Naruto Blood Red Covetous Sands
- Thread starter kaiseryuu
- Start date
Right?
Naruto wakes up in the moring and walks into his living room while rubbing sleep from his eyes"Uh?" he rubs his eyes again "Gaara? Yes Master? Why are there all these kunochi tied up in my living room? So you can continue your line master. I see."
Now your kamidere comment has me the thinking of the female Pain and Naruto hooking up which is making me lol.
Naruto wakes up in the moring and walks into his living room while rubbing sleep from his eyes"Uh?" he rubs his eyes again "Gaara? Yes Master? Why are there all these kunochi tied up in my living room? So you can continue your line master. I see."
Now your kamidere comment has me the thinking of the female Pain and Naruto hooking up which is making me lol.
First.lol
Second. An all female Pein harem with a female Nagato... hmmm...
Madara: Wasn't the plan to extract the kyuubi?
Pein 1: Nookie has a greater priority.
Pein 2-6: :sisi: :sisi: :sisi: :sisi: :sisi:
Female Madara" I see... Great wisdom from you comes... Female Akatsuki Assemble!"
Fem Kisame" Tobi why did you call us here?!" Female Madara" I'm not Tobi I'm Madara!" Gasp! "And Pain has just given us a new Purpose! " Double Gasp! " We now live for Nookie! With Naruto Uzumaki the Kyuubi Jinchuriki!" Triple Gasp!" Madara! Dedria's fainted! Oh no! She has over Gasped! " Pain" Also Naruto's mine. No sharing... Except with Konan."
ah I forgot how to quote. :blue:
And I keep coming back because this is stuck in my head now.Damn your awesome skills.
Second. An all female Pein harem with a female Nagato... hmmm...
Madara: Wasn't the plan to extract the kyuubi?
Pein 1: Nookie has a greater priority.
Pein 2-6: :sisi: :sisi: :sisi: :sisi: :sisi:
Female Madara" I see... Great wisdom from you comes... Female Akatsuki Assemble!"
Fem Kisame" Tobi why did you call us here?!" Female Madara" I'm not Tobi I'm Madara!" Gasp! "And Pain has just given us a new Purpose! " Double Gasp! " We now live for Nookie! With Naruto Uzumaki the Kyuubi Jinchuriki!" Triple Gasp!" Madara! Dedria's fainted! Oh no! She has over Gasped! " Pain" Also Naruto's mine. No sharing... Except with Konan."
ah I forgot how to quote. :blue:
And I keep coming back because this is stuck in my head now.Damn your awesome skills.
Very very good so far. I was grinning like crazy the entire chapter, particularly during the training, fight, and discovery scenes. I like your plan for the yandare progression, I just hope you keep the progression on the slower side to keep it believable. Loved the idea of chain shushin-ing with a cool fighting style that fits Naruto to a T. Great stuff, and looking forward to more.
You don't need fighting every chapter, but you don't want to make the typical kind of mistakes of super-ultra-mega-ginormous training arcs (a decent author tries to mix something of consequence into training scenes whenever they are necessary -- e.g. almost every time Harry Potter is in a classroom either a hint or red herring is dropped) or burying us in fluff.
Also, you probably already figured this out from what I've said but I don't like pedantic story telling. Some people do seem to like it but I don't know why. Character X does this then that then talks to so-and-so, feels exactly like this about such-and-such... *yawn.* Not saying you're being bad about this, but I am saying that you should actively seek to avoid this. That's why, rather than say adding a scene between Kakashi and Jiraiya I suggest pulling some training and planning time.
Regarding specifics:
I don't really like this part. Snarl, snarl, snarl. Wouldn't it be better to have Gaara act scared and confused? Maybe try to have Gaara's behavior a tiny bit closer to how it was in canon (at the end of Naruto vs Gaara).
Also, you probably already figured this out from what I've said but I don't like pedantic story telling. Some people do seem to like it but I don't know why. Character X does this then that then talks to so-and-so, feels exactly like this about such-and-such... *yawn.* Not saying you're being bad about this, but I am saying that you should actively seek to avoid this. That's why, rather than say adding a scene between Kakashi and Jiraiya I suggest pulling some training and planning time.
Regarding specifics:
I don't really like this part. Snarl, snarl, snarl. Wouldn't it be better to have Gaara act scared and confused? Maybe try to have Gaara's behavior a tiny bit closer to how it was in canon (at the end of Naruto vs Gaara).
Hmm, in no order ...
We still don't know if canon Naruto actually knew the name of the Yondaime and not just the title, it's simple but it clearly shows the state of mind of your Naruto, he has goals but he's not quite there to reach them smartly.
The fact that Orochimaru "forgot" that combat style is nice. It speaks well for the advancement of that style => there is none. Once sufficient speed is reached the tags are used, because you have nothing else. It's a fighting tactic used by people low on chakra, or developed because it's efficient in a minimum time of training. So Naruto for now is playing bomberman but it was just a mean to an end ( survive the fight vs Gaara ). He will obviously drop that style ( but not forget it ) later on, unless I'm missing something.
I recently checked out femGaara/Naruto ... it caught me but I still don't know why I love them ... nothing against it from me
The next problem is that we still don't know what are the limitations of the shunshin and the kawarimi. Naruto by being the shinobi that can spam kage bunshin ( clones that can use jutsu ), by using the 3 academy jutsu ( his improved versions of them ? ) + the shunshin could "on paper" be the strongest shinobi ever with sufficient experience just by surviving against pretty much anything except large scale jutsu ( Pein much ?).
It should just be a matter of reserve kage bunshin hidden in the combat ground around him switching with him when in dire danger and some kage bunshin playing interference with straight shunshin assault on the opponent = Ok the shunshin is supposedly easily spotted, which means you can violently counter attack... that's a problem if the opponent doesn't want to die. Kage bunshin don't have that problem. Suicide assault much ? Let him learn the shadow clone explosion and enjoy.
Then the point that REALLY irks me in every fic. Do you know how the hiraishin works, 'cause I hope you don't share the same point of view from the Jonin in the stadium with their "The Yondaime earned the nickname because he could shunshin over battlefields in a single move, leaving a trail of corpses.".
That's crap. In every damn chapter we saw with the yondaime he never used the shunshin I think. Always just purely combat speed ( no shunshin smoke ) and the straight teleportation ( no movement ) from the hiraishin seal scribed on his kunai, or with his chakra ( kakashi gaiden on the foot of the guy who ripped his eye ). Rant over on the yondaime.
The combat as always was realist enough. If Gaara wanted to straight-off kill Naruto he could have with his sand-spike from him tricks. Knowing that the disappearing clones went for him, as soon as they disappear he could have prepared for tricks.
Anyway, for me it's a win as a multi-chaptered fic and I need MOAR !
We still don't know if canon Naruto actually knew the name of the Yondaime and not just the title, it's simple but it clearly shows the state of mind of your Naruto, he has goals but he's not quite there to reach them smartly.
The fact that Orochimaru "forgot" that combat style is nice. It speaks well for the advancement of that style => there is none. Once sufficient speed is reached the tags are used, because you have nothing else. It's a fighting tactic used by people low on chakra, or developed because it's efficient in a minimum time of training. So Naruto for now is playing bomberman but it was just a mean to an end ( survive the fight vs Gaara ). He will obviously drop that style ( but not forget it ) later on, unless I'm missing something.
I recently checked out femGaara/Naruto ... it caught me but I still don't know why I love them ... nothing against it from me
The next problem is that we still don't know what are the limitations of the shunshin and the kawarimi. Naruto by being the shinobi that can spam kage bunshin ( clones that can use jutsu ), by using the 3 academy jutsu ( his improved versions of them ? ) + the shunshin could "on paper" be the strongest shinobi ever with sufficient experience just by surviving against pretty much anything except large scale jutsu ( Pein much ?).
It should just be a matter of reserve kage bunshin hidden in the combat ground around him switching with him when in dire danger and some kage bunshin playing interference with straight shunshin assault on the opponent = Ok the shunshin is supposedly easily spotted, which means you can violently counter attack... that's a problem if the opponent doesn't want to die. Kage bunshin don't have that problem. Suicide assault much ? Let him learn the shadow clone explosion and enjoy.
Then the point that REALLY irks me in every fic. Do you know how the hiraishin works, 'cause I hope you don't share the same point of view from the Jonin in the stadium with their "The Yondaime earned the nickname because he could shunshin over battlefields in a single move, leaving a trail of corpses.".
That's crap. In every damn chapter we saw with the yondaime he never used the shunshin I think. Always just purely combat speed ( no shunshin smoke ) and the straight teleportation ( no movement ) from the hiraishin seal scribed on his kunai, or with his chakra ( kakashi gaiden on the foot of the guy who ripped his eye ). Rant over on the yondaime.
The combat as always was realist enough. If Gaara wanted to straight-off kill Naruto he could have with his sand-spike from him tricks. Knowing that the disappearing clones went for him, as soon as they disappear he could have prepared for tricks.
Anyway, for me it's a win as a multi-chaptered fic and I need MOAR !
"I'll tell anybody who asks that you exist!"
Ha ha, perfect. Exactly the sort of event that would tip Gaara into a less harmless kind of crazy, someone offering to independent verification.
But, I think you need to explain why it's quiet inside Gaara's head, at least to the audience.
I wasn't too enthusiastic about the shunshin thing, it smacks too much of super!Naruto.
Kawarimi + exploding tags + lots of Kage Bunshin is enough. I think you should cut Jiraiya from this entirely and have Ebisu be the one that's like, "just spam bombs." You don't need A-B-C tags, just tags is enough. Because even if it dampens it, the sand would still propagate a pressure wave, so Gaara could still be hurt by a shockwave. With exploding tags, you could give Gaara a pretty mean concussion probably.
Ha ha, perfect. Exactly the sort of event that would tip Gaara into a less harmless kind of crazy, someone offering to independent verification.
But, I think you need to explain why it's quiet inside Gaara's head, at least to the audience.
I wasn't too enthusiastic about the shunshin thing, it smacks too much of super!Naruto.
Kawarimi + exploding tags + lots of Kage Bunshin is enough. I think you should cut Jiraiya from this entirely and have Ebisu be the one that's like, "just spam bombs." You don't need A-B-C tags, just tags is enough. Because even if it dampens it, the sand would still propagate a pressure wave, so Gaara could still be hurt by a shockwave. With exploding tags, you could give Gaara a pretty mean concussion probably.
Yeah, that's why the tags work. The shield absorbs it, and nothing happens. The armor kicks back and gives Gaara the shakes.
I like mah tag names :unsure:
Also, I kinda wanna just make him a speed junkie, the kind of hit-and-run ninja. Though aside from his shunshin speed, he's still not up to Sasuke's speed in a close fight.
Alright....
WHAT. THE. FUCK.
"Chapter 2" is ready, mostly. Though I'm gonna read it through, have a nervous fit, delete it, and then start over again.
Maybe
I like mah tag names :unsure:
Also, I kinda wanna just make him a speed junkie, the kind of hit-and-run ninja. Though aside from his shunshin speed, he's still not up to Sasuke's speed in a close fight.
Alright....
WHAT. THE. FUCK.
"Chapter 2" is ready, mostly. Though I'm gonna read it through, have a nervous fit, delete it, and then start over again.
Maybe
He walked up the stairs. He swore he could feel his life slowly draining from him. "Eheheh... Hey Gaara...can you let go? Can you walk alright?"
The redhead let loose the arm and stood silently. Naruto stopped as well, turning around to look at Gaara. "You okay?". Those words seemingly woke Gaara up, as she took a few seconds to scan the surroundings.
With a stare and a slight shrug, the redhead began walking again, with Naruto in tow.
--oo--oo--
The sand siblings twitched as their youngest member arrived. They gave each other a worried look, but did nothing. Gaara approached them, leaving the goodbye-waving idiot of a leaf ninja behind.
The redhead stopped two metres in front of her two elder siblings. The two tensed up. Gaara was always dangerous, but when she had failed to kill someone...
"Temari..." The low monotone made the sand trios wind user freeze up, she could hardly breathe.
"Y-yeah?" She took controlled breaths until she felt in control again. Even if Gaara was super freaky and totally not acting like his usual self, there was no way he would just kill her... Right?
Gaara stepped forward, the blond sand ninja tensing up completely again and closing her eyes. She could feel the sand gathering around her face. Kankurou must've frozen up as well, or then he simply didn't see the worth in risking his own neck. A few seconds passed, and then sand began subsiding.
Temari opened her eyes and blinked. She was still in one not so mushy-and-all-over-the-walls piece. Her eyes widened as she stared at Gaara who was staring at his hand with... was... was he frowning?
"You cannot verify my existence." Those cold words made Temari relax so much she almost wet herself. Gaara didn't want to kill her, not yet at least. She stared on intently as her crazy little brother began looking around, almost as if listening to a far away sound, trying to trace where it came from.
"Inefficient..." He snarled quietly.
Them his eyes settled on the laughing orange ninja who had somehow managed to defeat him earlier.
'Oh crap, is he gonna go berserk?' Temari's eyes shot wide open, at the same time Kankurou placed a hand on her shoulder. Oh now he cared if she was alright...
She wasn't sure she was alright, but nodded anyway as she eyed her little brother.
--oo--oo--
"Naruto... what the hell did you do?" Shikamaru was for once, willing to start a conversation. This whole charade of a fight had managed to pique his interest.
Shino walked to them silently as the grinning blond stopped walking.
"You know, Shikamaru... I have no idea. For a second there I was absolutely sure I was a goner, and then the next..." Naruto's sentance cut off, his mind seemingly wandering away mid-statement, his I-just-won! rush wearing off.
The trio stood silently, until Shikamaru finally broke it. "Hey Naruto...? You okay?" This was getting troublesome. Post traumatic stress disorder on Naruto of all people, waaayyy too troublesome.
"Y-yeah..." Naruto blinked and shot a look to the sand ninja standing as far away from them as possible. "Just thinking about breasts... I guess..." Before Shikamaru could even sigh, Naruto continued.
"Hey, you guys think Gaara looks like a girl?" Those words made the hair on the back of Shikamaru's neck rise. Even if he had just won, you just don't say some things about about people like Gaara.
A psycho girl. Waaay too much trouble.
Shino merely let his eyebrow rise and gave a quick look toward the redhead. Shino cut in before Shikamaru could sigh and go back to ignoring reality.
"Indeed, Gaara is quite androgynous. He could quite well be either." Shino turned back to look at his two collegues.
Shikamaru blinked and then leaned over to give the redhead a quick look. He was trying to touch his sister's face, but it seemed like his sand was moving to block the contact. He sighed and rubbed his neck. "Whatever, this is way too troublesome..."
"Yeah..." Naruto laughed weakly and shrugged. Good thing all this craziness was over.
"Naruto." Shino continued the discussion, clearly still having something on his mind. Naruto blinked and hmm'd at the silent glasses wearing boy.
"Are you alright? You are bleeding off chakra, my bugs are rather... lively and nervous because of it." Naruto wasn't just bleeding, he was blazing with chakra, permeating the very air he breathed and the space he stood in. For the first time in his life, Shino wasn't sure his kikkai bugs could do anything of worth against an opponents chakra reserves.
Naruto blinked and then looked at his abdomen confused. "What do you mean, I feel fine...". He felt more than fine. He felt great. That was weird, his legs should still be stinging from the overusage of shunshin. His reserves should be somewhere around 70 per cent after those clones and constant shunshins.
With a quick ram seal, Naruto assessed his condition. He was absolutely overflowing with chakra, his legs felt great, and he was more than a little hungry. With a laugh he let the handseal go.
"I guess I'm just so excited over winning, or something. Guess I should go get something to eat."
Neither of his two friends bothered replying as the air froze. Gaara had joined their little ring, and was intently staring at Naruto.
"Eh...? H-hi Gaara? Something I can uh... do for ya?" Naruto broke the silence, stuttering where the two others dared on not address the redhead. Gaara looked around and nodded. Not to Naruto, no she wasn't even looking at him.
"uh... you need something, Gaara?" Their eyes met as Gaara noticed Naruto. She raised an eyebrow and began looking around again.
"I'll just... uh... They have some shops right outside the arena right, I'll just go get something real quick to eat." The blond made an effort the exit the group, but Shino and Gaara both seemed to find that unacceptable.
"Competitors shall remain here until the end of the tournament." That was Shino.
