Gaara
VS
Itachi
Location: Darui’s Division’s battlefield.
Knowledge: Manga(Meaning Gaara knows everything he currently knows about Uchiha techniques and Itachi knows what Deidara knew when he went to fight Gaara)
Mindset: Kill
Starting Distance: 50 meters
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VS
Itachi
You must be registered for see images
Location: Darui’s Division’s battlefield.
Knowledge: Manga(Meaning Gaara knows everything he currently knows about Uchiha techniques and Itachi knows what Deidara knew when he went to fight Gaara)
Mindset: Kill
Starting Distance: 50 meters
With the sound of rushing waves echoing in his ears on a bright sunny day, the Fifth Kazekage stood about twenty feet above the ground, atop one of the many steps on the rock formations which jutted upwards across the sandy beach, his short, red hair swaying in a light breeze. His teal eyes narrowed at the horizon as he caught a view of a figure walking across the sea. He considered moving towards the approaching individual but thought better of it, choosing to wait until the person was fully in sight.
Gaara did not have to wait long; in a few seconds he saw a thin individual whose black, high-collared cloak bore the distinct red clouds that marked an Akatsuki. The fellow was still quite far away for his face to be properly seen, the raised collar also contributing to the difficulty, but his attire and dark bangs were sufficient to inform him that this was Uchiha Itachi. The Bingo Book photo had been very clear.
He greeted the traitor ninja with a massive wave of sand, whose grainy torrents rose as high as fifty feet, tumbling over one another as they surged towards Itachi, who had not yet arrived at the beach. When his Sharingan caught a view of the flood which was closing in fast, the Uchiha immediately began to retreat, light but speedy footsteps carrying him away from the approaching sand waves. Gaara’s attack gave chase, rising above the water as it pursued its target.
At about a hundred yards from the beach, The Akatsuki came to halt on the water and turned towards his incoming death with a change in the pattern of his eyes. Suddenly, a fiery aura of crimson chakra surrounding his whole body, clothes and hair thrashing about him. The shadow of the wave had covered him now, sand standing high before him, ready to pounce. Itachi was just a mere second from death when the hulking form of Susanoo appeared, brandishing a large, flaming crimson chakra shield in front of him which completely blocked the deadly torrent, its sandy contents falling harmlessly into the sea waters on either side of the Uchiha.
Itachi opened the top part of his cloak as Susanoo faded all around him, the wind stirred his robe and swept his bangs in front of his Mangekyo Sharingan, which was narrowed from the strain of using his great trump card, glaring at Gaara. The former Ichibi Jinchuuriki stood with his hands folded, atop a small platform of sand, hovering in the sky above Itachi and looking down on him with dark ringed eyes. “Sabaku no Gaara.” said the Akatsuki as he proceeded forward in quick leaps, stepping out of the water and onto the sandy beach. “I believe the last time we met, your corpse was lying at my feet in a gathering of the Akatsuki.”
“Yes, I regret not having the distinct pleasure of making your acquaintance on that occasion.” responded Gaara, the expression on his face as indifferent as Itachi’s. “I’ll just have to make up for it now.”
Gaara sent a small wave of beach sand at Itachi. Rearing on his feet, the Uchiha evaded the attack in a single leap forward which carried him as high as fifty feet, very close to the airborne Gaara, his right eye shut and blood streaming down his cheek. “Amaterasu!” he called out while in mid air as he opened his eye. In a very minute fraction of a heartbeat, the very briefest of moments, Gaara’s sand poured out of his gourd and surrounded him, receiving the burst of black flames that Itachi had meant to kill him with.
“That won’t work on me. Your brother already tried it.” said Gaara dismissively as Itachi landed on the beach, more sand emerging from his container and arraying themselves as small brown balls floating in the air behind the red-haired Kazekage. “Sand Bullets!” he said, as the small sand pellets shot towards Itachi at blinding speed. Gaara’s eyes narrowed in annoyance as he watched the Uchiha launch several flame-coated shurikens at his bullets, the two volleys of projectiles cancelling each other out. However, Itachi had unwittingly fallen into his trap.
The sand at the Akatsuki’s feet rose and contorted around his legs, rising higher and higher on his body. With lightning quickness, Itachi extracted a kunai tagged with an explosive paper and threw it downwards. It went beneath the surface of the ground, and the blast which resulted a moment later was enough to scatter the sand which had ensnared the Uchiha. When the smoke from the small explosion settled, Itachi was standing twenty meters from his previous spot, on the surface of the sea.
“Smart. I can’t turn the earth against you if you’re standing on water.” said Gaara, small clouds of sand floating around him, ablaze with Itachi’s earlier Amaterasu. “However, do not underestimate me. Even Amaterasu is not sufficient enough to catch me, and I’m not foolish enough to look directly into your Sharingan.”
