Chapter 57
Kankuro* (approximate time: 6:10 PM)
"Senior Councilor—urgent report—sir!" Temari shouted as she pushed open the office door of one Senior Councilor Tojuro. As the second-in-command of the Council, they were to report urgent things to him after their father died and in Senior Ebizo's absence. "Border patrol was attacked by a group of four wielding strange weapons—Gaara sensed their chakra signatures heading northeast—and they've kidnapped his student, Matsuri—sir!"
"Yeah—and they've said they'll continue to kidnap someone daily until Gaara shows up to save them!" Kankuro added, paraphrasing what he heard from the sole survivor of the border patrol unit that had gotten attacked.
"Mm, yes. We've already received a similar report to this," Senior Joseki replied, appearing decidedly annoyed at the young shinobi barging into his colleague's office.
"They've identified themselves as the 'Four Celestials' and are headed to the northeast to a small strip of land between the Land of Rivers and Land of Fire," Baki replied for the councilor as if the "similar report" originated from himself. "It's near Konohagakure so I've already sent a message ahead for them to assist us. Temari, Kankuro, Gaara. You're to leave immediately and track these criminals down," he told his students.
Kankuro furrowed his brow. "Wait. That doesn't make any sense. They've already told us that they're after Gaara—if he comes with us, it'd be like walking right into their trap—!"
"He's right—it'd make more sense to send another unit," Temari added, quickly analyzing.
"… This might be another diversionary tactic," Baki replied evenly. "If we send another unit, the entire village might be vulnerable."
"If that's the case, why don't you come with us?" Kankuro asked while mentally running Baki's statement over in his mind. "Another diversionary tactic"? It implied there was more than one diversionary tactic hovering around… but which one?
"I'm sorry," Baki apologized, his expression deadpan, "but there's another mission that requires my attention. Go. After all, the captive is your student," he replied.
Kankuro openly scowled, ready to counter Baki's flippant remark. But Gaara stopped him, turning around from where he was in front of his brother and walking out the door with a simple "Let's go." Kankuro scoffed as he left, following Gaara.
Katiya (approximate time: food time)
"Let's go eat," Gaara—Gaara's sand clone—told her after they finished crying. Their earlier conversation had gone until dinner time, but neither of them seemed to have noticed.
And so she had made a sandwich, stuffing her matchsticks of carrot and daikon radish into sandwich buns along with some meat, jalapenos, and cilantro… and made another sandwich of that same material for Gaara's sand clone. Sandwiches were hardly a dinner food but neither of the pair cared at that point.
"... Maybe best if you don't," she told him after trying her sandwich, rubbing her face where her mask used to cover with her clean hand. The carrots and daikon annoyingly hard—the jalapenos a dumpster fire against the soaking wet jelly of the bread she used—the cilantro too stringy—she didn't know what she had been thinking when—
Gaara—Gaara's sand clone—had ignored her. He took a bite out his sandwich instead, a thoughtful look on his—its—face. She scowled, imagining what he had been thinking.
"You were trying to make Land of Waves style sandwiches," Gaara stated after trying her concoction.
It was a statement, not a question. A shred of Katiya's thought wondered how Gaara knew her mess to be that of a Land of Waves styled sandwich but another shred of a thought wanted to—
"There's a restaurant… Not too far from here. They sell Land of Waves cuisine," Gaara told her. "Kankuro took me there before," he stated.
"It's before curfew. I can take you there," Gaara volunteered hopefully as if knowing her intention.
Kankuro (approximate time: 7:40 PM)
"I don't get it—" Kankuro started after they left the village "—We know it's a trap—why'd Baki-sensei let us leave like that? And the hell's wrong with the Council? And how the hell are you okay with it, Gaara? I mean—we know this is just their attempt to try and get rid of us, right? Forgetting about the 'diversionary tactic' kuso."
Gaara bowed his head at his brother's statement. "I'm worried what this mission means for Katiya," Gaara finally told his brother. "I am hoping this mission resolves swiftly because of that."
"Another diversionary tactic", Kankuro remembered Baki saying.
"—You're worried that this is a 'diversionary tactic' to keep you away from Katiya, aren't you," Kankuro replied, thinking.
"Regardless of this being a diversionary tactic or not, we must save Matsuri," Gaara reminded Kankuro.
"Wait—" Kankuro said, pausing in his steps. "Something's off though—any of you guys find it weird that Lord Ebizo's not in today? Or Baki-sensei and Senior Joseki just coincidentally being in Senior Tojuro's office—or—?"
"—Enough, Kankuro," Temari cut in irritatedly. "Let's just get this mission over with—we can't just sit here theory-baking while the enemy gets away."
Kankuro shook his head. "Alright, alright," Kankuro replied as he started moving again.
Gaara, still taking the lead, narrowed his eyes at Kankuro's "theory-baking" however. While Gaara still hadn't withdrawn the chakra from the sand clone he left with Katiya, meaning it was still active, leaving Katiya in the village still made him apprehensive. Especially with all of the coincidences pointed out.
"Kankuro," Gaara called over his shoulder.
"Yeah?"
"Is there anyone back in Suna you trust? Besides Baki-sensei?" Gaara asked—since Baki said he'd be heading on his own mission soon.
"Yeah—what's up?"
"Temari, may I use your spirit summon to send a message to that person to keep an eye on Katiya?" Gaara asked his sister while replying to Kankuro, knowing the war hawks from Suna risked interception from less trustworthy Suna-nin or the Council themselves.
Temari looked to Kankuro, who nodded his head once. Temari shrugged while moving.
"Sure."
Gaara* (two days later, approximate time 3:00 PM)
As they neared Takumi Village, picking their way deeper and deeper into the Land of Fire forestland, Gaara's siblings slowly plucked off the members of the Four Celestials—one member to each sibling—until there were just two for Gaara to deal with.
Gaara moved to engage with one of the last of them. The last two members of the Four Celestials standing between himself and his kidnapped student, Matsuri.
Arrogant monologuing on behalf of his opponent yielded that he wore chakra absorbing armor and so Gaara had opted to bypass it by utilizing fall damage. And to that effect, Gaara made a skyward pillar of sand to toss his opponent from. Throwing his opponent, Gaara watched as said opponent made a sizable crater in the ground. I'D HAVE had MOrE fUN wiTH a SAND TSUNAMI and WAtcHinG tHE BASTaRD CHOKE tO DEaTH—! However, with the chakra drain caused by his opponent's armor, when Gaara had been knocked off by a water dragon created by the other member of the Four Celestials, the only thing he could do was soften the landing with sand.
"Ugh!" Gaara wheezed as his back made contact with his sand-covered ground.
I toLD yoU—yOU shOuLda SaND TsuNami-ED him—! Shukaku yowled as Gaara attempted to recover himself.
There was no way he'd be able to get up in time to defend himself, his opponent apparently unharmed from the fall damage, entering the clearing Gaara had fallen into, and the other member of the Four Celestials still lurking.
YoU'rE ouT oF ChaKra! You'RE oUt oF ChaKRa! Shukaku unhelpfully screamed in the back of Gaara's mind. Or, at least, all the chakra he had with him without recalling any from the sand clone he left with Katiya. Gaara let out an exhausted breath. YoU'RE OUt Of ChaKrA SO WHY DON'T YOU JUST LET ME USE MiNE!?! Shukaku screamed.
Gaara still didn't want to recall his chakra in the sand clone he left with Katiya until the last moment possible. And he knew what was likely going to happen if he lost control over Shukaku, utilizing his chakra. Gaara let out a struggling huff of a breath trying to pick himself off the ground, his opponent nearing striking distance to him.
JuST LeT ME OUT! Let Me USE mY CHAKRA! LeT ME OUT, Let ME ouT, Let Me—!
Gaara narrowed his eyes, ignoring—
"—Leaf Hurricane!" a familiar voice called out to Gaara's prone form.
Gaara's eyes widened from where he was. Rock Lee.
Gaara's opponent was kicked back. "The hero always saves the day at the last moment!" the upbeat voice of Rock Lee informed him, delivering a gleaming smile, placing himself between Gaara and his opponent.
"Damn right he does!" Naruto called, kicking Gaara's armored enemy down further. "Sorry to keep you waiting, Gaara!"
"Naruto—!" Gaara called, recognizing his ally.
"You were there to save our skin when we were chasing after Sasuke, right?" Naruto replied to Gaara, "Well, this is our chance to return the favor for ya—! Now go on! Get moving! We'll take care of this guy! You've got a pupil that needs saving, doncha?!"
Gaara tried to get up only to let out a low groan. You'Re WEaK RiGhT NOW! I haVE aLL ThE chAKrA YOU NEED—! jUsT. LeT. ME. OUT! Shukaku screamed in Gaara's mind. Gaara pressed his hand to his forehead.
"To think that he could press you this far—!" Lee exclaimed worriedly, withdrawing from his fight with Gaara's armored opponent to help Gaara.
SanD TsuNami! SAnD TsUnAMi! Or leT me GODDAMN STaB the DuDe to Dea—
"—Lee!" someone else called, "Go on—just leave Gaara in my hands. You should be helping Naruto—!" that someone said, familiar pink hair entering Gaara's line of sight. Sakura Haruno, he realized.
Gaara sucked in a breath. "Be careful, his armor can absorb your chakra," Gaara warned Lee as the latter bounded off to fight the armored Four Celestials member.
As Lee left to his battle, Sakura channeled chakra into her hands for a Mystic Palm Jutsu, quickly scanning and then healing Gaara's injuries from his earlier fall. I cAN HeAL YOU FASTER—Gaara tried to relax his body and his automatic sand barrier—out of chakra—i HAVE moRe ChaKRA thAN YoU—obliged to the medical treatment. Sakura's medical ninjutsu, able to sense his chakra loss, could not replenish it though.
Once Sakura had healed his physical wounds, Gaara told her to head off to tend to the other injured shinobi. And once she was gone, Gaara got up, Shukaku just bubbling near the surface of his being. Gaara peeled off the only SanD! he had that didn't get water-logged with the Four Celestials' last attack.
SAnD! SanD TsUnaMi! SanD tsUNami! Or LeT me—!
From his contouring sand armor, Gaara peeled enough sand off his body into the shape of a long needle—expanding it and lengthening it until he held a long spike… StAb thE DuDe tO… The Four Celestials' armor was able to withstand a blunt attack, being swung out to hit the broad ground—but its ability to withstand a pinpoint attack had yet to be tested… DeaTH…
"Now to end it…" Gaara rumbled lowly.
Like Katiya's staff, his sandborne spike conformed to his will and when Gaara threw his sandborne spike, its aim was true and found itself buried in his enemy's jugular notch, above the area covered by his chakra-absorbing armor. Gaara turned his head to the last of the Four Celestials, moving to engage in battle to free his kidnapped student.
Katiya (approximate time: 3-somethinf PM)
They got seated at a restaurant and were waiting… that same long wait as usual, for their food to arrive. They had gone there everyday. Everyday. Since the day she had cried over some Land of Waves style sandwiches. Since the day she felt so wrong; so homesick in the place—like many places—that she told herself to call home before they betrayed her… or just before she betrayed it.
They got seated at a restaurant and were waiting… that same long wait as usual, for their food to arrive. It was then she spoke.
"You're a kid, Gaara," she told him quietly, "You should be out… doing stuff, not burdening yourself with me," she told him. Silently begging him to leave so she could go.
If not for the ambient chatter in the restaurant being even quieter, few of us would have even heard her.
"When I was younger, I had asked you why some adults seemed so afraid of me, like kids, but you weren't," Gaara started, "You told me that whereas an ancient hermit would be naive to worldly knowledge, a child born to the world would be full of wisdom."
Gaara paused as he watched her expression. "What makes it any different when you would visit me when I was younger?" he asked.
"… I don't remember saying that," she murmured offhandedly.
"Then it is my responsibility to help you remember yourself as a friend who knows you. It is only… weight distribution. After what you had done for me," Gaara replied.
Katiya covered her head with both her hands, shaking her head. "You've left half of your chakra here with me while you're out on a mission that might demand your chakra at any time," Katiya told Gaara—Gaara's sand clone—anguished. She had heard some two and a half days ago that he—Gaara—the real Gaara—had left on an A-rank mission. "What am I doing if not being a burden to you?" she asked exhaustedly.
"You had done the same for me," Gaara replied.
Katiya covered her head with her hands and lowered herself in her seat until her chin rested on the table. "It shouldn't be the responsibility of a kid to take care of a—an adult—like me," she repeated, silently begging him to let her go.
"Then perhaps it's lucky that I ceased being a child the moment my father sealed Shukaku into me," he told her softly.
Katiya hung her head, letting her arms rest limply on the table. "That just means you don't need me… Gaara. You don't need me to be with you anymore."
Gaara* (approximate time: 3:30 PM)
"End of the line… now return Matsuri," Gaara had growled at what we know was the last surviving Four Celestials member, Naruto following Gaara close behind, Lee seeking medical treatment from Sakura.
The last member of the Four Celestials had been boxed in by the cliff wall behind but as that Four Celestials member pointed out, Gaara was out of chakra.
The last member of the Four Celestials had then proceeded to call all of the armaments of his other (now deceased) comrades to him, calling his "Infinite Kujaku Armor" into play. The Four Celestials member Temari had faced: her swords fused and now in his hands—the one Kankuro had faced: his trident's dark dragon heads now a shroud behind Gaara's opponent, attached to the same chakra-draining armor of the Celestial Gaara had just faced.
Gaara had been on his last bits of chakra and worse, he had been injured by one of the armor's three dragon heads and forced to rely on kunai-wielding taijutsu to defend himself. But when Gaara staggered—taijutsu never being his strongest style—Naruto had jumped into battle to defend him.
Katiya (approximate time: 3:4Xx… )
"That just means you don't need me anymore, Gaara. You don't need me to be with you anymore," Katiya had said.
Food had arrived and so she was forced to pick herself up off the table.
"… No, but you need me," Gaara replied finally, after they finished eating their meals in silence.
"But it—it—it shouldn't be like this," she told him painedly. "I should've—I should've been the one there for you," Katiya told him.
Instead, I wasn't, Katiya thought in her mind.
"But I wasn't," Katiya told Gaara.
You were right to push me away, she mentally told Gaara.
"You pushed me away and I should've listened," she whispered.
Gaara's sand clone—Gaara—bowed slightly. "'Should' is only reflective of ideal circumstances," Gaara replied lowly. "Reality is rarely ideal."
"And I told you… I should have never pushed you away," Gaara exhaled, looking like he swallowed a bitter pill.
Katiya shook her head. "Then I shouldn't be the one burdening you," Katiya countered.
It was Gaara's turn to shake his head. Outreaching a hand—palm upwards—across the table to Katiya, Gaara said, "These circumstances are not ideal… so we can only do as we can… and it's my choice to distribute the weight you once carried for me."
Katiya shut her eyes as they watered slightly. She should've been more in control of her emotions—she always prided herself on her discipline. She should've been the one who helped Gaara—she was the elder one of the pair… And she should've…
She let out an exhale, putting her hand in Gaara's without looking. "What if this is a choice we'll both regret?" she asked him.
"Then we'll do what we can in the now so we—" Gaara broke off into a choke "—won't."
Katiya opened her eyes, looking up to—
Gaara? she mentally asked concernedly at Gaara's sand clone—the clone having lost its human-like texture and color. Gaara?! she mentally asked—increasingly concerned with the lack of response from his still form as she got out of her chair to be beside him.
Gaara!?! she mentally shouted as Gaara's sand clone fell apart into powder in her arms.
Gaara* (approximate time: 3:40 PM)
"Hhhffffttttt," Gaara breathed as a spherical metal cage punched itself into the ground around Gaara, closing him in. Gaara punched the sheet metal bars of it, not making a dent and not standing tall enough to reach the rivet of the metal cage above him. He sent what little chakra he had out to seek the hardest minerals in the terrain around him for use as a weapon.
Damn him, Gaara thought as the metal bars invoked the thought of Shukaku's cage encircling himself the last time he did Shukaku's Playing Possum Jutsu. It was that same feeling. Of constriction, of entrapment. A feeling of a loss of control.
"Hhhhuuuuhhhhh," Gaara breathed as he looked around the cage he was in. He shut his eyes, sending out a bit of his sand for a Third Eye Jutsu. He wasn't alone. He wasn't alone. The sounds of battle outside let him know Naruto was still there trying to defend him.
"Optical nerve connected. Third Eye: Open," Gaara commanded, grounding himself with the image of Naruto trying to save him.
In his cage, Gaara sucked in a deep breath, realizing why the cage he was in was so destabilizing. It was made of the same chakra siphoning material as the armor a previous Four Celestials member wore. The current enemy began actively siphoning Gaara's chakra and Gaara put his hands to his head, falling to his knees, Shukaku also screaming in pain. Their chakra vibrated off the walls of the cage like some sort of echo chamber, the vibrations getting louder as more and more of their chakra left their conjoined body.
Gaara shut his eyes, but through his pain, he saw—entrapped in his mind while his body felt the pain of its skin being ripped off—his chakra pulled from his body—entrapped in the chambered intersection he and Shukaku shared via their seal—Gaara saw. Naruto. Trying to free him, protect him. Trying in vain to punch the cage bars, scrape the cage plates, and dig out under the cage to no avail.
Shukaku writhed in his own cage, pushing against the sealed bars of his prison. SanD TSUNAMI thiiiiSsSSS AAAWWwwwAAACCCKKkkiiNNnNG BASTARD—THhhhiiiiSSSs PiLE OF KUSO HURTSsss! Shukaku screamed.
Gaara shook where he was—his head covered, on his knees—in both places. "Hhhuuuuhhfffftttt," he wheezed.
He parted his lips, his jaw aching from his groaning—we would know in the form Gaara was taking, his slow loss of control let streams of drool out of his mouth. Gaara let out a primal scream as Shukaku was pulled out of him—Shukaku being forced through the nonphysical bars of his caged seal—through Gaara.
Gaara let out another scream as the memories of his sand clone washed over him—news of Yashamaru's last words to Katiya—her admission in her role to his father's death—and the guilt that she carried because of it and so many other things.
BreAK THiS AAawwwFffiiiNNnG KUSO! LeT mE ouT—leT mE OUT—LET ME OUT TO kiLL THIS AAAAAHHHH—FFffiiiNNnG BaStARD!
They—Gaara and Shukaku—let out a yell as they broke through the metal cage, their strengths unevenly combined.
Though Gaara had no mirror, we could see that half of his physical body had fused with Shukaku's sandy form—Gaara's right side taking the form of a tanned paw with inky blue markings. It corresponded to Shukaku's painful position in the spiritual nonphysical realm they shared—Shukaku yanked forward and past the sealing jutsu's prison bars, his arm through Gaara's—Gaara's arm likewise painfully yanked behind himself by a wormhole of neither their creation.
"—Is that you!?" Naruto called to Gaara as the dust settled from the explosion of chakra that broke his cage.
Gaara let out a groan.
