Stand-in

Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction based on Naruto, which belongs to its respective creators. I do not claim any ownership of Naruto or its characters. This is purely a creative project for entertainment within the fanfiction community. Please support the official Naruto releases. Thank you! I only own the OC. Probably?

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-Story Start!-

'Calm down! This is still salvageable!' The animal, placated himself, afraid of potentially ruining future canon? events this soon.

"Okay, okay! Kid! Look, I see you are in quite the pickle, so I'll leave introductions for later. For now, I'll be the Stand-in for the big toad for ya! How's that sound?" The animal stated confidently and reassuringly. Having collected itself as it offered to be a stand in, for the Chief toad.

Everyone quirks an eyebrow in disbelief at the animal's claim. And with good reason. A reason obviously voiced by the skeptical and yet intrigued Naruko.

"How's a little Lizard like you supposed to help me against that?" She questions with a tilt of her head, a genuinely curious look directed at the scaly winged serpent, and a finger pointed at the still silent Gaara.

"A fantastic question little missy! Now, the solution is quite elementary! I just have to change from a Little Lizard into a... Big Lizard!" The animal stated cockily, a mischievous wink sent to the unimpressed blonde.

"I don't believe Yo-" Naruko voices her disbelief with an unimpressed look and narrowed eyes. Only to freeze in her statement as the Animal begins to grow in size in front of the eyes of all of them.

*SWOOSH* Naruko is grabbed in lightning speed.

"WHAA?" She roars in a panic as she find herself atop a horned scaly head, that is ever-growing.

"Hold on tight~!" The animal states in sadistic glee, with a literally growing shit eating grin.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH" Naruko cries out, as wind blows on her face at the speed of the animal's head rising.

Everyone, Gaara included, watch the spectacle of the serpent like tiny animal, growing at incredible speed, with their jaws absolutely dropped, hitting the floor.

"That's the Akimichi's expansion jutsu!" Pakkun collects himself as he announces to the shocked crowd. Pointing towards a possible and perhaps likely explanation to the animal's capability to make itself grow.

'That's not it... He doesn't have chakra. Unless, he is capable of hiding it from the Sharingan... impossible. it's not chakra then?' Sasuke finds a hole in Pakkun's analysis through his sharingan, confident in the sharingans capabilities to see chakra even through those who try to hide it. His eyes narrow at the strange animal, but his eyes wander to fixate at the culprit behind the animal's summoning.

'That Naruko... Became THIS strong?! That... Naruko?' Like a mad man, Sasuke repeats the thought in his head, shocked at Naruko's progress as a shinobi. From falling to Kakashi's pathetically obvious and simple traps, to fighting an overwhelming monster that managed to defeat Sasuke himself. The fear, that someone like Naruko, surpassed him. Was better than him. Grated on his nerves. However, he, deep down - was truly proud of her. Of the girl he mocked would never defeat him, just because she is a girl. And an idiot. But mostly the idiot part. Nevertheless, the girl part was something Naruko will never let him live down! Well, she did beat him. Today and Now. A frustrated and yet motivated smile appeared on Sasuke's face, in his moment of weakness and admittance of defeat.

Eventually, the Animal grew to be the exact same size as the possesed Gaara, towering many floors higher than even the tallest of trees. What is about to take place looks to be a battle of Titanic proportions.

"This should be enough~!" The animal announces after stopping his rapid growth with a jolly and sadistic tone.

"I'M FINALLY BACK OUTSIDE AFTER SO LONG! WOOOHOOOOO!" While all this was going on, Gaara was forced by Shukaku into the playing possum jutsu, effectively putting the boy into deep and agonized slumber, surrendering complete control to Shukaku.

"COULDN'T YOU HAVE WARNED ME EARLIER DATTEBAYO?! *STOMP*" Naruko responds accordingly to the impromptu and involuntary rollercoaster ride, by yelling at the poor? Animal and stomping on his head she is standing on.

