Finally, it's here. The match you've all been waiting for. Naruto vs Gaara. Like the match with Shikamaru and Temari, I have absolutely NO IDEA what I'm going to write and I'm just going to let my fast-paced brain move my fingers. Let's see how that turns out.
Qwert: I'm glad I did.
The True Not Important: Your reviews are always a pleasure to read :) thank you!
Thanks to Corpj123, merry1995, Qwert and The True Not Important for the reviews!
"Will Gaara Sabaku please come down to the arena please?"
Genma had been repeating the exact same words for the fourth time now. Naruto was getting impatient. He mentally went through every skill he'd learnt so far in the head.
"I'm here, I'm here," Gaara walked into the arena. He nodded towards Genma, then looked at Naruto. "I am looking forward to see how you fight against me... Naruto Uzumaki."
Naruto better win, Sasuke thought.
Come on Naruto! Sakura had similar thoughts running through her mind.
This blonde kid has no chance against Gaara, Temari shook her head, staring at the television. Worriedly, she glanced over towards the still unconscious Kankuro.
"What do you make of his chances, Neji-san?" Lee asked his teammate.
"Hm." Neji stared at Naruto, then to Gaara. "Naruto will win."
"Yosh! Neji-san, you're so confident!"
"Yes," Neji had the slightest hint of a smile on his lips. "His opponent might look a lot stronger, but if Naruto fights him the way he fought against me, this match will be in his favor."
Naruto looked at his opponent, then to everyone in the arena. At least half the crowd was cheering for him! He smiled, happy that there was no calls of 'Kyuubi brat' yet.
"Begin."
"Come on, Naruto!" Sakura cheered.
With burning resolve, Naruto put his hands into the Shadow Clone seal.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Fifty Naruto clones appeared behind him, and charged towards Gaara.
Gaara simply kept his arms folded, making no movement.
A wave of sand appeared from his gourd, blasting away ten clones.
Gaara raised his hand, and a gigantic spiked missile made of sand appeared in the air. He jerked his hand forward and the missile swept towards the original. Naruto's clones rushed to protect him, and the missile managed to get rid of another twenty clones.
The remaining twenty clones all withdrew their katanas.
"Leaf Style: Extreme Crescent Moon Dance!"
Gaara blinked, and in an instant, his shield rose up. To his shock, one clone managed to bypass the shield - such was the speed of his opponent. The Sand's Jinchuriki jumped back before said clone could swing his weapon.
"You are fast," Gaara admitted. He raised his hand in the air. "Sand Shower!"
A cloud of sand appeared in the air, and sand lumps were shot from it to attack the clones. Every single clone was dispersed with ease, and with that, the sand cloud vanished.
"Alright." Naruto unsheathed his swords. "No more games. The Naruto Uzumaki ninja show starts now!"
Gaara's arms went to their folding position. "Come, Naruto Uzumaki. Show me what you've got."
"Gladly!"
In a period of two seconds, Naruto was behind Gaara, thrusting his sword forward. The Sand Shield quickly came up to protect the Sabaku, and a giant fist of sand appeared.
Leaping away to avoid the fist, Naruto did the Shadow Clone hand seal.
"Sword Clone Jutsu!"
Countless Naruto clones appeared in the air, and they all threw their katanas toward Gaara and dispersed after the weapons left their hands. Everyone in the arena was awed by the sight, but Gaara simply knelt down.
As the katanas looked like they were going to hit, a shelter of sand appeared on top of the sand-wielding boy, leaving him unaffected by the rain of swords. Naruto gritted his teeth.
This guy is a toughie...
Focusing, Naruto did what Itachi had taught him - infusing his blades with Wind chakra.
"Is that all you've got... Naruto Uzumaki?" Gaara raised his palm. "Sand Shuriken!"
The sand shuriken flew towards Naruto, but he countered the throwing stars with his newly-chakra-infused sword. The weapon sliced through the shuriken, and Gaara's eyes widened in genuine amazement.
Attacking again, Naruto managed to land a kick on Gaara's face, bypassing the Sand Shield again.
Knocked back by the kick, Gaara sent a wave of sand towards the blonde. Smirking, Naruto broke into a series of slashes, easily dividing the sand apart.
His swords... they can get through my sand?!
Naruto charged forward again.
This is bad! Gaara jumped back, but Naruto was much, much faster. A sword was thrust forward, and the Sand Shield popped up.
