Sakura was very uncomfortable with her situation. She and Naruto had split off from Shino and Shikamaru since Shino was fighting the puppet user and Shikamaru volunteered to stay back when Naruto picked up on several nin following them but that wasn't what made her uncomfortable, it was being alone with Naruto. He hadn't said a word to her at all and she was still thinking about the words Kin said. "Um, Naruto?"
"Yes Sakura-san." Naruto replied, not even bothering to look at her.
"Are you mad at me?" Sakura asked, hiding her shock when Naruto added -san instead of -chan.
"No, I'm not in fact." Naruto responded. "Why do you ask?"
"It's just, you don't act like you used to and I'm not sure how to feel." Sakura said as the two jumped through the trees.
"Get used to it." Naruto said, making Sakura look at him. "I told you before that if you didn't show up, what will happen and you choose. And I have always been like this, I just hid my true feelings behind an idiot mask and acted like someone I wasn't to make friends but after meeting Kin and Karin, I realized there were people who accepted me. To be honest, I always thought our team was terrible." Naruto said, causing Sakura to flinch. "We were un-coordinated, Sasuke was selfish, you couldn't see anything past him and Kakashi was not only lazy, he trained Sasuke more. He knew my dream was to be hokage and he didn't bother to help me. He knew you needed more work with your dieting and physical strengths but he didn't do anything. When I asked for more training, he said I wasn't ready. When I ask to hangout with you three, Sasuke would leave us alone, you would say no and hit me, and Kakashi would just disappear. So I decided not to act like a pushover anymore thanks to Kin-chan and Karin-chan. Also it made me happier that Anko-chan decided to help me during the two months."
"Naruto, I'm sorry." Sakura said.
"You have nothing to apologize for, you opened my eyes and showed me how important I was." Naruto said before his eyes widened and he sped forward and threw one of his kunai ahead and disappeared.
"Naruto?" Sakura said and saw a flash of orange in front of him.
Few minutes before
Sasuke hated to admit it but he was having a hard time against Gaara and out of chakra. He used three Chidori's and only did minor damage. Not only that but his curse-mark was acting up. Gaara was standing across from him, looking like a hybrid of Shukaku with his left side transformed. "What's the matter, Sasuke Uchiha? Is this all the strength you can muster? Naruto Namikaze did way better than this."
Sasuke gritted his teeth at the remark. "The dweeb is nothing like me."
"I know, he's much stronger. And now I'm done with the appetizer. Now die!" Gaara said, charging the Uchiha.
'There's got to be something I can do.' Sasuke thought, looking around until his eyes landed on Temari, making him smirk. 'She'll do.' Sasuke thought while building up the last of his chakra.
Temari was terrified, looking at her brother. She wished there was something she could do but she wasn't stronger than Gaara but she still believed her little brother was inside there. She was knocked out of her train of thoughts when she found herself in front of her brother. 'The Uchiha switched places with me?' Temari thought before she panicked as Gaara closed in on her.
"The Uchiha ran but you'll do!" Gaara said, preparing to kill his sister. Right as he was about to end her, a familiar kunai appeared in front of him and in an orange flash, Naruto appeared and kicked him in the face, away from the Suna kunoichi. Naruto landed next to Temari and picked her up bridal style and jumped back a few branches.
"Are you ok, Mari-chan?" Naruto said with a concerned look.
Temari wrapped her arms around Naruto and hugged him. "Thank you for saving my life."
"Naruto." Sakura called, landing next to the blonde. "Why did you save her? Her village is attacking ours, you should have let her die."
Naruto turned to Sakura with crimson red eyes, scaring the pinkette. "Shut it, if you were paying attention. You would've seen Orochi-teme taking off the kazekage robe and face. Plus I sensed him there the whole time he most likely tricked Suna. This war is pointless and if I save Mari and the other Suna nin, we can re-establish our relationship. And last, I will not let her or anyone die if I can prevent it."
