Naruto and the Water Princess
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Static Shock, Fairy Tail, or Rave.
Manabu: Welcome to another chapter of Naruto and the Water Princess.
Kenshin: Before we start the omake, which leads to the story, we have harem updates: Naruto will still be with Mei, Sakura, Hinata and Samui. Sasuke has Tenten and an OC. Haku will have Karui and...okay, we're still working on that.
Manabu: What about Anko?
Yusei: She's too much for him.
Kenshin: Shizune?
Yusei: No one wants a Christmas cake.
Manabu: What's that?
Kenshin: It's a Japanese term for women. You see, some countries like to celebrate Christmas with cakes. But no matter how delicious it looks, you never eat it after the Twenty Fifth. In the same regard, no matter how beautiful a woman is, no one marries one over the age of 25.
Manabu: Oh great...it's a pun too...But I don't see the problem with it. I would marry a woman over twenty five. Asuma and dad did.
Kenshin: Nobody likes a cake eater. It's all about pie!
Manabu: *face palms himself* Father...start the omake...
Omake –
"Soon, my plans will be complete." Madara Uchiha says as he looks up into the sky. Beside him on a table is an hourglass. He grabs it and holds it up, the sand reaching the end finally. "And finally, I shall become a god!"
The dreadful Uchiha then makes a maniacally laugh and throws the hourglass to the ground. The glass shoots up at him, but one sticks in his eye, causing him to cease his laguther. "AH! AH! MY EYE!!"
Zetsu walks up to him and asks, "Are you okay?"
"No! No! You should go call a hospital!" He says to him, holding his eye open with his right hand while his left points out the door.
"Okay, open your eyelids and try to tear it out." The two faced ninja tells his boss.
"That only works for sand!" – Madara
"Try to use another piece of glass to take it out." – Zetsu
"Are you fucking insane?!" Madara replies, and not much can blame him. I mean, come on; use a piece of glass to remove another one in a person's eye?
Zetsu sighs and walks off, saying, "I'll go get some needle nose plyers."
Chapter 10: Gaara's Demon Toxin
Naruto dashes at Neji at top speed, reaching him within two seconds. Neji prepares a Kaiten for contact, but instead of touching him Naruto holds up the Twilight Star. The sword splits into two, becoming the Chaos Sword Final Arcana. He stabs the black sword on one end and passes by Neji, placing the white sword behind him. 'What's he up to?'
"Neraaaaah!!" As he stabs the second sword into the ground, black electricity comes out from the black sword and connects to the white electricity from the other. This creates an electric barrier between them, keeping Neji inside.
'This is nothing…I can always knock away the swords and escape!' Neji says in his mind. He prepares to get free when Naruto jumps up in the air above him.
Naruto roars with a beastly voice, and gathers electricity to his mouth. He then fires his Rairyu no Hoko down directly below Neji. Neji performs the Kaiten, spinning around to blowback his attack. But instead of the attack reflecting, it completely consumes the area around him.
Both the rotation and the roar subside, and Neji is shown to be exhausted. The Twilight Star has also returned to normal. Naruto lands behind Neji and grabs his weapon, still expelling his red lightning throughout his body. 'There's no point in touching him…he's covered by electricity. Not only that but he's able to break through my Kaiten now…is that red energy really chakra?!'
"You're really confident in close combat, eh?" Naruto says to the Hyuga. He then holds his right fist up and prepares to punch his lights out. But before he could reach him Neji activates the Kaiten.
Naruto strikes the Kaiten with all his power. The attacks create a powerful explosion, blowing back both ninjas to the ground. The audience watches with interest and shock. Both impact sites are enveloped by smoke, so no one could tell who was where.
Hinata activates her Byakugan to take a look at who is where. But before she could look Neji and Naruto both stand up from their impact sites. Neji walks over to Naruto, breathing harder than normal. The young Uzumaki limps over to him on his left leg, his sword drawn and ready for battle. Both ninjas are battered and bruised, but Naruto seems worse.
"Sorry loser, but this is reality." Neji says to him. Naruto makes no comment as he continues limping. He then lifts his sword up to strike him, but before he could bring it down Neji grabs his right wrist, where his sword arm is. He then finishes him off by striking his heart with a Jyuuken attack, causing the blond to cough blood and drop his sword. "You cannot change destiny."
"You really don't learn, do you?" Naruto then explodes into smoke, shocking Neji.
