Chapter 26

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Naruto stood on the top of the dragon's head with a feeling of anticipation. He knew that this would be unlike any battle he had ever been a part of and he was anxious as well as exhilarated.

"You ready for this kid?" The dragon asked.

"Oh yeah! Let's go!" Naruto responded. Shukaku also seemed ready for combat.

"Drilling Air Bullet!" Shukaku yelled as he unleashed three blasts of highly compressed air.

The dragon flew swiftly and dodged the blasts the sand demon launched.

"You'll have to do much better than that Shukaku!" The dragon taunted.

"I will destroy you!" Shukaku bellowed in fury.

"I take it there's some bad blood between you two?" Naruto asked as he tried to regain his composure. He was not used to moving so quickly and his equilibrium was off.

"Yes, Shukaku and I have fought many times before." The dragon responded as it opened its mouth.

"Dragon Fire!" The dragon roared as it unleashed red hot flames from its mouth. The flames swept over the forest and raced toward Shukaku. However, the flames were halted by a large wall of sand that erupted from in front of the sand demon. The sand was instantly turned to glass from the flames, but Shukaku remained untouched.

"Nice try!" Shukaku yelled as he turned and smashed his tail into the wall of glass, shattering it. Afterwards, Shukaku came out of his spin with another wind bullet that launched all of the sharp chunks of glass floating in the air towards Naruto and the dragon.

"Watch out!" Naruto yelled as the shards swiftly approached.

The dragon began to maneuver, but was unable to dodge every shard. Its scales protected it from severe harm but many shards of glass hit the dragon. The dragon flew higher into the air and launched a ball of fire at Shukaku. The sand demon was not fast enough to avoid the blast and his left arm was heated until it also became glass and useless.

"Curse you!" Shukaku yelled as it began to launch air bullets toward the duo.

The dragon dodged all of the blasts and hovered in front of the demon.

"It looks like you're in need of another arm Shukaku." The dragon stated with humor.

"Oh really?" Shukaku replied as an arm of sand erupted from the ground, smashing into the dragon and sending it backward.

"What just happened?" Naruto asked as the dragon regained its composure and once again took to the sky. Naruto didn't like that he was an invalid in this fight. He didn't see anything he could do to Shukaku.

"Look down kid." The dragon replied as its red eyes narrowed.

Naruto looked at the ground and saw that Shukaku's tail was buried underground.

"Shukaku must be using his tail to compress the minerals in the earth's crust to create more sand for him to use." The dragon explained.

The dragon was proven correct when several more Shukaku like arms of sand emerged from the ground; there were eight of them total.

"I need a hand? It appears that I have all the help I need." Shukaku said with a laugh as the arms of sand flew towards Naruto and the dragon.

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Shikamaru hid in the underbrush, thinking on how to defeat Temari.

'She doesn't truly want to hurt me…I hope. So maybe I can use that.' Shikamaru thought. He didn't like that he couldn't predict Temari right now. He was sure she wouldn't kill him, but would she hurt him enough to incapacitate him?

He ran out of time for planning when a huge blast of wind blew him out of his hiding spot. Temari had found him and attacked instantly. Shikamaru was blown back into a tree with a grunt of pain.

"That hurt." Shikamaru said softly.

"Are you finally ready to fight Shikamaru?" Temari said as he landed on the branch above him. She wasn't stupid enough to get too close to him. From this angle she would be able to avoid his shadow.

"Not really. I know you don't want to fight me anymore than I want to fight you. It's all so troublesome." Shikamaru replied in a bored tone.

"I don't want to fight you." Temari admitted with her head down.

"I know, I already said that." Shikamaru replied, his tone never changing.

"But why?! Why don't I want to fight you?" Temari asked angrily. She had never been one to shy away from a fight. She enjoyed pushing herself and coming out the victor in a fight. Shikamaru had been the only person to ever truly defeat her in a contest of wills.

Shikamaru didn't reply. He simply looked at Temari for a moment. He also couldn't figure out why he didn't want to fight Temari. Normally he would chalk it up to him finding it to be too troublesome, but he knew that that wasn't the entire reason.

'This is so troublesome.' Shikamaru thought with a sigh as he walked toward Temari slowly. She had made no move after her comment. She simply stood still with her gaze turned downward. Shikamaru walked close to her, but she still made no attempt to move.

"Why don't you want to fight me?" Temari asked softly, though she didn't raise her head.

"Did you want to attack my village?" Shikamaru asked.

"No." Temari answered.

