"What are you mumbling to yourself, you crazy bastard!"
Naruto was perhaps the person who most hated people like Gaara, who could whimsically decide to kill people whenever they wanted without any clear reason.
He couldn't tolerate such actions, especially when it concerned his friend's life.
"Your family must have never taught you properly how to behave, huh?"
Shikamaru, though secretly feeling very wary and his heart pounding, tried to say something provocative to divert Gaara's attention, or perhaps just to fill the oppressive silence and give himself some time to think.
'By the way, this guy is really more than just weird. He gives me the creeps just with that look in his eyes. If we really have to fight him now, Naruto and I probably wouldn't be able to win even if we used all our abilities. This is a really troublesome situation...'
Shikamaru thought, his palms starting to feel cold and slightly sweaty.
'The killing intent this person emits is so dense and real, even his sand seems to carry the putrid smell of blood like a long-decayed corpse. This person... he must have killed so many people without hesitation... How did his parents raise and educate him? Do they think this is still wartime where killing is commonplace and justified?!'
For some reason, Shikamaru had a very, very bad feeling in his heart.
'Damn, what should I do now? I'm not ready to die foolishly in this hospital just because I tried to visit Choji!'
Gaara paid no attention whatsoever to what the two Konoha Genin now blocking his way were thinking or feeling.
The cold aura emanating from his body didn't change in the slightest, but the killing intent radiating from his dark-ringed eyes became even stronger, denser, and more oppressive.
He lowered his eyebrows slightly, and his pale green pupils under the shadow of his red hair looked extremely cold, empty, and emotionless:
"If you two dare to keep obstructing me, I will kill you too. It will make no difference to me."
For him, there was no significant difference between killing one person or killing three people.
It was all the same, just adding to the number of victims for his 'mother', to prove his existence.
"What did you say, bastard!"
Naruto immediately flew into a rage hearing such a cold and emotionless threat.
He was ready to jump forward again, his fists clenched tightly.
However, just as he was about to curse further and possibly launch an attack, Hana's calm yet powerful and confident voice suddenly sounded clearly in the closed space of his consciousness:
"My prince, don't let his provocation control you. I will support you fully from here. Go forward and beat up that weird panda-eyed guy. Show him the true strength of an Uzumaki backed by the Kyuubi!"
The anger on Naruto's face, which had peaked due to Gaara's words, suddenly subsided slightly, replaced by a strange and burning confidence that appeared out of nowhere, as if an unlimited source of power now supported him.
He clenched his right fist tighter and pointed it at Gaara while grinning broadly, a grin that looked a little... wild and beastly?
"Well then, just try it if you have the guts, ugly panda-eyes!"
"Hey, hey, Naruto! Wait a minute! Don't be rash!"
Shikamaru looked at Naruto with slight panic, his face pale.
He absolutely did not want to fight the red-haired monster full of killing intent across from him. That was tantamount to suicide!
"Don't you see his aura?! He's not an opponent to be taken lightly!"
But as he looked at Naruto's face more clearly, Shikamaru suddenly froze in place.
He stared at Naruto with an expression of incredible disbelief, his mouth slightly agape from shock.
On Naruto's face, which he couldn't see directly due to their slightly sideways position, his eyes had now completely changed color.
Sharp, intimidating black vertical pupils appeared in the middle of his irises, which were now a blazing blood-red, small but sharp fangs began to show clearly at the corners of his grinning lips, and even the whisker marks on his cheeks seemed to become thicker, rougher, and more prominent.
From Shikamaru's perspective, Naruto currently looked like a wild beast that had just awakened from its sleep and was ready to pounce on its prey.
And it was a very, very strong and dangerous wild beast.
Almost at the same time as the physical changes in Naruto, an equally dense and oppressive cold aura spread from Gaara's body.
However, what surprised Shikamaru more was the killing intent that wasn't Naruto's exploding from the blond boy's body, as if a blood-red storm had emerged from within the earth, directly competing and clashing with Gaara's dark and cold killing intent.
The two auras pressed against each other and created an invisible shockwave around them.
Shikamaru stood there with a blank stare, looking at Naruto as if he had met the boy for the first time.
'Th-this... is this really Naruto? Since when could he emit an aura this strong and terrifying?! This is no longer the level of an ordinary Genin! This... this is like a real monster!'
Of course, it wasn't because he didn't want to move or escape from the very dangerous situation, but because he simply couldn't move at all.
The two incredibly strong and terrifying killing auras continued to swirl and surround the narrow hospital ward, creating immense psychological and physical pressure.
As an ordinary ninja who relied more on his intellect than raw physical strength, Shikamaru even felt that he would suffocate or his heart would stop beating in the next second if he didn't get out of that aura pressure field immediately.
'Hey, hey, hey, are these two actually monsters disguised as humans?! This is insane!'
