"Talking"
"Thoughts"
"SCREAMING/ YELLING/ SHOUTING"
"Jutsu"
"Tailed Beast talking"
"Tailed Beast Thinking"
Sound effects
Date & Time
|Location|
[Flashback]
[+]
Chapter 19: Is it over?
[+]
|Hidden Leaf Forest|
"So… how are you holding up, kit?" Kurama asked as Naruto sprinted after Gaara who was now being carried by the Suna Chunin, Daichi. Some meters behind Hinata had dropped back to take care of Kankuro as time was rapidly becoming their enemy.
'… I'm fine Kurama, let's just catch up to Gaara and put a stop to this madness.' Naruto replied back, clearly not in the mood for discussing.
'Leaving the vixen behind must have been hard on the kit.' The Kyubi thought to himself before keeping quiet.
[+]
|Up ahead|
Daichi continued to move through the forest, carrying the unconscious Gaara on his back. The Sunagakure Chunin cursed as he sensed a chakra signature approaching him and it was the largest one, meaning that he or she would be able to defeat him easily then take Gaara.
'I just need to keep up my pace so I can get Gaara away and hide him somewhere where he can recover. When he does, he can become the demon and kill them then help with the invasion.' The man repeated to himself. 'Yea, that sounds right.'
As he started continued to think about his situation and what he was going to do, he felt movement on his back. Daichi stopped moving as he realized what was happening: Gaara was recovering from his shock and would be able to fight.
"Thank goodness." The man sighed in relief. "Now all I have to do is find a good-"
"ALL WILL DIE SO THAT I CAN PROVE MY EXISTENCE!" Gaara screamed, his voice booming with demonic fury.
The Chunin yelped then dropped Gaara as sand began to cover the right half of the Jinchuriki's body. Due to rapidly increasing amount of KI in the atmosphere Daichi quickly backpedalled towards the foliage for safety. Gaara got up on his feet and gave the Suna Chunin a sinister grin.
"G-Gaara, its g-good t-to see you are-" Daichi started to stutter.
"Sand Shuriken!"
The man screamed like a girl as he ran back towards the village while avoiding the sand projectiles after him.
"Forget about him and begin with the preparations Gaara. The fox and his container are coming and I want to personally kill them with you." Shukaku informed his jinchuriki.
"Yes mother. Let's kill them ALL!" Gaara screamed, his voice becoming even more similar to Shukaku's.
[+]
|Temari vs. Shikamaru|
"Ninja Art: Wind Scythe Jutsu!"
Temari swung her fan in the direction of Shikamaru, causing a massive gust of sharp winds to come forwards the Nara. He jumped out of the way, causing the wind to hit the trees behind him destroying them. Seeing that she had missed the Suna kunoichi proceeded to swing her fan, using the same jutsu once again. Shikamaru, once again, was forced to jump out of the way to dodge the incoming gusts of wind. The tree branch he was on, along with the trees behind him, were cut up and destroyed once more.
The Nara heir went on the offensive and tossed a couple of kunai with explosive tags at the kunoichi who just swung her fan creating a gust of wind which sent the kunai back towards their sender. The shadow manipulator's eyes widened as he was forced, once again, to jump out of the way before the kunai made contact exploding into flames which proceeded to hit more trees, lighting them on fire and destroying the environment around them.
"Throwing weapons at a wind specialist like me won't work because I'll just blow them right back in your face just like I did to that weapon's girl in the preliminaries." Temari said lowering her fan.
'I figured.' Shikamaru grumbled in thought, 'Mom was right, I do need to pick up more of our clan's jutsu.'
The Nara looked upwards toward Temari and noticed that there was a tree right behind her that was higher than her. He then tossed a kunai with an explosive tag directly at it. Temari raised her fan to block the kunai, but the weapon didn't even come close to hit her. Once the kunai made contact with the tree, it exploded, causing the tree to fall apart. The trunk of the tree then fell forward, directly towards Temari. Her eyes widened as she jumped out of the way and unconsciously closer to Shikamaru.
Seeing her getting close, Shikamaru quickly rushed forward jumping on the same tree branch Temari was on. "Shadow Possession Jutsu!"
