Rewriting history, triggering the butterfly effect

Konoha Village's Team 8 consisted of Hinata, Shino, and Kiba Inuzuka. At the moment, the three were huddled together as if plotting something.

"Akamaru was frightened stiff." After Kiba Inuzuka spoke, a small white-furred puppy crawled into his clothes, trembling as it hid against his chest.

"Why was Akamaru so scared?" Hinata asked doubtfully.

"Akamaru can smell an enemy's chakra and distinguish how strong they are. This was the first time even I'd seen Akamaru scared like this." Kiba Inuzuka did his best to soothe the puppy named Akamaru.

"It looked like the two groups ahead were anything but ordinary." Though Kiba Inuzuka said that, he actually wanted to see who possessed such power.

So Hinata, Shino, and Kiba Inuzuka quietly crept closer, poking three little heads out from the grass.

Akamaru's entire body trembled more and more violently.

Hinata was shocked at that moment, because she spotted someone Naruto had mentioned before—Gaara of the Sand Village.

"Carrying a gourd, with red hair and the character for 'love' carved into his forehead... that person is the Gaara Naruto mentioned." Hinata muttered softly, "We should leave quickly."

"What are you afraid of? Let's watch first." Kiba Inuzuka said, "We're well hidden. They won't notice us."

Not far ahead, Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro of the Sand Village faced off against Genin from the Hidden Waterfall Village.

"These past few days have really been unlucky." Kankuro said, "We've run into three groups, and every one of them had Earth Scrolls. We haven't found a single Heaven Scroll."

Gaara had a violent temperament and was the first to attack. "Sand Coffin!" After forming hand seals, he thrust out his right hand, and one of the Hidden Waterfall Village's Genin was instantly wrapped in sand.

It happened so quickly that everyone present was terrified. Gaara took several steps forward and uttered, "Sand Burial!" The seemingly soft grains of sand continuously contracted and crushed the Hidden Waterfall Village Genin into a pile of bloody pulp.

Hinata, Shino, and Kiba Inuzuka stared wide-eyed in horror. They knew they had encountered a truly ruthless opponent today.

Gaara attacked again and again, easily killing all three Hidden Waterfall Village Genin. Every one of them was crushed into bloody pulp by sand, their deaths utterly gruesome.

Kankuro walked over to the blood-soaked pile of sand and dug out a scroll. Disappointed, he said, "Another Earth Scroll. This is already the fourth Earth Scroll we've found. If we can't find a Heaven Scroll, we'll lose our qualification for the Chunin Ninja Exams."

"It's fine." Gaara said coldly. "There are still people hiding nearby."

Temari shook her head, then called out loudly, "Whoever is hiding nearby, hand over the scrolls in your possession, and I'll let you leave."

Gaara said unhappily, "No! Anyone who meets me has to die! I won't spare a single one!"

Elsewhere, Naruto was tracking Kabuto Yakushi when he discovered that Kabuto had stopped ahead. Naruto had no choice but to circle around and watch Kabuto from a distance.

It was then that Naruto noticed Hinata's figure and discovered that Gaara was here as well.

How could this be?! Three days had already passed in this round of the exam. With Gaara's strength, he should have reached the tower long ago. Why was Gaara still dawdling here?

This made no sense. Gaara should have gathered both the Heaven Scroll and Earth Scroll on the first day and passed the second round in record time. Why had something unexpected happened... Why was Gaara still lingering here...

Had I rewritten history and triggered the butterfly effect? Was there some unexpected change that even I hadn't noticed?!

What?! Gaara had some nerve! He actually dared to attack Hinata! Naruto could no longer endure it. He stopped hiding and leaped out, firing several kunai through the air.

Naruto's timing was perfect. Gaara had already knocked Hinata down and was about to deliver the killing blow when Naruto's thrown kunai arrived.

A wall of sand suddenly rose up, blocking the kunai and protecting Gaara.

"Someone else came!" Gaara glanced to the side and saw Naruto descending from the sky, immediately recognizing him.

Gaara recognized Naruto. Not long after the three of them had entered Konoha Village, they had clashed with Naruto. Naruto had even intimidated him, forcing them to leave in disgrace.

"It's you!" Gaara was instantly delighted. Forming hand seals, he prepared to use a killing move on Naruto.

"Naruto! Be careful!" Hinata warned from where she lay on the ground.

"Shadow Clone Technique!" Naruto created more than a dozen shadow clones in one breath, immediately throwing off Gaara's judgment.

Gaara's Sand Coffin was extremely powerful. It could control sand to tightly wrap around an opponent and restrain them. Once bound by the sand, they could only await slaughter.

However, the amount of sand Gaara could control was limited. Sand Coffin could only restrain one person at a time. Faced with Naruto's dozen-plus shadow clones, Gaara could not determine which was Naruto's real body.

"Which one is the real body?" Gaara looked from one to another, unable to spot any difference among the shadow clones.

Unable to attack, Gaara was forced into defense. Naruto's dozen-plus shadow clones threw shuriken at the same time, attacking from multiple directions.

Naruto's attacks could not hurt Gaara. Sand surrounded him completely, forming a Sand Fortress around his body and blocking every shuriken.

A gap opened in the Sand Fortress. Through it, there was only darkness at first, before Gaara's world-weary face slowly emerged.

Gaara grew even more irritable. Hiding inside the Sand Fortress, he controlled the sand into a long spear and pierced Naruto's shadow clones one after another.

"Hinata, are you okay?" Naruto ran to Hinata's side, picked her up, and asked, "You weren't hurt, were you?"

"I... I'm fine..." Hinata answered with a red face. She had only just exchanged blows with Gaara and could not even last a single round. Fortunately, Naruto had arrived in time.

Gaara was dumbfounded. Weren't they fighting? Why had Naruto run over to Hinata? He had finally destroyed all of Naruto's shadow clones, but Naruto's real body was not even there.

Gaara felt slighted and roared, "Temari, Kankuro, kill them all!"

At that moment, Temari was fighting Shino, while Kankuro was fighting Kiba Inuzuka. They had only exchanged a few moves, so no victor had been decided, but both found their opponent difficult to handle.

Kankuro snapped, "Tch, you say kill them and we kill them? They'd have to be willing to stand there and let us kill them first."

Shino and Kiba Inuzuka quickly broke away from their fights and gathered beside Naruto, protecting Hinata together with him.

Naruto immediately cursed angrily, "Shino! Kiba Inuzuka! What were you doing?! You two picked the weaker opponents to fight, then left Hinata to deal with that terrifying guy!"

Shino said innocently, "The fight broke out too quickly, almost in an instant. At the time, we didn't have time to assign opponents according to strength."

Kiba Inuzuka said, "Naruto, a weakling like you actually dared to get involved. Looks like I underestimated you before."

"What did you say?" Naruto said angrily. "Believe it or not, I'll leave without saving you."

"Naruto..." Hinata hurriedly tried to calm him. "Do you have a way to get us out of here?"

"Of course." The moment Naruto heard Hinata's voice, his anger vanished. He glanced at the Earth Scroll that had been thrown onto the ground.

"None of you will escape." Gaara stepped closer, one step at a time. "You all have to die!"