A Fox and A Tanuki Chapter 10, a naruto fanfic

Hey all I'm back. I'm so sorry for the delay, a holiday trip turned into a little more than that. But I'm back, and will hopefully be getting back into my once a week upload schedule. Having said that I hope everyone liked the preview of what I'm doing with one of Silver's stories.

I'll get back to my regular format for these things next chapter, but please tell me what you think.

Chapter 10 - Life or Death

The buildings went by in a blur, these mercenaries weren't going out of their way to hide so it was rather easy for Naruto to follow them. To himself, he would admit he enjoyed this part of traveling. Like in the forest of his home, all he had to do was worry about where he was going to jump next, and where he was going to land.

All of that came to a screeching halt though. It was like in slow motion, he went by an alleyway and in slow motion, just at the edges of his peripheral vision, he saw something human-shaped. His sudden stop had him slide for a second, but Naruto was quick to recover. He went to investigate, but the alleyway in question was as abandoned as the rest of Uzu.

But there was a small light he could see a few steps in, it was coming from underneath some plant life that had started growing up from the concrete. Kneeling down he saw a seal, but it looked different from the security seal he had seen earlier. "What the hell?" Naruto felt a strange pull, in his gut, like a sixth sense he couldn't say. But something wanted him to look at this seal.

Without hesitation Naruto cleared away the dirt and rubble, showing a small seal painted on the bottom of the wall to the adjoining building. Naruto knelt down, without thinking about it, Naruto bit his thumber, smearing some blood on the seal. It shot out light blue balls, that filled the space of the alley. Naruto looked on in amazement as the space was filled with colors. Shimmering gold met dark shades of blue, the alley way vanished.

figures where outlined in blue, they were people that much Naruto could tell, but whatever, this, is didn't have too many details on the face. It looked like an older guy, he was wielding a weapon, a sword maybe?, defending himself from an attacker, while a small child ran away. Suddenly voices and sounds filled the air around Naruto "Run! Now!"

"CLANG"
"CLANG"

"Why won't you fall you Uzu Scum?"

"Uzushiogakure will never fall!"

The child ran away, Naruto ran after her, if he was remembering the layout of the alley way correctly, she ran into a building further in on Naruto's right.

"Daddy, the bad guys are here!" It was a young girls voice.

Now there were several figures surrounding a table "What, how did they get past the western line? Damn it, you three we're going to stall for as long as we can, Itsuba you take her to the refugees, get help and-"

There was a clattering noise, more figures appeared at the door "hey we got some in here!"

"Get her out of here!"

As the colors faded, the walls and the table receded back into concrete and ruin and an identical seal in the corner on a baren corner post, the scream of a child pierced the air. 'What the hell was that? Was that during the Second Great War?' He heard movement, the sound of actual feet hitting actual ground, near him.

He went to investigate, it lead to a crossroads, where a sole, damaged sign post was. There was a seal glowing on that too. Naruto did the same thing without thinking. This time the boundary covered the entire street all around him small skirmishes where taking place. It was Uzu ninja fighting off the combined assault of Iwa and Kumo ninja. Naruto could tell because this 'flashback' as it where was in much better detail than the last.

But it didn't look good for the defenders, for every Uzu nin Naruto could see there where at least three other enemy ninja.

"Dammit, how did they breach the outer ring that fast? And what happened to the beach guard?"

"Hey, gonna need help over here!"

"No...No..NOOOO!"

Naruto had to close his eyes, each of the ninja were slowly over run and shown no mercy. Soon it was just the enemy force. "Hey look" the figure pointed up the street "there's one, a girl! Don't let her escape!"

One Uzu nin who was severely wounded stood up and took a fighting stance "I won't let you!"

And again the nebula that surrounded the area faded away, blood stains disappeared and people became skeletons. Naruto braved it, and looked around, were had the bandit's gone?

*CLANK* *CLANK* *TUDDDDDD*

Naruto jumped away from the noise in surprise, something metallic had just fallen over. Moving to investigate, a rusty trash bin had been knocked over. Ironically another glowing seal was there. Naruto felt strange, why was he doing this? Before he even thought about it, he was slicing his thumb on his Zanpakuto.

