A/N: Hey, this is one of the split up parts of the rewritten first chapter, so if you've read this before you can skip this.

Warning: There will be spoilers and 'character deaths'.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach (it belongs to Tite Kubo), Naruto (it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto), and/or the quote (which belongs toAnatole France, but found at BrainyQuote).

"Speaking in Japanese."

'Thoughts in Japanese.'

"In any language but Japanese."

Emphasis.

TIME-SKIP.

Welcome to:

Back Together

By:

ObsessionistofMany

Chapter Two

Quote of the Day:

"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another."

-Anatole France

When Sasori regained a sense of his surroundings again, he found himself standing in front of two familiar but completely different shinobi.

"You four will form the Ambush and Distraction Squadron. It will be an air raid. Sasori and Deidara, you'll attack with bombs and traps. Chuuki from the Mist and the Leaf 'Root' member will act as sensor and backup," the snake-like Kabuto ordered.

Sasori's ears picked up the muttered uncertainties of the two non-Akatsuki shinobi. One actually protested, but he was quickly silenced. The puppet master's eyes narrowed in suspicion before he wondered if his disappearance was sensed in Soul Society.

Then the redhead wondered if he would be silenced if he spoke up and decided to test it.

"The Akatsuki must have gone to hell to be taking orders from such a ragged fool... I see that only Zetsu and my replacement are left," He mused.

Deidara immediately took the chance to retaliate, "I wouldn't be so arrogant considering you died, Danna (master). 'True art is beauty that endures eternally...' Hm! Especially when your weak point was a huge bull's eye on your chest! Hm!"

Having been used to using this threat against Deidara all the time, Sasori didn't realize that it didn't apply anymore, "You wanna die, too, Deidara?!"

"I am dead, both of us are!" Deidara retorted.

Sasori didn't notice Tobi and Kabuto making plans as the two artists bantered. Finally, Kabuto called their attention back to him, and the group was deployed.

The wind blew into their faces, not that they could feel it, as they flew on Deidara's clay owls.

"Over there...," Kabuto informed them through the sensor.

Deidara lifted his bangs and switched to opening his left eyes to confirm the claim, "Kabuto's right. Three of 'em at two o'clock."

Immediately, Sasori's strings, along with the many weapons, bombs, and bells that were attached to them, wrapped around certain trees, forming traps. Deidara then began to try and chase them into the traps with his bombs.

One of the shinobi had turned to try and buy some time for his teammates. He was immediately killed with one of Deidara's bombs, but this alerted the remaining two of the aerial threat.

The two targets kept avoiding their attacks, every so often getting slightly injured. Apparently, one of them was a member of the Aburame Clan if the bugs flying around were anything to go by.

"These bugs are as annoying as hell!" Deidara complained.

Sasori ignored him and instead focused on the ninja themselves, "And they keep scurrying around trying to hide...what a pain."

The sensor shinobi muttered, "The bugs are messing up my chakra sensing technique... It's a bug-jamming technique..."

Deidara smirked, "I'd expected as much from an advance infiltration and recon cell, but we'll give them a lesson in art they'll never forget!"

Sasori took control of the Aburame shinobi and snuck up on the opposing ambush squad as the group hid in the trees. He quickly made his puppet fall limply to the ground causing one of the team members to rush over.

The puppet master smirked, 'Right into my trap.'

Immediately, he took the new member hostage and had the puppet dart towards the group.

'I have to get Deidara's bomb closer for the maximum effect...,' Sasori thought.

However, his plans were thwarted when Kankuro noticed his fighting patterns.

"Bah, they saw right through it, hm," Deidara sighed.

Seeing as the element of surprise was gone, Sasori sent his puppet straight at the opposing ambush squad, "Do it, Deidara."

Deidara smirked as their enemies panicked upon noticing his clay in the jar on Sasori's puppet's back. When the bomb was within range, Deidara detonated it, 'Katsu!'

"Being blown to smithereens. That's art, you know? Hm," Deidara stated.

Sasori once again ignored the bomber and barked an order to the sensor, "Sense."

"Found them!" the sensor called.

Sasori immediately attached his strings to the two enemy shinobi and sent them down the cliff to attack. However, they were blocked.

Then the Konoha ANBU moved in to attacked, but his attack also failed.

Deidara flew down on his bird and taunted the shinobi, "They're still alive, you know...so what next? Hm."

Kankuro snarled, "You dirty scumbags! I know you're there, Sasori. Show yourself."

"Ooo, they've got a puppet master in their ranks, hm," Deidara mocked.

Kankuro glared, "You're an ambush squad, too, then...pretty rare for ambush squads of both sides to meet like this."

"Heh, then whoever wins here can claim they carried out their sneak attack successfully. We're the first ones they send out... This victory will set the tone for the entire war! Hm!" the blond shot back then he added, "And we won't lose. We can't lose. Because we...are immortal! Hm!"

The Konoha ANBU called out to the other ambush squad, "Sai... Run, otouto (younger brother)! You see what they've done to my body. You can't win!"

