A/N: Okay, so this chapter will be very combat-oriented. Gaara vs Kimimaro will be the main event, and it'll be much unlike canon. Trust me on that.
So, I'm gonna have to push the deadline back to New Years for finishing this fic, because I have been roped into some family stuff next week. Hope y'all can forgive me.
Time for Chapter 71
Enjoy!
The duel began without warning.
With the very same blazing speed with which he had so befuddled his prior opponent, Kimimaro burst forward toward Gaara. Having faced the Jinchuuriki himself once before, it came as no surprise to Lee when a barrier of Gaara's sand erected itself in the path of Kimimaro's blitz. The collision broke nearly even, with Kimimaro straining hard against the sediment, but in the end, he was repelled back several meters. As per usual, Gaara's defenses were stalwart. Opening and closing his fists several times, Lee watched intently as Kimimaro paced side to side in Gaara's sights.
'Finding a way in won't be easy, even for him. That sand is flexible.' Lee thought to himself. A moment later, Kimimaro picked his opening, and charged in. Though his approach appeared to be a linear one at its outset, he quickly cut left once he had drawn close enough to draw a reaction from the sand. Predictably, the sand pursued him despite the change in direction. The sharp change in trajectory was quickly followed by a second, with the henchman turning on a dime and making a dash for Gaara himself. As he speared out his bladed bone, aiming for the redhead's throat, a tendril of sand came flying into action.
Just before the tip of Kimimaro's weapon could touch Gaara's skin, his wrist was seized by the sedimentary vine. He was then ripped off the ground.
"You're light on your feet. Nice to see that you can still move so well after what I did to you last time." Gaara called up to him as he dangled him many feet in the air. Before Kimimaro could respond, he was whipped around in a circle and violently slammed into the ground. The impact sent a small shockwave through the grass, which Lee could feel through his sandals. The leaf genin's chest tightened with conflicting sparks of discomfort and hope. In some ways, it almost felt like reliving an unpleasant memory. He would not soon forget the hellish battle he had waged against Gaara, and the many weeks he had needed to recover. But, conversely, the redhead's strength was nothing but a boon as of now.
Kimimaro soon rose back to his feet, with minimal damage showing anywhere on his body. He was highly durable, that much was obvious. His expression also lacked any sort of surprise. He was clearly no stranger to Gaara's brand of combat. With no pause to recover, he came tearing back in. Gaara met his aggression in kind, sending forth half a dozen tendrils of sand to apprehend him. Unlike before, Kimimaro evaded each and every one. He had adjusted, and quickly at that. Dodging to whatever direction necessary, all while advancing rapidly, the henchman worked his way into range. Within seconds, he was dangerously close.
As the distance closed between Kimimaro and Gaara, Lee spotted something. A quick, almost imperceptible twitch of the hand from the Jinchuuriki. Contrary to Lee's expectations, no more sand came to Gaara's aid in response, despite a solid volume of it still being available for use. Instead, the redhead simply stood in place. As such, Kimimaro took full advantage of the glaring opening by ramming his bladed bone right through Gaara's chest. Lee's eyes widened, and his mouth fell open. For a few tense moments, all was still.
'One mistake. That's all it took.' Lee thought nervously. He would undoubtedly be forced to enter the fray once more should Gaara's wound prove to be critical. As he pondered what he assumed to be his impending injury, however, something strange happened. Rather than bleed, Gaara began to dissolve into sand. Instantly, Lee pieced together what had occurred during the odd pause he had caught in the midst of the scuffle. Unfortunately, Kimimaro came to the same realization just a few seconds too late. With an eagerness befitting a predator, a massive swathe of sand came crashing down onto Kimimaro from all sides. Eventually, all but his face was completely covered by sand.
"You really went and fell for a bait and switch. I thought you were better than that."
Lee jerked his head to the right, where he saw a swirl of sand rising up from the ground. Out from its epicenter walked Gaara, who was unscathed and oozing a smug self-satisfaction. The Jinchuuriki casually strolled up to the cocoon of sand in which he had trapped Kimimaro, stopping just short of it.
