As soon as Sasuke had landed his Chidori, several Sound ninja appeared on the stadium overhangs and begun casting a sleep-causing genjutsu on the crowds. They were surprised, though, when several Leaf ninja who were scattered about the arena broke the genjutsu and engaged them in combat. Other ninja began evacuating the civilians from the arena as the battle became an all-out melee between Leaf's forces and both Sand and Sound.
…
In the Kage's Box, Sarutobi calmly rose to his feet. "So, this is how you planned on isolating me and killing me, huh? And I suppose you thought that coming as the Sand leader helped you get in because you thought I'd think you were the Sound leader?"
"Don't act like you expected it!" Orochimaru spat. "I will achieve immortality, and you will die here and now for not allowing me to pursue my dream."
"Your 'dream' has cost countless lives, but the buck stops here," Sarutobi replied as he gathered chakra. "Sealing jutsu: Collapsing Room of Death!" Around the three Sound guards that had been holding the barrier up, another barrier came up, this one a spherical shape, which then began to get smaller. As soon as it touched the guards, they screamed in pain as they began to dissolve; within seconds they were non-existent, as if they hadn't been there in the first place.
"You fool! You would sacrifice yourself to kill me!?" Orochimaru asked, now panicking as he knew the power of sealing jutsu.
"You'd like that, I know, and while I hate to disappoint..." Sarutobi said as he disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"... SENSEI! JIRAIYA!" Orochimaru shouted in pure rage as he began looking in vain for some weakness to the barrier. Soon nothing could be seen except for a concave shape inside the building where the box had been.
…
"You shall be mourned, my student," Sarutobi whispered as he fought Sound troops in the city.
"Sensei, did it work?" Jiraiya asked as he met up with the Hokage.
Sarutobi nodded, saying "It did work... though a part of me still wishes I could have turned him back from the path he was on." There was no more time for words, though, as troops kept rushing them with jutsu and weapons.
…
Back at the arena, the Rookie Nine who were not already engaged were greeted with a horrid sight. Gaara had burst from his sand sphere and was half-covered in his own sand. His damaged arm was covered up to his shoulder and looked more like the clawed arm of an animal than the sophisticated hand of a human, and he had a tail made of sand stretching out from behind him.
Sasuke gulped and leaped off, remembering to lead it away and hoping Gaara would follow his animal-like instincts and chase the fleeing one. He was answered as Gaara launched after him, and after the both of them had left, Naruto leaped off after them. Sakura, Hinata, and Kiba followed after them, though Akamaru obviously wanted nothing to do with this next battle.
Farther out into the forest outside the village, Sasuke turned around and began attacking Gaara with his Grand Fireball jutsu, knowing that this was a life-or-death situation and so he needed to pull out all the stops. It just wasn't enough as the half-transformed Gaara began attacking, surprising the Uchiha with physical attacks that were almost beast-like in their ferocity. Sasuke could barely avoid the strikes from his sand, which he knew were far more potent than any punch or kick from the crazed red-head. Even as the others arrived, it was apparent to everyone that Sasuke was losing, so they all jumped in.
"Stay out of this!" Gaara, whose voice sounded warped and twisted, shouted at everyone. "His blood is the blood that will satisfy Mother! If you interfere, I will be forced to feed her your blood as well!" No matter what attack they tried to use on him, Gaara kept on shrugging off their attempts and charging at Sasuke. After several minutes, Gaara lashed out with his sand and pinned everyone except Naruto, who'd used a Shadow Clone, and Sasuke to a tree. "If you want to save your friends, you're going to have to kill me!"
"Not a problem," Sasuke said as he began charging up a Chidori, only to find that sparks barely flew. 'Oh no, I'm out of chakra...' Unfortunately, this distraction was enough for Gaara to get in a solid blow, knocking the raven-haired genin for a loop.
Turning to Naruto, Gaara said, "Naruto, do not get in my way. I must please Mother..."
"Not on your life! I will defend them up until the moment I breathe my last breath!" Naruto shouted.
