Now… In the Forests, East of the Katabami Gold Mine
'What the fuck is going on?'
Kakashi's head was throbbing in pain. None of it had to do with the four children in his immediate command, even the one that fashioned himself Kakashi's lap dog. It was very unfortunate Kakashi had never learned how to truly mentor someone; Maybe he could've actually helped Sasuke cope.
But as it was, he instead told the boy, along with the others, to set up camp in the woods while he feigned reading in one of the taller trees in the area. His headband was fully up, Sharingan exposed, scanning the landscape over the top of his book.
Not many people knew this, but Kakashi's book was blank; It always had been. He learned at a young age that if someone appeared preoccupied with something, they were less likely to be bothered.
And twice as likely to catch someone off guard.
But he held it now to keep up appearances as the aloof sensei, the casual copycat killer Hatake Kakashi, so Neji and the girl, Tenten, would tell Gai he wasn't spiraling into a depressive state.
Every action was calculated, every move was planned. If it were Shogi, he'd be four moves ahead on Nara Shikaku.
But someone had shaken the board free of pieces and given him nothing to play with.
Out before his Sharingan eye stretched waves of angry, fiery chakra. He saw the portion of dead forest coated in it. He saw what looked like a small canal or ditch that ran far too long into the countryside also radiating the same energy. It was the same energy that covered the village for months when Minato-sensei died. The same at the bridge in Nami no Kuni when Naruto almost killed Haku. The same when Sasuke and Naruto stopped Gaara. The exact same.
He felt it in his skin- the breeze carried that caustic, heavy chakra like clouds of poison that would cling to whatever it pleased. He was suddenly very glad he hadn't told Neji to activate the Byakugan earlier. How was he going to explain this to the keen Hyuuga? Or to Sasuke? The moment he opened his Sharingan, there would be questions.
Kakashi was still trying to piece things together himself. He'd had long talks with Jiraiya. Talks about the summoning scroll of the toads crossing Naruto's name out, talks about figuring out how Orochimaru managed to infiltrate Konoha and the Akatsuki in such succinct order.
If they were going by strict protocol on the handling of intelligence, then Kakashi knew too much nowadays. But if he knew so much, then why were so many things still not clicking?
Tsunade had refused to overturn the Sandaime's order that no citizen of Konoha that obtained the truth, should divulge Naruto's burden. So, he couldn't legally tell them what he was looking at. But he could give them the pieces and let them work it out.
Maybe Naruto isn't dead after all.
Before now, he'd believed Jiraiya wholeheartedly that Naruto had been captured and killed. Jiraiya had been kind enough to give him Naruto's hitai-ate, but… Kakashi already had each of his old team members' hitai-ate in a cupboard. No need to keep collecting them. He passed it to Sasuke, out of respect.
But this chakra…
It was either Naruto or someone that figured out how to use the Kyuubi. Or the Kyuubi itself breaking free-
No; The Kyuubi would have flattened this entire nation by now. This small scale damage was nothing compared to what had happened the last time the beast roamed free. Kakashi peered at the Chakra and studied it. It was soaked into the ground, like it'd mixed with water.
It'd rained, then; Shit.
Most physical traces of whatever happened here would be gone by now. The only things left were these waves and interspersed splatters of foreign chakra, chakra that by all accounts should have been gone, except that it was so toxic, so evil nothing in nature wanted it.
He thought about writing to Jiraiya, but the man probably already knew.
"I can feel it too, Kakashi," that old, familiar voice said. The tree across from Kakashi barely even shook when Jiraiya stepped further out onto the branch, exposing him to the light of the fading sun.
"Master Jiraiya, you followed us?" Kakashi asked earnestly. He hadn't heard or seen even a trace of him the entire way here… even with his Sharingan being on for the second half of the journey. And his nose, never one to let him down, had caught nary a whiff of the Toad Sage.
Jiraiya just nodded. He was solemn. Almost statuesque. He said nothing; he copied Kakashi's long gaze out into the world below and beyond.
