Naruto: The Uchiha Chronicles

by RinneTaicho

The course of history changed when Madara Uchiha met a woman who pulled him from "The Curse of Hatred" once more. But the threat of the Eye of the Moon Plan isn't over. A new and mysterious figure lurks in the shadows. Now his grandson will set out on a journey to bring honor back to their clan and family. Sharingan/Magnet Style Naruto, Naruto x Fem-Sasuke x ?

53. Chapter 52

Naruto: The Uchiha Chronicles Re-Version:

Chunin Exams Arc Part 2:

Chapter 52: A reason to exist

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An illusion descended over the Chunin Exam stadium. Downy feathers fell like snow, lulling everyone who witnessed it into a deep sleep. Men, women, and children slumped forward, unaware of the pandemonium that erupted around them, blissfully ignorant to the terrible danger they were in.

The shinobi of the Leaf had no such luxury. Men wearing balaclavas in grey uniforms threw off cloaks amidst the crowd. Their snake-pattern scarves gave them away as Sound Shinobi. The Sound Shinobi fell upon the guards manning the entrances.

Sand shinobi poured out as well. Naruto gaped. Instead of attacking the Sound they began to attack Leaf shinobi.

'How did we get taken by surprise?' It made no sense, there was a barrier monitoring new chakra signatures for goodness' sake! Gramps had been working on the security since the second exam. So how? They hadn't even gotten a hint of the Hidden Sand being allied with Orochimaru, at least that Naruto knew. These thoughts flew through his mind in seconds.

'Focus brat, think later!' The fox urged.

Naruto shook his head and sent the fox a silent thanks.

Very quickly, Naruto gathered his wits. He looked at Gaara, who was on the ground clutching his head in agony. Sand whipped about Gaara in wrathful frenzy. 'He has to be part of their plan.' They had been played. The enemy had a jinchuriki right at the heart of the Leaf, an unstable one at that who'd come to believe his purpose was to kill others. Right now, Jonin and Chunin would be guiding civilians to the shelters, there was no end to the number of people Gaara could kill if he was let loose.

He had to be taken down quickly. Naruto reached into his pouch and pulled out a paper tag given to him by Jiraiya, "Just in case he goes full transformation" the Sannin had told him. He'd scoffed at the idea, but now Naruto was glad to have it.

Naruto prepared to gather his steel sand and attack, an idea Genma seemed to mirror. The jonin crouched, slowly drawing a kunai.

Before they could strike, Gaara's siblings appeared from nowhere. His siblings took up protective stances in front of Gaara, while their sensei Baki met Genma's kunai with their own.

Steel rang, as the jonin engaged in a test of strength. The Sand jonin grit his teeth, holding up the first two fingers on his free hand and forming a wind blade he used to try and slice through Genma's throat. Genma shuffled back, giving Baki some breathing room.

"Temari, Kankuro, get Gaara out of here until he's recovered! He's vital to the plan." The jonin shouted.

Temari nodded sharply. Naruto let out a curse and rushed forward to stop them. He tried to activate his Flash Step, but his vision swam, almost bringing him down as he tried to keep his lunch down. With an intense gaze, Temari slashed her fan and unleashed a wall of scythe-like wind blades at him. He was forced to call upon the scattered steel sand to form a protective wall. The second he sensed the pressure was gone; Naruto drew back all his metal. It was no surprise when he saw the sand siblings had disappeared. He frowned, as he sensed their chakra signatures racing away from the populated center of the village.

"Uchiha, gather a team and go after them! It'll be an S-class mission." Genma shouted over the sounds of battle.

Naruto turned to the man and acknowledged his order. "Got it."

He knew immediately he'd take Sasuki and Sakura. Possibly Shikamaru as well. To that end, Naruto created a clone to find the Nara. He'd have to catch up, but having backup was better than nothing. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of movement.

With barely a microsecond to spare, Naruto brought his sword up to block the strike of a hulking Sand chunin wielding a scythe-like blade. An odd liquid dripped from the metal. "Really don't have time for this!" Naruto growled. At his command, three spikes of steel pierced the man through his heart and lungs. Naruto left his enemies body to collapse.

A glut of Sound and Sand ninja had already invaded the arena. Naruto had to cut through several more before he could safely use teleportation to reappear in the contestant's box.

He was very grateful he had his Sharingan active, because as soon as he appeared, two shuriken buzzed towards him from opposite sides of the box. Naruto easily sliced through both. He stared at the occupants of the room in annoyance. Shino, Sakura, and Sasuki stood on one side, the latter looked a bit sheepish with her right hand extended. The other held her leather-wrapped tanto in a tight grip. Opposite them, Karui and Omoi had drawn their blades. A tenseness between both sides, Sasuki looked at the Cloud Ninja as if they were Vipers, poised to strike with vicious fangs and deadly poison.

Naruto looked to the most levelheaded of his fellow Leaf ninja. "What's going on here Shino?"

The tall genin with bushy hair pushed his sunglasses up his nose, before answering in a low monotone. "It remains to be seen if the Cloud team is in on this invasion, thus, our dilemma."

"We told you already asshole, we didn't know! We came to make peace, why would we ruin that?" Karui shouted.

"As if we could just take your word." Sasuki scoffed.

A frown slipped across Naruto's face. Unfortunately, he couldn't just dismiss what Sasuki said. Using the guise of diplomacy to achieve an ulterior motive was in the Hidden Clouds playbook. Perhaps Samui had been playing him. He didn't want to consider it, but he couldn't help but have the thought. He turned to Samui, while contacting the Nine-Tails. 'Read her response if you could.'

'Very well.'

"Are you involved in this invasion at all?" He asked Samui directly. The blonde shook her head.

"No, we had no idea. If you'll allow us, we'll prove it by helping."

Sasuki glared at her former opponent. "We should just capture them and deal with the attack, they can't be trusted right now."

'The blonde is telling the truth.'

