1,129Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Yu Yu Hakusho.
"Talk" Character talking.
'Think' Character thinking.
"Talk" Jagan talking.
'Think' Jagan thinking.
"Talk" Tailed Beast talking.
"Think" Tailed Beast thinking.
Arthor's Note: Jesus fucking Christ I can't believe it's been five years since I updated my baby. To my fans or even fan now, I'm sorry it took so long but my muse dropped like an anvil into the ocean. Between freaking Covid, freaking jobs that treated me like a number, moving more times than I care to admit, permanently buying a house, getting my fat ass healthy again, and losing family members I had a lot on my plate. But this story is BACK! No more tragedies (Fingers fucking crossed!) no more yips, and no more excuses...minus my three other stories I have to juggle with this now.
Operation: Konoha Crush was supposed to cause the complete annihilation of Konohagakure. The Sandaime Hokage was supposed to be assassinated, their infrastructure destroyed, jutsu's looted, clans that would be of use to them annihilated and the rest of the shinobi forces subjugated under their rule.
But that was not what Temari was seeing. As she traveled to try and cover Gaara all she saw was death and destruction on both sides, with each step she took she inhaled the smell of ash and blood. Everywhere she turned her head she saw smoke rising from multiple buildings, the occasional body littering the street, it was pure chaos.
'Is this what it was like during the Great Shinobi Wars? Father…what on earth were you thinking?' She thought as a building exploded near her, the force of it sent her to the ground in a crumpled heap as debris rained down upon her. Her borrowed kunai, the only weapon she had was lost in the confusion, and both her siblings went ahead without her.
"Gaara…" The oldest sibling slowly got to her knees and watched as her younger brother fled the village in his rampage. The need to release Shukaku was the final part in her father's plan, the power of a Biju could destroy anything in its path, and nothing could stop it. But the Uchiha was now his sole focus, Gaara wouldn't be satisfied until his blood fed his sand.
It was a terrible deviation to the plan. But once Sasuke was dead it would be back on track, their father's plan would come to fruition.
"There are no more Senju's and any seals they might be able to use won't matter by the time he reaches his full form. There is no Sannin around…the Hokage must be dead by now…we can do this." Temari gritted her teeth and banged her fist against the nearest wall. "I need to continue, but without a weapon…grr damn that kid."
Temari honestly hoped that Naruto kid got what was coming to him when he fought against Gaara. She could feel that he was chasing after them, but he wouldn't stand a chance against her brother. He couldn't have had much more in the tank after fighting her and whoever else, he was just a rookie Genin after all.
Another explosion erupted in front of her, Temari raised her right hand to cover her face from more dust and debris. A piece of wood landed in front of her, broken off from the blast somewhere down the street.
"A weapons shop?" She said, looking down at the sign that literally said the last two words. "Heh, it seems fortune is smiling down on me today. All I need to do is hop in there, look for some sort of weapon I can use as a fan, and get out."
That was the plan, no one could refute that it was a decent one in her situation. Temari knew she was grasping at straws, her fan was literally the only weapon she had on hand, she stopped using kunai and shuriken after graduating the academy and primarily focused on tessenjutsu. She was meant to be the mid to long-range support, Kankuro with his puppetry could cover almost any distance, and Gaara…well, she knew what he could do without their support.
"Sensei did tell me to carry at least a holster of kunai just in case…" Temari gritted her teeth as she stomped towards the weapons shop. "He said that I was too prideful, Kazekage's daughter or not. I shouldn't rely on one thing…foolish…when I get back home, I'm going to change that. But first…I'll just liberate some weapons from this…store…"
Temari's train of thought was cut short when she saw the absolute carnage in front of her. Sand and Sound shinobi were littered in the streets and embedded in buildings. Their chests were torn asunder, limbs hacked off and what looked like a lake of blood was seeping into the streets.
And the monster behind all this carnage? The form of a large, scarred man in his blacksmith's apron wielding the most demonic-looking axe in one hand cutting five shinobi in half at the waist. He let out a bellowing cry of anger.
"You sons of bitches come to my village!" Hiroshi Higurishi roared as the obsidian axe-head impacted a Sand Chunin, the serrated edge tore through his flak jacket and the rest of his upper torso parted in two with the bloody chunks impacting the building across from him.
"Try to steal my livelihood!" The former Chunin blocked a strike from three shinobi, two being Sound and one being Sand. Their kunai barely made a dent in the metallic haft of the weapon, the block was absolutely perfect. Even crippled from a leg injury the larger man pivoted on his left foot and his injured right leg struck the Sound shinobi, his body twisting to the side as he slammed into his fellows.
They fell into a crumpled heap on top of each other. They took a second to realize their situation and moved to escape.
It was one second too late. Hiroshi rose Shukketsu over his head and drove the spiked bottom through them to create a gory human kabab.
"Try to kill me!" He looked towards the remaining enemy, a poor bastard from Wind Country who backed away in fear. He attacked him, weaponless, his frame surging with adrenaline and white-hot rage.
"And you bastards dared to comment on what you would do to my wife!?"
"I didn't say anything! I just-" The doomed foreign shinobi threw several shuriken; it was a vain hope that he could strike the monster down and run away.
Instead Temari watched as several kunai struck them with pin-point accuracy. She glanced at the room and briefly saw three figures before girlish screaming tore her attention back to the furious blacksmith. She watched in horror as he grabbed her doomed comrade around the throat and began to squeeze the life out of him.
The sickening sound of bone snapping and the Sand shinobi's neck jerking to the side awkwardly, drool escaping from the side of his mouth as the life faded from his eyes caused her to back up. It was not worth stealing from this weapons shop, not with that monster ten miles around it.
"Dad! Are you okay?" Temari looked up towards the building again, and her teal eyes widening seeing the form of Tenten, the girl she tried to cripple in the preliminary exams. There was no way that man was her father.
She then noticed the Hyuuga girl standing next to her. She looked nervous, but unscathed, and…wait, wasn't that one of their allies with them?
"I'm okay sweetie. Thanks for the save!" Hiroshi dropped his deceased opponent as he turned towards them. "Are you and Hinata okay? Hold on, who's the mummy man?"
"We're both fine, and this is Dosu. He's okay, he saved us from a bad situation. We'll tell you about it later!"
"Hello, sir." Dosu awkwardly waved at the larger man.
'That monster is her father!? Oh shit…oh shit…' The urge to run far away struck Temari harder than Gaara's sand ever did. She barely managed to turn around before cold black steel came to rest under her chin.
"Oh my, what's a little girl like you doing here?" The light brown eyes of Tomoko Higurishi met Temari's teal ones. She smiled but it held absolutely no warmth. "Honey, I think you missed one!"
'Honey?' Temari barely managed to move her head to see the monster, and her former opponent look in their direction. 'Of all the rotten luck…oh Kami…Fujin…anyone please strike them down so I can escape!'
