Satomi P.O.V.
Soft pants fall out of Naruto's lips from beside me, the continuous battles beginning to take their toll on him. He's used up so much chakra, I feel guilty for asking for his help.
But I need it desperately.
A crawling sensation slithers up my leg, making me glance down in curiosity. I gasp when I see tendrils of sand wrapping around me and Naruto.
"Naruto-kun! The sand!" I warn attempting to break free, however, the sand doesn't budge from me. Naruto growls, trying to shake the sand off as well, but to no avail. Thinking on my feet, I body flicker to where the sand isn't touching the branch, whipping towards Naruto soon after. He had no way of getting out of the sand, so if I didn't stop it...
Naruto would die.
"Hang on, Naruto-kun! I can think of something!" I panic, desperately clawing at the sand inching its way up his body. No matter how fast I claw, though, it still manages to cover him more and more, until it's halfway up his body.
"No, no, no, no, no... I won't let you die like this, Naruto-kun! Just hang on!" I screech, tears beginning to flood my eyes as I realize just how hopeless this situation is. Nothing I had in my arsenal would help him... but there has to be something.
Naruto, getting an idea, pushes me back a step and wipes the blood off of his chin, a smirk on his face.
"Don't worry, Satomi-chan. I can get out of this myself. Hold on tight! Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" he cries, releasing a huge wave of chakra. I scream in surprise as I'm lifted into the air, a new terrain beneath my feet. The sand had fallen to the ground forgotten as Naruto's jutsu takes effect.
"Chief Toad! Would you mind helping us out?" Naruto asks. I look down, noticing that we are on the head of a giant summoning toad. My eyes widen as I glance back up at Naruto, who was smiling confidently. When the hell did he learn to summon something of this size...?
"No way! I'm not getting tangled up in a battle with someone as troublesome as Shukaku the Sand Spirit!" the toad hisses, turning his head to the side stubbornly. So Shukaku was the spirit's name...
"Why not?! I thought you said that I was your henchman!" Naruto pleads, slamming his hand on the top of the toad's head. The toad grunts in annoyance, narrowing its eyes dangerously.
"We never even sat and had sake over an agreement!" the toad rebuts, causing Naruto to deflate. Looks like we were out of luck...
"Hey, Pops!" a tiny toad says, hopping onto Naruto's head. I blink at the predicament, pointing at the small toad, and then the large one in confusion. They are father and son...?
"Gamakichi, what are you doing here?!" Chief Toad demands. Gamakichi scratches the back of his head sheepishly, his eyes closed in embarrassment.
"I was bored so I decided to see what was up. Anyways, Pops, that big freak over there was making fun of me, and the blonde kid and his friend came to my rescue! I'm telling you, there is more to these kids than meets the eye..." Gamakichi says, attempting to get his father to help us.
"Oh? Is that so... well then I guess I'll accept you as my henchman. Hold on tight!" Chief Toad says, darting forward with his katana outstretched. I shriek and hold onto his head for dear life, Naruto and Gamakichi doing the same, as the Chief Toad slices through Shukaku's right arm with ease.
"How do you like that?" he states confidently, his katana crashing to the ground and whipping wind around everywhere. Shukaku, or Gaara, rather, groans in pain, not being able to focus on one thing.
"That was one hell of an attack..." I mutter out dizzily. Naruto nods, before glancing behind Shukaku worriedly.
"Hey, Chief Toad! Try to lure him over this way, Sakura is over there! If she gets hit with these attacks, she's done for!" Naruto informs. I set my mouth in a straight line, a grim look on my face. He's right, Sasuke, Sakura, and Pakkun could all get caught up in this battle.
"Sakura?"
"That's his girlfriend, Pops!" Gamakichi informs the confused toad. He sighs, the task getting more and more difficult each passing second. As if to prove my point, Gaara comes out of the beast's head, his hands in a hand sign.
"What is he doing?" Naruto asks. I shake my head, not knowing what was happening either. The Chief Toad grumbles to himself, a weary look in his eyes.
"Those are clear signs of insomnia... he's the medium of the Shukaku, so he can't fall asleep without having night terrors. As a result, the medium's personality is changed with the lack of sleep. In order to keep Shukaku in check, the medium needs to be awake. If he falls asleep... Shukaku is given free reign, which would be trouble for us."
"Tanuki Neiri no Jutsu..." Gaara grumbles out, before slumping over asleep. What luck we have.
"Uh oh, this isn't good..." Gamakichi comments, as Shukaku's true spirit comes through. He laughs manically, a crazed look in his eyes.
"I'm finally free! Now... it's time for you to die!" he shouts, sending an air bullet our way. Chief Toad bends his knees, preparing to move out of the way.
"I'm going to jump, so you better hold on!" he says, jumping high into the air. The pressure forces Naruto and I to lay flat on his head as we soar over the demon's head. Shukaku sends another three air bullets our way, to which Chief Toad counters with a couple of liquid bullets, although he isn't able to make a third one.
"Here it comes!"
Shukaku's air bullet slams against Chief Toad's chin, causing an explosion to rattle all of us. I struggle to hold onto his head, using all of my strength to keep from falling off. Across from me, Naruto is beginning to slip down, his face revealing his panic.
"Naruto-kun, grab on!" I instruct, taking a hold of his hand as we begin to fall to the ground, yet remarkably still on the toad's head.
"Are you alright?" I ask Naruto hastily as soon as we settle, pulling myself up to a sitting position. He nods painfully, rubbing the back of his head.
"That was one powerful attack... a few more of those and not even I will be able to stay standing!" Chief Toad announces, hopping out of the dust cloud seemingly unharmed.
