The Chaos Maelstrom

by KingSora3

A Boy and a God, both from different worlds. The God's world destroyed by a terrifying power while its home survived and entered another. The Boy, born without chakra, runs away from his family to escape the pain they caused him. Brought together by fate, the Boy inherits the God's powers. Now his life will forever be total chaos. [Remake of Naruto: The Next Chaos]

10. Battle in the Desert (Part 2)

The Chaos Maelstrom

Disclaimer: I own nothing

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Chaos 9: Battle in the Desert (Part 2)!

Chapter Cover: Naruto and Gaara are standing back to back in the background with Perfect Chaos and Shukaku above them respectively.

Alternate Cover: Naruto is sitting on the Master Emerald, his hair covering his right eye as he stared at the readers with a seductive gaze and a smirk on his face. He also held a Chaos Emerald.

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Land of Waves: Tazuna's House

Inside Tazuna's house in the guest room, Kushina was looking outside the window, watching as Tsunami and Inari were happily cleaning out the front yard clearly enjoying each other's company. Her eyes that were full of hope at the chance of meeting her son again were now dull and lifeless after hearing from Tazuna that Naruto has a new family.

Looking out at Tsunami and Inari made her remember the good times of when the triplets were toddlers, her and Minato playing with them everyday. She also remembered when Naruto would always jump her by surprise as his bright happy laugh filled her ears which she would join in. But after that, those happy memories with Naruto slowly disappeared and now filled with sad regretful memories of what she had done to him. Because of that, he ran away and now got himself a new family.

Kushina took her eyes off the mother and son duo, not wanting to be reminded of her failure and looked at the picture that was of Naruto and his friends, all of them smiling towards the camera. She picked it up and stared at Naruto's beautiful smiling face, tracing her thumb across his cheek. Oh how she missed seeing that smile. He always smiled at her whenever he saw her. Even when she wasn't paying attention to him, he would always try to smile just to get her and Minato's attention, including doing all those pranks around the village.

And what did they do? They ignored him, turned their backs on him when he needed them the most. Now they lost him and worst of all, they were replaced.

"Naruto…" The Uzumaki matriarch said his name as she hugged the picture close to her chest.

She hated this. She hated waiting like this! She wanted her baby boy back, to tell him how sorry she was for all the things she's done to him. He's out there facing powerful monsters, even though they did come from him, and probably ninja that were even more powerful than the Demon of the Mist and here she is waiting for him to come back on the day when Tazuna finishes his bridge.

But the old man was right.

Naruto and his friends were traveling the great countries fighting against these Chaos Warriors. So even if they did follow them there was still bad blood between the Leaf and other major shinobi villages especially between her and the Cloud Village when they tried to kidnap her all those years ago. Then there were the jinchuriki. Oh gods above she hoped and prayed her son didn't run into any of them, especially the Sand's jinchuriki since she heard horrifying rumors about him.

"Ms. Kushina." The Wife of the Fourth looked up to see Shizune at the door. "We have a message from Lord Fourth. We're waiting for you."

"...right." Kushina said as she stood up, pocketing the photo in her chunin vest pocket as she followed after Shizune. For now, all she can do is hope and pray that Naruto is safe.

---

Land of Wind: Desert

"YOUR BLOOD!"

"Whoa!" Naruto quickly jumped back as the transformed Gaara slammed his fist into the sand. However the moment his feet touched the sand, Naruto gave a startled yell as a hand made of sand rose and grabbed his whole body, leaving only his neck exposed before he got covered in it.

The possessed Gaara grins happily at the catch of his prey. But before he could do anything, he used his tail to block an incoming kick courtesy of Kia, who was glaring at him.

"Stop it, Gaara!"

"You are weak! Move it!" Gaara roared out as he swiped Kia away. He heard something whistling towards him, making him look to the side only to get pushed back by a beam of blue energy. He snarls at the one who attacked which was Zane, both his metallic arms raised towards him. The possessed jinchuriki was about to charge at him but felt something coming from below. He jumped back to dodge an uppercut to the face by an enlarged fist made of water.

C-Naruto popped out of the sand and examined Gaara's transformation with a slightly creeped out look on his face. "So I was right after all. Gaara's the jinchuriki of the One-Tail! No wonder why I've been getting strange vibes from him."

"Indeed." Zane appeared next to him, now in his E-123 Armor, his arms raised and aimed at the snarling Gaara. "So that's a real life jinchuriki. Never thought I would meet one so soon."

"No kidding." Kia said, taking a stand next to C-Naruto as she took a fighting stance. "Any ideas?"

"Yeah." C-Naruto said, narrowing his eyes as his hands turned into claws. "Kick his ass before he fully transforms!"

"GO AHEAD AND TRY!" Gaara roared at him as the trio charged forward. He swiped his hands and launched several shuriken made of sand. "Sand Shuriken!"

"Water Shuriken!" C-Naruto launched his own shuriken though they were infused with chaos energy. Both versions of shurikens clashed with each other as they each dispersed which made Gaara growl at them as they got ready to attack.

"Wind Style: Sandstorm Devastation!" Gaara exhaled a powerful wind that was mixed in with sand. The resulting sandstorm covered the wide area in front of him that made Team Chaos stop and cover their faces, except for Zane since he was wearing armor.

The sandstorm pushed them back which is what Gaara wanted as he made a mad dash at the closest one, which was Zane. He stretched his arm out and grabbed Zane's armored leg as he pulled him towards him. The one-tail jinchuriki laughed madly as he slammed the armored teen on the ground multiple times, making cracks form on the ground and on his armor.

"Zane!" His friends called out. C-Naruto punched the ground and unleashed a pillar of water that knocked Gaara back, making him release Zane.

"I got him!" Kia said, activating her Chaos Boost, took this chance and dashed towards Gaara while balling her fist up as she gathered energy. "Chaos Boost: Wrath of Gaia!"

Gaara looked up at Kia but grit his teeth as she punched him in his stomach. The power of the punch sent a shockwave that shook Gaara's whole body and made sand fly in the air. Kia wasn't done yet as she launched a flurry of punches and then performed a combo of strikes that made it look like she was moving very fast. She landed on Gaara's head, jumping off his head and doing a mid-air spin charge as she gathered more energy. Once she's charged enough, she does a powerful spin dash making herself look like a shooting star.

"Shooting Star Fury!"

The dazed Gaara looked up in time and got hit by the powerful looking attack as it landed a direct hit on his head and sent them both into the ground, causing sand to erupt and a crater to be formed. Nearby, C-Naruto's jaw dropped in comical shock as he stared at the cloud of sand along with the blue sparkles that appeared after Kia finished her attack.

"Holy chaos!"

The Master Emerald seriously gave Kia a HUGE level up! It looked like she's been working on that combo for some time and he was awestruck by it. He also saw the fist shaped dents Kia made to Gaara's body which oddly enough reminded him of Knuckles' own unique super strength that would cause something like that and her speedy movements somewhat reminded him of Sonic and Shadow.

"Okay. I will never piss Kia off." C-Naruto deadpanned to himself

The Sand Siblings themselves were also awestruck by Kia's mysterious form and her incredible unique power. But they knew that it wouldn't be enough to stop Gaara in this state.

"AAHH!"

"Kia!" C-Naruto said in alarm.

Gaara slowly rose from the crater, his large hand holding onto Kia, who was out of her Chaos Boost state, by her neck as he choked the life out of her. She grit her teeth and tried to kick his chin but it had no effect. The jinchuriki mockingly laughed at her attempt to get out of his grip before he slammed her to the ground, making her eyes widened in pain as she coughed out blood due to how hard the blow was. He then summoned to wrap itself around her body.

"Is that really all you got girl!?" The possessed jinchuriki asked, the sand squeezing her as she cried out painfully after feeling some bones cracking in her body. "I told you to move aside but it looks like I'll have to kill you to teach you a lesson!"

Kia continued to let out a loud cry as Gaara's sand continued to squeeze her tighter and tighter to the point where she was starting to cough out blood. Gaara laughed madly at her but then stopped when he felt a devastating kick across his face that forced his head to the side. His eyes moved to see who attacked him and he saw the snarling face of C-Naruto, now in his Frost Form with a scythe in his hand as the blade had a mist around it.

Using his momentum, C-Naruto turns to Gaara's arm that was holding Kia and cuts it clean off causing it to fall to the ground while at the same time kicking Gaara's stomach to push him back. He grabbed Kia and jumped away as Zane fired multiple missiles at Gaara, sending him flying back with C-Naruto freezing him in a block of ice. The arm and sand that held Kia became frozen solid due to the scythe. C-Naruto quickly destroyed it with a quick chop, dropping his scythe and held Kia gently, wiping the blood that was leaking out of her mouth.

"Kia! Are you okay!?"

"Y...Yeah." Kia spoke in a pained voice. "Gaara...he's...just too strong in that state. Sorry guys. Guess I underestimated him a little bit."

"Don't worry about that." C-Naruto told her.

"Yes." Zane agreed, joining them, looking at Gaara. "The power of a jinchuriki...it truly is something else."

"Hm." Kia agreed before she gritted her teeth as the pain came back. "That last attack took a lot out of me. You have to stop him before...he..." She closed her eyes and lost consciousness.

"Don't worry. We will." C-Naruto told her. He grabbed Zane's hand and teleported to where Temari and Kankuro were. "You two. Go with Zane and head back to the village. Now."

The way he spoke and seeing his expression told them that he was not playing around. Temari took a firm stance and glared at C-Naruto. "No way! That's our little brother and we're-"

"Afraid." C-Naruto coldly interrupted her, shocking the siblings by what he said as he glared back at the two, his eyes glowing slightly. "Don't think I didn't notice the looks you've been sending him since you've joined us. You two are scared of him and can't do anything but stand there like you're gonna piss your pants! If that's how it's going to be then just go back to your village and let me knock some sense into him! Now go!"

Temari looked ready to argue again, but Kankuro placed a hand on her shoulder, shaking his head at her. The older sister looked down before she nodded at C-Naruto as she threw her fan up in the air. She took Kia out of C-Naruto's hand and jumped on her had already switched to his Epsilon armor and went to grab Kankuro. He turns to C-Naruto, a dead serious look on his covered face as he glances at Gaara before turning back to him.

"Once I drop them off, I'll be coming right back to help you."

The guardian nodded, watching as Zane and Temari flew off back to the village. His eyes narrowed in a glare when he heard the roar of anger coming from behind him. He looked over his shoulder to see Gaara glaring at him. "It's just you and me now." He said as he turned to face him, cracking his knuckles. "Hope you're ready, because I'm going to beat shit out of you for what you did to my friends!"

"Friends?!" Gaara laughed at C-Naruto mockingly before scowling in disgust at him. "You're fighting for them?! What a joke! That's why you will not win against me! As long as you fight for the sake of others, you'll never advance beyond this level! Forget about your friends and fight for yourself! All these emotions such as friendship, love and loyalty only makes you weak!"

"Friends...make you weak? Fight for myself and forget them?" C-Naruto asked in a whisper, his voice increasing in anger. "What the hell is wrong with you?! You're insane if you seriously think that! Friends don't make you weak!" Memories of him meeting Chaos, Omochao, the creatures of Angel Island, Kia and her loved ones and Zane flashed in his head.

"They help you become a better person, help you become stronger and always be there for you when you need them the most! It's thanks to my friends that I've gotten this far! They're not and will never be a weakness, they're your strength! And I'll prove it here in this fight!"

"Is that so?" Gaara growled out. "THEN SHOW ME! SHOW ME THAT STRENGTH OF YOURS!"

Battle Music: Strong and Strike [Naruto OST]

"With pleasure!" C-Naruto growled as he cupped his hands together making a blue sphere of energy. "Chaos Pulse!" The guardian threw the ball at Gaara, who laughed at it and tried to block it.

"Just what the hell is that little attack going to-!?" The moment the blue sphere touched him, it exploded into a wave of water that completely covered him, his body being completely dripping wet.

"What the hell!?" Gaara asked before he felt a punch from his chin that sent him in the air and a swift kick that knocked him away before he got hit again, this time crashing to the ground. He tried to attack the guardian only to see nothing. "Where are you?!"

