Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Naruto stood in place, not knowing what to do as Fuu slowly crept forwards. He looked to side at Kurotsuchi, who had a serious expression on her face as she contemplated the person in front of them with her own stance.

On one hand, he really didn't want to fight a Jinchuuriki. And on the other, he really had no option. Of course, he could just try to wing it, and run the hell away, but…he wasn't exactly sure he could outrun the girl who's level was too high for him to even observe!

Naruto went into his own stance, mostly due to his reactions coming out. And then, Fuu ran.

He didn't even have time to process what was happening before a fist was impaled into his gut. Naruto immediately lurched at the impact, his eyes bulging with just how strong the punch was. The blond was launched backwards with the speed of a cannonball into several bushes, which did barely anything to slow his impact down.

[Ding!]

[Dexterity has increased by one level]

Thanks a lot! Naruto thought sarcastically.

He groaned as he stood up, his regeneration immediately coming back active to heal any wounds. If there was one thing that the Kyuubi had a good use for, it was that. Naruto ran back towards the fight, eager to help Kurotsuchi in her impossible endeavor to fight Fuu on her own.

"Earth Release: Ground Spikes!" Kurotsuchi shouted.

Spikes erupted from the ground in a fast trail towards the opposing Jinchuuriki, who crossed her arms, smiling. "Wow! Those look really pretty!"

A burst of wind erupted from her mouth a few handsigns later, destroying the incoming attack head on.

"Lava Release: Swarming Ash Cloud!"

A cloud of ash flew towards the green-haired girl, who just watched amusedly at it all. Kurotsuchi scowled at her expressions, before her lips curved upwards.

A few hand seals later, she spoke.

"Solidify."

The grey-patch of ash struck Fuu immediately solidified, causing her to be briefly immobilized. Naruto could watch in awe. Is Kurotsuchi actually winning?

Of course, he had to say it.

Without blinking an eye, Fuu flexed her arms, breaking the solidified ash that was attached to her upper body. She stretched her arms after that. "Ahhh…that was so cool! I never heard of anyone having Lava Release, though. It seems I can finally have some fun after the fight with the red-haired brat from before. He was really strong."

She's talking about Gaara! Naruto realized.

"Who was stronger?" Naruto asked, yelling. "You or the red-haired brat."

Fuu bent her head sideways, looking at him past Kurotsuchi's body. "Oh, you're still conscious? Huh. Well, for your question…I think I'm stronger. He has a lot of raw power, but the boy doesn't really have control over his Ta—"

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Over his what?"

Fuu scratched her head, before winking. "Sorry, I can't really tell you. It's top-secret!"

She really had no idea that Naruto was also a Jinchuuriki, and had a tailed beast of his own inside of his body. Naruto just tried to stall for longer as he desperately tried to think of anything to defeat Fuu. "If I may ask, why are you alone? Shouldn't you have your teammates with you?"

Kurotsuchi gave him an incredulous look as he continued to ask questions like an old friend to Fuu.

Fuu's face darkened slightly. "My teammates don't really want to indulge in my tendencies. I can do what I want as long as I get the scrolls."

Naruto realized he made a big mistake asking a personal question. As a fellow Jinchuuriki, he recognized that look.

The unmistakable look of loneliness.

"Enough questions! It's getting boring," Fuu whined. "Let's get back to the fighting. Before we do though, what are your names?"

"Kurotsuchi."

"Naruto Uzumaki."

A second later, Fuu went through multiple hand signs.

Then, without any words, webs came out of her mouth as they scattered to and fro trying to find some enemies. The numerous tight lines of white were surprisingly quick as they went straight towards them like a spider's web. Naruto had no idea what the jutsu did, but it was better not to risk anything happening.

"Water Release: Surging Sea!"

He summoned a wave of water that interrupted the webs, preventing them from moving further beyond. Kurotsuchi looked at him thankfully, before training her gaze back at the enemy.

Fuu clapped, standing idly. "Ohh…that was a cool jutsu. I've always really liked water jutsus, but was too lazy to learn them."

I really didn't ask, but okay. Naruto thought with an annoyed expression on his face. I wonder what Sasuke and Sakura are doing. It's probably not as life-threatening as this, huh?

[—-]

Sasuke tried not to yelp as another strand of sand flew past him, missing him by a mere inch. By this point, Sasuke, Lee, and Neji had a similar goal. Defeat the Suna shinobi and then go back to fighting. But from what they saw so far, it was going to be hard.

