The Power to Heal and Destroy by Phoenixsun

Chapter 35: Sealed Fate

Still trying to catch his breath Naruto straighten up. "Come on... He mentioned a teammate..." The Sharingan users pointed out. "We have to go check on the others..." The boy said before turning around. Lee following right behind him.

The two genin only managed to take a couple of steps when a rumbling sound coming from the cloud of dust caught their attention. Looking back, the boys saw several boulders suddenly explode from the ground and they barely had time to jump out of the way to dodge the incoming debris.

"Damn... Damn you..." Gareki's grunting voice was heard as the dust started to dissipate. The bandages around the missing nin's body were ragged and disheveled, while most of his right arm was gone and blood dripped from what was left of it, but his eyes held an intense fury directed at the Leaf ninjas.

Lee was visibly taken back. "How did he survive a jutsu like that?!" The taijustu user asked in bewilderment.

For his part, Naruto was rendered speechless. He had hit the former Iwa nin with his strongest technique and he had fail to take him out.

Using some of his bandages, Gareki cut off the blood circulating to his stump, stopping the bleed. "To think... That a pair of brats... Would force me to use the Second Tsuchikage's Bunretsu no Justu..." He growled. "Half of my chakra is now gone forever!" The man continued as he started to slowly move towards the two genin. "I couldn't even activate the technique in time to save my right arm...!" He cursed.

The blond looked at his friend. "Lee, do you have any idea what he's talking about?" He asked.

"I... I might..." The older genin said after a few seconds of pondering. "I remember a lecture from the Academy about how one of the old Kages was developing a technique to duplicate himself as a way to escape very dangerous situations." The taijutsu user explained. "But the Kage died in battle before he could solve one major flaw in the technique, so it was labeled as an incomplete jutsu... I think this might have been it."

By now, Gareki was heaving in anger. "With my chakra and my arm gone... I'm barely half of what I used to be... Nothing more than a shell..." He muttered to himself as he took another step towards the two boys. "I'm done... They will not abide someone broken like me... All I have left is..." His eyes glared at his the pair responsible for his situation. "Make sure I take you down to hell with me!" The former Iwa shinobi roared as chakra was forced out of his body.

At their opponent's declaration, the Leaf genins readied their stance. "Stay on your toes, Lee; it seems he finally snapped." Naruto commended.

The black haired nodded in agreement. "Yosh! Don't worry, Naruto-kun, there's nothing that he can throw at me that I..." The young man stopped in mid sentence as something about the bandaged man caught his attention. Lee's eyes winded as realization dawned upon him.

"Hachimon Tonkou...! Dairoku Keimon...! Kai!" Gareki exclaimed right before a huge explosion of chakra erupted from his body.

Naruto had to put his arm up to prevent his face from being buffeted by the dust being pushed by the missing nin. "Eight Gates?" The blond questioned as he glancing at his friend. "Isn't that the technique you use?" He asked.

The blond could not fully figure out what was the expression that the taijutsu user was showing. Lee's face was a mixture of fear, astonishment, and anger. The whole thing seemed very out of place with the older boy.

Heaving under the strain of his technique, Gareki's smirked as his skin turned a reddish brown color and some of the veins in his head became more pronounced. "Speechless, aren't you...?" He goaded the younger ninjas. "Using this technique in my state might kill me... But destroying you is the only thing that can alleviate my pride."