Kakashi broke the silence. "What does it mean?"
Jiraiya shrugged. "I'm not here to do your job, Kakashi. Figure it out and report back to me. But anyway," the Sannin waved, "my contact in the Akatsuki might have knowledge on this mess, so I'm off to gather intel."
"But you don't think he's alive, do you?"
Jiraiya's face became visibly irritated. "If Ma and Pa crossed his name from the summoning scroll… he's not breathing, Kakashi. Not as Uzumaki Naruto. Not as Minato's kid."
A ragged breath from the Toad Sage. It sounded like he'd gone back to smoking his pipe- a terrible habit passed down from his now-deceased Sensei.
"I can't believe that just yet," Kakashi revealed. "If anyone could make it out of such a terrible situation, it'd be Naruto. Do you know what they called him, Master Jiraiya?"
Jiraiya waited for an answer.
"'The No.1 Most Unpredictable Ninja.'"
"... It was a nice nickname. I can't really argue against it," the older man breathed. "He always had a way of surprising me. Like Minato, but in a completely different way."
Kakashi nodded. "Yeah. I'll pass you a copy of my report when I'm done here."
"I'll trade you with whatever I find out. And Kakashi? Take care of Sasuke… he's got Orochimaru's eyes on him." And just like that, the man vanished. It wasn't even a shunshin- Jiraiya was still that fast.
'Fear the old man in the young man's game,' Kakashi recited. And not a second later, the young man took the elder's place.
Sasuke's heavy footsteps reverberated up the tree trunk. Kakshi watched a small, calloused hand grab the branch and tighten. Sasuke flipped through the air and landed right next to the Copy-Nin. His eyes, dark and full, stared at Kakshi's chest, like a dog's would when it awaited commands.
"Need something?" Kakashi drawled.
"We're done," Sasuke said plainly.
Kakashi sighed and closed his book. "Okay. We'll rest for the night and then head down to the village early tomorrow. They're miners. They'll be up early."
Sasuke nodded.
"Oh, and don't use your Sharingan tomorrow. We wouldn't want to scare the locals!" Kakashi slid his headband back over Obito's Sharingan and eye-smiled his ass off. "Be sure to tell Neji to keep his Byakugan in check. We're ninja- we should be able to handle some working class men and women without special powers, ne?"
The Following Morning… Sunagakure
It happened in the morning.
On the second floor of the Sabaku family palace was a grand staircase that flowed down like a beautiful, ancient river, large enough for a herd of the infamous black elephants of Kumo to walk up and never touch the sides. The top of this staircase combined the great wings of the palace and let all who enter know of the grandness of the interior. Today, for the first time in three months, Naruto and Temari found themselves alone at the top of the stairs, each on their way to breakfast.
"Hey," Temari said tersely.
"Uh, hi," Naruto blinked. He tried to remember if he'd ever spoken to Gaara's sister alone before. Her West Wing area in the Kage family home was isolated, far from the male living quarters in the East Wing. His mind drew blanks.
Naruto felt the awkwardness coming from both of them. What in the world could she have to say to him away from Gaara and Kankuro?
"Thank you!" She blurted out, but immediately covered her mouth. "I mean-"
"No, thank you!" Naruto jumped in, using his arms to gesture. Talking was less awkward than not talking, right? "Thank you for letting us stay here! This has been great! The food here is good, I mean it's no Ichiraku ramen but-" She cut him off this time in the form of a hug, a shocking physical act that froze him cold.
He couldn't remember the last time someone hugged him. It felt… warm. He reached around her to reciprocate, but she was already pulling away. An awkward moment followed before she reinitiated the contact, and they stood there a moment. Naruto didn't want to lose this feeling.
"You saved my family, Naruto," she whispered. Her head was down, pressed against his bony shoulder. "You let Gaara know there was more to life. And you gave Kankuro and I new lives in the process."
