BackLash
Chapter 12
Test of Strength, Proof of Trust
"talking"
'thinking'
-FF/Change POV-
Naruto was cursing under his breath as he sped through the forest. Gaara was loose, and he was after Sasuke. How could he have let Gaara loose? Now his friends were in danger. Naruto nearly stopped, but he kept going. '...My friends... These guys?... yeah. I guess I have friends here... ' Naruto chuckled to himself and kept going as fast as possible. He frowned when Shikamarou left their fold to keep their trackers from stopping them. He shook it off and kept going. Sakura was starting to falter, but he couldn't slow down. If only the dog ran faster. That was the only thing that kept Naruto from going even faster. That's when Naruto could sense it. The shukaku. And if the Shukaku was nearby, so was Gaara. and Sasuke. Naruto and Sakura got to the two right on time. Sasuke had collapsed, with weird marks all over his body. Naruto didn't have the time to check out what was wrong. He punched Gaara away from his prone teammate. Gaara glared. The word 'traitor' was clear in his eyes. Naruto returned the look. His anger grew when Sakura was pinned to the tree. Naruto breathed deeply and ran at Gaara, throwing his best into the fight.
Gaara howled in anger when Naruto has stabbed him with the explosive. Naruto looked back at Sasuke to make sure that he was okay. "Dude, don't do that again." He scolded. Then he shook his head. 'I sound like...' He shook his head again and glared at Gaara. Gaara just laughed. At that moment, Naruto realized something. He had been slightly annoyed that his other team had left him to deal with their most unpredictable member. But now, he realized that by having all the team going on missions, even when Gaara was in the position that he could seriously kill half a village, they were showing trust in his ability. Naruto looked at Sasuke, and realized that he, too, trusted in Naruto's skills. Naruto smiled at Gaara, because, although he sill wasn't sure that he could beat him, he knew that he could at least save his teammates.
Naruto summoned his clones, and began to ram Gaara with punches and kicks. If there was enough of him to do the punching, mabey he could knock Gaara out. Then Naruto knew that his luck ran out. Gaara was unleashing the shukaku. Naruto cursed, and then he quickly summoned Gamabunta. He smiled at Gamakichi [[sp?. The little toad was annoying sometimes, but it was nice to know that he was on his side. Naruto held on while Gamabunta charged for the shukaku. He winced as the giant sword fell a little too close to where his teammates were. " Naruto. If you punch that boy, that Shukaku will lose control. Then it'll be easier for you to take him down." the giant toad said. Naruto nodded.
"What do I need to do?" He asked.
"Just think of something with claws and teeth. I'll grab on, and you punch." The chief continued. Naruto nodded, and formed a handsign. The first thing that popped into his head was something strong enough to beat the shukaku. The kyuubi. and that is what they transformed into. Naruto slammed Gaara was hard as he could. Shukaku lost control, and the chief toad dissappeared. Naruto smirked. Gaara growled, and tried to kill him. Naruto did the only thing that he could. He slammed Gaara with his head. Gaara howled, and they both fell to the ground. "Trust... is stronger than hate." Naruto said. "Caring, about friends, and teammates, means more than mindlessly taking lifes."
Naruto continued scooting towards Gaara. Gaara growled at him, trying to make him go away. Sasuke stopped Naruto and helped him up. Naruto gave Sasuke a weak grin. "thanks." He said, as Gaara's siblings stopped by, picked Gaara up, and left. Naruto fell into unconciousness, trusting his teammate to help him home.
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Lunar: In case you haven't noticed, before, Naruto didn't view Team 7 as his team. He didn't even view Sasuke or Kakashi as his team, but he did respect them as ninja. It wasn't until he realized that Team 7 trusted in him that he started calling them his teammates.