Chapter 38

No weapons, no sealing scrolls, no explosive tags, nothing.

The only thing Kuzo had against Gaara was his suit pajama and body.

'I don't want to show my power so the bets will be against me. I need that money. I can use mind transfer, but that would show me as too crafty and someone with tricks against the strongest opponent. Maybe I can feign injury. Right. No one would bet on an injured puppy.'

A young jonin with a pale face, black eyes with dark bags beneath them, stood between him and Gaara. He was the referee.

The referee lifted his hand and said, "Start."

Kuzo started the exam by weaving a series of hand signs. Meanwhile, sand left Gaara's sand gourd, which was on his back, and headed toward Kuzo at a speed that would leave chunins, and even low jonins, struggling to deal with.

Kuzo jumped out of the sand's reach, spitting a few air balls from his mouth. When the air balls approached Gaara, the sands moved, creating a shield. The air exploded when it hit the sand, creating a few gaps here and there. But the gaps were soon closed.

The sand reached Kuzo's leg, forcing him to shift his weight to his hands as he flipped. The sand then tried to grab him from the hand, forcing Kuzo to shift his standing between legs and arms while jumping in different directions.

'What's the best way to win against Gaara? Stab his ass with an explosive tag; I can't afford this option.'

(O)

Meanwhile, at the sides, where everyone was watching, they had their eyelids shaking, especially the sand genin and Kiba's team.

"He's dodging Gaara's attack," said Temari, looking at Kuzo, seeing that he wasn't wasting any move.

"Gaara is struggling," commented Kankuro. Gaara was getting frustrated as the sands were trying to catch Kuzo.

Kiba was quite astonished. He was the one who had seen Gaara's might, and he had been afraid of him ever since. Kuzo, a nameless genin, was dancing with the sands.

Kuzo seemed like he was about to wear out, slip. Yet when the sand is about to hit him, he would end up dodging all.

That didn't seem possible.

As a member of the Inuzuka clan, Kiba had a very strong sense of smell. Currently, to observe the battle, he had injected his chakra into his nose, making his sense of smell thousands of times stronger than that of a normal human.

When someone gets afraid, they would release some scent.

But when he looked at Kuzo, he could smell that he was clean. In fact, not a hint of sweat was on him.

'Why does he seem to struggle?'

"That guy is talented," Kurenai, Kiba's teacher, commented. "But he'll wear out if this continues. Also, why in hell is he wearing pajamas in a fight? Where is his teacher?"

'I don't think so,' thought Kiba. From the look of it, Kuzo was only making weird facial expressions. But his body gave the smell of confidence, not the smell of someone in trouble.

"He's on his own," replied Kakashi. "But let's hope he doesn't mess this up."

Naruto turned to Kiba and said, "that guy is just messing. No way someone who could beat our…"

"Naruto, shut up. It's rude to be loud when they fight," Kakashi said, raising his headband, revealing a red eye with three tomoe.

-x-X-x-

Kuzo stopped flipping, standing up on a wall. The sand surrounded him from every direction, and Gaara, who had his hands aimed at him, finally smirked.

'Sand is strong, but it's an earth element. Lightning should affect it, and I haven't trained a high lightning level yet. Even if I have one or two in my sleeves, I don't want to show it. The problem isn't the first sand shield, but the one applied to his skin.'

'Sand is a bad conductor, but only when dry. Let's take care of the first layer.'

The sand surrounded Kuzo from every direction.

"This is the end," Gaara said calmly as he closed his fist.

The sand applied a huge amount of pressure.

When it went down, what appeared was a crushed wood log.

Gaara opened his eyes widely. He turned his head left and right, looking for Kuzo, who was on another wall.

Kuzo didn't have materials with him. With chakra burning on his fingertip, he started writing with his blood on a wall.

'Now, this should make my win easier.' He created a shadow clone. At the same time, he used a camouflage jutsu, not a very high rank one, but useful. He had gotten it from some missing nin. Kuzo's color changed, blending with the wall. When the smoke vanished around the shadow clone, Kuzo had vanished without someone realizing.

"Gaara, over there!" yelled Kankuro, earning himself a glare from everyone.