"I only told him the reason why I was so strong. It's all about the people I love. It's why I've done everything my entire life for other people," Naruto told her. "Friendships and the bonds you make, that's what life is all about." 'The bonds I need to get back to one day…'
She let go of him and he let her step back, even though he didn't want her to. He peered down at her, only a little flustered at the sudden contact by the otherwise stoic kunoichi. But Sabaku no Temari was a woman of nobility, strength, and pride; She recovered her poise and stared right into his oceanic eyes.
"Well, Uzumaki Naruto, thank you for teaching my brother that lesson. And just so you know," her voice got low and stern, "I don't do hugs. This was an act of gratitude. If I ever hear from someone else that I hugged you, I'll first deny it, and then eviscerate your body with my battle fan."
Naruto smiled. "She's got a heart after all! And here I kept thinking you were a stone cold-"
"Watch it!" She warned, half joking. She began to walk down the steps, leaving him at the top of the stairs. "I'm a princess here, Naruto. Talk to me wrong and you'll be executed for slander."
He tried to hurry and follow her, but in his haste he caught a step wrong and tumbled all the way down. Temari couldn't help but bark a laugh at his antics.
"You Konoha shinobi are so odd," she mused. "Shadow boy and his absolute lack of respect for me, and now you and your goofiness."
"Shikamaru's actually really smart," Naruto mentioned once he'd collected himself at the bottom of the stairs. From his angle, he saw Temari descend gracefully. Her long, tanned legs measured each step carefully until she reached the first floor and helped him up. They walked toward the dining hall where Naruto could smell the sweet syrup so commonly used in Konoha. They must've imported some.
"He's smart, huh? I am, too," Temari smirked. "I won the fight, remember?"
"Yeah, but didn't he quit?"
Temari growled and yelled, "Which is why he's a disrespectful little shit! To embarrass me like that," she huffed.
They walked into the dining hall from the far side to see Temari's eldest brother. Kankuro sat with his steaming coffee, a light amount of blush on his face already. "Someone is feisty this morning. What'd you do Naruto, tell her her hair was messed up?" He took a sip and scowled at the heat.
"Shut it, puppet boy, don't make me smear your makeup in front of the girls later," she bit back.
He snorted. "As if they'd even be looking. Half the time they only want to talk about where I get it from."
Naruto and Temari sat down across from the puppet master, with Naruto doing some ribbing of his own.
He giggled. "Did you tell them it was Temari's closet?"
"Both of you can go to hell," Kankuro deadpanned.
"I'd rather go back to sleep," Naruto suddenly yawned. "That sandstorm last night was crazy!"
Temari and Kankuro seemed to take a moment to think.
"Gaara may have had an episode last night," Kankuro said. His tone was serious, but not alarmed. "He has them from time to time. Maybe your story triggered something in him, the gore of it all."
Temari nodded at her brother's assessment. "It's rare these days, but it does happen. The Ichibi still likes to torment him when it can. Damned Tanuki."
"Can we help him?" Naruto rose from his seat. "No way I'm eating breakfast without him! We're a family. Let's go!"
Kankuro picked his coffee cup back up. "But we don't even know where he is-"
Han strode in. Despite his armor, he moved with silence and great ease. "He is in the courtyard meditating. I wouldn't disturb him; He's been at it all night," the iron giant revealed.
The Sand Siblings nodded, but Naruto wasn't having it.
"I bet I can make him snap out of it. He said Shukaku was afraid of me, after all! Be right back!" Naruto flashed his signature thumbs up, and before Temari could grab him, he leapt out the nearest window and scaled a nearby building.
"Fuck," Temari breathed. "He's so fast!"
"He wasn't nearly as quick when I met him," Han empathized, "and he's got more energy than a thousand ninja combined. He could probably waterwalk the entire ocean and back."
Naruto's physical prowess had been on display in the past few months; Gaara requested the blonde spar with him daily, since his siblings had neither the stamina nor the fearlessness of Gaara's sand that the young Uzumaki did. And when he wasn't fighting a Kage candidate on his home turf, Naruto and Han were experimenting with the vexing issue of his inability to mold chakra. It had become a major concern after their escape from Raiga and the Katabami Gold Mine. But the boy had become so fast, so strong that it almost offset his sudden handicap.
