Magnus: Sorry for making you wait, this sub-arc is about to end, and I promise that the last battle will be very epic... the last of the arc, not the chapter... anyway, enjoy, and remember, Read and Review!
Disclaimer: We don't own Naruto or anything you believe is being mentioned in this story, Reiko Zonbolt, Arashi Uzumaki and Yukina Hyuga belong to Kage Bijuu, the Harvesters are co-owned by Kage Bijuu and Me, the rest of the OCs belong to me
Chapter 46
Battle Tower 6
Matsukaze jumped to the arena, he was glad to have his turn already, so much happy he was that he didn't stop to hear Reiko telling him to be careful. Gaara watched him without showing any emotion at all, he only watched until the Horse Tamer reached the middle of the arena, and then make his move
"What the?", Matsukaze nearly shouted when the arena became completely dark, as if the light got eaten in a heartbeat, and just like that, the light returned, just to show that in front of him, Gaara was now standing, looking down at him as if he were some kind of worthless insect, even when Gaara was shorter than him
"Ok, cough, you can begin!", Hayate called, and Matsukaze immediately untied the zanbato at his back, and started to circle Gaara, who was still unmoving
"Why aren't you moving?", Matsukaze asked, still circling the unmoving Gaara
"Forfeit, now that I can resist the urge to tear you apart", Gaara said in a menacing voice that made Temari squirm, she suddenly felt the urge to make company to her brother outside the tower
"THE MAEDA WILL NEVER SURRENDER!", Matsukaze shouted, while slashing at Gaara, but the sword hit a thin barrier of sand, much to the surprise of everyone
"What the?", Matsukaze shouted, but instead of backing off, he kept swinging his weapon against the sand user, who was completely stoic, not even looking at the direction of his attacker
"Is that all?... unworthy...", Gaara suddenly stated, ad a burst of sand came out of the gourd at his back, which darted against the one eyed horse tamer, who barely leaped out of the way, action that saved his life, for in the place he was standing, a crater was now being shown
'Damn it!, I have to be careful... or I won't be able to bring honor to my clan... and I don't want to disappoint Okuni', Matsukaze thought, while readying himself for the next assault
"You still have time... forfeit", Gaara said, and Matsukaze had enough
"Enough of this, I won't play nice anymore!, NENSHOU YAIBA!", Matsukaze shouted, his zanbato was quickly covered in flames, and he leaped to attack again
"Bring steel, ice, fire or wind, it does not matter, you can't bypass my perfect shield", Gaara deadpanned, and his statement proved true when the fiery blade was stopped by the sand, Matsukaze couldn't help but to leap backward, avoiding any possible counterattack
"Ok, I concede it is a magnificent shield, but, all shields have a weakness, I can see you haven't moved at all, could it be that you can only use that technique while standing still?", Matsukaze asked, trying to analyze the situation at the best of his capabilities
"Fool", Gaara replied, and began to walk in Matsukaze's direction, said Horse Tamer quickly started to throw knives against the Undertaker, all of them were stopped by the sand, even when he was moving, suddenly, Matsukaze leaped, trying to cleave the sand user in two, with absolute no success
"This can't be happening!", Matsukaze shouted, trying to hit the sand user one more time, just to find him side stepping this time, allowing the zanbato to hit the floor, while giving a palm strike to the chin of the Horse Tamer
"The likes of you will never scratch me, you had your chance of running away, now you'll face my unstoppable power", Gaara said in his monotone voice, while connecting a palm strike to Matsukaze's stomach, yet he never leave the sword fall from his hand, Gaara then applied a kick combo, first, a kick to the head, hooking his foot to Matsukaze's neck, then Gaara turned upside down, using one hand to stand, and the other to hold his hat, ending the combo with a kick to Matsukaze's chest, but the Horse Tamer decided to escape with a kawamiri
"Too close...", Matsukaze muttered, while rubbing his neck, he was standing now very far away from Gaara, who was slowly raising to his feet
"You are only postponing the inevitable, you'll fall here, either by my hand, or your common sense if you forfeit", Gaara stated with a cold voice, that made Siberia look like warm beach
"Fine, I admit that no normal human can beat your defense, although I'm sure it is consuming a lot of chakra... but, what about a monster?", Matsukaze asked, while embedding his zanbato on the ground
Meanwhile with the spectators...
