Chapter 19 – One Tail
(AAT, or AA Team means Anti-Akatsuki Team)
Three, hot, miserable days passed since the official formation of the Anti-Akatsuki team. AA Team 3 had left the Leaf Village immediately after their formation, and was now at the edge of the Sand Village. The sun was beginning to set that day as the Hidden Sand shinobi of Team 3, Sunamaru Zirone, crouched down and scooped up some of the sand.
"There are no abnormalities in the sand. The Village is currently safe, but Gaara is the One Tails. We must remain here," he spoke. His eerie, monotone voice sent a slight chill up the spines of his team members. He remained crouch, seeming to peer out at the village from behind his veil.
Asuma Sarutobi Jr. sat on a large rock nearby. The red eyes of the Leaf shinobi scanned the horizon, pondering, "So the Village is currently safe. But what if the Akatsuki are already in the village, just not attacking it? And what if they take a different route then what we took? Won't they slip right in?"
Sunamaru remained silent. Naomi Yamada voiced her agreement, "We should actually meet with the Kazekage himself and act as bodyguards."
The Sand ninja shook his head in disapproval, "If we act in such a manner as that, they'll know not to attack the Kazekage. They won't even try, and that works against us."
Asuma growled, "Are you trying to say you want the Kazekage to be attacked?"
The eerie voice replied, irritated, "I'm saying we cannot eliminate the Akatsuki if we do not give them the chance to reveal themselves to us. But if it makes you feel better, we'll enter the Village. We won't meet with the Kazekage though, we will only keep watch until they show themselves."
-
"You're simply amazing, Izune!"
Momoro walked alongside the chipper Izune through the Hidden Sand Village. Though they wore their cloaks, no body gave them any notice. Izune happily skipped along, humming a tune, stopping to note Momoro's remark.
"Thank you, Momo, but it's not really that complicated. I just have to extend my psychic field and focus on a small part of the brain…"
"But you're doing it on everyone we pass, and you've made us invisible to them. This couldn't be easier!" Momoro said, somewhat excitedly. "Come on, let's hurry. I want to get this over with as fast as possible."
Momoro picked up the pace, grabbing Izune's hand and pulling her along. The building the Kazekage resided in was only another block away, and it would be night soon. Hopefully, they would be able to kidnap the Kazekage and leave as they came, without being noticed.
-
Gaara sat at the stone meeting table in his office. On either side of him sat his siblings, Temari, who was busily writing down what her brother, Kankuro, said, "One of my former students has turned up missing. There's a possibility that she's joined that new Akatsuki."
"How strong do you think that possibility is?" Gaara asked, as sand shuffled onto the table, forming into a sundial. Gaara watched the dial and calculated the time before nightfall.
"High. She was something of an outcast. Eleven years ago, as a genin, she was on a team given a B ranked espionage mission in the Hidden Stone Village. There was a battle that resulted in an explosion and the entire team was buried alive. She managed to survive though, miraculously. I don't know how, but I know that when she returned, parts of her body had been destroyed and replaced by puppet parts. She came to me with an interest of learning Puppet Master Jutsu."
"Puppet parts… as her body… You don't think Sasori might have survived, do you?" Temari asked as she wrote. "After all, that kind of jutsu was his specialty."
"No. Sakura Haruno and our own Chiyo effectively eliminated Sasori," came Kankuro's prompt answer.
"Sakura Uchiha," Gaara correct, "Sasuke Uchiha married that that girl after everything was said and done. They now have three kids."
"Didn't Naruto Uzumaki have a thing for her though?" Temari asked, tapping her lip with the end of her pencil.
"I believe so, but he ended up just getting with that Hyuga girl… I don't think he's really satisfied with the end result, though…"
The sand sundial that was set up on the table collapsed. Gaara blinked, frowning and rising from his seat, looking out the window, "It's getting late. Please, retire to your individual homes. I need to rest…"
Kankuro opened his mouth to protest, but his sister clapped his shoulder, shushing the argument. He rose and left with his sister.
The sand on the table became more volatile and active with each passing moment. Gaara tapped his finger on the windowsill, sighing, "I already know you're there. Show yourselves already, and state your business." Gaara turned to look, and as he did, two shinobi appeared out of nowhere, both wearing red cloaks that bore a thick black stripe at the center. On that stripe was a red cloud.
"I figured something like this would be the result. Well, go ahead. Take me," Gaara spoke quietly, with some sadness in his voice.
Momoro stepped forward, but Izune grabbed his hand, "Don't get too close! It's a Sand Clone!"
As she said it, the body of Gaara dispersed. Sand fell to the floor, and on it's own, flooded around their feet. As it tried to wrap itself around the ankles of the two Akatsuki, Izune began to float, and Momoro leapt onto the meeting table. The sand split into two trails, following. Izune flew out the window.
"Hey, wait!" Momoro called, but the sand continued to pursue him. He ran across the table and leapt out the window after her. Izune was not below though… She's probably gone to safety, probably on top of one of the buildings.
