Shinigami's pov
Today is the day. It's the last phase of the chunnin exams. I explained everything to Naruto and he seemed to understand. I would wake him up but he should get as much sleep as he can. I'll just leave and see him at the last phase. I left him some food on the counter. I went to where the last phase would be held and sat next to Shizuka, Momoku, Kiba, and Hinata. We talked as we waited for the phase to start. I saw Naruto run into the middle of the ring with rest of the contestants (except of Sasuke of course). More people we knew ended up sitting with us, including Rock Lee. I was able to talk to him and properly thank him. I think that we'll become great friends.
As the first round started I was paying close attention. This was Naruto fighting Neji. It was better to watch fights in person then across a screen. I was worried for Naruto even though I knew he would win. When Naruto got Kuramas chakra to help him I smiled. No one knew what was really going on. That reminded me, I haven't spoken to Onmyodo in awhile now. I'll speak to her after this whole situation is over. I looked and saw Neji walk to Naruto. There was a lot of dust covering him. When the dust cleared it showed him on the ground, "unconscious".
"Well, that sucks for Naruto." I heard Kiba say. "Just wait for it." I said smirking. Kiba and Hinata looked at me confused but then saw Naruto poof into smoke, showing that he was only a shadow clone. Before Neji could do anything Naruto came from under the ground and gave Neji an uppercut making him the winner of this round. After Neji was sent to the infirmary, Hinata's father left to go see him.
The next round was supposed to be Gaara and Sasuke but it was postponed since Sasuke wasn't here. 'I'll be back." Shizuka said to me with sign language as she stood up. I nodded and watched her walk away.
Shikamaru was up against Temari. I gotta say, this round was interesting. Shikamaru did a pretty good job at strategizing but his laziness got in the way. He ended up forfeiting at the end since he was almost out of chakra and didn't want to have to keep planning like that, which I don't blame him for. Temari was the winner by forfeit.
Shino and Kankuro was up next but Kankuro forfeited right away making Shino the immediate winner. Gaara and Sasuke was next but since Sasuke still wasn't here they gave him 20 minutes. If the 20 minutes was over before he came then Gaara would be the immediate winner. I saw Hinata cough a bit and looked at her worriedly. Kiba went to take her to a medic to see if she was alright. That's when I saw the Anbu stop them and have Kiba follow him.
I sighed and began talking to Momoku. We were waiting for Sasuke to show up. At the last minute Sasuke and Kakashi appeared. They had an unnecessary and extra entrance. I saw Naruto jump down from where the contestants were at and go to Sasuke and Kakashi. They talked for a bit before Naruto went back up using the stairs and Kakashi went to us. "Are you always late?" I asked him. He shrugged and I saw Gaara walk out into the field. I sighed.
Not too long ago Naruto and Shikamaru came to us to inform Kakashi that Gaara killed someone in the stair way in fear that he'd end up killing Sasuke in their match. Naruto gave me a worried look and I shook my head before looking down at the fight. Sasuke was firing up a Chidori as he was on the wall. Sasuke ran towards Gaara's defense and ended up breaking through it. As he did spikes were sent at him but he was able to break through Gaara's defense. He fell backwards and Gaara screamed.
My eyes widened as he did. I covered my ears and closed my eyes. It's a lot worse then I thought it would be. I kept ky eyes closed until I started to feel slightly drowsy. I opened my eyes to see the Genjutsu start. I put my hand one of my hands into a rat hand sign. "Release!" I said and the feathers around me didn't affect me. I saw Kakashi, Guy sensei, Sakura, and Momoku do the same. I saw Sasuke go after Gaara. My guess is Gaara started the stage of turning into Shukaku. Kakashi told us to wake up Naruto and Shikamaru. He gave us pakkun to help us.
I kicked Shikamaru in the face and he instantly woke up. "Quit acting like your in the Genjutsu and get up." I said getting slightly angry. I still can't believe he acted like he was asleep because of his laziness in a situation like this. He rubbed his face amd stood up. Before pakkun said for us to go I started running towards where Saske amd Gaara went. I heard them yell my name but I didn't listen.
'Hey Onmyodo, can you hear me?'
Yes
'Can you do me a favor? Can you try and sense Shukaku's Chakra?'
I can try but why do you need me to do that?
'I need to find Gaara.'
Alright I'll lead you to him. You'll see a trail to where they are. Just add some of my chakra to your eyes.
I stopped my movement and did that. I closed my eyes and focused on Onmyodo's chakra before putting it into my eyes. I opened my eyes and saw a slight trail of chakra.
'Thanks Onmyodo, I owe you one.'
No problem.
I smiled and started following the chakra trail. As I was following the trail I noticed that eveyone caught up and was behind me. "Shinigami, calm down we're gonna get to them. It wasn't smart to go off on your own. You have to stay with us." I heard Pakkun say. I didn't listen, I had to get to Gaara. "Just because I wanna get there quicker doesn't mean that I won't think rational. I'll be fine. If you wanna stay together then keep up." I said as I moved faster and took a hard turn. I continued to follow the chakra and eventually I saw Gaara. I stopped and sighed. I was angry. Angry at Shukaku, but mostly Angry at Orochimaru and the sand village. It's Orochimaru's fault that this attack is happening. And it's the Sand Village's fault that they try to use Gaara as a weapon. He seemed to noticed me as he stopped moving. Kankuro ans Temari were with him. It looked like they were trying to calm him down. They saw me and Kankuro told Temari to keep going so he can handle me. After they got far enough, I made 10 shadow clones. I left him to fight them so I can get ahead. I just wanted them to stall long enough for Shino to fight him.
