Gaara unleashed Shukaku's true form in a fit of rage.
The towering trees that had carried their battle moments ago were now shorter than the monster's knees. The sand colossus, nearly a hundred meters tall, roared as it stood in the forest outside Konoha.
Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, who had come from the mission scroll world, had already led the others to a distant vantage point. The Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, along with Shikamaru Nara, Shino Aburame, Gamakichi, and Pakkun of this world stared at the gigantic monster Gaara had become, so stunned they almost forgot to breathe.
Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha both couldn't help but ask their counterparts from the other world,
"Is that the monster sealed inside Gaara?!"
"What the hell is that thing?!"
Naruto said, "It's something ninjas call a tailed beast."
"A tailed beast?!"
"The one inside Gaara is the One-Tails, Shukaku. Besides that, I've met the Three-Tails, Isobu, and…"
He turned to look at his counterpart in this world. "…the Nine-Tails, Kurama."
The moment he finished speaking, Gaara's attack swept toward them.
The Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha of this world didn't even have time to be shocked. They hurriedly dodged the sand surging at them and rushed back into the battlefield.
But faced with sand attacking from every direction and Gaara's massive body, they found themselves unable to mount any effective offense or defense.
Seeing this, Sasuke turned to Kakashi beside him.
"Should I try summoning Manda to help them?!"
At this moment, the only power they could think of that matched Shukaku in size and was something they could actually use was Manda.
Inside Naruto's body, Kurama was scratching at the floor of his cage, clamoring to be let out so he could properly teach that stupid tanuki a lesson.
But he was still locked behind the bars. With only a thin trickle of chakra leaking through the gaps, forcing a transformation into Kurama Mode was still far too much.
Kakashi stared intently at the distant battlefield. "Wait a bit longer."
On the battlefield, Sasuke Uchiha had activated his Sharingan. His vision and reflexes far surpassed Naruto Uzumaki's.
When Naruto failed to notice the sand closing in behind him, just about to swallow him whole, Sasuke lunged toward him.
Naruto was knocked away, but Sasuke himself was trapped by the sand.
"Take Sakura and run, you dead weight…"
Standing beside Kakashi, Sakura Haruno panicked and begged her teacher to go save them. She looked at Kakashi-sensei with desperation in her eyes.
Not long after Sasuke was trapped, Naruto was also engulfed by the sand.
It was over.
Without the help of the mission scroll, there really were no miracles to be expected in this fight.
Kakashi said, "Sasuke, prepare to summon Manda. Naruto, use Shadow Clones and Rasengan to distract Gaara. Sakura, get ready to provide medical support!"
"Yes!!"
The three responded at once, and Kakashi himself prepared to join the fight.
Trapped within the sand, Naruto could only look through a narrow gap near his eyes toward Sasuke.
"Sasuke…"
His mind replayed Sasuke's words from earlier—
"No one understands better than me what it's like to gain something and then lose it. I don't want to lose you all again."
"Take Sakura and run."
And his own promise—
"Once I defeat Gaara…"
"When I meet my dad, I'll introduce you to him."
"I'll tell him—"
"You're my best friend!"
At that moment, Naruto made up his mind.
Struggling against the sand binding him, he painfully wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his thumb.
Boar → Dog → Bird → Monkey → Ram
"Summoning Jutsu!!!"
Sasuke froze. He had just pierced his finger and was about to start forming hand seals.
At the same time, Naruto's Rasengan shattered the sand prison that had trapped Sasuke.
A tremendous boom rang out.
"BOOM!!"
A massive cloud of white smoke, almost on the same scale as when Gaara transformed into Shukaku, completely engulfed the summoned creature's true form.
"!!!"
Sasuke Uchiha, whom Naruto had just rescued, didn't even have time to ask what jutsu Naruto had used. His eyes widened as he stared at the enormous toad in front of him, disbelief written all over his face.
"A toad… as big as Manda?!"
Adult Kakashi chuckled lightly. "Yare yare, good thing we waited a bit longer."
Sakura, Sakura Haruno, along with Temari, Kankurō, Shikamaru Nara, and Shino Aburame were all completely frozen, their minds blank.
Naruto stared at the toad, which was almost the same size as Manda, his eyes shining.
"So cool!!!! But wait! Why can the me in this world summon such a huge toad?! The Shima Toad and Fukusaku Toad I summoned were so tiny! They weren't even bigger than that—"
He pointed straight at the small orange toad.
"They weren't even much bigger than this one!"
"Call me Gamakichi, idiot!!" Gamakichi hopped angrily as he shouted. "And Shima-sama and Fukusaku-sama are toad sages even stronger than my dad! You stupid human, don't just casually mention those two great ones' names! Idiot!"
The toad might be small, but its temper was anything but.
Naruto pouted. After thinking it over, he decided it wasn't worth arguing with a little toad.
Beside him, Sasuke Uchiha, whom he had just saved, looked up at the giant toad and asked,
"Is this… the reason you're called monsters?"
"Uh…"
Before Naruto could figure out how to explain it, Kurama inside him exploded in anger, slamming against the cage and shouting,
["What?!! You're seriously putting that toad on the same level as us Tailed Beasts?!"]
["Open your Sharingan and look properly! That's a toad! A Mount Myōboku toad!!"]
["That's why I've always hated the Uchiha! Hmph!!"]
Naruto hurriedly calmed Kurama down in the depths of his mind.
Then he said to Sasuke Uchiha,
"Well… maybe it's because Sasuke on our side formed a contract with Ryūchi Cave. I can only summon two small toads, but he can summon a giant snake almost as big as that huge toad."
