The Newest Member (A Naruto-Akatsuki Fanfic)

Chapter 30: Right Eye and Left Eye

"Sand Burial, you need to keep me contained in as much sand as possible. That way even my reanimated body cannot respond. I will be sealed in sand, easy for you to seal the whole pile and keep me on guard until you find a way to destroy me for good"

Gaara turned to Tsunade, question in his eyes, she nodded "Do it ... Jiraiya I..."

He laughed "Oh please ... Tell me your answer when you die. I hate long distance relationships"

Gaara slapped his hands together, waves of Sand surrounded Jiraiya and towered over him, closing into a pyramid and shrinking down, the particles of sand locking shut and compressing into the tight shape of a pyramid. Gaara clenched his fist and the Pyramid exploded, sand rained down in all directions, The Shinobi leveled their weapons expecting to see the mangled body of Jiraiya, instead they saw what had first brought them fear and question

"The ... coffin"

the lone dark coffin stood dominant over the elements, Jiraiya pulled and locked inside it began to sink down into the ground, until it disappeared completely. Tsunade felt like screaming, they had let them get away and in the end they took Jiraiya back without issue. She kicked at a rock, shattering it like feeble glass. her lips trembled and she snarled

"God damned you, Akatsuki scum"

Gaara rubbed his temples "They got away, but your men are still alive ... today was a victory if not a stalemate, Hokage"

Tsunade heard shouts and cries of horror and grief as Kakashi and Anko passed through the crowd. Ino dropped to her knee's and screamed, Shikamaru and his father closed their eyes and turned away while Shino and Kiba stared wide eyed. Sai's own eyes were on the verge of tears as he carried the crippled Yamato through the crowd. Tsunade went pale, her world was silent yet screaming with agony. Kakashi set the pink haired girl down on the flat stone pillar and stepped back into Anko's arms, his head down gazed and sorrowful. Everyone was gathering in the centre and witnessing the dead pile up. Shikaku carried Inoichi and set him down next to Sakura.

Ino was crying into her hands "N...No no no no ! SAKURA NOO ! NOT YOU TOO !"

"Over here !" Called another Shinobi

Choji carried the still corpse of Choza, his eyes red and lifeless as he carried his clan leader and father to the center.

Shikamaru ran to his friend, his own eyes tearing over "CHOJI !"

Tsunade was witnessing it all at once, the tears and bodies of her subordinates piling up. Each one a blow to her mentality, had she fought the whole battle without noticing the death ? was the adrenaline wearing off ? she slowly stumbled towards the center where her student lay, still and bloody. Across the group the crowd parted yet again, Gai carried Lee on his back, the boy was bleeding from his mouth nose and eyes from the extensive use of his Gates release, Medical Ninja's ran and lifted the boy onto a stretcher while the rest tended to Yamato's wounds.

Kiba screamed "LEE ! WHAT HAPPENED !"

Gai wheezed between exhausted breaths "We overdid our Gates transformation ... Lee could not handle the side effects. Tenten .. she's ... gone"

Tsunade felt cold tears run down her cheek as she stroked Sakura's hair, it was dirty and bloody. Tsunade found it hard to breathe, her fingers came back from her pale hair bloody, a low cooing wretched from somewhere within Tsunade, growing louder until it wrecked into sorrowful cries as she dropped to her knee's over Sakura, Anko went to step forward but Kakashi stopped her, shaking his head, now was not the time to interrupt. The surrounding Shinobi grew both sad and furious, to see a Hokage cry was a sight any proud warrior could go without seeing, they wanted to slaughter whoever could bring down such a noble leader like Tsunade.