Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto is the only one allowed to make any monetary profits from Naruto; seeing as he owns it.

OMG! I woke up this morning and saw review alerts…something that hasn't happened in…let's just say a while. You guys are AMAZING I'm so touched and honored that you guys think so much of the story so far to leave a comment and even add an alert to it. I wanna thank Runtm who was the very first person considerate enough to review. Raine your review was short but sweet and it had me smiling for days… so thank you. Ambria27, your review inspired me to get up my lazy butt and get some writing done today hope it's what you hoped for. And last but certainly not the least I'd like to thank pen-Aine. I feel so giddy inside knowing that I'm converting a skeptic of this pairing into a possible future fan. Your review is the best so far and I suspect that it will keep me going for the rest of the story. You have no idea how elated I felt reading your review and how you complimented my writing style and the plot of this story. You have given me the final reassurance I needed to know that this story is on the right track and that it's not just me who likes it. So thank you, thank you, thank you. You guys are what keep me going.

PS: To answer pen-Aine's question Minato is the same age as the time he died. I'm not sure how old he was when he died so I'm gonna make it 25.

I dedicate this chapter to all these wonderful people above. Hope you enjoy it…

Chapter Three

Clash of the Kages

Sasuke woke up to the irritating feeling of water dripping on his chest and face. His eyes were greeted by the darkness of a dimly lit room, his ears by the echoes of screams and pleas from somewhere afar. He sat up rubbing his head which was pounding furiously, threatening to burst out of his skull. He heard the door to the room open and turned to fix a glare at the person who entered.

"You're awake thank goodness." The young red-haired female said sounding genuinely relieved as she closed the door behind her with the heel of her boots.

As he watched her set the tray of medicine down on the creaky bedside table, he felt his memories coming back to him slowly but surely. The nightmare, the tremors shaking the hideout, the great white snake and it's much smaller opponent. The blonde. Sasuke's expression changed from shock to realization and finally to fury.

However, this didn't go unnoticed by the red-head who immediately plunged a needle into his bicep; squeezing the top and emptying the sedative into his body. The young Uchiha felt his head spin and knew instantly what she had done. He broke free of her hold and tried furiously to get a hold of her neck. But the red-haired kunoichi, who dealt with situations like this on a daily basis, was able to elude him until the drugs took effect. She watched as the raven fell back unto the thin mattress and waited for several moments to make sure that he was indeed as sleep.

When she was satisfied, she began administering the necessary treatments to his wounds in silence. Karin nearly cried when she saw the state her long-time crush was in. He had several broken bones, a concussion, internal bleeding from numerous bruised organs and what looked like a fractured left shoulder.

Sas-cakes is going to be pissed when he realizes that his injuries will keep him from training for some time. Doesn't he use his left hand to perform the Chidori?

Several hours later she was finally done. When she was done clearing up, Karin stopped and placed a soft kiss on the beautiful Uchiha's lips before leaving the room. She walked down the corridor towards the storage room at the other end of the hideout to restock her tray. When she was done, she ascended a flight of stairs to the topmost floor of the hideout. The stairs gave way to another dimly lit corridor which she proceeded to walk down until she arrived at a set of double doors at the end of the corridor. Using her shoulder to push the doors open, Karin let herself in.

There was a large bed in the middle of the high-ceilinged room. A silver-haired shinobi was currently bent over the pale man lying on the bed treating his many injuries.

Kami, he's even worse than Sas-cakes.

"Karin don't just stand there hurry up and get over here!" The silver-haired medic snapped impatiently. The red-haired kunoichi snapped out of her musings and did as she was told. After carefully setting the medical tray on the bedside table she rolled up her sleeves and turned to offer Kabuto some assistance.

Karin gasped in shock when her eyes fell on her master. In the dim light she hadn't noticed anything amiss with the Snake Sannin when she first walked in. But now, up-close, she could see every single flaw in sharp detail. It was impossible to miss the large white scales that had taken over her master's body. His hands and legs were molded into his body making him look very much like a giant white snake. Two long fangs were peeking out of his lips. All over his body were several cuts, bruises, and weird, circular burn marks. His breathing was low and ragged.