"Woah missy, could you stop screeching like a banshee this close to my ears? Geez... Anyhow! Since big sandy has been such a good sport for letting us peacefully get to this point, I'll only be getting ya close to him. it's up to you to wake up sleeping beauty." The animal says in a pained tone as it scratches it's earlobe at the Uzumaki screech. Smoothly transitioning his tone of voice to a more serious one, pointing at the sand demon as he told Naruko the initial plan. Naruko's eyes narrow at the now awakened Shukaku, who is carefully observing the now large Serpent like creature, following his freedom-high.

"Huh? You can get me close? And how can I wake him up? He seems awake to me?" Naruko turns to meet Large amethyst eyes as she voices out her concerns with a tilt of her head and a finger on her forehead in a thinking manner, as she can't piece together the way to defeat the Sand Tanuki.

'Forgot this guy-Girl has near Goku levels of comprehension skills in anything unrelated to straight up punching.' The animal thought to himself with a deadpan. His face betraying no emotion at his degrading thoughts, that would of resulted in Naruko clobbering him would he have vocalized said thoughts. Luckily for her, he didn't, else her fist would be cracked and broken! Haha!

"Look, see the brow-less dude just napping on the sand thing's head? Yes, the dude's asleep but the Tanuki is awake" The animal voices out in a patient and gentle tone, holding back all sarcasm or mocking from his words. Something he would usually not hold back as he explains.

"Yeah!" She responds with an enthusiastic nod understanding him. To his happiness.

"Great! Now, if you punch the napping dude REALLY hard, what do you think will happen?" The animal continues his patient? lecture with a sage like tone.

"He'll wake up?" Naruko responds with uncertainty, her face sweating in nervousness. Nervousness explained by the short flashback of her asking dumb questions and responding with dumb answers back in the Academy. Iruka's flawless big head jutsu - that, coincidentally also enhanced the effect of his roughless chastising sends shivers down the poor girl's spine.

"Ding dong! Correct answer Blondie! Now then, if he wakes up, what do you think will happen?" The animal voices out another lecturing question, as he completes praise to the beaming blonde.

"Hmm..." The gears in the blonde's head turn, she scratches her head with one hand as the other pulls on one of her twintails as she struggles to come up with an answer.

"Ah-Ha! The spirit will lose control and he'll collapse of chakra exhaustion!" Naruko, eventually coming to her own answer, snaps her fingers and throws the animal a confident wink, announcing confidently of her ingenious deduction. And truth be told, she's not far off.

"D-Damn! Your right! impressive blondie! That was a rather meticulous answer! Guess your not part of the dumb blonde stereotype after all?" The animal, completely shocked at Naruko correctly deducting the outcome of the battle should it go as planned.

'Is the female counterpart of Naruto smarter? Well, although things seem to be eerily the same, something like a gender change of the Main Character would obviously lead to many differences in canon as I know it whether I like it or not... I'll have to see what the differences are later on I guess." The animal realized the actual significance of the gender difference between Naruto and Naruko, and the overarching effect and changes it may have had or will have in future events. Opting to focus on analyzing things as they come.

"W-WHAT DO YOU MEAN BLONDE STEREOTYPE! EXPLA-" Naruko, as per usual breaks out into her migraine inducing loud reaction. Not allowing anyone, animal or person alike, to make fun of Naruko Uzumaki! The future Hokage! The first female Hokage! Go girl power!

"Moving on! Let's get cooking, shall we~?" The animal rudely interrupts Naruko's gentle outburst as he states that they'll start cooking? The statement and it's meaning lost to the uncultured Naruko.

"Don't interrupt me! And Cooking? What are you spoutin- HAAAAAAAAAAAAA" Naruko narrows her eyes in confusion and fury, at being interrupted and at the absurdity spewed out by the strange Animal. Only to be rudely interrupted by the wind as the Serpent moves with great speed.

"Wind Bullets!" Shukaku yells out as his belly bloats to a disturbing proportion. Noticing the fast approaching Winged Serpent running towards him. Tree's and wind blown away by the sheer mass and power the creature puts in it's every step.

