Disclaimer: Naruto is a Japanese manga created by Masashi Kishimoto. All characters in this story are copyrights of Masashi Kishimoto, Shonen Jump and Studio Pierrot.
The Lazy Uchiha
By Bud
Chapter 24: My Best Friend
"Damn, someone is coming..." Kankuro mutter while he leaped from tree to tree, hauling his unconscious little brother. "But who?"
Three shuriken came out of nowhere, forcing the puppeteer to evade immediately.
Damn, it's the Uchiha, he thought sourly. Then Temaria was... He paused at that thought, not wishing to think other wise of his older sister. A figure dropped down and set itself on a branch several feet in front of Kankuro, forcing the Sand shinobi to an immediate halt. He immediately recognized the Uchiha pursuer.
"Don't run," Sasuke said. His heart was doing a mile a minute and his chest was keeping the same pace, trying to supply oxygen to his tasked body systems. If it wasn't for the matches that he had earlier, catching up to them would of been a walk in the park. He didn't have the luxury of being fresh like this make-up wearing guy, but that didn't stop him from complaining about it.
"Bring it on," said the winded shinobi. "I'll fight you this time, then." Sasuke only snickered.
"WAIT!" shouted a familiar voice.
Sasuke rolled his eyes. I should of killed her when I had the chance. Stupid conscience of mine!
"What? Temari?" He gasped. "I thought that he beat you. Were you okay?"
She gasped for breath. "Yeah, somehow. But..." She stood up. "But I couldn't stop him at all."
While the two conversed with each other while their attention was focused on Sasuke, the Uchiha heir's eyes move to the right, feeling something approaching. Then came the faint tingling of something at the back of his neck...
Slap!
"Stupid bugs.." He muttered, wiping the remains of the little critter on his black shorts.
Kankuro jumped forward, landing on a branch in front of Temari and Gaara. "Temari, take Gaara and leave. You can't fight anymore. We don't need anyone to burden us."
"But...!"
"Go!" He snapped. He heard no movement. "Hurry, go." After her acknowledgment and departure, he turned his attention to the Uchiha boy. "Looks like I have to fight you."
CRASH!
Sasuke looked to his right once again, raising an eyebrow at the sight of a Konoha shinobi falling from the top of a tree and landing on one of the thick branches head first. He recognized him from the academy class and the preliminaries. Abu..dame.. No.. Abu.. ra.. me... Shiro? No... Umm.. Then it hit him. "Aburame Shino?"
The shinobi from Konoha's bug-user clan shook the cobwebs from his head, dusting himself off while he stood up. Then suddenly he pointed at Sasuke, his voice wavering in a disbelieving tone. "Y-you... animal!" he shouted.
"Hah?" he raised an eyebrow.
"How could you hurt her?"
Sasuke was starting to become annoyed. "Her? What? Are you in love with that blonde chick? Man, you can have her, but you need to remember that she's the enemy."
"Not her!" Shino snapped. He pointed to the lower part of Sasuke's body. "Her!"
He turned green, covering his crotch and taking an step back away from the upset boy. "H-hey! I don't care what you heard from my brother, but I am NOT gay! If you're looking for some sort of perverted triangle relationship with that crazy sand chick and another guy, you came to the wrong place."
Kankuro sweated.
Shino turned away, grasping his hair in frustration. He muttered to himself for a long moment, waving his arms around and thrusting his fist as if he was punching. When he finally stopped, he turned toward Kankuro looking as stoic and mysterious as he did during the preliminaries of the Exam. "I was referring to my female insect friend that you killed on you forehead, Uchiha Sasuke. But I will deal with you at another time." He addressed Kankuro. "I am you're opponent. I will fight you, since our match was never conducted because of your sudden forfeit. Uchiha, go after Gaara since you're match never did complete."
Sasuke waved him off as he left. "Whatever, Shino. You can do your bug-cest with that make-up wearing fat ass if you want. You'll probably like each other since you both have similar taste." He ignored the heated look Shino shot toward his back and his muttering while grabbing his hair. "What a couple a fruit cakes!"
Kankuro... didn't do anything. This encounter was really to weird to warrant a reaction.
CRASH! WHAM!
Naruto muttered something unintelligible from his position hugging the tree. He fell back, chakra instinctively moving to his feet to make him adhere to the tree's surface. He glared at Sakura and the dog. "Why the hell did you stop all of a sudden?" he shouted, waving his arms.
"There getting farther at a rapid rate," said Pakkun. "The scent of Sasuke and two other's, that is. It seems like Sasuke is going after those two."
"What about the other two?" Sakura asked.
"It seems that the two others, the non-human one and one of the ninja Sasuke was chasing are going to fight each other."
She nodded. "It's best that we try to avoid that battle since we don't know exactly what will happen. But we shouldn't go too far around so that we'll be lagging behind Sasuke even further. Pakkun, how far are the two fighters?"
He sniffed the air. "Around six kilometers dead ahead at the most."
"And we traveled nearly fifty kilometers from the village already..." she murmured. "Pakkun, can you lead us past the fight so we remain close to 500 meters away from those other two?"
"Yes, I can, but..."
"Good, then lead the way," she said, cutting him off. "Come on, Naruto."
"Yeah!"
Pakkun sighed, leading them on. "Just remember that it isn't wise to get involved in that fight. We might loose track of Sasuke, which is our main objective."
Getting as far away from Shino and that Kankuro fat-ass was the fastest Sasuke ever ran away from something, probably faster than when he fought in battle earlier today. Ironically, his smooth getaway brought him closer to his target, who was moving in a patterns to try and evade possible pursuit. It was fruitless, however. The girl had only enough chakra to run, but not enough to sustain an extended, fast pace journey out of the Fire Country. She would of eventually have to stop, not only to rest, but to treat the wound he inflicted upon Gaara using the Chidori. When that happens, he would initiate contact with the target.