"I will accompany you." This shouldn't have been Gaara.
The trio stared at the crossarmed Gaara, still intently staring at Naruto. Shino's comment was largely ignored in favor of the redheads.
Shino coughed.
"Uh...can I make a clone to pick something up for me?" Naruto shook his head, clearing all confusing thoughts. Getting no complaints he made a clone who ran off. Slightly too eager to get the hell out of there, the others noted.
So Naruto was just as freaked out as they were. Good to know.
The four stood in awkward silence until they noted that Neji had joined the group. He had spent the time so far getting his twitch under control.
"Uzumaki... Where is Uchiha Sasuke? Has he chosen to back out?" Hyuuga Neji, Naruto decided once again, was a jerk who really needed to get his shit kicked.
"He's training with Kakashi, he'll show up. I think... Don't worry, he'll show up to kick your ass. Okay?" Alright, he was worried as all hell too. This was Kakashi they were talking about, the man arrived late by habit. It was entirely possible they had forgotten the whole thing and were still off somewhere training.
The Hyuuga scoffed and crossed his arms. "I fear if he does not arrive within the next minute, that..."
All of their attention went to the Hokage, as the aged man silenced the murmuring and lively crowd. Ninja and civilian alike were trying to make sense of the first fight's last minutes.
--oo--oo--
The old man coughed and began. "Seeing as how Uchiha Sasuke has not yet arrived, I am inclined to give victory to Hyuuga Neji by default." A wave of 'what!' and 'no way!' swept through the crowd.
Before anyone could vocally begin protesting, the Hokage silenced the crowd with his booming voice. That voice prejection jutsu was really useful when you're a kage.
"However--!!
A great many have come here today specifically to watch this bout between the two clans proteges. I understand how many of you have waited for this day, so I, along with the honorable Kazekage, have decided to postpone this fight to a later slot." The crowd erupted in a murmur. The Hokage nodded to himself and eyed the still somewhat shellshocked kage sitting down.
The man had been so interested in seeing the Konoha top rookies duke it out, yet his sons loss had come so unexpected that it left the man speechless. He would be a bad host to deny his guest at least the Uchiha vs. Hyuuga fight.
"So. Let the tournament continue." A cheer erupted among the crowd. It was good to keep the public happy, though Uchiha Sasuke could be quite sure he would not be getting his promotion unless he had a damn good explonation.
He tolerated Kakashi because he knew the man needed his private time by his old friends memorial, and that the tardy man could more than handle anything that was thrown at him. But he wasn't about to let there be a second shinobi in his force that thought he could get away with being late.
--oo--oo--
Gaara sat up from the long bench where Naruto sat and walked off. Naruto followed the redhead with his gaze as she walked around the lounge, stood around for a few minutes, then settled back to sit on the bench he was sitting on too.
Naruto was getting twitchy with Gaara being so... restless. Yet he was wary of starting a conversation with the less than sociable sand nin. And now Gaara's siblings awkwardly walked up to her and began talking about something, then the blonde sand ninja with the fan got up and began walking away toward the arena.
The black clad puppeteer remained next to Gaara, though sitting too far away to make them seem the least bit familiar. Even her family seemed to be extremely wary of her.
Wait. Did he just call her "lil'bro"?.
"Don't tell me..." Naruto's brow twitched. Shino noticed Naruto, but chose to keep his attention at the arena, where Shikamaru was doing his best to piss off the crowd.
Weighing his options, Naruto finally decided he couldn't just let it be. He got up and walked to the two, who both noticed his arrival. Gaara acknowledged his presence with a stare, her brother on the other hand was more confrontational and vocal.
"The hell do you want?"
Gaara barely even noted her brother had spoken. Naruto looked at the now standing, almost protectively in front of Gaara, sand puppeteer.
"Uh... Gangurou, was it?" The puppeteer twitched. Gaara raised a smooth eyebrow.
"It's Kankurou you little shit..."
"Ah, well, I was sorta hoping you could help me out a little..." That made Kankurou raise his eyebrow a little. Not that he was going to give this little konoha shit anything other than a poisoned blade from Karasu's elbow joint.
"Well, I was just wondering..." Naruto took a step forward and sat down, not even paying too much attention to either ninja. He sat down next to Gaara. Not too close, but not as far as Kankurou had sat, either. Kankurou froze for a second and watched how his lil'bro would react with rising dread.
But, nothing. Gaara continued to trail Naruto with her gaze like nothing odd was going on.
"How much do you really know about Gaara. And I'm gonna want this back." Kankurou felt the hairs on the back of his neck raise up as Naruto casually pointed at Gaara's shoulder at the horrid orange coat. Was the kid trying to piss Gaara off?
"Wha- what the hell do you mean, what're you implying you little..." Naruto continued to stare at Kankurou, who was beginning to get nervous at how well the two sitting could combine their gazes for one ultra-inquisitive stare.
"I'm asking how much time you spend with Gaara."
"We spend a lot of time during missions. Aside from that, Gaara likes his privacy."
Naruto got silent and looked at Gaara, then he turned his gaze back to Kankurou.
"Gaara is a girl, you knew that, right?"
"...what?" Kankurou blinked, was this his idea of a joke?
"Listen to me you little fucker, I don't know how you managed to win, or how things work around here, but I suggest you quit trying to fuck around with me." Naruto frowned and got up. Just then his clone returned with a box in hand.
"Boss! I found some dango! Though the guy sellin' 'em drove a real hard price, I hope ya don't mind that!" The clone cheerfully handed the box and dispelled itself.
Naruto winced, 'a hard price', eh? Yeah, his usual three day food budget (instant ramne) blown away on dango. With a frown he opened the box.
At least he wouldn't go hungry for a while. Sitting down again, with box in hand, he looked up to notice Gaara staring. More intently than usual.
"Uh... you want one?" She shook her head. Kankurou was about to interject about how they didn't want any crap from a leaf nin when Gaara took a dango stick anyhow.
Naruto gave her a 'heeeey, but you just said...' stare.
"...you sent a clone to buy these." It wasn't a question. Naruto blinked and nodded, having stopped in mid-bite. "But your clones are immaterial, ultimately." Naruto hmm'ed and nodded again, still not closing his mouth.
"Then how did the clone have the money to buy these...?" Gaara pointed at the dango stick with the beginnings of a curious expression. Naruto blinked and closed his mouth, then he tapped his pocket with his free hand.
"Right, I have my wallet with me."
"But you did not give the clone any money."
Naruto blinked again. He remembered paying the man. They'd haggled for a good five minutes over the damn things, too. "Wait... The clone got a copy of my wallet, too!" Naruto realized and grinned. Gaara hmm'ed and looked at the odd food while Naruto began eating.
"Then in the end you gave the man nothing." Gaara nodded and took one of the dango off the stick and took a small bite out of it. Naruto blinked and a smile crept on his face.
"Hey... you're right! I paid the guy with bunshin money! Hahaha, sucker! Wait, how did you know about how my clones work?" Gaara pondered over the odd texture before slowly turning to meet his gaze.
"You handed tags to your clones." Naruto ah'ed and nodded. Made sense. When it came to combat, Gaara was quite perceptive, he wouldn't have noticed something like that in the middle of a fight. How Naruto managed to come out as a winner, he really didn't know. Well, he didn't feel like he won, not with just that. He'd just made Gaara forget about the fight, at the end.
Naruto frowned and looked at the redhead, who was now on her second dango, examining the insides of the food after having taken a large bite of it.
Kankurou twitched, then shook his head and walked away. He needed to talk to Baki about this. Gaara was acting weird.
"So, why does he think you're a guy?" Naruto turned to Gaara after Kankurou had stormed off. Gaara raised a smooth eyebrow, did she shave them or was it natural, Naruto wondered.
"I am the third son of the Kazekage, I am male."
"No, trust me, you're a girl."
Gaara stared, finally after 15 seconds Naruto sighed at the unrelenting gaze. "Alright, tell me why you think you're a guy." To answer, Gaara merely pointed at her head. Naruto blinked and sighed, he didn't understand her at all, yet he just couldn't let it go.
He wanted to, oh dear kami he wanted. They way Gaara threw arround killing intent when the least bit annoyed wasn't exactly pleasant, and her stares could probably melt ice.
"Alright, so you have 3 brothers and a sister."
"Mhmm, I have 3 brothers, of whom one is my sister." Naruto blinked at that answer.
"No, no, I know you're siblings with Kankurou and that girl, but if you're the third son, that means you have 2 brothers, right?"
"Yes, Temari and Kankurou are my brothers."
Naruto blinked, he had mistaken once a guy for a girl... but... Temari, a guy? Shaking his head, Naruto looked at the impassive as ever Gaara.
"So Temari is a guy?" Gaara's brow furrowed at that, she shook her head. Naruto couldn't help but to facepalm, this was going nowhere.
"Temari is the eldest son, but she has long hair, so she is refered to as a female." Naruto froze. It couldn't be...
"You--! You're basing people's gender on their hair length!?" Shino gave the duo a strange look before concentration once again on the fight down below.
Gaara blinked and a small frown appeared on her face. "Is that not how it works. You are male, he is male," pointing to Shino. "Your teammates are female, Kankurou is male..." Naruto twitched. Teammates? Sasuke, a girl? He almost laughed.
"Err... no... you see, uh... I have one girl on my team, Sakura-chan, and then the bastard with black hair is a guy... Who told you about this anyhow?"
"Auntie Yashamaru."
Naruto twitched, wasn't Yashamaru a male name? Was he going to have to give Gaara, a sociopath whose interests lay solely in murder, The Talk?
"Oh kami no..." Naruto sobbed quietly to his palms and Gaara watched curiously on. Sighing, Naruto got up and walked to Shino, muttered something and walked back to Gaara. Shino stared at Naruto's back with an eyebrow raised and a look that said 'You're gonna what now...?'.
"Come on, we need to go somewhere. We can take the dango with us." Naruto grabbed the dango box and waited for Gaara to get up. Gaara narrowed her eyes and stared. She did want to follow, despite talking with him being somewhat of a bother. But on the other hand, she needed to wait for the signal.
After a few seconds she got up. She'd be able to see the signal fine from anywhere out open, and she wanted to kill Naruto first, so following him was the best course of action. If he could verify her existance by touching him, she wondered what would happen if she killed him.
She'd forgotten once, she would not again.
--oo--oo--
Sandaime seemed to be following the fight intently. The leaf genin was weak, but clever, Orochimaru had to admit. His attendant had informed him that Gaara was still ready to go, and even if he lost in the tournament, it wouldn't matter in the big picture.
With Sound and Sand nin ready outside the village walls to summon the snakes and to attack, the plan was going smoothly. Konoha would be burned to the ground.
Orochimaru allowed himself a small smile. Nothing could stop the invasion now.
--oo--oo--
"Get up! Get off your lazy butt and kick her ass! Go Shika!!" Sakura frowned as Ino screeched almost right into her ear. Then the blonde got up and almost kicked the guy one seat forward in the head. Sakura was fuming too.
Sasuke still hadn't shown up. She clenched a fist as she controlled her temper, where the hell was that damn Kakashi. And Naruto! He hadn't even bothered to look for her after he'd won, she wanted to know what the hell had happened!
Ino shook Chouji, trying to vent her anger on the large boy calmly eating chips and attempting to soothe Ino down, failing miserably.
"And where is Sasuke-kun!" Ino turned to Sakura. "Exactly, what is that damn Kakashi doing!" Sakura joined in. Chouji sighed and returned to his chips, Shikamaru was right, girls were just trouble.
--oo--oo--
Gaara looked back, seeing the arena quite clearly. They were walking along an empty street with many shops on both sides of the road. Naruto had been quietly walking, with Gaara following equally silently.
'Is this okay... No, it should be alright. There's still two more fights before it's my turn again, and Gaara won't need to fight again. And she needs to be taught about... uh... Iruka is going to kill me for interrupting his class...' He shook his head and scratched his hair while taking a sideways glance at Gaara.
Maybe he could make a clone go back and buy him some more time in case his fight began early?
Well, Gaara didn't seem to mind too much about losing. Weird. He gave the girl another glance.
She was following, alright. It was just 500 meters from the arena to the academy, where Iruka was right now.
"Where are we going?" The question brought Naruto back to reality. He turned around to look at the redhead, who had stopped walking.
"We're gonna go talk to someone I know. He can explain something a lot better than I could."
"About what?"
"Eh...you kno- no wait, you don't know, do you... uh." Naruto scratched his head. "About boys and girls, and how they are different. And I guess about how babies are made, too." Yup, Iruka was definitely not going to like this.
"Babies?" Gaara blinked. What had that to do with anything. "Babies are brought by the summon storks from Kumo.". Gaara wasn't completely uneducated, was what she wanted to convey. Unfortunately it just made Naruto all the more certain he needed to find Iruka.
"Storks? You believe that kid's stor- No, okay, listen. There's no way storks from Kumo could deliver all the babies born every day, right? And Suna has had multiple wars with Kumo, right? Babies didn't stop being born then..." Gaara nodded and silently stared at the road as they walked.
"No, even if they are at war, the economical loss of suddenly giving up a long term repeat delivery contract would be significant. Thus they would make an effort to keep the war effort and the civilian services divided. There are agreements which state that these functions should not be targeted for the sake of the civilian populace." Gaara had obviously wrapped her head around the storks idea.
Naruto blinked and sighed. This was going to be a lot more trouble than he expected. He stopped, noticing that Gaara had too stopped. She had turned around, looking at something in the distance.
A light chuckle.
Naruto blinked and looked questioningly at the redhead. The chuckle grew into a cackle. Before Naruto could question what was going on, his insticts screamed at him. Not one to question his insticts around a lunatic, Naruto shunshin'ed backwards.
As the blur settled down into normal vision, he cursed under his breath. Gaara's gourd was off her back, and the spot he'd just stood in was a pillar of sand. Gaara was now in an all out laughter as she turned around. He shivered as he could see her bloodshot eyes and feel the killing intent lashing around.
"YES! YES! I GET TO KILL YOU!!" She was still cackling as the sand snaked around her shivering body. An explosion went off in the distance, and suddenly from arena he'd been in not too long ago erupted a pillar of smoke.
"What the...!?" Before he could finish, he had backstepped again with a shunshin to avoid a tendril of sand. "Gaara! What's going on? Why are you attacking me?!" She erupted in a laughter, her voice cracking as she looked at him. He was reminded once again, that despite the rapport he'd built with her, she was still an insane and homicidal ninja from a foreign village.
"The invasion! IT'S BEGUN! I GET TO KILL YOU!! I WILL PROVE MY EXISTENCE! I WILL PAINT EVERYTHING WITH YOUR BLOOD!!"
"Wha- what invasion! Hey, didn't we go through this already once? Why do you wanna kill me?!"
"It's not enough... you're not enough... I'll kill you... your DEATH will PROVE WHO I AM TO THE WORLD--!!" She took of his jacket with angry and uncontrolled moves and threw it aside, her body had already been wrapped up in the sand armor.
The sand smoothened out her proportions, Naruto noted. With clothes on, she would look more like a little stocky boy, than a lithe girl. Throwing aside the jacket, she snarled. Making eyecontact with him, she motioned the sand to shoot out again.
Naruto shunshin'd a behind his previous spot to the left side of the street and drew out from his right pocket the three tags he'd pulled out during their time in the sand dome and used as flashlights. Gaara's eyes widened as she saw those again. It wasn't fear, Gaara had never really known fear. It was apprehension, that those stung despite the sand armor.
Yashamaru had tried to kill Gaara by using an insane amount of tags, but that did nothing to the wall of sand. Naruto had circumvented that by putting the tags directly on her armor, making the armor itself damage Gaara as it struggled to protect her.
'Mother is still silent... I can barely hear him. It does not matter. It is better that I fight myself. He will blur out and try to get close. He can go past any attack... The moment he moves, I'll raise a shield in front of me and shoot out a wave along the street, he'll run straight into it and get caught up...and then...and the... I'LL KILL HIM...' Estatically she hissed as she watched the orange ninja pull out another three A-notes from his lowest scroll.
Holding three A-notes in each hand, Naruto stared at his opponent. He felt confident, despite his legs shaking a little. Jiraiya had tried to teach Naruto his own style, which he called something completely unintelligible, which used the center of mass to make powerful strikes.
Sadly, Naruto hadn't understood one bit of it, so Jiraiya gave up and instead helped Naruto with his innate brawling. Hooks and uppercuts were Naruto's bread and butter, Jiraiya quickly realized, so he spent some time teaching the boy on the importance of the Jab and the Straight as opening and safe moves that lead to better possibilites for using a strong and powerful punch.
How the boy had survived so long with such shitty taijutsu had eluded the sage. But during his fight against Gaara he began understanding. He didn't just learn quick, he learned at a multiplied pace!
He didn't just watch as his clones got beaten, he watched it from dozens of angles, quickly understanding his opponents rhythm, style and speed. And suddenly those easy to dodge and parry big punches Naruto used became a hell of a lot harder to avoid.
Another thing he spent learning was prediction. Mitsune, the toad, had spent her whole life building up her speed. For Naruto to become as fast as her in a few weeks was impossible. So she constantly moved only a little faster than he did, and only using her massive advantage when she felt like being a jerk.
The idea was for Naruto to predict and learn how to react quickly. So he would constantly hand a few fractions of a second behind her.
He'd during their match become more and more capable of reading how the sand moved. Now, once he'd calmed down after the fight, it was even more amazing how much he could read on how it moved. The sand was being positioned to shoot forward like a wave. In the tighter space of the street, where there was only so much space to dodge sideways, he'd be easily caught up in it.
It seemed he wasn't the only one who learned to adapt a little. He grinned as he took a deep breath. Extending his fist to point at Gaara, with three notes held between his fingers. "Hey, hey. You wanna fight so bad? Well then, let's go." Gaara snarled, pleased. She really wanted him dead, he noted laughing weakly.
"But don't worry, I'll take it easy on you. No Clones, that's a promise!" He grinned, noticing how tense she got. She was furious. Before she could begin, he exploded into a shunshin.
'There...!!' A wave of sand shot forward, covering the whole width of the street and way higher than they stood.
Naruto grinned as he rolled into an alley between two shops, out of her sight. With a chakra powered jump he ran up the side of the two story building. On the top, he peered carefully. The sand was back down, merely swirling and snaking itself around her.
He nodded to himself. The clones were unnecessary already, they were too slow. Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke had the sharingan, but he had nothing like that. He could only learn and adapt, like against Kiba, where he could feel himself slowly adapting to their moves and speed.
With a quick final shoulder shrug to relax, he shunshin'ed down onto the ground. A second shunshin as soon as he hit the ground.
Gaara's eyes shot wide open as her instincts screamed 'LEEEEFT!!'. The wall was already moving up, but he was already inside her defense. Before she had had time to face him, his incoming fist crashed into her cheek, rattling her head a little. The first hit always hurt. Nothing dangerous, though, or worth being scared about.
Landing with the first strike, a right straight from above, he spun on his heel, slapping her in the midsection twice. 'Time's up!'.
Before the sand could engulf him, he shot forward, to the direction where they'd stood seconds earlier facing off. Sliding to a halt, without bothering to look back, he pushed chakra into his legs and pushed with all his legstrength into a backwards high jump.
Gaara had recovered and sent out a powerful wave of sand to the direction she'd felt him vanish. She barely had time to gape as he backflipped over the wave, landing on the ground for a mere fraction of a second before he vanished again.
Naruto grinned, the world still blurring around him. He twisted on his heel, spun his body around and extended his other leg with a powerful kick, feeling the impact, he recovered from the kick into a stance and leaned forward slapping Gaara's airborn legs with his last two tags before he jumped back. He needed a few moments to let his legs cool down.
The Spinning back kick, powered by the shunshin and the powerful spin he'd managed to get into it had equal power to one of Lee's fearsome kicks Gaara noted with a wince. The blow didn't just hit Gaara, it knocked the air clean out of her lungs as she was thrown back, off her feet. She didn't even register Naruto slapping her on the legs in mid-flight.
The sand had, however had already received it's orders after the wave had missed when Naruto backflipped over it: COME BACK & ENGULF HIM.
With a grunt, he shunshin'd inside a closed store through the window. Rolling on the floor while trying to avoid the shards, Naruto scanned the area. The Exit! Jumping out from the store, he barely had time to shunshin when sand tendrils smashed into the store, ripping it apart and anything near it. Gaara was throwing attacks around where she thought he was... or then she wasn't looking and was taking the tags off.
"Yeah, nope. Katsu!" With the serpent seal, the middle of the street boomed as the sands coiled around the explosion.
Gaara had gotten the tags on her face off, but the ones on her mid-section and legs were more than enough. The explosion blinded her senses and shook her body with waves of pain.
She was down on the ground, sand desperately trying to cover her from something it barely could follow.
She needed mother, if she let mother take over, it would all be alright. She could hear him raging inside, but it was far too distant, far too intangible. Whatever Naruto had done, it was still in effect. Shukaku could't help her.
Wobbling to get on her feet, powered by rage only as the sand armor finished repairing itself, Gaara snarled. Her vision was blurry. Yet she could see his orange pants contrasting against his black t-shirt and the surroundings. She couldn't hear anything aside from a weird continuous PEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-sound. Her ears were affected as well by the blast.
She almost fell over as her vison darkened out. Like this she wouldn't be able to make any preempative moves to intercept him, he'd just waltz past her automatic defense like it wasn't even there, if it even would react. He'd been casually touching her before she began actively thinking 'stay back!' to make the sand shield block him out.
He disappeared from her already blurry vision, she felt four slaps to her face. The sand moved to intercept, but he had already gone. He must have gone to either side... Indeed, she could feel his light, almost pathetic slaps barraging her left side, again the sand moved and failed.
'Is it over... need to attack... take these off...'
A blow struck her in the lower back, she felt another four slaps followed by him using her as a kickboard to shunshin away from the surrounding sand.
Falling over, she spat at the ground. She could see again somewhat clearly with the black spots disappearing from her vision, she struggled cursing a litte. Getting up on all four she managed to sit up on her knees. He was there, not even bothering to approach. He must have hit her with at least 12 tags. Would she make it? Could Shukaku protect her?
'I... I... I don't want it to hurt... Mother help...! I don't...' "...want to die..." Shaking and with a blurry vision, she looked at him calmly taking the serpent seal. Her hearing was still shot, but she could read his lips...
"G-me o-er, l--ks lik- I win, Gaara." He smirked at her, she could feel the chakra build up. 'Please...please...!'.
--oo--oo--
Naruto spoke to detonate his seals, all 15 of the A-tags on Gaara. It should be enough.
"Kats-" *thud
Naruto blinked, not finishing the detonation as he stared. She had fallen over. The sands fell around her like... Well sand that was floating and then suddenly not floating.
He jumped back, hands still in the handseal. Nothing was happening. She wasn't getting up, and no clever trap seemed to spring. He twitched, was she bluffing? She wasn't particularly sneaky, with the subtlety of a sledgehammer she possessed, he doubted she could even do such a thing.
"Okay, hey, I'll take that as a sign of you giving up, sit up with your hands where I can see 'em!" Wait, that was stupid, she didn't need her hands to kill him.
He let go of the handseal and scratched his head. There was a good 40 meters between them, and there wasn't anything moving toward him. He could hear some booms in the distance, but that was probably the invasion she spoke of.
...
'The invasion! Oh crap oh crap oh crap! What do I do!?' he jumped around in place, realizing he knew nothing about the invasion protocols.
"Get to cover? No way! Uh... protect the civilians? Confront the enemies? Find a jounin? What the hell! What am I supposed to do?!" Then he stopped in mid hop. He blinked, then a big grin crept on his face as he laughed little to himself. He snapped his fingers and stood up straight.
"Alright, I choose...Tajuu Kage Bunshin!" The street was covered in smoke, but quickly subsided.
Fivehundred and one clones had popped into existance, all in five neat rows, facing Naruto, who was with his back turned to Gaara. One clone was closer to Naruto and was facing the other ones standing in a row.
"Attention- HUT!" The separate clone shouted as Naruto(the original) blinked. "What the..."
"What is our mission, men?!"
"Ramen!"
"Booty!"
"Protect Ichiraku!"
"Ichiraku!"
"Iruka-sensei!"
"Paint the town red!"
The standing at attention Narutos all chorused their respective thoughts as the separate one, which Naruto mentally dubbed 'The Commander' fumed in place.
"NO, you imbeciles!! General, your orders!" The commander shouted and turned in place to salute the Naruto, who was still blinking. The clones standing at attention all hailed Naruto who blinked a 'who, me?'.
"uh..." They stood silently staring.
Naruto coughed to himself and cleared his throat.
"Uh... Do what I would do."
Fivehundred "OSSU!" answered him. Naruto frowned at the sillyness of it all as he pulled the C-dispencer scroll and threw it to one of the clones, who pulled a note and passed the scroll on.
"ONCE YOU HAVE A TAG, DISPERSE!" The commander roared back to the Uzumaki Naruto Corps and turned back to The General.
"Sir, I volunteer for suicide-duty!"
"Eh?"
"Gaara-chan, sir!"
"Gaara...chan...?"
The commander squirmed in place, blushing and hugging something imaginary. Naruto made a mental note to check if overuse of Kage bunshin could lead to adverse mental conditions, like schizophrenia or autophagia or whatever as he facepalmed, waving the commader a 'go ahead' with this other hand.
--oo--oo--
"Your mother named you Gaara, not because she loved you..."
He was bleeding...
"She named you Gaara after 'A self-loving carnage' for the hate she felt against you and the village..."
On the ground...
"No one will ever accept you or love you, you'll forever be alone..."
Gaara couldn't accept it... not him too...
"This is it, Gaara, please die."
He was covered in explosive notes. There must have been a hundred of them...
*KABOOM
--oo--oo--
"Yashamaru..."
Gaara woke up with a startle. She blinked as a grinning Naruto was looking down at her... was he giving her a lap pillow? The sands moved and the Naruto was crushed to a pulp as she sat up, slowly. Her body had never ached all over like this before.
Someways off, she could see him, he'd turned around the moment she crushed the clone, as she now realized.
He stopped approaching, and almost grinned. She coughed and glared weakly. "I thought... no clones..." She shook, as she tried to get back up.
"Are you kidding me...? I beat you fair and square, already! But then you fainted, and then you started crying and all!" She froze at that. Gaara, The self-loving carnage crying? She shook a little as the memories of the... dream resurfaced.
"Hey." A hand on her shoulder, her eyes shot wide open as she stared at the concerned looking blond, now within her automatic range. She hadn't even noticed him. Nor had the sand. What the hell had he done to her?
'It's not a clone, I need to...!' As if reading her mind, he flicked his finger at her forehead. It hurt. A lot. She blinked holding her forehead in surprise.
"Hey, stop trying so hard. It's starting to get annoying." He frowned and stood up straight. He closed his eyes and nodded to himself while crossing his arms. She flinched as he pointed at her, when nothing hurt, she opened her eyes.
"You are now my prisoner! And this is an interrogation!" He huffed and sat down crosslegged in front of her. He even placed the dango box from before between them and began casually eating off a stick.
"So, so. Right. Who's attacking and why?"
She blinked. Then she twitched as she felt someone nearing.
Above! A sound shinobi was jumping toward them with a Katana in hand from behind Naruto. He hadn't even noticed the ninja yet. She could only stare mouth agape as time seemed to slow down, the man falling with katana ready to kill the orange ninja...
"BAKUHA SHUNSHIN UPPERCUT!!"
And then a Naruto shunshin'ed in and uppercutted him with an explosive note. The ninja never even stood a chance.
The clone poofed out of existance half a second later, leaving Naruto to turn around to see a cloud of smoke and a unconcious and falling over ninja.
Another Naruto jumped down and saluted the sitting Naruto, much to Gaara's confusion.
"Apologies, General, we are still attempting to weed them out." Naruto nodded awkwardly and the clone ran off.
Gaara blinked. She should have easily been able to react. Both to the ninja jumping in, and to Naruto suddenly leaving her unwatched. She should have been able to attack his unguarded back, but the gears were never set into motion.
Why didn't she kill him? Was she afraid of him?
"Hey. Like I asked you already once, why is Konoha being attacked...?" His eyes pierced her completely. She felt completely defenseless as she was under his stare. "I- I- I don't know... Th-the Kazekage made pact with the Hidden Sound to invade Konoha..." She blinked as he spurted it out before she had realized it.
"Your dad did? Ah.. yeah... The ones who attack all have Suna or Oto headbands...Hmm..." Naruto scrunched up in thought as he reviewed what he knew.
"It seems like there's something big going on by the arena." Naruto stared of into the distance and sighed. He got up and walked a few metres, picked something up and walked back.
"Here. Come on." He threw his orange jacket at her feet. Gaara blinked and looked up to him, still confused. "Put it on, we're goin' there. And I'm not leaving you behind." She awkwardly followed his instructions and put it on, then blinking as she was picked up by Naruto so she could stand and lean on him for support.
Ah, a clone. Yeah, there was no way he trusted her.
"And uhh...Like, don't try pulling those off. I rigged them to explode if they come off. You're kinda my prisoner now, got it?" He pointed at the still present tags. She winced, and nodded, still dazed. Slowly, the trio began walking toward the arena.
Man, going looking for Iruka in the middle of the tournament was retarded, what the hell was he thinking then?
Right, avoiding giving Gaara The Talk.
Reasonable enough.
--oo--oo--
"Nobody likes a persistant guy!" Anko locked kunai with the sound nin, who snarled, trying to sound particularly tough and scary.
Before she had a chance to kick the mans ass, a Chuunin appeared behind him and backhanded him in the neck. The sound nin fell like a sack of potatoes. Anko frowned and looked up, she blinked as they made eyecontact.
"Heeeeyy... ain'tcha one of those Academy instructors or somethin'?" The man blinked and nodded, then he whistled a code. A few second passed and another Chuunin came out of hiding from an alley, with a whole academy of children in tow.
Anko's eyebrow twitched as Iruka began to open his mouth. "HELL NAW!!" Iruka flinched, and a lot of the children turned to look at the two while marching in rows of three.
"I know, I know... I'm supposed to help you out since ya need help, but hell naw! I ain't gonna spend all this time looking out for some shitty brats!" She snarled and with a huff turned around crossarmed.
"Maa..." Iruka began, he really didn't like this woman. Not because of her reputation, Iruka knew better than that. He'd been openminded about her, but the first time he saw her he instantly knew: they would absolutely not get along, ever.
"Please don't swear in front of the children. And just a little bit of scouting or protection is all we're asking, at least until we make it to the shelter... Please...?" He clapped his hands and bowed to her. She turned her head and eyed him with one eye. A feral grin crept on her face. "If ya buy me some dango."
Iruka twitched and stood straight up, stepped forward and grabbed her by the collar pulling her close to him, much to the snake users surprise. "Listen up you little...! Fine! I'll buy you some dango, but NOW, help me get these children to safety!".
She blinked.
Then she laughed and leaned forward, till their noses were touching. Keeping his cool, Iruka stared at her straight in the eyes. Finally she sighed and leaned back. "Fiiiiiiiine... But you owe me some dango, you hear!". She hated escort missions so damn much.
--oo--oo--
Neji twirled on his heel, avoiding the kunai stab, then with a spin he was behind the Sand ninja. Three strikes and the man was down. A quick scan.
'No rest for the lowly branch member...'
With a burst of speed he was upon the short, dark-haired Hyuuga girl, striking the two men attempting to use her as a hostage against the powerhouse of a Hyuuga tearing through them. Indeed, Hiashi was more than just a Main family figure, he was a powerful Jyuuken user.
Neji could feel Hanabi's eyes upon him as he spun around her, step by step dancing mere inches away from her while repeling multiple assailants with ease. Finally he stopped and stood straight, with his eyes closed. He took a calm breath, and as he opened his eyes, all four men around him fell over limp.
Hanabi was staring at him wide-eyed. "Neji-niisan...". He almost flinched at her voice. Damn main family. "Are you alright, Hanabi-sama." He forced the question with an emotionless voice, she nodded. Neji nodded back and looked to the calmly fighting Hyuuga head.
Neji narrowed his eyes as he inspected the technique the man was performing flawlessly. He'd never seen it before, but he had been following it like a hawk, despite fighting.
It was based around a stance, where the used could deflect attacks from any direction, he could see that the stance and all the parries flowed on and on. Up till 16 parries in a row were possible, and the number reseted the moment you returned to the stance.
