Chakra Wizard
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This chapter turned out a little shorter than I expected, but it should pack the same punch (you may recognize a certain character if you know anything about the Hiden novels). lol Really hope you enjoy
Here’s my previous chapters, for those who missed any:
Chapter 085: The Kage Are In Danger
The recent death of Darui continued to hang over the heads of not only the Land of Lightning’s citizens, but those of the other four major countries, as well. The tragedy was doomed to carry on, though, as the following day, the Five Great Villages received word of the passing of Chōjūrō, approximately five days after the Mist Village was bombed by an undetermined foe – just as the case was for the Cloud Village before them. Having already lost two colleagues and close friends, Gaara’s mind was already at a highly sensitive point, causing him to throw his phone across his mostly destroyed office after ending a call from Ryoku, informing him that Kurotsuchi had also met her end.
Gaara: Rrrgh, damn it!!
He slammed his fists against his desk as he breathed heavily to vent his rage, forgetting for a moment that his wife Shijima and another prominent jōnin named Kawari were in the room with him, the former staring at him with intense worry in her eyes from the chair directly to his right.
Shijima: Gaara…
Gaara: (Having finally calmed down, he sat back down in his seat and buried his face in his hands.) I’m sorry, Shijima. …If this keeps going on the way it is, I’ll be the next to die.
Shijima: (She stood up and slapped her hands atop his desk, leaning inward as she spoke.) That’s not going to happen! If any of the Kage can defeat this assassin, it’ll be you! I’m sure of that!
Gaara: (Initially put off by her tenacity, he smiled in appreciation a few moments later.) Thank you…with you by my side, I’m sure we can.
The two exchanged loving glances as Gaara’s hand wrapped itself Shijima’s, their tender moment interrupted moments later by an equally nervous Kawari.
Kawari: Sir…what do we do now?
Gaara: (He stood up from his desk as he replied, a determined look in his eyes.) We need to make preparations. With the pattern that’s already in motion, the assassin will arrive in the Sand Village tomorrow.
Kawari: (He nodded eagerly in agreement.) I’ll request a mode of transportation out of the village right away-
Gaara: No. …That won’t be necessary.
Kawari had turned to leave the room, but immediately stopped and turned back around upon hearing this, his eyes widened with concern.
Kawari: But, Lord Kazekage-
Gaara: According to what Ryoku said, at least three shinobi were in Kurotsuchi’s office at the time of her killing. He’s clearly a stealth ninja of the highest caliber, so leaving the village will do little to ensure my protection. …No, it’s better I remain here…
He looked back at Shijima, who wore the same confident smile he did in that moment.
Gaara: …where I have full access to my shinobi forces.
Gaara and his most trusted subordinates immediately began planning for the assassin’s arrival, unaware at the time that the pattern he’d formed over the past eight days had been picked up by those outside the Sand Village, as well. Surely enough, early the following morning, they were greeted by the newly arrived Temari and her husband, who had made quick to plan ahead for their departure after only the Raikage’s assassination.
Temari: Oh, thank goodness! I’m not too late!
Kankurō: (He smiled and placed his arm around her as she wrapped both of hers around Gaara’s neck.) You say that like you expect he’s gonna die, Temari.
Gaara: (He smiled in amusement as he returned Temari’s hug.) Well, it wouldn’t exactly be the first time, Kankurō.
Shikamaru: Wow, way to take the morbid route, little brother.
Gaara gradually ended his embrace with his sister and walked up to his brother-in-law, what was meant to be a handshake ultimately turning into a reluctant hug.
Gaara: I can’t thank you enough for coming.
Shikamaru: (He smirked at his wife in amusement.) Heh, like I could stop her from going whether I came or not. So, I figured I’d tag along to help take the weight off her mind.
Gaara: To set your own village’s needs aside, though.
Shikamaru: Hmhm, well, I’m not the only brilliant strategist they have anymore…and there’s a hell of a lot more shinobi there better fitted for guard duty.
Every smile in the room slowly disappeared after this remark was made, the important matter at hand resurfacing with Shikamaru’s next question.
Shikamaru: So what’s your current plan?
Gaara: It’ll take place here, right in this very office. I’ll be sitting here at my desk while Shijima uses a Transparency jutsu to hide in the corner of the room. When the assassin enters the room, I’ll pretend to be unawares and when he attempts to kill me, my sand will fend off his attack while Shijima ambushes him with her hōshuriken.
