A Wild Shukaku Appears.

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Currently, we see Gaara rampaging towards the central marketplace. His expression was full of hatred, and his eyes didn't contain human intelligence. He seemed to be working entirely on instincts.

The Shukaku's chakra was slowly increasing its influence on his body as his hatred continuously kept growing. He kept having all the negative flashbacks—all the bad things that had happened in his life up to now.

The seal that held back Shukaku was, rather than decreasing, only increasing its influence. Sunagakure had always used the tactic of letting Shukaku run rampant, and now it was coming to fruition. Not everyone can be a father like Namikaze Minato, after all.

As Gaara was closing in, the civilians that lived in the area and even close to it were being escorted outside of Konoha by mostly chunin. As the chunin saw Gaara rushing towards them with eyes that resembled a monster, they were gripped with fear.

But as ninjas who followed the Will of Fire and fully accepted their roles as cannon fodder, they first had an internal monologue, and then, upon seeing the civilians, their fear turned to determination.

Suddenly, a young chunin shouted at everyone present. "What are you thinking? We can't let that monstrosity kill our people. We may not be strong, but remember, Konoha is the strongest ninja village not because it has multiple Kage-level ninjas but because of the unity we have with our fellow Leaf-nins. We can do anything as long as we do it together," he yelled out.

His words quickly filled the other ninjas with determination and strength as a random chunin yelled, "Iruka-san is right! Let's show that thing why we are called Konoha ninjas!" The civilians, who were first scared, now had their eyes filled with hope.

The middle-aged chunin, now identified as Iruka, deciding not to waste any more time, planned the tactics. His idea was very clever. According to it, a few ninjas who knew Water Ninjutsu were to stay away and shoot Ninjutsu at Gaara, while others would go and engage with the sandboy.

Gaara, on the other hand, as if sensing the situation, quickly reached the group. He saw the civilians hiding behind the ninjas, who seemed to be chunin. Deciding not to waste time, he rushed towards the chunin, intending to finish them as quickly as possible. But suddenly, he was hit by a torrent of Water Jutsu. The chunin, noticing how effective water was against Gaara, grew some backbone and started their onslaught on him.

But they celebrated too soon. Shukaku, seeing how Gaara was being suppressed by some no-name fodder, increased his influence on Gaara. Gaara started seeing the faces of Sasuke and Naruto on those chunin. His vision turned red as the expressions of everyone around him morphed into those of disgust and hatred—the same expressions he had seen as a child, the same expressions one would show to a monster.

Gaara lost it then and there. Any amount of sanity he had left was replaced with fury as the sand came back to life, ignoring the water holding it back. The sand soon completely covered Gaara, barely leaving enough space around his eyes for him to see.

Then, he took off with a speed that seemed impossible to achieve with such a size. Wherever he appeared, he crushed ninjas like eggs. The killing was so brutal that his sand was dyed red with blood. All the while, the civilians stared in horror—some puked, while others fainted. As Gaara started to approach them, their legs couldn't even muster the courage to run.

Suddenly, he stopped as he looked in a direction. There stood Naruto, drifting in the air with extremely pressurized winds acting as his cloak.

As Naruto finally caught up with Gaara, he saw a scene that shocked and angered him to his core. There stood a massive mountain of corpses, each disfigured to the point they couldn't even be recognized. The ground itself had turned into a stream of blood. As someone who had never seen death before, he was numb. He averted his gaze, unable to stare at the massacre.

Then he looked at Gaara. His attention was first caught by the sand that seemed to be recently dyed red, with the only possible explanation being blood. Then he looked at Gaara's eyes, and there he saw it—madness, hatred, and nothing else. Gaara had successfully turned into a being made of hatred. 'Is this the result of the changes? But I'm not Naruto, and I definitely won't forgive him for killing these chunin. After all, my current identity is a Konoha nin. Moreover, if I was just a tad bit late, he would have wiped those civilians out,' thought Naruto.

The civilians quickly saw him. Most of them realized who he was, as they themselves had unpleasant interactions with the "Nine-Tails brat." Some of them were happy to see Naruto, as the fact that he was flying meant he was strong. Others looked on with disgust, still refusing to accept Naruto as their savior. Some foolish people even thought Naruto was the cause of it and that he had teamed up with Suna. They yelled, "I told you it was not a good idea to let the demon fox live here! Look what he has done!" Others looked at them as if they were fools.

Naruto, on the other hand, paid no attention to those fools, knowing the IQ of most civilians. Then he noticed some movement—some of the civilians had decided to use this chance to run away and survive. Gaara, acting on instinct, quickly appeared in front of them, raised his fists, and brought them down, only to see a flash of wind with a golden tint appear at the critical moment and save them.

Naruto quickly levitated them using wind chakra and sent them back to the group, all the while staring at Gaara. Even knowing it was not helpful, he decided to ask Gaara, "Why?"

Gaara still showed no expression other than hatred as he lunged at Naruto. Naruto responded equally, and they began their confrontation. Gaara used his sand to form his hands into weapons as he tried to crush Naruto, fighting as a brute. Naruto, on the other hand, used winds to deflect and slow down Gaara's movements. 'I can control winds using chakra in a small area around me. It would not be a good idea to go all out against Gaara as he is currently. I can feel Shukaku's hatred from him, which means if Shukaku wants to take over Gaara, he can do so anytime.'

