People talking, "Interesting."
People thinking, "I think I'll kill you."
Nonhuman talking, "You don't deserve that power."
Nonhuman thinking, "Stopping him is paramount."
Jutsus / unknown names, "Mokuton Hijutsu Jukai Koutan!"
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its characters, Masashi Kishimoto does.
Chapter 34
At the Stadium – Moments before
Before Naruto had thrown the Bijudama, Kyōfu's men had withdrawn Tsunami from the stadium to take her to a safe place.
As they led her, she spoke, "Wait; I can't leave him alone."
"Sorry, Tsunami-sama. Orders are orders. We have to keep you safe," replied one of the men.
They arrived at a clearing where all the cars were while several troops of Konoha jumped across the rooftops.
She sighed and answered, "Okay, I can't argue with that."
She thought while looking at the stadium, "Don't be late, Naruto-kun. I'll wait for you in Nami no Kuni; we'll all be waiting."
They entered the cars and headed for the Land of Waves.
In the Hyūga compound, the members of both families had already returned home. Hiashi noticed the absence of the Hyūga Princess, so he approached the Hyūga's Genius.
Neji was talking to a Hanabi, who was relieved because Naruto didn't die after Lee's brutal attacks.
"Neji, where's Hinata?" Hiashi angrily asked.
The cousins instantly stopped talking and looked at him. "I don't know, Hiashi-sama. I was with her and Menma-sama. But when Naruto-san lost control, I went to see if you and Hanabi-sama were okay," The Hyūga genius lied a little bit at the end. He didn't care about the Main House members; he only cared about Hanabi.
Hiashi growled and asked in increasing anger, "And did you think that you could leave Hinata alone just like that?"
Neji saw him raising his hand slowly, so he mentally smiled and answered, "Yes, because-"
The Hyūga leader raised his hand and activated the seal on his head.
Members of both families saw Neji grabbing his head as he fell to his knees and shouted: "AAAH!" He stirred his hair and pulled off his headband, revealing the glowing seal.
The Branch Family clenched their fists; they still held back even though they heard some giggles from the Main House Family.
That lasted for at least forty seconds, and although Hanabi knew that Naruto had modified the seal on his head, she approached her father to grab him by his robe. "Please, Oto-sama. Stop already. Neji-niisan didn't do it on purpose."
Hiashi growled and pushed Hanabi, throwing her down to the ground. Nonetheless, he ended the Jutsu and turned around to add. "Hanabi, get ready. When the invasion is over, your destiny will be sealed."
Hanabi clenched the soil with her fists as she bit her lips. Anyhow, she just nodded. "Hai, Oto-sama…" yet also thinking, "I hope you die, you old bastard."
Then she saw him commanding some members from the Main House and almost everyone from the Branch House to help him to repel the invasion.
The rest of the Main Family headed to their houses while the few ones from the Branch House approached Neji to check his status, especially Hanabi since she was concerned. "Are you alright, Neji-niisan?"
The Genius chuckled and replied, "Yes, I didn't feel anything," he stated and continued. "Just my throat is a little sore for shouting like a madman." That made everyone laugh.
Neji stood up and continued, "I just want to put my hands on that old bastard, but it's still too early. I must train harder and wait for Naruto-san when he's ready to make his move."
Everyone already knew it, and a few ones, besides Neji, had the modified seals.
Naruto had already dealt with the potential traitors. Hence, he had no problems in saying that aloud.
"And we'll help," a member of the Branch House added, and they nodded.
Then everyone looked at Hanabi, who seemed gloomy. Some of them sensed why, and Neji decided to reassure her. "Don't worry, Hanabi-sama. Everything will be okay. You know that Naruto-san will modify your seal when he returns. Don't worry about it; it just hurts a bit at the beginning, but the feeling disappears almost immediately."
Hanabi sighed sadly and answered, "No, it's not that. It's just that Naruto-kun will leave." Then she bowed her head
Neji put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about that, Hanabi-sama. He already told you that he'd return; he's a busy person, after all. Besides, he will have to deal with the ANBU and Jounin that were at the stadium. I don't think they're happy after he killed all those people."
Hanabi nodded and then everyone went to their homes.
Just outside Konoha - Minutes before
A large contingent of enemy troops was in a wooded area, prepared to destroy Konoha. They had everything ready; several groups were gathered, although some groups didn't arrive yet, for some reason. They didn't care; they were just waiting for the person who was a key piece for the operation.
The only issue was that this person despised human beings with all his might, and the other issue was that they all were that. Therefore, there was a lot of fear among the troops; they didn't want to get close to the man of Iwa with red armor that was away from the group; with closed eyes and sitting with his arms and legs crossed.
The troops of Iwa managed to convince a Suna Shinobi, who didn't have the slightest idea of the hatred of their Jinchūriki, to approach him and tell him it was time to leave.
"Hey, hurry up. We have to go; the war won't wait for us, much less to you," the Suna Shinobi rudely said; the ninjas of Iwa looked at him as if he were an idiot.
Han, who was the name of this person, stood up and jumped to a tree to head for Konoha.
Without further ado, all the shinobi followed him.
Konoha West Park - Currently
Kurenai arrived at the park, which was close to walls. Nobody was there, not even civilians since they already were inside the shelters.
She walked around the place until seeing a few 'carriages' parked. She approached them, seeing that many of them were reading the paper or smoking, but they immediately stopped as they noticed her presence.
"Are you the guys who will take me elsewhere?" She asked, omitting Naruto's name as he had asked her to do it to not to make him sad.
"Kurenai Yūhi?" asked one of the men in black.
The Genjutsu Mistress nodded, and therefore, a man came out a car and walked over her.
