Chapter 27: Fighting Gaara

I had witnessed Gaara's sensei grabbing Gaara and running away with him. He was probably going to tamper with Gaara's seal, so we had to get there before he could do so.

As we continued running, I spotted Temari who was wounded and lying on a tree branch, and so was their sensei. Gaara was partially transformed and rushing towards Sasuke with the intent to kill him. Naruto also seemed to notice and rushed forward, kicking Gaara in the face.

Sakura and Pakkun checked on Sasuke as Naruto and I stood in front of them.

As we stood in front of them, Naruto said, "Hinoka!"

"Yeah?"

"This guy… Who is he?!"

I paused for a while before I said, "It's Gaara," inwardly thinking, 'I didn't make it in time! He already tampered with Gaara's seal!'

Naruto had a shocked expression. As Sasuke struggled behind us, I was trying to come up with a plan. When I heard Naruto scream "R-Run! Everybody!" I spotted Gaara run past us out of the corner of my eye. As he screamed, "Die Sasuke!"

I turned my head towards Sasuke, thinking 'Dang it, I won't make it!' when Sakura jumped in between Sasuke and Gaara, shaking and holding a kunai with both her hands.

Gaara pinned Sakura to a tree as Naruto grabbed Sasuke before turning to me and asking, "Hinoka! What do we do now?!"

I started panicking as I tried to figure out what to do when Gaara asked, "What's the matter? Weren't you about to run for it?"

Naruto started shaking when he turned towards Sakura who mumbled, "Sasuke, Hinoka, N-Naruto."

"Who are these people to both of you?" Gaara asked.

Hearing that, I calmed down, and Naruto stopped shaking.

I looked at Gaara and smirked as I said, "They're our friends."

"Yeah! And if you so much as lay a finger on the two of them, then we will pulverize you!" Naruto continued.

Gaara tightened his grip on Sakura as he asked, "What's the matter? Weren't you going to pulverize me? Well, come on then."

Seeing this, Naruto charged at Gaara but was thrown back. I jumped behind Naruto, protecting him from the impact. We both stood up as Gaara started laughing, saying, "And that's exactly why you can't win. As long as you fight for the sake of others, you'll never advance beyond this level. Only one can remain undefeated, and only they will feel what it's like to truly exist. Forget your friends and fight for yourselves."

Hearing this, I started to get angry, saying, "Forget my friends?!"

"Let trivial feelings like friendship and loyalty cloud your focus, and you'll die!"

Naruto also seemed to be getting angry, saying, "Yeah, yeah, keep talking while you can cause we're about to shut you up once and for all!"

Saying that, Naruto charged towards Gaara with a kunai.

I noticed Gaara start to wince in pain as his tail was about to hit Naruto.

I pushed Naruto aside and was hit instead.

As Naruto ran up to me, I stood up, saying "I'm fine. Now let's rescue Sasuke and Sakura."

Naruto nodded as he created 4 shadow clones and grabbed a kunai. I also grabbed a kunai as we charged at Gaara. Gaara caught three of Naruto's shadow clones with his hand, but just as he did, I appeared in front of him kicking him in the face sending him flying back. Naruto created another shadow clone which threw him in the direction of Gaara. He used another one to get behind Gaara. As Gaara landed on a tree branch Naruto appeared behind him as he said, "Take this! Leaf Village secret Taijutsu! Straight from the teachings of Kakashi sensei! Thousand years of death!" stabbing Gaara with a kunai in the butt. Just as Gaara hit Naruto sending him flying I smirked as Gaara exploded. As Naruto was about to hit a tree, I caught him as I said, nice work.

As Sasuke came towards us he had a serious expression on his face as he said, "Hinoka, Naruto you have to save Sakura if it's the last thing you do. Once you've got her I want the both of you to take her and run away as fast as you can. I'll hold him here a little longer. If it ends here it just means this was as far as I was meant to go. I lost everything once, I don't want to see that again. My trusted comrades falling right in front of me!"

Naruto looked at Sasuke with a shocked expression as he said, "I get it now. Of course, he's no different than I am. Going through life with the exact same sadness and loneliness that I had to carry. I really did. I don't know I guess I should've known better. That's not what real strength is. If you never fight for anyone but yourself, you won't get stronger!" Naruto started releasing an immense amount of chakra, saying, "Multi shadow clone Jutsu!"

Naruto created a bunch of shadow clones, smiling as he said, "Ge, I'm sorry I didn't mean to keep you waiting so long! So get ready for an original Jutsu from my ninja handbook!"

Sasuke looked at Naruto shocked, asking, "How did you do this?" Naruto didn't turn around, saying, "Sasuke, Hinoka why don't you take it easy for now, you deserve it. Just leave it to me, Naruto Uzumaki! Alright everybody, let's do this!"

Naruto sent a bunch of shuriken at Gaara, which he blocked with his hand. But just as he did, Naruto and his clones attacked Gaara, sending him to the ground.

As Naruto and his clones charged at Gaara, he screamed, "There's absolutely no way I'm going to lose to you!"

There was a bunch of smoke, and as it cleared, Gaara seemed to have grown bigger and to have fully transformed.

As Naruto was sent flying back into a tree, a bunch of sand started surrounding him. As I was about to head in his direction, Sasuke fell to his knees.

"Sasuke!"

"I'm fine, go help Naruto!"

I nodded as I ran towards Naruto, grabbing him or I guess you could say I tackled him.

As we were about to fall onto a branch, I grabbed Naruto, tacking the impact.

I let go of him as he looked at me, saying, "Hinoka!"

I sat up, and flicked his forehead saying, "You're going to be the death of me one day, you idiot."

Naruto smiled back, saying, "Leave the rest to me! This time I'll take him down for sure!"

"You better!"

Naruto started running towards Gaara as he wiped the blood from his face, saying, "Summoning Jutsu!"

A giant frog appeared as I smirked and thought, 'I better get stronger, or Naruto will leave me behind

As the frog attacked Gaara, I suddenly heard a voice in my head, "You could become stronger if you just let me help you."

I scoffed, replying, "As if I would trust you, Yukino."

"Why wouldn't you?!"

Just then, a bunch of water fell on my head. I leaned back on the tree, saying, "Could you shut up and let me watch Naruto's battle?!"

"Wow, someone's moody today."

As I continued arguing, I heard a crash. I turned my gaze to where Naruto was fighting, and I saw the giant frog disappear.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the sand on Sakura fall. I caught her, taking her to Pakkun, and said, "Take care of her," before heading in Naruto's direction. As I got there, Sasuke was standing next to Naruto.

Kankuro and Temari, I think her name was, were standing in front of Gaara.

Before they could do anything, Gaara said, "That's enough."

As Kankuro helped Gaara up, they looked at us but before they left. I smiled and said, "Hey Gaara, get well soon."