𝙰𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚂𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚔 𝙻𝚘𝚞𝚍𝚎r. (𝙶𝚊𝚊𝚛𝚊 𝚡 𝚘𝚌)

Show Down in Sound ( Chapter 45 )

"Sasuke. Sasuke, where are you?" Naruto went around a corner in the shrine.

Sasuke had been missing since last night, and the Hokage was wondering where his new lover could've gone to. Naruto still had the sight of Sakura's eyes when he found Sasuke and Sakura alone together, but...Sakura wasn't like that, she loved Ino, plus she was Naruto's best friend. Sakura never went behind anyone's back just for a guy, that just wasn't her code, well...at least to Naruto she didn't. The Hokage turned another corner, where could Sasuke be?

"Sasuke! Where the hell are you!?" Naruto bellowed out, but managed to wake up a cranky Temari.

Temari stumbled out of her room, "Give me a good reason why I shouldn't cut you in half for this early wake-up call..."

Lee also stumbled out of her room as well, there were little to no rooms for every shinobi in the shrine so most had to share. Naruto helped Lee and turned to Temari, "Have you seen Sasuke? He's been missing all night last night."

The Suna Kunoichi yawned, allowing herself to become fully awake, then answered, "Yeah...he went down this hallway to-..."

She paused, realizing which room was in the hallway and how awkward it would be to tell that to Naruto. Temari then straightened her posture, "To get to...Gaara's room! Yeah, he wanted to go over the plans once more with Gaara, so he went to his room and probably went back this morning to talk it over again."

"That doesn't sound like what Sasuke would do...but then again, I didn't know you to be a liar, so you're probably right," Naruto shrugged and headed for the Kazekage's room.

Lee rubbed his eyes and fixed his eyebrows, "So...was that the truthe?"

Temari sighed and whispered, "I think there's more to the Uchiha than we had all expected him to be...lets just say he and Sakura haven't moved on to different people just yet."

The Leaf Shinobi's eyes widened at the vision of seeing Sakura and Sasuke together, then looked away, "Wow...all this time I thought Sakura was really in love with Ino...I guess she is not what she was hoped to be by many people. How disappointing, especially in Sasuke, when he wanted trust, he betrayed probably one of the few that would love him as well."

Meanwhile, Naruto was anxious to finally find Sasuke so he could say 'goodmorning' and maybe spend their last few moments as a couple just doing something a couple would do. He stopped at Gaara's door, there seemed to be some movement inside, but he couldn't tell whether Sasuke was in there or not. So, Naruto turned the handle and walked into the dark room, no one was in it. His eyes got used to the darkness, he sensed Gaara in the bathroom, probably washing up, but didn't Ura share the same room? Naruto froze when the bathroom door opened to see the naked woman step out with her hands running her fingers through her hair. The Hokage stood speechless as she continued to walk in the room, her eyes closed, but couldn't she sense his presense?

"Argh hm," Naruto cleared his throat as he tried to find the handle.

Ura's eyes opened, too stunned to move she didn't know whether to scream or brush it off, but this was Naruto...the Hokage... Her hands were still above her head, so all over her body hung loose for Naruto's eyes to see.

"Uhmm...I know now isn't the time to ask, but...have you seen Sasuke?" Naruto asked as he dodged his eyes away from Ura.

"Well...uhm..no, I haven't seen him since yesterday," Ura covered her nipples with her left arm and her womanhood with her right hand.

"Ok, that was great, sorry about the-...uhm...intrusion," Naruto still couldn't find the door knob.

"What's going on?"

Naruto froze even more when Gaara stepped out with only his ceremonial pants on, now a cold sweat began to form from the embarressment. Ura was handed a towl as she inched back to the bathroom, "Uhm...have you seen Sasuke?"

"No," Gaara shut the door for her, then turned to Naruto, "The Uchiha knows to not bother me, so he has not been seen by my eyes."

