Hinata: Ummm… so, I'm here to ask you about the readers questions…
Shang: Yeah, I know… let's make this quick, coz I'm a bit short on time lately…
Hinata: Okay… well, not too many questions this time, but one of the reviewers would like to know how come, since Shino-kun wears his sunglasses, could you tell he gave me a worried look in the previous chapter…
Shang: Guess I sorta forgot that he wears glasses… then again, he could always bend over a little so you could see his eyes from above… and besides, it's not said Hinata (meaning you) even saw that he did that.
Hinata: I think this closes the question list…
Shang: Right, let's get to the story then!
IMPORTANT NOTE: during the next mouth I'll have few exams, so can't really say how often I'll be able to update… it's not like studying gonna swallow my whole, free time, but I have other fics as well… and it's also not like all I do in my free time is write. I'll do my best to make AT LEAST one chapter before Christmas (that's more of a promise, but… you know, shit happens). Also, the position of beta is still open.
Chapter #5: Battle in the Sand
Naruto just finished eating his fifth bowl of ramen when the Ichiraku owner came by. The blonde instantly ordered another one and soon after he could continue eating. In the mean time Hinata merely ate her first bowl and having no room for more she thanked Naruto's favorite restaurateur.
As more noodles vanished in the whisker-marks boy's mouth, they both heard a familiar voice coming from behind: "Oi, Naruto!"
As the teens turned around they noticed a man with big scar across his face and medium-length, black hair, clipped in a short ponytail. We wore a chuunin vast and had his headband in his forehead.
"Iruka-sensei!" yelled Naruto, releasing few noodles from his mouth. "How've you been?"
"Fine… sorry I wasn't able to visit you when you were in a hospital… my students are giving me a hard time…" he sighed, but pretty soon a smile appeared on his face.
"Konohamaru is a pain in the butt, isn't he?" the blonde grinned at that.
"Actually, he became a gennin just today…" replied the chuunin.
"WHAT?" Naruto yelled from the bottom of his lungs. "You mean he caught up to me?"
"Looks like it…" and with that it was Iruka who grinned. "So, are you two on a date or something?" and with that he looked at Hinata who blushed slightly at the thought.
"That's not it…" she replied after a moment and even though she tried to hide it, the chuunin still managed to sense sadness in her voice. "We're just spending time together…"
"I see…" nodded the scar-face. "Sorry, Hinata… someday he'll get it…"
"Iruka-sensei, you wanna join us?" asked the blonde. "I'd also like to hear details about Konohamaru's new team! Who's on it and who'll they're getting as their sensei… also what's new in your life…"
"You're… not just looking for someone to pay your bill, are you?"
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Four jounins were laying on the ground, each with blood and burn-marks on them. Looking at the carnage with no emotions on his face was a man in black cloak with red clouds on it and a big, scorpion-like tail coming from under his cloak.
"You just can't control yourself, can you?" he asked his companion who was a tall girl with long, blonde hair, clipped in a ponytail. "With all that rocket that damn clay creatures of yours made we soon might have the whole Hidden Sand on our backs…"
"Yeah, yeah…" replied the female. "But if we wouldn't killed them, they would most likely spot and destroy the scout I've send into the village, yeah. We shouldn't allow that…"
And then, as on queue, she was forced to jump into the air, avoiding a huge, sand hand that came from the ground, trying to grab her. Only thanks to her reflexes was she able to dodge, but just by few inches.
Her partner looked to his right and spotted a certain red-head boy, wearing black dress and a gourd on his back. The man also noticed a kanji symbol for love on his forehead.
"See…" smiled the girl as she landed on her feet. "We don't even have to go inside the village, he came to us. He is our target, isn't he?" and with that she turned to the boy. "So, you heard our fight or was it something else?"
The red-head simply held out his hand and opened it, thus releasing what was once a bird made out of clay. The blonde looked at hers creation a bit pissed.