It used a combination of perfect awareness and impeccable timing. Neji almost dared scoff as he carefully recorded each stance, each movement, each flow... With a little bit of training, he would be able to perform it as well.
The Main family could not even begin to dream that he would be able to copy it so easily.
It was inferior to the Kaiten as a defense, but far less chakra intensive and allowed for a lot more mobility. Interesting, Neji noted.
--oo--oo--
Iruka grumbled, having to scout ahead with this... woman, was getting on his nerves. She was brash, crazy, and had no sense of decency. With a small blush at the jiggle, Iruka hopped forward.
Suddenly Anko twisted in midair, dodging three kunai. She landed gracefully and smirked.
"Damn!" Iruka landed next to her, facing his back to hers as five sound nin surrounded them.
"Heh! This is getting good!" Anko smirked and drew a kunai, twirling it in mid air and licking the blade as soon as she caught it.
"This isn't the time to fight, we need to inform the others that this path isn't safe!"
"You wanna run, go ahead! You'll just have to pay me with more dango, chicken!"
All ninja present blinked as an orange blur crashed into one of the sound nin, and then exploded into his face.
"Huh...?" Both leaf nin twitched. Orange?
When sixteen other orange blurs tried to suicide rush them, the sound ninja took a hasty retreat.
"Wha... Naruto?!"
"Oh, Iruka-sensei! Urk... You!" Anko grinned and looked at the short orange ninja. "Miss me already, kiddo?"
Iruka blinked and was about to question the nature of their relationship, when another 30 clones landed next to them.
"Squad Shio is covering the academy students. Squads Tonkotsu and Shyu are to make it to the residential area to help repel the summons and protect civilians." One of the Naruto spoke, the one who'd conversed with Iruka and Anko nodded.
"What about the Miso Squad?"
"Ichiraku's."
"Ah, of course."
Before the two older ninja could question any of them, the orange group dashed off. Both blinked and looked at each other.
"Stay in kombu formation! In case of enemy ninja, proceed with the katsuobushi formation!" The two blinked and turned around. The acadmy students were being escorted by a sizable force of Naruto's all deathly grim and serious.
Some even had some orange war paint on their faces.
Iruka sighed and facepalmed. At least they wouldn't embarrass him in front of his students.
"Oh, it's Iruka-sensei!!"
Damn it, Naruto.
--oo--oo--
Naruto's greatest strength was not his stamina. It wasn't Kyuubi induced ragefits, nor even his determination. It was the simple fact, that Lady Luck was head over heels in love with him. Well, maybe she was, or maybe he was just lucky for some unexplainable reason.
You could argue it's the way the cosmos repayed Naruto for 13 years of bullshit, but Naruto had been lucky his whole life. Not in the "oh would you look at that, my sixth Royal Flush today!" way. It was in the little things.
Like how his clone sneezed, pulled Gaara down just as something flew through where their heads had been a moment before. Oh, the wall of sand had appeared and tried to cover them, it even almost crushed the clone, thinking that was the source of the danger, until Gaara stopped it. She didn't want to lose the support with her legs still wobbly.
But whatever it had been, it had ripped a hole through the sands.
"Whoa, what the?" Naruto blinked and crouched into a stance and pulled a kunai. There was nobody in sight. They were a hundred meters from the arena, having encountered no resistance, though plenty of his clones had died already.
And really, Bakuha Shunshin? Was that his idea?
A low whistling sound made it to Naruto's ears as three barely visible sickles that seemed to be made out of air shot out from around a corner toward him and Gaara. One of the sickles twisted in around and separated from the other two. It was heading for him.
With a quick look at the Gaara leaning onto his clone, sands shifting and snaking around the two, Naruto nodded to assure himself. He could count on Gaara to handle herself, even as his prisoner.
The sickle twisted and curved to hit him, he shunshin'ed ten meters back and ran forward, with a quick look, he noted that the two sickles aimed at Gaara did nothing as they crashed into her sands harmlessly.
He blinked as the last sickle twisted around 90 degrees and continued to come for him. So dodging wasn't effective. Naruto ran till he was facing a concrete wall of some shop then he turned around and smirked. The sickle was still heading for him.
With a grin he felt the chakra welling up for a max speed shunshin. The better he performed the charka pulse in his feet, the further and faster he could go, but it was pretty hard to get it down perfect with his crappy chakra control, so he relied on easier ones with a shorter distance.
Timing was important here. The sickle flew on, twisting and turning in flight, and just at the last second as it was about to hit Naruto, he blurred out of it's way. The sickle of air hit the concrete wall with a screeching noise cut its way into the building and then dying down somewhere inside.
Naruto skidded to a halt, he'd made it back next to Gaara, who had opted to stand on her own, arms crossed and looking around.
"You okay?" She nodded and the clone just shrugged.
"Am I allowed to defend myself?" Naruto blinked at that. "I am your prisoner, am I not." She snarled.
"Oh, right. Yeah. No problem." Naruto nodded and his hand went to his left thigh. He had no C-tags, those were kinda useless anyhow. He had still a fair supply of B's, but he was out of A's. Well, aside from the ones on Gaara.
He would probably have use for one.
He frowned and stepped closer to her. She eyed him curiously, but continued to peer around for more air sickles, or any sign of attackers.
He got up to her, and took off one of the tags on her thigh. She tensed and then relaxed, eyeing the tags questioningly. Weren't they supposed to blow up?
"Right, I'm gonna try looking around a little." He pocketed the tag after setting it on 'stand-by'. Then with a shunshin, he was off.
--oo--oo--
Baki sneered as he crouched in the shadows. He finished the handseals and took a deep breath, then as he exhaled he pushed the chakra out of his lungs. Thirteen air sickles appeared and flew off, dividing into different groups and going different routes.
Gaara had managed to survive the first attack somehow. He growled to himself as he began working on the second lance. He was chosen as Gaara's sensei solely for his ability to use the Uzumaku no Kaze Yari.
It was a slow jutsu. It flew at speeds below what a fresh academy student could throw kunai at, it flew straight only, and would dissipate after flying a set distance. He'd only managed to make it hit since there was so much junk to hide behind, that they'd failed to notice him.
It's only usage was the way it drilled through targets and anything standing in it's way. The second Kazekage, who had experimented with jinchuuriki, had devised the jutsu.
They had a lot of data on jinchuuriki mentality. It was easy to make them dependant of someone who showed them a little love, but in the end the lack of physical contact and the way everyone shunned them frustrated them until they snapped.
It was just easier to make them monsters who felt they were in control and doing what was most suitable for continued survival.
Assassins were a way to allow them to 'fight back' enough to feel they had the village by the metaphorical balls. Killing an Ichibi jinchuuriki was hard work, but hardly impossible. He remembered still how he had chosen to recommend the boy's uncle as the first 'assassin' on purpose.
That had been the final straw for the boy, making him the monster they needed and could control.
Baki snapped out of his musings as he felt the jutsu be completed. Now to get near to the monster and slay it.
Gaara had failed, in the tournament, and during the invasion. He was supposed to unleash Shukaku as soon as the invasion began. But no such thing happened.
Nobody needed a weapon that didn't work, or a beast that licked instead of biting the enemy's hand when offered food.
--oo--oo--
"Fuujin no Kama..." Gaara muttered. Baki used that technique often. He was hiding and using those attacks that could home in and move independantly as a distraction. 'What was that first attack?'
Gaara eyed the clone next to her, it was taking it rather easy and relaxing.
'If I kill it, he will know and then he'll blow up the tags...I need to keep it alive then.' No room for fuck ups.
'Can I take off these tags, or did he really do something with them...? No time to think, need to be ready. Shukaku is completely silent, again.' She eyed the clone again. 'Proximity to him makes it harder for Shukaku. I think.'
Why was she being attacked in the first place? Right, stupid question. She had failed too many times, or somebody finally found the chance to take her out after all those years. Didn't really matter.
"Hey, you." She stared at the clone.
"Haaaaii, what'cha need, Gaara!" The clone was far too lively for her liking.
"Transform into me. The sand shall cover you while you stay here as a distraction." She raised an eyebrow as the clone completely copied her mannerism and nodded back impassively.
Then it transformed. She was almost creeped at how well the clone did it.
She didn't have time to be creeped out, so she seemed to dissovle into sand as she shunshin'ed and appeared in an alley, hiding in the shadows.
She traced the path of the new volley of air sickles with her eyes and then disappeared into the shadows again.
--oo--oo--
Baki peered behind the corner. Gaara was standing alone in the middle of the street, arms crossed. An obvious trap, or then the leaf ninja had gone into hiding or run away.
No matter.
Five sickles were still making it toward the sand ninja standing impassively. As expected, the sands blocked the sickles with ease. So it was reasonable to assume that it was Gaara. 'Reasonable' being a concept ninja discarded once they made it to jounin.
He liked the trick the orange leaf ninja had shown him. Nobody had ever considered just tapping the jinchuuriki with an explosive tag and then watching the fireworks. Since the wall of sand was more than capable of handling those, nobody even considered them useful.
With a grin, he pulled out an explosive tag from his waist pack. It was a true A-rank explosive note, filled to the brim with wind-chakra. This thing could rip apart a building with ease, without the sand shield, this would be way more than enough to knock Gaara out, maybe hack off a limb or two in the process. Then he'd need to take the body so he could have the Shukaku extracted.
Well, that was if the Uzumaku no Kaze Yari failed to just kill the boy.
With a short prayer for success, he hopped into view. Gaara reacted as he'd expected, with a raised eyebrow and with the sands beginning to prepare for a shield.
He dashed forward, intent on throwing the invisible lance as soon as he was in range. It would then twist and turn the air, becoming a visible tornade of a missile that shot forward through everything in it's path.
He blinked as he instinctually swayed to the left.
Ah, an arm. Orange pants.
'No problem.'
Twisting around the follow up attack, Baki grabbed the orange clad ninja by the hair and used him as a pivot to spin around. He was within range, so with all his strength he threw the jutsu in his left hand.
As the tornade formed, Baki turned around and kneed the orange boy in the stomach. A punch to the face and a strong kick. The boy had flinched and was in mid air from the force of the kick.
'Alright, the Haru no Toppu should be enough for this clown.' His hands blazed through a seven handseal combo and filled his lungs with air. The almost recovered orange ninja had no way to avoid the massive gust of wind that picked him up and flung him away.
Spinning on his heel, he faced Gaara again.
The sands had gotten up to shield him, but were far from enough, as the confused and shocked Gaara had been impaled with the lance.
"Well, that was easy." It was only then he noticed the sand sneaking up on him. With a twist he jumped and backflipped to avoid the sands. The Gaara popped in a smoke of dust leaving him alone in the street.
Then the sands collected and coalesced into a human shape, revealing Gaara without a scratch.
"You are getting rusty. Baki." Baki blinked and stepped back in confusion. Sandclones weren't that realistic, and he could spot a bunshin easily.
"I am getting old, huh..." The bandaged man sighed and his right hand twitched. Gaara merely let her eyebrow rise as she stared at the man that was supposed to be her instructor.
Then, as if on a hidden cue, the sand shot forward as the jounin blazed through the handseals for the Fuujin no Kama, rolling to the side to avoid the sands at the same time.
The redhead let loose the arm and stood silently. Naruto stopped as well, turning around to look at Gaara. "You okay?". Those words seemingly woke Gaara up, as she took a few seconds to scan the surroundings.
With a stare and a slight shrug, the redhead began walking again, with Naruto in tow.
--oo--oo--
The sand siblings twitched as their youngest member arrived. They gave each other a worried look, but did nothing. Gaara approached them, leaving the goodbye-waving idiot of a leaf ninja behind.
The redhead stopped two metres in front of her two elder siblings. The two tensed up. Gaara was always dangerous, but when she had failed to kill someone...
"Temari..." The low monotone made the sand trios wind user freeze up, she could hardly breathe.
"Y-yeah?" She took controlled breaths until she felt in control again. Even if Gaara was super freaky and totally not acting like his usual self, there was no way he would just kill her... Right?
Gaara stepped forward, the blond sand ninja tensing up completely again and closing her eyes. She could feel the sand gathering around her face. Kankurou must've frozen up as well, or then he simply didn't see the worth in risking his own neck. A few seconds passed, and then sand began subsiding.
Temari opened her eyes and blinked. She was still in one not so mushy-and-all-over-the-walls piece. Her eyes widened as she stared at Gaara who was staring at his hand with... was... was he frowning?
"You cannot verify my existence." Those cold words made Temari relax so much she almost wet herself. Gaara didn't want to kill her, not yet at least. She stared on intently as her crazy little brother began looking around, almost as if listening to a far away sound, trying to trace where it came from.
"Inefficient..." He snarled quietly.
Them his eyes settled on the laughing orange ninja who had somehow managed to defeat him earlier.
'Oh crap, is he gonna go berserk?' Temari's eyes shot wide open, at the same time Kankurou placed a hand on her shoulder. Oh now he cared if she was alright...
She wasn't sure she was alright, but nodded anyway as she eyed her little brother.
--oo--oo--
"Naruto... what the hell did you do?" Shikamaru was for once, willing to start a conversation. This whole charade of a fight had managed to pique his interest.
Shino walked to them silently as the grinning blond stopped walking.
"You know, Shikamaru... I have no idea. For a second there I was absolutely sure I was a goner, and then the next..." Naruto's sentance cut off, his mind seemingly wandering away mid-statement, his I-just-won! rush wearing off.
The trio stood silently, until Shikamaru finally broke it. "Hey Naruto...? You okay?" This was getting troublesome. Post traumatic stress disorder on Naruto of all people, waaayyy too troublesome.
"Y-yeah..." Naruto blinked and shot a look to the sand ninja standing as far away from them as possible. "Just thinking about breasts... I guess..." Before Shikamaru could even sigh, Naruto continued.
"Hey, you guys think Gaara looks like a girl?" Those words made the hair on the back of Shikamaru's neck rise. Even if he had just won, you just don't say some things about about people like Gaara.
A psycho girl. Waaay too much trouble.
Shino merely let his eyebrow rise and gave a quick look toward the redhead. Shino cut in before Shikamaru could sigh and go back to ignoring reality.
"Indeed, Gaara is quite androgynous. He could quite well be either." Shino turned back to look at his two collegues.
Shikamaru blinked and then leaned over to give the redhead a quick look. He was trying to touch his sister's face, but it seemed like his sand was moving to block the contact. He sighed and rubbed his neck. "Whatever, this is way too troublesome..."
"Yeah..." Naruto laughed weakly and shrugged. Good thing all this craziness was over.
"Naruto." Shino continued the discussion, clearly still having something on his mind. Naruto blinked and hmm'd at the silent glasses wearing boy.
"Are you alright? You are bleeding off chakra, my bugs are rather... lively and nervous because of it." Naruto wasn't just bleeding, he was blazing with chakra, permeating the very air he breathed and the space he stood in. For the first time in his life, Shino wasn't sure his kikkai bugs could do anything of worth against an opponents chakra reserves.
Naruto blinked and then looked at his abdomen confused. "What do you mean, I feel fine...". He felt more than fine. He felt great. That was weird, his legs should still be stinging from the overusage of shunshin. His reserves should be somewhere around 70 per cent after those clones and constant shunshins.
With a quick ram seal, Naruto assessed his condition. He was absolutely overflowing with chakra, his legs felt great, and he was more than a little hungry. With a laugh he let the handseal go.
"I guess I'm just so excited over winning, or something. Guess I should go get something to eat."
Neither of his two friends bothered replying as the air froze. Gaara had joined their little ring, and was intently staring at Naruto.
"Eh...? H-hi Gaara? Something I can uh... do for ya?" Naruto broke the silence, stuttering where the two others dared on not address the redhead. Gaara looked around and nodded. Not to Naruto, no she wasn't even looking at him.
"uh... you need something, Gaara?" Their eyes met as Gaara noticed Naruto. She raised an eyebrow and began looking around again.
"I'll just... uh... They have some shops right outside the arena right, I'll just go get something real quick to eat." The blond made an effort the exit the group, but Shino and Gaara both seemed to find that unacceptable.
"Competitors shall remain here until the end of the tournament." That was Shino.
"I will accompany you." This shouldn't have been Gaara.
The trio stared at the crossarmed Gaara, still intently staring at Naruto. Shino's comment was largely ignored in favor of the redheads.
