SAKURA POV:
"Your teammate's scent is very close by" Pakkun said as the trio passed by an area of the forest where everything was cut, as if a group of crazy monkeys with lightning powers had fought there.
"Judging by the dead beetles down there, Shino or someone from his clan was here" Sakura said as she pointed at a batch of dead beetles they were going past.
"One of the siblings must have doubled back to hold Sasuke off" Naruto said as he nodded "Judging by the lack of nearby fighting, they either moved away or lost."
"Yea-WHOA"
Both Sakura and Pakkun stumbled and had to stop on nearby branches as a sudden pulse of malevolent chakra surged from where they had been heading.
"Shit" Naruto said as he looked on with a scowl "Gaara's going bijuu-mode."
With a quick swipe at his storage seal, he took out a piece of paper with a seal drawn on it and handed it to Sakura "Jiraiya sensei said this will supress Bijuu chakra. I have one too, so whoever gets to Gaara first just has slap this somewhere on his body and he should be down."
Another pulse of the one tail's chakra sent Sakura on her knees, and even Naruto had to grab onto a tree.
"Something's off" Naruto muttered with a frown "This isn't…"
"Just standing here won't help" Sakura said as she held her spear "Let's go."
NARUTO POV:
"BLACK SLASH BARRAGE"
Naruto swung his double katanas in a frenzy, sending out a bunch of void chakra slashes that cut through Gaara's transformed arm and prevented Sasuke from turning into an Uchiha pancake.
Sasuke didn't look too good, with the left side of his face and left hand covered in those same marks as the forest and a grey Chidori on his hand.
"About time" the Uchiha sighed as he stumbled, and Sakura was immediately in front of him, a dome of water surrounding the two as her palms glowed green.
"your turn to stall" the Uchiha said as the marks went back to his back "and fix this goddamn seal later."
"YOU!"
Naruto blinked and looked at the shouting Gaara "MOTHER WANTS YOUR BLOOD TOO!"
'when he says mother, he means your younger brother right?'
'Shukaku. Always was a weird one.'
"Well, my uncle would prefer me very much not dead, and he's technically your mother's elder brother dattebayo"
'Who the hell are you calling your uncle you hairless ape'
'if he's the uncle what am I? the brother?'
'Nah I think Sasuke's the brother. You'd be either the flashy or the emo cousin'
' I vote flashy'
'THERE IS A BIG SAND ARM COMING AT YOU AND YOU'RE PLAYING HOUSE?'
Naruto stabbed his two swords into the ground and twisted, pointing the blade end of both of them facing away.
A shield made of void chakra appeared, causing the sand to go out of control and fall to the ground in a heap.
'the sand would have been nullified too if he had created it, so I guess Gaara's limited to controlling it.'
'Shukaku does create sand though, so don't get comfy.'
"SHOW ME YOUR BLOOD!"
Naruto jumped back with a burst of chakra.
'Kurama, you ready?'
'BORN READY KID, LET'S GO!'
With a roar, Naruto raised his arms high above his head before dropping them down, along with the barriers that held back Kurama's chakra.
Within moments, Naruto was a beacon of orange chakra that then solidified into a cloak around him, forming into two tails at his back.
"I have more tails" was all Naruto said as he charged Gaara with a feral grin.
Naruto was a blur, throwing in punches and kicks as he ran circles around the increasingly frustrated Gaara.
With a thrust of his sand arm, Gaara sent out a bunch of sand all around him.
Naruto didn't even try to dodge, opting to run straight at the incoming attack.
He let out a chakra infused yell, releasing a shock wave that deflected all incoming sand and caused Gaara to stumble.
Coating his fist in spiralling chakra, Naruto punched Gaara straight in his face.
With an anguished yell, the red haired Jinchuriki went flying through at least 15 trees before stopping dead at a huge rock, that cracked in half when his body hit it.
Before the boy could get up, the ground under his feet suddenly revealed Sakura's two arms, and he was dragged down till only his head remained.
"GOT YOU!"
With a victorious yell, Naruto stuck the seal on Gaara's head, and all the swirling sand came to a dead stop.
"Couldn't have given me one of those?" Sasuke grumbled as he limped onto the scene as Sakura came out of the ground.
"that my dear friend, would be cheating dattebayo" Naruto said with a cheeky grin as he let go of Kurama's chakra, and had to blink to get used to the of the sudden lack of energy
"Hehehehe"
The three snapped towards Gaara at the same time as the redhead started laughing again.
"he… should be too weak for that " Naruto muttered as he bent down to check the seal.
"HAHAAHAHAHAAHAAHAHAHAA"
The laughter was getting loud now, and the three were holding their ears as Naruto approached the suna-nin.
"hey buddy , I get that your crazy, but…"
Naruto paled when he saw it.
He had thought that he ended it when he slapped the seal on Gaara, but he hadn't been quite right.
The bastard had put a layer of wet sand between himself and the seal.
Meaning?
The one tails was still very much in play
"GET BACK!" was all he could yell before Gaara suddenly leapt out of his earthen prison and made a few hand seals.
"Tanuki neiri no jutsu"(playing possum jutsu) was all he said before he was suddenly covered in sand.
'You're screwed'/'You're screwed'
Naruto couldn't help but agree with his two brain buddies as he, Sasuke and Sakura(who was holding an unconscious Temari) ran away from the huge waterfall of sand that was chasing them.
"WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SEAL?" Sasuke demanded as they saw the area where he had fought Kankuro in front of them.
"THE ASSHAT BLOCKED IT WITH MUD" Naruto responded in equal volume
"THE SAND GUY USED SAND, AND YOU'RE SURPRISED?"
"SHUT UP YOU EMO PIECE OF-"
"BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP"
The three (+unconscious girl, so four? Three and a half?) landed safely as the sudden sand surge stopped and shaped itself into...
"WHOOOOO!"
"Is that…?"
'yeah' Kurama said grimly 'That's my idiot brother, fully unleashed by his idiot host, and now your idiot ass has to fight him.'
Naruto's eyes lit up at that.
'Not necessarily'
"OH? HERE IS SOMEONE I WANT TO SLAUGHTER, RIGHT OUT THE GATE?"
There was no need for either of the three to say anything as they all leapt back to dodge the giant sand arm.
Sasuke landed in a crouch, and immediately went down on one knee and grabbed his left arm.
"Sorry but… I think I'll be useless here." He said with a scowl
Naruto hit him on his back "You held this guy off this whole time, don't be a crybaby now Dattebayo."
With a smirk, Sasuke took a few steps back as he picked Temari up "I'm gonna take a safe distance, and find Shino while I'm at it"
"aww is the wittle Uchiha scawed of the big bad sand tawuki?"
"the one-tails I can at least think about dealing with" Sasuke said as he shook his head "your craziness on the other hand…"
With that, he was off.
Naruto turned to look up at the one tails, who was inspecting his hand for any signs of their dead bodies.
"I KNOW YOU'RE STILL ALIVE YOU BLONDE BRAT! WHY DON'T YOU INTRODUCE ME TO THAT UNCLE YOU MENTIONED?"
'Kurama, you have a visitor dattebayo.'
'Not at home, please leave a message'
"Sakura" he said as he started making hand seals "I'm gonna get a big distraction now. Put the seal on him, and make sure he wakes up too. If Shukaku came out because Gaara's sleeping, waking him up should end the transformation."
"SUMMONING JUTSU!"
"WHAT THE-oh it's just you again"
"Nice to see you too, chief. Need your help with that thing."
The chief of the toads, Gamabunta, turned to see Shukaku laughing like a maniac.
"That…that's the sand spirit Shukaku isn't it?"
"yep. We just need to distract him for a bit, I got my teammate down there with a seal for the Jinchuriki"
"We aint exchanged Sake cups yet kid, you're not my underling yet."
"I'll babysit Gamakichi for a week."
"one month."
"two weeks"
"done."
"Hang on kid!"
With a great push, the toad chief launched himself forward, thrusting his huge tanto into the giant sand demon's left hand.
With a yell, he pulled the blade down.
"YOWW!"
