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Gamabunta shot into the air, clearing the Air Bullet by a narrow margin. He scowled as he felt the air near his toes ripple and distort, disturbed by the massive blast. Behind him, the bullet hit a mountain and ground the hard granite into sand. "Now that'll hurt," the boss muttered as he eyed the raccoon. He leaped again, ignoring Naruto's yelling as a new volley of attacks came his way. Shukaku grinned the best he could with his oversized lower jaw and spat another blast at the leaping toad.
"Not this time," Gamabunta called as he made a hand sign. "Suiton! Teppodama!" His cheeks welled up then spat a quick double tap of water bullets, the two attacks canceling each other out, then he let off a delayed third one, blowing through the rain that the collision had left and smashing headlong into Shukaku.
"Shiiiit!" The tanuki howled indignantly. "I hate water! Hate hate it!"
'Oh really?' Gamabunta thought with more than a slight amount of interest. He noted that the area where the bullet had hit was dark and wet and Shukaku didn't seem to like that. "Well then, try this on for size! Teppodama!"
A barrage of the water bullets spewed from the toad's mouth, smashing into Shukaku one after the other, drenching the sand raccoon. When it was over, the only dry spot left on Shukaku was the spot where Gaara still swung, out like a light. The demon had made a deliberate and contentious effort to protect the Jinchuuriki.
'So if the 'riki wakes up, the coon will go back under,' Gamabunta surmised. His fleshy mouth turned upwards in a smile. "Hey kid!"
"What is it, Boss Toad?" Naruto asked.
"I got a way to take this guy out!"
"Really!?" Naruto gasped. "Well I'm all ears 'cause I don't have a better plan."
"It's real easy, actually," Gamabunta replied. "All we gotta do is wake up that Sand kid in his forehead. Wake him up and the demon goes away."
"Well what are we waiting for!?" Naruto demanded. "Let's do it!"
"Right," the head toad answered, crouching. "Here we go!"
The toad bounded forward, covering the distance from his place to Shukaku in one massive bound. Gamabunta latched onto him and held fast. Naruto was crouching, reading himself to jump when the raccoon gave a hard shake and dislodged the toad. Gamabunta tipped sideways with a grunt before leaping backwards, just clearing a retaliatory strike.
"Damn!" The blond swore. "Hey Boss, if you want me to do something you're going to have to hold on!"
"Be quiet!" Gamabunta snapped. "I don't have any horns or claws to hang on with!"
"What!? So what do we do now!?" Naruto cried, panic welling up within him. If he didn't do something fast, Gohan, Sakura, and the others would be squashed. "How are you supposed to hold on then!?"
"You moron," Gamabunta said with a sigh. "If we don't have claws or fangs or anything, then we use a jutsu to get what we need. The Henge should be perfect…of course, I don't really do the Henge so you'll have to do it."
"What how!?"
"A combined Henge you idiot!"
"Oh. Why didn't you say so!" Naruto grinned as he made the appropriate seal.
'The kid really is an idiot,' Gamabunta thought with a shake of his massive head, almost knocking the concentrating Naruto off his feet. 'Oh well, can't be helped I guess'
"You ready kid?"
"Yeah!"
"Then hold on cause here we go!"
The toad bounded forward.
"Son of a bitch!" Jiraiya howled as he rolled under a water jutsu. The Suiryuudan soared over his head and smashed into the purple barrier, disintegrating into steam the second it touched the walls. The Nidaime, or the earth and clay copy of him anyway, began another sequence. Orochimaru had used a technique that Jiraiya had never seen before to bring back to life both the Shodai Hokage and the Nidaime Hokage. Jiraiya didn't have a problem fighting the two of them. The Shodai had been dead by the time Jiraiya was a genin and the Nidaime was too busy with other things to really stop and see how the future Sandaime was teaching his students. Sarutobi on the other hand, had been taught by both men, had known and loved them like his own father and to see them disgraced and debased like this was truly a terrible psychological blow.
The Shodai clapped his hands together and a dense roiling blackness poured out, enveloping both Jiraiya and Sarutobi. Almost simultaneously, the two legends brought their hands together in the tiger seal. "Kai!"
The darkness shattered just as quickly as it had blossomed. Neither, however, expected the wave of water that came from the Nidaime. They were swept away and sent flying towards the barrier wall, and the certain death that went with it, until the Sandaime showed why he was one of the foremost experts with the Kage Bunshin.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
The clones made a very Naruto-like move and made a human chain that shot out and grabbed onto a solid piece of the roof, the remains of the earthen wall that the Kage had made only a short time ago. Fukasaku lashed out with his tongue caught Sartuobi's outstretched hand. The elderly toad grunted and was almost peeled right from Jiraiya's shoulder, but the sannin felt himself jerk to a stop. He lost no time in vaulting onto the top of the water, leaping from crest to crest of the waves that were still roiling and pounding. He hurled shuriken and kunai at every opportunity, trying to disrupt the jutsu.
One struck the Nidaime right between the eyes and flew out the other side, propelled by the Sage Mode-enhanced strength, but the neat circle filled in with earth and was gone. It did its job though and the jutsu was halted. A long staff swept over his head and knocked the Shodai from his feet.
"Ho?" Orochimaru commented from his place behind his two abominations. "Not bad, but I have to ask, how long can you keep this up, as old as you are? Jiraiya, Sensei, you are still aging, still old, still decrepit. How long until you give out and my Kage can simply squash your heads in with their feet?"
"I've had enough of this," Jiraiya snarled. "Outta the way, Old Man, I'm gonna summon Gamabunta."
"No can do, Jiraiya-chan," Fukasaku replied quickly. "Bunta's preoccupied at the moment. Turns out that little squirt you let sign the contract called him out to help with Suna's Jinchuuriki."
"Naruto?" Jiraiya asked before slapping his forehead. "Great. Even when the brat ain't here he messes things up for me!"
Orochimaru laughed. "Poor Jiraiya, done in by his own student. Oh the sweet irony. After all, you're responsible for luring the Yondaime to his death are you not?"
Jiraiya felt a steely calm pass over him like a wave, wiping out every emotion. "What was that?" He asked.
Orochimaru shrugged. "That foolish Fourth. He decided to seal the fox and sacrifice himself instead of enslaving the beast like any self-respecting shinobi would've done. All because of you, Jiraiya. You gave him those foolish morals, you taught him, showed him the path he walked. When it's all said and done, sensei have a responsibility to their students. When the sensei hesitates, the student pays the price. Right, Sarutobi-sensei?" The snake-man grinned.
"That's some noble-sounding bullshit you've got going there, bastard," Jiraiya snarled. The world was beginning to slow down around him. His eyes were shadowed by his oversized hirai-ate. "You've got balls, I'll admit, badmouthing my students like that." His innermost thoughts were beginning to be replaced by smooth anger, blotting out all else. The Yondaime's face, grinning Naruto's megawatt grin, passed over his vision.
"Yes, well, if trash is present, it should be brought to light."
Something in Jiraiya snapped and he felt all emotion sweep away from him, leaving only a cold hard blank, a desolate wasteland of apathy. He no longer cared what happened to him, or to his sensei or to Naruto, or to anyone else for that matter. All he wanted was to grind Orochimaru's smug ass into a paste. While his thoughts were inside, outside, changes were coming over Jiraiya. His skin was lightening, the warts that spotted his skin were receding, and his features were resuming their normal shape. At the same time, bright green chakra was beginning to snake around him, wreathing him in emerald light.
'Did Jiraiya-chan lose Sage Mode?' Fukasaku wondered for a second before a surge in the sacred energies almost blew him off the sannin's shoulder. 'No!'
"Pa!" Shima shouted suddenly. Fukasaku blinked, wondering what was wrong, then he noticed that Jiraiya's toad features had faded totally, except for the darkened areas around his eyes and his toad eyes themselves.
"Jiraiya-chan?" Fukasaku asked. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Jiraiya had never before achieved a total Sage Mode. He wasn't able to quiet himself enough to do it. Remaining still was essential for gathering Sage Chakra, but it also required a measure of emotional stability as well. Jiraiya had never been able to fully master either requirement, hence why he had always, until now, been partially turned into a toad. Showing emotion wasn't a bad thing in sage mode, but when gathering it, it required an almost meditative focus. Jiraiya, for reasons unknown to Fukasaku, but reasons that he could guess rather easily, had suddenly achieved that metal focus. And the chakra was responding beyond all limits. The energies were rushing to Jiraiya like a moth to the flame. It was unbelievable.