"Why? Why do you defend these weaklings?" Gaara asked as he launched himself at Naruto, who dropped his weights and began dodging Gaara's attacks. "Why do you defend your village so hard?"
"Because I love my home!" Naruto replied.
"Love..." Gaara muttered. "What is love!?"
"It's the feeling you get when you want to defend those close to you no matter how they treat you back!" Naruto replied.
"Fine! Prove your love!" Gaara shouted as he made a hand sign. As he gathered his chakra, his voice returned to normal and shouted, "Don't let him do it! If he gets out, he'll-" The voice returned and said, "Shut up! Forced Sleep jutsu!" Immediately Gaara fell to the ground, fast asleep. A terrible feeling sank into Naruto's gut as he recognized the chakra welling up from inside Gaara. Red chakra leaked out of Gaara and gathered all the sand around him, lifting him up high into the sky as the sand seemed to multiply and expand. A gigantic tanuki monster formed of sand now towered over Naruto and the gang and roared a laugh. "Finally! I AM FREE!"
"No..." Naruto whispered as he finally put two and two together. "If he has the One-tailed Demon Tanuki, then I..." His hands shaking, he felt himself pulled into his inner mind.
…
Naruto stood before the gate once more, staring at the Fox. "Hey, Fox! We've got a major problem here!"
"Finally figured it out, huh?" the Fox lazily replied. "Well, good thing about the Tanuki is that my power far eclipses his, but given my seal I can't make you transform like he did."
"I don't need your form, just your chakra!" Naruto replied. "I figure it's the least you can do for all the pain I endured because of you!"
"Whatever, boy. Just don't say I never did anything for you," the Fox replied as chakra began to leak out of him.
…
The monster paused as he recognized the chakra welling up in Naruto. "So, my container isn't the only one, huh!? Well, that works for me! Once I kill you, I'll absorb all of his chakra and become the new Nine-tailed Beast myself! Wind-style: Wind Bullet jutsu!" He exhaled a blast of wind that, had Naruto not Substituted, would've knocked the boy all the way back to the Hokage Tower.
Naruto had a different idea, though. Taking a page from the Fourth's playbook, he bit his thumb and used the Fox's jutsu as he shouted "Summoning jutsu!" Immediately, Gamabunta appeared out of the puff of smoke underneath him, and he now stood at eye-level with Gaara, who was asleep on top of the Tanuki's head. "Boss, we've got a big problem!"
"I can see that, boy," Gamabunta grunted as he glared at the One-tailed Beast. "This will be a worthy battle, but a difficult one. You do know that demons cannot be killed, right?"
"Yeah, but I need to rescue Gaara!" Naruto replied as he pointed at the sleeping teen. "That happened when he fell asleep!"
"Ah, so that kid is like you? Well, we'd better wake him up, then. We do that, no doubt the demon will sink back into its seal," 'Bunta replied. "Got any bright ideas on how to wake him up?"
"Not yet," Naruto said, frowning. "Best thing I can do is smack him about a bit. Any way you can get me close?" They paused as the Tanuki took a swipe at them.
"We need to knock him off-balance," Bunta replied.
"Ah, I can do that. He won't be seeing this coming... I assume you can do a transformation?" Naruto asked.
"Definitely," the toad replied as they both started channeling their chakra, then shouted "Transform!" The two disappeared in a puff of smoke, but what replaced them shocked both the Tanuki and the genin who were still conscious though trapped: the Nine-tailed Demon Fox, in all its power, stood there and grinned maliciously as it roared and swatted the shocked One-tailed Beast away. As the demon shook off its shock, they transformed back and Naruto leaped off of Gamabunta's back.
"Wake up, Gaara!" Naruto shouted as he landed in front of the boy and slugged him in the head. Even as Naruto began to sink into the sand, Gaara stirred and the beast began to lose his control.
"No, no, no, no, NOOO! I won't go back!" the Tanuki shouted as he collapsed, his form collapsing like a sand castle being knocked over by a wave. The sand retreated into Gaara's gourd, and soon the exhausted teens stood there, facing each other and barely able to stand. Gaara looked like he was about to cry as he muttered, "Go ahead, kill me and be done with it."