"Stay away!"

Naruto stumbled backwards, the girl rushed past him and a group of men were not far behind. The group was catching up to her. One man leapt forward, but a another man appeared, swiftly kicking the enemy in the head. The group of Kumo nin were suddenly surrounded by Uzumaki ninja. The battle was short, and it was messy.

The little girl ended up running into a female ninja who was holding her. In her panic and hysteria the girl was struggling with all the might a six year old could.

"Shh..it's okay, I won't hurt you. You're safe now."

"M...mom"

The lady pressed her forehead against her daughters "I know, be brave for me my wildflower. Captain! Permission to take my daughter to the safe zone?"

An older gentleman answered "Yes, deliver a message as well, the enemy have taken a half mile of ground. Squads one through seven are going to hold them off here!"

The cheer of his comrades went away with the vision, leaving Naruto to stare the the remains of a former Iwa nin. Now, Naruto knew he wasn't the smartest person in his class, but he was far from the dumbest. He was smart enough to know that someone was leading him somewhere. But why? If someone wanted to meet him, then why capture Sasuke and not him? And what did it have to do with Uzu? Ultimately Naruto was determined to figure out, but he also wanted to get back to his team.

That was easier said than done though. Naruto looked around the abandoned forest the visions lead him too, he had no idea where he was.

"He did what!" Yamato slammed his fist into the table "of all the careless, reckless, idiotice things he could have done!"

Gaara sat silently not pleased with her husband-to-be's actions.

"Well" Kakashi stated "I guess the decision has been made for us" both of his teammates stared at him "well we need Naruto to traverse Uzu safely. So we need to go get him. Captain what direction was Naruto seen heading last?"

"Your boy was going north west further into the city."

The one eyed man checked the last of his kunai to determine their sharpness "well then north west we will go. It should be relatively simple for Pakkun to find him."

The three leaf nin leapt from the bow of the ship, landing on the beach beneath them, Kakashi summoned his ninken. It took Pakkun two sniffs to find his scent. "This way Kakashi!"

Following the ninken brought the trio through numerous battle grounds, each with their own bodies, each telling their own stories. Any annoyance Gaara felt evaporated. She could only imagine how she'd feel if she went through Suna if it looked like this, let alone how Naruto was feeling right now.

Yamato knelt down to inspect the bodies. Too much time had passed, the only way to tell whose body was whose was by the damaged armor. "I remember being told the stories, but damn. These Uzu nin were outnumbered and still managed a stalemate. Anything new Pakkun?"

The small pug had his nose to the ground, sniffing all over. "Yeah, Naruto came this way. Those people you were telling me about those mercenaries? The wind is pulling their scent into this area, Naruto's trail is getting harder to follow. It's going to take me a minute ..wait! Wait! Over here!" Pakkun suddenly rushed over to a tree in the center of the battle field. "Kakashi look at this!"

Pakkun's nose was working furiously over the base of the trunk. Upon further inspection Kakashi could see some blood, but not enough to suggest a serious wound. "Is that...?"

"No, it's not Naruto's it's someone else's."

Kakashi placed his hands on the tree, on instinct he sent a pulse of chakre through it, and a seal underneath the blood appeared. "Naruto's mother once told me that the culmination of Uzu's fuinjutsu knowledge made a seal. It could memorize chakra signatures within a certain radius. If used properly one could see the past, what occurred. They called it Chakra Echo."

"What does that mean Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi stood up "nothing for now. Pakkun, can you tell where Naruto went?"

The ninken shook his head "sorry Kakashi, I got at least twenty different scents around here, finding Naruto's is literally a needle in a haystack. But his trail has followed the mercenaries to some degree, I suggest you follow them. Good chance we'll find Naruto that way."

"Alright, Gaara how are your chakra reserves?"

Gaara concentrated for a moment, one eye closed and sand covering that side of her face "I'm fine Kakashi-sensei, my Sand Eye technique is still good to use. I may not be an Uzumaki, but I'm still a jinchuriki." The group traveled in silence, only for a few moments before Gaara broke it. "May I ask a question Kakashi-Sensei?"

