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?!

As the aftershocks settle, there's a groan that comes from Gaara.

"Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

I'm so overwhelmed by the amount of chakra that surrounds me. I want to vomit. Don't vomit, I order myself. You'll be sitting in it. Don't vomit. Somehow, Naruto's managed to make thousands of them this time. This, I only know because I'd once witnessed him create a thousand Shadow Clones once before; I'd felt the intensity of the chakra used on them then. This... The feeling is indescribable.

"Directly from Naruto's Ninja Handbook! Everywhere, shuriken!"

Whatever Naruto's done, it sounds like it works! Unfortunately, there's a heavy thud that reverberates through our trees that rattles my head against the bark.

"There's absolutely no way I'm going to lose to a guy like him!" Gaara screams from much closer by than I remember him being— that thud must've been him. Heavy footsteps echo right through the tree next to my ear, once more shaking the tree.

With the Shadow Clones now gone, there's an empty space where I'd once felt such a mass amount of chakra. It gets filled, and quickly, by a new source of chakra. The forest creaks and snaps, thuds and moans—something big has appeared. Something big has happened.

Naruto screams. Sasuke calls his name.

"Sand Buri—""Summoning Jutsu!!" Our tree vibrates.

A sudden burst of energy floods me. Poising my legs to once more hold back the sand, I force my shoulders back as much as possible, infuse chakra into my one fist, and strike quick at the tree. A spiderweb-like shattering appears, and before it can mend, I lift my heel and ram it against it until it shatters all the way through. Light quickly floods into my cocoon of a cage, and before it can seal, I manage to get half of my body through the hole, the sand trapping me at my elbows.

My eyes are slow to adjust. But even then, they really don't need to. I can make out their shapes just fine. Gaara's demon... is a giant raccoon made of sand, with bright yellow eyes. And facing off against it is a giant orange frog—Naruto's summon.

"I'm finally free!" the raccoon shouts, its voice echoing throughout the forest; I wince. "Here I come, baby!"

"Hey!" a new quieter and unfamiliar voice suddenly calls. I look all around me, but because of the angle of my body, I'm unable to look all the way down. "Are you okay up there?!" Despite my straining, I can't tell who's calling.

"Who's there?" I shout back.

"That's not important," the girl says, sounding much closer. "I'm behind you now; I'll get you and your friend out of this, so no matter how hot it's about to get, you can't move."

"H-Hot?!" I repeat. "You're not going to use a Fire Jutsu, are you?"

"Not quite. Ninja Art: Vitrifying Jutsu."

She'd been right—it is hot. My lower half sweats uncontrollably with how much heat gets contained inside the shell of this trap. But I can feel a difference; now, a slight breeze. She's melting the sand! I realize in awe, doing my best to remain still. Suddenly, the bottom of the hand disintegrates.

"Hurry!" she hisses at me. I let myself fall through the sand after I've freed my upper half and send chakra to my feet to latch onto the tree with them. Next to me, something pink falls past me.

"Sakura!!" I exclaim, rushing down the tree, my hands outstretched for hers. But I miss her by less than an inch. Something red, this time, blurs past me, and manages to grab Sakura on their way toward solid ground. I gape at her, having paused momentarily along the tree before jumping down to meet them.

"She's only unconscious," the girl says. "I know some healing Ninjutsu I can use to keep her comfortable until we can get back to your village hospital."

She tilts her head ever so slightly, enough that her side profile rings a loud bell in my most recent memories. I can't help the gasp I let out—her red hair, dark brown eyes, tanned skin—

"W-Wait, you're—" I can't even finish my sentence, positively too surprised by this turnout. A faint glow appears in her palms as she sets Sakura down, and in placing them against her chest, she finally looks up at me.

"Oh. My name. I'm Kishibi," she says. "Kishibi Hio."

Updated October 18th, 2022 | 1,263 words