Temari stared at the television screen in horror as the katana stabbed through the Sand Shield, and towards Gaara.
Gaara reacted quickly, and his hand flew up to grab the blade, stopping it from puncturing his chest. The weapon managed to draw some blood from his fingers.
"Heh. I aren't half bad, am I?"
"No," Gaara admitted.
The Sand Shield transformed into two giant spikes.
"Uh oh." Naruto released his grip on his katana and ducked as the spikes flew forward. The next moment, a fist of sand slammed into his gut, throwing him back. Gaara tossed Naruto's katana away, and suspended it in mid-air with his sand.
Drawing his last katana, Naruto infused it with Wind chakra like before, and sprung towards Gaara.
He swung the blade, but Gaara jumped over the orange-wearing Genin. Sand tightened around Naruto's neck, pulling him to the ground.
Another sand spike appeared in the air, and Gaara positioned it directly above Naruto's abdomen.
"Stabbed, strangled, or give up. You choose," said Gaara coldly, to intimidate his opponent.
"How about neither!" A voice called from behind.
Turning sharply, Gaara was met with a punch in the face by a Naruto clone. A second one managed to land a kick on his chest. The distraction made the sand on Naruto's neck loosen, and the spike also dissolved.
The two clones dispersed, and Naruto smirked victoriously.
"So you had two clones hidden within the trees..." Gaara nodded slowly. "Smart of you."
Naruto got ready to resume his battle, until he heard a voice calling in his head.
"Brat!"
"Are you the... Kyuubi?"
Instantly, he felt powerful chakra coursing through his veins. Naruto frowned at the new power he felt, but wasn't one to complain. With an almighty battle cry, Naruto reappeared in front of Gaara, his katana raised in the air.
Materializing a real, solid shield from his sand, Gaara managed to block the attack in time, but the chakra-infused blade cut his shield into two.
"Wind Style: Razor Wind!" Naruto swung his sword.
Invisible wind blades flew towards Gaara, and the redhead's Sand Shield took the hit.
It's not only me and Sakura... Sasuke thought. Naruto... he's learnt a lot of new jutsu as well...
You're lucky your chakra is of a Wind nature, Naruto, Itachi thought with a smile on his face. Only the cutting nature of the Wind chakra can slice through sand like this.
Suddenly, I don't regret getting defeated by Naruto at all... Neji smirked.
"Naruto-kun is burning with the Flames of Youth!" Lee howled, passion burning in his eyes.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Fifty Naruto clones appeared to occupy his opponent, as Naruto went into a crouching position.
That's all the techniques I've learnt so far... except for that Pervy Sage's Summoning Jutsu thing. Should I use it?
"Brat! Of course I'm the Kyuubi!"
Naruto blinked. He had forgotten about the Fox.
"U-Uh right. Kyuubi. What's up?"
"Brat, that kid is like you. He holds the Ichibi, the One-Tailed Shukaku!"
Naruto's head snapped up to look at his opponent, who was dispatching his Shadow Clones with ease.
Gaara gazed towards Naruto as he dispersed ten clones in one shot.
Is he buying time for something?
"Me and Shukaku have got what you humans would call an 'intense rivalry'... and I don't want to see his container win, so I'm lending you some of my chakra, like I did in your fight with the Hyuga. Be thankful, you worthless boy."
"Ah! So it was you!"
"Yes, be thankful, you little brat! No container of mine should be losing to a pathetic Hyuga!"
Naruto winced at the Kyuubi's harsh lecture, as Gaara disposed of the last of his clones.
"Well, I guess we'll be working together-"
"Don't think this is a long-term thing, brat! I still think you're pathetic! I just want to take down Shukaku!"
"You foxy bastard, why don't you learn to be more polite-"
"In front of you, you idiot!"
Naruto raised his katana, slashing apart the three Sand Shuriken that were about to hit him in the face.
"Thanks!"
"Learn to be more careful, brat! I'm going to giving you more of my chakra now!"
Red chakra seeped out of Naruto, and his body began to be coated with the cloak of the Nine-Tails. However, his eyes remained their original blue. The Third leaned forward, surprised.
"Jinchuriki?"
Hiruzen turned to the 'Kazekage', and merely smiled.
"Time to get the real battle started," Naruto swung his katana wildly in the air. The green glow of the chakra-infused weapon left a greenish trail behind it.
Gaara got into a battle stance.
