Kapitel 20: Carnage of the Dragon Blade
"What exactly is the plan here? We can't just march in and confront Lord Naki. Master Isochi will just deny that he confessed to anything," said Omoda. We had just left Isochi's mansion and were now walking back to Lord Soshiro's office.
"Lord Naki has his living quarters and office in the same building as Lord Soshiro's office right? Either his office or living quarters will have the Dragon Blade. We need to get it and tell Lord Soshiro before Naki finds us out," I told him.
"Let me handle this I'm itching for more freedom," said Shukaku with excitement. He had surprisingly let me takeover full control after I was done messing with Isochi. Maybe I was making headway with him.
"Sorry, this one will require a little more delicacy than you normally use," I told him. Shukaku let out an angry snort but didn't say anymore and sunk back into my mindscape. At least he hadn't thrown a fit.
"How are we going to get in without being noticed," asked Omoda nervously. He probably had never done something like this before and was terrified of being caught. I would need to calm his nerves if this was going to go over without any issues.
"If we get asked what we are doing just simply say we are searching for Lord Naki because we have a question about the Dragon Blade," I said nonchalantly. Omoda relaxed a little bit before tending up again.
"What if they call our bluff and know something is wrong," he said with anxiety in his tone.
"We are shinobi of the Sand, we will easily take down any challenge and clear our name," I told him. That only seemed to put Omoda on edge even more. Well, I tried my best to calm him. Nothing more I could do for him now. Omoda continued to lead us until we halted, standing right in front of Lord Soshiro's office.
"What about Baki-sensei, Gaara," asked Kankuro. I frowned, he was right. What would we do about Baki still being a hostage? I didn't want to cause too much damage or get Baki killed. This was a bit of a bind, I needed to be in two places at once. An idea struck me and I smiled. I unwrapped one of my scrolls and summoned some regular sand. I weaves some hand signs and three sand clones came into existence.
"Temari and Kankuro, you know where Baki currently is so you don't need Omoda to guide you. These sand clones should be strong enough to get you through any troubles and rescue Baki," I said as I gestured to them.
"It's going to be just you and me? Lord Naki might realize something is wrong, what will we do if he confronts us," said Omoda shakily. The negative and fearful responses were starting to get a little annoying.
"Then I snap his hammer like the twig it is and break a few of his bones for fun," I quipped back at him. Kankuro let out a chuckle and Temari smiled as Omoda's eyes bulged in their sockets. He was too easy of a target to mess with.
"You do realize how strong Lord Naki is right? He is easily the strongest man in this village," said Omoda.
"Well, I hate to break it to him but I'm the strongest one in the village now," I said dully. With that, I began talking toward Lord Soshiro's office. Omoda scrambled after me while Temari and Kankuro followed with my sand clones. We didn't see a single soul as we walked through the foyer and continued to the stairs. Lord Naki's office was on the second floor while Soshiro's was on the third. Lord Naki's living quarters were also on the second floor, down the hall from his office.
"Gaara, look over there," said Temari as she pointed to my left. I looked to see that she was pointing at a man lying facedown on the ground. He was laying in a pool of his blood, his tanto still in his right hand. I recognized the man, he had been one of the ninjas that had opened the double doors leading to Soshiro's office for us.
"Naki has already started the coup, forget searching his office we have to get to Baki-sensei. He is with Lord Soshiro so he'll get caught up in the coup," I said as I broke into a sprint. Everyone quickly followed me up the stairs where we found more carnage. Bodies lay strewn about, several with red armbands which must mean they were rebels. The elegant halls and staircases were now a mess of rubble and scorch marks. Huge slash marks that looked like they had been made from a giant sword also covered the walls.
"It's a miracle this place is still standing after this kind of beating," mumbled Kankuro. I had to agree with his assessment, it wouldn't take much more to topple this building. We made it to the third floor and felt rumbling as well as screams from down the hall. We rounded the corner from where the stairs were and found ourselves in the middle of a battle. Hidden Artisan ninjas battled in the middle of the hall, we were behind the ones with red armbands. There weren't more than two dozen red armbands but there was less than a dozen ninja who was loyal to Lord Soshiro. Another dozen from both sides were dead on the ground, an obvious gap between strength. The loyalists were outmatched and out skilled, it was easy to tell that the rebels had planned this well. The two large doors that led to Lord Soshiro's office had been smashed off their hinges and several rebel ninjas guarded the doorway. Lord Naki must have already forced his way inside, we needed to act quickly.
