"Sasuke-kun!"
Close behind Naruto, a pink figure landed beside Sasuke.
She immediately reached out with both hands to steady him.
"Are you okay?"
Sakura asked anxiously.
"Sakura."
Naruto called out.
Sasuke weakly shook his head. At that moment, he could feel that there was barely any Chakra left in his body.
"Sakura!"
Naruto called again.
"What?! Honestly."
Sakura replied irritably.
"By the way, what is that thing?"
Naruto pointed at the monster not far away.
Following Naruto's finger, Sakura too was stunned by the monster's appearance.
The monster seemed to be enraged, yet also seemed to be laughing. Like a madman, it twitched its fat neck.
"Good! Wonderful! More and more idiots are delivering themselves to me! Today, the sand can feast to its fill!"
"Sweet blood!"
The monster roared.
Meanwhile, Neji hurried over and regrouped with them.
"Huh? Neji? Why are you here too?"
Naruto's head was full of question marks.
"Oh, right, where's Gaara? Didn't you come out to chase him?"
Naruto turned to Sasuke and asked.
Sasuke did not answer. He merely raised his chin toward the monster.
Sakura was instantly too shocked to speak.
Naruto still did not understand, but Neji promptly explained.
"It's a long story. In short, that guy over there is Gaara."
Naruto's face filled with shock.
Staring at those copper coin-like pupils, he suddenly felt a profound terror deep inside.
That fear was not merely mankind's instinctive dread of monsters.
More than that, Naruto suddenly realized that, in other people's eyes, one day, he too might become like this.
"Oh, you're the one... the one I didn't kill back then..."
As if recalling something, the monster opened and closed its mouth as it spoke to Naruto.
At that moment, Naruto remembered what Gaara had said before.
"As long as there are