A Bewitching Dance

by Haerrlekin

When Naruto opened his eyes, he saw a beautiful, red-haired woman with violet eyes and a warm smile. Oh, and a white void, but that was besides the point! In which Naruto fails to summon Gamabunta and goes splat in the chasm; Jiraiya did a whoopsie, Kurama is a jerk, and Hinata brings good vibes. Who knew that crippling, life-threatening injuries could feel so good?

12. A Peek Above the Summit

Heya,

If I'm true to my word, this chapter should be coming out just a few days after the last. I've been hard at work grinding away at this arc and I'm having a blast with it. As usual, I'm saving most of my words for after the chapter, so that's where you'll find much of my rambling.

Enjoy

If there was one (and only one) advantage of not being able to sleep, it was that Gaara got to watch the moon every night.

In Wind Country, the skies were often clear enough that he could always get at least a glimpse of it. On good days, he got to chart its part as it rose and fell in favor of the sun; on really good days, Gaara found that even mother could be quelled by the peaceful lull of the moon's embrace. Yeah, peaceful nights like those were rare, but ever-treasured. Then, once a month, he got to see the moon at its most full, like a giant, harmless pearl in the sky. It was comfortable, like his own little personal ritual that added at least some semblance of normalcy to his life.

"It really is gorgeous, isn't it?" Gaara's eyes were pulled from the object of his adoration in favor of another. Yashamaru, his uncle and caretaker, stood close by; he looked past Gaara, his warm smile ever-present. It grew only warmer as he finally tore his eyes from the moon to look him over. "You grew, huh?"

Gaara felt his eyes mist over for a moment. He scrunched them tightly shut, willing his emotions to settle back underneath the surface. "Uncle Yashamaru…"

"Heya…" The young man trailed off, looking a touch uncertain, himself. "Mind if I join you?"

Gaara said nothing, for he had nothing to say. Or rather, there was nothing he could say; nothing that would properly convey his own emotions, at least. Instead, he simply looked away from the man, willing him to understand. He heard a light chuckle from the young man before he was joined on the rocky hill he'd claimed as his own.

"We used to do this all the time, remember?" Yashamaru hummed. His tone was light, not a care in the world as his legs dangled off the edge. "Well, before you killed me, that is."

Gaara winced. "You tried to kill me first."

"Yeah," Yashamaru agreed, lamely. "Yeah, I did."

"You hated me…" Gaara's voice cracked as he said those words. "All that time you watched over me, nurturing me. You were the only light in my world, and you hated me." It came out in a whine, and Gaara couldn't help it. "I loved you…"

"Yeah…" Again, Yashamaru didn't seem like he had much else to say to that. "Yeah, I did." A long, awkward moment passed, then, "I mean, can you really blame me? For me, you were just a reminder of my dead sister. You took her from me; it's only natural that I hated you."

Gaara flinched. "Monster… You called me that."

Yashamaru nodded.

He had. That memory had played in Gaara's head every day since it had happened.

"I've always hated you; ever since you took my sister away from me. I tried so hard to love you. I wanted to be a good uncle to you, if only to honor her memory. But I can't… I just can't. I wish you were never born. Monster…"

"You were right," Gaara finally admitted. Yashamaru looked at him questioningly, and Gaara sighed. "All this time, since then, I've been living for myself; loving only myself… I'm every bit the monster you told me I was."

Time and again he'd heeded Mothe- no, Shukaku's will, tearing down others with terrible recklessness until his heart was just as black and empty as the very demon it housed. Gaara's hand absently reached up, faintly clawing at the seal that lay boldly over his chest.

"I am a monster."

Yashamaru was silent for a moment. Then suddenly, he wrapped an arm around Gaara's neck, drawing him close. Gaara flailed for a moment, expecting an attack, but all he found was warmth.

"There's this story I really like," the young man muttered into Gaara's ear. He stroked his hair affectionately and cuddled him close, warding off the frigid nightly chill from his charge. "Would you like to hear it?" Curiously, Gaara nodded into his chest, and Yashamaru grinned. "So there's this man who is very lonely, and every night he goes out to watch the moon rise into the air… But one day, there's a woman there, waiting for him! She's beautiful, unlike anyone or anything he's ever seen before! She invites him to sit with her, and they spend the whole night talking until the man falls asleep by her side. When he wakes up, she's gone."

Yashamaru took a long breath, then looked down to Gaara. Two teal eyes stared back at him curiously, waiting patiently for him to continue his story. "So at first, the man thinks it's just a dream, but he just can't take his thoughts away from the woman. He goes back the very same night but she isn't there. He is disappointed, but doesn't give up hope; the man goes back every night, slowly losing faith. But one day, the very same day that he'd decided would be his last, he shows up to their spot and there she is again, waiting for him! He's so overjoyed that he asks her where she's been all this time! Do you wanna know what she tells him?"

Slowly, Gaara nodded. "What?"

"I've been here all this time. Every night I come for you, just waiting for you to see me."

Gaara frowned. "I-I don't understand. She wasn't there. Did she lie?"

"No," Yashamaru laughed. "No, she didn't lie. O-or at least I don't think so!" He sighed, suddenly sounding almost sad. "No, I think he couldn't see her, because he was too busy looking for her." Gaara began to look annoyed, so Yashamaru laughed again. "Sorry, I guess that didn't make a ton of sense, huh? What I'm trying to say is that he was so focused on trying to find her that he didn't ever stop to see that she was already there! It's like a metaphor… I think."

"For what, though?" Gaara scrunched his nose in thought. "I don't get it at all."

"Well, sometimes we spend our whole lives focused on one thing that we don't even realize that we have something just as good, just waiting for us to finally realize what we already do have."

"Oh…" Gaara bit his lip in thought for a moment. Then, "Uncle Yashamaru, that story isn't very good."

"Ouch! Yashamaru laughed. He finally released Gaara, ruffling the boy's hair affectionately. "Sorry, sorry. I thought it'd help, but I guess I just made things worse, huh?"

"Help?" Gaara frowned. Uncle Yashamaru hadn't made a lick of sense since he'd arrived. "Why would you want to help me? I killed you! You hate me!" If a touch of panic bled into his tone, Gaara couldn't exactly be blamed. "Why would you want to help me? Why would anyone want to help me!?"

Yashamaru was silent for a long moment, and every second that passed only irritated his nephew even more.

"Answer me!" He finally shouted at the man. Gaara trembled, weakly gripping onto Yashamaru's robe. "Please."

"Because it's my fault that you're like this," Yashamaru finally admitted. Gaara gaped at the man as he finally looked his way, eyes brimming with unshed tears. "You're a monster because Sand made you into what you are, and I'm every bit as complicit in that as your father." A long pause built up between them, Yashamaru seemingly driven silent by his own admission. Finally though, he sighed. "But I've been wondering to myself all this time… If you'd just been given a chance… If I'd been strong enough to love you like your mother would've wanted; if I'd protected you and cared for you like I promised I would, could you have become someone that Sand would learn to love?

"I don't know," Gaara whimpered. "Why are you asking me this? I don't know!"

"Sorry, sorry!" Yashamaru placated the boy, laughing nervously. "Gosh, I really do just make everything worse, huh?" He laughed again, and Gaara felt the man's sadness as if it were his own. "Let's just watch the moon, yeah? That's probably a lot easier."

Yeah, much easier. Gaara sucked down a breath, calming himself; stuffing his emotions back where they belonged, beneath the sand. It roiled restlessly, but Gaara paid it no heed in favor of the dark skies above.

---

Kakashi had suspected that things might go afoul with the sand village. It wasn't arrogance to state that he was a genius, but it really didn't take one to connect all the weirdly shaped dots.

The sand village sends a clearly unstable jinchuriki to a village who they've recently had strained tensions with.

The arrival of the new sound village, seemingly headed by one of Leaf's most terrible criminals.

Speaking of which, the appearance of Orochimaru in the forest of death.

The sudden death of a Leaf jonin assigned to investigate the Sand village's one arriving team, combined with Gaara's sudden attack on Leaf's own jinchuriki.

Yeah, it all screamed of a set up, and so Kakashi was quick to react when the chaos began, jumping to his feet and pulling a screaming Sakura out of the way of fallen rubble as their surroundings devolved into chaos.

"What's going on!?" Kiba hollered, wriggling out from underneath a grumbling Kurenai. "What the hell is going on!?"

Kakashi shoved his pink-haired student into the panicking boy's arms. "We're under attack; get your head on straight!" He watched as several emotions flew across the Inuzuka boy's face, before settling onto determination.

Good.

"Help with the evacuation effort, then retreat to the academy to await further orders. Leave the fighting here to the jonin!"

He shared a meaningful look with a wide-eyed Sakura, her eyes panning down to the chaos below where Naruto and Sasuke were desperately avoiding a number of sand-like projectiles. They both moved well, but Kakashi didn't quite like their odds, if they were fighting what he thought they were fighting.

"I've got it." Without another word, he launched himself downward, careening through the air as quickly as he could manage.

He was done failing his kids.

Kakashi was just short of the ground when the whistle of the air stole his attention. Twisting in the air, he narrowly evaded something aimed at his head before landing on all fours, his eyes snapping around to take in all possible threats.

There were plenty of candidates, but the most obvious one was a young man with white hair. Two red dots hovered just above his thin brows, his two teal-colored eyes glaring dispassionately at the copy ninja. His shirt had been shirked from his shoulder on one side, revealing much of that side of his torso; a multitude of bleach-white spines stuck out from his flesh in multiple places. His outstretched index finger was still smoking, parted flesh and blood revealing a slowly moulding bone beneath the surface.

So a Kaguya then. Great.

"Heya," Kakashi greeted the man with faux cheer. "You look like a nice guy, so I'm gonna assume that was just a misfire, yeah?"

"Orochimaru-sama's orders were clear," the young man muttered, ignoring Kakashi's attempt at banter.

"Do not allow anyone to interfere with the One Tails' rampage."

"Which means you need to die, I'm afraid. My name is Kimimaro Kaguya. I apologize for the inconvenience." Without another word, the young man sped toward Kakashi, spiny bones jutting out messily from his palm and forearms with poor intentions.

