Gaara & Itachi... A Shinobi Battle.
Chapter 5: Take It! All Or Nothing!
At the battlefield... "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! The flames overtake the body of Gaara as his scream is inevitable to hear as it plunges into a high pitch cry for desperation like never before.
"Kazekage-sama!" yells one of the three spy jounin from the rubble at the entrance of the Hidden Sand. "Shit! This isn't good!" another jounin says as he speaks into his wireless microphone, tucked firmly into his vest, "Reporting! Over!". "What is it? Over!" replies one of the two jounin receiving the message back at the council building. "It's Gaara! If he's not dead, he's definitely badly injured! Gaara is in trouble for sure! Report this to the councilman as soon as possible! The situation is definitely A-class for this level! Over!" the jounin yells through his microphone. "Wha'...?" one of the two jounins replies, back at the council building as he then replies back to the spies, "Roger that!" as he looks over to his comrade, "Let's go!" he screams as the other replies sharply, "Okay!" as they both disperse quickly, leaving for the Hospital.
Back at the Hospital, Temari and the man from the council sit still, just thinking as suddenly, Kankurou awakens from his sleep of unconsciousness with no one realizing it as words were spoken from his vague, but clear voice, "Te...mari" he says as he lifts the hand he had placed mysteriously in his sisters back towards him, laying it upon his chest". "Kankurou! You're all right?" Temari asks with enthusiasm in her sparkling black-blue eyes. "Yeah... I think I'm fine" he replies as he lifts himself upwards, sitting upright now as suddenly he yells..."GAARA! HOW'S GAARA?". "He's fighting right now with Itachi" Temari replies as Kankurou screams, "I know this! I heard some of what happened... but how is he?" as suddenly, two jounin enter the room, replying to Kankurou, "I believe I can answer that for you" one of the jounin says as Kankurou, Temari, and the councilman look in suspicion towards the jounin. "So you received more information then?" says the councilman as the same jounin replies, "Yes. It... it seems Gaara is in serious trouble. It's possible that... well, this is hard to say, but I'll try to get it over with..." as he hesitates, getting the scary attention of everyone in the room as he continues on, finishing his words, "...well, it's hard to admit, but... Kazekage-sama might be dead. It isn't confirmed though so he might just be seriously injured. Yet again, due to lack of verbal contact, we can't tell anything further". Kankurou gets up and yells, "No! Gaara's not dead! He's not weak enough to have such misfortune!". "I agree. Gaara can't just normally die like anyone else! Get your information straight before you worry us next time! If you haven't confirmed it... then he isn't dead, Do you understand?" Temari yells in partnership with Kankurou as the jounin mutters..."Y-y-...yes. I'm sorry" he says as the councilman speaks, "Go back to the council and give this news to only 5 of the best jounins you two know, and then along with them, go out and rescue our Kazekage! This is an S-Rank mission. Do you understand?" as both jounin quickly respond, "Yes!" as they disperse back into the Hidden Sands. Kankurou then tries to get up, but Temari pushes him back down into his bed. "What are you doing?" Temari yells as Kankurou replies, "I need to help Gaara!" he screams as Temari yells in response, "If you go, you're only gonna die... and if you die, I might not have any brothers left at all! Please... Kankurou. Stay here and rest until you're feeling better". Kankurou looks down at his feet as he looks away from Temari, gazing out towards the window as he watches siblings in the street outside playing together as they laugh and smile with one another, replying to Temari now, "We never had that as kids did we... Temari? We never had the simple joy of a smile from kicking a ball around, or swinging from a swing set. We were always there, learning how to protect Gaara from himself, and now he's changed in a way where we can't protect him at all, and yet through all this, you can still think of me, and also care for Gaara like a brother and sister who love one another". Temari smiles, looking down towards the floor as she silently responds, "Kankurou... you're mine and Gaara's big brother. We both know what you've done for us, and Gaara knows what we went through for him. We learned to appreciate eachother, even without having a childhood to speak of. If you're worrying, just throw that feeling away, because you should know now that Gaara couldn't afford to lose us". Kankurou responds, smiling as he looks over to Temari. "Right..." he says as his expression becomes joyous, having the councilman next to them smile along aswell, seeing the love and power of siblings right before his eyes.
