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Chapter 11: "Tag Team"

(Year: X779)

All that could be heard in the small restaurant was the sound of clattering plates and extremely loud chewing. The odd thing was, only two people were eating. Everyone was slack jawed and looking ill at the sight before them. It was actually only one of the other customers that was disturbing them. The other was fine and eating politely. The woman of the duo, though, was like a hurricane of food.

Xion was a rather tall, buff woman wearing a beat up, brown trench coat over her baggy, pale shirt and blue pants. Her midnight dark hair was cut to shoulder length while her chocolate brown eyes danced in amusement. She continuously shoved food into her mouth so quickly that it was a shock that she hadn't choked yet.

The shorter Yagura ignored the looks and continued eating in a dignified manner. He ate slowly and only took small, well-cut bites. The former Mizukage looked completely proper and prim during his meal.

"For the love of Kami, woman," Yagura sighed as he placed his fork down, "Must you always embarrass me in public?"

"Myep!" Xion stated with a mouth full of food. This caused food to splatter out and land on Yagura's face. He calmly used a napkin to wipe the food away.

"I see. You take great pleasure in shaming me," Yagura shook his head, "Why do I travel with you?"

Xion gulped down all the food in her mouth and grinned, "Cause you'd miss my sexy ass if I was gone."

"Your crudeness is unappreciated," Yagura frowned.

"And I noticed that you didn't deny it," Xion used her palm to wipe away the food on her mouth. She then licked her palm to get the rest of the food.

"This is true," Yagura rubbed his temples, "But your words are still far too crude for a lady."

"Lady?! Gahahahahahaha!" Xion collapsed to the floor in her laughter, "Lady! That's a good one!"

Yagura turned to the other people in the restaurant and bowed his head, "You have my deepest apologies. She was dropped on her head as a baby."

"Hey!" Xion sat up in outrage, "How did you know about that! I never told you that!"

Yagura's response was to face palm, "That was a joke."

"Really? Cause it wasn't nearly good as the lady thing. Psh! Lady! Gahahahahaha!" Xion slammed her fist into the ground caused the restaurant to shake.

"Stop that!" Yagura snapped, "What was the point of all your training if you still refuse to control your abilities."

"Fine, fine," Xion lifted herself back into her chair, "And for the record, I was in control. The building didn't collapse after all."

"Yes," Yagura rolled his eyes, "That is complete control right there."

"Exactly!" Xion laughed and leaned back in her chair. She patted her stomach contently, "Man, I'm full. What a great meal."

"It was very tasty," Yagura nodded as he stacked their plates, "I'm surprised we were allowed to enjoy it."

"Yep, those guys have been on the outskirts of the city for a while now," Xion picked at her teeth with her fingernail, "They got the same feel as you. Does that make them Numbers?"

"I believe so," Yagura closed his eyes and concentrated, "I can't tell which ones they are, though. Considering that they politely waited, though, they can't be total brutes. So, I'm going to rule out Numbers 8 and 5 at least. I've heard that those guys have no patience."

"Whelp…" Xion stood, "We could just sit here all day guessing, but if we want answers, we should go meet 'em."

"Agreed,"

"Alright. Ready. Set…Dine and dash!" Xion rushed from the table and out the door, "Gahahahahahahaha! Catch me if you can, coppers!"

Shaking his head, Yagura gracefully stood and walked over to the counter. He then pulled out his wallet and pulled out the jewels that they owed for the meal, "I apologize for her. She's a little eccentric."

The man at the counter shrugged, "Don't worry. We get mages traveling through her all the time. Your mom isn't the weirdest person I've ever seen in here."

Yagura's eyebrows twitched.

"Eh? Something wrong kid?"

"I'm a man dammit!" Yagura yelled, "Why does everyone think I'm a kid! I could kill all of you if I wanted to! And I could do it with ease! Respect my strength and authority!"

Once again, everyone in the restaurant was put into a silent shock.

"Come on, Yagura!" Xion called from outside the restaurant, "They'll catch us if you dilly dally!"

