Naruto: I, who fooled the ninja world, was hailed as a savior.

Chapter 231 Gaara and Karyura

Deep underground in Sunagakure, in a dark and gloomy prison.

Darkness enveloped the prison, which was buried deep underground, and the cold, damp air was filled with a strong musty smell.

The only source of light came from the center of the prison, from a huge tea cauldron that emitted a faint glow. Its surface was densely engraved with runes, emanating a chilling and oppressive aura.

This is a ninja tool used by Sunagakure to seal tailed beasts. Even without entering it, it can suppress the tailed beasts inside the jinchūriki.

At that moment, a small figure was huddled up in front of the tea kettle.

"..."

Gaara hugged his thin legs, burying his pale face between his knees.

Her long, uncut, messy red hair hung down like withered grass, obscuring her eyes and the word "love" on her forehead.

He remained motionless, like a lifeless stone statue, with only the barely perceptible rise and fall of his breath proving that he was still alive.

Ever since he was used as a human weapon and the terrifying monster within him was forcibly awakened, he went completely berserk and out of control on the border of the Land of Fire, tearing open the defenses of the Sand Village ninja.

He was by his father...

No, it was taken back by the Fourth Kazekage.

Then, it was abandoned here.

A dark cage buried deep underground, isolating everything, was once the prison where the previous Jinchuriki of the One-Tailed Beast was held.

He didn't know how much time had passed.

A few days? A few months? A few years?
Time loses its meaning here.

Only boundless darkness and deathly solitude gnawed at his soul day after day.

Dangdang Dangdang!
The sharp sound of banging on the prison bars suddenly ripped through the stagnant silence.

Gaara numbly raised his head, and two blurry figures appeared outside the prison gate.

The two Sand Village ninjas looked at him with undisguised disgust and wariness, as if they were looking at some filthy and dangerous monster.

"Hey, monster, hurry up and eat!"

One of them, looking at the untouched food placed in front of Gaara, cursed impatiently and disgustedly, "Honestly, I can't clean up until you finish eating."

His attitude was casual and contemptuous, more like feeding a disgusting animal than treating a child under ten years old.

Gaara's eyes appeared empty and lifeless in the dim light, staring blankly at the two faces outside the fence, faces filled with disgust, without any reaction.

Just then, a force dragged his consciousness into the sealed space.

Before me stretched an endless, desolate, and monotonous desert, and the sky was an unchanging, oppressive, dusky yellow.

Behind Gaara, a huge, yellowish-brown fat raccoon squatted there, its body covered with strange, deep purple patterns.

"Ha ha ha ha!!"

A sharp, piercing, and malicious laugh echoed wildly in Gaara's ears.

"Look at you, look at your pathetic state!"

Shukaku looked down at the tiny Gaara below with its eyes and said mockingly, "Locked in this dark and sunless dungeon, being thrown around like a dog and given scraps."

"Hahaha! The same treatment as that old guy Fenfu!"

"You foolish humans, you haven't changed at all!"

Shukaku's voice was filled with scathing sarcasm as he smugly shook his enormous head: "But, that old bastard Bunfuku is much better than a useless brat like you."

"At least he can still suppress me, but once you leave this place, you'll be torn to shreds by my power! Hahaha!"

Bunfuku was the previous Jinchūriki of the One-Tailed Beast. During the era of the Second Kazekage, he was practicing Zen in a temple when he was young, and the One-Tailed Beast Shukaku was implanted into him, making him a Jinchūriki.

Later, to prevent the Jinchūriki from going berserk, the Sunagakure leadership also ordered Bunpuku to be imprisoned here.

From then on, Bunfuku was imprisoned. As time passed, Bunfuku's name was forgotten, and people called him "Shukaku" until he died of old age.

Now, Gaara enjoys the same treatment as Bunpuku.

Shukaku's vicious and incessant taunts kept pouring into Gaara's mind.

Gaara simply curled up, hugging his knees, his eyes devoid of any emotion.

He should have hated the monster inside him.

It is this that causes me to hurt others time and time again during my rampages.

It was this that caused him to bear the stigma of being a "monster" from birth.

