Shoton of Konoha

by Arch-Daishou

Tribute: Stormy Rebel. By the actions of a traitor, a unique bloodline awakens within the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. How far will fate be changed for Naruto Uzumaki now with the gift of Shoton (Crystal Release). How will the balance shift when powers beyond even the Akatsuki begin to stir. First fourteen chapters remain as they are in tribute to my late friend Stormy. Miss you amigo.

27. Rage

Disclaimer: We do not own Naruto

Beta & Co-author: Etheral-23

{StormyRebel: You are never forgotten my dear friend. I am eternally grateful you let me adopt Shoton of Konoha. Your legacy lives on}

Rage

Their pursuit had taken them beyond the village's walls and into the forest. Kiba and Hinata had been of great help to track down Gaara and his siblings. According to them, it wouldn't take them long to catch up with Sand ninja.

They traveled through the trees, jumping from branch to branch. All the while the question of what to do with Gaara kept repeating through Naruto's mind. He was an enemy. He was a victim. They brought war to Konoha. And yet whenever he thought of what Gaara had gone through, he felt pain...

Was it really too late for Gaara?

"We're getting close. I can smell blood and sand up ahead," Kiba said as he smelled the air. Akamaru barked in agreement.

Yugito narrowed her eyes; "Leave Gaara to myself and Naruto."

The Inuzuka gave the blond teen a double take; "You crazy?! That guy is insane!"

"And he's a Jinchurriki like me and Yugi-Chan," Naruto said getting a surprised look from Kiba and raised brows from Shino. Hinata remained silent as she looked ahead sadly.

The Aburame heir gave the blond Uzumaki a look; "My father spoke of the term but never in detail."

"Sealed inside me, Naruto, and Gaara are beings called Bijuu," Yugito explained. "I will tell you more later."

They continued forward, the Kumo kunoichi jumped from tree to tree next to Naruto and discretely whispered to him. "Naruto, be honest with me" She turned one at him. "How much control do you have on your Bijuu?"

Naruto heard the fox bark a laugh at that.

"Not... a lot" Well, ok, that was an understatement.

"I see" Yugito paused. "But can you access a bit of his chakra at least? Enough to release a tail?"

XxX ~ flashback: one month prior ~ XxX

Outside the village near a large waterfall, Jiraiya and Kushina watch on as Naruto fell onto his knees in pure exhaustion and sweat pouring off of him. "It's what I expected, better than nothing at all for the moment," the Gama Sannin muttered.

"And I never even used Kyuubi's power," Kushina crossed her arms. "One tail can at least be a trump card."

"For now rest brat, then you can learn how to use that when we have more time to train," Jiraiya said.

XxX ~ present ~ XxX

Oh yeah, that was a chore even to even train with. "One tail, that's how far I can go right now." Naruto whispered. "Least while keeping my senses."

Matatabi rolled her eyes; "Kitten, can you tell Naruto to tell Kurama his wife said stop being idiot please."

'…I am still not used to that,' Yugito mentally mused; "Uh, Nibi said to tell Kurama to stop being an idiot."

The old fox only snorted. 'If the brat proves himself unable to use my power, even a fraction of it, on his own, then I find no reason to lower myself and actually give him aid against the weakest of us' Kurama stubbornly refused. 'Also, you can speak to me directly you know? So rude'

Matatabi growled angrily. 'You still consider yourself superior just because of your level of chakra? Oh you arrogant imitation of a kitsune, have your past experiences not taught you anything? Or perhaps should I remind you of the time when-?'

'Silence woman!' The Kyuubi snapped.

'Hmph!' the two tailed monster cat huffed.

The two jinchuuriki shared one uneasy look. "Well that was awkward..." Naruto muttered.

"Yeah..."

Leaping through the trees, Naruto looked to his fellow Jinchurriki; "Does Matatabi have any advice with Shukaku?"

'Naruto listen me,' Matatabi spoke telepathically to the blond Uzumaki. 'You listen too kitten; Gaara must not fall asleep. If he does then Shukaku wakes up. He might be simple minded but he can be highly cunning and powerful. Added with his insanity.'

"Are you kidding me?!" He snapped, making the others look at him with confusion for a moment. He bit back a curse and focused on speaking with his thoughts. 'Do Suna's sealers have so little knowledge that they made a seal like that?!' No wonder Gaara was so insane, a seal that weak would allow the bijuu to have a much greater influence on the poor boy.

'They knew exactly what they were doing' The Nibi explained. 'I remember in the first wars with my previous hosts, the Suna Jinchuuriki was always placed with one such seal for easier and faster deployment of their bijuu'

Naruto and Yugito's eyes widened in shock. 'They... made the seal like that on purpose?'

'Crude but it gets results in times of war' Matatabi said. 'It allows the user to simply unleash the bijuu by falling asleep, instead of wasting so much time training the jinchuuriki to use his or her bijuu. All Suna had to do was pull back and allow Shukaku to rampage, with someone, namely their Kage, holding the activation command to make the jinchuuriki wake up'

Was this was how Shinobi villages treated their Jinchurriki? It made Naruto sick to his stomach. 'We're still people! Do those fuckers even get that?!' Naruto's temper was getting the best of him. 'You and even that surly bastard fox of a husband of yours have feelings.'

'Why thank you kit' Kurama said in the most faux-cheery tone possible. 'I'm starting to respect you greatly for that. Now, why don't you be a lad and release this cursed seal. I promise I won't kill your entire village. Pinky swear'

'You know' Naruto dryly retorted. 'Acting like an ass is why you don't have friends'

'I don't have friends because I've been stuck in seals for nearly a century!'

'He didn't have friends long before that happened' Matatabi supplied.

'And these two are married,' both Yugito and Naruto mentally retorted.

"They're close!" Kiba spoke up.

And indeed, the Inuzuka was right. Many feet away before them were the siblings from Suna, jumping from branch to branch.

"Stop!" Sasuke shouted.

The trio stopped in looked back. "Shit" Temari cursed. "They found us..."

"You have betrayed the treaty between Konoha and Suna" Shino spoke calmly, not a single emotion betrayed the Aburame's tone. "Therefore, you must answer for this crime"

"We do not answer to your village" Kankuro angrily growled.

Naruto stood up on his branch, looking at Gaara straight in the eye. The redhead's eyes burned with blood lust. "Listen to me, Orochimaru impersonated your Kazekage, your father and-"

"He is most likely dead" Gaara said in a completely uncaring tone, much to the shock of his siblings who only gasped in horror.

"Suna was betrayed by Otogakure, why would Orochimaru be here instead of him then?" Sakura reasoned.

"Bullshit! Our father wouldn't die that easy!" Kankuro countered.

Gaara stared into Naruto's and Yugito's eyes for the longest time before speaking; "A shame, I wanted to be the one who killed him."

Temari sharply looked at her younger brother; "Gaara!"

Gaara ignored her outcry.

Kankuro grunted as he looked at the opposing shinobi. "They outnumber us. No choice, we need to leave now and-"

"No" The Suna jinchuuriki said. "We stay, and fight" He commanded.

Temari, still shaken by the words of his brother, managed to regain her bearings enough to argue. "Gaara we haven't had any contact with Baki-sensei or any other of our forces. The mission is-"

"If you do not shut up at this moment, then I will kill you instead" He coldly promised.

She drew a sharp intake of air, and took a step back.

Even Kankuro backed away as sea-foam green, cerulean, and midnight eyes stared at each other. Sasuke stared at them; "You think you can kill all of us?"

"I care little about you Uchiha; I only want Uzumaki and Nii." Gaara said bluntly. "Monsters like me who refuse to admit what they are."

"Shit..." Yugito muttered under hear breath. Just how much did Suna fuck him up? She dealt with some bullshit back home. Angry glares from some people, others being asses towards her for no other reason than her being a jinchuuriki.

But as she had learned, it had been way worse before Bee became the hero of the village he was now, couple with Kumo's militaristic mentality, the role of jinchuuriki had become more accepted by them than by other villages. She had received training, praise, and honest friendships from many of her fellow ninja.

Naruto hadn't been so fortunate as she understood. But Gaara... whatever was done to him was something she couldn't fully understand.

There truly was nothing in him but a burning desire for slaughter. Suna had made him the weapon his village wanted him to be... and if he continued on like that, Gaara would become a true nightmare.

Haku only looked at the Suna Jinchurriki mournfully; 'to drive someone to become this... If anyone can save him, it is Naruto.'

"Well look what we have here," a male voice spoke, making everyone save Gaara turn to see several Oto Nin leaping down beside Temari; "Need a hand?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the new arrivals; "This got complicated."

Saying nothing for a moment, Kankuro glared hard at the Oto; "I want to know something. Did your boss kill our father?"

The Oto Jounin scoffed as he eyed the Konoha, Kiri, and Kumo Nin; "You going to believe these tree huger ninjas by their word?"

