After a brief silence, the spectators recovered and went over what had just been said.
Most of their expressions changed, but even some of those who had been watching calmly looked surprised and cried out instinctively.
"Forfeit?"
The voices reached them from all around, and Baki's mouth twitched.
Could he voice his concerns? Apparently not.
He was also afraid
that something unexpected might happen.
If they really failed to suppress the One-Tail and let it escape, wouldn't that spell the end for their Sand Village?
Beside him, Gaara closed his eyes again. His earlier readiness to enter the arena was gone. Clearly, he had chosen to listen to Baki.
As for why he had calmed down, perhaps the first thing to rule out was the frantic pleading from Temari and Kankuro earlier.
For Gaara, who longed for familial affection, it was still somewhat difficult to bring himself to act.
In the end, all he could do was close his eyes and avoid looking at Sasuke Uchiha, who wore an equally stunned expression in the arena.
Sasuke Uchiha was dumbfounded. He had already come down, only to be told they weren't fighting. Couldn't they have said so earlier?
They had made him come all this way for nothing.
Gaara had also closed his eyes to avoid seeing the other boy's expression. He certainly didn't believe he would lose to that Uchiha brat down below.
He was only considering the bigger picture, and his family.
Baki didn't respond to anyone else's questions. Instead, he stared at Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Hokage.
His lack of objection or further explanation proved that they hadn't misheard. He really was forfeiting.
Everyone was shocked.
"He's just forfeiting? Another forfeit?"
"They're not going to fight at all?"
In the spectator stands, where the twelve young ninja were gathered,