Doubles

On the field, the glowing orb and the chubby, sand-sculpted tanuki were still locked in a struggle.

The two sides had been stalemated for a minute, and the tide had turned twice.

The first time, Uzumaki Naruto had nearly been swallowed by Gaara's sand, but he'd burst out with a glowing orb in tow, using a technique no one had ever seen.

The second time, Gaara's technique had looked ready to be smashed through by Naruto's glowing orb. But then his chakra had suddenly intensified, changing the technique's shape and pushing the orb back instead.

And now, the tide had turned for a third time. Just as everyone thought Naruto had run out of options, orange-red chakra suddenly burst from him, as if a giant orange-red fox were roaring.

Those who still remembered that chakra tensed at once.

Fortunately, the chakra surrounding Naruto quickly subsided, becoming a golden Chakra Cloak patterned with black markings.

Sensing the Nine-Tails' chakra intensify, Shukaku reminded Gaara: [That stinky fox over there's starting to get serious, too. I'll share as much chakra with you as I can, so hit him hard!]

Seeing Naruto's changed appearance, Gaara asked curiously, "Shukaku, if we're both borrowing your chakra, why can the other Jinchuriki transform, but I can't?"

Shukaku: [Who says you can't? There are conditions. You just haven't met them yet.]

Gaara: "What conditions?"

Shukaku didn't want to tell him. [You can't meet them anyway, so there's no point explaining.]

Gaara: "I can't do it now, but tell me. I'll show you I can."

After a moment's silence, Shukaku relented. [The Tailed Beast and its Jinchuriki must be of one mind, and the Jinchuriki must be able to withstand the negative emotions contained in the Tailed Beast's chakra. Only then can they transform like that. But every Tailed Beast has special abilities, and those are reflected in its appearance. Even if you transform someday, you won't necessarily look like the Jinchuriki over there.]

Gaara was in good spirits. "Knowing that much is enough for now."

Their conversation over, Gaara began his counterattack. Maintaining the Shield of Shukaku, he drew black Iron Sand from the surrounding sand. "Magnet Release: Iron Sand Shower!"

Naruto glanced at the Iron Sand and kept focusing his mind and chakra on battering the Shield of Shukaku in front of him.

Kurama panicked. [The other guy's attacking! Aren't you going to dodge!?]

"Help me defend."

Naruto kept his eyes on the shield. "I have to break this first."

Kurama controlled the chakra, extending two chakra arms from Naruto's Chakra Cloak to block the Iron Sand. At the same time, he grumbled, [Are you planning to see who has more chakra, you or that panda boy? Even with only half my chakra left, I'm still stronger than that fat tanuki. But don't you think this is boring?]

"It is a little boring."

Naruto agreed. "But Gaara just said the Shield of Shukaku was his strongest defensive move! Breaking the strongest defense—doesn't that sound incredibly cool?!"

[...It does!]

[But can't you use a different technique? The markings on that fat tanuki are actually some kind of naturally occurring sealing formula. Breaking through with Spiraling Ring alone is practically impossible.]

"So it's a sealing technique! No wonder it felt familiar!"

Naruto stopped pouring chakra into the Spiraling Ring and let it dissipate on its own. He gathered chakra in both hands and clenched his fists. Two characters appeared on his knuckles: [O] and [Ra].

"General Unsealing Style: Yura Unsealing."

Naruto muttered the words and unleashed a rapid flurry of punches. The characters "Yura" repeatedly struck the Shield of Shukaku. With each strike, some of the markings on the shield disappeared, and some of the sand crumbled away.

Naruto struck rapidly. In about two seconds, he had punched right through the Shield of Shukaku.

Seeing Gaara's slightly stunned expression, Naruto flashed his white teeth. "I broke your Strongest Shield!"

"Yeah."

Gaara quickly recovered. "But I haven't lost yet."

Magnet Release chakra gathered the surrounding black Iron Sand into needle-thin spikes. "Magnet Release: Iron Sand Giant Needles!"

There were fewer Iron Sand Giant Needles than Iron Sand Shower projectiles, but they flew faster and hit harder—hard enough to pierce Naruto's Chakra Cloak.

Kurama grew anxious. [Naruto!]

Naruto shifted his body slightly, dodging a volley of needles by a hair's breadth. "I know. I'll keep an eye out."

With Shukaku giving him its full support, Gaara poured out Magnet Release chakra without pause and launched a sustained assault. "Magnet Release: Iron Sand World Method!"

The black Iron Sand formed into bars that lifted Gaara high into the air. At the same time, hundreds of Iron Sand bars emerged from the sand across the arena, their sharpened tips stabbing toward Naruto.

In the stands, the Third Hokage exclaimed, "That's... the Third Kazekage's technique!"

"Your Jinchuriki aren't the only ones who can inherit a Kage's techniques."

The Fourth Kazekage seized the moment to boast. "I wonder how long your Jinchuriki can keep going."

The Third Hokage lowered the brim of his hat slightly, uncertain. Minato sealed away half of the Nine-Tails back then. I wonder if the half inside Naruto can defeat the complete One-Tail.

On the field, Naruto hadn't unleashed any stronger chakra, yet he looked completely relaxed as he strolled through Gaara's Iron Sand attacks. He even found time to chat.

"Ha, this attack's nowhere near as intense as my training with my master."

[That may be true, but can you stop talking about it in the middle of a fight!?]

"Then let's change the subject. That... fat tanuki you mentioned seems to use Magnet Release. You're always saying you're the strongest of the Tailed Beasts. You must have some special nature transformation of your own, right?"

[My chakra is the strongest among the Tailed Beasts, but I don't use nature transformations. If you insist on calling something special, then there's Senjutsu. But the Senjutsu Chakra I gather isn't the same as the Senjutsu Chakra you use... The Sage Mode your master taught you is completely different from the one I know.]

"I see. Then I'll just have to do this the hard way."

Naruto swiftly tossed a kunai through a gap in the Iron Sand bars, then appeared beside it and grabbed it. He threw it again, then appeared beside it once more... Repeating the process, Naruto quickly escaped Gaara's range of attack. There was only so much Iron Sand on the field. Gaara was still extracting more from the sand, but he didn't have enough yet to cover the entire arena.

Naruto pressed his hands together. "Sealing Jutsu: Type One-Two."

The black markings that signified a sealing technique didn't appear on Naruto's body. Instead, they appeared on his golden Chakra Cloak and connected with the markings already there, forming a new pattern. The shape of the Chakra Cloak changed slightly as well.

From his high vantage point, Gaara took in every detail of Naruto's transformation. "His chakra seems weaker."

[Idiot. That stinky fox has nothing but chakra. How could it run out in such a short time?]

Shukaku warned him: [That Jinchuriki used a sealing technique on himself. I don't know what it does, but it definitely won't make him weaker.]

Gaara gathered the Iron Sand bars together, forming them into a regular triangular pyramid more than ten meters tall. It spun rapidly as he launched it at Naruto. "Let's see what happens..."