Chapter 2 - Kyouran wo Kazekage

Naruto woke up early, stretching himself, the stumbling to the kitchen to make his morning ramen.
Naruto’s apartment reflected it’s owner: Untidy, but comfortable. Anyone who walked into Naruto’s apartment walked away amazed that (a) Naruto was still alive, after nothing but ramen, and (b) that Naruto remembered to take care of his plants. Near the window, a money tree was stretching toward the sunlight, drinking in the life-giving rays.
As Naruto was munching, half asleep, he looked vaguely out the window. Seeing two familiar figures, Naruto perked up. He looked at them, at his ramen, back at them, back at the ramen. Deciding to have the best of both worlds, Naruto gulped his ramen down in one bite, then took off after the two figures.



“So Ebisu-sensei is the problem? Not a surprise, dattebayo,” Naruto told Ekyt.

The two had met in the woods, along with Lee, for an early workout. Naruto, however, had only given his jaws a workout so far. Ekyt and Lee, who had similar training habits, we already sweating with the effort it took to complete their exercises Today they were leaping from tree to tree, racing to the top. Ekyt won the first race, while Lee had taken the second. Naruto pulled out the third race. By that time, it was time to move on to hardening their hands and feet by kicking and punching trees.

“Yeah, it’s Ebisu-sensei, I’m sure of it. He’s just got his hitai-ate in a wad because I’m friends with you, and I show more potential than his students. Or so Kakashi-sensei said,” Ekyt replied, grunting as he hit a knot on the tree’s rough surface with a punch.

“Ekyt-san, have you taken this up with Tsunade-sama? It is not right for you to be held back, and you know it. And you, Naruto-san, are you taking the chunin exams? I am certain you have the ability.”
“You still haven’t learned to talk yet Bushy Brows? That formal crap ain’t worth it, dattebayo!”
Lee rolled his eyes, while Ekyt gave a tolerant smile.
“Remind me again why we had him train with us this morning Ekyt-san?” Lee requested.
“Because it’s the nice thing to do, and it’s good for all of us. Besides, aren’t you tired of beating me in sparring matches Lee-san?”
Naruto’s eyes popped out. “What? You’ve never beat him?” Lee shook his head, trying not to sound too proud. “That is right, with the footnote that Ekyt-san will not use ninjutsu or genjutsu while sparring with me.”
Naruto had a strange look on his face when he turned to face Ekyt. “Wow…you are really stupid.”




“Kazekage-sama, where are you going?”
“Kazekage-sama, please, wait!”
“Let us come with you!”

Gaara turned around slowly to look at his people. “Listen to me. No one follows me to Konohagakure. I have business there, private business. Unless anyone thinks that I am incapable of handing it?”
No one dared speak up. Some people even backed up, pressing themselves against the adobe buildings of the Sand Village. The town people, normally brash and proud, seemed to shrink at the sound of their Kazekage’s voice. They crowded into stores and homes, anything to avoid the stare of their leader.



Ekyt showered and dressed quickly. He was going to meet Iruka, Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura for lunch. It wasn’t normally his thing, but damned if he was going to let them know just how depressed he was. He glanced around his apartment, his gaze falling on his discarded black headband. That had been used to cover his eye when Gaara had destroyed it. It’s dark hazel color had left it, until Sakura performed a surgery that had someone fixed it.
Like I needed another reason to like that girl… Ekyt thought, smiling fondly. When he realized what he was doing, he immediately smoothed his face back to normal. No, we’ve already has this talk. We don’t drag the girl into it. You’ve got enough guilt to start your own religion, don’t make yourself feel guilty by making her feel guilty.


Kakashi looked up from his book long enough to laugh at Naruto retelling how he had gotten Ekyt and Iruka with the Haremu no Jutsu. (English TV: Ninja Harem Jutsu) Lee was amused by it even, until Naruto warned him that he was next in line for the dreaded (Sort of dreaded) jutsu.
“You cannot crack me with that childish jutsu, Naruto-kun,” Lee claimed stubbornly.
“I’ll get you yet Bushy Brows, dattebayo,” Naruto warned with a mischievous smile on his face.
While Lee and Naruto hashed it out over that, Ekyt looked over at Kakashi and Iruka. He said nothing, however, and went back to his meat and vegetable ramen. He had to eat carefully, since he was reading his scroll, titled “ShoBu.”
“Hey, what’s in that thing anyway, Pervy Samurai?” Naruto was leaning over the table, trying to make out the scroll.
“Pervy Samurai? You never told us about that one Ekyt-san, would you like to share?” Lee asked, stifling a laugh. He knew the story full well, but wanted to hear it again.
“Get bent, Lee-san,” Ekyt retorted flatly.
Kakashi reached over and took the scroll. His visible eye widened slightly.
“That’s a lot of jutsus. When did you do this?” Kakashi questioned, holding the scroll out to Iruka.
“Every since I came here. Every technique and exercise that you, and Iruka-sensei, and everyone else, has taught me. I wrote it down, and modified it if necessary.”
“Can you…can you actual perform these?!” Iruka asked in surprise. Ekyt was still a genin, so he shouldn’t have been able to.
“Yeah. I, er, well, study them every night, until 4:00 am.”
“WHOA! Ekyt-kun has less of a social life than Iruka-sensei, dattebayo!”
Iruka glared at Naruto, then motioned Kakashi to the side.


