Ninja Pot Shadow

The waterspout covered a vast area, and as it spun rapidly, Temari's wind blades were completely blocked.

This move combines offense and defense; the water tornado appears slow but is actually fast, sweeping over everything and shrinking Temari's room to maneuver. Even the referee, Genma Shiranui, looks a bit disheveled.

For Ino's friends and family, this level of Water Release technique is commonplace. The Great Explosion Water Wave is truly awe-inspiring, and the Water Wave before them is just ordinary... But for many Chunin and Jonin, the power of this technique is ridiculously strong.

Several ANBU ninjas responsible for on-site security couldn't help but whisper among themselves.

"Is that the young lady of the Yamanaka family? How could she possibly unleash such a large-scale Water Release technique out of thin air in a waterless environment? This Water Release ninjutsu seems to be the Second Hokage's technique, right?"

A companion whispered, "I heard she's now Lady Tsunade's disciple."

Is there any connection between Tsunade-sama's disciple and this scale of water-style ninjutsu? The ANBU ninja who spoke first thought for a moment and felt that there might be some connection...

Faced with the water wave that covered half the arena, Temari tried everything, even summoning her spirit beast, but it was all in vain. All kinds of wind-style ninjutsu were neutralized as soon as they entered the water wave. Ino kept replenishing the water wave and maintained its size. The two sides gradually entered a chakra battle.

Aside from Naruto and Gaara, Ino has never been afraid of anyone when it comes to chakra battles.

Temari's chakra reserves were only average. After a minute, her chakra was about to run out, and she had no choice but to raise her hand in surrender.

The following matches all proceeded very quickly.

Gaara fought against Shino Aburame. After a few moves, Shino realized he couldn't beat him and surrendered.

Naruto fought Rock Lee relentlessly, and ultimately defeated him with great difficulty by relying on his powerful regenerative abilities.

Kankuro abstained from the contest.

Shikamaru defeated Hinata, and then Sasuke faced off against Shikamaru. The two fought, and Shikamaru fought quite hard. His taijutsu, genjutsu, and ninjutsu were all quite skilled, making him one of the top-tier players among the Konoha 12. However, he was ultimately no match for the Sharingan, and Sasuke successfully advanced to the next round.

Undercurrents were swirling, and with the cover provided by the previous matches, both Sunagakure and Otogakure were preparing to launch a sudden attack.

We're just waiting for a signal.

And this signal is coming soon.

Ino ga Gaara!

The Third Hokage, standing on the high platform, had a deep look in his eyes. He asked the Fourth Kazekage beside him, "Kagayakage, are you sure there won't be any problems with your village sending a Jinchuriki to fight?"

The Fourth Kazekage's tone was particularly calm: "If I'm not mistaken, didn't your village also send a Nine-Tails Jinchuriki to participate in the exam? I believe we have sufficient means to restrain them."

The Third Hokage nodded slowly: "That's good."

As Genma Shiranui announced, "The match has begun," Ino immediately created two shadow clones.

Against someone like Gaara, ordinary ninja fighting techniques are completely ineffective; you have to use powerful ninjutsu to overwhelm him!

Ino's main body and shadow clone simultaneously formed hand seals, and then an overwhelming amount of water bubbles enveloped the entire arena.

The bubbles reflected a dazzling array of colors in the sunlight, forming a dense, profusion.

The Third Hokage paused for a moment while smoking. He had heard Asuma and Kurenai talk about this technique and the subsequent Steam Explosion, but this was the first time he had seen it with his own eyes.

The reason the bubbles could reflect light was mainly because their surface was covered with a layer of oil, which he was very familiar with; it was clearly Jiraiya's technique.

The Third Hokage seemed to be deep in thought. The Fourth Kazekage, recalling his previous experience, said in a sinister tone, "This ninjutsu of adding fuel to the water... it's somewhat similar to Jiraiya's technique."

The Third Hokage asked, "Oh? Is Lord Kazekage also familiar with Jiraiya?"

The other party smiled but remained silent.

At this moment, the number of bubbles in the arena had exceeded one thousand. Gaara stood motionless with his arms crossed, but a layer of sand shield had been erected in front of him.

