Child of the sea (Neji X OC story)

Chapter Eighteen ~ The Fox and The Raccoon

~Third~

At last, Umiko, Naruto and Pakkun had caught up to Sasuke, he was already fighting Gaara and had to resort to releasing the curse mark but even that failed, now Sasuke sat there defenseless as Gaara partially overtaken by the Shukaku attacked with a claw of sand, before Gaara could land a potentially fatal blow Naruto swooped in and kicked him away.

Umiko went over to Sasuke and checked on him, she bit her lip like she had though the idiot had resorted to unsealing the curse mark, however as she was distracted Gaara pinned her to a tree with a claw of sand, she gasped hitting the tree hard "Umiko!"Naruto called.

Umiko grunted as the claw tightened its grip on her "Let her go!"Naruto growled at Gaara 'How am i supposed to get her out?' Naruto thought and then came up with something, he tried to summon the chief toad Gamabunta but only managed to summon a smaller frog, as Gaara turned to look more like the monster sealed inside him, he goated Naruto on and Naruto attacked using shadow clones.

Gaara in his transformed state just blew them away however, he continued attacking Naruto driving him back, Umiko struggling in the ever tightening sand trying to think of ways to escape while Naruto started to feel determination burning inside him, determination to save his friends.

Naruto created a few clones and got behind Gaara sticking a kunai to his butt, Gaara hit him sending him flying but Sasuke stopped him from hitting a three, the kunai had a paper bomb on it so as it went off it created a smoke cloud, as it cleared it was revealed the bomb did have an effect.

The claw tightened on Umiko "Listen Naruto you have to save Umiko if it's the last thing you do once you've got her, i want you to take her and flee as fast as possible, it's all up to you"Sasuke said, Naruto thought back to the time on the bridge "Sasuke!"Umiko called, still conscious and still struggling "Don't be stupid, just work together with Naruto, i can get myself out thank you very much"she called.

Naruto grinned "Yeah, like i would let you have all the glory again, it's my turn in the spotlight so sit back and watch me"he said and created two thousand shadow clones, the largest number so far and attacked Gaara, he showed off all his tricks as he fought Gaara, but Gaara refused to give up finally letting the Shukaku completely over take his body, the giant raccoon demon stood high above the trees and trapped Naruto in sand.

Naruto had used all his chakra on the shadow clones though, yet he had a way to get out, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth he used the nine tails chakra to summon the chief toad Gamabunta, standing on top the giant toad he promised to save Umiko who was hard at work trying to think of a way to save herself, she had figured using water style would work only problem was she couldn't move her hands.

Anyway, the toad chief and Naruto fought the one tailed Shukaku but the toad couldn't get a grip on the sand demon, using transformation the two took on the appearance of a nine tailed fox and finally got a hold of the giant raccoon, Naruto got off the toad and went over to Gaara punching him awake but the raccoon wasn't done yet, the sand caught him, Gamabunta however used his tongue to save him, giving it another try Naruto headbutted Gaara.

The sand demon disappeared and the two fell on top of trees, exhausted they went at each other with fist, Naruto hit Gaara and they fell off the trees.

In the meanwhile  the sand claw around Umiko disappeared too, she caught herself and coughed a bit holding her ribs, Sasuke went over to her "Umiko, you okay?"he asked "Yeah, just a few bruised ribs i think, now come on we need to find Naruto"she said, he nodded and they headed out with Pakkun leading the way.

Naruto started crawling over to Gaara using his chin "No stay away"Gaara told him "It's almost unbearable isn't it? The feeling of being all alone, i know that feeling i've been there in that dark and lonely place but now there are others, other people who mean a lot to me i care more about them then i do myself and i won't let anyone hurt them that's why i won't ever give up i will stop you even if i have to kill you"Naruto said glaring at him.

"But why? Why would you do this to anyone but yourself?"Gaara asked "Because they saved me from myself they rescued me from my loneliness, they were the first to accept me for who i am, they're my friends"Naruto said thinking about his team, Umiko, Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei and the one who believed in him first Iruka-sensei.

Then Umiko and Sasuke appeared "Naruto that's enough"Sasuke said "Umiko, you're okay!" Naruto grinned "Of course you dummy, have a little faith, i'm tougher then i look, still though" she then smiled and kissed his cheek as she helped him up with Sasuke "Thanks for the save" she smiled at him, then Temari and Kankuro appeared too "That's enough it's over"Gaara said, Kankuro picked up Gaara and they left.

~skip~

~Umiko~

The streets were empty, a somber atmosphere surrounded the leaf, the third hokage had died in the battle and today was his burial, along with the burial of all the others who lost their life during the attack, anyway i met up with Sasuke and Naruto and together we went to the top of the hokage tower where the funerals were being held, i slipped away from the others and over to Neji.

Neji instantly held my hand and squeezed not caring if anyone saw, i didn't care anymore either and squeezed his hand back, i stood next to him as it started raining, i didn't pay much attention to what was going on and just thought back to the times i spent with the old man.

All those times i begged him to teach me the Flying Raijin jutsu, the time he taught me how to play shogi, the time he finally let me learn the Flying Raijin jutsu and of course the time he released my limiter, i was still thinking about everything i learned from him as i put a white chrysanthemum by a picture of the old man.

I remembered one thing i heard a long time ago, not from the old man but i think this fit the situation, they told me "I won't die as long as people remember me" i have never forgotten who told me that, so i'll remember you too third hokage, that's a promise, besides i doubt you want to see everyone looking so sad, i smiled a bit as the sun started to come out i went home and changed my clothes then hung out with Neji the rest of the day as our date.