"No... you won't take the coward's way out! If I wanted to kill you, I'd have sunk a kunai into your head instead of waking you up," Naruto replied as he dragged himself up to Gaara and slapped him in the face. "You and I... we're alike."
"Yes... Mother keeps ranting about you and your prisoner, the Nine-tailed Fox," Gaara replied. "But if you suffered as I have, why do you continue to protect the very village that persecutes you?"
"It wasn't easy," Naruto replied truthfully. "Many times I had to run and hide, but over the years I've gained people who love me unconditionally, and I owe it to them to return that same love. You have people like that in your life, too; live for them, at first, and show them that you are not a monster, but a human. Eventually they and others will begin to come around. I've been learning that it will take a long time, but I will become the Hokage so that the people of the village will know that I love them and will protect them for as long as I am alive, just as my father did."
Flabbergasted, Gaara sat down and thought about it. "I... see... you're right, I do have people who love me." He looked over at Temari and Kankuro, who despite seeing their brother defeated were ready to jump in if it looked like Gaara was in mortal danger. "Thank you for showing me that."
"That's what friends do, Gaara. They look out for each other, believe it!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Friends..." Slowly, a soft smile crossed Gaara's face. "Yes, I would like that very much. I wish I could rest, but if I faint then the Tanuki will be unleashed once again."
"We can call Master Jiraiya," Sasuke said as he walked up with Sakura and the others. "He might be able to fix your seal, if you want. No guarantees, since I don't know the first thing about seals, but it's worth a shot." He then offered his hand to Gaara. "I'm very sorry for wounding you with the Chidori, and I want you to know that any friend of Naruto's is a friend of mine, because he is my brother in every sense but blood."
"I thank you for your friendship, Uchiha Sasuke," Gaara replied as Sasuke helped him up. Turning to his family, he limped over to them and surprised them by hugging them, crying tears of relief and sadness. After a few minutes, the three of them walked back over.
"Please call Master Jiraiya," Temari pleaded. "I want my brother to have a normal life..."
"We will," Shikamaru replied, surprising Naruto as he'd figured Shikamaru had already wandered off. "Naruto, do you know where he'll be?"
"Likely fighting alongside the old man, I'll bet," Naruto replied. "Either that or spying on the women in the baths... stupid Pervy-Sage." Everyone looked at him, some with confusion and others with surprised recognition, and others (mainly the Sand siblings) with just the thought that they were missing something.
"Right... probably still fighting against that giant snake," Shikamaru said, then disappeared into the forest from where they'd come from.
"You guys can go back to the village and finish mopping up the Sound ninjas; I'll stay and make sure Jiraiya fixes Gaara," Naruto announced to the others.
"Hey, Naruto..." Sakura started, but one look from Kiba shut her up about the subject she was going to broach, so she took another tack. "... Thank you. Thank you for defending us. I'm sorry for how I used to treat you in the Academy. I was selfish about getting Sasuke's attention, and I didn't want to pay any attention to you."
"I already forgave you, Sakura," Naruto replied, though his eyes were misting over. "Can we be friends?"
"Of course, silly!" Sakura replied as she hugged the blond hero. "Definitely friends, shannaro!"
"Group hug!" Kiba shouted and pulled Hinata into a hug with the others. Sasuke, who had been standing next to Gaara, ended up getting even the Sand siblings pulled into the group hug, and although it was awkward at first it became warm and friendly.
"I didn't know kids liked orgies," Jiraiya said as he appeared. "Wait until you're older for that sort of thing."
"Pervy-Sage!" Naruto shouted as they all separated, feeling embarrassed and awkward again. "It was just a group hug! Sheesh... look, can you fix Gaara's seal?"
"I can try," Jiraiya said. "Gaara, may I see your seal?"
