Chapter 236 Shukaku: The Advantage Lies with Me
"Nanka River Theological Research Institute?" Shion repeated the name, somewhat puzzled.
"Yes," Neji said with a cold smile, "Many of our Fire Country's clergy have studied there, and after graduating, their understanding of theology becomes very profound."
Although this person was their target for this mission, Neji had a very bad impression of Shion. After all, it was only their first meeting, and this girl was already confidently predicting Sasuke's death in this mission—who could tolerate that?
It was only because this was an S-rank mission that things went wrong; if it was messed up, it would affect everyone's ninja resume. For ninjas like him and Sasuke from noble families, it wouldn't be a problem, but for Rock Lee, a commoner, it would be quite troublesome.
Shion realized that Neji's words might not be kind, but her long-held arrogance and unfailing verbal sparring skills prevented her from arguing with him. In her view, she had seen far too many people unwilling to accept their fate, and their endings were all the same.
Meanwhile, Sasuke and his group's first meeting with their mission employer ended unhappily.
On the other side, Naruto, traveling the ninja world, arrived in the Land of Wind after several days of wandering.
Normally, crossing the border into the Land of Wind would have been difficult for Naruto, but with the entire Sand Village preoccupied with its own problems, border defenses were practically nonexistent, and Naruto simply swaggered into the Land of Wind.
The Sand Village was currently in a state of turmoil.
Ever since Gaara, the Jinchūriki of the One-Tailed Beast, couldn't tolerate his father's Jinchūriki training plan any longer and briefly reached an agreement with Shukaku to destroy Rasa, although the Sunagakure ninjas worked together to suppress the rampaging One-Tailed Beast, Rasa's death was more than just the loss of a Kage. Rasa's death meant the collapse of the village's financial pillar.
Furthermore, the question of who would become the Fifth Kazekage was a huge problem.
After Rasa's years of eliminating dissidents, there were no ninjas left in Sunagakure capable of shouldering the responsibility.
And Gaara, who was originally slated to succeed the Fifth Kazekage, was currently imprisoned as a sinner of the village.
Temari, the eldest princess of Sunagakure, is racking her brains to succeed her younger brother as the Fifth Kazekage in order to save him. It's fair to say that only if she succeeds as the Fifth Kazekage and kills the Fourth Kazekage can Gaara survive; otherwise, Gaara will face the fate of having his tailed beasts extracted and dying.
However, at this moment, in the Sunagakure prison, Gaara, clad in straitjackets and covered in sealing runes, sits quietly in a corner. Within his sealed space, Shukaku confronts the swaying Gaara.
"Kid, why are you resisting me? If you're willing to hand over control of your body to me, these sealing techniques on you are nothing, and you'll soon be free," Shukaku tempts Gaara.
Although Shukaku, the One-Tailed Beast, is the weakest of all nine tailed beasts, it is also the only one among them who knows some human ninjutsu and sealing techniques. During its time with the monk Bunpuku, Shukaku learned many techniques. As far as he is concerned, apart from the sealing technique that sealed him into Gaara's body, he can easily break the sealing techniques on Gaara's body at this moment.
However, Gaara remained silent, sitting quietly before Shukaku, fighting off sleep with sheer willpower.
Shukaku, seeing this, wasn't in a hurry. Gaara hadn't slept in a long time; once he couldn't hold on any longer, control of the body would be his, and he would be free.
...
In a small village in northern Sunagakure, Naruto, dressed in a hempen cloak, was rubbing his hands together in an open space, under the watchful eyes of a group of ragged villagers.
"Brother Kurama, are you sure there's water down there? It'll be so embarrassing if I don't find a well!" Naruto muttered to himself under the eager gazes of the villagers.
"I said there's water, so there's water!" Inside the sealed space, Kurama said impatiently. "But you, weren't you supposed to be training? Why are you doing this again, and making me do it?"
"This is part of training too," Naruto said, looking at the villagers around him. "Only by gaining their trust will they be willing to connect with my chakra."
"Whatever." Seeing this, Kurama simply changed its position and lay down in the sealed space.
"Brother Naruto, is it really possible to dig a well here?" At this moment, an old man from the village came to Naruto's side, his eyes filled with anticipation.
