Woohoo, prepare for a chapter long battle of termendous confusion! Yay! I followed pretty close to the battle in the movie, mostly because my fight scenes suck... badly... So I needed a little help

King Kyuubi

Chapter 6

By Mirazhe1

Hinata dashed through the thick undergrowth, panting heavily and looking about with her Byakugan. Truly, would it be that hard to find a giant fox, who's chakra burned at her eyes even without activating her bloodline? He should be a bright beacon in the dark with it on, yet Naruto had totally disappeared. Not even an hour ago, right after she had taught him Kage Bunshin, his ears had perked before growling and leaping away without a word. And left her all alone.

And here Hinata was now, desperately looking for anyone, anyone at all, be it Kiba or Naruto. Well... Anyone, other than that rather large Komodo Dragon looking creature that was currently ripping out the intestines of some poor animal gluttonously before her. Hinata froze, a deer in the headlights and tensed silently as the creature continued ripping apart his meal. Flesh and blood splattered across it's muzzle messily as it tore away. Hinata backed away slowly, wide eyed, her sandals silent against the forest floor.

The creature perked, head in the air as it had no ears to swivel round as Hinata backed up behind a large tree, keeping her trademark eyes on the thing. She finally turned, feeling safe, her back to the tree...

Only to see another of the creatures before her, hissing sinisterly. They both paused, as if wondering if the thing before them was actually there, before Hinata bolted and the creature rushed forward. She counted her escape routes as she chucked a few kunai at the creature, embedding themselves into its nose as it roared in pain, only quickening its advances. She couldn't run up a tree: they were too tall, and she was too exhausted from teaching Naruto and searching the forest to use chakra. She needed to find a hiding place, or loose the monster. Too tired to do the former, she decided on the later.

She spotted an old decayed log, covered in moss and rotting, and dove in. The creature followed, hardly regarding it was too big for the passage and merely plowed into the rotting wood, crumpling it. Dark, moist dirt from the recent rain was thrown about as the creature struggled forward and Hinata scrambled back.

Finally, as it was finally upon her, the creature gave a squeal of pain as it was drug back out of the log, crying loudly and clawing at the ground. It was lifted in the air, high above the log from what Hinata could see from it's squirming upper body as it hung there. With a sickening 'crunch' and 'squeltch', it hung still, dangling. With a few more popping sounds, it was lifted out Hinata's normal range of sight.

Stunned, and still laying in the moist dirt, Hinata gazed out the opening of the log. Could it be another predator... But no. Another predator wouldn't protect her like that... It had to be her Naruto-kun come to save her again! Of coarse! She scrambled out of the log happily, before gazing about at the empty forest rather confused. She tensed, hearing a rumbling behind her, before she slowly turned and looked up... and up...

Before her, looking fat and pleased, sat a huge sand coloured raccoon-dog, easily as tall as Naruto, and easily bigger than him in mass and fat. It's erie golden eyes swiveled and focused on her behind a blue tattoo covered face. In its sharp jaws, lay the dead creature, now looking rather small compared to the coon before her.

Hinata bolted once again as sand seemed to eject from the racoon's body and shoot after her. She dodged left and right, avoiding the sand like a plague, the actual coon following behind slowly as it dragged its huge weight with it, eating the poor creature as it followed. So huge and, dare I say, fat it was, trees groaned and crashed to the ground, contrary to Naruto's method of weaving in and out of the trees, bending them away and breaking the bare minimum. It's large foot crushed the rotten log as it sped up, if possible, advancing after the dashing Hinata with sinister interest.

Tiny golden eyes stared at her blearily as the coon's large head swept down and snapped at Hinata, large jaws chomping. Hinata leapt forward, feeling the rush of hot breath from the huge raccoon demon. She took the high ground at the top of the cliff, while it took the low road, running on all fours just beside her. It seemed to be playing, as its giant maw laughed in it's own way. Sand shot out at her from the tanuki's body forcing the fearful Hyuuga to leap every which way. She pitched a handful of shuriken at it, only for them to be flung back at a flick of sand.

The ground leveled once again and Hinata was once again on level with the demon's ankle. Too busy looking over her shoulder at the horrible beast, she failed to notice the drop before her and she went sliding down a muddy hill.

