Legacy

Chapter 23: 23 - Clash of Titans

Chapter 23 - Clash of Titans

## Arena ##

Naruto and Gaara were standing a few feet from each other. Each one of them had emotionless faces as they eyed and studied their opponent. The proctor had already started the match but neither of them moved not wanting to make any mistake. Even though Gaara knew that his sand would defend him he somehow knew that Naruto was strong.

Gaara's mother a.k.a Ichibi or Shukaku had warned Gaara to be careful around Naruto since he was also a jinchuuriki and had the kyuubi the strongest of the nine bijuu. The silence in the arena was uncomfortable. There was no sound, no birds, no wind; the crowd itself was silent watching what it was the most anticipated match since the first round.

"Want help?" – Kurama asked.

"No. I want to this on my own I just need a refill should I go empty" – Naruto replied making Kurama smirk at the devotion of his vessel in proving that he can be strong alone.

Suddenly a small breeze lifted up and signaled the start of the match. Gaara's sand slowly started leaving his gourd on his back and started dancing around him. Naruto saw the sand starting to move and jumped back to gain some distance.

Both of them were ready for their fight, Gaara already had his sand outside ready to crush our fellow blonde and Naruto was watching it very carefully with his sharingan blazing.

Gaara suddenly clutched his head in pain making Naruto raise an eyebrow to why suddenly Gaara would feel pain.

"It must be the Ichibi" - Naruto thought as he watched Gaara clutching his head trying to relieve his pain as best as he could. Just as it began the pain suddenly stopped and Gaara slowly raised his head to show Naruto his face angry for blood.

"PROVE MY EXISTENCE UZUMAKI" - Gaara shouted and sent forth a wave of sand towards Naruto intending to crush him instantly. Naruto started evasive maneuvers and he watched the sand splitting into various waves trying to outflank Naruto.

However Naruto's speed coupled with his sharingan made sure Naruto could predict the path of each wave making sure he would never be caught.

"It's a shame they removed the water from the previous match. Since I don't have affinity towards water I can't use high ranking moves without a water source nearby" - Naruto thought as he kept dodging the sand. "Let's see if his sand armor can keep up with me" - Naruto thought as he disappeared in a burst of speed.

Naruto quickly out maneuvered the sand and slipped through it by ducking and sliding beneath the sand and delivered a good right hook into Gaara sending him tumbling to the ground.

Naruto watched as the sand that he used to attack quickly rushed to Gaara to absorb his impact. Naruto also noticed that the sand armor around Gaara's body itself was barely cracked and had already re formed.

"That thing is hard" - Naruto thought as he analyzed in minute detail Gaara's sand armor trying to find the best weakness. If he had the water he would drench his sand with it making it slower and more chakra demanding however that wasn't the case.

Naruto picked a few shurikens and threw them at Gaara from multiple angles but the sand quickly formed a round shell around him and blocked all of them.

"It seems that his sand is automatic since some of the shurikens went to blind spots that Gaara couldn't see" - Naruto thought as he watched Gaara drop his protective shield making the shurikens fall to the floor. "Let's test his strength" - Naruto thought as he was about to pull his big guns to gradually try and penetrate his ultimate defense.