In a certain far away country in the Elemental Nations, a man was enjoying his tea with special sweets brought by his great granddaughter from the capital. Unlike any people of this land, he has the features of red eyes, sharper jaw, long ears and ebony skin. Something that can never be found on a single race on this continent. Of course, that’s only natural. As he is from a foreign land who left his home and went on a grand adventure in the past. Which led him to this new continent.

They were on a balcony of a luxurious inn that offers a great sight of nature and the mountains. Something good for those who wanted to calm themselves.

“The people of this nation seemed to have quite an obsession on sweets much,” he said as he took another sip and was given a refreshing and calming sense.

“Fucking stand on your own old man! Next time you should fetch your own food!” an angry young girl flew on his back with a kick. He just nimbly dodge it without much effort on his upper body which caused her to fly to the other side of his table. She has the same appearance as him, same ebony skin. But her eyes were blue, no long ears and no sharp jaw.

“Language please,” he pointed a dish of sweet balls skewered in a stick at her then swallowed all of them with his dark lips.

“Fuck you!” Despite her 10 year old appearance, she is actually over fifty years old. Her growth was just much slower than any human on this continent. It’s the same to all of his descendants who had his blood.

“We will be meeting with Yuki on the next city. She will be a good addition while we travel. Your cousin is a great cook you know.” He decided to change the topic just to keep the calming atmosphere. “You should’ve learned how to cook before leaving the palace.”

“Why would I learn that? I can just hire someone else to cook for me. Or buy it from others.” The girl grabbed the entire bowl of sweets. But not before he was able to take two skewered balls.

“Haa…. Of course, your father was quite stupid to think that his little princess would remain as a princess forever. You have inherited your mother’s side unfortunately for him,” then he grinned. “I still remember how you would bite your father every time he changes your wet underpants.”

“It’s been a century you senile fool. And stop reminding me that old man everytime you go to your drinking nostalgia. And also the owner is-” she immediately stopped as soon as she sensed something from far away. The old man also stopped drinking his tea and turned his head. Her former angry face went to shock and surprise. Her great grandfather was however, wearing his wide smile with great interest. They are both looking at the same direction.

“Old man, I supposed that your old age still didn’t dull your senses. But is that what I think it is?” she asked, this time with deep frown and worry. She is one of the few of his descendants that inherited his blood. But unlike her father who used it to legitimize himself as the next ruler of their country, she cut herself from her family line and chose the same job as him. To hunt any dangerous creatures in the continent that may harm their country.

“It has been a long time since we had sensed this kind of presence.” The old man just went back to his tea and drank once again while chewing more of this so called “dango”.

“Dragons huh.” She looked

“Hahahahaha!” his grandfather however snorted and laughed at her.

“W-what? Why are you laughing old man? Did I sense it wrong? Or your old age really did dull your senses?”

“It seems my cute little great granddaughter have still a lot to learn despite her mental age.” He smirked at her.

“Huh?”

The old man emptied his tea cup and ate what’s left of his sweets.

“Yes, I sensed a dragon also. But that spike in energy is from no dragon. It is someone much similar to me. But at the same time, it’s not.”

“Ha? The-then…”

He stood and decided to try the highly acclaimed baths of the place.

“Yes… another Dragonborn had landed on our shores.”

:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:

The heaven once again answered his shout. Grand lightning beam struck his body. Incinerating the ground he was standing. Then slowly, his mind and body instantly converged to a new being.

Raw power was flowing through him. It felt like being on fire and being submerged in an icy river at the same time, yet it wasn’t unpleasant in the slightest.

All the doubts and reservations about using it were gone, like snow in the summer sun.

Power was meant to be exercised, especially over such inferior beings that dared to stand against him. He grinned at them, and the fiery shape surrounding him did the same.

After the light from the sky faded, his human body had disappeared and what replaced it was a large lizard with four wings. Its appearance is a small bluish dragon with specks of gold. It isn't covered in scales or skin but in pure radiating energy that looks like fire, gold and ice had taken the shape of a dragon with full harmony. It's tail it's as long as the body with thorny end. His head had six long horns and his wings have three claws each on its elbows. The only difference he had with other dragons on this form is his six eyes. Making an alien and intimidating appearance.

It's half the size of Durnehviir but stronger.

Dragonborns aren't called dragonslayers because they wield only sword or axes and use Thu'um to fight dragons while on the ground.

They are dragonborns because they wield also the very power to dominate dragons. With these thoughts, he immediately remembered his great battle with Alduin and Miraak.

Being able to finally release his pent up emotions on someone, he let out a powerful loud roar towards the sky.

The sky immediately turned dark and it started raining fire and ice around him.

"You have a lot to pay for disrupting the peace that I wanted, to be with my nephew." His booming voice echoed to the mass of fear-stricken shinobi.

:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:

“J-j-jinchuuriki,” Kazu stuttered, sounding almost hysterical. Her companions were muttering the same word.

They had witnessed the rampages of Shukaku - the One Tail Bijuu of their village, countless times that it had become a part of their life back then.

Until the son of their Kazekage finally controlled it.

And as part of a undercover elite operatives of the Suna, she also encountered and met the other Bijuus in her life.

Matatabi - the Two Tailed

Isobu - the Three Tailed

And Chomei - the Seven Tailed

Although those encounters were not on normal circumstances. As she is among the operatives who survived them also, during their own rampages. This is the main reason why she is with the main force, on the sides as a reinforcement and keeping an eye on the Shukaku in case something goes wrong.

But the creature in front of them, in her experiences with the Bijuu, knew that its stronger than Chomei. The word "stronger" is even an understatement as it could probably equal Gyuki, the Eight Tailed. The one whom her teacher had lost his entire team and half of his body.

Many would assume that this is the dreaded Kyuubi - the Nine Tail but it's obvious that it isn't. It's form is more like a mythical giant winged lizard than a fox. And from her knowledge of Bijuu, there are no dragons among the list.

Another terrifying problem is that she couldn't detect any chakra from it which is present on every Bijuu which is made up of its body. Even a typical summon has chakra on their bodies. So they were unable to see its true strength.

Was it because it don’t need chakra to almost feel like a bijuu?

Or was it because they were too weak to sense its strength?

She can't avoid the feeling that they had stepped on something without knowing what they were up against. Her eyes strolled to her fellow and she saw same fear in their eyes.

Fear of Unknown.

:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:

“Wha-what… J-jinchuuri—”

With a simple gesture, a lightning bolt struck the mere man in the face. Looking at the way the panic spread among the Shinobi ranks, the Dovahkiin briefly pondered if ‘Jinchuuriki’ meant ‘Run’. But it was quickly drowned by the satisfaction he felt at seeing most of his enemies turn tail and flee.

That was the proper way to react to a dragon’s wrath.

Some brave or foolish souls chose otherwise, though. One of the females rushed at him, trying to chop his spine behind his head with a strange weapon that reminded him of a straight gigantic sickle which could cut mammoths in half. Her aim was true and on mark, but the blade was stopped by his protective bluish aura.

