Colors of Life and Death series
Truth in Dreams
by Songbird21
Chapter 7
Well, at least it took less than last time. -Hides- No review responses this chapter. I just don't have the time. Enjoy:)
Please read and review. I love reviews! Thanks!
The sound of the explosion when the bomb hit was deafening. But as the smoke cleared it became evident that it had failed to hit its target. Gaara had extended the sand shield that he had put over the battle earlier in order to encompass the village as well. He frowned when he noticed his opponent was still smiling. He caught the tiniest glimpse of a bird bomb in his peripheral vision and barely had time to put up a shield made of his gourd sand to guard against it. "That was close."
The people on the ground looked up at the massive sand ceiling in awe. Standing in front of the Ramen Barn, Kurumi smiled with pride. "Gaara-sama..."
Back in the sky, Deidara smirked.
Gaara, who was now encased in his protective sand shell, was breathing heavily; Concentrating on so many things at once was difficult. He heard an odd scratching sound to his right and turned his head. Several clay spiders were crawling out of his guard sand. "Shit!"
Deidara's smile widened. He whispered under his breath as he brought his hand up in a seal. "Bang..." The spiders exploded--expanding the shell of sand around Gaara in several small pockets.
Kankuro noticed the sand that surrounded his little brother had begun to fall away. "GAARA!" The puppet Kankuro had been fighting took the opportunity to stab its stinger through the puppet master's leg. "GYAAAAH!" he screamed. As the enemy puppet rounded on him again a Suna jounin grabbed him and pulled him out of harms way.
The Jounin laid Kankuro down behind a large rock, checked over the wound, and then used some of his arm wrappings as a dressing. "It's bad," he said as he tied off the bandage, "but I think you'll be alright. I'll look for that Konoha med nin."
Kankuro nodded. "Thank you, Kesshouryuu." He suddenly remembered what had distracted him. "Gaara...Help Gaara," he pleaded.
Kesshouryuu nodded. "Nhm," he confirmed before leaping away. "But before that, you need help."
Temari was very frustrated. She couldn't use most of her more powerful attacks for fear of hitting someone on her side. She was restricted to creating small blasts of air to knock the puppets off balance so her allies had an easier time attacking them.
Kesshouryuu showed up at Temari's side. "Temari-dono! Kankuro-dono has been injured!"
Temari whipped her face around to meet him. "What?!"
"It's not life threatening...yet. I need to find the Konoha medic. Do you know where she is?"
"No, but I'll help look!" Temari answered.
Both ninjas shot off in different directions in search of Sakura.
Sakura looked over the last of the Suna nins that were splayed across the landscape in various undignified positions. "Damn it! Not one that I can help!" she said angrily.
She was running back to the battle when she noticed a young chuunin's body on the ground. She had been impaled through the chest. Sakura sighed. "Poor thing." She was just about to continue on her way when she saw the girl's finger twitch and gasped. "She's still alive?!" Sakura dove to the ground and gently rolled the girl over. "She's lost a lot of blood, but the blade only pierced her right lung." She fired up her healing jutsu. "Please...let me save at least one."
Gaara's vision was going out of focus but he stuck out his hand anyway and began, with great effort, to pull the sand back away from his barriers. He had to make sure the sand didn't fall and hurt anyone. It was like seeing a tidal wave in reverse.
Deidara just stood on his bird's back and watched; curious to see if his opponent could pull off what he was apparently trying to do.
Naruto looked up just in time to see the last of the sand falling away from his friend. "Gaara..." His face hardened and he ran towards the cliff edge while putting his hands into his favorite seal. He created a clone and, then turned himself into a fuma (shadow) shurukin. The clone threw him with all its might, disappearing once its job was done. He rocketed toward his falling friend, dispelling the henge once he felt he was close enough.
Deidara and his bird waited patiently under his target. Gaara began to fall and Deidara sighed in relief. "Finally--hmm." Just before Gaara was about to land on the tail of the bird a blue and green streak came through and snatched away Deidara's prize. "What?!" At first he thought the Gaara had fallen to his death but then he felt a jolt as some unseen force pulled his bird downwards a bit. He looked over the side to see what had happened and his eyes went wide with surprise. Naruto had created a large number of kage bunshins just as he had caught Gaara. One bunshin had its hands clasped tightly around the legs of the clay bird and the other bunshins had made a chain out of themselves. At the end of the chain Naruto held onto the last bunshin and he and Gaara were using the chain to swing safely back down to the main battle zone.
Deidara glared as Naruto let go of the end of the clone chain and landed. "Oh no you don't--hmm!" He thrust his hand into his clay bag...only to find it empty. "Tch!" He looked down at the ongoing battle. "Sasori-no-dana...gomen." He turned around and began to fly out of the village. "I'm never going to hear the end of this...hmm."
Sasori watched his partner fly off. "That idiot must've run out of clay. I told him to bring more!" He looked back at the battle around him. "I may actually be forced to show myself at this rate. Finally, a challenge."
The Kazekage flashed through a series of seals. "Kaze no Yaiba!" Wind blasted forward, slicing through the puppet from every conceivable direction. "I put chakra blades into that wind. You're done," he said with satisfaction.
"You are overly confident," Sasori said from under the kindling that used to be his puppet.
The Kazekage's eyes widened and he jumped backward a bit just in case. "How?!"
