In the Thousand Rain Senbon technique, every single senbon was controlled by chakra.
A jutsu with absolutely no blind spots, top to bottom, left to right.
But sadly, Gaara's defense also had no blind spots, top to bottom, left to right.
Every single senbon struck the sand.
Kankuro slipped into his usual straight-man routine: "That's right—this is the absolute defense formed by sand, manipulating the sand inside the gourd and fixing it with powerful chakra to protect him from all sides. It's a technique unique to Gaara. And it's completely independent of Gaara's consciousness—it's an automatic defense. You guys can't beat Gaara."
"Don't underestimate me!"
The older Rain-nin charged in.
"Hmph hmph, this guy's a goner."
"That's what he gets for going against Gaara."
Temari and Kankuro were still both shivering.
At that moment, Gaara finished his hand seals: "Sand Binding Coffin!"
The older Rain-nin was instantly wrapped up in sand, unable to move.
"Thousand Rain Senbon? Let's give you a rain of blood, then."
The sand-wrapped older Rain-nin shot straight up into the sky.
"Sand Waterfall Funeral!"
The sand ground the man into pieces, and a rain of blood rained down across the whole scene.
"Sp-spare us..."
The other two Rain-nin tried to beg for mercy. They dropped their scroll and tried to leave, but Gaara caught them again—and turned them into a smear of pulp.
Kankuro walked over: "Exactly the Heaven Scroll we needed. What luck. Let's head to the tower, Gaara."
But Gaara, who had just finished the slaughter, turned his head in another direction.
"Shut up. Blood—it's not enough yet."
He'd noticed Hinata's trio.
"We've been spotted!" Hinata clamped a hand over her mouth.
"Hey, Gaara, that's enough already," Kankuro said.
"Are you scared, coward!" Gaara was radiating killing intent.
But Kankuro couldn't hold it in anymore: "To you it might not be a big deal, but this is way too dangerous for us!"
—That woman is still inside this exam!
During the first exam, Kankuro had been caught in a genjutsu and hadn't even realized what had happened. Even after the exam ended, Temari had tried to undo it with no luck; it took their Jōnin teacher Baki to finally release him from the genjutsu.
Add in what had happened when they'd first arrived in Konoha, and Kankuro was close to developing a full-on phobia of that one particular woman.
"Trash, don't give me orders!"
Gaara snorted coldly.
"Listen to your big brother once in a while! Gaara!" Kankuro grabbed Gaara by the collar.
"I never considered you two my brothers. And if you dare get in my way—I'll kill you."
"Oh no, oh no, oh no..." Kiba Inuzuka and Akamaru were trembling.
But at that moment, a voice suddenly rang out.
"Gaara-san, don't say such harsh things. You'll hurt your big brother's feelings, you know."
She was speaking up for him, but the moment Kankuro heard that voice, his whole being fell apart.
Meanwhile, over on the other side, Team 8 let out a collective breath of relief.
"It's Hanabi!" Hinata blushed, the corners of her mouth lifting.
Her hand clenched around the Riddler Doll Hanabi had given her.
"Ah, so it's that one..." Kiba Inuzuka and Shino both relaxed too.
They didn't know exactly how strong Hanabi was, but they'd at least completed an A-rank mission together. Plus they had that prodigy Sasuke on their team...
"If you go any further, it'll be genuinely dangerous for your two older siblings, Gaara."
Gaara raised his head.
Hanabi—now in her shinobi gear—was crouched on a tree branch. She was still wearing a mask, but this wasn't the Fool's mask; it was a plain spare version of the same design.
Beside Hanabi sat three trembling Rain ninja.
"...Huh?!"
Gaara looked down.
There was no rain of blood on the ground anymore.
Where the blood rain should have been, nameless flowers were blooming instead.
"Here we go again!"
Genjutsu.
Kankuro reflexively formed the release sign.
"As I thought, something's off about this place too."
Fine threads were coiled through the surrounding space.
Wires made visually invisible by some method.
Gaara had already spotted the three hidden members of Team 8.
But if Gaara pressed any closer, Gaara himself would be fine—but Kankuro and Temari would definitely get sliced into seventeen pieces and turn into a pile of chunks on the ground.
"Gaara, enough. Let's go," Kankuro said. He wasn't asking for anything more.
"Right, the situation is bad for us." Temari spoke up too, trying to defuse him.
"She's just one woman, what are you two afraid of?!"
Gaara was furious.
"And you—daring to rescue my prey too. You deserve to die a thousand deaths!"
Showing up to threaten him was one thing.
But Hanabi had actually rescued the three Rain ninja he was going to kill—that was a flat-out provocation!
"Sand Binding Coffin!"
Sand shot directly toward Hanabi in the air.
Without a doubt, though—that was an illusion.
Over on the other side, Hanabi smiled at the three Rain ninja who were too stunned to even speak.
"Actually, Amegakure's jutsu is pretty interesting. And it just so happens I know that move of yours too—"
Hanabi pulled out a red umbrella and tossed it into the air.
"Ninja Art: Thousand Rain Senbon!"
Even though it was only one umbrella, the senbon that burst out of it were more than what four Amegakure umbrellas could produce!
"Foolish!"
Gaara didn't even need to look. No matter how many senbon there were, they couldn't break through his defense.
"—!"
But Kankuro immediately spotted what was off. Hanabi's senbon were visibly thicker than ordinary senbon—practically as thick as kunai!
"Gaara, watch out!"
The senbon hit the sand shell. An instant later, they exploded.
A jet of molten metal punched straight through Gaara's sand-shell defense.
"Gaara!" Kankuro screamed.
[Lmao]
[That was a fake technique, this is the real one]
[That's a goddamn armor-piercing round]
[The person above me—that's a shaped charge]
[Dead from laughing, the boomerang came back faster than expected]
[Last time Hanabi's move got blocked by Haku, I had a feeling she'd been working on an upgrade]
[Then she ran into the other barrel]
[Why is there smoke]
[Smoke, zero damage.JPG]
"...Morons! So loud!"
Just as the audience guessed, Gaara wasn't hurt.
There was also a layer of Armor of Sand coating his body, and that layer had blocked the metal jet.
"Oh my, you're really something. After my senbon burst, the tip forces the interior metal—heated and pressurized—out into a jet. Because it's a metal jet, there's no real way to block it by just toughing it out. I didn't expect you to be able to defend against this one too." Hanabi considerately explained it for both Gaara and the audience.
[Grass (a type of exclamation), it really is an armor-piercing round]
[Ridiculous metal jet]
[This time, science wins]