Gaara & Itachi: A Shinobi Battle
Chapter 1: The Beginning To The Fiercest Of All Battles
The sand - A tattered memory of an innocent child's past. Craving the opportunity of love, just like the brand above his left eye states. "Love"; disguised in the fragrance of mystery until that boy... Uzumaki Naruto saved the tortured soul within him. Now, this shattered boy fights and commands with the passion of his title: Kazekage. To love brings power, and to hate brings demise, so now as he learned to love the people of his village which lays deep in the Hidden Sands, he also learned what the brand on his forehead means. He will protect this village... and will not die trying, for he has no desire to ever leave the smiling faces of the children that now look up to him. This hero... his name is Sabaku no Kazekage Gaara(Kazekage Gaara of the Sand).
On an early morning, deep in the outskirts of the Hidden Sand, Kase Kankurou, the brother of Gaara was out training with his fixed up puppets, trying to become greater as a shinobi as most shinobi's do. He ended up emitting his chakra threads from his fingertips, gently swaying two of his three amazing reconstructed puppets past a fence he had put up all around him with different objects raised from the tops of them, attempting to learn some better accuracy when it comes to a real shinobi battle as he started launching poisoned needles into what seemed to be a fake puppet head. Kankurou ran towards the left. He slid across the great sands beneath his feet and raced towards the side as he thought to himself, "Heh! Looks like I'm getting faster". Suddenly... Kankurou jumped to his front and layed low. "Shit! I definitely feel the presence of an immense amount of chakra!" said Kankurou as his teeth gently clenched together with a pondering expression layed upon his painted face. Kankurou looked to his left towards the elevated rocks leading through to the Hidden Sand and seen an explosion collapse a piece of it, watching it fall shattered boulders of rock onto the lookout guards of the village, killing dozens of them. "What the hell's going on?" he spoke as frantic as possible as a gentle, calm voice from behind him spoke. "...you lay there, already defeated, huh?". Kankurou's eyes shot open in surprise as he rolled himself to the side next to Karasu(The needle spitting puppet) as he looked up and seen none other than a man draped in the robe of the Akatsuki, the secret organization made up of all S-class ninja who are sent on missions for power to collect all the Jinchuriki(Beasts, such as Shukaku & Kyuubi). Kankurou speaks in anger, "Who the fuck are you?". The man spoke, "Uchiha... Itachi". "Uchiha?..." Kankurou mutters to himself as he reflects back onto Sasuke, remembering the Uchiha name. "I heard about you! You're the one who caused that kid Sasuke to abandon his village during the reinforcement mission I was sent on!" Kankurou said as he got himself up off the ground while silently emitting his chakra threads into Karasu. "You can have that one... but this one... shall be disposed of" said Uchiha Itachi as he focused his eyes on the other puppet, making it blow into pieces as Kankurou looked at Itachi in shock, realizing he has the Sharingan... but this one seemed different from before. As he noticed the Sharingan, he looked down at his fingertips and realized his chakra threads were now mysteriously poisonous snakes as they chomped down on his fingers. Kankurou let out a scream and tried to shake them off as he stumbled himself back, falling on the ground. Suddenly... the sand beneath him starts sucking him in while he's trying to fight off the snakes on his fingers. He is then consumed by the sand beneath him and lays trapped beneath a solid wall. He looks around at his surroundings, having just barely enough room to move and realizes he's being slowly crushed. Suddenly, sharp katanas spring out from the walls and into Kankurou's upper back, then lower back, and then sharply into his throat. Kankurou starts screaming in tremendous pain with the most horrid of screeches as tears roll down his cheek, wiping the paint on his face away. Then, out of nowhere, Kankurou appears suddenly back on the ground where he first was before looking into Itachi's Sharingan. Kankurou looks over to his side with wide eyes and a wide open mouth as he seen his sister Temari standing there infront of him with her fan out that she apparently used, doing no harm at all to the Uchiha, except distract him from what apparently was a Genjutsu(Illusionary Technique) as Kankurou then drops himself completely to the floor as he is knocked heavily unconscious with his body slightly twitching. "Get back! Stay away!" Temari screams with her fan placed behind her, readying to wield the power she can emit from it. "I have no need for you or the boy, nor will I kill any more of your villagers. Relay this to your Kazekage - Meet me at this location as soon as possible. I've decided since I haven't tested my power since I slaughtered my clan, I'd test it against someone who might possibly be the strongest of Jinchuriki to suit my needs for power. Get him, or maybe I will make your village collapse in fear" Itachi speaks in his domineeringly silent, yet clandestine voice. Temari runs to Kankurou and picks him up over her small shoulders, replying to the man "If you feel like getting killed today, then I'll most certainly bring Gaara here!" as she runs off back towards the sand. Itachi looks to them and sighs in angst.
