Being a rogue ninja is worse than being Hokage.

Naruto has really disappeared.

……

That strange chakra reappeared in Gaara's body.

Gaara's chakra unleashed an astonishing aura. Even though Sasuke relied on the cursed seal to inject more chakra into his feet and stick tightly to the tree trunk, this aura still violently shook Sasuke's body.

Sasuke's Sharingan with its two tomoe could see very clearly that this time, Gaara's abnormal chakra had become even thicker. Gaara's original chakra was covered by this strange chakra, making Gaara completely different.

Gaara has indeed changed his appearance.

He transformed from a human into a hideous beast that seemed to be made of sand.

"Hey! You over there, what's the situation with your companion?!"

Sasuke questioned Temari, who was standing next to Gaara.

But Temari didn't answer. She just stared in fear at Gaara, who had completely transformed into a monster, and hugged Kankuro, who had been unconscious in the previous battle, even tighter in her arms.

Having received no answer from Temari, Sasuke had to make his own judgment.

Will we continue fighting Gaara?

Anyone could tell that something was wrong with Gaara's current situation.

Sasuke wasn't very confident he could continue fighting Gaara...

Sakura, who used Water Release to create opportunities for Sasuke in the previous battle, now has very little chakra left.

Sasuke was in the same boat, but at least he had the cursed seal that was eroding his body again, providing chakra that didn't belong to him.

When Kakashi was teaching Sasuke Chidori, he said something similar to what Naruto said: relying too much on the cursed seal would have irreversible effects on Sasuke.

Sasuke himself was well aware that the chakra provided by the cursed seal was not enough for him to fight for a long time.

Once even the chakra of the cursed seal is exhausted, the consequences will be unimaginable.

Damn!

What should we do?!

"Don't even think about escaping, Uchiha Sasuke! You'll see what a real monster looks like!"

The sand monster spoke in human language, its claws forming a strange hand seal.

"The art of feigning sleep!"

Gaara is about to summon the real monster within him!

"Sakura, let's get out of here!"

Sasuke detected an even larger amount of abnormal chakra overflowing from Gaara's body with his Sharingan, and immediately decided to escape with Sakura!

But Sasuke suddenly stopped.

Naruto appeared next to Temari just like that.

"Naruto!"

"Naruto?"

Sasuke, Sakura, and Temari looked at Naruto, who had suddenly appeared on the battlefield, with different tones in their voices.

Naruto ignored them.

Temari was the first to notice that something was wrong with Naruto.

Naruto reacted even faster, kicking Temari and Kankuro, who was in Temari's arms, away together.

Temari crashed into a tree trunk, the impact causing her to fall into a coma.

Chapter 63 The Gift of Parting

"Naruto! What are you doing?"

Naruto's appearance should have been a perfect opportunity to help Sasuke and Sakura fight Gaara again.

Sasuke, however... sensed that something was wrong.

Naruto's appearance might seem like an extremely fast Body Flicker Technique to ordinary people, but under the observation of the Sharingan, Sasuke clearly understood that Naruto's chakra was a more direct "spatial creation from nothingness."

"He kicked the invading Sand Village enemy in the stomach and sent her flying."

Naruto recounted his actions: "Attacks are a normal thing to do, right?"

Although he answered Sasuke's question, his attention remained focused on Gaara, who was in a state of "sleep"—or, to be more precise, Gaara in his human-sized tailed beast form.

The art of feigning sleep.

Naruto finally shifted his gaze and glanced at Sasuke, whose body was covered in black curse marks.

I never imagined that Sasuke could drive Gaara into such a desperate situation.

However, this was exactly what Naruto wanted.

Naruto reached out a hand and touched Gaara's sand body. The Nine-Tails' red chakra disrupted the gathering of the One-Tailed chakra within Gaara's body.

This slows down the time it takes for Shukaku to regain its self-awareness.

Gaara even shed his sand appearance and returned to his original form.

However, he was still under the effects of the sleep technique, fast asleep with his eyes closed.

Naruto used his other hand to form a hand seal, creating four shadow clones.

The first three shadow clones created by Naruto disappeared in an instant.

Sasuke observed the appearance and disappearance of the shadow clones, and the disappearance of the shadow clones was also a "spatial process of going from existence to non-existence".

Sasuke glanced at Naruto's hand, which was controlling Gaara through contact, and then at the fourth shadow clone that remained beside Naruto's main body.

"Naruto, you summoned shadow clones... are you doing this to protect me and Sakura?"

Although Sasuke was unwilling to believe it, his intuition told him that Naruto's behavior was a sign that he and Sakura were enemies.

"Sasuke? Why would you say that?!"

Sakura didn't have Sasuke's keen intuition, but she still understood the subtle atmosphere between the three members of Team 7.

That's why she subconsciously asks Sasuke for his opinion instead of defending Naruto.

Naruto did not answer.

Sasuke will never know what Naruto is thinking at this moment.

Several figures suddenly appeared around Class 7, their positions suggesting an intention to surround the three members of Class 7.

"The Dark Guard?!"

"Why!?"

Sasuke noticed the attire of these figures: the vests worn by members of the Anbu, and the animal masks they wore to conceal their appearance.

Why did the Dark Side suddenly appear here?

But Sasuke immediately realized that he had guessed the identities of these ninjas wrong.

"The Nine-Tails has been found! The Jinchuriki of the One-Tails from Sunagakure is also there—and the Uchiha!"

One of the masked ninjas looked at Naruto and Gaara, addressing them as such... as well as Sasuke.

"Set up a protective barrier first!"

Then another masked ninja spoke up.

Not the Anbu!

Sasuke sensed the hostility emanating from these masked ninjas. Who exactly were they?

“Your roots are truly haunting.”

Naruto was forced to release his hand from Gaara.

The next moment, Naruto's real body and his shadow clone disappeared from Gaara's side.

Did he flee the battlefield?

"No, it's on the ground!"

All eyes turned to the forest floor, where the vanished Naruto stood beside the unconscious Temari.

Don't let him leave!

It was probably the masked ninja squad leader who gave the order.

"I won't leave, but you guys don't have time to deal with me right now, do you?"

Naruto stood still, as if to show that he was a person whose words and actions were consistent.

"Hey! Something's not right with the Jinchūriki of the One-Tailed Beast!"

With Naruto's prompting, the Root ninjas noticed Gaara resuming his tailed beast transformation.

Sasuke, who has the Sharingan, reacted faster. He quickly pulled Sakura, who didn't have much chakra, away from Gaara.

Sasuke's judgment was correct and decisive.

The sand enveloping Gaara's body instantly expanded into an enormous entity!

A huge raccoon with an extremely long tail appeared in the forest.

The tall trees looked as small as grass in front of this raccoon.

The One-Tailed Beast in its full tailed beast form has appeared!

"Hahahaha! I'm finally out!"

Gaara, using the technique of feigning sleep to suppress his own consciousness, took the place of the One-Tailed Beast in its slumber, granting the One-Tailed Beast a brief period of "freedom."

It let out a sharp, piercing laugh and noticed the ninjas in the forest.

"Someone's killing me as soon as I come out! That's awesome!"

As it roared, the One-Tailed Beast's belly swelled into a sphere, filled with a large amount of chakra.

"Wind Release: Sky Bullet Training!"