Capture the One Tail

This is an alternate version I wrote after an argument with a friend. Basically, what if Kisame and Itachi went to retrieve Gaara instead of Sasori and Deidara.

The crimson sun was setting over the Hidden Sand Village as two figures came into sight over the horizon. “Finally… I thought we were gunna be wondering around forever in that desert.” Kisame said pulling out a canteen. He twisted of the top and placed it to his lips. His eyes opened wide as he placed the bottle upside down and shook it curiously. “Ahh… It’s empty.” He tilted his hat up and looked over at the man next to him and smiled. “Hey Itachi can I have some of your water?”

Itachi stopped for a moment and tilted his hat up as Kisame stared eagerly. “You should have been prepared.” He said blankly and continued walking.

“Urr..” Kisame muttered as he followed.

Gaara sat in his meeting room along with Baki, Kankuro, and Temari going over some village business. “Hey Gaara, are you all right? You seem a bit distracted…” Temari asked as Gaara sat staring out the window.

“I feel something… ominous…There’s been a change in the wind.” Gaara responded still deep in thought.

The sun set and day turned to night. Itachi and Kisame had just reached the gates of the village. The gate’s guard halted them, “Hey, what business do you have here?” Itachi looked up at him. His eyes went blank as he turned and began doing hand signs. The huge rock gates opened as the man passed out and the two entered.

One lookout ninja on the cliff side stayed out of sight as the two entered and dashed out of sight. “Looks like we’ve been spotted already.” Kisame said to Itachi.

“Yes perhaps this won’t be as easy as we initially thought.” Itachi responded. “We’re going to have to work quick if we want to avoid a mess.” The two continued further into the village.

A lone guard stood on a rooftop keeping watch over the street as Itachi appeared behind him. The man turned in surprise. Itachi grabbed his throat and stared him down with his sharingan eyes. “Where is the Jinchuuriki? Where is the Kazekage…Gaara?”

Suddenly the lookout ninja burst into the conference room. He knelt, “Kazekage-sama…” He said catching his breath. “Two men just entered the village. They’re wearing black cloaks with red clouds.”

Baki’s eye widened. “Red clouds… That’s the symbol of the Akatsuki.”

“Akatsuki!” Kankuro said in shock. “What are they doing here?”

Suddenly Itachi and Kisame appeared in the doorway. “Ahh… looks like this guy ruined our surprise.” Kisame said reaching for his sword. “Can I kill him?”

“Easy… He’s not the one we’re here for.” Itachi responded.

“Just who are you and why are you here?” Temari asked pointing to the two.

“No reason hiding it…” Itachi said removing his hat. “My name is Itachi Uchiha.”

Kisame removed his hat as well. “And I am Kisame Hoshigaki."

Shock fell over Baki’s face. “Itachi Uchiha… He’s a rouge ninja from the Leaf. He’s wanted for the massacre of his entire clan… And Kisame Hoshigaki a rouge ninja from the Mist wanted for everything from espionage to the murder of a feudal lord. They're both wanted S rank criminals in the Bingo Book.”

Kisame snickered as Itachi raised his hand and pointed to Gaara. “We’re here for you.” Itachi said as Gaara blankly stared them down. “We have no intention of starting a war so if you come quietly I promise no harm will come to your village.”

Kankuro banged his fist on the table. “Just who the hell do you think you are?! You think you can just barge in here and start ordering us around?” He said reaching for a scroll on his back.

“Settle down Kankuro.” Gaara said walking forward. He stopped looking at his three comrades. “Their right we don’t want to fight them here.” He then turned to the two Akatsuki members. “I’ll come with you.” The sand ninja sunk their heads as their Kazekage was lead out of the village.

They stopped in front of the gates as Itachi bound Gaara's hands and blindfolded him. He then walked over to Kisame and whispered, “I doubt this will be as easy as it seems. Trail behind and make sure we’re not followed.” Kisame nodded and waited at the outside the village as the other two began heading toward the hideout.

Once the two were out of sight Kisame looked around, seeing no one, he began to head out himself. Suddenly two poison bombs came out of nowhere and exploded around Kisame surrounding him in purple gas. He snickered as the gas surrounded him. “I guess you were right again Itachi.”

Kankuro looked on at the cloud controlling his Crow, Black Ant, and Salamander puppets. “Did you think we’d just let you leave?... Now I’ll perform a show for you.” Crow’s mouth opened and pelted the cloud with needles. Suddenly a figure darted from the cloud to the right. Crow and Ant surrounded Kisame. As he was distracted by Crow, Ant appeared from behind and encased him inside its body. Crow then disassembled and stabbed into Ant. “The end.” Suddenly water began to leak out of Ant. It opened to reveal no one inside. “What?! A water clone?”

At that time Kisame appeared from above slashing his sword down in front of Kankuro. “Puppets eh… Aren’t you a little old for toys?” Kisame said with a cocky smile.

Kankuro smiled. “I’ll show you.” He said tilting his hand forward. His eyes widened looking down. “What! He cut through my chakra strings!”

“I see you noticed.” Kisame said as he began to unravel the tip of his sword. “My Sharkskin Sword is hungry. I suppose I should feed it.” Kisame slashed his blade at Kankuro. Salamander flew up shielding him from the attack. The sword tore through crushing the puppet.

Kankuro fell to the ground. “This guy’s unreal. There’s no way I can win.” He thought as Kisame raised his blade.

“Stop!” Temari yelled as she appeared to help her brother. She stabbed her closed fan at Kisame. He moved his sword down to block and was shoved back by the force of the hit. Temari opened the fan holding it to her side. “You won’t take one step closer!” She yelled forcefully.

Kisame smirked. “Oh really?” He said as he began to walk closer. Temari waved her fan unleashing a huge blast of wind at Kisame. He slashed down through it causing it to dissipate.