Sasuke rose an eyebrow when he arrived on scene, watching a staggering Gaara knocking away Temari with a swing of his arm. The Sand shinobi stared at him with a hostile look in his eyes, a look that he returned with an indifferent, cool gaze that would of made his usual and unwanted fan club swoon over him.
"I don't really know what the hell you sand people are planning," he said, cracking his knuckles. "But from what I'm guessing, our people are at war now because you attacked us. I won't let any of you leave the Fire Country alive." While that was his main objective, he had something else on his mind. That incident with that eye in the sphere when he fought Gaara during the tournament. I still want to know what the hell that was. The only way to find out is to fight him, again. What the...?
"Stop it, Gaara!" Temari shouted when she noticed that her brother's face was cracking. "Did you forget the plan...!"
"Ugh!" Gaara groaned, clutching his head and face. He's look at Sasuke turned wild, a look that immediately told the Uchiha brother that something mentally was happening that was causing this change in atmosphere. "You are strong. You are called Uchiha. You have friends. You have goals. You represent what I hate. By killing you, I can exist in this world as the one who erased your existence! I will be able to feel that I am alive! You are my...!"
Sasuke leaped backward, taking position on a higher branch to get more distance from Gaara. What was happening was really weirding him out. The guy just dropped to his knees screaming, clutching his head and yelling about something. Then his eyes widened, shocked, surprised, stricken with the sense of fear, horrified, and any similar word that could described how he felt. Gaara was... transforming? That was the way he could only describe what was happening. This was not a normal transformation that he was use to performing, that all ninja were trained to do, but something not... normal.
"You're... My... PREY!" shouted the... thing. "Now... let me feel!" It opened it's eyes. Sasuke gasped!
That eye, he thought, remembering it clearly from the hole in the sphere. The four-point cross star surrounded by four dark circles, one within each quadrant encased within a golden orb surrounded by a sea of black. That eye I saw before! And not only did he see the eye, but what it belonged to. A twisted combination of half-man, half... thing. He couldn't even guess what the right said of Gaara consisted, only knowing that it was most likely sand taking shape and form.
A monster.
No, not a monster. What he saw before him was some sort of abomination, a twisted combination between man and monster. True, from what Itachi had taught him about the other nations that he had visited, that there were clans that were human, but didn't look human. For example, the Hoshigaki clan of the Mist could be mistaken for sharks, but that was due to their advanced bloodline which manipulated bodies at birth to give them that form. Like the Inuzuka of the Leaf, who at sometimes could be mistaken for man-beast because of their attitudes and affinity with the canine species. He may not have known Gaara as an acquaintance or on a more personal level, but he knew that what was happening to him was something that gave Sasuke the shivers. Everything about Gaara, ever since their encounter before the beginning of the exam, screamed that something was wrong. And now that he was faced with what was in front of him, he knew he was right.
Gaara lunged at Sasuke with that... arm? He didn't care if it was Gaara's butt. Whatever that thing was that replaced his arm, it looked like the thing that tried to grab him during the tournament and he wasn't letting it touch him! The branch he previously occupied was obliterated by Gaara's attack, sending wooden debris flying everywhere. The transformed Gaara sat perched on another branch while he hid behind a thick tree trunk, panting for breath.
He got stronger, he thought, clutching his shoulder in slight pain. And a bit faster. His eyes widened. He jumped quickly, barely evading the thing once again as he crashed through the tree trunk he was hiding behind. Sasuke used the dust and debris as a shield, finding another concealment point to hide and observe. Damn it!
"Are you scared of me...?" He heard Gaara say. "Uchiha Sasuke! Are you scare of my existence! Come out! Uchiha Sasuke! You are my... PREY!"
I'll give you a prey, you damn freak! He decided to calm himself down, taking deep breathes to settle himself. With all the adrenaline running through his system, he couldn't think straight. Instinctive fighting wasn't something he should do in a situation like this. He had to be calm, collective and pick his fights. He couldn't bring himself to Gaara's level or he would surely lose. If it was the Gaara he fought during the exam, he would of just went out there, do his job, then return to Konoha to tell the senbon chewing prick to go screw himself. This Gaara was different. He was wild, mentally unstable and unpredictable. Top it off with the newly acquired monster strength and intimidating man-monster abomination look, you have one powerful weapon. This is what they meant when they said Gaara was their trump card.
"Come out, Uchiha Sasuke!"
"The Sharingan is a powerful tool, Ototo," his brother told him after the mission in the Wave Country. "Even at times I, someone who has chosen no to trust in it's power, had to rely on it's abilities. But, I choose when and where it is needed. There will come a time when you will be required to use the Sharingan to copy and memorize maps and documents, control a select few of our clan special techniques, supplement other techniques, or even fight a deadly enemy. Just remember, Ototo, that our Sharingan can corrupt it's user, so use it sparingly. Consistent use of the Sharingan will eventually lead to your own destruction and you will end up like the rest of our clan."
Those were very choice words used by his brother. Something he took to heart. If anything, he did not wish to end up like everyone else in the clan. Dead. Nor did he wish to end up like those who were corrupted, a prime example being the sole reason why all but himself and his brother were still alive, a name that the Uchiha brother's were so disgusted with that just mentioning the name of said individual would provoke a hostile response. As much as he wanted to defeat Gaara without his fancy bloodline ability, he knew he had to use it.
The Sharingan.
Knowing when to use it was the key and now was more than good enough of a time. His private individual training using his bloodline ability had paid of greatly to the point where it consumed little or no chakra at all. Though he was far from mastering the somewhat complex ability that was the Sharingan, he knew he was close. Itachi admitted to mastering such a technique in as little a couple months and that revelation inspired Sasuke to do the same. He knew now that all that training was boiling up to this point. If he screwed up now, he was definitely screwed.
The few seconds it took Sasuke to think through all that ended. He made his move.
"There you are!"
