AN: Note that I do not own Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, or any of the characters from either Anime. This work is a fanfiction written out of my love for the series and not in any attempt to make a profit.
Proofread by: Author
On a personal level, I don't like how much this chapter feels like a rewrite of canon events, changing almost nothing, but unfortunately, there's little to no change in Gamabunta's personality or situation from canon, besides being summoned a little bit earlier than in canon. As disappointing as it is, the most I can do is include the reactions and thoughts of the other characters to some degree.
Chapter 96: Something wicked, something foul
Sakura was glad that the wall walking technique was sparing them from the G-forces they would otherwise have experienced from the chief toad's movements, as he leaped at the one-tailed beast as he got close enough, slicing upward at the beast's left shoulder with his Tantō. "How's that?" He questioned, before pushing the blade all the way through, while pushing off with his legs, allowing the momentum of his attack and jump to carry him into the air, past the beast.
The resistance from the arm as he sliced, combined with the power behind his jump was enough to slice the atm right off, unfortunately, it resulted in the chief toad losing grip of his Tantō, sending it flying straight up into the air. As the arm of sand landed on the ground, it instantly reverted to a pile of loose sand.
"No way…" Kiba said, stunned as he looked down at the damage the chief toad had managed to deal with just one attack, and then at Naruto, who had managed to summon said toad. The title of "dead last" definitely didn't apply anymore.
The Tantō that had been sent flying sent tremors that visibly shook the surrounding forest as it landed.
The one-tailed beast then slowly turned to look at them where they had landed after removing one of its limbs, seemingly unbothered by the loss. For a moment, it simply stared, before it began shouting, sounding excited. "Interesting! This is interesting, Naruto Uzumaki!" It declared, making Sakura's brows furrow. Was the tailed beast the one speaking, or was Gaara still the one in control? Either situation came with its own, rather horrifying implications.
"N-no, Gaara…" Sakura heard Temari groan from close by and felt bile rise up in her throat. She had nearly killed the Kunoichi, and she knew that she was likely in extreme pain. To still be conscious, as well as worried for her teammate… It made Sakura feel even more horrible before she squashed the thought.
"What do we do?" She asked, turning towards Asuma for orders.
However, before Asuma could respond, Temari decided to do so instead, having the mind to listen in on the conversation and deciding to share her own thoughts for some reason. "T-there's n-nothing you can do. Run, g-get us out of here!" She said, struggling through her pain while shaking in fear.
Sakura blinked in revelation as she realized that Temari hadn't been worried about Gaara, her teammate, but for them, or rather, herself, who had unwillingly become part of their group as their prisoner.
"What's he doing?" Kiba asked while looking towards the tailed beast with narrowed eyes. Following his gaze, Sakura saw Gaara emerging from the tailed beast's forehead.
"Huh, that's…" Naruto muttered, confused. Thankfully, the chief toad was able to provide some clarification on what was going on.
"The circles under his eyes… Those are symptoms of insomnia which indicates that the medium is possessed by Shukaku of the Sand." The toad explained, which still didn't answer all that much.
"Insomnia?..." Naruto asked, and Sakura felt a little bit dismayed that Naruto didn't know. Although to be fair, insomnia wasn't something that was all that widely discussed outside of medical texts or biology books. It made sense that Naruto, who didn't set foot in the library if he could help it, hadn't come across the term previously.
"Those who are possessed by the Demon Raccoon Shukaku are unable to sleep soundly through the entire night. Because of the terror… knowing that if one sleeps, Shukaku will slowly eat away at their personality, and eventually, that person is no longer himself." The toad continued to explain, making Sakura shudder at the realization that the misconception the adult population of Konohagakure seemed to have concerning Naruto, made far more sense now. It wasn't just the fear of what he contained, but knowledge like what the Chief Toad was imparting on them now was known... It made sense that people were scared of Jinchuriki. Not only did Jinchuriki seem to become incredibly strong because of the beasts imprisoned inside of them, but if the one-tailed beast, the one considered the weakest of them all had such an effect on its host, it stood to reason that the nine-tailed beast was way, way worse. Sakura was glad that it wasn't true, but she could understand how easy it was to jump to such conclusions. Certainly, anyone that met Naruto could tell that he wasn't a monster, but fear… it made people ignore the rational, far too often.
