Chapter 21 revised and edited. Review or PM me on what you think about this chapter now.
Disclaimer – I don't own anything from the Naruto anime/manga all I own are my original characters and plot twists.
'Talking'
"Thinking"
'Heavily demonic voice'
'Fox talking'
"Fox thinking"
*expression*
Jutsu
Flashback
Chapter 21 – Naruto: Unleashed
Naruto charged at Gaara and swiped his now densely chakra encased claw like hands across Gaara's left shoulder, the red bubbling chakra slicing through the sand like a hot knife through butter, ultimately causing the entire arm to fall off. It fell to the tree with a loud thud before Gaara screamed, taking a moment to process the pain from the corrosive chakra.
'Argh! Uzumaki!' Yelled Gaara in pain, before another demonic looking sand arm grew from his shoulder stump.
'You will pay for threatening my friends' lives. I will bring you down here!' Shouted Naruto in a deeply demonic tone.
'That's why you're fighting, I already told you, fight only for yourself, or you will die! I fight to prove my existence as my own village tried to erase it. That is why I won't lose to YOU!' Shouted Gaara as he extended his now regrown sand arm at Naruto, causing him to jump to the side and stick to another tree, while the one he had been on before was smashed into pieces.
Gaara growled and the sand covering him spread, snaking across his arm over his torso and head until reaching his other arm before moving down. Now Gaara was completely covered in sand and had a tail of his own made of sand.
'Sand Shuriken.' Shouted Gaara in a voice now almost as demonic sounding as Naruto's, before fifty shuriken made of sand flew at Naruto.
Three shuriken clipped trees on their way to Naruto, quickly and cleanly severing the branches they struck before continuing on.
"Tailed Beast Sonic Roar." Thought Naruto before opening his mouth and roaring, blasting chakra outwards in all directions, which destroyed the trees nearby and deflected Gaara's Sand Shuriken.
Gaara growled before lunging at Naruto and slamming his now two-metre-long tail down where Naruto was standing. Naruto saw Gaara charging, and his eyes widened as his size did nothing to slow him down. Just before Gaara hit Naruto thought, Naruto quickly rolled to the side on all fours, falling when the branch was smashed.
While Naruto was in free fall, he used this moment to begin forming his Rasengan, which began to turn red from the Fox's chakra and then settled on purple after mixing with the blue of his normal chakra.
'Rasengan!' Shouted Naruto, bouncing of a nearby tree with a burst of chakra, as he jumped up and hit Gaara's tail, ripping it in half.
Gaara once again cried out in pain, but had the presence of mind to jump away from Naruto, lest he provide him with another opening.Gaara looked on with an almost curious, thoughtful expression, before settling into one of insanity, before he began to grow to huge proportions, becoming easily larger than the Kage tower.
Naruto used chakra to launch himself up to the top of a tree, before leaping up to nail Gaara in the face with a punch, but, ignoring the punch completely, Gaara breathed in deeply, with twenty or so mouths appearing on his body before shouting, 'Wind Style: Infinite Sandstorm Devastation.' At which point all the mouths opened up and unleashed a chakra coated sand cloud.
Naruto was blown back, but the damage he took was almost instantly healed by the fox.
Naruto then began to form two Rasengan in his hands, assisted by the chakra shroud around him. He then used one of his tails to pull out a three-pronged kunai, which he threw behind Gaara. Naruto vanished and appeared behind Gaara, catching the sand demon off guard.
'Double Demon Rasengan Tornado.' Shouted Naruto, before slamming his hands together, causing both of the purple Rasengan to merge and go unstable, before erupting in a purple cyclone which started from his hands and quickly spread outward, drilling right through Gaara's tail and even burst through his stomach.
Gaara gave a bloodcurdling scream of agony, but it slowly stopped as sand eventually filled out his abdominal wound and his tail began to grow back, prompting Naruto to jump away.
'Uzumaki you will die here!' Growled Gaara in his full Shukaku form, before he appeared to rise up out of the mass of sand, like a pimple on the head of the Shukaku like structure.
'Play Possum Jutsu.' Said Gaara in his normal voice atop the structure, before he fell asleep and his form slumped forward, with his legs still attached to the structure.
The eyes of the Shukaku structure turned a darker yellow and the diamond in the centre shrunk, while the four blue dots in between each point of the diamond doubled in size.
'Yee-Hah, I'm free baby! I hope you're ready to die! Let's do this!' Said Shukaku, with his voice growing deeper each second.
Even though Naruto was in a rage and in his three tailed form, he realised that chances of him beating a demon all on his own were pretty slim.
"Fox, what should I do." Thought Naruto, trying his hardest to withstand the murderous thoughts whirling in the back of his head.