The Gods did not answer her. No one was coming to save her either. Because of one decision her part in the invasion was over.
Hanging her head in defeat, Temari slowly raised her arms in surrender. She could only hope her brothers were safe.
"Gaara, we lost Temari!" Kankuro yelled at the top of his lungs. It wasn't until they reached the outskirts of the village did the middle child of Rasa realize they lost their big sister. "Stop! We need to go back!"
"Mother wants the Uchiha's blood!" Gaara screamed. His eyes were fully open, manic and filled to the brim with bloodlust and murderous intent. "Nothing else matters!"
"The plan matters Gaara! We can still crush this village if you simply stop and transform right now!" Kankuro exploded at his younger brother. "Do it right now, our father ordered this to happen no matter what and if-if I have to force you to do it then so be it!"
Gaara turned his head towards his older brother. There was no familiar bond, no recognition, just the eyes of a killer looking for his next victim.
That was when the sand slammed into Kankuro's torso, the air left his lungs, and he was knocked from one of the trees they were jumping on. He barely managed to right his body and land on his feet as his younger brother sped away after the Uchiha.
"Shit…I think he broke something." The puppet-wielding Genin clutched his right side in pain. Something was busted, he could feel the unnatural movement of his rubs. This was very, very bad.
It got even worse when three more tree huggers stopped in front of him. The freak with the green spandex, the weakening with the pink hair and the creepy one with the insects.
Taking a deep breath Kankuro pulled Crow from his back and slammed the bandaged puppet onto the ground. Ignoring his throbbing ribs he gritted his teeth at his opponents. "Not another step! I won't let you stop Gaara!"
"From your posture it seems your teammate dealt you great harm." Shino coldly observed the way his would-be opponent held his side. "This is not going to end well for you. I suggest you surrender now."
"Screw off bug boy!" The bandages fell off the puppet to fully reveal it. The chakra strings soon attached to the parts needed and the Sand Genin caused Crow's mouth to open and shoot out dozens of senbon needles.
The three Leaf Genin easily jumped out of their path and Sakura was the first to throw a kunai at the puppet-user. She found herself surprised when Crow blocked the projectile with a hidden wrist blade in its upper right arm. To her terrible surprise the upper left arm opened up at the elbow and shot out three smoke bombs that were dead set on impacting her.
They would have hit her easily if it wasn't for a wall of insects taking the blow, it gave Sakura several precious seconds to escape from the area before a poisonous cloud of green gas covered the area. A cold sweat dripped down Sakura's face realizing that she had a very close call.
"Shino…thanks." She breathed out in relief.
"Think nothing of it. But still this person is dangerous, even injured…what is the phrase again? A cornered animal is most dangerous." Shino's glasses flashed upon looking at his would-be opponent. "Sakura, Lee, I suggest you follow after Gaara and Sasuke." A roar of anger and the sound of an explosion ahead of them sent thick clouds of dust and ash into the air. "I think he needs some assistance."
"What about you?" Lee asked in worry. "This person has some very unyouthful tactics."
"I have a bone to pick with him." Shino looked at Kankuro with what the two could guess was irritation. "He surrendered during our fight. If he is the reason I don't become a Chunin I'm going to be pretty upset."
"Are you sure?" Sakura asked.
"I am." Shino reached into his hip pouch and pulled out his own smoke bombs. "Now go!"
The Aburame heir threw the smoke bombs at his opponent, thick white-gray smoke obscured the area and both Lee and Sakura took the opportunity to run past him. Once the smoke cleared Kankuro was shown to not have moved an inch.
"You didn't chase after them…" Shino looked at his opponent with a raised eyebrow.
"Heh, I can't go after them with my busted ribs." Kankuro grimaced when he felt his right side flare up in pain. "So, I figure I could save myself some time and energy by taking you down after you wasted some of your supplies. When you're worm food, I'll head after them."
"I hate to admit this but that was a clever plan, those were all my smoke bombs." Shino adjusted his sunglasses. "That just means I won't underestimate you."
Kankuro smirked and raised his hands, fingers spread and Crow clicking ominously. Without another word the puppet lunged at Shino, its four arms began to assault him, the hidden wrist blades popping out from the wooden wrists in an attempt to stab and slash at the Leaf Genin.
Shino didn't hesitate to block the attacks with his own kunai and dodge what he couldn't. Out of all his potential opponents he thought he could face in the finals, the Aburame heir came to a few conclusions on how to fight them and calculated his chances of victory.
Out of the opponents, the three he knew he could very well lose to would have been Naruto, Sasuke and Lee. Sasuke was very skilled and did earn Rookie of the Year in the academy, his Sharingan was difficult to defend against and his proficiency in fire ninjutsu was hazardous for his colony. He had a few plans but with how agile and skilled he was, Shino could very well lose to the last Uchiha.
Lee had more experience than them, he was stronger and faster. Shino held no illusions that unless Lady Luck was on his side and he managed to get a few insects on him to drain what little chakra he had, he would stand no chance against the taijutsu expert.
Then there was Naruto, quite frankly between his unpredictable nature, swarming tactics, and terrifying chakra pool, unless there was fluke Shino knew that the former dead last of their class would trounce him.
Kankuro, however, he knew that he could beat him. From his fight in the preliminaries, he relied on his puppet to fight, he didn't have any other skills besides the basics either. No kunai or shuriken was carried on his person, he didn't show any proficiency in hand-to-hand combat so taijutsu looked to be a major weakness. And any ninjutsu he had ever seen were his chakra strings to control his puppet.
His glasses flashed in the light as the kunai he had on hand was launched at the Sand Genin. Immediately the upper left arm on Crow dislodged from its body and blocked the blow, but that was all he needed.
With a flick of his wrist Shino sent a small swarm of his Kikaichu beetles at the puppet and puppeteer while at the same time he threw a flashbang. The bright light distracted Kankuro enough for him to jump away to get his bearings again.
"Gah! What a dirty trick." Kankuro blinked a few spots out of his eyes. He didn't manage to fully protect his eyes, so now he was on the defensive once more.
"I'm a shinobi. That is what we do." Shino dully replied.
"Indeed." With a jerk of one finger Crow opened his mouth and a large cloud of smoke erupted from it. Fearing the poison that was no doubt laced in it, Shino jumped back and withdrew another kunai-knife.
"Another poisonous cloud? I'm beginning to think you ran out of tricks."
"Not necessarily." A crackling sound was the only thing that alerted the Leaf Genin. He jumped to the side, but still felt a painful sensation in his right calf, it was quickly followed by intense burning feeling.
Hitting the ground, Shino found that he couldn't move his right leg, in fact he was beginning to feel numbing pain seeping into his right side. And the cause of this? He saw two arms flying to reattach on the puppet and two holes close to where he was hit.
"You feel that sensation in your body, an intense burning feeling?" Kankuro mocked his opponent.
"Poison." Shino simply said.
