"Yashamaru, why was I chosen to be Shukaku's jinchuriki?" Gaara asked as Yashamaru led them down the shadowed streets of Sunagakure. The village was eerily still—no lights from the homes, no occasional passersby, and no trace of their voices from afar. The evacuation order had driven the villagers into underground shelters, leaving behind only the darkened buildings and the muted rattle of window frames against the night winds.
"Because you were the only one of Kazekage-sama's children to be tested compatible with Shukaku," Yashamaru replied. "Neither Temari-sama nor Kankuro-sama was compatible with the tailed beast."
Naruto glanced at Gaara, then at the empty streets around them. He frowned. Why had he been chosen to be 's jinchuriki? Was it because, like Gaara, he was the only one compatible? Or was there another reason?
"Really? But I can't even control the sand properly."
"No, no, Gaara, you control sand perfectly! You just built that huge sandcastle today!" Naruto reminded Gaara. But Gaara didn't respond, looking lost in thought.
"I know I am supposed to protect my village," Gaara murmured after a moment. "But all I do is harm it…"
"We're about to change that, Gaara Yashamaru smiled at him, although his eyes showed a glint of worry.
Naruto's stomach churned at Gaara's words. So Gaara also knew what the purpose of a jinchuriki was. Naruto had been kept in blissful ignorance about his own jinchuriki identity until had told him. It felt bad wondering why everyone stared at you, of course, but Naruto bet it was worse knowing exactly why—because you'd hate yourself for it too.
They arrived at the village entrance. Yashamaru held Naruto's and Gaara's hands as they stepped into the cleft in the thick sandstone, the walls on both sides muffling the rustling winds. At the far end of the narrow passage, Kenji and Michiya stood at their posts. The guards straightened when they saw Yashamaru approaching.
"Good evening, Yashamaru-san," Kenji greeted solemnly. "Everyone is prepared and in position."
"Good." Yashamaru's hand on Gaara's tightened slightly. "Let's hope it won't come to that."
Michiya's gaze flicked to the two children beside Yashamaru, lingering on Gaara just a moment too long. "…May this evening go smoothly."
Yashamaru nodded and led Naruto and Gaara forward, past the guards out of Sunagakure into the open field in the Land of Wind. The sky above was a deep indigo, speckled with stars that seemed brighter against the stark desert backdrop. A crescent moon hung low, casting a silvery glow over the windswept dunes, their peaks shimmering like spume atop ocean waves.
"Naruto-kun, how will you and your tailed beast help exactly?" Yashamaru asked as they walked further and further away from the village, the towering walls of Sunagakure receding into the distance.
"When I touch Gaara, will put my chakra and a little bit of his chakra into Gaara. We'll create chakra avatars of us in Gaara's mindscape."
"Mindscape?" Gaara asked.
"The place where you see Shukaku in your dreams. It's the same place every time, right?"
"Ah… There's basically nothing except water on the ground."
"Understood, Naruto-kun. If either Gaara-sama or you fall into danger, I will separate you two and end this," said Yashamaru.
Gaara's head started to feel dizzy as he recalled his nightmares. He had made so much effort to train his body, managing to get by on barely one hour of sleep a day. He didn't want to see the… thing inside him again. But he had to face his problem. Naruto was helping him and asking for nothing in return. He couldn't back out now and let him down.
Finally they stopped walking when Suna was out of sight. The vast expanse of sand stretched out all around them, dotted with sparse tufts of dry grass. The chilly wind kicked up small curls of sand that danced like fleeting phantoms around their feet.
"What does Shukaku say to you when you're awake? He can only take over your body when you're asleep, right?" Naruto asked Gaara. Something about Temari's words had been bothering him. What did she mean by Shukaku gradually devouring its host's mental stability? Was it just because of insomnia? would suddenly speak in Naruto's head too, and he was getting used to it. More importantly, every time talked, it was to give him useful advice and help him in time with something.
Gaara's face turned paler than it already was. He wrapped his arms around himself and lowered his head. Several tendrils of sand started to swirl slowly around him. Naruto was sure it wasn't just the wind. "It's okay if you don't feel like saying it."
"…Kill."
"Huh?"