The gourd carrier gazed upon the girl with emotionless face and finally said: "If it was me you wanted, you should have asked. There was no need to kill them…" at this he turned his green eyes to the fallen sand-nins. "Now I can't let you go…"
"Yeah, I heard few things about you…" replied the girl. "One of the stronger Jinchuuriki… I was hoping to test your skills in a fight, but it seems I won't have that honor… so careless…"
And it was only then that the boy noticed the scorpion's tail coming right at him. Instantly a wall of sand arise, blocking the attack. But, surprisingly for him, the tail went right through the blockade and stabbed the red-head in the arm.
"The famous Sabaku no Gaara…" the man said with sarcasm. "I'm a bit disappointed…" but then his words froze in his throat as the sand-nin's body turned into sand and felt to millions of pieces. "Suna bushin…?" the scorpion's eyes seemed to widen a bit as a huge hand of sand appeared from the underground, this time succeeding in grabbing the man's partner.
"Seems that the ones who got careless… were you" came Gaara's voice. As the scorpion's tail turned in the direction it came from, he noticed the red-head standing on a nearby rock, slowly closing his palm. "Sabaku SouSou" and instantly the sand hand (A/N: this rhyme is totally unplanned) closed as well.
But a moment later, surprising the red-head a bit, the hand exploded into pieces as well.
"Looks like you were right, Sasori…" announced the girl as she walked over to the man. "This one is stronger then the last one… may I have him? An artist must try new things, yeah…"
"If it wasn't for me you'd be death, crushed by his sand, Deidara…" responded the man. "I know his style of fighting better then you do, so leave it to me… you'll have the next one…"
"This is no fun, yeah…" replied the girl. "So will you at least allow me to play with those that are coming this way? It'd be… problematic if they'd interfere, yeah…"
"Do whatever you won't... just stay out of this…" the girl smiled as she took of towards the gate. The red-head looked after her.
"Those that are coming this way?" Gaara repeated in his mind. "Could it be?" his eyes widen slightly at the thought as he turned to face his opponent. "Sorry to bring you down to earth, but I won't allow you to kill more of my shinobies. Looks like I'm gonna have to dispose of you quickly and then take care of your friend…"
"Funny thing…" noticed Sasori. "The last Jinchuuriki we took said almost the exact thing…"
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"Are you certain, Kankuro?" asked a girl with blonde hair, clipped into four ponytails, dressing purple. She had a huge fan attached to her back. "If that's true we should alert the village… they are…"
"If we do that, many will die…" replied a man wearing black with purple tattoos on his face and three scrolls on the back. "And having so many people to protect, Gaara won't manage to avoid attacks himself. Besides, there's no point in alarming the village if the information might be false…" but with that he froze in his tracks, avoiding a small, clay spider that felt from the sky.
The sand-nin slowly walked to the clay bug surprised when suddenly it got back to life and jumped right at him. It wasn't able to land on him though as strong wind blown it right into the wall of the cliff. The bug soon exploded.
"My, my… always prepared… this might be interesting, yeah…" announced the girl in black cloak with red clouds on it. "What say we get started?" and with that she reached for her bag and placed some clay in her hand. It was then that the sand-nins noticed a mouth in the girl's palm.
"What is she?" asked the fan-girl.
Kankuro just reached for his scrolls and instantly unwrapped them. Each had a kanji symbol. The first said 'karasu' (crow), the second was named 'kuroari' (black ant) and the last had 'sanshoouo' (salamander) on it. As he formed few, quick hand seals, puppet came out of the scrolls.
The first one had three eyes on the head, spiky, black hair and many hands. Another was different mostly in the shape of its head and that it had horns on it. The last was a huge, salamander-like puppet with large jaws. All of them had black material on them.
"So, you're one of those famous, Sand puppeteer, no?" asked Deidara as she took the clay her hand-mouth chewed and performing a short set of hands seals the small clay form turned into a long saber with the blade bended back a bit. "Indeed this is going to be interesting, yeah…" and with that she jumped right at the puppeteer.
