Naruto: Naruto's Uchiha girlfriend is too arrogant

Chapter 288 Gaara

So, after all that, this is what Orochimaru wanted to say? Trying to sow discord by using his past? If Naruto still wanted to waste time talking to Orochimaru, he'd probably say, "That topic is long gone."

Following the same steps used to seal the reanimated form, the sealing runes completely covered Orochimaru's entire body, eventually forming a giant, airtight cocoon made of chakra that enveloped and sealed him inside.

In the final moments before his consciousness was swallowed by darkness, Orochimaru's face finally showed true disbelief that his plan had completely spiraled out of control. He couldn't understand why this bombshell had failed to create even the slightest ripple.

But now, let alone forming hand seals to resist, he can't even mobilize a single wisp of chakra.

Let's let this guy stay in this 'cocoon' for a while.

Naruto turned around, only to meet the astonished gazes of the Third Hokage and Jiraiya. They were clearly extremely surprised and puzzled by Naruto's unusually calm reaction.

It seems... I'll have to spend some time explaining myself... Naruto felt a headache coming on. How should he explain it?

Right now, he was more worried about Gaara's condition. Recalling how pale Gaara had been earlier, his eyes were vacant, as if his soul had been ripped out, Naruto felt a pang of concern.

"I'll go check on Gaara," he said casually to the two, trying to avoid further questions for the time being. "We'll talk about it when we get back to Konoha."

"Naruto, wait!"

However, the Flying Thunder God Technique had already been activated. With a flash of golden light, Naruto vanished from his spot and reappeared a short distance away, in front of Gaara, who was sitting under a tree.

Gaara remained in that worrying state. His eyes no longer held the renewed hope they had after hearing Naruto's words of encouragement, nor did they possess the deathly coldness of the past. Instead, they held a fragility akin to... a crack in porcelain.

He didn't cry, but his emerald green eyes were brimming with an overwhelming sadness.

Naruto placed his hand on Gaara's shoulder, and golden chakra slowly flowed into him, repairing some minor scratches and bruises on his body.

"...Orochimaru has been defeated and sealed away by me, he's alright now." Naruto softened his voice. "Let's go back... Tell me, what exactly did Orochimaru say to you? What did he do?"

"I'm sorry..." Gaara's voice was so weak it was almost inaudible.

"Now is not the time to apologize, is it?" Naruto tried to interrupt his negativity in a relaxed tone. "I don't think you did anything that you need to apologize to me for."

"...But," Gaara's voice trembled, "everything I touch will die because of me... Mother... Yashamaru... Temari... Kankuro... even... you might die because of me..."

"A monster like me... doesn't deserve to be treated like that by you... doesn't deserve anything...!"

"Bang!"

Before Gaara could finish his self-deprecating words, Naruto suddenly made an unexpected move—he leaned forward and slammed his forehead hard into Gaara's!

The sudden impact and pain instantly "bumped" Gaara, who was drowning in the abyss of self-loathing, out of the mire.

He groaned in pain, his body, which had been sitting on the ground, leaning backward from the impact. He braced himself with his hands, looked up, and stared at Naruto in astonishment and confusion. What he saw was Naruto's face, which was filled with obvious anger.

Recalling the earlier discovery that Temari and Kankuro were poisoned and on the verge of death, and considering Gaara's current state of collapse, Naruto instantly understood Orochimaru's vicious scheme.

He wanted to use the "death" of his closest loved ones as a final blow to completely destroy Gaara's will to resist, making him willingly become an experimental subject!

"I absolutely refuse to agree with that erroneous perception!" Naruto's voice rose in anger. "We are merely Jinchūriki! We are never monsters abandoned by the world! We are vessels that bear the pain for those who are important to us!"

He saw Gaara flinch at his roar, which made his heart tighten, but his words went even more directly to the heart of the matter.

"You might say you don't want anyone to expect, understand, or know about you, and you shut yourself off... but even so, you still feel sorrow for those lives lost due to conspiracy and betrayal!"

"You feel pain and despair when someone you care about gets hurt! How could I possibly abandon someone with a heart like yours?!"

This shout, a mixture of anger and sincerity, made Gaara instinctively want to apologize again, sensing the strong emotions Naruto felt because of him. He was afraid of hearing disappointment in this anger, afraid that this only light would be extinguished because of his "mistake".

"...But, Temari...and Kankuro and the others..." His voice choked, and he could barely speak; it was his deepest self-reproach.

"They are still alive."

"...Alive...alive?!" Gaara suddenly raised his head, his emerald green eyes trembling violently at the sudden news.

"Yes." Naruto nodded firmly, his tone softening. "I found them before I found you. I've already cured them of the poison, and they're not in any danger now. Besides, they were the ones who told me you'd been captured by Orochimaru and begged me to come and rescue you."

"...I see...so that's how it is..." Overwhelmed with relief and lingering fear, Gaara wanted to take a deep breath, but found his heart blocked by a variety of complex emotions, making it difficult to even breathe.

He lowered his head in shame, like a child who had done something wrong, and dared not look Naruto in the eye again.

"Shukaku did grant you immense power, and it has made you feared by many," Naruto continued. "However, its power doesn't include that sand shield that automatically appears and protects you at all costs every time you are attacked or your life is threatened!"