Temari was touched by this and also shocked to hear Orochimaru taking her father's place. If he was telling the truth, that means her father was most likely dead. 'That explains why he's been joyful. He's never like that.'
"Now Sakura-san, get Sasuke out of here." Naruto ordered, making Sakura flinch and jumping to her teammate. Naruto turned to Temari with a softer look on his face "Mari-chan, stay away from those two. I'll stop Gaara and make him see the light. You'll have your brother back, I promise." Naruto said, taking off his Haori and handing it to Temari, revealing his thin gray vest and a short sleeve black shirt underneath. "Hold this for me and give it back when I complete my promise."
"Namikaze! I was waiting for you." Gaara said as he transformed to look more like Shukaku. "Now make me feel Alive and prove my existence!"
"Kuruma, may I use some of your chakra since I haven't recovered mine yet?" Naruto asked his partner.
"Sure kit, show them what happens when you piss off a fox." Kuruma said as he filled Naruto with Chakra. Naruto's teeth got sharper and red chakra started to surround him. Temari, Sasuke and Sakura felt this and got a little terrified. Naruto turned to Temari and gave her a warm smile.
"Don't worry, I'm still me." Naruto said to the suna nin.
"Yeah…" Temari replied with a small smile. Naruto turned to his teammates and nodded. Sakura wanted to yell at the blonde for treating their enemy better than them but now wasn't the time.
"Remember when I said we were going to fight like monsters?" Naruto asked Gaara, which made him smirk sadistically. Let's begin the monster brawl." Naruto charged Gaara at blinding speed but Gaara was able to react, he thrust his sand arm forward at the blonde. Naruto created an explosion clone and jumped off its back, making it receive the attack. When Gaara arm hit the clone, it exploded, blowing off part of Gaara's sand arm and it was stronger since it was enhanced by the kyuubi's chakra. Naruto landed on the branch in front of Gaara, cocking his back. "Rising Storm!" Naruto uppercutted Gaara with a swirl of wind around his arm, Causing the sand jinchuuriki to fly into the sky in a tornado. Naruto created a clone and the clone threw Naruto at Gaara. Gaara recollected himself and smacked Naruto with his tail, sending him back. Gaara landed across from Naruto, laughing maniacally.
"Interesting, very interesting! You are indeed worthy, yes. Let's keep going." "Sand Devastation!" Gaara sent out a blast of sand from his mouth at the blonde jinchuuriki.
"Water Style: Water Wall!" Naruto shot out a wall of water from his mouth, meeting her Gaara's attack head on.
"I'm not done! Sand Shuriken." Gaara produces sand shurikens from his body, hitting the blonde. Naruto was sent back but collected himself. "Is that all you have to offer?"
"Not even close. Shadow clone Jutsu!" Naruto created a hundred clones which were enhanced by the kyuubi's chakra. They all ran towards Gaara and began to pound him endlessly.
"Is this really Naruto?" Sakura said as she and Sasuke watched the fight.
"He's really doing it! He's beating Gaara and matching him blow for blow." Temari said.
'How did he get so strong? I couldn't even get close to Gaara but Naruto is fighting him as an equal.' Sasuke thought to himself.
Naruto and his clones jumped back from Gaara, each going through hand signs. "Water Style: Water Bullet!" "Wind Style: Wind Bullet!" Gaara covered himself with his arms and tried to block the onslaught of wind and water jutsu.
'No, I will not lose. I will not cease to exist! NO!' Gaara thought as a huge sand arm erupted from his body and a huge puff of smoke appeared, then out of it was Shukaku's true form. "Hahaha. Now what will you do?"
"I have one option." Naruto said, biting his thumb.
Kin, Anko and Neko were heading to the tower while fighting through some sound and sand nins. "This is the first time I do not want to see snakes." Anko said, looking at five snakes, blocking their way.
"We still have to get by." Neko said, cutting down another sound-nin.
"I got this." Kin said, biting her thumb.
