"Alright, the One-Tail is yours now. Let's get started."
"Hmm? Why aren't you moving yet? Do you still not trust us? We can retreat and maintain a safe distance."
Temari nudged the other four Kage to step back.
"Wait, hold on!" Uchiha Hikari called out.
"What is it?"
"Get him out of there first." Hikari turned her head away in disgust.
Even though she could use her Susanoo to avoid direct physical contact, she didn't want to use it on someone who was only half-buried in a mountain.
Besides, after watching a guy literally run away while pulling up his pants, who knew what kind of perverted things might have just happened to the Jinchūriki?
"Fine. I was going to keep Gaara pinned down to help you trap him." Temari looked disappointed but didn't dwell on it, assuming Hikari's extraction technique required full access to the target's body.
"Tsuchikage-sama, could you lend a hand? I don't want to bother going back to the village for lifting equipment." Temari turned to Kurotsuchi.
"Got it. Leave it to me. Earth Release: Light-Weight Rock Technique! Earth Release: Earth Motion Core!"
Kurotsuchi unleashed two jutsu in quick succession
. First, she lightened the massive boulder pinning Gaara, then used the shifting earth to lift and flip it aside.
"Water Release: Water Bullet Technique!" Mei Terumi spat a mouthful of water, washing away the loose yellow sand to reveal Gaara's figure.
"Huh? Why are there two of them?" Tsunade asked, puzzled, as two distinct figures emerged from the cleared sand.
"So that's it," Temari muttered to herself, observing the two humanoid shapes on the ground.
"I knew Kankuro wouldn't stoop so low as to attack his own brother, no matter how twisted he is."
"Eh?" Hikari blinked, taken aback.
If he didn't attack Gaara, then why did Kankuro run away with his pants down earlier?
Surely he wasn't just taking a shit in the desert, right?
"Since that thing is still here, Kankuro can't be far," Temari reasoned aloud before bellowing,
"Kankuro! Get your ass out here and take your damn puppet!"
No sooner had Temari finished shouting than Kankuro, who had seemingly fled earlier, awkwardly emerged from a nearby sand dune.
"Sister, I'm leaving now! I'm leaving!"
Kankuro hurried forward to retrieve the Gaara-lookalike puppet, which bore distinct traces of his own cells and chakra, and prepared to bolt.
It turned out Kankuro had never intended to harm his brother.
His only obsession was with his dolls.
He was here to observe his younger brother's suffering to draw artistic inspiration for creating new, customized puppets for his own enjoyment.
The Kankuro of this world was no longer just a copycat master of borrowed techniques.
He had finally learned to craft them himself!
The reason Kankuro's pants were half-down earlier wasn't because he had done anything to Gaara.
It was because he had just finished creating a life-sized Gaara-style puppet.
Overwhelmed with excitement, he couldn't resist playing with his new toy immediately.
...
In the audience stands, Tsunade furiously scribbled on her notes while muttering.
"Damn pervert."
Now that she had re-allied with Makoto in the illusion, she no longer needed to shift her perspective to leak information.
She could fully immerse herself in writing her manuscript!
...
"Kankuro, Temari! Mom brought you cake!"
A cheerful voice suddenly rang out from the village entrance, halting Kankuro in his tracks.
He hastily pressed the puppet under his foot and kicked sand over it to conceal the evidence.
"Huh? Gaara's mom is still alive?" Makoto asked, genuinely surprised.
"Of course she's alive! You haven't forgotten, have you?" Tsunade chuckled, hearing Makoto's confusion.
"That incident caused quite a stir in the Hidden Sand. The mighty Kazekage just... died."
"????" Makoto scratched his head.
'Kazekage? Was she referring to Rasa?'
The Allied Shinobi Forces had just mentioned that Orochimaru implemented the Konoha Restoration Plan and accidentally resurrected Rasa, causing severe trauma to Gaara.
This implied that Rasa had died years ago.
So, in this world, Karura didn't die in childbirth.
Rasa did.
But how did Rasa die? Could it be another case where Rasa transplant a vagina and Karura transplant a dick, and Rasa died giving birth?
"The person involved is right over there, so I can only whisper," Tsunade leaned close to Makoto's ear to share the gossip.
"Over a decade ago, the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, became obsessed with the One-Tail. The previous Jinchūriki was already old, so Rasa killed him to take it."
"Fortunately, Rasa acted quickly and used a Sealing Technique to trap Shukaku inside a tea kettle. After that, Rasa carried the tea kettle around everywhere, using it as... well, it's widely considered the Shinobi World's earliest fleshlight. His second son, Kankuro, inherited this habit and developed his lifelong fascination with dolls."
"Eventually, Rasa grew tired of playing with the tea kettle and began to miss the beast's majestic, full-sized form. He decided to create a Jinchūriki capable of wielding the power so he could enjoy it properly."
Makoto quickly summarized the rest of the family tree.
"Rasa and Karura had Temari first, then Kankuro. Neither of them had the potential to become Jinchūriki. Did something go wrong with their third child?"
"The third child did have complications, but the earlier parts are wrong." Tsunade's expression turned peculiar.
"Temari was a perfect match from the start. But Rasa, fearing he might push Temari too hard and break her, decided to have more children as backups."
"That's how Kankuro came to be. Kankuro also proved to be a perfect match for Shukaku, which delighted Rasa. But he wanted more options, so Rasa began working on a third child."
Makoto was speechless.
This Rasa was a piece of work, no matter which timeline he was in.
"So what about the third child? Don't tell me his constitution was weaker." Makoto glanced at Gaara lying on the ground in the distance.
"No, the third child was even more compatible. He displayed extraordinary talent while still in his mother's womb. But..."
Tsunade paused, her face filled with mock regret before continuing.
"Unfortunately, that unborn child was too powerful. During one of Rasa's routine bedroom sessions with Karura, Gaara unleashed the Sand Burial from inside the womb, crushing Rasa's 'dick' alive."
"Rasa immediately lost consciousness from the pain, but Gaara didn't stop. He manipulated the sand to kill Rasa right then and there. As a medical ninja, I recognized the psychological root of the problem when I read the autopsy report."
"Young children don't inherently understand good or evil. Gaara likely acted this way because Rasa had been constantly hitting him on the head for no reason during sex with Karura, causing the unborn child to memorize the 'chakra signature' of his enemy."
"Ah, how tragic," Tsunade sighed. "How lamentable."