It was a white-haired and dark-skinned man, who wore an elegant black tuxedo. His name was Frank, who bowed. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Kurenai-san. I assure you that we'll treat you with the best care in Paradise. So, follow me and we'll take you where Kyofu-sama had told you to go. "
Kurenai nodded; Naruto had told her that they could call him that, but he had told her that she should never say his real name. He didn't say that because she could compromise his identity, but because Kurenai could die. After all, Naruto had placed the seal on her wrist, and Kurenai didn't know it.
After that, the Yūhi followed them, but they suddenly stopped as many Ninja of Suna, Iwa and Oto had surrounded them. They were fifteen in number, and they all had a kunai in their hands.
The men inside the trucks quickly came down. They were about fifty, plus those who were already down, who were another ten without counting Kurenai.
Everyone had drawn their weapons and pointed them at the ignorant shinobis who had no idea what those things were, much less the backpacks with antennas that several of the men had.
"Stop right there!" shouted several of the men in black, ready to fire at the slightest movement.
Although the men in black outnumbered them, the shinobis chuckled as they thought that they were 'brave civilians' who had no clue of what was going on. "Shut up, Konoha trash. You will die like the others," stated one Shinobi of Iwa who was disguised as an Oto-nin.
Before they could attack each other, Frank stepped forward to express. "Sorry, we're not from Konoha. We're here by Kyofu-sama's orders, performing a secret mission. I'm sure you all must know who he is. So please, let us leave."
Several of the men didn't know who Kyofu-sama was. Before they could express it, one of those who knew him said. "Hmm. We don't want to upset that man. We'll let you leave, but we need you to hand the woman over to us. We must kill everyone from Konoha," said a Jounin of Suna, pointing to Kurenai and with knowledge of Kyofu-sama. After all, he was one of the reasons why Sunagakure was still afloat today.
Many of the Shinobi glanced at him, but they said nothing because he was one of the leaders of their group.
Frank sighed and answered, "I'm sorry. But that's not possible. She's our mission. We could reach an agreement without resorting to violence."
One of the Shinobi of Iwa tried to say that there was no deal, but the Suna Jounin stopped him by waving his hand towards him, making him growl in anger.
"What kind of deal?" he asked.
Frank smiled and replied as he carried his hand into his pocket, pulling out a wallet and writing a check.
Then he motioned for him to come closer; the Jounin examined it, and symbols of money appeared in his eyes. "O-O-O-ON-ONE BI-BI-BILL-BILLION RYO!" he exclaimed in surprise.
The fifteen ninjas came closer; they couldn't believe that anyone could have such amount of money.
Frank smiled as he did subtle signals to his men, who nodded at the order; the white-haired man added, "I assume that's more than enough. You can split it among yourselves." After that, he drew his 9 mm and pointed it at the hypnotized ninjas.
"By the way, I forgot to say something," Frank continued, attracting the attention of some of them. "You'll have to wait a thousand years until I have that amount of money. Fire!"
Everyone opened fire, and the Shinobi couldn't do anything because they were in direct line; besides, they had also felt that their chakra was altered.
Almost everyone had fallen dead while the few ones who had survived were moaning in pain or dying slowly. Frank came closer and executed them with accurate shots in their heads.
Meanwhile, the others returned to their posts along with Kurenai, who had remained silent. Naruto had told her many things, among them the fact that the men would protect her, and above all, not to do anything while being at the park.
After that, Frank desperately ran towards the check. "Oh, oh, oh… Phew!" he sighed in relief when having the check back in his hands. If they had taken it, he would have been in big trouble. It was an amount of money that he wouldn't have even if he worked his entire life.
He shattered it and burned it with a cigarette lighter. He stayed there until it was nothing but ashes. The white-haired man sighed one last time and returned to the car where a soundless Kurenai was.
Frank ordered to start the engines and go to Tanzaku to show Kurenai her new home and family that would be waiting for her.
Konoha's Outskirts
A scared Temari was running along with Gaara in the woods; her brother had his left arm around her neck.
Kankurō had stopped to distract the Uchiha so that Gaara could have more time to recover. But after a few seconds, Sasuke had continued the persecution.
She thought that he had defeated Kankurō quickly. What she didn't know was that Shino decided to fight Kankurō so that Sasuke didn't lose time and could catch Gaara.
Temari continued running until Gaara began to move. "You can stop," the Jinchūriki whispered, fully recovered, but still puzzled after receiving Naruto's devastating technique.
Someone almost vanished his existence, and that made him furious. He wanted to vent his anger in the next person he saw—not in his sister.
The blonde girl nodded and walked away as she saw her brother surrounding himself with sand until having the form of a raccoon with a single tail. "What?! He transformed so fast," Temari thought terrified when seeing her brother almost in his final form, standing on the branch of a tree with a twisted smile as he put his tail over his left shoulder.
Then both of his sand arms lengthened until each one grabbed a tree. He propelled himself towards the person he saw approaching, who was Sasuke.
The Uchiha could only see a blur, which wrapped him with its big sand hands and pushed the boy several dozens of meters back, breaking several trees in its way.
Menma and Hinata heard the rumblings a few meters ahead; they increased their pace to get there as soon as possible.
Only the two of them were there because Shikamaru and Sakura had stayed to fight some Sound ninjas, who had followed them after they left the village.
They knew it was Sasuke, so Menma jumped faster to help him. However, the next thing he saw left him horrified.
Gaara, who was grabbing Sasuke tightly, looked at him with a twisted smile. "You will prove my existence; you will prove my existence, Sasuke Uchiha!" After that, the Jinchūriki compressed his fist.
"Sasukeeee!" Menma could only yell.
In the village.
At the northern side, the Konoha-nin were doing their best to hold back the enemy. They easily outnumbered them, and what was worse, Han was killing them as if they were mere flies.
One Chunin of Konoha looked at Ibiki, who was their leader until Minato arrived. "Where's Hokage-sama?" he asked as he dodged the cuts of a Suna shinobi.