"Have you killed any leaf ninja?" Shikamaru asked.

"No I haven't." Temari replied.

"What do you want to do right now?" Shikamaru asked.

Temari didn't answer. She kept her gaze turned to the ground. Shikamaru looked at her for a moment and turned to walk away. He suddenly ducked his head as Temari's fan swung through the space his head had just been. Shikamaru turned and watched as Temari opened her fan and finally looked up from the ground.

"What do I want to do right now? I want all of this to end! I want the invasion to stop. I want the bloodshed to end. I want to leave without fighting a senseless war. I want our villages to be allies again so I won't have to fight you! But we rarely get what we want!" Temari yelled with tears in her eyes as she swung her fan and unleashed her wind attack at the unprotected shadow user.

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Shino stared at the sound jonin that was currently racing toward him. Shino had little chakra left and he had lost a good portion of his insects.

Shino watched as the jonin jumped toward him and slashed down with his sword. Shino didn't even blink; he would face death with his head held high. However, Shino was saved from death when a senbon needle hit the jonin in his arm, causing him to drop his sword. He jumped back to avoid three more needles that were thrown at him.

"Who did that?!" The jonin yelled to his underling.

"I don't know sir!" The sound ninja replied back as he stood beside his superior.

Shino knew all too well who it was and a smile appeared on his face.

'Haku-chan.' Shino thought happily as a thick mist spread over the forested area.

"What's going on sir?" The sound ninja asked with a hint of fear.

"Shut up!" The jonin replied as he looked around.

"You will pay for what you have done." Haku's voice said from somewhere in the mist. It was soft and had an echoing quality to it, chilling the sound ninja to the core.

"S-sir w-what are we going to do?" The ninja asked in fear. The mist was all encompassing and he was sure he saw shadow figures moving in the mist. He was losing his nerve and resolve and he would break soon. Haku was using Zabuza's training well.

"Calm down!" The jonin replied angrily.

"Eight deadly points to choose from. Which would you like to feel first?" Haku's voice asked calmly.

The sound ninja broke under the pressure and began to throw shuriken and kunai into the mist in a frenzy.

"I told you to calm down!" The sound jonin yelled as the sound ninja pulled out his last kunai and ran into the mist with a yell.

"You idiot!" The sound jonin yelled after his underling as he ran after the ninja. He ran through the mist looking for his subordinate. However, he stopped when the mist became so thick that he couldn't see any more than a few feet in front of him. He suddenly heard the scream of pain from his underling and knew he was alone.

"Come on then! I won't lose my nerve like that weakling." He yelled as he pulled out a kunai.

"Oh? Well that just means I can have more fun with you." Haku's voice replied sweetly, that only added a darker quality to her tone.

The jonin continued to look around, trying to pinpoint her location. He screamed in pain when two senbon went through his shoulders. His arms were useless and he finally felt the slow rising fear of this unknown, but very deadly enemy.

"You really shouldn't have hurt Shino-kun like that. It makes me angry." Haku's voice said as more senbon flew to strike the jonin in his legs, leaving them useless and causing him to drop onto his back. He stared up in pain as the mist cleared. Haku was easily skilled enough to incapacitate an enemy leaving them in little to no pain, however, Haku wanted the jonin to feel every bit of pain he could. He didn't have to wait long to see the face of his enemy. He was surprised to see that it was only a young female, barely older than the Aburame boy. However, her brown eyes were as cold as ice and showed that she, unlike the Aburame, knew what it was like to kill indiscriminately and with little remorse.

Haku looked down at the sound ninja before her. She had known Shino was in danger when his insect that she always kept with her began to buzz urgently. She had slowly come to interpret the different buzzing the insect made. She could tell that this time it was trying to alert her that something was amiss. She had come upon the defeated bodies of the first few ninja and ran full speed when she realized that Shino was outnumbered and very likely in danger. When she saw the jonin jump at him with the intent to kill him, she was frozen momentarily in fear that she would lose Shino. Shino was one of her first friends and she knew that he was slowly becoming much more than that. She couldn't lose him.

She looked down at the jonin in anger that bordered on rage. She would make him pay for trying to take Shino away from her. She calmly pulled out a scroll from the chunin vest she wore. She unsealed Zabuza's sword and saw the fear flash in the sound ninja's eyes.

"You signed your own death warrant when you attacked my Shino." Haku said softly, though the venom in her voice was palpable. Haku always regretted the lives she took in battle, but this time she knew that she wouldn't. She picked up the blade and swiftly removed the ninja's head from his body. After resealing the blade she ran over to Shino.

