Naruto: Hunt
As the genjutsu swept the arena in cloying, feathery exhaustion Naruto shook off the sensation with a quick chakra spike, clearing and sharpening his senses. Beside him Sakura followed suit, eyes darting around in search of the source of the attack and seeking out others who had not succumbed. Though the explosion in the hokage's box was drawing the attention of most of the ninja who had not been caught unawares Naruto was more interested in the Suna team, who were now standing next to Gaara in the arena with their sensei.
"Sakura," he said as the pinkette kicked Shikamaru in the shin, making him grunt and swear, the blond's own eyes never leaving Genma and Sasuke, "let's go back up our team-mate."
Seconds later they were standing in the arena in a triangular formation with Sasuke behind the tokubetsu jounin proctor. The Uchiha still had his sword out and was crouched in readiness to attack on Naruto's left while to the blond's right and a pace behind Sakura chewed on a soldier pill, senbon poised between curled fingers. Naruto himself was running through a sealing technique in his head and gauging how long he needed to set it up.
Opposite them Gaara dropped to his knees, clutched at his head and moaned.
"Fool! Trying to transform before the signal!" the Suna jounin –Naruto thought his name was Baki– said with a grimace. Temari stepped closer to crouch next to her youngest brother:
"It's impossible to proceed now: he's experiencing side-effects."
"Shiranui-san," Naruto murmured, having successfully prepped the fuuinjutsu, "Orders?"
"Let's see what they decide to try first, hm?" the tokubetsu jounin replied equally softly around the senbon gripped between his teeth, never taking his eyes off Baki even as Kankurou let his nerves get the better of him and shouted as his sensei.
"Abort the mission," Baki said after a pause. "You two take Gaara and retreat."
"Now?" Sasuke asked quietly, ninja-to still held in a reverse grip with electricity crakling along the blade. Genma did not reply verbally but abruptly dropped to one knee and ducked just as the Suna genin ran and Naruto lunged forward at full speed, seal ready on his fingertips. The blond did not bother to so much as glance around him; Sasuke and Sakura would be there.
Baki was taken completely by surprise be the sudden switch in prospective opponents and Naruto's unexpected burst of sheer speed was too much for the jounin to evade from a standing start: even as the Suna-nin threw himself backwards and away the blond fuuinjutsu user's glowing fingertips brushed the bridge of his opponent's nose.
Baki choked and collapsed, body convulsing as inky lines crawled across his face and neck before contracting to settle on his forehead just below his hitai-ite, covering the two chakra gates located in the brain.
"Basic prison seal: he's lost all voluntary motor functions and chakra access," Naruto said shortly as Genma wandered closer to the incapacitated jounin.
"Nice one," the tokubetsu jounin complemented him. "I wondered what you were working on back there."
"Now what, Shiranui-san?" Sakura asked, glancing around at the chaos breeding above them.
"You're all chunnin level already so go make yourselves useful and catch Gaara and his siblings," Genma said absently, pushing past them to crouch beside the captured Suna jounin. "I need to get our new friend here to T&I, since he seems to know what's going on. Catching the kazekage's children will give us more leverage once the battle's over."
"Sir!" Naruto ducked his head and shot off after the Sand team, his team-mates flanking him.
"Plan, taicho?" Sasuke asked.
"Gaara's at odds with his bijuu right now but that won't last," Naruto said quickly as they vaulted over the arena wall. "If we can take out the other two before he recovers we can beat him down as a team. If not I'll have to do it solo while you two keep the older two busy." He glanced around at their surroundings, expanding his sensory range, then switched to hand-talk: 'Invaders circling; Summons at walls; can beat Tanuki alone but collateral damage probable. Too risky: team is stronger.'
'Agreed,' Sasuke signed, 'but if necessary?'
'I distract with illusions,' Sakura signed as they reached the trees, Naruto following the unique feel of Gaara's chakra, 'then Fan incapacitate. Spiral focus on Red.'
'If they attack,' Sasuke amended.
'Agreed then' Naruto conceded. It was a good enough plan. He broadened his senses further, letting himself really feel the village again, which alerted him to something else:
"Sakura, you've been bugged," he said out loud, "and we've picked up a tail: Shino and Shika are a few minutes behind."
Sakura made an impatient little noise as Sasuke turned to scrutinise her closely. "On your hitai-ite," the raven said shortly before turning back to watch where he was going. They couldn't do anything about the kikaichuu directly –it was against unofficial Konoha policy to irritate the Aburame clan– but that didn't mean they had to be nice about it.
