Opening - Chase the World by May'n

In the dense forest beyond the walls of Konoha, six Oto ninja gathered around an open circle of bare earth. Their lord Orochimaru had hand-picked them for the honor of summoning and unleashing the main weapon to be aimed at this village. As such, all six were Jounin or ANBU-level.

A seventh figure in a white cloak was present to give the signal. Kabuto's false ANBU mask hung below his neck, revealing his grinning face and letting the sun reflect brightly on the lenses of his glasses. "Do it."

"Yes, Kabuto-sama." Perfectly synchronized, the six began shaping hand seals. Several seconds later, they all slammed their right hands into the dirt. "Summoning Jutsu!" Lines of sealing script radiated out from under their palms, connecting with those of their peers and swirling together in the middle of their circle.

"Edo Tensei!"

A sole coffin of ancient-looking, plain brown wood rose slowly out of the ground, rumbling softly and grating against underground rocks as it did.

At the halfway point, however, the coffin stopped. Kabuto's eyes were the first to widen, but the six Jounin were quick to understand that this wasn't meant to happen.

The coffin began to sink back into the ground. Kabuto stepped forward involuntarily, and reached for it. "No... no, no, no, NO!" The coffin disappeared underground, and Kabuto completely let his frustrations fly loose. "DAMN IT!" He roared wordlessly, and ran his hands through his hair, pulling much of it free of the long silver ponytail he wore neatly tied behind his back. How the hell am I going to tell Orochimaru-sama that this...

"K-Kabuto-sama..." one of the Jounin hesitantly spoke. "What went wrong?"

A psychotic grin broke out across Kabuto's face. And there's my way out. "The Impure World Reincarnation can do one thing, and one thing only. It pulls an unwilling soul from the Pure World, the afterlife, and binds it here," he pointed to the disturbed ground where the coffin had briefly appeared, "to a corpse in the Impure World, the living world. There's nothing in the afterlife, no god or demon, that can prevent the jutsu from pulling a soul back into our world. Which means... the one we just tried to summon... was never in the Pure World to begin with."

"Then... this ninja we tried to summon is still alive?"

"No," Kabuto replied. "He's dead, but his soul didn't pass on. I know he's dead because I collected his DNA from his resting place. I've seen his bones, and that DNA succesfully placed his likeness over a human sacrifice, meaning the bones were indeed his."

Kabuto turned to face the Jounin, revealing the grin that had been hidden by the side of his hood. "You... you're very talkative. You canbe the one to tell Orochimaru-sama that the summon failed." he reached into his pouch and produced a two-way radio. "Don't worry, he doesn't kill the messenger as often as the rumors say."

The Jounin flinched, but had no choice but to catch the radio Kabuto tossed his way. "Go ahead, don't be shy. Just push that button there."

"R-Right..." the Jounin hesitated, but pushed the button and held the radio to his ear. "O-Orochimaru-sama?"

"...Yes?" the Sannin's voice crackled.

"T-The Edo Tensei summon failed."

"...Which one?"

"I don't..." the Jounin turned to Kabuto, who mouthed the name that the Jounin repeated. "Minato Namikaze."

Orochimaru was silent for several seconds.

X

Orochimaru allowed himself to bare his teeth in a furious growl, since his face was covered. It simply wouldn't do, to let slip that a part of his plan had failed. It was a crucial part, too; the Fourth Hokage's power was intended to form most of his army's strength. The man was renowned for killing an entire army with a single jutsu. With the endless chakra reserves of an Edo Tensei body, and the psychological impact of a dead Kage attacking his own village, the Fourth would have been able to singlehandedly decimate Konoha.

"Tell Kabuto to initiate the 'second summoning,' then." Orochimaru worded this carefully, once again to hide the fact that his first plan had failed. He could've simply said 'summon Manda instead,' but that would be tipping his hand to Sarutobi. Twice, in fact, since 'instead' would imply that this was a backup plan to replace a failed first plan. Unacceptable.

