'Normal thought…'
"Kyuubi/Bijuu speech…"
'Kyuubi communicating with Naruko inside her head…'
"Shukaku whispering things into Gaara's head as his 'Kaa-san'…"
"Normal speech…"
Jutsu name…
Chapter 56- Sasuke vs. Gaara
Sasuke narrowed his eyes and got into fighting stance. Just then, sand shot out of Gaara's gourd and slowly crept towards him. Sasuke's eyes widened and he jumped away from the sand. 'This has to be the sand Kakashi was talking about…'
Suddenly, Gaara's eyes widened and he grabbed onto his head in pain. The sand stopped midway in the air. "I'm mad… You promised me to give me some blood…Give it to me… The sweet, sweet blood…" "Don't get so mad…." Gaara answered 'her' while breathing heavily. "Kaa-san…" He opened his eyes and glared at Sasuke.
Sasuke looked at him in surprise. 'What's this guy talking about?'
"I want MORE blood… Not this foul blood you gave to me weeks ago… Hurry, or I will get very angry…" "Back there… Back there… I made you absorb foul blood… I'm sorry…." Gaara whispered crazily while looking with his bloodshot eyes right at Sasuke. "B-But… this time… It'll taste better. I promise."
"H-He's began to converse now." Kankuro said while sweating. "This is bad."
"I've never seen Gaara become like this before a battle. It must mean the opponent is strong…" Temari said in concern.
More pain seared through Gaara's head and the sand that was floating midair crashed to the ground. "Good boy… now do it!"
"Looks like it has settled." Baki said and gulped.
Gaara breathed heavily, bent over a bit and then he looked sternly up at Sasuke. "Come." The sand around him began to build up.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Let's start." He quickly took some shuriken out and threw them towards Gaara.
The sand just caught his two shuriken before it could even get near Gaara and then a clone of Gaara formed out of the sand.
"The shield of sand became a Suna Bunshin." Temari said in shock.
Sasuke stormed towards Gaara's clone, but suddenly the clone opened his arms and sand shot towards Sasuke. Sasuke just jumped into the air to dodge the attack. While he was in the air, the Gaara clone threw the two shuriken, he caught earlier, towards him, but Sasuke intercepted them with two of his shuriken.
Sasuke appeared before the sand clone and kicked him, but the clone blocked his kick. Sasuke then turned around with his hands on the ground and punched him in the face, successfully dispelling the clone. Then, he stormed forward a few steps, and aimed a punch at the real Gaara's face. He smirked as he noticed the sand shield that went in to protect Gaara. And with that, he vanished.
Lee's eyes widened at that in realization.
Gaara's eyes widened in shock as Sasuke suddenly appeared behind him. 'He's fast… He moves the same way as…' Gaara thought in shock as he remembered his fight with Lee.
Just then, Sasuke punched Gaara in the face, with the same movement Lee used in his preliminary match. Gaara's sand armor cracked, he flew a few meters back and crashed onto the ground.
'He's fast.' Gai thought utterly surprised. 'He's as fast as Lee's normal speed. And…'
'His moves overlap with my… Taijutsu style.' Lee noticed.
"That must be the armor of sand." Sasuke said cheekily as Gaara sat up and glared at him.
"Come." Sasuke smirked smugly, getting into the same fighting stance as Lee did in the preliminaries. Gaara just looked at him sternly, still sitting on the ground. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at that. "If you're not coming to me, I will go to you." And with that he raced very quickly towards him, his side-bangs flying in the wind and making him look like flying duck. Just then, Sasuke disappeared again and appeared before Gaara, but the sand shield was already in front of him. Sasuke just disappeared quickly again and appeared behind Gaara. Gaara looked back too him in surprise and the sand tried to swipe at him, but Sasuke just dodged it casually. He raced one whole round around Gaara before he found an opening, slid through it and kicked Gaara into the face.
Gaara flew back a bit again, before he landed on the ground.
Sasuke looked arrogantly at Gaara. "What's wrong? Is that all you've got?"
Gaara slowly got back up, while being surround by his sand.
'H-He's incredible…' Ino thought as she gaped in awe.