"What? Where is he then!?" Neji looks around as he tries to find out where Naruto is.
Without warning, the Twilight Star explodes into smoke, accompanied by a shout of, "Rairyu no Naruto Lariat!!"
Neji's neck receives a lariat wrestling strike by an electric-charged arm, and is sent flying across the ground. He lands before Genma, who remains shocked at what he saw. Neji looks up at where he was hit, and sees Naruto standing there. He seems to be as bruised as Neji, but those words look to be healing slowly already.
'Even when injured, he simply believed in victory and thought ahead. The power to believe in yourself can change destiny.' Genma thinks, a smile present on his face as he watches the two.
Naruto steps before Neji, and sits down beside him. Neji then comments, "Why didn't I see that earlier…using the Kage Bunshin decoy to trick me into getting closer."
"Do you know how easy it is to fake a limp?" Naruto says to him. He then looks up to the sky, giving out a sigh as he gazes on upward. "I failed the ninja exam three times."
Neji looks up at Naruto with confusion. He couldn't tell what he was getting at by saying this. "For me, the only reason I couldn't do it was because I had to do the hardest technique in my entire arsenal…the Bunshin no Jutsu."
The Hyuga's eyes widen as he listens to Naruto, and then his hatred from earlier starts to go away. Naruto then lies down on his back, taking a while to rest. "So shut the hell up about who can't do what. That's something only a loser like me should do."
"Winner, Naruto Uzumaki!" Genma calls.
"Yay! Naruto/Naruto-kun won!" Sakura and Hinata shout at the same time. They start clapping for Naruto's victory. Soon everyone in the stands joins in and claps for Naruto.
Naruto looks up at all the people clapping for him, and soon he begins to smile. Finally, people are looking up to him, well down in this situation, and praising him. This is something he's always wanted from others in his entire life.
After putting his jacket back on, Naruto stands up and enjoys the many cheers he's getting. 'I wish Manabu could see me like this! He would be so proud!'
'Naruto…you really do make me wanna become better.' This thought goes through both minds of his female friends, Hinata and Sakura. They even blush as they watch him.
"That was such a great fight. I knew he could do it!" Mei says, placing her right hand on top of her heart.
"That was demon chakra there. He must be like us, so it's fair." Killer Bee says, having saw everything from within the stands. He then shakes his head, stating, "I guess Samui didn't lose for no reason. That kid's a bargain of the season."
"Allot of the older people from Konoha seem to be the most impressed." Samui says as she looks up at the stands from the booth. She then looks to her left and sees Gaara is rather quiet and tense. 'That chakra though seems a little familiar though.'
'So that chakra did come back…and he controlled it much better than last time.' Haku says in his mind.
"To be able to use the Kyubi's chakra in a stable state is indeed impressive for Naruto, and so soon too. What did Kakashi do to train him?" The Hokage says in a whispering tone.
"Is something wrong, Hokage-dono?" Mei asks Sarutobi.
"No, it's okay. I was just surprised, that's all." He replies back. He looks over to the side and sees the Kazekage is quiet.
Naruto walks back up to where his peers are, and is greeted with a headlock by Haku. "Good work out there, sparks!"
"Ow! Hey, let go!" Naruto says back, trying to break free from his playful grip. Haku adds to his humiliation by performing a noogie.
The ninjas from Suna look at Naruto with interest, especially Gaara. Naruto didn't see it, but everyone else could tell that Gaara has a great amount of interest in the boy, just like the Uchiha. That cannot be good.
'I knew that kid was weird when I saw those whiskers…he's just like Gaara…' Temari says in her mind with great fear. She knows how powerful people like Gaara are, and who knows if he was stronger than him. 'It's good though that he isn't as mental as him…'
"You did great in your match, Naruto. Good luck in the next round." Samui says to him, a smile present on her face.
"Thanks Samui." He says to her.
"Our next match will be Shino vs. Kankuro." Genma calls out.
Kankuro grits his teeth in anger. 'I guess I'll have to quit. I can't let the new weapon be shown.' "I forfeit."
Temari sighs as she takes hold of her fan, eying Naruto as she leaves. After opening it she floats down on her fan to the ground. "Let's go!"
"I really don't feel like doing this." Shikamaru says silently. Naruto pushes Haku into Shikamaru, knocking the shadow user off the leg, onto his back. Shikamaru looks up at Haku, who turns around at his blond friend and spots him snickering. 'You're going to pay for that, Naruto.'