"Y-Yes, Orochimaru-sama." the radio fell silent, and Orochimaru put it away, looking up to see Hinata Hyuuga and Chouji Akimichi opposing each other in the arena. "Ah, the finals are upon us already... I never expected either of these two to make it this far." he turned to Naruto. "I'd rather expected you and Sasuke to do battle in the finals, to be honest."

"Sorry to disappoint," Naruto grinned, "but Hinata-chan beat me fair and square."

"Hm?" Orochimaru hummed. "So you're claiming you didn't let her win?"

Naruto nodded. "It's true I probably had a bit more chakra left than her. I could've probably maintained one more Rasengan for several seconds longer than she did, but our positions wouldn't allow that. Since I only had one hand free, all I could do was block with a kunai, and if Hinata had just the tiniest bit more chakra, she would've destroyed it. She had me cornered, disarmed, almost completely drained of chakra... she beat me."

"Hm..." the snake watched Hinata intently, and grinned. "I wonder what she might do with a Cursed Seal."

"Teme. Don't even think about it. I'll kill you before you can get near her."

"Like I said, Naruto." Gaara spoke up calmly without turning to face his friend, instead focusing on the battle that was about to begin. "Ignore him. He's trying to make us angry, to ruin our focus. Don't fall for it."

"Thanks, Gaara, but I already know that." Naruto shrugged. "I'm not angry, I'm just telling the truth. We're going to kill him today, which means he'll never get the chance to hurt Hina-chan."

"So you're feeling killing intent..." Gaara smiled faintly. "It feels good right now, doesn't it? It feels... liberating, relieving, the first time. To put all of your strength into the simple, tangible goal of killing the enemy." His smile faded. "Don't lose yourself in that feeling, Naruto, it's dangerous."

"Thanks again, but I know that too." Naruto pointed to the arena. "Look, the match is-"

"Begin."

Hinata blurred forward immediately, with her right arm pulled back and laced with chakra to stab Chouji's tenketsu. Chouji's eyes widened, and he formed the two quick seals for his jutsu before calling, "Expansion Jutsu!"

Chouji's entire body grew, and on instinct he kicked forward, throwing Hinata away a solid distance as he transformed. She managed to right herself in midair, and landed on a foot and a knee. She frowned up at Chouji, who now stood close to twenty feet tall. My best plan was to stop him before he transformed... At this point, even if I seal his tenketsu, I probably won't end his jutsu or even immobilize him. On top of that, his tenketsu are too far apart for me to strike more than one at a time. So my best weapon now is Water Release ninjutsu... maybe I can...

Chouji formed the same two hand seals again. "I have to push myself if I want to get stronger," he decided quietly, and called, "Expansion Jutsu."

Hinata paled. "K-Kami..." He grew again? She stared up at her fellow Genin in disbelief, along with most of the crowd. He must be fifty feet tall! The giant stepped forward, and the earth shook under his feet. Then he took another step, and another. Hinata leapt away, but Chouji began running after her. She blurred through several hand seals, and called, "Water Release: Hollow Water Dragon!"

Hinata's serpentine attack swam forward through the air and coiled around Chouji's left leg, hissing. He stopped for a moment, then yanked his left leg forward, tearing the dragon apart and freeing himself to continue his approach. Next, she tried binding both of his legs together with another dragon, but he reached down and pulled it apart with both hands. He's strong enough to rip a Hollow Water Dragon apart... maybe if I...

"Hollow Water Dragon Horde!" Three dragons burst forth from her mouth, and the first aimed itself at Chouji's face. The titanic Genin instinctively reached up to catch it, but as he did it wrapped itself around his arm. At the same time, a second dragon bound his left arm to his body, and a third pinned his legs together.

Now, I have to move quickly. He might still break free! Hinata stopped backpedaling away, and charged at Chouji. She leapt off the ground, over his left foot and onto his leg. Chouji struggled against the water dragons, and as she passed his waist he managed to wrap his right hand around the dragon holding it, then crushed that section of the construct. The dragon collapsed into a downward splash of water, and he moved to swat Hinata away.