"Ah!, he about to use the Maeda Rage!", Naruto voiced, smiling at the possible result
"What is the Maeda Rage?", Hinata asked, clinging on Naruto, ready to watch something interesting
"It's a mixture of a forbidden Jutsu and a kekke Genkai, all the Maeda have enhanced stamina, which combined with a sudden increasing of adrenaline, rises all his physical attributes, but...", Anko half explained, leaving something out
"The price is quite high", Naruto finished, he just hoped that Gaara was capable of keeping his promise
Back with the battlers...
Gaara watched with no interest the Horse Tamer, how he crouched down a little, hw he gathered chakra on all of his muscles, and how he got overall charged, in his eyes, it wasn't a bad attempt to become stronger, it's just that he knew that the result was going to be the same. However, there was a sudden change that alerted the sand user, Matsukaze's eyes turned white, and then he screamed like a wild animal, everyone of the spectators recoiled at the sudden rise on Matsukaze's chakra levels, and then, he leaped at Gaara at frightening speeds, without his sword
"You can't pass", Gaara stated, but got surprised when Matsukaze trespassed the sand shield, and, and punched him on the face, throwing away the hat, but not knocking down the sand user
"GGGRRRAAAHHHHH", Matsukaze Roared, while lifting Gaara, and throwing him to the ground, laving a small crater, yet, Gaara never showed any pain
With the spectators...
"Awesome!, I never thought that one day I'd see that rage on someone so young!", Sarutobi stated, while Danzo cringed, such barbaric strength was something to fear
"That guy have some problems of anger control... perhaps he need to write some poetry?", Chrona asked, seemingly unfazed by the show of brutality
"I'm still having nightmares with your poetry...", Black Star muttered, and Tsubaki and Soul couldn't help but to agree
"Master, could it be that the young Maeda can win this battle?", Kin asked, more curious than worried
"How naive of you, Kin-chan, mortals can't beat the Death, that is an ancient rule... I was there when it was written", Ankiseth replied, smiling in a very creepy way
Back with the battlers...
Matsukaze punched Gaara, every punch was accompanied by an animalistic yell, and with every punch, the entire room trembled, Matsukaze delivered punch after punch, in a non-stop frenzy, but after ten agonizing minutes of this brutal punishment, Matsukaze stopped, the crater was much more deep and wide, and with painful steps, he walked away
"I... want to see you standing after that...", Matsukaze muttered, and walked to Hayate's direction, who had wide eyes, and a pale expression
"I know... it's gruesome...", Matsukaze muttered to Hayate, but the older shinobi was still looking as if he has just seen a gruesome massacre... or as if someone returned from the dead, this last thought made the tired Horse Tamer to look back, just to see Gaara standing as if nothing had happened
"That was an impressive show of brute strength and stupidity... now is my turn to strike", Gaara stated, his voice showing no emotion, Matsukaze had no time to think, he only went to his zanbato, at a very slow pace, Gaara calmly walked to were he was, everyone knew that the battle already ended, but the Horse Tamer didn't seem to be ready to forfeit, even when he had no more to give, he barely reached the zanbato, gripping the pommel with his left hand, while his right arm got engulfed by sand
"ARRGGHH!", Matsukaze shouted in pain, his right arm was now under a lot of pressure, yet he held firmly on his weapon
"ENOUGH! GIVE UP ALREADY! YOU HAVE NOTHING TO PROVE!", Reiko shouted, she didn't want to see her teammate being crippled
"You should listen to the girl, before I crush all your bones", Gaara said, but the Horse Tamer decided that if he was going to go down, then he'll go with one last move
"NEVER!", Matsukaze shouted, while taking his zanbato out of the ground, and launching it with all his remaining strength against Gaara, the sand shield raised, but the zanbato managed to pierce a little, stopping just in front of Gaara's face
"Is that all?", Gaara asked, hiding his astonishment, for this attack nearly hurt him
"Do your worst", Matsukaze replied defiantly
Gaara said no more, his sand threw away the offending weapon, and then he pulled the horse tamer against him, just to receive him with a stomp kick to the face, Matsukaze's world turned dark, and he knew no more...
