A/N: Hello everyone and we are back with another chapter of One Year Early. Well, perhaps with the first one of this story that contains some action. I hope you'll like it. Before getting onto the chapter, accept the sincere gratitude from this amateur (yes I do consider myself that, there is a lot of progress I need to make before I could be considered something better.) author for the continued support and love you have all given to his works. I sincerely hope for your continued support in the future. And with that, lets get on with the chapter.
CHAPTER 8: AN INSANE JINCHUURIKI, A CONFESSION & A SACRIFICE
*3 days after Team-6's arrival in Taki*
Shikaku had gone over to Shibuki's place to get the document the young village leader would be sending in reply to the Hokage's letter. He and his team would be leaving Taki in at most three hours. So, the head jonin of Konoha had allowed his students to have some time off with their new friend from Taki. There is still time for them to learn the official stuff. Also, his students had managed to complete the tasks set for them, i.e 'Drilling Air Bullets' for Naruto and 'Lightning Ball jutsu' for Hinata, just the previous night. Shikaku was indeed intrigued by Naruto's expression at that moment. While the blonde was ecstatic for being able to learn a new jutsu and improve his chakra control, there was this secondary expression, which the experienced and intelligent Nara was barely able to make out, an expression that showed as if the boy had finally gotten clarity about something very important and at the same time was a bit nervous about something.
'I can't help my eyes being able to catch those deeper feelings these kids try to hide and then my brain can't just help work out what those expression mean and the reasons behind them, troublesome indeed. I can certainly conclude that the boy has realized his own feelings for Hinata. Good for her, that would give her a confidence boost, moral support and also give Naruto a family, I mean yes, our Team is definitely going to be a family but it's not that kind of family. And unlike what many would think, I think love is not a setback for a shinobi to grow, in fact it can be just as strong an incentive to grow stronger. It is for that very reason, Team-6 was created, so I am going to back them up as they notch up their relationship from friendship into a romantic one. Although things could become troublesome but I think the effort would be worth it.' Shikaku thought as he waited for Shibuki to finish preparing the document that was to be carried to the Hokage. Then there would be some tiresome negotiations and stuff, which would require Shikaku to take a nap once those things were done, but unfortunately, he didn't have the time to rest, that's something which had to wait till nightfall when the team would make camp. 'Troublesome indeed.' The Nara thought with a sigh.
*Meanwhile, near the waterfalls, close to Fu's place*
"You will be leaving today? Fu'll miss you….Fu will be lonely again." The Nanabi jinchuuriki said with a downcast expression. Hinata and Naruto both put their hands on her shoulder.
"I am extremely sorry Fu, but we have to go. I promise we will write you letters. And send training tips too. We will visit this place again and also you can come to Konoha as well. Our villages are on good terms from what I hear, so it won't be that big of a deal." Naruto reassured.
"Y-Yeah. We w-will k-keep in touch, Fu and we will m-miss you too." Hinata stated. The green haired girl only nodded in response. She realized that her new friends had to leave. But at least, they had ensured that there were some people for her in this world. She could always take solace in that fact.
Then in order to lighten the mood, the three kids gossiped about some different stuff, especially regarding the various pranks Naruto had pulled in Konoha.
*Meanwhile, some 10 kilometres away*
The team from Suna was making their way towards Takigakure. They were on full alert, since they had to sneak into the village. Unfortunately for them, they had to rely on Gaara to guide them to the Nanabi jinchuuriki since none of the rest were any good at being sensors.
To their confusion and slight horror, as they got closer to their destination, the aura around Gaara became darker and darker and now the redhead was having a sadistic smile on his face. Baki's instincts were screaming at him to simply abandon the mission, grab the redhead, and retreat to Suna at full speed. He just knew that soon the mission would take unexpected turns. But he just couldn't do it. The Kazekage would be harsh should he return without completing the mission just on the basis of some gut feelings. He would surely lose his job at the least and that would mean that the Sand Siblings could end up with someone crueler or even worse, they could be punished as well.
Temari was also having similar thoughts. Her brain was telling her that this mission was a failure from the very beginning, if Gaara's expression upon hearing about the Nanabi jinchuuriki was anything to go by. She knew that her little brother may not bother capturing the jinchuuriki alive, she was sure he would try to kill her and that would jeopardize everything. But she was too inexperienced and junior in rank to make her opinion known and get the mission aborted. She had no idea why her father was increasingly becoming more sadistic and power hungry. However, all she could do right now was to begrudgingly continue with the mission.