"Shino-kun are you okay?" She asked with concern.

"I'm fine Haku-chan now that you're here." He said with relief as she wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

"What were you thinking fighting so many opponents at once?" Haku said in anger.

"I had to stall them so that Naruto could catch up with Gaara. I hoped to ambush them, but it didn't work out very well." Shino replied as she helped him to his feet.

"Please don't do something so foolish again, Shino-kun." Haku said as tears began to build in her eyes.

"I will try Haku-chan." He said as he raised a hand to brush away the tears that began to fall. Haku leaned into the touch and stared at Shino with her true feelings visible in her eyes.

Shino saw her true feelings present and for a moment was tempted to turn away. He was not used to dealing with such emotion, but his own feelings for Haku came forth and he could do nothing but pull Haku's face toward him as he prepared to allow his emotions to rule over his mind for once.

"Hey guys!"

Haku and Shino turned to look as Ino came running up to them. Haku smiled at her, but she could also hear Shino's insects buzz with annoyance that relayed Shino's mood at blonde female ninja for interrupting them.

"What is it Ino?" Shino asked. His voice displayed his displeasure.

"Hey don't get mad at me. I just want to know where Shikamaru and Choji are." Ino replied.

"They went on ahead." Shino said as he inclined his head in the direction they had gone.

"Thanks!" Ino replied as she ran in the direction that Shino had indicated.

Shino gave a huge sigh of annoyance as he turned back to Haku. He felt a pair of lips pressed against his cheek for a moment and when his mind caught up with what had happened Haku was already walking back toward the village.

"Coming Shino-kun?" Haku asked.

"B-but." Shino began as Haku turned back and wrapped an arm around his waist to support him.

"We can discuss this later Shino. Now let's get you back to the village to get taken care of." Haku said as they began the trek back to Konoha.

'Haku-chan……kissed……me.' Shino thought in awe. He was stunned and probably wouldn't have been able to walk straight if Haku wasn't helping him. His insects were buzzing erratically at Shino's mood. He turned to look at her and was met with the same warm brown eyes that she always held for him. He felt a rush of an unknown emotion spread through his body leaving a warm feeling.

'Haku-chan, how can you make me feel these things?' Shino thought as they walked back to the village together. He would have liked to go and help Naruto and Hinata, but he knew that he would be a liability in his current state.

'Naruto, Hinata, stay safe.' Shino thought.

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Minato Namikaze was not an ordinary ninja. He was the first and only man to receive the SS class in the bingo book. He had a flee on site order which meant that if you were to see him on the battle field and he were to see you then you were already considered dead by your home village. Minato was proving the stories about him true as he decimated the leaf forces in the stadium.

Kurenai bore witness to this as she attempted to break Kakashi out of his current catatonic state. The leaf's best jonin was frozen where he sat. He didn't move, nor did he blink. He simply sat there; his eyes had a far off look to them.

"Darn it Kakashi, this isn't the time or place to shut down on us!" Kurenai yelled to no effect. She turned and saw another leaf ninja fall to the Yondaime Hokage. Minato was still not killing the leaf ninja, but the condition he left them in was enough to put them out of commission for the rest of the battle. Currently, the only ninja left able to fight consisted of Asuma, Gai, Genma, Kakashi and herself. Every other jonin, chunin and genin was knocked out.

"You'll have to better to defeat me." Minato said sadly.

"Why are you doing this Hokage-sama?!" Asuma asked.

"I have no choice. While I can restrain myself from killing you, that is the limit of my control over this body. To stop me, you'll have to kill me." Minato responded.

'Sure, all we have to do is defeat the strongest Hokage to ever hold the position. It took fighting a demon to kill him last time.' Kurenai thought in annoyance. She looked down at Kakashi, but his gaze was now stuck on the yondamie.

"S-sensei." Kakashi said softly. Kakashi's mind was stuck in his memories. Kakashi had always attempted to keep his past memories at the back of his mind so as not to be overwhelmed by the sense of loss and despair that they always brought with them. However, seeing his old sensei again had brought up all of those memories rushing back full force. He remembered Rin, Obito, his father, and countless other friends that he lost over the years. The memories of the third great ninja war that brought upon the deaths of his teammates flashed through his mind. The death of his sensei after the fight against the Kyuubi followed, and then the whole process began again. Kakashi's mind was stuck in a loop.

