The closer they are,
The closer is the truth...
Tsunade summoned the slug to heal her and her comrades, whereas the battle hasn't stopped between the leaf and the two Uchihas. Though, the Ten-Tailed beast started to go on a rampage, causing them to stumble on the fallen rocks while Kurama, the Nine-Tails, has been giving Naruto and the others some extra support.
Before 11 pm, the rest of the shinobi allies finally arrived at the scene from every division squads, uniting together to stop the Infinite Tsukuyomi that is about to occur. The dark brunette hopped beside Obito, much to everyone's perplexity.
"What the-?! What is she doing? She's with them all this time?" Kakashi questioned shockingly.
"Yeah… It's hard to believe, but it is true," Sai stated calmly.
Naruto glanced behind them and asked in wonder. "Since you're all here, where is Sakura?"
The leaf squad and the others were fidgeting nervously and looked away, making him even more suspicious.
"Hey…! Why aren't you all answering?" The blonde-haired ninja demanded annoyingly.
"The thing is… she's gone…" Hinata whispered.
Naruto stared at them scarcely and said faintly. "I don't believe you…"
"Listen, we tried to stop Katsumi, but she was too strong-" Sai was about to finish his explanation, but got interrupted quickly.
"The hell do I care?! I just want to know if Sakura is safe. That's all!" Naruto argued quietly.
"But she's not," Kiba said calmly, much to his shock.
"Hehehe… I guess I'm not the one who doesn't accept reality. Face it, Naruto. You and I are the same," Obito pointed out with a smirk.
"You're right. We are, but I have chosen a path for myself and that is me defeating you both," the blonde-haired ninja said with a death glare at him while clenching his fists tightly.
"I'm going now, I have business to attend with my fiance," Katsumi said, smirking evilly as she stared down at him and the others' indignation.
Back in one of the medical camps, Ino and her teammates have discharged the patients out of the tents, sending them to their homes. At that moment, they heard a scream outside in which they became more alert.
"What's going on?" She asked suspiciously and exited the tent.
"Help! Guys!"
She and the others were heading towards the direction where the medical ninja was calling until they all reached the underground area. Her eyes were examining the soil that was scattered around below, forming a circle, much to their skepticism.
"What happened here?" Ino questioned, furrowing her eyebrows in puzzlement.
"Her body… is missing…" the medical ninja said slowly.
Ino's eyes went horrified as she gasped slightly, whereas the others were murmuring in fear amongst themselves.
"How?" She asked further.
"I-I don't know. When I came here to check, I only saw this. I didn't see what had happened before," the medical ninja explained worriedly.
"Could it be that she's…?" Ino thought peculiarly in mind and continued on by saying. "Okay. You don't have to panic. I will look for her and inform my friends about this."
"Sure, Ms. Yamanaka," the medical ninja bowed politely and hopped on the top beside them.
"You guys can go on ahead. I'll deal with this issue asap," Ino said firmly, which they nodded and left to go back to their work.
During that time, the five Kages have recently been patched up by the huge slug that was healing them right after Madara attacked them brutally with his techniques. Thankfully, Tsunade was able to stand up quickly.
"Ugh. He was so serious, but at the same time sarcastic," she remarked.
"That bastard… Anyway, we need to join the rest. We can't be lying down here and letting them fight on their own," Raikage A growled in annoyance.
"Calm down, will you? We'll be there soon in just about a few seconds," Tsunade rolled her eyes at his aggressiveness.
"So, we've all heard about Katsumi's deed?" Onoki mentioned.
The red-haired Kazekage fluttered his eyes open and asked blankly. "What do you mean?"
The kages looked at him confusedly when Mei said surprisingly. "I thought you already knew? Inoichi had informed everyone, especially when he shared your friend's voice recording through the telecommunication signal."
"I didn't receive anything, neither did my siblings. I was in the very bottom of the pit," Gaara answered and continued on. "Why…? What happened?"
Mei looked down and secretly glanced at Tsunade, who sighed and decided to speak up instead.
"Your fiance, Katsumi… is the one who killed Sakura," she concluded.
Gaara's eyes widened in dismay and shook his head in disbelief. "That's impossible."
"Really? You're not going to believe when everybody else knows about what she did? Gaara, she was the only person who would do anything to gain such power," the fifth Hokage stated sternly and continued on. "Go see for yourself."