"I'm coming," Yagura began to walk out of the restaurant. Before he left, he stopped, turned, and gave one last glare to the people in the restaurant, "And for the record, Xion's not my Kaa-san. She's my lover, and we have a bunch of sex. And she has a body of a goddess under those baggy clothes. Thus, I'm more of man than all of you in combined. So HA!"

With that, Yagura walked off and left the restaurant to its awkward silence. In that moment, everyone understood exactly why those two were together.


"I don't like waiting like this," Gaara mentioned as he sat on a tree branch several meters off the ground, "I feel exposed and vulnerable. We literally know nothing about these two or what their abilities are. It would be smarter to conceal our presence and observe them before confronting them."

"A little late for that now, don't you thing?" Naruto mentioned as he leaned against the same tree that Gaara sat on.

"Yes, but I told you from the start that this was stupid. It was your idea to spike our energy to get their attention," Gaara looked down at the blonde.

"Look, I know our stealth is extremely advanced, but this is a former Mizukage we're talking about," Naruto shrugged, "I didn't like our chances on spying on the guy. Besides, we're not here to start a fight. I just want to find out what kind of person he is."

"Naruto, this is the guy that went on a purge of anyone with a kekkei genkai," Gaara frowned, "He is definitely not a normal person's standard of a 'good person'."

"We're not normal people," Naruto argued.

Gaara paused, "Alright, point taken. I'm an ex-psychotic mass murderer, and you're an ex-assassin trained to care nothing for human life and morality."

"Exactly, and even now, we haven't completely dropped those old habits," Naruto reasoned, "All I want to know is if he's a danger. Kaa-san made it clear that I need to take care of my responsibilities. The jinchūriki are here because of me. Thus, it falls on my shoulders to make sure that none of them are planning to destroy this world."

"Now that is informative," Yagura's voice sounded out as he and Xion stepped out of the shadows, "A little too informative if you ask me. You knew I was here when you said that."

"Told you that wouldn't work," Gaara snorted.

"Oh well, the plan was never supposed to be subtlety," Naruto pushed off the tree and pushed up his headband to reveal his demonic eyes, "The plan was to have a peaceful meeting away from the city."

"Wow, you went really out of your way to make sure no one was hurt…" Xion tilted her head to the side, "Why? You look like the type of person that doesn't really give a damn."

"You're very perceptive," Naruto admitted, "I just think that it would be dumb to have meeting that could turn into a fight while in a major city. Especially when we just got out of trouble with the Magic Council."

"Hmm, you're giving us a lot of information," Yagura noted, "Why?"

"It's pretty simple," Gaara spoke up, "We really don't want a fight with you. We just want to talk."

Yagura raised an eyebrow, "With the big bad dangerous Mizukage? Isn't that a bit dangerous? Like you said earlier, I have a bad reputation. How do you know that I won't just kill you and walk away?"

"Because you're a jinchūriki," Naruto answered, "We jinchūriki have very complex pasts which are often caused by the 'normal' humans. Both Gaara and I have suffered at the hands of the people that curse your name. How can we trust that? Your reputation may be right, but I wanted to meet you in person to decide for myself."

Yagura stared at the blond for a moment and then began to chuckle, "I see. I like you already, Naruto and Gaara. Let me properly introduce myself. I am the third Mizukage and host of Sanbi, Yagura. I was born and raised to be a weapon and diplomat, so I have not surname."

"I am Naruto Uzumaki, host of the Kyūbi."

"Sababku no Gaara. I contain the Ichibi."

"And I'm Xion Ironside!" Xion puffed her chest out proudly even though she really had nothing to do with the current conversation.

"With the introduction out of the way, we can now start with the meeting that you requested," Yagura stated formally, "Where shall we begin?"

"Well, first off, could you release the genjustu that makes you look like a little brat?" Gaara requested, "It's kind of distracting."

"What?!" Yagura snapped, "You brat! I'm fully grown man who could kick you candy ass! Hell, I was kicking ass before you were conceived!"