"Hey! Get up! Are you ready or not?!" She says to the boy.
"This is troublesome." – Shikamaru
--
"Killer Bee, where are you going?" Karui asks her jonin leader. Her and Omoi are sitting in the stands watching the battle, and were there to see Naruto battle against Neji. Killer Bee is seen walking towards the steps.
"I'm going to go meet someone." Killer Bee says, walking away to meet with this person.
As he heads down the steps, he spots Naruto leaving his peers. He seems to be a little happy. "I can't wait to tell Mei about my victory!"
"Hey you!" Killer Bee calls out to the blond kid. Naruto looks back at him, and frowns. "Got a minute or two?"
"Me? What for?" Naruto asks him, turns to face the tall black guy.
"That was some chakra you pulled back there. It seems a little bit too familiar." Killer Bee says to him. Naruto tenses up when he hears him. "My friend says it smells like an old friend of his."
"Old friend? Are you…like me and Gaara?" asks the Kyubi Jinchuuriki.
"That's right little man! I'm livin' life, blamma! Where I come free, they call me Jinchuuriki-sama!" Killer Bee rhymes, once again confusing the blond ninja.
Naruto slowly tries to understand what he said, piecing each line together, and then finally he understands him. 'So where he lives he is a Jinchuuriki as well, but he probably forces respect out of them with force.'
"So, you're one of us…then, can you help me deal with Gaara?! I want to help him out!" Naruto says to the other Jinchuuriki.
"You'll be fine…that guy's not much trouble to you." He says to the blond.
"What? But how can I beat him?" Naruto asks the more experienced Jinchuuriki.
"If you're really the guy who defeated Samui, then you'll find the answer." Killer Bee says back.
"I forfeit." Shikamaru says out loud, holding his right hand up. Temari looks at him in confusion.
After the battle started, Temari pushed on a vicious assault with her Kamaitachi technique. Shikamaru was able to outsmart and dodge her clever movements, using his Kagemane technique to keep her on the run. She was about to try and get him to stop, but he got her by use of the sun's movement, and a kunai kept afloat in the air with his shirt.
It's kind of a surprise to see that he's giving up, and when he won too. Shikamaru then continues with, "It doesn't matter if I defeat you. I won't have enough chakra to continue in the next few matches. It's such a pain in the ass…"
"What a whiner…winner, Temari!" Genma announces to all. With that Shikamaru releases the technique off of her, and leaves to the audience quarters.
As he reaches the steps, Naruto comes down and approaches the guy. "What the hell was that about?! You just quit out of nowhere?!"
"It's like I said! It couldn't be helped." Shikamaru replies to Naruto, scratching the back of his head. "Besides, shouldn't you be more worried about the next match?"
"Next match?" Naruto then realizes that the next match features Sasuke and Gaara. "Oh yeah! Where is that idiot?!"
"What idiot?" A person asks, coming up from behind Naruto without his realizing it.
Temari climbs up to where her peers are, and faces her two siblings. She then whispers to Kankuro, "It's almost time. Is he going to show up?"
"What are you complaining about? Of course he'll be here." Gaara says to her, gaining their attention.
"My friend Sasuke. He's supposed to be here to take part in his match, and he's-" Naruto then pauses to pay more attention to the voice. He soon recognizes the voice, and turns around to who talked to him. Shikamaru also sees who the guy is, and they both say in unison, "Sasuke!"
Outside of the stadium, two people are shown to be walking up to the entryway. The guards could see they are Gai and Lee, who is still damaged by his fight with Gaara. One of them says, "Ah. We were expecting you two. The matches have already reached the fourth match."
"The fourth? Can you tell me what happened in the first battle?" Lee asks them, wondering how Naruto's battle with Neji played out.
"Oh that? It was rather interesting…" The second one says, looking away with a small grin. "It seems the Hyuga lost. Who knew?"
At that, Lee and Gai are shocked to hear that. A person like Naruto has defeated a genius like Neji, leaving hope for Lee afterall.
"What's with you guys?" Sasuke asks them.
"YOU'RE LATE, YOU DUMBASS!! GET IN THERE NOW!!" The blond yells at him. Naruto then grabs Sasuke by the collar and tosses him into the field.
'That was kind of lame..' – Shikamaru
Sasuke slides into the battlefield, picking himself up quickly after pausing for a while. Genma then looks down at the genin, who stands up to his feet. "Name?"
