Chapter 28.And winner is..

Outside the barrier, Saruto was facing Rasa. With his staff behind his back, Saruto ran toward his opponent. Rasa removed his cloak and revealed his small gourd of gold sand. He released it from the gourd as it stopped Saruto's incoming strikes. With every strike blocked, Saruto was backed down. The sand pushed his staff.

"Saruto-san, do you need help?"

Saruto was sliding backwards as he looked at a certain sound ninja who just arrived. He stopped his movements with his staff and, "Hey, stop asking questions when I am fighting!"

"Yes, Saruto-san!"

"Go help the others! They'll need help if I fail here. What are you going by anyway?"

"Sound leader!"

"Sound leader? That's a stupid name kid"

Just during his conversation with "The Sound Leader", Rasa's sent his gold sand to attack him.

Without even looking at it, Saruto's hand grasped the middle of the staff and he quickly spun it in front of him. It made it look like a shield which stopped Rasa's attack. "This name is better than Hokage's mysterious advisor", said the sound leader and then left the place. 'Uchiha Shisui, the body flicker is the founder of Otogakure. Who can think of a stupid idea like this? I am glad it worked'

Saruto was proud of himself as he turned his attention to Rasa. "Hey Kazekage, we don't have to fight. This is an unnecessary fight"

"Why should I listen to you? You are trying to take our Shukaku"

"Taking what now? Why would we want another beast?"

"I heard that your shinobis were meeting jinchurikis lately. You even said that you killed Mizukage Yondaime who was also a jinchuriki"

Saruto sighed and said, "I released him from a powerful genjutsu"

"Doesn't matter! Why would you need a barrier like this for a chunin exam? You were planning to take our weapon from the beginning!"

"Seriously? That's your son out there! You're only worried about your so-called military weapon?"

"You don't know about the tough choices that I had to make as the Kazekage"

"Oh, I know a lot about that. You ordered someone who cared about Gaara to kill him for the "sake of the village", that's some bold choice, you should be proud of it!"

"How did you know about that?" Rasa was frustrated with Saruto's statement. The latter knew so much that not even the Kazekage's advisors didn't know about it. Saruto continued, "A failed father who blamed his son for hurting people as a jinchuriki. You're the one who turned him into a jinchuriki. You should have helped him instead of hunting him"

"Stop it!" He was enraged. Saruto could feel it but he continued talking anyway. "Look at our jinchuriki! He lived through the same hell as your son. But our Yondaime never wanted him dead. Even if it was a minority, some in our village accepted him for what he is. He's a kid who dreams to become Hokage so that he can protect the village that despised him. Even now he's risking his life out there so that this village would acknowledge him!"

This is where Rasa snapped. He was surprised as he turned his gaze to the battlefield where a transformed Gaara was fighting Naruto and his clones. "Is he…Kyubi's jinchuriki?"

"Yes Uzumaki Naruto, our jinchuriki but he's more than a jinchuriki"

"Is that why you put this barrier?"

"To protect our civilians from this battle between jinchurikis!"

For the first time, Rasa regretted his choices. He looked at what Naruto had become and what he had turned his son into. 'That kid he stopped the battle to protect his sister. Gaara would never do such a thing. Maybe I didn't teach him to do such things. I didn't raise him at all. Yashamaru took care of him but I took her away from him. Yondaime Hokage raised a kid just like mine but that kid didn't end up like mine. Gaara wasn't the monster'

Rasa dropped to his knees and started shedding some tears as he watched his son losing control over the beast. 'I made him into one'

He stuttered, "Gaah…Gaara"

"Tou-san"×2

Temari and Kankuro arrived and helped their father who needed emotional support. "What's your plan, Ninja of Konoha?", Temari asked. Saruto scratched his head and looked at the battle between Naruto and Gaara. "It's up to him!" He disappeared after saying that. Rasa was shocked. 'That was a shadow clone? That means the real one is still maintaining the barrier. I can't believe a shadow clone fought with me with that much resistance'

_______________

Inside the barrier maintained by the Kage level Shinobis, Gaara transformed completely into Shukaku. Naruto looked tiny in front of the tailed beast but he didn't even flinch. The crowd on the other hand was in a panic after seeing a tailed beast in the middle of the ground. The jonins came between the barrier and the crowd to assure their security. After the reconstruction, the arena was wide enough to contain two beasts. So, Jiraiya yelled at Naruto, "Naruto, summon him!"

Naruto was panting. After listening to what his master said, he bit his thumb and made some hand signs. After that, he slammed his palm on the ground,

Gamabunta appeared below Naruto. "What do we have here, brat?" Gamabunta said as he looked at Shukaku. Tsunade was frowning her eyebrows at Jiraiya. 'I can't believe Jiraiya taught that summoning to a genin like Naruto. He must have taught him the Rasengan too. Maybe I should train someone too. Shizune has well trained after all and I have nothing else to teach her. Maybe I should ask Saruto to find me a pupil'

The battle enraged as Gamabunta used his suiton techniques to slow down Shukaku's movements. Gamabunta also told his plan to beat Shukaku by waking up Gaara. Naruto saw Gaara on the forehead of Shukaku. "Chief Toad, can you get Shukaku to the corner!"

"I'll try brat. I hope this barrier is strong enough to hold Shukaku at the corner"

Gamabunta hopped as he kicked Shukaku to the corner before he could use bijudama. Gamabunta pushed him and held him to the corner. Naruto ran towards Gaara with a Rasengan and struck him on the stomach. Gaara woke up as he faced a headbutt. He twitched his eyes and opened them to see a crying Naruto. 'What's is this feeling? Why is he? I don't understand!'

No words were exchanged, just their emotions exchanged through punches. Gaara understood the lifestyle of a fellow jinchuriki who managed to get accepted by some and who was trying to get acknowledged by everyone. Shukaku disappeared as they both dropped from the air. Gamabunta caught them and put them on the ground. He disappeared after his time ran out. With both shinobis bleeding, Naruto stood on his feet. Gaara asked, "Can I…be like you? A life like yours?"

Naruto put his hand on his shoulder and said, "Of course, you can! Look at your sister and brother! They're worried about you even if you didn't care about them before. Fight to protect that emotion!"

"That emotion?"

"Yes, that's what drives me to become stronger, ya know" He smiled at him.

The barrier was taken down. As the Kage level shinobis approached the fighters. Hayate undid his transparent jutsu and came back to the middle of the ground. Naruto asked, "Proctor? You were here all this time?"

"Yes because someone forgot to tell me about what they were planning to do", he glared at Saruto. Saruto scratched his head as he said, "Hey, I forgot you were there. Sorry!"

Hayate sighed. He shook his head and then said, "The winner of the tournament is Uzumaki Naruto!"

The crowd erupted. They started cheering Naruto's name. Naruto felt Goosebumps so did Saruto. He placed his hand on his shoulder and smiled at him. "You did it Naruto!"

"But it's not the end, ya know! I must bring back Sasuke!"

"About that!" He whispered "I bought you three more years! So, what about improving your skills first before searching for your friends"

"Fine Saruto-san! I'll improve myself before meeting my rival!"

Meanwhile, his rival was watching everything from the audience. He was frustrated. 'It appears that I need to train more. With my current state, I am no match for either Naruto or that Gaara! To beat Saruto, I must surpass Naruto!'

"Let's go, Tobi!"

"Huh, that's too soon!"

"We can't waste our time here! We've got some explaining to do"_______________

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