"You've survived this once before, so let's see if you can do it again. I'll squeeze a little harder this time." Gaara sneered, clenching a fist in front of himself. The sand then condensed and pressurized around the struggling Kimimaro, with sand finally moving to cover his face as he was gradually mashed. As with before, Lee experienced a rush of conflicted relief. The tide had never truly turned.
'He hasn't lost a step. No, if anything, he's stronger.' the leaf genin thought grimly as he watched the execution unfold. Indeed, the Jinchuuriki's sand was moving at a far higher speed than it had been during their own match during the Chunin exams, and his finesse with it had only grown. Unlike before, he had been prepared with traps ahead of time in the event his defenses were penetrated. But, as Gaara continued to attempt to grind Kimimaro into a pulp, it became clear that something was off. There was no blood seeping through the sand, nor had the sound of breaking bones made itself heard. By all indications, the henchman's body was intact, or so it seemed.
"Persistent. Some things never change." Gaara grumbled, backing away from the mass of sand. Then, on cue, Kimimaro's hand burst out from the sand. The rest of his arm followed. Soon enough, he had pried his entire upper half out of the sandy prison Gaara had made for him. His body was covered with distinct black markings. Extending his left hand out, Kimimaro bared his teeth.
"Digital Shrapnel!" he yelled, launching a single digit from his middle finger straight at Gaara. For all that the redhead's clever trap had been successful on the surface, it had left him outside of the immediate vicinity of his sand. In a rare moment of vulnerability, Gaara was struck cleanly between the eyes by the projectile bone. His head snapped back, and he stumbled back a few steps. His momentary stagger appeared to weaken the sand's grip on Kimimaro, as he fully broke free from its grasp immediately after the digit had lodged itself in Gaara's skin.
Making an immediate rush for Gaara, Kimimaro pushed a new bone through the palm of his hand and reared it back. For the second time since the confrontation had begun, Lee's stomach dropped. The sequence that followed did not quell his nerves, but it certainly did redirect them. As Kimimaro closed in, ready to skewer Gaara clean through the neck, the Jinchuuriki recovered his balance, planted his feet, and caught the pointed bone with his bare hands. In yet another twist, his resistance stopped Kimimaro dead in his tracks.
"I didn't want to do this so soon, but I'm short on time." Gaara said, tightening his grip on the bone. It was then that Lee saw the translucent red aura flaring out from Gaara's body. The Jinchuuriki then shifted his grip on the bone and applied more pressure, snapping its end clean off. Kimimaro let out a short gasp of pain and performed a roundoff in the opposite direction to recreate distance. Gaara's sand then came pouring in toward its owner, leaving both Lee and Kimimaro untouched as it formed a small cyclone around the redhead.
"What…on earth?" Lee pondered aloud with eyes like saucers, taking several instinctive steps backwards. For the better part of a minute, the sand whipped and swirled around Gaara like a tempest, obstructing him from all view. When the storm died down, the sand rained out in an omnidirectional arc like a shimmering cloud. As the grains fell back down to earth, Gaara calmly stood in the center of the mess. He had changed, both on a tangible and intangible level.
Outwardly, he had shed his gourd, now wearing only his tunic and pants. His skin was also imprinted with tattoos that bore a broad similarity to Kimimaro's, though of a clearly different design. Most noticeable of all were his eyes. They had changed from pale blue to a deep gold, with diamond-shaped irises. What was more striking than any of his physical changes was the sheer immensity of his presence. Lee was not a sensor, but he could hardly breathe under the pressure Gaara was exuding. He felt completely inhuman.
Rolling one of his shoulders and cracking his neck, Gaara steadily walked toward Kimimaro. When his course brought him parallel with Lee, he stopped, and turned his head to look at him directly.
"Humbling, isn't it?" he asked vaguely, not bothering to wait for a response before continuing his trek. Tellingly, Kimimaro backed up a few feet. At his retreat, Gaara stopped once again.
