Naruto looked up at the giant tanuki. It radiated massive killing intent. After dealing with the massive rage associated with the Kyuubi's chakra before she purified it, she was not that impressed and shrugged it off. Her Byakugan told her that Gaara was using the Ichibi's chakra. She knew she would need the Kyuubi to fight the giant tanuki, since she wasn't sure that she had enough personal chakra to deal with even the weakest Bijuu. Plus, she'd used up too much of her own reserves to manifest her chakra externally.
Kyuubi? she asked mentally. Will you give me some chakra, please?
She heard a mental snort. Certainly, Stepmother. I've never liked the insane tanuki anyway.
She felt the Kyuubi's chakra bubbling up inside her. She cleansed the rage from it and made it hers. She pushed it outward. The world in front of her became crystal clear as her third eye opened. Her hair grew and split into ten locks. She directed two of the "tails" to push her up into the air until she was even with the tanuki's chest. She knew that being held up by her hair should hurt, but somehow the force that animated her hair supported her.
"You won't deny my existence, Uzumaki," Gaara yelled from within the giant sand tanuki. "I'll feed your blood to mother and prove my right to exist!"
"Why would your mother want my blood, Gaara-san?" she called back. "I've never met her!"
"Mother always wants blood!" Gaara answered back.
The hairless ape is as crazy as his 'guest,' Stepmother, the Kyuubi said.
"Ask your mother if she really wants to provoke me, Gaara-san," Naruto said.
For a moment, Gaara was silent. "Why do you make Mother nervous, Uzumaki?"
"The Ichibi is not your mother, Gaara-san," Naruto said.
"You know nothing!" Gaara screamed. "You will not deny my existence!"
Gaara waved his hand and a large sphere of sand flew towards her. She sent two locks of white hair toward it. The hair blocked the sand. The sand tried to seep around and through the hair, but the animating force of the hair prevented it.
She sent two other locks of hair toward the sand tanuki. Gaara moved to block it with sand. The hair speared into the sand, penetrating it, but not enough to hit the tanuki, much less the boy inside.
"Why do you think that if you lose a fight, you'll lose your existence?" she called.
"Only the strong survive!" Gaara answered. "The strong destroy the weak. The weak cease to exist."
"It doesn't have to be that way," Naruto said. "That's why we have ninja and hidden villages, so that the weak don't have to fight and die."
"The ninja and their villages," sneered the Ichibi jinchuuriki. "More weaklings that try and pull down the strong with their tricks and lies. Die!"
He sent more sand at her. She blocked it with locks of her hair. Soon six of her locks were arrayed in front of her, with the ends splayed out like hands or shields. Luckily she could see through them with her Byakugan. Unfortunately, the hair blocked the predictive capabilities of her Sharingan, but she managed because she was faster than Gaara.
She examined the chakra in the sand that was being held off by her hair. The Ichibi's chakra was an incomplete version of her own chakra like the Kyuubi's was, but the Ichibi's was different than the Kyuubi's. Like the Kyuubi's it had a veneer of negative emotions clinging to it, but instead of rage, it stank of madness. She pulled on the chakra in the sand. It came easily. She purged the madness from it and absorbed it into herself. The sand fell to the ground.
"What are you doing?" Gaara cried out. "Stop that!"
She absorbed the chakra from all the sand that was assaulting her.
"Mother save me!" the boy said.
The tanuki formed a Ram seal and called, "Tanuki Sleep Technique."
The boy rose to the surface of the sand tanuki where he could be seen sticking out of its forehead. He was slumped over, asleep.
"I'm free!" came from the tanuki's mouth. The tanuki started to giggle insanely. Then it realized Naruto was there.
"What are you doing here, Kaguya?" it said. "I'm not going back to you! You can't make me!"
"This village is under my protection, Ichibi," Naruto warned. "Go back inside the boy or I'll drain you dry."
"No!" the Ichibi said. "I won't go back!"
If you wake the hairless ape, the Kyuubi said, it will force Shukaku back inside him, Stepmother.
Thanks, Kyuubi, Naruto said.
She sent locks of hair toward the tanuki. The Ichibi blocked them with sand. She drained the sand, but the Bijuu kept sending it.
She thought about the Divine Will Technique that Hinata had done. She wondered if there was something that was the opposite—that would pull Gaara toward her. She focused on the gravitational forces that she could sense with her Rinne-Sharingan.
"Heavenly Attaction!" she called, focusing on the lines of force between her and Gaara.
She went flying toward him. She hastily shielded herself from the sand that was sent her by Shukaku.
The Kyuubi let loose booming laughter from within her mind. You lack the leverage or the mass to pull toward you a body anchored by Shukaku, Stepmother.
This still works, she answered.
She raised a fist as she plowed right into the Suna shinobi.
The sand tanuki dispersed and they both began to fall. She sent her two hair "legs" down to stop her fall. Another lock of hair shortened itself and caught the boy.
"It can't end like this!" Gaara said. "After everything, my existence can't end."
"Gaara-san," Naruto said, "I used to feel like you—that nobody liked me. I wanted to lash out at everyone too, but I figured out that I was happier when I was not full of anger or hate."
"You don't know how I feel, Uzumaki," Gaara said. "I've seen you with your team. They care about you."