Back at the battlefield, located quite far now from the Hidden Sand entrance, Itachi is seen emitting his Katon, Karyuu Endan at Gaara still as Gaara's scream is not heard in the massacre of flames. Itachi stops the attack as he looks down towards Gaara, watching the tremendous amount of smoke enter the air, then being blown by the wind of the desert. As Itachi looks down, he see's the charred body of Gaara struggling back by one hand away from Itachi as his blood covered black skin drapes in the sand. Itachi smiles as he approaches Gaara as he moves quite slowly. Itachi then presses his foot into Gaara's kidneys and twists as he screams, but to Itachi's shock, it was only a Suna Bunshin!(Sand Clone!). Gaara then appears behind the shocked Itachi with his right arm burnt and crippled, holding only one eye open as the other was scorched to quite an immense level as he tucks his shoeless right foot into the sand, tucking his pants that have been shredded up to his knee's up to his abdomen as he smirks, struggling to throw his fingers together in a sealed position as Itachi sharply turns around with his eyes widened immensely. "RYUSA BAKURYU!(DESERT AVALANCHE!)" yells Gaara as he summons yet another massive rumble from the ground to emit a giant wave of sand that is now chasing towards Itachi, forcing him to run as fast as he can, hurling as many Katon Housenka no Jutsu's(Fire Element, Phoenix Fire) as he possibly can at the avalanche of sand coming at him as it does no harm at all to the sand, swallowing anything Itachi throws at it! "Shit! If this thing gets me, it wouldn't be convenient!" Itachi says to himself. Itachi then decides as he's still running from the destructive waving avalanche of sand, he'd throw a massive attack at it as he forms the seal for his Katon, Karyuu Endan no Jutsu(Fire Element, Fire Dragon Flame Blast). Gaara screams as he holds his palm outwards towards the rampaging sand, closing his fist as the avalanche begins to break apart. "Sabaku...TAISOU!(Desert... REQUIEM!) Gaara slurs as the avalanche begins to hurl down towards Itachi at high speed as it becomes more dense! "Katon! Karyuu Endan no Jutsu!" Itachi yells, unleashing yet another giant flame from his mouth in the shape of a dragon at the sand, but this one was bigger than any of the other katon jutsu's(Fire Techniques) Itachi has used so far, and it seems to not even work as the sand collapses downwards in a spiral, tearing apart the flames from Itachi's mouth as it covers him whole as a quick, gentle scream was heard from Itachi's mouth before being suffocated under the sand as it tears apart and changes the landscape of the desert! The rumbling made from the psychotic blast that was emitted finally ends as Gaara falls to his knee's, holding himself up by just his uninjured hand as his breathing becomes intense as blood spouts from his mouth after coughing. "Did I?..." Gaara thinks to himself with a curious look in his eye.
"Yes! I knew Kazekage-sama couldn't lose!" yells one of the three spies by the Hidden Sand entrance. "KAZEKAGE-SAMA!" screams another as a smile was laced upon his once doubtful face. They all look back at the wreckage, wondering if it was truly over.
Gaara is seen walking towards the area where Itachi was devoured by the sand. He kicks around, trying to dig up his body, but he comes out empty handed. Three minutes has looked like it passed as the three spy jounin appear by their Kazekage. "Kazekage-Sama! You did it!" yells one of the jounin. Gaara looks to him, then looks away with a curious image pressed upon his injured and bloody face. "Come on! Let's help him find the body to confirm Uchiha Itachi's death" says one of the jounin as suddenly... Gaara's eyes sharpen as he hears the thuds of kunai being thrown! Gaara jumps over and tackles the only jounin he can reach and save from the kunai assault as the other two try to avoid them, but sadly, they are taken down as the kunai pierced through their necks, killing them as blood shot out from the holes in their throats. As Gaara lands on the floor ontop of the jounin he had saved, he looks over the side, seeing Itachi with bloodied clothing and his Sharingan finally gone from his eyes as Gaara forms a sand kunai with the last of his chakra. Itachi throws his final kunai at Gaara as Gaara throws his at the same moment. Gaara is pierced through the shoulder by the kunai in the one arm that remained uninjured before the attack, falling completely on the floor as Gaara's sand kunai pierces the chest cavity of Itachi, knocking him back and to one knee. "Gaara... it seems we're at a standstill. We both have no chakra left and are injured beyond movement" Itachi says as he coughs, spitting out a puddle of his own blood as Gaara replies, "...yeah". "Our fight is settled. The fight with me is over, but one day, you'll soon be surprised again by someone like me. Until the day we meet again... Goodbye, Sabaku no Gaara" Itachi says as he pulls out the sand kunai from his chest cavity, throwing it to the floor as he puts his fingers together, forming a seal as he disperses away from the battle. Gaara looks to where Itachi was with a saddened guilt upon his face as he struggles to keep both of his eyes open. "Kaze...kage-sama. Are you all right?" says the jounin he saved, buried under Gaara's bloody body as suddenly, Gaara decides to pass out on the floor. "KAZEKAGE-SAMA?" the jounin yells as he rolls Gaara over to his side, worried that... Gaara might actually be dead. Gaara's face, emptied of emotions, collapses towards his side as a thick spout of blood drains from his lips.
The battle seems to be over, but is Gaara actually dead? The amazing conclusion to this story will approach the answers to these questions as Gaara lays there, barely looking like he has any life left in him! ...and what about Itachi? Where is he, and how is his condition? Only the shortest of time shall tell in the amazing ending to this story!