Trap

"Don't panic! He's using Wind Release, so we'll use Wind Release too!"

Soon, dozens of Sand Ninja, each holding a giant fan like Temari during the Chunin Ninja Exams in the original story, rushed to the front.

"Wind Release: Wind Cutter Jutsu!"

The Sand Ninja swung their giant fans with all their strength, creating a wide range of wind blades that sliced apart the incoming sandstorm.

Yet it took so many Sand Ninja just to block a single jutsu cast by Chiba. That alone said plenty.

"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Chiba paid no mind to his jutsu being blocked. In one breath, he created over a thousand shadow clones, like a thousand green meteors, attacking Sunagakure from every direction.

"It's the Second Hokage's 'Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu'!"

"Isn't that Konoha's Forbidden Jutsu? How did a Hyuga Clan member learn it, and why does he have such enormous Chakra?"

"Stop talking nonsense and attack!"

"That's right. Shadow clones disappear as soon as they're attacked. In the end, he'll just be wasting Chakra."

"Hmph, daring to take on all of Sunagakure alone? What stupidity!"

At first, the Sand Ninja were utterly shocked that Chiba could create over a thousand shadow clones.

After quickly recovering from their shock, they joined forces and unleashed all kinds of attacks, attempting to stop Chiba and all of his thousand-plus shadow clones.

However...

"Eight Trigrams: Kaiten Air Palm!"

Chiba and his thousand-plus shadow clones began spinning rapidly in midair at the same time.

First, over a thousand small green tornadoes formed around them. Then, over a thousand larger white tornadoes swiftly extended outward from around those green tornadoes.

The shadow clones' positions seemed carefully calculated as well, placing the entire front of Sunagakure within the range of their Eight Trigrams: Kaiten Air Palm.

And so!

Every attack unleashed by the Sand Ninja was drawn into the white tornadoes without causing the slightest ripple.

On the contrary, beneath the assault of over a thousand white tornadoes descending from the sky at once, every Sand Ninja here, along with the entire ring of rocky cliffs behind them that protected the village, was placed in grave danger.

"Rise!"

At the critical moment, Rasa, dressed in the Kazekage Ceremonial Robe, finally could not hold back any longer. Riding into the air on a flying platform made of Gold Sand, he used his Kekkei Genkai, Magnet Release: Gold Sand, to raise a massive amount of Gold Sand from the ground, forming a huge Gold Dust Wall before all the Sand Ninja.

Boom!

With an ear-splitting crash, the Gold Dust Wall collapsed, and the thousand white tornadoes on the other side vanished as well.

At the same time!

"Is it a trap, or is that the real one? Let me test it."

One Chiba appeared about twenty meters in front of Gaara, who had remained motionless the entire time, and casually threw a shuriken infused with Chakra.

"Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

The next instant, a dense swarm of shuriken flew toward Gaara all at once.

However, Gaara still did not move in the slightest, allowing the shuriken to pierce his body.

Soon, "Gaara," whose body was almost completely covered in shuriken, burst into a cloud of smoke with a bang.

"A shadow clone?"

Chiba was not surprised. "As expected, they weren't really stupid enough to hand their prey directly to me."

Even if Konoha and the Sand Ninja did not yet know that Chiba could directly absorb Chakra, they should have understood that since he intended to obtain One-Tail Shukaku's Chakra, he must have had the confidence to do so.

No matter how confident Sunagakure was, directly sending Gaara before Chiba would have been far too reckless.

It was precisely because he understood this that Chiba had not activated Tenseigan Chakra Mode until now.

He had only tested things from afar earlier rather than approaching directly.

"Gold Dust Hand!"

At that moment, a massive hand formed from Gold Sand slammed down at Chiba.

"Earth Release: Great Earth-Flow Wall!"

After Chiba rapidly formed hand seals, an Earth Wall nearly fifty meters high, constructed from yellow sand and subterranean soil, rose from the ground and blocked the Gold Dust Hand.

"Gold Dust Shower!"

Soon, Rasa floated in the air atop a Gold Dust Carpet and condensed a dense rain of Gold Sand that shot straight toward Chiba's head.

"Who gave you permission to stand above my head?"

Chiba's body rose into the air, and every drop of Gold Dust Rain was deflected by a force of Repulsion before it could approach him.

Even Rasa was inevitably blasted more than a hundred meters away by that Repulsion, nearly losing control of the Gold Dust Carpet and almost falling to the ground.

"Damn it!"

Rasa's expression darkened.

He had thought the information from Konoha had been exaggerated, but he had never expected this innately evil Hyuga Brat to be so troublesome.

And it seemed the latter had not even activated that so-called Tenseigan Chakra Mode yet?

But what truly caught Rasa even more off guard was...

"Since Gaara isn't here, I'll need to alter my plans slightly."

After saying that, Chiba suddenly turned into a cloud of smoke with a bang.

"A shadow clone?"

Rasa's expression grew even uglier.

So he had been fighting Hyuga Chiba's shadow clone the whole time, and he had not even gained the upper hand?

Most importantly, if that had been Hyuga Chiba's shadow clone, then where was his real body...?

Inside Sunagakure!

In a hidden corner!

"That really was a trap."

After receiving the shadow clone's memories, Chiba's real body, who had used the Transformation Jutsu to disguise himself as an ordinary-looking Sunagakure civilian who would not draw a second glance in a crowd, murmured to himself.

However, his gaze fell upon the familiar figure before the Kazekage's Office Building ahead.

"Lord Gaara, the Kazekage has ordered that you cannot leave the Kazekage's Office Building!"

A Sunagakure Jonin spoke anxiously to Gaara.

"Lord Gaara, Hyuga Chiba of Konoha's Hyuga Clan has awakened the Tenseigan, a God's Eye in all but name, and his target is most likely that monster within you... Sand Shukaku?"

Another Sunagakure ninja also tried to persuade Gaara with an anxious expression.

Four more Sunagakure ninja said nothing, but their expressions were equally solemn and worried.

Not long ago, in order to protect Gaara as much as possible, the Kazekage had ordered him to remain in the Kazekage's Office Building and assigned many Sunagakure ninja to guard him.

Yet who would have expected Gaara to run out on his own?

"Shut up!"

Gaara pressed his right hand against his head, his expression pained. His icy voice was filled with killing intent. "Keep making noise, and I'll kill you."

Before the six Sunagakure ninja around him could respond, Gaara slightly tightened his right hand. His expression grew increasingly pained as he said in a low voice, "Mother, don't rush. I'll kill that Konoha guy soon."