Title: The Story Continues
...
Shun's POV
To say that I wasn't elated at the scene occuring in front of me would be a lie of maximum proportions. No true man or woman would say they didn't wish for this to happen. Yes, it may have happened late, but still, it was worth it to me.
The scene of Kushina and Naruto back in his Mind-scape in the original timeline was already heartwarming enough, her disappearance was heartbreaking though, and thankfully, that won't be occurring here.
Naruto deserves to know and live with his parents, at least one of them, that is something everyone with a bit of conscience would want for him.
So as I watched, I also began making plans for when shit hits the fan due to her presence. Women, and mothers most especially, are a uniquely complicated set of sentient beings.
Despite watching Naruto grow from the system's space, her overprotective side would still kick in even if she knows what his future holds.
I didn't particularly hide the existence of the origin of chakra from her when she was in there. Mikoto too, who was in Sasuke's system's space. They both knew their children's destiny and their years within the space should tune their emotions while allowing them to assess whatever happens logically.
And while Naruto and Kushina were catching up into the night, Gaara began the battle that would determine his fate alongside the fate of the Sand Village people.
...
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Sounds of explosions going off resounded through the night as Deidara's clay birds and insects made contact with the sand-made platforms in the skies.
Due to Gaara's innate connection to Sand, he was able to sense the two intruders as soon as they stepped into Sunagakure's area of influence.
Two, Not one.
Although he knew of the others' existence, he didn't point it out as he wanted his current opponent to think he could exhaust him to death, leading to the other intruder to make his presence known.
That way, he could capture them both and ascertain their intentions in attacking his village.
Of course, this was wishful thinking on his side as Deidara was also having his fun with him.
"We seem to have the same fighting style, how about this? You give up defending yourself and we just capture you and leave your village to itself." Deidara offered with a 'Hmm' at the end of his sentence, while crossing his hands across his chest.
Looking at him, one would feel the confidence he emanated as he asked.
It didn't seem like he would lose at all, and on the contrary, he would win, no matter what
"You don't seem to understand your position." Gaara began slowly, with his expression unchanged. "Currently, you're the one who should quickly give up and allow us to capture you so as to avoid unnecessary loss of life."
"Eh? You think you can be me? Deidara, hmm?" Deidara asked in an angry tone. "Fine then, we'll see who has the last laugh then."
Saying that, he put his hands into his pouch, and moments later, he threw numerous clay insects into the air and watched them as gravity worked on them as they gradually fell.
Due to the movements of the wind in Sunagakure, the little clay insects moved erratically, preventing Gaara from being able to precisely predict their landing positions.
Scrunching his face in a frown, he quickly readjusted his tactics. Since he couldn't predict their landing positions, and the moment they made contact with any other objects, they'd blow, then it would be safer to contain such explosions himself.
With a flex, he immediately transferred chakra into the other floating sand platforms, creating numerous clones of himself who all flew towards the descending insects.
And as soon as they made contact, the clones all dissolved and allowed the sand to coat the insects before...
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Muffled explosion rang out in the air of Sunagakure as the villagers watched their precious Kage defend them from the explosions that would reap their lives in matter of seconds should it land on their soil.
At the moment, human nature kicked in and whether it was the group that resented Gaara, or the group that just didn't care, or the group that actually feared him...all of them were deep in prayers, praying for the success of the Kage.
Gaara, seeing the current explosions had been resolved , controlled his sand platform to fly towards Deidara, unfortunately, despite his aerial mobility, he didn't have the swiftness of Deidara's bird.
This led to the two playing a game of cat and mouse in the air while still attacking at every opportunity that is presented.
With Gaara's gourd, he seemed to be able to conjure an infinite amount of sand projectile which he shot towards Deidara and his gigantic clay bird, and on Deidara's side, he didn't seem to be exhausted, whether physically or Chakra-wise.
No matter how much destruction his birds receive, he just created another while sending the nearly destroyed one to explode in Gaara's face.
This caused the night sky in Sunagakure to brighten up on numerous intervals, yet, this served to tell the villagers that their Kage wasn't losing.