Without realizing it, his tone carried a hint of bragging about his own Sasuke.
"The boss snake he summoned during our Chūnin Exams drew over all the examinees and even the proctors! Good thing my dad and Kakashi-sensei rushed over, or who knows how it would've ended!"
A giant snake…?
Because of Orochimaru, Sasuke Uchiha didn't have a very good impression of snake-type summons.
Still, he couldn't help feeling a bit envious of that other version of himself. Someone who had already awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan at the same age, who had learned the truth about being completely in the dark regarding his real enemy, who had mastered summoning and signed a contract with Ryūchi Cave, and who hadn't been branded with Orochimaru's curse mark.
Naruto stared at Bunta with undisguised envy. Kurama inside him was instantly displeased. Once this lousy seal was undone, he would definitely be tens of thousands of times cooler than this stinking toad.
"What is it now, you brat?" Bunta said irritably, clearly unhappy with Naruto Uzumaki standing on his head.
He glanced at Shukaku, the Sand Guardian, across from him.
"I've got no interest in fighting that guy. He's not easy to deal with."
Huh?!
Wait… so it seemed like he hadn't really subdued that big toad after all…
"Didn't you promise to take me in as your underling?!" Naruto Uzumaki shouted as he slapped Bunta's head hard. "When your little brother's in trouble, shouldn't the boss step in to help?! What about that 'honor and loyalty' you talked about?!"
For the enormous toad, the blows were completely painless, almost unnoticeable.
Back at Team 7's viewing area, Naruto was at a loss for words.
"Why are all the guys I run into so hard to deal with? This big toad, Kurama, and even Sasuke…"
"Looking for a beating, you super idiot?!"
["Don't lump this old man together with the Uchiha!"]
Naruto fell silent as the two voices shot back at him in unison.
Nearby, Gamakichi hopped over with quick little steps. Even from a distance, the small toad moved fast as a proper ninja frog. In no time, it reached Bunta and Naruto Uzumaki.
Bunta said, "I did agree to take you in as an underling, but we never drank the bond-sealing sake. Strictly speaking, you're still not one of us."
Not to mention Naruto Uzumaki standing on Bunta's head…
The Naruto watching from the spectator area was so angry he practically jumped in place.
"At a crucial moment like this, why are you getting hung up on a cup of sake?! I promised Mom I wouldn't drink before I turn twenty! And I swore I'd stay away from gambling, drugs, and women too!!"
Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno both shot him sidelong looks.
They remembered this Naruto mentioning before that because his dad had made too many enemies, he'd taken his mother's surname instead.
"Don't be so heartless, Dad! At least hear this kid out."
At some point, Gamakichi had hopped onto Naruto Uzumaki's head and started pleading on his behalf.
"D-Dad?"
"Why are you even here, Gamakichi?!"
"I just came out to have some fun during my free time, you know…"
They really were father and son?!
That exchange felt no different from a normal human father-and-son conversation.
Gamakichi pointed at Shukaku.
"That monster tried to bully me! If this kid hadn't saved me, I'd be dead by now."
As he spoke, his webbed hand patted Naruto Uzumaki on the head.
Bunta's eyes narrowed dangerously, his expression clearly saying: Oh? Then I've got a damn good reason to step in.
"Kid! I'll take you on as my underling! And then…"
Bunta drew the short blade from his back.
"I'll let you see what true honor and loyalty really mean!!"
The others had already retreated outside the battle zone.
Adult Kakashi said calmly, "That works too." He glanced at Naruto. "You really do live up to the title of 'Number One Unpredictable Ninja.'"
Sakura sighed. "The world really is full of surprises… they just all happen to Naruto."
They had already seen Naruto's luck firsthand. It felt as if his fortune was tied to all worlds, to the point where he could practically pick up money just by lowering his head.
Sasuke and Sasuke Uchiha looked at Naruto, then at the distant Naruto Uzumaki. The shock they felt differed in intensity, but both had more or less witnessed Naruto's so-called "bloodline talent."
The moment Bunta swung his short blade, using a toad's explosive jumping power and burst strength, he severed one of Shukaku's arms in a single strike.
Sakura stared in disbelief, her eyes wide.
"Th-that's amazing!!"
Naruto laughed without a care in the world.
"Looks like dads everywhere are just as overprotective."
For some reason, Kakashi suddenly felt…a stomachache.
Sasuke said seriously, "But this will probably push Gaara to the edge. If nothing unexpected happens, he'll use 'that,' just like he did against you."
The moment he said "that," Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi all fell silent.
What came next was the real problem. Without the Nine-Tails' power, could the toad called Bunta really defeat Shukaku, the One-Tails?
["Hmph. Even if he's the one with the fewest tails among us, that guy is still a Tailed Beast."]
Kurama flicked his ears, full of disdain.
["Just a mere toad."]
Sasuke Uchiha grew anxious.
"That? What are you talking about?! Stop speaking in riddles! What exactly is 'that'?!"
"It's the technique where Gaara abandons control of his own consciousness and lets Shukaku take over completely," Naruto said, staring at the battlefield as he explained.
"Abandoning control of his own consciousness?!"
In other words, handing the battlefield over to a genuine monster?
A strange, unsettling feeling settled over both Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno.
On the other side, seeing Temari's face turn deathly pale, Shikamaru Nara realized something was wrong and glanced at Kakashi, wondering when he planned to make his move.
Atop Shukaku's massive head, Gaara emerged from the sand.
It felt exactly like Naruto standing on top of Bunta.
"As thanks for entertaining me this much, I'll let you witness Shukaku's true power."
"Feigning Sleep Technique."
…
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