Ino gave a soft shout and waved her hand, sending countless water bubbles crashing onto Gaara's Sand Shield.

This time, Gaara was prepared. He no longer used a simple sand shield for defense. The outermost layer was coarse sand, and the next two layers of shield were finer and denser.

He erected three layers of shields in succession for defense.

Chapter 154 Beating the Fifth Kazekage

Ino kept detonating bubbles, making a "crackling" sound, but the bubbles were not Deidara's clay bombs. More often, they used the splashes after the explosion to erode the sand over a wider area. Gaara set up three layers of shields. When the third layer was eroded, the sand that originally built the first layer of defense had also dried up. This cycle repeated, greatly reducing the effectiveness of the bubble technique.

Gaara's face was contorted with rage 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 such good lives while I have to live in purgatory?

His evil intent was too strong. Ino sensed the intense killing intent and immediately stopped holding back.

She charged out like an arrow, without any fancy moves, delivering a powerful punch right in front of her.

Gaara's physical skills, strength, and speed were completely suppressed by her.

Especially in terms of physical skills and speed.

Before anyone could even see what happened, Ino's fist punched a large hole in the front of the Sand Shield, which was being eroded by water bubbles.

Ino changed her fist into a claw, used her arm to grab Gaara's collar, and forcefully pulled him out of the Sand Shield.

Then, with one hand grabbing his collar and the other hand holding the cloth strap of the gourd on his back, he lifted him up horizontally.

With a loud shout, he delivered a knee strike to Gaara's stomach, sending the future Fifth Kazekage flying more than three meters into the air. While still in mid-air, Gaara coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Gaara gritted his teeth, realizing that his opponent was faster than him. He immediately swung his right hand, trying to use fine sand to entangle her hands and feet and restrict her movement.

Ino stomped her feet hard on the ground, took a step before the sand closed in, her body arched like a bow, and raised her left foot high again.

Gaara had seen this move before when she was hitting Temari. Now that he was in mid-air, he couldn't dodge it and could only cross his arms to protect his face.

"Heavenly Kick!" Ino's left foot slammed heavily down onto Gaara's arm, breaking his wrist and arm bones on the spot. He had to use the tailed beast's chakra to heal his injuries.

Before he could land, Ino shifted her feet, took a step forward, grabbed his wrist with her backhand, and pulled him towards her. Then, she clenched her left fist, opened her arm outwards, and quickly threw a punch.

"Super Strength Fist!"

The fist slammed into Gaara's left cheek with tremendous force, sending him flying back seven or eight meters. He staggered, and a lot of sand fell off his face.

In the critical moment, he had to use the Sand Armor for defense, which barely managed to withstand most of the damage from that punch.

"Stare at me?"

"You want me dead?"

"You're not convinced?!"

Ino rained down punches, and Gaara tried to retaliate, but his taijutsu was simply too terrible! Ino had never seen anyone with worse taijutsu than him in all this time. You don't even train, do you?

She was often attacked with physical skills, so facing someone whose physical skills were even weaker than hers made her feel exceptionally happy.

Facing this veritable "punching bag," she delivered powerful blows that were incredibly effective at relieving stress, reducing the pressure Orochimaru exerted on her by more than half.

Gaara never expected her taijutsu to improve so rapidly. The original battle plan, in which both sides stood still and then each threw ninjutsu, was no longer effective.

He tried to retaliate with punches, but Ino, having been trained by Tsunade for a month, didn't give him a chance, keeping Gaara constantly under her two-meter melee range. Whenever the sand dried and surrounded him, Ino would soak it with water to erode it, then continue her beating.

Temari and Kankuro on the match stage were extremely anxious, but they didn't have any good solutions.

The Fourth Kazekage, perched high in the stands, was also disappointed. "No wonder Sunagakure has become a disgrace to the Five Great Shinobi Villages. You're just too weak. Is this all the Jinchuriki you had before who were so fierce? The Fourth Kazekage's son, who always had a constipated expression when he talked about him, is now being used as a punching bag."

