Chishiki and Chikara stood proudly side by side in front of Naruto, as if they were his shields protecting him from harm.
Chishiki stood calmly and seemed to be prepared for anything. Chikara on the other hand, seemed estatic. He was almost bouncing with excitement.
"The first time you summon me and you pit me against Shukaku? I'm beginning to like you brat!"
"You seem very pleased brother." Chishiki noted.
"Of course I am, it's been too long since my last true fight." Chikara stated.
Naruto was still on the ground observing the two dragons before him. It was then he realized there was a brother missing.
"Hey, where's Jaakuna?" He asked.
Chishiki turned to him upon hearing the question.
"You attempted to summon all of us at once but did not have enough chakra. You are now suffering from minute chakra exhaustion. Notice the ragged breathing and fatigue."
"So summoning you two took everything I had? Then... will I ever be able to summon him?!" Naruto said as an image of the dragon king flashed through his mind.
"In any case, I recommend you sit back and let us handle the threat. We are not at full strength without our brother but we should be able to handle the one tails."
Naruto nodded his head and slowly made his way over to where Sasuke was still imbedded in the wall. As he approached the battle between beasts had begun but he ignored it for the moment.
Naruto dropped down and pulled Sasuke out of his hole and checked his pulse. Naruto let out a sigh of relief upon feeling a slow but steady pulse.
With the thought of Sasuke's untimely death out of his mind, he now focused his attention on the battle unfolding before him.
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As Naruto was making his way towards Sasuke, Shukaku and the dragons sized each other up. Chikara and Chishiki were smaller than Shukaku but they had many advantages. For one, there were two of them. They were also much more agile and together they had sufficient fire power.
Within an instant the battle roared to life and every living creature in the area could feel the power emanating from these three.
Chikara was the first to attack, spitting out a fireball that exploded upon contact with Shukaku's face sending blackened sand in every direction. The damage was minimal and regenerated in a matter of seconds. It would take much more to take down one of the bijuu.
Shukaku responded by hurling dense balls of sand at an incredible speed towards the two dragons. Reacting quickly they both took to the skies to dodge the attack. The sand impacted the ground, sending dirt and rocks many feet into the air.
Without hesitation Chikara exhaled white hot flames that engulfed Shukaku as he tried his best to block it with his arm.
Chishiki held back and watched intently, analyzing his opponent before deciding on the best course of action.
As Chikara's flames died down he was preparing to dive in and shatter the glass that was created, but upon closer inspection Shukaku's arm had only been blackened and was smoking slightly.
Chikara, seeing that his flames were ineffective, quickly retreated and met up with Chishiki to see if he came up with anything.
"His sand is more heat resistant than I thought, what can we do?" Chikara asked.
"I thought I told you to consult with me before attacking." Chishiki said slightly irritated.
They quickly had to seperate in order to dodge a powerful air bullet shot from below.
Chikara deadpanned and asked "Is this really the time?"
"I suppose not. In any case if your flames do not work we must work together. If we combine our breath attacks then we may be able see significant results."
"You use too many fancy words brother."
"Yes, yes I know" he said exasperated.
Suddenly Shukaku's arm cut through the air, nearly knocking Chikara out of the sky. Chishiki looked down in confusion, as they should've been out of his range for physical attacks.
The arm fell back down to the ground causing the ground to shake. Chishiki could see that it was disturbingly long. Evidently Shukaku had taken the sand from his other arm and moved it to make one extremely long arm-like lasso.
He continued to fling this monstrosity into the air cackling like a mad man while he did it. It cut through the air with surprising speed and would do serious damage if it actually connected.
Luckily for the dragon duo Shukaku somehow managed to hit himself in the head while the arm fell back down to earth, causing him to get angry and throw it into the arena wall instead.
"He's insane." Chishiki noted.
30 feet to the right of where Naruto was sat with Sasuke, the arena wall exploded. Shukaku's casual toss of his arm had obliterated the solid concrete barrier.
Naruto's heart was pounding and he desperately wanted to move to a safer area but he didn't have the energy and he didn't want to leave Sasuke unattended. He could not believe the power that this creature held and was also amazed that his summons were holding out.