Unfortunately, they still had no answers, and Han knew a minimum on seals and the ways to modify them. They needed an expert in Fuinjutsu, but Suna was particularly lacking in that regard. They had the most… primitive… knowledge of the larger villages. Shukaku had been sealed in a teacup for ages, for Kami's Sake. They wouldn't think it even possible to seal something like the Kyuubi no Kitsune.
Kankuro sat his cup back down. "To be fair, he's the only person I've ever seen change Gaara's mental state. If he did it once, he could do it again. Let's have a little faith in that long necked idiot."
Temari didn't love the idea, but she slid back into her seat and waited for the servants to come take her order. Han followed suit, placing his large brimmed hat onto the table top.
All was quiet for a moment.
And then a tidal wave of sand smacked into the opposite side of the palace and shook its very foundation, throwing the three ninja to the floor. Kankuro managed to save his coffee with a chakra thread, but he quickly let it drop- coffee was not the priority right now.
"What the fuck," Kankuro yelled, scrambling to gather his puppets from their storage scrolls and hidden rooms. He ran like a madman around the palace. Temari simply grabbed a massive battle fan off the wall, one very similar to her own but two hundred years older, and proceeded to walk to the other wing. Han placed his hat back atop his head and followed her, his senses tingling. He could feel Bijū chakra in the air.
"Think this is Naruto's fault?" Temari asked Han.
"I told him not to interrupt the boy's meditating," Han grumbled.
"It might be good for Gaara to get it out of his system," Temari offered. "He hasn't seriously fought since Naruto cracked his skull open."
Another wave of sand rocked the structure, but the ninja clamped themselves down with chakra while the building vibrated angrily.
"Or it could be a catastrophe," Han gritted out.
Temari conceded his point with a nod. "Hop on," she told him, and opened the fan fully. He complied and they flew out of a skylight cutout in the ceiling while Kankuro vaulted himself through a window and landed on one of his puppets, ready for battle.
Except the battle was moving away from the village, if the great twisting pillars of Gaara's sand manipulation were any indication. They watched Naruto's unreal speed and flexibility come in handy as he dipped and dodged around everything a pained Gaara was throwing his way. Gaara staggered forward with his hands on his head, screaming in absolute agony.
"At least he was smart enough to get him out of the village proper," Han mused. "But he must've set Gaara off."
"I'd bet it was the Tanuki wanting some revenge," Temari offered. "Naruto did a number on it last time."
"He never stops surprising me!" Han remarked. "But he really should listen more. He doesn't know his own strengths and weaknesses."
"He just needs a strong female presence," Temari said with a smirk.
Han shook his head in disagreement but could offer no rebuttal. "Shall we help?"
"Alright! Get Ready!" Temari said. She dive bombed the floating fan right for her baby brother. 'C'mon Gaara, come back to your senses! You've been doing so well. The village doesn't need to see you like this!'
It'd been a long time since Han fought like this. Perfect Jinchuuriki were a dangerous force, and Han was proving his case.
Naruto, Temari, and Kankuro sat back while the Iwa Jinchuuriki used his speed to bypass Gaara's automatic defense. His Futton Kekkei Genkai let him rush the young Jinchuuriki's position, cut hard to avoid the hail of hardened sand that surely followed, then reverse course before the sand could react.
If you asked Naruto, he would've said it was like watching Lee fight: mesmerizingly violent.
Han landed light blows when he could (light being relative; a Futton-powered punch was spine tingling) while Kankuro set about working on a tranquilizer to calm his brother down without putting him completely to sleep. Gaara completely asleep meant Shukaku having free reign in an open desert…
Another right cross landed for the Red Giant, and this one bloodied Gaara's lip. As Han kicked off the sand and forced himself back, Gaara clutched his head and screamed.
