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After the battle between Hinata and Ino concluded, the official matches of the third exam finally reached their highlight.
Gaara versus Uchiha Sasuke!
Many spectators in the audience stands had come specifically for Sasuke.
These viewers included people from other parts of the Land of Fire, individuals from neighboring countries, and a large number of Konoha's own villagers.
It was quite ironic, really. Back when the Uchiha clan was still around, the people of Konoha harbored deep resentment and exclusion toward them. The clan's members made up the entirety of the village's police force, and their overly rigid and extreme personalities often led to conflicts with the villagers.
But once the Uchiha clan was wiped out, those same people began to glorify them.
They were even willing to shell out hefty sums for tickets just to watch Sasuke's match.
Thank goodness no war had broken out; otherwise, whether it was Konoha's common folk, its ninjas, or its higher-ups, they would only yearn for the Uchiha clan even more.
After all, it was a long-standing consensus in the ninja world that the Sharingan was nearly invincible in one-on-one combat.
Whoosh—
Gaara emerged from the contestant tunnel, arms crossed over his chest as he stepped onto the arena square. His expression was utterly blank, clearly indicating that he had already donned his armor of sand.
Just as Hayate checked his pocket watch, preparing to declare that Sasuke had failed to appear and thus forfeited by default—
A sudden whirlwind carrying a few scattered leaves materialized out of thin air in the center of the square.
In the next instant, two figures—one tall and one short—appeared before everyone's eyes.
These two were none other than Kakashi and Uchiha Sasuke.
"Looks like we made it. We're not late, right?"
Striking a dramatic pose, Kakashi held his copy of Intimate Paradise in hand as he asked Hayate.
Hayate rolled his eyes and replied, "It was only a matter of seconds before your student got disqualified. You really should work on that chronic tardiness of yours."
From Hayate's tone, it was evident that he shared a close relationship with Kakashi—after all, he had once been one of the Fourth Hokage's bodyguards.
"As long as we're not late, that's what matters."
Kakashi tucked away his book and turned to Sasuke, who was wrapped in a few strips of white bandages and exuded an air of unwavering confidence. "I've taught you everything I can. The rest is up to you now, Sasuke."
With that, Kakashi vanished in a flicker of body flicker technique.
"So, you're my opponent?"
Sasuke gazed at Gaara, the boy who had left such a profound impression on him just a month prior, and grinned with bold enthusiasm. "Having you as my first-round opponent is perfect."
"Before I face Ryūsei, I'll use you as an appetizer!"
Just like in the original story, every time Sasuke gained a boost in strength, he couldn't help but swell with arrogance.
Having not witnessed the fight between Rock Lee and Gaara, he dismissed everyone else—except for Ryūsei, whom he had never beaten—as beneath his notice.
Gaara felt much the same way.
He didn't respond to Sasuke's disdain with words, maintaining his emotionless facade.
The expression beneath his sand armor was identical.
Like Sasuke, Gaara now barely regarded his opponent as a threat.
Sasuke's performance in the previous round had been pathetically weak.
If that was the full extent of his abilities, he wouldn't even be able to breach the automatic defense of Gaara's sand.
The only opponents Gaara truly acknowledged were two in number.
One was Rock Lee, who manage to hurt him. The other was Ryūsei, who had mastered the profound arts of Water Release—directly countering Gaara's element—and had just demonstrated terrifying speed and genjutsu prowess.
As for Sasuke? Gaara had nearly forgotten the guy's name.
With both combatants now in position, Hayate stepped back a few paces and raised his hand, announcing loudly, "Third round match: Uchiha Sasuke versus Gaara... begin!"
Whoosh—
Sasuke didn't bother testing the waters with ninja tools. Instead, he vanished in an instant with a body flicker.
In less time than it took to blink, Sasuke reappeared to Gaara's right, launching a fist straight toward his face.
The sand automatically surged to defend, but it failed to block this punch—turns out, it was just a feint.
The very next second, Sasuke materialized on Gaara's other side, smashing another fist forward.
His speed was so blinding that the automatic sand defense nearly couldn't keep up. It barely managed to intercept the blow at the last possible moment.
Yet these two punches caused Gaara's sand-armored face to twist in shock.
Those who shared Gaara's astonishment included Sakura and the others on the contestant stands, as well as Rock Lee and his group, who had been eliminated in the previous round and could only watch from the audience seats.
It wasn't surprising that they reacted so strongly. The speed Sasuke was displaying now, combined with his taijutsu techniques in assaulting Gaara, was eerily identical to Rock Lee's after he'd removed his leg weights a month ago.
Watching Sasuke relentlessly switch positions to hammer at Gaara, probing for a way through the sand defenses, Rock Lee—who hadn't lost any limbs or feet and had fully recovered his strength—still felt a massive blow to his spirit.
Only he knew the blood, sweat, and tears he'd poured into achieving that kind of speed.
Beneath the bandages on his arms and legs, the scars were practically permanent.
Yet Sasuke had replicated his hard-earned results in a mere month.
Was this the gap between an ordinary person and a genius?
They weren't even from the same world!
Rock Lee's fists clenched tightly, his heart filled with bitter resentment.
Bang!
At that moment, Sasuke shattered Gaara's sand defense with a single punch, cracking through the armor.