Sasuke got back into the fighting stance and grinned. "I'm going to tear off that armor of yours." And with that, Sasuke stormed very quickly towards him and began to surround Gaara in a circular motion, being so fast that you couldn't even spot him anymore.
'He's moving at the same speed as when Lee took off his weights…' Gai thought seriously.
'His movement is just like Lee-san's…' Sakura thought in surprise. 'And his speed is way different than before.'
Just then, Sasuke slid down under Gaara's sand, appeared before him and kicked him in the face. He grabbed onto Gaara's belt that was holding his gourd on his back and kneeled him in the stomach.
'Sasuke-kun…' Lee thought seriously. 'You're really an incredible genius. It took me many years to obtain that speed… And… And you obtained it in only a month.'
Sasuke breathed heavily as he looked at Gaara who was kneeling on the ground. Gaara glared at him with cracks in the sand armor and while breathing heavily as well.
'But it looks like you spent a lot of stamina to maintain that speed.' Lee noticed.
'What are you planning on doing, Gaara?' Kankuro thought with a frown on his face. 'The armor of sand consumes too much chakra. It won't last long.'
Temari began to sweat and she looked up to the Kazekage, who was observing the fight calmly.
"What kind of training did you make him go through?" Gai asked Kakashi seriously. "How could he become like this in only a month?"
Kakashi observed the fight seriously. "Sasuke has copied Lee-kun's Taijutsu moves with his Sharingan before. That's why during the Taijutsu training… I made Sasuke picture Lee-kun's movements."
Lee's eyes widened at that.
"Sasuke knew Lee-kun… That's why he was able to obtain that movement in the preliminaries. Needless to say, he went through a lot of trouble."
'But…' Lee concluded seriously. 'That alone… Taijutsu alone isn't enough to defeat the Suna ninja.'
Gai looked back at Kakashi. 'Kakashi was watching the fight between the abominable Gaara and the adorable Lee. Someone even Lee couldn't defeat… Cannot be defeated with hastily acquired Taijutsu moves alone. He should be aware of that. Then… why did he only make him master the Taijutsu moves?'
Gaara looked utterly seriously at Sasuke and did a hand sign. Sasuke's eyes widened as he saw how a dome made out of sand formed around Gaara.
On the staircase, leading to the waiting room…
"Shika." Naruko narrowed her eyes seriously. "Let's hurry and tell Kashi-sensei about this." And with that she stormed up the stairs.
"Are you sure?" Shikamaru asked her as he hurried after her.
Naruko sighed. "Sasuke-teme is in danger here… as well as Konoha. I wouldn't be much of a ninja when I couldn't forget about something so minor for the sake of the village and my friends. We have to stop this match before tanuki guy loses his mind!"
Shikamaru looked at her in surprise before he nodded and ran after her.
Back to the fight…
Sasuke stormed quickly towards the sand dome, which was being covered by more and more sand layers.
Kankuro gritted his teeth in panic. 'That Gaara… Is he planning on using that jutsu?!'
More and more sand layers strengthened the dome. Sasuke appeared before the dome and aimed a punch at it. Suddenly, hard spears made out of sand formed out of the dome towards him and hit him. Sasuke breathed heavily as blood trickled down his face as well as from his hand, with which he had hit the sand dome. He jumped away from it and saw how the hard sand spears slowly formed back into the smooth surface of the sand dome. Sasuke breathed heavily as he observed the sand dome with his activated Sharingan, while a thin line of blood ran down his leg. 'He's using all of his sand to guard. I didn't think that the difference in sand density could make it this hard.' He clenched his hurt fist. "This must be what people call an absolute defense."
"All of the sand has enveloped his body." Lee said in shock.
'This will be tricky to defeat.' Gai thought seriously. 'What will Sasuke do?'
"Kashi-sensei!" A voice from behind them shouted.
Kakashi, Gai, Lee, Sakura, Choji and Ino turned around in surprise, just to look at a heavy breathing Naruko and Shikamaru.
"Naruko-chan." Lee said in surprise with a small smile on his face.
"Naru…" Kakashi looked at her in surprise.