"Correct. I took a page out of your blonde friend's book when he humiliated my sister. I'll be sure to thank him before watching Gaara crush him into fine paste." Twitching his fingers, Kankuro moved Crow to a position for a perfect killing blow.
The normally stoic Aburame laughed at the puppet-user, it completely shocked him into stopping what he was doing. "First, the fact you think your brother can kill Naruto is hilarious. And second…you aren't going to make it back to him."
"Enough with your bluffing!" Twitching his fingers once more, Kankuro moved Crow to impale the Aburame heir.
Crow's arms moved before stopping, the gears groaned in protest. Kankuro's eyes opened in alarm as he tried to move his puppet some more, but all he got was more groans of protest. "What the hell did you do!?"
"You fell right for my trap…" Shino felt the burning sensation building up in his body. He was beginning to see double of his opponent and it was getting harder to breathe. "I sent my insects into your puppet; it took a while, but the gears are clogged, aren't they? And that's not all…"
Kankuro looked in horror as hundreds of them exited from his puppet and crawled up his chakra strings. In a blink of an eye they not only ate through his technique, but also crawled onto him. They slipped under the sleeves of his jumpsuit, got into his hair, he felt their legs crawling all over him.
And then he felt weak, he tried to move Crow again by reconnecting it with his chakra strings. But he found that he couldn't, his puppet fell onto the ground with a clatter, and he fell to his knees in terror as he felt his chakra beginning to drain away.
"You feel it don't you? My Kikaichu are feeding on your chakra, you're becoming weaker by the second." Numbness began to wash over him; he felt his consciousness fading. He watched as Kankuro collapsed in a crumpled heap as darkness began to wash over him.
"So, this is death…how cold." Shino muttered before closing his eyes.
Explosions rocked the rooftops, the shinobi giving chase towards a certain retreating blonde. He was actually panting now, he had no idea how long he had been fighting, an hour? Two hours maybe? Fighting against Temari used a bit of his chakra, the previous two Hokage and Orochimaru had him use a nearly every skill he had in his arsenal and still got his ass kicked, and then there was Baki where he got revenge for Hayate but also had to use quite a bit of chakra to take him out.
Now there were pockets of enemies gunning for his head. The recent jerks had been throwing kunai with exploding tags for Shinigami's sake!
"Fuck of! Wind Style: Cyclone Scythe Jutsu!" Naruto turned around after flashing through the needed hand seals. Again, without a fan he couldn't perfectly imitate the jutsu he stole from Temari, but he did cross his arms over his chest and swung them forward.
Sharp twin blades of wind flew from his arms and impacted the small group of Sound shinobi who were following after him. He had seen how sharp wind could have been, Tenten's injuries and the damage at the stadium showed how deadly a wind ninjutsu could be.
Watching as the blades impacted flesh and blood bodies and slicing through them with little resistance was honestly horrifying. Watching as body parts flew off, the lead shinobi was literally cut in fours when he was hit head on in the chest. The blonde turned away in disgust and misjudged his last step.
Instead of landing on the roof of a building he crashed into the back of a giant billboard and had half his body poking through it. What greeted him was the face of a princess, and the advertisement regarding Yukie Fujikaze's newest Princess Gale movie.
"If I'm not dead by the end of this, I might see that movie." Naruto said to himself.
"Seriously? With all that's going on you're thinking of seeing some picture show!?" Jagan barked at him.
"My village is on fire. The old man is fighting against the literal founders of this village with one of the biggest traitors this village has ever produced. I don't know if Hinata and Tenten are okay. And my teammate is running for his freaking life from a jinchuriki who's half insane thanks to his Biju!" Naruto tore himself out of the billboard and kicked the damn thing in anger.
"So excuse me for trying to distract myself for one second as everything around me is going to shit!" He openly yelled. If anyone was fighting, they would have witnessed the blonde-haired Genin yelling at the billboard. Instead, more explosions tore through the village, Gaara's roars of fury echoed in his ears, and frankly Naruto wished this day was done and over with.
"He's got a point dude." Ishikawa remarked to the sentient eyeball.
"Shut up ningen." Jagan snarled.
"Knock it off everyone. The village is still in danger, I didn't die just for everything to fail!" Hayate barked at all of them. "Naruto, continue on the path, their jinchuriki is not even attempting to hide himself."
"You're right. Sorry." Naruto smacked his cheeks to get his head back in the game and activated the Jagan Eye to look towards where Gaara was rampaging. He saw the container of Shukaku, his right arm transformed into a sandy claw, the right side of his face also covered in sand resembling that of a tanuki head, and a large sandy tail that was connected by a thick layer that went up his spine and connected to his arm.
He was chasing Sasuke, and honestly was having a hard time trying to lay a clean hit on his teammate. It was no surprise, Sasuke was incredibly fast, and his speed was well earned from his months of hard training.
What surprised him, however, was Lee, Shikamaru and Sakura chasing after them. They were gaining speed and would catch up with the both of them soon. And then there were three figures coming up ahead, two were down and another was leaning over one of them.
"Shit, is that Shino?" Naruto stopped several feet away as the figure looked up to regard him.
His eyes were obscured by dark glasses which featured a single tassel hanging down from one-side. He had very spiky short black hair and a mustache. Attire-wise he wore a beige high collared outfit, brown pants that stopped mid-calf, training tape covering the rest and brown sandals. He also was carrying a large gourd on his back.
"Naruto Uzumaki…" The figure looked him over for several seconds before turning back to Shino. "I suggest you continue on your way. I'll hold the line here."
"Wait a second who the hell are…" Naruto trailed off seeing the man place his hand on Shino's chest and several insects crawled onto him. Looking at Shino and the man he put two and two together after seeing their similarities. "You're Shino's dad?"
"Shibi Aburame." Shibi simply introduced himself. "It's good to formally meet you, Uzumaki-san."
"Ah, likewise." Naruto nearly stumbled over his words. "Is he going to be okay?"
"He is." Shibi placed his hand over his son's chest again and his insects once again began to crawl onto him. "He was poisoned, but my insects are extracting it. And his opponent…" the older Aburame glanced towards an unconscious Kankuro. "He will be detained as a prisoner of war."
Once upon a time the old Naruto would have protested that action, but he didn't spend a month just getting his ass kicked. Jiraiya, Zabuza, Kakashi, Ishikawa and even Hayate beat into his head many hard lessons about their line of work. They were glorified mercenaries, bodyguards, killers for hire, saboteurs, spies, and many more. Each village had some different outlook when it came to their line of work, different beliefs not unlike their Will of Fire, and many more things that he couldn't list at the moment.
And some were veterans of the Great Shinobi Wars, literally nothing was off the table when it came to your own survival. And one of those things were POWs, if you survived you could be exchanged for information or another prisoner. It was a way to gain some sort of leverage over your enemies if the person was a high valued target.
