The relentless sand attacks forced Naruto to keep dodging until he finally leaped onto solid ground, attempting a counterattack.
[Lightning Release: Live Wire]! Lightning shot from Naruto's hand, racing across the ground toward Gaara. "If I can't break through or bypass your defense, I'll hit you from underneath!"
"Naive!" Gaara lifted himself into the air with his sand, nullifying the lightning attack completely. "If you won't show me your full power, I'll end this fight right now. Surely you know by now that no matter where you run, I can always generate more sand at will?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the ground began shaking violently before swirling into a massive whirlpool.
Naruto felt his body losing balance. He watched as Gaara's sand started rising from the rotating vortex, like sand being churned inside a blender.
Naruto couldn't risk being dragged underground by Gaara's sand—even if Gaara didn't intend to kill him, he had no desire to be buried alive. No matter what, he had to stop his friend from throwing his life away.
"You can't escape, Naruto," Gaara said, both hands manipulating the sand beneath the earth. [Quicksand Waterfall]!
Sand erupted upward, surging toward Naruto like a tsunami. Naruto needed a diversion to escape being buried alive.
[Wind Release: Great Wind Pillar]! Naruto spun rapidly, summoning four rapidly expanding tornadoes. The tornadoes surged forward in perfect unison, directly colliding with the sand tsunami.
Taking advantage of the moment, Naruto jumped into the air, escaping both the sand tsunami and the tornadoes' blast radius.
Gaara stood amidst what had once been a forest, now flattened into a desert-like wasteland—all by his doing. His sand had toppled countless trees, completely reshaping the terrain.
Tilting his brow—a feature he didn't technically have—in mild surprise, he looked up at the hovering Naruto. "Since when can you fly?"
"I guess you could say that."
Speaking, Naruto gazed down at Gaara with heterochromatic eyes—one eye frog-like yellow with orange rings around it, the other a brilliant sky blue.
"This is my Sage Mode's maximum output. I can manipulate Sage Chakra-infused bubbles, so my body weight won't cause them to burst. As long as my Sage Chakra holds out, I can stay airborne indefinitely."
He wasn't sure how much Natural Energy the Nine-Tails could absorb, but he'd figure it out when the time came.
"It seems you're serious after all," Gaara said as the sand beneath his feet began floating upward. "This Sage Mode looks impressive. And yet, you're choosing to fight me instead of helping me take Amegakure and finally end this war."
With a wave of Gaara's hand, large amounts of sand surged violently from underfoot, attacking Naruto.
"Going to Amegakure would be pointless! That place is impenetrable even without war! Last time I tried sneaking in, things went from bad to worse! I was spotted the second I set foot inside!" Naruto shouted while leaping midair, dodging the relentless sand pursuit.
It looked like Naruto was actually running across the sky.
He moved through the air as fluidly and effortlessly as he did on the ground, except the sky offered even more freedom—he could move up, down, left, or right at will.
However, Gaara's sand still managed to corner him midair, especially with how much of it he was using.
Being constantly on the defensive frustrated Naruto. He needed a way to get through to Gaara directly, but without resorting to excessive force, it was proving extremely difficult.
Above them, massive hands formed from sand reached out, attempting to grab Naruto. But he wove between them like a fly, darting in and out with agility while gradually closing in on Gaara.
As Gaara desperately tried to catch Naruto midair, he muttered, "He's too fast. It's nearly impossible to trap him completely in sand, especially since he always watches his back."
As Naruto drew closer, Gaara couldn't ignore it anymore. "You won't stop me, Naruto! Just go home!"
"I won't leave without you!" Naruto shouted back at Gaara, continuing to dart through the sky, dodging the sand as he advanced toward him.
His sensory abilities under Sage Mode were nothing short of incredible.
He thought that if he activated the Sharingan, not even Gaara's sand would be able to touch him.
Still, he hadn't faced a real challenge yet.
Gaara's absolute defense was stronger than ever before.
As he thought this, the sand swirling around Gaara started solidifying.
At first, Naruto assumed it was just a thick layer of defense designed to block any attack he might attempt. Then the sand transformed into a giant replica of Shukaku's head.
"Go home, Naruto!" The monstrous head spoke in Gaara's voice, twisted and warped. "This is my final warning to you. Otherwise, you'll see exactly what I'm capable of after training in Amegakure!"
Seeing this, Naruto frowned angrily, twitching the scar on his face slightly. "I swear, I must really be the worst Jinchuriki ever!"
He wished he could partially transform like the other tailed beasts—Shukaku included.
The mouth of the giant replica opened, and a pure sphere of chakra began to form in front of it, swelling rapidly by the second.
"Come on, Gaara, you're kidding, right?" Naruto mumbled under his breath, watching the attack take shape.
This wasn't just a weak copy of the Tailed Beast Ball he used back when wrapped in the Demon Fox Cloak. This was the real thing—the Tailed Beast Ball itself.
Thankfully they weren't at ground level, or else the entire terrain would have been reshaped.
---
##Beyond the Borders of the Land of Fire##
Looking like she'd been crying for hours, Temari ran as quickly as she could, tracking Gaara's movements in hopes of finding him before he got hurt.
She, along with Kankuro and a small team of Konoha ninja, had broken away from the main reinforcement unit heading to Sunagakure to find Gaara faster.
Her village had already fallen, but many survivors were left—and she still had her family.
At least, once they reunited with Gaara, she'd still have her family.
Moreover, Gaara was the Kazekage—she could only guess at the turmoil raging inside him.
Naruto was the first to rush forward. All she could do was hope that Naruto could talk some sense into him, or at least get them there safely.
Kankuro's stern expression couldn't mask the tears welling up in his eyes.
Suddenly, Kankuro jerked his head upward toward the sky. "What the hell is that?"
Temari also looked up and saw the colossal head of Shukaku. Even from such a distant location, that nightmarish face remained clearly visible.
Then, it fired a Tailed Beast Ball straight into the heavens. The explosion was deafening. "Dear God… That's… *Gaara*."
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