Gaara & Itachi... A Shinobi Battle.
Chapter 4: Of Will Or Pride? A Mended Crack & The Crack Never Touched.
Over time, people change no matter the circumstances that occur. In the world of shinobi, these changes are even more vital. The path in which each ninja takes determines their next feeling... Their next touch, emotion and even their next action. It's a dangerous job to have to take care of the pain and discomfort of another, wether it be right or wrong, and those shinobi who enlist themselves to campaign into higher standards than the rest prove that this is reasoning in everyone's world even more so than usual. We sometimes are able to fill the cracks in our own paths, but what if those cracks shatter before you can fix it? A shattered crack can be mended back over time with help, though some turn into a shatter in the path so deep, you can hardly even reach it, even with the aid of another. Gaara & Itachi - a mended crack and the crack never touched...
In the Hidden Sand's hospital, Temari is still holding the hand of Kankurou as the councilman from before sits next to her. The man from the council looks over at Temari as her eyes blankly stare down towards the foot of Kankurou's bed, knowing that she's worrying about the Kazekage he has come to know and honor. "It'll be alright" he says to Temari as her expression brightens a little bit. "I know" she replies. Suddenly, two Hidden Sand jounin enter the room. "Sir! We've received minor information from the three jounin we sent out by the rubble of the incident that happened near the Hidden Sand entrance!" one of the men says in a rush of adrenaline. "And? ..." the councilman replies with a tone of furious anticipation. "Well, it seems we last received a report that their battle has been most destructive! Both enemies seem to be low on their chakra, but Gaara seems to be quite worn down, Sir! The opponent has barely even looked as if he tried, where Gaara has been pushing himself harder than I have ever seen... he's even used the three jutsu combo of sand he developed during his last mission three years ago! Plus, he's thrown away a lot of chakra defending himself and maneuvering, though he keeps coming close to defeating his enemy, Sir! Without verbal contact, we can't make any more conclusions than this. At least for now..." says the Sand jounin. "Hmm... Thank you. That is all" the councilman says. "All right!" replies the two jounin as they disperse quickly. "...You ..." Temari slowly mumbles, looking towards the councilman. "...Yes. I sent out spies to a far enough location that they can relay messages and be safe during the fight. I did it just before escorting Gaara here to the Hospital" the councilman said in reply before Temari was to even finish her words. "I see" says Temari. "That Itachi... he must be incredible" she says as the councilman nods in agreement, staring at the shattered paint upon Kankurou's face.
"Katon! Housenka No Jutsu!(Fire Element! Phoenix Fire!)" screams Itachi, launching his arsenal of fireballs hurling at Gaara! "Mugen Sajin Daitoppa!(Wind Element, Great Infinite Sandblast Breakthrough!)" then yells Gaara, emitting many multiple sand flurries from his mouth to be hurled over at Itachi in response. Itachi's fire clashes with the sand, impacting and blocking each other as some of each opponents jutsu sneaks by and tries to make impact on one another! As Gaara's sand smothers some of the fire hurled at him, he allows the sand of Shukaku to shield him while Itachi dodges aswell, moving side to side from the high density impact of sand blasts shooting his way! The attacks and dodging stop after about a minute of intensity as it then suddenly calms completely. Both man stare at each other with Gaara breathing hard with still only one eye open. Itachi tilts his head towards the side a bit as his chest increases and decreases in size as his breaths are becoming shallow. "Is this why you come here? You kill my people for the sake of stealing Shukaku from me?" Gaara asks. "To ease your conscience, I'll tell you this. I'm not just after Shukaku. That's what Akatsuki wants. For the moment in this fight, Do not think of me as Akatsuki, for I only wish to test my abilities as Uchiha Itachi, though if I do defeat you, I'll most certainly tear that Shukaku from you afterwards" replies the truthful Itachi. "Heh... That's fine then." Gaara says as Itachi quickly replies, "Now if you don't mind, I'd like to continue this!" as he runs forward towards Gaara, disarming himself of his robe as he throws it over to the side. Gaara then begins to charge at him as well, using the sand to levitate his body at high speeds. Itachi arms a kunai while Gaara forms one from sand and places it in the palm of his hand as they clash! A struggle of the two shinobi are seen pushing one another with their kunai, showing their strength to eachother as Gaara slowly starts moving back a bit. Itachi seems to have the upper hand as he slides Gaara back with his sand. "It seems your chakra is so low, you've lost the ability to allow the Shukaku inside to block with the sand any longer. How convenient" says Itachi as he takes a big step forward, holding Gaara back some more as he grinds his teeth, shedding his own blood from his lips in the struggle. "Damnit!" Gaara screams. Gaara then plans something as he shifts the sand from the floor behind him into a sturdy wall to hold him from being pushed back any further. Itachi's eyes become sharp with an intense aggravation as his strength becomes more terrifying as he starts throwing punches down into Gaara's gut, but quickly, Gaara raises sand around most of his body except his head and arms. Gaara then uses his open hand to direct sand into the abdomen of Itachi, beating him a bit as blood actually gently spills from the mouth of the elite shinobi! Itachi decides to jump his body into the air 180 degree's, spinning around back behind the wall of sand Gaara's back is against as he pushes off the kunai of sand Gaara had been using. Gaara's eyes open wide as he reacts quick, launching all the sand he wrapped his body with and used to support his back directly over Itachi's body. Gaara then jumps back and starts launching an amazing amount of shuriken made from the sand on the ground beneath his worn, weary feet straight at the mold of sand around Itachi, hoping to pierce through it and hit Itachi, using desperation in his attacks now, but somehow all of the kunai being thrown are being deflected by an odd molding of chakra that Itachi seems to be using as a barrier around the sand he's embedded in. Gaara stops his attack as the chakra begins to crack the sand around Itachi's body. Itachi kicks himself free as he stares Gaara down from the side with his head tilted at him - Sharingan glaring deep at Gaara with frustration as his baggy dark pants sway lightly in the wind of the desert as the blood still leaks from his mouth. "What the hell is with him?" Gaara thinks to himself, frustrated as well with his opponent. "You continue to impress me, Gaara... even when you're desperate." Itachi says to Gaara with his bloody lips forming into a smile of anger and yet a smile of impression.