"Of course!" Naruto smiled brightly and then gave a thumbs up. "You couldn't dig a well before because the underground water source was buried too deep. Without the help of ninjutsu, it's difficult to dig that deep by manpower alone."
"Old man, stay away." Naruto gestured for the old man to stay away and then began to form hand seals somewhat awkwardly.
"Earth Release: Heart Decapitation Technique!" After completing the hand seals, Naruto's entire body submerged into the ground.
Naruto continued his descent underground, the pressure from the surrounding earth increasing with each step. This was the main reason this technique couldn't be used for long-term underground movement; while the chakra could soften the ground slightly, the pressure from the earth couldn't be eliminated by chakra as one descended deeper. However, this wasn't a problem for Naruto, whose physical abilities rivaled those of an animal. Naruto continued downwards, soon reaching the area where the groundwater was.
"Rasengan!" Naruto, underground, conjured a small Rasengan in his left hand and raised it high.
With a loud roar, Naruto burst from the ground, and then, gurgling spring water flowed upwards from the deep well he had created.
"Water! It's water!" The surrounding villagers cheered loudly.
"Wait a minute before coming over!" Naruto said hastily. The most important thing now was to quickly reinforce the sand around the new well; otherwise, if it collapsed, all their previous efforts would be wasted.
With that, Naruto began forming hand seals.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall!" After Naruto formed the hand seals, the sand surrounding the newly formed well hardened under the influence of chakra, transforming into solid rock. With that, the well was truly complete.
"Uncle! It's finished!" Naruto smiled and gave a thumbs-up to the onlookers.
"Thank you so much! Brother Naruto!" The old man from before approached with tears in his eyes, grasping Naruto's hand with his slightly cracked hands, repeatedly expressing his gratitude. "Our village has been hoping for this well for so many years. With this well, our daily water supply will no longer require us to trek over ten miles every day to bring it back from the village to the south." "It's
nothing, uncle. It was just a small favor. You were kind enough to take me in and give me food, so I should do something in return," Naruto said, scratching his head and smiling.
But just then, a series of explosions in the distance shattered the harmonious scene.
"Huh?" Inside Naruto's sealed space, Kurama suddenly stood up after sensing something, startling Naruto.
"Brother Kurama, what happened?" Naruto asked hastily.
"Something interesting is coming!" Kurama licked its lips and grinned. "Kid, how about handing over control of your body to me later? In exchange, you can use my power freely!"
"Huh?" Naruto was taken aback. "What are you going to do?"
Apart from the last time on the battlefield when Kurama forcibly took control of his body to protect him, Kurama inside Naruto had always been in a state of slumber, sleeping all day. This was the first time it had actively asked for control of its body.
"A punching bag that I haven't used in a long time is coming. I want to see if the feel has changed over the years," Kurama said excitedly.
"What is it? Brother Kurama, explain it clearly!" Naruto asked.
"Hehe, I think you'd better hurry up and go, otherwise, if that guy charges over, none of the civilians here will survive," Kurama said.
"What?" Naruto's expression changed upon hearing this, and he quickly turned to the surrounding villagers. "Find a place to hide! It might be dangerous!"
"Dangerous?" The village chief was taken aback at first, then looked in the direction from which the explosion came. "That direction is... Sunagakure?"
"I'll go stop that thing, but just in case, you should try to find a safe place to hide." Naruto instructed.
"You should hide with us, Naruto! Hey!" the old village chief hurriedly said. He didn't want Naruto, who had just helped their village so much, to put himself in danger, but before he could finish speaking, a layer of golden light appeared on Naruto's body, and he transformed into a stream of light, rushing straight towards the direction from which the explosion came.
At that moment, Shukaku, being chased by the Sand Village ninjas, first dispatched a large group of enemies with a single Tailed Beast Ball. Then, the sand forming his massive body suddenly moved without wind, and Shukaku roared to the sky, "Stinky fox!"
Sensing the Nine-Tails' aura, Shukaku became extremely ferocious, spitting out a Tailed Beast Ball to eliminate a group of pursuers before charging towards the direction of the Nine-Tails' aura.