Naruto winced, he knew what he was about to do wouldn't earn him any favor with Sasuki, but they were in a hurry and had no time for pointless combat.

"She's telling the truth, let's go. I've been ordered to go after Gaara and his siblings."

"You can't be serious! Why are you just trusting them?" \

"I'm not." Naruto silently motioned to his stomach as he stared at Sasuki and Sakura intently. Comprehension dawned in their eyes, and they–reluctantly in Sasuki's case–let down their guards. Shino quirked an eyebrow but offered no protest. Naruto let a relieved sigh and swept his hand through his hair, before turning to the Cloud team. "I'd appreciate it if you stayed here to help defend the crowd."

"Very well, though what of civilians outside?" Samui enquired.

A small smirk slipped across his lips. "That's not an issue."

Naruto could already sense that those escorting the civilians were in the tunnels within the Hokage Monument. The invaders could try to find them, but it would be a pointless effort. Perhaps the Sound and Sand had thought the Leaf had grown soft and weak. That was the only reason he could fathom they'd be so brazen. If so, they were in for a rude awakening.

He didn't elaborate, and instead gave an order to his team. "Let's move out, they're already approaching the edge of the city."

"Got it." Sakura answered, Sasuki simply nodded.

Naruto silently activated a teleportation, using his senses to home in on where the Sand siblings were fleeing to. Sakura and Sasuki followed suit, racing after him as he tore through the arena and out into the village. Together, they passed through the streets and on top of the roofs, avoiding combat at every turn. As they pushed the pace, they rapidly began to close on their targets. Naruto's Sharingan spun furiously, he could see them not even a mile away, about to enter the forest.

Temari was on the left, supporting her little brother. He closed his eyes; the scent of sandalwood and chestnuts filled his nostrils. Could he really fight her? The answer was obvious. Temari was part of the invasion. Naruto opened his eyes and hardened his heart.

'Nine, some chakra.'

The familiar burning chakra flooded through his coils. Naruto disappeared in a blur of speed as he activated his Flash Step once more, fighting through his discomfort. He moved too fast for Gaara's automatic defense to react, appearing in Gaara's guard and slamming a kick into the redhead's back that could shatter a cliff face.

Gaara let out a gasp of pain as he was sent hurtling into the forest. Bark and leaves flew as the redhead smashed through trees. Temari and Kankuro gaped with shocked eyes, unable to comprehend what had just happened. While they were still distracted, Naruto threw a quick jab into both of their stomachs, sending them in different directions.

"Sakura, go after Kankuro, Sasuki, you've got Temari. Don't try helping me when you finish, this fights gonna be on a different scale." He shouted over his shoulder.

Naruto's kick had carried Gaara far, at least a mile into the forest. He alighted upon a branch, finally laying eyes on his target.

Gaara stood on a tree branch thick as a cart. Sand marked with blue swirls slithered across his body like creeping ooze. The right side of Gaara's face had been completely enveloped–the sclera of his eye was pitch black with a sickly yellow diamond-shaped pupil–and resembled mishappen cats head, while his arm had been engulfed in a bulging arm that got thicker as it went, ending into a crudely shaped hand tipped by black claws. Behind him, a tail as large as Gaara's entire body waved menacingly, having sprouted from the bottom of his gourd.

"You, Naruto Uzumaki! Mother shall feast on your blood!"Gaara shrieked in a warped and twisted voice. There was something other in it, someone besides Gaara speaking.

With a swipe of a clawed hand, a howling wall of razor-sharp wind and tearing sand hurtled towards Naruto, ripping everything in its path to shreds. Naruto had no chance to draw Senbonzakura. He thrust forth his hand, and channeled yin-yang chakra.

"Barrier #81: Airtight!" A transparent rectangular wall appeared between Naruto and the sand, it stretched the entire length of the branch he stood on and well above and below the tree trunk. The wind slammed into the barrier with an almighty BOOM. As his barrier weathered the storm, Naruto peered through the transparent surface, the wind was dying down. He took a deep breath and prepared to try to end this quickly. 'I'll have one shot.' This would be his last burst with Flash Step.

The wind finally died down; Naruto disappeared. His vision swam as he closed the distance, but he shook it off. A veil of wind chakra enveloped Senbonzakura. He reappeared in front of Gaara and pierced into his left shoulder easily. He started to pour steel sand into the sand, turning it silvery brown.

"That won't work now Uchiha!"Gaara roared. His tail whipped around, slamming into Naruto's side with the force of a charging bull. The air was driven from Naruto's lungs as he flew through the air and slammed into a tree trunk. His ribs creaked ominously under the force. Perhaps worse than that was the secondary fall to a branch twenty feet down.

As he landed, Naruto heard a sharp crack. It wasn't the tree branch. Pain lanced through his right side. Every breath was hard to make, yet he forced it anyway. Naruto wasn't the most experienced with healing, but he knew it was important to keep breathing normally.

Sensing an attack coming, Naruto used a substitution to escape. CRACK! The place he'd been standing on was blasted by sand and wind. From twenty yards away, well out of Gaara's sight, he watched broken wood and bark rain from the sky. 'When is that rib getting fixed?' He asked the Nine-Tails.

'A few minutes.' The fox growled, he sounded annoyed.

Naruto grimaced but accepted the assessment. He thought to perhaps keep hiding, but that option was taken away from him when Gaara's arm erupted through the tree trunk, forcing Naruto to flee. If he wasn't careful, he'd soon find himself overwhelmed.

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Sakura frowned worriedly, as Naruto chased after Gaara. He'd used a lot of chakra today, more than most people probably realized. For all of his seemingly limitless supply of chakra, even Naruto could run low. And for once, he was fighting someone who seemed to be just as much of a monster in that regard as him. 'Not that I'm one to talk about using too much chakra.'

Shaking her head, she hurried to follow the path Kankuro's body had taken. Normally, she'd prefer to be more methodical in approaching Kankuro, she'd had precious little chance to analyze how he fought. But her chakra was still low, extending the fight wasn't viable. 'Smash and grab strategy it is.'