"Oh..ok...sorry about seeing Ura..well, naked... I didn't think anything, so i'll just be going now," Naruto finally found the knob and rushed out of the room before any more embarressment came to his misfortune.

As soon as Naruto slammed the door shut, Ura peeked her head out with her bandages all wrapped around her body, "That was..interesting..."

Gaara turned to see how heavily Ura was wrapped up in her bandages, but the solemn look in her eyes told Gaara she was getting ready for the final battle. This was not just the woman that would be his wife in a month or two, but it was a Kunoichi that was always ready for blood. She slipped on her shirt and tied both parts of her skirt together, then strapped on both umbrellas and preparing her hari bag. Ura looked like the same Kunoichi as ever, the kunoichi that led the tough missions for the other Shinobi of the Sand. Gaara slipped on the rest of his own clothes on and prepared his gourd on his shoulder, "Do you have it on?"

Ura touched the small gourd that was made into a necklace by Gaara, the major protection that she could have was now the sand. She then looked out the window, it was the perfect day to know there was an up-coming battle. The clouds were nearly black as they covered the sky with a mighty wind blowing everywhere. Ura and Gaara left their room, then slowly, everyone began to follow behind them. Naruto found Sasuke, both were traveling right behind the Suna-nins.

They left the shrine, then spread out to vast distances as they all headed for the nearby Sound. Gaara and Naruto ran side-by-side as their nins scattered out to the vast sides, each shinobi holding the fire of the battle warrior. Some held only the will to survive, others held the will to get anything over with to go home, but only those left held the passion to find the peace they longed for. Sakura and Sasuke had the will to bind their secrets to use as force, to descrete the subtle emotions that ran between them. Kankurou and Temari held the will to get anything over with to return home with their loved ones, so that they all can just move on. Naruto and Lee held the passion to find the peace they longed for, to start their own family and become a Shinobi father with their partners (Lee's with Tenten). Gaara held the will to go on with his life as the Kazekage, the supreme leader with someone who would stand by him with honor. Ura held the will to move on from her angry past and look forward to her future with Gaara, and maybe bare his children, if that was what was held for them.

As an hour passed, they each safely passed the borders to the Sound, now Ura was leading the way as she searched the lands for the familiar chakra. Heading north to the middle of the country, a sudden stop with Ura's movements sent a wave of disturbance through the rest of the nins. Once the rest stopped behind Ura, they saw the two reasons why she had stopped running. Two 13-year-old girls stood before Ura, each holding the staffs that were only used in legends from long ago.

"Rini...Naomi..." both Ura and Temari gasped at the two girls.

"We have traveled along with you and we saw what we were sent to find, and so..." Rini smirked with arrogance, "We want to give you all the protection of the Staff of Fire and the Staff of Ice."

"That...but those were said to have been sealed in both lava and a glacier! How could they be the real things?" Lee was in agasp, "But...then you two must be..."

"Yes, for we are the Sealers of Fire and Ice. I am the Sealer of Ice, frozen over in the soul to bring preserve the life of what was to be, but not," Naomi explained in a solemn voice.

"And i'm the Sealer of Fire, burning the older and bringing back the new, raging to rise to what has come," Rini said proudly, "And with our spirits, both Fire and Ice will fight along side of you."

With that, Rini and Naomi stamped the ground with the ends of their staffs with the signs of Fire and Ice. A huge crack went around the group, steam from the belly of the earth clouded them as the chakra of the two spirits entered each nin. When the steam faded away, both Rini and Naomi were gone, along with the staffs.

"Temari...didn't you sense that they were the infamous spirits of Fire and Ice?" Ura turned over to Temari.

"No..." Temari was also surprised by the random outcome.

"Whatever, we need to get going, we might be too late," Naruto lightly nudged Ura.

