Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto or any of the works of Masashi Kishimoto. Actually pretty much anything that ever will occur in this story that you see somewhere else probably is not my property.

Techniques translated at the bottom.

"Well it looks like you didn't need me after all gaki."

"Not quite. I would be amazed if that stopped Shukaku. Probably just pissed him off actually."

"So you want me to stick around a bit longer huh?"

"I'd appreciate it. Now lets get Gaara out of the way. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Turning to the single clone he made Naruto said, "Go get Gaara and his staff. Once you've done that take them to the others. I'll make sure Shukaku doesn't follow." As the clone took off Naruto drew both nodachi and tried to guess where Shukaku would rise up from. 'He has gotta be pissed at Gaara, but he can probably tell that Gaara is out cold from that last attack. He might come at me then, but the fact that I have the kyuubi to back me up and that I haven't shown any hostility yet could keep him away. Dammit this is too much thinking.' "Boss can you hit the ground around us and where Gaara was with some water from Suiton : Teppoudama?"

"Yeah gaki, but that will take up most of the water around here."

"That will be fine just do it."

"Here we go!" Forming handseals the toad-boss leaped into the air before releasing his Suiton : Teppoudama where Naruto indicated.

In and incredible amount of bad timing on his part Shukaku rose up from where Gaara had been just as the water bullets hit. "Damn you human! You may be Kyuubi's servant, but for that one I will kill you!"

"No you won't Shukaku you have fallen into my trap. Now I will show you what these blades can do!" Directing Gamabunta to charge at the slightly soggy sand demon Naruto held the nodachi in his right hand in a position to strike and the one in his left in a guard position.

Shouting out, "Cutting me all you want it won't hurt me you fool!" Shukaku reached out to crush Naruto beneath his claws.

Leaping off of Gamabunta as he dismissed him from the battle, Naruto swung the left-handed blade into the claw he was flying at. The blade glowed red-hot as it swung and where it touched the hand Shukaku's sand burst into flames which proceeded to melt the sand into glass. Ignoring Shukaku's cry of surprise Naruto landed on the edge of the newly formed glass and leaped at one of the spots of damp sand in Shukaku's chest. Shukaku however had no intention of finding out what else those blades could do and redirected the sand in his arm so that the partly glass claw was severed and a new one formed in a position to smack Naruto into his other claw. 'Damn I dropped both nodachi when he hit me.' Seeing that he was handing straight into Shukaku's open claw Naruto held out his hands and formed a Rasengan in each. Hitting the claw Rasengan first Naruto was barely slowed in his flight as they blew apart the sand construct with ease. 'Maybe it's a good thing I lost the swords. Would've been hard to get out of that situation without being crushed if I still had those blades occupying my hands. Well looks like I'm far enough away. Now lets see how well those shuriken work.' Readying some of the five-pointed shuriken in each hand Naruto took aim and threw them with kyuubi enhanced force. Two shuriken hit the damp sand he had jumped towards earlier, they rapidly froze all the water in it making that chunk of Shukaku fall to the ground as a chunk of ice. Three went and embedded themselves into Shukaku's left leg, one burst into flames and turned some of the sand into more glass while the other two caused explosions just a bit larger than most explosive notes. The limb was nearly severed by the attack by it held on. The last shuriken hit Shukaku right in the eye. Unfortunately for the sand demon in was another of the flame ones and his eye was turned almost entirely into glass. 'Well that ought to have pissed him off enough to get his mind off Gaara. Then again if I die from this fall it won't matter much.'

While Naruto was trying to figure out how to cushion his landing Shukaku was crying out for his blood as his own body started to fall apart. Catching sight of Naruto's falling form in his remaining eye Shukaku used the desert sands to recover from all the wounds, but his new glass eye didn't recover. Which was more irritating than handicapping since it was still in a way sand after all. "I will have your blood Uzumaki!" Grabbing Naruto with a claw Shukaku crushed him. "Die Uzumaki. Die like the pathetic human you are, and I will feast on your blood!"

'Hey Kyuubi I think Shukaku went nuts again. Are you sure beating him around for a bit was such a good idea?'

'Yes I am now shut up and use some more of my power before he crushes you into Naruto paste.'

'Ha-ha Kyuubi this really isn't the time for bad puns, but that is a good idea anyway.' Calling up two tails worth of the fox's chakra Naruto blew apart the claw and some of the arm it was attached to with a burst of power. Landing on all fours on the ground once more Naruto looked around for his swords. 'Where'd they get to. These shuriken are good, but not enough to win.' Looking around Naruto noticed the shine from sunlight reflecting off metal and rushed towards it. 'Wait a minute sunlight?' Looking at the horizon while going towards what might be his swords Naruto saw that the sun was already beginning to rise. 'Crap. Well guess I better make this quick before the others show up to carry out Gaara's original mission.' Reaching his goal Naruto could only find one of the nodachi. 'This had better be the right one!' Calling up a third tail of power Naruto rushed at Shukaku with his blade at the ready.

"You won't get me with the same trick twice Kyuubi!" Unleashing some slightly underpowered Fuuton : Renkuudan in his hurry to kill the source of his rage, Shukaku desperately tried to prevent the Kyuubi-powered ninja from doing whatever it was he planned to do. Charging out of the dust cloud created by the attack however were three kyuubi-powered ninja each with one tail of demonic chakra. "Dammit I will not let a human beat me. Not even if he does have Kyuubi's power!" Taking a massive breath of air Shukaku prepared to wipe Naruto out with one last attack. Slamming his hands into his chest while charging the greater portion of his chakra into the blast Shukaku released his largest Fuuton:Renkuudan yet into the path of the charging ninja.

It seemed to have been ineffective however as two Naruto's charged out of the crater created by this attack with a third lagging behind. The lead two each began running up Shukaku's legs, dragging their blades behind them and leaving a trail of flames and sand-turned-glass. Near the top of Shukaku's legs the Narutos plunged their blades into the limbs and channeled chakra through the swords. When they withdrew aforementioned swords most of the top of Shukaku's legs was glass. Grinning mischievously the two formed some handseals before calling out, "Bunshin Bakuha!" While the two clones self-destructed taking Shukaku's legs with them the third Naruto leapt into the air at Shukaku. As the demon fell Naruto intercepted it's neck. 'I really had hoped I wouldn't need to say this weird chant, but any less than that level of attack and Shukaku might recover too soon.' Holding the sword at his waist Naruto said, "Let your will burn the heavens, let your determination open the gates, Gouka no Kaze!" As his nodachi glowed white hot Naruto swung it upwards in a vertical slash, releasing from the sword a burning crescent of air towards Shukaku. When the attack struck it dug deep into Shukaku, but the real damage was when Shukaku combust into incredibly hot flames. When the fires died down Shukaku was lying face down in the sand with most of his body turned to glass. Naruto managed to use Kawarimi no Jutsu to switch places with the glass claw dropped earlier to prevent getting crushed beneath the now glass demon. "It worked!"

"What worked?"

"Gah! When the hell did you get here Kakashi?"

Smiling behind his mask Kakashi replied, "In time it see you switch with that chunk of glass that was here."

Coming into sight alongside Sakura, Jiraiya saw the two talking as well as the fallen Shukaku in the distance and shouted, "HEY GAKI YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO FIGHT SHUKAKU WHILE WE GOT READY TO SEAL IT. NOT TO DEFEAT THE DAMN THING ALL ON YOUR OWN!"

Naruto just gave them a grin while rubbing the back of his head before he asked Kakashi, "How is Gaara doing anyways?"

Kakashi didn't look up from the Icha Icha book he had started reading and said, "He was just exhausted. He'll recover soon enough on his own. You should probably dismiss the clone you have by Gaara."

"Good idea! Now I just have to figure out what to do with my new life-sized glass bijuu."

"Naruto you better not be injured cause I don't want to have to treat you twice!"

