Chapter 57.3- Gamer of the Desert

The arrival of Might Gai changed everything. The Kazekage fell to the floor gasping for air, but seemed to be well into his recovery already, pushing himself up to his feet. Akatsuki’s leader was similarly on his way to his feet after taking a kick that would have killed most men in one swoop.

“I am Konoha’s Green Beast, Might Gai. You must answer for your actions, foul villain” He said, facing the Akatsuki leader off. The man, on getting to his feet, almost seemed to scoff at Gai’s appearance and instantly dismissed him. A fair assessment, but one that was going too get him in all sorts of trouble.

XXXXXX- GAARA OF THE DESERT

Getting my life randomly saved by Gai definitely wasn’t something I had in my bingo card for the year. I pushed myself to my feet, not really hearing the word that the man had just said, too busy trying to come to terms with the fact that I’d almost died. Nagato had almost killed me right there and then. Just one touch, and it was almost over. That thing had a grip on what I suspected to be my soul because I couldn’t make a single move while it had me. Almost the same way orochimaru had been when hiruzen got a grip on his with the Shinigami in the anime.

It also made sense considering the weird relationship this universe had with souls and mouths. Hadn’t those sage of six paths tools been able to seal away spools with words or something like that? That definitely involved the mouth as well. How unlikely was it that the mouth acted as the portal to the soul? If that was the case, then when that creature had me by the tongue, that really was death I was seeing.

Gai jumped right at Nagato, moving so quickly it was clear that he was taking this seriously. He came shooting backwards just as quickly as nagato was able to use his almighty push in time. I took advantage of his distraction to flood his position with sand that I used to attempt to crush him. Another almighty push sent my sand flying, but Gai was right in its wake. He was in range of Nagato now. The man manifested a third hand to block Gai’s kick, and had to add a fourth to block the kick that followed the first one almost immediately. The man was like a storm. A storm that was sent flying backwards again.

“Keimon: Sixth Gate: Gate of View: Open” He pronounced, and his body was suddenly surrounded with an aura of green chakra. When he moved this time, only my sharingan could track him. Nagato dodged out of the way of the first attack almost by instinct, but the next punch sent him flying. The body dissolved into water. A clone subsitition. The real body appeared off to the left, standing on the ruins of what had once been a massive apartment building. He pointed both hands at Might Guy and sent a series of missils flying at the man.

I flooded my sand with chakra and lifted it up to block the missiles. Gai swept around the entire mess with amazing speed and kicked the Akatsuki leader right in the chest. Once again, the body dissolved into water. When he appeared again, he was close to where the Sannin were standing, and the three of them wasted no time in attacking him.

Jiriaya was right in front of him instantly and weather two punches from arms that grew out of the man’s midsection, and countered with one of his own. Nagato did not take the attack well, sent flying on to his back. He rolled with the punch and used that momentum to dodge Orochimaru’s follow up grasping snake. He pointed his left hand at the three of them and sent them flying backwards. That left him wide open for Gai’s attack.

He bent underneath the kick and slammed his hand into the ground. A puff of smoke, and the next thing I saw was Might Guy caught in the pincers of a giant crustacean. The creature drove the man down into the ground and opened its mouth, sending several water release techniques right at him.

He smashed through the pincers that held him, as well as the water release severing wave and landed a powerful kick against the crustacean’s carapace, breaking it open. The creature dispelled itself instantly. Nagato was busy facing off with the Sannin again. He jumped backwards from Orochimaru’s snakes, forming a black rod that he stabbed into Tsunade as she came at him from behind. The body puffed in smoke and she appeared from his other side, lashing out with a powerful punch at the back of his head that he barely caught by manifesting an arm from his shoulder.

He pointed his left hand, now a chakra canon right at Jiraiya’s position, and forced Orochimaru to retreat to guard him with a summoned Rashomon gate. He kept his grip on Tsunade and tried to return the favour by stabbing her in the stomach with his black rod. She kicked out, snapping the rod in two, and brought her leg back down in a downwards kick that slammed Nagato’s head into the ground.

He formed a one handed seal as he fell and the earth parted around him like water as he used the subterranean voyage technique. I funnelled my own chakra into the ground, planning to crush him, but he sensed it and shot out of the floor.

He stared all around himself. He probably saw how this was completely unsustainable for him. I’d been more than a match for him on my own, and with the Sannin and Gai on my side, this wasn’t even a fight anymore. Just a jumping. He turned to me with thinned lips and formed a single seal before spreading his fingers and raising his cupped left hand to the sky. “Planetary devastation” He intoned, creating a black superdense mass that flew upwards, attracting everyone in the vicinity.

A/N; Yeah, Nagato isn’t winning this