*SWOOSH* Shukaku spits out the bullets he called out, towards the Serpent. Wind bullets that are dense with immeasurable amounts of chakra. This was bad news. Even our headstrong Naruko could tell that much.

"DODGE DUMB LIZARD!" Naruko yells out in concern, at the still charging Serpent who she is standing on. Heroically and perhaps characteristically more concerned for the Unknown serpent's life than her own.

"If some dumb wind bullets managed to harm me, I'd lose the respect of all my brethren! Also... Get behind my scale you idiot!" The animal confidently responds to Naruko's concern, as well as voicing his own. As he, in an impressive feat of bodily control, lifts the scale in front of Naruko to form a protective shield.

*BOOM* A large explosion and cloud of dust forms out of the Animal's body as the bullets explode on impact at their sheer density.

"WAHOOOO! NOW THAT'S ONE DOWN! YEAAAA-HEH?!" Shukaku roars victoriously at his first kill since reemerging, the big strange animal did look quite intimidating. But in the face of a tailed beast? Child's play. They are the strongest in the world! Was what rang aloud in Shukaku's mind as he paused in his glorious roar, in favor of expressing confusion at the Serpent being but an arm's length away from him. Unscathed by the wind bullets. That truly were, just a test shot.

Had Shukaku not held back and used a tailed beast bomb. Perhaps this would of came out differently. But! Let's leave speculations behind us to focus on the reality.

*GRAB* *SLASH* The Animal grabbed Shukaku's sandy tendril like arms and took a deep bite into it's throat. Locking it in place.

"GWET HUM!" The animal yelled out with it's mouth filled with sand, ordering the shocked blonde who now is a short distance away from the sleeping Gaara. The scale having blocked the wind bullets from reaching Naruko and now firmly retracted back in it's original place.

"Al-right~! You're going down bastard! For hurting my friends!" in classic Naruko fashion, she detects clobbering opportunity at record speed, jumping from the Animal's head towards Shukaku's head, that holds the sleeping Gaara.

*Swoosh* However, unfortunately for Naruko, Shukaku does not allow such a thing to come to pass easily. Sand from it's forehead shoots towards the airborne Naruko, who lacks the means nor the chakra to maneuver out of the way. She gets caught whilst swinging her fist, a few feet away from the sleeping Gaara.

"D-Damn it!" She grits her teeth, dangled in the air as sand tendrils hold her afloat and immobile.

'No chakra! Furball! Help me! Just a small sliver chakra is all I need! You don't want to die with me do you?!' Naruko barks aloud in her subconscious reaching out to the Kyuubi, in hopes of getting some chakra, as hers is currently running on barely anything.

'Cheeky Brat.' The Kyuubi responds to Naruko's gentle and polite request, surprisingly compliantly. Sending her a sliver of it's own chakra. But to Naruko, it's more than enough.

"HRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" She powers up, Red furious chakra envelopes her body visibly, her jacket blown open by the sheer force of the chakra she is exuding.

Her muscles, limbs, reflexes further enchanced by the chakra flowing through her body, she manages to struggle through the sand holding her. Push it back and reach close enough to just barely reach Gaara's head.

Not enough for a punch, though, I'm afraid.

However! Such limitations have never stopped Naruko Uzumaki!

"WAKE UP DAMN IT!" Naruko roars out her battle cry.

*BANG* She pushes her upper body forward, launching it with all her strength, hitting Gaara with a nasty headbutt. As blood gushes through both her and Gaara's mouth.

The sleeping boy's eyes slam awake at the sudden pain.

"NOOOOOOOO! I ONLY JUST GOT OUT?! AAAAAAHHHHHHH" Shukaku, at Gaara's rude awakening, begins to crumble. Upon noticing his host's awakening, he can't help but wail like a toddler who's new toy just got confiscated.

"Blegh, got sand in my mouth... Not a good start to my day. Not at all." The Animal, backs off from the crumbling Shukaku, a disgusted expression plastered on the supersized serpent's face.

As the Sand Demon crumbles, Both Naruko and Gaara slowly descent towards the ground. And by slowly, I mean they're accelerating as per the laws of gravity.

