"Blah": Talking
'Blah': Demon speaking/Inner Sakura
'Blah': Naruto's thoughts/other people's thoughts
'Blah': Harry talking to Naruto
Hello again, guys! We're back with another chapter! And before we start I want to say thank you to all you readers out there and the people who follow me and have written me reviews. You guys are seriously awesome. You bros wrote a lot of reviews after I posted the previous chapter and I seriously appreciate each and every one of them :D You guys don't know how much it meant to me to see so many reviews for that one chapter alone, it was indescribably awesome. It made me so happy that I went ahead and almost completely finished this current chapter in only a couple of days during Thanksgiving break! So here's the latest chapter and I really hope you guys like it. And you guys are in for a treat, because there's a little surprise in this one I don't think any of you will see coming, unless you remember the original version of the story XD
The next chapter will take me a while to finish, because when I deleted most of the stuff I wanted to omit it was over 77 pages long. I have finished all of Naruto and Gaara's scenes and that's about half of the entire chapter, so the other half is going to take me a while to finish. But until then, please enjoy this new chapter, and I hope I get as many reviews for this one as I did the previous one! Stay awesome, you guys! :D
Reviews are welcome and wanted!
Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto
Harry Potter is property of JK Rowling
Chapter 24: The Two Jinchuuriki
Naruto stood between his teammates as he stared down at Gaara's hideous appearance. Temari wasn't surprised to see them reunited and didn't dare speak and risk Gaara hearing her in his current state. Naruto looked over his shoulder and saw Sakura knelt down to Sasuke and laid his head on her lap as she tried to comfort him. Naruto frowned when he saw Sakura make no attempt to leave Sasuke's side or take him from the battle.
"Sakura-chan! What are you doing?! Take Sasuke and leave now! Get out of here," he ordered.
The kunoichi shook her head and said, "Sasuke-kun is hurt!"
Pakkun checked Sasuke and identified the decoration of curse marks scattered across his face.
"It would seem that we're a bit too late…" he said.
Sakura saw the curse mark continue to move as Sasuke twitched. Blood oozed out from the corners of his mouth like foam as he shook and sweat on the smooth wooden surface of the immense tree branch. Sakura didn't take it well and couldn't decide where to take him or how to treat him.
"Kakashi-sensei said that there was nothing to worry about," she cried, "He said it was all taken care of! Kakashi-sensei lied to me!"
Gaara's roar broke the awkward tension and Naruto turned to stare him down. Sakura looked as well and shivered with a mixture of fear and hatred when she studied Gaara's mutated form.
"That demon attacked Sasuke-kun," she muttered, "What is that thing?!"
Pakkun turned to her and asked, "That's the same kid from Suna that Sasuke chased from the stadium?"
Gaara twisted and turned his head and fixated on Naruto. He snarled at the blonde-haired rookie and calmed down enough to remember him.
"You… Naruto Uzumaki… You're the one that survived at the hospital…"
Naruto twitched as he heard Gaara's words from the hospital ring in his ears again and only make the feeling of impending doom feel all the more worse.
Before I was born, I stole the life of the person that conceived me… The woman I was supposed to call mother… My father, the Yondaime Kazekage, used ninjutsu to implant an incarnation of sand within me before I was even out of the womb… I was born a monster from the start…
Naruto looked back behind him and howled at Sakura and Sasuke, "GUYS! Run! Get out of here!"
But Sakura didn't listen to her teammate, as she continued to hover over her crush and calm him down. A little more blood leaked from his mouth and Sakura refused to move him.
Her worried teammate roared at her, "Sakura-chan! LISTEN TO ME! Take Sasuke and leave! GET OUT OF HERE NOW! THAT'S AN ORDER!"
Gaara's voice echoed in his ears for the second time as he turned to look at the mutated monster.
I will fight for only myself. I will love only myself… As long as there are those out there in this wide-open, inhabited world… I will never cease to exist
Just as Naruto was about to order Sakura and Sasuke to flee for the third time, he saw that Gaara made his move. Naruto froze and almost blacked out with fear, but as he stood there, convinced he would be dead in a moment, he saw Gaara swerve around him and aimed for Sasuke. The blonde shinobi watched on in horror, reaching out feebly as Gaara went after his teammates instead.
"YOU WILL DIE HERE!"
Sakura turned to see Gaara come after Sasuke. The kunoichi realized she wouldn't move the Uchiha in time, so she stood on the branch, drew out a kunai while Naruto cried out her name. Sakura held the kunai in front of her like a sword and stood between Gaara and Sasuke without a doubt in her mind and a look of sheer determination on her face.
"SAKURA-CHAN!"
Gaara twitched and then he roared as he shoved his mutated arm at Sakura. Sakura was thrown into the base of a thick tree, was knocked unconscious as Gaara's bloated flesh smothered her torso and the claws sank into the base of the tree. Gaara stared at Sakura's unconscious form and twitched as memories he had buried resurfaced, like it did when Gai defended Lee in the preliminaries.
'Naruto! Grab Sasuke before it's too late! Now's your chance! MOVE IT!'
Naruto concentrated an intense amount of chakra and vanished as he dashed underneath Gaara and grabbed Sasuke beneath him. The two rookies retreated to a safer distance and rested Sasuke down on another branch. Naruto looked back at his female teammate and almost lost it when he saw her almost crushed beneath the arm.
"SAKURA-CHAN!" he cried out.
Temari couldn't believe Sakura stood her ground against her little brother in his current state. But she did see that she was brave and determined to have stood where she did and hold a kunai at Gaara, whether out of love or not. Meanwhile, Naruto looked back at Sasuke to help him but he was unconscious. The blonde-haired rookie was alone in this battle with no one around to help. He looked over at Gaara and watched him have an emotional fit as his mind became filled with images of Gai, Lee, Sakura, and someone else he knew.
'Anyone else,' thought the blonde rookie,'I'll fight anyone else in the world, but not him… I don't know what to do…'
'Temari is still here. I think it's about time we used her.'
Pakkun appeared behind Naruto and admitted, "I failed to mention this earlier, but I'm not the sort of dog that fights!"
"Just watch over Sasuke for me, then," he ordered and then Naruto dashed after Temari.
Naruto focused his chakra and the kunoichi didn't know what hit her when he clenched the front of her clothes. The blonde-haired shinobi took Temari into a hidden closure, close to the battle and threw her into the trunk of another tree, far above the earth, surrounded with leafs that hid them both from sight.
"TALK," he thundered, "Tell me everything you know about Gaara! RIGHT NOW!"
Temari twitched at Naruto when he shouted at her and continued to shave and shiver. Naruto soon realized he had to be more patient with her, like Iruka had done for him and tried to be kind as he reached out to her in a calmer manner.
"Please, tell me what I need to know about him… I have to know now, Temari, or we could all die."
Temari hesitated but Naruto's calm voice must have struck a cord with her and she confessed, "After our mother was sacrificed to imbue the Shukaku into Gaara, nothing was ever the same in our village, at least from what little we remember. Our father became distant with us and worked so hard to craft Gaara into the ultimate weapon for Suna… As we grew up, we were ostracized from Gaara while our father taught him ninjutsu… And over time, Kankuro and I came to fear our little brother more and more with what little interactions we had with him… When his powers to control the sand first manifested, he wasn't able to control it… and he accidentally killed countless citizens… Gaara never sleeps either… otherwise the Shukaku would emerge from him and rampage across the village."
