Chapter 38: Break
Boruto watched as Gaara crashed into the sand. Picking himself up, Boruto dragged himself over to the rock where his chakra bank was pinned to.
"The transferring is done but it's not full yet."
Leaning against the rock, Boruto held the bank in his hands and poured his waning chakra into the bank.
"Just a little longer."
The sand erupted from where Gaara fell and formed into a giant monstrous arm.
"Desert Beast Claw!"
"Water Release: Fluid Freezing."
The giant claw reached down towards Boruto, smashing him into the sand.
"Your tricks...are impressive for someone who is no longer a ninja. I've underestimated you, I'll admit that. But this match is not over."
"I thought so."
Boruto sat there, the claws stopped inches from crushing his body.
"I'm not done yet either."
"…I'll crush you."
"I'll be waiting."
Gaara pulled back his sand, letting the claw that Boruto had stopped with water crumple away.
"...Sand Coffin."
The sand around Boruto rose up over him.
"Imploding Sand Coffin."
The sand imploded, crushing the insides to pieces.
"..."
Gaara pulled back the sand, leaving behind a collection of scattered rock.
"...Substitution." Gaara frowned.
Sand shot up behind Gaara as it blocked a kunai.
"Desert Beast Tail!"
The wall shifted into a tail and swiped across the land. Boruto jumped up, escaping into the air. The tail stopped quickly, right below Boruto before it whipped up to catch him in the air. Boruto threw the chakra bank up before his entire body suddenly became chakra again and flooded into the bank.
"A clone?"
With a giant poof of smoke, an army of Boruto clones appeared in front of Gaara. One of them walked up and caught the chakra bank.
"I'll ask again. Will you let me see Kankuro?" Boruto asked.
"...I am the Kazekage. The title of Kage...comes with responsibilities you could never understand."
"...Yeah...I guess so."
"Desert Beast Effigy."
From the sand behind him, Gaara formed a giant legendary beast.
"Just like a kaiju." Boruto sighed, "Let's go."
Boruto threw the chakra bank into the air before turning back into chakra and entering the bank. Another clone caught the bank and the entire army charged towards Gaara's monster.
Gaara watched as he attacked the swarm of clones. The clones were charging, yes, but they were more invested in dodging his attacks. Backing away, pulling each other. Boruto's clones were more invested in passing around the chakra bank, shifting back into chakra to avoid attacks and entering the bank again. Even when the bank is passed to a clone that wasn't in harm, when it's passed off again, the clone gets reabsorbed. The numbers were dwindling but there were hardly any casualties. They were actively avoiding getting hit, getting dispelled so they can pour their chakra into the bank.
"Still trying to refill that bank?" Gaara frowned, "What do you plan to do with that? Hmph. Destroying it would be a simple task but Boruto will not make it easy. If he's tossing the bank around, that means that he has to be in the crowd. Which will I destroy first? Boruto or the bank?"
As Gaara raised an arm to attack with his sand effigy, a wisp of sand rose inches from his face, blocking an attack from a blind spot.
"Wind Release."
Gaara jumped away an instant too late as Boruto's Scaleforce Palm broke apart his wall and slammed against his face, sending him tumbling across the sand. As he recovered Gaara wiped his cheek, the sand armor there was fully broken from the force of his attack. Pain nicked his face as he looked at the blood that had leaked out of his lips.
"My first real hit." Boruto smiled, "How was it?"
"...You...used your clones as diversions, drawing my attention with the chakra bank. Only to sneak up on me and attack me from behind. All while charging that bank."
"I had to move reaaallllyy slow." Boruto said.
"…After you stopped being a ninja, you've begun to act more like a ninja."
"...When I stopped being a ninja, I realized how much being a ninja meant to me."
"And yet you refuse to return to being a ninja?"
"The lesson I learned after my loss is more important than being a ninja to me."
"...Those are words that you neither have the age or experience to say."
"...Maybe but the ones who forced me to say these words were people like you."
"..."
Boruto turned and grabbed the chakra bank out of the air as it was thrown to him, the last of his clones disappearing and entering the bank. Taking a look at the bank, Boruto closed his fist over it and poured forth the last bit of chakra that it needed into it.
"Done." Boruto smiled as he drew his sleeve up to insert the bank back into his kote, "Thanks for waiting."
"...You were keen on completing that chakra bank." Gaara said, "But when you snuck up on me, you could have tried to killed me. Why didn't you?"
"Seriously?" Boruto chuckled, "I just want to meet someone. I'm not here to kill people. Much less a Kage, even if I could. I may not know the responsibilities that come with that title but I know how important a Kage is to their people."
"..."
"Shall we continue?" Boruto asked, pointing the kote at Gaara.
"Alright." Gaara said as he raised his hand, "Sand Beast Effigy."