"He's focusing on his students, the memory of the Yondaime," Fukasaku breathed. "He's never been able to focus totally on something, been that way ever since I've known him and now…" He looked at Orochimaru, who, Fukasaku was pleased to see, didn't look too happy about the development. "He's got the focus."
"No matter how powerful you grow," Orochimaru said with a confidence that he didn't really feel. "It will pale compared to your betters." The Shodai and Nidaime dashed in, weapons ready. What happened next would have Orochimaru wondering for weeks. Jiraiya simply waved an arm, a careless right hook that would never have hit a decent shinobi, but the Shodai and Nidaime were blasted right off their feet, smashing into the ground behind Orochimaru with a thud that made the tiles beneath his feet tremble. "How?"
"Does it matter?" Jiraiya asked from behind him. "You're going to die for what you said." The air grew heavy, thick with killing intent. Orochimaru's eyes widened for a split second before pain seared through his chest. He looked down and saw a Rasengan, swirling angrily, emerging through him, followed by Jiraiya's hand and arm.
"Y-Y-You!" Orochimaru shouted, spinning as Jiraiya wrenched his arm free of his ex-best friend's body. The snake man's attack met nothing. The Sannin coughed, throwing up gouts of blood as he turned around. He hadn't expected Jiraiya's sudden power increase so he'd neglected to have a Bunshin or Kawarimi ready.
"Looking for me?" Jiraiya asked, standing over the two fallen Kage. He held up his palms and twin blue balls of spinning chakra spun to life. He smashed them down into the defiled corpses. The detonation filled the purple cube with smoke and tile fragments. When it cleared, the kunai that had been implanted in the back of the dead leaders' heads had been destroyed and the bodies lost their color, crumbling into the dust that they'd been made from in the first place. The toad sage dropped flat, revealing Sarutobi.
"Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
He threw a single star that vanished in a puff of smoke and became hundreds as they burst from the cloud. Orochimaru tried valiantly to dodge but he was slowed by his wound and took a few nasty hits and a bunch of grazes. He was out of breath by the end, perspiration thick on his head, stinging his wounds as it ran down his pale skin. He coughed again and spat blood. Fury, unbridled rage like nothing the Sannin had ever known, filled him from his head to his toes. "DAAAAAMMMMNNN YOOOOUUUU!"
He drew the Kusanagi, the blade glowing bright white, the deadly weapon's business end extending out like a bullet. Jiraiya flipped over the attack with ease. Sarutobi wasn't so lucky and took a nasty blow on his arm. He would've lost it if not for his summon partner's timely intervention. A thin whip-like tongue slapped Orochimaru's wrist, taking the blade from his grasp. Jiraiya's angry toad eyes filled Orochimaru's field of vision, then it was gone, the world spinning madly. The Sannin was only faintly aware of the searing pain in his ribs and the impact with the ground, the force driving the air from his lungs. He struggled to his feet, wavering like a drunk. The world was still wobbly.
'Odd,' Orochimaru thought with detached interest. 'What's going on? I've never felt this way before, never in all my time as a shinobi…am I dying?' He looked at the hole in his chest, still oozing blood. It was a miracle that the foul shinobi had stayed on his feet as long as he had, but even a powerhouse like a Sannin had a breaking point and Jiraiya's powerup had done enough to tip the balance towards the two Leaf-nin again. 'I don't want to die…I can't die! I won't be defeated here!'
Explosions touched off throughout the city, but they were farther back, getting driven towards the walls. The Suna-Oto alliance was crumbling as Suna and Oto-nin alike turned and began to flee against the renewed fury of the Konoha-nin, who were defending their homes and precious ones. At the head of the charge was Kakashi, Sharingan blazing, beside a squad of ANBU who'd remained friends of his though the years, including Tenzou.
"It's Sharingan Kakashi!" One of the Suna-nin howled, eyes wide with fright. He died a second later, a kunai in his throat. The kunai had come from Kakashi's hand. The Suna shinobi, who'd been offering some resistance as they fell back, stopped, stunned by their now-deceased comrade's cry.
Kakashi held up a second knife. "You all have three seconds to clear the village," he said dangerously, Chidori blazing to life in his other hand. "One…two…"
The Suna shinobi began running.
They never heard Kakashi hit three. The shuriken and kunai volley of the ANBU cut them down in seconds, each knife or star finding a vital organ, vein, or artery.
"Spread out!" The scarecrow barked. "Run them out of our village!"
"Sir!"
The ANBU and Jounin vanished in black blurs.
Across the village, a certain scarred Chuunin fought against a squad of Suna Jounin. Iruka scowled as he was slowly driven back, working his knife as fast as he could. One of the Jounin slipped on the blood-slicked ground and lost his guard. Iruka's kunai dipped in and came back red, the enemy shinobi falling to the ground with a gashed carotid.
"Come on!" The leader howled from the back lines. "He's just a Chuunin! Kill him!" The squad, egged on by their commander, rushed in with savage grins. Iruka's eyes narrowed in preparation for the pain that was sure to follow.
Birds swooped from the sky and began tearing into the enemy. Iruka wondered where the attack had come from, but that thought was answered when an ANBU dropped from the rooftop behind him, short sword in hand. A deft slash took down the leader and the birds finished ripping the throats from their targets. The ANBU spared only enough time to dispel the birds, which vanished with splashes, becoming black puddles of fluid. Then the ANBU was gone. Iruka blinked, surprised. That ANBU couldn't have been much older than Naruto, he realized as he bent to examine the black puddles. He dipped one finger into a puddle and sniffed.
"Ink?" He wondered as he straightened up. "What was that jutsu?" He pondered a bit more then shook himself and dashed off, trying to find the impromptu team that he'd linked up with.
All over Konoha it was the same story as the shinobi battered the invaders back. In almost ten minutes, the enemy had been driven beyond the outer edges of the village and the mop up operations were beginning with only a few hotspots remaining, pockets of enemies who'd gotten separated from their friends and summarily left behind in the wild retreat. By nightfall that day, the hotspots would be cleared and the cleaning up would begin.
"It's over, Orochimaru," Jiraiya growled, watching the receding signs of battle. "Now all that's left is to cut off the head of the beast." He cracked his knuckles to emphasize the point. "You can die fast or slow, your choice."
The wobbly Sannin half-expected for his old teacher to make some wise comment to Jiraiya to try and stop him, but none was forthcoming. If anything the old Kage looked resolute. There would be no hesitation from Sarutobi, not this time. He would not repeat his mistakes and allow Orochimaru to escape again. Without warning, Orochimaru toppled over, slamming to the ground
"Orochimaru-sama!" Tayuya shouted. The Sound Four didn't hesitate. They dropped their barrier, allowing the purple box to fall. The four most loyal students and pawns of Orochimaru were at his side in seconds, Tayuya and Sakon picking up their fallen leader while the other two stood against Sarutobi and Jiraiya.
"Move kid," Jiraiya snarled, the toad eyes fading from his face. He wouldn't need Sage Mode to finish this off. He molded the seals he needed. "Or I'll move you!"
"Do your worst," Jiroubou answered with a confidence that he didn't feel. He was against both a Kage and another of the Sannin, and while both were weaker than his Lord Orochimaru, either one was leaps and bounds above any of the Sound Four.
"You asked for it," came the answer. Jiraiya slammed his hand down to the ground. "Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" He spewed the raging fireball and put more chakra than he needed to behind it. The fireball that spewed forth wasn't orange or red. It was blue and white. The two kids were lost in the blaze, so Jiraiya chocked the flow almost instantly. He scowled when he saw the mud wall. It was baked into hard clay, but the part that had taken the brunt of the blow was melted almost all the way through.
The Sound Four and Orochimaru were nowhere to be found.
"Damn!" Jiraiya cursed, turning to go after them, but a firm hand on his shoulder stopped him.
"No, Jiraiya," Sarutobi said evenly. "Let them go. There will be other opportunities."
"But sensei…"
"No! As Hokage I order you not pursue! If you defy me, Jiraiya, I will have to discipline you." The student and teacher glared at each other, a stare down that Jiraiya lost. He never could go against the Old Man. He sighed and the Kage smiled as he saw the steam leech out of his student. Shima and Fukasaku nodded to each other and vanished with small pops. The two men stood at the pinnacle of the tower and looked out over the burning village, a light wind brining the tang of burning flesh, wood, and blood to them.
"So what now?"
"We endure," Sarutobi replied, putting pressure on the gash on his arm. He felt as if he'd aged a hundred years in the last few hours. "The village isn't the buildings that make it up or the things it holds, but the people who call it home. As long as we have even one person who calls himself a citizen of Konohagakure, the village will endure. And if they possess the Will of Fire, then the village will come back even stronger than before." He sighed. "Dark times are ahead, Jiraiya, but the question we must ask ourselves is will we allow ourselves to be swallowed, or will the fires of this trial temper our resolve to never let it happen again?"
A gigantic explosion touched off in the woods outside Konoha. When it cleared, Jiraiya was just able to make out the massive form of Shukaku. He whistled when he saw what emerged from the explosion, which he recognized as a Henge cloud. The Kyuubi was sitting comfortably in the middle of the forest.
"Kyuubi?" Sarutobi asked. "Impossible."
"Yep," Jiraiya answered. "It's just Naruto and Gamabunta using a combined Henge. Looks like Bunta let Naruto pick the form." The two veteran shinobi watched as the two massive creatures lunged at each other. The ensuing clash was audible as a dull thud even from the distance separating the fight and its observers.
"Shouldn't you go help? He is your godson after all," the Sandaime said.
"Che. Naruto's a big boy now. He doesn't need me to help him out. Besides, a master shouldn't get involved in his student's fights."
"So that means you shouldn't have gotten involved with me and Orochimaru," the older shinobi said with a grin.
"Hey, I was the student, you were the teacher. The rule doesn't apply."
Sarutobi chuckled. "I suppose," he answered, looking up at the darkening clouds overhead. The two lapsed into silence for a moment. "I'm too old for this," he said suddenly.
"Eh?"
"Nothing. Come. I have to help clear out the rest of these invaders."
"Right behind you Old Man," Jiraiya answered with a grin. The two vanished in a swirl of leaves.
Sasuke ducked under the wave of bugs that tried to envelop him in the mass of clicking mandibles and gossamer wings. Shino stared impassively as his enemy swung a kunai wreathed in lightning chakra through the attack, severing it like a snake head, the bugs popping into sparks of light and flame.
"Not bad, Uchiha Sasuke," the Aburame murmured, readying another strike. "But not good enough." He slammed a hand to the ground. A new wave of bugs burst forth, rising up like a tidal wave before cresting and beginning its descent on Sasuke. The Uchiha smirked and drew his lightning shield around his body again. The strike burned right through the bugs as it had before.
A kunai buried itself into the Uchiha's shoulder. He staggered and lost his guard, paving the way for a follow-up volley of shuriken to pepper his body. The sudden pain made him cry out as he sank to his knees.
"Predictable," Shino muttered, standing. "I've seen that too many times, Uchiha. It won't work again."
"Screw you!" He stood despite the pain, only to wobble and fall to the ground again. "What!? I can't feel my limbs! What the fuck did you do, Aburame!?"
Shino held up a small vial of black powder. It was only about as long as Sasuke's thumb. "This. It's a concoction made out of the powdered husks of mature kikaichu who've molted. It's a powerful contact poison. Only an Aburame is immune to its effects. Since I put it on my weapons, its now in your bloodstream. Right about now you should be feeling a tingling in your limbs, like they're asleep."
Sasuke's limbs began to tingle. He glanced down at his arms for just a second, but it was enough to tip Shino off.
"Next your hearing and eyesight will begin to fade."
When Shino spoke again, Sasuke could barely hear him and his vision was contracting. Shino's voice was soft. "In another few seconds, you'll pass out totally and be out for twelve hours at the least, a day and a half at most."
Sasuke keeled over sideways, out cold. The remaining kikaichu rose up and swarmed back to their master, vanishing up the sleeves and down the collar of his overlarge coat. The silence in the clearing was ominous. Shino pushed up his sunglasses with his middle finger as the black marks of the seal receded from Sasuke's skin. "I win, Uchiha Sasuke. I guess the rumors about you were exaggerated."
He went over to a bush and helped Gohan out of it. "Are you alright, Son-san?"
"Yeah," the Saiyan replied. "Thanks for the help."
"It is what we do. You wear the colors and symbol of Konoha, therefore you are my comrade, therefore I am duty-bound to help you in time of need. Apparently, Uchiha has forgotten that."
"Now I have to help Naruto!" Gohan grunted, trying to free himself from Shino, but the bug-user forced him to sit.
"No, Son Gohan," he said. "This is Naruto's fight. It is his to win or lose."