Naruto stared at Temari, shocked at how Gaara was never able to sleep, but also started to feel different about him. He started to feel bad for Gaara, like how he felt about mutant characters in his favorite comic books. But he also knew how it felt to be blamed and feared over something you couldn't possibly control.
"He never sleeps?" he asked.
Temari nodded.
The blonde-haired rookie shook his head and said as he started to resent Suna for their idiotic actions, "I don't understand. You idiots didn't think to raise him like a normal child and show him some compassion or humility?! Someone must have been close to him, to teach him what love, hate, and affection were!"
"There was one man we knew that was ever affectionate to him," she told him, "And Gaara killed him…"
Naruto stared at the kunoichi, more interested about Gaara's past, "Who was it?"
"He was our uncle," she answered, "His name was-"
But then Gaara's voice broke out in the middle of his emotional breakdown and he wailed like a small child, "YASHAMARU!"
Naruto looked to the direction of the voice and said in a somewhat smart aleck tone, "Was it Yashamaru?"
"Yes," nodded a hesitant and somewhat emotional Temari, "Yashamaru was assigned to take care of Gaara while he was raised in isolation. Yashamaru taught him about love and affection, and did whatever he could to help Gaara calm down whenever he lost control over the sand that attacked people… But it was all an act. He never loved Gaara. Yashamaru was under orders to contain and control him. He must have hated what he was forced to do and hated Gaara even more… Yashamaru probably resented Gaara from the second he was born… I think it was because he blamed him for the death of our mother, his twin sister… and he was never able to recover from it…"
Naruto stared at Temari, shocked at how Suna had treated Gaara. He couldn't believe not even his own flesh and blood were able to tolerate him or show him true love and devotion.
"Yashamaru was later assigned to assassinate Gaara, but he failed and Gaara's entire world was shattered… Yashamaru died after he admitted how he felt about Gaara and tried one last time to kill him… but the sand shielded him and Yashamaru was killed… Kankuro and I feared him more than ever after that… we hated him… after Yashamaru's death, he killed more people more often than ever… But after that incident, he didn't do it because he couldn't help it. He did it because he wanted to kill them, for the hell of it… Our brother was a monster… he killed countless citizens whenever he wanted, with no remorse for his actions… And after everything he's done to us, to our village… sometimes, I think… I think Gaara never should have existed. He's nothing but a monster and a burden…"
The blonde shinobi stared at Temari, his face turned blank but his eyes were filled with surprising and alarming contempt. His fists shook when Temari told him how she felt about her brother and how she blamed him for his murderous state of mind, when it was clear who was responsible.
"That was when our father deemed him too dangerous and tried to have him killed several times… but it never worked… so he was stuck with us and father decided to keep him around if he ever proved to be useful to our village… Not that it matters… No matter what we do, we can't control him… For a moment, we almost thought he could help us win this invasion in our favor… but not so much now… the mission has failed."
Naruto stared at Temari, half his face hidden beneath his hair as his cheeks turned red and them he said, "You… You BASTARDS! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO HIM?!"
He sharply raised his head and clenched Temari's throat. He then threw her hard into the tree behind her and seethed at her. Temari trembled at the livid look on his face and failed to understand the reason Naruto turned on her. Naruto still feared Gaara's wrath and felt shaken to see what he became, but he knew who was to blame for how monstrous Gaara was.
"Your people turned him into a jinchuuriki… You hated him and treated him like he was a monster, when he never meant to hurt anyone?! If what you said was true… Gaara must have been so scared, alone, starving for someone, anyone to be his friend, but no one around to show him the love and support that he needed… It's no wonder he came to such a morbid outlook on life and his existence… there was no one there to show him another way or how wonderful life could be… He wouldn't have become such a monster if you people didn't treat him like one right from the start," he chewed out and raised his voice as he thought back to how most of Konoha treated him and his worst childhood moments, all the while he looked like he wanted to strangle Temari to death, "Gaara never asked to become a jinchuuriki, did he?! He didn't want the power to control sand, did he?! You don't honestly believe he was born to be a monster?! Your father condemned an innocent child, his son, your own brother, to further your own goals! You forced him to go through all that hell and all that suffering and you end up blaming him for every bad thing that ever happened in your life?!"
But the blonde shinobi loosened his hold over Temari's throat but then clenched the front of her clothes and roared at the kunoichi.
"YOU PEOPLE ARE THE REAL MONSTERS! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BLAME HIM! YOU SHOULD HAVE HAD COMPASSION FOR HIM! YOU'RE MOTHER, YOUR UNCLE, AND EVERY PERSON THAT GAARA HAS EVER KILLED IS DEAD BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU TURNED HIM INTO AND HOW YOUR FATHER AND THE REST OF YOUR DAMN VILLAGE TREATED HIM! YOU PEOPLE CREATED THE VERY MONSTER YOU DESPISE!"
Temari shivered as she stared at Naruto and flinched at his words as she felt them stab into her heart like a blade. Now with the facts thrown in her face, she did feel somewhat responsible for how Gaara turned out. Temari didn't know what it was about Naruto's words that held so much weight to them, but it was clear he had a better idea how Gaara felt. She shivered like a frightened child and looked down to hide her face with her hair. Temari didn't want to look at Naruto but then he forced her to look at him and he seemed calmer and less hostile, but his eyes flickered with untold amounts of rage.
"You want to start to atone?" he asked in a cold voice, "Then tell me what I need to know to stop him."
Temari blinked, swallowed a collection of saliva and told him, "Don't let him fall sleep… if he does, the Shukaku will take over and he'll become unstoppable… Our father knows a technique to restrain him but he won't be here to do it… that's all I know…"
"That's it?" asked Naruto.
The blonde-haired shinobi felt his scar burn for less than a second. He blinked and turned his head in time to see a massive set of claws slash down on him and Temari. Gaara found them and caused the tree that hid Naruto and Temari to be blasted and threw them off their feet. Naruto was blasted into another tree while Temari was knocked out when a branch hit her in the head. Naruto moved fast and hopped from tree branch to tree branch. He focused his vision and saw Gaara across the closure.
Gaara seemed to have bloated a lot more as the flesh-like sand covered his entire head and both his arms. Aside from his red hair that remained and the tattoo on his forehead, his facial features failed to resemble the face Gaara once had. Naruto trembled at Gaara's transformation, unable to believe the creature before him was the same kid he met on the street with Kankuro and Temari. Sweat ran down his torso and arms as he studied what he could have become if it were for Harry and Iruka giving him hope.
Gaara cackled as he watched his opponent tremble, "What's wrong?! Are you going to run away from me?!"
Naruto soon heard a small voice echo from the trees and looked over to see Sakura as she mumbled.
"Sasuke-kun… Naruto…"
She was still tied to the tree with Gaara's mutated arm. But then with one violent thrust, Gaara removed the arm and a new one grew in its place in a hideous rush of further mutation. The appendage he removed was still bound to the tree, still encasing the unconscious Sakura Haruno. The arm then constricted as Naruto stammered and Gaara let out another wicked cackle as he drooled.
"What are they to you?" he asked with the intention to mock Naruto.
But then the blonde-haired shinobi stared the beast down and withdrew a kunai, "Those two are my comrades! Sasuke-teme and Sakura-chan are my friends! Just leave them alone or-"
"Or what?!"
