Hey guys, hope you enjoyed last chapter and I hope you enjoy this one too. I did spend a lot of time considering what to do with this one but I decided on keeping the match up the same because I really wanted the moment in this to demonstrate the fact that-although he's recovering Gaara isn't exactly stable yet-he tries though, so that counts!
Naruto smiling slightly when Hayate read out the names, and she gave Gaara a thumbs up as the Suna Jinchuriki rode a platform of sand down to the arena, and he gave her a small smile in return, and Lee leapt over the balcony and landed with a thud.
This fight should be interesting-if only because of Gaara-Naruto didn't know too much about Lee's skills after all.
She watched as Hayate started the match, and she raised an eyebrow when Lee started attacking immediately.
He was good, clearly he was a Taijutsu specialist, of course that wouldn't help him against Gaara, the red haired boy just blocked every single attempt from Lee to reach him, using his sand. He didn't even have to move, and Naruto gave a proud little grin as she watched.
After some time of trying and failing to get past the sand Lee seemed to just stop, and he turned his head to look up to Gai, who nodded and gave a thumbs up of approval.
Naruto's eyebrows rose as the green glad teen then got to work removing- "Wow." she blinked as she saw the weights drop onto the ground, forming a little crater and cracking it, "That... is actually pretty impressive."
"Lee-kun is a very strong young man." Gai's voice was proud, "I wouldn't underestimate him."
"Maybe." Naruto hummed to herself, "But Gaara's Gaara." she said, and she saw Temari nodding.
"There's only one person who I've seen get past his defense." the Suna Kunoichi admitted, which made Naruto give a cocky little smirk and a mock bow.
"What can I say? I'm just that good."
"Lee will get through." Gai's voice was confident.
"I hope for his sake he doesn't." Temari snorted. "I'm not sure how he'd react. He attacked Naruto-san when she first broke through and she wasn't exactly fighting him. In a fight situation... it might not end well."
"Gaara-san's getting better at controlling himself." Sakura piped up, "And at controlling his sand it'll take something huge for Lee-san to get past it."
"How do you know so much about his defense?" that was from a girl with brown hair done up in two buns
"We're friends." Sakura gave a small shrug. "We've been training together since Gaara-san's team reached the Tower."
"You've been training with people from outside of Konoha?" that was from Shikamaru, who's eyebrow was raised.
"Yeah, is there a problem with that?" Naruto's eyes narrowed.
"No." Shikamaru clearly had a decent brain because he could see the warning gleam in the blonde girls eyes. "It's just not something more people would ever do."
"Yeah well I ain't most people." Naruto declared, a touch too loud perhaps. "Gaara-kun is my friend."
"Most people don't make friends with people outside of their villages it's just uncommon."
"She'll probably say she's friends with Haku-san too." Sakura piped up, and Naruto grinned, turning her gaze to the long haired boy, who nodded."
"I would say that Naruto-san is a friend yes."
"See!" Naruto gave a thumbs up. "Stupid things like borders shouldn't stop friendships." she glanced back down at the arena-Lee was a lot faster now-it was impressive as hell considering the fact that he was a Genin, but he wasn't fast enough-sure he was getting in one or two blows but Naruto knew that Gaara had a fine coating of sand covering his skin-he wouldn't even feel the blows.
"Gaara's going to win." Naruto predicted, "Lee-san is good, it's a shame he was put up against Gaara, but Gaara will win."
"You don't have much faith in your village." that came from Kiba, who looked annoyed, and Naruto rolled her eyes at him.
"Uh huh-" she saw Gai giving Lee a thumbs up out of the corner of her eyes-probably giving Lee permission for something new.
"It's not a matter of having faith in Konoha." Naruto said, shaking her head. "I have faith in Konoha, it's just not a fair match. Gaara is... different." with the right training he'd become strong, strong enough that even Naruto might have to struggle a bit-well, if she wasn't using Kurama's power anyway.
"What's so special about him then?" Kiba demanded looking annoyed.
"He's just special." Naruto shrugged-after all she could hardly say 'He has a giant demonic Chakra Tanuki tucked away in his belly' now could she?
"That's stupid." Kiba shook his head, "Like he's somehow stronger than us 'cause of his stupid sand-"
"No, no but it does help." Naruto knew that most of the Genin were staring at her-she noticed Shikamaru had a curious look on his face-that probably wasn't good, he was a Nara right? Nara's were supposed to be geniuses weren't they? She wondered what he thought about her. She was sure that if there were enough inconsistencies then he'd realize what was going on. She'd rather avoid that if she could.