Ibiki growled and answered, "Did you not hear the bang? Something has happened at the stadium. I believe Hokage-sama is dealing with that," he replied as he killed a Shinobi.
He saw him falling to the ground, and when he looked up, Han appeared in front of him.
Ibiki smiled and jumped back to dodge the blow, but the smile faded away when steam came out from the back of Han's armor, giving him a boost that made him reach his position. The Jinchūriki gave him a mighty blow to his stomach that also expelled some steam, giving more power to the blow
Ibiki flew back, unable to regain his balance since that single blow almost knocked him unconscious.
Before he could crash into something, a yellow flash appeared right behind him.
Minato caught him and saw that he was severely injured. He looked up and saw a tall Shinobi with a red armor and a headband of Iwa, but it had a horizontal scratch across the symbol.
That made him squint and think. "Tsuchikage, don't think that you can fool me. You'll pay for this when this is over." After that, he gently put Ibiki on the ground and approached his shinobis, who recovered their confidence.
"Take Ibiki to a safe place; make sure that he receives immediate medical attention," he ordered, staring at Han, who also was doing the same.
A few Chunin took him away, and Han stepped forward, ignoring the shinobis who were fighting near his position. "Yondaime Hokage. I've waited for this moment since the Third Shinobi World War," he stated as he stood in a fighting stance.
Minato did the same while placing a three-bladed kunai in front of his face. "Han, the Gobi's Jinchūriki, Iwagakure's defector, or so the Bingo Book says. However, that old Tsuchikage won't deceive me. What did he offer you?"
"My freedom!" Han exclaimed and went on the attack.
Root Base
Everyone was kneeling before Danzō as they were ready to start his mission.
"That's it, now go and bring her to me. Remember, I want this to be clean," the leader commanded, and everyone disappeared from there towards Naruto's apartment to capture Karin.
Danzō couldn't help smiling. "After all these years, I will finally become Hokage. And this time, no one will be able to do anything against Konoha."
Meanwhile, Sai was preparing a Chōjū Giga to send the message to Naruto as soon as possible. He ignored his current mental state and what it could cause.
Kage Box
After Minato had disappeared, the Kazekage had tried to attack Bee with his gold dust. However, the Jinchūriki had shifted his attacks with the Hachibi's tentacles, revealing that he was a Jinchūriki and that it would be hard to fight him in such a small place.
Therefore, Rasa had offered Bee to fight elsewhere, specifically at the place where the Genin were fighting minutes earlier. Bee accepted with some rhymes.
Now they were looking at each other, and the fights around the stadium instantly stopped as they were curious to see the Kazekage about to face a Kumo Shinobi. After all, Kumo wasn't Konoha's ally.
Among them were Kakashi, Gai, and Itachi, who had also stopped. They were interested too; the three of them were aware of the Kazekage's trajectory and knew little about Bee's.
Rasa chuckled, looked into Bee's eyes and did hand seals at high speed, "Sakin Shuriken (Gold Dust Shuriken)!" He exclaimed as several gold shurikens headed to Bee, who had no time to dodge them due to their speed.
The enemy ninjas gave shouts of victory, but Bee dissolved into a black substance, surprising those present.
Rasa couldn't express it because someone shouted behind him, which made him turn around. "Rariatto!" Bee exclaimed and hit his neck; he was covered with his chakra cloak and had three tails behind him.
He propelled himself several meters forward before releasing the Kazekage to make him crash hard into the wall, which could no longer resist the impact and the area collapsed while large chunks of concrete fell above Rasa.
"Wheee!" Bee exclaimed while doing a Horned Hand.
Many of the enemy troops gasped since they couldn't believe that the Kazekage had been defeated that easily.
The first person to notice something strange was Itachi, who saw a large eye looking at Bee.
"Look, Senpai," Itachi said, pointing at the eye. The silver-haired man looked up and then down to the arena, seeing Rasa reappearing behind the Jinchūriki, who instantly noticed it.
"You're certainly a persistent guy. Killer Bee will knock ya outta da sky," the Jinchūriki stated while moving his hands.
The enemy ninjas, especially those of Suna, sighed in relief.
Rasa continued, "I think we should stop fighting with our clones. So, what do you say if we stop wasting time?"
Bee smiled and answered, "The Hachibi looks at you and sees a fool! Now it's time to bring ya to school."
"Enough of your stupid rhymes. Jiton: Sakin Taisō (Gold Dust Waterfall Flow)!" he interrupted, putting his hands on the ground and sending a lot of his gold dust towards Bee.
Bee just moved away and appeared next to Rasa to give him a powerful kick since the Kazekage was off guard.
The gold dust instantly collapsed, and this time, Rasa couldn't help spitting some blood as he was driven to the large hole that Naruto had caused with his Bijudama.
"Kazekage-sama!" shouted someone of Suna, worried when seeing Bee transforming like Naruto did before releasing the Bijudama, but instead, he had pointy horns.
"The Hachibi's head-butt will throw you down mutt, so step aside or be petrified!" he exclaimed one last time before going forward and pointing his horns at the stunned Kazekage.
Rasa looked in the direction; intimidated by this, he did hand seals in an attempt to stop him. "Sakin no Kushi (Gold Dust Spikes)" he pronounced, pointing his right fist at Bee.
Several gold dust spikes instantly emerged from the ground, and they spread towards the Jinchūriki's position.
Bee just smiled and continued forward, destroying the sharp spikes smoothly, which made the Kazekage growl as he landed on the ground, doing more hand seals.
However, the Jinchūriki was already right in front of him, grinning widely. "Remember the smile you see from the Killer Bee because this will be the last thing that you'll ever see!"
"Sakin Kaihōdama (Gold Dust: Unleash Orb)!" Rasa yelled, releasing more of his gold dust to stop the mighty beast.