Neji had initially scoffed at the sight of the red-haired Genin who stood so idly on the branch of the tree. That was until his eyes opened. It was easy for him to dodge the sand, but the sheer killing intent coming from his opponent couldn't be ignored. He had a feeling he had much more in his arsenal than just throwing such a minuscule amount of sand around.

Sasuke could see that the Hyūga was the initial target, if the insanely large amount of sand going towards him at lightning speeds was any sign.

Neji didn't look particularly worried, as he began to spin his body around in a circle. "Eight Trigrams: Palm Rotation!"

The sand bounced off the igloo of chakra, the technique being efficient in rebounding Gaara's attack.

Gaara stepped down onto a constructed hand of sand, which gently carried him down to the earth when he very well could have just jumped down.

Sasuke vaguely remembered Naruto telling him to watch out for the boy in front of him. At that point of time, he simply assumed it was the dobe overestimating people or getting unnecessarily scared, but that was something the old Naruto would do. The new Naruto was scarily accurate when it came to guessing people's capabilities, an ability which just seemed innate for the blond. He now realized just how right his teammate was.

The casual use of sand without intoning a single jutsu—it was like he controlled the sand completely to his will. Like a god of sand reincarnated into the world as a human.

But it was still three versus one.

And Gaara was most certainly a human, Sasuke thought with a grin. And somebody needed to take charge.

"Listen! We need to team up to defeat this guy, or else we all are going to die here," Sasuke stated loudly. "We need a plan before we try and tackle him; trust me, he's a lot different."

Neji scoffed again. "Do what you want, Uchiha! I'm not going to resort to teaming up with other shinobi to beat one person."

Lee looked torn between defending his teammate and the person who actually made sense.

Sasuke just shook his head in irritation. Goddamn Hyūga!

"Lee, we need to team up. You understand that, don't you?" Sasuke asked calmly, despite that being the exact opposite of what he was feeling on the inside.

Lee nodded. "I understand, Sasuke-san."

Sasuke felt relieved—at least one person has brains in that team. Speaking of, where was the third teammate of theirs? He didn't have time to ask as another tentacle of sand came into his path, making Sasuke's eyes whiz around as he barely managed to dodge it this time.

The Uchiha was glad that he had already told Sakura to run away. At this rate, she would have already been dead if she was present in the fight, and there were no ifs or buts about it. Sakura, as of now, was nowhere near the rest of the team's level. But he didn't have time to think about that.

Three separate clouds of sand came towards each of them, moving of its volition as it seeked each of the Genin. Gaara simply stood still as he watched his creations continue to devour the area.

Sasuke dodged backwards as the sand swept downwards onto the area he was once in, before the entity began moving forwards again. This time he jumped upwards onto a branch, before leaping onto another one right after as the branch he was once on was torn into shreds by the storm of sand.

Sasuke winced as he saw just how powerful the jutsu was. He was thankful for his Sharingan, which was the only thing that was currently keeping him alive. Lee was alive so far because of his pure speed, so he had the innate ability to dodge all of the sand. Neji was fast, and because of his Byakugan, he could see every angle the sand was coming from. And if the sand somehow got too close, he would simply start a palm rotation, ending the attack once and for all.

But they couldn't go on the offensive while the sand followed them, and they definitely couldn't win a fight without any offense.

Sasuke threw a charged kunai at Gaara, the latter not even moving as a blanket of sand came forward and blocked the kunai entirely.

What the hell is that broken jutsu? Sasuke said, staring at Gaara as he ducked underneath the sand.

The sand, Sasuke realized, wasn't that hard to get past. It was almost like fighting three of Konoha's top Genin was hard for even the monster in front of them.

"Why don't you stop moving?!" Gaara asked coldly.

What a dumb question. Sasuke thought.

He signaled towards Lee, pointing at the red-haired boy. Lee nodded in understanding, before he signaled towards Neji as well. Surprisingly, the Hyūga seemed to actually listen to Lee. Either he was finally getting the gravity of the situation facing off against a Genin who could mind control sand, or he just respected Lee a lot more than he normally respected everyone else. Sasuke highly doubted it was the latter.

Neji went first, with Lee and Sasuke right behind them. They ran at top speed, but Sasuke could notice easily how Lee tried to slow himself down to match the rest of the group, showing just how fast the Taijutsu specialist was.

Konoha's Prodigies against the monster of Suna.

A thick blanket of sand erupted forwards, aiming to envelop the swarming shinobi in sand, drowning them to death.

Neji wasn't going to let that happen.

"Eight Trigrams: Palm Rotation!"

