[One Week Later - Konoha General Hospital]
The first week of the month-long break passed in a blur of mundane activities. I spent most of my time refining my [Armament Haki] by punching boulders into dust, collecting royalties from my publishing company (turns out The Kunoichi's Forbidden Heat was a massive bestseller in the Wind Country), and intentionally avoiding Kakashi and Ebisu.
Today, I decided to do some public relations.
I walked through the sterile, white halls of the Konoha Hospital, carrying a fruit basket I had "borrowed" from a vendor who tried to overcharge me.
My first stop was Room 302.
I pushed the door open without knocking.
Hinata Hyuga was sitting up in her hospital bed, looking much better. Her bruises were fading. But she wasn't reading a book or resting. She was holding the glossy 8x10 photo of shirtless Naruto, staring at it with an intensity that would have made the Sharingan jealous.
"You're going to burn a hole through the paper if you stare any harder, Hinata," I announced, setting the fruit basket on the bedside table.
Hinata shrieked, frantically hiding the photo under her blanket. Her face turned the color of a ripe tomato.
"K-Kenji-kun! I-I wasn't... I was just... inspecting the... the water droplets! For training!"
"Right. Visualizing fluid dynamics. Very advanced," I smirked, pulling up a chair. "How's the chest? Neji hit you pretty hard."
Hinata touched her shoulder, looking down. "The medics said I'll make a full recovery. Thank you... for stepping in. And for the... the prize. You didn't have to."
"I always honor my wagers," I said lazily. "Keep that fire, kid. Next time you fight Neji, don't just slap him. Kick him in the 'Destiny'. It's super effective."
Hinata giggled softly, a rare, genuine sound. "I'll... I'll try to remember that."
I stood up to leave.
But as my hand touched the doorknob, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. The air in the hallway suddenly dropped ten degrees. The smell of antiseptic was overpowered by the distinct, metallic scent of blood and dry desert sand.
[Observation Haki: Ping.]
[Threat Detected: Gaara of the Sand.]
[Mental State: Psychotic / Murderous.]
I frowned. Ah. Right. The hospital assassination attempt.
"Stay here, Hinata," I said, my voice losing its playful edge. "Lock the door. Don't open it unless it's a doctor."
"Kenji-kun? Is something wrong?"
"Just a pest control issue," I stepped out and closed the door behind me.
[Room 301 - Rock Lee's Room]
The killing intent was suffocating. It was leaking out from under the door of the room next to Hinata's. Lee's room.
I didn't bother opening the door normally.
I kicked it.
CRASH.
The wooden door splintered inward, bouncing off the wall.
Inside, the lights were off. Rock Lee was lying in bed, fast asleep, heavily bandaged and completely defenseless.
Standing over him was Gaara.
His gourd was uncorked. A massive tendril of pale sand was creeping up the side of the bed, shaping itself into a monstrous hand, hovering right over Lee's throat.
Gaara turned his head slowly. His pale, sea-foam eyes were wide, bloodshot, and completely insane. The dark rings around his eyes looked like bruised flesh.
"You..." Gaara whispered, his voice raspy. "You interrupted me."
"And you have terrible bedside manners, Panda-Eyes," I walked into the room, stepping casually over the broken door. "Visiting hours are over. And I'm pretty sure sand isn't sterile."
Gaara clutched his head, his face twitching. "Mother... she wants his blood. She is thirsty. He fought me... he must die to prove my existence."
"Your existential crisis is boring," I sighed, stopping a few feet away from the bed. "Listen closely. I gave the green guy a very expensive healing potion. If you crush him into paste, my investment is ruined. And I hate losing money."
The sand hand over Lee tightened into a fist.
"I will kill him," Gaara hissed, extending his hand toward me. "And then... I will kill you. Mother wants you most of all. Your blood smells... thick."
A second tendril of sand shot from his gourd, hurtling toward my chest like a spear.
I didn't dodge.
[Skill: Armament Haki (Hardening) - Active.]
My chest and arms flashed black.
CLANG.
The sand spear struck me dead center. It didn't pierce flesh. It sounded like it hit a solid block of titanium. The sand shattered upon impact, raining down harmlessly onto the linoleum floor.
Gaara froze. For the first time, a flicker of genuine confusion crossed his psychotic features. "What...?"
"Sand is just tiny rocks, Gaara," I said, taking a slow, deliberate step forward. "And rocks break."
I raised my foot, coating my leg in Haki, and stomped down on the sand tendril creeping toward Lee's bed.
CRUNCH.
I didn't just step on it. I exerted my chakra downward. The sheer pressure of the Haki completely disrupted his chakra control over the sand. The entire tendril collapsed into a lifeless pile of dust.
Gaara stumbled backward, his eyes wide with shock. "My sand... you crushed my sand?!"
"I'm crushing your ego, kid," I kept walking forward.
Gaara panicked. His absolute defense automatically flared to life, a thick wall of hardened sand rising between us.
"Sand Shield!"
I pulled my right arm back. The black sheen of the Haki seemed to absorb the dim light in the room.
"Let me show you a real absolute defense," I whispered.
BAM!
I punched the sand shield.
The impact cracked the air. A shockwave blew the hospital curtains wildy. The supposedly impenetrable Sand Shield didn't just crack—it exploded.
My fist broke right through the center of the barrier, scattering sand across the entire room. My hand shot through the opening and clamped firmly around Gaara's throat.
I lifted him off the floor with one hand.
Gaara gasped, clawing frantically at my arm. But his nails scraped against hardened black steel. He couldn't even break the skin.
"You rely too much on your mother's parlor tricks," I said, holding him up. Our faces were inches apart. "You think you're a monster because you have a demon in a teapot sealed inside your gut? Because you kill weaklings who can't bypass a wall of dirt?"
I let my [Gamer's Mind] drop its suppression for a fraction of a second, allowing my raw, overwhelmingly dense chakra to flare up.
To Gaara's senses, the room didn't just get cold. It vanished. He was staring into a bottomless abyss, suffocating under the weight of a predator far larger and far older than the One-Tails.
Gaara stopped clawing at me. He trembled. Pure, primal terror flooded his eyes.
"Listen to me very carefully," I whispered, my voice echoing in the silent room. "If you touch Lee before the finals, I will turn your gourd into an ashtray and I will pave a driveway with your 'Mother'. Do we have an understanding?"
Gaara couldn't speak. The pressure was crushing his vocal cords. He just managed a frantic, jerky nod.
I released my Haki and dropped him.
Gaara hit the floor, coughing violently, scrambling backward on his hands and knees until his back hit the wall. He stared at me like I was the devil incarnate.
"Good," I dusted off my hands, looking back at the sleeping Lee (who somehow hadn't woken up through the entire ordeal). "Now clean up your dirt and get out. You're making a mess."
Gaara didn't say a word. The sand practically flew back into his gourd in a desperate rush. He turned into a swirl of sand and fled out the window, disappearing into the night as fast as he could.
[System Notification]
[Event Cleared: The Hospital Assassination.]
[Gaara's View of You: Absolute Terror / Unbeatable.]
[Shameless Points: +1,500.]
"Haki is broken," I chuckled, stretching my neck. "I love it."
"Kenji?"
I turned around. Standing in the hallway, looking at the shattered door and the residual sand on the floor, was Shikamaru. He was holding a basket of fruit.
"What... what a drag," Shikamaru muttered, assessing the damage. "Did you just fight Gaara?"
"Nah," I picked up a stray apple from the floor and tossed it to him. "Just giving the Sand Village a little lesson in geology. How's the cloud-watching going?"
Author's Note:
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