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A/N: This is the cleaned up version. I previously uploaded the rough draft by mistake.


Dethroning the Puppet King

Team Asuma, Sakura and Kankuro tracked down Sasori to a small canyon on the outskirts of the village. The entrance was littered with about two dozen dead sand shinobi, Chunin and Jonin. After some idle chatter with the Suna legend the group jumped into battle. Engaging in battle with the puppet master had the entire group channeling Shikamaru's attitude. Sasori was too damn troublesome. They destroyed his initial body only to reveal that it was merely a puppet shell. After revealing that he had turned himself into a human puppet Sasori then unleashed his human puppet of the third Kazekage. Things were looking bad especially when Kankurou was poisoned and Sakura and Ino were forced to retreat with him to find an antidote. They were saved by the timely intervention of elder Chiyo who rushed to the battle scene after discovering the situation with Kankuro at the hospital. With her aid they were able to give Chouji an opening to crush the Kazekage puppet. That was when Sasori's true horror was unleashed in the Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets. Now they were simply fighting a war of attrition. Eventually they would get tired and run out of chakra, or Sasori would run out of puppets. This was the scene that Naruto and Kakashi stumbled upon. Sasori on the backside of the canyon, his puppet army in the middle, and their allies barely putting a dent into his forces on the front side.

"Perhaps you guy's should take a load off. It looks likes the dolls are a bit much for you." stated Naruto as he and Kakashi arrived on the scene.

"I'd never thought I'd be so glad to see the most troublesome person I know." replied Shikamaru.

"What makes you think you guys could do any better?" grunted Asuma while dodging a poisonous strike before destroying a puppet with his trench knives.

"Yes, even if you some how managed to defeat Deidara, it must have cost you a lot of chakra. Soon you will all fall to my art." interrupted Sasori.

"That weakling wasn't even worth the sand I got in my boots. Hatake did nothing but watch as I erased him from existence. Take a good look at me! His so-called explosives couldn't even singe my clothes!" proclaimed Naruto.

'That's because your clothes are resistant to your own fire techniques. What are you up to, defeating Deidara took a good portion of chakra even for someone like you...' puzzled Kakashi.

"Look our best chance is to work together to come up with a plan to defeat him," urged Shikamaru.

"No way will I work with the White Fang on Konoha!" yelled Chiyo.

"Someone tell the Alzheimer's patient that the White Fang has been dead for years, that's his son. His son of an allied village." deadpans Naruto causing everyone including Chiyo to snicker.

"I'll have you know I took my pills this morning," she chuckled before continuing, "But the pineapple is right, we'll all have to join forces to defeat my grandson."

"You fools will only get in the way. I'm the best person for the job. My army puts his to shame." proclaimed Naruto.

'So that's your plan, it could work...' thought Kakashi.

"What army?" exclaimed Chouji.

'This is good...' thought Shikamaru as he caught on.

"You're entire army is nothing in front of me. Behold Karyū no Tajuu Katon Bushin no Jutsu!" yelled Naruto as a giant poof of smoke covered the canyon. When it dissipated the battlefield was covered with Naruto clones all shrouded in auras of fire.

"It's time for the curtain call on your puppet show!" declared Naruto as he and the clones jumped into action.

"Karyū no Tekken!" Half of the clones struck down puppets with fire engulfed fists.

"Karyū no Kakitsume!" The other half followed up with powerful flame boosted kicks. The initial attacks did massive damage and destroyed a significant chunk of the puppets. Sasori struggled to keep up as the clones began to destroy puppets faster than he could destroy the clones. Even when clones were destroyed the erupted into a ball of fire taking the puppet with them.

'How can this be? To make this many clones is one thing but how could he have enough chakra to give them that much attack power! He also mixed himself within the clones somewhere, I can't detect which is the original! I must retreat! Our intelligence on his skills was vastly understated.' thought Sasori as he moved to cover his escape only to find himself frozen in place.

"What is this! The Nara but he's over there!" said Sasori only to look in shock as the Shikamaru and Kakashi standing across the clearing went up in puffs of smoke to reveal two Naruto clones. He was forced to turn around and face Shikamaru who had him in a shadow possession hold and Kakashi powering up a Raikiri.

"To think I would be defeated like this. The Akatsuki the promise the world, but have lead me to nothing but ruin. In honor of my defeat I have a reward for you." The puppet master sighed as the seal on his neck glowed. Seals spread over Sasori's body, then collected in the side of his chest before pushing out a small scroll. "This is the information from my intelligence network, the next meeting scheduled in there should be of great interest to you Konoha shinobi."

