Concentrated, my eyes focused on the surroundings. Everything seemed quiet, and I squinted in confusion. Hadn't I just heard a noise? From the direction of the wind? As a test, I pulled out two or three hairs and held them in the air. A gentle breeze blew around me and gently rocked the thin hairs back and forth. I let them fall and followed the direction from which the wind had come. My senses had never deceived me before. Why should they now?
The air was filled with a buzzing, humming and uncontrolled clacking. All the hairs on my body stood up, my senses sharpened to the utmost, knowing who was fighting there. Out of nowhere, a puppet came shooting out of the bushes, straight at me. At the last moment I jumped aside and escaped the poisonous blow. Anger welled up in me and I turned in the direction from which it had come.
„So much for no enemies, eh? Kankuro?"
I got no reply. Instead, a swarm of insects rushed past me and after the doll. Shino. Who else would be able to direct these little animals but him? In the next instant, he was beside me. Breathing heavily. Concerned, I eyed my teammate. Hopefully, he hadn't gotten any of the poison.
„Help Naruto and the others. I'll try to stop him so you can pass," the Aburame said exhaustedly and exhaled. But before I could move, a deep voice spoke up.
„That won't be necessary. I'll let her pass without your help."
Kankuro had appeared on the opposite branch and was eyeing us with a dark look. He looked determined. Even more so than when he confessed to me.
„I won't be able to stop you either way Tora."
A sad smile appeared on his face, and once again the feeling of brokenness spread through me. My plan to talk to him burst like a soap bubble. I tried to look him firmly in the eye and nodded before scurrying past.
When loud roars reached my ears and an angry, almost animalistic scream, I knew it was all too late. The demon had broken out of Gaara once again. Not only that, but it seemed to have already half turned into him. Murderousness and amusement in equal measure, were reflected in the yellowish rimmed eyes. But he had not noticed me. Not yet. Because his current opponent was none other than Naruto.
The latter held his own, but still, he was alone. Sasuke lay dazed on a branch, Sakura hung unconscious in the Demon's claw and Temari ... I froze.
Shaking all over, she sat near the transformed Gaara, behind a tree. But the demon's sword swayed menacingly back and forth. And when Naruto performed the next maneuver, it swung through the air like a whip. My legs reacted faster than my head and I ran over to the shocked girl, who held her hands protectively over her head, grabbed her by the shoulder and dragged her along before the tail hit the spot where she had just been sitting.
Pressed tightly against a distant tree trunk, I watched the frantic Gaara, who kept trying to figure out our position and now seemed quite distracted by Naruto, so he didn't even notice how the latter attacked him from behind. The redhead's face flew to the side due to the abnormal force of the blow. As Temari stirred, I averted my eyes from the battle for a brief moment.
A fatal mistake, as it turned out. The tree that protected us splintered from the blow of a single blow and I threw myself flat on the branch to avoid the blow of the paw. Temari also pressed against it and held her hands protectively over her head. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and I clenched my hands into fists, made myself invisible and jumped out of cover onto a higher branch. He hadn't noticed me yet. And that should remain long enough so. But Naruto did. The Uzumaki stared at the spot I was sitting on for a moment and grinned before turning back to Gaara.
„Get it into your head. You can't fight me because you're my prey. And I'm having fun with this ga-"
He broke off, for at that very moment I had leapt toward him and thrown a kunai along with an attached letter bomb, which exploded right at his shoulder. Sand trickled down his body in streams, revealing Gaara's right, thin arm, which now seemed to be quite battered by the explosion. But at least, it was partially back to its normal shape.
With all the power I could muster from the flight, I hit him in the solar plexus. Gaara gasped in surprise and pain, crashed through numerous branches against the ground and remained there dazed. However, he didn't seem to make any effort to change back completely, which didn't please me at all. I looked down at him suspiciously, but when nothing moved, I swung myself onto Temari's branch.
She had sat up in the meantime and looked at me in confusion.
„Why are you helping us?" she asked, but I shook my head.
„Not you, but Konoha. I know why you are here, but still ..."
My words were interrupted by a sudden sandstorm. Trees leaned to the side. Creaked protesting due to the strong wind. The figure down there on the forest floor seemed to grow. Growing taller, thicker, and more powerful. Temari's hands clawed at her thighs, and she averted her eyes.
„Now it begins, and no one can stop it," she murmured in a shaky voice.
I had to confess that I had never seen her in such a state before. So helpless, trembling and cowering on the floor in fear. Surely, she had seen the demon fully transformed before. Actually ... it had to be even so, because otherwise she would not react so to it or? Whereby it ran me with the sight of the constantly growing demon likewise coldly the back down.
In the meantime, Gaara had completely merged with the demon and was now sitting on its forehead, looking down at us with a sneer. Immensely large was the figure of the fearsome creature, which made me freeze.
„So, what are you going to do now?"
A bang sounded. The earth began to shake. Trees fell, clouds of dust formed, and through it all I could see a giant shadow. Big and powerful, seemed the toad, which all at once sat in the middle of the now rather small-looking forest. And on its head ... sat none other than Naruto Uzumaki himself. He had mastered the familiar spirit jutsu. A pang of pride flowed through me.
Even the demon, who had the form of a tanuki, seemed surprised for a moment. Then he burst out in a high-pitched laughter that began to hurt his ears.
„A little boy, on a fat toad. How are you going to be dangerous to me?"
„Fat toad ... did he just call me fat toad?! I don't think he has a clue."
Oops. It's a frog, all right.
„So how about we give this guy the thrashing of his life? How dare he insult you Toad Boss...we'll show him."
The giant Toad growled in agreement and emitted a thick cloud of smoke.
