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| What is Humanity?; Naruto Fan-fic by sjbonnar | |
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| Topic Started: Mar 15 2008, 03:44 PM (19 Views) | |
| Post #1 Mar 15 2008, 03:44 PM | sjbonnar |
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He was simply not strong enough. For weeks now, Kankurou had been asking himself why it was that he had been unable to save his brother from Akatsuki. For weeks now, he has answered the same thing. He was simply not strong enough. Each moment since the time Gaara had been returned to them, he had been forcing himself into intense training with his new and ever expanding arsenal of puppets. It had been only a few months since he had been able to force himself out of bed after Sasori’s poison had been extracted from him. He had learned one valuable lesson from Sasori, and that was never to risk using puppets that he himself had not created! He had known every inch of Karasu, Kuroari and Sanshouo, their weaknesses, their strengths, every hidden weapon concealed in every portion… but it had meant nothing when their creator had faced up to him. All of his defences had been stripped from him, all of his weapons deflected and he was left near death while Akatsuki violently tore Shukaku from within his brother. Gaara had not been the same since. The citizens of Sunagakure seemed satisfied in seeing him control sand once more to prove that their “beloved Kazekage” could still perform his duties. Bastards! Gaara and Kankurou had talked at length about what he felt. Gaara had explained how difficult it was to have what he now considered part of himself to be removed. The young Kazekage had been growing strangely closer to Shukaku ever since their battle in Konoha, after seeing that the powers of a biju could be used for good, to help others, rather than for pure destruction. Gaara still was not entirely sure about his deeper connection with Shukaku, but now he would never get to delve further into it. The snippets of the biju’s voice were gone now, the feeling of power that welled up with his emotions and also, the feeling of protection that came from his sand defence. Gaara could still form the sand armour, but the sand defence no longer acted of its own accord and the Kazekage had to adjust to that fast or there would be serious consequences. * * * “I don’t think you can truly understand.” Gaara confessed to him the night before. The two of them were sat on top of the council building, the stars above them giving both some comfort. “I wouldn’t pretend to, you know that.” Kankurou replied without looking at his brother. They both stared out over Sunagakure, the village they were raised to protect and for now, the village which felt as if it were protecting them. “Thank you. I would be somewhat insulted if you attempted to do so.” Gaara turned to look at Kankurou now, a bit of a sarcastic smile pulling at his features. “Uh huh… you know, you’re not nearly as scary as you were back then.” Kankurou winked at him, glad now that he was no longer wearing his traditional face-paint. They both smiled at each other, feeling the connection growing yet more. Gaara had protected them now for so long, it was time for Kankurou and Temari to protect him and Kankurou was sure that he would do it with every fibre of his being. Temari was the eldest, but as such, she was involved in the more mature things like the opposite sex for one… Kankurou smirked to himself and shook his head. She was certainly working hard on the relations between Konohagukure and themselves, but then, she was an eighteen-year-old woman and Shikamaru had certainly caught her eye… * * * Kankurou threw his screwdriver across the room in anger; the sound of metal colliding with wood drew his attention to the doll it had crashed into. The sight of his last creation brought a smile to his face and he hoped it would do the same for Gaara, but for now, it was not serious and would surely never be used in battle! He had not included a single weapon within this creature and did not intend to. Still, he could not help planning where they could go and how they could match the body that he had designed for it… The puppet-master had just begun to turn his head away when he noticed that the metal tip of the screwdriver had become lodged in the floor. With a sigh, Kankurou stood and walked towards it, pushing the rows of hanging wooden puppets to the side to give him access. He loved the smell of freshly sanded wood and the faint aroma that suggested poison was contained within one or two of them… it was what he lived for! It was no wonder that the screwdriver had become stuck! In the far reaches of this room, covered in what seemed to be decades of dust and sand, a loose panel of stone was visible. Had the screwdriver not caught on the edges of this, it would have gone unnoticed for quite some time more! Kankurou decided that the screwdriver would make a good enough lever and pushed down on it, causing the stone to raise enough that he could slip his fingers under it. It was heavier than it should have been! Kankurou groaned as he shifted its weight to one side and it fell with a crash onto the other stone of the floor. There was a dark hole and he could see nothing within, but he thought better of sticking his hand in there! He focussed his chakra until the familiar strings of energy began to slide from the tips of his fingers, becoming an extension of his own limbs. Five thin, invisible tendrils wound their way into the hole until they snagged on something. Kankurou began to pull upwards and suddenly a kunai shot out of a hidden compartment to the side of the stone hole, bringing a smile to his face. Clearly, this had been designed in a similar way to how Kankurou thought and he was glad for his caution as the scent of poison increased in the air. This blade was covered in a powerful paralysing agent. With a smirk, Kankurou released two of the chakra strings so that the object slid up around the knife. Kankurou knelt, pulling off his hood and throwing it back towards the desk where he had been working on the left arm of his newest puppet. The object fell into his hands and he smiled at the book he had revealed. Was it a journal? No; surely it was far too well protected for something like that! Still, this was decades old at least! The black cover was almost stained grey by the amount of dust on it and a few cobwebs even hung from the left corner. He wiped the cover, hoping to reveal some clue to its origins or what it was used for. Nothing. He decided the best thing to do was to read it and get it over with! Kankurou’s eyes widened as he pulled open the black cover saw the symbol etched to the inside in red ink, or was it blood? The glistening red liquid was shaped like a scorpion. “This is Sasori’s!” Kankurou exclaimed, dropping it in surprise for a moment before he snatched it up again, reading the title opposite the scorpion image that had once adorned his first three puppets. “The Secrets of the One True Art.” |
 