"Just once I'd like it if someone went 'yeah totally an accident. Sorry bud,' and didn't try to kill me," Kakashi bemoaned, pushing forward to meet Kimimaro's charge. "Sorry friend, but I don't have time to play around with you, so I'm going to have to make this qui- aaaand I just jinxed myself, didn't I?"

Most definitely, as he was quickly learning. His opponent was fast. Terrifyingly so, even. It was only his own hard-earned reflexes that spared him a brand new hole right through his orbital, and Kakashi had to fight to remain ahead as Kimimaro continued to press him.

Rapidly backpedaling, Kakashi snapped a kunai from his utility pouch with a short flourish and braced his footing, intent on turning the tides. His blade clashed with Kimimaro's own palm spike and Kakashi noted with dread the serious chipping on the tip of his blade.

Another clash followed, this time with Kakashi deflecting the boy's palm in a wide arc toward the ground. He lashed out with a snap-kick into push-kick combo and winced as his foot met the brick wall that was a Kaguya's torso. Pushing off from the boy, he took a short leap back to get some distance, flinging his ruined kunai at the briefly grounded Kimimaro and blurring through hand seals.

Dragon, bird, horse, dog, snake…

By now, Kimimaro had once more found his footing, now lunging forward with clear intent to disrupt the copy ninja's jutsu. As he approached, his palm flexed, his palm blade lengthening into a full on short sword. Kimimaro put on a huge burst of speed, leaping over Kakashi, then trying to sweep his legs out from under him. Kakashi jumped over it, then kicked out to intercept a backhanded slash by kicking at the boy's elbow. Flanking around him, Kakashi then leaned back as Kimimaro whipped around and attempted a straight thrust. As Kakashi continued to weave around his foe's attacks, he never stopped forming seals.

Horse, rat, snake, ox, dragon, tiger, boar. "Earth style: Iron Maiden jutsu!" Rolling back, Kakashi barely managed to avoid another bone bullet as the surrounding earth snapped up, forming twin walls that were lined with thick, crushing spikes. They closed around a wide-eyed Kimimaro like a hungry maw, intent on crushing the boy to death.

"Slashing and piercing damage isn't very effective against a Kaguya's bones," He recalled Kushina's words as the mass snapped shut with a loud crunch. His sensei's wife had never fought a Kaguya to his knowledge, but she'd seemed pretty knowledgeable about their blood limit, all the same. "Your best bet is to bypass their armor and target the softer, juicier bits underneath with a strong, crushing force. Like eating a crab!"

Terribly morbid, though not inaccurate. But his job wasn't done yet.

"Keeping on theme with the crab analogy, you can't go wrong with cooking them too, so make sure to follow up with a strong fire jutsu. Their bones will probably survive, but burning the flesh off somebody's body usually does wonders for making them stop existing in short order!"

'Snake, ram, monkey, boar, horse, tiger.' "Fire Style: Great Fireball jutsu!"

The massive ball of flame crashed into the pile of rubble, and Kakashi watched in satisfaction as the very stone surrounding the area began to melt into molten slag.

It was a shame a kid with such a potent bloodline had to fall in line with someone as vile as Orochimaru, but Kakashi had students to help; he didn't have time mourning some kid he didn't even know! Every second that passed, his boys were fighting a losing battle against something far greater than themselves.

Kakashi turned away from the fresh corpse in favor of the pair. They had thankfully managed to regroup, but they wouldn't last long. Several streams of sand had taken off after Naruto and the Nara boy, threatening to tear them apart. Kakashi steeled himself and made to approach, but stopped as his sensitive ears caught a rumbling just behind him. Dread filled him and he cursed.

Underneath the rubble of his jutsu, the sound of shaking stone began to sound. A single, terribly scorched arm burst from the pile before clenching into a tight fist, then Kakashi was forced to once more perform evasive maneuvers as a mass of lengthy bone spikes began to jut out from the very earth.

Backpedaling quickly, Kakashi leaped just quickly enough and spread his legs to avoid a particularly long spike aimed for his groin -yikes-, then planted his feet and kicked off from it, launching himself back a good several feet. He skidded safely along the ground, noting with some relief that the onslaught of bones had ceased. That relief became dread as the rubble that Kimimaro had been buried under burst apart, revealing his terribly burned form. In contrast with the wounds, he looked entirely unconcerned Black tattoos had spread across his skin, covering his entire chest and the left side of his face. In place of one of his previously teal eyes was now a sickly yellow iris, bordered by a pitch black sclera. Kakashi noted with dread that the burns that had disfigured the young man's body were slowly receding.

"So that's what Orochimaru's curse mark will do to you, huh?" Kakashi observed the boy's changes, his lazy tone belying his concern. The boy's chakra had skyrocketed in an instant, suddenly climbing tens of times higher than what he'd been previously. Even without the visual prowess of the sharingan in play, he could feel down to his very bones that Kimimaro had instantly become a whole new level of threat.

Was this what Sasuke could expect for himself if Orochimaru's curse was allowed to fester?

Unacceptable.

"I hold no illusions of matching a ninja of your caliber by my lonesome," Kimimaro said, politely. "However, with Orochimaru-sama's aid, anything is possible. You die here."

"Not so fast!" Gai's boisterous voice sounded. The green beast entered the fray with a vicious kick to the back of Kimimaro's head, snapping his torso forward with a sickening crack. Despite the obvious force of his kick, Kimimaro's stance remained firm, with the young man easily righting himself and glaring back at an awestruck Gai. "Woah, has anybody ever told you that you've got a really hard head?"

"Many times, yes." With that said, Kimimaro's body shuddered, before dozens of bones tore out from his body in a bloody shower that stained Gai's clothes. Gai scrambled back to avoid the initial threat, and was immediately forced to backpedal as his opponent twisted on his heel and closed in on him. As they flew into a rapid flurry of movement, Kakashi hung back. He trusted Gai to handle himself while he worked to analyze their opponent.

Kimimaro's taijutsu was immaculate, clearly developed meticulously to best use his blood limit technique. He was constantly in motion, twisting and flailing his body in a manner that likely looked random and unfocused to the untrained eye. Gai's experienced eye could pick out the method to his madness though, and there were far too few openings to be found; certainly none that he could reasonably capitalize on in his current state! Kimimaro was more like a bony white blender than a man as he continued to press Gai.

"Impressive taijutsu!" Gai praised him, ducking underneath a kick and attempting to slam a palm into the side of Orochimaru's chosen. He didn't get far before he was once again warded off as the jutting bones shifted to discourage that effort. Before he could even think to make space, the bone user had leaped forward, tucking himself into a spiny ball and flipping several times as he closed in on a retreating Gai. Hand Springing back, Gai was forced yet again to endure the pressure of Kimimaro's attacks as the boy lunged forward like a bullet. His spikes shifted forward, twisting and reconstituting themselves into a wall of blades that attempted to skewer Gai.

He needed to make some space and regroup with Kakashi.

Gai tilted back and went slack, allowing Kimimaro to fly right above him. Then, planting his palm into the ground, he heaved, punting Kimimaro high into the air before righting himself and taking several leaps back, closer to his eternal rival. As he did so, Gai winced and shook one of his legs. Several thin thorns had found their way into his flesh, and his bones ached just from their brief exchanges with Kimimaro's body.

"I hate to say it Kakashi, but I don't think my taijutsu is gonna cut it against this guy. He made my Leaf Hurricane look like it was just a gentle breeze!"

Kakashi hummed, stepping forward to sidle up with Gai. "My Lightning Blade could possibly do it, but I'm not exactly confident that he'll hold still long enough to let me cram my whole hand through his chest cavity."

They both watched Kimimaro flip in mid air, curling himself inward and righting himself before landing gracefully on his feet.

"I could open the gates," Gai hedged. "But that's a bit of a gamble, at this stage of the game, eh?"

"Yeah… That bone armor of his is a real problem. Even if we can overwhelm him, it'll make no difference if we can't actually damage him. Best case scenario, you can put him down but that leaves you out of commission for the rest of their goons. Worst case…"

"Worst case, I just burn myself out and make myself a liability, yeah I know." Gai chuckled. That was one of the major issues with a technique as potent as the eight gates. For all of the impressive boost that it gave the user, it was always a gamble to whip them out. You couldn't use the gates just to 'go even'; if you did, you were leaving yourself exposed for a vicious counter attack at best, and a swift death at the worst. If Gai was going to open even the lower gates like the Pain or even the Limit Gate, he needed to be sure that it'd get the job done.

That said, if things got any worse, well, he wouldn't really have a choice, now would he?

"So long as we don't know that guy's ceiling, the gates are out of the question," Kakashi voiced his thoughts for him. "Same goes for my Lightning Blade; if I use it and I miss, I'm dead… And seeing how his chakra keeps climbing as that mark of his spreads, well- something's telling me we're in for a long fight."

Kimimaro stood up fully, cracking his neck almost absent-mindedly before once again setting his sights onto the pair. Without a word, he began to approach them, the lengthy bone protrusion in his palm thinning and twisting until it was more akin to a spear than a sword. Crossing his arm in front of himself, the Kaguya brandished his weapon with malice, now breaking into a slight jog.

Kakashi just hoped that his students could last long enough for them to finish up with this guy. Looking over to the other leaf jonin, he noted that their hands were just as full as his and Gai's own.

'Hang on, kids. I'm coming.' Kakashi and Gai braced themselves as Kimimaro put on a burst of speed, closing the gap between them in an instant; the black markings of the curse mark lightened and continued to stretch, steadily pulsating with an angry red color.

---

Just once, Jiraiya wished bad guys would get cold feet before they started causing problems. The second the invasion had started, he'd been pulled away from the arena to respond to a number of massive snake summons, simultaneously brought into play all around the village.

It was one of those problems that was technically beneath his own level, but too far above the typical ninja for him to simply let it be.

Of course it was. If Orochimaru knew anything about his old friend, it was that the Gallant Jiraiya loved to play the hero.

Of course, the enemy sound ninja responsible for the summons were all running a suicide mission; they knew that -or at least, most of them seemed to. They barely even slowed him down as he and the toad warrior Gamaken tore through the snake summons in record time. The sand ninja at least were clever enough to recognize that they were beat and throw down their weapons. How fortunate for them that Jiraiya was just a bit too softhearted to kill them anyways.

