Chapter – 341 What’s the worst that can happen?

Two days later, in a cave somewhere in the Land of River.

Kuroto sat on a small rock; throwing dried branches in the bonfire. This cave is around the border of the Land of Wind, as such the terrain is still deserted. For this reason, the temperature at night is extremely cold. And he is in no mood to bear the cold right now.

Staring at the fire in front of him, Kuroto had a smirk.

'Heh, Kotoamatsukami is really useful… now I have Pakura, the commander of Sunagakure's Anbu department as my spy to fill me on everything I want to know happening in Sunagakure. And the biggest benefit is obviously acquiring… him…' – thought Kuroto while he picked up sand on the ground on the floor as he stared at the unconscious figure lying on the other side of the bonfire.

A few hours later there were some movements from him, "Uh…"

Lazily rubbing his eyes, the boy got up with a sleepy expression.

It took him a few seconds to realize that he was no longer in the prison cell… moreover his head felt heavy… but slowly and steadily images started to clear up… the last thing he remembers is being stared at by three pairs of eyes, each of a different color… they were orange … and red with black pattern in them… and… and finally… shining blue with a white flower pattern… after that everything is gone… "Whose eyes were they…?"

But there is some clarity… 'Before seeing the three pairs of eyes, Otou-san came to visit me… and he said that I will be executed soon enough… and then those Anbu shinobi came to the cell and took me to take me for the execution… right execution! Does that mean I am already dead?'

As soon as this thought crossed his mind, the kid noticed a person sitting on the other side of the bonfire and asked, "Ano… am I… am I already?" – But he did not look at the face of the other person… because if he did, he might have realized that this is the same person who made him bleed for the first time.

Kuroto raised an eye at the question and asked, "Don't you remember what happened after you were taken out of your prison cell?"

Gaara shook his head, "No… there are only vague images of three pairs of eyes staring down at me… and nothing more."

Kuroto thought, 'Maybe the Genjutsu Shisui used to put Gaara in sleep was too strong for the kid to bear with his chakra sealed… or perhaps it is because this is the first time Gaara might have had a peaceful sleep ever since his birth?'

Nodding at his conclusion that seemed reasonable, Kuroto said, "Well it doesn't matter if you don't remember, long story short, I saved you…"

That entire execution was designed by Kuroto, the moment Gaara was taken out of the cell. Kuroto along with, Shisui, and Pakura (now loyal to Amatsukami because of being tortured by Kuroto and then being controlled by Shisui's Kotoamatsukami) acted together.

Since Pakura is the Anbu Commander so things were very easy, the Anbu Shinobis taking Gaara were instantly put into a Genjutsu by Shisui, after that Shisui disguised as one of the Anbu, while one of the Anbu that Shisui disguised into was turned into Gaara by Kuroto with the use of 'Shapeshifting Technique'.

Shisui who was disguised as one of Anbu made sure to continue using his Kotoamatsukami on all the elders present nearby, eliminating any chance of discovery, and when 'Gaara'(or the person who tied to the wooden pillar in the shape of Gaara) died, his body was burnt into nothing more than ashes by Pakura.

All the while the entire ordeal took place, Kuroto and Kazekage Puppet observed the entire thing from the sky.

As for the Sandstorm? It was the result of Shisui's Genjutsu, Kazekage Puppet's mastery of Wind Release… Although causing such large storms is not easy even for the Kazekage puppet, but thanks to the high level of Ryuumyaku Chakra, and the near mechanical state of the Puppet such a thing became possible. For this reason, even though there were heavy winds and raging sandstorms yet there was no damage.

Kuroto did this all to make the death of Ichibi and its Jinchuriki more believable.

Gaara was stunned, and it was at this moment when he recognized who this person was… "Why… why did you save me?"

Kuroto thought about how to answer this question without revealing many things, but he first asked curiously, "Before I answer your question, I want to ask, why do you want to die?"

Gaara was silent after hearing Kuroto's question, he did not know why but for some reason he simply couldn't resist it anymore and started speaking "My Oka-san hated me, she did not even want to give me birth… my Otou-san wants to kill me… my siblings don't like me, everyone in the village fears me… even… even, Yashamaru said that… said that he really hated me… said that my Oka-san named me from a phrase 'a self-loving carnage' to reflect her undying hatred towards the village and the monster that I am… since… since everyone treated me as a monster, I decided that I will be a monster… but I couldn't even be a monster… I can no longer find a purpose to live, isn't death better than a life with no purpose, I no longer want to feel this emptiness… it's better to just die and disappear… it's not like anyone is ever going to mourn my death… it's not like I am wanted…"

Kuroto stayed silent while Gaara revealed the pain buried inside him… midway through that Gaara also burst into tears… Kuroto let him speak, he let Gaara cry… He allowed Gaara to let it all out…

Even though it is said that only weak people cry but Kuroto doesn't believe that… Sometimes being able to cry… being able to let out all the pain, frustration, and sadness buried inside is never a sign of weakness… in fact, there are very few people who have such a luxury. Otherwise, people are sad, angry, and frustrated but they are unwilling to let it all out and hardly grow as a person.

While Gaara let out everything, Kuroto also thought about Gaara's mother. Not much was revealed about her aside from the fact that she loved Gaara too much and had an incredibly strong will to always protect her son. Perhaps it was because of this, her spirit took the form of Sand, always protecting Gaara.

But here Kuroto has a lot of information about her, more so when Pakura is already his spy. Gaara's mother was one of the strongest Kunoichi of Sunagakure, she used Sand Release Kekkei Genkai (We are assuming that Sand Release is not just associated with Ichibi), but the awakening of Sand Release in Gaara was too early. From a very young age, the kid has already been able to use Sand Release which has made everyone believe that this is because of Ichibi being sealed inside him, not because of the Kekkei Genkai he inherited from his mother.

