Amid the crowd's cheers, Sasuke stepped into the arena, dressed in white with a long sword at his waist.
Across from him, Gaara entered the arena with a gourd on his back.
Gaara stared at Sasuke, so excited that his body trembled uncontrollably.
"Sasuke Uchiha, you're strong, but I'm stronger. Only the blood of the strong deserves to stain my hands."
Sasuke said nothing. He merely watched Gaara.
"Both contestants, get ready."
Holding his whistle, Gekko Hayate raised his left hand.
"Begin!"
The whistle sounded, and Gaara eagerly sent his sand surging toward Sasuke.
Facing the massive hand formed from yellow sand, Sasuke raised his sword and slashed.
Whoosh!
The blade flashed. In an instant, the massive sand hand shattered and fell into a heap of ordinary sand.
"A tailed beast's jinchūriki? You might be able to bully idiots like Rock Lee, but against these eyes, you have no chance."
Shing!
Sasuke's eyes turned blood-red, three tomoe circling within each crimson iris.
"The Sharingan? Then let me see whether your Uchiha Clan is as powerful as the rumors in the shinobi world claim!"
Gaara launched another attack with his sand.
At the same time, the Sound Ninja successfully activated their large-scale hypnotic ninjutsu.
The spectators suddenly felt drowsiness wash over them, as though feathers were slowly drifting down through the air.
Has it started? What a spectacle. Just what I'd expect from Orochimaru-he really spared no expense.
Tetsuya marveled inwardly.
Orochimaru really had gone to great lengths to give his teacher a dignified death.
But someone soon noticed something was wrong.
"Kakashi, this is genjutsu!"
"Yeah, it is."
Kakashi nodded languidly.
"Oh no, the Hokage!"
Might Guy's first reaction was that someone was attacking Konoha, and he immediately moved to protect the Hokage.
"Wait, Guy!"
Kakashi grabbed Might Guy.
"The