Tempting, but not his style. The three impotent members of team Baki were enough testament to that.

"As thanks for your cooperation, I'll be leaving you nice and cozy in this toad's stomach. Don't try to escape or she's allowed to digest you," Jiraiya warned a wide-eyed Temari.

"B-but my brother-" She tried to argue, going silent as he raised a finger to her lips, a scowl twisting across his own.

"None of that, now. My godson's gonna have his hands full enough with that guy. He doesn't need you throwing a match onto the smoking pile of shit you and your goons have laid at our feet. You just stay here and keep quiet while the adults fix your mess." As if to emphasize his words, the flesh of Gamakine's stomach lining stretched to cover Temari's mouth. The girl's eyes whirled around, panicked, as her screams were muffled. "Now no more screaming. This job is tough enough as it is without you putting a migraine on the table."

A fairly light punishment for a trio of traitors, but Jiraiya had never really had the stomach for killing kids. That was more Orochimaru's thing; and sometimes Tsunade's.

…

What was he doing again?

Oh, right. "Once you've finished with that one, we're headed back to the arena, Gamaken!" Jiraiya offered the giant toad a thumbs-up, standing and wiping his muddy palms off on his pants legs. In front of him lay a massive, bubbling swamp; several massive serpents lay still within, each drowned or cooked in the dense, boiling mud he had conjured up.

"Understood, though I may be a moment, as I am rather clumsy," Gamaken apologized, effortlessly wrangling a three-headed snake with two of them already destroyed. Planting a webbed foot onto one of the heads, he delivered a crushing stomp that spilled the beast's blood and brains all over the derelict street. "My apologies for the mess. My clumsiness gets the better of me yet again."

"Enough of that, man. We're on a strict timetable. Let's go!" Jiraiya chastised his toad summon as he jumped onto his ally's head.

"Apologies. I understand that you're eager to return to your student," Gamaken hedged. "I will endeavor so that my clumsiness does not impede you."

Jiraiya thought for a moment, then he snorted. "Nah, he doesn't need me." He'd seen the kid's work before he'd been pulled away. Tempting as it'd been for him to jump in and help him out, a resource as big as he needed to be allocated properly so as to prevent as many casualties as possible. The One Tails jinchuriki was certainly a big deal, but light work compared to some of the other threats on the table. No, involving himself in that fight would just eat up too much of his time before he could get it under control. "Orochimaru's a much bigger fish than an incomplete One Tails. Besides, -and I'm sure this might end up aging poorly- I think I trust the kid to get the job done."

God, he really hoped that didn't come back to bite him. He seemed to be on a roll as of late, with how often his choices seemed to be exactly the worst ones he could make. But as much as Jiraiya wanted to protect his late student's kid, he couldn't afford to let his emotions distract him from the real threat.

He'd just need to trust that Naruto could subdue the thing before it became too big of a problem.

"Last I saw, Orochimaru took the old man to the rooftop and stuck him in that dome. We gotta get that thing down before that pale-faced bastard really gets the ball rolling.

---

"So how exactly does one take down a Tailed Beast, anyhow?" Naruto's question caused Kushina to look up from his hair, her hands pausing in their ministrations. She bit her lower lip in thought, seeking the best way to explain such a thing to her son. After all, it was a valid question, and certainly something he was entitled to know. Naruto was the host of the strongest of the Tailed Beasts, just like she had been, and Mito, before herself.

But it wasn't like there was any one way to go about it; as a matter of fact, it was strongly recommended not to attempt the same things twice when dealing with any of the Tailed Beasts. A fool might hear their name and assume them all to be little more than mindless creatures, but Kushina understood from her own experiences with the Nine Tails that they were far from stupid. No, the Kyuubi was clever; terrifyingly so, even. She could not count how many times she had nearly been made a fool of by the fox. Kushina was sure that Mito had her own stories to show, if Naruto would only look for them.

"The first thing you need to understand is that the Tailed Beasts each hold their own unique abilities -their own domains, of sorts; areas of expertise that they hold absolute dominion over. My knowledge of most of the others is a bit limited, but I have been unfortunate enough to interact with three of them, in the past. The One Tails, which is held by the Sand Village, holds domain over sand and magnetism. Its powers are best suited toward defense and binding through terrain manipulation, though just like any others it holds great offensive ability, just by merit of its incredible chakra."

Kushina resumed working with her hands, crafting a long, elegant braid in her son's hair; one of many more to come. As she did so, she thought back, trying to recall her own experiences to aid the boy. "The second that I know is the Seven Tails, which falls under the Waterfall village, Takigakure. The Seven Tails holds dominion over the sensory perception of itself and others, and its abilities are centered around using its special dust to manipulate those senses. It can enhance its own and impede others'.

"And the third is the Nine Tails, then," Naruto finished for her. "What does the Nine Tails hold dominion over?"

Kushina frowned. "That's the tough part. The Nine Tails is definitely the most shrewd of the ones I've interacted with; it keeps its cards real close to its chest. I've spoken to it plenty of times, but rarely has it actually let anything slip; I don't think anyone knows for certain what its true ceiling really is… Not even Madara, who controlled it, Hashirama, who fought it, or Mito, who sealed it. We had a guess or two, though." Picking up another few strands of hair, Kushina smoothed her son's hair and added, "Keep in mind, this is entirely speculatory. We really don't have a ton to go off here. Mito thought that the Nine Tails' domain might be shape manipulation… It'd make sense, considering just how savvy the fox seems to be in regards to chakra."

Naruto tilted his head up to catch his mothers' eye. "I notice you went out of your way not to lump yourself in with her… You think differently, then?"

"Yeah, there's no doubt that in terms of raw knowledge and finesse with chakra, the fox has no equal. Your father was one of the smartest people I knew and he took three whole years to develop a whole jutsu that was little more than a cheap knockoff of something the Tailed Beasts do as easily as breathing. Plus, I know for certain that the Nine Tails is damn knowledgeable of all five nature transformations, plus Yin and Yang release, and its raw shape manipulation is -and I need to stress this again- truly peerless. The reason I'm going out of my way glaze that furry jerk like a bakery dessert is because for all that I suspect it is capable of, I have rarely if ever actually seen or even heard of it using much of what it can do; the only reason I know even that much is from the few times it's actually let any info slip in our talks."

"So your reasoning then is 'since no one alive has ever actually seen the fox's summit, there's no way to know for sure that the abilities we know of are even close to its max." Naruto gulped, his mind gravitating towards his own brief memories of the Kyuubi's influence. If that wasn't even close to its peak, then he dreaded to see what it was truly capable of when it cut loose.

"Which brings us to the night we died… Your father and I suspected that splitting the Kyuubi's yin and yang chakras would destabilize it and render it unable to make full use of its domain. It's why he chose the reaper death seal and accepted death to seal it away. We had no reference of how a newborn would handle the Kyuubi's full chakra, and Minato feared that he wouldn't actually be able to beat it if the Kyuubi ever decided to really cut loose. The best call in his eyes was to cripple it for life, or at least until you were strong enough and felt ready to retrieve the other half, yourself."

Naruto frowned as his mother rambled on. "You're stalling. What do you think its domain is? Just give it to me straight, mom."

"I don't know!" Kushina groaned. "I have some guesses, but they're all kind've wacky and probably way off the mark!"

"Let's hear them anyway." Naruto encouraged her.

Kushina sighed. "This is going to sound kind've dumb, and it's entirely speculatory, so bear with me. The night of your birth, the Kyuubi did something I'd never seen it do or even hint that it could do before. I had it chained down. Every arm, leg, and tail; its maw was locked shut… I was in pretty bad shape, but my chakra was still strong enough that I was certain that the fox shouldn't be able to get free before Minato could complete the sealing. Then all of a sudden my chains were undone and it turned your father and I into a matching set of donuts trying to get to you. Since I've manifested here, I've been looking back on that memory on repeat; I'm all the more confident that it should not have been able to go free unless something was wrong. What's more, the damage was done at my end of the chains, not its own. What does that tell you?"

A lengthy chain slipped out from Naruto's palm and he observed its framework. "You're saying it managed to slice through the links outside of its range while its limbs and chakra were both suppressed. That'd be impossible, unless the fox was able to interact with things without actually -y'know, interacting with them? So what, spatial manipulation?"

"God, I hope not! No, I suspect that the fox's domain revolves around the will, both itself and others'. It's why it has such an easy time manipulating people, even against all of the binds we use to suppress it. I believe it can project its will as an active force on the world around it. Er- What I'm saying is I think it either compelled me to break my own chains, or somehow compelled my chains to break themselves."

"If that's the case," Naruto started, not quite connecting the dots. "If that's the case, then why is the sharingan so effective against it? Madara was able to control it against Hashirama and that masked dude controlled it and sicc'ed it on the village. How do you explain that?"

"Genjutsu works by turning one's chakra against themselves. I think the reason sharingan genjutsu works so well on the fox is that it is essentially turning the fox's domain against it; it's using the Kyuubi's own will to make it suppress itself. I suspect that's exactly the reason why it hates the sharingan so much."

That made an awful amount of sense in a really roundabout sort of way. "So all of this to say that I should subdue a Tailed Beast by turning its own domain against it?"

"That, or create conditions where using its domain does more harm than good for it, yes. You do that, and you now only have to deal with a cataclysmic mass of angry chakra, rather than one with super special powers on top of that."

Turning Shukaku's sand against it was a bit of a tall order with the limited tools they had available to them. Separating it from its domain though…

That, Naruto could do.

Which brought them to this location. The original's orders had been clear. Summon him outside the village, on his signal. It hadn't taken long for the clone to get to where it needed to go, though a few close calls in the ensuing chaos wrought by the invading forces had quickly reminded him not to lose focus.

"I need to separate Shukaku from its sand if I want any chance of beating it."

But more than that, they needed to be sure that it couldn't just make more. At least, not without destroying its chakra supply. Thus, the clone had chosen the forest of death to be their new battlefield. The massive trees would provide the maneuverability needed to steer clear of Shukaku's attacks, and the height at which they'd been summoned would do well to limit how much sand it could create. If it wanted to, it'd at the very least need to get back to the ground level.

