Chapter 29

"N-Naraku… he's still alive…" Gaara gaped, as he stared in a dumbfounded way at the two of them. Indeed, Naraku was still kicking. Most of his body had been blown away in the blast, though it hadn't disintegrated like Temari's had; he didn't even seem to notice his missing body parts.

That was an advantage of being at least partly demon in this world; he could withstand things that ordinary humans couldn't. Seemingly not caring that his body was a series of shapeless blobs floating in the air near him, the only thing he did to retaliate was protect the remainder of his body with a barrier.

He could regenerate his body easily enough, but only if he had something to work off of. Smirking, he floated around Naruto, continuing to taunt him.

Naruto, growing more and more enraged, allowed for the Fox Demon's chakra to consume him further. Seeing his opponent still alive after that blast only made him want to destroy the fiend even more.

The chakra of the Fox Demon continuing to take control and manipulate Naruto, a sixth and seventh tail quickly beginning to form. The enormous amount and power of the chakra continued to grow, raising Naruto into the air as his chakra armour grew to an unbelievable size.

He was beginning to look more and more like the demon inside him, and it didn't look like he was going to stop any time soon. With a fearsome roar he lifted a paw and brought it down on what remained of the enemy.

The simple action of stomping on the ground like that forced everyone to acknowledge his power, not that they hadn't previously.

The force of his simplistic attack send the group flying backward even though they weren't even remotely near the attacker. The trees behind them too were knocked back, near-instantly uprooted.

Their wind knocked out of them when they were forced against the trees behind the ones that had been uprooted, they gaped in amazement at the beast's raw power.

Lifting his foot from the ground, Naruto found that Naraku had once again survived. Had it not been for the barrier he'd created he might not have come out of it unharmed, but he was still there.

Cackling, he rose from the ground, already beginning his regeneration process. He knew he couldn't easily be beaten, and was going to continue pushing the boy until he was at or past his limit.

Slowly an eighth tail emerged from the mass of pulsating chakra. Soon the transformation would be complete, and no good could honestly come from that; if he completely transformed, Kagome's world would face an enemy possibly even greater than Naraku.

Being driven almost purely by the Fox Demon's rage, Naruto continued to lash out. He delivered blow after devastating blow, each time unable to destroy Naraku once and for all.

The onlookers watched in amazement, barely caring that with each attack they themselves were being tossed around by the aftershock of the attacks. They couldn't believe what was happening before them; such was the power of the beast.

Naruto, still unable to crush Naraku, lifted his head to the cloudless night sky. Soon after the eighth tail appeared the ninth began to emerge, completely transforming his body. Kyuubi was offering all the chakra it had in hopes of breaking free from its host, and Naruto was taking what it had to give.

A fearsome roar escaped his throat as the transformation came to an end. He was now all-powerful, all the Demon Fox's chakra at his disposal. There was no way his enemy could survive this time. And once he took care of that pest, it would be the perfect time to wreak havoc on the rest of this world.

Not wanting to take any chances, the Fox Demon's mind convinced him to use one of his most powerful attacks. He'd make sure Naraku couldn't run away this time.

With that he tilted his head back again, his mouth open. Slowly at first, but with growing speed, the surroundings began to change. The colourful trees began to lose their beauty, and the same happened with every other living thing in Naruto's area.

He was sucking the life out of everything in the area, using their power to boost his own attack. His radius was small at first, but grew as he sucked the plants and creatures dry.

Naraku found himself immune to this life-sucking pre-attack, but even so he didn't like what was happening. If this monster attacked with that much power at such a close range, even he wouldn't be able to survive it.

To regenerate he'd need at least a small part of his body to go off of, but this attack would surely annihilate him, leaving no remains whatsoever.

For the first time he looked up at Naruto, a nervous look on his face. Quickly he called for Hakudoshi, whom he planned would take him away before the beast's blow hit. With that in mind he regained his cold composure, smiling wickedly.

He'd be getting away, while Sango and the others would most likely be destroyed by the blast. Even though they were sitting on the sidelines a ways away, the attack would engulf them as well.

Soon Hakudoshi rode in on his demon horse, Entei. Naraku had a hasty discussion with him, but stopped short when Naruto again lowered his head. The attack was ready and they were all still here; this was no time for chatting.

He'd wasted too much time already, and under Hakudoshi's protection they began to raise into the air to make their getaway. Before they could get away, however, something very unexpected happened.

With a roar Naruto collapsed, knocking down some nearby trees and nearly crushing Hakudoshi. There on the ground he writhed violently, roaring in pain.

Soon his struggling stopped, and he lay motionless in the crater he'd created. The lives he'd stolen from the nearby living things began to escape from his body, making their way back to their rightful hosts.

As time went by the magnificent colour of the surrounding trees and animals came back, their lives returned to them. Once things looked completely normal again in that respect Naruto began to change, his transformation reversing for some reason.

"Do… do you thing he managed to regain control and is reversing it so he doesn't hurt us all along with him?" Sango asked curiously, as a few of the tails gradually disappeared and he began to shrink back to his normal size.

Sakura doubted it, but didn't say anything. She was unsure what was going on, but she somehow knew it couldn't be good.

"No, that's not it," Gaara said, speaking from experience, "The only ways I know of to stop someone when they reach that final stage of a transformation into a Tailed Demon is to either defeat them or do something drastic to bring them back to reality."

The matter puzzling all of them (especially Kagome because she had no idea what was going on in the first place), they looked on. There was nothing they could do but watch the events unfold and hope for the best.

Naraku chuckled as the last of Naruto's tails disappeared and the mass of chakra surrounding his body began to do the same. Soon the orange substance was completely gone and he was nearly looking normal again.

"Naruto!" Sakura called out, running past Gaara and Sango. She no longer cared if Naraku was still there and living; something had happened to the boy to make this sudden reverse-transformation happen, and she had to find out what.

The others followed her, not quite knowing why. They wanted to know what had happened as well, but still they were suspicious of Naraku. They didn't know if he was planning something or not, and were cautious in their approaching them.

Naraku did nothing, nor did his henchman. He wanted to see what would happen next; Naruto's sudden actions surprised even him.

Soon all of them were crowded around the boy's motionless body, Naraku watching on from above. The mood quickly turned sour when they saw what was wrong with Naruto.

His skin was still a brilliant shade of dark red, a mix of blood, burns, and remaining fragments of the Fox Demon's chakra. His clothes had been torn to shreds by the mass of power he'd borrowed, showing off the whole of the damage he'd taken on.

Almost completely closed, his eyes gave him a look of odd peacefulness. The whole time his friends stood observing him he didn't move an inch.

"Naruto…" Sakura whispered, tears forming in her eyes, "Naruto, hang in there. We'll save you… we have to. We have to find some way to… you can't leave us…"

Refusing to give up hope she began pouring chakra into her hands, intending to heal him. She'd seen the state he'd been in after getting a fourth tail back in her world once and knew that the chances of reviving him were slim, but hope wouldn't allow her to give up on such a dear friend.

"Kukuku," Naraku laughed from inside his protective bubble, as he watched the girl waste her efforts, "Looks like he couldn't even handle his own power. How sad… for you, that is. One less wretch for me to deal with."

Gaara whipped around to face him, a furious look on his face, "You, just shut the hell up! You're supposed to be dead right now… if it wasn't for you, Naruto would still be alive! I'll kill you…"

"I highly doubt that. But…" he said cockily, "I'm afraid in this condition, I can't decimate you properly. Hakudoshi, bring me to the other castle and leave this scum to prepare for our next attack. Kagome… I'll be back for you later."

With that Hakudoshi obeyed, ordering his demon horse to fly away. Soon the villains were nearly out of sight and out of reach.

"Bastards, get back here! YOU'RE DEAD!" Gaara yelled fiercely, nearly losing control. It was true; this enemy could bring out the worst in people.

Putting her hand on his shoulder Kagome said comfortingly, "Gaara, let it go. You've already lost one friend… risking your life on top of that just isn't worth it."

"I know, you're right…" he sighed, turning back to the others. He found that he couldn't bear to look at Naruto's lifeless body and quickly looked away, "We should get going. That Inuyasha guy will probably be needing us pretty quick here."

"Inuyasha? What happened to Inuyasha? Where is he?" Kagome asked, suddenly frantic. Having been taken from her comrades at the very beginning of the battle against Gaara, she had no idea that he'd turned full-demon.

"He…" Sango started, unsure of how to word it, "Inuyasha lost control when he couldn't defeat Gaara, and his sword shattered… he turned full-demon. We went to Totosai, but he can't do anything until we get a bondant… so we came to get you."

"You mean… everyone risked their lives and some of you died to save me?" she gaped, barely believing that even strangers would do such a thing, "What about Miroku and the others? Are they all right?"

Sango nodded, "If the barrier has been maintained, they should be perfectly fine. But if the barrier fails and Inuyasha breaks free… well, I think we all know what that'll mean…"

"We can't let that happen! I have to turn him back to normal right away," Kagome cried, "Where are they?"

Sango rounded them up and although it hurt them to just leave a comrade lying there, they set off for the Kaede's village, where Inuyasha was being contained. If they were to save him and the village he'd been caught attacking, they had to act fast.

:End of Chapter 29:

So I got a review sooner than I thought I would. That being said, here is the next chapter! Woohoo! Only one chapter to go after this, so yeah... and the four mini-chapters to tie up loose ends. So thats about... 5 more updates. So keep on reveiwing, and youll know what happens very very soon!

So of course, Narakus cocky even though hes on the edge of death. And he escapes to attack them another day. Because for some reason I like to leave things relatively balanced in the fanfictions I write. I dunno why I keep that balance and make it go along with what the shows would be like. Oh well.

But wait! What of Inuyasha? Hes still full demon and needs saving! Stay tuned to see what comes of him.

In other news, Im going to be having a contest soon. I have a random guest pass to TF2 in my possession, and Ill be giving it away to the winner of said contest. But first I have to figure out what that contest will be like. Ill tell more of it in coming updates, but if you really want to keep track of it Ill be updating on progress in my journal. Yeah. So if you want to see how awesome TF2 is for 3 days for free, feel free to enter when I get the contest up.

Next update will come when I get another review.