The spear shot towards Gaara like a missile, carrying a terrifying momentum.
But at this moment, Gaara didn't even turn his head.
"As expected, it could only be you. You are different, Uzumaki Naruto."
Kousei didn't react much, but Haku and Zabuza, hearing the name of the person who had once spared them and even changed their lives from Gaara's mouth for the first time, immediately changed expressions.
"Just who are you?"
Unfortunately, faced with Haku's question, Gaara acted as if he didn't hear.
It seemed that in his eyes, only Kousei and Naruto were worthy of conversation with him… No other living beings qualified.
"Using my power against me..."
Muttering to himself, without any visible action from Gaara, the spear wrapped in Haki instantly disintegrated, dissipating back into the purest Natural Energy.
Then, the sand around Gaara slowly coiled around his torso, 'lifting' him into the air as well, like a god looking down upon the mortal world.
Sure enough, the next moment, Naruto's figure appeared before the group.
The intense wind pressure directly blew the hat off Kousei's head.
The wildly flying hair made the little girl instinctively squint. By the time she brushed her hair aside, she just happened to see that figure.
Naruto's figure also floated in mid-air. His over two-meter-tall frame didn't appear bulky, and his loose robes fluttered randomly under the airflow.
Sunlight filtered through the tree canopy, casting a golden layer around the man.
Compared to the impassive Gaara, Naruto at this moment looked more like a deity.
Not to mention the stunned Kousei, even Haku and Zabu below looked at Naruto with incredulous gazes.
Compared to a few months ago, the current Naruto had changed too much.
When they first met, although Naruto also had a strong oppressive presence, he at least still looked like a student, with the appearance of a twelve or thirteen-year-old.
'How, in less than half a year, had he grown into his current appearance?'
'Were we mistaken? Or was the guy in front of us Uzumaki Naruto's older brother or something?'
But the next moment, Naruto's words shattered their illusions.
"Oi! Isn't that Zabuza and Haku? Long time no see."
Naruto's gaze first fell on the familiar faces.
Although their clothing was very different from their original Ninja images, and even Zabuza's mask was removed, Haku's gentle, elegant, and neutral temperament was still too distinctive.
Naruto recognized the two without any difficulty.
-Well, Zabuza might have been a bit difficult. If not for seeing this guy had picked up the Kubikiribocho from somewhere again, he would have been hard to distinguish just by that common face.
Then, Naruto looked at another face.
The one he hadn't been able to ignore since arriving here.
'It really looks somewhat similar...'
'She had some resemblance to Hancock in her youth.'
As Naruto looked over, Kousei's gaze met his.
Two pairs of sea-blue eyes stared at each other, unblinking.
Kousei felt her little heart thumping wildly. Her small hand reached into her bag, instinctively gripping the turtle-shaped device that had brought her to this world.
Even though she had always clamored to find her dad before meeting him, now that she actually met Naruto, she found she couldn't say a word.
Yes, at this moment, Kousei was sure she had found her dad.
It was the guidance of blood ties.
An intuition, an instinct.
'What should I say?'
'Hello, I'm your daughter?'
'But Dad probably doesn't know he has a daughter at this time, right?'
'Should I greet him?'
'Nyon Ba said to be polite.'
'But Dad is really handsome.'
'His eyes are blue, just like Kousei's.'
"Uzumaki Naruto, we meet at last."
At this moment, the [Nature Will] controlling Gaara's body suddenly spoke.
This also shifted Naruto's attention.
'Ah!! You're so annoying, Dark Circles!- No, the guy occupying Dark Circles' body! You really are a bad person!'
Kousei was still upset about not giving her dad a good first impression, while Naruto slightly narrowed his eyes, looking at Gaara, who no longer resembled his former self at all.
"You're not that Gaara... Ah, it's you."
He recognized that indifference towards all life from the familiar scent.
'It was the same guy who had once influenced my consciousness. It seemed the other party hadn't changed their ways and had found another unlucky victim.'
"What? Back to your old trade? Couldn't get me, so you started targeting others?"
Naruto felt a rare disgust towards this guy.
"If possible, I would still prefer to cooperate with you."
'Gaara' seemed not to hear the sarcasm in Naruto's tone, replying with an unchanged expression.
"After all, only you are special, Uzumaki Naruto."
"Only you can do it."
"Even my appearance is because of you."
Seeing the other start his mystical rambling again, Naruto directly activated the ability of the protagonist next door.
"What are you rambling about? If you want to fight, then come on!"
At this moment, the reckless man mindset took dominance.
'Gaara', who originally wanted to continue speaking, was directly interrupted by Naruto.
It must be said that reckless man counter all Talk-no-Jutsu. No matter how eloquently others speak, a simple 'I don't understand' can handle it indifferent.
"It seems that if I don't make you quiet, it's impossible for you to obediently accept my goodwill."
As Gaara spoke, the surrounding trees, flowers, and plants visibly withered and turned yellow.
In contrast, the vast Natural Energy rapidly filled Gaara's body.
This swelling power not only suppressed the One-Tail's awakening instinct but also in turn drew out its Chakra, combining it with natural energy to form another kind of Senjutsu Chakra.
"Although I don't like this thing, I must say, you humans are really creative."
Gaara manipulated the sand shaped by Senjutsu Chakra, looking at it as if appraising a work of art.
The next moment, that floating sand instantly condensed into dozens of dense [Sage Spears].
"Watch closely, Uzumaki Naruto. This is how my power is used."
The Sage Spears shot out like lasers. At such close range, with Haku and Zabuza's eyesight, they could only see a scene switching like 'frame drops'.
Even the exceptionally gifted Kousei could only barely make out afterimages.
'Dad is in danger!'
Kousei instinctively wanted to help.
But Naruto wasn't in as much danger as she imagined.
Those densely packed, rapidly firing Sage Spears, although they had broken the visual limit, could still be accurately captured by his tempered Observation Haki.
Without even needing to glance distractedly, Naruto's figure lightly shifted in small movements mid-air, miraculously dodging through the gaps between the spears.
Then, he casually grabbed a Sage Spear flying past his ear and threw it back.
The spear dispersed back into Chakra about two meters in front of Gaara.
Just as the Nature Will said, this energy came from them, so how could it harm them?