No! She stopped running along his sternum to leap into the air and spin, pouring chakra into all of her tenketsu and releasing it. I can't be hit by him in this form. "Revolving Heaven!"

Chouji slapped the side of the ball of whirling chakra, sending it and the Genin inside flying. He watched her Revolving Heaven sail through the air and rip a trench through the ground as it landed, while he tore himself free of the remaining two water dragons. He stood and ran toward her, just as she let her Revolving Heaven dissipate.

Three water dragons didn't work... I only have two ideas left... first... Hinata breathed out another Hollow Water Dragon, then froze it solid. The ice construct hissed at the approaching giant, and its body could be heard cracking and freezing over again as it slithered in the air in front of Hinata. Then it flew forward, roaring.

Chouji caught the ice dragon by the snout, and crushed its head by making a fist.

Hinata blinked. Somehow, I felt sure that an ice dragon wouldn't work, but to think he could just... She shook her head slightly. "Incredible."

Chouji opened his fist, wincing at the pain in his hand. Catching the construct of razor-sharp ice had torn his palm open, and it was now bleeding freely through the now shredded white bandages he wore wrapped around it. He tried to unwrap the bandages on his other hand, but the pain in trying to delicately use the injured right one was too much. Instead, he used his left hand to pull off his forehead protector and wrap his right hand with it.

"I only have one move left, Chouji," Hinata called up to him, drawing his attention. "If this one fails, I'll forfeit to you, since I have no other tricks left." she took up the basic Gentle Fist starting pose. "One way or another, the Chuunin Exams will end less than twenty seconds from now."

"Fine by me." Chouji flexed his left hand into a fist, then sprinted toward Hinata again, shaking the earth as he did.

Hinata let him approach, then spun up a Revolving Heaven at the last second. The foot Chouji had pulled back to kick her struck her dome of chakra instead, and within it, Hinata created a genjutsu clone, along with countless threads of green chakra from her Guardian Sixty-Four Palms. Then she threw a smoke bomb, drew a kunai, and waited.

Chouji drew his foot back, teeth bared in pain. He saw his chance when Hinata's glowing defense fell inside the smoke cloud, however, and he took it. He kicked into the smoke, not noticing the comparatively tiny kunai Hinata had thrown past his head. Instead, he focused solely on Hinata tumbling out of the far side of the smoke cloud, clearly unconscious.

The genjutsu clone vanished, alerting Chouji to her deception, but by then it was too late. She'd already entwined his body up to his sternum with chakra threads. "Substitution!" she switched places with the kunai, now twenty feet above and behind his head.

Although he couldn't see her, Chouji instinctively guessed that she'd be behind him at this point, and tried to turn. However, the Guardian Sixty-Four Palms Grid that had carefully climbed up his body, without him noticing, did what the water dragons couldn't and held him in place. Hinata's right hand shaped a Rasengan, and her left formed one more chakra thread. She shot one end of it at the back of Chouji's neck, then tightly grasped the other end of it and used it to haul herself toward her target, maneuvering herself through the open air.

She slammed her Rasengan into the back of his neck, and he cried out briefly before falling unconscious. Hinata used the chakra control of tree walking to cling to the back of Chouji's neck, and descended to the ground as he did. His giant body kicked up a considerable cloud of dust as it landed, and the impact bucked Hinata from his neck. When it cleared, she was standing and panting, and he was a normal-sized boy facedown on the ground.

Genma first checked Chouji's vitals, confirming that he was breathing, had a stable heartbeat, and his neck didn't seem to be damaged from Hinata's Rasengan beyond the quickly forming, apple-sized purple bruise that looked like agony given physical form. I feel bad for this kid. Even if the medics heal that before he wakes up, I guarantee it'll hurt like a bitch. "The match and the tournament go to Hinata Hyuuga. You're the last Genin standing, nice job."

"I... won." With her Byakugan active, she saw Naruto stand up and lean forward. She knew he was about to flash-step to her, and she reached out as he arrived, pulling him into a tight hug. "I won!" She spun around with Naruto in her grasp, laughing. "I actually won! Yatta!"

