Chapter 7 : Rescue Mission - Blood Stained Sands

Outside of a massive cave and rock formation in the south-eastern point of Wind Countries massive dessert stood Deidara, still slightly disheveled from his previous battle with the blonde Hanyou. Scattered around the area was an army of Clay Drones, special featureless, humanoid, masses of clay that could turn their limbs into weapons at need.

He could feel a massive source of chakra heading towards their destination at a high rate of speed, which was bad since they would need at least one more day for the extraction to be completed, otherwise the entire process will have to be started over again.

As a counter measure to the danger that the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki posed, a massive boulder was also placed in front of the cave with several special blood seals placed on it from the inside. The seals were made to let only members of the Akatsuki enter into the inner cavern and savagely repel any attempts to get in, there was also a special earth seal on the rock to make it repair itself if damaged. Simply put, no one was getting in, the only entrance was blocked and it would take days to drill through the rest of the rock thanks to more seals placed in various spots.

Still, Deidara was worried. He was the only line of defense against the demon boy and his team of ninja. He was still aching from the beat down he got from the kid earlier as well, thankfully his chakra levels had returned to their maximum so he was ready for to fight and with all the little helpers he created from his special jutsu, he sould stand a better chance this time around.

A gigantic fox was coming into view in the distance, just as the morning sun rose into the sky. Deidara quickly mounted his large clay bird and took to the air for better ranged attacks. It was only a matter of time now...he wouldn't fail against the Jinchuuriki this time and the Akatsuki would have yet another prize to add to their growing collection.

Naruto narrowed his glowing blue eyes as he carried his friends closer to their destination. He could smell Deidara, Gaara and someone else and could sense various sources of chakra. The closer they got the easier it was to see the massive army of clay drones and clay birds flying about.

"Damn...looks like pretty boy isn't going to screw around this time. I can't risk using anymore Chaos Chakra or any really big attacks. Looks like it's going to have to be done the fun way then." Naruto thought.

Naruto slowed to a stop and let his friends off as he reverted to his Hanyou form. He looked at those gathered around him, he could clearly see worry in the girl's eyes. Even Kakashi seemed to be a bit worried.

"Alright, we are going to attack girly boys little army of clay critters head on. I'm going for Deidara personally, he got away from me last time, he won't get away from me this time." Naruto stated his face set hard as stone.

"Are you sure...one of us can back you up?" Sakura asked worriedly.

Naruto nodded. "I'm sure, just remember what we've come here to do and don't worry about me, I can take care of myself." Naruto turned around. "Let's go!"

Naruto shot forward at high speed, leaving behind an after image as a cloud of sand was kicked up behind him. Kakashi was next to follow, closely by the five girls, each of them had looks of fierce determination.

Deidara saw the group approaching fast. "Destroy them! Make their deaths a beautiful piece of art worthy of my genius!" He ordered from his spot above.

Naruto grinned ferally. "I've been saving this for a special occasion!" He growled as he began channeling a good amount of chakra into his hands. A Rasengan appeared in each hand.

Naruto then leapt up high in the air as he slowly fused both Rasengan together to make one massive spiraling sphere. His hands gripped around the large ball of swirling chakra like a large ball as he thrust it forward causing it to flare brightly.

"Gatling Rasengan!" Naruto snapped.

Deidara could only watch in horror as thousands of mini-bullet Rasengan fired out of the massive one at rapid fire speed. Each of the miniature Rasengan drilling through a good number of his Clay Drones and exploding inside of them with impressive force.

"My turn." Kakashi monotoned as he ran through hand seals. "Fire Release - Dragon Flame Missile!"

The copy ninja blew out a massive crimson flamed dragon from his mouth which in turn spat out a barrage of fireballs. Another good number of the drones went down, melting under the intensity of the flame attack.

"Smile for the birdie." Deidara grinned evilly and gestured with his hand.

A massive flock of birds flying over head suddenly reshaped themselves into a literate rain of shuriken and shot towards Naruto at blinding speeds. Being busy at the moment...meaning he was smashing drones into powder, he didn't have time to react properly to the barrage.

Everyone watched as Naruto was littered with clay shuriken. Naruto winced as the sharp blades ripped through his flesh. However what would kill most humans...tends to only piss off a Hanyou.

Deidara cringed as Naruto's eyes went from icy sapphire blue to glowing bloody crimson. Naruto's already feral features became more pronounced as his muscles bulged slightly. Crimson chakra began surrounding his body much like a diseased sun vents red plasma.

Naruto let out an animalistic snarl as all of the shuriken were forced out of his body, each followed by a small spurt of blood.

"Oh shit...he's pissed!" Kakashi gulped as Naruto looked up at Deidara and narrowed his beastly red glowing eyes.

