"Oh? You were looking for me?"
Just as everyone's nerves were fraying from Gaara's spiraling loss of control, a low chuckle came from behind the crowd.
It wasn't loud, yet it seemed to sound right beside every person's ear.
Everyone looked around, trying to find the speaker.
Then they saw the shinobi with red ribbons tied around their arms part to either side, splitting open a road down the middle.
And through it, a figure surrounded by hundreds of shinobi strolled forward at an unhurried pace, walking straight toward Gaara and the others.
At the same time, the shinobi on both sides turned fever-bright eyes toward that man and shouted in unison:
"Kazekage-sama…"
A thousand voices roaring together was a spectacle in itself.
The sound was deafening.
For a moment, it hit hard enough that Baki, Temari, and the others all changed color.
When Teizawa reached a closer distance, he merely lifted a hand and pressed it down slightly.
Instantly, everyone fell silent.
Gulp.
Kankurō, witnessing it all, couldn't help swallowing.
Teizawa… since when did he become this terrifying?
Without thinking, he compared Gaara to Teizawa.
And then realized there was nothing to compare at all.
Given all the crap Gaara had pulled when he was little, even walking down the streets of Sunagakure could get him ambushed for no reason.
But the kind of reception Teizawa had now…
Even their father, Rasa, back when he was the Fourth Kazekage, never had anything like this.
Temari stared at that man with a complicated look.
Without meaning to, she compared him to the person who'd held her when she fled Konoha back then.
It was clearly the same person.
So why did he feel so unfamiliar now?
Teizawa's expression was neither sad nor pleased. He walked up to Gaara and stopped in front of him.
"You wanted to see me?"
"You… why are you doing this? Why did you kill our comrades!"
Gaara spat each word out through clenched teeth.
"You say I killed comrades?"
Teizawa sneered. "Gaara, aren't your hands stained with comrades' blood too?"
"My hands…?"
Gaara murmured, and looked down at his palms without realizing it.
Memories he didn't want surfaced right in front of his eyes.
Yeah.
His hands were stained with comrades' blood too.
Even Yashamaru had died by his hand.
And…
And so many innocent villagers…
The moment that thought crossed his mind, the chakra in his body grew even more violent, roiling like it was about to explode.
"Bastard, stop provoking him!" Temari shouted anxiously. "He's about to lose control!"
"Heh…"
Teizawa flicked his gaze to her and said flatly, "He's going to lose control at this level? Then he really disappoints me."
"You…"
Temari ground her teeth, stubbornly glaring at Teizawa.
But she didn't know what she was even supposed to say.
"Teizawa, that's enough," Baki said, helpless, pleading like he meant it. "Sunagakure can't afford the price of Gaara losing control. That's a tailed beast."
"Kazekage-sama, please withdraw for now!"
"Yeah, Kazekage-sama, there's no need for you to take that risk!"
"We already sent people to bring Monk Hōichi. His fūinjutsu can extract the tailed beast from inside Gaara!"
Behind Teizawa, Tokiri, Otofu, Satetsu, and the others hurried forward to persuade him.
The terror of a tailed beast ran deep in everyone's bones.
In their minds, Teizawa naturally wasn't Gaara's match.
But Sunagakure did have its own methods for dealing with tailed beasts.
"Monk Hōichi?"
After thinking for a second, Teizawa remembered who that was.
According to the timeline, during the second Chūnin Exams hosted in Sunagakure, Gaara and Fū, the Seven-Tails jinchūriki, had almost gotten taken down by that monk.
The monk wasn't particularly strong.
But he did have sealing techniques specifically meant to counter jinchūriki.
Still…
I'm supposed to avoid him?
A village's Kage, in the end, has to speak with strength.
If he backed off now, wouldn't that just confirm that he was weaker than Gaara?
And Teizawa understood this clearly.
Sunagakure looked like it was firmly under his control right now.
But in truth, the village was still split into three factions.
There was the revolutionary faction with him at its head, and Gaara's side, now collapsing as everyone turned on them.
And then there was the old guard, the watchful faction led by Chiyo.
So…
If he wanted to truly bring Sunagakure to heel…
It wasn't enough to have charisma.
He needed power that would make everyone submit.
A leader who could charge at the front with his people.
That kind of leader would always bind hearts together more than one who only hid in the safe zone.
In just a moment, Teizawa made his decision.
He stepped forward hard, and said in a low voice, "Stand down."
"Th-this…"
The people around him could only think Kazekage-sama had gotten drunk on victory.
Right now, fighting a jinchūriki on the verge of losing control?
That was reckless.
In the crowd, only a small handful of shinobi looked excited.
They were the ones who had personally witnessed Teizawa use Magnet Release (Jiton) inside the prison…
And now they stared at him with fanatic heat.
Ignoring everyone's attempts to stop him, Teizawa took several steps forward and shouted:
"Gaara! Come on. Knock me down. Prove to me you can do better than I can!"
"Otherwise, step aside and let someone more capable take the seat…"
"I… I'm the Kazekage. I can be recognized by everyone. I…"
Muttering words only he could hear, Gaara suddenly raised his head to look at Teizawa.
In his eyes, there was more than a little wild, beastlike madness.
"I'm the Kazekage. If I knock you down, everything will go back to the way it was…"
The moment he finished speaking, Gaara thrust out a hand.
He clenched his fist tightly toward Teizawa in the distance.
"Sabaku Kyū!" (Sand Coffin)
Sssshhh…
A surge of quicksand erupted under Teizawa's feet.
In the blink of an eye, it crawled up from his legs…
In a single exchange, Teizawa was swallowed by yellow sand, his body completely bound.
"Damn it! Save Kazekage-sama!"
"Gaara, you—!"
Before anyone could even finish being shocked, cries burst out from all sides.
But then Gaara lifted his hand again…
That familiar motion.
Everyone's faces went white.
This bastard… he was opening with a killing move!
"Sabaku Sōsō!" (Sand Tsunami Funeral)
A hoarse, gut-ripping roar tore out of Gaara's throat.
The sand that had wrapped Teizawa suddenly tightened.
And then came the frenzied crushing…
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