It might be because of both reasons, but what matters here is that her spirit took the form of the Sand Armor around Gaara. Perhaps for this reason Gaara's chakra is not ordinary.

As for what Yashamaru said? That's obviously all a lie, as per the instructions of the Kazekage.

"I understand your reason… and to be honest kid, I think you are too young to figure out the purpose of your existence… I won't say that I know what your hardships have been, and even if I know what kinds of things you have gone through, I will never truly be able to understand them… but from my experience, you know too little of this world to determine anything. You asked me why I saved you, right? I will answer your question, it is nothing as fancy as you being the child of destiny or whatnot, the only reason I saved you is that I saw the potential within you… potential to become one of the strongest shinobi to walk through this shinobi world… it would have been a waste to let you die out there so silently when you could have become something more… And if you need a purpose to live, you can find it along the way… as long as you are still alive you will have a long time to figure things out… to figure out the meaning of your existence." – said Kuroto.

Gaara kept wiping the tears running through his eyes and shook his head after Kuroto finished, "But I cannot… I can no longer bear this thing anymore!"

Kuroto thought about it and said, "The 'thing' you speak of is Ichibi, right? You do not have to worry about him anymore… if I have saved you, so naturally, I will not allow the tanuki to waste my effort… I will make him silent, and unless you on your own accord want to communicate with him, he wouldn't even be able to lift his finger or utter a single word much less taking control over your body."

In Kuroto's view, the people of Sunagakure are stupid… making a young child who is housing Shukaku of all Bijuu inside him to go through such a torturous experience.

The fact that Gaara can resist Shukaku taking control over the boy from such a tender age alone shows the kid's talent. And what are they doing? Instead of training the kid mentally as well as physically… they are imposing tests to check whether he would lose or control his emotions?

In this aspect, Konoha is still far better compared to Suna, although Naruto similar to Gaara is hated by all the villagers, he is still not forced to go through such tests. In fact, they did not even inform Naruto of the Kyuubi being sealed inside him until the Mizuki event.

After all, both kids are the same, suffer from the same treatment from the fellow villagers. But when it came to Naruto, Kyuubi could not even communicate with Naruto, much less affecting Naruto as Ichibi does to Gaara.

It was just that since no one trained Naruto to control his chakra that was influenced by Kyuubi's chakra because of the way Yondaime designed the seal, so Naruto was left at the bottom of his academy class.

Gaara pondered on Kuroto's words then asked a hesitation, "Can you really silence him?"

Kuroto smirked, "Don't you remember what happened the last time we met? He wasn't able to do anything…"

Gaara recalled it, and indeed, Shukaku wasn't able to do anything on that night, but Gaara was still a bit doubtful…

Kuroto sighed, he got up from his position and walked towards Gaara, then he lifted off the robe on Gaara's upper body.

Next, he analyzed the existing seal, after doing so… he weaved the hand signs and placed his hand on Gaara's stomach.

With that, the existing seal that sealed Shukaku was gone, and instead of that a newer one appeared, this was obviously Four-Symbols Seal, immediately afterward, an instant imprint of the seal appeared over Gaara's entire body like crawling snakes, then it disappeared and was left with the Four-Symbols Seal pattern over Gaara's stomach.

After doing so, Kuroto questioned, "How is it? Is it better now?"

Gaara immediately nodded, "His… his voice is gone!"

Kuroto thought a little and said, "That's good, this seal can work for now, and later we can use a better seal."

Gaara nodded.

The Four-Symbols Seal is good, and it has completely isolated Shukaku, but it has also made it impossible for Gaara from extracting Shukaku's chakra. If a Jinchuriki cannot even take chakra from the Bijuu sealed inside them then there is no point in having a Bijuu sealed within you.

So, Kuroto will obviously change the seal, Four-Symbols Seal is nothing compared to the Eight Trigram Sealing Style, or the Torii Seal which is probably one of the most powerful and best Fuinjutsu to seal a Bijuu inside the Jinchuriki, and Kuroto plans to use that Seal on Gaara.

Next Kuroto asked, "With that out of the way, are you going to come with me?"

Gaara looked at Kuroto with a bit of hesitation…

Kuroto noticed Gaara's hesitation, and thought, 'The kid probably still has some reservations… and it's understandable… I guess I need to push it a little.'

Thinking so, Kuroto shook his head and said, "Or let me rephrase what I said just now, are you going to willingly come with me, or do I have to take you anyway? You should understand that I have already sealed Shukaku, so he wouldn't be able to do anything… and without Shukaku, even if you can control sand, you are just a helpless kid in front of me… when you couldn't resist even with Shukaku what can you do without him? In simple words, you do not have a choice here kid… you are coming with me regardless of your willingness."

As soon as Kuroto finished his words, he stretched out his hand.

Under the traction force, Gaara obviously couldn't put any resistance, and before he could even realize it, he was already flying high in the sky.

Gaara did not put any resistance. He realized it full well that doing so was meaningless. Besides he couldn't detect any trace of hostility from this person, so maybe this is fine, right?

What's the worst that can happen? Death? But is that something Gaara fears? Not really! A few minutes ago, he had already accepted his death, so it's not like anything beyond that can happen to him, right?

Besides, he was currently enjoying the flight, it's the first time he has got to fly, although it's not on his own it is flying nonetheless and it feels amazing.

Coming out of the cage of Suna, Gaara probably felt relief.

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