Naruto had to squint his eyes for quite a while before he could finally see clearly the three men in black cloaks standing silently and motionless in front of him, blocking the way.
The three men said nothing after seeing Kakashi and Naruto.
They merely checked the items Kakashi carried (the aforementioned warrant) as a routine formality, then gestured for them to proceed.
After passing the three guards, there was a wider but still dark and damp underground room.
It was there that Naruto finally saw some familiar faces, the faces of the Sunagakure ninjas who were now captives.
There was Baki, Gaara's team's supervising Jonin, who sat leaning against the cell wall with a calm face and closed eyes, who knows what he was thinking.
Then there was the puppeteer Kankuro, who sat huddled in a corner of the cell with a very confused and desperate expression on his face, as if he were doubting the entire meaning of his life.
And in the cell next to his, there was Temari, leaning weakly against the wall.
Of course, the detention room located in the innermost part, which was also the only single room and looked the most 'luxurious' (if it could be called luxurious for an underground prison cell), was where Gaara was confined.
Dozens of seal papers with complicated incantations were seen stuck all over the walls and door of his cell, emitting a very strong restraining aura.
However, Gaara's current condition looked not too good.
His entire chakra, including Shukaku's chakra, was completely sealed, causing his breathing to become very weak and shallow, so much so that Naruto could barely feel it.
His face still showed the same indifferent and cold expression as usual, but there was a kind of doubt and despair hidden deep within his empty gaze.
Perhaps they heard the approaching footsteps in the silence of the underground room.
Everyone except Gaara, who was still staring blankly at the floor, simultaneously looked up towards Kakashi and Naruto.
Baki opened his previously closed eyes, and his pupils constricted sharply when he saw Naruto, but he didn't speak, only staring intently at the blond boy's figure with an unreadable gaze.
Kankuro swallowed hard, and the expression of doubt about life on his face became even clearer and more pitiful.
As for Temari, a strange and complicated expression appeared in her eyes when she saw Naruto.
There was a little relief, a little unexpected happiness, but more than that, there was a very complex and hard-to-describe expression.
Kakashi stopped outside Gaara's cell and glanced at Naruto, giving him a signal. Naruto nodded in understanding.
He took a deep breath, then opened the heavy cell door and entered, then stood right in front of Gaara who was still looking down, staring at him in silence.
Gaara still didn't look up; he just kept staring at the cold ground beneath his feet, as if he had lost all his strength, all his spirit, all reason to live.
Then, without any warning, Naruto threw a punch.
The punch wasn't very strong, not as strong as when he beat Neji, but it was enough to make Gaara, who had absolutely no means of self-defense or mental preparedness, fall hard to the ground.
His pale cheek was now covered by an expression of incredible disbelief.
It wasn't just Kakashi who was slightly surprised by Naruto's impulsive action; even the Anbu guarding the corridor and the Sand Ninjas in the other cells behind them were completely stunned.
Baki's previously stone-like calm face was now gone; he stared at Naruto with his mouth slightly open, dazed.
Gaara's protective sand, which usually always faithfully floated around him, now just looked like fine dust particles blown by a gentle breeze.
Because Gaara's and Shukaku's chakra were completely sealed, and his sand gourd had also been confiscated, the sand could no longer even form a shield to protect its master.
Naruto pulled back his slightly trembling fist, then looked at Gaara lying on the ground with a condescending gaze, yet there was a hidden sadness in his eyes.
"Even without that damn sand turtle shell of yours, you actually fall with just one weak punch from me. It seems... you're just an ordinary person after all, Gaara. Just like me."
Baki, Kankuro, and Temari were truly stunned and speechless when they heard Naruto's blunt words.
They simultaneously turned to look at Gaara, who was still lying helplessly on the ground.
"Don't... don't come here..."
Gaara lay on the ground, his voice trembling, sounding so fragile and desperate, like a little puppy abandoned by its owner in a storm.
Gaara waved his hands frantically, as if trying to force Naruto to retreat and stay away from him.
The fine sand still floating slightly in the air slowly drifted following his hand movements, like a special effect in a drama performance, looking very beautiful yet also very sad.