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| Post #2 Mar 15 2008, 03:47 PM | sjbonnar |
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The echoing sounds of her footsteps echoed around the stone halls as she rounded another corner. Even in the ninja sandals, designed to make the steps of a ninja as silent as possible, her speed and urgency made silence difficult and her safety of placement made it unnecessary. The council chamber was ahead of her now, but she continued past that and up the stairs at the end of the corridor. Her destination was the single room on this floor, the office of the Kazekage. “Gaara!” The door flew open and Gaara looked up from the papers that he had been struggling with all night. The Kazekage was no longer a jinchuuriki, constantly in fear of falling asleep lest the ichibii, Shukaku, would take over his body entirely; still, he found sleep was something that was neither productive nor particularly needed after all of these years surviving without it. These were plans for the restructuring of Sunakagure’s outer defences and even the possibility of putting another row of walls within the mountains which served as a natural barrier for their protection. Still, budgeting for these things would be difficult unless the daimyo of the Country of Wind decided to start giving Suna more missions. Since their alliance with the Leaf, he has been more willing to pass missions to the Sand rather than passing them over for a village in another country altogether. It had been angering Gaara’s father, and it now angered him also. “Gaara, there is trouble!” Temari called to her brother from the doorway. Gaara stood and came out from behind his desk, pulling hat of the Kazekage from his head and placing it on the table behind him. “What is happening?” His voice was calm and somewhat monotonous as per usual. “We have spotted what can only be described as an army travelling towards the village from the north. And at their rear is a group of monstrous snakes!” Temari spoke fast, her hands doing part of the talking for her. It was always a bit of a quirky part of Temari’s actions, her hands flourishing as she spoke. Gaara took all of this information in and nodded, ready to spring into action to protect his village as best he could. It was true that his powers had waned somewhat since he had lost Shukaku, a lot had been lost when the ichibii was extracted from him, but he was slowly strengthening himself again and hoped to soon be able to manipulate the sand in the same way as he had once managed. This would be a good test run. “Where is Kankurou?” Gaara’s question appeared to shock Temari somewhat but she answered fast. “We don’t know. He’s been disappearing for longer and longer periods over the last few weeks.” Gaara shook his head even before she finished speaking, knowing exactly where his elder brother was. “He is constructing new and more powerful puppets. There is a chamber for this in the basement, we need to summon him so that-” It was Temari’s turn to disagree. “For three weeks now he has not ventured into that room, nor has he slept in his quarters. I have seen him moving at speed to some unknown destination at times, so I know that he is safe, but I am still concerned about him. A few days ago he was treated by the medical ninja for some malady concerning his blood, but he was not poisoned and they would tell me no more.” Temari sighed and her face fell, the worry for her brother evident on her features. Gaara knew that she must have pulled similar faces for him when he had been in danger and this caused him to feel a sense of… was it guilt? He was unsure of the emotion but it was not pleasant to know that he had caused her to worry about him. However, this information about Kankurou worried him as well. Since their alliance with Konoha had been revived, the relationship that the brothers shared had changed and Gaara felt closer to him than any other individual at this point, even Naruto Uzumaki whom he still considered his first friend. Why was it that Kankurou was not talking to him if there was something wrong? And he had been injured but the Kazekage had known nothing of this, despite Kankurou being one of his most trusted Jounin as well as his brother and friend. If nothing else, the medical ninja should have informed him! “Then we go without him.” Gaara stated matter-of-factly. What else could they do? “I want you to go to the council chamber, they are in session now, inform them of the situation and tell Baki to assemble all ninja of chuunin level and above and to meet me at the North Gate. Do not, however, remove the defences from the other gates. I will not have one or two ninja sneaking in through the back door while we face the front.” Temari nodded and was gone in a flash, moving back in the direction she had come from. Gaara closed the door behind her and walked over to the far corner, sighing as he crouched next to his gourd of sand. What was going on? What kind of monster were these opposing forces bringing to face his village, where were they from and what did they want? Questions flooded his mind but, strangely, they were somewhat eclipsed by the fact that Kankurou was not here to help him. He had never needed another, content to be alone with himself and Shukaku. His hand autonomously moved to the left side of his forehead and touched the tattoo he had imprinted upon himself, the symbol for love, the symbol which showed that he neither had, nor needed, the love of anyone other than himself. As he stood his hand slid down along his chest, pulling apart the white robes he wore as the village’s Kazekage and removed them. His choice in clothing had changed somewhat as of late and he moved away from the red he had been wearing for so long and back to his original black. He grabbed his black coat and fastened it around himself, the weight of it having increased due to the protective plates of wood which Kankurou had installed along the chest and the back to protect him. Gaara smiled despite himself and then, heading the shuffling of feet from downstairs as Temari and Baki made their move, he lifted his gourd by the strap that he had left attached to it and strapped it onto his back, connecting it at his chest with a satisfying pop. His hand reached over his left shoulder and pulled the cork from it, storing it inside his pocket. Sand began to lift free of the gourd and wrap around his feet, lifting him from the floor with some concentration. Controlling the sand was more difficult now, but it was manageable. Gaara crouched down, closing his eyes as more sand collected, appearing somewhat cloud-like as it lifted him level with the window. The black-shrouded eyes snapped open and Gaara flew through the