Somewhere in the darkness... a group of men hidden in shadows with robes resembling that of the organization Akatsuki are seen dwelling around one another in a meeting as one asks "Hey, where is Itachi anyway? ...Yeah". A shinobi lurking far in the darkness replies "Last I heard, he wanted to test himself on your Jinchuriki.. Deidora. He mentioned maybe obtaining a Jinchuriki aswell". The one who asked the question that goes by the name Deidora replies, "That Itachi... he better not go stealing my Jinchuriki...Yeah!". "Calm down Deidora. You know Itachi and how he is. Let him have his fun. You'll have your Jinchuriki" says yet another new mysterious member of Akatsuki as Deidora replies, "Yes yes! You're right, Sasori, my Master. I'm sure he'll leave Shukaku for me at least before killing him...Yeah" as some of the other mysterious members of Akatsuki laugh morbidly towards one another.
Now, by the bloody massacre of bodies and rubble of the entrance to the Hidden Sand, the three jounin sent to spy on the battle seem to have an awe-struck expression grazing their faces as the shock of this amazing battle traumatize's the thoughts of each of them. "This fight... their power. It's a kage level fight, that's for sure, and we're lucky enough to be seeing this one guys!" says one of the men as another replies, "I know. This is insane! Gaara's so young and look at his power, putting it up against someone who can be known as the worlds strongest shinobi! It's not looking good for Gaara. What if he loses, guys?". "Don't you dare say that!" yells the third shinobi spy as he continues onwards with his words, "Gaara is our Kazekage! Have a little faith in him! He's fighting for us you know! If Gaara loses, we're all gonna die, too! If not by Itachi, then eventually someone else when they realize our village is weak with no one in charge! Do you understand how vital it is for you to put your heart and soul into our Kazekage? He's our power! He's our hope! He's... Sabaku No Gaara, The one to heal the crack in the path of hope!" yells in honor of his Kazekage as the other two shinobi look at him with smirks on their faces, as the one who doubted his Kazekage sighs in satisfaction, turning his head back towards the battlefield.
"I'm useless... I need more chakra. If I use any jutsu strong enough to possibly kill this guy... it would be my last opportunity. I need to hold him off and let him burn up his own chakra" Gaara says to himself, back on the battlefield as he stares at Itachi. Itachi stands there with his rustled hair blowing in the breeze as he turns his body fully towards his opponent. Suddenly, Itachi charges at Gaara quite quickly now, stabbing forward multiple times at Gaara as he falls back, forcing his remaining chakra to protect from the oncoming attacks by giving it to Shukaku to form his sand shield. Gaara lays back on the floor just staring at Itachi as he notices Itachi is also quite desperate when it comes to chakra. Itachi jumps back a bit, making a slight distance to give him enough time to perform his hand seal, "Katon! Karyuu Endan!(Fire Element, Fire Dragon Flame Blast!)" yells Itachi as he emits a mass amount of fire from his mouth in the shape of a dragon. Itachi cuts it from his mouth and lets it feed off the chakra in his hand to sustain it as he then calls out yet another jutsu, performing the seal with just one hand, "Katon! Goukakyou No Jutsu!(Fire Element, Grand Fireball Technique!)" as he sprays a massive cloud of fire directly at Gaara, burning the sand into black powder as he throws his hand forward, emitting the dragon of flames directly at an unguarded Gaara!
Gaara seems to be caught in the worst case scenario! Finally, Itachi's Katon jutsu's have finally penetrated the weak sand of Gaara, but now... where does that leave Gaara? Will he become yet another untouched fragment of rock layed in the path of life due to Itachi's amazing use of jutsu? Only the shortest of time will show the answer to this battle as the face-off continues onwards.