“HE’S still a genin? Knowing all that?” Iruka hissed, glancing at Ekyt, who was carefully rolling up the scroll.
“I know. He’s near jonin level, and he could be cultivating those skills. It’s Ebisu, he’s got a grudge against the kid…and Naruto too.”
“What do you mean?!” Iruka almost shouted, not liking where this was going.
“Naruto’s not permitted to take the exams either. Ebisu also voted “no” to a couple others, but he was right about them. That’s why it’s so hard to pin him down for this,” Kakashi replied, an unusually edginess in his voice.



The Leaf Village grew silent. It wasn’t every day they got a visit from the Sand Village’s Kazekage.
It was still more often than they liked. Gaara’s demonic glare seemed to burn holes in everyone who met eyes with him. No one in the Leaf Village had forgotten how bloodthirsty Gaara had been at the chunin exams four years ago, or even the one four and a half years ago. The way Rock Lee had to have an emergency surgery to save his career as a Shinobi. And then, the way Gaara had destroyed Ekyt Kaguya’s eye.
After the exams, Gaara’s rampage had continued, until Naruto Uzumaki (With some help from his summon, Gamabunta) put the Sand Villager down for the count with, of all things, a headbutt.



Gaara made his way to Ichiraku. Without a word, he attacked Ekyt from behind.


Ekyt heard the sound of something whizzing toward him. He hit the dirt, while throwing his chopsticks like senbon. Gaara’s sand blocked the chopsticks, knocking them harmlessly to the ground.

Kakashi, Iruka, Lee, and Naruto stood up, ready to fight.
“Not you. Him. Only him…I owe him…” Gaara’s hand pointed at Ekyt.
Ekyt immediately stood up. Lee and Naruto tried to wrestle him to the ground.
“Think about what you are doing Ekyt-san! He will kill you!” Lee grunted, struggling to restrain Ekyt.
“Ekyt-kun, you’re good, but he’s a kage!” Naruto protested, also struggling with the effort of keeping Ekyt restrained.
“He’ll kill everyone until he gets me…Look, I’m going to lead him away from all the people. Go tell Tsunade-sama, but don’t interfere in the fight. This is between Gaara and me now…”




“Foolish…if you had let your friends help, you might have stood a chance against me…Sabaku Kyu!” (English: The Coffin of Crushing Sand)
Ekyt evaded the sand attack by focusing his chakra and jumping up and over it.
“Enkou Doragan no jutsu!” Ekyt countered, making a punching motion with his fist. (English: Dragon’s Flame Jutsu, previously known as Dragon’s Ember Jutsu)
Gaara’s sand blocked the attack. When Gaara went to attack again, he found a portion of his sand unusable.
“What? What did he do to my sand?” Gaara wondered this aloud.
“Fire attack. It hardened your sand. For the record, really not a smart thing to voice something like that in combat!”
Ekyt’s taunt was followed by a three kunai. Gaara’s sand flashed up again, stopping the kunai just inches from his face. Gaara showed no emotion, even though he had just been close to death.
“Pathetic…What?”
There was an earth-shattering explosion. Ekyt had laced the kunai with exploding tags. While Gaara had taunted him, the kunai fell to the ground at his feet. The force of the explosion from the tags was blunted by the sand, but Gaara was still thrown backwards. The heat from the explosion managed to eat away at Gaara’s sand supply, making more of it immobile.



“Kakashi, we’ve got to stop this! He’ll get killed!” Iruka shouted, trying to get Kakashi to understand.
“We can’t. He gave his word to a duel. Besides, the town needs our protection, and Ekyt will be fine.”
Iruka flipped. “WHAT?! HE’S A GENIN, KAKASHI, A GENIN! THAT THING IS THE KAZEKAGE!”
Kakashi gave Iruka a hard look. “I know, Iruka. I know. But we have to let them be, for now, or Gaara will massacre the whole village…”


“Ryusa Bakaryu!” Gaara called, a little emotion dripping into his voice. (English: Quicksand in the Style of a Waterfall)
Ekyt looked panicked as the sand suddenly began to rise. It rose past his ankles and to his knees in seconds. Think…come on, there’s a way out of this!
“Magen: Narakumi no jutsu!” Ekyt countered. (English: Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique) He hadn’t wanted to break out his signature genjutsu yet, but Gaara had forced his hand. Damn it…it’s costing me a lot of chakra…but it’s got to be costing him more. All that sand can’t be moved…I can fight without chakra, he can’t…I’ve got to make him waste his chakra!
The sand stopped flowing at Ekyt’s knees. Ekyt took the momentary lapse to pull himself out of the sand. He used the body-flicker jutsu to get some speed up. Gaara was holding his head, stroking the mark on his forehead, muttering “Love me…Dad, love me!” over and over again.