Kankuro swallowed a lump on his throat as a bead of sweat ran down his neck. These Sound Ninja always put him on edge, and their leader Orochimaru was leagues above them in that regard. The Snake Sannin's reputation was well known and feared throughout the nations, granting some credibility to the ninja of the Leaf.

...But why would Orochimaru actually kill their father? It didn't make sense; he was hired to help with the assault on Konoha. The traitor to the Leaf was mad but he wasn't stupid. Making a new enemy out of Suna, disposing of an ally that would help him destroy the village he despised, something wasn't right with that logic.

So, he decided to trust his logic on this one. He wouldn't let the lies of the enemy get to him. They were the enemy, he repeated to himself, the ones responsible for the decaying state of their village.

"Yeah" He pulled out Karasu from his back. "Try another one, because we ain't gonna believe anything you tell us"

'So they won't listen to reason,' Shino narrowed his eyes.

Yugito mentally surveyed their surroundings; 'This is bad. If Gaara unleashes Shukaku here, people will get hurt.'

"I highly doubt Gaara cares kitten," Matatabi supplied her own opinion. "Right now he only sees you and Naruto and he will kill his own kin if it means killing you both."

For Naruto, as he and Gaara kept staring at one another, he kept seeing himself had no one been there for him. Had he let the loneliness and hatred kept burning in him. If he never had gotten sick of it and pushed it away. He would be exactly like Gaara.

"Are you having second thoughts, kit?" The fox rumbled inside his mind. "Hmph. Cast away any doubt, and kill him"

Naruto clenched his fist. Gaara was a threat that could kill his friends, killing him should be the only option... But he couldn't, Gaara didn't deserve this. He himself was saved from that pain, so why Gaara couldn't be saved too?

"Tch" Kurama scoffed in disgust. "So naive..."

"Be silent, Kurama" Matatabi chastised him. "Remember Shukaku is our sibling"

A scoff came from the old fox but he said nothing; '...Show me just how strong your resolve truly is boy.'

The cork from Gaara's gourd popped off; "Uzumaki and Nii belong to me, any who interfere shall die by my hands." Sand soon began to pour out.

"Fine with me," the Oto Jounin said as he glared hard at Karin; "I have a traitor to kill. You really think you could leave Orochimaru-Sama's service that easy Karin?"

"I'll die before I got back to the bastard," the glasses wearing Uzumaki spoke with pure venom; "I have my family again. I'll never let go of that!"

The Oto-nin laughed cruelly; "Oh and here I was hoping for you to beg for your life, would have made things better. But at least we know Orochimaru-sama will have some interesting experiments ready for you"

The spectacle wearing girl paled at the mere thought. Being the test subject of Orochimaru's more inhumane experiments was a fate worse than death. She was shaken out of her dark thoughts when Sakura and Haku moved to stand in front of her.

"You'll have to go through us first," The pinkette swore with righteous anger.

A white cold mist formed around Haku's hands as she glared with an icy gaze; "You think of touching Karin-san and I shall send your souls to hell myself."

'Damn that chick is freaking scary,' Kiba lightly shivered along with Akamaru under his hood.

Hinata looked to Naruto, Yugito, and Gaara and back to the blond Uzumaki. This was a fight between Jinchurriki, as much as she wanted to help him; she could not get in the way. But for the remaining enemies, she took her clan's stance as her Doujutsu activated.

A gleam shined in the Oto Nin's eyes; "The byakugan and a main branch at that... Orochimaru-sama would be interested in you greatly, Hyuuga."

Hinata steeled herself and took a stance. 'Naruto's not afraid, so I won't be either!'

Sasuke's eyes shifted into his Sharingan. "Bring it on"

And so the battle began. The oto-nin jumped into the fray, rushing to meet the young ninja. While Naruto and Yugito jumped away from their position, seeking to draw Gaara's attention away from the group so they wouldn't be caught in the crossfire.

It worked, as the Sand Jinchuuriki snarled at them and quickly moved to follow.

Meanwhile the other shinobi fought, Sasuke stood on a branch as he dodged the sweeping kick from an enemy, and he grabbed the limb and quickly twisted it, using the momentum to throw his opponent at another ninja. He had back flipped on to another large tree branch, narrowly avoiding several shuriken thrown his way. The Uchiha quickly pulled out a kunai, his Sharingan allowed him to track several shuriken and parry them.

Three Oto Nin jumped towards him, Sasuke swiftly threw his shuriken, this one found its mark in the chest of one of them. He swiftly went through a series of handsigns and breathed several small fireballs at the ninja on the left, he cried out as the flames impacted, knocking him off the air.

The final ninja was too close, but to his surprise, the young Uchiha jumped straight at him. The oto-nin attempted to attack with a slash of his kunai, but Sasuke dodged and grabbed his arm in mid-air. A swift kick to the stomach stunned him for a second, enough for Sasuke to move around his body until he was positioned over his back.

Sasuke let out a sharp war cry as he slammed his leg over the oto-nin's back, diving forwards as the two quickly fell to the ground with great force, creating a cloud of dust on impact. The Uchiha's landing was shielded by the enemy's body, but this one wasn't so lucky.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Not far from the Uchiha, Hinata fought with grace against an enemy. With a sharp cry she slammed her open palm onto the man's chest. He fell off the branch with a cry and hit the ground below.

Thanks to her eyes she, by a hair's breathe, dodged the now on coming attack by the puppet user Kankuro; "Let's dance Hyuuga."

The puppet moved with tremendous speed with unnatural movements, blades emerged from its wooden limbs, no doubt coated in poison. She let out a soft gasp as she jumped back, avoiding the swift crossing strike of four different blades coming at her.

The puppet did not relent; it spun around like a tornado of flurry blades. Cutting and tearing at the bark of trees that was on its path. Hinata's only choice was to keep drawing distance between the puppet and her.

She momentarily looked at the puppeteer, a confident smirk displaying on his lips. She wasn't fast enough to reach him before he could summon his puppet back at his side, and she couldn't get close enough without risking falling prey to its poisoned blades.

What could she do? She couldn't beat this opponent by herself...

For a brief moment, with her Byakugan she spotted all of her comrades fighting for their lives. At the distance was Naruto, facing off against the mad Suna-nin. He looked so resolute, like he could stare down at death itself and get away with it. He always did things like that, marching head on into a fight regardless of how dire the situation looked...

How could she claim to be a ninja of the Leaf if she wasn't willing to do the same?

She shook her head. She couldn't allow cowardliness or weakness to fester, not when her comrades were fighting for their village and their own lives. Hinata knew she needed to come up with a way to defeat her opponent, but how...

Her eyes picked up the thin chakra threads which connected the puppet to the user's fingers. Pearly eyes widened in realization. That was it. She just needed to a clear chance.

Doing the necessary hand sign and preparations for a specific and widely known technique, the Hyuuga decided to follow Naruto's example. She charged right in.

Kankuro smiled predatory. The foolish Hyuuga jumped directly into Karasu's reach. The blades extended further and thrusted forwards, he drew satisfaction when he saw them piercing right through the blue haired girl's body... only for this one to vanish in a plume of smoke, leaving behind a simple wooden log.

"What-?!"

He didn't have time to react as she suddenly reappeared behind his puppet. Her Byakugan trained into the various joints where the chakra threads were connected to the puppet. Fingers laced with chakra struck with great speed, severing the threads.

Karasu fell limply to the ground, its strings cut.

"My eyes could see your chakra being the strings to your puppet," Hinata said simply. "Surrender now please"

An indigent look came from the Suna Nin; "You fucking kidding me Hyuuga? Your village is being attack, Suna willingly choose to betray Konoha. And you're not angry about it?!" For Kankuro it was easy to feel anger off of the others. But this girl had none of that, neither in her movements nor her eyes.

"I can't afford to be in this moment" The Byakugan wielder replied softly, yet her gaze was resolute. "Right now, I need to fulfill my duty as a ninja of the Leaf, but I would prefer preventing further bloodshed" She takes a stance, raising her open palms. "So please, surrender"

A growl came from the puppeteer; "To hell with this. I ain't-!" Whatever he was going to say died in his mouth as a quick chop to the back of his neck knocked him unconscious, he fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

Blinking in surprise, Hinata's pearly eyes stared as Karin was revealed behind him. "Thanks for keeping him distracted" The spectacle wearing girl smiled.

She wasn't trying to... but she wouldn't argue with the results. Hmm, maybe speaking so much during a fight was detrimental when there were more than two people present.

"DUCK!" Hinata surprised when Karin pulled her down, just seconds before a kunai would have struck her in the throat.

"Tsk," The Oto Jounin appeared on the branch close to them; "Oh well, I prefer close kills anyways." He drew another kunai from his pouch; "And you Hyuuga will be quite the prize to my master."