Xion sighed, "And here we go again…"


It took a bit of time to calm Yagura down after that. He went on a rant about his manliness, how he took down hundreds of shinobi on his own, and how they could never compare to him. It was during this time that Naruto and Gaara began to reconsider everything that they knew about the former Mizukage. How could this guy possibly be the leader that instigated a mass purge of kekkei genkai users and was the cause of a massive civil war?

Xion finally managed to stop Yagura's rant and calm him down with a massive, long, and heated kiss. At first Naruto and Gaara were shocked. That disappeared after the first couple of minutes. Five minutes into the make out session, though, the two demon containers began to feel wildly uncomfortable about having to stand there and wait for them to stop, because while they felt awkward, they couldn't leave and got a feeling that trying to stop them would be a bad idea.

Finally, after everyone calmed down, they all sat down around an area of fallen trees and began to talk. Naruto started it off. He immediately explained what happened when the jinchūriki were first transferred to Earthland. Then, he clarified exactly why he was looking for them, just because he wasn't sure Yagura would remember anything after those ten minutes with Xion.

"A goddess brought us here, eh?" Yagura stroked his chin.

"I know it sounds a bit out there," Naruto admitted.

"No, no, I believe you," Yagura waved him off, "I've been traveling with a God Slayer for years now after all. But to think that one would contact you, offer you power and freedom, and send all of us to this planet…I have to admit, I never would have thought of that. But it does explain everything that happened."

"You're taking this better than expected," Gaara noted with crossed arms.

"Well, I have my own far-fetched story to tell," Yagura frowned down at the log he was sitting on, "Would you believe that I was being controlled for years in my role as Mizukage?"

"Being controlled?" Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, I did not have control over my body for a very long time," Yagura clenched his fists, "I was being manipulated by a man in a mask."

Naruto and Gaara shared a look.

"I don't remember a lot, but I do remember his one red—"

"Sharingan eye," Naruto finished, "His hair was black, short, and spikey. The mask on his face had some sort of swirl pattern and revealed only his right eye."

Both Yagura and Xion had wide eyes, "You've seen him?"

"Yes," Naruto nodded, "My Biju, Kurama, showed me about the circumstances of when I became a jinchūriki. It was that man that's responsible for releasing Kurama, attacking Konoha, killing my birth parents, and sealing my fate as a weapon. He also had a hand in the Uchiha Massacre. I know because I watched it happen."

"I see…so you believe me when I say that I was not responsible for what happened during my time as Mizukage?" Yagura questioned.

"Yeah," Gaara frowned, "You're too much of an oddball to be the heartless bastard that we heard about."

"That's a very crude, yet accurate, way to describe it," Xion chuckled.

"Well…thank you," Yagura bowed his head, "I appreciate that at least a few people know the truth. And, I would also like to thank you for freeing me of that man's control."

"Even though I was responsible for tearing you away from your home without your consent?" Naruto questioned.

"Please, even if I was elevated to Mizukage, I was still a jinchūriki," Yagura closed his eyes and gained a pain filled look, "I still remember the looks of hatred and mistrust. The mocking words. The denial that I was even human…Even now I have nightmares. So, I'm grateful to you, Naruto Uzumaki. You freed me from the masked man's control and gave me a chance to find happiness in a new world."

Yagura reached out and gently took Xion's hand. She gave the hand a gentle squeeze and smiled at the man.

With a grunt, Gaara stood, "Then we have our answer, Naruto. This guy's not a threat. We don't have to worry about him. Now, we only have two more jinchūriki to worry about."

"Indeed," Naruto nodded, "Now, we only have to find Numbers 5 and 6. Yagura, Xion, do you have any idea where they might be?"

"Dude, we've out of the country for years so I get a hold on my magic. I tend to get pretty destructive when I want to be. So, we really have no idea about what's been happening here, lately," Xion explained.

"Well, that's a bummer," Gaara sighed, "Oh well, we'll find them eventually."

"Right…" Naruto paused. His red eyes danced between Xion and Yagura.

"Is something wrong?" Yagura questioned.