"Huh? Sakura-chan what are you talking about you haven't treated me for any injuries yet."

"No, but I'm going to have to treat you after I beat the crap out of you for doing something so stupid!" Rushing at the doomed blonde Sakura hit him with all of her inhuman strength. She then pulled him out from where he was embedded in the glass bijuu and treated his injuries. "Don't do anything that foolish again Naruto, alright?"

"Uh, could we discuss this some other time? Like when we aren't right next to an unconscious demon lord?"

"Good point gaki. Lets seal this baby up and go."

"Uh if you don't mind I'd like to um..." 'Think, think. I need a good excuse so they don't seal him back into Gaara. What might work...' "talk with Kyuubi!"

"Why the hell do you want to talk with the fox about sealing away Shukaku? Better yet why the hell would the fox care?"

"Please just hold off the sealing until I'm done. Its not like the Ichibi is going anywhere."

"Fine just hurry it up. While we're waiting on Naruto I want you two to bring Gaara here."

As Kakashi and Sakura ran off without a word, Naruto sat down and went to chat with his inner demon.

"Oh great Kyuubi-sama come out come out wherever you are!" Getting no response from the fox Naruto tried something to draw the fox to the front of its cage and in to view. "Hey baka-kitsune get your furry ass out here now! We need to talk!" Listening closely for a sign that the demon was approaching Naruto didn't hear anything at first, but upon closer inspection he heard a sound he recognized. "Are you sleeping?! Wake up you lazy furball! I know you're asleep I can hear you snoring. Now WAKE UP!"

Growling at the impudent human who woke him up Kyuubi said, "Who dares to awa... hmm... oh its just you servant. What the hell are you doing in here during my nap? Better question why the hell did you interrupt my nap? It better be a good reason because I was in the middle of a very good dream."

"My team showed up right after I knocked out Shukaku. They still intend to go with Gaara's original plan because he hasn't woken due to his exhaustion yet."

"Hmm sounds like its all your problem this time, but since you kicked Shukaku's ass so badly I'm willing to help you out a little. The ichibi is currently out cold due to exhaustion. Your fight with him made him use up most of his power and fixing your final blow will take more than he has left, but Shukaku isn't all that patient so he'll keep trying to heal himself with all of his energy even when there is none available which means it will take a couple weeks for him to be ready to fight again. Now while weakened Shukaku could be sealed away without harm into someone who is properly prepared to contain him even if they have fully developed chakra coils. Gaara is such a human. In other words you interrupted my nap for no good reason since Gaara can handle having a battered and beaten Shukaku being put back into him. Now get out of here, I intend to sleep for a week. If you need me that's too bad because between my mark and the goodies you picked up nothing should be a sufficient threat to you that you need me to wake up.

"It couldn't have just said that in the beginning? Damn fox wasting my time because I interrupted its nap." Standing up and looking around Naruto found Jiraiya putting seals on Gaara. "Hey Ero-sennin I thought I said to wait until I woke up!"

"Did you find out anything useful from the fox?"

"Yeah, because I beat up the tanuki so badly it can be sealed back into Gaara without risking Gaara's life."

"Is that all?"

"Also the fox said that it would take awhile before the tanuki could fight again."

"So I have plenty of time to do the sealing and there was absolutely no reason for your complaints about me starting to soon."

"Well yeah that's about it." Jiraiya just shook his head at Naruto's behavior and went back to work.

"So basically Naruto and Gaara subdued the bijuu, you sealed it properly, the group returned to Suna, and Gaara hadn't awakened yet by the time you left? Is that basically what happened on the mission?"

"Pretty much yeah."

"What was Sakura's report on the Kazekage's condition?"

"It should take a couple days for his body to get used to having Shukaku sealed in him again, but once that is done he should wake up fine as long as I didn't screw up the sealing."

"And what of Naruto's condition? No one has turned in a report on injuries he incurred while fighting Shukaku."

"That would be because he didn't really get injured fighting Shukaku, and if he did the injuries were already healed by the fox before Sakura could see them."