window, high in the air now as he moved with immense speed towards the North Gate. As he rose higher he saw what Temari had been telling him about. Hundreds of black-garbed figures moved towards the city, marching at quite a slow pace. Gaara’s eyes strained but he could not see the monster which his sister had informed him of, but he knew that she would not simply invent such things! The Kazekage began to descend, floating with his arms crossed on the outside of the opening between the mountains that served as Sunagakure’s main line of defence. The warriors that approached the village suddenly halted, the centre of their ranks opening to allow one single individual to walk through. This was their leader, it was obvious from the way that he moved and the respect the other ninja gave him. Gaara descended to meet him as several jounin, Temari included, were running from behind him to catch up. “Why do you approach with such numbers and yet not attack upon seeing me?” Gaara questioned monotonously. The man stepped forward, his white hair hanging loosely around his bare shoulders. He was clothed in a black vest, fastened at the front with three buckles across his chest and abdomen. Another buckle lay at his waist, a strange symbol emblazoned upon it, much like the symbol for infinity, but rotated ninety degrees so that the curves were vertical. The belt was not for practical purposes, for the trousers were those of a black training gi, elasticised at the waist and ankles, black like his vest. Hanging from the belt was a red strip of cloth, the yin-yang symbol prominent in the centre. ”I apologise, but these are my personal guard, nothing more.” The man told Gaara with a smile that seemed more sinister than friendly. Gaara was on his guard now… “You do not answer the bulk of the question. Why do you approach this village?” The man’s smile faltered and he inclined his head slightly before a smirk played upon his lips. “I wanted to see what it was like… having your biju removed…” Gaara’s eyes widened as he stared at the white-haired stranger. How could he possibly know about Shukaku!? Barely anyone within Suna knew of this, let alone those outside of the village! “I apologise, I believe I have struck a nerve.” The man continued with a slight laugh. The ninja behind him spread out a little further. “My name is Seti, I am here, with my personal guard, to remove Sunagakure from your possession.” Several of the jounin behind Gaara laughed, but the Kazekage could tell that this man was serious, and what was more, he was extremely confident for someone facing larger numbers, especially when those larger numbers had the home advantage. Gaara realised for the first time that the man wore no symbol of his hidden village, but this served to further infuriate him. “You have clearly not heard of what I am capable of.” Gaara hoped he sounded more confident than he felt. “I am well aware, but without the powers of the ichiibi to protect you, I believe that my own powers are well above anything you could hope to achieve. I am a special jinchuuriki after all…” Gaara’s eyes widened for the second time, this time with something that resembled… fear!? But such an emotion was IMPOSSIBLE for him! Temari and Baki stood nearby and they too were shocked, knowing exactly the implications of this. “You… you are?” Gaara’s question was never answered as the ninja suddenly attacked, the air filling with shuriken and kunai before he had even moved. None of them came close to him, all aimed at one of his subordinates. The jounin dodged skilfully, reacting in kind by hurling their own kunai in return. The self-proclaimed jinchuuriki laughed and leapt back behind his ninjas. “Come Kazekage! My followers will not harm you! They are merely to protect me from myself and keep those people out of our way! Let us see if your power was your own or was merely leant to you!” The voice was now taunting him from behind the crowd and Gaara took his invitation, sand floating up around him just in case he needed it as he flew above the battle. He glanced over his shoulder to see Temari ducking under a blade, pulling the fan from her back before unfolding it only a little. That was the first star that the opponents had seen and she soon followed by slamming the metallic outer casing of her fan into the ninja’s chin, causing him to fall backwards to the sand. Gaara would not need to be concerned for the ninja of the Sand. |
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| Post #3 Mar 15 2008, 03:49 PM | sjbonnar |
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His attention turned back towards the man that now stood in a patch of empty sand, holding his hands out as if awaiting his own death. Gaara held up two fingers to focus his chakra and then sand erupted from beneath the man, wrapping around him instantly. “Sabaku kyuu!” Gaara shouted, the Desert Coffin. A few more seconds of concentration and he would cause the sand to condense, crushing the man within the tightly packed sand. “Sabaku-“ Gaara was cut off as he realised the sand was already as condensed as it could be. He had somehow missed his target!? ”Wow, you really have grown weak since your alliance.” The voice came from behind Gaara and he turned to see the man in the sky behind him, large scaled wings flapping behind him to hold him in the air. Gaara had definitely not seen those wings before and this was no genjutsu he had been captured in! “You now have two choices Kazekage, surrender or I take my Body Morph Jutsu to the next level…” The man smirked, his chakra seeming to well up around him in a white and purple haze as he flew towards Gaara with incredible speed. The Kazekage let the sand beneath his feet drop him, catching him again a few feet below so that the man flew over his head. “Sunagakure will NEVER surrender!” A sharp spear suddenly formed in Gaara’s hand, the tip curved into the shape of Shukaku’s claws. He thrust this upwards, tearing through the man’s right wing as he passed overhead. The man fell, the wings disappearing as he went. A laugh went up from him and a large coil of scales erupted from beneath him, slamming into the sand to stop his descent. “Oh, this is interesting! You had some kind of connection with your precious biju!” The man looked upwards, whatever it had been that had protected him, it had disappeared almost instantly, leaving him standing in the sand. “You did not use it as a weapon, but it was actually alive within you! Mine, however, is sentient!” Gaara’s eyes widened. Had this man just claimed for the second time that he was a jinchuuriki? Did he truly have a biju of his own!? No, it was surely a trick or Akatsuki would not be far behind. And why would this man attack Sunagakure if he had been through the same things as Gaara had been forced to endure? Why would he not allow the young Kazekage to live in peace. “You lie.” The Kazekage spoke