Chapter 42: Konoha Crush (2): Lonely Boy in a Desert.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto. Naruto is the work of Masashi Kishimoto.

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As sand floats in the air, the wind blows from the middle of the arena, pushing away the cloud of dust that was blocking the mountain-sized sand tanuki who manifested in the middle of the arena.

"He lost control," the ninja with red hair muttered while letting out a sigh.

On top of the mountain-sized sand tanuki was a boy with similar hair to the crimson-haired ninja, but his eyes were tightly closed, his head listlessly dangling from his neck with his arms swaying along with the wind's blow, and his lower body was buried in the sand giant's head.

The giant sand tanuki's teeth were jagged, forming stalagmite and stalactite teeth made of sand with the sharpness of a steel spike, and he had a pair of golden pupils with four-pointed black stars surrounded by four small orbs for an iris. The tanuki had no visible sclera as his eyes were surrounded by pools of black as if a pen had lingered on one spot in a piece of paper for too long, and his body had long gigantic symbols reminiscent of Fuinjutsu.

The tanuki parted his mouth to reveal a bottomless throat that led all the way to the void and release a shrill laughter that could only be described as "ghastly." When his eyes darted downward, his "eyebrows" which were purely made of sand and had no defining feature furrowed, making his eyes seem narrow while the sand on his body began rippling as if it was boiling.

"You damned fox! I'll put you and your vessel in your damned place!" The One Tails bellowed, his breath containing his malicious chakra making the air hotter, damp, and sticky. When Naruto narrowed his eyes, he could see a faint veil of red the One Tails chakra covering the air around them as the chakra faintly suppressed any chakra source that it touched.

'How shrewd,' nevertheless, Naruto shook his head and didn't assume a fighting stance. For his plan to work, he has to whitewash and convince this crazy sand giant. Naruto oiled his tongue and tried to strike up a proper conversation, "One Tails, why don't we talk?"

He said it as calmly as he could, getting rid of all deceit and dishonesty in his heart, but to the One Tail's ears, he only made a ridiculous joke.

"Me? You want ME to talk with a HUMAN?! Impossible, DIE!"

SZWOOO—!

"What a rowdy guy," Naruto chuckled as he watched the tanuki spit out several thick and dense wind blades in his direction. SLICE! Even as the wind separated his body into two halves, the playful expression on his face never left—POOF!

On the arena roof that sheltered the unconscious civilians, Naruto smiled while looking at the One Tails slowly turning body. FOOSH! He glanced down for a moment when he saw at the corner of his eyes two shadow figures flicker in front of the sand giant.

'His siblings are here?' Naruto's heart held some shock seeing Gaara's two siblings choose to protect their brother instead of running away like what their Jonin sensei did the moment Gaara started cackling maniacally.

'That's interesting,' Naruto thought, an unknown light glimmering in his eyes. "Adamantine Sealing Chains," he whispered, and from his back sprouted two, arm-thick crimson chakra chains that buried themselves deep into the ground.

The two sand Genin felt their feet shake as the ground trembled, but before they could bend their knees to jump, CRACK—! The ground suddenly burst open like an ant-eater sensing a nearby prey.

BANG—GRIP…

"ARGH!"

When the chains reemerged, they held Kankuro and Temari by their ankle. The two felt their bodies weaken as their eyelids became heavy and before they could reopen them after blinking once, they'd already fallen into slumber like their younger brother. "Seal," Naruto whispered after he flickered next to the two siblings.

"Now, I think it's time for you to behave," Naruto turned and pointed at the One Tails. "Since you don't want to talk, I'll have to talk with your host instead."

"Hmph, you're the most arrogant human I've ever seen, if you don't count that bastard Uchiha," the tanuki cursed as he jumped away and opened his mouth, gathering chakra near his mouth.

"Oh no, you don't." WHIIIIRL— A Rasengan formed on Naruto's right hand as he charge at the giant sand beast, but the slowly expanding black orb hovering in front of the One Tail's mouth suddenly inflate ten-fold like a balloon and condense into a glossy volleyball-sized orb in the next instant, making him stop in his tracks after sensing the deadly dose of chakra inside that thing.

Surprisingly, the tanuki could still talk even when his mouth was opened wide, "Since you're an Uzumaki with those chains, I won't hold back. DIE, UZUMAKI!"

"Looks like I'm not the only one who underestimated the power of these sealing chains," Naruto shook his head. At the same time, the tanuki narrowed his eyes and yelled. "TAILED BEAST BOMB!"

"Adamantine Sealing Chains: Seal!" As the Tailed Beast Bomb hurled toward his face, Naruto opened a blank scroll and suddenly, the bomb stopped two feet away from Naruto's head and the ground, followed by red chains bursting out of his chest and pulling the Tailed Beast Bomb into the scroll.

"You know, my father made the Rasengan based on the Tailed Beast Bomb. I'll see if I can improve his jutsu by studying this bomb. But for now…" Naruto narrowed his eyes and looked at the tanuki not far away from him, readying himself for a few more wind-blade attacks.

"I can't let you do that, I'm in a hurry you see," Naruto said and closed his eyes, focusing on his chakra system. "Adamantine Sealing Chains, BIND!"

CLANG!—CLANG!—CLANG!

Suddenly, a dozen of chakra chains as thick as a head emerged from the ground and formed a dome around the One Tails, after which they sprouted more chains like fungi branching off, binding the tailed beast in place.

"YOU WISH! I'D BEEN WAITING FOR THIS, HA-HA-HA! HAVE A TASTE OF YOUR OWN MEDICINE!" The One Tails cackled making Naruto narrow his eyes. "FUINJUTSU: REVERSE!" With the One Tails' shout, chakra chains began to tremble but unlike what the tanuki might've expected, the chains didn't "reverse" on Naruto.

CLANG—BANG!

"AHH! What's going on?!"

Instead, the chains tensed up and gave the tanuki a death grip as if they were pythons suffocating their prey.

"STOP! STOP!" As it seems, the fear of being sealed again was enough for One Tails to shave off his dignity.

Meanwhile, Kurama facepalmed as he watched his little brother. 'Idiot. He knows that the chains won't tolerate foreign chakra, but he still tried to manipulate them. That's the entire reason why only the special Uzumaki chakra can unlock the chains, dumbass.'

Suddenly, the tanuki's face scrunched up like he'd eaten a bitter pill and instantly forgot about the chains. "CURSE YOU, FOX!"

"Huh?" Naruto tilted his head. Kurama was talking inside his mind, so how could the tanuki hear the fox's voice?

Thankfully, the fox answered his question not a moment later. 'He can't hear me. He just knows whenever I insult him, it's like a sixth sense. You wouldn't understand it so don't think too much,' Kurama waved his hands.

Meanwhile, I felt like I learned something I wasn't supposed to…

I shake my head and look toward the Kage Observation Box. 'I need to hurry up if I want to help,' then, I turned to look at the fuming sand giant.

When I opened my eyes, I was greeted by the blinding yellow sun in the middle of the azure sky when suddenly, I heard someone next to me.

"C-Can we play?"

The voice reminded him of a soft dandelion floating amongst the breeze and bees. When I looked down, I came face to face with someone whom I never expect to meet.

Myself.

"H-Hello?"

When no one replied to him, my younger self asked again. I was about to reply when I realized that his gaze was not set on me but…

'Why is he looking at my stomach?' I mused when my younger self suddenly walked through my body. I didn't feel anything strange, but seeing myself walk through my body like I was a ghost was certainly a novel experience.

"G-get away from me!"

I jolted when I heard another child's voice behind me. Instead of the tender tone a child should have, it was trembling and full of dread, as if someone had told him that he was about to die. I turned back and saw a black-haired kid around the same height as me, even though I should be older.

"I'm not going to hurt you!" My younger self yelled, but the other kid only fell to his butt in response. "L-Liar!" The other kid accused and crawled backward, struggling to stand up. After he did, he bolted as fast as he could while leaving my old self with his head looking at the ground.

"Why are you so scared?" My younger self asked even though the boy could no longer hear him.

As my younger self's spirit deflated, so was the strength holding the doll in his hand, making it fall to the ground, sullied by the coarse sand below.

When my younger self looked at the fallen stuffed doll, his eyes shifted to the sand for a few moments before turning to stare at his marble-white hands. "He's scared… because of the sand," he muttered, crouching to pick up the yellow sand beneath his feet.

'I remember this,' I thought. 'It was the first time I realized I had Magnet Release, even though I'd been subconsciously using it for my entire life.'

"He's scared because I am the sand," he looked at the sand on his palms with crazed eyes yet his face maintained its clueless nature, and his lips neither smiled nor frowned, they remained impassive as they'd always been.

FLAAASH—

Suddenly, the scene in front of me changed and I narrow my eyes. 'Did I die? Is this what they call 'life flashing before your eyes?''

Just as I was doubting my life or death, several shuriken flew right through my head. When the last shuriken phased through my eyes I saw the perpetrator and my eyes widened in shock, a pang of sorrow piercing my heart like a rotten arrow from Cupid.

Even though so many years had passed, a question still remained in my heart. 'Why?'

"Why?"