"Yeah, you won... Hina-chan... could you maybe..." he wheezed, patting her gently on the back, "Can't... breathe..."

"O-Oh!" she quickly released him, blushing, but only faintly. "Sorry, Naruto-kun."

"Never mind that," he gasped for a moment, then returned the favor and hugged her, albeit less tightly. "You were awesome, Hinata-chan!"

"Um... that reminds me. You bet three million ryou on me..."

"I dunno how many nobles up there were stupid enough to bet against you in the finals, but they regret it now, believe it. Judging from the killing I made up there when you beat Tenten, there's probably enough money up there to have us both set for life, even without the Uzumaki and Hyuuga fortunes. Honestly, I don't get why anyone bet against you. Stupid lords and their stupid bottomless wallets. All those bets against mine just kept adding up."

"But why would you bet that much money?"

"I knew you'd win," he replied immediately. "I just wanted to show everyone how much I believe in you." he grinned. "Three million ryou was just the first really huge number that popped into my head, ya know?"

"N-Naruto-kun." she looked past his shoulder, eyes wide. "Look."

He turned, and saw white feathers floating gently down over the entire crowd. His eyes narrowed as he triggered their powers. "Genjutsu," he called, seeing the illusion for what it was. "The invasion's starting!" he moved forward to initiate a flash-step, but Hinata gently laid a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.

"Take me with you, Naruto-kun."

Naruto considered this for a moment. "It's not that I don't think you can handle it, but... these people out here could use your help more..."

"Please," she all but begged. "I see your point, but Oto's shinobi aren't going to attack sleeping civilians for no reason, and our allies can fight for themselves. Even the other rookie Genin knew this was coming. We all trained for it. Naruto-kun, please let me fight with you. Let me help you!"

"All right." her heart leapt, and instinctively she removed her hand from his shoulder to reach for his hand. She couldn't help but smile as her fingers intertwined with his. "Let's go, Hinata!"

"Yes!"

She gasped as Naruto spun and swept her into his arms. Despite how she'd grown more confident and comfortable around Naruto, she still blushed in this unexpectedly intimate position. Then their surroundings blurred as Naruto flash-stepped back to the balcony where Orochimaru stood, having thrown away his already pointless disguise. The dozen ANBU that had been guarding the Third Hokage were in the process of rushing him, but he cleanly dispatched all twelve with the Sword of Kusanagi he'd drawn from his own throat.

All of them exploded into smoke as they fell. "Shadow clones..." The Sannin looked around, noting that every ANBU he'd dispatched was gone in a puff of smoke. "All of them?"

"My elite personal guard was never here," Sarutobi explained. "And now their clones have returned their unused chakra, along with their memories. That's the signal for them to start slaughtering Oto shinobi."

"They did seem unusually weak, even for mere ANBU," Orochimaru noted. He shrugged, and raised his sword. "Moving on..."

Gaara drew his sword and pointed it at Orochimaru. "Stain, Kuroshi." Black sand gushed from the blade like a river, flooding the balcony. The sand flowed around Naruto, Hinata and Sarutobi, leaving them unharmed, but the four-foot-deep flood of sand caught Orochimaru immediately. "Sand Coffin!"

Orochimaru screamed, then exploded into chunks of rock and earth. "An Earth Clone," Sarutobi realized. "Hinata, use your Byakugan to locate him. He wants to fight us, so he wouldn't have gone far."

"Right. Byakugan!" she searched the surrounding area, peering through solid walls and floors until she found him. "He's on a rooftop," she called, and turned to the outer wall of the arena. "This way."

The Third discarded his cloak and hat, revealing a black ninja uniform. Naruto blinked, noting the eerie resemblance to his own Ninken costume. The Third even had panels of heavy grey cloth over his shoulders, shaped exactly like the grey fur pieces on Naruto's costume. "How many are with him?"

"Four," Hinata replied. "The Kazekage's bodyguards. They're all isolated inside matching barrier ninjutsu, though."

"What color?"

"Purple," she replied quickly.

