"Wake up." The comment barely made it past Sasuke's unconsciousness. But slowly, his eyes opened to glare at his wake up call. Gaara stood above him, a slight smile on his face. "I hate you." The words croaked at him, as Sasuke tried to get up. Trying to get the kinks out of his back, he walked towards the morning fire. "I told you, you should have gone to bed." In a sour mood, Sasuke snapped back, "Well, it looks like I did, didn't I?"
As everyone packed up their things, Sasuke spent the time trying to get his back to align again. "Damn tree." Doing every exercise he could think of, he still felt his back curve in on itself. "We are ready to go." Sasuke looked up at Gaara, again being meet by the same smile. "Nice Scorpion position. I think you are making the rest of the guards jealous." Noticing that his shirt was sitting around his arms, Sasuke frowned. Pulling his feet off his head, he stood up and glared at the Kage. As he turned around, he didn't expect arms to come under his arms and grab his shoulders. In a quick movement, he was pulled up. His body tried to adjust to the new position. A groan escaped his lips as he heard every one of his vertebra crack. Just as quickly, he was set down. Gaara walked out from behind him, signaling the group to move.
Noticing the advisors were looking at him funny, Sasuke decided to degrade them. "Did you boys make sure your canteens were full before we left?" Both got a sheepish look on their faces, and raced to the river. Once the advisors were back, they headed out. The first half of the trip was pretty quiet, not even the advisors wanted to disturb the peace. However, as they settled for lunch in the valley of two dunes, Sasuke noticed something wasn't right. He stood next to Gaara, looking around anxiously. "You notice it, too?" Gaara's voice was barely audible.
Everyone looked up as a voice crackled above them. "Well, aren't you just sitting ducks?" Eleven men stood at the top of a dune, each one easily marked as a ninja. Sasuke frowned at the man standing in the middle. He looked familiar. Before he could remember, the man grinned, "You probably know why were are here, so let's skip the introductions." In seconds, Sasuke grabbed the advisors and threw them to Gaara. "Protect." All the guards circled Gaara, taking a ninja to fight. They were prepared for them. Eleven to eleven. But they weren't expecting me. Grinning like a Cheshire cat, Sasuke grabbed two kunai from his pocket. He looked at the two Suna guards he marked as weakest, and threw the kunai at their enemies.
However, as he was side tracked, the leader headed straight at Gaara. Gaara's sand came up easily to form a wall of protection. "Gaara of the Sand, I have been sent to kill you. Be prepared, because you're sand means nothing to Korihi!" Sasuke felt blood drain from his face. Korihi, the master of the Freezing Hell Technique. Turning around fast, his eyes twirled into the Sharingan. His brain was on high speed. Fire. Ice. Fire. Ice. As he watched Korihi form the signals, his eyes absorbed the fast movement. As Korihi neared the end, Sasuke mentally screamed for his body to do something. On the final symbol, Sasuke grabbed his canteen and cut the top off. As he watched fire emanate from Korihi's hand, heading towards Gaara's wall, Sasuke threw his canteen. The fire hit the container, and the water instantly turned to steam, filling the whole area.
Sasuke jumped in front of Gaara, hands in a blur. There is the fire, where is the ice? As he said that, the steam crystallized into icicles. "Great Fireball Technique." Directing his fire into the air, he performed a wide arc. As the ice melted, turning back into steam, Sasuke looked to Korihi's silhouette in the fog. "How dare you interrupt my technique! How could you?" The steam evaporated, leaving the two facing each other. As Korihi saw the red eyes twirling, he took a step back. "Uchi-." Sasuke took the distraction, and ran straight at him. As the kunai entered Korihi's heart, Uchiha grinned. "Your plan would have been flawless. Too bad I don't like failing."
Sasuke pulled his dagger out Korihi's chest, letting his eyes turn back to black. As he turned around, all the guards gathered around, having dispensed their enemies. Gaara's wall fell down, showing the Kage with a light frown on his face. The two advisors seemed upset. "What's the problem? You, Guard, why did you freak out so much about this Korihi guy. The Kazekage could have easily handled this. Why didn't you leave the real fights to real fighters." Sasuke's restraint snapped, and he walked up to the advisors, his black eyes boring down into them.
"Maybe you failed to notice the significances of Korihi. He is the master of the Freezing Hell Technique. For your insolent brains, let me explain. The technique first blows a stream of fire that could melt earth itself. Then, it blasts you with a wave of freezing air that can turn any liquid substance solid. Ideal for bodies, really. However, that wasn't his intent this time." The advisors raised an eyebrow, not figuring out what the enraged ninja was getting at. "Now, Gaara can use any sand to kill someone. But the sand that defends him, his mother's sand, there is only so much of that. Now, all of his mother's sand was protecting you. Think about it, if you took mother's sand, and took it past its boiling point, and then freeze it, do you know what you would get?" At the dumb looks he got, Sasuke ripped Clif's glasses off his face.
"GLASS! YOU GET GLASS! SAND CAN NOT PROTECT YOU AS GLASS." Their eyes widened, their voice barely a squeak. "You mean…we would have died?"
Sasuke turned around and walked away. As he got away from the group, his body started to shake. I almost fucked it up. What if I didn't think fast enough? What if I wasn't able to stop that attack? What if I lost my citizenship? What if I got kicked out of- His thoughts were interrupted as a hand gently grabbed his shoulder. He looked back to Gaara, causing the Kage to pull his hand back.
Gaara opened his mouth, but closed it gently. Sasuke noticed him do this a couple times, before the Kage decided on what he wanted to say. "Thank you. You are right that I have all the sand of Suna, but even though she couldn't have acted like a real mother…" His voice stopped, and he looked down. After a couple more minutes, he shook his head. When Gaara looked up, the emotions were gone from his eyes. "Thank you. From us both."