"What happened?" Karin finally gasped out. "How come he and Sasuke are like this?"

Kabuto waited until he was done dressing a particularly nasty cut before answering her.

"Orochimaru-sama sent me out on a mission," he began pausing to cast a regretful look at the motionless body of the Snake Summoner. "On my way back I noticed several test subjects running around the forest. Knowing something was terribly wrong I teleported myself into the hideout and was just in time to rescue Orochimaru-sama and the Uchiha brat before the entire place collapsed."

The room was silent as Karin just let it all sink in. Kabuto watched her as she processed the information she had just received. It wasn't a complete lie; however, it wasn't the complete truth either. He had left out the part of him watching while Sasuke was nearly beaten to death by the Yondaime Hokage. Of course only a select few, which comprised of him, Arashi and Orochimaru, knew of the Yondaime's resurrection. Telling anyone else would have been detrimental to the operation.

I wonder what happened to make him lose control like that and attack Orochimaru-sama. We were lucky to have escaped with our lives. Have his memories finally returned? But how? What triggered them?

The red-haired kunoichi finally released a sigh of relief as she went back to her work.

"It's a good thing you all made it here when you did." She said pausing as if debating whether or not to say her next words. "My spies tell me that two Akatsuki were seen skulking around that area. If they had seen Orochimaru-sama or Sasuke…" She trailed off. She obviously didn't need to finish that sentence as they both knew how it would end anyways.

Rumor had it that the leader of the Akatsuki suspected Orochimaru of leaking information to Konoha in order to save his own neck. To silence him he had sent two Akatsuki to do away with the Snake Sannin. Kabuto shuddered slightly at the recollection of his near encounter with his former master, Sasori, and his blonde partner. He had been running for dear life, simultaneously balancing the weight of his master and the Uchiha on his shoulders, the Yellow Flash in hot pursuit when he noticed two approaching chakra signatures further down the path. When he recognized Sasori's chakra signature he jumped off the path, forming the necessary hand seals for the teleportation jutsu. He could only hope that the Akatsuki had encountered the blonde wildcard and finished him off. Or better yet, that they had finished each other off.

"Yeah, lucky huh." The silver-haired shinobi replied finally returning to his work as well.

Minato's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates at the sight before him. There, draped over the infamous Puppeteer's right shoulder, was the Third Kazekage. Minato remembered meeting the greatest of the Kazekages vaguely. His memory kept on presenting the image of him shaking hands with the man in question.

But why would someone as important as him be shaking hands with someone like me?

He stared at the wooden body again, determined to find some flaw in the puppet's appearance that would suggest that he was not who the red-head claimed him to be. But he saw none, and was forced to accept the truth. He tore his eyes away from the abomination before him and fixed a death glare at the perpetrator of this atrocity.

The Akatsuki member, unfazed by the blonde's glare, let out a low chuckle.

"Oh, taking a trip down memory lane are we?" The red-head teased as he attached several chakra strings to the puppet on his shoulder.

"How dare you?" The blonde hissed.

"I always wondered who the greatest kage that ever lived was." Sasori continued, ignoring the blonde's comment. "I guess now's my chance to find out if it is the Yondaime Hokage or the Sandaime Kazekage that will triumph."

"You sick bastard!"

"Regardless of the outcome, rest assured I will have a new addition to my collection at the end of the day."

"NO YOU WON'T!" The Yondaime roared.

"Shall we begin then? I think I've given you enough time to recover, don't you agree?" Without waiting for a response Sasori sent the Third Kazekage flying at the blonde kage who jumped just in time to avoid the assault. But the puppet master did not relent in his attacks as he sent the puppet after the blonde over and over again, each attack deadlier than the one before it.

As the assault wore on Minato began feeling the effects of the poison from earlier and it took an immense effort to not collapse.

If this fight continues at its current pace I'll be finished in no time. My chakra's low and I don't really have a trump card to play. He obviously knows this and will do everything within his power to drag this fight out. I'll have to finish this quick…but how?