Sakura rammed her fist through another drone destroying it but gasped when she saw Naruto...she'd never seen him so angry looking before. It was like the blonde Akatsuki member had somehow pushed the wrong button. Ino, Tenten, Temari and Hinata also noticed this and became worried...what would Naruto do in this state?

Naruto's chest suddenly swelled as if he had taken in a deep breath. Kakashi's visible eye widened in fear, Jiraiya had mentioned this particular power to him.

"Cover your ears!" Kakashi yelled.

No sooner did the group do as told did Naruto snap his head forward and let out a massive inhuman roar...a sonic roar that seemed to make the sand vibrate beneath their feet. A whole platoon worth of drones were blown away and ripped apart from the force. Deidara's clay mount was blown high up into the air as its masters ears began to bleed from the piercing noise from the roar.

"Don't think you can get away from me teme!" Naruto growled and leapt back up into the air with help from his chakra.

The other ninja could only watch surprised as their team leader shot up towards their foe like a human bullet. Kakashi was a bit worried though. He had noticed that Naruto's wounds weren't healing at their usual rate and since he wasn't poisoned it meant that he was focusing so much of his chakra that it weakened his healing factor a bit. The question was...why wasn't he using that strange purple chakra of his?

He wasn't able to think anymore on it as another legion of drones came stampeding towards him and the girls, each with blade-like appendages. He raised his headband to reveal his Sharingan...the time to play was over. Going through a few hand seals he put his hand down and grasped his wrist.

"Raikiri!" Kakashi barked as lightning chakra rippled around his hand and formed a blade of electrified chakra.

Ino pulled out two kunai with explosive tags on them and hurled them at the enemies. She then formed the tiger seal and smirked. "Boom." The explosion took out about six of them in one go.

Sakura dodged a strike by one, grabbed its arm and used the drone as a bat to belt three more advancing drones, each of them shattering from the force of the blow. Swinging back her fist she shattered the torso of the one coming from behind and to deal with the two coming from the sides she did a high speed spin kick, landing in a slight crouch before shooting off towards her next opponent.

Hinata began going through seals of her own as a sphere of chakra appeared around her. "You are all in my field of divination..." She muttered softly as she fell into a special Jyuuken stance she created. Her hands began striking out at speeds that could have been on par with Naruto. Streaks of chakra began forming as Hinata picked up the tempo. "Mystical Protection, 145 Crescent Blade Strike!"

A massive barrage of crescent chakra blades began shooting out from Hinata's palm strikes and ripping into the drones before her. Her Byakugan giving off a piercing glare towards her foes.

"Twin Rising Dragons!" Tenten shouted as twin summoning scrolls coiled around her letting out a rain of sharp and pointy items of death. "Now Temari!" She called out.

Temari smirked and opened up her large battle fan. Swinging it down harshly she unleashed a massive burst of strong wind turning the falling weapons into a barrage of bladed bullets. Hundreds of weapons impaled and destroyed another platoons worth of drones.

"Mess with the best..." Temari smirked as Tenten landed next to her.

"Die like the rest." Tenten finished as the two gave each other a high five.

Deidara could see that he was getting nowhere fast with these brats and the Jinchuuriki brat. He summoned up the various parts of his scattered army and infused them with another large portion of his own chakra after popping a soldier pill. The massive mass of clay writhed and twisted until if formed a gigantic behemoth version of the Clay Drones he had made before hand. His chakra infusion a little different this time to ensure that the giant would only be vulnerable by an attack to its core.

Ino and Tenten threw several kunai with explosive tags on them only to have them cause a much smaller amount of damage this time around and the damage repaired itself. Sakura and Hinata tried their luck...Hinata got swatted aside and Sakura's fist got stuck in the clay, which in turn started absorbing her chakra.

Kakashi ran through hand seals at a rapid pace as he gathered a large amount of chakra. "Lightning Release - Thunder Dragon Missile Jutsu!" Several energy bolts in the shape of dragons shot at the giant clay being but rather than damaging it, the giant absorbed the chakra in the attack.

"HAHAHAHA!!" Deidara laughed. "You fools! I thought something like this might happen so I put special seals on each of my clones and one of them had a chakra absorbsion seal on it. This masterpiece of mine is indestructible yeah! The more you weaklings attack it, the stronger it gets!" The blonde man laughed again. "Now you bastards will die at the hands of my wonderful art, it will be a truly beautiful scene to behold!"

Naruto landed back on the ground after using the pricks clay bird weapons as stepping stools but he was a bit too fast on that large bird of his for him to catch up to and turning into his six tailed form with his friends so close could hurt them.