The red-haired Kazekage didn't bother to reply back as he disappeared in a swirl of sand, leaving the rest of the four kages once again.
Onoki scoffed. "Sometimes the young can be smart and naive at the same time."
Mei shook her head and sighed tiredly. "Well, at least he's going to find out now."
As the Ten-Tails was unleashing its power out of its huge mouth, the dark sphere was striking towards all the shinobi's direction in which they quickly dodged. Naruto was mostly buying everyone time to strategize their plans against the enemies.
The shinobi of the hidden mist used lightning elements: lightning pillar of light and laser circus simultaneously to blind the Ten-tails and hindering Obito and Madara's movements.
The shinobi of the hidden sand were the second ones to perform the wind element chaotic dance of turbulence towards them, making the enemies have a difficulty to get a clear focus target on them.
"The other villages only shared information about their jutsus with them recently, but he can already maximize their full potential in a real battle. As expected of Shikamaru's old man," Temari said, smirking impressively in mind.
"Sensing them is virtually impossible given the circumstances," Madara said with his arms crossed.
"We can simply take the reigns of the Ten-tails and let him go wild!" Obito pointed out.
Then, the shinobi of the hidden rock used earth element-terrains core movement that causes the ground to quake underneath the creature's body, especially when they used Magma element-coagulating ash.
Again, the shinobi of the hidden mist used water bullets to shoot liquid splashes towards them.
Lastly, the shinobi of the hidden leaf used fire great embers technique, heating up the mixture of ash and water as a result of the enormous attack against the Ten-tails. Thus, they turned into a concrete prison around it, much to Madara's amusement.
"Unbelievable. To think those five villages could coordinate their attack so efficiently…" he said sarcastically and watched Naruto attempting to attack the tailed beast with his Rasengan. Him and Obito ridiculed by the fact that their jutsu wouldn't work on them.
Once the shinobi allies were hurtling their techniques, the Ten-tails immediately flipped them off dismissively after growing up maturely in its true form, much to their astonishment. They all wondered why their attacks on the Ten-tails failed as they became severely injured at the sudden eruption. Luckily, the medical team was there to assist them.
Unfortunately, the Ten-tails powerful attack was aiming at the specific distant location to where Shikaku and Inoichi are. Both of them had informed everyone that they are about to sacrifice their lives for all of them. In return, there was a sudden explosion in that area, saddening Shikamaru and Ino at the loss of their brave fathers.
Meanwhile, Katsumi was running at a fast pace to look for the red-haired Kazekage. But as soon as she was about to hop on the other side of the hill, a sand snaked around her ankles in a tight grip, causing her to slip forwardly.
"Gaah!" She cried out as she tried to get up, but was then grabbed by the neck. She kept squirming to break free from the sand's grasp. Eventually, it was squeezing her out of breath.
The sand revealed the figure's pair of jaded eyes filled with wrath and resentment.
"Gaara…!" Katsumi exclaimed in fear and groaned.
"Why…?" He whispered quietly.
The dark brunette pretended to be dumbfounded and asked sweetly. "Why what?"
"Why did you do it? Why would you do such a cruel thing to her?" Gaara asked faintly.
Katsumi was chuckling nervously and stammered. "I-I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Stop acting so innocent! Tell me! You and I both know what you did…" Gaara gritted his teeth angrily.
Katsumi dropped her act when her expression started to change into a malicious smirk. "Oh well, you got me, sir Kazekage…"
She disappeared in a puff of purple poisonous smoke, which Gaara backed away further from it.
Katsumi appeared again and started to laugh derisively. "So what if I did? She is such a pest that got in my way..."
"You're a monster," the red-haired Kazekage said quietly, holding back his anger.
"Hah and that's why you and I are perfect for each other. We are born monsters, Gaara darling. Isn't that quite delightful?" The dark brunette said, grinning widely from ear to ear.
"No, because you and I are far different now. You see, I'm not the same person that I was before. That was the old me in the past. My father was the person who manipulated me to turn into a monster. Things have changed for me when I let my eyes open to see the truth," the red-haired Kazekage stated calmly.
"I came along, didn't I? I helped you when nobody else does," Katsumi sneered.
"That is true… You did. You helped me survive," Gaara said, nodding in understanding.