'Boar, dog, bird, monkey, ram…' "Summoning jutsu!"

There was a puff of smoke, and the clone needed to immediately leap to safety as all three summoned entities blew apart from one another in a volatile mess of bodies. It twisted its fingers and transformed into a small fly, intent on going unnoticed.

'Time to find the others.'

Naruto and Sasuke tumbled away from the summoning point for a moment before both righting themselves, using their chakra to remain rooted to their feet as their velocity tried and failed to bowl them over. Across from them, Shukaku dug its massive clawed hands into the bark of the tree below, tearing wooden debris up from the surroundings as it skidded back.

"Come on!" The sand demon howled, rushing forward on all fours to continue their bout.

With little more than an eager cackle of his own, Naruto blitzed toward it, followed shortly behind by a perturbed Sasuke. They met in the center, clashing with such ferocity that the bark around them began to peel.

Shukaku winced as two different feet slammed into its gut and face, respectively. One of its massive arms careened down like a hammer, implanting a gasping Sasuke into the massive branch below them. However, before it could do any more, yet another kick slammed into the other side of its face hard enough to scatter sand and dent its cheek.

A feral scream ripped from its throat as it snatched Naruto's still outstretched leg, whipping him around before smashing him into the wall-side of the tree they stood on. Naruto bore the pain with little more than a snarl of his own, firing yet another metal thorn from his palm which stabbed right through the gut of his foe. As Shukaku staggered in pain, Naruto braced his foot against the mass of sand that had captured his leg and ripped himself free, flipping back onto the tree's side and diving forward to shoulder tackle it off its feet. The pair tumbled for a moment before Naruto was forced to roll away to steer clear of several sand spikes which had been ejected from Shukaku's torso. Blood spilled from shallow cuts along his arms as he guarded his vitals. Still, he didn't stay away for long; the blonde cleared the distance in an instant, kicking off from Shukaku's neck like a springboard before twisting around and once again abusing the One Tails' head with a brutal back kick that sent it tumbling back.

Shukaku immediately righted its position, lunging forward yet again only to be met by Naruto. They clashed rapidly, once, then twice, then twice more, each lunge occurring so quickly that they were little more than formless streaks to Sasuke's eyes. He scrambled back as debris flew up from their repeated impacts as they once again crossed past each other, Shukaku sporting a fresh new set of indents in the sand armor along its chest and face. Across from it, Naruto spun twice in mid air before landing with a sharp skid, his nose bloody and a brand new gouge stretching through the corner of his lips.

Shukaku barely paid the Uchiha any mind even as it nearly landed right on top of him, its eyes set solely for Naruto. It crashed forward in a sloppy charge, tearing wooden chunks up along its path as it made to gore him with a set of horn-like protrusions coiling outward from his shoulders.

Naruto backpedaled for a few steps before he was forced to throw his hands out to intercept Shukaku's own. Its superior strength began to quickly overwhelm him though, so he let loose a blinding fast high kick smashed into its jaw and briefly stunned it. Taking advantage of the moment, Naruto ducked under Shukaku's arms, pivoting to slam an elbow into one of the still bare divots in its gut that had been left behind by Hinata.

"You insipid little monkey!" Shukaku snarled at him, staggering back. Its jaw near-unhinged, stretching so wide that Naruto could see down its throat; the foaming build-up of saliva did not distract him from the extreme concentration of wind chakra, priming to fire.

"Nope!" Naruto cackled back. "None of that, now!" He leaped forward, boldly smashing his knee directly into its jaw, snapping it shut and upward. Leaning back, he managed to steer clear of a much narrower blast that ripped out from between Shukaku's teeth, then planted a strong front kick into its chest that punted it away.

Wasting no time, Shukaku once again righted itself and lunged forward, one of its massive limbs primed to cleave right through Naruto. The latter was ready though, forming a tiger seal and accelerating on the spot. He wove out of the way, watching with satisfaction as the sand limb implanted itself into the surface below their feet. Further utilizing the increased speed of his Body Flicker, Naruto flanked the demon's back then jumped, performing two full rotations before slamming a kick down on Shukaku's elbow that firmly lodged the limb into the massive tree branch they were standing on.

Shukaku tried to rip its limb free but found some difficulty, which was only further exacerbated as Naruto followed up with his other leg, quickly kicking it in the face before switching legs yet again to deliver a second kick that was followed with a short axe kick toward the base of its jaw.

He was like a damned mosquito, and Shukaku was happy to treat him as such, finally ripping its limb free and swatting Naruto with such force that a crack sounded from the boy's torso as he was sent flying. Shukaku followed immediately after, its arm primed to turn the blonde to paste on the fast approaching tree.

'This isn't working,' Naruto painfully observed, twisting mid-air and loosing a chain from his bare back to implant itself into a nearby tree and pull himself just out of the way of Shukaku's lunge. It followed him immediately after, and Naruto touched down on his own tree before leaping away yet again. He ricocheted off the trees at increasing speed, only barely steering clear of the repeated lunges from the One Tails; the pair flitted about so quickly that the sounds of their impacts against the surrounding surfaces came almost simultaneously.

Sasuke grit his teeth as the two combatants pulled further and further away from him. How had Naruto managed to pull so far ahead of him? Shukaku wasn't even treating him like a threat as it pitted all of its focus into slaughtering his friend.

He was not dead weight. He refused to be treated like some damned gnat! His mind drifted briefly from the fight right in front of him in favor of one that was yet to come. Crimson, three-tomoed sharingan eyes glared dispassionately at him in his mind's eye, and Sasuke bared his teeth.

'If I can't even fight against a guy like this, then I'll never have a damn chance against him!' Sasuke's neck burned like acid had been injected directly into his bloodstream, but he was filled with newfound vigor as he sped forward, his sharingan spinning rapidly; Sasuke watched the two fighters continue to climb higher into the trees and followed. 'Not again. Never again!'

Following the wreckage left behind by Naruto and Shukaku's bout, Sasuke analyzed them with his sharingan, waiting for his moment to jump back into the fray.

Naruto once again ricocheted off from a tree-side, twisting upside-down in mid-air to hurl a barrage of adamantine thorns at Shukaku. It threw its own barrage of sand projectiles which intercepted them and cleared the way for it to speed toward Naruto like a tan-colored bullet. The blonde had only a fraction of a second to touch down before he was forced to dive forward, twisting his body to avoid the Tailed-Beast-shaped missile that had tried to gore him. Naruto's chest burned as he sluggishly rolled to his feet, just barely managing to tilt his head in time to avoid a whip-like tendril of sand. Then, he guarded with a chain-armored forearm to deflect a duo of sand bullets that made his bones ache. He staggered, his vision blurring just a touch before he refocused with a gritting of his teeth.

'The contract seal isn't working fast enough. I'm losing ground. Where the fuck is Sasuke- "Oh, there you are, Sasuke!" Naruto sighed in relief as Shukaku's next charge was halted, courtesy of Sasuke dropping down in between them. The raven-haired combatant came forth with a vengeance, slamming an open palm into Shukaku's jaw before following up with a brutal body shot that made the demon yelp. It staggered back for just a moment before renewing its charge with a scream; spittle flew from its mouth and splashed onto Sasuke's face but he had no time to pay it any heed, instead diving forward to roll past the very same hammer arm which had previously put him out of commission. Grabbing one of Shukaku's legs, he dragged it with him as he slid past the creature and jammed a kunai into its exposed ankle; he twisted the blade harshly for good measure.

"Ow!" You little-" Shukaku didn't get much farther as Naruto capitalized, coating his fists in his chains like improvised brass knuckles; a left hook dented its cheek and staggered it down to one knee. A follow-up jab to the throat made it choke before a right hook made it stumble back a few steps. Shukaku wobbled, dazed for the moment and Naruto pushed forward.

"Dance of Mountains: Tiger's Paw." The next strike came with so much force that Shukaku's head snapped to the side and its mouth spewed blood. It crashed down to its knees where Sasuke was waiting; he slugged it across the jaw, himself, then dropped down to a knee beside their enemy and began hammering blow after blow into the back of its head. Shukaku fought back with a manic scream, headbutting Sasuke before whipping around and flooring him with a sloppy clothesline. It was immediately punished as it was ripped off its feet by one of its arms and floored, itself, by a haymaker from Naruto.

Reaching down, Naruto spared only just enough time to haul Sasuke back to his feet before they were off again, hammering blow after blow into an increasingly frustrated Shukaku.

The message was clear to Sasuke without his friend needing to verbalize.

Don't let up. Don't give it a chance to make more sand or recover.

His body groaned with exhaustion as he matched pace with Naruto, flipping over Shukaku and sweeping one of its legs out from under it to destabilize its footing. Sasuke pivoted on his heel, crashing his shin into the side of the beast before driving his heel into its chin. On the other side, he saw Naruto close in with yet another haymaker that cracked across Shukaku's face; Sasuke saw its jaw hang loose and understood.

Its chakra was continually working to reinforce its sand, but even its impressive chakra reserves had a limit. At their current pace, it wouldn't be able to keep defending itself if they kept the pressure up.

In that case!

Sasuke leaped back to avoid a trident made of sand from Shukaku's own torso; the creation had left a large chunk of its upper torso bare. His eyes burned at the strain of his exertion as the weapon twirled in the air, taking several stabs at him. Sasuke tried to ignore the pain that was spreading in his core from overuse of his chakra; he grit his teeth as his neck began to burn even hotter than before! Ducking under a sweeping attack, he slid in to slam a rising kick into Shukaku's lower jaw, throwing its head up. Bracing his core, he righted himself, spun one-eighty degrees, and mirroring one of Naruto's own earlier maneuvers, slammed a back kick of his own straight into its chest. He heard bones creak and did not dare pause in his onslaught. A rush of vigor flooded his body as Sasuke leaped directly upward, planting himself on a nearby tree branch before launching himself directly at Shukaku to smash yet another kick into the back of its neck.