And Kankuro was the son of the Kazekage. The man may have been dead, and that information would not be known until after the invasion came to an end, but he was a good bargaining chip for future negotiations. He figured Temari, if she was also captured, would be a great tool to be used in negotiations since she was not only the eldest, but very skilled for a Genin her age.
And then Gaara…he was unstable, a bloodthirsty monster, but he was also their Jinchuriki. He was worth the village's weight in gold, and being the son of their village leader was just icing on the cake. And should Jiraiya get his hands on the guy and work his magic with Fuinjutsu then perhaps an even better deal could be struck.
It didn't make Naruto feel good thinking about that, but life was far from fair, especially in their line of work. He had a decision to make, and by the Shinigami he was going to make it. He only hoped his plan worked out because between trying to fool the Sandaime with his whole body being kidnapped by Iwagakure after his revival and trying to fight Orochimaru with the old man himself, none of them had gone well at all.
"I'm going after Gaara, and after I beat him, he'll be a prisoner as well." His blue eyes hardened. "It will give our village better leverage."
"I hope you pull it off, Uzumaki-san." Shibi turned towards his son once more. "Go and get him."
Only nodding in response, Naruto bolted towards the area where Gaara was rampaging. Sasuke, Lee, Shikamaru and Sakura were going to be fighting for their lives. Out of every single battle he fought today the blonde Genin had a gut feeling that this one was going to be the most important.
It would be a terrible battle of Jinchuriki against Jinchuriki.
"UCHIHA!"
Gaara's insane screams were honestly beginning to grate Sasuke's ears. A part of him - probably an insane part of him, wondered what was worse, him screaming his last name or his fangirls screaming "Sasuke-kun" over and over again.
"UCHIHA!"
"The fangirls are worse." Sasuke finally decided. "Ugh, running is not going to get me anywhere. I need to eventually fight. Think! What can I do against this rampaging…heh, of course."
Reaching into his hip pouch, Sasuke pulled out a stack of exploding tags. He slapped in onto the tree branch he stopped on and then proceeded to slap them on every single surface he came into contact with. It slowed him down to a crawl, but opting to fight smarter and not harder was going to be his best option against the strongest opponent he had faced to date.
Orochimaru did not count. He stood no real chance against the Snake Sannin, he knew that now.
"UCHIHA!"
"Shut up already." Slapping down his last exploding tag, Sasuke threw his hands into the well-practiced tiger hand seal. "Chameleon Jutsu."
It took a brief second, but Sasuke successfully disappeared. Thanks to controlling the reflection of light around his body his form, shadow and even his breathing became invisible to the naked eye. As far as Sasuke knew, Gaara didn't have any Kekkei Genkai that could detect him, this was the perfect ambush he could think of at such short notice.
The sound of explosions soon echoed in his ears followed by roars of fury. A chain of explosions followed soon after and the Uchiha watched as trees were felled and the Sand Genin came flying towards his area. Gaara stepped on another exploding tag and was engulfed in the explosion that was blunted by the sand protecting him. The heat of the explosions, however, caused the sand to become molten glass and useless for the jinchuriki to use.
A smug smirk came to his face as Gaara continued to set off a chain of explosions, each one was leading him further towards him and one that could potentially wipe him out. The snarling Genin was barely above a mad beast, howling at nothing while foaming at the mouth.
Sasuke took a small bit of delight in releasing the rest of his exploding tags.
An explosion worthy of Iwagakure's Explosion Corps completely obliterated the area surrounding Gaara. Trees blew into wooden shrapnel, fires caught on the ancient wood, ash and cinder were the only remaining things.
That and a haggard Gaara, sweat poured from his body and his once pristine clothing was charred, tattered and shredded. Molten glass surrounded his body, the gourd he proudly carried was nearly depleted from all the sand used to shield his body from the brunt of the blast and maintain his demonic form.
Seeing his weakened form, Sasuke sped through the hand seals for his new favorite ninjutsu. Blue and white lightning chakra soon began to cover his right hand, the sound of a thousand birds chirping began to echo throughout the entire area. He soon pumped a good amount of chakra into his legs and burst from his hiding place far away from where Gaara was blown up, his Sharingan activated to prevent tunnel vision, his Chameleon Jutsu dissipating from moving too fast and using chakra to attack.
"Chidori!" Sasuke yelled at the top of his lungs; his right hand plunged into Gaara's chest like a hot knife through butter. For a second the last Uchiha of Konoha thought he triumphed over Sunagakure's trump card.
That triumph soon morphed into horror as Gaara's surprised face soon fell away, his body turning into sand that soon engulfed Sasuke's arms and most of his upper torso like a bastardized form of armor.
Emerging from the ground, sand replacing the dirt thanks to Shukaku's influence, Gaara, his clothes charred, tattered and shredded like his clone's way reached out with his right arm. "Sand Coffin…" Gaara's face twisted with sadistic satisfaction as Sasuke turned off his eyes and yelled out in pain when the sand bound his form, his bones creaking and cracking. "Sand Burial-"
"Dynamic Entry!"
A sandaled foot hit Gaara in the right side of his face and for the second time that day he felt true pain. He felt the bones of his jaw break, teeth flew out, his blood escaped from his mouth right in front of his eyes. The pain from the surprise attack broke the Sand Genin's concentration and he flew into part of a burning tree and crashed through it.
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura was next to her teammate in an instant. The sand had fallen off his body, but the remains were still there. She began to brush it off him, even uncapping a canteen to douse him with it so Gaara couldn't use it easily. "By the love of Kami, I'm glad we caught up to you in time."
"Sakura…Lee…" Sasuke gasped out as Sakura's glowing green hands began to run over his body.
"Don't worry Sasuke-kun Konoha's Beautiful Wild Green Beast won't allow you to be harmed anymore." Lee removed his weights and unlike any dramatic display, he set them off to the side where they at the very least made an indentation in the ground.
"I guess I'm here too…against my better judgment." Shikamaru sighed. "What a drag."
"Thanks guys." For the first time that day Sasuke felt relief wash over him. Perhaps they stood a chance now.
"TRESPASSERS! HOW DARE YOU GET IN THE WAY OF MY KILL!"
Gaara's voice became high-pitched and demonic, the area he flew into exploded in nauseating chakra, killing intent and sand bursting from the ground.
Instead of showing off a pissed off auburn-haired Genin his entire body from the shins up upwards were covered in sandy-brown colored sand and resembled a tanuki, with dark blue curse seal markings all over his face, body, and thick tail. He developed a jagged, concave mouth with no tongue, and the sclerae of his eyes became black, with yellow irises and pupils that each take the shape of a black four-pointed star with four black dots around it. He raised his arms to reveal them being thick hands with sharp claws.
"Oh dear Kami." Sakura gasped out in horror.
"It seems he really is a monster." Shikamaru said.
"Yeah…" Even Lee was stunned speechless.
