Naruto made his way down the stairs with a confident step, but he'd been feeling a gnawing worry in his gut about the Suna-nin he'd been referring to as panda-san. Gaara had a really creepy vibe about him that the blonde had pinned down to the fact that the other boy never seemed to blink. Ever. If that wasn't enough, the redhead had a disturbing tendency to stare at Naruto in a way the blonde imagined that he would look at a bowl of ramen after a month's fast. Creepy to say the least.
Gaara had appeared on the floor of the arena in a swirl of sand, but Naruto was much more patient. He was in no rush to go into battle because every extra second allowed more of the kaze no seirei to gather in the room. He'd called out to the moment he'd seen his name come up and he was sure that this was going to be one hell of a fight. What the hell, though, this is the last preliminary round, Naruto thought as he continued his slow walk. Let's give everyone a show!
Temari wondered if this is what it felt like to have a heart attack. When she'd defeated her opponent, the dark blonde had been tempted to give a parting shot for good measure but she had hesitated. She had looked up at Naruto's smiling face and thought about how he'd cheered for her, unlike either of her brothers, and put her fan away. She wasn't sure what she thought of the nearly hyperactive Konoha-nin, but he'd certainly made a good impression on her.
Maybe that's why she'd felt such a profound tightness when he was paired up with Gaara. Her little brother, the jinchuuriki of Shukaku the Ichibi, the monster of Suna; all of those had been used to describe him at one point or another and now he was going to destroy the first bright light to shine in her life for a long time. A small part of her wondered if the blonde might actually beat Gaara, but the rational and practical side of her stated that no one had ever so much as injured Gaara for as long as she could remember.
The odd thing was that she could still see those little blue lights that Naruto had called the kaze no seirei flooding into the room. Apparently the sight given to her by the application of his blood under her eyes hadn't worn off because the lights were growing so thick that the whole room seemed to take on an ethereal blue glow. Why is he gathering them together, Temari wondered silently.
"Heh, looks like the brat's time is up," Kankarou said with just a hint of malice. The puppeteer hadn't forgiven the blonde for calling him on a resemblance to a nekomata. "Going to get squished like a grape. The only question is whether Gaara's going to make it slow or not."
Sadly, Temari could only nod in agreement as the blonde stepped out into the arena to face Gaara. She was surprised when he turned to the Hokage and said, "Oi, jiji, you'd better be careful. Our fight's going to cause a lot of collateral damage any way you look at it." The Sandaime laughed and the kunoichi felt shocked that a mere genin was allowed to speak so disrespectfully to his village's leader. If someone had spoken to the Kazekage that way, he would be lucky if seeing the inside of a prison cell was the worst thing that happened to him.
When the referee signaled to begin Gaara wasted no time in sending a stream of sand at the blonde, but it seemed to shatter against some kind of invisible shield around the blonde. Temari's eyes widened as she realized that a cluster of the blue lights had moved to block the sand and were now moving around Naruto in a protective spiral that had an angry sort of energy to it.
"Holy shit," Kankarou swore in disbelief. "I thought that time before the second exam was just a fluke, but what just happened shouldn't be possible!"
"Looks like blondie there might just have a chance," Temari said as a frustrated Gaara sent wave after wave of sand at the other genin, only to have each one shredded before it came close. Seeing that this tactic wasn't working, the Suna-nin gathered his sand from all over the arena and wrapped it around the blonde in an ever compressing shell. It shrank until it came near Naruto where Gaara suddenly began to have problems getting his sand to tighten any further. Suddenly, the clump of sand exploded outwards in a gale of wind and sand that reminded Temari of the truly destructive sandstorms that regularly swept across Kaze no Kuni.
"Is that the best you've got, panda-san," Naruto asked in a sad voice. "I was hoping for something more out of someone with a reputation like yours. I haven't even had to attack yet."
"I will kill you," Gaara growled dangerously in a tone that sent shivers down Temari's spine. "Mother wants your blood more than anyone I have ever met, and killing one as strong as you will truly validate my existence."