"Then, join me. We can rule the world together in the Infinite Tsukuyomi. We would be happy there," Katsumi smirked insanely as she held her hand gently towards him.
"No," Gaara answered shortly.
"Why not?" Katsumi asked, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion.
"Because I accept reality over some mere illusion that you and the Akatsuki have created," Gaara pointed out and continued on. "I'm sorry but you're not going anywhere."
Katsumi burst out laughing hysterically and sighed mockingly, then she became more serious when her eyes grew darker. "Then I guess I will have to kill you, my lover…"
The red-haired Kazekage raised his two fingers up between his lips to perform his Sand Hail technique, whereas the dark brunette kept smirking at him while she whispered intently to herself.
"Illusion Vision State of Mind."
All of a sudden, Gaara closed his eyes and flashed behind her to wrap the sand around her body, caging in on her until he leaned over to her.
"This is it," he declared and performed one of his sand techniques to seal away her powers.
However, it was futile when he was starting to get drowsy and dropped down on his knees. Though, the sand was automatically protecting him, which Katsumi had noticed.
"Your defense shield will be useless once you are trapped under my hypnosis spell," she said and performed another. "Mind Control Shock."
"Argh!" Gaara cried out when his brain was being zapped in electrocution, causing him to lose focus on her. He was clutching onto his neck, but he couldn't resist the pain.
"Looks like you are open. Good-bye!" Katsumi concluded when she was about to stab him with the sword full of poison.
As soon as she attacked him, the red-haired Kazekage eventually dissolved into sand particles, much to Katsumi's puzzlement and annoyance.
"What?! Ugh!" The dark brunette stomped her foot and quickly glanced around, but he was nowhere to be seen.
At that moment on, he stood on top of the other boulder and exclaimed. "Sand Tsunami!"
"What?! No!" Katsumi tried to hop out of the sand, but it was dragging her legs down, making her panic in fear. "No, Gaara! Please don't do this!"
The red-haired Kazekage was gazing down on her, saying. "I'm not going to kill you. I will imprison you until you are about to get drowned. You better give me some clear explanations."
"I already did! I've told you my reason. That reason is because I'm tired of living in someone else's shadow. You haven't been giving me enough of your time, especially when you are always busy with work," the dark brunette pointed out loudly.
"I have. I've given you everything you've ever wanted. I have cared for you," Gaara said, crossing his arms.
"No you haven't. I never felt that. I never felt you were there. Your mind is always somewhere else," Katsumi yelled vehemently.
The red-haired Kazekage shook his head in disbelief. "That is not true. If I haven't, then we wouldn't get engaged. Why are you overanalyzing this? You went away to travel abroad. I've sent you letters and you've never responded to them."
"Hmph! I was away for business meetings," the dark brunette said.
"With some other fellows," the red-haired Kazekage guessed correctly, making her eyes widened in astonishment and embarrassment.
"The hell are you on about?" Katsumi asked, raising an eyebrow in disgust.
"Don't play dumb with me. I've heard it from my brother Kankuro," Gaara said calmly.
"Argh! That asshole! He's lying! Why would you believe what he says?!" The dark brunette pointed out.
"He saw you. He caught a glimpse of you offering a deal with some other man that you barely even know. You were ca-hooting with a stranger or should I say flirting, perhaps?" The red-haired Kazekage paused for a moment as he noticed her get flustered angrily with a scream at him. He continued on, saying. "You wanted your business to flourish by using seduction and charm while we are in a relationship. Like I've said, I've given you everything…"
Katsumi glared at him and yelled indignantly. "No! You haven't! You never cared for me at all!"
The red-haired Kazekage retorted back. "I have! But you refuse to believe that everything I've worked for is for you. You kept letting yourself be in denial or paranoid for that matter. You're putting these crazy nonsense inside your head! I've been loyal to you and made commitments in our relationship."
"Hah! And yet, you're scolding me that I'm in denial when you are also one?!" Katsumi remarked nastily.
"What do you mean?" Gaara questioned blankly.
"Oh, please… See? That's the problem with you. You don't figure out your true feelings!" Katsumi pointed out in frustration as she rolled her eyes coldly at him.
Gaara got startled at her words when she mentioned them. He didn't know what to say right after when his eyes were glistening in thought because she was starting to imply.
TO BE CONTINUED...