'Well, if you can somehow wake Gaara up, Shukaku would be sent back into Garra's mind.' Said Kurama.
"Fine." Finished Naruto.
Naruto begun to charge at the Shukaku while flinging dozens of kunai and shuriken. He then rapidly made hand signs and shouted, 'Wind Style: Gale Palm.'
The shuriken and kunai travelled at an extremely fast pace towards Shukaku's face, but Shukaku was unfazed and merely breathed in before slamming its hand on its stomach, expelling four concentrated balls of air at the weapons and the one who had thrown them.
'Wind Style: Air Bullet.' Shouted the Shukaku, as the deadly balls of wind rushed his opponent.
Naruto just had one thought when those bullets approached his thrown projectiles, "Aw shit."
There was a massive explosion when the bullets made contact with the weapons, forming a blast so big almost every tree within a five-hundred metre radius were sent flying, reduced to match sticks. Naruto was also blown away, but not by much, as he used chakra to stick to whatever he could while he was in the air. Once the dust had settled down, Naruto came up with a new idea to combat Shukaku. Naruto got down on all fours and gathered chakra into his mouth, as his neck and mouth started to bulge.
'Nine-Tailed Fox Fire Stream!' Shouted Naruto, unleashing a stream of fire three times the size of the one he used in the exam stadium and measuring three metres in diameter.
The stream burnt through all the trees still left standing and while Shukaku managed to avoid getting hit in the head, his size worked against him as he wasn't fast enough to avoid it entirely and it ploughed into Shukaku's right shoulder, causing his right arm to fall off.
'Darn you!' Shouted Shukaku.
"Now is my chance while he is recovering his arm." Thought Naruto, before making a hand sign.
'Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu.' Said Naruto, causing nine hundred and ninety-nine shadow clones to appear.
As if by command, all the clones leapt and threw a series of kicks, hitting Shukaku in the stomach and propelling him up slightly while shouting, 'NA-RU-TO' with each kick. They all then gave the Shukaku a punch with both of their hands before the real Naruto used a chakra enhanced jump and leapt above them all. The real Naruto then extended both of his arms and shouted, 'Nice meeting you, Shukaku, now it's time for you to go back to sleep!'
Naruto begun to plummet to the area on Shukaku directly over Gaara and smashed into him while shouting, 'Naruto 2K Uzumaki Barrage!'
'No! Curse you! I don't want to go back, NOOOOOOOOO!' Shouted the Shukaku, moments before his eyes reverted to pure yellow, shortly after which all the sand begun to fall off and break apart.
Naruto dropped to the ground and reeled from the feedback he got from his clones dispelling all at once, while Gaara fell to the ground. Once Naruto had recovered, he looked towards Gaara, who had abject fear etched all over his face. He began to walk over to him while Gaara pitifully attempted to crawl backwards.
'No, you will not end my existence!' Cried Gaara, panic and fear lacing all of his words.
'It hurts Gaara, the pain of loneliness.' Said Naruto as he deactivated his three tailed cloak and kept walking towards Gaara, with tears falling down his face.
'That unbearable feeling of being all alone, I know that feeling. I have been there for almost my entire life, that dark and lonely place.' Said Naruto, who was now crouching next to Gaara.
'But then I made friends, and they helped me out of that darkness, and it is for that reason I will always be there for them. I will fight for them, kill for them, and more importantly, die for them.' Said Naruto softly, but with steel in his tone.
Gaara stared at him and asked him what he couldn't understand about Naruto's motivation.
'But why? Why are you willing to go to such lengths for them and not for yourself?' Asked Gaara in confusion.
Naruto looked up at the clear sky above them for a minute before putting his response together.
'It's because they saved me from myself and the darkness. They accepted me for who I am. They're my friends.' Explained Naruto.
Gaara remembered what his uncle Yashamaru told him, about how love is the heart's desire to protect someone close to one's heart.
'Love, is that why he is so strong?' Asked Gaara quietly to himself.
Naruto overheard him and replied with a smile, 'Yes Gaara, it's love.'
At that moment Temari, along with Kankuro, dropped down near Naruto and Gaara, with Kankuro looking worse for wear after his battle with Naruto's clones, while Temari looked relatively unharmed.
Temari went to reach for her fan, but Gaara's voice stopped her.
'Temari, that's enough, it's over.' Said Gaara.
'Gaara, before you leave, I would like to ask you one thing.' Said Naruto.
Gaara nodded his head slightly as if to say, speak.
'Want to be friends?' Asked Naruto smiling, as he extended his hand to Gaara.
Temari and Kankuro's eyes widened at this, while Gaara simply remembered how throughout the entire time he talked with Naruto, he only wanted to help him. As he did not have the strength to lift his own arm, Gaara used his sand to lift his hand and arm, in order to meet Naruto's outstretched hand.