Before she could realize what had happened, the Dragonborn tore the veil between Oblivion and Nirn with a simple spell. With dozens of purple flash, ice atronachs manifested themselves in the street. Without hesitation, the closest daedra struck at the nearest person that was threatening its master. Although Conrad was intending to use it to quench or control any wild flames that’s still burning before and after he arrives or during his rampage.

The female shinobi, though, was quick on her feet and managed to jump away in time. The atronach, having lost its target, threw itself at the other shinobi. Uncaring of what his servant was doing, the Dovahkiin looked around, searching for a new quarry.

He spotted a few of the shinobi running in terror at the end of the street. A crazed smile curved his mouth. They should’ve taken the rooftops. Not that it would’ve helped much.

“WULD NAH KEST!” The power of his Thu'um threw him forward, faster than a sabre cat's pounce. In the blink of an eye he had moved to the middle of the group of Akaviri warriors.

As he spun around, one of the shinobi managed, probably from sheer mad desperation, tried to stab him in the shoulder. He just grabbed the Shinobi with his own, so that he couldn’t flee, and crushed the man with one of his claws, ripping away a good chunk of meat and blood. The deformed man fell, still alive, in its agonizing cries for death.

The others backed off, retreating as they threw everything they had at the Dovahkiin. He just kept crawling, not even bothering to defend himself. There was no need. Fear is now infecting their minds and with more push, he would be able to drove them into paranoia every time they would think about trying to harm the city which his brother had died protecting.

A shinobi stood his ground and took a large breath, before shooting colossal fire from his mouth. It is the largest fire spell he ever saw, much larger than his largest fireball. That actually caught his interest, and for a moment let the flames engulf him. The fire caressed him, but his dragon soul protected him from most of the harm.

The shinobi’s expression when he emerged by the inferno created by his spell was the most satisfying sight he had seen all day.

“Ven—” the Dragonborn intoned, “Gaar!”

A gust of wind exploded from his maw, hitting the fire-using shinobi and knocking him off his feet. Then the wind quickly picked up, turning into a cyclone that devastated everything in his path. The Dragonborn’s enemies were scattered everywhere, slamming against buildings and each other before being thrown out onto the street. Before dispersing, the small tornado slammed into a house, ripping most of the roof from its frame.

He observed it for just a moment and then shrugged at the property damage. Roofs could be rebuilt. He can pay for it later.

His attention went back to these shinobi, now looking much worse for the wear. He truly wanted to use his devastating dragon breaths upon them but after remembering the tales of his destruction against those Thalmor, he reconsidered for a smaller but still enough spell to baptize the arrival of a dragonborn on this land.

Raising his four wings, he started to conjure a sphere of flames with slow, powerful motions on his body. His body soon turned bright red as he absorb more power. The ignorant fools also waited on the roofs, prepared themselves, maybe expecting for some puny spell like theirs. Some also shot spells after spells but were always rendered harmless by his dragon aspect.

Power was strength, and might made right.

That was the dragons’ way, sculpted forever in every dragon’s soul.

He knew that he was stronger than every living dragon, he had proven so in the past.

And that power would be unleashed against those who dared to oppose him and plans to harm his nephew. By now, his former blueish dragon form had now become bright white that the only thing they could see is his different colored six eyes.

It was truly a great satisfaction as he let loose the Hurricane of Fire down the street. Destroying everything in its wake with him at the center.

:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:

“I hope Shikamaru will be alright,” Naruto muttered as he leaped from the rooftop.

“I hope so too,” Sakura said as they landed, before taking another leap. Shikamaru had told them to go on as he remained behind to distract a group of enemies, but it still didn’t feel right to the young Uzumaki. They should’ve beat the crap out of them after Shikamaru had caught them with that shadow-grabby-thing he did.

“He knows what he’s doing,” Pakkun, the little dog that sensei put in charge of them, said. “Focus on the mission.”

“Do you still have Sasuke’s scent?” Sakura asked worriedly, as the trio jumped from yet another roof.

“Not much further. We’re gaining on them,” the dog said as he continued sniffing the air without even slowing down. They were almost in the southern outskirts of Konoha now. It seemed that this part of the village had been spared by the ferocious fights that still raged in the distance, but if they kept going, they would end up in the forest that surrounded the village.

As they scaled a tall apartment building, a glimpse of movement on a relatively distant rooftop caught Naruto’s attention. As he quickly turned in that direction, he immediately spotted Sasuke’s distinctive duck-butt hair.

“There he is!” he exclaimed, pointing a finger excitedly. Sasuke was standing on top of a roof, apparently not having noticed their presence.

“Thank goodness he’s okay,” Sakura exclaimed with a sigh of relief. Naruto felt a twinge of jealousy at that but decided to ignore it. He had been worried for the bastard, too. Then he realized that something was off about the whole situation.

“Wait, where’s that Gaara guy?” he asked to no one in particular as he started looking around. It wasn’t possible that the guy had just let Sasuke go, given how bloodthirsty he was.

“He’s there,” Pakkun half-growled, settling into a more aggressive stance. Naruto didn’t realize what the pug meant until he took a better look at Sasuke’s surroundings. The Uchiha was standing in front of a large sphere that he had dismissed as some weird-looking piece of architecture. Was that made of… sand?

He guessed that that was where Gaara had hidden, but why? Surely not to get away from Sasuke. The more he looked at it, the more he had a bad feeling about the whole situation. Something stirred inside of his stomach, and it sure wasn’t his lunch.

Whatever Gaara was doing inside of his sphere of sand had somehow caught the Kyuubi’s attention.

:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:

No one was left on the entire street.

He was surrounded by scorch red marks, craters, and scattered or melted weapons. Bubbling magma-like ground was creating hot steams that was reached by his spell. At the very end of the street he could see his one of ice atronachs that survived his massive spell, running away, probably chasing someone. There were charred and burnt corpses everywhere and at least the only building that is still standing was a stone one, although it was melting. It seems that he overdid it. It looked like the surface of a volcano now.

Conrad took a deep breath, still covered by the ethereal gold bluish cloak of his dragon soul. He flew and landed outside the crater of fire. It was done, time to lock the dragon, along with its power, back into the dark hole it had come from.. He closed his eyes, concentrated on his soul and, not surprisingly, was met with a sense of resistance and refusal.

The dragon didn’t want to slumber. It was awake and it wanted to hunt for more prey. It longed for battle and bloodshed, to show to these puny mortals that inhabited this aedra and daedra-forsaken country who was in charge.

Conrad shook his head, reminding himself that it’s enough. He wasn’t born a dragon; he just happened to be born with the soul of one, he just became one later as he needed to. He was better than all the bloodthirsty monsters he had put down during the years, be they dragons or other immortal beings.

He stood for a good minute or two there, inwardly struggling with his soul’s most basic instincts. Conrad wondered what philosophers and priests would say about that. It’d probably depend on what they had felt about Skyrim’s Civil War, he thought, and his role in ending it.

