The Power to Heal and Destroy by Phoenixsun

Chapter 15: All I Have

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Is this... pity? What I'm feeling for you...?" The blond wondered, causing the Sand genin to look at him confused. "Or do I envy you?" He continued. "All my life, I wondered if my life had any meaning, at least you believe yours had one, but something as sad as that..." Naruto's eyes appeared as though they softened. "I guess us beggars can't be choosers." He added with a dry laugh.

Sakura felt like her heart ached at her teammate's words.

Whatever sympathy was there in the blonde's eyes was gone in the next moment as his eyes scornfully set on Gaara. "But you endangered my friends and I can't look away from that..." Naruto stated as his blue Sharingan appeared in his eyes.

If the redhead had been intimidated by the strange Sharingan, he was able to hide it perfectly. The deranged Suna genin let out a malicious laugh as he stared right back at the Leaf genin's glare. "That look in you eyes is perfect!" Gaara commented as he smiled in glee. "I want you to look at me like that until the very moment when I'll spill your blood for Mother!" The jinchuuriki exclaimed as he thrust but arms forward in the direction of the blond.

Naruto jumped upwards, but instead of landing on a higher branch, the Konoha genin used it to propel his body forward, creating enough force to speed past the incoming sand limbs. The blond jinchuuriki closed his hand as he approached the redhead, the punch failed as the Suna shinobi jumped to a different branch before it could connect.

Gaara wasted no time to attack. Not giving his opponent a chance to even turn around, the Sand genin shot his body forward, his claws ready to strike his prey.

The blond jumped back the moment he sensed the incoming attack. Doing a back flip in mid air to dodge his opponent's attack, the Leaf genin sunk his feet in Gaara's back as he completed the three hundred and sixty degrees spin, sending the boy down towards the ground.

Taking the offensive, Naruto stopped the redhead's trip downward by graving one of his ankles and swinging the genin's body towards a tree, breaking the trunk as he flew through.

The Suna shinobi stretched his sand claws in order to stop his flight. Landing on a nearby branch, the monstrous genin glared at the blond. "It's that best you have?" The boy exclaimed. "Mother and I waited for you after hearing your call, but is this all you have to show for it?"

Naruto met the redhead's glare with his own. "I guess I'm putting quite a below average performance." The Konoha nin admitted. "I guess it'll be ok if I went a little wild..." The moment the words left his mouth, the blond disappeared from Gaara's sight just to reappear hovering over the Sand genin the next second and drive his knee into the deranged boy's stomach.

Even through the sand protection, Gaara could still feel the force from the blow his stomach received. His breath escaped his lungs and the Suna nin's head was brought forwards as his body recoiled due to the pain. Blinded because of the strike, the redhead could not see the fist traveling straight towards his face.

The punch's sound was heard throughout the forest as the Sand genin was thrown flying backwards by its force.

Moving at blinding speed, Naruto seemed to disappear again and reappear at the branch Gaara was traveling to. The blond swung his leg forward, driving his kick into the redhead's back, stopping the deranged boy's flying trip and causing him to release a scream of pain. The Leaf genin spun his body around and driving his heel into the Sand shinobi's gut, in a similar fashion to what Sasuke had done before, and sending his fellow Jinchuuriki flying down towards the ground.

The Sharingan user did not waste any time. The boy's hands immediately started on the already familiar set on handseals. "Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Naruto exclaimed before shooting a sizeable fireball down to chase the red head. The explosion signaled the impact.