"What is it Gaara?"

"What happened here? Why did Uzu fight alone?"

Kakashi thought for a moment "keep in mind this was before my time okay? The official story is that by the time Konoha received reports about Uzu's situation, Uzu was pushed back to their island. Iwa and Kumo had a blockade around Uzu and we didn't have a way to get to them in time."

Now Yamato was interested "and what's the unofficial story Kakashi?"

Kakashi looked down, ashamed "No one knows why, but Kumo put a large portion of their fighting forces into the assault on Uzu. That left Iwa alone to deal with much of the front line fighting with Ame. My father wrote about it in his journals. He suspected that Uzu was denied aid so Kumo would stay away from the mainland fighting."

Yamato looked around with a new perspective. 'These people were abandoned to make the war effort easier...'

Gaara looked down, there was an old Uzu flak jacket on the ground. It was a teal color "I believe Naruto would want one of these." She picked it up "would there be a way to repair it?"

Kakashi took the flak jacket and sealed it away "there is someone in the Leaf that could do that yes. If Naruto's following the mercenaries then we will too. Pakkun?"

Pakkun nodded running off, and the group followed him. The ninken lead them through thickets and more battle fields, it was a tragedy. That came to a screeching halt as a patrol came down a road.

The trio head in the trees, watching two men walking leisurely by, "Man this is boring, when's boss man getting us out of here?" Said one holding a basic spear.

"How the hell should I know" his friend answered "quit your bitching already. he paid us double for this job."

"Well if we didn't have to follow such specific patrol path I wouldn't be bitching as much, I mean seriously why the hell did he change it the other day?"

"It is strange, making us go around the main Harbor. But hey we're getting paid by the day. So who cares?"

"Well for whatever fucken reason the upper brass decided to kidnap a freaken UCHIHA. It makes sense to use Uzu as an island hell he even found one of them Uzumaki to open the way for us. But since we gots an Uzumaki, why aren't we using him to loot this place? I mean, that came from the boss himself, but why?""

Tenzo shto Kakashi a look, he understood. First, confirmation of another Uzumaki. Which means they were capable of raiding the many hidden caches of Uzumaki artifacts. But they weren't. In fact it was an order from the top. While they were his enemy, Kakashi had respect. These guys where disciplined. Their thoughts were aligned with the patrol's. Kakashi spoke to Tenzo, using sign language known only by the Anbu. Very simple phrases, but effective silent communication.

*Plan, capture them.*

*I'll circle around, take the side kick*

Garra watched in fascination as both men shook there hands at the other in strange ways before nodding and walking in different directions. Before he left Kakashi gave Gaara a simple task "not likely but if one of them gets past us it's your job to take them down got it?"

A minute later, the two jonin hopped down from a tree, jumping on top of the patrol. It was over in seconds. "okay" Tenzo said "what now?"

"Now we tie them up and get information."

Naruto paused over a security seal, why was he doing this? Seeing his people in their final moments? Someone was leading him somewhere, and he was just following along. Where ever he was being lead the quality of the seals were improving, the last one he watched was in full color. Even here, in what he could only assume was Uzu's main port. He could see the docking stations, or what was left of them.

He stalled for a second, checking his surroundings for enemies, but he had yet to find any. He was to busy looking everywhere else to notice the blood running down his fingers. That was until it dripped right on the seal, activating it. The purple nexus was appeared, death and destruction was replaced by standing buildings, fire and battle.

Naruto jumped back startled, two people just ran by him. It was a redheaded women, wearing a ninja vest. Beside her was a young girl. It was those people from before. "Hold on my wildflower." She turned to see deep emerald eyes. Even in the circumstances she managed a smile. The little girl was younger mirror match of her mother.

"Mom I'm scared I-AHHHH" There was an explosion in a restaurant to her right. The older women picked her up, another ninja threw some shuriken to give her cover.

"Neto" she screamed over the sound of battle "what's the situation?"

Her friend had bandages wrapped around his left leg. "Not good, Captain Kusara, not good. I don't know how but Kumo nin where able to penetrate through the north side of the village. It was a massacre, all the civilians... where still trying to find any survivors."

