Rabbit Princess [Gaara] [2]

☾ 46 ☽

At the instant of the Nine-Tailed Fox's appearance, several things happened simultaneously – Usajii tried to make Tsukiko run the other way before she got obliterated, Pein raised his arms up to try and recapture Naruto... and Tsukiko went rushing into the direction of the Nine-Tails, focusing on her Wood Style Jutsu to put a stop to this transformation any further –

"Wood Style: Hotei Jutsu!"

There was a loud crackling sound as a pair of giant wooden hands released themselves out of the ground – one of them headed straight toward Pein while the other went upward, catching the freeing Nine-Tails by its throat. It roared and the sphere ground shook.

Tsukiko, however, was focused as she slapped her hands together and knitted her eyebrows together so she could concentrate to pulling out Naruto's Chakra and bring him back to his original form before he completely turned into Nine-Tails.

But before Tsukiko could find herself working as much as the time she had to get Gaara back to his human form, there was loud burst of wind and the beast disappeared.

"Naruto changed back himself?" Tsukiko asked, momentarily shocked before rushing further into the direction of her blond friend. "Naruto!"

As she neared the male, Tsukiko noticed that Naruto had returned to his Sage Mode. He turned to look at her to acknowledge her but the sphere around to crumble and the two of them had to focus on getting their feet to the ground before any reunions.

"Are you alright, Naruto?" Tsukiko asked as she landed onto the ground next to him. "You really worried me there... but good to see you're in your Sage Mode again,"

"Sorry about that, Tsukiko-Chan," Naruto replied. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," Tsukiko said, still looking at him in amazement. "You got out of the Kyuubi Mode without any outside help... I never imagined that,"

Before Naruto could reply, there was movement beneath his jacket and Tsukiko raised her eyebrows when she saw Katsuyu's Mini clone slithered out and jumped over to Tsukiko's shoulder, "I thought I was going to die! Sorry, Naruto-Chan but I think I will stick with Tsukiko-Chan..."

"What's all this?" Naruto asked, looking around. "That's the direction of the village!"

"You did it when you were transformed into the Kyuubi," Katsuyu informed him, and Naruto looked very conflicted. "I was worried, but it turns out that you didn't harm anyone during the Kyuubi's onslaught, mostly thanks to Tsukiko-Chan..."

"Right, I can see it now," Naruto replied, gripping his jacket over his heart. Tsukiko looked at him with concern as he began to cry. "I'm relieved... so, so relieved..."

"Naruto, it's okay," Tsukiko said, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder. "Let us bring this all to an end. We still have our opponent right in front of us, and more of him beyond,"

"I believe it's about time to finish this," said Pein, looking incredibly dishevelled. "Did you come to understand what a taste of true pain feels like? If you do not know the same pain, you can never truly understand another person. And even if you did, mutual understanding would be nothing but a dream. That's the truth. It's just as fragile as the two of you chasing after Sasuke,"

"Take us to where your real body is," Naruto responded. "I have something I want to talk to you about in person," He glanced at Tsukiko. "We have to get there, Tsukiko-Chan,"

"Oh?" Pein asked. "You noticed that there's a real body?" He constructed another rod. "First it was Jiraiya Sensei, and now it's the pair of you. The people of Konoha are truly something. However, our discussion is over. Talking with you will change nothing,"