He scoffed. Who cared about what people thought? Certainly not him. He was the Dragonborn, and he was in charge, not his dragon soul. With that last thought, he felt the dragon-shaped mantle disappear, and his mind became clearer.

Dusting himself a little. Then he heard a whimper of pain close by. Spinning around, he called on his magicka and his hands were covered by lightning, ready to be thrown. One of the men he had just fought was lying against the wall, clearly alive due to being out of the range of his spell but unmoving. After a moment Conrad recognized him as one of the first ones that had attacked him. Maybe someone moved him before Conrad let loose? Terror was written across his features, and the awkward angle he was lying at pointed to a broken back. It was an expression that Conrad never expected that he would miss.

Conrad lowered his hands, letting the spell die before being cast. Instead, he picked one of the discarded weapons from the ground. It was a short sword that reminded him of the ones Delphine had insisted he become at least comfortable enough with, even if he preferred axes. It would do.

As he walked closer, the crippled man’s face tensed, and desperation creeped in as he realized Conrad’s intent. Looking at him, the man opened his mouth a few times, as if he wanted to say something.

Conrad just drove the blade straight into his heart with both of his hands, making it as quick as he could. The look of shock on the man’s face quickly faded, as did the light in his eyes.

Now it was really done.

“Harissen-san?” someone called from his left. Conrad spun around, startled by the sudden voice, yanking the sword from the corpse and preparing for another fight. Then he saw the pair of white masks, and stopped just before taking a swing.

“By Talos, don’t do that!” Conrad protested, lowering the sword.

The masked shinobi cocked his head a bit, confused by the unfamiliar word. From what Conrad remembered, he was their leader or something akin to an officer. “Apologies. We merely wanted to ensure that you were not injured.”

"What are you doing here?" Conrad asked as he cleaned the blade off on the corpse’s clothes.

"We came here to protect you," the other shinobi said neutrally, as he looked around at the corpses. And the burning building.

"Protection?" Conrad questioned with a puzzled and skeptical look. He didn’t sense them when he cast his Detect life spell.

"You're a non-combatant, at least as far as our ranks are concerned," the leading shinobi explained. "And a guest."

"A what?" he asked in confusion, not recognizing some of the words. Damn language barrier!

“A guest,” the shinobi repeated.

“I understood that,” Conrad said, annoyed. If what had happened to him was the treatment for guests, he didn’t want to know what Shinobi did to their enemies. “The other word, what that?”

"A non-combatant. A civilian." At that, the Nord could only raise his eyebrow in utter bewilderment. "Only shinobi fight for the village."

"City," Conrad corrected automatically. One day he would finally make the shinobi realize the error of their chosen terminology. Then he realize why he didn’t see them with with his spell before. "You just wanted excuse to protect home, yes?"

Before the shinobi officer could answer, though, more people appeared on the rooftops, jumping from one side of the street to the other. Conrad almost started shooting fireballs everywhere, but quickly noticed that the two masked guards didn’t seem concerned.

It was Konoha’s own forces, finally showing up to save the day. Most of them just jumped from one building to the next—something that Conrad was still finding breath-taking, and he was a wizard—without stopping. But some slowed and jumped down to street level.

Conrad recognized one of the trio, and he couldn’t help but smirk at the face the man made when he finally noticed him.

“Inoichi,” Conrad greeted the other blond. “What you doing here?”

Inoichi stared at him in mute shock, probably thinking that the world itself was crashing on him, so Conrad checked his two companions. One was a big, hefty man with a huge mane for hair and, strangely enough, was wearing what seemed to be armour. Conrad had almost started to believe that shinobi were forbidden from wearing armour, or just didn’t know what it was.

He was also looking at Conrad with a stunned expression, jaw half-dropped.

The other one instead had black spiky hair pulled in the most gravity-defying hairstyle Conrad had ever seen, a goatee and battle scars on his face. The way he looked at him, though, was difficult to read. He silently stared at him for a long moment, expressionless, before his gaze moved to the carnage on the street. Without saying a word, he turned towards Inoichi, as if to silently ask for an explanation.

This seemed to shake the other blond man out of his daze, since he suddenly remembered how to speak. “We were told that there were a lot of enemies in this area, and then there was a huge spike of killing intent…” he started, trying to ignore the looks he was receiving from his comrades. “Was that you?”

“Me?” Conrad asked, wondering what ‘killing intent’ meant. There had been a lot of killing, so it was probably a question about that. “Yes, I kill them.”

“That’s not what I meant—”

“Inoichi,” the large man called all of sudden. Even the spiky-haired one seemed surprised by the forcefully neutral tone in his voice. “You knew that Minato was alive, and you told us nothing?”

Oh. Oh.

Right. He didn’t have his beard anymore. Something for which he would still be mourning if wasn’t a warraging right now. He looked like Minato...

“No time,” Conrad said, rolling his eyes. With a flicker of his fingers, he cast a clairvoyance spell. The blue light trailed past the Shinobi trio, and he just followed. As he passed close by, the spiky-haired man kept looking at him, rubbing his chin.

“Wait, where are you going?” Inoichi asked.

“Yeah, come on Minato. You can’t just—”

“Naruto is that way. You deal with this.” Conrad called as he sped up his pace. Seeing that he was leaving, the guards started following him.

“Naruto? As in, Uzumaki Naruto, Chouji’s former classmate?” the fat man asked to no one in particular, before his eyes widened in realization.

Oh, shit.

The silent, spiky-haired man just turned towards Inoichi as if waiting for an explanation. Inoichi groaned loudly in frustration, already wondering how the Hokage was going to take the news.

:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:

As battles to the death between pre-pubescent teens went, it had gone well until everything went wrong.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?" Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs as the arm-thing full of claws destroyed the balcony he had been standing on mere seconds ago.

Sakura dodged the inhumanly oversized appendage as well, while the figure it was attached to focused most of his attention back on Sasuke.

"It's Gaara, that arm is made up of his sand!” she exclaimed. “But... his face... it's like part of his body was warped. What kind of jutsu can do that?"

"I don't think it's a jutsu," Naruto said pensively, placing a hand over his gut. It was probably caused by whatever that guy had inside of him. Like what had happened to him on Tazuna’s bridge, but this was worse. Much worse.

"What?" Sakura asked absently. Before Naruto could answer, Gaara’s deformed face turned towards him though, and he could fully appreciate the sight of the twisted mouth full of fangs and the inhuman eye that was looking straight at him.

"You... you are the one from the hospital..." Gaara growled, as drool dripped from of the inhuman part of his face. Naruto remembered that encounter very well, even if he hadn’t thought much about it since he had met his uncle immediately after it. Naruto hoped that he was alright, since his uncle wasn’t a Shinobi.