The dome of chakra completely immobilized the sand, allowing Lee and Sasuke to continue their plight. The Uchiha reached into his pocket, bringing out another kunai, this time, not throwing the weapon. Lee did so as well, twirling a kunai in his hand.

Gaara didn't look particularly startled at the two running towards him at breakneck speed, but in reality he really should have.

More sand popped up, but Sasuke gritted his teeth and pushed through regardless. Cuts and bruises found themselves on his skin, but he couldn't bother stopping because of something so tiny, could he? Lee was the same way, his green jumpsuit slowly tearing away from the sand scratching away at it.

It didn't matter how much pain they were going through.

They could do this.

[—-]

Naruto felt his eyes go all over the place as he saw Fuu move. She was just too fast. The mint-haired girl was extraordinarily strong, much more physically stronger than Naruto was. Either she trained a lot, which Naruto doubted considering her lack of muscles. Or she was a much more experienced Jinchuuriki.

Kurotsuchi could barely keep up as Fuu darted everywhere, unwilling to be touched.

There was no point in this.

Soon enough, she got the first hit.

"Kurotsuchi!" Naruto yelled in warning.

The girl in question could barely react before Fuu ran towards with great speed, and kneed her right in the right shoulder, pushing her to the ground painfully with a grunt.

No…she couldn't have been sent unconscious that easily, right?

Fuu just grinned wickedly. "Now that's how they're supposed to go down. Now's your turn, blond boy."

Naruto knew there was no point in trying to fight the girl in front of him. As a trained Jinchuuriki, she was superior to him in all ways. Even if he summoned Zabuza or Haku and managed to surprise her, it really wouldn't matter. He wasn't used to fighting people who had similar regenerative abilities to him. He really had nothing left in the bag that could defeat the girl.

All that remained was trying to convince her.

To stop fighting, that's all.

"Fuu, you're a Jinchuuriki, aren't you?" Naruto asked sharply.

Fuu, for the first time, looked completely shocked. Naruto nodded to himself internally. All going to plan. Start off with a hook question to shock her immediately, before going to the secondary conversation.

"H-how did you know?" Fuu asked, looking at him with surprise.

Because I cast an observe on you. Naruto thought dryly.

"Trust me…" Naruto started dramatically. "I can recognize that look of loneliness anywhere. You're not the only Jinchuuriki in the exams, Fuu."

Fuu came closer to him. "Wait…does that mean…you're a Jinchuuriki as well?"

"Of course, how else would I know? I host the Nine-Tails, how about you?" Naruto asked, genuinely curious for once.

Try to involve her with questions that make her respond.

"I host Chobei, I mean…the Seven-Tails. I guess this fight is going to prove which tailed beast is stronger, huh?" Fuu asked, exhilaration present in her eyes.

NO! NO! NO!

Naruto took a very deep breath, calming himself down. "Look, Fuu. I really don't want to fight you. I'm sure you know how it is for us…my early life wasn't so pleasant. I had no friends, and everyone…they were scared of me. A little kid. For something he wasn't responsible for. In their eyes, I was the Nine-Tails. Even now, I have no friends."

That was a lie, but it was also for the good of the fight.

Fuu's battle-happy face seemed to die down, before she nodded bitterly. "I can relate. The villagers were scared of me, and the rest of the Shinobi teams respected me for my strength, but nothing else. Even my own teammates, they barely talk to me. I can see the…fear in their eyes everytime I even come near them."

Naruto smiled widely. "See? They don't see us as humans, Fuu. If we begin to fight amongst ourselves, how the hell will we ever live as regular shinobi in our villages? Please…it's embarrassing to say this…but be my friend. Let's change everyone's perspective on Jinchuuriki together."

Fuu stopped for a brief second.

What the hell? Are her eyes watering?

"Friend? You want to be my friend?" Fuu asked, sounding confused. "Why?"

"I think you're interesting! You're really cute and I see an awesome friend in you." Naruto answered. That, and if I don't, I'm seriously gonna be injured like our resident Princess that you knocked out.

Fuu smiled widely, her cheeks slightly pink. "Then of course I'll be your friend!"

Naruto sighed in relief. He had absolutely no idea how the hell that even worked, but he wasn't going to go around wondering that.

"Then can we stop the fighting? Friends don't really knock each other out, hehe. I'm sure Kurotsuchi here would want to be your friend as well," Naruto said, slowly walking towards Kurotsuchi's unconscious body.

Fuu scratched her head. "I guess."

[Ding!]

[Persuasion increased by a level]

[Persuasion is now Lvl 5]

Not unexpected for once.

[The system is astounded by your show of persuasion!]

Naruto grinned smugly. Thanks.