without much thought to it, and he shook his head. “You have no inner demon.” The man laughed and lifted a palm to his face in embarrassment. Did Gaara truly believe he knew everything that there was to know!? “Within me I contain the dreaded Yamata no Orochi, the eight-headed and eight-tailed snake, the hachiibi! The power that I contain within myself is the one true rival to the Kyuubi no Kitsune!” The man laughed maniacally. “It is rumoured that the Kyuubi is also contained in Konohagakure? That is where I am intending to end my journey, by finally proving that my biju is the most powerful!” Gaara was calmer on the exterior than the truth within his heart. This man was planning on going straight through Sunagakure to get to the nine-tails’ jinchuuriki, Naruto Uzamaki… Gaara had only ever considered one person to be a friend of his in his life, the only person who understood the trials that he had gone through as one of the jinchuuriki. “I will not allow such a thing to happen while I draw breath.” Gaara informed his opponent. Seti laughed and held his arms out to the side in a direct challenge, as if daring Gaara to make the first move and dare to attack him. Gaara was not one to shy from a fight! The Kazekage span his spear and then threw it with all of his might towards the silver-haired jinchuuriki, controlling the sand that it was made of so that it flew perfectly aimed towards the man’s heart. Seti’s hands were almost a blur as he began creating hand seals, horse, dog, ram and horse again before slamming his hands into the sand. “Protection of the Deep! Stone Guard!” From somewhere deep below the sand dunes, rock erupted, creating a shear wall before Seti to protect him from the spear. Gaara created a fist with his left hand and the spear exploded into a shower of sand which covered the wall and seeped to the other side before lurching forward in a spiked pattern in an attempt to pierce his opponent. Seti was surprised and caught off guard, falling back to avoid the attack before rolling backwards to get back to his feet. He laughed again, impressed as he leapt to the top of the rock and then launched himself towards Gaara, wings once again appearing from his back to propel him further towards his goal. Gaara made a sweeping motion with his hand and a blast of sand shot from below them, slamming into Seti and sending him crashing to the ground. Gaara moved fast, causing some of his chakra-enriched sand to mix with the sand that now surrounded Seti. But before Gaara had been given the chance to crush his opponent, a snake erupted from below, snapping its jaws around the Kazekage. It was lucky that his reaction times had not slowed with the decline of his power, as Gaara was almost instantly surrounded in a sphere of sand to protect him. His shield no longer operated on its own, but he had been well enough practised that he could use it himself now! The snake disappeared and Seti was once again left standing where it had emerged from the sand with a cruel smirk on his face. It was almost as if he was enjoying this situation! Gaara descended to the ground, deciding that the sand floating beneath his feet was merely eating up his now more limited amount of chakra. It would be better focussed on destroying his opponent! “Your control of the sand is impressive considering you would never have had such power without your biju. You were better in tune with it than I thought.” Seti began to walk towards him, barely batting an eyelid as Gaara began to focus his chakra into preparing his next wave of attack. “My kekkei genkai revolves around the fact that my entire family possesses bones like that of a snake, rather than the relatively few bones you regular humans possess, we have thousands of tiny bones! This, paired with the secret techniques passed down from parent to child allows me to transform any part of my body into that of an animal I have encountered within my life, simply by rearranging the bones and transforming the skin and muscle upon them! For example…” The silver-haired man suddenly began to run towards him and then his speed increased as his back stretched behind him, erupting into two more legs and a tail. He was now running on four hooves, perfectly designed for the sand as he took on the lower half of a horse. He now looked something like a centaur as he appeared before Gaara much faster than the Kazekage had been expecting, turning to land a harsh two-hoof kick to Gaara’s chest. He flew backwards, sand erupting from his gourd to stop him from landing and instead he skidded backwards on his feet, a hand clutching at his chest where the blow had landed. He felt bruised already and, had it not been for Kankurou’s protective plates, that blow would surely have broken some ribs. “You still have some surprises to show me! How exciting!” Seth called to him with a smirk, his body transforming back into that of a human. Gaara was growing sick of this, of being treated like some kind of twisted warm-up for this insolent bastard. Sand began to float up out of the gourd at his back, swirling around him as his chakra continued to increase as he prepared to take full control over his strongest sand. The sand began to form into a long stream and then flowed with incredible speed towards Seti, the tips of it forming into a hand. Seti smirked, knowing that this was becoming more interesting now, the Kazekage was releasing his full power! He leapt to one side, dodging the attack by mere inches before ducking beneath it as it circled around. It swirled above him and slammed down, narrowly missing him again before it shot towards him once more. This game of cat and mouse went on for another minute or so before Seti began getting bored of it and suddenly dashed towards Gaara, his left arm transforming into a snakes head, its fangs dripping poison. When he was only a few feet from Gaara, he noticed the Kazekage’s cruel smile and it caused him to pause, the instant of control Gaara needed for the sand beneath Seti to suddenly disperse, causing him to fall five feet through the air beneath him before the sand caught him, burying him to his neck. The clawed sand which had been chasing him appeared above him once more, condensing into one long spike which flew through the air towards his head. Gaara had placed some of his chakra-enriched sand into the sand beneath them earlier, and had kept it dormant until he needed it, the element of surprise useful for him now. The silver haired one disappeared, the spike slamming into the space that had contained his head only seconds before. Gaara looked around and witnessed what seemed to be a ferret-like creature emerging from the sand a few feet from where they stood before transforming back into a human. Seti realised that if he did not start treating this seriously, he would die! This was not expected, since the Kazekage had lost Shukaku… still, it had been a LONG