"Heh heh, got you," Gaara said, his panda-like eyes wide with a bloodthirsty excitement.
In the few seconds it had taken for Nagi to deal with Baki, Gaara had already activated his sand control, binding Uchiha Nagi's legs.
Then came the classic moment. Gaara's face twisted into a snarl as he spread his fingers. "Sand Burial!"
A terrifying pressure erupted from all directions as the sand, moving like an extension of Gaara's own limbs, began to crush its captive, intending to squeeze him into a paste.
Splat—
"Huh!?" The expected spray of gore never came. Gaara was momentarily confused.
"Watch out! Behind you!" Kankuro yelled.
Gaara spun around to see Uchiha Nagi looking down on him, an annoyed expression on his face, as if he were scolding a naughty child.
If it had been Baki, he would have recognized it as the Flying Thunder God technique, having lived through the Great Ninja Wars. But Gaara, at this time, was just a little boy who had been consumed by darkness for a few years. His knowledge of the ninja world's history was limited, and he couldn't understand how his opponent had vanished from within his sand.
"So you escaped. Then I'll just have to catch you again. Sand Coffin!"
Two streams of sand shot out like living things, moving to bind Uchiha Nagi once more.
"Water Breathing, Second Form: Water Wheel."
Uchiha Nagi spoke calmly. With a casual slash of his sword, he cut through Gaara's sand as if it were nothing.
Seeing this, the panda-eyed boy grew even angrier.
"Sand Shuriken!"
A mass of sand floated into the air, quickly molding itself into the shape of shuriken and launching toward Nagi.
"Water Breathing, Second Form: Modified—Horizontal Water Wheel." Nagi easily deflected the sand projectiles, showing no difficulty at all.
"Hey, little brat. If you don't start taking this seriously, I'm going to have to spank you," Uchiha Nagi taunted. "And I'll use A Thousand Years of Death. It's gonna hurt."
"You... you..." Gaara was seething. In Sunagakure, everyone fled at the sight of him. How dare this person look down on him? He was furious.
In his rage, Gaara summoned a massive sea of sand, trying to envelop Nagi completely. He was still young, and his chakra reserves weren't as large as they would be in the future, but he had the One-Tail inside him. The amount of chakra leaking from the tailed beast was equivalent to that of several adult ninja. Fueled by his anger, Gaara unleashed the power that Shukaku had been leaking into him.
"Now this is a little more interesting. Sixth Form: Twisting Whirlpool."
Nagi's swordsmanship was dazzling. His mastery of the Water Breathing style grew with every move, each slash a work of art. But as the volume of sand increased, weighing several tons, no matter how much he swung his blade, he was still surrounded. An ordinary person would have been helpless in this situation.
"Sixth Form: Twisting Whirlpool—Flow!"
Nagi's continuously moving blade scattered the massive waves of sand, but Gaara's control was incredibly efficient. It took him very little chakra to gather the dispersed sand back together.
Eventually, a massive amount of sand, like a sandstorm, completely encircled Uchiha Nagi, forming a small dune.
"This time, you won't escape," Gaara said, his eyes bloodshot, his face a ferocious mask.
"Come on, then. Let's see just how powerful your Sand Burial really is," Uchiha Nagi said with a smile, allowing the sand to completely envelop him.
Breaking out would have been easy. A single Monstrous Strength Fist from his left hand could have blown it apart. He could have even killed Gaara by catching him off guard with a Flying Thunder God and a Rasengan. Gaara was still too green at this point. As long as he didn't transform, his Absolute Defense only brought him to the level of a jonin at best.
But at this moment, Uchiha Nagi had other ideas.
He wanted to see just how big the power gap was between himself and a Tailed Beast.
"Die! Sand Burial!"
With a clench of Gaara's fist, tons of sand compressed violently, intending to crush the person inside into a bloody pulp.
"Mother, you'll see it soon. You'll see the red flower bloom..."
Huh!?
The expected spray of red liquid didn't appear. Gaara pushed harder, increasing the pressure of the Sand Burial, but it still had no effect.
BOOM!
With a loud crash, a giant skeletal hand made of chakra burst through the sand dune. It was followed by another, and then the upper torso of a skeletal giant emerged from within.
Inside the half-body skeleton was Uchiha Nagi. Gaara was stunned. Faced with this chakra Susanoo, he felt as if he were looking at a titan from ancient times. They weren't even in the same league.
"Gaara, hang in there!" Kankuro, who had been hiding, saw this and immediately ran with his puppets towards where Kimimaro was. He hoped to capture Nagi's companion to create a chance for his own team to survive. Uchiha Nagi glanced at him but didn't intervene. This was a chance for Kimimaro to train, and he couldn't always be there to protect him.