Naruto twitched and then he blurted out foolishly, "YOU LEAVE THEM ALONE OR I'LL DESTROY YOU!"
Gaara looked less than amused at Naruto as he watched him show some raw courage. But then the detached arm constricted around Sakura and she let out a painful scream. Naruto flinched and stared at Sakura, and even Harry showed some concern.
Gaara smirked at the blonde rookie and mocked him, "That friend of yours will not be released from the sand unless you beat me… Not only that, but it'll get tighter and tighter until it kills her!"
Naruto looked between Gaara and his female teammate. Gaara chuckled at how frantic he looked and taunted him.
"Well? What now?! I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU WERE GOING TO DESTROY ME!"
The blonde shinobi shook his head and tried to remember that Gaara was a victim, like he was, a victim of his environment and tried to convince the fellow rookie as best as he could, becoming less hostile and more peaceful, "It doesn't have to be like this, Gaara! You don't have to kill in order to prove your existence! Please, listen to me! Your life doesn't have to be like this! I understand what it feels like to be so alone!"
Gaara blinked at Naruto and stared at him for a moment. The sand around Sakura stopped restricting and for a moment and Gaara's shoulders seemed to relax. Naruto believed he was about to get through to Gaara, but then the jinchuuriki was hit with what appeared to be another massive headache. He then crossed his mutated arms, took in a forced, violent breath of air, his forearms swelled up and then he thrust out his arms, releasing a large barrage of shuriken made of solid sand.
"SAND SHURIKEN!"
Naruto couldn't do much when five shuriken made of sand blasted him off his feet. Naruto flew backwards, his back rammed into the trunk of a tree. Naruto felt his clothes were shredded some and fell to his knees, where he doubled over. Blood ran down his torso and stained most of his shirt as he tried to cover and close the wound with his hand. As he felt it start to heal, thanks to his brother, Naruto looked at his hand and almost fainted when he saw it was covered in his own blood. It was a miracle the shuriken didn't blast straight through him, but he still lost a lot of blood as it stained and ran down the tree branch.
Back with Pakkun and Sasuke, the Uchiha was able to maintain a state of consciousness while Pakkun stared at Naruto, worried about him.
As Naruto felt his wounds heal faster, he tried to stand on the branch and stared at Gaara with a sad frown. But the mutated rookie broke out a wild smirk. Naruto was terrified of Gaara, unable to move, but also felt so bad for him as he looked into his eyes and recognized the look.
'His eyes… his eyes look like how mine did back when I was all alone… Before we met in the mindscape, I used to question why I even existed if my life was so miserable… Until we met, I had no answer, like Gaara… But he's still alone… and look what it's done to him, Nii-san.'
To them, I am now a relic of that past… A relic that they wish to erase and forget that I even existed… Why am I even alive? At first, I couldn't think up of an answer… In the end, I came up with this: I will fight for only myself, I will love only myself… Now it is the deaths of others that sustains me…
'That's how I'm able to understand him… I could have turned out like he did.'
Gaara's sand continued to constrict around Sakura she let out a weak, audible moan. Naruto darted his head towards her and then looked back at Gaara with more fear for his teammate's life.
Gaara continued to smirk and taunted, "What's wrong? ARE YOU AFRAID OF ME, NARUTO UZUMAKI?"
Naruto frowned as he stared down at Gaara.
"Forget about trying to fight for others when you can fight for yourself! Only love yourself! Fight for only your own existence! That is what defines the strength in all of us! The power to love yourself!"
Naruto's frown deepened even further, as he felt a small warmth start to bubble in his chest.
"C'MON! FIGHT ME! Show me the same level of power that created the maze of flames in the arena! Show me the same power that you used to defeat Neji Hyuga! I WILL CRUSH THOSE POWERS OF YOURS!"
The blonde shinobi focused a concentrated amount of chakra to his feet and vanished. He hid behind a branch and used the boost to throw Gaara off for a moment while he healed. He then soared into the air with a boost and clambered over a taller branch. Naruto then drew out a kunai and summoned over seventeen shadow clones and rained down on Gaara.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
With seventeen kunai drawn at once, the clones were determined to stab Gaara and sank each of their blades into his thick skin. But as the clones maximized the weight limit of the branch where Gaara stood, the monstrous rookie took a deep and released a blast of intense winds like a hurricane.
"Futon: Mugen Sajin Daitoppa!"
Naruto and his clones were caught in the winds. The clones burst into smoke while the real one was thrown onto a distant branch. Naruto looked over his chest and saw Gaara stand tall on the branched, hunched, but still seemed unharmed.
"Hehehehehe! I think I wanna play with you for a while longer! I wanna see you give up your friends and then see how long you can last being torn apart…"
Gaara crossed his arms like he did earlier and unleashed another wave of sand-shuriken. The blasts took out whole chunks of trees and one of them hit Naruto. He was thrown off the branch and didn't have much time to recover when Gaara hopped to another branch and attacked with his arms crossed a third time.
"AGAIN!" he roared.
Naruto was tossed off his feet once more and slammed into another, much older tree. The trunk cracked behind him and torn to shreds of violent splinters as the blonde rookie was blasted clean through it. He felt his back hit another trunk but soon he slid down on a branch. Naruto could feel blood run down the side of his face, he was covered in dirt, his torso riddled with bruises, and his shirt stained with blood. Naruto almost lost consciousness but then he saw Sakura in the distance, contained within the cocoon. Even at the distance, he saw Sasuke still doubled over with Pakkun on a branch close to him.
The blonde rookie would have surrendered to the darkness after such a blow. But then he blinked when he felt a sudden warmth burn in his chest; that same bubble he felt earlier. When he saw his teammates, so weak and defenseless, he didn't know what it was that hit him when he found the strength to sit straight and then stand as he clambered against the tree. Soon he was able to stand tall and rested a hand on his chest as he felt his insides burn.
"This warmth… it feels like there's a fire within me," he said but then he looked over at his teammates and shouted, "I can't sit around and let Gaara kill me off! Not when Sasuke and Sakura-chan need me!"
'So this is that Will of Fire at work, huh?'
'It sure does feel like it… I better use it then!'
'I have a little idea in mind. You still have some of those tools leftover from the match with Neji?'
Gaara breathed with loud, monstrous moans as he smirked but then stared at Naruto when he looked back at him in the distance. Whatever directions Harry whispered to Naruto seemed to sink in as the wind danced around Naruto and he felt his magic heal his wounds and his back click back to normal. Naruto looked more determined than ever as he stared Gaara down and stomped down whatever remorse he felt for the fellow jinchuuriki.
'That's a brilliant idea, Nii-san. If it works, I sure wish I could have shown it in the arena…'
Gaara seethed at how his opponent seemed unfazed at his presence and screamed, "WEAKLING!"
Naruto blinked at Gaara and let the blood that oozed from his mouth drool out from the corner of his mouth.
"No," he said, "I'm will not lose here! I'LL DEFEAT YOU EVEN IF IT KILLS ME!"
Gaara chuckled and mocked his opponent, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! You came all this way and you can't even touch me! How can you expect to save her now?! IT'S A JOKE!"
Naruto reached back for his weapons and shouted, "I WON'T LET YOU KILL SAKURA-CHAN!"
He felt reached back and felt he had one kunai left, a bottle filled with potion, and a normal paper bomb. Naruto racked his brains until he had an idea and took the bomb and the kunai. Naruto dashed across the tree and circled around Gaara, careful to conceal his tools until he hide them in his sleeve.
