The highly corrosive poison water rapidly corroded Gaara's body.
When a Jinchuriki dies, the Tailed Beast doesn't perish. Instead, they will reform somewhere in the world after some time. However, their personality and memories are reset—essentially restored to factory settings, akin to the state when the Sage of Six Paths first separated them. This is a form of death in a sense. As sentient beings, they naturally don't wish to be reset.
The One-Tail Shukaku had no choice but to use its own chakra to repair Gaara's body.
Even the Tailed Beast with the least chakra is still a Tailed Beast.
Their regenerative abilities and chakra mobilization speed are incomparable to any ninja's.
Shukaku healed quickly and struggled violently against Shikaku's Shadow Imitation Technique.
Fortunately, Ino's Poison Pufferfish, fused with Water Release characteristics, had merged with Gaara's blood, exhibiting a stubborn, deep-penetrating toxicity that was difficult to eradicate in a short time.
Gaara's screams continued incessantly. At first, the sound was muffled, trapped within Shukaku's body. But as the Poison Pufferfish riddled the Tailed Beast's form with hundreds of tiny holes, his cries became raw and piercing.
Pain! He had never experienced such agony before!
This was entirely different from his past suffering—no longer the torment of sleeplessness, madness, or psychological anguish, but sheer, physical devastation.
He never imagined his body could hurt this much.
Temari and Kankuro, who had secretly followed, grew frantic. Their hesitation betrayed their presence, and they were swiftly captured by the Ino-Shika-Cho Formation's elite ninjas.
Seeing that the Poison Pufferfish alone couldn't subdue the One-Tail—whose recovery speed far exceeded expectations—Ino had no choice but to deploy her ultimate trump card.
Using this technique would leave her body in an extremely weakened state. More often than not, she prioritized caution over ambition, fearing that such vulnerability might cost her life.
Ninjas excel in offense but lack defense, and history is rife with cases of them falling to unexpected pitfalls.
But now, surrounded by her clan's finest, she felt much more secure.
At this moment, her family was her greatest support, and the Ino-Shika-Cho alliance her sturdiest shield.
"Everyone, move back!" she shouted. The burly Akimichi clansmen quickly retreated as her hands flew through a rapid series of hand seals.
A Water Clone materialized before her. Just as Naruto's Shadow Clones could help him form Rasengans, hers simplified the steps of the Vapor Explosion technique. Two clones—one adding water, the other fuel—coordinated with her main body's seals. In less than two seconds, a bloated Ino stood ready.
"Let that little raccoon see our art! Blow him to pieces!" With a pointed finger, the swollen Ino accelerated, charging straight at the One-Tail Shukaku, who stood motionless, expelling toxins from its body.
The Hydrification Chakra inside the bloated Ino rapidly heated up, her body erupting with scorching steam. When the internal heat reached its peak, she crashed into Shukaku with explosive force.
Even the One-Tail was startled by the sudden assault. Instinctively, it knew this was no laughing matter.
Having expelled the toxins and nearly broken free from the Shadow Imitation Technique, the One-Tail had no choice but to draw upon some of Gaara's chakra for defense. There was always a trade-off—by taking the host's chakra, it inevitably had to relinquish partial control of the body in return.
The One-Tail mixed Gaara's chakra with its own, compressing the surrounding sand into a tightly packed sculpture resembling itself, complete with a conical hat.
This was the strongest defensive ninjutsu known as the Shield of Shukaku.
At this moment, the One-Tail Shukaku made the same mistake Orochimaru had earlier—assuming that Chubby Ino wouldn't change course!
With Ino shouting "Cut!" from her side, Chubby Ino swerved around the Shield of Shukaku and gleefully crashed into the Tailed Beast.
The shockwave swept across the battlefield, shattering trees, bricks, houses along the street, and various debris into fragments. Steam erupted into a massive column of air, while sand scorched by boiling oil sprayed in all directions. Flames erupted, accompanied by thick, billowing smoke.
Inoichi used a Wind Release Ninjutsu to disperse the smoke, and everyone turned their gaze toward the explosion site.
A massive crater over ten meters in diameter and more than a meter deep had formed in the ground.
The One-Tail Shukaku, with its round, bulging belly, looked utterly disheveled. It was injured—boiling oil covered nearly half its body, still burning relentlessly.
Tailed Beast blood spilled freely as if it cost nothing.
Enraged at being wounded by a mere ninja, it slowly opened its maw in slow motion, resisting the Nara Family's Shadow Imitation Technique as it painstakingly gathered chakra, preparing to forcibly unleash a Tailed Beast Ball.
"Again! Hurry!" Shikaku struggled to maintain the technique, veins bulging on his forehead. The Nara ninja, eyes tightly shut, strained to support their clan head's Shadow Imitation Technique.
"Protect me!" Ino called out to the Yamanaka Clan ninja before forming hand seals again.
With her increased chakra, her Water Clone reformed much faster. The temperature plummeted, and soon, the chubby Water Clone stood ready once more.
The One-Tail Shukaku's eyes burned with killing intent as it watched Chubby Ino charge toward it again.
Ino shouted, "Cut!"
With a deafening BOOM, the One-Tail Shukaku emerged from the dust, battered and wounded.
Ino yelled "Cut!" once more, and Chubby Ino collided with it again.
After being blasted three times in a row—without Orochimaru's tricky Substitution Technique to rely on—the One-Tail Shukaku took the full brunt of three Vapor Explosions. Ino, drenched in sweat from exhaustion, wasn't the only one struggling.
The One-Tail had expended too much chakra, its consciousness gradually fading. Gaara, meanwhile, reverted from his full Tailed Beast form to the Possessed State.
His towering, ten-meter-tall body shrank to human size, with only his face and right hand retaining their monstrous appearance.
With the support of his clan, Shikaku firmly maintained control over Gaara's body.
"Shadow Imitation Technique successful. Now it's your turn."
Ino immediately activated the Mind Body Switch Technique, diving into Gaara's inner world.
Gaara was much simpler than Naruto, with no "idle people" playing mahjong in his inner world. In his memories, Ino only saw his androgynous uncle, Yashamaru—the one person who had treated Gaara the best, without a doubt. Unfortunately, the Fourth Kazekage, who enjoyed digging in the sand and picking up trash, messed things up. For the sake of some so-called test, he destroyed this precious bond.
Gaara ended up killing Yashamaru, the uncle who loved him most, with his own hands. After that, he fell into endless self-blame and agony. When his emotions reached their limit, they rebounded—he began to hate the world and everyone in it.
Ino couldn't remember how Naruto had used Talk no Jutsu on Gaara in the original timeline. Their upbringings were different, their experiences were different, and she didn't fully understand Gaara's emotions. She couldn't empathize with him at all—she could only rely on her own words.