Gaara vs. Naruto and Sasuke! (Please Support with Data)
Gaara, carrying a huge gourd on his back, seemed to have targeted the harmless-looking Kitahara Kaede. But just as he was about to appear, Naruto and Sasuke, standing beside Kaede, struck at the same time.
Their movements matched perfectly.
They attacked at the same time, throwing punches at the same time.
The instant Gaara appeared, their coordinated fists sent him flying!
Bang!
Gaara's body slammed straight into the nearby wall.
"!!!" x2
Temari and Kankuro, from the Sunagakure group that had arrived with Gaara, widened their eyes.
Because this was the first time they had seen... Gaara get punched away.
Although... Gaara did not specialize in Taijutsu, but in controlling sand—
Still...
Gaara had been beaten away before he could even use his sand!
Gaara had carried out S-rank missions alone before. He had single-handedly killed more than a dozen Jonin!
And yet...
He had actually... been punched away just like that!
Bang!
Gaara's body was embedded deep in the wall.
But it lasted only an instant. His body rolled down, and he pressed one hand against the ground.
Though his forehead was bleeding slightly from crashing into the wall, he was not angry. Instead, he smiled.
It was not quite a normal smile.
There was a crazed, savage edge to it.
"This is interesting!" Gaara spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva.
"I thought no one my age could beat me."
"But now..."
"This is really interesting!"
Gaara reached behind himself and undid the half-man-tall sand gourd on his back.
Sand poured out in a rustling stream.
Sasuke and Naruto exchanged a glance.
"That sand looks alive," Naruto said.
"But we just need to beat him up," Sasuke said. "He attacked us without a word. Someone like him... needs to be taught a proper lesson!"
As Sasuke spoke, he winked at Naruto.
Naruto understood immediately.
This meant... they could use these Genin from outside the village to test their current level.
So...
"Hidden Leaf Style!"
"A Thousand Years of Death!"
Just when Temari and the others thought Gaara's use of sand would finally make his opponents nervous, Sasuke and Naruto instead became instantly more excited.
While Sasuke and Gaara fought, Kitahara Kaede simply stood there and watched.
"Temari—" Kankuro noticed Kitahara Kaede.
"Mm..." The beauty of the neighboring village nodded lightly.
Gaara had charged at that boy just now. That meant he should have been the weakest one.
He had probably wanted to provoke them.
After all... they had come here because their father, the Fourth Kazekage, had sent them.
Their purpose was to destroy the Hidden Leaf Village.
So... they first needed to make a display of themselves.
That was why they had planned to squeeze a soft persimmon first.
But they had not expected the two people beside that boy to be so tough. They had actually stopped Gaara and sent him flying.
The Hidden Leaf Village had people with Taijutsu like this too.
At that level of Taijutsu... they definitely were not ordinary Genin. They were Chunin... no, perhaps even Jonin!
She had thought Gaara was already talented enough, but did the Hidden Leaf Village have so many geniuses too?
And there were two of them right away!
"Interesting, so interesting!"
Gaara's sand had already begun moving, but he found it difficult to catch Sasuke and Naruto.
Meanwhile, he himself was struck in the body from time to time.
However, his body was already covered in sand armor. Every time he took a punch, a piece of armor fell away, faintly exposing his real body beneath.
Gaara had already taken a punch as well.
There was a wound on his face.
But...
He only grew more excited.
Because...
This was even more interesting than the S-rank missions he had carried out before!
It had been a very, very long time since anyone had injured him.
So—
"Got you!"
His sand instantly spread across the ground and caught Naruto's left foot.
"Beep!"
But Naruto's body vanished with a bang.
And the next second—
"What are you doing?!"
An adult's voice rang out.
"Naruto, Sasuke, and Kitahara Kaede."
"This isn't even the exam yet. Why are you fighting?!"
It was the voice of Kakashi Hatake, an Elite Jonin of the Hidden Leaf Village.
"Ah..."
After being scolded, Naruto scratched his head.
"..." Sasuke, meanwhile, crossed his arms and shoved his hands into his pockets, looking extremely cool.
He looked very stubborn.
"Forget it." Kakashi knew he had no dignity in Team 7 anyway.
He jumped down from the tree and looked at the Sunagakure group.
"Sorry about that. Our village's Genin can be a little impulsive."
"You're from Sunagakure, right?"
"Your Kazekage is staying at the inn up ahead."
"Oh, look. Your supervising Jonin is here."
Kakashi said.
Following Kakashi's words, the Sunagakure group spotted a Sunagakure ninja on a tree.
He wore Sunagakure's pale ninja uniform, had colored markings on his face, and bandages covering half of it.
This was Sunagakure's Elite Jonin, and the Jonin brought to keep up appearances—Baki.
"Hmph!"
Gaara raised one hand as though he wanted to control the sand again, but Baki glanced in his direction.
"..." Gaara fell silent. He closed his eyes, then opened them again. The sand on the ground moved as though alive and flowed back into his gourd.
The sight dazzled Sasuke and Naruto, the two rookie Genin.
They had spent this period learning Taijutsu. As for ninjutsu, they had only encountered the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu and Kakashi's Water Dragon Bullet.
So they were also very curious about the ninjutsu of other ninja villages.
"Sorry about that. The rookie Genin from our village got serious with your village's elites."
Baki walked over to Kakashi and warmly took his hand as if shaking it.
"..." Kakashi.
"It's fine."
Kakashi said, "You've come from afar, so our people were a little impulsive too."
"Still, your Genin seem quite strong," Kakashi said.
Of course, Kakashi knew Naruto and Sasuke's Taijutsu training had already become formidable. They had reached Jonin standards, and if he was not careful, even he might get sent flying by those two.
But Gaara had endured their attacks, which meant... Gaara's strength... had also reached Jonin level.
And this Gaara...
He was the Jinchuriki son of Fourth Mizukage Rasa...
At that thought, Kakashi could not help recalling the group that watched Kitahara Kaede, then thinking of the Worst Kazekage-Rasa in the group, as well as these Sunagakure people before him.
When Rasa was still around, Sunagakure had already been ruled so coldly and without humanity. It was like a worsened third-generation version.
And after Rasa was gone, the Kazekage became Orochimaru... Then these Sunagakure people... became Orochimaru's chess pieces.
They really were... pitiful.
Baki had already noticed Kakashi looking at them with pity.
But Baki merely assumed Kakashi had seen Gaara getting beaten down and thought they were weak.
"..." Baki felt a little regretful too.
He had instructed Temari and the others to stir up a little trouble upon arriving in the Hidden Leaf Village.
Yet the moment they picked a fight, they got beaten instead.
What kind of place was the Hidden Leaf Village?
They had thought it was weak and could be invaded, but now... two Genin had pinned down and beaten Sunagakure's secret weapon, the One-Tail Jinchuriki?
It seemed they needed to observe things much more carefully.
Before you continue