Author's Notes: Please note that the attacks that I used originally do not belong to some of the characters as I got them off of the anime videos either from the movies and/or the series. I do not claim to own Naruto or any of the characters used in this fan fiction but the story is all my own idea. Please leave your reviews at the end to tell me what you think. Thanks!

"..." regular speech, '...' beast speech, *...* mental telepathy

Chapter Seven: Gaara's true form awakens

It was early morning when Naruto reentered into the village bruised and beaten. He slowly stumbled into the village collapsing into Jiraya as he seemed to be on his way out of the village.

"Naruto...are you all right?" Jiraya asked in concern.

"Jiraya...last night moon...beast got out of control...took quite a beating." Naruto replied weakly. Jiraya picked up the teen carrying Naruto back to Sakura's hut. Jiraya didn't bother knocking as he kicked in the door surprising Sakura.

"Dear lord Naruto, what happened?" Sakura asked as she lead Jiraya to the back allowing him to place the unconscious teen onto the bed. He looked worse then the time when he was first brought to her.

"He was rambling something about the moon, beast got out of control, and that he took quite a beating." Jiraya replied. Sasuke and Gaara entered finding their brother in a bloody and beaten up mess. The two boys knew what had happened as they have seen it before.

"He just needs to rest and to heal. Last night was a new full moon. His beast must haven been out of control and that is how he took the beating." the boys stated.

"Will that happen all of the time?" Sakura asked.

"Not all of the time. But last night was the first time that the beast was able to come out during a lunar cycle after being imprisoned for a long time. That's why Naruto wanted someplace secluded that way he wouldn't hurt anyone but himself." stated Sasuke.

"Sasuke can you help me heal him?" Sakura asked as he nodded his head. The healing session didn't take as long as before. It was amazing at how well the three monstrous boys understood each other. Most people could never understand each other as well as these three could. Sakura was slowly beginning to understand the way that they thought and acted. She knew that the elder was arranging a place for the three boys to live together. The only time Sakura would see them is for missions or around the village. She has grown quite attached to the three boys. After the healing session was completed, Naruto began to come around as he let out a long guttered moan. Naruto slowly sat up right rubbing his hand through his hair.

"Rough night Naruto?" Gaara asked as Naruto snarled at him.

"You won't be laughing when you go through it." he snapped bearing his fangs. This shut Gaara up quickly.

"Are you always this moody after a lunar cycle Naruto?" asked Sakura.

"Pretty much!" replied Sasuke receiving an evil glare from Naruto. Sakura couldn't help but to laugh which seemed to lighten up Naruto's mood a little bit.

"Well don't mind me but, I am off to investigate a strange rumor that the elder had heard about. Supposedly the village hidden among sand has been under constant attack." Jiraya stated.

"Master Jiraya do you think that it is that group?" asked Sakura.

"I am not certain. That is why the elder wants me to go to the land of wind to the Sunakure village. Usually this group just attacks and moves on. This isn't consistent with their usual methods." stated Jiraya before he left Sakura's hut.

By mid-afternoon the squad was summoned to the elders hut. By then Naruto was up and mobile. His mood was must better than earlier. The team entered the hut to find Hiruzen Sarutobi pacing around as Kakashi Hatake watched.

"Sir they are here." stated Kakashi as Hiruzen stopped and looked at the squad.

"All right guys, I have an important mission as Kakashi Hatake will be acting as your captain due to the fact that Kurenai Yuhi is away and it seems that Master Jiraya ran into some trouble at the Sunakure village. What kind of trouble we don't know. I need for you to set out at once to the land of wind to the village hidden among the sand. Once there Jiraya shall fill you all in to what is going on." stated Hiruzen. The squad bowed their heads leaving the elders hut.

"I am welcoming any ideas of how to get to Sunakure village as quickly as possible. It takes three days to get there by foot." stated Kakashi once the team had left the village.

"I could carry all of the humans on my back in full feral form." Naruto replied as everyone looked at him shocked.

"Naruto are you certain that you can remain in control?" asked Kakashi. Given the circumstance, Naruto would have to tough it out.

"I am willing to try." he replied. *I will be damned if that fox hurts anyone.* Naruto thought to himself mentally.

'Why would I hurt people that you and I have grown attached to Naruto? I can be very reasonable given a chance.' replied the beast deep within Naruto's mind. This was the first time in a long time that he was hearing the beast.

*Reasonable, you put me through hell last night and almost every time that I go full feral.* Naruto snapped at the voice.

'I didn't mean for things to be the way that they are Naruto. Please forgive me but it is the way that we are. I don't want to go against your wishes. Isn't there a common ground that we can agree on?' asked the beast.

*You will not lay a single paw on any of our friends, the village, team mates, and family. I want for you to start to listen to me and obeying some of my commands.* Naruto stated.

'Of course Naruto. I will do as you say because if I don't work on building any trust, then we are likely to get ourselves killed.' replied the beast.

*Do you happen to have a name and can my brother's hear you?* Naruto asked.

'Only you can hear me Naruto. And the name is Kyuubi.' replied the beast as Naruto was snapped out of his trance.

"Naruto are you all right?" asked Gaara and Sasuke in concern.

"I will be fine just working out a deal with my other half. Don't ask, I will explain later." Naruto replied before shifting into his full feral form. Both Gaara and Sasuke could tell that this time was different as it seemed like the beast was actually obeying Naruto. Naruto proceeded to lay down allowing everyone to climb onto his back as both Gaara and Sasuke shifted into their true forms.

