Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Flowers in the Sand ❯ Chapter 9

Chapter 9 (my apologies to those reading this- I'm not very good with describing fights, let alone ninja battles. Forgive me if anything seems a little… off.)

 

“Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!” A handful of Naruto shadow clones appeared and ran, looking somewhat disorganized, towards one of the ninja assassins in a straight on assault.

 

The Akatsuki agent smirked. “I've been warned about your abilities, Hokage,” he sneered, making the title into an insult. “Your shadow clones are no match for me.” He made several fast seals with his hands. “Doton: Retsudotenshou!”

 

Several large rocks from the ground lifted up and began hurtling through the air towards the oncoming Narutos. They were all hit dead on and, subsequently, poofed into smoke.

 

The former Rock shinobi smiled confidently. “You are not worthy of the title Hokage, you Kyuubi brat!”

 

“I long outgrew being termed a brat,” a deadly-serious voice sounded behind the shinobi. He turned to see the real Naruto behind him, a pissed-off look on his face and a swirling blue ball of visible chakra in his right hand. “Rasengan!”

 

Naruto growled as he launched the chakra-ball against the Rock ninja's midsection, earning him a look of complete horror on the shinobi's face. The spinning chakra caused him to twirl in the air as the force of the blast hurled him backwards, through tree trunks, rocks, and finally at a bone-breaking stop in the middle of a stone outcropping. The blood trickling down from various wounds on the ninja's head indicated that his skull had been cracked in multiple places.

 

Kakashi dropped down behind Naruto, his Sharingan eye exposed from his fight with the other Akatsuki agent. “Nice work,” he commended his one-time pupil.

 

Naruto nodded once, but his face was grim. “We have to find Neji and Safaia. No doubt they're in the worst of this.”

 

“We were separated quite far from them,” Kakashi commented as they ran back to where their friends were. “It will take some time to get there now.”

 

“Bastards,” the Hokage growled, clenching his teeth.

 

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Neji glared at Hidan, breathing slightly harder than normal. So far, the Akatsuki was simply playing with him- he was certain. Then when his chakra was almost depleted, Hidan would strike and that'd be the end of him.

 

“Come along, Konoha scum,” Hidan purred. “Is that the best that the Hidden Leaf can offer me?” He shook his head almost sadly. “I expected more from their legendary Jounins.”

 

“Cease your prattle,” Neji told him coolly. “Your destiny is inevitable- and it ends here.”

 

Hidan smirked. “We'll see who the Jashin favors, lowlife trash.”

 

Neji made a seal with his hands. “Hakke Kuushou!” He thrust his palm in Hidan's direction and the Akatsuki member was thrown backwards against a tree from the chakra blast from Neji's palm.

 

Hidan chuckled and swiftly whipped out his three-bladed scythe, flinging it at Neji. “It will take more than that to stop me,” he hissed.

 

Neji dodged the attack easily, the main focus of his special gaze on the enemy in front of him. He watched the scythe, expecting it to come back for him from behind. Instead, it was heading straight for Safaia.

 

Who, of course, could not see it coming.

 

“Safaia!” Neji cried, a note of panic in his voice. There's no way I can get to her in time, he thought frantically.

 

The blind girl looked up at the sound of his voice and, hearing the whoosh of the blade cutting through the air, flung herself against the ground. A soft thunk indicated the blade had embedded itself in something.

 

Safaia sniffed slightly, her eyes widening. No way… why?

 

Neji blinked in utter surprise at the scythe, now embedded in a wall of sand. He glanced over at a figure nearby. “Gaara…”

 

The Kazekage stood upside down on a nearby tree branch, his arms crossed as usual. His aquamarine eyes narrowed slightly at Hidan. “I am your opponent,” he said in an old familiar death-tone.

 

Hidan waved him off as if he were a pesky fly. “I'm no longer interested in baggage like you,” he informed the sand-master. “You served your purpose. Now you need to stay dead!” He pulled back on the rope that was affixed to the weapon and yanked it back into his hand.

 

The sand wall fell and began to curl around Gaara as he did a backflip and landed next to Safaia in a crouch. Without taking his eyes off Hidan, he spoke softly. “Are you injured?”

 

“No,” she murmured back, a bit of surprise in her voice. “Why… why did you come?”

 

He didn't answer right away. “You were in trouble.”

 

“But how did you know?”

 

He watched Neji and Hidan battle for a moment. “I just knew. And I…” He broke off.