Sasuke suddenly jumped at Gaara from behind, his left hand coated in lightning and emitting a high-pitched chirping. The half-transformed Shinobi spun around to face the threat, swinging at the Uchiha with his monstrous arm. The Chidori cut straight through the sand like it was paper, splitting the transformed appendage in half, and Gaara cried out in pain.

A cry of pain that quickly morphed into a deranged laugh.

“Yes. YES! This is what I’ve been looking for!” Gaara exclaimed, suddenly excited. “Fighting someone this strong… it will prove my existence for sure!”

"Is this guy completely crazy?" Sakura asked, a twinge of fear in her voice.

"No," Naruto replied grimly as he quickly extracted two kunai from his holster. "They made him that way."

She looked at him with a puzzled expression, but Naruto didn’t elaborate further. As he started running towards the roof’s edge, he threw the two kunai at Gaara. The sand-covered boy turned, raising the sand arm in an almost lazy way to stop the two weapons.

Naruto leaped leaped up to join the fight as Sasuke took advantage of the opening he had created. As Gaara’s attention was on Naruto, the Uchiha threw a hail of shuriken in the blink of an eye, aiming for the sand-user’s face. Even if caught by surprise, Gaara only had to move his massive claw-hand in front of him to stop them.

Then Naruto landed with both of his feet against Gaara’s ugly drooling mug, kicking with all of his strength. The impact managed to knock the Suna genin off balance, pushing him back off the roof.

“What are you doing, idiot?!” Sasuke asked as Naruto landed besides him.

“Helping your sorry ass!” he replied, crossing his fingers and creating a dozen of clones, knowing that he would need them soon. As a matter of fact, a huge sand arm appeared from the edge of a nearby roof, and Gaara started climbing up like a demon from the pits of hell.

“Can’t you help somehow?” Sakura asked, glancing toward Kakashi’s dog summon.

“I’m not much of a fighter, sorry,” Pakkun quickly answered, completely unapologetic.

“Seriously?!” she exclaimed in an annoyed tone. She started rummaging through the equipment in her pouch while her teammates were busy with not dying.

Gaara gleefully ravaged through wave after wave of shadow clones, crushing, tearing or slamming then against the buildings with such strength to make them pop out of existence and leave serious dents in the walls, as well as shattered windows.

"Sasuke, follow my lead!" Naruto called as he ran towards Gaara.

"What?" Sasuke asked, confused by either the blond’s overconfidence or by the fact that Naruto had just tried to give him an order.

"Just do it!" he said as he jumped towards the enemy, creating even more clones.

Sasuke followed, muttering to himself about suicidally confident blondes.

As Naruto landed, Gaara grabbed the clone right beside him and tore it apart, the sand claws ripping its left arm off and causing it to disperse before it could even yell in panic. Naruto kept moving around the crazed genin, swapping place with his clones or just creating more, so that Gaara was distracted trying to catch him, becoming more frustrated and enraged at the sight of puffs of smoke instead of fountains of blood.

Seeing Gaara so distracted, Sasuke sprinted, raising a punch to strike. Then, Gaara turned, and seeing his so-yearned-for target stopped caring about Naruto and his clones.

"UCHIHA SASUKE!" he yelled, his sand-arm racing towards Sasuke in a way similar to a spear. Seeing Sasuke about to be skewered, Naruto started making hand seals, hoping to not screw it up.

Tiger. Boar. Ox. Dog… Snake? Yes it was Snake!

There was a short-lived blast of smoke and then, a clone had taken Sasuke’s place. The clone actually sent a betrayed look at the original Naruto as the sand claws destroyed it. If Sasuke had been confused by his sudden displacing, he didn’t show it. Instead, he took advantage of his new position to deliver a devastating flying kick aimed at the back of Gaara’s head. There was a crunching sound as Gaara’s sand armour broke around Sasuke’s foot.

Naruto followed his teammate’s example by rushing inside Gaara’s lowered guard and delivering an uppercut punch to the Suna genin’s chin. He saw cracks forming on Gaara’s face, and his clones charged as one to deliver a nice beating on the outnumbered enemy.

Gaara blindly spun his arm around with a frustrated growl, thrashing wildly and yelling nonsense. Naruto felt a flash of pain as the trunk-like sand construct slammed into his chest, sending him tumbling away.

Seeing the edge of the roof getting dangerously close, he quickly grabbed a kunai and planted it into the flat roof. The tile broke, but he was slowed just enough to avoid falling off. One of his clones wasn’t so quick-thinking though and fell with a panicked yell.

Getting to his feet, he noticed that Gaara was having trouble standing up, clutching his head with his human arm while the monstrous one kept swinging around and causing minor property damage. Naruto guessed that sand armour or not, a kick to the head was a kick to the head. Then, realizing that he was inwardly complementing Sasuke, he reminded himself that he had punched Gaara, too.

He saw Sasuke standing a short distance from him, having managed to not be thrown off the roof himself.

“Can’t you use Kakashi-sensei’s jutsu again?” he asked, seeing the relatively vulnerable state Gaara was in.

“I’ve already reached the limit,” Sasuke explained as he retrieved more shuriken and kunai from his weapon pouch. “It’s a jutsu that uses too much chakra.”

Hearing their voices, Gaara stopped thrashing and slowly got back on his feet. He tilted his head, and his inhuman eye burned like molten gold, staring right at Naruto.

“Dammit,” Naruto growled, creating more shadow clones as Gaara leaped at them both in a way that reminded Naruto of a predator pouncing on their prey. While the monstrous genin was still in mid-flight, though, two kunai pierced into the side morphed by the sand and almost immediately exploded, sending Gaara off-course and causing him to crash onto a nearby balcony.

“Did you do that?” Naruto asked Sasuke as his clones kept staring with an array of confused expressions.

“No,” the Uchina said briefly, looking past the blond. Naruto turned around and saw Sakura standing on a roof on the other side of the street, quickly wrapping an explosive tag around a kunai handle.

“Don’t just stand there!” she yelled, throwing the newly-prepped explosive kunai at Gaara. The kunai embedded itself in the balcony’s railing and the tag started hissing. Before the Suna genin could shake off the previous explosion, it went off, causing him to fall down to the alley below.

“Come on guys! Let’s go!” one of the clones shouted before rushing down the building with what may have passed as a decent war cry. All the other clones followed in a similar fashion, to buy the genin team more time.

Naruto and Sasuke took the opportunity to regroup with Sakura and Pakkun while Gaara was besieged by Naruto's clones in a dirty backstreet. Looking down, they saw some villagers running away, scared out of their mind by the battle raging nearby.

“We can’t fight him here,” Sakura said. “There are too many civilians around.”

“Then we lure him away from the village,” Sasuke told them, determined.

“How?” Naruto asked. “We could use some clones as bait—”

“He wants to kill me,” the Uchiha interrupted him. “So, I’ll be the bait.”