"I never got the chance to show you this before, so I'll be making up for lost time." he said darkly. His voice had noticeably deepened. The black markings on Kimimaro's body spread a bit further along his frame, sharp bones growing out of his body on all sides. Gaara chuckled.
"Shikotsumyaku. Such an ugly ability. You're deformed." he said bitingly. Kimimaro assumed a taijutsu stance.
"It's the only gift my blood ever afforded me. Deformed or not, I'll wear these bones with honor." he said. Much to Lee's surprise, Gaara took on a stance of his own.
"You're the last of your clan, aren't you?" he guessed. Kimimaro nodded. Gaara smirked, showing a single fang beneath his upper lip.
"Then I suppose what I'm about to do could be considered genocide."
Kimimaro let out a short battle cry as he pushed off his back foot and charged in to meet Gaara head-on. There was no room for posturing. Much less hesitation. The Jinchuuriki had been exceptionally dangerous before, but even having never faced him in his current state prior, it took little deduction to know that he had become something new entirely. This assessment was proven to be correct nearly immediately, as when the pair came together in the center of the space between them, Gaara vanished from view. Well before Kimimaro could perceive where his foe had gone or how, the Jinchuuriki's fist sunk into the side of his exposed ribcage. He had been blindsided in a fraction of a single second.
The force of the blow sent him tumbling to his right. Rebounding back to his feet quickly, Kimimaro was barely able to duck down in time to avoid being kicked clean across the jaw by Gaara, who had tracked him down again instantly. He was orders of magnitude faster than he had been only minutes ago. The difference was so drastic that it hardly made sense. Reacting quickly, Kimimaro tripped out the redhead's supporting leg and sent him to his rear end momentarily. Taking the opening he had made for himself, the henchman scampered back out of range. Or so he thought.
Diligent as he was about keeping Gaara in his sights, he made the critical error of allowing himself to blink. A mistake so small, so habitual, that one could scarcely even call it such. Even so, when his eyes opened again from their split-second closing, Gaara was gone. Then, as he began to question where the Jinchuuriki would next appear, he was given an answer in the form of a slight wind hitting his cheek. Dragging his eyes left, Kimimaro was greeted by the back of Gaara's tattooed fist hovering mere centimeters from his skull.
"Could've been your head." the Jinchuuriki said. He was standing directly behind him. Shaking off the shock of the moment, Kimimaro whirled around and slashed at Gaara's throat with his protruding bones. The redhead leaned back at the waist, evading the swipe easily. He then allowed himself to fully topple over onto his hands, pushing off of them and slamming the bottom of his foot into Kimimaro's chest. The kick sent the henchman flying backward, forcing him to perform an aerial roll to orient himself and land upright when he hit the ground.
'What is he?' Kimimaro thought to himself frantically. Gaara had chosen not to immediately pursue him, unlike before, and was patiently waiting for him to act some twenty feet away. The theatrics of his transformation had been fitting. Not only had his power massively increased, he now fought completely differently. It was a jarring change to contend with. Opting to try a different tactic, Kimimaro extended both of his hands.
"Digital Shrapnel!" he announced, launching his digits at the Jinchuuriki for the second time. In an instant, the projectiles reached Gaara's location. They proved ineffective. Of the ten bones Kimimaro had fired in his direction, the redhead had managed to catch all of them. Four between the fingers of each of his hands, and two between his teeth. Spitting them out and tossing them aside, Gaara blasted forward. He was upon Kimimaro blindingly quickly, but the henchman's reflexes once again kept him from major harm, as he was able to raise both of his arms to absorb the harsh punch aimed for his chest.
