Sasuke dashed through the trees, eyes sharp, chakra burning in his veins. Gaara's bloodlust filled the air ahead of him like a suffocating mist.

"I won't let you escape," Sasuke muttered. Yamihibi, his black snake he had just summoned, slithered through the shadows beside him, perfectly silent.

Gaara stumbled into a clearing, breathing heavily, his sand swirling wildly. His body was mutating, sand pouring from his gourd, shaping into monstrous limbs. Cracks formed across his face as the One-Tail, Shukaku, began taking over.

"You're too late…!" Gaara rasped, eyes wild.

"We'll see about that." Sasuke's eyes narrowed.

Without hesitation, Sasuke formed a Chidori, lightning shrieking from his palm. But as he lunged, Gaara's body fully erupted into Shukaku's monstrous form, towering over the trees.

The earth shook violently.

From behind, Naruto crashed into the scene, huffing. "Oi, Sasuke! Couldn't wait for backup, huh?!"

Hikaribi, Naruto's radiant silver-white snake, slithered beside him, crackling with golden energy.

Seeing Shukaku fully formed, Naruto's expression turned serious. "Big guy… and ugly too."

Sasuke smirked. "Let's end this quickly."

Gaara, half-conscious inside Shukaku, screeched. "DIE!!!"

Shukaku launched a barrage of sand bullets at them.

Sasuke quickly weaved hand signs and summoned Yamihibi.

"Yamihibi!" Sasuke barked. His snake merged into the ground, turning intangible.

"Hikaribi! Radiant Pulse!" Naruto shouted.

Hikaribi unleashed a blinding flash, disrupting Shukaku's aim. Sasuke zipped through the beams of sand with insane speed, while Naruto created a massive army of shadow clones to confuse the beast.

The ground trembled as Shukaku flailed.

From the arena, Temari and Kankuro watched nervously.

"That idiot Gaara… he's losing control!" Temari clenched her fan tightly. Worried about her younger brother.

Kakashi, standing at the top of the arena, folded his arms calmly. "They'll manage," he said, his voice confident as he kicked another sound ninja to death.

Kurenai, Gai, and the others also observed from time to time as they fought the Sound and Sand ninjas.

Back in the forest, Sasuke flashed through hand seals and extended his right hand. "Time to try it again…"

Crackling arcs of purple lightning danced around him.

"Shiden!" Sasuke roared, thrusting forward.

A surge of high-voltage lightning shot directly at Shukaku, piercing through the sand armor like paper. Shukaku howled in pain.

Sasuke landed lightly, breathing hard. Shukaku staggered but wasn't finished.

"Naruto!" Sasuke called.

"Got it!!" Naruto grinned, racing forward with three clones.

Shukaku snarled, sucking in the air. "Wind Style: Drilling Air Bullet!"

A massive sphere of compressed wind exploded from his mouth.

Naruto's clones threw themselves forward, cushioning the blast. Naruto himself charged ahead, forming a swirling sphere in his palm.

"RASENGAN!!!" he roared.

At the last second, Naruto leaped high and smashed the Rasengan into Shukaku's arm, tearing it apart in a brutal spiral.

The impact rattled the entire forest. Shukaku screeched in pain, parts of his sand body crumbling.

Naruto landed next to Sasuke, panting.

"You ready?" Sasuke asked.

"Heh. Always." Naruto wiped his nose.

They exchanged a glance, understanding each other without words.

Sasuke dashed toward Gaara's human body emerging at the beast's forehead, while Naruto created another batch of shadow clones to distract Shukaku.

Yamihibi and Hikaribi worked together, binding Shukaku's remaining arm and legs with dark tendrils and light pulses.

"Now!" Sasuke called out.

Naruto leaped high, propelled by his clones, and punched Gaara square in the face.

"WAKE UP, BASTARD!!!"

Gaara's eyes widened in shock, and the sand armor started crumbling.

Shukaku roared in agony as Gaara's consciousness began pulling back the beast's chakra.

The massive sand body collapsed into dust with an earth-shaking crash.

Sasuke stood over Gaara, breathing heavily but victorious.

Gaara, dazed, stared up at them.

"Why…?" he muttered. "Why are you like this!? Why so strong?"

Naruto grinned, hands behind his head.

"Because… I know what it's like to be alone. To feel like no one cares, like the world's against you. But… someone always can care. Even if it's just one person. And when that happens, you don't have to carry everything by yourself anymore."

He paused, his blue eyes focused on Gaara.

"Strength… real strength… comes from letting someone in, from believing in each other. That's why I can stand here now. Because there are people who believe in me. And someday, Gaara… you'll have that too."

Gaara blinked, confused and shaken.

Temari and Kankuro arrived moments later, cautious but desperate to protect their brother.

Sasuke stepped back, allowing Naruto to speak.

"We're not the same weaklings you fought before," Naruto said proudly. "We're Konoha shinobi. We protect each other."

Gaara looked down at his trembling hands.

Temari hesitated. "We… we'll take him."

Sasuke nodded silently, as a little snake who clung to him disappeared in smoke.

Just now Kakashi had sent him a message to let them go, as he didn't want Gaara to be in the hands of the elders.

Although Sasuke did understand, he executed Kakashi's orders.

As they left, Naruto gave Gaara a determined look.

"You can change too, you know."

….

Watching from afar, Kakashi smiled under the soft afternoon light.

"They did it," he whispered.

Beside him, Kurenai, Gai, and Anko beamed with pride.

"That's our boys," Anko said smugly.

"And girl," Kurenai added, thinking of Sakura fighting her battles.

The girl had been fighting against the invading ninjas by their side and had clearly shown everyone her strength and potential.

The invasion had been pushed back. Konoha still stood strong. Only the Hokage building had a purple barrier covering it from corner to corner.

Team 7 had proven to the entire Ninja community who had watched them from afar that they were the Future of Konoha

Kakashi who was smiling suddenly received some memories after his Shadow clone had dissipated and returned the information he had asked earlier.

His lips curved into a smile as he clearly knew that those cowards would go into hiding directly, so he wasn't much surprised by them.

And with that Kakashi separated nearly 25 Shadow clones and only one of them received hidden instructions from him while the others were ordered to help the civilians.