Outside Konoha Village, in a clearing in the forest.
After dispatching most of his Shadow Clones back to the village for support, Naruto's gaze returned to Gaara, who was struggling in pain on the ground.
"Wuwuwu... Aaaaaaah! My head... my head hurts so much! Mama... my head... it hurts so much!"
Gaara, in his half-Tailed Beast state, had patterns on his face like shattered pottery, and fine sand constantly trickled from the cracks.
Because he was physically and mentally exhausted at this moment, his willpower had plummeted, and the seal had become extremely fragile; the One-Tails Shukaku inside him was taking the opportunity to madly assault the seal, attempting to forcibly seize control of his body—this was the root cause of his severe headache.
Naruto walked forward, crouched down, and did not flinch in the slightest due to the monstrous appearance. He gently placed his hand on Gaara's mutated, trembling shoulder.
Healing energy and life energy slowly flowed into Gaara's body and spirit, which were on the verge of collapse.
The severe headache receded like a tide, and Gaara's tense body gradually relaxed, leaving only heavy gasps as if he had survived a catastrophe.
"Feeling better?" Naruto's voice was calm. "Don't worry, trust me, after today, everything... will slowly get better."
However, this well-intentioned comfort instantly ignited the most sensitive, most obsessive fuse deep within Gaara's heart!
"Don't touch me—!"
He violently swung his arm, fiercely swatting away Naruto's hand from his shoulder. His half-human, half-beast face contorted as he stared fixedly at Naruto with eyes full of hatred and madness, roaring in a hoarse voice.
"Stop... stop with this fake sympathy!"
"What do you know?! Between people... there has only ever been mutual slaughter! Mutual betrayal! Mutual exploitation! This is the truth of the world! Only by taking lives... with hot blood... can I feel that I am alive! Only then can I prove the value of my existence!"
Faced with this violent roar, Naruto did not refute, nor did he get angry. He knew that the distorted words and actions of the young man before him were not his true nature, but rather a protective shell formed after being pushed to the brink by an upbringing full of betrayal, isolation, and cruel exploitation.
He simply gazed back at Gaara, and in his deep blue eyes, there was no fear, no disgust, only... sympathy.
"No," Naruto's voice carried an undeniable firmness, "between people, indeed, misunderstandings and fear can create barriers and prejudices."
"But precisely because of this, we need even more to muster the courage to approach each other, to build bridges of understanding. I believe that in the deepest part of anyone's heart, there is a kindness willing to understand others, and a loneliness yearning to be understood by others. And I..."
He extended his hand slightly forward.
"...I want to take your hand and walk out of that fog called 'loneliness' and 'hatred' together."
Unfathomable! Completely unfathomable!
Seeing this "kindness" once again, which he had long ceased to believe in and even scoffed at, Gaara's remaining sanity was swallowed by a deeper frenzy. He used his unmutated hand to tightly cover his half-face, which was constantly leaking sand and throbbing with excruciating pain.
"Shut up! What do you know about me?! Someone like you, born strong, surrounded by comrades, with a clear purpose in life... and a monster like me, who has existed only for slaughter since birth... we are fundamentally two completely different beings!"
His voice was distorted and trembling with extreme emotion.
"Indeed... only by killing you! Only through your death can I prove my existence! Only then can I... return to being that Asura who only knows how to love himself and lives only for slaughter!"
He suddenly dropped his hand, his beast-like pupils locked onto Naruto, filled with pure killing intent.
"You... can only be my prey! I can't wait... to see... what wonderful expression of fear will appear on your always deceptively gentle face... before you die!"
"Boom—!!!"
Accompanying his insane declaration, a massive, ominous, and violent Chakra of the Tailed Beast, filled with rage and hatred, surged out of his body like a breaching flood! This power was subtly of the same origin as the Nine-Tailed Chakra on Naruto, yet it exuded a completely different aura!
"Gaara! Stop! Stop it now!"
Panicked shouts came from the edge of the forest. Kankuro and Temari finally tracked them down, following the massive Chakra disturbance, but when they saw the scene before them, their faces instantly turned pale—the situation was completely out of control!
According to the plan, Gaara's full Tailed Beast transformation had to take place inside Konoha Village to maximize destruction! Releasing Shukaku here, everything would be over!
But it was already too late. Accompanied by huge smoke and a Chakra shockwave, everything in front of them was blurry. After the dust settled, a colossal figure stood in place.
"I, the great one, am finally out—!!!"
A sharp and enormous roar echoed through the forest. The fully transformed Tailed Beast, One-Tails Shukaku, who had completely seized control of Gaara's body, let out waves of excited sound that spread like a shockwave, making the surrounding leaves rustle.
"In the end... it still came out..."
Looking at the monstrous creature before her, a symbol of absolute disaster and madness, Temari's legs gave out, and she collapsed directly to the ground. The feeling of failure beyond the plan was now overwhelmed by a more primal emotion—fear.
In this state, would Gaara truly still distinguish friend from foe? Would he... crush everything in sight?
Unlike the siblings, who were almost dazed with fear, Naruto, instead, took a few steps forward and looked up to speak to the roaring giant beast.
"You finally appeared, One-Tails... I understand your desire to regain freedom, but Gaara didn't willingly seal you inside his body. Isn't it a bit unfair to force a child like this?"
"Hmm?"
Shukaku, immersed in the joy of its escape, heard this tiny voice and lowered its head in confusion. Someone actually recognized it and dared to speak to it in such a tone? It clearly saw the ant-like figure at its feet.
On the other side, Temari and Kankuro were completely unable to comprehend the scene before them. Was this guy... mentally deranged from too much fright? Was he trying to reason with this monster?!
Naruto seemed completely unaffected by the Chakra pressure that would make ordinary Ninja collapse. He offered a condition, "How about this, let's make a bet. If I defeat you, can you behave a little more peacefully inside Gaara's body from now on? At least... let him get some good sleep, how about that?"
"Wh... what?! Pfft—hahahahahaha!!!"
Shukaku froze for a second, then burst into a wild laugh that almost tore the sky apart. What did it see? A human brat, actually seriously negotiating with it and claiming to defeat it?
This utterly absurd scene made Shukaku laugh so hard that all the sand on its body trembled violently.
"Just... just you, this brat?!" Shukaku's voice was full of disdain and mockery.
"Ignorant human, are you so scared that you've started talking nonsense? That's hilarious! You... you are!!!"
However, as its words were about to end, its perception ability, stemming from the depths of its soul, finally caught a certain aura emanating from Naruto, an aura it knew intimately and intensely disliked. The expression on Shukaku's giant sandy beast-face instantly froze, then transformed into undisguised panic.
It even instinctively took a step back, causing the ground to tremble.
But this panic lasted only a moment, quickly replaced by a more surging rage, accumulated over countless years. The beast-face contorted with extreme fury, letting out a deafening roar.
"It... it's you! No wonder you're so arrogant... so you're the Jinchuriki of that stinking fox!!! Die, you brat!"
Accompanied by this roar filled with ancient grudges, the One-Tails Shukaku suddenly took a deep breath. A high concentration of Wind Release Chakra visibly gathered and compressed rapidly in front of its giant mouth. Immediately after, its massive claw slammed hard into its bulging abdomen.
"Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet!!"
A giant Chakra sphere, imbued with destructive power, shot out like a cannonball, tearing through the air with a piercing whistle, and blasted towards Naruto, as well as Temari and Kankuro behind him!
Faced with this terrifying Tailed Beast-level Ninjutsu, Temari and Kankuro trembled all over, realizing in despair that at their speed, it was impossible to escape the blast's range. The shadow of death instantly enveloped their hearts.
Are we... going to die here... "Boom!!!!"
The deafening explosion and violent shockwave arrived as expected, and the intense wind pressure made it almost impossible to breathe.
However, the anticipated excruciating pain of being torn to shreds and eternal darkness did not arrive. Kankuro and Temari trembled as they opened their eyes, which had been tightly shut in fear.
They saw a brilliant golden figure standing firmly in front of them. A giant claw made of golden Chakra had directly caught the Drilling Air Bullet, which was powerful enough to level a mountain!
The violent Wind Release energy collided with the giant Chakra claw, erupting in countless chaotic air currents and light, yet it could not shake it in the slightest, finally dissipating harmlessly into nothingness.
------------------------
I've posted 70+ chapters in advance on Patreon.
Webnovel updates will still be daily, as usual.
It might not seem tempting right nobut who knows what the future holds?
[email protected]/TripleCrown
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"