Is this tailed beast form? More like beast mode!
Looking at the now completely inhuman Gaara, Naruto actually felt a little sorry for him.
And Sasuke—this guy actually tried to face a tailed beast head-on with a sword just now... the last person who did that had grass growing two meters high over his grave.
"I'll kill you!!"
"I'll kill you all!!!"
Gaara, like a mad demon, roared as he charged at Naruto.
But after only two steps, a few kunai with explosive tags stopped him in his tracks.
"Your opponent is me!!"
Sasuke once again abandoned the decapitating blade and formed hand seals.
A crackling ball of lightning formed in his hand!
Chidori!!
Seeing Sasuke rush at him, Gaara also charged forward with a crazed look.
The next moment, Gaara's claw met Sasuke's Chidori head-on!
Naruto thought it would be an even match, but it turned out to be Sasuke's Chidori completely overpowering Gaara!
Gaara's claw was pierced clean through!
"..."
"Did his brain stop working after transforming?" Naruto thought to himself.
"Kehehehehehehe!"
"Yes! Kill everyone who can hurt me, take everything from them, kehehehe! Only then can I feel like I'm still alive!!!"
Gaara spoke wildly, his body transforming further into a tailed beast.
The arm that Sasuke had pierced healed, and thin streams of sand poured out from the gourd on his back, falling behind him and forming his tail.
For an early-stage Jinchuriki, the more their tailed beast transformation showed, the stronger they became.
Against the now even stronger Gaara, the chakra-drained Sasuke was no match at all.
But this time, Naruto had no intention of stepping in to stop it.
He didn't even plan to act before Sasuke was on the verge of death, just to avoid being insulted by that guy again.
He had no desire to save an idiot.
Gaara kept chasing, while Sasuke kept dodging.
Sasuke tried to find chances to attack, but because of the unique nature of a Jinchuriki, his attacks couldn't cause any real damage.
"Damn it!"
Being completely overpowered made Sasuke feel deeply helpless, yet he had no way out.
Should he ask that guy for help?
Glancing toward Naruto, who was watching with his hands in his pockets not far away, Sasuke's face showed his unwillingness.
He would never ask that guy for help again!
His desire for power made Sasuke's neck start to ache faintly, which led to a mistake in battle. Gaara seized the chance and slammed him against a tree.
"It's over!!!"
Halfway into his tailed beast form, Gaara drooled from his mouth, his face full of bloodthirsty excitement.
He pressed down on Sasuke's arm, adding just a little force, making Sasuke's whole body ache as he let out a painful scream.
"Ah!!!"
"Hahahahaha! Scream! Scream! Even if you scream your lungs out, no one's coming to save you!!"
The moment Gaara finished speaking, a beam of light pierced right through his entire arm.
In a flash, Naruto appeared in front of Sasuke and asked, "Am I human or not?"
"Ah!!"
Gaara didn't answer, only screamed in pain.
Naruto then gave him a light-speed kick, sending him flying hundreds of meters, smashing countless trees and triggering an explosion.
Boom!
The massive explosion left Kankuro and Temari, who had been watching from a distance, stunned and terrified.
"That guy actually knocked Gaara down in this state with just one kick?"
"Could he be a monster too?"
"Temari, what do we do? Gaara doesn't seem to be their match."
"No, don't speak too soon. Gaara hasn't transformed into his full form yet…"
"But if he does, you and I might both be killed."
"Then let's stay further away when it happens. Once he reverts back, we'll take him back to the Sunagakure. We can't let Gaara die here. After all, he's our younger brother…"
Although both of them feared Gaara, they still felt a certain indescribable emotion toward him deep down.
That feeling wasn't just because they had the same father, but also because of the time they had spent together.
Spending time with him made them share in some of Gaara's pain, and deep down, they felt sympathy for this younger brother who had never been accepted by their father.
At this moment, after driving Gaara back, Naruto turned to look at Sasuke behind him.
Sasuke was holding his neck in pain, the curse mark on his body surging with countless runes from his desperate struggle just moments ago.
"That curse mark on you isn't anything amazing. If you want to get stronger, don't rely on it," Naruto said calmly.
Sasuke looked up into Naruto's steady eyes, gritting his teeth through the pain. "What do you know?"
"That's all I'll say. Believe it or not, it's up to you." Naruto didn't want to waste words explaining, and even saying that much just now wasn't really necessary.
Sasuke wasn't the kind of person who listened to others.
The more someone tried to persuade him, the less he believed it… Simply put—rebellious!
Boom!!!
Suddenly, a loud explosion came from the distance, and smoke covered several dozen meters of the forest.
Naruto and Sasuke both turned to look at the source of the blast and saw a blurry figure inside the smoke.
When the smoke cleared,
a giant raccoon dog with one tail and purple curse mark patterns all over its body appeared before them.
But this raccoon dog looked more like a tanuki!
"What is that?"
Seeing the fifty-meter-tall Shukaku, fear and helplessness flashed in Sasuke's eyes.
He could feel that the power of this huge tanuki was far more terrifying than the giant snakes they had fought in the forest!
"No way… The world can't be this big…"
At that moment, Sasuke was like a frog that had just jumped out of a well and was staring up at the sky—completely in disbelief!
He couldn't believe he was so far from the true strength of this world, and yet the opponent was still just a boy about his age!
His unwillingness and hunger for power made the curse mark on his neck stir restlessly.
Naruto sensed something was wrong with Sasuke, and when he looked at him, he saw the curse mark had already spread over half his body!
To keep Sasuke from becoming a problem in the coming fight, Naruto knocked him out with a single hand chop.
As Sasuke lost consciousness, the curse mark on his neck seemed to lose its will and slowly faded away.
"There are no shortcuts to power, Sasuke."
"Unless you have AI-chan."
Naruto shook his head and turned back to look at Gaara, who had transformed into Shukaku.
He had given Gaara all this time just to wait for this moment!
Only in this state did Gaara have any value for his experiment.
"Uzumaki Naruto, I'll kill you!!"
Even though Gaara had transformed into the One-Tailed Shukaku, he was still able to keep his own mind.
This made Naruto look at him with a bit more respect.
But… that was all.
"Now it's your turn to come out, Gold Gamaken!"
Boar–Dog–Rooster–Monkey–Sheep!
Summoning Jutsu!!
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