Previously on Path of Shadows, Path of Lights...
As the three Konoha Genin rounded the corner, Gaara stared at them, eyes blazing. "WILL YOU GIVE MY EXISTENCE MEANING?" he asked, voice distorted. The battle of the Jinchuriki was about to begin.
Naruto narrowed his eyes at the psychopathic redhead, who now appeared to be slowly consumed by his Bijuu's sand, taking the monster's form. "I'll give you something greater to exist for..." he began, before turning to his two partners. "Shikamaru...Satsuki...let's do this!"
The Nara leapt into a nearby tree, while Satsuki nodded slightly. "Hn. Just don't get in my way, dobe."
The three Konoha Genin leapt into action, with Satsuki taking point at the front, while Shikamaru and Naruto flanked Gaara - a strategy the Nara had devised on their way to the Suna Jinchuriki. Dropping weighted arm and leg bands as she ran forwards, the Uchiha's speed increased to a speed that rivaled Lee's - giving her the chance to dodge Gaara's Absolute Sand Defense twice on her journey forwards.
Forming several hand seals, the Uchiha's left palm crackled with concentrated electricity, as Temari and Shikamaru both gawked. "So much chakra...and visible to the naked eye, too..." the Nara thought, as the palm of Raiton chakra left a furrow in the ground behind Satsuki, her Sharingan helping map a route past the various sand spikes and traps Gaara's defense set up in front of her. One final layer rose up in an attempt to stop her attack, but the palm smashed right through it and into Gaara's wounded right shoulder.
"CHIDORI!"
Gaara roared in agony as the wound Suigetsu inflicted on him previously burned and spasmed from the electrical shock of the Chidori. "What was that?" Naruto murmured.
"I've heard of that before from my father and Asuma-sensei. It's Kakashi-sensei's only original technique; one of the most feared ninjutsu to ever come out of Konohagakure..." Shikamaru said.
"Like one thousand birds..." Temari said in shock.
Gaara's sand distorted again and wrapped around him even more, the merger between man and Bijuu becoming more and more grotesque. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" Gaara shrieked, his voice distorting thanks to Shukaku's influence. "I will have your BLOOD!" A long appendage resembling a tail shot from behind Gaara, slamming into Satsuki's crossed arms and throwing her into a tree.
Before Naruto could act, Gaara was leaping forwards towards her...only to receive another Chidori for his troubles, shrieking again in pain as his right leg was disabled, the sand wrapping around and supporting that limb too. Satsuki grimaced as she leapt out of the way. "Dammit, I can only use that twice in a day...or can I?" The ravenette avoided a barrage of sand bullets and leapt up next to Naruto.
"Are you just going to stand around and gawk, or will you fight with me, dobe?" Satsuki goaded Naruto, snapping the boy out of it.
"R-Right, teme" the blonde said, nodding as he and Shikamaru flanked Gaara again, throwing explosive kunai in an attempt to weaken Gaara's defenses.
"Hey, Kit"
the blonde almost fell from his branch. "K-Kyu-Kurama?!" he wondered.
"I didn't say you could call me that, but whatever. You're going against my annoying littlest brother, so I am willing to pitch in and help you prove a point to him and his container."
"Well? I'm listening" Naruto thought irritably.
"The weak point of this form is..." the Kyuubi began, as Naruto shelled out more shuriken and kunai.
"Shikamaru, pin him down!" Satsuki yelled, leaping in front of Gaara.
"Eh? How troublesome..." Shikamaru commented, using Shadow Possession to pin Gaara on a single tree branch, as Naruto's explosives kept the sand defense busy.
Satsuki charged forwards, black marks crossing her skin and pain wracking her body as she activated the Cursed Seal, another Chidori forming on her left hand. "Must...protect...!" she thought, before the blade of lightning on her left palm cleaved through Gaara's sand shield, then lopped off his right appendage with ease, leaving a steaming wound down the redhead's arm.
As she collapsed to the ground, the Uchiha heard Gaara howl in pain, and as she slowly turned her body - an act that took all her strength, as she noted somewhere in her mind that she couldn't move enough to fight - Satsuki watched the sand completely deform over Gaara's body, forming a tanuki-like shell of sand that covered his entire body, almost none of his features visible - just his hair and the red kanji for "love" carved into his forehead.
"This is bad...I need backup aside from Shikamaru!" the blonde thought, biting his finger. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" In a puff of smoke...a small toad appeared.