Shukaku roared with pain as it was sent tumbling helplessly, but had little time to even try righting itself before Naruto appeared behind it, punting it upwards with a vicious kick to its spine. It didn't get far though, as a barbed chain burst from the boy's palm, snaking after the airborne Bijuu and stabbing deeply through its cheek. With a mighty heave, Naruto slammed it through the branch right ahead of him, leaving their enemy to tumble through the air, flailing. Its body smashed twice more into surrounding branches before coming to a painful stop as the chain was pulled taut; Shukaku was bodily yanked back upwards, right into the path of a front kick, courtesy of Sasuke. Once again, it didn't get far before an axe kick from Naruto cleaved a gouge through its sand armor; a loud crack sounded through the air as its shoulder bone was shattered and it was driven to its knees.

"Don't let up!" Naruto ordered, grinning as he took a short jog ahead of it and letting a roundhouse kick fly right into its face. Shukaku tasted bark and blood as its face was driven into the surface below. It could not even find a second to find its footing before Sasuke followed up, stomping on the back of its head and driving it through a good chunk of the tree branch. Blood spurted as the cartilage in its nose crumpled, and another stab of pain ripped through its chest as several of its ribs finally snapped under Naruto's own barrage of kicks.

'Do you see this?' Shukaku growled inwardly, reaching for the presence just beneath the surface. Gaara stirred, groggily. His sleep-addled state didn't last long before a sharp stab of pain seared through him. "I know you do. Look how recklessly they treat your body."

From within, Gaara quivered, crying out as yet another blow slammed into the back of their head.

"It's just like I've always told you! They don't care if you live or die. I'm the only one who cares about you. I'm the only one who can protect you!"

A fist bored into its groin, forcing Shukaku to its knees. It didn't even bother trying to fight back anymore as an uppercut fully snapped its jaw and sent sand and blood spewing upward.

"It's not too late, my darling. I'll forgive you for your betrayal. I'll welcome you back with open arms, for what is a mother if not forgiving of a silly boy's transgressions!?"

Teeth came loose and splattered across the ground as a fist tore across its face and sent it ass-over-teakettle. Its body was breaking, but Shukaku's swollen maw still widened with sick glee as it watched Naruto ricochet on several of the trees above, twisting through the air and lashing out with a flourish to send several of those blasted metal thorns its way; they stabbed clean through each of its limbs, crucifying Gaara's body against the tree. The boy tried to scream, but it was choked down by Shukaku's own influence; the beast pushed him forward, letting him endure it; willing him to feel the agony that his body had been forced to endure under its careful ministrations.

Then, Naruto braced his footing just above and launched toward Gaara, his arm cocked back like a bullet in a chamber and a wild grin that was all teeth. His fist was encased entirely in the flaming metal of his chains, his own malintent clear.

"Or will you deny me again, and let this boy have his way with you?"

Shukaku grinned, then forced its sand to peel away, revealing fragile, battered flesh. Gaara tried to resist, to protect himself, but his efforts were pitiful compared to a true master of the craft. There was a shower of blood as the blonde's fist implanted itself through Gaara's chest, all the way to the elbow. A lone purple eye widened with shock as they met Gaara's own teal, absolutely stricken with a mix drink of pain and terror.

"P-please," Gaara begged, his eyes brimming with tears. He didn't even know who he was begging to. "I don't, I don't want to-"

"What do you say, son? Shall I save you, or will you die alone?"

Tears finally spilled over as the young boy finally gave in, and sand filled his vision.

"Kekekekeheee… AHAAHAHAHA! You should have gone for the head, boy!"

---

Alright, this decided it. Hiruzen was getting far too old for this.

His clash with Orochimaru had quickly taken the pair above the arena, leaving the two to duke it out above the rooftop. Hiruzen's wayward student had dragged him off as soon as the chaos had ensued, eager to abscond with the old Hokage for some "alone time," as the man had eagerly whispered. He'd even gone and had his underlings form a barrier to keep Hiruzen's own ANBU out. A Four Violet Flames Formation, if his eyes were correct.

Hiruzen winced as one of his ANBU failed to stop in time before they collided with the barrier. They screamed in agony as their body was lit aflame.

"You know, if you were really so eager to reunite with your old sensei, you could have started with a postcard," Hiruzen tried, resisting the urge to groan as he shucked his robe from his body. "Really, this just feels gratuitous."

"Oh sensei, I feared that anything less wouldn't quite hit the mark in showing how I feel about you. Don't tell me you don't like it?" Orochimaru's tone was light, belying the lethal edge just beneath the surface. "And here I even brought you a treat."

"Is it potato salad? Please tell me it's not potato salad."

"Come now sensei, I'm a villain, not a monster." Orochimaru cut through their banter in an instant with the business end of a kunai. "No, you'll find that the gift I brought you was hand picked exclusively for your enjoyment!"

Hiruzen responded in kind, rapidly deflecting the attacks with the bracer on his forearm. Quick as a flash, he stepped forward, raising his guard high to intercept Orochimaru's icepick grip. "You never could stop yourself from doing too much, could you?" Not giving the man a chance to retort or adjust, Hiruzen rotated his hips and heaved, dragging his old student along for the ride and throwing him onto his neck. Orochimaru tumbled briefly before easily righting himself in a runner's stance. When he next came, he was twice- no, thrice as quick, his body elongating and contorting like that of a snake's.

Hiruzen quickly backpedaled, once again deflecting two quick stabs before slamming a heel into the Snake Sanin's torso and sending him reeling. On instinct alone, he reached up to snag the explosive tag his student had slipped onto the under side of his sandaled foot. An immaculately precise burst of chakra delayed the bomb, and he allowed it to fizzle out in his hand before discarding it in a crumpled ball at Orochimaru's feet. Then, taking the moment of reprieve, the old Hokage leaped away, curling his arms and legs inwards like a ball and flipping backward thrice before skidding farther on the balls of his feet.

The explosive did not go off. A dud, then. Hiruzen rolled his eyes at Orochimaru's smug grin.

"Now who's doing too much, hm?" Orochimaru chortled, dusting himself off. "Those kicks of yours aren't quite what they used to be either, huh? Face it sensei, you're getting old."

"I won't deny that," Hiruzen allowed without shame. "But that's exactly what makes this so humorous to me." Standing up straight, he grinned at the confusion lacing Orochimaru's own expression. "You really fled from me for nearly a decade because you were too afraid to face this decrepit old bag of bones… Fifty-one years on this Earth and it took me growing too old to even throw a proper kick before you felt brave enough to raise your hand against me."

Orochimaru hissed exactly like his namesake. He began to circle Hiruzen, his pace slow and stalking. "You're awfully talkative today, sensei. I rarely knew you to be the joking sort."

"What else can I do but joke when you've gone and brought a whole circus act, just for yours truly?" He swiveled his head, taking in the appearances of Orochimaru's supporting force. "You even have matching uniforms!"

His student did not rise anymore to his goading.

In that case… Hiruzen quickly bit his thumb, hard enough to draw blood. 'Boar, dog, bird, monkey, ram.' "Summoning Jutsu," he intoned. There was a poof of smoke, and a tall ape with oddly human-like proportions cleared it with a wave of his hand.

"So it happened after all, eh Hiruzen?" The ape observed, crossing his arms and sneering at an impatiently waiting Orochimaru. "You really should've snuffed this one out when you had the chance." The ape looked around, spotting the several teens who seemed to make up Orochimaru's personal guard. Like a disease, he's gone and spoiled so many others, and now he's here to drag you down with him."

Hiruzen sighed, sadly. "I'm afraid I must now live with the consequences of my inaction, Enma." Then his expression hardened. "I will not make the same mistake twice. Aid me."

Enma sighed, but nodded. "Better late than never, I suppose. Very well then." There was yet another puff of smoke, and Hiruzen reached inward to snatch the massive polearm from within.

"Ah, it's been a while since I wielded the adamantine staff," Hiruzen mused, twirling it around his body. "Let's see if these old bones can move like they used to!"

"If you're quite done posturing, sensei," Orochimaru cut in, groaning. "I'd like to skip to the part where I've stabbed you to death."

"Yes, yes. 'I must kill my sensei to reap my well-deserved revenge', or whatever such bullshit you've been spoon feeding yourself, all these years." Hiruzen mocked. Then, he sneered at the child in front of him. "You could have had anything; done anything in your life," Hiruzen growled, now pointing his staff in preparation. Time and time again you've chosen the path of a fool. Now you come to my village, and threaten my people. Why, over a petty grudge? Because I didn't make you my successor?"

"Because you lied to me!" Orochimaru snarled. "Because you told me I was worthy, when you knew damn well you never had any intention to see me rule!"

"A Hokage does not rule! A Hokage leads! A Hokage protects his people with his very life!" Hiruzen roared back. "You're right, boy. I did tell you that you were worthy, because there was a time when I believed with all of my heart that you were the best of all of us! But that was before you began treating the world like a bloody science experiment; that was before you let yourself become so jaded that you stopped valuing the lives of your own people! I did not lie to you! You have lied to yourself! Ruined yourself! Betrayed yourself!"

Orochimaru flinched, then his nostrils flared. "Well here's some truth you can choke on then, you old monkey," Orochimaru bit out, suddenly soft as a whisper. His jaw unhinged and saliva spilt messily as he regurgitated the hilt of a blade. Violently, he ripped it from his own throat, wiping the edge clean on his sleeve before jabbing it Hiruzen's way. A thin trickle of blood eked from between his lips and spilt over his chin, but he licked it away, carelessly. "Once I'm done carving your heart out of your chest, I'm going to make a village-sized bonfire and stack your peoples' bodies so high they'll pierce the damn clouds. What do you think of that!?"

Hiruzen said nothing. The stony expression on his face told his wayward student exactly what he thought.

The time for talk was over.

No more games; no more jokes; no second chances.

Someone was dying today.

---

"Do not allow anyone to interfere with the One Tails' rampage."

Lord Orochimaru's orders rang clearly in Kimimaro's head as he went to work. The One Tails was integral to the smoothness of the Sand and Sound villages' joint invasion. If allowed to rampage uninterrupted, it would surely secure them a clean victory.