It was this that caused her to be abandoned by her father, feared by the villagers, and hated by everyone.

Ultimately, he was imprisoned in this dark and sunless cage.

He should have hated it.

But is it really because of this?
At this moment, listening to Shukaku's incessant laughter and mockery, Gaara felt a strange and inexplicable pity rising in his heart.

"you……"

Gaara slowly opened his mouth, his voice hoarse and weak, yet strangely penetrating, clearly ringing out amidst Shukaku's maniacal laughter: "Actually, you're quite lonely, aren't you?"

"Gah..."

Shukaku's deafening, mocking laughter abruptly stopped, as if it had been choked.

The entire sealed space fell into a deathly silence in an instant, and Shukaku's huge yellow beast eyes widened suddenly.

"Kid! What, what are you saying?"

It lost its arrogant tone and roared with an incredulous anger, "Are you an idiot?! I am a powerful tailed beast!"

The enormous sound wave shook the entire space slightly, but Gaara simply sat there calmly without saying a word.

He just suddenly understood.

The monster that dwells within him, roaring and mocking him, seems to be the same as him.

It is also lonely.

If he weren't lonely, it wouldn't chatter incessantly in his ear day after day...

If it weren't lonely, it wouldn't try to cover something up with anger and mockery...

So, why? Why did it turn out this way?

"Hey! Kid! Are you even listening to me?!"

Seeing Gaara's lack of reaction and calm demeanor only fueled Shukaku's frustration, causing him to roar angrily at Gaara.

"..." Gaara opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something.

But, that's it.

Boom! !
A deep, loud explosion suddenly came from outside the prison, penetrating the ground and clearly reaching Gaara's ears!

"Hmm?" Shukaku's roar stopped abruptly, and a look of solemnity and surprise appeared in its huge beast eyes.

Inside the prison, Gaara abruptly pulled himself out of the sealed space and instinctively looked up at the outside. A powerful tremor spread throughout the entire underground prison, and the ground beneath his feet shook violently!

The two Sand Village ninjas, who had initially looked disgusted, now had expressions of surprise and wariness. They turned around abruptly and looked nervously toward the passage leading to the prison entrance.

"What happened?" one of them asked, his voice trembling slightly. "What happened up there?"

"An enemy attack?" The other man instinctively placed his hand on the hilt of his sword at his waist.

Just as the two were filled with doubt and uncertainty,
Step...step...step...

A series of clear, steady, and unhurried footsteps gradually emerged from the deep darkness of the passage.

As the footsteps drew closer, so too did the faint, chilling wails and short, intense sounds of fighting.

But those voices quickly fell silent.

Finally, only the sound of footsteps growing closer and clearer remained.

"Who?!"

The Sand Village ninja couldn't help but shout sharply, his voice echoing in the empty prison. He suppressed his surprise and raised his hands.

Another Sand Village ninja suddenly drew his long sword from his waist, the blade gleaming coldly in the dim light.

Their hearts pounded uncontrollably as they stared intently at the dense darkness at the entrance to the passage.

The footsteps stopped.

呲!
The next moment, a sharp, piercing sound shot out from the darkness without warning!

Those were two chakra arrows traveling at incredible speed, like two fleeting streaks of light slicing through the darkness before them.

puff!puff!
Two muffled thuds rang out almost simultaneously, and the two Sand Village ninjas froze, their expressions of surprise and wariness instantly freezing.

Instead, there was an unbelievable sense of bewilderment and emptiness.

Their bodies slumped to the ground as if their bones had been removed, the knives in their hands falling limply to the ground with a crisp metallic clang!

"..."

Gaara stared blankly at the sudden scene unfolding before him, his empty eyes replaced by astonishment and bewilderment.

Two Sand Village ninjas each had a thumb-sized, open hole between their eyebrows, from which scalding blood mixed with white brain matter gushed out.

Two pairs of unseeing eyes reflected Gaara's face.

The footsteps sounded again.

Two figures dressed in black robes with red cloud patterns slowly emerged from the darkness.

The tall man, carrying a white longbow without a string and wearing a cynical smile, was none other than Miyajo En.