„For once, I have to agree with you, you brat. I won't be talked to like that. Even if the statement comes from the ichibi."
Ichibi? What was that? Something like the Kyuubi? Yes, actually it is, isn't it?
„We have to wake up his jinjuuriki somehow, kid. Otherwise, we won't be able to defeat him."
"Jinjuu... what?"
„My goodness. What did they teach you brats anyway? That red-haired boy is just like you. So, in him, instead of the fox spirit, Kyuubi, the Ichibi, the one-tailed tanuki was just sealed."
So I had been half right with my guess.
„Now let me think in peace how we can defeat that one. So shut up for a moment, should you even be able to," the giant frog said, and Naruto opened his mouth indignantly, changed his mind, and closed it again.
I grinned, despite the serious situation. Now that was a funny duo. A little excited boy and a big toad who didn't want to be told anything. If we were going to survive this, there was no way I was going to miss it.
„The last time I saw Gaara in this condition was when we were kids. A lot of people died in this. Among them, a few of Kankuro's friends. Ever since that situation and a few others, the two of them haven't had a very good relationship," Temari said, who had struggled to sit up and was watching the fight with a stare.
„His father is the reason Gaara became like that and not entirely that ichibi," I replied with narrowed eyes.
„How do you know?" She seemed surprised.
„He told me. The Kazekage tried to kill him several times to test his resilience. Which to me is complete bullshit because that just destroys a person all the more inside. You break. Not wanting to trust anyone anymore, only yourself, when you're being tormented by the people who are supposed to love you." My voice was rough and grew louder with each word.
Amazement and realization were reflected equally on Temari's face.
„You ... you're talking like someone who's been through this himself."
I shrugged my shoulders.
„Possibly. But in a different way like him."
Temari seemed to realize that I didn't want to be brought up on this subject any further and fell silent.
„You know ... I didn't like or appreciate you at all in the beginning. I'm sure I'm not alone in that. But so slowly I think I can understand you, the more I know about you, even if it's not everything yet, I'm sure you have your reasons to keep it quiet."
I couldn't do anything but nod at this statement because I was too surprised by Temari's honest words. Then I turned my head back to the battle in front of my eyes.
The two giant opponents were charging at each other. In a leap, the toad turned into a fox. But not just any fox, but the nine-tailed one. Naruto. What was he trying to do?
There was a crash when the two collided. The fox bit firmly into Shukaku, while Naruto jumped off of the fox's head, flew toward Gaara, and gave him a fierce hook to the chin. The redhead was thrown backwards, his eyelids fluttering, and all at once the one-tailed man began to collapse. Sand flowed towards the ground in torrents, a loud, desperate howl echoing in the vastness of Konoha.
„No. I was only free for such a short time. Please don't put me back in that body."
So piercingly, I squinted my eyes and pressed my hands protectively over my ears. When I opened them again, I saw them fall. Both of them. Gaara and Naruto. They were exhausted and unable to catch themselves.
But I didn't have the time to fish both of them out of the air. Unlike Naruto's, Gaara's fall was unstoppable. Even if he was my opponent ... I couldn't just ... no ... I wasn't that kind of person.
Hastily, I let the Raiton chakra flow through my body. Ignoring how my chakra was disappearing faster and faster, I shot towards Gaara's falling figure and caught him. I was pulled down by the additional weight and managed to bring the boy halfway to the ground unharmed.
Exhausted, I dropped down next to him and looked at Naruto's figure lying a few feet away. The Uzumaki seemed to be very tired, his eyes half open and gazing at me. No reproach was visible in them that I had not helped him. Then all at once he moved toward us. With his chin he dragged himself yard by yard through the earth.
Speechless, I looked at the spectacle before me.
„Why are you doing this? What do you expect from it?" asked Gaara powerlessly.
„That the people we like will be safe. It makes us stronger to fight for the people we care about than for ourselves," Naruto said, struggling laboriously further and further in our direction.
Gaara's gaze was fixed on Naruto, trying to comprehend, and put into words what was happening.
„Friendship, bonding, feeling like you belonged somewhere...these are all things I never knew before. Didn't really know what they meant. Naruto showed me and gave me everything. Through his friendship, I am now in the process of finding myself anew. Now that I know that there are people who care about me and stand by me, I have become much stronger. And not just on the outside."
Gaara remained silent, looking steadfastly at me as I sat across from him, completely disregarding Naruto, who continued to approach us, not even pausing at my words.
„Inside, too. I've learned to trust and in return I've gotten it. It feels good to get that backing."
„I know exactly how you feel Gaara. And so does Tora. I was alone too, and I wasn't doing well ... but now I've found people I care about and in return ..."
He gasped exhaustedly, but still did not give up, trying to get to us. His chin, by now sore and bloody from the tremendous effort, he lifted as slowly as if it weighed far too much. We looked into each other's eyes, knowing that the other was thinking similar things.
„Love, huh...", Gaara said more to himself than to us.
Neither of us could manage a nod, too exhausted from the past battles. Naruto had much more reason to be exhausted after this duel than I did.
Sasuke suddenly appeared next to Naruto and helped the exhausted Uzumaki to sit down. At the same time, Temari and Kankuro appeared, helping Gaara to his feet. The redhead hung limply between the two. Still, he raised his head and glanced alternately at Naruto and me before his gaze became absent.
„We're leaving," Temari said.
„I'm sorry Tora. Maybe next time we'll see each other under different circumstances," Kankuro added. I fell silent and then watched as the three of them disappeared into the forest. Then I slumped down. So tired. Even though I hadn't really fought, my chakra was really all used up now.
I hoped the Hokage had won his battle against Orochimaru.