Sasuke said nothing. With the knowledge that Gaara was a jinchuriki like Naruto, a part of him honestly felt bad for his fellow Genin. Naruto hid it the best he could, but he couldn't help but think back about how his teammate was treated as a kid. The looks of loathing, neglect, hatred, being shunned and the few and far in between physical attacks he endured up until Wave. Now that he truly looked at Gaara he saw the exact same thing Naruto went through, only unlike the blonde he had no one who eventually saw him at Naruto Uzumaki instead of the Kyuubi reincarnated.
It made him sick just thinking about it, it made him angry that he used to be a part of the people who overlooked the blonde and forced him to be the idiot he was in the academy for some lousy attention. Gaara probably went through the same thing, but instead of adopting a mask, he became what everyone thought he was.
"Enough." He barked at the three. For as much as he felt bad for the jinchuriki in front of him, in the end he made his choices, he was an enemy trying to destroy his home. And as a shinobi of Konohagakure he was bound and determined to put an end to him! "Lee, can you damage him?"
"I believe so. You know how fast I am." Lee replied.
"Good. Do not hold back, and do not underestimate him. His sand is unpredictable." He then turned towards Sakura. "I know you have been training hard, but don't engage up close with him. Distract him however you can."
"O-of course!" Sakura exclaimed. Months ago, she would have squealed from the simple praise, now though? She accepted the praise, Inner Sakura was actually kind of giddy, but with the seriousness of their situation she kept herself from doing such a thing.
"And you…" Sasuke dully looked at the laziest person of their generation. "Do you have anything left in the tank?"
"As troublesome as it is, I think I can at least stall him." Shikamaru glanced at the last Uchiha. "What are you going to do?"
"I just need some time."
"Sand Shuriken!" Fully ready to kill the pests in his way, Gaara crossed his massive arms across his chest and then threw them outwards. Launching from his arms, he manipulated his sand into the shape of hundreds of shuriken's, it was massive overkill.
Shikamaru moved to dodge the deadly projectiles and hid in the foliage of the tallest trees. Sasuke and Sakura took cover behind the largest and thickest trunk they could find.
But Lee…he simply disappeared. To Gaara's yellow eyes the odd-looking Genin was there one moment and then he was sent flying. Even with the thick amount of sand encasing his body Gaara still felt the punch. A primal cry of anger the One-Tailed jinchuriki as his large hands gripped the thick trunk of a tree and used the momentum to circle around, leaving huge claw marks in the ancient wood before flinging himself at the group.
Opening up his mouth Gaara roared and let out a loud hurricane of cutting wind. Shikamaru covered his eyes as the leaves were blown into his face, and he was forced to abandon his hiding spot. Sakura and Sasuke were no better, they fell down their tree and barely managed to land on another branch.
Lee, however, once again vanished and Gaara found a heel smashing underneath his chin. The spandex-wearing Genin then disappeared underneath the Jinchuriki with the Shadow of the Dancing Leaf technique to follow his movements. The bandages on Lee's arms came loose and wrapped around Gaara's sandy body.
"Let's see your sand protect you from this! Primary Lotus!" Lee knew they reached the peak of the initial kick from earlier; he then began a spinning motion and propelled them headfirst towards the ground. A loud cry escaped from the Genin's mouth as he released his opponent right before impact.
Gaara's impact with the ground could be described in two words: Earth shattering. A small mushroom cloud of dirt could be seen over the forest as Gaara was driven headfirst into the ground that simply ceased to exist after the impact. Lee managed to retreat to safety, after leaving Gaara to collide with the ground alone.
Landing on the tree from the momentum, Lee skidded on the bark of one of the branches before smacking into the trunk. Normally that wouldn't bother him too much, but he was feeling the strain of the technique.
"Lee!" Sakura was immediately next to him with Sasuke covering her back. Her hands coated in green chakra and began to run them over his body. "Good Kami! Lee, what kind of technique was that your body is a wreck."
"The Front Lotus is a kinjutsu…it puts a massive strain on my body should I use it." Lee panted out, thick beads of sweat falling down his face. "Gai-sensei told me to never use it unless someone important needs to be protected."
Giving them the patented Nice Guy pose while kneeling, Lee smiled. "I'm protecting my village and my friends. Gai-sensei will understand."
Sasuke could only nod. Along with Naruto he trained with both Lee and Gai, while he knew the basics of the Strong Fist taijutsu style and a few techniques, some he used to incorporate into his Lions Barrage technique, he was far from a master. The fact Lee used such a technique was amazing in itself.
"Do you think that finished him off?" Sakura asked.
"Not a chance." Sasuke dryly said. "That sand is going to be a real issue. Lee, can you continue?"
"I just need a minute." Lee panted out. He knew Sakura was healing his battered body, but he needed more, closing his eyes he opened The Gate of Healing, and he felt a rush of chakra flowing into his body. The exhaustion in his body gradually disappeared and he managed to stand on his two feet once more.
Just in time for Gaara to blast out from the crater he was buried in. The One-tailed jinchuriki screamed bloody murder as he rushed towards them.
He then found himself pausing, tripping over his feet and nearly falling out of the tree he was on. He looked down to see his shadow connected to another longer one. "You!"
"Heh…you're hard to keep still." Shikamaru felt an insane amount of sweat plastering his clothing to his skin. "Sasuke! Lee! I can't hold him much longer!"
"DIE! WINDSTYLE: SAND BUCKSHOT!" Opening his mouth, Gaara launched compressed sand bullet-like projectiles and added wind chakra to the blast from his belly to launch them at the Nara.
Shikamaru's eyes opened in terror. He saw the sand racing towards him, and he saw his life flashing before his very eyes. Then it was obscured by a head of pink hair.
"Ninja Art:..." Sakura flashed through two hand seals and landed on the bird seal and took in a deep breath. "Banshee Screech!" Opening up her mouth Sakura let out the most ear piercing, headache inducing, blood-curdling scream.
The shockwaves of the scream knocked away Gaara's sand bullets and hit him square on in the chest. His roars of pain and anger were only matched by the fangirls' scream from hell. Shikamaru even saw blood leaking from his ears as he clutched his head and fell to the forest floor.
"Sakura…" Shikamaru felt his ears ringing, damn he knew Sakura had some lungs on her, but this was something completely unexpected. "What the hell was that?"
"K-Kanpo-sensei told me that I-I needed more than just medical ninjutsu in my arsenal." Sakura coughed before rubbing her throat. "So, we used my…unique predisposition as a-a...you know to good use. Ugh…it was meant to be my trump card against Lee…it still hurts a lot."
"Think you could have beaten him with it?" The lazy Genin asked.
"Maybe…won't know now."
"GRAAAAAAA!"
"That wasn't enough to put him down."
"Of course it wasn't." Sakura lamented.
"Don't worry…that was just enough time for me." Sasuke said after activating his Sharingan once more.
"Me too…" Lee stood up and looked at Gaara emerging from his latest crater. "Sasuke-kun…prepare to witness my power of Youth! Gate of Life…open!"
