Desert nights were often cold and unforgiving. Amago Haruhisa was used to that. Even after he had inherited his place as the leader of the Amago Family, Haruhisa often spent his night alone, contemplating life, the universe… Everything, really. But on this night, instead of one of his usual hiding places, he found himself in a completely unfamiliar scene.
Haruhisa was standing on the roof of a large globe shaped building, overlooking an expansive city. A gust of wind passed over his face, forcing him to squint, blocking sand from his eyes as he looked up from the sand colored buildings to the massive earthen wall that encircled the city. He continued to observe the pristine night in silence, watching flickers of light in various window, while the noise of what little street traffic there was filtered up to him. "Life teems through the waste, yet remains in still isolation… Truly, this is the dichotomy of the des-"
Unfortunately, Haruhisa's musings were cut short as quickly as they began. As he took in the sights of his unfamiliar surroundings, he barely heard a door open behind him, on the other side of the roof. He looked back to see a man turning onto the roof. He caught a half finished report before the new arrival caught sight of him. The guard tensed for a split second before blurring into action.
Haruhisa drew his katana just in time to parry a blow from the man's own short sword. They clashed several times in quick succession, sparks lighting the night as the blades ground across each other. Haruhisa locked eyes and blades with his opponent, looking intently at the only exposed area of his face. Just as soon as he had done so, the man vanished out of the blade lock. He reappeared on the other side of the roof, behind Haruhisa, sword already blurring into motion. The guard swung through the empty air several times in rapid succession, causing bright arcs of wind to form in his blade's wake. The arcs rocketed across the empty space, leaving cleanly cut paths where they touched the ground.
Mere seconds before the wind blades would have cut through him, Haruhisa dug deep, calling on the spirits of his precious desert. The air surrounding him swirled up suddenly and violently, carrying the sand resting on the roof up as it roared into a violent tornado. While the guard's attack dissipated harmlessly against the wall of the vortex, Haruhisa was already making his next move.
Letting the wall of wind fall away, Haruhisa swept his katana forwards along the ground, eddies of dust moving in its wake. As the blade's motion ended, the dust's did not as it continued forwards. Within seconds a trio of dust devils raced across the rooftop, moving to converge on the guard. He was not slow to respond, however. Even as the three tornadoes started to collide, he quickly sprung to the side, the burst of dust created by his shunshin swallowed up by the swirling air. Despite this, Haruhisa was still one step ahead of him. As he exited the shunshin, Haruhisa calmly raised his arm, palm up. At that moment, another tornado formed, its cutting winds centered directly on his opponent.
To both men's surprise, the swirling winds stopped almost as soon as they began. In an instant, the sand carried by the vortex froze. It hung in the air, the pillar of sand silhouetted next to a new figure by the desert moon. "Enough. Pull back, Neppū. I'll handle this on my own."
The masked man quickly bowed, vanishing before Haruhisa could do more than look back from the new arrival. No sooner had the man vanished did the roof spring to life. All of the sand around the pair began to animate, lazily swirling up into the air in long bands, slowly swirling around as they were joined by a dark cloud that was spreading from the man's back. Haruhisa just stood there, observing. The sand began to rapidly gain speed, swirling in more complex patterns as the loud hissing of sand grains pouring over each other filled the air. Haruhisa still stood unmoving, until the noise seemed to reach a crescendo.
"So, you are the one who's intruded upon my world of sand and solitude." Haruhisa finally spoke, projecting his voice over the cacophony of the sandstorm that raged around the pair. His opponent's response was nonverbal. It took the form of several dozen arms that coalesced out of the surrounding sand to crash down on Haruhisa's position.
"Unfortunately, you are not the only one blessed by the desert's soul," echoed Haruhisa's voice, seeming to resonate through the surrounding sand. As the dust cloud formed by the impact settled, Haruhisa stood inside of a dome of sand, sheltered from the assault. As soon as the two men could see each other, the air on Haruhisa's side of the roof began to howl, fierce currents of wind tearing sand away from the storm surrounding the roof. The pair stood in silence for a long moment before they both raised their arms, sending their sand racing forwards.
A pair of black cloaked figures stood at the mouth of Suna, the steep walls of the gate falling away behind them to reveal the village below. After taking the view in for a few minutes, the taller of the pair spoke up. "There must be nothing like returning home, huh?"
"Don't play around," his partner rasped in reply. "Just head out for the target. We don't have all night."
"Ah, you're no fun! Still, sounds like we're not going to have a problem going in further, un," The taller of the two spoke while beginning to shape a small bit of white clay between his hands.
"That's what I'm talking about. The Leader doesn't want another intruder to obstruct this target." Tuning to face his partner, the shorter man continued. "Go set off your firecrackers and get this over with."
"Hey, don't disrespect my art like that, man!" At the shorter man's huff, he opened his hands, releasing a man sized clay bird, which he quickly leapt on as it took flight. Circling around before he headed deeper into the city, he called down to his partner. "You'll see! True art is an explosion!"
By this point, the fight on top of the Kazekage's mansion had attracted quite a bit of attention. Teams of shinobi stood on the surrounding rooftops, all trying to follow the battle. Even to their trained eyes, this was an impossible task. The roof was completely obscured by the shifting sands. However, if any of the onlookers had been able to see past the first layer of sand, they would have seen a clashing of wills the likes of which had not been seen since the passing of the Fourth Kazekage.
Sand flew back and forth across the rooftop in waves. Rows of ferocious dust devils sprang up only fall to pieces as they hit a wall of sand. Grasping arms made from sand reached out for Hisahide, only to be torn apart by the swirling winds around them. But in the center of the chaos, Hisahide and the Kazekage stood almost completely still, using only small gestures to direct their offensives.
The pair continued to clash for several minutes, locked in a stalemate. But slowly, surely, Haruhisa began to falter. At first, it was in the little things. A wall would hesitate for a second before starting to reform, or one of Haruhisa's vortexes would be a hair off target. These little hesitations began to add up, until Haruhisa had to split his concentration, consciously holding a shield of sand to stave off the unrelenting attacks.
"It seems that I may be outmatched…" Haruhisa opened a window in his shield, forcing the sand away with a fierce burst of wind. "Impressive. It seems that we truly are kindred spirits, born of the cruel desert. May I ask your name, child of the wind," Haruhisa asked, shouting over the din of the fight.
"I am Gaara of the Sand, Kazekage of Sunagakure." Gaara's reply was quick, echoing around the rooftop as it seemed to be amplified by the raging sands.
Haruhisa nodded, spinning his sword to face straight down towards the ground. "Well met. Perhaps our fates will cross once more, but until then, remember me- Amago Haruhisa."
In response, Gaara wordlessly brought both arms forwards, sending a swarm of massive sandy claws down at Haruhisa, only for him to emerge from the dust cloud seconds later. Still holding his sword vertically, streams of wind swirled around him as he walked through the assault like it was water. Wave after wave of sand simply rolled off Haruhisa as he walked towards the edge of the building. Right as the largest claw yet was about to close around him, he simply stepped off the roof.
Every onlooker tensed, ready to move at a moment's notice when Haruhisa disappeared from sight. He reappeared within moments, however, rising upwards on a powerful dust devil. Gaara directed several more arms of grasping sand at him, only for the whirlwind to glide along the surface of each as they passed harmlessly by. On one pass, however, the sand under the vortex spiked up, disrupting the airflow and knocking Haruhisa out of the sky.
