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Naruto was walking up the steps to the waiting area, very slowly. He was holding on the railing and his breathing was ragged. Every step filled his legs with pain.
Neji had got some good shots in. Naruto chuckled to himself.
'They don't call him a prodigy for nothing.' he thought.
He grew more serious as an image of Sasuke falshed through his mind. He tightened his grip on the railing and his knuckles turned white.
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As he entered the waiting area he could see the konoha 12 minus Sasuke and Neji. When he entered the area it suddenly got very quiet.
He could tell that everyone was taking glances at him as he walked to stand next to Shikamaru. In the case of Sakura she was outright staring.
He stood next to the shadow user and asked "How's it going Shika?"
He responded in his usual monotonous voice. "Troublesome. Hey Naruto... what exactly is that thing?" He asked pointing to Seiteki who was still stretching his wings over the arena.
Naruto smiled broadly, raised two fingers to his mouth and whistled. Seiteki quickly changed direction and headed straight for his summoner.
Seiteki landed on his head once more and began to netsle into his hair.
"This is my little buddy Seiteki, he's a dragon summon." Naruto stated while looking up at his blue friend.
'A dragon summon? I didn't know dragons existed, I thought they were a myth' Shikamaru thought.
It seemed everyone else in the waiting area thought the same because none of them could take their eyes off of this living legend. As small as Seiteki was, especially conpared to the rest of his family back home, he managed to stun these young ninja into silence.
Suddenly Seiteki began to spark. Miniscule arcs jumped between the spines on his back. Seiteki reared his head back and... sneezed. All of Naruto's hair instantly puffed up giving him a sort of blonde afro.
Noise came back to the waiting area then, some of them laughed others started asking questions, enamored with this cute but dangerous creature.
Strangely, one of the loudest members of the konoha 12 was now silent. Sakura stood back watching as Naruto turned from person to person answering questions or laughing with them. She suddenly felt very alone.
'He didn't even look at me when he got up here' She thought.
Frowning she furrowed her brow and stomped up to the blonde. She grabbed him and pulled him slightly aside.
When their eyes met Naruto's smile dropped ever so slightly but no one could see that.
"Whats up Sakura?" he asked politely
Looking at her Naruto could tell she was upset about something. He simply stared at her and waited for a response.
Sakura shifted uncomfortably as he stared at her, why had she come up to him? Why did she care whether or not he greeted her? Was it because of his new found strength? or something else? These were the questions flowing through Sakura's mind and as Naruto began to speak she found an answer.
"Naruto, do you think you could help me train?" She asked with a blush. Although Sakura decided to go with strength as her answer for approaching him, there was something else gnawing at the back of her mind.
After hearing her question Naruto was out right frowning. But a sad smile came to his face, almost as if he was reflecting on something.
"You see Sakura..." He started.
"The past me would've loved to help you train but spending time with ero-sennin helped me realize something. You only ever talk to me when you want something from me."
"That's not true!" Sakura objected.
"There have been so many times where you could've genuinely become my friend, hell, I wanted us to be even more than that, but every time you shot me down. You don't get anymore second chances Sakura."
Having said his peace Naruto turned and walked away. Sakura was now painfully aware of the lack of her usual Chan suffix and it stung. Bad.
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Naruto drifted back over to Shikamaru and friends. Naruto was feeling good, When Jiraiya first explained to him how toxic Sakura was he refused to believe it, but the more he thought about it the more sense it made. He was hoping that maybe since he changed during his training Sakura would've too, but Jiraiya always said he was too optimistic.
A voice pulled him from his thoughts. "By the way, that was a pretty good fight Naruto. I might be losing my mind but I actually think you were using your head." Shikamaru joked.
Naruto laughed "I picked up a thing or two while training"
A voice was heard from down in the arena.
"The next match is between Sasuke Uchiha and Gaara of the sand, will the contestants please enter the arena." said the proctor.
Gaara was there in an instant. He had a very calm exterior but with every passing second his killing intent increased.
Both the proctor and the crowd waited silently for the Uchiha. The last of his clan, finally they would be able to see him in action.
Time continued to fly by and Naruto began to worry. 'Where is he?' Naruto thought. 'At this rate he'll be disqualified and I wont get my fight!
A full minute passed and the proctor broke the silence. "The contestant Sasuke Uchiha has failed to enter the arena and thus is disqualified from the exams."
There were shouts from the crowd, but in that moment smoke errupted from the arena's center and as it cleared it revealed a raven haired boy and his cyclops of a sensei.
"Yo... we're not late are we?" Kakashi asked nonchalantly.
"Just a little." was the proctors response. After a moment word passed down to the proctor that Sasuke Uchiha was not to be disqualified and the fight would proceed as planned.
AN: The fight was not pushed back like in cannon.
"That's a relief" Kakashi mumbled. He stepped out of the arena leaving Sasuke and Gaara to face off. Sasuke stared down his foe, not forgetting the tragedy that befell his previous opponent.
Gaara on the other hand had a calm exterior that betrayed the look in his eyes. His eyes held the look of a hungry predator and nothing else.
"Begin!" the proctor shouted.