The blonde shinobi shouted, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Naruto summoned four solid clones and had them run around the closure in circles to confuse the jinchuuriki. The clones moved faster and faster and then the clones closed in on Gaara all at once and roared in unison.
"Naruto Ignotus Uzumaki: Clone Body Slam!"
Gaara smirked when three of the blonde clones closed in on him. He outstretched his massive arms and grasped three of the clones at once. But the one that remained clenched the real Naruto and threw him hard. The real Naruto then summoned another clone, and used the Replacement Jutsu to switch out with the clone. Gaara sensed Naruto and his clone were behind him and raised his tail to kill what he believed to be the real one. Naruto summoned one more clone that he used as a platform. He then whipped out his wand and aimed at Gaara's butt with his tail raised.
"Epoximise!" he muttered under his breath.
A blast of orange substance shot out from his wand and stuck to Gaara's rear. Naruto smiled as he replaced his wand with the kunai from earlier, took it, and with both hands dashed after Gaara while he roared.
"TAKE THIS! From the twisted sense of humor of Kakashi-sensei," he roared, "Konohagakure Village Secret Taijutsu! A THOUSAND YEARS OF PAIN!"
Naruto thrust his kunai into Gaara's wide rear and it stuck with the aid of a Permanent Sticking Charm. Gaara turned his head around and stared at Naruto with a blank look on his face. Pakkun hit his paw onto his head and growled to himself about foolish students of his foolish master. Gaara then used his massive tail to whack Naruto with tremendous force. But while Naruto flew back in the air, he and his invisible older brother smirked with satisfaction.
Naruto then said as he flew back through the air, "Boom…"
At that exact moment, the kunai embedded beneath Gaara's tail blasted and deafened Gaara as he was consumed with flames. The heat caused his sand-like skin to harden like diamonds before solid chunks of his flesh crumbled down beneath the branches. Hidden beneath his skin, seemed to be a network of actual solid muscle, as if his arms made of sand were indeed solid masses of flesh. Pakkun was shocked at the sudden turn of events as Naruto zoomed closer to him and Sasuke.
"That was one hell of a move!" he commented.
Naruto was about to crash into the trunk of another tree, but his crash was softened as he ran into Sasuke. The two rookies crashed into each other and landed on the branch. Naruto looked down behind him, curious how Sasuke found the will to move and wondered out loud where he intended to run in such a furious rush.
"What do you think you're doing?!" he asked, as he feared Sasuke was about to abandon him and Sakura.
Sasuke didn't answer him as he looked over to see what Naruto had done to Gaara, "You did that muchdamaged? That's it?!"
But the Uchiha soon felt Naruto's fist hit him hard on the head as Naruto's head swelled several times it's size, like Iruka did when he scold his students, "PIPE DOWN! I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU DO BETTER, YOU IDIOT!"
Sasuke still scoffed in his common manner but then Naruto heard his older brother communicate a useful scheme.
'I have another idea! Summon a few of those toads and shoot oil at Gaara. Once he's dowsed, set him on fire with a little bit of magic and we should be able to burn the rest of that sandy flesh clean off his bones!'
Naruto worked fast, used some blood on his clothes, weaved the familiar handsigns and threw his hand down on the branch he stood on. Sasuke watched in slight amazement as he recognized the technique, shocked that Naruto learned to summon animals.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
There was a blast of white smoke, Sasuke and Naruto both waited in anticipation and a thrill of excitement, but then Sasuke's face turned dull while Naruto was frozen in a mixture of disappointment and a tinge of fear and resentment. Gamakichi had returned, dressed in his usual clothes, before he blinked, turned around to check his environment, but then looked and Naruto and screamed.
"AHHH! NOT YOU AGAIN!" he shouted.
Naruto screamed back, "NOT YOU! GAHHHHHHHH!"
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU COMPLAINING ABOUT?!" the toad shouted and waved his arms about, "I don't wanna be here! YOU SEND ME BACK HOME NOW!"
The blonde shinobi roared at his least favorite toad in the world, "I DIDN'T WANT YOU HERE ANYWAY, YOU USELESS MOTHER F-"
"LOOK OUT!" the two of them both heard Sasuke shout.
Gaara used another wave of shuriken from his sand and forced Sasuke to hide behind the tree. Naruto was almost hit too; one of the shuriken slashed at his arm and splattered blood on the tree behind him. Naruto had taken the time he could have used to escape without a scratch to grab Gamakichi and carried him to a safer closure. Gamakichi shivered when he thought he was about to be killed and needed Naruto to smack him on the head to snap back to the real world.
"You ok?!" the blonde shinobi asked.
Gamakichi turned around to look at Naruto, shocked and relieved that he had save his life and noticed the blood flow down his arm and realized what he did in order to save him, "You saved me…"
Naruto took Gamakichi's response as a yes, and carried him with him to see Gaara between the branches. Gamakichi looked as well and couldn't suppress the sudden shout when he saw Gaara's mutated form.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING?!" he shouted.
Naruto told him, "You don't want to know… Come with me!"
Naruto took Gamakichi in his arms and found Pakkun with Sasuke. Once the remains of the team were reunited, Naruto was careful to rest Gamakichi beside Pakkun and took control of the situation as best he could.
"Watch over him for me," he told Pakkun, "I'll be back! Protect this toad until I come back!"
Gamakichi stared at Naruto in awe, surprised that he gave specific orders to make sure he was safe, even after all the trouble he caused him. Pakkun looked at the toad, but nodded all the same. The two small animals soon retreated further from the scene together, and Naruto nodded back. The blonde shinobi was about to leave and return to the fight with Gaara, when Sasuke grabbed his arm and forced him to stay hidden behind the trees.
"What are we going to do now, dobe?" asked Sasuke.
Naruto stared at Sasuke and knew he was in no condition to help him. His dark-haired teammate would only get in the way and if he saw him using magic, it would raise questions, distracting him from the battle if Sasuke was determined to have an explanation. To save time and save his teammate another Memory Charm, Naruto and his brother decided it best to incapacitate him. Naruto and Harry debated on what he should use to subdue Sasuke; the blonde wizard hesitant about using the one curse Harry told him was the best option for the moment. After some resistance on Naruto's behalf, he sighed and reached for his wand. Naruto seemed serious and somewhat sad at first as he looked at his teammate.
"Sasuke, I…" he then hesitated and adopted a more curious look as he looked down below the trees and asked his dark-haired teammate, "Wait a minute… is that a unicorn down there?!"
The Uchiha blinked in a rare, somewhat comedic fashion and he looked down in the same direction "What?"
Naruto then aimed at the back of Sasuke's head and muttered, "Imperio!"
The Uchiha froze for a second, and then he relaxed his shoulders as he took a breath of fresh air through his nose. When he turned around, Naruto noticed the dazed look on Sasuke's face, how blank and expressionless his eyes were but seemed somewhat blissful at the same time. Naruto lowered his wand and took a second to realize that he had total control over Sasuke Uchiha. The dark-haired rookie had showed some resistance at first, but succumb to the effects of the Imperius Curse, due to his blatant lack of experience resisting. Naruto felt somewhat ashamed that he had used one of the Unforgivable Curses, but Harry convinced him it was for the best this one time.