But before she could reach him, the other kunoichi stood in her way and swiped her fan again, creating another tornado, aimed right at her. Deidara stabbed the blade on the saber into the ground to stop and once her feet touched the ground, she instantly changed directions, avoiding the slashing wind.
Immediately the puppet called Kuroari appeared next to her and tried to imprison her inside itself. Acting on instinct, she performed another chain of hand seals and vanished underground just to jumped to the surface a moment later, right behind Kankuro.
But as soon as Deidara came into view, the puppet Karasu shoot a kunai with poison on it from its mouth. It was a direct hit. Surprisingly though the Akatsuki member started to widen like she was about to explode.
"Damn, that was a decoy!" noticed the sand-nin, trying to cover himself with one of his puppets. However, it seemed unneeded as the clay bushin was blown away by another sand kunoichi's blow.
"Don't worry, I got you back" she announced, propping on her fan.
"Even though they're just brats they're able to work this good together…" Deidara thought to herself as she placed more clay in her palm's mouth. "I should stop playing around and get serious then, yeah" and with that she opened her palm, releasing few, tiny bird's models. A second later, after forming another set of hand seals the birds came to life. "This is more entertaining then I've expected…"
"The real one's over there…" noticed Kankuro as he looked on top of the gorge (A/N: to all those who aren't aware of the fact, the entrance to Suna Gakure is a gorge… guess I forgot to remind you of that… sorry). And it was also then that he saw few, small birds heading right at him and his sister. "Temari!"
"Gotcha…" replied the girl as she prepared herself to unleash another tornado. Yet she froze in her tracks as Deidara landed right behind her, prepared to pierce her with her saber. The Sand kunoichi instantly turned around and blocked the blade with her fan, however there were already birds coming at her.
Deidara smiled as she saw explosion on the other side of the opened fan. Then she turned to look at the boy with tattoos on his face. The puppet called Kuroari was standing right in front of him with smoke coming from the inside. "So he imprisoned the birds inside his puppet? The charge wasn't really that big but it is surprising that this marionette withstood it…"
A second later Kuroari felt into pieces, leaving the puppeteer with only two dolls. But strangely, Kankuro was smiling. The Akatsuki member looked at him puzzled for a moment before she noticed chakra gathering on the other side of the fan.
"Kuchiyose no jutsu" came Temari's voice as she grabbed her fan and in a fracture of a second she swiped it, only this time summoning a big weasel armed in reaping hooks. And that mammal was heading right at the clay artist.
Deidara once more hid herself underground, avoiding the attack just barely, only this time the sand-nins were prepared for this. Kankuro instantly made a quick motion with his hand and the puppet called Sanshoouo opened its mouth and blasted a powerful bomb right in the place their opponent went underground.
Tons of sands were lifted into the air and felt on the sand siblings. Temari used her fan as an umbrella so her vision wouldn't be effected by the sand rain and thanks to that she noticed Deidara charging right at the puppeteer with her saber ready.
"Kankuro, on your right!" she warned her brother and only then spotted another figure attacking the tattooed boy from his left. "Another clay clone!" she figured as the blade carried by the second one stabbed her brother while the bushin was destroyed by Sanshoouo.
At the very same moment sand stopped raining. Once again smirked appeared on Deidara's face just to be wiped out from it once more as puppet hands came out from under Kankuro's dress and grabbed the clay user.
Unfortunately Deidara exploded once more. "This one was a bushin as well…" noticed Temari as parts of Karasu fell all over the gorge. She gazed at Kankuro who was looking in front of him, where the real Akatsuki kunoichi stood.
"I see…" announced Deidara. "So you used the Kawarimi to switch places with your puppet and that way trap me… sadly you didn't expect me to create two bushins… now you have only one puppet left… it troubles me how did you survived the explosion back then though…" at those words she turned to Temari.
