The Hokage, having traveled here, of course he'd unify the ninja world!

Chapter 754 The Battle of the Sands (Part 1)

Although Gaara is far inferior to the massive Shukaku in terms of the total amount of sand, he surpasses Shukaku in terms of speed and precise control over the sand.

At this moment, Gaara's hands were constantly waving.

The sand under his command seemed to come alive, rapidly changing shape and transforming into long, thin, and tough sand whips in the blink of an eye.

These sand whips whistled through the air, carrying a sharp sound, and lashed straight at Shukaku's enormous head.

The reason for choosing to attack Shukaku's brain is that Gaara, who was once a Jinchuriki, knew that the Jinchuriki's location was usually near the brain of the Tailed Beast.

Shukaku reacted quickly, raising one of its thick arms and swinging it upwards in an attempt to block the attack from above.

However, just as it raised its arm, Gaara skillfully maneuvered the versatile sand whip, bypassing Shukaku's defenses.

In an instant, the sand whip flashed past like lightning and pierced Shukaku's head with perfect accuracy.

A dull thud was heard—"Pfft!"

The sand whip suddenly exploded deep within Shukaku's brain, instantly transforming into a cloud of sand shaped like a sea urchin.

This unique and ruthless technique was taught to him by Qianyao.

Because penetrating inside an enemy's body and causing an explosion is undoubtedly an extremely efficient and deadly method of attack.

Unfortunately, despite the seemingly fierce attack, it failed to hit its target, Luo Sha, indicating that Luo Sha was not inside the head.

Shukaku's head exploded but nothing happened.

Shukaku itself is composed of countless tiny grains of sand, and its body structure is very different from that of ordinary creatures.

Therefore, even though its head was so violently blasted into a huge cavity, it would not feel pain or harm like an ordinary living being.

However, although Shukaku did not suffer any substantial damage from this attack, its pride as one of the tailed beasts was clearly hit hard.

Especially when facing Gaara, who broke through his defenses and hit his vitals in their first encounter, Shukaku felt an uncontrollable surge of anger.

"You're one of the people I want to kill too! Wahahahaha! Wahahahaha..."

With a sharp, piercing laugh, Shukaku suddenly slammed its two giant hands down onto the ground.

In an instant, the earth seemed to be subjected to some kind of mysterious magic, and began to rapidly turn into sand.

In the blink of an eye, the once solid land turned into an endless desert.

For Shukaku, this vast sandy land is the source of its continuous power and the place where it can repair its injuries.

As long as there is enough sand available, it can recover to its original state in a very short time, no matter how severe the impact.

Shukaku raised his hand again and slammed it against his head.

With this strike, Gaara was astonished to discover that some of the sand, which had been enhanced by his own chakra, had lost its connection with him.

Gaara was startled and hurriedly reached out and pulled hard, but only about half of the sand flew out.

You could say it's somewhat of a loss.

Gaara stared intently at the markings above Shukaku's head, a look of surprise on his face.

[That...could it be a sealing technique?]

It should be noted that he did not spend much time with Shukaku. Shukaku had already been sealed away by Chiyo when he first arrived at the Uchiha clan.

Therefore, Gaara knew absolutely nothing about Shukaku's true abilities.

Just then, the sand on Shukaku's body seemed to be driven by some kind of force.

It surged upwards like a raging sea wave. In the blink of an eye, the void inside its head was rapidly filled.

Immediately afterwards, Shukaku swung its tail violently, and instantly, a large amount of sand rose into the air.

A gigantic, blanket-like object formed in the air and slammed down on Gaara with the force of Mount Tai crushing an egg.

Faced with the overwhelming sandstorm, Gaara quickly clasped his hands together.

He charged straight towards the sand that was about to cover him.

At the same time, the sand on his body gathered into a sharp arrow shape.

Along with Gaara, it shot into the sky from his body and plunged headfirst into the thick layer of sand.

However, Gaara's goal is not simply to drill through the sand layer, but to seize control of the sand in that area.

In that instant, Gaara unleashed astonishing speed and successfully seized control of the sand.

Without hesitation, he created an opening in that spot and leaped out like lightning.

"Hehehehe... Interesting, this is so interesting!"

Seeing that Gaara was able to evade his fierce attacks in such a unique way, Shukaku couldn't help but feel excited.

It had no idea that Gaara's ability to control sand had become so sophisticated.

Shukaku opened its blood-red maw and took a deep breath, instantly creating a rapidly spinning vortex where its mouth was.

This incredibly powerful suction force was like an invisible giant hand, tightly gripping Gaara and the sand mat beneath him, desperately dragging him back.

Despite the many advantages of sanding pads, their light weight makes them somewhat inadequate when faced with such fierce suction.

Gaara's expression suddenly changed. He knew that the situation was critical and that a slight misstep could lead to utter ruin.

So, he made a quick decision, his body suddenly swayed, and he instantly turned into a pile of fine sand.

Immediately afterwards, using the Sand Instantaneous Movement Technique, he reappeared on the ground.

Almost at the same instant that Gaara used Sand Body, the sand mat that had been supporting him lost its support.

It quickly disintegrated into countless tiny grains of sand, which were mercilessly swallowed up by the terrifying suction force from Shukaku's mouth.

This process lasted only a few seconds, but in that short time...

Its already enormous body underwent an astonishing transformation.

Its round belly swelled up rapidly like a balloon being blown up, expanding to ten times its original size in the blink of an eye!

At the same time, Shukaku's entire body was extremely twisted and deformed due to excessive inhalation.

Suddenly, Shukaku let out a sharp, piercing scream:

"Wind Release: Consecutive Sky Bullets!"

With this roar, its two thick, powerful hands pounded against its swollen belly like a storm.

Each slap generates a powerful airflow.

Under such intense pressure, powerful air cannonballs burst forth from Shukaku's mouth like wild horses, hurtling towards Gaara below with overwhelming force.

A series of deafening roars rang out.

boom!

boom!

boom!

Those air-launched projectiles slammed into the ground with unparalleled destructive power, sending dust and debris flying everywhere they went.

……