"My daughter, get her on a boat and get her the hell away from here!"

"What are you crazy? The enemy is right outside our door, how do propose I do that?"

The now identified KUsar reached into a pouch on her vest, she pulled out a few seal tags. "I'll hold them long enough for you to get through the outer ring. All of Kumo and Iwa's ninja are coming from the eastern side, if you can get past the outer ring you'll have a safe shot to Konoha's borders."

"Kusara, listen to me that's suicide! Your daughter needs you!"

Kusara got in his face "she needs to survive!" She pulled the little girl over to her. "Hey wildflower, I need you to do me a favor." More enemy ninja were spreading into the street. "close your eyes and keep them closed okay?" She picked the girl up, she was clinging tightly to her "I'll clear the enemy, and you get to a boat okay?"

Watching her move was like watching a certified badass cleave her way through cannon fodder. Naruto was in awe, every move this woman made meant another ninja died. She cleared out twenty ninja in the blink of an eye, seal tags flinging in some direction and steel chains going everywhere else. Even her comrade was impressed.

"Kusara" he said laughing "What the hell was that?"

Kusara grinned "I'm the head of the SC corp for a reason. Now think you can get my daughter to Konoha?"

"Yeah, let me get the boat ready...and you might want to say good bye."

Kusara knelt down placing her hands on both of her daughter cheeks. "My little wildflower, you were so brave and I am so proud of you. I love you, always okay? Don't ever doubt that. You're going to go with this man now and he's going to keep you safe okay?"

"But mom..when..when will I see you again?"

"Shhh it's okay Kushina, I'll see you soon."

Naruto had been following the action up until that point. Then everything came to a shattering stop. 'Kushina...as in my mom?' Now that he looked closely Kusara could have passed off as his mom's sister from the pictures he saw.

"Now go!" Kusara stood up, helped little Kushina get into the boat and turned around "I'll keep these guys busy." Kumo shinobi showed up...alot of them.

"Don't let any of them escape!" One said, and as far as last stands go Naruto had to give first place to his grandma. The numbers didn't seem to matter to her, she was a flurry of punches, slashes, chains, seals... He never knew that one person could cause so much damage. By the time it was over, the boat was a small dot on the horizon.

But when it was over, Kusara had fallen down, she was surrounded by Kumo nin. The only thing preventing her from continuing her fight where the many projectiles sticking out of her arms and legs. The end came quick for her, her enemy wasted no energy on words, just action. The nexus faded, her remains were still there, her skull just a few meters away.

This was his grandmother. And she was a complete badass. He also noticed one man standing to the side. Where had he come from? Naruto was getting ready to attack, but the figure held up a hand "peace, please. This is no place to be fighting. There has already been enough carnage in Uzu."

"Who are you? Where's Sasuke? He better be alive!"

The man chuckled "yeah your friend is alive. I didn't want him though I wanted you."

"Me...wait but why?"

"I think proper introductions are in order." The man threw his hood back, there was a shock of red hair, that was tied into a ponytail. The man had dark green eyes, but they seemed heavy, he offered a nice smile. Naruto took a step back. This guy looked exactly like his mom, if she were a guy. "Hello Naruto, my name is Kuzaru Uzumaki, I'm your uncle. Kushina was my twin."

"Wow" Tenzo whistled, team Seven had found the mercenary camp. They where dug in deep. Even after only a few days they had managed to construct a wooden wall around their camp. From their elevated position they had a clear view of the interior though.

Kakashi's eye whizzed from one corner to the next. The are they where inhabiting was on the cost, there were no clear or visible weak spot for entry. but maybe a distraction? The camp itself was like an ant hill, busy bodies came and went, at least twenty of them.

From the few faces he could see at that distance there was no obvious threat. Watano was nowhere to be seen either. Neither was Naruto. Kakashi had a bad feeling about this.

"Hey Kakashi, you find a way to get close? We need to do some advanced recon for this one?"

"Garra" Kakashi said, not taking his eye away from the camp "do you know what you would need to do to get your sand eye over the camp?"