Shikamaru: (He stroked his goatee as he listened attentively, his eyes widening briefly in response to his last statement.) You’re betting all of this on the idea that your sand will pick up on the assassin’s presence?
Gaara: (He smiled in reassurance as he rubbed the small gourd strapped to his waist.) Mother hasn’t let me down yet.
Shikamaru: (The doubt in his eyes vanished, though his expression made it clear he was considering other possibilities for improvement.) What about having more people in on the ambush? I could supply my Shadow Possession jutsu and perhaps Kankurō could use a puppet-
Gaara: (He held out his hand to interrupt him.) It’s fine, brother. …Shijima and I are more than capable of handling this ourselves.
He exchanged smiles with his wife and took ahold of her hand as he said this, but Shikamaru could see from the looks in their eyes that this wasn’t a display of their confidence in their own abilities, but rather a reluctance to let anyone else get involved in the potentially deadly operation. Taking this to heart, he smiled and rested his hand on Gaara’s shoulder.
Shikamaru: Be that as it may, I didn’t just leave my village because I cared about Temari, Gaara. I came because I care about you, too. …Accept my input. Every bit of insurance helps.
His reassuring smile was enough to make Gaara’s eyes expand with surprise, but as he looked around the room, he noticed that everyone else in the room was also smiling to show their support, among whom was Baki, Kawari, his siblings, and his own grandchildren, both now prominent jōnin in their own rights. His wife, too, while equally surprised by their insistence on supporting them, appreciated and accepted their offer, smiling at Gaara in hopes he might do the same. Doubts about their safety remained ever-present in his mind, but seeing their faces caused most of it to slowly fade away, and eventually, he returned their smiles with a nod of appreciation, pleased deep down that he didn’t have to face this challenge alone.
Midday was on the horizon, and with his colleagues’ murders all taking place early in the afternoon, Gaara and those accompanying him wasted little time formulating their plan and putting it into action. With lightning-powered cameras carefully hidden around the room, Kankurō, Kawari, and Shikamaru hid themselves in a small office a brief distance away to watch the events taking place in the Kazekage’s, the former utilizing long-distance strings to maintain a puppet replica of Gaara sat behind his desk. Directly outside was Ryūza, hiding himself with a Transparency jutsu and utilizing his Third Eye technique to provide additional surveillance inside the room until the assassin arrived, at which point he would utilize his quicksand technique to hold him in place. Having taken an even stronger resemblance to his late great-grandfather in the past four years, he began wearing a tan suit beneath a standard beige flak jacket, complete with a neck guard, shoulder pads, and his turban, in the front of which was now sewn his forehead protector. Inside the office, Sabure made her own preparations as her grandparents stood by, waiting for her to take her position before taking their own. Her auburn hair was now tied back into a bun, the sides kept long and allowed to flow freely, while her blouse was replaced by a dark-red, sleeveless top that revealed the lower half of her chest. With it was an open-front silk skirt of the same color that fell down to her ankles, which she wore over black shorts, with separate loose sleeves of a similar material covering her forearms. She clasped her hands together as her entire body became coated in her now famous glass armor, Gaara kneeling down and placing his hand on her shoulder once only her mouth remained unguarded.
Gaara: Keep that armor up, Sabure. No matter what.
Sabure: (She nodded as worry filled her eyes.) I’m scared, Grandpa.
Gaara: (He smiled in reassurance.) Don’t be. Your grandmother and I have been through worse. …Nothing will happen to us. I promise.
She returned the gesture as the glass closed up around her mouth, at which point Shijima formed a hand sign and fitted her with a Transparency jutsu, rendering her invisible before she took her position in the opposite corner of the office. With only themselves to worry about now, Gaara and Shijima turned to one another, clutching hands as they said their temporary farewells.
Gaara: It’s midday. From this point on, there’s no telling when he’ll arrive.
Shijima: (She smiled to display her fearlessness leading into this operation.) Whenever he does, we’ll be waiting for him.
Gaara returned the smile briefly before leaning in to kiss her one last time, at which point she playfully activated her Transparency jutsu and slipped away into the corner of the room. Gaara couldn’t help but display amusement at his wife’s teasing, but neither could he completely remove all fear from his mind as he used the technique on himself and slipped quietly off to the side, his sand at the ready.
Gaara: (Alright…now show yourself.)
