Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

It's better than doing nothing.

And that's how the current situation came about.

"One-Tailed... Lord Kazekage, what's going on?"

Temari finally snapped out of her daze, temporarily forgetting the crushing defeat she had just suffered. She looked up at her father with wide eyes. In front of outsiders, children would not address their fathers as "father" or "dad." Standing before them was the Fourth Kazekage of Sunagakure, a ruthless man who had decided to get rid of his youngest son after determining he was a failed Jinchuriki.

The girl looked uneasily at her father, who had lost an arm.

She didn't know what had happened in the less than an hour after the Chunin Exams finals that had caused her father to lose an arm, but she understood what the Kazekage had just said: to lend the One-Tailed Beast to Konoha... How could that be?

Although she was only a genin.

However, her background destined her to be no ordinary genin, especially since her youngest brother was a jinchūriki. She was well aware of the importance of the One-Tailed Beast to the village and the life-and-death relationship between tailed beasts and jinchūriki. If the One-Tailed Beast were handed over to Konoha, wouldn't that mean Gaara would die?

"Lord Kazekage, what...what are you going to do to Gaara?"

Kankuro also mustered up his courage and asked.

It must be admitted that even though the two siblings were terrified of their youngest brother, the bond between them and Gaara was not severed. In particular, Temari never forgot that her mother had asked her to take care of Gaara before she passed away, and even her uncle Yashamaru... also doted on Gaara.

Gaara, who had been motionless like a stone statue, seemed to blink inadvertently, his gaze falling on Temari and Kankuro.

"Temari, Kankuro, this is not something you should be worrying about."

Luo Sha gave his eldest daughter and eldest son a cold look and scolded, "Instead of worrying about these things, you should spend more energy honing your skills. This time you only lost the competition, but next time you will lose your lives on the real battlefield."

Temari and Kankuro, who had been scolded, blushed, but they still gritted their teeth, raised their heads, and stared at the Kazekage without lowering their heads.

This attitude,

This immediately enraged Rasa.

Just as the Fourth Kazekage erupted in thunderous fury, Zongxian, who had been watching the commotion for a while, smiled and said, "Are you two worried that I will hurt your younger brother?" As Zongxian spoke, Rasa's face twitched, and he had to temporarily suppress the anger in his chest.

Temari and Kankuro were taken aback, looking at the smiling Sogen, and couldn't help but exchange bewildered glances.

finally,

It was the eldest sister, Temari, who mustered up her courage and answered, "Yes, Hokage-sama, Gaara... is my younger brother, and as his older sister, I have a responsibility to protect him."

Kankuro, standing next to him, nodded vigorously and echoed, "Me too."

"······good."

Zongxian praised them, looking at Temari and Kankuro with admiration, "Taking care of your younger siblings is the responsibility of an older brother. Kazekage-sama, your two children are both very outstanding!"

"...You flatter me."

Luo Sha's face twitched.

I don't know what got into Naruto, and I didn't know what to say for a moment, so I could only give a dry, perfunctory reply.

Sogen didn't care about Rasa's perfunctory attitude. Instead, he turned his gaze to Temari and Kankuro and said gently, "You two are very good, but I'm sorry... the One-Tail is of great use to me, and I must get my hands on it."

Seeing the change in Temari and Kankuro's expressions, Sogen added, "But you don't need to worry too much. All I need is the One-Tailed Beast. I will return your little brother to you. At that time, your little brother will just be your little brother, no longer a terrifying monster."

These words,

This left the two of them somewhat confused.

However, Sogen didn't intend to explain further. He simply saw his past self reflected in Temari and Kankuro. He had once had to shoulder the burden of his family to protect his sister and parents, and later the village, gradually leading him to where he is today.

Therefore,

In a good mood, he spoke a few more words with Temari and Kankuro.

"Gaara, come with me! I'll help you get rid of the nightmare that has haunted you since the day you were born." Sogen extended his hand, inviting Gaara to join him.

"...What should I do?"

Gaara stepped forward and looked up at Sogen.

"Just come with me. Don't worry, I won't hurt you. Since I promised your sister and brother that I would return you to them safe and sound, I will definitely do it."

"it is good."

I love Luo, he replied.

Zong Xian was taken aback by this straightforwardness and asked with some curiosity, "You trust me that much?"

"I have never trusted you." Gaara looked coldly at Sogen and said indifferently, "Even the Kazekage had his arm broken by you, so even if I release Shukaku, I will not be a match for you. There is no point in resisting, and the final result will not change."

"·······Ha ha!"

Zongxian burst into laughter.

