Starts In Konoha: Unlocking Shadow Clone

"Very well, let's see just how much your training has paid off!"

Gaara snorted coldly, raising his hand to command countless grains of sand.

Part of the sand surrounded his body, forming an Absolute Defense. Meanwhile, the remaining sand transformed into spears and lances, relentlessly assaulting Tenten, seemingly with the intent to finish her off.

If it were a month ago, this level of attack would have overwhelmed Tenten in mere moments.

But now, things were different.

Tenten had achieved remarkable mastery in handling Ninja Tools, not only for offense but also in defending against incoming attacks.

She could glance at the sand weapons of various shapes and sizes, determine their speed and trajectory, and accurately predict where each would land.

When Gaara launched his attack, Tenten had already adjusted her stance, moving into the optimal position to dodge. For attacks that were impossible to evade, she skillfully blocked them with her Ninja Tools.

Apart from that, most of her energy was actually focused on attacking Gaara.

At this moment, Gaara hadn't fully deployed his Absolute Defense. The sand would automatically block attacks, but it hadn't formed a complete shield around him.

This created an opening for Tenten.

Using her mastery of the Shurikenjutsu, Tenten launched her Ninja Tools from increasingly tricky angles, her speed and accuracy rising as she attacked Gaara.

Half a minute into this relentless exchange, Gaara found himself surrounded by dozens of Tenten's Ninja Tools. The constant assault was straining the sand's defenses, and it was beginning to show signs of struggle.

"Hmph!"

Just as Tenten's attack seemed poised for success, Gaara let out a cold snort and summoned even more sand, enveloping himself completely.

From the outside, he looked like he was encased in a massive egg.

Seeing this, Tenten's face changed slightly, 'With such a defense that covered every angle, my Ninja Tools were completely ineffective. However, with his body completely wrapped, Gaara's sight should have been blocked as well.'

'How would he launch any attacks in this state?'

As if to answer her question, sand began to gather at the top of the 'egg', and in the blink of an eye, it turned into a floating eye.

The eye scanned the battlefield, and Gaara's sand spears and lances resumed their assault on Tenten.

Dodging once more, Tenten directed her attacks toward the floating eye.

Although she don't know how exactly Gaara created the eyeball, it is obvious that this eyeball serves as Gaara's vision, allowing him to see everything in the arena.

If she could destroy it, Gaara would be left vulnerable and directionless, which might even level the playing field.

Tenten is actually not aiming for victory.

Previously, during a training session, Naruto had spoken to her about Gaara's true strength.

"Gaara is someone even more terrifying than Sasuke and Neji combined!"

It was this sentence that made Tenten understand that no matter how much she'd improved in the last month, it would hardly be enough.

After watching the match between Sasuke and Neji, Tenten knew she couldn't defeat Sasuke or Neji, let alone Gaara. Trying to beat him would be wishful thinking.

But Naruto's recent encouragement clarified her role in this fight. She was here to showcase her progress. As long as she performed better than before, that was enough.

Bang!

After destroying the sand eye, the sand spears and sand lances fall motionless, reverting to ordinary sand.

'Success or failure depends on this one move!'

Taking a deep breath, Tenten pulled out five massive scrolls.

"Manipulated Tools: Quint Rising Dragon!"

Tenten let out a low shout and quickly flipped her hands, instantly tossing all five massive scrolls into the air and unfurling them all at once.

All kinds of weapons surged forth from the scrolls, hurtling toward Gaara's Absolute Defense.

There is an explosive tag at the end of each weapon. Under Tenten's precise control, none of them collided. Instead, they all embedded themselves into Gaara's shield, creating a densely packed layer of weaponry around him.

As Tenten formed a hand seal, all the explosive tags ignited in sequence.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The explosions erupted one after another, with deafening roars that rivaled even Sasuke's Lightning Whip, filling the air with thick smoke and dust.

This time, without Naruto needing to prompt him, Hayate quickly used a Wind Release Ninjutsu to disperse the smoke, ensuring that the audience could see clearly.

The sheer force of the explosive tags not only scattered Gaara's Absolute Defense sand barrier but also sent hundreds of weapons plunging back in for a second wave of attacks at precise angles, boosted by the detonations.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

At least dozens of weapons found their mark, piercing through the gaps created in Gaara's Absolute Defense.

"No way! She actually broke through Gaara's Absolute Defense!"

Kankuro couldn't help but exclaim in disbelief, unable to fathom how a little girl from Konoha could accomplish such a feat.

Compared to a month ago, Gaara, who was enlightened by Naruto, had begun to open up to Kankuro and Temari, so Kankuro's current concern for Gaara is genuine.

He is very worried about Gaara's condition now, fearing that this powerful technique might truly injure Gaara.

While Kankuro and Temari were worried, the rest of the audience was utterly shocked.

'Can a Genin really use such a powerful Ninjutsu?'

If it is simply to release the Ninja Tools in the scroll, although it is difficult, Genin can still do it.

The biggest difficulty is accurate throwing.

Tenten can throw hundreds of weapons accurately in an instant without interfering with each other. The degree of perfection is something that not only Chunin, but even many Jonin cannot do.

Everyone was looking forward to Gaara's wonderful performance. After all, everyone knew that Gaara was very powerful, so they wanted to see how Gaara could defeat his opponent in seconds. However, they never expected that Tenten could withstand Gaara's assault and even pushed him to such a precarious state.

'Konoha is really teeming with talents…'

'This seemingly unremarkable girl turned out to be a rare prodigy… a genius in the art of Ninja Tools!'

"Amazing!"

Naruto was equally astounded, as he had never seen Tenten's art of Ninja Tools before.

If Naruto were to describe this match in one word, it would be: Unbelievable!

'Spectacular' didn't do justice to Tenten's performance.

He remembered that in the original work, Tenten's strongest technique in the Chunin Exams was the Twin Rising Dragons, which was a broad, indiscriminate attack. But now, Tenten's Ninja Tool mastery was leagues ahead of where it was at this stage in the original work.

Such a tremendous leap in just one month… Naruto didn't know what to say except that it was unbelievable.

Crack! Crack!

However, the match wasn't over until the victor was declared. Gaara's Absolute Defense began to crumble under the assault, peeling away layer by layer like an eggshell, revealing Gaara within.

Dozens of weapons had pierced into Gaara's body, and his skin appeared cracked all over, making him look utterly battered. But there was something strange… despite the cracks, not a single drop of blood flowed.

'What's going on?'

Naruto thought for a moment and his eyes widened as he realized, 'Gaara's Absolute Defense wasn't just limited to the Sand Shield protecting his surroundings. He also had an additional layer of protection in the form of the Sand Armor covering his body.'

'Judging by Gaara's appearance, it was clear that the Sand Armor had absorbed the brunt of Tenten's secondary attacks.'

'Despite Tenten coming so close to victory, she hadn't been able to break through Gaara's defense entirely.'

'Now, it was Tenten who was in danger...'