The Path A Ninja Walks...
Chapter Forty-Seven
Of Blood And Sand
A/N: WARNING-The character known as Sage Amesawa uses a lot of profanity and colorful language as part of his "colorful" personality. Be prepared if you are sensitive to that. Please note it is not because I condone such manner of speech, and also the character does not mean to use it as a way to be harmful, it is just his personality.
Slow and steady everyone was coming to...
Shikamaru and Choji moved to help Naruto...while Ino took care of Lee...
Until Ten Ten took over the duty.
Sasuke...Uchiha...
Neji stood silently over the unconscious Saseme, left to the care of her exhausted team mates. Watching from a distance with a hand to his hip...his eyes shifted to the girl...and that to her twin brother on his feet.
...He's astronger opponent than I could have ever imagined...
with a blink he slowly turned to Sage and spoke to him.
"I trust you can take care of her from here on in, then?" he scoffed with his arms folded, "It's not my job to be her damn knight in armor you know..."
"Tch...yeah I got her." Sage grumbled.
Damn, you ass- if you don't WANT to help her, then why DID you!?
Don't get mad at me over your own choices...!
But There was no further arguing... Neji simply scoffed and left to join the rest of his team, leaving Sage in a rather grumpy sort of pout.
"Hey, Sage, forget abiut that guy for right now." said Hana, "We have both our scrolls, let's just focus on getting Saseme back on her feet so that we can continue getting to the Goal line..."
"...Right..." Sage sighed, his blue green eyes shifting over the girl who lay resting.
Damn...you really over did it you know...
He thought to himself.
Not that I can blame you...you must have so much knocking around in your head huh?
He sighed and rested, setting himself down beside her.
I just wish you would talk to us...and maybe help you carry the weight...
he blinked.
Saseme...What are you thinking right now, I wonder...
Of course an unconscious body had no way to respond. Her body was exhausted...her eyes were heavy...
But her mind was still very much running on high energy...
The Grass Ninja...
Her brother Sasuke...
And through all of that...
There was still...
"...Gaa-chan..."
xxxxx
The brunette shifted a bit and slowly glances his jade eyes toward the tree tops.
...Saseme...
He spoke out her name but only in his mind as he wondered...
...Are you calling to me, right now...?
"...Let's make this quick." Gaara spoke in a low gravel as he shifted his attention back to the rain Ninja before him, "I don't want to waste time on these guys."
"Hey...Gaara." Kankuro called, "Don't you think it makes more sense to follow these guys and gather information?" Kankura questioned, "If they have the same kind of scroll that we do, we'll just be fighting an unnessasary battle..."
"I don't care." the boy grumbled, "They looked at me the wrong way...so they're gonna die."
Dammit...
Kankuro thought to himself.
This is exactly why I didn't want to be stuck out in the forest with him...
his teeth clenched.
And without Saseme around to calm his temper...he could aim that attitude of his at any of us...
"If you think you can kill us kid! Just try it!" said the rain ninja as he sent his parasols to the sky, "Senbon Rain Storm!"
There was a rain of falling needles all targeting the lone sand genin...but not a single one broke through.
"What- no wounds!? That's impossible!"
"So...Sebon Rain Storm huh?" said Gaara, "Here's an idea...let's make it rain blood..."
"He...he's created a wall of sand..."
"That's right." said Kankuro, "It's an absolute defense that no one can get through." he stated, "He carried that gourd full of all that sand on his back...and when he's attacked, he uses the power of his Chakra to harden that sand..." he explained, "It's a Jutsu that only Gaara can do, and somehow it happens automatically outside of his will...so any attacks against him...are doomed, to fail."
"Oh yeah!? We'll just see about that!"
"Just face it- you guys can't hope to defeat Gaara."
But the man didn't listen...and instead charged right for him.
That punk's a dead man...
Kankuro chuckled and shrugged.
We warned him not to fight Gaara...
Temari smirked. "SAND COFFIN!" cried Gaara, as he enveloped his victim in a cacoon of sand to hold him in place while the parasols fell from the sky above.
"Let me out of here!"
The man demanded.
"...All I have to do is cover your mouth and you'd be dead..." he stated as he moved to gather one of the fallen umbrells and open it to shade him, "...But that would be too easy and too boring."
With the Manipulation of his Chakra and the motion of his hand, Gaara lifted the man from the ground, and...
"...SAND BURIAL!"
Crushed him to his bloody death...striking fear into the members that remained.
"...There wasn't any pain..." he pointed out, "I crushed him with more force than nessasary, so it was over quickly." he blinked, "...The Corpse's bitter crimson tears flow and mingle with the endless sand...feeding the chaos within me." he said softly,"...Making me stronger."
"...J-Just take the scroll." the remaining two surrendered...but Gaara still didn't spare them. As they had met the very same fate as their Team mate before them.
"We got lucky..." said Kankuro as he moved into to gather the prize, "It's a heaven Scroll..." he stated, "You gave the other one to Saseme right? So we should all be good to head to the tower now..."
"Just shut up." said Gaara, "It's still not enough for me..."
"Come on, Gaara...let's go." said Kankuro.
"What, are you scared? Coward..."
The older brother growled softly.
"Look, Gaara...I know this test is no problem for you...but it's dangerous for Temari and me." said Kankuro, "One set of scrolls is good enough- It's all we need to pass!" he huffed, "Besides, we should be there to greet Saseme and make preparations for the next step..."
"...Losers can't tell me what to do."
Kankuro growled and gripped his little brother tightly by the strap of his gourd.
"All right, that's enough!" he snapped, "Sometimes you have to listen to what your big brother says!"
"...It's too bad I don't think of you as my big brother at all..." said Gaara, "If you get in my way...I'll kill you." he said with a slap pf his arm-
"Just hold on, Gaara!" said Temari, "You don't have to treat us like we're the enemy...just...do it as a favor for your sister, okay?" she asked softly, "...Please?"
There were no further words between them...Gaara remained silent as he held his brother's gaze, holding out his hand to gather all of the remaining grains of his scattered sand... and collected the cork to his Gourd.
"...All right... This time." he said softly, slowly shuffling his feet to continue the initial trek they had left...leaving the other two sand siblings to sigh in relief.
Yeah...
Kankuro thought to himself shakily.
...That's why I hate brats...
To Be Continued...