The First and Final Warning

The air in the corridor seemed to freeze solid.

Kankuro was still smug over successfully provoking Konoha's ninja, but Temari behind him felt a chill run down her spine. She saw the change in Gaara.

Her younger brother, who was always expressionless, now had his eyes wide open, staring fixedly at the blond boy at the other end of the corridor. The Sand Armor covering his body was silently writhing, while the gourd on his back gave off a faint, ominous cracking sound.

This is bad... Temari's heart sank. Why did that idiot look at Gaara like that?!

She could feel an even more frenzied killing intent than ever before awakening from within Gaara.

"Gaara, calm down. The Chunin Ninja Exams haven't even started yet. Don't cause trouble for Father!" Temari spoke with a trembling voice, but she did not dare raise it too much. She was afraid Gaara's fury would be vented on her as well.

Gaara ignored everyone. He had only noticed Naruto's gaze, a pure, undisguised look of rejection and expulsion.

That feeling was more unbearable than any cold stares he had endured as a child. Back then, people saw him as a monster and feared him.

But this time, he was the one who felt afraid, as though... it were an instinctive reaction after being targeted by a natural predator.

"You hate me too..." Gaara lowered his head and muttered in a voice only he could hear.

"Mother... wants his blood..."

Boom!

The gourd on his back suddenly burst open. Endless yellow sand, like a gigantic beast breaking free of its cage, formed a ferocious giant hand and lunged at Naruto with a howling gust of wind.

"Get out of the way!" Sakura screamed, her face pale.

Sasuke's pupils contracted sharply, and his body tensed instinctively. The amount of chakra and malice within it far surpassed any opponent he had encountered before. He wanted to move, but under that overwhelming pressure, his body had gone somewhat stiff.

That dead last... he's doomed.

In the shadows, Kakashi's figure flashed as he prepared to intervene. That attack was lethal.

However, Naruto did not move.

He neither dodged nor retreated. Just as the giant hand of sand was about to touch his face, he flipped his right hand.

A sealing scroll appeared out of nowhere and instantly unfurled, only to turn into a cloud of Haku smoke the next moment.

Bzzzt—

A savage weapon filled with the brutal aesthetics of industrial violence appeared in his hand.

He did not form any hand seals. He merely pressed a Kurenai switch on the hilt with his thumb.

Bzzzt—bzzzzzz!

An unprecedented roar suddenly erupted through the narrow corridor. It was neither the sound of chakra flowing nor a jutsu being activated, but a purely mechanical howl that made souls tremble.

A chain covered in triangular Kiba fangs began spinning at high speed across the broad blade, leaving behind a blurred afterimage.

Every Genin nearby instinctively took a step back, their faces filled with horror.

What was that thing?

They instinctively assumed anything held by a ninja was a ninja tool, but the Chainsword's commotion far exceeded their understanding.

Candidates from the other villages broke out in cold sweat.

"Have Konoha's Genin already become this ridiculous?"

Naruto held the sword with both hands. Instead of retreating, he advanced.

Facing the wall of sand bearing down on him, he brought the sword down in an extremely simple strike.

The rapidly spinning teeth collided fiercely with Gaara's sand shield, known as the "Absolute Defense," in a pure clash of force against force.

Screeech—crack!

A piercing grinding sound, enough to make Kiba's teeth ache, rang through the entire floor.

The chakra-enhanced sand was torn apart and pulverized in sheets the instant it came into contact with the Chainsword, then violently flung away by the raging centrifugal force.

The sand shield could not close at Root. The form of its defense was destroyed the moment it made contact.

The Chainsword tore through it like rotten wood, ripping upward from the palm of the giant sand hand and carving open a huge gash.

Sand and dust exploded into the air.

Gaara looked up in astonishment. For the first time, his sand had been crushed head-on by such pure, brutal physical force.

A long-forgotten look of shock appeared on his face. The last time had been because of Yashamaru.

The sand continued to gather automatically, a protection bestowed by Gaara's mother, but it was dispersed by the Chainsword again and again.

After breaking through the sand shield, Naruto stepped forward.

His figure passed through the swirling sand and dust, appearing directly before Gaara in an instant.

The buzzing stopped abruptly.

The tip of the Chainsword, still spinning at high speed, stopped with absolute precision less than ten centimeters from the Kurenai "love" character on Gaara's forehead.

The chain still turned faintly from inertia, and the gust it produced even scraped a thin Haku mark across Gaara's skin.

Time froze at that moment.

Kankuro's mouth hung open. He even forgot to control the puppet behind him.

Temari covered her mouth, her body trembling uncontrollably with fear.

Sasuke's clenched fist slowly loosened. He looked at the savage weapon in Naruto's hand, then at the completely unharmed Gaara, and his worry faded.

"Nice one, Naruto. Don't you dare die so soon. I still need you as a stepping stone on my path to revenge."

Then the familiar feeling of helplessness Naruto brought washed over him again.

It was neither a fighting style he could understand nor power he could ever reach.

"Corrupted soul. Filthy vessel."

Naruto spoke.

His tone was icy, devoid of any human emotion, as if he were reading an irrefutable sentence of judgment.

"Your existence is an affront to order."

Gaara froze.

What he heard was not a threat or mockery, but a verdict.

Those words pierced straight into his heart and reached his spiritual world.

The chattering, unbearably noisy One-Tail Shukaku residing within him felt fear at that moment and instantly fell silent.

"I'm tired."

Naruto slowly withdrew the Chainsword.

"Before the final purification arrives, put away that pathetic, uncontrollable power of yours."

"This is the first and final warning."

He turned around and sealed the Chainsword, still dripping grains of sand, back into a scroll. His movements were as smooth as though he had done something utterly insignificant.

Then he passed Sasuke and Sakura and headed toward the examination classroom.

"Let's go. Don't waste time on meaningless things."

The entire corridor was deathly silent.

Everyone seemed to have been immobilized, staring blankly at Naruto's departing back.

Gaara remained where he was, completely still.

He raised a hand and lightly touched his forehead.

There was no wound there, yet it felt as though it had been torn open. The lingering sensation of dread would not fade.

"Gaara... are you... are you all right?"

Temari cautiously approached him.

Gaara did not answer. He merely slowly gathered the scattered sand back into his gourd.

His movements were slow and gentle, as though he feared disturbing something.

Kakashi emerged from the shadows on the ceiling. He did not look at Gaara, instead staring solemnly in the direction Naruto had disappeared.

He had been about to intervene, but Naruto's speed and method of resolving the situation had completely exceeded his expectations.

That weapon... those words...

"Kakashi-sensei."

Sasuke's voice was somewhat dry.

"What was that?"

Kakashi was silent for a moment before answering in his usual lazy tone, though this time there was a trace of gravity in it that even he did not notice.

"Who knows? Maybe it was some new... toy Naruto invented."

A toy? A toy that could tear through a jinchuriki's "Absolute Defense"?

He felt the distance between himself and Naruto growing wider and wider.