I started to follow Gaara's trail again. I couldn't help but worry for him. I feel like I could've done something to prevent this. If I find him again and get the opportunity of it being the both of us, what will I even do? I don't want to fight him, but I can't just stand there. He's not in the right headspace right now so he'll most likely try to attack me. I need a plan. I can try to avoid his attacks and try to speak to him, but still that doesn't mean that'll work. I know if that doesn't work I can try talking to Shukaku. That's the best I can try to do.
As I was thinking I realized that I was able to see Gaara and Temari. I went higher then them to wait for the others to catch up. I kept my pace and sighed when the other caught up to Gaara and Temari. Temari stayed to fight them as Gaara kept going. I began following Gaara again except this time it was just the both of us.
"Gaara!" I yelled out to him. He turned to me immediately and stopped moving. I stopped. I kept some distance between us just incase ge tried to attack me. "Gaara, you have the choice to stop. Don't let Shukaku take over your body." I said to him. He growled a bit before lunging at me. I jumped up, onto a branch, before he could hit me. There was a lot of dust around him from the impact he made, and when the dust cleared my eyes visibly widened.
His eyes. They were different from before. It was Gaara.
The eyes I was looking at was Gaara's. He had a frightened look. "Shinigami, pl-please, just get away. I don't wanna hurt y-you. So please j-just...Get away!" He yelled as he lunged at me and his eyes turned back to Shukau's eyes. Unfortunately for me, I dropped my guard and couldn't dodge. I was in shock. I didn't think that would actually work. Fortunately for me, before Gaara could reach me he got kicked in the face hard by someone wearing an orange jumpsuit. Naruto.
"You shouldn't had went off on your own." He said to me as he landed next to me. He looked at me. "Shini, what's wrong?" He asked me in a worried tone. "Huh?" I asked him confused by what he meant. It was then that I realized that I was crying. I wiped the tears away and smiled. "Nothing's wrong, and I'm sorry. Thank you for helping me." I said as I stood up. I saw Gaara catch Sakura and put her against the tree.
"I'll get Sakura out, you take care of Gaara." I said to him. He had looked at Sakura before nodding. He went towards Gaara as I went towards Sakura. I saw Sasuke on the branch near her. He looked like he was gonna lose consciousness soon. I sighed and hurried to cut Sakura out of the hand she was in. It wad surprisingly hard but after awhile I got her out. I laid her next to Sasuke since she was also unconscious. I saw Pakkun, Gamakichi, and Gamatatsu there. I looked over to where Naruto was and saw that Gaara had transformed into Shukaku. I wanted to help him but I also didn't wanna leave Sasuke and Sakura alone. I knew Naruto could handle this, and he did. I stayed with the three summonings as we watched Gamabunta use the transformation Jutsu to look like the nine tails and take Shukaku down. As they were falling I ran towards them both. I was able to hear what Naruto said as I got close. I stopped behind a tree and listened to him.
He was talking about loneliness and how he knew the feeling of it. I don't know why but I felt guilty. He's been alone for so long, I could've been here with him, but I wasn't. I left him alone. I wanna make it up to him. Naruto's been through worst then me. I had Shizuka and Momoku and Naruto had no one. Naru...I'm so sorry. Gaara asked about me and Naruto told him that we've only met about two - three months ago and never knew of each other until then. He told him about the beast in the both of us. Gaara's face showed that he understood. He understood the pain Naruto's been through and at least what I'm going through now. I walked out and towards them. Temari and Kankuro both came to take Gaara.
I looked at him and saw him staring at me. "I'm...sorry." He said quietly. I smiled. "Don't worry about it. I forgive you. It was accident and like I said before. It's hard for me to get mad at you." I said smiling.
He nodded. "Good bye Gaara." I said as Kankuri amd Temari was ready to take him away. "Temari, Kankuro." They both looked at me. "Make sure that Gaara knows that you care about him." I said to them with a serious expression. They both looked surprised but nodded. After they left with Gaara I leaned down and sat next to Naruto. "Naru...are you okay?" I asked him quietly. He looked up at me and nodded a bit. "Yeah, are you?" He asked. I sighed but nodded. "Yeah. Let's get you to the hospital. I'll help you okay." He shook his head but I helped him and ways. He ended up fainting after he stood up. My guess is that he exhausted his chakra. I used clones to bring Sakura and Sasuke to the hospital as I carried Naruto.
After I put them in the infirmary I wemt around the Village to see if I had to help anyone. I saw what looked like a purple force field disappear and I was slightly confused. Until realization hit me. Lord third was dead. I ran towards where the last phase of the chunnin exams were since that's where the Orochimaru fought Lord third. There was Anbu around where lord third was and I already knew why.
He was really dead.
A/N - I hope you enjoyed this chapter. This was the longest one I've written so far. I hope that you all enjoyed it. I'll try and get the next chapter out as soon as possible. Goodbye readers.