Out of the puppet's remains rose what appeared to be a young man. "I told you...you're over confident!" Sasori unrolled a scroll and touched his hand to it. "I'll show you my finest puppet. It was quite difficult, killing this one in order to add it to my collection.--But that's why he's my favorite." He touched his hand to the scroll. There was a puff of smoke and when it cleared there was a puppet standing in front of the Kazekage that made his blood run cold.
"But...that's impossible!" the Kazekage exclaimed. He heard a footstep to his left and was surprised at who it was. "Ch...Chiyo-sama!"
"So, it was you Sasori. You're the reason the Sandaime Kazekage disappeared!" Chiyo said icily.
Naruto laid Gaara down on the sand about sixty meters from the battle and his hand went to Gaara's wrist to check his pulse. "I think his pulse is steady, but I'm no med nin. I need to find Sakura-chan." He stood up. "Wait for just a little while. I'll be back soon!"
Sakura wiped the sweat off her forehead. "Come on. C'mon!" The heartbeat of the girl that Sakura had been trying to heal had become erratic. "Damn. There's no time to heal the surface wounds and her lung. What can I...?" Sakura sucked in a breath. "A seal!" She pulled a piece of paper out of the side pouch on her med kit and drew a seal on it. She held her hand over the seal and it began to glow as she infused it with chakra. When she lifted her hand the seal moved with it and she put her hand over the girl's chest. Finding her target wouldn't be a problem as it was obvious the damaged part of the lung would be right underneath the hole. "Slowly, sloooowly." Sweat beaded on her face as she placed the seal on the lung. Once it made contact it sizzled and duplicated itself on the other side of the organ, effectively creating a patch of sorts. She breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, now for the surface."
"Sakura-san!" Kesshouryuu yelled as he ran toward. All he got from her was a loud 'SHH!'.
Sakura had the girl on her side so that she could work on both the entry and exit wounds at the same.
Naruto came running up to them, but stayed silent. He knew better than to interrupt Sakura when she was working.
Finally, Sakura sighed. "She's to the point where conventional medicine can help her." She looked up at Kesshouryuu. "Can you take her to the hospital?"
Kesshouryuu nodded. "Yes, but I need you to help Kankuro-dono. He has a large wound through his leg."
"Wait," Naruto interrupted, "Gaara's hurt too, and he's unconscious."
"Okay, I'll take care of Gaara first. Hurry with her and show me where Kankuro is when you get back," Sakura instructed.
"Hai." Kesshouryuu cradled the young chuunin carefully in his arms and ran off towards the village.
Tsunade sighed as she stood at the door to Haruka's room. She felt silly doing this, but Naruto had been very insistent and she didn't want to disappoint him. She opened the door and walked toward the bed. "Hi. I'm Naruto's mom. He uh...asked me to visit you while he was away," she said as she put the flower she held into the vase by the bed. She sighed and smiled. "You must have been very special, for Naruto to love you as much as he does. I hope you wake up one day...for his sake."
As her hand closed around the doorknob, Tsunade suddenly felt a fluctuation in Haruka's chakra and turned right around. She pulled a small penlight from her pants pocket and checked Haruka's pupil dilation. Tsunade's breath hitched in her throat. "My god...she's responsive."
Sakura finished her work and sat down on the warm sand. "I've healed all the damage, but I think he'll be out for a few more hours." She saw Kesshouryuu running toward her and Naruto. "Good timing. I just finished." She got to her feet. "Lead the way."
"I'll be back later, Gaara. Right now I got some butt to kick," Naruto said with a feral grin and then ran back to the battle.
As Hinata dodged she began to wonder why she had come at all. She was useless unless she could get in close and all kaiten did was knock the puppets back. "I need to do something!" she thought in frustration. Suddenly her eyes widened with memory. "My new jutsu!" But her enthusiasm quickly faded. "But what if it's not ready?" An image of Naruto and his golden smile flashed through her mind. (("Ganbatte, Hinata-chan.")) Her resolve instantly returned. She moved into stance where she stood straight, eyes closed, with one arm down at her side and her left hand in a seal up in front of her face. "Tsuin tenrai uchimono!"
As chakra streamed from her fingertips her hands began to move in sharp, swift cutting motions. The puppet charged but it didn't have a chance. Hinata's chakra blades had nearly ten foot range before dissipating. The puppet's wooden body was in several large pieces in less than thirty seconds. Though panting for breath, Hinata looked at the result of her training with a rare smile of pride. "I did it, Naruto-kun."
The Kazekage looked at Chiyo with wide eyes. "Y...you mean that puppet is..." he trailed off, unable to finish his sentence because of the horror that the end of it implied.
Chiyo's glared deepened. "Yes, he's turned Sandaime-sama...into a puppet."
...TO BE CONTINUED
Okay, now as far as the radioplay is concerned, my narrator (FullMetal Ai) had some mic problems but she has assured me that she will have at least some of them to me by Monday. Which means I may get out the first half of chapter 3 by next Saturday, but don't quote me on that.
About Haruka. I won't answer any questions about her fate so don't bother asking.
Starting Monday I will be taking ticket requests for a raffle I'm holding. The prize? A custom My Little Pony designed in whatever way your heart desires! Check out my profile for more details. :)
And now, since I have to get up at 5:30am to drive to Kentucky for vacation, I bid you all a fond oyasumi. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.