Genma Shiranui cleared his throat, and the simple sound seemed to boom in the silence. His casual tone was gone, replaced by a new gravity.
"And now, the match you've all been waiting for! Prepare to witness a clash between two of the most powerful genin of this generation!"
From the darkness of the west tunnel, a figure emerged into the sunlight. He walked with a calm and confidence that bordered on arrogance. There was no trace of hesitation in his posture; every step was deliberate, certain.
"Representing the Hidden Leaf Village!" Genma proclaimed, his voice echoing to every corner of the stadium. "The heir of the legendary Uchiha clan, the prodigy put to the test, Sasuke Uchiha!"
The Konoha crowd erupted. It was a deafening roar that cheered for their champion, a collective shout of pride and expectation.
"There he is!" Sakura yelled, jumping to her feet.
Ino stood up beside her, a tense smile on her face. "He looks... calmer."
"He's ready," Naruto said, without getting up. His knuckles were white where he gripped the edge of his seat. "That idiot is going to do something incredible. I know it."
Across the arena, from the east tunnel, Gaara emerged, gliding on a thin layer of sand. His gourd seemed larger, more menacing in the daylight. His eyes, framed by those dark rings of insomnia, locked onto Sasuke, and a murderous dementia burned in them so palpable that a shiver ran through the stands.
"And his opponent, representing the Hidden Sand Village!" Genma continued, his voice dropping a tone, as if Gaara's mere presence demanded a somber reverence. "Sunagakure's ultimate weapon, Gaara of the Sand!"
The Suna contingent cheered, but their acclamation was lost in the tense silence of the rest of the stadium. Gaara's reputation preceded him.
In the Kage box, Orochimaru, hidden behind Rasa's face, leaned slightly toward Hiruzen. A thin, polite smile formed on his lips.
"My son seems eager, Lord Hokage," he said, his voice a low murmur barely audible above the tension. "He rarely finds an opponent who piques his interest. I sincerely hope your Uchiha prodigy offers him an... entertaining challenge."
The word "entertaining" hung in the air, cold and dismissive.
Hiruzen returned the smile.
"Sasuke has been trained by the finest ninjas. He is not the same boy you saw in the preliminaries," he responded calmly. "He has faced darkness and come out stronger. Sometimes, the will to protect others can tame even the wildest beast, Lord Kazekage. It is something we value greatly here in Konoha."
The subtext was clear: a defense of the Leaf's philosophy and a veiled warning. Orochimaru caught the barb, but his smile didn't waver a millimeter.
How touching, sensei, he thought. Clinging to your foolish beliefs until the very end. Let's see how well that 'will' protects your precious Uchiha from absolute power and pure hatred. The only truth in this world.
In the arena, the two combatants stopped several meters apart, sizing each other up. The contrast was absolute: Sasuke's controlled calm versus Gaara's threatening stillness. Sasuke, with his new black jacket and his relaxed but alert stance. Gaara, motionless, with the sand whispering at his feet.
Genma raised his hand. "Now..."
The stadium held its breath.
"BEGIN!"
Sasuke exploded in a blur of speed that left an afterimage behind him, closing the distance to Gaara in less than the blink of an eye.
"What is that speed?!" Rock Lee exclaimed, leaning forward with wide eyes. "He's almost as fast as I am without my weights! Kakashi-sensei's training has produced amazing results!"
Guy, beside him, nodded with his arms crossed. "That's right, Lee. Kakashi is not my eternal rival for nothing. He's taken that kid's talent to another level."
The arena's sand became Gaara's weapon. Waves of sand surged from the ground to intercept Sasuke. Claws of sand formed and lunged at him, while sharp spikes erupted from the earth. Every attack was driven by pure murderous intent, without strategy, only an overwhelming desire to crush and destroy.
Gaara was no longer holding back. He floated a few meters off the ground on a swirling platform of sand, his arms crossed and a smile on his face. His bloodlust crazed eyes followed every movement of the figure speeding below.
Sasuke moved at an incredible velocity, a black and blue blur; sweat stuck his hair to his forehead and every muscle in his body screamed from the effort. For the last few minutes, he had been facing the most dangerous fight of his life. His new speed, a gift from Kakashi's brutal training regimen, was the only thing keeping him alive. It allowed him to dodge the sand claws and projectiles seeking to crush him, but it was a precarious defense.
A wall of sand rose before him. Sasuke planted his feet, changed direction at an impossible angle, and dodged it by inches. He had barely passed it when a dozen sand spears shot out from the wall. He leaped back, landing in a flip as the spears impaled the ground where he had been a second before.
"He's playing with him!" Kankurō shouted from the Suna stands, clenching his fists. "Gaara, finish him already!"
Temari shook her head, her face pale. "He's not playing with him. The Leaf kid is... fast. Too fast. Gaara can't catch him."
On the field, Sasuke seized an opening. He lunged forward, kunai in hand, and stabbed it into Gaara's shoulder. Or rather, into the thick layer of sand that covered him. The metal screeched against the compacted sand and was repelled without leaving a scratch. In return, a giant fist of sand formed beside him and smashed into him.