“Wrong,” the Sand nin's voice said. But what had climbed on the rooftop didn't resemble Gaara anymore. It was a bestial thing, with little or no human features left. His right arm had turned into a long and clawed appendage as well, his face was completely transformed and Naruto could've sworn he saw a tail swinging from the genin's back with deceptive laziness. Gaara was nothing short of a monster now. “I want to kill all of you.”

Naruto, and his teammates as well, stared at the terrible apparition with a mixture of horror and awe. Then Gaara moved. Naruto snapped back to reality and made the hand seal for the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, pumping as much chakra as he could into it.

A veritable sea of orange appeared between them and Gaara. The clones, true to the original’s nature, charged with reckless abandon, momentarily stopping Gaara’s advance with their sheer numbers. It didn't matter that they poofed out of existence with the slightest blow. They never stopped and there were always more.

“Run, you two!” Naruto yelled at his two shocked teammates, who didn’t need to be told twice. The trio started make a beeline for the village’s walls as Gaara’s bestial roars echoed behind them. Naruto didn’t dare turn around. “Run, run, run!”

“How did you even make so many clones?” Sasuke asked as they kept moving. They heard a louder roar from behind them.

“I don’t think now is the time for that!!”

“You get him out of the village, I’ll go get help!” Pakkun told them before jumping away from the group. “Don’t die!”

:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:

Sarutobi was getting tired.

Had he been more vain, he could’ve justified it by telling himself that his opponents were three of the most dangerous and powerful shinobi that had ever lived. The simple truth was that he was old. Much older than any shinobi had the right to be.

What had kept him alive so far was the sheer experience he had accumulated in his decades as a Shinobi and the vast repertoire of jutsu at his disposal. That and the fact that the Shodaime and Nidaime weren’t able to fight at the peak of their power, the only silver lining in seeing his predecessors turned into simple-minded automatons.

He didn’t dare look at what was going on outside of the barrier, because even a simple glance away from his opponents would be inviting death. He was aware that Jiraiya was preparing something and that there were more shinobi around the barrier. Hiruzen just hoped that his former student had thought about a way to stop the two mindless Kage, because Hiruzen could only think about one way to do so. Even if it would cost him his life and soul.

Attempting to gain some time before having to resort to that, Hiruzen summoned his lagging chakra and released a stream of fire from his mouth, aiming straight for Orochimaru.

The flames were promptly stopped by a wooden barrier created by the Shodaime’s Mokuton, while the Nidaime extinguished any flames before they could spread with an suiton jutsu of his own. The impact of water and fire generated a thick cloud of steam that almost obscured the two opponents from Sarutobi’s sight.

Without warning, the thinning mist exploded as Orochimaru emerged from it, Kusanagi ready to strike. Sarutobi raised his own adamantine staff, and metal clashed against metal. Then Kusanagi left a small scratch Sarutobi’s weapon, which yelled in pain.

Sarutobi held fast, sending a silent apology to Enma as he did so. But even if Enma was pretty much unbreakable in his adamantine form, Sarutobi certainly wasn't. He felt his bones creaking as he was pushed back, ignoring the ache in his joints as much as he could.

With a great push, he shoved Orochimaru away, their weapons scraping as they parted. Hiruzen found himself panting, trying to catch his breath.

“Getting tired, sensei?” Orochimaru asked mockingly as the two resurrected Kage silently emerged from what remained of the steam. “At your age, you may want to consider retirement.”

“I did retire once, did you forget that?” Sarutobi rebutted, leaning against the staff for just a moment. It seemed that he had no other options left. He put his hands together, ready to make the series of seals that would end his final battle, one way or another. Before he could even start channeling chakra, though, he heard a sharp sound, like a cacophony of breaking glass.

All around him in the air were purple shards of the former barrier, now falling without purpose and dissolving before they could reach the roof they were all standing on.

Jiraiya had actually done it.

Sarutobi felt a faint smile forming as the Toad Sannin appeared by his side, accompanied by two of his summons, armed to the teeth.

"Took you long enough," he said without looking in his direction.

“You should know to not rush an artist, sensei,” Jiraiya said.

Hiruzen dared to take a brief look around, and saw that more shinobi had shown, either on the roof itself or on the buildings around it. Reinforcements had come.

Looking back at Orochimaru, he could see that his former pupil was absolutely livid. Even his four servants that had held the barrier together didn’t seem to eager to get close to their master right now.

“Orochimaru—” Hiruzen began, unsure of what he wanted to say. Perhaps it would’ve been one last attempt to reach that young and brilliant boy he had met all those years ago. He would never know though, because hearing his name seemed to be the last straw for Orochimaru. With a snarl, the Snake Sannin swung his sword, its blade extending to bridge the gap between former master and student.

One of Jiraiya’s toads deflected the attack with both of its own blades, cleaving the weapons in half.

Chaos exploded on the rooftop, as both sides rushed at each other. Sarutobi saw some chunin and ANBU jump in to face Orochimaru’s followers, while Jiraiya’s summons were trying to keep Senju Tobirama occupied. That left himself and Jiraiya against Orochimaru and Hashirama.

Wood spikes were sent against them, forcing them to move out of the way or be impaled. Orochimaru swung Kusanagi again, trying to cut them down in mid-air. Sarutobi quickly spun Enma between his hands, pushing the elongated blade out of the way.

"That jutsu," Jiraiya said as they landed, his eyes locked on the Shodaime. "It’s the Nidaime's forbidden technique, right? Orochimaru managed to reproduce it?"

"Yes. As far as I know the only conventional way to stop it is to kill the summoner," Sarutobi explained. "But my predecessors may do too much damage to the village before that."

"I have an idea," Jiraiya said, producing a bundle of sealing papers from the inside of his kimono. "I'll need you to keep Orochimaru busy, though."

“I think I can manage that,” Hiruzen said grimly, resting the end of Enma’s staff form on the roof. In less time than it took to blink, Hiruzen threw two kunai with explosive tags at Orochimaru’s feet. His student jumped away to avoid the explosion, landing on the branches of the tree that had been created during the fight.

Sarutobi rushed towards him, running over the stalks that had almost impaled him before. Orochimaru started moving towards him as well, with long and fast strides to meet him midway.

Hashirama appeared in Hiruzen’s vision, ready to block Hiruzen to protect Orochimaru. Sarutobi swung Enma with all his remaining strength without slowing the adamantine staff striking the Shodaime’s cheek. Part of the ancient shinobi’s face exploded in a small cloud of ash as he was thrown off the tree by the impact.

The Sandaime was aware that Hashirama had landed perfectly at the base of the tree, no worse for wear than before. He was also aware that Jiraiya was charging at the Shodaime even before the latter had landed. All his attention, though, was focused on his own opponent.

With eerie flexibility, Orochimaru dodged the staff, Orochimaru’s blade whistling with each slash he took. Once again staff and legendary sword clashed as Sarutobi deflected or parried the attacks he couldn’t evade. Sarutobi decided to remain on the defensive, since he just had to gain some time to allow Jiraiya to accomplish his plan. He prayed it would be enough to stop the two Senju brothers.