Shikamaru's shadow shot directly towards the Suna kunoichi. The girl quickly noticed the approaching shadow and jumped off the tree branch, heading to another nearby branch. To her utmost surprise, the shadow continued to follow, extending past the tree branch it was on and floating over the air to reach the tree branch she was on.
'So the shadows don't need to be on solid ground. It can be flexible and even move over the air if it needs to.' Temari made a mental note of this fact as she continued to move from tree branch to tree branch, avoiding the Shikamaru's shadow as it followed her. The Nara concentrated more chakra into the technique which made his shadow to stretch longer.
Tired of running away Temari proceeded to swing her fan directly at Shikamaru, creating another set of sharp gusts of wind heading towards him. To avoid the attack, Shikamaru was forced to cancel his jutsu and jump away from the wind.
Seeing that his shadow had stopped chasing her, Temari took the moment to charge Shikamaru. The girl jumped directly at him and swung her fan at him as if it were a staff. The Nara was forced to use a kunai knife to block her fan. Immediately afterward, Temari's heavier fan overpowered him and his kunai. The knife was knocked away and Shikamaru was momentarily stunned. Temari took this moment to swing her fan again, causing it to collide against the Konoha genin's stomach who gasped then went up in a puff of smoke revealing a log.
"Shadow Possession Jutsu!"
Temari had no time to react as she was quickly frozen on spot.
"Gotcha." She heard Shikamaru say behind her, "Now for the finish, Shadow Strangle-"
Crack!
The tree branch the Suna girl was standing on suddenly cracked then broke off, freeing her from Shikamaru's hold as she fell downwards. Temari managed to get over the shock and actually jump away before the branch could hit the ground, the fan user landed on another branch of a separate tree and heaved a sigh of relief before giving the Nara an amused smile.
"You almost had me." She acknowledged, "You're pretty good."
"Normally I'll be grateful for the compliment, but not when it's coming from a traitor." Shikamaru replied, causing Temari to frown. "So what happened? Why is your village attacking ours? The two villages are under an alliance and last time I checked allies don't attack one another!"
Temari remained silent for a few seconds before sighing. "I don't really know why my village is attacking yours. I'm just a simple shinobi who woke up one morning and was told that we will be invading Konoha during the Chunin exams. And since I have pledged my loyalty to Suna, I had no choice than to go along with the plan even if it means fighting you in battle against my wishes." She answered as she gripped her fan tightly, preparing for her next attack.
"… Troublesome." Shikamaru muttered before glancing back at the girl. "I guess I get it. You're just following orders given to you like any shinobi would, so I will follow mine and stop you!"
[+]
|Kankuro vs. Hinata|
Kankuro made a pushing gesture with his hands, causing Karasu to fly towards through the air towards Hinata. Hidden blades appeared on the palms of the puppet. It attempted to slice at Hinata with the blades, but the Hyuga jumped backwards to avoid the attack. The puppet, however, continued its pursuit of the girl, making another attempt to cut her with its blade. Hinata, this time, side-stepped and dodged the puppet. She moved herself directly behind the puppet and cut through the chakra strings with a chop. The puppet, without its connection, slumped over on the tree branch. With the connection destroyed and the puppet being useless, Hinata turned her attention towards Kankuro and charged.
"Palm Bottom!" Hinata called as she slammed an open palm into the puppeteer's gut only for him to be replaced by a log, 'Substitution?' Hinata thought then noticed something in her extended vision. "What?"
A full functional Karasu had charged behind her and the Hyuga heiress was forced to jump out of the way or be grabbed by the puppet. Karasu turned its head in her direction and spat out a series of senbon which Hinata avoided.
Kankuro frowned at the failed surprise attack then made a gesture with his index and ring finger on his right hand, causing Karasu to release another barrage of senbon from its mouth. Hinata jumped out of the way and onto another branch then clapped her hands together before slowing separating them. Kankuro raised a brow at the whitish ball forming between her palms and sent Karasu after her, the Hyuga once avoided all the senbon needles fired towards her while making sure that she didn't lose concentration.
After some seconds of dodging Hinata took aim and fired, "Eight Trigrams: Chakra Bomb!" Not wanting to see what that would do to his puppet, Kankuro withdrew Karasu but wasn't fast enough to avoid the shockwave which knocked off its head and limbs from the body.
Seeing that the puppet was, at the moment, unable to fight her off, the girl charged again at Kankuro. On her way through the branches, she fired off a series of Vacuum palms at the boy, preventing him from making the concentration necessary to piece together his puppet. The Suna Genin cursed as he was forced to concentrate on avoiding her attacks instead of fixing Karasu.
In a few seconds, Hinata finally landed on the same tree branch as Kankuro. The girl rushed him, her palms extended. Kankuro jumped backwards to avoid an attack to his stomach and countered by pulling out a purple ball from his pocket and dropping it on the tree branch releasing a poisonous smoke.
Hinata's eyes widened as she jumped away to avoid inhaling the smoke, as did Kankuro who also jumped backwards to another tree branch. Seeing that he had recreated distance between himself and Hinata, he made a few gestures with his fingers to create more chakra strings. The pieces of Karasu that had been knocked off reconnected with each other and reformed the puppet whole.
"It's gonna take a lot more than that to defeat a puppeteer!" Kankuro taunted, gripping his fist tightly. Karasu mimicked the actions of its puppeteer.
"I can see that…" Hinata mumbled in response before staring at the Suna Genin with determination in her eyes. "But I'll defeat you and your puppet and get back to my friends. I won't let you or your village due anything to them, or to Konoha!"
Kankuro just replied by using Karasu to fire another series of projectiles this time Kunai marked with explosive tags.
[+]
|Stadium Rooftop, Outside the Barrier|
"Is everyone in position?" C. Jiraiya asked, his right hand hovering over the activation seal.
"Hai!" The ANBUs answered.
"Don't forget that once I activate the seal you only have 30 seconds before the seals deactivate so make the best of it." He informed before placing his hand on the seal activating it, "Ninja Art: Four Flames Perforation!" The seal glowed blue then white before a line of chakra shot out to other seals which started to glow before shooting out their own chakra lines into the barrier which began to gain a reddish color.
[+]
|Inside the Barrier|
The fighting inside took a pause as everyone took note of the barrier's sudden change in color, Orochimaru glanced over and saw the seals battling against the barrier.
"Jiraiya!" The Sannin hissed as he spotted the figure holding up the seal.
"Seems like your barrier is weakening, Orochimaru." Hiruzen smirked.
The Snake Sannin snarled at his former teacher, "It may be weakening but the fool's seals will never break through as I know what he is capable of."
The Hokage's smirk just grew wider, "Didn't I teach you never to underestimate your enemy?"
"Oh please that pervert can never-" Orochimaru was interrupted as openings abruptly appeared all over the barrier, "WHAT?"
The five ANBU agents bolted through the openings just before they closed up and the barrier returned to its original color.
"Hokage-sama, how may we be of assistance?" The ANBU captain asked while Orochimaru gritted his teeth at the fact that he was outnumbered once again but this time 7 to 3.
"Leave Orochimaru to me, you all should assist Atoniji-dono with revived Kages." With a cry of 'Hai' the ANBU were gone.
"You sure it was wise to send them away?" Orochimaru asked with a sickening smile, "With their help you had a greater chance of defeating me."
"Doesn't matter all I know is that you're not leaving here ALIVE!" Hiruzen declared, before charging at his former student.
[+]
|Other Stadium Rooftop Battle|
Using the distraction created by the flickering barrier Atoniji nailed the two revived Kages with a comet sized fireball but as usual they regenerated right from the ashes like a phoenix and attacked forcing the Yosokage on the defensive once again, he may be an S rank Kage but against two SS rank shinobi he seemed like a Jonin.
'If I survive this battle I will definitely declare Fuinjutsu lessons compulsory.' Atoniji thought before dodging another water dragon, "Fire Style: Flame Bullet Barrage!"
"Water Style: Water Encampment Wall!" Hashirama spewed out a watery barrier which neutralized the fireballs.
"Water Style: Giant Vortex!" At Tobirama's cry water from both the atmosphere and the previous water jutsu formed into a giant twister.
'Such incredible mastery over water.' Atoniji stared in awe before realizing that the twister was heading towards him. Just as he brought his hands together for a hand seal five voices behind him bellowed…
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!" Five comet sized fireballs collided the twister releasing stream, the cyan-haired Yosokage gave a nod of gratitude to the five ANBU behind him.
"Yosoakge-dono, how may we be of assistance?"
"You guys are familiar with wood style right?" He received a nod from the ANBU Captain, "Then by all means take care of the First while I and the Second here have our splash-fest!" With that was said Atoniji using the shunshin appeared directly behind Tobirama, an orb of water forming in hand.
"Water Style: Ripping Torrent!" The orb was slammed onto the decreased Kage's back before it expanded into a horizontal waterspout which tore into Tobirama.
[+]
|Hidden Leaf Forest|
Naruto arrived at a clearing in the middle of the forest, and before him sitting on a branch was his target but now having a tail and a large right hand made of sand.
"Gaara." Naruto simply said.
"Naruto" Gaara returned before a dark look spread across his face, "Mother wants me to devour you for what you did earlier to me, and so I will." With that Gaara flung himself at the Leaf Genin who jumped on tree avoiding him, "Stop running away and let me kill you! Sand Shuriken!"
"Yeah right! Wind Style: Gale Palm!" The sand projectiles were instantly disintegrated.
"Sand Shower!" The Uzumaki fled the tree as a sand hailstorm impacted it reducing it to wood splinters and debris, Gaara glanced around but couldn't find his target, "Stop hiding Uzumaki, come out and fight me! Give me a real fight so that I may feel alive!"
"If you wanted to feel alive you should have just said so." Naruto's voice rang out from seemingly everywhere, "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Suddenly several Naruto's rushed out of the foliage and kicked the Suna Genin into the air, one after another.
"NA"
"RU"
"TO"
"U"
"ZU"
"MA"
"KI"
As Gaara was stuck hanging in the air a wave of orange revealed itself from the leaves above. Countless Shadow Clones from Naruto descended with their fists and feet cocked to strike, "Naruto Uzumaki 2K Barrage!" They unleashed an overwhelming amount of physical offense on Gaara, driving him back into the ground hard and forming a massive crater plus dust cloud.
'You think that did it?' Naruto asked his tenant.
"Knowing Shukaku, then no."
Kurama was right as seconds later, in an explosion of sand Gaara rose up from the crater seething with anger and excitement as sand covered the other half of his body.
"That's it Uzumaki, show me more of your power."
'Is this guy nuts?'
"Do you seriously want me to answer that?" Kurama answered.
"Giant Sand Bullet Ball!"
'This again?' Naruto thought before spewing a fox-shaped fireball which effectively neutralized the attack but the sand comet was just a distraction for Gaara's next attack.
"Wind Style: Infinite Sandstorm Devastation!" Multiple mouths appeared all over the Sand Genin's body before a releasing a ferocious wind which ripped through the trees causing all of the shadow clones to instantly disperse and Naruto to fly away from his spot and into a tree.
"Ow. That hurt." The blond mumbled as he rubbed the back of his head in an effort to lessen the pain, the Uzumaki then pulled off a quick substitution as a sand hand collided with the tree shattering it.
"Where are you Uzumaki?" Gaara asked after seeing that his sand hand hit nothing but wood.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Fifteen clones jumped out from the foliage and charged as the Suna Jinchuriki's eye twitched in annoyance.
"Sand Shower!" The clones ran helter-skelter in order to avoid the sand rain but after a few seconds were all dispelled, one even attempted to sneak up behind but got dispelled after being run through the chest by a sand spear which spouted from Gaara's back. "Stop hiding behind your clones Uzumaki! Come out and fight me like a man!"
"Ok." Naruto stepped out from the tree he was hiding behind making Gaara to blink then grin darkly but that soon turned into a look of confusion when the blonde grinned back, 'Three… Two… One…'
BOOM!
The dust settled revealing a still-standing but distorted and slightly burnt Gaara who had his sand sliding off his body, 'When… When did he place that tag?'
"You probably wondering when I placed that tag right?" Naruto asked before answering the question, "Remember that clone that snuck up behind you? Well that clone succeeded in slapping an explosive tag on your back just above the tail before it was run through and thanks of the thickness of your sand armor you didn't notice until it was too late."
"… It seems I might need some help in order to prove my existence."
The Uzumaki raised a brow at the statement until a low rumbling sound was heard, senses kicking in Naruto jumped onto a tree branch as sand exploded directly from where was seconds ago but the sand didn't go after him, no it went towards Gaara engulfing him before towering towards the sky forming a giant Tanuki made entirely of sand.
Naruto stared wide-eyed at the Tanuki, 'That's Shukaku?'
Kurama nodded, "Yes it is."
Seeing that Shukaku still hadn't moved, Naruto observed him a bit more and while observing he noticed Gaara was on top of the biju with half of his body submerged within the biju's head. The red-haired made a hand seal then hang his head as if he has fallen asleep. Immediately the giant tanuki began to move as a crazed laughter boomed across the clearing.
"I'M FINALLY OUT!"
[+]
|Back at the Stadium|
After the civilians were evacuated away, the rest of the Rookie 10 joined the fray doing their best to assist their Jonin-senseis and fellow Konoha nin.
Ino used her Mind Transfer Jutsu to take over a Sand nin and then caused confusion among their ranks, the distraction was all Choji needed to roll over them with his Human Boulder Technique. Sakura caught a couple of Oto nin under a genjutsu before joining Eito in knocking them unconscious. Tenten and Neji (Who had recovered from Hinata's 64 palms) were in medical wing taking care of their share of Oto nin who were after the medical staff.
"Chakra Blade: Straight Line!" Three Oto nin had their bodies severed from waist level, "That's makes 13!" Asuma shouted.
"15!" Kurenai replied as slit the throats of five Oto nin caught in her genjutsu, "You must be losing you touch Asuma."
The Chain-smoker snorted then redoubled his efforts. "Fire Style: Burning Ash!" Seven invaders were caught in the smoke cloud before it exploded.
In another part of the Arena floor, Gai in the Fifth Gate served up a devastating dish of Morning Peacock on an Invader nin foolish enough to engage him, some after witnessing the beat-down being dished on their counterparts tried to evade the taijutsu maniac but were unlucky as said maniac spotted them.
"Ichiban Star!" Right in front of the Captain's eye Gai vanished.
"HUYAH!"
Turning behind he located Gai collide into three of his men before blasting them upwards, then reappearing behind them and delivering a savage kick to their spines launching them forwards where he reappeared once again this time nailing a vicious punch to their ribcage which sent them backwards. This went on four more times before Gai appeared right above them and finished up with a downward blow to their abdomen rocketing the three down to Earth like a flaming asteroid from Outer Space.
KABOOM!
After observing this, the Captain drew his Kunai and slit his own throat thus taking the easy way out.
[+]
|Hidden Leaf Forest|
Shukaku once done with his morning stretches which resulted in some trees being knocked down, glanced down at the boy in front of him and smirked.
"Hey there Kurama-kun! Still trapped in your cage I see… Oh! And how's the view from way down there?" He asked crackling with laughter at the last part.
Naruto frowned at this while his tenant growled within the Uzumaki's mindscape, "Okay kit, he's asking for it."
The blonde nodded and was engulfed by red chakra, this of course gained the sand tanuki's attention causing him to look on curiously, once the transformation into his two tailed state was complete Naruto bit his right thumb drawing blood then slammed his hand on the ground.
"Great Summoning: Kyubi no Kitsune!"
BOOM!
[+]
|Hokage Great Stone Faces, Evacuation Centre|
All life seemly froze as a vile chakra which hadn't been felt in 13 years resurfaced. The adults ran up and down in fright while children looked on with confusion while being held by their mothers.
"Oh NO!"
"It's the Kyubi!"
"It's back!"
"Run for your lives!"
"We're doomed!"
Well let's just say the centre descended into total panic.
[+]
|With the Others|
Sasuke and Atsushi were busy tying up their captives after a lengthy fight against them, four against seven weren't good odds and how they managed to win only Kami knew.
Just as the two were finishing up, a large amount of demonic chakra swept over them causing the four Genin to tense up.
"Where is it coming from?" Himari asked, looking around fearfully.
"That will be our teammate, Naruto." Atsushi answered calmly.
The Kishida girl blinked, fear now replaced with curiosity. "The cute whiskered one?" All three boys just stared at her, "What? He is!" The girl squealed out now blushing with embarrassment.
'She's lucky Hinata isn't around.' Atsushi and Sasuke thought.
"Anyway," Lee began, "Shouldn't we be going after the others?"
The other three Genin nodded before they all went after the rest, while on the way Atsushi suddenly remembered something that occurred during the preliminaries.
"Hey Himari?" He called the girl running beside him
"Yea." The Bojutsu user answered, facing him.
"I kinda forgot to ask but why did Banri forfeit his match against Neji?" That particular event had been bugging him and Naruto for the past month.
"Oh that…" Himari glanced at Sasuke and Lee who were ahead be returning back to Atsushi, "You've studied on Pseudo-Kishidans right?" She whispered.
The boy's eyes widened, "He's one?" He received a nod in reply. "Well that explains it." Pseudo-Kishidans were a special group of Kishidans in Arashigakure. [1]
"When the match was fixed, it was remaining about a week or so before his chakra fully adjusted to his body hence making him a full-pledged Kishida but at that time his chakra was still acting up so he had to forfeit the match or risk permanent damage to his chakra network." Himari explained further.
"If it was against anyone else he would haven't forfeited, but against a Hyuga where the chances of having a chakra point blocked are high he had no choice." Atsushi summed feeling sorry for the guy.
[+]
|Hidden Leaf Forest, Main Battle|
Out of the white smoke came orange fur, four limbs, gigantic teeth with razor sharp fangs and most importantly nine swishing tails capable of leveling mountains with a single swing.
Shukaku recognized the figure as his self proclaimed arch-rival, 'Kurama!' He growled mentally.
Said fox stretched a bit since it had been more than a decade since he had been outside in this form, "You okay kit?"
Naruto stood atop the fox's head panting heavily, summoning Kyubi had reverted him back to his zero tailed mode, "Yea, just give me a minute to catch my breath."
"How are you out of the seal Kurama?" Shukaku growled. "And why are all buddy-buddy with your container?"
"How I'm out is none of your concern," Kurama shot back, "As from the second one he's different."
Shukaku snorted, "All humans are the same, and I don't see what makes him so different from the rest?"
"For one he's does see me as a weapon of mass destruction, he actually asks before using my chakra and finally he allows me to roam freely."
"Roam? What do you mean?" The Ichibi asked, a part of him curious to what that meant.
"I roam in his pocked dimension, sometimes outside in the village." The Fox shrugged.
"You know what I have heard enough, time to DIE!" Shukaku yelled as he opened his mouth, "Wind Style: Giant Air Bullets!" Giant balls of wind were fired but Kurama just deflected them with his tails.
"You're obsessed with fighting me even though you won't win, Fire Style: Fox Fire Flame Bombs!" Kurama spewed out a stream of orange fire on tanuki's lower half turning it into glass.
"I will kill you for that! SAND HAIL!" Sand was launched into the atmosphere before falling down onto the forest.
"Like I haven't heard that before, Tailed Beast Shockwave!" The giant fox let out a fierce roar disintegrating the sand clump projectiles.
[+]
|Stadium Rooftop Battle, Hiruzen vs, Orochimaru|
"Earth Style: Earth Dragon Bullets! Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"
Orochimaru seethed as he was dodged another combination jutsu from Hiruzen. The Sannin hadn't been able to nail a decisive blow on the old Kage. If that wasn't enough the five ANBU agents had somehow managed to defeat and seal Hashirama (Who became distracted at the resurfacing of Kyubi's chakra) and were now assisting Atoniji with Tobirama.
The Snake Sannin was now realizing his mistake by sealing most of their strength.
'No matter I just to kill the old coot and my work here is done.' Orochimaru thought before releasing several large snakes from his sleeves, "Multi Shadow Striking Snakes!"
Hiruzen used Fire Style: Dragon Fire and incinerated the reptiles, "Running out of tricks Orochimaru?" The Kage asked before calling out his next Jutsu, "Earth Style: Bedrock Coffin!"
Two slabs of rock rose up around Orochimaru before closing in squishing Sannin, the Sarutobi cancelled the Jutsu but instead of seeing the flattened corpse of his student he found a pile of sawdust.
"DIE!" Hiruzen whipped around and blocked the strike from Grass Cutter with his staff, soon the two was engaged in a heated battle of Kenjutsu. The Snake Sannin stabbed forward with his sword, intending on running his former sensei through. The aged Hokage turned to the side before he swept Orochimaru's feet out from under him and brought his staff down on his ex-student's chest several times turning it into paste.
Orochimaru opened his mouth wide and sent out a snake that surprised Hiruzen, allowing the Snake Master to slither away to regurgitate himself once more. Except this time, as soon as he exited his former skins mouth, he was engulfed in a fireball that burned him badly.
When the flames dispersed, Orochimaru was badly burned, his hair was almost completely burnt off, his skin charred, and parts of him looked melted. He shed his skin again, but this time it took longer than before, a sign of his chakra getting lower.
It was then that he lost his connection to Tobirama signifying that he had also been defeated, 'What... How could this be?' Orochimaru hissed, there were too many wrenches tossed into the plan – Jiraiya's clone tampering with the barrier, the sudden increase in power of Minato's brat, the presence of the Yosokage and the ANBU. 'Forget this if Danzo wants the Hokage hat he can take it himself.'
"Drop the barrier!" As that was being done, Orochimaru bit his right thumb in preparation for a Summoning Jutsu.
[+]
|Hidden Leaf Forest|
"Is there a way we can defeat him without destroying the forest?" Naruto asked, knowing that Kurama wasn't using his full power unlike the time he fought against those mystical creatures the Uzumaki usually conjured up in his mindscape for the fox's amusement.
"We need to wake up the brat." Kurama growled out before destroying another barrage of sand projectiles with his roar. "Once he is awake, Shukaku will be forced back into the seal." He slammed six of his tails down on the ground disrupting a sand wave.
Naruto looked at the Tanuki's head for any sign of the Suna Jinchuriki, "I can't find Gaara!"
"He should be on top of the head," Kurama explained, "Hidden under all that sand."
"If so then that means I will have to go up close to wake him up, and Shukaku won't allow that!" The blonde pointed
"I have a way around that." Kurama grinned with a sadistic grin which reminded Naruto of the one Anko usually wore.
"Earth Attack Claw!" Kurama declared slamming his fore limbs deep into the ground while placing his tails just over his head. The fox's arms resurfaced under Shukaku, tearing the sand tanuki's arms off in the process.
"MY ARMS! I'LL KILL-"
"Nine-Tailed Cannon Beam Blast!" Nine chakra beams shot out of the Kyubi's tail tips (One for each tail) and into Shukaku's open mouth where they exploded violently blasting the biju against the bark of large tree where he lay seemingly disoriented.
Naruto stood speechless on top the fox's head not knowing whether to laugh out loud or stare in awe at what just happened, he was soon plunged out of his indecisiveness when one of Kurama tails wrapped around his waist and lifted him upwards.
"Hey! What are you doing?"
"Shukaku won't stay limp for long, so hurry up and form a Vermillion Art." [2]
The blonde nodded then quickly formed a ball of chakra between his palms but unlike Hinata's which is white in color his was orange thanks to Kurama's chakra being used.
"Aim for the forehead and fire!"
"Vermillion Art: Chakra Beam Blast!" The front part of the ball exploded outwards letting out an orange beam which crashed onto biju's head creating a large crater plus a large cloud of sand. "Hey I can see Gaara!" Kurama looked on and also located the boy.
"Good, now go wake up the brat!" With that bark Naruto was flung towards Shukaku or more precisely the crater on his head.
The Uzumaki landed with a 'Thud!' creating a gust of wind which blew over the tanuki's head, after regaining his bearing he stood up to glare at his companion only to find a large cloud of smoke showing that Kurama had already returned to the seal.
'Stupid fox…'
'Hey! I heard that!'
Naruto resisted the urge to sweat drop and looked around, 'Okay, where's… Bingo!' Gaara's head and upper torso was just a few feet away in direction of his right. The Uzumaki walked over to his fellow Jinchuriki then squatted down in front of him, 'Time for the wakeup call-'
"Ugh! What hit me?" Shukaku unknowingly interrupted.