'Friends.' Gaara replied once his hand was in Naruto's, nodding his head slightly.
Naruto then picked up Gaara and handed him to Temari.
'Well I'll leave you with your siblings for now, but Gaara, should you ever want a rematch I'd be happy to oblige, but for now I need to go check on my friends.' Said Naruto cheerfully as he walked away.
Gaara gave a small barely noticeable smile before he mumbled, 'I'll keep that in mind.' Which caused Naruto, who had heard this to grin, while Temari and Kankuro looked flabbergasted.
Temari transferred Gaara to Kankuro, before they begun to leap away.
'Temari. Kankuro. I'm sorry.' Said Gaara, stunning both of his siblings.
It took a while, but Kankuro eventually replied, 'It's okay Gaara.' Before they kept leaping away.
-line break-
Naruto meanwhile found Sasuke and Tenten, who were now waking up.
'I hope you enjoyed your nap.' Said Naruto with a grin when they looked up to see him.
'Ugh, Naruto, what happened?' Asked Sasuke groggily.
'Well, Gaara got the drop on you guys and stuck you guys to the tree with sand, which would slowly crush you guys until you died, which led me to proceed to beat the sand out of him, at which point he grew larger than the Kage tower and caused massive explosions destroying most of the trees remaining. Finally, after getting the drop on him after nailing him with an advanced form of the technique I used in the Chunin exams, I knocked him over the head and woke him up, at which point he conceded defeat, which caused you guys to be free of the sand and not be crushed to death on a tree.' Said Naruto cheekily.
'Hn, whatever loser.' Said Sasuke before he turned around. 'Thanks.' Sasuke said, before leaping back to the village.
Naruto's jaw dropped at hearing Sasuke thank him and proceeded to pinch himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming, much to the amusement of Tenten, before he shut his mouth and gave a huge grin.
'You're welcome I guess.' Chuckled Naruto.
'Naruto, I want to thank you too.' Said Tenten, causing Naruto to turn towards her.
Tenten quickly closed the distance and gave Naruto a peck on the cheek, which caused him to go red like a tomato. Tenten giggled at this reaction, before she too began to leap off to the village. Naruto stayed there rooted in his spot for a minute, blushing like crazy, before smiling an even bigger grin than when Sasuke thanked him.
'You're very welcome too.' Muttered Naruto, before he too leapt off to the village.
-line break-
The next day
-line break-
A mass funeral was held for everyone who died during the invasion, but the death that hit the hardest was that of the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who died fighting against Orochimaru, who it was later revealed had impersonated the Fourth Kazekage in order to orchestrate everything. The whole village had halted its activities and proceeded to mourn the loss of their beloved Hokage and their close friends and family. Konohamaru was crying by the bucket load and clung to Iruka. One by one, everyone walked up to the memorial and placed a white flower on it. After Naruto placed his flower, he returned near Iruka and Konohamaru and asked Iruka a question that had been on his mind for some time now.
'Why Iruka-sensei? Why do they do it? Why do they risk their lives for other people?' Asked Naruto.
'Well when someone passes away it's the end. Their past and future, hopes and dreams, it all disappears with them, even if you die honourably in battle as so many have, as Hayate did. Everything tying them to the living is severed, all but one, the most important one of all, people. Parents, siblings, friends, lovers, and all the other people who are important to him… these people… the ones left behind, they are joined together through their memories of him. Those bonds only grow larger and stronger as time passes. It's hard to explain.' Said Iruka.
Naruto thought about what he heard before he spoke his thoughts in a sombre tone, even as Konohamaru's quietly sniffles continued.
'I get it Iruka-sensei and I...' Started Naruto, pausing for a moment as he looked around at all his friends and teachers, before speaking again.
'I would do the same thing.' Naruto concluded.
Eventually everyone left and went on with their activities for the day, unaware of what was coming next.
-line break-
On the boundaries of the Leaf Village
-line break-
'They survived, barely.' Said a cloaked figure wearing a conical straw hat, with a bell attached to the right side of it.
Another person, one about a head larger than the other, was standing next to the figure who had just spoken who. The larger figure was dressed in a similar manner, wearing the same black cloak with red clouds on it, but also had a large, bandaged mass strapped to his back. The larger figure stood their quietly and listened to the smaller figure, knowing they had more to say.
'To think, they were at the height of glory before and now they are reduced to this.' Said the first figure in a cool voice.
'Don't tell me you still have feelings for your old village.' Said the second figure, in an equally cool voice.
The first looked up and revealed two fully matured Sharingan before replying.
'No. None.' Said the man, his ominous red eyes gazing down at the village.
For the record I own the Double Demon Rasengan Tornado :)
SSJ3 Kyuubi Gohan.