The Kazekage threw a gold dust ball, which instantly wrapped his opponent and stopped his attack.
The next thing everyone saw was that the Kazekage clenched his fist and hundreds of spikes appeared around the ball, making Bee scream inside it.
Rasa smirked and continued the attack for a few more seconds before undoing it.
The Jinchūriki fell to his knees covered in blood, which made the enemy troops exclaim in joy by the Kazekage's victory.
Rasa smiled and slowly walked towards Bee, who was breathing heavily. "And now to finish this-" He stopped there because Bee raised his hand and threw something blue at great speed.
He felt a twinge in his throat, so he took his fingers over there and then pulled them away, realizing that some blood stayed on his fingers. Then he led his fingers behind his neck, realizing that more blood was coming out from there.
Rasa fell to his knees, spitting a lot of blood as he coughed heavily. "Argh* *cough* *cough* *cough*" He pronounced while placing both of his hands on his throat in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
Bee stood up again as his wounds healed quickly. He took a few steps forward as he surrounded himself with his chakra cloak, but this time, he was using three tails only.
The Kazekage looked up and saw the Jinchūriki approaching while reciting more rhymes about his 'overwhelming victory' and that the Hachibi was about to 'send him to sleep.'
In the stands, Kakashi and the others knew that Bee would win. After all, he had pierced his throat with a pencil charged with Raiton.
Though they could notice that Bee allowed Rasa to attack him with the last technique to have an opening and carry out the last attack that would cost the Kazekage his life.
Therefore, Itachi, Gai, and Kakashi prepared themselves to attack their enemies.
Meanwhile, Bee raised the Kazekage up to his height, and Rasa opened one eye as he could, unable to articulate even the slightest word due to the wound.
He saw him smiling and saying a few last words. "Watch and learn, feel the power, from its source that above you towers!"
He approached his head and exclaimed: "Heddo Batto (Headbutt)!" giving him the powerful blow right in his forehead, completely breaking his skull and killing him instantly.
Bee released the lifeless body and exclaimed: "Wheee!" while making a Horned Hand before writing rhymes in his notebook.
Then he closed it and went to another place to provide help. Meanwhile, the members of his team were leaving the village to wait for him in a village at the border of the Land of Fire.
Back in the stands, Kakashi and the others didn't lose time to start attacking the enemy troops, who were falling like flies because they had lost the moral after the Kazekage's death. Itachi was the only one who didn't need to resort to anything flashy as he put them to sleep with his Genjutsus, although this was becoming increasingly difficult.
However, the luck of the three shinobi of the Leaf wouldn't last forever, and they saw the need to increase the intensity because the enemies didn't stop coming, and the three of them began to feel tired.
Noticing that, several ninjas of Iwagakure began doing hand seals, and they directly attacked the sleeping public with their Earth Jutsu. "No single bastard shall remain alive!" yelled one of the ninjas as he crushed several civilians and some ANBU, who had tried to protect the civilians.
The three of them growled, but Kakashi took action by using his Raikiri and reaching in an instant behind that man, piercing him with the technique right in his back, on the side of his heart.
The Shinobi fell lifeless and then Kakashi approached in search for survivors, but he sighed after realizing that everyone had died. Gai and Itachi came closer, and the Uchiha spoke, "Kakashi-senpai. You should stop using your Raikiri; you'll run out of Chakra."
Gai nodded, but Kakashi shook his head. "No, I'll do everything I can to ensure Konoha's survival. I won't forgive anyone who dared to attack us."
He stood up and looked at the two, who nodded. "Now come on; we have to save our village."
They nodded and proceeded to wipe out the few remaining Shinobi at the stadium since they were beginning to deploy themselves to Konoha's suburbs.
With Menma and the others.
"Sasukeeee!" Menma yelled after seeing Gaara compressing his fist.
The redheaded boy maniacally smiled, but it faded away when dozens of crows came out from his hand, which croaked as they began to flap in different directions.
Afterward, everyone heard a sound reminiscent of many birds chirping. Gaara quickly turned around, seeing Sasuke with a smile on his face. "Chidori!" the Uchiha exclaimed, impacting the attack in his chest as he propelled himself forward.
Menma sighed in relief but was surprised after seeing him turning into crows.
Hinata watched in silence as Sasuke continued pushing Gaara with his Chidori until they hit the ground, creating a large crater.
The Uchiha jumped back and landed on the branch where the Namikaze was, who looked at him and asked, "Teme, I thought you had died. By the way, what Jutsu did you use before the Chidori? "
Sasuke turned his head, and Menma saw with surprise that he already had three tomoe in both eyes.
He couldn't express his surprise as Sasuke responded, "It was a Crow Clone; Itachi-nii taught me."
Menma nodded. "By the way, Sasuke, why did you follow him?"
The Uchiha sighed and lowered his head before looking up. "I couldn't help it. I had to think of anything else but what Naruto did."
The Namikaze raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
Sasuke turned his head and answered, "Menma, you saw it. Naruto has become a total psychopath."
The Kyūbi's Jinchūriki was about to protest, but the Uchiha made a stop sign. "And believe it or not, I don't blame him. After everything he said, I could understand his reasons. But even though, it's something that disturbed me. I concluded that I could become like Naruto if the hatred consumed me. I could see the hatred in his eyes. I thought if the hatred continued consuming me, then I could turn into someone like him. If I have to kill the man who exterminated my clan, it will be because I was an Avenger who wasn't consumed by hatred."
The Uchiha paused before continuing, "Plus, I noticed that this guy is equal to Naruto; he's also a Jinchūriki, and by how he behave, I understood that he had it hard in his village too. So I followed him to try to understand his kind better," he paused as he looked down to where Gaara was before looking at Menma.