Kurama also tensed as he replied, "That's a good idea. Don't go all out against Gaara, because you won't be able to end him in one fell strike. If things go really bad, I'll lend you my chakra—that is, if you can control it."

Naruto just mentally nodded as he dodged all of Gaara's advances and kicked him square on the cheek, sending him flying.

As Gaara stood up, sand improved the defense around his face. He roared a feral roar and created hundreds of sand shurikens. As if following his command, they all rushed towards Naruto and the civilians at blinding speeds. Naruto could have easily dodged them, but in order to save the civilians, he formed hundreds of clones and had them concentrate wind chakra in their hands, effectively stopping the shurikens from their onslaught. At the same time, the civilians watched on, a feeling of hope budding inside them.

Gaara—no, Shukaku—seeing this, finally lost it and decided to take matters into his own hands. Suddenly, the murderous aura intensified tenfold as red chakra started releasing from Gaara. Soon, a huge amount of sand began forming from nowhere, and the sand from the land was also attracted like iron to a magnet. By the time a minute passed, under the horrified eyes of everyone, a giant, hundreds of meters in height and entirely made of sand, stood tall, its expression one of hatred and excitement.

Shukaku finally let out a feral laugh as he said, "Finally, I'm released! To think the pleasure of destroying Konoha will be mine. I'm finally going to do something that Kurama failed at doing." Kurama, inside Naruto, found his mouth twitching as he couldn't muster up any words in response to Shukaku's declaration.

(A/N: I personally don't like the fact that Shukaku was shown to be so weak. It was said that tailed beasts had immense durability, so how the hell did Kyūbi's claws, which were made from a transformation jutsu, actually hold Shukaku in place? So I'll be showing him stronger.)

Naruto, on the other hand, didn't show any expression, but it was clear that he was worried and even somewhat scared. Shukaku, finally completing his monologue, stared down at Naruto. He gained a smug grin as he said, "So you are that fox's jinchūriki, huh? I'll enjoy beating the shit out of you and forcing you to release that fox so I can beat his ass afterwards."

This made Kurama furious as he roared and asked Naruto to let him take over, but Naruto remained level-headed. He didn't respond to Shukaku, thinking it was meaningless. His mind was currently working on ways to push Shukaku far from this location.

Shukaku, seeing Naruto not responding, took it as an insult and couldn't hold himself back. He raised his arm to crush Naruto alongside the civilians. Naruto, seeing this, quickly started making hand signs and summoned hundreds of clones, their task being to escort all the civilians away from the calamity. He then took out a sword for the first time. The blade was silver with a slight white tint, and the handle was maroon in color.

Kurama's voice suddenly sounded in his mind.

"Naruto, you have to be careful. While you are able to control chakra winds normally, it's impossible to control concentrated winds. And you will need concentrated winds to stand your ground against Shukaku."

Naruto nodded as he passed high amounts of chakra into his sword, then converted all the chakra into wind-natured energy with some diluted chakra to help mold it. He then took a slashing position and, in an instant, compressed all the wind chakra onto the edge of the chakra blade. With a swift yet precise motion, he slashed the sword, resulting in a very concentrated, moon-shaped slash of wind with a golden tint being released at lightning speed, cutting through Shukaku's hand like butter.

Shukaku, seeing this, turned dumbfounded for a few seconds, and then, with a roar, controlled all the falling sand of the cut-off arm to form spikes that rushed at Naruto with unimaginable speed. Naruto, using his short body and wind levitation, easily dodged Shukaku's onslaught.

Kurama advised, "Naruto, try to aim for Gaara. Remember, he will not wake up as the influence is somehow far more than the original. I doubt that his mind may have been affected to some degree. You might even have to kill him."

Naruto stayed quiet at this, but the determination in his eyes showed that he was ready to kill if necessary.

Then the fight resumed. Shukaku used his perfect control over sand to attack Naruto by various means. He even used some wind jutsu, but it resulted in nothing, as Naruto had higher control over the said chakra element. Meanwhile, Naruto kept cutting Shukaku's arms and legs. But as the fight went on, two unexpected individuals interfered.

There stood Kankuro and Temari, both with panicked expressions. They ignored Naruto and shouted at Gaara, hoping to wake him up.

Temari said, "Gaara, Father was killed! It was Orochimaru pretending to be Father. It's better for us to retreat back to Suna."

Naruto thought, 'Are they stupid enough not to see that waking up Gaara is no longer a possibility, or is it just sibling love?'

Shukaku stared at them like they were idiots, and Naruto noticed the sand near them starting to move. He quickly rushed in front of them, using his sword to block the incoming attack. But contrary to his expectations, the sand ignored the wind chakra and devoured the sword along with it. Naruto had to resist the remaining attack by relying on his chakra cloak. He was sent flying alongside Kankuro and Temari, and they landed near the place where Gaara's fight with the chunin had taken place. Naruto was relatively unharmed thanks to his wind cloak, while Kankuro and Temari passed out from the harsh collision against a house.

