from entering! They've injured several participants, taken their Scrolls, and left them unable to continue the exam!"
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