What is Humanity? Part 2

The echoing sounds of her footsteps echoed around the stone halls as she rounded another corner.  Even in the ninja sandals, designed to make the steps of a ninja as silent as possible, her speed and urgency made silence difficult and her safety of placement made it unnecessary.  The council chamber was ahead of her now, but she continued past that and up the stairs at the end of the corridor.  Her destination was the single room on this floor, the office of the Kazekage.

“Gaara!”

The door flew open and Gaara looked up from the papers that he had been struggling with all night.  The Kazekage was no longer a jinchuuriki, constantly in fear of falling asleep lest the ichibii, Shukaku, would take over his body entirely; still, he found sleep was something that was neither productive not particularly needed after all of these years surviving without it.  These were plans for the restructuring of Sunakagure’s outer defences and even the possibility of putting another row of walls within the mountains which served as a natural barrier for their protection.  Still, budgeting for these things would be difficult unless the daimyo of the Country of Wind decided to start giving Suna more missions.  Since their alliance with the Leaf, he has been more willing to pass missions to the Sand rather than passing them over for a village in another country altogether.  It had been angering Gaara’s father, and it now angered him also.

“Gaara, there is trouble!”  Temari called to her brother from the doorway.  Gaara stood and came out from behind his desk, pulling hat of the Kazekage from his head and placing it on the table behind him.

“What is happening?”  His voice was calm and somewhat monotonous as per usual.

“We have spotted what can only be described as an army travelling towards the village from the north.  And at their rear is a group of monstrous snakes!”  Temari spoke fast, her hands doing part of the talking for her.  It was always a bit of a quirky part of Temari’s actions, her hands flourishing as she spoke.

Gaara took all of this information in and nodded, ready to spring into action to protect his village as best he could.  It was true that his powers had waned somewhat since he had lost Shukaku, a lot had been lost when the ichibii was extracted from him, but he was slowly strengthening himself again and hoped to soon be able to manipulate the sand in the same way as he had once managed.  This would be a good test run.

“Where is Kankurou?”  Gaara’s question appeared to shock Temari somewhat but she answered fast.

“We don’t know.  He’s been disappearing for longer and longer periods over the last few weeks.” Gaara shook his head even before she finished speaking, knowing exactly where his elder brother was.

“He is constructing new and more powerful puppets.  There is a chamber for this in the basement, we need to summon him so that-”

It was Temari’s turn to disagree.

“For three weeks now he has not ventured into that room, nor has he slept in his quarters.  I have seen him moving at speed to some unknown destination at times, so I know that he is safe, but I am still concerned about him.  A few days ago he was treated by the medical ninja for some malady concerning his blood, but he was not poisoned and they would tell me no more.”  Temari sighed and her face fell, the worry for her brother evident on her features.

Gaara knew that she must have pulled similar faces for him when he had been in danger and this caused him to feel a sense of… was it guilt?  He was unsure of the emotion but it was not pleasant to know that he had caused her to worry about him.  However, this information about Kankurou worried him as well.  Since their alliance with Konoha had been revived, the relationship that the brothers shared had changed and Gaara felt closer to him than any other individual at this point, even Naruto Uzumaki whom he still considered his first friend.  Why was it that Kankurou was not talking to him if there was something wrong?  And he had been injured but the Kazekage had known nothing of this, despite Kankurou being one of his most trusted Jounin as well as his brother and friend.  If nothing else, the medical ninja should have informed him!

“Then we go without him.”  Gaara stated matter-of-factly.  What else could they do?  “I want you to go to the council chamber, they are in session now, inform them of the situation and tell Baki to assemble all ninja of chuunin level and above and to meet me at the North Gate.  Do not, however, remove the defences from the other gates.  I will not have one or two ninja sneaking in through the back door while we face the front.”

