The market in Sunagakure was bustling, with vendors constantly hawking their wares.
Karura, dressed in a dark red robe, slowly walked through the crowd, holding Gaara's hand.
Karura had a gentle demeanor, yet there was a subtle, almost imperceptible worry in her eyes.
Ten-year-old Gaara, with his fluffy red hair resting on his shoulders, had an alert and distant look in his eyes, unbefitting his age.
Shun's heart stirred. With Karura still alive and by his side day and night, she would undoubtedly be very protective of him. He wondered what Gaara's current strength was like.
Karura seemed to sense the stranger's gaze, instinctively shielding Gaara behind her, her steps faltering slightly.
"Mom, what's wrong?"
Gaara looked up at Karura, his voice carrying the coolness of youth, his small hand unconsciously clutching the corner of her robe.
Before Karura could answer, the surrounding scenery suddenly changed.
The bustling market instantly vanished, replaced by an empty space outside Sunagakure, filled with yellow sand, not a soul in sight.
Startled, she immediately channeled the Magnet Chakra within her body. The sand around her quickly gathered, firmly shielding both herself and Gaara.
"Space-Time Ninjutsu? What do you want?"
Shun merely smiled and said, "There's no need to be nervous, Karura-sama. I just want the two children to spar a bit."
Karura was about to control the sand to attack, but found her body suddenly stiff, unable to even channel Chakra.
"Zetsu, go play with Gaara."
Zetsu immediately bounced over excitedly. "Yay! I finally get to fight."
She stood outside the sand shield, waving at Gaara inside. "Hey! You're Gaara, right? I'm Zetsu, let's have a match. No crying if you lose, okay."
Gaara retorted coldly, "Who's going to cry? You're the one who needs to be careful, don't get beaten to tears by my sand."
Karura, unable to move, cried out anxiously, "Gaara, run! I'm under a Genjutsu!"
A hint of ruthlessness flashed in Gaara's eyes. He would never abandon his mother and run away alone.
Without the slightest hesitation, he quickly formed hand signs.
The sand around Gaara instantly condensed into countless spherical sand bullets, firing at Zetsu like a machine gun.
Zetsu was already prepared, clapping her hands together.
Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!
In an instant, hundreds of Shadow Clones appeared in the open space, rushing towards the sand bullets.
Bang... Bang... Bang...
Sounds were constant as the sand bullets blew up the Shadow Clones one by one.
However, Zetsu had too many Shadow Clones, so Gaara was a bit overwhelmed.
Zetsu's main body stood still, shouting with a laugh, "Your sand is pretty strong, but this much attack won't hit me!"
Gaara frowned deeply. To protect his mother, who was under a Genjutsu, he quickly manipulated the sand, lifting himself and Karura into the air.
He snorted coldly, "Don't get cocky, this is just the beginning."
But just as he thought he was safe, a sharp pain suddenly shot through his back.
Zetsu's main body had activated Lightning Release Chakra Mode, moving so fast that it surpassed Gaara's reaction time, delivering a powerful kick to his back.
"Ah...!"
Gaara cried out in surprise, falling from mid-air with Karura. Fortunately, he managed to quickly activate his Sand Armor to protect his body, preventing serious injury.
He regained his footing, glaring at Zetsu with displeasure. "How can you ambush in a fight? That's cheating."
Zetsu, a thousand-year-old schemer, stuck out her tongue and said, "That's called 'all's fair in war'."
"Damn it!"
The vigilance in Gaara's eyes intensified. He knew the opponent's strength far surpassed his own and dared not be careless anymore.
He formed hand signs again, Chakra surging wildly. "Take this!"
Magnet Release: Grand Sand Waterfall Funeral!
The ground violently shook, and a massive amount of sand gathered into a sand wave over twenty meters high, sweeping towards Zetsu, as if to bury her completely.
Zetsu, however, was unhurried, performing the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu again.
Hundreds of Shadow Clones quickly stacked on top of each other, like a small mountain, easily leaping over the sand wave and rushing towards Gaara in mid-air.
"Your sand wave is magnificent. But I have plenty of Clones too."
Gaara immediately controlled the sand to attack the Shadow Clones and shouted, "My sand will bury all your Shadow Clones!"
While Gaara's attention was drawn to the Shadow Clones, Zetsu's main body had already used the cover of the Shadow Clones to get behind him. She concentrated Chakra in her hands, using Gentle Fist techniques, and struck the back of Gaara's neck.
"Ah..."
Gaara's vision went black, and his body limply collapsed, his sand shield dissipating with him.
Seeing this, Karura was so anxious that tears almost fell, but she couldn't move due to the Genjutsu.
She could only cry out anxiously, "Gaara! Gaara! Please let my child go, do whatever you want to me!"
Zetsu retracted her Chakra, squatted beside Gaara, and gently nudged him. "Hey, are you okay? I didn't use too much force."
Seeing no reaction from Gaara, she turned to Shun and said, "Dad, he seems to have fainted. Did I hit him too hard?"
Shun merely raised his hand and snapped his fingers, and Karura regained her ability to move. She immediately rushed to Gaara's side, holding him in her arms, checking his condition.
After confirming that Gaara had only fainted and was not injured, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Karura turned to Shun, her eyes filled with wariness and confusion. "Who exactly are you? What exactly do you want to do?"
Shun's gaze fell on the unconscious Gaara. He shook his head and said calmly and said, "Gaara's talent is excellent, but your protection of him is too thorough. This has led to him lacking tempering, making it difficult for him to even face peers."
Karura was slightly stunned. She understood what the other party meant. She hadn't expected her care to become an obstacle to Gaara's growth.
Then she came to her senses. There was no such kind stranger.
"You kidnapped us here, surely you didn't just want to tell me this."
Shun and his companions were disguised, so Karura did not know their identities.
"Don't worry, I won't harm you. Have a good sleep. When you wake up, Gaara will be the new One-Tail Jinchuriki."
Karura felt her eyelids growing heavier and heavier, and then she fell asleep.
"Kaguya, I will release One Tail, and after you extract 90% of its Chakra, I will seal it into Gaara's body."
In fact, treating Ten-Tails as a Chakra battery, extracting Chakra when needed, was a common practice for the Ōtsutsuki clan.
It was just that Kaguya didn't understand why Shun wasn't taking One Tail with him.
"Understood."
Shun reached his hand towards Karura's stomach, then released One-Tail from the sealed space, and incidentally injected vitality into Karura to sustain her life.
"Hahahaha, I am finally free."
***
40 Advanced Chapters on
patreon.com/alex_1000