"Sasuke Uchiha." The Uchiha responds. After picking himself back up he brushes the dirt off his clothes and looks around for his opponent, ignoring the cheers everyone gave out.
"That's good." Genma then looks away, awaiting Gaara to come down.
"See? He came." Gaara states. He then walks down the steps to meet up with the Uchiha.
The Kazekage smiles under his mask as he sees the Uchiha has come. 'Excellent. He came after all.'
"Excuse me, I have a question." Sasuke asks the proctor. Genma looks back at Sasuke. "What happened in the Uzumaki and Hyuga fight? I can only assume he won."
"Yup. The Hyuga lost." He replies, bringing a smirk to Sasuke's face.
"Good." – Sasuke
Gaara walks down the steps to meet up with Sasuke, when he is approached by two ninjas. He doesn't make any movements or words to them. One of them then says, "These low level tournaments are great for betting, especially the Chunin Exams, and many of the ministers are here for that."
"That's why, we're here to make sure you forfeit the match." The other one says.
Gaara glares at the ninjas before him, only his eyes seem a little weird. They now sport a yellow square iris with blue dots. Within a split second sand comes out from his gourd and splatters the two into the walls, killing them instantly. As he walks away his sand retreats to his gourd, the thick scent of blood on it.
Elsewhere, Killer Bee is walking up the steps, and spots Gaara coming towards him. Without saying anything to him, Killer Bee pauses to allow him passage. He also spots the bloody hallway in front of him. 'What a dangerous kid that guy is. That Uchiha may be in for trouble.'
Kakashi appears in the stands surrounded by a flurry of leaves, and Sakura, Ino and Chouji look up to see him. "Yo."
"No yo! Where were you all this time?! I haven't seen or heard from you or Naruto ever since this month began!" Sakura says to the silver haired jonin. The ninja looks down at his female student, and could see the sadness in her eyes. "I wanted your help. You, Sasuke and Naruto weren't around to help me, and in then end, I had to forfeit…"
"I'm sorry, Sakura. He really needed the training. After all, you were there when Gaara almost killed Lee." Kakashi explains to her. He was glad Naruto got through his battle with Neji and won, silently thanking Ebisu for teaching him. "Things won't end in the same way next time."
Gaara makes it down to the stage, and walks before Genma and Sasuke. He seems to have a crazed look in his eyes. The proctor then says, "Let the match between Sasuke Uchiha and Gaara begin."
Wasting no time, sand pops out from Gaara's gourd, and Sasuke flinches into jumping back. The Uchiha then figures, 'So this is the sand Kakashi mentioned!'
"Don't be so angry, mother." Gaara mutters silently.
'Is he talking to himself?' Apparently it was silent enough, for Sasuke could clearly hear him.
"I gave you disgusting blood earlier, but now I'll make it up to you…his will be delicious." He finishes, smiling while looking at Sasuke.
Sasuke begins the battle by throwing shuriken at him. The sand grasps the items. Then the sand starts to take the shape of Gaara, similar to a clone. As the Uchiha charges, a burst of sand comes out from the clone's belly to him. He leaps over it and throws two more shuriken at him. The clone counters by spitting its own shuriken back at him.
"Time for that sword to appear." Sasuke then holds his left hand out, as the dark sword takes form from the darkness seeping from his pores.
'He's still using that sword…' Naruto thinks as he watches the battle. He could feel his heart beating faster as he looks at the sword.
'Good Sasuke-kun, good.' – Kazekage
"Let's try Explosion!" Sasuke switches the sword to its explosive form, and swings down at the sand clone. But instead of blowing it up, it captures the weapon and morphs around it. Before the sand could completely encase the weapon, he punches the clone in its face.
He then leaps through the sand towards Gaara and throws a punch with his right fist. A wall of sand rises to block him. But Sasuke smirks, and doesn't touch the sand. Instead his sword transforms into its sonic state, and he disappears in a flash. He then comes up behind Gaara, the sword now in its explosive state.
"Bakuhatsu no Kenjutsu: Baku no Hadou! (Explosive Sword Technique: Wave of Explosion)" Sasuke then slams the sword into Gaara's face, creating an explosion on impact. Gaara falls a few feet away from Sasuke, sand reforming on a bruised cheek. "So that's the sand armor…come, I'll tear that apart too."