"Kid, I'm gonna go in close, I need you to wake Gaara up! That's the only chance we have of winning!" the toad informs, preparing to dash straight for Shukaku.
"How the hell do I do that?!" Naruto demands as we come closer and closer to the beast before us.
"Hit him or something! A good slug to the face should be enough!" Chief Toad answers, holding onto Shukaku's shoulders as Naruto prepares to jump forward towards Gaara. Unfortunately, Shukaku is able to shimmy out of the Chief's grip, backing away before Naruto could go forward.
"Hey, Chief! I need you to hold onto him longer so that I can get to Gaara!" Naruto informs. Chief Toad growls in frustration, quickly tiring from the battle with such a powerful being.
"I don't have any way to hold onto him for long enough. The only way to pull this off is for us to transform into something with claws and fangs so we can hold on longer! I'm no good at the Henge no Jutsu, so I say we go for a combined transformation! Although, that girl can't do it with us because that would be too many people..."
"I have an idea. Right before you transform, I'll body flicker onto Shukaku's head and cast a genjutsu on him to keep him still while you catch him. Then, Naruto can wake Gaara up. The thing is... I won't be able to hold something of this size for long, and it will take a whole lot of chakra to keep the genjutsu under control for long enough, so you'll need to do this fast," I suggest.
With no other option, Naruto and Chief Toad agree to my plan, each of us preparing for our part. Placing my hands in a hand sign, I build up my chakra, getting ready to cast my best genjutsu.
This is gonna be really taxing on me... I already know it.
"Let's go!" Chief Toad says, dashing forward yet again. Naruto builds up his chakra, a fierce look in his eyes. He was not gonna fail.
"Now, Satomi-chan!"
I take a running start, jumping off the Chief's head and body flickering right on the edge of Shukaku's head, as I hear a poof behind me signaling that they had transformed.
"Shukaku!" I shout, gaining the beast's attention. We lock eyes, and that's all I need. I cast my genjutsu on him, trembling harder and harder with each second that passes. Shukaku was fighting to break my hold on him, but I wasn't budging.
The genjutsu may not be very advanced, but it was the only one that would be useful right now. It was easy, and that made it easier to master. I had this jutsu mastered to the farthest extent, so it wouldn't be easy to break out of this.
That is, of course, assuming you aren't a powerful Sand Spirit hell-bent on killing everyone in sight.
Sweat drips down my face as I groan, my strength fading fast. I can't hold on much longer, his spirit is too much for me to control right now!
Naruto and Chief Toad are able to latch on to Shukaku just in time, undoing their transformation right as my genjutsu releases. I gasp in exhaustion and fall to one knee, closing my eyes in pain. It was enough, though.
Naruto lands a punch right to Gaara's face, waking him up instantly from his jutsu. I body flicker behind Gaara before he sees me, just in case I need to come in again with the element of surprise.
"How dare you interrupt my jutsu! I'm going to kill you!" Gaara declares, wrapping his sand around Naruto. I whip out a kunai, a dark look in my usually kind eyes as I charge forward.
"Don't you lay a finger on him!" I screech, shoving my kunai into Gaara's old wound from when he was fighting Sasukeand breaking his concentration. He turns around and slugs me in the face, using his sand to whip me down past Naruto.
"Get him, Naruto-kun!" I shout as I free fall, putting my hands into a hand sign and body flickering to the top of a nearby tree. Falling to one knee, I look up just as Naruto headbutts Gaara, causing his transformation into Shukaku to disperse into sand.
Naruto and Gaara begin to fall through the air, each of them clearly at their limit. Chief Toad 's summoning runs up and he heads back to wherever he comes from, leaving me as the only one not completely drained.
Reaching out, I catch Naruto's hand and pull him into my tree before he could continue falling, with Gaara falling into the one opposite of us.
"You did it, Naruto-kun. You did it..." I say, tears brimming my eyes. It was finally over. We had won.
"T-Thanks for catching me, Satomi-chan... but Gaara... you and I are a lot alike, more than you know," Naruto says, catching Gaara's eyes from the other tree.
Gaara begins to fall to the ground, not being able to keep himself up any longer. I gasp and reach out, and as I do, Naruto begins to fall himself.
"Naruto-kun!" I shout, jumping to him and hugging him to myself, body flickering safely to the ground as soon as I had him in my arms.
As we hit the ground, I stumble and accidentally fall, although I'm able to keep Naruto from hitting the ground by taking the fall for him.
"Let me down, Satomi-chan..."
I lay him on the forest floor, merely watching as he begins to crawl over to Gaara, who was watching with wide, terrified eyes.
"It's almost unbearable, isn't it? The pain of being alone... that's how I used to feel. But now I have friends that love and care for me. I love them more than I love myself, which is why I will not let you lay even a finger on any of them!" Naruto declares tiredly.
"N-No... stay away from me! How could you be so strong?!" Gaara says, struggling to move to get away from Naruto. In turn, Naruto merely smiles at him, unshed tears glistening in his eyes.
"I fight for my friends. My love for them is what makes me strong."
A figure jumps down from the trees behind Naruto and I, causing me to flick out a kunai in defense and turn around.
"Relax, Satomi, it's me," Sasuke says, walking up to the two of us. I sigh in relief, letting my kunai down as Naruto looks up at Sasuke from the ground.
"Sasuke, are you alright?" I ask softly, standing up and walking over to my brother worriedly. He nods his head, avoiding my eyes for some reason. Biting my lip, I realize that my mangekyo sharingan is still active, so I let my eyes return to normal and give him a small smile which he returns.
"Don't worry, Naruto, Sakura is safe. It's time to go back," Sasuke informs. Naruto sighs in relief, letting his eyes flutter closed.
"That's... good..."
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