"I can't help it Kankuro. I am just feeling nervous and afraid. I have this feeling that, things will be going haywire very soon." Temari whispered to her puppeteer brother, who simply nodded.
"I am also having the same feeling sis, but there is nothing we can do right now. It's unlikely that Baki-sensei would heed to our request to abort the mission and even if he does, back home, Dad would come down hard upon us and especially Gaara for failing the mission." Kankuro whispered making Temari sigh.
"I'm certain that this mission is going to fail, regardless of whether we proceed or not and that makes us receiving a punishment almost an inevitability. Only if someone with power bothered listening to me once. I have been screaming at Dad to let Gaara have some sort of a normal life for years but he…..he just kept up with those attempts…" Temari whispered shaking her head in frustration and anger at her own helplessness to remedy the situation with their brother in any way.
And then, just as she had predicted things did start going haywire, and chaotically so at that.
Gaara licked his lips in anticipation as he began chuckling sadistically.
"Yes…yes…she is close by…mother…mother…you'll soon be tasting her blood…I will make you happy…mother." Gaara uttered sadistically making all of his companions flinch in fear.
"Gaara…Mother senses the beetle as well as the fox…mother wants both their blood…give their blood to mother. Be a good boy…my child." The monstrous voice in the redhead's head said to him enticingly.
"G-Gaara, w-wait." Temari said trying to alleviate the situation from getting any worse.
"Gaara. Our job is to get the jinchuuriki ali-" Baki tried to say in admonishment but then a wall of sand knocked the three of them back as the youngest member of their team vanished via a sand shunshin.
"SHHHIIIIT!" Temari screamed. "Baki-sensei! We have to follow him…we have to stop him before he does something crazy. The shinobi of Taki, they might…they might kill Gaara if he isn't stopped." The eldest daughter of the Kazekage screamed in horror.
The half veiled jonin of Suna nodded. "After Gaara, now!" He ordered and the three immediately dashed after the redhead hoping sincerely to somehow stop the situation from going completely and utterly out of hand.
*10 minutes later*
Naruto, Hinata and Fu were casually chatting, totally unaware of the danger rapidly approaching them. None of them had bothered to be on guard.
"Fu! Be alert, we are about to be attacked!" The Nanabi warned from Fu's mindscape and her eyes widened.
"And then when I put that goldfish in Jiji's hat, he-" Naruto stopped suddenly seeing Fu's changed expression. "Fu! What's wrong?" He asked in concern.
"Chomei….he gave a warning, we might be in trouble." Fu said with her eyes still widened.
"Hinata-chan! Take a look around, will you?" Naruto immediately asked.
"Hai! Byakugan!" His soon to be girlfriend acknowledged activating her dojutsu. As soon as she did so, her eyes widened in fear.
"Naruto-kun! Fu-san! Dodge!" She screamed, jumping upon Naruto and taking him rolling down with her as Fu immediately took flight less than a second later, a huge wave of sand crashed over where the three were sitting and destroyed all the plants and bushes there.
The three genin hadn't seen an attack of that scale till that point in their lives so they were fully taken by surprise and watched with wide eyes.
"What the hell…was that?" Naruto said in a surprised stutter as the sand receded into the gourd of a boy of even smaller frame than theirs who seemed to be barely of their age, which only compounded the surprise of the kids. But then Naruto took a look at the eyes of their surprise attacker and found the hints of something he only knew too well; loneliness, despair, scorn, hatred, in short everything he had experienced in Konoha until Hinata defended him from Mizuki's fuma-shuriken. And then he also felt the Kyuubi acting up inside his gut.
"The fox, he…he's acting up. This means that boy…he's…he's a…" Naruto began saying.
"Jinchuuriki" Fu said as she landed by their side. "He is…according to Chomei, he's the jinchuuriki of the Ichibi, Shukaku of the Desert."
"H-He's from Sunagakure." Hinata said taking a good look at the headband of the redheaded boy, which was tied to the belt holding the gourd with his shirt.
