Having made a decision, Mamoru no longer hesitated. He quickly formed hand signs, crossing his fingers.
Bang!
A Shadow Clone identical to him appeared by his side.
The Shadow Clone understood the original's intention without needing to speak and nodded to him.
"Tailed Beasts really are incredible monsters." The Shadow Clone remarked, then immediately flew straight down without hesitation to draw fire.
The original Mamoru didn't delay, immediately diving toward Shukaku from another direction, using the cover of the smoke and dust from the mid-air explosions.
With two targets appearing in its field of vision at the same time, Shukaku was momentarily confused, not knowing which one to attack first.
"Forget it!" It roared irritably, randomly picking a target (the Shadow Clone) and firing a Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet.
The attacked Shadow Clone instantly shifted its body, flexibly dodging the attack while pulling higher into the air, successfully drawing Shukaku's attention.
The original Mamoru seized this fleeting opportunity, instantly teleporting to the side and rear of Shukaku's head. A deep blue point of energy, Blue, was rapidly condensing at his fingertip.
However, a flash of cunning crossed Shukaku's eyes. It suddenly turned its head, its massive mouth already aimed at Mamoru, and the Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet it had been condensing erupted with a roar.
Boom!
A solid direct hit!
The airwave from the explosion instantly swallowed Mamoru's figure.
When the dust settled, Mamoru was hovering in place completely unharmed. There seemed to be an invisible barrier around him, and a faint sneer was on his face.
"What!?" Shukaku's eyes widened in disbelief.
In the moment it was stunned, the Blue condensed at Mamoru's fingertip was already fired.
Bang!
The blue energy ball accurately hit the side of Shukaku's face. The powerful impact made its head tilt, and it let out a roar of pain.
At this moment, Mamoru was already standing in front of Gaara.
Placing his hand gently on the boy's shoulder, he teased, "Baby One-Tail, it's time for you to sleep."
"Stop it!" Shukaku let out a terrified and unwilling roar. "I finally managed to come out! No!"
Rip—
With a sound like tearing cloth, Gaara was forcibly pulled out of Shukaku's forehead by Mamoru.
Shukaku's massive body instantly stiffened and then began to collapse violently, turning into countless uncontrolled grains of sand that poured down like a waterfall.
As the sand piled into a towering isolated island, Mamoru stood atop it. He held Gaara firmly by the collar with one hand, lifting him halfway into the air.
The sand seemed to have a life of its own, surging up from beneath his feet and wrapping around Mamoru's arm, tightening more and more as it tried to pry his fingers open—a strong will of a certain person remained within the sand.
"Is that so... You want to protect him?" Mamoru seemed to be talking to himself, his gaze calm and steady.
He didn't let go. Instead, he gripped even tighter and squeezed a sentence through his teeth. "Like I give a damn!"
Slap! Slap!
Following that, two extremely loud slaps landed squarely on Gaara's face, the sound crisp.
Gaara's head was knocked to one side, and bright red finger marks quickly rose on his pale cheeks.
"Wake up! Weren't you clamoring to see me?"
Mamoru held Gaara and gave him a few vigorous shakes, causing sand to rustle down from Gaara's hair and clothes.
"Dammit, putting on such a big show for me." He said, looking around at the messy battlefield.
"Sunagakure won't be able to pay enough to compensate for this."
Shaken, Gaara slowly woke up. His eyelashes fluttered a few times before he slowly opened his heavy eyelids. His blurred vision gradually cleared, and what came into view was Mamoru's face with that half-smile.
"You're awake?" Mamoru's voice had no warmth.
Gaara's eyes were filled with dead silence. His cracked lips moved, and he spat out low, raspy, and desperate words. "Kill me."
The plan had failed, he had lost his value and his reason for existence. All that remained was an endless void.
"Wanting to die..."
Before Mamoru could finish, he delivered another slap, knocking Gaara's head to the side and causing a trickle of blood to seep from the corner of his lips.
"How could it be that easy? You had your fun in Konoha, and now you want to just die and be done with it?"
Gaara's ears rang from the blow, his vision became scattered, and he fell into a brief daze.
"If we don't exchange you for something from Sunagakure, won't we be taking a huge loss?" Mamoru lifted the person in his hand as if weighing him, his tone full of calculation.
Gaara heard the words and pulled a smile that was bitter to the extreme, his voice weak. "Don't waste your breath. They won't make a deal with you for me. In their eyes, I'm just a weapon. Now... I'm useless."
"Getting all melancholy on me now?" Mamoru sneered and then delivered another slap, the force so great that Gaara's vision went dark.
"Whether you're useful or not isn't defined by you, but judged by us, the victors. Understand, kid?"
"Enough..." Gaara panted heavily, his eyes filled with bottomless darkness.
"It's meaningless. The people in the village can't wait for a monster like me to disappear."
"Are you insulting me?" Mamoru narrowed his eyes.
Slap! Slap!
Two clear strikes landed on Gaara's already swollen face, making him grit his teeth in pain and gasp.
"If you're a monster, then what does that make me, the one who defeated you?" Mamoru stared into Gaara's vacant eyes.
"You wouldn't understand." Gaara's voice was hoarse, carrying an indescribable weariness and sorrow.
"Everyone around me wants to kill me. You can't possibly understand that feeling. No one cares about me. My existence... has no meaning at all."
"Too naive, too weak." Mamoru didn't strike him this time.
"The meaning of existence isn't something that needs to be entirely validated by others. It's something you need to seek out yourself. In that process, people who acknowledge you will naturally appear. Listen, even a weapon has moments when it's needed and acknowledged by others."
"Seek... acknowledge..." Gaara repeated unconsciously, a flicker of hesitation crossing his eyes that even he hadn't noticed.
"Little shorty, I'm not giving you a lesson right now, so don't get distracted." Mamoru interrupted his daze, his tone turning cold. "Do you really think no one cares about you?"
He pulled Gaara closer until their faces were almost touching, their breaths audible to each other.
Mamoru lowered his voice, but his words pierced Gaara's heart like needles. "Why don't we try it? Let's see if your brother and sister... will care about you?"
Gaara's pupils suddenly contracted and dilated. His originally lifeless body began to struggle violently, and sand flew out of control due to his emotional fluctuations.
"No! Don't! Stop! Kill me now!"
He screamed, his voice filled with fear and an expectation he hadn't even realized—both afraid of receiving a negative answer and secretly longing for a sliver of a positive possibility.
"Shut your mouth." Mamoru said coldly, restraining his weak struggles. "How you are dealt with is for me to decide."
As his voice sounded, the two figures on the sand pile suddenly flickered and then disappeared into the sand and dust rising into the sky.