Sasuke wasted no time and threw some kunai that were easily stopped by Gaara's sand. In an instant Sasuke vanished from sight and appeared behind Gaara, he threw a punch that mirrored the form of Rock Lee. He landed a blow to the face that sent Gaara flying.
'He's like the other one' Gaara thought.
Slowly Gaara rose to his feet and stared Sasuke down, daring him to attack once more.
Sasuke obliged. He rushed in and ducked under an attack closing the distance quickly. When he was in range Sasuke doubled Gaara over with a kick and followed up with another punch to his face.
This time however, Gaara was not sent flying, in fact he didn't move at all. The reason for this was a solid wall of sand that was being used as a brace, keeping him standing.
Sasuke tried to retreat but couldn't detatch his hand from Gaara's face. From his doubled over position Gaaras locked eyes with his prey.
His faced seemed to be melting into sand and that sand was slowly making it's way up Sasuke's arm, trapping him. Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise.
'He released his sand armor in order to trap me!' Sasuke realized.
"Did you think you could fight me like the other one? Did you think that I wouldn't adapt when a weakness was exposed?!" Gaara let out a frightening cackle as he delighted in his opponent helplessness.
Sasuke screamed in pain as the sand covering his left hand and wrist attempted to crush it. Fortunately for him the sand from just Gaara's armor wasn't able to place enough pressure to break the bone. It was fractured but not broken.
Almost simultaneously, a tendril of sand wrapped itself around his leg and threw him into the stadium walls causing it to crack.
Gaara kept up the onslaught and tried to crush Sasuke under, you guessed it, more sand. Sasuke quickly rolled out of the way and got on his feet. He continuously dodged attack after attack before reaching into his pouch, pulling as many smoke bombs as he could and tossing them into the air.
They burst and covered the battleground in thick smoke. Sasuke activated his sharingan giving him the advantage. Even through all the smoke Sasuke could see Gaara and the sand he pumped his chakra through.
Gaara was turning in every direction at every little sound looking for his opponent.
"Come out Sasuke Uchiha! Mother wants your blood!"
'What's wrong with this guy?' Sasuke thought. He quickly thought of a plan and reached into his bag for another kunai. Recalling the terrain, He could distinctly remember some trees that stood tall on the other side of the arena.
Sasuke pictured his surroundings as best as he could and tied a paper bomb to his kunai. Launching the kunai across the arena Sasuke allowed himself a moments celebration as he heard the thunk of a kunai hitting wood.
Gaara quicky turned to this sound showing his back to Sasuke and as the paper bomb exploded, two things happened.
One, Sasuke began to charge up his trump card.
Two, Gaara began to wildly attack anything he could in the direction the explosion came from, laughing as he did. After a minute of attacking without hearing any screams of death and pain Gaara stopped to listen once more.
He turned to a new sound that was coming from behind him. It sounded like chirping birds and it was getting closer very quickly. Through the smoke Gaara could see a blue glow screeching toward him, and before he could react it was in front of him.
Sasuke reared back and attempted to pludge his arm through his opponents chest but at the last moment a pillar of sand shot up slowing down the attack significantly.
Sasuke's hand went through the pillar and stopped just before Gaara's heart, drawing blood in the process. Sasuke was stuck once more but Gaara was too stunned to take advantage.
Gaara stared down as he felt a warm liquid touch his skin. He finally came to the realization that he was bleeding.
Suddenly Gaara let out the loudest most blood curdling scream that made everybody's hairs stand on end. Even the kage were standing at full attention now, although for different reasons.
Sasuke gulped and his heart started to race as he futilely struggled to escape.
The sand began to move erratically in every direction with most of it swirling around Gaara as he continued to scream.
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Temari, kankuro and their sensei Baki were in the stands dumbfounded as to what just happened. They had shot out of their seats in panic after seeing Sasuke use his Chidori.
"He hurt him! He actually hurt him!" Temari exclaimed.
"This isn't good! He wouldn't transform right now would he?!" yelled Kankuro
"Let's hope not. The entire operation hinges on Gaara. Transformation this early would be disastrous. We just aren't ready, and if that boy is anything to go on, the leaf shinobi are tough." Baki calmly stated.
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Gaara had never stopped screaming and as he continued, the screams became more pained and animalistic. His sand seemed to be consuming him now. It crawled out from the gourd on his back onto the right side of his face and down his right arm, morphing him into a half human half sand beast.
The sand was gathering around Gaara and molding onto his body. What was holding Sasuke hostage had retreated to form part of Gaara's transformed arm.
Although he was free, Sasuke could only stare at the monster that stood before him. The killing intent radiating off of him was palpable. Gaara's half demonic face looked up and locked eyes with Sasuke.
One of his eyes was yellow and his teeth on that side had been elongated into razor sharp knives. Sasuke could feel that eye gazing into him, promising one thing.
Death.
Sasuke gulped and took a step back. In that same instant Gaara swung his transformed arm through the air, batting Sasuke away like a fly.
Sasuke's body soared through the air and rolled to a stop on the ground. The power of that one swipe was enough to crack ribs.
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Everyone in the stands were buzzing with excitement, waiting to see what would happen next. They were all wondering if Gaara was even human and if the Uchiha boy still had a chance.