"Mother will have your blood!" Gaara said sadistically raising his hand and again, sand began rushing towards the three genin before him.
"Fuck!" Naruto cursed as he dodged the attack, so did Hinata. Thankfully with her wings, Fu was able to dodge the sand rather easily.
"What the hell do you mean by mother?!" Naruto shouted at Gaara as he back flipped from the sand attacking him. "What the hell have we done to you!?" He shouted again but didn't get anything in reply.
Just then Baki and the rest of the Sand Siblings got there and needless to say they were horrified to see just what exactly was going on. Along with their intended target, Gaara was attacking two more genins from Konoha. It didn't take them even a moment to realize that should anything happen to the genins from Konoha, it would lead to an international scandal. Also, the way Gaara was acting, letting loose some of the Ichibi's chakra, it would soon alert the shinobi from Taki and then it would be very difficult to keep things from escalating into a full-blown war.
All they could now do was to help protect the shinobi Gaara was attacking, their mission be damned. The three immediately jumped to the side of Naruto, Hinata and Fu. Who couldn't help get on edge seeing more shinobi from Suna.
"Don't panic, we mean you no harm. Gaara, he belongs to our team but he appears to have lost control." Baki said trying to be as reassuring as possible.
"He has great power, which he can't always control. Please forgive us. We really didn't mean any harm." Temari said pleadingly. As all of them continued dodging the sand and spears made of it. To their horror, with the passage of time, Gaara seemed to become more and more impatient and therefore the speed and tenacity of his attacks increased.
Just as Fu was flying away from a wave of sand, a narrow column of it rose up and caught her leg.
"Shit! Fu!" Naruto shouted in concern. Gaara's face developed a grin...
"Ooohhh yes….Mother. I got one, mother. I'll be offering her blood to you soon." He said and the sand holding Fu's legs, slammed her on the ground brutally, then picked her up and slammed her again.
"Summoning Jutsu! Quick Beheading Dance!" Temari said biting her finger and smearing her blood on her now unsealed battle fan and swung it violently, releasing violent gusts of wind and a weasel along with that which travelled towards the sand holding Fu as she screamed in pain due to the sand tightening its hold on her leg. The weasels and the violent gusts of wind attacked the sand and the hold was broken. By that time, Kankuro had already unsealed the black ant puppet, the uninspired-ly named Kuroari, and had it reach Fu and bring her back to safety.
But nobody had the time to even confirm if she was okay, since Gaara became enraged by his prey being taken away from him. Sand again rushed at the six people before him and they dodged again.
"Sand spears!" Gaara yelled as the wave of sand took the form of several spears and rushed towards his prey.
"Wind style: Wind Blade Jutsu!" Baki said going through hand signs as a blade of wind appeared in his hand. He used it to cut through the sand spears attacking them with astonishing agility and speed.
'Now that's something I want to learn.' Naruto thought.
"It does seem wind jutsus work on him." The blonde boy commented. By that time, he had understood that Temari and Baki were wind types like him.
"If we manage to knock him out, we will be able to stop this fight and survive, otherwise…with his Biju giving him this stupid amount of power, we may not survive in the long run!" Naruto yelled.
"H-How do you know he has a Biju inside him?" Kankuro asked in surprise as Hinata face palmed. She couldn't really blame Naruto for it, he had spoken at the heat of the moment.
"Oh! Well…I guess if we stop him, we can talk about it after that…. now is not the best time to talk after all." Naruto responded.
"All right, but do remember to tell us how you got to know that Gaara is a jinchuuriki, it's really important." Baki said in a serious tone as cut through the sand attacking them.
"Fine!" Naruto acknowledged. "Let's hit him with our best moves then. Wind style it will be. But first, let's increase the numbers. Shadow Clone Jutsu!" And about 100 Narutos appeared at the clearing, surprising everyone there, except for Hinata.
"Let's do this." Naruto said as he began going through hand-signs. As soon as Baki recognized that the blonde Konoha genin was going to use a wind jutsu to attack he began going through hand-signs of his own and Temari prepared herself to use the 'Quick Beheading Dance' again knowing that with this attack she will be out of chakra but at the moment, no one had a better alternative.
"Wind style: Drilling Air Bullets!" Naruto and his clones yelled, releasing several bullets of wind from their mouths.
