The overwhelming Haki radiated outwards in waves. Even from a great distance, it was potent enough to leave Haku and Zabuza stunned and immobilized.
It couldn't be helped. Their power levels weren't significantly different from their original destinies.
Facing Naruto's enhanced, fully-unleashed Conqueror's Haki now, the only reason they hadn't lost consciousness was the sheer distance involved.
Unlike them, when Kousei felt that terrifying Haki, instead of fear, her face lit up with pure delight.
'It's true!'
'This Haki!'
'This person really is Kousei's father!'
Stars seemed to sparkle in the little girl's eyes. Seizing the moment her two guardians were paralyzed by the Haki's pressure, she once again darted towards the battlefield.
Don't misunderstand.
Kousei had absolute faith that her father could defeat the entity possessing Dark Circles.
She was rushing over specifically to save Dark Circles' life, to stop her father from accidentally pummeling him to death.
Although their time together had been short, Gaara had already earned a place in Kousei's heart.
The innate ability to sense good and evil, inherited from Naruto, prevented anyone with malicious intent from getting close to her.
By the same token, Kousei was not someone who would abandon a friend.
'Dark Circles, you can't lose to that thing! You have to wake up in time! Otherwise, Father really will beat you to death!'
Further away, the members of the Tailed Beast Guardian Team also experienced the overwhelming wave of Haki.
Among them, Karin and Sasuke, due to their prolonged exposure and personal training with it, could remain largely unfazed.
B simply relied on his raw power to push through the Haki's pressure and press forward.
Of the three, Karin was the fastest, using her wind-riding flight to overtake both Sasuke and B.
...
On the battlefield, Gaara, or rather, the Nature Will, felt the intense impact of the Haki. His expression remained neutral, but the body instinctively shifted into a defensive stance.
This reaction was not under their conscious control.
They had only managed to seize this body because Gaara's own spirit was inherently unstable.
Of course, Orochimaru's... 'assistance' had also played a helpful role.
"You do not understand. We cannot resist them."
"The only method is to suppress all energy signatures here, to make them overlook this place..."
The Nature Will remained stubborn... or rather, the deep-seated fear of the celestial invaders was rooted in their very core.
It was a terror implanted into the planet alongside the God Tree by the Otsutsuki Clan a millennium ago.
An emotion potent enough to throw this newly formed consciousness into complete disarray.
Unfortunately, before the Nature Will could finish speaking, Naruto's fist was already upon them.
The fist, wreathed in Conqueror's Haki and steaming with Chakra, seemed to tear through the very air, its speed bordering on teleportation.
The instant the fist connected with the Senjutsu Cloak surrounding the Nature Will, the sound of fracturing reached their ears.
With a mere thought, countless grains of sand surged endlessly to form barriers in front of them, while others coiled around Naruto's limbs, attempting to slow his devastating charge.
Yet, all these efforts proved futile against the unstoppable iron fist.
The sand whirred like a grinding machine, trying to cut and erode the energy shielding Naruto's body through rapid rotation.
But it never even got close, blasted away by the violent steam erupting from his pores.
The Eight Gates Technique produced vastly different results depending on the user.
In the hands of the legendary Genin, Might Duy, opening the final gate could, at best, kill or cripple half of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.
-Even that was a staggering feat.
Now, utilized by Naruto, who was actively transcending the limits of a 'human' body, the power unleashed by opening just four gates was on an entirely different level.
"I've changed my mind."
"For a guy like you, I should have beaten some sense into you long ago!"
Whether it was to atone for some past failure or not, Naruto abandoned any thought of a quick finish, choosing instead to hammer his point home with the purest, most direct physical punishment.
His fist smashed straight through the Sage Art sand wall, connecting squarely with that impassive, 'divine' visage.
The next moment, the 'sandy skin' of the face cracked and shattered layer by layer.
Even a Senjutsu replica of Gaara's ultimate defense could not withstand such pure, unadulterated destructive force.
The Nature Will was sent flying backward by the impact, their body hurtling through the air.
But Naruto was faster.
Like a golden flash of light, he overtook the flying figure, appearing directly in their path to deliver another powerful blow.
This process repeated.
The Nature Will was batted back and forth through the air like a ball by an invisible hand.
This humiliating manner of fighting finally ignited a spark of anger within the immature consciousness of the Nature Will.
And anger was a potent antidote to fear.
"Enough!"
A massive quantity of sand, infused with Senjutsu Chakra, coalesced and then erupted outwards in a wide, indiscriminate scatter, like pellets from a shotgun.
[Sage Art: Sand Drizzle.]
Those individual grains of sand were immeasurably faster than any bullet. Anyone else might only perceive fleeting, tan-colored afterimages.
Crack! Thwack!
As the sand grains neared Naruto's body, they began aggressively eating away at the energies protecting him.
Both his Haki and his Chakra were rapidly depleted under the corrosive effect of this Senjutsu Chakra.
Forced to break off his assault, Naruto delivered a powerful kick to Gaara's midsection, sending the body crashing down from the sky and into the ground with tremendous force.
As the dust settled, the somewhat disheveled Nature Will manipulated the body back onto their feet, glaring up at Naruto, who stood watching impassively with his arms crossed mid-air.
"Hmm?"
As if sensing something, Naruto lifted his arm and examined his forearm, finding a minor abrasion.
A trickle of blood had just begun to well up, but the wound was already closing.
Seeing this, Naruto grinned instead of scowling.
"See? You can do it just fine."
Hearing this, the Nature Will was momentarily stunned.
"No matter what kind of enemy you face, never concede defeat before the battle has even begun."
A sudden gust of wind whipped Naruto's clothes around him.
"Otherwise, it's as if you've defeated yourself once already."
"…"
The Nature Will fell into a rare silence. They understood the meaning behind Naruto's words.
The two stood locked in their stalemate for a few seconds before the Nature Will shook their head once more.
"No... This is not the same concept."
As he spoke, he raised a hand and began violently siphoning the One-Tail's Chakra from within Gaara's body.
Under this intense drain, Shukaku, who had been unconscious for unknown reasons, twitched and struggled fitfully, on the verge of awakening.
A familiar, ominous purplish-black sphere began to form before Gaara.
It was a Tailed Beast Bomb, now imbued with the properties of Senjutsu Chakra.
"What a stubborn fellow..."
Sighing as he looked down at Gaara, who still insisted on fighting, Naruto's mind wandered.
'Is it because the world itself has such a twisted personality that it produced so many stubborn Ninja?'
Naruto's imagination ran wild, but his hands never slowed.
Shiiing-
Mushoukou slid from its sheath with a clear ring.
"Hoo..."
After the recent physical enhancements and the boost from the Eight Gates, this body's strength was nearly on par with his counterpart from the other world.
Therefore, Naruto had to consciously restrain his movements.
[Life Return: Full Unlock!]
His originally over-two-meter frame swelled further with vibrant, surging life force, his muscles growing even more formidable.
Had Naruto not previously used the Baku Baku Factory within himself to reforged and lengthen Mushoukou's blade, he would have found the sword difficult to wield now.
The reforged Mushoukou, with its blade and hilt combined measuring almost two meters, resembled less a standard katana and more a greatsword, an Odachi or Nodachi. Yet, it fit perfectly in the hands of the huge Naruto.