time since he had been able to truly let his power go and this would be a fantastic test! “Well played, but this ends now!” Seti turned to face him, the pupils of his eyes already forming slits as his body began to transform once more, but this time it was far slower than the others. “Full Release! Emergence of the Yamata no Orochi!” Seti’s body began to bulge, his skin splitting as eight tendrils appeared from his neck, causing the skin around his face to rip in half before peeling off. They began to grow in size, the tips bulging and growing to form a snake head upon each white-toned neck. The mouths opened and it was revealed that instead of the fangs that most snakes had, each head contained several rows of immense, sharp teeth, almost like that of a shark. Purple horizontal stripes appeared running down the necks to the body which had torn free of Seti’s shell, just a large mass with two huge limbs at each size. From the back, eight tails grew, each with a large spike on the end which whipped through the air as the pain of the transformation racked his body. Finally, standing taller than even Gaara’s old Shukaku which crafted itself from sand, stood the eight-tailed biju, the Yamata no Orochi. The one whose power was—according to legend—the reason for the other biju becoming cruel and evil in their powers… he was now staring Gaara in the face, salivating over the opportunity to destroy the Kazekage. |
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| Post #4 Mar 15 2008, 03:50 PM | sjbonnar |
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Gaara was terrified for the first time since he had witnessed a member of Akatsuki drop a bomb towards Sunagakure, but this time he was scared for himself rather than purely for his village. Witnessing this immense creature stirred several emotions within him, the first being the obvious fear, but this was quickly overcome by the feeling of insignificance as he was entirely dwarfed by this creature and this was made worse was the final emotion… it caused him to miss Shukaku. “Now, kazekage, you die!” The voice came from eight different places at once, something which felt immensely alien to Gaara to aurally take in, but coming from within him was a faint echo of the voice which he had once heard coming from every direction at once inside his own mind, which made the situation both strange and familiar at the same time. “Your beast will fall before me just like every other foe I have ever faced.” Gaara told him with confidence that was not an accurate representation of how he was feeling at the moment. “Like the Akatsuki?” Seti asked with all eight of his heads at once, the vocal chords obviously still human as he was definitely not communicating telepathically. Gaara attempted to control his emotions, anger threatening to overcome him now as he caused sand to wrap around his feet once more, lifting him into the air with barely an effort now. He would not allow his rage to get the best of him, even without the risk of Shukaku taking over his body. As the kazekage rose up to the level of the snarling snake heads, several pillars of sand began to rise from the ground around them, one for each head and each tail, making sixteen in total. Gaara planned to use himself as a distraction to keep the heads busy before suddenly springing his trap to hold the monster in place while he executed his newest and arguably most deadly attack! Then, the Yamata no Orochi sprung into action, surprising Gaara with the speed he possessed despite his immense size. Heads began springing towards him, teeth snapping at varying distances from his body as he began to weave himself through the air, dodging attacks easily but fearing that if this kept up for a long period of time, there would be issues of his chakra supply running low, and he needed an awful lot of energy to bring forth his planned attack… Gaara swept in amongst the heads, figuring that it would be more difficult for them to attack if they were at risk of accidentally ensnaring their own necks within those terrifying jaws. All the while, each pillar of sand began slowly stretching towards the transformed jinchuuriki, slowly but surely so as not to be noticed until it was too late! As Gaara finally broke through to the other side of the writhing mass of heads attempting to attack him, he made his first mistake. His head turned to look at the white snake heads which were now all facing back on their own body, staring at him. Unfortunately, in making sure that he was safe, Gaara had neglected to remember the eight tails, each barbed with a row of razor-sharp spines, one of which now arced through the air before slamming into him from his right side. Gaara somehow sensed the attack coming, however, and managed to twist himself so that none of the blade-like spines managed to catch him and he was simply sent flying through the air rather than being impaled. The sand that had been keeping Gaara afloat flew through the air to cushion his fall, not managing to collect fully so as to stop his descent, but able to make it so that when he did finally crash down, it was a lot softer than it could have been. The original blow had been a hard one, however, and Gaara was now feeling quite dazed as he attempted to push himself up to his feet. It had taken a lot of concentration to even move the sand to save him and he now felt pretty drained. “Did you really think your silly parlour tricks could stop me?” If it had been possible for the jaws of the Yamata no Orochi to grin, Gaara was sure that they would have been doing so. Here the kazekage was, barely able to see straight, unable to focus his chakra adequately, and all eight snarling jaws pointed in his direction. “Gaara!” He heard his elder sister screaming his name on the back of a wind which she had surely caused and had been far stronger at the place where she had first created it, over a mile away from him. This was not looking good… “Where is the inner demon when I need him…” Gaara asked himself as he looked up into the jaws of his enemy. As all of the heads pulled back, preparing to strike, the kazekage focussed his energy into the sand around him, knowing that he would need to prepare a defence if he were to survive this next onslaught. All of the heads suddenly began their plunge towards him and Gaara brought up a wall of sand that was intensely strong but not very large, barely even covering him as he ducked down and caused it to curve around him. His eyes closed as he prepared for the impact, but it never came. One of the darkened eyes opened once more and Gaara touched his fingers to the eye which was still closed, causing sand to form outside of his protective barrier and aim upwards towards the Yamata no Orochi. The heads had suddenly stopped a few feet from the barrier he had made, but seemed to be struggling to move forward to get at him. Then he heard it. “Gaara!” Another calling of his name, this time from an obviously male voice whose familiarity caused Gaara to smile despite himself. The kazekage wiped this expression from his face before causing the sand barrier and the eye to disperse. There, standing on the back of the monstrous creature which wanted to plough its way through Sunagakure, was Gaara’s elder brother, Kankurou. “Are you just gonna stand there!?” Kankurou shouted down to his brother with a smirk. The puppeteer seemed different in more ways than one. Firstly, he now wore a new design of kabuki face paint, using the same colour of course. His lips were painted, as were his eyelids and around the eyes, but a line came down from each. The line from his lips was centred, coming straight down along his chin and along even his throat to disappear where his new cloak began. The line from his eyes ended almost level with the top of his lips on each side and a horizontal line spanned the distance from the centre of each of these lines to the edge of his face, seemingly touching the lobes of his ears under his loose hood. On each side of his face, a line ran from the bridge of his nose diagonally to the curve of his jaw line. The strangest part was the forehead of this new design. In the centre was a large purple circle, looking quite similar to an eye and from each side of this, a line ran diagonally to the top of his real eyes. The other new part of Kankurou’s look was the thick black cloak that he now wore. Wrapped tightly around his shoulders, the jagged black cloak covered his entire body down to the centre of his calves apart from his arms which emerged from holes in each side. These arms were presently outstretched, an invisible chakra line obviously running from each finger to a head of the Yamata no Orochi. Gaara was pleased to see his brother! This was far different from the last battle where each of them had faced the same foe, for Gaara had already been defeated by the time that Kankurou had caught up with Sasori and Deidara of Akatsuki. This time, they would battle together in a way which the three siblings had recently practised, but never truly acted upon! “You were part of my original calculations! Do not get cocky!” Seti growled in Kankurou’s direction, the tails slashing the air towards the puppeteer. Kankurou was forced to leap from the creature’s back, tensing the chakra strings to swing comfortably down beside his brother before he let them go. “You have been gone for weeks.” Gaara stated in his usual monotonous voice. Kankurou turned to his brother and nodded, his expression grim before he turned back towards their adversary. “I have been making sure that I will NEVER let you down again. Not like before…” Gaara cocked his head and stared back at his brother, confused as to just what he meant, and also feeling a little guilty that Kankurou blamed himself for what Akatsuki had done to him. Still, it was not his problem was it, that his brother deemed himself responsible for such a thing. Why did he feel guilty about it then? “Where are your puppets?” Gaara asked, noting that there did not seem to be space under the cloak to store scrolls large enough to hold the summoning of any of Kankurou’s wooden fighting partners. “I have developed new techniques, worry about yourself for now brother!” Kankurou smirked at him and then leapt backwards as a silver-hued snake head crashed into the sand where he had been standing seconds before. Gaara had also moved rapidly, a burst of sand beneath his feet sending him flying hundreds of feet through the air before he placed his hands together, then aimed them at the Yamata no Orochi. Sand flew up to the space in front of his palms and then flowed like water towards the monstrous hydra-like creature, crashing into its body and forcing it to defend itself. Kankurou had landed on a hand and as his feet touched down, he used the planted palm to balance himself as he set off at a run towards the snake. His eyes scanned over the mass of writhing heads and tails, carefully watching for an opening. His hands worked fast, creating several chakra strings as he ran in a large circle around the arena, using Gaara’s attack as a distraction so that he could use the pillars of sand his brother had created for his own use. Gaara had been kept far too busy to cast his new Sand Binding, but Kankurou knew why he had been planning on holding the creature still and he would help him! A head finally broke free of the cascading sand and flew towards Gaara, causing the raccoon-like eyes of the Kazekage to widen before he was forced to cease his attack, which had simultaneously been holding him in the air. His descent moved him out of harm of the creature’s head, but a tail whipped through the air towards him before he realised it and he was forced to cause a wall of sand to appear at his side to protect him. It had been almost too late, however, and the tail was only slowed down by the sand, crashing into Gaara’s side to send him crashing into the sand of the desert. Kankurou knew that he had no time to complete this ensnaring of the Yamata no Orochi if he was to protect his brother, but already two of the heads were tensing to strike! Kankurou leapt forwards and grabbed one of the monster’s tail, pulling it hard which actually caught the creature’s attention. Kankurou narrowly dodged another tail crashing down and landed his hand upon it, pushing off to flip away from the attack before landing on a third tail. He ran up along it and then dodged another tail, punching it as he moved away in what seemed like a totally futile effort. He landed on the large, scaled back and began running towards the heads but had to stop when a tail crashed in front of him. Kankurou crouched and leapt as hard as he could even as the tail was already rising up towards him and another was flying through the air towards him. The puppet master landed on the lower tail and crouched again before leaping up to bounce off of the attacking tail, spinning to roll along the top of another which swished through the air towards him. He had made it to the heads! Now all he had to do was to attach chakra strings to the back of the head or even the jaws and- Kankurou was knocked from the air by the creature’s eighth and final tail to smash into the ground a half-mile from where his brother lay. A laugh came from all of the Yamata no Orochi’s heads at once as they turned to look at Kankurou, his cloak blown by a small gust of wind which also served to cover his legs in sand as he lay there unconscious. “He tried so hard, but did not even face my heads before his defeat. I think I shall wake him after destroying you so he can witness his complete failure!” The heads were all looking down at Gaara again and berating him as the two that had been tensed to attack him suddenly lurched forwards, the snarling jaws aimed for a kazekage who was only now forcing himself onto his knees, seeing stars from the impact of that last strike. Gaara’s eyes snapped open too late and a shadow suddenly blocked his view, the snarling jaws of the beast snapping shut over the arms of the figure now in front of Gaara, his brother, Kankurou. With a sickening tearing sound, the two heads moved in opposite directions, tearing the arms from Kankurou’s body and flinging them beyond the horizon on each side of them. |