"A... Ahh..." Surprised, she curled in tight as she was battered and slapped by over hanging tree branches. Finally at the end of the embankment, she stumbled to her feet looking about as she heaved air in and out. Above her, just through the trees, the coon thundered about, teeth clamming open and closed hungrily. She ran on and finally stumbled to a stop at the top of a cliff and hunched down, exhausted, on a log overhanging the drop. The raccoon clambered on as she watched cautiously. To her horror, it paused and began to split down the middle, until it was totally two beings clambering about. They disappeared, no doubt looking for her and she used the serene moment to catch her breath.

Sitting on her heels, she peered over a branch sticking out of the log she crept upon to find the coon completely gone. She crept forward quietly down the log and hardly noticed the huge head raising up next to her.

She did, however, see it as she activated her Byakugan to look about, watching in horror as the tanuki copy opened it's huge maw and snapped at her. Hinata rolled out of the way, grasping on the log's moss as the raccoon shouldered and shook it violently. Sand began to slowly creep round the log, searching for her hungrily. She screamed loudly as she was thrown off, grasping desperately at the edge of the log over the long drop. The demon gazed at her evilly until the cracking of trees bending caught both of their attention. Naruto jumped over the tree tops high above with a mighty roar and landed on top of the raccoon.

It stumbled, it's huge footsteps thundering as it leaned against the log, jarring Hinata and causing her to fall. Naruto rolled off the huge raccoon until he was balanced on his back, catching the falling Hyuuga in a tail...

Only to yank it out of the way once again as the raccoon took a snap at her. The tanuki stumbled, over balanced, and fell over Naruto. The fox rolled, breath knocked from him from the tanuki's huge weight, shouldering the other demon off him. He pounced back to all fours, snarling lowly, yet gently holding Hinata in a tail.

Naruto leapt forward and clawed upward powerfully, grasping at his enemy's throat. The tanuki's hand-paws flew up and grasped Naruto's wrist, snarling. Behind them, the copy (or was it the original?) came clambering out from the trees and spotted them. It ran forward, Hinata watching in horror.

"N-No.." She started weakly. "NARUTO-KUN!!" Naruto's long face turned, looking over his shoulder.

"This Naruto sees him... Hinata-chan.." Growling, he pulled Hinata out of the way as the tanuki took a mouthful of tails instead. Hinata gasped, grasping Naruto's tail worriedly. Naruto-kun..

With a snarl, Naruto twisted his lithe body powerfully, sending the two tanuki stumbling back. Naruto retreated slowly, eyeing the enemy as they advanced, grinning.

"N-Naruto-kun..." He hardly spared her a glance, he was glaring at the enemy so intensely.

"They are...strong, Hinata-chan. Gaara no Ichibi... Tanuki is always hungery... This Naruto... doesn't think he can beat him..." He began to tense slowly, raising his tails with Hinata along with them.

"I.. I th-think you can.. Naruto-kun..." Naruto blinked, his head cocked as he looked up at her. He seemed to pause, thinking. This little... human. This human accepted and acknowledged him. Him, a demon!

Yes, Naruto, however primitive, knew of demons and humans. How humans feared him and would never accept him. And demons, most being sinister and evil, would never be at peace with him. He was alone, unacknowledged with no precious people to protect.

Many demons Naruto knew, such as Gaara (if he had ever gotten the other demon to be sane enough to have a conversation. The tanuki had only gone downhill with the passing of his uncle and the attempted murder of him from his father for dominance over their territory), would have scoffed in their own way at his petty interest in the little humans. All his life he had only known the devil worshipers of the island, from spying at them from behind the wall, but they interested them, with their odd way of communicating and cooperation with one another to build their own (in his mind) advanced technology. However, they wholeheartedly feared them and gave them sacrifices. These sacrifices never lasted long with his undying interest in them.

Naruto was unashamed to admit he wanted to be one of them.

With demons, they would never be together, always at one another's throats. Naruto wanted companionship, he knew, to have precious people.

Precious people he could protect.

And now he had one.

