"Karin, what is this?" Naruto muffled with his cousin's white flesh pinched between his sharp, bloody teeth.
"It's some kind of kekkei-genkai I got from my mother." She explained as her glasses began to defog and stroked his unruly blond hair. "Dad didn't have it so when Mom died, it fell on me to heal people in the village while my dad worked as a laborer and we still only had a shack with no plumbing to sleep in."
"Does it hurt?" he asked almost innocently.
"A little, but I've gotten used to it so don't worry alright? Just keep biting until you aren't bleeding out anymore, okay?" her voice still shook a little but it was steadier now than a few moments ago. "It's just a gonna leave a little scar, but don't worry about that."
Immediately he spat Karin's arm out of his mouth, blood still on his teeth and lips.
"What the hell are you doing‽" Karin nearly screamed. "You're gonna die!"
"I'm not gonna give you scar even if it saves my life! I'd rather die than hurt you like that!"
The girl would've been touched if circumstances were different from what they currently were, with a hole in the boys' throat and a sanguine-starved psychopath tearing up everything yards away.
"Uzumaki!" The pair heard Gaara scream. "This isn't over Uzumaki! Come out and bleed and die!"
More massive trees were being knocked over and his degenerate chakra was getting closer by the second. That knotting, sickening feeling in her stomach was coming back, but more erratic and unhinged than Naruto's had ever been.
Karin trembled but Naruto gripped her arm tightly. That steely resolve in his tensed blue eyes infected her with a steadiness that could have never come from within herself. Swallowing intentionally, as if to consume, partly, the fear Gaara instilled in almost everyone he met, in the Genin at least. Without resistance, Naruto pushed away Karin's arm.
"I'd rather not keep him waiting." He said, standing up while wiping Karin's blood on his loose orange sleeve. "He's only gonna go even more psycho the longer he waits."
"What about your throat?" She asked. "It still isn't healed completely."
"It'll be fine! I thought you'd have more faith in me by now! As if a friggin' twig is gonna put down the future Hokage!"
At least he's boasting again, that's a good sign. Karin thought.
He wouldn't admit to Karin his neck still needed to heal; he couldn't let Gaara get any closer to her. The wound was barely healed, held together by a few platelets, dried blood, and a thin layer of flesh. It was still sore to the touch as Naruto found out by a light pressing of his fingers. He was definitely gonna have a scar there if the Kyubi didn't want to aid him now.
The bastard probably wouldn't out of spite. Naruto thought.
A correct and wise assumption, dear warden. Another voice thought back.
Figures.
He took off to return to his fight with Gaara.
"It's about time you came back, Uzumaki, I was beginning to think you had died from that little scratch!" Gaara's face, and indeed most of his body, was transformed into some sort of sand demon one could liberally construe as resembling a tanuki. "This little girl here ain't much for fun!"
Naruto's eyes glanced over at the tree where Sakura was pinned. She was scared no doubt as the expression of her face showed, the fear overriding the pain she was feeling as the sand slowly crushed her. She prayed wordlessly that she wouldn't be killed here.
"Naruto." she breathlessly whispered.
The sand tightened around Sakura, she could feel the groaning of her bones as pressure from the sand blanket ramped up. She couldn't vocalize anymore.
"Let her go now!" Naruto shouted.
"Why‽ She's weak!"
"Exactly. Why would you want to kill somebody so weak? How do you prove your existence by killing the weak?"
Gaara stared at the other boy blankly momentarily, letting those words ring through his unstable mental mind. Naruto was right Gaara admitted to himself. Not caring about his pathetic hostage any longer, he recalled the binding sand, reconstituting it into himself as she fell gracelessly to the large branch, wheezing and coughing.
"You're right! That little girl's life is worthless to me! Her blood is tasteless! Let's get back to it!" Gaara lunged at Naruto with gleeful abandonment and pale brown claws ready to rend his target into tiny pieces. "C'mon!"
Naruto obliged, creating scores of Shadow Clones which rushed the deranged Suna shinobi without an order given. Most were poofed in an instant in a wide cut from Gaara's claws, those that did strike his head with whatever limbs were closer. They caused Gaara no pain, he laughed instead. Retreating, the clones regrouped, shooting looks of disbelief at each other.
"We didn't even hurt him!"
"How the hell is the boss gonna take him down‽"
"How the hell is the boss gonna survive is the real question!"
A Rasengan smashed into Gaara's head, shaving off the sand covering half of his face and sending him flying away.
"That's how, you freakin' tail turners!" Naruto shouted at his cowering clones.
The other boy climbed to his feet. He growled, both of his faces scowling and bearing teeth.
"You're gonna regret that!"
"We already do!"
"Friggin' cowards!"
