Temari forfeited to Shino before their fight began, and though it was hard to tell with the boy's high collar, Naruto suspected that Shino scowled at her for it. According to what he heard from his mother, Shino had a carefully concealed competitive streak that didn't get out often. This would have been a chance for that, and he had been denied. Naruto suspected that it was because Temari expected to win against Shino, and for himself to lose to Gaara. Whether she didn't want to fight Gaara out of familial loyalty or out of fear, Naruto didn't care.

He was planning to make it a moot point, if that was her reasoning.

Naruto was called to fight Gaara before he'd even completely vacated the field after his fight with Neji. No, he hadn't given his friend a haircut. It had been a close thing though.

"I've been looking forward to this," Gaara informed Naruto softly as they faced each other. "I will kill you, and you will validate my existence. Let me feel..."

"Begin," the proctor instructed, and was quick to jump back, out of the way of the battle that he was sure was about to erupt between the two genin.

"Come," Gaara urged, a bloodthirsty gleam in his eyes as sand floated out of the gourd he carried and hovered around him like a strange, tangible aura.

"A wise man does not attack a stronger opponent head on, where he can be seen, but rather from an angle," Naruto replied softly, and in a flash of yellow, he disappeared.

Naruto had seeded one of his birth-father's special kunai in the part of the field that had some cover in the form of a few trees. That had been done about the time he went from passive-defensive to offensive against Neji.

From within the cover, Naruto unsealed his bow from the seal on his palm, two arrows from one of the seals in his cuff, took aim, and let the first arrow fly.

The lovely thing about arrows, to Naruto's mind, was that they went so much faster than anything that a person could throw. Kagome had explained it to him once, called it 'physics', and then gotten that distant look on her face that meant she'd half-remembered something from before. Regardless of why, the fact remained that a thrown weapon could be tracked, spotted, arrows could – if the bow was of the right tension – arrive at their destination in the time it took a person to blink.

Another handy thing about arrows was that most shinobi didn't carry bows around, and so they couldn't steal his weapons and use them to return fire. Catching the kunai or shuriken of your opponent, and throwing it back at them, was something that practically every genin learned within the first six months. In some villages, it was taught in their Academies.

An arrow without a bow, however, could only be used to stab someone close by. Someone who was skilled with senbon might manage to throw an arrow at a speed that would cause damage, but the feathers and the arrow-head, to say nothing of the great disparity in length between the arrow and the senbon, would disrupt their standard technique.

Haku had certainly noticed that difference when, taking a break from working in the Himura Apothecary, he had joined Tomoe, Shippo, Rin and Yahiko in their archery lessons. Yahiko had only just joined those lessons in the last month. He was a very cute little archer, but he much preferred to wave around his little shinai.

Naruto's arrow moved fast enough that Gaara's sand, that automatic defence of his, reacted almost too late.

The very tip was touching the broad leather strip that Gaara wore across his chest, while the fletching was held, caught, by the sand. It the arrow hadn't been stopped, it could very easily have punctured the leather strap and the light clothing. If Gaara wore armour that was more solid than the mesh stuff favoured by Shikamaru, Anko, and so many other shinobi, then that would have stopped the arrow, but the mesh would have been insufficient.

Gaara stared at the projectile. The thing that had come closer to hitting him than any other weapon had in his half-lifetime of assassination attempts.

His sand surged. A portion of it followed the line of the arrow backwards, back to Naruto. The rest began to build up around the boy, layer upon layer of sand in a great protective sphere around Gaara.

Naruto dodged around the sand that was seeking him, and fired his second arrow at the sphere, aiming for the small gap that was still there, and through which Naruto could just see one pale, jade eye of his opponent.

The sand that had been seeking him was diverted. It caught the shaft of the arrow and snapped it in two. Then it retreated back to the increasingly thick sphere around Gaara, and that last little whole was plugged.

Naruto left the cover of the trees and stood before the proctor and the giant ball of sand.

"He has trapped himself," Naruto observed, and began to gather chakra in his hand. "A trap should always be carefully tested, and removed so that a shinobi can continue with his mission unhindered."

The rasengan was formed. Naruto thrust it out into the ball of sand, releasing it from his hold as the sand spiked out at him, rather than staying near and simply trying to dodge the spikes. The rasengan kept going though, drilling through the sand until it was inside Gaara's defence – and despite the fact that a great deal of its energy had been used up in penetrating the defence, there was still enough power left in the technique to injure the red-head within.

Gaara screamed in pain.

Naruto backed off, blue eyes taking in every detail that they could, observing his opponent. The whispers he had overheard from the Kazekage's two older children, as well as his own observations during Gaara's preliminary match against Lee, indicated that Gaara was not someone who was accustomed to physical pain.

The sand, generally speaking, stopped anything – and indeed, possibly everything – before it touched him.

