Capítulo 878: 55
Chapter 54: Entry Wound
The first day of the meeting drew to a close and the four hidden village kage in attendance left to return to their lodgings until the next day. In the end it left Tsunade with her two bodyguards for the meetings, Naruto and Yamato, and Gaara along with Kankuro and Temari in her office to discuss amongst themselves.
"So aside from you and myself Naruto…" Gaara said, starting to speak, "There are Yugito-san and the Raikage's brother as the only jinchuuriki left to take. We still have Kisame Hoshigaki's corpse, but we haven't learned anything from it yet. I do not think we will reveal any secrets of an Akatsuki nature from his body so we are planning to release it to the Mizukage to do with him what she will. A gesture of good faith for the alliance."
Tsunade nodded, "Same goes for us as far as Hidan's head goes. Interrogation can't bring up anything from his mind. I knew that such a powerful group of shinobi wouldn't be easy to pull information from, all the same though… we've been stuck waiting for them to make their moves since day one. Orochimaru was easier to go on an offensive against than Akatsuki."
Sometimes Naruto wished it would just be that easy, that there was just an instant win button, but the world didn't work like that and there was no such thing as a glorious march to victory in a war. He wished that there was some place to find and charge down to finish off Akatsuki. Even if he still wasn't able to do so he wished there was one. Amegakure was the only place he figured there was that could be seen as an active Akatsuki stronghold, and heading there even with an attacking force would be a daunting task.
Being reactionary had almost bitten them in the backside repeatedly, having to wait for very dangerous and scary people to make the first move, but there were no real alternatives. The one time anyone tried being active against the Akatsuki Jiraiya lost his left arm and Naruto took the beating of a lifetime that neither of them should have walked away from.
"So there are no known locations of activity?" Gaara questioned, "You haven't been able to pull anything at all from Hidan?"
Knowing enough about this situation since he was the one that brought Hidan's head to Konoha in the first place, Naruto answered, "Nothing but abandoned little hidey-holes with nothing there." All Hidan ever got as far as information went were marching orders; go here and kill that, or go there and take that jinchuuriki. He was never told any plans in advance which was probably for the best since out of all of the members he would be the easiest to take alive due to the difficulty in killing him, "Hidan's a bust on the information."
"Talk about a buzzkill." Kankuro said, rolling his shoulders out, "So now it's like all four of our villages met up at a joining path in the tunnels of a spooky cave… just to face down a big dead-end. Great. All four of us stumbling around in the dark trying to find our own asses. Sounds like fun."
Temari flicked her younger brother in the side of the head to get him to behave somewhat, "He has a point though. All this alliance is doing at this point is just specifying that there's a problem out there we need to work together to solve. No one knows anything that the others didn't beforehand."
That much was evident by the basis of the meeting that had taken place that day. All that had occurred was basically the laying out of the four attending villages' run-ins with Akatsuki, "Still it's better to have each other covered than going forward with a knife always at our backs." Yamato commented, "Even when Kirigakure didn't have to help us. With no jinchuuriki they don't really have a stake to protect in this."
As far as the day's events went it was enough until tomorrow. The talks could resume then. There was no need for Konoha and Suna's leaders to talk amongst themselves as if it were a private conversation, "Naruto, would you mind having the Kazekage and his siblings stay with you until the end of the meetings? It would probably be a more personal touch than letting them stay in a hotel."
"They didn't pay me back from the last time they stayed at my house." Naruto said with a roll of his eyes and a smirk, "Yeah, yeah. No problem. Temari-chan needs to watch out for Ero-kyofu, but I think Gaara can scare him into behaving. Other than that it should be great."
XxX
(Amegakure no Sato – Pein's Tower)
"It is done." The projection of Pein said to Konan by way of the communication jutsu, "Suna has been made an example of that the rest of the shinobi world will follow."
Konan's eyes widened. It hadn't been three hours since his little rally with the citizens of Ame. He already finished in Suna. Wait, he didn't. There was no way he used that jutsu to finish in one fell swoop, "Nagato tell me you didn't use that jutsu to-."
"An example needed to be made." Pein stressed with eye narrowing emphasis, "The will of God must be carried out by any means necessary Konan. As I speak to you now there is nothing wrong with me. I will return soon, and I will be anticipating the response from our to-be allies in the coming days. This will reach the ears of every shinobi village in the world in a matter of hours, by sundown I would wager. They will know of my power and would be fools to choose not to side with us. This is the opportunity they have all been waiting for."
"You've started a war Nagato…" Konan finally voiced out in hidden concern, "You've brought war to Ame. Isn't war what we were trying to prevent from happening to our people again?"
"Yahiko said…" Pein said, shutting his eyes as he continued to speak, "That if the world is to understand the futility of war they must experience it in its full breadth. In his words, 'If we're to 'understand' each other, first we must make them suffer as we've suffered.'" He spoke with complete confidence and belief in what he was saying, "This is the only way possible. It is the best way. Amegakure will never be harmed. We have far too many buffer nations that will be on our side for them to easily advance on our village. They too must understand the true pain of war if anything is to change, and things will."
"And the jinchuuriki?" Konan asked, almost dreading his answer at this point. No matter what he said it seemed almost guaranteed to sound twisted.
"The plan hasn't changed." Pein said, "As a matter of fact things will possibly be easier now that war will be rampant. And once all nine have been captured we will use their power to end the war and show everyone the horror and desperation that needs to be felt for our goal to be achieved. With the most powerful ninjutsu ever conceived."
There was still nothing reassuring about the current plan of action. And it actually seemed more disconcerting than ever in Konan's mind. Mass destruction was his big answer. Maybe the fact that it was so close at last was the thing that truly gave her pause. But this couldn't have been what Yahiko ever would have wanted. Peace wasn't real peace when everyone was dead by the time it took hold.