Hinata and Karin got to their feet as both got into a taijutsu stance.

Underneath his mask, his lips curled up. He quickly performed a series of handsigns, and suddenly the world was plunged into darkness. Shadows appeared everywhere, soon enough there were no trees, no light, and even the rustle of the leaves could barely be heard. Even though they were standing next to each other, their forms were vague silhouettes to their eyes

"Genjutsu..." Karin whispered. She quickly raised fingers and tried to disrupt the flow of chakra; "Kai!" But it was no use, the illusion remained intact.

"I can't see through it" Hinata muttered. The flow of chakra was scrambling with her perception, she could only make out Karin next to her, and even then her chakra network was a bit jumbled for her vision.

"Wait" Karin suddenly said, closing her eyes. She could still feel the chakra signatures around her despite the genjutsu. The jounin which had casted it remained in place, most likely actively keeping the technique running so they wouldn't be able to break it... and could feel more signatures from other ninjas closing in on them. "More are coming..."

"I won't be able to see them properly unless they get close" The Hyuuga said. And if they did then it would be too late for her to react fast enough.

The Uzumaki turned her gaze to the vague form of Hinata. "We can fight them off if we work together. Here's what we'll do; I can feel them through the genjutsu, so I'll be able to tell you where they are coming from so you can get ready"

Hinata nodded, the one month before the finals was short, but it was enough for the Hyuga heiress to befriend the glasses wearing Uzumaki, and learned about her uncanny chakra sensory. Karin would be her eyes, and Hinata her shield.

'Orochimaru-sama will be pleased with this. Might not be the Sharingan, but a Hyuuga will be a boon for us,' the Oto Jounin smirked cruelly. 'Goodbye Karin...'

With a quiet jerk of his head, as his hands were still locked on the handsign, he signaled the ninja around him to strike. They jumped from the branches with the intent of killing the Byakugan bearer and the traitor.

Karin's sense warned her the second they moved. "To the left, 9 o'clock!"

Hinata was already moving, she wouldn't have reacted fast enough were it not for the redhead's warning, but with it she already anticipated the approaching enemy, a chakra signature quickly entered her field of vision. And Hinata struck with both her palms, impacting on shinobi's stomach, knocking him away.

"To the right, dodge!" Karin was moving away as she spoke. Her ability made it easier to avoid the enemies so she could keep giving Hinata directions.

The Hyuuga did as she was told, ducking from a straight kick, she grabbed it and pulled the enemy towards her, bringing his chin in striking distance for her palm.

"Bellow you!"

Hinata quickly moved the body of the enemy she had just knocked out on the edge of the thick branch she was standing on, and with a powerful palm strike, sent it flying towards the ground, where he collided with another ninja that had jumped up from a lower branch.

"Forward, twelve o'clock!"

The Byakugan user sidestepped an incoming kunai firmly grasped in an enemy's hand. She quickly jabbed two fingers on the enemy's arm, following with a palm strike and two more jabs on his chest. With a somersault kick, she knocked the enemy away.

The Hyuuga heiress took several calming breaths as she landed beside her friend; "You really are awesome Hinata."

A brief smile came from the young teen; "You as well."

The spectacle wearing girl turned her gaze forward. She could feel the Jounin's chakra fluctuating with frustration. "There is still him," Turning to Hinata, the two exchanges a brief nod. "One o'clock, twenty degrees up"

Hinata reared her hands back, taking a deep breath and channeling chakra through them, he thrusted them forwards, unleashing the gathered energy like a blast pure air pressure; "Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!" The attack moved with great velocity, hitting the enemy with full force.

The brunt of the attack hit him like a charging bull, and was flung away directly into the trunk of a tree. His impact cracked and splintered the bark, his eyes rolled back as he fell unconscious, his body hanged from the tree, held by the broken bark.

Both sighed in relief as the illusion broke and both were finally free. As Hinata disengaged her clan's Doujutsu, one Oto Nin came out with kunai ready and poised for the traitor. However as he closed the distance a small serpent-like azure dragon popped out from the back of Karin's collar unleashing a small fireball into the man's face.

He screamed as his mask burned which in turned burned his face. His throat was soon slit by his own weapon as the Uzumaki girl grabbed his kunai and used it.

Hinata could just stare as the Oto Nin fell. "Couldn't you sense him coming?"

"Oh I did" She shrugged uncaringly. "Just that Yasu and I have been planning this tactic for a time, and I told him to use it now" She patted the small dragon's head before her eyes widened in realization. "Oh gods I'm turning insanely violent like my family..."

A sweatdrop came from the heiress; "Naruto-Kun and others aren't that bad," she weakly defended.

"You have been spending the last month with us haven't you," Karin asked dryly while Yasu floated around them. "Naruto, Samenosuke, and aunt Kushina had a prank war all over Konoha which involved explosive seals." Not to mention the sight of an angry Sandaime chasing the trio all over the village because they by accident burned the Ichi-Icha book he was reading.

"..." She actually had no retort to that.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

"Yahoo!" Kiba exclaimed in joy as he leapt from an oto-nin's face and slashed his way through a number of enemies with his sharp nails. He and Akamaru were a flurry of claws and teeth too fast for Orochimaru's grunts to stop.

Not too far away, Shino dispatched two enemies Nin with his insects and Kunai. "Kiba remained focused."

"Ah come on Shino, these guys are barely Genin level," Akamaru barked in agreement.

The Aburame only sighed; 'And he thought Yugito Nii would be a pushover. That did not turn out well.' His eyes drifted over to where he felt Naruto and Nii facing Gaara. His insects shook fearfully just feeling the malicious chakra of the Bijuu spill from the Suna Jinchurriki.

'Hopefully those two shall be able to finish off the fight before Shukaku can be unleashed' He thought while he barely paid attention to the number of shouting enemy ninja he trapped inside a swarm.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Temari smirked as she unfolded her fan, various meters before her, the pinkette and the ice user stood on a branch, looking at her intently; "You two against me? Now that's hardly fair, for you that is"

Sakura and Haku said nothing as they both mentally analyzed the Suna Kunoichi. Sadly they both wished they had seen her actually fight so they knew what they could do against her. Obviously she was a wind user much like Naruto given her primary weapon was a large fan.

But exactly how good was she? Both young ladies glanced over to Naruto's direction before looking back to the smirking blond kunoichi; "Well ladies are you going to stand there or face me?"

'If I had to guess she is a long range fighter, my Hyoton can help me with that. But I'll have to give some kind of opening for Sakura-san to get close quarters,' Haku lightly tapped the rosette's hand; "I may have an idea."

Temari narrowed her eyes the moment she saw her opponents whispering to one another. Taking a strong hold from the base of her fan, she channeled her chakra through it and unleashed a devastating gust of wind against them.

"Move!" Sakura shouted the wind blew a path of destruction, tearing up branches and even pieces of bark on its wake. The two quickly jumped away in time, both in opposite directions, just as the wind hit and broke the thick branch they were standing on.

"You won't even get near me" The four pigtail girls boasted. "My wind style one day shall be the best among my village"

"Your village standards must be a joke then!" Sakura mockingly called as she took refuge behind a three.

The fan user gnashed her teeth in anger, and with a furious cry she swung her weapon once again. Haku barely managed to hind behind a tree in time as the wind hit, both she and Sakura held tightly against the shaking trees. The Hyōton user wished her friend wouldn't antagonize their enemy like that.

Fortunately, the two were in a direct line of sight, Haku prepared a few hand signs and Sakura pulled out three kunai with explosive tags. Exchanging a nod, they jumped out to the open and attacked. The pinkette threw her weapons while the kiri-nin thrusted her hand forward and launched a barrage of ice spikes.

Temari smirked and twirled her fan, enveloping her in torrents of rapid moving winds.

The kunai and ice shards faltered in their flight, caught by the winds their trajectory wobbled and missed. The tags exploded harmlessly behind her while the ice projectiles missed completely.

The smoke soon cleared, blown away by the still moving winds around her form, causing Sakura and Haku to gasp at the sight. The wind... clings closely to her like a protecting shroud.

Temari smirked and her lips parted. "Wind Style..." She called out the name of her technique. "Yoroi"

'She can make armor out the wind like I can with ice and Naruto-kun with crystal,' which took years of very dedicated training to reach that level of wind manipulation. And Temari was Haku's age, 'She's more gifted than she appears. Letting her actions speak for themselves.' The Kiri Kunoichi could respect this girl's talent.

Her smirked remained as Temari eyed her fellow kunoichi with a predatory gaze; "Let's see what plan you have ladies, and watch me tear it apart while I cut you to little pieces."

"Hopefully you last longer than your cross-dressing brother," Sakura snapped back before blinking; "I've been hanging around Naruto too long." Haku looked at the rosette dryly.