Gohan grunted his disagreement, but couldn't do much else. He couldn't deny that he would be in the way if he went to Naruto in the state he was in. "Damn."
"Indeed."
Sakura stirred and pushed herself upright with a gasp. "Sasuke no!" She stopped cold and blinked when she realized that the battle around her was no longer raging out of control. "Huh?" Her eyes met Shino's. "Shino-san?"
He nodded.
She found Gohan next. "Gohan-kun!" She was at his side only a second later, but at a loss as to what to do now. "Are you alright?"
"Fine," he answered with a grin. "More importantly, are you okay, Sakura? Sasuke hit you pretty hard."
She rubbed her neck, where a nasty bruise was just becoming visible against her pale skin. "It's no big deal. You've hit me harder I think."
Gohan laughed weakly, but it vanished when a tremendous crash shook everyone and knocked over Shino and Sakura. His smile vanished. "Naruto, don't die on us."
"I'm gonna die!" Naruto howled as Gamabunta slammed into Shukaku again, almost knocking both huge creatures from their feet. The raccoon shook himself though and threw off the transformed toad. Both were on their feet quickly and at it again. This time Gamabunta shouldered his way past the other's guard and latched on.
"Go!"
The transformation dissolved as Naruto rocketed up above the two fighting creatures. "Hey Gaara!" He yelled as he drew back. "Wake the hell up!" His cross smashed into Gaara's jaw, dislocating it with a satisfying pop. The blond skidded to a stop on the muzzle of Shukaku. He smirked when he noticed Gaara's eyelids flicker.
The other Jinchuuriki flinched when he felt his jaw. He popped it back into place, biting through his lip to keep the scream of pain back. "Damn you, Uzumaki Naruto! What makes you so powerful? What drives you?"
"You threatened my friends," Naruto answered simply. He gave Gaara a thumbs down. "For that, I'm gonna kick your tanuki ass all the way around the world!"
"Friends?" Gaara answered. "Friends are weak. Friends hold you back. You should fight for yourself." Both ignored Shukaku's protests as he was again driven into Gaara's subconscious. "We exist for ourselves, fight for ourselves, strive for ourselves, and in the end, we die for no one but ourselves."
"Maybe you do," Naruto shot back, Sakura, Sasuke, Gohan, Kakashi, Ero-Sennin, Iruka, and the Rookie Nine's faces flashing through his mind one after another. Red youki began to swirl around his feet. It settled around his body like a second skin, and though it was invisible to him, Gamabunta noted the way it formed two long fox ears above his head. Naruto's crimson cat-like eyes burned into Gaara's. "But I don't. AND I WON'T LET YOU KILL THEM!" He flashed forward, too fast for Gaara to track. The next thing the Suna Jinchuuriki knew, his already tender jaw was aflame with new pain. Naruto's uppercut lifted Gaara straight out of Shukaku's head, the raccoon body dissolving into a massive mountain of sand.
Both landed at the tips of trees, glaring at each other. In the other, each one could see himself, with the deep pain and suffering that came with being a hated demon container. Each could also see the life he could've had if only circumstances had been a little different. As they stared the other down, each couldn't help but wonder, if they had met under different circumstances and in different lives, could they have been friends? Naruto thought so. Gaara wasn't so sure. Friends made you weak, he'd said, a philosophy he'd maintained through his entire life. Friends were deadweight, a weakness to be purged. 'So where does this power of his come from?' Gaara wondered. 'Where? And how?'
Something broke between them and they lanced at each other, Naruto's fox-skin fading as he closed with Gaara. For Gaara, it was the first time he'd ever had to use his own body to fight. His punch was clumsy, but the intent behind it was not. "DIE!"
Naruto planted a hand on Gaara's fist and flung himself up and over, high above the other Jinchuuriki. "In your dreams!" He shouted in return, slamming both his heels into the small of Gaara's back. Gaara slammed to earth in a massive cloud. Naruto landed beside him. "With you threatening my friends, there's no way I'll lose!" He rolled Gaara over with one toe, and pulled out a kunai, steeling himself for what he was about to do.
"What are you?" Gaara asked, something akin to awe in his eyes. "How do you have this kind of power?"
"Because I have to protect my friends, at any cost," Naruto answered, raising the kunai. "I won't let them die."
"But to go to such lengths. Even with what you…we are? Why go to such lengths for people who will just hate you in the end?" Gaara asked. Naruto hesitated, lowering the knife. "What have they ever done for you?"
