Sparring

The two of them put some distance between themselves and faced off. They were like taut strings, poised to strike.

There seemed to be several different chakra signatures nearby. Hui knew that more people were watching now, though she didn't know whether they were too afraid of Gaara to make a move.

"We agreed this was just a spar, so go easy on me!" Hui called out. In truth, she was speaking to the people around them.

Gaara nodded and didn't make the first move either. Hui gave a soft laugh and attacked first.

As expected, the sand easily blocked her. Hui changed her point of attack, but the sand still stopped her. No matter how much she picked up the pace, the sand around Gaara effortlessly protected him.

Excitement rose in Hui's eyes. Gaara's strength was beyond that of a Genin, wasn't it? And he wasn't even six yet.

Gaara's eyes followed Hui, and he caught sight of the smile at the corner of her mouth. She really wasn't afraid at all. But he'd been defending this whole time. It was about time he struck back.

Hui Youling saw the sand suddenly reach for her. Fortunately, she sensed a change in the flow of Gaara's chakra and had already leaped away, dodging his attack.

The sand kept pursuing her, shifting its course again and again as it swept toward Hui Youling. It attacked at Gaara's will, almost as if it were part of him.

The sand was certainly fast, and it could change direction at will. But Hui could sense the flow of chakra and predict where it would go, so Gaara's sand never managed to touch her.

Hui darted around the field, leaping to evade wave after wave of Gaara's sand. Her body moved as lightly as the wind, twisting and flipping through the air with incredible agility. The smile at the corner of her mouth slowly widened until she was on the verge of laughing aloud.

She sprang lightly onto the sand Gaara had sent after her. Gaara narrowed his eyes and clenched his hand. All the sand rushed toward Hui Youling. She formed Hand Seals in a flash, but in the blink of an eye, the sand had wrapped around her. The next second, it burst into a cloud of smoke and turned into a log.

Gaara was startled. No one had ever reacted so quickly before. The moment they saw the sand coming for them, all they could do was tremble in fear.

But Gaara had barely had time to be surprised before he realized Hui had appeared behind him. The sand automatically defended him, blocking her attack. He turned with a frown and saw the smile at the corner of Hui's mouth. In a lightly lilting voice, she said softly, "You really are fast. But at this level, you still can't catch me, Gaara."

Confusion flickered in Gaara's eyes. Hui Youling was so different from how she usually was. Even her smile seemed unhinged, and he'd never seen such fierce determination in her eyes. She was almost aggressive. The gentle girl he knew was nowhere to be seen.

Seeing Gaara distracted, Hui dropped low and kicked at his shin. The sand intercepted her even faster. Gaara came back to himself and hurriedly sent the sand at Hui Youling. Hui dodged with several backflips.

For a while, the two of them were at a stalemate, neither able to land a hit. But Hui only grew happier as they fought. "Haha, I had no idea you were this strong, Gaara!"

Hui Youling could have fought Gaara without using Taijutsu, but showing too much strength now might make the watchers suspicious. She didn't want to cause trouble this early. If someone stopped them, she really wouldn't be happy.

Still, the fact that she could avoid being hurt by Gaara had already left the watchers staring in shock. Even a Chunin might not be able to do that. They watched as though two monsters were fighting. Hui Youling's expression was so unhinged, like a lunatic...

In truth, things had reached this point because Gaara was holding back so he wouldn't hurt Hui, while Hui Youling was being cautious and not using her full strength. The watchers never would have guessed.

After fighting for a long time, Hui Youling had sparked Gaara's fighting spirit too. His eyes shone with delight as he looked at Hui. A voice in his heart told him, This is someone like me. This was what a real fight should be like—exhilarating and full of surprises. The gloom in his heart seemed to have vanished. This time, he wasn't fighting to kill.

Gaara didn't intend to keep the stalemate going, so he stopped holding back. He slowly raised both hands and fixed his gaze on Hui Youling. A relieved smile lifted the corners of his mouth.

The next moment, Hui Youling felt chakra flowing beneath her feet in widening circles, like a whirlpool sweeping across the entire field. Gaara had actually infused the ground with that much chakra. Startled, she hurriedly leaped away.

At that instant, a wall of sand rose around the field, three times the height of an adult. Hui Youling was in midair. The surroundings darkened, and when she looked around, she realized she was surrounded. As the sand rose, it sealed off every escape route.

On the other side, the watching shinobi stared at everything in terror. Their pupils trembled with fear, and their breathing stopped. Their lips had turned pale and purplish. Their whole bodies rigid, they stared toward the field. The next moment, a massive amount of sand surged toward Hui Youling, about to form a real fortress.

One of the watchers tumbled from behind the rock he'd been hiding behind and hit the ground with a loud crash. But the noise was completely drowned out by the battle on the other side. His chest heaved as he panted heavily. The veins in his forehead throbbed, and cold sweat kept pouring down his face. A voice in his heart screamed, Run!

Hui narrowed her eyes slightly as she noticed the sand closing in around her. It looked like it was going to trap her completely. She wasn't confident she could break through a fortress of sand. If she kept hiding her strength, she was sure to be caught. But how could she let the fight end so abruptly when Gaara was finally taking it seriously?

Hui's lips curled into a faint smile as she rapidly formed Hand Seals. This time, she was faster than ever. "Wind Release: Gale Dash!"

A whirlwind quickly gathered around Hui's feet. A gust blew up beneath her, propelling Hui Youling high into the air. The sand continued closing in around her. Hui sensed the speed of Gaara's chakra and increased her own chakra output, trying to leap beyond the ring of sand before it closed around her.

She thought she could get away, but another surge of chakra burst out behind her. Hui turned and saw another wall of sand rise up and roll toward her, swallowing everything in its path like a wave. Hui knew she couldn't escape, and quickly formed Hand Seals.

Before long, the sand had wrapped around her whole body and held her suspended in midair. More sand kept piling over her. Hui tried to move, but she really couldn't break free.

She hadn't expected Gaara to have such a vast amount of chakra, or to be able to control it so effortlessly. He was already using one ninjutsu, yet he could still direct his chakra to attack her at the same time. This was far beyond simply doing two things at once.

Hui activated the Mind's Eye of the Kagura and watched Gaara. His chakra suddenly became chaotic. His face remained expressionless, and he continued gazing in her direction, but Hui knew that beneath his eyes lay the thrill of slaughter.

Hui Youling hung in midair, wrapped in sand. Sand still drifted through the air, refusing to fall. A pillar of sand held her aloft, and loose grains kept sliding down. Her body was encased, with only her head left exposed.

The two of them gazed at each other from afar without moving. Hui sensed that the chakra signatures around them had grown chaotic too. The watchers seemed to be trembling with fear.

The watchers stared at Gaara in terror. Their expressions were hidden behind their masks, but their bodies had begun to tremble. Something seemed to be trickling down their necks. They knew Hui Youling might be killed, but seeing this with their own eyes still filled them with uncontrollable fear. The same thought kept surfacing in their minds: Gaara is a monster!