Catching Snakes (7): Appearance

"Who the hell are you, kid?!" Shukaku glared irritably at the blond brat who had suddenly appeared inside his Jinchuriki.

"Who am I?" Naruto's pupils had returned to normal. His azure eyes were fixed on Shukaku's wild, unruly face, while in the shadows behind him, the Nine-Tails gradually revealed his enormous form. He bared his teeth at Shukaku and said:

"He's this old man's Jinchuriki!"

"You! Kurama?!" Shukaku looked as though he had seen a ghost, examining the Nine-Tails and Naruto at his feet from every angle, his mind filled with confusion. "You and your Jinchuriki... seem to get along pretty well? Why haven't you eaten him yet? You useless dead fox!"

He mocked the Nine-Tails without restraint. Getting along with humans? Kurama had actually been tamed by a mere human? Had he been fooled by sweet-talking lies? That was why he said it—their strength as Tailed Beasts was not determined by the number of tails!

Nine tails, yet still as stupid as a pig!

"Hmph. You're still as arrogant as ever... and just as brainless, Shukaku." The Nine-Tails remained calm, refusing to stoop to Shukaku's level.

"What did you say?! You stinking fox!" Shukaku instantly flew into a rage!

Wait, I just want to know what's going on... Gaara stood beneath Shukaku's feet, utterly baffled, unable to make sense of the situation for a moment.

Normally, only he could see this space and this monster.

He had thought that he alone had always lived beneath the terror and shadow of this monster.

But what was happening now had completely shattered everything he had once believed...

In every village, Jinchuriki were normally isolated and rejected. They were usually dark in temperament, bloodthirsty and murderous. They hated their villages and hated this world.

The villages would never entrust power to them, much less choose to trust them.

Jinchuriki were merely extremely dangerous aberrations—tools that could intimidate enemies when necessary or carry out large-scale indiscriminate destruction.

Most Jinchuriki did not even know they were called Jinchuriki.

Most of them lived in closed-off, terrifying worlds of their own.

They kept sinking into those dark worlds without even a sliver of light, burying their beating hearts deep beneath filthy bloodstains and mud. The Tailed Beasts whispered in their minds, while the people of their villages looked upon them with hatred...

In truth, it was easy for one Jinchuriki to connect heart to heart with another.

Tailed Beasts were the purest collections of Chakra, and Jinchuriki, who were inseparable from them, possessed the Tailed Beasts' extraordinary abilities as well. As long as their Chakra came into contact, they could understand one another.

And today, for the first time, someone and a fox had entered Gaara's truly closed-off world.

"You think you're the only one who's special? You're a monster, but so am I!" Naruto said with a raised brow, while Gaara continued to stare blankly at the enormous Nine-Tails behind Naruto.

The Nine-Tails said to Gaara at his feet, "You're the brat called Gaara, right... Back then, I was just like the guy inside your body. I hated all humans beyond measure, and I once thought about controlling my Jinchuriki, leading them into darkness, and making them kill desperately... But this brat named Naruto changed this old man. Humans and Tailed Beasts truly can understand and trust one another!"

No, the one who changed you was me... Naruto thought.

"Have you gone mad, you stinking fox?! Humans can understand us? I think those Konoha people locked you up for too long and ruined your brain!" Shukaku roared.

He absolutely, absolutely could not accept those hateful humans who treated them like weapons and beasts of burden.

"Shukaku, have you forgotten what the old man said back then?" The Nine-Tails gave Shukaku a deep look.

Shukaku froze. Narrowing his eyes, he growled, "That was nothing more than the old man's senile ravings!" With that, his form vanished, and his cursing gradually faded away. "If you've got nothing else to do, then get the hell out already, you two bastards!"

"Gaara..." Naruto walked toward Gaara.

Gaara's expression emerged from its confusion, then gradually turned cold. He forcefully slapped away Naruto's outstretched hand and said grimly, "Get the hell out! Otherwise... I'll kill you!"

His killing intent became more intense than ever before.

Naruto froze, then closed his eyes.

Naruto's speed after partially transforming his legs into a golden form was simply too fast. It took Sasuke and Hinata quite a while to reach their destination. Tap, tap—they landed in a tree and found Naruto standing in the clearing, gripping the arm of that guy with the gourd on his back. The two were facing each other, though no one knew what they were doing...