*Remember Kyuubi, I am trusting you to our agreement.* Naruto stated.

It took only several hours to reach Sunakure village. Before entering the village, Naruto shifted back to his true form. Sasuke could see Jiraya heading towards them. Jiraya looked worn down and beaten up. Both Naruto and Gaara could smell snake coming off of the man.

"Master Jiraya what in good lord happened?" Sakura asked.

"Huge sand snake." he replied before loosing consciousness. The three monstrous boys bodies went tense as they could see the sand shifting as the smell of snake grew stronger.

"Watch out it is coming!" snarled Sasuke as the sand towered high threatening to bury everyone alive. Gaara stepped forward slamming his hands into the sand erecting a shield splitting the sand to flow around the group. His powers seemed stronger than before because of all of the sand that was around. A part of him felt at home in the desert. A huge snake suddenly arose from the sand as Kakashi let out a silent curse as it seemed that he recognized the snake.

"What in the world is that thing?" asked Shikamaru.

"I thought that it was only a legend told by the people that live here. That would be the demon snake Orochimaru. According to legend, he arises from the desert once every thousand years killing any and all that he comes across. This is going to be difficult. Shikamaru, Sakura, I want you two to take Jiraya and fall back. There is no way that you two can handle that snake. Temari, Naruto, Gaara, and Sasuke you will have to deal with that snake." stated Kakashi as the team split up.

"Divine Wind!" Temari shouted out opening up her huge fan as gusts of wind hit the snake. Orochimaru laughed as the wind felt like a gentle breeze to him.

*Was that supposed to hurt? Please nobody has been able to hurt me. Perhaps you will be a good appetizer.* the snake hissed mentally.

"Watch out Temari!" shouted out Sasuke as he swooped down grabbing the girl in his talons. The snake seemed to have the same power as Gaara as the sand moved to attack both Temari and Sasuke.

"Watch out!" Gaara shouted out a little too late as the sand crashed into them both smashing them into the ground.

*Perhaps I should just eat you all and continue attacking the village. Its not like any of you pose a threat to me.* Orochimaru hissed as the sand moved towering higher than ever before. This pissed Gaara off so much that his body began to shift forms.

"How dare you hurt my friends and family! I will not allow you to kill any more people!" Gaara howled as his body began to take on a new shape while the sand seemed to be shifting as if a greater force was controlling it. Gaara hunched over in pain letting out loud guttered screams and snarls as his body began to shift. The red head teen became a huge hulking slender raccoon beast the size of a house. Its fur was the color of sand as vibrant lavender markings surrounded its body. Its eyes became all black as the irises of the eye became golden yellow with diamond shape pupils. Its claws and fangs fully lengthened becoming longer.

'Its about dam time that he awoke!' Kyuubi snarled in the back of Naruto's mind.

*Kyuubi, you know Gaara's beast?* asked Naruto mentally.

'That is Shakaku, Gaara's true form. It is similar to how you transform into me when you go full feral. Shakaku may stand even matched against Orochimaru but he will need us to back him up. We may only get one chance at this Naruto. Give me full control. I can help Shukaku take down Orochimaru.' stated Kyuubi.

*If you are certain about this Kyuubi then I guess that I have to trust your judgment.* Naruto stated as he transformed into his full feral form giving Kyuubi complete control.

The sand raccoon slightly turned its head when it felt a familiar presence as a smile stretched across the coon's face.

'Kyuubi are you ready to show this snake whose boss?' the raccoon asked the fox among the same mental path that they used to communicate to their human half. The fox bared his fangs smiling back at the coon.

'It is good to see you Shukaku. I feel like having snake for lunch!' Kyuubi replied licking his muzzle. Both beasts moved simultaneously attacking the snake. The sand moved wrapping around Orochimaru's body like a vice.

*Sand Coffin!* Shukaku roared mentally.

*Dragon Flame!* Kyuubi roared as he breathed out intense fire that felt like it was coming from a dragon. The intense flame seared the snake's skin as it let out a horrible screech as the sand turned into a tight glass prison. Orochimaru shook loose of his glass prison moving to attack the beasts.

"Chidori!" snarled Sasuke landing on top of Orochimaru's head sending one thousand bolts of lightning down the snake. Sasuke spread open his wings as Kyuubi released his next attack.

*Fire Run!* Kyuubi roared as the flames danced across the desert charring the snake as thousands of thin lighting rod shaped sands shot suddenly down from the sky.

*Sand Lightning Rod!* Shukaku snarled as the bolts of electricity ran up the snake.

"Thunder Saber!" Sasuke snarled hurling a lightning bolt straight down Orochimaru's head which added more electrical power sending almost ten thousands volts of electricity through the snake killing it as the huge snake collapsing dead onto the sand. Shukaku slammed his paws into the sand as it rose up burying the snake deep into the sand.

*Sand Burial!* he hissed as the snake disappeared completely as it was finally over.

Shukaku collapsed transforming back into Gaara's human form visibly weak. Kyuubi walked over to the raccoon boy checking on him before transforming back into his human form of Naruto.

*Kyuubi, will they be all right?* Naruto asked mentally.

'They shall be fine. No doubt that Shukaku is making arrangements with his human half just as I did with you. All that is left is for Taka to awaken. Taka is the one whom resides deep within Sasuke.' replied Kyuubi.

*Thanks for your help Kyuubi.* stated Naruto before he too collapsed in exhaustion.

'Any time Naruto!' replied the fox.