"That's pretty pathetic, panda-san," the blonde replied with a shake of his head. "You have to kill someone in order to prove that you have the right to live? That's bullshit that will never lead to real strength. Hate, anger, all those negative emotions will only take you so far, but there is another way to become truly strong. It's actually pretty simple. You just have to find something or someone that's truly precious to you and protect it. That where my strength comes from; my will to protect the ever-growing list of people who have become precious to me!"
Temari couldn't help but blush as she wondered if she was on the blonde's list of precious people, but she paled when she felt the spike of evil chakra that mean Gaara was pulling heavily on Shukaku for power. Naruto, the kunoichi prayed, I hope you manage to get through this in one piece!
Naruto would never admit it, but he was a little nervous about the fight. The chance of someone uninvolved getting hurt by the spillover from the clash between their two elements. So far, the kaze no seirei had managed to protect him without scattering the sand into the watching ninja, but it was only a matter of time before someone got hurt.
"Maybe we should see how good your defense is, panda-san," Naruto said cheerfully as he sent a weak thrust of wind at the redhead only to see it stopped by a barrier of sand that formed to block the blow. Interesting, the blonde mused as he started sending light attacks at the redhead from various directions, watching as the sand shifted to block each one. Looks like the sand is automatically blocking the attacks, but every time it does he cannot attack. As the blonde continued with some slightly stronger bursts of wind, the sand suddenly wrapped itself around Gaara, forming a complete shell around the Suna-nin.
"Well, that's just not fair," Naruto pouted as he glared at the unresponsive bubble of sand. He knew that most of the shinobi watching the fight must be confused since his attacks were invisible, being made of wind after all, and since he didn't use hand seals or even hand gestures to direct his attacks. As a matter of fact, the blonde's hands had been securely in his pockets throughout the whole fight so far. "I guess it's time to up the ante."
Naruto pulled his right hand out of his pocket and formed a lance of air, causing the wind to spiral around it as he threw it explosively forward. The javelin lanced forward and pierced into the shell of sand, creating a visible hole in the defensive construct. A thin dribble of blood trickled from the hole and a horrified scream seemed to come from within as the sphere contracted in on itself and became significantly denser than before. A pulse of chakra washed out from the Suna-nin, a vicious evil chakra that made the hairs on the back of the blonde's neck curl.
This chakra…it's definitely not normal, Naruto thought furiously as the now smaller sphere of sand seemed to pulse with chakra. Why does it feel strangely familiar? Like there's something about it that I should recognize? The chakra ceased pulsing as the sphere unfolded into a monstrous version of Gaara with a long arm and tail made from chakra and sand. More sand covered the rest of his body, enlarging it like an insect's exoskeleton. Only his face was completely uncovered with his eyes turned a dark yellow, his features twisting into a snarl of rage.
"Mother demands your blood," Gaara shouted, swinging his sand arm at the blonde and tearing through the layer of kaze no seirei that had been actively shielding him. The blow propelled Naruto straight back into the wall of the arena with enough force to shatter stone and create a Naruto-shaped hole. The impact knocked the breath out of the blonde and sent pain shooting through his back and his head, but he struggled to maintain consciousness. Pulling the wind to him, Naruto sent it exploding outwards to shred the sand that was seeking to hold him against the wall and crush him against the stone.
"Tit for tat, eh," Naruto gasped as he tried to steady himself on his feet and used one hand to wipe away the bit of blood that was trickling from his mouth. His back and ribs ached abominably, but the throbbing pain was already beginning to subside as his chakra was channeled out into his body to repair the wounds. Heh, if I was using the fuzzball's chakra, that probably wouldn't have hurt at all, Naruto thought before freezing in realization. That's it! That's what that nasty chakra is. Gaara's a jinchuuriki too! The new revelation made Naruto feel a pang of sympathy for the redhead, wondering how bad his life must have been to turn him into this killing obsessed monster.
The arm of san reached for the blonde again, but Naruto sent a spiraling blast of wind at it and was gratified to see it get blown apart. Unfortunately the sand flowed back towards Gaara and the arm began to reform faster than the blonde was comfortable with. Looks like I'll need to go even further, the boy thought sadly as he looked at his opponent. He'd been very careful with his wind abilities since he'd made the Contract, as they'd been amplified considerably. Guess now's as good a time as ant to stretch my wings.
Wind began to really move down in the arena. Gaara was unable to move his sand more than a few feet away from his body before the wind sheared it off and carried it away. Naruto was dimly aware of the genin, jounin and other spectators having to hold on for their dear lives in order to not be blown away. The immediate area around him was still and calm, though, much like it was in his Fuuton: Arashi no Me no jutsu. Of course, he'd realized that his futon jutsu had really just been him using his wind abilities and rationalizing it away as chakra.
"So you've got a demon sealed inside of you," Naruto said sympathetically, using the wind to funnel his voice to Gaara. "And its obviously influenced you greatly if you're this bloodthirsty, although that could be the end result of the way they treated you. The cold eyes, those hateful whispers, even the assassination attempts are all familiar to me too. You see, Gaara, you're not the only one who has a demon sealed inside of them,"
The look of utter shock on Gaara's face was priceless as Naruto lifted his shirt a little to show the other boy the seal on his stomach. The blonde was just glad that the wind and sand were preventing the other genin from seeing something that Naruto might get in trouble for revealing. The sand receded from around the redhead's face as he began to talk.
"They did it to me while I was still in my mother's womb and used her soul for the sacrifice," Gaara said softly. Naruto was forced to use the wind to carry the other jinchuuriki's words to him over the noise of the indoor storm. "My uncle raised me, told me for years that he cared for me. It was all a lie. One day, he tried to kill me but my sand protected me and as he lay dying, he revealed that he blamed me for my mother's death. After this came more assassins, the townsfolk feared me and kept the others away. That's when I realized that my purpose was to kill, just like mother had always told me."
Gaara's eyes took on an almost maniacal gleam as he continued, "That's why I kill. Because mother wants to taste the blood of our enemies." The redhead gathered his sand and compressed it into a spear that he launched at Naruto. The blonde didn't even move, although his eyes did begin to glow bluer than the norm as the winds roared and tore the spear down into its component sand.
"You gave up," Naruto said sharply. The redhead flinched at the anger in his voice. "I know what it's like, all of it. I didn't have an uncle who even pretended to want me. From the beginning, only Sandaime-jiji ever gave a damn about me! He's the one who cleaned up the messes when the villagers or shinobi got it into their heads that everyone would be better off if I were dead. He's the one who made sure that I got the chance to become a ninja and grow strong enough to protect myself. If you didn't have a precious person like that, it's because you decided to give up and become what they thought you were; a monster."
"Rraghh!" The roar of anger was the only warning the blonde had before the sand surrounding the redhead convulsed and began to grow. Two crazed eyes looked down on Naruto as the form grew large enough to press against the ceiling to the tower. The stone cracked and shuddered under the pressure, opening the top of the tower to the air outside. Naruto used his storm to deflect the debris away from the spectators as the giant sand form leapt from the top of the tower to land in the surrounding forest. It continued to grow until it towered over the trees in the form of an immense tanuki.
"Bwahaha, free at last," a crazed voice boomed from the Tanuki. "At long last the mighty Shukaku is free to rain terror on the earth!" The sand beast swiveled an eye to look at Naruto as he rose from the wreckage at the top level of the tower on the winds of his storm. "You! You're the one causing my container to stop listening to me. Daitoppa!" A large ball of dense wind shot from the tanuki's mouth, but was batted aside by Naruto's wind to impact in the forest with a casual wave of his hand.
"Heh, looks like I'll have to beat you into submission first," Naruto chuckled as he eyes were subsumed in a blue glow. Shukaku's eyes widened in terror as he noticed the kaze no seirei forming a giant pair of ornate doors behind the blonde.
"Oh, by the nine hells," the tanuki cursed loudly as the doors began to slowly open. "I didn't know that you were a Contractor! Shit, I thought your line died out when Uzu no Kuni was destroyed!"
"No, because I'm very much alive," Naruto smirked, raising his hands to the sky as the doors swung completely open. "As much as I'd love to send you to hell, "I'm not going to permanently harm Gaara. On the other hand, this should do enough damage to keep you quiet for a long time." The doors stopped their movement at full extension and a vortex built around the blonde, connecting the earth and sky with a bridge of spinning air. The clouds in the overcast sky split around the cyclone as it began to widen outwards from the blonde.
Shukaku shrieked in rage and terror, lashing out with his sand in a futile effort to stop the oncoming storm. The blonde just smiled and dropped an arm to point at the giant tanuki as the massive twister lurched towards it. The mass of swirling air crossed the distance between the two of them in seconds, shredding the parts it touched and making the bijuu scream in pain. Naruto was close to finishing the beast off when he dropped the storm and flew forward into Gaara, where he was attached to the tanuki's head and decking him full in the face. The redhead's eyes snapped open and Shukaku let out a final wail before dissolving into a large pile of sand. The Suna-nin's fall was cushioned by the remains of the great beast and he stared up at Naruto with an odd mixture of terror and hope.
"Are you going to kill me," the redhead asked, his voice shaking with exhaustion as much as the limp way he lay on the pile of sand.
"Do you want me to," Naruto asked in a serious tone.
"Yes," Gaara hissed, closing his eyes briefly before opening them to stare pleadingly up at the blonde. "I have become the monster that they all feared. There is no redemption for someone like me…"
"Coward," Naruto yelled as his fist lashed out and cracked against the Suna-nin's face. There was a spider web of cracks spreading across the redhead's face and sand flaked off to reveal the skin underneath. "Trying to take the easy way out just because you think you've had it rough! There are others like us that have demons in them who may be even worse off than we were! And what about Temari-chan? She's your sister and you've caused her more pain than you even know with how you treated her!"
"You truly hold a demon as well," Gaara asked in disbelief.
"Yeah," Naruto replied with a smirk as he pointed at the seal on his stomach again with his thumb. "I'm the jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi no Kitsune, but I've never used its power for anything other than the rapid healing. What you need to do is take responsibility for your life and your actions, then people will begin toe respect you and you can find your own real power. It's not an easy path, but it'll be worth it in the end."
Gaara nodded and gave a weak smile as he passed out from exhaustion. Naruto groaned as he realized how much damage their fight had done to the surrounding area and reached down to heft up the Suna-nin in a fireman's carry. Once Gaara was secure, the blonde flew back up to the now open air tower and landed in the shattered remains of the arena before carefully setting down his burden. Everyone still present stared at Naruto in shock as he turned to the Hokage and said, "I told you our fight was going to make a mess, didn't I, jiji?"
A twitter of slightly hysterical laughter ran through the assembled shinobi as the referee approached to check on the two genin. After a cursory examination of the Suna-nin, he rose to his feet and declared, "Winner, Uzumaki Naruto!"
Temari was in shock as she numbly took a slip of paper from the box the examiner held in front of her and told him the number written on it. She still couldn't believe that the laughing orange clown that both intrigued and irritated her held enough power to defeat her brother and the Ichibi's released form. Even worse was that while tired, he had not been seriously injured and probably could have fought again right away.
"Now that everyone's drawn their lots," the referee said as he coughed again, breaking the kunoichi's line of thought, "we'll announce the brackets for the Third Exam. The first match will be Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Neji, the second match will be Uchiha Sasuke and Dosu Kinata, the third match will be Aburame Shino and Sabaku no Kankarou, the fourth match will be Sabaku no Temari and Nara Shikamaru. The last match of the first round will be Rock Lee and the winner of the fourth match. The second round will have the winner of the first and second fight and the third and fifth fight. The third round will be between the two remaining victorious competitors…"
"Ano, referee-san," Shikamaru asked lazily, raising his hand. "Do we have to win in order to become chuunin?"
"No," the Hokage interrupted, stepping up in front of the competitors. "Candidates are judged for the fitness to become a chuunin by the skill and strategies they use, not by winning. There is no guarantee that anyone will be made chuunin, even if they do win the tournament."
