Copyright notice: I do not own Naruto or its characters.
Weapon Part 6: Turning Into A Monster
I'm only human
I've got a skeleton in me
But I'm not the villain
Despite what you're always preaching
Shikamaru looked over the genin he had collected from the village and whom had all met him at the gate. The mission was critical after the information gathered from Tsunade. Artisans, ultimate weapons, war…all so bothersome and serious. We can't have this. Time to get serious, Shikamaru.
Shikamaru met the eyes of each genin surrounding him at the gate entrance. Before he could open his mouth, he heard the loud yells and stomping of clumsy feet that could only be Naruto's.
"Guys! Guys! I had to eat before going on a mission!"Naruto yelled with an eardrum shattering pitch before coming to a near crash into Rock Lee. Naruto put his hands on his knees, breathing hard before glancing around at each genin around him. He stood slowly and narrowed his eyes.
"Hey, Shikamaru! Is this it? All the genin in the village, really? I thought this was an operation with mobilizing of all the genin remaining in the village."
Shikamaru let out a slow burst of air before swiveling his head to Naruto, his earrings shining in the sun and clanking against his neck.
"This is it, Naruto."
Naruto rubbed his neck and frowned. "That's pretty messed up, man. There should still be Shino, Neji, and Hinata. I know Sakura is training but we could use those three for sure."
Kiba crossed his arms and shifted his feet. His red face paint gleamed in the sun, his own eyes narrowing and an eyebrow lifting at Shikamaru.
"Yeah, he is right for once. It's pretty weird. Akamaru and I are the only ninja here with search ability. We all know the other three are not lightweights in the scout arena. Especially Hinata, the way she's grown in ability."
"Agreed!" Ino chipped in cheerily, her hands behind her back and the usual long piece of flaxen bang blowing over her arched brow.
Rock Lee chimed in at that exact moment, leaving Shikamaru more exasperated. Shikamaru did not need this at the moment. He would reveal his strategy to them when the right time came. Now was not the right time.
Hinata, Neji, Shino and Sakura have left much earlier than us. They are going to clear areas and search ahead. We can't have ambushes and unnecessary distractions. Sakura was hard to bargain for but I finally got her as medical backup. Tsunade is one difficult woman to persuade but when you play shohi as long as I…
Interesting though, that Sakura and even Tsunade recommended Hinata as another medical backup. I wonder how this goes…
"So I suppose we are going in with the fierceness of youth, right?" Lee questioned, arching a thick brow at Shikamaru and crossing his bandaged arms.
Shikamaru looked up and closed his eyes, before opening to look at the lazy clouds. "I call us Team Returning Suna the Favor."
Naruto pumped his fist. "All right! Lets head out, team!"
All joined in as a chorus of voices. "Naruto, you're not the leader!"
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Sakura crouched softly, landing from a large leap off a sunken tree branch. She checked her medical pouch and pushed her hair from her face. It seemed humidity was building up in the forest, which wasn't good for many reasons. Her hair being one of them. Vanity just doesn't leave over night sadly, Sakura sighed in her head while Inner Sakura shook her head in rampant agreement. Before she could think anymore, she felt the light landing of her partner. She glanced up from her peripherals, taking in the beige coat of Shino and the dark shades.
She watched closely as he used his right hand to push up his left sleeve, releasing dozens of beetles. The bugs crawled along his pale skin, leaping off in swarms to fly swiftly into the air. Sakura stood calmly, fixing her pouch and looking over to Shino directly into…well…the middle of his shades.
"These will track the enemy and bring back information on their location. It is very valuable for us," Shino softly spoke in a deep baritone.
"Right, lets go then." Sakura replied with a nod and another check on her pouch before leaping with Shino onto a higher branch.
Her last thought circled back to something that had been itching at her all day: Hinata. Her response to the mission's details had been overwhelming. Sakura thought Hinata was going to faint but some inner reserve of strength kept her upright.
Hinata…do you care for Gaara?
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Gaara….I hope you're safe.
Hinata bounded from branch to branch, keeping steady pace with her cousin Neji. Her palms had threatened to sweat, her face had felt cold and her throat had been trying to dry itself like the deserts of Suna. She fought it as hard as she had ever fought in her life. The Sand Siblings needed the Konohagakure genin for help. The dossier had been read to them, a meeting had been formed and Hinata had been pulled aside with three others, her cousin included. She had never felt more important in her life.