XxX
(Kawa no Kuni – Tanigakure no Sato)
Sunset was at this point touching the village hidden well among the many valleys of the river-filled country. The village had the unenviable position of being set between two large nations with an alliance between their shinobi villages, Konoha and Suna, this meant that less work than otherwise for lesser shinobi villages came their way even from clients in their own country.
Due to the lack of easily obtainable missions the Tani ninja became something of specialists in espionage and the more clandestine aspects of the shinobi arts such as trapping and ambush… able to make it seem as if their targets were taken down by very skilled bandits instead of by trained ninja, something they had developed by design to keep from being scrutinized and eventually wiped out. Despite their dislike of their lot in the grand scheme of the ninja system they knew full well their place.
However by the very… strong urging of the clearly perceived as strongest 'minor' shinobi village, a reconnaissance mission was set up to observe something mostly perceived as bluster, until the report had actually come back.
The leader of this lesser shinobi village sat at his desk, hands shaking as he listened to the scouting reports from those he had sent out the day before to head in Sunagakure's direction. He had been sent a message directly from Amegakure, in the strange form of an origami bird landing in front of his village's main building. The combination of the previous message along with the report he was currently hearing brought a sweat to his face.
"You're serious?" The village leader said as if trying to get the entire story straight, "It's gone?"
"I wouldn't lie sir." The random Tani shinobi said, seeming to be shaken up as well, only less so due to the fact that he and his team had an entire day to come to terms with what they had seen, "We made it there and it was a mess. The entire village was destroyed. Ruins. So many of them are dead… I think this Pein was serious."
"Of course he was serious." The village leader said, staring at the note, "Idle threats like this… idle promises aren't made for no reason from leaders in the shinobi world. But to actually have to power to pull such a thing off, in one day." It wasn't even one day, it was more like a few hours if that.
The reconnaissance team in the room all looked at each other, wondering what the next plan of action would be. It was known to them that the message from Ame proposed an alliance of the dozens of small villages to stand against the four allied major villages and one of them were already down. The entire village knew this as well, and they were buzzing. Chomping at the bit as if it was finally their chance to step forward.
"We're joining."
The eyes of the team in the room widened at hearing their usually reactive leader, never really one to try to interject their village into the grand picture no matter what over the years, say that they were going to stand with Amegakure, "Sir?" One of the men asked tentatively. Not out of fear, but out of hopeful optimism, they wanted to do this. They wanted the action, finally, "Are we really going to get involved?"
A nod came from the village leader, "This is… the greatest opportunity that has ever presented itself; the chance to bring down the villages monopolizing business in the regions around us. Suna is fallen, never to rise to Big 5 status again. Konoha can more than pick up its slack though and they will. If this falls on its face then Iwa will just move in on Kaze no Kuni's vacuum of control and they'll simply take over and wind up splitting things with Konoha. We'll be lost in the shuffle again, the same as always. Not again. Tell the village of the decision and have them prepare while I send my answer to Amegakure."
They didn't need to be told twice as they immediately vacated the office and began spreading the word to the villagers. That night Tanigakure would excitedly prepare for war along with their 'God' of a comrade's home village. The same scene could have been cut and pasted and would be cast across every minor village across the lands for their own reasons, all ready to take the brass ring of power with this shift in events. With the power of a man that could wipe out an entire village in less than a day there was no way that they could lose, and they had numbers and positioning. Even without their tactical advantages the Rinnegan was too frightening a power to ignore or doubt.
The last time such a power was seen in the world a revolution took hold that swept up everything and lay the foundation for the way the world was currently, and now it looked like there was time for a wholly different one to take place.
XxX
(Hours Later – Nightfall – Konohagakure no Sato – Forest of Death)
On the roof of the tower that once upon a time housed the preliminary fights of the chunin exams, Gaara and Naruto both sat in the moonlight, one meditating as the other tried to get into the practice, "I do not see why you felt the need to come all the way out to this dangerous place in order to show me meditation." Gaara said with his dark-ringed eyes closed, "There are far more spiders than I remember… and they seem more aggressive, even against me."
"Yeah… I kind of started killing them off when they attacked me instead of running away. It was good training, but it made them stronger, and that caused the other animals to get stronger or die." Naruto explained as he meditated and felt the nature surrounding them in the deadly training ground, "Besides, you can't be touched by anything you don't want to be touched by, it didn't even take an hour to get out here, and you don't sleep anyway."
"That is not the point I was trying to make Naruto." Gaara said, basking in the strange tranquility provided by the forest in the night, "Your home is quite nice. I never would have figured that you would have left that apartment of yours."
A laugh left Naruto, "Girls like status and an apartment didn't really scream that I was moving up in the world. I don't know any kage that lived in an apartment when they took the seat."
"Speaking of women." Gaara said, slowly turning his head towards Naruto, "You seem to be close to quite a few of them, my sister included. Or was the offering of the closest room to yours just coincidence."
Offered nothing, Temari took the closest room to his and who was he to tell her not to? But Naruto felt that saying such would end with a sandy hand grabbing him and chucking him off of the roof like it had the last time he had been in Suna and with his luck he would land right in a spider nest.
"In my defense Hamako-chan is bound to me for life by old clan links and was my fuuinjutsu teacher." Naruto said as a method of defense. Not much of one if he were to be honest with himself. Jiraiya just had to bring up Tayuya, Yugito, and Tenten within earshot of Gaara once Naruto shot him down off of Temari… jealous old man, "Please don't try to kill me."