His silent demand went unanswered for the longest time, with nearly three hours passing them by without the subtlest hint of movement in the room. The three shinobi positioned inside, as well as the puppet sitting at the desk – though which Kankurō also had eyes on the situation – repeatedly looked back-and-forth between their different positions, wondering to themselves when and if the assassin would appear. After three more hours, each of them was forced to fight their own bodily urges to avoid giving away their positions, the torture of waiting even spreading to the room housing Shikamaru and Kankurō, who were rapidly losing their own patience.
Kankurō: Still nothing? …Perhaps he knew we would expect him and went off to assassinate the Hokage instead.
Shikamaru: (He rubbed his eyes after dipping his hand in cold water, stroking his chin as he watched the monitors displaying the surveillance feed from the Kazekage’s office.) I’m not convinced yet…a tactic like that would’ve worked after only the first two murders. (No noises, no scents, no subtle movements…is this assassin really that good?)
Kawari: (He squeezed his forearms in anticipation, nervousness building in his eyes and face with every passing second.) Come on…hurry up…
The wait continued into a seventh hour, prompting Sabure and even Shijima and Gaara to begin nodding off. The slightest movement of the grains of sand around his feet instantly returned the latter to full consciousness, though, signifying that a dangerous presence was indeed among them. As he looked around the room, though, he found absolutely no hints of disturbance near the back of the room where his desk was located, which had been blown open by the explosion five days prior.
Gaara: (Damn it, where is he?)
He began clenching his fists as he scanned the room, looking over at Kankurō’s puppet to find it remained unawares in his seat before setting his eyes on Shijima’s position, smiling as he became convinced that she was looking over at him in return.
Gaara: (Don’t worry, Shijima. Everything’s going according to-)
The slightest sound of clinking glass to his left caused his eyes to expand as the sound was answered by a loud thud over towards Shijima’s position, followed closely by loud footsteps. Both Gaara and the controller of his puppet doppelganger watched in horror as the footsteps stopped and a large wave of blood and Shijima’s Transparency jutsu ended, as did the subsequent jutsu she used to hide Sabure, the glass around whose head appeared to be slightly cracked.
Kankurō: What the hell!? He didn’t even go for the puppet!
Shikamaru: (Goddamn it! He already knew about the plan!) Gaara, get out of there now!!
Gaara: NOOOO!!!
Overwrought with rage, Gaara lunged forward with his body once again visible, sending a large mass of sand towards the assassin’s estimated position as another gently slipped beneath Shijima to break her fall. At the same time, Sabure slammed her hand against the wall and closed the hole in the back of the room with a large sheet of glass, preventing his escape. With the sand simply fazing through his intended target, Gaara cut off his attack and brought Shijima alongside him, doing what he could to tend to her and she struggled to retain consciousness. No more than a few seconds in, a small wall of sand emerged behind Gaara, validating his theory as he turned around and wrapped his would-be attacker in a thin sheet of sand that quickly took on a humanoid form, confirming his presence beneath it.
Gaara: (It worked.) NOW DIE!!!
From the day Gaara was born, sand had been his silent guardian, constantly watching over him and responding to his mother’s dying wish to protect him whenever danger came near. It was an independent entity as much as it was a jutsu, and though its defense without his consent, it didn’t stop him from learning all he could about the ability and its mechanics, knowledge he was able to pass onto his grandson when he was born with a similar ability. Therefore, when Gaara squeezed his hand and prompted the sand to close in around its target, the knowledge that what it was crushing down on was nothing more than thin air came to him as second nature.
Gaara: No…that’s impossible.
Out of pure disbelief, Gaara did nothing as his sand moved around him several more times, hinting at the assassin’s continued attempts to kill his target. Before long, the attempts stopped completely. Several minutes passed as Sabure continued scanning the room for signs of his presence, but Gaara chose instead to cradle his wife’s head in his lap, already sure that he had somehow escaped, if not was merely biding his time until an opening to do so truly came. Moments later, the door of the office burst open as Gaara’s siblings, his grandson, Shikamaru, Baki, and Kawari all entered the room, each of them in varied levels of panic.
Kankurō: Gaara!!
Temari: Gaara, are you alright!?
Baki: Oh, Gaara, you’re still alive! Thank goodness!
Shikamaru: Damn it, I told you to get out of here! You could’ve still been killed by him!
Each of them stopped and retracted any further intentions of speaking as they laid their eyes upon Gaara, who continued to hold Shijima’s head as she panted heavily in the wake of her enormous loss in blood.