She found Kankuro in a small hollow a half mile from where Naruto had punched him. The sand Shinobi looked to still be gathering himself. Silently activating her Iron Skin jutsu, Sakura hurtled through the air with her fist cocked back. Kankuro, perhaps sensing something off, looked up just in time for his eyes to widen as she prepared to drive her fist into his face.

BOOM! Sakura landed with a crash. Instead of the feeling of malleable flesh and breakable bone, she felt earth and tree roots crack and crater under her fist as a minor dust cloud filled her vision. As it cleared, she saw Kankuro looking annoyed as he stood between two trees.

"Of course, it's the one that's not squishy." He complained.

Even through the stone, Sakura blushed. She took the comment to mean something entirely different than intended. Her mind instantly went to Sasuki's development compared to hers.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oi, I meant I can't just cut ya open, don't take it weird, I'm not some kind of perv!" Kankuro protested.

"Well, I mean, you do walk around in a baggy cat suit wearing makeup, so it's hard to tell." Sakura rebutted.

Kankuro growled, in a flash his puppet was off his back and the bandages were unwinding, "I'll be finishing this quickly." He muttered as he disappeared into the foliage.

The oddly shaped puppet rattled its jaw, before hurtling towards her. Sakura clenched her fist and met the puppets charge head on. Needles dripping with a clear fluid pinged off her stone skin. The puppet's wrist flicked back, revealing a deadly stiletto blade. Her nose was assaulted by the scent of bitter almonds. Sakura opened her fist and grabbed the slender blade. A quick twitch snapped the blade, which she tossed aside before snapping off a spin kick that had the puppet's wooden body groaning as it flew away.

Before it could crash into the tree, it shuttered to a stop before shooting off, trying to flank Sakura with blitzing speed.

"The Crow won't be taken out by something like that!" Kankuro taunted, his voice echoing from all around.

Sakura took note of the way it had slowed. 'It began slowing down from the north-west.' Filing that in the back of her mind, she formed a snake seal and sunk into the ground.

Traveling through surfaces with Surface Moving was an odd sensation. It felt nothing like the Hiding Like a Mole Jutsu. With that, you were moving through dirt. Right now, it felt like she was moving through thick water, if that was even a thing. By all rights she shouldn't be able to see or hear, yet Sakura could hear what happened above perfectly, and somehow "saw" the world. Which is how she set her trap. A few quick hand seals, and earth spears jut from the earth and tried to stab the puppet on three sides. Predicting its path, Sakura kicked her legs and launched from the earth. Her stone fist connected with the puppets upper shoulder joint with a fierce CRACK of snapping wood.

The arm flew off, falling to the ground uselessly. "What was that about beating your little toy?"

There was little time for her to celebrate. The broken arm hovered into the air, a gleaming blade the size of a saber unfolding from the shoulder. It began to whiz around, going the opposite way of the puppet as the two tried to encircle her. 'How many blades does this thing have?' Despite her internal complaint, Sakura was glad for the occurrence. Her eyes darted about, judging how the arm and the puppet were moving, even while batting away attacks. Finally, she saw it. Her eyes trailed to a bunch of foliage in the treetops.

'So that's where you are!' Without giving away her discovery, Sakura was prepared to end the fight. She was just about to retreat into the ground when a sharp sound pierced her eardrums. Wobbling on her feet, her concentration flickered. In that brief moment, she felt a white-hot sting as the arm blade managed to slice her thigh. Within seconds, she could feel the poison dulling her senses, making things fuzzy. Through blurry eyes, she spotted two figures in camouflaged grey clothes emerge from the bushes.

"Good thing we came to investigate the sounds, Sand Ninja. Seems you could use our assistance."

Sakura had just enough presence of mind to activate her surface moving technique, slipping into the ground, and fleeing temporarily so she could heal.

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Sasuki raced after Temari, seeking to take advantage of the blonde flying through the air. The blonde recovered quickly, pulling her iron fan from her sash, and snapping it open before gliding through the air until she alighted upon the ground in long, narrow clearing. There, she turned to Sasuki while rubbing her stomach gently.

"That wasn't quite how I would have preferred Naruto smacked me." Temari said, trailing her hand towards her backside, giving Sasuki a taunting smirk. "Ya know what I mean? He can be so commanding in battle it gives a girl ideas."

The Uchiha grit her teeth. She tried not to give in to the taunting. It was her that had the advantage, Temari was just trying to throw her off. The girl was a strategic mastermind, surely, she knew she didn't stand a chance with just her wind. Far from discouraging her, Sasuki's silence seemed to amuse Temari. She giggled behind her hand.

"Just how much of that flirting with Naruto was strategic?" Sasuki growled.

That had bothered her for a while. She got the feeling Temari was simply toying with Naruto, something that infuriated her more than seeing the kind of attention he paid the Sand kunoichi.

Temari smirked amusedly, "Oh? I'd say fifty-fifty. It was orders, but it wasn't too hard to show interest in him. It was cute seeing you jealous."

"Jealous? I'm not jealous, I'm pissed you've been toying with my best friend!" Sasuki threw herself at Temari, forming a tiger seal and unleashing a fireball of particularly intense heat.

Instead of dodging, Temari swiped her fan through the air, unleashing a blade of wind that sliced through a thick tree that took the brunt of Sasuki's fireball. With the smell of rich wood smoke invading her nose, Sasuki leapt backwards, anticipating the follow up attack that saw a net of wind blades slice through the burning trunk and gouge into the spot where she'd been standing.

Stuck in midair, there seemed to be no hope when Temari cut down another tree. As the towering oak fell towards her, Sasuki's Sharingan spun furiously, judging the distance, quick as possible, she whipped out a kunai and tied a ninja wire to it, before throwing the kunai into the tree. As it buried itself to the hilt, Sasuki swung herself with all her strength, catapulting over the severed tree and twisting around to face Temari again as she landed on the ground. The blonde smirked

"Keep lying to yourself. I spotted that crush of yours from a mile away. But don't worry, I'll take care of Naruto. He'll be an excellent pet when this is over."