“What the hell are you?” Temari said in shock as she began to back away.

Kisame snickered. “What’s wrong? You were so feisty a moment ago?” He continued to approach the two. He raised his sword. “Now die!” Suddenly Baki appeared from behind the two with a wind blade formed in his hand.

“Stop this!” He yelled as he slashed down. Kisame looked up and slashed right through the blade tearing into Baki. Blood splattered through the air as Baki fell.

“Seriously… Where do you guys keep coming from?” Kisame said annoyed. Then something caught his eye. Baki's canteen had fallen out when he was slashed. “Is that?” Kisame said as he reached down and picked up the canteen. Kankuro and Temari shielded Baki fearing another assault. Kisame opened the canteen and began to drink until there was nothing left. “Woo… That really hit the spot.” He said refreshed. He looked at the three scared ninja on the ground with disappointment. “You’re no fun anymore. I’ll give you this chance to retreat, but if you don’t I’ll kill you.” He said sternly.

Temari looked at Kankuro and nodded. They picked up Baki and left. “Guess it’s all up to Gaara now.” Kankuro whispered to himself as they headed back. Kisame once again turned and headed toward the hideout.

Itachi and Gaara continued through the desert the sun just rising. The end was in sight as a green field came into view in the distance. At that moment Gaara halted as sand burst through his constraints. Itachi turned and looked in surprise only to be consumed by sand. Gaara outstretched his hand, “Sand Coffin!” he said as he closed his hand. The sand crushed around Itachi and suddenly turned to dozens of crows. “What!?” Gaara said surprised. He suddenly heard a voice behind him.

“I expected as much…” Itachi said as Gaara turned to face him. Itachi's eyes suddenly shifted to Mangekyo. “Tsukuyomi!” Itachi said as the world turned black under a red sky. “Now… What is it that haunts your soul?”

Itachi disappears revealing Gaara as a child. Suddenly he found himself surrounded by people from his village. He clinched tightly to his teddy bear as the people stared him down with hateful eyes. The crowd be came angry and began to riot. “Monster!” They yelled as they began pelting him with rocks. “What is it!?... Kill it!” The crowd muttered above all the yelling.

“Stop it…” Gaara said shielding his head as he was pelted by rocks. “Stop it.” He said again his voice unheard over the crowd. “STOP IT!” He yelled as sand engulfed and crushed the people. His eyes opened as tears began to fall. He looked around at the countless corpses. “No…” He said falling to his knees. “Am I a monster?”

“Yes… Gaara.” A familiar voice said as a hand was placed on Gaara’s shoulder. He looked up to see Yashamaru. “That’s why you have to…” He said unzipping his vest to reveal multiple paper bombs. “…die.” He said as they ignited setting off a massive explosion. Gaara reached up to shield himself.

After a moment he removed his arm to reveal a woman standing in front of him facing away. He studied her closely. “Mother?” He said in curiosity.

“Stay away…” She said halting his approach. “It was you Gaara… You killed me!” She said turning to reveal her face of sand as it fell away.

Gaara was shocked and turned to run away only to be stabbed in the gut with a kunai by his father. “You were a mistake.” He said as he retracting the blade letting fall back into an empty void.

Suddenly a deep ominous voice called out from the darkness. “Enough of this child.” Gaara opened his eyes to find himself in the presence of the sand spirit, Shukaku. “Enough of this… Wake up.” He said as Gaara once again opened his eyes to find himself back in the real world. He suddenly fell to the ground gasping for breath.

“Hmm… You broke free.” Itachi said intrigued. He began to slowly approach.

Gaara began to scurry back on the ground. “No… Stay back.” He said hitting his palm against the ground sending a wave of sand heading toward him. Itachi jumped back and fired a massive fireball at the sand canceling it out. The dust settled revealing that Gaara had contained himself in a massive sand cocoon.

“Hmm… What’s this?” Itachi said curiously. He approached the cocoon to examine it. When he came close massive sand spikes shot out at him. He jumped back dodging them. “Enough…” Itachi’s eyes changed once again. “Amaterasu!” He said as blood began to drip from his eye and the cocoon burst into black flames.

The cocoon sat burning for a few moments then suddenly burst scattering the flames. Gaara stood hunched over grabbing his head. “No!... I don’t want to. Stay back… Stay back!” He fell limp as the sand began to engulf him. Suddenly a large mound grew from the sand until it took the form of Shukaku.

“So this is the one tailed beast…” Itachi said intrigued.

“Insolate human, I will destroy you.” The huge beast said staring down at Itachi. Itachi stood calm and motionless. Shukaku reared back and unleashed a huge wind burst at him causing a huge explosion forming a mushroom cloud of sand. The dust settled revealing Itachi still standing surrounded by a large transparent creature holding a sword and shield. “What?!” Itachi began to move forward. Shukaku continued firing blasts but they did nothing against the creatures shield. Finally it moved close enough to stab Shukaku with the sword. Sand began to get sucked into the sword until nothing was left but Gaara’s lifeless body and a small black and brown raccoon. The raccoon took off running.

Suddenly Kisame appeared and kicked it toward Itachi. Itachi caught it by the tail. It hung their passed out by the blow. “So you were forced to extract it, huh? Not very impressive for a Bijuu.” Kisame said.

“Yes, but it will only be sealed in this form temporarily so we need to get back to the hideout now.” He said as the two vanished leaving Gaara’s remains behind…

Oh and then everyone showed up Naruto cried and then Chiyo brought Gaara back to life, but died in the process. It’s cool though cause she was old. Then he and Naruto shook hands and everyone rejoiced, well except for Ebizo who just lost his sister, but yea as long as Gaara is alive…