"Kashi-sensei, please you have to listen to me, it's important-" Naruko tried to say, to make him realize how grave the situation was.
"Naru wait." Kakashi interrupted her.
"Huh?" Naruko looked at him in surprise.
"Before you say something… I guess I have to apologize first." He rubbed the back off his head in embarrassment. "I totally forgot the promise, I'm really sorry Naru. Well and as an apology I'm going to teach you the 'techniques' you wanted to learn but not until the Chunin Exam is over." Kakashi eye-smiled at her, hoping she would forgive him.
Naruko's eyes widened at that and then she sighed in fondness, no longer being able to be angry at him. "Sure!" She said with a small smile, but then Shikamaru nudged her shoulder and she remembered what she wanted to say. She looked seriously at Kakashi. "But that's not important right now… You have to stop Sasuke's match!"
Everyone looked at her in shock at that. "What?" Sakura said utterly surprised. Kakashi's eye widened slightly before he narrowed it as he noticed that it had to be something grave for Naruko to be so serious. "Why?" He asked her seriously.
Naruko took a deep breath. "You know what I am, right, Kashi-sensei?"
"Yes." Kakashi said utterly serious noticing the confused looks on Choji's, Ino's, Sakura's and Lee's faces as well as Gai realizing what she's talking about. 'Where is she going with that? Naru-chan speaks about this like something has happened…'
Naruko narrowed her eyes utterly serious. "I can sense that tanuki guy is like me."
Kakashi's and Gai's eyes widened at that. "You don't say-" Gai tried to say before he shook his head in disbelief.
"Is that true?!" Kakashi asked her in shock. "But it's a declaration of war to bring someone like him in another hidden village!"
"What are they talking about?!" Ino asked Sakura in confusion.
Sakura shook her head and looked to the ground, slowly realizing that there was more to Naruko than she let them know. "I don't know…"
"That's exactly what she wants to say with that." Shikamaru told the two jounins seriously.
Kakashi frowned at that, getting very serious. "What exactly is he, you know?" He tried to ask her as discreet as possible.
"One." Naruko said in a grave voice and she saw how Gai and Kakashi's eyes widened at that in realization.
Questions marks appeared over Choji's head, having no clue why they were speaking so cryptic.
"T-That's bad!" Gai said seriously, realizing why exactly that red-headed Suna ninja was this dangerous.
Kakashi ran his fingers through his hair in thoughts. He looked at Naruko's expression and knew that there was more. "What else?" He asked her with a tense sigh.
Naruko looked at Sakura, Lee, Ino and Choji who were listening to their talk, trying to figure out what was going on. 'How can I phrase it without them noticing something or freaking out…' "Even when he's like me, he's also different… Tanuki guy is not in his right mind and could lose control easily… And I think it's clear what could happen then."
Gai and Kakashi realized what she wanted to say. Gai narrowed his eyes utterly serious. "That's bad… Very, very bad…" He looked up to the Sandaime, knowing there would be no time to inform the Hokage.
Kakashi cursed. "Shit!"
Naruko nodded in agreement. "That's why we have to stop Sasuke's fight before it's too late! It's too dangerous to let him continue!"
Kakashi cursed again at that and looked back at Sasuke's fight, his thoughts racing as he tried to think about a fast solution.
Inside the sand dome, Gaara was chanting something in an ancient language while concentrating. Sasuke's eyes widened as he saw how an eye formed out of sand in the air above him.
'No doubt about it… It's that jutsu.' Temari thought utterly shocked and began to sweat. 'This isn't good! Gaara no longer remembers the plan…!'
Kankuro tsked. "Damn it!"
Naruko looked down into the arena as well with a more and more dreading feeling that formed at the bottom of her stomach. She bit on her lip. 'Whatever tanuki guy is doing right now… It's nothing good…' "Kashi-sensei!" She pressed.