Naruto looked away, lowering his arm. "They acknowledged me," he said simply. Gaara's eyes widened in surprise. "They were the first to. At first it was only Iruka-sensei, but eventually it was Sasuke-bastard, and Sakura-chan, and Gohan and Kakashi. Now for the first time in my life, I have precious people, friends, a family I can call my own." He looked back at Gaara, who was surprised to see tears running down Naruto's cheeks. "Believe me, I know your pain. I know how it is, the darkness you find yourself in everyday. I hated the people of the village at first. My earliest memories are of beatings at their hands. There were days I wanted to kill them. But…I decided to force them to acknowledge me instead, by being the class moron. It never went away, though."
"What didn't go away?"
"The dirty looks," Naruto answered, drying his eyes and stowing his knife. He sighed and grabbed Gaara by the armpits and dragged the other demon host to a tree, propping him up and sitting down beside him, staring up at the clouds through the leafy canopy. Gaara was totally nonplussed, not knowing what to do in this situation. Naruto had helped him. No one had done that and at first the Suna-nin wondered what Naruto had to gain by it and if he was going to kill him after the story was done, but something else within Gaara, some part of him he'd long since thought dead, told him that Naruto's act of kindness, simply helping him to a sitting position against a tree, really was just that, an act of kindness.
"Everywhere I went," Naruto went on, "even now, I still get the looks. I don't think it will ever really go away. Unless I do something really spectacular to save the village in front of them all, I doubt I'll ever be free of them."
"So why not kill them?" Gaara asked, staring up at the clouds himself. "Make them acknowledge you. Make them too afraid to look at you with hatred."
"Then it's just as bad," Naruto answered quickly. "I don't want to be feared. I just want to be respected."
"And how do your friends help with that? Do they speak on your behalf?"
Naruto shook his head. "No," the blond answered. "They saved me."
"Saved you how?" Gaara was surprising himself with how much he was talking. He'd never talked like this before, never had anyone to talk to, really. Most of the time, the people were too scared to look at him the wrong way. But Naruto was different. He could relate. He shared Gaara's pain, but had risen above it, owned it, and vanquished it. All through having friends. Were friends really that important, Gaara wondered?
"They saved me from myself," Naruto replied with a smile. "When you make a friend, you share a little of your pain with them. You bear it together and it makes it easier to handle. They pulled me from the darkness, especially Sasuke-bastard and Gohan."
"Son…Gohan?" Gaara asked, with an owlish blink. "The one I fought in the preliminaries?"
"That's the one," Naruto grinned. "He's the one person who met me and didn't give me that look. It…meant a lot to me and now he's even my roommate. It's awesome. Sometimes I wonder if that's what it's like to have a brother."
"Does he share your beliefs?"
"Yeah. He always gets really pissed off when someone gets hurt."
The two lapsed into a comfortable silence and Gaara was surprised to find that he didn't feel the overwhelming urge to kill Naruto. As a matter of face, he felt…tranquil, at peace with the world. It didn't seem so dark and bleak now. Would it be like this all the time if he had friends, he wondered? "You are very wise, Uzumaki Naruto," Gaara said finally.
"You really think so?" Naruto asked with a grin, scratching his cheek. "That's kind of funny. Everyone's always telling me how much of a dumbass I am."
"Gaara!"
Temari and Kankuro landed near them. Both did double takes when they saw Naruto and Gaara just sitting calmly next to each other. Kankuro huffed. "You look like shit." He half expected a tidal wave of sand to crush him. Temari clearly did, from the exasperated look she was giving him.
"That's because he fought me!" Naruto proclaimed. "The greatest Konoha shinobi ever!"
The other two members of the Sand Trio looked at each other and had one thought. 'This guy's an idiot.'
"Looks like it's time for you to go," the blond genin said, standing, wobbling a few times before steadying himself and helping up, supporting him under one arm. "Or are you going to try and kill my friends again?"
"No," Gaara said finally. He stumbled over to his siblings, Kankuro lifting him onto his back. They turned to leave, but Gaara stopped his brother. "Wait." He looked back at Naruto. "Uzumaki Naruto…Do you think…that you would be able call me a friend?" Temari and Kankuro exchanged stunned looks. Gaara sounded hopeful, the first emotion they'd ever seen in him, aside from bloodlust-filled insanity.