Naruto would have ordered Sasuke to retreat or hide. But then Harry's reassuring words got the best of him and he gave in to his more childish side while he still had complete control over his teammate.
"Well… While he's in this state, it couldn't hurt."
The blonde wizard waved his wand and Sasuke looked at him and stated with the same accent as his blonde teammate, "I am Sasuke Uchiha, and I'm a wanker!"
He then pursed his lips and started to dance where he stood. Sasuke flexed, threw his arms back, and stomped his feet down hard on the branch in motion while Naruto almost died from laughter. Given the fact that Sasuke wore an outfit that made him look like he was from a dance club in the 1980's made it all the more hilarious.
"Hehehehehehahahahaha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"Dance off, bro," the Uchiha half-shouted as he danced like Peter Quill or Elvis Presley, "C'mon! Let's do this! C'MON!"
But the blonde wizard soon decided he had had his fun, waved his wand one more time and Sasuke returned to normal and turned around to run off and hide somewhere he wouldn't be seen. With all obstacles out of the picture and no more distractions, Naruto became more serious and studied Gaara from a safe distance. He frowned as the jinchuuriki looked around for Naruto and his team while he heard his older brother advise him.
'As wonderful as that was for me to witness, let's make sure we don't form a habit with that curse, eh?'
'You're the boss… So what do we do next?'
'If Gamakichi's arrival is evident enough, it looks like we won't be able to dowse Gaara with oil and set him on fire like I said earlier. But if we use magic against him, it might have an even better effect. With everyone either out of the picture or unconscious, we shouldn't have a problem with witnesses and Memory Charms later. Don't be afraid to hold back, Naruto.'
Naruto flourished his wand as he heard Gaara from out in the distance.
"COME OUT AND FACE ME, NARUTO UZUMAKI! I MAY HAVE UNDERESTIMATED YOU, BUT IT WON'T HAPPEN AGAIN!"
Naruto took a calm breath and stood out to face Gaara. The blonde wizard clenched the handle of his wand and caused scarlet and gold sparks to erupt from the tip.
"You want me, Gaara?" he asked, and then he shouted, "THEN COME AND GET ME! C'MON!"
Gaara took his chance; he crossed his arms and then threw them out while he screamed, "SAND SHURIKEN!"
The shuriken of sand zoomed towards Naruto, but before one of them could hit him, the wizard Disapparated. Gaara blinked when he saw Naruto twist and vanished out of thin air, and then he flinched when he heard a loud crack and the blonde wizard was less than a foot in front of him. Naruto reached back and slammed Gaara so hard in the face that his sand-like skin cracked.
"TAKE THAT!" he shouted.
Gaara twisted his head in the direction of Naruto's strike before he smirked. He was about to blast the blonde wizard off his feet, but then he vanished, as he did before. Gaara stammered, confused at Naruto's sudden disappearance. He whirled around and searched for the blonde-haired kid. Gaara soon heard another crack from a tree further ahead. Gaara was fixated on the tree and waited to see a glimpse of blonde hair and strike. Naruto soon stormed out from behind the tree and soon dozens of sand shuriken burst out from Gaara's arms. The blonde shinobi swerved around them and flicked his wand at Gaara.
He shouted, "Expulso!"
And a series of violent magical bursts bombarded Gaara's armored form. The magic blasted whole chunks of Gaara's flesh as a stream of sand leaked down to the earth below. Gaara examined his arm and seemed unnerved at how he wasn't able to heal as fast as he would have under normal circumstances.
"What is this?" he asked out loud.
Naruto dove behind another tree for cover. He slithered close to the trunk before he looked his head around to see where Gaara stood. He saw he was distracted with his damaged arm and watched as the flesh healed faster and faster to its normal rate. Naruto reeled back before he could be noticed. He then took his wand and dashed as fast as he could to the next tree. All the while, he aimed at Gaara and attacked.
Naruto screamed several times, "Stupefy!"
Scarlet bursts zoomed out at Gaara. He missed a few times, but Naruto was able to hit one of Gaara's uncovered legs and cut off all circulation to it. Gaara buckled and the branch he stood on let out a loud crack. He looked down and tried to move his leg, but it was useless. Gaara couldn't move it.
"Huh?!"
While Gaara was distracted, Naruto took his chance and aimed at the branch beneath Gaara.
He reeled back his wand and shouted, "Carpe Retractum!"
And a familiar orange lasso shot out from the wand and swathed around the branch. Naruto reeled his arm as hard as he could and the branch broke. Gaara shot his head down and soon plummeted towards the earth. Gaara tried to claw at the trees to break his fall, but all it did was slow down his descent slightly. Gaara lost hold of the trees and screamed as he slammed down into the earth with a loud thud and a cloud of dirt.
Naruto hopped to the next tree and tried to look down and see Gaara. But before he could celebrate, he saw Gaara had recovered and use his claws to latch onto the trees and climb. Naruto clenched his wand and aimed at Gaara as if his wand were a bazooka.
"CONFRINGO!"
The force of the curse threw him off his feet, but landed on a soft collection of leafs. There was a loud blast that almost deafened Pakkun and Gamakichi in the distance and made them wonder what Naruto had used. The blonde-haired wizard moaned as he stood and returned to where he stood to look down to see what was left of Gaara.
{{Voldemort by Patrick Doyle}}
But the wizard felt his skin crawl when he saw he had missed Gaara. To make matters worse, Naruto's curse obliterated the tree he stood on while Gaara climbed on another.
Naruto commented, "I shouldn't have done that…"
'You think?'
Naruto felt a violent tremor shake the tree. He looked down and saw Gaara tear at what remained of the tree. Naruto fell backwards and hit his back against another tree before it crumbled down into cloud of dust and splinters. Naruto almost slid down to be skewered with the remains of the tree. He panicked and Disapparated before he had time to utilize his full concentration. When his feet slammed down into the branch of another tree, he let out a terrible scream.
"NAHHHHHH!"
The blonde wizard clenched at his left shoulder and felt his clothes become warm and wet with blood. He used a Severing Charm to cut into his clothes and saw a deal of flesh had been torn out of him, as if his flesh had been carved out with a knife. Naruto had splinched.
"HARRY!"
Naruto screamed as he heard the sounds of Gaara escalate towards him.
'Relax! Relax, Naruto! I have it covered!'
Naruto felt this sudden warmth rise within him and saw the flesh that had been cut out of him healed over rather fast.
'If you have soldier pills, eat them now! You're going to need them!'
Naruto seized his weapons pouch and rummaged through what little he had left in it. He didn't have more weapons to use against Gaara and he found no soldier pills.
The blonde-haired wizard cursed, "NO! I knew I should have put an Undetectable Extension Charm on this!"
Naruto felt a bit drained after he had healed so fast. He tried to run and hide behind another tree, but he felt a lot heavier than normal, and the blood stained in his clothes weighed him down even more.
'Nii-san I don't have anything in here!'
'What about that potion from this morning? It was Wiggenweld, right?'
Naruto searched and smiled when he found the bottle. He took the bottle and he was about to uncork it and drink, but Gaara had returned. The mutilated rookie soon unleashed his wrath on Naruto when he took in a breath and roared.
"Futon: Mugen Sajin Daitoppa!"