"I do know, Gaara-san," she responded. "Until five months ago, my only friends were a pair of Ramen-stand workers and the Hokage. Nearly everyone else hated me and ignored me. The only thing that kept me from being killed or worse was the Hokage setting ANBU to watching me." She quietly added. "They were also probably the only thing that kept me from destroying the village." She paused for emphasis. "Number One meet Number Nine." She pointed to Gaara and then herself.
Understanding flashed in Gaara's eyes.
"Is that why you make Mother nervous?" he asked.
"Not exactly," she said. "If we get a chance later, I might be able to tell you about that." She paused and then said, "Look, Gaara-kun. Your brother and sister are on your team, right? Why don't you try and reconcile with them? I know what a difference having even just one or two people you can trust can make. You'll never be happy if you're alone. What use is being strong if you aren't happy? Plus, having the support of friends makes you stronger. It's win-win."
"I will consider your words, Uzumaki-san," the redheaded boy said.
Naruto saw two ANBU approach from behind her in her Byakugan. She depowered down to where she was manifesting only her standard doujutsus.
"Good work, Uzumaki-san," one in a wolf mask said. "We'll handle it from here and take Gaara-san to where we're keeping the other Suna prisoners. Your sensei is over there." He pointed to a location in the stands where Kakashi was talking with Gai.
Naruto looked at all her hair, which was pooling around her in a big mess. While she was fighting Gaara, she had actually pulled some of it in. She tried to pull it in, but nothing happened. She manifested her chakra externally again, and then concentrated on pulling it in. It worked! She powered down again. No more cutting her hair after a big fight!
She used her Byakugan to examine the arena. The civilians were being evacuated, but it was slow due to the number of them. Most of the fighting in the arena itself had stopped, but there were bodies littering various locations. Most of them wore Sound or Sand Badges, but some of them wore the Leaf or were civilians. Genin and chuunin were shepherding the civilians out and guarding the exits. A group of ANBU surrounded a purple box. Inside the box, the Hokage was fighting Orochimaru and a couple of men with very strange chakra systems. Elsewhere, there were a few remaining pockets of fighting involving jounin. Sasuke and Hinata were by the Daimyo's box. A few of her clones had popped during the fighting, but she still had a bunch of them helping with the evacuation.
Naruto bounded over to where Kakashi was.
"Good work with Gaara, Naruto-chan," Kakashi said.
"Yes, your Flames of Youth shined very brightly, Naruto-kun," Gai boomed.
"Thanks, Kakashi-sensei, Gai-sensei," Naruto responded.
"Go and join your teammates in watching the Daimyo-sama's party, Naruto-chan," Kakashi said. "Tell your teammates that the three of you are to follow what the Ninja Guardians say to do until you're relieved by someone from Konoha. I suspect that they'll want to evacuate the Daimyo-sama and his family last."
"Yes, Sensei," she said.
She jogged over to the Daimyo's box. Inside were the Daimyo and his wife were lying on the floor and the two of the Twelve Ninja Guardians who were present were crouched near them in a ready position. A chuunin guarded the door into the arena passageways. Hinata and Sasuke were stationed outside the box in the seats below it. Three dead bodies lay near Hinata's feet and two near Sasuke's. All five of them were wearing Sound Badges.
"How's it going, guys?" she asked. Naruto made 50 Shadow Clones. Ten of them stayed close for contingencies, while the other forty spread out into the village to help out.
"It was a little exciting for about ten minutes," Sasuke said, "but it's calmed down now."
Naruto passed on Kakashi's orders and then asked, "Do you think they'll let us finish the tournament?"
"I don't know," Hinata responded. "We're the only three left, so it could be held any time due to no foreign participants."
"That assumes that the Dead Last's match counts as a win for her," Sasuke said with a smirk. "I don't know if it counts due to the invasion."
"Hey," Naruto complained. "I totally won that match. Didn't you see me win that match, Emo-chan?"
"I think it was the arena-wide genjutsu that won that match for you, Dead Last," Sasuke said.
Naruto smacked him in the shoulder. "That's weak, Emo-chan, even for you."
"I'm a little worried about my own showing," Hinata said worriedly.
"What!?" Naruto exclaimed. "You totally beat that Oto kunoichi, Hinata-chan."
"I know," Hinata. "I beat her too easily and too quickly. I didn't get a chance to showcase my abilities and that was my only match. You both had two matches and got to showcase your abilities more fully."
"No use worrying about it right now," Naruto said.
The three genin continued to engage in small talk while they kept a watch out. After a while, Naruto noticed something odd in the purple box that enclosed the Hokage and Orochimaru.
"Can you tell what's happening with Orochimaru and the Hokage, Hinata?" Naruto asked.
"It looks like that spirit that Hokage-sama summoned is pulling Orochimaru's chakra from his arms," she answered.
The spirit cut something from Orochimaru with a tantou and then that something and something from the Hokage flowed into it and the spirit disappeared. The Hokage dropped to the ground dead. Orochimaru yelled something. The purple box dropped and the four people that had been at the corners fled carrying Orochimaru while ANBU chased them.
"No!" Naruto cried, "Jiichan!" She choked back tears.
"What happened?" Sasuke asked.
"Hokage-sama is dead," Hinata said sadly.