Lightning Release: Chidori!

"What are you looking at?" Gaara suddenly asked.

"My openings? They don't exist!"

Sand suddenly erupted, transforming into countless sharp spikes that shot toward Sasuke!

Sasuke's pupils constricted. His Sharingan predicted every trajectory, allowing his body to dodge at an incredible angle, narrowly evading every single strike.

"Beautiful!" someone in the stands cheered.

Qingyu noticed that Sasuke's breathing had already begun to quicken.

This level of high-intensity evasion was a massive drain on both physical stamina and mental focus.

Even with the superior observational prowess of the Sharingan, the body could not always keep up.

As for Gaara... he remained expressionless, as if he were doing something entirely trivial.

"At this rate, Sasuke will lose," Qingyu whispered.

"Not necessarily," Izuna suddenly said.

"That kid... he's observing. The Sharingan isn't just for dodging; it's also recording the flow patterns of the sand."

Indeed, although Sasuke was dodging, his eyes never left the sand surrounding Gaara.

Finally, after one evasion, Sasuke formed hand seals. This time, it was...

"Lightning Style: Chidori!"

The piercing sound of birds chirping tore through the air like a shriek.

Blue-white electricity condensed in Sasuke's hand, the crackling current illuminating his cold, sharp profile.

The stands exploded!

"That's... Kakashi's Chidori?!"

Qingyu was also stunned.

Sasuke had learned the Chidori so quickly...

Wait, it seemed many things in this timeline had been moved forward.

Yet many things had also been delayed; why was everything getting so strange, hey!

Though, it didn't really make a difference...

On the field, Sasuke gripped the Chidori and charged at Gaara once more!

This time, the sand reacted even faster, forming several layers of shields!

But the piercing power of the Chidori was immense!

One layer, two layers, three layers... the sand shields were pierced through one by one!

Just as it was about to strike Gaara...

The sand suddenly shifted, transforming into a giant hand that swatted Sasuke away!

Bang!

Sasuke slammed into the wall at the edge of the arena, letting out a muffled grunt as blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

The light of the Chidori dissipated.

"A pity," Gaara said with a calm expression, "you almost hit me."

He raised his hand, and the sand began to gather above his head, forming a massive sand sphere.

"It's over."

The sand sphere split, transforming into countless sand bullets that rained down upon Sasuke like a storm!

Sasuke gritted his teeth, struggling to stand up as he formed hand seals once again.

"Body Flicker Technique!"

Three Shadow Clones appeared, scattering in four directions along with the original!

The sand bullets pursued them, destroying two Shadow Clones, but the original and the final Shadow Clone successfully dodged.

"So he was hiding this..." A flicker of interest flashed in Gaara's eyes.

"Then how about this?"

He pressed his palms together.

The sand across the entire arena began to churn, and the ground trembled!

"Sand Binding Coffin!"

The sand surged like a tidal wave, closing in on Sasuke from all directions!

There was nowhere to run!

In the stands, the Uchiha section fell into a dead silence.

Clan Head Fugaku's hands tightened around the armrests.

Itachi's expression finally shifted... his brows furrowed slightly.

Shisui also put away his smile, his gaze turning grave.

Qingyu's heart leaped into his throat.

Is he going to lose? In the original story, Sasuke seemed to...

Wait, in the original story, Sasuke won this match... relying on Chidori and his wits.

But now...

On the field, Sasuke looked at the encroaching sand and suddenly smiled.

Was that... a smile of relief?

"So that's how it is." Sasuke said softly, "Your sand has a weakness."

Gaara's movements paused.

"Your sand defends automatically because your chakra is inside it." Sasuke continued, his Sharingan spinning wildly.

"But the chakra distribution is uneven; the sand on your back reacts 0.3 seconds slower than the front."

Gaara's pupils constricted.

"And," Sasuke formed seals with his hands again, this time with one hand!