"Right here!" C-Naruto replied from behind Gaara as he grabbed his tail with one hand, much to the nearly transformed jinchuriki's shock. "Let's go for a little spin!" Thanks to his super strength, he was able to lift Gaara up with ease and spun him around in place. He threw the jinchuriki in the air and instantly teleported above him. The guardian gathered more energy in his hands and put them together.

"Hydro Blast!"

A powerful jet of water knocked Gaara back down to the ground, making him bounce off several feet off its surface. But C-Naruto wasn't done yet as he dashed at the nearly transformed jinchuriki, his tail growing longer and now gaining a blue aura with the tip being shrouded with energy. He slammed his tail into Gaara, slamming him back down earning a growl of annoyance.

C-Naruto then spun around and used his tail to smack Gaara across his face, making him fly back and roll on the ground before he stopped himself using his hands.

"NARUTO KAOSU!" Gaara roars angrily, feeling his sand become heavier because of the water and getting annoyed by his attacking him. He glared at the guardian as he rode a wave of water. "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

A powerful gust of wind shot out of his mouth and blew C-Naruto back making him scream out. He flips in the air and lands on his feet. He turns to Gaara only to gasp slightly as the jinchuriki already dashed at him and hit his stomach using his head, making him slide back.

"Damn! He hits hard. WHOA!" C-Naruto thought before liquefying himself to avoid a swiping claw.

"Come on Naruto Kaosu!" Gaara laughed as he continued to attack C-Naruto, who continued to block and avoid his swiping claws. "Didn't you say you were gonna show me your power!?"

"Heh." C-Naruto smirks as he turns himself into a puddle, making Gaara look down at it in confusion. Suddenly, a giant mouth with sharp teeth suddenly shot out of the puddle as it grabbed his face.

"WHAT!?" The mouth soon turned into a hand as it slammed him back to the ground and he felt a powerful kick to his face that sent him sliding backwards. "You…!"

"You want to see my power that badly?" C-Naruto asked in a serious tone as he took a stance. "Fine then. I'll show it to you!"

The guardian let out a yell as a bluish green energy aura erupted from his being which shook the ground around them and caused the rocks to float as sand swirled below his feet. The wild raw power that he released was enough to push Gaara back as he looked at it with shock and confusion.

The beast inside him was no different as it too looked confused. What the hell was this?! The energy that the water brat unleashed wasn't chakra! It can tell because it knows and feels what chakra is like since it's made of chakra! What the hell is this power!?

The Tailed Beast and it's jinchuriki watched as the mysterious unknown energy started to take the form of a reptilian-esque creature as it roared at them. The intense aura slowly simmered down until it surrounded C-Naruto, his eyes glowing.

"Here I come."

Gaara's eyes widened as C-Naruto instantly vanished from his view. He growled and looked around for him. "Where did you go now!? Are you hiding from me like a coward!?"

"I'm here."

Gaara's eyes widened as he felt a fist connect to the side of his face, making saliva come out of his mouth. But the onslaught didn't stop there as the possessed jinchuriki felt powerful multiple blows connect to every part of his body. Those blows were actually damaging him because the sand on his body became heavier and heavier. He roared in anger as he tried to swipe and attack him even though he wasn't there.

"Special Technique!" C-Naruto appeared below him and gave him an enhanced uppercut that sent him launching in the air. He created three clones as each of them gathered chaos energy in their hands and teleported above Gaara before delivering heavy hits on his body. "Na-Ru-To!"

The original finished it with a punch that unleashed a blast of energy that sent Gaara crashing to the ground as he bounced off it's surface. "Chaos!" The guardian and his clones teleported in front of Gaara, as they morphed back into the original. Perfect Zero: Sword Mode appeared in his hands as it glows incredibly bright. He swipes his sword and unleashes waves of chaos energy. "Barrage Mk. 1!"

The waves struck Gaara as they made deep scratch marks appear on his body while at the same time, cutting off his arms making his eyes widened in disbelief before he used his tail to block the last one.

The jinchuriki landed on the ground and huffed in anger and annoyance, glaring hatefully at C-Naruto. Why?! Why the hell couldn't he kill the bastard!? He just doesn't understand it! Wasn't he stronger than him!? He was a shinobi! An elite! Yet this boy, a wanderer with no affiliation with any of the villages, suddenly shows up and is actually beating him!? How!?

"NARUTO KAOSU!"

Gaara was going to attack him but then noticed something glowing below his feet. He looked down and saw small green balls directly right below him. "What the hell is this?!" Hearing a whistle made him turn to C-Naruto who was smirking and waving at him.

"Boom." The energy balls glowed brightly making Gaara look down in shock before he let out a scream. A large explosion erupted from the balls, completely covering the jinchuriki in smoke.

C-Naruto narrowed his eyes at the cloud but then fell on his knees, the energy covering him disappearing as he took deep breaths. He looked down at his hands and saw it was briefly returning to normal. "Shit. I'm almost completely out."

This is something Naruto knew he had to be careful about. Even though he has the powers of a godlike being, he's still human and as much as he hates to admit it, even he has limits and weaknesses. One of those limits is him using his full power which would drain him of his stamina.

"Hehe, it was worth it." The guardian thought confidently. "I can't believe my plan actually worked."

He knew that because of that sand covering his upper body, his defense would be incredibly hard to break even when he's using his water to make his sand heavier to control. He's a jinchuuriki after all so he has a large amount of chakra, but for Gaara that chakra was meant for defense purposes so even he couldn't keep it up for long. But instead of waiting for him to drain his chakra, he decided to do the opposite. Find the weakness to his defense which was his lower section. The smoke eventually cleared up and showed a badly damaged Gaara just as the guardian thought.

"It's over now Gaara!" C-Naruto told him as he stood up after regaining his breathing. "Give up! You lost!"

Gaara glared at him in anger as he trembled. Him…lose?! Impossible! He never lost a fight against anyone! Was that unknown energy really his strength?! Or was it what he said about his friends?! Was that really his true power?! Impossible! "There's absolutely no way…" He spoke up, his tone growing angrier with each word. "I WOULD LOSE TO GUY LIKE YOU! YOU WILL DIE NARUTO KAOSU!"

Music Ends

C-Naruto's eyes widened from hearing the animalistic roar that came from Gaara. They widened further when he saw large amounts of sand gather up and completely surround Gaara making a sand tornado that blocked him from view. More and more sand gathered around the tornado, making it even bigger than it already was that it made the guardian jump back multiple times away from it. Once he got enough distance, he stopped and stared at it as he felt fear enter his heart. He hoped that the last attack would be able to knock him out at least since he was damaged.

But it didn't. It woke up the beast.

The fear in C-Naruto's heart increased further when he heard a very loud roar from within the tornado causing him to cover his ears, not paying attention to the explosion and the gigantic shadow that loomed over him. He opened his eyes and noticed the shadow, making him slowly look up and saw the creature that was glaring down at him.

A sandy-brown colored tanuki, with dark blue markings all over its face, body, and tail. It has a jagged, concave mouth with no tongue, and the sclerae of its eyes are black, with yellow irises and pupils that each take the shape of a black four-pointed star with four black dots around it.

It was the One-Tail Tanuki in all its glory. It let out another terrifying loud roar, to let the Hidden Sand know that it has returned once again.

---

Meanwhile

Hidden Sand Village: Hospital

Omochao and Snow were currently in the little boy's room, resting on his bed while he slept peacefully. Snow was next to the boy's head, her paw on his forehead as she rubs it softly watching as Omochao was walking back and forth, a worried expression on his face.

"Oh boy. Oh boy. Oh boy. Where are they? They should be back by now." The advanced robochao said.

"He's one worried little robot isn't he?" Snow thought to herself with a sheepish look on her face. But even she couldn't deny that she too was worried about them, especially when they were with that scary auburn haired boy. Just thinking about him made her shiver. The snow white single blue haired cat looked out the window. "I hope they're okay." She whispered softly so that Omochao wouldn't hear her.

A commotion was heard coming from outside, making the duo look at the door in confusion. They turned to each other with confused expressions before the doors opened up, causing the robochao and cat to jump in comical fright. They looked back and saw Zane and an unconscious injured Kia in his arms. Chiyo and another elder came in a second after.

The second elder is a man that has heavy-lidded eyes that give him the appearance of actually having no eyes at all. He also has very long eyebrows that frame each side of his face. Along with a turban wrapped around his head, he wears the traditional Hidden Sand outfit which consists of a dark coloured, loose fitting outfit with a poncho-like top.

"Quickly! Bring her here!" Chiyo told Zane as he nodded and brought Kia to the empty bed.

"Zane! KIA!? Oh my chao! What happened?!" Omochao asked in shock and fear at Kia's state.

"Gaara happened." Zane answered as he laid Kia down on the bed with Chiyo and the nurses that were still in the room already at work on checking her. "We managed to beat Vayu, yet due to him attacking Gaara, he started to turn into a monster and attacked us."

"No…" The elderly man gasped out, the hint of fear detected in his voice while Chiyo grit her teeth in anger from hearing that.

The retired sand ninja feared something like that would've happened. After seeing the powerful abilities it displayed during its visits to the village, she knew Gaara would be able to take it down. But when she heard from the Kazekage that the Wind Demon evolved to an even more powerful form right after Kia and her friends tried to fight it…

Well, let's just say it's a miracle that she didn't get a heart attack from the fear she felt in her heart.

"M-Monster!? Gaara turned into a monster!?" Omochao asked in shock, his emote turned into an exclamation mark. He then noticed someone in their group wasn't with them. "Wait a second, where's Naruto?"

"He's-"

"RAAAAAWRRRRR!"

A very loud roar interrupted Zane as he was about to answer Omochao's question. The roar was so loud it left an echo that lasted a few seconds before it vanished. Everyone throughout the village, from human to animal except for the birds that flew away in fright, stopped what they were doing when they heard it.

To the residents of the Sand Village, that roar had brought back painful terrifying memories of what happened years ago and it made them all pale. Because that roar was a signal. To let them know that the nightmare that has been here since the village's founding has returned.

The beast has returned.

Once that realization hit them, there was chaos and panic all around the village as everyone let out terrified screams, all of them shouting that One-Tail has been released. Hearing this from inside, Zane, Omochao and Snow looked outside the window and saw many people running around the village with the ninja trying to calm them down. There were even people closing their stores down in order to go into hiding.

"No!" The old man exclaimed looking out in the distance from the window. "It's happening again! Shukaku the Sand Spirit, the demon that sleeps within Gaara is awake!"

Zane's eyes widened from hearing what the old man said. The One-Tail!? Then that means Naruto wasn't able to knock Gaara out in time! "I have to hurry!" The cyborg was about to run out to the door before the old man stopped him.

"Wait! Where are you going son?"

"I'm going to help my friend!" Zane replied urgently, getting everyone's attention, including Chiyo as they stared at him in shock and disbelief.

"Huh?!" Omochao asked in shock. "Naruto is out there fighting Gaara, alone!?"

"Nya! Nya!" Snow meows loudly, a scared expression on her face. "Say what?!"

"A...Are you serious?" The old man asked in disbelief. A child was out there fighting Shukaku by himself!?

Zane nodded and looked towards Omochao. "I told Naruto I'd be back when I drop Kia and the others back in the village. Now that it's done, I'm going to help him deal with Shukaku."

"Zane!" Everyone looked to the source of the tired voice and saw Kia weakly trying to sit up but was stopped by Chiyo, who placed her hands on her shoulders to gently push her back down.

"No Kia! You need to rest up!"

"I...I know Ms. Chiyo. I just need to give him something." Kia said, her voice tired and painful. She raised her arm out, flinching and gritting her teeth from the pain. She ignored it and concentrated, summoning the four Chaos Emeralds, stunning Chiyo and the other nurses, along with Snow as she looked on in awe at them. "...the emeralds...give them to Naruto."

She sent the emeralds towards Zane as they vanished around him. He nodded at her and ran out the room just as Kia lost consciousness again. Chiyo and her little brother Ebizo watched him go before turning to look at Kia then towards Snow and Omochao.