Gaara shot out his right arm when Sasuke ran up a tree and launched himself at the transformed sand shinobi. The appendage slammed into the boy with the force of a rampaging bull, only to disappear in a cloud of ninja smoke and replaced by a log. The replacement was an excellent distraction for the real Sasuke, who came down from from above Gaara. Twisting his body, Sasuke began launching kunai at high-speed, the Sharingan assisting his aim during his body's fast rotation. Unfortunately for Sasuke, the attack proved to be useless since Gaara simply block and absorbed the weapon with his mutated arm. Unfortunately for Gaara, Sasuke was a couple steps ahead.
The sharp-eyed Sharingan use formed the half-tiger seal with his right hand when he landed on a study branch. "HA!"
Nothing.
"Well, isn't that just perfect..." He dead-panned, pulling out the explosive notes of Temari's that he disarmed. He ripped the short stack in half, tossing them behind his back. I forgot that when you disarm explosive notes, they're just pieces of paper. He leaped backward to gain some distance from Gaara.
"Here, I'll give them back!"
His own kunai flew at him at incredible speed, slicing through the air so fast that atmospheric friction was visibly seen, heating the kunai with an aura of red and orange fire. Sasuke, who had already seen the attack coming a split second before with his Sharingan, simply braced himself, protecting his head with his arms and tucking his legs close to him. The blazing kunai blew right through and past him, his boy disappearing as if it never existed.
"A replication...?" That angered Gaara. "Uchiha Sasuke! Why will you not attack me? Why do... you... run from me?"
Run? That option was thrown out the window when you transformed. If anything, Sasuke knew he could not let this guy leave the Fire Country on his own two feet. He also knew that if he failed here, his home was in danger, since Gaara was the suppose trump card to their invasion. The problem is getting close enough to deal maximum damage with little effort. Chidori would work perfectly, except I only can perform it once more, or maybe two times if I risk it.
"You're not getting away..." growled Gaara. "You're not getting away... Uchiha Sasuke!"
He grimaced at the loud crashing sounds, knowing that whatever the psychotic guy was doing, he was either frantically searching for him or took up a job with the Fire Country Lumber Company. He already knew the latter was out of the question. Several other loud crashes, followed by debris flying everywhere had him shielding his face and eyes, coughing occasionally from the inhale of dust that was sent into the air. The sounds of wild and psychotic laughter filled the air from directly behind him. Peering from his position, he knew he wasn't found. What kind of monstrous strength is this?
"Are you afraid of me?" Gaara growled, drool escaping his deformed maw. "Uchiha Sasuke! Are you afraid... of my existence? What's wrong? Uchiha Sasuke! Are you afraid of me?"
Sasuke paused, sitting down to hear what else this guy is rumbling about.
"Did your hate and murderous intent cower because of fear? Is you're existence that weak? Fight me! And confirm it! Your value and existence, that is! Experiment, if you want an answer! FIGHT ME!" The last few words were shouted.
Hate and murderous intent...? He thought back to the time of the encounter on the butte during the month of training before the final exam. Their encounter was brief, most of the talking done by Gaara, spouting something about not liking his eyes and they he was his prey. He mostly taunted the Sand shinobi, not really giving a damn about what he had to say. But there was nothing about murderous intent, except...
Orochimaru.
When he saw the same bastard that her fought in the forest of death, that nearly bit him with some weird technique, the same evil prick that wishes to take his bloodline and corrupt him, the same traitorous snake that desires his or Itachi's body, the lunatic that had his hands around his Hokage's throat, he expressed hate and a murderous intent that would make his brother proud. He wished to go up to the Hokage's balcony and rid the world of an evil like Orochimaru.
So yes, he had expressed such feelings, which was reserved for only a select few, one of which was not this Gaara character. But the words Gaara was saying were having an effect on him. So strong of an effect that Sasuke stood, his eyes as hard as steel. Stepping around from his concealed position, he faced Gaara, who stood across from him several meters away and spoke in a tone that was as cold as ice, yet burned with the fire that existed in his heart.
"You speak of hate and murderous intent. That exist in all of us," he began. "Truthfully, I bear no grudge against you or your people, nor do I care what they do in life. But you're people threaten the existence of my people, my home, where people that I love and care about exist with me." He shook his head for a moment, closing his eyes in deep concentration. "If it's possible, I do not want to kill you and I do not want you to kill me. However, you and your people threaten the existence of those I care for and love, so I can cut away my compassion with a blade and kill you, to protect those that I cherish the most!" His eyes snapped open, his ruby red eyed Sharingan eyes slowly rotating. Each orb with three comas surrounding the black pupil.
Monkey, Dragon, Rat, Bird, Ox, Dog, Tiger, Monkey.
Sasuke was already in motion, leaping toward Gaara with the Chidori blazing and singing in his left hand. Gaara followed suit and soon the two crashed into each other attacks first. Despite the destruction Gaara's abomination arm caused to trees, it couldn't withstand the full power of Chidori that was aimed to kill. Sasuke's attack easily cut through the arm's full diameter, cleanly slicing through the appendage with ease. Gaara screamed as the incredible pain registered in his mind instantly, his body thrashing around even as he landed on a huge branch. Sasuke only looked back from the corner of his eyes were Gaara landed. To Temari, who was worried and scared for her brother despite the fear she had about him, saw the cold, calculating look on the Uchiha's visage, different than before when he fought that Hyuuga. Different from when he first fought Gaara, or when he fought her in the forest earlier. He looked older than he was, but most importantly, he looked like a true ninja.
And that frightened her more than he brother.
"..." Sasuke kept his eye on Gaara, waiting. His eyes narrowed once again.
The sound of laughing came from the Sand shinobi's fallen body, only becoming louder with each passing second. Even as he sat up, as if nothing happened to him, his vocal level rose, echoing throughout the forest. He slowly stood, forcing himself up on his feet while he clutched his wounded appendage. "I see! I see now!" He clutched his shoulder, the point where Sasuke's Chidori finished cutting before blowing past him. "Why is this so exciting...? This pain..." He rose up, shouting out loudly more to himself than actually acknowledging Sasuke. "By defeating a guy who can hurt me, and taking away everything he possess, it will give me a stronger sensation of life!"
Sasuke stood, turning to face him.
