Naruto Hikikaeru

Naruto watched as the sand surrounded Gaara, forming into a sphere. Looks like Gaara is going to bring out Shukaku for the fight, Naruto thought to himself. I guess now's a good chance to start re-gathering natural chakra, it's almost been thirty minutes since I first gathered it when I was facing Sasuke.

Naruto then sat down onto the ground and closed his eyes as he focused on gathering more natural chakra from the surroundings.

After about a minute of gathering natural chakra, the sage markings reappeared around Naruto's eyes, and the toad slits within his pupils appeared once again. He then stood up and gazed at the sand sphere covering Gaara. Man, being in sage mode, I can now feel the awful chakra emanating from it, it's really awful, Naruto thought.

Well, I don't have any good piercing techniques right, and I'm not trying to kill Gaara either, so let's try this, Naruto thought as he held his hand up.

Naruto gathered his chakra and a massive swirling mass of chakra began forming within his palm.

Gaara was inside the sphere of sand as he began speaking to himself.

"Don't worry mother, I've found someone who will kill!"

"I'll bash his head open and the blood will spill out everywhere."

"Delicious blood that I will feed you."

Naruto rushed toward the sphere of sand containing Gaara, then he thrust his palm forward with the massive Rasengan in hand toward the sand sphere. Spikes formed on the sphere and pierced toward Naruto, however, the massive Rasengan completely destroyed the sand spikes, grinding them to dust as Naruto pressed on. Soon, the Rasengan hit the sand sphere and started carving away at the sand's defenses. Naruto pushed more until finally, the sand gave way, Naruto quickly dispersed the chakra of the Rasengan bringing it to the size of a normal sized Rasengan before slamming it straight into Gaara's c.h.e.s.t, launching him backwards into the sand wall behind him and through that as he rotated in air while flying.

Naruto landed onto the ground as the sand sphere crumbled around him, he watched as Gaara soared through the air before crashing onto the ground. Naruto narrowed his eyes as he saw that Gaara had already completed part of the transformation as his entire upper half of his body was covered in sand, making him look like a miniature Shukaku.

However, the sand around Gaara's c.h.e.s.t was soft and falling onto the ground as it couldn't hold its shape.

"What is this?! This sensation that I'm feeling?" Gaara cried out.

"It's pain…. Pain!! This is pain!!" Gaara yelled.

Gaara looked down at his c.h.e.s.t before roaring into the air and then rushing to face Naruto.

Naruto glanced around and then turned and fled as Gaara chased after him.

"Where are you going!? Uzumaki Naruto!! Face me!!!" Gaara shouted as he followed Naruto.

Naruto ignored Gaara as he led him into the forest that he had fought Sasuke, Kankuro and Temari in. That should let us fight without worrying about anybody getting hurt because of our battle, Naruto thought as he rushed into the tree line. Gaara still chasing after him with killing intent radiating off of him. Luckily, thanks to Hateshi helping me train in sensing killing intent and because of Sage mode, I know exactly where Gaara is without even looking, Naruto thought to himself as he continued dodging all of Gaara's attacks with minimal effort as he continued jumping and swinging from tree branch to tree branch.

Seeing all of his attacks fail only further caused anger to swell within Gaara as he attacked with increasing intensity.

"What's wrong Uzumaki Naruto!? Why do you only flee?!" Gaara shouted.

"Where's that power you used before to force me into this state!?"

"Fight to prove our existence to each other!!!" Gaara yelled.

Naruto finally came upon a clearing in the forests, he landed onto the ground and turned to face Gaara.

"Sorry, but I only wanted to get you away from anyone that could get hurt from our battle. Now we can fight without getting interrupted." Naruto replied.

Gaara landed onto a tree branch as he glared at Naruto.

Naruto took a fighting stance as he held his fists up toward Gaara.

"You wanted a fight? Then let's fight!" Naruto called out to Gaara as he rushed to face Gaara.

Gaara then rushed to face Naruto while Naruto waited for Gaara to get close. Gaara swung his arm as he ran creating multiple sand shurikens that he threw at Naruto. Naruto reached into his pouch and pulled out several kunai that were tied with explosive tags that he threw to counter. As soon as Naruto's shurikens hit the sand shurikens, they exploded. Then Naruto created two clones and the three of them started weaving hand seals.

Tiger → Ox → Dog → Rabbit → Snake

The three Naruto's blew an extremely large gust of wind at Gaara. Causing him to get sent flying into the air as Naruto then used his two clones to throw him straight at Gaara. Naruto soared through the air and did a body blow against Gaara. Gaara grabbed hold of Naruto and then swung his arms, swinging Naruto around in the air before sending him flying toward the ground. Naruto crossed his fingers and created several more clones that he grabbed a hold of. He twisted his body, rotating as he threw clone after clone before a clone threw him as well. Gaara knocked away the first clone to the side before the second clone grabbed a hole of Gaara's leg while the third and fourth grabbed hold of Gaara's arms. Then the real Naruto arrived his in time to punch Gaara in the face. Then he flipped over and drop kicked Gaara straight down, launching him toward the ground.

Then he created another clone and threw the clone at Gaara. Clone Naruto then gathered chakra into his hand.

Then he thrust his hand down and hit Gaara with the massive spiraling sphere of chakra as he hurled it along with Gaara into the ground, slamming Gaara's body onto the soil.

"GUUUAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!" Gaara coughed out blood as his body was pummeled into the ground.

Suddenly, sand rose up from around Gaara's body and crushed clone Naruto, making him disperse. Naruto frowned while falling from above as he watched the scene below him.

