Let It Burn: Birth [Sasuke Uchiha]

Chapter 27

"Why are you just standing there?" Gaara snarled. "Weren't you gonna retreat?"

Clenching their teeth, the two Genin were ready for any surprise attacks.

"What are we going to do, Mai?" Naruto muttered.

"Working on it..." she answered lowly.

Suddenly, the Sand Ninja wondered, "What are these two to you?" It had to be the reason as to why they were still here.

The question startled them. "They're our comrades!" the knucklehead shouted. "I'll kick your ass!"

The sand around Sakura tightened causing her to gasp in pain.

"Now what?" their opponent taunted. "Aren't you gonna kick my ass?"

"Damn it!"

"Naruto, no!" Mai shouted.

Her teammate lunged forward only to have the tail lash out and throw him into the branches.

"You need to think before reacting!"

Something was different with the blonde, she noticed. The girl could tell something was off in the way Naruto was reacting. Moments later there was a puff of smoke that appeared in front of the blonde, revealing a small toad.

"What the hell!" Naruto shouted. "Where's Gama?"

Mai didn't have time to worry about where the toad had come from. Gaara was continuing to transform.

"Your friend won't be released from the sand unless you beat me," the demon stated. Nodding in Sakura's direction. "Not only that, it'll get tighter and tighter as time passes and eventually kill her."

"Who the hell are you?" the Be Fong asked. "You're not Gaara of the Sand, so I want to know exactly who I am talking to."

"I go by many names, though the most common is Shukaku, the One-Tail."

One-Tail? Her eyes widened. A tailed beast, just like Naruto. No wonder his power was so great. No wonder he could perform missions without a scratch on him. No wonder no one could go against him. If Mai had to guess the only person able to do that would be Naruto, but he was too busy yelling at a frog.

"So, you've heard of me," Shukaku noted.

"Who hasn't heard about the tailed beasts?" Mai responded.

"Then you know you will all die."

She fixed the short swords into her grasp. "I'd like to see you try."

Arms crossing, Shukaku threw them back around as balls of compacted sand detached and flew in their direction. Unable to move in time one caught Naruto in the gut hurling him backwards. Mai managed to slice through two before one hit a cheek and caused her to spin through the air. Crashing against bark the Be Fong glared at their opponent, now seeing how far along his transformation had continued.

Naruto and her got to their feet as the sand tightened around their teammate. Clearly it was distracting the blonde.

"What's wrong?" Shukaku asked when the two hesitated. "Afraid of me?"

"Mai," Naruto spoke up. "I'll take Gaara. You get Sakura."

"You sure you've got this?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Alright then."

"I will crush you!" the demon shouted. "Show your powers like the time you defeated that Hyuuga! Fight me! I'll kill the girl if you don't! Both of them!"