However, there were some potential pitfalls that could impede their progress. There was the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, who would likely make short work of the One Tails, if given the freedom to do so. Luckily, the God of Shinobi was currently being occupied by Lord Orochimaru. That just left the Leaf village's two most elite jonin, Kakashi Hatake and Maito Gai. Either one of them would slow the invasion's progress to a crawl, if given the chance. Kimimaro knew he could not allow either, least of all both, of them to interfere with the One Tails. Hence, he had made the executive, albeit somewhat foolhardy, decision to take them both on at once.

"In your current condition, you have no business even being out of a hospital bed, let alone operating on the front lines, Kimimaro-san." Kabuto's tone brooked no room for argument, and Kimimaro was inclined to agree, however reluctant he may have been to sit on the sidelines. The young man was Lord Orochimaru's right hand man for a reason, and a damned good one, at that.

Still, "You will not be able to conduct the invasion without me." Kimimaro was sure of that. Oh, he had no doubt of the strength of his leader, but Lord Orochimaru could not be everywhere. He would have his hands full assassinating the Third Hokage, who would no doubt be a handful even with his lord's thorough preparations.

Kabuto's pained expression told Kimimaro that he agreed.

"You are Lord Orochimaru's most prized asset. He would wring my neck if I allowed you on the field."

Kimimaro did not fear death; he feared being a liability to his lord. "I'm already unfit to host Lord Orochimaru's immortality jutsu, as is. I could not live with further shame, were I not able to at least contribute here."

Kabuto frowned. "You may yet be cured, if you would just take it easy and give me more time."

"No," Kimimaro bit out. "I will do my duty, with or without your approval." Then, he locked eyes with his superior, his own, pleading. "Please understand how much this means to me."

A sigh, then Kabuto turned away from him. Kimimaro thought for a moment that Kabuto would reject him, but moments later, the medic nin turned back, holding a small vial in his palm. "This is pure adrenaline, synthesized directly from Jugo's bloodstream and heightened using my research on the Akamichi clan's special food pills. Right now I'd wager there isn't a single drug on this Earth that comes close," Kabuto bragged. Then he sobered up again. "It's also terribly untested and not exactly safe for use… I only have one of these; I'd prepared it for Lord Orochimaru as a failsafe in case he began to struggle with the Third. However, with his recovery of the Impure World Resurrection jutsu, I doubt he'll need it…" A sigh, then, "When you take this, it will supercharge your curse mark; you'll be capable of things you've never even dreamed of. In your current state, it'd take something like this to even get you out of bed, let alone have you combat the Leaf village's elite." Kabuto swallowed, audibly. "But when you come down from it, you'll come down hard. In your condition, the shock of it might just outright kill you, even. Naturally, I'd prefer it if that were not the case."

Kimimaro pried it out of Kabuto's hands. He held the vial, almost reverently. "Thank you."

"Look, you'll just need to stall, alright? Don't take any unnecessary risks. You are still too great of an asset for Lord Orochimaru to lose. Once your mission is complete, head to the meeting point; if you can get to me in time, I may yet be able to save you."

The pain was just short of unbearable. His body was working overtime just trying to keep him moving, and the adrenaline in his system had supercharged the excess calcium production needed to activate his blood limit technique. Kimimaro's bones had grown so dense that they weighed him down, completely impeding the typical use of his carefully cultivated taijutsu.

Still, it hardly mattered. All his stalling had paid off in the end. The Uzumaki boy had foolishly summoned the One Tails elsewhere, rendering his two opponents unable to aid him.

Conveniently, this also rendered the need for him on the battlefield null.

"To think that I was forced to resort to the second stage," Kimimaro bit out between gasps. The curse mark had stretched across his entire body, turning into a second skin with a reddish brown pigmentation. His musculature had swelled, becoming more active and vascular with the massively heightened circulation of blood and chakra. His two teal eyes had gone a sickly yellow and were joined by a pair of black sclera, the combination of which pinned his two opponents under their intense stare. From the base of his spine, a long tail had sprouted; the limb was adorned with numerous hefty bone spikes.

With the second stage of the curse mark in play, his heightened metabolism was chewing through the drug Kabuto had provided him at an alarming rate. His stamina was waning fast, but it was needed just to keep pace with the two jonin as his own strength began to leave him.

Were he fully healthy, he doubted he'd have needed more than the first stage to make short work of them both.

"I must retreat," Kimimaro whispered, to himself.

Kakashi's sharp ears caught it, and his eyes narrowed. "Leaving so soon? And just when we were starting to get to know each other!" He rushed forward, trailing slightly behind a somewhat battered Gai. Just short of reaching him, Kakashi formed a tiger seal, suddenly accelerating to little more than a blur. He appeared behind Kimimaro, caught himself from a slight stumble, and lunged, a slightly chipped kunai palmed tightly and primed to attack. Kimimaro barely paid him any attention, instead allowing the weapon to shatter pointlessly on the back of his neck; the copy ninja had exhausted much of his stamina between the multitude of Earth-style jutsu he'd been throwing out in tandem with maintaining that sharingan of his. So long as he kept his guard up, Kimimaro had nothing to worry about. No, the real threat was the green beast, for even with the added resilience of his curse mark-enhanced blood limit, Gai's attacks were as deadly as ever, what with the man having unleashed the fifth gate. With Kimimaro weighed down as he was, he needed to be more careful than ever that Gai didn't find a single chink in his armor.

Two thick horns sprouted from the Kaguya's forehead, lengthening until they were more akin to antlers. Ducking his head down, he met the rush of a stern-faced Gai. Kimimaro weathered a barrage of punches, wincing as the bones slightly cracked, but noting with some pleasure the light scrapes that had accumulated on his opponent's fists. Slipping underneath a kick, he captured Gai in a tangle of limbs and threw him up with a mighty heave of his neck. Whipping around, he slapped aside a lightning fast jab, courtesy of Kakashi, then batted him aside with his tail. Kakashi rolled across the ground but didn't get far before Kimimaro rushed after him, closing a crushing grip around the man's ankle and hefting him into the air. Pivoting on the balls of his feet, Kimimaro swung him through the air before smashing him bodily into the ground beneath his feet. He also noted with satisfaction that Gai had finally collided painfully into the ground behind him; the man's groans were music to his ears.

Kakashi groaned as he collided with the ground, neck first, but continued to hold an impressive guard even as Kimimaro dragged him closer and began hammering him with heavy blows that each would have thrice killed any regular jonin. As the copy nin tried to roll to safety, Kimimaro stabbed his tail into his path, blocking him in. Another lethal strike struck Kakashi in the chest. Then, straddling the man, Kimimaro slugged him in the neck before cracking an open hand across his face, stunning him. His dark-skinned knuckles painted themselves with flecks of blood as a left cross crashed into Kakashi's sharingan eye, swelling it shut.

Kakashi tried to buck him off, but Kimimaro far outclassed the man in terms of raw strength and with the added density of his bones, outweighed him several times over. Gripping his neck with crushing force, Kimimaro rained blow after blow upon him.

When Gai finally righted himself and fruitlessly decked him in the back of the head, he refused to stop. Even when the green beast wrapped his bicep around his throat and began to choke Kimimaro out, he barely paid the man any mind, instead continuing to break Kakashi underneath his fists.

He was running out of time, and if they would not let him escape, then he would at least die delivering yet another blow to those who had wronged his master.

"Gah!" Kakashi groaned as a backfist dented his cheek. "This is starting to feel awfully personal!" Blocking yet another punch, he began to form seals at a blinding speed.

"No!" Kimimaro roared, slamming a barbed elbow into the man's ribs before he could get more than five off. Kakashi let out a pained squeak as the protruding blade tore into his sternum; however, he continued to form seals, even as Kimimaro tore the blade down and opened the man's entire torso in a messy shower of blood. Kimimaro was beginning to feel lightheaded from Gai's choking. "Get off!" From his back, a multitude of sharpened boney spines were ejected, tearing through Gai's torso. There was a moment of satisfaction for Kimimaro before Gai disappeared in a puff of smoke, suddenly replaced with a log. "A substitution!?"

Kimimaro didn't get to ponder the replacement for long before, beneath him, Kakashi's own form began to spasm; suddenly, burst into a current of electricity that mercilessly tore through Kimimaro's system and lit his nerves aflame.

"GAAAAAH!" Kimimaro screamed. His entire body began to lock up as the electric currents completely bypassed his bone armor to assault his vitals instead. He didn't even get a full moment to come to terms with the pain before the ground beneath him began to crumble, and a long chain burst up from below. It snaked around his torso before snapping tight, pinning his arms against his chest. Kimimaro followed the chain back to its source and caught a glimpse of Kakashi, half of his torso poking from the earth like a mole; his end of the chain was wrapped firmly around his tightly clenched right fist. Looking back, Kimimaro spotted the other end in the fierce grip of a heavily panting Gai.

A terrifying cacophony suddenly filled the air, like a thousand birds chirping in unison.

"So this is the copy ninja's fabled lightning blade," Kimimaro stammered out, still unable to fully control his own faculties. He looked back to Kakashi, whose right hand had begun to spark with a visible current of electricity.

"Not quite," Kakashi gasped. He looked just short of collapsing, himself. "This is a new one I've got in the works; you get to test it out for me. "I think I'll call it the Lightning Cable." With that piece said, Kakashi pulled the chain with all his might, and Kimimaro watched in dread as the electricity hesitated for just a moment before rapidly climbing along the chain's path. In an instant, it had snaked around Kimimaro's body, infusing into the chain and coiling around the Kaguya's torso. He screamed in pain as the chain began to slowly slice through his body.

So that was his game. He didn't think he could just pierce through the Dead Bone Pulse with his fabled jutsu alone, so he was using the leverage of the chain like an improvised saw to slice him apart from all sides.

To improvise such a potent jutsu like that on the spot, Kakashi Hatake truly was a terrifying ninja, indeed.

Gai shouted in pain as the current fully reached his own end, but his grip remained true, and Kimimaro noted with some interest that the man had used a steady conduit of his own chakra to protect himself from the lion's share of the damage.

His own chakra flared to the surface in an instant, looking to adopt the very same methods. Their chain slowed down a third of the way through his body, reaching a near halt. The pain was agonizing, but Kimimaro had withstood worse. He mastered himself, shelving his pain, and pushed back with all that he had, watching with satisfaction as the chains slowed to a complete halt for a moment.