Gaara's fist smashed through the radius bones Kimimaro had grown through his skin, but the extra layer of protection lessened the force of the strike against his arms enough to keep Kimimaro on his feet on impact. With his stance still stable, Kimimaro responded by slashing his broken bones across Gaara's face. The blunt assault turned the Jinchuuriki's head to the side and backed him off a step, allowing the white-haired ninja to follow up his attack by driving the chipped ends of his free arm's bones into Gaara's stomach. Though he had succeeded in inflicting a minor wound, the exchange was far from over. Clamping down on his wrist, Gaara pulled his arm away from his stomach and out to the side.
With gritted teeth, Kimimaro attempted to impale him with his other hand, but his hand was caught. The resulting tangle saw both combatants straining against one another through their bound hands.
"You're fighting for nothing." Gaara said, digging his heels in and pushing Kimimaro back. The henchman held firm and matched him as best he could.
"You could never understand what Lord Orochimaru means to me." he hissed back. Gaara gave him a bored look and leaned his head back before slamming his forehead into Kimimaro's. The unsavory tactic buckled the henchman's knees.
"When you die here today, he won't spare you so much as a thought. You're brainwashed." Gaara assured him. Kimimaro felt an angry heat burn up inside him. In response to his heightened negative emotion, his ribcage burst out from his abdomen, sinking three inches deep into Gaara's body. A short grunt of surprise escaped the Jinchuuriki, coinciding with his hold on Kimimaro's hand and wrist being released. Retracting his ribs, Kimimaro jumped backwards.
"As long as Lord Orochimaru is still safe and sound, part of me will always live on inside of him. Your words are empty." he affirmed. Gaara sighed and shook his head. His wounds had already healed. He then brought his hands together into a seal. An unseen pulse reverberated through the plains. For a few silent moments, it seemed as though the strange emission had been without meaning. But then, all at once, Kimimaro felt a horrific pain explode in his chest. Crying out in agony, he dropped to one knee and coughed into his hand. Blood splattered against his palm.
"W-What…" he croaked, glaring up at Gaara with fury as he fought the urge to scream again. The Jinchuuriki kept his hands tightly bound in a sign.
"I rarely ever do this, but I don't like you much, so I'm making an exception. This is my kekkei genkai." he said, taking slow steps toward Kimimaro, who had still yet to rise.
"My father was a worthless wretch, and it disgusts me to admit it, but his blood runs strong in my veins. The only upside is that he left me this one special weapon. Magnet Style." he revealed. Kimimaro's eyes widened. He had never heard of such a thing, but its mechanics were likely straightforward.
"You can manipulate metals w-with magnetism. But how does that–" he started. Before he could finish, another wave of anguish crashed through his body, this time rooted in other areas. The pain cut his inquiry short.
"The iron in your blood. It's not much, but more than enough to be malleable. Especially at such close range. I can manipulate your circulation any way I please. You're going to die." Gaara explained coldly. Kimimaro coughed up another helping of blood. He was in the direst of straits. His body had been nearing its limit to begin with, and the strain being put upon it by Gaara's tampering was bound to only cut down his already-short fuse. Any restraint whatsoever was a fool's errand. With desperate resolve, Kimimaro opened his body fully to the curse mark imprinted on his chest.
"In that case, I'll drag you down to hell with me." Kimimaro rasped as the black markings merged together along his skin. For the first time, a hint of concern showed through on Gaara's face. Committing fully to the dangerous transformation he had invoked, Kimimaro rose up to his feet.
'Lord Orochimaru…this may be my final dance. Forgive me.'
Lee watched with bated breath as Kimimaro morphed and changed before both his and Gaara's eyes. He had been somewhat privy to the fact that the strange markings possessed by Satsuki and the henchman of Orochimaru were capable of providing a power boost of sorts, but a full-blown mutation was a new wrinkle entirely. The process took half the time Gaara's had, with Kimimaro's body settling into form less than thirty seconds after it had begun to change. The results were grotesque.
Kimimaro's skin had turned a sickly brown, with large black markings surrounding his eyes. He had grown fangs, and his nails were claw-like. He had even sprouted a fleshy, reptilian tail that swayed behind him with bone spurs running up its length and along his back. He barely looked human anymore.