"Farewell, Sasori of the Red Sands." stated Kakashi before he plunged through his chakra core with the Raikiri. Sasori and his remaining puppets all collapsed in a dead heap. Kakashi then collected the intelligence scroll and put it away in his pocket. The duo surveyed the remains of the battlefield as Naruto had just dispersed his clones. About one quarter of Sasori's puppet army remained.

"Oi! Give me a food pill!" yelled a panting Naruto.

"Ugh Right." stammered Chouji as he reached into his pouch and tossed one to Naruto. Naruto ate the pill and his conditioned seemed to improve as his energy was restored.

"That fight did take a lot out of him. His stamina is tapped from putting out so much effort against both members." stated Kakashi.

"What a troublesome guy, he bluffed Sasori. He couldn't have held up those clones for much longer." added Shikamaru.

"You alright man? I thought you said that other fight was no sweat." questioned Asuma.

"It wasn't. Go worry about your own team I'm fine." gruffly replied Naruto forcing Asuma to back off. Just as he said this Sakura and Ino returned to the sight of their victory.

"We have an antidote is anyone poisoned?" inquired Ino.

"No just some exhaustion." replied Kakashi.

"Let's get out of here, Suna can deal with the cleanup." stated Asuma.

--

Later that evening the group had gathered for dinner at the Kazekage's mansion minus two important people, Naruto and the Kazekage. Food was catered in from a popular restaurant in town and they were all seated around a large table staring at the two empty spaces.

"Where the hell are those two?" grumbled Temari.

"Who cares they'll turn up sooner or later. Let's eat!" exclaimed Chouji.

Temari sighed. "Go ahead." she said prompting him to pile his plate with food.

"Baka, go through the trouble to get him some ramen and he doesn't show up." complained Sakura.

"Troublesome how do you know he even likes ramen that much anymore?" questioned Shikamaru.

"He may have changed, but there is no way he changed that much." replied Ino.

"Yeah instead of bouncing around like a child he'll grumble like an old man about there only being one decent choice of food here." said a chuckling Kakashi.

"Yeah, I've heard people maturing, but he went from a five year-old kid to a fifty year-old man in 3 years." added Asuma.

"I think he's always been angry under the surface, he just hid it well. Now he feels he doesn't need hold himself back anymore. What a troublesome guy." said Shimakaru.

"I know where they are, I bet they're settling that old score from three years ago. They're duking it out right now!" proclaimed Kankuro.

"THAT BAKA!" roared Ino and Sakura causing everyone to cover their ears.

"Calm down, I'm sure they have more sense than that. I'll go check on them." said Kakashi as he pulled out his book and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"Damn that guy eats fast." said Chouji staring at Kakashi's empty plate.

--

Kakashi found Gaara sitting on the eastern village walls staring out into the desert. A short ways out he could make out the figure of Naruto standing in the midst of a mild sandstorm looking straight up into the sky.

"How long has he been standing out there?" asked Kakashi.

"About an hour." replied Gaara.

"You figured he would have lost the fight, instead of won." stated Kakashi.

"He said for normal ninja escaping by the skin of your teeth is a win, but to be the best you can't show any weakness even in victory or your next opponent will use it against you." declared Gaara.

"A wise policy." said Kakashi as he nodded in agreement.

"I agree, that is why I will have to step up my own training. I've become to overly reliant on my sand, if it were not for your timely arrival I may have been defeated." replied Gaara.

'Still motivating and changing those around you, eh Naruto?' thought Kakashi.

Out in the desert Naruto was battling his own thoughts.

'Those who wielded even a fraction of the power of the Dragon Slayer are the greatest of legends. Ninjas without equal!' he thought to himself he he stared up into the eye of the storm.

"I have inherited this power, as my birthright the ability to become a warrior without equal!" he yelled aloud, "Yet I could barely beat the weakest of the Akatsuki and that was even with help! How can this be! Am I nothing more than a cheap imitation!"

"HUU-AHHH" he roared as he channeled his fire chakra around him in a fit of rage.

"All my life I have striven to be the best! To surpass even the greatest Hokage's! I have come this far only to be snuffed out by a bunch of S-rank misfits! A true Dragon Slayer would have beaten those two clowns with ease. Perhaps I have become complacent since I awakened my abilities, I may have great power, but I still lack experience. Perhaps there are more battles to be fought before I can achieve my true potential."

Naruto looked down before lifting his head up to the sky.

"HUU-AAAAAAAHHHH! AAAAHHHH! AAAAAHHHH!" roared Naruto as a pillar of fire erupted around him piercing upwards through the sandstorm into the sky. The swirling sands merging with the pillar heating up forming a pillar a glass that soon shatter under the intensity of Naruto's power. As the glass shattered and scattered throughout the desert the sandstorm finally died down.