Although I rudely found that I can't talk while in this ghost-like state, my younger self did me a favor and asked the question for me. Five meters away from my younger self, Yashamaru paused for a moment and looked at me through his mask.

Through his eyes, I could see hatred and sorrow but only the latter was directed at me. 'Who does he hate if not me?'

SHAAA…

Suddenly, the world was engulfed by a mellow white light and after it dissipated, I saw my younger self embracing Yashamaru who was bleeding in my arms. "Yashamaru! No! You didn't do this, it's got to be a mistake! "

"Cough! You..." As Yashamaru glanced at my crying face, I saw his eyes hesitate for a moment before they turned dull and cold, emanating no small amount of hatred and disgust.

'This again…'

But all that hatred and disgust was never aimed at my younger self. Instead, Yashamaru glanced in the direction of the Kazekage tower.

"Gaara… I… I hate you, I've always hated you. I tried to love you because you were a part of my sister, but I never could forgive you for killing my sister. That's why when your Father asked me to attack you, I agreed without hesitation. Your mother hated you, and no one will ever love you, that's why she gave you the name 'Gaara,' the self-loving demon. This is it, please die, Gaara."

'Again…'

As Yashamaru lifted his Jonin vest to reveal countless Explosive Tags, I could see a faint stream of tears fall from Yashamaru's eyes.

'Wait, I don't remember this…'

BOOOOOM!

When the Explosive Tags detonated, the sand from the ground instantly covered my body but I was still affected by the explosion, proven by my shirt that was now torn open, revealing a massive wound on my chest that leaked out blood like a broken well. Looking at my blood, my younger self lost control over the One Tails, letting it out and weakening the seal binding it in the process. Then, a familiar white light covered my view.

SHAAAA—!

'This is…'

Right in front of me was a battlefield dyed in blood. It was the aftermath of my rampage, and a third of the village's population was decimated. Luckily… "Luckily," the ninjas and their families were conveniently out of the way.

'That bastard,' seeing my father walk toward my younger self who was standing without spirit in the middle of a massive crater, his arms dangling by his side, I couldn't help but want to tear him apart.

"Congratulations," the Kazekage said. 'Don't talk to me,' I growled in my mind and tried to form sand claws beneath his feet, but I learned another thing while in this ghost-like state. I have no chakra at all.

"You managed to fully control the One Tails' power. Because of this, I will promote you to Genin," the Kazekage finished.

"I don't need your recognition," my younger self said as he stared down my Father.

"I don't need your opinion either," the Kazekage said. "You just need to go on missions I give you and you're free to do whatever you like, except killing our ninjas. Understood?"

". . ."

As "I" silently stared at my Father with ice-cold eyes and concealed murderous desires, "I" gritted my teeth and spat out, "Whatever."

Then, "I" turned and walked away.

FLAAAASH—

After that event, everyone began avoiding me more. As long as one villager saw me, they will tell the others to hide or run away. As a result, everywhere I go would become a ghost town.

I quietly followed as my younger self tried and failed to approach other kids my age. Eventually, I became tired of chasing other people and settled on sitting down next to my stuffed doll, alone in the playground with a sand castle built in front of me.

"It's useless," my younger self muttered and looked at his hands.

"No matter what I do, no one will love me," he said, not noticing the tears that were welling up in the corner of his eyes. "No, that's not true," suddenly, he smiled.

My heart ached as I watch my younger self smile. His smile was sorrowful, forced, and didn't fit his crazed eyed. As I watched with my lips trembling, the rays of sun concentrated on his face and highlighting the tears trickling down my face.

"If no one will love me, then I will love me," he chuckled and clenched his fist, unintentionally using his Magnet Release to form a dome around the sand castle he built while the kanji for "love" on his forehead glowed a dim red.

SHAAAAA—

As the scene in front of me condensed and blurred away like an illusion, I was greeted yet again by another scene. This time, it was a scene from the first mission I went through.

"Gaara, let's go," said Temari, and I followed her into the mission room. As I follow her, I could see her trembling legs and shaking body like a bamboo tree against a whirlwind. When we reached the middle of the hallway, we encountered Kankuro who followed us along the way. Like my sister, he was terrified out of his mind.

Though there was one thing that they both didn't do.

I looked ahead and saw a man wearing a turban walking with haste and soon, he reached the door to the Kazekage's office.

'They didn't avoid me.'

Unlike my sensei, Baki, who was keeping a good distance away from the three of us.

End Banner has something to say: As always, thank you for reading! Lately, I had a lot to do and was very busy. The next few chapters may experience a quality drop, I hope you don't mind too much. Anyway, I look forward to the daily updates because, you guessed it, I'm not busy anymore!

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