Team 8 of Konoha consists of Hinata Hyuga, Shino Aburame, and Kiba Inuzuka. At this moment, the three of them are gathered together, seemingly plotting something.
"Akamaru is so scared that he can't move," Kiba said. Then, a small white-haired dog crawled into his clothes and hid in his arms, shivering.
"Why is Akamaru so frightened?" Hinata asked in confusion.
"Akamaru can smell the enemy's chakra and distinguish the strength of the opponent. I've never seen Akamaru this scared before," Kiba said, trying his best to comfort Akamaru, the little dog.
"It seems that the two groups of people up ahead are very powerful," Kiba said, but actually, he was quite eager to see who had such abilities.
So, Hinata, Shino, and Kiba quietly crept forward. Three little heads popped up together in the grass.
Akamaru, the little dog, trembled more violently.
At this time, Hinata was greatly shocked because she noticed a person, Gaara of the Sand Ninjas, whom Naruto had mentioned before.
"Carrying a gourd, with red hair and the word 'love' engraved on his forehead, that's Gaara, the one Naruto talked about," Hinata murmured quietly. "Let's leave quickly."
"What are you afraid of? Let's take a look first," Kiba said. "We're well hidden. They won't notice us."
Not far ahead, Gaara, Temari, and Kanpo from the Sand Ninja Village confronted the Genin from the Taki Ninja Village.
"What lousy luck these days!" Kanpo said. "We've encountered three groups of people, and all we've found are Earth Scrolls. We haven't found a single Heaven Scroll."
Gaara, with a hot temper, struck first. "Sand Binding Coffin!" he shouted. After forming hand seals with both hands, he forcefully pushed out his right hand, and a Genin from the Taki Ninja Village was immediately surrounded by sand.
This scene happened so suddenly that it scared everyone present. Gaara took a few steps forward and muttered, "Sandstorm Burial!" Those seemingly soft fine sands could actually contract and squeeze continuously, crushing the Genin from the Taki Ninja Village into a pool of blood and mud.
Hinata, Shino, and Kiba were so scared that their eyes were wide open. They knew they had met a tough opponent today.
Gaara continued to attack and easily killed three Genin from the Taki Ninja Village. They were all crushed into blood and mud by the sand, a tragic death indeed.
Kanpo walked to the blood-covered sand pile. He rummaged through it to find a scroll. Disappointedly, he said, "It's another Earth Scroll. This is the fourth Earth Scroll we've found. If we don't find a Heaven Scroll, we'll lose our qualification for the Chunin Exams."
"It's of no consequence!" Gaara said coldly. "There are still people hiding nearby."
Temari shook her head and then shouted, "Whoever is hiding nearby, quickly hand over the scrolls in your hands, and I'll let you go."
Gaara said dissatisfiedly, "No! Everyone who meets me has to die! Not a single one will be spared!"
On the other side, Naruto was tracking Kabuto Yakushi. He found that Kabuto had stopped up ahead, so Naruto had to go around to the other side and monitor Kabuto from a distance.
Just then, Naruto noticed Hinata's figure, and he also found that Gaara was here too.
How the hell could this happen!
Three days have passed since this round of the exam. With Gaara's strength, he should have reached the Tower long ago. Why is he still lingering here?
It doesn't make sense. Gaara should have collected both the Heaven Scroll and the Earth Scroll on the first day and passed the second round of the assessment in a record-breaking manner. Why did something unexpected happen... Why is Gaara still staying here...
Could it be that I've rewritten history and triggered the Butterfly Effect? Is there something unexpected that I haven't even noticed!
What! Gaara has a lot of nerve! He actually attacked Hinata! Naruto definitely won't tolerate this. He doesn't hide anymore and jumps out directly, throwing several Kunai in the air.
Naruto timed his rescue perfectly. At this moment, Gaara had already knocked Hinata down and was about to deliver a killing blow when Naruto's thrown Kunai arrived.
Suddenly, a sand wall emerged, blocking the Kunai and protecting Gaara.
"Someone else is coming!" Gaara glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw Naruto descending from the sky. Immediately, he recognized Naruto.
Gaara recognized Naruto. Shortly after the three of them entered Konoha Village, they had a conflict with Naruto, and Gaara was even intimidated by him. At that time, he could only leave dejectedly.
"It's you!" Gaara was over-excited. He quickly formed hand seals and prepared to use his killing move against Naruto.
"Naruto! Be careful!" Hinata, lying on the ground, warned.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto created more than a dozen shadow clones in one go, immediately confusing Gaara's judgment.
Gaara's ninjutsu, Sand Binding Coffin, is very powerful. It can control the sand to tightly wrap around the opponent and bind them. Once bound by the sand, the opponent can only be at his mercy (completely at the mercy of someone).
However, the amount of sand that Gaara can control is limited. The Sand Binding Coffin can only bind one person at a time. Facing Naruto, who had created more than a dozen shadow clones, Gaara couldn't tell which one was Naruto's real body.
"Which one is the real body?" Gaara looked around but couldn't see any difference among the shadow clones.
Unable to attack, Gaara was forced into a defensive position. Naruto's more than a dozen shadow clones threw shurikens at the same time, attacking from multiple directions.
Naruto's attacks couldn't hurt Gaara. The sand surrounded Gaara, forming a sand fortress around him and blocking all the shurikens.
A gap appeared in the sand fortress. Looking through the gap, there was only darkness inside, and slowly, Gaara's cynical face emerged.
Gaara became even more irritable. Hiding inside the sand fortress, he controlled the sand to turn into a spear and pierced Naruto's shadow clones one by one.
This part of the chapter isn't finished yet. More exciting stuff is to come!
"Hinata, are you okay?" Naruto ran to Hinata's side, picked her up, and asked, "Are you injured?"
"I... I'm okay..." Hinata replied with a blushing face. She had just fought against Gaara and couldn't even last one round. Fortunately, Naruto arrived in time.
At this moment, Gaara was stunned. Weren't they in the middle of a fight? Why did Naruto go over to Hinata's side? He had finally managed to eliminate all of Naruto's shadow clones, but the real body wasn't here.
Gaara felt slighted and roared loudly, "Temari, Kankuro, kill them all!"
At this moment, Temari was fighting Shino Aburame, while Kanpo was up against Kiba Inuzuka. They had only exchanged a few moves since they clashed, so no clear winner had emerged yet, but both sides felt their opponents were tough nuts to crack.
Kanpo growled angrily, "Tsk, you say you'll kill someone just like that? Well, they've got to be willing to stand there and let you do it!"
Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka and Naruto quickly disengaged from the fight and rushed to Naruto's side, then they huddled around Hinata to protect her.
Naruto started shouting angrily right away, "Shino! Kiba! What the hell are you doing! You guys chose the easier opponents, leaving Hinata to deal with such a terrifying guy!"
Shino Aburame said innocently, "The fight broke out so fast, it was almost instantaneous. We didn't have time to assign opponents according to our combat power then."
Kiba Inuzuka said, "I underestimated you. Didn't think you'd get involved."
"What did you say?" Naruto roared, "You think I won't save your ass and leave you here?"
"Naruto-kun," Hinata quickly interceded, "Do you have a way to get us out of here?"
"Sure," Naruto's anger subsided as soon as he heard Hinata's voice. He glanced at the Earth Scroll lying on the ground.
"None of you can escape," Gaara said as he stepped closer menacingly, "You're all going to die!"
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