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[NTU] [ARC-15] Chapter : 190
🕑 Added 2024-10-13 20:01:52 +0000 UTCToshiro glanced up and spotted a familiar figure in the distance. Without a second thought, he ignored the person entirely, as if he didn’t exist. Bending down, he picked up a small pebble from the ground and casually tossed it toward Gaara’s head.
As for Yashamaru, who was responsible for looking after Gaara from afar, Toshiro thought little of him—his skills were rather mediocre. In Yashamaru’s eyes, Gaara was merely playing in the courtyard, oblivious to what was happening.
Just as the pebble neared Gaara, a handful of yellow-brown sand instinctively rose up, shielding him from the stone.
Gaara looked up at Toshiro, confusion written on his face, uncertain about why Toshiro would provoke his sand defense.
"This sand… it's always done that, hasn’t it?"
However, the change in Toshiro's eyes caught Gaara off guard, leaving him in awe.
"It's beautiful," Gaara whispered, his gaze fixated on the intricate pattern in Toshiro's eyes, momentarily stunned by their allure.
Toshiro smiled slightly, sensing the chakra in Gaara's sand. "This is truly a mother’s love," he murmured to himself.
Through his mangekyo, Toshiro could clearly perceive the high-quality chakra intertwined within the yellow sand that had risen to protect Gaara. As the immediate threat dissipated, the sand quietly returned to Gaara's body.
With a slight increase in chakra in his eyes, Toshiro faintly discerned a lingering consciousness within the chakra. It appeared to have lost its individuality, functioning only to instinctively safeguard Gaara, following the last wishes of a protective mother.
"It appears to be a blend of a unique secret technique and someone's will," Toshiro remarked, studying the chakra-laden sand surrounding Gaara. He then pointed at the scattered sand on the ground and asked, "Have you ever wondered why this sand protects you?"
"Aren't you surprised that the sand shields you without any effort on your part? Even more remarkable, it defies your own intentions, stopping you from harming yourself when you’ve wanted to end it all."
"You mean... this sand that’s been protecting me all along... it’s because of my mother?" Gaara, a perceptive child, quickly grasped the implication from Toshiro's words.
He realized that the sand, clearly beyond his control, had been protecting him. Given the hostility of the beast inside him, it was obvious the sand’s protective nature was not the monster’s doing.
"All these years... has it really been my mother protecting me?" Gaara murmured, staring at the sand beneath him, frozen in place.
"It turns out... she's always been with me," he whispered, his voice distant and dreamlike. The realization hit him hard, and he suddenly crouched down, hugging his head as tears flowed freely.
Toshiro sighed, watching the young boy’s breakdown. "Tsk... this is all the fallout from the First Hokage's actions," he muttered.
While the First Hokage had noble intentions in establishing the system of one village per nation, he also sought to maintain peace by capturing and distributing the tailed beasts among the major nations, hoping to prevent future wars. Yet, despite his good intentions, it led to unintended consequences for those like Gaara.
'What’s the point of all this? The First, Second, and Third Ninja Wars still happened, didn’t they?
If it were up to him', Toshiro thought, he would never have made such a decision. He understood the First Hokage's reasoning—to avoid conflict by not hoarding all the tailed beasts for himself—but scattering them among the villages only delayed inevitable battles. Sure, the fights between ninjas might have been less intense without the beasts directly under one leader's control, but it didn't stop the wars from coming.
As for why the First Hokage didn't keep all the tailed beasts in Konoha, Toshiro assumed it was a matter of pragmatism. After all, having nine jinchūriki concentrated in one place was like sitting on a powder keg. If just one of them lost control, the chaos could spread like wildfire. He couldn't even imagine the catastrophic chain reaction that might follow. Still, that didn’t justify distributing the tailed beasts across other nations.
In the end, this system of jinchūriki turned these individuals into ticking time bombs, leaving them with tragic lives.
Generally, once the tailed beasts, known for their history of rampages, are sealed again, the village leaders conduct stability tests on the new jinchūriki. They need to determine whether the emotions or any other changes in the new hosts might affect the strength of the seal.
This explains why characters like Gaara and Naruto in the original story suffered through such miserable childhoods. The village authorities, despite being aware of their hardships, often turned a blind eye or even allowed it to happen, seeing it as part of the testing process.
"How about we make a deal?" Toshiro said, noticing that Gaara had finally vented most of his emotions, his tearful eyes now looking up at him.
"A deal?" Gaara, barely five years old, grasped the concept of trading but couldn't help wondering, What could I possibly have that someone else would want?
"Yes, a deal!" Toshiro responded calmly. "You haven’t been able to sleep peacefully, right? I can help you fix that. But in return, you’ll have to do me a favor."
"Really? You can actually make me sleep normally?" Gaara's rimmed eyes widened with surprise. His voice trembled with a mix of hope and disbelief.
The idea of finally being able to sleep was overwhelming for him. He had been deprived of restful sleep for so long, constantly on edge due to Shukaku's presence. While he could catch short periods of rest, he could never fall into a deep sleep. The threat of losing control over the tailed beast always loomed over him, making true rest impossible.
"Of course I can," Toshiro reassured him. "But you’ll have to cooperate with me."
Toshiro had several methods to help Gaara sleep peacefully. However, knowing that Shukaku, the One-Tail, was highly skilled in sealing techniques, he decided it would be best to use his Sharingan to address the issue.
"Yes! If you can truly help me sleep normally, I’ll do anything you ask!" Gaara agreed without a second thought. For someone who had suffered from chronic insomnia, unable to sleep for years due to the constant threat of Shukaku, sleep was more precious than anything else.
The desperation in Gaara's voice was clear—he was willing to make the deal without even questioning what Toshiro wanted in return. In his mind, he had little to offer aside from the terrifying beast sealed within him.
"It’s settled, then!" Toshiro confirmed, a small smile playing on his lips.
Noticing the deepened redness in Gaara’s eyes from crying, Toshiro wasn't particularly surprised. Gaara's eyes weren't like those of a normal child; they resembled the eyes of someone who had been through years of sleepless torment, far beyond the exhaustion of an ordinary person pulling an all-nighter.
"Look into my eyes," Toshiro said softly, gently patting Gaara's head. He crouched down, activating his Mangekyo Sharingan, locking his gaze with Gaara’s.
Since Gaara was a jinchūriki, simply adding another layer of seals to his already fragile containment wouldn't do much good. If the Sand Village discovered this, Gaara’s fate could be even more miserable. Instead, Toshiro intended to use the power of his eyes to help, offering Gaara a chance at something he had long been denied—peaceful dreams.