"Stick together, we are going to take down the rebel ninjas and then push forward into Lord Soshiro's office," I ordered as sand poured from my gourd. I summoned forth the rest of my sand, Temari opened her iron fan, Omoda had his black gauntlets appear, and Crow came out from under Kankuro's cloth bundle. The rebels still hadn't noticed us and only a few loyalists realized we were here. I formed nearly three dozen sand spears and sent them shooting at the rebels. I caught about half of them off guard, the iron sand and chakra-infused sand spears sinking into their bodies. Screams filled the hall from the rebels who hadn't immediately been killed. With only about a dozen rebels left, I drew my katana and charged forward. My sand clones mirrored my action and drew their katanas as well. I ran up behind a rebel engaged in combat with a loyalist and sliced his back. Howling in pain, he crumpled to the ground and I moved forward. I saw needles dripping with poison plunge into two rebels in front of me and a wave of wind threw a rebel into a wall. We quickly demolished any rebels in the room before turning our attention to the doorway to Lord Soshiro's office. Three ninjas guarded it, two of them held katanas and were shaking in their boots. The third one though was a monster of a man, even bigger than Lord Naki. He had a huge scar that crossed his face and went over his left eye, which was blind. He was bald and muscles rippled along his body, he wielded the same war hammer that Naki had used in our first encounter. He had probably given it to this monster since he was wielding the Dragon Blade.
"I'll give you one chance, surrender or be crushed," I said menacingly. The two rebels with katanas threw down their sword and surrendered. The big man eyed his former comrade on his left then the one on his right. With the blink of an eye, he swung the war hammer blindingly fast and crushed the head of the one on the left. He then spun around and slammed the war hammer into the gut of the other former rebel. The former rebel went flying backward and skidded across the floor, dead the instant he hit the floor.
"Anyone who dares defy Lord Naki shall suffer my wrath," snorted the monster of a man. I grimaced at the brutality of his actions, he had just killed two ninjas for surrendering. He was exactly what I didn't need standing in my way right now. He was obviously a mindless, powerful, and very loyal follower of Naki. I doubt he would quit even if threatened with death.
"Out of my way," cried Omoda as he charged the brute. I scrambled to send iron sand to protect him but thankfully my sand clones were quicker on the uptake. They charged in seconds behind Omoda, ready to back him up. The man swung the war hammer over his head in a downward arc to crush Omoda. Omoda crossed his arms and his gauntlets suddenly began to glow purple. The hammer slammed into the gauntlets but instead of crushing them along with Omoda's hands, they rebounded off. The man recoiled in shock and stumbled, thrown off balance by the sudden shifting of weight. Everyone but Omoda stood there shocked for several seconds, amazed his gauntlets had stopped the war hammer. Omoda didn't flinch though and with an amazing speed, he delivered a blow straight to the man's stomach. The man gasped as the air was ripped from his lungs due to the punch and keeled over. He quickly recovered and sent a devastating uppercut that connected straight to Omoda's chin. The force made Omoda lift off the ground for a second before crumpling to the floor. Looks like he needed a little more work on his fighting, he still had poor reflexes even if he had strong weapons. My sand clones swung their katanas at the man but he was too fast. He took out two with one swing and the third got lucky and managed to cut the man's right side. The man grimaced before grabbing the sand clone by its neck and killing it by crushing its neck. As it turned back to sand, I made the sand coil up the man's arm and around his body. The man struggled to remove it but it was futile as more sand from my gourd encased him.
"Let go you brat," snarled the man as he struggled. I tightened my grip on him, causing him to drop the war hammer and gasp for air.
"Sand Burial," I said as I closed my palm. With a sickening crunch, the man was crushed in a cocoon of sand. Omoda had recovered from his blow and now stared at me in shock. Kankuro grinned wickedly, happy to see the man dead.
"Let's go," I ordered as I strode forward. Kankuro and Temari immediately followed me while Omoda sat on the ground in shock. I didn't have time to worry about him right now so I moved on. Inside Soshiro's office, it was a complete disaster. The pillars that held the room together were cracked, the desk Lord Soshiro had been sitting at was a charred pile of wood now. Lord Naki was in the middle of the room, and standing opposite to him was Baki with Lord Soshiro. Lord Soshiro had a nasty gash across his left shoulder and Baki looked to have several burns on him. Lord Naki was completely unharmed and didn't seem tired at all. He held a long katana, with a blue dragon and a red dragon on each side of the blade. Flames poured from the side with the red dragon while electricity jumped from the side with the blue dragon.
