In the stands, the initial wave of awe quickly gave way to a ripple of helpless, stunned murmurs.
"This defense is insane…!"
"Same as every other match—she just can't be broken. Every single attack gets neutralized. How the hell are you supposed to fight that?"
"Absolute Defense, they call it. Guess the name wasn't marketing hype."
"Shame, though. That Leaf kid's speed is ridiculous, his tactics are flawless, but he literally can't get close."
"Power gap's just too big. That Sand kunoichi hasn't even moved more than a couple steps—she's straight-up crushing him with chakra and technique."
"Looks like the championship's already decided…"
Up in the VIP box, the Third Kazekage watched the arena with growing ease. Karura held total control; the match only looked even. He tilted his head slightly toward the Third Hokage and spoke with polite detachment.
"Lord Hokage, your young shinobi's tactical execution and adaptability are impressive—his willpower, too. But against an absolute difference in strength… technique can only carry you so far."
The Third Hokage took a slow drag from his pipe, his gentle smile never wavering. "You may be right, Lord Kazekage. Still, the outcome isn't settled yet. The resilience of the young can sometimes surprise even us old men. Let's keep watching."
Down on the field, after dodging yet another side-sweeping sand wave, Shinichi suddenly burst backward, opening more than fifty meters between himself and Karura in a single breath.
He planted his right foot hard, steadying himself. His chest expanded as he drew in a deep breath. Chakra around his body began to surge with a wild, unique rhythm—violent, boiling, building.
The air trembled. Tiny pebbles and sand grains lifted off the ground, caught in an invisible vortex that slowly spun around him.
The unmistakable wind-up for Leaf Dragon God.
Karura's gentle brows furrowed for the first time. She had watched his previous match; she recognized the stance and remembered the raw, earth-shattering power of that technique.
She'd assumed his brutal fight against his comrade would have left him too drained to use it again. Apparently not.
But this was the one move that truly threatened her. She couldn't allow him to finish it.
No more holding back.
Her hands snapped together. Chakra surged at full power.
"Sand Shower!"
The massive volume of sand hovering around her condensed instantly—not into giant hands or walls this time, but compressed into countless iron-hard sand bullets. They rained down like a storm, targeting Shinichi's head and upper body with lethal precision.
Their goal was simple: interrupt the charge.
But the invisible gale of chakra spinning around Shinichi had already taken shape.
The incoming sand bullets slammed into that barrier and immediately veered off course, slowed, then spiraled helplessly away—unable to pierce the growing energy field.
Karura's eyes narrowed. Long-range disruption had failed. She didn't hesitate.
Both palms slammed downward onto the ground.
"Flowing Sand Burial!"
A massive wave of chakra rippled into the earth like a shockwave, swallowing the entire final arena in an instant.
The solid rock floor—under the disbelieving eyes of every spectator—began to sandify with terrifying speed, centered on Karura.
Hard stone softened, crumbled, turned to flowing quicksand. In just two or three breaths the entire wide stage had become a shifting, sinking desert under her absolute command.
Her intention was brutally clear: trap Shinichi's feet from below, break his coming charge and leap, maybe even swallow and bury him outright.
But the very instant the flowing sand reached him—
Shinichi's charge was already complete.
This also exposed Karura's critical weakness once again: her lack of real combat experience and poor grasp of timing. She had failed to interrupt his wind-up twice in a row.
If she truly fought at elite Jonin level, Leaf Dragon God would never have left the ground.
Shinichi stomped down. The ground that hadn't fully turned to sand yet exploded beneath his foot.
Using that massive recoil, he launched himself skyward, body spinning at terrifying speed.
WHOOSH—BOOM!
Vast, dense azure chakra detonated upward.
The surrounding gale swelled and solidified. Sand and gravel were blasted away. A majestic, ferocious azure dragon head materialized at the front of the spinning hurricane, roaring silently.
Leaf Dragon God—unleashed once more!
Below, Karura's flowing sand burial was complete. The entire desert boiled at her will.
Facing the azure dragon diving from above with world-ending force, she raised both hands, eyes calm and resolute.
"Great Sand Burial!"
RRRRUMBLE—!!
Every grain of sand under her control—every speck she had converted—answered the call at once.
The yellow ocean woke in fury. Towering sand waves surged skyward, far larger than anything she had used before, threatening to swallow the entire sky. They rose with apocalyptic momentum, crashing head-on into the diving azure dragon.
Azure destruction versus yellow burial.
They collided without the slightest flourish.
BOOOOOOM—!!!!
An indescribable thunderclap detonated. The center of impact erupted in blinding white light and chaotic energy. A savage shockwave mixed with shredded sand, chakra flames, and pulverized stone dust formed a massive, rolling gray-yellow mushroom cloud that instantly swallowed half the arena.
Vision was completely lost. Even the reinforced barrier walls shook and hummed violently.
And in that split second of blindness and sensory chaos—
SHING!
A cold flash of steel tore through the dust cloud from the heart of the explosion. A sharp katana shot forward like a missile, tip aimed straight at Karura.
Karura's brows twitched. She stayed calm.
Sand surged up in front of her automatically. The familiar Shield of Sand condensed instantly, ready to intercept what looked like a desperate last throw.
The katana arrived in the blink of an eye—
POOF!
Not the clang of steel on sand, but the soft burst of a smoke bomb.
The flying katana dissolved into white smoke. From inside the cloud, a black figure flashed out like a ghost—Shinichi Higashino himself.
And in his right palm, thrust forward, a head-sized, madly spinning azure chakra sphere already blazed with heart-stopping destructive force.
Giant Rasengan!
Bad—!
Karura's light-brown eyes shrank to pinpricks. Pure instinct screamed danger.
She could feel the terrifying piercing power and raw destruction packed inside that orb. It might actually… shatter her Shield of Sand.
She wanted to retreat. She wanted to layer more sand for defense.
But the flaw born from years behind a desk and zero real deathmatches showed itself again—her body reacted a fatal half-beat slower than her mind.
That single instant was all Shinichi needed.
With a low shout, he drove the head-sized storm of energy straight into the Shield of Sand right in front of him.
BOOM—!!!
A deafening explosion rang out—completely different from every collision before.
The moment the Giant Rasengan touched the sand shield, the ultra-dense, hyper-rotating chakra displayed its horrifying piercing property. The solid sand surface let out a cracking groan. It held for less than half a second before it was drilled straight through.
Though the Rasengan shrank slightly and dimmed during the breach, the remaining energy was still catastrophic. Like a cannon shell, it slammed dead-center into Karura's arms, which she had barely managed to cross in front of her chest.