Chapter 16: On Opposite Ends: Shukaku and Kurama Clash!
A/N: I apologize for the delay; I've been swamped with a lot of University papers over the pass few weeks (I'll never take four classes at once ever again).
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Disclaimer: Still applies.
[Somewhere Along Konoha's Massive Wall]
Current Time...
Preparations to defend Konoha, in case of an attack by the Shukaku, were nearly completed when a sudden surge of energy emanated from the current location of the Jinchuriki. This power was not, however, from the Shukaku; this was all the more obvious when the reactions from Naruto's Fracciones are taken into account.
"D-d-d-did you j-j-just sense that... Jango?" Tiraran blurted out; the Fraccion was somewhat intimidated whenever she sensed this familiar reiatsu.
"We all sense it, Tiraran; just shut up," Jango replied back; like his partner, however, Jango was also unnerved by the energy they were sensing.
Kakashi, who was aiding the evacuation of the remaining villagers, had also sensed the massive energy and was concerned by the reaction of the two Arrancars.
"Did something happen to Naruto, Jango-san?" the jonin asked the more level-headed of the two Fracciones.
"That's not it at all, Kakashi-san; Naruto-sama is alright# It''s just, well### how to say it without causing panic... Naruto-sama has just... (sigh) Naruto-sama has just unleashed the full power of his zanpakuto," Jango said as Kakashi's visible eye widened in shock. Naruto had told Kakashi, like he did with Jiraiya and the Sandaime, of the nature of his "blade" shortly after passing the bell test so as to prevent any misunderstandings should he actually release the zanpakuto during a mission.
"Is this release really that dangerous?" Kakashi asked; even though he, or anyone else in Konoha, hadn't seen the full release of Kurama he could tell, from his talks with the blonde-haired ninja and from what he has seen of his abilities, that Naruto really appeared to be in control of the tailed beast.
"If you're the enemy, then yes; if not, there's no danger to you. However..." Jango said; Kakashi got the sense that just talking about this made the two Fracciones' skin crawl.
"Let's just put it this way; Tiraran and I saw Naruto-sama's full release once and that, Kakashi-san, was one time too many," Jango said; Kakashi shuddered at this, wondering how powerful this release was if even Naruto's followers were scared of it.
[Several Miles Outside of Konoha, Shinobi World]
Meanwhile...
Recap:
"Now show me your full power so that I can unleash the power of the Shukaku and grind your power into dust!" he yelled, unaware that Naruto had planned to do that anyways.
Naruto took a deep breath to clear his mind, which he always did whenever he was going to release Kurama, before he stated his zanpakuto's release command.
"Devastate, Kurama: Furu Henkan - Tsui Dan," Naruto said as his blade, minus the red wrappings, disintegrated.
As the wrappings began to envelop the ninja they began to glow; this time, however, the wrappings changed color, becoming orange as they were enveloping Naruto. An orange light soon emanated from the ninja as his reaitsu suddenly exploded; as the dust cleared, Naruto stood before his opponent, his appearance changed.
Naruto was now covered by an orange reiatsu shroud, with the reiatsu appearing in the form of flickering flames, which was parted down the middle and opened into a large full-length coat. Underneath this coat there was a black undergarment with magatama beck near his neck collar and, curiously, an orange reiatsu chest plate with a design that appeared similar to Naruto's gauntlets and spaulders. Throughout the shroud numerous dark circles, representing the altered seal, could be seen; the cloak also emanated nine tail-like appendages, each one having a single line running down their centers, that flowed from the cloak's backside. Naruto's eyes had slit pupils and his whiskers became much thicker, while his hair now spike up towards the front into two horn-like pieces.
This form, thanks to the conversion from chakra to reiatsu, was powerful enough to defeat all 10 of the Espada simultaneously and could, if Naruto wanted to do so, turn Las Noches into a pile of rubble. In other words Gaara, having wanted a fight, unknowingly gotten more than he bargained for. Unaware of what he was dealing with the Sand shinobi prepared to unleash the Shukaku.
"Feigning Sleep Jutsu," Gaara said as he made a hand sign; Gaara was then rendered unconcious while the irises of his Shukaku transformation changed from light brown to yellow, signifying that Shukaku had taken over his host. This became more obvious when the Tailed Beast itself spoke.
"I'M FINALLY OUT!" Shukaku said in a tone that gave Naruto the impression that he was an angry drunk; what Shukaku said next only served to steel Naruto's resolve, if it could be strengthened any further, to save Gaara.