When Shukaku's eyes caught sight of that golden light, it unleashed a Tailed Beast Ball without hesitation.
This startled Naruto, who quickly stopped and condensed his own Tailed Beast Ball, throwing it back.
The two Tailed Beast Balls exploded in the desert, raising a cloud of dust. From within the dust, a massive figure rapidly charged towards Naruto.
"Hey! Kurama! This is the sandbag you were talking about! If I'm not mistaken, he's a Tailed Beast too! Aren't you brothers?" Naruto exclaimed hastily.
After the number of tailed beasts in Konoha increased, Naruto had encountered other tailed beasts alongside Kurama. Whether facing the Seven-Tails, Chōmei, or the Six-Tails, Saiken, now in the Tailed Beast Nature Reserve, Kurama's attitude, while not exactly friendly, was generally considered mild. So why did Kurama react so strongly to the One-Tail?!
"Who said he's my brother! Enough talk! Give me control of this body!" Inside the sealed space, Kurama stood up, rubbing its hands together.
The next moment, a red light flashed in Naruto's eerie vertical pupils in Kurama Mode. Facing the charging Shukaku, two enormous chakra arms materialized behind Naruto, forcefully lashing out at the onrushing Shukaku.
Caught off guard by the sudden blow, Shukaku's massive body began spinning like a top.
"Damn you, you stinky fox!" Shukaku regained its balance and roared to the sky, charging at Naruto again.
The two then engaged in a fierce battle in the desert.
"This is the feel! This stinky tanuki has actually gotten fatter over the years! It feels even better to beat it up! It's a pity that this seal prevents it from fully transforming into a tailed beast, otherwise it would be even more satisfying!"
Inside the sealed space, Naruto, who had handed control of his body to the Nine-Tails, looked up at the Nine-Tails inside the seal, who was throwing punches and laughing maniacally. He felt a little embarrassed; to be honest, he had never seen his fox in such a state before.
At this moment, the Sunagakure ninjas chasing Shukaku also arrived at the edge of the battlefield. Looking at the golden figure entangled with Shukaku, the leaders, Maki and Temari, were stunned.
"Who is that? How can he fight the One-Tail like this?" Kankuro said incredulously behind them.
"This amount of chakra... he should also be a Jinchūriki," Maki said. "But, which tailed beast's Jinchūriki is he? How can he fight the One-Tail like this without even needing to transform into a tailed beast?"
It's no wonder they didn't recognize Naruto; after all, compared to other tailed beasts, this chakra mode of the Nine-Tails was the first time it had appeared in the ninja world.
"What do we do now? Should we help?" Temari asked.
"No, no need. We'll intervene when they're both exhausted." At this moment, Ebizo, the elder of Sunagakure, whose ninja forces had arrived to provide support, revealed a greedy look on his face. "It's truly a stroke of luck for Sunagakure! Today, besides reclaiming the One-Tailed Beast, we can also obtain another Tailed Beast!"
Sunagakure's forces quickly laid in ambush around the battlefield. Kurama easily detected their location through its malicious senses. However, Kurama didn't care much about their actions. To him, nothing was more important than spinning the top in front of him.
"You stinky fox! Who is this brat? Is he your Jinchuriki?" Shukaku asked through gritted teeth while exchanging punches with Kurama, who was controlling Naruto's body. "Even you have succumbed to humans? You're really getting worse as you get older!"
"Hmph, enough nonsense. You don't seem to have improved at all these years." Kurama said disdainfully while striking Shukaku's massive body with its chakra arm.
"At least killing you in your current state is enough! Without complete tailed beast transformation, how much of your strength can you unleash? You stinking fox!" Shukaku gritted his teeth.
In Shukaku's view, the Nine-Tails couldn't fully transform into its tailed beast form, and could only unleash about half of its power, especially since they were on his home turf in the desert.
For Shukaku, today was undoubtedly the best opportunity to avenge his previous defeat! The advantage was on his side!
________________________________________
Can't wait for the next chapter?
100+ advanced chapters are already available on Patreon!
👉 patreon.com/Horizons685
______________________________________
(End of Chapter)