Chapter 21

A huge tanuki appeared in his field of vision as Naruto approached where he felt a huge amount of chakra.

"Oh? So you managed to break free? Frankly, I thought you were going to avoid me, but now that you're here, we should have a talk with you, right? Tell me, will you speak calmly?" Naruto asked with a grin.

"You! Even though I felt in you what I felt in him, you are only human! What kind of person would dare to talk to me like that!" Shukaku said in a stern tone.

"Hahaha! It seems you don't take me seriously with my current form?" Naruto said.

Later, Naruto's body started to grow as he transformed into a wolf. At this time, Naruto, or rather Shinju, was much taller than Shukaku.

"How? So do you want to talk now?" Naruto said as their tails floated around menacingly.

Shinju extended his claws forward, seeing that Shukaku was unable to answer out of fear. And purplish glowing chains sprang from his claws and began to encircle Shukaku.

Shukaku realized that it was being drawn towards Shinju after a moment of surprise.

"S- Stop! Okay, p- please let's talk calmly!" Shukaku cried out in fear.

Then, the chains that surrounded its body returned to Shinju's claws again. Soon after, Shinju touched Shukaku's head with one of its tails.

Naruto's Mindspace*

Naruto and Shukaku appeared before Kurama.

"Huh?" Kurama looked in surprise at what appeared before its.

"Shukaku? What are you doing here?" Kurama said.

"I brought it because we needed to talk." Naruto said.

Naruto faced Shukaku and began to speak, "I will give you two options just like I gave Kurama. I will seal a part of you to myself and you can live here as comfortably as Kurama. You can also see the outside through my eyes every once in a while. In return, all you have to do is let me access your chakra whenever I want. What do you say, will you accept it?"

"What about Gaara? What will happen to him?" Shukaku asked thoughtfully.

"I'll leave some of it in it so they won't notice your absence when I take you. But I want you to leave the child alone because not being able to sleep seems to seriously affect his psychology. So will you accept?" Naruto said.

"I accept. I will leave the child alone so that his psychology can improve." Shukaku said.

"Good. Why didn't you ever ask about the second option?" Naruto asked.

"I feel like something bad will happen if I ask." Shukaku said uneasily.

"Yes, you're right, there might be things you don't like if you ask." Naruto said with a grin as the Mangekyou Sharingan in his eyes glowed reddishly.

"How do you have those eyes?" Kurama asked with mild anger.

"Let me remind you. I am Juubi. My eye is in the development stage at the moment, I will develop more as time goes on. Besides, you don't have to shy away from the Sharingan while I'm around." Naruto explained.

"Let me ask you. Why are you collecting tailed beasts, what is your purpose?" Kurama asked.

Shukaku, on the other hand, listens curiously from the side.

"You guys know that tailed beasts are the split version of the Juubi. But do you know what a Juubi is?"

"Isn't Juubi a form of Shinju? I know Shinju is also a big tree that absorbs the energy in the world." Shukaku spoke and joined the conversation from the side.

"Yes, Shinju's original form is a giant tree. But do you know how this tree came about and what it does?" Naruto said.

Shukaku and Kurama shook their heads negatively.

"Sigh* Let me explain it to you shortly. If the requirements of the tree are met, it gives a kind of fruit called chakra fruit. This fruit is being collected by some aliens. My goal is to stop those aliens. Also, don't worry, my purpose will not harm you in any way. That's enough for now, I'll explain everything after I've gathered you all together."

"Let's get on with our work then." Naruto said before leaving his mind field.

Real world*

Naruto watched the Shukaku standing in front of him shrink into Gaara. He then placed his hand on Gaara's body, which was completely restored.

Later, a red chakra emerged from Gaara's body and began to enter Naruto's palm.

He pulled his hand away and stood up after Naruto felt that he had enough chakra. After a while, Gaara opened his eyes.

"Good morning, are you okay?" Naruto asked.

Gaara shook his head and tried to get up, but he couldn't get up because he didn't have enough strength. At that moment, Temari and Kankuro appeared beside him, helping him to get up. Just as they were about to run away, Naruto called out to them.

"Wait, I'll tell you something."

Kankuro wanted to continue at first, but when Temari saw her shake her head in the affirmative, he decided to wait with a contradictory expression.

"First of all, I want to explain something. Your Kazekage was not who you thought it was. Actually, he was killed by Orochimaru some time ago. Then Orochimaru tricked you by disguising himself as him."

"What? This is true?" They both asked in surprise.

"Yes, and it has now been revealed that he is himself. That's why your village's ninjas have begun to surrender. Anyway, that's not what I want to say. I talked to the beast inside and convinced it not to bother Gaara again. Gaara will no longer interact with it unless he wants to. In this way, he can now sleep comfortably."

Naruto then continued speaking, turning to Gaara.

"Another thing I want to mention is that you always call it mother. It's not your mother. Also, don't think that nobody loves you. You have to pay attention to the people around you who love you." Naruto said before turning around and leaving.

Gaara looked at the ground for a moment with a thoughtful expression. He then took one look at Temari's and Kankuro's faces before closing his eyes with a small smile on his face.

"I feel like a psychologist. Is this normal?" Naruto thought.