"I blocked that one…" stated Kankuro, drawing her attention to him. "I actually destroyed all the birds that were coming at me with Karasu and Sanshoouo alone. I used Kuroari to block the birds that were coming at her and then instantly pulled it back to me… that way you thought I used it to save myself and Temari got the element of surprise with her summoning skill…"
"Clever, yeah…" said Deidara with a smile. "The sand-nins are skilled… However staying here for longer wasn't our plan, you I guess I should be finishing this…" and with that she put more clay into her palm's mouth.
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"His tail is filled with poison…" noticed Gaara as he looked at his opponent. "Also his body seems to be more of a puppet so I can assume he's a puppeteer, just like Kankuro. If that is so, he is a former Suna shinobi…this might be problematic…"
"Let's start…" asked Sasori as he raised his hand and instantly hundreds of small needles shoot right at the Sand's Kazekage. But all of them were stopped by another wall of sand.
Yet as the sand wall covered Gaara's sight, the scorpion-man prepared his other hand and soon a bomb was send flying at the red-head. The wall stopped that attack as well, but the Kazekage's eyes widen as smoke started to spread around and was quickly getting closer to him.
"Poison gas…" noticed the Shukaku vessel as he motioned his hands quickly and soon a pillar of hard sand rose from bellow him, lifting him above the smoke. As he circled his hands sand balls shoot out of the pillar and headed right at the puppeteer. As the bullets were getting closer to the target, the sand-nin began performing a new chain of hand seals.
Sasori instantly lifted his tail up and before the red-head knew it shurikens flew at the sand balls, exploding once they hit the coming bullet. None of Gaara's missiles reached the puppeteer.
"He had explosive tags attached to them?" wondered the Kazekage. "That's what it seems… he's no ordinary shinobi…" and with that thought he finished his set of hand seals, calling out: "Sabaku Tomurai" and before Sasori knew it, spikes of hard sand started to shoot out from the ground, coming in his direction.
The puppeteer used his tail as a spring and jumped high into the air. As he found himself on the same height as Gaara was, he opened his mouth and before the Kazekage knew it, another missile was coming his way.
The red-head moved his left hand to the right and instantly sand wave came from the pillar he was standing on, blocking the bullets way. As Gaara heard the explosion on the other side of the blockade, he performed a quick set on hand seals with his left hand only and calmly called out: "Suna Senbon…"
In a fracture of a second hundreds of small, sand needles shoot from the wall and headed right at Sasori who was just reaching the ground. Being still in mid-air there was no way for him to dodge.
"This brat is better then I've expected…" he thought to himself. "If this keeps up I could be forced to use my full strength…" and with that a small, metal ring came out of his back. Before the red-head knew it, metal plates started to spread above Sasori's body, creating a shield that blocked all of his sand senbons.
"Not killing him is a pain in the rear…" the puppeteer said to himself as he aimed his left hand, the one with metal all over it, at the Kazekage and the shoot it at his opponent.
The bullet went right through the sand wall Gaara created, however the red-head just moved aside in order to avoid the hit. But, surprisingly for him, once the bullet was located behind him, hundreds of small spikes shoot out of it, all coming directly at him.
In a fracture of a second Gaara's gourd turned into sand and created a solid shield on his back, thus stopping all the needles that were flying at him.
"That sand of his is beginning to work on my nerves…" stated Sasori as he watched the whole scene from the ground. Then he noticed the boy performing a new set of hands seals.
"Suna Shuriken" came the red-head's voice and before the puppeteer noticed new sand bullets were coming at him at an incredible speed. Not having enough time to aim and destroy them all, Sasori jumped back, avoiding the attack but as his feet touched the ground, a huge hand of sand reached out to grab him.
Having no, other alternative, he jumped to his right, once more avoiding the hit, but surprisingly for him, he felt he's sinking. As he looked down he noticed that he was standing in some kind of quick sands. He then looked at the red-head, who simply closed his palm.
