Chapter 154: Beating the Fifth Kazekage
Ino kept detonating the water bubbles, making "crack crack" sounds, but water bubbles were ultimately not Deidara's clay bombs. More often, they used the splash after the explosion to erode the sand over a larger area. Gaara erected a three-layered shield. After the third layer was eroded, the sand that originally formed the first layer of defense was already dry. This cycle repeated, and the effect of the Water Bubble Jutsu was greatly reduced.
Gaara's face was ferocious as he stared intently at Ino, his heart filled with malice. The more beautiful something was, the more he wanted to destroy it.
Why do you all live so well, while I have to live in hell?
His malice was too strong. Ino sensed the thick killing intent and immediately stopped holding back.
She shot out like an arrow, without any fancy moves, and met him head-on with a Super Strength Fist.
Gaara was completely suppressed by her in terms of taijutsu, strength, and speed.
Especially in terms of taijutsu and speed.
Before he could even see what was happening, Ino's fist punched a large hole in the front of the sand shield that had been eroded by the water bubbles.
Ino changed her fist into a claw, exerted force with her arm, and grabbed Gaara's collar, forcefully dragging him out of the sand shield.
Then, with one hand grabbing his collar and the other grabbing the strap of the gourd on his back, she lifted his entire body horizontally.
With a loud shout, a knee strike slammed into Gaara's stomach, sending the future Fifth Kazekage flying more than three meters into the air. While still in mid-air, he spat out a large mouthful of blood.
Gaara gritted his teeth, realizing that his opponent was faster than him. He immediately waved his right hand, trying to use fine sand to entangle her hands and feet and restrict her movement.
Ino stomped hard on the ground with both feet, taking a step forward before the sand closed in. Her body was like a bow, and her left foot raised high again.
Gaara had seen this move when she fought Temari earlier. Now, in mid-air, he couldn't dodge and could only cross his arms to protect his face.
"Pain Sky Kick!" Ino's left foot slammed down heavily on Gaara's arms from above. His wrist and arm bones broke instantly, and he had to mobilize the Tailed Beast chakra to recover from the injuries.
Before he landed, Ino shifted her feet, dashed forward, grabbed his wrist with a backhand, pulled him towards herself, then clenched her left fist, suddenly swung her arm outward, and quickly threw a punch.
"Super Strength Fist!"
The fist, carrying immense force, slammed into Gaara's left cheek. He was knocked back seven or eight meters, stumbled, and large chunks of sand fell off his face.
In a critical moment, he had to use his Sand Armor for defense, which barely managed to withstand most of the damage from this punch.
"Staring at me?"
"Want me to die?"
"Not convinced?!"
Ino's fists rained down on him. Gaara tried to counterattack, but his taijutsu was terrible! Ino had never seen anyone with worse taijutsu in all this time. Didn't he ever train?
She was often attacked with taijutsu, so facing someone even weaker than her in that regard made her exceptionally happy.
Facing this veritable "sandbag," her punches landed solidly, providing excellent stress relief. The pressure Orochimaru had put on her was reduced by more than half.
Gaara completely didn't expect her taijutsu to have such a rapid and drastic improvement. The original plan of both sides standing still and then throwing ninjutsu at each other was no longer viable.
He also tried to throw a punch back, but Ino had been trained by Tsunade for a month and didn't give him any chance, always keeping Gaara within her two-meter close-combat range to be beaten. Every time the dry sand closed in, Ino would use water bubbles to erode his sand, and then continue the beating.
Temari and Kankuro on the competition stage were extremely anxious, but they didn't have any good solutions.
The "Fourth Kazekage" high up in the stands was also disappointed. No wonder your Sand Village has become the shame of the five great ninja villages. You're just not strong enough. Was that the level of the previously so fierce Jinchuriki? The Fourth Kazekage's son, who gave him a constipated expression just thinking about him, was now being held down and used as a sandbag?
He knew that Ino had another particularly "arrogant" move that she hadn't used yet. She was currently fighting her enemy using her weaknesses.
All the preparations for the Konoha Crush plan were already in place. At this moment, he couldn't add any extra drama and could only watch patiently.
Ino beat up Gaara for three minutes, and the latter kept relying on the Tailed Beast chakra to repair his body.
As she was hitting him, the guy even sneered, meaning, if you have the guts, kill me! If you don't kill me now, I'll kill you later!
Ino couldn't kill anyone in this setting. She was also annoyed by the Tailed Beast's recovery ability.
Trying to take advantage of me, huh?
Water, earth, and wind, three chakra attributes simultaneously appeared on her fingers. Then, using yin release to replace lightning and yang release to replace fire, Ino didn't hesitate. She tore open Gaara's shirt, her right hand forming a claw, her five fingers carrying the five chakra attributes, and slammed them down onto the skinny boy's stomach.
"Five Elements Seal!"
The five fingers were like five branding irons, directly piercing through his body. Gaara felt excruciating pain. He hadn't felt such pain in a very, very long time.
"Ah!" he let out a miserable scream.
With the Five Elements Seal applied, the connection between Gaara and the Tailed Beast within him was instantly severed by a large margin, and his recovery ability plummeted.
Temari and Kankuro exchanged glances, both seeing the shock in each other's eyes.
"That wild boar... no, that Konoha female ninja, she's not going to seal the monster inside Gaara, is she?" Temari's face was full of disbelief.
Sealing and unsealing were, in her impression, the work of the village's higher-ups and Jonin. She couldn't imagine that her opponent from half an hour ago had such profound ninjutsu skills.
Naruto held his head in his hands, squinting his eyes, feeling that Ino's movements just now were extremely familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen them for a moment.
The Sand Village Jonin in the high stands immediately became restless. Good heavens, the Tailed Beast has been sealed? How are we going to launch our attack later? We can't just go back in such a sorry state, can we? What would we say when we got back? That a Konoha Genin's sealing jutsu scared us so much that we didn't dare to move and just came straight back?
The Sand Village ninjas didn't know what specific sealing jutsu it was, but the "Fourth Kazekage" recognized it at a glance. It was the Five Elements Seal, a sealing jutsu he himself knew.
At this point, he really couldn't stay out of it. He could only protest to the Third on behalf of the Sand Village ninjas: "Your village's ninja's sealing jutsu is truly excellent."
Even he couldn't go against his conscience and say it was a low-level ninjutsu. After praising it with a few words, he changed the subject: "But isn't it inappropriate for your village's ninja to seal the One-Tail like this?"
The Third's smile was full of subtle boasting: "Sealing jutsu is also ninjutsu. There's no rule in the Chunin Exams that prohibits the use of sealing jutsu, is there? At least I don't remember any. Since Ino knows how to use it, we can't just stop her from using it now, can we? I will have her undo the seal after the match, so Lord Kazekage can rest assured."
I'm not reassured at all!
The "Fourth Kazekage" felt that the main show hadn't even started yet, but strange and completely unexpected twists had already occurred.