Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

"The first round of the match begins..."

After confirming that both contestants were ready, Genma Shiranui decisively announced the start of the final.

Then--

"Pfft! Pfft!"

Hozuki Suigetsu's shuriken was intercepted by clumps of sand floating in the air, while Gaara stood still without moving.

"Hey, these sands of yours... they automatically protect you, right?" Hozuki Suigetsu played with his kunai, and after testing the waters, instead of rushing to attack, he loudly tried to talk to Gaara, "I felt it during the preliminaries. I didn't see you form any hand seals, but these sands proactively blocked all the attacks for you... This kind of convenient and useful technique is truly enviable!"

Is this all the nonsense you wanted to say?

Gaara stared coldly at Hozuki Suigetsu, and that icy gaze made Suigetsu's body tremble involuntarily.

"That's really scary! I have a feeling this time is going to be a disaster! I mean, no one dies in a final like this, right?" Hozuki Suigetsu muttered to himself, a little annoyed that he had forgotten to ask the examiner, Shiranui Genma.

but,

There was no time left for him to regret it.

Gaara gently waved his hand forward, and the quicksand that surged out of the gourd split into several clumps, which condensed into somewhat distorted shuriken shapes and flew towards Hozuki Suigetsu. This was the 'Sand Shuriken,' one of the basic techniques of the Sand Technique of Sunagakure.

Although it is a basic move,

However, if used well, sand shuriken is not limited to practice on target in the training field. A shuriken made of sand cannot be said to have the sharpness of a real shuriken. However, the purpose of this move is not to cut the enemy's throat. As long as it can break the enemy's skin and allow the sand to embed into the enemy's muscles and blood vessels, it will be a great success.

Caught off guard,

Or perhaps it was because Hozuki Suigetsu was distracted for a moment that he was hit by all seven or eight sand shuriken. He didn't even manage to dodge one of them, and he was completely blown apart. Water splashed everywhere, and Hozuki Suigetsu was beaten beyond recognition, turning into a stream of water.

"Is this the Hozuki clan's secret water-transformation technique?"

The examiner, Genma Shiranui, watched this scene and couldn't help but let out a slow breath.

Thank goodness!

It was truly fortunate that the Hokage had sent him an extremely detailed list of fighters; otherwise… he would have intervened before the Sand Shuriken hit the dumbfounded Suigetsu, protecting him and simultaneously declaring Gaara the victor…

Oh my god!

Just thinking about that scene is embarrassing, and not just a little embarrassing.

Being the examiner is really tough! They should have had some of those strong guys like Kakashi as examiners, but every single one of those experts has connections to this batch of contestants. To ensure fairness, they had to remove Kakashi and the others from the examiner list and select from the remaining Jonin.

He was chosen by some unknown reason; he was really unlucky!

Putting aside the ulterior motives of the examiner, Genma Shiranui, Gaara didn't show much surprise as he watched Hozuki Suigetsu get thrashed. During the preliminaries, Hozuki Suigetsu had gathered information about him, and Gaara had also witnessed the entire battle between Hozuki Suigetsu and Uchiha Fujika.

Later, I also learned some information about the Hozuki clan from Maki.

Sand Shuriken

It was just a warm-up.

"Your sand... seems to get wet more slowly!" Hozuki Suigetsu emerged from a puddle of liquid on the ground, his rather crudely constructed head looking at the clumps of wet sand flying into the air, and said meaningfully.

From the end of the qualifiers to the start of the main competition

It's impossible that he spent the entire month doing nothing but sleeping all day. Now that he knew the match schedule and the names of his opponents in the main tournament, he naturally did targeted research and training. In addition to practicing with Mikan Shimizu every day to further solidify his foundation, he also calmly and seriously considered how to deal with Gaara.

Just now, standing still,

Allowing yourself to be hit by sand shuriken is like conducting an experiment.

The results of the experiment were quite encouraging! The wet sand moved much slower than the dry sand, which means that... as long as the sand is wet, Gaara's all-around automatic protection mechanism will slow down!

"Water Release: Water Chaos Technique".

Hozuki Suigetsu formed hand seals, and with only his upper body in a fully formed form, he opened his mouth and spat out a small waterfall-like stream of water that rushed towards Gaara. The sand particles floating around Gaara immediately coalesced, forming a wall to block the impact of the water.

However, in this way,

The sand inevitably got wet as well.

[Chapter 465. Plundering the Tailed Beast?]

"Shuiyue is quite capable!"

In the stands, Teng Hua stared intently at every change on the field with her scarlet eyes wide open. She clearly saw that the movement speed of the sand that had been soaked by water had decreased significantly. Suddenly, she realized why Shui Yue had been standing there taking hits earlier.

It seems,

It was all Shuiyue's doing.

"Does the Sand Release: Sand Technique have such a weakness? Its movement speed slows down when wet... It's a pity we don't have anyone skilled in Water Release." Fujika sighed regretfully. If one of the three of them were skilled in Water Release, perhaps that battle in the Forest of Death...

"Even if you had it, it wouldn't be of any use."

Ying chimed in.

