Chapter 56: One-Tail, Unleashed
SCREEE—!
A splash of bright crimson blood. Sasuke's Chidori, its force spent from breaching the sand, finally met its match—a last, dense layer of sand armor over Gaara's chest. The lightning clawed through it, drawing blood, but no deeper.
Even a scratch was an unbearable insult. Gaara's fury exploded. The other half of his body distorted, swelling into monstrous form until he was fully encased in a shrunken, grotesque effigy of the One-Tail, Shukaku.
Sasuke didn't know the name, but she felt the power—a chakra so dense and malevolent it snuffed out her own aura like a candle.
"YOU WILL DIE, UCHIHA SASUKE!" Gaara's roar was a guttural blend of his own voice and something far older. A monstrous, sandy fist closed around Sasuke's arm and hurled her.
THUD!
Her body cratered the earth where she landed. She struggled to her knees, coughing dust, only for a tidal wave of yellow sand to crash down where she'd been a second before.
BOOM!
She rolled aside, the shockwave battering her. But Gaara's sand was everywhere. A sweeping backhand, too wide to dodge, caught her and sent her flying again.
In mid-air, disoriented, she saw the sand coalesce, reaching to snatch her from the sky.
"HAHAHA! GOT YOU! LET'S SEE YOU RUN NOW! I'LL CRUSH YOU! CRUSH YOU LIKE A BUG!" The voice that boomed was a chaotic chorus of Gaara and the beast, thrilling with a vicious joy that made Kankuro, watching from the shadows, tremble uncontrollably.
It's over. The full manifestation. There's no stopping it now. Kankuro turned to flee, only to see a flash of motion—Uzumaki Naruto, then Temari, shooting past him.
"Temari! He's fully transformed! It's suicide!" Kankuro screamed after her.
Temari faltered, but seeing Naruto charge ahead without hesitation, she gritted her teeth and followed.
"Are you both insane?!" Kankuro yelled to their retreating backs.
Naruto, sensing Sasuke's chakra flickering dangerously, pushed his speed to the limit. He burst into the clearing just as the sandy fist was closing around her crumpled form in mid-air.
"SASUKE!" Naruto's heart lurched. His hands were already moving. "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
A blade of compressed air, sharper than any steel, sliced through the sandy wrist. The grip shattered, and Sasuke fell amidst a shower of grit.
Naruto flickered, catching her before she hit the ground. "Sasuke! Are you okay?!"
He looked down. The Curse Mark on her face was receding, leaving behind her delicate, pain-twisted features.
"Naruto… you're here…" she murmured, her voice a thread. A profound calm washed over her. The roaring beast, the chaos—it all faded. In this embrace, she felt only safety. Like a storm-tossed ship finally reaching port.
"You did great. Rest now. I'll handle this." He gave her a quick, reassuring smile, carried her to the base of a large tree, and set her down gently. A shadow clone poofed into existence beside her. "Watch over her," he ordered, then turned and launched himself back toward the monstrosity.
Scene Twenty-Four: The Sand Guardian
Temari arrived at the tree a moment later. Sasuke tensed, struggling to rise. "What do you want?!"
Naruto's clone stepped between them, its voice flat. "Make a move now, and even as a clone, I'll make you regret it."
Temari held up her hands, a bitter smile on her face. "Don't misunderstand. I'm not here to fight. Not anymore. The priority now is stopping Gaara!" Her eyes locked onto the clone. "And Naruto Uzumaki… I need to know. Who was it that knocked me out last night?"
"Heh. It's a bit late for that conversation," the clone replied, shaking its head. "Everything will be clear when you return to Konoha."
Sasuke watched, puzzled. What happened between them last night?
Gaara was incandescent with rage. So close to crushing the Uchiha, and now he was back. The ultimate interloper.
"ANYONE WHO GETS IN MY WAY DIES!" A mountain of sand heaved itself at Naruto.
Naruto became a flicker of golden motion, weaving through the sandy onslaught, closing the distance in a heartbeat.
"Rasengan!"
The blue sphere slammed into Gaara's sandy carapace.
BOOM!
Gaara was thrown backward, the sand shield cracking but holding. Only a trickle of blood escaped his lips. The Rasengan had transmitted force, bruising internals, but the true damage was minimal.
It only stoked the inferno. From mid-air, Gaara summoned a desert storm, a blitzkrieg of sand that filled the clearing.
Naruto dove behind the thickest tree he could find, weathering the sandy blast. When it passed, he rose.
Gaara's aura was still climbing. Naruto knew: half-measures were useless. He had to break through, or Shukaku would take over completely.
Before Gaara could attack again, Naruto's hands moved. Poof-poof-poof-poof! A squad of shadow clones materialized around him. Each one's hands glowed with a spiraling sphere of blue chakra.
They charged from all angles.
Gaara lashed out, his sandy limbs swatting clones into puffs of smoke. But there were too many. Three broke through the defense.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
Three Rasengan struck home in rapid succession. The concussive force was devastating, the grinding energy seeking weak points in the sandy shell.
"ROOOOAR!" Gaara's cry was one of pure, shredded agony.
Temari and Kankuro, watching from a distance, were stunned to silence.
"How… how is he this strong?" Temari whispered, awestruck and horrified. "He's overwhelming Gaara… even in that form…"
Kankuro swallowed hard, his earlier bravado gone. "I think… we picked a fight with the wrong monster."
The three clones dissipated. Naruto approached the crater where Gaara lay, the sandy form cracked and twitching.
"Do you yield?"
Gaara pushed himself up, sand crumbling from his body. Internal injuries screamed, but his eyes blazed with a manic, ecstatic light. "Uzumaki Naruto… you are the first to bring me this low…" he rasped. "So… I'll return the favor… with that power!"
Naruto felt it—a seismic shift, a dam breaking deep within Gaara. The chakra that erupted was orders of magnitude vaster, older, and utterly savage. The roar that followed shook the very trees.
Naruto didn't hesitate. He leaped back, biting his thumb and sweeping his hands through the familiar seals. He slammed his bloody palm to the earth.
"SUMMONING JUTSU!"