Facing Gaara's demand that he use the Nine-Tails' power first, Naruto was still smiling even though his body was wrapped in sand, leaving him unable to move.
Because his plan had succeeded!
Without Gaara noticing, several mysterious things detached themselves from Naruto's body and were already crawling toward Gaara.
Yet the sand around Gaara's body did not trigger its automatic defense mechanism!
"Heh heh, Gaara, that's exactly what I wanted to say to you! Now it's your turn to show your Tailed Beast's power first!"
Naruto's voice sounded by Gaara's ear, calm and unhurried.
Under normal circumstances, with his entire body wrapped in sand controlled by Gaara, Naruto could do nothing unless he used the Nine-Tails' power.
But don't forget—Naruto had used himself as bait earlier and secretly cast an unknown ninjutsu at the very end!
That ninjutsu was the key to Naruto turning defeat into victory.
When Gaara heard Naruto say that, he initially found it baffling.
After all, Naruto's real body was already under his control, and there were no Shadow Clones nearby. Other than using the Nine-Tails' power, Gaara had no idea what other method Naruto could have.
But Gaara quickly realized something was wrong!
Because he could no longer move either!
"W-What is this?"
Gaara stared in shock at the changes appearing on his body and could not help speaking.
At some point, Gaara's body had become covered in countless tiny black runes.
Like little tadpoles, those black runes spread across his entire body!
It was precisely because of those little tadpoles that Gaara was frozen in place, unable even to circulate his Chakra.
What he needed to do now was use Chakra to break through the seal of those strange runes.
And those strange black runes that looked like little tadpoles were the very things