Sweat began to form by Kakashi's eyebrow. 'There's no way we can stop the fight right now… Number one, because it would make the attackers from Otogakure, if they really are going to attack today, suspicious and they would maybe quicken their plan with more bad consequences for Konoha… And number two is that everyone who came here into this stadium today, including the Daimyo's, would be very angry if we just stop the fight when it really gets exciting. That would make Konoha look bad…'
Gaara smiled darkly while continuing to chant. Sasuke narrowed his eyes and got ready. He threw kunai towards the sand dome while storming towards it, but they were just being repelled easily. He then, vanished and raced towards the dome while avoiding the sand spears that were beginning to form out of the sand around the dome. He punched the dome again, but nothing happened. He narrowed his Sharingan eyes, jumped away from the dome and then stormed towards it again. His eyes widened, and he avoided the sand spears casually with some backflips. Then, he jumped into the air and kicked the sand dome from above. As soon as his foot touched the sand and he jumped away just in the right moment, hard sand spears formed out of the sand, where he touched it before and then slowly went back to the smooth surface it 'normally' was.
Sasuke looked at the doom with a smirk. 'This is not working.' Just then, he noticed a commissure on the front of the sand dome. 'He's completely shut himself in… I don't know what you're up to, but… This is a good timing for me.' He bent forward a bit while holding his left hand before him, his Sharingan blazing in full glory. 'This move of mine takes time.'
Kakashi sighed, knowing there was simply no possibility how they could stop the fight. "I'm sorry Naru… but we can't stop Sasuke's fight." He said seriously. Gai nodded in agreement at that, coming to the same conclusion.
"What?!" Naruko's eyes widened at that before she sighed. "Okay, I get it… Konoha would look bad if we would just stop the fight everyone waited for…"
Kakashi looked at her with an eye-smile to brighten her mood. "Well, don't worry Naru. I'm sure Sasuke will be alright. The next move will probably help him to stay alive. And if his life ever really is in danger, I'm going to jump in and stop the fight like Gai did with Lee's."
Naruko nodded seriously. "Thanks, Kashi-sensei." She looked seriously down at the fight. "But what is this move you talked about…"
Kakashi just looked back down to the fight. "You'll see."
Naruko narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously before she sighed. 'Why do I get the feeling it's going to be something, you shouldn't really teach a genin because it's dangerous as itself?'
Sasuke backflipped and slid up the arena side wall with chakra infused feet. He stopped as he was almost all the way up the wall. Then, he did some hand signs and grabbed with his right hand around the wrist of his left.
'This is absurd!' Baki thought upset. 'That Gaara… We don't know when we'll receive the signal!'
"You're going to tear his guts apart, right…?" The voice of his 'kaa-san' whispered in Gaara's head. "Yes… I'm going to tear him apart." Gaara said in a mesmerized voice. "And then drag it out…" "What exactly?" Gaara asked his 'kaa-san' in confusion. "The insides, of course…" "Ah, yes, a lot comes out, right…" He laughed crazily. "I'll give them all to you…" "Yes, you're a good boy, now listen and do what your mother said~" Gaara laughed crazily again. "Yes, I'm always a good boy. Let's do it. "Yes, you're a really good boy~ Now let me control you…" "Yes… Kaa-san, I'll watch."
Kankuro tsked again. "Damn it… Nothing can be done now that he's like this." He gritted his teeth.
"Is he trying to ruin the plan and everything else here?" Temari said to Kankuro in shock. "Damn Gaara…"
'Man… Maybe we should run away...' Kankuro thought in fright about what was going to happen.
Shino, who was standing a bit away from them, unnoticed by Kankuro and Temari, narrowed his eyes. 'Plan?'
Sasuke began to shout in exertion as lightning chakra began to surround his left hand.
Gai's and Naruko's eyes widened at that. "Could that be…?" Gai looked at Kakashi seriously, waiting for an explanation.
Kakashi shrugged. "I was supervising Sasuke's training… I had to teach him something else than just Taijutsu or the council would have bitten off my head."
Naruko looked at him with a deadpan expression on her face. "Are you kidding me?! And then you thought it would be a good idea to teach Sasuke the Chidori?!"
"You know that jutsu?" Gai asked Naruko in surprise.
"I saw him doing it as he was my anbu guard." Naruko answered him and then glared at Kakashi and pouted. "Why do you teach Sasuke that and when I asked you to teach it to me, you said it was 'too dangerous'?! You're such a baka!" She huffed in annoyance.