Naruto looked surprised too, but he grinned his fox grin and folded his arms behind his head. "Nope," he said, making the other three blink, startled. Gaara felt unbridled rage. This guy had toyed with him, just like every body else. He was just gathering his remaining chakra to strike Naruto dead when the blond spoke again. "We're best friends, Gaara."
Gaara's rage and chakra vanished as if it had never been there. "Best friends, huh?" he repeated, the words stiff and strange on his tongue. Kankuro and Temari didn't see it, but Naruto did. Gaara's lips curled up in a thin, almost invisible, but very genuine smile. "I see. Then when we meet again, it shall be as friends, not as enemies."
"Yeah!"
The Sand Siblings left as blurs, Temari and Gaara looking back at Naruto's receding form. "Who…was that guy, Gaara?" Temari asked, curious. She half expected to die right then, but to her surprise, Gaara actually answered her.
"Uzumaki Naruto," he replied. "Konoha's Jinchuuriki."
"The Kyuubi host?" Kankuro asked.
"Yeah." They bounded through the majestic forest of Konoha in silence for a few minutes before Gaara spoke again. "Temari…Kankuro…I'm sorry."
The two exchanged surprised glances again. "Uh…no problem Gaara," Kankuro said finally. Gaara passed out from the exhaustion of the day. Thankfully, Shukaku was too busy recovering his own strength to take advantage of his host's inactivity, so the raccoon didn't make an appearance.
"What happened to him?" Temari asked.
Kankuro only shrugged.
Naruto watched the trio fade, then turned to head back towards his own friends. To his surprise, all strength left his legs and he fell face first towards the ground. He never hit. A warm body, solid and safe, caught his fall.
"You always push yourself too hard," Jiraiya said, picking his godson up on his back. "Makes picking up after you a pain in the ass."
"Ero-sennin? What're you doing here?"
"Well, I saw Gamabunta leave a little while ago, so I figured that I should come and see how it was going. Looks like I didn't need to worry." He leapt into the trees and bounded for some distance before dropping to the ground, in front of everyone who'd come after Naruto. Sakura and Gohan were the first at his side as Jiraiya set him down, followed by Shino and Shikamaru, who'd decided that going into battle would be too troublesome after his bout with Kankuro and had settled down for some good cloud watching. The only one missing was Sasuke, who was being borne back to Konoha on the back of one of Jiraiya's smaller toads for medical treatment (and hopefully a severe disciplining from Kakashi, if Sakura and Gohan and the Aburame kid were to be believed).
"Damn, Naruto," Shika said. "You look like hell."
They were all beaten, bruised, and battered, Naruto with his cuts and bruises most of all and Gohan with his arm in a sling a close second. A vein pulsed in Naruto's forehead. "Oh shut up, lazy ass! I didn't see you doing any fantastic fighting!"
Shika shrugged with a smirk. "Too troublesome," he answered.
Naruto used a couple words in a string that had Sakura smacking him silly. The rest had a laugh at his expense. In less than fifteen minutes, they were on their way back to Konoha.
Whew! I'm back! See I'm not dead. Sorry for the long wait. I really have no excuse aside from general apathy, but August was pretty much spent getting ready for the trip back to AZ where I go to school and since I'm not about to drive my ass out that far, we had to take a plane, which meant that I had to find what I wanted, leave what I didn't want, and try to cram it all into a suitcase. Someday I'll have my own plane and I'll be able to fly myself...and while I'm wishing, I'd like to be a shinobi while I'm at it. And here I thought life was simple. Well, this ends three or four different fights and moves us out of the Chuunin Exams and the invasion. The Sandaime even survived thanks to Jiraiya pulling the complete Sage Mode out of his ass there at the end, which took Orochi-bastard totally off guard. Better to be lucky than good I guess. Well anyway, now I gotta go write the next chapter on another story, so later until next chapter!
Glossary
Suiton: Teppodama (Water Style: Water/Liquid Bullet): Gamabunta's technique. He spits a big ass ball of water, kinda like a gun. (It is called bullet for a reason)
Fuuton: Renkuudan (Wind Style: Drilling Air Bullet): Shukaku's version of the Teppodama, except with air.
Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone): The Shadow Clone done with shurikens. Too bad Naruto doesn't know this one. I think he'd come up with some rather inventive uses.