"You let him make a lab rat out of you. You're pathetic." Gaara said as Kimimaro stood at the ready. Though Lee could not subscribe to the Jinchuuriki's roundly insulting manner of speech, he certainly agreed that the henchman's new form looked almost experimental. As though it were an unfinished product somehow. Not meant to be used out in the open.
"He gave me a purpose. It was the least I could do." Kimimaro said. He then charged in to engage. Gaara did the same. The first exchange of the renewed battle was won by Kimimaro. Ducking under a wide swing from the Jinchuuriki, he slammed his body into Gaara and dug his bone spurs into his skin. The collision sent Gaara reeling back, with Kimimaro in hot pursuit. Still clear-eyed despite having been hit cleanly, the Jinchuuriki took advantage of the henchman's reckless charge and cracked him clean across his jawline with a compact punch that froze him in place.
With a stationary target, Gaara kicked straight upward and dug the ball of his foot into Kimimaro's stomach. It was a solid connection, but the redhead's foot was caught. With great effort, Kimimaro spun Gaara around twice by the ankle and tossed him up into the air. He then sent forth a flurry of digits to essentially shoot the Jinchuuriki out of the sky. Gaara twisted mid-air, avoiding all but one of the bones. The final digit grazed his cheek and drew his blood.
'What reflexes.' Lee thought to himself as Gaara sailed down toward the ground. The battle unfolding at present was one of a level he had no hope of contending with, even at his peak. This sentiment was then further set into stone, as just before he touched the grass, Gaara threw together a blistering series of hand signs.
"Wind Style: Great Breach!" Gaara bellowed, launching a cataclysmic blast of concentrated wind squarely in Kimimaro's path. The kickback of his own jutsu sent Gaara flying backward, but the results were desirable. Kimimaro was ripped off his feet and sent crashing away at the mercy of the gale. Lee was forced to dive left in order to avoid being clobbered by Gaara's oncoming body, which was thankfully caught by a cushion of sand that had been twitching on standby for several minutes.
Gaara was back on his feet in no time, walking up next to Lee and halting. His miniature hurricane had stripped all of the grass from the plain in a wide, long arc. Laying at the furthest end of the small crater was Kimimaro, nearly two-hundred feet away. He remained grounded.
"You've won." Lee said confidently. Gaara shook his head, his eyes narrowed and focused on the far-off henchman.
"No, not quite. He's still alive, and he's nothing if not stubborn." he said. Gaara's prediction was proven correct moments later, with Kimimaro staggering back up to his feet. Due to the large distance, it was difficult to tell with any certainty, but a large, thick spiral of bone appeared to form on the henchman's right arm. It reached completion rapidly, almost resembling a drill in its final iteration.
"Here he comes." Gaara said. A small mass of sand then came rushing to him, wrapping around his arm and hardening into a crude spike. Kimimaro then broke out into a dead sprint toward them, covering the lengthy gap extremely quickly. Gaara, contrastingly, stood still initially. When Kimimaro was within fifty feet of them, the Jinchuuriki finally ran out to meet his adversary. Gaara met a stab from Kimimaro's spear of bone with an identical motion from his spike of condensed sand. Kimimaro's bone cracked and broke on impact, with Gaara sending him staggering back.
Unwilling to concede, Kimimaro swung a naked punch for the Jinchuuriki's head. Gaara ducked under it easily, popping back up and taking him by the throat in one swift motion. He then lifted him off the ground, performed a half-rotation, and slammed him into the dirt with horrific force. The sound of his neck breaking sent a shudder down Lee's spine. Gaara's inactive sand then rushed in toward the two combatants. It came down upon them like a flood, with Gaara rising above the whirlpool on a platform of sediment.
"You should be paralyzed from the neck down, but I don't trust it. I'm going to bury you five hundred feet below the surface of the earth. You'll never see the light of day again. Not even as you die." the Jinchuuriki said just loud enough for Lee to hear. With alarming speed, Kimimaro's body was swallowed up by the ground as Gaara's sand crushed the dirt into usable material. When the henchman's form was finally gone without a trace, the sand settled down, and the Jinchuuriki hopped off of his perch.