As quick as they stopped, Ura sped off, leading on the group to the middle of the country. The chakra that belonged to Leila's became to be coming closer, Ura's heart with excitement as the battle grew nearer and nearer. A ringing sound entered her ears as her eyes caught hold of a tower, at the tip stood a woman with Spirit Reapers surrounding her.

*Leila...this time is the end, if not one of us, it will be both of us. I will stop you and Kabutome, no longer will innocent people die because of both your power-hungry ways. As your older sister, it is my duty to protect you from any harm, but if killing you is the only way...so be it, I will not hesitate to kill you,* Ura thought as she brought out her Sharingan.

Sasuke, who noticed Ura bring out the Sharingan, also did the same, this had to be a quick battle. Everyone saw the one thing Ura was focused on, in a silent way, they all began to prepare for the battle plans. Ura would go after Leila on her own, but everyone else went on Kabutome, seeing he was the most dangerous. Then, the huge being of Kabutome appeared in front of Ura, but she leaped above him, kicking off of his large back to gain more speed to the one enemy she was after. She brought out both of her umbrellas as Leila sent away her Reapers, she was going to use the ninja jutsus that she had seen other ninjas use before, but that was after Leila easily killed them allowing her Reapers to fiest on their souls.

"ENTRAPMENT!" Ura sent chakra through her Sharingan as Leila stared at her eyes.


(((in the Red World inside the genjutsu between Ura and Leila)))



Leila was bound at her wrists and ankles, laying limply against the shallow water below her. A feeling of helplessness washed over her as she looked up at the red sky, how easy it was for her to fall for Ura's little 'Sharingan' trap. That was what Leila had forgotten, Ura had the ability to use the Sharingan, but Ura rarely used it in her battles so it was easy for one to forget Ura ever had it in the first place. Though...if Leila wanted to be a ninja as well, she would have trained just as hard to gain access to the Sharingan as well.

"So...little Leila, you are trapped in the Tsukuyomi...how unfortunate."

"How did you do it? You don't even have the blood of an Uchiha," Leila looked up to see Ura staring back at her.

"Injection with the seed of an Uchiha, I still carry Sasuke's seed so when I need a blood-related kekkei-genkai jutsu, I can easily get in contact with one," Ura crossed her arms, putting a foot onto Leila's stomach, "If you were smart, you would have realized a real kunoichi always has a trick up her sleeve."

Leila was slowly pushed beneath the water, she slowly struggled for a breath of fresh air. She knew what this jutsu was, Leila was stuck inside the world that Ura had created through her Sharingan. Ura controled Leila inside this world, meaning Leila had no chance of surviving. Leila closed her eyes beneath the water, there had to be an ounce of power she could have, but the feeling of not breathing was choking her from the inside. Ura had a numb look as she watched her sister slowly start to die, but..something was going wrong, Leila spat out her head, revealing the immature Sharingan with one tomoe in each eye! Even that was enough to fight back.

Ura took a step back as Leila got herself up, releasing herself from the bounds on her wrists and ankles. Now, it was both their world ,where it was mind against mind. One of experience, the other of power-lust. Each equally dangerous and deadly to one another, but the battle scene was perfect, now they could each destroy each other from their mind. Leila concentrated on her new Sharingan, returning to the one memory that Ura wanted desperately to forget...the day Gaara was taken by the Akatsuki.

(Leila's gentjutsu on Ura) Running...running through the night alone through a dense forest with only a minimal amount of chakra left. The rising fear of Gaara's capture ran through Ura's mind as soon as Temari had told Ura what had happened only a few hours ago. Ever since, Ura had not stopped running, though she was scratched and marred from people that were trying to stop her from interfiering with Gaara's kidnapping.

"Gaara!!! Gaara!!!! I'm coming!!!" Ura screamed as she stuck her arm in front of her face, blocking another kunai, but wounded her arms heavily, if not for the bandages.

