Gaara stared at the now dead Kaguya Kimimaro, who had just been milliseconds away from killing him. A part of him could not believe he had come so close to dying, even in his battle with Naruto he had not been that close to death. The thought that he had just had a brush with death gave him chills. Not that he would allow it to affect his outward demeanor, he may not be a killing machine anymore but he still had a reputation to keep.
"Are you two alright?" He asked, looking at the two other genin he was floating in the air.
"I am alright, my most youthful comrade," Lee somehow managed to do the nice guy pose as he floated there. "Thank you for asking."
"I am fine," Neji said.
Gaara nodded as he began to float them a safe distance away from the bone forest that was now sticking up from the previous battlefield. "Then we should head to Konoha."
"What about our most youthful comrades that went on ahead?" asked Lee, not really comfortable leaving the people he had come within possible danger.
"Naruto is with them," Gaara said, "so they will be fine." He had confidence that his blond friend could handle anything that came his way.
((Separation Line))
'Naruto-kun, you need to end this battle soon,' said Kyuubi worriedly. 'Even with my youki you're almost out of juice.'
'I would love to end this fight, but as you can see this chick obviously doesn't,' Naruto replied tiredly as he dodged another spike of crystal. He looked at the woman who had sent it and was pleased to see she was looking just as exhausted as he was, with several cuts running along her clothes and skin, along with her heavy breathing and slightly slumped posture.
"Looks like neither of us really have the energy to do much," Naruto commented, trying to make her talk so he could gain a breather. He would be fine in a few minutes, but she was only human, so it would take her longer and he would eventually gain the advantage.
Guren scowled. "It seems you're right." It was humiliating to admit that this boy had tired her out; she had not expected this battle to last anywhere near as long as it had. "That doesn't mean I don't still have enough energy to kill you."
"Well then, how about both of us?" A voice spoke up and both of them looked to see Hatake Kakashi appear a little ways from them.
"Kakashi!" said Naruto, surprised to his old sensei.
"Yo," Kakashi replied, "you look like you just got the shit kicked out of you by a woman."
Naruto's eyes twitched, "No shit. Really? Gee thanks for my telling me that, I had no clue I looked that way."
Kakashi just chuckled.
"Hatake Kakashi," Guren said, though inwardly she was infuriated. 'Damn! I don't have enough chakra to deal with both him and the blond; I don't even have enough energy to deal with just him'.
"It looks like this is my cue to leave," She looked over at Naruto, frowning. "You got lucky kid."
Naruto watched as she slowly sank into the ground, and another second later the crystal leading to the Valley of the End shattered. Still cautious, the blond Chunin took a look around, both with his eyes and other senses. 'I don't sense her anymore, Kyuubi, can you?'
'No, she's gone,' Kyuubi replied.
"Thank Kami," Naruto said out loud as he slumped down onto his butt, his exhaustion was finally setting in and he knew he would need a good night's sleep before he was back to normal.
"Tired?" asked Kakashi with his usual eye smile.
Naruto just grunted, "Shut up…"
"Mah, mah, no need for that Naruto."
"Naruto-kun," said Temari, who had walked up to him now that the fight was over. "Now that the battle was over, we should probably get dog-boy and the others back to Konoha."
"Right," Naruto grunted and attempted to stand up, only to fail. Growling he tried again and fell back down, causing Temari to giggle. He looked up at her and pouted, "It's not funny."
"Of course it's funny," she shot back, smiling, "Just look at how beat up you are."
"I fail to see the hilarity of this situation."
"Your loss."
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