Lee opened his mouth to speak, but stopped. He hadn't the slightest clue what to say. He was grateful, that much he could not deny, but what little ego he possessed prevented him from voicing his gratitude. He would save it for somebody more deserving. Somebody less reprehensible than Gaara.
"That takes care of that." the Jinchuuriki said casually. Lee pursed his lips. To so easily speak of murder was more than a bit insensitive. Even in reference to an enemy. He was not given the chance to reprimand his unlikely savior, as an unexpected third voice cut in.
"Dance."
Gaara's eyes widened, as did Lee's.
"Bracken Dance."
Without warning, pillars of pure bone began shooting up through the ground at random. Gaara acted quickly, grabbing Lee by the arm and tossing him straight up into the air. A rush of sand caught the leaf genin before he could fall, leaving him floating up above. Looking down on the strange spectacle, Lee held his breath as Gaara dodged his way around the spires. They continued to push through the dirt for nearly a minute straight. The last bone to emerge was not a single bone, but a cluster nearly fifty feet in front of Gaara. Sticking out of its centerpiece was the upper body of Kimimaro, whose badly snapped neck could barely support his head as he glared viciously at the redhead.
"Maybe I am just a failure, but he's the only person who's ever given my life meaning! I won't let you interfere!" Kimimaro yelled, throwing together hand signs in an attempt to perform one last jutsu. Gaara faced him down calmly, not flinching once amid the verbal tirade. Extending his arm, beads of black and white chakra began to appear around his open palm. The beads soon combined into a dense purple sphere, which Gaara promptly crushed in his grip. When he opened it again, a breathtaking blast of pure chakra came rocketing out from his palm. The burst consumed Kimimaro and his cluster of bones completely.
A massive explosion followed, sending dirt and bone debris flying in all directions. It took a fair few long moments for the smoke to clear, but when it did, a dark crater stood where Kimimaro had once been. Gaara had blasted him to smithereens. Complete and utter erasure. No body, no remains. Only dust on the wind. Shaking himself from his amazed stupor, Lee rolled off of the sand cushion he had been provided and landed safely on the ground. Jogging over toward Gaara, he made it just in time to hear the Jinchuuriki address Kimimaro one final time.
"If your value was in somebody else's ambition, you were worthless all along." he said to the long-gone henchman. His words were cutting, but they held weight. Ignoring them for the time being, Lee came to a stop.
"It must be over now, is it not?" he asked jokingly. Gaara nodded, breathing deep as the tattoos faded from his skin. His eyes, however, remained golden in color.
"If it isn't, I've lost my touch." he replied. Lee managed an uncomfortable chuckle. He then moved on to a more pertinent topic.
"With him out of the way, we can pursue Naruto. Assuming you're permitted to do so, of course." he said. He disliked the notion of Gaara being a factor moving forward, but he had no way to deny him. Cordiality was the only safe approach. Gaara eyed him intently.
"I, not we. You're in no condition to fight." he corrected. Lee scrunched up his brow and frowned.
"I'm perfectly healthy." he argued. Gaara shook his head and turned around, slowly walking toward the woods on the opposite side of the plains.
"You're nearly out of chakra, and you're covered in cuts and bruises. You're not worth much right now. Cut your losses and go home." he half-suggested, half-ordered. Lee tensed with irritation, but soon relaxed. As much as he disliked it, Gaara was likely right. His body was badly worn out from his use of the first and second gate. With frustration bubbling within him just below the surface, Lee turned back toward the forest. It would be a long journey back, but he was capable of making it. However, before he could make it to the treeline, Gaara's voice rang out.
"Rock Lee."
Lee paused in surprise and turned around. Gaara was facing him again, with an oddly sober look on his face.
"What is it?" he pressed. The Jinchuuriki took a long look off toward the valley beyond the trees.