"The Four Violet Flames Formation," he recited. "Orochimaru intends to contain the battle until it ends. The bodyguards maintaining it won't be able to attack us, so they're not a threat. Let's go."

"I can carry us there." Gaara shaped the black sand into a platform beneath their feet and lifted it into the air, levitating them higher above the arena until they saw Orochimaru and the rooftop he stood on. "Black Death Third Incarnation, Oppression." The black sand under their feet grew an arm with a clawed hand, which Gaara used to reach for Orochimaru.

The Sannin easily dodged the imitation of Shukaku's arm, and countered, "Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu." he breathed flames onto the arm, expecting it to turn to glass. Instead, it merely swerved and reached for him again, forcing him to dodge a second time. "Hm... you fireproofed your sand..."

"It had to be done," Gaara admitted from where he was now standing on the rooftop along with the three Konoha-nin. "This new sand was flammable until a friend of mine fixed that problem." He pulled back the arm of sand, joining it to the mass of black dust gathered around him, several dozen times his own weight. I suppose the term 'friend' doesn't quite fit now, he reminded himself silently.

"Well now. There's four of you, and only one of me." Orochimaru pulled off the Kazekage's hat and robe. "Even taking into account how much I outclass you all, it hardly seems fair. Let's even things out, shall we?" the Sannin began making hand seals.

"Summons?" Hinata observed.

"They won't be snakes," the Hokage noted. "It would take something comparable to a boss summon to threaten me alone, and with you three here..."

"Edo Tensei, then," Gaara finished.

"Right. Dead Kage-level shinobi. Get ready, you three."

"Hm..." Gaara gathered his sand, burying himself in it. His voice echoed through the powder, somehow even louder than normal. "Black Death, Fourth Incarnation." The sand slowly grew upward, shaping itself into a humanoid figure tall enough to house a standing Gaara within its chest. The creature became a tall, slender humanoid wrapped in sand like a tattered robe with a hood. Gaara raised his newly formed right arm, pointing a hand with long, thin fingers at Orochimaru. "Avatar of the End."

Orochimaru snorted in amusement, then slammed his hands down on the rooftop. "Summoning: Edo Tensei."

Three coffins slowly rose up out of the tiles, one by one. The Hokage's eyes narrowed as he read the kanji on each successive coffin. "One... Two..." he paled when the third coffin rose. Four!? But that would mean... I must stop this coffin from opening! he filled his hands with shuriken and whipped them at the third coffin, but to no effect.

The first two coffins fell open, revealing two of the strongest shinobi in history. Naruto and Hinata stepped back instinctively as Hashirama and Tobirama Senju stepped forth. "Hm? This is..." Tobirama looked down at his hands. "The Impure World Reincarnation... but I had it sealed as kinjutsu. Who could summon us?" he turned, and sized up his summoner. "I don't know you. Who are you? How long have we been dead?"

"Little brother, look." Hashirama pointed to Sarutobi, drawing Tobirama's attention. "Sarutobi-kun. You've grown so old... does that mean you've been the Third Hokage all this time?"

"Yes..." the Third smiled sadly. "Under my watch, Konoha has continued to flourish."

"Good." Hashirama grinned. "Sorry we had to meet again like this, but if it's any consolation, I don't feel like I'm at my full strength..." he glanced past the Third. "Who are those kids?"

Gaara made no response, instead eyeing the coffin bearing the kanji for 'four.' Is that you in there...?

Naruto merely stared, awestruck, at the two legends until Hinata nudged him with her elbow. "Go on, Naruto-kun."

"Uh, right! Hokage-sama and Hokage-sama, I'm Naruto Uzumaki!" he grinned. "I'm gonna be the next Hokage!"

"Uzumaki?" Hashirama glanced up into the sky thoughtfully. "You mean you're from Mito-chan's family... so we might be distantly related."

"Silence, puppets," Orochimaru commanded, and stabbed a kunai into the back of each Hokage's head.

The lid of the third coffin fell open, and Sarutobi breathed a sigh of relief. The Fourth Kazekage, though he was fearsome, couldn't compare to Minato. Gaara, however, was less than pleased. The Jinchuuriki floated forward inside his sand body, and growled, "I'll fight him. You three handle Orochimaru and the Hokages."