Orochimaru made to swing again from his left, and Sarutobi followed with his staff. At the last moment though, Orochimaru spun the other way, and he realized that it had been a feint. Orochimaru’s free hand shot towards him, and a snake sprang from his sleeve, its fangs aiming for Hiruzen’s neck.

Hiruzen swatted the snake away with one of his hands as he jumped back to gain some distance from the venomous reptile. That was when Orochimaru swung Kusanagi again, extending the blade.

Sharp, furious pain like he had never felt before exploded in Sarutobi’s right leg, and he found himself unable to stand. He was falling, having lost his chakra grip on the tree bark.

He landed on what remained of the roof before he could redirect his fall, and found himself on his side, suddenly feeling very tired.

The sound of fighting caught his attention, and he turned just enough to have a look. Senju Hashirama was standing mere meters from him, most of his torso and left arm covered by papers with various seals inscribed on them. Jiraiya was dancing, for the lack of a better term, around his opponent, and Hiruzen noticed that the Shodaime seemed to be unable to move his left arm or rotate his chest. The Toad Sage applied two more paper tags to his opponent’s body, and it seemed to slow the resurrected Kage a bit more. Not bad, for an improvised plan.

He could see the toads and most of the other Konoha shinobi trying to keep the Nidaime at bay, but he knew they wouldn’t be able to handle him for long. Especially with Orochimaru still on the battlefield. Planting his arms on the roof, he pushed, trying to get up.

And promptly fell down on his right side, which made him feel another rush of pain. He also felt colder all of sudden, for some reason.

Looking down at his leg to inspect the wound, he found himself staring at nothing. His right leg wasn’t in the place to which it belonged. He struggled to get a better look, and saw that his limb ended in a bloody stump right below the knee. A large pool of blood was forming, which slowly poured down the roof following its inclination.

His mind fought the tiredness that was overtaking him, and he realized that he was going into shock from the loss of his leg and from the consequential blood loss. He felt hands closing around his right knee, and he had to suppress a yell of pain. Turning around, he saw that Enma, now back in his real form, was packing his stump with his bare hands, while an ANBU was opening a field first-aid kit.

He tried to warn them about Orochimaru, since it was just a matter of seconds before he would come to finish him, but he was calmly told to not overexert himself. Or at least that was what he thought Enma had said to him, he could barely hear their words.

Looking up at the tree, he searched for any sign of Orochimaru, but the Snake Sannin was nowhere to be seen.

:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:

The room was mostly in the dark. Not because it was night, but because the shack had no windows and their guards had ordered them to stay inside with the door closed. So their only source of light were the magical spheres floating above the three of them which, while doing their job perfectly, gave a bit of an eerie atmosphere to the place.

Still better than being locked in the city’s dungeon, though.

“Ta’Sava is bored,” the Khajiit yawned, showing an impressive set of jaws. “Do you know any jokes?”

“Be serious. There’s a war out there, people are dying,” Beta admonished with no malice in her voice. This caused Ta’Sava to look ashamed all the same, though. At least for a few minutes.

“Ta’Sava is still bored,” he repeated.

“You know, since we’re alone we could take a peek Master Conrad’s journal,” Sven said, looking at their teacher’s sleeping spot and the few items sprawled upon it, among which said journal stood out.

“Oooh, Ta’Sava likes that idea,” the cat boy said, swiftly getting up to pick up the item that promised to break his boredom.

“Good luck. I think it’s written in Nedic,” Beta deadpanned, which caused her fellow apprentices to turn to look at her.

“How does Beta know that?” Ta’Sava asked, book still closed in his hands.

Beta valiantly withstood her peers’ curiosity for a brief moment before blushing a little and looking away, muttering something about genuine curiosity and trouble getting to sleep. Maybe. Her voice kinda trailed off during that last part of that.

Ta’Sava opened his mouth to say something, probably to tease the poor girl, but stopped as his left ear started twitching. “Someone just arrived outside,” he half-whispered. “They’re talking with the guards.”

He had not even finished saying that when his two friends scrambled towards the door to hear what was being said since they didn’t have hearing as good as his.

“What are they saying?” Beta whispered, pressing her ear against the door. “Is Master Conrad back?”

“Hush, I’m trying to listen,” Sven muttered. “I think that another group of guards arrived. They’re saying… something about us?”

“They said… wait, Ta’Sava thinks that the word is ‘move’?” Ta’Sava wondered for a brief moment. “Yes, they said something about moving the prisoners.”

“And here I thought we were guests,” Sven snarked, emphasizing the last word.

“Maybe their enemies are moving this way and they want to take us somewhere safe?” Beta suggested.

“That doesn’t justify treating us like criminals.”

“Strange. Ta’Sava thinks that the guards that remained here are not agreeing with—” A sound from outside interrupted the Khajiit. A sound that they would’ve been able to hear even without eavesdropping.

The sound of two blades meeting each other.

“Oh, no,” Beta whispered, her face even paler than what it should’ve been because of the cold magical lights.

“I-I don’t understand,” Sven said, a tinge of fear in his voice as the sound of fighting from outside escalated. “What’s going on out there?”

“Don’t worry, there’s no windows and the door is closed,” Ta’Sava said, attempting to reassure the others. “They can’t get in.”

Sadly, his words didn’t seem to reassure Sven at all, who started to slowly back away from the entrance. “That door doesn’t have a lock.”

Similar expressions of horror appeared on Ta’Sava and Beta’s faces. It was true, the door didn’t have a lock. Master Conrad had said that a golden cage didn’t need a lock, or something along those lines. That, and he had believed that they were afraid that he would take Inoichi as a hostage and lock the door.

Suddenly, the door started moving, opening inwards.

Beta was the first to react, throwing herself against the door and slamming it shut, pressing herself against it to keep it in place. That seemed to snap the other two back to reality. Ta’Sava started pushing the table, and Beta moved just enough to allow the tall Khajiit to push it against the door. It was a light table, but it was better than nothing.

Sven channelled his magicka instead, half-whispering arcane words to help himself focus and not panic in a reasonably scary situation. In a matter of seconds the spell was cast and a clear blue rune appeared on the door frame. If anyone managed to get inside, they would be enveloped by an electrical discharge.

Ta’Sava and Beta started to cast some spells as well, either on the door or on themselves. It wasn’t going to be enough though. Sven started waving his arms, trying to cast a spell he had learned sneaking around the Arcanaeum, even if he knew he had barely the reserves or expertise to pull it off.

But they needed help, so he was going to summon some.

:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:

Conrad closed his eyes to focus again on the boy, releasing the clairvoyance spell so that it would show him the way to reach his nephew. He kept following the blue light at a hurried pace, pleased to see that Naruto had moved far away from the worst of the battle. Actually, the street he was walking through reminded him of a ghost town. It was like the people had run away from the battle as well, leaving half-eaten food on counters or groceries on market stands. Which raised his hopes to find the boy safe and sound.