The other person was a burly man, none other than Pain of the Hell Path.

The shadows of the two men, cast by the dim light of the teapot, stretched long, distorted shadows that enveloped the entire prison.

"you……"

Gaara stared blankly at them, at those two unfamiliar faces, and a hoarse voice broke the deathly silence as he whispered, "Are you here to kill me too?"

Upon hearing Gaara's words, Miyajo En, who had walked to the cage, raised an eyebrow.

He bent down slightly, examining Gaara who was huddled in front of the tea kettle, as if admiring an interesting toy.

“Poor child.” Miyajo En’s voice carried a hint of amusement, yet also a chilling coldness that went to the bone. “We’re not here to kill you…”

"We're here to help you find relief."

Miyajo En's words seemed to rouse Shukaku from his daze.

"No, it's impossible!"

Shukaku's terrified roar echoed deep within Gaara's mind.

"Those eyes... How is this possible? Why would the old man's Rinnegan appear in a human?!"

"Kid! Run, run!" Shukaku screamed in agony, the fear so real and intense that it even infected Gaara, making him tremble.

"Stop wasting any more time." Pain's cold, flat voice rang out. "Quickly pull out the One-Tailed Beast and take it away."

"Yes, yes, yes~ Boss." Miyajo En shrugged with a grin, his tone still flippant, but his actions were decisive, his hands quickly forming a hand seal.

Water Release: Water Rope Binding!
Swish!Swish!Swish!
Several viscous, cold, light blue ropes shot out from Miyajo En's hand and wrapped around Gaara's body, who was in a daze!

"Uh!"

The water rope tightened instantly, causing Gaara to groan. The icy water soaked through his clothes, and the powerful binding force rendered him unable to move.

Miyajo En raised his hand and casually waved it at the heavy prison bars!
Click!

The sturdy iron fence was cut open, revealing a huge gap.

Miyajo En stepped into the prison, his gaze fixed on the black tea cauldron with interest, a playful smile playing on his lips.

"Tsk tsk, so this is the ninja tool that Sunagakure uses to seal the tailed beasts?" He stretched out his finger and gently tapped the cold surface of the teapot. "It's really convenient for us."

As they spoke, Pain, the Hell Path, walked to his side, his cold Rinnegan eyes looking down emotionlessly at Gaara, who was bound tightly by water ropes and struggling in vain on the ground.

He slowly reached out a hand and grabbed Gaara's neck.

However, just as his hand was about to touch Gaara...

call!
The giant gourd behind Gaara suddenly spewed out a large amount of quicksand, which, as if it had a life of its own, quickly condensed into a giant sand hand that reached out to Pain, the Path of Hell.

"Ok?"

Pain's gaze shifted slightly, and he raised his hand, flicking out a black rod that pierced into the gourd behind Gaara.

boom!
With a dull thud, the sand-covered hand exploded and flew apart.

For the first time, Pain's gaze, filled with scrutiny, fell upon the gourd.

"Interesting." His voice remained icy. "Is it also a ninja tool with a soul?"

Just like the katana he took from the underground palace, I never expected that Sunagakure would still have such a thing hidden in it, and even left it to an abandoned Jinchuriki.

Upon hearing this, Gaara, who had been powerless to struggle, suddenly stiffened and blurted out, "What soul? Isn't that... Shukaku's power?"

Hell Path Pain glanced at him but did not answer.

But this silent silence made Aragaki realize that the power that had protected him from beginning to end was not Shukaku.

what is that?
What has been protecting me all along?
However, Pain, the Hell Path, paid no attention to Gaara's distraction, reached out and grabbed Gaara by the throat, lifting him off the ground.

"Hah!" A feeling of suffocation instantly swept over his body. Gaara struggled painfully, his legs kicking futilely in the air.

Behind Pain of the Hell Path, a hideous head slowly emerged, none other than 'King of Hell'.

The King of Hell slowly opened his enormous mouth, from which a thick, purplish-black tongue emerged, its end plunging into Gaara's abdomen.

(QAQ, I'm saving up drafts, keep going!)

(End of this chapter)