"... Naruto Thanks you Hinata-chan." Naruto twisted once again, as a third tanuki, no.. Gaara, came bursting out of the dense trees and snapped at Hinata. He was sent into a furious dance, dodging sand and claws, and attacking all three clones. Available tails lashed out at them all, yet Naruto kept his distance, carefully transferring Hinata from his last tail to his awaiting hand like paw; he needed all the tails he had. Chakra gathered and lashed out of them like flaming whips, pushing back Gaara as he advanced. Large bursts of Naruto's chakra dispelled the sand before it got close. One tanuki quickly broke through the defenses as his sand was ineffective, ignoring the tails, and managed to charge in. Naruto caught his neck in the long furry appendage and sent it flying back as a second charged forward.

Naruto raised his free hand, charging an insane (to Hinata's wide eyes) amount of chakra to them. He slashed across at the clone, his angry red chakra trailing through the air. The clone screamed and staggered back. The third Gaara made his appearance, clamping down on the arm occupied by Hinata and clawing at Naruto's exposed torso. Leaning back on his haunches, Naruto's free clawed hand raised and came down upon the Gaara clone's head. It squealed in pain and retreated. Naruto roared triumphantly; no one was to eat his Hinata!

His tails, if possible, seemed to become more powerful and began whipping around once again. They clubbed each tanuki heavily, sending them flying back with a thundering fall. An angry tail finally wrapped itself round a tree and dislodged it. Holding it up, he brought it down like a spear onto the clone's head, dispelling it in a wave of sand.

One down.

Too distracted, he didn't notice another clone come charging forward, running much faster than its huge weight should allow. Hinata did see though. She screamed as Gaara chomped down on Naruto's shoulder. The clone itself seemed to explode as all the sand in it's body shot out and began to wrap round the giant fox.

Naruto roared in pain, thrashing. He rolled, sending both him, the clone, and Hinata tumbling down a small hill on top of the remaining clone. Hinata was sent flying, screaming fearfully, as Naruto's grip loosened, but was quickly caught again in a tail. The clones landed on top, making quick work to their feet and began attacking Naruto. Their sand shot out, binding and slowly squeezing at him as they continued to tear at him. Hinata whimpered in fear for her friend, temporarily forgotten at the end of the tail as both clone's attacked Naruto's torso. With a roar, he shoved them both off, bleeding heavily from many wounds even as they quickly began to close. One clone went tumbling farther down the hill, crashing through foliage and trees until it clawed it's way to a stop. The other, still with Naruto, shot sand at the injured fox.

Naruto dodged and leapt forward, long maw clamping down on Gaara's neck. His tails wrapped around him, clawing at his shoulders for a grip. They went stumbling down the hill roughly, their fall broken with many trees and large boulders. The clone found them once again and managed to take a powerful swipe with it's tail at Naruto's upper torso. It connected, and Naruto was sent flying back, hitting the other Gaara and pushing them both over a rather conveniently placed cliff at the end of the hill. Gaara went rolling off, while Naruto managed to grab the edge of the cliff with a single hand, dangling dangerously.

The Gaara clone advanced to the edge of the cliff and looked down. Naruto's hand shot out, chakra in it extending like a whip. The chakra hand clasped at the clone's neck and pulled him over the cliff with a mad roar.

But it wasn't done yet.

Sand shot up from the chasum and made a death grip around Naruto and squeezed. He roared, clawing desperately at the edge of the cliff, but the weight was too much. With a screech and a scream, both Naruto and Hinata went tumbling off the cliff.

The fall was rough as could be, with hanging vines snapping and jerking them as both them and Gaara were caught in them. In the descent, Naruto's tail had loosened and Hinata was left free falling. The thick vines quickly caught her as Naruto continued to descend until both he and Gaara came to a grinding stop as the vines finally held. Hinata swung about as bats were disturbed from their rest, flittering about irritably. She looked down worriedly as Naruto continue to batter Gaara in the swinging vines.

But she had her own giant tanuki to worry about, as she looked across the chasum and spotted the clone, ever so tangled in the vines before her. The clone (or was it the real Gaara?) looked at her blearily, interested. It struggled for a moment, but was too tangled to free his arms. In a moment of inspiration though, he pushed against the cavern wall and began to swing slowly. Hinata watched in horror as he advanced, large jaw open and ready. At the peak of his swing, sand shot out yet missed as bats continued to flutter about and confuse his aim. He swung back toward the wall to get another push.