 

She leaned closer, frowning slightly in confusion. “You… what?”

 

“I had to save you,” he replied, so softly that even she, with her exceptional hearing, almost missed it.

 

“Gaara,” she whispered back, an unfamiliar emotion welling up inside her.

 

He stood up and assumed his battle stance- arms folded, eyes staring, face blank and emotionless. His sand slid out of the giant gourd on his back and hovered in the air around him.

 

Neji jumped back and stood on the other side of Safaia. “Take her and get somewhere safe,” Gaara told him bluntly. “I will deal with this.”

 

The white-eyed Jounin scowled slightly at the other man. “Very well,” he nodded, picking Safaia up into his arms and leaping away somewhere.

 

Hidan glared. “It makes no difference. I will kill you and then it's all a matter of finding that bitch and extracting the Five-tails.”

 

Gaara's eyes flew wide in an expression that pretty much secured the Akatsuki's fate. “You will not be alive to touch her.” The sand went from idly stirring to instantaneous movement, flying straight toward the Akatsuki with amazing speed.

 

The former Grass ninja smirked and simply dodged the attack, opting, instead, to try and move closer to Gaara. He flung three shuriken at the sand-master, which were blocked by more sand.

 

“Your sand is a viable defense,” Hidan smiled. “But it cannot defend against me.” He twirled his scythe above his head so fast that it blurred. “I may not be fast, but my scythe will still slice you.”

 

Gaara glared. “Quit talking and die.” He made a few seals with his hands. “Suna Shigure,” he murmured, causing sand to gather above Hidan and rain down upon him.

 

The other man made to move forward and was surprised to see his feet encased in rock-hard sand. “Useless freak,” he growled at Gaara. “I will show you the meaning of pain!” He flung his spinning scythe at Gaara just as the sand congealed around him.

 

The Kazekage didn't even blink as the weapon flew toward him. As normal, his sand came up to block it…

 

And the scythe sliced right through it.

 

Gaara's eyes flew wide in shock and a bit of worry. He ducked, but not quickly enough. The topmost blade sliced through his side, making the red-haired man gasp. Pain… so rare that it is that I feel it… He looked up at Hidan as the Akatsuki smiled darkly. The scythe embedded itself in a nearby tree since the rain of sand prevented its master from pulling back to his hand.

 

And yet… yet, it is a blessing… it shows that I am human… that I am NOT a monster… Holding his copiously bleeding side, Gaara turned toward the Akatsuki member. “Sabaku Rou,” he whispered, causing the rain of sand to stop and seal up Hidan in a prison of sand.

 

Hidan struggled slightly, only his face visible in the cocoon of sand. “You're not as impervious as you thought you were, huh, freak?”

 

“You are the only freak here,” Gaara informed him coldly, his eyes like ice. “And your fate, as Neji said previously, ends here. Die.” He clenched his fist. “Sabaku Sousou!”

 

The sand imploded and blood splattered out, landing with a splut sound on his sand wall defense. He willed the sand to retreat.

 

The battered, ripped, and rather mangled form of Hidan slid to the ground with a sickening squish. Gaara stared unemotionally at the corpse. Something's not right…

 

Naruto, Kakashi, and Kiba dropped down next to him. They, too, looked at Hidan's bloody corpse.

 

“It's definitely him,” Kiba said, wrinkling his nose. “Plus, he's got that ring.” He pointed at the appendage. He glanced at Gaara. “You okay, friend?”

 

Gaara didn't move. Naruto saw the blood staining his clothes and dripping down his side and promptly freaked out. “Holy hell, Gaara! You're bleeding! How in the hell did he manage to hurt you?”

 

Gaara managed a slight smile at his very loud friend. “His scythe sliced through my sand.” He looked back at the corpse. “I'm confused, though. I expected him to be stronger.”

 

Kakashi shrugged. “All Akatsuki members are not made the same,” was all he said. “The strongest of the group, Orochimaru, Itachi, Kisame, Zetzu… they were all defeated years ago. It stands to reason that the remaining members would not be that much of a challenge to you now.”

 

Kiba nodded. “The biggest threat, strength-wise, would be Kabuto.”

 

Naruto looked around. “Where's Safaia? And Neji?”

 

Neji dropped down from a tree, Safaia still cradled in his arms. “Right here.”

 

Kakashi slid his forehead protector back down across his left eye. “I'm off to check my team,” he told them. “I'll meet you back at Konoha hospital.”

