Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Leaf in the Desert ❯ Chapter 25

Those shinobi still alive realized the futility of trying to fight the huge Fox and quickly ran for the only haven left to them other than fleeing into the unforgiving desert…

 

Suna.

 

The Kyuubi, noticing the frantic movements, turned its attention to the stony cliffs surrounding the village. Dropping the remains of unfortunate victims, it leaped, high in the air to land on the cliffs. Gobi, already on her way to intercept the other Bijuu, skidded to a halt in the sands, watched helplessly as the Fox bypassed her completely to attack her village.

 

As its paws came down, ready to crush the buildings to dust, a horrible, unearthly scream filled the air, causing all the humans around to cover their ears. Gobi, with her even more sensitive hearing, whimpered and flinched. Gaara stood up, staring.

 

“Gobi,” he whispered. “Look!”

 

The Dog opened her golden eyes and blinked. Huge, long, razor-sharp thorns had pierced Kyuubi's massive paws from where they landed on a dome-like shield of rose vines. Even the narrow entryway that had been cut out of the stony cliffs for entrance into the village had been sealed off with the deadly plants.

 

The Fox screamed in pain again as several thorny tendrils shot out of the shield and wrapped themselves around its muzzle, neck, torso, and tails, effectively capturing the beast for the time being.

 

“We go,” Gaara announced, turning his head behind him. Gobi whuffed in agreement then used her keen sense of smell to sniff out their quarry.

 

It didn't take long. They found the mutilated Kanaye being tended by several Iwa medic-nins that hadn't had the sense to flee while they could. The Tsuchikage looked up as the huge Dog approached and he stood, flexing his newly attached arm.

 

Gaara's eyes narrowed. It was apparent that although Kanaye's arm and shoulder had been torched off by Kyuubi, he had managed to find one of his slain shinobi's dismembered arm and had his medic-nins reattach the appendage while the rest of his army fled in terror. Gobi snarled.

 

“So you still live, Gaara of the Desert,” Kanaye called, rotating his new arm to get a better feel for the repaired appendage. “A pity.”

 

“Indeed,” the red-haired man replied, glaring down at his malicious enemy. “For your end is now, Kanaye. If I had not survived, your death may have been postponed for a few more moments.”

 

“Moments?” he scoffed. “How on Earth do you figure that?”

 

“Because the Kyuubi will rip you apart- again- should I fail.”

 

Kanaye winced as a twinge shot through his new arm. “I will finish you off for good this time, old man,” he hissed.

 

No more words were wasted between them. Kanaye tested out his restored abilities. “Doton: Kusari no Doseki!”

 

Before Gobi could react, rocky earth shot up from underneath her paws and wrapped around her legs and ankles, effectively trapping her and restraining her movements. Vainly she struggled in an attempt to free herself.

 

Gaara nimbly jumped from his perch atop her furry head, flipping once in midair to land lithely to face off in a three-point stance against Kanaye, holding his cane in his free hand like a quarter-staff. Aquamarine eyes glared from underneath red bangs.

 

“I may be your elder, Tsuchikage, but I am hardly old.”

 

He spun his cane around expertly and it soon became apparent that his previous injuries were not holding him back for this encounter. He held up one hand and narrowed his eyes.

 

Sand… thin tendrils of sand lifted from the desert underneath his feet and spun around him.

 

Kanaye snorted. “I know all about your inability to use sand,” he sneered. “You cannot harm me with your weak dust!”

 

Gobi's struggles increased. Every instinct she possessed told her she needed to protect her mate, that he would not be able to defeat the Iwa leader with his current skill.

 

“Then your spies have relayed your information just as I planned,” Gaara murmured, his old familiar blood-lust grin practically lighting up his face. He changed his finger position to a different seal and the dunes beneath their feet rumbled and shifted.

 

Kanaye's eyes flickered down to stare at the shaking sands with incredulous eyes. Gaara used his momentary distraction to flicker-step behind him and swipe at him with his cane.

 

The Tsuchikage just barely managed to dodge the blow, only to have the sand under his feet suddenly turn soft- and start pulling him under. He grunted, then slammed his hands onto the granules. Immediately a slab of stone surfaced up from the shifting ground and lifted him out of the quicksand.

 

Gaara raised his arms and brought his hands together in a seal. “Ryuusa Bakuryuu!” The dunes of quicksand parted, sliding smoothly away from Kanaye. Huge waves lifted up and crashed down on him, intent on smothering him under tons of sand. He stared in absolute shock at the waves for the briefest moment before managing to barely dodge the attack on his hovering stone slab. He turned and glared at Gaara, his eyes hard as the rock he stood on. “Impossible,” he hissed. “You cannot control sand anymore!”

 

“I have spent the last few years deliberately making sure everyone- especially your spies- believed that… and relayed that information to you,” Gaara practically purred with more than a hint of delighted maliciousness. “My abilities with sand are just as strong as they were when Shukaku was still inside me.”

 

Kanaye's expression went from shocked to furious. “No matter. I know about your sand jutsu and you cannot beat me!” He smirked at Gaara. “I told you, old man- your sand is too weak against me!”

 

Gaara returned the younger man's smirk with an almost sadistic grin of his own. “Who says sand is my only offense?” He flung his arms out to the sides, his hands held in a particular seal. “Sekkan.”