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Orochimaru may have been smiling before, but his smile had long sense left his face. Contrary to what he tried to show, summoning Minato Namikaze was extremely taxing on his chakra and stamina. He was currently paying for that price as the third's strikes came closer and closer. Sarutobi had been thrown into a rage when his former student had stooped so low as to resurrect the leaf's greatest hero to exact his revenge. Sarutobi swore to himself that Orochimaru would die by his hand today.

"Careful old man. You don't want to have a heart attack from all this fighting." Orochimaru said in an attempt to distract the Hokage.

"My life means little to me, as long as you join me in death!" Sarutobi said in a yell as he ducked under Orochimaru's sword slash and slammed the end of his staff into Orochimaru's chest. Sarutobi pressed his advantage and landed blow after blow onto Orochimaru.

The snake sannin jumped back and coughed up a bit of blood. He glanced at the battle down below and his smile came back.

"You may be fighting well against me, my old sensei. However the yondaime is decimating your forces."
Orochimaru said.

Sarutobi looked toward the battle field and was shocked to see every ninja in the stadium, except for a handful, defeated. Sarutobi was about to turn his gaze back to Orochiamru when something caught his attention. He looked up and was stunned to see a ghostly figure floating above the arena. Its skin was grey, it had long hair, and dark robes. This was the shinigami. Only those who had seen the death god before would have been able to see it floating above the arena, looking down at the battle.

"Orochimaru, what did you do?" Sarutobi said in a fearful tone.

"You must know that I would never attempt a jutsu for the first time during a battle situation. I attempted to summon the yondaime before the invasion began, but to my surprise the Shinigami appeared. It asked me why it should allow me to use one of the many souls that forever reside in its stomach. I was able to barter a deal with the death god. The agreement was that Minato's soul would be allowed to be released to fight for me in exchange for the souls of all the people Minato kills or are killed because of his influence. The death god was all too happy to agree as long as it got to keep the souls." Orochimaru explained with a sneer.

"You are truly a despicable excuse for a human!" Sarutobi yelled as he attacked again. He saw Orochimaru was drained from summoning Minato and thus Sarutobi was going to take advantage.

'I have to hurry, though, before Minato deals with my greatest jonin and moves throughout the city. The third knew that should Minato leave the stadium and move into the city then all hope was lost for the leaf village.

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Kurenai watched as Gai, Asuma and Genma attacked Minato all at once. Asuma had brought out his trench knives, Gai had already unlocked the third gate, and Genma was preparing a jutsu. Minato gazed at them with the same sad eyes; however, this didn't prevent him from attacking. His speed was amazing in that he moved just as fast as Gai. He blocked a kick launched by Gai, and grabbed the limb to throw the join into the wall. However, Asuma was there and slashed at Minato with his trench knives. Minaot released Gai and moved his head to the side, avoiding the blades. However, a slash appeared on Minato's face. He looked at Asuma closely and saw that the knives were being extended with chakra.

"Very clever." Minato said as he pulled out a kunai. This kunai was special, however. It had three blades and a special seal on the handle.

Minato threw the kunai at Asuma, only for Genma to spit out his senbon to deflect the kunai to land directly in front of Asuma. However, this is exactly what Minato wanted. He disappeared in a flash of yellow and appeared directly in front of Asuma. Neither Asuma, nor Genma could do anything but stare as Minato punched Asuma in the chest sending him crashing into a wall. Minato turned and swiftly turned his head to avoid the punch Gai had launched toward him when he wasn't looking.

Kuenari turned to see if Asuma was alright and was relieved when he shakily stood to his feet. Minato was not only very fast but very strong. Their chances right now were slim. Kurenai turned to Kakashi and her concern for him dissolved into fury.

"Darn it Kakashi! I can understand that this is hard for you! But if you don't do anything than your former sensei is going to lay waste to the leaf village. Is that what you want?! You know he died to protect this entire village. Are you going to let him destroy that which he gave his life to protect?!" She yelled at the copy ninja. Kakashi didn't move, but something in his demeanor shift ever so slightly.

"You shouldn't turn your back on your opponent." Minato said softly from behind Kurenai.

Kurenai turned in swiftly to see that Genma and Gai were lying motionless on the ground. She turned back to Minato and saw that he held a swirling ball of chakra.

'Is that..?' Kurenai thought in fear at the sight of the legendary jutsu.

"Rasengan!" Minato yelled as he thrust the ball of chakra towards Kurenai.

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Kankuro sighed in relief when the poison gas cloud dispersed and the still body of Choji appeared. The chubby ninja had given Kankuro much more trouble than expected but the final result was the same.

