Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Leaf in the Desert ❯ Chapter 23

Chapter 23

 

Dawn. The birth of a new day. The beginning of a new era: for the Five Shinobi Nations, and for those who lived there.

 

Naruto stood silently as the wind stirred his Hokage robes. Kohaku positioned himself behind and to the side of his father, staring with the same deadly intensity as the older man at the Iwa army before them.

 

The army that had killed so many innocent lives in their quest to take over the world for one man.

 

The Tsuchikage himself had come to the front of the line, smiling in his white and brown robes at the Hokage and his son.

 

“Finally decided to surrender, Hokage?” Kanaye called out, crossing his arms over his chest. “It took you long enough, but then again- you never were very smart.”

 

“Enough, Kanaye,” Naruto replied, clenching his hands into fists. His face was more serious than it had ever been. “I'm ending the war. Either call back your forces and go back to Iwa immediately, or I will be forced to kill you and your entire army.”

 

Several snickers from the Iwa army met this announcement. “Kill me?” Kanaye chortled, his wine-dark eyes shining with the knowledge that he had nearly achieved his life-long goal. “You haven't been able to defeat me for nearly twenty years- what makes you think that you can beat me now?”

 

Determination echoed in Naruto's bright blue eyes. “I can, and I will. Do not pretend you don't know what I'm capable of.”

 

Kanaye snorted. “Yeah, yeah. The fearsome Kyuubi Jinchuuriki.” His eyes narrowed as he smirked at Naruto. “But I am all too familiar with your limitations as the Kyuubi's host, Hokage. You cannot truly harness the power of the Nine-Tailed Fox because you will lose your sense of self- and the Fox will run rampant in your body. You would not dare to risk the lives of your precious friends and your beloved Konoha.”

 

“I'm telling you one last time, Tsuchikage. Stop. This. War.”

 

Kanaye lifted one hand in the air and the Iwa army around him lifted their voices in a great cry. His eyes gleamed with an unholy light. “I will never stop until I fulfill my destiny and become the leader of all the Shinobi Nations!”

 

Naruto clenched his teeth. He had been hoping that the Iwa man would've seen reason, but he supposed that when one is blinded by foolish ambition… “Kohaku?”

 

“Yeah, Dad?”

 

“…It's time.”

 

“It's not too late, Dad. We can try to find another way…”

 

Naruto shook his head. “No. I can't risk any more lives. If he defeats us and Suna, he'll move on to other villages. He won't stop, as he says… until he rules the world.”

 

Kohaku sighed. “Still, I wish old man Sasuke were here.”

 

“That teme would only steal all the glory for himself,” Naruto muttered with a wry grin. He faced Kanaye's army again. “Here I go…”

 

Kohaku readied himself as his father seemed to pause. Blue eyes closed and soon, Naruto was in the old familiar place inside his mind.

 

In front of Kyuubi's sealed cage.

 

Red eyes blinked slowly from within the inky darkness inside the cage. A sound that might have been surprise echoed from the Fox. “Well, well, well… It has been a long time since I have seen you here, Naruto. Do you have need of me again?” the Kyuubi chuckled. “You have not required my power for many, many years. Why now?”

 

“You know why, you old Fox,” the blonde man replied. “This war is killing too many of my friends. Because Kanaye and his army won't stand down, I must fight.”

 

“I see.” The Fox grinned. “Very well, then. I will help you again.” The very air around the two of them began to swirl and stir with orange and blue gusts. “Release my chakra. Release my power. Show them a strength that will prove to them how foolish they are to mess with the most powerful of the Jinchuuriki!”

 

Naruto lifted his eyes to the red orbs of the kitsune. “I intend to do more than that.”

 

And he ripped the seal off the cage doors.

 

---------------

 

Sasuke sat straight up in the mobile hospital bed, regardless of the fact that in doing so, he reopened the gash across his chest. His black eyes were wide with horror and panic.

 

“Naruto's doing WHAT?!”

 

Sakura pushed Sasuke back down flat then turned to close the wound again. Her emerald eyes were sad as she concentrated.