"And even though you're a Jinchūriki too, and I can't believe that you've hidden this information from me; I won't be able to understand the Jinchūrikis if you're my reference since you've had it easy compared to these two."
Menma smiled but put on a serious expression. "I also want to understand my Nii-san, and by understanding him," he pointed to where Gaara was. "I will be able to understand my brother. So I think that you already know that we can't kill him. "
Sasuke nodded. "By the way, Menma." He attracted his attention again. "I'll help you to get your brother back. However, if one of us confronts him separately right now, he will crush us. So, if we both fight together, we may have more chances. We both know that he will leave the village and become a renegade Ninja, so we must train to become stronger and be able to face him again."
The Namikaze widely smiled and exclaimed, "Of course! I like that, Sasuke. We'll train harder and become stronger!"
After that, they looked to where Gaara was, and Hinata exclaimed behind them. "Watch out!"
Everyone jumped sideways, dodging hundreds of Sand Shurikens that could have been problematic if they had hit them.
Both thanked Hinata, who couldn't help smiling, especially because she knew they had been great friends in the past. Besides, now they shared a common goal.
Then they saw Gaara landing in front of them with a twisted smile. "Menma Namikaze. What a pleasant surprise. I WILL KILL YOU AND YOUR BROTHER! NO ONE WILL TRY TO VANISH MY EXISTENCE EVER AGAIN!"
Sasuke had asked himself how Gaara could still be unharmed after his previous attack. But thanks to his Sharingan, he could see that there was a lot of Chakra concentrated in his sand.
It seemed that it was a robust and resistant armor, although he could see that the tail base had the less concentration of Chakra; therefore, the Uchiha sensed that it was his weak point.
He looked Menma, who seemed to understand what he meant. Therefore, they prepared themselves to carry out the plan without even uttering a word, seeing Gaara charging towards them at high speed.
They both threw a few Kunais and Shurikens, but Gaara diverted them smoothly. He went straight at Menma, and Sasuke stepped forward while doing hand seals. "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" the Uchiha exclaimed, spitting the fireball towards the Ichibi's Jinchūriki, who shouted that it wouldn't work.
However, Menma stood beside Sasuke after finishing his hand seals. "Futon: Fūtopa!" he exclaimed and released the technique, which mixed with Sasuke's, increasing the size and heat of it.
Gaara could no longer say that it wouldn't work because his sand began to harden, which decreased his speed considerably.
He growled in rage, the reason why he opened the mouths around his armor and spat several Sand Shurikens, which passed through the combined attack without problems.
His attack struck in the both of them, which made him smile. Hinata almost shouted Menma's name, but she saw her fiancé disappearing in a puff of smoke and Sasuke turned into crows.
The redheaded boy growled but didn't stop, this time, to attack Hinata. Nonetheless, she saw him thanks to her Byakugan and jumped away.
"Now, Menma!" Gaara heard Sasuke shouting behind him.
He turned around and saw Menma approaching with a Kunai in his hand, directing it under his tail.
The Ichibi's Jinchūriki grunted and hit Menma with his tail, which sent Menma back to Sasuke's position.
The Uchiha caught him with difficulty before looking up, seeing Gaara right in front of him, ready to hit him with his hands.
Sasuke couldn't dodge it because he had Menma in his arms, so they crashed into the ground.
Gaara smiled and yelled, "I MUST THANK YOUR BROTHER, MENMA NAMIKAZE! I DON'T KNOW WHAT HE DID, BUT THANKS TO HIM, I CAN CONTROL MY TRANSFORMATIONS MORE EASILY! TO SLEEP WITHOUT THE FEAR OF BEING CONSUMED IS UNDOUBTEDLY REFRESHING!"
Temari couldn't help saying. "They're fools; they won't be able to defeat Gaara in that form. There is no way, and when he reaches his final form..."
Hinata could hear her but decided to remain silent as she watched them getting up slowly.
"Ouch, that hurt," Menma stated while rubbing his body.
He looked at Sasuke and shouted, "Sasuke! You're a fool! Why did you say that I was about to attack him?!"
"Hmph, he already noticed it. Besides, he was going to turn around after he failed to attack Hinata," he stated as he looked away and crossed his arms.
Menma was about to say that it was a bad excuse but couldn't because a massive sandstorm was going towards them after Gaara had exclaimed. "Mugen Sajin Daitoppa (Wind Release: Infinite Sand Cloud)!"
They managed to dodge the attack, but several sand balls had hit them, which made them crash into some trees; they moaned in pain because the attack had hurt more than the last one.
"Hehe, I'll play around with you so that you won't die just yet. I can't wait to see when you give up, abandon each other, and run away from my terrifying presence." After that, Gaara threw more of his Sand Shurikens, which Sasuke could dodge thanks to his Sharingan, but several of them hit his teammate.
"Menma, what the hell are you doing?!" the Uchiha exclaimed while dodging the fast Sand Shurikens; the Ichibi's Jinchūriki was attacking them without stopping.
The Namikaze raised his head slightly, looking at his opponent. "Listen to me-" He stopped because more Sand Shurikens hit him; he went flying back, but a tree stopped him.
Hinata had the urge to go there, but she didn't because Menma was standing up again.
That surprised Temari, who asked herself how he could continue standing. Even Gaara was shocked, the redheaded boy decided to ignore Sasuke for now, and the Uchiha was paying attention to the Namikaze too.
"I don't surrender or run away… And I will defeat you no matter what!" Menma stated as he stepped forward, sore because those attacks had hurt him a lot and he was tired after his match against Neji.
"Hey, don't forget me," his teammate added while standing at his side, which made Menma smile widely, but it made Gaara growl in rage.
"How can you smile like that?! You are like your brother and me! You should also know that only if we don't care about the life of others, our existences will never vanish!" he snarled, wanting to know why he was so different.