"Give up Soshiro, you cannot hope to defeat me with this pitiful Sand ninja defending you," said Lord Naki. Lord Soshiro simply gasped for air, his face pale and sickly. I doubted he had the energy to respond or even stand.
"I wouldn't be so sure of that," I said in a booming voice. Lord Naki turned around with a surprised expression that quickly turned to one of annoyance and frustration.
"I see that those worthless ninjas can't even stop a few genin," he said with disgust. He then swung the Dragon Blade and a wave of lightning rushed toward us. Temari let loose a Wind Scythe, I sent my sand in a small wave to stop it, and Kankuro had Crow shoot a fireball from its mouth. All three of our attacks combined were completely useless against the lightning-style attack. Even my iron sand had been useless, the wave had cut straight through it as well as my regular sand. Using what sand I had left behind, I levitated myself as well as Kankuro up into the air by creating a platform under us. Temari used her iron fan and floated up into the air as well. The Lightning Wave passed under us before cutting through the wall and doorway behind us. The wave fizzled out and the whole wall crumbled into a pile of rubble and dust. I hoped Omoda was okay but I need to focus on myself right now. Our first attack had told me one thing, any direct attacks were useless. We would not win by using head-on tactics, we needed to use different Jutsu and strategies than we normally did.
"Kankuro, get Baki and Lord Soshiro out of here before the building collapses. Temari and I will hold off Naki as long as we can," I told him sternly. I could tell he wanted to disagree, to say it would be smarter to have three against one but he knew I was right. The support columns wouldn't hold up much longer after the beating they had taken from the Dragon Blade. We needed to get everyone out of here before the building collapsed on top of us all. Kankuro pit Crow on his back and jumped off the sand platform. He then sprinted to Baki and Soshiro who were both laying on the ground with many injuries.
"Gaara what are we supposed to do against this guy? That weapon is way too powerful for us to deal with," said Temari with worry. Looking at the menacing blade, I had the same words going through my head. We were way out of our depth with this one, even me. That didn't matter anyway, it didn't change our situation. If we couldn't beat him then what would? Looking around the demolished room, an idea formed in my head. It was crazy and a long shot but it might just work.
"Temari do you see the support columns around us," I asked.
"Yes, what about them," she asked quizzically.
"While I distract Naki, you destroy them and get out of here," I told her. Before she could even say anything I zoomed away on my sand platform. I knew she didn't agree with my plan, I didn't even have to look at her face to know. It was reckless, I needed to keep Naki busy so we could collapse the building on top of him. It would be unexpected and the perfect trump card to the Dragon Blade. Bali had already done half the work for us, he wasn't being careful with such a powerful weapon.
"Facing me all on your lonesome? How arrogant of you," said Naki with a smile. I had to concede that it was a little arrogant of me to go against such a legendary weapon and think I could even hold my own. Jinchuriki or not I was still out of my depth. Who cares though I was still gonna have my fun. I formed needles with my iron sand and sent them flying towards Naki. He used the red dragon side of the blade to form a wall of fire in front of him. It burned with serious heat, enough for me to stop the iron sand needles before they melted. Naki dropped the wall of fire to reveal a grin.
"You can't even touch me with those pitiful attacks," chuckled Naki. I scowled in anger at the truth of his remark. Now wasn't the time to despair. A loud crunch sounded throughout the room and the building shook. I turned and looked to find that Temari had already toppled three columns, further destabilizing the building.
"What is that girl doing," growled Naki angrily. I saw him ready the Dragon Blade for an attack against Temari, something I couldn't allow. Naki didn't know what Temari was doing but he knew it was bad. I had to keep him distracted, I couldn't do that from this distance I was giving him too much time between attacks. What I was thinking of doing went against every fighting style I had used in the past.