Sasuki couldn't decide which was worse, the cruel games Temari was playing, or the fact they were working. "Enough with your mind games, Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"

A barrage of basketball-sized fireballs intercepted several wind blades. Bracing her knees, Sasuki absorbed the harsh impact of the tree. With dust still clogging the air, she darted forwards.

Temari was a dark silhouette in the dust. Sasuki raced towards her while unsheathing her tanto. The metal hummed as she approached her target as the dust cleared. The Uchiha savored the shocked look Temari wore, trying to bring her fan up to defend herself. But it was too late.

The sound of something cutting through the air, a slither along the ground. Those were the only warnings Sasuki had to abort her attack. Throwing herself backwards, she just barely avoided a hail of Senbon needles launched from the gaping maw of a wooden bat.

Sasuki skidded to a stop, wearily taking in a new figure in the tree branches, a Sand shinobi wearing a jonin flak jacket, with a shock of brown hair, and a pair of sunglasses. The wooden bat–a puppet, she realized–swooped down to hover protectively in front of Temari, while a large puppet snake rose up from the ground. Terrible saw blades jutted from it's body segments, tearing apart anything they ran across.

"Lady Temari, I am glad to have been here to protect you. Please, allow me to assist in taking down this Leaf kunoichi."

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'The rib is healed.'

Naruto took an experimental breath, his ribs felt fine. With his rib healed, he peered carefully around the tree trunk at his back. Twenty meters away, Gaara was rampaging in his transformed state. He looked even more savage than before. As his rage had grown, the sand had crept along his body, taking over more and more. Naruto had managed to hide while he healed, but there was no telling how much longer it would have lasted.

"Where are you Uchiha, show yourself!"

Gaara howled in fury, tearing tree branches to shreds and launching sand bullets that pierced wood as if it was water. 'Water, that's not a bad idea.' He was struck with inspiration.

While Gaara had his back to him, Naruto flashed through hand seals, ending with the ram. 'Water Style: Hidden Mist Jutsu!' Gathering from the surrounding moisture, and expelled from Naruto's mouth, a great cloud of cool mist enveloped the area in a clinging fog.

"What is this!"Gaara's voice boomed through the air, filled with rage and impatience.

Ignoring his agitated enemy, Naruto put the gathered water to its true purpose. He stepped out from behind his cover, and began a complex series of hand seals, ending with bird. "Water Style: Giant Vortex Jutsu!"

Water gathered, tiny drops bonding into a terrible vortex, it sounded like a fierce river trapped in the sky. Naruto's Sharingan tracked as it raced towards Gaara, carrying ripped up debris as it went. The transformed Sand shinobi was forced to stand and withstand it. Even as everything around him was ravaged, Gaara stood firm.

When it was over, Gaara locked eyes with Naruto, and his mishappen mouth stretched into a bloodthirsty smile. "So, water tricks now?"

Plop. A clump of sand fell from Gaara's body, soaked through with water and losing its form. Naruto saw another clump fall, then another. His plan was working. Soon Gaara's tail was falling to pieces, the rest of the sand on his upper body soon followed

"What have you done, Uchiha!"Gaara roared in fury, causing more sand to fall.

"Kinda difficult to harden sand when its soggy!" Naruto taunted, launching himself at Gaara. This was the chance to strike. Even without the Flash Step, he still had Teleportation. He used the speed lent to him, closing the distance in a blur. As he ran, he formed hand seals.

Gaara tried to attack, his sand slow and sluggish, it had no hope to catch Naruto.

Naruto closed in a hurry, spitting out a mass of water. He slammed his palm into Gaara's stomach. Water bubbled up, stretching, and expanding until Gaara was trapped in a sphere of water. The few remnants of his transformation broke away, swirling motes of sand filled the sphere as Gaara glared at him with a demonic gaze.

The monstrous boy began to struggle, churning the water as sand began to muddy the water with their grit. "YOU THINK THIS WILL HOLD ME?"He roared.

"It doesn't have to, I just need it to keep you still for a sec." Naruto replied, reaching into his pouch, and retrieving the seal tag given by Jiraiya. He gripped it tightly, "You won't harm my village, I refuse to allow it!

He should have just placed the tag. Gaara roared in fury, his chakra ran wild, making the surface of the water begin to writhe and bubble. "I WILL PROVE MY EXISTENCE"

The primal roar rippled through the water prison, tearing it apart as if it were tissue paper. Naruto stumbled back as he witnessed Gaara's dripping, furious form. His sand exploded, then instantly retracted, shedding any trace of water. But that wasn't all, it was growing, and there was a swell in the intensity of his tailed-beast chakra. Within seconds, a grotesque miniature of a Tanuki of Sand stood before him. And he could feel there was more to come.

'Shit, he's going full transformation!' Naruto knew he had to get away. He activated a seal less Teleportation, fleeing nearly one hundred yards just as sand exploded from Gaara. His form grew amidst a cloud of dust. A massive, waving tail emerged, swiping away the cloud to reveal the mighty One-Tail, its form soared above the forest, nearly as tall as the Hokage Monument. Shukaku was a sandy-brown racoon dog, with dark blue markings all over its face, body, and tail. It had a jagged and concave mouth with no tongue. Baleful black and yellow eyes stared over the forest.

Naruto squinted his eyes, seeing Gaara's upper body emerging from the racoon dog's forehead. His sharingan picked up movement. "Is he, forming a seal?"

Gaara slumped forwards, and the tailed beast's eyes gleamed with color, no longer blank receptacles, but intelligent and awake. "I'M FREEEEE!"

"That crazy bastard gave into Shukaku!" Naruto cursed.

"Now where's that blond? I'll kill him then go on a little rampage to have some fun!" Shukaku crowed. The beast began swiping its tail and arms, ripping up the forest. Trees fell tens at a time, like weeds scattered by a scythe.

