CH 1

Naruto's head was splitting. The rush of memories returning to him in that instance gave him the mother of all migraines, and the dueling memories of his time in Ne and the memories that he assured himself were implanted somehow weren't helping at all either.

After hearing the confidence in Naruto's voice ring out in the forest Sasuke spoke up, "Naruto… What happened to you? What's going on?"

Naruto looked down at Sasuke with one eye and back up at Gaara, "You know, I'm not entirely sure myself. Right now, I feel like crap, but compared to the way I've been feeling for the last four years I feel amazing. It's hard to explain."

He grunted, "It's not important right now. I have to beat his ass, hustle back to Konoha and find someone, like Danzo or something, that can explain all of this to me. So here's what we're going to do. I'm going to attack him, and you… aren't. Now commencing Operation: Beat Gaara's Ass!"

Sasuke had a myriad of questions running through his head at this point, 'What happened to the dobe? Who is Danzo? What the hell does he mean I'm not fighting!'

Gaara heard his voice speaking to Sasuke the entire time and cackled to Naruto across the trees, "You aren't strong enough Uzumaki! Leave them behind and run! Nothing has changed, you still don't fight for yourself!"

Gaara flung more sand shuriken at Naruto who scoffed and grabbed Sasuke by the back of his collar and ducked and weaved out of the way of the projectiles. After he had gotten through them all he dropped Sasuke back on the branch and scoffed, "Pathetic… I'm slow as dirt… Did my muscles atrophy or something? I became a ninja anyway which means I should be conditioned like a genin… I should have kept my speed at least."

Gaara looked at Naruto looking himself over after dodging with Sasuke. This angered him, it was like Naruto was ignoring his existence, just like everybody else, "Just like everybody else… Don't ignore me!"

Gaara had mouths appearing all over his body as he took a deep breath and released it ahead, "Fuuton: Mugen Sajin Daitoppa (Wind Release: Sandstorm Devastation)!" Gaara released a massive blast of air in a sandstorm in Naruto and Sasuke's direction, tearing off branches and cutting into the bark of trees.

As the wind died down Gaara couldn't see Naruto or Sasuke, no sign of either.

"It's a shame."

Gaara turned around to see Naruto standing behind him right before Naruto's fist lifted him off of the branch and sent him crashing to a lower level. Naruto crouched on the branch and watched Gaara try to stand, "You had a defense that only the fastest could bypass and only the strongest could breach, and what do you do? You cast it away for raw power when things get a little tough. Raw power can only overwhelm skill and finesse in extreme qualities."

Naruto pointed at Sasuke who was over by Sakura, Pakkun, and Gamakichi, "You beat him in this form because he was already burned out when you transformed. He used Chidori twice here, once during your fight in the stadium, and I'm sure he tested it one time when he and Kakashi were late. If he had more shots then you wouldn't have won."

He smirked down at Gaara, "I don't know what happened to me all of those years ago, but I'm not the kid that just had Kage Bunshin flying all over the place anymore. I could beat you like that, but that wouldn't be very fun, after all of this time, I can finally fight like I used to, if only a little bit. I'm still not fast enough to avoid taking hits, but I can almost assure you that however hard you hit me…" A feral grin came onto Naruto's face, "I'll hit you twice as hard. So let's see who can still stand up when this is all over."

Naruto's hand moved unconsciously to his back before he pulled it down, clicking his teeth, 'Damn that's right. I don't have a sword. Seriously, what happened to me? These phantom urges to fight like I was trained to are going to get me killed if I don't get it together.'

Gaara stood with a growl, "You aren't stronger than me! You fight for the Uchiha… You fight for the pink-haired girl… Fighting for others makes you weak!"

Naruto scoffed, "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. There are detailed stories of mere mortal men, overcoming demons, for others. The Yondaime Hokage overcame the Kyuubi no Yoko for his village. Orochimaru fights for himself, you fight for yourself, and that's why you will both lose here today, because you don't have a true purpose to fight."

Naruto cracked his knuckles, "But let me show you, just how wrong you are. Don't blink." One flash tag later and Naruto's presence was gone from the area.

Everyone looked around for any sign of the blonde boy who had changed from the orange loudmouth they had taken him for based on past experience. Chuckling rang out through the forest, but not from any particular area, as Naruto was projecting his voice.

"That little sandstorm from earlier wasn't a Fuuton jutsu. This is a Fuuton jutsu! Fuuton: Reppuushoo (Wind Release: Gale Palm)!" A fierce gale came from the trees above, sending wind and weapons at Gaara from above. Gaara lifted his arms to block vital spots and allowed the kunai and shuriken to bury themselves into them.

Gaara lowered his hands and shouted out loudly, "Is that the best you have Uzumaki? Come out and fight me! Give me a real fight! Let me feel alive!"

Naruto's voice rang out again in mocking laughter, "If you wanted to feel 'alive' then you shouldn't have caught those weapons. Even with all of that power, you're still just a baby genin huh? Just listen… and tell me what you hear…"

Everyone silenced themselves in order to listen for Naruto's warning. Temari's eyes widened, too late to help, a hissing noise coming from Gaara was being muffled by the sandy appendage he had caught the mishmash of ninja tools in.

"Gaara no!"

Temari's shout of warning did no good. It was too late for him to cast them out as a massive explosion took place in the trees, and the fireball that used to be Gaara fell to the forest floor. The others could only look on in amazement as the goofy boy in orange was systematically decimating the strongest person out of them all.

Naruto's voice rang out again, "Damn it I should have just killed you." Gaara was like a puddle of melting sand on the ground as Naruto spoke, "I guess my fake self has more influence over me than I thought. I should be down there killing you right now. But for old times' sake I guess I'll hit you with an attack inspired by him."

Suddenly several Naruto's rushed out of the foliage and kicked Gaara into the air, one after another. U!

Zu!

Ma!

Ki!

As Gaara was stuck hanging in the air a wave of orange revealed itself from the leaves above. Countless Kage Bunshin from Naruto descended with their fists and feet cocked to strike, "Naruto Nisei Rendan (Naruto Uzumaki 2K Barrage)!"

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