"I will soldier on and learn from each and every battle. I will master my abilities and become the greatest legend of them all! Everyone one them will be a footnote in history compared to me!" he declared. The sound of clapping from behind him got his attention. He turned to see a clapping Kakashi eye-smiling at him and Gaara smirking with his arms crossed over his chest.

"A very inspirational speech." stated Kakashi.

"Indeed perhaps I should hire you to speak to my ninjas to get them motivated. We might conquer all the great nations." added Gaara.

Naruto ignored the subtle insults and responded rudely, "What do you want?"

"Dinner is being served for everyone back at my estate." replied Gaara.

"They started without us, but made sure to get some ramen reserved for you." added Kakashi.

"They better have, probably the only decent food they got to eat." he grumbled as he followed them back into the Village.

--

After a few days the squads completed the return trip to Konoha. As soon as they arrived they proceeded to the Hokage's office to give the debriefing on the mission. They encountered Jiraiya on the way who decided to sit in on the debriefing to see what other intel they had gathered on the Akatsuki. Kakashi had immediately turned over Sasori's scroll to the spy master. As soon as they reached the office Jiraiya kept an ear open to their report while he attempted to decipher the secrets of the scroll.

"Very curious as to why he would want to help us out?" questioned Tsunade. Her thoughts were interrupted by Jiraiya.

"I've cracked the first part of this thing. It's a list of meeting places and date and times for his spies. Apparently Sasori has a spy in Orohimaru's ranks and they are supposed to meet five days from now on the Heaven and Earth bridge. Orochimaru used to be his old partner with the Akatsuki, I guess he still held a grudge against him. "

"Well, then we should definitely send a team there, but who?" pondered Tsunade.

"Hokage-sama I request that my squad be apart of the team. This may provide an opportunity to track down a lost comrade who we know how to deal with the best." requested Kakashi.

'I figured she'd be the first one to say it, but I guess he anticipated that.' thought Tsunade. "Very, well I will put you into consideration."

"Well, Hatake I didn't know you had it in you." Naruto chimed in.

"What do you mean, of course sensei wanted to bring him back too!" retorted Sakura.

"Notice, he did not say "retrieve" but track down. If he will not return willingly, well I'll leave the rest to you to figure out. The crime he committed against him is far worse than against us. He took everything he was taught by our Sensei discarded it like trash. There isn't a bigger insult I can think of, but know this sensei I get the first shot at him, he owes me after all." stated Naruto.

"Is that true sensei?" questioned Sakura.

Jiraiya answered in his place, "Whether you like it or not Orochimaru cannot be allowed to take his body. We must do everything we can to prevent that. If Sasuke would willingly allow it to happen, he is a much easier target to take out than Orochimaru himself. This however is only a worst case scenario."

"Worst case scenario my ass." uttered Naruto.

"I thought you of all people wanted to bring him back?" Tsunade was somewhat puzzled by his attitude.

"Don't sugar coat it with useless emotions. He's either with us or against us. If he proves to still be against us he has to die." stated Naruto. While his words rang true to most in the room, a few were troubled by them. Tsunade soon dismissed them all stating she would notify them of the mission's team members in a few days.

--

A couple days later Naruto and Shikamaru were walking through town discussing the situation of the mission. Shikamaru noticed he friends new found apathy for his former teammate and was questioning his new views on the retrieval of Sasuke.

"He's made his decisions and he has to live with them. He's become a footnote, I'm after the big snake if you will. The uchiha is a known quantity, his goals can be predicted as long as Itachi is alive, he's not a threat to anyone else. The snake..."

"...he's a different animal, if he manages to get his hands on that sharingan who knows what could happen. Damn troublesome Uchiha's."

"Don't get me wrong, if I ever came face to face with the guy, I'd beat the crap out of him on principle. But I no longer care about him or his goals."

"Hello Shikamaru and Naruto." called out a voice. They looked to the side to see Shino standing in front of a tree.

"Why the hell are you dressed like a drug dealer?" asked Naruto.

"Why does my state of dress invoke that image in your mind? Are you looking for a fix?" questioned Shino.

"Touche." replied Naruto.

"Shino you're early!" roared Kiba as he and Akamaru came skidding around the corner.

"Well, well, well, looks like the master finally outgrew it's mutt. Congratulations Akamaru." stated a smirking Naruto. Akamaru barked cheerfully in response.

"Hey! Akamaru you traitor! I come with the nice greeting for an old comrade and this is the thanks I get." retorted Kiba.

"Gah!" The all turned to see the seemingly frozen form of Hinata standing with her finger pointed out towards them. Kiba walked up to her and waved his hand in front of her face getting no response.

"Well this is new. She's completely frozen up." said Kiba.

"I didn't think it was possible, but she got even weirder. Your whole team in weird. Except for that sensei of yours, now that is a woman I'd like to.."

"You'd like to what?" questioned a voice from behind them. They turned to see Kurenai standing there smirking.