"Dammit! My human and demon chakra are just getting absorbed...but what can I do? If I use my chaos chakra...it might either destroy it or over load it and we end up with a massive explosion on our hands. Damn bastard has enough explosive clay set into that thing to take out a quarter of Wind Country. I only have two possible choices...either I use Ebony and Ivory's true power or I use my Chaos Chakra and hope my body can hold out. Well...here goes nuttin." Naruto thought as he let some of his power levels drop a bit to conserve his energy and give his healing factor more chakra to work with.

As Naruto made to grab his swords his friends noticed that he used his nails on his pointer fingers to click something on the swords handles. His bestial eyes had hardened ever further than before to the point that they appeared to be glowing sapphires instead of eyes, his brow knitted in intense concentration. He drew his swords and to everyone's shock...neither had a blade...just the handles and hilts.

"I had hoped to save this little trump card of mine for a later date but as it is, I have no other choice." Naruto growled at Deidara.

The man laughed. "Oh and just what the hell do you plan on doing with swords with no blades you little retard?"

Naruto smirked ever so slightly, revealing one of his fangs in a creepy manner. "Blade of Radiance, shine fourth!" Naruto barked.

Ivory began to give off a gold and silver glow and then to the shock of all present a long blade made of pure gold light with silver swirls burst from the hole in the hilt. The blade hummed and crackled with pure energy, not chakra, but actual solidified light energy. Naruto raised Ebony and pointed it towards Deidara.

"Blade of Darkness, engulf all!" Like ivory a blade of energy shot out. It was so black that it seemed to swallow the light around it as purple and red energy crackled up and down the blade.

"Ebony and Ivory...my twin katana blades, but their true names are Goru-Nova and Goru-Nega, the mystical swords wielded by the legendary warrior, Arashi Kazama, millennia ago when he fought in the war of the Demons Fall. Blades made of pure light and dark energy, blades that can cleave through anything...even souls." Naruto intoned as he twirled his swords and took his familiar stance, the same stance the legendary warrior had used.

"The time for play is finished, Deidara of Iwa, you and your twisted sense of art will die this day...prepare yourself, death awaits you."

BOOOOMMMMM!!

A shockwave of power erupted from Naruto the likes of which no one had felt before. This power, it wasn't chakra, but rather raw spirit energy or ki. A sudden pressure filled the area like an intense field of gravity; the killing intent laced within the pressure was so potent that even Shukaku could feel it causing the Ichibi to shudder in fear.

Sassori's heart, which was in a glase container, began to beat rapidly in fear as he struggled to keep to the task at hand. Little did he know that his partner was not fairing very well, in fact Deidara almost wished he would have a heart attack just to end the sudden sense of foreboding that was washing over him.

Sand was being kicked up around Naruto in a small, barely contained tornado caused by the outlasting of his power. The very ground was vibrating due to the massive amounts of power being used. His chi, ki, chakra and psi levels were off the charts and though it was causing an incredible strain on his body it wasn't as bad as if he were using the chaos chakra with it or alone.

Naruto suddenly vanished from sight, he moved so fast that it took several seconds for the sand kicked up by his foot falls to actually catch up to him. Twirling his sword back he thrust his fist forward and punched the giant drone with such force that it blew a large hole clean through its lower torso.

He then began to run up the body of the giant until he was high enough to jump up over its head. He began moving his swords in an intricate pattern as he pumped as much of his power as he safely could into his coming attack. He then tossed his swords up into the air and they began circling the giant drone slowly like buzzards waiting for their prey to drop. Naruto then went through a series of unknown hand seals...griffon, phoenix, angel, demon, angel, basilisk, manticore, unicorn, demon.

"Light and Dark Ultimate Fusion Arts - Eternal Requiem!" Naruto called out.

The two swords began going around the giant at a much faster pace until a runic seal circle appeared above it and beneath it, one for light, one for dark. Both energies fused together and connected between the rune seals engulfing the giant clay drone. Naruto raised his left hand.

"Be gone..." He snapped his fingers and the seals flared brightly and surged with power before slamming into each other and then vanishing...leaving nothing behind but a slight ripple in the empty space.

Deidara screamed in rage as his precious work of art vanished without a trace. Anger turned into slight fear when he felt Naruto's presence behind him, a crackling black blade resting on his shoulder and burning into his flesh. Deidara then smirked and melted into the large clay bird he was on.

"Very good, brat, I underestimated you...but let's see how you handle high altitudes, yeah!" The mad bombers voice came from the bird as it shot up higher in the sky at break neck speed. Naruto had to use chakra just to stick to the damnable thing as it continued to rise up higher and higher.

"What the hell do you have planned, girly-boy?" Naruto snarled out.

Clay then became putty-like and twisted around Naruto's body like an octopus as Deidara's face appeared out of the clay, an insane glint in his lone eye and a maniac grin on his face.

"We're going to go out like a bang! You will be my last and most beautiful piece of art as your obliterated remains rain down on your comrades!" Deidara laughed insanely as his body and the clay bird began expanding at an alarming rate. "Art is such a blast; yeah...you will be fodder for my glorious explosion!"