"Is that all you've got?" Uchiha Nagi said with a look of disdain. He grabbed Gaara with the Susanoo's hand and lifted him up to face him. "If this is the extent of your power, then you can just die."
With that, he used the skeletal hand to lightly slap Gaara on the butt.
Smack, smack, smack!
Though he was young, Gaara knew he was being humiliated. This was an unbearable insult. In a daze, his mind entered a strange world.
This world was filled with vengeful spirits. On a desolate, barren plain, a monstrous creature was trapped in a stone prison.
According to legend, it was a tanuki monster born in the Nara Desert, created from the piling up of sand under the influence of otherworldly magic. It was born from the vengeful spirits of those who had died, trapped by sandstorms in the desert. Its true form was that of a tanuki. It was playful by nature and liked to bury itself in the sand. The violet tattoos on its body were patterns representing the Wind God. This was Shukaku.
"Give me your body. I'll teach him a lesson for you, hehehehe!"
Entering his spiritual world for the first time, Gaara understood that this giant, tanuki-like monster was likely the thing that had been living inside him all this time. But right now, he didn't care. The shame of defeat and the threat of death made him nod subconsciously.
"Fine."
Outside, Uchiha Nagi suddenly felt a massive amount of evil, powerful chakra erupt from the Gaara he held in his hand. It was the Tailed Beast. The surrounding sand rapidly converged on Gaara's body.
POOF!
After a huge cloud of smoke, a colossal, mountain-sized monster finally appeared in the desert.
Feigning Sleep Technique.
It was a unique sealing jutsu developed by Sunagakure that allowed an imperfect jinchuriki to release the Tailed Beast within them without breaking the seal. All one had to do was wake the jinchuriki, who would be asleep on the Tailed Beast's head, and the beast would be sealed back inside them. But this was a jutsu of last resort. Shukaku was not on the side of the Sand ninja. The most likely outcome was that it would emerge and kill the ninja on both sides. Compared to the Konoha ninja, Shukaku probably hated the Sand ninja who had sealed it even more.
"Hahaha! I'm out! I'm finally out! I'm free!"
It was as tall as a mountain, with the body of a tanuki and strange tattoos that represented the Wind God. This was the One-Tail, Shukaku. A mischievous Tailed Beast, whose "playfulness" was a massive disaster for humanity.
"Haha! The first thing I see is a detestable human! A damn little bug! I'll squash you!"
Shukaku saw Uchiha Nagi's half-body Susanoo, but in its eyes, the giant construct was no bigger than its foot.
"Is that so!?" Uchiha Nagi said, his voice filled with excitement. "Shukaku, let's see how strong you really are."
As Shukaku's giant foot came down, Nagi increased the output to his Susanoo. The half-skeleton immediately grew into a full-body skeleton, grabbing Shukaku's leg and tripping it.
"Huh? It got bigger? You annoying human bug! I'm going to kill you!"
Shukaku, enraged, took a deep breath and slapped its own belly.
"Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet!"
A wind-style ninjutsu shot towards Uchiha Nagi. That's right, this wasn't Shukaku's signature ability, like a Tailed Beast Ball, but ninjutsu—Wind Release.
The Nine-Tails had nine tails and the most chakra, but that didn't mean the one-tailed Shukaku was the weakest. On the contrary, it was very intelligent. It was the only Tailed Beast that could use ninjutsu, perform hand signs, and even use sealing jutsu. It had even combined the patterns on its body to create its own unique sealing techniques. Among the nine Tailed Beasts, only Shukaku could use sealing jutsu. If it fought the Nine-Tails, with its unique sealing abilities, it wouldn't necessarily lose.
Compared to a Tailed Beast Ball, ninjutsu was much more efficient and fit its wind and sand attributes better, conserving its energy.
"First Form: Water Surface Slash!" Uchiha Nagi continuously poured chakra into his Susanoo, transforming it into its second form: a giant with flesh and blood. The Susanoo giant raised its massive sword and cleaved the air bullet in two.
But the amount of chakra Shukaku used for a single air bullet was minuscule, as easy for it as a human throwing a punch. For a human, however, it was a different story. An air bullet launched from Shukaku's massive body was as powerful as an A-rank ninjutsu. And for Shukaku, a technique like that was as effortless as spitting.
"Hey, it got bigger! This is interesting! Haha, this is so much fun!"
Shukaku was immediately excited. It had been a long time since it had been out. Not only could it get some fresh air, but it could also get into a good fight. It was perfect.
"Wind Release: Multiple Drilling Air Bullets!"
Shukaku slapped its belly again, and a dense barrage of air bullets shot from its mouth, chasing Uchiha Nagi's Susanoo like a machine gun.
Uchiha Nagi suddenly looked up and shouted at Shukaku:
"Mere gravel, you are not even my equal!"