Gaara was puzzled at my offer of "peace," so I spoke clearly to the poor kid. "I know about the monster sealed inside you." Gaara reacted immediately, his sand stirring around him in a restless wave and threatening to turn me into shreds in an instant. Yet he hesitated. Somehow he could feel that I truly had no bad intentions. I understood what it would take, so I slowly let every bit of my guard down and stood there completely defenseless so he could be at ease.
When he did not move for a while, I continued speaking gently. "I know it makes your life hard. You cannot sleep well. You are always subjected to waves of heat and anger that make it hard to breathe sometimes. The world spins around you and you feel like you want to vomit, however that feeling never goes away even if you do."
Gaara's small hand slowly balled into a fist as tears formed in his eyes. His voice trembled as he spoke. "Sometimes it is so angry I forget who I am. I think I am the monster and I become so angry and destroy so many things." Hearing those words made something tighten painfully in my chest. The despair and sadness behind them were too real. He genuinely hated every moment he spent living with that monster inside him.
I took a deep breath and forced a small smile onto my face. "I will tell you a secret," I said quietly, "but promise me you will never tell anyone." Gaara wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and nodded slowly. "I am actually an expert in seals." He looked confused, clearly unsure what that meant, so I continued. "I can fix the issue with the monster inside you."
The reaction was instant. Gaara's sand shot toward me and wrapped around my neck into a sharp shape, tightening slowly until a thin line of blood appeared where the grains pressed against my skin. I did not panic. If I wanted to protect the people I cared about, then fear was a luxury I could not afford. I exhaled slowly and kept speaking in the calmest voice I could manage given the circumstances. "I will not take it from you, because that would kill you, nor will I cause you any harm. I promise you."
I extended my hand toward him even as his agitated sand rotated around it and began cutting into it as well. Small shallow cuts appeared across my skin as I gently placed my hand on his shoulder and squeezed reassuringly, forcing myself to smile through the pain. Gaara stared at me, searching my face for even the smallest hint of deceit. What he saw instead was sincerity.
The pressure around my neck suddenly eased. Gaara blinked in surprise as the sand loosened and scattered around us. "Mother?" he whispered softly, almost absentmindedly. The sand drifted through the air beneath the shimmering barrier above us, moving almost gracefully as if guided by something unseen. The sight was strangely beautiful, and for a moment even I found myself staring in quiet awe.
Gaara then looked back at me with determination replacing the hesitation in his eyes. "What do you want to do?" he asked. I answered honestly. "I want to fix the seal that controls the monster inside you. It will make it easier to sleep and breathe. It will let you be a normal child." A small smile appeared on Gaara's face, fragile but hopeful. Still, doubt lingered in his eyes. Even if his mother's will seemed to trust me, he was still cautious.
So I gave him control. "Shape the sand into a blade and place it over my heart," I told him calmly. "If my seal causes you harm, the sand can kill me instantly." Gaara's eyes widened in shock, but before he could even respond the sand around us began moving on its own. It swirled together and formed a blade that hovered directly above my heart.
Gaara saw the sand's reaction and felt his own despair as he swallowed and nodded with quiet determination. "Please help me. Do not harm me. You are the only friend I have." Those words struck deeper than any blade. My chest tightened painfully at the loneliness behind them. A kid his age should never have to say something like that. Still, I simply nodded and forced a confident grin. "Do not worry," I said gently. "You can trust me. The amazing Noa." For a moment he just stared at me. Then, slowly, a real smile appeared on his face.
I chuckled softly before asking in a serious tone, "Ready to finally experience true peace?" He took a shaky breath, clearly a bit scared, clearly weighing everything that had just happened. Then he nodded slowly. "Yes." A brave expression settled onto his small face as he tried to appear strong and confident, but he looked too cute instead, like a kid holding his parents' bag and determined to guard it with his life.
I took a storage seal from my pouch and poured chakra into it. With a soft surge of energy, the buffer formation scroll appeared. I extended the scroll across the ground, and as my chakra initiated the process, the seals spread outward over the solid stone floor, forming a large circle filled with intricate, shifting seal formulas while leaving an empty space in the middle. I took a deep breath and said, "Lie down in the middle of the seal formation, please."
Gaara obeyed without hesitation. Small seals moved inward and attached themselves to his body before crawling toward his stomach as I sharpened my focus to its absolute limit.
Lines of ink spread across the surface of the scroll as the seal formulas shifted and rearranged themselves while the formation fully activated. Slowly and carefully, more and more parts of the seal lifted from the paper and moved onto Gaara's body. The sand reacted immediately, stirring violently around us as if worried for him. The blade hovering above my heart lowered slightly until the tip nearly pierced my skin.
I did not react. Any sudden movement or emotional fluctuation could mean instant death, so I shut out everything except the seals in front of me.
Using absolute chakra control, I began connecting my buffer seal to Gaara's original one. The first step was the hardest. I had to attach my work carefully before linking the two systems together. To avoid alarming the monster inside too much, I used parts of the original seal to create a natural connection that would feel familiar to the structure already holding the One Tail.
Even with that precaution I knew I had gotten its attention. Dark, ominous chakra began leaking from Gaara's body as the One Tail stirred inside the seal. His sand reacted violently, swirling around us like a storm waiting to erupt. I spoke calmly without breaking my focus. "Gaara, the monster wants you to always be as miserable and angry as it is. I know it is not easy, but try to control your feelings. I promise you this is worth it, and I trust in you."
Gaara understood the risk I was taking. He could see how defenseless I was while the sand blade hovered above my heart. Slowly, something unfamiliar appeared in his eyes. Trust.
He squeezed his face tight, doing his best to keep his emotions under control.
Meanwhile I slipped into a flow state. Seals began flying from the scroll faster and faster as my mind worked with incredible speed. My focus narrowed until the entire world disappeared. I did not see the sand blade, or the storm around me. All I saw was the formula forming between the layers of the original One Tail seal.
The more of the buffer seal formed, the harder the pressure became to ignore. The One Tail's chakra grew darker and more aggressive with every passing second. My speed increased even further as the buffer structure began to take shape, but the sand around me started cutting into my clothes, staining them with blood as Gaara's body trembled under the strain of the beast fighting back.
The sand blade finally broke skin. I felt the sharp sting as it pushed slightly into my chest, a searing pain dangerously close to my heart. I did not stop. Surrounded by a storm of sand stained with my own blood and exposed to the most terrifying, angry, and vengeful chakra I had ever felt, I forced my chakra forward and sent a powerful pulse into the forming seal.
The final pieces of the buffer connected. I quickly used neutral chakra to fix it in place and guided Gaara's chakra through the new pathway until the structure closed into a complete circle.
Only then did I realize I had been holding my breath.
I exhaled sharply and twisted my head to the side as nausea hit me like a hammer. I threw up violently. Pain tore through every part of my body as the lingering presence of the One Tail's chakra finally caught up with me. My body shook uncontrollably while blood dripped from the countless cuts across my skin.
My strength vanished all at once. I collapsed onto the ground, heaving in pain and exhaustion as my vision blurred. Being pushed the closest I had ever been to death in this life took its own toll on my body, not to mention the side effects of being exposed to the One Tail's dark chakra for so long, as I did not have the benefit of a jinchuriki seal that could even partially shield me from its effects.
I closed my eyes as unbearable pain and uncontrollable emotions surged through me.
At that same moment, Gaara slowly opened his own.
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A/N: Countdown to the end of the arc. 10 chapters to go 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