In the arena, after delivering his menacing threat, Gaara immediately formed hand seals and attacked—
"Sand Binding Coffin..."
Gaara's sand rushed toward Hinata, but before it could reach her, it suddenly fell apart halfway there.
"Ugh! What are you doing?!"
Gaara stared at the sight in disbelief and roared in anger.
Hinata, who had already prepared to counterattack, froze for a moment, but soon realized he wasn't talking to her.
"What do you mean, I can't touch her? Haven't you been telling me to slaughter everyone?!"
"What else do you want from me? What else do you want me to do?!"
Hinata frowned as she watched Gaara behave like this.
Clearly, something seemed to be wrong with him.
But the battle had already begun, and Hinata had no reason to wait for her opponent to sort out his problems.
"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!"
It was the same Hyuga long-range technique Neji used. A vacuum wave shot from her palm toward Gaara!
Though they both used Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm, Hinata's version was hardly any weaker than Neji's.
But Gaara's response was completely different from Sasuke's. He stood still without dodging, not even sparing it a glance.
Thud!
The sand around him suddenly rose, blocking the invisible shock wave of Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm with a dull thud.
Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm was far from weak, yet the sand blocked it effortlessly before slowly falling to the ground, revealing Gaara, who was still muttering to himself.
The sand is defending him on its own...
Hinata activated her Byakugan and continued testing him with attacks.
But she could clearly see chakra surging through the sand covering the ground and his body, defending against her attacks as though it had a soul of its own.
"I get it. You've been trying to stop