𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 | 𝐍𝐚𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐨 [HEAVY EDITING]

𝟒𝟑 | 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐢𝐧𝐣𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐠

Before and now, well, they'd been two very different things. Before, I was being choked to death. Now, I'm also being choked to death, just at a much slower pace. I find myself having to conserve my oxygen, the small space I'm stuck in making it completely impossible for much new air to enter into. My chest feels tight. I think my ankles are swelling.

This isn't good at all.

"Only by attacking and defeating me can you free them," Gaara asks, though his voice is muffled. "And you should hurry. With each passing second, the sand will harden, until it crushes them to death."

I wince as if on cue, the sand forcing me more firmly into the tree.

"Sand Shuriken!" Gaara shouts, but I can't see if it connects. By the lack of sounds of pain I hear, I'm happy to assume it doesn't.

I wish... I had a second to talk to Naruto. Just a second, before all of this craziness started. Having been in the room when we both learned that Gaara had a similar being sealed inside him, the same as Naruto... Just how are you feeling about all of this, Naruto...?

I'm angry, by so many things. By what's happened here in the village today. By what happened to Gaara when he was younger. By what that Orochimaru did to Sasuke back during the second exam. By Yashamaru's lie. By this Shukaku hurting Gaara like this, and in turn, making him hurt Sakura. Somehow, I can't find it in myself to be angry at Gaara, himself, no matter how badly a small part of me wants to. I just want to cry for him.

"Attack, you coward!" he shouts. "Fight me! Or I'll kill those girls right now!"

That isn't Gaara, I'm automatically reasoning. As if I really know that, though.

"Okay, you asked for it!" Naruto yells back. "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

"Wind Style—Sandstorm Devastation!" Naruto groans loudly before something hard connects with another hard object. "I'll think I'll toy with you a while. I'll have you abandon your friends and beg for mercy before you die." High-pitched whistling pierces the air of the forest around me, and Naruto cries out in pain again.

My stomach drops.

"Naruto!" I wail, throwing my fists at the sand. It's too desperate; there's no focus in my attack, so it barely makes a dent. "Break, damn it! Break, break, break! Naruto!"

"Sand Shuriken! ... weakling."

"M-Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto calls out, and I'm able to sense five of him. My breath hitches—both in relief, and the fact that I just wasted a lot of oxygen. "Get ready for the ultimate Taijutsu! Naruto Uzumaki: Clone Body Slam! Let's do it! Shadow Clone Jutsu! And another! Shadow Clone Jutsu!" With the ten total Naruto's in play, "Take this! Leaf Village Secret Taijutsu, straight from the teachings of Kakashi-sensei—"

D-Don't tell me...!?

"—a Thousand Years of Death!" I can't help but sigh. Great, more wasted air... My brain is suddenly rattled, an explosion having gone off somewhere nearby. Wait, did he shove a paper bomb up there?!