"'Kill everyone'," Gaara squeezed out the words through his quivering lips. He looked up and Naruto saw nothing but fear in those pale teal eyes. "'Slaughter everyone in sight. Or go to sleep and let me do it.' Is what Shukaku keeps telling me…"
Naruto went numb as Gaara's chilling words sank in. He knew Shukaku was sadistic—torturing Gaara in his sleep—but he hadn't thought the tailed beast would be outright homicidal. had said he'd been under someone's control when he attacked Konoha. This Shukaku would control someone to attack the village. "W-what…? That's what he tells you?" he stammered.
Gaara nodded, his arms tightening around himself. The sand around him was spiraling frantically now. "It's every day. Every night. He doesn't stop…" Gaara's voice cracked, and he looked away.
Naruto's mind raced, trying to imagine hearing such terrifying commands over and over. He wanted to say something, to reassure Gaara somehow, but he was lost for words. What could he say to someone who had to live with such a demon every moment of his life? He glanced at Yashamaru, hoping for guidance.
Yashamaru didn't seem shocked by Gaara's revelation. He crouched down beside him. "Gaara he began softly, "I know it's hard to bear, and anyone in your place would feel scared. Shukaku's voice is relentless, and his threats are intimidating. But you've resisted him this long. That shows how strong you are."
Gaara's eyes were still fixed on the ground, but the sand swirling around him slowed a little.
Yashamaru glanced up at the sky. "Shukaku's power is strongest during a full moon, so it's good that it's a crescent moon tonight," he said. "The smaller the moon, the weaker Shukaku's influence. Tonight is a safe night."
He turned his attention back to Gaara. "You are not Shukaku, Gaara. You are you. No matter how much he tries to control you, he can't change that. And you have people who care about you, who want to help you fight him."
Naruto finally found his voice. "Yeah! You're not alone, Gaara. We're here for you. Even if Shukaku's scary, we won't let him win."
The swirling sand settled back to the ground. Gaara raised his head again, the look in his eyes calmer now. "Thank you, Yashamaru, Naruto. I think I'm ready."
"Alright, Gaara, I'm gonna need you to trust me," Naruto said, holding out his hand to Gaara.
Gaara nodded, and with a deep breath, took it.
The mindscape was a dim, yellow-hued void, with no horizon in sight. The water on the ground rippled under the movements of two children and two beasts.
"Stupid fox, you think you can control MY host?!" a high-pitched voice shrieked.
"Heh, what a loose seal, coming in was easy. Miss me? Trash tanuki," a deep voice growled.
Gaara's knees buckled as he collapsed to the ground. Naruto stared in horror at the monster that loomed before them. Dark blue cursed seal markings snaked across its sand-coloured body. A protruding jaw, lined with jagged teeth, enclosed a gaping maw devoid of a tongue. The black sclera connected its unsettling eyes, where yellow irises encircled pupils shaped like four-pointed stars, each surrounded by four black dots that seemed to move and swirl as Naruto locked eyes with it.
"Today's the day I destroy you, you arrogant fool!" Shukaku shrieked in his bombastic voice and lunged at Kurama.
"Like you can ever!" Kurama scoffed, his dark orange tails swishing confidently. He sprang to his feet to dodge Shukaku's paw aimed at his head, then shoved Shukaku aside using three of his large, powerful tails.
Shukaku whirled around and raised his scaly, pangolin-like tail, trying to strike Kurama's head again, but Kurama leaped sideways and raked his claws across Shukaku's other arm, tearing off a massive chunk of flesh that dissolved into a heap of sand.
Naruto snapped out of his daze and glanced at Gaara, who was frozen in place. He grabbed Gaara's arm and pulled him to his feet. "Let's get away from here!"
"Ouch! You're gonna pay for that!" The sand demon screeched, the wound on his right arm beginning to heal at a rapid speed. He slammed his paw against his huge round stomach and opened his jaw. "Wind bullet!"
Naruto had already started dragging Gaara away from the beasts when a powerful blast of air struck them, sending them flying forward. Before Gaara hit the ground, a surge of sand swiftly caught him and cushioned his fall.
Kurama rolled away from the wind bullet, then wrapped seven long tails around Shukaku—two around each of his arms and three around his tail. With a swipe of his tails, Kurama began swinging Shukaku left and right, flipping the monster tanuki from side to side. Gaara's mindscape trembled, water splashing and sand scattering in all directions as Shukaku's heavy body repeatedly crashed into the ground.