"Well I guess there is only one thing I can do with this information. Jiraiya go find everyone who was on the mission and tell them they have a week long vacation beginning today."

"Can't you send one of those chuunin at the door to tell them?"

"Stop whining and do it Jiraiya, then you can go begin your own vacation." 'Maybe this way they'll stay out of trouble and I can concentrate on our relations with the other ninja villages instead of situations involving missing-nin and demons.'

'Wow! That looks pretty complicated. What the hell is that a drawing of? Hm half this I can't tell what is going on and I have no idea how to do the other half. I'm going to need help with this. Who do I know that wouldn't mind helping me try to learn an ancient taijutsu style that no living human knows how to preform from some ridiculously complicated training manuals? Bushy-brows! But he could still be out on that mission. Oh well I'll check the training grounds anyway, if he isn't there I can at least try some of this stuff out on my own.'

"Ah-ha I finally found you Naruto!"

"Ero-sennin I'm in my own apartment. It shouldn't have been all that hard to find me."

"Whatever anyway I'm here to tell you that everyone on that last mission is being given a week long vacation starting today."

"Only a week huh? Must be a lot of missions lined up or something for her to only try getting us out of her hair for one week."

"Heh probably. Anyway enjoy the break, I know I will."

"Just go do your research and leave me in peace. I'm trying to figure out how to do the stuff listed on this scroll." Grinning lecherously Jiraiya disappeared in a puff of smoke. Sighing Naruto rolled up the scroll before leaving his apartment through the window, having walled up the door long ago to make his apartment inaccessible to non-ninja. Rushing through the training grounds Naruto listened intently for the sounds that meant Rock Lee was back from a mission.

"Nine-thousand-six-hundred-seventy-five, Nine-thousand-six-hundred-seventy-six, Nine-thousand-six-hundred-seventy-seven..."

'Ahh that would be Bushy-brows over there.' Sneaking up behind Lee who was preoccupied with turning a training log into a toothpick Naruto said, "You know Bushy-brow I'm fairly certain the training log is very sorry for whatever it did to you, and wishes for you to stop while it is still recognizable as a training log."

Stopping mid-kick Lee whirled about and declared, "YOSH! My youthful friend has returned from the clutches of the most unyouthful Akatsuki! Tell me my youthful friend how your burning flames of youth managed to prevail over your foes!"

'I thought asking him to help me with this strange taijutsu was a good idea why?' Chuckling nervously Naruto said, "I uh blew them away by, um combining my youthful flames with the powers of the demon fox." 'I hope he doesn't ask for more information.' Seeing flames growing in Lee's eyes Naruto decided to cut off the flames of youth rant he sensed coming before Gai showed up and the two started hugging. "Look Bushy-brow on a recent mission to Suna I picked up an interesting scroll with among other things details some sort of taijutsu. I came looking for you to ask your help in training in the taijutsu listed on the scroll."

"Naruto your youthful flames are burning as strongly as ever. You are surely in your Springtime of Youth! Of course I will help you in learning the youthful ways of taijutsu! Now let us see what this scroll has to say about the most youthful art!"

Handing over the scroll Naruto thought, 'He is becoming more like Gai each time I see him. He may actually be out doing Gai with his youth speeches now. I know I'm going to regret this soon enough.' Breaking from his thoughts Naruto noticed that Lee was speaking about youth louder and louder as he read the scroll. 'Why did I have to ask Bushy-brow for help?!' As he and Lee began training as the scroll directed, according to Lee's interpretation, Naruto could've sworn he heard muffled laughter mixed in with the Kyuubi's snoring in his head.

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu - Shadow Clone Technique

Suiton : Teppoudama - Water Element : Bullet

Rasengan - Spiral Sphere

Fuuton : Renkuudan - Wind Element : Drilling Air Projectile

Bunshin Bakuha - Shadow Clone Explosion

Gouka no Kaze - Hellfire Wind

Kawarimi no Jutsu - Replacement Technique