Cracks began to spread across the word "Love" that Gaara had just carved into his forehead.
He was like a vessel overflowing with malice, finally shattering apart as a terrifying aura surged violently from the fissures in his body.
Ominous dread descended once again upon this village surrounded by the vast desert.
Crimson chakra continuously seeped out of Gaara, and the Shukaku within him fell into a state of wild ecstasy.
Rasa, who was observing from a short distance away, sensed the abnormality immediately. He narrowed his eyes slightly, a flicker of disappointment surfacing within them.
It seems Gaara still lacks the capacity to become a weapon. In that case...
As he had done many times before, Rasa raised his arm without hesitation. Magnet Style chakra manipulated the gold dust hidden beneath the Hidden Sand Village, causing it to surge upward. It carried a powerful sealing force, surrounding Gaara just as he was about to go berserk.
This single movement caused Gaara's tailed beast transformation process to stagnate for a moment.
With the seal already placed inside Gaara's body, Rasa only needed to use sealing jutsu from the outside to resonate with the internal seal. By doing so, he could easily suppress Shukaku once again.
This was the source of Rasa's confidence in constantly testing Gaara and Shukaku.
In his view, as long as those seals existed on Gaara's body, the mere Shukaku was nothing to fear.
Feeling the sealing force surging from the outside, the One-Tail Shukaku within Gaara's body immediately changed its expression.
The sealing power on its body was resonating with the outside world, forming a giant pyramid that began to press down upon it.
Shukaku let out a piercing screech: "Damn brat, it's your turn to act!"
I know, I know. Don't be in such a rush.
Simu's figure emerged within Gaara's body. He lightly pushed up his glasses, and several massive tentacles instantly sprouted from his back, death-gripping the descending pyramid to hold it back.
Furthermore, those tentacles rapidly released a large amount of pitch-black, foul-smelling tainted blood. In an instant, it permeated the seal that Rasa had meticulously prepared.
Based on Simu's research during this period, he had already gained a deep understanding of the seal Rasa had set.
After this, these sealing jutsus were primarily designed to guard against the Tailed Beast inside the Jinchuriki. If someone were to reverse the release from the outside, success was relatively easy to achieve.
Combined with Shukaku's full-force impact and Gaara's own extreme impulse to destroy everything, breaking this seal was not a difficult task.
Naturally, to achieve this, the most important thing was to have someone stop Rasa from coming to reinforce the seal.
Consequently, another Simu appeared in front of Rasa.
Rasa looked at the man wearing a tiger-patterned mask, and a bad feeling immediately took hold of his heart.
After all, they were standing in the core area of the entire Hidden Sand Village. Any outsider wanting to reach this place would need to pass through layers of inspections. This guy was actually so relaxed, and Rasa had not detected even a hint of his aura until just now.
"Ignoring your own son's pain, and instead feeling disappointed that he cannot become a truly cold-blooded weapon..."
"Compared to a Tailed Beast, it seems you, the Fourth Kazekage, are even more cold-blooded."
"Is this what it means to have the resolve of a Kazekage?"
Simu spoke in a mocking tone.
However, these few words clearly triggered Rasa. He immediately retorted coldly, "What do you know? Since Gaara is the son of the Kazekage, he must have the resolve to make any sacrifice for the Hidden Sand Village!"
"Including becoming a cold, emotionless machine?" Simu asked in return.
Rasa answered without hesitation, "Of course. Only a weapon that is sufficiently calm and cold can better utilize the power of a Tailed Beast and better protect the village."
"This rhetoric of sacrificing others to protect the village really sounds disgusting," Simu mocked unceremoniously from behind his mask.
Hearing this, Rasa snorted coldly and stared fixedly at the masked man: "Who exactly are you?"
Simu adjusted his mask, his tone becoming noticeably more animated as he gave a serious self-introduction: "I am the spokesperson for Lord Jashin, the one who walks the earth for the Great Lord, and the Lord's most loyal supporter—Tobi!"
The Jashin Religion...
Upon hearing the name "Jashin," Rasa immediately became alert.
If he remembered correctly, the Hidden Steam Village was destroyed a few months ago by a group of people calling themselves believers of the Jashin Religion.
Now they wanted to come to the Hidden Sand Village to cause trouble?
Did these guys think that the Hidden Sand Village, one of the five strongest villages in the Shinobi World, could be compared to small ninja villages like the Hidden Steam Village?
This contempt made Rasa somewhat angry.
Despite his anger, the most important thing right now was not to entangle with the enemy in front of him, but to seal Shukaku as quickly as possible. Otherwise, a completely berserk Shukaku would bring a terrible disaster to the Hidden Sand Village once more!
Therefore, during his conversation with the mysterious man, Rasa never forgot to manipulate his chakra. The surging tide of gold dust was about to completely enclose Gaara.
Simu, of course, could not have failed to notice such small movements, so he offered a serious reminder: "Lord Kazekage, making small moves while someone else is introducing themselves is very impolite behavior."
With that, he raised his palm and snapped his fingers lightly above his head.
"Boom!"
"Rumble!"
A deafening, terrifying explosion suddenly rang out. The powerful shockwave produced by the blast instantly shattered the gold dust tide. The scattered gold dust acted like an unordered wave, smashing the surrounding houses into ruins!
Gold dust, which usually drove everyone mad with greed, became incredibly dangerous at this moment, becoming a stairway to hell.
The increasingly violent aura on Gaara's body washed over the entire Hidden Sand Village.
Countless ninjas were startled awake from their dreams. They packed their gear and immediately rushed toward the center of the village.
As the gold dust exploded, the sealing power from the outside world vanished without a trace. The Shukaku inside Gaara's body immediately let out an incredibly piercing cheer.
In the next second, Gaara's small body suddenly expanded. Countless amounts of sand surged from his body, and a mountain-like behemoth descended upon the Hidden Sand Village!
"Damn it!"
Taking advantage of the fact that Shukaku had not yet fully descended, the Fourth Kazekage Rasa tried to make a final struggle. He used the Body Flicker Jutsu to bypass Simu and charge toward Shukaku.
Unfortunately, several pale insects had appeared on his robes at some unknown point.
"Be careful, Lord Kazekage."
Simu gave another kind reminder from behind the mask.
Immediately afterward, Rasa was swallowed by the flames produced by the explosion.
Not only that, but explosions occurred all over the Hidden Sand Village. The thunderous sounds of the blasts plunged this night-shrouded village into complete panic.
Of course, it was impossible to finish off Rasa with just Explosive Insects; the man was a super powerhouse bearing the title of Kage, after all.
At the moment of the explosion, Rasa had already wrapped his body in gold dust, preventing any damage from the attack.
But Simu's goal had been achieved.
Under a pincer attack from both inside and out, the complete form of Shukaku had descended upon the Sand!