Author's note: Thank you, all my readers, for over 1000 reviews. As your reward, and to celebrate this story reaching over 300 000 words, this story got a new cover. You can see the full version at my DeviantArt account, link in the author's profile page. (If you've read this far, you should know the dril.)
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Also, if you bought the shares of Gatou corporation, tough luck, suckers. The company went under after the sudden demise of its CEO.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Fortress ruins~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gaara saw that their situation was grim. The four jounin fighting him were really good. His basic sand shield couldn't repel all their attacks. And if he wanted to make it stronger, he would have to draw on Shukaku's power. That was something he'd rather not do. Though his ability to resist the demon's bloodthirsty impulses had increased, if he tried to use much of its chakra, he would lose control. And losing control in this situation would be bad. He hoped that Naruto would finish off his opponent and come to his aid, but if it wouldn't happen within a minute, he'd be forced to let his tenant out to play.
Then he felt the demonic chakra in the air increasing and it wasn't coming from him. He shot a look at Naruto. Just as he expected, he saw the blond boy enveloped in a shroud of red youki, a tail waving frantically around him. What he didn't expect was the purplish-colored goo clinging to him. What was that stuff? Gaara didn't know, but it looked like it was causing the boy great pain. That wasn't good.
Gaara wanted to help his friend, but he was too busy staying alive. In the moment he took to assess Naruto's situation one of the Iwa jounin created a lance of rock and pierced his sand defense, almost reaching Gaara's body. There was a shout as one of the Iwa ninja was hit by Naruto's thrashing tail. One more enemy down. Good. But it still wasn't good enough. Naruto seemed to have lost it and was clawing at himself, trying to get the goo off. If he was at least flinging it at their enemies, they could get out of this mess, but Naruto wasn't coherent enough to do so. Unless a miracle happened within the next ten seconds, Gaara was going to unleash Shukaku.
Just as the red-haired boy counted to nine, a miracle did indeed happen. A wind-charged kunai flew straight through the head of one of the Iwa jounin, killing him on the spot. That left them facing only two enemies. And their savior revealed himself.
"Baki-sensei," Gaara sighed with relief. Now that it was two on two, the situation was looking up again. One of the Iwa jounin turned around to deal with the new threat. That gave Gaara enough breathing space to catch the last one in his sand and squeeze him until only red paste remained. He then moved to help Baki, but there was no need. The Suna jounin was just finishing off his opponent.
"Gaara," Baki said, his eyes darting from his student to Naruto. "Where are Temari and Kankurou?"
"Medical tent," the boy replied. Baki nodded, looking relieved.
"We should get out of here," the Suna jounin suggested, shooting wary glances at Naruto. He had enough experience of what happens if a jinchuuriki loses control and Naruto seemed completely out of it. He could turn on them any moment.
"We have to help him," Gaara said. Naruto, now in two-tailed state, was still struggling in vain to get rid of the purple goo. Some of it had evaporated now, burned away by the demonic chakra, but the fumes still clung to the boy. Gaara wasn't sure what could he do to help so he decided to start simple. He sent some of his sand into the goo, letting it soak through it, and then made it fly away. Much to his dismay the goo didn't stick to the sand, but returned to Naruto. This was really bad. What else could he do?
"Naruto!" a new voice called. The boy in question didn't seem to hear it. The Suna duo turned to look at the newcomer. It was a tall man with very long spiky white hair. Baki recognized him immediately.
"Jiraiya-sama!" Baki called in relief. "Can you calm him down?"
"Well, I can block the flow of Kyuubi's chakra," the Toad Sage scowled, "but then nothing would protect him from the Venomous Last Curse." The Sannin recognized what jutsu had been used on Naruto. He had seen a comrade die of it during the Second Shinobi War after a dying Iwa jounin had decided to take the Konoha squad with him. Back then it had been over so quickly he couldn't do a thing, just watch as his friend's body dissolved in the purplish stuff. But Naruto was being protected by the Kyuubi's chakra, so he had time to analyze the situation and come up with a solution. He pulled out a blank scroll, an ink bottle and a brush and began to draw symbols on it. He could only guess at the exact composition of the corrosive goo, but as a sealmaster he could seal it away even when he didn't have all the details about it. It took him almost a minute to finish his work, a minute Naruto spent trashing around, clawing at himself and howling in pain. If Jiraiya weren't such a seasoned ninja, he wouldn't have been able to concentrate in these conditions.