She was finally needed for a mission! Before it was mostly as backup or simply to fill up her resume, maybe at rare times to make the Hyuga look good. But after her latest developments since Gaara helped her…
Hinata narrowed her eyes and increased her pace.
Gaara, we are coming.
I'm coming.
You're going to be fine.
I will protect my precious ones…always.
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Gaara peered at the large man once more, feeling his sneer become more prominent and nearly cracking his sand armor. This man was certainly cocky and foolish. His outfit was certainly bizarre with the large breastplate shaped like a white tiger, only with a shimmering emerald on the forehead and what would have been ruby eyes. How strange…and pathetic.
"You won't get past me, Sabaku no Gaara. Fight me, now!"
Gaara eyed the man's weapon. He had begun swinging the large spiked mace on the end of a strong steel-like metal chain attached to a tall staff as large as the cocky man.
"Very well. So be it. But first, your name?"
The man frowned then smirked in amusement. "Suiko."
Gaara uncrossed his arms and raised his right hand, beginning to clench it tightly. "Thank you. Now I can remember your name when I smell your blood in my sand if your particular scent happens to emerge above the countless others."
The blood drained from the man's face slightly, his large eyes watching the grains of sand swirl around Gaara…
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Neji stood, his body relaxed and hands flat against his side. His pale lids were closed, his mind elsewhere and his lips thinned out. The lapels of his headwear snapped in the wind, which soon became infested by a swarm of beetles.
"Did you find them then?"
Neji snapped his head up and flashed open his eyes. "Byakugan!"
I see now…everything is clear. Ah, the older blonde sibling is fighting an older woman. And there, right there, the puppeteer sibling fighting what looks to be a boy with some sort of sword. An odd sword too…
Neji's vision retracted to a smaller range, the veins retracting ever so slightly. He moved a sandaled foot before turning his head to his left and letting his mouth open slightly.
"Hinata…"
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"Byakugan!"
Hinata felt her legs burn, her sandals rubbing the padding of her feet and her ankles wanting to give out. She pumped her arms and legs quicker. She had to keep going and keep up with Shino's beetles or she'd fall behind…like she used to.
Not anymore. Self-confidence!
Remember your nindo, Hinata!
You can do this!
Hinata looked up to the swarm above her and nodded.
"All r-right, so t-that direction t-then. Thank y-you, Shino."
Hinata dropped her head back down and closed her eyes, building concentration and letting the chakra flow to her eyes.
"Byakugan!"
W-where is it? Ok, I see it. A little closer, concentrate and focus. There, I feel it and can see it. What is it? Two shinobi, one clearly younger and the other, obviously, an older shinobi. A man with bursting chakra and the other has a strange chakra, almost like two inside.
Hinata felt her self come to an abrupt halt and placed a hand on her mouth. The throbbing veins retracted quickly, nearly dissolving under the wet pieces of jet-black hair that had become loose from her loosely pinned up chignon. She knew that chakra, it was something familiar to Naruto's when she was around him and had the Byakugan activated.
"Um. U-um, I h-have located Gaara-san…"
After repeating her information to Shino's beetles, she clasped her hands together and rested her eyes. She could feel eyes upon her, notably her cousin's. Hinata had a singular ability some of the Hyuga had of noticing when other Byakugan eyes were upon them. Neji-nii-san's were upon her now, watching her rather intently.
Forgive me, brother.
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"Catch this, demon!"
Gaara narrowed his eyes, watching as this Seiko spun his mace in circles by his side and let his mace fly at a deadly speed towards Gaara's face.
Childish.
Gaara twitched, letting his mind and thoughts connect to the sand. The sand had become an extension of his mind, his body, even his soul if he could even say that. There, he felt the command latch onto the chakra in the sand.
The sand quickly formed into a shield in front of his face, the mace embedded into it.
Even had I not commanded the sand, Shukaku would have reacted to the alert of a threat.
Gaara felt his body almost tremble as his mind wandered.