Finally, Ura could see the end of the forest, maybe that was where Gaara was. But, as soon as she entered the light, she caught sight of Gaara...limp, no life...Shukaku was taken out of his body, she was too late. A cackle of laughter was heard as tears rolled down Ura's face, her eyes wide as her skin went even more pale.

"N..No..G-g-ga-gaara...." Ura lurched forward, puking out some excess saliva from the familiar sight she had seen only a few years ago.

Ura couldn't tear her eyes away from the life-less body, but when she ran to go to Gaara, it seemed like she wasn't getting any closer. She finally collapsed, what else was there to run for when she was too late to save Gaara...

"Dearest Sister...who knew one could be so strong but yet so weak."

Through her tears, she looked up to see Leila, wielding a sword on her shoulder. Scrambling to her feet, Ura couldn't conjour up the strength to fight to her fullest. Then, Ura realized they were still in the Red World, and was quickly losing her chakra. Ura then glared hatingly at Leila, what blooed that tied them together had been cut long ago, now they were true enemies. The Sand Kunoichi put her hands together to make a jutsu handsign, slowly rejuvinating her chakra just enough to battle Leila.

Leila eyed Ura, she knew exactly what Ura was doing, but her Sharingan had faded, Leila knew that she, herself, was too weak to hold the Sharingan like Ura was able to. Once she saw that Ura had enough chakra, Leila took a leap back as Ura regained control over the world. Ura glared even heavier as she sent a wave of darkness through the world, only the red moon shown, but lit no way for one to see. Leila waited for the genjutsu to happen, but felt nothing, until she realized that the genjutsu had begun.

She was back in the village, her home where she used to live happily with her mother. Was this real? Was Leila finally home at last? When things seemed better, Leila realized she was back in her normal body, her child-ness had finally returned!

"Mommy! Mommy, i'm home!" Leila ran in to see her mother happily setting the table for the two of them.

Then, she noticed Ura...standing next to her mother with a satisfied grin on her face. Leila didn't know whether to be afraid or enjoy the happy family reunion. But, just to see her mother happy was enough for Leila to know that she was back home again.

"Come, dearest, sit here," Ura pulled out a chair for Leila, a cake sitting in front of the chair on the table that said ' Welcome Home Leila'.

"Wow...is this all for me?" Leila looked at her sister and mother, both nodded with joy on their faces.

As Leila dug into the cake, she tasted all the flavors she missed so much in her mother's cooking. When Leila finished eating the cake, she rubbed her stomach, and opened her eyes to see the black snake with red eyes in front of her. Leila shrieked from the sight of Kabutome in his snake form, she ran to find her mother or Ura, but...Leila's eyes widened to see Ura had slain their mother. Ura turned around, the powerful Mangekyo Sharingan, the kunoichi had sacrificed her own mother just to obtain the most powerful known Sharingan.

"M-Mother...Why'd you kill her!?" Leila ran at Ura, but as in her child-form, was not able to inflict pain.

"You're next, dearest," Ura's eyes widened as her Mangekyo Sharingan, sucking the souls out of Leila slowly.

Leila closed her eyes tightly, but when she opened them, she realized that her body was covered in hari. Ura had entrapped Leila and won the battle...


((((end of the Red World))))




Leila fell from the top of the tower, but Ura had caught Leila before she was actually hurt. Ura felt the strain on her body as she caught her sister, placing her safely on the ground near the tower. The Sand kunoichi wiped the sweat from her face, not only was it a physical strain on her body, but her mind was worn out. It was the sight of Gaara, very close to death, that had nearly killed Ura on the inside out. But, that was nor here nor there, there was one more person that she had to get rid of, the one person who had killed her.

Ura got up and ran to see that the others were chasing after Kabutome, who was running in a direction that confused them all. Gaara and Naruto were doing their best to try and contain Kabutome against the ground, but Kabutome was too big. Ura opened her umbrellas, spraying Kabutome in the back with all the hari she could get out of her umbrellas. But that wasn't enough to kill Kabutome, he kept on running towards something...

