I'm Inside Naruto Manga

As soon as the words fell…

"Whoosh!" Two shuriken spun rapidly through the air, slicing forward with precision. Genma Shiranui froze in place, and after a moment's judgment, he narrowly avoided the spinning blades as they whizzed past him.

"Hey, I haven't left the arena yet..." Genma said in shock, 'As soon as the referee says start, you start the fight. It's not a life and death duel, you know! Couldn't you have shown a little restraint?'

The shuriken arced through the air in wide loops from both sides, and Genma tried to look at the attacking party—

Boom!

Sasuke's fist crashed directly toward Gaara's face, sending a cloud of sand flying up from mere inches away.

Ding! Ding!

The shuriken were similarly met with resistance and fell after they lost their momentum.

"So fast!"

"Whoa!"

Gasps erupted from the audience above. Sakura instinctively covered her mouth with her hands, while Ino, distracted by the noise around her, turned to look, "What happened? They're already up close?! Weren't they just standing on opposite sides?"

At this time, Genma had just jumped away from the arena and wiped his sweat.

In stark contrast to the previous two matches, this one opened with a fierce offensive. Sasuke had thrown his shuriken, the wind whistling as they cut through the air, but his body had moved simultaneously with the weapons, attacking Gaara from three different angles... Sakura waved off her distracted friend, as she's too engrossed in the match to worry about anything else.

Sasuke's opening move was a powerful display of both skill and explosiveness. Not just the civilians and Genin, but even the Jonin, including Logan and Kakashi, immediately focused their attention on the battle.

Guy watched intently, his expression serious as his gaze rested on the sand barrier Sasuke's fist had struck, "The opponent has the 'Absolute Defense' by using sand. From the beginning, Sasuke attacked decisively and without leaving any room, but unfortunately, it didn't break through..."

Next to him, Rock Lee, his body still partially wrapped in bandages, stared at the black-and-white-clad boy in the arena with astonishment, "As expected of you, Uchiha Sasuke."

In the arena.

"You didn't even flinch. Your sand moves really fast." Sasuke coldly remarked to the stoic Gaara, who was mere inches away. Sasuke attempted to push his fist through, but the solid sand barrier refused to yield.

The simultaneous attack from three directions was meant to show his determination and catch his opponent off guard, but it hadn't gone as planned.

Gaara stood with his arms crossed, his eyes calmly fixed on Sasuke, the sand that had intercepted the shuriken slowly settling down and disappearing.

"Hmph." Gaara's expressionless face seemed to mock him, igniting Sasuke's competitive spirit. He quickly jumped back, "Then try this!"

As he landed, Sasuke's eyes turned crimson, the Sharingan's tomoe spinning. With a flick of his wrists, four shuriken whizzed toward Gaara. Just before they made contact, the sand rose to block them, but the shuriken suddenly veered off course, guided by the fine silver wires Sasuke subtly manipulated with his fingers. They spread out, aiming for Gaara from behind.

Confused by the unexpected lack of a direct attack, the sand paused for a brief moment before slowly dropping.

With one final tug, the four shuriken, having completed a wide arc, converged on Gaara from behind!

Gathering chakra in his feet, Sasuke once again unleashed a burst of speed, rapidly closing in on Gaara. His eyes locked onto his opponent, who still wore that cold, unyielding expression. Even at this time, he still remained unmoved.

Ding!

The four shuriken that were initially shot toward Gaara's back crossed paths in mid-air, colliding with each other and changing direction once more. Gaara's sand was caught off guard again, unable to block the redirected shuriken.

For the first time, Gaara's expression shifted. Sasuke, now right in front of him, threw a punch, but the sand managed to intercept it just in time. In an instant, Sasuke transitioned, using the momentum of his punch to connect with a series of high-intensity kicks, each strike accompanied by the distinct 'ding, ding, ding' of shuriken coming at Gaara from different angles. The sand was struggling to keep up.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

Gaara was startled, as this voice came from behind. He has no time to think about how Sasuke had circled around him. He hurriedly turned and raised his hand, summoning sand to defend himself, but the roaring flames engulfed the area before he could fully react!

Boom!

The red fireball swallowed up this small space, and a shadow leapt out from the burning zone. Gaara touched the edges of his scorched eyebrows, a hint of anger flashing across his face.

"So you can be moved after all." Sasuke sneered, dispersed the Great Fireball Technique, and slowly calmed down his breath. Inwardly, he acknowledged that Gaara was indeed a tough opponent.

"So strong… He actually broke through Gaara's Absolute Defense..." Up above, Lee was visibly shocked. Having fought Gaara in the preliminaries, Lee was acutely aware of how formidable Gaara's defense was.

Guy lowered his head and glanced at his student, then looked at Kakashi who was more than ten meters away, 'Lee had to remove his weights to barely break through Gaara's sand barrier, but now, Sasuke is almost as fast as Lee was back then. Did Kakashi specially train him in Taijutsu after he observed Lee at that time?'

"You taught him well, Kakashi." Someone tapped Kakashi on the shoulder, and when Kakashi turned to look, he was surprised to see Logan standing there.

Logan smiled and said, "You managed to make Gaara look a bit disheveled so quickly."

Sasuke's thunderous assault was certainly living up to the hype of a focal battle. After all, Sasuke was a student that Logan had started training long ago. Watching him fight so fiercely, in a match that seemed far beyond the usual level for Genin, Logan temporarily set aside his confusion about the Chunin Exams and walked over to stand beside Kakashi.

"It's not bad." Kakashi responded, feigning modesty as he watched the battle below, "Breaking through that sand barrier is the first step to victory, but the rapid pace of his attacks has also taken a toll on his body. Let's see what he does next."

Logan nodded. Sasuke's combination of expert Shurikenjutsu, Taijutsu, and Fire Release attacks was both swift and impressive, but it was also taxing. He knew this match was already starting to diverge from the original work.

However, Logan couldn't help but glance around at the ANBU operatives stationed throughout the arena, 'There was still a high possibility that this match would not go smoothly. Among the ANBU present, which of them were hiding under the masks as enemies?'

The ground began to tremble slightly as fine grains of sand started to separate and float into the air. Sasuke took a step back and stared fixedly at Gaara. The gourd on his back was now uncorked, and sand kept pouring out from it.

After re-adjusting his focus, Sasuke's eyes flashed with caution. He knew that his opponent was getting serious after noticing the serious expression in Gaara's eyes.

Perhaps influenced by someone, Sasuke couldn't help but let out a remark, "Heh, the warm-up's over."

Gaara's suppressed killing intent erupted, and his face showed a bit of ferocity, "You're asking for death."

Sasuke instantly regretted taunting Gaara, but there was no time to dwell on it. The ground shook as the sand surged like a ferocious beast, rushing toward him.

…

"There seems to be something wrong with Gaara's condition. Can the plan be carried out as planned?"

"How should I know! Does that guy even have the plan in his head? He only has killing on his mind."

"The sand barrier consumes a lot of Chakra. If this continues, he might get injured and become unstable..."

In the corner of the auditorium, Kankuro and Temari, who had just finished their matches and was still a little disheveled, whispered to each other.