"Looks like we're playing a game of chicken then," Gai panted. "On three, Kakashi! One, two, HEAVE!"

---

"That does it. I fucking hate sand!" Naruto moaned as he ran. All around him, a torrent of sand had built up, eagerly chasing him down with malintent. Not far off was Sasuke. Naruto wasn't sure when that damned curse mark had begun stretching its way across his friend's skin, but the results of its influence spoke for itself.

"Shut up and keep moving!" The Uchiha hissed back at him, joining Naruto in ricocheting from branch to branch. "If you've got time to be making your dumb little quips, you've got time to RUN FASTER!"

"Oh piss off, I've been carrying this whole damn operation so far you edgy little pissbaby! I'm tired!" Naruto squeaked as an insidious strand of sand tore a shallow gash into his thigh, making him yelp and stumble. "And rapidly losing blood, mind you!"

Sasuke grimaced, his eyes roving over the broken and bloody limb the blonde had cradled against his chest. It had been broken in at least three places, rendering the limb a swollen, purple mass of ruined flesh masquerading as his right arm. Cartwheeling away from another wave of sand, Sasuke leaped high to remain clear as a budding vortex of the damned stuff tried to suck him in. He bounced from tree branch to tree branch before finally falling in step with Naruto, both turning to watch the rapidly expanding mass of sand. "We've run entirely out of options…"

Naruto winced. "Whaaaat? Nah, we've got it exactly where we want it!"

"Face it dumbass, your plans suck!" Sasuke turned a sneer his way, the black marks of the curse mark perverting his frustration into something darker. "We're going to die and it's all your fault!"

Naruto sneered right back. "We're not doing this right now!" He gritted. "I'm not going to tell you again, get that mark of yours under control or get the fuck out of here and let me handle this alone."

"Alone? Alone!?" Sasuke laughed in his face. "You dumb motherfucker! If I leave you alone, you're going to die! Get your head out of your ass and face the facts: You can't beat this guy!"

"I already told you, I've got it exactly where I want it," Naruto fired back, suddenly calm again. "I really wish you'd trust me more."

Sasuke paused, his own rage cut through by Naruto's sudden serenity. "I thought you were being difficult because you didn't want to admit that you-"

"No, I'm dead serious," Naruto cut in. "This is great. Well, not great, but good… It's enough. The only thing I didn't at least kind've account for was breaking my arm. That's a whoopsie… Hehe…"

"Wha-"

"We're running out of time. Shut up and listen," Naruto ordered, tiredly. They landed a good distance from the roiling sand, briefly taking cover. As they did, Naruto staggered onto his butt and groaned. "Shukaku and I both gambled. It gambled that I wouldn't go for the kill and I gambled that it'd gamble that… What I didn't plan for was that it would try and make me kill Gaara by dropping its sand armor. Or rather, I didn't consider that Gaara was still conscious at all in there. I thought he'd be a little too occupied not letting his soul-juice get slurped on like a ramen noodle…That's on me.

His mother kept telling him making assumptions was gonna get him killed. Naruto tried to ignore her smug "I told you so," in favor of the present issue.

"Why would it want you to kill him?"

"It doesn't, but it wants him to think I do."

"... And you don't?"

Naruto rolled his eyes at Sasuke's question. "Of course not. Gaara's one dumb, crazy asshole, but I can sense him in there. He's freaking scared out of his mind. Of me, of Shukaku... Right now, he's just choosing the path of least resistance for his own survival. Call me soft or whatever, but it's not my style to just kill a dude like that." A huff. "Nah, I just wanna beat the piss out of Shukaku, put a stopper on the damn thing, and call it a day." He was feeling tired and hangry; not particularly murderous… "I'd rather save Gaara too, if at all possible.``

Sasuke looked pretty murderous, himself. "You mean to tell me you gambled our fucking lives because you wanted to play hero!?"

"Yep!" Naruto grinned back, cheerily. Then he fixed Sasuke with a look that was deadly serious. "You know exactly what I'm about, man. If you think I'm gonna let a guy die when I can prevent it just to make shit easy then you're out of your damn mind."

Sasuke looked away and sucked his teeth. "Fine, fine. So if this is all 'within parameters' or whatever bullshit you're trying to shovel me, then what's the next step?"

Naruto didn't quite get to respond; both of their attentions were torn from them as the overactive sand began to pull back, seemingly giving up on capturing them in favor of returning to its master.

Shukaku's chakra had generated a massive storm that was only growing by the second. Its chakra careened down to the ground level, crushing the ground below to a fine granular consistency before sweeping it up into the cataclysmic vortex that it had managed to build up. The sand coalesced around Gaara's now limp body in its entirety, forming into the rough shape of a dome before slowly shifting to that of a canine's head. After a moment, the mass began to grow as more sand was added to the equation. A massive pot bellied torso; two arms; two stubby legs. Finally, a long, barbed tail of sand joined the mass before it stirred to life. Even as its form began to solidify, more sand continued to add itself to the pile as Shukaku's form grew more still. It grew well past the tops of the massive trees of the forest of death, until the massive swollen belly of the beast towered well above even the tallest of them. Shukaku's black sclera gleamed, its tiny yellow pupils swiveling about, unfocused, before finally snapping downward, settling precisely onto the two ninjas who had grown to be such thorns in its side.

"Let me ask you something, monkey… Do you know the difference between you humans and my kin and I? Your body's flag; put enough pressure on them and they break! Your spirits are weak and easily shattered like glass to a hammer. You're weak! No matter how hard you struggle; no matter how much your kind pretends to grow, you will always be limited by your very nature. You are inferior by design!"

Shukaku cackled, peering down at the pair as if watching ants in motion. "Tell me please, I'm begging, here! What's your latest, greatest, most inspired plan this time, genius! How will you get past this wall?"

Naruto merely quirked an eyebrow at the creature, letting Sasuke pull him to his feet. His temple had been split, leaving thick rivulets of crimson to eek down along the contours of his face. He closed an eye, wiping the blood away before it could blind him and leaving messy streaks from his brow to his cheek. "Thanks," Naruto muttered, steadying his footing and dusting himself off. "To answer that cute little monologue of yours, I'll just climb that wall of yours, just like all the others I've cleared." He shrugged, as if he was merely stating the obvious. "Not exactly a toughie to answer, ya know."

Sasuke's grip tightened on his good arm. "You'd better know what you're doing, Naruto."

Naruto hummed in thought. "Do you think you could manage one final Chidori in your current condition?"

Sasuke blanched. "You think a Chidori is getting through that?"

"Yes or no, Sasuke. Can you make me a Chidori?" Naruto snapped, his tone impatient.

A pause. The cursed mark had provided him with a second wind, of sorts. He seriously doubted it'd be up to snuff, but- "Barely, but yeah."

Good. Naruto shakily formed a tiger seal. "Then we've got nothing to worry about!"

Sasuke felt them before he saw them. Hundreds-no-thousands of clones began to fill the area all at once in tiny puffs of smoke.

"You still had this much chakra!?" He hissed to Naruto, his tone wavering.

"Nah. I prepped these guys in advance!"

"We've got a task to do that'll be integral to the exams," Naruto told his clone. He stripped Hinata's poncho from his body and his shirt followed soon after.

"I'm flattered, truly," His clone laughed, raising both palms as if to ward him off. "But I'm very happily married, ya know." A pause, then," To my work, that is."

"Shut up and help me," Naruto laughed. "I need a nexus point seal inscribed on my back." He paused for a moment in thought. "And an emergency vent- scratch that, a lot of vents. Once you're done with that, head out, yourself, and start making clones. Have your clones make clones. Don't stop until sunrise; after that, start molding chakra and stand by for further orders."

As his clone began his work on Naruto's back, the original sighed. 'Tomorrow will be hectic even if nothing goes wrong. I can't afford to leave anything to chance.'

In a best case scenario, his clones would be able to disperse themselves as needed to repeatedly restore his own reserves. Even from such a distance, the nexus point seal would make sure that their chakra found its way back to him. In a worst case though...

"Let me ask you something, Shukaku," Naruto piped up, grinning. "You've been bleeding chakra like a stuck pig all this time; where do you think all of that has been going?"

A pause, then Shukaku let out a sound that Sasuke had never heard before. It was like a cross between a growl and a strangled cat. "You little bastard, you didn't!"

"Oh, but I did," Naruto sang. With a light grunt, he unclipped the two bands securing his poncho and divested it from his torso with an exaggerated flourish; he gently placed it on the ground by his feet. His vest followed next, torn from his torso with far less care to expose his well-muscled torso. Sasuke spotted a seal that took up most of his back. Dozens upon dozens of elegant strings of kanji stood out, woven into an oval-like shape; there were several tiny openings in the matrix, joined by two larger ones each pointed toward his shoulder blades. The whole thing had quickly started to glow a molten red color.

In tandem, every single one of his clones formed a tiger seal of their own and began to glow. Shukaku watched it all, momentarily stunned into inaction by this human's audacity.

"Normally a Bijuu's unfiltered chakra is incredibly caustic to those not resilient to it. Were I anyone else, this might've been suicide. But I've got my own advantages, ya know! Your dumb ass already gave me a taste when you paid me a visit in the hospital; I had no issues at all using your leftovers to make a glaring fucking beacon for all that chakra you've been stupidly throwing around without a care in the world!"

A heavy steam began to rise from Naruto's body. He keeled over, nearly dropping to his knees before righting himself. His own chakra began to well up, its form wavering. "Even still, a Bijuu's chakra is no joke. It helps to have a couple thousand of yourself to share the burden, huh? My boys and I have been sucking you dry all this time through a bendy straw of your own damn making!" By now, each and every one of his clones had begun to mirror him, their bodies almost entirely engulfed in steam as the caustic chakra of the One Tails mixed erratically with their own. The mass of power grew past their own physical forms, creating a thick miasma of vermillion chakra. "Checkmate, asshole."

All at once, a cacophony of screams filled the air.

"RELEASE!"