“Harissen-san, please—” one of the guards that had decided to follow him as if they were lost ducklings pleaded once again.

“No,” he said before the masked man could finish.

“But we would be much faster if—”

“I am not piece of furniture to be moved around,” Conrad exclaimed turning around, doing his best to not snap at them. “I am a man! I will walk!”

The guards suddenly looked startled by his declaration of self-sufficient locomotion. Scared, even, much to Conrad’s confusion. He briefly wondered if his words had sounded harsher in Akaviri, after all it seemed to be a language with way too formalities and honorifics.

Then there was an incredibly loud roar.

Conrad turned as the roar echoed all across the city, and for a moment, he couldn’t believe what he was staring at. In the forest outside of the city, a brief distance from its walls, a small weirdly-shaped mountain had appeared. Or at least he thought it was a mountain until he noticed the massive limbs and the giant tail wobbling behind it. Before he could voice his confusion with a brief but concise—not to mention vile—exclamation, there was a huge explosion of smoke in the forest that tore down some trees and another massive creature appeared. This one looked like a giant dark red toad, only with appropriately-sized clothes and, as if the situation wasn’t already weird enough, it was smoking from a pipe as big as a chimney.

The two beasts faced each other before the toad produced a sword roughly the size of a watchtower from somewhere. Conrad was utterly convinced that Akavir’s compensation for the quantity of monsters with the quality of said monsters had now reached new, unregistered levels of ridiculousness. If this is what roamed around these lands, he was actually surprised there was human civilization at all.

The monsters had begun their fight, but as much as he would’ve liked to see two gargantuan beings like these tear each other apart, since it wasn’t something you saw every day, he had more important things to do.

He took exactly one step before being filled with a new-found sense of dread. He looked back at the colossal duel in the distance, and, without daring to look away, cast the spell once again, concentrating as much as he could on the mental picture of Naruto.

The tracking spell did its job, and as much as he had wished otherwise, the pale blue light darted towards the forest outside, where the two monsters were fighting in a way that was reshaping the landscape.

Conrad didn’t even realize that he had started running, just that he wasn’t fast enough. The guards were easily keeping pace with him, and one called to him, saying something, probably asking if he wanted to be picked up now. He ignored them, attempting to recall how a spell he hadn’t used in years worked. It took him way too long for his taste.

There was a purple flash as he unleashed it, and a skeletal equine with a cold, flaming mane appeared in front of him. Conrad kept moving and vaulted on Arvak’s back, kicking the undead horse so that it would launch itself into a gallop.

Doing his best to not be thrown off the saddle, he took a look at the battle to see if anything had changed. Just as he caught a glimpse of the two monsters, the giant toad turned into a giant… fox-bunny thing with human-like hands and nine tails?

Conrad just stared dumbly at it for a few seconds before deciding that it didn’t matter whatever those monsters were turning into. Or the lack of logic behind it.

He would fight both if he had to in order to reach Naruto.

:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x:

Naruto swat away a little blue light as if it was a pestering mosquito. He remembered seeing something like this when coming back to the village after their mission in Wave, but they had never bothered him specifically. But since the start of the invasion he had been dealing with one of them every few minutes.

"Naruto... why did you transform the giant toad in the Kyuubi?" Sakura asked very slowly, looking in awe at the veritable sea of bright orange fur the three of them were standing on. Or lying, in Sasuke’s case.

"Uuuh... it was the first badass beast I could think of?" Naruto half-asked, nervously. In hindsight, he should’ve picked something different.

"Nevermind why,” Sasuke muttered, ignoring the pain caused by the cursed seal ravaging his body. Trying to use it to fuel a third Chidori had backfired spectacularly. “How did you transform the toad at all?!"

"I have lots of chakra?" he offered.

"That's barely an explanation," Sakura deadpanned.

“Hey, brats!” the transformed Gamabunta yelled at them. “This is not the right time to be chatting between yourselves.”

The three genin glanced up, suddenly silent as they looked over the figure of Shukaku, the thing that lived inside Gaara and was now able to roam free as long as its host was asleep.

“Prepare yourself. We may have only one chance at this,” the henged boss toad told them as he grasped the ground, preparing to sprint.

“I’m out of explosives,” Sakura said with a tired voice, unable to look away from the monster they were about to charge in an all-in gamble.

“Here, take mine,” Sasuke groaned, handing her a stack of tags.

“Yeah, mine too,” Naruto agreed, throwing his whole equipment pouch at her. He turned to face Shukaku, his eyes filled with determination. “Let’s do this!”

“Hold tight!” Gamabunta yelled as he rushed forward. The kids had to grab the fur on his head to avoid being thrown off the toad-turned-fox’s back.

The two beasts collided, claws clashing in a terrible battle for dominance. Gamabunta used his new claws to grab Shukaku and bit him in the neck with his massive jaw, trying to hold the giant tanuki still. Naruto used the momentum of the charge to leap onto Shukaku’s hardened, sandy shoulders. He started running towards the head, his mind set on reaching Gaara.

Sand tendrils formed on the tanuki’s surface, trying to snatch the blond genin as he advanced. He dodged as many as he could, and everytime it seemed that one of the sandy tentacles was about to catch him, a kunai struck its base, detonating on impact. Thankfully, Sakura had a better aim than he did. He might have ended up with a few mouthfuls of sand but nothing was going to stop him.

Finally reaching the top of the head, he caught sight of Gaara’s sleeping form, half-embedded in sand. Naruto rushed closer to the Suna genin, grabbed him by the collar and punched him with all of his strength. The impact echoed loudly in Naruto’s ears, even more than the tanuki’s roars.

The sand under his feet suddenly crumbled and Naruto found himself in free-fall, reflexively tightening his grip on Gaara’s collar. The sand user, now awake, struggled to get free or gain some control over the sand cascading around them—Naruto wasn’t sure. He just continued to punch Gaara to keep him from gaining the upper hand.

They slammed into something, and as the leaves and branches whipped around him, Naruto realized that they were falling through the canopy of the forest. Naruto felt like he had cracked or broken a few bones from the impact but did what he could to shield his head and face as they kept breaking tree limbs in a twin symphony of snapping wood.

Naruto glimpsed down and, seeing that the ground was getting dangerously close, tried to brace himself to soften the landing. He hit the ground with a small yelp as something in his right leg twinged, causing him to collapse in a leaf-covered bundle of pain.

Groaning, he tried to roll over onto his stomach, only to stop when he heard some other pained sounds. Raising his head from the grass, he saw Gaara a brief distance away, trying his best to wobble back to his feet. Naruto planted his hands on the ground and pushed, trying to get up. As he managed to get on all fours, Gaara’s head snapped in his direction.

Naruto’s first impression was that Gaara looked… different, somehow. Bruised, with small cuts caused by the fall through the tree and blood dripping from them. More importantly, he looked tired and worried for the first time since Naruto had met him.