He knew that Ino had one particularly "overconfident" trick up her sleeve that she hadn't used yet, and that she was currently fighting the enemy entirely by exploiting her weaknesses.

All preparations for the Konoha Crush plan were complete. At this moment, he couldn't add any drama; he could only watch patiently.

Ino beat Gaara for three minutes, while he relied on the tailed beast's chakra to repair his body.

As the fight went on, this guy started to sneer, as if to say, "If you're so tough, then kill me! If you can't kill me now, I'll kill you later!"

Ino couldn't kill anyone in this situation, and she was also annoyed by the tailed beast's regenerative abilities.

Are you trying to take advantage of me?

Water, earth, and wind chakra appeared simultaneously on her fingers. Then, she replaced lightning with yin chakra and fire with yang chakra. Without saying a word, Ino tore open Gaara's shirt, formed her right hand into a claw, and branded the skinny boy's stomach with her five fingers, each carrying one of the five chakra attributes.

"Five Elements Seal!"

The five fingers felt like five branding irons, piercing right through his body. Gaara felt excruciating pain; he hadn't felt this pain in a very, very long time.

"Ah—!" he screamed in agony.

When the Five Elements Seal was applied, the connection between Gaara and the Tailed Beast within him was severed by more than half, causing his regenerative abilities to plummet.

Temari and Kankuro looked at each other, both seeing the shock in each other's eyes.

"That wild boar... no, that female ninja from Konoha, could she be trying to seal the monster inside Gaara?" Temari asked, her face filled with disbelief.

In her mind, sealing and unsealing were the work of village leaders 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. He felt that Ino's actions were very familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen them before.

The Sand Village Jonin on the high platform immediately became restless. Good heavens, the Tailed Beasts have been sealed? How are we supposed to launch an attack now? We can't just slink back like this, can we? What should we say when we go back? That a Konoha Genin's sealing technique scared us so much that we didn't dare to move and came straight back?

The Sand Village ninjas didn't know what kind of sealing technique it was, but the Fourth Kazekage recognized it at a glance: it was the Five Elements Sealing Technique, a technique he knew well.

He couldn't stay out of it at this point; he could only protest to the Third Hokage on behalf of the Sand Village ninjas: "Your village's sealing techniques are truly impressive..."

Even he couldn't lie and say it was a low-level ninjutsu. He could only offer a few words of praise before changing the subject: "Isn't it inappropriate for your village's ninjas to seal the One-Tailed Beast like this?"

The Third Hokage's smile was full of Versailles-like charm: "Sealing techniques are also ninjutsu. There's no rule against using sealing techniques in the Chunin Exams, right? At least I don't remember. Since Ino knows how to use them, we can't just stop her from using them now, can we? I'll have her release the seal after the exam, so you can rest assured, Kazekage."

I'm not at all at ease!

The Fourth Kazekage felt that before the grand show even began, strange and unexpected twists and turns had occurred.

Chapter 155 Ino vs Gaara

The changes before his eyes were something the Fourth Kazekage had not anticipated at all.

The third generation's reason for refusing didn't seem problematic, so what was he supposed to say?

He didn't have any particular thoughts. He'd already killed his father, why would he care about a son? It's none of my business, you guys figure it out yourselves.

He looked at Maki, a Jonin from Sunagakure, meaning that he should come up with an explanation, even if it was unreasonable.

Machi racked his brains to figure it out.

It's like two countries preparing for war, both sharpening their swords, only for one country's army to be wiped out by a few villagers who were just out for a stroll... How embarrassing.

Should we fight or not? How should we fight?

Maki, the Jonin who led Gaara and Temari, is thirty years old this year. He participated in the Fourth Shinobi World War and has good judgment.

The Five Elements Sealing Technique shouldn't be dismissed as ineffective just because it was used by a genin. On the contrary, it's an extremely sophisticated sealing technique.

Aside from their puppetry techniques, which represent a different approach, Sunagakure is inferior to Konoha in ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu. Their foundation is far weaker, and their sealing techniques, which are considered high-level among all ninja villages, are even less advanced. Just looking at their technique for sealing the One-Tailed Beast, you can tell that the sealing techniques of the entire ninja village are not of a high level.