Sakura's breath hitched as she felt her heart go out to Naruto. She knew he had it bad, but she had simply thought people ignorant and stupid before. Now, however, knowing what kind of stigma the Jinchuriki could be subjected to, she was mortified.
"Fuck, this is depressing." Heikō chimed in, only for the chief toad to continue his explanation, ignoring the sound of Temari suddenly crying and sobbing quietly.
"Because he normally doesn't get much sleep… the medium's personality tends to… become unstable." The toad explained, everyone, besides Temari, remained silent after hearing the explanation until Naruto broke the silence.
"Oh…" Was all Naruto managed, astounded, creeped out, and worried for Gaara. He realized how lucky he was that he hadn't had to deal with what Gaara was dealing with, as well as how unfair their current situation was. Gaara wasn't a horrible killer. He was an unfortunate, traumatized child that had been forced into a life worse than his own. Naruto could sympathize, and he found that he pitied Gaara. Their situations could easily have been reversed.
"Therefore, usually when the medium is awake, the power of Shukaku is normally controlled. However…" The chief toad continued his explanation, before pointing at Gaara, who was holding his hands in a ram seal. "When that medium sleeps…" He continued, trailing off as Gaara's eyes closed as he seemingly performed a jutsu that put him to sleep.
"Oh, crap," Kiba commented, and Sakura wondered why the Chief Toad had taken the time to try and explain it to them, rather than act and stop Gaara from putting himself to sleep when he obviously seemed to be aware of what was about to happen.
Gaara slumped over, and suddenly, Sakura startled, feeling the presence of Natural energy spike from Gaara again, along with a presence that the Chief Toad seemed to be feeling as well. "He's done it...!" The Chief informed them, and Sakura could see the color from Hinata's face drain, as she looked at Shukaku with her Byakugan.
"W-what's gonna happen chief?" Naruto asked, apparently not having managed to follow the explanation completely, although he had at least picked up that it wasn't anything good.
"H-he's releasing the d-demon!" Temari confirmed for them.
"This is bad," Asuma stated, looking somewhat pale himself, while Sasuke activated his Sharingan, looking over Shukaku, trying to find some weak point or advantage they could use against the beast.
Suddenly, the beast reared back and began shouting in a different, higher-pitched voice as it looked to the sky. "I'm finally able to emerge!" It shouted in victory, seemingly elated.
"That's the Shukaku?" Naruto asked, a little surprised. For a moment, Sakura contemplated the implications that came forth from the confirmation that the tailed beast wasn't so mindless that it couldn't comprehend speech. It made her wonder what it was that made the tailed beasts so evil. Obviously, they were demons, but… that didn't seem right for some reason.
"Glad our morals seem to be working and supporting our intuition. It doesn't make sense that the tailed beasts are evil by nature. That's not how things work. They're too strong to simply be evil. If they were, they would have wiped humanity out ages ago." Heikō informed Sakura, explaining why it didn't feel right to accuse the tailed beasts of being evil. "They're likely evil as a result of something else. Say, like for being sealed inside of people." Heikō provided her own guess. Sakura admitted that it made more sense, although she wondered if they would ever find out what the actual situation was.
"He's pretty funky…" The toad on Naruto's head said, voicing its own deduction.
Next, Shukaku turned his gaze towards them, leveling his remaining arm towards them, pointing at them with one of his claws. "Right away! The guy I want to kill! You!" Shukaku announced, although who he actually meant wasn't all that clear. Sakura was guessing he meant either Naruto or the Chief Toad.
"I'm gonna jump..." The Chief Toad informed them in a whisper, although for them, it was still rather loud.
"Huh?" Was all Naruto managed, looking around for a moment bewildered, at the Chief Toad's decision, only to notice everyone else brace themselves, and wisely followed their example, while Shukaku shoutout again, bringing his arm back, while his stomach seemed to swell up.
"Wind Style: Air Bullets!" He announced, before slamming his clawed arm down on his own belly, forcing a gust of compressed wind out of his mouth.
Fortunately, The Chief Toad had already predicted an incoming attack and had jumped into the air to avoid it, before bringing his fore-legs together into what looked like a tiger seal. "Water Style: Water Bullets!" He announced, responding in kind to Shukaku's attack with one of his own, by releasing tons of water as a projectile from his mouth, only for Shukaku to shoot another one of his Air Bullets to intercept it, absolutely drenching the ground below them as if a rainstorm had suddenly blasted through the area.
"What the hell is this battle?" Sasuke spoke up, sounding a little shook.
"A battle between the strongest beings. A tailed beast and a chief summon." Asuma answered, sounding slightly awed himself. Sakura understood. She was awed herself. While she wasn't a natural Chakra sensor, even she could feel the raw amount of chakra contained in their attacks.
"Hey, think we can absorb some of that dispersing Chakra ourselves?" Heikō suggested, but Sakura shook her head in response, refusing to entertain the idea.
"No way, I'm not even going to attempt to re-use the chakra of a tailed beast. That's just asking for trouble." Sakura responded, immediately shutting down the following idea of her own concerning the same question about Natural energy. Both the Chief Toad and Shukaku were wellsprings of Natural energy, but Sakura refused to entertain the idea of trying to mold Senjutsu chakra out of their Natural energy. She had no desire to expose her body to such chakra when it would more than likely result in either Toad-Sage-mode or One-tailed-beast-Sage-Mode. Neither sounded like a pleasant experience, especially when she hadn't even mastered her own, Human-Sage-Mode yet.
"Right, then what do we do?" Heikō questioned, and Sakura sighed, submitting to the fact that there really was only one thing they could do.
"We let Naruto and his summon to deal with this," Sakura responded sadly, feeling like she had betrayed herself with the admission that there was nothing she could do. The fact that Sasuke seemed to be in the same position was a bittersweet comfort.
Fortunately, it didn't take too long until Naruto and the Chief Toad came up with an actual plan for them to work on, one those still able to move could help out with.
Gaara was still there, he remained exposed on Shukaku's forehead, dangling there like a wet noodle, while Shukaku and the Chief Toad exchanged elemental bullets, containing breathtaking amounts of Chakra. The one time one of them hit the Chief Toad, Sakura felt her heart skip a beat, thinking that they would die then and there. Fortunately, it seemed that the Chief Toad could take a few hits.
Landing right in front of Shukaku, the Chief Toad grabbed the beast by its shoulders and leaned towards it, calling out to Naruto and the rest. "Now!"
However, before Naruto, Asuma, Sasuke, Kiba, and Akamaru could even jump over onto Shukaku to smack Gaara awake, Shukaku moved away, unwilling to remain a stationary target for them.
AN: Sakura, Sasuke, and Heikō all know of Naruto's situation, but even after being told, putting yourself in someone else's shoes and truly comprehending what they feel, or how their situation really is… that's hard. This time, Sakura and Heikō had their revelation concerning this, and it further led them to contemplate the nature of the Nine, Tailed Beasts. While the conclusion that they aren't necessarily evil might seem like a bit of a far jump, it is mere speculation, and even wild guesses occasionally ring true. Sakura does have a rather good intuition at times, and when one realizes that the tailed beasts are perfectly Sapient beings, one realizes they likely have emotions, can rationalize, and socialize like any other human being. Since humans aren't born evil or good, it makes far more sense that the tailed beasts would similarly have a choice between good and bad. At least, that's the way I see it here.
Next chapter, I am hoping to get some more, original fighting scenes into this story.