Strangely, feathers to began to fall in front of their faces, and their excitement was replaced by a drowsey feeling. One by one citizens began to fall into a deep sleep.
Higher level ninja like Kakashi and perceptive genin like shikamaru quickly dispelled the genjutsu.
Unfortunately in Naruto's case, he was sleeping with his face on the dirty floor. On the other hand, Seiteki was still up and about. The dragon delivered a small shock to Naruto jolting him back into the real world.
"Whaaa...?" was what Naruto mumbled out.
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"That's the signal to move out. Prepare yourselves." Baki said as he prepared for battle.
"But wait it's still too early! There's no way that all of our forces are prepared for the assault yet!" Temari shrieked.
Baki gave his student a hard glare.
"The signal was given, now it's time for you to do your job!"
Temari was shaking, her nerves were all over the place. Regardless, she grabbed her fan and got ready.
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Sand and sound shinobi began to pour out of their hiding places, clashing with the leaf shinobi. At the sight of this the third hokage prepared himself for what he knew would come next.
In that moment the "kazekage" attacked and the battle was on.
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Naruto was slowly rising up from the floor trying to comprehend what was happening. There were tiny skirmishes breaking out all over the stadium, but why?
"Naruto!" he heard a voice yell. It was Sakura, she was running toward him.
"What's happening?" Naruto frantically asked.
"The sand and sound are attacking the village! Kakashi sensei told me to go around and break as many people out of the genjutsu as I can."
'So that's what put me to sleep' Naruto thought.
He looked around and focused his gaze in the center of the arena. The fight between Sasuke and Gaara was still raging on and it was not looking good for Sasuke.
Without saying another word to Sakura he leaped over the railing and down into the arena with Seiteki following close behind.
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Sasuke was getting battered. He just couldn't compete with the power of Gaara's transformation. He dodged as many hits as he could but there was no end in sight.
In an open field like this with nowhere to hide and no way to retreat all Sasuke could do was survive.
Suddenly, for the first time Gaara stopped his relentless attacks and turned to catch a kunai in his sand arm. In the next second there was an explosion and the sand was blown off of his arm.
Naruto landed next to Sasuke. "You alright?" he asked.
Gaara glared with pure hatred at the blonde ninja as his arm reformed.
"I didn't ask for your help" Sasuke said.
"But you needed it." Naruto replied.
He sent a glare over to Naruto but noticed Seiteki sitting on his head. He blinked and for a moment wondered if he was seeing things. In the end he decided to ask about it later.
"Seiteki" Naruto whispered "Get his other arm."
Seiteki nodded and quickly fired an electric shot that slammed into Gaara's regular arm. Pain shot through his body but was dampered on his transformed side.
Naruto quickly activated his electric cloak and kicked Gaara in the head, which caused him to stumble a bit. Sasuke didn't miss the opening and rushed in the plant his foot in Gaara's chest sending him tumbling backwards.
As Gaara got back on his feet Naruto and Sasuke continued to keep up the pressure. Their string of combo attacks finally ended with Sasuke kicking the back of his leg to bring him to his knees and Naruto following up with a hard kick to Gaara's face.
They both stepped back. They were breathing hard, but felt proud of themselves and of their teamwork.
But alas, Gaara rose to his feet once more. There was glint in his bloodshot eye, like he was enjoying this. More and more sand began to latch onto his body, leaving only his legs exposed and forming a tail.
"I think we made him angry" Naruto quipped.
"Why won't he just stay down?!" Sasuke shouted.
Gaara placed both his hands on the ground in front of him and took up a strange position.
Naruto realized what he was going to do but it was too late. "Oh, shit" was his only thought.
It played like slow motion in his head. Gaara propelled himself forward using his arms, shooting past Naruto and grabbing Sasuke in his hands. Gaara continued to soar through the air until he slammed Sasuke into the concrete walls.
Naruto heard the impact before he could even turn around to see what happened. As he turned to see, Gaara punched Sasuke with all his might, pushing him deeper into the hole in the concrete and knocking him unconscious.
Gaara was about to keep going until the Uchiha was dead but he was hit by one of Seitekis attacks. He turned to look at Naruto, completely unfazed.
Gaara's yellow, inhuman eyes glowed with murderous intent as he prepared to repeat what he'd just done. But as he took the same stance, he suddenly began to scream incoherently.
"Yes mother..." he said shakily after some time.
"Sleep possum jutsu."
Gaara errupted into a mountain of sand that took the form of a gargantuan tanuki. It was shukaku the sand spirit.
Naruto looked up at this beast with a sense of hopelessness. Unconsciously, he glance at his wrist. The sleeve was rolled back just enough to expose Chishiki's mark. They were his last hope, but it would take almost everything he had to summon them.
Naruto pulled back his sleeve, bit his thumb and wiped the blood across all three marks. There were two giant poofs of smoke and Naruto dropped to his hands and knees, completely exhausted.
In front of him stood Chishiki and Chikara in all their magnificence. Seeing these two stand in front of him, he felt hope return to his heart.
Breathing heavily Naruto mumbled "I still have a chance."
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