[Ding!]

[Skill: Persuasion is leveling up.]

[Persuasion is now Talk No Jutsu!]

[New Skill Achieved: Talk No Jutsu Lvl 1]

Naruto just shrugged. He really had no idea what that meant, but he could live with it if it helped him. He looked over at Fuu, who continued to smile widely as she whistled off in her own world. He shook his head in exasperation—was he the only normal Jinchuuriki? Well, he couldn't really say that either. Naruto was pretty sure he was the only one with a floating blue screen that talked to him.

He looked at Kurotsuchi, who was still unconscious even as Naruto lifted her up into a sitting position. Naruto viewed the bright purple bruise on her shoulder with a wince. Yeah, that would seriously hurt. Especially for someone without a Tailed Beast inside them.

"Hey, Fuu?"

Fuu' ears perked. "Hmm?"

"Why did you refer to the Seven-Tails as Chobei?" Naruto asked as he patted the unconscious person's head to try and wake her up.

"What do you mean? Why wouldn't I refer to Chobei by her name?" Fuu inquired, equally confused.

Naruto's eyebrows raised by themselves. "They have names?"

"Of course! They've been living for centuries, you know? All of the Tailed Beasts have names, or at least, that's what Chobei tells me, anyways."

There was something seriously wrong with what she just said. Naruto couldn't believe what his ears were hearing.

"Wait, wait. You talk with the Sev—Chobei?!"

Fuu shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, yeah. Chobei is pretty cool, most of the time, anyways. It's annoying when she doesn't give me chakra or ignores me, though."

IT GIVES YOU CHAKRA?! Naruto thought in disbelief in head, wondering what the hell the Tailed-Beast in his head was doing. His luck was seriously horrible, huh?

Pushing negative thoughts out of his mind, Naruto did his water-jutsu as weakly as possible to wake up Kurotsuchi, who woke up sputtering and spitting out water.

Her eyes were wide open with panic, until her gaze went to the only green-haired girl in the vicinity (there weren't many regardless). She frantically stood up, her hands already going through hand signs.

"Earth Release: Mud Sla—"

Naruto tore into her hands, pulling apart her fingers and stopping the jutsu midway.

"Wha-what are you doing?" Kurotsuchi boomed angrily.

Naruto kept his hold on her hands. "Fuu is on our side now, meaning there's no reason for us to fight anymore."

"O-our side? How would she be on our side?"

Naruto didn't really know either. "Uhm…we found out we have similar interests, I guess."

Kurotsuchi wouldn't buy it one bit. "How could she suddenly become so friendly after she tried to kill us?!"

Fuu interjected at the accusation. "Hey! If I wanted to kill you, you wouldn't have been unconscious. In fact, you wouldn't be walking right now."

"That…is a fair objection," Naruto said plainly, ignoring Fuu's words. "But everyone changes, Kurotsuchi, it would do well if you would learn that as soon as possible. Now, where were we?"

Kurotsuchi huffed in disbelief. "Finding my teammate!"

"Oh right. Before I forget to ask, where exactly is your third teammate?"

"We all split up the first day itself, to cover as much ground as possible. He's probably already at the tower with a Heaven scroll…" Kurotsuchi said, before her eyes widened.

Her hands immediately reached for her back pocket, where her scroll should have been. Her face calmed down with relief when she realized it was still there.

Naruto didn't miss out on any of that. "Relax, Kuro-san. Do you really think I would be as cheap as to steal someone's scroll while they were unconscious?"

"D-dont you dare call me that!" Kurotsuchi sputtered incredulously.

"Why not, Kuro-san?" Naruto asked teasingly.

"Someone of my stature shouldn't be deemed with such a silly name."

Oh right. She's practically royalty in Iwa, after all.

"Kurotsuchi!"

A new voice popped up from out of the clearing.

Kurotsuchi seemed to recognize the voice instantly. "Ubuki!"

Well, it seems we found her teammate. Thank Kami it's over.

The boy from before made his way into the crowd, his eyes only on Kurotsuchi as he limped to her. "You won't believe what happened to me! The—the monsters…they were fighting, and…"

His eyes slowly went to Fuu.

The resulting scream of terror made Naruto shut his ears in annoyance. "Alright. It's time for me to leave, I guess. I hope I see you guys in the next round of the Chuunin Exams."

Naruto put up a peace sign before turning around.

Kurotsuchi worked up the courage to say something just before he left. "Wait!"

He stopped.

"Ah…thank you, Naruto-san. For helping me find Ubuki, I mean," Kurotsuchi said nervously.

