An encounter with Gaara of the Calabash Brothers

After hearing Shinki's words, Konohamaru shook his head. "I heard Grandpa say the Chunin Ninja Exams are really hard, and the pass rate is extremely low."

"Big Brother Shinki, you really are strong, but who knows when you'll become a Chunin? If you wait until then to teach me, it'll be too late..."

Smack! Shinki slapped Konohamaru on the head. "(ꐦ ಠ dish ಠ) Are you jinxing me?"

Konohamaru clutched his head, looking aggrieved. "I'm just telling the truth."

Seeing that the kid still didn't get it, Shinki raised his hand again.

"Don't hit me!"

Frightened, Konohamaru turned and ran!

Shinki had placed a Flying Thunder God Mark on Konohamaru long ago.

So he simply folded his arms and watched silently as Konohamaru ran off.

No matter how far the little guy ran, he could catch up with a single Body Flicker Technique anyway.

Just as Shinki saw that Konohamaru had run a decent distance and was about to use the Flying Thunder God Technique to catch up,

He discovered that the reckless kid had actually run into a passerby.

And now the man had lifted Konohamaru's little body off the ground.

The man was dressed strangely. He wore black clothes and carried a strange object wrapped in bandages on his back. A hood covered his entire head, and a Sunagakure Forehead Protector was tied around his forehead. Only his face was exposed, with some strange stripes painted on it.

Holding Konohamaru up, he said fiercely, "You little bastard, don't you watch where you're going?"

Konohamaru stared at the man's strange outfit and froze in fright. "S-sorry."

The man in black seemed intent on picking a fight. He tightened his grip on Konohamaru and said, "You think an apology is enough to settle this...?"

Just then,

Shinki stepped forward and called out to the strange Ninja. "I'm sorry. We were in the wrong just now. Could you put my little brother down first?"

Konohamaru had run into the man first, so Shinki knew they were in the wrong and spoke up himself.

The man raised his eyes and gave Shinki a sharp look before showing a disdainful expression. "A Genin from Konoha? You don't look like much."

Behind the man in black stood a blonde girl carrying a giant fan. When she saw Shinki appear, a gleam flashed in her eyes.

This boy... is pretty handsome!

Then she patted the man in black on the shoulder. After casting a wary glance around, she warned him, "Kankuro, stop it, or you'll get scolded later."

Kankuro ignored the girl behind him and faced Shinki, still holding Konohamaru up.

Just then, Konohamaru, desperate to break free, began kicking his legs. "Let me go..."

The man called Kankuro seemed to lose his temper. "I hate short guys most of all. You're so young, yet you're this arrogant. I really want to kill you."

Shinki's pupils contracted sharply when he heard the man's last sentence.

The expression on the man's face as he spoke didn't look fake!

Konohamaru, held up by his collar, had turned bright red. He cried out in pain, "Big Brother Shinki, it hurts so much. Can you...?"

Seeing Konohamaru's pained expression, Shinki narrowed his eyes.

"If you don't let him go, I won't hold back."

Shinki's gaze turned icy.

The other party had obviously come looking for a fight, so there was no need to hold back.

He slowly planted a Kunai bearing a Flying Thunder God Formula in the ground.

Then, with a whoosh, Shinki vanished from where he stood!

The next moment,

He appeared in midair, behind Konohamaru.

Shinki raised his hand and struck Kankuro's wrist with a deft blow!

Smack!

The sudden pain made Kankuro let go instinctively.

Shinki grabbed Konohamaru as he fell and used the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport once more, appearing beside the Kunai he had planted earlier.

It had all happened in the blink of an eye!

It was so fast that Kankuro and the girl behind him hadn't even seen Shinki move before Konohamaru was rescued!

The girl, Temari, widened her eyes and said in shock, "What Ninjutsu was that?"

Kankuro hadn't changed his ways. Thin Chakra Threads appeared at his fingertips. "Whatever Ninjutsu it is, it's just some low-level Ninjutsu for running away. There's nothing to be afraid of."

He then slowly wound the Chakra Threads around Shinki's lower leg.

He wanted to use them to pull Shinki and make him embarrass himself in public.

Unfortunately for him,

Shinki wasn't fooled. He countered directly with his own powerful Chakra, quickly dispersing the Chakra Threads wrapped around his body.

When Kankuro saw how casually Shinki had neutralized his Chakra Threads, his embarrassment turned to anger.

He reached back and took down the bandage-wrapped object he had been carrying.

Kankuro was getting serious!

Seeing this, Temari covered her face. She knew she couldn't stop Kankuro, so she could only step aside and stay out of it.

Just then, the figure of a Ninja appeared, hanging upside down from a nearby tree. In a cold, raspy voice, he said, "Stop. Don't disgrace Sunagakure any further."

Kankuro froze at those words. Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, and he hurriedly put the object back on his back.

Seeing this, Shinki was puzzled.

Who was this speaker, to make the arrogant man in black so afraid?

Driven by curiosity, Shinki turned to look at the nearby tree.

A Ninja was hanging upside down from it.

The Ninja was using Chakra to cling to the tree. He had no eyebrows, the character for "love" was tattooed on his forehead, and he carried a large gourd on his back.

He had his arms folded and an icy look in his eyes, striking quite a pose.

Seeing the other party's strange outfit, Shinki immediately guessed his identity.

The big gourd, the tattoo, the missing eyebrows.

This guy had to be... one of the Calabash Brothers!

But all eight of the Calabash Brothers seemed to have eyebrows...

Gaara noticed that Shinki was studying him with a strange look, but he gave no response. Instead, he turned his gaze back to Kankuro and said in a bone-chilling voice, "What do you think we came to Konoha for?"

Kankuro opened his mouth, but fear made him stammer. "L-let me explain, Gaara. They were the ones who started it..."

Gaara?

The name sounded familiar to Shinki.

He didn't know much about Naruto, but he did remember a few of the key characters.

This Gaara seemed to be quite popular in Naruto...

Of course, Shinki didn't know exactly what he had done.

"Shut up!"

Gaara roughly cut off Kankuro's defense. Then he narrowed his eyes and said, "Be careful, or I'll kill you."

The killing intent in those words was almost tangible. It frightened Konohamaru so badly that he hid behind Shinki and clung to his leg.

Kankuro was so frightened that he nearly fell to his knees.

After that, Gaara jumped down from the tree with the gourd on his back and walked away with Temari and Kankuro.

After taking only two steps, he suddenly turned back and looked calmly at Shinki. "What's your name?"

Shinki spread his hands. "Shinki."

Shinki, however, showed no intention of asking for his name.

When Shinki still didn't ask, Gaara could only introduce himself. "My name is Gaara. I'm very interested in you."