Gaara sends a flurry of sand to an approaching Sasuke, who dodges at the last second and comes up behind him. He then slams his sword down at him, cutting into the sand armor. The audience cheers in awe of the superior Uchiha.
"Try Blue Crimson!" Sasuke holds up his sword, and has it split into twin forms. With this he charges at Gaara, easily evading the sand armor and coming close to him. He then swings at the sand ninja, flames and ice being released from both cuts. The fire doesn't do any damage to the sand armor, but the ice freezes some of it, and takes it off. "That sand armor can't hold up against a sword of ice."
Sasuke then kicks Gaara in the chin, knocking him up into the air. The sand ninja rolls across the ground, surrounded by his sand. Kankuro, still watching the fight, seems to be a little scared. 'Gaara can't keep up that sand armor, since not only it takes too much chakra it won't hold against the power of water.'
Sasuke charges at Gaara, who forms all his sand to morph into an orb of sand. Even as Sasuke approaches him, he activates his sword and swings down at it. This creates an explosion, but when the smoke clears the shell of sand is shown to be completely fine. Some of the sand has also shot out at him in the form of spears, and cut a part of his right cheek and arm. "Damn…"
'No! He can't be thinking of using that!' – Kankuro
"Dark Twin Dragon Sword!" Sasuke backs away from the shell and spreads his sword into two blades. He then swings the left sword, creating a wave of ice to freeze that single side of the armor. Before he calls his sword away, Sasuke notices an eye of sand floating above the sand dome. 'It's good he's just standing there. My secret move needs some time as well.'
"What's he doing, using that jutsu here and now?!" Kankuro curses.
"Gaara's forgotten all about the plan then. Should we run?" Temari asks her brother.
'Plan?' – Haku and Shino
Sasuke flips back onto the concrete wall, sticking to it with his feet of course, and performs a couple of hand seals. He then holds his left hand down, grabbing its wrist with his right hand. Throughout the arena, all could hear the sound of a thousand birds chirping.
This is coming from Sasuke's technique; lightning collected to the palm of his left hand. Sakura gasps when she sees the attack, and looks to her mentor and asks, "Is that your technique?"
"The reason I trained Sasuke personally for this match is because he's more like me than you or Naruto." Kakashi says to her. "Heightened flesh…the reason I trained him in kenjutsu and taijutsu, as well as raising his speed."
"Chidori!" Sasuke yells as he slams at the sphere of sand on its ice side. This attack cleanly pierces through and punctures inside.
"No way!" Temari exclaims, seeing Gaara's absolute defense destroyed by Sasuke's attack.
"This guy is amazing." – Kankuro
"What a gaudy move." Haku states.
Suddenly, Sasuke grabs his arm in pain, and begins screaming, "What the hell!?" Sasuke pulls his arm out, the power of the Chidori still active. As it stops he could see a leech like appendage attached to his arm. Sasuke pulls his arm out, the wrappings around it gone as well. The appendage, now resembling a claw-arm, reaches out for him before slithering back in.
"Oh my god! Did he complete his transformation?!" Kankuro asks his sister in fear.
"I don't know! Oh god, I hope it doesn't come out again!" Temari adds, sweat coming down her face.
Sasuke looks into the sand through the hole he made with his eye power, and pales in fear when he sees the yellow and blue dotted eyes within. The sand dissolves off of Gaara, showing him in his normal state. His left shoulder is seen bleeding.
'What was that thing…those eyes that looked at me.' Sasuke's thoughts go onto what he saw earlier.
His eyes look to the side as they catch the sight of feathers pillowing down from the sky. Everyone in the stands starts to get affected by it. The ninjas who were wise to it activate a release to the genjutsu and remain unaffected. Actually, the only non-generic ninja below the rank of Chunin was Naruto, who is terrible at genjutsu.
"What is the meaning of this?" The Hokage asks, him and his colleges unaffected by the genjutsu since it didn't reach them. Before Sarutobi could stand, the two that came with the Kazekage slaughters his guards. The Kazekage, who holds a kunai to his throat, then puts him into a vice-grip.
"Long time no see, Sarutobi-sensei." The Hokage gasps when he realizes how familiar the voice sounds. He looks to the masked ninja and sees he is actually Orochimaru.
"My dear pupil…I would never have guessed you disguised yourself as the Kazekage. Where is the real Yondaime?" He questions the snake prince.
