The moment Gaara and Aburame Shino stepped onto the arena, the audience fell into a hushed silence. Low whispers rippled through the crowd as everyone leaned toward their companions to share their thoughts.
"That kid's from the Aburame clan, right? I know Konoha has a clan like that. I've heard they're powerful... but you hardly ever see them."
"I heard from a friend that the Aburame are really reclusive. Since they use insects in battle, they don't show up in the village often."
The Aburame clan had always carried that aura. Even when they stood among a crowd, they somehow seemed to vanish into it. Their presence was muted, almost ghostly.
On the opposite side, in the Sunagakure section, most spectators wore expressions of contempt or unease as they looked at Gaara.
"That guy only becomes useful in situations like this. He's a menace to the village, but his power is something else."
"I put all my savings on him. I don't believe a monster like that can lose."
"Tch... what a waste it'd be if we didn't use a monster like him to make a little profit."
Gaara could feel the disgust, the avarice, the disdain swirling in the crowd around him. But he didn't flinch. He didn't care what they thought. His eyes were fixed in one direction—on the viewing platform where his father, the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, sat behind a one-way glass wall.
He stared ahead, as if trying to pierce through the barrier with his gaze and look directly into Rasa's eyes.
From his seat above, Rasa looked down with an unreadable expression.
In recent days, according to Maki's report, the tailed beast sealed inside Gaara—Shukaku—had begun to stabilize. His violent chakra no longer surged out of control. For the first time in a long while, the boy seemed... calm.
Rasa's heart was a twisted battlefield of emotions.
As Kazekage, he was cold, ruthless, and efficient—he had to be. Especially when overseeing the power of a Jinchūriki.
But as a father...
He had always known he was a failure.
After the death of the previous Jinchūriki, Sunagakure was left dangerously vulnerable. One by one, three new candidates were chosen—three vessels for Shukaku. Each went berserk. Each had to be killed by his own hand.
When all hope seemed lost, Elder Chiyo made a proposal.
She told him: let someone with natural compatibility be born—a child of his own blood. With Rasa's magnetic sand bloodline and sealing knowledge, the child might survive. Shukaku could be sealed in the womb before birth, allowing the body to grow around the beast and adapt.
It was madness... but they were desperate.
He agreed.
He told Karura, his wife, "This child will carry our strength. He'll control Shukaku. He'll guide the Sand to glory."
But when Gaara was born, reality struck him like a cruel joke.
Karura, pregnant and kind-hearted, had shielded her unborn son from Shukaku's hatred and chakra every single day. She had fought silently, without complaint, her chakra constantly battling the beast's corruption. And in the end, the strain killed her during childbirth.
The moment he entered the room, no longer the Kazekage but simply a husband—he was too late.
All that remained of her was a pale, still body, hidden beneath a white cloth.
His hands trembled as he lifted it.
She was smiling.
Why was she smiling?
His dreams, his love, his ambitions—all shattered in that instant.
He turned toward the tiny baby in the cradle beside her body, premature and fragile, wrapped in soft cloth.
And he hated it.
He hated that this thing had survived while Karura had died.
He picked up the cradle with one hand and raised it over his head. His arm tensed. He wanted to throw it to the ground and end it.
But then...
He saw it.
Three faint kanji, written with trembling hands on the baby's blanket—just above the heart.
「我 愛 羅」
Gaara.
I love Rasa.
"Gaara... Karura... was that the name you gave him?"
He froze.
The meaning pierced straight through his core. She loved him. That's why she bore the burden. That's why she gave birth to this child.
The child wasn't a vessel. He was the proof of their love.
His hands fell still.
From that moment on, the man named Rasa died with her.
What remained was the cold shell of a Kazekage, a shadow draped in gold dust and blood.
"My heart has long since withered."
"In this world, some live in shame and some die in glory—but in the end, it's all meaningless. One day, I will see her again, in the Pure Land."
"She's waiting. My Karura… the only light left in my scorched, broken soul."
"With her death, I too died. From then on, only the Kazekage remained."
"I will guard this village until the end, no matter the cost—even if it takes my life, even if I lose all dignity. I've imprisoned myself in power, hoping someday… I'll be worthy to join her again."
Now, Rasa sat watching Gaara through the glass—the child of their love.
Separated by life and death.
And the pain of that separation was unbearable.
"Prove to me the worth of your existence, Gaara."
"Show me that you weren't born for nothing."
"Because if I can believe in you... maybe I can finally meet her again, with no regrets."
…
In the arena, the signal flare fired from Gekko hand.
Gaara and Shino moved in an instant, springing apart to gain distance.
One was the Demon of the Sand, wielding earth itself like a weapon. The other, a silent strategist, commanding colonies of chakra-fed insects from within his body.
The clash of opposites was about to begin.
Gaara's light green eyes shimmered—not with bloodlust, but with longing.
Longing for victory.
Longing for love.
Shino, calm and silent beneath his black glasses, gave no outward hint of emotion. But deep beneath his stoic surface, there burned a quiet hunger—a desire to prove something.
He wanted to show the world that he had realized the teachings of Uchiha Hikaru. That through training and strategy, even something as small as an insect could surpass expectations.
"Insects may be small, but we are legion."
"Today, I'll show them all—what it means to be King of the Insects."
From beneath his feet, parasitic kikaichū began tunneling silently through the arena floor. Hidden nests were built in an instant, colonies establishing ambush points.
At the same time, Gaara's fingers tightened slightly. The gourd on his back began to tremble.
Sand, infused with his chakra and hatred, erupted violently from the opening.
The stopper blasted free with a thunderous pop, and waves of dense sand exploded into the air.
"Sand Coffin."
The cloud of golden sand surged forward, rising like a tidal wave. In mid-air, it twisted and clawed like demonic hands, reaching for Shino with deadly precision.
The battle had begun.
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Bonus Chapter at 150 Power Stone
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