Perhaps a long time had passed in the mental world, but in reality, only a few seconds had gone by.

"Whew..." Naruto sighed, released Gaara's hand, and turned around.

"Sakura, Kiba, Shino... you can come out now!" he called toward the patch of grass. The grass immediately rustled, and Kiba and the other two stood up with embarrassed expressions. Sakura hesitated before saying, "Thank you... Naruto." Then she turned toward the two on the tree. "And Hinata... and Sasuke."

If Naruto had not arrived in time, the three of them might have been finished in Gaara's sand.

"No, it wasn't necessary... Naruto did everything," Hinata said, waving her hands, while Sasuke acted as if he had not heard anything.

Tch, what a smug bastard. Kiba was very annoyed by Sasuke's arrogant attitude, but it was not the time to start anything. "We're leaving first!"

He called Shino and Sakura over, then leaped away.

Naruto was about to jump onto the tree where Sasuke and Hinata stood when Gaara asked from behind him, "You... why did you save them?" Naruto stopped without turning around and answered slowly but firmly, "Because they're Konoha comrades—and more importantly, they're my friends!" He slightly turned his head, his expression incomparably serious. "I will never let you hurt them!"

This was bad. Gaara could never understand words like that...

Temari and Kankuro covered their faces nearby. As Gaara's older sister and brother, who had always remained by his side, they knew better than anyone that Gaara could never understand things like friendship or family affection.

"Hehehehe..." Sure enough, Gaara let out a sinister laugh. Savage blood vessels slowly filled the whites of his eyes, and he revealed an incomparably cruel expression. "Then I'd really like to see whether, when I crush them to death one by one... you'll become just like me?"

Naruto lightly clenched his fist and said in a low voice, "Then give it a try."

Whoosh—he leaped away.

Sasuke gave the cold-looking guy with the gourd on his back a deep look, then followed Naruto.

"Naruto, just who is that guy with the gourd on his back?" Sasuke asked Naruto as they leaped through the forest.

"Ah, him... He's the Kazekage's son, and like me, he has something sealed inside him..." Naruto answered softly. He kept track of the locations of the Flying Thunder God Techniques he had left along the way, noted the malicious presence trailing them from afar, and adjusted the direction the three of them were heading.

Sasuke looked stunned at this. Something? He asked quietly, "A tailed beast?" Thinking of how Naruto was also the Hokage's son, he could not help wondering why the children of Kage were all Jinchuriki.

A tailed beast? Hinata did not understand. Her father, Hyuga Hiashi, had never taught her about such things. After all, the chances of an ordinary ninja encountering a tailed beast or a Jinchuriki in their lifetime were far too slim.

"Yeah, the One-Tailed Sand Shukaku... Now, not only is there a tanuki, but the snake is about to show up too!" Naruto abruptly stopped the moment he finished speaking and shouted, "Watch out!" He grabbed Hinata and leaped aside.

A massive storm swept in from behind the three of them!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Sand and stones howled toward them.

Not good! Sasuke jumped with all his strength, barely dodging the center of the cylindrical storm. Even so, the sand, dust, and gravel at its edges scraped his skin. He raised an arm to shield his eyes, shock surging through him. What level of Wind Style was this?!

"Has an enemy appeared?" Hinata climbed up from the ground and walked to Naruto's side.

Byakugan!

Hinata poured Chakra into her eyes and looked ahead.

Sasuke drew a kunai and went on full alert. This enemy... seemed to be the person Naruto had mentioned before. Just who was he?

In the distance, a tall black figure approached.

He was thin, with feminine features, and wore a Kusagakure Headband on his forehead.

"It seems you've already gathered all the scrolls... But I'm afraid we'll still have to fight over them..." The newcomer's voice was hoarse, carrying an indescribably chilling undertone. With his left hand, he pulled down his lower left eyelid, revealing horrifying bloodshot veins. Endless icy killing intent spilled from his left eye—

"I'll risk my life to take them from you..."

A murderous aura like a raging tempest surged toward the three members of Team 7. This invisible storm was a hundred times more terrifying than the tangible Wind Style attack from before!

And yet...

Sasuke and Hinata's minds were shaken by the intense killing intent, but the hands gripping their kunai merely trembled. Their faces showed no extreme terror... They remained calm.

This level was still just a little lacking compared to that fox...