"That voice," the Fourth mused, "it sounds so familiar. Who are you? Surely not the Third Kazekage... your weapon looks similar, but he never formed his iron sand into a humanoid body like that."

"It's me." Gaara's head emerged from within the sand monster's torso. "Otou-san."

"Gaara. You don't look like you've aged since I died, and yet you're fighting on Konoha's side. What happened while I was gone?"

"Suna switched sides when we found out you were killed. I was one of the ones who suggested it..." Gaara paused thoughtfully. "I don't feel any need for your approval, but I thought you might want to know, I'm going to become the Fifth Kazekage."

Naruto blinked at that, and turned to face his friend. "Eh!? Where'd that come from? You're not just ripping off my dream, are you?"

"Kazekage... if you're the same Gaara I saw before I died, you'll never manage that."

"I'm not." Gaara withdrew into his sand body. "I've changed, quite recently in fact. I've grown stronger, regained my sanity, made friends... I've even fallen in love..."

X

Gaara... Tenten kicked an Oto Chuunin in the throat, and threw several bundles of primed explosive tags at his friends. You'd better not die in there...

She looked around to confirm that no more Oto shinobi were headed her way, then leapt up through the rows and rows of arena seats until she was perched at the top of the arena's outer wall. "Where to now?" she murmured, then spotted a huge purple serpent tearing through the streets of the village, being chased by a very angry giant toad. That answers that question!

She crouched atop the arena wall, and drew a kunai to throw it to the roof of a house far below. "Substitution." she blinked as she switched places with the kunai, and she immediately began jumping from roof to roof, ready to unleash more explosives if she was ambushed. I wonder if Jiraiya-sama's with that toad, or if he's fighting another summon, or a bunch of ninjas... Oh Kami, he's probably gonna write more awesome fight scenes into the next Icha Icha book because of this! The ones in Icha Icha Violence were so great!

She let herself smirk, despite the chaos and danger flowing throughout the village around her. Maybe I shouldn't be taking this so lightly, but nothing bad's happened yet. My friends are all alive, Gaara's safe with Hokage-sama himself, and to be honest, everyone I've fought so far has been less of a threat than the Genin in the exams. So far so good.

She spotted a white-haired figure atop the toad, grinned, and continued to jump toward the giant snake, which was conveniently rampaging toward her. She reached into her pouch and pulled out a fistful of already unsealed paper spheres. Good, come right this way. I'll kill you, save all of these buildings and get another chance to fangirl over the greatest author ever to grace the Elemental Countries, all in one move!

The snake opened its jaws to hiss with perfect timing, just as it came within Tenten's range, and she threw an explosive ball into its mouth. It detonated, and the monster shrieked in agony, letting its bloody mouth hang open. It moved to turn away from Tenten, whose eyes widened.

I've only got one shot at this, before I end up harmlessly chasing this thing just like Jiraiya-sama! She quickly drew and threw a kunai, grinning as it pierced the snake's tongue. Bullseye, as usual, she noted, then Substituted with the weapon, placing herself into the beast's mouth.

Tenten readied the explosives remaining in her right hand, grimacing. This is gonna suck. With her barrier ninjutsu active, she took a running start along the snake's tongue as its mouth snapped shut, then let her feet slip forward, sliding on her back into its throat. Instinctively, the snake gagged and swallowed her, and she forced a grin. "And the stage is set."

The snake's throat messily exploded from within.

The toad carrying Jiraiya stopped in its pursuit, and its jaw fell open along with that of the Toad Sage himself. Then, a young kunoichi, whose identity was obscured by the blood covering almost all of her body, leapt up from the ground onto the snake's corpse, and perched there on one leg in imitation of a kabuki pose.

Specifically, the pose Jiraiya struck when making a dramatic entrance.