Naruto grinned. "No problem. It's the least I could do, after what happened in the entrance exam."

The blond left right after, not wanting to waste a second longer.

Kurtosuchi just pondered his words, not understanding exactly what he meant exactly. The entrance exam? When did I ever meet him there?

A minute had barely passed as Naruto raced along the forest floor before he was interrupted once more. He sighed again, just wishing the presence he sensed behind him wasn't an enemy.

"Yo!" Fuu greeted enthusiastically.

Naruto blinked. He had completely forgotten about her.

"Why are you following me?" He asked bluntly.

Fuu frowned. "Aren't friends supposed to hang out with each other? Plus, you kind of left me back there without any other option."

Naruto sighed. That was kind of true. He wasn't enough of a jerk to make use of Fuu's weakness and throw it away right after—that was something his sensei would do. Regardless, what was wrong with having another friend?

"Alright, but I'm going back to my teammates right now," Naruto said.

Fuu's eyes lit up with excitement. "Oh, cool! I'll come with you."

What the…

"Alright," Naruto acquiesced. He began running towards the last place he gathered with the rest of Team Seven.

"How do you know where your teammates are?" Fuu questioned.

"I'm not sure exactly, for now I'm retracing my steps back to where we gathered before. My shadow clones—"

Naruto froze as a wave of memories flooded him, briefly pausing all of his ongoing thoughts and replacing them with the memory of a clone. Sasuke collided with Team Gai and Gaara—things wouldn't go well.

He turned almost robotically to Fuu. "I know where my teammates are."

"Really?"

Naruto's eyes flashed with intensity. "How about we meet the other Jinchuuriki in this exam again?"

[—-]

Sasuke grunted in pain as some sand struck his right shoulder, but that didn't mean he would stop. With the final effort of Gaara being thwarted by the Hyūga, they could actually attempt to land a hit. With a leap into the air, Sasuke brought his leg down to Gaara's head, whereas Lee pushed his fist into Gaara's gut. The impact was incredibly satisfying, to say the least.

Gaara was pushed outwards at the series of hits, coughing out blood right after.

But the Genins didn't stop there.

Lee rushed forward off one foot as he swept the red-haired boy's feet, who was left off balance after a hectic dodge. Sasuke took advantage of the brief moment, having to twist his body at the last second to narrowly avoid a strand of sand, and hooked his arm around Gaara's neck.

I won't let you move!

"NEJI!" Sasuke yelled out.

The Hyūga was already there.

Palm after palm after palm assaulted the red-haired boy, whose face was filled with an expression of pain as Neji administered his clan's most infamous technique.

"Eight Trigram: Two palms!"

Gaara stumbled backwards, struggling to stay on his legs as he was battered with two precise strikes.

"Four palms!"

"Eight palms!"

"Sixteen palms!"

"Thirty-two palms!"

"Sixty-four palms!"

Sasuke watched in awe as the ability completely rendered Gaara unable to respond, and while he was still standing, Neji stopped attacking.

Was that a smirk on his face?

"It's futile—I've blocked all of your chakra points. The nerve of you trying to fight me of all people so randomly. I'll admit, you're very strong. But there's a difference between strength and technique, and for that difference, you've lost."

Why is he making a speech in the middle of a fight? Sasuke thought, bewildered.

But, he was right. Gaara didn't seem like the sharpest tool of the bunch, and got to make up for that with his pure strength. But now, he was defeated. Now that the primary threat was gone, Sasuke found himself confused as to what to do. Sakura was probably long gone, or maybe even close by waiting for him to escape as well. The best move would definitely be to retreat as fast as possible and regroup with Sakura, and make another attempt for a scroll as time was running out.

That's what he was going to do until another sound echoed in the forest.

"He…hehehe….HAHAHAHA!"

Sasuke whipped his head backwards towards the still Suna Genin.

Neji sneered. "Why are you laughing?"

Without another pause, Gaara stood up. All the bruises on his face and body were completely healed by some illogical method. Sand poured out of the gourd on his back, and began to travel along the boy's pale skin. Cracks of sand fell to the floor as a manic smile spread along his face.

"Because…Mother is amused."

The shock on Neji's face would have been amusing if it weren't for the sheer amount of terror that radiated from the boy's body.

Gaara's eyes locked onto something else. Sasuke tracked his sight only to find...blood?

"You've made me bleed?" Gaara asked maniacally.

He started to laugh again, the crazed look in his eyes even more apparent than before.

This kid…he's not human. Sasuke thought with a grimace, clutching a kunai in his hand.

