Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 46 BEATING UP SIBLINGS

We got out of the arena with little incident. I jumped up to see the purple barrier on the roof of a closeby building. Instead of 4 walls it was only 3. My red headed Tayuya was gone somewhere. I hoped with Kurenai, but with the chaos going on in the village I wasn’t going to hold my breath that she would stay captured. 

Naruto was caught up quickly as we headed in the direction Sasuke had run off to. 

“Why is this happening?” Sakura asked, basically in tears. 

“Because this is the ninja world. People are blinded by power. Orochimaru is a snake, whispering in people’s ears. Too bad he is great at getting people to do what he wants them to,” I said. 

“That’s all I’ve been hearing,” Naruto growled. “Orochimaru this, Orochimaru that. Who the hell is this guy?” 

I hated how in the dark everyone was at this point. “He is the current Hokage’s disciple,” I said. 

“What!?” Naruto yelled. “How is that-” 

I cut him off. We had a ways to go so I explained. “The current Hokage, Sarutobi. He had 3 disciples. They are called the Legendary 3 Ninjas. Or Sannins. One is Tsunade, the best medical ninja ever to exist. The second is the wandering ninja, Jaraiya.”

“The Pervy Sage?” Naruto asked, surprised. 

“The same. Your teacher is one of the great ninjas. The last was Orochimaru,” I admitted. “Of all of them Orochimaru actually wanted to be the Hokage, but when he was passed up by the 4th Hokage he became very demented. Experimenting on jutsus, orphans, bloodlines, you name it. The village eventually found out and he escaped before they could bring him to justice.”

“How do you know all this?” Shikamaru asked in his normal monotone voice, but I could tell he was interested.

“I listen,” I said. “And ask questions. Now, Orochimaru never forgave the village for passing him over. This has been building for a long time.” 

“What about this Gaara guy?” Naruto asked. I knew what he was really asking. 

“Gaara was ostracized in his village. Treated worse than any red headed step child ever. He is working through something. We need to bring him down. But he is really just a pawn,” I said. Naruto nodded. He saw Gaara as someone he could have turned into without his friends. Some sort of kinship between them it wasn’t too hard to see since they had monsters inside of them. 

“We are being followed,” Shikamaru noted. I looked behind us, noticing a ninja disappear into the trees behind us as we did. “I will handle them.” 

“Thought you were the smart one, Shikamaru,” I said. He gave me a bored look. “You and I will handle them. Naruto, Sakura, keep going for the others.” 

“Let’s stick together,” Naruto said. 

“Nope, we will be quick. I have a feeling Sasuke will need you more than us,” I said. He growled but nodded. 

Shikamaru and I jumped down to the ground. He moved behind a tree, blending into the shadow a little. “What do you think?” He asked. 

“You trap, I bash,” I said pulling my Jitte out. His eyes widened as it appeared. Pouring water chakra into it the water flowed along the blade. I ran away and made a wide arc around where we were. Running up behind the 7 Sand Ninjas chasing us I found Shikamaru dutifully holding all 7 in place with his shadow jutsu. I didn’t hesitate to bash them in the heads. Shikamaru dropped the shadows of the specific ones as I hit them. 

Used to fighting zombies I put a little too much strength into the first few. I might have killed them, but this was war. I didn’t hesitate. Shikamaru didn’t comment on the battered and bloodied men as I dropped the last. He let out a sigh as the last one dropped. 

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“You’re out of chakra, aren’t you?” I asked. He wiped his forehead but nodded. “Okay, I’ll go. You tell others which direction we went if they try to catch up.” 

“Hey, uh thanks for the help,” Shikamaru said, still bored. 

“We make a good team,” I said with a smile. Then I was on my way again. It wasn’t long until I found Kankuro and Naruto fighting. Without Shino there to step in someone had to fight the guy. Naruto was being crushed by the crab-like arms of the wood puppet Kankuro controlled. 

I was on them instantly. Slashing the arms crushing Naruto he took in a deep breath. “Stop playing with dolls and go after Sasuke!” I ordered. 

“I wasn’t!” Naruto yelled as he caught his breath. 

“Likely story,” I said. “Sakura, help him.” 

“I don’t think so!” Kankuro yelled as his puppet began to float in the air. I bashed them with my Jitte. 

“Go!” I yelled. Naruto and Sakura hesitated but did so. When they were out of sight I stopped Kankuro from going after them by yelling, “I slept with your sister!” 

That stopped the makeup wearing man in his tracks. “What?” He asked angrily. 

“During the Chunin Exam,” I said with a smile. “We fought, one thing led to another, and we slept together.” 

“You’re lying,” Kankuro said coldly. 

“I’m not. She’s very nice,” I said. “I tried to talk her out of this foolishness, but she wouldn’t listen to me. So I will give you the same offer. Let me stop this.” 

“You can’t,” Kankuro said with a frown. “No one can when Gaara gets like this.” 

“Naruto can,” I said. “He’s like your brother. He has the same power. Just stop fighting and we can work together. The war is a lost cause. You people will be kicked out with your tails between your legs and be quickly begging us for peace again.” 

“It doesn’t matter,” Kankuro said. He pulled his puppet back to him. The creepy wooden doll floated in the air by invisible chakra strings. “We are ninjas. We could be given suicide mission after suicide mission and still go.” 

I frowned but nodded. Raising my Jitte I sharpened the water chakra around it. Making the edges as razor sharp as I could I had complete focus as I took a stance Saeko taught me. Breathing out slowly I waited for the puppet.

Kankuro and I locked eyes and the puppet rattled as it flew at me. I was in the zone as I slashed at the flying foe. Slicing up, down, sideways, thrusting, I threw everything I had at the puppet. At first I missed it but as the puppet weaved in and out of my reach I became faster. My water chakra splashing against it I redoubled my concentration until I heard loud thunks against the wood. 

The rattling continued as I felt like the time I had killed all the zombies before getting to the Takagi household. My breath coming in smoothly I felt my thumbs, shoulders, arms, back, and feet all work together as I put my entire strength into the blows. When my Jitte was making huge gashes into the wood I ducked down. The puppet flying over me I slashed up, severing half the chakra threads connecting Kankuro to the puppet. 

Kankuro appeared surprised. “That’s a chakra blade?” He asked, looking at my Jitte. 

“No,” I admitted, breathing in and out heavily. The focus was taking my energy away. “But this is my water chakra.” He frowned but nodded. Pulling the puppet by the remaining strings he soon had them reattached. 

I let out a sigh. Sticking the Jitte in the ground I controlled a handful of water to me. “Did you see what I did to my opponent in the tournament?” I asked. I began to condense the water chakra until it was about the size and length of a finger.

Kankuro gave me a weird look. “When you punched him?”

“No, did you see how I knocked him toward me?” I asked. He didn’t answer. I began to spin the cylinder of water. “I call it a Water Bullet. I didn’t make it very strong against Neji, but you are worth taking seriously.” Ninjas didn’t know what guns or bullets were. The name didn’t register for him. I spun the cylinder faster. “I can control a bus-sized ball of water. I’ve been practicing for weeks now. And sometimes I practice with smaller stuff.” 

I sent the bullet at Kankuro as fast as I could. The water bullet shot at him faster than the eye could see. Stabbing him in the side it left a 1 inch diameter hole in him. The water pushed through and I released it once it was out of him. He dropped to the ground hard. 

“Sorry to end this quickly,” I said, turning around. 

“We aren’t done,” Kankuro grunted as he got up. Stumbling he bled into his black clothes. 

“We are. There is no shame in losing. Do you think you could stand another bullet?” I asked. “Don’t worry. I will save your siblings.” I jumped up to the tree branches. Kankuro did not give chase. Curious how things were going I lept to the top of a tree. Letting out a whistle I was surprised at the size of the monsters in front of me. 

The brown one tailed beast was on my right. A good 150 feet tall, Shukaku was a 4 legged monster with brown skin and blue streaks randomly placed on the body. On my left was it’s foe. The same size as Shukaku the red toad wearing a blue vest and katana at his side, they faced one another. I could just barely make out Naruto on the top of the toad’s head. Letting out a sigh, huge booms of earth shaking power erupted as they attacked one another. 

“At least I missed the boring backstories,” I said. A small consolation prize, but I had a quest to finish. Pouring chakra throughout my body I sped up toward them. The earth shaking with every jump from the toad I could feel the power from them. 

As I got closer I noticed the pink haired ninja. Stuck to the side of a tree by a sand arm that resembled the sand Jinchuriki I ran to her. Pulling out some explosion tags I pushed them into the sandy fingers of the arm. Igniting them with some Chakra they blew off. Grabbing Sakura I held her in a princess carry. 

Looking around I found Sasuke a ways away watching the fight between Naruto and Gaara. Trying to calm my anger I leapt toward him. I laid Sakura down next to him on the thick tree branch.

“Make yourself useful and watch your girlfriend,” I said. 

“Wuh-Weston?” Sasuke asked, surprised. 

“Nice to see you too. Now, watch your girlfriend. I’m going to help Naruto,” I said. 

“There’s no way to help that,” he said, his voice deep and emotionless. But I could tell he was scared by the fight he was watching. A fight he couldn’t comprehend. 

“Naruto’s right, you really are a scaredy cat,” I taunted. Leaping away I began to make my way towards the epic battle. It took time but I eventually found the blonde girl on the ground. Watching her brother with tears in her eyes she didn’t notice me right away. 

“Temari,” I said, making her jump. 

“Weston,” she gasped, raising her hands as she stepped away from me. She still cried but was ready for a fight. 

“Get me up there,” I ordered. 

“What?” She asked, unable to process my words. 

“Get me up there to your brother. I need to deal with him.” 

“No! Don’t touch him! He is still my brother,” she said, but didn’t attack. 