"Hey sis…" Ebizo started, now looking at her sister to show his astonished expression. "Who exactly are these kids?

Chiyo just shook her head. Right now too much was happening, and she needed to focus on one thing; taking care of Kia. Hopefully the children will explain more once this mess is over.

"Naruto…" Omochao whispered worriedly. He put his hands together and gave out a silent prayer. "Please! Come back safe and sound!"

"Naruto..." Snow was trembling slightly as she grit her teeth. She wanted to go out there as well and help Zane save Naruto. But what!? What could she do against something like a giant monster?

All she could do is just hope and pray to whatever god exists in this shinobi ruled earth that Naruto and Zane would be back safe and sound.

---

Back to Naruto

Land of Wind: Desert

"Oh man…" C-Naruto whispered, staring at the Tailed Beast with fear as he took a single step back. "I knew these guys were supposed to be huge...but I didn't think they'd be Perfect Chaos huge."

So many bad feelings rose up inside of him as he stared at the one-tailed beast. This was bad. This was very very bad! While he did indeed fight a lot of monsters that kept coming on his island, none of them were as gigantic as this thing! Plus this was one of the nine Tailed Beasts! From what the old man told him all those years ago, their power was based on the number of tails they have! They were basically on par with Perfect Chaos minus them not using the power of the chaos emeralds.

How the hell can he fight something like that?! It took some of his power to take down Vayu 4, plus his fight with Gaara earlier resulted in him using his full power to try and knock him out but it proved meaningless. If he uses more of his energy, he'll be out of his Chaos form and be tired.

"Dammit! What can I do to beat this thing!?"

The One Tail, growing tired of waiting, roars at C-Naruto and tries to squash him like a bug using his hands. But the demigod quickly changed into his Vayu form and gave a giant leap backward, avoiding the gigantic hands as they shook the ground. But due to the creature's massive size they were almost close to hitting him.

The guardian had to do an air dash to the side to avoid the hand that loomed over him. He landed on the giant hand and looked up at the Beast's forehead, seeing Gaara's exposed upper body sticking out. "There!" He did an aerial dash up it's arm, giving out a yell as he summoned Sonic Cyclone and got ready to attack. "Chaos Win-!?"

Before C-Naruto could finish saying his attack, the One-Tail swiped it's arm and knocked him off, earning a surprised scream from him. But it wasn't done yet as it sucked in a lot of air.

"Wind Style! Air Bullet!" It shot out a powerful condensed ball of wind like a cannonball as it went straight at C-Naruto, who looked shocked.

The guardian raised his hand and used his new elemental form to create a barrier. The bullet made contact with the barrier as it exploded upon impact. The force of the impact blew C-Naruto back to the ground, causing him to revert back to normal as he bounced off it's surface several times, leaving craters in his wake before sliding on the ground.

The demigod growled in pain, putting a hand to his head. The blow from the impact made his head bleed with the blood trailing down his face. "Fucking hell! I should've seen that coming." He sat up and shook his head, wiping the blood out of his eyes, glaring up at the One-Tail as it started to grin at him. He stood up and spat some blood out of his mouth, all the while ignoring the pain and just smirking at the giant beast.

"Is that all you got, you stupid tanuki!? I barely felt that!"

The One-Tail didn't take too kindly to that comment as it roared at Naruto, who remained by it this time, his form full of confidence and determination, not a trace of fear on his face. It sucked in a bunch of air before doing a hand formation, making Naruto tense up as he summoned Perfect Zero: Trident Mode.

"Wind Style! Air Bullet-!?"

Before it could start performing the jutsu, it was interrupted by an explosion that hit him in the face, surprising it and Naruto. But that wasn't the end as more and more explosions started to appear around its body.

"Wait…Zane!" Naruto whispered, looking up in the sky and much to his joy he saw Zane in his Epsilon armor, heading their way at high speed while at the same firing missiles at the Tailed Beast.

"Systems locked on target. Fire!" Zane spoke in a monotone voice as he fired more missiles at Shukaku, who roared in annoyance as they hit its face. He landed next to Naruto, looking concerned. "You okay?"

"A little bit." Naruto admitted. "What about the others?"

"Safe." Zane answered. "I took Kia from Temari and dropped her off at the hospital. Temari and Kankuro went to tell their father about the situation. But the whole village was in a panic when they heard Shukaku."

"Shukaku?" Naruto asked, raising his brows.

"The One-Tail's name." Zane replied, surprising the guardian.

"Hold up, it's got a name!?"

Shukaku let out another roar, grabbing the boys' attention as it glared angrily at them. The two took a stance as they glared up at the Sand Beast.

"How much longer can you stand?" Zane asked.

"Honestly? My body is almost done." Naruto answered. "I had to use some of my full power on him before he transformed. You?"

"Same here." Zane replied. "If I keep using my armors like this, I'll overheat and won't be able to use them. Here."

Naruto held his hands out and was surprised when Zane tossed him the four emeralds. "The emeralds."

"I'll hold him off while I can. When the time comes, use the emeralds and finish Shukaku." Zane told him before flying off to face Shukaku. He fired more missiles at the Tailed Beast causing it to roar at him.

Naruto watched on as Shukaku was trying to swipe at Zane as though he was a armored teen was attacking the beast from everywhere, firing every missile at every part of its body. Since they were dealing with this humongous monster, the missiles weren't doing much damage and were only annoying it.

Having enough of getting hit by those strange weapons, Shukaku unleashed a roar that made Zane cover his ears and leave him stunned. Shukaku took this chance and launched several sand shurikens at Zane, who noticed at the last second and got hit by them, pushing him back in the air but also hitting his left wing.

"Fuck! He got me." Zane thought as he looked at his damaged wing. He quickly back and his eyes widened when he saw a giant pair of hands come together and squash him.

"ZANE!" Naruto cried out, his face full of worry.

Shukaku let out a laugh, finally able to catch its prey. But the laugh was short lived when it saw its hands glowing red. It looked confused for a moment but then roared out in pain when two lasers erupted from it's hands, causing it to let go of Zane, who was in his Omega armor, using the jetpacks to stay afloat.

"I can only stay transformed for a little bit." Zane said, feeling himself starting to overheat. "I'll use all of my remaining power to damage him and give Naruto a chance!" His hands morphed into cannons as he aimed directly at the distracted Shukaku. The cannons started to charge up full of energy as they glowed in a mixture of crimson red and purple.

The Sand Spirit shook it's now reformed hands and then glared angrily at Zane. It started to suck up a lot of air while performing a hand sign.

"Wind Style!"

"Inferno..." Zane said in an emotionless voice as he felt the cannons were now fully charged. "LASER FLASH!"

"Air Bullet!"

Zane fired two massive laser beams of red and purple energy that combined into an even large one. The laser completely obliterated Shukaku's attack and landed a direct hit on the Tailed Beast itself, much to it's disbelief as the laser started to push it back.

As this happened, pieces of Zane's armor began to fall off him as he continued to fire the beam. He released a yell as he put more energy into his beam as it finally knocked Shukaku on it's back. A second later, Zane stopped firing as he took deep tired breaths, the rest of his armor falling off him.

Down below, Naruto was gawking at Zane with an awestruck expression on his face. That...had to have been the coolest thing he had ever seen. "Awesome…" He then gasped when Shukaku used its tail to knock the transformed cyborg out of the air.

"Zane!" The guardian leaps towards him and catches him in his arms making them both crash to the ground. "Zane! Are you okay!?"

"Yes." Zane answered tiredly. "Using that attack took a lot out of me more than I expected." He stood up and got off Naruto, only to fall back down. "The rest is up to you now."

Naruto looked at Zane before turning his attention to Shukaku, who stood back up on its feet while shaking its head. His expression turned deadly serious as he walked towards it, his fists clenched tightly.

"All right. Leave it to me." Zane nodded his head in acknowledgement while giving him a small smile, which he returned with his own as he turned back to Shukaku.

"Shukaku!" Naruto called out, getting the One-Tail's attention. "This is it! The last round! Only one is winning this, and it's gonna be me!"

"Oh yeah, you little brat!?" The Sand Spirit yelled at Naruto, making him and Zane look surprised that it could talk. "Just watch! As soon as I kill you, I'm going to go after your little friends too! You all better be prepared to die!"

The Sand Spirit aimed its left hand at the narrowed face of Naruto, as sand began to rise up to his feet, which the guardian didn't pay no mind to with his thoughts on something else.

"My friends..." Naruto thought as the sand began to cover him. He closed his eyes and summoned the four emeralds around him. He started to think about Kia, Zane, Omochao and Snow along with the little boy that they saved. "Please...I need your help. I want to protect them. Just give me enough power...so I can beat him!"

Insert Song: Open Your Heart (K-Klub Remix) [Sonic Adventure]

The emeralds glowed brightly as a water veil quickly covered Naruto's being. He snapped his glowing pupil-less green eyes open and released a powerful roar that made a burst of yellow energy erupt from him, completely blowing the sand and water veil away.

The four emeralds were absorbed within his being. His hair started to flash a pulsated lighter blue color with his eyes leaking out energy while a golden aura surrounded him.

"W-What!? What the hell kind of chakra IS that?!" The One-Tail asked in shock.

"This isn't chakra." Naruto told him. "This is a power of chaos! HYPER MODE!"

After that announcement, sparkling white stars appeared around him. Naruto then charged at Shukaku at high speed, punching it across the face, making it's head look to the other side which the giant tanuki looked on in disbelief.

"WHAT THE FUCK?! He hit me!?"

Naruto smirked at his accomplishment as he quickly examined himself. "This is awesome!"

Hyper Mode. A type of transformation that's caused by the Chaos Emeralds. He knows Hyper Mode isn't a super state, nor is it as powerful as one, but it has the amount of power needed to take down Shukaku since he's (supposedly) the weakest of the tailed beasts. He doesn't know how long he can stay in it, so he gotta make this quick.

"Oh yeah!" Naruto grinned as he palmed his fist. "Let's go chaotic! You crazy monster!"

"WHY YOU!" Shukaku roared in anger as he launched a barrage of sand shurikens.

The guardian smirked at that as he dashed around the shurikens, easily avoiding them as he landed on Shukaku's stomach. He dashed upwards and gave Shukaku an uppercut that made it stumble back.

"You little punk!" Shukaku exclaimed as it slammed it's hand down at Naruto, smirking when it caught him and slammed him to the ground, making a powerful blast of wind and dirt rise up. "HA! Not so cocky now are you?" It moved it's hand and saw nothing which made it do a double-take at this as it looked around for Naruto.

"WHAT!? WHERE'D HE GO!?"

Shukaku let out a surprised yell when it felt it's arm get hit by a large glowing water shuriken. It looked angrily at Naruto, only to see nothing there which further angered the single tailed beast. It then let out a loud screech as its body got hit by waves of incredibly hot fire. The waves also sliced off it's right arm. It landed on the ground as it turned to sand.

Naruto, holding Wildfire, smirked at that before it disappeared in his pendant. With Shukaku now distracted, he charged at the forehead where Gaara was currently sleeping. "Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty!" The guardian gave Gaara a right hook to the cheek then moved away from him.

"AW MAN! I JUST WOKE UP!"

Shukaku gave a final roar as it felt it's holder starting to wake up, thereby forcing it to go back to its slumber as its eyes were glazed over. Gaara's eyes slowly opened up as he glared at the floating Naruto, who was glaring back at him.

"DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME!" He yelled, causing Shukaku to roar as it regrew it's missing limb.

"Aw, I'm sorry. Did I interrupt your nap?" Naruto asked in a mocking voice. He flinched slightly as he stumbled in the air. He noticed the stars around him had vanished and his aura was blinking out. "Crap, I'm running out of time! Better finish this fast!"

"I'LL BLOW YOU AWAY!" Gaara yelled out as he performed a hand-sign. "Wind Style: Air Bullets!"

The Shukaku replica fired multiple air bullets at Naruto who quickly charged at him while dodging them. It then raised it's hand to try and grab him though Naruto did a front flip to avoid it and was now running along it's arm. The guardian could see tendrils coming out as they tried to grab him. Turning his hands into claws, he sliced right through while avoiding some that tried to grab his feet. Seeing he was close to Gaara, he leaps towards him, his fist pulled back.

"I'm not finished yet!" Gaara exclaimed as tendrils came out of Shukaku's face and covered Naruto in a ball of sand. "It's over!"

But it wasn't over yet. Not by a long shot.

A bright light began to shine from within the ball of sand. Much to Gaara's shock, his ball of sand exploded as Naruto released a feral roar and a golden aura was unleashed from him. He glares down at Gaara, his fangs now sharpened and his eyes briefly turning a fiery orange.

"You're finished Gaara! I'm ending this right now!" The guardian exclaimed, pulling his fist back, charging it up full of energy.

"NO YOU WON'T!" Gaara roared as Shukaku sucked in a lot of air. It then blew a blast of wind at Naruto to try and blow him away which the guardian fought through.

Naruto gave out a final roar as the energy covered him and transformed into a giant replica of Perfect Chaos' head. The replica head glared heavily into Gaara's eyes and by extension Shukaku as it gave out a roar, which caught them off guard. It continued heading towards Gaara, shocking him to the core as it fought against his wind blast.

While it happened, Gaara began to tremble uncontrollably. What the hell is that creature!? And why...why was he shaking? Him? Shaking!? This never happened to him! Not since he killed his uncle all those years ago! Was he afraid? No...it couldn't be! He wasn't afraid of anything! Just what the hell is Naruto Kaosu!?

The jinchuriki let out a terrified scream as the energy broke through his attack, it's mouth opened wide as it bit Shukaku's head clean off. However, what really happened was that Naruto gave Gaara a hard right hook to his face.

To Naruto and Gaara, everything around them was moving in slow motion. Both of their eyes widened for a moment as they both started to get a vision at the same time as though they were sharing it. Gaara's vision was that of his younger self standing all by his lonesome, his head hanging low. Naruto's vision was of his younger self standing in the same position, but then Chaos appeared next to him, his younger self looking at him with a happy smile. One by one, all his friends, appeared next to the young Naruto who looked extremely happy while the young Gaara was still by himself now curled up into a ball.

"Why...why am I seeing this?" Gaara asked himself.

Naruto's eyes softened as the visions came to an end. "Gaara."

Time returned to normal with Naruto's attack continuing on as both him and Gaara were sent crashing towards, landing on the spot. A massive earthquake erupted from the impact, which made a large cloud of sand appear and a powerful gust of wind to erupt.

Far away from the battle, Zane had to cover his eyes from the powerful wind. He removed his arms from his eyes and watched with widened eyes as Shukaku's headless body turned into sand and fell to the ground. That had to have been the most amazing battle he had ever seen. The power of the Chaos Emeralds, they were truly as incredible as the info he received about them during his sleep. With just four of them, Naruto was able to achieve some sort of transformation and go toe to toe against a Tailed Beast.

"Naruto." Zane got up and traveled to where Naruto and Gaara landed. He narrowed his eyes as he saw a crater from where Naruto's attack crashed. He traveled towards the crater and looked down at it.

Gaara was lying on the ground, cheek swollen with his eyes blank and Naruto was a few feet away from him, face first in the ground.

"Naruto!" Zane called out as he slid down the crater. He reached Naruto and rolled him on his back, seeing that he looked incredibly exhausted. He gently shook him, causing the blue haired boy to open one eye at and smiled tiredly.

"H...Hey Zane. Is it over?"

"Yes, it's over" Zane answered, giving him a small smile. "You won."

Naruto gave a toothy smile at him. "Sweet...I think I'm gonna...go to sleep for a bit." Were his last words as he lost consciousness.

Zane smiled softly at his friend and shook his head. "You really are something else, aren't you Naruto?" He looked up and saw several sand shinobi around the crater, including the Third Kazekage and his oldest children.

A tired blank expression appeared on Zane's face as he stared at the Kazekage. So these shinobi waited till after the fight to finally reveal themselves? He shook his head tiredly before he decided to let himself fall asleep as well.

---

Meanwhile

Hidden Leaf Village: Council Room

Inside a private room of the Academy building, the Hidden Leaf Village's most prominent clan heads were gathered up. Joining alongside them were the three elders and an ANBU Black Ops Chief. The group were sitting around a large table, the clan heads on one side and the elders on the other side while the ANBU stood next to the door. The door opened and Minato walked in the room, his expression that of a village leader, and took a seat in front of the head table.

"Thank you all for coming on such short notice, especially after the events that happened the other day. I have called everyone here because of something that I have discovered in regards to my son."

"What is it?" Shikaku Nara asked.

"As many of you already know, I sent a retrieval team consisting of my wife, Lord Hiruzen, Master Jiraiya, Lady Tsunade and Shizune to the Land of Waves to get Naruto." Minato explained. "I just received a letter from them telling me of the situation and…" He sighed. "It looks like there's a lot more to what's going on then what we thought."

Everyone looked curious by what he said.

"What exactly do you mean?" Tsume asked.

"Do you all remember what Takashi said about Naruto having the ability to control water?" They nodded, now getting curious of where this was going. "I want to show you something."

Minato reached into his kage cloak and took out a picture, holding it out in front of them. Everyone looked at the picture with confusion, surprise and slight shock. The photo depicted a humanoid water creature smiling happily at the camera with its thumbs up. Judging by its muscular physique, they knew it was male.

"What is this creature?" Inoichi Yamanaka asked, raising a brow.

"That creature is Naruto." Minato said, shocking everyone present.

"What?! That's your son!?" Choza Akimichi asked in surprise. "How is this possible?"

"Before I answer that, there's something I must tell you about what happened in Wave. In the letter, Master Jiraiya said that during Naruto and his friends' stay, Naruto fought the rogue mist ninja Zabuza Momochi while his friends fought his protege and the only living Demon Brother."

"Z-Zabuza Momochi?! Your son fought against one of the seven mist swordsmen and lived!?" Inoichi asked, his voice filled with disbelief which was shared by everyone in the room.

"Yes, and he won without getting hurt in the slightest." Minato said, his voice hiding a small amount of pride. He frowned a little bit at what he was about to say next. "Though that's not all the letter said."

Within the next couple of minutes, he explained to them all the contents of what the letter said which was mainly of what they learned from Tazuna and his young grandson. Needless to say everyone became speechless from what they heard.

"My word…" Koharu said in a hush whispered. "I can't believe it. A kekkei genkai that doesn't require chakra to be used? That has to be the most incredible thing I've ever heard."

"Agreed." Danzo agreed, speaking for the first time since the meeting started. "To think that Naruto Namikaze has such an amazing gift and we never knew about it." He glanced at Minato. "And you say these demons that are attacking the great nations came from him?"

"I'm afraid so." Minato answered, staring at the photo of C-Naruto. "These demons, or Chaos Warriors as they're called, are pieces of Naruto's power that were taken from him and somehow given physical forms. It explains why he's suddenly appeared again after so long."

"Along with his connection to them." Shibi Aburame added, crossing his arms.

"But it doesn't make sense though." Homaru said, picking up the picture of Naruto and looking at it. "Judging by this picture, it looks like Naruto's main ability is to control water and can actually take on an intriguing form when he's using it. So why do these Chaos Warriors have different forms?"

"It's like Minato said." Shikaku said, eyes closed in thought. "When Naruto's kekkei genkai awakened, someone must've discovered him using it after he fell into the ocean. They kidnapped Naruto to take this power for themselves and experimented on it to try and breed a new generation of shinobi that can use ninjutsu without wasting their chakra. Naruto of course escaped from them before they could do serious harm to him."

"That would make sense." Tsume said after hearing Shikaku's logic. "It also explains why these Chaos Warrior things have different elements. They were trying to see if they could turn the kid's water power into another element."

"And from what's going, they seemed to have succeeded." Choza said a displeased frown on his face.

"But it also failed on them miserably. In the process of the experimentation, the boy's powers gained physical forms and wills of their own. These creatures more than likely killed whoever it was that took them away from him." Hiashi Hyuga, who remained quiet throughout the meeting, continued the discussion. "Now because of that fool, we are in this situation today."

"That's right." Minato agreed with that theory, clenching his fists tightly under the table at the thought of his son being experimented on like a lab rat. "Not only that, I learned that after Naruto defeated Agni, he absorbed him. This tells us that even though they were taken from him, Naruto is still able to regain the missing pieces of his power."

"Absorbed Agni?" Inoichi asked in a stunned tone. "But doesn't that mean…?"

"He may have also inherited Agni's ability to control fire. It may also mean that the same also applies to the other Chaos Warriors." Shibi finished the statement which once again stunned everyone present. "Do you know where your son is at Lord Fourth?"

Minato nodded. "A day after Naruto absorbed Agni, he and his friends left for the Land of Snow to take care of Frost, the Chaos Warrior that controls ice."

"Ice?" Tsume asked in surprise.

"Yes." Minato said. "Fire, wind, lightning, earth and ice. Those are the five elements the Chaos Warriors control. Agni being fire and Frost being ice."

"Of course. Now it all makes sense." Shikaku said, earning everyone's attention.

"What do you mean?" Inoichi asked curiously.

"Think about it. Naruto and his friends went after Agni first because he controls fire while Naruto controls water. Fire is weak against water. If what we believe about Naruto inheriting Agni's fire ability is true, then it explains why they went after Frost next. Her ice is weak against fire." Minato explained, making everyone have looks of understanding.

"In other words, they're going after a Chaos Warrior that has a weakness to a certain element." Shikaku finished the explanation.

"Which means your son and his companions are traveling through the Lands of Wind, Earth or Lightning right now fighting these creatures." Danzo stated. "The countries where our enemies are also located."

Minato narrowed his eyes slightly at Danzo but nodded his head anyway. "I know what you're thinking Lord Danzo and it won't happen. Naruto nor his friends would never join their village and be their ninja."

"But how do you know that?" Danzo asked.

"Because their mission is to defeat the Chaos Warriors and return home." Minato replied before clarifying. "To his home I mean."

"Return home?" Tsume repeated, a brow raised in confusion. "So why is the retrieval team still in Wave if your kid's just going to up and disappear again?"

"Naruto and his friends are going to return to Wave the day the bridge is complete which won't be until a few more days, mainly due to the damage it took from the fight." Minato replied, looking down in thought. "But by then, Naruto would've beaten all the Warriors and have his pieces returned to him."

"Meaning that he'll be 'whole' once again." Shikaku finished with Minato nodding in agreement. "When that happens, we won't know how strong he'll be."

"What will you do, Lord Fourth?" Inoichi asked. "Even before fighting Agni, your son was able to fight against Zabuza by himself and managed to get away unharmed."

"That's right." Koharu nods in agreement. "His ability to control water alone is impressive, but there's no telling what else his kekkei genkai can do once he's 'whole' again, especially since he can also teleport to the location of the Chaos Warriors. That alone tells us that there's more to this kekkei genkai than meets the eye."

"Let's not forget about his friends." Homura added in. "From the sound of it, they too have a special kind of power to them that no one has ever heard of. It's amazing that none of them aren't ninja."

"I know. Naruto and his friends...they sure are mysterious." Minato said, giving a small smile before frowning sadly. "I know that the moment Naruto sees the retrieval team, he'll more than likely attack them but it might be Kushina he'll attack the most. It'll only show how much of a deep scar we left in his heart."

The ANBU commander stepped forward from his position and bowed to the Fourth Hokage. "Lord Fourth, by your wish I will assemble a team to help restrain the boy."

Minato shook his head, his expression stern. "No. If anything, this whole mess is my fault. I knew Naruto was a special child since he was born without chakra and somehow survived, but I didn't think nor did I imagine he would be able to have a kekkei genkai that enables him to control water without the need for chakra. We never gave him a chance to see his potential and because of that we turned away from him and he ran away."

Most of the council frowned sadly at Minato, feeling sorry for him but knew it was true.

"I already sent a letter back to the retrieval team. I told them if Naruto becomes too much for them to handle or if anything unexpected happens then Kushina can call on me through our wedding rings." Minato continued, a determined expression on his face. His response caught most of them off guard, especially since they know what that meant.

"You sure about this Minato?" Shikaku asked.

"Yes. Naruto is my son, so it's my responsibility as his father to be the one to take care of him."

---

Later That Night

Hidden Sand Village: Hospital

A soft groan is heard inside a room. The source of it came from Naruto who began to open his eyes. He sat up and tiredly rubbed his eyes. Feeling something cuddling him, made him look down to see Omochao and Snow sleeping on either side of him.

"Hm? Omochao? Snow?"

The demigod sat up as gently as he could so that he wouldn't wake them. He looked around and saw Kia and Zane sleeping on separate beds. Kia had some bandages wrapped around parts of her body while Zane didn't have anything. He looked outside and saw it was dark outside.

"Oh man. How long were we out?" Naruto mumbled. He noticed that it was dark inside the room they were in. Looking over, he saw a desk next to him, which thankfully had a lamp. He reached over and switched it on. "What time is it?"

"It's past midnight." Naruto jumped at the voice that replied to him. He looked at the door and saw Chiyo walking in. "I'm surprised you've woken up after those huge battles you all had yesterday."

Naruto scratched his head sheepishly while giving her a goofy smile. "I've always been a morning person. Plus I heal pretty fast."

Chiyo laughed quietly. "I know, I saw it happen with my own eyes. It's amazing to hear that not only you were able to defeat the Wind Demon, but to also handle Shukaku by yourself and won against it? That's something only a Kage-level shinobi is capable of doing."

"Well, I didn't beat him alone." Naruto admitted. "I had Zane with me to back me up, he's been a great help."

"Oh? What about those four emeralds Kia gave your friend? The ones that were supposed to help you win against Shukaku?" Chiyo asked, making Naruto do a comical spit take and sweat slightly much to her amusement.

"Oh. Right. Um, can you do us a favor and not mention them to the Kazekage please? Things will be complicated if he finds out about them and I don't wanna have to fight him because he wants to keep them for himself."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that." Chiyo smiled smugly, winking at him. "This old gal is retired, so I don't have to tell that crazy fool anything."

Naruto took a sigh of relief from hearing that. "Whew! Thanks a lot lady!" He got hit in the face by a pillow which knocked his head back to the wall behind, earning a hiss from him.

"Quit being so loud!" A tired voice told him sternly. "And stop being rude to Ms. Chiyo!"

Naruto removed the pillow from his face, staring at Kia with widened eyes. "Huh? I thought you were asleep."

"I was until I heard a certain goofball's voice." Kia deadpans, earning a sheepish laugh from Naruto. She rolled her eyes as she sat up only to hold back a hiss which caught both occupants attention.

"Move gently child. We managed to heal every broken bone in your body but you still have a bruise here or there." Chiyo told Kia, who nodded her head.

"You okay?" Naruto asked her, his voice full of concern and a worried look on his face.

"I'm fine. Just sore." Kia replied, feeling happy about his concern for her. "What about you?"

"Good as new!" Naruto said, giving her his goofy smile before he flinched and held his head which made her giggle.

"And Zane?"

"I am fine as well." Now both Naruto and Kia jumped at Zane's sudden voice as they turned to him. "What?"

"When did you wake up?!"

"I've always been awake. I went to the bathroom before Chiyo showed up." Zane answered with a blank comical expression causing them to sweat drop.

"Well damn, you could've at least told me you were awake." Naruto said.

Nearby, Chiyo watched their interaction with amusement as she let out a giggle. These kids just fought against a powerful jinchuriki and here they are acting like...well kids. It always warmed her heart to see youths like them acting like this. The Genin of this era were too arrogant, prideful and too serious to even have fun once they put that forehead protector on. They would only talk about how powerful or strong they were getting and even be smug about it or look down on those who were useless on the mission to the point where fights would happen.

But these three were different from them. Not a single one of them were talking about what happened during their fight with Gaara and Shukaku with Naruto even admitting that he would be a goner without his friend, even being concerned about their condition. This alone proved how much of a powerful bond the three of them shared.

"If only the children of this era were like these three." Chiyo thought to herself.

"Say old la...I-I mean Ms. Chiyo." Naruto quickly corrected himself after seeing the heated glare from Kia. "What happened after we lost consciousness?"

Chiyo's expression turned serious. "After your battle with Gaara, the Kazekage and his personal ANBU showed up, though I suspect they were simply watching you fight from afar. You and Zane were quickly brought back to the hospital and received medical treatment."

"What about Gaara?" Naruto asked, frowning seriously which was shared by Zane while Kia trembled slightly from remembering his monster form.

"The Kazekage took his son and went home. After all that's happened, there's no doubt he's probably resting right now." Chiyo told him in which all three nodded in response.

"Ms. Chiyo." Kia said her name softly. "What happened to Gaara that made him become who he is today?" Her question made Naruto and Zane pay close attention to retired ninja, Naruto especially since the vision of the child form of Gaara was still fresh on his mind.

"Tell me, do any of you children know what a jinchuriki is?" The three nodded at Chiyo's question.

"Yes." The island princess said, a serious look on her face. "A very long time ago, back on my island, some of our warriors would travel out to explore the neighboring islands and come back to tell us about their travels. They found themselves in the shinobi nations, where they learned about nine powerful demons that roamed there and the people who had those demons sealed in them. The men told our people about them through messager birds."

Everyone looked surprised from hearing Kia's story.

"Whoa, sounds cool." Naruto said, smiling slightly. "Did they ever come back?"

"Only one did." Kia answered, her face darkened slightly which made Naruto lose his smile and Zane to close his eyes.

Chiyo raised her brows and had a look of understanding. "I see. So that's why your island is hidden and why shinobi are forbidden to enter."

"Not just that." Kia replied. "When it comes to technology, our people are very advanced and we feared the shinobi would come and send their jinchuuriki after us to either steal them or kill us, maybe both. We also learned about the sort of life jinchuriki are forced to live because of the burden they carry. Is...is everything about them true?"

"...I'm afraid so." Chiyo answered sadly. "Everything you've heard about them, be they good or mostly just bad is true."

She went on to explain to the children the truth about the Tailed Beasts along with the jinchuuriki and their purpose in life. Once that was done, she soon explained about the funding problems of the village and the truth about Gaara. Because of the village's funding, the Fourth Kazekage wanted Shukaku sealed into his children. Temari and Kankuro weren't compatible with it and of course Gaara. So Shukaku was sealed inside Gaara, who was still inside his mother at the time and he came out prematurely. His mother died from the ordeals of childbirth not before telling Gaara she loved him and that she would always protect him.

Chiyo also revealed that she was the one who sealed Shukaku in Gaara. She then told the group about Gaara's childhood. From his early isolation to going around the village and learning about the villagers, including his own siblings, hatred and fear of him due to his jinchuriki nature.

Gaara tried to make friends with everyone but they would all run away because he would unintentionally injure or kill them with his sand. The only person who was ever nice to him and showed him love was his uncle Yashamaru.

However one night, something awful happened and this one drove Kia into tears.

By orders of the Fourth Kazekage and the Sand Council, Yashamaru was ordered to kill Gaara because he was a failed experiment and if allowed to continue living would harm the village and it's citizens. Yashamaru was badly wounded by Gaara's sand attack and was forced to lie to the young child and tell him that he hated him because he caused his mother's death.

Hurt and devastated by what his uncle said caused the young Gaara to transform into Shukaku and become what he is now. After that incident, Rasa arranged multiple asassination attempts on Gaara's life, all of which he managed to survive.

"After that, Gaara decided to fight, love and only trust in himself. He learned how to control his power, becoming the very weapon Rasa wanted to have. That is Gaara's way of the ninja." Chiyo finished the story, a sad regretful look on her face. She had to turn away when she saw the tears that fell from Kia's eyes.

"That's...that's so awful!" Kia said, wiping the tears that fell from her eyes. "How could a village leader do something so horrible to their own children?"

"It's disgusting." Zane said, his voice full of anger.

Hearing a feral growl and the sounds of Omochao and Snow letting out a startled noise made everyone look up and saw an angry Naruto stomping his way to the door. His stomp was so powerful it actually left small prints on the floor. Just when he was about to leave, Zane was already on him and was holding him back.

"Let me go Zane! I'm gonna teach that bastard Kage a lesson!" Naruto yells angrily.

Chiyo let out a gasp as she took a good look at Naruto's face. Splashes of water were around his face, making it look like he was actually made of water, but that wasn't what surprised the elderly medic. No, his face took on a feral appearance. His eyes turned completely emerald green with his pupils turned into slits. She had to close her eyes and shake her head for a moment as she saw scales, scales actually appear on his face.

"Naruto! Calm down!" Zane told him as he held him in place.

"I can't calm down! Not after hearing what that bastard did to him! His own son!" Naruto exclaimed as he continued to move forward, his hands taking on a watery state as they transformed into claws with his fangs growing longer and sharper. "There's no way in hell I'm gonna let him get away with that!"

"What!? What's going on?" Omochao asked, looking scared.

"Nya!" Snow meows loudly, she too wonders what's happening.

"Naruto, please!" Naruto stopped trying to get out of Zane's grip and turned his now reptilian-like eyes to Kia, who held his arm. Her eyes, which were full of pleas, stared into his anger-filled own. "Listen, I know you're angry and upset about what happened to Gaara but you can't just march over there and fight the Kazekage because of what he did."

"But he's wrong for that!" Naruto argued. "That son of a bitch cares more about the village than his own son and look what happened! He was that desperate to turn his children into a fucking weapon and didn't care about the consequences of his actions! The villagers just made it worse by treating him like he was an actual monster! That bastard knew how they would treat him and he still didn't care! How is that fair towards Gaara?"

"I know." Kia said sadly as she put her hand on top of Naruto's trembling own in order to calm it. "And believe me, I want to confront him about this as well. But what happened to Gaara in his childhood won't change."

"She's right." Zane said as he released Naruto after he stopped struggling. "What happened in the past, happened in the past. We have only the future to determine what will happen to us as we move forward."

Naruto looked ready to say something but stopped. He looked down at the floor for a moment before he closed his eyes and calmed down, his face and hands returning to normal. He took a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh as he put his hand to his forehead and rubbed it softly.

"I know that. I swear to Chaos I know that." The guardian said sadly. "But it's people like him...people like the Kazekage that are still living in the past, following the same traditions and not trying to move forward and change. I mean come on! There's a reason why history exists! It's there to teach us to not repeat what those of the past has done!"

Everyone remained quiet as Naruto talked because they knew full well that he was right. The guardian had a bitter look as he thought about Order. "But I guess no matter what era or world it is, history has an awful habit of repeating itself in some form."

"Yes. I'm afraid you're right Naruto Kaosu." Chiyo agreed with Naruto's statement, knowing full well that it's true.

Inwardly, she was surprised by his reaction to what the Kazekage had done and how he was willing to fight him headon, completely uncaring of the fact that Rasa is a Kage. She had to admit, the boy sure has a strong sense of justice which is admirable but also unnecessary in the shinobi world.

"l heard jinchuuriki would live a bad childhood." Kia said, as she removed her hand from Naruto's. "But I didn't think it was this bad." She turned to Chiyo with a disapproving expression. "I don't understand Ms. Chiyo! If you knew this would happen then why would you agree to it?"

"Because I was still a ninja under direct orders of the Kazekage." Chiyo explained, a sad frown on her face as she looked at the floor. "Here in the Sand Village, disobeying the Kazekage means a death sentence. I simply followed the orders of the Kazekage without question. But...sealing Shukaku inside of Gaara happened to be one of the greatest regrets I've made in my life. I robbed the boy of a proper childhood and made him what he is now."

"Ms. Chiyo." Kia said, feeling remorseful for accusing her like that.

"I'll let you children continue to get some rest. I'll be back to check up on you tomorrow morning." Chiyo said as she stood up and walked out of the room, leaving Team Chaos by themselves.

"What was that about?" Omochao asked everyone curiously. "Did we miss something?"

"A lot. You missed a lot Omo." Naruto sighed as he laid back down on his bed, arms resting behind his head just as Snow curled up next to him, likely to try and help him calm down. "Tomorrow, when we leave we're taking the kid with us."

"Yeah." Kia said softly, returning to bed herself, hugging her knees. "I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving him here after hearing what the Kazekage did to Gaara."

"Agreed." Zane said, returning to his own bed.

Kia found herself looking out at the window to look at the moon. "You know, I always wanted to meet a jinchuriki. I just hoped and wished that they weren't like Gaara. It's awful to know that such a thing exists in this world. It kinda makes me wonder how the other jinchuriki are being treated in their own village."

A half-lidded blank look came on Naruto's face as he thought about the Namikaze sisters. They both carried half of the Nine-Tails, yet despite that they were still treated like heroes. The whole village basically worshipped them and not a single person there feared or hated them.

Thinking back on it, the old man did tell him at some point that jinchuriki face extremely difficult hardships in their life due to the burdens they bear of being jailors. Being hated and feared by their own village because of the demons they carry. In most cases, it would be so bad to the point where the jinchuriki would become emotionless weapons or too mentally broken because of what they went through mainly being abused by their village or assassination attempts on their lives, making them become defunct weapons and be thrown away.

Just like Gaara.

Matter of fact, wasn't his childhood back in the village similar to how a jinchuriki lived their everyday lives? If so, then that's a sick twisted humor that was placed on him.

"It's stupid." Naruto said, closing his eyes as though he was going back to sleep. "This world is messed up. It's like humans aren't willing to accept those who are different from them because they know nothing about them! Jinchuriki, an alien or whatever else is probably out there! It doesn't matter what they are or where they came from! A person is still a person, they have feelings just like them yet they don't care. People who judge other people without getting to know them, they...they just make me so angry."

Since Naruto's eyes were closed, he didn't see the awestruck looks on everyone's faces, except for Omochao who nodded along with Naruto. Kia smiled happily at that as she nods her head with Zane closing his eyes and having a smile of his own, agreeing with him.

Snow herself looked at Naruto with a sparkle in her eyes and a huge blush dusting her cheeks as his passionate words struck her heart like a lightning bolt. A huge smile appeared on her face as she jumped to his head and licked his nose happily making him giggle slightly which was shared by everyone.

"Naruto is so cool nya~!" Snow thought, rubbing her cheek against his.

"I'll admit, it does make me wonder if the Sage of Six Paths lived through that life as well." Zane said, looking down slightly, getting everyone's attention.

"Huh?" Naruto opens his eyes as he sits up and looks at the ancient cyborg. "What does that mean?"

"...You mean you don't know?"

"Know what?" Kia asked, raising a curious brow.

"I see. I guess even ancient history can get lost." Zane said, more to himself before he addressed the group, his face turned serious. "Everything you know about Tailed Beasts, such as their origins, haven't been properly explained. Before the Nine-Tailed Beasts were born there was only one monster. That monster was known as the Ten-Tails."

Everyone's eyes widened.

"Say what?! Ten-Tails?" Naruto asked in disbelief as he sat back up, comically spooking Snow off the bed, who quickly climbed back up and pouted at him. He quickly apologized to her.

"There was a Ten-Tails!?" Kia asked as well. "But it's been said there were only nine of them!"

"From what I know based on the information the Ancients gave me..." Zane started his explanation on the subject. "The Ten-Tails was this titanic fearsome beast that has no sense of right or wrong. It's only goal was to reclaim the chakra the Sage and his twin brother had. In order to stop it's rampage, the Sage sealed the Ten-Tails inside him, becoming history's first jinchuriki."

Naruto, Kia, Omochao and Snow were stunned to hear such information. None of them couldn't believe that such a terrifying monster actually existed before the nine beasts and to find out that legendary Sage became it's jinchuriki.

"Already knowing the Ten-Tails would return after his death to continue its objective, he used a special technique to separate the chakra in the Ten-Tails body to create the nine beasts. Before the Sage's death, he and his followers built temples in nine different regions of the world where they could live and be protected."

"Wait wait wait! Now I'm getting a major headache." Naruto complained, rubbing his temples to ease his hurting brain. "All of the beasts came from a single monster who just suddenly attacked the Sage and his brother just because they have chakra and the Sage sealed it inside himself. He then used his power to split it's chakra into nine pieces which became known as the tailed beasts?"

"That's basically it." Zane confirmed.

"But...but why?" Kia asked in confusion. She still couldn't comprehend why the Sage did that. "I mean we know the Sage created them to prevent the ten-tails from escaping when he dies, but there has to be something else other than that."

"There is." Zane nodded as he continued. "The tailed beasts were created to not only prevent the Ten-Tails resurrection, but to also maintain balance and peace throughout the world."

"What? 'Maintain balance and peace'?" Naruto asked in disbelief before he looked angry. "How the hell is sealing them inside people and turning them into weapons maintaining balance and peace?"

"...It's a balance of power." Kia said after much thinking, with her eyes narrowed in a glare. "Because of their immense power, the tailed beasts were sought out by humans to be used as weapons in times of war, even though they were scared of them. I wouldn't even be surprised if the beasts fought back against them if they were looking for a fight. The Sage obviously didn't want this to happen to them but it still did and now they hate humans for what they did to them."

That definitely explains Shukaku's earlier bloodlust and anger at them when she met Gaara.

Naruto's eyes widened briefly before they darkened. "That reminds me of something I learned from the old man. After shinobi villages were created, the First Hokage of the Leaf Village captured all nine of the beasts and divided them among the five shinobi countries as a form of peace between them."

That made the group look surprised at that with Naruto continuing.

"But it didn't last for long as the first Great Ninja War had started and the shinobi needed more power to beat their enemies. The Tailed Beasts were the kind of power they needed."

"And…" Omochao spoke up for the first time since the topic was brought up. "In order to harness that power, they did what the Sage did with the Ten-Tails."

"Exactly." Zane said as Naruto made a 'tsk' sound.

"Damn fool probably knew they could talk yet he didn't want to listen to what they had to say." The demigod said.

"The First Hokage…" Kia thought, frowning to herself as she hugged her pillow.

Just what in the world was he thinking when he just decided to capture the nine beasts and sell them off as though they were slaves? It was horrible! Was he really that desperate to have peace between the great nations that he would resort to such an action without the beast's co-operation? If he had just talked to them and asked them for help then maybe the tailed beasts wouldn't hate humans as much as they do now.

The atmosphere around them grew tense as they dived deeper into the topic. In fact, Snow was the only one who noticed it and she didn't like it at all.

"Muu...this is getting scary nya." Snow thought to herself, trembling comically. She calmed down when Naruto held her and rubbed her head, earning a purr of delight from her.

"Hey Zane, do you know where the Ten-Tails came from?" Omochao asked the android, who shook his head.

"Not sure. I only know from what the Ancients know."

"Meh, not like it matters." Naruto said with a smile, the tense atmosphere from the discussion disappearing. "The Ten-Tails' been gone for centuries, so I'm sure we don't have to worry about it."

"I wouldn't say that." Kia told him, a serious frown on her face. He sent her a confused expression so she elaborated. "Think about what Zane said earlier. The Sage took the Ten-Tails' chakra out of its body. Shouldn't that mean the Ten-Tails' body is just an empty husk?"

"...oh shit." Naruto said, eyes widened.

"Yes, and that empty husk is still waiting for its missing chakra to return to it." Zane continued, frowning in thought. "Which only leaves the question…"

"Where did the Sage hide this giant empty husk, so that no one can find it and bring it back to life for evil purposes?" Naruto finished.

The group went silent after that as none had the answer to it. But they did know one thing. If somebody had learned of this monster and went to try revive it, then this world would be in very deep trouble. Each of them hoped that wherever the Ten-Tails' body was located, nobody hasn't found it yet.

---

Unknown Cave

A man wearing a black cloak decorated with red clouds is standing in front of a tall demonic-like statue, looking intently at it. He wore an orange spiral shaped mask with a single eyehole.

The man suddenly perked up and turned around. "Hmm? Is someone talking about me?" The mysterious man asked in a deep voice. He shook his head and turned around to face the statue once again. "Must be my imagination."

---

Next Day

Hidden Sand Village: Hospital

The boy, who was only known as Test Subject 135, was sound asleep. But it didn't last long as he felt the sun hitting his face. He sat up and rubbed his eyes softly, trying to get adjusted to the light that hit his face. He yawns softly, covering his mouth while doing so and fully opens his eyes. He blinked several times and saw he was in a room by himself.

"W...Where am I?"

He remembers traveling through the desert before he fell down because of the heat. He was then rescued by some older kids before he fell asleep again. He looked outside the window and saw he was in a village.

"I-Is this a ninja village?"

An awestruck look appeared on the boy's face as he saw many people and shinobi walking around but for some reason they looked scared like something was going to attack them. He jumped slightly when he heard what sounded like people talking and they were heading towards the door.

"Okay, if he's awake be as gentle as possible. We don't want to scare him." He heard a girl's voice which sounded familiar to him.

"Don't worry. We're the very definition of gentle!" Another familiar voice said, this one sounding like a boy. "Right Omo?"

"Of course! Right Snow?"

"Nya~"

"Shh!"

The door opened up to reveal the blue hair boy who saved him. What was his name again?

"Hey! He's awake!" Naruto said happily as he entered the room, his friends following after him.

"Oh good!" Kia smiled happily with Snow riding her shoulder. She carried a tray of food, which consisted of three cooked toast, eggs, sausages, rice balls and orange juice. She sat the tray down on the desk. "Good morning! We got breakfast for you."

"A-Ah. T...Thank you." The boy said softly, taken aback by their sudden appearance and the odd smell of the food that was given to him. He picked up a toast, smelling it before taking a bite. His eyes widened at the delicious taste before he quickly ate it and went for another one.

Team Chaos watched this with amusement as the boy continued to gobble up the food that was given to him. They did come up to him when he started to choke and cough before handing him the juice which he drank.

The boy took a bite out of the rice ball but stopped as he realized something. When was the last time he had tasted such delicious food? Back at the laboratory, the food they had wasn't as good as what he had just now. In fact, they would often feed them the same stuff each and every day while also giving them food pills during testing. And if they fail their test or don't comply with them then they don't get food at all.

The only time he and the other children had something so good was when that nice doctor woman came by to check on them. Just thinking about her and all the nice things she's done made tears fall out his eyes. The nice lady...she risked her life to save him and keep him away from the Snake Man. But after what happened the other night, he knows that he will never see her again.

Team Chaos shared a brief look of understanding and turned to the boy with soft smiles on their faces. Snow meows as she jumps off Kia's shoulder and is caught by Naruto. The island princess herself took the rice ball out of the boy's hand, putting it on the tray, and hugged him close to her chest as he hugged her back.

It was only a couple of minutes later, the boy calmed down after letting out his emotions. He sniffed and was handed a tissue by Kia.

"T-Thank you." The boy said, wiping his face from any tears.

"Sure." Kia said.

"U-Um...w-where are we?"

"We're at the Hidden Sand Village." Naruto replied, taking a seat. "We were on our way here when our little pals here found you. You remember us right?"

"Uh huh." The boy nodded as he looked at each of them. "K-Kia. Zane. Omochao. T-The kitty. And y...you're Naruto."

"Yup!" Naruto smiled happily. "The little kitty though? Her name's Snow."

Snow sent a deadpan expression at Naruto before she sighed and shook her head. "Aw, I won't worry about it. They'll know eventually."

"Hi there little boy!" Omochao suddenly appeared in front of the boy, making him jump in shock and slight fear. "We're so glad you're okay!"

The boy hid himself behind Kia, who sent Omochao a half-lidded annoyed expression which was shared by Naruto.

"What part of that is gentle, Omochao?" The demigod asked, making the robochao scratch his head sheepishly.

Zane shook his head at them before turning his attention to the boy. "Little one." He got the boy's attention. "Do you remember how you came to the desert?"

The boy came out of hiding and nodded his head.

"Can you tell us what happened?" Zane asked again.

The boy went silent as awful memories began to resurface once again. Memories of him being strapped to a table where painful needles were injected into him along with electric shocks. Older people who would attack him to the point where his bones would break and he would be unconscious but fully healed the next day. Then the Snake Man would come visit and cut him painfully before testing him against the other children and grown ups to see if his power would awaken which it did. And he used that power to kill every last one of them.