"Sabaku SouSou…" Gaara said calmly as the sand that surrounded the scorpion-man crushed the puppet into pieces.
"All those sand missiles… and then that hand… it was all just to make me fell into his trap…" figured Sasori as he jumped out from his puppet, avoiding death. "He is strong… probably matching the Third… it'd be interesting to check if I'm right…" and with that he reached out to his hostel.
The Kazekage looked at the hooded man coldly as he began performing new seals but then both of them stopped in their tracks due to a certain, female voice:
"I suggest both of you to stop, yeah" announced Deidara as she was standing on top of a huge, clay bird. But what surprised Gaara even more was a figure that was laying motionless on the bird's back. It was Temari. "Listen, rust-head, if you want that blonde alive, you'll let us leave and turn yourself to us… as of when and where, you'll get information once we're out of here, yeah… now, Sasori-danna, I suggest you hop on…" and with that the bird started to lower it's flight.
The hooded man jumped onto the bird and soon after it took off once more.
"Now, I know what you're thinking, yeah…" stated the clay user. "Why shouldn't I just go after you and take that girl back… well, you could do that, but then that guy with make-up on his face will surely bleed to death… it's your call…" and saying that she ordered the bird to fly away.
Gaara looked after them for a moment and then headed right towards the gorge, where his brother was supposed to be dying.
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The Kazekage was carrying his brother, who was barely moving, towards the village. The puppeteer looked up to his red-headed sibling and gave him a weak smile. "I thought Temari and I will be enough as back-up… but it seems I misjudged the Akatsuki… forgive me, Gaara… because of my carelessness they got her…"
"It's not your fault…" replied the Kazekage. Even though his face shown no emotions, Kankuro could felt sadness in his voice. "Besides, I'll bring her back…" and with that they reached the Suna hospital.
The medics and few ANBU instantly surrounded them. Gaara gave his brother to the doctors and then turned to the masked men: "There are puppet parts near the entrance and in the gorge… collect them all, but don't mix one with another… and send an urgent message to Konoha about the situation… we must act quickly…"
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"So, the Akatsuki started moving again…" said a man who was standing on top of a nearby mountain, watching the whole battle. "Seems that they grew a bit impatient during those three years… but this is convenient for me…"
And this concludes this chappie. Hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a review once you're done reading. Pretty please.
Now, coz my time's limited, here's a quick, jutsu encyclopedia for this chapter:
Suna Bushin (Sand Clone) - an advanced type of clone, made from sand. It does not disappear when attacked - but it does have a sand like appearance, and would not make a good decoy. Although, it can attack, and travel along the ground in a sand state
Sabaku SouSou (Desert Graveyard) – jutsu performed by Gaara. The sand is send to enwrap the enemy, through the use of chakra (controlling the air and sand). The inward movement crushes anything trapped inside
Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Skill) – in order for this jutsu to be performed, the user must sign a contract, perform the right hand seals and sacrifice a tiny bit of his own blood. If all those requirements are made, the user may summon an ally. It doesn't have to be a living creature, but in most cases shinobies summon legendary 'beasts' to help them. Contracts known from the original 'Naruto' so far are:
Uzumaki Naruto, Jiraiya, Yondaime Hokage – frogs
Tsunade – slugs
Orochimaru – snakes
Hatake Kakashi – dogs
Temari – weasels
Sabaku Tomurai (Desert Funeral) – jutsu invented by Gaara. The user first sends his/hers chakra into the sand and then, with the use of right hand seals, makes the sand came from the ground in the form of a spike, harden by the users chakra.
Suna Senbon (Sand Senbons) – jutsu invented by Gaara. The whole secret behind it is to create plenty senbons out of the hard sand with the use of ones chakra.
Suna Shuriken (Sand Shuriken) – a jutsu used by Gaara. Practically the user just throws shurikens at his enemy and then, using chakra of course, surrounds them with sand, making them harder.
And this seriously concludes this chapter.
Take care and hopefully till the next update.