Minato retreated to a spot beyond the puppet master's reach and took advantage of the borrowed time to catch his breath, simultaneously building up another one of those invaluable chakra balls in one hand. Sasori caught sight of what he was doing and sent his puppet after him.

Minato smiled when he saw the puppet kage charging at him and took off running at the puppet. He felt the chakra ball in his left hand rapidly building up and knew that it would soon reach the desired size. He looked up and when he saw that the puppet was almost upon him he let a smile grace his lips. The smile was not lost on the Akatsuki member who narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the gesture.

He's up to something. Typical. Better keep my guard up.

Suspecting an attack from behind Sasori pulled the Kazekage puppet back. Sure enough when he turned around he almost fell victim to a shadow clone's attack. He directed his most valued puppet at the would-be assailant and was satisfied when he saw the shadow disappear in a cloud of smoke. Smirking, he turned his attention towards the original and felt a shiver run down his spine. Approaching at an inhumane speed was the blonde kage, armed with a giant Rasengan the size of a small house.

Without really thinking about it, the Master Puppeteer directed his prized puppet between himself and the massive chakra globe. Almost immediately Sasori regretted his actions. As soon as the chaos of the collision subsided his ears were assaulted by the sound of violently crashing waves.

"Water style; Great Water Wave jutsu!" The Hokage roared just before a colossal wave of water crashed into the red-haired Akatsuki sending him flying.

Impossible! He's supposed to be out of chakra.

As the massive flood died down Minato collapsed to his knees heaving and panting uncontrollably. The pain eating away at his body was reaching its climax and he knew that sooner or later it would kill him.

And I wouldn't have it any other way. But first I have to finish this guy off.

The Yondaime heard an angry groan and looked up to see the Kazekage's wooden body rising up slowly.

"You persistent son of a whore!" The red-head spat as he too rose to his feet. "Why won't you just give up and die already?"

Minato ignored the enraged criminal and focused his energy on forcing himself up. Cradling his left shoulder and swaying dangerously where he stood Minato turned to face his opponent; his brilliant blue eyes brimming with stubborn determination. The puppeteer burst into a fit of scathing laughter mocking the Hokage's persistence.

"Your persistence will get you killed, again." Minato refused to acknowledge or pay attention to what his opponent was saying as he mentally prepared himself for his next course of action.

"Your bravery is to be admired indeed." Sasori paused as he reached a decision. "However, now the real fight can begin." No sooner had the words left his mouth, a low hissing sound was heard in the clearing. At first Minato thought the sound was merely a figment of his imagination; however, when he directed his gaze at the puppet kage he saw the source of the noise.

He felt a lump build in his throat just as his palms began to acquire moisture at the sight of black sand issuing from the puppet's mouth. The image of black sand engulfing everything in its path forced its way to the surface of the blonde's memory out of the blue. As Minato continued watching the scene before him he felt a shiver run down his spine, and for the first time in a long time he felt true terror.

"Secret Black Move; Scattered Showers!" In an instant the hovering black mass of sand transformed into several spiked spears before scattering in every direction. Try as he might, Minato was unable to avoid all of them as a few sand spears broke through his defenses piercing his skin in several places.

He felt more poison entering his body through the many cuts and scratches he obtained and closed his eyes in an effort to block out the pain. But the puppet master was far from being through with him. Cackling evilly, the red-haired Akatsuki made his next move.

"Secret Black Move: Sand Release!"

"Water style: Great Water Wall jutsu!" The force of the two jutsu's collision was enough to send both men flying. Minato landed several feet from where he started, breathless and in excruciating pain.

I guess there's no way out of it. I'll have to play that card after all. But if I use that jutsu my body will succumb to the poison a lot faster….But that's a price I'm willing to pay.

Pushing his exhausted body to a standing position was a lot more difficult than it had been the last time. His vision was swimming, and his head was pounding in time with his accelerated pulse. His arms and legs felt like they were made of lead, his back was killing him, and his blood vessels seemed ready to explode at any moment. Despite how terrible he felt the Yondaime Hokage still managed to fight his way up. By the time he finally managed to stand up his opponent was on his feet and had already made his move.