"Blood? You've made me bleed!!!!" Gaara shouted out as he began thrashing about.

"I see…. I understand now!!! I understand why I so desperately need to battle against you Uzumaki Naruto!!! You're the first existence capable of injuring me like this!!! Once I kill you, I'll have proven my existence in a completely new way!!!!" Gaara shouted as he began laughing maniacally.

I'd almost forgotten how crazy Gaara was during this time, Naruto thought, he really changed into someone completely different in my previous life. Naruto then landed onto the ground as he faced Gaara once again.

"Let's do this Uzumaki Naruto!! Let's fight until one of us dies!!" Gaara shouted as he then looked at Naruto.

Suddenly, mouths appeared all over Gaara's sand body and they each began inhaling air rapidly, causing his body to swell in size.

Gaara then spewed out all the air he had inhaled while infusing his chakra within it. Creating a massive sandstorm that flew at Naruto.

Shit! Naruto thought as he braced himself. He was then blown back and crashed into a tree as he continued bracing himself against the jutsu Gaara used. Small cuts slowly forming all over Naruto's arms and body. Once the jutsu died down, Gaara gazed at Naruto's form that was riddled with small cuts.

"GYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, do you see that mother!! I'm pushing him back!!" Gaara laughed.

Naruto spit out some sand that had gotten into his mouth as he then started rushing toward Gaara.

"Don't go celebrating just yet, these are only scratches!!" Naruto shouted.

Naruto rushed Gaara and slammed his fist straight into Gaara's gut. Then he slammed his other fist into Gaara as he retracted his first fist. Naruto continued slamming his fists rapidly onto Gaara's body as he slowly lifted Gaara's body up into the air by the force of his blows.

"UUUUWOOOOAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!" Naruto yelled as he continued throwing punches.

Gaara g.r.o.a.n.e.d as he took each blow, then he brought his arm up and swung it down.

Naruto stopped punching and grabbed hold of Gaara's arm, then he spun his body and threw Gaara at a tree.

Crashing into the tree, Gaara grunted in pain again before landing back onto the ground.

"That's it! It's time to end everything!!" Gaara shouted.

Suddenly, sand exploded outward from Gaara as his body enlarged in size. Naruto quickly retreated as the surroundings were crushed from Gaara's sudden action.

When the dust settled, Naruto saw Gaara's final form as he was completely transformed into Shukaku.

"You've been extremely entertaining Uzumaki Naruto!! Let's see how you handle this!!" Gaara shouted in his complete Shukaku form.

Gaara slammed his hand against his stomach as he fired off a blast of air toward Naruto.

"Shit!" Naruto cursed as he quickly weaved hand seals.

Tiger → Ox → Dog → Rabbit → Snake

Naruto exhaled a large blast of wind, just barely canceling out the air bullet Gaara had fired.

Looks like it's finally time for me to summon him! Naruto thought as he bit his finger and began weaving the hand seals.

Boar → Dog → Bird → Monkey → Ram

Suddenly an explosion of smoke appeared, before shortly revealing Gamabunta as the wind blew the smoke away.

"Eh!? Brat! Where am I, what's going on?" Gamabunta shouted.

"I'm kind of in a bind boss, I could use some help." Naruto replied.

Gamabunta glanced over and saw the transformed Gaara.

"Shukaku…... huh." Gamabunta said as he recognized Gaara's form.

"Looks like you've got a knack for getting caught up in troublesome situations!" Gamabunta grinned.

"Eh? It's not my fault that these things happen." Naruto retorted.

"Enough, let's focus on the task at hand!" Gamabunta yelled.

Gaara stared at Naruto who had summoned a giant toad and began laughing.

"You certainly don't disappoint; this is exactly what I needed!! Killing you will be the greatest feeling ever!!! Uzumaki Naruto!!" Gaara shouted.

"Get ready, we're going to jump!" Gamabunta suddenly said as he crouched down onto the ground.

Gaara slammed his hand onto his stomach just as Gamabunta jumped straight into the air. Then right as Gamabunta landed onto the ground he jumped forward and slashed his blade toward Gaara. What toughness! Gamabunta thought as his hands shook from the impact, the blade falling out of his grasp before impaling itself into the ground.

Gaara grunted in pain then he glared at Naruto and Gamabunta.

"It seems even this isn't enough to defeat you! Uzumaki Naruto!" Gaara said.

Then, Gaara's real body slowly started appearing upon Shukaku's face until just his upper half was visible.

"I'll show you the true strength of the sand spirit fear by the sand village!" Gaara uttered as he brought his hands together.

Shortly after, Gaara fell asleep.

"This isn't good. You better prepare yourself; this fight is about to get a whole lot more complicated!" Gamabunta shouted.

"Yeah, I know." Naruto replied as he remembered the last time.

Suddenly, the eyes on Shukaku's face changed color as the real Shukaku finally woke up.

"GYAHAHAHAHAHA, I'm finally awake!! And look! There's already someone for me to kill here!!" Shukaku laughed hysterically.

Just great! Naruto thought, I had hoped I wouldn't have to go through this all over again, but looks like I don't have a choice anymore.

"Let's do this Gamabunta!" Naruto yelled as he prepared himself.

"Right!" Gamabunta shouted back as he gazed at Shukaku.

-End of Chapter 45-

Author's Notes: Here's the final chapter for today. I took a short break before writing this, and then it became harder to come back to it. So that's why it took a little bit longer than the others to write. Anyways, Things are reaching the climax of this situation, hopefully you guys are enjoying it all the same. I'll see you guys again in chapter 46. Peace!