"...SHIT!" Naruto cursed.

KAAABBOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!!

The Shinobi below could only watch in horror as the thing Naruto and the blonde mad man had been on blew up in a near megaton class explosion.

Naruto glared out of his small barrier shield, he had to use his chaos chakra to erect a powerful shield to keep from being blown to bits. But now he was falling at an incredible rate of speed. One consolation to the whole thing was that he saw Deidara's head get blown off from the rest of his body; he knew the prick was dead...no doubts there. He released the shield and began going through hand seals. If this idea worked he'd have a much softer landing.

"Wind Release - Great Breakthrough Jutsu!" Naruto barked and exhaled a massive gust of wind as he changed the position of his body so he was heading down head first.

It did slow his fall a bit but when he hit the ground with enough force to cause sand to splash up like water it caused the girls to all scream and run towards where he landed. To their relief they found him down on one knee in the crater panting heavily from the experience.

Naruto seized up for a second and hacked up several clots of blood, his body hadn't fully recovered from his previous uses of chaos chakra. Sakura gasped and began running a diagnostic scan on him.

What she found shocked her. Most of his organs had taken some serious damage but they were also healing as she ran the diagnostic jutsu. His body was also suffering from a case of chakra poisoning, a side effect of chaos chakra, his muscles had been pushed beyond their limits and were now restoring themselves as well and his chakra levels were acting a bit erratic but were slowly calming back down.

Sakura cast a stern look at Naruto, who to his credit didn't flinch.

"Naruto! That purple chaos chakra of yours...it's causing your body harm every time you use it isn't it!?" She asked.

Naruto turned his head and spat out a bit of the blood remaining in his mouth.

"Chaos Chakra is a combination of human and demon chakra with demon Yokai added into it. The Yokai, until I gain my ninth tail is like a poison to my body since only full blooded demons can use it without side effects." He said and stood back up and deactivating the blades of Ebony and Ivory.

"So that means..." Kakashi started.

"Wh-when you g-get your final t-tail...you b-become a full...demon." Hinata finished.

"That's about the jist of it." Naruto said nonchalant. "Everything has a price, especially power; the price I am paying is that I am slowly losing my humanity. I can and always will be able to think and feel like a human, but once the ninth tail appears I will no longer be able to take a complete human form. I will have to assume my Hanyou form instead."

Naruto began walking towards the large sealed cave. "C'mon, we've got a Kazekage to save." He said and began walking again.

Temari frowned. "Kakashi-san...is there anything that he doesn't sacrifice?" She asked.

Kakashi sighed. "Yeah...his friends and family. He would never sacrifice anyone precious to him, but he has no problem with self-sacrifice...it's pretty much all he's ever known. To be honest, he is the epitome of the Jinchuuriki...the power of human sacrifice. His will is so strong that even the most powerful tailed demon couldn't break it...but if he were to lose someone he loves because of his own actions or actions taken against him...I believe that alone would break his will."

"But why didn't he lose it when he failed to bring Sasuke back?" Ino asked. "I thought those two were supposed to be like brothers."

"Sasuke rarely showed Naruto any sort of kindness; in fact he usually held contempt for him and whatever power he might have gained. Naruto just wanted acknowledgement and friendship from him but he was denied. To be honest, I think the only reason he even went after Sasuke was because Sakura begged him to." Kakashi said and Sakura hung her head.

Naruto's voice filtered back to them from a distance. "Sensei...the past is where it belongs, in the past. I was young and I was a fool...we all were back then. It wasn't just my promise to Sakura that made me go and try to bring back Sasuke...it was a blind hope that he wasn't as corrupted by his thirst for power as he was."

Naruto then continued on his way towards the large sealed cave.

The rest of the team caught up to their leader to find him staring intently at a large stone blocking the entrance to the small cave Gaara was held in. The entire area had various repellant and locking seals, the largest of which was on the boulder.

Sakura walked up and cracked her knuckles. "I got this one, Naruto-kun; I'll turn that rock into powder."

"Sakura I don't...wait!" Naruto warned but was too late.

Sakura shot forward and thrust her fist into the boulder with as much chakra enhanced strength she could muster. There was a thunderous crack as her fist impacted with the boulder; the stone itself seemed to crack for a second before somehow repairing itself and repelling Sakura with a massive surge of violent energy. Naruto appeared behind her and caught her before she could be hurt further; his eyes narrowed at the boulder as he gingerly sat her down.

"So that's how it is...interesting." Naruto mumbled.

Sakura, now nursing several burns and a sprained wrist wither her medical jutsu glowered at the boulder. The one damn time she could really be useful outside of healing and it was taken away from her.

"Do you know what kind of seals those were?" Kakashi asked looking carefully at them.

