Boom…
With a loud explosion, Gaara flew backwards and only stopped when his body hit the high wall of the arena.
The powerful impact caused the wall behind Gaara to crack.
Gaara, who had never been injured before, had a big gash on his forehead, and the blood dyed his entire vision red.
Drip…
Drip…
Gaara stared in horror at his open palms, watching the blood drip down. The Biju's Chakra inside his body instantly spiraled out of control.
"I'll kill you!"
"I'LL KILL YOU!!"
As the Biju's Chakra erupted, Gaara's wounds healed in an instant.
However, half of his face had transformed into that of a tanuki.
"Huh??"
"A tanuki?"
Sasuke did not seem too surprised when faced with the enemy, who suddenly turned into a tanuki.
Even if Gaara had turned into a purple lion on the spot, Sasuke wouldn't have batted an eye.
He raised his Heavy Xuan Ruler and pointed at the half-transformed Gaara, then said coldly, "Let me see your full strength."
"Because under my Heavy Xuan Ruler..."
"All your efforts are futile."
During their previous clash, Sasuke had relied on the Heavy Xuan Ruler to restore his Chakra.
His current condition was even better than before the battle began.
'Just a mere tanuki...'
Just as Sasuke was thinking this, he saw the other party appeared right in front of him.
'So fast!!'
Fortunately, with the Sharingan, Sasuke spotted the movement just in time and ducked to evade Gaara's strike.
Whoosh…
Gaara, who half-transformed into a Biju, missed with his first strike, then immediately launched a Wind Release Ninjutsu straight at Sasuke's abdomen.
"Hmph!"
Sasuke leaped away just in time and held the Heavy Xuan Ruler in front of him for defense.
Even so, the powerful Wind Release Ninjutsu blasted him back, just like Gaara had been earlier.
The only difference was, Sasuke wasn't hurt at all.
"Hmph!"
"Nothing more than that!"
Sasuke slowly stood up from the ground, brushed off the dust on his body, with even more disdain on his face.
He was extremely confident in both his own strength and the Heavy Xuan Ruler's ability to restore Chakra.
Naruto, who is watching from the stands, covered his face.
He couldn't bear to watch Sasuke get beaten up.
He was just knocked away by Gaara just now because he was careless and underestimated his enemy.
Although according to his current strength, Sasuke is still unable to defeat the berserked Gaara.
But if Sasuke played it right using the Heavy Xuan Ruler and Sharingan combo, it is not difficult to fight Gaara to a draw.
No matter how weak Sasuke is, he can still rely on the Life Steal enchantment to avoid being killed by the enemy.
But look at this Sasuke trying to act all cool...
He's running his mouth with lines like 'futile' and 'mere tanuki'…
If that didn't get him smacked down, Naruto would've been surprised.
In the arena, Gaara and Sasuke were clashing back and forth, but at this time, Gaara had already entered his third phase.
He was fully transforming into Shukaku, and the sand on his body is flowing in the arena like water.
Sasuke, who had just been able to tie with Gaara, gradually fell into a disadvantage.
Uzumaki Naruko, who was commentating the match live in the sky, shouted into the microphone.
"Sasuke is charging in again!"
"Sasuke got launched again by Gaara!"
"Sasuke is charging in again!"
"Naruko, shut up already!!"
…
Who knows if Sasuke was just bad or if Naruko's commentary was painfully amateur.
Either way, the narration kept repeating itself. Naruto really wanted to complain, but the audience around him enjoyed listening to it.
Seeing that the time was ripe, Orochimaru, who was in disguise, waved his hand and threw the Kazekage's Hat on his head towards Hiruzen.
"You…"
"Orochimaru!!!"
"What are you doing!?"
Although Hiruzen was old, his reflexes were as good as that of a young man. He twisted his body to dodge the object thrown by Orochimaru.
He stared at his former student, and his old face is full of complexity.
At the same time, explosions were heard in every corner of Konoha Village.
"Hokage-sama!"
"Protect Hokage-sama!"
"Don't come up here!"
"He's not someone you can handle. Leave Orochimaru to me."
"Inform everyone else to head into the village and protect the civilians."
Hiruzen raised his hand to stop the Shinobi who were about to rush in.
In the past, he'd hesitated to kill Orochimaru because of the lingering bond between master and student.
But now that Orochimaru had returned to Konoha to wreak havoc...
He had to end this with his own hands, in order to make up for the mistake he made long ago.
Hiruzen then took off the Hokage Robe. When Orochimaru saw him take a combat stance, he turned around and ran towards the roof.
At the same time, the Sunagakure's Shinobi under Orochimaru moved to the corners of the rooftop and began forming a barrier. The purple barrier quickly enclosed the area, sealing in both Orochimaru and Hiruzen.
"Naruto, take Hinata and Hanabi back."
"This battle isn't one you can be part of."
Hiashi came in front of Naruto and gestured for him to open a portal and take everyone to evacuate.
Naruto glanced at Sasuke, who was still getting beaten up, then looked at his future father-in-law and pretended to nod.
While Hiashi was not paying attention, Naruto raised his hand and tossed a portal behind him, then kicked him into the portal.
Then, he turned to Hinata and Sakura and said, "Hinata, take Hanabi and go back first."
"Sakura, you go too."
He tossed a few portals around them.
Sakura glanced at Sasuke and realized that she couldn't help much if she stayed here, so it would be better for her to go to the hospital and treat the wounded.
Hinata hugged Hanabi tightly, looking hesitant. She reached out and tugged at Naruto's sleeve.
"Naruto-kun… "
"Be careful."
Naruto pinched Hinata's cheek.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine."
With that reassurance, Hinata finally stepped into the portal.
After making sure they were gone, Naruto didn't immediately jump in to save Sasuke. Instead, he opened more portals for Shikamaru and the others, and send them back safely.
Kakashi and other Jonin were dealing with the small fries brought by Orochimaru.
Guy looked at the barrier from a distance and wanted to rush in, but he was stopped by Kakashi.
"Guy, Sandaime-sama is more than capable of dealing with Orochimaru."
"Let's follow his orders..."
"We just need to stop the Shinobi who are trying to infiltrate Konoha and cause destruction."
The other Jonin around them all nodded in agreement. Everyone believed Hiruzen had what it took to deal with Orochimaru.
Besides…
It was Hiruzen's long-cherished wish to personally deal with his defecting student.
Back in the arena, Sasuke was still savoring the satisfaction of landing a Chidori into that tanuki's chest, and then he heard a terrifying roar.
"Roar…"
Sasuke's Chidori almost stabbed Gaara to death. But now, Shukaku himself had decided he'd seen enough. He felt it was time to step in and give this arrogant brat a proper beating.
As soon as he appeared, Shukaku opened his mouth and threw a Bijudama at Sasuke.
Whoosh…
Suddenly, a golden statue came towards Sasuke's position.
In order to avoid the attack from Shukaku's mouth, Sasuke just made an evasive move and ended up getting launched by the flying statue.
"Sasuke, hug the statue!"
"What?"
Naruto shouted from the side.
The reason he tossed out the Totem of Undying was simple...
Because he saw that there was another Bijudama forming in Shukaku's claws.