I leaped down from my sand platform and ran towards Naki. Taking the sand that had been my sand platform, I formed it into a jagged spike. I sent it flying towards Naki and didn't even bother to see if it connected. I then forced the sand that had been scattered around the room from the Lightning Wave to gather up around me. I used some of it to form sand armor around my body and the rest went into my gourd. I would need it for fighting Naki head-on, it would be my best option. He wouldn't be able to get huge attacks off if I prevented every swing of his from ever finishing. Drawing my katana I charged forward and my sand followed. The large sand spike it had thrown at Naki had been blown apart by a blast of electricity from the tip of the blade. Naki smiled maliciously and charged forward to meet me. Our blades met with an earth-shattering clang. I was almost thrown back just from the force of the recoil. I spread my sand out along the floor around us. Bringing my sword back I swung for Naki's neck. He blocked the katana but didn't see the spike of sand from the floor coming. I was sure the spike was going to plunge into his chest but Naki's intuition saved him. He stepped to the side and the spike only grazed his abdomen.
"Sand Spear," I said as I formed a dense spear in my hand. I chucked it and forced it towards Naki at breathtaking speed. He sliced it with lightning and then sent several fireballs at me. The iron sand automatically raised around me and protected me but it wasn't enough. The fire style was too strong and I was thrown back. I made myself get up from the ground, looking at myself to survey my injuries. As draining as the sand armor was, it had protected me from the fireballs. The armor swiftly recomposed itself around me, ready for another attack.
"Give up," gasped Naki as sweat dripped down his brow. He was getting tired. The draining requirements of the Dragon Blade were finally catching up with him. Naki couldn't keep this up for much longer, that was certain. I was in the same boat as him though, my sand was scattered and the sand armor was draining my chakra. The fight with the rebels at the door had taken more energy than I thought. I still had much more than Naki but I didn't know what tricks he had up his sleeve still. He still hasn't revealed any groundbreaking abilities of the Dragon Blade even though it is considered a treasure by the Hidden Artisan Village.
"Restless Desert Hands," I shouted as hands erupted from the ground. They clawed and grabbed at Naki relentlessly but he cut them down and stomped them.
"Enough, Scorching Purity Slice," shouted Naki as he swung the Dragon Blade in a downward arc. Fire erupted from the blade, hotter than I thought possible from something man-made. It cut right through the floor and straight through the floors below us. I stood there in shock, realizing he had just cut three whole floors of a building in half. The building could no longer take the abuse, it let out a dying groan and began to collapse. In the back of my mind, I was annoyed that I had sent Temari to take down the columns only to have this blockhead bring the building down by himself.
"Gaara!"
I wiped around and saw Temari running toward me, worry on her face. She was running to get me out of the building before it collapsed. Temari was also in immediate danger from the collapsing building but she was coming back for me instead of getting clear. The ceiling began crashing down around me, Temari using her iron fan to stop any in her way.
"You're forgetting something," said a voice right by my ear. Panic spiked through me and I spun around, my katana swinging with me. It met the Dragon Blade just before it would have chopped my head off. Bali stood inches from my face, looming over me. He had an evil grin on his face despite the fact blood was coming out of his mouth. His eyes also had blood dripping from them. Naki was past his limit, Scorching Purity Slice had used every last bit of his chakra. I had no idea how he was still going but I didn't have time to wonder about that now. I felt the building tilt under my feet, escape out of the question now. I had seconds to do anything before it crumbled to the ground. Without hesitating I sent all my sand that wasn't being used for my sand armor to Temari. She had fallen and was about to be flattened by a column. I formed a sphere around her layered with iron sand and regular sand. A piece of citing tile crashed into my back and caused me to fall to my knees but I still forced the sand to protect Temari. I could tell the sand desperately wanted to come to my defense and protect me but I wouldn't let it. My automatic defense would protect Temari, not me.
"You really are a fool," sputtered Naki. Ceiling tiles also crashed down on him but he didn't even flinch. He raised the Dragon Blade above his head, ready to deliver the finishing blow. I feebly raised my katana in defense with the hope it would be enough. The Dragon Blade flared to life with both electricity and fire swirling around it. Naki cackled with laughter before bringing the Dragon Blade down on me. My katana and the blade met for a split second. I felt the intense pressure and energy from the Dragon Blade right before it cur straight through my katana. I watched in what felt like slow motion as the blade inched toward my chest.
It never connected, the whole roof crashed down on top of us both and brought darkness to my vision. Pain shot through my body as my sand armor faltered under the force. The blackness of unconsciousness enveloped me and I sunk into it serenely.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein