"What you're missing is the Heaven Scroll!"
"We've got it! Take it!"
Ino quickly pulled a scroll from her ninja tool pouch, dropping it on the ground with a fawning smile. "Now that we've given you the scroll, can we go?"
Gaara didn't even glance at it. His eyes were locked on Shikamaru and the others as if they were already corpses.
"You can kill me," Shikamaru said, his hands already forming signs. "But you'll have to catch me first."
"We gave you the scroll!" Ino pleaded.
Gaara impatiently raised his hand. "Ino, shut up! Get into the Ino-Shika-Cho formation!"
"Choji, wait for my signal!" Shikamaru shouted.
"I know!" Choji wanted to run, but he gritted his teeth and stepped forward. "Expansion Technique!"
His body swelled instantly, like a balloon inflating to its limit.
"Next—Human Bullet Tank!" Choji tucked his head, limbs pressing against his torso, transforming into a spinning ball of flesh that slammed toward Gaara at high speed.
"This isn't even a real jutsu," Gaara scoffed, his forehead vein throbbing. "Let me show you what real death looks like."
He slammed his hands together—then froze.
"Huh? My body?"
Gaara's expression changed for the first time. He looked down in shock to see his own shadow stretched long and taut beneath his feet, caught in a snare that reached all the way from Shikamaru's position.
Shadow Imitation Technique.
"He's too strong," Shikamaru gasped, sweat beading on his forehead. His hands trembled, barely holding the seals. "I can't hold him long. Ino, it's up to you!"
"Understood!" Ino finished her seals, hands forming a triangle before her chest. "Secret Technique: Mind Transfer Technique!"
A pulse of chakra shot out and struck Gaara. Ino's body went limp, slumping against Shikamaru.
"Now, Choji!"
Choji, already circling nearby, heard the shout and didn't hesitate. "Got it! Watch this!"
The ball of flesh slammed into the immobilized Gaara with tremendous force.
BOOM!
But just before impact, a shell of sand erupted around Gaara, covering him like an eggshell covered in razor-sharp spikes.
Choji's body deflated instantly with a sickening crack, blood spraying as he was thrown backward.
"Ugh—!"
At the same time, Ino, still slumped against Shikamaru, groaned. Blood trickled from her mouth and nose.
"How?" Shikamaru held her, his face pale with disbelief. "Choji! Ino!"
"I'm... alright..." Choji managed to stand, his body riddled with bloody holes. He stumbled back, clutching his side.
Ino coughed up another mouthful of blood, her eyes snapping open in terror. She pointed a trembling finger at Gaara.
"A monster! There's a monster sealed inside him!"
Shikamaru's blood ran cold. "Could it be—like Naruto?"
Before he could finish, spikes of sand burst from the sky like javelins.
WHOOSH!
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
"Ah—!"
Shikamaru dragged Ino with him, dodging frantically. The spikes tore through the air, and he barely avoided them with his upper body—but his legs weren't so lucky.
More than ten sand spikes pierced both his legs, pinning him to the ground.
"You..." Gaara's voice was trembling, but not from pain. "You really... pissed me off."
Ino's revelation had exposed his secret. His face twisted into a mask of rage, and sand began swirling around him in a growing vortex.
"Now," he snarled, hands forming seals with terrifying speed, "I'll give you the most painful death imaginable."
"Sand Waterfall Funeral!"
He slammed his palms together, and the ground beneath his feet erupted. Countless grains of sand surged upward, forming a tsunami of sand that blotted out the sun.
It cast a shadow over the entire battlefield before crashing down toward Shikamaru and his team.
In the face of certain death, Choji suddenly went calm. He reached into his pouch and pulled out a transparent box containing three colorful pills.
"Shikamaru, thank you," he said, a faint smile on his face. "For believing in me."
"Choji, don't!" Shikamaru's face darkened as he saw the pills.
"Too bad," Choji interrupted, his smile tinged with sadness. "I never finished all the snacks I stashed away. That's my only regret."
He popped all three pills into his mouth.
"Just promise me," he said, turning to face the oncoming sandstorm. "You and Ino—survive."
Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield...
"Damn it! Shikamaru!" Kiba saw the distant sandstorm and tried to charge forward, but Temari suddenly appeared to block him.
"Don't," she warned. "You'll only die."
Kankuro stepped out from behind a tree. "Going there is suicide. That jutsu will leave nothing alive."
"Damn it!" Kiba ground his teeth but stopped. He wasn't stupid.
Behind him, Shino and Hinata quietly moved to flank Kankuro and Temari.
"If we capture you," Shino adjusted his sunglasses, speaking for the first time, "we can force your teammates to stop."
Temari actually laughed. "You think that'll work on Gaara? You've miscalculated."
She flicked the giant fan strapped to her back, raising it defensively. Kankuro unwrapped his bandages, revealing his Crow puppet.
Sakura remembered something. She ran to where Sasuke and Menma sat with their eyes closed.
"Sasuke! Menma! Please, you have to save Shikamaru and the others!"
Both remained motionless, as if asleep.
Sakura reached for Sasuke's shoulder—but before she could touch him, his eyes snapped open just a slit. He glanced at her with cold indifference, then closed them again.
She looked at Menma. Same thing.
Despair washed over her. She slumped to the ground, staring at the sandstorm that was about to bury her friends.
Then she remembered.
"Naruto!"
She scrambled to her feet, screaming into the sky.
"Naruto! Please! Help us!"
Naruto—!!!
A gust of wind swept through the clearing.
A flash of golden-red light streaked across the sky like a meteor, hurtling toward the distant sandstorm.
And Naruto's voice rang out, cutting through the chaos.
"Sakura, I heard you!"
---
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