The White Snake with Red Eyes

Chapter 10

     You weren't sure how you had gotten this before, but you were sure this was your last round. You were not going to beat Gaara of the Sand. Even more, you could hear the people whispering in the stands, mostly jounin. A few kids younger than you. No one in your class seemed to care. How had they found out? Who had told them? You startled when Guy sensei yelled at you to focus before the match began and shook your head clear of it, nodding.

     Garra watched you, unmoving. He knew you knew what he was. Your nerves rose. Yes you were very gifted, but you didn't have a single plan for fighting a jinchuriki. Plainly and statistically...even if you were to make the most conservative attacks his chakra would still outlast yours. And then there was the fact that it was going to take much more than conservative to even leave a mark in the first place. It hit you, a sudden, dangerous plan that depended solidly on you being quick enough to slip into Gaara's head once the measures were in place.

     You paused a moment. This plan hinged on your ability to make and hold an effective genjutsu. As long as Gaara and the ichibi had a crappy relationship just as you suspected and you were subtle enough in the casting, it should work. Without being able to rely on someone else, Gaara would need the ichibi to disrupt his chakra to break free. Which...required teamwork.

     So you formed some rapid hand signs and attempted your cast. It was a simple genjutsu. It was supposed to make it seem to Gaara as though you had attacked and he had won and he was being congratulated. Then you slipped into his head, Sharingan flaring. The binding was different than with Naruto. You couldn't actually see it. There was just the ichibi and a line he could not cross. H3 snarled and roared. You flinched a little.

     "Don't be a child. I know you can speak. So do it." What you wer hoping to do? Oh yeah...control a tailed beast with stage one Sharingan.

     "Why should I speak to some child whose only parent is a test tube?" That hit deep. You wondered how he could possibly know. "I know what he knows. And what Gaara knows is that the security around that place of your birth is severely lacking." It chuckled low; a noise that vibrated your bones in a most unpleasant manner.

     "It doesn't matter. I just have to hold you in place long enough to win."

     The ichibi laughed again. "Little girl, you're a fool. I don't need his cooperation to disrupt his chakra. Even though I am the weakest of my brothers and sisters, I can still force my chakra places it is not wanted."

     Sudden pain filled you. You knew. Your waking body was taking damage. Then you were yanked from the mind of Gaara and wheezed on ground, confused and in pain. You cradled a broken arm and saw yet more sand coming at you.

     So you slammed the electric chakra barrier into place and where it would've touched you, it turned to glass; breaking and falling away when you brushed at it. You stood and faced the murderous Sand genin staring you down. Your lip quivered. How were you so hopelessly outmatched even after all your efforts? You afforded a brief look to the crowd. Danzo nodded.

     Your resolve steeled and began to slowly raise your output until the barrier on your skin crackled and sparked a good five feet out from your body. Then you shoved hard with almost all that was left putting out most of your remaining chakra in an electric blitz. You had to be careful to keep it in the arena. When it cleared and you dropped exhausted you saw on Gaara's skin a thick; glass shell. You had turned his own protective barrier against him. Breathing heavily, you turned to walk out only to hear the chilling sound of thick glass layers breaking. You didn't move in time to prevent the sand from wrapping around your midsection. You wheezed as it squeezed tighter and tighter. Were you going to die in front of a crowd? There was a sharp crack and you screamed. Blood bubbled past your lips. You tried to escape but you were encased head to toe with the exception of your actual head.