He moved his attention to the surrounding area, the sand and sound shinobi were being dealt with slowly and their numbers were dwindling. Naruto's eyes widened for a moment as he realized something.
The Kage seats were empty and that only meant one thing. He searched every inch in his immediate vicinity before seeing some explosions going off on a nearby rooftop. He could vaguely make out two figures clashing.
Naruto's heart seemed to stop.
'Jiji is strong but he's too old to fight! If that's really him over there why is no one helping?!'
Naruto was ripped from his worries by a feeling of life threatening danger and his attention was brought back to the battle between beasts.
Chishiki and Chikara were trying to keep their distance. They felt Shukaku gathering power and wanted to be cautious.
Orbs of blue and red were gathering together to form a dark sphere in front of Shukaku's mouth. They ccould tell from the look of this thing that being hit by it meant certain death.
Shukaku had completely formed the orb and aimed it at Chikara, who was going to begin flying up into the clouds as to not be seen.
His ascent was cut short however as something grabbed onto one of his legs. A stiff pillar of sand had extended from where Shukaku threw his arm and was keeping him in place.
Chikara struggled to escape and even tried once again to utilize his flames but Shukaku launched his attack. The bijuu bomb, this orb of pure destructive energy was hurtling towards Chikara and for the first time he felt completely powerless.
As the bijuu bomb was mere inches from his body, he errupted into smoke and disappeared. Naruto had sent him back to the throat of the world.
The sphere of death continued on into the air and exploded, blasting away every cloud in the sky.
Although he was relieved his brother had escaped in time, now Chishiki was left alone to face off against the one tails.
'My chances of success have dropped significantly' He thought.
He had an idea but without Chikara it would be much harder.
Shukaku seemed to be celebrating the fact the he "killed" Chikara and Chishiki took this moment to land next to Naruto.
"I need your help, do you know any fire jutsu?" he said cutting to the chase.
"No, but..." Naruto looked down at Sasuke.
He knelt down and shook the boy while also yelling in his ear. Surprisingly, even after the damage he took, Sasuke awoke looking confused.
"Sasuke we need your help, can you stand?"
He was dazed and flinching from the pain, and then he saw what Gaara had become. He couldn't believe that monster used to be a person.
He was also completely astounded at the sight of a giant lizard with wings. It wasn't even the fact that dragons were real that caused him to falter, but more that in the presence of this creature, the power of human shinobi seemed insignificant.
Naruto's words finally sunk in and he nodded.
Sasuke slowly began to rise, using the wall as support. He could feel his muscles aching and every draw of breath caused him pain.
As he righted himself he asked "What do you need me for?"
"We should get off the ground first, I will inform you afterwards."
Chishiki quickly scooped them up and tossed them onto his back before taking off once again. He soared above Shukaku's head which caused the bijuu to refocus his attention.
Shukaku was quick to resume attacking and shot four air bullets hoping to knock Chishiki out of the sky.
"Hang on tight!"
Chishiki rolled left and right to avoid the attacks and when he saw an opportunity he struck. The dragon brother opened his mouth and something began to take form, gathering in front of his maw.
It shaped into a point, almost like a bullet, but it seemed to chill the air around it. As a matter of fact the moisture in the air was freezing upon contact and wisps of chilling smoke fell off it before dissipating.
Naruto was amazed at the sight before him.
'It's an ice attack! I thought dragons only used fire. I can't wait to learn more!' Naruto thought.
Chishiki propelled the icicle forward, and then he shot another and another. Each one pierced Shukaku's body and crashed into the ground behind him, leaving gaping holes in their wake.
But the sand spirit, ever resilient, stood unfazed as the holes in his body closed slowly.
'It is as I feared, we need a way to destroy the whole body at once.'
"How can we do that? He's huge!" Naruto exclaimed.
'This is where your friend comes in. If he combines his fire with my ice--"
"The water will melt his body!" Naruto interrupted.