"They'll be fine! They are Ninja wizards after all! A mere fall wouldn't kill them... Right?" The animal opts to let them fall to the ground without helping them. Attempting to reassure himself, and not quite succeeding in the process. A fake smile on his face, failing to cover his worry at the blonde tomboy he met just 10 minutes ago.

However, do not forget our onlookers are also there.

'That brat... She-She beat Gaara... Unbelievable...' Temari, shocked at the defeat of Gaara, especially because he was at the last stage of his transformation. Left her nothing but shocked. She blinks once, she blinks twice and then the shock wore off as she finally acknowledges the plummeting Gaara, who his about to "gently" kiss the ground. She gets out of her favored treebound hiding spot and dashes towards where he'll probably land.

Sasuke, noticing Sakura's sand prison crumbling before his very eyes, attempts to move his now calmed down body. Able to make it move at around 15% strength. Still, more than enough to get to Sakura and check on her.

A quick shinobi body scan and pulse check, allows Sasuke to let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. As he turned to look towards the plummeting Naruko who is about to land face first on the ground.

*BOOM* Both Naruko's and Gaara's bodies land on the ground with a resounding bang. That, were it of been normal people in their place. You'd be hard pressed to be able to recognize who's body was who's.

"She did it... She, beat him. Huh." A humbling statement was vocalized by Sasuke as he stared with a glazed look towards the blonde's location, who would of never have said it out loud had he known others were in hearing distance.

'Stop. Focus, You'll get stronger, you need to help your comrade.' Sasuke refocused and curbed his own envy and power-hunger with a shake of his head, in favor of helping Naruko. He lifts the pinkette on his back as he moves, rather sluggishly towards Naruko's alleged location of impact.

"Heh, the kid's done it. Kakashi wasn't wrong. She is special." Pakkun smiled to himself, as he commented in satisfaction. The worst outcome avoided, no casualties to speak of among the Genin he was assigned to. A happy dog indeed.

"I'll have to tell Pa and the others about this when I get back! That was awesome! Naruko's not so lame after all! *POOF*" Gamakichi commented in childlike excitement at the result of the spectacle he had first class tickets to, swiftly unsummoning himself back to Mount Myoboku to regale the tale of what has occurred.

"...You know, at times like these, I'd wish I'd have turned off my enhanced hearing. Because... THESE GUYS ARE FULL OF IT! WHAT DO YOU MEAN "WOW AMAZING NARUKO!" OR "YOU'VE DONE IT NARUKO! YOUR SO SPECIAL!" HUH?! SHE GOT HER USELESS ASS CARRIED. WHO DO YOU THINK MADE THE LITTLE SAND TANUKI A USELESS SITTING DUCK?! WHERE'S MY CREDIT?! ... *Ahem* My apologies, I may have lost myself a bit there. Wouldn't you agree Mr.Bird? You know how it feels don't you?" Absolutely livid and exasperated at the utter discredit he has recieved, the animal went into a enraged rant, that no one heard. No one, except the bird flying at his height. Yes ladies and gentlemen. Our Protagonist is talking to a bird.

The bird simply continued on flying, opting to wisely ignore the deranged Winged Serpent that is attempting to communicate with it.

"... I wanna go home..." At the silent treatment from the bird, the poor animal was downtrodden, wishing to return home. The fool!

-To Be Continued!-

- Author Note Start-

Quite the anticlimactic and swift ending to Gaara's rampage people! What a shame. His name has not yet been revealed this chapter has promised by me in the previous chapter. Oh well! You shall continue to refer to him as Animal, for now! And get used to me not keeping my word unlike Naruko. Cause that's not my ninja way, and i'm impatient. His name reveal will "Probably" come next chapter. Not that it's important or anything. But he sure likes his formal introductions. What a drama queen!

Thanks for reading people! Hope you enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you later! Hugs and kisses!

Reviews, Feedback, Ideas, Suggestions, Comments and Truthful constructive criticism would be a major help and motivator for me to continue writing as well as improving in the aforementioned writing! Thanks!

-Author Note End-