Sai stared in shock, "Brother?!"

Omoi glanced at him before drawing his sword, "No time to be anxious... I won't let you force friends and family to hurt one another!"

"Save your petty little speeches! This is war! Hm!" Deidara snapped, attacking along with Sai's brother.

Sai and his brother clashed while the others attacked Deidara.

"Nice moves! But attacking me will get you nowhere!" Deidara shouted.

'I don't even need to bother dodging, hm!' the bomber thought.

Omoi jumped up as if to attack, but sliced through Sasori's chakra strings instead.

Deidara tsked, 'He didn't touch me! He made as if to attack, but then sliced behind himself instead. Tricky bastard!'

'So you can cut through my chakra threads? Nice swordsmanship,' Sasori thought.

'There!' Kankuro thought and attached his chakra strings to Sasori's.

Sasori's eyes widened in shock as Kankuro pulled him down from his hiding spot.

The puppet master landed on Deidara as the wall behind them rose higher.

"Ugh! Bastard...," Deidara huffed.

"So you entangled your threads with mine to pull me down...You've improved a bit...Kankuro," Sasori complimented.

Kankuro smirked, "I'm honored that the master of the Red Secret Technique would praise me, but my Black Secret Technique is even better."

He unrolled a scroll and summoned Sasori's old puppet body.

"My puppet, eh? That body seems ridiculous now...I've gotten what I always wanted! Now I really am a puppet, one whose body will never decay!"

Kankuro remained silent as Sasori attached chakra strings to Sai's brother.

"Run...away...," the former Root member pleaded.

Then the shinobi noticed that there was clay in the puppet while Sasori and Kankuro pit their puppets against each other.

Omoi attempted to stab Sai's brother with a raiton infused blade in order to deactivate Deidara's bomb but missed.

'Too late!' Deidara thought and made his hand sign.

However, Kankuro captured the puppet in Salamander.

Kankuro muttered, "Ow," as he blocked the blast with Sasori's old body.

"He enclosed the bomb with a defense puppet he had hidden underground...Thanks to that, the explosion didn't do much damage...hm...," Deidara said.

"It's Salamander...I made it a long time ago...," Sasori said.

"The bomb...?" Sai asked quietly.

"Yeah? You got a problem with that?! You weak little shit. You're no Sasuke, so just stay out of it!" Deidara insulted the shinobi as Sai's brother reformed.

"As long as his soul's bound to this world, he'll keep reviving...I can turn him into a bomb again!" Deidara laughed.

"I've heard rumors of Konoha's 'Root'...They're raised as brothers from a young age and then made to kill each other. It's a system designed to kill their emotions. With no heart, there is no hesitation...that's a ninja's strength. You 'Root' guys aren't so different from me," Sasori murmured.

Sai reached for his drawing book, as Deidara insulted him, "You think your stupid drawings make you an artist?! True art explodes! Shall I give you another example?!"

Sai merely took out a brush and ink and growled, "Try it."

He flicked his book open and drew a bird for him to fly behind the Akatsuki artists, and he punched them out of the sky.

Kankuro caught the two with his puppets.

Deidara yelled, "Damn it! If I'd known this was coming I would've self-destructed! I didn't want to go around showing off my master work all the time, but sometimes there's no other choice! Hm!"

But before he could do it, Deidara was stabbed with a raiton sword and Sasori was pierced multiple times.

Then Kankuro wrapped the puppets up with Sasori's old puppet body's coils to ensure they didn't escape.

Sasori sat inside the puppet wondering what's going on, 'I can't feel anything from my threads.'

Kankuro told him, "Sasori...your strength came from their souls. You made yourself into a puppet and tried to destroy your soul, but you couldn't. I know the puppets that you made have souls that will never decay. But now you have a living body, yet have become a true puppet, nothing but a doll. You were once a master of puppets. Not some worthless scum that lets someone else pull the strings. It is the end when a real puppet user is manipulated! I will not lose, neither to you nor the one who is manipulating you. Because I am the puppet ninja who is manipulating the real Sasori. Because your technology and your puppets will never rot, the legacy of a puppet master lives on with the performers who use them!"

Inside the puppet, Sasori smirked, "Eh...That is the real form of the art I desired."

Deidara shrieked, "Don't say bullshit! Master! Don't be swayed by these bastards' crafty words, hm! Art is a moment of radiance! Art is a bang!"

Sasori murmured, "Kankuro..."

"What is it?"

"I entrust 'Father' and 'Mother'' to you... and when your moment arrives entrust them to the next person...those two puppets...," Sasori said as he melted away back to Soul Society.

"Yeah...I will do that without doubt," Kankuro promised.

"Eh! Master Sasori!" Deidara cried.

Sasori was once again back in Soul Society, 'Better get to class. Now that I've made sure that my art will be passed down, I can go on here with no regrets.'

A/N: Thank you for reading and please review to tell me how good or bad it is. Please tell me how to improve it if you don't think it's good enough and if there are any grammar mistakes.

-OoM