"Sasuke!" The scream tore from his throat even as he flew forwards towards them, arm cocked back, palm open. He leapt into the air, and blue energy swirled in the palm of his hand as he caught Gaara in his sights, whipping and twisted until it tightened and condensed into a vivid, whirling sphere of chakra in his hand. You better be fine, you asshole!

"Rasengan!"

The tearing vortex of chakra careened into the other Jinchuuriki, drilling into his side in a flurry of power. Contact only lasted for a second and the rasengan's energy reverberated across Gaara, exploding in a shower of light and chakra. Gaara was hurled back, skidding across the forest floor leaving a trail of discarded sand. He hit a tree with such force it splintered, toppling the oak as he came to a stop on the other side.

For a moment, Naruto stood in awe of what he had just done. Jiraiya had shown him it in action before, but it was too dangerous for either of them to really cut loose with it in training. His father's jutsu... It was incredible. He shifted his focus to Sasuke. Gaara's attack had been brutal, and the Uchiha lay sprawled out, only semi-conscious. His arm was twisted at the wrong angle, and blood seeped from his mouth and forehead.

Naruto winced. He was in bad shape, and he knew full well that Gaara would not have been put down by that attack - not even close.

"Sasuke, you stay put. I'll try and keep him clear of here until Hana can come and get you and take you away."

"Moron," Sasuke spluttered, more crimson droplets scattering as he coughed out the words. "I'm not going anywhere and you know it."

"I don't let my comrades die, so you'd best not make me a liar, bastard. I'm gonna kick his ass, and then Hana is going to fix you up so that I can kick your ass for needing to be saved by the damn dead last." Naruto bit back.

Sasuke half scoffed, half-choked on blood but before Naruto had time to worry, the amount of Gaara's demonic chakra in the air skyrocketed in unison with an inhuman shriek, like a thousand nail scratching at a thousand chalkboards.

Without warning, the tree that Gaara had broken came hurtling out of the woods, thrown at such an incredible force that Naruto barely had time to leap out of its way. Thankfully, it sailed over Sasuke's immobile form and shattered against the trees behind them, showering the Uchiha in splintered wood.

"It hurts!" Gaara's voice cut through all other noise in the clearing, demonic timbre stretching to a fever pitch. "Mother - why can they hurt me? WHY?"

Gaara staggered back into the clearing, his entire top half enveloped in bulbous sand, taking the shape of the Ichibi's body. Instinctively, Naruto stepped back, eyes wide in horror. Gaara had gone further with the Ichibi's chakra than Naruto had ever dared with the Kyuubi's, and it rolled off him in invisible waves. The awful, tainted energy seeped into everything around him - including Naruto himself, and his own Bijuu roared within him, indignant.

How dare you show your teeth to me, brother...

Naruto clutched his head, trying to force the voice that was not his away. His chest burned as the Kyuubi's chakra strained and reached for any weakness in his will, any opportunity to break free. Get out of my head, fox! How can I accept a deal when you pull shit like this! The pressure in his mind receded with such force it took Naruto's breath at those words, leaving only a placid pool of power, limitless at his very centre.

An echo of deep, cavernous laughter rang in his ears, even as one of Gaara's wrecking balls arms collided with his head, ringing him like a bell. Naruto's vision went spotty and nausea came upon him, a rowing boat caught in an ocean storm.

The calm pool of power within him rippled, and with the world spinning, he reached out his hand and took a scoop of its waters. Power. A furious whirlwind of power surged through him. Untainted. Free of the rage and despair that had been a marker of him using Kyuubi's power until now. He marvelled, and tried to ignore the immense satisfaction coursing through him that wasn't his own. See boy, this is what could be ours if you would but accept my offer... We could achieve anything. Hokage? Together we'd lay the other villages at Konoha's feet and stand unchallenged - the greatest Hokage ever to live.

Naruto stood, shoulders squared facing Gaara, the damage just caused healed in an instant. The fox's voice slid back into the recesses of his consciousness - he didn't need to be told to know when Naruto was ignoring him after all. Even just that handful is this much power? More laughter echoed through his mind.

Gaara cackled. "Yes. We are the same, you and I! Use it! Show me which of our existence is worth more!"

Naruto moved, and reality around him rushed to keep pace. His fist crashed into Gaara's jaw, lifting the behemoth from the ground up. Bunshin phased into reality around him, landing successive blow forcing him further and further into the air, until finally, a final clone wielding a rasengan appeared above. He fell onto Gaara, rasengan sending him spiralling to the floor in a heap.

Sand and dust swirled, and Naruto sensed the demonic chakra before he saw Gaara's mutated arm, snaking away from the boy on the ground and streaking at him. He dodged, flickering from clearing to a tree branch, and then back to the floor again at speed even he himself didn't fully comprehend.

He had never drawn on this much of the fox's chakra before, let alone without any interference from the beast itself. Trouble was, Gaara was drawing on more and more too. He had clambered to his feet, an enormous flat tail now extending outwards behind him. Naruto needed to end this quickly, whilst he was still in control - whilst Gaara was still at least a little himself.

