Sunagakure suddenly came under attack. Gaara, who had recently become Kazekage, immediately moved to protect the village...
The two fought above Sunagakure. Gaara had to battle Deidara in the air while also protecting the village.
The other Sand Shinobi merely watched. Although they heightened their vigilance, it was little more than a show. They could not intervene at all.
Compared with the other villages, Sunagakure, which prided itself on training elites, looked rather unimpressive. When the Hokage fought an outside enemy, they could not even find a single person capable of helping.
Who knew whether they truly trusted Gaara or were simply too weak to be of any help?
There was no denying it: fighting inside their own village weakened a Kage's combat strength to the extreme...
After they had fought for a while, Gaara was caught by a surprise attack while protecting the village and suffered serious injuries. With the last of his strength, he moved the sand out of the village, then lost consciousness.
Although Gaara had cost Deidara an arm in the battle, Deidara's fighting strength had barely diminished. He escaped Sunagakure with almost no difficulty.
Some time after Gaara was captured, Sunagakure finally emerged from its panic and hurriedly sent a ninja hawk to Konoha!
In the early hours of the morning, Uchiha Shunichi wandered the streets of Konoha, looking for somewhere to have breakfast.
Unexpectedly, he ran into Shikamaru, who was receiving Temari. With the Chunin Ninja Exams coming up, Uchiha Shunichi had no choice but to discuss the arrangements with her.
The work had originally been scheduled for that afternoon, but now it had been brought forward. Uchiha Shunichi was rather displeased.
He was not Shikamaru. He had no need to know about all those trivial details.
"Why are you two asking me