"Blood!" Gaara screamed from within his shell. "My blood!"

Through the hole left by Naruto's technique drilling through the sand, Naruto saw something moving in the shadows, and then there was an eye. A dark, yellow, strangely patterned eye that locked onto him and released such killing intent that Naruto grit his teeth against the urge to pull his sword and charge like a dying man.

The globe of hardened sand cracked, then dissolved down, the grainy particles falling like oil through a sieve as they flowed. Slowly, Gaara was revealed. He held his slightly bloodied shoulder – the rasengan had gone through the leather strap he wore as well, so the damage was not as bad as it would have been if the rock-hard sand and the strap had not been there – and panted as he tried to regain control of himself through the pain.

While Gaara was making that effort, an explosion went off where the Hokage and the Kazekage were sitting.

Naruto refused to take his eyes off Gaara though. The other teen was mentally unstable before he had been injured, and he'd not had a good reaction to being injured. Quickly, Naruto formed a kage bunshin that ran off, up the wall of the stadium towards the stands, to see just what was going on.

The answer?

Nothing good.

"I'll kill you."

Then again, things weren't all roses down where Naruto was either.

~oOo~

Due to Gaara being injured and having used too much chakra in too short a time, his elder siblings leapt down to the battlefield. Kankurou had apparently regained some of the chakra he'd been drained of in his battle against Shino. The jounin who had accompanied them as their sensei and supervisor also leapt into the arena, and stood between the team of Suna genin and the two Konoha nin.

"The mission has begun," he said. "Gaara is our trump card," he said. "Get him out of here," he said.

"After them," the proctor ordered Naruto as the Kazekage's children headed up, then over the wall of the stadium.

Naruto didn't hesitate. He was off after them like a shot, mentally preparing himself for the upcoming and inevitable battle between himself and the three siblings. Whether he would fight them individually as they continued to run in an effort to give their youngest brother the time to recover his chakra, or if he would fight them all at once... he didn't know. He was going to be ready for either option though.

"Four on two?" Kurama asked Naruto as he dropped down the other side of the stadium wall.

"You're right," Naruto agreed, and created a pair of kage bunshin to see about getting some back-up. Shino, he got the feeling, would be eager for a chance to have the fight he was denied by the Suna kunoichi. Shikamaru, on the other hand, Naruto wasn't sure about. The guy was still a lazy Nara, even if Kenshin had gotten him a fair bit more motivated. He wasn't sure Neji would be up for it though. Their battle had been very recent and quite chakra-intensive for the Hyuuga boy.

Shino, Shikamaru, and the clones he'd sent for them caught up with him quickly. Haruno and a small dog weren't far behind them. The dog Naruto suspected of being sent by Hatake; he was fairly sure he recognised it as one of the collection of canines that held Momochi in place for Hatake to kill, back in Wave.

"Glad you could make it," Naruto greeted them absently.

"Kakashi-sensei said to bring you back..." Haruno offered.

Naruto shook his head. "The proctor ordered me to follow the Suna genin," he countered. "If they go past the village wall -" which they hadn't yet. Konoha was really very expansive, and had a good-sized forest even within the walls, "- then I'll break off the chase, but not before then."

"Hai, Naruto-sempai," Haruno agreed.

"Oi oi!" the dog objected. "Just like that, you're going along with it?"

"Pakkun-san," Haruno answered, "Naruto-sempai hasn't ever gotten me into something he couldn't also get me out of."

Naruto smiled slightly, gratified by the girl's faith in him and his abilities.

"There are two platoons following us," the dog, Pakkun, growlingly informed them. "No, another one, nine people are after us."

"Then I suggest we move faster," Naruto offered frankly, and proceeded to suit his actions to his words. "And maybe leave them some presents," he added with a sideways glance to his clones.

They nodded, and broke off.

Naruto was no traps expert, but more than just a few good, basic ones had been taught to all the students in the Academy. One of his clones would set up some traps. The second would create a false trail to confuse any of their pursuers that didn't get caught, escaped, or were freed from the traps set up by the first.

~oOo~

Shikamaru broke off from the group to detain those of their pursuers that had made it past the traps, and had been closing on them dangerously fast despite the false trail.

Haruno ordered them on when they were confronted by the Kazekage's daughter, who was performing for her brothers a similar service to that as Shikamaru was undertaking for them. Shino wanted to object, to claim the Suna kunoichi as his opponent, but Haruno argued that they knew he could defeat Kankurou, since he had done it before already, and very successfully. Haruno also confessed that, after hearing about the battle between Temari and Tenten, she'd been training seriously so that she would be able to defeat both of the older kunoichi.

She stayed behind.

Temari caught up with them, though it took a while. Naruto, Shino, and Pakkun had just caught up with Kankurou and Gaara by then, and the girl was exhausted. Kankurou traded his brother off to his sister, grit his teeth, and said he would slow them down.