He didn't know why Menma was so happy. Didn't his father try to kill him for being a Jinchūriki as his dad attempted to? He was confused, and that confusion brought back old memories.
He took his right hand on his forehead as he growled due to his childhood memories. Even though he could sleep in peace after he had tried to attack Naruto, his personality was still unstable.
The Namikaze and the Uchiha looked at each other before nodding. Hence, they rushed at Gaara to seize the moment.
The redheaded boy shakily pointed his right hand at them and released several Sand Shurikens. Menma created Shadow Clones which received the impacts. They disappeared, and the Konoha's Genin proceeded to attack.
The Ichibi's Jinchūriki growled when seeing that four clones of Menma surrounded him, and each one gave him several punches and kicks that sent him up.
Gaara tried to do something, but he saw Sasuke above him and descending his right leg to his neck. "Shishi Rendan!" the Uchiha exclaimed, giving the combo that sent the Suna-nin to the ground.
Before he could hit the ground, the clones gave him several punches in an attempt to cause him more damage.
Gaara tried to get them off of him, but the clones held his four limbs firmly, making the redheaded boy impact hard into the ground.
Temari couldn't believe it. "Impossible, they are attacking Gaara in such a way while he's in that form."
After that, she saw that the original Menma was plummeting along with a clone, which charged chakra in his right palm to make a Rasengan.
The clone vanished in a puff of smoke and Menma headed the sphere towards his opponent.
Gaara tried to escape, but it was impossible due to the clones; he could only growl as he saw Menma directing the Rasengan to his stomach.
"Rasengan!" Menma exclaimed and hit his stomach, cracking the ground beneath him and weakening his sand armor as well.
Gaara, surprised, could only look at the determined expression on Menma's face as he asked himself where he got such strength, and why he was cooperating with someone like Sasuke.
The Ichibi's Jinchūriki screamed as the Rasengan pierced his armor and made contact with his skin. The attack stirred his insides as it pushed him several meters underground.
Spitting some blood, Gaara thought. "These guys. Who are they? They suddenly..."
Temari spoke, "This can't be happening; they're defeating him."
Hinata smiled and finally uttered, "They're two of the best Genin in the village, after all." The smile disappeared when she saw the following.
Meanwhile, Gaara saw Menma jumping out of the crater while both looked into eyes of each other. "Where is this power coming from? I… I'm going to lose to them?" The Suna-nin thought disturbed.
The redheaded boy exclaimed, "There's no way I can lose to these guys!"
There was a smoke explosion that raised a lot of sand with blue lines.
Menma was thrown backward and crashed hard ino the branch of a tree.
The white smoke slowly dissipated, and everyone was shocked when seeing the massive beast slowly shaking its single tail.
"What is that? Is that his Bijū?" Sasuke asked looking in shock at the Ichibi.
"It has finally come out…" Temari thought terrified as she watched the Ichibi taking several steps forward.
Menma asked himself the same question, and Gaara's loud voice said, "I didn't expect to show this transformation to you, guys!" Then he raised both arms and pointed them to where the Uchiha and the Namikaze were.
They instantly noticed that a lot of sand surrounded them while it slowly compressed.
Sasuke growled as he thought, "Damn it. I've spent much of my Chakra with the Crow Clones and the Chidori. I'll have to use it one more time to escape, after that, I'll reach my limit."
Menma wasn't thinking different. "Ugh, the Chakra Points that Neji closed are starting to affect me. Damn it, but I can't give up. I must finish this; this will be a fight between beasts."
Kurama asked himself what he meant; he didn't ask as he saw Menma biting his thumb and making hand seals.
Meanwhile, Sasuke made the Chidori and got rid of the sand, just to hear Gaara exclaiming, "You will both die! Sabaku Sou-"
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Menma yelled.
A large puff of smoke appeared and quickly dissipated, revealing a giant magenta-colored toad with black markings on his face, arms, and legs with horn like protrusions on his head. He kept a sakazuki-like shield wrapped around his back and had a sasumata in his hand.
The toad looked up at Menma, who was standing on his head. "Menma, you've summoned me. But as you know, I'm clumsy."
"Gamaken?! Oh, I thought I had summoned the Chief Toad. But it doesn't matter; you also kick ass!" Menma stated with a smile.
Gamaken wasn't excited by his words. "As you know, I'm clumsy. But I'll help you out," he replied as he squeezed his Sasumata and pulled the shield off from his back to put it on his left frontal leg.
The 'Ichibi' smiled with pure emotion. "Namikaze Menma. You entertain me greatly."
He stopped smiling and stepped back slightly while Gamaken prepared his attack. However, no one moved as they could feel a presence that came from Konoha.
Gaara could clearly see it, but Gamaken had to turn around so that he and Menma could see it. They all saw in the distance a pillar of dark energy that rose to the skies, turning the clouds to that color and making them rotate around it.
Menma observed this with eyes wide open. He knew it was his brother; he could feel a sort of connection with him that let him know about it. Still, the feeling wasn't a malignant one, someone or something had upset his brother to unspeakable levels.
He had the desire to know what was going on, but he chose to ignore it because he had other problems. Thus, he had told Gamaken to start the fight.
Gamaken once again said that he was clumsy before taking a big leap to move towards Gaara's position.
The Ichibi raised his right arm to send a lot of sand, but the Toad used his shield and sent the sand away before hitting the Ichibi's head with his weapon, which drove the Biju a few steps back.
He didn't complain as there was no harm. However, Gamaken gave him a lot of blows with his weapon at a speed that seemed incredible for someone of his size.
He finally kicked him with both hind legs, which sent the Ichibi several hundred of meters back, and this time, Gaara could feel the pain.
The Ichibi laughed in excitement. "HAHAHAHA! This is fascinating, Namikaze Menma!"
