45 Gaara and Kankuro (1/2)
The brothers engaged in a staring contest as neither side refused to back down.
Gaara tried to push the sand coffin upward again, yet Kankuro kept anchoring it down with more chakra. He was getting more and more irritated as time passed on.
”Tch.”
In the end, he couldn't care less as long as that annoying person died.
His palm turned to face forward, and then he clenched it into a fist, activating his finisher move.
<Desert Funeral>
The sand surrounding the Ame ninja started to move inward, applying pressure from every direction.
At the same time, a surge of thread-like chakra poured out of Kankuro's fingers.
<<Agni Amrita>>
The glowing blue threads were transformed into licks of translucent, colorless flame that spread out over the surface of Gaara's sand in the blink of an eye. The temperature rose up rapidly, to the point of instantly melting any sand particle that it touched.
Half of the sand coffin had melted at the point when Gaara's technique applied its full strength. Instead of compressing its victim, it ended up pushing him toward the melted part instead, catapulting him out through the brightly-lit layer.
”U-uwaaah!”
The Ame ninja's right side had broken bones from the sand's pressure, while his left side was suffering from horrifying third-degree burns where the molten sand had stuck on his skin. The heat had even rendered his nerves numb. He quickly passed out after letting out a muffled scream.
Kankuro grimaced at the sight. He had withdrawn his flame immediately after, but he couldn't stop the resulting heat. That guy's left arm might be out of the question from now on.
Nevertheless, he was still alive. That was the most important part, wasn't it?
The black-clothed boy lifted the poor man, and then threw him toward his two companions who had fallen on their knees from pure terror. That part on their pants were already dripping wet.
”Oi, you see how impatient this guy is, right?” Kankuro pointed at Gaara with his thumb. ”I suggest that you leave your scroll and scram as fast as you can. If you don't want to die, that is.”
”Y-yes! R-right away!”
The shortest kid on the group threw down a scroll. Right as it touched the ground, they quickly leaped away into the branches above while carrying their unconscious leader.
”Well... that's the 'Heaven' one. How lucky,” Kankuro whistled as he picked up their spoils. Combined with their 'Earth' scroll, that meant they had earned the ticket to clear the second test.
”Alright, let's head to the tower...! Or maybe not.”
Gaara was still standing at the exact same spot from before, still with the same poker face as usual. However, dark aura was coming out of him at the moment, indicating that he was really furious with how the event had turned out. His eyes were filled with genuine killing intent.
”I told you... not to interfere...!” the boy murmured as he glared at his older brother.
Kankuro raised an eyebrow.
”What are you fuming about? How many times do I have to tell you not to kill needlessly?”
”Doesn't matter,” Gaara grumbled. ”I'll kill everyone that I laid my eyes upon...”
”...”
Damn... this edgy kid... did he steal that line from Villain 101? That was too cliché! He had seen far too many unorthodox sects members spouting those lines only to get beaten up later by the virtuous heroes.
Must not let the kid fall to the same pit!
”Look,” he sighed. ”If you keep on doing that, you'll meet someone that you can't afford to offend one day, and then you'll be brought down under their feet. What will you do then? Knowing when to hold back is one of the greatest virtues for a martial artist.”
Temari winced. What martial artist? Weren't they ninja...?
”You're annoying...”
Gaara lifted his hand. Cloud of sand began to pour out from his gourd.
”You brat, you still want to go?!”
Kankuro readied his stance as well, the blue light of chakra enveloping his body once again.
”You two, enough!”
In a panic, Temari had jumped in between the two. She was clear of Gaara's monstrous power, while the Kankuro of the past six months had also scared her senseless. If the two did fight it out, the result would definitely not be pretty. They might end up disqualified from losing a teammate or two.
”Calm down, alright? There's no point in fighting between ourselves! Let's just go to the tower! Please, listen to your elder sister's request...”
Even though she was reprimanding them, she was actually the one who was most afraid at the moment. Her trembling self looked so pitiful that Kankuro ended up feeling bad.
”Yeah, yeah, sorry,” he shrugged.
Gaara had pulled down his hand as well. However, the sand cloud didn't recede back into the gourd just yet. The boy had turned his attention toward a certain bushes no too far from them.
”Gaara...?”
”Hey...” the boy murmured. ”I still haven't had enough. It'll be fine if I kill those guys, right?”
Gulp.
'He's onto us!' Kiba silently screamed.
The trio had been rooted on the ground as they watched the fight unfolding between Gaara's team and the Ame ninja's team. The most terrifying one had turned out to be the brow-less kid with the gourd.
”That... if that face-paint guy didn't help him, the Ame dude would've died, right?”
Shino gravely nodded, reaching the same conclusion as Kiba.
Crap.
”Let's get out of here while they're still busy bickering! If they find us, we'll be-”
Dead. Kiba swallowed that word back as he couldn't bring himself to say it.
They were about to leap away when they heard what Gaara had said. If they exit the bushes right now, they would definitely got caught. Staying here forever wouldn't be a good choice either now that their hiding spot had been found.
”Damn it, do we have to fight...?”
At that moment, Kankuro and Temari had finally noticed their presence as well. The black-clothed boy held his hand up toward Gaara, telling him to wait.
”Let's see what they have to say first.”
He flared up his chakra, and then rushed toward the bushes. Meanwhile, Gaara's sand cloud followed right behind him.
The bushes shook as something was coming from within. Right as they were about to strike it down, it turned out to be...
Woof!
A tiny, four-legged creature covered in white fur jumped out of the leaves. Its slit-like eyes were locked at the black-clothed boy while its tail was wagging back and forth.
””...””
That... was that a puppy?