"Oi, kid."
"Shu-chan?"
Naruto raced forward, his speed enhanced by the Kyuubi's chakra, and raised his sword.
Sand quickly tightened around his wrist. Naruto cried out in pain, releasing his weapon. The sand then raised him in the air, and spread to his body.
Whatever Shu-chan wants, he can wait, Gaara thought, blocking out his Tailed Beast. This Naruto guy... if I don't win this battle quickly, I'll be the one defeated.
"Sand Coffin."
"That's the technique he used on me!" Lee exclaimed. "Is he going to do the unyouthful thing of crushing Naruto-kun?"
Naruto was raised into the air.
"Kyuubi!"
"Don't panic, brat."
Gaara's hand was in an open palm. "Give up, or get crushed."
To his surprise, the sand around Naruto slowly dissolved away, and soon, he was free again.
"Think again!" Naruto grinned.
Gaara backed away. Is it that... cloak surrounding him?
There were now two tails protruding from Naruto's back. These two tails positioned themselves on Naruto's shoulders, and suddenly, in between these two tails was a purple energy ball.
A moment later, Gaara's right and left hands had grown gigantic, and seemed to be made out of sand. These two hands also came together, another purple energy ball forming in between.
Shu-chan is taking over... Gaara frowned. What does he know about this... Naruto?
The audience gasped as the two energy balls were fired and collided, giving off a massive explosion that shook the arena. Genma was blown back, but was otherwise unharmed.
"What is this?" Sasuke gasped. "How did Naruto..."
"Kyuubi?"
"That, brat, is the Tailed Beast Ball! Be thankful you got to witness something like that!"Kyuubi said proudly. "I'll be leaving the rest up to you. Prove you're worthy to be my container, brat!"
Naruto mentally nodded, and charged towards Gaara. His katanas had been taken away from him, so the only techniques he could use now was his average taijutsu skill, Shadow Clones... and the Summoning Jutsu.
Gaara emerged from the smoke, unharmed. His gigantic hands were back to their original skin and size.
"Shu-chan! What was that?"
"Be thankful! I saved your life!" Shukaku grunted. "It seems your opponent is the Jinchuriki of Kyuubi, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox much like you are the Jinchuriki of me, Shukaku."
Gaara outwardly gasped, as he stared at Naruto and planned his next move.
"That accursed Kurama... to run into him now of all places..."Shukaku paused, then spoke again. "Grant me access to half your body. If we work together, we can probably defeat them."
"So we're working together now?"
"This is an exception. Don't get cocky, kid. Besides, I expect seven prisoners after this."
Gaara's right arm turned into the Shukaku's claw, and a gigantic tail sprung out of his back.
So he's a Jinchuriki as well, the same words passed through the mind of every Konoha ninja among the audience.
"Jinchuriki vs Jinchuriki," Hiruzen mused.
"Wind Style: Air Bullet!" Gaara roared in a distorted voice.
An invisible bullet was shot from his mouth, hitting Naruto in the chest. The blonde fell back with a pained grunt.
What is Gaara doing? Baki thought, rising to his feet. He shouldn't be-!
Gaara transformed further, and now the only human part of him was his two legs sticking out. His upper body half had shape-shifted into that of a mini Shukaku, and the Jinchuriki attacked Naruto with a roar.
"Taijutsu, it is," Naruto said to himself in a grim tone as Gaara descended upon him. He thrust a fist forward, but Gaara slapped him away with his giant tail.
Roaring again, Gaara leaped into the air and landed with a stomp on Naruto.
"Naruto!" Sakura screamed.
"Guuhh!"
Coughing out blood, Naruto shut his eyes tight as he felt a few bones in his body cracking from the blow.
"Hot, hot, hot!" Gaara cried out, getting off of Naruto quickly. He then looked down to see his ninja sandals were melting from coming into contact with Naruto's chakra cloak.
"Naruto, get up!" Sasuke yelled. "Come on! You're not finished yet, are you?!"
"No, I'm not..." Naruto said softly to himself, forcing his body up. The pain was unbearable, but the Kyuubi's powers were slowly healing his damaged chest.
Feathers started falling.
Baki smirked.
"It's starting."
As the writer of this, I feel a little disappointed with how the chapter turned out to be honest, but I'm glad I've got another chapter done. This chapter also marks the end of the Chunin Exams Arc, and we now move on to the Invasion of Konoha Arc. Until next time!