Temari thought worried, "This is bad. Gaara is going to use 'it.' I have to get out of here." She looked sideways. "Hey, girl, if you want to survive; you better run away," she warned before running to safety.
Hinata just continued watching with dismay, hoping that nothing bad happened to her fiancé.
On top of Gamaken's head, Menma could see that something slowly emerged from the Ichibi's head. He saw Gaara in his normal form, who was maniacally smiling.
Even though Menma was far away, he could hear Gaara saying, "This is a reward for entertaining me. I'll show you the real strength of the incarnation of the sand… And now that I've been able to sleep without fear, this technique will be much more efficient." Gaara placed his hands in the Ram position.
The Kyūbi's Jinchūriki didn't know what the Ichibi's Jinchūriki was trying to do, much less Gamaken, who was just watching quietly.
Kurama knew it, and when he would say it, Gaara whispered, "Tanuki Neiri no Jutsu (Feigning Sleep Technique)." His arms fell limp.
Menma could see that the Ichibi's eyes became darker and spun, which gave him a bad feeling.
The Ichibi slightly gasped when realizing that he was released; however, instead of getting happy, he looked sideways until he saw someone similar to Naruto, but smaller and with different hair color.
Moreover, he could feel another Kurama entirely different to the one that was within Naruto; however, using telepathy was impossible due to the seal that Naruto had placed in his container.
For that reason, he hastened to shout before his time ran out. "Kurama! You must stop him! You must stop your other self before it's too late for us! You must finish him-" His time had run out, and his eyes spun and became lighter.
Menma asked, "Did you hear that, Kurama?"
"Loud and clear," he replied and continued, "Although I have no idea why he said that. He sounded anxious, which is rare in Shukaku. But we'll talk about that later, now focus on beating the boy. He must have spent almost all of his chakra after releasing Shukaku. Besides, he's now vulnerable; an accurate punch should be more than enough to put him down. Come on, boy; let's do it. "
Menma smiled and clenched his fist. "Consider it done! Ken, get me close to him!" he exclaimed while pointing at Gaara, who was waking up again.
Gamaken grabbed his Sasumata and ran towards the Ichibi. "Okay, but as you know, I'm clumsy."
Gaara grunted in annoyance. "What the hell happened? I've spent almost all of my chakra, and it was useless. That damned Naruto Namikaze had something to do. But I'll still kill them."
He saw Gamaken a few meters away while Menma jumped up and landed on the Ichibi's nose before running towards him.
Gaara surrounded his ankles with sand and stopped him. "Damn you. No one will make my existence vanish. Desert Coffin!" He exclaimed, sending more of his sand.
However, Gamaken quickly protected his summoner with his shield.
"Thank you, Ken!" Menma exclaimed gratefully.
"That won't help for long!" The sand rose slowly, so Gamaken pulled his shield away to give Menma visibility, just if he could think of something to escape.
"I will kill you! My existence will not disappear!" Gaara said, increasing the speed at which the sand went up; he couldn't do it faster because he was exhausted.
Menma was it too, so he asked for his Biju's help. "I need just a little bit, Kurama; I need your help."
The Biju shook his head. "Impossible, I can't."
"What? Why?!" Menma exclaimed confused.
Kurama sighed. "Your Chakra Points have closed again, and before you ask it, no. More of my chakra wouldn't re-open them; you will pass out if you try it. That's why I told you that you'd be without Chakra for a few days. The chakra that I gave you before could only open a certain amount of your points, enough so that my chakra could flow. But they began to close themselves slowly; that's why you suddenly started to feel exhausted."
"So what should I do? I have don't have Chakra to make even a Shadow Clone. Maybe I could use 'that,' but I'm not ready yet," Menma thought with a look of doubt.
Kurama chuckled and replied, "Trust in your friends."
Menma didn't understand it at first, but then he couldn't help smiling. "I see; you're right."
Gaara was about to ask him what was so funny when he heard a voice behind him. "I told you not to forget about me."
The Ichibi's Jinchūriki turned his head quickly, and the Uchiha gave him a sharp blow; he went up there with the help of a crow that was big enough to transport him.
"Way to go, Sasuke!" Menma exclaimed as he saw Gaara spitting some blood. The Namikaze realized that the sand around his legs instantly fell.
For that reason, Menma ran towards Gaara to give him the final blow, but he caught his arms with his sand. "Die!" the redheaded boy exclaimed about to use his Desert Coffin.
The Namikaze growled and tried to approach his fist at him, but it was useless.
Therefore, he slowly approached his head until he shouted: "Damn it!" giving him a strong headbutt. Blood came out from their foreheads, and the Ichibi cracked itself slowly until the sand collapsed.
Gamaken smiled and added as he felt that the summoning time was over. "We did it, though I'm clumsy." He disappeared in a puff of smoke that sent the three fighters to the leaves of some trees that stopped their falling.
Gaara and Menma stared at each other while Sasuke decided to let his teammate handle the rest; the Uchiha wasn't a tank of Chakra as he was. So he just sat down in the tree and sighed as he recovered some of his energy.
Sasuke saw that they jumped in an attempt to give the coup de grace. He smiled and went down after seeing Menma giving the blow. Both Jinchūrikis fell to the ground quickly, already exhausted.
Gaara moaned in pain as he slowly turned his head, seeing that he was standing up as he tried to get close to him, stumbling several times before walking.
Sasuke landed next to Menma and put his arm around his neck to help him to get closer, although they did it slowly because they were tired.
The redheaded boy couldn't help feeling intimidated. "Don't get near me!" he shouted terrified, and they ignored his words.
Menma stopped, and Sasuke too. The Namikaze raised his head and gave a half-smile. "Calm down; we don't want to hurt you. I just want to talk to you."
"What? Why?" the redheaded boy asked confused as he watched them approaching again.
The Namikaze chuckled and answered. "You already said it; we are alike."