Naruto turned his head in time to see Gaara's face before he was blasted and tossed far into the trees. Naruto landed on another collection of leafs when he could have been killed in an instant if he had crashed into a tree trunk. Naruto recovered and dove behind another tree as fast as he could before Gaara could attack him. It then occurred to him that the bottle wasn't in his hand. He must have dropped it when Gaara hit him. Naruto heard another wave of sand shuriken claw at the tree he hid behind and almost had a breakdown.
"NO!" he hissed, 'I lost it! I didn't drink it! It's all I had left!'
The blonde wizard rubbed his shoulder and felt his flesh heal over with new skin, but he didn't have to look to know he would have scars if he survived this battle. He didn't know what to do next or even if he would survive after this. Naruto didn't know if he would be able to outrun Gaara and hit him with another curse and breakdown his flesh into useless sand and dust. But he soon decided that if he were about to die, he wouldn't die hiding behind a tree like a coward. If he were about to die, he would die fighting his friends like he said earlier. Naruto took a minute to breath through his nose and forced himself to stand and walk out from behind the tree. He soon faced Gaara as the demonic rookie drool and smirked as the blonde-haired rookie came out to accept his fate. Naruto clenched the wand in his hand while he stood tall on the branch. He looked over at Sakura for one last time and then he stared down his opponent.
"Come at me, Gaara… Do it…"
Gaara smiled at Naruto's request and weaved through a number of handsigns before he took a deep breath. Naruto aimed his wand at Gaara and used the first spell he could think of.
"DEMONIC NINJA ART, FUTON: COMBINED SAND BULLET JUTSU!"
"EXPELLIARMUS!"
A concentrated blast of sand and wind issued out from Gaara as a burst of red light blasted from Naruto's wand. The two forces met in midair, and suddenly Naruto's wand was vibrating as though an electric charge were surging through it. His hand seized around it; he couldn't have released it if he'd wanted to as a narrow beam of light connected the two jinchuuriki. Naruto's end of the beam was a bright scarlet, whilst Gaara's turned electric-blue. The center of the two beams released a deep golden light that burst with some liquid substance or plasma that soon evaporated.
Naruto followed the beam with his astonished gaze, and saw that Gaara started to scream. The redheaded rookie struggled as he tried to use more of his chakra to fuel his end and force the center of the beam back at Naruto. The blonde-haired rookie soon witnessed the beam splintered and vibrated like the string of a guitar. He then heard the sound of a familiar bird come from the beam as it continued to vibrate. Naruto was awestricken as he recognized the song as the cries from a phoenix. Gaara noticed he and Naruto were soon surrounded with what appeared to be a massive veil of golden beams, like a cage. The blonde-haired rookie didn't have time to take it all in, before there was a sudden burst of light that blinded him and the whole world seemed to end.
Naruto felt weightless, as he seemed to float out in the middle of nowhere. He flickered his eyes open slowly and all he saw around him was an endless, blue world. There was no visible ground beneath him and no skies either. But he slowly looked up and started to see lights, beaming down from the heavens. The reflections wavered and flowed as if there were a solid surface far above him. Naruto tried to focus and the reflections formed what appeared to be the surface of the ocean. He moved his hand to reach out to it and saw little bubbles of air leak from his clothes he wore from the battle. Naruto soon realized he was indeed underwater, beneath an infinite ocean. He choked as bubbles flew out of his mouth, more bubbles floated to the surface around him, and he tried to swim to the surface for air. But then he hesitated and relaxed… He could still breathe.
Naruto looked around and soon heard the phoenix song from earlier. He then heard what sounded like the wails of a newborn child but soon calmed down and faded. Naruto then heard the echo of the battle between him and Gaara, but it seemed so far, so distant to him. He floated out there and wasn't even sure if he could return. Or if he even wanted to. The world he found himself in was so blissful and mysterious, he wasn't even sure if he wanted to leave at all. Naruto didn't know if he was dead, alive, or somewhere in between.
But before he could decide what to do next, he heard a voice call out to him: a calm voice he never imagined he would ever hear again. A voice that was as innocent and pure as freshly fallen snow.
"Naruto-kun… Keep holding on… Don't forget about what we talked about in the forest… People can become as strong as they need to be when they are protecting someone precious to them… And you still have plenty of precious people to fight for now, don't you?"
The blonde-haired rookie couldn't turn around but watched as the beams above him lit brighter when he heard the kunoichi's voice.
"Haku… It couldn't be… Haku?!"
Naruto heard an innocent giggle emerge out from the beams from the surface of the water, as he felt tears start to build while he smiled, "I… I don't believe it… It can't be… How are you even talking to me?! Haku? Where am I?! Are you still with me?! Why can't I see-"
"Still can't shut up, kid?" asked another familiar, but more fearsome, thicker voice, "That's what I like to hear… I said it before; your words cut deeper than blades…"
Naruto looked more astonished as he soon remembered whom the voice belonged to.
"Zabuza… That's Zabuza Momochi!"
He heard Zabuza's voice let out an almost threatening chuckle while his voice said in a playful, flirtatiously dangerous voice, "Heh! Good to know I can still leave one hell of an impression, even in death…"
"There are two others here…" he heard Haku again, "They've wanted to talk to you for such a long time, Naruto-kun… Such a long time…"
He waited and soon he heard a third voice. It was the warm voice of a woman, a voice Naruto couldn't recall at first.
"Naruto-chan?"
The blonde rookie soon froze as the woman's voice sank in. He felt his stomach become warm and his heart ached with bitter sweetness. Naruto was certain he had never heard her voice before, but it was somehow familiar and warm.
"Hold on, sweetheart… You can do this… You can still beat this idiot… Do it for mommy, sweetie… Don't ever give up until the bitter end…"
Naruto went into shock as he soon realized whom it was that had spoken to him. He felt his insides melt like warm butter as goosebumps spread across his skin and tears ran down his face in torrents. But if that weren't enough, he heard a fourth voice call out to him, another voice he was not familiar with but it was soft, stern but filled with warmth, confidence, and love. He knew at once who it was, based on the first sentence alone.
"You can do this, son… You can beat Gaara… You can still win this fight, Naruto! He is no stronger than you are! You know that! Do you understand me? You can still do this, son…"
The voices echoed words of comfort and filled Naruto with so much raw human emotion, it almost caused him to fell like he was about to overflow. Tears continued to run down his cheeks as blubbered like a small child. Even though it was their voices alone, Naruto was reunited with his parents, the mother and father he never got to meet or know. There was so much he wanted to say, he had so many questions, but he couldn't process one coherent thought nor express it as a massive lump in his throat choked him.
All he could do was whisper, "Mom… Dad…"
Naruto's father called out to him again, sounding more instructive and calm as if he had fought in a million battles, "Naruto… We don't have a lot of time to talk… but once we've been disconnected… You cannot hold back on Gaara… Don't relent, not for one second… You must strike him down without hesitation; use your abilities to break down his mutated flesh and knock him out once you see an opening… Knocking him unconscious might not release the Shukaku within him and might save your friends, cutting off the connection to those sand talons… You think you can do that, buddy?"
The blonde rookie almost blubbered but he tried to be tough and nodded, still unsure if he could even beat Gaara if he was so exhausted from what he could remember, "Y-Y-Yes, dad! I-I-I can do it!"
"You're in luck," echoed Haku's voice, as if she could sense his doubts, "The potion you were about to drink to restore your stamina wasn't smashed. It landed on a soft pile of leafs. You can summon it and you'll have all the energy you need to fight him."