"Pakkun, you go back to Haruno," Naruto instructed.

"Hai," the dog agreed, and dashed off.

"Shino," Naruto said softly.

"A repeat," Shino agreed. "He'll be more wary, but my techniques will be no less effective," he promised. "Go."

Naruto nodded, and took off, dodging Kankurou's attempts to stop him as he leapt away through the treetops.

For being exhausted and carrying a dead weight, Temari still moved very quickly.

"Kurama," Naruto said softly, a hand over his stomach as he raced after the pair. "If the Shukaku sealed within Gaara is the same Shukaku you know, then I'm probably not going to be able to handle this alone."

Kurama chuckled darkly. "No," Kurama agreed. "Probably not. If Shukaku is under the influence of a genjutsu, like I was, then I will dispel it."

"And if it's not a genjutsu?" Naruto asked softly. "If he really has gone mad?"

"Then I will take him by the neck and shake him like a new-born until he comes to his senses," Kurama answered with promise, his tone equal parts sad and angry. Shukaku was the weakest of his siblings, and also the last to be made by their father. Kurama had been the first, was the eldest, he had a duty of care for all his younger siblings.

A duty of care that was very hard to keep up with when his siblings were sealed into shinobi that were in nations that were enemies of his own 'care-taker'.

"It's a good thing they're moving towards a completely uninhabited area of Konoha's forest," Naruto stated.

"Agreed."

~oOo~

"You are called Himura," Gaara said. Temari had stopped, to tend to Gaara's injury, but Naruto had caught them up and Gaara had pushed her out of the way – not for her safety, but simply because she was in the way of his fight. "You are strong. You have goals. You are similar to me."

"Yes," Naruto agreed.

"By killing you, I can exist in this world as the one who erased your existence!" Gaara declared, his tone low and bloodthirsty, even though he had a hand up to his face, covering one eye and clutching at his head, which seemed to pain him. The sand-armour on the other side of his face was laced with hair-line cracks. Cracks that spread and grew as the boy spoke. "I will be able to feel that I am alive! You are my..." he dropped to his knees, both hands raised to clutch at his head as he cried in pain. "You're... my...!" he screamed, as the sand began to form. "Prey!"

The sand had overtaken half of Gaara's face, a portion of his torso, and one arm. His eyes no longer matched.

"Oh yes, that's my little brother," Kurama confirmed as the boy-bijuu blend leapt at Naruto, the great sandy limb outstretched menacingly.

"But is he trapped in a genjutsu, or in his own insanity?" Naruto asked softly as he jumped away from the imminent threat.

"With him only partially emerged, and me completely contained, it's hard to say," Kurama admitted.

Hidden behind the trunk of another tree, Naruto confirmed that the only witness to this confrontation who wasn't a part of it was Temari, and loosed his sword in its sheath just enough for him to cut his thumb on the blade. He squeezed the shallow cut, forcing blood out of it, and placed his palm against the wide branch he was sitting on.

"Kuchiose Kurama," Naruto whispered.

The body that appeared was the same as the one called up by the Kurama Bunshin, except that it also had pointed ears, tails, claws, impressive fangs and slitted, golden eyes. Kurama also would not pop like a bunshin this way.

"Better?" Naruto asked.

"Shukaku still isn't the whole way out," Kurama pointed out in gentle reminder, then lifted his nose to scent the air. "Damn," he whispered.

Naruto didn't ask. He didn't need to. Kurama knew what the question was.

"It's insanity, but not his own. Some mad human inflicted their insanity on my sweet little brother, and made him this," the fox-man growled, and his nine orange tails lashed angrily behind him.

"Salvageable?" Naruto asked.

Kurama's expression was grim, but still he gave a resolute nod.

"Are you scared of me, Himura Naruto?" Gaara called out. "Are you scared of my existence? Come out!"

Naruto stepped out, no fear or hesitation in his frame. "Gaara-san," he said calmly, "there is someone I want you to meet," he said, and Kurama also stepped out from the hiding place.

"Hello Shukaku, my precious little brother," Kurama said, his own golden eyes fixed on the single yellow eye that peered out of the sand-covered portion of Gaara's face. "Do you remember me? No, I suppose you don't right now. I'll fix that, and then you can introduce me to your vessel."

"What?!" Gaara demanded.

Kurama leapt across the space between them, and lay a hand over the yellow eye of the monstrous, sand-sculpted face.

"Yaburu kokufuku sai sakusei!"

Gaara screamed, and fell to his knees.

"Gaara!" Temari cried out in fear – but not only fear for herself. There was also fear for her little brother, and the monster that had so easily appeared to defeat him and the monster within him.

Kurama pulled.

The sand came away from Gaara. It came away in a figure that resembled a large tanuki, and Kurama caught this figure in his arms as it howled in pain.