Yashamaru, why can't I bleed like others? What is pain? The sand always forms. He had spoken, his eyes wide and fearful, the blade in his hand.
Not now.
"Not bad, Sabaku no Gaara."
Gaara felt the mace snap back to the man, a chuckle erupting from the man that nearly vibrated the earth.
"So, ultimate weapon of Suna, how much chakra is built up in that sand you use?
Gaara peered at the man once more.
"You would like to test that out, would you? I promise you a good one,"Gaara spoke deeply with his arms extending. "However…it'll be in exchange for your life."
Sand rumbled and burst from the earth, surrounding the man in a circle. Before this Suiko could react, the sand wrapped around him in a tight hug that became merciless and left Gaara with a still expression. His face remained blank, still as the surface of an oasis, despite the ripples in his mind of Shukaku trying to pry into his psyche.
"Your gang would dare to challenge me? To take her from me?"
Gaara paused then clenched his fists tightly, the knuckles turning whiter than his own normally pale skin.
"Sand Coffin!"
Gaara took a breath and exhaled. There was now one down. He needed to get to Matsuri, but all he could think of was…Hinata.
Never…
Never Hinata…
They will not hurt Matsuri or you…
Gaara closed his eyes slowly.
Blood and lilies…
That's right. Our blood for us…not theirs.
No, not ours. Not mine. I want something…different. Something I know little about…but something Naruto has given me help in understanding.
Fool, give in to me. Give into the darkness, unlock me.
"Haha! Not bad there. I've not been to the ocean in some time but now I know what a sand bath is. Ha!"
Gaara opened his eyes, feeling an old rage bubble up. "Impossible!"
The man burst had burst from the sand, his large bicep muscles expanding and the muscles nearly bursting from the skin. He dusted off the sand grains and kept chuckling.
"You, the sand's chakra…"Gaara felt himself still somberly speaking, refraining from letting a surprised expression cover his face.
Suiko placed his feet shoulder width apart.
"Yes, exactly Sabaku no Gaara. The armor sucks up chakra. For one rumored to be so…well inhuman and blank…you look shocked."
Gaara let his face relax and simply watched the ruby eyes of the tiger breastplate flash, his sand chakra's blue energy entering the fierce jaws.
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Hinata plastered her back against a tree and rested her head, closing her eyes. She took quick breaths before turning her head to the side, her bangs lightly swinging into her lavender eyes.
Almost…almost.
Beetles swarmed near her before buzzing off in a U-turn style towards the left side of the forest.
Hinata closed her eyes, taking in the information.
Good luck, Naruto and Rock Lee…
Please…
Please…help Gaara-kun.
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Matsuri felt a tear drip down her face, feeling her arms strain against the basket she had been placed in. She fought the headache throbbing against her temples and kept her eyes open. Even though she bobbed along like a cork as the enemy bounded away from the fight, she watched her sensei.
Gaara-sensei…
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"You certainly refuse to unleash Shukaku, even now."
Suiko spun his mace, keeping his eyes on Sabaku no Gaara. The flaming red hair of the demon looked unnaturally wild, sand grains falling from it and lingering on his clothing. How terrible to have sand cover oneself all the time. Suiko was also tired of the boy's piercing eyes…there was something off about them. The way they kept flashing…and that voice. He spoke everything in a dead, flat tone. No wonder he was considered a monster…
"If your chakra isn't built up…well, your sand isn't a bother to me."
He threw the mace hard, watching angrily as the boy caught in a fist of sand. Now Suiko was becoming a little irritated.
"Its futile! I am draining your chakra, as we speak. Your chakra…it's amazing. We can do this all day…but-"
Suiko watched in blatant awe as a thin stream of sand emerged from the boy's gourd, a barely contained smirk on his milky white face.
Suiko's face fell. "What? What is this? You set the sand in that gourd aside?"
Suiko watched Sabaku no Gaara's head tilt to the side, his eyes flat with a small glint and that dead voice rumble in gravelly tone from his throat.
"Yes."
Suiko kept his dark eyes on the boy's green ones, even as he rose higher in the air under a rumbling cylinder of sand. He even kept his eyes on him when the sand wrapped around his mace, forming the same sand fist and whipping him around in large circle…and when he fell to the ground into darkness.