Garra thought for a moment. Her sand eye technique was a good scouting tool, and with her connection to Shikaku using it was second nature to her. But at the moment she had difficulty holding onto the technique after thirty meters because of her chakra control. That was why she preferred large area attacks even though she was a defensive fighter.

"Honestly it's my chakra control."

Kakashi was silent for a few minutes. "We need a distraction, something to draw out the mercenaries. I don't like their numbers, if we can get rid of even a few of them, it'll help. Tenzo you and I are going to have to go in big. Drive the fighting away from the entrance into a corner. Garra Once the attention is on us, you'll have to sneak in and find Sasuke."

Tenzo bit his lip "this could get risky Gaara. As it is, once we start our attack you're going to be on your own until you find Sasuke."

"Yes I know. I'll find him."

"That's not what Tenzo was saying Gaara. Watano said it remember? The only one they were told not to kill was Naruto. They won't be holding back against you, you need to be ready to kill someone if it comes down to it."

Gaara looked away "I figured. It won't stop me."

"Good" Kakashi stood up "we have some preparations to do. Get ready and wait for our signal.

Yanbaro yawned, guard duty was always boring no matter where they went. He looked up at the sky, the sun was just about to reach its peak. "Hey did I miss Uabi and Taki checking in or are they late?" He asked his partner.

Rataki kicked a pebble "nah I ain't seen them either. They're late, you wanna tell the boss or do you want me to tell him?"

"I'll do it, be good to stretch my legs. I-" A person was running down the road "oh hell is that Taki?"

"Help" his comrade screamed "Uabi is fighting the Konoha ninja! He needs help! They'll kill him!"

That sent Rataki running into the camp "oy the Leaf nin found us! We're under attack let's go!"

An alert went throughout the camp, bodies came running out in a horde and amidst the action no one noticed Taki slip behind a tree, and vanish in a cloud of smoke.

The few remains of of soldiers were on alert, their comrades leaving had left the area weirdly silent. There were maybe six of them left. There was nothing but nature around them. So imagine their surprise when it was not man that attacked them so suddenly, but the tree roots.

"Wood style: Wood Forest Emergence!"

The ground shook, and giant roots uplifted from the ground, tearing deep troughs into the ground. It made quick work tearing through the wall they made. Almost as quickly it went through the shoddy huts they made. By the time it got that far, most ninja were alert by now and retreating.

That was when man attacked. Three figured jumped, running attacked odd angles towards them, using vines. They were all lifting their headbands. Three became six, lightning sparkled to life in their hands They all shouted in unison "Lightning style: Lighting Beasting hunting pack!"

Five clones vanished, six blue lasers fired off at every angle, each catching a ninja by surprise. Most fell, momentarily paralyzed. Kakashi appeared in front of one ninja, catching him in the chin with his foot as he was falling. He was launched only a few inches before Kakashi was shoving his fist into the guys rib "rasengan!"

He flew further into the compound, through another hut "that's for Sasuke." One women was starting to regain use of her muscles. Tenzo slid by her "Wood style: Wood creation!" pillars of earth erupted from under her, flinging her into the same hut as her friend.

By then Kakashi had finished a long string of hand signs "Here's an original for you Earth style: Mud bombardment jutsu!" His right palm touched the grounds, and thick blobs of mud shot from the ground, his left hand threw a lit fire tag on beach blob. At least two met the remaining four head on. They were scattered into the far are of their camp.

"Alright that's enough!" Kakashi turned, Watano and his mysterious friend where there. "You guys are nothing but fodder compared to these guys without your numbers. We'll take it from here."

Gaara was impressed, when her sensei's said big they meant it. She crept her way through the camp, keeping to what bushes she could. It was almost too easy, but the she found out why. Through a open slot on the wall, to her right Gaara spotted her friend.

She didn't have a good angle of him, just a side profile. He was sat up and tied around a pole. His mouth was moving, he was talking to someone. He wasn't alone. Gaara gulped and clenched her fist. This was it. She couldn't hear Sasuke, so she got low and crawled over to the wall, only standing up once she got beside it.

