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"GA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA~! I gotta thank you two idiots for beating the brat! The seal binding this old man is weakened!!!"
Shukaku threw his head back in a piercing shriek of laughter. The wind and sand whirled into a frenzy.
BOOM!
His claw—a massive, solid construct of sand—smashed down toward Suigetsu and Jūgo.
CRASH…!!!
The two dodged the direct impact, but the gale of wind and sand sent by the swipe hurled them away, tumbling across the ground.
The overwhelming, oppressive power of a Tailed Beast… It left them utterly bewildered, unsure how to even begin fighting.
"Damn it!!!" Suigetsu wailed. "Our pre-mission simulations never accounted for this! How the hell are we supposed to fight this, you bastard!!!"
In my past life, when Deidara critically injured Gaara, Shukaku hadn't run wild. Ultimately, the Gaara of three years later had grown into a Kazekage beloved by his people. His mind and spirit were different from now. Even gravely wounded, he'd retained enough control to suppress the beast.
But now… Gaara wasn't that strong. Not in body, and not in heart.
How could he not know? The people he swore to protect were secretly, gleefully jeering at his misfortune while he was imprisoned.
His body had the Absolute Defense of sand. His heart did not.
He was just used to masking the suffocating pressure inside with an expressionless face.
The moment he fell… that triumphant cheer from the Sand shinobi had pushed his mind to the brink of collapse. And that gave Shukaku the opening it needed.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Watching the rampaging beast, murmurs of discontent rose from the Sand ranks.
"Dammit… that cursed little brat!!! Why did he have to lose control now?! Couldn't he have held on just a little longer, until he was outside the village?!!"
"The only one who could suppress Shukaku was Lord Rasa's Gold Dust Magnet Release! But Lord Rasa is gone! To face Shukaku now… we'll suffer who knows how many casualties!!!"
"Gaara!!! That demon who only brings calamity… we never should have let him stay in the village!!! Look at this now!!! He can't even keep the beast contained, and we have to bear the consequences!!!"
Under Shukaku's relentless attacks, Suigetsu and Jūgo could only scramble, dodging frantically.
Suigetsu saw the writing on the wall. "It's no use. This is way beyond our pay grade right now. Live to fight another day! We did our best. Jūgo, time to bail!!!"
Jūgo nodded, panting. "Yeah. Figure the Sand won't let him off easy either. This way… Kimimaro's debt is still paid."
"Heh-heh-heh… HA-HA-HA-HA-HA! You naive little fools!! You think you can escape this old man's grasp?! You'll join these Sand garbage in hell, repenting for your insolence!!!"
Shrieking, Shukaku opened his massive maw, lined with jagged sand-teeth. SHOOOOOM!
Dark, malevolent chakra, studded with two pinpricks of white light, rapidly gathered and swelled into a cataclysm at its center.
The Tailed Beast Bomb—the innate power of all Tailed Beasts. The One-Tail was no exception.
Suigetsu's Sharingan stared, fixed on the terrifying sphere of chakra taking shape. Cold sweat traced a line down his cheek. "Hey. Hey. Hey… That chakra… This is bad. Really bad!!!"
The moment the Sand shinobi saw the Tailed Beast Bomb, their faces fell as if mourning their own parents.
That single bomb wouldn't destroy the entire Hidden Sand. But everyone standing here right now? Obliterated. No question.
"It's… it's over…"
"I… I don't want to die!!!"
Driven by the terror of imminent death, many immediately turned and fled.
But there were always the so-called high-minded ones. "Hey! You cowards, stop! You're just going to run and let that monster trample our village into rubble?!"
"B-but…"
"We have to stop Shukaku's attack at all costs! At least hold out until the elite jonin reinforcements arrive! Even if it costs our lives, we'll die as heroes worthy of the name Sand shinobi!!!"
The fleeing shinobi hesitated, then turned back. Their faces now wore expressions of tragic resolve, as if they truly were heroes marching bravely to their deaths against an evil foe.
It wasn't that they were all hypocrites or villains.
They just… overlooked the root of the problem. They were intoxicated by self-satisfaction and a hero complex.
Facing the impending blast of the Tailed Beast Bomb, the Sand's self-proclaimed 'heroes' formed ranks, preparing to unleash their most proficient jutsu in a combined interception.
The outcome was predictable… Whether they succeeded or not, the sands would run red with blood.
But at that critical moment—Shukaku's poised, ready-to-fire posture suddenly froze.
CRACKLE! CRACKLE!
His body of sand… began to crumble, to weather away like ancient stone.
The Sand shinobi stared, dumbfounded, hearts still hammering. "Shukaku's attack… stopped? What's happening?!"
Shukaku's face, not yet weathered away, twisted with a conflicted rage. "Brat… you're in this state, and you're still trying to protect these people?!"
From the depths of his heart, Gaara's voice came, weak but iron-steady. "Shukaku… I… will not allow you to harm my family!!!"
"Family… How laughable. Do you truly think this place is your home?"
"He… Naruto… he would say that. He would do it. I… I admire Naruto. I want to be someone like him. I… I don't want to go back… to that lonely hell anymore!!!"
CRACKLE! CRACKLE!
The weathering spread to Shukaku's face. The Tailed Beast Bomb he'd gathered couldn't escape either, disintegrating into a harmless cloud of sand.
The Sand shinobi were utterly stunned by the scene.
Thud. Thud… A good number of them simply collapsed where they stood, gasping violently in the tumultuous mix of post-survival fear and dizzying relief.
The few truly perceptive among them grasped the key point.
"What… what just happened? Gaara… Did he… suppress Shukaku's rampage through sheer will? How…? He was deemed a failed experiment by the late Kazekage! How could he possibly do such a thing?!"
"Even if he could… what drove him to do it? He should know! The village wouldn't lift a finger to help him! Letting Shukaku rampage was his only chance to survive against those two! Could it be… Could it be he knew that, and still chose not to harm the village?!"
CRACKLE! CRACKLE!
Shukaku's weathering body fractured along the cracks, dissolving.
Finally, a final, slightly complex thought-impression echoed from the fading beast.
You foolish boy… You're going to regret this…
BOOM!
Amid the collapsing cascade of sand, Gaara—having expended the last of his strength to suppress the One-Tail—plummeted toward the ground, utterly unconscious.
"Well, I don't know what just happened, but… looks like we're saved!"
Seizing the moment, Suigetsu lunged forward. He caught Gaara's falling form on the broad shoulder of his Hydrification Arm technique. "Jūgo!!! Now! Go!!!"
Jūgo, shaking off his daze, snatched Suigetsu's dropped "Longsword: Sewing Needle" from the sand and followed.
The gathered Sand shinobi, their nerves still frayed, simply stood and watched as the two intruders carried away the boy who had just saved the village—and likely them—with his life.
Those with a flicker of conscience couldn't help but wonder, "Maybe… when he said he'd become Kazekage… it wasn't about dominating the village. Maybe he truly… wanted to protect us. But… he's feared by everyone. What can we possibly do…?"
They wavered. But they could not translate that wavering into action.
On the highest structure in the Sand, overlooking the wind-swept village.
Lady Chiyo and Elder Ebizō stood side by side. As Suigetsu and Jūgo, carrying Gaara, passed below…
Chiyo's hand twitched upward. She hesitated for a long moment. Then… finally let it fall back to her side.
Ebizō's long eyebrows drooped, his expression one of profound loss. "Sis… Is this truly alright?"
Chiyo's wrinkled, aged face was lowered. For a moment, she seemed to genuinely feel that something had gone terribly wrong. But… after weathering countless hardships, her heart had long since hardened to stone. In the end, she could not take that step toward change.
—"What can we old relics, waiting for our graves, possibly do? Even if we saved him… nothing in this shinobi world would change."
And so, completely unaware of the final reprieve they'd been granted, Suigetsu and Jūgo burst through the main gates of the Hidden Sand Village and vanished into the desert.
At that moment, even the wind seemed to keen, whistling a mournful, parting elegy.
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