Chapter 994

"If the targets were those spies, they should all have been eliminated by now." Young Yuanzi glanced at the last remaining Grass Village genin over there, thought about the two seriously wounded ones sent to the hospital, and figured this squad was probably the only real Grass Village team in the tournament.

Small ninja villages are this miserable — not only do they become pawns in the games of great powers, even what little they have gets stripped away, and in the end they end up as debris beneath the collision of two giants.

Since he had already agreed to let the people of Loulan establish Moon Ninja Village, and had himself become its nominal first village chief, he would absolutely never allow Moon Ninja Village to become something so easily carved up.

Now that he knew Orochimaru was still the mastermind behind this incident, Young Yuanzi was even more convinced that although this Chunin Exam had strayed somewhat from the original work, the outcome would not change much, and it would be the best opportunity for her to demonstrate Moon Ninja Village's strength to the world of 17.

"Everyone better all pass! You know the real part of this Chunin Exam worth paying attention to is when the third round begins."

When Gaara woke from unconsciousness, it was as if everything had changed.

"Ah, you woke up a little too early — the ritual isn't ready yet, so please go back to sleep for a while!" Unable to move even a single finger, his body seemingly no longer his own, Gaara couldn't even tell whether that childish, youthful voice was male or female, and the next moment, feeling an overwhelming drowsiness, his heart sank back into slumber once more.

Sand Village's production of jinchūriki was actually quite crude, and even the most critical sealing techniques were riddled with loopholes; in Gaara's case, the defects were especially severe.

The consciousness of the One-Tail Shukaku was not bound simply because it had been sealed — it could easily pass through the seal and chatter directly into its vessel, that is, Gaara's mind, and could even seize upon gaps in Gaara's thoughts and soul to temporarily seize control of his body and create chaos.

But now the One-Tail, usually so willful and unbridled, showed no movement at all — in fact, it was hiding deep within Gaara's consciousness, trembling in fear.

Little Zetsu was very pleased with the tailed beast's fear. As the root power of Kaguya's true body, after being split into nine by Hagoromo and directly made into nine power collectives each possessing a self, they no longer wished to fuse back together and become part of Kaguya.

In the past, of course, she would have pulled these tailed beasts out without a second thought and forcibly collected them, but now she had a better method.

"You should have guessed who I am, right? You don't know? Hmm, then let me introduce myself."

Zetsu stared at Gaara, who was bound to a tree trunk by vines after passing out — or rather, stared at the One-Tail in the corner of Gaara's consciousness. "To guide Mother back from beyond the heavens, I was born into this world as Mother's third, and final, child. Where you originally should have been, I am merely returning you to your proper place."

"Gather them, refine them anew, and let Mother take control of this world once more."

Clearly sensing Shukaku's fear magnifying endlessly, even to the point of producing a mad impulse to fight to the death with him, Little Zetsu continued: "But times are different. The old me truly did plan it that way, but now I am no longer interested in your lives."

Yellow sand began to flow from the gourd; Gaara, who had been unconscious, suddenly raised his head. One could see that half of Gaara's face had already transformed into the appearance of Shukaku. Little Zetsu knew that Gaara could no longer hold back and was finally about to voice his question.

"What exactly do you want?" It was still Gaara's voice, but after the sandification it carried an extra note of hoarseness and roughness, and because of the unease in his heart there was also a trace of fear. Shukaku understood its own situation — playing ostrich would not solve the problem. Since Little Zetsu's tone had revealed information that could let it keep its life, it might as well learn more.

"The condition is simple — you will absolutely agree to it." Little Zetsu answered with a smile, while placing the ritual formation she had prepared behind her in front of Shukaku.

"I only want one of your hands, and after that I'll let you go. Trading one hand for one life — isn't that a fair deal?"

"Understood." Generally speaking, tailed beasts, as energy aggregates, would eventually recover given enough time, whether their heads were split, horns broken, tails severed, or they were killed.

But Shukaku understood perfectly well what Little Zetsu's words represented — this was a conceptual hand, one that could never regenerate no matter what; the deprivation left it with no choice at all.

"Exactly. Once Hagoromo gave you selves, it meant you also gained the desire to live, just like every other creature. So let's begin."

The formation behind Little Zetsu began to operate, and a certain power that only tailed beasts could sense was released from within it.

In the blink of an eye, this energy transformed into a ferocious evil dragon that pounced on Shukaku, viciously biting into its sandified body.

The tailed beast, treated as a super weapon, could not move at all in this moment; power tore a part from its body, and the fear etched into its very heart was part of it.