 

The Konoha shinobi nodded as the silver-haired Jounin vanished from sight. Safaia sniffed delicately. Her eyes flew wide.

 

“I smell blood,” she said, a bit of surprise in her voice. “Who is injured?”

 

“It is of no consequence,” Gaara said stiffly. “Merely a miscalculation on my part.”

 

“You're pouring out blood and you say it's of no consequence?” Naruto hollered at his best friend. “Like hell! We're taking your sandy ass to Konoha hospital and you'll just have to deal with it!”

 

Safaia had gone quite pale, but only Gaara noticed it. “Very well,” he murmured after a long silence. But only for her… I don't like to see her concerned like this.

 

Naruto carefully hoisted his friend on his back, piggy-back style. Gaara grunted. “This is unnecessary.”

 

“Keep your mouth shut,” Naruto informed him good-naturedly, “and let me help you.”

 

Gaara glanced at Safaia, still held safely in Neji's capable arms, as they raced through the trees back to Konoha. Her head was resting against the ninja's chest as if she were asleep.

 

They suit each other, he thought, a rather painful sensation worming its way inside his chest. He, who can see everything around him, and she, who cannot see anything at all. What would I have had to offer her? Pain and fear- that is all. She deserves one who can love. Not a heartless monster like me.

 

-----------------------

 

“That's a fair injury,” Sakura told Gaara as he sat up in his hospital bed a couple days later. “Even though your sand armor deflected a lot of it, it's still pretty deep. I can help your body to heal, but unfortunately, in my current condition,” -she patted her round belly affectionately- “I can only stop the majority of the bleeding.”

 

“Do not concern yourself,” Gaara said quietly, fighting off another strange emotion as he watched the pink-haired woman pat her abdomen. Jealousy… yes. Idiotic though it is, I am jealous that my best friend and his wife are starting a family. I am left behind once again. “I survived the trip here without dying. I will heal in time- just as others do.” He smiled faintly. “The pain helps remind me that I am, in fact, human.”

 

Sakura understood immediately. “I will staunch the bleeding, then, and leave the rest to you. But you must rest, okay? You don't want to make the wound worse by doing too much too soon.”

 

“You sound like my sister when she tends to Akina's injuries,” Gaara mused.

 

She smiled brightly. “Does Akina get into trouble that often?”

 

“She is just like her mother,” Gaara shook his head slightly. “I believe Kankuro once called her a `spitfire.'”

 

“Definitely not Shikamaru,” Sakura giggled. “I figured any child of his would be just as lazy and just as brilliant.”

 

“She's brilliant, all right. That's what the problem is, he says.”

 

She sighed as she placed her hands over his sliced side to begin the jutsu. “I won't have that problem,” she grumbled. “I worry my child's going to end up just like Naruto- loud, obnoxious, annoying-“

 

“You forgot incredibly good-looking.”

 

She turned her head to see Naruto and Safaia standing in the doorway of Gaara's hospital room. She stuck her tongue out at him. “I forgot nothing, baka.” She released her jutsu and checked the bandage. The bleeding had stopped, at least for now.

 

Naruto led Safaia over to the edge of the bed. “I brought you a visitor. And you'd better heal fast, sand-boy,” he informed his friend cheerfully as he turned and escorted his wife out of the room, much to her confused protests. “I don't want Suna to start a war because they thought I kidnapped you.” He chuckled as he closed the door behind them.

 

“What was that about?” Sakura demanded out in the hallway.

 

“He's got it bad for her,” Naruto replied nonchalantly, as if discussing weather. “And so does Neji. But she was worried about Gaara's injury, so I brought her here to talk with him.”

 

Sakura blinked. “And Neji's okay with this?”

 

“He's visiting with Hinata and Kiba, now that everyone's home. Hinata was anxious about something. But he knows Safaia is in my care.”

 

His pregnant wife looked thoughtful. I wonder…

 

-oOo-oOo-oOo-

 

A/N: Kage Bunshin no Jutsu- “Shadow Clone Jutsu”

Doton: Retsudotenshou- “Earth Release: Split Earth Turn Around Palm”

Rasengan- “Spiraling Sphere”

Hakke Kuushou- “Eight Trigrams Empty Palm” or “Eight Trigrams Wind Palm”

Suna Shigure- “Sand Rain”

Sabaku Sousou- “Desert Funeral”