Hundreds -no, thousands of claps sounded in unison, emitting a sharp cacophony more akin to the crack of thunder! From his position, Sasuke saw the seal on Naruto's back grow even hotter, now emitting a scorching heat which caused the flesh on his back to peel. Naruto hissed as his very sweat boiled and lifted off his skin, forming a billowing cloud around him, quickly joined by purple flames as his chakra roared into sight.

Naruto gritted his teeth as his pigmentation began to pinken, his very veins bulging against the surface of his skin as his blood flow increased. Golden sparks began to fire off from his body, a stray few forcing Sasuke to jump back with a shout as Naruto's veritable aura of chakra continued to swell. All around him, his clones followed suit, their own auras continuing to grow in tandem with their leaders' as the very forest itself was swallowed up in Naruto's power.

"Y-you've been planning this, this entire time?" Sasuke muttered, his tone horrified. He took a step back.

This was Naruto? This was the dead-last of their class? The very same dead-last who couldn't even make a single clone, just a few months ago... While Sasuke had been twiddling his thumbs, so sure of his own superiority, the blonde had managed gone and become this!?

Naruto began to laugh madly, the sound grating against Sasuke's ears like a knife on glass as his aura grew even still. "You keep talking down to me like I'm inferior; monkey this and that, like I could never reach your level, RIGHT!?" Blood began to rush freely from the blonde's nose, his sclera going pink and bloodshot from the strain of his own chakra being emitted in such massive quantities. His hair lifted from his face, revealing his other eye for the first time since Sasuke had last seen him; a deep cyan blue with a glowing pink pupil to match his other; both were eerily similar to Shukaku's own. "The answer is simple then, I'll go ahead and become something you and your kin can't possibly comprehend! Watch me shoot right up your pecking order and plop my ass atop the pinnacle of it all! And you're going to help me, dumbass!"

Naruto and his clones all screamed in tandem, the sound more akin to ten thousand hyenas cackling in unison as their chakra levels peaked, each forming miniature towers of chakra so dense that Sasuke's sharingan burned with excruciating pain.

"No!" Shukaku howled, finally shaking itself free of its trance. It sent a massive wave of sand to stop whatever the blonde was doing.

Too late.

Naruto formed a seal, the very same Sasuke had seen him use time and time again to transform. His index and middle fingers crossed together, forming the rough shape of a helix, and he whispered, so low that Sasuke only barely caught it. "Combine."

There was the briefest moment of pause before all hell broke loose. All at once, the thousands of clones around them began to disperse, their disembodied masses of chakra lingering for the shortest of moments before careening toward Naruto at blinding speed. They all began slamming into the boy in a ceaseless barrage, and his body rocked as if he were being assaulted as they continued to do so. Naruto's own chakra tower grew more and more still, easily warding off Shukaku's sand even as they continued to amass themselves. He was consumed entirely by the dense purple flame, now so highly concentrated it was nearly black in color; the golden sparks that had previously adorned his chakra had now become full on currents, filling the area around them with the smell of ozone. Sasuke could only just barely make out his friend's eyes in the heavy mass of chakra. They were unfocused, delirious, even, as if he'd gotten high on the massive amount of chakra he'd amassed. They panned over to him, only barely alight with recognition, before Naruto's broken arm blurred out, cracking back into place with a sickening sound. It reached the Uchiha far faster than anything Sasuke had ever seen; Sasuke was snagged by the back of his one piece and lifted off his feet as if he weighed nothing, and he had barely enough time to squawk in surprise before a pair of massive, near-formless wings burst from Naruto's back and they took to the skies.

They were flying. Holy shit they were flying!

"Hahahah! HAHAHAHAHAHA! Keep your eyes peeled, and don't blink or you'll miss it! This will be my greatest, most spectacular trick, yet!" Naruto howled at a gaping Shukaku as he continued to ascend. His speed had grown to such a point that he was little more than a screaming, human comet on a crash course for the very heavens above. Sasuke screamed as well as he was taken along for the ride.

Naruto's flesh bulged and morphed as his jutsu was woven into existence. His fingers, still crossed in his helix formation, were raised above his head, forming the tip of his comet as his speed reached its peak, breaking off from its straight path and flitting around erratically as it continued ascending well above Shukaku's own head; its eyes tracked his trajectory, wide with horror as it predicted what was coming. "Conglomerate Shape Changing Jutsu!"

The skies themselves split as Naruto's body detonated, the built up chakra finally finding its shape and twisting the boy's body. There was a massive explosion of smoke, so potent that it engulfed Shukaku and drowned out the Tailed Beast's own scream of rage.

---

That's the chapter. I know, I know, cliffhangers suck. But this moment kind of deserves it, in my opinion. I thought long and hard about whether I wanted to just do this fight as one complete experience in a single chapter, but there's a lot to cover and I'd rather take my time with it and try to keep telling a thoroughly written story with some cool moments than overdo it and end up missing important stuff. Just know that the next chapter is gonna be wacky.

Let's talk analysis:

My goal with this chapter is two-fold:

One, I want to create a foundation for Gaara to grow later. Yes, I realize I've been giving the poor guy the hands the last few chapters but Gaara really is one of my favorite characters and I look forward to getting to give him a break in the aftermath. But I really wanted it to feel like his redemption is a well-earned thing; that's honestly kind've hard with the way I've set things up.

Canon Gaara was in the driver's seat for most of his fight with Naruto so he had a good chance to get the measure of the guy and when Naruto kicks his ass and spares him, Gaara resonates with that ESPECIALLY because Temari and Kankuro are there to have his back.

Here, I couldn't see Jiraiya knowing they're involved in some shenanigans and not doing his part to put a lid on that. I also put Shukaku in the driver's seat as a set up for later stuff (trust that I didn't just put it there because it's cooler. I do have my reasons as you'll eventually come to see). All of this to say Gaara isn't a major player in this conflict even though his own story and redemption is something I care a lot about telling. Which means a lot of stuff kinda needs to be handled in the background, and honestly I freely admit that I'm not nearly good enough of a writer to know exactly how to handle it. This is as much a learning experience for me as it is a reading experience for y'all, if that makes sense?

So TLDR: I wrote myself into a hole by having to remove important elements for Gaara's growth, which means now I need to make new ones. That's fine, but it means I gotta slow down here a lot. Please offer me your patience there.

The other side is setting the groundwork for other important characters. Namely Kakashi, Hiruzen, and even Sasuke here. Kakashi has, in this story, been shown thus far to kinda suck as a teacher. However, I said before and I stand by my statement that this is not meant to be a bashing fic. Sometimes I miss the mark and it may come across as such, but that's more a failure of my own writing, which I am working on. People make mistakes, and sometimes those mistakes are REALLY bad. I tried a bit to explain Kakashi's rationale for why he did some bad stuff in an earlier chapter, but now this is me trying to push that along a little bit more. Kakashi does care about his students, even if he does fail them. But he also doesn't trust them. They're just a bunch of Genin who, in his eyes, are way over their heads. His being desperate to save them while Jiraiya seems kinda lax about it is meant to not only reverse their positions thus far, but to also kinda show what's going on under the hood in terms of their values and priorities. I hope I communicated that well, but either way expect to see more of that once fighting dies down a bit and I can focus more intently on individual characters.

Hiruzen is someone I kinda struggle to write. I can write the badass 3rd Hokage well enough, but it gets harder to write Hiruzen, the human man who has made a ton of mistakes and regrets ALL of them. His relationship with Orochimaru is especially hard to write because in canon we don't see a bunch. We see him handling kid Orochimaru well enough, but kid Orochimaru and adult Orochimaru are entirely different entities, for one. For two, Hiruzen, while being shown to have some comedic elements to his character for the time that he is alive, is mostly shown to have those qualities when they are brought out by Naruto, specifically. I wanted to add a little bit of comedy to Hiruzen's interaction with Orochimaru to show that these people used to be super close; Hiruzen in a way was Orochimaru's father in the same way that he played a parental role for Naruto. But Hiruzen is still a flawed man whose mistakes have at times made people worse as a result. I'm looking forward to writing that more; expect me to tackle Hiruzen vs Orochimaru more, since I'd like to take a pass at it once I get some more brain RAM back. I think that'd be cool to write.

Lastly, Sasuke. Sasuke was practically pissing and shitting himself over Naruto making a bunch of clones and doing the summoning jutsu in canon. There's no way he'd be able to just be fine handling Naruto straight up outclassing him in terms of physical stats, and strategically planning in ways that have gone over his head, and whatever bullshit he just whipped out at the very end. It's supposed to be kind've ridiculous because from Sasuke's perspective, it very much is.

Expect that I'll be doing a bit less of glazing the hell out of Naruto soon, but the Konoha crush arc was kind've ridiculous in terms of how crazy his feats were, alone. Dude fights a turbo amped Gaara who utterly clowns on Sasuke WITH the curse mark, which is shown to be upwards of like a 10x amp even just at level 1. He then gets his friendship amp via Haku's memory and just goes nuclear on Gaara, forcing him to unleash Shukaku before summoning Gamabunta. Those are Kage-level feats and I will hear no arguments otherwise; keep in mind that BASE Gaara was strong enough to easily slaughter any Sand Jonin that had been unlucky enough to be assigned him as an assassination target.

All of this to say that this Naruto may feel kinda wacky and OP, but honestly his feats aren't too much more crazy thus far than what canon Naruto accomplished and this one has a ton of help. Yeah, Naruto is kind've OP, but he's gonna need to be for the stuff I'm planning on throwing his way, and ultimately I do want his wins to feel earned, whether through good strategy and set up, great help, or a combination of the two. I hope that I at least did a good job of not making this all feel like a total asspull. Let me know how you guys feel about it in the reviews. I do read them all and they really do offer me a ton of insight that helps me with my future writing when you leave thorough comments.

One last thing: The first commenter to guess what the transformation will be gets a shout-out in the next chapter. As a hint, I've already referenced it a tiny bit in a previous chapter. Happy guessing!

Thanks so much for reading. Doing this has been a minor source of stress, but a far greater source of entertainment and even mild therapy for me, with all the wacky stuff going on here on my end. I really enjoy doing this and you guys' wonderful comments (yes, even the negative reviews) are very enjoyable to read and think about.

Til next chapter!