"You know who my sensei's are. Why are you so confident?"

A deeper voice cackled "because it doesn't matter. Even if they can beat those two, by the time they get to me they'll be almost out of juice. They might be able to put up a good fight. Doesn't matter to me, the more they kill the more I'll get paid." He suddenly stopped talking.

"What? What are you looking at?" Sasuke asked confused.

The hairs on the back of Gaara's neck stood up. There was no thought, just pure reflex. Gaara rolled out of way. The moment she moved, the wall collapsed to silver blades cutting it to shreds, leaving sparks in the air. The man had blue eyes with a darker ripple around his pupils, waist-length green hair with two bangs on the top falling down on his cheeks on each side.

The blades he was holding were just as unique. They were a pair of swords, each with slim and straight double-edged blades. Both blades also had an upward-curved bladed prong near the tip of one side of the blade and another one near the base of the blade's other side. At their bases were smooth brown hilts with a round, grey tsuba and a grey hilt.

"Pretty good girly" he snarled "too bad really. Had it been anyone else in this group you might have been able to ambush them. Too bad you got me."

Gaara crouched down, allowing the sand on her thighs to come out of their gourds. She didn't know who this man was, but she was going to have to take him seriously. "You're confident in yourself." She said in a monotonous tone.

The man grinned "you obviously don't know who I am. But I know who you are. You're the prey of Raiga, the Fang of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist."

That declaration brought Raiga's sword to the forefront of Gaara's mind. She was rapidly trying to remember what she knew about the Seven Swordsman. The Kiba blades, one of the seven swordsman legendary blades. If the information was right, that was a Zanpakuto like Naruto's. The only dual bladed Zanpakuto recorded in existence.

Her mind went back to when Naruto was explaining it to her.

"Kiba the Twin Fang. A semi-Zanpakuto made without the full formula. It's said an earthquake shook the chamber during the ritual and split the blade in two right at the finish. This is believed to be why it was made into two Zanpakuto's the damage done during the formula force it to be in a stage between base form and shikai. This allows the blade to naturally convert the user's chakra into lightning based chakra. Because of this the blades cutting power was increased to high levels, dubbing it the 'sharpest sword in existence. No one was ever recorded having attained full shikai with this blade."

'Dangerous swords indeed.'

"Ooh wait, I do know you. You're the Kazekage's brat right? Some sand wielding chick that grew up in the Leaf right? Man some people are willing to pay a pretty penny for you. So I'll get rich off of this and you too. Ha, I might even be able to retire."

"Sorry" Gaara replied calmly "I don't intend to be in any of your future plans."

"My..my uncle?"

Kuzaru nodded, the smile never leaving his face. He motioned to the remains of a bench "please sit with me, I haven't spoken to family in a long time."

Naruto stood still though, cautious. "My dad never me my mom had a brother, let alone a twin."

"Yeah well two years after we were born Kushina was chosen to be the jinchuriki for the ninetails. We were separated. Hell our mom hardly got to see her. But then the war came. I was away and by the time I heard about Uzu..." He stopped talking. To his benefit, Naruto could see the pain he was trying to hide.

"Anyways, I couldn't get past the blockade. When the war was over and i was able to come here, in secret, I was unaware that she had left for Konoha. I thought she was dead. I settled into a small farming town on the border of Konoha and Iwa. Then word spread that the Fourth Hokage was married and expecting a child soon. You can imagine my surprise when I heard he married Kushina."

"So why did you never come to Konoha. Why did you never try to find me?"

Kuzaru frowned "I had business I had to attend to, by the time I could go to the Leaf the Nine tail's attacked. I was on the road heading when I heard the news. When I got to Konoha they where holding the funerals. I was there when they buried her. It...it took me some time to get over that."

"Fine" Naruto took a step back, but sat down in the grass "but why this? Why kidnap Sasuke to get me here?"

"Simple Naruto, as far as I know you and I are the only Uzumaki left. I can no longer have children, a price to pay for my servitude in Uzu's elite ninja corps. So you are the last hope for the Uzumaki clan. You saw all the security seals right? They were a pain to calibrate, but I thought you should see."

