Mission
In training ground 5 of sunagakure luffy stood passively, staring at nothing. "I'm bored" he yawns out
Shukaku scoffs in his mindscape "so am i brat, tch!, you've become boring since you stopped killing people"
"I killed a few foreign shinobi's last week" luffy says blandly
"It's not the same, you used to kill your allies for looking at you wrong, now look at you. Disappointing!" Shukaku says in a annoyed tone
"I know what you doing" luffy says stoically picking his nose
"Tch! Booo boo boooooo" shukaku chants out in a dramatic fashion
Luffy ignores shukaku and lays down on a tree in close proximity and closes his eyes
"OI!! What're you doing!?" Shukaku cries out in a alarmed state
"I'm sleeping" he retrots
"I'll take over if you sleep" shukaku says trying to act menacing
"You let me sleep last month"
"IT WAS A ONE TIME DEAL!!!, YOU CAN'T SLEEP SO STOP TRYING!!!"
"Fine, I'll find a way to entertain myself?" Luffy says walking away from the training ground
"Killing?" Shukaku innocently suggests
"Nope, it's not as exciting as it used to be" luffy says sighing and rubbing the tiredness away from his eyes
Timeskip
^^^^^^^^
After walking around and finding nothing to do luffy ends up going to the cemetery and stops on a grave written Karura
"Mother" luffy says slowly as emotions brewed inside of him. Inhaling he speaks again "why am i alive?, i died once due to my failures and now i'm here why? I can't understand" luffy says clutching his hands in frustration
"I wonder if i was brought here for a reason or not?. I don't know" luffy doesn't say anything after that and insteads sits peacefully in front of the grave
"Gaara" A voice sofly says besides him, this nakes him snap his head to the right to find nothing "mother" he says in shakey tone 'even beyond heaven, she looks after someone like me?" He questions as tears begin descending
Standing up and wiping his tears luffy walks towards the exit before stopping halfway "thank you" he quietly says before leaving the graveyard
Timeskip
^^^^^^^^
"Ko......noha is asking for our...... help?" The new kazekage baki utters in a flabbergasted expression
Chiyo sitted across the kazekage nods and speaks "yes they are and i have already accepted this mission"
"Why?" Baki asks still flabbergasted
Chiyo "simply put our image, working with the village we recently had dispute with will show that suna is professional and i already requested for konoha to send 10% of their mission requests in return of this mission"
Baki "i see that was a wise move, elder chiyo. So who's to be appointed"
"your former team" Chiyo says
"I understand both kankuro and temari but isn't sending gaara unwise?" He skeptical asks
"No need to worry. gaara has been stable since our defeat against konoha" chiyo reassures
"I'll take your word then" the kazekage says still running through the worst case scenario's in his mind
Timeskip
^^^^^^^^
Standing by the gate and preparing to leave was gaara and his siblings
"Tsk, why do we have to help those konoha Bastards" kankuro complains
"Shut up kankuro, i don't wanna do this as much as you, but stop complaining!" Temari quells kankuro's complaining
"Yeah, yeah, sorry for complaining, i'm guessing you will be leading this mission"
"No. I am" luffy says appointing himself as the team leader
Sweatdropping the two other member just nod
"I wonder if I'll see uzumaki?" Luffy says grinning ear to ear
Kankuro starts sweating nervously at what his younger brother could be thinking
"I hope you remember that we are supposed to be helping konoha, not crushing them" temari dryly says to gaara as she knew he had a change of heart and mentality. And was not to be feared
"I know" luffy grumbles childishly before turning serious "lets go" he commands already thrusting ahead
"Hai" both kankuro and temari say before following him
Timeskip
^^^^^^^^
Nearing the leaf nin gaara order his slibings to split up and help if they stumble across any konoha shinobi
Sensing two presence, one he recognised he speeds towards it and arrives just in time to save lee from being stabbed by kimimaro.