The energy…it wasn't like anything he felt before. The woman he and Sakura encountered was much stronger, but even her pressure was nothing compared to the sheer bloodlust he was feeling right now. It was almost like the chakra that was leaking into the warm forest air was tangible!

Without warning, a storm of sand assaulted Neji from the side, too fast for the boy, even with his Byakugan, to dodge. Neji flew sideways from the impact, but was fortunately able to stabilize himself while he was in flight, before conducting another Palm Rotation to block out the seeking sand that followed after him.

The look on Gaara's face was something to be feared as he swept his gaze to the rest of them, meaning Sasuke and Lee. His eyes were wide with exhilaration, the predatory gaze unmistakable.

And the rest was massacre.

Sasuke could see Lee was, weirdly, reaching for his legs before a burst of sand exploded from beneath him, pushing him into the air like a little kid would keep a balloon up. The eccentric boy let out a pained groan midair.

Why in Kami's name was he reaching for his legs? Sasuke thought in horror as he watched the boy's limp body fall back down. Lee's body fell with a loud thud, the silence that followed after a terrifying one.

Neji looked surprised for a brief second, before he narrowed his eyes once more.

But Sasuke knew when the fight was over.

Without Lee, their main attacker, they really had no chance against the bloodlusted boy in front of them. But they had no other option. It was either fight or flee, and there was practically no way to flee against the sand-controlling maniac that they opposed. Perhaps he could have left Neji to the sharks and escaped from there as quickly as possible, and while the Uchiha was a survivor, the thought of doing such a thing put a sore taste in his mouth.

Neji rushed forwards, not speaking to Sasuke at all nor trying to coordinate any type of attack. It was practically suicide. He was able to dodge the first set of sand and block the other with his usual technique, but the third…it wasn't a pretty sight.

The wave of sand struck Neji's knee toughly, an unpleasant crack echoing as something broke in his leg, leaving him completely unmoving.

Gaara' voice came soon after. "Mother says to enjoy the kill, and take it slow."

Sasuke just stared at his opponent. There was no wait to beat him.

Dread filled his chest.

Was this really the end?

"Hey, sand freak!"

Naruto?

[-—]

Naruto ran faster than he had ever done before, mostly due to the adrenaline and fear of his teammates being hurt, or worse. From what the clone had seen before quickly dispersing to relay information to the original, Sakura was nowhere near the battlefield, which was definitely a good sign. At least she had the common sense to get out of the way before fighting someone like Gaara in the middle of nowhere.

However, Team Gai and Sasuke didn't look too good.

The last thing he saw was Lee getting struck before the clone suicided. That was what would happen when they fought a Jinchuuriki like Gaara. Of course, Naruto couldn't really blame them considering they didn't even know what a Jinchuuriki was.

Fuu followed him calmly, not breaking a sweat as she whistled casually while asking questions to Naruto, who would rather have preferred a quieter journey. But he couldn't really object, Fuu would make this process a whole lot easier with her strength.

They were here.

"Hey, sand freak!" Naruto called out from above the clearing where the trio had fought Gaara.

Gaara looked…different. His appearance was the same, but his demeanor was completely the opposite. Before he had the atmosphere of a silent killer, but now he was just an all out psychopath.

Maybe calling him a freak wasn't a good idea.

"Did new toys come to play? Wait…" His eyes widened at the sight of Fuu, before his grin widened even further. "We didn't get to fight last time to the fullest, did we?"

Fuu leaped down gracefully from the branch beside him. "Nope. You really weren't worth my time."

His eyes narrowed with unrestrained anger, the corner of his lips curving downwards in displeasure. "Then I will make your death even more painful."

Fuu chuckled. "I'd like to see you try."

Naruto stood up, glaring at Gaara. "Give up, Gaara—give yourself mercy. Or else, at least choose the way you want to die, I'm more than willing to accommodate."

Gaara's grin remained still. "I'm starving for your blood."

"Naruto!"

The one in question just stared curiously in the direction of the voice, before almost facepalming himself when he realized Sasuke was the one who called for him. He forgot all about the Uchiha he really had come to save, and he hasn't introduced his teammate to the eccentric Jinchuuriki next to him either.

Sasuke bolted upwards towards him as Gaara simply stared, waiting for them to attack.

"Who is she?" Sasuke asked, glaring distrustfully at Fuu.

Naruto shook his hands in a passive manner, trying to keep everyone from fighting. "Ah, meet Fuu, and Fuu, meet Sasuke."

Fuu waved. "Hi, I'm Naruto's best friend, Fuu!"