Hinata struggled, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Naruto look up from his own battle toward her worriedly.

Push. Swing. Snap. Retreat.

Naruto snarled, gave his own Gaara one last slash in the face, and began climbing the walls, sharp talons digging into the stone. The Gaara below, that he had been battling, roared, quite too tangled to try to follow, yet his sand followed after. With a burst of chakra from Naruto though, that was easily changed.

Luckily the swinging tanuki's weight was working against him, making it a rather trying thing to push against it; with the bats continuing to fitter about, it was hard to aim his sand properly. But now he had enough speed and with his great jaw open wide, Hinata was heading toward it...

Until Gaara was pulled down, as Naruto hung from his tail. They all went falling down, albeit slowly as the vines slowed their fall. Hinata jerked and fell, grappling for anything she could grab onto...

And that thing just so happened to be Gaara's upper fangs. Hot breath played with her hair as the tanuki was hanging upside down now, suspended by the vines. They hung just above the other Gaara, who looked up in interest at this new proposition. The second one, below them, leaned up and snapped at the dangling Hinata. She screeched in surprise and curled her legs up.

Unfortunately, the face she hung upon finally noticed as his jaw snapped shut. With a scream, she was falling again. Naruto's tails lashed out, trying to catch her but it was futile. She finally landed with a plop on the lower Gaara's forehead. Gaara roared, furious that this bug would attatch to HIS forehead, his tail lashing out in an attempt to knock her off. His sand flew about furiously, but it was quickly dispelled by well planned bursts of Hinata's chakra (an idea she gratefully borrowed from Naruto).

Above, Naruto struggled with his own Gaara, scratching and biting, until he finally swung the other demon into the chasum wall, crushing it in another wave of sand.

Two down. One to go.

Hinata fell along with her Gaara as the vines finally snapped under his termendus weight. With a screech, she flew off of Gaara's face at the impact into a nicely placed puddle of water. Sopping wet, she stumbled to her feet and ran to open ground to a grassy field. The huge raccoon-dog looked down at her as she prepared herself, laughing.

The laughing quickly stopped though, as Naruto flew through the air and landed behind Hinata in a roaring thunder. Both demons stood off for a moment, panting with excursion. While Gaara looked relatively unscathed, even without her Byakugan, Hinata could sense his chakra was a good chunk lower. Kyuubi, whose chakra was still sky rocketing (which was amazing, considering all of the huge bursts of chakra), was littered in cuts and gashes that were ever so slowly healing... A little too slowly for her tastes. His fur was rather disheveled and pools of blood were splattering below him.

And that's all they did. They stood, glaring at one another, growling and panting. Hinata slowly backed up until she finally stood between Naruto's front legs. With the silent truce, both demons sat back to catch their breath tending to wounds.

"Naruto-kun," Hinata said, looking up at said demon as he licked a particularly nasty gash on his shoulder. He blinked and looked down at her. "Y-you're in-injured..." Bright blue eyes smiled despite the situation as he chuckled.

"Naruto is."

"It's m-my f...fault. Im s-sorry." Naruto blinked at her, pausing. He sent a glance to Gaara.

"Faawwulllt?" This new word confused him

"Because of m-me, you w-were hurt. If I had been st-stronger.." Naruto looked down at her oddly, his lower fang poking over his top lip cutely.

"But.. Hinata-chan... you, are Naru- ...my prre...cious person. I'll prrotect you," he answered with a foxy smile for his statement, but also that he had finally grasped the subject of pronouns. Hinata blinked up at him, tears pricking the corners of her blank eyes.

Good things never last.

But Naruto-kun was to strong to be defeated.

"Naruto.. kun..." She was cut off at Gaara's roar. Naruto roared back. Little did Hinata know, they were talking, in their own way, Gaara claiming for blood, and Naruto claiming Hinata was his. With a mighty leap that sent Hinata stumbling to the ground, Naruto was gone, charging at the tanuki. Gaara's sand flew out and surrounded the fox. He dodged every which way, but it was futile and the sand flew in, compressing around him. Hinata looked on in horror as the ball of sand slowly shrank, squeezing the life out of her poor companion. She couldn't stay silent though, as she saw the pool of blood begin to grow below it.

