Gaara rushed over the moment he hung up the phone, like he was afraid his bishop would disappear into thin air the next second.
As for extracting the Tailed Beast...
If Naruto hadn't just brought them up, Gaara would've almost forgotten he was still the One-Tail Jinchuriki of the Sand Village.
Ever since the Chunin Exams a few years ago, the beast inside him had seemingly been scared stiff by Naruto and hadn't acted up since. Honestly, it had been so quiet, Gaara was starting to wonder if Shukaku had packed up and left.
Later, Naruto met with Gaara to explain the situation, including Akatsuki's grand plan to capture all the Tailed Beasts.
Gaara was stunned. He stood there like a statue for ten full minutes before finally speaking—with a very odd expression.
"I see."
"This Akatsuki organization… they're just trying to stop our Mechanicus from becoming independent!"
"Damn them!"
Naruto suddenly couldn't tell who the villains were anymore.
"Bishop."
"Go ahead."
"I've already prepared a new body."
For Gaara, the Tailed Beast wasn't a blessing—it was a burden. Worse yet, it interfered with his plans for body transformation. If not for that sandy raccoon inside him, he would've upgraded himself long ago.
But Shukaku, sealed deep inside, was furious.
Damn it!
This stinky fox's Jinchuriki had not only bullied him, but even led Gaara astray! The kid was now all about self-harm and body mods!
Shukaku had endured a lot in silence.
And now, what? They were planning to rip him out and hand him over to some creepy cult doing a "Tailed Beast Collection Plan"?
Bullying! This was full-on bullying the honest beast!
Originally, Shukaku didn't want to see that stinky fox ever again. But upon hearing that he was about to be forcefully extracted, he had no choice but to jump out and defend his dignity.
Before Gaara could finish his sentence, the chakra within him went berserk. His body began morphing into his tailed form.
Then, everything went black—Gaara's consciousness was forcefully pushed aside.
In a flash, Shukaku rose from the ground, massive and roaring, glaring at the three figures nearby.
"STINKY FOX!!"
"YOU'VE GONE TOO FAR!!"
It was already bad enough to be sealed away like some ancient relic. Now, they'd finally gotten used to their accommodations, only to be captured and shoved into that grotesque Demonic Statue.
If Shukaku were more eloquent, he might've quoted some ancient poem at Kurama: "We come from the same root—why seek to harm one another?"
Meanwhile, Kurama was chilling inside the sealed space, completely unaware of the chaos unfolding.
He had a giant hot pot in front of him, one hand holding chopsticks fishing for meat, the other flipping pages of a novel with chakra control. Every so often, he'd let out earth-shaking burps, his fat body wobbling with satisfaction.
He didn't look like an Immortal Emperor. He looked like... well, a pig demon at a buffet.
"Shukaku."
"Chill."
Naruto, aiming to join Akatsuki, planned to take just a bit of One-Tail's chakra to appease his senior brother. He had no intention of actually handing Shukaku over.
So really, Shukaku's fears were unnecessary.
"You think I'm stupid?!"
"Humans are fickle creatures!"
Shukaku wasn't buying any of Naruto's crap. While the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki was caught off guard, Shukaku quickly formed hand seals. In the blink of an eye, his consciousness invaded Naruto's.
The next second, Naruto felt the world spin, and when he came to, he was already inside his own sealed space.
But instead of Kurama, he found Shukaku—a mountain-sized raccoon—looming in front of him.
"You brat!"
"This is a jutsu I've studied for years!"
"As long as I enter your consciousness, I can seal away that stinky fox!"
The technique Shukaku referred to involved layering an additional seal onto the existing one, isolating Kurama. If successful, it would cut off all contact between Jinchuriki and fox, burying the Nine-Tails in eternal darkness.
With that, Naruto would be easy to control.
"You… what are you even doing?"
Naruto looked up at the hulking raccoon in total confusion. He honestly couldn't understand how this oversized tanuki's brain worked.
I mean, come on…
I am basically a god in this sealed space!
Not to mention, there's also an Immortal Emperor fox just lounging around here.
"Hahahahaha!"
"Are you scared now, brat?!"
"You and that stinky civet cat are going to die together!"
Shukaku threw back his head in wild laughter—but mid-cackle, something didn't feel right.
"Wait a second!"
"What the hell is up with your sealed space?!"
His spell had worked, and he was feeling proud—until he took a good look around.
This place... wasn't normal.
It had deserts, snowy mountains, forests, and grasslands—all recreated inside the seal. There were even animals walking around, like it was some kind of pixelated wildlife reserve.
Everything looked... too square. But otherwise, it was a whole mini-world.
What kind of sealed space was this?!
And then he saw it.
A fat, orange pig.
Sitting in front of a steaming hot pot, meat halfway to its mouth.
Shukaku and Kurama locked eyes.
Naruto suddenly felt secondhand embarrassment—for the fox.
"Hahahahahaha!"
"Stinky fox… what happened to you?! When did you get so fat?!"
Recognizing the orange pig as Kurama, Shukaku stopped casting his spell and burst into thunderous laughter, holding his belly like it was about to fall off.
Inside the sealed space, Kurama froze. The chopsticks in his paw trembled. They slipped from his grip and clattered to the ground.
The moment he saw Shukaku, Kurama's mind went completely blank. The only word echoing in his head was:
Fat… fat… fat…
BOOM—
A thunderous shockwave rocked the sealed space.
"NARUTO!!"
"Kill him! Kill him now, in the name of this Immortal Emperor!!"
"KILL HIM!!!"
Roooar—!
Kurama's chakra ignited like wildfire. His orange-red aura turned black and red with fury.
Seeing his partner flip out, Naruto casually waved his hand—and a massive shuriken, the Sword of Universal Domination, flew out from a nearby corner of the sealed space.
Naruto grabbed it and, with a casual swing, hurled it toward the still-laughing Shukaku.
Space rippled violently. Sensing danger, Shukaku stopped laughing on the spot.
He shot up in a panic.
Suddenly, the entire space warped. The sun, moon, and stars filled his view, and countless black threads came hurtling toward him.
"What is this?!"
"WHAT IS THIS?!"
"AAAHHH!!"
Shukaku had a very bad feeling—if this had been the real world, he'd be dead meat. Like, permanently dead.
So terrifying, he forgot this was just his consciousness and actually whimpered like a child.
That moment didn't last long.
One second he was mocking Kurama, the next—Shukaku's consciousness was utterly destroyed.
Minutes passed inside the sealed space—but in the outside world, only a few seconds had gone by.
Everyone was still frozen in shock after Shukaku's sudden appearance, when Scorpion suddenly sensed the surrounding chakra erupt.
The blast sent them both flying backwards.
As the dust settled, a colossal, black-furred fox over a hundred meters tall stood where Naruto had once been.
It turned to face Shukaku, opened its jaws, and—
"ROOOOAR—!"
At that moment, Kyuubi's roar shook the heavens.