"Wind Style: Vacuum Serial waves!" Baki released several wave shaped blasts of wind from his mouth.
"Summoning Jutsu: Quick Beheading Dance!" Temari said smearing her blood on her battle fan and swinging it at full force, putting all of her remaining chakra into the attack. "Come back, little brother." She pleaded as she swung the fan.
'Little brother?!' Naruto and Hinata thought in a bit of confusion, but the attack was definitely begun regardless. Several wind jutsus powering up each other ended up creating something of an S-class wind attack, the sheer power of the attack was able to break trees, stopping the sand all the while creating nothing short of a true storm that hit Gaara with full force. But just before the attack could actually hit, the redheaded boy managed to encase himself within a cocoon of sand. Once the attack went away and the dust settled down, to the despair of the six fighting Gaara, the redhead was mostly unharmed.
"What the hell! Just how did he manage to survive that!?" Naruto yelled in frustration as all his clones dispelled in puffs of smoke.
"Sorry boy, but Gaara's defense is pretty strong. Its only weakness is fire, but unfortunately I am not a fire affinity and can't use any fire jutsus strong enough." Baki admitted begrudgingly. Just then a shadow got connected with Gaara and stopped him.
Just then, Shikaku appeared there via a shunshin. He was able to sense the huge amount of chakra Gaara was leaking as he was walking towards Fu's hut from Shibuki's residence and had immediately made haste to make sure that his students were okay.
"Nara Shikaku-dono?" Baki said in a bit of surprise as well as respect. After all, the Nara clan head was pretty famous all over the world for his wit and intelligence.
"Baki, the Kazekage's trusted aide. Mind telling me what are you doing here and why exactly is a Suna genin attacking my students?" Shikaku sternly asked.
"Well, you see….Shikaku-dono…" Baki tried explaining but Naruto cut him off.
"That guy is a jinchuuriki and he seems to have totally lost it somehow." The blonde yelled. Shikaku raised an eyebrow at that and strengthened his hold on Gaara.
"Now that he's stopped, Hinata will you try knocking him out?" Shikaku ordered.
"H-Hai-sensei." The Hyuuga acknowledged and dashed for the redhead, intent on delivering some jyuuken strikes and knocking him out for good. But unfortunately for her, just as she was about to deliver her strike, a wall of sand arose and stopped her in her tracks, but before the sand could touch her however, in an impressive showing of agility, Hinata dodged it and fell back.
"So… this…Gaara…doesn't even need to move to manipulate the sand. It seems, for some reason, the sand Gaara controls is semi-sentient, it comes to his defense even when not ordered to do so, interesting." Shikaku said in realization, continuing his hold on Gaara.
"Sensei! Baki-san said that we can use some fire jutsus against his sand, but none of us know one." Naruto yelled again.
"Then use explosive tags instead. Hinata and Fu and the kid with war paint can launch explosive tags while Baki-san and Naruto can use their wind attacks as I hold the target down." Shikaku laid down.
Kankuro was internally celebrating that someone correctly realized he was wearing WAR PAINT not MAKEUP!
'Why didn't I think about that earlier?' Everyone thought with a sweat-drop, as the solution was indeed quite simple.
"All right!" Naruto said making hundred copies of him again as he and Baki prepped themselves to launch another massive wind attack.
"Wind style: Drilling air bullets!" Naruto and his clones carried out the attack again.
"Wind style: Serial Vacuum Waves!" Baki launched his attack as well. While Hinata on the ground and Fu from the air launched as many kunai attached with explosive tags as they could. The wind propelled the kunai forward at binding speeds. Gaara was covered in a cocoon of sand just as the attack hit but then all the explosive tags went off and the wind only fanned the flames. Just then, Shikaku's shadow disconnected due to the sheer force of wind that acted on Gaara.
'Shit, this could be bad.' The Nara thought.
As the dust died down, everyone looked at the spot where Gaara stood with interest. The dust died down to reveal the sand cocoon having been half destroyed and the rest of it having been converted to glass. Surprisingly, Gaara was still standing, though he appeared to have been on shaky footing. Hinata saw an opportunity.
"N-Naruto-kun!" She called upon her love and as their eyes matched, they were ready to implement the strategy. The two genin rushed towards Gaara and closed the distance as quickly as possible, with Naruto having made five shadow clones to assist them and together they engaged him in taijutsu, which Gaara had little if any skill in.