Shino coughed.
"Uh...can I make a clone to pick something up for me?" Naruto shook his head, clearing all confusing thoughts. Getting no complaints he made a clone who ran off. Slightly too eager to get the hell out of there, the others noted.
So Naruto was just as freaked out as they were. Good to know.
The four stood in awkward silence until they noted that Neji had joined the group. He had spent the time so far getting his twitch under control.
"Uzumaki... Where is Uchiha Sasuke? Has he chosen to back out?" Hyuuga Neji, Naruto decided once again, was a jerk who really needed to get his shit kicked.
"He's training with Kakashi, he'll show up. I think... Don't worry, he'll show up to kick your ass. Okay?" Alright, he was worried as all hell too. This was Kakashi they were talking about, the man arrived late by habit. It was entirely possible they had forgotten the whole thing and were still off somewhere training.
The Hyuuga scoffed and crossed his arms. "I fear if he does not arrive within the next minute, that..."
All of their attention went to the Hokage, as the aged man silenced the murmuring and lively crowd. Ninja and civilian alike were trying to make sense of the first fight's last minutes.
--oo--oo--
The old man coughed and began. "Seeing as how Uchiha Sasuke has not yet arrived, I am inclined to give victory to Hyuuga Neji by default." A wave of 'what!' and 'no way!' swept through the crowd.
Before anyone could vocally begin protesting, the Hokage silenced the crowd with his booming voice. That voice prejection jutsu was really useful when you're a kage.
"However--!!
A great many have come here today specifically to watch this bout between the two clans proteges. I understand how many of you have waited for this day, so I, along with the honorable Kazekage, have decided to postpone this fight to a later slot." The crowd erupted in a murmur. The Hokage nodded to himself and eyed the still somewhat shellshocked kage sitting down.
The man had been so interested in seeing the Konoha top rookies duke it out, yet his sons loss had come so unexpected that it left the man speechless. He would be a bad host to deny his guest at least the Uchiha vs. Hyuuga fight.
"So. Let the tournament continue." A cheer erupted among the crowd. It was good to keep the public happy, though Uchiha Sasuke could be quite sure he would not be getting his promotion unless he had a damn good explonation.
He tolerated Kakashi because he knew the man needed his private time by his old friends memorial, and that the tardy man could more than handle anything that was thrown at him. But he wasn't about to let there be a second shinobi in his force that thought he could get away with being late.
--oo--oo--
Gaara sat up from the long bench where Naruto sat and walked off. Naruto followed the redhead with his gaze as she walked around the lounge, stood around for a few minutes, then settled back to sit on the bench he was sitting on too.
Naruto was getting twitchy with Gaara being so... restless. Yet he was wary of starting a conversation with the less than sociable sand nin. And now Gaara's siblings awkwardly walked up to her and began talking about something, then the blonde sand ninja with the fan got up and began walking away toward the arena.
The black clad puppeteer remained next to Gaara, though sitting too far away to make them seem the least bit familiar. Even her family seemed to be extremely wary of her.
Wait. Did he just call her "lil'bro"?.
"Don't tell me..." Naruto's brow twitched. Shino noticed Naruto, but chose to keep his attention at the arena, where Shikamaru was doing his best to piss off the crowd.
Weighing his options, Naruto finally decided he couldn't just let it be. He got up and walked to the two, who both noticed his arrival. Gaara acknowledged his presence with a stare, her brother on the other hand was more confrontational and vocal.
"The hell do you want?"
Gaara barely even noted her brother had spoken. Naruto looked at the now standing, almost protectively in front of Gaara, sand puppeteer.
"Uh... Gangurou, was it?" The puppeteer twitched. Gaara raised a smooth eyebrow.
"It's Kankurou you little shit..."
"Ah, well, I was sorta hoping you could help me out a little..." That made Kankurou raise his eyebrow a little. Not that he was going to give this little konoha shit anything other than a poisoned blade from Karasu's elbow joint.
"Well, I was just wondering..." Naruto took a step forward and sat down, not even paying too much attention to either ninja. He sat down next to Gaara. Not too close, but not as far as Kankurou had sat, either. Kankurou froze for a second and watched how his lil'bro would react with rising dread.
But, nothing. Gaara continued to trail Naruto with her gaze like nothing odd was going on.
"How much do you really know about Gaara. And I'm gonna want this back." Kankurou felt the hairs on the back of his neck raise up as Naruto casually pointed at Gaara's shoulder at the horrid orange coat. Was the kid trying to piss Gaara off?
"Wha- what the hell do you mean, what're you implying you little..." Naruto continued to stare at Kankurou, who was beginning to get nervous at how well the two sitting could combine their gazes for one ultra-inquisitive stare.
"I'm asking how much time you spend with Gaara."
"We spend a lot of time during missions. Aside from that, Gaara likes his privacy."
Naruto got silent and looked at Gaara, then he turned his gaze back to Kankurou.
"Gaara is a girl, you knew that, right?"
"...what?" Kankurou blinked, was this his idea of a joke?
"Listen to me you little fucker, I don't know how you managed to win, or how things work around here, but I suggest you quit trying to fuck around with me." Naruto frowned and got up. Just then his clone returned with a box in hand.
"Boss! I found some dango! Though the guy sellin' 'em drove a real hard price, I hope ya don't mind that!" The clone cheerfully handed the box and dispelled itself.
Naruto winced, 'a hard price', eh? Yeah, his usual three day food budget (instant ramne) blown away on dango. With a frown he opened the box.
At least he wouldn't go hungry for a while. Sitting down again, with box in hand, he looked up to notice Gaara staring. More intently than usual.
"Uh... you want one?" She shook her head. Kankurou was about to interject about how they didn't want any crap from a leaf nin when Gaara took a dango stick anyhow.
Naruto gave her a 'heeeey, but you just said...' stare.
"...you sent a clone to buy these." It wasn't a question. Naruto blinked and nodded, having stopped in mid-bite. "But your clones are immaterial, ultimately." Naruto hmm'ed and nodded again, still not closing his mouth.
"Then how did the clone have the money to buy these...?" Gaara pointed at the dango stick with the beginnings of a curious expression. Naruto blinked and closed his mouth, then he tapped his pocket with his free hand.
"Right, I have my wallet with me."
"But you did not give the clone any money."
Naruto blinked again. He remembered paying the man. They'd haggled for a good five minutes over the damn things, too. "Wait... The clone got a copy of my wallet, too!" Naruto realized and grinned. Gaara hmm'ed and looked at the odd food while Naruto began eating.
"Then in the end you gave the man nothing." Gaara nodded and took one of the dango off the stick and took a small bite out of it. Naruto blinked and a smile crept on his face.
"Hey... you're right! I paid the guy with bunshin money! Hahaha, sucker! Wait, how did you know about how my clones work?" Gaara pondered over the odd texture before slowly turning to meet his gaze.
"You handed tags to your clones." Naruto ah'ed and nodded. Made sense. When it came to combat, Gaara was quite perceptive, he wouldn't have noticed something like that in the middle of a fight. How Naruto managed to come out as a winner, he really didn't know. Well, he didn't feel like he won, not with just that. He'd just made Gaara forget about the fight, at the end.
Naruto frowned and looked at the redhead, who was now on her second dango, examining the insides of the food after having taken a large bite of it.
Kankurou twitched, then shook his head and walked away. He needed to talk to Baki about this. Gaara was acting weird.
"So, why does he think you're a guy?" Naruto turned to Gaara after Kankurou had stormed off. Gaara raised a smooth eyebrow, did she shave them or was it natural, Naruto wondered.
"I am the third son of the Kazekage, I am male."
"No, trust me, you're a girl."
Gaara stared, finally after 15 seconds Naruto sighed at the unrelenting gaze. "Alright, tell me why you think you're a guy." To answer, Gaara merely pointed at her head. Naruto blinked and sighed, he didn't understand her at all, yet he just couldn't let it go.
He wanted to, oh dear kami he wanted. They way Gaara threw arround killing intent when the least bit annoyed wasn't exactly pleasant, and her stares could probably melt ice.
"Alright, so you have 3 brothers and a sister."
"Mhmm, I have 3 brothers, of whom one is my sister." Naruto blinked at that answer.
"No, no, I know you're siblings with Kankurou and that girl, but if you're the third son, that means you have 2 brothers, right?"
"Yes, Temari and Kankurou are my brothers."
Naruto blinked, he had mistaken once a guy for a girl... but... Temari, a guy? Shaking his head, Naruto looked at the impassive as ever Gaara.
"So Temari is a guy?" Gaara's brow furrowed at that, she shook her head. Naruto couldn't help but to facepalm, this was going nowhere.
"Temari is the eldest son, but she has long hair, so she is refered to as a female." Naruto froze. It couldn't be...
"You--! You're basing people's gender on their hair length!?" Shino gave the duo a strange look before concentration once again on the fight down below.
Gaara blinked and a small frown appeared on her face. "Is that not how it works. You are male, he is male," pointing to Shino. "Your teammates are female, Kankurou is male..." Naruto twitched. Teammates? Sasuke, a girl? He almost laughed.
"Err... no... you see, uh... I have one girl on my team, Sakura-chan, and then the bastard with black hair is a guy... Who told you about this anyhow?"
"Auntie Yashamaru."
Naruto twitched, wasn't Yashamaru a male name? Was he going to have to give Gaara, a sociopath whose interests lay solely in murder, The Talk?
"Oh kami no..." Naruto sobbed quietly to his palms and Gaara watched curiously on. Sighing, Naruto got up and walked to Shino, muttered something and walked back to Gaara. Shino stared at Naruto's back with an eyebrow raised and a look that said 'You're gonna what now...?'.
"Come on, we need to go somewhere. We can take the dango with us." Naruto grabbed the dango box and waited for Gaara to get up. Gaara narrowed her eyes and stared. She did want to follow, despite talking with him being somewhat of a bother. But on the other hand, she needed to wait for the signal.
After a few seconds she got up. She'd be able to see the signal fine from anywhere out open, and she wanted to kill Naruto first, so following him was the best course of action. If he could verify her existance by touching him, she wondered what would happen if she killed him.
She'd forgotten once, she would not again.
--oo--oo--
Sandaime seemed to be following the fight intently. The leaf genin was weak, but clever, Orochimaru had to admit. His attendant had informed him that Gaara was still ready to go, and even if he lost in the tournament, it wouldn't matter in the big picture.
With Sound and Sand nin ready outside the village walls to summon the snakes and to attack, the plan was going smoothly. Konoha would be burned to the ground.
Orochimaru allowed himself a small smile. Nothing could stop the invasion now.
--oo--oo--
"Get up! Get off your lazy butt and kick her ass! Go Shika!!" Sakura frowned as Ino screeched almost right into her ear. Then the blonde got up and almost kicked the guy one seat forward in the head. Sakura was fuming too.
Sasuke still hadn't shown up. She clenched a fist as she controlled her temper, where the hell was that damn Kakashi. And Naruto! He hadn't even bothered to look for her after he'd won, she wanted to know what the hell had happened!
Ino shook Chouji, trying to vent her anger on the large boy calmly eating chips and attempting to soothe Ino down, failing miserably.
"And where is Sasuke-kun!" Ino turned to Sakura. "Exactly, what is that damn Kakashi doing!" Sakura joined in. Chouji sighed and returned to his chips, Shikamaru was right, girls were just trouble.
--oo--oo--
Gaara looked back, seeing the arena quite clearly. They were walking along an empty street with many shops on both sides of the road. Naruto had been quietly walking, with Gaara following equally silently.
'Is this okay... No, it should be alright. There's still two more fights before it's my turn again, and Gaara won't need to fight again. And she needs to be taught about... uh... Iruka is going to kill me for interrupting his class...' He shook his head and scratched his hair while taking a sideways glance at Gaara.
Maybe he could make a clone go back and buy him some more time in case his fight began early?
Well, Gaara didn't seem to mind too much about losing. Weird. He gave the girl another glance.
She was following, alright. It was just 500 meters from the arena to the academy, where Iruka was right now.
"Where are we going?" The question brought Naruto back to reality. He turned around to look at the redhead, who had stopped walking.
"We're gonna go talk to someone I know. He can explain something a lot better than I could."
"About what?"
"Eh...you kno- no wait, you don't know, do you... uh." Naruto scratched his head. "About boys and girls, and how they are different. And I guess about how babies are made, too." Yup, Iruka was definitely not going to like this.
"Babies?" Gaara blinked. What had that to do with anything. "Babies are brought by the summon storks from Kumo.". Gaara wasn't completely uneducated, was what she wanted to convey. Unfortunately it just made Naruto all the more certain he needed to find Iruka.
"Storks? You believe that kid's stor- No, okay, listen. There's no way storks from Kumo could deliver all the babies born every day, right? And Suna has had multiple wars with Kumo, right? Babies didn't stop being born then..." Gaara nodded and silently stared at the road as they walked.
"No, even if they are at war, the economical loss of suddenly giving up a long term repeat delivery contract would be significant. Thus they would make an effort to keep the war effort and the civilian services divided. There are agreements which state that these functions should not be targeted for the sake of the civilian populace." Gaara had obviously wrapped her head around the storks idea.
Naruto blinked and sighed. This was going to be a lot more trouble than he expected. He stopped, noticing that Gaara had too stopped. She had turned around, looking at something in the distance.
A light chuckle.
Naruto blinked and looked questioningly at the redhead. The chuckle grew into a cackle. Before Naruto could question what was going on, his insticts screamed at him. Not one to question his insticts around a lunatic, Naruto shunshin'ed backwards.
As the blur settled down into normal vision, he cursed under his breath. Gaara's gourd was off her back, and the spot he'd just stood in was a pillar of sand. Gaara was now in an all out laughter as she turned around. He shivered as he could see her bloodshot eyes and feel the killing intent lashing around.
"YES! YES! I GET TO KILL YOU!!" She was still cackling as the sand snaked around her shivering body. An explosion went off in the distance, and suddenly from arena he'd been in not too long ago erupted a pillar of smoke.
"What the...!?" Before he could finish, he had backstepped again with a shunshin to avoid a tendril of sand. "Gaara! What's going on? Why are you attacking me?!" She erupted in a laughter, her voice cracking as she looked at him. He was reminded once again, that despite the rapport he'd built with her, she was still an insane and homicidal ninja from a foreign village.
"The invasion! IT'S BEGUN! I GET TO KILL YOU!! I WILL PROVE MY EXISTENCE! I WILL PAINT EVERYTHING WITH YOUR BLOOD!!"
"Wha- what invasion! Hey, didn't we go through this already once? Why do you wanna kill me?!"
"It's not enough... you're not enough... I'll kill you... your DEATH will PROVE WHO I AM TO THE WORLD--!!" She took of his jacket with angry and uncontrolled moves and threw it aside, her body had already been wrapped up in the sand armor.
The sand smoothened out her proportions, Naruto noted. With clothes on, she would look more like a little stocky boy, than a lithe girl. Throwing aside the jacket, she snarled. Making eyecontact with him, she motioned the sand to shoot out again.
Naruto shunshin'd a behind his previous spot to the left side of the street and drew out from his right pocket the three tags he'd pulled out during their time in the sand dome and used as flashlights. Gaara's eyes widened as she saw those again. It wasn't fear, Gaara had never really known fear. It was apprehension, that those stung despite the sand armor.
Yashamaru had tried to kill Gaara by using an insane amount of tags, but that did nothing to the wall of sand. Naruto had circumvented that by putting the tags directly on her armor, making the armor itself damage Gaara as it struggled to protect her.
'Mother is still silent... I can barely hear him. It does not matter. It is better that I fight myself. He will blur out and try to get close. He can go past any attack... The moment he moves, I'll raise a shield in front of me and shoot out a wave along the street, he'll run straight into it and get caught up...and then...and the... I'LL KILL HIM...' Estatically she hissed as she watched the orange ninja pull out another three A-notes from his lowest scroll.
Holding three A-notes in each hand, Naruto stared at his opponent. He felt confident, despite his legs shaking a little. Jiraiya had tried to teach Naruto his own style, which he called something completely unintelligible, which used the center of mass to make powerful strikes.
Sadly, Naruto hadn't understood one bit of it, so Jiraiya gave up and instead helped Naruto with his innate brawling. Hooks and uppercuts were Naruto's bread and butter, Jiraiya quickly realized, so he spent some time teaching the boy on the importance of the Jab and the Straight as opening and safe moves that lead to better possibilites for using a strong and powerful punch.