"I can't kill you." Gaara said in his normal calm demeanor, "I wouldn't be able to blame it on the spiders in the forest." Naruto couldn't tell if he was joking or not and decided not to bring up the issue further. The two merely sat in silence for a while before Gaara spoke up again about something deadly serious, "So you have come face-to-face with this Pein person. Have you seen Madara Uchiha?"
"No." Naruto said, wrinkling his nose in thought, "I only saw him for a bit in Itachi Uchiha's genjutsu… and then my team saw him when they told me who took Itachi and Sasuke's bodies away after our battle, I found out that Sai had fought him without even knowing who he was. I've never actually looked at him before myself." He could feel the Kyuubi in him stirring at the mention of Madara, but not much else than that, "I know it's hard to believe, but there wasn't any reason for Itachi to lie to me and Sasuke. He didn't even have to say anything about it."
"I have no choice but to believe in you Naruto." Gaara responded, "It may sound outlandish to consider that Madara Uchiha is alive, but you would not lie about something like this. Still, I believe the active threat that we can see is what should be focused on first." Both of them then tensed up when they sensed an arriving presence until Naruto settled down.
"No, I know who's coming." Naruto said, just as a swirl of ink appeared right by them, "Hey Sai-kouhai. What are you doing here?" It was kind of far out of the way for Sai to search for him. He could have just waited for him to get back to town or told Hamako who would have then told him.
Sai stood up from his crouch and looked over at Gaara before paying attention to Naruto, "Naruto-senpai there's news. And none of it is good I'm afraid. It's quite important." He blinked with his usually placid expression, "Have you been out here all evening? Maki-san and I have been searching all over for you."
"We've been here for a while just catching up a bit." Naruto said, "What did you need to come find me for? Is there trouble?"
"Yes and no." Sai said to begin his explanation, "Pein has been busy senpai." He saw Naruto's eyes narrow at the mention of Pein being active, "I don't know quite how to say this, and Kazekage-sama will find out the moment you both return to the village thus I feel the need to tell you both out here." The fact that he was addressing Gaara got both Gaara and Naruto's full attention if they weren't giving it beforehand.
"Tell us what Sai?" There was a sick creeping feeling in Naruto's stomach. Anything involving Pein and something important had to be massive.
The normally emotion-devoid Sai even knew the gravity of what he was about to say, but it needed to be said, "Kazekage-sama, Pein attacked your village today during the meeting you had earlier. He attacked Sunagakure and destroyed it with the most powerful ninjutsu anyone had ever seen. The word has just reached Konoha."
Both Gaara and Naruto simply stood, shock clear on both of their faces at the news, "…You must be mistaken." Gaara said, his voice shaking, "H-How could-? The entire village? That just can't be." He said lowly, not willing to fully speak the words himself.
"How?" Naruto felt the need to ask first. He thought he was stronger now, strong enough to fight back against Pein the next time they met. But even so, he did not believe he could destroy an entire hidden village on his own in a day. Rasenshuriken and Rasenriseki were incredibly powerful and destructive attacks that he would wager could take out anything, but to take out an entire village with them was beyond his imagination, "How in the hell could he take down Suna in one day?"
Even six bodies that Naruto knew Pein possessed would not be enough to take out a village full of shinobi. It was hard to wrap his mind around. He just could not do it, it was beyond his comprehension.
"There are survivors." Sai said, getting a small measure of relief from Naruto over the matter, "We were sent a messenger hawk from the remnants of the village. Whatever Pein did it crushed buildings and everything into the ground. The destruction was complete, but the people that were close to the ground were saved by the soft sand they found themselves pressed into. It was the only thing that kept the death toll from being higher. Thousands have been found and pronounced dead, but there are still searches going on for people."
Naruto started pacing around the rooftop, "This is crazy… he attacked a hidden village and he got away with it! By himself!" This wasn't right. Did he attack for Gaara? Or did he already know that Gaara wasn't there?
"This means war Naruto-senpai." Sai said resolutely, "This cannot stand. Hokage-sama is already mobilizing a force to go to Suna to assist, but you know what will happen don't you?"
Of course he did. It was a premeditated attack on a village in the alliance that Konoha treasured more than any other. Not retaliating against Amegakure would be akin to letting them get away with murder, literally, previous issues notwithstanding. This just couldn't be swept away like the allusions of Ame's connections with Akatsuki in the past, now it was clear that Amegakure was the seat of Akatsuki. Their leader was the person that had control of the village, it was blatant.
As Naruto turned to Gaara he then saw that the Kazekage was no longer standing where he had been. As a matter of fact he wasn't even on the roof at all, "Gaara!" Naruto quickly tried to gather nature chakra and reach out in order to sense Gaara only to feel him moving away from the tower at a rapid pace, "Damn it! Gaara wait for a minute!" He made to leave the roof before stopping and turning to Sai, "Sai-kouhai, go to Tsunade-baachan and tell her that Gaara's leaving the village by himself!" Sai nodded and took off in the exact opposite direction from Naruto as the blonde went to locate his friend.
He couldn't just let Gaara head off on his own. This could be what Pein wanted. He could be trying to lure Gaara away as a trap. Three days from Konoha to Suna and there were plenty of points to ambush the distraught jinchuuriki that he would possibly never see coming in his current state of mind.
Even with a minute headstart Gaara was heading out at top speed right out of the gate. Naruto didn't think Gaara would be so fast with his stationary style of combat, but he was a kage, and he had yet to meet a kage-level ninja that wasn't able to move quicker than anyone else he had met before. And now he had a reason to make tracks, 'Come on Gaara…' This was going to be a long night.
XxX
(Shimo no Kuni – Kabuto's Hideaway)
Madara's fist bounced off of the wall of Kabuto's hideout, cracking the wall deeply from the impact. His fist still shook in anger even as it stayed against the damaged surface, "Damn you Nagato… damn you to hell…" This was not a part of the planning. It was not a part of the plan at all. Zetsu's report to him had not given welcome news, "You are becoming more trouble than you are worth."