Yet he stood up, barely, a resolute expression settling on his face. Then, the sand user took a slow step towards him. Naruto somehow managed to get up, even if it took him a moment, and stumbled towards Gaara, trying his best to not put weight on his wounded leg.

None of them said anything as they got closer to each other. There was probably no need to. Gaara raised a fist, a perfectly normal looking hand, and tried to punch Naruto. Naruto was faster.

He felt the impact of his knuckles against the other boy’s face as he sent Gaara slumping to the ground.Once he was sure that the Suna genin wasn’t going to get up again, Naruto let himself fall as well, unable to keep himself upright anymore.

Naruto stared at the sky, barely visible from under the canopy. He wondered where the Boss Toad, Sakura and Sasuke had ended up.

“My existence…” Gaara muttered besides him, before being interrupted by a cough fit.

“Huh?” Naruto asked as he turned towards his enemy, feeling a bit dazed. Maybe it was because his body was catching up to all the stress he had just been put through.

“I won’t let my existence end like this! I refuse to!” Gaara shouted all of sudden, his face a mask of panic. Naruto wondered when was the last time Gaara had felt fear.

With a grunt, he tried to roll over to look Gaara straight in the eyes, but it was a sluggish effort made even more difficult by the fits of pain that he felt with every movement.

“Stay… stay away!” Gaara yelled, trying to get away from Naruto. But all his efforts were in vain, for it seemed that the fall had been much worse for Gaara than for him. “I’ll kill you!”

"Can you stop that?" Naruto said tiredly. "I don't want to hurt you... you’ve suffered enough."

Gaara fell silent, looking at him in silent confusion. Naruto couldn’t help but notice how vulnerable he looked, unable to defend himself.

"Your pain... I felt it too. I feel it every day," he said slowly. "But I met people that cared for me and I will stop you if you try to hurt them."

"Why...?" Gaara asked, eyes wide. “Why do you care for others?”

"They saved me... from becoming the monster everyone thought I was,” he explained before being forced to take a brief pause. Talking was becoming a bit difficult, and something ached every time he tried to.

"What do you mean?" Gaara asked again, confused.

"We're the same..." he started explaining. "Both of our dads, they sealed monsters inside of us. But, I think they did it for different reasons."

At that, Gaara eyes widened even more, comprehension dawning on his face. Naruto couldn’t help but wonder what would’ve happened had their lives been slightly different.

"Had it not been for the people that were kind to me—"

Two figures landed beside Gaara before Naruto could finish. Temari and Kankuro, Gaara’s siblings, were now standing protectively over their younger brother. Before Naruto could say anything, he felt two presences behind him, and slightly turned to see Sakura and Sasuke, cursed seal active but standing, doing the same for him.

Naruto would truly have been moved by the fact that his teammates were willing to protect him had it not been for the tension filling the forest and the uncomfortable knowledge that he and Gaara would be completely unable to defend themselves if things went badly.

“Enough, you two,” Gaara said, sounding very tired. “It’s over…” His siblings stared at him in surprise for a moment, before glancing at Naruto and his team. Cautiously, without lowering their guard, the two Suna genin bent down and scooped up their younger brother, holding him up by his arms.

“Gaara… remember what I said,” Naruto told them before they left. “Give them a chance.”

At this, not just the Suna shinobi but even his own teammates gave Naruto a strange look. Then, the trio of siblings leaped away, disappearing into the forest. His teammates stood there for a long moment before they realized that, yes, it was over and they could lower their guard.

Sasuke sat silently, crossing his legs, while Sakura produced a first-aid kit from her pouch and knelt beside Naruto.

“We just let them go,” Sasuke said while reaching for the seal on his neck, which was obviously still hurting him. “Isn’t that treason?”

“Do you really think we could have captured them?” Sakura asked, eyes downcast as she looked for some gauze.

“We could’ve captured Gaara if they hadn’t shown up,” Sasuke insisted. Naruto wondered if Konoha would’ve been able to contain Gaara had they kept him as a prisoner. Probably not.

“We drove an enemy team from the village, fought a… whatever that was, and we are all still alive,” Sakura countered, turning towards the Uchiha. “I think it’s more than we could’ve hoped for.”

“Hn.”

“Say, Naruto...” she said, starting to treat Naruto’s wounds, for which the blond was grateful even if he had to suppress a hiss. “What did you mean when you said that both of your fathers sealed monsters inside of you and Gaara?”

Ah, crap.

Thankfully, Naruto was saved from having to give an explanation by the sensation of slowly losing consciousness. He supposed he had overdone it a bit in that fight.

He heard Sakura and, surprisingly, Sasuke's voices calling for him, almost as if he was dying. He would've liked to tell them that he wasn't dying, he was just resting his eyes. Or at least he would've liked to, had it not been for the sound of hooves coming closer.

Wait. Hooves?

Naruto heard the sound of hooves approaching, followed by the sound of bushes and undergrowth being disturbed by something large passing through them. He heard a horse neigh very loudly, stopping near them. Sasuke and Sakura started yelling in a panic for some reason, and there was the sound of weapons being prepared.

He heard heavy steps running towards him—clearly not a shinobi—and Sakura and Sasuke’s indignant squawks as they were pushed aside. He felt two strong hands slowly lift his head, and he did his best to open his eyes.

It was his uncle, wide-eyed and panicked. He was saying something, but Naruto couldn't quite piece together what it was. He was too exhausted, and he was half-certain that his uncle wasn't even speaking the right language.

"Un...?" Naruto tried to say something, but he ended up groaning instead as his tongue refused to work.

The panic left his uncle's eyes in an instant, and they took on a hard and focused quality. A moment later something red was shoved into Naruto's face. He didn't understand what it was at first, but then he felt some kind of liquid touching his lips

"Drink, boy! Drink!" his uncle urged him, and Naruto complied. He was a bit thirsty because of all the sand that had gotten in his mouth anyway.

“Hey!” Sasuke yelled. “What do you think you’re—”

“Don’t worry, Uchiha-san,” someone else said. Just how many people had arrived? “Your teammate is in no danger.”

Naruto felt the liquid go down his throat, but as as he tasted its foul flavor he almost spit it out by reflex. Only his uncle’s hands stopped him, and he was forced to swallow. The pain faded as his body started to itch everywhere for some reason. Even the leg wasn’t hurting as much.

His uncle pressed a hand on his chest, and for a brief moment it was surrounded by a pale white light. Once he was done, Naruto felt that breathing had become much, much easier, and he tried to sit up. He had the time to catch just a glimpse of his two teammates being held back by two ANBU guys before feeling two arms wrapping around him.

“I’m glad.”

Naruto stiffened, shocked by the unexpected hug. As the surprise passed, he relaxed into his uncle's embrace. It’s a very tight hug…but somewhat… warm? It was the first time Naruto could feel this kind of warmth.

“Uncle, don’t tell me you’re going to cry also?” Naruto asked mockingly despite he is the one fighting back his own tears. “We won.”

“Uncle?!” Sakura and Sasuke exclaimed in utter confusion.