“I know, Temari,” I said. “But he can’t be allowed to go on a rampage like this. If we don’t get him to stop Shukaku it will cause a lot of unnecessary destruction. I promise. I won’t hurt him. I will help him.”

“W-Why should I trust you?” She asked. 

“I left your other brother alive,” I said. “I haven’t lied to you yet. And you did suck my-”

Wind chakra blew at me as her face burned red. The wind quickly died down. “Don’t talk about that,” she grumbled. She stared at me for a while, thinking. But eventually she nodded. “Fine, what do you need?” 

“You to fly me up there,” I said pointing at Shukaku. 

She bit her lip, but pulled the fan off of her back. Opening the 5 foot wide and tall fan she stepped onto it as the wind chakra picked up, lifting her slowly. I ran and jumped on the back. Standing behind her I held onto her shoulders as she flew us to the middle of the battle. 

It took time, when we were almost upon them the red toad grabbed onto Shukaku, holding him in place. We were a good 50 feet above it when I jumped off the fan. Landing hard I rolled to stop my momentum. Naruto was up there with me. 

Gaara stood waist deep in sand at the top of the Jinchuriki’s head. His eyes closed he still controlled the tailed beast. Naruto was beginning to sink down into the sandy body as he noticed me. 

“Weston! Wake him up!” He said. “The monster should go to sleep.” 

Gaara’s eyes opened slightly, seeing me. I raised my Chikyugi Necklace, but no connection was made. There was too much chakra going around. I ran at Gaara. Moving faster than I had before as I dodged limbs of sand trying to grab me. 

I closed the distance and grabbed Gaara with both ends. Pouring chakra into his mind we entered the Makuramoto. 

“Where are we?” Gaara asked immediately. He tried to use chakra, but nothing happened in there that I didn’t want to happen. Chains shot out of the nearest couch, grabbing his wrists and ankles and pulling him into the cushioned sofa.  

“We are in my Pillow Room,” I said with a sad smile. “I prefer to only bring women in here. So consider yourself lucky.” I walked over, sitting beside him on the couch I turned on the TV. On it was the cartoon version of Naruto. 

“Watch,” I said. It was Gaara’s nanny that he killed. I believed it was his sister’s brother. But since I couldn’t remember I left the dialogue out, sticking to scenery. 

“How do you know about this?” Gaara asked. 

“I know, because I need to know,” I said. Showing him his creepy demeanor. His rage while fighting Rock. The part of the fight with Sasuke I remembered. “This is you now. A killer. Someone that only cares about himself.” I showed him flashes of Kankuro and Temari. “These are your siblings. A brother and sister that care about you, despite how often you threaten to kill them.” 

He was slowly relaxing as he stared at the video. It shifted to his village. Sunagakure, the village of the Land of Wind. Don’t ask why it was called that, I have no idea. “This is your home. A sandy shithole in my eyes, but to each their own. Your home has no Kazekage.” He eyed me. “Your father was killed by Orochimaru.” 

“You’re lying,” he said, no hurt in his voice. 

“I’m not,” I said. “A village without a Kage is no village. It needs a strong leader to take up the reigns. To protect it.” I let the silence linger as I sent flashes of my memory of Gaara onto the screen. “You could be that leader someday,” I said. He grew quiet, no longer fighting the restraints. 

“If your dad was really trying to kill you, that stops with him dead. No one wants you dead anymore. You were isolated and judged because of the racoon in your body. Just like Naruto was. That guy you’ve been fighting. He has a Jinchuriki too, but instead of killing people, he is making friends. He wants to be the Hokage someday. The man in the village that everyone respects.” 

I let out a sigh. “That could be you, if you just stopped with the fighting and anger,” I said. “You could be the Kazekage. You could be the brother your siblings deserve if you stopped attacking them for making mistakes and instead helped them.” 

I leaned back in the sofa. He was quiet for a time. Eventually he whispered, “They would never accept me.” 

“Because you’ve asked them? You’ve asked every villager? A village wants the strongest leader. Are you not the strongest? Make them want you to lead them. Make them see you as more than just a killer.” I pointed at the screen. I showed him wearing his Kazekage robe and the villagers coming out to save him after Akatsuki kidnaps him. “This will happen. You will be in trouble, and your entire village will drop everything to help you. But you need to make the choice to make a change in yourself.”

He didn’t answer. “Do you actually like killing? Or do you crave human interaction so much that you try to reject that need by turning it to anger? Make the choice Gaara. Do I let you out of here? Or wake us up and I bitch slap you till you’re awake. Temari already begged me to save you. And I promised I wouldn’t kill you, but I am giving you the choice. Will you make a conscious effort to do better? To change?” 

He was quiet for a long time. Watching the TV I changed the channel to Naruto’s childhood. We watched it for a good 10 minutes until he finally spoke. “I would like to leave,” he said.

I pulled us out of the Makuramoto. Still holding his shoulders Gaara’s eyes slowly opened. We locked eyes and a split second later we began to sink as the sand moved back into his body.