WE'rE OUT, wE're OUT—WE'RE OUT—NOW LET'S SAND TSUNAMI THIS BASTARD—SMACK HIM WITH SOME SAND—KILL HIM—KILL HIM—KILL HIM!
Gaara began to push Shukaku back.
But COmE oN! I CoULD HELp YOu! Shukaku screamed before begging to be let out. WE'rE OUT—NOW LET'S SAND TSUNAMI THIS BASTARD—KILL HIM! KILL HIM! KILL HIM!
Gaara pushed Shukaku's nonphysical paw back, behind the bars of the sealing jutsu that held Shukaku separate from himself. Physically, Shukaku's sand began to slough off of Gaara's body.
"If I'm to help my friends, I must do it for myself. On my own!" Gaara announced aloud.
BuT I diDn'T EVeN ThreAteN to KiLL TheM yet!
Gaara—shakily—mentally asked the likeliness of his friends dying as a result of him letting Shukaku out.
OF COUrSe iT'S LiKELY! Shukaku replied, whining as he found himself back in the nonphysical cage of Gaara's chakra seal.
Gaara let out a breath as the nonphysical cage of Shukaku's seal closed resoundingly. Gaara smirked, returning to himself and dodging an attack from the Four Celestials' leader—now apparently in a more powerful white-haired form.
Shukaku straightened himself in his nonphysical cage, suddenly eager, knowing what Gaara intended to do. Gaara sent his chakra out, tapping on the rocks he sought out to make his signature weaponry with the extra chakra he received from the sand clone he left with Katiya. He wasn't about to rely on or use the sand Shukaku had pulled from the spirit realm in his jutsu—but that didn't mean he wasn't going to use a jutsu he learned from Shukaku's repertoire.
"Hmm? Why so cocky?" the enemy asked. Naruto had withdrawn some distance away. Good. "You have no more chakra and I'm surprised you're able to hold that grin on your face."
"Yes, my chakra's almost totally depleted," Gaara started, "But all that time I was trapped in that cage, do you think I was sitting on my hands doing nothing?" Gaara asked. "Sand Tsunami!" Gaara called, slamming his hands to the ground.
And… nothing appeared to happen.
"Hah. It would appear you've run out of sand as well as chakra," the enemy stated, arrogance dripping off every word.
"… I'm Sabaku no Gaara. Wherever there is rock, wherever there is dirt, I can make more sand."
Sand Tsunami! Gaara mentally called.
This time, from the canyon behind Gaara's opponent began to fall, dissolving into sand and burying the opponent.
sANd TSuNami! sAnd tsUNaMi! You diD a SaND tsUNaMi! Shukaku shouted excitedly. Shukaku pressed himself against the nonphysical bars of his cage. NoW dO a SANd BuRiAL AnD CHOKe hiM tO—
"—Kujaku: Hurricane Formation—!" the opponent called, digging himself out of the sand.
"—Shukaku's Pike!" Gaara then called, a sandborne spike forming in the shape of Shukaku's paw—but with the red markings of Gaara's chakra instead of Shukaku's blue. But Shukaku felt it—the dip into the spirit realm Gaara had. Gaara's dip into the spirit realm. When Gaara threw his pike, its aim was true. And Gaara felt Shukaku's pleasured surprise as the pike impaled their enemy through his armor.
"Giant Sand Burial!" Gaara then called, pulling his opponent into a sinkhole and then crushing him.
WHHHOOOOoooOOOPPPP! Shukaku whooped.
"Alright!" Naruto exclaimed from his retreated position behind Gaara.
Gaara let out a breath as he saw his opponent's chakra leave the sand mass. We KILLED hiM! WE KILLED HIM—! WE—Naruto, Gaara's siblings… and the rest of the Konohagakure support team—nearly everyone he knew from Konoha from the Chunin Exams—ran up to him.
WE diD it! Shukaku hollered in the space his seal met Gaara's mind.
Gaara smiled to himself as his body collapsed onto the sand.
We did.