With a roar of his own, Shukaku tried grabbing Gamabunta with his other arm, prompting the toad to jump back.
"Chief!" Naruto said as he used his retractor to set a wire to the huge tanto and channelled his void chakra through it.
"What the hell? My blade turned black! What did you do kid?"
"It's my uh, kekke genkai I guess. With this, your tanto should slice through chakra like it's paper!"
"IS THAT SO!? RENKUDAN!"(air bullets)
"SUITON:TEPPODAMA!"(water style: water bullets)
Gamabunta sent out 3 water bullets to counter the 3 air bullets.
Unfortunately, there was another.
With a quick swipe, the chief cut through the air bullet and allowed the two halves to harmlessly sail pass him and decimate a bunch of trees nearby.
Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto saw an earth pillar be raised from the ground before another suddenly grew out of it's side, aiming straight for Shukaku's back.
"This is great kid!" Gamabunta praised "that thing was packed with chakra!"
"Yeah" Naruto said with a grin as he saw his pink haired teammate launch herself from the pillar and stab a kunai into Shukaku's back.
"YOWCH! SOMETHING JUST PINCHED ME!"
"We need to hold him still!" Naruto yelled as the giant sand tanuki started thrashing around.
"I aint got claws or teeth kid!"
"we transform! I have something in mind dattebayo"
"All right!"
Gamabunta charged forward, and Naruto held his hands in the ram seal.
'Hope you don't mind, but you'd be perfect for this Kurama'
'go ahead kid, give this stupid younger brother of mine some tough love from me too'
"HENGE!"(transform}
In a huge cloud of white smoke, Gamabunta's body disappeared, and out came…
"HUHHHH!???"
He has many names. Kyuubi, nine tails, the easter bunny's worst nightmare, furball.
But to shukaku, he was…
"KURAMA?"
With a yell, Gamabunta grabbed both of Shukaku's arms.
"What are you-HUH? WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!? ARE YOU STILL MAD CUZ I SHOVED SAND IN YOUR NOSE AND YEARS THAT TIME?"
Naruto blinked
'Sand in your face holes?'
'I FORGOT ABOUT THAT, BUT YEAH!" Kurama roared in his head "PUNCH HIS FACE KID, HE DESERVES IT!'
'She's already on it' Naruto thought back to his friend as he saw Sakura finally climb onto Shukaku's head and slap the seal on Gaara's head.
"OH, COME ON! I JUST GOT BACK OUT!"
After Gamabunta went back with a 'next time, call me to exchange sake cups to make it formal!', Naruto landed in the clearing Shukaku had created by just existing
"Nice, Sakura!"
"Yeah" she said as held up 2 fingers in a v sign "Nice distraction, Naruto."
"uugh"
The two looked to see the barely conscious groan in pain
"How could you beat me?" he wailed "how!?"
"Did you not see the big ass toad?" Naruto said as he sat down on the ground in exhaustion "And the whole surprise seal?"
"None of that should have mattered against mother" Gaara protested "There had to have been something else."
"Our reasons?" Sakura said as she used her diagnostic jutsu to check Naruto for injuries "We're fighting to protect, while you're fighting for…yourself I guess?"
"That doesn't matter in a fight" Gaara scowled.
"Yeah it does" Naruto muttered " the power you get when fighting for the sake of your precious people is something no tailed beast or kekke genkai will be able to match."
'I heard that'
'ke ke, He isn't wrong though'
"Precious people?"
"Yeah" Naruto said "For you, it'd be your siblings, no?"
Gaara scoffed "My entire village has only ever despised me. I'm sure they are the same."
"Then why did hey fight so hard to protect you?"
Gaara looked at Sakura in slight surprise at that comment.
"Even if it's their mission or whatever, they care deeply enough to risk death if it meant you being safe, Gaara. That's what you do for people precious to you."
"GAARA!"
The three turned to see Temari and Kankuro being chased by an extremely irritated Sasuke.
The two landed protectively in front of Gaara, hands holding kunai.
"Gaara, we'll hold them off. Run away!" Temari said firmly.
"no…" Gaara said slowly "the fight is over. Let's…go home, Temari. Kankuro."