Shikamaru swallowed hard and mentally retracted his earlier statement, ("Even if Naruto and I team up, we probably wouldn't win.")
Seeing Naruto's current demeanor and aura, he might not lose even if he had to fight Gaara alone.
'Having a friend who turns out to be a monster like this is so troublesome! Why do I have to be stuck between two monsters who are about to fight?!'
At this moment, Naruto's confidence had indeed skyrocketed from before, as if limitless.
Of course, it wasn't just because of Hana's verbal support and encouragement, but also because with the extra chakra flow from Hana, which now felt so abundant and turbulent within his body, he felt he could use the summoning technique to call Gamabunta, the Toad Boss, anytime if the situation truly required it!
Inside her sealed space, Hana, hearing Naruto's confident (and slightly naive) thoughts, almost rolled her eyes to the back of her head from a mixture of endearment and slight exasperation.
'Oh dear, this prince of mine! There's a Jinchuriki of Shukaku the One-Tail on the opposing side, and you are the Jinchuriki of Kyuubi the Nine-Tails! Both of you can currently only borrow a small fraction of your respective Bijuu's chakra, and even that comes with great risk. And you actually want to use this precious chakra just to summon another toad monster to fight in your place?! Are you looking down on the power of these great Bijuu, huh?! You have me, the Kyuubi within you, and you're thinking of summoning a toad?!'
Well, although summoning Gamabunta now might have a slightly higher chance of winning than if Naruto fought directly with just taijutsu and Rasengan, this still didn't change the fact that Naruto seemed to be looking down on the potential power of the Bijuu within himself.
And that slightly offended Hana's pride as the strongest Bijuu.
'I've made a very firm decision! The next time Naruto asks me to lend him chakra again for trivial matters, I'll let him ask that tobacco-smelling Toad Boss instead!'
She, the strongest tailed beast in the entire shinobi world, the great and prideful Nine-Tailed Bijuu, turned out to be capable of holding a grudge too, especially if it concerned her pride as a Bijuu and how her 'vessel' viewed her.
"This chakra..."
Gaara's previously cold and empty eyes finally showed a more distinct fluctuation.
However, it wasn't joy or fear, nor was it a recognition of a familiar power from a fellow Jinchuriki, but rather a look that could be called... escalating madness.
His twisted interest was now truly piqued.
"Really... so you're the same as me, huh... a monster... What's your name, monster like me?"
"What are you talking about, huh?! I'm not a monster like you, you crazy panda-eyes!"
Naruto clenched his fists tighter, his face becoming colder and slightly terrifying under the influence of the tailed beast chakra that was beginning to overflow and become difficult for him to fully control.
"My name is Naruto! A shinobi from Konohagakure! Uzumaki Naruto! And I'm going to be Hokage someday!"
From childhood until he grew up, the thing Naruto hated and found most painful was perhaps when he was called a monster, demon fox, or other similar derogatory terms.
It was an old wound that always managed to anger him.
"Uzumaki Naruto... uh... argh... ahhhhh..."
Gaara's expression suddenly twisted in extreme pain.
His sleep-deprived red eyes now became even redder from the unbearable pain attacking his head, as if something inside him was violently churning.
He looked at Naruto with an increasingly fierce, unstable, and hateful expression.
Although his body was clearly still somewhat controlled by Shikamaru's Shadow Technique, his hands began to tremble violently as he tried to cover his head, which felt like it was about to split open:
"Uzumaki Naruto... if I manage to kill you... and take your blood... my mother... my mother will surely be very, very happy..."
"Tsk! Damn it! This is really bad!"
Shikamaru's face changed drastically to a deathly pale, his body beginning to tremble continuously as the shadow beneath his feet became increasingly unstable and almost broke.
"Naruto! My Shadow Technique... is about to fail completely! He... he's trying to break free by force!"
He could even break free from Kagemane no Jutsu just with his insane willpower and the pain he inflicted upon himself? This person was clearly no ordinary monster.
He was completely insane and out of control!
"I WILL KILL YOU ALL! YOU WILL ALL DIE FOR MY MOTHER!"
As Gaara shrieked hysterically with a piercing voice, the sand that had previously just pooled around his gourd and on the ward floor suddenly floated into the air rapidly and condensed into hundreds of sharp shuriken-shaped projectiles, then attacked Naruto and Shikamaru like a deadly and unavoidable sandstorm.
Almost at the same time as the sandstorm attack, the shadow beneath Shikamaru's feet completely shattered.
The Kagemane no Jutsu's bond was forcibly broken. And as the shadow technique failed, Shikamaru's body suddenly stopped responding for a moment; he felt a brief seizure, a side effect of the jutsu being violently severed by the opponent's power.