Sabure and Ryūza: Grandma!
Both grandchildren rushed to be at her side, the latter being stopped by Temari’s hand on his shoulder while the former stopped short after seeing Kankurō’s outstretched hand. In front of them, Shijima’s eyes reopened at long last, prompting tears to fall from Gaara’s eyes and onto her face. In that moment, she pressed her hand against her closed lips, using whatever strength she could still muster to lift it up. She smiled in satisfaction as her fingers just barely grazed her husband’s lips, her arm falling limp in the following second as the rest of her body sank against the floor, her head remaining elevated only by Gaara’s folded legs.
Gaara: Shijima…Shijima! …No…no, please. Not you. I still need you. I’m relying on you, remember? Shijima!? …Please, don’t let him take you!!
Since his early childhood, Gaara had only openly wept twice. The first time was during the Fourth Shinobi World War, following the revelation that his mother’s love, rather than the lingering presence of Shukaku, was what triggered his sand to protect him from harm. The second occurred nearly five years later, when he and Shijima gave birth to their first and only daughter, who in turn bore twins Ryūza and Sabure. These were not tears of joy, though, those that fell from his face now. No, these were tears of rage, such a thing he hadn’t been subject to since the night he killed his uncle almost fifty years ago – the night he decided the only way to validate his existence was to kill needlessly. He screamed in agony as the pain of his loss plagued his mind, causing those watching who were old enough to remember to wonder if he would’ve transformed in that moment, had Shukaku still been sealed inside of him. Those not old enough to recall his past as a jinchūriki simply looked at him with mixtures of horror and despair, having never seen the Kazekage in such a fit. When his lungs finally exhausted themselves, all the emotion vanished from his face and he rubbed his dead wife’s forehead, planting a soft kiss there before gently laying her head on the floor and standing up, turning around to meet the worried expressions of his associates, siblings, and grandchildren.
Sabure and Ryūza: Grandpa…
Temari, Kankurō, Shikamaru, and Baki: Gaara…
Kawari: …Lord Kazekage…
Gaara: Send word to the Leaf Village of what we’ve learned here today. The Hokage should use this knowledge to his full advantage…and make sure that man isn’t allowed to live another day after all he’s done.
Gaara survives at the cost of his wife – three Kage have now met their ends, and what fate still awaits Konohamaru!!?
The End
Here’s my previous chapters, for those who missed any:
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Chapter 085: The Kage Are In Danger
The recent death of Darui continued to hang over the heads of not only the Land of Lightning’s citizens, but those of the other four major countries, as well. The tragedy was doomed to carry on, though, as the following day, the Five Great Villages received word of the passing of Chōjūrō, approximately five days after the Mist Village was bombed by an undetermined foe – just as the case was for the Cloud Village before them. Having already lost two colleagues and close friends, Gaara’s mind was already at a highly sensitive point, causing him to throw his phone across his mostly destroyed office after ending a call from Ryoku, informing him that Kurotsuchi had also met her end.
Gaara: Rrrgh, damn it!!
He slammed his fists against his desk as he breathed heavily to vent his rage, forgetting for a moment that his wife Shijima and another prominent jōnin named Kawari were in the room with him, the former staring at him with intense worry in her eyes from the chair directly to his right.
Shijima: Gaara…
Gaara: (Having finally calmed down, he sat back down in his seat and buried his face in his hands.) I’m sorry, Shijima. …If this keeps going on the way it is, I’ll be the next to die.
Shijima: (She stood up and slapped her hands atop his desk, leaning inward as she spoke.) That’s not going to happen! If any of the Kage can defeat this assassin, it’ll be you! I’m sure of that!
Gaara: (Initially put off by her tenacity, he smiled in appreciation a few moments later.) Thank you…with you by my side, I’m sure we can.
The two exchanged loving glances as Gaara’s hand wrapped itself Shijima’s, their tender moment interrupted moments later by an equally nervous Kawari.
Kawari: Sir…what do we do now?
Gaara: (He stood up from his desk as he replied, a determined look in his eyes.) We need to make preparations. With the pattern that’s already in motion, the assassin will arrive in the Sand Village tomorrow.
Kawari: (He nodded eagerly in agreement.) I’ll request a mode of transportation out of the village right away-
Gaara: No. …That won’t be necessary.
Kawari had turned to leave the room, but immediately stopped and turned back around upon hearing this, his eyes widened with concern.
