Destructive Sand Burial

"Sand clone jutsu!"

At Gaara's command, the very grains of sand around him quickly began to swirl and coalesce until six clones emerged.

Each of them glided towards Arthur. With a more deepened focus, he sidestepped the first clone, moving with such fluidity that it felt almost choreographed. The clones converged, attempting to surround him, but he evaded them with a dexterity that left the original Gaara irked.

As the sand clones began to dance around him, they began to shake, a signal that didn't take long to register with Arthur—they were preparing for a massive explosion.

With a resounding boom, the clones combusted simultaneously, transforming into a cloud of sand that exploded outward like an eruption.

The blast flared high into the sky, and Gaara seized control of the flying grains. The airborne sand encircled Arthur, attempting to suffocate his escape routes.

"Sand coffin!"

As the sand whisked towards Arthur from underneath, he sprang upward. But Gaara still had the sand above to use. He moved his arms, yet the sand barely managed to trap any part of Arthur before he flipped into a graceful arc, landing on a high dune just beyond reach.

"You're starting to get on my nerves," Gaara said, remaining stoic.

With another hand sign, he slammed his palms onto the ground, channeling his chakra.

Arthur cocked his head in curiosity; he had never encountered this technique before. That's because all of Gaara's moves were from video games.

"True sand burial!"

Almost immediately, the sands around him began to cascade upward, forming an enormous likeness of Gaara, standing hundreds of feet tall—a monstrous titan conjured from grains of desert. The sheer size of it towered over the battlefield, dwarfing everything in its vicinity.

Then the giant Gaara raised its immense palm, poised to slam down upon Arthur.

'Golden chain: bonding jutsu…'

Summoning two chains, he extended them outward, and in an almost casual display, they lashed out to intercept the palm of the giant Gaara. With a metallic clinking sound, the chains wrapped around the colossal hand, effectively thwarting its attempt at an overwhelming blow.

"Too bad for you," Arthur taunted.

Then the chains constricted, digging deep into the texture of the giant sand Gaara, exerting pressure until it began to crumble under the immense weight of its own body.

The massive figure began to disintegrate as the chains crushed it from within, grains of sand cascading like an avalanche back to the earth. And soon the gigantic sand Gaara was nothing more than a pile of dust that swept across the battlefield.

Gaara, however, remained unfazed, appearing untroubled as the sand washed over him.

"You think that's all I've got?" he coolly replied.

He performed yet another hand sign, and the sands underfoot began to churn violently, morphing into countless tendrils that snaked through the air.

Like serpents, they targeted Arthur. But Arthur was unfazed as he used his agility to pivot and slip through the sand strands. Then he leapt back before landing smoothly a few feet away.

"I would hope not," he shot back.

Gaara's eyes narrowed in frustration. To him, Arthur had indeed proven to be a formidable opponent, pushing him in ways he hadn't experienced before.

"I'll admit," he said in a measured tone, "you're the toughest opponent I've faced by far."

Arthur merely picked the sand grains from his shoulder and flicked them away. Gaara's expression remained unchanging but was still annoyed by the act.

As such, he lifted his arms up and then crossed them over his chest, causing a large wave of sand to burst outward from underground.

Arthur watched with a hint of interest, for it had looked like two large worms tunneling toward him. Already, he felt himself being lifted up from the ground, pinned by two pillars of sand that seemed to materialize quicker than expected.

"Double sand blade!"

In the air, the two pillars collided with Arthur at the center, causing a massive explosion of sand to erupt and sending grains swirling in all directions.

Gaara watched as the sand slowly fell from the air, and when he saw Arthur land crouched on his feet with little to no damage, his heart almost sank.

"That wasn't as strong as your Sand Burial," Arthur commented, slowly rising up.

Gaara felt disappointed; he had expected more from his Double Sand Blade technique. It wasn't strong enough to pierce through Arthur's defenses, and he knew it. To breach that level of defense, he would have to use stronger sand—the same sand he had once fought Kimimaro with.

As such, he raised his hands again, and the sand around him began to churn once more. Then he placed a single finger on the sand at his feet. The words echoed as he proclaimed, "Sand tsunami!"

In an instant, a massive wave of sand erupted from behind him like a thundering wall of grains that rose high into the sky, threatening to engulf Arthur whole. The ground trembled under its weight, leaving no escape route.

The towering wall of sand crashed down upon him and enveloped him entirely, burying him deep beneath the earth in an avalanche of grains.

"Not yet," Gaara said. He knelt down, placing both palms against the ground. "Giant sand burial!"

The entire expanse of sand shifted ominously, and the weight of the dunes above pressed down with relentless force. It crushed everything it covered, aiming to seal Arthur's fate beneath.

Then silence. The winds momentarily stilled as Gaara kept his focus, feeling the ground if his technique had finally triumphed.

Then it happened.

With a sudden burst of power, Arthur erupted from the ground, encased in a protective orb made of his adamantine chains. The chains released, and Arthur landed safely atop a small hill. Dust swirled around him as he brushed off the remnants of the sand on his arms.

"Impressive," he said, genuinely rapt by Gaara's tenacity. "You've got some strong chakra… For a Jinchūriki, that is."

How could Arthur not be impressed? All of Gaara's techniques were derived from video games, of which he had never played nor had the pleasure of witnessing till now. The only techniques he had seen were incomparable to what Gaara was unleashing now.

And the truth was, Gaara was intrigued, too. Everything Arthur had shown him thus far was baffling. Techniques he had never encountered before, and each move was practical yet innovative—all of this hinted that he was in the midst of a very unpredictable shinobi.

"I've never seen the chains you wield," Gaara confessed. "They're tough, but they won't save you from my sand."

"That so…?"

"Get a good taste," he replied, lifting his arms high.

In that moment, Arthur felt a surge of intense chakra—not just Gaara's own, but the overwhelming presence of the One-Tailed Beast. With a rumble, five grotesque, oversized arms burst forth from the ground around Arthur, writhing and reaching out towards him like a wild beast.

Reacting quickly, he attempted to flip out of the way, but one of the massive arms caught him and clamped down. Then the other arms converged, enclosing him within a swirling sphere made of sand and chakra that lifted into the sky.

Gaara's voice echoed ominously as he closed his grip. "Sandstorm coffin!"

The winds howled, and the sand twisted violently, creating a cyclone within the sphere, pressure building until it reached a breaking point. Then it implodes from the inside out, crushing everything it held.

There was no way any normal ninja could have survived that. However, as the dust and debris settled, Gaara caught sight of something moving through the wreckage—a blur darting with incredible speed.

In the blink of an eye, Arthur was already upon him!

A devastating jab was then delivered right to Gaara's chin. The force of the blow was unlike anything Gaara had experienced; it sent him flying back, and his body tumbled through the desert like a rag doll.

His sand armour underneath the outer layers of his skin managed to absorb a fraction of the impact, but it wasn't enough to shield him completely.

As the wind whipped around, Arthur flexed his grip, feeling impressed that Gaara had survived the strike. Any other shinobi would have been sent spiraling into unconsciousness from such a blow. Then again, Arthur did hold back slightly.

When Gaara finally managed to collect himself amid the disorientation, he was utterly taken aback; his automatic sand defenses had been too slow to protect him.

Even as he regained his posture, he was struck by another horrifying sight: blood smeared across his hand as he reached to hold his chin. He stared at it in disbelief before shock flooded his senses.

"Blood?!" he asked himself in surprise.

How could this be? He had never been injured like this before. The first time he had ever felt pain was against Lee during the Chūnin Exams. Yet that event never happened; he had faced Shino in the exams this time, and Shino lost indefinitely.

This caused Gaara's heart to race; he had never seen his blood before. Unable to contain his disbelief, he finally let out a scream, "Bloooooood?!"

Arthur stood still, observing Gaara with intrigue. The sight of Gaara's blood—something so foreign to him—seemed to shatter the ice surrounding the boy's reputation. It had always been Gaara, feared and untouchable, yet now he stood vulnerable in the arid expanse of sand.

Gaara staggered back, trying to calm himself. It was like he was feeling alive for the first time.

It took several moments for him to find his center once more, to breathe in and acknowledge the situation before him. He had endured so much—he could not break now. Not when his siblings were being threatened by the enemy.

Shaky breaths went in and out of his chest as he willed the panic to subside.

Arthur noted the change in Gaara's demeanour, feeling impressed that the boy managed to calm himself so quickly.

Gaara finally found a semblance of composure, standing tall once more while reforming the cracks within his sand armour. "I… have a duty… to protect my loved ones…" His voice was cold again and imbued with malice as he glared at Arthur. "And I'll do everything in my power to put an end to this!"

Immediately, Arthur could feel the full wrath of the One-Tail's power. He watched as Gaara performed a single hand sign. The air trembled under the weight of the chakra that surged and swirled around Gaara.

A moment later, everything erupted. The ground beneath Arthur's feet parted in a jagged, zigzag pattern, ripping the earth apart as the very desert transformed.

Arthur reflexively leaped up, narrowly avoiding a growling fissure that opened beneath him. When he looked down, he saw the emanating doom from below. Then, with a deafening roar, the earth opened giant jaws depicting the face of Shukaku sculpted entirely from sand!

It bellowed fiercely, lunging toward Arthur as if to consume him whole. The ground shook as the creature's maw gaped wide.

Arthur grabbed some of the falling debris that crumbled from the split earth, using it to propel himself away. Yet the moment he leaped, he collided with a sudden barrier—a puppet.

That's when Arthur saw it: Kankuro lying on the sand below with a smirk, and on his trembling fingers were reattached chakra strings.

"Gotcha," the Sand shinobi smiled.

With Arthur now ensconced in the puppet, Kankuro carried him towards the gaping mouth of Shukaku. The world dimmed as the puppet was consumed whole by the technique's ravenous maw. And in a flash, darkness enveloped Arthur.

The weight of the sand pressed upon him, and he found himself unable to breathe. Then the jaws of Shukaku closed, sealing him with a crushing force.

Gaara didn't hesitate to slam both palms on the ground, shouting, "Destructive sand burial!"

As shockwaves radiated toward the desert, the earth beneath them shook violently, reverberating deep into the ground as pressure built with a suffocating intensity.

Gaara's chakra was immense and forced Arthur deeper into the abyss, while all around Arthur, the world vibrated—a relentless pressure bearing down as the sea of shifting sand gripped him tight and tighter until his fate was finally sealed.