"You have a summon?" Anko asked, wondering what summon the girl had.
"Damn it." Karin said, dodging a kunai from a sand nin, while holding a katana. She was standing outside Konoha's hospital, facing 4 sound nin. "Why can't you guys just die?" Karin said, surrounding her sword with water. "Severing stream dance." Karin dashed through the enemy shinobi, cutting their head off. "Leave it to Orochi, to rely on numbers instead of strength." Karin thought before she felt vibration coming from underground. She backflips as a three headed snake appears where she stood. "So annoying." Karin thought as she bit her thumb.
Flashback:
"You want us to do what?" Kin asked the Kuruma clone. Naruto made a clone and had Kuruma possessed.
"I want you to perform the summoning jutsu." Kuruma said, folding his arms.
"But why, don't we need to sign a contract to summon something?" Naruto asked.
"Not necessarily. How do you think people obtain summon contracts? They perform the summoning jutsu and are pulled into the creature's realm. By performing the jutsu, you'll attain a summon that is close to you. It'll be a pure relationship. Perform the jutsu and pour as much chakra as you can into it." The three did as instructed and performed the technique.
Flashback end:
"Summoning Jutsu!" In a blast of smoke, fire shot at the three headed snake, burning them to death. When the smoke cleared, Karin was standing on something no one thought they'd see again. Kurenai ran out of the hospital as it was cleared to assist Karin.
"Karin-san are you- is that a salamander?" Kurenai said, staring at the huge summon. Karin was standing on a crimson Salamander that was the size of a boss summon.
Karin turned to Kurenai and smiled. "Yep, now it's time to take out the trash. Let's go Tania!" Karin said, eating a chakra pill.
"Hai, my lady." the reptile replied, shooting out lava at the enemy summon. The snake hissed in pain as they were burnt alive. Karin pulled out a broadsword and started to demolish some oto nin.
"Tania, make sure no oto or sand nins get in." Karin ordered.
"Summoning Jutsu!" Kin yelled as an explosion of smoke surrounded the area. Something flew out the smoke and into the sky with Kin, Anko and Neko.
"This is so awesome!" Anko yelled in excitement.
"I'll say, I've never seen an owl summon before." Neko commented in awe. They were riding on a pure white owl.
"Mistress Kin, how may I assist?" the owl asked.
"Kill any snake you see on the way to the tower Luna." Kin ordered.
"Yes, mistress. Freezing Feather Arrows!" Luna shot feathers made of ice and froze the snake instantly. Kin pulled out a sword she got from the owl clan. The katana had a body shaped like a feather and a guard shaped like an owl face.
"Are you ready, Anko-nee?" Kin said, as she jumped off the owl and started to cut down oto nins as she made her way to the tower.
"Summoning Jutsu!." Naruto placed his hand on the tree and the whole area was covered in a puff of smoke.
"Rawrrrr!" A creature sent out a roaring shockwave, revealing an white tiger with black stripes. The tiger looked around and looked up to Naruto. "Naruto-sama? Why am I here?"
"Look ahead and see for yourself, Kira." the tiger looked ahead and her eyes widened.
"You summoned me to fight a bijuu? You really are exciting." Kira said.
"I know, let's go wild." Naruto said as Kira charged the sand demon.
"Roaring Shockwave!" Kira sent out a roaring blast and hit Shukaku's body.
"You will not win!" Gaara yelled and went through some hand signs. Soon he went to sleep and Shukaku's eyes started to glow. "Yeah, I'm free. It's time to kill!"
"Not going to happen, I'm going to end this." Kira charged Shukaku and leaped in the air with her claws extended.
"Just die! Sand devastation!" Shukaku inhaled some air before releasing a sand stream towards the tiger.
"Lightning Roar!" The tiger shot a lightning stream at the sand attack, both attacks meeting and creating an explosion. The tiger landed in front of the bijuu and stabbed his claws into its skin. "Naruto, jump onto him and wake up the host. One good hit should do it." Naruto jumped on Shukaku's head and charged Gaara. Once he was face to face with his fellow jinchuuriki, he punched Gaara in the face.
"Nooo, great. I just got here." Shukaku said before his head turned blank. Gaara slowly opened his eyes and looked at Naruto. "Damn you, Uzumaki. You will die!"
"I don't think so!" Naruto yelled back as chains erupted from his body and wrapped around Shukaku's body.
"Ugh, what are you doing?" Gaara yelled at the blonde. He couldn't feel Shukaku's chakra and he was losing chakra.
"Stopping you." Naruto said as he punched Gaara again, causing Shukaku's body to crumble. Naruto grabbed Gaara and landed on the forest ground.
"No, please don't kill me." Gaara pleaded. "I don't want to cease to exist. I won't"
Naruto chuckled and laid Gaara on the ground, then he sat against a tree trunk. "It's sad isn't it. Being alone and people seeing us as monsters. Judging us for something we never asked for, hated and glared at."
"So you do understand but how come you are not like me." Gaara asked.
"I'm not sure." Naruto said. "Maybe because I found people who care about me, even though I'm a jinchuuriki." Naruto said, thinking of Kin, Mei and Karin. "They accepted the real me and I'm willing to protect them at any cost, even if I have to kill you but hopefully we can be friends instead."
"You're willing to be my friend?" Gaara asked.
"Of course, I think you're the only person who can understand me the most and think of it as a new start." Naruto responded.
"Is that why you are so strong? Because you fight for those you love?" Gaara asked. Naruto smiled and nodded. "Friends, I'll like that."
"Gaara!" Temari called as she and Kankuro landed near them, preparing for a fight. The two knew they couldn't defeat Naruto and Temari didn't want to fight the blonde if she could avoid it.
"Go ahead and take him." Naruto said, surprising the two. "You were tricked by Orochimaru into doing this. Go and be safe."
"Do what he says, this fight is over." Gaara said. Kankuro and Temari looked at each before grabbing Gaara. Gaara turned to Naruto and gave him a small smile, shocking his siblings. "Thank you, my friend."
"What?" Temari said before looking at Naruto. "Kankuro, take Gaara and go ahead."Kankuro was about to respond but the glare from his sister told him to leave. Kankuro left the area and headed to Suna. Temari approached Naruto and hugged him. "Thanks for not killing my little brother."
Naruto blushed and returned the hug. "No problem, Temari-chan." Temari pulled and it looked like she was contemplating something. Temari pecked him on the lips, making him blush. Temari backed away and winked at her fellow blonde.
"I'll see you later, Naruto-kun." Temari said before jumping away. Naruto touched his lips and smiled.
"Naruto!" Naruto looked up and saw his teammates staring down at him. "Why did she kiss you?" Sakura asked.
"It's called being grateful." Naruto said and turned to walk away.
"How did you do all that?" Sasuke asked. He never felt so inferior to the blonde before and he needed answers.
Naruto stops and pops his neck and cracks his knuckles. "None of your business Uchiha-san, now you and Sakura head back to the village, I got to save the old man."
"Naruto, wait-" Sakura didn't get to finish because Naruto disappeared in an orange flash. Sakura frowned in sadness. 'Naruto really doesn't care about us… No, he's just stressed by hokage-sama.'
""Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"" Mei and Tobirama released the same jutsu at each other, creating multiple droplets of water. "Jiraiya, switch with me!" Mei said as she saw Jiraiya in the forest that Hashirama created.
"Got it." Jiraiya jumped out of the trees as wood dragons chased after him. Mei put her hands together as her cheeks puffed. "Lava Style: Acidic Mud." Mei shot gold lava at the dragons. Hashirama jumped out of the forest and charged the Mizukage. Mei ran forward and engaged Hashirama in a taijutsu battle.
