46 Chapter 46 Colossal Battle!

Gamabunta jumped to the side as he dodged air bullets one after the other. Shukaku laughed as he continued firing the air bullets at the toad.

"GYAHAHAHAHA, What's wrong!? Can all you do is run around!?" Shukaku shrieked.

"This is tough, even I'm not going to be able to fight against the sand spirit for too long." Gamabunta said as he dodged another air bullet.

"Yeah, he's definitely tough, I'm just glad he hasn't fired off a tailed beast bomb at us yet." Naruto replied as he watched Shukaku from on top of Gamabunta's head.

"Can you get us closer? The only way to put Shukaku back to sleep is to wake Gaara up right?" Naruto asked.

Gamabunta glanced up at Naruto in surprise. "You're familiar with the Sand Spirit kid?"

Naruto nodded his head but suddenly opened his eyes wide. "Boss! Look out!"

In the split second that Gamabunta had glanced up at Naruto, Shukaku had taken that chance and fired an air bullet, hitting Gamabunta straight in the gut.

Gamabunta flew through the air after getting hit by the air bullet, before crashing into the ground, crushing trees and tearing up the landscape in his wake.

"GUUUAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!!!!"

"Boss! Are you alright!?" Naruto shouted in concern as he held onto the toad as they crashed into the ground.

Gamabunta coughed up some blood as he pushed himself off of the ground.

"I can still fight, but I won't be able to take too many more hits like that." Gamabunta replied.

Naruto grit his teeth as he quickly began thinking of a plan to take down Shukaku. Last time, we did a combination transformation to give Gamabunta fangs and claws in order to grab a hold of Shukaku so I could get close and knock Gaara awake. But things have already changed a lot, so would that attempt still work? Naruto wondered.

"Oi, kid, I have a plan, while the host is asleep, the Sand Spirit's power is at it's strongest, but if we can wake the brat up, then we can lower the Sand Spirit's power. Only problem is that I can't get a good hold of the Sand Spirit for you to get close enough to the host." Gamabunta announced, breaking Naruto out of his concentration.

Naruto looked down at Gamabunta, "Are you sure it will work?" Naruto asked.

"There's only one way to find out, but you'll need to perform the hand seals for the jutsu, I'll provide the chakra." Gamabunta replied.

"Alright, guess we'll go with that!" Naruto said as he brought his hands together.

"GYAHAHA, DO YOU EXPECT ME TO LET YOU DO WHAT YOU WANT!!??" Shukaku shouted as he slammed his hand onto his stomach.

<Wind Release: Sand Buckshot>

A giant shock wave of air with small particles of sand flying along with the blast fired from Shukaku's mouth aimed directly at Naruto and Gamabunta.

"Shit!" Gamabunta cursed as he dodged by jumping high into the air.

<Wind Release: Sand Buckshot>

<Wind Release: Sand Buckshot>

<Wind Release: Sand Buckshot>

Shukaku fired off three massive air shock waves with sand particles flying along with the blasts straight toward Gamabunta who was slowly beginning to fall back toward the ground.

Gamabunta responded by holding up a hand seal.

<Water Release: Gunshot>

<Water Release: Gunshot>

<Water Release: Gunshot>

He fired off three giant blasts of water, canceling out the three incoming blasts, canceling each other out, and causing the remaining water to fall down like rain.

...

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After traveling with Naruto's clone, Kakashi and the clone had managed to find the spot that Naruto had fought Temari and Kankuro in. When they had arrived, Kakashi noticed an unconscious Kankuro and Sasuke along with Temari who looked defeated and two more clones of Naruto. Suddenly the ground shook and everyone who was conscious looked over toward the source.

Kakashi and Temari's eyes widened in shock as the witnessed the colossal battle that was taking place between Gaara who had transformed into Shukaku and Naruto who had summoned Gamabunta.

Kakashi couldn't help but see Minato's form overlapping with Naruto's as the battle continued on. Sensei…. Your son as truly become a splendid shinobi! Kakashi thought as he watched the battle. Then he looked over toward the clone Naruto that had led him here.

"Naruto, I'm fine now, please go find Sakura and Lee!" Kakashi said.

Clone Naruto nodded and then vanished, leaving Kakashi alone with the rest of the group.

Temari noticed Kakashi's arrival and already knew that Baki had been defeated as well. We were completely outclassed! She thought, especially against that blondie, we never stood a chance against him! She smiled bitterly to herself as she remembered how cocky her and Kankuro had acted toward him when they first met.

We were complete idiots thinking that the leaf had grown weak due to peace, but look how wrong we were to think that! Temari thought.

Kakashi looked toward Sasuke and wondered how he had been knocked unconscious. He couldn't have been defeated by the sand genin, could he? Kakashi wondered.

"Naruto, what happened to Sasuke?" Kakashi asked.