On the other hand, Kabuto simply couldn't stop chuckling at the turn of events, "Amazing… simply amazing. I can't believe something so splendid is happening when I'm in my prime peak of power. What a stroke of good fortune for me." He seemed downright giddy with what was sure to come, "I was wondering when the next big shakeup would happen. I have a feeling that this will be fun."
The man was depraved, Madara had reasoned a long time ago, not that he himself could judge. He had his own laundry list of schemes and manipulations that he'd hold up against any treacherous act ever committed by anyone else. Still, Kabuto's apparent amusement at his plans being further muddled didn't bring him any amusement himself.
"You find this amusing Kabuto?" Madara asked with a hint of danger in his voice should Kabuto answer incorrectly.
Still, the Orochimaru-integrating shinobi didn't seem to care too much at the chance of threat, "Yes I do, I really do." He admitted freely, "And why wouldn't I? Every era has been defined by the threat of war. The chance to make oneself legend on the battlefield! Each war has caused a shift of society in our world, a turning point if you will. The first war established the separate villages and who was meant to dominate, the second war set up the general distribution of funds and power to those villages, and the third war set the nations into the current stagnancy we have now."
Madara was beginning to get impatient with Kabuto and his apparent ramblings, "And your point is?"
"That this is the end!" Kabuto said gleefully, "That everything we've come to get used to in our system is going to shift completely!" He gestured grandly around them as if there was something to see or they were outdoors, "No matter what happens things will never be the same again! How could anything possibly go back to normal? Every minor hidden village sick of being overlooked will either win or find their livelihood taken from them once and for all, they'll be crushed into oblivion for their insolence. The large hidden villages must choose once and for all whether or not they truly want the world or they will be destroyed for their complacency, and one already has been! It's fantastic!"
"How could something like this excite you?" Madara asked, legitimately curious on Kabuto's mindstate. Maybe Orochimaru's cells were messing with his head? Either way it was strange, "You're talking about something akin to-."
"-Anarchy?" Kabuto finished Madara's sentence for him, "Yes I am! And what's more exciting than that? Not knowing what will come next, always keeping your ear to the ground and your eyes to the sky because anything can happen… It'll be like the neverending clan wars of the past all over again!"
If Madara's face could be seen underneath his mask it would be evident that he was frowning. The days of the neverending wars between the clans were the last thing he wanted to return to. He wanted the world. He wanted the world under his control, docile at last. No one ever trying to step up and change the way things were again. His true peace. And he would do whatever he had to in order to obtain that. But he needed the biju first.
He was sorry to say this to Kabuto, but by the time this war was over there would never be another war again. There would never be another madman like Nagato wishing to morph the way of the world again, because in order for true peace to exist there could be no free will to create such a wish. He would hypnotize the world.
Until then Madara would use Kabuto for what he wanted and he would let him bask in the insanity of the coming days. He would let him enjoy himself since he would never enjoy anything again once his plans were complete. He didn't have to fight this war to have his own stake in it. But he did have an army that he was building up just in case to enforce in his new world.
Nagato had to be disposed of prior to anything however. He was no longer able to be manipulated. He no longer would take Madara's orders, that much was clearly evident from his maverick actions that could not possibly be defended. And he was absurdly dangerous. With his Rinnegan and abilities and Konan by his side an approach for taking him down would be difficult indeed.
Maybe this war would serve a purpose after all; getting rid of one large thorn in his side.
It had to serve someone some kind of benefit right?
XxX
(Daybreak – Northwest Borders of Hi no Kuni)
It had been a harrowing chase. Naruto was still in disbelief that Gaara could move so quickly, but as the sun began to peer over the horizon behind them Naruto eventually took higher ground on the trees he had been chasing Gaara through and managed to cut him off by stopping on the branch he was about to hop to, turning to face his friend, "Gaara wait! Just stop for a minute okay!"
Gaara did as instructed, but he held his emotions on his face in the form of a cold stare directed at Naruto, "Move out of the way Naruto, unless you are coming to help me."
"Of course I'm going to help." Naruto said, taking the time to catch his breath. He had been chasing Gaara since before midnight the previous evening and it was now sunrise, "But you could have waited for the group that were coming to help Suna as well. It's dangerous to be on the move all by yourself Gaara, it could be a trap."
"That's not the kind of help I'm talking about." Gaara said, crossing his arms over his chest, "Have you not been paying attention to the direction we've been moving in? This is not the way to Sunagakure. We are heading towards Amegakure. I am going to destroy them and this Pein character on my own."
"Y-You're going to…" Naruto let that statement mull around in his head for a moment, "Gaara don't be stupid! You can't go to Ame, especially all by yourself! Just sit aside and think for a minute! Calm down, we can sit and talk about-!" Before he could finish, Gaara's sand emitted from his gourd and slammed into him, knocking him from the branch to the ground below.
Gaara just looked down at him and put his sand back inside of his gourd, "Talking got us into this in the first place Naruto. We took far too long to act on what you had told us about Ame." He said resolutely, "If you are not going to help me then either go to my village to assist them or go home. I must do this." He began to jump through the branches on his way to Amegakure's country once again until he was stopped again.
"Fuuton: Fuujin Seiken (Wind Release: Divine Fist of the Wind God)!"
A highly pressurized wind burst hit the branch that Gaara was jumping to, forcing him to avert his movements to the trunk of the tree where he jumped from one trunk to another all the way to the ground to come face-to-face with Naruto, "What are you doing Naruto?"
The blunt attack from Gaara's grains of sand opened up wounds on Naruto's face, but other than the cosmetic damage he was still raring to go, "I can't let you go to Amegakure Gaara, you can't win there by yourself. You just can't!"