"Your heroine has arrived! Fear not; you're safe in the presence of Konoha's greatest weapons mistress, the best markswoman this side of an ANBU mask, and your number one fan! A hundred shots, a hundred bullseyes! Slayer of snakes and the bane of the Hidden Sound!" Tenten grinned under her red-splattered barrier ninjutsu. "With an entrance this cool, even your enemies... kneel and worship... AT YOUR AWESOMENESS!"

"Well, they do say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," the toad deadpanned.

"Hey..." Jiraiya folded his arms and grinned approvingly. "That was pretty good! Tenten, right?"

Tenten nodded, and tried to wipe away some snake blood from the barrier over her face. "Thanks, Jiraiya-sama. How are things going in this part of town?"

"Better than they could be," Jiraiya replied seriously. "Ibiki Morino's in charge of this area, working with a team of Jounin and Special Jounin to deal with more summons like that. This one here slipped right by us and was heading for the Academy, so I followed it."

"Maybe I can help," she replied. "I can do that trick with the explosives if a snake keeps dodging ninjutsu. It's kind of hard to dodge an explosion coming from inside you."

The sage nodded. "It did look effective, but... less than pleasant."

"Yeah," she agreed. "I'll do it if it'll help Konoha, but getting swallowed by a snake is not something I'd like to do on a regular basis." she recalled the recent event, and cringed. "Ugh. It was rubbery, and squishy at the same time." she tried to wipe away the blood over her face before letting the barrier fade. "Do you have, like, a towel or something?"

Jiraiya reached into his pouch, and tossed her a roll of fabric for use as a heavy bandage. Tenten cleaned off her face and hands, then dropped her barrier. "Thanks. Can I hold on to this?"

"It's all yours," Jiraiya muttered, distracted by the sight of a particularly huge rampaging snake.

Tenten followed his gaze. "Uh, maybe we should go take that one out next?"

"That one's over our heads for now," Jiraiya growled. "That's Manda, the snake boss. He's Kage-level... to be fair, so am I, but to fight him properly I'd need help from the toad boss, Gamabunta. I don't have enough chakra for that right now."

"So what do we do?"

"You kill some more snakes, I'll recover my chakra while I fight any Oto-nin near us with taijutsu, and hopefully by the time he gets pissed at us for killing his clanmates, the ANBU will have injured him, and I'll have enough chakra to summon Gamabunta or someone near his size."

X

"Gaara." The Kazekage raised his hands into a seal. "You say you've grown stronger, and your mind is stable again. Show me how you've grown. Fight me one-on-one."

"I intend to." Gaara's Avatar of the End inched forward. "Now that I've had time to think, I... I don't hate you anymore. But I certainly don't forgive you for trying to kill me, and I don't understand why you did it, either. There are things we need to discuss, Otou-san, and this is the only chance we'll ever have."

A massive cloud of gold dust seeped upward through the tiles of the rooftop, and gathered around the Kazekage. A portion of it branched off into an arm that reached for Gaara.

I have four Incarnations of the Black Death, Gaara noted as he and his sand dodged the attack. I'm already using one, and Oppression is simply a solid arm of compressed sand. Corruption covers the ground in sand, but my father can counter that. Likewise, if I fill the air with sand using Plague, he'll simply protect himself with a bubble of his own sand. It's problematic. These four moves were the most effective tactics I could think of using black sand, and half of them are useless against him.

You know, fleshbag, we could initiate that contract any time now.

Gaara blinked inside his sand, then dodged another attack from his father. Yes... we could use that, but not yet. I need to know more about what he can do before we use our trump card, and risk having him dismantle it. That does give me another idea, however.

The Kazekage easily dodged Gaara's next attacks, which were merely blasts of black sand thrown at great speed. He let several of them pass him by as he dodged, but mixed some of his gold dust into them so Gaara couldn't use them for a surprise attack. He then gathered most of his gold dust and sent it toward Gaara as a wave of metal.

Gaara emerged from within one of the piles of discarded sand, both black and gold, with Kuroshi in his hands. As stealthily as he could, he dashed forward over the tiles and stabbed the Kazekage in the back. "A few weeks ago, my girlfriend started teaching me kenjutsu. She says I've picked up the basics rather well."