She was drawn out of her thoughts by a gasp from bun-girl, "He's using the Front Lotus!"
"Very good Lee-kun!" Gai cheered, "Your flames of youth burn bright! I have no doubt that you can defeat your opponent."
Curious Naruto turned her head to look, raising an eyebrow curiously when she saw that they were in the air, heads pointed down, Gaara wrapped and bound tightly in bandages as they span towards the ground incredibly fast, she felt a surge of concern-that could actually hurt both of them why wasn't Gaara's sand grabbing them?"
"It's a sand clone. Don't worry about Shukaku's host." Kurama's words made Naruto relax.
"Thanks Kurama."
She smirked to herself as she watched-seeing Lee let go and pull away at the last second, saving himself, and nodded when the clone exploded into a cloud of sand and Gaara was suddenly there in front of Lee, his sand hitting the boy hard and sending him flying backwards. It was always good to see a fellow Jinchuriki putting on a good show.
The only other Jinchuriki she'd got to see fighting in any way was her mom, and her mom wasn't a fighter at heart, she was a healer, but Gaara? He was a fighter. It was in his very heart, his soul. He was like Naruto, he loved the thrill of it. It was something he lived for-admittedly he'd had a much less healthy view of it-it was kill or be killed for Gaara, though he was getting better with that, but knowing he was strong?
Being able to take down any enemies? Yeah that was a great feeling. So watching Gaara fight was good, seeing that trace of a smile on the boys lips, the gleam of enjoyment in his eyes as he made his sand swirl around him, and Lee was staring at Gaara with wide eyes, panting, and Gaara's soft voice echoed through the arena.
"You have fought well Lee-san. Forfeit now. I don't wish to hurt you. It would upset my friends if I harmed a Konoha shinobi too badly. You are lucky you did not come against me before the Forest of Death. Your fate would have been death."
"I will prove my strength." Lee was panting as he straightened up, then he was rushing at Gaara again and Gaara was moving, dodging Lee's blows, and then Gaara paused, a startled look crossing his face, just as Lee was speeding towards him.
Naruto's eyes widened, Gaara hadn't noticed. His sand was swirling around his lower body-she watched in shock as Lee's kick landed.
What the hell had distracted Gaara like that?
And she watched as Gaara was sent flying backwards into the wall, his head cracking against it, sand catching him before he hit the ground, lowering the red haired boy to the ground, and he raised a hand to his head, and Naruto felt her stomach dropping when she saw that it came away red-and there was a panicked gleam in Gaara's eyes as his sand started to swirl around him, faster now.
The panic and fear rolling off of Gaara were almost overwhelming for Naruto, and she heard Temari gasp.
"No one's ever made Gaara bleed before not even the assassins-"
And Naruto was moving before she even realized what she was doing.
He'd had assassins sent after him, he was used to it being kill or be killed. And he'd just been hurt. Someone had just made him bleed for the first time-or at least it was the first time it was someone other than himself who'd done it-she was smart enough to know that the scar on his head had to be self inflicted or his sand would have stopped it.
The sand reached Lee before she did surrounding him entirely even as she hit the ground and sprinted towards him, a single word tearing its way out of her mouth in a scream.
"No!"
Gaara would kill him. Gaara was panicked and angry and scared and he'd kill Lee out of terror.
She heard Lee screaming in pain, then she was bursting through the outer layer of swirling sand and she ignored the way it scraped over her exposed skin, ignored the roaring as she saw it forming around Lee's limbs, rubbing and tightening, his skin was already rubbed raw.
Then Naruto reached him and she caught him around the waist, forcing them both out of the other side of the sand, ripping him free of the restraints-she heard a snap that she was pretty sure was Lee's ankle based on his pained yell-the sand had been unforgiving and she'd yanked him out of the restraint and his ankle had snapped at it had been forced free.
There was also the thick coppery tang of blood in the air and she was sure most of the flesh on his hand had been scraped clean off by the sand-but better that than dead she thought grimly as they broke out of the cloud of sand just as it all rushed inwards in a way that would have crushed Lee completely.
Then it exploded outwards as Gaara screamed, and it was rushing towards Naruto and Lee even as she let go of him and he dropped to the ground, his eyes wide with shock.
Her hands flew through signs and she slammed her hands into the ground, a wall of Earth bursting from the ground beneath them, blocking the sand for just a second-it wouldn't be long but it might just give her enough time to get to Gaara before he could brutally crush Lee.
She could hear screaming from above, then there was a blur of green and Gai was in front of Lee, standing defensively, so Naruto let herself move, sprinting up the mud wall that she'd made just as Gaara, riding a platform of sand, reached it, and she could still feel the panic and terror rolling off him.
She shook her head, leaping off the wall and colliding with him, knocking him off the platform of sand, both of them crashing into the ground hard-Naruto gritted her teeth as she jarred her shoulder.
She could hear the yelling around them, but she couldn't focus on any of that, pinning Gaara to the ground by his shoulders, "Gaara! Gaara-kun!" his sand was swirling around her angrily.
"Gaara please!" her voice was almost pleading, "Gaara-kun it's me it's Naruto. Fuck-fuck Shukaku Shukaku can you hear me? Shukaku you have to stop him or I'll set Kurama on you!"
And the sand stilled around them and Gaara's terrified expression simply went blank for a long moment, then clarity returned to his gaze, and he blinked up at Naruto, shaking slightly.
"He made me bleed." his voice was barely more than a whisper, "He... he made me bleed."
"It's okay. It's okay Gaara-kun." Naruto pulled back, leaning back so that she was on her knees, resting on her ankles as Gaara sat up slowly.
Then from behind them came, "I forfeit." and Naruto turned her head, eyes wide as they focused on Lee, who was clinging to Gai, both of them having come around the wall of mud. "If you hadn't interfered I would be dead Naruto-san. Thank you."
"I... don't thank me." Naruto breathed out.
There was a long moment of uncomfortable stunned silence before Hayate coughed and spoke up, "Gaara wins this round." he managed to get out, "And advances to the third stage of the exams. We'll need medics down here! And some time to fix up the arena."
"Hokage-sama." Naruto turned her head to the balcony opposite the one that her fellow Genin were standing in, "May I please take Gaara-san away from here?"
"Yes." The old mans expression was troubled as he watched Naruto pull the still shell shocked Gaara to his feet, "Yes you may."
"I'm going with them." Sakura's voice called out, "All three of us have passed and Kakashi-sensei can tell us whatever you have to say next."
"Fine. Fine." Hiruzen nodded, "You three may be leave." with that Sakura was leaping over the railings and rushing to Naruto's side, helping her drag Gaara out of the arena.
He needed somewhere private to process what had happened-and Naruto felt a rush of pity for the boy-he'd been doing so well. It would take time for him to adjust to his change in circumstances, to the change in the seal, to the control, but he'd been doing well, he no longer saw the whole world as he enemy, he hadn't even hurt anyone since the Suna teams arrival at the Tower, and then something had thrown him off and he'd gotten hurt and the panic and terror had overwhelmed him.
Once they were safely outside of the arena, Naruto gripping Gaara's elbow gently she asked, "Gaara what the hell was that you just froze up in there."
"Shukaku." Gaara's voice was faint, but Naruto could hear it well enough and she tensed, exchanging worried glances with Sakura.
"Isn't Shukaku the name of your Bijuu?" the pink haired girl asked with a tight little frown. "Is he bothering you?"
"No... he... he hadn't spoken to me see Naruto-san fixed my seal."
"Oh." Naruto bit her lip "He spoke to you didn't he. During the fight, and it surprised you."
"I-he spoke to me constantly before. Urged me to kill, to survive. Then he wasn't there at all and I didn't think he could speak to me and then he spoke to me and-"
"It was the shock." Naruto finished, "The first time Kurama spoke to me outside of the mindscape I nearly blew myself up-"
"You-how?" Sakura raised an eyebrow.
"I was working on a seal." Naruto shrugged, "He tried to tell me that he knew a better way to do it and I was so startled I made a dumb mistake, ended up eyebrowless for a few weeks." that earned a giggle from Sakura and a slightly grateful look from Gaara at the reminder that he wasn't alone in being a Jinchuriki.
"Where are you taking me?"
"You can come to my home. Mom'd probably like to meet another Jinchuriki and it's safe so you can calm down there."
"I trust you." Gaara said simply, and with that he allowed the two girls to guide him out of the building and into the streets of Konoha.