"No…But I have a request," Naruto bowed his head, "I would like a spar."

"Huh? A spar? I thought you didn't want a fight?" Xion frowned.

"I didn't want a fight to the death," Naruto corrected, "I would, however, like to test my power. Both of our powers really. We haven't had a real challenge since we first teamed up. Thus, we don't know our limits. How can we continue to grow stronger if we don't know our limits and push past them?"

"That is a good argument," Yagura nodded, "But…Xion has a problem of accidentally crushing her opponents."

"Yeah…Accidentally…" Xion's eyes darted side-to-side.

"That's fine. I would want it to be a little realistic," Naruto stated, "Come at is with all you've got. That way, we can see just how powerful the combination of God Slayer and jinchūriki can be."

Yagura and Xion shared a look. They then turned to young jinchūriki, "Very well. This could be a good test for both of us."


"You're just full of good ideas today, aren't you, Naruto?" Gaara grumbled to his friend.

"My ideas are always great, Gaara," Naruto as he swung his arms arm to loosen up his muscles.

"Oh really?" Gaara raised an eyebrow, "Three words: ramen swimming pool."

"I still stand by that," Naruto mentioned as he popped his neck, "If you get past the third degree burns, it was the most delicious five minutes of my life."

"Okay, what about that time you tried to make magical clones?" Gaara questioned.

"It worked didn't it?"

"Yes, but it divided your personality," Gaara felt a shudder run down his spine, "It was like the seven dwarves if they were on crack. And what about my 'seduction' training."

"Every shinobi needs to fight against seduction."

"Naruto…you hired three hookers."

"You'll never blush again, though."

"Three. Hookers."

Naruto waved off Gaara's concerns, "Whatever you say. Despite what you think of my plans, though, you know that we need to test our abilities. And this is the best way to do it."

"Fine," Gaara grunted, "Let's get this over with."

"Hey!" Xion called across the clearing they were in, "Are you two ready yet!?"

"Yeah," Naruto nodded as he took a defensive stance. Gaara remained in a relaxed position with his arms crossed.

"And what are the rules of this spar?" Yagura questioned.

"Only rule is no killing," Naruto stated, "Besides that, anything goes."

"OH YEAH!" Xion fist pumped, "I'm loving this! Let's do it to it!" She thrusted in arm out and shouted, "Earth God's Destruction!"

The ground all around the area turned black and began to rumble. Then, everything shattered like glass when met with a rock. Pieces of earth and rumble flew up in tiny chunks with the force of canon fire or bullets. All the trees and shrubbery around the area was instantly torn to the pieces, and all that was left was dust. People that witnessed the attack from afar would swear that it was a reverse rainstorm as they watched the earth flew high into the air and then fell as gravity took its hold once more.

"Holy shit…" Gaara huffed out as he let the spherical shield that he formed around the two jinchūriki. He left the sand above them to stop the falling rubble, "What the hell is she?"

"A true god slayer," Naruto narrowed his eyes, "Hey! I said no killing! That was definitely supposed to kill us!"

"You idiot," Yagura jumped up and slapped Xion upside the head, "Now there will be questions. Just look around this place. You leveled almost an entire forest."

"Like I care," Xion cracked her knuckles, "You know how I get when I'm excited. Nothing gets in my way. Besides, now the field is to our advantage."

"True…" Yagura sighed and shook his head, "But you could have given them even a little bit of a chance to fight get at least a single blow on us."

Gaara frowned, "A single blow, huh? Do you think us so beneath you?"

"I apologize, but yes," Yagura nodded in respectful manner.

Gaara's face twitched in the slightest bit of anger. He uncrossed his arms and slid into the defensive stance, "Naruto, suddenly my attitude about this plan of yours has changed. Let's kick their asses."

Naruto let loose a feral grin, "Now that's what I wanted to hear. Let's do this. Arm X Vernier!"

Black wind blasted off Naruto in waves. The sky magic empowered his body and drastically increased his power and speed. Now prepared for the fight to come, Naruto crouched down then rushed forward. The ground beneath him shattered from the sudden movement. Wind blew around the entire area. Normal people would have been blinded from the dust kicked up, but no one blinked as Naruto rushed towards to the two older mages with incredible speeds.