"Then why? Why do you are with a stranger like him?" he asked with interest.
"Because he's my friend," Menma answered when he was before him.
"Don't joke with me! We are monsters; we can't have any friends!" he angrily yelled.
Menma shook his head and sighed as he sat down. "That's what they made you think, isn't it? That's what they had made my Nii-san think his entire life," he said as he clenched his fists, sad because of it.
He continued, "That's why I'm doing this. I want to understand you. Unlike you and my brother, I didn't live in loneliness. I had all the comforts that a spoiled child could ask. Well, I'm still one, and that's why I want to understand you, because if I'm not able to do it, then I'd never be able to understand my brother. "
"But your brother is crazier than I am. You already saw that he has the power and doesn't care to kill anyone if they get in his way. Why would you waste your time on someone who wouldn't pay attention?" he asked again; he was quite honest, for some reason.
Menma smiled and replied, "Because he's my brother and I love him. I was indifferent to him in the past, and I even thought he was a nuisance, but when I found out that he was my brother, I was euphoric. But then I had a talk with him, and I discovered that we could never be the brothers that I wanted us to be if I couldn't understand how his life was. Although now it's too late for me to experience it, it's not too late to stop being a jerk and start being the friend of someone who is like my Nii-san. So, what do you say Gaara? Will you be my friend?" he asked smiling and stretching out his hand to Gaara.
Gaara looked to the sky, recalling the words that Yashamaru had told him in the past. "Love is the spirit of devoting yourself to someone important and close to you. It is expressed by caring and protecting that person."
"Love. Is that why he's so strong?" Gaara thought some people landed near their position.
One of them was Hinata, who quickly approached Menma to ask him if he was okay, which he nodded. The others were Temari and Kankurō, who were looking with suspicion at Menma and Sasuke, who frankly had no desire to continue fighting.
Therefore, Gaara spoke before his brothers could do something. "Don't fight them. I give up."
"Gaara," his brothers whispered surprised. They had never seen him like this, and they couldn't help that feeling. Well, except for that time when Naruto had taken Gaara to their apartment in Konoha. Anyhow, Naruto was an exception, they thought.
Kankurō turned and bent down to help Gaara to stand up while Temari stared at the blond boy with a sad expression.
"What's going on?" the Namikaze asked with interest, seeing that she touched her hands.
Her brothers looked at her. "You're Naruto's brother, aren't you?"
He nodded, and she continued, "Please, tell him to be safe."
She couldn't help it; she felt something for Naruto, after all. She had seen a few times during her staying in Konoha, but Naruto had never made many advancements besides some flirting.
Even though Naruto had almost killed her brother, something told her that he didn't do it intentionally. Besides, she knew what awaited him for what he did, so she wanted that someone conveyed him her good wishes.
Menma nodded and said that he would, and they turned to leave. Though they stopped and covered their mouths not to puke, like the rest since everyone had suddenly felt a filthy, a nasty killing intent that was coming from Konoha.
The sand brothers realized that Gaara couldn't hold it back and threw something on the ground as he began to tremble, like the others.
They turned around, and Kankurō asked disgusted, "What *bleurgh* is this?!" He was surprised to perceive such an intent; he wasn't a Ninja Sensor and could feel it despite the distance at which they were.
Menma was shaking uncontrollably, and the nausea was something that was hard to hold back. He didn't know how to answer because he had no idea.
It couldn't be his brother; that feeling wasn't of a human being, and it was very different from the killing intent that his brother released in the mini Kyūbi form.
He looked around and saw that Hinata was sobbing and shaking while Sasuke, although he was shaking, seemed calmer and able to contain himself.
He approached Hinata to calm her down while Kurama said, "It's your brother. Something has happened. I can feel his chakra, mine and another one that I can't recognize. It seems that he combined three different types of chakra and had lost his mind. But that doesn't explain why we can feel this intent. Not even when I was a being filled with hatred I could release something like this. Something dangerous is happening in the village. It would be best if you stay away, Menma."
"Nii-san? No way in hell. I'm going to help him; I'll do whatever I can."
Kurama growled. "Don't be stupid! Did you not understand?! I'm not saying it because I don't want you to help him, but it's for your own good! Stay away from the village, Menma."
Menma ducked his head and clenched his fists. "Do you really think that I'll leave my brother alone? Never! You know me; I never go back on my word. That's my ninja way!" he stated with conviction.
Kurama sighed and added, "All right; I forgot you're a stubborn person." After that, he was silent.
Menma looked at the Sand Brothers and stated, "You should leave now; we'll go and see what's going on in the village. Hinata-chan, will you come with us?"
"H-Hai, Menma-kun," she answered, calmer now since she got used to the nasty intent that was increasing by each passing minute, but she did her best to contain herself.
The Sand Brothers nodded and quickly walked away, wishing them good luck.
Meanwhile, Menma, Sasuke, and Hinata ran to the village to see what was happening. As they went there, Menma thought, "Wait for me, Nii-san. I promise you that I'll help you!"
Notes
Okay, there just a few things that I want to say.
First, Frank is the person in charge of Tanzaku. We'll see more of him when Naruto goes there (not so much). Besides, I'll put an image on my biography so that you can see how he looks.
Secondly, Menma used the TNJ, and It's Super Effective!
Thirdly, we'll probably see the outcome of the fight between Han and Minato in the next chapter (and also what happened at the stadium).
Lastly, Rasa was weak to face Bee, so that's why he died so fast (damn fodders) :P
P.S.: Did anyone see Karin's dream in the Tsukuyomi? Oh my God, I was so pissed!
When Naruto (Kyofu-sama) goes to Kusagakure, heads will roll for sure! Damn, I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
Well, it was something that I had in mind. Anyhow, now I have more reasons to be pissed towards Kusagakure, it can't go unpunished!
Until the next time.