Naruto felt his shoulders lower and slowly nodded, "Thanks, Haku… You too, Zabuza… You both helped me a lot… I hope you two found peace in the next life…"
"Heh! Gimme a break, kid…" he heard Zabuza confirm.
Naruto smiled for his former enemies, but then it daunted him that his parents had watched him. Even after their deaths, his mother and father had watched over him. While it was an enormous comfort to know his parents never left him, Kushina and her husband must have known that their child was a wizard. Naruto had always wondered and feared how his parents would have reacted to his abnormalities. He started to blubber again, and curled into himself as he floated in the water, unsure what to tell them or ask them how they felt, fearing their rejection above all else. Naruto started crying, too afraid to speak but too afraid to be silent and never get an answer when he had the chance. This was his one and possibly only chance to ever talk to his mother and father from beyond the grave, whether it was a dream in his head or not.
"Mum! Dad!" he half-shouted and half-sobbed, "I have to come clean! I have to tell you what I am! I'm a-"
But then he was silenced when he saw a wave of the longest, softest, silkiest, plum-red hair obscured his view of the sea in front of him. He then felt two warm, slender arms envelop him into a warm embrace. Naruto ceased his blubbering instantly and let the tears run down his face, blinding him as another, thicker, sturdier set of arms surrounded him too. Naruto let himself be taken and sank towards his mother and father, blind as he was with tears and hair. He sniffed and felt more whole and complete than he did when he read Sarutobi's letter to Iruka. He then listened to his mother talk to him and reassured him as she ran her fingers through his blonde hair.
"We know… Don't ever be ashamed of your abilities, sweetheart…" she said.
Her husband then said with a soft, but firm voice, "We're proud of you, Naruto… We know about your powers and we are so proud to call you our son… You have no idea how badly we wish we could have been there to tell you this in person, to protect you and give you a better childhood… We love you, son… and we will always love you."
Naruto nodded his head while he smiled. He then felt as if he could melt when he felt his mother kiss the top of his head and fresh tears ran down his cheeks. Naruto didn't know much about his dad, or even what his name was, but he didn't care at the moment. His deceased father's words of comfort, concern, and pride for his son overwhelmed whatever resentment he could have felt for him. Kushina and her husband's kind words of love filled his heart with the warmth and support that he needed. While he would have loved to remain in their warm embrace for the rest of time, but even he knew it couldn't last forever, no matter how much he wanted it to.
"You two… I love you both so much…" he said with a weak, cracked voice as he wrapped his arms around Kushina.
Kushina held her son closer but her hold felt more firm and protective as she seemed to be shielding him.
"Sweetheart," she said with a more concerned, serious, worried tone and cracked with her final words to her son, "We don't have much time left, so I can tell you only this much… When this battle is over, I want you to beware of a very dangerous man… A man named Danzo Shimura… Don't ever trust him and don't ever let him achieve what he hopes to accomplish… Don't ever let him win, Naruto-chan… Don't ever let him hurt you, my little baby boy!"
The blonde-haired wizard blinked in caution at his mother's words as she felt her hold him closer and tighter, as if he were about to slip away. He never recalled a man of that name, but the name itself seemed familiar. Naruto blinked one more time and embraced his mother. He could feel it as the light from the surface above shined brighter than before, so much, that he couldn't see his father's face, but could make out his outline.
Naruto held close to his mother and blubbered, "I-I-I love you, mom!"
At that moment, Naruto felt as if he were back in the real world, somewhere between the real world and whatever world he slipped into. He could feel his mother and father start to fade like ghosts as his hands were clenched around his wand. He felt his wand vibrate and he could almost see the beam between himself and Gaara move in slow motion. Before the blonde-haired rookie returned to the real world, he heard Zabuza offer a shout of support and then one last word from his father.
"YOU GO, KID," shouted the former assassin.
He heard his father tell him as he and the oceanic underwater world faded, "Naruto, I hope when the time comes… You'll understand what I had to do… Please forgive me, son… NOW GO!"
"NOW!"
The blonde-haired rookie blinked and returned to the real world. He then sent an unbelievable surge of magic into his wand and forced his end of the beam to shoot forward. The beam struck Gaara's clawed arm, turned most of his arm into solid stone, his petrified arm cracked, and exploded as a massive white flash erupted that blasted Naruto and Gaara backwards off their feet. The veil that surrounded them vanished as both jinchuuriki were tossed like dolls. The beam between them was broken as the area filled with dust and smoke.
Naruto landed on a branch but recovered as fast as he could. Once he was on his feet, he reached for his wand and waved it in the air.
He then roared, "ACCIO POTION!"
His wand released a loud, short whistle and Naruto opened his hand and caught the small bottle he thought he'd lost. He didn't know if what he experienced was a dream or not, but he took his chance and drank the potion down after he chewed the cork off with his teeth. He felt the warm elixir revitalize him almost as soon as he drank it. He felt his chakra return tenfold, even better than he felt on his best days. Naruto brandished his wand and looked more determined than ever.
Gaara stood up, the numbness in his leg started to fade but he noticed his arm was blasted off. He tried to force it to heal faster, but he lost a lot of flesh. Gaara held his head with his other arm and drooled as he moaned and wailed like a monstrous child. Naruto was hidden in the trees above Gaara and stared down at him with a cold, determined look, about to attack, as his father advised.
At the same time, Gamakichi and Pakkun arrived at the scene, at a safe distance from Gaara.
Gamakichi asked, "What was that flash?!"
"I don't know! I think we missed it!" answered Pakkun.
Then, out of the bushes, Sasuke crawled and climbed onto a branch. It seemed he broke free of the Imperius Curse or it wore off as he rubbed his head, as if he had woken from a dream.
"What… What happened?" he moaned as he rested on the base of a tree.
Naruto turned to see Sasuke and appeared beside him to defend him from Gaara. The blonde shinobi refused to look away from the jinchuuriki as he listened to Sasuke scramble to sit on his own. Even though the two of them were rivals and he and Kakashi let him down, Naruto would never let Gaara kill Sasuke. The Uchiha heir turned to look at his brave rival, somewhat amazed at how… heroic he looked.
"Gaara fought for himself, not relying on anyone his whole life. He showed off incredible abilities, and because of that, I believed he had ultimate strength…" said Naruto, "I should have known better than to think that… that isn't true strength at all… If you fight for no one but yourself, then you'll never be as strong as you need to be when your loved ones are in danger."
With the voices of his deceased loved ones still in his ears, Naruto formed his signature handsign and draw out his enormous, replenished chakra reserves.
"RAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Naruto roared like a massive adult lion and a blast of chakra was released. Sasuke flinched and shielded his face as the chakra created a blast of wind that almost threw him off the branch. Sasuke sat back on the branch and stared at his teammate with utter disbelief.
His mind raced as he thought, 'He's released an incredible amount of chakra! HOW IS NARUTO DOING THAT?!'
Gaara sensed the release of chakra and turned to look at Naruto. His arm started to heal faster, his weight increased as the branches he stood on creaked beneath his feet.
"No matter what happens… I swear…" said the blonde shinobi as he thought about Sakura, Sasuke, Kakashi, Iruka, Sarutobi, Hinata, Shikamaru and all the other people and creatures he was determined to save from the wrath of Shukaku, "I'M GOING TO PROTECT EVERYONE!"
Naruto dashed after Gaara, his feet almost broke the entire branch when he launched himself after Gaara with the concentrated amount of chakra he used as a blastoff, and he screamed, "TAJU: KAGE BUSHIN NO JUTSU!"
