Quicksand engulfed the forest, the Tailed Beast ran wild

Deep in the Forest of Death, thick mist churned endlessly, and hidden currents surged through the woods.

Team 7's rupture had settled. Sasuke's intent to defect had hardened, and his resolve had turned wholly to darkness, leaving Naruto and Sakura mired in confusion and heartache. But the vast forest of trials would never pause for anyone's choice.

Hundreds of Genin squads still darted through the woods and fought for the Heaven and Earth Scrolls. Killing, ambushes, and counterattacks played out at every moment.

Yet after the overwhelming suppression they had experienced in the Preliminary Exam, every prodigy fought with a stifling sense of restraint.

However fiercely they competed, however brutally they fought, they all knew-their victories and defeats were merely a farce of ants that no one cared about.

Except in one area.

Due north in the forest, in an open stretch of barren land.

Yellow sand filled the sky, and fierce winds howled.

The three Sunagakure siblings stood alone in a forest clearing. Every tree within a hundred meters had been snapped, crushed, and ground to dust.

Kankuro and Temari stood rigid, their faces deathly pale as they stared at the slender boy before them, overwhelming fear and helplessness surging within them.

Ever since entering the Forest of Death, Gaara had been unusually quiet.

There had been no bloodlust, no slaughter, no madness.

He had stood in silence the entire time, his hollow eyes fixed on the distant direction where Lin Chen had disappeared. The Tailed Beast's ferocity, which had ravaged his body for years, was held firmly down by an unprecedented awe.

For the first time, he had tasted absolute helplessness.

Wrapped in fear since childhood and despised by the world, he had killed to affirm his existence and used blood to soothe his heart. Shukaku's brutality was his only support, and endless quicksand his only armor.

He had believed that slaughter was power, that destruction was truth.

But the sight of Lin Chen subduing everyone with a thought, crushing the entire area beneath his rules, had utterly shattered everything Gaara had believed throughout his life.

The Tailed Beast power he had taken such pride in, the lethal quicksand capable of slaughtering a village, did not even have the right to stir before someone truly powerful.

That bone-deep awe had not calmed him. Instead, it had bred an even more terrifying, twisted collapse.

If power was useless.

If slaughter was useless.

Then what did all his madness, loneliness, and bloodlust from childhood to now-his whole life of being feared by everyone-amount to?

Absurd! Laughable! Pathetic!

Extreme repression had finally brewed an extreme eruption.

Rustle-

Fine grains of sand began to tremble wildly.

The protective sand that had clung obediently around Gaara suddenly blackened, swelled, and seethed!

Dense crimson Chakra gushed wildly from his body, spilling through his meridians and flesh before turning into towering waves of baleful energy that swept in every direction!

"This is bad! He's losing control!"

Kankuro's pupils contracted sharply. He screamed and hastily sent his puppet forward to stop him. "Suppress the Tailed Beast Chakra! Temari! Hurry, use Wind Release to scatter that baleful energy!"

Temari formed Hand Seals with both hands. Frenzied Wind Release erupted instantly, its biting gales sweeping through the yellow sand as she tried to force down Gaara's rampaging aura.

But it was already too late.

The Tailed Beast's malice accumulated over years, the long-repressed madness, and the despair of his collapsing sense of self broke their shackles completely at that moment!

"ROOOAAAR!!!"

A savage, frenzied Tailed Beast roar resounded throughout the Forest of Death!

Partial Tailed Beast Transformation! Fully unleashed!

Crimson Chakra shot into the sky like a volcanic eruption, forming a blood-red sandstorm dozens of meters high that shrouded the world. The phantom of One-Tailed Shukaku flickered within the wind and sand, hideous, brutal, and destroying everything!

Pitch-black quicksand swept across the sky, devouring vegetation, crushing rocks, and tearing the earth apart!

The entire northern forest instantly became hell on earth!

"I... what am I..."

Gaara's eyes were scarlet, their whites entirely stained with blood-red. Eerie markings of Tailed Beast Transformation emerged across his face. His voice was hoarse and broken, filled with maddened bewilderment. "If killing is wrong... if power means nothing... then what... am I even living for!"

No one could answer.

His long solitude had already taken root in his bones. Now, as his beliefs collapsed, his inner demons surged completely out of control and tore apart his last shred of reason.

The uncontrolled Tailed Beast power ravaged everything, making no distinction between friend and foe.

Kankuro's puppet was instantly torn apart by quicksand and crushed into scrap metal; Temari's Wind Release was swallowed outright by the blood-red sandstorm, its gales dispersing and her Chakra falling to zero.

The two were forced to retreat again and again, drenched in cold sweat, with nothing but utter despair left in their hearts.

This was a completely uncontrolled Tailed Beast rampage, a destructive onslaught powerful enough to destroy the entire Forest of Death!

The earth-shaking commotion in the northern forest instantly set the whole area ablaze.

Countless Genin squads, previously scattered and fighting their own battles, were all alarmed.