Gaara fell... into Naruto's arms. The blonde had hurried to catch the red-head when he'd seen the boy swaying, even on his knees, after Kurama had pulled Shukaku out to fix him.

"Shh," Naruto whispered in Gaara's ear and gently stroked his hair. "Shh, it will be alright. It's okay to cry," he promised. "I'm sorry it hurt, and normally I'd never be part of any attempt to separate a person from their partner, but yours isn't himself, so Kurama is setting him straight. Shh, it will all be better soon."

"How -?!" Temari choked out.

"He is Kurama, the Kyuubi no Yoko, eldest and most powerful of the bijuu that were created and taught by the Rikkudo Sannin," Naruto informed the girl as neutrally as he could. "And he cares very much about his younger siblings. He'll fix everything with Shukaku."

Gaara was crying in Naruto's arms now as the blonde continued to stroke his short red hair softly, kindly, and without fear. Quite apart from everything else, Gaara's sand was all busy elsewhere right now, with Shukaku.

"You're like me," Gaara said through his tears. "You have a monster sealed inside you. Why... why are we so different?"

Naruto hugged the other boy a little closer to him. "Because when you decided that you would only love, live, and fight for yourself, you decided to run from the one thing that could hurt you even though your sand protected you from pain," Naruto explained. "I ran towards it. I will protect my home and my family to my very last breath, they will do the same for me, and we will also fight desperately so that those we love will not have to mourn us. We do not fight to kill, but rather, we fight to live, and that for the sake of each other."

"You... you are..." Gaara choked, and wailed in emotional turmoil as more tears rolled down his pale cheeks.

"I am lucky," Naruto finished in understanding. "I know some of the loneliness you must feel, Gaara," he said. "My village is full of people who saw a monster, instead of a child, but my family cared for me and stood by me despite that, so I didn't have to feel lonely all the time."

"You mean... Gaara would have been more emotionally stable if we'd just been there for him?" Temari demanded, shocked by the revelation.

"Yes."

"Oh Kami... Gaara, I'm so sorry!" Temari wept.

"...Me too, Temari. Me too."

~oOo~

There were less dead than could have been, after the invasion was repelled. Only seven in total. Many more were injured and in hospital, but only seven dead. Seven that would be mourned and missed. Seven that included the Sandaime Hokage.

Every member of the Himura family dressed in their funeral kimono. There was a standard black set that most people wore to funerals in Konoha, but the Himura clan honoured the dead by taking the time to think about the people who were lost to them as they carefully donned each piece of their mourning attire. Even little Yahiko, who didn't totally understand what was going on, was solemn as Kagome wrapped his black kimono and obi around him.

"Naruto, I would like to attend also," Kurama requested.

Silently, Naruto formed the seals for the Kurama bunshin. Kurama appeared beside him, and with a few quick seals of his own, his clothing bled into black.

"I'd like to honour those on the memorial stone as well, after," Kurama added softly.

Naruto nodded. "Hai," he agreed. "We can do that."

"You are joining us, Kurama?" Kenshin noted when his son and the fox-in-human-form came down the stairs.

Kurama nodded. "May I stand with your family at the funeral, Kenshin-san?" he asked.

Purple eyes met green, and Kenshin nodded to the other red-head.

The family lined up then to leave for the funeral. Kenshin carried his youngest son, Kagome held the hand of her youngest daughter. Shippo took his big brother's hand, and Tomoe held one of Kurama's at the rear of the line.

As they walked, Kurama formed seals with the hand Tomoe wasn't holding, and hummed soft words under his breath.

Haku joined up with the Himura family, and took Tomoe's free hand.

Kurama finished his string of hand seals just as they arrived where the funeral was being held. He lowered his hand, and it began to rain.

"Kurama?" Naruto asked softly.

"It should rain," the kitsune answered solemnly. "Rain to hide our tears of loss, and rain to cleanse us of the pain in our hearts. The sky itself should cry for the loss that Konoha feels."

"Arigato," Kagome said, a sad smile on her face. "But you know Kurama, it would have rained for our loss without you having to call on the Kami the way you did."

Kurama bowed his head. "I only wanted to make sure," he answered.

Kagome nodded. "Hai," she agreed. "Hai, we humans need this rain as much as the land."

"We will need to be strong in the coming days, as we restore our homes," Kenshin added. "Streets full of homes are not the right places to wage wars. They are not, but still wars are fought in such places. It is something we will not recover from quickly."

"Humans are both weaker and stronger than anything else in this world," Haku offered. "The pain will last long after we have healed from this."

Naruto, his parents, and Kurama all nodded in solemn agreement.

"This feeling of loss," Naruto said softly as people began to present their flowers in offering to those who were gone. "This is why we strive so hard to live, and fight so desperately to be the ones to die in place of others."

"Hai," Kenshin agreed.

~The End~