All around him sprung sharpened sand spears, and the waves of them kept coming and coming and coming. Temari took to the air with her brother and Han managed to grab Naruto and spring himself skyward just in time. He and Naruto fell to the earth and landed on the tips of the spears, much farther away than they were to begin with. Han dropped Naruto and dodged to avoid more spears. They could branch off one another; How dangerous.
"My head!" Gaara screamed in agony. He was sobbing and heaving violently between pained shouts.
"Han, I'm ready!" Kankuro called out from above. Han nodded, and a senbon coated in a teal liquid dropped in his palm. "Don't miss!"
"Han, are you sure you can do it?" Naruto asked across the distance between them. Had Naruto missed when Han was playing tag with Gaara's face? But there was something in the boy's eyes, concern, maybe. "He's my friend…"
"I've got this, Naruto," Han spoke confidently and clearly. "Now watch!"
He sprung from the tips of the field of spears and spinning heel kicked his way to the earth below. Once a clearing had been established, he bobbed and weaved between the remaining implements, an aggressive current of sand chasing close behind. He saw Gaara drop to one knee, struggling to fend off whatever mental anguish he'd been inflicted with. Han leapt once more, senbon firmly clutched in his right fist.
His jump was the perfect distance. He descended upon the Suna Jinchuuriki and the sand rose to meet him; Gaara's automatic defense was absolute.
Han's non-senbon clutching fist loaded itself with steam and hammered the coalescing sand shield. Han's steam exploded and caused the sand to dissipate around Gaara, a perfect opening created by the shockwave of Han's super-heated chakra.
Everyone gathered saw Han fall through the hole in the aerial sand and sink the senbon into the soft flesh of Gaara's neck. The slight pain of the thin needle made him look up into Han's half-hidden face. His bloodshot eyes waned, but not before his sand came back around and repulsed Han from Gaara's immediate vicinity. Han used the momentum and rolled with it to land upright, between Gaara and the others.
One of Gaara's eyes became dark as sand crawled around his face and the sclera of the eye was a deep gold that seemingly peered through Han's soul. A monstrous shriek bellowed out from Gaara and the sand quickly receded from Gaara's face. Had Shukaku been… scared?
Temari let a breath go. Crisis averted. She rushed to him and she and Kankuro propped him up and made sure he was somewhat lucid.
But something bubbled behind them, like the rumbling formations of a hurricane. They were so focused on Gaara- they didn't think anything of Naruto's odd silence.
"Guys," Naruto said slowly, "I don't think the Kyuubi liked seeing Shukaku again…" His body trembled and he struggled to breathe. The more he fought for air, the more a nasty, orange chakra hue leaked from his personage. "I can't control this!"
Before any of them could close the distance, the boy was coated and his clothes began to burn and the chakra deepened in color. He grit his teeth as his skin started to flake and burn away.
Even Han, with all the speed in the world, wasn't fast enough to stop the transformation; He bolted to Naruto in one steam-powered step and was in the blonde's face that instant.
Still too slow.
Naruto's face burned away, replaced by the glowing white eyes of an angry Jinchuuriki. The shockwave of the roar he let loose sent sand scattering and paused Han's advance so strongly, it was like he'd frozen him where he stood!
A smattering of tails bursted from the earth under Han and punched him into the air, where another two were waiting to hammer him back down. They made contact with his large frame in a pincer-like attack- Han's only viable defense was to cross his arms in front of his chest and absorb the punishment; At least the sand would provide a soft landing.
Naruto's Version 2 body roared through the flurry of sand Han's body made when it cratered against the dunes. Temari whipped open her fan and sent the airborne sand particles into a tornado around Naruto.
Han sprung from his resting place and noted the sand actually melting and forming rivulets of minerals down Naruto's chakra cloak. He was completely unbothered. Five chakra claws came tearing through the tornado and attempted to crush those gathered, but Kankuro had already pulled Gaara into a puppet for safekeeping and gotten out of dodge. Han and Temari, for their parts, were agile enough to slip around the attack, but the heat emanating gave Temari a nasty brush burn on her arm.
"Ah! What the fuck!" She seethed. "It's potent enough to defend and attack with?"