“Then, that just leaves Susanoo.” The four limbed, ethereal raging god of battle surrounded Itachi once more, this time with its bones coated by skin and three tomoe-shaped constructs—joined by what resembled a string--hovering over one of its massive palms. “Yasaka Magatama!” the Uchiha called out, hurling the string of magatama at Gaara.
The sand on which the Kage stood edged to the right in order to carry him out of the attack’s range. “Don’t underestimate the speed of my sand!” Gaara retaliated by firing lifting great volumes of sand off the beach, compressing them into more than a hundred large sand bullets—each of them at least half the size of a human—and firing them at Itachi. The skin of Susanoo effortlessly resisted these attacks and Itachi fired more of his long range projectiles at Gaara, who continued to glide away from the attacks. This exchange of techniques continued at length—with Itachi mixing Susanoo’s attacks with some shots of Amaterasu, which Gaara’s sand invariably blocked as before.
Tiring of the apparent stalemate, Gaara decided to intensify his efforts. From the sandy stretch of beach rose another mighty wave of sand, rising above the ground and flying towards the sea; towards Itachi. The floating, shapeless heap of sand was about eighty feet thick and half as wide, hovering around a hundred feet over the water, casting a dark ominous shadow over the Uchiha as it rolled closer and closer to him at the command of Gaara’s two hands.
Itachi deactivated Susanoo and began heading farther away from the shore, the sand following after him. “I’ll exhaust him by making him carry the sand for a while.” thought the Uchiha. Gaara remained at the beach, sending his small floating eyeball after Itachi in order to keep him in sight while also maintaining a good distance. The sand chased Itachi into the water a good two hundred yards, shaping itself as it went, into a large arm with dark markings on its sandy skin; a resemblance of Shukaku’s body.
The massive limb closed its fingers into a fist, the full length of its knuckles about thirty feet long, and fell upon on Itachi with the full brunt of its power, forcing him to shield with Susanoo. The massive fist pressed down on Susanoo’s Yata mirror, the ethereal beast pushing back as well, both Itachi and Gaara’s faces contorted in strained expressions as their techniques struggled against each other, ripples spreading out from water over which Susanoo hovered and struggled. As Itachi stood on the surface of the sea, his Susanoo slowly gaining the upper hand against the fist of sand, he felt something close around his ankles and in the next moment, he was in the water, pulled out of his Susanoo and caught in a snare of sand, which was slowly crawling over his whole body.
Gaara smiled as he watched Susanoo fade away due to the absence of Itachi’s chakra to fuel its existence. The massive fist of sand crumbled away and fell harmlessly into the water.“You fell for it. You erroneously assumed that I couldn’t control my sand in the water. Although it is more taxing to do so, as the water soaks the sand, thereby making it heavier and slower, it is very possible.” the Jinchuuriki said, beads of sweat rolling down his face in fatigue from his earlier efforts.
“In truth, I’ve been following your movements from underwater with part of the sand I used in my earlier attacks.” I reduced your chakra by forcing you to continually maintain Susanoo while keeping my distance. Seems I was right in assuming it consumed great quantities of chakra as with your brother. This was in order to slow down your movements. The final aerial sand assault was but a mere distraction to direct your attention away from the sand trap just beneath the surface of the water. There was no way you could detect it, even with your Sharingan. After all, beach sand has no chakra.”
Itachi watched the sand creep up over his legs while dragging him deeper and deeper into the water. He extracted an explosive note and placed it on growing cocoon but the blast was severely dampened by the surrounding water, producing no effect on the sand. Itachi considered using some Water techniques but realized that he would damage himself in the process, and the sand would simply capture him again. Fire Techniques would also be under the sea. Desperate for an escape, the Uchiha activated his Susanoo, manifesting his trump card in the water. However, the sand was still around his legs within the body cavity of the monster, and the weight of the Susanoo only served to sink him faster! He deactivated it, as it was a pointless drain on his chakra. The sand was at his chest now and he could feel it tightening around his body. Bubbles poured from his mouth as he could not hold his breath any longer.
“It is over, Uchiha Itachi.” said Gaara, feeling that his sand had covered his opponent completely. He stretched his palm over the sea, and closed it into a fist a moment later. “Sabaku Kyuu!” he intoned, ending the battle. The waves continued to roll into the shore and recede back into the ocean, the wind caressing Gaara’s face and sending the locks of his hair in a frenzy. The Kazekage gazed at the sea with vacant eyes for a good while before turning away, riding on his platform of sand back to his village.
THE END
