Chapter 53.3- Gamer of the Desert

A giant wind bullet ripped through my newly formed arm. I stared it at for a second. It was comical. How I could tell that something was missing, but not feel it necessarily. My arm was gone. But it was still there. With a flex, the arm returned, forming itself anew. I tilted my head - It was so much bigger now - at the approaching group of three.

“I had suspicions when I saw the sand you wielded, but I refused to believe it. To think a beast like this has been allowed to reign as Kazekage. Lord Fourth, what were you thinking to appoint this abomination as your successor?” I decided very quickly that I did not like the First Kazekage. Sand moved according to my will even faster than before. It rushed at my opponents from all around them. I could see the First form a single handseal- bird. The encroaching sand was scattered to the winds. It was still within my control, however. And I lacerated their bodies with the thin strands of sand he’d so helpfully created for me. Not all of them. The First’s wind armour left him unscathed from the attack and he merely scowled in my direction before weaving another seal.

I reached out to the wind bullet rushing my way and commanded it to dissolve before it could hit me. Shukaku was the desert. Not just the sand beneath it but the winds that stirred the sand as well. The look on the First’s face brought no end to my amusement.

“That is my Son, Lord First. A jinchuriki who dominates the power of the Ichibi. To think that you have attained such power, Gaara. I was right in the end.” He said with what seemed to be a proud smile on my face. If I were more naive, I’d think the pride was directed my way. Based on my achievements or whatever. But I knew Rasa. His journals had given me an unmatched insight into his mind. I knew all he felt was pride at himself for making the choice to do what he did. Sacrifice his wife and unborn child’s future out of a misplaced sense of village loyalty.

Regardless of his words, though. He lifted his hands and commanded a massive amount of golden dust to raise itself from the ground. Massive, but not nearly as much as he had used to defeat Shukaku according to the Tanuki’s memories. It made sense, however. Where would Danzo and his tools manage to find and sneak out that much golden dust? This was probably all the dust Mebuki had been able to steal without rousing my suspicions. The thoughts still brought no small amount of rage to my mind. I was no longer seeing red like before, but there would be a reckoning, I knew. And beneath the anger, I knew, was fear. I’d left Mebuki with administrative control of the village. Chiyo was the one nominally in charge, but Mebuki basically had carte blanche. I’d given Danzo’s tool the keys to my village. Oh what a fool I’d been.

I felt the gold dust sink into my sandy body and begin to weigh me down. Even with the volume he had at his disposal, Rasa could still be problematic. Or at least he would have been problematic if all his techniques were not known to me. I weaved my chakra through and around his. I strangled his hold on the golden dust and destroyed it with my own magnet release. The sharingan was one hell of a tool. I shifted the golden dust around my form, adding veins of gold to my body to make for an even more intimidating appearance.

“You all left journals behind. Do you think there are any techniques known to you that are not useless before me” I said to them. It wasn’t an idly boast.

The First’s attempt to catch me with another wind jutsu was ignored as I tore the jutsu apart before it had even fully left me. There was a reason the Second had been the one who I’d sent into the Kamui dimension. He was the most dangerous of them all. And maybe he’d fuck with Obito a bit on my behalf.

I felt a huge mass of Iron sand sink into my side. “Do you not learn anything?” I asked with a sneer that must have been truly ferocious on my new face. The iron joined the gold. I had the magnet release just as the rest of them did. But mine was stronger. I had more chakra, and the benefit of a sharingan to aid in welding it. I commanded my sand arms to reach for them again, and this time only Kage 1 and 3 were able to dodge in time. Rasa was a hair’s breadth too slow and I caught him in my grip. He breathed in and spat out a highly compressed blade of water aimed at my head. What head? The attack hit nothing but air. I reformed my head with a nasty smile and took pleasure in tossing Rasa into my mouth.

I chewed him and swallowed, using Shukaku’s natural fuinjutsu script to inscribe a seal on my ‘stomach’. A simple seal, but more than enough to keep him out of trouble with no one able to interfere.

The other two tried a pincer attack. I ignored the First as I tore every jutsu he sent apart without even looking at him. The iron sand Third sent at me was matched with my own combination of extremely dense sand, golden dust, and iron sand. Needless to say, I won. I wrapped him up in a seal of his own and tossed him into my stomach.

And then it was time for the first. “Your greatest claim to fame is defeating the Shukaku. You are nothing compared to me” I said to him before I tore apart his wind armour by overpowering his chakra with a flex of will and then swallowed his awestruck body.

With all three of them sealed, I brought them out of my stomach with a quick vomit, and then formed more elaborate seals on them before the temporary ones could dissolve. This time, I decided to grace Konoha with another grand sand mausoleum but this time, I did it right over the ruins of the Hokage Tower. Tsunade would have to pay quite a hefty price to get me to move any of them.

I took a second to admire my form before I deactivated the transformation, feeling the sand flow right back into my seal as the gold dust and iron sand fell to the floor around me. The transition took only a few seconds, and I enjoyed being at a more normal size for a second before I felt my body freeze in place.

Interesting.

I could not move my body at all. It was like there was something hijacking the connection between my brain and my body. It was not physically restraining my body, just making it impossible for me to move. So this was the Nara’s shadow possession jutsu.

“Well done, Shikamaru.” I heard a voice that I’d hoped never to hear again. The man walked out from the shadows and came face to face with me. “Gaara of the Desert. Such a powerful jinchuriki. You will be an excellent addition to Konoha’s strength” He said, and took out a seal brush and ink to begin drawing seals on me. I would have scoffed if I had the control over my body to do that much.

Still, I could feel the jutsu. I could feel the use of Yin energy. I began to cycle my chakra flow and work on breaking the jutsu.

“He is fighting my hold, Danzo-sama” The boy said.

And then I felt the jutsu deactivate. I wasted no time. With a single swing, I separated Danzo’s head from his body.

I turned to look at the pineapple haired boy. There was a strange intelligence in his eyes. Dangerous. I hadn’t broken that jutsu. He’d released me. And not just that, he’d made certain Danzo was well in the process of working his craft before he distracted the man with the false warning, and then he released me in the perfect position to kill the man. Kagecide? I could appreciate the concept, at least.

A/N; Work in progress.