Boruto jolted as he looked up at the giant sand creature that Gaara had left on standby. The creature began to tilt forward, threatening to slam over the two of them."
"Wh-Whoa wait!"
"Body Slam."
"Eight Trigram!"
The onlookers stumbled as the giant slammed into the ground.
"He just smashed both of them!" Sarada cried.
"Yeah but Gaara controls the sand." Mitsuki frowned, "He'll be fine."
"But is Boruto going to be okay?" Musuna asked.
Gaara rose above the sand, unharmed.
"Desert Suspension."
Sand gathered below his feet and lifted him up as he watched the trashing sands below.
"How long can you last?"
"What's going on?" Tsukuzu asked, "The sand is moving really weirdly."
"...He's..." Sarada frowned.
"He's piling sand over and over again on top of Boruto." Mentaiyo said.
"What?!" Konohamaru cried.
"No doubt, Boruto is trying his best to defend against the sand with Revolving Heaven." Musuna explained, "But Gaara can continue to cover Boruto in sand again and again until he can't maintain it anymore."
"But...then he'll be buried!" Sarada cried.
"Once that happens, Boruto will be crushed." Musuna bit her lip.
Gaara watched the writhing sands, waiting for the moment that Boruto either stops or tries to escape. Moment after moment passed until nearly a minute later, the sand burst out from the side as Boruto dove out of the dome. But Gaara reacted quickly, shooting the sand out as he escaped and managing to grab onto on of Boruto's arms. Slowly, he began to descend.
"Shoot." Boruto gasped as he tugged at his arm, trying to pull away from the sand, "I don't...have enough energy..."
"You fought well." Gaara said as he landed in front of Boruto, "But with this, it's my win."
"Don't count your eggs just yet." Boruto smirked, "I haven't done anything with my kote yet."
"...Speaking of, that arm that I caught. It's the one with your kote isn't it?"
"...Wait."
"Perfect. I'll crush it all right now then. Your arm. Your kote. And that bank that you tried so hard to refill."
"Stop!" Boruto cried as Gaara raised his arm.
"Imploding Sand Coffin."
"Wind Release!" Boruto cried, "Scaleforce Palm!"
Infusing his palm with weak wind chakra, he slammed what little chakra he had left into the sand, barely breaking away the coffin but still managing to create a hole big enough for him to grab his kote and rip it off before the sand reformed and imploded.
Sarada covered her mouth as Boruto cry of pain echoed to them across the desert.
"Aaaahhh.." Boruto whimpered as he cradled his broken arm, "Aaahhhhh..."
"…You used the last of your strength to save your kote. But I can just as easily crush you and it all over again."
Boruto heaved breath after breath as he fought against the pain.
"What will you do now?" Gaara asked, "With barely any chakra left and after losing an arm? Will you continue fighting?"
"Haaahhh… Haaahhh." Boruto gasped as he pushed himself up, "I...will not stop."
"You will continue even if you know that you will die?"
"I haven't lost yet."
"Do you really think that you can win?" Gaara frowned, "I am the Kazekage. There is no shame in admitting defeat."
"If I stop now...I'll lose more than this day. My hopes...my dreams...everything I built up since that day will stagnate." Boruto said as he stood up on steady feet, "I'm sure you know. If the wind stops then it will die."
"..."
"Besides...I haven't shown you the full power of my kote yet." Boruto smiled as he held up his kote.
"What can that machine do at this point?"
"Nothing I have completely worked out." Boruto smiled as he held the kote up to his head, "From this point forward, I'll be risking my life."
"Your life?"
"Yeah. That is a duel."
Boruto took a deep breath.
"Fall Too Far."
"Full Function Mode initiated." The kote beeped.
"Full Function?" Gaara frowned.
Boruto reached down...and reattached the kote to his broken arm, stifling a scream of pain even as his arm spurted out blood.
"What are you doing?" Gaara scowled.
Boruto reached into his pocket.
"What is that?" Sarada squinted.
"Is that..." Mitsuki frowned.
"A pair of headphones?" Musuna blinked.
Boruto placed the headphones over his ears and slid the jack into a port in his kote. Gaara watched as Boruto stood there, his eyes closed.
"What are you trying to do?" Gaara said, making the sand behind Boruto rise and swipe at him.
Boruto lunged forward, letting the sand miss him as he charged at Gaara and swiped at him with his good arm. The sand rose up to block him but Boruto pushed with enough force to scatter the shield. And in that instant, he raised his broken arm and punched Gaara in the stomach.
With a sickening crunch and twist, Gaara felt the air leave his lungs as he tumbled a short distance across the sands.
"Impossible!" Gaara scowled as he gripped his stomach, "His arm is broken! I'm sure of it!"
Boruto smiled as charged forward once again.