Gaara nodded and a little sand jumped out of his gourd, swirling about his feet a bit. The seal, which like Naruto had been placed on his stomach, showed up and Jiraiya buried his face in the palm of his hand. "Come on, if you guys were going to do something as dangerous as this, at least call on a real seal expert!" Pulling out his ink and brushes, he looked over at Naruto. "Naruto, I need to copy yours." Naruto nodded and took his shirt off, channeling what little chakra he had left to make the seal appear. "Gaara, this is a temporary stop-over until I can permanently fix your seal, which will take time to research. I've already memorized the layout of your seal, and using Naruto's seal I can make enough changes to keep a tighter rein on the Tanuki. At the least, he won't be screaming in your head and taking over when you sleep. I'll escort you three to your village tomorrow and continue working on a new seal."
"You have our deepest gratitude, Lord Jiraiya" Temari said, bowing in deep respect. "We do not deserve to have the likes of a Sannin tending to our brother like this."
Jiraiya was tempted to tell them that it was only because Naruto had requested it, but seeing how distraught Naruto seemed to be he simply said, "You're welcome. Gaara, if you feel the feeling to flinch from having the brush against your stomach, please suppress it with your willpower so I don't make a mistake and have to do it over." With that, he began to doodle. Gaara, unfamiliar to the feeling, realized that it took every ounce of his control to keep his face neutral and his stomach muscles from contracting. After what seemed like hours but was only a minute, Jiraiya stood up and nodded. "That should do for the time being. Go rest, young one."
"Thank you, Lord Jiraiya..." Gaara replied as he fell to the ground, fast asleep. True to Jiraiya's word, no demonic chakra leaked out, no sand swirled around him, and his face indeed looked peaceful.
Temari and Kankuro picked up Gaara, bowed to Jiraiya, and took off to return to their hotel. Jiraiya turned and looked sternly at Naruto. "Naruto, what happened out here? I heard some screaming and I saw the two of you in the distance, only it was your... tenants..."
"I did what I had to do to defend the village, Pervy-Sage! Gamabunta and I did a combo-transformation jutsu, and I simply picked the best thing I could think of. The Tanuki didn't expect the Fox to appear like he did, and I needed to wake Gaara up," Naruto replied defiantly.
"That's all well and good, but you do know that most of the village will be out for your head now," Jiraiya said. "It was a good idea in the short-term, but the best that could happen is a temporary banishment. The Hokage is alive thanks to everyone's efforts, but unfortunately if nothing is done riots could break out."
"That won't happen," Sasuke said. "The last time a mob tried to kill Naruto, back during the Festival, several people died and were put on display. Not only that, but if the Fox had broken out it'd likely be thrashing the village as we speak! Shouldn't that be evidence enough that the Fox is still solidly contained?"
"It won't be easy, but since the civilian council has no say in ninja affairs we could dodge the kunai on this," Sakura reminded them. "All we need to do is prove that Naruto used the Fox as a motif for his transformation, and that will be easy enough with a mind-walker." Ino nodded in agreement.
Jiraiya nodded as well. "Sounds like a plan. Let's all go get cleaned up; thankfully the snake disappeared when Orochimaru died, and most of the Sound and Sand troops surrendered as word got around."
…
The battle had left the village looking like a tornado ripped through it. The worst damage had occurred in the marketplace area in the center of the village, which was where the snake was set up to be summoned. As a result, many of the merchants and shopkeepers spent the next week cleaning up and rebuilding their stores. The losses suffered from destroyed wares were picked up by the Hokage and Jiraiya, while the ninja corps was busy, from genin to even the ANBU, helped with the restoration efforts. Naruto, however, was kept on house arrest and out of the public eye, which was doable because Hiashi offered to take the boy in until his court martial took place. One reason was because Hiashi was sympathetic to the boy for his efforts. The other, more official, reason was to watch him for signs of the seal breaking. Hiashi knew instinctively, though, that Naruto was not the Nine-tailed Demon Fox or even under the demon's control, because of the conversation he'd had with Neji as soon as the battle had ended.
"How are you feeling?" Hiashi said as he walked into Neji's recovery room. Neji simply stared out into space, so Hiashi sat down in a chair next to the bed and began speaking. "I am sorry... you were never told what really happened, and that was my fault. I assumed you were mature enough to understand, but when I realized the depth of your hatred there was nothing I could do. That night, when we sent my mother's son to the people of Cloud, I was fully ready to give myself up for the sake of the clan. My motivation had been because I could no longer bear to live without my wife, but Hizashi surprised me by volunteering to go. He said, 'I love this family, and I want my son to understand how to love. No matter what, we can control our own destiny. Hiashi, please take care of Neji for me... he doesn't deserve to be a Caged Bird.' He then pulled out a dagger from inside his robe and stabbed himself, dying immediately." Neji's head whirled around in shock, but was even more shocked to see Hiashi weeping from the memory as he continued. "I couldn't stop him... Even as I reached out, even as I called for the medics, I knew that nothing could be done; indeed, nothing should have been done. Your father loved you and all of us, and he proved it while I hid away in my own cowardice." Neji would've had a heart attack if he'd been an older man as he watched Hiashi drop to his knees and bow remorsefully. "Please forgive your foolish uncle..." This was the last straw for Neji, who began sobbing as well as he got off the bed and hugged Hiashi. They knew the upcoming weeks and even months would not be easy, as years of habits are not easily broken, but they were determined to see it through.
'If Naruto were influenced by the Nine-tailed Demon Fox, there's no way my nephew could have made such a turnaround, no matter what I said,' Hiashi thought as Naruto and Neji trained together. 'I hope that they can see how much he has done for me and my family... I think it's time the Hyuuga family comes out of hiding. Maybe then the seal can get revoked and further healing can begin.' He looked over as Hinata came out of the house, carrying a tray of plates to Neji and Naruto, who stopped to help her set the plates down. The three of them began to eat together, though Neji still looked uncomfortable to be around Hinata. 'Yeah, it's going to take some time. Neji still feels bad about what he did to Hinata, and no matter how many times she says "I forgive you," he'll have a hard time coming to grips with himself.' Smiling to himself, he stepped over to them and joined them for lunch. It felt good, he decided, to enjoy family like this, but he had a gut feeling that things were about to take a turn for the worse.
…
On a hill overlooking the Leaf Village, two men stood for several moments. They were as different as night and day from looks to demeanor, but their similarity came from the black cloak that they wore. On it were etched many red clouds, and would later be recognized as the symbol for the infamous "Red Dawn". "Hey, Itachi, feeling a little homesick?" the tall 'man' asked his companion, if he could even be called a man anymore: blue skin, eyes with vertical slits instead of circular, a mouth full of razor-sharp triangular-shaped teeth, and gills were the most telling parts that this man had either been born with a genetic defect or else he was the subject of a very cruel experiment.
The black-haired man turned his blazing-red eyes to his companion and replied without emotion, "Why should I, Kisame?"
"Yeah. A mass-murderer nostalgic for his home," Kisame replied, roaring with laughter. "So, this is where the Nine-tailed Demon lives, huh?"
"Yes," Itachi replied. "He was sealed thirteen years ago. Our Fourth Hokage died as a result, and the Third took over once more. I hear he hasn't lost his edge, though; Orochimaru fell to him."
"That creepy snake guy wasn't very strong. Smart, but not strong at all," Kisame replied. "I was glad to be rid of him, though I wish you guys had let Samehada absorb all of his chakra. There's no way my sword could be taken over by his soul, I guarantee that."
Itachi snorted. "I still don't get how a sword can be 'alive'. Maybe demon-possessed, and in your case I'd believe it, but alive?" He shook his head as he began walking down the hill. Ignoring the fuming giant, Itachi found himself battling with his inner self, wanting to see his beloved brother and yet dreading seeing the boy, who he knew would blame him for the massacre. 'It's not like he's wrong; I was assigned to do it... I just wasn't able to. Why did that bastard wipe out the innocent ones, too? Probably to hold me hostage, but why would he need me? All he needs are the Tailed Beasts...'