As he was thinking, Kurama's voice cut sharply, "What are you going to do now? Without the sword, how are you supposed to concentrate the wind slashes? Normal swords won't work, as you need a well-made chakra metal sword."

Naruto stayed quiet at this as his eyes darted to his surroundings, trying to locate any chakra sword—only to meet a very unexpected sight.

Naruto's eyes went wide as he muttered, "I-Iruka..."

There, in the pile of corpses, was one that stood out. Iruka had died to Gaara. 'I can't help but feel sad. Iruka, in the beginning, definitely hated Naruto, but he never let his hatred cloud his judgment. He never treated Naruto the way others did. Although it might be true that he truly started caring for him only after Hiruzen told him to, it cannot be ignored that he had no ill intentions. He was late, but he was genuine.'

As Naruto kept thinking, his anger grew more and more. 'I may be a heartless guy who is obsessed with becoming the strongest in this verse, but I have my bottom lines. Iruka was one of the only few people I wouldn't want to die.'

Naruto finally looked up at Shukaku, but this time his face was not impassive. It held a cold fury, as if trying to freeze Shukaku in place. He then continued, "Blame it on yourself, Shukaku."

The chakra releasing from Naruto intensified tenfold. The wind cloak, which only held a tint of gold, now shone with brilliant gold.

Shukaku, seeing this, laughed as he mocked, "Is this your trump card? The extent of your strength?"

Naruto still remained silent as he mentally told Kurama, 'Kurama, go for it.'

Kurama seemed shocked by this as he asked Naruto, "Are you sure, kit?"

'More than ever.'

Kurama, listening to this, just grinned.

Suddenly, the golden winds started to have a tint of red. The red chakra was very potent, but instead of just increasing the strength of the golden winds, it traveled far from Naruto at the center and started enveloping the air around him. Soon, with Naruto as the core, a huge amount of winds ranging from red to gold began rotating around him.

Shukaku, seeing this, grew even angrier as he muttered, "Kurama."

Flashback~

As Naruto was training his wind style, Kurama interrupted him as he said, "Hey, Naruto, I have something to tell you about." Naruto asked curiously, 'What is it?' Kurama replied, "It's a theory I've come to. It's like this: When a very dense wind-natured chakra dilutes the air in the atmosphere, then maybe it's possible to control the air in the atmosphere." Naruto stayed quiet at this and soon answered, 'I do have a huge amount of chakra, but my chakra is not as potent.' Kurama grinned as he answered, "But my chakra is."

(A/N: I don't know if this makes sense, but please accept it since I can't just make him form a huge amount of winds, relying on his second-level wind chakra transformation. Also if you have a better theory about achieving this please share with me.)

Flashback End~

Kurama's voice suddenly interrupted Naruto's flashback as he shouted, "Hey, we don't have time! You won't be able to control this large amount of wind with your current level. Don't waste time and go for it!"

Naruto nodded with a solemn expression as he made a slashing gesture. The wind, as if obeying his command, formed a slash, cutting through Shukaku's oncoming hand. Then, before Shukaku could regenerate his hands, another wind slash cut off his other arm.

Shukaku growled out in fury as he saw an incoming slash towards Gaara, but he intercepted it using chakra-infused sand, which had higher defense. Kurama, seeing this, commented, "It's impossible to deal with Shukaku in this way. He is not just a sand monster. He has his own chakra to increase the defense further, and he's closely guarding Gaara."

Naruto, seeing this, knew that he had to end it in one go since he wouldn't be able to control so much wind for a long time. Shukaku, on the other hand, was finally worried. He knew that dealing with Naruto wouldn't be that easy, but anger soon consumed him as he decided to end it in one fell swoop.

Before he even began, Kurama noticed it and warned Naruto immediately. "Naruto, do it now!"

Naruto nodded as he replied, 'I'll need your assistance in controlling the wind chakra. Follow my flow.'

Kurama said nothing as he got ready for whatever was to come. Shikaku, on the other hand, started charging a black ball of mass chakra, aiming it directly at Naruto. Naruto quickly started flying towards him, the winds following his direction. He then began rotating; it started slowly, but soon the pace increased as the wind chakra alongside the air followed its pace. With Kurama's assistance, the wind finally gained a form, looking like a huge drill made up of red and gold chakra with normal air in between them.

Shukaku didn't have enough time to completely charge the Tailed Beast Bomb, so he used the incomplete one as a defense against Naruto. Soon, the drill and the incomplete Tailed Beast Bomb collided.

A huge sound echoed all around Konoha. The fight was witnessed by everyone—civilians, ninjas, Hiruzen, Orochimaru, and even the reincarnated Hokages. Everyone was mesmerized and looked forward to the result of this confrontation.

The drill seemed to have reduced the power of the Tailed Beast Bomb and soon flew past it, impaling Shukaku in his chest, right at Gaara. This resulted in the instant death of Gaara and the activation of the self-terminating seal, killing Shikaku with him. The shukaku would only reform after five years.

Naruto collapsed on the ground and soon fell unconscious.

To be continued.

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