A New Path

Ch.30 Desert Showdown

Gaara kept his eyes narrowed as he focused on Red Death. Sparks of lighting were emitting from the blade of her scythe and it seemed as if she was waiting for something in order to attack. Kankuro stood on his side with his puppet in front of him with two blades on hand, well aware of the fact that puppets wouldn't beat Red Death but he had to do everything on his power to win.

Red Death watched the two with a smirk under the gas mask she wore. They seemed to be overanalyzing everything, if their look of concentration was any clue, but it was futile. A sudden rise of demonic chakra got her attention, she snapped her head to the side to see the hints of a battle going on in the distance. Her eyes narrowed, just what the hell was going on?

Sand suddenly shot at the Whirlpool ninja, picking up speed as it grew closer. More lighting gathered around Red Death's scythe before she swung it at the shot of sand, creating a few lightning bolts that shot out of the weapon. Her attack easily pierced through the sand before heading straight for Gaara. The jinchuuriki quickly jumped away before punching at Red Death. Much to her shock his arm extended and managed to strike her stomach before she was thrown away by the power behind it.

As soon as she fell on the sand a puppet blocked her field of vision. It raised its two blades and brought them down on her. 'Shit,' Mayu thought as she quickly slapped a hand to her shoulder and poured chakra into it.

Kankuro's eyes widened when his puppet's attack was abruptly stopped by a kind of barrier forming around Red Death. "What the hell it that?" he muttered to himself with a frown. The Whirlpool ninja quickly got to her feet and swung her scythe at the puppet, this time creating a raging fire around it. The attack tore through the puppet easily and left it in flames. Kankuro let go off the chakra strings and gritted his teeth, "Dammit."

Red Death turned to Kankuro with an annoyed look on her face. There was nothing special about this Sand ninja and he was beginning to annoy her with his presence. "I'll kill you first," she stated as her form suddenly faded from view before reappearing behind the puppet-user, "Die." Before he knew what happened the puppet-user felt a piercing pain shooting through his back, leaving an agonizing pain on his upper body.

Gaara watched with wide-eyes as blood splattered out of Kankuro's wound before lifelessly falling to the ground. "Kankuro…" he muttered in shock. The sand around the puppet-user was stained in a deep crimson, his eyes were closed shut and his breathing was weak.

The jinchuuriki didn't know what he was feeling, it was as if something had been ripped out of his chest. He didn't like the feeling and would slaughter the ninja that hurt his brother, one of his precious people. "I'll kill you," Gaara growled, demonic chakra leaking out of his body. Red Death narrowed her eyes, yet another source of demonic chakra though this one was a lot less malevolent than the first.

"A jinchuuriki…" she muttered with a frown underneath her mask. Jinchuurikis were one of the few things she respected. Those with a demon sealed inside of their bodies were all treated the same and knew pain similar to her own. But this time was different, a jinchuuriki was her foe and she wouldn't take it easy. She had seen what they were capable of and underestimating them would be stupid.

A violent wind gathered around Mayu's scythe, sharpening the blade and extending it. She watched sand cover half of Gaara's face, taking the shape of a demon. The jinchuuriki's eyes focused on the Whirlpool ninja as more wind sharpened the blade of her scythe. Round two was about to begin.

Naruto and Sasuke stared each other down, waiting for the other to make a move. The air was tense as they continued to glare at each other. The Uchiha's right hand suddenly twitched before performing a series of hand signs. The jinchuuriki gritted his teeth when he noticed that the hand signs were way too familiar.