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Hoki stood from afar and watched the scene with deep interest and boredom at once. His droopy eyes took in the scene. He knew what the outcome would be, but this display was still magnanimous.
"Humph. He certainly isn't called the ultimate weapon for nothing."
"Ultimate weapon?"
Ah. The weak girl had awoken. This was becoming more beautiful by the second. Hoki gleamed, more pleased than ever in his life.
"Ah, you don't know do you or maybe you didn't listen to rumors. Your teacher is the Ultimate Weapon of Suna. To be more to the point, he is a monster. Didn't they warn you about monsters, girl?"
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Neji glared at Hinata then sighed.
"Hinata-sama, this is a critical mission. You cannot be risking your life so foolishly. You have proven your worth many times. There isn't need to do so now."
Hinata tapped her fingers and kept her eyes to the side, eyes which seemed to gleam on the surface. Were her eyes wet? He would look into it. This forest seemed to be full of deadly poisons and creatures. He would speak to Sakura-
Neji snapped his head at the same time as Hinata.
Odd. The chakra from the enemy had spiked and formed strangely.
No. This couldn't be.
Shikamaru was wrong, for once. We all were.
"Byakugan!"Both echoed.
Hinata spoke first, in a soft whisper. "Neji-nii-san, it's not a-"
"I know! Its not a barrier! I know!" Neji snapped.
"It's a…it's a water vein. They're forming a water vein. The lines connect to make a water vein under…Gaara-san."
"It was a purposeful trap…"Neji murmured once more to him self.
Silence.
Neji slowly turned his head; his veins retracting on the temples so his lily-white eyes could focus on his cousin's pale face. Her eyes held a look of pure horror, her hands trembling, and sweat running down her temples.
Before he could place a light hand on her should or ask any question, Hinata placed her hands on her cheeks and let out a gasp.
"No!"
Hinata soon was sprinting ahead of him; her hair pins on the grass below him. Neji could only race after her, letting his scrambled mind stay focused.
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Danger! Let me out now! NOW!
What do you speak of? You've lied before…
Oh, it was easy to do. But now is not a lie, boy!
Leave me be! It is not a right time…what is this?
Gaara felt a strange sensation rumble in the ground. He couldn't even react, couldn't make any sort of escape or hand symbols. Nothing could counter the roar of water rushing toward him, wave after wave soaking him and pushing him further off the sand tower he had created. He let out a surprised gasp as a sharp wave slapped him in the face, upper cutting him off the security of the tower's platform. Gaara felt his feet touch air and his stomach roll, the sight of the tower becoming faint and fighting with the blotchy circles of blackness threatening his vision.
His body felt strange, heavy, different then it happened. It finally connected with his mind, even as his body felt weaker and lighter…
He had fallen.
He was still falling, even now.
Must have been a strategy. My sand…the water has affected so much of it. Feel so heavy…
Gaara heard shouts, at least the shrieks sounded like shouts. He deciphered one of them, one he could easily pick out.
Hinata…are you here?
Are you with me now?
Pink full lips, formed like a cupid's bow. A smile turned to him and warm lavender eyes. Small, pale hands holding a lily, just for him.
Hinata…
Gaara's eyes flashed open before he hit the ground.
"Hinata!"
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"Gaara!" Temari shrieked, both her hands swinging her large fan in her face as she fought the ruthless bitch in front of her.
"Gaara!"Kankuro burst out, his eyes up behind the tree he was against while he and Kiba figured out a battle plan.
But none of their screams compared to Hinata's, her legs barely keeping up with her as she nearly stumbled. Her eyes remained up in the sky, watching the soaked and darkening figure of Gaara fall to the ground.
"Gaara-san! No!"
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A/N: I apologize for the long wait, but I was able to finally write this chapter after watching the anime to be specific about certain details. I also read over my story to remain consistent and not go down the dreaded path of WAY TOO OOC. I couldn't remember the game Shikamaru played so thank you to Failure-Chan for informing me! This chapter is certainly all about action and suspense. I hope I did well, especially on catching grammar etc. I wanted to focus on Hinata and Gaara the most during this arc. Some characters appear and have importance but the two main character's reactions, whats happening to them, and the consequences are most important. Read and review.