Shiro hissed at the creature before them as it mutated further, covering Gaara's body like some incurable disease. Since the serpent's appearance, Shukaku had doubled in size, and he was nearing the same height at which Akira stood. As he mutated, Akira could have sworn she could hear Gaara's cries from within, but she couldn't dwell on it for too long. Shukaku swung a spiked arm in Naruto's direction, which the boy managed to dodge at the last second.

Shukaku taunted Naruto again, spewing words of hate at the boy, but Akira wasn't having any of it. She told him off immediately, voice commanding, and, to everyone's surprise, Shukaku fell silent. Akira and Shukaku glared at each other for a moment and then the demon headed for Naruto again, completely ignoring the Uchiha girl.

Naruto charged at Shukaku again, multiplying himself with the use of his shadow clone jutsu in an attempt to distract and confuse. Every last one of them attacked the mutating demon, but the multiple teethed mouths sprouted from Shukaku's sand body and blasted the copies out of existence. The strength of the gales of wind made Akira teeter atop Shiro's head and the serpent groaned as he expelled sand from his nostrils.

"I think I'll toy with you for a while," Shukaku cackled. "Watch you abandon your friends. Watch you surrender and beg for mercy when you die."
"Surrender?"

A laugh rose out of Akira that worried her comrades. There was humour behind it, sure, as Akira was genuinely amused by the comment, but the sound of it was almost dangerous. Somehow, a vicious undertone made it's way through, turning what would have normally been a light laugh into some kind of a cackle.

"You say you know me, Shukaku," Akira said, a dark smirk on her lips, "but do you really? If you think that I'd just... surrender to you, then you're far more stupid than you look."
"Must you really insult the thing that could kill you?" Shiro sighed.
"It wouldn't be me if I didn't, Shiro." Akira glared at the demon. "This ends now, Shukaku. Naruto."
"Y-Yeah?" the boy asked, a little worried.
"We're finishing this now."
"Right! Let's do this!"

Naruto summoned hundreds and hundreds of shadow clones, each one of them attaching a paper bomb to a single kunai.

"Shiro, we're going in gently—"
"Gently?"
"Yes. I'm hurting the demon, not the boy inside."

Shiro sighed but agreed and the clones all launched themselves towards Shukaku simultaneously. The demon was surrounded and, not knowing how to deal with all the attackers at once, he sent blasts of air and sand towards as many clones as he could. However, none of these blasts hit the originals and they managed to weave their way towards Shukaku. This gave Akira and Shiro the opportunity to weave through the gusts of air and the clones.

As the paper bombs went off, Shiro dashed through the clouds of gunpowder smoke. Large chunks of sand began to fall off Gaara as the bombs detonated close to him. Akira made a few hand signs and blew a gust of wind ahead, clearing a path for her own attack. By then, Shukaku had grown to his full size. With a deafening roar, the demon sent a wave of sandblasts ahead, and Akira had to steady herself with chakra just to remain attacked to Shiro's head. The serpent pushed through and Akira sent out another gale of wind to block the sand from coming into her eyes.

She charged a kunai with a jolt of white electricity and when she was a few metres away from Shukaku, Akira broke into a run. She dashed across Shiro's head and kicked off, soaring through the air like a mythological hero of old. The white streak of electricity followed her as she went and, when she landed, gripping the hard sand with the tips of her fingers, Akira jabbed the kunai near Shukaku's shoulder.

It hadn't worked.

Sand began to fly in every direction, particularly towards Akira and Naruto, in an attempt to bury them alive. As the sand began swirling around Akira, Shiro was on the move. He coiled himself around Akira, shielding her from the abrasive sand. The girl closed her eyes and took several deep breaths, trying to stunt the anger that was rising within her. Akira needed to focus.

She tilted her head back and took a single deep breath, ignoring the crashing sounds that were ringing outside Shiro's protective cocoon. Akira took another deep breath and closed her eyes. From within Shiro's coiled body came a bright white glow. The buzzing of thousands of insects reached everyone's ears and as the serpent uncoiled himself, Akira emerged, covered in orange, flame-like markings.

"Let's go, Shiro."

Akira jumped onto Shiro's head and the serpent dashed towards the battlefield. Naruto had managed to summon an incredibly large toad and they were fighting off Shukaku as best they could. Akira welcomed the distraction. Her right hand began to glow and crackle with white electricity again, and while the jutsu was far more powerful than her usual Inazuma, it didn't burn or peel away her skin.

Akira watched as the giant toad vanished, only to be replaced with the nightmare that had once plagued the Leaf Village. Kurama the Nine-Tailed Fox was facing off with Suhkaku now and Akira couldn't help but look on, frowning. She had no idea what Naruto was thinking, but she knew that this had to stop—there wasn't room for two rampaging demons in the same battle.

As Shiro came into range, Akira spied Gaara's upper body sticking out of Shukaku's head, completely vulnerable to an attack. Once again, Akira broke into a run, giving herself an extra boost of speed by sending bursts of chakra to her feet. As she jumped off of Shiro's head, the power of the curse mark surged. A spiral of white chakra rose from Akira's pores and trailed behind her like smoke as she soared through the air. Her hair, once tied, wildly flicked behind her, and her eyes were focused, white chakra flickering in her red irises.

Naruto ran up Shukaku's head and punched Gaara so hard in the face that Shukaku stopped moving for a moment. Akira came up from his right side and Gaara's head only snapped in her direction at the last second. The girl's hand pierced Gaara's shoulder, her chakra covered hand cutting cleanly through his flesh. As the boy let out a pained cry, Shukaku crumbled into dust.

A sigh of relief left Akira's mouth. The white chakra vanished, the flame-like pattern on her skin receded, and all the tension in Akira's body was instantly soothed. However, Akira's body was heavy, and she, Naruto and Gaara were plummeting at a rapid speed. As they fell, Akira grabbed hold of Gaara and pulled him close, prepared to absorb the impact of their fall. However, the bone-shattering impact never came. Instead, Akira's, Naruto's and Gaara's fall was cushioned by Shiro's body.

Akira let out a relieved sigh and enjoyed the light breeze that came from being lowered to the ground. She turned her head to look at Naruto, who was semi-conscious, looking a little confused as to what was happening. A small smile rose to Akira's mouth and she closed her eyes, letting herself relax until she passed out.