"That doesn't answer my question though."

"It's simple Naruto, Konoha abandoned Uzu when we needed them most, I want to see it burned to the ground. I heard you were quasi-engaged to someone, she can stay alive, but everyone else dies. Just like our family. On it's ashes we will rebuild the Uzumaki clan."

*THUNK* *THUNK* *SWOOSH*

Raiga flipped away "hehehe you got good defensives girly." Gaara was panting, her sand shield was cracked all over, holes showing the young girl behind it. She had barely been able to keep up with him. She couldn't do this fight alone. Gaara made a fist, the remnants of her sand forming into a cloud of hovering shuriken. "Oh, you think that'll work?"

"Sand Shuriken Jutsu!"

The horde of shuriken blasted themselves towards Raiga with impressive speed. But he just grinned and held his blades up, lighting sparked between the two blades and a dome of electricity covered him "Lighting style: Spark Cage!"

The shuriken met his cage, and sadly they evaporated into nothingness. "It's honestly poor luck, you getting matched up with me. Except for Watano, no one else her would be able to stop you. But using a style based in Earth chakra? Well slicing through that is my specialty."

"Yes I'm aware I match up poorly with you" Gaara grinned "that's why i waited for back up."

Raiga seized up, there was ninja wire wrapping around it, fast. It stopped with two objects being embedded into his back. Fuma Shuriken from their weight. He tried turning around "the Uchiha brat?"

"Fire Style: Fire Dragon Bullet Jutsu!" Sasuke breathed out a giant blob of fire, that morphed into the face of a dragon. It roared down the ninja wire, connecting cleanly to Raiga. The heat was intense, and the force it hit him with was impressive, for a genin.

"Heh fine Secret Technique: Lighting Dragon Tornado!" Raiga spun, and spun as fast as he could. Wind picked up around him, a small tornado formed around him. Lightning crackled and went up into the air, forming a yellow serpent like dragon. It was quick to fly straight for Sasuke.

Sasuke tried to get out of the way, but as it smashed into the ground, the lightning jumped and caught him. "Ahh!" He fell, no sooner than that Raiga was over him, his blades poised to strike his undefended back.

"Ya know, I underestimated Konoha, they're pumping out some very impressive genin."

He heaved, the world around Sasuke slowed down, it was small no more than a millisecond, but Sasuke saw the angle the blade was coming from, and was able to roll out of the way. The kiba blades' cracked the ground. Raiga snarled, but his dissatisfaction was short lived.

"What the fu-AH SHIT!"

"Sand Tsunami!" A tidal wave of glittering sand pushed Raiga away.

Sasuke for his part managed to roll against a wall. 'What the hell was that? I'm not crazy right?"

He watched Raiga swat at Gaara's shields. Every time he found an angle it was swiftly deflected , Gaara's hands a blur of motion, barely able to keep up with the swordsmen. That was supposed to be her ace, by using her hands to control the sand, she could control her sand more complexly, faster.

But Raiga wasn't using any of his fancy lightning jutsu. As good as this was, it would crumble under that kind of attacking power. 'He's conserving chakra incase Kakashi-sensei and Tenzo-sensei win. So he's not facing us at full power. We'll have to use that against him. Hopefully Naruto figures out we're here. He's our only back up. I'll just have to make sure he sees us!'

Sasuke stood up and concentrated for a second. He drew as much chakra as he could reliably control, "Fire style: Giant Fireball Jutsu!" A roaring inferno blew out of his mouth. He didn't aim right at Raiga, but for his back.

Raiga peered to his side, he made the logical choice and jumped away, but Sasuke planned for that. "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" A handful of shuriken, engulfed in flame flew from Sasuke's hand. He was aiming for the perfect shot, when Raiga would be in the air and didn't have the chance to dodge.

The fire bomb exploded onto the ground behind Raiga, lighting up every bit of timber beside it. In seconds a giant fire was ablazing, sending pillars of smoke into the sky. The fire only continued to spread, until the wooden wall, surrounding the camp was also on fire.

