After welcoming the Konoha group, Gaara planned to take them into the village, let them rest and eat something, then discuss official matters.
Naruto, however, could not wait.
He grabbed Gaara by the hand and started pulling him elsewhere.
"We already ate on the way here, so let's find somewhere to talk business first. Come on, Gaara. You're the Kazekage—take us somewhere suitable."
"…Alright."
Gaara was startled by Naruto's enthusiasm, but inwardly, he was delighted.
Handling official business first was fine.
Once they finished, they would have plenty of free time for a private gathering without interruptions.
The Land of Wind lacked almost everything except open space.
Even though the Dragon Vein's suppressive influence had been removed and the land had begun recovering, an entire desert could not be restored in a day or two.
The only reason recovery was possible at all was that the earth in the shinobi world possessed vitality and contained natural energy.
Otherwise, turning such an enormous expanse of pure desert back into fertile land would be about as realistic as turning a fried egg back into a whole egg and hatching a chick from it.
Gaara led the group to a private training ground outside the village.
As one of Sunagakure's strongest fighters, a sand-manipulating shinobi, and the One-Tails' jinchūriki, many of Gaara's techniques caused destruction on a massive scale.
He obviously could not practice them inside the village.
This was the training ground he normally used.
"Naruto—"
"One Thousand Years of Death!"
The moment they arrived, Gaara opened his mouth to speak but Naruto suddenly slid behind him and launched an attack!
He did not use much force.
It was nowhere near enough to send Gaara flying the way Kakashi's version would.
Of course, even if Naruto had used his full strength, it probably would not have mattered.
Gaara constantly wore a layer of protective Sand Armor beneath his clothing.
"Uzumaki Naruto, you damned bastard! What the hell are you doing?!"
Temari finally snapped.
She rolled up her sleeves and stormed forward, ready to beat Naruto senseless.
This was too much!
She had barely tolerated him secretly pinching Gaara earlier.
But now he had stopped pretending altogether and attacked Gaara like that in front of everyone!
Gaara was the Kazekage—the public face of Sunagakure.
How could anyone tolerate such humiliation?
"Wait! Temari, stop!"
Gaara raised a wall of sand between them.
Temari stared at him in disbelief.
Did Gaara and Naruto truly feel the same way about each other?
Was he seriously protecting Naruto even now?
"Temari, look at this sand. It contains Mother's power."
Gaara shook his head slightly and raised one hand, allowing a stream of sand to slip between his fingers.
Thanks to Makoto's earlier reminder, Gaara had discovered the love and power his mother, Karura, had left behind for him.
The legendary 'Mother Susanoo'.
The sand inside Gaara's gourd that automatically protected him without any conscious command was driven by Karura's power.
Temari knew about this as well.
But why was Gaara bringing it up now?
"Mother didn't stop Naruto either. That proves he meant me no harm. Isn't that right, Naruto?"
Gaara smiled faintly.
"…"
Temari was utterly speechless.
So that was where he was going with this.
Because Gaara's automatic defense had not blocked Naruto's One Thousand Years of Death, that meant their mother had approved the attack.
Temari wanted to argue, but for once, she could not immediately think of a counterargument.
She was tempted to rush straight to Amegakure, have Karura summoned through Edo Tensei, and personally ask whether she approved of this relationship.
Then Temari calmed down and banished the idea from her mind.
Not because she believed Edo Tensei disrespected the dead.
She was afraid the resurrected Karura might actually approve.
Then they would truly be doomed.
"Gaara, thank you for trusting me."
Naruto met Gaara's eyes with complete seriousness.
"Of course, Naruto…"
Gaara had not even finished speaking when one of Naruto's shadow clones appeared behind him and yanked his pants down!
"…"
Gaara's face instantly turned red.
"…"
Smack!
Temari slapped a hand over her face.
She no longer wanted to speak.
She no longer wanted to interfere.
Would someone please save her and put an end to this pair of gays?
Watching Naruto execute such a smooth combination, Tokiwa became even more convinced that he was a bond-type shinobi.
His only problem was that his self-perception was completely wrong, causing him to mistakenly believe otherwise.
Even Kurama fell into deep thought inside Naruto.
Admittedly, everything Naruto was doing had been arranged by Tokiwa and Kurama together.
Naruto was technically an innocent victim who had no idea what the plan truly involved.
But the problem was that this "victim" looked exactly like a willing accomplice.
Naruto was normally a terrible actor.
Yet every action he had performed today had been impossibly smooth.
It looked completely natural.
This was not acting at all.
This was his true self.
...
"Kurama, do you remember what happened in Limited Tsukuyomi?" Matatabi suddenly spoke.
"What are you implying?"
Kurama frowned.
Was the Two-Tails trying to insult him for no reason?
Why else would she bring up Limited Tsukuyomi?
"You only read the Limited Tsukuyomi novels. Yugito and I personally witnessed that world."
Matatabi began explaining.
"Many things there were the opposite of the real shinobi world.
"In reality, jinchūriki are hated. In Limited Tsukuyomi, the entire world lusted after our beauty.
"In Limited Tsukuyomi, the Nine-Tails was a shameless, seductive demon fox."
"So is it possible that reality is the reverse?"
"Perhaps the shameless one isn't the Nine-Tails at all."
"Perhaps it's Uzumaki Naruto."
Matatabi completed her analysis and presented the conclusion.
"That's entirely possible."
"It makes sense."
Kurama's tightly furrowed brow gradually relaxed.
"The Two-Tails is right. Naruto must be the shameless human. Otherwise, the prophecy would never say he was destined to do that to all of us…"
"Exactly!"
The Tailed Beasts began speaking over one another, unanimously accepting Matatabi's conclusion.
...
Meanwhile, outside, Naruto began explaining himself.
"Gaara, the things I just did are some of the pranks I used to play whenever I got bored in the village…"
"Except One Thousand Years of Death. I only learned that after meeting Kakashi-sensei."
"When I was little, everyone isolated me, hated me, and treated me like the Nine-Tails itself."
"Gaara, I went through the same things you did."
"But eventually, I realized crying doesn't accomplish anything."
"Tears only matter when they fall on someone who cares about you."
"But pee is different."
"If it lands on someone, absolutely everyone cares."
"So I chose the second option."
"That is my ninja way!"
"Gaara, I know our lives were similar, so I hope you can face everything with the same optimism I did."
Naruto delivered this absurd speech with the solemn confidence of someone explaining a profound truth.
Gaara could only stare at him, thoroughly stunned.
---------
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