Sasuke was sent flying, but he twisted at the last second, using the force of the impact to propel himself and land on his feet twenty meters away. He coughed, wiping a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth.
For every blow he managed to land on the sand armor, he received a dozen deadly attacks in return. He was reaching his limit. His chakra was draining just from maintaining that superhuman speed.
It's not enough, he thought, ducking under a new wave of sand that swept the field. It's too much. That defense... it's absolute. I can't break it. I can't keep this up. I'll run out of time.
Frustration began to boil inside him, an emotion that threatened to cloud his judgment. And in the midst of that frustration, a calm, authoritative voice echoed in his memory, as clear as if Kakashi were right there beside him.
"Listen, Sasuke. Gaara's strength is also his greatest weakness. He is a monster who has never been truly wounded. He believes himself to be invincible. He thinks his defense is impenetrable. And because of that, he has never had to learn how to dodge. He has never felt true pain."
The training scene flooded his mind. Kakashi, leaning against a tree, while Sasuke lay on the ground, breathless, after another failed attempt to surpass his sensei.
"Don't give him time to think. Don't doubt your power. Don't hold back. If you get an opportunity, just one, end it with everything you have. Throw everything you are into a single point."
Sasuke stopped abruptly, his feet skidding in the sand. He stopped running. He stopped dodging. He stood still in the middle of the arena, breathing deeply. He looked up at Gaara, and in his dark eyes, the two tomoe Sharingan spun, absorbing every detail. The frustration didn't vanish, but it transformed into pure, cold determination.
I'll bet it all. Everything on a single attack. On a single chance.
"Here I come," he whispered.
He began to run in a wide circle around the arena. His speed increased with each step, faster and faster, until he was little more than a blur to the untrained eye. And as he ran, he raised his left hand, gripping his right wrist.
A sharp, crackling sound began to fill the stadium, a noise that gave the technique its name: the chirping of a thousand birds.
"What's that sound?" Tenten asked, trying to focus on Sasuke's figure.
"That's..." Asuma said from the Jōnin section, a cigarette about to fall from his lips. "It can't be. Kakashi, what the hell did you teach him?"
Kurenai, beside him, shook her head in amazement. "A jutsu of that level... for a genin..."
In Sasuke's right hand, chakra swirled and condensed at an incredible rate. It went from a visible blue to a blinding white, a sphere of light in his palm. Uncontrolled lightning bolts sizzled around him, arcing through the air and striking the ground as he passed, leaving small, smoking craters. The Chidori.
"It can't be!" Kankurō exclaimed from the stands, jumping to his feet, his face a mask of panic. "That jutsu is...! Gaara, stop him!"
Gaara, from his platform, watched the display of power. But on his face, there was no fear. There was crazed ecstasy, a predatory joy. The prospect of being hurt, of feeling something real, excited him.
"Your blood! Give me your blood!" he screamed, his voice hoarse and full of madness. "Come! I will show you my ultimate defense!"
The sand around him swirled violently, converging in front of him, forming a dense, dark sphere, a dome of sand that completely enclosed him.
Sasuke didn't hesitate. With the Chidori crackling in his hand with violent energy, he pivoted in his run and shot straight forward. His peripheral vision vanished, leaving only a tunnel focused on the sand sphere. His Sharingan, however, saw everything, every spinning grain of sand, every fluctuation in Gaara's chakra inside the dome.
The impact was deafening.
The sound of lightning striking rock echoed throughout the stadium. Sasuke's Chidori plunged into the sand sphere. There was a horrible, high pitched screech as the power of the lightning fought against the earth's defense. The sphere cracked, and small fissures spiderwebbed across its surface.
For a moment, it seemed the defense would hold. The sphere, though damaged, remained firm.
More! a voice screamed in Sasuke's mind. It's not enough!
The image of Itachi, standing under the moon on the night of the massacre, his face impassive as he slaughtered his clan, filled his vision. The hatred, pure and primal, the emotion that had fueled every moment of his life since that night, erupted inside him. With a shout that tore his own throat, a scream of rage and desperation, he forced a second, wild and uncontrolled wave of chakra through his already exhausted arm.
The Chidori exploded with power.
The sand sphere disintegrated into a cloud of dust and fragments, revealing a wide eyed Gaara in pure shock. The Chidori, with nothing to stop it, impacted cleanly on his left shoulder.
A choked, guttural cry, a sound of genuine, surprised pain, was Gaara's only response. It was a sound he had never made before.
The silence that followed was absolute. The dust settled slowly, revealing the scene in the center of the arena. Gaara's sand armor had crumbled, falling to the ground. He himself was on his knees, head bowed, staring at the blood gushing from his shoulder, an expression of disbelief on his face. Then, his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed forward, unconscious.
Beside him, Sasuke stood, panting heavily. His right arm hung limp, smoking slightly from the residual chakra. But he was standing.
For a second, the entire stadium held its breath.
And then, it erupted.
A roar, an explosion of sound so powerful it shook the stadium's foundations, rose from the Konoha stands.
"HE DID IT!! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT, HE REALLY DID IT!!" Sakura screamed, jumping in her seat, fists in the air and tears of joy streaming down her face.
