Chapter 61: The Aftermath of a Battle
The small Konoha-Suna alliance was a blur of motion, pushing their speed to the absolute limit as they raced across the desert towards the distant line of trees Temari had indicated.
"Damn it! We pushed all night and we're still late!" Temari gritted her teeth, her worry for her brothers a palpable force driving her forward. "Gaara and Kankuro would have met Sasuke Uchiha hours ago! We have to hurry!"
The woods were just ahead, a dark green smudge against the pale gold of the dunes.
*We're almost there,* Kakashi thought, his single eye fixed on the horizon. *I just hope we're not too late.*
Just as the group was about to breach the tree line, a cataclysmic ***BOOM!*** erupted from deep within the forest. The very ground beneath their feet shuddered violently, forcing them to skid to an abrupt, wary halt.
"What was that?!" Sakura cried out, her voice pitched high with alarm.
"An explosion... from inside the woods. A battle... and on a massive scale," Shikamaru deduced, his usual laziness replaced by sharp focus.
"Look! Up there!" Naruto yelled, pointing a trembling finger towards the sky above the forest.
Everyone's gaze snapped upward, and what they saw stole the breath from their lungs.
Three colossal, demonic-looking iron gates had erupted from the canopy, towering over the trees like monuments to some ancient, terrible power. The hideous faces carved into their surfaces seemed to snarl down at the world.
"Whoa... so huge! What... what is that?!" Naruto gasped, his eyes wide.
"Kakashi-sensei, what kind of jutsu is that?" Ino asked, her voice full of awe and fear. All the young shinobi turned to their most experienced member for an answer.
"That... is the legendary ultimate defensive ninjutsu," Kakashi said, his voice low and serious. "The Rashomon Gates. I've read about them in Konoha's archives. They were a technique used by the First Hokage..." He trailed off, his explanation cut short by another deafening event.
A blinding flash of light erupted from the base of the gates, followed by a sound like the world tearing itself apart. A visible shockwave of pure force radiated outwards from the epicenter, flattening everything in its path. It wasn't wind; it was a wall of compressed air and energy.
"Take cover! High-energy impact!" Kakashi shouted, though there was nowhere to hide.
The shockwave hit them like a physical blow. It wasn't enough to injure them seriously, but it sent them tumbling, coating them in a thick layer of dust, snapped branches, and fallen leaves. For a few seconds, the world was a roaring, chaotic mess.
Then, as suddenly as it began, it was over. Silence descended, deeper and more profound for the violence that had preceded it. The forest ahead was now a devastated swath of broken timber.
"Kakashi-sensei..." Naruto mumbled, picking himself up and spitting out a mouthful of dirt. "What the heck was that?!"
"That," Kakashi said, brushing debris from his flak jacket, "was the *aftershock* of an attack. The residual force from whatever just destroyed those gates."
"Just the... aftershock?" Choji stammered, his face pale. "What kind of battle is going on in there? Is this really Gaara and Sasuke?"
"Speculating won't help us," Kakashi stated, his tone leaving no room for argument. "The fact there's a fight means we're not too late. Move out! Now!" He didn't wait for a response, blurring into motion and heading straight into the wrecked forest. The others exchanged grim looks before following, their hearts pounding with a mixture of dread and determination.
They leaped over fallen trees and skirted around fresh craters, the scale of the destruction leaving them speechless. They were getting close to where the gates had been.
"Wait!" Ino suddenly cried out, skidding to a stop. "Look! Over there!" She pointed towards a thicket of bushes that had been partially crushed by a fallen tree.
Kakashi signaled for the group to halt. Peering into the brush, they could just make out a dark, crumpled shape. It was difficult to see clearly, obscured by the foliage.
"It looks like... a person?" Shikamaru ventured.
"Let's check it out."
They moved cautiously forward, their weapons at the ready. As they drew nearer, the shape resolved into the form of a young man lying motionless on the ground. It was Kankuro, his signature face paint smudged and faded, his clothes torn. He was unconscious, and from the way he lay, he had been thrown there with tremendous force.
"Kankuro!" Temari shrieked, her composure shattering. She rushed to her brother's side, dropping to her knees. "Kankuro! Wake up! What happened?!" She shook his shoulders gently, but there was no response.
"I've trained in medical ninjutsu. Let me see," Sakura said, her voice calm and professional. She knelt beside Kankuro, placing her hands on his chest. A soft, green glow emanated from her palms as she channeled chakra into his body, diagnosing his injuries.
After a moment, Kankuro stirred. His eyes fluttered open, blinking in confusion and pain. "I... how did I get here?" he mumbled, his voice weak and thready.
"Kankuro! You're awake!" Temari's relief was short-lived. "What happened? Where's Gaara? And Sasuke Uchiha?"
The mention of his brother's name seemed to jolt Kankuro back to full awareness. His eyes widened in panic. "Temari? You're here... Gaara! Gaara's in danger! You have to help him! That guy... he's too strong..." He tried to sit up, but a wave of agony and weakness forced him back down.
"Don't move!" Sakura ordered, her hands still glowing. "Your chakra network... your spirit has been severely damaged. It's not a physical wound I can heal easily. You'll be extremely weak. You need to stay still."
"But... damn it!" Kankuro cursed, slamming a fist weakly into the dirt. "I'm useless! I couldn't do anything to help him!"
"Start from the beginning," Kakashi commanded, his voice calm but firm. "You fought Sasuke Uchiha? What is his goal? Is Gaara still fighting him?"
Kankuro took a shuddering breath, forcing the words out. "After you left for Konoha... Gaara and I went to meet Sasuke Uchiha at noon, as demanded. He... he actually released the captured shinobi. Then he stated his purpose." Kankuro's face twisted with a mixture of fear and anger. "He said he wanted to... to borrow the One-Tail's chakra. The Shukaku's power inside Gaara."
The Konoha shinobi exchanged shocked glances. *Tailed Beast chakra? What could Sasuke want with that?*
"Gaara refused, of course," Kankuro continued. "He's changed. He doesn't want to rely on that monster's power anymore. The moment he refused... Uchiha attacked. We expected a fight, but... we didn't expect *that*." A visible shudder ran through his body, and a sheen of cold sweat broke out on his forehead. "His eyes... he used a genjutsu. A terrible, terrible genjutsu. I've never felt anything like it. It was... an eternity of agony in a single second."
He looked up at them, his eyes haunted. "That's the last thing I remember clearly before I woke up here. I don't know what happened after that. But if Gaara was forced to use Shukaku's power against something like that..." He didn't finish the sentence. He didn't need to.
The implication was clear: the apocalyptic battle they had just witnessed the aftermath of was not between Gaara and Sasuke.
It was between a monster... and whatever had been powerful enough to force it out.
๐๐จ๐ฌ๐ฆ, ๐๐ข๐๐๐ข๐ช ๐ ๐ ๐ข๐ก ๐๐ก๐ฆ๐ง๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ ๐๐ง ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ก๐ฆ๐ฃ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐ช9