Chapter 29: Stuck in Quicksand

"Naruto… Yuna… Lee..." Gaara said weakly as Naruto replied, "You were there for us when we were going after Sasuke so it's only right we return the favor. Now go after that other guy you have a student to save."

Naruto flashed him a thumb up seeing Gaara go to stand but start to fall as I kneeled beside him saying, "To think he could press you this far…"

I heard someone run over seeing Sakura as she said, "You guys take care of that guy I'll look after Gaara and get him patched up."

Nodding I stood beside the others seeing our enemy start to get up again as Gaara said, "Be careful his armor can absorb chakra."

We nodded, now that we knew that I'd have to focus on using Taijutsu, if I used my blood, it could mean the end of me. We began sparring with him doing our best not to stay in contact with his armor for too long. He swung his weapon around as I went to duck seeing Lee get smacked with it while Naruto went to his aid once Gaara got up.

Unfortunately, I was distracted long enough to feel the butt end of his weapon hit me in the stomach flying into a tree but felt something soft catch me. Groaning I looked around feeling I was laying on sand as Gaara began walking towards the enemy. I grabbed my kunai cutting my hand a little as I squeezed my fist while my blood began moving towards Gaara.

"Use my blood, it's infused with chakra." I said watching Gaara use sand from his armor to form a javelin while my blood mixed with it hardening it.

"This is all the weapon I'll need." Gaara said staring at the enemy and with great force he threw it piercing past the man's armor and skin going through him.

Gaara began panting as he fell over seeing Naruto go by his side while I heard a scream from a distance seeing him look towards it in distress.

"Go, we can handle it from here." I said standing up as Naruto reassured him we had it from here watching him head out to find his student.

"You okay Lee?" Naruto asked as he nodded while I said, "Sakura should be back any minute."

"You both should go with Gaara, this fight is done." Lee said as I replied, "Are you sure?"

He nodded putting a thumb up saying, "I will catch up with you guys as soon as possible."

I looked towards Naruto as we both nodded jumping off ready for the final showdown, by now the other teams should be closing in too. Racing to a cliff side we saw Gaara, and another man engaged in a fight while a girl was restrained.

I broke it open saying, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine but Gaara-sensei is in trouble." she said looking towards him worried as Naruto placed a hand on her shoulder saying, "Leave it to us, you need to go hide."

She nodded walking off as Naruto and I stood in front of Gaara seeing the man had multiple weapons making me nervous. He began telling us about his village and his goal to destroy all the great nations with the ultimate weapon crafted by their village. Naruto and I began dodging his attacks blocking what we could as one of the dragon heads came my way.

Rolling to the side I sliced at it but it reformed biting into my shoulder throwing me to the side as I felt my blood begin to leak out. Naruto ran over to me seeing an attack about to hit him when suddenly we were both engulfed by sand.

I could hear muffled voices and clanking against the sand as I put my hand to it feeling it was hard to the touch. Sadly, the defense didn't hold noticing the sand started to collapse showing Gaara was beginning to get trapped behind some sort of metal sphere.

The man walked up to him laughing as he said, "At least we will have your Shukaku chakra."

"Gaara!" Naruto yelled seeing the sphere close completely locking him inside as I glared towards the man.

"Hey buddy what's the meaning of all this, what are you up to?" Naruto growled as he said, "Oh don't worry you'll see, long ago the great founder of our village, Lord Seimei, began creating the ultimate ninja tool."

"You're doing all this for a weapon?" I asked angrily while he smirked saying, "Yes, and now it will finally be completed."

He did some hand signs as I saw chakra surrounding the sphere hearing Gaara cry out in agony while Naruto and I both yelled his name. I heard rocks tumbling to my side watching a coffin begin to float out towards the man seeing it open revealing a dead body.

"Oh mighty Lord Seimei, may your spirit come and be joined with my flesh to complete your revival!" he said as I shielded my eyes blocking a bright light coming out of the coffin.

"What… he just vanished..." Naruto said looking around seeing the weapons were still floating as a foot stepped out of the coffin.

My eyes widened seeing a man look towards us as he said calmly, "I am called Seimei, founder of the Village of Artisans and now after 100 years of slumber, I have been awakened as my village's ultimate tool."

He walked towards the weapon seeing them both become engulfed in light as I looked away from the light until it died down.

The weapons morphed around his body as he floated looking towards us saying, "Now that my mission has come to fruition all other shinobi lands will bow to my village."

He turned towards the sphere saying, "Oh I see, the monster from the Sand Village has become the source of my renewed energy."

"What are you saying?" Naruto asked as he turned to us saying, "It's just as Hogyo predicted, lying dormant in the body of the one called Gaara of the desert is a monster. Once he's caged, he will transform into the beast releasing his awesome Shukaku. My body shall be fueled by Shukaku's chakra, and I will obtain infinite power!"

I tightened my fist at him saying, "No way we are letting that happen, you'll have to go through us first!"

Naruto and I ran at him in opposite directions using our kunai to try and get through him, but he was much faster feeling one of his snake swords pierce through my arm. I grunted seeing Naruto was on the ground looking back at the man.

He went to stab Naruto when I put my hand out as my blood wrapped around one of the heads seeing him turn to me. Glaring I whipped my hand back tossing him out of the way in time for Naruto to take the moment to try and break Gaara free.

"How very interesting… a blood user." he said as another head bit into my blood breaking the connection as I glared standing up.

I could hear Naruto yelling to Gaara to hang on as he went to swipe at Naruto again, but I deflected him again with my blood seeing him float farther away. He sent the three heads in my direction as I dodged all but one feeling it stab through my leg letting out a cry of pain.

"I have wasted too much time on the both of you this game needs to end." Seimei said as I groaned pushing myself up putting my weight to the other leg.

I saw him shoot fire in Naruto's direction quickly limping up towards him using my blood to grab him bringing him down on the opposite side of the sphere protecting him. He began trying to dig under the sphere, but I knew it was useless sensing our enemy behind us. A giant gust of wind blew us on the other side seeing the shadow of the heads coming towards us rolling just in time for a fatal hit.

He growled towards us as another gust of wind came at me but Naruto pushed me out of the way getting flung into the side of the canyon. I crawled over to Naruto seeing him groan as he went to stand up again not ready to give up, but neither was I.