While the battle continued into the night, the numerous Jounins finally managed to evacuate the civilians into their safehouses.
They knew that since it was possible for Deidara to attack the village in order to restrain Gaara, there was a better or greater chance he'd do something more drastic.
As though to prove that point valid, Deidara suddenly stopped at a certain height and cackled madly.
"Oh dear Kazekage, I believe it's time we put an end to this charade, hm."
"Yeah, I believe so too. There's your partner to capture too, I'm quite curious-"
"Oh-ho? You know we were two? As expected of the Kazekage. Our leader did say you may be a troublesome opponent considering you have the same version of Magnet Release the First Kazekage once boasted." Deidara nodded his head in praise.
"I don't believe I have reached that level, but I think this is enough to defeat and capture you both." Gaara said and made to attack once more but..
"Tsk tsk tsk." Deidara raised a finger to Gaara and shook it. "I wouldn't advise you to do that. Despite my occupation, I know for a fact that killing needlessly would attract unnecessary attention to me and my organization. So..."
As he said that, the night cloud, or rather, the artificial cloud created due to the numerous explosions of clay and sands in the sky visibly congealed at speeds obvious to the naked eye, and despite being able to see the formation, Gaara would still be unable to stop it.
Second later, a brown gigantic panda bear formed and stayed suspended above Deidara.
"I've noticed you practically don't have a limit when it comes to your chakra. Perhaps due to the special being in you, perhaps due to your chakra control, I wouldn't know, but one thing I'm sure of is the fact that I can't stand a protracted battle."
"Not because I fear you, but because I fear the wrath of my teammates falling on your dear village. So...In order not to watch the thousands of people below die, you can only bear the brunt of this art of mine...Look at it.." Deidara raised his head to look at the panda. "Isn't it beautiful?"
Gaara merely squinted his eyes at the blond haired lunatic in front of him.
He had met blonds, crazy ones too, but this one was on another level.
Naruto was crazy, but the good kind. He did anything for those he considers friends, his sister was blond, and she was low-key crazy, not to him, but to his other brother and others she considers weak.
But this guy? He took the blonde lunacy to a whole other level.
You can't beat me so you threaten me with my people's life and still play the victim?
"I know, I know. I can imagine how you're feeling. That's the Reason I went rogue. Shinobi, we're dispensable for the greater good. Kages? Heh, their villages are like their second hearts. Stupid set of people."
"Now Gaara of the Same, allow me the honor of watching you protect one heart of yours." After saying that, the bird he was flying on flapped its wings, immediately depositing him at a distance from the village as the panda descended.
"Sasori my man! Watch! I want you to bear witness! Art! Art in its brightest forms!" Deidara shouted, a light of insanity flickering within his eyes as he watched as the Kazekage, Gaara, descended and gathered the numerous sand both in the air and ground of the Desert.
This wasn't what had him excited...No it was far from that. What had him excited was the possibility of watching the truest form of art.
Defying Death.
Yes. Deidara appreciated the explosion and saw them as art. Not because of its explosions, but because of the possibility it presented. The possibility of survival from a force so devastating that no human should survive.
He had once thought that the sound, the visuals and the effects of an explosion was all it took to form true art, but that person...That Artistic Scene left a mark so bright that he could never forget.
He was able to come out unscathed from all his explosions, even when he used the most shameful form of attack in his book, the silent and destructive Dust Release, he still wasn't able to put that person down.
That scene of that person reforming from what should have been his True Death left a mark in him.
Gone were the times when simply watching an explosion was true art, gone were the times when watching the devastations of an explosion a true art...Now, what he considered as art, was the ability to defy that concept known as Death.
Explosions...They were simply means in which death comes, but being able to defy it?
"Hahahahahaha! Show me Kazekage! Show me True Art!" He roared madly as the panda made contact with the enormous hand covering the entire desert with Gaara in the middle roaring wildly as he resisted the brunt of it all.
***
A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the late release. Had to travel for the Christmas holidays, there wasn't any network or even power over there so after staying a few days, I came back to the city.
Bear with me.
Also, about the fight. I just thought this was enough.
Enjoy