{{A Song of Storm and Fire by Yuki Kaijura}}
At once, the entire closure with filled with white smoke as a thousand shadow clones of Naruto appeared. All of them stood on the various branches, determined as the original. Pakkun, Sasuke, and Gamakichi couldn't believe it as all of the Naruto clones stared down at a somewhat bewildered Gaara. Temari had come to and crawled onto a branch not too far from Pakkun, Gamakichi, and Sasuke. She was as amazed as the others as she stared at the sheer number of shadow clones he summoned. Words seemed to fail her while Pakkun seemed too bewildered to comment, while Gamakichi smiled and couldn't hold back admiration of Naruto's skill. The blonde-haired shinobi didn't bother to boast as he stared down at Gaara. Back with Sasuke, he stared at Naruto with a mixture of admiration, disbelief, and then jealousy.
"How? How is he able to do this?" he asked out loud.
One of Naruto's shadow clones landed beside Sasuke when the real one launched himself after Gaara, and all the clone said was, "Leave this to me…"
'What… happened to him?' the Uchiha wondered.
Sasuke thought back to the awkward, eccentric Naruto Uzumaki he knew from school. Gifted and brilliant at times but a fool, in his honest opinion. He couldn't understand how Naruto was able to become such a badass shinobi in such a short amount of time.
The real Naruto roared, "HERE I GO!"
One of the shadow clones lifted his arm and pointed it at Gaara as he commanded the other shadow clones, "LET'S DO THIS!"
All at once, one thousand clones descended from the heavens and forced Gaara to shield himself from them, but then the real Naruto dove beneath his arms and kicked Gaara hard in the face. Gaara was knocked back and exposed to the shadow clones. The shadow clones rained down on the jinchuuriki in waves. Dozens and dozens of shadow clones unleashed their chakra-loaded fists and feet down on Gaara in endless waves of attacks. Sand blasted from their attacks and mutilated Gaara's monstrous form. More shadow clones flew down beneath Gaara and used their chakra to launch themselves at Gaara from beneath and hit him in three waves of attacks.
"NA! RU! TO!" the blonde-haired rookie's clones sent Gaara into the air before another massive wave of clones rained down on the disoriented jinchuuriki, "UZUMAKI BARAGE!"
The shower of violence left Gaara a mess. The once solid look of his fattened face of flesh and sand now looked like it was torn and showered with acid rain. Two more clones of Naruto came out from the crowd and hit Gaara with two more solid strikes to the face. This attack tore off half of his face and showed a sand-skeleton formed over Gaara's real face.
One more clone came out from the crowd and kicked Gaara in the chest. The blow sent him off the branch where he stood and the monster fell far down below and crashed into the ground. Sand leaked down from the trees and onto Gaara's face. He seethed at Naruto and his clones all, confused and frustrated at how difficult it was to kill him. He couldn't understand it and he hated it.
Gaara groaned and moaned, "This kid… Where did this come from?"
All of the Naruto clones followed his father's instructions and all of the clones dove down after Gaara while he was down. Naruto was determined to bombard him a thousand times until he could knock him out. Half of the clones drew their wands and aimed down at him to stun him through that thick armor of his.
'Where did that strength come from? It doesn't make sense,' Gaara seethed at Naruto with sheer hatred and roared, "I'M NOT LOSING TO A PANSY LIKE HIM!"
All of the clones held their breath as Gaara sand spread across his face, healed his arm, and ballooned to an obese size. Gaara's sand-like skin bubbled as Naruto ordered all of his clones to draw their wands and stun him. Before even one of them could stun Gaara, all of the clones were reduced to white smoke as Gaara's flesh torpedoed towards the heavens and filled the forest with white smoke.
Naruto was thrown off his feet and thought it was dark when the sun was blocked out. Naruto looked up and saw a massive figure tower tall above the trees, so tall that someone could see Gaara from the Stone Faces. Pakkun, Gamakichi, Temari, and Sasuke stared at the massive creature above them, unable to breathe as the monster consumed Gaara and revealed it's true form, as soon as the white smoke cleared some.
"W-W-What is t-that t-thing?" stammered Sasuke.
Pakkun stared at the creature as well, while Temari shuddered and said, "It's come out… Gaara released the beast…"
The One-Tailed Tanuki was an enormous, three hundred foot tall, sand-colored creature. It had dark-blue veins that decorated his skin with a wide, concave mouth. The sclera of its eyes were black as night and had the same look that Gaara had when the sand mutated him. The demon was fat and bloated while the creature waved its tail from side-to-side and released blasts of intense winds. The smoke cleared and revealed the entire form of the massive creature, known to the world as Shukaku.
'So that's it…'
"It's the monster inside of him…" breathed Naruto, and he despaired in silence, "I failed, dad… I failed…"
"Well, who would have believed it," Gaara's voice emanated out from within the beast as if he were inside its stomach, "I NEVER THOUGHT YOU'D BRING THIS OUTTA ME!"
To Be Continued…
And that was the latest chapter! I bet none of you guys were prepared for Priori Incantatem, were you?
Sorry about the cliffhanger XD But the next chapter will be the last chapter of the invasion and feature more of a focus on Iruka, Kakashi, and other Konoha characters, as well as Naruto and Gaara. But for now we're back to addressing the things I changed from the old version again.
And here we go:
In the old version of the chapter, Temari went into greater detail about the events of Yashamaru's death, details she couldn't have possibly known as she wasn't there to witness.
Naruto also has a more violent and personal reaction to Gaara's backstory here than he did in the original and takes it out on Temari. I thought, because Naruto is a jinchuuriki too and after he learns how Gaara was once an innocent kid who couldn't control his powers, he would be more furious at Suna for basically creating the very monster they hate.
In the original chapter, Naruto didn't come to understand Gaara after everything she told him and I wrote an unnecessary dramatic scene from the anime where Naruto has a dream-like sequence about how similar he and Gaara are and how close Naruto was to becoming like him. It dragged on and was way too melodramatic, as it took place in the mindscape and featured illusions of Naruto's friends and comrades.
I also had the scene with Gamakichi altered. After he was summoned, Sasuke was unimpressed with Naruto's knowledge of summoning and insults Gamakichi. The little toad took offense to his comment and spat oil in his eye. Sasuke had an overraction and threaten to turn Gamakichi into a soup.
And in the scene when Naruto uses the Imperius Curse on Sasuke, in the original version, Naruto had serious hesitation to use Dark magic and used Muffilato when he distracted Sasuke instead, prompting an anime-style overraction from Harry. And in the original, when he was under the influence of the Imperius Curse, I had Sasuke say, "I am Sasuke Uchiha and I have a vagina!" I thought it was way too immature to put in this remake, so I had him say something different and made him do a few dances XD I couldn't resist
I also altered the Priori Incantatum scene. In the original: the scene played out just like the scene in Goblet of Fire, both from the book and the movie. I thought the scene was too chaotic and too rushed for Naruto to be reunited with the spirits of his parents. I wanted the scene to be more controlled, like a surreal state of mind that could be real or could have been a dream in Naruto's head from the trauma of the combined attacks. So no more than 3 seconds passed since Naruto and Gaara entered Priori Incantatem.
And those are all of the major differences I could find and I really hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I look forward to reading your reviews and I promise to work hard to complete this story!