Gaara, who had been invincible since childhood, had virtually zero experience in close-quarters taijutsu duels.
Once his defenses were breached, he panicked at the thought that Sasuke might unleash something like Rock Lee's devastating moves. Hastily, he enveloped his entire body in sand, forming a massive sand sphere.
Only inside this sand ball did Gaara feel a shred of security. He then activated his Third Eye of Sand, preparing to burrow into the Desert Funeral Coffin and manipulate the sand to assault Sasuke from within.
"Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu!"
Outside, Sasuke attempted to blast through Gaara's Desert Funeral Coffin with Fire Release.
But after the fireball detonated, the sand sphere remained utterly unscathed.
Far from panicking, Sasuke curled his lips into an intriguing smile.
He ceased wasting chakra on pointless attacks and instead dashed toward the high walls encircling the square.
Channeling chakra into his feet, Sasuke scaled the wall like a gecko, reaching the top before forming hand seals with both hands.
Zzzzt... zzzzt...
The crackling hum of a thousand chirping birds filled the air as Sasuke's right hand clenched into a claw. A sphere of blue-white lightning erupted from his palm, as if he'd seized the thunder itself, and he dove downward.
In his plunging stance, Sasuke's hand hovered perilously close to the wall, the arcing lightning ball gouging a deep furrow into the stone surface.
"Chidori!"
Sasuke hurtled toward the sand sphere, his lightning-wreathed palm and forearm piercing straight through its formidable defenses in a flash.
"Aaah!"
A scream of agony echoed from within the sphere. When Sasuke withdrew his arm, it was slick with blood.
Witnessing this, Ryūsei's shadow clone on the contestant stands—and numerous others in the audience—flashed with sharp glints in their eyes.
Kabuto Yakushi, disguised as a Konoha ANBU and lurking in the shadows behind the audience seats, immediately formed hand seals and murmured, "Genjutsu... Temple of Nirvana Technique!"
Countless white phantom feathers began to drift down from the sky like a gentle snowfall.
The spectators, who had been cheering wildly for Sasuke's performance and feeling every bit of their ticket money well-spent, were instantly drawn to these feathers.
As they fixated on them, their eyelids grew unbearably heavy. The excitement and thrill of the cheers quickly morphed into drowsy stupor.
Before long, all the civilians and nobles had fallen into a deep slumber.
Even some of the genin succumbed.
As the feathers settled onto the sleeping forms, they dissolved into nothingness upon contact.
Those touched by the feathers plunged into an unbreakable sleep—one that might not end even under a brutal beating or a thousand cuts.
"It's a mass genjutsu—enemy attack!"
Only those ninjas attuned to Yin Release chakra, with swift reflexes and substantial power, remained unaffected by the feathers.
They hurriedly formed seals to dispel the invading Yin chakra attempting to infiltrate their minds.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—
The sounds of slicing air echoed relentlessly as shadowy afterimages burst from the audience stands.
These were the Sound ninjas, masquerading as ordinary folk.
Now unmasked, they clashed immediately with the Konoha ninjas in the stands, and many civilians became collateral damage in the frenzy.
Meanwhile, on the VIP platform, Orochimaru—disguised as the Fourth Kazekage—had already taken his former teacher hostage and leaped to the rooftop.
A translucent purple barrier swiftly rose around the rooftop.
The mentor-student showdown was imminent.
"Cut the act. Those two Sand ninjas bolted—it's just us here now."
Ryūsei's shadow clone kicked at the nearby Shikamaru, who was sprawled on the ground. "Get up and help dispel the genjutsu on Naruto and Choji, then go support the others."
"What a drag... A mess like this isn't something we genin should be tangled in."
Shikamaru, who had been hoping to slack off amid the chaos, scratched his head and rose reluctantly.
As Ryūsei's shadow clone rallied the genin in the contestant area, pandemonium had already erupted beyond the square in the village proper.
The Sound ninjas inside the arena were merely a fraction; the bulk of their forces, alongside the Sand ninjas, were wreaking havoc outside.
Once the signal flared, they launched widespread destruction across Konoha.
Scattered Sound ninjas positioned themselves throughout the village, unrolling scrolls and shattering blood vials to summon the colossal serpents of the Dragon Ground Cave.
The Sound and Sand assault caught Konoha completely off guard.
Yet, under the guidance of elite jonin, the ninjas followed emergency protocols: some banded together to repel the invaders, while others escorted villagers to the nearest shelters.
With manpower stretched thin, even the ANBU stationed at the Hokage Building were redeployed to aid the frontline Konoha forces.
In that instant, the Hokage Building's defenses thinned dramatically.
No one noticed as a cloaked figure wearing a white mask slipped silently into the Hokage Building.
This figure was none other than Ryūsei's true body.
After casting the Shadow Clone Technique at home, Ryūsei had sent the clone to take his place in the exams. Meanwhile, his real self donned the cloak and mask, using Red Eye Illusion to conceal his presence while employing far-sight and x-ray vision to monitor the match—and to scout for his objectives within the Hokage Building.
At this moment, Ryūsei activated both his Red Eye and his Mind's Eye of the Kagura simultaneously. The interiors and exteriors of the Hokage Building, along with his targets, lay fully exposed under his gaze.