"Sky God's Strike!" Naruto thrusted a fist encased in black wind towards Xion.

Xion just smiled and sent forward an attack of her own. Blackened earth encased her fist as she punched towards the blonde, "Earth God's Strike!"

The two god slayer attacks met with shockwave and tremble. After millennia of separation, the Sky and the Earth met in a vicious push forward. Wind fought against rock with as much force as possible. Unfortunately, the force behind the ground attack was greater.

"Gah!" Naruto was shocked as his attack was canceled out and he was pushed back a little. He didn't understand how that was possible. How could one of her attacks overcome his when he was using supportive magic too?

Naruto was quickly pushed out of his thoughts as Xion rushed forward to attack him. Instincts demanded that he run, and Naruto knew to always just those instincts in battle. Thus, he used all the strength he had and jumped high into the air. Then, with no spell to back it up, Xion sent a fist down to where blonde once was.

What happened next could only be described as the ground fleeing from Xion in terror. Rocks and rubble disappeared beneath Xion's natural raw power. It seemed that even without her magic, Xion had authority over the earth. Naruto felt very impressed by such a feat as he flew through the air.

Just as Xion was turning her attention to the blonde in the sky, sand burst through the cracks on the rubble around her. Gaara had taken advantage of the terrain to attack the woman discretely. He formed the separated sands into fists and went to attack the Earth God Slayer.

Before the sand made contact, though, they were stopped. Water burst up from the cracks Gaara didn't use and rammed into the sand fists. With the sand weakened and burdened by the water, the red head could do nothing as the sand fell to the ground. It would takes some time for that sand to be useful again.

Unfortunately, that was time that Gaara did not have. Yagura followed up with his previous attack. He jumped in front of Xion and prepared to attack the younger jinchūriki. With a flurry of blurred hand signs, Yagura created a water attack to combat his foe, "Suiton: Water Shears!"

Curved waves of water blasted out from Yagura's mouth. The blades of water reached high into the sky and carved deep into the earth. Each one flew towards Gaara with dizzying speeds. Knowing that his sand wouldn't be able to defend the attack efficiently, Gaara decided to dodge. He could have used his magic to defend, but he wanted to keep that a secret until later in the fight.

So, he created a platform of sand under his feet and used that dodge the attacks. He bobbed and weaved through the curved waves. As he did this, he moved forward to the now falling Naruto. Catching Naruto on the platform of sand, Gaara continued to move in order to avoid the blades of water. This was made only harder, though, when Xion joined Yagura in attacking the duo. Columns of earth burst from below and tried to crash into the two jinchūriki.

Gaara did his best to dodge the various attacks being sent at him, but he could barely keep up with the dozens of attacks being sent at him all at once. Seeing this, Naruto decided to help. The blonde did a handstand and gathered sky magic to his feet. Knowing what his friend was planning, Gaara used the sand under Naruto's hands to raise him up. The container of Kurama then began to spin. The air twisted around them. Soon, spinning strands of black wind formed around the entire platform. Now protected by the wind, Gaara steered the platform towards their opponents. Like before, the attacks of water and earth flew towards them. This time, though, they merely bounced off the shield of wind around the platform.

After crashing through several waves and pillars of water, the duo of jinchūriki were both right in front of their two sparing partners. Deciding to change opponents, Naruto jumped towards Yagura, and Gaara flew towards Xion. Blasts of sand and wind flew towards the older duo, but they never made contact.

Three tails with spiked ends sprung from Yagura's back and blocked the black wind attack. Then, the tails smacked Naruto away. With his opponent skipping like a rock, Yagura rushed after him with a surprising show of speed. He then jumped and kneed the blonde away even further.

While this was happening, Gaara was shocked when his stand stopped right before it hit Xion. The tall woman grinned wildly at his surprised look. She waved an arm around nonchalantly. The sand moved to avoid touching her, "Sorry, kiddo! I've already memorized your sand! No way it can touch me now! But…my attacks can touch you! Earth God's Titan Fist!"