How the boy had survived so long with such shitty taijutsu had eluded the sage. But during his fight against Gaara he began understanding. He didn't just learn quick, he learned at a multiplied pace!
He didn't just watch as his clones got beaten, he watched it from dozens of angles, quickly understanding his opponents rhythm, style and speed. And suddenly those easy to dodge and parry big punches Naruto used became a hell of a lot harder to avoid.
Another thing he spent learning was prediction. Mitsune, the toad, had spent her whole life building up her speed. For Naruto to become as fast as her in a few weeks was impossible. So she constantly moved only a little faster than he did, and only using her massive advantage when she felt like being a jerk.
The idea was for Naruto to predict and learn how to react quickly. So he would constantly hand a few fractions of a second behind her.
He'd during their match become more and more capable of reading how the sand moved. Now, once he'd calmed down after the fight, it was even more amazing how much he could read on how it moved. The sand was being positioned to shoot forward like a wave. In the tighter space of the street, where there was only so much space to dodge sideways, he'd be easily caught up in it.
It seemed he wasn't the only one who learned to adapt a little. He grinned as he took a deep breath. Extending his fist to point at Gaara, with three notes held between his fingers. "Hey, hey. You wanna fight so bad? Well then, let's go." Gaara snarled, pleased. She really wanted him dead, he noted laughing weakly.
"But don't worry, I'll take it easy on you. No Clones, that's a promise!" He grinned, noticing how tense she got. She was furious. Before she could begin, he exploded into a shunshin.
'There...!!' A wave of sand shot forward, covering the whole width of the street and way higher than they stood.
Naruto grinned as he rolled into an alley between two shops, out of her sight. With a chakra powered jump he ran up the side of the two story building. On the top, he peered carefully. The sand was back down, merely swirling and snaking itself around her.
He nodded to himself. The clones were unnecessary already, they were too slow. Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke had the sharingan, but he had nothing like that. He could only learn and adapt, like against Kiba, where he could feel himself slowly adapting to their moves and speed.
With a quick final shoulder shrug to relax, he shunshin'ed down onto the ground. A second shunshin as soon as he hit the ground.
Gaara's eyes shot wide open as her instincts screamed 'LEEEEFT!!'. The wall was already moving up, but he was already inside her defense. Before she had had time to face him, his incoming fist crashed into her cheek, rattling her head a little. The first hit always hurt. Nothing dangerous, though, or worth being scared about.
Landing with the first strike, a right straight from above, he spun on his heel, slapping her in the midsection twice. 'Time's up!'.
Before the sand could engulf him, he shot forward, to the direction where they'd stood seconds earlier facing off. Sliding to a halt, without bothering to look back, he pushed chakra into his legs and pushed with all his legstrength into a backwards high jump.
Gaara had recovered and sent out a powerful wave of sand to the direction she'd felt him vanish. She barely had time to gape as he backflipped over the wave, landing on the ground for a mere fraction of a second before he vanished again.
Naruto grinned, the world still blurring around him. He twisted on his heel, spun his body around and extended his other leg with a powerful kick, feeling the impact, he recovered from the kick into a stance and leaned forward slapping Gaara's airborn legs with his last two tags before he jumped back. He needed a few moments to let his legs cool down.
The Spinning back kick, powered by the shunshin and the powerful spin he'd managed to get into it had equal power to one of Lee's fearsome kicks Gaara noted with a wince. The blow didn't just hit Gaara, it knocked the air clean out of her lungs as she was thrown back, off her feet. She didn't even register Naruto slapping her on the legs in mid-flight.
The sand had, however had already received it's orders after the wave had missed when Naruto backflipped over it: COME BACK & ENGULF HIM.
With a grunt, he shunshin'd inside a closed store through the window. Rolling on the floor while trying to avoid the shards, Naruto scanned the area. The Exit! Jumping out from the store, he barely had time to shunshin when sand tendrils smashed into the store, ripping it apart and anything near it. Gaara was throwing attacks around where she thought he was... or then she wasn't looking and was taking the tags off.
"Yeah, nope. Katsu!" With the serpent seal, the middle of the street boomed as the sands coiled around the explosion.
Gaara had gotten the tags on her face off, but the ones on her mid-section and legs were more than enough. The explosion blinded her senses and shook her body with waves of pain.
She was down on the ground, sand desperately trying to cover her from something it barely could follow.
She needed mother, if she let mother take over, it would all be alright. She could hear him raging inside, but it was far too distant, far too intangible. Whatever Naruto had done, it was still in effect. Shukaku could't help her.
Wobbling to get on her feet, powered by rage only as the sand armor finished repairing itself, Gaara snarled. Her vision was blurry. Yet she could see his orange pants contrasting against his black t-shirt and the surroundings. She couldn't hear anything aside from a weird continuous PEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-sound. Her ears were affected as well by the blast.
She almost fell over as her vison darkened out. Like this she wouldn't be able to make any preempative moves to intercept him, he'd just waltz past her automatic defense like it wasn't even there, if it even would react. He'd been casually touching her before she began actively thinking 'stay back!' to make the sand shield block him out.
He disappeared from her already blurry vision, she felt four slaps to her face. The sand moved to intercept, but he had already gone. He must have gone to either side... Indeed, she could feel his light, almost pathetic slaps barraging her left side, again the sand moved and failed.
'Is it over... need to attack... take these off...'
A blow struck her in the lower back, she felt another four slaps followed by him using her as a kickboard to shunshin away from the surrounding sand.
Falling over, she spat at the ground. She could see again somewhat clearly with the black spots disappearing from her vision, she struggled cursing a litte. Getting up on all four she managed to sit up on her knees. He was there, not even bothering to approach. He must have hit her with at least 12 tags. Would she make it? Could Shukaku protect her?
'I... I... I don't want it to hurt... Mother help...! I don't...' "...want to die..." Shaking and with a blurry vision, she looked at him calmly taking the serpent seal. Her hearing was still shot, but she could read his lips...
"G-me o-er, l--ks lik- I win, Gaara." He smirked at her, she could feel the chakra build up. 'Please...please...!'.
--oo--oo--
Naruto spoke to detonate his seals, all 15 of the A-tags on Gaara. It should be enough.
"Kats-" *thud
Naruto blinked, not finishing the detonation as he stared. She had fallen over. The sands fell around her like... Well sand that was floating and then suddenly not floating.
He jumped back, hands still in the handseal. Nothing was happening. She wasn't getting up, and no clever trap seemed to spring. He twitched, was she bluffing? She wasn't particularly sneaky, with the subtlety of a sledgehammer she possessed, he doubted she could even do such a thing.
"Okay, hey, I'll take that as a sign of you giving up, sit up with your hands where I can see 'em!" Wait, that was stupid, she didn't need her hands to kill him.
He let go of the handseal and scratched his head. There was a good 40 meters between them, and there wasn't anything moving toward him. He could hear some booms in the distance, but that was probably the invasion she spoke of.
...
'The invasion! Oh crap oh crap oh crap! What do I do!?' he jumped around in place, realizing he knew nothing about the invasion protocols.
"Get to cover? No way! Uh... protect the civilians? Confront the enemies? Find a jounin? What the hell! What am I supposed to do?!" Then he stopped in mid hop. He blinked, then a big grin crept on his face as he laughed little to himself. He snapped his fingers and stood up straight.
"Alright, I choose...Tajuu Kage Bunshin!" The street was covered in smoke, but quickly subsided.
Fivehundred and one clones had popped into existance, all in five neat rows, facing Naruto, who was with his back turned to Gaara. One clone was closer to Naruto and was facing the other ones standing in a row.
"Attention- HUT!" The separate clone shouted as Naruto(the original) blinked. "What the..."
"What is our mission, men?!"
"Ramen!"
"Booty!"
"Protect Ichiraku!"
"Ichiraku!"
"Iruka-sensei!"
"Paint the town red!"
The standing at attention Narutos all chorused their respective thoughts as the separate one, which Naruto mentally dubbed 'The Commander' fumed in place.
"NO, you imbeciles!! General, your orders!" The commander shouted and turned in place to salute the Naruto, who was still blinking. The clones standing at attention all hailed Naruto who blinked a 'who, me?'.
"uh..." They stood silently staring.
Naruto coughed to himself and cleared his throat.
"Uh... Do what I would do."
Fivehundred "OSSU!" answered him. Naruto frowned at the sillyness of it all as he pulled the C-dispencer scroll and threw it to one of the clones, who pulled a note and passed the scroll on.
"ONCE YOU HAVE A TAG, DISPERSE!" The commander roared back to the Uzumaki Naruto Corps and turned back to The General.
"Sir, I volunteer for suicide-duty!"
"Eh?"
"Gaara-chan, sir!"
"Gaara...chan...?"
The commander squirmed in place, blushing and hugging something imaginary. Naruto made a mental note to check if overuse of Kage bunshin could lead to adverse mental conditions, like schizophrenia or autophagia or whatever as he facepalmed, waving the commader a 'go ahead' with this other hand.
--oo--oo--
"Your mother named you Gaara, not because she loved you..."
He was bleeding...
"She named you Gaara after 'A self-loving carnage' for the hate she felt against you and the village..."
On the ground...
"No one will ever accept you or love you, you'll forever be alone..."
Gaara couldn't accept it... not him too...
"This is it, Gaara, please die."
He was covered in explosive notes. There must have been a hundred of them...
*KABOOM
--oo--oo--
"Yashamaru..."
Gaara woke up with a startle. She blinked as a grinning Naruto was looking down at her... was he giving her a lap pillow? The sands moved and the Naruto was crushed to a pulp as she sat up, slowly. Her body had never ached all over like this before.
Someways off, she could see him, he'd turned around the moment she crushed the clone, as she now realized.
He stopped approaching, and almost grinned. She coughed and glared weakly. "I thought... no clones..." She shook, as she tried to get back up.
"Are you kidding me...? I beat you fair and square, already! But then you fainted, and then you started crying and all!" She froze at that. Gaara, The self-loving carnage crying? She shook a little as the memories of the... dream resurfaced.
"Hey." A hand on her shoulder, her eyes shot wide open as she stared at the concerned looking blond, now within her automatic range. She hadn't even noticed him. Nor had the sand. What the hell had he done to her?
'It's not a clone, I need to...!' As if reading her mind, he flicked his finger at her forehead. It hurt. A lot. She blinked holding her forehead in surprise.
"Hey, stop trying so hard. It's starting to get annoying." He frowned and stood up straight. He closed his eyes and nodded to himself while crossing his arms. She flinched as he pointed at her, when nothing hurt, she opened her eyes.
"You are now my prisoner! And this is an interrogation!" He huffed and sat down crosslegged in front of her. He even placed the dango box from before between them and began casually eating off a stick.
"So, so. Right. Who's attacking and why?"
She blinked. Then she twitched as she felt someone nearing.
Above! A sound shinobi was jumping toward them with a Katana in hand from behind Naruto. He hadn't even noticed the ninja yet. She could only stare mouth agape as time seemed to slow down, the man falling with katana ready to kill the orange ninja...
"BAKUHA SHUNSHIN UPPERCUT!!"
And then a Naruto shunshin'ed in and uppercutted him with an explosive note. The ninja never even stood a chance.
The clone poofed out of existance half a second later, leaving Naruto to turn around to see a cloud of smoke and a unconcious and falling over ninja.
Another Naruto jumped down and saluted the sitting Naruto, much to Gaara's confusion.
"Apologies, General, we are still attempting to weed them out." Naruto nodded awkwardly and the clone ran off.
Gaara blinked. She should have easily been able to react. Both to the ninja jumping in, and to Naruto suddenly leaving her unwatched. She should have been able to attack his unguarded back, but the gears were never set into motion.
Why didn't she kill him? Was she afraid of him?
"Hey. Like I asked you already once, why is Konoha being attacked...?" His eyes pierced her completely. She felt completely defenseless as she was under his stare. "I- I- I don't know... Th-the Kazekage made pact with the Hidden Sound to invade Konoha..." She blinked as he spurted it out before she had realized it.
"Your dad did? Ah.. yeah... The ones who attack all have Suna or Oto headbands...Hmm..." Naruto scrunched up in thought as he reviewed what he knew.
"It seems like there's something big going on by the arena." Naruto stared of into the distance and sighed. He got up and walked a few metres, picked something up and walked back.
"Here. Come on." He threw his orange jacket at her feet. Gaara blinked and looked up to him, still confused. "Put it on, we're goin' there. And I'm not leaving you behind." She awkwardly followed his instructions and put it on, then blinking as she was picked up by Naruto so she could stand and lean on him for support.
Ah, a clone. Yeah, there was no way he trusted her.
"And uhh...Like, don't try pulling those off. I rigged them to explode if they come off. You're kinda my prisoner now, got it?" He pointed at the still present tags. She winced, and nodded, still dazed. Slowly, the trio began walking toward the arena.
Man, going looking for Iruka in the middle of the tournament was retarded, what the hell was he thinking then?
Right, avoiding giving Gaara The Talk.
Reasonable enough.
--oo--oo--
"Nobody likes a persistant guy!" Anko locked kunai with the sound nin, who snarled, trying to sound particularly tough and scary.
Before she had a chance to kick the mans ass, a Chuunin appeared behind him and backhanded him in the neck. The sound nin fell like a sack of potatoes. Anko frowned and looked up, she blinked as they made eyecontact.
"Heeeeyy... ain'tcha one of those Academy instructors or somethin'?" The man blinked and nodded, then he whistled a code. A few second passed and another Chuunin came out of hiding from an alley, with a whole academy of children in tow.
Anko's eyebrow twitched as Iruka began to open his mouth. "HELL NAW!!" Iruka flinched, and a lot of the children turned to look at the two while marching in rows of three.
"I know, I know... I'm supposed to help you out since ya need help, but hell naw! I ain't gonna spend all this time looking out for some shitty brats!" She snarled and with a huff turned around crossarmed.
"Maa..." Iruka began, he really didn't like this woman. Not because of her reputation, Iruka knew better than that. He'd been openminded about her, but the first time he saw her he instantly knew: they would absolutely not get along, ever.
"Please don't swear in front of the children. And just a little bit of scouting or protection is all we're asking, at least until we make it to the shelter... Please...?" He clapped his hands and bowed to her. She turned her head and eyed him with one eye. A feral grin crept on her face. "If ya buy me some dango."
Iruka twitched and stood straight up, stepped forward and grabbed her by the collar pulling her close to him, much to the snake users surprise. "Listen up you little...! Fine! I'll buy you some dango, but NOW, help me get these children to safety!".
She blinked.
Then she laughed and leaned forward, till their noses were touching. Keeping his cool, Iruka stared at her straight in the eyes. Finally she sighed and leaned back. "Fiiiiiiiine... But you owe me some dango, you hear!". She hated escort missions so damn much.
--oo--oo--
Neji twirled on his heel, avoiding the kunai stab, then with a spin he was behind the Sand ninja. Three strikes and the man was down. A quick scan.
'No rest for the lowly branch member...'
With a burst of speed he was upon the short, dark-haired Hyuuga girl, striking the two men attempting to use her as a hostage against the powerhouse of a Hyuuga tearing through them. Indeed, Hiashi was more than just a Main family figure, he was a powerful Jyuuken user.
Neji could feel Hanabi's eyes upon him as he spun around her, step by step dancing mere inches away from her while repeling multiple assailants with ease. Finally he stopped and stood straight, with his eyes closed. He took a calm breath, and as he opened his eyes, all four men around him fell over limp.
Hanabi was staring at him wide-eyed. "Neji-niisan...". He almost flinched at her voice. Damn main family. "Are you alright, Hanabi-sama." He forced the question with an emotionless voice, she nodded. Neji nodded back and looked to the calmly fighting Hyuuga head.
Neji narrowed his eyes as he inspected the technique the man was performing flawlessly. He'd never seen it before, but he had been following it like a hawk, despite fighting.
It was based around a stance, where the used could deflect attacks from any direction, he could see that the stance and all the parries flowed on and on. Up till 16 parries in a row were possible, and the number reseted the moment you returned to the stance.
It used a combination of perfect awareness and impeccable timing. Neji almost dared scoff as he carefully recorded each stance, each movement, each flow... With a little bit of training, he would be able to perform it as well.
