[Answer… correct.]
When the mysterious voice behind the Horror quiz gave its confirmation, the third Sand ninja to answer finally relaxed. His legs gave out, and he dropped to the ground, gulping in air as if he'd just escaped death.
The others weren't much better. Even if they weren't drenched in sweat like him, every single one of them had been tense to the point of misery.
"This is just unbelievable. Absolute Defense… it was Lady Karura's power?"
"Who knows if that's even true? Can you really guarantee this quiz isn't someone's scheme?"
"Yeah. Honestly, unless I see it with my own eyes, I can't believe that kind of terrifying power came from someone as gentle as Lady Karura."
He said it casually—never imagining that the 'Horror quiz' would actually respond.
[Understood.]
The sudden voice made the Sand ninja, who had only just relaxed, nearly drop to his knees in fright.
And before they could even collect their rewards, the images from the future descended once again—appearing all across the world…
Thus came the scene in the Central Tower, where the Chunin Exam candidates collectively watched a short film of Gaara's inner journey.
…
[In the image, the flowing sand binding the Fourth Kazekage and the others gradually gathers into the form of a woman. Her arms lock tightly around Gaara's enemies, absolutely refusing to let them harm him in the slightest!]
[This is the Absolute Defense of Kazekage Gaara—the commander-in-chief of the Shinobi Alliance, no longer a jinchuriki!!]
But why?
Why was that power—something that clearly belonged to the future Gaara—
Why did Gaara, who was only participating in the Chunin Exams, already possess an even stronger Absolute Defense?!
Yet Gaara himself didn't care about that question.
Compared to that, there was something else he desperately wanted to know.
Why?
Why did that woman look like she was protecting him?!
"Why?" Gaara raised his head, staring at his new form of Absolute Defense, as if asking the woman he should have called his mother…
If she truly hated him to the bone, then why do this?
Why give him such cruel, unearned hope?
[In the image, Gaara's father barely raises one hand, controlling golden sand that sharpens into a deadly weapon and strikes down toward Gaara's head!]
[Yet even without Shukaku, Gaara still possesses the power of Absolute Defense!]
[Not only that—this power seems even freer, even more clearly born for the sake of protecting Gaara!!]
[Because gentle arms of sand form around him at incredible speed!]
[Those arms shield Gaara like an indulgent mother shielding her child, refusing to let a strict father discipline him with violence!!]
[The expression on the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, becomes indescribable in an instant!]
["Karura!!" he mutters to himself. "So… so you were still with that child…?"]
Gaara: "What?!"
Naruto, Temari, Kankuro, Sasuke, Sakura, and the others beside Gaara were all shocked by the future Kazekage's words.
Those who had already seen the footage of the Shinobi Alliance commander's oath all arrived at the same thought at once—
There was more to the story behind "Gaara's mother hated him."
And sure enough.
Just as everyone's hearts were hanging in their throats, waiting for the image to reveal the truth—
[The Fourth Kazekage gives up resisting. "You've grown up, Gaara." The words sound like a father finally acknowledging his son.]
Temari: "Dad…"
Kankuro: "So there really was more to it?!"
What on earth had happened back then?!
[For the first time hearing such words of approval from his father, the Gaara in the image—already the Fifth Kazekage and commander-in-chief of the Shinobi Alliance—looks momentarily at a loss.]
[Rasa: "In the end, as parents… trusting our child was all we ever needed to do."]
Watching the image of the father who had tried to assassinate him so many times, bowing his head in regret, thirteen-year-old Gaara—still taking the Chunin Exams—fell silent.
[But the Gaara in the image was shaken even more, because what he saw was—]
[His father, Rasa, being held in the arms of a woman formed from sand, speaking with her.]
["Wasn't I right, Karura?" the Fourth Kazekage confesses. "Looks like I really don't have an eye for people at all. I was completely wrong."]
[Kazekage Gaara: "What is going on?"]
Genin Gaara: "What is going on?!"
Naruto and Gaara's siblings looked at him with worry. Inside the image and outside it, Kazekage and genin alike—the expressions on the two Gaaras overlapped almost perfectly.
A desperate need to know the truth, mixed with hope and fear.
["No matter when or where, the sand will always protect you…"]
"…" That was his Absolute Defense.
["That isn't Shukaku's power…"]
"…" Right. They had already said it—his future self was no longer a jinchuriki.
["That is your mother's power. Karura's."]
"!!!!!" What?!
Gaara's mind went completely blank. For a moment, the entire world felt unreal.
[In the image, the Fourth Kazekage's lowered gaze drifts back into the memory of his wife's final moments… the moment Gaara was born into this world.]
…
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Every 60 Powerstones = 1 Bonus Chapter