Light blue chakra surrounded Lee's body and in front of his friends and comrades his skin turned red. His pupils completely disappeared, his bowl cut hair standing on end, and bulging veins appeared all over his body.
But Lee was not done yet.
"Gate of Pain…open!" His chakra began to skyrocket like an inferno and blood began to gush from his nose.
Lee completely disappeared from where he was standing and reappeared in front of Gaara. To the Sand Genin's complete surprise he found his face caving in from an axe kick, Lee then sprung off his head and jumped towards one of the trees and kicked off of it. Gaara was then treated to an unkind game of human pinball where Lee was the ball bouncing everywhere and he was the paddles trying to keep up.
His mini-Shukaku appearance cracked and splintered, breaking off in massive chunks of hard sand. Gaara tried to use it to capture the annoying insect giving him a pummeling of a lifetime, but he just couldn't catch him.
"UNRULY INSECT! MOTHER WILL HAVE YOUR BLOO-"
Lee appeared underneath Gaara and cut off his ramblings with a savage kick to the chin. Due to his increased weight Lee kicked him again, and again, sending him higher and higher into the sky.
Gaara tried to move, to do something to prevent a repeat of what happened last time. But just like last time he found his form wrapped around in Lee's bandages. With the sand broken off in places Gaara knew it was much worse than last time, the primal feeling in his body and the unusual feeling of amounting horror built up in his frazzled brain.
"And now…Gate of Closing…OPEN!" Lee roared at the top of his lungs as he began another downward spiral at terrifying speeds. "Take this! Hidden Lotus!"
"NOOOO!" Gaara screamed at the top of his lungs as chakra exploded out of his body. With the ground coming up fast he opened his mouth and released a compressed ball of air at the earth. Lee's body was separated by the sudden explosion of chakra, his bandages shredding to pieces along with a quarter of his green jumpsuit.
Gaara hit the ground with a terrible crash and Lee himself crashed through several thick trees and was rendered unconscious from overuse of the Eight Gates and the accumulating injuries.
"Lee!" Sakura and Shikamaru made their way to their fellow Genin. Immediately the pinkette began to run her hands over his body and blanched. "He had…oh Kami he has too many torn muscles and compound fractures to count. Don't worry Lee, I'll stabilize you."
"Sakura!"
Looking up from her kneeling position Sakura was far too late to react as a huge wall of sand swept up her, Shikamaru and Lee. The two conscious ones barely had time to scream before they impacted a tree and were trapped there.
"No! Damn it!" Sasuke approached the giant chunk of sand and grabbed at it. He tried to pull it off them but found he would have better luck lifting that gigantic boulder Zabuza forced Naruto to carry during his month of training.
"He…he…he…" Gaara looked worse for wear, not a scratch was on his body, his Shikaku appearance was nearly gone, but slowly was reforming with particles of sand coming to stick to his body once more. It was only a matter of time before he returned to Shikaku's full appearance. "Five minutes…in five minutes your friends will be crushed to death. That is unless you can stop me, Uchiha."
"I'll stop you…no one will die in front of me…not again!" The tomoes in Sasuke's Sharingan eyes began to spin. The memories of the Uchiha Massacre were coming to the surface, the bonds that he began developing in the past few months, he didn't want to see them die.
Not again. Never again.
"No one will." The both of them looked up and saw a familiar head of blonde hair, instead of blue eyes Sasuke looked on in shock seeing a bastardized version of the Sharingan. Red tomoes, black irises, his heart leapt into his throat.
"Naruto…what the…are…how?"
"Sasuke, I promise this is the very last secret I kept from you." Naruto said to the only relative he had left in the village. "But now isn't the time. Agreed?"
"Yeah, agreed." Sasuke forced himself to focus on Gaara once more. There was an invasion that still needed to be stopped, now he had another reason to survive. "But you better have some good answers!"
"I will, but now we have an ass to kick…" Naruto began to flare his chakra.
"Agreed." Sasuke followed suit, his own chakra flaring off his body. "I only have enough chakra in me for another couple of minutes. I don't want to tap into the Curse Seal."
"I got this dattebayo! Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Crossing his fingers into the familiar cross shape, and a big plume of smoke later, the blonde jinchuriki created two thousand clones. "All right guys, let's show Gaara we're the definition of fuck around and find out!"
"Hell yeah!"
The two thousand clones took out a handful of shuriken each and threw them with precise precision at his fellow jinchuriki from every single direction. There was absolutely no way he could block what could have been ten thousand six-bladed shuriken.
'That's a new one.' Sasuke dully thought to himself.
"Foolish…irritating…insect!" Gaara's sand completed the second form of his transformation stage, he then created multiple mouths over his body and inhaled a massive amount of air to the point his entire body began to swell up. "Wind Style: Sandstorm Devastation!"
The shuriken and clones were hit by a devastating amount of high-pressure wind mixed with sand. It Created a miniature sandstorm that tore down trees and caused the clones to disappear in clouds of smoke. The strong winds were near deafening, any screams that could be heard were drowned out.
And that is why Gaara never heard the sound of a thousand birds until it was too late. Sasuke's lightning-coated hands sliced through his tail, tore through his left arm and punctured into his chest. Sasuke pushed as hard as he could, his Sharingan flickering before finally fading and all chakra fading away.
"Shit…" Sasuke looked on in horror. He felt bare flesh against his hand, but no blood. He went past his limits; he did his absolute best. And now he was looking the beast in the eyes and the sand was tightening around his arm.
"Nice try Uchiha…" Gaara menacingly growled. "Your futile fight is over now…and now I can finally prove my existence by killing you!"
"You forgot one thing, you crazy bastard." Sasuke smirked, even feeling pain enveloping his arm he had the audacity to smirk at Sunagakure's most feared shinobi.
"What is that?"
"The most unpredictable shinobi in all of Konohagakure!" Sasuke let out a loud, defiant yell as the very last bit of chakra surged through his right arm to envelop it in lightning.
The confused look on Gaara's face was priceless when the ground erupted underneath him and five stone covered fists uppercut the insane jinchuriki. While they weren't as strong as Lee's kicks, Gaara was still sent a good distance into the air once more. It was just what Sasuke needed as well, thanks to the last of his lightning chakra he cut through Gaara's torso and freed his arm.
"Take this! Uz-Ma-Ki!" The five Naruto's grabbed Gaara's feet, flipped him over their bodies and threw him to the ground far away from Sasuke. One of the clones gave the original a boost with his head and the four fell towards a falling Gaara with their bodies glowing. "Exploding Barrage!"
"NO! NO MORE NO MOOOOORE!" Gaara screamed out in denial as chakra exploded out of his body and completely changed the entire landscape. Sand rushed out and stopped the clones from coming near him and absorbed their detonation. Then Gaara grew.
He literally turned into a gigantic replica of Shukaku, the One-tailed tanuki towered over the forest, the only difference was that his eyes were a dull gray color.