A large fist of darkened Earth leapt out of the ground towards Gaara. With his close proximity to Xion, Gaara couldn't control his sand well enough for block the attack. Thus, he was forced to take the full blow of the attack without his sand to defend himself. The rock smashed into him with a solid crack and Gaara went flying back.

"Gahaha! I got…you…" Xion raised an eyebrow, "Well that's different."

Gaara had managed to flip over and land on his feet. He was strangely unharmed. His skin, however, was now covered in black spots where he would have taken damage from the titan fist attack. The black spots then faded to reveal his untouched skin, "You forget, I can use magic as well as chakra. My sand is my chakra technique, while my Armor is my magic technique."

"Huh…You really live up to the nickname 'Unbreakable Shield'," Xion noted, "Even without your sand, your hard to hurt. But I know from Yagura that using magic and chakra at the same time is almost impossible. They tend to cancel each other out. While you're using that, you can't use your sand."

"Not like it would be useful against you," Gaara shrugged as he once more shifted into a fighting stance.

"True, but I can see plain as day that this isn't your preferred fighting style," Xion chuckled, "That other kid is a lot better at close fighting, and I already proved that I'm more powerful than him. What chance do you have?"

"Not much," Gaara admitted, "But I'll never know for sure if I don't try." With that, the red head rushed forward towards Xion once more.

Hundreds of meters away, Naruto was still fighting against Yagura. The older, yet young oddly younger looking, jinchūriki was using his three tails and water abilities to push Naruto back to the point that Naruto couldn't even counter attack. He could only use his Sky God Slayer magic to block each attack. That wasn't good for the blonde. His magic was more offensive and supportive based. Defending wasn't his strong point.

Deciding to resort to plan B, Naruto switched to chakra as his main energy focus. Forcing chakra to his feet, he jumped back several times to gain some distance from his enemy. He then formed an old hand symbol and created dozens of Kage Bunshins to distract. The various Naruto clones used their strong hand-to-hand abilities and enhanced abilities to fight against the older jinchūriki. Many of them even almost managed to land a blow. The only problem was that armor and spiked appeared from Yagura's skin and stopped the attacks.

Seeing that he was surrounded, Yagura began to spin. Water surrounded him and blast out like a water spout. The force of the attacks hit all the clones and dispelled them in puffs of smoke. The attack now over, Yagura stopped spinning and turned towards Naruto, "That was a pretty good switch up, kid. If I was any slower, that would have got me. Too bad for you, I know that trick. Switching energy sources in the middle of battle is easy, but there's a big problem with it. Chakra and magic tend to cancel each other out when used by the same person. Switching between them causes a lot of strain. Trying to do it more than two times will make it so you can't use any of them. Even then, you got a time limit after the second switch. You got a strong body, I could tell by fighting you, but even you wouldn't be able to keep going for long once you change back."

"Then I won't change back until I have to," Naruto argued.

"That's the thing. I'm going to make sure you have to," With a burst of water behind him, Yagura rushed at Naruto with speeds that he could barely keep up with while not having enhancement magic active. In a blur of motion, the three tails behind Yagura swiped wildly at the blonde. Each attack was barely blocked. Naruto managed to keep up until he slipped up. It was only a small misstep, but that was all it took. With a satisfying crack on Yagura's part, Naruto was sent flying back.

The blonde was stopped halfway when he was met with another body flying through the air. Naruto and Gaara's backs hit and caused pain to rush through both of them. They then fell into a heap on the ground.

"Well, this isn't going well," Gaara groaned as he forced himself up.

Naruto popped his back and stood as well, "Nope. We are really outclassed. Isn't it great?"

"You know, sometimes I hate—Look out!" Both Naruto and Gaara stood back to back. Naruto was facing Xion while Gaara was facing Yagura. They both had determine looks as waves of earth and water were flooding towards respectively.

"Sky God's Bellow!"

"Sand Wave!"