Temari nodded and was gone in a flash, moving back in the direction she had come from.  Gaara closed the door behind her and walked over to the far corner, sighing as he crouched next to his gourd of sand.  What was going on?  What kind of monster were these opposing forces bringing to face his village, where were they from and what did they want?  Questions flooded his mind but, strangely, they were somewhat eclipsed by the fact that Kankurou was not here to help him.  He had never needed another, content to be alone with himself and Shukaku.  His hand autonomously moved to the left side of his forehead and touched the tattoo he had imprinted upon himself, the symbol for love, the symbol which showed that he neither had, nor needed, the love of anyone other than himself.  As he stood his hand slid down along his chest, pulling apart the white robes he wore as the village’s Kazekage and removed them.  His choice in clothing had changed somewhat as of late and he moved away from the red he had been wearing for so long and back to his original black.  He grabbed his black coat and fastened it around himself, the weight of it having increased due to the protective plates of wood which Kankurou had installed along the chest and the back to protect him.  Gaara smiled despite himself and then, heading the shuffling of feet from downstairs as Temari and Baki made their move, he lifted his gourd by the strap that he had left attached to it and strapped it onto his back, connecting it at his chest with a satisfying pop.  His hand reached over his left shoulder and pulled the cork from it, storing it inside his pocket.  Sand began to lift free of the gourd and wrap around his feet, lifting him from the floor with some concentration.  Controlling the sand was more difficult now, but it was manageable.  Gaara crouched down, closing his eyes as more sand collected, appearing somewhat cloud-like as it lifted him level with the window.  The black-shrouded eyes snapped open and Gaara flew through the window, high in the air now as he moved with immense speed towards the North Gate.  

As he rose higher he saw what Temari had been telling him about.  Hundreds of black-garbed figures moved towards the city, marching at quite a slow pace.  Gaara’s eyes strained but he could not see the monster which his sister had informed him of, but he knew that she would not simply invent such things!  The Kazekage began to descend, floating with his arms crossed on the outside of the opening between the mountains that served as Sunagakure’s main line of defence.

The warriors that approached the village suddenly halted, the centre of their ranks opening to allow one single individual to walk through.  This was their leader, it was obvious from the way that he moved and the respect the other ninja gave him.  Gaara descended to meet him as several jounin, Temari included, were running from behind him to catch up.

“Why do you approach with such numbers and yet not attack upon seeing me?”  Gaara questioned monotonously.

The man stepped forward, his white hair hanging loosely around his bare shoulders.  He was clothed in a black vest, fastened at the front with three buckles across his chest and abdomen.  Another buckle lay at his waist, a strange symbol emblazoned upon it, much like the symbol for infinity, but rotated ninety degrees so that the curves were vertical.  The belt was not for practical purposes, for the trousers were those of a black training gi, elasticised at the waist and ankles, black like his vest.  Hanging from the belt was a red strip of cloth, the yin-yang symbol prominent in the centre.

”I apologise, but these are my personal guard, nothing more.”  The man told Gaara with a smile that seemed more sinister than friendly.  Gaara was on his guard now…

“You do not answer the bulk of the question.  Why do you approach this village?”  

The man’s smile faltered and he inclined his head slightly before a smirk played upon his lips.

“I wanted to see what it was like… having your biju removed…”

Gaara’s eyes widened as he stared at the white-haired stranger.  How could he possibly know about Shukaku!?  Barely anyone within Suna knew of this, let alone those outside of the village!

“I apologise, I believe I have struck a nerve.”  The man continued with a slight laugh.  The ninja behind him spread out a little further.  “My name is Seti, I am here, with my personal guard, to remove Sunagakure from your possession.”

Several of the jounin behind Gaara laughed, but the Kazekage could tell that this man was serious, and what was more, he was extremely confident for someone facing larger numbers, especially when those larger numbers had the home advantage.  Gaara realised for the first time that the man wore no symbol of his hidden village, but this served to further infuriate him.  

“You have clearly not heard of what I am capable of.”  Gaara hoped he sounded more confident than he felt.

“I am well aware, but without the powers of the ichiibi to protect you, I believe that my own powers are well above anything you could hope to achieve.  I am a special jinchuuriki after all…”

Gaara’s eyes widened for the second time, this time with something that resembled… fear!?  But such an emotion was IMPOSSIBLE for him!  Temari and Baki stood nearby and they too were shocked, knowing exactly the implications of this.  

“You… you are?”  Gaara’s question was never answered as the ninja suddenly attacked, the air filling with shuriken and kunai before he had even moved.  None of them came close to him, all aimed at one of his subordinates.  The jounin dodged skilfully, reacting in kind by hurling their own kunai in return.  The self-proclaimed jinchuuriki laughed and leapt back behind his ninjas.

“Come Kazekage!  My followers will not harm you!  They are merely to protect me from myself and keep those people out of our way!  Let us see if your power was your own or was merely leant to you!”  The voice was now taunting him from behind the crowd and Gaara took his invitation, sand floating up around him just in case he needed it as he flew above the battle.  He glanced over his shoulder to see Temari ducking under a blade, pulling the fan from her back before unfolding it only a little.  That was the first star that the opponents had seen and she soon followed by slamming the metallic outer casing of her fan into the ninja’s chin, causing him to fall backwards to the sand.  Gaara would not need to be concerned for the ninja of the Sand.