Eyes widening Naruto quickly connected a chakra enhanced fist to Gaara's jaw making a sickening cracking sound.
Gaara's eyes snapped open and the Ichibi's body began to fall apart.
"NOOO! I WAS JUST RELEASED!" Shukaku screamed as he was forced back in his seal, the two boys on top the head fell on onto the pool of sand that used to be Shukaku, pain and fatigue finally setting in.
After some seconds Naruto stood up demonic chakra now gone and walked towards Gaara, causing the Suna genin's eyes to widen in fear.
"No! Stay back." He shouted in fear, "I won't let you to end my existence." He began to back way.
"It hurts, doesn't it?" Naruto asked, causing Gaara to stop, "The pain of loneliness, having everyone ignore your existence and wish you would simply disappear."
"How do you know that?" Gaara asked weakly.
"Because I experienced it too, but the situation got better when I found those precious to me." Naruto smiled at the thought of those who had always been there for him, "What makes me strong is that I have people I want to protect and in turn they also want to protect me, that's the reason why I beat you."
"So the reason why you are strong is because you fight for those precious to you?" Gaara got out.
"Exactly." Naruto said as he took another step, this time Gaara didn't take a step backwards, "It's not too late for you, Gaara. You can find those precious people in your life. There are people out there for you to care about and who in turn will also care about you. Show everybody that you're Gaara not the demon they think you are."
"I-I… Thank you Naruto Uzumaki." The boy said, his voice weak and surprisingly soft.
"Don't mention it." Naruto then rubbed the back of his head, "Now that I beat you and all, what are you going to do?"
"My village is probably defeated and I need to make sure that my brother and sister are still alive." Gaara said as he struggled to stand up, succeeding just barely.
"I'm pretty-" Naruto couldn't finish as he was tackled to ground and embraced in hug by a certain Hyuga.
"Naruto-kun! You're okay." Hinata exclaimed, with tears threatening to spill out.
"Hinata-chan..." Naruto got out in shock before spotting the others behind her, "You're all okay."
"Of course we are." Atsushi said, he and Lee supporting a tired Shikamaru between their shoulders. "We caught up to Shikamaru and Hinata before coming over here."
Naruto nodded, looking over the unconscious and tied up forms of Temari and Kankuro.
"I see you managed to defeat Gaara." Sasuke said as he spotted the Suna Jinchuriki who looked a lot more subdued than usual.
Naruto sat up in a sitting pose and grinned, "Was there any doubt?"
"No."
"That must have been one youthful battle, Naruto-kun!" Lee said energetically, "I wish I was here to see it."
'Trust me you wouldn't.' The blonde thought.
"So what do we do about them?" Himari gestured to Gaara and his siblings who seemed to be coming around.
"Gaara has surrendered so we just have to take both him and his siblings back to the village." They all turned to Gaara for confirmation.
"It's okay, we will stand trial for the crimes we committed." Both Leaf and Storm nin released the breath they didn't know they holding.
"Come let's get back home."
After 3 hours of continuous fighting, they all needed some rest.
[+]
Stats (Ranking System)
Academy Student: E Rank
Genin: D Rank
Chunin: C Rank
Special Jonin: C – B Rank
Jonin: A Rank
ANBU: A – S Rank
Kage: S – SSS Rank
A/N: Hope you enjoyed this because it was really difficult coming up with a Shukaku vs. Kurama fight and I hope I did justice to that.
Next update will be slow (My apologies in advance) but it will be posted.
[1] – Pseudo-Kishidans are actual non-Kishidans who underwent a ritual to become Full-pledged Kishidans but with some limitations placed on them. (Won't be going into full detail for now)
[2] – Vermillion Arts are collection of Jutsu available to Naruto only when he using Kurama's chakra or in his tailed state. Chakra Bomb and Chakra Beam Blast are among these jutsu but Hinata knows the former due to Naruto explaining the mechanisms to her on one occasion hence the Eight Trigrams: Chakra Bomb was created.
Chaper 20: Recovery
Total Number of Words: 6237 Words
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Jamesco1292002