"Have on my team instead of that pink harpy. You know what I mean right Shikamaru?" replied Naruto with a smirk of his own.

"Definitely. Blond is just as bad as pink. Way too loud. I think I'll be deaf in a few years." added Shikamaru.

"Sensei when did you get here?" asked Kiba.

"Never mind that, look!" she said pointing behind them.

They all turned to see Naruto standing about a block in front them facing down some beast like creatures that appeared to be made of ink. As they approached him Naruto engulfed his arms in fire and punched each beast in the face reducing them to ash.

"It's that guy up there! He's got a leaf headband, what the hell is he doing!" yelled Kiba pointing up to the roof of a building up ahead. It was a teenage boy sitting with a paint brush in hand and scroll on his lap.

"Quiet! Watch!" exclaimed Kurenai. Suddenly the boy made a hand sign and a herd of ink beasts sprung from his scroll headed straight for Naruto. He made no move to dodge as the beasts all swarmed him at once.

"Move it!" yelled Kiba only to be stunned as Naruto exploded into a ball of fire incinerating the beasts.

"Whoa..." muttered Shino. 'His control over fire is better than advertised. The flame only destroyed the beasts not any of the surrounding area.'

The boy on the roof looked down at the street puzzled.

"At first I was going to ask you if you were insane, but after getting a good look at you it's obvious." The boy turned around to see Naruto staring him down with his arms folded across his chest.

"You're pretty strong, you must actually have something between your legs." he was suddenly surprised by a fist planting itself in his gut knocking him out.

"A weakling and he's gay. If I didn't know any better I'd say you were an Uchiha." Naruto threw the boy over his shoulder, before reappearing back in front of Shikamaru.

"What do you think? Is he one of them?" he asked the Nara.

"Troublesome, but yeah looks like it." Shikamaru replied.

"One of who?" asked Kiba.

"Not your problem dog-breath. I need to take this mutt back to its master for better house training. I'll recommende you Akamaru, you've done wonders with Kiba. Got him bathing at least once a week now?" he said before turning and jumping away.

"Hey! I bathe at least 3 times a week so ha!" yelled Kiba at his retreating form. Everyone quickly backed several feet away from him.

--

Tsunade had been sitting in a meeting with Koharu and Homura, the elders failing to convince her to limit Naruto's movements. Shizune had approached them to get them to convince Tsunade to limit Naruto movements, by essentially confining him to the village. She rejected that idea flat, by stating that Naruto could take care of himself, and confining him to the village made him a siting target like Gaara was when he was attacked.

"We will concede that fact to you however, we request more members to be added to his team." stated Homura.

Tsunade sighed in annoyance,"Alright then."

"Come in, Danzo." said Koharu as the door opened and closed with an old crippled man shuffling into the room.

"You..." said Tsunade as her eyes widened in recognition.

"It has been a long time Tsunade-hime." greeted Danzo.

"If you're here that means the new member will be one of the root anbu." she surmised.

"Yes, and also a elite member of the Hokage's ANBU should suffice for the other member." added Homura.

Suddenly the door slammed open and Naruto barged in with the boy from earlier hanging over his shoulder.

"I believe this belongs to you. I think this dog needs remedial house training." said Naruto throwing the boy at Danzo's feet.

"Naruto, what are you doing here! This is a meeting of..." Shizune started reprimanding him only to be cut off.

"I know exactly what this is! A bunch of old meddlesome fools who know nothing about me gathered to plot how I should live my life. The same people who've been doing a shitty job of it since I was born. Where was all the concern for my well being when I actually needed it? And Shizune don't take that tone with me. You should be the one being lectured for trying to undermine your own leader!" he ranted.

"Boy you have no right..." started Homura

"Be quiet fool! What right do you have to decide what is for the betterment of the village! The ninja world isn't the same as it was 50 years ago!" proclaimed Naruto.

"You must understand we're only trying to protect you and the village." pleaded Koharu.

"The best way to protect myself and the village is to allow me to crush the Akatsuki members with my bare hands!" roared Naruto.

"You couldn't possibly..." began Danzo.

"SILENCE!" yelled Tsunade shutting them all up, "We've already agreed upon a course of action. This discussion is now closed. For future reference you three would do well to keep up to date on Naruto's abilities. On his last mission he was primarily responsible for the elimination of both Akatsuki members. His abilities returning from his training trip are far beyond even what I had hoped for. He is quickly becoming a one of the elite members of my forces. Your attempts to restrict him are quickly becoming a nuisance to the village."

"Just remember who holds the power, she is the Hokage and I am one of her greatest ninja. You're nothing but a bunch of old fools who can be easily shuffled into retirement for new blood with new ideas." he said offhandedly while exiting the room.


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