Kuzo leaned on the wall with his back, arms crossed and looking at Gaara.

"This is the end?" he repeated Gaara's words in a mocking tone. He then added. "Hold your breath and count to ten."

"I'm quite tired, but I won't move." Kuzo opened his arms, and he said, "So, aim your sand on me. You have one chance, one opportunity."

Gaara extended both arms. A wave of sand headed to Kuzo, pushing him to the wall.

"No time for the replacement jutsu," Gaara said. "Die."

Puff

The clone vanished into a puff, making Gaara flinch.

The real Kuzo appeared above the sand. Smiling, he crossed his fingers. "Seal."

The sands then vanished. A seal appeared on the wall.

"You know the best way to win a sword fight, Gaara." Kuzo jumped from the wall and landed next to Gaara. "Steal the fucking swords before even the battle started."

Gaara's eyelids shook. How wouldn't he? He just lost his weapon.

Well, most of it.

Gaara still had a bit of sand, as the one in front of him was a sand clone.

The real Gaara was hiding under a layer of sand under the ground using some earth jutsu. It's foolish to hide from a sensory shinobi like himself.

Kuzo then appeared in front of Gaara, pointing his finger on the clone's chest, quickly writing a character. The clone's hand turned into sand that wrapped around Kuzo's neck.

Kuzo slipped and tapped on the ground, forming a hand seal with his other hand.

The sand vanished, getting sealed on the ground.

'Now, Gaara has enough sand for me to feign injury. Wait, he had some sand around my neck.'

Kuzo jumped backward, wrapping his hand around his neck, breathing heavily.

"Bastard, you almost choked me to death," Kuzo then panted, muttering. "Fuck. I used most of my chakra on the seals…"

From the ground, under a layer of sand, the real Gaara appeared, staring daggers into Kuzo. "You can use your head. I'll let you keep it."

"You're letting me keep it!" Kuzo joined his hands together, bowed to Gaara, and said. "Thank you. I couldn't be any happier. Gaara the sand… sorry, just Gaara."

-x-X-x-

"He's preventing me from getting his ninjutsu. That's why he's hiding his power," Sasuke commented after observing Kuzo with his Sharingan for a long time.

During his time in the Forest of Death, he'd never had such a humiliating experience, if you don't count what happened with Itachi.

Sasuke didn't find any good reason why Kuzo was messing and not using his full power.

He also didn't use any jutsu, such as that spider web. The things he used so far were air jutsu, camouflage jutsu, which he had copied. And the last thing was Fuinjutsu.

"Ma Sasuke," Kakashi replied, "Don't bother that guy anymore, is that clear?"

"Why are you saying that? He's an asshole who attacked our friend!" replied Naruto.

Sakura nodded, ashamed of admitting any relation to Kuzo.

Sasuke, albeit not saying anything, agreed.

"That friend of yours was a spy," Kakashi said, "I was the one who asked him to do that. You have a problem with that."

Team 7 opened their eyes widely.

Sasuke didn't understand something. Why did Kakashi entrust that mission to Kuzo instead of them?

'He's strong, that's why.'

-x-X-x-

Kuzo took a deep breath before spitting a huge amount of pressurized water toward Gaara, who blocked with his sand. The sand absorbed most of the shock, letting Gaara get wet. The sand wasn't good against water, and Gaara had to use his chakra to keep it on his skin.

Kuzo clapped his hands, smiling widely.

He opened his hands. Because he'd killed people specializing in the lightning element, many of them, he gained their experience in controlling lightning.

He spat a mud-like substance out of his mouth, shaped like clay, forming a club.

He then channeled chakra to it, changing its nature to a purple lightning.

Gaara opened his eyes widely as he looked at his clothes. He was wet. His sand was wet. And given the advantage of lightning against the earth element, it won't be hard to destroy his defenses.

'Lucky me I didn't fight him outside, or else he'd have infinite sand supplies.'

Playing with the club, he said, "Gaara Chan, you said you're going to let me keep my head. I'll be more generous and let you keep your whole body." Opening his mouth like a maniac, he dashed at Gaara with the club.

Gaara opened his eyes widely, raising his arms in defense.