But Raiga's response? A wide smile, a genuine smile which terrified Sasuke. "Oh hell yeah Uchiha brat! Now we're talking." He crossed the twin Kiba blades "Lightning Style: Lightning Burial: Banquet of Lightning!"

He sliced this way and that , bolts of lightning arcing up and into the shuriken, but Sasuke's shuriken didn't stop them. They continued traveling towards Sasuke. They were too fast for Sasuke to stop. Time was slowing down again, to an even greater degree. He could tell exactly where they would hit him. He tried, but his body refused to move. Not it to was in slow motion.

He felt a force, it pushed against his shoulder. 'What?' It was Gaara. She had jumped into Sasuke, putting herself over him as cover. She was pulling on all of her sand, as much as she could grab. Putting as much of it as she could between herself and Raiga.

And to her credit it worked. The attacks pounded into, broke, chipped and pierced through the sand. But they were protected. But it happened instantaneously. He felt something sharp, something burning pierce, only an inch into his stomach.

But as he felt that pain, Gaara's eyes widened, she gasped for air, but found no strength to breath. And as that happened, all the remaining sand fell simultaneously. He could feel warm liquid, blood, spilling on his chest. "Gaara...but why?"

"Because you idiot" she mumbled, blood coming out of her mouth "I did. Now focus on him. I think I'm gonna need a minute here." With the last bit of her strength, she managed to roll over him. Her eyes rolled slightly, but she did her best to remain focused. Sasuke jumped to his feet.

"Well ain't that a shame?" Raiga whistled"Oh look at those eyes kid. Look at those eyes of yours.. I'll give you two credit though, sense your about to dye and all that. You two put up a much better fight than I expected and hey you and die knowing you unlocked those annoying eyes." Raiga got into a low stance, holding the twin Kiba in a x stance in front of him. "Lightning Style: Twin Flying Drill!" He shot forward, lightning cackling all over his body.

The lightning was definitely improving his speed, but now that he was prepared, his reflex's kicked in, he'd have enough time to pull something off. Then he saw it, his opportunity, coming in a golden shower of sand that Caught Raiga by his foot.

Gaara clenched her fist, holding on to as tightly as she could. 'That bitch is still in the fight?'

But at the precious moment, when it was decisions time Sasuke's mind failed to find the trick. The clever way in which he would put Raiga down for good. He let instinct and guts take over. He brought as much chakra as he could, fire chakra into his fist cocked back and aimed for Raiga's face. With enough force, at the right spot on his forehead, he would at the very least be concussed. He'd go from there.

His fist lit up in a smoldering ball of flame. He struck, and he landed there was a moment where Raiga's momentum met the force behind Sasuke's punch. There was a stall, Raiga hit a tree a few yards back, hard. He didn't move. Sasuke went over to inspect Gaara.

"Hey, Gaara are you good."

"Yeah" Gaara said between breaths "nothing major got hit, it took a minute but Shikaku was able to patch it up, it might scar. Lost a lot of blood though. We can't stop." Gaara reached out, her sand covering Raiga from head to toe. "we need to make...make sure he stays down...won't get another chance."

Her sand encircled Raiga, intombing him. "Sand style: Sand...Urk!" She flinched, coughing up a bit of blood. That was all the time Raiga needed.

"Surge and Strike, Kiba no Rairyu!" The tomb shook, and cracked, light poured out of them. Lighting surged from Riaga's body. The twin blades were no more, Raiga jumped up, twirling a double bladed spear. It had a the staff itself looked liked it was made from a white metal, while the blades themselves where a darkish teal color.

"What the hell?" Sasuke asked

"His shikai" Gaara said trying to puller herself up from the tree "the blades second form. But it's okay we did it, he's here." Having used the last ounces of her strength Gaara collapsed.

Naruto had both the worst and best timing. He landed on the ground beside them right after Gaara collapsed. All he saw was her fall, then he saw the blood. "GAAAAAAAAARRRRAA!"

Well that happened, next chapter should conclude the Uzu Arc. Naruto met his uncle, and the group is in a tough spot. Naruto arrives late, but don't worry you'll see what he was up too. Anyways and as ways I hope you enjoyed it

till next time!