Kakashi chuckled nervously. "When you asked me that back then, you weren't even enrolled in the academy and far too young… And besides that, I don't think you have a lighting chakra affinity…"
Naruko just sighed at that and looked back to the fight, hoping this jutsu wouldn't get Sasuke killed. 'Things could go very bad when he achieves to injure tanuki guy… If he's a Jinchuuriki just a bit similar to me, he would go nuts…Or even set Shukaku free in the middle of Konoha…' She shook her head in concern.
Sasuke's smirk looked dangerously as the lightning that surround his hand let his face look ghostly. A crater formed under his hand and as he moved it behind him, the ground was torn apart on the place his hand hovered above. Then, he stormed towards Gaara while a chirping sound echoed through the arena.
"Body activation… I see." Gai said in realization. "That's why you made him master Taijutsu moves to dramatically increase his speed."
Kakashi eye-smiled. "Correct."
"That's amazing… I can see the Chakra clearly with my eyes." Sakura said in awe. "How is he doing it? It's making a lot of noise. What is that move?"
"Just a straight thrust." Gai said seriously.
"Wha?" Sakura looked at him in confusion.
"But it's Konoha's number one jutsu specialist… The copy ninja Kakashi's only original move. It's a secret move for assassination purposes." Gai explained.
Naruko looked scolding at Kakashi. "Assassination?" She raised an eyebrow at him.
"Don't look at me like that, Naru…" Kakashi said and looked away from her while beginning to sweat, remembering what happened when Kushina raised an eyebrow at Minato.
"Its secret lies in the speed of the thrust, and the activation of the body to generate a large amount of chakra." Gai just continued to explain, ignoring Kakashi and Naruko. "Then he concentrates that large amount of chakra into the thrusting arm. And because of that incredible speed he moves at… It emits a distinct chirping sound similar to a thousand birds chirping."
Sasuke roared as he stormed towards the sand dome, the hard sand spears being to slow to match his speed.
"That's why the move is called… Chidori." Gai said seriously, just as Sasuke thrust his with lighting chakra surrounded hand right through Gaara's sand dome.
Everyone gaped at that in shock as an eerie silence fell over the arena. Sasuke smirked cheekily, with his hand inside the sand dome, being certain that he hit Gaara.
"You've got to be kidding…" Kankuro said utterly shocked. "Gaara's absolute defense was…"
"That can't be true…" Temari said in disbelief.
Baki gaped in shock as well. "That can't be…"
Gai smirked. "Chidori… Also called Lightning Edge."
"Lightning Edge?" Sakura looked at him in confusion.
"That's the alias it took because Kakashi once cut through lightning with that move." Gai shrugged.
'Cut through lightning?' Sakura thought in confusion.
'Sounds like a lie…' Ino thought in disbelief.
'That's incredible…' Choji thought in awe.
"Sugoi! I wish I could have seen that! It would have looked so amazing!" Naruko shouted in awe, stars appearing in her eyes. Kakashi just rubbed the back off his neck in embarrassment at that.
Sakura and Ino sweat dropped at that. 'She's way too naive.'
"Well, I really don't understand the logic…" Sakura said excited. "But it's an incredible move."
"I've got you now." Sasuke said smugly while looking at the sand dome.
Naruko narrowed her eyes as a shudder ran through her. Shikamaru noticed that and narrowed his eyes. 'Naru is feeling something…' He looked at the sand dome, where still no sound was heard.
"What… what is this warm thing?" Gaara's voice suddenly sounded muffled through the sand dome, while Sasuke's hand was pressing against his shoulder. "Kaa-san… What?" He said utterly confused. Suddenly blood dripped down on his hand. He stared utterly shocked at his hand. "HWAAAAAAAHHH! BLOOD! MY BLOOOOOOOOOOD!" Gaara screamed loudly.
"Is he…?!" Kankuro said in shock.
Naruko's eyes widened. 'Uh oh…' Was the only thing she could think as she saw how Sasuke began to panic as he tried to pull his arm out of the sand dome. Sasuke activated the Chidori again and slowly pulled his arm out of the sand dome.