"Reminds you of somebody else we know, huh?" Kankuro quipped, referring to their brother. "Speaking of, Gaara's exhausted but still conscious. He said he can help, he just needs some time!"
Han said nothing. Temari's cyclone of sand dissipated and there Naruto, or whatever he'd become, seated like a dog with five dangerous tails waving erratically in the fiery desert sun.
"Han, what's the play? Can you match him?" Temari asked. She readied her fan and opened it in its entirety. To be frank, she wasn't even sure she could get a full swing off if Naruto bull rushed her. She'd barely dodged a tail. But without her fan's full power, she wouldn't even be able to push him back, let alone cut into his chakra armor. It was a dangerous position to be in.
"Speed-wise, yes," the Iwa Jinchuuriki nodded. A tail of Biju chakra came to him, more for protection from Naruto's chakra than anything else. "But I'd need to load a punch quite heavily to do anything more than piss him off. My strength is great, but a knockout blow is what we're after. Stay back with your fan and let's see if we can give each other openings!"
They did not give each other openings. In fact, it was much the opposite.
Nearly an hour after Gaara's rampage began, Naruto's was still very much in the swing of things. Kankurou had retreated to keep the rest of the Suna shinobi at bay and to safeguard Gaara; getting involved in this fray would only make things more complicated.
Unfortunately for the watching Suna army, there was simply no rapport between Han and Temari, no ability to instinctively feel when the other would make their move. And Naruto was so fast. His fiery form hung back and sent chakra claw after chakra claw after both of them. Temari's fan, a two hundred year old war relic, had begun to melt on one side after being used to block one such claw that came much too close to scalping her.
Han was having a better time, but not by much. He could bat the claws away with a well aimed strike and rush the main body of the Jinchuuriki enough to press him, but without Temari's carefully aimed Fuuton to watch his back, he was susceptible to chakra claws striking from behind or below. If Han didn't know better, he'd have thought the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki had fought this fight before, using the sand as a strategic advantage and hiding his timing with random feints and unexpected sneak tactics. The kid even clawed a palm of sand at Han when he got too close, except the sand hardened against the heat of the claw and a wall of molten sand struck him hard enough to throw him skyward.
Temari flew up and caught him, but it was not a fun feeling.
"Any ideas?" The blonde panted. The transformed Naruto below roared at them in frustration. The shockwave that followed blew them from Temari's fan, but she recovered and scooped under Han's falling form to reset.
"None in particular. If I engage directly, you can't really cover me without hitting me with whatever you throw at him," Han said, never taking his eyes off the red-hot mass of chakra below him. "I could summon three or four tails and cloak myself, but at that point it'd be a brawl and I can't be certain of the outcome."
Temari gritted her teeth. "I had no idea that the magnitudes between the tails were so…"
"Vast," Han filled in for her. "A single tail of the Kyuubi's power is ten of the Ichibi's. Naruto should have killed your brother when they fought. He must've only been using a fraction of a tail."
"He's certainly using more today," she quipped. "If only Gaara were here, maybe he could hold him long enough for us to get a good shot in."
"That would be ideal," Han said, but his mind was elsewhere. "Temari, if I get a hand on him, can you hit him?"
"If he's still, I can hit anything in a mile," she boasted, "but that would involve me slicing you to ribbons, too."
"Not if I throw him in the air!" Han said before he abruptly bailed from Temari's fan.
"Han, wait, wait for Gaara!" She called, but it was much too late. The titan spiraled down headfirst, right into Naruto's cloaked maw.
Han's fist would've shattered every bone in the young Jinchuuriki's body, but a wayward chakra tail diverted his fist from Naruto's face. It cratered the sand beneath and suspended them both for a moment.
Just long enough for Han to bite down and reach through the searingly hot chakra cloak and grab raw skin. Han closed his eyes and a shrill scream pierced his ears, but he held on and heard his furnace hiss. The millisecond Han's foot touched the condensed ground, he used his massive body to spin Naruto around like a discus and throw him vertically, high, high, high in the air. In a last-ditch effort to re-anchor itself, the Kyuubi-cloaked Naruto lashed a claw out, but Han's momentum was pushing him away from the claw. It still ripped through his chest plate and through a thin layer of his midsection, but it was better than bisecting him at the waist.