"Sup bro?" Gamakichi greeted Naruto, remembering the boy from the first time he had summoned the small orange toad.
"Gamakichi?! Aw dammit, I was hoping to get your dad, or Gamaken, or literally any toad that could step on this guy and beat him!" Naruto griped, as the little toad shook his head.
"Well, you got me, so I might as well stick around and do what I can. Suiton: Starch Syrup Bullet!" The small toad fired a sticky blast of water at Gaara, slowing down several of the Jinchuriki's sand bullets enough for Naruto to evade them.
"Thanks for the help, 'Kichi! Here's the plan..." Naruto whispered in the toad's ear, and after a few moments the amphibian looked up, gave him a look that had "Are you serious?" written all over it, and watched as Naruto lunged towards Gaara, crossing his hands.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Several duplicates of the blonde burst into existence as he fell towards the red-haired Suna Jinchuriki, with the real one running over the backs of his clones, wrapping an explosive tag around a kunai.
"Infinite Sandstorm Breakthrough!" Gaara's distorted voice shouted, as he breathed a massive wave of sand and wind from his mouth, demolishing the clones and sending Naruto falling past him towards the forest floor.
Undaunted, the blonde boy created more clones to distract Gaara while landing on the back of another, leaping upwards towards Gaara. "Now, take this! From the teachings of Copy Ninja Kakashi Hatake, Konohagakure Secret Taijutsu Technique!" Naruto shouted, before planting the kunai at the base of Gaara's tail.
"Thousand Years of Death!"
Shikamaru, Temari, Satsuki, Pakkun, Gamakichi and Gaara all shot Naruto a look that seemed to say "Are you fucking serious?!", before the sandy tail of the Suna redhead knocked Naruto backwards towards another tree. As he flew, however, Naruto smirked and snapped his fingers. "Boom."
The explosion from the tag on the kunai's hilt demolished the tree Gaara was standing in and destroyed his sand tail. The redhead roared in annoyance from the attack, before glaring at Naruto. "HOW? How did you know that the tail was my weak point?!" Gaara demanded as Naruto sat up, rubbing his head with a foxy grin.
"Oh...my demon told me..." he chuckled.
Rising to his feet again, Naruto concentrated, finding himself within his mindscape again, staring Kurama in the face. "Look, Kurama, I know you want to be a pain in my ass at every possible turn-" the fox snorted in amusement "-but I'm going to need a bit more chakra if we're to kick your annoying brother's ass" the blonde said. Kurama snickered, before reaching an arm through the bars of the cage.
"You may be an annoying human, Naruto Uzumaki, but you are an amusing one if nothing else. Ask and ye shall receive...just don't go too overboard" the fox chuckled, as red chakra seeped through the bars and out of Naruto's body, enveloping him in a red cloak as he crossed his fingers. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Smoke filled the forest, followed by a sea of orange, as Satsuki and Shikamaru's eyes widened. "Holy crap! How does he have enough chakra for that?!" the Nara wondered, staring at the two thousand clones Naruto had created filling the trees.
"Like hell I'll lose to him! Let's do this!" Naruto shouted,his clones cheering in agreement as they launched forward, each pulling back a fist. "NARUTO U! ZU! MA! KI! TWO-THOUSAND HIT COMBO!" the clones shouted, pummeling Gaara's transformed body with an endless storm of attacks, easily demolishing the boy's sand body and shield with their hits. As Shukaku's form coalesced around him again, Naruto attacked Gaara again, this time with four thousand kicks, knocking the Suna Genin to the ground below.
At this, Gaara utterly lost control, much to Temari's horror. "Oh no! He's transforming...we're all going to die unless we run now!" the Suna kunoichi thought, turning to run away; Shikamaru trying to grab Satsuki and pursue. A mountain of sand rose from the ground below them, destroying the clones and wrapping around Gaara and forming the body of a gold and blue tanuki with one single tail and blank eyes.
"Your life is now forfeit, Naruto Uzumaki! I shall now prove my existence!" Gaara's voice echoes from Shukaku, as sand closed around the blonde, who wiped a stream of blood on his hand and flashed through five hand seals. "Sand Coffin!" Gaara shouted, as the sand constricted.
"KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU!" Naruto responded.
And then, in a monstrous burst of smoke and wind, a massive toad appeared in the forest.
TO BE CONTINUED...