Naruto winced at its booming voice. The terrible might of it pressed against his eardrums and shook his bones. He had to do something. 'I'll have to use what I learned from the dragons. Still I can't leave him unattended.' He crouched and bit his thumb as he performed the summoning jutsu. Upon slamming his palm into the tree, a small burst of smoke erupted, clearing to reveal a pure white dragon the size of a weasel, with intelligent blue eyes. Her name was Kuzuryu, the daughter of Mizuchi.

"Sup, Naruto?" Kuzuryu asked. She looked around, sensing the heavy chakra in the air. "Feels like something serious is going on."

"Don't have a lot of time to explain, go back and tell your dad I'm fighting the One-Tail jinchuriki and I'll have to summon him soon. He should expect to be summoned midair." Naruto explained quickly as he drew Senbonzakura. He had to make sure Mizuchi knew what to expect. If he summoned him with no warning, the dragon could be killed.

"Got it." She replied, disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Naruto turned to stare at the rampaging tailed beast. He took a deep breath, preparing for a perilous stunt.

"Let's do this."

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Sakura winced as she swallowed the foul-tasting mix of herbs and water. Her stomach felt unsettled, as the concoction went down. It was necessary though. She'd whipped up a basic antidote for the poison. "Blurred vision, accelerated heart rate,' she glanced to a cut, which was bleeding far more profusely than it should. "… and clot prevention. Nasty poison, it's meant to kill. But this should hold off the effects until I can make a proper antidote."

Her heart rate slowly lowered, as Sakura began to plan how to handle Kankuro and the sound ninja. She could still feel the effects of having her equilibrium disrupted. Yet, she couldn't leave the three for long, they would soon move on if they hadn't already.'I'll use the Surface Swimming Jutsu, and try to take the Sound shinobi out.'

Activating her jutsu, Sakura sunk into the ground below. She raced to reach the hollow where she'd left them. Empty. Without panicking, she began to travel through the ground in the direction of Naruto's fight with Gaara. It was easy to tell from the vibrations.

In the ground, she was much faster than on land. Within minutes, she caught sight of the three shinobi racing through the treetops.

Sakura drew a kunai and raced up the surface of a tree, emerging underneath the sound shinobi with the reeds. Before he even knew what was happening, Sakura shot out of the tree trunk, stabbing right through the soft flesh under his chin, past flesh, and bone, straight into his brain.

"What the hell?" His partner exclaimed, drawing a scimitar-like blade. Kankuro skidded to a stop on a tree branch, turning and reaching for the Crow as he disappeared into the foliage.

Before either had a chance to think, Sakura threw herself at the partner with her fist cocked back. She'd snap his blade, then knock him out!

At least, that was the plan. A piercing sound made her collapse to her knees clutching her ears.

"I told you it was a good idea to stay back. Now, let's finish this." A third sound shinobi said, emerging from the trees ten yards away. He carried a harp, his fingers poised to pluck at the strings.

Sakura panted, her vision was blurry, and she was surrounded by enemies. But she refused to back down. With a scream of defiance, she slammed her fist into the trunk of the tree. Earth, caked on from centuries, rose up into a spear that pierced the sound shinobi's heart.

He gurgled and choked; blood dripped down his front. Sakura fought back another wave of nausea. Stumbling to her feet, she heard a roar of fury.

"You bitch!"

The sole remaining Sound shinobi was by far the largest, with bulging arms as thick as her waist. Yet he moved fast, racing forward with his scimitar blade prepared to decapitate her.

Laugh? Cry? Sakura wasn't sure which to do. The second before the shinobi reached her seemed to stretch into eternity. Her entire life, tall trees had been comforting, silent protectors watching over them. Now they looked like tombstones. Would that be what they were to her? Her body left to wither and rot as the forest claimed her?

'Mom … Dad I don't want to die, not after I've come so far.' Yet there was nothing that could change it. A tear slipped down her cheek.

Sakura accepted her fate with her eyes open. But then, a miracle. The sound shinobi made to step forward but froze. "Wh-what the hell!"

A mass of beetles poured from the man's clothes. She'd recognize them anywhere. 'Those are Shino's insects.!' The sole remaining Sound ninja let out a scream of shock, as beetles swarmed him, racing up his body as they devoured his chakra. It was a slow, agonizing thing, but eventually the man collapsed, laying silent and still. Shino finally revealed himself, stepping out from behind a tree behind where the first shinobi had fallen.

"Apologies it took so long." He said.

"What're you doing here?"

Shino glanced to the side. "A moment." Sakura turned to stare, letting out a gasp as she saw the Crow racing towards them. Having seen their distraction, Kankuro had tried to capitalize. A swarm of bugs engulfed it, running up the strings. "I was disappointed in losing out on my fight, so I used the female beetle I snuck on Kankuro before the match to track him."

Brushing aside the casual admittance to cheating, Sakura saw the chakra threads suddenly snap, but it was too late. She'd seen where they were headed. Even though she could feel her chakra slipping, her skin losing some of the hardness, Sakura activated her Surface Swimming Jutsu one last time.

"We can talk in a sec, time to finish this."

Disappearing into that odd in-between world of the jutsu, Sakura raced towards where she knew Kankuro had been. She found him fleeing, quickly emerging in front of him. Kankuro only had a chance to widen his eyes before Sakura punched his lights out. He collapsed in a heap, out cold.

Soon after, Shino jumped over, regarding the Sand shinobi curiously. He looked at Sakura, his expression hard to read with his coat and glasses.

"I guess I'm not getting that fight, why? Because my opponent lost to someone else."

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Sakura couldn't help but laugh. It quickly turned to a scream when a wave of pure force swept through the air, shaking the trees like a gale-force wind. When it passed, Sakura stared in the direction it came from, where she knew Naruto was fighting. Two powerful, awful chakras hung in the air; they terrified her.

"We need to see what's going on over there." She concluded grimly.