"Now, there will be a month's break until the Third Exam takes place," the referee continued. "This is to allow all of the attending dignitaries enough travel time to arrive, as well as to allow all of the participants time to train and recover. As a reminder, those who do not show up on time will be disqualified. That is all."
The Suna kunoichi absently noted how everyone broke up into teams and departed, except for Naruto. He walked over with a smile and a wink and slipped a piece of paper into her hand. "It's my address," the blonde said in answer to her questioning look. "If you want to take a break from training or just need to get away from your brothers for a while, feel free to stop by. If I'm not there, Haku-chan will be and she can take care of you."
Temari was about to protest when Naruto just closed her hand over the paper, stepped back and disappeared in a swirl of wind. The Suna-nin tried to glare after him, but she realized that he was right. She might need to take a break from training or just need to get out of the hotel room she and her brothers were sharing. Besides, she thought, with the way that Haku girl talked, Naruto is considered a clan head. That means that he should have a good sized place. Hmm, maybe I will impose on him for a while, if only to see if he was serious about me or just flirting shamelessly.
"Oi, Temari," Kankarou called out from by the door. "Are you coming? I think Baki-sensei wants to talk with us before he goes and checks on Gaara in the hospital. Damn, who would ever have thought that a runt like that would have the power to beat both Gaara and the demon down like that. It's kind of a shame that he didn't kill him, though, since that would have made life lot easier for the two of us…"
"He's no that kind of person," Temari snapped. Her brother just looked confused as she stalked angrily past him and out into the hall where their jounin-sensei was waiting fro them.
"Good, both of you are still here," Baki rumbled in his gravelly voice. Temari had always listened carefully to the jounin as he was one of the most experienced in Suna and was an incredibly skilled futon specialist as well. "I'm going to have to return to Suna for a few days and give a report to the Kazekage. Today's events will definitely have an impact on our village's long-term plans and Kazekage-sama needs to know as soon as possible. I trust the two of you can continue with your training while I'm gone."
Temari nodded, reading the message underlying her sensei's words. If Konoha had a genin capable of defeating Gaara at his strongest with such ease, then Suna would have to rethink their alliance with Otogakure in the upcoming invasion of Konoha.
"What the hell was all that, Baki-sensei," Kankarou asked in a low tone that trembled with a little fear. The Suna kunoichi had hear that quiver many times when Gaara was involved, but never about anyone else. "I mean, Gaara has a freaking demon sealed inside of him and the blonde shrimp took him and Shukaku down like he was swatting flies…"
"I have no idea," the veiled jounin replied, then paused as his brow furrowed in thought. "Although…no, it can't be. They died more than fifteen years ago."
"What are you talking about, Baki-sensei," Temari prompted, knowing somehow that the jounin had just reminded something that was vitally important.
"Well, there used to be a clan of powerful wind users in Uzu no Kuni," Baki replied, "but the entire country was wiped out a long time ago. It was one of the first victims of the Kyuubi no Kitsune's rampage."
"The kid's name is Uzumaki," Kankarou said thoughtfully. "Maybe he's the kid of one of the survivors or something like that."
The veiled jounin frowned at the thought. "I hope not," he said. "That clan was disturbingly powerful, but generally made poor shinobi. Poor chakra control, a love of bright colors and loud, boisterous personalities…"
"Describes, Naruto to a tee, doesn't it," Temari asked, a sardonic smirk on her face. "Face it, Baki-sensei, regardless of where he's from, Naruto's going to be a big problem for Kazekage-sama's plans. And what are we supposed to do about Gaara while you're gone?"
"Try and keep him under control." Kankarou snorted at the reply as Baki disappeared in a swirl of sand, indicating that he had nothing left to say to them.
"And how the hell are we supposed to do that," Kankarou asked the otherwise empty hallway, while Temari just shrugged.
A/N:
Sorry about the wait and the shorter chapter. The next few scenes have been giving me a real headache, since they don't want to cooperate. The next chapter may take a while, but it will come in time so I thought I'd go ahead and give you this one.