Late at night, in the hallway of an inn in a small town.
Gaara silently manipulated his sand to carve a large hole through the door handle, then slowly pushed the door open.
He had even considered the noise from the door hinges, preemptively dripping a little oil into them.
These were details born of harsh experience.
After all, anyone caught seventeen or eighteen times a day, with someone 'helpfully' summarizing their failures each time, would be forced to adapt.
Over time, Gaara's methods had become far less crude.
Stepping out, he gently closed the door, B's snores still audible from within.
'Good.'
Gaara mentally thanked the nocturnal habits he'd nurtured over years of sleeplessness.
They allowed him to remain perfectly alert even at this hour.
The inn's rooms were small, so everyone shared, with Kousei rooming with the three women.
Moving soundlessly past the women's door, Gaara cast a complicated look in its direction.
If there was anyone in this group he was willing to accept, it was probably only Kousei.
During his amnesia, this little girl had shown him something akin to familial care.
In return, he would protect her properly.
'But it seemed she didn't need my protection anymore. Judging by Uzumaki Naruto's attitude, he certainly wouldn't let anyone bully her.'
'Goodbye... little one.'
He mouthed the words silently, then used his sand to lift himself and flew straight out of the inn.
It was the dead of night.
Based on his observations these past few days, he was reasonably sure everyone was deep asleep.
Roshi and Jiraiya, being older, retired early.
Naruto had drunk with B tonight and was also snoring loudly, fast asleep.
Fu and Yugito, making sure Kousei slept, had taken the girl to bed even earlier.
The only slight complications were Sasuke and the caretaker duo.
But after midnight, their rooms too had fallen silent.
Now was the perfect, golden opportunity!
Gaara's Great Escape Plan 2.0, commence!
He left the inn without dropping his guard, continuing to put distance between himself and the town.
Only after completely exiting the town's boundaries and reaching a dense forest did he finally stop.
'This far should be enough, right?'
'Next, I only needed to find my way back to the Land of Wind.'
Gaara remembered it was to the west.
'West... west...'
"Stop turning in circles. The Land of Wind is that way."
Just as Gaara tried to get his bearings from the stars, that persistently annoying voice sounded right beside him.
Gaara's neck turned stiffly, like rusty machinery, creaking segment by segment.
Where his gaze landed, three muscular figures stood nonchalantly on a tree branch.
A~yayaya~
He seemed to hear phantom, nonsensical music.
'When did they get here!?'
Sand formed into sharp blades, slicing through the air, but they cut nothing.
Naruto, Sasuke, and B effortlessly dodged the attack mid-air with simple shifts.
"Killer B!"
Gaara wasn't too shocked to see Naruto and Sasuke, but seeing B left him utterly baffled.
'This guy... wasn't he just snoring a moment ago!?'
"You idiot, you fool! Movements bigger than a bull! No way to sneak past Killer B-sama~"
B gestured with his fingers, only to receive a sharp elbow to the chest from Naruto, nearly winding him.
"It's the middle of the night. Don't wake people up. Let's wrap this up-"
He even finished with a yawn.
Seeing this, Sasuke also smirked and leaned against the tree trunk, signaling it was B's turn this time.
It took B several seconds to recover. He shot Naruto a resentful look, then cracked his knuckles ominously as he advanced on Gaara.
The irritation he got from Naruto, he'd take out on Gaara.
"Come on, kid. Don't say I didn't give you a chance."
Seeing this, Gaara knew his escape plan was essentially ruined, but he had no intention of surrendering meekly.
"There's a limit to looking down on people!"
"Sand Coffin!"
The sand beneath B's feet, ignored until now, suddenly surged up and swiftly enveloped him.
After being beaten so many times, how could Gaara not have improved?
While the other was talking, he had already secretly spread his sand around.
"We're both Jinchuriki! Don't think I'm scared of you!"
If anything had impacted Gaara most during this time, it was the mindsets of the other Jinchuriki.
From occasional conversations, he learned that all the Jinchuriki in the group, even the perpetually unserious B, had faced isolation and discrimination from their own villagers as children.
But they had all responded differently.
Roshi left his village in a huff. B fought back with even greater tenacity, though some said Kumogakure's villagers didn't discriminate against Jinchuriki in general, just B specifically.
After all, his rap artistry wasn't for everyone.
As for Yugito and Fu, one actively completed missions, mastered her power, and earned recognition, while the other treated others with sincere, cheerful optimism, eventually winning acceptance too.
And Naruto...
Let's just skip him. He was practically one step from beating up the entire village in return.
'Why?'
'You are all just 'tools of war', Jinchuriki, misunderstood by everyone. Yet you can all live like this.'
More than confusion, what Gaara felt in his heart was probably 'envy'.
The Fourth Kazekage's words were still carved deeply into his mind.
'Your value depends on whether you can control Shukaku. Otherwise, you are merely a burden to the village.'
His value was to become a 'tool' that used Shukaku's power, to kill others for the village's sake.
For Gaara, who had lacked love since childhood, 'value' seemed to be the only thing propping up his will to live.
B's figure was completely wrapped in sand, but before Gaara could follow up with [Sand Burial], a flicker of lightning shot from the sand's crevices.
The next instant, all the sand was blasted apart by a concussive force.
It was B, having drawn one of his seven swords and cloaked it in lightning, unleashing his signature move.
[Supervibrato Lightning Release Swords!]
Seeing this, Gaara instinctively tried to form a giant cocoon with his Sand Shield, but B was faster.
Zzzttt-
A blade crackling with lightning came to rest against Gaara's neck, the sizzling energy bringing a faint sting.
"Alright… yawn… that's enough."
B acted as if he were still half-asleep, even yawning right in Gaara's face.
Clearly, to a fighter of his level, Gaara's efforts didn't even count as a pre-sleep stretch.
"Damn it!"
Gaara could feel the other party's dismissiveness clearly.
It was as if he had never been taken seriously at all.
Even Naruto and Sasuke were already turning to leave.
"Roar!"
Stirred by the intense emotions, the dormant Tailed Beast's power finally roused.
Inside the seal, Shukaku frowned deeply, seemingly sharing his Jinchuriki's sentiments.
Streaks of ocher-yellow Chakra rapidly spread across Gaara's body.
His upper torso, reshaped by the sand, swiftly morphed into a monstrous form resembling Shukaku.
Then, Gaara opened his maw wide and spat out high-velocity pellets sheathed in wind pressure.
[Sand Shotgun!]
Seeing this, B sheathed his short sword, his expression turning serious.
"Kid... even among Jinchuriki, there are hierarchies of power!"