The blasts of dark wind and golden sand burst out and stopped the attacks before they could hit the jinchūriki duo. After a few moments of contact, the attacks stopped and blasted upward causing it to once again rain down. This time, though, it was both water and earth that fell down. Through the water and debris, both Xion and Yagura rushed forward once more to attack the other duo. They were surprised to fight that they were both now gone.

Xion looked to Yagura, "Where did they go?"

Yagura scanned the area, "There."

Both Naruto and Gaara had retreated. They were now standing side by side. Both of them knew that they didn't have a lot of time left. They just switched their energies back to their main fighting style. Before long, they would both be too weak to fight against the other god slayer and jinchūriki. As such, they would have to resort to their final plan. While they never tried it out in real combat, it was their only option.

With a nod to each other, they both took a deep stance. Gaara gathered sand around them. Naruto brought both his hands to his side and gathered magical energy to them.

Yagura and Xion felt the shift in energy. While they both knew that chakra and magic was incredibly difficult to mix in one person, they did think that it was possible to combine it in different ways. Because of their conflicting element types, they had never accomplished it themselves, but it looked like Naruto and Gaara figured it out. They combined their powers into one massive attack.

Unison Raid with magic and chakra.

Naruto thrusted his hand forward. Black wind blasted out in a straight spiral. As he did that, Gaara gathered the sand around the spear of wind. The vortex collected the sand and expanded into a giant vortex of wind and sand.

Both jinchūriki shouted out, "Sky God's Shukaku Spear!"

The incredibly powerful spear rocketed to Xion and Yagura before they could react. They were smacked by the attack dead on like it was a giant sand storm. The strength and control of the attack was too great for even Xion's control over the earth to cancel out. All they could do was form armor around themselves as they were flung around the sky sand spear. After a full minute, the attack died down. Both Yagura and Xion landed on the ground with a solid thud. Their armor was cracked and instantly fell apart once they released their hold on it. Once the armor was fully gone, the duo was shown to have a few cuts and bruises across their body.

"Wow! That was good, kiddos!" Xion cheered as the dust began to fade, "Hey, Yagura, we should try that next."

Yagura shook his head, "Not right now."

"Oh…That makes me sad. Why?"

"Because I think they're done."

Xion looked back over to the younger duo. Naruto and Gaara had both fallen to one knee. They were cut and bruised all over. The two jinchūriki were breathing heavily in exhaustion as the toll of fight and switching energy sources too many times finally took its hold. Nevertheless, both of the teenagers held a grin on his face. They got their one hit in.

"Ah..." Xion sighed, "Well, it was fun while it lasted."


"You two are pretty good. You got a lot of potential," Xion mentioned as she plopped onto a piece of ground across the two teenagers, "That last one actually got us! You should be proud."

"It's hard to be when I feel so damn tired. Right, Gaara?" Naruto looked to his friend.

"Zzz…" Gaara was lying on the ground unconscious.

"Wake up, you dumbass." Naruto flicked Gaara on the forehead.

"Uh…Leave me alone. Tired." Gaara swatted Naruto's hand away.

Naruto shook his head, "You're always tired."

"I believe he has a right to be," Yagura stated as he sat on a larger boulder in the rubble filled clearing, "That was a difficult battle. I believe that it was rather beneficial to both of us. I thank you for that."

"I should be thanking you," Naruto stated, "We learned that we still have a long way to go."

"But you two still kick ass," Xion grinned wildly, "We should do this again in a few years! Then, we can go all out!"

"We might destroy several towns in the process if we do that," Yagura noted.

"You don't have to sell the idea anymore, Yagura," Xion giggled, "I'm already all for it."

"No more fights…Not today…" Gaara mumbled from his spot on the ground.

"Later, not today," Naruto corrected, "And we may take you up on that offer. But we'll need to keep working until then."

"Of course," Yagura eyed Naruto, "Until then, though, will you keep hunting jinchūriki?"

"Yeah," Naruto nodded, "Along with that, we'll also keep fighting dark guilds. Hopefully, we'll get a challenge soon."