Temari flew in the air, sending her weisel at Kabutome to help with cutting him up. Lee and Sasuke were doing whatever their taijutsu could while Sakura was getting all the genjutsu she could use to at least sway Kabutome. Even Kankurou was having a hard time getting his puppet string to attach itself onto Kabutome's tremendous body of a beast. Ura ran along side of Kabutome, trying to figure out where he was going, until she saw a huge cliff...at the bottom was the ancient shrine that held all the jutsus that Orochimaru once found. Kabutome was going to leap off the cliff!!

"Not if I can help it..." Ura growled with frustration as she, too, neared the cliff.

Once Kabutome was near the cliff, Ura leaped to his head and kicked him right on his cheek. That, alone, was nothing, but that annoyed Kabutome to high heavens. Kabutome snatched Ura in his grip, bringing her closer to his fangs.

"Go ahead...biting me isn't going to do anything but get me-"

Kabutome didn't hesitate as he sunk his two greatest fangers into her collar bone, sending a wave of power through Ura. Though it was pure power that he sent through her, Ura felt the power run through her veins, the need to find more, the desire...

"There...you now have me..." Kabutome growled in his low, dark voice as he dropped her at the edge of the cliff.

Ura got up, though the pain shot through her, she would never allow Kabutome to win, not after he had killed her once. Once he finally lept off, the others found the cliff, but saw the glimpse of light brown hair go down as well as Kabutome. Acting fast, Ura connect her hari with what chakra she had left like a rope, then shot it all down at Kabutome. The hari was sunk into his skin, then escaped out of his thigh as it wrapped around his lef a few times. Ura managed to grab onto a sturdy branch, holding what felt like the real weight of the world in a single hari as best as she could, though it began to slip.

"Damn you! Free me now or i'll rip you apart!" Kabutome yelled at her as he dangled upside down.

"I will not let you win! There's no way i'll let you win, even if it means that i'll die, but you better be damn sure that you'll be joining me!" Ura yelled down at him, "Death has seen me once before, and that isn't even enough for me to be afraid of now!"

"Foolish woman!!! What makes you think that your existence will be pleasured by killing me? Do you think someone will pat you on the head and give you a gold star for stopping me!? Bah! After me...there'll be millions of me after each generation, your offspring will die fighting the next successor of Orochimaru," Kabutome grinned a vile smile, "Face it...stopping here is useless."

Ura couldn't believe she was actually thinking about what he was saying, this madman actually made some sense. She looked up, the many screams went deaf to her, what was the best choice now?

*Here I am...good enough, i'm finally good enough to be the one to choose the life or death of Kabutome. This is what i've lived for my whole life, the moment when all eyes are on me...when i've got so much to lose, but when it means so little now. Temari...you have so much faith in my strength, though you're older than me. Kankurou, Sasuke, you two gave me the courage to find my happiness with Gaara now. Naruto, Lee, Sakura...my friends, the only three people I could trust anything and anyone with. Gaara...my love, the reason why I went through the 7 Routes of Hell just to be in your arms, to have you in my future. It all came down to this, when everything else is a pitiful engagement...* Ura thought as the hand holding branch began to slip as well.

"Woman...I hope you burn in hell with me," Kabutome lengthened his arm as he began to reach for Ura.

She closed her eyes, if she was to die, then Ura would not die alone. But...when she was ready to feel the touch, it never came... Ura opened her eyes to see Soul Reapers holding her so that she would not fall, but also the reapers taking out the souls that Kabutome had eaten to gain his strength. Kabutome lashed out, but the sand from the small gourd on her neck protected Ura from any damage. Plus, the Fire and Ice spirits within her gave her an extra boost to stay awake when all of her chakra was depleted.