The boy was breathing rapidly as he grabbed the arm that was still bandaged and his vision started to get more and more blurry as the horrible memories kept coming back.

Seeing this worried everyone as they knew that he was about to have an episode. Zane immediately berated himself for asking that question out of the blue, Kia's heart broke at seeing him in such a state as she hugged him closer to her, Omochao and Snow had sad looks on their faces as they stared at the trembling child.

Naruto reached out and rubbed the boy's head softly, making him look up at him to show his terrified eyes. He gave him a gentle smile. "It's okay pal. We already know about your arm. We just want to know how you got to the desert."

The boy looked at the smile on Naruto's face before looking at the others as they too smiled as well, nodding their heads at him. The boy looked down, rubbing his bandaged arm. "B-Back at the laboratory where we were held...the S-Snake Man...he was gonna come and take me away...because I awoke a special power. All the others were failures...a-and they had to be d-disposed of."

Everyone went stiff by what the boy said, horrified expressions taking over.

"The nurse, the one who's always kind to us...t-tried to stop them. B-But she was too late. They started to k-kill the others. She took me away while it happened...and we escaped from them. We were going to go somewhere safe...but t-then they found us."

"Who found you?" Kia asked gently, softly rubbing the boy's head.

"The S-Snake Man's elite ninja...the Sound Five." The boy continued as he trembled slightly as he remembered their cold dark gazes. "We got away from them...but the nurse got hurt. She...she told me to keep running and to not look back. I did...then I heard a loud explosion but I just kept running and running...but I got tired and hungry and thirsty. And I...I..."

"You can stop now. We know what happens next." Zane told the boy as gently as he could.

"O...Okay." The boy said softly.

Everyone remained silent after that as the boy went back to eating. They looked at each other with serious gazes as they nodded their heads in silent agreement. The Kazekage was not gonna have this boy and turn him into a weapon like he did with Gaara, especially since Orochimaru wanted him for whatever special power he has.

Naruto looked outside the window to see the people now walking amongst themselves while some still looked worried or scared. He turned his attention to Lord Kazekage's building with a soft expression on his face. "Gaara…"

Despite the battle they just had and hearing his story, Naruto felt sorry for the poor guy. He didn't ask to live this kind of life but he still did. Now that he thought about, while they were fighting, he managed to get a closer look into his eyes. Hidden deep inside the insanity and cold exterior he displayed when they first met, Gaara had the same look he had in his eyes a long time ago.

Loneliness.

Gaara is just a lonely boy who just wanted to be loved by family and friends. The only love he had was for his uncle before the Kazekage ordered him to lie to Gaara about his true feelings for his nephew, all just to test him to see if he could control Shukaku's power.

In a way, the two of them were very similar yet equally very different from each other. One was born chakra-less and the other born a jinchuriki. One was abandoned and treated unfairly by his own family for being different and the other was trained to be a weapon and was treated as a monster. One was able to find the light of hope and the other was left alone in the dark with no one to love and help him.

The more he thought about the Fourth Kazekage and the things he's done made Naruto clench his fist as he silently growled at the building. He should just go over there and teach that bastard a lesson. But he won't. Because like Zane said, what's done is done. It's only the future we have to shape as we move on with our lives. Maybe...maybe that battle will help Gaara see that his way of doing things was wrong. If not, then he'll just have to help him once again.

"Hey kid." Naruto spoke up, getting everyone's attention. He turns to him with a smile. "I know you just woke up and everything, but do you wanna come with us?"

"H-Huh?" The boy looked confused.

"See, we're on a journey right now to take care of some monsters and get back something they took from me." Naruto answered.

"M-Monsters?!" The boy asked in a frightened tone making the guardian sweat drop and laugh sheepishly even when Kia punched his shoulder in annoyance.

"Yeah, I probably shouldn't have said that. I know it sounds scary and dangerous...okay, it's entirely scary and dangerous, but we're the only ones who can stop them." Naruto explained but then smiled happily. "But once we're done, we're gonna head back to my island and have the wildest party ever!"

The boy blinked and tilted his head to the side, looking curious. "Your...island?"

"Yup!" Naruto said happily. "Just wait and see! The friendly creatures, the locations, the food! There's a lot of cool and amazing things there that I can't even put into words!" His smile turned gentle as the boy's face was even more curious than before. "But more than that, you'll be safe with us and become a part of our family!"

The boy looked surprised. "Become...a part of your family?" The teen nodded his head which made the boy turn to the others and saw they too nodded at him with smiles present. The boy looked down in thought as he remembered the nice lady's teachings about what a family was.

"Being a family means you are a part of something wonderful. It means you will love and be loved for the rest of your life."

The boy clenched his blankets tightly as he remembered asking her about blood related families.

"Families don't have to be blood related. It's the people in your life who want you to be in theirs. People who accept you for who you are. Who would do anything to see you smile and who loves you no matter what."

"I...Is it really o-okay?" The boy asked, shaking slightly as he held his bandaged arm. "F-For someone l-like me to have a f-family?"

"Of course." Kia replied gently, rubbing his shoulder. "Everyone deserves to have a family. Because without them, it would be very lonely."

"Yeah." Naruto said softly, looking out at the sky as he thought about Chaos, the Chao, Wisps and Critters. "If I hadn't met them, I wouldn't be who I am today." He smiled happily as he looked at the boy. "Besides, I always wanted to have a little brother. So what do ya say?"

The boy sniffed and nodded his head rapidly. "Hm-hm!" He looked up at them and smiled very brightly, showing them that some of his teeth were missing. The group shared his happiness, especially Naruto and Omochao who were jumping around in excitement.

"HOORAY! WE HAVE A NEW FRIEND!" Omochao cheered happily as he flew around the boy's head, making him look up at him.

"SWEET! I GOT A NEW LITTLE BROTHER!" Naruto cheered before stopping and covering his mouth along with stopping Omochao, who was comically struggling to get out of his grip. He peeks out from the door to see everyone staring at him with wide comical eyes. He quickly closed the door and turned to his friends and saw their comical reactions.

The boy had a curious yet confused expression, Zane raised an eyebrow, Snow blinked before meowing happily at the two and Kia was smiling at them, though a vein was pulsing out of her forehead.

"Oh boys~"

A second later, the two were in a kneeling position with smoking bumps on their heads courtesy of the island princess who sighed and rubbed her temple. Zane shook his head in amusement, Snow giggled and the boy was laughing a little bit.

"Well, first things first." Kia said as she turned to the boy, smiling at him. "We're gonna have to come up with a new name for you."

The boy blinked. "A name?"

"Yup! We gotta call you something don't we?" Kia asked with a giggle.

"But...why?" The boy had to ask that question. After all, the Snake Man told him and the other children that they were simply test subjects so they don't need to have names.

"Because names have a special meaning to people." Kia told him. "Take my name for example; Kia means 'season's beginnings' or 'new beginnings'." She sent Naruto a teasing look. "Naruto's named after a fish cake ramen topping."

"Oi!" Naruto gave her a comical glare. "It's not fish cake! My name means maelstrom! Mael-strom!"

"Sure it is, Narutomaki." Kia shot back, her teasing smile increasing further at Naruto's annoyed expression before he huffed and turned away.

"Well, Zane's name means 'God's gracious gift'." Omochao said, making Kia and Zane look surprised as they turned to Naruto, who looked at them out of the corner of his eye and laughed at their expressions.

"What? It's an appropriate name." Zane smiled in gratitude at that, making the guardian nod before turning to the kid. "But yeah. All names have a special meaning, so of course it's only right that everything, from people to animals and even buildings needs to have one. And that means you need to have one yourself."

"Oh. O-Okay!" The boy nodded happily at that, now understanding why everyone wanted him to have a name.

"Now then, let's see what we're working with here."

Naruto stood up from his position and looked closely at the boy. Everyone just watched as the demigod continued to examine the boy all the while making humming noises. A light bulb appeared above his head as a happy smile appeared on his face.

"I got it! How about Ethan?"

The boy blinked multiple times. "E-Ethan?"

"Ethan!" Naruto said the name again.

"That's a nice name for him Naruto!" Omochao said happily.

"Nya!" Snow meows happily.

"That's...a unique name." Zane commented.

"I'll say, what does that name mean?" Kia asked curiously.

"It means strong, safe and enduring or firm, whichever is okay." Omochao replied, surprising the two with Snow meowing in agreement.

"Wow. You come up with some nice meaningful names Naruto." Kia smiled at the guardian making him scratch his head sheepishly.

"To be honest, the name just popped into my head." It was true. When he was trying to come up with a name for the kid, for whatever weird reason, Ethan just popped into his head. He didn't know why it did but he just rolled with it.

"It's still nice." Zane said, offering a smile as well.

"Thanks." Naruto nodded at him and looked at the boy. "You like it?"

"Ethan...y-yeah! I love it!" The boy said happily, still speaking softly. "My n-name is Ethan!"

"Nya! Nya!" Snow meows as she paws Ethan's cheek and licks his chin which earns a giggle from him.

"Alright!" Kia cheered softly as she clapped her hands. "Ethan, can you walk?"

"Y-Yes." Ethan replied as he got off the bed and took some steps forward to see if he could walk, which he did. He ended up losing his balance and almost fell on the floor if not for Naruto catching him in time.

"Whoa! Take it easy little guy, there's no rush." The guardian said. "I mean you just woke up and we're not gonna leave right away."

"O-Okay."

"First we gotta clean you up." Kia said happily. She paused for a second then sniffed her armpits before flinching away in disgust. "In fact, all of us gotta clean up. After those fights we had, I think we deserve a nice hot bath."

"Nya~!" Snow happily agreed.

Naruto and Zane blinked at them as they shared a quick glance and sniffed their armpits. The two flinched comically which Omochao and Ethan giggled at.

---

Later

After the doctors came in to check on Ethan for any more serious injuries, which they didn't find any whatsoever, they were allowed to leave, but not without letting Ethan continue to put more meat on his bones. Once he had his fill, the group left the hospital and wandered around the streets looking for a bathhouse, a lot of the villagers were staring at them.

Word had already spread across the village about their accomplishment yesterday, not only defeating Vayu but also fighting against Gaara and the sand demon Shukaku and making it out alive. Some of the villagers were whispering to each other while others pointed.

The looks they gave them were of awe, respect and admiration. Some even went up to congratulate and thank them for beating the two terrifying demons, especially Naruto since they heard he fought against Shukaku by himself and managed to finish it off. Seeing the looks directed at them made Naruto sick to his stomach. It was their own fault that Gaara became what he is today. They let their fear of Shukaku get the better of them and couldn't tell the difference between the jailor and prisoner.

Ethan wasn't paying too much attention to the villagers staring since he was so awestruck at the buildings and tasty looking food. But when he noticed everyone running up to them, he made sure to stay close to the others, even hiding behind Naruto's leg when people looked at him and asked him questions which melted their hearts as they found his shyness adorable.

Not wanting to deal with them and seeing Naruto getting ready to snap at someone for making a horrible comment about Gaara, Kia asked the location of the bath house which they thankfully found. After entering the bath house, with Omochao having to stay outside for obvious reasons, and of course going into their respective gender sides, they found themselves enjoying the indoor baths.

While he was washing his hair, Naruto realized that Ethan didn't have any clothes except for the ones they found him in. He honestly didn't want him to wear anything from this village, mainly because the clothes here are pricey and they barely had any.

They received a large sum of money from Koyuki as a reward for saving her country, which they didn't want since they weren't doing it to get rewarded though she insisted on it and told them how important it was to have money since they might have to go out to restaurants to eat food or go shopping. They relented and accepted the money, though not without Naruto giving her some gold rings in exchange for them. The money was split evenly amongst them and they could spend it however they want.

But Naruto had other ideas for Ethan's clothes.

So once they finished taking their baths and were drying off, the older boys took notice of all of Ethan's features such as his hair which was a short powder blue color with small bangs framing his face and small tufts of his hair sticking out, along with his huge gentle and soft eyes which were bright orange like the setting sun.