"I see…" Yagura and Xion shared a look. After getting a nod from Xion, Yagura spoke again, "Then perhaps I would make a suggestion for you. You see, while we know very little about what happened when we left the country, we know someone that always has an ear to the ground."

"She's the newest priestess for the Church of the Rabbit Queen," Xion explained.

Gaara suddenly sat up, "That place where Number 4 is?"

"Oh right! That old monkey guy!" Xion bonked herself on the head, "I forgot about him."

"I did as well…" Yagura sighed, "I guess I was overwhelmed by everything I learned today…"

Naruto placed a hand under his chin in thought, "I really never cared about Number 4. He always seemed so passive."

"He is…but if you're looking for Number 5, then the church is definitely the place to ask," Yagura stated, "Both Number 4 and Number 5 were from the same village after all."

"Plus, if you want to find out more about that Number 6 guy or dark guilds, then Marissa is your gal," Xion stated, "And I'm sure that she would just LOVE to meet another god slayer."

Naruto paused for a brief moment in thought, "Well…It's not like we have any other leads after this. It might be worth a shot."

"Not now, though…Sleep first…" Gaara mumbled in his groggy state.

"Alright. We can camp out here," Naruto noted.

"Arg…Can't we just rent a room in town?" Gaara questioned.

Naruto shook his head, "We don't have enough money for that."

"Well, we need to keep moving after this, so we can't go back to town, but…" Yagura reached into his pocket and pulled out a roll of jewels, "Considering the help you've given us with Unison Raid, I think it would only be fitting to rent a room for you."

"We can't accept tha—"

Gaara smacked Naruto over the head and stuck a hand out, "Shut up. We accept your generous offer. Give me the money."

"Gahahahaha!" Xion laughed as Yagura handed Gaara the money, "There's a guy that knows what he wants! I love it!"

Naruto sighed, stood, and stuck out a hand to Xion, "Alright. Thank you…for everything today. You were very helpful."

"You too!" Xion shook Naruto's hand, "Stay safe alright?"

"You too," Naruto lowered his headband and turned. He began to walk away, "Come on, Gaara. Let's head into town—"

Naruto tripped over one of the larger rocks and fell on his face. Everyone stared at the surprising show of clumsiness. Xion and Yagura were even more surprised when Naruto stood back up, bowed, and then stated, "My apologies. Next time, you shouldn't put that rock in my way."

"We did no such thing!" Yagura cried in outrage.

Xion paused as she looked at all the jinchūriki in the area. Yagura was lecturing Naruto, while Gaara hand once more fallen asleep, "Gets angry when people call him short, randomly falls asleep, and covers his eyes knowing he'll trip over stuff. I wonder if having a weird quirk is part of being a jinchūriki…"


"So…That's it huh? We just sent them to Maressa like that?" Yagura questioned as he and Xion managed to get out of earshot from the Sword and the Shield, "I guess that means you made your decision."

"I have," Xion nodded, "I need to go through with the plan. It's in my blood…in my soul. If I don't go through with this, then I'll never be able to do what I always dreamed of."

"I see…Well, I guess we're in this for the long run, huh?" Yagura let out a smile.

"You'll still stick with me?" Xion looked down to the shorter man, "I mean, this is a dangerous plan. We'll going to have to take down a lot of powerful people. I mean…some of them put the people we met over in the Albareth Empire to shame, and that's saying a LOT."

"Idiot, I love you," Yagura took her hand in his, "And I've long since decided to forever stay by your side."

Xion gained a content look on her face, "Thank you…Thank you so much."

"Save your thanks once everything is over. I'll need something to look forward to," Yagura gained a solemn look, "Because if we're going to take down the false gods of all worlds, we're going to need all the motivation we have just to stay alive."


Usually, I like to update this story at least once a month, but with double shifts...working on my other story "Conviction"...trying to play Batman: Arkham Knight (great game, but not as good as Arkham City)...and finding time to sleep, this chapter had been in limbo for about a month. My apologies for the wait.

Thank you all for reading and please remember to…

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