Shukaku had been obediently isolating himself in the Sealing Space recently, completely ignoring Kurama's occasional attempts to communicate.
He was just being a tool raccoon providing Chakra. Gaara, the Jinchuriki, wanted Chakra, he would give it, but he would directly ignore any attempts at conversation, planning to come out after the embarrassment of being beaten up by Naruto last time had subsided.
Gaara, who had been lonely since childhood, really wanted to be friends with Shukaku, but in this situation, he could only give up helplessly.
Without Shukaku's restraint, and after listening to Naruto's advice to practice Taijutsu, Gaara's mobility had become much stronger. He could also freely enter Tailed Beast Transformation, and his strength had undergone a transformation in a very short period of time.
In this situation, after the death of his father, the Fourth Kazekage Rasa, Gaara, with his greatly improved strength, became the acting Kazekage based on his own hard power.
He just needed to do enough missions and gain enough qualifications to get the title of Jonin, and then he could officially inherit the title of Kazekage.
Although this was basically just a formality, the process still had to be followed.
Without Rasa, the human-shaped money printing machine, the Sand Ninja Village's recent economic situation had deteriorated, but Naruto's business expansion and trade with the Land of Water had greatly alleviated this situation.
In this situation, Gaara's reputation in the Sand Ninja Village was constantly increasing.
Although he was still hated by many people because of his Jinchuriki status, in the face of interests and powerful strength, these dissatisfactions could only be suppressed.
When Gaara learned that Naruto's transport ship was blocked in the port, and a vassal of a Noble wanted to confiscate it directly under the pretext of espionage.
He ran directly to the Noble's house, transformed into Shukaku, and in front of the other party, directly used a Sand Waterfall Burial, turning many of the Noble's real estate, including fields and shops, into sand.
Although he didn't kill anyone, this behavior directly led to their bankruptcy.
For these Nobles who were accustomed to extravagant lives, bankrupting them was even more uncomfortable than killing them directly.
It is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality, that's exactly the case.
And such a heart-wrenching move directly shocked the rest of the people who wanted to reach out.
Why did they want to reach out? Wasn't it just to earn more benefits?
But now, it was not certain whether they could earn money, but if they dared to reach out, there was a high probability of bankruptcy.
They wanted to sanction the Sand Ninja Village, but they received unanimous protests from the Sand Ninja Village. As the economic situation of the Sand Ninja Village continued to improve, the acting Kazekage's support rate in the village was very high.
And the Nobles and Daimyo of the Land of Wind did not dare to really provoke the Sand Ninja Village.
In this situation, the other Nobles and the Land of Wind Daimyo who were secretly eager to make trouble were silent, and in the end, they just criticized the Sand Ninja Village's acting Kazekage Gaara insincerely.
And in response, Gaara also perfunctorily responded that the Tailed Beast power was not controlled.
As for why he went to that place to go berserk, it could only be said to be a coincidence.
Compensation? That was impossible, consider yourself unlucky.
And this incident happened a year after the end of the Hidden Mist Village Coup.
That night, Naruto, who was called over by Gaara, who had lit up the Flying Thunder God Seal, to have dinner, heard Gaara talk about this matter, and then smiled and said, "How did I handle it? The Shake the Mountain to Intimidate the Tiger plan you taught me, I used it well, right?"
After meeting Naruto, Gaara, with the consent of his older siblings, invited Naruto to his home as a guest every now and then. During the chat, Naruto would occasionally tell him some principles of life.
It was in such casual conversations that Gaara listened to Naruto's words.
And for these contents, not only Gaara liked to listen, but Temari and Kankuro also liked to listen, and they felt happy that their younger brother had such a knowledgeable and powerful friend.
And until now, they still thought that Gaara had met him during the last chance encounter in Konoha.
In the past, Gaara wouldn't have bothered with such heart-wrenching methods; he would have simply killed them.
But that only inspires fear and hatred, and exacerbates conflict, without much other benefit.
"Excellent. No matter the method, solving the problem is what matters. But next, we still need to dispatch more guards to our properties. They won't do anything openly anymore, but we need to prevent them from making trouble in secret," Naruto said with a smile.
As the Land of Wind's industries grew larger and larger, constantly troubling others for free wasn't ideal. It wasn't a sustainable way to maintain friendships; favors would eventually run out. So, Naruto brought Gaara and his siblings in as shareholders.
Although Rasa was dead, as a gold miner, his own legacy, plus the funds he had prepared for his children, were considerable.
This alleviated much of the financial pressure Naruto faced from expanding his businesses.
As he spoke, Naruto raised his glass, filled with a little less than half a glass of Watermelon Juice, and said with a smile, "Cheers."
Gaara also raised his glass. Receiving Naruto's approval made him smile happily.
Temari and Kankuro, who were also eating, watched Gaara's happy smile and raised their glasses, smiling as they said, "Cheers."
Putting down his glass, Gaara asked, "Naruto, have you had any problems on your end?"
Hearing this, Naruto was taken aback. "What kind of problems could I have?"
Then he understood that Gaara was asking if he had experienced similar malicious incidents since his business had grown.
To this, Naruto shook his head and said, "Not at all. The Hyuga Clan has a lot of influence, and they are usually very courteous to the Daimyo and Nobles. Plus, there's my teacher Jiraiya's reputation, so no one would cause trouble."
Naruto didn't say one thing: he paid taxes to Konoha.
If they didn't want to give him, the Nine-Tailed Jinchuriki, an excuse to go berserk, they wouldn't do anything to disgust him. He guessed that the Daimyo or Nobles had already been warned by Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Hearing this, Gaara nodded.
Next, the group stopped discussing work matters and began to chat casually while eating.
Although it might sound a bit off, without Rasa, their cold-blooded father, the home with only the three siblings had become much warmer and more harmonious.
In this environment, the ice in Gaara's heart was gradually melting, which made Temari and Kankuro, as his older sister and brother, smile more often.
Time flowed by silently.
At nine o'clock in the evening, Naruto declined Gaara's invitation to stay overnight and chose to go home.
But as soon as he activated the Flying Thunder God Technique and returned to his home in Konoha, Naruto was startled.
The room was dark, without any lights on, and Sasuke was sitting at the table, staring straight at him.
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