Either by anger or pragmatism, the wind user once more attacked. This time, her attacks weren't wide wind blasts that destroyed things with raw force. Rather, she waved her fan diagonally, creating a thin and sharp wind blade of wind that cut and slashed anything on its path.

Entire tree trunks were cleanly cut, and fell to the ground with thunderous noise.

But Temari did not relent; again and again she slashed her fan, creating multiple wind blades.

The sun of trees falling and wood being severed made the two other kunoichi quickly look back at their opponent in surprise. They saw the attacks coming for them so they jumped.

As soon as Sakura had leaped away, the wind blade severed the tree she had been standing on. She narrowly latched onto a branch belonging to the falling tree, and propelled herself to avoid being caught by the crumbling thing. Tree after tree was being cut down in quick succession.

Haku jumped in between various branches, quickly dodging tree limbs and foliage, before jumping unto another tree, one that was quickly crumbling away as she soon found out. She jumped one again, but missed the falling branch from a taller tree; this one hit her fully on the back, electing a sharp gasp of pain by the kiri-nin. She painfully landed on over a fallen trunk, groaning as she tried to move. Her eyes widened in terror as she caught sight of another trunk quickly falling right above her.

A blur of pink quickly reached and pulled her away from harm's reach as the tree crashed right where had been just a moment ago.

The rosette sighed; "I am so glad Kushina-sensei gave me speed training." Her jade orbs more tree falling as she held onto Haku and zigzagged her way around the falling lumber. Temari had no sense of slowing down either by the look of rage in her eyes.

"Stand still and die already!" the blond Suna Nin yelled out as she continued attacking.

"Are you okay Haku-Chan?" Sakura asked as he kiri friend broke off from her grip and joined her in dodging the falling trees.

"We have to take her out before this gets out of hand," Haku said keeping an eye on their enemy. "It would also be very helpful if you would stop antagonizing her."

"Not my fault she has a hair trigger temper," The rosette snapped with a few tick marks on her head.

Haku only stared; 'Says the coal pot calling the kettle black.'

"We can't get close to her" Sakura points out as they take refuge behind a wall made up of already fallen trees.

"And we lack the capacity of performing sufficiently strong ranged attack to bypass her wind defense" The Hyōton user adds.

They duck as they felt the ground tremble with the fall of another trunk. "Or best option is to distract her" Sakura mused. "Haku" She looks at kiri-nin. "How close do you need to be to make your mirrors?"

"As of right now, I managed to get a distance of eight feet" She explains. "I can stretch the distance somewhat, but takes more chakra"

The pinkette quickly runs any possible option in her mind, her eyes widened in realization. "Can you use them to make genjutsu?"

The brunette blinked while above them Temari calmed down but kept the assault going. 'Those two can't hide forever.' Absently she could feel Gaara facing down Uzumaki and Nii, even if they were Jinchurriki they couldn't beat her little brother.

Didn't stop her from worrying, even if Gaara felt nothing for her or Kankuro, she still loved him. And she had faith in him he would see this through. "Well you two are going to do anything?" Temari called out.

"Why the hell would we tell you?!" The voice of the pinkette rang out.

The four pig-tailed girl's eye twitched in response.

She tensed when the two young girls leapt out of the pile of lumber. Her eyes partially widen when she sees multiple clones of the pinkette charging alongside Haku. The Hyoton user was already going through a series of handsigns.

Temari soon realized what was going on; A distraction. They were planning on fooling her while the real one was most likely sneaking around to take her out by surprise.

Taking a strong hold of her war fan, she sent a wide gust of wind at her adversaries. Haku and Sakura's clones scattered, a few of them were dispelled as they were caught by the blast. The kiri girl was accompanied by three of the pinkette's, so Temari focused her next attack on them.

She sent a strong wave of wind at them, and watched with a smirk as they were blown away. Her senses alerted her of something moving behind her, there it was, the real attack. She spun on her feet and waved her close fan, hitting the pink Leaf in head... or should have, but instead, the attack went right through her, and she vanished.

A clone? She picked up more movement around her, and found four more Sakura ganging up on her. She quickly twirled her fan, sending gusts of wind in every direction, hitting them all, but they too vanished.

'The hell?' Temari thought in irritation, and found more clones were appearing around her. Where were they all coming from? It was the sudden glimmer of light coming from above her that caused her to look up, and found one of the Hyoton girl's ice mirrors standing right above her.

She had seen the Kiri-nin use them before, she could send out copies of herself and strike from pretty much any direction where a mirror as located. They must have planned this from the beginning; it was the Konoha Nin who was the real distraction.

She ignored the clones around her and channeled her chakra into one focused burst of wind instead of a wide-spread blast. The wind traveled with such speed and force that it shattered the mirror.

Strangely, most of the clones disappeared as well... All except one that approached from her turned back, when Temari turned, realizing she had been fooled, it was too late.

"Shennaro!"

A chakra enhanced fist collided with her cheek, sending Temari flying away.

The Suna kunoichi cried out as she slammed hard into a tree suck in place, knocked unconscious with her head hanging down. Both Sakura and Haku let out a long breath as they soon turned their attention where they felt Naruto and Yugito facing Gaara.

Clinching her fist, the rosette's hand lightly shook; "Can we help them..?" Haku only shook her head.

"This is a fight between Jinchurriki, and we must have faith in Naruto-kun and Yugito-san."

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Baki's back lay against a tree, there were burns everywhere on his attire, and sweat ran down his neck as he drew heavy breaths. Pain and exhaustion filled his very being. But what kept him paralyzed on his spot was the sheer disbelief and terror he felt upon facing an opponent of this... this caliber.

He looked at the woman standing a few feet away from him. The tall woman's hime cut hair flows gently with the wind, the lower fabric of her sleeveless crimson kimono floated gently along with her raven dark locks. Her face was impassive, regarding him as though something inconsequential. In her eyes, the jounin was barely an obstacle, a stone, on her path.

And by how their 'fight', if it could even be called that, had gone, Baki realized how in true that was.

"W-What..." He wheezed out. "What are you..?"

Kuroreimei paid him no mind and just walked passed him, not even bothering to spare him another glance. She did wave her hand in the air to bind him, she didn't need further distractions. She need to see the young boy fight, she needed to confirm her suspicions...

The sand ninja gasped in shock as his body was suddenly trapped against the tree... encased in a thick layer of ice. "Stay put boy, Konoha's Anbu will find you soon enough. I have more important matters to witness," she said in an apathetic tone as she vanished into the forest.

Baki only hissed lightly from the burns and the cold mixing, never in his life did he feel this level of fear. Not even Gaara in one of his rampages made him this scared. 'What is this woman..?' Suna needed to know…

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

The Jinchuuriki of Konoha and Kumo steeled themselves to face their enemy, the Jinchuuriki of Suna. Gaara's green eyes displayed nothing but cold disregard for life, and a murderous intent so heavy and vast it could fill a lake.

Yugito, now more than ever, truly felt disturbed at the thought that what standing before her, cursing the world and wanting nothing more than to drown it in blood, was a possibility of what could have happened to her.

"It doesn't have to be like this Gaara" Naruto stood resolute; his voice strong yet full of sympathy. "Please just... stop"

The redheaded Jinchurriki tilted his head while the sand danced around his feet. Yugito kept her senses sharp as eyed it cautiously; "Those are not the words that belong to monsters like us. As I told you Uzumaki, the humans see us as such."

"We are human damn it," the Kumo Kunoichi growled as images of her childhood flashed in her mind.

"Then you are lying to yourself," as a savage grin appeared on Gaara's lips; "I shall wake you from that lie!"

Sand erupted from his gourd in waves, seeking his enemies. Naruto and Yugito jumped away, yet the sand did not stop, it split in two paths, following them.

Naruto grit his teeth and did a series of handsigns. Slamming his hands on the ground, he erected a wall of crystal which stopped the sand on its track.

Yugito on her part spat a constant stream of fire at the sand, yet to her shock, the flames were quickly doused and the sand kept coming.

'Yes, I should tell you kitten' Matatabi sounder nearly apologetic. 'Fire doesn't really... work against sand'

"Damn it," Yugito hissed as she kept her speed to avoid Gaara's sand; 'I'd have to use more of your chakra to fight it wouldn't I?'

'Afraid so kitten...' The feline Bijuu nodded while the blond Kunoichi rounds through the trees. And as kind as Matatabi is, her chakra was still primal in nature. And Killer Bee took years to fully master Gyuki's.

"Yugi-chan!" Upon hearing Naruto's voice she darts back to her fellow blond.

With a growl, Gaara's green eyes turned to him.

Naruto gasped when a great wall of sand erupted between him and his comrade. He back flipped out of the way even as the sand chased him one more. It came at him like a flowing river stream coming directly from Gaara's gourd.