The mass of red chakra rocketed through the air with the chakra claw arm in tow. As more sprouted and shot to the earth to ensure a safe descent, Temari appeared above. Her figure seemed to blot out the sun. All Han could see from his vantage was the opening of the giant fan and, incredibly enough, the chakra wisping off it.
"Eat this! Wind God Hammer!" The fan snapped shut and the flat of the massive war fan became coated in chakra. Temari reared it overhead and brought it down swiftly, decimating what would have been Naruto's shoulder. Naruto's body wrapped around the fan and then crumpled to the sand below, freefalling. The chakra cloak became detached for a moment, and those gathered saw Naruto's disgusting, raw flesh fighting to repair itself.
Han was suddenly grabbed by a wave of sand and thrown, rather callously, away from the boy's landing zone. While confused at first, he noticed Gaara ambling over the amber hills.
Gaara had seen something he hadn't. Turning back to Naruto's recloaked body, he noticed that, as it landed on all fours, its weight began to press into the part of the sand that was already compacted by earlier blasts. The white and black particles started to pool at the cloak's maw.
"Gaara! Bury him!" Han cried desperately. He couldn't be allowed to eat that chakra! He took steps to appear at Gaara's side, but he stumbled. Temari landed next to him and slipped herself under his arm. What was happening? He peered down to look at Temari, but blood coated her chest and left leg. He suddenly felt very lightheaded, like he hadn't eaten in days. Shit. Blood loss.
The Ichibi Jinchūriki raised both his arms and swung them down, forcing Naruto deep into the sand, burying him as deep as he could. He was sweating profusely from the strain of containing such power. Yet, for a moment, the surface of the sand was calm. Gaara saw Han trying to stand, but he fell back into Temari's waiting arms. She laid him down, using her battle fan as a roof to shield his body from the sun. The slashes had been deeper than Han expected. And he heard Kokuo rumble deep within him. Having trouble healing him. The Kyuubi's chakra was true nastiness.
Gaara watched as Temari went through a few vital organ checks, finally looking up at him and Kankuro. "Kankuro! Get Chiyo-Sama! He's severely dehydrated!" Kankuro said nothing; He summoned one of his arachnid puppets and leapt atop it, riding it back towards Suna.
"Temari," Gaara strained, "will he live?"
"I think so! He just needs fluids and a real medic to patch up this wo-"
A massive roar cut the conversation short as a beam of chakra cut straight through the earth and into the sky, Naruto following it out shortly after.
'Incredible,' Gaara thought, true fear creeping up the back of his neck. 'I couldn't grip him because he crystallized my sand with the hot chakra around his body and then made a pipeline for himself to escape by detonating a Bijūdama. Truly, this is the power of the Kyuubi no Kitsune.'
Gaara and the cloaked Naruto locked eyes. His five red tails swayed dangerously above his body, daring Gaara to stop him. Skeletal armor started to form around Naruto's transformation. He blurred towards Gaara, extending a chakra claw forward while advancing. Gaara's automatic defense put up a low wall. As the claw grazed over it, Gaara shot his left arm in the air, the low wall becoming a tall pillar as it mirrored his actions and redirected the chakra claw into the sky. It dissipated, but the real Naruto barreled through the pillar, slinging sand everywhere, his momentum halted. Merely a few feet away, Gaara tensed his left hand.
"Sabaku Kyū!" Sand shot up and formed around the Kyūbi Jinchūriki, binding him yet again. This time, Gaara didn't give him the opportunity to heat it. He picked the Jinchūriki high up in the air and, with much remorse, Gaara closed his fist and shut his eyes.
