Chapter 281: Love
Half a month later, inside the Sand Village's ninja temple, Yuji met with Rasa's family of three.
Chiyo, Ebizo, and several other senior figures had come along with him.
Because today marked an important occasion.
Sealing the Ichibi into Gaara's body.
Yuji had previously spoken with Karura about this matter and asked her and Rasa to discuss it carefully between themselves.
After some time, Rasa had returned to the village and very quickly given Yuji a definitive answer.
In Rasa's view, making Gaara a Jinchuriki was not a bad thing. On the contrary, it would benefit the village. There was naturally no reason to refuse.
From those early days when Rasa had questioned and challenged Yuji's every decision, to now holding genuine admiration for him, his thinking and attitude had shifted considerably even if his personality had not changed dramatically. He could see that Yuji's choice of Gaara as the Jinchuriki certainly had its reasons. There was no need to even ask what they were.
Over more than ten years, Yuji had single-handedly built the Sand Village into its current flourishing state. Even someone as strong-willed and stubborn as Rasa could not help but be convinced.
Looking across the entire Sand Village right now, the only person who could truly command Rasa's respect was Yuji.
Karura stood nearby with the one-year-old Gaara cradled against her chest, and as a mother her expression still carried a degree of visible worry.
"Are you both certain?" Yuji saw this and let out a quiet sigh before asking both Rasa and Karura.
"Becoming a Jinchuriki is his mission. And being able to offer his strength to the village is Gaara's honor," Rasa said calmly.
After saying this, he took Gaara from Karura's arms.
"Do not worry. Even after becoming a Jinchuriki, he will be no different from the other children in the village. The only minor inconvenience is that once Gaara is a little older, the Ichibi inside him may disturb his sleep. Shukaku among the Tailed Beasts is particularly on the noisy side," Yuji said with a light smile.
"What?" Yasumaru standing nearby stared blankly.
"Lord Kazekage, that means..."
"No need to worry. I have specifically prepared a sleeping medicine with no side effects. He just needs to take it on schedule," Yuji said, holding up a single finger for emphasis.
"That is a relief then," Yasumaru said, settling down after hearing this.
After a brief moment of preparation, the ninja temple monks had already moved the sealed clay vessel to an open area nearby.
Yuji and Karura who was holding Gaara both stepped forward.
Karura stroked her son gently, soothing him.
Yuji walked to stand before the clay vessel and after forming several seals, pressed all five fingers against its surface, sending chakra surging outward.
Following his movements, sealing script patterns appeared across the vessel's exterior.
A second later, the lid of the vessel was blasted open by a surge of powerful force, and a terrifying chakra energy began rushing outward.
Yuji narrowed his eyes. The fingertips he had placed against the vessel's surface began bleeding, and that blood rapidly condensed into chains woven from crimson threads that wrapped tightly around the entity within the vessel and bound it firmly.
"You bastard! Just you wait!"
A curse came from inside the vessel.
Yuji paid it no attention.
Maintaining the sealing technique posture without moving, his other hand came to rest against Gaara's abdomen.
Again from his fingertips came a flow of blood, moving like ink across a page, tracing red sealing script patterns across Gaara's small body.
"You are using this little demon to replace that monk? Even just for revenge against you, I will not let this child have an easy life! He will not live long. You just wait to collect his corpse!"
The Ichibi screamed from within its bonds.
These words caused everyone present to shift slightly in expression.
None of them had expected this single-tailed beast to have such a fierce and defiant temperament.
Though the tone carried a noticeable note of frustration and resignation. The hatred toward Yuji was also audible in it.
"He is not a vessel for sealing you away. He is a future partner who can fight beside you as a genuine companion. Otherwise, would you prefer to remain alone, sealed forever inside that cold clay pot? Never able to look up at the sky? Without even a single person to talk to?"
"In all those years inside Bunpuku's body, did you learn nothing at all?"
Yuji said this with a quiet smile, his robes shifting slightly in the movement.
Sure enough, at these words the Ichibi fell silent.
The massive Tailed Beast chakra was pulled from the clay vessel by the blood chains, the chains shrinking from large to small as their other ends connected to Gaara.
The Ichibi, Shukaku's form began distorting and transforming under the pull.
And finally it entered Gaara's body.
The sealing was complete.
In the space before them, the Tailed Beast's wild and overwhelming presence dissolved away. Yuji's robes settled back to their normal state.
His forehead carried a trace of fatigue.
As the final chains faded from sight, sealing script patterns appeared briefly across Gaara's abdomen and then vanished.
Yuji pressed a finger to Gaara's forehead, and using a secondary layer of sealing technique with blood as the medium, wrote a single character.
The character for love.
Gaara, who had just had a Tailed Beast sealed within him and whose consciousness had only just fully registered the experience, immediately fell into a deep sleep.
The others saw the sealing was complete and gathered around.
"There is no need to worry. He simply needs to rest," Yuji explained.
"He has just become a Jinchuriki. Pay close attention to him in the coming period. If anything unusual appears, contact me immediately."
Then he added:
"Regarding Gaara becoming a Jinchuriki, do not spread the news for now. It is best to let the village residents learn about it gradually. If the matter does become known, I will personally step forward to explain the situation and reassure everyone. I will do my best to ensure your family's daily life is not affected."
"Understood," Karura nodded.
And so, as in the original story, Gaara had still become the Sand Village's Tailed Beast Jinchuriki.
But unlike the original story, both his parents were alive and well. The Sand Village's circumstances were not desperate. And with Yuji's protection, this version of Gaara's life would certainly follow a very different path.
With the Tailed Beast matter resolved, the group returned to the Kazekage building to prepare for a meeting. Nothing extraordinary, simply a progress report on the village's current projects.
"Lord Kazekage, what is the response from the Hidden Mist Village?" Shimizu remembered something during the casual conversation at the start of the meeting and looked toward Yuji.
The Hidden Mist Village apparently wanted to follow Konoha's and the Hidden Stone's example and hold an exchange gathering with the Sand Village.
The winds in the ninja world seemed to have shifted. Everyone now wanted to hold a competition with the Sand Village's newer generation.
Of course, these were only inter-generational exchanges. But during this period of peace, the newer generation fighters of every hidden village lacked stages to prove themselves. And the Sand Village's diplomatic exchanges with Konoha and the Hidden Stone had produced genuinely positive results. Pakura and her group had built recognizable names through these gatherings. This was also a way for any hidden village to visibly demonstrate the depth of talent it had cultivated.
For the village's own newer fighters still maturing, the experience was equally valuable.
"If the Hidden Mist Village genuinely wants to conduct diplomacy with us, send an invitation to their Mizukage. Have the Hidden Mist Village's people come to us. We will not be traveling there."
Yuji thought briefly and said.
"Understood."
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