"Just because you were defeated doesn't mean that I'll lose in the same way." Gaara said, sand billowing out from his gourd.
"You're right, it'll be worse!" Naruto snapped back, trying to convince Gaara to keep from going, "You don't know how lucky I was to get out of there alive, and you won't have my backup! He'll take you the way I was supposed to be taken and he'll rip the Shukaku right out of you! What kind of Kazekage will you be when you're dead?"
A shake of the head came from Gaara as a tear slid down his face, "What kind of Kazekage am I alive… when I wasn't even there to protect my village? This is all I can do for them now Naruto, get their revenge."
"I understand Gaara." Naruto said, a sad look on his face as he really didn't want to deny Gaara the chance, but he knew exactly what would happen if Gaara went. Nothing good would come of this and he would never let it happen if he had the power to stop it, "And we will, but this isn't the way. You can't beat him in Ame. He beat me and Jiraiya both." That seemed to make Gaara go still and Naruto thought he had gotten through to him, "Now come on. We can go to Suna. Your people need you there."
"Fight me."
Hearing Gaara's authoritative voice put a pause in Naruto's step, "What?" Naruto said, raising an eyebrow at Gaara.
"If you want to stop me…" Gaara said, forcing more sand out of his massive gourd, "…If you want me to listen to you then beat me, and prove that I can't win."
"How is a fight going to prove anything?" Naruto argued back.
"If I can beat you then that will prove that your warning holds no grounds for me because I am stronger than you." Gaara explained calmly, though Naruto could see his fingertips drumming on his biceps impatiently, "When I win I will go to Amegakure uninterrupted. If you still wish to follow you can, but you probably will not be in any condition to do so. I want your word otherwise I will still keep going and I will keep you away until we reach that village."
Naruto grit his teeth and clenched his fists, "Gaara…"
"Give me your word."
"Fine." Naruto said, gritting it out. If he hadn't answered immediately then Gaara would have continued to go. At least now there was a chance that he could get him to stop before they were too far gone.
But right when he consented to the deal, sand rushed at Naruto hard enough to smash down a tree that had been behind him before he managed to avoid it. Gaara took notice of Naruto standing on the trunk of another tree sticking to it with chakra and one hand for his own balance purposes, "You are faster than you used to be. Even faster than when we fought together in the desert. But this is not like the first time we fought Naruto. You cannot get past my sand."
The sand wasn't going to do him any good in Ame. The second he set foot in the general area Pein could command it to rain so by the time the man himself even sent out his six paths to fight Gaara himself the Suna leader would already be at a marked disadvantage.
"It's not me getting past your sand that you need to worry about Gaara." Naruto said as another wave was sent his way, "But if I have to I'll find a way!" Gaara's sand was far faster than when they had been younger and it was also more durable due to the time training. The rush of sand sent at Naruto missed as he sprang off the tree that was hit with the sand hard enough to take a chunk out of it.
Gaara had yet to move since the fight began as his sand took up a position in front of Naruto as if he were taking aim at him, "Rendan: Suna Shigure (Successive Shots: Sand Drizzle)!" Multiple bullets of sand flew at Naruto as he tried to fire at him.
The repeated shots of sand forced Naruto from jumping to and from tree trunks, dropping down to the ground to attempt an actual attack in response once he finished his hand-seals, "Raiton: Kaksen no Jutsu (Lightning Release: Livewire Jutsu)!" From Naruto's hands flew lightning that trailed along the ground towards Gaara, "If I can't go through or around your shield then I'll go under it!"
"That can't be your best." Gaara said as he proceeded to use his sand to lift himself off of the ground to render the electric attack useless, "If you're not willing to fight me the way you're supposed to fight then I'll just end this now and move along. Did you know that I can make more sand no matter where I am?"
As he asked that question the ground began to rumble before it swirled around like a massive sinkhole towards a center. Naruto felt his balance disrupted as he saw sand beginning to file up from the swirling sinkhole as if it were a mixer.
He was not about to risk getting sucked underneath the ground by Gaara's sand even if Gaara wouldn't finish him afterwards, he was not going to let himself get buried. Kazekage or not he was going to find a way to fight against his friend if it would keep him from walking off to Ame to die.
"You are not safe Naruto." Gaara said before actually using his hands to try and guide all of the sand he had been creating under the ground at once, "Ryuusa Bakuryuu (Quicksand in the Style of a Waterfall)!"
The sand proceeded to tower upwards and crash towards Naruto like a tidal wave. He needed a diversion to avoid a buried alive fate, "Fuuton: Kamikaze Hashira (Wind Release: God Wind Pillars)!" Naruto spun around swiftly to kick up a quartet of steadily growing tornadoes that began to move together just as the wave of sand hit the combination of tornadoes. From the tornado, Naruto shot up into the air, avoiding the sand wave as it broke through the wind jutsu he had created.
Gaara looked up from the destroyed forest area, looking more like a desert now that his sand had knocked so many trees down and had manipulated the landscape. He raised a nonexistent eyebrow as he saw Naruto just standing there in the air, "You can fly?"
"Kind of." Naruto said, staring down at Gaara with his strange eyes, one yellow and toad-like with orange pigment on the outside while the other one remained as blue as the sky, "It's my Haretsu Seigan (Burst Limit), but I have control over the air bubbles I stand on while in Sage Mode so that they don't burst from my body weight. So it's really just walking on air as long as Sage Mode is active." He didn't know if the Kyuubi had a limit to how long it could keep taking in nature chakra for, but he'd cross that bridge when he came to it.
"I see you are getting serious." Gaara said as the sand underneath him began to rise into the air, "This Sage Mode seems powerful. And you're here fighting me instead of helping me sack Amegakure to put an end to all of this." A motion of Gaara's hand had the massive amounts of sand below him that had transformed the battlefield stirring up towards Naruto in a method of attack.
"Going to Ame won't do anything! That place is a fortress even when war wasn't coming! I had to sneak in last time and I did a crappy job of doing that! I was found out the second I entered!" Naruto said as he jumped from his place in the sky to another in an effort to evade the imposing flying desert coming after him. There was no way they were going to get anywhere close by themselves in wartime.
Naruto was literally running on the air. He had the exact same ability to move as he did on the ground, step by step, only he had more options while in the air to move up, down, all around, whatever. Still, Gaara's sand could find a way to trap him even in the sky, especially with the massive amount of sand he was using.
Sick of being on the defensive, Naruto had to find some way to get to Gaara directly, something he was hard-pressed to do without resorting to overkill measures. If he had to throw a Rasenshuriken or Rasenriseki at an ally there was something wrong with him.
Massive tendrils from the sand in the sky flew out at Naruto in an attempt to grab him, but he darted around them like a gnat, moving in and out and avoiding capture while steadily moving himself closer to Gaara who struggled to catch Naruto out of the sky, 'He's so fast. It's difficult to surround him with sand, he knows to watch his back as well to avoid getting caught.' He was getting closer as well, something that Gaara was not going to ignore, "You can't make me stop Naruto! Go home!"
"Not without you!" Naruto yelled back at Gaara as he continued dashing through the skies, avoiding the sand as he got closer. His awareness while in Sage Mode was absurd. He would have guessed that if he had his Sharingan active he'd be damn near untouchable even by Gaara's substantial sand abilities. Still, he hadn't landed a single blow yet. Gaara's absolute defense was stronger than ever.
As he thought this the sand began to materialize around Gaara. At first Naruto thought it was a thick defense preparing for whatever he had up his sleeve but then the sand turned into a massive replica of Shukaku's head, "Go home Naruto!" The massive head said in a distorted version of Gaara's voice, "This is your last warning or I'll show you exactly what I'll do to Ame once I arrive!"
Seeing this got Naruto to twitch his scarred brow in irritation, 'I swear I am the worst jinchuuriki in the entire world!' He wished he could partially transform any body part of the Kyuubi just like that.
The mouth of the Shukaku head opened and a ball of pure chakra began to form in from of it, growing steadily larger.
"Oh Gaara you've got to be kidding me." Naruto said to himself as he stared at the forming attack. It wasn't the bastardized version that he used when in the Kitsune Trigger, it was the real-deal Bijudama (Tailed Beast Ball).
Well at least they weren't on the ground or else the landscape would be getting rearranged.
XxX
(A Distance Away From the Border of Hi no Kuni)
Despite looking like she had been crying for hours, Temari was running as fast as she could to follow and find Gaara before he got himself hurt. She, Kankuro, and a small contingent of Konoha shinobi had broken off from the main group meant to assist Suna so that they could find where Gaara had gone.
Her village had been destroyed, but there were multitudes of survivors and she still had her family. At least she would when they found Gaara and were all together again. And he was the Kazekage, she could only imagine how he was feeling about everything that had happened.
Naruto had gone after him first and she could only hope that he was able to calm him down or at least let them get there themselves. The hard look on Kankuro's face didn't do much to disguise the fact that he felt like crying until his makeup ran. Kankuro's eyes suddenly snapped skyward off in the distance, "What the hell is that?"
Temari looked up as well to see a giant Shukaku head, even as far away as they were the features of that nightmare's face were indistinguishable, and it then fired a Bijudama (Tailed Beast Ball) even higher into the air with a booming explosion, "Oh my Kami… That's Gaara."
"What's he shooting that monstrosity at?" Kankuro asked. Gaara had trained that attack out in the desert where no one could be hurt in case he lost momentary control over the attack or the Shukaku, but the devastation that could be done with only a few seconds of control was clear. To use it in the countryside of a foreign nation was a big deal.
What he was fighting wasn't clear, but whatever it was they turned up the speed double-time to reach their brother and find out what was going on.
XxX
(With Naruto and Gaara)
The sand that comprised the Shukaku head transformed back to regular sand and fell back to the normal sand defense that Gaara used to fight. The effort it had taken for such an attack was clear on his face as he breathed heavily, 'That was not a good idea. It takes a lot of chakra to force the Shukaku into cooperation for that attack.' It wasn't even as strong as it could have been since he fired it so quickly.
But where did Naruto go?
He looked stunned and dumbfounded when Gaara started forming the demon-natured jutsu but there's no way he would have just stood still in the sky and let Gaara hit him. There was nothing but air and opportunity to shoot at and Gaara wasn't really aiming at him, it should have been easy to dodge, all he had to do was jump down from the sky and let gravity do the rest.
"A Bijudama (Tailed Beast Ball) Gaara?" Naruto's voice yelled up from below him getting the Ichibi jinchuuriki to look down at him, "You really are strong… stronger than when we were kids." There seemed to be a sense of longing in his voice that Gaara picked up on, "It used to be way easier back then didn't it? I mean, you attacked our village but we fought it off and nothing too bad happened, not like now right?"
"It was… easier back then, yes." Gaara admitted quietly, though Naruto was still able to hear him, "But I was weak back then as well. I only fought for myself. Only after that I found that true strength came from fighting for your loved ones. From using your abilities to defend others the way you fought me for your village's sake."
"Then why are you running off half-cocked to Ame Gaara?" Naruto said with a hint of desperation in his voice, "That's not going to do anyone any good. Lead your people. Go home. You're their Kazekage and they need you, they're hurt and scared. Going to Ame is just so you can fight and make yourself feel better trying to tear them up. But that's what Pein wants. Right now you're being selfish."
"I failed them Naruto!" Gaara screamed down at him before the dam broke and tears started streaming down his face, "I hate myself more than I hate Pein, more than I hate Amegakure right now, because if I was there it never would have happened! I would have stopped him! He wouldn't have touched a single person if I were there! And I'm going now because if I can't do to him what he did to them I'm not worthy to be their Kazekage!"
"Killing him won't bring anyone back!" Naruto shouted right back up at him, the sun bathing the both of them in the light, "Killing him won't bring back a single building, and that's if you even get it done, he'll beat you Gaara! He's got your weakness in his back pocket!" What were the chances Gaara would enter that country and it wouldn't be raining? Not good if one were to study Amegakure's meteorology, "But you're half-right about something though, if you do this then you're not worthy to be their Kazekage, because you're just going to run off and destroy shit all because you're mad! That's not going to help anyone and it'll get you killed!"
A heated glare came at Naruto from Gaara as the sand began to whip around his body angrily before turning into one cascading wave that was meant to crash down on top of Naruto altogether, "Give up on trying to stop me Naruto!"
Hearing the manic tint in Gaara's voice snapped something in Naruto. It was as if Gaara wasn't even trying to listen to reason any longer. Maybe Danzo had been right; emotions were a pain, "Fine! Run off and be stupid just like Sasuke did!" Naruto shouted up to his friend, "Go ahead and go to Ame to get what you want! Forget about the people that need you and your own responsibility just to go off and kill some asshole with a god-complex! That'll make you just like your name says you are, a self-loving carnage!"
That remark made Gaara's impending attack stop in the air as he looked down with a shocked expression on his face. It wasn't wrong of him to want revenge was it? It was human nature to wish to harm the person that hurt the ones you cared for. Didn't Naruto understand that? It seemed like Naruto had always been someone that could understand, so why didn't he understand this?
"I wish I could tell you I knew how you felt Gaara." Naruto said honestly, "I'm not a kage, and Konoha's never had anything happen to it like what happened to Suna. But don't do this. The people come first, and they need you more than they need revenge right now. We'll get it, I promise, but it's not the time and Ame definitely isn't the place."
Gaara's hands shook as he tried to battle with himself over whether to go or whether to stop, "I shouldn't have to be told things like this..." Gaara said, visibly struggling with the decision, "I'm the Kazekage, I should already be able to make the right decisions without being advised, especially by a foreign shinobi."
With that being said, the sand dropped to the ground and Gaara took care not to drop the sand on top of Naruto himself. Able to sense that Gaara's chakra was no longer controlling the sand, Naruto gave the cue for the Kyuubi to cease sending him chakra for Sage Mode, turning his changed eye back to normal, 'You alright in there Kyuubi?'
"I have had an itch on my nose for the last ten minutes… I don't know how you can sit still for as long as you do to gather this crap for your training." The Kyuubi griped as it shut down the connection between their chakra networks, "You should have blown that sand-rat to hell since he wanted to challenge Pein and go so badly."
'Whatever.' Naruto thought back, ending the conversation as Gaara drifted back down to the ground, his sand back inside of the gourd now that the scuffle was over, "Are you okay now?" He asked the seemingly docile Gaara.
"No." Gaara said honestly, "But the Shukaku was influencing my state of mind at the time and tried to take advantage of my desire to tear Pein asunder. I am still angry and I still desire his death, but right now I will go to my village… or what's left of it."
"A village isn't a bunch of buildings Gaara." Naruto said as they began to walk in the direction of the Hi no Kuni/Kaze no Kuni border, "It's the people that live there. And there are still supposed to be a lot of them there that need you."
"I know." Gaara said before looking at his hands that were still shaking, "I just want to kill him so badly. There was a moment where I just wanted to crush you and move along. I'm not entirely sure I can even blame that on Shukaku either." He shook his head and let out a desperate sigh.
"Gaara!"
Both Temari and Kankuro came into sight, yelling for their younger brother upon sighting him. As they got close they noticed all of the sand that was definitely out of place in that area of Hi no Kuni's geography, "Whoa." Kankuro said as he looked around, "What happened here?"
"Anger management." Naruto said, patting Gaara on the shoulder a few times before shifting the sword on his back and walking away from the young kage.
Temari walked over to Gaara and wrapped her arms around him in a hug as Kankuro walked over to do the same. Deciding to give them the moment that they hadn't been allowed together the previous night due to Gaara's impulsive flight from Konoha, Naruto just sat off to the side while the three siblings grieved together over the fate of their village. They would see it up close and personal for themselves soon enough.
XxX
(Konohagakure no Sato – Hokage Tower – Tsunade's Office)
Sai knew that it wasn't the best idea to go to Tsunade on his own, but it was an order from Naruto to inform her that Gaara was gone to head off by himself. But when she asked him to stay after sending Shizune off to mobilize a squad to head off with the siblings of the wayward Kazekage he knew there was something up.
So there he sat, right in front of her as she had her own place at her desk just appraising him. A normal person would probably have been intimidated or at least somewhat unnerved, but then again Sai didn't feel emotions like that. Or so he said.
It had been hours and the ever patient shinobi had to wonder just what Tsunade wanted with him at a time like this, even though there was not much she could do at a time of duress such as the one currently taking place.
Tsunade finally opened her mouth to speak after quite a while of saying nothing, "I'll just cut to the chase and say what I need to say. You don't seem to be the type to beat around the bush so I'll just get right to the point. I know of your connections to Danzo just like I am aware of Naruto's and your other teammate." Sai said nothing, something that Tsunade would have guessed as much about, but she continued, "Are you able to speak for yourself, or has Danzo done something to keep you from doing such? This is an order from your Hokage you know."
Sai blinked but nodded, "Yes I can speak, but only because Danzo-sama is truly dead. If he were alive then the seal he placed on all operatives would have kept us from speaking freely of him or Root. He believed it was for the best that our existence isn't known by all, the less the better. I am willing to cooperate though."
"What is your purpose?" Tsunade asked.
"To protect Konoha from threats both foreign and domestic in the most complete and discreet manner possible." Sai said with a practiced ease that had to have been drilled into his head years ago, "We are not your enemy Hokage-sama, but it was better that our existence was merely speculation to you and yours… at least until Naruto-senpai took the seat."
That caused Tsunade to raise her eyebrow at his words, "And then what? Root would be Naruto's private army, his bodyguards?" It was hard to consider that he would do such a thing, but Danzo had called Naruto his greatest success in the past so it wasn't that farfetched was it?
"Of course not." Sai said, getting a slightly perturbed look on his face at the mere thought. Naruto had more sense and honor than to use Root like that, even if Sai didn't run their day-to-day operations, "Like I said, we handle the problems that could threaten Konoha, problems that most of the time you as Hokage are never even privy to."
Somehow Tsunade took that as him referring to her as incompetent, "Not privy to eh?" She said with a slight growl in her voice that Sai only smiled at her pleasantly in response to, only increasing her ire further, "You've got quite the tongue on you don't you?"
"It was not a manner of disrespect." Sai said, waving his hands in front of himself, "We simply solved the problems before they became big enough to catch your attention. The same for your predecessor Sarutobi-sama. If everything was brought to you there would be more work than you would be accustomed to, and you would be so concerned over things abroad that you would not be able to focus on what was important near our borders."
"So…" Tsunade said, trying to wrap her head around what Root was, "You're like some international attack squad? Like some army without borders." What a rudimentary way to describe them.
The smile fell from Sai's face as he tried to register a way to explain, "Not particularly. A lot of us stay around Konoha. Some of us are a part of your normal forces like Maki-san, some of us just… aren't. If you need a way to rationalize it then consider us Konoha's version of Kazekage-sama's automatic defense. We will act in the village's best interests whether you are aware of our actions or not." He noticed her narrow her eyes at him and sighed, "Not a threat Hokage-sama…"
"How can I trust you?"
"Do you trust Naruto-senpai?" Sai asked in return to Tsunade's question, "Because we will always answer to him if the need for his input arises. We will actually obey you as well, but we are not yours to command as if we were conventional forces. We're not meant to go on your normal missions, we're not normal shinobi."
"How many of you are there?"
"Enough." Sai said before letting out a sigh as he heard Tsunade's fingertips drum on the top of the desk, "Our numbers are decent, but there aren't nearly enough of us to usurp any kind of control of the village from you if you are still paranoid."
Knowing that Danzo had created a paramilitary group underneath the nose of the village and actually finally finding out about it firsthand after his death was like a splash of water in her face, a wakeup call. The fact that it was established enough to try and continue operating without him was something else altogether.
As loathe as she was to admit it though, for the coming war there would possibly be a need for Root, "Are you prepared to place forces towards assisting in the war effort?"
"We already were." Sai said matter-of-factly much to her surprise, "Danzo-sama has kept eyes on multiple minor villages around the borders of the country for years. Spies have sent some very concerning news." He had Tsunade's full attention since she had actually sent Jiraiya out for a quick trip to pick up some word on the rumblings in nearby areas, "Every minor village in Hi no Kuni's immediate vicinity are preparing for war… and it's not against Ame."
"Our allies-."
"Don't particularly exist anymore." Sai said before she could question the loyalty of the allied minor villages, "This is their chance. They don't want to sit under Konoha's thumb any longer and get the scraps of our business. Takigakure and Kusagakure were among the first to line up and throw their lot in with Amegakure after news of the attack on Suna broke, and many others nearby fell in line right along with them."
"Are you serious?" Tsunade questioned in disbelief before massaging her temple, "Damn kid if you're right about this then you are seriously useful." Yes, she might need them after all. They seemed to work just fine as a stand-alone group and hadn't gotten Konoha in any trouble in over twenty years of operating so why end a good thing when it was so necessary for the coming days? There was no reason to issue a cease and desist order… especially since they would probably pull a Danzo and keep doing it anyway, "Fine… just keep up the good work I guess. And if you do anything that would endanger the village-."
Sai stood up and began to walk towards the door to leave, "We would never Hokage-sama. Maybe one day we'll prove how useful we are to Konoha, but until then we'll just keep working." He opened the door and turned back one last time, "It was the promise we all made when we joined in the first place, we'd do what we had to in order to keep the village safe from the shadows." He gave one more of his pleasant-looking smiles, "You'll pick up some rumblings from us here or there." He said before shutting the door behind himself.
With that little meeting over, Tsunade turned around in her chair to look out the window at the village in the early morning, "Every little bit helps I guess. A tree can't really thrive without strong roots in the end." She would need to wait for word from Jiraiya to confirm what she had just been told, but with their allies turning to take their shots at Konoha's throats there was no reason not to take on a comrade like Root, especially since they were technically already on the same side and their foreign 'friends' seemed to be prepared to fight them for the lion's share.
The treacherous ungrateful fools didn't know what they were getting themselves into. But they would sooner rather than later.
A part of Tsunade wondered how many wetwork operations Root had planned even at that moment. She hoped there were enough to make those turncoat bastards pay. No loyalty among the thieves, murderer, and spies in the end it appeared.
It was a good thing the other kage decided to leave a few delegates behind once they decided to head out for their own villages at first light, just in case something similar would happen to their villages in their absence. There were plans that needed to be drawn.
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