When he was finished, he wasted no time activating the seal. He waited with bated breath whether it would work. He couldn't be sure if he took everything into account correctly and how would the presence of Kyuubi's chakra affect the seal. But it worked alright. He just had to keep dodging Naruto's wildly swinging tails as he pumped more chakra into the seal and the scroll drew all the goo and fumes into itself. Finally it was all gone. But Naruto didn't seem to notice, he still clawed at his own body and trashed around as if he was still in pain. Jiraiya sighed and pulled a pre-prepared seal from his pouch. Now he just had to put it on Naruto's stomach, which wasn't going to be easy, considering the boy refused to stay still.
"Can you hold him down?" he turned to Gaara. In response the sand shot forward and enveloped Naruto in a cocoon. The Kyuubi jinchuuriki roared in anger and struggled to get out. He almost made it, but Jiraiya was faster. The sealing tag was slapped right over the seal on his stomach. The red chakra cloak disappeared in an instant. Naruto collapsed to the ground and stayed there unmoving. There was blood all over him.
"Is he still alive?" Baki asked. Considering how badly Naruto looked, it was a valid question. Jiraiya leaned over his godson and checked his vitals.
"Yes, but he is bad off," he answered. "He needs a medic quickly." Baki just looked around. They were in the middle of the ruins of the Iwa fortress and though there weren't as many Rock ninja around as there were at the beginning, there were still too many enemies left.
"We still have to fight," Baki stated.
"We'll get Naruto to the medic tent," Gaara said. His words had a sense of finality to them. Jiraiya looked at the battlefield that separated them from the nearest medic tent.
"We'll have enough enemies to fight on the way."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Outskirts of the battlefield~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Throw. Throw. Throw. Throw. A shout of pain, then another. Tenten frowned. She had thrown four kunai and hit only twice? She needed more practice. That is if she lived long enough to get more practice. The Iwa ninja were pressing them badly. They had been forced to leave their original position when one of the Rock nins aimed a Fire jutsu at it. After that they just did they best to stay alive and if possible kill some Iwa shinobi. It was easier said than done, especially the second part. They were just genin and no matter how hard Gai-sensei trained them, this fight was still above their level. Their only piece of good luck was that there were many genin in the enemy army too.
Throw. Throw. Tenten reached into her pouch for another kunai, but found only air. She grimaced. She had gone through her stack faster than she had imagined possible. And she had brought as many kunai and shuriken as she could carry. It looked like her specialization wasn't really suited for large-scale battles. Fortunately she had counted on this possibility. She reached deeper in her pocket and pulled out a scroll. She unrolled it and smeared her blood on it. Several packets of kunai fell out. She was restocked again. But those were her last. She'd have to make sure every one of them counted.
She threw the first kunai into the skull of a ninja who was trying to sneak up on Lee's back. It was a good hit. Another went into the thigh of one of the three Rock men who were ganging up on Neji. Another kunai well used. The third she stabbed into the neck of a woman who tried to sneak up on her. Then she pulled it out and threw it at a man who looked like he wasn't paying attention. He dodged. Tenten grimaced. This was a waste.
It made her think about what was going to happen once she ran out of ammunition completely. Then she'll be useless. Though she knew some taijutsu, as all Gai's students did, she wasn't a prodigy like Neji, who was currently closing enemies' tenketsu with his Juuken, and she never trained as hard as Lee, who was kicking away Iwa ninja with the exuberance of Youth. The green-clad genin had removed his weights some time ago and yet was barely avoiding harm. She'd be lucky to just stay alive. She wished she had thought to bring some sake. If Lee got into his drunken frenzy, they might yet get out of this alive, but without it their chances seemed bleak.