Blood-red wind and sand blotted out the daylight. A terrifying pressure swept through a thousand miles of forest, and the Tailed Beast's uniquely violent Chakra crushed everything, leaving every Genin stiff and trembling to their core.

"It's Gaara from Sunagakure! His Tailed Beast has gone out of control!"

"He's mad! He's completely mad! This is real Tailed Beast power!"

"Run! If that quicksand touches you, there won't even be bones left!"

The prodigies from the various villages, who had been holding themselves back and avoiding confrontation, instantly fell into utter panic.

The elite Genin from Kumogakure, Kirigakure, and Iwagakure could no longer hold themselves together.

In the face of life and death, every concern, every restraint, and every rule became meaningless!

Some fled in panic, some were forced to fight back, some seized the chance to ambush their enemies, and some banded together to withstand the sandstorm.

The restrained, suppressed battle of the second exam instantly collapsed into complete chaos!

Ninjutsu thundered, explosions rose one after another, ninja weapons crossed, and shock waves surged.

Chaos engulfed the field! All sides fought in a sprawling melee!

No one cared about rankings anymore. No one cared about winning or losing. No one cared about their villages' prohibitions.

Everyone fought desperately for nothing but survival!

Lightning Release tore through the thick mist, Water Release clashed with the sandstorm, Earth Release raised barriers, and Wind Release churned the smoke.

The entire Forest of Death had become an enormous killing field of carnage!

In the middle stretch of the forest, where Team 7 stood.

Yellow sand pierced the thick mist and swept toward them. The distant, earth-shaking sounds of battle and Tailed Beast roars rang in their ears.

Naruto's pupils contracted sharply, his face filled with shock. "What terrifying Chakra! It's that monster from Sunagakure! He's gone berserk!"

Sakura turned deathly pale, clenching her hands tightly. As she sensed that destructive, rampaging aura, a chill sank into her bones.

Only Sasuke Uchiha remained standing indifferently, utterly unruffled.

He raised his eyes toward the blood-red sandstorm filling the northern sky. His scarlet Sharingan turned slightly. There was not a trace of fear in his eyes, only cold indifference and disdain.

A rampaging Tailed Beast? Everyone thrown into chaos?

It was still ants fighting one another, still a farce inside a cage.

Gaara's collapse, the fighting among all the prodigies, and the turmoil throughout the forest were cheap and laughable in his eyes.

"The weak can only be consumed by their own power."

Sasuke murmured, his tone bone-chilling.

Watching the crazed, uncontrolled Gaara was like seeing his former self-weak, lost, and swept along by fate.

But he had long since broken free of that confusion.

He no longer craved the power of the Shinobi World, no longer relied on the gifts of his bloodline, and no longer remained trapped in conventional contests of strength.

Tailed Beasts were powerful?

Before the heavenly rules, they were still beneath mention.

His state of mind had long since risen above this chaos. He watched this ultimate farce of the Shinobi World's new generation with cold eyes.

Deep in the shadows, Orochimaru concealed himself. As he watched the sandstorm filling the sky and the chaotic battle, his serpentine pupils brightened slightly, and a sinister smile curled his lips.

"Perfect chaos."

"A Tailed Beast out of control, everyone fighting, Konoha's attention completely tied down..."

"What a heaven-sent opportunity."

Amid such chaos, Konoha's ANBU would inevitably rush in full force to the northern forest to suppress the turmoil and rescue the examinees.

The surveillance, barriers, and defenses across the entire Forest of Death would be left with an enormous gap.

This was the ideal window for him to fully bring Sasuke over, sever his last bond, and take away this blade of darkness.

Above the clouds, Zetsu's phantom drifted gently, his voice carrying an amused smile. "The chain reaction has begun... Lord Pain, the Shinobi World's chessboard has fallen into complete chaos."

"Internal strife in Konoha is imminent, the Uchiha's defection is imminent, the turmoil of an uncontrolled Tailed Beast is imminent... our opportunity has arrived."

In the deepest reaches of the forest, in a dark place no one could reach.

Lin Chen stood still, his white clothes untouched by even a speck of sand or dust.

The turmoil filling the sky, the Tailed Beast's roars, the fighting, the upheaval of heaven and earth-every earth-shaking disturbance silently vanished upon reaching within three feet of him.

The violent sandstorm veered around him on its own, the shock waves of exploding Ninjutsu dispersed by themselves, and the raging baleful energy of the Tailed Beast bowed into silence.

He raised his eyes slightly, his indifferent gaze piercing the layers of thick mist and yellow sand to take in all the chaos.

The uncontrolled Gaara, the panicking combatants, the scheming Orochimaru, the lurking Akatsuki, Sasuke with his unyielding obsession...

Everyone struggled and maneuvered within the chaos, seeking their own way out.

Laughable and pathetic.

"The farce keeps escalating."

Lin Chen whispered, his tone neither pleased nor sorrowful.

Since no one could stop this chaos.

Then he would.

With one thought, quell all turmoil.