He said, "You are indeed very good. It's a pity you are a Sand Ninja, otherwise I would really like you to be my disciple."

[Chapter 474 Heretical Path: The Art of Reincarnation and Co-existence]

Gaara had never considered the question of whether he would die. Standing deep underground, gazing up at the strange statue before him that defied description, and feeling the sudden agitation of Shukaku within him, he was filled with nothing but doubt.

This,

What exactly is it?

Before him was a huge humanoid figure in a sitting position, bound by black shackles on its hands and feet, with nine closed eyes, a body the color of dead wood, and a body like dry firewood, with ten short, columnar protrusions behind it.

He used his 'Eye of Sand' to take in the entire shape of this thing.

Zongxian, standing nearby, did not stop the boy's actions.

"Want to know what this is?"

Zongxian glanced at the eye of sand in the sky and asked.

"Yes."

"How should I put it! This thing... is the body of Shukaku."

"Body?"

"Yes, you know that too, right? Tailed Beasts appear to have physical forms, but to be precise, they are aggregates of chakra. Their so-called forms are merely outlines of high-density chakra. They do not possess a truly existing body. No, that's not right. It should be said that they passively discarded their former bodies."

"they?"

"Yes, they, all the tailed beasts, have lost their original bodies."

"...This thing...is their body? The nine tailed beasts were actually one entity?"

“You’re so smart. You’re right. This thing… is the former body of the nine tailed beasts. The so-called nine tailed beasts didn’t exist originally. There were no tailed beasts at that time. It was only later that someone disassembled the nine tailed beasts.”

"So you're planning to put them back together?"

"...That's right."

Zongxian looked deeply at the exceptionally intelligent young man and said frankly, "You are right. I want to send the nine tailed beasts back to where they need to go, back to their original forms, and the tail on your body is the first one."

"That's it!"

Gaara seemed to have asked enough questions and closed his mouth contentedly.

But Zongxian couldn't help but become a little curious. He looked at Gaara and asked, "Aren't you curious about why I would do something like this?"

Why be curious about such a thing?

"...Hmm, aren't you worried that I'll use the power of the nine tailed beasts to destroy the world?" Sogen casually made up a reply in response to Gaara's question.

Unexpectedly,

Gaara calmly replied, "It doesn't matter. I'm just a tool for killing. Whether the world is destroyed or not is none of my concern. It doesn't matter what happens." He only asked so many questions because they were related to Shukaku, and that's why he wanted to know more.

Ok!

This is... incredibly powerful!

Zongxian shook his head. This child's thinking was really twisted, but it didn't matter. Anyway, there weren't many normal people in this ninja world. When he went to the battlefield at the age of seven, he was already deeply aware of how crazy this world was.

Gaara's flaws are nothing to worry about.

"Stand still here quietly." Zongxian pointed to Gaara standing still in front of the Gedo Mazo and gently comforted the boy, saying, "Don't worry, it won't hurt, and it won't take too long. It will be over soon..."

only,

Gaara doesn't seem nervous at all.

He showed little fear, standing quietly in front of the demonic statue of the Outer Path, awaiting the inevitable fate that awaited him.

"Snapped!"

Zongxian clapped his hands together.

The instructions were given to the slumbering body of the divine tree.

The Gedo Mazo, which had been motionless like a stone statue, began to move at this moment. As if it had smelled the scent of its lost chakra, its already open mouth opened even wider, emitting a series of incoherent roars.

Simultaneously,

A long chain emerged from its mouth.

It looks like a snake.

He lunged at Gaara, who was standing below.

to be frank,

The chain was enormous; just one link was larger than Gaara himself. If it were to fall on him, he would be crushed into a pile of minced meat. However, Gaara stood still without moving, not even trying to dodge, and even tried his best to suppress Shukaku, which was howling and screaming wildly inside him.

then,

He discovered that although the chains made a metallic clanging sound as they vibrated in the air, they were not actually solid. They passed through his body like phantoms. If he hadn't seen Shukaku, who was chained up, being stretched as long as a noodle and quickly pulled out of his body, he would have doubted whether it was an illusion.

Now it seems,

It's not an illusion.

Rather, it is a rather powerful means.

The fact that Shukaku was extracted from his body so easily... Gaara frowned, feeling a little dizzy. He immediately realized that his life force was draining away as Shukaku was extracted. He would probably die once Shukaku was completely extracted.

At this moment,

"By the way, Gaara, can you still speak? Is your consciousness... already starting to fade?"

Gaara, feeling dizzy, felt as if his ears were placed next to a honeycomb, with a constant buzzing noise that made his head even more foggy.