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A curse left her lips, as she dodged a storm of needles, they were dripping with a liquid Sasuki was sure had to be poison. At the same time, wind blades barraged her from Temari's fans, and the snake tore apart the ground. She didn't want to know what it could do to a limb. Every once in a while, the snake would open its mouth and launch kunai at her, dripping in that same poison.

It was all she could do to dodge the attacks with her sharingan. During a lull in attacks, Sasuki used a teleportation to appear over the bat puppet, channeling lightning through her tanto as she sought to slice it in half.

Just as she began to cut through the body, a wind blade from Temari forced her to push off the puppet and backflip into the trees. "Dammit, I can't get at any of them!"

This is how it had been for several minutes, every time it looked as if she had an opening, either Temari or the puppet user would prevent her from taking advantage. It was a maddening conundrum, and one she didn't know how to solve. 'I don't have the brute force to smash them. I'll have to get creative here.'

Sasuki subtly reached into her equipment pouch for a spool of ninja wire. Deftly tying the end to her tanto securely, she began to swing it about, channeling lightning chakra through it. There was no fancy name for this attack to declare, it was brand new. As the spinning blade of electricity gained speed, Sasuki let it fly, swiping through the air to slice down on the snake puppet, perfectly bisecting it horizontally.

"Orochi!" The puppeteer shouted in fury.

With a large heave, Sasuki jerked the tanto back towards her, swinging it above her head like a lasso. Using her sharingan, she perfectly timed when to let it loose.

The electrified tanto looked like an electric disk, as it raced through the air and tore through the bat puppet straight down the middle. This second destruction drew a howl of rage from the puppeteer.

"My puppets, stop destroying my puppets!" He cried as he collapsed to his knees.

Internally, Sasuki scoffed at the pathetic display. Just as she was about to retrieve her tanto, a wind blade sliced through the ninja wire. 'Annoying, but I can make it work.' Sasuki concluded, eyeing Temari, who seemed no less confident. Still, with the puppets down, Sasuki knew this was her chance.

She raced down the tree headed straight Temari, who was unprotected for the first time. The bonus was, she had a chance to snatch up her tanto. This time, she channeled fire through it. As Temari threw wind attacks at her, she swiped the flame-coated blade to absorb the attacks, only intensifying the heat of the fire. It began to get so hot; her skin became tender. Any more heat, and her hand would burn. Temari gained a look of concern, as her attacks failed to do anything.

Twenty more yards, then she'd have the annoying blonde. Temari's fearful expression suddenly became a cheshire smirk. A terrible clatter rose behind Sasuki.

Glancing over her shoulder, her eye widened in shock as she witnessed an odd chimera made from the destroyed puppets. With the snake as the main body, the bats body and wings had been added to the snake, it's head replacing the snakes as it swooped over her. From his perch, the puppeteer cackled in delight.

"Enjoy my show? I call it, Performance of the Dragon!"

The creature's mouth opened, spewing out a cloud of noxious looking gas. With little other choice, Sasuki swung her tanto, unleashing a blast of flames that engulfed and absorbed the gas.

Sensing something off, Sasuki turned around, her stomach did an odd flip as she saw a slicing wind blade. At the last second she flipped backwards, letting the blade pass so close it sheared off several strands of raven hair. She landed in a three-point stance.

As she stood up, Sasuki's heart dropped as the puppet burst through the flames. As it flew, blades popped out along the dragon's wings, wickedly sharp and thick as an axe. Its maw gaped open; she saw a bundle of needles gleaming within. If she tried to dodge, she'd be hit by the needles. And if she tried to avoid the needles? The wing blades would get her.

'Substitution' Sasuki tried use substitution, but the jutsu wouldn't activate.

"What the hell?" She searched frantically, eventually her eyes caught a glint of blue. To her horror, she saw a chakra thread wrapped around her ankle.

"No escape, not while I've got you!" The puppeteer cackled.

Despair. Overwhelming despair crashed over Sasuki. The dragon creaked ominously, prepared to unleash the poison needles. Faced with death, she couldn't help but think back to her argument with Naruto. She still had yet to properly apologize and make up. Would he think she was still angry? That would be unbearable.

And then, the dragon froze. Not just the dragon, its puppeteer was frozen. The man cursed, struggling against an invisible force. "What the hell, I can't move!"

As the fear of death died down, Sasuki's sharp eyes picked up something dark attached near the man's feet. A shadow.

From the edge of the clearing, a tired voice sounded out. "Man, what a drag. Here I was, planning to pretend to sleep through this whole thing. But no, Naruto had to make me help."

Sasuki's eyes twitched, as she spotted Shikamaru standing there holding his family's signature seal. Part of her was annoyed by his nonchalant attitude, another knew this was her chance. The chakra thread had disappeared. Creating a silent clone, she turned and raced towards a stunned Temari. Using teleportation, she appeared in front of her enemy before she had a chance to react. Lashing out with a lightning-covered tanto, Sasuki let out a shout of triumph.

"It's over!"

Her tanto sliced a cut into Temari's arm, instantly paralyzing the girl. Normally, she'd have loved to kill her. Unfortunately, Temari was a useful prisoner.

Standing over the fallen kunoichi, Sasuki let her heart rate slow, taking deep breaths as she turned to look back at the puppeteer. As expected from her memories, she found him slumped over the tree branch he was on, throat cut and blood pouring onto the ground.

Shikamaru walked towards her lazily, arms behind his head. "Man, that was a tough fight, huh?"

"Oh, shut up you lazy ass!" Sasuki growled in annoyance. She wanted to punch him in the face–the boy had definitely taken his time getting there–but an intense blast drew her gaze towards the north-west. Directly where Naruto was. As two heavy chakra's descended on them, she couldn't help but worry.

"You better not die, idiot." she muttered.

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This was stupid, especially without Flash Step. Naruto huffed, only twenty yards from the rampaging racoon dog. He drew upon the Nine-Tails chakra, the bark cracked under his feet. Coiling his legs, he launched himself high, high into the air, soaring over the sand monster.

