The chakra of the tailed beasts connected.
While Naruto stepped into Gaara's inner world and witnessed his childhood and suffering, Gaara also entered Naruto's heart. Two boys from different villages, yet treated almost exactly the same.
"Didn't I tell you to stay away from him?!" a woman snapped, yanking her son away as she stormed off.
Not far behind the blond child, two or three people huddled together, whispering.
"That monster."
"What is the Third Hokage thinking, letting a monster like that become a ninja?"
"Yeah. What if that thing actually learns ninjutsu?"
The small boy kept wiping at his tears with his thin arms, over and over again.
When he grew a little older, he learned to wear goggles—to block his eyes, to hide the traces of sadness.
He once asked the Third Hokage, "Grandpa Hokage… what were my parents like?"
"You don't need to know that."The only old man in the village who was kind to him suddenly turned serious when the topic came up.
Naruto, who was instinctively sensitive to people's emotions, never dared to ask again. He was afraid—afraid that even this one person who showed him kindness would leave his world.
Until the night before the ninja academy graduation exam—
Mizuki said, "Let me tell you the truth…"
"No! Don't say it!!" Iruka shouted.
"Twelve years ago, you know about the Nine-Tails that the Fourth Hokage sealed away, right?" Mizuki continued. "After that incident, the village made a rule—one that absolutely no one is allowed to break. But that rule is something you, Naruto, were never meant to know."
"What rule? Why am I the only one who doesn't know?"A deep sense of dread welled up inside Naruto, as if something he desperately didn't want to face was about to be dragged into the open and laid bare.
"The rule is that no one is allowed to mention it… because you are that rule!!" Mizuki yelled.
"You killed Iruka's parents! You destroyed the Hidden Leaf Village! You are—the Nine-Tails Fox!!"
"You're a monster sealed away by the Fourth Hokage himself! The village kept you in the dark, that's why everyone fears you, hates you! You—monster!!!"
"Stop it!!!" Iruka roared.
"And actually…" Mizuki delivered the cruelest blow of all. "Actually, Iruka… hates you to the core! No one will ever accept you! You monster fox!!"
...
["Actually, Iruka… hates you to the core!!!"]["Because I hate you. And my older sister—your mother—hated you as well."][Two faces that looked nothing alike slowly overlapped. This was the darkness deep in Gaara and Naruto's hearts—the terror of having even the last thread of warmth ripped away from them.][In that moment, the two children felt the same thing.][Something seemed to snap.][The bond that tied them to the world—as human beings—had broken…]
The sand of Absolute Defense fell to the ground.
The weight of those shared, horrifying memories was too much for both Gaara and Naruto to bear.
"Why?" Gaara demanded. "Why don't you hate them?"Why are you different from me?!
Naruto looked at Gaara's questioning eyes, and the answer was already clear in his heart.
["The Nine-Tails might do that—but Naruto wouldn't! He's my acknowledged student, an outstanding ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village—Naruto Uzumaki!!"]
Because Iruka-sensei acknowledged me.
Naruto knew that no matter how many years passed, no matter what kind of person he became, he would never forget that day.
Clutching the Scroll of Seals, hiding behind a tree, crying until his tears poured down like rain.
All his pain, all his grievances—were redeemed in that moment.
Because he had the best Iruka-sensei in the world…
Because he had Grandpa Hokage, Kakashi-sensei, that idiot Sasuke, Sakura, Shikamaru, Choji…
They were the ones who pulled him out of the lonely hell.
And Gaara had none of that.
"..."
Thinking of this, Naruto felt an indescribable mix of emotions.
Relief—relief that he still had companions.Heartache—heartache that Gaara was still all alone.Fear—fear that his companions might leave him one day, sending him back into that lonely hell again.
The images from before surfaced in Naruto's mind once more—
"But! A ninja from Konoha stopped me! He cried for me, an enemy, and desperately tried to save me—to pull me out of that lonely hell!!"
As if he had finally made up his mind, Naruto clenched his fist tightly.
"I've decided!"
A surge of fighting spirit rose within him as he looked at Gaara. "I don't know what future me did… and like the Second Hokage said, maybe the future has already changed…"
The wind blew away the clouds covering the sun, and sunlight spilled over his blond hair.
"But I, Naruto Uzumaki, always keep my word! I will—definitely—pull you out of that one-man hell!!"
"Uzumaki…"Gaara's eyes widened. Bathed in sunlight, the gloom on his face was swept away, leaving him looking almost blank.
"Naruto…"
"Until then, just stick with us!" Naruto said with fiery enthusiasm. "Watch me, the great Naruto Uzumaki, beat the crap out of anyone who comes to mess with us!! Of course—if you dare lay a hand on Sasuke again, I'll definitely beat you, believe it!!"
"Naruto!" Sasuke snapped.Making decisions on your own like that… yeah, that's just like you.
Sakura: Yes! We just gained a super-strong bodyguard team! Nice job, Naruto!!
...
Over the next twenty hours, Naruto didn't regret the words he had spoken.
But…