Embers of a Burning Sky

Chapter Eleven

A... bell?

Sakura reaches behind Temari just before her body hits the ground of the women's outdoor bath and rushes her over to where some bystanders had started to gather.
After laying her down gently, she turns back to assess the battlefield. A ninja was perched atop a pile of debris, eyes locked on her and her fallen comrade. Whoever they were, they were strong. Sakura had never seen Temari fall so quickly-- even when she had sensed a presence and been on the alert.
There was no reason for her to fall so suddenly, not unless...

On the middle finger on the left hand, a small bell shook back and forth but there was no sound.

Genjitsu.

Sakura felt panic surge as she quickly took in her surroundings again; people were still crowding around Temari's fallen body, Nara was held tightly by an old woman, but the man reaching to take him from here was a startling new addition. Her body turned slowly, almost out of her control and she couldn't help the small blink of hope in her chest;
"Sasuke?"
He looks up, eyes dark and bitter, but his hands freeze mid-reach.
She takes a step forward, then another, suddenly desperate to reach him. Touch him. Prove that he was real, that he was here-- prove that they could save him. Prove that she could save him.  He retreats into the hotel, away from the baths, and she follows; a bitter name on her lips.
"No, Sasuke!"

* * *

The sound of the bell falls on deaf ears, covered by the sound of shattering glass reverberating throughout the courtyard. Sand poured over the fence that separated the baths from the open garden and Gaara sweeps his hand forwards to propel both him and Naruto up into the sky.
"Sakura-chan!?"
Naruto's loud voice catches the attention of a small ninja-- and Gaara's heart drops as he sees his son squirming in their arms.
"Naruto." the urgency in his voice snaps his attention on the foreign ninja, and he can see the blue eyes darken with protective rage.
With a bloodcurdling cry, Naruto leaps from the sand platform and Gaara pulls a sweeping arm of sand from the ground, reaching up to catch him with easy control; a tendril shooting forward as a path to the enemy. His bare feet slip on the moving sand, but Naruto regains his footing and charges ahead, eyes focused on the enemy.
Gaara's surprised when Naruto leaps forward and aims a punch at the person instead of any other common jitsu he's seen him use, and almost instantly he knows that they've underestimated their opponent.
In a flash, the ninja has split their palm with their teeth and summoned something in a giant flash of billowing smoke.

A bird nearly as tall as the building itself unfurls its wings with a shrill cry and immediately snatches Nara from the ninja's free arm and starts to flap its wings-- both starting a strong windstorm and lifting itself into the air.
Gaara's hand shoots out on instinct, an arm of sand mimicking him as he claps his hands together and two hands of sand catch the wings as they close and immobilizes the massive bird mid-flap.
"Naruto!"
At his command, Naruto rushes forward again, his scraped knees dripping blood into Gaara's sand as he returns to battle by climbing up Gaara's sand still clutched around the bird.
Once again, the bird opens its beak and screams-- the sound deafening enough for Gaara to lose grip on the bird to block his ears with his hands. Nara falls from the bird's mouth and the ninja leaps up to catch him effortlessly; kicking Naruto hard enough to send him flying back towards the inn. Gaara manages to cushion his fall with sand, but blood still spurts from his mouth at impact.