Kawari: But, Lord Kazekage-
Gaara: According to what Ryoku said, at least three shinobi were in Kurotsuchi’s office at the time of her killing. He’s clearly a stealth ninja of the highest caliber, so leaving the village will do little to ensure my protection. …No, it’s better I remain here…
He looked back at Shijima, who wore the same confident smile he did in that moment.
Gaara: …where I have full access to my shinobi forces.
Gaara and his most trusted subordinates immediately began planning for the assassin’s arrival, unaware at the time that the pattern he’d formed over the past eight days had been picked up by those outside the Sand Village, as well. Surely enough, early the following morning, they were greeted by the newly arrived Temari and her husband, who had made quick to plan ahead for their departure after only the Raikage’s assassination.
Temari: Oh, thank goodness! I’m not too late!
Kankurō: (He smiled and placed his arm around her as she wrapped both of hers around Gaara’s neck.) You say that like you expect he’s gonna die, Temari.
Gaara: (He smiled in amusement as he returned Temari’s hug.) Well, it wouldn’t exactly be the first time, Kankurō.
Shikamaru: Wow, way to take the morbid route, little brother.
Gaara gradually ended his embrace with his sister and walked up to his brother-in-law, what was meant to be a handshake ultimately turning into a reluctant hug.
Gaara: I can’t thank you enough for coming.
Shikamaru: (He smirked at his wife in amusement.) Heh, like I could stop her from going whether I came or not. So, I figured I’d tag along to help take the weight off her mind.
Gaara: To set your own village’s needs aside, though.
Shikamaru: Hmhm, well, I’m not the only brilliant strategist they have anymore…and there’s a hell of a lot more shinobi there better fitted for guard duty.
Every smile in the room slowly disappeared after this remark was made, the important matter at hand resurfacing with Shikamaru’s next question.
Shikamaru: So what’s your current plan?
Gaara: It’ll take place here, right in this very office. I’ll be sitting here at my desk while Shijima uses a Transparency jutsu to hide in the corner of the room. When the assassin enters the room, I’ll pretend to be unawares and when he attempts to kill me, my sand will fend off his attack while Shijima ambushes him with her hōshuriken.
Shikamaru: (He stroked his goatee as he listened attentively, his eyes widening briefly in response to his last statement.) You’re betting all of this on the idea that your sand will pick up on the assassin’s presence?
Gaara: (He smiled in reassurance as he rubbed the small gourd strapped to his waist.) Mother hasn’t let me down yet.
Shikamaru: (The doubt in his eyes vanished, though his expression made it clear he was considering other possibilities for improvement.) What about having more people in on the ambush? I could supply my Shadow Possession jutsu and perhaps Kankurō could use a puppet-
Gaara: (He held out his hand to interrupt him.) It’s fine, brother. …Shijima and I are more than capable of handling this ourselves.
He exchanged smiles with his wife and took ahold of her hand as he said this, but Shikamaru could see from the looks in their eyes that this wasn’t a display of their confidence in their own abilities, but rather a reluctance to let anyone else get involved in the potentially deadly operation. Taking this to heart, he smiled and rested his hand on Gaara’s shoulder.
Shikamaru: Be that as it may, I didn’t just leave my village because I cared about Temari, Gaara. I came because I care about you, too. …Accept my input. Every bit of insurance helps.
His reassuring smile was enough to make Gaara’s eyes expand with surprise, but as he looked around the room, he noticed that everyone else in the room was also smiling to show their support, among whom was Baki, Kawari, his siblings, and his own grandchildren, both now prominent jōnin in their own rights. His wife, too, while equally surprised by their insistence on supporting them, appreciated and accepted their offer, smiling at Gaara in hopes he might do the same. Doubts about their safety remained ever-present in his mind, but seeing their faces caused most of it to slowly fade away, and eventually, he returned their smiles with a nod of appreciation, pleased deep down that he didn’t have to face this challenge alone.