Momoro pulled a scroll from inside his cloak and opened it. In a cloud of smoke, a large, metal disk appeared. The disk threw itself under Momoro, catching him in the air. The disk then began to rise with Momoro on top of it, Momoro directing it with his chakra. He rose to the rooftop of the building he jumped out of. Izune sat on the edge of it, twirling her hair. And at the center stood Gaara, his arms folded, staring at the two.
"Well, you certainly are a competent pair… I'm not just going to go with you and die, though." Gaara announced as a cloud of sand rose into the air. He leapt atop it, and the sand cloud flew forward, towards Izune. At the same time, the metal disk and Momoro flew at Gaara.
Momoro got to her first. He scooped her up and set her on the disk, swerving violently to miss Gaara. The two almost fell off, but Momoro maintained control. The Stone shinobi announced, "I will be the one capturing you, Kazekage Gaara."
Gaara spun around on his cloud of sand to look at the Akatsuki pair. He recognized the voice and responded, "Momoro Matsumoto… It's hard to believe such an honest, hard working young man like you can be corrupted by the Akatsuki. You know, the Hidden Stone Ninja who tried to capture me lost both his arms before ultimately dying. How much do you have to lose?"
Momoro reflected quietly on the question. There was nothing left for him, in reality. The other Hidden Stone Villagers would hate him for his betrayal. Stonewall was the only one he had left. His father was dead. His career and reputation were ruined. It didn't matter anymore if he got out of Akatsuki alive… there would be nothing to return to…
Momoro pulled two scrolls out, the disk he stood on rising, trailing the scrolls through the air as he rose. The scrolls soon began to produce a massive amount of smoke.
"Twin Dragon – Metal Nightmare!"
Gaara brought some of his sand before him as a shield, peering through the smoke intently. He could not see through the smoke… The sky was becoming darker though. The Kazekage looked to the sky and gasped. A cloud of metal weapons floated over his head. Quickly, Gaara summoned the sand to completely encase himself as the weapons begun to launch themselves at the Kazekage. Every weapon hit the giant ball of sand that Gaara now hid in.
"Damn it… The Metal Nightmare usually always catches them off guard…" The smoke around Momoro and the scrolls faded into nothingness. "Hey, Izune, can't you just use your jutsu to knock him out or something?"
"If I knock him unconscious like that, though, the Ichibi might awaken; I believe we have to expend all his chakra and then physically knock him out," she answered quietly.
"That flying thing you did…"
"Telekinetic movement, and yes, I can sustain it for a long time, and yes, I'll do it."
Momoro cursed to himself. I didn't even get a chance to completely form that plan… Izune rose from the disk and flew at the ball of sand. An odd arm made from sand shot forward, but Izune skillfully dodged it. Momoro guided the metal disk towards the ball of sand as well, causing another arm to spawn. This second arm tried to grab him, but Momoro avoided it. The two continued to weave through the arms of sand, which became more and more numerous with time.
-
The sun had been down for an hour. Sunamaru Zirone's head suddenly jerked up. "There's been a disturbance in the village. Go see what it is."
Naomi yelled, "Go see what it is? What's that supposed to mean? Come with us, you bum!"
Sunamaru shook his head, holding himself tight, "My jutsu does not work well without light. The disturbance isn't extremely violent, anyway, or else we all would have seen it. Just go."
Naomi sighed, disappearing in a blur. Asuma formed a few hand signs and blew a stream of fire, creating a small campfire before Sunamaru, "Use this for light if the 'disturbance' finds its way out here." With that, Asuma disappeared as well.
-
Izune giggled as she flew between the tendrils of sand. Momoro cried out, "This isn't a game! Keep your guard…"
One of the tendrils successfully hit Momoro, knocking the wind out of him. He fell off the disk for only a short distance before Izune flew over to catch him, setting him down on the building. Momoro gasped for air.
"Momo, look. The movements of the sand are slowing down… I think he's coming out."
The sand ball began to open, sinking to the ground. It formed back into a simple cloud of sand, on which Gaara sat, panting. The sand still moved about anxiously. Momoro noticed something about Gaara he hadn't yet seen and smiled a little, still taking deep breaths.
"Well, this has been interesting… but it's over now… I hate using this technique, but I'm forced to… Hidden Explosion!" Momoro called out as he performed a hand sign. Gaara looked behind him, expecting the metal disk to come back and hit him.
He was wrong.
The metal of Gaara's headband, which he wore on his belt, exploded, firing shards of metal in all directions. Gaara cried out in agony as the metal pierced straight through his Armor of Sand, into his skin. Blood seeped through the wound, and the exhausted Gaara collapsed, clutching his wound.
"Let's get out of here, fast." Momoro swallowed as he manipulated the disk to slide under Gaara, carrying the Kazekage's unconscious body.
Next Chapter: Into Ashes