Just as she thought it, Rock Lee kicked one Iwa ninja in the stomach and his foot sunk in, revealing that the target was actually a Mud Clone. As soon as Lee blinked in surprise, the mud solidified, capturing Lee's foot inside. The taijutsu specialist immediately tried to kick the clone into pieces with his other foot, but he was too slow. Another Rock shinobi snuck upon him and aimed a crushing blow at his head. Lee tried to block with his forearm, but he didn't quite make it. The blow still glanced his skull and he slumped to the ground.
"Lee!" Tenten shouted desperately. The green-clad genin was twitching, but he was shaken severely and an easy target. Neji just grimaced. He saw the fate that had befallen his teammate despite facing the other way because he had his Byakugan active. He knew that he was going to follow him soon and so would Tenten. Despite being able to see in every direction, he couldn't defend in all directions. He had tried to learn the Kaiten, but he was still far from being actually able to perform it sufficiently. Spying on the members of the Main House training was easier said than done when he was spending a lot of time on missions instead inside the Hyuuga compound. And even when he was home, the Main Family didn't practice the Kaiten that often. After all the months of observation he only just began to understand how the technique worked. He also gained some understanding of Hakke Rokujuuyon Shou, but he still wasn't able to actually perform any of the techniques, at least not enough to use them on a real enemy.
Tenten threw two kunai at the man standing above Lee, but he blocked them both. He was just too good for them. She couldn't do anything against him, yet she had to do something or she'd watch her teammate die. Just as she was about to try something desperate and stupid, there was a loud shout that drowned the roar of battle for a moment.
"Hedgehog's fury!" Something flew through the air at high speed, crushing everybody in its path. The Iwa shinobi looked around in surprise. For many of them it was the last thing they ever did because another shout sounded.
"Tearing wheels!" Two discs rolled along the path created by the first jutsu, cutting into the ninja shaken by the earlier attack. The few people who were still moving after that were quickly hit by a snakelike blade.
"Our spirits blaze the brightest!" A girlish voice cheered. There was a moment of shocked silence. Then...
"Our Youthful rivals!" Lee exclaimed. He was back on his feet now. After all, Gai-sensei hit much harder.
"If it aren't the Konoha kiddies," the Suna chuunin with the giant black feline said.
"Killed many Iwa ninja yet?" his armored teammate asked as he prepared to throw his giant spiked steel ball on a chain again.
"No time to count," Neji answered, striking one of his enemies in the stomach with a Juuken strike. The man fell to the ground too.
"I lost the count after the first five," the girl with the four long braids and a bending sword admitted sheepishly as she engaged another enemy.
"So what are we going to tell our sensei?" Tenten asked. She used the brief respite to grab the weapon holsters of several fallen Iwa nin to restock her own dwindling supply.
"That we fought with the Power of Youth!" Lee exclaimed, kicking a Rock ninja in the face.
"Hey, that sounds good," Akira realized. "Youkou-sensei might actually buy it."
"Gai-sensei might too," Tenten said throwing her kunai.
"So it's a plan," Toshiro smiled as he swung his giant morningstar around. "Let's fight together with our Blazing Spirits or Flames of Youth or whatever high and we might get out of the 'special training.'"
"That sounds good," Tenten smiled. "Now there's six of us, nothing can stop us."
"Whatever," Akira shrugged. "Just don't count on us saving you again, kiddies."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Near the fortress~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Naruto..."
The two kunoichi of Team Tenzo had been elated when they had felt the ominous cloud of Kyuubi's chakra over the battlefield again. It meant that Naruto was still alive. But not long after that it had disappeared again, and it had happened rather abruptly. They urged their group in the direction of Naruto's last known location. Moving across the battlefield was much easier than it used to be. There were much fewer Iwa ninja running around now. On the other hand, there were much fewer Konoha and Suna ninja as well. It was hard to tell who was losing shinobi faster, but Hana's nose was telling her that there were more Iwa corpses strewn around than Konoha and Suna ones. But that might be her wishful thinking. There were still plenty of enemy shinobi around. Like the group that currently moved to block their path. They seriously annoyed her. She barked an order to her three dogs and a moment later there stood three perfect copies of her, all of them with the Shikyaku no Jutsu activated.