Naruto suddenly took a step forward and gently grabbed Gaara's still frantically waving hand.
The two of them were now looking into each other's eyes, so close.
The fine, flying sand now seemed like a thin curtain separating the two of them.
Although the sand was now so thin and weak, it still tried its best to protect Gaara, the master it had served for so long.
Kakashi, standing outside the cell, reached out his hand to stop one of the Anbu who seemed about to move forward out of concern.
He shook his head slightly, signaling them to let the two Jinchuriki settle their affairs.
"My existence... my existence... will not disappear... it will not disappear at all..."
Gaara looked like someone who had fainted but could still speak. He tried to free himself from Naruto's grip, his voice trembling violently, filled with despair.
"Why... why can you do this... for others...? If so... then my existence all this time... doesn't that mean it's completely meaningless...?"
He didn't care if he lost the fight.
He also didn't care if Shukaku was defeated or resealed.
He didn't even care if anyone else died, and he absolutely didn't care about any of his friends or teammates.
He only cared about himself, about his own existence, about the existence named Sabaku no Gaara.
Someone who only loved himself, whose existence was only affirmed through the pain and death of others.
Naruto looked at him calmly, his gaze no longer condescending, but filled with deep understanding and empathy.
His tone was firm yet gentle,
"Because they... they all saved me from the same hell of loneliness as you, Gaara. And they accepted me as a friend, as part of their family."
Images of Shikamaru, Choji, Uncle Ichiraku, Ayame-neechan, Grandpa Sandaime, Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke, Sakura, Ero-sennin Jiraiya, and also Karin, and most importantly, Hana-neechan who was always within him, flashed through Naruto's mind.
"They are all... my most important comrades and family."
Naruto looked at Gaara, who still looked confused and desperate, then he took a deep breath.
"The pain of living alone... it's not an ordinary pain that can be easily forgotten or ignored, Gaara... I don't know exactly why, but I feel I understand your feelings very well right now. But I... I'm different now. I already have the most important family and friends in my life. I will never let you or anyone hurt them."
Naruto tightened his grip on Gaara's hand, his gaze becoming sharper.
"Even if I have to risk my own life, even if... even if I have to kill you with my own hands, I will definitely stop you if you try to hurt them!"
Those whispers of hatred and ostracism, Naruto had shed so many tears because of them in the past, and even now, if he remembered them again, he felt he would never be able to shed tears again.
At first, he thought so... there would be no more tears. His tears, for some reason, began to flow again, wetting his cheeks.
But... but however heavily these tears flowed, even if some flowed into Naruto's mouth, he instead felt a strange and warm sweetness.
The bitterness and pain that used to always accompany him had long since disappeared without a trace.
Gaara looked at Naruto in a daze, bewildered.
"That kind of thing... that kind of bond... I... I've never seen or felt it before."
Gaara's eyes looked very confused and empty.
He looked up at the dark cell ceiling, but the cold and gloomy ceiling seemed to block his view from seeing the outside world. All he could see were the thick prison doors trapping him in an endless, layered darkness.
"To them... to everyone in my village... I am just... just a weapon... something they want to erase and forget forever."
Gaara lowered his head, his voice trembling.
"Then... then why am I in this world? Uzumaki Naruto, tell me... why... why do I have to live in this world if my existence only brings pain and fear?"
Baki closed his eyes tightly and sighed deeply, a sense of guilt haunting him.
Kankuro looked at Gaara with a confused and sympathetic gaze, as if he were truly seeing and trying to understand his own younger brother for the first time.
Temari leaned weakly against the cell wall, her eyes now filled with various complex and difficult-to-express emotions.
Kakashi, standing silently observing them both from outside the cell, the dejection and sadness radiating from his eyes could no longer be hidden at all.
Naruto also looked up at the dark cell ceiling as Gaara had done.
"I... I also once felt completely unneeded in this world, Gaara. And that feeling... was perhaps the most painful thing I've ever felt."
"Me too..." Naruto laughed softly, a laugh that sounded very self-deprecating.
"Back then, I always thought that no one in this entire village liked me or cared about me. So, I started playing pranks and causing trouble everywhere, just to try and get their attention this way. Just like you, Gaara. I just wanted them to see me."