Unfortunately, for the first ten minutes, neither Naruto, nor his clones, nor Hinata were able to land a solid hit. The semi-sentient sand kept protecting Gaara, although the redhead himself was quite a bit winded down and his shaky footing was growing worse by the minute.
However, after seven minutes of constant struggle, Hinata was able to find an opening and was able to land a few brutal jyuuken strikes, which should have been able to knock Gaara out, but that didn't happen, surprising the upcoming couple. Instead, the spots where Hinata had hit crumbled into dust.
"A-an armour of s-sand." Hinata said in realization.
Just then, Kankuro began using the crow puppet, which bore an equally uninspired name: Karasu, to attack Gaara, with its blades laced with a sedative. But even that was not fully effective since even if crow was able to slash Gaara, the slashes only landed upon the sand armour.
"This isn't enough." Naruto said as he and Hinata had to fall back.
Just then…..all of those present were startled as they began hearing a telepathic conversation.
"I feel really bad for Shukaku, Kurama. He ended up truly unfortunate. Although we have been very unlucky ever since the humans started considering us as nothing more than either weapons or monsters. But Shukaku, he's had it really bad."
"Chomei?" Fu said out loud with wide eyes.
"Who the hell's Kurama? Oh wait a minute…the Kyuubi…his name…" Naruto whispered in realization. Just then another voice made itself known telepathically.
"Tsk! Humans…that despicable species. I really can't believe just how the old man had such high hopes of them and how they ended up. I am sure the old man would be weeping in afterlife watching the moral degradation of these idiots. These fools who think of nothing other than power. Especially those with the red-eyes, the eyes that actually came from the old man himself. And our little brother is just one of the victims of this deranged species' lust of power. From what I can make out, the Tanuki has become crazy and bloodthirsty, and I say that knowing he was already quite a bit more vicious than the rest of us, that's coming from me with all the crap I became known for, and he was a bit out there as well, but it worsened due to not being able to sleep as a result of the abomination of a seal he is placed in. Although mine places me inside a cage, it's at least allows me to sleep. And this brat is at least tolerable." A voice said from what Naruto was sure was his own head.
"K-Kyubi? Kurama?"
"Oh…so you can hear me now brat? Yes, I am Kurama, the mighty Kyuubi no Kitsune. The monster that ravaged your village and gave your Yondaime hell before sending him there." The fox tauntingly said. But from the dialogue that Naruto had already heard between Kurama and Chomei, he was already sure of one thing.
'Shut up! Don't act like the monster people make you out to be. Its bullshit from what I heard of your conversation with Chomei, the Nanabi. One thing is for sure, you are not a monster. Monsters don't feel sympathy for others, even their own kind.' Naruto yelled mentally as he suddenly found himself inside a gutter. His eyes widened like saucers upon looking at the huge cage and then gradually the legendary Kyuubi no Kitsune made itself visible. Naruto's eyes widened further.
"Y-you are Kurama…the Kyuubi no Kitsune?" He said in surprise.
"Yes I am." Kurama replied with a snarl but he was a bit taken aback with Naruto's expression. He wasn't afraid, neither did he show any signs of disgust.
"You don't hate me!? Even though I was the one who was the cause of your hero, the Namikaze's death!?" Kurama yelled again trying to taunt and intimidate the blonde boy.
"People have hated me for over all these years, since I had you inside my gut. But I don't want to be like them. I need to understand why? Why did you attacked the village? Why did the Yondaime have to fight you and seal you inside me? Why are you so angry at humans? Yeah, I can understand that one a bit though. I would have been pretty angry if someone put me inside such a dark cage for twelve years with no one to talk to or even see. It's been pretty lonely here for you, isn't it? I…guess…that's true. I am sorry…really sorry for that. I know how bad loneliness can be." Naruto said softly.
Kurama raised his eyebrows.
'Is this boy trying to become close with me so that he can use my power later on? No…I can't feel it. His intentions are pure, there is no negative intent, no deception or lust for power behind it. Nothing whatsoever.' Kurama thought to himself as he thought back to the years of Naruto's childhood he had seen. All those years of loneliness, scorn and hatred. He knew this boy was quite pure hearted. Kurama had the ability to recognize it in people. Even Mito and Kushina, as much as he hated them, he recognized they contained him not out of power lust but out of a sense of duty.
"Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?" Naruto asked mostly in contemplation. Making Kurama raise his eyebrows again. "And the Ichibi…Shukaku if I have guessed right. Gaara, seems really troubled, I can see it in his eyes…it's like he is literally begging and crying for help from inside. And from what you guys were talking, it seems, the Ichibi is very troubled as well, so both of them need help somehow." Naruto mused again.
"There is nothing you can do about it right now, neither can I do anything about it. The seal that is holding Shukaku is nothing short of a complete abomination. It doesn't allow the Tanuki to sleep and sleep depravity can drive anyone insane. In his insanity, Shukaku isn't letting that brat sleep, making him insane, and now both have become pretty thirsty for blood. Shukaku…he was always a bit crazy and he had this inferiority complex towards us, especially me…since he is weakest of all Biju and I am the strongest. Now with this added insanity, his jealousy and inferiority has turned into bloodlust. He is now out for mine and Chomei's blood, which means he wants you and that girl Fu dead. The seal seems to be improperly containing him if what I believe to be the case is correct. Shukaku's mind is constantly connected to Gaara's and his power is seeping into Gaara's network without a mixing reservoir or area to allow Gaara to make it part of his own, whether both of these are by design or not doesn't matter now but whoever is responsible for such flaws should be raked over hot coals. And there is nothing we can do about it as in order to do anything, we have to….SHIT! FUCK! DODGE!" Kurama suddenly yelled stopping his explanation, before Naruto could understand what was happening…
"NARUTO-KUN!" The girl he loved yelled, violently pushing him out of the path of an attack, just the blonde found himself back in the real world, only to see some shuriken made of sand slam into his love's body, including some vital spots.
"HINATA!" Naruto yelled in horror but somehow the Hyuuga still managed to land on her feet. But Gaara wasn't done yet. He made a huge quantity of sand rush towards Naruto.
"NOT UNDER MY WATCH!" Hinata yelled, again pushing Naruto out of the line of attack again, she also almost cleared it…with the keyword being almost. The sand got her right leg. Gaara grinned closing his fist.
"If you want to suffer before dying…then so be it." The insane boy stated. "Sand burial." And the sand encasing Hinata's leg compressed shattering her bones and breaking it completely.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" The Hyuuga yelled in unbearable and excruciating pain. Naruto froze….just outright froze…so did everyone else.
'No…No…Hinata-chan…no…I can't live without you…Hinata…' Naruto thought in horror as he saw Hinata bleed from her chest as due to the sand shurikens slammed there as well as her now shattered leg.
'No…No…not her…anyone but her…stop it…STOP IT!' The blonde helplessly thought as his body failed to move and he trembled in horror.
"SNAP OUT OF IT! IF YOU WANT YOUR VIXEN TO SURVIVE, YOU HAVE TO TAKE GAARA DOWN FIRST! BUT DON'T LET HIM FALL ASLEEP…IF HE DOES…THE TANUKI WILL COME OUT AND THEN NONE OF US WILL BE ABLE TO DO ANYTHING." Kurama warned but Naruto couldn't fully get back to his senses.
Just then, a shadow crept up to Gaara and began strangulating him. Shikaku's expression had hardened, he was going for the kill.
"No please…don't kill him." Temari pleaded with difficulty due to her current chakra drained state. But the Nara paid no heed, he was pissed off beyond limits due to the current state of his student and was also sure that the redhead couldn't be allowed to do as he pleased any further. Even Baki seemed to agree.
"S-sensei…s-stop…d-don't kill…" Hinata stated with a lot of difficulty due to her current state, this got both Shikaku's attention as broke Naruto out of his stupor.
Shikaku sighed and loosened his hold of Gaara's neck but didn't release him out of the shadow's bind.
"Please stop it already…Gaara….please come back to us…we…really can't take it anymore." Temari pleaded in tears. "Stop it little brother….it's enough." She pleaded again.
"Oi…damned Tanuki! I know you're in there. I know how you are crazy for not being able to sleep, but I also know that you still have some sense left. Stop already, I promise we will find some way to make things better for you." Kurama said in telepathy.