"Sabaku Sōsō!" A pained roar escaped Naruto's maw as the sand crushed his limbs mercilessly. Gaara then slung his hand down, pounding Naruto into the desert repeatedly. He peeked early enough to see a chakra claw burst forth from the Sand Coffin and manage to break through his last-second Ultimate Defense. Time slowed as Gaara noticed the hatred in the cloak's eyes, the rage that infected even the chakra. He couldn't help but stare at the points on the fingers of the chakra claw, like little red spikes that would soon dye the sands with the same color.
'So, this is my fate, to die at the hands of a friend. I hope you remember me, Naruto.'
Gaara's inner monologue was halted as Temari entered the fray, batting down the chakra claw with her battle fan at the last possible moment. She swung her fan and immediately opened it to three moons, slinging the already-in-the-air Naruto away from the Sand siblings. Temari gave Gaara a nod, which he reciprocated.
Naruto was still airborne, but multiple chakra claws shot out of him and stuck in the ground like stakes, halting his flight and redirecting him back to his targets. Gaara sent sand in the air for Temari, preparing their combination jutsu. She readied her fan, cocking it back.
"Here he comes! Ready! Fūton: Sabaku Spear!" She swung her fan hard, letting its full power show. Wind chakra from her fan coalesced into a funnel, picking up the sand with it and pressurizing it as it shot towards the incoming Naruto.
With no way to dodge, it was a direct hit. Again.
The sound of the impact was deafening. The tip of the jutsu struck Naruto and didn't complete until he went through the entire thing. As Naruto came out the other side of the spear, he plummeted to Earth limply. His cloak was still active as he smacked into the dunes, cratering slightly.
Gaara was immediately on him, forming a dome of sand around the beast and hardening it as much as he could. After a few moments of strengthening his creation, he stopped and looked North. Kankuro approached quickly, reinforcements behind him speeding through the dunes. Temari was already headed their way, waving for medical attention to be administered.
Gaara heard cracking and spun back around. Spiderweb-like fractures appeared on his sand dome. He crossed his arms, the sand around him swirling, readying for the next phase of the fight. The dome collapsed on itself, sending up a cloud of dust, obscuring its contents.
As it settled and Temari pleaded with people to stand back, Gaara couldn't see any red, nor could he feel the malevolent chakra that was all too close to killing him moments earlier. Had he done it? Had he defeated the beast and made him withdraw? Spying a hand poking out the desert floor, Gaara breathed a sigh of relief.
'There you are, friend.' He approached the destroyed dome, slowly moving the sand off Naruto's unconscious body. His clothing had been shredded from wind jutsu and his body was covered with chakra burns, but there were no serious injuries on his person. Amazing, Gaara thought, how durable his beast made him. Shukaku had helped in his control over sand, but minutely. Naruto's healing factor was a pure cheat code, able to heal virtually any non-life-threatening wound near instantly.
Han was not so fortunate, on the other hand. Since the chakra claw that ripped into him was made of Bijū chakra, he wasn't able to heal like most other Jinchūriki could. His muscular frame had protected his vital organs, though. Chiyo had already hooked an IV bag into him and started stitching his chest wound before they even thought about lifting him back to Suna. She turned to Gaara as she threaded the needle, stitching so commonplace for her she need not look at where the needle poked.
"Oi, Gaara! Make platforms for these two to lay on so we can take them back to the village. The more stable they are, the better. The fat one here," she said as she finished Han's stitching, "is going to need to be watched for a few days, to make sure his wounds aren't infected. The little one," and this time she pointed at Naruto, "should be held under containment until further notice."
"That will not be necessary, Chiyo-sama. Naruto is a friend."
"A friend that almost killed the Kazekage. Have sense boy, he's unstable."
Gaara pivoted from the old lady, his sand still swirling around him. "The same was said about me not long ago. Now, you want me to lead you," he said. He paused for a moment before giving his verdict. "Naruto stays in my home with my family, as does Han-sama when he has recovered. They are guests of Suna, not captives."
His sand picked them all up and they rode it towards Sunagakure, a mere speck on the horizon. Aside from the desert winds, all was silent.
A/N: Law School is a terrible endeavor.