Seeing Gaara completely stunned by those words, his face filled with immense shock and bewilderment, Naruto knew it was time.

He must tear up and clean up the lie about the "mother's curse" that Gaara's bastard father imposed on him right now!

"I would never lie to you." Naruto gazed into his eyes and said, word by word, "I sealed Shukaku with my own hands, and in your inner world, I sensed the true source of the power that has always protected you..."

"...Where...where did it come from?" Gaara's voice trembled uncontrollably as he sought the answer with a mixture of longing and fear.

"That's a power that existed deep within you long ago, even before Shukaku was sealed inside you..."

"If you were born a Jinchūriki, then this power could only have been created at the very moment you arrived in this world... That power isn't a curse at all!"

He took a deep breath and revealed the long-buried truth.

"That's someone who couldn't let you go; the obsession she left behind! It's an obsession that even death couldn't sever—the desire to continue protecting you!"

"!!"

Gaara abruptly closed his eyes, and unfamiliar, warm liquid uncontrollably welled up in his eyes.

If... if someone died because of me when I was born, yet still couldn't let me go... then it could only be her...

The one he had never met, yet who had carried the name of "resentment" for over a decade—his mother.

"...In Konoha, the names of heroes are engraved on memorial stones." Naruto's voice carried a distant memory. "Back then, nobody cared about me. Sometimes I would think... if one day my name were engraved there too, would someone... reserve a small place for me in their heart?"

But when Gaara heard this hypothesis, he shook his head violently, his eyes filled with clear resistance. He didn't want to see such a scene, even if it was just a hypothesis.

Naruto saw his reaction, a warm smile appearing on his lips, before changing the subject. "But later I understood. What's important isn't just existing in other people's hearts."

He gently pressed his hand to his chest, feeling its strong beating. "In my own heart, what beats is no longer just a lonely one."

"There lies the expectations, the cherishing, the care, and the entrustment of others... and," his gaze went deep into Gaara's eyes, "the weight of your choice to live."

"...Why..." Gaara's voice choked, his words incoherent and broken, "Why...why can you...accept me like this..."

He couldn't understand why anyone could embrace his cracked heart, which was seen as a calamity, so unreservedly.

"Because we are Jinchūriki."

"Another enormous being resides within our bodies, which means that from birth we are destined to have twice the capacity to feel pain as ordinary people."

"But this ability, conversely, also means that we can bear twice the warmth, twice the hope, and twice the bonds!"

Finally, he stepped forward and firmly grasped Gaara's cold, trembling hand. An indescribable warmth flowed through their clasped palms, slowly seeping into Gaara's frozen heart.

"...Life is beautiful, isn't it?" Naruto said softly. "Some people genuinely want you to live, hoping you can see tomorrow's sun. Your existence has never been a curse, but a miracle that allows those who are important to you to continue breathing and smiling."

His gaze held a disdain for the darkness.

"How could someone like Orochimaru, who always hides in the shadows and dares not look directly into the sunlight, possibly understand this feeling? His so-called 'value' is nothing more than treating living people as tools that can be disassembled and used at will, which is cold and pathetic."

"True strength is never about being perfect or ruthless. It's about being wounded and scarred by fate, yet still choosing to use that broken heart to feel the remaining warmth, and... using that hard-won warmth to embrace others who are also cold in the darkness."

The golden chakra light shone even brighter, like the rising sun, warm and full of hope, as if to dispel all the gloom and despair in the world.

"So, from this day forward, you will no longer need to grope alone in the endless darkness, no longer need to bear this heavy fate alone. I will share your pain, I will fight alongside you, and I will light up your future!"

"I want the entire ninja world to know that in the deepest part of this seemingly barren and cold sea of ​​sand, lies the gentlest, most resilient, and most precious oasis in the world."

"And that is you, Gaara."

"Ugh...!"

Scalding tears finally broke through the thick layer of ice that had been frozen in Gaara's eyes for over a decade, streaming down his face uncontrollably. In this unprecedented, almost meltingly warm golden light, he trembled but with unwavering determination, raising his arms and, for the first time, actively responding to the long-awaited embrace.

Through his blurry, tear-filled eyes, he seemed to see a blurry yet incredibly gentle silhouette in the dazzling light behind Naruto—his mother's smile of relief and blessing.

At the center of that light, he seemed to see a completely new reflection—no longer a hideous monster, but a reflection of himself that was understood, accepted, and deeply loved by the whole world.

"I...I'm really so weak..." He rested his forehead on Naruto's shoulder, his voice hoarse and vulnerable from crying, "If you do this...I...will definitely not be able to...be completely dependent on you...and...can't...leave you anymore..."

"Hmm, it's okay." Naruto gently patted his back. "If you're afraid to go on alone, then share the burden with others. Like now, what do you think?"

"...You..." Gaara's voice was filled with fear stemming from trauma, "You...won't be like Yashamaru...and tell me in the end...that it was all a lie...that it was all just a mission..."

"No, I won't." Naruto promised without the slightest hesitation, "I will never become your new nightmare."

He tightened the embrace and made an eternal vow:

"Because I will never leave you."