When the ninjutsu was forcibly released, he felt a slight weakness, a severe dizziness in his head, and his body felt limp, and it was this weakness that prevented him from being able to dodge the sandstorm attack from the beginning.
"Not good! I can't move at all!"
Shikamaru gritted his teeth, his eyes wide with horror.
He could only watch helplessly as hundreds of Sand Shuriken shot towards him, but his body seemed frozen and couldn't be moved an inch.
This is the end of my story, he thought desperately.
As he saw Shikamaru freed from the shadow technique and the terrifying sandstorm threatening both their lives, Naruto reacted instantly without any hesitation.
He immediately leaped in front of Shikamaru, forming hand seals with incredible speed.
Hari Jizō! (Needle Jizō!)
His spiky blond hair instantly elongated and hardened into thousands of sharp, interconnected golden needles, forming a sturdy protective dome around himself and Shikamaru.
CLANG! CLANG!
The sound of hard, deafening collisions between thousands of sand shuriken and Naruto's golden needle hair sounded repeatedly, creating small sparks in the air.
Gaara was still covering his head tightly with both hands, his entire body trembling uncontrollably, and the large gourd on his back had now fully opened, as if gaping hungrily.
Countless yellow sand continued to gush out from the gourd's mouth like a flood, gradually starting to color the previously pristine white hospital ward into a brownish-yellow.
Although his head felt like it was about to split from dizziness and the excruciating pain caused by Shukaku's turmoil within him, Gaara's face still wore a smile, a smile that was very ferocious, terrifying, inhuman, and full of madness:
"Kill you all... Mother, don't worry... Soon... Soon I will offer this person's fresh blood to you... You will surely like it, Mother..."
"This person... he's truly insane and disgusting,"
Naruto felt a chill run down his spine hearing Gaara's creepy mumble.
"He's actually calling the sand 'mother'. Absolutely nuts!"
Just as the auras of the two Jinchuriki reached their peak and a major battle that might destroy the entire hospital seemed unavoidable, the ward door suddenly burst open with a rather loud thud.
A green shadow shot in with almost invisible speed, and a powerful aura no less formidable than the combined auras of Naruto and Gaara – perhaps even more controlled and oppressive – suddenly appeared, filling the entire room.
It wasn't a cold, bloodthirsty killing intent like Gaara's or Naruto's when influenced by Kyuubi, but more like an oppression so strong, heavy, and full of authority that it could almost shatter the nerves of anyone who felt it directly.
The three tense Genin – Naruto still protecting Shikamaru within his needle-hair dome, Shikamaru still shocked and weak, and Gaara still in a half-crazed state – almost unconsciously turned towards the door to see who dared to come and interrupt their 'party'.
They only saw a man with a shiny, bowl-cut hairstyle, wearing a striking tight green outfit, and eyebrows so thick they almost merged, now standing upright in the doorway, looking straight at the three of them with a very sharp and authoritative gaze:
"The official competition only starts tomorrow. You don't need to be so anxious and rush to kill each other today in the hospital, right?"
"Or are you three perhaps planning to stay over and cause a ruckus in this hospital full of sick people all night long?"
Although those were just simple words spoken in a relatively calm and flat tone, each word felt like an invisible sharp blade, piercing directly into their consciousness.
The oppressive aura emitted by the green man easily overwhelmed and suppressed the blood-red chakra wildly fluttering around Naruto and also the yellow sandstorm still swirling around Gaara. Even the dense killing intent from both Jinchuriki was instantly restrained and seemed to vanish in an instant, replaced by a sense of awe.
With this much power... was he really just an ordinary Jōnin?
Shikamaru stared at the green figure at the ward door with an expression of incredible disbelief.
'Might Guy-sensei... he... he can be this strong?! Is this really Asuma-sensei's teammate who always looks so laid-back and silly? Can someone as cheerful and strange as Asuma-sensei have a teammate with this level of strength and aura?! This... this is a completely different level than I ever imagined!'
"AAAAAAHHHH! DAMN YOUUUUU!"
Gaara gritted his teeth so hard they audibly clicked, the killing intent and ferocity in his eyes, which had slightly subsided, now flared up again, almost unbearable.
Every time he saw Might Guy or even just remembered Rock Lee's spirited face, his head felt like it was being repeatedly hit with a sledgehammer by his 'mother'.
Kill them... He really, really wanted to kill them both right now.
But... somehow, something was holding him back. He felt he couldn't do it.
Seeing Might Guy had arrived and successfully controlled the almost explosive situation with just his presence and a few words, Hana, within Naruto's seal, could only click her tongue with a slight sense of disappointment yet also relief.
"Tsk, what a shame. The show was just about to reach its climax. Well, at least my prince doesn't have to fight all out and reveal all his cards before tomorrow's final match."
Hana muttered, feeling a little bored because her 'tense entertainment' had ended sooner than she expected.