"Shukaku, you need to stop. Please think for a moment how sad the old man would be seeing how you are tormenting this kid. We know how you feel inferior to us, you think we look down upon you, but that's not true. We all love you, even Kurama does as well even if he's a dick about it most of the time; you are our sibling. Please stop already, it's enough." Chomei said telepathically.
Finally, Naruto began walking towards Gaara,
"You know what? Your attack…it has hurt the one I love the most severely, she…she's…I don't even know right now if she's going to be alright, I know that I won't be able to live without her…"
'Naruto-kun! H-He said he loves me…' Hinata thought as tears escaped from her eyes, while Fu tried to nurse her injury.
But you…I can't bring myself to even consider killing you…you…you are like me. I know how it feels, the loneliness, the scorn, the hatred. I know it all too well. I know how it feels to be called a demon, a monster. Trust me, I know because I am just like you, I also hold a Biju inside me, like you do." The blonde continued.
'So he's also a jinchuuriki.' Thought Kankuro, Temari, and Baki as Gaara kept staring at the blonde boy walking towards him.
"Hey…you can stop now, see your siblings are crying for you. Stop it for their sake at least." Naruto softly said as Gaara's gaze fell upon the crying form his siblings.
"T-They a-are c-crying for me? B-but t-they a-also t-think of m-me as a m-monster…like e-everyone e-else." Gaara said with an expressionless face trying to make peace with the fact that his siblings might actually love him.
"So, you think everyone thinks of you as a monster?" Naruto asked softly again. "You know I also thought that until Hinata-chan and Iruka-sensei showed up. Gaara, there are people who can see beyond the monster you hold, your siblings, I can tell they don't think of you as a monster, they care for you. They just want their little brother back. Can't you give them a chance?"
Gaara actually got teary eyed, his mind showed him the flashbacks of his moments with his uncle, who explained to him what love really is. "B-But Y-yashmaru s-said n-no o-one w-wants me." Gaara whispered to himself. By that time, Temari and Kankuro had rushed to Gaara and had enveloped him in a hug, both were crying.
"It's not true Gaara…we want you…we love you…you are our brother." Both siblings said in tears. Understanding that Gaara won't cause any more trouble, Shikaku released him from the binding of his shadow. Naruto then rushed to the girl he loved, whom Fu was holding, the Hyuuga was barely conscious and in excruciating pain.
"Hinata-chan! Hinata-chan! Why? Why did you…?" Naruto said as collapsed to his knees before her.
For her part, Hinata could only give her beloved a soft and affectionate smile. She thought that she wouldn't live for long, so she decided that at least in those final moments, she should come clean.
"Because…I love you…I really really love you, Naruto-kun." She said trying to reach his cheeks with her trembling hand, Naruto caught it and placed it where she wanted it to be.
"I love you too…Hinata-chan…hang on…for me…I-I can't live without you." Naruto said in between tears. Even in unbearable pain, Hinata's heart managed to find a sense of absolute calm and happiness, finally her feelings were reciprocated, and her dream had finally come true.
"I wanna go out with you…I want to stay with you…forever…please stay alive…for me…please don't leave me." Naruto pleaded and the Hyuuga didn't have any words to reassure him with. She wasn't really sure if she would ever make it. She didn't want Naruto to be alone again, now that he had explicitly stated that he wanted to be with her, she couldn't hold her tears anymore.
Their Jonin could only stand and watch the interaction in silence. He had no one but himself to blame for what had happened and was happening at the moment.
'I could have trained them harder, better. I could have been here, with them when the attack happened. I…could have done something…'
"What happened here!?" Shibuki asked as he and some of his aides made it to the site which was a battlefield less than a couple of minutes ago. Now the shinobi from Suna got nervous, really nervous. "And what are shinobi from Suna doing here in Taki territory without permission?" Shibuki asked again looking at Baki who was trying to catch his breath.
"Shibuki-dono, I can explain." Baki replied as Shibuki hardened his looks and his Shinobi took stances, but some of them actually had their sights set on Fu.
'This village, they really seem to hate Fu, poor girl, really troublesome.' Shikaku thought.
"Then please do, right now!" Shibuki ordered.
Baki sighed, he had to come up with an excuse but if the shinobi from Konoha didn't validate his statement, he and his team would be in trouble, big trouble….they could face immediate execution.