"Hokage-dono!" The Mizukage stands up and prepares to save him, knowing she is far superior to his flunkies. But suddenly she gets caught up in an explosion that destroys part of the stands where they were. Orochimaru takes the old ninja up to the top of the stadium, where his guards follow him.
The Mizukage leaps out from the rubble and smoke, chasing down the ninjas with all her speed. She is also holding her bleeding left arm in pain. Orochimaru looks at her and tells her, "Are you sure you should be following me? After all, who knows what could befall that little boy."
"Naruto…" Mei looks back down at the stadium, watching the sound and sand ninjas fighting against the leaf. No doubt Naruto would get caught in it. She slowly turns away from the fighting to pay attention to them. She then says, "He'll be fine. He has friends who can look after him."
"Is that so?" Orochimaru looks at her hands, which seem to be trembling. She really does want to protect him, but knows that she has to save the Hokage first. As per their alliance she has to assist the leaf if they ever need it.
"Naruto, please be safe." Mei says as she takes her hat off. After the hat comes off, the two guards before her dash after her.
She draws two kunai and dashes at them, cutting through the ninjas like they were paper. But to her surprise the four halves jump out around them in a rectangular formation. She then realizes that they're actually four ninjas instead. Before she could make any action, a blast of wind knocks Mei off the top.
"Do it." – Orochimaru
"Shishienjin!" The four sound ninjas say, encasing the two kage level ninjas inside a purple box-like barrier.
Mei lands on the side of the stadium walls, and spots a few sand ninjas charging at her. 'They must be the ones who attacked me.'
Down below, Temari and Kankuro stop before Gaara, who is holding his head in pain. Their mentor Baki comes to them as well, saying, "Hey! How could you try to transform in the middle of the plan?!"
"He's feeling the side effects. There's no way he can continue." Temari comments.
"Then what, we continue without Gaara?!" – Kankuro
Sasuke looks at the ninjas around him, confused as to what's going on. Baki then says, "Take Gaara and go, abort the mission."
"What about you?!" Temari asks their team leader. She and Kankuro lift Gaara over their shoulders and prepare to leave.
"I'll join the battle. Just go." As he says this, the three genin flee. Baki then faces Genma.
"Orochimaru is behind this, isn't he?" Genma asks Baki.
"Could be! Wanna find out?" Baki questions the ninja.
"What's going on here?!" Sasuke questions the two adults.
Genma looks back at Sasuke, and says, "The Chunin Exams have concluded for now. Go pursue Gaara and the others."
"What?" – Sasuke
"You're already at Chunin level. A leaf Shinobi like you should make yourself useful." Genma says to him. Him and Baki then disappear, taking off to fight somewhere else. Sasuke then takes off and goes after Gaara.
Back with Naruto and Shikamaru, Sakura finds them and wakes the blond up by releasing the genjutsu. The blond ninja picks himself up and looks around. He then asks, "What happened?"
"I think it's an invasion. The sound and sand ninjas are fighting us." Sakura says to him. Naruto stands up and brushes himself off, just as a sound ninja comes up behind him. "Naruto, look out!"
Before it could take him out, Samui comes up behind the sound ninja, and slaughters him with her odachi. She looks at the two ninjas and smiles. "Are you okay, Naruto?"
"Thanks Samui! What's going on?" Naruto says to her.
"It would seem Suna and Oto are at war with Konoha. What happened to you?" Samui goes to Naruto and brushes the dust off of him.
"Why are you helping Naruto?" Sakura asks her.
"Because I am betroth to him." She says. Sakura pales in shock from her words, and then looks back at Naruto and Samui in a jittery motion.
"WHAT?! BUT AREN'T YOU ENGAGED TO THAT OTHER PERSON!?!" – Sakura
"Look, I'll explain it later…can you release the genjutsu on Shikamaru?" Naruto asks Sakura at the end. The pink haired girl looks down at the ninja, who looks like he's trying to stay asleep.
A dog pops out from behind her and bites down on his leg, forcing him to wake up. "YOU WERE AWAKE THE WHOLE TIME!!"
"I don't want to get involved with this." He says, pulling the ninja dog off his leg.
"Look, we have our orders from Kakashi-sensei. We have to find Sasuke and take him to a safe location!" Sakura says to the two Konoha genin.
"Why? What's wrong with him?" Naruto asks his female teammate.
"I'll explain on the way." Sakura says, grabbing Naruto and heading towards the exit.
