Naruto looked down at Gaara lying on the ground.
He was curled up on the frame of Kankuro's puppet, his hands clutching his shoulders tightly, his face so twisted that one couldn't recognize the cold and indifferent Sunagakure Genius from earlier that day.
Shukaku was attempting to seize control of his body.
"Kurama, do you want to see Shukaku?"
Naruto immediately thought of how Kurama and Shukaku didn't get along, so he couldn't help but ask curiously.
"Hmph, whoever wants to see that stinking tanuki can go ahead."
In the Sealing Space, Kurama turned its head to the side.
It particularly hated Shukaku. Not only was that stinking tanuki not very strong, but it was also incredibly noisy, constantly talking about "yours truly". It couldn't even aim a Tailed Beast Ball, yet insisted on thinking it was the strongest Tailed Beast in the world.
At the last Tailed Beast gathering, that stinking tanuki had actually dared to step on its tail because it was drunk.
If you're drunk, you should just get lost!
Naruto shrugged, the corners of his lips curving.
"Then I'll beat it up. That won't be a problem, right?"
"Whatever you want, it's best if you thrash it."
Although Kurama said it didn't matter, its two ears perked up.
Naruto pressed his index and middle fingers together, and tapped the point on the back of Gaara's neck.
"You haven't slept for so many years, so get some good sleep."
Gaara's body quieted down. His curled limbs slowly relaxed, and his twisted expression gradually returned to calm after losing consciousness.
But the next second, a massive amount of Chakra surged wildly from within his body.
The Chakra took shape above him, eventually forming a massive monster.
One-Tail, Shukaku!
Its entire body was covered in dark blue patterns, its round torso and thick limbs making it look like some kind of deformed giant tanuki.
"Hahaha! Yours truly is out!" Shukaku roared toward the sky.
"Shukaku, can you keep it down?" Just then, a voice reached Shukaku's ears.
"Who dares to talk to yours truly..." Shukaku lowered its head, looking annoyed.
Then, it saw a boy shrouded in golden Chakra, calmly looking at it from above a canopy of trees.
Shukaku's nose twitched. On this boy, it smelled a scent it was very familiar with. It was the scent of that stinking fox.
Shukaku's gaze paused on the layer of golden Chakra Cloak on Naruto, then it saw his orange pupils and the tomoe markings on his collar.
Shukaku laughed, its laughter filled with a sense of schadenfreude. "Hahaha... You're killing me!"
"Isn't this the stinking fox? Kurama, you actually have days like this! Didn't you hate humans the most? Didn't you say humans were all greedy, selfish parasites?"
"How come you're sharing a set of Chakra with a human now?"
"Naruto, beat it up immediately. I can't stand this." Kurama's voice rang out in Naruto's consciousness.
It had been sealed by humans, enslaved by Madara, and beaten by Hashirama, but never had anything made it feel more humiliated than being mocked by Shukaku. And to make matters worse, it was saying it so loudly.
"Okay." Naruto nodded.
The next second, his body transformed into a streak of golden light, rapidly climbing up the outer wall of Shukaku's massive body.
Shukaku was still laughing, its mouth wide open. Before it could react, a golden light rushed to the side of its head. Then, a Chakra Arm suddenly extended from Naruto's right hand, swinging in a full arc in the air and slamming into Shukaku's still-laughing face.
Bang!
Shukaku's body was sent reeling back a dozen steps by this punch, crashing through a large swath of forest before it could barely steady itself.
Shukaku was stunned, its eyes wide. The other side of its mouth still held the curve of a laugh, but now it couldn't make a sound.
"Kurama, you bastard! You actually let this human punch my face!" Shukaku roared, clutching its deformed cheek.
It took a deep breath, its chest expanding, then opened its mouth and spat a giant air bullet toward Naruto.
Wind Release: Air Bullet!
The Air Bullet unleashed from Shukaku's mouth covered the entire forest where Naruto stood in its trajectory, the immense wind pressure kicking up soil and debris from the ground.
A flash of golden light appeared under Naruto's feet, and he arrived at the top of a tree to Shukaku's left.
The Air Bullet whistled past where he had just been, carving a giant trench into the forest floor.
"Hmph, only those without enough Chakra resort to Ninjutsu."
In the Sealing Space, Kurama snorted.
"Naruto, beat this arrogant guy to death. Show it what real power is."
"Got it."
"Bastard, don't hide!"
Wind Release: Continuous Air Bullets!
Seeing Naruto dodge, Shukaku looked exasperated, then opened its mouth and continuously fired.
Naruto moved at high speed once again, weaving calmly between the continuous Air Bullets Shukaku spat out.
'Keep going, Shukaku, thrash around all you want. The more you thrash, the more the destruction in this forest will be attributed to you, a Tailed Beast.'
"Damn human, damn stinking fox!"
Seeing all its continuous Air Bullets miss, Shukaku trembled with rage.
It opened its mouth wide and inhaled sharply, its belly swelling. Then, a barrage of wind bullets shot out from its mouth like a machine gun, covering the entire fan-shaped area in front of it.
"Naruto, you should attack." Kurama was losing patience.
"Alright. Here we go, Kurama."
Naruto chuckled, then suddenly accelerated, weaving at high speed through the gaps of Shukaku's continuous wind bullets.
Passing through the wind bullet zone, with a flash of golden light, Naruto appeared beneath Shukaku's body, a high-speed rotating shuriken forming in his right hand.
Wind Release: Rasenshuriken!
The Rasenshuriken left his hand, slamming into Shukaku's abdomen.
Countless wind blades were released the moment they touched Shukaku, scattering the sand on its abdomen layer by layer.
Sand flew everywhere like a dust storm whipped up by a gale, and Shukaku's body was lifted off the ground under the continuous impact of the Rasenshuriken.
A large hole was pierced through its abdomen, and its entire body flew backward, crashing onto the ground in the distance and crushing large swathes of trees.