Midday was on the horizon, and with his colleagues’ murders all taking place early in the afternoon, Gaara and those accompanying him wasted little time formulating their plan and putting it into action. With lightning-powered cameras carefully hidden around the room, Kankurō, Kawari, and Shikamaru hid themselves in a small office a brief distance away to watch the events taking place in the Kazekage’s, the former utilizing long-distance strings to maintain a puppet replica of Gaara sat behind his desk. Directly outside was Ryūza, hiding himself with a Transparency jutsu and utilizing his Third Eye technique to provide additional surveillance inside the room until the assassin arrived, at which point he would utilize his quicksand technique to hold him in place. Having taken an even stronger resemblance to his late great-grandfather in the past four years, he began wearing a tan suit beneath a standard beige flak jacket, complete with a neck guard, shoulder pads, and his turban, in the front of which was now sewn his forehead protector. Inside the office, Sabure made her own preparations as her grandparents stood by, waiting for her to take her position before taking their own. Her auburn hair was now tied back into a bun, the sides kept long and allowed to flow freely, while her blouse was replaced by a dark-red, sleeveless top that revealed the lower half of her chest. With it was an open-front silk skirt of the same color that fell down to her ankles, which she wore over black shorts, with separate loose sleeves of a similar material covering her forearms. She clasped her hands together as her entire body became coated in her now famous glass armor, Gaara kneeling down and placing his hand on her shoulder once only her mouth remained unguarded.
Gaara: Keep that armor up, Sabure. No matter what.
Sabure: (She nodded as worry filled her eyes.) I’m scared, Grandpa.
Gaara: (He smiled in reassurance.) Don’t be. Your grandmother and I have been through worse. …Nothing will happen to us. I promise.
She returned the gesture as the glass closed up around her mouth, at which point Shijima formed a hand sign and fitted her with a Transparency jutsu, rendering her invisible before she took her position in the opposite corner of the office. With only themselves to worry about now, Gaara and Shijima turned to one another, clutching hands as they said their temporary farewells.
Gaara: It’s midday. From this point on, there’s no telling when he’ll arrive.
Shijima: (She smiled to display her fearlessness leading into this operation.) Whenever he does, we’ll be waiting for him.
Gaara returned the smile briefly before leaning in to kiss her one last time, at which point she playfully activated her Transparency jutsu and slipped away into the corner of the room. Gaara couldn’t help but display amusement at his wife’s teasing, but neither could he completely remove all fear from his mind as he used the technique on himself and slipped quietly off to the side, his sand at the ready.
Gaara: (Alright…now show yourself.)
His silent demand went unanswered for the longest time, with nearly three hours passing them by without the subtlest hint of movement in the room. The three shinobi positioned inside, as well as the puppet sitting at the desk – though which Kankurō also had eyes on the situation – repeatedly looked back-and-forth between their different positions, wondering to themselves when and if the assassin would appear. After three more hours, each of them was forced to fight their own bodily urges to avoid giving away their positions, the torture of waiting even spreading to the room housing Shikamaru and Kankurō, who were rapidly losing their own patience.
Kankurō: Still nothing? …Perhaps he knew we would expect him and went off to assassinate the Hokage instead.
Shikamaru: (He rubbed his eyes after dipping his hand in cold water, stroking his chin as he watched the monitors displaying the surveillance feed from the Kazekage’s office.) I’m not convinced yet…a tactic like that would’ve worked after only the first two murders. (No noises, no scents, no subtle movements…is this assassin really that good?)
Kawari: (He squeezed his forearms in anticipation, nervousness building in his eyes and face with every passing second.) Come on…hurry up…
The wait continued into a seventh hour, prompting Sabure and even Shijima and Gaara to begin nodding off. The slightest movement of the grains of sand around his feet instantly returned the latter to full consciousness, though, signifying that a dangerous presence was indeed among them. As he looked around the room, though, he found absolutely no hints of disturbance near the back of the room where his desk was located, which had been blown open by the explosion five days prior.
Gaara: (Damn it, where is he?)
He began clenching his fists as he scanned the room, looking over at Kankurō’s puppet to find it remained unawares in his seat before setting his eyes on Shijima’s position, smiling as he became convinced that she was looking over at him in return.
Gaara: (Don’t worry, Shijima. Everything’s going according to-)
The slightest sound of clinking glass to his left caused his eyes to expand as the sound was answered by a loud thud over towards Shijima’s position, followed closely by loud footsteps. Both Gaara and the controller of his puppet doppelganger watched in horror as the footsteps stopped and a large wave of blood and Shijima’s Transparency jutsu ended, as did the subsequent jutsu she used to hide Sabure, the glass around whose head appeared to be slightly cracked.
Kankurō: What the hell!? He didn’t even go for the puppet!
Shikamaru: (Goddamn it! He already knew about the plan!) Gaara, get out of there now!!
Gaara: NOOOO!!!