"A combination of several it seems...a restoration seal to repair damage and several high power repelling seals to keep unwanted visitors out. My guess is that they are also set to react to Akatsuki members only; otherwise you get a nasty belt like Sakura just did. The same seals are spread around the entire area too making it nearly impossible to get in." Naruto answered.

"Can't you break the seals, you are a Fuuinjutsu master right?" Temari asked.

"I could...but if you look at the way these seals are placed they are set to make a protective web and from what I can tell, their power source is within the cave. Even with Ero-sennin's help it would take me at least 24 hours to dismantle all these seals if I ran into no complications." Naruto stated cracking his knuckles.

"What are you planning?" Ino asked noticing the feral grin crossing his features.

"We don't have the time to dismantle the seals...so I'm going for a more direct approach." He answered.

"Are you going to blast your way in or something?" Tenten asked curiously.

"Nope, I might kill Gaara if I used that kind of power; the best answer to this situation is good old brute strength." Naruto grinned.

"But I just tried that and look what happened to me!" Sakura exclaimed.

"True, but your strength is augmented by your incredible chakra control...mine is natural because I'm a Hanyou. Also none of you have the threshold for pain that I do...and this is gonna hurt like hell!" Naruto said, flattened out his hand and stabbed it into the boulder like a blade.

"NARUTO!!" The girls shouted in fear.

The boulder began glowing brightly as seals appeared all over it. Violent energy trying to repel Naruto began attacking him, stray bolts crackling all over his body as his tails flailed about behind him.

Naruto let out a grunt of pain, it felt like someone was trying to burn, rip, tear and electrocute him all at once.

"Grr...Th-this is nothing compared to what I dealt with as a kid...NOTHING!!" He roared and rammed his other hand into the boulder.

A large crack began forming in the center of the boulder as the seals continued to repair it. Naruto's muscles bulged as he began trying to pull the boulder apart at the center. His body trembled, his lips curled up and a feral snarl as veins on his arms could be seen pulsing.

A sudden surge of power from the seals nearly knocked him back as the crack began to seal itself back up. Naruto let out a low growl and put all of his strength into it causing his shirt and trench coat to rip off of him from the strain on the fabric and the eratic energy surging all over his body.

Naruto's eyes then widened as his body seized up a bit, he grit his teeth hard as a tearing noise was heard, or in his case felt, behind him. A gout of blood hit the sand as a seventh tail grew out of his back, causing the others to gasp at the new appendage.

The bolder groaned as Naruto began to win against the seals. The main seal in the center of the rock began pulsing and flaring in a last ditch effort to fulfill its duty and hit Naruto with a massive surge of repelling energy.

"EEERRRAARRGGHHH!! LET ME FUCKING IN YA DAMN DIRT BALL!!" Naruto roared, his demonic tone thundering through the area.

With one final rush of inhuman strength the boulders seals shattered and the rock was split in two and sent flying forty feet to each side of the young Hanyou. Energy was still crackling off his muscles as steam poured from his body. Naruto grabbed the remains of his shirt and coat and tore them the rest of the way off as a deep rumbling growl vibrated up from his throat. The look on his face was terrifying, his fangs were now longer, his whisker marks deeper, his eyes giving off a baleful crimson glow and his hair was wilder than before. As he put his hands down to his sides he flexed his clawed fingers, each razor sharp retractable object coming out to its maximum length.

"Knock, knock...repo man here, you've got a Kazekage here that hasn't been paid for...shall we settle accounts now...Sassori of the Crimson Sands?" Naruto snarled as his demonic blood lust filled the area creeping everyone one...even Shukaku who for once was trying to get back into his seal in hopes of saving its tail.

The rest of his team cringed, it didn't take a fool to see that Naruto's temper had hit its limit and Sassori...well they hoped there was such a thing as puppet insurance.

Naruto was livid, down right, absolutely pissed off. First Deidara's bull and now that damned sealed boulder. To hell with precautions, he was going to tear that demented Pinocchio wannabe to splinters when he got his claws on him. He was tired, hungry and more than a little cranky at this point. Gaining his seventh tail had also boosted his power and physical abilities...but it had hurt like hell fire.

It didn't take long for several of Sassori's corpse puppets to come rushing towards him and start firing off poisoned Senbon needles. Now this would normally have been a problem, but with the seventh tail comes a special ability...as with all the other tails. The seventh tail makes the bearer's flesh and skin stronger than the toughest leather hide while leaving it looking and feeling like normal flesh and skin. Simply put only certain jutsu or special weapons could pierce or cut him now, like enchanted weapons and the like.

Kakashi's jaw nearly ripped out of his mask as all the Senbon bounced, bent or broke upon contacting Naruto's skin, not a single one even so much as put a pin hole in his skin. The same from the kunai that came in the follow up barrage. One even bounced off his forehead and didn't even leave a scrape!

Naruto caught one of the stray kunai in his bare hand, looked at it and crushed it, the weapon shattered not harming him in the slightest and fell to the ground in pieces. A somewhat demented grin crossed Naruto's feral features.

"Oh, I do believe I will enjoy the ability that came with this tail...well worth the pain suffered to gain it." Naruto snarled out and then grabbed the two corpse puppets. "I wonder...can a corpse puppet feel fear or pain...let's find out shall we?"

Naruto let out a cruel, if not evil sounding chuckle as he crushed and shredded the two puppets like mere child's toys. If this had scared his teammates, Kyuubi's head forming out of red chakra next to him nearly made them piss themselves as Sassori continued to send puppet after puppet after him.

"That's it...kill, rip, tear, break, DESTROY!" Kyuubi's voice echoed through the area as it laughed evilly. "Show them all the power of the Oni-Kitsune Clan! Bathe this pathetic land in their BLOOD!!"

Naruto's clawed hand shot up and grabbed the chakra manifestation and brought it down to eye level. Naruto's glowing crimson eyes narrowed menacingly at the demon fox.

"You would do well to get back into your cage, Kyuubi, before I decide to come in there myself and finish what the seals doing to you early...or perhaps I should just skin you and lay your pelt at the edge of my bed!"

"You dare to defy me HUMAN FLESH RAT!!"

"I dare...so get back into the seal, sit down and SHUT UP! You are no longer a threat to me, you haven't been since I gained five tails. I am sick of you trying to warp my mind every friggin night, so help me kami, the next nightmare you give me I will personally come into the seal and have roast fox demon for dinner, I am not in the mood for your bull shit so fuck off!" Naruto roared and forcibly shoved Kyuubi back into the seal.

The six humans present could only gawk, not only had Naruto finally faced down the demon sealed in him but he had actually scared the beast if it's wide eyed look and shudder was any indication. All while destroying puppets being sent at him by a now frantic Sassori, whose scorpion-like body was scuttling about in fear.

"Those were my best puppets! Do you realize how much time I put into making them!?" Sassori roared.

Naruto sneered at the puppet man. "My heart bleeds for you. Kakashi-sensei, get Gaara out of here...the rest of you get out as well. It's time that I show little Sassori here what it means to take on a real demon."

"Leave the Jinchuuriki alone! It is my prize and I must extract the demon!" Sassori bellowed as he pulled out a rather large summoning scroll.

Producing a phial of red fluid, Sassori, let a drop of it fall onto the scroll parchment and then drew an odd design with his wooden fingers. Just as Kakashi and Temari got Gaara's prone form out of the cave several large plumes of smoke erupted from the scroll Sassori had placed the blood on.

As the smoke cleared, Naruto could make out metallic puppet parts. He idly wondered what this nut job was up too since fully metal parts were rarely used as it made the puppet to sluggish for use in ninja combat. Chakra strings and odd wires shot out of Sassori's scorpion-like puppet body and attached to the massive metal parts around him. As this new puppet began taking shape the chakra levels in the area spiked drastically sending out a large shockwave that drove the others out of the cave.

Naruto remained steadfast in his place as he watched the puppet take on a large humanoid armored form with Sassori's body being enclosed within the core of its chest. Naruto could also make out several large crystal chakra energy cores on the puppets shoulders, chest plate, head and legs. Various seals were also placed on the thing making it stronger and more advanced than normal puppets...almost like some sort of machine.

"Behold, Demon brat, the power of my ultimate creation...the Automaton! The ultimate puppet and weapon!" Sassori's voice echoed from the machine.

"Looks like someone reads too much manga..." Naruto deadpanned. "Let's see if that overgrown tin-can of yours can handle me."

Sassori's answer was to make the puppet move at speed it shouldn't have been able to and belt Naruto through a thin part of the cave wall and then follow him outside. Naruto righted himself mid-flight and skidded across the sand using his claws to act as breaks.

"Damn...that wasn't expected." Naruto grinned. "This should be fun. It would be too easy to just destroy you in fox form...so I think I'll dismantle your ass instead. Time to see what makes this overgrown doll tick."

"Not that easy, brat!" Sassori chuckled evilly and raised an arm as the pincer on the arm opened to reveal a cannon barrel. "Chakra Cannon!"

A large blast of black colored energy shot out of the cannon. Naruto dodged it but the rock formation behind him was reduced to powder in the explosion from the impact.

"You see, foolish boy, my core crystals are made from the combined energies of all the souls of the dead that I have slain and a few lesser demons using a forbidden Fuuinjutsu. Their horrible power is almost limitless, thus making me invincible!" Sassori exclaimed.