 

Kanaye's wine-dark eyes flew wide as the stone slab he stood upon broke in half, folded inwards, and slammed together, enfolding and crushing his entire body. He shrieked in pain as the stone chunks squashed him, blood splattering from between the blocks. For a moment, the slabs hung in midair and Gaara watched, unblinking, as blood seeped out from the cracks in the stones and dripped almost silently onto the sand.

 

Gaara smiled.

 

And it wasn't a nice smile, either.

 

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Gobi grunted and pulled with all her strength and managed to pull her front left paw free of the stone chains holding her captive, but sliced her leg fairly deeply in the process. She let out a yip of pain.

 

Gaara walked over, cane in hand, and tapped the stone chains with the tip. The chains crumbled into dust. “You should have waited, Gobi.”

 

The Dog growled at him as she licked her wounded leg. “Waited for what? For my crippled and retired mate to get destroyed by a man hell-bent on destroying the world?”

 

“You could have had more faith in me.”

 

“I believed your sand abilities to have vanished completely,” she grumped as she shook dust and sand off her dirty white fur. She looked down her long nose at her host's husband. “Why would you lie to everyone about something like this?”

Gaara shrugged. “I knew Kanaye had spies and informants hidden in both Suna and Konoha. Rather than try to locate and dispose of them all, I simply made it seem as if my abilities had faded with time, rather than remained the same. The only one who knows that my skills are the same is Aikou.”

 

Gobi eyed him with canine respect. “Because she bears your sand abilities as well.”

 

“Indeed.”

 

In the distance, a furious shriek echoed. Gobi's ears perked up and both Dog and shinobi turned to look back at Suna. “Kyuubi is breaking loose,” she observed.

 

“We need to hurry. Haru cannot hold that beast for too much longer.”

 

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Kohaku and Yuushuu ran side-by-side across the sandy dunes, racing for the not-too-distant village and the thrashing Fox entrapped on top of it. Even from this distance it was apparent that the thorny vines wouldn't be able to hold the Bijuu for long.

 

Out of the corner of his eye, Kohaku glimpsed a huge white figure limping across the sands. He turned his head and stared. “…Gobi?”

 

Yuushuu followed his gaze and frowned. “That must be the Five-Tails- and it looks like it's injured.”

 

“Let's go.”

 

Together they shifted their course slightly to intercept the large white Dog. Gobi paused when the two shinobi approached and Gaara peered down from his perch atop her head. “Kohaku?”

 

“Ohayo, Uncle Gaara, Aunt Safaia-slash-Gobi.”

 

“Good morning indeed,” Gobi snorted. “You are as much of an idiot as your father.”

 

“Guilty as charged.” Kohaku turned to see Kyuubi struggling and slashing, quickly turning the rose vines into mulch. “We don't have much time.”

 

Gobi and Gaara both looked at the orange-haired teen closely. There was something in his tone, in his demeanor… Despite his attempt at his usual smart-ass mannerisms, there was something painfully serious about Naruto's son's gaze.

 

“Can you still fight, Aunt?”

 

The Dog whuffed in agreement, ignoring Gaara's stern protests. Kohaku and Yuushuu leapt onto Gobi's back and the Dog raced off in a three-legged sprint toward Suna. Gaara glared at his best friend's son.

 

“She needs to be returned to normal and her wounds tended to,” he scolded Kohaku. “I do not want my wife involved in this any longer.”

 

Kohaku gave him a level look that Gaara had seen many times on Naruto's face over the years. “She is the only one capable of holding off the Kyuubi should Yuushuu fail. She is my backup plan- that is all.”

 

Gaara turned and gazed at the Uchiha female. “I recommend you do not fail.”

 

“I do not plan to,” was her terse reply.

 

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Kyuubi screeched as the last thorny tendril refused to release its hold on the Fox's midsection, sharp barbs cutting deep into the flesh there and causing scalding blood to rain down onto the shield covering Suna.

 

Haru, sweating profusely and near his limit, finally had no choice but to release his rose-vine's hold on the Bijuu in order to maintain the protection of the shield. He growled as the Fox pulled free and leapt over the cliffs to land on the desert's edge.

 

It is up to you now, Mother, Father. All I can do is protect the village. The rest… is in your hands.

 

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

 

Yuushuu scowled. “Tch. We're too late. The Fox has freed itself.”

 

Kohaku nodded his head. “You know what to do.”

 

“Hai.” She jumped down from Gobi's back and immediately performed the Summoning Jutsu. When the cloud of smoke cleared, she was standing on top of a huge snake that was nearly as tall as Gobi when it slithered up.

 

Gaara eyed the Uchiha female. “I believed Manda to be dead.”

 

“He is,” Yuushuu replied, leading her snake ahead of Gobi. “But the rest of his children remain- and Uncle Sasuke thought it'd be a good idea if I utilized them.”

 

Kohaku joined Yuushuu on the enormous snake's head and gave Gaara a two-fingered salute in farewell. “If we fail, we're counting on you, Uncle.”

 

“Do not fail then.”

 

“Gotcha.”

 

Kohaku didn't look back as they raced off on the snake, his entire demeanor now focusing on what he had to do to protect the world from Kyuubi's destruction.

 

.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.Oo.

 

Doton: Kusari no Doseki: Earth type: Chains of Stone

 

Ryuusa Bakuryuu: Quicksand in the Style of a Waterfall

 

Sekkan: Stone Coffin (variant of Sand Coffin, eh?)