"More! More!" Gaara shouted, his right appendage enlarging, while at the same time another abomination appendage grew out of his back. It was longer than the arm appendage and was definitely not a leg. From the way it originally formed, it's origin was from the sand within the gourd he carried, but it came out as being a tail, then mutated into the... thing waving behind him. The metamorphosis completed, Gaara used the knew appendage and his arm appendage to hold onto the thick branch he stood on, pulling himself backward. With his arms and newly acquired tail stretched to their maximum, the abominable Gaara launched himself through the air like a rock leaving a sling shot.
The fore-image that he first saw came as a surprise to Sasuke, but he realized what he was seeing. With a well calculated leap, he found himself hanging upside down from the underside of an over-hanging branch running parallel to the one he stood on previous.
I can see him!
Gaara, using his sling shot maneuver, was moving at a much faster speed than before. Yet, no matter how he moved, the younger Uchiha saw his movements just mere seconds before he could even perform them. The psychotic sand shinobi was constantly launching himself from branch to branch, tree to tree, always demolishing the one Sasuke was previously occupying. He was always two or three steps ahead of his target, moving in a spiral pattern from their they originally began. His hands were forming repeated seals as fast as he could, his total concentrated tasked while he avoided Gaara's wild attacks. No matter where he landed, a trap was laid. No matter where Gaara tried to attack him, his traps were always set off, either annoying to thoroughly infuriating his opponent. Explosions, jets of water, rock or metallic spikes, fire and/or lightning. He tried every low level trap he knew, yet nothing would seem to slow him down. I'm to bring in the big guns!
Horse, Tiger.
"KATON: GOUKYAKUU NO JUTSU!" Fire Element: Grand Fireball!
The giant fireball erupted from his mouth and slammed into Gaara. To Sasuke's surprise and annoyance, the sand ninja used his newly acquired body parts to form a shield around himself that protected his body from the chakra fueled fire. Not only was using fire out of the question for this battle, but by performing the technique he shortened the time it would take him to evade Gaara's attack. Which is why he braced himself, Gaara's mutated appendage slamming into him and sending him flying backward through several branched until a tree trunk broke his flight. "Gah!" He gasped, falling forward onto his hands and knees. "That... really hurt..."
"What's wrong?" Gaara asked, standing hunched over a few trees across from Sasuke. "Is this all your existence is worth? Let me make this clear... You are weak! You are soft... because you do not possess hatred!"
Sasuke looked at him. Gaara continued.
"The power of hatred is the power of murderous intent. The power of murderous intent is the power of revenge!" Gaara began to shout. "You are weak because your hatred is weaker than mine!"
"Do you know what this means?"
"I means you are weaker than me!"
Sasuke shifted at hearing a familiar sound, sitting back so he was resting up against tree trunk. "Then prove it too me.. that you are stronger than me." He spat a little blood from his mouth. "Kill me." he demanded.
"DIE!" Gaara shouted, launched himself at Sasuke with the pure intent to do as he was told!
CRACK!
It came from out of nowhere! Just a few feet from Sasuke, a leg and foot came out and struck Gaara across his mutated face, sending him flying backward into a tree. Landing on a the branch in front of Sasuke, Naruto stood with a determined look, one which promised that he would defend the guy right behind him at all cost. A look of anger that was directed at the partially transformed sand shinobi, for even thinking of trying to kill the only person in his life that could claim the title of his best friend. Behind him, Sakura with her owl mask and Pakkun, Kakashi's tracking dog, landed next to Sasuke.
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura called out, checking him over quickly. "Are you alright?" She started to fidget when his gaze stayed on her a long than he usually does, which was very brief. " Is something wrong?"
"Besides the point, how the hell did you get that?" He asked, referring to her mask. He didn't allow her to answer, instead choosing to stand up and brush himself off. "More importantly, I'm glad you two showed up. You can help me kill this bastard."
"What?" Sakura stared at him. "We can't do that. Our mission from Kakashi-san was to link up with you and move to a secure location until further orders are given.
"That's just Kakashi's way of telling someone to run away," He snapped. "And you know the team rules about that, right, Sakura?"
"I never interpreted it like that..." she said. "Alright, we're with you."
"Hey!" shouted Pakkun. "Are you forgetting Kakashi's orders?"
"Shut up, stupid dog!" Sasuke picked up the small doggy, then punted him into low earth orbit in the direction of Konoha. "And tell Kakashi I'll kick his ass if he tells me to run and hide once more!"
Sakura sweated.
"Sasuke..." His dark-haired teammate looked at him. "Who the hell is he?" Sasuke looked at their opponent, deactivating his Sharingan.
"Gaara."
"You..." said the... thing. Naruto couldn't tell if it was Gaara or not. But if Sasuke said he was, he could only believe him. "...that guy I tried to kill."
"He what?"
"DIE, UCHIHA SASUKE!" Gaara shouted as he flew past a frozen Naruto.
The Sharingan formed in his eyes once again, but he knew that he couldn't dodge in time while he protected Sakura. Yet, to his surprise, his masked teammate stepped in front of him, formed a simple set of hand seals with her small hands then grabbed him and jumped to another branch! All while this happened, Gaara suddenly stopped his attack and stood on the branch they previously occupied looking confused.
"Sakura?" He did not need to ask what was on his mind.
"Genjutsu, Fusenmai Maboroshi no Jutsu, the Blurred Vision Technique." She smirked behind her mask. "Basically, all he saw was us disappearing right before his eyes. It-"
"DAMN THIS GENJUTSU! WHERE ARE YOU!"
"It only last for a short duration." she finished.
Sasuke snorted. "At least Aniki was helping one of us train instead of being the lazy bum that he is."
"So, Sasuke, what's the plan?"
The Uchiha brother looked up at Naruto, who stood on the underside of the branch above them. "We need to hit him hard and put him down for good. He's strong, fast and on the psychotic side, so I doubt genjutsu will work on him, despite Sakura's technique that she used. Getting in close is suicide unless you know a technique like the Chidori, and I only can use it once more then I'm out of chakra."
