"Aoba, don't look down on people!", Kankuro stood the human-shaped puppet wrapped in bandages beside him.
But before he even had ti to pull off the bandages, Aoba disappeared from the spot.
Kankuro's thoughts hadn't caught up yet, but his body was already flying backward.
With a loud boom, Kankuro was directly smashed into the wall.
At once, dust filled the air.
His body was completely embedded in the wall.
"Hmm?", Aoba frowned slightly.
'The feeling from the strike just now didn't seem quite right.'
He looked at the fragnts on his fist, vaguely understanding sothing.
Then looked toward the bandaged puppet standing nearby.
The next mont, the bandages rapidly unraveled without any interference.
The real Kankuro revealed his true body from within the bandages.
He still held a kunai in his hand, seed he was planning to hide inside for a sneak attack.
Only, he had been discovered by Aoba in advance.
Kankuro's expression was a little dumbfounded. He first looked at Aoba, then at the puppet in the rubble.
Suddenly his heart ached badly, "My Crow!"
Puppet masters, though a specialty of the Sand Hidden Village, a ninja type unique to the Sand.
But now, that art had long declined.
Among the younger generation, only Kankuro was still fiddling with puppets.
This Crow puppet was sothing Kankuro had spent a great deal of effort to obtain.
He treasured it imnsely, even eating, sleeping, and bathing with it always by his side.
It was like his wife.
He couldn't bear for it to suffer any damage.
He imdiately tried to run over to the Crow's position.
But Aoba stood in front of him.
Kankuro's eyes slightly changed, then instantly slid into a kneel.
"I admit defeat!"
This scene stunned quite a few people. Not a scratch on him, and he already surrendered?
But Kankuro didn't care about any of that.
His wife was almost shattered to pieces by this naturally evil white-haired brat.
He was desperate to go check the damage.
Up in the stands, Baki frowned. Though he could see the vast strength gap between the two at a glance, surrendering so decisively, it really was too much of a disgrace to the Sand.
He glanced at Gaara's expression, thinking the other might not be able to hold back a murderous intent.
But Gaara's expression didn't change at all.
He looked over at Temari and found, not only was she not disappointed by her brother's surrender, but rather seed.
'Relieved?"
'What is going on?'
Baki suddenly realized, his three students had beco a bit unfamiliar over the past few days.
"Shirakumo Aoba wins!"
Gekko Hayate announced the outco of the match.
Aoba glanced once at Kankuro, who looked like he'd lost his wife, then turned and walked back to the stands.
"As expected of Aoba!"
Everyone ca forward to congratulate him.
"Next match—Rock Lee versus Gaara!"
Gekko Hayate once again announced the next match mbers.
"It's finally my turn?", A green figure suddenly shot out from the crowd.
"Lee, do your best! I believe in your youth!"
Naruto gave Rock Lee a big thumbs-up.
"Naruto, I will definitely win. My youth has no regrets."
Rock Lee also gave a thumbs-up.
Speaking of which, the relationship between Naruto and Rock Lee was quite delicate.
By right, Rock Lee was one year above Naruto, so he should be the upperclassman.
But Naruto had beco Guy's disciple earlier than Lee, so he should be the senior disciple instead.
"If both of my disciples can beco chunin, then my youth will have no regrets either."
Might Guy looked at his two mutually admiring disciples, already moved to tears.
"That might be difficult," Kakashi's expression was serious.
Asuma beside him also nodded, "That Gaara, he doesn't look like a simple character."
Ordinary genin wouldn't have such terrifying killing intent.
"Even so, I still believe in Lee's youth!", Might Guy's expression was resolute.
——_
anwhile, Aoba glanced at the match list and thought briefly.
"Aoba, where are you going?"
Yakumo looked at the departing Aoba, asking in confusion.
"I'm going over to Sand's side to buy a Temari. You all stay here and don't wander."
"?"
Finishing his words, with the girls still dazed, Aoba walked toward the Sand's trio.
———
"You guy, you're not here to mock on purpose, are you?"
Kankuro looked at the approaching Aoba with an extrely unpleasant expression.
Baki also looked at him curiously, but didn't speak, he wanted to see what this guy's purpose was.
Aoba didn't even acknowledge Kankuro's clown-like performance—he looked straight at Temari first.
"Temari, congratulations on passing the preliminaries. That Wind Release just now was aweso, and the fight was quite exciting."
"Tha… thank you."
Temari was stunned for a mont, cheeks slightly flushed, "Your match just now was also very exciting."
Kankuro: 'So?'
'Watching your little brother get beat up, you think that's exciting?'
At this mont, Kankuro felt like he was the outsider.
But the two of them didn't care about his thoughts at all.
Aoba then walked over beside Gaara, very naturally putting his arm around his shoulder.
At this mont, not just Temari and Kankuro, even Baki's heart leapt up.
He was truly afraid Gaara might lose control at this point, which would ruin the village's plan.
But what surprised him even more was, not only did Gaara not lose control, he even showed a kind of… inexplicable calm.
"Gaara, we're friends, right?", Aoba said softly.
"Fri… friends?", Gaara's expression was extrely puzzled. That was a completely unfamiliar word to him.
"You… do you want sothing?", Gaara felt unsteady. This was the first ti soone had gotten this close to him, it felt like goosebumps had risen all over.
"Lee is my friend. Take it easy on him later, and I'll treat you to a al afterward."
"..."
After a long silence, Gaara nodded, "Okay."
"Great, then I'll head back."
"Not going to watch the match together?", Temari asked instinctively.
"No, next ti I'll treat you all to a al."
"?", Baki stared blankly at Aoba's departing back.
'Since when is Gaara soone who can be buddy-buddy with people?'
'And also…'
'That's the enemy! On the eve of war, their village's trump card is shoulder to shoulder with an important figure of the enemy, chatting like friends.'
'What is this?'
'One of us is a traitor!'
'Co to think of it, these three kids might not even know the village's plan this ti…'
"Kankuro, co over here, I have sothing to ask you," Coming back to his senses, Baki patted Kankuro's shoulder.
He realized, among his three students, only Kankuro still seed sowhat normal.
Though in truth, Kankuro himself was still confused.
———
"Match—begin!"
With Gekko Hayate's voice falling.
The battle between Rock Lee and Gaara also erupted in an instant.
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