"Doesn't this count as Hayashi's victory yet?"
Naruto stared dubiously at the arena before him, which no longer looked like an arena.
"His opponent's already been beaten into the wall."
"Even a punching bag couldn't take a beating like that."
"Shut up, dead last."
Scarlet light began flickering incessantly in Sasuke Uchiha's pupils.
"Inside the wall, chakra filled with malice is spreading."
"What this guy's showing now is already beyond anything a genin could imagine."
In Sunagakure's seating area, Temari and Kankuro both went pale.
They knew that look all too well.
Gaara was about to start slaughtering again...
As the dust fell, earth and stone churned.
Inside the wall, one side of Gaara's face had turned entirely to sand, and a monstrous, inhuman presence began rising from him.
He violently shoved aside the rubble burying his body and shot out like an arrow loosed from a bow!
His right arm no longer resembled a human's. It had become an enormous Sand Hand, which swept down at Hayashi's head with a howling rush of wind!
"Hah... hah..."
He panted heavily, seemingly still struggling to maintain his last shred of sanity.
Yet the overwhelming malice all but swallowed him.
The sand claw tore through the air with a piercing whistle, ripping through the drifting smoke and dust, about to catch Hayashi.
Seeing this, Hayashi advanced instead of retreating, abruptly raising his blade to block the attack.
The blade and sand claw collided with a deafening, muffled crash!
The two forces clashed furiously between blade and claw, making even the air hum with the shock.
The next instant, both exerted their strength at once, shoving each other violently away-
A cloud of scarlet sand fragments burst in midair like a blooming red flower.
Using that force, Hayashi flipped backward and swiftly retreated.