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| Post #5 Mar 15 2008, 03:52 PM | sjbonnar |
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Gaara’s eyes widened and he caught his brother as Kankurou fell backwards; the cloak that was wrapped around him obscured the wounds that now lay on each side of the puppet-master’s torso. The Yamata no Orochi laughed cruelly and lurched forwards again, the teeth bared and aimed down at the brothers who had not moved. Kankurou’s eyes opened slightly and he looked up at his brother with a faint smile, “You know, I think that this creature has underestimated us both…” As if on cue, the Yamata was stopped dead in its tracks, the sudden stop causing it to crash into the sand with a deafening roar. Gaara looked up, a faint stinging sensation in the corners of his eyes feeling foreign to him, alien… then his head snapped back to focus on his brother who was smiling broadly and showing no sign of pain any longer. The elder brother stood, his cloak suddenly lifting free of his head before fluttering to the ground at their side, revealing Kankurou’s somewhat sickening secret. His shirt was like some kind of vest, but the open space at each side ran the entire way down to his waist, revealing the space at his shoulders where his arms should have been, blood leaking only slowly from what appeared to be ball-joints which seemed almost wooden. Below these “wounds” on either side lay another two pairs of arms, giving Kankurou a total of four arms even without the two that the Yamata no Orochi had torn from him. On his back, also free of the shirt, seemed to be a thick scroll attached to the very body of the puppet master which had come forth from a compartment in his back itself. This new scroll was several inches thicker than any other that Kankurou had ever carried… Gaara looked stunned as he stood now, stumbling a little as he took in the sight, the stinging at his eyes growing worse, as if he had gotten sand in it. “What have you done?” Gaara asked his brother in a slightly unnerved tone, his regular monotone broken a little. Kankurou did not turn to look at his brother, looking down at the sand beneath him silently for a moment as he allowed shame to fill his body. “I told you, I will not be weak enough to let you be hurt again.” Kankurou looked on as the Yamata no Orochi strained to get at them, its heads slamming into the ground only yards from where the brothers stood. “It seems the monster didn’t realise I had attached chakra strings to the pillars you made and then attached them to each of his tails as I tried to get to you…” Gaara’s eyes now began to water as he felt years of anguish crash down around him. He had spent so long considering himself a monster, considering himself simultaneously less than human and much more than any human at the same time. He thought that he knew what made a human to be a human… but here was his brother, sacrificing a part of his humanity if not all of it so that he could protect Gaara. He had made himself into the same sort of creature that he had been informed Sasori had been… A tear fell from each of Gaara’s eyes as he watched his brother with newfound respect and a closer perspective of what it was that Kankurou had given up for his sake. “You are a fool.” Gaara spoke without really thinking and instantly felt more guilt because of it. “Probably,” Kankurou agreed, “but who else is going to look after you huh?” The elder brother turned to look at Gaara and smiled warmly, surprised to see his brother with tears staining his cheeks, but smart enough not to mention it. “I did not ask you to do such a thing.” Gaara reiterated. Was he blaming himself for what Kankurou had done? “How did you even know how to do it?” ”It is a long story.” Kankurou answered. “But I had to find a way to connect my circulatory system to the very tips of the joints to the arms, that’s how I’m able to control chakra with them. The arms are detachable, as you’ve seen, because a mechanism within the joints closes off the arteries and protects me from bleeding heavily. I’m quite proud of the mechanisms really, but it was a bitch to install by myself…” Gaara stripped his coat from his body, throwing it to one side so that it landed with a clunk, removing the wooden plates from his body. The tears had stopped coming and he was merely angry now. “You could have protected me without doing this to yourself. You risked your life.” Gaara told him in a matter-of-fact tone. “Some things are worth it right?” Kankurou asked rhetorically with a knowing smirk. “Don’t you have a monster to kill?” The Kazekage decided this was a matter for later and he scoffed, turning to face the Yamata no Orochi who was beginning to break through the pillars of sand, freeing himself. Kankurou smiled and put a wooden hand on Gaara’s shoulder. “It was my choice Gaara. It will be alright.” Then, the elder ninja was gone, dashing off towards the heads of the Yamata no Orochi. He grabbed the edge of the scroll at his back and pulled it out as he ran, causing four puppets to appear from the summoning scroll. Each of them designed to look like a ninja that they had encountered before. Now, running alongside Kankurou, a hand of the puppet-master controlling each puppet, were perfect representations of the teenage Naruto and Sakura as well as an adult Kakashi and Might Gai. Kankurou jumped as a mouth snapped towards him, the Kakashi puppet’s right hand shone with electricity and he slammed a mechanically-produced Chidori into the face of the monster, sending the neck into serious convulsions until it lay still. Two more heads flew through the air towards Kankurou but Gai’s foot crashed into the lower jaw of one head and Sakura’s fist found the face of the other, each of the attacking limbs having been reinforced with steel to represent the strength of the real people. When another two heads appeared, the puppet-master kicked off the ground once more to avoid them, Kakashi and Gai appearing beneath his feet to throw him higher as a third head snapped where he had been only moments before. The Naruto puppet slammed into the top of another head, digging a kunai into the skin before leaping towards another, placing his hands together to create two swirling vortexes of highly-compressed air to crash into the snout of the snake-head, almost as if it were a Rasengan. Teeth closed around Kankurou but the Sakura puppet was pulled up towards him, holding the mouth open for