Naruto growled. "The Suffering Soul Power seal and Dead Demon Essence seal...I should have known. You're sick...those damn crystal cores of yours are powered on the suffering and pain of those you've killed, their souls forever locked in that artificial crystal construct. Their power may be limitless...but it is also tainted."

Once again red and blue chakra began swirling around Naruto's body as his chakra levels spiked. His seven tails flailing behind him angrily as his eyes began flashing between red, blue and purple. Raising and holding out his right arm a Rasengan appeared in his open hand, but unlike his other Rasengan you could see wind literately become visible as it swirled around the spiraling orb of chakra. The wind kept spinning faster and faster and solidifying until four blades of wind formed around it and began spinning rapidly.

The energy used by this move however seemed to be double edged as it was also tearing at the flesh on his arm, several spurts of blood shot out from fresh wounds. Even with the seventh tails specialty of making the body more resilient to damage this move was too powerful to completely cancel out all damage...though in this case...the results out weighed the price.

"Let's see if that armor can stand up to one of my ultimate Rasengan...Wind Release - Rasen-Shuriken!" Naruto snarled and threw the spiraling blade of wind chakra at the massive puppet. It had taken him the better part of a year to figure out how to throw and control this jutsu and now was the perfect time to test it.

Sassori foolishly believed that the jutsu couldn't harm his prized Automaton...a fatal mistake. The wind shuriken shredded through the puppets right arm like it was mere tissue paper; it also cut through the remains of the cave behind him causing a large portion of the rock to fall over cleanly cut. The crystal on the right shoulder had been cut in two from the attack, energy leaked out of it like plasma from a diseased sun; you could hear the inhuman howls of the souls that had been trapped inside.

"IMPOSSIBLE!!" Sassori cried out in anger.

He shot another chakra beam from his left arm at Naruto. The young Hanyou, still beyond pissed off, belted the beam of tainted energy away like swatting a fly...though it did scorch his hand a bit. Naruto's body then blurred and reappeared above Sassori.

"Time to go back to the scrap heap!" He growled, flipped mid air and brought his heel down in a boulder crushing axe kick.

The head of the Automaton was crushed by Naruto's foot, destroying yet another crystal. Its energy source down by two now, it was moving much slower. So it was of little surprise to the on lookers that Naruto grabbed the other arm and ripped it off before using it like a baseball bat to knock the metal puppet into a stone wall.

Just as Naruto landed back into the sand his chakra levels pulsed in an alarming manner as a slow build up of pain began running through his body.

"Sh-shit...backlash...this happens...every time I...get a...new...tail...gotta finish this now...while I still...can." Naruto thought as he gritted his teeth in pain.

Backlash was the worst side effect of gaining a tail. After the initial boost of power you get from the tail, comes a horrendous amount of pain as his body and power adjusts properly. To make matters even worse, when this happens he is prone to attack as his body will be in a weakened condition for at least 24 hours as it adjusts and heals. The physical damages caused from the backlash can be rather nasty as it sometimes causes ones muscles and flesh to rip itself open due to the high amount of stress induced by demonic chakra and Yokai. The more tails you acquire the worse it becomes, there is also the possible chance that he might not be able to handle the extreme amounts of pain and die from it...or his own power will burn out his body and soul to ash...which ever comes first.

Naruto let out a silent curse, the backlash was causing his chakra to go so wild that he no longer could muster any reasonable amount of control to perform even a Shadow Clone. Wincing as the flesh on his left bicep ripped open sending out a spattering of blood he knew there was only one option left...to channel as much of his chaotic chakra into a single deathblow before he lost what little control he had left...it would render him unconscious but it would have to do.

Sassori's battered shell staggered out of his now destroyed ultimate puppet. The absolute power of that boy...it was insane...inhuman...completely beyond all of his logic. Yet the boy didn't wield his power like most do, he didn't seem to use it unless he had too.

"Heh, heh, heh...you...you are an interesting one...Uzumaki-san." Sassori muttered.

Naruto said nothing and charged at his foe as rips continued to appear on his flesh. The other ninja watched in shock.

"Sensei!? What's wrong with him!?" Ino asked horrified.

Kakashi's eyes narrowed in thought. "I think it's some sort of power backlash or influx. Jiraiya spoke of it to me and wrote a bit about it in Naruto's info scroll. Apparently when he gains another tail he first experiences a large boost of energy and power that is shortly followed by a backlash of energy that can either cause him to go berserk or like what you're all seeing now...it causes him an inhuman amount of pain as his body adjusts accordingly. But if he isn't careful or if his will falters...he will die."

Sakura clasped her hands in front of her as she watched Naruto, worry etched on her features as she whispered his name. Tenten and Temari watched, their fists clenched and shaking at their inability to help. Ino mirrored Sakura's look while Hinata had dropped to her knees and silently prayed to Kami. Sakura let out a strangled scream as another rip in the flesh on Naruto's back opened up causing him to stumble a bit in mid dash.