"You know?" He seethed through clenched teeth. "I'm really getting tired of that sand!" He made a pair of handseals and thrusted his hands forward, shooting a gust of wind which temporarily cleared a path through the sand. Naruto wasted no time and charged, jumping in between branches, he formed crystals blades on his hands and dived towards Gaara.

The sand Jinchuuriki merely raised a finger, and whip of sand latched onto the blonde's ankle. Naruto shouted in surprise as his body was flung through branch after branch, breaking them on his path, before painfully colliding with a solid trunk.

Naruto held his midsection and grimaced at the dull pain. If not for his crystal armor under his clothes that would have left some serious damage.

Yugito snarled as she watched on, she wouldn't stand by and be useless in this fight. 'Matatabi...' She thought in a pleading tone. She crouched on all fours and prepared herself.

'Are you sure? Your body may not-'

'Do it!'

A reserved sigh came from the demonic Neko; 'Alright, but please be careful Yugito, you haven't fully mastered my chakra yet, and I don't want you hurt.' She truly did care for her host, hence why she never tried to overwhelm Yugito if she could help it.

Briefly a mental smile came from the Nibi Jinchurriki; 'I'll be fine, now let's help Naruto!' She let out a snarl-like roar as she felt her Bijuu's chakra course through her veins even more. It was like blue fire surrounded her body as her features grew more feral.

She leaps off the branch at such speed and power it snapped the wood.

Gaara glared down at his fellow Jinchurriki as the blond slowly rose; "Is that all you have?" His sand stops a crystal spike that shot up from the branch; "Stop hiding your real power and fight me!"

Naruto narrows his eyes as he makes two more crystal daggers in his hands. 'You know this could be over faster if you just asked for my chakra kit' Kurama pointed out in a bored drawl.

'Not yet' He didn't want to use the fox's chakra unless he really had to. He didn't want to become dependent to it and, well, call it foolish, but it was also a matter of pride for him. He could never grow on his own if he kept depending on it.

It was then that he caught sight of a blue blur moving through the trees at high speed. He smirked. "Hey Gaara?"

The redhead snarled. "What?"

"This is gonna hurt"

The Suna-nin didn't have time to ponder on his words when his instincts suddenly went wild at the surge of potent killing intent and powerful chakra emanating from behind him.

It all seemed to happen in slow motion. Gaara turned his surprised face to see Yugito in mid-air, her features were wilder and her entire body was shrouded in blue flames, a tail-like flame swayed behind her back. Raising a hand into a claw, Yugito smacked her flame-shrouded limb directly across Gaara's face. His sand defense barely managed to activate before her hand collided with his cheek, crumbling his sand armor in the process, and sending him flying at high speed through the trees.

The blow was so strong it sent a strong gust of wind all around them; Naruto had to shield his face before looking with wide eyes as Gaara was blasted away, tearing through branches and trees on his path.

"Wow..." He whispered. "That was awesome"

Yugito landed on the branch, staring at where she had sent Gaara. Naruto looked at her flaming form, it looked a bit denser than when she had fought Haku. Her features were sharper, and the small grin on her lips was a bit... distraction.

"You feel okay?" He asked in concern.

"I'm better than okay" She said in a horse tone. "I feel so fucking great..."

"...Now you're creeping me out"

The blond Kumo Nin dryly gazed at her Konoha counter-part; "Did you listen to yourself back the forest of death?"

'It's a byproduct of using our chakra Naruto,' Matatabi chimed in Naruto's mind; 'It amplifies certain emotions to our hosts. What do you feel with Kurama's?'

'Rage...'

'No surprise there' the monster cat replied without missing a beat.

'Screw you' the fox answered back.

'You see?' Matatabi said once more to Naruto.

"Well, whatever" Yugito shrugged. "I feel amazing, like I can take on the entire world by myself." She boasted with a wide feral smile. "And then, I'm gonna-!"

'Woah!' Matatabi intervened, sounding distressed. 'Please keep your thoughts PG here...'

A roar got all of their attention as they felt powerful killer intent surging throughout the forest. Naruto narrowed his eyes as he gripped his crystal daggers; "Here he comes!" They both jump away and dodge a barrage of shuriken made of sand.

Naruto pulled a double take seeing those sand made weapons tear through several trees. 'Holy shit...'

They landed on different trees, and immediately looked towards the source of that attack, gasping in shock as they did so.

Gaara was shambling on the ground towards them; half of his face was covered by the sand in being... twisted into something, almost like the visage of a monstrous tanuki, even the sclerae of his eye had turned black, with a yellow iris and pupil that took the shape of a black four-pointed star with four black dots around it. It did not stop there; the sand was slowly consuming his body, enveloping him. His arms lengthen and became these large appendages, while his body became a bulbous carapace of sand.

Gaara's breathing was ragged; he exhaled hate through every hot breath. "Die..." He seethed. "Die, die, die, die" The sand began to finally cover the rest of his face. "Die! Die! Die! Die!" His other eye finally changed as well, and his visage became fully formed into that monstrous tanuki form. "DIE! DIE!"

He roared, and the burst of chakra that followed created shock waves which made the trees shake.

'We can do that?' Naruto covered face with his arms as the wind shot around them wildly.

'Remove the seal and find out,' Kurama offered his two cents.

'Uh yeah, I'll pass.' the two blonds started leaping from branch to branch as tendrils of sand come for them.

They managed to leap way, but the tendrils instead grabbed unto the trees. Gaara pulled with such force that the trees were uprooted. He flailed his massive sand arms and used the trees as clubs, bragging them across the ground and tearing any other tree in the close vicinity.

Naruto and Yugito were forced to move away, they could only watch from a distance as Gaara cackled madly as he continued his rampage, even if they had managed to escape his range from the moment.

"Shit..." Yugito swore as she realized what he was doing. "He's taking away our advantage of the terrain" By clearing a small zone, they would have less cover from which to strike. Forcing them to face him directly, this was bad news if his new form was any indication.

"Do you still think we're human Uzumaki, Nii?" Gaara bellowed as he destroyed more of the surrounding area; "Answer me you cowards! I want to you both screaming the truth when I kill you and offer your blood to mother!"

Naruto snarled as his eyes flickered from crimson to cerulean. Yugito was the same as zigzagged through the branches. Forming a crystal spear, the blond Uzumaki hurled it at Gaara who swats it away with his sand.

An inhuman sneer came from the Suna Jinchurriki as he increased his rampage. Naruto growled; "Okay, how did his bijuu end up as such a psycho that it made Gaara into this?" He demanded.

'Death takes away our intelligence for a time' Matatabi answered. 'And I'm certain Shukaku has died a few times, which has taken a toll on his sanity'

'He died because he's a weakling' Kurama sneered.

Ignoring the old fox's chiding remark, Naruto stopped moving and sharply turned, seeing a tendril wrapped around his ankle. Gaara only smiled; "You're mine."

It had to be only over a dozen times Yugito saw her friend being slammed into several tree with such force she saw blood escape his mouth. "NARUTO!" She cursed and dodged more tendrils of sand before sprinting at inhuman speeds.

She dashed in between him and the tendril, severing it with one swipe of her hand. She did not stop to make sure Naruto was okay, she knew he could recover on his own. Yugito blurred as she moved, becoming a flaming projectile.

From Gaara's body, waves and waves of sands emerged, submerging the fallen trees under a sea of sand. Yugito leapt over the waves and moved, charging straight at the mad jinchuuriki. Gaara raised a wall of sand before she could hit him, but at the last moment Yugito sidestepped and appeared behind him in an instant.

She roared as she drove her hand forwards, but a sudden surge of sand blocked the attack. Cursing, she moved around him, striking from every possible point, but Gaara's sand defense seemed to be even stronger in this form.

They gained some distance between them, and gathered large amount of flaming blue chakra in her arm. Yugito jumped with such strength it blasted the sand beneath her feet. Her fist was a meteor on collision course with Gaara.

The sand jinchuuriki spread his arms and roared, as if challenging her to hit him directly.

Yugito thrusted her fist and sand rose in front of Gaara. The moment the two touched it created a great blast which send ripples across the sand and swaths of fire through the air.

Gaara did not wait for the storm to settle, and moved the sand around her to latch around her limbs. Yugito gasped in surprised as she found herself trapped, her limbs pulled in all directions as she slowly sunk into the sand.

"Die," Gaara said with satisfaction having Nii in his clutches. He raised his hand as a he reveled for the coming scream and blood as Yugito sank further into the sand ready to crush her. "Sand..." He was interrupted by a red covered fist which connected to his jaw, sending him barreling through the air.

He roared as he slammed hard into a tree. Regaining what sense he had, he looked ahead as a sick smile soon formed; "About time..."

Cloaked in red chakra which took form of a single tailed fox, Naruto pulled Yugito out of the sand. "I owe you one," she said sincerely as she looked at him; "You okay?" While he looked a lot more in control than before, she still worried.

