Before the names even flashed on the screen, Gaara had guessed it; with a sand Shunshin he appeared in the center of the field.
'Get down here—now.'
He glared at Kano and growled. Last time he had been careless and hadn't dodged; this time he would kill her for sure.
Kano's face flushed with embarrassment. She had just finished bragging to Naruto and now this. All she could do was force an awkward laugh.
'Ah-ha-ha, don't hold grudges—let's talk this out nicely.'
Kano obediently took the stairs down. She could have jumped, used a Body Flicker, or made some other flashy entrance.
But she was still strolling down the steps, pondering how to reform that problem child Gaara.
Maybe sing him a chorus of "Father"?
Fighting Ino would have surprised her, yet redeeming Gaara wasn't impossible; later events showed his heart wasn't evil. Untie the knot in it and friendship was possible.
Trouble was, Kano wasn't Naruto—she lacked those "talk-no-jutsu" lips that could convert an enemy with a few words.
What she excelled at was bribery: tempt or drive people with whatever they wanted or needed, steering them toward her goal.
But what did Gaara need? He'd always been cold, seemingly without desire. Kano had a few answers in mind and would test them shortly.
"Hurry up!"
"Don't rush me, I'm coming."
Urged by Gaara, Kano jogged the last few steps onto the field.
With the consumptive proctor Gekkō Hayate's announcement, the third exam officially began.
Gaara raised his hand; raging sand converged, clearly intent on killing Kano. She lifted her own hand and shouted,
"Hold on!"
He ignored her completely, sending sand to surround her. Left with no choice, Kano dodged. Her taijutsu was decent, but she wasn't Rock Lee; feet alone couldn't outrun sand.
Violence was forbidden, so she couldn't just blow him away—only defend and flee. She needed a shadow with better taijutsu to carry her.
"Appear! Shadow Deer Tube!"
A brawny titan strode forth, but its head was a stag's, forehead protector bearing not a Village emblem but a clock.
Vein-laced arms looked able to run a horse; one hand gripped a pipe thicker than Kano herself, the other tossed her onto its shoulder and sprinted away.
The summon left Lee dumbstruck—such perfect muscle, such explosive power, such broad, reliable shoulders for Kano to sit upon!
He would train until he looked like that!
Kakashi stared at the thing, baffled by Kano.
He'd assumed her secret art used the dead as mediums; the previous Shadow Ninja had clearly been Zabuza and Haku. He'd even planned to report to Hokage-sama to have the jutsu banned, since exploiting corpses violated human decency.
Yet this bizarre creature was too abstract to exist in reality; obviously Kano had fabricated it.
If she could mold shadows to this level, why kill for templates? Did that mean the earlier Shadow Ninja had also been sculpted from her impressions of the originals?
Kakashi silently dissected the principles of her technique; the new theory seemed plausible.
"I apologize for earlier—I shouldn't have hit you like that! In return, could we talk? Maybe we can be friends."
At the word "friends," Gaara paused, then attacked even harder.
"Hey! Don't get worked up—I understand your pain. Treated like a monster, feared and hated, no one to open up to, no acceptance, no friends, no comrades. Even family keeps its distance; no one sees you as human, only as a tool, a freak."
"You understand me? Do you also have a monster inside, the same misfortune?"
Kano had struck the exact nerve; Gaara's hands slackened and the assault halted.
Recalling her uncanny strength, he wondered if she shared his burden. So someone else endured the same pain. If it were her, perhaps… Just then Kano spoke up.
"Nope. No monster inside; my family's perfectly happy—my mother dotes on me, my father cares, and there's my annoying big brother."
"Hey, why do I get the lousy adjective?" Shikamaru complained from the stands.
"Quiet," Kano scolded, then continued, "The villagers adore me, my teammates trust me, little kids worship me."
She lapsed into her usual boasting; the miserable childhood she described shattered Gaara's composure, and he poured out Chakra in a frenzied assault.
What is wrong with you people in this world—do you hate seeing anyone happy?
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