"Precisely"
Sasuke stayed silent. This was all so strange to him, almost as if he was dreaming. Dragons and monsters? It just seemed so unreal. But there he was, hundreds of feet off the ground and on the back of a talking dragon... Maybe he was dreaming.
"Can you do it Sasuke?" Naruto roused him from his thoughts.
"What?"
"Can you use your fire with his ice?"
Sasuke was about to say "I don't know" that he wasn't sure he had the chakra, but there was something about the way Naruto was looking at him. Like he was trying to figure out exactly how strong Sasuke was, trying to figure out if he was better.
Sasuke grew determined and nodded, he then moved to stand on Chishiki's head, better positioning himself for what was to come.
"Ready" Sasuke said.
Chishiki unleashed a wave of what looked like smoke, but in reality it was trillions upon trillions of tiny, razor sharp ice shards. An attack like that would quickly rend the flesh off of any who stood in its path.
Sasuke immediately went through the hands signs and released his flames. The combination attack resulted in a torrent of water crashing down onto the tailed beast, soaking into his body and causing it to slide and shift unnaturally.
"Get your nasty liquids off me!" Shukaku roared
Sasuke's flames began to die down but Naruto couldn't let that happen, the sand demon was still standing. Naruto placed his hand on Sasuke's back and instantly the Uchiha could feel it.
It felt like two bodies of water being connected, except that Naruto's was vastly larger than his own. Even though Naruto was also running low on chakra Sasuke could feel just how cavernous his reserves really were.
'When did you get this strong?' Sasuke wondered.
The flames roared back to life as what was left of Naruto's chakra came rushing in. The water continued to pour down on Shukaku who futility tried to escape. His limbs were crumbling, barely holding together and he continued to rant all the while.
Finally, Naruto and Sasuke gave out, panting and out of breath they peered down to see a huge uneven pile of wet sand. Some parts of the pile were towered up and huge and the rest was almost flat.
Chishiki seemed very pleased with himself but Naruto and Sasuke were too tired to even celebrate.
Sasuke seemed to have it worse, his eyes were heavy and it looked like he was going to fall unconscious once again.
"You okay?" Naruto asked.
"Not dead...Just...don't drop me." Sasuke droned out. He let sleep take him and went limp.
Naruto snorted at the thought of Sasuke falling off Chishiki but held him securely.
"We should land now" Naruto said.
Chishiki obliged and landed in the arena where there was the least sand. Naruto hopped off his back and set Sasuke down to rest. Suddenly he heard a rumbling.
It was coming from the largest pile of sand. As Naruto stared at it he could see it moving slightly, and then he could see yellow eyes peering at him.
Shukaku was still alive!
His limbs were all but dissolved, his face was disfigured and his body was halfway melted into the ground but he was still there. Somehow this dissolved, melted version of Shukaku was even more terrifying than the original.
The sand where Shukaku's mouth would be began to part slowly and just like before blue and red orbs began to gather.
Chishiki acted quickly, blowing out his chilling smoke and flapping his wings to spread the cold faster. The effect was almost instant, The water soaked in Shukaku was rapidly chilled and he began to frost over, causing the attack to stop.
Naruto let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and thanked Chishiki before moving to finish the fight once and for all. He searched through Sasuke's pouch and grabbed all the explosive tags he could and combining them with his own he rolled them into a ball of death.
Naruto aimed for Shukaku's still open mouth and chucked the explosives in.
"Kobe" Chishiki muttered.
"What?"
"Nothing"
Naruto quickly dismissed the strange comment and activated the bomb. Energy errupted out from Shukaku's belly sending frozen sand flying in every direction and finally destroying the tailed beasts body. Gaara was also shot out of the sand, he was unconscious and wasn't going to wake up any time soon.
Unfortunately for our favorite blonde knucklehead, there is no rest for the weary and in the same moment that Gaara hit the ground, an explosion came from that building he'd noticed before.
He could feel the pressure wave slam into his chest and he realized then that the battle taking place was far beyond his skill level.
Even so, the thought of losing one of his precious people caused him to make rash decisions. He hopped onto Chishiki's back and took off towards the mayhem.
"I'm on my way jiji"