"I need you to deliver a message for me."
Naruto squinted as sunlight poked through the exit of the woods. He had been shrouded in the darkness of the canopy for nearly half an hour, and his eyes had acclimated to such a dim setting. Shaking off the contrast, the Jinchuuriki kept his eyes fixed on the Uchiha emblem stitched into the back of Satsuki's shirt. They had been at the very same distance for the entirety of the chase, and the pace had not wavered even slightly. He had attempted to start a conversation four times since his initial attempts at doing so, but just as with his fledgling efforts, he had been unsuccessful. She was in no mood to talk. She hadn't even spared him a glance. Her focus was unsettling.
But, at long last, they were on the precipice of leaving the forest and entering the Valley of the End. Under any other set of circumstances, Naruto would have been elated to finally see the revered monument with his own eyes, but as of now, all he could think of was the distant girl running in front of him. He had a job to do. Both for himself and for his village. He would see it through no matter the cost.
'You can't keep running forever. You're gonna crack. You're gonna stop.' he silently challenged Satsuki as they drew ever nearer to the valley. Two minutes later, with little drama, the pair jumped off of their final branches and left the woods behind them. The sight they were met with was one to behold. Standing grandly by an enormous waterfall were two gigantic statues. The first of them was the full-body likeness of Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage of Konohagakure. Across the canyon, standing opposite, was Madara Uchiha, the cofounder.
Satsuki, still being in the lead, ran across the top of Hashirama's head, and jumped. Flipping twice in the air, she landed gracefully atop the head of Madara Uchiha, the once-great leader of her comatose clan. While he gave consideration to the idea of jumping after her, Naruto thought better of it when he realized that she had stopped running. Coming to a halt right at the edge of Hashirama's head, Naruto stared across the valley at the raven-haired girl. Slowly but surely, Satsuki finally turned to face him. As more of her front was revealed to him, Naruto exercised ever greater self-control to not flinch at what he saw.
The tattoo on her neck had spread up onto her face, covering nearly half of it. The iris of the eye on the corresponding side had turned yellow, with a disturbing black sclera to boot. For a time, the recently-estranged teens simply stared at each other. As the silent game of chicken dragged on, the tattoo receded back into its source. Once Satsuki's face was fully unblemished, Naruto spoke at last.
"I don't understand." he said, projecting his voice so as to be heard over the crashing water. Satsuki's face remained blank and expressionless.
"Understand what?" she asked. Naruto's jaw clenched tightly. His patience was nonexistent. He had used up every ounce of it in his pursuit.
"Cut the crap. Why are you running? What…What changed?" he said, answering her question with one of his own. Satsuki's lips curled downward, teasing a frown.
"You know why." she shot back. Whether she was keeping her responses short to torment him, or simply had very little to say was unclear. It was aggravating regardless.
"No, I don't. Why Orochimaru? Why him of all people?" Naruto demanded. Satsuki turned her palms out toward him and shrugged.
"You'd get angry no matter what my reasons are. I don't think it matters much at this point." she said candidly. Naruto's immediate instinct was to lash out, but he kept within himself. To do so would only prove her correct.
"I don't care what that freak told you. All he wants to do is use you." he insisted. Keeping calm in the face of the greatest personal tragedy he had ever known was proving even more difficult than he had imagined it would.
"If that's what it takes to bring Itachi down, that's fine by me." Satsuki said bluntly. Naruto threw his hands up in frustration.
"You'd let him ruin you for some payback?" he asked incredulously. The Uchiha's eye twitched slightly, and her frown deepened.
"You know damn well it's more than that." she countered. Letting his hands drop, Naruto shook his head.
"Even if it is, you're throwing your life away." he said firmly. For the life of him, he couldn't read Satsuki's body language. It was inert. Nearly dead.
"I don't have anything left to lose." Satsuki replied. A cold wind blew across the valley, sending her hair flying to one side while Naruto's jacket peeled open.