Kabutome was back to his original form, when he was just a threat to all the countries. The man that they all had feared for so long was now near death as the last soul was taken away from him, then he whithered away with the wind. Ura was in awe at the sight of Kabutome actually dead, though she didn't kill him herself, she had prevented him from gaining any more power. When Ura was back at the edge of the cliff, Gaara helped Ura up, but was greeted by Leila, who was held up by Kankurou.

"Leila," Ura gave a serious/worried stare at Leila.

"Ura," Leila gave the same look.

Was this it? Kabutome was finally dead, and it looked like Leila was turning over a new leaf... So was it all over now? Could they finally go home? Leila collapsed, Kankurou carefully placed Leila on the ground as Sakura, who was pretty beaten up, checked over Leila.

"She's exhausted...but I think she's going to remain in this form for the rest of her life," Sakura concluded as she looked up at Ura and Gaara.

"What do you mean 'for the rest of her life'? Does that mean she has eternal youth?" Ura asked as she shifted her weight on Gaara.

"Yes... When Kabutome sealed that pact with Leila, she had given up her child-youth to him, so that remained this youth. So, in other words, she will die from old age, but this will be her form the rest of her years alive," Sakura explained as she stood up.

Everyone stood in silence, not knowing what to do next. Lee finally broke the silence, "What do we do now? Do we go home?"

"Yeah...everything seems to be done here," Naruto concluded, "We should get going back home."

*"Face it...stopping here is useless"* wrang through Ura's head as she tilted her head to the side to where she was only minutes before.

"We need to go home as well. Kankurou, carry the woman," Gaara ordered as Temari prepared the flight for Ura and herself.

Ura released herself from Gaara's grip as she managed to go over to her friends from Leaf, "Thank you four...you didn't have to come, but without all of you, it would've been harder for us."

"No problem," Lee hugged his old friend, "Just keep in touch with us so that if anything else comes up, we will make sure that we will back more bandages."

"I will..." Ura wiped the on-coming tears at the goodbye.

Sakura was next, who was finally getting used to being around Ura. Both women were reluctant to let go, finally finding what made them the same was harder for them. When they released each other, Sasuke just stared away from Ura. Ura made the first move and took Sasuke's hands, "Please...remember that I hope you go far in your Shinobi path, with Naruto."

That last comment sent a flinch at Sakura, but a twitch in the corner of Sasuke's eyes as he looked at Ura. As he read her eyes, he saw that she knew his lingering thoughts, and shaft, had been. Hiding what she knew from Sasuke, Ura embraced Sasuke for the final time. After Sasuke had pulled away from Ura, Naruto was blubbering from one more goodbye that they had to endure again.

"Don't be a crybaby, dobe," Sasuke commented as he crossed his arms.

"I'm *sniff* not!" Naruto wiped his eyes as he took a few steps as Temari unleashed her fan.

Temari and Ura leaped on, flying off into the sky as Gaara, along with Kankurou carrying Leila, ran below the two kunoichis. Naruto watched as his four, and hopefully fifth, friends ran off, "I'm going to miss them actually..."

"We all will," Sakura sighed in relief, "Let's just get out of here before anything else happens..."



***That Night in the Sunagakure***


Ura watched as Leila slept peacefully, she didn't know whether if her younger sister had made a complete 360 degree turn around or not. A candle was next to Ura's lap, that was the only light in the dim, dark room that Gaara was willing to hold Leila in. Leila's features lightened as sleep took over her wearied mind, Ura had done a dangerous number onto Leila when she used the ultimate Sharingan genjutsu on her. In a way, Ura felt a little guilty for going so harsh on Leila, but in the end, it paid off heavily. Ura had won their battle, now everything was probably going to get back to normal.

"Ura...it's time."

"It's too soon to tell," Ura didn't move her eyes away from Leila.

"That's why I have the specialist, they are able to tell the day after."

Ura turned around to see Gaara with a few doctors behind him, he wanted to know if she was pregnant or not. With a sigh of exhaustion, Ura took herself to their room, where the doctors and other specialists began to test Ura's insides as Gaara watched.