"I guess, considering the present situation, we can't keep Suna's secret a secret anymore, at least if we don't want these kids to be executed thereby starting something that would quickly spiral out of control. That would be too troublesome." Shikaku said allowing his features to relax a bit.
Baki sighed.
"Shibuki-dono, my team and I were completing a C-ranked mission not too far away when Gaara lost control of his power."
"This much destruction from just a genin losing control, how is that possible unless…." One Taki jonin said while looking at Fu in disgust. Shibuki could only look at the man with disgust himself although he got what the jonin wanted to imply.
"It is true, Gaara is a jinchuuriki of the Ichibi no Shukaku. When he lost control, he went to attack the closest and most powerful chakra source." Baki said glancing at Fu. "We sincerely apologize for the incident caused today as well as the damage. However, I would like to affirm that none of it was intentional. It was an accident." Baki said sincerely, hoping that this would somehow deescalate the situation.
"Tsk…Shibuki-sama, these jinchuuriki are nothing but trouble wherever they go. Let's have this Suna jinchuuriki executed along with our own village's curse." A Taki shinobi said with a snarl. Naruto would have immediately ranted at him had he not been weeping while holding his beloved's hand.
"Since when it is a crime to fight back and defend yourself against those who would hurt you or kill you, no matter what the cost may be? If it is in Taki then I should hope that every single one of you is in line for execution. Fu did her job, she fought back against what she believed might have been a hostile invasion attempt until proven otherwise and all you can think of is to execute her for doing what any shinobi would have done. Pathetic, truly pathetic. I have heard of Jinchuriki being violent towards their comrades but it's always been a self-perpetuated cycle of mistreatment and abuse against the Jinchuriki started for fear and hate of the monster that everyone believes they will become and the poor bastards end up giving in and becoming exactly what everyone fears. And although it's not my place to say anything, but I don't think it would be wise to execute the Kazekage's son here. That would make things quite a bit more troublesome than you could ever hope to manage." Shikaku said trying to appear as careless as possible. Baki looked at him in surprise for a moment but then sighed, after all Konoha's head Jonin would at least know who the children of their allied village's leader were. What was there to be surprised about?
The Taki shinobi were taken by surprise including Shibuki. Now Gaara as well as his siblings became VIPs whose hair couldn't be touched.
"Also, my student has got seriously injured so I would really appreciate it if immediate medical aid could be arranged for her instead of this petty talk which could be done at literally anytime later after more important things are done, namely not executing loyal shinobi who were doing their job." Shikaku said rolling his eyes in irritation and clenching his fists as important minutes for Hinata were being wasted.
"I am extremely sorry! Shikaku-sama. Carry Hyuuga-san to the hospital immediately. We'll discuss things later at my residence." Shibuki ordered and immediately, some shinobi got to Hinata and rushed her to Taki's hospital.
"You may go with them Naruto. I'll join you there once we talk things over." Shikaku said with his face downcast.
"Thanks sensei." Naruto responded, before walking off trying to stop his tears. Fu followed him. Meanwhile, Temari and Kankuro were trying to soothe Gaara who was trying to comprehend what he had done and had been doing until that point. The blonde boy's speech had got through to his very heart and he was now reconsidering his own actions and the consequences they had caused to those near him and others.
A/N: And done! Well, I have said earlier at my endnotes in the previous chapters that I'll be getting Naruto and Hinata together soon. I apologize again to those who were hoping for some more slow burn, the thing is I don't think I can write a good slowburn romance between Naruto and Hinata yet. I will try it in some of my upcoming projects, in my own way. But for here, we are no more in the build up of the romance, they are a couple from this chapter onwards. And as for the action, considering how little Naruto and Hinata know about combat, it was actually difficult to write, If I were to be honest. If the characters have more jutstus or tricks in their arsenal, its easier to write a fight scene and make it exciting, but here Naruto and Hinata have very less in their arsenal as of yet, so do Temari, Kankuro and Gaara. So, that complicated the process of writing a satisfying fight scene with these constraints. Anyways, I hope the effort was not in vain and you liked the fight scene as well as the confession. I sincerely hope that the chapter was to your expectations. Thank you again for your continued love and support. See ya all in the next chapter. RaNK001 out.