"SASUKE!" Ino yelled beside her, hugging her in a shared burst of euphoria, laughing and crying at the same time. "I KNEW HE COULD DO IT! HE'S THE BEST!"
Naruto was on his feet, dumbfounded, his eyes fixed on the arena. A slow grin spread across his face, a mix of sheer astonishment and undeniable pride for his rival. "The bastard..." he whispered, almost breathless. He turned to Shikamaru, grabbed him by the shoulders, and shook him. "Did you see that?! Did you see that, Shikamaru?! He really did it!"
Shikamaru grumbled, trying to free himself. "Yeah, yeah, I saw it. The whole world saw it. What a drag... now he's just set the bar higher for the rest of us."
Karin, next to him, let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, her body trembling slightly. "Gaara's chakra... it's calmed down."
Hinata simply watched the scene, a small, genuine smile on her lips, her hands no longer nervously clasped.
In the Suna stands, the reaction was pure horror.
"Gaara!" Temari cried, her face ghost white.
Kankurō was already on his feet, ready to jump into the arena, his hand on the puppet on his back. "Impossible! No one has ever touched Gaara! No one!"
In the arena, Genma landed beside the two combatants. After a quick check of Gaara's condition, confirming he was unconscious but alive, he straightened up and raised the arm of an exhausted but defiant Sasuke.
"Because the opponent is unable to continue!" he proclaimed, his voice ringing out in the triumphant stadium. "THE WINNER IS SASUKE UCHIHA!"
The roar of the crowd doubled, a wave of pure euphoria. But amidst that deafening celebration, two people remained silent.
In the inner corridors of the stadium, Kakashi exhaled slowly, releasing weeks of accumulated tension. He was leaning against a cold wall, watching the scene through one of the openings. His student had done it. He had surpassed his limits and won a battle that many others would have lost.
"Well, well. You really taught him well, my eternal rival."
Kakashi turned to see Guy leaning against the opposite wall, his usual radiant smile on his face.
"He did it," Guy said, nodding. "The power of youth exploded in a blaze of victory! You should be proud, Kakashi."
"I am," Kakashi replied, his voice lower than usual. "But I wonder what he's really learned today."
Guy frowned. "What do you mean? He learned that hard work can overcome any defense!"
"Or he learned that strength is the answer to everything," Kakashi countered, his gaze lost on his student.
And in the Kage box, Orochimaru was clapping. He clapped slowly and politely, a Kazekage's smile plastered on his face, while inside, a cold, controlled fury grew within him.
Impossible, he thought, each clap an echo of his silent rage. That Uchiha brat! My plan was perfect! Gaara was supposed to crush him, shatter his ego, leave him broken and begging for my power! He wasn't supposed to win! Not like this!
His psychological plan had failed completely against a boy's determination. Failure was a taste he detested more than anything. But a master strategist does not cling to a failed plan.
The plan to break him has failed, he admitted to himself, his mind already working on new variables, calculating new trajectories of chaos. But the plan to destroy Konoha... that is still on. In fact... this might be even better. Sasuke's victory, the village's celebration... it will only make the fall all the sweeter, more spectacular. The humiliation will no longer be for Sasuke. It will be for you, sensei. For your whole pathetic, sentimental village.
Amidst the roar of the crowd, his eyes scanned the stands. They passed over the dignitaries, the Jōnin, until they found his key piece. Kabuto was standing, mixed in with the common people, acting like an ANBU member assigned to the tournament's security. A perfect mask.
Orochimaru stopped clapping. The Kazekage's facade hardened, his eyes narrowing a fraction of a millimeter. It was a silent command.
The game is over. Now.
Kabuto, from across the stadium, caught the command instantly. He responded with a nod so slight it was invisible to anyone not looking for it. The smile on his face didn't change, but his eyes grew cold. The signal had been given. Discreetly, he formed a hand seal hidden under his sleeve.
A nearly imperceptible pulse of chakra spread out from him.
In the Kage box, Hiruzen noticed a change. The "Kazekage" beside him was no longer pretending. The smile was gone, replaced by a predatory coldness that did not belong to Rasa.
"It seems the party is over, Lord Hokage," Orochimaru whispered, his own voice finally slipping through the mask.
The scene shifted abruptly to the gloom of a forest clearing, just outside Konoha's eastern walls. Nearly two hundred Sound and Sand ninja waited, gathered in a disciplined and deadly silence. They were the true invasion force, ready to strike Konoha.
In the center of the clearing, the ground was bare, marked with a summoning circle as large as a house. Intricate kanji and seals covered every inch, glowing with a faint purple light. At the heart of the circle, ten elite Sound ninjas knelt, their palms pressed to the ground, channeling their chakra into the seal. The ground vibrated beneath them, a deep and rhythmic tremor.
"Maintain focus! The energy of thirty men is needed to summon all three at once!" shouted the leader of the summoners, a man with sound markings on his face. "The seal is stabilized! The connection is ready! We are only waiting for the order!"
A young Sand ninja beside him swallowed, looking at the pulsating seal. "Are you sure this will work? Summoning something so big..."
"Lord Orochimaru designed it himself," the leader snapped. "Of course it will work! Now shut up and get ready!"