Clone Naruto was quiet for a moment before he replied. "Kakashi-sensei, I knocked him out."

"What? Why?" Kakashi said bewildered as his eyes widened.

"Because he challenged me to a fight before the Sand Shinobi attacked us, and then he came at me with the intent to kill, so I had to get a little serious to stop him. That's when the Sand Shinobi attacked us." Clone Naruto answered.

Kakashi was quiet for a moment as he took in the new information.

"I see…." Kakashi wondered where he'd gone wrong when teaching Sasuke, he wondered if there could have been some way to avoid it.

He was thankful that Naruto was able to handle the situation without anyone getting seriously hurt however. Suddenly the group felt another shock wave, followed shortly by a hard downpour of rain.

The sudden downpour caused Kakashi and Temari to look up in shock.

"What a battle! Their attacks are changing the landscape and changing the weather!" Temari gasped out in shock.

Kakashi was silent but he still agreed with her, the scale of the fight was truly astonishing. The closest thing he could compare this to was when the Nine-Tails attacked the village all those years ago.

Naruto…. Please be safe! Kakashi thought to himself as he watched the battle intently.

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After canceling out the blasts Gamabunta landed onto the ground while Shukaku grinned at the duo.

"GYAHA, THIS IS SO FUN, PLAY WITH ME SOME MORE!!!" Shukaku laughed.

"Brat, we can't drag this fight on forever! The Sand Spirit has more chakra than me! A battle of attrition just wont work!" Gamabunta warned.

"I know, but I have an idea!" Naruto said.

Gamabunta glanced up toward Naruto as soon as he heard his words.

"Well don't keep it all to yourself, what's the plan?" Gamabunta asked.

"Can you distract him for a minute? I need some time to charge a jutsu!" Naruto asked.

"Eh?" Gamabunta uttered as he narrowed his eyes toward Naruto.

However, seeing the confident look on Naruto's face caused him to smirk.

"Alright! If you need a minute, I'll give you the time you need!" Gamabunta shouted raising his fighting spirit.

"Let's go brat!"

"Right!" Naruto shouted back as he jumped off of Gamabunta and landed on a tree. He summoned a clone and held out his hand as he focused on gathering chakra.

As soon as Naruto jumped off, Gamabunta launched himself forward toward the blade he had dropped earlier.

"Come on!!" Gamabunta shouted.

He held up his hands as he flew toward the air, creating the tiger hand seal.

<Water Release: Gunshot>

<Water Release: Gunshot>

Gamabunta fired off two blasts of water before releasing his hand seal and grabbing the hilt of his blade.

Shukaku grinned as he slammed his fist onto his stomach.

<Wind Release: Air Bullet>

<Wind Release: Air Bullet>

Shukaku fired off two blasts of air to cancel out the giant water bullets, creating a wall of water in front of him that covered his vision. Suddenly, Gamabunta flew through the wall of water and slashed his sword toward Shukaku from overhead. Shukaku raised his arm above his head and blocked the blade, causing it to cut half way through before stopping. Gamabunta narrowed his eyes and kicked his legs against Shukaku's stomach, launching himself into the air.

"GYAHAHAHA, THAT TICKLED!!" Shukaku responded, after receiving Gamabunta's blow.

"ARE YOU EVEN TRYING?!" Shukaku asked as he raised his arm.

Then he rushed toward Gamabunta and threw a punch, hitting the toad straight back, causing him to crash into the forest creating another deep scar in the earth.

"GYAHAHA, HOW WAS THAT!?" Shukaku laughed.

*Cough, cough* Gamabunta spat out blood from his mouth before wiping the remaining blood off with his arm.

"Is that all ya got!?" Gamabunta shouted in response.

Shukaku frowned toward Gamabunta.

"HMPH!! YOU"RE NO FUN ANYMORE, IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO DIE!!!!" Shukaku shouted.

Then he opened his mouth and began gathering chakra, forming a large sphere of chakra.

Gamabunta narrowed his eyes, this isn't good! He thought as he sensed the density and massive amounts of chakra being gathered into that sphere.

"Boss! Get out of the way!" Naruto shouted.

Gamabunta looked over toward the sound of Naruto's voice, his eyes widening at what he saw.

Naruto was standing at the top of the tallest tree and in the palm of his hand was a massive spiraling ball of chakra with blades that looked like shurikens spinning around the middle of the sphere.

"Move aside boss!" Naruto shouted as he jumped into the air, using his clone as a boost.

Gamabunta acted in the next split second and quickly jumped out of Naruto's way.

<Sage Art: Massive Rasenshuriken Jutsu>

Naruto swung his arm and threw the giant spinning bladed sphere of chakra toward Shukaku who also fired off the tailed beast bomb at the same time as Naruto threw his jutsu.

The two jutsus flew through the air toward one another until finally they clashed against one another. Everyone's eyes fixated on the point of impact, waiting to see what happens.