"Your girlfriend," Tsurugi no Kinsuna repeated, even as he called his sand back to his body to attack and crush Gaara. "Tell me about her."

"Her name is Tenten," Gaara replied. He glanced up, noting the approaching wall of gold dust, and added, "Stain, Kuroshi." a torrent of sand roughly equivalent to what was in his old gourd exploded from the hilt, surrounding both father and son. "She's a Konoha Genin, so she didn't know about what I was until I told her. Even when I did, she wasn't particularly concerned."

"I see..." Tsurugi engulfed the black sand dome around them with his gold dust, and attempted to crush it with his version of the Sand Coffin.

"You might also be interested to know she made this sword, and the black sand around us." Gaara moved the sand remaining in his Avatar of the End to interfere with his father's attempt to break his defense. "But that's not what you wanted to know about her... she's kind, and strong-willed. She's also fearless; she saved my life a few weeks ago from an opponent that had us both outmatched."

"How'd you survive, if he had you two outmatched?"

"Two of my friends arrived to save us. You met them today; they're fighting Orochimaru as we speak." Gaara frowned, glancing around at the creaking, buckling walls of black sand around them. "What are you doing out there?"

"My gold dust is heavier than this sand you're using, whatever it's made of. You have to hurry, Gaara. Don't die here."

"I won't." A branch of black sand broke off from the dome around them, and tore a hole through the tiles under their feet. As they both fell through the roof, the same sand engulfed the Kazekage's legs up to his knees. The two sand wielders landed on the floor below, and Gaara pulled his sword free of his father's back before dodging a brief taijutsu assault. So this barrier doesn't have a floor... I assume the walls would extend underground to prevent an Earth Release user from getting in or out, but no matter. I can work with this.

Black and gold sand flooded down through the hole in the roof, and the father and son pulled apart to avoid being buried in it. Gaara held out his sword, and pulled a torrent of gold-laced black sand to it. His own sand was absorbed into the seal on the guard with no resistance, but Tsurugi's gold dust was unable to follow it.

He released the newly purfied sand from his sword, and sent the gourd's worth of sand through the floor below, opening a hole for him to jump through. Now on the first floor of the building, he sent his sand into the ground beneath him.

Listen, fleshbag. You're never gonna beat your old man without starting our contract.

I'm aware of that. I'm simply waiting for the ideal moment to use it. Gaara's eyes widened as he felt the black and gold sand being seperated by his father, and immediately began attacking with it. Tsurugi blocked and deflected the streams of black sand, until Gaara made a Sand Clone in his likeness and ordered it to attack the Kazekage with kenjutsu.

Tsurugi easily engulfed the clone in gold dust, and was unable to stop himself from calling, "Gold Sand Coffin." The clone that he had mistaken for the real Gaara was crushed and destroyed. No... after all these years, the moment I stop wanting to kill you is the moment I succeed?

The floor under the Kazekage's feet exploded upward, obliterated by a wave of dull brown sand. A smaller stream of Gaara's black sand struck Tsurugi's chest and spread over his whole body, holding him in place for Gaara to stab him again, this time through the front of his heart.

Now is that moment, Shukaku.

"You're alive," Tsurugi breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Yes. Now, Tenten insisted on the name of this jutsu, so I'll use it."

A long, thin fuinjutsu along the blade of Gaara's katana lit up a fiery red. "Bankai." an incomprehensibly massive amount of black sand exploded out of the blade, ripping the Kazekage's bloodless body apart and scattering the pieces. The sand filled the entire building, tearing apart walls and floors as it continued to pour out of Gaara's sword. The roof above them cracked and split apart.

The sand began to take a shape, just as the Kazekage's body reformed. Tsurugi watched in approval at the scale of his son's jutsu, then horror as he recognized the familiar face growing out of the sand. "No..."

Unnatural, glowing yellow eyes lit up in Shukaku's face of black sand as the One-Tail's new body finished forming. Gaara emerged from the Tailed Beast's head and called, along with Shukaku himself, "Kuroshi Tanuki."

Please Review!