The Crystal Serpent [Naruto X Oc] |Book 1

Chapter 57: Gaara's Darkness

Kei walked up the stairs as she heard the familiar voice of Naruto calling after her.

"Hey Kei, wait up for us!" Naruto shouted, rushing towards Kei as she walked up the stairs."Shikamaru, will you hurry up? Come on!"

"Relax, Naruto. You're going to give yourself an unclear," Shikamaru commented lazily.

"He is going to give himself many things, Shika, but even so, he never will relax. That's like telling him to stop eating ramen," Kei stated.

"Are you crazy? Kei ramen is the best; of course, I never stop eating," Naruto said.

"I know, which is why I made that comment," Kei said, facepalming.

"Huh?" Naruto questioned as he turned around.

"What is it?" Shikamaru asked.

"What up?" Kei asked as she turned around along with Shikamaru.

She then spotted two men standing against the wall as Gaara walked by with his gourd on his back. He then came to a spot in front of the two men.

"You puny kids think this tournament is about you, but it's really about the people who bet on you," The man on the right said."Or against you in your case. You see, our masters got a lot of money on the other guy to win."

'That man is a fool to mess with Gaara in his current mental state.' Kei thought, looking at the man talking.

"Got it?" The other guy asked."That means you gotta lose."

The cork on his gourd then started to make a squeaking sound as it moved to twist around and get open.

"Well, so what's it going to be, kid?" The guy on the right asked.

Gaara just remained silent.

"Maybe he's too scared to talk."

Gaara lifted his head and gasped as his eyes opened with a crazy expression. The guy on the right pulls out a kunai as Gaasra releases his sand from his gourd knocking out the lights.

The two guys gasped, surprised. Gaara started breathing heavily as the sand swirled around, grabbing the first guy and choking him with the sand while crushing his bones. He then aids the same with the other guy as he tries to run away from Gaara.

Shikamaru and Naruto both gasped. While Kei looked down sadly, wishing even more that she never left Gaara to be alone in the Hidden Sand village.

"Gaara," Kei whispered.

She then looked up as the sound of footsteps approached where heard and saw Gaara walking towards them and stopping in front of the steps. He stood there for minutes before going around Kei and down the stairs sending a glance at her.

Shikamaru and Naruto then sat down on the stair with a sigh.

"If we'd have come up the stair even a second earlier, that could've been us just now," Shikamaru commented."I have never in my life seen anyone kill like that without even batting an eye. Things don't look so good for your friend at all."

Naruto was completely silent.

"I'll see you shortly. Need to take a stop to the restroom," Kei muttered, leaving the two boys to sit on the stairs.

***

Kei let out a sigh as she entered the bathroom and walked over to the sink, and splashed water on her face.

'Oh, Gaara, you changed so much.' Kei thought as she splashed more water on her face.

"I should get going before I miss Gaara match," She muttered, turning off the sink.

She then took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down after seeing how much her old best friend Gaara had changed over the past couple of years.

'Gaara, hopefully, I can fix things for you one day.' She thought as she left the bathroom and set off to meet up with Akira and Kaito to watch the match between Gaara and Sasuke.

***

"Hey guys, did I miss anything?" Kei asked as she walked over to where Akira and Kaito were waiting.

"There you our took you longer than expected to get back here?" Akira sated.

"Naruto and Shikamaru stopped me and had to make a stop at the restroom," Kei said.

"Figure they would be bothering you positive they have feelings for you and also believe that Sasuke does as well," Kaito commented.

"Oh, be quiet, Shikamaru; too lazy for romance. Naruto loves Sakura, and Sasuke is just too emo for romance," Kei stated.

"I don't know. Lately, Shikamaru has been acting jealous of your attention on Naruto. Naruto has been watching you a lot in the matches and bothering Sakura less. Sasuke talks more to you than another girl and looked like he smiled at you when he arrived," Akira said.

"I don't know, maybe your right, but even so, it doesn't matter Naruto probably still has some feelings for Sakura and wouldn't choose me even if I asked him out or Hinata would try to steal him from me," Kei said.

"Hinata might like Naruto, but she is way too shy to try and take him from you," Kaito commented."Anyway, the match is about to start."

The three of them quieted down as they turned their attention down toward the arena.

"All right, the rules for this match are the same as the preliminaries," Genma said."The continues until one of you dies or admits defeat. However, I can stop the match, but that is solely my decision."

Gaara then started laughing.

"Hey Kei, you used to know Gaara, didn't you?" Kaito asked.

"Yeah, we were the best of friends back in the Hidden Sand village, but he has changed since then. Something happened to him," Kei commented.

"I recall you are talking about an old friend, but he does seem different from the kind and quiet boy you mentioned," Akira said."I feel great darkness coming from him."

The crowd then started cheering loudly.

"Enough about Gaara; the match is starting," Kei said, changing the subject.

"Both of you to the middle."

Sausage moved his neck to the side, stretching as he walked forward, with Gaara doing the same.

'Here we go. I'm curious to see how both of them develop over the month of training.' Kei thought, looking at both Sasuke and Gaara getting ready to fight.

"Begin!" Genma announced as he jumped back, signaling for the match to start.

💖💖💖

Hey, my lovely readers!

I have finally finished writing and editing chapter 57 of The Crystal Serpent. I hope you all enjoy reading the chapter. Let me know what you think in the comments.

The match between Gaara and Sasuke is here. I don't know yet if I will show the match clip. Are write it out since it is the final match before the invasion. Also don't forget to vote for which story you would like me to publish next after The Crystal Serpent is completeed. I will post the link to the strawpoll again on my conversation board and put the poll in my poll book for a second way to vote.

Q: How are you hoping for Kei and her team to be involved in the invasion led by Orochimaru?

Thank you for reading!

Wc: 1190