"NARUTO-KUN!" There was a roar and the sand exploded in a wave of red chakra. Out leapt Naruto, roaring thunderously. He twisted in the air, until his tails came clubbing down on Gaara. Twisting again, just like a cat, he landed and rushed forward. With a slash of his claws, the tanuki was thrown back, stumbling. With a final snarl, Naruto's long jaw found it's mark on Gaara's neck and clamped down- Hard.

Harder.

Hard enough until sand began spilling away from the wound between Naruto's teeth, and with a final rip, Gaara's entire head was separated from his body. His large form spilled and wisped away in a pile of sand, effectively blinding Naruto. A redheaded demonic looking boy jumped from the sand, rather naked, and growled up at Naruto. With a snarl, his black ringed eyes wrinkling, he took his leave quickly. Despite Gaara transforming and escaping, most likely not to be seen for years as he regained his strength, Naruto counted it as a victory. He bellowed triumphantly, fangs flashing.

With that done he staggered forward, toward Hinata. Despite his horrible wounds, Naruto managed to smile a fanged grin before he tumbled to the ground before her, panting heavily. Hinata ran forward until she was sitting next to Naruto's head. He groaned painfully, but it died down as Hinata stroked his long muzzle gently. Her chakra wisped out and healed what she could.

Kiba groaned and looked about blearily, almost too tired and sore to open his eyes. An odd tittering sound echoed in his sharp ears and he finally pulled himself to a sitting position. He marveled for a moment in how utterly dirty he was, smeared in dirt, grime... and was that blood? He looked about, more awake now, and started as the tittering sound became a horrible mass of giant bugs crawling about, ranging from centipedes to leeches. He scrambled for his nearby pack and pulled out a flare, a rather unused ninja item. Regardless, he ignited it and tossed it into the air, casting the entire cavern in light. The bugs screeched and scrambled back fearfully. After living a lifetime in darkness, such a bright light was a bit too much.

Kiba quickly found Sasuke nearby, the Uchiha sitting there gathering himself. He was quickly binding a nasty gash on his arm, minding his own business and leaving the rest of the group scattered about. Growling, Kiba moved on and quickly found Lee lying in the dirt, staring up to the darkness above them. His eyes, usually round and wide, were lidded and dead, tears steadily leaking out. Kiba silently pulled him up, sympathetic and griped his comrade comfortingly as the beautiful Green Beast began to bawl.

Not far off in a puddle of mud, Shino sat silently at Ten Ten's side. He gripped her hand in a vice like grip, his knuckles white, willing his love to wake up. She, of coarse, did not, contrary to the half of him thinking she would pop up energetically and fool them all. Throughout their days on the ship, both Shino and Ten Ten shared a mutual respect, both knowing the other as a successful, silent, yet determined ninja. This respect slowly turned to like, then love, as they discovered their similarities and the two became inseparable. But now, as Ten Ten lay there dirtied and dead, her buns loose and hair wisped about, Shino merely sat clutching her hand, expressionless apart from his furrowing eyebrows.

All despaired. Lee, for Gai as he sat crying, staring off at his mentor's broken body not far away. Shino, for Ten Ten, as he leaned over her cold body hopefully. Sasuke, for loosing the trail of his road to power. And Kiba, also for loosing the trail, but for finding his Hinata. The rest were too dead to despair at all.

Slowly, the flare began to falter, growing dim. The insects tittered once again, advancing as the light left. The survivors seemed to awaken from their trance, looking about as the insects advanced. They slowly retreated until they were in a circle back to back. Shino sat in the center, over his beloved Ten Ten. He finally stood, determined, and actually growling. His long arms flew out, fingers wide and the insects slowed, as if battling with themselves. They crawled forward and quickly retreated again, as if firelight flickered and licked at them. The group would stay that way for a long while, in a circle with Shino standing over his love and keeping their enemy at bay.

Thats all folks. Almost a filler chapter, but ah well. Hopefully it was an exciting battle, but probably not. But if that wasn't exciting enough, wait till next chapter when Kiba finally catches up with Hinata...