 

“He's releasing Kyuubi. He's… going to allow the Nine-Tailed Fox to take over his body… and in doing so, allow it to destroy Kanaye's army.”

 

Sasuke growled and tried to sit up again. Sakura pushed him down again- harder. He glared at her. “That stupid dobe- if he releases the Kyuubi with no one to control it, it'll just lay waste to the village!”

 

Comprehension dawned. “That's why we're in the shelters,” Sasuke murmured, frowning. “To protect the villagers in case Kyuubi destroys Konoha.”

 

Sakura barely nodded. “And Suna.”

 

Sasuke pounded his fist into the bed. “Dammit… Naruto…” He winced as a twinge of pain reminded him as to why his bandages were once again soaked with blood. “And I… I can't help him this time. I can't use my Sharingan to control the Fox like I've done before.”

 

The pink-haired woman paused. “And Shourai is too inexperienced…”

 

“Of course he is. He hasn't even awoken the third tomoe yet. Pointless to even consider it, since you need all three to be able to see Kyuubi.”

 

She looked at him with pained defeat in her eyes. Stared at the man she had claimed to love with all her heart nearly 30 years before. “Sasuke…”

 

He made a tch sound. “After all the times he's come after me to save my ass… and now I can't even return the favor.”

 

Someone behind Sakura cleared their throat.

 

“Sakura-sama?”

 

----------------

 

“I am going, and that is final.”

 

“You most certainly are not. I will not allow it.”

 

“I have said I am going, and you will not stop me.”

 

Gaara glared at his wife- which, after so many years of doing it so well, should have had her cringing in fear. But nooooo… not Safaia of the Desert. She just couldn't understand that some facial expressions indicated a “Do Not Piss Off” warning.

 

He lifted his hand and held it in front of him, two fingers extended toward the sky. “Safaia…”

 

She, in turn, lifted one golden eyebrow. “Gaara...”

 

He bared his teeth at her in a snarl. “Do not make me repeat myself.”

 

“I will not. I will simply go, as I have told you I would.” Her eyes were soft as she looked at him with loving eyes. “No more pretenses, my love. I know you have been unable to control sand with your chakra for quite some time now. Your hand seal bluff will not work on me.”

 

Gaara dropped his hand. His scowl vanished and his expression turned to one of shame. “How long have you known?”

 

“Since those wolves attacked you and Naruto Hokage at the Jounin exam.”

 

He vaguely recalled trying to summon some sand from his hidden nearby gourd that day, but the thin, weak stream of sand refused to obey him- regardless of the fact that it was the same sand that had been infused with his chakra for years.

 

“I do not know if it was because of the severity of my wounds that day,” Gaara murmured, looking away, “or simply the end result of my loss of Shukaku inside me… but it is true. I am unable to control sand any longer.”

 

“So you must let me do this.”

 

His expression turned angry again. “No. I will not lose my wife in this war.”

 

Safaia placed her hand gently on Gaara's cheek and looked deep into his eyes, once again mentally thanking Sakura and her late sensei, Tsunade Hokage, for their miracle-work of restoring her eyesight. “If I do not go,” she whispered, “we may lose everything.”

 

Her words reached him and he hated her for it. “Naruto will not appreciate your listening in on our last meeting,” he pointed out.

 

She shrugged. “I am doing this for both of you- and for our villages. He cannot do this alone.”

 

Gaara stared at her a moment before pulling her into his arms for a tight embrace. “I love you… Do you know how much I do?”

 

Safaia nodded into his chest. “And it is because I love you just as much… that I am going, whether you approve or not.”

 

For a long moment they stood there, enfolded in each other's embrace. Gaara pulled back just far enough to lean down and kiss her deeply, renewing his feelings for her after 17 years of marriage.

 

“Please come back to me,” he whispered against her lips. “I am forced to lose my first and most important friend in this war- do not take my love away from me as well.”

 

Safaia smiled, but it was weak. “My love… will always be yours.”