Now inside the Hidden Sand, Gaara is listening in on a meeting with the council of the village as he sits in his chair. "No! It wouldn't be safe to higher the age of Genin graduates in the village! We need them faster since this village isn't empowered enough by it's military ninja! Ever since being deceived by Orochimaru, we've lacked in numbers! Do you see where I'm coming from?" said one of the older men in the meeting. "Fool! If we lower it or keep it the way it was, we'd just be training more mediocre ninja to make this a country lacking in power! It may take longer for the numbers to rise, but if we train our kids longer... and harder... they'll be better ninja!" said a scruffy looking man to Gaara's left as Gaara himself just seemed quite uninterested in the discussion. Suddenly, a bang at the door alerts the attention of Gaara as someone nearby opens it, seeing a medical ninja as he started screaming "Kazekage-sama! It's Kankurou!". Gaara's eyes gently widen as he listens to the rest of what the medical ninja had to say as he let out a deep breath of air. "Kase Kankurou... he's in critical condition in the ER! Temari reported that it has to do with Akatsuki. Temari wants you there right away, Sir!". Gaara gets up and silently says to himself... "Akatsuki?".
At the Hospital, Temari sits to the side of Kankurou as ninja begin to look at his condition. "Nothing physically seems to be wrong with him, but the bio-electrodes to his brain are increased at a highly fast pace for some reason. Also, his pulse and heartbeat is out of control. He should stay rested until he wakes. It looks like a possible head injury" the medical ninja says to Temari as she nods her head up and down with a curious intent in her eyes as she thinks to herself "That's weird... Kankurou didn't hit his head... and even if he did, it was only when he passed out, which couldn't do this much damage. I seen that guys eyes. It was definitely a Genjutsu". Suddenly, shock comes across her face. "Wait! Those eyes... that's right. It was Sharingan that was in his eyes! That means... He's..." Temari spoke as she got cut off to the voice of Gaara who had arrived next to her. "Temari" he said. "Why is Kankurou in the Hospital?" he spoke, looking directly into Temari's eyes. Temari replied back "He was ambushed, as were the guards on patrol outside the opening to the Hidden Sand, and you wouldn't believe by who!". Gaara sighs and mutters with his throat a curious expression. "It was... Uchiha Itachi" Temari speaks. "Uchiha... Itachi, eh?" Gaara then replies as he listens in on more of what Temari must say; "Gaara! Itachi wants to test his ability on you. He's out to kill you, and he's waiting right outside the village entrance! He threatened the village if you don't go out there!". Gaara's expression turned to bitterness as he looked over to one of the councilman to his side who accompanied him. "Uchiha Itachi... of the Sharingan. Currently a member of Akatsuki and was an elite Konoha ninja before the age of 12 before becoming a missing-nin after slaughtering his entire clan except his brother..." said the councilman as Gaara then speaks to himself in reply to the councilman's statement "...Sasuke". The councilman then makes a request. "Kazekage, Sir! Should we report this to the rest of the council and send out our top ninja to exterminate the problem?" he speaks. Gaara then replies "No. The fight will be outside the village. What no one knows will not hurt them. I will keep this village safe. There's no need to scare everyone. I'll kill him, and bring back his head" as he walks out of the Hospital to meet up with Itachi, but before he walks out the door, he states to Temari "Take care of Kankurou... I'll be back soon". "Okay... Gaara" she replies as she watches her little brother, the Kazekage of an entire village go out to protect it, knowing this could possibly be the last time she will see her brother. Temari looks up towards the ceiling while holding Kankurou's hand as she speaks silently... "Thank you... Uzumaki Naruto, for creating a hero for us".
Back at the area where Kankurou was laid out by the Mangekyou Sharingan, Itachi waits as he looks over to the entrance of the Hidden Sand. He blinks his mighty Sharingan slowly, revealing as he opens them again a cloud of sand floating his way at a high speed. Itachi smirks and gives a pleasing sigh. As the sand moves closer to Itachi, the body of Gaara ontop of it becomes visible. Sand shoots up from underneath Itachi's feet, but he jumps back a bit avoiding it as Gaara gently allows the sand to dissipate about 30 feet from Itachi as he lays his sandals upon the peach colored sand of the desert. Itachi smirks again as he speaks..."Sabaku No Gaara... I wish no more harm upon your comrades, but you I wish to kill, and take that Shukaku(Gaara's Jinchuriki) of yours for myself". Gaara replies "Fine. Come..." as sand slowly rotates around his body like an aura of chakra while Itachi's Sharingan zooms in on him. The two stare each other in the eyes.
It seems like this is the beginning to an amazing battle between two of some of the most powerful shinobi in all of the world. On one side, possibly the most powerful ninja in the strongest shinobi group "Akatsuki", and on the other side is the Kage of the Hidden Sand who is enveloped by the chakra of the one-tailed Jinchuriki named Shukaku. Who will start the fight in this stand off, and who will come out a victor? Only the shortest of time shall tell for the answers of this amazing battle!