"Huh?" Sasuke intoned, absolutely flabbergasted.

"Uhm…I wouldn't really say you're my best friend, Fuu. But alright, let's just get this over with, and then we can talk about the details," Naruto instructed.

We have a Jinchuuriki to defeat.

Fuu ran towards Gaara before he could even say the plan, which wasn't very unexpected now that he thought about it.

Gaara raised his hand, summoning his signature attack against the incoming girl.

Naruto knew it wouldn't do much.

Fuu danced around the sand, casually dodging and weaving through the projectiles as if they didn't mean anything to her, as if they weren't tools of destruction that hadn't killed plenty of Jonin in their lifetime. And she did so with a bright smile on her face, almost as if she was entertained by the whole thing.

Naruto wasn't sure if he wanted to help Fuu, because she certainly didn't need it.

"Where did you find this…person?" Sasuke asked momentarily, stunned as he watched her fight.

Naruto shrugged. "In the woods. Sasuke, go ahead and find Sakura in the meanwhile. We're going to drive away Gaara."

"Hn."

Knowing that was a sign of confirmation from Sasuke, Naruto simply nodded and went into the fight before him.

Gaara's face was filled with irritation as he launched sand over sand at the blitzing girl in front of him, to no avail. Fuu landed kicks and punches after every miss from the opposing Jinchuuriki, infuriating the red haired boy even further. His face was filled with bruises and his own blood as the fight continued in a one-sided fashion.

"Fuu, do you need any help?"

Fuu dodged another ray of sand before answering. "Eh...not really."

The sand armor on Gaara's face continued to crack even further, revealing his pale face even more. That's when the surrounding sand around Gaara blew into the sky and started to surround him, with Fuu watching intently.

A few seconds later, Gaara was completely covered by a ball of sand.

Why? Only one word echoed in Naruto's mind as he saw what the red-haired boy did. It didn't look good at all.

"You were talking about helping me? Yeah, I might need some. The idiot trying to release Shukaku! Or part of it, anyways. We have to break through this ball before he does," Fuu instructed, still looking forward.

Break through the shield? What did Naruto have that could break through the near impenetrable wall of sand before him?

Fuu dashed forward in a blur as she punched the dome, a resounding crack in the air forming right after. She moved away only to reveal a small crack on where she attacked crack regenerated soon after.

Yeah, it was practically unbreakable. To be able to withstand a full-power hit from a trained Jinchuuriki was no joke at all. Naruto simply didn't have the firepower to break through the shield alone, unless the Kyuubi suddenly decided to offer him chakra out of sheer kindness, and there was a higher chance of Gaara becoming a clown in a circus than that.

But maybe power wasn't what was needed.

What he needed was pressure.

Naruto didn't remember a whole lot from the Academy, but he did remember some of the stuff Iruka had continuously shouted at him in class. The less the surface area, the higher the pressure.

Meaning the perfect tool for this situation was…

A sword.

Summon Shadow Zabuza.

Zabuza, already knowing his will since the moment he was summoned, disappeared instantly, leaving behind a sword for Naruto to use.

It wasn't a regular sword, not in the slightest.

Forged to perfection, the vast blade Naruto held in his hands was built to kill.

Fuu didn't know about that, and she didn't even look weirded out by the pure black weapon. "A sword? What do you think a sword would do, Naruto? I couldn't even get through the…"

Naruto tuned out her voice soon after. She was right. He wasn't sure even if the legendary sword in his hand could do anything. It certainly wouldn't be enough to slice through before the shield regenerated, that's for sure.

He needed more.

Much more.

He needed to utilize a technique that Kakashi had barely taught him, simply showing it to him in the passing.

Of course, Kakashi assumed Naruto's only element was water. But Naruto knew better. With the Stormbringer title, he received bonus stats in both lighting and water, meaning he was free to use lightning jutsus if he wished.

However, Naruto didn't have the time nor skill to learn a lightning jutsu so quickly after learning two water release jutsus as well. He had to stick with the next best thing. Something he only tried for a week or so in the middle of training when his sensei wasn't there, before giving up at the intense difficulty of it.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto reached deep into his body, pulling the chakra out from within. Before shaping it to his will, flowing from his coils to his hand, where the chakra came out.

He opened his eyes.

Lighting crackled dangerously around the dark-black sword, its blue particles whizzing around the metal with horrifying speed.

Kubikiribōchō was covered with lightning.

But with every second that passed, Naruto could feel his control fleeting away. Without any more hesitation, he ran towards the dome of sand.

It would probably be the only way for him to get a clean hit on Gaara with his current speed.