At his apex, he flashed through the signs for the Summoning Jutsu, biting his thumb and thrusting his palm down. Smoke erupted under him, and Naruto felt a jolt as a solid form halted his fall. Mizuchi's scales glittered amidst the fleeing smoke, his body twisted and turned, undulating sinuously, as the dragon's keen yellow eyes pinned Shukaku in place. The tailed beast narrowed his eyes up at Naruto's mount.

"What the hell are ya looking at, ya flying lizard?" The beast shouted.

A deep, rumbling growl rippled through Mizuchi. "Naruto … do what you must, I'm going to teach this up jumped sand sculpture a lesson!"

"Don't have to tell me twice." Only a fool would get in the middle of a battle between those two. He was quick to leap from his perch, as he arched through the air, a bubbling cloak of red chakra enveloped him. He thrust his arms forward and unleashed an arm of pure chakra that latched onto a tree branch, like a grappling hook, the chakra arm reeled him in.

He turned, watching as Shukaku unleashed a barrage of drilling wind bullets, Mizuchi countered with a blast of water. The two attacks met, spreading a fine mist to fall slowly. Naruto shook his head, he couldn't afford to gawk.

As it was, he had no hope of slowing Shukaku down. With the current amount of steel sand, he'd be lucky to hold down one of the beasts' limbs. He needed to make more.

He made his way to the forest floor, and knelt down, placing his palm against the ground. He closed his eyes, drowning out the sounds of the titanic clash above him. Focus, give form to nothingness, and breathe life into it. He had to feel every grain of earth and will it to change, to take advantage of what existed, to create a new more durable form. One he could control.

Naruto slowed his breathing. His heart–which had been beating like the wings of a hummingbird––slowed to a crawl. He poured chakra into the ground as he focused on his task.

The battle of the raging beasts was loud in the background, but his mind was so focused on his task it sounded like waves crashing against the beach. Mizuchi was holding up admirably, ripping into Shukaku with a blade of wind jutting from his tail, and soaking him with blasts of water. Yet, the tailed beast gained ground, the dragon had a brand-new wound over his left eye. Giant crimson drops rained from the sky, as another wound opened on his side, courtesy of a drilling air bullet.

Naruto grimly thanked Mizuchi. The iron rich blood of his summon helped to speed up the process.

As he knelt there, he could feel the ground begin to shift. Dirt hardened and sharpened, becoming grains of steel alloy. Naruto's eyes snapped open–sharingan ablaze–as he saw his pink-white chakra, it spread like a twisted network of roots, each growing off-shoots of their own.

Naruto grit his teeth, as he saw Mizuchi take another wound to the abdomen, his lifeblood fell to the ground in great spurts. He wanted to finish immediately, but he couldn't do it. The jutsu took time, and concentration. Even worrying took up more mental space than he wanted. Mercifully, only a minute later, he felt something shift. The jutsu was ready.

"Yin-Yang Style: Steel Transmutation!"

His chakra began to drain at a frightening rate, the ground seemed to soak it in like a sponge. Within seconds, a third of his remaining reserves were gone. Naruto felt a bead of sweat trail down the side of his face. There was no sign of the drain ending, but he had to keep going, if he stopped now the jutsu would fail!

'Nine, I need three tails worth of chakra!'

'Very well, kick my stupid brother's ass brat.' The fox growled.

The burning chakra filled Naruto all at once, mixing with his reserves and replenishing them. As the beast's chakra went into the jutsu, it began to permeate the ground. Soon, it would be felt in the air. Naruto hoped the jutsu finished before that happened, it would surely draw Shukaku's attention.

"Huh, what's that?" Shukaku's crazed voice echoed across the landscape. The raccoon dog looked about in confusion, making Naruto's heart nearly stop as Shukaku looked in his direction.

Before the tailed beast could think to investigate, Mizuchi made him pay for his distraction by slicing off Shukaku's tail.

"Hey, no sneak attacks ya lizard!"

Just like that, the beast's attention was off Naruto. And not a moment too soon.

Several minutes after the jutsu began, Naruto felt the drain on his chakra trickle to a halt. Now, for the dangerous part. He stood up and began to race in the direction of the fight, using a Teleportation to increase his speed. His heart beat fiercely in his ears, whether from excitement or fear, he couldn't say. Every step he took closer to the fight, the trembling of the earth grew worse. But the true test came when he got within twenty yards of Shukaku.

Sand blanketed the ground, and it was all controlled by Shukaku. As Naruto raced across it, tendrils of sand tried to snare him, seemingly of their own will. He ducked, dodged, and weaved amongst them.

Each second, he was a hairsbreadth from capture and certain death. The world seemed to slow to a crawl. All he felt was the sand and wind buffeting his face, all he heard was the beating of his heart. Sand snatched at his feet like clinging brambles, he ripped through them, pumping his legs and cutting down any tendril that blocked his path. Blood oozed from several gashes.

'There!' He finally reached his destination, directly beneath Shukaku's chest.

Pausing to set his feet, Naruto grasped Senbonzakura with two hands, as every seal along its length glowed.

"Senbonzakura: Final Stake!" He roared; every ounce of borrowed chakra was poured into the technique. The Nine-Tails chakra permeated the air, causing Shukaku to look down in surprise.

"You! I'll kill ya real quick."

"This is the end!" Naruto shot back.

He thrust his arms upwards, unleashing all of Senbonzakura's steel sand while calling upon the vast deposit beneath him. The ground trembled, bursting apart like a sausage in the microwave.

Steel sand poured from the openings, in an instant, enough sand to fill a quarry burst from the earth, compacting into a gigantic spike that pierced through Shukaku's chest and straight out the other side.

"Now, infiltrate!" Naruto twisted his hand, causing the silver spike to separate and invade every inch of Shukaku's body. Spreading from where he was pierced, the raccoon dogs body gained a silver tint, that grew ever more present as the sand spread further.