"The winner is, Gaara no Sabaku", Hayate stated, and then darkness invaded the room again, and in less than a second, light returned, just to show that Gaara was no longer in the arena, but at the side of his sister... who shrieked like no tomorrow
"Well done, Brother, thank you for no killing a fellow shinobi", Naruto muttered from his spot, while looking at Gaara. The sand user looked back at Naruto, allowing a small smile, all while some medic nins took away the unconscious Horse Tamer
"Ok, just some minor repair, and we'll have the next battle", Ed said aloud, while repairing the sore battlefield once more, soon after this, the boards showed the next two participants
Reiko Zonbolt vs Misumi Tsurugi
The two genins quickly went to the center of the arena, where Reiko just stood with her arms crossed, while Misumi took a battle stance, and one could say, that Reiko was completely un-impressed by her foe
"Ok, cough, you can begin!", Hayate said, and leaped away
"If you think I'll go easy on you because you are a girl, you are wrong, maybe everyone else is afraid of your boyfriend, but here, he can't come to your aid", Misumi threatened, but it had no effect in the Goddess of Light
"Let's see how you deal with a real combat situation", Misumi said, and then leaped at Reiko, who only unfolded one arm, slightly slapping Misumi... with terrifying results
CRASH!
In only a heartbeat, Misumi was encrusted in one of the walls of the arena, it was a safe guess to say that every bone of his body was broken, along with his spirit and pride, Misumi moved no more, and Reiko returned to her spot, ranting about empty victories against weaklings, soon the next participants were called
Tenten vs Temari
Silence fell on the arena, the two kunoichies were standing face to face, one felt forced to fight, because she couldn't bear to be anything less than the best weapon user, the other felt forced to fight, because her little brother told her to do so... one would have to guess who felt more pressed...
"Now, cough, you can begin", Hayate said, and then left the field
Tenten lost no time, and jumped high, just to unleash a rain of kunais against Temari, who only used her giant fan to create a gust that threw to the floor all the weapons, of course, Tenten was not finished, so, she attempted to call back her weapons with chakra wires, for a second attack, unfortunately, Temari was not in mood to deal with this
"You don't have anything more?, fine, go to hell!", Temari shouted, while releasing a powerful wind jutsu, that trapped Tenten in a small tornado, at first, she didn't knew what to do, until she saw the assassin technician, and his double kusari-gama
"It's not over yet!", Tenten shouted, while taking out of nowhere a Kusari-gama, and helped by the rotation of the wind, she started to spin madly, unleashing the weight and edge of the weapon, as well as infusing the chain to control the direction of the weapon. The edge and the weight were causing destruction over the field, nearly hitting Temari a few times, until the weight took away the fan from her hands, ending the jutsu, and giving Tenten the opening to deliver the killing blow
"Enough", Gaara said, while trapping the edge of the Kusari-gama with his sand, preventing a possible fatal blow to Temari's head
"Temari is disqualified, Tenten is the Winner, cough", Hayate called, leaving a lot of shocked shinobies
Meanwhile, in a very dark laboratory...
"Ah!, my greatest prank is coming to fruition!", Kabuto shouted in delight, in front of him, inside a stasis tube, a very young girl, with black hair, was floating
"Now I only have to infuse the memories of that duckass headed idiot, and add some extra programming... and I'll have the ultimate prank... AGAIN!", Kabuto laughed like a madman, no, more like... a mad god
Magnus: well, I hope you liked it, the next chapter will include the last two battles of this part, and it'll be very epic, until then, see ya!
Ankiseth: Remember that the poll is still open, this will decide which story is going to be published next, don't be shy and vote, is free, and with no disturbing side effects, I promise!