You're welcome! *blows kisses*

"Scatter, Senbonzakura."

The blade of my sword burst into a thousand pieces and formed a wall in front of me just as Gaara had reached me, swiping his claw down only to be blocked and ripped to shreds before howling and jumping back.

I slowly got to my feet as Gaara and I faced each other, Sasuke and the others calling my name.

"Sakura, are you alright?" I nodded my head, as I was too busy looking at Gaara through the petals that began circling around me like a vortex.

So this is what you meant when you said that I don't have control over the petals yet. I had to earn it.

Yes.

Well, I'm glad you think I'm deserving.

You have always been deserving Blossom. You just never had the confidence to realize it.

I swallowed thickly, willing myself to hold back the tears that threatened to come forth as emotions ran over me.

I wouldn't know what I would do without Senbonzakura around, the things he's done for me in the last few months are things that I would never be able to repay him for, and I couldn't have done any of it without him.

So, how exactly do I control these things?

It's quite simple really, all you have to do is think about where it is you want them to go, they can follow your eyes' movements, and for them to be even faster, use your hands to direct them where you want them to go.

Sounds simple enough.

Now then, let's keep going so we can protect those that's most important to you.

Right!

The boys came up to stand next to me, the petals moving out of their way so they wouldn't get cut.

"What are those things?" Neji asked as he looked at them with his Byakugan, trying to figure out what it is."

"It's kind of like a jutsu that I learned while I was training. They're pieces of my sword, the way it reflects against the light is what causes them to look like flower petals. So don't touch them." I said as Naruto pulled his hand back from reaching out to touch one.

"What kind of jutsu is it?" He asked only for me to shake my head.

"We can talk later, right now we have to take care of Gaara." I said before turning to look at the other two boys who nodded.

"Right, what should we do? It's like that thing keeps trying to take over his body." Sasuke said before Neji sighed.

"I don't even know what it is." Neji said as he glanced over to Gaara who was surprisingly waiting patiently.

"I do." Said Naruto as he too looked at Gaara with his face twisted into an almost painful expression.

"What? You do?" Sasuke asked him as Neji and I looked to Naruto who nodded his head.

"You guys have heard the stories right? About the people who were chosen at birth to have a tailed beast sealed inside of them and those individuals are spread among the nations?"

"Yes, but the people who are chosen are supposed to be kept a secret to avoid the villagers from treating those people differently. If the villagers were to know about it, they'll treat those people like they themselves are the demon instead of the protector that's preventing the beasts from destroying villages." I explained while Naruto nodded.

"Yes, that's how it's supposed to be, but not everyone feels like it needs to be a secret. Some villages tell their people about it, and they either have one or two reactions. A good one and a bad one. Well, Suna apparently has told their villagers about their Jinchuriki, and they didn't have a very good reaction out of it. Gaara is the Jinchuriki of the one tailed beast, and has otherwise been treated like garbage for it."

My heart plummeted.

"So when Gaara was yelling at you earlier, about how you both may have demons but you know nothing of his struggles..." I trailed off. Naruto nodded slowly, unsurely.

"Yes, I too have a demon inside, I have the Nine Tailed Fox sealed in me. The Uzumaki clan was known for being the Jinchuriki host for many years now. It used to be in my mom, but after she gave birth to me it weakened the seal that was holding in the beast, causing it to release and attack the village, on October 10th, twelve years ago, then it was sealed inside of me.

Everyone was quiet as we let the information sink in.

"So what do we do?" Neji asked as he kept his eyes trained on Gaara who was slowly loosing himself.

"Let me see what I can do. Maybe I can get through to him and get him to pull back." Naruto said as he continued to watch Gaara.

I frowned, unsure if I should really let him do something like that. This was a sensitive topic for Gaara, and I wasn't sure Natuto could handle something that appeared to be so touchy for the Jinchuriki.

Let him go Blossom. Naruto may not know how to act with you, but despite all the faults he has, I believe that he is the only one who may be able to get through to him.

I pondered for a moment before deciding he was right.

Alright Senbonzakura, I'll trust you on this.

"Alright Naruto, you can take the lead on this one. It's not like we have much of a choice here anyway. Just tell us what we can do to help."

Naruto's stare snapped away from Gaara before he looked at me, his eyes swimming with confusion.

"What?" I said frowning at him. "Just because you and I may not really get along that much doesn't mean I don't know when to say I'm out of my element. I wouldn't know what to do or say to him, and it sounds like you at least have an idea, so let's go with it."

Naruto nodded his head before telling us about his plan.

"You're a fucking idiot." I deadpanned while Neji and Sasuke had bewildered expressions on their faces. Honestly, it was probably the most expression I've seen on either of their faces. Naruto only shrugged his shoulders.

"It's worth a shot." He said as he took off. I just shook my head, exasperated.

He wears me out just by listening to him.

Tell me about it.

"Well boys," I began as Neji and Sasuke both looked in my direction, faces still in disbelief. "Let's get started."

The next few things happened in a bit of a blur.

Naruto tried to summon a toad large enough to attack Gaara, only to fail miserably as a tiny toad appeared instead due to him not really used to summoning them just yet, and the small amount of chakra in his reserves due to our previous battle.

Gaara then began hurling sand shuriken at him, making us all just back up to avoid being hit. This gave Gaara the chance to further his transformation. Both arms and a full face of the demon was now showing.

As we all began to grow desperate, Naruto summoned nearly two thousand clones. The chakra he had used however, was not his own. I could tell just by the way it felt.

It must have belonged to the Nine Tailed Fox.

After several attacks with his endless amount of clones, Naruto threw a kunai with an explosive tag on it, right at Gaara's sand tail. Growing angry, and fearing we'd actually subdue him, Gaara quickly completed his transformation. He destroyed all of Naruto's clones and fully transformed into a tanuki that was taller than the highest tree in the surrounding forest.

Naruto had once again summoned a toad, and was this time more successful and had summoned a large toad that went by the name of Gamabunta.

This was where we came into the battle. Sasuke would stay behind and guard Temari from any more attacks, just in case she happened to get in the way.

Neji and I took off towards Gamabunta and began the climb to reach Naruto who was perched on top of the toads head.

We were supposed to leave Gaara to Naruto, but only if he didn't let the One Tail fully take over, that was no longer the case as he now stood several meters tall with a tail swishing around destroying several trees in his wake.

Once we reached Naruto we stood next to him, ready to help him in any way we could.

The toad drew his sword and charged at the beast, successfully cutting off the arm that was made of sand.

Gaara had appeared out of the forehead of the demon and had talked to Naruto for a moment before falling asleep, fully awakening the Shukaku spirit.

Neji and I held on tight by sending chakra to our feet as the Shukaku began to show its devastating abilities that wasn't working out so well against Gamabunta, so the toad had asked Naruto to help him transform into something that was more suitable, something with claws, or fangs.

It shouldn't have been a surprise when Naruto had transformed Gamabunta into a fox.

At least he didn't give it nine tails.

Who knows, maybe he should have.

Spice things up a little?

Eh, it would have been interesting to see at least, when am I ever going to see him actually release the full Fox demon anyway?

Honestly, I hope you never have to.

Gamabunta, now in the form of a fox, used his claws and teeth to help pin the Shukaku and hold him in one place before Naruto turned to look at Neji and I.

"Neji, I need you to use your Byakugan to find out exactly where Gaara is hiding. Sakura, once he finds him can you use those shards of yours to break through the sand on top of him so that he's visible? After that I can manage the rest." We both nodded our heads as Neji's veins popped out of the side of his head as his families dojutsu came to life.

"He's right at the center of the tanuki's forehead, roughly three feet below the surface." He informed me.

"Got it!" I said as I used my hands and willed them to follow, the petals began to shred away at the surface until the top half of Gaara's body appeared. I commanded the petals to fly away as Naruto began running towards the sleeping man and punches him right in the face, causing him to wake up and send the Shukaku spirit back inside him.

The ferocity on Gaara's face sent shivers down my spine as his first instinct after waking up seemed to have been to attack Naruto with his sand, I quickly spring into action and send Senbonzakura's petals towards them, using some of the fragments to shield Naruto from the sand, and used the rest of them to slash at Gaara with enough speed that he couldn't block it enough time.

As the shards made several tiny cuts all over his body I ran full force to the red head who was screaming before calling Senbonzakura back into his normal form as Gaara's sand stopped pursuing Naruto. I took Senbonzakura, who was now in his sword form, and slashed down on Gaara.

It seemed as though that was Gaara's last bit of strength as the giant tanuki began to disintegrate.

Gamabunta congratulated us all on our hard work and team effort before disappearing in a puff of smoke, causing the four of us to free fall through the sky before I concentrated reishi to my feet to catch myself mid air. I threw three kunai to each of the falling boys, including Gaara, and pinned them all to the frees before their bodies made it to the ground in a broken heap.

I ran flash stepped quickly to where Neji and Naruto were and helped them down, seeing as we were all now severely low on chakra.

I looked to Gaara who had a decent sized wound on his shoulder, leading down to his chest which was still moving with every breath he took, causing me to let out a sigh in relief.

I knew that I wasn't mentally ready to have made my first kill yet, no matter how badly Gaara was trying to kill us, I probably wouldn't be able to take a life for a little longer just yet.

I watched as several ANBU arrived at the scene before they took in their surroundings before looking at us.

"Did you lot do this?" The voice sounded familiar, but I just couldn't place it.

"Yeah man, thanks for showing up on time, you really helped us out there. Oh, wait..." I trailed off as I looked at them all. The one who had spoken earlier rubbed the back of his head sheepishly before giving out a small embarrassed chuckle.

"Sorry Princess, we would have been here sooner if we hadn't been told about it last minute, we didn't know you guys had ran after the Suna Shinobi till Ibiki said so after we had finished taking care of the intruders in the arena. But never mind that now, right now we need to get you all to the hospital to get checked out. We'll handle the rest from here, so just rest."

I should have clicked in my mind sooner that the man I was talking to was Shisui. Granted, most ANBU try to keep their identities a secret, but there was only one person to have ever called me Princess. But it wasn't until he flickered behind me and hit the pressure point in the back of my neck did it truly click that it was him.

"Rest." Was the last thing I heard whispered to me before my world went black.

AN; This book is almost over guys!

Sorry if the fight with Gaara seemed rushed, I just didn't really know what to put and didn't really want to make Sakura do it all by herself, it seemed a bit unrealistic.

I am trying to finish this book before I leave for my long hiatus for work, that way I can just work on the sequels while I'm gone. If I can't finish, oh well, I will when I get back.

But!

Before I leave I will let you guys know the ending pairing for both of the sequels if I can't finish. if I can finish, you will all find out at the last chapter who has won.

Please don't vote again on this chapter if you voted on the last chapter. I really don't want to have to triple check and write down everyone's username just to make sure.

You can vote once, for both stories. I don't mind. (Ex. Ichi and Itachi/ Shisui and Grimm/ Itachi and Grimm/ or Ichi and Shisui)

Other than that, I don't think there is anything else I need to say.

Ask questions if you have any, love you guys and thanks for the support and reading all my boring authors notes! 3