Sakura nodded. "What about fire techniques?"
"Tried it. No good." He looked at Naruto. "Did he really try to kill you?" Naruto nodded. "When?"
"Yesterday at the hospital. We stopped him from assassinating thick-brows, but they he tried to kill us. But Thick-brows' teacher stopped him." he said.
"DO NOT HIDE!"
Naruto's eyes widened. "Move it! RUN!" But the warning came to late. Before Sasuke and Sakura could escape, the large sand appendage swung around and slammed through the tree and into the pair, sending them crashing into another tree with a sickening thud. Both shinobi and kunoichi fell like rag-dolls into a branch, though Naruto's worried were put to rest when they both stirred, struggling to get onto their feet. He jumped to their side, checking Sasuke first before checking Sakura. The way she was holding her ribs informed him that she would have heavy bruising and maybe one break, but other than that she would be fine. He turned to stare at Gaara, his eyes gazing at the transformed sand ninja with bottled anger.
"What's wrong? Aren't you going to run away?" He taunted. "Those two..." Gaara began, narrowing his eyes at the blonde genin. "What are they to you?"
He furrowed his eyebrows. "They are my family and friends!" He shouted, earning a hidden smile from Sasuke. "I dare you to hurt then anymore..." He pointed accusingly. "I'll beat you up!"
"Yeah..." Sasuke began, glaring at Gaara. "Let's beat him up right now!" He launched himself like an arrow at the sand shinobi. "Then we'll finish him off!"
Several sets of kunai fanned out from Sasuke's hands, all impacting Gaara's arm when he shielded himself. His tail lashed out and caught Sasuke along the side, only to catch a log that replaced it's owner and a kunai stabbing onto his humanoid shoulder when the Uchiha brother appeared behind him. He waved his arm, attempting to catch Sasuke with a powerful swipe of his abominable arm, yet his target again was replaced by a log. Naruto took the opening he was given, several shadow replications flying through the air back to back, each one slamming it's foot onto the back of Gaara's head, disappearing in a plume of ninja smoke after each attack. The real Naruto chose a different route, circling around Gaara and being tossed by Sasuke, slamming his fist onto the opposite side of Gaara's head when his last clone impacted the other. Before Gaara could collect himself and kill Naruto on the stop, a kunai flashed by, spilling several pieces of confetti around him, a distraction the blonde genin used to leap off of Gaara's own body and toward safety.
More kunai flew by Gaara, each one spilling the confetti from little sacks flying behind them. Sakura threw several more, covering their target's arm and tail in the tiny paper, a hidden smirk on her lips when she pulled out a single kunai with a small explosive tag flagging it.
"Sakura Fubiki no Jutsu!" Cherry Blizzard Technique!
What Gaara or her teammates didn't know was that those small pieces of confetti were small explosive notes created using tiny paper the size of a mailing stamp with the explosive power of the standard size small tag. So when kunai with the trailing note stabbed flew past Gaara, barely brushing his arm, the explosion cascaded and chain reacted with the other notes, fueling the explosive power and multiplying it several times. Team 7 leaped away from the huge fireball, bracing themselves behind trees to protect themselves from debris and the shock wave. Sasuke was the most impressed by her technique, which equaled the power of the explosive replacement that destroyed a full acre of land when they escaped Orochimaru a month ago. He'll be damned if Gaara survived this.
Debris shifted where Gaara once stood.
Well, I'll be damned...
"Ha ha ha ha!" laughed the psychotic shinobi. "Interesting! Very interesting! But you're attack was weak! All of you are weak compared to me! I will kill all of you and prove my existence!"
"Like hell you will!" Naruto shouted, leaping from his position and dropping down armed with a kunai. "I won't let anyone kill my friends!"
"Naruto!" Sasuke shouted in warning.
"AAH!" The blonde genin cried, finding himself caught in the powerful grip of Gaara's arm. "Damn it!"
"I'll start with you, Uzumaki Naruto! Then I will finish off you're stupid friends one by one!" Gaara's half-monster face smirked. "SABAKU-" He stopped. The sound of over a thousand birds chirping wildly and the growl of a young man filled with anger and the intent to kill without hesitation was suddenly mere feet away from Gaara, his arm drawn back and ready to plunge into his heart with one single stroke.
"CHIDORI!" Thousand Birds, the Lightning Edge.
His arm plunged forward and the power of the Chidori roared.
Blood splashed everywhere.
The pace was fast, yet steady. He didn't want to tire himself out when he arrived on scene. As much as he wished to catch up with his Team 7, he had to do so carefully, as to not attract unwanted attention from Sand or Sound ninja. Who knows what is happening with his team and that Gaara of the Sand?
"You, you are Kakashi's summoned creature, correct?" He asked the small, injured dog he held by the scruff of it's neck. "What are you doing out here and not at Kakashi's side?"
"I could say the same for you, Uchiha Itachi." he replied. "You should hurry because you have bigger things to worry about. Uchiha Sasuke is out there along with the rest of your team. They're facing that Gaara of the Sand guy and if I'm not mistaken, he seems to have used some sort of technique to transform himself."
"How dangerous is he?"
"Dangerous enough to pose the village a threat if his transformation was activated within the walls."
"Sasuke..."
Pakkun shook the dust off of him when Itachi set him down. "You better hurry, Jounin, or something horrible might happen to them."
Itachi nodded. "I know." He paused. "How far?"
"Around 50 kilometers due west by southwest."
He looked at him once more. "How did you get all the way out here?"
A vein bulged on the dog's head. "YOU'RE FREAKING BROTHER PUNTED ME OUT HERE!"
Itachi sweated.
If Gaara was really as powerful as that dog stated, then he had to hurry as fast as he could under stealth techniques.
Wait for me, Ototo!
Naruto stared at Sasuke. "..."
Sakura took off her mask, not believed what just happened.
