The First and Final Warning

The air in the corridor seemed to freeze.

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

Her younger brother, who was usually expressionless, now had his eyes wide open as he stared fixedly at the blond boy at the other end of the corridor. The Sand Armor over his body writhed soundlessly, while the gourd on his back gave off a faint, ominous cracking sound.

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

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

"Gaara, calm down. The Chunin Ninja Exams haven't even started yet. Don't cause trouble for Father!" Temari said shakily, but she did not dare raise her voice too much. She was afraid Gaara might vent his fury on her instead.

Gaara ignored everyone. He noticed only Naruto's gaze—a pure, undisguised rejection, a desire to drive him away.

That feeling hurt more than any cold stare he had suffered as a child. Back then, people had feared and dreaded him because they saw him as a monster.

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

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

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

Boom!

The gourd on his back suddenly burst open. Boundless yellow sand surged forth like a giant beast breaking free from its cage, transforming into a vicious enormous hand that clawed 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 instinctively tensed. The amount of chakra and malice within it far surpassed anything he had encountered from previous opponents. He wanted to move, but under that immense pressure, his body had gone somewhat stiff.

That dead last... he was finished.

In the shadows, Kakashi flashed forward, ready to intervene. That attack was lethal.

Yet Naruto did not move.

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

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

Bzzzz—

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

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

Bzzzz—bzzzzzzzz!

An unheard-of roar suddenly exploded through the narrow corridor. It was neither the sound of chakra flowing nor a ninjutsu activating, but a purely mechanical howl that made souls tremble.

A chain covered in triangular fangs began spinning at high speed along 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 that anything held by a ninja was a ninja tool, but the Chainsword's commotion was far beyond their understanding.

The examinees from the other ninja villages broke out in cold sweats.

"Have Konoha's Genin already become this absurdly competitive?"

Naruto gripped the sword with both hands and advanced instead of retreating.

Facing the oppressive wall of sand, he brought the blade down in an utterly simple strike.

The rapidly spinning saw teeth collided head-on with Gaara's sand shield, known as Absolute Defense. It was pure force against force.

Screech—crack!

A grinding shriek so piercing that it made teeth ache rang through the entire floor.

The chakra-reinforced sand was torn apart and pulverized in sheets the instant it touched the Chainsword, then violently flung away by its raging centrifugal force.

The sand shield could not close at all. Its defensive form was destroyed the instant it made contact.

The Chainsword cut through everything in its path, ripping upward from the palm of the giant sand hand and tearing open a massive gash.

Sand and dust burst into the air.

Gaara looked up in stunned disbelief. For the first time, his sand had been defeated head-on by such raw, savage 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, protection that came from 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 dust and appeared before Gaara in an instant.

The buzzing stopped abruptly.

The tip of the still rapidly spinning Chainsword stopped with absolute precision less than ten centimeters from the blood-red "love" character on Gaara's forehead.

The chain continued to rotate slightly from inertia, and the wind it whipped up even left a faint white mark on Gaara's skin.

Time seemed to stop at that moment.

Kankuro's mouth hung open, and 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 vicious weapon in Naruto's hand, then at the completely unharmed Gaara, and his worry faded.

"Not bad, Naruto. You'd better not die so soon. I still need you as a stepping stone on my path to revenge."

Then the familiar sense of helplessness Naruto brought surged over him again.

That was not a way of fighting he could understand, nor was it power he could ever reach.

"Corrupted soul. Defiled vessel."

Naruto spoke.

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

"Your existence is a blasphemy against Order."

Gaara froze.

What he heard was not a threat, nor mockery, but a verdict.

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

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

"I am tired."

Naruto slowly withdrew the Chainsword.

"Before the final Purification arrives, put away that pitiful, uncontrollable power of yours."

"This is the first and final warning."

He turned around and transformed the Chainsword, still dripping grains of sand, back into a sealed scroll. His movements were so fluid that it seemed as if he had done something utterly insignificant.

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

"Come on. Don't waste time on meaningless things."

The entire corridor fell deathly silent.

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

Gaara remained where he was, motionless.

He raised a hand and gently touched his forehead.

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

"Gaara... a-are you okay?"

Temari cautiously moved closer.

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

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

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

He had just been about to intervene, but the speed and manner in which Naruto resolved the situation had completely exceeded his expectations.

That weapon... those words...

"Kakashi-sensei."

Sasuke's voice was somewhat hoarse.

"What was that?"

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

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

A toy? A toy capable of tearing through a Jinchūriki's Absolute Defense?

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