He walked slowly onto the field, his short black hair lifting slightly in the sunlight, his stern face and upright posture drawing every eye in an instant. As a survivor of the Uchiha Clan, that identity already gave him an aura of his own—and on top of that, his opponent was the terrifying Gaara.
Gaara slowly stepped onto the field, sand swirling around him, his gaze cold, bloodthirsty, and utterly devoid of emotion. He looked at Sasuke as if he were looking at a dead thing.
"Second Pillar, I'm going to kill you," Gaara said, his voice icy to the bone.
Sasuke tightened his grip on his kunai, his Sharingan fully activated, the two-tomoe pattern clearly visible. "Bring it on."
Seeing this, the referee immediately announced the start of the match.
The instant the words fell, Gaara attacked first. Countless grains of sand swept toward Sasuke like sharpened blades, fast as lightning and terrifyingly powerful.
Sasuke's eyes sharpened. He dodged rapidly while forming hand seals. "Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
A massive fireball blasted out, only to be easily blocked by the sand. Gaara's Sand Shield was indestructible, both offense and defense in one, leaving no opening at all.
"It's useless," Gaara said coldly. "Sand Waterfall Funeral!"
A huge mass of sand instantly surrounded Sasuke, forming a sealed Sand Cage that kept contracting, trying to crush him alive.
Outside the field, Sakura, Naruto, Kakashi, and the others all turned pale.
"Sasuke!"
The Sand Cage kept shrinking. The hardened sand crushed Sasuke's body viciously, his bones letting out brittle cracks under the strain as agony spread through him. Sasuke clenched his teeth and unleashed his chakra with all his strength, but he simply could not break free of the Sand Cage's restraint.
Gaara stood outside the Sand Cage, his eyes cold