Pitch-black sealing runes began rapidly spreading through this mental space, forming a new cage. Yet Shukaku's entire head was pinned beneath the water by Kurama's irresistible giant claw. He could not raise his head, could not see whatever expressions Naruto or Kurama might be wearing, and could not sense the changes outside.
All he could feel was that familiar, despair-inducing sealing power closing in step by step, along with the deep sorrow of once again losing his freedom and being imprisoned in endless darkness. It became the last memory before his consciousness sank away...
It was like waking from a nap, his consciousness slowly rising from the darkness.
When Shukaku "opened" his eyes again, the gloom and oppression of a seal he had expected did not appear. Instead, reflected in his enormous eyes was a completely different sight, one that made him hold his breath at once—
Before him stretched an incomparably vast golden desert, extending beyond the horizon! A sun radiating warm light hung in the sky, fine, scorching grains of sand lay beneath his feet, and massive dunes rose and fell in the distance like golden waves.
He could even see several tenacious cacti scattered among them, forming the homeland scene he knew best and longed for most!
"!!!"
The remnants of sleepiness vanished from Shukaku in an instant! In disbelief, he even raised his massive paw and vigorously rubbed his eyes, wondering whether he was hallucinating or still trapped in some unrealistic dream.
Yet the solid sensation beneath his paw, the warmth of the sunlight, and the dry scent unique to the desert filling the air all told him clearly—this was not a dream!
"Wuh-ao?!"
Shukaku looked around the breathtaking view in disbelief, his mind nearly ceasing to function. *Didn't that stinking fox just pin me down