My Blood

Strangely, it began to rain—not water, but sand, and a great deal of it.

"I can easily create new sand by compressing the minerals underground... As long as I have sand, I can do anything." Gaara replenished his sand reserves and prepared for the next wave of attacks.

"It looks like destroying the sand is useless." Naruto pondered, letting out a soft sigh as he realized all his efforts had been in vain.

"Die." Gaara spoke after completing his hand signs.

"Quicksand Waterfall!" Gaara shouted. A massive wave of sand erupted before him and rushed toward Naruto at incredible speed.

A few seconds later, the entire arena was covered in sand.

Naruto had vanished.

"Sand Burial!" Gaara said, slamming both hands onto the ground. Shockwaves burst from his palms and swept through the entire arena.

"You're too weak, Uzumaki." Gaara took several deep breaths.

"I told you not to underestimate me." Naruto's voice echoed throughout the arena.

Gaara stared in shock as Naruto swirled into existence before him. In only a few seconds, Naruto appeared completely unharmed.

"It seems to be some kind of space-time ninjutsu." The Raikage stroked his chin.

Naruto charged at full speed, with sand close behind him, trying to stop him from approaching Gaara.

Naruto easily reached Gaara, channeling lightning chakra into his fists and feet as he launched a fierce assault. He threw a right hook that struck Gaara perfectly, shattering his sand shield.

Gaara's sand tried to seize him, but it could only pass through Naruto.

What is going on? Gaara wondered. He could not understand why the sand could not catch Naruto.

Naruto prepared to launch another round of attacks. Dodging the sand, he slid beneath Gaara and kicked him into the air. Naruto vanished at astonishing speed, then appeared behind Gaara in midair and delivered a crushing kick infused with lightning chakra, completely destroying his sand shield and sending him crashing heavily into the ground.

Gaara slammed into the ground, and everyone could hear several bones crack. Naruto landed on the ground.

As the dust settled, everyone saw Gaara slowly rise to his feet, sand swirling around him and reforming into sand armor around his skin.

A few seconds later, some sand began gathering in the air above the ground, forming a small sphere. Moments later, the sand stopped moving and became a perfect eye that seemed to be watching Naruto.

"He's completely sealed himself in." Naruto thought aloud as he considered how to break through the sand armor.

Naruto calmly walked toward the sand armor. Suddenly, the sand sphere fired sand spears at him, trying to pierce him, but he continued walking as if nothing had happened, the spears appearing to be embedded deep within his body.

Naruto reached the sand armor, calmly took two explosive tags from his pocket, placed them on his right hand, and used Kamui to pass through the sand armor.

Naruto's arm reached inside and released the two tags before he casually walked away.

As he left the sand sphere, he formed half of a Tiger hand sign with his right hand and said, "Release!"

At his command, the tags inside the sand armor suddenly exploded. The armor remained intact, but everyone could see the sand sphere bulge from the blast.

After the explosion, the sand enveloping Gaara began to tremble and fall to the ground, revealing Gaara's transformed form.

His right arm was completely made of sand. A sand tail had grown from Gaara's back, half his face had become sand, and his right eye had taken on Shukaku's appearance.

Naruto poured chakra into the storage seal on his wrist and took out his favorite weapon.

Clang!

It was a broad fan, with three blood-red Rinnegan patterns on each side.

He had found it in the basement of the Namikaze Clan.

The Nine-Tails immediately recognized the weapon.

"Whoa!" the Nine-Tails exclaimed.

"Keep it down."

"Do you know what weapon that is?" the Nine-Tails asked.

It was Madara Uchiha's gunbai fan.

"That's just my grandfather's signature weapon. What about it?" Naruto asked, clearly not understanding what he held in his hand.

"You foolish brat, that is no ordinary weapon."

"Let me show you my true power..." Naruto said.

"Sand Bullets!" The transformed Gaara suddenly unleashed dozens of small spheres of sand toward Naruto at astonishing speed.

With a light wave of his fan, Naruto completely destroyed the incoming sand bullets.

"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!" Naruto shouted, releasing a massive white flame toward Gaara. As he released the flames, he swung the fan and said, "Wind Release: Fan Wind!" A powerful gust flew from the fan, amplifying the flames.

This was Naruto's most powerful Fire Release attack, an A-rank technique, but the fan's wind easily elevated it to S-rank. Gaara wrapped his tail around himself to protect his head and was completely swallowed by the flames, disappearing from view.

"Enough!" Gaara roared, and the force of his shout dispersed the flames around him.

Gaara charged at Naruto. Naruto channeled chakra into his fan, and a translucent circular barrier appeared in midair. Gaara's right arm struck the barrier, unleashing a shockwave, but the barrier did not budge, while Gaara withdrew his arm in pain.

"Wind Release: Infinite Sand Dust Great Breakthrough!" Gaara unleashed a fierce wind attack laden with sand and dust.

Naruto poured chakra into his fan and swung it, creating a gust equally powerful to Gaara's attack.

Immediately afterward, Naruto charged at Gaara. Everyone could hear the electric crackling from his hand, more intense than an ordinary Chidori.

"Lightning Cutter!" Naruto shouted. After infusing his right hand with lightning chakra, he continued toward Gaara, completely tearing through the other's arm and driving the Lightning Cutter through Gaara's right shoulder. Gaara screamed in agony as blood splattered onto the ground.

"What was that?" Sasuke asked.

"That's an upgraded version of my Chidori," Kakashi said flatly.

"What? There's an even stronger version... Why didn't you teach me that?" Sasuke demanded.

"Lightning Cutter is an S-rank technique. You might not have enough chakra to use it," Kakashi explained. Sasuke frowned.

"Blood... my blood!" Gaara screamed in pain, seeing his own blood for the first time in his life.

Suddenly, the surrounding sand rose into the sky and exploded amid a cloud of smoke.

When the smoke cleared, a towering sand tanuki appeared before everyone.

Naruto carefully watched the sand tanuki before him. Suddenly, feathers began drifting down across the entire arena.

Naruto formed a Ram hand sign with his fingers and said, "Release!" breaking the genjutsu.

"The invasion has begun..." Naruto said, preparing to face the fully released Shukaku alone.