"Not even me?" Naruto asked. Then, for the very first time since their arrival in the valley, a flash of visible conflict crossed Satsuki's eyes.
"That's what we're here to take care of." she said. Naruto blinked, taken aback by the obvious implications of her words. They were painful.
"You're…threatening me." he said, his voice growing quieter. Satsuki then grew slightly more animated, with her face visibly straining to remain stoic, and her feet shifting.
"I tried to let you down easy. I came by to make sure your last memory of me was a happy one. Something you could hold onto. But in hindsight, I really should've expected you to follow me." she said. Naruto swallowed a lump in his throat.
"I'd never take this sitting down. Never." he said. She sounded a thousand miles away. Cold as a winter storm.
"And it's my fault for hoping you might." Satsuki admitted. Closing his eyes for a moment to gather himself, Naruto did what he could to mentally prepare for what was almost certainly to come.
"What now, then?" he asked. He dreaded the answer he knew he would receive. Part of him regretted asking in the first place the moment the words left his mouth. But it was too late to take it back. Satsuki paused briefly.
"I can't run from you. You'll follow me to hell and back. I don't like it, but I…can't let you live. I'll always have an out with you around. I can't afford that." she said, genuine emotion slipping into her voice at long last. Naruto struggled to maintain eye contact. He was in pain.
"That's all I am to you? An obstacle?" he asked. While she was too far away to tell with any certainty, Naruto could have sworn he saw Satsuki's bottom lip quiver.
"Please don't make me say it." she said. All at once, Naruto's frustration and impatience burned up to the surface.
"Say what?" he nearly yelled. His tolerance had run out, and her insistence on being vague had finally touched a nerve. Satsuki took a deep breath, held it in, and then released it.
"Have you ever taken a long, hard look at how we got to where we are?" she asked. Naruto gave her a skeptical look, unsure of what she was getting at.
"What do you mean?" he pressed. The Uchiha took ample time to choose her words. Whatever she had to say, it was of great importance.
"Think about it, Naruto. You and I…we aren't normal. We never have been. I had everything ripped away from me, and you never had anything to begin with. We both spent years grasping at straws. Looking for someone or something to keep us going." she began. Naruto stared at her in silence. He could easily see the point she was on her way to making. All the same, what she said next punched a hole straight through his chest.
"I'd have taken anybody so long as he let me cling to him. And you just needed somebody to protect and support. It's who you are. We only bonded because our issues dovetailed." Satsuki concluded. Then, in a surprising moment of lost composure, she stepped forward on Madara's head.
"Don't think for a second that I don't love you. I do. But…I think it's time we faced the facts." she added quickly. There was the slightest hint of panic in her tone. What exactly it meant, Naruto lacked the mental energy to decipher. He was on the verge of tears. Biting them back and steeling himself, Naruto corrected his depressed posture.
"You really believe all of that?" he asked. Satsuki brushed her hair out of her face after a strong gust of wind.
"I do." she said. Naruto nodded and reached into the pouch strapped to his leg. Finding a kunai, he pulled it out and took a white-knuckled grip on the blade's hilt. Satsuki did the same.
"Then I failed, and I'm sorry."
A/N: Very long chapter, with a ton loaded into it. Now, I KNOW Gaara vs Kimimaro has been written a bunch, and it's a canon matchup, but I really hope you guys still found it enjoyable. I couldn't stomach skipping through it like I have with other fights this arc, so I went all out. I think I did alright?
(Also, for those of you who are confused, Gaara DOES have Magnet Style in canon, but it's only mentioned in a light novel)
Now, that last scene. It's absolutely the biggest part of this chapter. It acts as the prelude to next chapter, which will be the beginning of Naruto vs Satsuki. I'll be doing my best to not interrupt the action, but there are still two-ish scenes I need to throw in to tie up everything else, so bear with me.
I know I ask for reviews a lot, but I put a ton of time and love into this chapter, so it'd mean a lot to me if you'd give me some feedback. I read every single review :)
I love you all
See you next chapter!