"Oh fuck me." Naruto cursed from his position on the tallest tree in the forest.
"Oh fuck me." Sasuke seconded from his position in the forest.
"Oh fuck me." Ishikawa said.
"Oh fuck me." Hayate continued the trend.
"And now…your end…" Gaara shakingly brought his hands into the ram hand seal. "Ninja Art: Play Possum Jutsu."
For the first time in months, or even years, honestly Gaara lost count of how long he went without sleep, was he granted the sweet release of consciousness. And in his place was the blood thirsty biju that scratched at his sanity since the day he was born.
"Yeah! I'm finally free!" Shukaku roared in enjoyment, the dull look in his eyes flashed an imposing bright yellow color. "Now it's time…I can finally kill every single human that gets in my way!"
"Kyuubi…Ishi…a little help here." Naruto squeaked out.
"Dude, I stayed away from the jinchuriki in my village. Roshi liked his privacy and Han hated everyone." Ishikawa said.
"Boy, I suggest you pull out the big guns. There is going to be a fine line between victory and defeat now." Kyuubi growled seeing his fellow biju. "Shukaku is not going to stop until everyone is dead. Be smart about this, and win."
"Jagan…got any techniques that can take him out?"
"One, but you are not going to use it ningen." The sentient eyeball said. "I would not recommend it either, you're on your own."
"Just freaking great." Naruto looked at the tailed beast with a frown. Biting his right thumb, he went through the hand seals Jiraiya beat into his head over the month. "Summoning Jutsu!" He yelled before slapping his hand onto the ground.
Gripping his mangled right arm and feeling the blood seeping through his fingers, Sasuke looked on in awe seeing a gigantic toad appear out of an equally gigantic amount of smoke and his teammate of all people standing on top of his head. He wasn't going to lie, he was also envious, but it didn't burn through him like it usually did.
"I have to get me one of those." He said to himself.
"Naruto, what the hell did you call me for?" Gamabunta demanded his latest subordinate.
"Sorry Boss, but I have an issue here!" Naruto pointed at said issue that was as tall as the toad boss and ten times as mean as him to boot.
"What the…damn it kid! I fought the Kyuubi thirteen years ago. I didn't like it then and I certainly don't like it now, even if this one has one tail!"
"I know and I'm sorry Boss. But the village is in danger, and you're the best I got. Please give me some help!"
"Grr…Jiraiya has been summoning a lot of my kin today. I guess I know why." Gamabunta brought his webbed hand to the hilt of his gigantic dosu blade behind his back. "Very well! Let it be known that the Toad Clan is not filled with cowards. Heh, plus the bragging rights of helping take down another biju will give us more clout over those damn salamanders."
"I have no idea what you're talking about, but that's fine by me!" Naruto's Kurashagan spinning wildly. "Let's go Boss!"
"Wind Style: Air Bullet!" Shukaku pounded on its stomach with his right arm, producing a loud sound. A ball of wind was expelled from Shukaku's large mouth, firing it like a cannonball. The wind was highly compressed and flew in a straight line tearing across the landscape, demolishing trees and hollowing out the ground.
Gamabunta barely managed to jump over the compressed ball of air. Behind him the technique hit the ground and detonated, forcing the boss toad to unintentionally fly forward. Clenching on his kiseru pipe between his lips, he fully unsheathed his dosu blade from its scabbard.
"Toad Sword Beheading!" Swinging the massive blade, Gamabunta hit Shukaku's left arm and sliced it completely off. The giant toad landed and sheathed his weapon and faced the biju with a smug look on his face.
"Gahhhh! My arm!" Shukaku roared in anger as he clutched his stump from the shoulder downwards. "You lily pad hopping son of a bitch! I'll fucking kill you! Wind Style: Air Bullet!"
"Water Style: Liquid Bullets!" Throwing his webbed hands into the tiger hand seal, Gamabunta shot out a rapid set of water orb-shaped projectiles from his mouth.
The two techniques hit each other, but Shukaku's jutsu won out. It was weakened but it hit the toad boss in the chest and sent him skidding backwards. Gamabunta grunted out in pain and clutched at his chest area.
"Boss, are you okay?" Not for the first time Naruto was glad he learned how to stick to things with the soles of his feet. But damn was he having a hard time now, between all the fighting and injuries he got from Temari to Baki he was really beginning to feel himself reaching his limits.
"I'm fine kid. Ugh, but even weakened that jutsu busted me up something good. I don't think I can take more than another hit or two if I'm lucky." Gamabunta said feeling some broken ribs. Damn it, Ma was going to be pissed at him.
"Sorry Boss. Damn it! We need to end this…five minutes are almost up." Naruto clenched his fists together until his knuckles popped.
"Kid, I see the container on Shukaku's head slumped over more than my subordinates after drinking too much sake." Gamabunta said, a plan forming in his head. "Yes, we need to wake him up. If that happens, he won't be able to cause any more destruction."
"And we'll win." The blonde-haired jinchuriki glared at the biju in front of him. Deactivating the Kurashagan he began to focus his chakra throughout his body, he had a feeling he would need the maximum amount of his reflexes and speed for the insane stunt he was about to do. "Just get me close."
"Will do kid." Gamabunta fully unsheathed his dosu blade.
The toad boss then used his powerful legs to jump towards Shukaku, he ducked under the remaining arm. But the tailed beast wasn't through with him just yet, for a creature his size he turned on a heel; literally in this case, to face his amphibian opponent and reached swiped with his clawed arm.
Gamabunta blocked the claws with his dosu blade and grimaced as the claws extended and pierced into his arm. Still, he pushed on and flipped his weapon until the tip of the blade was pointed towards Shukaku's body. Once again using his powerful legs he pushed forward and despite the claws tearing through his flesh he stabbed the psychotic biju right in the belly all the way up to the hilt.
"Now boy, go!"
Jumping from Gamabunta's head, Naruto landed on the back of the blade and ran up the length of it. When his foot landed on Shukaku's actual body the sand came alive to try and crush him. The blonde found himself ducking and dodging huge piles of sand as he ran up Shuaku's body.
"Never in my life did I imagine doing this as an academy student." He panted out after ducking under another wave of sand that took a few strands of hair. Another snagged his sandals and tore them off his very own feet. "Gah! And now I'm barefoot, shit!"
"Get off me you little shit!" Shukaku screamed in anger.
"Go fuck yourself you sandy rat!"
"I'm a tanuki!"
"Who cares!?"
Kyuubi snorted in amusement. It has been quite some time since someone had the balls to stand up to Shukaku, out of the three people he had been sealed in, at least Naruto kept things interesting.
"I care! And I'm not going to allow myself to be disrespected by some no-name BRAT!"
"Then listen up you stupid trash animal! My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I'm the one who kicked your ass!" Kyuubi snorted again as Naruto pumped a massive amount of chakra into his legs and jumped from Shukaku's chest all the way onto his snout. Without wasting any more time Naruto sprinted towards the sleeping Gaara, sand blocked his way, but he weaved, ducked, and jumped over everything thrown at him.