Taking another good look at Ethan, Naruto had an idea of the outfit that would match with him. So with a quick 'I'll be right back' towards Zane and Ethan, he teleported back to Angel Island

Meanwhile on Kia's side, after enjoying the nice warm bath for a couple more minutes as she washed Snow, she got out and went to change into her outfit with the now freshly clean Snow following after her. Looking over her already maturing body, Kia was quite thankful to the Master Emerald for giving her the ability to heal herself.

Not a single bruise on her and nothing.

The island princess got dressed and was currently outside with Omochao and Snow, waiting for the others to come out. She too knows about Ethan's clothes situation and wanted to go clothes shopping for him before they went to the bath house. But when they entered the clothing store, they quickly left because she didn't like the clothes they had.

After a quick group meeting, Naruto told them to leave the clothes to him.

"I wonder what kinda clothes Naruto has for Ethan." Kia mused to herself.

"He probably went to get them at Angel Island." Omochao said from on her shoulder. Seeing her confused expression, he continued. "Long story short, but let's just say a lot of people left their stuff over at the Mystic Ruins before...you know."

"...right." Kia said, remaining quiet after that.

"Angel Island? That must be Naruto's island he was talking about before." Snow said to herself.

Even though it's been a day she found herself enjoying her stay with the group, she doesn't like the fact she is spending time with them as a cat and not her real self. She's just worried about what their reaction will be when they learn the truth about her.

About what she truly is.

After all, when she first revealed her true form, a lot of shinobi and civilians would often try and attack her. It's been like that ever since she's arrived in this mysterious new world, so she had no choice but to remain in her cat form so that no one would attack her.

But then again, after the discussion they had last night, it made her understand something important about Naruto and his friends that made her extremely happy to hear about. They don't judge other people because of what they are on the outside. They accept them for who they are on the inside.

The mysterious cat nodded to herself in determination. "Okay it's settled! Later on today, I'll show them who I really am!"

As the group of three waited outside, Kia was trying her very hardest to ignore all the looks the boys in her age group were giving her and some of the wolf-calls the older teens let out. She was this close to reaching her breaking point when one of them called her "Sexy". She took a deep breath and let out a sigh of annoyance.

First the Land of Snow and now this place? The boys of this continent are acting like they've never seen a girl before.

"But then again, I am a foreigner." Kia comically deadpans.

Hearing the door to the bath house open up made her turn to see Naruto and Zane walking out, both of them fully clothed with Naruto holding a brown bag. Snow meows as she runs up to Naruto and jumps on his shoulder and rubs her face with his.

"Hiya Snow. I see you look clean." Naruto smiles as he scratches her chin, earning a purr. He turns to Kia and Omochao. "You waited long?"

"Not really." Omochao said.

"Where's Ethan?" Kia asked. She and the robochao blinked as the boys' faces turned comical with Naruto having a smile on his face. They glanced at each other and nodded their heads.

Zane took out Naruto's PAD and pushed a button, making the sounds of drum roll start playing, which also caught the villagers attention.

"Ladies, gentlemen and Omochao!" Naruto started dramatically as though he was in a stage show. "We would like to officially welcome the newest member of our group! Put your right hands together with your left hands and give it up for…" He trailed off as the drums roll suddenly stopped playing and a hyped up music started playing.

"ETHAN!"

Music: Invincible [Sonic Runners OST]

He and Zane moved out of the way as Ethan stepped out of the bath house, a bashful expression on his face when he saw everyone's eyes on him. Kia, Omochao and Snow's eyes widened at what Ethan had on and a huge smile appeared on Kia's face along with some of the girls as they cried out happily at him.

"Oh my gosh! Ethan you look so adorable!"

"Yeah Ethan! You look cool!"

"Nya! Nya! Nya!"

It was true. Ethan's new look was something completely out of this world, which is a given since they are from another world. He wore a white shirt with a blue line going along the center, over it he wore a white poncho like shirt, black shorts and he wore stylish black sneakers. To finish it, he wore a blue bandana around his neck and a white backpack. He still had his arm bandaged, as Naruto and the others didn't want people to freak out and declare Ethan a demon.

Ethan blushed at the sudden praise the others gave him causing him to look down and twiddle his fingers, a shy smile appearing on his face, his voice softer. "U-Um...thank you."

Music End

Kia nods happily at him just as Zane turns off the music, him and Naruto high-fiving each other for the success. Everyone else went off to continue doing what they were doing.

"Nice job with the clothes, Naruto. I was really surprised to find out you had some on the island." The island princess admits.

Naruto had a comical smug look on his face as he puffed his chest out in pride. "Of course! After all, I do have a great sense of style." Kia rolled her eyes at him, remembering him wearing nothing but a loincloth. "Here. I also got ya something."

The island princess looked surprised as she caught the brown bag he threw at her. She looked inside before her eyes widened as she let out a quick gasp. She quickly reached inside the bag and took out the objects, which were a pair of hooked metal plates with spiked claws.

"N-No way. The Shovel Claws!?"

"Yup." Naruto said, a happy smile on his face. "I found them buried in the ground one day when I was exploring the island. So I kept hold of them ever since."

"I can't believe it…" Kia whispered, staring at the metal plates with an awestruck expression as she put them on her fists and did a few practice swings.

These were the actual Shovel Claws. One of Knuckles' most used items during an important adventure when he needed to dig for something or use them for combat. Looking at them, she can see that despite them being so old, they still looked good as new. She'd never imagined that they would still be around especially since she figured that they, along with Knuckles' other possessions, were gone.

All in all, it just made the island princess wonder what else was on Angel Island.

Naruto's eyes widened as Kia ran up to him and gave him a big hug, causing his whole face to turn red. She let him go and smiled happily as she made the Shovel Claws disappear in a flash of light. "Thank you so much Naruto!"

"S-Sure." The guardian let out a goofy smile as he rubbed his head. He turns to address everyone. "Okay guys. Our stomachs are filled, we're nice and clean and we're ready to head out. How about we walk around and take a few more pictures before we hit the road?"

"Sounds good!" Everyone says happily.

So the group walked off to various famous destination points in the village as they took their pictures. Some of the pictures were of the views of the village and the rest were of the group making goofy faces or taking poses. They also stopped by some stores to get some snacks which they put inside Ethan's backpack along with some souvenirs.

They were now outside the village gates as they took one last group picture in front of it.

"Well, that's that." Naruto said, putting his PAD away as he turns to his friends. "You guys ready?" They nodded their heads. "Okay! Let's…"

"So...you youngsters are leaving?" A familiar voice asked curiously. The group turned their heads and saw Chiyo standing there. Seeing her made Ethan hide behind Naruto as he peaked out at her.

"Ms Chiyo." Kia said in surprise, a gentle smile appeared on her face. "Yeah, our journey isn't over yet. You came to see us off?"

"Huh? See who's off?" Chiyo asked, looking confused which made the group blink their eyes at her.

"Um...us?" Kia said, pointing at herself and the others. "We're leaving Ms. Chiyo."

Chiyo looked comically shocked at her. "What?! You're leaving!? Wait, who are you kids!? How do you know my name?!"

That made the group, except for Ethan and Zane, to fall back comically. Naruto stood up and comically glared at her with a tick mark on his head.

"Are you serious!? We just met each other yesterday! How the hell did you forget who we are, you senile old-OW!"

Kia slapped Naruto upside the head to stop him from talking. But before she could scold him, Chiyo just laughed wholeheartedly at them which caught their attention.

"Hehehe, I'm sorry. I just had to do that." The retired shinobi said.

Kia laughed sheepishly at her with the tick mark on Naruto's head growing larger. Zane had a blank expression, Omochao and Snow giggled and Ethan just blinked in comical confusion before releasing a silent giggle.

"Ah?" Chiyo seemed to have heard Ethan's giggle and looked at him, who jumped and hid behind Kia. She smiled kindly. "Well, hello little one. You gave us all quite the surprise when you showed up."

"I...I did?" Ethan asked, peaking out at Chiyo who nodded.

"Ms. Chiyo met Ethan. Ethan, this is Ms. Chiyo." Kia introduced them to each other as she looked down at him. "She's the nice lady who took care of you while we were dealing with the monster."

"R-Really?"

"Yup."

Ethan looked at Kia before turning to Chiyo. He stepped out from behind her and bowed to the elderly woman. "T-Thank you very much."

"Of course child. Taking care of people is my job." Chiyo smiled warmly at him. She turns to the older teens. "So where are you heading towards now?"

"To the Land of Lightning." Naruto answered. "There are only two more of those monsters out there and one of them is there."

Chiyo nods at him. "I understand. Please do be careful and watch out for the Hidden Cloud shinobi. They're always looking out for those with incredible power to add to their collection. And you four have the kind of power they want. What's more the Hidden Cloud has two jinchuriki, both of them holders of the Two-Tails and Eight-Tails."

The teens looked serious from that as they nodded their heads. Ethan trembled fearfully as he gripped the handles of his backpack. Feeling a hand on his shoulder made him look up to see Naruto smiling down at him. Seeing that made the younger boy smile back.

"No worries granny. We'll be just fine." Naruto said with a confident smirk.

A smirk that made Chiyo raise an eyebrow as she felt a sudden sense of familiarity at seeing it. Kia then came up and hugged her, which surprised the elderly woman before she returned it as well.

"Goodbye Ms. Chiyo. I hope we get the chance to meet again."

"Of course. Take care of yourself." A teasing smirk appeared on Chiyo's face. "You better hurry up and stake your claim before someone else does. He is quite a catch."

"H-HUH?!" Kia's cheeks erupted in a blush as she immediately knew whom she was talking about. She releases Chiyo from her hug and whispers so low that the others wouldn't hear. "I don't like Naruto like that!"

"Oh? Who said it was Naruto I was talking about?" Chiyo asked out loud with another laugh at seeing Kia's blush increasing from being caught.

"What's that about me?" Naruto asked.

"Nothing!" Kia exclaimed with a mad blush as she waved her arms up and down comically in front of the surprised group, completely ignoring Chiyo's laughter. "Nothing at all! Let's go already!"

The group blinked in comical confusion at her before Naruto scratched his cheek and shrugged his shoulders. He raised his hand up and concentrated on Zenon's location, which he found.

"Chaos Control!" They disappeared in a blue flash, stunning Chiyo slightly.

"A blue flash? Flash...wait a second...this reminds me of something."

The Yellow Flash of the Leaf has triplets, two daughters and a son. Rumors have said that the son went missing a long time ago and still hasn't been found yet meaning he was probably killed and eaten by a large animal.

Chiyo's eyes widened at the sudden memory of the rumor. She closed her eyes and imagined Naruto's face along with the Yellow Flash's face and made a comparison between the two. Once she made the comparison, from the facial features to what just happened, she gasped in realization.

"Naruto Kaosu...is the Yellow Flash's missing son?"

---

Author's Note: Welp! That's it! The two part chapter is done. We are almost done with the Chaos Warriors Arc and then we'll be starting the Return to Konoha/Chunin Exam Arc.

Now then let's talk about Ethan. First of all, this is not the Ethan Termcrest from my brother's original story. This is a completely different character with a different kind of power. The concept of them being experimented on by Orochimaru is the same, though the Ethan of this story has a much darker and more gruesome kind of treatment. You may also ask how Ethan's name popped into Naruto's head earlier, don't worry that will be explained at a later chapter. I also plan on showing a demonstration of Ethan's power in the next chapter.

Next is Hyper Mode. For those who don't know what it is, Hyper Mode is a transformation from Sonic the Fighters which is caused when the player character has collected all eight (Yes, the game has eight) chaos emeralds. Believe it or not, the transformation also made an appearance in the Sonic X Episode Beating Eggman Part 2 when Sonic nabbed the two emeralds and caused a transformation similar to it, without the sparkling stars of course. Just think of it as the False Super Saiyan from Dragon Ball Z.

I got a lot of plans for the next chapter and it's gonna be something that will throw you guys off guard especially in regards to Snow, Zenon and Gaia. Believe me, I'm thinking about it right now and it's seriously crazy.

Anyway tell me what you guys think about this chapter. Read and Review y'all. Peace.