a few seconds before it succumbed, being reduced to splinters as the jaws slammed shut. Kankurou was then unable to protect himself from the next attack as the jaws closed around him and held him there for a moment while the other free heads moved near him. “You are quite persistent and well skilled, but your puppets will not hurt me!” Seti growled at Kankurou. “Oh, I don’t really need to hurt you that badly…” The middle-child of the Suna Siblings told him with a smirk. “You see, I’m the distraction!” Gaara had been spending this time gathering and focussing the remainder of his chakra, adding to that he had already built up before Seti’s last devastating attack and then squatted just as Seti took notice of him, placing his hands on the sand and shifting the grains until his hands were both buried. “Summoning of the Ancient Sand, Pyramid Destruction!” Gaara called, giving name to the power often made it stronger, and Gaara wanted to end this entire farce now! All around himself and Seti, the ground began to rumble violently and the attack had begun. Almost a mile to the south of where the brothers and Seti fought, Temari saw the beginnings of the attack, which she and Kankurou had helped their brother to perfect and she looked around as the jounin of the sand fought equally with the mysterious ninja which the man had brought to battle them. They needed to get out of here and soon! Temari threw her fan into the air and leapt upon it, controlling the wind currents to cause it to fly before she turned back towards Sunagakure. “RETREAT! GET TO THE STONE WALLS NOW!” The ninja below her obeyed instantly, knowing that if Temari was fearful of something to this extent, they needed to follow her! They each battled to the point where they could escape and then began to jump swiftly after her. The ninja they had been fighting looked around curiously and then cast a glance back to their leader. They had been informed that they were not to attempt to take Suna without his order as he wanted the Kazekage destroyed first. Temari was satisfied as the final of the ninja ran up the stone face of the cliffs to the top and she landed, watching eagerly as Gaara attempted his new attack for the first time since they had perfected it. But… was that not Kankurou clamped within the monster’s jaws!? When had her brother arrived? And how would he now be free of the monster with Gaara’s attack now in full swing. A trio of immense pyramids rose out of the sand with incredible speed, one behind the monster, one to his front on the right and another on the left. At their base, when they were finally revealed, lay what seemed to be a huge cannon. “KANKUROU! MOVE!” Gaara shouted from atop one of the pyramids. The puppeteer laughed again and all three of his remaining puppet’s attacked the head that held him, Gai kicking the monster’s throat while Naruto and Kakashi stabbed kunai into its eyes. Shrieking in pain, the Yamata threw him to one side and Kankurou landed hard against the side of one of the pyramids, a blade coming forth from each of his uppermost forearms to embed in the stone. With speed and dedication to this battle, Kankurou pulled himself to the peak, turning to face the monster before them. All of a sudden, Temari arrived on the scene on top of her fan, landing on the peak of the third pyramid as would always be planned in this attack. Had Gaara still possessed Shukaku, this would not have needed anymore than himself and his own energy, but now, additional energies were needed to create Gaara’s most powerful attack. “SUNAGAKURE’S REVENGE!” All three of the siblings focussed their chakra into the pyramid beneath them, Kankurou and Temari merely sharing their energy with their brother to strengthen his attack. Sand suddenly began to fly through the air towards the outside of the pyramids, seemingly being absorbed into it and then focussed as incredibly powerful streams of sand shot forth from the inside of the pyramids, crashing into the Yamata no Orochi with enough force to strip skin from muscle and eventually it would strip muscle from bone. Intense screams erupted forth from the eight mouths of the enemy, the bones moving and shifting as he transformed into a small bird, damaged as it attempted to fly upwards out of the way of the attack. “I don’t think so…” Kankurou said quietly to himself as the Naruto puppet leapt into the air, preparing another “Rasengan”. Sakura leapt up below him and placed a fist against his feet, virtually punching him into the air. Kakashi ran up along Kankurou’s pyramid and then launched himself from the top, allowing the Naruto to kick off of his chest to send him above the small bird. “NO!” Seti shouted as he felt the fake Rasengan slam into his back, all three puppets falling down into the jets of sand but bringing the eight-tailed Jinchuuriki down into the lethal waves also. As the energy reserves began to run dry, the jets failed to produce any more sand, but within the trio of pyramids, a rather large pile of grains had accumulated by now with Seti within it and Gaara held out his hand towards where he knew that Seti lay. “Sabaku Soso!” The Desert Funeral compressed all of the sand where Gaara was now focussing, crushing anything that lay therein. If the waves of sand had not killed him, surely that would have. The pyramids began to sink and the sand that had accumulated joined with the regular desert, leaving all three siblings standing quite some distance from each other. The few ninja accompanying Seti that had survived the streams of sand being collected by the pyramids began to make their exits, only to be caught by various Sunagakure jounin. The siblings came together, all of them panting and drained from lack of energy. “I guess a lot has happened…” Temari judged, looking at Kankurou with obvious concern and what seemed to be pity. “What do we do now?” “I think my first goal is to find my arms if you don’t mind too much.” Kankurou replied with a wink. “But Kankurou, you… you’re barely human any more! Why would you do this?” Temari asked with tear-filled eyes. Gaara stepped between them and shook his head. “How someone looks, what is inside them, what they are composed of on the outside and within their souls… which of these define humanity? Was I human when I shared my body with Shukaku?” Gaara looked to Temari as if daring her to answer negatively. “Kankurou is our brother. He has done what he thinks he must to protect this village and for that, I think he has shown himself to be purer than most of the humans I have ever met.” Kankurou smiled and put an arm around each of his siblings and another around each of their waists which made Temari feel more than a little uncomfortable. “I would like to find my spare parts and then I think we deserve a dip in the hot springs! Luckily, these limbs are waterproof…” |
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11:17 AM Nov 23