"NOO, I CAN'T MOVE DAMMIT!" Shukaku shouted in fury, desperately stretching his neck to avoid the encroaching steel. Soon, even that wasn't enough, It creeped up, freezing the beast in place like a statue of steel.

Naruto knew the effect wouldn't last long. He raced up Shukaku's arm and across his shoulder, onto his head. He could see Gaara, the end was so close!

Suddenly, the surface of Shukaku writhed. A spike jutted upwards, piercing Naruto's side. His side burned, blood gushed from the wound. Letting loose a roar of defiance, he sliced through it and carried on. He was so intent, he barely noticed as Mizuchi disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Two more spikes pierced the side of his leg and his shoulder, but Naruto wasn't to be deterred. Fighting through pain and blood loss, he got within feet of Gaara.

"Wake the hell up, dumbass!" He yelled as he slammed the sealing tag onto Gaara's forehead.

"Noooooo–"

Shukaku let out one last yell of anger, as Gaara's eyes snapped open in panic. He stared into the fearful jade irises, even as Shukaku's form collapsed around them. Within seconds, they were falling to the forest floor.

"No, mother, why are you gone!" Gaara cried as he plummeted headfirst towards the earth.

Naruto frowned. The trees loomed ominously below them, a wooden surface that might as well be stone–at this height, at least–waited for them. With a grunt of effort, he flipped himself about. His eyes darted about, looking for a safe path down. They kept flicking back to Gaara, who was still plummeting headfirst. They were perilously close to the trees.

'It's not your problem.'

'I know.'

He had no obligation to save Gaara, by all rights he shouldn't. And yet, he couldn't look away from the redheads' fearful eyes. Eyes that said they knew he was about to die, his existence snuffed out like a candle. 'To exist for no reason is the same as being dead. So, what was left for me, why did I exist.' Damn his bleeding heart.

Naruto threw his arm forward, creating a chakra arm with the last of the Nine-Tails chakra. It wound through the air like a snake, snatching Gaara and tossing him towards Naruto. He seized him by the back of his shirt just before they hit the trees. With a grunt of exertion, he carried the struggling weight as he bounced from tree to tree, finally tossing Gaara into the ground harshly.

Gaara desperately tried to crawl away, but his body wouldn't move.

"No, stay back, I won't die!" Gaara shouted in panic, as Naruto slowly stepped towards him. With every step, Senbonzakura reformed, drawing all of its steel back in. Instead of threatening Gaara, he sheathed his sword with a sharp ring of steel.

"Dumbass, why would I save ya just to kill you?"

The other jinchuriki gaped at him in disbelief. Naruto swept a tired hand through his hair, sweaty bangs clung to his fingers in tight nest of ratty strands. It was all he could do to stay on his feet, and he was still healing from the stab wounds he'd gotten.

"Why?" Gaara's voice was hoarse and inaudible.

"Huh?" He quirked an eyebrow, looking at Gaara in annoyance.

"Why do you fight so hard? Shukaku tore you apart, but there you stand. Why?"

As Gaara looked at him, his eyes haunted, speaking of the hardships he'd faced, Naruto's eyes softened, just slightly. In another life, could he have ended up like Gaara? All alone, constantly hounded by the threat of death, the only you knew to prove your existence being to kill those who threatened you?

"It's almost unbearable, isn't it… the pain of being all alone. I know that feeling; I've been there, in that dark and lonely place," Naruto clenched his fist, he could still remember when he was alone. "But eventually, I found people who mean the world. I care more about them than I do myself, and I won't let anyone hurt them. They saved me from myself. They rescued me from my loneliness. They were the first to accept me as who I am. That's my reason for existing. And you could have that too, all ya gotta do is try."

Gaara gaped at him in disbelief, mouth moving silently. Finally, all the fight left his body.

"I see."

Naruto nodded with a smirk. "Good, now hold still."

Amidst a landscape of torn up trees and drifts of sand, Naruto stood tall over a bound Gaara. His fellow jinchuriki hadn't moved a muscle as Naruto affixed the restraints, he simply stared ahead with a far-off expression. The forest had fallen eerily silent, not a peep from any bird, nor the chatter of a squirrel. The rustle of leaves in a gentle breeze was the only sound that broke the silence.

Naruto stole the occasional glance at Gaara. He had to wonder if the boy was a reflection of all jinchuriki, of what Naruto himself could have been. The second person who'd made him feel that today. An arrogant bastard spouting about fate, and a mentally unstable ticking time bomb.

If those were the paths he'd avoided, he should be more grateful for what he had, and cherish it all the more.

He perked up, hearing the telltale sound of branches swishing, the quiet thunk of sandals on wood. His eyes darted up, catching sight of his teammates, along with Shikamaru and Shino. While he'd expected Shikamaru, Shino took him by surprise. Still, he took it in stride. The stoic Aburame stood tall, carrying Kankuro on his back, who stared in shock at the sight of his brother tied up on the ground.

"No, way, Gaara lost?" Kankuro whispered in disbelief.

"Yep, now we sho–" Naruto paused, regarding Temari on Shikamaru's back in confusion. She had a cloth gag in her mouth. "Uh, why's she gagged?"

Shikamaru shrugged carelessly. "Don't know, ask Sasuki."

Naruto turned to his teammate questioningly. He was met with a stoic gaze and a simple, "She annoyed me." Sasuki's tone broached no argument, so Naruto didn't push it.

"Anyway, we need to get these three to the Intelligence Division. They'll be valuable prisoners." Naruto said while hauling Gaara onto his shoulder. It wasn't a comfortable position, but he didn't particularly care. Externally, he was putting on a show of calmness for his friends. Internally was a different matter. He could sense Gramps and Orochimaru were locked in a struggle, and Orochimaru appeared to have help from powerful people. His only solace was the fact nobody could beat gramps, nobody alive. Of that, he was certain.

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The Sand shinobi are defeated, and Team 7 are set to return to the village. But what will they find waiting there for them? Find out next chapter.

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