"AND LOOKS LIKE I'M IN LUCK TODAY; THE FIRST THING I GET TO KILL IS YOU, KURAMA!" Shukaku roared, having sensed the brother he despised the most. As Naruto simply looked on, completely unfazed by Shukaku's psychotic ranting, heard Kurama's voice.
"If Gaara stays alseep for too long his psyche will be completely swallowed up by my psychopath of a brother," the Tailed Beast explained.
"Then we'll just have to wake Gaara up fast," Naruto replied, having guessed that the exposed upper half of his opponent was the weak point.
Shukaku, completely filled with a insatialble desire to kill Naruto and his Tailed Beast, swung his left arm at his target; to Shukaku's completely shock Naruto was able to block his arm with only one hand, an even greater feat condsidering the fact that Naruto had only been pushed a few feet back. Naruto raised his eyebrow at his opponent.
"Damn, I need find someway to practice using with this release if Shukaku was able to get me to budge," Naruto thought to himself.
With the Shukaku still in shock at having been blocked Naruto manifested Kurama's head or, to be more specific, a translucent version of his head that was still in Kurama's form; Naruto then had this head bite off Shukaku's left arm before he had the manifested head dissipate. Shukaku was, naturally, enraged at this.
"YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!" Shukaku roared before he opened his mouthed and began generating a Tailed Beast Ball. After Shukaku quickly finishing the buildup of chakra he then fired his attack; what didn't realize, due to his rage, the Tailed Beast's attack went way off course... as it was headed in the direction of Konoha. Thankfully, for everyone in the village, Naruto was already ten steps ahead of Shukaku and had already prepared a response, if the fact that he had his right index finger pointed in the path of the Tailed Beast Ball was anything to go by.
"Cero Oscuras," Naruto said as a beam of pitch black reiatsu, with an orange outine, shot out of his finger. The Cero intercepted Shukaku's attack, with the resulting explosion leveling a 70 mile-diameter of the forest they were fighting in and replacing it with a 40-mile crater; thanks to Naruto's foresight, however, Konoha was left untouched by the devastation with the startled reactions, on the part of the people in Konoha, being the only real damage done.
Shukaku was, once again, taken by surprise by this display of power and, as such, had failed to notice that he opponent was right in front of him until he was standing before Gaara's exposed upper body. With the increase in Naruto's speed while in this form, which was the at least 20 times greater than the speed of his ZensÅ release, he wouldn't have needed a distraction as Shukaku, or anyone else in Shinobi World, could read his movements at these speeds.
Naruto, using the lapse in Shukaku's reaction time, threw a right cross that made contact with Gaara's face; Naruto had intentionally thrown a very soft punch, however, as his strength, which had also been increased to an unfathomable level with this release, could turn Gaara to dust with a single punch if he threw a punch too hard. The blow was still strong enough to acheive its intended purpose: to wake Gaara up, though the injuries he sustained were still severe; Shukaku began to curse both Kurama and his Jinchuriki before he was resealed into Gaara by his waking up.
Shukaku's rage, of course, did not go away; it was simply replaced by Gaara's wrath.
"I'll kill you for this outrage, Naruto Uzumaki!" Gaara hissed. Before he realized it, however, Gaara realized that Naruto was suddenly inches from his face; in his shock Gaara almost failed to hear Naruto's next sentence.
"This fight's over, Gaara," Naruto said as he struck Gaara's right chest with a palm strike.
With Gaara's body no longer able to hold the Shukaku trasformation with his injuries the manifestation of Shukaku crumbled away before dissolving back into sand; Gaara fell to the ground, the mound of sand he fell on softening his collision as Naruto gently descended to the ground. When he finally reached the ground Naruto resealed his zanpakuto; as the sword rematerialized, and the red wrappings returning to the hilt, his reiatsu shroud dissipated as he returned to his prior state. He then headed to where Gaara had fallen, face-first, and were now lay, too weakened by his fight with Naruto to even stand though his injuries were nowhere near as severe as those that Naruto inflicted on Neji, his previous opponent.
The Sand shinobi saw Naruto walking towards him and was filled with fear at what he thought the Konoha shinobi would do to him.
"Stay away from me; I will not let you end my existence!" Gaara roared; in reality, however, there was nothing he could do as his weakened condition even rendered his ability to defend himself with his sand. As Naruto now stood in front of him Gaara braced himself for his end; after a few minutes passed, however, with nothing happening Gaara opened his eyes and saw Naruto on one knee... healing him. Gaara was almost left speechless by this.
"Why, Uzumaki? Why would you heal an enemy?" Gaara asked; Naruto shook his head before he replied.
