Temari's strength during the Chunin Exams was not particularly remarkable when compared to others like Tenten or Nara Shikamaru. While Temari did defeat Tenten easily, her later confrontation with Tayuya of the Sound Four during the Sasuke Retrieval Mission seems somewhat exaggerated in retrospect.
In that battle, despite Shikamaru using all his strength and tactical skill, he was still unable to defeat Tayuya and would have likely been killed if not for Temari's timely arrival. Tayuya's genjutsu was formidable, but the narrative's claim that the Sound Four, in their Second Stage Cursed Seal forms, could easily overpower Konoha's jonin and special jonin felt overstated. In the manga, while the Sound Four were dangerous, Konoha's jonin-level shinobi were more than capable of dealing with such threats under normal circumstances.
Additionally, the idea that Temari could defeat Tayuya—who was in her cursed seal's second stage—with a single attack is somewhat inconsistent with the manga's power scaling. Even accounting for tactical advantages, it seems the battlefield's environment was a major factor. Tayuya was confined to a dense forest, limiting her movement and the scale of her genjutsu illusions. Temari's large-scale wind-style techniques, capable of tearing through the environment, left Tayuya with few options. In that kind of terrain, long-range, wide-area jutsu like Temari's are overwhelming. Tayuya likely realized that if she couldn't trap her opponent in her illusions, her chances of winning would plummet.
But now, the opponent is Mizuki. Based on overall strength, Mizuki has a slight advantage. In a scenario where one fighter is hidden in the shadows while the other is exposed, Mizuki's situation is more favorable.
Temari, visibly tense, watched Mizuki as he carried Gaara. Mizuki leapt to the top of a tree and then casually dropped Gaara from above. Temari immediately rushed over to catch him, worried for her unconscious brother.
At that moment, a large fireball descended toward her. Temari panicked. With no time to evade, she quickly unfurled her giant fan to block the flames. The fan absorbed the direct force of the attack, but the intense heat still overwhelmed her briefly.
Gritting her teeth, Temari summoned a fierce gust to dispel the flames, but Mizuki had already disappeared from the treetops.
As she frantically scanned her surroundings, Gaara—whom she was still protecting—moved slightly. A hand formed a seal behind her, and before Temari could react, a small dark sealing formula embedded itself at the base of her neck. By the time she realized something was wrong, it was too late.
Her body collapsed softly to the ground.
Mizuki stepped out of the shadows and murmured, "That was easier than I expected."
Everything had gone exactly as planned.
"I underestimated the bond between these siblings," Mizuki reflected. "Exploiting family ties is low, but we are enemies now. There's no room for mercy."
His shadow clone dispersed, and the fake Gaara vanished, revealing the deception.
The sealing technique Mizuki used was not lethal. It temporarily severed the connection between the brain and body, with a mild genjutsu overlay to keep the victim trapped in a pleasant dream. Compared to most combat scenarios, this was a relatively gentle approach.
Ignoring the unconscious Temari, Mizuki moved to a nearby clearing, dispelled the concealment jutsu, and revealed the real Gaara lying there, still unconscious.
"It was the right call to prepare this in advance, knowing Temari would likely show up," Mizuki thought.
Unrolling a sealing scroll, Mizuki activated an intricate sealing array. A glowing chakra formation hovered over Gaara's body, enveloping him in a pale light. This sealing technique, a variation of the Soul Isolation Barrier, severed Gaara's connection to his jinchūriki chakra—cutting off the Shukaku's influence and preventing any external spiritual interference. The internal effect was akin to a spiritual black box, isolating Shukaku's chakra completely.
The moment the barrier activated, Mizuki felt the immense spiritual pressure from the sealed tailed beast. The bijū—creatures formed from the Ten-Tails' chakra—absorb the negative emotions of humans: hatred, fear, despair. Severing this flow naturally provoked a fierce backlash.
Mizuki had prepared a large-scale seal to endure this pressure and maintain the barrier long enough to observe the results.
"What is this...negative will?" Mizuki frowned. "Is that really what sustains the bijū?"
Tailed beasts, born from the chakra of the Divine Tree and originally seen as gods, were now categorized as masses of negative chakra—a strange contradiction. Through his experiment, Mizuki realized that this "negative will" originated from human fear and prayers aimed at averting natural disasters. In other words, the tailed beasts were formed from humanity's deep-seated desire to control the uncontrollable.
The Sage of Six Paths didn't split the Ten-Tails to punish humanity but to protect it. The misuse of the tailed beasts as weapons of war, Mizuki concluded, was what led to the ninja world's current chaos.
"Humans are truly pitiful creatures," Mizuki thought. "They even betray their own guardians."
Originally, the Divine Tree was a hostile entity, a weapon of destruction. After Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's defeat and the intervention of the Sage of Six Paths, the Divine Tree's chakra was partially purified. Though the tailed beasts still caused damage, they were no longer the same tools of destruction.
Despite this, humans continued to treat the bijū as weapons and prisoners, severing any chance of reconciliation.
"If you have one child, even if they're flawed, you still love them," Mizuki mused. "But when there are many, you begin to pick favorites. Some are abandoned."
He smirked bitterly. "Perhaps that's why the more intelligent beings in this world encourage human infighting. Let them tear each other apart to prove who's worthy of inheritance."
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