Sasuke eyes were wide, the black comas of his Sharingan spinning quickly. His legs, his arms, his whole body was as stiff as a board, blood running down his arm. It nearly coated his whole upper body, including his face and hair. It poured from his arm like a leaking faucet, pooling on the branch that he stood on, only to fall into a small puddle on the forest floor. The technique worked perfectly. It pieced right through the flesh, as Kakashi told him it would, and stabbed all the way through until his arm was in through the chest and out through the back. There was only one problem, though...
... his arm was through Naruto's chest, not Gaara's.
"Naruto..." Sasuke choked out, tears welling up in his eyes.
Sakura couldn't believe what she just saw. First, Naruto was captured by Gaara when he foolishly jumped in like he usually did. Then Sasuke came at Gaara using that Chidori technique, his Sharingan blazing with fire and the murderous intent to kill. It was a scene that reminded her about the time Itachi-sensei used some sort of chakra sword technique to kill Haku and Momochi Zabuza during the mission to the Country of Water. But unlike that time, the boy, Haku, willingly sacrificed his life in an attempt to save Zabuza; in this case, Gaara of the Desert used her teammate as a shield to take the full force of Sasuke's attack.
"NARUTO!" She cried, falling to her knees in tears.
Sasuke couldn't move. He couldn't believe it. His mind was totally shocked, fried completely by what just transpired. He shielded himself... with Naruto. Not even when Gaara grabbed him and threw both of them away like trash, could he comprehend the situation. Not even when he instinctively cradled Naruto in his arms, putting himself in a position to protect him when they both slammed into a tree, his own back taking the full force of their impact. His mind only began to comprehend the situation when he slumped down, cradling Naruto in lap while he removed his arm from his chest. No more blood spilled from his body, the Chidori had eaten away and burned all the way through and cauterized his insides.
Again.. he thought, clutching Naruto close to him, rocking back and forth. He knew it now. It was like five years ago when he saw it happen. When Uchiha Shisui became rampant and killed his parents, his whole family and the rest of the clan. Only Itachi and himself were left alive thanks to his brother. It took five years, but they found a new family in Team 7 and enjoyed what little happiness that it brought them. But now, he was going to lose his family once again to some psychotic shinobi gone rampant. Sakura would die. He would die, leaving his older brother all alone in the world. Naruto... he died by his own hand. He could feel nothing from his body. No pulse. No nothing. His best friend was dead.
"..." Sasuke gently set Naruto down, closing his best friend's eyelids. Little by little he walked down the branch, planning to face Gaara and end this once and for all, even if it ment his death. But before he could, a tingling sensation started in his eyes, forcing him to pause. Then, like a bolt of lightning, the tingle turned into a severe shocking sensation, that escalated into a raging inferno of fire that had Sasuke on his knees, clutching his face.
"UUUGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"
The scream of a boy going through the most intense form of agony imaginable snapped Sakura out of her crying bout. She looked up, gasping at seeing Sasuke thrashing around wildly on the branch, clutching his face as if he was being burned alive. Before she could get to him and see what was wrong, his body went limp and collapsed, falling off the branch and landing on another like rag doll.
"Sasuke-kun..." She looked at her two teammates, a sense of fear flowing through her. "Naruto..."
"You see! They are all weaker than me! My existence is greater than all of yours!" Gaara shouted excitedly, laughing evilly for himself.
She knelt by Sasuke, feeling his pulse. It was faint, very faint. It seems like whatever happened to him didn't kill him, but he was at least alive. Anger fell over Sakura's face. She looked up just in time to see Gaara diving right at her, intending to kill two birds with one stone.
"DIE!"
WHAM!
Sakura stared. This shouldn't be possible.
Naruto, hole through his chest and everything, stood in front of her and the unconscious Sasuke, his fist extended after smashing in Gaara's face and sending him flying backward. Slowly, second by second, she could see the hole in his chest closing up, twisting together like dough until nothing was left but smooth skin and two holes in his clothes. She could feel it, also, the chakra surrounding him. The same feeling she felt when he used that strange chakra when he fought Ino. Naruto... where you always this strong?
To Naruto, it felt like waking from a nightmare. In that nightmare, he was captured by Gaara and was about to be crushed like he nearly did to those Grass shinobi at the stadium. Suddenly, Sasuke comes out of nowhere and tried to kill Gaara with that new technique of his, but instead of Gaara he got ran through. And that was the last of the dream until he woke up now. He only saw Sasuke laying unconscious and Sakura standing behind him, staring at him in awe. I knew I would impress Sakura-chan one day! He thought, but pushed that to the side. I have more important things to do!
"Hey, you bastard! You tried to kill me!"
Gaara shakily stood, his eyes narrowed in anger. "YOU'RE STILL ALIVE?"
He doesn't remember... The pink-haired kunoichi bit her lip, placing her mask back on. Maybe it's for the better, for now.
"Of course I am! It takes more than that to take out Uzumaki Naruto!" he taunted. It's going to take a lot of work to get rid of this guy, he thought. I'm going to need Sakura-chan's help, but I'll also need help from someone a little bigger. "Sakura-chan, stand back. I'm going to try something."
Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, Ram.
"KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU!" Summoning Technique!
He bit his thumb, placing his palm on the tree branch. Symbols and runes appeared on the ground followed by the plume of smoke that was associated with summoning. When the smoke cleared, it revealed a summoned frog wearing a vest...
...that was no bigger than Naruto's head.
"What the hell? It's just a little squirt!" grumbled the frog. "If you want me to do something, give me a snack. Otherwise, I won't play with you."
"You know something?" Naruto snapped, getting close to the frog. "I hate you frogs!"
"What'd you say? You better not disrespect amphibians!" It did a raspberry to the blonde genin.
Sakura sweated. Or.. I could be wrong..
"Actually, I have no time to play with you, squirt." He glanced at Sasuke. Damn it, why? I trained so much... I can't think of anything else. He glared at Gaara. "I have to save everyone."
"Me too!" Sakura added.
Gaara chuckled. "Everyone? Don't make me laugh!" Sand began to move along the other half of his body, forming a third appendage over his existing human arm. When it ended, his whole upper body starting from his upper thighs to his head was full covered by the transformation, turning him into some sort of monstrous beast. "I fight only for myself!"
He transformed again, thought Naruto, staring. "Sakura-chan, we have to get Sasuke to a safe place before we can do anything."
"I know," she said, carefully picking up their unconscious teammate.
"I WON'T LET YOU LEAVE!"
Faster than the two of them expected, Gaara's arm shot out and separated from his body in the form of a clawed hand. The huge projectile slammed into Sakura, knocking her away, though it's main purpose was achieved. It held onto Sasuke, crashing into one of the larger tree trunks and locking him into place.
"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, riveted into place in fear. He could feel his knees shaking, even as he turned his head to face Gaara. His legs were telling him to run, but his mind and heart were telling him otherwise. "Damn it..!"
"The sand on the Uchiha won't be released until you defeat me." said Gaara. "Not only that, the sand will constrict him tighter as time passes by and will eventually kill him." He crossed his mutated arms in front of him, then launched a flurry of shuriken made out of sand.
"SUNA SHURIKEN!" Sand Shuriken!
She watched him, Naruto, grab the small frog summon and leaped as high as he could. His reaction was a little slow, which was why the sand projectiles slammed into him, forcing him to fly backward right into a tree with the frog cradled in his arms, protecting the small creature with his own body. She didn't know what to do. Even if Itachi-sensei had taught her many new tricks and tactics this past month, many things she shouldn't even know, none of them applied to what was happening now. The Cherry Blossom technique was her strongest attack that didn't require the use of chakra, the strongest ninjutsu attack in her whole arsenal, yet this guy shrugged it off like it was nothing.
"Ugh..." And to top off how useless she is right now, she could feel that her ribs have been abused too much since the beginning of this encounter. That alone dropped her mobility and maneuverability to half of what she was capable of, limiting her to walking. I need to help.. some how.. she thought, pulling out a roll of bandages from her waist pack and finding a place to hide while she treated herself.
"What's wrong? Are you afraid of me?" Gaara taunted. "Are you going to fight for yourself, or fight for another? Just love yourself, and fight. Fight only for yourself! That is what make a person strong!" His transformed visage smirked. "Now, fight me! What happened to that spirit? Show me your power. I will crush it!"
Naruto clenched his fist.
"What's wrong? If you don't fight me, I will kill your precious Uchiha." To make a point, the claw constricted, squeezing Sasuke's body. The boy's face made a grimace of pain.
"Damn it!" Naruto snapped, his fingers forming the middle-index cross seal while leaping at Gaara. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Several clones flew at Gaara, intending to inflict a large amount of pain upon the shinobi. Unfortunately, his opponent had other ideas.
"FUUTON.." The abominable shinobi inhaled deeply, not just from his mouth, but several others that opened along his body. His primary mouth bulged, then let out a miniature sand storm from his mouth that easily took care of Naruto and his clones. "MUGEN SAIJIN DAITOPPA!" Wind Element: Infinite Sand Storm!
"...crap.. that really hurts a lot.." the blonde shinobi muttered, slowly picking himself up off the branch he laid on.
"I'll play around with you so that you won't die just yet." Gaara said, his monstrous face holding a sinister grin. "I can't wait to see you give up, abandon your friends, and run away." He launched several sand shuriken, taking pleasure when nearly all of them impacted the loud mouth ninja, the force sending him flying and crashing into another tree. Unfortunately for him, Naruto was getting right back up. "I'm not through with you!"
Once again the blonde boy went flying, but not with the same results as last time. He was slammed into another tree, but instead of falling, he fell right onto his feet, his body hunched over in pain, his face forming a snarl as the feeling within him became stronger and stronger. Another wave of sand shuriken came his way, and he snapped open his eyes and held his ground. His hands were moving quickly, slapping away each projectile of sand with precision, only one got close enough to scrape against his shoulder.
Gaara was getting really angered and annoyed with this guy. He saves that Rock Lee guy, then stalls long enough for the boy's master to arrive and prevent him from harming him. Next, he shows up just when he was about to kill Uchiha Sasuke, interfering once again. Then he died by his own teammate's hand, then somehow resurrects himself using the same power he used during the tournament. Now he just taking his attacks as if they didn't phase him and successfully blocking his sand shuriken with his bare hands.
Naruto lifted his face, staring at Gaara. I don't want to lose to this guy, even if I have to die!
"What's wrong? You came after me, and this is what happens to you? You cannot even touch me. You make me laugh." growled the sand ninja.
Naruto saw the claw constrict further upon Sasuke and close to him was Sakura, bandaging herself up to prepare to fight again. He knew that is Sakura got involved any more, she would be further injured.. permanently. Right now, Gaara was just concentrating on him, so if she didn't pose a threat, he wouldn't have to worry and protect her while fighting off Gaara. Stay where you are, Sakura-chan, I'll protect all of us. He pulled off his jacket, revealing the lightly armored vest and fish-net shirt that he wore underneath, ignoring the fist sized hole though on his right side. "I don't know how far I will get..." he muttered to himself. "... but I will do as much as I can!"
Naruto charged forward, getting a quick running start along the branch. He leaped up into the air, pulling out the folded windmill shuriken from behind his back, then throwing it using his momentum. Gaara attempted to intercept, but the tricky windmill shuriken split into two, attacking him from both sides. Meanwhile, Naruto bounded from tree to tree, flanking Gaara and attacking from a third point, cutting off any possible avenue of escape which Gaara could have taken. Even when Gaara used his arms to stop the shuriken, then attack him with his tail, he did not lose sight of his objective. The tail impacted against him, or so Gaara thought, but Naruto appeared under Gaara, leaving a replacement in the clutches of his tail. Creating a shadow replication under him, Naruto used his own back as a springboard, launching himself up at Gaara with a kunai in his hand leading the way.
"Eat this! The move Itachi-sensei taught me..." He stabbed the kunai... right into Gaara's butt.
"KONOHAGAKURE FURUI TAIJUTSU NO OUGI: SENNEN GOROSHI!" Hidden Leaf Ancient Taijutsu Supreme Technique: 1000 Years of Pain!
Sakura, Temari and the little frog stared, then sweated.
".. an enema?" the pink-haired girl muttered. It was the same technique Itachi-sensei used on him when the team first formed. "Naruto!"
The blonde boy leaped away from Gaara, but was caught by his whipping tail. He sailed through the air, his grimace of pain turning into a smirk. "Boom."
An explosion rang throughout the forest when the large explosive note finally went off. The item was wrapped around the handle of the kunai that he shoved up Gaara's rear, the only place he could think of that would be the least armored. He actually thought about it; who would really consider attacking someone's butt in the middle of a fight? Only someone as crazy as him, or maybe Itachi-sensei, would think of something so stupid and unexpected, that only someone with a similar mind-set would think of protecting themselves there. So, Naruto didn't mind the pain that came with pulling off such an attack, which he knew was very effective against Gaara. Surprise only came to his face when he impacted something other than the tree, or rather, someone impacted him and saved him from hitting the tree.
"Sakura-chan!" he gasped, seeing that his savior was none other than his masked teammate. She coughed heavily, lifting up her mask and spitting a little blood out of her mouth. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, you crazy idiot.." she rubbed her bandaged ribs, thankful that her heavy bandaging and support held up somewhat. ".. that was a really good move you did... but you only managed one hit.."
"Bah.." Naruto simply replied, the smirk not falling from his face.
"Hey, Naruto..."
"Huh?"
Sakura stared at the ground. "You better rescue Sasuke-kun no matter what." He stared at her. "And once you rescue him, take him, run and get reinforcements. You can do it."
"Sakura-chan... are you...?"
"I can buy you some time.. If it ends here, you know that I was only capable of getting this far." She slowly stood up, supporting her ribs with one arm. She snickered. "It's funny, you know... when you see something so horrible, that your memories suddenly flash before your eyes, as if to remind you about something, anything..." Unknown to Naruto, tears began falling from her eyes. "I'm sorry... Naruto, all this time since we first met, I've been treating you badly, only as a teammate that I trust, but never truly as a friend.. an annoyance. Like Itachi-sensei had said in the beginning, I don't deserve to be a kunoichi of Konoha.. I don't deserve this mask that I worked so hard to earn..."
"...you died... Naruto.." she choked out between sobs, words that shocked her teammate to the core. ".. you died when he used you as a shield to stop Sasuke's Chidori.. it took your death to realize how much I love you!" she snapped, her emotions cascading over her, filling her with sadness and strength. "I may not love you as what you want to me to, but I love you as one of my best friends, just like I love Ino-chan and Sasuke-kun!"
"...sakura-chan..." It wasn't a dream.. I did die..
".. I already lost you once and I nearly lost Sasuke-kun.." she said, her fist clenching tightly. "I never want to see an important friend die in front of me again."
"..you love me...? Best friend...?" Memories came to Naruto's mind.
"I won't fail in protecting my family, again." Itachi said before he first fought Momochi Zabuza.
"Do you have someone that is important to you?" Haku asked Naruto while that sat in the clearing. It was only a day before the two of them would meet face to face as enemies on the Water Country bridge. "A person is able to become truly strong when they wish to protect someone they cherish."
"I see.." He began, moving to stand on his own two feet. "That's right." He stared at Gaara. "He's like me," he began. "I've felt the same loneliness and sadness in my life, that's why I thought that he was strong, because he was alone and fought only for himself." His fist started shaking. "But that's not what being strong means. You can't become truly strong if you only fought for yourself."
You will become strong.
"Haaaaa...!" His hands came together in the ram seal, his mind totally focusing on all the chakra that he could muster. Suddenly, a huge aura of concentrated chakra surrounded Naruto, so much that Sakura had to shield herself from the raw power coming from him. So much chakra, that even without having to concentrate, she could see it billowing around him as if he was on fire.
What the...! She gasped, involuntarily taking a step back. He's creating an enormous amount of chakra! Holy crap.. is this really Naruto?
I swear.. I will protect everyone!
"TAJYUU KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" Mass Shadow Replication Technique!
Ninja smoke shrouded everyone's vision for a whole acre of forest. Within a few seconds it dissipated, revealing hundreds upon hundreds of Naruto clones, each one dotting the various trees that surrounded the injured Gaara of the Sand. Temari could not believe someone like Uzumaki Naruto could perform such a technique. Sakura was stupefied, frozen in awe at what her teammate just accomplished. The small frog that was summoned was amused.
"Heh, he's pretty good."
"Hah! Sorry to keep you waiting!" Naruto shouted, pointing at Gaara. "This is where the Uzumaki Naruto Ninja Chronicles begin!"
Sakura stared at him. "Naruto... did you.. do this...?" He didn't answer.
"Sakura-chan. I can tell you're injured, so rest. Just leave the rest to me, Uzumaki Naruto."
Naruto...
End of Chapter 24
Author's Notes:
Ooo..! I nice big chapter. This chapter, action wise, has got to be one of the best chapters that I've done. I already know what many are going to think: "Aww this jerk-off just copied most of the manga!" Well, maybe I did, but maybe I didn't. Most of Gaara's dialog is from the manga because I don't know how his character works. His type of character, to me, is really boring and I can't really work with him.
A little twist in the story. Sasuke took a quote directly from Haku, if no one realizes where that quote came from. The Cherry Blossom Technique is taken from Sakura when she does it during the 1st movie against the Snow ninja.
Many have wondered, why is Naruto so down played in my story? Well, for one thing, Naruto is not the main character in my story! Secondly, Naruto is on the same level of the other two, so if you down play all three of them, they would be the same level they were at in the canon show.
Many will wonder, if Sasuke is stronger than the canon, why couldn't he beat Gaara in this chapter? Read the story once again. Sasuke is not the Avenger as he was in canon Naruto. He's more human and down to earth.
Next is Chapter 25: Foolish Little Brother