"Nice try fatso." Kankuro said as he pulled crow back to examine the damage.

"Choji!"

Kankuro looked up and saw the blonde girl he had defeated in the preliminaries.

"What do you want blondie?" Kankuro asked in annoyance.

"What did you do to Choji?!" Ino yelled as she kneeled down beside her teammate.

"Don't give me that! This was a ninja battle and he put up a much better fight than you did." Kankuro said. He didn't have crow attack yet. He knew she was of little threat to him, but if she tried her mind jutsu then he would send crow in to finish them both.

Ino looked down at the still form of Choji.

'Why Choji? Why did you push yourself this far?' Ino thought to herself.

"I-Ino." Choji said softly.

"Choji!" Ino cried in relief. However, the relief quickly turned to fear and panic as he attempted to get to his feet.

"Choji stop moving!" Ino yelled.

Choji ignored her and pulled himself to his hands and knees.

"Get back Ino. I'm not finished with him yet." Choji said with a pant of exhaustion.

"You should listen to your teammate. I don't know how you are still conscious after breathing in all that poison, but you should get yourself back to your village before you keel over and die." Kankuro said. He had already won and while he could kill them both, he wanted to go see what was keeping Temari and Gaara. Also, he had gained a very small amount of respect for Choji. He had fought fiercely and had really given Kankuro a good fight.

"It's not over until I make you pay for what you did." Choji said as he shakily pulled himself to his feet.

"Choji, what could he have possibly have done to make you so upset?!" Ino yelled in anger.

"He hurt you." Choji replied softly as he rushed toward Kankuro.

'What? Choji's doing all of this because I was hurt in the third round?' Ino thought in confusion as she saw him dodge the puppet and attempt to hit Kankuro.

"Human Bullet Tank!" Choji yelled as he expanded in size and began to roll toward Kankuro.

Kankuro jumped away from Choji and sent crow to launch another explosive canister at the rolling genin. However, Choji quickly learned from his mistakes and swerved to the side to avoid the canister. Choji then smashed into the tree that Kankuro was in to force the puppet using ninja down. Kankuro once again jumped back into the trees.

"Come down and fight!" Choji yelled in anger as he smashed into another tree.

"There's no need. The more you move, the faster the poison will move through your body. It's only a matter of time." Kankuro said as he noticed that Choji was rolling slower than before.

"You can't win. Leave now and you may be able to save your life." Kankuro said as Choji completely stopped spinning and feel to his hands and knees.

"You should be feeling the paralyzing effects right about now. Soon your body will shut down. You really want to go this far for some girl?"Kankuro asked.

"Who are you calling some girl?! Mind Transfer Jutsu!" Ino yelled from behind Kankuro. He had forgotten the most crucial rule in a fight; never turn your back on a potential enemy. Kankuro cursed his stupidity as he felt himself being taken over by Ino.

"I did it!"Ino yelled from Kankuro's mouth. She turned to Choji and saw him breathing hard.

"Choji hit him now!" Ino yelled as she pulled crow back toward her.

"Partial expansion: Arm!" Choji yelled as his arm expanded and he brought it down toward the puppet, crushing it.

"Now Choji finish it!" Ino yelled as she left Kankuro's body. Kankuro was disoriented for a moment, but this was all the time Choji needed as Kankuro looked up and saw that Choji was rolling full speed toward him. Kankuro didn't even have time to defend himself when he was smashed by the rolling tank and sent hurtling into a tree. He didn't get up.

Choji came out of his spin and fell to the ground.

"Choji!" Ino yelled in despair as she went to him. She cradled his head in her lap and silently pleaded for him to open his eyes.

"Come on Choji wake up!" Ino yelled with surprising emotion. She didn't know why but the thought of losing Choji was too much for her to handle.

"I-Ino." Choji said softly as he opened his eyes.

"Choji!" Ino yelled in relief as she hugged him.

'Well I'll have to get poisoned more often if this keeps happening.' Choji thought.

"Nice hit." Kankuro said as he got to his feet.

Ino jumped in front of Choji. She was prepared to fight him if it came to that.

Kankuro looked at them for a moment before he reached into his pocket and threw a capsule toward Ino.

"Here's the antidote." Kankuro said as he turned and began to limp away, slowly.

"Hey wait. You really expect us to trust you?!" Ino yelled.

