"Open your damn eyes and take a good look!"
Shinichi had appeared behind Rasa at some point and roughly forced his head toward Gaara. "Look at what your son goes through every day! Whenever he falls asleep, his consciousness comes to this world!"
Just as he said, the seal on Gaara was incomplete, so whenever he fell asleep, he was forcibly dragged into this mental world.
Although the seal prevented Shukaku the One-Tail from doing anything to Gaara, being left alone in such a terrifying place would torment any child under ten to the point of a mental breakdown.
Gaara had only managed to hold on this long thanks to his strong will and the emotional comfort Yashamaru provided.
In the original storyline, after Yashamaru was killed while carrying out orders to assassinate Gaara, Gaara lost his last source of emotional support. Naturally, he fell into darkness and developed that deeply warped personality.
Simply put, Rasa had brought all of this upon himself!
"Has Gaara been living in this environment all along?"
Rasa's voice trembled.
His conscience had not completely died. Seeing Gaara suffer such torment with his own eyes shook him deeply.
His son was isolated and shunned in reality, then subjected to Shukaku the One-Tail's violent will in the mental world. It was torture on two fronts.
Yet he had sent people to assassinate him more than once, dressing it up as assessing his value for the village's stability and determining the risk of the One-Tail going berserk. He had never once considered his son's feelings.
Smack! Smack!
Perhaps his conscience had finally awakened. Rasa couldn't help slapping himself twice, his face filled with profound remorse. "I was wrong! I've failed Gaara. I don't deserve to be his father!"
"Now you realize you were wrong?"
Shinichi sneered. "Are