Overwrought with rage, Gaara lunged forward with his body once again visible, sending a large mass of sand towards the assassin’s estimated position as another gently slipped beneath Shijima to break her fall. At the same time, Sabure slammed her hand against the wall and closed the hole in the back of the room with a large sheet of glass, preventing his escape. With the sand simply fazing through his intended target, Gaara cut off his attack and brought Shijima alongside him, doing what he could to tend to her and she struggled to retain consciousness. No more than a few seconds in, a small wall of sand emerged behind Gaara, validating his theory as he turned around and wrapped his would-be attacker in a thin sheet of sand that quickly took on a humanoid form, confirming his presence beneath it.
Gaara: (It worked.) NOW DIE!!!
From the day Gaara was born, sand had been his silent guardian, constantly watching over him and responding to his mother’s dying wish to protect him whenever danger came near. It was an independent entity as much as it was a jutsu, and though its defense without his consent, it didn’t stop him from learning all he could about the ability and its mechanics, knowledge he was able to pass onto his grandson when he was born with a similar ability. Therefore, when Gaara squeezed his hand and prompted the sand to close in around its target, the knowledge that what it was crushing down on was nothing more than thin air came to him as second nature.
Gaara: No…that’s impossible.
Out of pure disbelief, Gaara did nothing as his sand moved around him several more times, hinting at the assassin’s continued attempts to kill his target. Before long, the attempts stopped completely. Several minutes passed as Sabure continued scanning the room for signs of his presence, but Gaara chose instead to cradle his wife’s head in his lap, already sure that he had somehow escaped, if not was merely biding his time until an opening to do so truly came. Moments later, the door of the office burst open as Gaara’s siblings, his grandson, Shikamaru, Baki, and Kawari all entered the room, each of them in varied levels of panic.
Kankurō: Gaara!!
Temari: Gaara, are you alright!?
Baki: Oh, Gaara, you’re still alive! Thank goodness!
Shikamaru: Damn it, I told you to get out of here! You could’ve still been killed by him!
Each of them stopped and retracted any further intentions of speaking as they laid their eyes upon Gaara, who continued to hold Shijima’s head as she panted heavily in the wake of her enormous loss in blood.
Sabure and Ryūza: Grandma!
Both grandchildren rushed to be at her side, the latter being stopped by Temari’s hand on his shoulder while the former stopped short after seeing Kankurō’s outstretched hand. In front of them, Shijima’s eyes reopened at long last, prompting tears to fall from Gaara’s eyes and onto her face. In that moment, she pressed her hand against her closed lips, using whatever strength she could still muster to lift it up. She smiled in satisfaction as her fingers just barely grazed her husband’s lips, her arm falling limp in the following second as the rest of her body sank against the floor, her head remaining elevated only by Gaara’s folded legs.
Gaara: Shijima…Shijima! …No…no, please. Not you. I still need you. I’m relying on you, remember? Shijima!? …Please, don’t let him take you!!
Since his early childhood, Gaara had only openly wept twice. The first time was during the Fourth Shinobi World War, following the revelation that his mother’s love, rather than the lingering presence of Shukaku, was what triggered his sand to protect him from harm. The second occurred nearly five years later, when he and Shijima gave birth to their first and only daughter, who in turn bore twins Ryūza and Sabure. These were not tears of joy, though, those that fell from his face now. No, these were tears of rage, such a thing he hadn’t been subject to since the night he killed his uncle almost fifty years ago – the night he decided the only way to validate his existence was to kill needlessly. He screamed in agony as the pain of his loss plagued his mind, causing those watching who were old enough to remember to wonder if he would’ve transformed in that moment, had Shukaku still been sealed inside of him. Those not old enough to recall his past as a jinchūriki simply looked at him with mixtures of horror and despair, having never seen the Kazekage in such a fit. When his lungs finally exhausted themselves, all the emotion vanished from his face and he rubbed his dead wife’s forehead, planting a soft kiss there before gently laying her head on the floor and standing up, turning around to meet the worried expressions of his associates, siblings, and grandchildren.
Sabure and Ryūza: Grandpa…
Temari, Kankurō, Shikamaru, and Baki: Gaara…
Kawari: …Lord Kazekage…
Gaara: Send word to the Leaf Village of what we’ve learned here today. The Hokage should use this knowledge to his full advantage…and make sure that man isn’t allowed to live another day after all he’s done.
Gaara survives at the cost of his wife – three Kage have now met their ends, and what fate still awaits Konohamaru!!?
The End
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