"My puppet is crushed and I can barely move. Trust me or not, it's up to you." Kankuro said as he began to limp in the direction that Temari had gone. Kankuro was very fortunate that the poison had weakened Choji, or else he wouldn't be moving ever again after getting hit by Choji's bullet tank. Choji had gained Kankuro's respect and thus Kankuro would show him a measure of mercy.

Ino lifted Choji's head and help him to drink the antidote. She waited for a minute to make sure that he would be okay. She was relieved to see color begin to return to his face. He slowly opened his eyes and gave Ino a tired smile.

"Thanks Ino." He said softly.

"You idiot. It should me who's thanking you." She said with tears beginning to fall from her eyes.

"Come on, let's get you back to the village." Ino said as she help Choji up and they began to walk slowly back to the village.

Choji turned his head for a moment and saw Kankuro limping away. Kankuro stopped when he felt someone's eyes on him and turned to stare back at Choji. There was a moment of silence while they measured each other. Slowly Choji nodded his head in respect and Kankuro did the same.

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Temari watched as her wind attack calmed down and she looked to see Shikamaru had been thrown back into the tree trunk. His was knocked down and his head was laying down into his chest. He looked unconscious, or dead.

Temari was unsure of what to feel. She knew she should feel content that she had defeated her opponent, but all she felt was a sharp pain in her chest at what she had done. She didn't want to hurt Shikamaru. She wanted to defeat him to prove she was the better fighter, but she certainly didn't want to hurt him.

"Shikamaru?" She said softly as she made her way toward him. He didn't move an inch.

She slowly walked over to him and checked for a pulse. She felt a fairly strong pulse and sighed in relief. She knew that she should kill him; however, she knew she would never be able to do such a thing. She turned and began to walk away. She would leave him and allow his comrades to take him back to his village. She was sick of fighting an opponent she obviously cared for, though she wouldn't admit it to anyone.

"Checkmate."

Temari found that she couldn't move. She was surprised for only a moment before a small smile appeared on her face. She should have known. She heard him get up and calmly walk around to look at her face to face. She expected his gaze to be hurt or even angry, but she was surprised to see the exact same expression on his face as he always had.

"You shouldn't turn your back on an opponent unless you know for a fact that they're finished." Shikamaru said in his usual tone as he stretched his neck.

"Well, what are you going to do now?" Temari said curiously.

Shikamaru didn't reply. He simply looked at her for a moment with a surprisingly piercing stare. It wasn't a look meant to intimidate. It seemed that he was trying to look directly into her and see her very soul.

He released his shadow bind jutsu and with a yawn he laid down on the branch to look up through the tree towards the sky.

Temari was stunned for a moment that he would release her and simply lay down, completely unprotected.

"What are you doing? Aren't you the one who said to never turn your back on an opponent?" Temari asked as she folded her fan and placed it on her back.

"You're not my opponent." Shikamaru said as he closed his eyes.

"Says who? In case you forgot, I just attacked you." Temari said as she stood over Shikamaru.

"If you really wanted to kill me, then you would have done it with that wind attack. You may have attacked me, but your heart wasn't in it, or else I wouldn't be conscious right now." Shikamaru said as he opened his black eyes to stare up into her teal eyes.

"You knew I wasn't going to try and kill you?" Temari asked.

"No really. I was fairly sure you wouldn't kill me, but I couldn't be certain. You truly are a troublesome woman." Shikamaru said as he sighed and got to his feet.

Temari watched as he turned to walk away.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"Back to the village. I have a feeling that If I follow Naruto, I'll only get in his way." Shikamaru replied.

"Wait." She said softly.

Shikamaru turned to look at her for a moment. He was surprised by her tone. Temari was many things, but he never expected her to reveal her softer side to him. She was troublesome, annoying, and loud, but Shikamaru couldn't deny that he enjoyed her company. He was surprised earlier when after she attacked. He was playing possum to see what she would do. He wasn't surprised the wind attack hadn't killed him. It was obvious she didn't want to unleash it in the first place. He was surprised, however, when she check him for a pulse and softly called his name to see if he was alright.

Shikamaru was broken out of his thoughts when Temari walked up to him a pulled him into a hug. Shikamaru was rarely at a loss for words, but even his genius mind shut down at the feeling of Temari's arms around him. He slowly returned the hug and allowed the warmth that radiated from her body to comfort him.

"Next time, I'll fight seriously and I'll win lazy." She said softly with a smile as she released him. Temari wanted to kick herself for showing such weakness. She didn't know what it was but something about Shikamaru seemed to break through the emotional shields she put up around herself. The hug was a spur of the moment decision, but she didn't regret it.