He looked back towards Sasuke, and started to see Hana and Ino, lifting the Uchiha over their shoulders. Hana was shooting him a concerned look, and he returned fire with a smile. She nodded, and the trio took off, leaving him completely alone with Gaara. That's one less thing I have to worry about. Everybody else has done their job - it's time I do mine.

"I wish I'd known you sooner Gaara - I would have liked to help you, to stop you going down the road that you've gone down." He said, reluctance weighing heavily on his voice. "But I can't let that interfere with the knowledge of what you've come to do. You came to my home to try and destroy it, to murder its people. I'll kill you before I let that happen - that's a promise."

Gaara stared for a moment, head tilted like a grotesque, curious dog. Then he smiled. Monstrous and wide, thick bulging tongue hanging from his mouth.

"That's the conviction you're going to use to fight me? That's your purpose - your reason for existing?" A pregnant silence hung in the air at his question, and Gaara cut it short with another babble of crazed laughter. "Your reason is weak. You are weak. I will prove it by feeding Mother with your blood."

The babble raised in tenor, upwards to a cackle and sand erupted out from Gaara's misshapen form. They took the shape of thousands of sharp needle points. Then, it rained. Naruto dove into the ground as they poured down around him, using the Doton jutsu he'd hidden from the sound shinobi from to propel himself through the ground towards the Suna Jinchuuriki.

He burst from the ground, rasengan already forming in his palm, directly underneath Gaara. The sphere hit Gaara square but he stood firm against it. Naruto gritted his teeth and flared his chakra, funnelling even more of his power into the jutsu beginning to force Gaara back.

Around them, even more Naruto's phased into existence, each with their own rasengan. Gaara's tail whipped around from behind, sweeping through the summoned clones and spearing towards Naruto. He tried to release his attack to dodge but was too slow, and the appendage caught him in the shoulder. He staggered back, shoulder plate on his armour cracked and blood seeping through even as the tail lashed out again, clubbing him across the head, knocking him to the floor.

Naruto climbed to his feet, feeling Gaara channelling yet more of the Ichibi's chakra.

"Good, I'm glad that wasn't enough to finish you off." Gaara's voiced descended into the guttural as he spoke, chakra radiating from him in waves.

Naruto gazed back at him. Gaara's legs had now fully changed, and he was now entirely covered in sand, an odd human-tanuki hybrid. Shit, he's nearly fully transformed... Unbidden, the toothy, sinister demon-fox smile flickered across his vision, and the pool of power that lay within him began to overflow, water seeping over its edges.

He should stop it from happening. Naruto wasn't making this choice, the fox was. But you need the power, or all your little friends will be killed by him. Worst of all, the Fox was right. He had to stop Gaara now before he released his demon fully. There was no choice now, no other option. He allowed the water to overflow, the spilt power escaping into his own chakra system.

Clones burst into life around him, and the real Naruto focused chakra into the palm of his hand, waiting. His bunshin leapt into action. A pair leapt into the trees around Gaara, flashing through handseals and launching a wave of fire towards him. A separate group mirrored their actions, instead unleashing a torrent of wind chakra. The two waves of attacks met, the air fuelling the flames, combining into a storm of fire.

Other clones leapt into action, launching ninjutsu at the Suna Jinchuuriki, forcing him onto the back foot. A frenzy of fire and wind, lightning and earth assailed Gaara, his sand defence straining to block the sheer amount of power being aimed his way. Yet more of Naruto's bunshin erupted from the ground, behind Gaara's defences barrelling into the creature he'd become and exploding on contact.

Wave after wave were sent, a sea of power being sent at his enemy. This wasn't how he liked to fight - it wasn't how Jiraiya and Yuugao had taught him to fight. But there wasn't room for subtlety here. No opportunity for cleverness. He was almost entirely alone in that he wielded enough power that he could overwhelm Gaara with it. And he needed to.

Finally, a collection of clones started to attach themselves to Gaara whilst he was distracted by the torrent of elemental attacks being sent his way, and they detonated at once, sending Gaara careening backwards. Naruto's eyes widened - Gaara's flesh had finally been exposed upon his chest. He pumped chakra into his legs and exploded into motion, seal ready on his right palm. Clones piled on, pinning Gaara in place, preventing him from moving.

He thrust his palm forward, touching Gaara's skin and activated the seal that Jiraiya had designed to seal Gaara's demonic power on contact.

The clearing went silent, and Naruto stood awkwardly, unsure about how to respond to the lack of reaction. Gaara had gone stock still, all resistance ceased.

"You think to seal me, boy?" Gaara intoned quietly, voice all the more terrifying for just how sane it sounded. Naruto glanced downwards to where he had tried to apply the seal. The skin was dry and rough, cracking at the application of chakra. He was still keeping up his sand armour underneath the transformation!

Naruto leapt backwards, desperately backpedalling from the Suna jinchuuriki as the demonic chakra skyrocketed. His clones exploded themselves in a vain effort to do some damage, even as Gaara began to grow. It hadn't been enough. He had failed.

Gaara reached his full height, a towering sand behemoth looming over tall oaks, and cocked his head back.

"I'm finally free!"