Samui watches as the two ninjas leave, a cold stare on her face. As Shikamaru leaves she sighs and rubs her shoulders. "I should go after them, but I have to go find those idiots."
--
Sarutobi breaks free from Orochimaru, and removes his Hokage garments. He now sports a black jumpsuit with gray shoulder pads and a Konoha forehead bandana over his head. Orochimaru removes the kage clothes he now wears; appearing in the outfit he wore while fighting Naruto and Sasuke. He says, "You really should have picked a successor, because you're going to die right here and now."
"Like hell you will." Sarutobi says to his former student.
The four sound ninja place barriers around them, to prevent anyone from attacking them from the inside. Mei sighs as she watches them go at it, moving past the melted ninjas around her. 'I guess breaking free won't be so easy. I can't break in without the barrier melting whatever touches it.'
Sarutobi and Orochimaru dash at one another, the Hokage preparing to take him out with a shuriken he tosses. He then performs a lot of hand signs. "Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
"Edo Tensei no Jutsu!" Orochimaru performs plenty of complicated hand signs, and out from the ground pops a coffin, blocking the millions of shuriken the Hokage shot at him.
'No! Not that technique!' He fears. Orochimaru summons a second one, bringing Hiruzen to fear him more. Just as he was about to summon a third one, Hiruzen sends more shuriken at Orochimaru, stopping him from summoning it. 'Good, I stopped him from making the third appear…even so…'
--
Naruto, Sakura and Shikamaru dash through the forest in pursuit of Sasuke. As they run a group of sound ninjas chase after them from behind. Naruto says, "We're being followed."
"I got 'em. You guys just go ahead." Shikamaru says, stopping to go face them, not directly though.
Naruto looks back at Shikamaru, about to go help him, but Sakura pulls him forward. "He chose to do this. We have to go help Sasuke."
"But Shikamaru is still tired from his match!" Naruto states.
"He's a genius. A Chunin ranked ninja like him can take care of himself." Pakkun the dog says.
Elsewhere, Temari and Gaara head deeper into the forest, Kankuro being the only person missing. Temari looks back and sighs, saying, "I hope Kankuro's okay. I don't know if he's enough to stall that Uchiha."
"Temari put me down." Gaara says to his sister. She looks down and gasps.
"Gaara? You're awake." Temari says, stopping by a tree branch. She then watches as he grips his head in pain. 'That thing was stopped earlier from coming out…I don't know when it'll come back out…this is bad! I'm all alone out here with him!'
The sand ninja looks back, and quickly pushes Temari into another tree. He then stands up to face behind him, and Sasuke Uchiha can be seen standing on a branch. Sasuke then says, "I may not know what your motives are, but I will not have you doing whatever you want!"
Gaara grins as he looks at Sasuke, a dark and ominous aura leaking out from his body. Temari gets up and looks at the ninja that just appeared, blood leaking down her mouth. 'What's he doing here? Wasn't Kankuro suppose to stall him?'
"A bug hive is dealing with your friend." Sasuke says to them, and then points his right hand index finger at Gaara. "Now, show it to me. I want to see your true face."
As Gaara stares at Sasuke, cracks begin to appear on his face. "You are strong, you have companions, you have an ambition, and you are like me…" At this point Gaara is drooling, and his eyes are transforming slowly. "Once I kill you, I will destroy all of that…only then can I feel alive!!"
On Gaara's right side his body is slowly encased in sand and chakra, the arm forming into the claw from before. Sasuke pales once more, as he looks at the face once more, the boy transforming his face into that of a monster's. 'I should have stayed in bed today.'
"Guraaah!" Gaara leaps at Sasuke, his right claw preparing to reap through him.
"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Sasuke blows a giant ball of fire at the demon boy. As Gaara passes through it unharmed, he jumps out of the way. 'I figured fire wouldn't do anything to that sand of his.'
"What's wrong?? Sasuke Uchiha!! Are you afraid of me!!" Gaara growls at the boy. Sasuke, hiding behind a tree, grits his teeth in anger as he awaits his approach. He holds his left hand out, darkness seeping out from his pores. But it then recedes back into his body, the sword vanishing before it appeared. "Is your existence so pathetic that you can't face me?"
Gaara leaps at Sasuke, preparing to kill him. Sasuke comes out from behind the tree, his Sharingan active and the Chidori in use on his left hand. Sasuke then carves his attack through the sand demon, cutting clean through his body. Gaara lands on the ground in two pieces.
"Gaara!" Temari calls out. She wouldn't dare come close to him, should he be alive he could kill her easily.
Sasuke looks down at Gaara's body, and sees that sand is reforming around his body. The demon then stands back up and looks up at Sasuke. He smirks, saying, "There we go! Those are the eyes of the one I want to kill!!"
'How?! The Chidori damaged him last time! What's different now?' Sasuke states in his head. He remembers clearly that his attack cut into his body.
"Sabaku no Yaiba! (Desert Sword)" Sand shoots out from his body towards Sasuke. The Uchiha jumps out of the tree to evade him, evading the sand that cuts through the tree clean. Gaara then rides the sand up to the tree, and hops across them to hunt down Sasuke. As he does a tail forms behind him, and he uses it to spring himself towards Sasuke. "Sabaku no Yaiba!"
Gaara makes a second attempt at killing Sasuke, with his claw arm. He jumps out of the way to avoid his incoming death. Gaara then transforms his legs into sand, using it to levitate himself. The sand demon launches himself towards Sasuke, who forms a Chidori once again. 'I have to force a third attack. Fire won't work, so electricity will have to do.'
"Guraaaaah!" Gaara prepares to finish the Uchiha off. As Sasuke approaches the sand demon, his Chidori slowly fails. But as he gets closer, dark marks slowly creep up on his face and arm, and his electric power increases. He then cuts through Gaara, blowing him to pieces.
Sasuke crashes into the tree branch, the curse mark receding back into his body. Gaara comes together and dashes towards Sasuke, preparing to finish him off this time. A stream of condensed lightning comes down at Gaara, blasting him to bits of sand once more. He reforms on a giant leaf and looks up at him. Naruto hops down in front of Sasuke, with Sakura coming up to the Uchiha.
Naruto looks Gaara in the eyes, his teeth exposed with his grin. "Who the hell are you?"
Pakkun the dog comes up behind Naruto, climbing up the guy's shoulder. "Well, he does look a little different, but that's definitely Gaara."
"Gaara…so he really is one of us." Naruto whispers to himself.
"Mind you that I can't fight well." Pakkun says to them. Sakura reaches out and grabs the dog in anger, muttering about how useless it is.
Naruto holds his right fist up, electricity surging through the fingertips. Gaara grins as he looks at him. "You're that boy…"
"Everyone, get back!" Naruto says to his friends. Without warning, Gaara flies past him and goes after the injured Sasuke.
"Die, Sasuke Uchiha!" Gaara shrieks, lunging at the fallen ninja. Sakura stands up to face him, throwing a swift kick to his face. The kick knocks off Gaara's mouth, but he still slams her into the tree with his extending left arm.
Sakura coughs up blood from the impact, and slowly begins to lose consciousness. Naruto grabs Sasuke and takes him to another branch. "Sakura!"
'Even though he was in his demon state, she still fought against him.' Temari thinks as she watches Team 7.
"Let her go!" Naruto shouts at her, but he still has a look of fear in his eyes. Gaara turns to face him, and his mouth reforms on his face. 'He's completely made of sand. It won't matter if I cut him, cause he'll just reform it back.'
"What's wrong boy? Are you so afraid of me you are resorting to shouting?" Gaara barks back, grinning from ear to ear at him. His left claw detaches from Sakura, having the hand itself still grip her to the tree, and grows a new one. "You are fighting to save this girl…such an emotion is a foolish thing. It doesn't matter if one fights for themselves or others…as long as one loves only oneself, and fight for no one else, can someone become the strongest!!"
Naruto places Sasuke down onto the tree, and glares at Gaara. The fear hasn't left his eyes, but there is determination rising up to overcome it. "Let her go now!"
"Or else what?" – Gaara
"Or else I'll kick your ass!" Naruto threatens.
Kenshin: And that ends chapter 10. Next chapter Naruto fights Gaara with the help of Hydra and the 6th Sword, and Sakura confesses her feelings for him. Then, somebody's brother comes back to pay a visit.
Manabu: How many days are left?
Kenshin: For what?
Manabu: Heartgold and Soulsilver?
Kenshin: Let's see… 'Checks bulbapedia'. We've got two weeks.
Manabu: Then why are commercials pertaining to the game coming out already!? Are they trying to torture us!?