Sassori began firing off more Senbon and kunai laced with poison. "If you think I'm going down that easily brat, then you've another thing coming!" The puppet master snarled.

"One strike is all I need...my deadliest Taijustsu move." Naruto growled.

Naruto began focusing all the power he could into his left fist, since his control for the moment was shot he was putting much more chakra into this blow than he wanted to. As a result his entire left arm was engulfed in a mass of chakra...red, blue and purple. The chaotic energy began taking shape on his arm as he cocked his fist back in mid sprint as his speed picked up despite the injuries the backlash was inflicting.

"Dragons of ancient times, unleash a roar in my hand...Dead Dragon Destroyer!" Naruto barked and thrust his fist towards Sassori, shattering an incoming kunai in the process.

An earth shattering roar filled the air as a mighty dragon formed completely of erratic chakra tore off from Naruto's left arm, its maw agape, the earth beneath it ripping up as it sped towards a shocked Sassori.

The mad puppet master was completely engulfed in the mass of chakra. His wooden body turning to ash near instantly from the intense heat. His heart exploded within its glass container before the container shattered and melted. Sassori of the Crimson Sands was vaporized within seconds, his screams still echoing in the area though his body no longer existed. For nearly ten miles behind him...there was a gaping tear in the dessert...the sand melted into glass from the heat of the chakra.

Naruto came to a dead halt as the most intense pain he had felt yet ripped through him. He let out a bone chilling roar of pain as his chakra levels went well beyond their usual limits. A massive pillar of energy surrounded him and shot up into the heavens, splitting the clouds as the beam of chakra entered the stratosphere.

As the energy settled down, Naruto's friends, rushed over to him. He was lying in a glass crater partially filled with blood. The rips on his flesh slowly sealing up as hot steam rolled off his muscles. His body was barely covered, his clothes destroyed from the harsh backlash of power and the fight.

"Damn...I thought I sensed a familiar power around here." Said a female voice from behind them.

The stunned group went on the defensive and took stances around Naruto's prone form as they looked at the new comer. It was obvious that she was like Naruto, a Hanyou. She had long silky blonde hair, cat-like green eyes, cat-like ears and two furry blonde tails swaying behind her. Around her neck was a Kumo headband with a slash through it.

"Who are you and how do you know Naruto-kun?" Sakura demanded.

The young woman chuckled slightly. "Pink hair, pretty green eyes and a fiery temper...you must be Sakura Haruno. My name is Yugito Nii, former container and newly instated Nibi the Nekomanta. I know Naruto because the lunk head is the one who helped me and Nibi merge together along with that perverted sensei of his."

Not detecting any falsehoods the ninja relaxed slightly. "Jiraiya-sama did mention you in the notes I received on Naruto here. You defected from Kumo when the Raikage tried to sell you out to Akatsuki for immunity from them. You fled and ran into Naruto and Jiraiya a short time later right?"

Yugito nodded. "You got it...but for right now I think we'd better get Foxy-kun there to a village where he can get proper rest...the nearest being Suna...is that alright?"

"That is fine; my brother here is the Kazekage and container of Shukaku." Temari stated.

"Okay..." Yugito said and in a large puff of smoke she shifted into a large cat about the same size as Naruto's fox form. "Load em up and I'll get you guys there as fast as I can." Her demonic voice echoed.

"Why are you being so nice to complete strangers? Not that I'm complaining..." Ino asked as Kakashi picked up Naruto and got onto Yugito's back.

"I owe the kid...had he not have been nice to me...a stranger and a possible enemy...I would have been dead, Nibi ripped out of my body and my soul destroyed in the process. He was the first friend I ever had and I vowed on my honor as a Kunoichi that I'd help him if the chance ever presented itself. Besides...do you really need a reason to help someone? That is what he taught me." The Nekomanta answered and took off in a full tilt run as soon as everyone was in place.

The group was silent as Sakura, Ino and Hinata tended to Naruto and checked him over, applying a medical jutsu when needed. Temari had Gaara next to her, asleep and slumped over on her as Tenten sat behind him to ensure he didn't fall over. Kakashi sighed...the mission was a success, two Akatsuki were dead and the one mostly responsible for the great feat was now out cold as a result of losing just a bit more of what makes him human. In the end the cycloptic ninja had to ask himself...was it truly worth it? He knew the answer, but was it too much to ask for the young Hanyou to gain some measure of peace.

"The power of Human Sacrifice..." Kakashi mused silently as he watched the girls fuss over Naruto. "Such a power is indeed great...but the price is terrible. I've always known that the suffering the Jinchuuriki endure was great...but this goes beyond what I had ever thought. Naruto...you truly are a better man than I...I could not do what you do and keep my sanity or humanity."

Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto