Naruto: Naruto's Uchiha girlfriend is too arrogant

Chapter 262 One-Tailed Shukaku

Outside Konoha Village, in a forest clearing.

After sending most of his shadow clones back to the village to provide support, Naruto's gaze returned to Gaara, who was struggling in pain on the ground.

"Waaaaah... Ahhhhh! My head... my head hurts so much! Mom... my head... it hurts so much...!"

Gaara, in his half-tailed beast form, had his face covered with patterns resembling cracked pottery, with fine sand constantly dripping from the cracks.

Because he was physically and mentally exhausted, his willpower had plummeted, and the seal had become extremely fragile. The One-Tailed Shukaku inside him was taking the opportunity to frantically attack the seal, trying to forcibly seize control of his body—this was the root cause of his severe headache.

Naruto stepped forward, crouched down, and did not flinch in the slightest despite Gaara's ferocious appearance. He gently placed his hand on Gaara's trembling, mutated shoulder.

Healing and life energy were slowly injected into Gaara's collapsing body and spirit.

The intense headache subsided like a receding tide, and Gaara's tense body gradually relaxed, leaving only heavy breathing as if he had survived a catastrophe.

"Are you feeling better?" Naruto's voice was calm. "Don't worry, trust me, after today, everything... will slowly get better."

However, this well-intentioned word of comfort instantly ignited the most sensitive and obsessive fuse deep within Gaara's heart!

"Don't touch me—!"

He swung his arm violently, slapping away Naruto's hand that was on his shoulder. His half-human, half-beast face twisted, and he stared at Naruto with eyes full of hatred and madness, roaring hoarsely.

"Stop...stop this hypocritical sympathy!"

"What do you know?! Between people... there has only ever been mutual killing! Mutual betrayal! Mutual exploitation! That's the truth of the world! Only by taking lives... with boiling blood... can I feel alive! Can I prove my worth!"

Faced with this violent roar, Naruto neither refuted nor became angry. He knew that the twisted words and actions of the boy before him were not his true nature, but a protective shell formed after being driven to the brink by the environment of betrayal, isolation, and cruel exploitation he had grown up in.

He simply gazed back at Gaara quietly, his deep blue eyes filled with no fear, no disgust, only... sympathy.

"No," Naruto's voice carried an undeniable firmness, "misunderstandings and fears can indeed create barriers and prejudices between people."

"But precisely because of this, we need to muster the courage to approach each other and build bridges of understanding. I believe that deep within everyone's heart lies the kindness to understand others, and also the loneliness of longing to be understood. And I..."

He stretched his hand slightly forward.

"...I want to take your hand and walk together out of that fog called 'loneliness' and 'hatred'."

I can't understand it! I absolutely can't understand it!

Seeing this kind of "goodwill" once again, which he no longer believed in and even scorned, Gaara's last shred of rationality was swallowed up by a deeper frenzy. He used his still-unmutated hand to tightly cover the half of his face that was constantly leaking sand and twitching in excruciating pain.

"Shut up! What do you know about me?! Someone like you, born strong, surrounded by companions, with a clear reason for living... and a monster like me, born only to kill... we are two completely different kinds of beings!"

His voice was distorted and trembling with extreme emotion.

"As expected... only by killing you! Only your death can I prove my existence! Only then can I... transform back into that Asura who only knows how to love himself and lives only for killing!"

He abruptly lowered his hand, his beast-like pupils fixed on Naruto, filled with pure killing intent.

"You...can only be my prey! I can't wait...to see...what kind of beautiful expression of fear will appear on your face, which always carries that false gentleness...before you die!"

"boom--!!!"

With his frenzied declaration, a massive, ominous, and violently hateful Tailed Beast chakra surged forth from his body like a burst dam! This power shared a similar origin with the Nine-Tails chakra within Naruto, yet it exuded a completely different aura!

"Gaara! Stop! Stop it now!"

Panic-stricken shouts came from the edge of the woods. Kankuro and Temari, following the enormous chakra ripples, finally tracked them down, but when they saw what lay before them, their faces turned deathly pale—the situation was completely out of control!

According to the plan, Gaara's complete tailed beast transformation must take place inside Konoha Village to maximize its destructive power! Releasing Shukaku here will finish everything!

But it was too late. Accompanied by a huge cloud of smoke and a chakra shockwave, everything in front of us was blurred. After the smoke and dust cleared, a huge figure stood in place.

"I'm finally out here—!!!"

A sharp and enormous roar reverberated through the forest. Shukaku, now fully transformed into a tailed beast and having completely seized control of Gaara's body, released its excited roar like a shockwave, causing the surrounding leaves to rustle.

"Finally... I've come out..."

Gazing at the colossal figure before him, a symbol of absolute disaster and madness, Temari's legs gave way, and she collapsed to the ground. The sense of failure beyond what was expected was now overwhelmed by a more primal emotion—fear.

In this state, would Gaara still be able to distinguish friend from foe? Would he... crush everything in front of him?

Unlike the siblings who were almost dazed with fear, Naruto took a few steps forward, looked up at the giant beast that was roaring excitedly, and spoke.

"You've finally appeared, One-Tailed Beast... I understand your desire to regain your freedom, but Gaara didn't willingly seal you inside his body. Isn't it a bit unfair to force a child like this?"

"Um?"

Shukaku, still basking in the joy of escaping its predicament, heard the tiny voice and lowered its head in confusion. A human actually recognized it and dared to speak to it in such a tone? It then saw the ant-like figure beneath its feet.

Meanwhile, Temari and Kankuro were completely bewildered by what they were seeing. Was this guy... driven insane by sheer terror?! Was he trying to reason with this monster?!

Naruto, seemingly oblivious to the overwhelming chakra pressure that would break any ordinary ninja, proposed a condition: "How about this, we make a bet. If I defeat you, can you behave yourself while you're inside Gaara's body? At least... let him get some sleep, okay?"

"Wh...what?! Pfft—hahahahahaha!!!"

Shukaku froze for a second, then burst into a maniacal laugh that nearly shook the heavens. What had it seen? A human brat was actually seriously negotiating with it, and even boasting about defeating it?

This utterly absurd scene made Shukaku laugh so hard that the sand all over his body trembled violently.

"You...you brat?!" Shukaku's voice was full of disdain and mockery.

"Are these ignorant humans so terrified that they've started spouting nonsense? It's laughable! You...you are!!!"

However, just as it was about to finish speaking, the perception that came from the depths of its soul finally caught a certain aura emanating from Naruto that it was both extremely familiar with and utterly loathed. Shukaku's expression on its huge face made of sand froze instantly, then turned into undisguised panic.

He even subconsciously took a step back, causing the ground to tremble.

But this panic lasted only a moment before being replaced by an even more surging rage, one that had been building up for countless years. The beastly face contorted with extreme fury, unleashing a deafening roar.

"It's...it's you! No wonder you were so arrogant...you're that stinking fox's jinchūriki!!! Die, you bastard!"

With a roar filled with grudges, Shukaku took a deep breath, and a high concentration of wind-style chakra visibly gathered and compressed in front of its huge mouth. Then, its massive claws slammed into its round belly.

"Wind Release: Sky Bullet Training!!"

A massive chakra sphere, imbued with destructive power, shot out like a cannonball, tearing through the air with a piercing whistling sound, and hurtled toward Naruto and Temari and Kankuro behind him!

Faced with this terrifying ninjutsu at the level of a tailed beast, Temari and Kankuro trembled, realizing with despair that with their speed, there was no way they could escape the range of this attack. The shadow of death instantly loomed over them.

Am I 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 excruciating pain of being torn to pieces and the eternal darkness they had anticipated did not come. Kankuro and Temari trembled as they opened their eyes, which had been tightly closed in fear.

A dazzling golden figure stood steadily before them. A giant claw made of golden chakra caught the air bullet head-on, a projectile powerful enough to flatten a mountain!

The violent wind-style energy collided with the giant chakra claw, unleashing countless chaotic air currents and beams of light, yet it could not budge it in the slightest, and finally dissipated into nothingness unwillingly.