"As Yakumo said, that Sand Ninja... is a true monster. Unless you have the ability to subdue monsters like your master, even if you use Water Release to break through the Sand Village's Sand Technique, it won't be of much use."

Yes,

Nothing will change.

The outcome of the battle between Yakumo and Gaara wasn't about breaking the Sand Technique. To defeat Gaara... simply breaking the Sand Technique was just the beginning. The bigger challenges were yet to come!

"Yes, I know. The outcome of this match was pretty much predetermined from the start. Shuiyue's good luck... has come to an end."

However, the rest of the audience in the stands, including many ninjas, were unaware of all the inside details. What they saw was Hozuki Suigetsu launching a fierce and overwhelming attack, and the scene looked extremely exciting, triggering waves of cheers.

In order to completely dismantle Gaara's automatic defense mechanism, Hozuki Suigetsu used hand seals to summon more than ten water clones.

It is well known that water clones are the weakest in combat among all physical clone techniques.

However, the advantage is that water clones are also the most chakra-efficient.

More than ten water clones surrounded Gaara, raising their right hands in a 'firing' gesture and using their family's signature ninjutsu, the 'Water Gun Technique.' Of course, the power of the water guns fired by the water clones... unless they hit vulnerable spots like the eyeballs or testicles, they were practically harmless.

But the problem is,

The sand around Gaara doesn't have that kind of precise discrimination ability.

Even if Gaara actively used sand to defend himself... it's hard to say that the protection was complete, because Hozuki Suigetsu's true form was also mixed into the clone. It has to be said that the Hozuki clan's water transformation technique combined with water clones is truly... marvelous!

When the water clone is hit, it will disintegrate and turn into water streams.

If Hozuki Suigetsu's true form is hit, it will also turn into a stream of water.

Ultimately,

If it weren't for that unexpected, powerful water cannon shot that bypassed the slow-reacting Sand Shield and struck Gaara in the chest, sending him flying backward like a kite with a broken string, even Gaara wouldn't have noticed that Hozuki Suigetsu had mixed his true form into his clone.

but,

This move, which could have been a decisive blow, failed to kill Gaara or end the first round of the match.

Because Gaara was hit by the Water Gun Technique, a layer of sand peeled off his body. This was the 'Sand Armor'. Although its defensive power was not as good as the Sand Shield, it was not able to completely absorb the penetrating force of the Water Gun Technique. It hit Gaara's chest and made him almost unable to breathe.

But in the end, he wasn't immediately declared the loser of the match.

Having suffered such a huge loss,

The Sand Armor technique also failed to work... Gaara finally realized that winning this match would not be so easy. Perhaps this Mist Ninja was not as troublesome as that Konoha ninja named Yakumo, but he couldn't just release Shukaku within him to help him win, could he?

To get rid of this Mist Ninja,

It will take quite a bit of effort!

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"Lord Kazekage, your son... seems to be in a bad state?" Mei Terumi said with a sweet smile at this moment.

"Take your time and see."

Luo Sha spoke calmly, his cold and dignified face as unchanging as a stone statue.

"..."

This left Mei Terumi speechless for a moment, and she frowned slightly because of Rasa's attitude. Where did the Kazekage get his confidence from? If it weren't for that brat Gaara putting on a layer of sand armor for himself early on, this match would have already been over.

but,

Luo Sha, however, remained unmoved.

Is she truly confident in her son? Or is she just putting on a brave face and unwilling to lose face?

In contrast,

On the contrary, Mei Terumi's mindset seemed to be slightly fluctuated by Rasa's composure.

"Kage, your son... he has so much chakra!" At this moment, the old man Onoki spoke up. As expected of an old fox, even though he didn't understand sensory ninjutsu, his eyes were still quite sharp. After watching for a while, he had already noticed some clues.

"Just a little bit of insignificant talent."

Luo Sha answered with a blank expression.

"Talent?"

Onoki narrowed his eyes and said nothing more.

beside,

A, the Raikage, raised an eyebrow, watching Gaara on the field. A bold guess vaguely popped into his mind: Could it be that...?

"Chakra..." Mei Terumi's gaze shifted, a thought stirring within her. She felt that the old man Onoki might have noticed something, but... she hadn't noticed anything. It wasn't strange that he had a little more chakra, was it?

"Hokage, what do you think of that Sand Ninja boy?"

Mei Terumi turned to look at Sogen. Since it was impossible to get the truth out of the old man Onoki, she decided to ask the Hokage instead. It was a pity that Ao had returned his Byakugan to Konoha; otherwise, he probably would have already discovered all the tricks on the field.

“Excellent, Sunagakure has a worthy successor.”

Zongxuan smiled and gave Gaara a high evaluation, but he didn't say that he was helping Mei Terumi clear up her doubts, because... just as they were talking, the situation on the field changed again, and this change made the outcome of the match gradually clear.

already,

No need to elaborate.

On the field,

Gaara's battle with Hozuki Suigetsu intensified. Gaara noticed that his sand was getting wet, which significantly reduced its movement speed and increased its chakra consumption. The latter wasn't the problem; the former was the real issue.

However, it's not entirely without a solution.