'Was Gaara wounded?' Temari thought in worry.
Naruko's heartbeat increased, like it did the first time Kyuubi tried to speak to her. Her eyes widened as she saw how Sasuke jumped away from the sand dome… while the arm of something followed him. Her breathing shortened as she stared at the arm and realized that this was part of Shukaku. 'This is bad… really, really, really, bad…' Naruko bit on her lip and began to panic, being close to hyperventilating because she didn't know what to do.
Kakashi's and Gai's eyes widened in shock. "Is that…?!" Gai said in shock. Kakashi looked at Naruko and began to pet her head as he could feel her distress. "Naru…calm down…"
'It's his arm!' Kankuro thought in fright, while sweating heavily.
Sasuke sank to his knees and stared in shock at the arm thing that went back into the sand dome.
Naruko took a deep breath and slowly her breathing calmed down as well as her heartbeat. She looked thankfully up to Kakashi before looking back to the arena, utterly serious and not sure what to do.
Baki tsked. "That was not planned…!" He said through gritted teeth.
"Did he change into the complete possessed form?" Kankuro asked Temari in panic.
"I don't know." Temari stated. "He seems wounded… That has never happened before…"
Kankuro gulped and looked back to the arena. 'Just remembering that thing gives me the chills... I wasn't able to eat for a while after I saw him for the first time… Since that thing looks just like…'
Sasuke's eyes widened utterly shocked and he sweated heavily in fear as a golden eye with black cross pupils appeared before the hole, the arm made earlier. A bestial roar sounded through the whole arena, while sending inhuman killer intent through the air.
'W-What's this feeling…' Genma thought as he remembered a similar feeling.
Naruko bored her nails into her arm at that roar. She bit on her lip. 'Should I jump down and help Sasuke?! If it really is Shukaku there's no way he can win against a Bijuu… Maybe I could do some damage because I'm a Jinchuuriki as well…' She shook her head. 'When it really is Shukaku, he would be a lot bigger than this dome thing. Maybe it's something like the Kyuubi form I get when I'm in emotional distress…?' Naruko narrowed her eyes as she saw how the sand dome began to crack, ready to jump into action if tanuki guy really had a Shukaku-form of some sorts.
Just then, the dome burst into sand and a normal looking Gaara appeared, who was clutching onto the bleeding wound on his shoulder. Gaara breathed heavily while glaring angrily at Sasuke.
Naruko sighed at that in relief, the tension leaving her body. 'It's just normal tanuki guy… thank kami!'
"He is wounded!" Temari said in shock. "His shell was broken prematurely." Kankuro gritted his teeth at that.
Sasuke was still frozen in shock. He looked at Gaara's eyes and shook his head. 'No… That weren't the eyes I saw… What were those eyes, then…? They sent shivers down my spine…'
Hey guys! So, that was Chapter 56. How did you like it? :) I decided to write an extra long chapter, because the Naruko's Adventures story is about to get one-year old next month! Yay! :D I certainly hope you enjoyed this chapter, it was a lot of work. Anyway, Kakashi finally apologized to Naruko and promised to teach her Fuuinjutsu, yatta! *does a happy dance* And I finally came around Sasuke and Gaara's first fight. And man, Shukaku, you have to chill! XD I mean, pretending to be the mother of a little boy just to drive him crazy… XD You're one hell of a crazy bastard!
So, I guess I see you next chapter and have an awesome day, you guys! :3
P.S. Next week, just one chapter is going to be published, because I go on vacation.
Suna Bunshin = Sand Clone
Taijutsu = hand-to-hand combat
Chidori = One Thousand Birds
Fuuinjutsu = Sealing Techniques
Review
'00-SilentObserver-13': Kashi got out of the deep hole he landed himself into only to end up back in just a second after he got out XD You did a good job with shukaku's creepiness/craziness and insane Gaara. As usual thanks for the new chapter and all the hard work and effort you've done.
Awww... Thank you~ :3 And yeah, poor Kashi is digging himself one hole after another XD. He's never going to have a break, is he? XXD. Anyway, thank you for your awesome comment as always and have a good day! :)
