Although Gaara was far behind Shukaku in total sand volume, when it came to speed and fine control over sand, Gaara was above Shukaku.
At this moment, Gaara's hands kept moving nonstop.
The sand under his control seemed to come alive, rapidly changing shape. In the blink of an eye, it turned into long, tough sand whips.
The sand whips tore through the air with sharp whistling sounds as they lashed straight toward Shukaku's massive head.
The reason Gaara chose to attack Shukaku's head was because, as a former jinchuriki himself, he knew the jinchuriki's position was usually close to the tailed beast's brain.
Shukaku reacted quickly, raising one thick arm upward in an attempt to block the attack from above.
However, the moment its arm lifted, Gaara had already controlled the flexible sand whip to slip around Shukaku's defense.
In an instant, the sand whip shot forward like lightning and drilled accurately into Shukaku's head.
A dull sound rang out—
Puff!
The sand whip exploded deep inside Shukaku's brain, instantly turning into a sea-urchin-shaped cluster of sand.
Rengoku had taught him this unique and vicious move.
After all, drilling into an enemy's body and causing an explosion inside was undoubtedly an extremely efficient and deadly attack method.
Unfortunately, despite how fierce the attack looked, it failed to hit Rasa. It seemed Rasa was not inside the head.
And even after Shukaku's head exploded open, nothing happened to it.
Shukaku itself was made from countless grains of sand. Its body structure was completely different from ordinary living creatures.
So even though its head had been blasted into a huge hollow cavity, it did not feel pain or injury like normal lifeforms.
Still, even if Shukaku did not suffer any real damage from the attack, as one of the tailed beasts, its pride had clearly taken a hit.
Especially when facing Gaara, who had broken through its defenses and struck its weak point on their very first clash, an uncontrollable rage rose inside Shukaku.
"You're also someone I want to kill! Wahahaha! Wahahahaha!"
Along with a sharp and ear-piercing laugh, Shukaku suddenly slammed both giant palms onto the ground.
In an instant, the earth seemed to be affected by some mysterious power and rapidly turned into sand.
In the blink of an eye, the once-solid ground became a boundless desert.
And for Shukaku, this vast sandy land was the source of its endless strength and self-repair.
As long as there was enough sand to use, no matter how badly it was damaged, it could recover in an extremely short time.
Shukaku raised a hand again and slammed it toward its own head.
With that strike, Gaara was shocked to discover that some of the sand he had strengthened with his chakra had lost its connection to him.
Gaara's scalp tingled. He quickly stretched out a hand and pulled hard, but only about half of the sand flew back out.
You could say he took a bit of a loss there.
Gaara stared closely at the markings above Shukaku's head, surprise appearing on his face.
'That… could it be a sealing technique?'
After all, he had not spent much time with Shukaku. Not long after he first arrived at the Uchiha clan, Rengoku had already sealed Shukaku away.
So Gaara knew almost nothing about Shukaku's true abilities.
At that moment, the sand on Shukaku's body seemed to be driven by some kind of force.
It surged upward like raging waves. In the blink of an eye, the hollow space inside its head was rapidly filled.
Right after that, Shukaku violently swung its tail. Instantly, huge amounts of sand rose into the air.
In midair, it formed an enormous quilt-like mass that came crashing down toward Gaara with overwhelming force.
Facing the overwhelming sand wave, Gaara quickly pressed his hands together.
His entire body shot straight toward the falling sand.
At the same time, the sand around him gathered into the shape of a sharp arrowhead.
Along with Gaara, it shot upward from his body and plunged directly into the thick layer of sand.
However, Gaara was not simply drilling through the sand layer. He intended to seize control of the sand in that area.
In that instant, Gaara used astonishing speed to successfully take control of that section of sand.
Immediately afterward, he opened a gap there without hesitation and shot out like lightning.
"Hahahaha… Interesting, this is way too interesting!"
Seeing Gaara avoid his fierce attack in such a unique way, Shukaku became excited.
It had never expected Gaara's sand control to have reached such a level.
Shukaku opened its huge mouth and suddenly took a deep breath. A rapidly spinning vortex instantly formed inside its mouth.
The terrifying suction was like an invisible giant hand, tightly grabbing Gaara and the sand platform beneath him, desperately dragging them back.
Although the sand platform had many advantages, it was too light. Against such violent suction, it was clearly struggling.
Gaara's expression suddenly changed. He knew the situation was dangerous. One mistake could put him beyond recovery.
So he made a quick decision. His figure suddenly shook and instantly turned into a pile of fine sand.
Then, using the Sand Body Flicker Technique, he reappeared on the ground.
And almost at the exact same moment Gaara used the sand body flicker, the sand platform carrying him lost its support.
It quickly collapsed into countless grains of sand and was mercilessly swallowed by the terrifying suction from Shukaku's mouth.
This process lasted only a few short seconds, but during that brief time, its already massive body underwent a shocking change.
Its round belly inflated like a balloon, rapidly swelling to ten times its original size in the blink of an eye.
At the same time, Shukaku's whole body became severely twisted and deformed from excessive inhalation.
Suddenly, Shukaku let out a sharp, piercing howl, "Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet Barrage!"
Along with the roar, its thick and powerful hands slammed against its swollen stomach like a violent storm.
Every strike triggered a powerful burst of airflow.
Under such fierce compression, one massive air cannon after another burst out from Shukaku's mouth like wild horses breaking free, rushing toward Gaara below with overwhelming force.
A series of deafening explosions rang out.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The air cannonballs smashed into the ground with unmatched destructive force, kicking up dust and blasting rocks everywhere they passed.
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