"What's going on? The first and second hokage should be much stronger than this." Orochimaru complained as he dodge Hiruzen's staff.
"You should learn more about a jutsu before being cast. The reanimation is only as strong as its caster." Hiruzen said as he tried to attack Orochimaru. "Jiraiya is better at taijutsu than you, Mei has two bloodlines and I'm your sensei. You're not going to win."
"You and this worthless village will fall oldman." Orochimaru threatened.
Outside the barrier, Tayuya was glaring at the anbu that tried to get in. "stop trying you pricks, you can't get in. now die for killing my best friend alongside this village." Tayuya said. Kabuto informed her that Konoha captured Kin and ended up disposing of her. She wasn't sure she believed the liar but she hadn't seen her friend since she arrived.
"Wow Tayuya,I can't believe you would actually believe that scumbag." Kin said, jumping down and landing in front of the anbu. "Do I look dead to you?"
"Kin? Where the hell have you been?" Tayuya asked her friend in anger.
"Well, here's the gist. Orochimaru sent his grunts to capture me to be sacrificed for a jutsu. I ran into another Uzumaki, yes there's two more here, and he saved me. He also convinced the hokage to make me a Konoha nin and offered you sanctuary as well." Kin said.
"You can't be serious." Tayuya said.
"I am." Kin said, looking behind Tayuya. The redhead followed her eye and saw Hiruzen looking at them and nodding. Tayuya turned to Kin, who was giving her a warm smile.
"Hey Kin-chan." Naruto said, appearing next to her before turning to Tayuya. When he looked at her, his eyes widened. "You're the other Uzumaki."
"What's it to ya?" Tayuya asked.
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze and.." Naruto started.
"He was the one that saved me." Kin said, cutting him off. "You can join us, just drop the barrier and you'll be safe."
"I-I don't know, Orochimaru is right there." Tayuya said.
"I promise, I'll protect you." Tayuya turned to the blonde. "I'll stake that on my life, you could be happy with Kin and I got the oldman to give you sanctuary. All you have to do is drop the barrier." Naruto said, holding out his hand and Kin followed suit.
"Join us Tayuya and stop being a scaredy bitch." Kin said, knowing how Tayuya will act.
"Who are you calling a bitch. Do I look like a wimp? FINE" Tayuya released her hands and the barrier was starting to fade. "This what those snake fuckers get for lying to me."
"Thanks Tayuya but I need you to pass out." Kin said before sticking a senbon in her neck." Kin said, making Tayuya pass out.
Naruto smiled and charged Orochimaru with his sword in his hand. 'Kuruma, can I pour some of your chakra in the sword?' Kuruma poured his chakra through Naruto's sword like he requested. "Hey pedomaru!"
"Orochimaru turned to the source of the voice and saw Naruto charged him. He crossed his arms to block, was shocked and started to see Naruto with a sword. The sword pierce through both of his arms. "You have to do better than-urgh!" Orochimaru said before feeling pain in his arms. His coil started to burn and looked to see his arms burning. "What's going on?"
"You can thank the kyuubi's chakra for that, now you can't use your arms anymore." Naruto said.
"I'll make sure you'll pay for this." Orochimaru sneered. "Sound 4, get me out of here!" Orochimaru ordered and three of the four jumped near him. "Tayuya! Where are you?" He turned his head and saw her 'captured' by anbu. "Damn it, I'll destroy this village and you oldman." he said as he retreated.
"Naruto-kun!" Naruto turned to see Karin arriving on a Salamander. "The enemy is retreating." Karin said.
"That's a relief." Naruto said as he saw the hokage approach him alongside the Mizukage and Jiraiya. "Jiji, permission to take a nap?" Naruto said as he passed out after the adrenaline left his body. Anko jumped forwards and caught the blonde on her back.
"He's special, isn't he?" Anko turned to Mei, who started caressing the blonde's cheek.
Anko looked at Naruto's peaceful face and gave a warm smile. "He sure is."