His other hand pulled three special shuriken from his ninja tool pouch.

"Your sand fears lightning!"

He infused chakra into the shuriken and flung them out!

"Fire Style!"

The shuriken collided in mid-air, exploding into three balls of flame that slammed into the sand layer on Gaara's back!

At the same time, Sasuke's main body gathered Chidori once more, launching a frontal assault!

A dual attack!

Gaara's sand split instantly, part of it moving to block the flames, the rest to block the Chidori!

But it was that split second of distraction!

Sasuke's Shadow Clone had somehow circled behind Gaara, kunai in hand, stabbing toward the back of his neck!

"What?!" A gasp erupted from the stands!

Gaara whipped his head around, the sand rushing to defend, but it was half a beat too slow!

The kunai pierced the sand layer, stopping just an inch from his skin!

And the Chidori in front had also broken through the sand shield, thrusting straight for Gaara's chest!

Time seemed to stand still.

Everyone held their breath.

Then...

The sand suddenly went berserk!

It wasn't controlled by Gaara; it surged out autonomously and violently, blasting both Sasuke and his Shadow Clone away!

"Aaaah!"

An explosive shockwave swept across the arena, sand grains spraying like bullets.

Qingyu felt his eardrums ringing.

Gaara clutched his head, letting out a painful roar.

The gourd on his back began to crack; something was about to emerge...

"Not good!" In the stands, Kakashi stood up abruptly.

Several Anbu appeared instantly at the edge of the arena, forming seals to intervene.

But Clan Head Fugaku was faster!

He stood up directly:

"Sharingan: Genjutsu!"

An invisible mental shockwave rippled out!

Gaara's movements stalled, the madness in his eyes receding slightly.

At the same time, the Sunagakure jonin leader, Baki, rushed onto the field and pressed down on Gaara's shoulders: "Enough! Gaara! Stop!"

The sand slowly retracted into the gourd.

Gaara panted heavily, a glimmer of clarity returning to his eyes.

He looked toward the opposite side...

Sasuke Uchiha knelt on one knee, his body covered in wounds, yet he forced himself to remain upright.

The two stared at each other.

After a long silence, Gaara spoke in a hoarse voice: "You... won."

The referee froze for a few seconds before snapping back to reality and raising his hand:

"The winner... is Sasuke Uchiha!"

Dead silence.

Then, thunderous applause and cheers erupted throughout the arena!

Qingyu also let out a sigh of relief, slumping back into his seat.

That was close... he almost lost control.

But Sasuke really won... through wit and tactics.

"That brat," Izuna commented in his mind.

"Not bad. Although his strength is still far off, his mind turns fast."

"His tactical choices were sound," Tobirama acknowledged as well.

"Exploiting the weaknesses in his opponent's abilities to create an opening—this generation of the Uchiha still has hope."

Izuna laughed heartily: "He's cool as hell! This kid has a shadow of my younger self!"

Tobirama remained calm: "Don't be narcissistic. The tactics were good, but there was too much luck involved."

Qingyu gave a wry smile.

My two teachers, why do your compliments sound so awkward?

On the field, the Medical Corps rushed in to carry both of them away.

Sasuke was retrieved by his clansmen, while Gaara was taken away by the people from Sunagakure.

The match had ended, but the discussions in the stands grew even more heated.

"The Uchiha have produced another genius!"

"That two-tomoe Sharingan... his future is limitless."

"The Jinchuriki from Sunagakure is also ridiculously strong, just unstable..."

Qingyu listened to the chatter, but his mind was on something else.

Just now, when Gaara lost control, he vaguely felt... a momentary fluctuation from the two souls inside his head?

"You two just now..." he asked internally.

"...It was nothing." Izuna was uncharacteristically vague.

"We were just reminded of some past events," Tobirama also avoided the topic.

Qingyu knew better than to press further.

It seemed the topic of Jinchuriki had touched upon some sensitive memories.