But with each foot taken Naruto felt himself growing tired. He felt parts of his clothing getting snagged and torn away. Gritting his teeth he pushed on, ignoring the sand nipping at his exposed skin, especially the bottoms of his feet.
Finally, he saw Gaara, still slumped over and sawing logs. The blonde cocked back his right arm and without any showmanship he decked his fellow jinchuriki in the face. His blue eyes watched as green eyes snapped open in absolute terror.
"What the? No! NO! I JUST GOT OUTTT!" Shukaku screamed in both denial and anger as consciousness faded from his yellow eyes and the sand that held him together began to crumble
Naruto's sense of victory was short-lived. Whatever sense of relief was replaced with a literal sinking feeling when his weight broke through the sand.
"Shit! Damn it, I did not see this one coming OOF-!" Naruto's screaming came to an end when both he and Gaara impacted on something hard, yet squishy?
"I got you kid." Gamabunta said to his subordinate. Looking down in his open palm was a relieved Naruto and a shocked and terrified Gaara. He set the two of them onto the ground and came to rest to keep an eye on them. Injuries or not, he was not taking his eyes off the Sand jinchuriki until he was properly secured.
"Thanks Boss. I owe you one." Naruto thanked the toad summon. He finally looked down at Gaara and saw that he was unable to move after using his trump card. Just enough chakra to stay alive, exhausted, alone and terrified.
He stepped towards him.
"Get away…stop…get away from me!" Gaara screamed in terror.
Naruto did not stop, he completely ignored the pleas and knelt next to him. "It hurts, doesn't it? That feeling of being alone and isolated…yeah, I understand it far too well."
"How…you should not have been able to defeat me." Gaara struggled to move his body, to control his sand, anything! He couldn't do anything, never before had he felt so weak, not since the night his uncle taught him the horrible truth of his existence.
"Because of that whole I live for myself nonsense? Gaara, no one can be alone. Us humans are social creatures that form bonds with those we love and trust. Believe it or not you actually still do have people who love and care for you."
"Liar! I have no one, love no one, my only purpose is to prove my existence to-" Gaara was cut off by a vicious slap to the face.
"You idiot! You still got your brother and sister. For the love of the Shinigami, they have stuck with you this entire time. Even though you act like a complete psychopath they didn't run away, they stayed." Naruto panted out in anger. "And for all your threats, you kept them around because deep down you knew…you knew you needed your connection to them."
"I…I don't…" Gaara paused. For once his Mother's voice was silent, he couldn't hear her, and he could think clearly for the first time in years. He recalled all the times Kankuro and Temari were by his side, every single time he threatened to kill them they still stayed. The unconscious times he used his sand to protect them, the odd feeling as they actually talked to him even though he wanted nothing to do with them.
"Naruto." The blonde turned to see Sasuke approaching him, clutching his right arm. An unconscious Lee was being shouldered between Sakura and Shikamaru. The last Uchiha gave his teammate a nod, Sakura gave him a smile, and even Shikamaru gave him a lazy look of approval.
"They are the reason I'm the person I am today, them and a lot of people I owe my life and existence to. I hope this gets through your thick skull and you can see yourself as a human instead of a monster."
"We'll see…" Gaara finally gave up trying to fight. For the first time in his life, he was beaten in a fight to the death and was spared by his opponent, now was the time for him to accept his fate and surrender.
Thanks to the combination of Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Lee, and Shikamaru, the invasion of Konohagakure was stopped by Gaara's defeat. Watching Shukaku fall prompted many of Sunagakure's shinobi to turn tail and flee for their lives.
But one battle for Konoha wasn't over just yet.
"Impossible…" Orochimaru watched on in horror as the form of Shukaku disintegrated in front of his very eyes until only the form of Gamabunta remained. "Sunagakure's jinchuriki…"
Hiruzen smirked through clenched and bloody teeth. The fight had taken a toll on him, between destroying Tobirama's clones, summoning Enma, creating two shadow clones of himself, and finally using the Reaper Death Seal while getting stabbed through the back with the Kusanagi. He had gone way past his limits for his old age, and yet he was still smiling.
"I told you Orochimaru…you would fail today." He said as his lifeblood poured out his wounds. The visage of the Shinigami behind him glaring at the Snake Sannin. "The Will of Fire burns brightly inside this village…it will never be extinguished by the likes of you!"
"Shut up old man!" The pale man snarled. "I'm not through just yet. Even without the jinchuriki I'll still destroy this village!"
"Not while I still draw breath."
"Heh, all I have to do is wait another minute and that won't be an issue."
Hiruzen grimaced. As much as he hated to admit it his wayward student was right. He could feel his strength fading fast from the poison spreading through his body, and each second, he could feel Orochimaru trying to pull free from his technique. It seemed he had no choice now, perhaps he couldn't take Orochimaru to the afterlife with him, but he could still make him regret fighting him for the rest of his existence!
Using all his remaining strength the Sandaime Hokage pulled as much of Orochimaru's soul out. He saw that he managed to get his arms all the way to his shoulders, that would be enough for him.
"This is the end, my former student…now the seal is set!" The image of the Shinigami removed the tanto from his mouth and severed Orochimaru's soul. The Snake Sannin never felt such pain before in his entire life and he watched in horror as his soul was cut and the arms that were attached to it along with the souls of Hashirama and Tobirama flew into his former teacher's stomach.
"My arms…MY ARMS!" He screamed in agony as they lost their pale color. They began to blacken and rot with blood opening from tearing flesh and curse seal marking appearing on them. He tried to move them, but he fell to his knees in agony. He actually began to cry from how bad it hurt.
"Orochimaru-sama!" Sakon ended the jutsu and bolted towards his master. He carelessly stepped over the body of one of Orochimaru's shinobi used for his forbidden jutsu, and knelt beside his master. "Jirobo, Kidomaru, Tayuya get over here now!"
The three other members of the Sound Four immediately surrounded their master and looked in horror as his arms continued to decay. Jirobo had to swallow the bile creeping up into his throat as he moved to carry his master on his back.
Hiruzen could only look on as his former student was loaded up, cursing his name for taking his arms. His head then moved to look at the Hokage Monument, he saw the heads of his successor and predecessors smiling at him.
And so Hiruzen Sarutobi, son of Sasuke Sarutobi, husband of Biwako, father of Asuma and Tsuno Sarutobi, grandfather of Konohamaru Sarutobi, sensei of the Three Sannin, the longest reigning Hokage in the village's short history and the second God of Shinobi passed away on that very rooftop looking over the village he loved.
His last thoughts were of the future of the village, and the generation that would take over after him. Especially that of a young blonde that he fully believed would become Hokage one day.
He smiled knowing that he lived and did everything to the best of his abilities and closed his eyes one final time.