He spun, holding the sword with two hands, as he brought down a weapon of hell onto the sand. His sword cleaved through the side of the ball with some struggle, cutting the ball into something akin to a half.

Naruto dropped the sword to his other hand as the sand fell away, revealing the wide-eyed Gaara inside the other half. He dug one hand onto Gaara's collar, pulling him out of the safehold.

Gaara remained frozen as he was promptly dropped to the soil beneath him.

"You've lost, Gaara," Naruto said coldly to the monster below him, keeping the tip of his sword to Gaara's forehead.

The lightning was long gone, but the blade itself was more than enough to kill the boy below him.

The look on Gaara's face was something he never thought he would see. Gone was the crazy, maniac look or the cold expression he usually had. Was that...fear?

That's when Naruto realized.

The reason Gaara was feeling that way was because he simply never lost. The boy was so strong that he rarely even moved as he fought, having his sand do the work for him. Being on the opposing side was particularly new for him, and it only made sense that he would be afraid.

"Leave our brother alone!"

Naruto moved his sword aside, reflecting the incoming shuriken with the flat side of the blade.

What?

Temari and Kankuro rushed into the fight as fast they could, forcing Naruto to run backwards towards Fuu as several more projectiles came away. They looked furious for their brother, casting protective glances at him.

Gaara looked at his siblings with a strange expression as he stood up.

"You got lucky that he was outnumbered, or else you would have died in an instant!" Kankuro shouted. "Now that it's an even-"

Naruto was about to say the boy didn't know math until Gaara interrupted. "Let's leave, Kankuro."

For once, Kankuro and Naruto had the same thoughts running through their heads.

What the hell?

Kankuro looked outraged. "Gaara, I don't understand. Why would we leave after they just tried to kill you?"

"I want to face them in the next exam," Gaara said simply.

Naruto couldn't believe himself thinking that Gaara just became a better person.

"Wha-"

"Don't question him, Kankuro," Temari said, looking confusedly at Gaara but also resolute towards Kankuro. "We'll do what he wants."

Kankuro scoffed, before nodding curtly. He glared at Naruto and Fuu one more time before the trio left right after.

Fuu looked at Naruto. "Should I chase and subdue them?"

Naruto chuckled. "Not needed."

A comfortable silence followed after, before Fuu decided to break it with a question of her own. "So what now?"

Naruto clapped his hands together. "I'll regroup my teammates and enter one of the towers."

Fuu looked confused. "But didn't you say you didn't have an Earth scroll yet?"

Naruto smirked.

[-]

Kurotsuchi laughed as Ubuki retold his heroic tales in his effort of getting the Heaven scroll that he now held.

Their third teammate, Saki, was nowhere to be found, but that didn't really didn't matter much. The girl in question could survive anything, really.

"Get out the Earth scroll, Kurotsuchi-san," Ubuki stated. "We can probably hide it somewhere when we look for Saki."

Kurotsuchi didn't really agree with the method but complied anyway. She reached into her back pocket, the comforting feeling of the scroll filling her hands. "It's right here-"

What.

The girl found herself looking at a plastic tube in her hands. It was shaped like a cylinder, mimicking the scroll that Ubuki held.

"Umm...that's not a scroll, Kurotsuchi-san, I-"

"NARUTOOOO!"

[-]

Naruto pulled out the Earth scroll to the surprised Fuu, winking as if he was telling her a deep secret.

He felt only slightly guilty for replacing Kurotsuchi's scroll with a dummy one as she was unconscious.

Only slightly.

The second exam was officially over.

-[end]-

Yo!

I hoped you liked the extra long chapter. I found out how fun Fuu is to write, at the very least.

Talk No Jutsu, really? It makes you wonder what the system really is.

With that, the second exam is over. Before anyone complains that Fuu is too op, please understand that she is already an experienced, real Jinchuuriki. We don't really know how strong she was at this point in the anime, so I'm taking some liberty here.

Join my Pa treon at /PaladinKaladin for only $2 if you want to read the next chapter tomorrow itself. I'll be posting consecutive chapters for the next three days over there. My Pa treons have already read most of this chapter, so it will be awesome to see you there. Search up PaladinKaladin on the site or add /PaladinKaladin after the .com

The most awaited questionnn:

Question 1: Who's your favorite Jinchuuriki other than Naruto? Gotta go with Killer Bee. That's a hint y'all.

That's it for today. I hope you read and review if you liked the story this far, it's really appreciated.

Follow, favorite, and review until next Tuesday, where it will surely be uploaded next week.

Next Tuesday, see you there.