"Gatenga!" she shouted. Four spinning discs launched at the Iwa squad, scattering its members in all direction. Several managed to dodge, but before they could do anything else, they were tackled by a wooden horse-like puppet. Another was struck by a swift Lightning-charged blade. Two more were hit by a gust of wind, knocking them down. Soon a small figure appeared above them, speaking about the hopelessness of their situation before slicing their throat.
"We have pretty good teamwork now," Kaede remarked. Hana nodded, slowly picking herself from the ground. Her head was spinning. That sometimes happened after performing the Inuzuka clan techniques, usually to beginners, but it had been quite some time since it had happened to her. She must be lower on chakra than she had thought if she couldn't deal with the spin. She tried her best to hide her discomfort, but her teammate noticed it.
"Don't exhaust yourself," Hotaru suggested. Hana was tempted to snap at her. It wasn't the dumbest piece of advice she had ever received, but it came close. How was she supposed to save her energy in the middle of a battlefield, with her teammate missing, most likely in grave danger? She wasn't going to rest until she saw that Naruto was alright. She straightened up, trying to look as confident and fresh as possible, which wasn't much. She considered taking another Soldier Pill, but her medical knowledge told her what would happen if she overdosed in vivid detail. She wasn't too tired to move on her own power yet. She could pull through. She looked at her dogs. The Haimaru triplets looked about ready to drop too. She grimaced. If she gave them more Soldier Pills, the eventual aftereffects would be even worse than in a human. They'd have to do with what little energy they had left, unless they ran into a really dangerous enemy. Though then it might be too late.
"You really are exhausted, aren't you," Hotaru observed. The purple-haired kunoichi looked like she had trouble holding her sword in the on guard position. "You didn't even bark at me."
"You don't look any better," the Inuzuka retorted. Her teammate smiled grimly.
"We're all exhausted, but we have to move," Gennosuke said.
"We could ask the Iwa ninja for a timeout," Daiki suggested with only the tiniest hint of sarcasm in his voice. Hotaru nearly burst out laughing as she imagined the warring parties taking a nap on the battlefield, clad in goofy-print pajamas, snuggling together in white fluffy pillows and blankets.
"Why don't you ask them to do so?" Kaede jibed at the Aoyume boy. "They might listen to you."
"Why didn't I think about it before?" Daiki asked. This time his voice was dripping with sarcasm.
Hana tuned out the Suna team's bickering. Her nose just caught a scent. That was a bit problematic, because the battlefield was saturated with various odors, mixed together by Fuuton techniques, it was confusing her sensitive nose. Whenever she tried to make much sense of it, it made her head hurt. But this time she was almost certain she caught a whiff of Naruto's scent. Now where was it coming from? A few more whiffs gave her a likely direction. She just hoped that the scent of blood and acid and something even worse coming the same way was just coincidence.
"He's over there," she pointed.
"Who?" Kaede, who paused in her bickering with Daiki asked.
"Naruto?" Hotaru guessed.
"Of course," Hana confirmed. "Let's go."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~With Gai and Youkou~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A quick combination of kicks took care of three Iwa ninja. They had been low-level, but that didn't matter in the competition. Only that Gai now had three more points on his score and finally got in the lead. Probably. At least he hoped so. He had no idea how many Youkou got. That thought made him want to redouble his effort, but short of opening the Gates he couldn't do more than he was already doing. And if he did that, he would get tired quickly, which could mean that Youkou would outlast him and win the competition, which would be unyouthful. He resolved to step up his training to become more youthful. His Flames of Youth weren't burning brightly enough if he was having this trouble.
He tried to kick another enemy, but his leg struck only air and it wasn't because the Rock ninja dodged. Genjutsu! He knew it well from his countless spars with his eternal Rival Kakashi and knew well how to fight against it.