Naruto dodged, ducked, dipped, and dived to avoid being bisected or worse from Gaara's wild and vicious swings. The clones carried Sakura, Sasuke, and Gaara's sister's unconscious bodies away from the danger of becoming collateral damage, dropping them off back at Karin's position. Karin had been watching the fight through her sensory ability, watching uneasily as Naruto's chakra signature clashed with Gaara's.
"Sand Shuriken!"
Sharp balls of sand shot forth from the redheaded boy's arm and rained down a storm of pain Naruto couldn't hide from. Every Sand Shuriken that hit him felt like a brick rather than a shuriken, he almost would've preferred real shurikens. Thankful that his forearms blocked whatever damage would've afflicted his face. He cussed to ease the pain.
The trunk of the tree Naruto to cover behind was shaved into splinters in a few moments of concentrated projectile fire and cracked loudly, and smashed into another tree, dragging it down to the grass as well.
Calling on the Kyubi's chakra, Naruto summoned one-thousand clones, drawing on a little of the Kyubi's burning chakra to do so. They all rushed Gaara once again. This time, however, most of them avoided Gaara's swings and continued to pummel the transformed boy without mercy, throwing shurikens, kunai, or just fists. The herd of Narutos wailed and beat as hard as they could on the nigh solid stone sand armor, cracking it open again. A dozen or so clones seized the opportunity to capitalize on the weakness, punching, digging, scratching at their target's single exposed sea-green eye.
Gaara screamed as he felt his eye being scraped from its socket.
The sand seemed to howl along as it rose skyward, taking out the clones that pursued too closely and began to take form. The shape became a beast of sand, covered in tattoos like Gaara's earlier transformation, only more titanic in size. The trees and hills were flattened under its massive weight and its tail thrashing incoherently.
Sand began to engulf the whole area and everything in it. Whatever wildlife that remained after were suffocated instantly. Naruto felt the sand slither around his body as he watched on as the beast tore up everything under its sight. Thinking quickly, he recited the seals Jiraiya taught him.
"What the hell is that‽" That pit Karin felt in her stomach came back with a churning vengeance but she kept her meager breakfast down, she was almost used to it at this point. The massive chakra spike nor the booming sounds the creature made woke the unconscious Sakura or Sasuke. It was kind of impressive actually. "Some kind of hellish summon?"
"It's the perfect possession." said an awake Temari as she stared in abject horror. "The Shukaku has taken control of Gaara. There's nothing we can do to stop him now!"
"Shukaku‽ The Biju‽ That's what that thing is‽," Karin asked incredulously. "A friggin' tailed beast‽"
Temari nodded. Her wide eyes watched unblinkingly and her tall frame trembling on the thick tree branch. The mental pieces fell into place in Karin's mind.
The feeling of that chakra is the same as Naruto's. She thought. That means...
"He's a Jinchuriki." She whispered to herself. It definitely explained a lot, especially the evilness that radiated from the chakra. Right now, however, there were bigger issues at hand. She was already going to find out after all this. He'd promised her that.
A giant toad with an equally large tanto, smoking a pipe boomed into being, standing downrange from the Shukaku.
That's gotta be the chief toad he told me about. I hope you know what you're doing, Naruto!
"Hey chief toad! We gotta take this guy down and fast!" Naruto explained. "He's nuts and we can't let Konoha get crushed!"
Gamabunta blinked his groggy eyes. He had been sleeping happily in his bed recovering from a long night of drinking with Katsuyu when he was summoned by Jiraiya's young apprentice. And now, that kid is asking him to fight what looked like the Shukaku.
"You summoned me to fight the damned Shukaku this early in the morning‽" Gamabunta thundered.
"It's noon, dad." Gamakichi said, having been summoned accidentally with his father. He perched himself on Naruto's head.
"It's noon‽ and you didn't wake me up‽ What kinda son are you‽"
"Hey! There's still a big, scary, unhinged demon guy over there we gotta fight!"
"Right, right." Gamabunta agreed, placing a hand(?) on his tanto. "I'll take care of this weakling in a jiffy. Hold on tight!"
Jiffy? Naruto and Gamakichi thought together.
The mountainous toad jumped with his blade at the giant raccoon demon and sliced its arm completely off, sending it far away.
Tough bastard. My Gama Dosuzan almost didn't pierce! Gamabunta thought.
Karin, Temari, and everyone else in the forest felt the shockwave of Gamabunta landing, some unlucky shinobi were crushed under the sand dune that was the Shukaku's severed arm.
"Hey chief! Karin's over in that direction, can you lure him over her?" Naruto pointed.
"Who's Karin?"
"She's his girl, pa." Gamakichi raised his pinkie.
"Cousin, you little weirdo! I can't keep her safe if he's over there!"