The Main family could not even begin to dream that he would be able to copy it so easily.
It was inferior to the Kaiten as a defense, but far less chakra intensive and allowed for a lot more mobility. Interesting, Neji noted.
--oo--oo--
Iruka grumbled, having to scout ahead with this... woman, was getting on his nerves. She was brash, crazy, and had no sense of decency. With a small blush at the jiggle, Iruka hopped forward.
Suddenly Anko twisted in midair, dodging three kunai. She landed gracefully and smirked.
"Damn!" Iruka landed next to her, facing his back to hers as five sound nin surrounded them.
"Heh! This is getting good!" Anko smirked and drew a kunai, twirling it in mid air and licking the blade as soon as she caught it.
"This isn't the time to fight, we need to inform the others that this path isn't safe!"
"You wanna run, go ahead! You'll just have to pay me with more dango, chicken!"
All ninja present blinked as an orange blur crashed into one of the sound nin, and then exploded into his face.
"Huh...?" Both leaf nin twitched. Orange?
When sixteen other orange blurs tried to suicide rush them, the sound ninja took a hasty retreat.
"Wha... Naruto?!"
"Oh, Iruka-sensei! Urk... You!" Anko grinned and looked at the short orange ninja. "Miss me already, kiddo?"
Iruka blinked and was about to question the nature of their relationship, when another 30 clones landed next to them.
"Squad Shio is covering the academy students. Squads Tonkotsu and Shyu are to make it to the residential area to help repel the summons and protect civilians." One of the Naruto spoke, the one who'd conversed with Iruka and Anko nodded.
"What about the Miso Squad?"
"Ichiraku's."
"Ah, of course."
Before the two older ninja could question any of them, the orange group dashed off. Both blinked and looked at each other.
"Stay in kombu formation! In case of enemy ninja, proceed with the katsuobushi formation!" The two blinked and turned around. The acadmy students were being escorted by a sizable force of Naruto's all deathly grim and serious.
Some even had some orange war paint on their faces.
Iruka sighed and facepalmed. At least they wouldn't embarrass him in front of his students.
"Oh, it's Iruka-sensei!!"
Damn it, Naruto.
--oo--oo--
Naruto's greatest strength was not his stamina. It wasn't Kyuubi induced ragefits, nor even his determination. It was the simple fact, that Lady Luck was head over heels in love with him. Well, maybe she was, or maybe he was just lucky for some unexplainable reason.
You could argue it's the way the cosmos repayed Naruto for 13 years of bullshit, but Naruto had been lucky his whole life. Not in the "oh would you look at that, my sixth Royal Flush today!" way. It was in the little things.
Like how his clone sneezed, pulled Gaara down just as something flew through where their heads had been a moment before. Oh, the wall of sand had appeared and tried to cover them, it even almost crushed the clone, thinking that was the source of the danger, until Gaara stopped it. She didn't want to lose the support with her legs still wobbly.
But whatever it had been, it had ripped a hole through the sands.
"Whoa, what the?" Naruto blinked and crouched into a stance and pulled a kunai. There was nobody in sight. They were a hundred meters from the arena, having encountered no resistance, though plenty of his clones had died already.
And really, Bakuha Shunshin? Was that his idea?
A low whistling sound made it to Naruto's ears as three barely visible sickles that seemed to be made out of air shot out from around a corner toward him and Gaara. One of the sickles twisted in around and separated from the other two. It was heading for him.
With a quick look at the Gaara leaning onto his clone, sands shifting and snaking around the two, Naruto nodded to assure himself. He could count on Gaara to handle herself, even as his prisoner.
The sickle twisted and curved to hit him, he shunshin'ed ten meters back and ran forward, with a quick look, he noted that the two sickles aimed at Gaara did nothing as they crashed into her sands harmlessly.
He blinked as the last sickle twisted around 90 degrees and continued to come for him. So dodging wasn't effective. Naruto ran till he was facing a concrete wall of some shop then he turned around and smirked. The sickle was still heading for him.
With a grin he felt the chakra welling up for a max speed shunshin. The better he performed the charka pulse in his feet, the further and faster he could go, but it was pretty hard to get it down perfect with his crappy chakra control, so he relied on easier ones with a shorter distance.
Timing was important here. The sickle flew on, twisting and turning in flight, and just at the last second as it was about to hit Naruto, he blurred out of it's way. The sickle of air hit the concrete wall with a screeching noise cut its way into the building and then dying down somewhere inside.
Naruto skidded to a halt, he'd made it back next to Gaara, who had opted to stand on her own, arms crossed and looking around.
"You okay?" She nodded and the clone just shrugged.
"Am I allowed to defend myself?" Naruto blinked at that. "I am your prisoner, am I not." She snarled.
"Oh, right. Yeah. No problem." Naruto nodded and his hand went to his left thigh. He had no C-tags, those were kinda useless anyhow. He had still a fair supply of B's, but he was out of A's. Well, aside from the ones on Gaara.
He would probably have use for one.
He frowned and stepped closer to her. She eyed him curiously, but continued to peer around for more air sickles, or any sign of attackers.
He got up to her, and took off one of the tags on her thigh. She tensed and then relaxed, eyeing the tags questioningly. Weren't they supposed to blow up?
"Right, I'm gonna try looking around a little." He pocketed the tag after setting it on 'stand-by'. Then with a shunshin, he was off.
--oo--oo--
Baki sneered as he crouched in the shadows. He finished the handseals and took a deep breath, then as he exhaled he pushed the chakra out of his lungs. Thirteen air sickles appeared and flew off, dividing into different groups and going different routes.
Gaara had managed to survive the first attack somehow. He growled to himself as he began working on the second lance. He was chosen as Gaara's sensei solely for his ability to use the Uzumaku no Kaze Yari.
It was a slow jutsu. It flew at speeds below what a fresh academy student could throw kunai at, it flew straight only, and would dissipate after flying a set distance. He'd only managed to make it hit since there was so much junk to hide behind, that they'd failed to notice him.
It's only usage was the way it drilled through targets and anything standing in it's way. The second Kazekage, who had experimented with jinchuuriki, had devised the jutsu.
They had a lot of data on jinchuuriki mentality. It was easy to make them dependant of someone who showed them a little love, but in the end the lack of physical contact and the way everyone shunned them frustrated them until they snapped.
It was just easier to make them monsters who felt they were in control and doing what was most suitable for continued survival.
Assassins were a way to allow them to 'fight back' enough to feel they had the village by the metaphorical balls. Killing an Ichibi jinchuuriki was hard work, but hardly impossible. He remembered still how he had chosen to recommend the boy's uncle as the first 'assassin' on purpose.
That had been the final straw for the boy, making him the monster they needed and could control.
Baki snapped out of his musings as he felt the jutsu be completed. Now to get near to the monster and slay it.
Gaara had failed, in the tournament, and during the invasion. He was supposed to unleash Shukaku as soon as the invasion began. But no such thing happened.
Nobody needed a weapon that didn't work, or a beast that licked instead of biting the enemy's hand when offered food.
--oo--oo--
"Fuujin no Kama..." Gaara muttered. Baki used that technique often. He was hiding and using those attacks that could home in and move independantly as a distraction. 'What was that first attack?'
Gaara eyed the clone next to her, it was taking it rather easy and relaxing.
'If I kill it, he will know and then he'll blow up the tags...I need to keep it alive then.' No room for fuck ups.
'Can I take off these tags, or did he really do something with them...? No time to think, need to be ready. Shukaku is completely silent, again.' She eyed the clone again. 'Proximity to him makes it harder for Shukaku. I think.'
Why was she being attacked in the first place? Right, stupid question. She had failed too many times, or somebody finally found the chance to take her out after all those years. Didn't really matter.
"Hey, you." She stared at the clone.
"Haaaaii, what'cha need, Gaara!" The clone was far too lively for her liking.
"Transform into me. The sand shall cover you while you stay here as a distraction." She raised an eyebrow as the clone completely copied her mannerism and nodded back impassively.
Then it transformed. She was almost creeped at how well the clone did it.
She didn't have time to be creeped out, so she seemed to dissovle into sand as she shunshin'ed and appeared in an alley, hiding in the shadows.
She traced the path of the new volley of air sickles with her eyes and then disappeared into the shadows again.
--oo--oo--
Baki peered behind the corner. Gaara was standing alone in the middle of the street, arms crossed. An obvious trap, or then the leaf ninja had gone into hiding or run away.
No matter.
Five sickles were still making it toward the sand ninja standing impassively. As expected, the sands blocked the sickles with ease. So it was reasonable to assume that it was Gaara. 'Reasonable' being a concept ninja discarded once they made it to jounin.
He liked the trick the orange leaf ninja had shown him. Nobody had ever considered just tapping the jinchuuriki with an explosive tag and then watching the fireworks. Since the wall of sand was more than capable of handling those, nobody even considered them useful.
With a grin, he pulled out an explosive tag from his waist pack. It was a true A-rank explosive note, filled to the brim with wind-chakra. This thing could rip apart a building with ease, without the sand shield, this would be way more than enough to knock Gaara out, maybe hack off a limb or two in the process. Then he'd need to take the body so he could have the Shukaku extracted.
Well, that was if the Uzumaku no Kaze Yari failed to just kill the boy.
With a short prayer for success, he hopped into view. Gaara reacted as he'd expected, with a raised eyebrow and with the sands beginning to prepare for a shield.
He dashed forward, intent on throwing the invisible lance as soon as he was in range. It would then twist and turn the air, becoming a visible tornade of a missile that shot forward through everything in it's path.
He blinked as he instinctually swayed to the left.
Ah, an arm. Orange pants.
'No problem.'
Twisting around the follow up attack, Baki grabbed the orange clad ninja by the hair and used him as a pivot to spin around. He was within range, so with all his strength he threw the jutsu in his left hand.
As the tornade formed, Baki turned around and kneed the orange boy in the stomach. A punch to the face and a strong kick. The boy had flinched and was in mid air from the force of the kick.
'Alright, the Haru no Toppu should be enough for this clown.' His hands blazed through a seven handseal combo and filled his lungs with air. The almost recovered orange ninja had no way to avoid the massive gust of wind that picked him up and flung him away.
Spinning on his heel, he faced Gaara again.
The sands had gotten up to shield him, but were far from enough, as the confused and shocked Gaara had been impaled with the lance.
"Well, that was easy." It was only then he noticed the sand sneaking up on him. With a twist he jumped and backflipped to avoid the sands. The Gaara popped in a smoke of dust leaving him alone in the street.
Then the sands collected and coalesced into a human shape, revealing Gaara without a scratch.
"You are getting rusty. Baki." Baki blinked and stepped back in confusion. Sandclones weren't that realistic, and he could spot a bunshin easily.
"I am getting old, huh..." The bandaged man sighed and his right hand twitched. Gaara merely let her eyebrow rise as she stared at the man that was supposed to be her instructor.
Then, as if on a hidden cue, the sand shot forward as the jounin blazed through the handseals for the Fuujin no Kama, rolling to the side to avoid the sands at the same time.
--oo--oo--
Naruto blinked. He was freaking flying.
Whoa, was that a bird? He could see a bunch of huge ass snakes fighting some toads too, Jiraiya was helping out. That was good.
So, Naruto assumed a thinking pose. While soaring through the air.
How did he mess up? He'd gone into hiding while looking through the alleys, while at the same time keeping an eye on Gaara and his clone. Then he'd noticed that his clone was gone. At first he'd panicked, but the he'd realized it must have still been alive as he hadn't gotten any memories of helping Gaara walk.
And then this guy he remembered faintly from before just hopped onto the street and started running at Gaara. So he shunshin'ed next to the guy and tried to punch him. Except he wasn't even close to hitting for some reason.
Then he got pulled around a little as he tried to hit the guy. Next thing he knew, he got kneed in the stomach, punched in the face and kicked off his feet.
When he opened his damn eyes, he was like a god damn hundred meters in the air.
Okay, the ground was getting closer. He blinked as he could feel the memories of the clone come to him. He'd been slammed with some kind of javelin-like tornado.
'Okay, so the guy got me easily straight out of a shunshin. What can I do?' He readied his legs with chakra as he spun around in mid air so he'd land with his legs first.
With a heavy thud, and a skidding for a good lenght of the street, Naruto landed. Finally coming to a stop as he crashed into a wall. The wall was fine, as was he. Mostly.
He winced as he rubbed his legs. That hurt a lot more than normal landings. Way more.
No time for whining. He was a good 400 meters and then some from where the fight was, right by the academy. Damn, he could shunshin properly for maybe 10 times in a row, with each around 40 meters in length at maximum, but that would leave him tired and slow.
He'd tried to go further, but both Mitsune and Jiraiya told him to let it be.
'Even the Yondaime Hokage, known as the Yellow Flash never tried to go past 10 shunshin's in a fight. Your legs simply give in under the stress. You could easily snap a muscles, or break a leg.'
He remembered that warning well; he'd ended up hitting the water pretty hard once when he tried to do an eleventh shunshin. His legs simply gave up and he ended up only going for half the distance before he hit the water.
"God damn it! Stop thinking!!" He stood up and moved to shunshin forward.
The first shunshin covered 38 meters.
The second 41 meters.
The third 45 meters...
There was one thing Naruto didn't know. Since the area where he'd practiced for so long never had enough space for more than two or three consecutive shunshin's in a straight line, he didn't know that the speed built up when going straight on.
By the time he was on his fifth, he was going 60 meters per shunshin. He was far too busy pushing the pain out of his mind to notice as he concentrated on getting the next shunshin ready.
He didn't even notice he was clutching onto the A-tag he'd stuffed in his pocket before.
--oo--oo--
Gaara looked as her sensei was effortlessly ducking and weaving between the stores and alleys of this unfamiliar territory. Had this been in the Hidden Sand Village, Gaara wouldn't be so low on sand, and wouldn't have to worry about all this junk in the way.
The tags that she hadn't dared move were still unactivated. So either Naruto had been knocked unconcious, or had chosen not to eradicate her the second the clone died.
Another tendril shot through a concrete wall as the sand shielded her body from another volley of sickles homing in on her independently of Baki.
"You know..."
Baki's voice echoed from everywhere, giving Gaara no clues as to where the next attack would come from. She scoffed. If he tried to hide for long again, then he was preparing another one of those spears.
"I really should thank that leaf ninja."
The voice echoed from another place, Gaara turned around just in case to check it out. Nothing.
She turned around, only to flinch. He was there, before she could react, he'd disappeared.
"He gave us a marvelous and easy way to kill you. This tag will be more than enough to kill you. But don't worry, it'll only take off your legs!"
He was there in the middle of the street, hands in the serpent seal, just like...
'Not again... not again! I don't want to die!' She looked down, but she couldn't find the tag, her eyes widened as she locked eyes with her old instructor again.
She didn't even realize she'd muttered the word "help...". As the man opened his mouth.
One word, and then the darkness would claim her, for forever.
--oo--oo--
'SIX!' The world slowed down as Naruto was ready for the next jump. A hundred meters left...
'Damn, damn, damn... I need to go further!'
He hadn't even landed yet, but he was coming out of the shunshin. His leg touched the ground. Knees bending a little as his bodyweight settled back down, the quadricep, hamstring and calve muscles all screaming as they overworked themselves.
'I need...' "SEVEN--!!" His hand gripping the explosive tag, his body already willing and able to do the move he must have performed a hundred times today. His fist already alive, the memories of hundreds of clones breathed life into the clenched fist, still holding onto the explosive tag so hard his knuckles were white. His fist cocked back, his legs tensed up, his lungs taking one last breath before the blur would take over.
It was perfect, he just knew it. The timing, the motion, the amount of chakra. The perfect shunshin.
He could see his target. Standing there, not even aknowledging him. Why would he, what could someone from over a 100 meters away do?
His weight rolled forward, his legs began extending, the chakra pulse ready. The ground cracked and gave under as he exploded into acceleration again.
The world blurring past, he just knew he was going to make it.
--oo--oo--
Baki looked Gaara in the eyes, handseal ready. His mouth opened as he noticed the despair and fear for the first time in his students eyes.
"Kats-"
And then his sense of danger exploded.
No, no. That was the sudden fist in the side of his head. He'd been punched with an explosive note, he noted in some part of his mind before his mind went white with pain.
His body went limp before it even hit the ground. The force pushed him downward, as the exploding-haymaker-right-out-of-a-shunshin rocked him. His body hit the ground, bouncing up once as his body dealt with the sickening force of the blow. The shockwave of the chakra swallowed both of their bodies.
As Naruto realized he'd probably blown off his arm and was now in the middle of an explosion, he realized that maybe punching people with explosive notes was not the best way to fight, despite his clones showing excellent results from it.
The clones didn't have to deal with the repercussions.
--oo--oo--
Gaara's empty eyes stared on as Baki exploded. She didn't even notice Naruto appearing.
A few second passed and she watched her old instructors body fall down lifelessly out of the explosion. It took her a few second to realize he was unconcious, with a snap she bended down and began looking for the tag he'd placed. She found it behind her knee, she pulled it off and let the sand carry it away.
She turned back to look at Baki, her breath ragged and her shoulders shaking. She was certain she was done for...
Then she noticed the orange pants.
'HIM! He... he saved... me?' The realization hit her like a punch to the gut. Somebody had saved her. Gaara. The monster. She lost control of her legs and fell on her knees, almost puking.
"Why...?"
Nobody answered. The two others barely breathing as they lay limp and shredded on the ground.
--oo--oo--
"Ugh..." Naruto groaned. He was laying again in the water. He could see the damp yellow walls, the rust and dust on every surface. The was a low growl echoing in the darkness.
He tried getting up. But no success, it was like he was in a state of half-dreaming, half waking. He couldn't even move his eyes, his lids merely open and his stare on the ceiling.
"You've done well, boy... Your actions please me greatly... To have let me humiliate that weak lunatic for so long, supressing and toying with him..." The disembodied voice laughed. Malicious, evil, violent. It made Naruto's body shudder.
"You've earned what little power you can siphoon from me..." The voice grew distant, as the world blurred out, becoming brighter and more colorful...
He could see... red... a mop of red hair. Something fell on his face. It felt weird. Was someone stroking his hair?
He gurgled and took a breath. His skin stung, his right arm felt like he'd slept the whole night on top of it and lost feeling.
The redness moved. It seemed to notice him. His vision was still blurred out, so he couldn't tell who or what it was.
"Uh... Hi...?"
Did he hear a sniff in response? He hated it when people cried. His vision sharpened until he saw something... A kanji. It was upside down, though. He frowned and tried to get up, but the person pushed him back down, gently.
He blinked.
"Gaara...?"
Gaara nodded and stroked his hair again. She held the boy in place. She couldn't believe it until she saw it. He had incredible chakra burns, and his arm had been vaporised to the bone in the blast. But his skin regenerated before her eyes, his arm began healing as malicious red chakra had began forming around it.
In 15 minutes, he was fine again and the red aura subsided. She'd understood.
He was just like her.
He seemed to realize the position they were in as he tensed up.
"The tags will blow up if I take them off... huh?"
The boy blinked. Why wasn't he dead yet?
"Yeah... uh... I bluffed?" She nodded. He was twitching.
"Are you alright?"
"Uh... Yeah. I had this weird dream where some floating face was complimenting me though... That was kind of retarded..."
She nodded and stroked his hair again. "T..."
"Hmm?" He weakly tried struggling out of her hold again.
"Thank you."
He blinked. He blushed. He avoided eyecontact.
"N-no problem. Anytime." She smiled.
That just rocked his world.
-----------------
I keep trying to write, then I realize I need music. So I find some nice looping music, and then I get stuck watching these...
<a href='http://dagobah.net/flash/Haruhi_bounce.swf' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Har00hi</a>
<a href='http://dagobah.net/flash/pomppufiilis.swf' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Don't even ask.</a>
Naruto blinked. He was freaking flying.
Whoa, was that a bird? He could see a bunch of huge ass snakes fighting some toads too, Jiraiya was helping out. That was good.
So, Naruto assumed a thinking pose. While soaring through the air.
How did he mess up? He'd gone into hiding while looking through the alleys, while at the same time keeping an eye on Gaara and his clone. Then he'd noticed that his clone was gone. At first he'd panicked, but the he'd realized it must have still been alive as he hadn't gotten any memories of helping Gaara walk.
And then this guy he remembered faintly from before just hopped onto the street and started running at Gaara. So he shunshin'ed next to the guy and tried to punch him. Except he wasn't even close to hitting for some reason.
Then he got pulled around a little as he tried to hit the guy. Next thing he knew, he got kneed in the stomach, punched in the face and kicked off his feet.
When he opened his damn eyes, he was like a god damn hundred meters in the air.
Okay, the ground was getting closer. He blinked as he could feel the memories of the clone come to him. He'd been slammed with some kind of javelin-like tornado.
'Okay, so the guy got me easily straight out of a shunshin. What can I do?' He readied his legs with chakra as he spun around in mid air so he'd land with his legs first.
With a heavy thud, and a skidding for a good lenght of the street, Naruto landed. Finally coming to a stop as he crashed into a wall. The wall was fine, as was he. Mostly.
He winced as he rubbed his legs. That hurt a lot more than normal landings. Way more.
No time for whining. He was a good 400 meters and then some from where the fight was, right by the academy. Damn, he could shunshin properly for maybe 10 times in a row, with each around 40 meters in length at maximum, but that would leave him tired and slow.
He'd tried to go further, but both Mitsune and Jiraiya told him to let it be.
'Even the Yondaime Hokage, known as the Yellow Flash never tried to go past 10 shunshin's in a fight. Your legs simply give in under the stress. You could easily snap a muscles, or break a leg.'
He remembered that warning well; he'd ended up hitting the water pretty hard once when he tried to do an eleventh shunshin. His legs simply gave up and he ended up only going for half the distance before he hit the water.
"God damn it! Stop thinking!!" He stood up and moved to shunshin forward.
The first shunshin covered 38 meters.
The second 41 meters.
The third 45 meters...
There was one thing Naruto didn't know. Since the area where he'd practiced for so long never had enough space for more than two or three consecutive shunshin's in a straight line, he didn't know that the speed built up when going straight on.
By the time he was on his fifth, he was going 60 meters per shunshin. He was far too busy pushing the pain out of his mind to notice as he concentrated on getting the next shunshin ready.
He didn't even notice he was clutching onto the A-tag he'd stuffed in his pocket before.
--oo--oo--
Gaara looked as her sensei was effortlessly ducking and weaving between the stores and alleys of this unfamiliar territory. Had this been in the Hidden Sand Village, Gaara wouldn't be so low on sand, and wouldn't have to worry about all this junk in the way.
The tags that she hadn't dared move were still unactivated. So either Naruto had been knocked unconcious, or had chosen not to eradicate her the second the clone died.
Another tendril shot through a concrete wall as the sand shielded her body from another volley of sickles homing in on her independently of Baki.
"You know..."
Baki's voice echoed from everywhere, giving Gaara no clues as to where the next attack would come from. She scoffed. If he tried to hide for long again, then he was preparing another one of those spears.
"I really should thank that leaf ninja."
The voice echoed from another place, Gaara turned around just in case to check it out. Nothing.
She turned around, only to flinch. He was there, before she could react, he'd disappeared.
"He gave us a marvelous and easy way to kill you. This tag will be more than enough to kill you. But don't worry, it'll only take off your legs!"
He was there in the middle of the street, hands in the serpent seal, just like...
'Not again... not again! I don't want to die!' She looked down, but she couldn't find the tag, her eyes widened as she locked eyes with her old instructor again.
She didn't even realize she'd muttered the word "help...". As the man opened his mouth.
One word, and then the darkness would claim her, for forever.
--oo--oo--
'SIX!' The world slowed down as Naruto was ready for the next jump. A hundred meters left...
'Damn, damn, damn... I need to go further!'
He hadn't even landed yet, but he was coming out of the shunshin. His leg touched the ground. Knees bending a little as his bodyweight settled back down, the quadricep, hamstring and calve muscles all screaming as they overworked themselves.
'I need...' "SEVEN--!!" His hand gripping the explosive tag, his body already willing and able to do the move he must have performed a hundred times today. His fist already alive, the memories of hundreds of clones breathed life into the clenched fist, still holding onto the explosive tag so hard his knuckles were white. His fist cocked back, his legs tensed up, his lungs taking one last breath before the blur would take over.
It was perfect, he just knew it. The timing, the motion, the amount of chakra. The perfect shunshin.
He could see his target. Standing there, not even aknowledging him. Why would he, what could someone from over a 100 meters away do?
His weight rolled forward, his legs began extending, the chakra pulse ready. The ground cracked and gave under as he exploded into acceleration again.
The world blurring past, he just knew he was going to make it.
--oo--oo--
Baki looked Gaara in the eyes, handseal ready. His mouth opened as he noticed the despair and fear for the first time in his students eyes.
"Kats-"
And then his sense of danger exploded.
No, no. That was the sudden fist in the side of his head. He'd been punched with an explosive note, he noted in some part of his mind before his mind went white with pain.
His body went limp before it even hit the ground. The force pushed him downward, as the exploding-haymaker-right-out-of-a-shunshin rocked him. His body hit the ground, bouncing up once as his body dealt with the sickening force of the blow. The shockwave of the chakra swallowed both of their bodies.
As Naruto realized he'd probably blown off his arm and was now in the middle of an explosion, he realized that maybe punching people with explosive notes was not the best way to fight, despite his clones showing excellent results from it.
The clones didn't have to deal with the repercussions.
--oo--oo--
Gaara's empty eyes stared on as Baki exploded. She didn't even notice Naruto appearing.
A few second passed and she watched her old instructors body fall down lifelessly out of the explosion. It took her a few second to realize he was unconcious, with a snap she bended down and began looking for the tag he'd placed. She found it behind her knee, she pulled it off and let the sand carry it away.
She turned back to look at Baki, her breath ragged and her shoulders shaking. She was certain she was done for...
Then she noticed the orange pants.
'HIM! He... he saved... me?' The realization hit her like a punch to the gut. Somebody had saved her. Gaara. The monster. She lost control of her legs and fell on her knees, almost puking.
"Why...?"
Nobody answered. The two others barely breathing as they lay limp and shredded on the ground.
--oo--oo--
"Ugh..." Naruto groaned. He was laying again in the water. He could see the damp yellow walls, the rust and dust on every surface. The was a low growl echoing in the darkness.
He tried getting up. But no success, it was like he was in a state of half-dreaming, half waking. He couldn't even move his eyes, his lids merely open and his stare on the ceiling.
"You've done well, boy... Your actions please me greatly... To have let me humiliate that weak lunatic for so long, supressing and toying with him..." The disembodied voice laughed. Malicious, evil, violent. It made Naruto's body shudder.
"You've earned what little power you can siphoon from me..." The voice grew distant, as the world blurred out, becoming brighter and more colorful...
He could see... red... a mop of red hair. Something fell on his face. It felt weird. Was someone stroking his hair?
He gurgled and took a breath. His skin stung, his right arm felt like he'd slept the whole night on top of it and lost feeling.
The redness moved. It seemed to notice him. His vision was still blurred out, so he couldn't tell who or what it was.
"Uh... Hi...?"
Did he hear a sniff in response? He hated it when people cried. His vision sharpened until he saw something... A kanji. It was upside down, though. He frowned and tried to get up, but the person pushed him back down, gently.
He blinked.
"Gaara...?"
Gaara nodded and stroked his hair again. She held the boy in place. She couldn't believe it until she saw it. He had incredible chakra burns, and his arm had been vaporised to the bone in the blast. But his skin regenerated before her eyes, his arm began healing as malicious red chakra had began forming around it.
In 15 minutes, he was fine again and the red aura subsided. She'd understood.
He was just like her.
He seemed to realize the position they were in as he tensed up.
"The tags will blow up if I take them off... huh?"
The boy blinked. Why wasn't he dead yet?
"Yeah... uh... I bluffed?" She nodded. He was twitching.
"Are you alright?"
"Uh... Yeah. I had this weird dream where some floating face was complimenting me though... That was kind of retarded..."
She nodded and stroked his hair again. "T..."
"Hmm?" He weakly tried struggling out of her hold again.
"Thank you."
He blinked. He blushed. He avoided eyecontact.
"N-no problem. Anytime." She smiled.
That just rocked his world.
-----------------
I keep trying to write, then I realize I need music. So I find some nice looping music, and then I get stuck watching these...
<a href='http://dagobah.net/flash/Haruhi_bounce.swf' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Har00hi</a>
<a href='http://dagobah.net/flash/pomppufiilis.swf' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Don't even ask.</a>
This might be my favorite story on this site right now. Keep up the good work.
I'll be honest though, it could still use some work:
The romance is moving slightly too fast, though I can understand that might come from a desire to get to the crazy gaara in love parts. It is a tad too cliche (girl falls in love after boy saves her), but cliches aren't necessarily a bad thing, and I think this problem would fix itself if you slowed down on the shipping just a tad.
I'll be honest though, it could still use some work:
The romance is moving slightly too fast, though I can understand that might come from a desire to get to the crazy gaara in love parts. It is a tad too cliche (girl falls in love after boy saves her), but cliches aren't necessarily a bad thing, and I think this problem would fix itself if you slowed down on the shipping just a tad.
Hmm, writing things as I read.
Nice touch the distinction between shikamaru seeing Gaara trying to touch her sister and Temari thinking he's trying to kill her.
Hmm, you didn't expand on the ideas of the material of the clones ... I was thinking about it as soon as finished the first chapter but I think I would have gone too deep ... we also don't know how the kage bunshin works with the inventory of the original. It seems like pretty much everything is cloned + propriety of every material ( clones grabbing each other by the clothes, clothes being distorted like normal ones ). We could speculate that when a single kage "thing" is broken it provokes a chain reaction that break every other kage "thing" it is touching => why if the leg is hit, everything poofs away, and not just the corpse and the clothes are left behind.
So, how does that work with the tags ? you mean to tell me that if he wants to play the selfish bastard that doesn't want to spend one penny ; he just have to keep 1 tag on his real self, and clone himself and each kage bunshin can blow himself and kinda "replicate" the kage bunshin explosion, or just use them the normal way and poof, he doesn't waste money ? That's awesome :yay:
Hmm, seems not, the "commander" distributed some notes ... can the replicated tags still serve as "feint", or dudes ? I hope so, more ninja-likeh43r:
Hmm, that troubled me "And then a Naruto shunshin'ed in and uppercutted him with an explosive note [ blablabla ] and a unconcious and falling over ninja." ... shouldn't he be resting in pieces ? I mean, an explosive tag in the jaw ? or are those C-tags like ... just a flashbang ?
Final scene, all in all, you just rocked my world.
But I still persist that the yondaime must have actually never used the shunshin in battle ... he had a better version that didn't stress his body, why bother with the shunshin ?
PS:Where's your sig coming from ? That flying falcon punch ?
Nice touch the distinction between shikamaru seeing Gaara trying to touch her sister and Temari thinking he's trying to kill her.
Hmm, you didn't expand on the ideas of the material of the clones ... I was thinking about it as soon as finished the first chapter but I think I would have gone too deep ... we also don't know how the kage bunshin works with the inventory of the original. It seems like pretty much everything is cloned + propriety of every material ( clones grabbing each other by the clothes, clothes being distorted like normal ones ). We could speculate that when a single kage "thing" is broken it provokes a chain reaction that break every other kage "thing" it is touching => why if the leg is hit, everything poofs away, and not just the corpse and the clothes are left behind.
So, how does that work with the tags ? you mean to tell me that if he wants to play the selfish bastard that doesn't want to spend one penny ; he just have to keep 1 tag on his real self, and clone himself and each kage bunshin can blow himself and kinda "replicate" the kage bunshin explosion, or just use them the normal way and poof, he doesn't waste money ? That's awesome :yay:
Hmm, seems not, the "commander" distributed some notes ... can the replicated tags still serve as "feint", or dudes ? I hope so, more ninja-like
h43r:Hmm, that troubled me "And then a Naruto shunshin'ed in and uppercutted him with an explosive note [ blablabla ] and a unconcious and falling over ninja." ... shouldn't he be resting in pieces ? I mean, an explosive tag in the jaw ? or are those C-tags like ... just a flashbang ?
Final scene, all in all, you just rocked my world.
But I still persist that the yondaime must have actually never used the shunshin in battle ... he had a better version that didn't stress his body, why bother with the shunshin ?
PS:Where's your sig coming from ? That flying falcon punch ?