"Other than besides my ribs and spine cracking and healing up, oh I'm grand," Naruto growled out sarcastically with blood dripping from the corners of his mouth. "And we're even" They saw Gaara soon rise to his feet; "We need to stop this."

Yugito huffed; "Well if you got a plan I'm all ears."

"Well, at this point I would like the solution to our problems be 'use more chakra and keep beating him with it'"

The Kumo Nin gave her the most deadpanning tone possible. "That is incredibly moronic"

"I know, but easy. That's why I said I 'would like'"

Yugito let out a long dragged sigh. "It's dumb, but it actually holds some truth here. We need more firepower to pierce his defense" She conceded. "Problem is, we can't do it while he sees us coming"

She blinked seeing Naruto looking wide eyed staring blankly before chuckling humorlessly; "Think I have an idea. But you're really going to hate it." At that Yugito lifted a brow.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Standing at a safe distance from the fighting, Kuro had a perfect view of the battle between the three Jinchurriki. Her eyes stayed fixed, unblinking as her face was expressionless to the level of violence being displayed.

She was hardly surprised of the Ichibi's mad rampage given how Suna has normally treated their Jinchurriki like wild animals. However her sole focus was only on one person; "Show me Naruto... Let me see the path you choose."

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

'This is insane' Yugito thought to herself as she stood watched Gaara charge at them. Channeling chakra through her legs, Yugito once more assaulted him from all sides.

Gaara let out a growl of frustration; he wanted to face Naruto as well. He impatiently channeled waves of sand on all directions, sending various blasts homing after her in torrents. Yugito merely dodged, she let out a trail of blue fire over the sand as she circled around, partially obscuring his view.

As she kept that cat and mouse game, she thought. 'Hope this works, Naruto'

The Kyuubi jinchuuriki in question was grinning widely as he surfed through the sand on a flat surface of crystal he had made, Gaara was distracted and his view partially blocked, but the Suna-nin managed to catch a glimpse of his opponent riding his waves of sand.

"What?" With a swipe of his long limbs, he moved sand, and the flames, away. His eyes widened when he saw Naruto charging at him, surfing on his sand of all things. "Gaaaah!" With a thrust of his hand, he sent various waves of sand at him, which Naruto took with ease.

He twirled around and dodged, riding an oncoming wave like it was made of water. He propelled himself by firing a quick wind blast from his hand and tunneled underneath another. Gaara growled in irritation at Naruto's obviously mocking grin, so focused he was on the blonde that he did not notice the Kumo Nin attacking him from behind. He gasped and stumbled forward as a knee pressed itself against his bulbous back.

Naruto took his chance and dived forward, he jumped and twirled in the air before landing and lodging the crystal surface right above Gaara's back, embedding it as deep as he could.

With a roar of pure rage, Gaara sent a burst of sand in all directions, sending his opponents flying away. Naruto and Yugito skidded across the sand in opposite directions. "Is this all you've got?!"

Naruto's response was to smirk and raise a pair of fingers.

The hum of chakra alerted the sand jinchuuriki, he sharply turned his head as much as he could to see the crystal still embedded deep on his back. Before he could even command his sand body to remove it, it shined with seals and exploded in a great flash of light. The blast rose for meters into the air, sending sand flying in all directions, tearing Gaara's sand hide with sheer firepower.

Finally as the blast slowly subsides, two blonds sighed as both huffed in pure exhaustion. Their chakra cloaks had begun to vanish; "That was... The dumbest fucking idea I have ever heard of," Yugito rested her palms on her knees. "And you are without a doubt the craziest son of bitch I have ever met," And that says something, snd she knows Killer Bee-sensei!

Nothing came from Naruto as he plopped himself down on the branch, sitting cross-legged. "If it works then fuck sanity," the Uzumaki breaths heavily. "Hey Gaara!" He called down to his fellow jinchuuriki, who slowly rose through the smoke. His whole transformation had fallen to pieces, and the sand armor was crackling and falling from his body. "You calmed down yet?!"

His response was to send an enraged glare at them. He snarled and took a step forward, only to stumble as his knees gave away and fell over them. He shouted and raged as he crawled, trying to reach them. He needs to make them bleed…

"Yeah, why start now?" Naruto sighed to himself while Yugito shook her head. The two jumped down and slowly walked towards him. "Give it up Gaara, you lost"

Rage shined in Gaara's sea foam green orbs; "I am not done yet! I won't be killed by the likes of either of you! My existence won't fade!" He screamed in almost a horse tone.

Yugito only looked at her fallen fellow Jinchurriki mournfully as Naruto spoke; "We don't want to kill you Gaara. We want to help you, to show you, you don't have to be like that."

Those words only made the Suna Nin growl with pure hate; "Then... Then why did I turn out like this… WHEN YOU TWO DID NOT?!" Both blonds leap back as Gaara's sand surged back to life.

Ever since he was little, all he knew was hate. The world hated him, the closest 'kindness' he had experienced were just lies. Anger driven to strike him down. The entire world wanted nothing more than for him to disappear.

And why wouldn't it? He was a monster; the world had no need for his ilk. Devoid of any joy, he had found purpose in the death of others, inflicting the pain others had brought upon him. That deep void in his heart had been filled at last, not with the 'love' his bastard uncle had lied to him with, but with the blood of those who hated and denied him. It was the only thing that could bring him joy… but he always needed more and more.

So why? Why, why, why, why, why?! Could those two just smile every day at any nonsense that went their way?! Why were they whole while he was empty?! Why could they express so much happiness when the hole in him just kept growing bigger, regardless of how much blood he shed to fill it?!

Why were they humans to whom other people could smile and laugh with while he was the monster the world wanted dead?

He hated them... He hated them so much.

So if he killed them, perhaps then he could finally prove them wrong. Yes... maybe it was their blood that would finally fill the void for good.

Something inside him snapped, and Gaara began laughing.

He was the monster hated by the world, so he would reveal his true self to all.

Gaara held up his hands in a ram seal, and from that single gesture a wave of dread fell down on Naruto and Yugito.

"Feigning Sleep Technique!"

The sand soon erupted skywards soon taking shape and form. A gigantic bulbous body, highly reminiscent of the monstrous form Gaara had taken, manifested. Dark marks appeared all over its sandy surface. The being was so great it rose far beyond the tree line.

Both Naruto and Yugito looked in sheer horror as an awaken Shukaku let out a shrilling roar. "I'M OUT BABY!" The monster-size sand Tanuki laughed manically.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Sakura looked wide eyed at the giant sand tanuki which rose over the tree line. "So uh... that can't be good"

Karin could only shudder at the sheer magnitude and enraged chakra which emanated from... from that thing. While the bijuu inside Naruto was a primal force of hatred and anger, the Shukaku felt like insanity and carnage incarnate.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Kuroreimei raised a delicate eyebrow. "Hmph. About time"

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

"So uh..." Yugito gulps. "Please tell me you have something?"

"Luckily, I do" Oh thank the gods and his mother for signing the dragon contract. He had never summoned a big one so far, but hey, first time for anything.

The great tanuki roared. "I'M GOING TO CRUSH YOU ALL!" Rearing his arm back, he brought it down upon them with great force.

"Move!" They barely got out of the way when the arm came down. But they were still caught in the shock wave which managed to send them flying away.

The ground trembled and the earth split, making large chunks of earth and stone rise from the fractured ground, creating small hills and blowing clouds of dust and sand. The vibrations of the impact went far beyond their location, making the earth shudder.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

The Konoha shinobis' eyes widened at the sudden surge of titanic chakra and the earth trembling. "The Ichibi..." Yugao whispered with dread.

Kushina narrowed her eyes as she moved faster.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Shukaku sharply surveyed the area after his punch; "I can smell you Kurama and you too Matatabi! Come out so I can kill you already!"

Naruto and Yugito hid behind the trees; "Anytime," the Kumo Kunoichi whispered. She blinked as she saw Naruto bit his thumbs; "You're trying that again" Right now the blond Uzumaki was mentally praying.

'Anyone listening out there! Please give me some help here!' he goes through the hand seals; "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

The great One Tail was surprised to see a large plume of smoke come out from between the woods. Trees fell down, toppled over by the new massive body that made it present.

A long serpentine figure moved from within the smoke, only a dark silhouette could be seen from within. The smoke slowly cleared out, revealing patches of bronze. A long reptilian snout emerged from the smoke, bronze in color like the rest of its body. The dragon rumbled as it raised its head to reveal a long pair of horns of two azure eyes, and Naruto, who stood at the top of the head. Beside him, Yugito let out a breath she did not realize she was holding.