Gamabunta eyed the boy as much as he could. That look on the boy's face. His mind was made up long before he asked that question. It reminded him of Jiraiya's other apprentice all those years ago. They looked so similar now that he thought about it.
Wait a damned moment. Is this kid Minato's? The Sage had a few questions to answer the next time they met.
"Heh." The big toad laughed.
"This is getting real entertaining now, Naruto Uzumaki!" Gaara said as he emerged from Shukaku's coarse forehead. He held his bloody eyelid closed, there wasn't an eye in that socket anymore and to open it would just cause blood loss. While painful, the loss of his eye drove Gaara wild. The pain was intoxicating. The blood flowing throughout his body, he could feel every red cell and platelet in his thin veins. Oh, how he loved this feeling.
"So that's the host, eh?" Gamabunta redundantly asked.
"Shit! He's gonna go all the way! We gotta get outta here!" Temari panicked.
"You aren't going anywhere." Karin said as the remaining shadow clones pinned her down. "Right now, you're a prisoner of war."
"W-what? Stop being stupid! We gotta evacuate now before my brother let's the Shukaku take full control!"
"We're staying because there's nothing to worry about." Karin smiled. "Naruto's gonna kick that demon's ass." She wasn't sure where that confidence came from, but she liked having it.
"That poor kid's got chronic insomnia. Shukaku keeps his hosts' awake out of nothing more than fear. If this kid falls asleep, that One-Tailed Freak is gonna go nuts all over this place." Gamabunta explained. "When the kid blacks out, Shukaku's true power will be unleashed."
"Dad! The host went to sleep while you were talking!" interjected Gamakichi.
"Shit!"
"Ah hell!"
"I'm finally free!" Shukaku announced in psychotic glee. "I'm free and ready to slaughter! First on the list, that giant pain in the ass of a frog! Wind Style: Air Bullets!"
"Hang on!"
Gamabunta leaped again, avoiding the destruction the massive missiles caused and flying over the Biju. "Water Style: Water Bullets!"
"Air Bullets!"
The water and air bullets clashing boomed like a roaring typhoon, drenching most of the forest and uprooting many trees. One Air Bullet sneaked through and struck the chief toad directly in the face, creating a bloody cloud.
"Haha! I did it! I killed him! I killed him!" The Shukaku laughed.
"See‽ The Shukaku can't be beat by some giant frog! We need to leave now!" Temari said. "If we stay here, we're gonna end up the same way!"
"Shut up!" Karin yelled back. Both of the girls and the two unconscious Genin were soaked to the bone from the shattered Water Bullets. "Naruto doesn't go down that easily."
"Damn that hurt! How much chakra was behind that jutsu?"
"Oh, you're still alive?"
"Dad! He spotted you!"
"Not exactly hard to do, considering he's a massive toad."
"Kid, even someone as tough as me can't take another hit like that! We gotta knock the host awake, if we don't, we're done for!"
"How the hell are we gonna do that‽ You sword's still over there!"
"Transform me into something with teeth and claws, I'll hold him still while you knock him around. That's the only way we're gonna be able to take him down!"
"I don't have enough chakra left to transform you chief toad!"
"I'll lend you some of mine while you weave the seals! Transformation ain't my strong suit anyway! It'll be combo transformation 'cause you used the last of yours!"
"Something with teeth and claws? Right, I got something in mind!"
"Here we go!"
In a plume of smoke, a giant fox emerged, snarling and snapping its salivating teeth. With those teeth and its equally sharp claws, it latched onto Shukaku's chest. Shukaku hissed in anger as Gamabunta reappeared.
"Kid, now!"
"Gaara! Wake up, you moron!"
Naruto put all of his remaining strength into that punch. It woke Gaara, the death stare the redhead was giving him was certain proof.
What‽ No! The Jutsu is unraveling! I just got here! Shukaku thought.
Sand began to slither up Naruto again as he stood on the Biju's head. He couldn't move anymore, his chakra was empty.
Please, let me use a little more! I need to keep Karin and everyone else safe!
Fine.
The burning red chakra flooded his coils once more, it burned like hellfire this time, perhaps because his coils were near empty. He didn't know. Using the energy his own Biju gave him, he broke free of the sand and delivered the hardest headbutt of his life to Gaara's forehead. The Suna Genin seized up, losing all sense of self as Shukaku's form melted away into shapeless sand.
"Hell yeah! That's what I'm talking about! I knew that overgrown tanuki freak didn't stand a chance!" Karin cheered.
"I-incredible." Temari uttered. "That kid defeated the Shukaku." she couldn't believe her brother had been defeated.
Sorry this took so long, work has been kicking my ass and leaving me tired. I know these chapters perhaps aren't long enough to justify the waiting but I'm more comfortable doing short chapters like pulp stories than novel length chapters. Hope that clarifies a few things.