"Kai!" he shouted. The illusion dissolved just in time to reveal the stream of fire heading towards him. Either Youkou was caught in a genjutsu too or he decided to win their contest in a very unyouthful manner. Gai mentally scolded himself for even thinking about it. Of course his new rival was youthful, it was unyouthful to suspect him of anything else. And now it was his youthful duty to help him break out of the spell. Gai quickly dodged the Katon and started towards Youkou. But before he could make two steps, his legs sank thigh-deep into the ground, revealing that it was actually a jutsu-created swamp. It refused to let go of his captive limbs and hardened around them to make that sentiment absolutely clear. Gai sighed. Somebody was really good with genjutsu here, probably as good as Kakashi, and they were good with Doton too. But despair was unyouthful. Gai punched the ground around him, trying to shatter it. Instead his fist sunk inside too. It looked like he was screwed.
Meanwhile Youkou was having his own trouble. There suddenly appeared an Iwa ninja a bit behind him. The Suna jounin turned around and fried him with a mid-level Katon jutsu. This was one of his fastest-acting, but it still failed to hit him. The Iwa guy was too good at dodging. 'Well, let's see you dodge this,' Youkou thought and ran through the handseals for a wide-area fire technique. Then he saw the Iwa ninja sink into the ground, which was a pretty common tactic for them, but this one stayed halfway up and looked like he was stuck there. Well, that was odd.
Youkou turned and spat the fire the other way; there were some small-fry Iwa shinobi in need of some deep-frying. Then he formed another seal. "Kai!" he called. The trapped ninja immediately changed from somebody nondescript in Iwa uniform to his Spirited Rival Maito Gai. Youkou's eyes narrowed in anger. So somebody was trying to trick him into killing his own comrade? That was disgusting. But he was going to show them what it meant to anger him. His Blazing Spirits were going to burn them to cinder. But at the moment he couldn't see where the genjutsu specialist was hiding. And Gai was sitting duck, trapped in the ground. Youkou decided to help him first, even if they were rivals. But as soon as he made two steps towards him, his feet sank into the ground too. He tried to jump, but it only made him sink further. And then the ground solidified. Now both of them were trapped. Crap.
Gai saw his new friend sink into the trap too. So now they were both caught. It was just a matter of time (probably seconds) before somebody turned them into pincushions. He had to do something fast or they were both dead. But what could he do with only one of his arms free? Both jutsu and punching the ground weren't an option. That left only opening the Celestial Gates. But how many? If he overdid it, he would just tire himself needlessly and might collapse of exhaustion before the battle was over. And it looked like he had to decide fast, because two Iwa ninja broke cover and were approaching them menacingly.
Before he could decide, a wooden construction appeared between them. He recognized it as one of Suna's puppets. The Iwa ninja recognized it too, judging by their surprised exclamation. Gai couldn't see what happened next, but then the puppet was withdrawn and the Iwa pair was lying on the ground dead.
"Look at you," a pleasant female voice spoke with amusement. "Caught in a trap like some Academy students." Gai turned around and saw the most curious sight. A beautiful woman in a long and probably expensive kimono, black hair styled in a complicated hairdo, was walking through the battlefield on platform sandals, looking like a geisha taking an afternoon stroll in the park. She was so completely out of place that Gai attempted another genjutsu release before he had to conclude that the woman was indeed there. Youkou didn't doubt his eyes or ears for a moment.
"Teono," he groaned. "What do you want?"
"What do I want?" she raised one perfect eyebrow. "Do I look like I'm in need of something? You on the other hand... You were so focused on crushing and frying everything that you completely missed the trap, weren't you?" Not waiting for their answer she continued. "I always told you, your style is too barbaric. All your might is nothing against trickery."
"Trickery is unyouthful," Gai grumbled. Even with his meager social skills he knew that criticizing his rescuer's methods was impolite, so he didn't shout it.
"Oh?" Teono turned to him. "Another barbarian. So pray tell me, how did you plan to get out of there, oh manly man?"