“He’s WHAT?!” Tsunade-sama shouted, knocking her desk clear of scrolls.
“He HAD to, or Gaara was going to kill everyone!” Naruto argued.
“He is right Tsunade-hime, it is true! Ekyt did not provoke him, Kazekage-sama just attacked without reason!” Lee drove home the point Naruto had introduced.
“You two, get Haruno Sakura. If Gaara’s here, we’re going to need medic-nins. I’m going to the fight,” Tsunade ordered.
“Okay Granny Tsunade!” Naruto said peppily, glad to have something to do.
“Damn it, don’t call me that!” Tsunade shouted at Naruto’s rapidly fading form.



“Kage Bushin no Jutsu!” (Shadow Clone Jutsu) Ekyt made the handsigns as rapidly as he could. Unlike Naruto, Ekyt could only make four clones at a time. But those four clones were about to come in very handy.
“Bakuhatsu Baisuu no Jutsu!” (Multiple Explosions Jutsu) was Ekyt’s next call. This attack used exploding tags set in a leaf (The hitai-ate mark) pattern around the enemy. When one was set off, the domino effect occurred, creating multiple explosions.
Gaara recovered just in time to see Ekyt activate the first exploding tag.
“Suna no Tate!” (Sand Shield) Gaara’s sand formed a protective cocoon around him, blocking out the explosion. One wall, however, was penetrated. Ekyt took the opening.
“Dainamikku-Entori!” (Dynamic Entry) Ekyt hit the flying sidekick, scoring the first real hit of the match. Gaara’s head snapped back. His sand started to close the gap made by the exploding tags. Ekyt managed to backflip out just in time.
“Still hiding in your little bubble, Kazekage-sama? Come out of there! Seneijashu!” (Hidden Shadow Snake Hand)
Four snakes burst from Ekyt’s wrist. Hissing angrily, they sped toward Gaara’s sand shield, easily penetrating it. Once Ekyt sensed they had bit down, he pulled forward. Gaara’s form hit the inside of the sand wall.
“Perfect! This might do me in, but no time like the present to play my ace! Mikazuki no Mai!” (Dance of the Crescent Moon)
This attack was spectacular, and very hard to learn. It involved created three shadow clones, then attacking with a sword in an intricate pattern. Ekyt, who had trained as a samurai before becoming a Shinobi, picked it up quickly from Hayate Gekko. Hayate had something of a brother complex with Ekyt for some reason.
Ekyt and the clones danced in and out of the range of Gaara’s sand, slashing at it aimlessly. Suddenly, all four used the Body Flicker Jutsu to get a half-second ahead of the sand. That’s all they needed. Four swords were thrust into Gaara’s sand shield. All four hit the Sand Kazekage.
“That must have done it…” Ekyt said aloud, not entirely sure. I hope I didn’t kill him…
The Sand Shield disintegrated, revealing Gaara. His skin appeared to be peeling off.
“Damn it! Sand Armor!” Ekyt snarled, wondering how he had forgotten that.
Gaara looked at his shoulder. One of Ekyt’s clones had managed to land a cut. Ekyt, however, was panting, tired from all the sudden chakra use. That meant he was vulnerable when Gaara used his next attack.
“Sabaku Kyu!” The Sand Coffin attack snared the Leaf Shinobi, leaving him helpless.
“You shouldn’t have tried to hurt me…you shouldn’t have! Now, I’m going to make you pay! The price is your blood! Your blood! BLOOD!”
Ekyt couldn’t move just yet. He could only watch in horror as Gaara used the last Ekyt wanted to see demonstrated first hand.
Gaara’s smile turned truly demonic as he called it:
“Tanuko Neiri no Jutsu!” (Play Possum Jutsu)


NEXT ISSUE: GAARA UNLEASHED THE SAND DEMON WITHIN HIM, THE SHUKAKU! EKYT’S CHAKRA IS JUST ABOUT GONE, HE’S GOT TO COUNTER, QUICK, OR THE SAND’S DEMONIC RULER WILL FEEL “ALIVE”!

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