"We'll see troublesome woman." He replied, though his voice was warm when he referred to her as troublesome.

Temari turned and ran in the direction that Gaara was in. Shikamaru watched her go and with a sigh about troublesome feelings, turned to begin his own trek back towards Konoha.

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Naruto could only hang on for dear life as the dragon attempted to maneuver around the eight arms of sand that were attempting to ensnare them. The arms moved incredibly fast for being so large and Naruto knew that they were just as powerful when he saw a few trees get uprooted or smashed to splinters when hit by the arms of sand. Shukaku meanwhile was laughing in delight at the prospect of killing the dragon as well as the kyuubi container.

The dragon dived under one arm and turned to unleash a blast of fire at the limb, turning it to glass. Two more arms attempted to hit the dragon in the back, but it flew high into the sky and likewise turned them into glass with two well placed fire balls. Shukaku growled in anger at having three of his arms turned to glass, but his mood changed when an arm moved quickly enough to hit the dragon in the chest, knocking it back and nearly grounding the great beast.

Before the dragon could right itself, four of the remaining arms wrapped around the arms and legs of the dragon, keeping it suspended in the air. The fifth and final arm began to pummel the dragon in the chest and face.

Naruto would stand for this and launched a dragon strike to destroy the arm. Shukaku, undeterred by Naruto's interference, launched multiple air bullets in quick succession into the dragon. The dragon roared in pain at the continuous bursts of wind.

"Ha! You've gotten soft in the centuries that you and your kind disappeared from this plane!" Shukaku said with a smile as the seemingly strapped and beaten dragon.

The dragon let loose an earth shaking roar as the red jewel on its forehead brightened.

"Kid get off now!" The dragon roared. Naruto was quick to comply and as soon as he jumped to the tree nearest to him, the dragon's entire body erupted into flames. The arms of sand holding it were turned to glass and quickly shattered by the flaming dragon.

"You talk too much! Now witness you defeat! Dragon Inferno!" The dragon roared as all of the flames covering its body flowed into its wings and mouth and with a mighty flap of its wing a huge blast of fire erupted from each wing and its mouth. The three blasts morphed in mid air and took on the form of a serpentine dragon and slammed into Shukaku. The sand demon roared in pain and agony as the flames spiraled all around it in a cyclone of fire that flew miles into the air, easily seen from many miles away.

Naruto could only watch on in awe at the power the dragon displayed. He was snapped out of it when he saw the dragon land for him to get back on. Once on its head, Naruto looked over as the flames died down. Shukaku's body was completely turned into solid glass.

"Hey is he?" Naruto began.

"It takes much more than that to kill Shukaku. The container is alive inside of that thing, but he is probably running out of air. You better hurry up and get the kid out before he suffocates, or before Shukaku is able to break through the glass." The dragon said. The glass Shukaku began to shake.

Naruto acted quickly and jumped off of the dragon's head.

"Dragon Strike!" Naruto yelled. The golden blast of chakra smashed into Shukaku's head and created a break in the glass. When Naruto landed on the head he say that only the outside of Shukaku was glass, underneath a few feet of glass remained the sand demon, it simply was immobilized for the moment. Naruto reached in the broken glass and the sand underneath to grab Gaara's body. He pulled with all of his strength and attempted to pry Gaara's body out of the sand, however, he was running out of time as more and more of the glass that covered Shukaku's body was shattering off as the demon attempted to regain movement. The sand Gaara was in wasn't releasing him easily and Naruto knew he was running out of time.

"This would go a lot easier if you were awake!" Naruto said as he released on of his hands to slam Gaara in the head. Gaara awakened to stare up into Naruto's face with a look of disbelief.

"NOOOO! I was just starting to have some fun!" Shukaku yelled as his consciousness left the sand body and the sand body began to disintegrate.

'That's one problem down.' Naruto thought.

"Kill me." Gaara said.

"What?" Naruto said as he once again tried to pull Gaara out of the sand, however, while Shukaku's consciousness was back inside of Gaara, the sand continued to try and pull Gaara underneath it as the huge body of sand continued to break apart.

"You have beaten me. My existence is over if I can't defeat you. Kill me, as my life is no longer of any importance." Gaara said completely serious.

"You're not going to die here Gaara, no one's life is of no importance as long as they have things precious to them!" Naruto said with a yell as he pulled Gaara's body out of the sand.

Naruto jumped down to the ground with Gaara in his arms. He placed the exhausted sand ninja on the ground.