"Hmph!" The great beast exhaled smoke through the nostrils. "The Ichibi no Shukaku" The dragon spoke in a clearly female voice. "I never thought I'd be summoned to face you"

Naruto giggled as he felt something sneaking inside his clothes, Hien emerged from his collar to look down at the giant dragon and wave with his small claw. "Hi princess Li"

"Hein," Her azure eyes shifted up seeing Kushina's son and the little ruby dragon in question, with another human also on her head. "You are Naruto," she got a nod from the Uzumaki; "I am Li Qin, Genryu's daughter."

Shukaku looked wide eyed before laughing; "That silver scaled bastard actually had a brat!?"

"What in the name of Ryujin-sama are you doing out here Hein?" Li Qin scolded lightly.

"I wanted to help Naruto, Konoha is in danger!"

She sets her eyes on the bijuu before her. "If he is here than I have no doubt about it" The she-dragon regally raised her head and spoke in a commanding tone. "You have one chance to withdraw, Shukaku of the Sand, I will not make you the same generous offer again"

"Bwahahahaha!" That actually got the tanuki to laugh. "Awww man, you're killing me with that!" He grinned savagely. "I'm gonna turn this whole village into a smoking crater!"

"Hmph, no wonder the animal clans despise your kind, bijuu" She said the last word in an accusing tone.

"So" Naruto prompted, looking down at the dragon. "Think you can help me with him?"

"I shall aid you child," relief washed over Naruto, Yugito, and Hein hearing that. "But I also need you and the host Nibi no Nekomata to do something."

Yugito looked at the bronze dragon in surprise; "You know I'm carrying Nibi?"

"I can smell her scent coming off you, human. Now look at the top of Shukaku's head." Both did as she asked and saw the tiny form of Gaara, from the waist up slumped over asleep; "While Shukaku's host remains sleeping, it leaves the Bijuu to roam free. You have to wake that boy so Shukaku becomes dormant again."

"HA! Like hell I'm going back there after I just got out!" the sand Tanuki snarled; "Let's see if you can actually have the stones like your old man!"

"Yugi-chan!" Naruto shouted out. "We'll keep him busy, you try reaching Gaara!"

"Count on it!" Yugito tried channeling more chakra from Matatabi, and immediately regretted it as her body doubled over with pain, her tenketsu burn with the strain. "Ggh! Shit..!" She swore as she held unto her stomach.

'You used too much of my chakra' Matatabi warned her. 'For now, you won't be able to channel the same amount you did before'

Painfully standing back up, Yugito as she held her stomach with one hand; "It will have to do." She gave a concerned Naruto a wink before leaping off Li Qin's head. "GO GET''EM!"

"Let's go!" Naruto cheered with a brave smile and thrust of his fist. "Li-chan!"

'Li-chan?' The dragoness briefly wondered at the informal attitude the boy took with her. Paying it no mind, she roared and soared straight towards the sand tanuki.

Shukaku cackled maniacally as he swiped on his arms at her, Li managed to dodge the strike, to which she countered by going right for his throat. But Shukaku's body was composed of sand, her fangs just sunk into the substance without doing any real damage. Shukaku grabbed her serpentine body with hands, spreading sand over her form and entrapping her.

Li Qin trashed and roared, trying to break free, but the Ichibi's sand possessed a strong hold to it as is solidified around her body. Twisting her long neck, she took a deep breath, smoke puffed out from her nostrils as heat rose through her lungs and throat. She let out a great raging storm of flames over his arm.

The arm charred and turned into a solid burning glass, Shukaku screamed when the dragon shook herself free, her movements were strong enough to tear the limb off. It falls to the ground with a crush and crumbled away. By the time it regenerated, the dragon was already moving around him.

"RAAAAH!" Shukaku defended himself by growing sharp spikes of sand all over his back and shoulders, stopping the dragon from trying to capture him in a hold with her body.

"Tch!" Li Qin grimaced. "I can't get us much closer, child. I'll have to attack from a distance"

"That's fine" Naruto said "Just keep him busy"

"No problem" Channeling fire once more, she breathed down her wrath upon the bijuu.

Shukaku quickly formed a great dome of Sand around him, which managed to resist the flames. The sand solidified and charred, but Shukaku pushed it at the front of his shield, supported by the rest of his sand, making a good defense against the torrents of fire.

Li Qin maneuvered through the air, continuing to rain down fire upon the bijuu. Shukaku merely raised his shield to meet the flames accordingly. As they moved through the air, Naruto managed to spot Yugito climbing up the Ichibi's body.

'When I get back home' the Nibi jinchuuriki grunted as she walked over the bulbous sand body, 'I'm taking a vacation'

"Huh?" The One Tail felt something climbing up his body. Looking down, he saw that annoying cat runt going straight for his head. "Oh, no you don't!"

The Ichibi forced the sand in his shield to explode outwards, sending giant chunks of stone and solidified stone through the air at the dragon. Li Qin dodged as much as she could, but her mobility was hampered the moment one of the rocks hit her body, followed by another one, then another.

She fell to the ground when Shukaku's arms extended, latching onto her tail and slamming her down. They watched in horror as Shukaku turned his head down at Yugito and took a deep breath, channeling wind and chakra through his mouth.

"He's gonna kill her!" Naruto cried out. Thinking quickly, he channeled Kurama's chakra and formed a Rasengan, pouring as much power as he could into it. The outer layer of the technique took a strong vermillion color. But... "Damn it, I can't get there in time!"

"Get in my mouth!" Li Qin shouted. "I'll spit you!"

"...What?!"

"Just do it!"

"See you in hell Matatabi! But don't worry, I'll soon send Kurama there too in pieces!" Shukaku cackled as he breathed in more air for his attack.

"SHUI RASENGAN!"

Naruto was spat out like a bullet from Li Qin's mouth. The blond Uzumaki roared as he hit his signature jutsu right at Shukaku's face; "Blow that mother fucker!" Torrents of sand and chakra spiraled in potent waves all around the young ninja as his attack buried deeper into the Bijuu's cheek

Shukaku's mouth turned to the side enough so that his wind blast was fired off its original trajectory. Yugito held tightly unto his sandy body as the wind teared through the trees in the forest like a typhoon, leaving a clean patch of earth on its path.

Naruto's Rasengan soon ran out of power, and the blonde Uzumaki found himself falling. "Hien! Wake him up!" He told the dragon on his shirt as he kept falling before managing to latch unto Shukaku's body.

"Yes!" The small young red dragon said as he flew at the top of the Bijuu's head, soon finding himself right in front of Gaara's sleeping. "I have to wake him up... Ohhhh what can I do?" He desperately searched for an answer. When no ideas came to mind, he decided to trust what his instincts told him to do in most situations.

"NOM!" He reached forward and bit Gaara in the nose.

The redhead's eyes snapped open as he let out a blood-curling cry of pain.

Shukaku's body soon froze as he let out shrill; "BUT I JUST WOKE UP DAMN IT!" Soon his body became normal sand as it fell down to the ground like water. Gaara, Naruto, and Yugito soon fell as well as they all landed into the sand in large splashes. Hein flew downwards to his summoner.

Li Qin Slowly rose; 'So this is the strength of Kushina's child...'

Yes... She could see the strength her father had spoken to her about. It was there, still very young, but possessed a great spirit that would tamper it with the years, taking him to heights the boy himself wasn't aware he could reach. She smiled, knowing the spirit of Uzu was alive and well.

She moved closer to blonde. "Do you require my aid further?"

Naruto slowly rose up from the sand and shook his head. "Nah, it's okay. We'll take it from here" He looked over his shoulder and gave her a smile of gratitude. "Thank you"

"It was my honor" Her duty fulfilled, she return back to their land in a plume of smoke.

The jinchuuriki of the Nine Tails sighed; he shared a look with Yugito who smiled at him, giving him a thumbs up. They turned towards Gaara, who was breathing heavily and held a hand to his bleeding nose.

Naruto slowly approached him.

Gaara's eyes darted towards him in panic. "N-No! Stay away from me!" Never before had his voice been filled with so much fear. He didn't understand it very well, this fear in his heart, but he didn't fear Naruto for what he could do to him physically. He couldn't quite put it into words.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Kuroreimei stood up from the branch; this was the moment she had been waiting for. To see if her instincts were right about this boy.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

"Being alone..." Naruto began his tone full of sympathy and understanding. "It's hell. To have the world look at you and make you feel you don't matter, that you're a cursed thing that shouldn't even exist" His gaze dropped, painful memories flooding back to his mind. "The way they look at you, with those eyes filled with so much hate..."

"STAY AWAY!" Yugito could see tears in Gaara's eyes. How so afraid he was.

Naruto kept walking as he spoke; "And it hurts, it hurts so much you want to scream at them. You want to hurt them back for hurting you so much" He soon sat cross-legged in front of his fellow Jinchurriki as he looked to the ground, Hein now resting on his shoulder. "You keep asking yourself, 'What did I do wrong?'... For a long while I hated everyone, this village, but all that changed... Thanks to one person showing me kindness."