Haruhisa rolled as he fell onto the sand's surface, sticking to the side of the arm even though he now hung upside down over the city skyline. He was back on his feet as fast as he had fallen, now running along the arm even as the sand tried to swirl up around his ankles and bind him. Another arm crossed the one he was running along, blocking off his path, only for Haruhisa to run straight through it without hesitation. A second arm followed it however, as well as a third, and a fourth. Though he still walked through each, they began to corkscrew in the air, causing Haruhisa to emerge in random directions. The concentration of arms steadily increased as Gaara now slowly hovered around the mass on a cloud of sand, the twisting arms looking like nothing more than a mass of twisting snakes hanging in the air.
As a whole, the arms began to rush into the center of the sphere that they were forming, still twisting around themselves. Haruhisa could only be seen in glimpses, running against the waterfall of sand pouring towards the middle. Steadily, he began to gain ground, and made it once more to the outer surface of the trap. As soon as he arrived, however, he was startled by a series of blinding white bursts of heat and sound, as a chain of explosions rocked the sky. The moment's hesitation was all that was needed for a mass of denser, yet more agile sand to wrap around his body and pull him to the depths. The pressure around him increased, and he slipped into darkness.
Haruhisa regained consciousness sometime later, opening his eyes to find nothing but blackness. "It seems that I've been captured after all... But, perhaps I may still roam free." focusing on the material around him, Haruhisa began to slowly push outwards at the sand. It soon began to fall away, leaving the borders of Haruhisa range.
"Hm… This is easier than I would have expected… Perhaps I should move with caution." Continuing to push the sand away, Haruhisa eventually opened a tiny hole to the outside, just large enough to see out of with one eye.
Though the view was partially blocked by some sort of white object, Haruhisa could clearly see a pair of black cloaked figures standing off to the side. From what he could see, the larger of the two was talking to his companion, vigorously gesturing along with his words. Cautiously as ever, he formed a second hole in the sand, this one positioned over his ear. Subtly redirecting the wind to amplify their words, Haruhisa strained to listen in on their conversation.
"...telling you, Danna, that guy was way overblown! He went down so easily, it was almost a waste of my art, un!" Before the taller figure could continue, his partner cut him off.
"Give it a rest. Just because you caught the Ichibi off guard isn't any reason to get cocky... Besides, it's not like you have any art to waste." The other man spoke in a deep rasping voice that grated against Haruhisa's nerves.
"You're just jealous that you didn't get to do anything, un! Good thing, too. The Ichibi would have broken your toys before you could blink!" As he was breathing in to continue, he was cut off again, this time by a long metal shape rising up in front of him.
"Deidara, shut your mouth. We have company." Like that, the pair was all business.
"I see him. Fifty meters out, coming over that dune. Should I take care of him?" The taller one spoke first, reaching a hand into his cloak.
His partner was already moving by then, leaving a wide trail in the sand as he slowly moved forwards. "No. Let's go meet him. I need to kill something before I kill you."
Deidara laughed in response, moving to follow. "Whatever you say, Master Sasori!"
"Ichibi? Could they be speaking of that fellow child of the desert? In any case, I can't worry about that now. This might be my chance!" Haruhisa renewed his efforts to free himself, pushing a good deal of the sand away from his face and shoulders as he did so. As the holes that he made widened, his escape efforts were interrupted as the ground suddenly jerked away.
Rhythmic flapping filled Haruhisa's ears as his hiding spot/prison continued to rise into the air. Seconds later, he could see the black cloaked pair standing some forty feet below, facing another figure. He could just make out a trio of what looked like wooden puppets surrounding the newcomer. Straining to make out any more details, Haruhisa almost missed Deidara's gesture back towards him.
Haruhisa barely had time to cover up, reforming the surface of the sand (which he now recognized as a slightly bigger version of the gourd his opponent had worn). Keeping the holes that he had been using to peer out of, he saw Deidara turn back and face him directly seconds after the shell had reformed. Before he could fully process his good fortune, the unknown person charged the pair with his tools, only to be laid out by some sort of whip that extended from behind Sasori.
"Perhaps I should hold off for now… There must be a better opportunity than this." Haruhisa thought silently to himself, holding his breath as the pair turned to walk back towards him.