"Why won't you kill me?" Gaara asked in confusion.

"You and I are very similar Gaara. I went through the exact same things you went through in life. Well except for the assassination attempts. If I hadn't found my precious people, then I could have ended up like you. Alone, angry at the world, bloodthirsty and willing to cause pain to those that scorned me. However, I found my precious people. They kept the darkness away and I found my worth and existence through my oath to always protect them. Find someone that is precious to you Gaara, and then you will find true strength and a reason to exist." Naruto said calmly.

Gaara looked up at Naruto and saw the strength he held.

'That's why he's strong? He fights for others. Is that true strength?' Gaara thought as Temari and Kankuro appeared.

"Gaara!" They yelled in unison as they helped their younger brother up.

"Naruto-kun!"

Naruto turned and saw Hinata running up to him. He smiled in relief as he wrapped her into a hug. Gaara observed all of this with a critical eye as he turned to his siblings.

"Kankuro, Temari, I'm sorry. Let's go." Gaara said softly. Temari and Kankuro were shocked by Gaara's words, but simply nodded their heads and helped their brother walk away.

After they left, Naruto fell to his knees in exhaustion. Hinata knelt beside him to see if he was okay.

"I'm okay Hinata-chan, just tired." Naruto said in an attempt to reassure her.

"I'm not surprised."

Naruto and Hinata looked up as the dragon landed in front of them. Hinata's eyes widened in awe at the giant legendary creature.

"Don't worry Hinata-chan. He came to help me." Naruto said in a calming tone to settle her down.

"O-oh, thank you then Dragon-sama." Hinata said with a small bow. Naruto bowed as well.

"You are very welcome and call me Drac." The dragon said to the duo.

"I have a question. Why are you red? I mean my sword is white and gold and the dragon strike is always gold in color." Naruto asked.

"There are many dragons kid. I happen to be the one who lords over fire. Once you learn to use the beacon, you'll be able to summon a specific dragon depending on the situation. The golden dragon is the Dragon lord and reigns over all of us." Drac explained.

"Hey kid I have a question for you now. Why did you save the Shukaku's container? You could have let him die and saved yourself the trouble and danger of trying to save him." Drac asked with a critical look in his eyes.

"Maybe, but Gaara deserved to live. It's not his fault his life was so screwed up. Sure I could have killed him, but that would be because I just didn't want to deal with trying to help him. I'll never do something like that. I plan to be the Hokage of the leaf village, thus I must take the time to help every person who needs help, whether they be of the leaf village or another village. I won't take the easy way out and if that's how you work then I'm sorry but I won't be needing your assistance anymore." Naruto said with conviction in his eyes.

"Very well said kid. You are worthy to wield the beacon it seems." Drac said with a small bow of respect. Suddenly he turned his head toward Konoha and gave a low snarl.

"What's wrong Drac-sama?" Hinata asked softly. Being in the presence of a dragon was enough to humble her about her own strength greatly.

"Climb onto me you two." Drac replied sharply as he knelt to the ground. Naruto and Hinata were confused about his abruptness, but nonetheless complied.

"Hang on!" Drac said as he flew full speed in the direction of Konoha.

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Minato looked down at the arm that was currently stopping him from slamming the rasengan into Kurenai's chest. The hand belonged to Kakashi. He was looking at his sensei with sadness as well as conviction.

"I won't allow you to continue to hurt those you care for so much Minato-sensei." Kakashi said as she stood up beside Kurenai.

"Good, I'm glad to see the will of fire hasn't left you my former pupil." Minato said as he snatched his hand back and jumped back to avoid the fireball that Asuma launched at his unprotected side.

"It's about time you rejoined us Kakashi." Kurenai said with annoyance, as well as relief.

"Sorry about that." Kakashi said as he prepared himself.

"Well at least our chances go from nonexistent to slim with you Kakashi." Asuma said.

Suddenly Gai and Genma both jumped beside their comrades.

"Yondiame-sama's flames of youth are truly powerful." Gai said as he winced and held his side.

"For once I agree with you Gai." Genma said as he held his left arm.

"Well we're all that's left so stop complaining and get ready to fight." Kurenai said as Minato pulled out more tri pronged kunai and scattered them throughout the arena floor.

"Prepare yourselves." Minato said as he created a rasengan in each hand.

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Here's chapter 26. Naruto has emerged victories, but now races back to face his father. Kakashi has pulled himself together, but now must face his old sensei. How will all of this end? You'll have to wait and see. Till next time, Kyuubi123 out!