"You heard me when I spoke to you at the stadium but you failed to listen to what I said. So I'll say it again; I know what you've been through. The hate-filled stares... the loneliness... the fact that your fellow villages try to deny your very existence... the pain from these things are the same no matter where they take place. I've gone through that hell of being alone," Naruto calmly said to Gaara as he finished healing him; he didn't fully heal the Sand ninja, however, in order to make sure he could not attack him but he did get rid of Gaara'a most life-threatening injuries. As Naruto stood Gaara up and helped him walk back to Konoha he told Gaara about how he refused to give up in getting people to acknowledge him and that over time he eventually began to gain that recognition and that, to protect those who are important to him, Naruto became stronger. Gaara was left speechless by this.
After he finished his explanation Naruto noticed that they finally reached the main gate of Konoha and was surprised to see that the entire village, not just the Sandaime, Jiraiya, Kakashi, and his Fracciones, were there waiting for him. After spotting the blonde-haired ninja the crowd gave a, to Naruto's surprise, a hero's welcome; while he knew he would change the villager's view and that it had, in fact, begun to change he never could have imagined that those opinions would change so soon. Naruto could only smile at this as he got to the gate, with Gaara in tow.
Naruto turned to face the Third Hokage.
"I guess it's fair to say that these Chunin Exams are over," Naruto said.
"Indeed, Naruto, but not before you made an early impression on the judges," Hiruzen said; Naruto took a few moments before he understood what the Third meant to say.
"So I'm a Chunin now?" Naruto asked rhetorically; he flashed a smile before he continued speaking.
"I promise you that I won't let Konoha down. By the way, I need to ask you for a couple of things," Naruto said; he continued when Hiruzen nodded.
"First, are Sasuke and Sakura alright?" he asked, noting that his two teammates were not present; that 2-ton elephant, so to speak, was lifted off his back when the Hiruzen nodded to the affirmative.
"Second, could you get a medic for Gaara?" Naruto asked; this was answered when he noted that a stretcher was already there.
After placing Gaara on the stretcher he asked the medics there to take care of him before they carried him to the hospital; Temari, Kankuro, and Baki, who were in the crowd, went with Gaara, Naruto having been stopped by Hiruzen so that the Hokage could discuss some things with him. As the three Sand shinobi walked alongside Gaara they heard his voice.
"Temari, Kankuro, Baki... I'm sorry," he said; this caught the three shinobi completely by surprise. The three Sand Shinobi looked at each other for a few moments before any of them made a response.
"It's... It's okay, Gaara," Kankuro stammered out; Temari could only look towards the direction that they came from.
"I don't what what you said to him or why, but thank you, Naruto Uzumaki," Temari thought to herself as she and her male teammates arrived at the hospital; she could tell that, in this one battle, something had changed in her brother...
[Namikaze Estate, Konoha Outskirts]
Several Days Later...
Naruto, now a full-fleged Chunin, had said his farewells to Gaara and his siblings as they headed back to Suna half an hour ago and was now waiting for his Fracciones at his estate; they were often exploring the area in and around Konoha so it took the messenger he sent several minutes just to locate the Arrancars. He would have preferred to have Haku there as well to explain the situation to her as well but she was on a mission in the Land of Frost and was not going to return for a few weeks. After another ten minutes of waiting Jango arrived, followed by Tiraran a few minutes later.
"What's wrong, Naruto-sama?" Tiraran asked as Naruto looked at both of them wth a very serious expression on his face.
"You two remember what I told you a few days ago?" Naruto asked his Fracciones. It didn't take the Arrancars very long to figure out what Naruto was referring to.
"So they are finally making their move," Jango asked. Naruto sighed a bit before he nodded.
"The Akatsuki have begun the hunt for the Tailed Beast; they're probably getting unnerved by the news of my 'exploits' over the past few of months and it's beginning to show in their actions. That said, however, I do not wabt any chances taken with these shinobi. Though they won't be much of an for any of us the other Konoha shinobi are a different matter entirely," Naruto explained; he knew that he could handle the Akatsuki himself and, unless he catches wind of a attack on a fellow Jinchuriki, he was willing to wait for them to come to him since the only thing they would find is a swift death. Naruto was much more concerned for the safety of Konoha and wanted to make sure that it wasn't caught in the crossfire.
"If you guys encounter them at any time I want you to proceed with caution if you engage them. Understood?" Naruto said as they replied in the affirmative before they left.
"Now that that's been settled it's time I deal with the second fire for today," Naruto thought to himself as he Flash Stepped to the Hokage Tower...
Next Time - The Truth