"Gaara?" Lee questions in a stunned tone
Gaara just nods in acknowledgement.
Kimimaro and gaara stare at each before kimimaro fires finger sized bones at gaara but gaara's sand wall easily blocks them
Gaara looking at rock lee's weaken form. He states "your aren't as fast or agile as you were before" he says remembering the injuries he inflicted on Lee during the chunin exams. Not wanting Lee to get hurt and in his way, he uses his sand to pull the sprinting Lee back.
"HEY!, let go of me!" Lee screams out in pain and anger
"No, I'll handle this" gaara says confidently walking towards kimimaro, with sand flowing out his gourd
'Gaara of the desert, hence the sand' kimimaro thinks. Facing gaara intently he then speaks "gaara of the desert is a rather foolish nickname?" He states trying to vex hus opponent
Unfazed and not wasting a second luffy launches quick moving sand at kimimaro but kimimaro just jumps over it and sends bone shards while flipping over the sand that starts chasing him around the field "why else would you go through the trouble of logging it around" kimimaro aggressively says
Gaara calmly watches as bone shards he easily blocks keep coming at him. As kimimaro lands on the ground, sand sprouts from the ground and captures his feet "whose foolish now"
Gaara stiocally states as sand covers kimimaro's whole body
He uses his sand binding coffin to crush kimimaro, although Kimimaro avoids being crushed to death due to his bone density. Gaara further comprasses his sand to attempt to crush Kimimaro again, but by activating his cursed seal, Kimimaro survives the attack.
Kimimaro "i won't be defeated yet" he says with raw determination
"Tch, he grew more bones. his a monster, no a freak" gaara says emotionlessly
'i wouldn't want to see him use haki' Gaara internally shivers at the thought
"Truly, his a formidable foe" lee says standing besides gaara
surging with chakra, gaara claps his hands together before doing numerous handsigns.
Calling upon a greater amount of Sand, Gaara uses his Quicksand Waterfall Flow to create a sand tsunami and then uses his Sand Waterfall Imperial Funeral technique that not only smothers Kimimaro, but levels the terrain as well. To both Gaara and Kimimaro's surprise, the latter survives the attack.
Stuck within the sand, Kimimaro reminisces on how he was raised in the darkness, imprisoned in a cell because of his kekkai genkai, only being let out to fight. The clan's patriarch used him as a weapon in an attempt to take down Kirigakure. Kimimaro was tasked with the sole objective of killing any ninja from Kirigakure, and encountered Orochimaru , Zabuza and Haku , the latter two telling Kimimaro that they were not from Kiri in order to avoid a fight. After killing all of those in his way, Kimimaro discovered that the entire Kaguya clam has been slaughtered as well. Feeling lonely and without a purpose, Kimimaro wandered on his own until he was found by Orochimaru, who took him in. Kimimaro believes that his sole purpose in life is to protect Orochimaru and his goals, hence why he hasn't died yet. Going into the second state of his cursed seal, Kimimaro breaks free of the sand and lunges towards Gaara and Lee.
Gaara tries to stop his advnce by sending fast moving sand, but kimimaro easily sidesteps it and proceeds in jounin level speeds towards gaara. Gaara tries to make a sand wall, but kimimaro easily breaks through it and slams into gaara full force making him fly a few feet
"I'm disappointed" kimimaro says directing it to the fallen gaara
Gaara just stands up and cracks his fist "how so, you didn't even leave a dent" he says grinning wickedly
Lee stares at gaara in surprise 'he didn't use his sand armor, just how strong did he get!?' He wonders to himself
"OI!!! FOCUS THE BASTARD IS BEHIND YOU!!!" Gaara shouts at lee
Reacting fast lee dodges kimimaro's initial attack "i may be weakened, but i won't lose that disgracefully" lee announces before engaging in a taijutsu bout but he easily loses due to his condition
"Weak!" Kimimaro screams out before launching lee away with his newly gained tail
"Oi!" Gaara shouts to get kimimaro's attention
"Your weak attack didn't even make scratch so come! Lets finish this!" Gaara shouts out confidently
"That so?" Kimimaro mockly says as he reached at his back and pulls out his spine shaped like a sword.