The imagines of pain were replaced by Hiruzen's wizened smiling visage, Iruka-sensei's scarred face. More faces kept appearing; Kakashi, Sakura, Haku, Sasuke, Hinata, Yugito, his mother, so many more wonderful friends, all of them were smiling at him.

"I held on to it, striving to be better so I could keep those precious people close to me. Before I knew it, more and more people became my friends, they made things so much better... They gave my life meaning" He reached forward to touch Gaara's hand.

"D-Don't touch-!" He gasped as he felt the blonde's fingers intertwining with his. They were... so warm.

"Because of that..." Blue eyes met green. "I won't let you fall down that darkness, not when I know what it's like to be in that hell" He tightened his grip on Gaara's hand, as if pulling him out from a dark abyss.

Gaara found himself welcoming this feeling, this... light that seemed to emanate from Naruto, and he was slowly being pulled towards it. He felt something that made his heart throb, it was... joy, pain, sadness, relief and... Hope all mixed into one. It hurt so much that tears fell down his eyes, but he held unto that feeling, because it made the hole in him smaller.

"So I promise you, you too can get out of that darkness" Naruto remembered his grandfather's words. He stood here, placing everything he believes in on the line, regardless of how horrible things were. Though not for him, but for Gaara, as he understood the turmoil his fellow jinchuuriki was going through.

So he smiled at him, it was such a wonderful gesture that made Gaara cry all the more at the sheer beauty of it... He couldn't remember the last time someone had smiled at him like that.

"So I'll be your friend..." The Uzumaki couldn't stop the tears streaming down his cheeks as he smiled brightly at Gaara, closing his eyes and showing all his teeth. "Gaara!"

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Kuroreimei's mouth trembled as she let out shallow gasps of breath. That smile...

XxX ~ a long time ago ~ XxX

She remembered a great city, a place of harmony and peace. Though those days were threatened, the whole world was being thrown upside down; terror was in everyone's hearts.

She had been but a child, too small to understand, but enough to know something bad was happening. Her parents were afraid, her elders were afraid, and so she too, young and eyes full of wonder for the world as she was, was afraid of what might happen.

And then he came, shining like the sun, a man whose power was only rivaled by valorous his spirit. Vibrant red hair flowing with the wind, red eyes closed while he showed her all his teeth in a wide beaming smile full of kindness.

"Hey, don't worry" His voice was warmth like a gently breeze. It carried a strength and wisdom that not even the most wise elders of the clan, nor their strongest warriors, could ever hope to match "Everything will be fine, I promise"

And she had believed him.

XxX ~ present ~ XxX

Kuro held a hand to her mouth, shocked at the spirit this boy displayed. That kindness and compassion one can have, even for one's enemies... There was no doubt about it anymore, Naruto had inherited it.

She gathered herself and turned to leave, she had found her answer at last...

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Gaara could only look at him with wide eyes, Naruto's compassion was... a wonderful feeling he could not describe. It was as if... he was touching gold by holding his hand.

"Friends..." With that, his eyes closed. Feeling more at peace that he had in years.

Naruto watched as Gaara slowly turned himself over to look up at the sky. He no longer saw anger nor hate in the Suna Nin's eyes as he gazed quietly. Sighing, Naruto fell back lying on the sand as Hein now flew around him, trying to fan him a large leaf he had found; "This was one hell of a day," he muttered as he saw the form of Yugito standing over him grinning. "Sup..."

"Sup," she giggled as she soon sat down beside him, gods she was tired, and Naruto didn't look any better either. "Well we get the joy of hospital rest." She heard Naruto groan loudly at that; "Not a fan either eh? Bee-Sensei and I are the same."

"Think I'm gonna sleep for a week after today..."

"I hear you"

"Naruto!" The shouts of his friends made him turn his gaze; they ran towards him, concern and relief written all over their faces.

Sakura immediately kneeled next to him, looking over his injuries. "Are you okay?"

Hinata soon kneeled before him. "Y-You had us all so worried"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at the redhead jinchuuriki before looking at his teammate. "What about him?"

"It's cool" He grinned widely. "We sorted things out"

Gaara said nothing, he only closed his eyes.

The rookies from Konoha couldn't help but sigh at that. "Only you, Naruto" The pinkette said, voice full of pride and affection.

"I-It's not surprising" Hinata blushed as she gave a shy smile. "You always bring out the best in people, Naruto-kun"

The blonde Uzumaki rubbed his head in embarrassment. "Who me? Naaaaaw"

Haku took notice of something, the way the Hyuuga looked at him, how she spoke about him that some tenderness in her voice... Oh... Oh dear.

Shifting her gaze between them and the blonde, the Hyoton user realized something neither Sakura nor Naruto had figured out yet. She sighed. Things already were bound to be complicated between them, and now Hinata added to the mix...

Haku would need to have a talk with him... they needed to settle things.

The mood was suddenly broken when a red blur passed by and grabbed Naruto. Kushina had appeared out of nowhere and was now hugging her son tightly. "Oh thank the gods you're okay" She showered his head with kisses, much to his mortification.

"Mooooom! Not in front of everyone..."

XxX ~ far away from Konoha ~ XxX

Kuroreimei sighed as she walked. She had found her answer at long last, the signs of what the future held… And what it meant for her and her people.

That boy would play a pivotal role… But would be for the better or worse for them? That's what she had to know. So she would watch closely.

She stopped when two familiar energies made themselves present. She raised her gaze to look at the two newcomers.

One was a tall young man; his eyes were brown just like his hair, which was done in a spiky high ponytail with two bangs framing his face. He wore a pair of blue hakama pants with wave patterns, and sandals. Along with a sleeveless shirt which had silver embroidery with the same patters. A long strip of cloth was tied around his waist like a belt, fluttering with the wind.

At his back was a large nodachi blade. His body was slim yet muscular. The features of his face were strong but had a certain delicacy to them. With high cheekbones and a shapely jaw; He carried an air of serene confidence.

The other was a young woman of short statue. Show wore a yellow kimono which fell from her shoulders, a white piece with red outlines covered her chest area but left most of her sternum and shoulders fully bare. Around her waist were large spherical beads, along with a large knot made of three different, grey, white and red. Her sleeves were very long; they had to be folded upon themselves to show her hands. Her kimono stopped short at her thighs, showing her shapely legs. Aside from a few straps of clothing around her feet, they were bare

Her body had various intricate red marks, looking like tribal tattoos. Her hands were red and had sharp nails, her feet were the same. Long luscious blonde hair fell over her shoulders; the red markings were even made present over her hair and the section of her head and forehead, forming an eye in the middle. At the side of her head were two ribbons with long white and red strips of clothing.

Her eyes were a fierce yellow, and her pupils slit like an animal's, with two red marks underneath each eye. Though perhaps what could be the most prominent trait were the two dark horns sprouting from her forehead, at the sides of the 'third eye' which her marks formed.

While the young man projected a calm aura, everything about this woman screamed 'supernatural'.

"So…" The young man started with a soft tone as he leant back against a tree. "Found what you were looking for?"

"Yes" She said, walking passed them.

The two shared a look and shrugged before following her. "So, what was it?" The horned girl asked impatiently.

For what felt like an eternity, Kuroreimei remained silent before uttering a few simple words that carried a great weight behind them. "It lives on… Rama's will"

That made the two stop frozen in their place. The young woman gasped in shock while the man's eyes widened.

Nobody said anything for a while.

"What will you do, mother?" He asked Kuroreimei.

"...I can no longer stand by and watch. The time has come for us to act"

"Hmm" The horned girl closed her yellow eyes. "Change is coming to the world again. Those with that inherited will are bound to be at the center of the coming storm"

Kuroreimei's eyes suddenly shifted, no longer were they coal black, but the inner iris had turn a pale blue while the outer iris a fierce red. "No longer will we live in the shadows. We shall carve a new future for our people… Kyoka, Maikako, will you follow me, my children?"

They smiled widely at her. "As if you have to ask" The swordsman, Kyoka, smiled at their mother. "But what about the boy? If he inherited Rama's will…"

"Then he'll either be our greatest ally" Maikako spoke with a serious tone. "Or our greatest enemy…"

The black haired woman lowered her gaze. "Then we shall make sure it's the former" That boy's fate was tied to theirs, of that she had no doubt. "For now, we gather our comrades and prepare ourselves. It's time to put things into motion…"

And with that decision, the future many had envisioned, and the paths many would have taken, had been completely changed. Forever.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Annnnnd that's a wrap. We hope you guys enjoyed it. Sorry for not making it come out sooner, we have other stories to take care of, and you know how things get with life. It's been complicated

Phew, trying to describe Maikako was a challenge, but the same as other characters we base (read: Completely ripped off) her design from other media. In this case, Ibaraki-Douji from Type-Moon

Arch-Daishou and ethereal-23, out