Chapter 26

Naruto grinned as his Alakazam let him know that Hinata had located a large source of demon chakra and was already moving to engage the enemy. Naruto had his Pidgeot turn towards the source at once, noticing that is was actually in the opposite direction Anabel had gone. This bugged Naruto slightly as he dismissed the two Lucario and knelt down on Pidgeot's back letting it fly increasingly faster.

It raced along rapidly, covering miles in mere moments of time. Naruto was buffeted by the wind, but using his chakra and leaning as low as he could he avoided the strongest currents. Alakazam trailed not far behind using its Psychic powers to keep up and travel rapidly through the air beside them.

As they neared Hinata's location, Pidgeot slowed down greatly allowing Naruto to stand up and get a good look of where they were. At first Naruto was sure he had gone too far, but a quick check with Alakazam assured him he was in the right location, as they were now very near one of the ocean inlets. Yugito showed up only a few minutes later as they finally spotted Hinata on the ground with her Pokémon still about her.

Naruto and Yugito landed quickly and moved over by her, "So where is Gaara, or the source of demon Chakra?"

"Right here we are standing on it," Hinata said, sounding confused.

"But this is just flat sand, not even a hill," Naruto said.

"Yes I know, it does not make sense to me either, but I can see as can the Lucario that there is indeed something down there," Hinata said.

"I see, I guess we are going to be doing some tunneling," Naruto said.

"Onix again?" Yugito asked.

"No, I have a bad feeling so I am going to the next level this time," Naruto said.

Yugito and Hinata jumped back as Naruto slammed his hand into the ground, there was a roar as the ground swelled. It then settled back down without any of Naruto's summons showing, having disappeared deep into the sand. Naruto moved back as he began hearing the rumbling of the ground, and the sands began to shift. Then without any more warning the sand near them exploded outwards forming a massive wall of sand.

"It seems we found Gaara, alive," Naruto said, as he jumped back to avoid being buried in sand.

Naruto's summons disappeared only moments later as Hinata and Yugito jump clean of the sand. As the sand and dust settled down it soon revealed Gaara standing looking almost completely unharmed. He looked just like his double had, expect in place of a blank look or small smile, a scowl seemed to be etched into his face.

"You, what are you doing here," Gaara said his voice holding a lot of anger.

"Well it is the real him," Naruto said quietly before speaking louder so Gaara could hear, "we were sent to eliminate those hunting you and anyone that might be helping them."

"I don't need your help," Gaara said turning away.

"Be that as it may, we are not asking for your permission to hunt and kill these ninja," Naruto said.

Gaara just glared at Naruto before turning away and looking out over the desert as if waiting for something. Hinata looked as well to where he was looking but could not spot anything even with her eyes active. After a few minutes Hinata walked over to Naruto and shrugged Naruto sure what Gaara was sensing or waiting for.

"I don't really like this guy, he is kind of… weird to put it mildly," Yugito said.

"His life from what I gathered while still in the leaf was less than pleasant. He has faced Assassination ordered by his father time and again to make sure he was a strong weapon. Plus thanks to the faulty seal he never could sleep with risk of his tailed beast breaking free and killing everyone," Naruto said.

"How did they let someone like that gain control of the title Kazekage," Yugito asked.

"They didn't, I just took the spot," Gaara said, slowly turning towards them.

"I take it they had no other choice," Hinata guessed.

"Yes, after my father was killed by Orochimaru the Sannin, I was the only one who had enough power to defend the village. And after taking my father's seat, many of my problems vanished outside lack of sleep," Gaara explained.

"Does not seem to bug you too much, your lack of sleep I mean," Yugito said.

"I got used to it very quickly," Gaara said.

"Well if we live through this I will try and help you with your seal, I know what it is like to be at odds with your demon," Yugito said.

"Which one do you hold," Gaara asked, his eyes widening only slightly in surprise.

"The Two Tailed Demon Cat," Yugito replied.

"There is something else you should know, also, I don't hold the nine Tailed fox like was once thought. I hold a creature from a different world," Naruto added.

"So where is the beast then?" Gaara asked, the surprise actually reaching his face this time.

"No one knows, and I hope we don't have to face it," Naruto said.

"I see. Well time for talk is over, and our enemy is here," Gaara said turning and throwing up his arms.

To large pillars of sand flew out form the ground towards a small bird in the sky. Right before impacted with the bird to figures jumped from it, and moments later the bird exploded with great force shattering much of the sand pillars.

The two figures landed and looked at the group as Gaara spoke, "Deidara the Mad Bomber, and Sasori of the Red Sand it is time for you to die."