A New Way of Ninja

14: Freed

Naruto was on the point of running to help Gaara, but, wisely, the other Leaf grabbed him before he could do so.

The screaming stopped suddenly, and then they heard what was the inhuman wail of the Sand Racoon.

Over the tops of the trees they saw it emerge.

The girls yelped while the boys tensed to run.

* * *

Meanwhile, what had happened with Gaara?

The whole thing was treated so matter-of-factly by Shine, you would have thought it was putting on a bandage.

The same could not be said for Shoto and Momo, who were much more nervous about doing this.

Shine just asked Gaara to tell her how the Sand Raccoon was put inside him to begin with, which he did, explaining about the seal.

Then she asked where the seal was, and Gaara showed her, not being one to feel shy about doing this. As he was 12, Shine didn't particularly care either, but Momo was a bit more surprised.

It was only on his stomach, though, so she got over it.

Shine examined the markings, which were hardly visible some of the time, and then she said they would remove them.

Kankuro warned them then, "The Shukaku will just burst out of him unhindered. It'll kill us all. It rampages."

"It won't do that," Shine said. "You saw before."

"It might have feared you while Gaara was keeping it in check, but once he's not there to hold it back..." Kankuro argued.

"You have it backwards," Shine said. "It will be far bolder while it has a human shield. They always are. Without that, it will flee."

Temari didn't know whether to be impressed by her resolve or frightened by her recklessness.

But Gaara's mind was made up, and there was no stopping him now.

Shine instructed the other three on what to do.

"Pray," she said. "Keep an eye on it. I can't promise it won't try to lash out if we give it leeway, be authoritative and tell it severely to stop. Just as we've shown you before. Don't be afraid. They make a big show to people who are afraid of them, but they're cowards,"

"And you're sure this thing is a regular demon?" Dabi said. "Not a...weird monster hybrid?"

"I know whatever it is, it will be afraid of us," Shine replied. "Whether it's what I think of as a demon, or whether it's a different kind of spirit, spirits are subject to us. Humans are the rebels, mostly."

She pulled her sword back out.

"Gaara, I can't promise this will not hurt you, just that it will not kill you. So be ready for it to sting," she warned.

She then put the sword into the seal.

Tamari and Kankuro cringed when they saw that, but that wasn't what hurt Gaara.

The painful part was that the Tailed Beast began to writhe and try to break free as if it was running from something that was right on its tail.

It appeared over his body, making his two siblings jump back warily.

Temari half moved to stop Shine by yanking her away from him.

"It's making it worse!" she cried. "You're hurting him!"

Dabi grabbed her before she could reach Shine and pulled her back. "Easy there, Fan Girl. She warned you this would happen. It's all normal. If you stop it now you could really mess things up."