The Hope of the Senju Clan

Chapter 24: Emergence of Talent

-The Arena-

After the incident between Hinata and Neji had settled and everyone had returned to Catwalk, the next match soon started, which was between Gaara and one of Mai's teammates.

When Mai's teammate faced off against Gaara, he took off his cloak and revealed himself to be average looking boy wearing a standard shinobi uniform with brown hair a small scar on his left cheek. On his back he carried six folded up umbrellas.

When Hayate started the match, the Ame Genin threw his umbrellas into the air and did a single hand seal before yelling out "Jouro Senbon (Senbon Shower)!"

After which a hail of Senbon needles fell from above, where the Ame Genin then used his Chakra to control the Needles and had them attack Gaara from every direction.

"This match is mine; you cannot avoid my attack no matter what direction you take" the Ame Genin declared as the hail of needles fell on Gaara.

But, just as the needles were about to hit Gaara, a large amount of Sand suddenly came out of his Gourd and surrounded him and acted like a shield, protecting him from the needles.

-With Naruto and the others-

"It's exactly like that nightmare before" thought Shino with fear, where he could see his team-mate Kiba sweating profoundly and his partner Akamaru whimpering in his jacket.

"Shit he can use sand, but then that means..." thought Naruto with shock, as he remember what he read during in visit to the Fire Daimyo private Library, (1) before he turned to his mother and the others.

"Kaa-chan I think that guy is like Yugito-chan and Killer Bee"

When Tsunade and the others heard this their eyes widen in surprise, "Naruto are you sure of this?"

"Positive" replied the boy.

"If this is true, then things have become even more complicated" thought the Sandaime.

"I knew there was something up with that Kid" thought Ibiki as he stared down at the Suna Genin.

"Damnit, what the hell is Suna thinking letting a kid like him entering this exam?" Jiraiya thought, as he had heard the stories how the jinchūriki of the Shukaku would often go insane.

"Shit, as if things weren't complicated enough with the Kumo-nins and Hanzo Granddaughter here. Counting Naruto, there are now four jinchūriki in the arena right now" thought Kushina with a frown. As she could not help but wonder if this was come kind of omen, since whenever more than one jinchūriki appeared in the same place at the same time, disaster was never far behind.

"Could that boy be after Naruto? Like Hanzo's Granddaughter and the Kumo-nins" Tsunade wondered. Since like Kushina she found it all too coincidental for Gaara and the Kumo-nins to be in this exam with Naruto.

"Naruto-kun, what do you mean by that? How is that guy like those Kumo Shinobi?" Ino asked, as she stood next to Naruto after the end Hinata's match.

Sadly though Ino never got an answer, as Naruto was focused solely on Gaara and remained silent.

Before Ino could even try to ask again, her attention was suddenly caught by what Gaara did next.

-Down in the Arena-

"Impossible!" cried the Ame Genin in shock, as he could believe his attack had been so easily blocked by Gaara's sand that there wasn't a scratch on him.

"I've have already see this technique, is this really all you can do?" asked Gaara in a board like tone.

"Not even close!" yelled the Ame Geni, before he launched another barrage of Senbon needles at Gaara, which he block, by maintaining his sand wall. But unlike the last time, the Ame Genin had thrown several Senbon needles along with the ones that came from the umbrella. Attached to them were some exploding notes, which he activated as soon as they hit Gaara's Sand wall.