Gai punched the ground with his only free hand and it shattered. He knew it would, the chakra turning it into a trap disappeared the moment its caster died. Once freed, he helped Youkou out too. A look passed between the two men: our students mustn't learn about this.
"You could only do that only because I killed that Doton user for you," Teono pointed out.
"And I thank you for that, beautiful flower of Youth!" Gai bellowed in what he thought was his most charming voice accompanied with a blinding smile. Teono, a veteran of many battles and a kunoichi who prided herself in being scared of nothing, took an involuntary step back. During her moment of distraction Gai noticed movement behind her. He immediately started after the Iwa ninja who tried to catch her unawares. The man dodged Gai's initial attack, but found his face full of an angry scorpion the next moment, courtesy of Teono.
"It looks like you two have excellent teamwork," Youkou observed. He wanted to use it as an excuse to get away. He and Museitabi Teono just didn't mix.
"And it looks like there's an enemy setting an ambush where you want to go," the kunoichi retorted.
"Oh," Youkou said and sent a Katon that way. A scream let him know that he hit true. As the Rock ninja, his uniform aflame, tried to run away, he was stopped by Teono's puppet.
"You have excellent teamwork too!" Gai observed. "Let's fight the Rock ninja together!" Youkou shot him a murderous glare, but he said nothing. He could see more enemies approaching.
"Excellent idea," Teono said in a tone that might or might not be sarcastic. With her it was nigh impossible to tell. "Somebody has to keep an eye on you two children." And even if they didn't like it much, they stuck together.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Fortress ruins~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The kunai came flying out of nowhere. Jiraiya almost ignored it, because it wasn't aimed directly at his body, but then he realized it would hit Naruto, whose prone, bloodied body he was carrying on his back. The Sannin dodged and turned to deal with the threat. There was no need to do so. The Iwa chuunin was hit by a Wind-charged kunai from Baki and quickly finished off by Gaara's sand. The white-haired man nodded at them to thank them and then they continued on their journey.
Jiraiya wished he could have one of his toads carry Naruto, but the problem with Toad summons was that they had ridiculously sensitive skin. Sure, they were powerful, knew many useful skills and could defeat very strong opponents, but if he was careless and summoned them somewhere dusty, with strange chemicals in the air or even not enough moisture, their skin would begin itching or worse in a few minutes and they would be pissed at him for months. Gamabunta still couldn't forgive him the time during the Second Shinobi War when he had summoned the Boss Toad to deal with some Suna ninja's Boss Summon in the middle of a salt desert. If Bunta was to be believed, his skin had blistered and bled and it took over a month to heal completely.
So now he was stuck carrying the prone boy on his back, which was limiting his movements greatly. Though Naruto didn't weight enough to slow him down seriously, any fast movement aggravated his wounds, so the Toad Sage had to be very careful while dodging or attacking. Gaara kept offering to carry Naruto in his sand, which made tactical sense, but Jiraiya wouldn't trust his godson to anyone else, especially after nearly losing him. So he made an excuse that if sand got into Naruto's wounds, it would worsen them. He just prayed that they wouldn't be attacked by enemies strong or numerous enough to make him regret it.
His prayers went unheeded. Just as they reached the collapsed outer wall of the fortress and relative safety was within sight, they were confronted by a platoon of Iwa shinobi, all of them looking very determined not to let them get out alive. He had only a fraction of a second to curse his rotten luck (Tsunade-level) before they attacked. The initial hail of kunai and shuriken was followed by a fireball and then a forest of rock spikes sprouted from the ground. Gaara's sand moved to intercept the attack, but could do nothing about the spikes. Jiraiya jumped away. A pained groan from his back reminded him that he really should cut down on the sudden movement. But it was easier said than done when there was a huge mud ball rolling towards him. He moved out of the way carefully, but realized there was a poison cloud in front of him. And yet another flock of shuriken was heading towards him.
