"What are you crying for? It's irritating. Who told you he was completely dead?"
Shengu Xuan's utterly casual voice, tinged even with disdain, sounded particularly jarring in the grief-filled cave.
Naruto jerked his head up, tears and snot still hanging from his face. His blue eyes fixed on Shengu Xuan, and his voice shook violently with overwhelming excitement. "Big Brother Shengu... you... what did you say? Gaara... he can still be saved?!"
Kakashi and Sakura also abruptly widened their eyes, staring at Shengu Xuan in disbelief.
"Impossible!" Granny Chiyo wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and shook her head, her voice full of despair and bitterness. "When a Tailed Beast is extracted from a Jinchūriki, their life force instantly runs dry. That has been an ironclad law of the Shinobi World since ancient times. Even if the legendary master healer Princess Tsunade were here, she could never bring the dead back to life. Unless..."
Granny Chiyo took a deep breath, her hands abruptly forming hand seals as a trace of resolve flashed through her eyes. "Unless I use Sunagakure's forbidden technique, One's Own Life Reincarnation, and exchange my life for Gaara's!"
With that, Granny Chiyo prepared to press her hands against Gaara's chest and forcibly activate the forbidden technique.
"Old woman, keep that guttering candle of a life force so you can retire back in your village. A cheap trick like trading one life for another hardly deserves to be called saving someone."
Shengu Xuan simply reached out with his right hand, grabbed Granny Chiyo's wrist, and unceremoniously pushed her aside.
Under everyone's astonished gazes, Shengu Xuan crouched down and looked at Gaara's paper-white face. Deep within his eyes, a Horse Talisman Totem representing supreme healing and the divine authority to expel all external forces instantly erupted