"Ha!" Kimimaro roars out as he streached his spine sword to grab gaara. Gaara protects himself with his sand but kimimaro still manages to restrain him. Kimimaro then transforms his right hand into a bone dril in an attempt to bore through Gaara and kill him. Gaara manages to use the hardest minerals in the ground and fuses it into the sand with his chakra to summon his, Ultimately Hard Absolute Defence: Shield of Shukaku which is hard enough not only to prevent Kimimaro's bone drill from boring through but to shatter the bone completely.
Gaara "your technique's are kekkai genkai right?" He says in more of a statement than a question
kimimaro "it's a trait that exclusively belonged to the Kaguya clan, and I'm the last of the the clan."
Gaara "so your clan will die today then" he states darkly. thunder roars
Kimimaro "i will continue to exist within Orochimaru-sama, even after death" he says in a shallow tone
Gaara "Orochimaru has brainwashed you well and you're nothing but a pawn. Don't flatter yourself"
Kimimaro "say what you will, it doesn't change anything!!" Kimimaro shouts clearly enraged by gaara's statement
Gaara dispels his Shield of Shukaku while also using the sand around him to release himself from Kimimaro's spine grip. Using his remaining chakra, Gaara uses his Prison Sand Burial technique to swallow Kimimaro and sink him two hundred meters underground under tight pressure. Enraged at Gaara's remarks about him being nothing but Orochimaru's pawn, Kimimaro uses his ultimate technique which causes thousands of bones to emerge from the ground. Gaara manages to save his and Lee's life by elevating them with his sand.
Thunder roars
Gaara states "i'm almost chakra" he pants out
'and i don't want to ask the reacon for more' Gaara thinks completely ignoring shukaku's protest to use his chakra
Lee remarks "atleast you managed to subdue him" lee says also panting out.
Right on cue, Kimimaro sprouts from one of the bones with a bone drill in hand prepared to kill Gaara for his remarks regarding Orochimaru. However, before he can kill Gaara, Kimimaro's terminal illness gets the better of him and he says "i'm sorry" before he dies with a frail and unsteady smile. wind and Thunder roars out
"You were already croaking" gaara solemnly states looking at the pale kimimarot 'i could've finished the fight faster if i used haki' he thinks looking at kimimaro in pity. More thunder roars
"I wish him all the best on the other side, he was truly a denting foe" lee says bowing down slightly in respect
"I don't, Lets go" gaara commands before leaving the area with lee on his hovering sand
Droplets hit the ground before a fierce storm falls from the heavens
Timeskip
^^^^^^^^
Returning back home with his siblings. gaara was in deep in thought
"to live for someone?" Gaara mumbles quietly to himself
"Hmm, you say something?" Temari asks
"Yeah, i asked if living for someone else will makes you weak?" Gaara asks in solemn tone
"It depands, some situations may handicap you" kankuro says joining the conversation. "Why are asking though?" Kankuro questions curiously
Gaara 'i lost everything i cared about before, so why care again if it's gonna result in death at the end' Gaara sadly thinks, having flashes about kaido killing his crew members
Gaara "no reason, i just wanted to say...........i sorrry about how i treated you before and your family" gaara says awkwardly, not used to apologizing and saying something sappy
"I FORGIVIE YOU!!" temari screams with tears before tightly embracing the awkward gaara who widens his eyes in surprise.
Kankuro smiles softly and walks towards his siblings to join the embrace.
Gaara feeling warm from an embrace after such a long time, he returns it full force.
Despite the pouring rain descending upon them, none of the siblings move and stay rooted to their family hug.
"This is nice" gaara says euphorically