"Hari Jizou!" His hair lengthened and enveloped him and Naruto completely. The rock-hard white spikes blocked the shuriken easily. The mudball rocked him a bit, but his defense held. The poison gas was more of a problem. He couldn't move his hair until it dispersed and he couldn't do anything about it from inside his cocoon. He could only hope that Baki would have the presence of mind to blow it away soon.
Baki at that moment had his hands full with his own problems. He was engaged in a fierce taijutsu battle with an Iwa jounin who danced around his Wind blades. The Suna jounin had no trouble holding his ground, but he saw little chance of winning this fight soon.
Gaara couldn't help them either. An Iwa chuunin rushed straight at him and when the redhead wrapped him in his sand, the Rock chuunin detonated all the Exploding Notes he had stuffed in his flak jacket pockets. There was really a lot of them. Even Gaara's sand couldn't absorb the blow completely. He was knocked away and landed on the ground. There he lay dazed, trying to make sense of the stars dancing in front of his eyes and the loud ringing in his ears.
The blast was so strong that it knocked even Baki down. He was lucky that his opponent lost his balance too, otherwise he would have been killed. As he struggled to his feet, he surveyed their situation. Gaara was down, Jiraiya was trapped in the poison mist and he could find at least five enemies still standing. From what he had seen of their capabilities, they were more than he could handle in his current nearly exhausted state.
Then the Iwa ninja at the back was tackled by a wooden puppet. His comrades turned to see what was going on just in time to see three giant dogs pouncing at them. Baki was grateful for the help. Most of their enemies were preoccupied fighting the new arrivals. But one wasn't. He just ducked under the kunai somebody threw at him and sprinted straight to the still dazed Gaara. His sand surged forward to defend, but if the Iwa ninja had Exploding Tags just like the last one, it wasn't going to be enough. Baki moved to intercept him, but his battered and exhausted body refused to move fast enough to be in time. But before he could despair, something white sprouted from the ground, wrapped around his feet and dragged him down. A moment later Jiraiya rose from the ground, his animated hair strangling the Iwa ninja.
"You didn't think you could defeat the Great Jiraiya, did you?" the Sannin scoffed. Whatever the response was, the Rock ninja didn't get to say it. He was too busy dying.
After that the skirmish ended quickly. With the five new arrivals the Konoha and Suna forces utilized their numerical advantage and wiped out the Iwa group in seconds.
"Naruto!" Hana cried when she spotted the bloodied form of her teammate. "What's wrong with him?"
"He got hit by Venomous Last Curse," Jiraiya answered. "It's a really nasty suicide jutsu. I sealed away the venom, but the damage was done. Anyone else in his place would be dead."
Hana could see that. People weren't supposed to be still alive with so much of their skin burned off. She immediately tried to heal him, but she had trouble activating her medical jutsu. She must be even more exhausted than she had thought.
"We have to get him to the medical tents," she said.
"Tell us something we don't know," Hotaru quipped. "But there's a battle around, in case you didn't notice."
"It's almost over now. They're losing and they know it. So now they're going to become even more dangerous," Jiraiya spoke.
"What do you mean?" Kaede asked.
"They don't think about holding the fortress anymore, just about taking us with them," the Toad Sage explained. "They're beginning to use dangerous and suicide techniques. Some of them are much more powerful than what a ninja of their caliber can usually cast. Just look what happened to Naruto." Nobody really wanted to look at the burnt flesh again, but they still did so. "Or Gaara. Somebody blew himself up to get him."
"I had no idea somebody could hit Gaara," Daiki spoke, his voice fearful.
"Nobody is invincible," the white-haired man shrugged. "But yours Gaara is quite hard to kill," he added when he saw the redhead sitting up, still looking a bit concussed.
"We're the biggest targets around here, aren't we?" Gennosuke realized.
"You're right," Jiraiya nodded. "If somebody took the lot of us out, it would be a huge blow to both Konoha and Suna."
"We should get out really fast," Kaede said.
"No arguing there," the Sannin agreed. "Let's go and be very careful."
And that's it for now.
Next time: Aftermath of the battle (finally).