Despite the battering, Shukaku thrashed wildly, his robust limbs kicking and wriggling with surprising agility. Kurama adjusted his stance to keep his balance on the shifting ground. But amidst the chaos, one of his paws slipped on a mound of loose sand, causing one of his tails to lose its grip on Shukaku's arm. Shukaku bellowed in defiance, kicking Kurama's other tail off his arm. Without hesitation, he slammed his paw against his stomach, firing two wind bullets in quick succession, blasting the nine-tailed fox away from him.
Kurama regained his balance several hundred meters away. Enraged, the demon fox let out a deafening roar at Shukaku, who had just stood up and was about to unleash another wind bullet. The immense shockwaves from Kurama's roar thrusted Shukaku backwards and forced Naruto and Gaara apart, sending them tumbling away from each other. Once again, a cushion of sand formed around Gaara, absorbing the impact and halting his rolling.
Kurama charged forward and pounced, seizing Shukaku's left shoulder with his right hand and sinking his razor-like teeth deep into Shukaku's right shoulder. With a violent tug, Kurama ripped Shukaku's right arm off, reducing it to a large pile of sand.
"Aahhh!" The One-Tail screamed, his piercing voice echoing through the void. Shukaku grasped Kurama's right arm with his remaining hand and jerked his head backward. Light blue and dark red bubbles began to gather into a purple sphere in his wide-open mouth. Kurama launched an upward punch with his left fist, snapping Shukaku's jaw shut. Shukaku howled in pain and dispelled the incomplete tailed beast bomb, letting go of Kurama in the process.
"Gaara!" Naruto shouted, stumbling toward him through the dim light, careful not to slip on the wet ground. He knelt beside Gaara, who was covering his ears, shivering and breathing in quick, shallow gasps.
"Gaara, it's alright, I'm here! I'll protect you!" Naruto pressed Gaara's head against his chest, turning his back to shield Gaara from the brutal scene.
Shukaku's right arm was already regrowing, but Kurama didn't grant him the luxury of fully restoring it. With a flick of five tails, the Nine-Tails smacked Shukaku in the side, knocking him down with such force that it crushed the regenerating limb. Shukaku groaned and swatted at the five tails with his sturdy one, but they came back and wound themselves around it, strangling it into submission. The One-Tail pushed himself up with his left hand, but Kurama yanked him back down by the tail, refusing to let him rise. With seven mighty tails—two around Shukaku's left arm—Kurama flung the tanuki high into the air, then jumped higher and batted him back down with all nine tails, sending another tremendous earthquake through Gaara's mindscape.
Stepping on top of the writhing Shukaku, Kurama clamped his sharp teeth into the tanuki's nearly nonexistent neck. The Nine-Tails coiled all nine of his tails around the struggling One-Tail—two securing his feet—and began slashing his claws across Shukaku's round stomach. Both beasts' faces twisted with fury. As Kurama tore into him, Shukaku screamed, "Alright, alright, I give up! I GIVE UP! STOP!"
It took a minute for Kurama to calm himself when he saw that Shukaku's sand-flesh had scattered all over the mindscape.
"You are going to leave the kid alone. You will let him sleep," Kurama ordered, finally releasing Shukaku's neck.
"Heh… why so nice to humans all of a sudden… fox?" Shukaku sneered between labored huffs and puffs.
Kurama increased the pressure on Shukaku's body with his tails and feet, making the tanuki squeak in agony.
"I only used a tiny fraction of my chakra this time," he snarled. "If you don't cooperate, I'll come back here and annihilate you. Got it?"
"… Fine, fine," the One-Tail moaned.
The small sandstorm around the three people dissipated as Gaara went limp in Naruto's arms. The red-haired boy had been clutching his head and whimpering in pain, while Naruto desperately worked to maintain their connection. Whenever the battle between the beasts affected him, Gaara's features would morph—crooked teeth or a pointed ear emerging. The transformation fluctuated back and forth until the altered features disappeared all at once, leaving Gaara unconscious as Naruto laid him down.
"Naruto-kun, you did it!" Yashamaru exclaimed after checking Gaara's chakra flow. He pulled Naruto into a warm embrace.
"Thank you so much, Naruto-kun. Gaara can finally rest," said Gaara's uncle sincerely, gently patting Naruto's head. "You really saved us."
Naruto smiled and yawned, too tired to say anything. Yashamaru picked up the two boys, holding one in each arm.
"Rest against me. We have good news to report."
As Yashamaru walked back toward Sunagakure, Naruto gazed at Gaara's sleeping face, a faint smile crossing his lips. Closing his own eyes, he whispered,
"Good night, Gaara."