"That's not true..."
Temari lowered his head, his voice was inaudible, like talking in sleep, or like some kind of firm self-declaration, echoing lowly in the silent basement.
"What?"
Naruto raised his eyebrows slightly and didn't hear clearly.
Temari raised his head suddenly, his tears were not yet dry, but a firm light that was almost paranoid burned in his blue eyes, and his voice suddenly rose to a high pitch, with a cry and categorical denial:
"Gaara is not Monster! He is a poor child! He is my brother!"
She almost shouted, as if she was trying to use all her strength to carve these words into her and others' minds:
"Gaara is not what he wanted to be! He is not Monster! He is a poor child!"
This sudden emotional outburst and cognitive change made Naruto stunned for a moment.
He blinked and looked at the emotional Temari in front of him with some shock.
"Oh."
Naruto nodded, his reaction too dull. He really couldn't keep up with Temari's jumping thoughts and emotional circuits.
Just the last time we met, she was still full of fear of Gaara's power. Why did she suddenly become "my poor brother"?
By the way, this is a matter for siblings to talk to themselves and not let others talk about it, right?
He couldn't help complaining. "In the desert before, I saw the look in your eyes when you looked at your brother, as if you were scared of something, and you wished you were eight hundred feet away from him.
Why are you suddenly acting like, 'He is my brother, a poor child, and I am a good Older Sister who protects him'?"
Naruto scratched his head, his face full of incomprehension. "Don't you think that just by shouting twice that he is not Monster, you can suddenly move the world, or... expect someone to hear you and save you?"
He looked around the closed, well-insulated basement and spread his hands.
Stop dreaming, no one will come to save you even if you scream.
Temari was choked by Naruto's straightforward words, his face turned red and then white, he opened his mouth, but could not refute.
Her declaration just now stems more from the catharsis of suppressed emotions and the impulse to make up for past guilt, rather than a rational escape strategy.
However, at this moment when the atmosphere was subtle, Naruto complained, Temari was speechless, and Orochimaru looked on with cold eyes.
"Bang!!!"
A loud noise, like the impact of a boulder, suddenly came from the side wall of the basement.
The entire basement shook violently.
Dust and fine clods of soil fell, and the oil lamp on the ceiling swayed wildly, almost extinguishing.
I saw that the solid earth and stone wall was forcibly broken open from the outside by an incomparable force.
A huge fist made of countless gravels broke through the wall first, and the gravels shrank and reorganized like flowing water.
Amid the smoke and dust, a thin but tall figure slowly walked in from the hole.
Dark Red Eyes has short hair, pale complexion, a bright red word "love" engraved on his forehead, and a pair of green eyes, like the coldest cold pool in the desert, scanning the three people in the basement indifferently.
It's Gaara!
"Gaara, did you see it? That is the Kid you are looking for, that stinky fox's Jinchūriki."
Shukaku inside Sealing Space roars wildly.
Gaara came here not because he heard Older Sister calling for help, but because Shukaku sensed Nine-Tails's breath.
Gaara didn't say a word, didn't even look at Temari, and finally fixed his eyes on Naruto Uzumaki.
He slowly raised his right hand and held it with five fingers.
The dust scattered on the basement floor, the sand pouring in from the holes in the wall, and even the dust floating in the air all seemed to be pulled by invisible magnetism and quickly gathered in his palm.
In the blink of an eye, a sharp sand spear, which was made entirely of yellow sand and was about ten feet long, took shape in his hand.
The tip of the spear points straight at Naruto!
"It's you again?"
Gaara finally spoke, his voice was calm and there was no hint of emotion or anger, but deep in his blue eyes, something cold seemed to be flowing slowly.
He still remembers Naruto, the blond young man who fought with him in the desert and finally escaped with the weird Space-Time Ninjutsu.
A strong opponent.
Naruto and Orochimaru's expressions changed almost at the same moment when the wall was broken open.
The two exchanged a look, without any hesitation, and used Ninjutsu at the same time with perfect understanding.
"Earth Release·Earth Release: Earth Flow Divide!"
"Earth Terrain Shift!"
Orochimaru slapped the ground with both palms, and a deep trench instantly opened in the floor in front of him. The upward surging earth and rocks temporarily blocked Gaara's sight and the possible incoming sand spears.
Naruto pointed at the ceiling, and several sharp Rock instantly pierced and shattered the soil above the head.
"Let's go!"
Without the slightest intention of fighting, the two figures flickered and followed the passage opened by Orochimaru. Like two puffs of smoke, they instantly escaped from the hole in the basement ceiling and disappeared!
Their choice was very wise.
In a closed, narrow environment like a basement, dominated by earth and stone structures, fighting an enemy who can freely manipulate sand and may even trigger a large-scale sandstorm is tantamount to seeking death.
Sand can easily fill an entire space, burying them alive or trapping them to death.
The best strategy is to seize open areas.
The moment Naruto and Orochimaru escaped, the sand around Gaara surged automatically as if it was alive, and quickly condensed into a thick shield of sand around him and Temari on the ground, easily blocking the falling dust and rocks.
Only then did he glance lightly at Older Sister Temari, who was tied up on the ground and looking at him with an extremely complex look. His eyes were still cold and did not reveal any warmth that belonged to his younger brother, as if he was just confirming whether an item was intact.
Immediately, he raised his eyes again, penetrated the hole in the ceiling, and looked in the direction where Naruto and Orochimaru escaped.
He could feel the almost excited restlessness and desire coming from Shukaku in his body.
"Shukaku said..."
Gaara's voice is still calm, but it has a strange fluctuation.
"It smells fox on you."
His green eyes seemed to be a little deeper, locked upward, as if he could see the blond figure through the soil.
"Are you Jinchūriki from Nine-Tails?"
This isn't a question, it's more like a confirmation.
In the last fight, Shukaku's power was faintly suppressed by Naruto, and Naruto used Space-Time Ninjutsu, which gave Gaara a strong interest and fighting spirit.
He has always been brooding over the last time he allowed Naruto to escape, and is eager to confront this special opponent again.
Naruto, who had already jumped to the ground and landed in Kazekage Mansion Courtyard, paused slightly when he heard the calm but penetrating voice of Gaara coming from below.
He glanced back at the broken hole, and the corners of his mouth curved with an unknown meaning.
He responded loudly, and his voice was passed down clearly:
"It seems that you get along well with that Big Tanuki. He is even willing to tell you his name?"
After a brief silence below, Gaara's voice without any fluctuations came again:
"Just subdued it."
Simple, direct and cold.
There is no unnecessary communication, no emotional fluctuations, only the purest definition of power relationships.
In Courtyard, the smile on Naruto's face became deeper, but his eyes became sharper.