We Are One [Gaara III]

Chapter 5

"So let me get this straight," Tsunade spoke up.

The Kages had gone into a meeting the next day, Gaara forcing himself out of bed to Sakura's protest. Until she saw the state of his injury and that it had improved greatly. And there was only one person who could be behind this.

"If she's that good how come Az never became a Medical Ninja?" Sakura had asked. Mouth agape.

The Kazekage had to try and not laugh at the memory in front of the others.

"Communication with the Tsuchikage has been strained since the war due to his deteriorating condition. The Country doesn't want it to be too public that he was growing old. So nearly all ties outside Earth Country were cut off. And two years after that happened, the Sound began giving us problems and were sighted in the company of Iwa Ninja. But neither side has been able to make contact or given a straight answer from them as to why they are attacking Suna."

"Though we don't know their reasoning, attacking Suna first makes sense," Azmaria spoke up. She drew their attention. "The Leaf is too strong in terms of its forces and with the forest to their advantage it would be hard for them to use the terrain to their advantage. They're completely out of their element. Kumogakure is too far. Moving an entire army that close to the border of the Land of Fire would not go unnoticed. The Land of Lightning would be the last place they attack. Suna is flat. Which the Sound is accustom to and Rock Ninja could easily adjust, since there are rocks and Earth underneath the sand. The only disadvantage is the heat."

"That makes sense," Tamahome agreed. "It's a very strategic move on their part."

"What about the Mizukage?" the Raikage asked.

"She refuses to involve her lands in another war," Tsunade answered. "And I don't blame her. She's protecting her ninja, an army that was greatly affected out of all of us from the war against the Akatsuki. The Sound and Iwagakure have not affected them as of yet. Probably because they are not an immediately threat to their plans. If we become desperate though, she will come to our aid."

"We will respect her decision," Gaara spoke up. "Trying to get any information out of the enemy is a losing battle in itself. Now we have to come up with an effective way to keep them at bay. The only thing we can do right now is fight them long enough until their stock piles depletes and they have no choice but to retreat."

"Or kill off enough of them to a point where they are outnumbered and have no chance at winning any longer," Temari stated.

"We could always kidnap someone," the Raikage said.

"We did that already," Sanchi grumbled. "But of course, Rock and Sound Ninja are the hardest to crack. Ibiki's been at them for weeks with no results."

"You could hand them over to Azmaria," Kankuro snickered. It was an amusing idea.

"I'm flattered, but there must be another way," she answered.

"We're wasting our time with them," Ibiki finally spoke up. "The enemy is planning something, especially after their spies discovered the new addition to our forces and that the Raikage has arrived. We see them slinking out there in the sand and they think they are doing it undetected. They are going to hit us fast and hard."

"Then all we can do is wait until they strike," Kankuro said. "And be ready."

"How far out is their base?" the Raikage asked.

"Miles so we can't clearly see them," Gaara answered. "Leaving the walls isn't an option because then we are out in the open. We fight just outside the Village to protect the fortress because if it's broken, they could easily come and go as they please."

The leaders nodded in agreement.

"Return to your posts," Tsunade ordered.

As the meeting room emptied, Azmaria easily fell in step beside Gaara. "So how much longer do you have to stay in the hospital?"

"Not much longer thanks to your help," he answered. "Whatever you did yesterday seemed to work." There was a pause as she smiled up at him. "What did you do? I've never had you patch me up so quickly with an injury this significant before."

"It's a technique I picked up living back in the Land of Lightning. A clan tradition of mine that they adopted into their medical program. The hand technique hits the problem at the root and then works its way out by massaging it with chakra."

"Sakura should train under you. She'd be interested in learning it. And while I'm thinking about it, she wants to know why you never became a Medical Ninja."

Azmaria laughed. "That was always Tamahome's job. I only picked up a few things from him so I could tend to you on occasion. There was a time when you wouldn't allow anyone to touch you, remember?"

How could he forget? All those times he would see Azmaria come to his aid and heal himself before tending to her own problems. Always putting him before herself.

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"Dancing Wind!" Azmaria yelled. She began spinning in a circle, picking up speed. It created a tornado of sand and wind, gliding over the battlefield and sucking up the enemy ninja in its wake. It would then spit them out seconds later, dead.

"Well now, that's a new trick," Sanchi mused.

"As long as it helps us, I don't care!" Tamahome exclaimed, slamming a fist into an Iwa Ninja's face.

The enemy had come just as Ibiki had expected, and hit them hard. But they had been ready, pushing back so they did not gain ground on the wall. Azmaria lead a force of Lightning Ninja onto the field first. And threw the opposing army backwards with a wind attack and disoriented them for few moments.

"Let's take 'em!" Sanchi shouted.

Kankuro whistled, seeing Azmaria moving everywhere across the field. "Damn, that's some power she's acquired," he noted.

A quick jerk of the strings crushed a handful of ninjas with his puppets. The sight of her only reminded him of how dangerous she truly was.

A tidal wave of sand consumed the enemy, burying and suffocating them. Gaara gave their forces a clear opening before whirling around as a sound attack rippled through the ground. The compacted the sand halted the movement, and the pressure caused the area to explode from the energy.

"They're pulling back!" a voice shouted.

Sure enough, Iwagakure and the Sound were moving away from the fight, all with narrowed eyes of anger and annoyance. The Sand Ninjas didn't follow them, waiting until there was nothing left of them to see in the distance.

"I'm not even sure we can call that a victory," Kankuro breathed.

"They were only testing our defenses," Gaara stated.

The wind on the battlefield lessened as the ex-Soldier's movements slowed. The young woman was left stumbling to gain her balance from all the spins she had been performing at the mercy of those jutsus. Her former teammates chuckled, Sanchi offering a shoulder to grab for support.

"A little turned around there, Az?" he teased.

"Probably dragged that on more than I should," she muttered.

"Let's get back inside," Temari stated. "Those with injuries, report to the hospital wing. How many casualties?"

"None!" a ninja called.

The young woman sighed, "Then we were lucky for once. Let's remove the dead."

There weren't too many bodies littering the field, but they knew it had to be kept clear so if there was another attack they weren't climbing over the dead, rotting bodies.