"I'm so going to find a genjutsu that works on Aburames," Sakura muttered as they hurried onward. Naruto was more curious as to why they were being followed, but recognised that question would have to wait until the two caught up. Shino's motive was fairly transparent: he likely wanted to have his fight with Kankurou to get back at the older boy for sabotaging his chance at promotion. Shikamaru however was not as easily predicted.
Unfortunately however a squad of chunnin Naruto didn't recognise were following as well, suggesting the two clan heirs had been seen by the invaders and singled out. Naruto formed a kage bunshin on the fly, silently ordering it to double back and take on the enemy. That achieved, he used hand-talk to order his team to split, signalling to them that their target was moving along a slightly curved trajectory. Sakura can cut across in a straight line to get ahead while I follow the trail. Naruto put on an extra burst of speed. Sasuke however peeled off and headed straight up: this was a brand-new strategy, created only a day ago when they realised it wasn't too difficult for the Uchiha to summon a crow large enough to carry him. While ninja are trained to expect attacks from all sides at any moment, those who think to look straight up are even rarer than those who remember to be suspicious of the ground.
Naruto caught up with the Suna team just as they were cut off in front by Sakura.
"Dammit!" Temari hissed, reaching for her fan.
"Temari, take Gaara and keep going!" Kankurou said, sliding his wrapped puppet off his back. Unnoticed by the Suna-nin Naruto signed to Sakura:
'Hive nearby. I follow; you catch up once Puppet distracted.' Sakura ducked her chin in acknowledgement and the blond took off after his fellow jinchuuriki and said Sacrifice's older sister; hopefully they could deal with Gaara without things getting too messy.
Naruto caught up easily and silently paced the pair for a while, staying out of sight as they put a good distance between them and the village and the redhead's inner energies roiled and burned, youki and chakra fighting and mingling as the former became more and more prevalent.
"Get away!" Gaara snapped suddenly as Temari paused for breath on a sturdy branch, pushing himself off his sister's shoulder and staggering to his feet.
"What?" the girl responded startled.
"Just move!" Gaara burst out, shoving his sibling away violently. Naruto caught her before her head could hit the tree he was hiding in and set the older girl on her feet next to him.
"Next time a jinchuuriki gives you fair warning I suggest you pay attention," the Konoha genin said mildly. "We aren't exactly the safest of beings to be standing next to when we go all-out, are we Gaara?"
The aqua-eyed boy clutched at his head again as Sakura landed lightly on Naruto's other side. Naruto in turn waited patiently for Gaara's latest fit to pass. He did not particularly want to fight, but if it came to it he wouldn't hold back all that much.
As Gaara dropped to his knees Naruto swayed for an instant, the memories of the clone he'd sent to take out the chunnin hitting him. So, Shika stayed behind to stall the invaders while Shino continued. My clone backed him up by taking a sword to them after Pineapple-head caught them in his Kage Mane no Jutsu. It took out four, then got busted by their backup hiding in a tree. Not too bad I suppose. It sensed Asuma-san coming before it poofed, so Shika's probably alright. He blinked as Gaara moaned, compacted sand covered with a network of bluish veins swallowing his right arm and the side of his face as his tenant's youki spiked yet again.
Naruto had never seen anything like it before in his life, but that did not mean he didn't know what he was seeing; his education had been more thorough than most peoples'. This was the lead-up to Gaara's completed Beast Form, as opposed to the basic chakra cloak that Naruto himself used to access his own tenant's power. A Complete Form wasn't just chakra but a fully physical, full-sized body, though the three-tails was the weakest bijuu to have a properly solid final form.
The blond Sacrifice knew he wouldn't be able to reach his own full bijuu form for at least another four years –five is more realistic– but then again the Ichibi held only a fraction of the power the Kyuubi could command. His seal warmed at that thought, a short burst of extra energy suffusing through his limbs. So vain you are, aren't you Yoko?
"Come! Let me –hic– feel it!" the half-changed Gaara growled, his entire right arm morphed into a misshapen tanuki claw.
"Feel what, Gaara-kun?" Naruto inquired patiently. Removing Shukaku's ghost had no doubt stabilised the Ichibi a great deal but it had not done anything to reverse the years of trauma Gaara had doubtless suffered until now, nor had it healed the damage to the Ichibi's own battered consciousness. It had taken Naruto himself years to recover his memories from before he was accepted into the Mitsusha and to face and overcome what he had suffered in that time. He was, in fact, still coming to terms with it. Hibana-nee had helped him tremendously and Ame-kaa-san was still helping him come to terms with stuff but Gaara clearly hadn't had anyone, let alone someone capable of offering that kind of help, and was coming apart at the seams now he wasn't constantly at war with his tenant.
Gaara did not reply, instead roaring as he lunged at Naruto. The blond leapt away, ensuring he landed a decent distance away from Sakura and Temari. Since his fellow Sacrifice was clearly targeting him it would be best to stay well clear.
"Why are you running away?" Gaara howled. "What's the matter, are you afraid of me?"
Naruto smiled, the expression creepily reminiscent of Morino Ibiki. "I do not fear my own tenant, so why should I fear yours which is vastly inferior?" Though I do respect Yoko greatly. Fear however is pointless and counter-productive: being afraid won't stop something trying to kill me.
"Then come and get me!" Gaara roared.
Noting absently that Shino's fight with Kankurou had ended in what felt like a draw, Naruto drew his wakizashi and tanto and infused both blades with wind chakra. The Ichibi might be wind natured but it also had a strong connection to earth, so –while unlikely to be fatal– maiming its final form would still be very painful.
Indeed, the blond was successful in bisecting the oversized, blue-veined limb and sunk a hole in the gourd on the boy's back, but to predictably little effect: rather than crying out in pain Gaara cackled like a lunatic. "Defeating a person strong enough to hurt me gives me an even greater sense of existence!"
The transformation process was advancing steadily: Gaara now had a pointed ear emerging from one side of his skull and half his mouth was distorted and full of triangular teeth. "More!" the redhead shouted crazily, a massive, veined, sandy tail erupting behind him.
Naruto was very reluctant to go all-out but recognised that unless he upped his game a bit somebody was going to get hurt. Sighing he sheathed his blades and, as he bounced out of the way of another of Gaara's wild charges, called up enough of Kyuubi's chakra for the initial transformation. The speed and healing boost were an advantage against a strong and fast-moving opponent but Naruto had to keep a close eye on his temper or risk losing his sense of self.
"Sakura, spot for me!" he shouted as Gaara catapulted back towards him. Thinking quickly he shot through a jutsu; the Ichibi was physically more aligned to earth than wind despite most of its attacks being wind natured, so lightning or water would be the most effective attacks to try. "Suiton: Mizurappa!" the blast slowed Gaara considerably, enabling the blond to easily dodge the swipe at his face and counter with a solid punch.
"Is this all you've got?" Gaara growled. "You are weak!"
Calm. Calm. He knows nothing; let his words be as oil over a stone, Naruto chanted inside his head as he wished he knew how to put the Shishou Fuuin on someone without needing to draw the full array out in ink first. He knew from Ame-kaa-san that Gaara's seal was a Sankyaku Fuuin, but he hadn't yet learnt any sufficiently powerful even-numbered seals that could block it. That meant that the only way he could realistically defeat Gaara was to beat him into the ground until the redhead ran out of chakra, which would require time and considerable strength of mind if he was to succeed without going berserk. It was far easier to lose himself once he was channelling Yoko's chakra –not that it was even chakra really– but Sakura and Sasuke could probably snap him out of it provided he didn't push himself up to two-tails, which was currently more than he could take. If that happened he'd have to step back and let Yoko take over, which would be a death sentence for Gaara, Temari and all the other non-Konoha ninja within five minutes reach.
Naruto did not want to kill Gaara, but pragmatically recognised that it might still happen. Hesitation was fatal and he couldn't afford to risk his team-mates' lives.
Notes
Kage Mane no Jutsu = Shadow Imitation Technique
kikaichuu = parasitic destruction insects; integral to the Aburame clan's secret techniques
Suiton: Mizurappa = Water release: Violent Water Wave
Shishou Fuuin = Four Image Seal
Sankyaku Fuuin = Three-legged Seal (my own creation)
A/N: The seal used on Baki is NOT the Caged Bird Seal, but something similar developed more recently. It is specifically a prisoner seal rather than a hostage seal as the victim cannot move once sealed. The fight with Gaara gets started! I hope I've explained why that bit of canon is going ahead despite all the help Gaara's got from Naruto and co.