"Secret Black Move: Black Parade!" As the violent cloud of pitch black sand charged at him, Minato put his speed to good use; flying through a series of hand signs.

"Water style: Oceanic Devastation!" Minato cried directing what was left of his chakra to the water at his feet. The water rose violently to meet the black threat in the sky and once again water and black sand clashed causing tremors that shook the ground. However, this time both men stood their ground, refusing to lose the upper hand to their opponent.

"I'll finish this once and for all!" Sasori screamed, his voice echoing in the forest around them. "Die!"

"Forbidden Black Move: Black Death!"

Black what? Minato felt his terror spike up again when he looked up and caught sight of the devastating black sandstorm from his memory. The violent storm was approaching him at a rapid velocity ripping apart every thing between it and its prey.

With no time to think of the repercussions of his next move Minato brought his hands together and reached deep into his body for more chakra. When he felt none he tried to squeeze some out anyways and felt a familiar sensation in his head which was quickly followed by a sudden burst of energy and chakra.

Eight Inner Gates Release! First gate; Gate of Opening released! Second gate, Gate of Healing release!

By now the black sandstorm had caught up with him and was doing its best to rip the blonde kage apart. But the Yondaime was having none of that. He directed the sudden burst of chakra to form a protective layer between him and the black sand storm.

Third gate, Gate of Life open! The Yondaime felt his blood flow increase to an inhumane speed as his skin adopted a red hue.

Fourth Gate; Gate of Pain open! A tingling sensation at his spine told him that the fourth gate had been opened. Violently dispelling the chakra cloak around him sending the black sand flying in every direction.

He saw a look that was a combination of shock and fear take its place on the infamous Suna missing-nin's face. The Yellow Flash brought his hands together forming the seal for a shadow clone. But instead of about five or ten shadow clones an army of about a hundred or so shadow clones materialized each armed with a Rasengan. The clone army charged as one leaving the original behind to prepare his final attack.

The puppet master took out a large summoning scroll and slammed his palm on top activating it. Seven heavily armored human-puppets burst out of the scroll surrounding the puppet master effectively shielding him from the onslaught of the clone army's attack. When the first wave of the attack subsided, Sasori directed his puppets at the remaining shadow clones.

Try as he might, Sasori was unable to focus his attention on finding the original as his puppets were easily overwhelmed by the shadow clones. In order to prevent losing any more puppets the Akatsuki member decided to take it one step at a time.

First I'll finish off these clones then the real one is bound to show up.

The battle began to die down as more and more puppets and shadow clones were destroyed. When the fog of the battle cleared Sasori's eyes searched the clearing for the man they called the Yellow Flash of Konoha. A faint sound reached his ears and the red-haired puppeteer turned his attention in the direction he'd heard it come from.

What's that in his hands? Sasori wondered, his brown eyes the size of dinner plates as he watched the growing ball nestled between the Yondaime's hands. The bright blue chakra ball was the size of a crystal ball and was emitting a low roaring sound reminiscent of waves crashing violently during a storm at sea. Within the chakra ball Sasori could see violently spinning water moving in the opposite direction of the chakra ball it was encased within.

Is that? Did he…no, impossible. Did he just apply his water chakra nature to that accursed jutsu of his?

The more he looked at the jutsu the more he was forced to accept what he was seeing as reality. He saw the Yondaime smirk as he moved his left palm from above the chakra ball releasing the jutsu. The Master Puppeteer watched mesmerized as the sky-blue orb floated high above them like an oversized bubble. When it reached a suitable height in the air the blonde Kage brought his hands together and unleashed his jutsu in all its fury.

The chakra ball in the air exploded with enough force to level what was left of the forest. The water escaped its confinement to unleash some damage of its own. The chakra-reinforced water globe propelled towards the ground crushing everything in its path. Sasori felt the entirety of his wooden body being crushed beneath the devastating current of the Yondaime's jutsu. He vaguely remembered performing the act that saved his life; at the last minute he ejected himself from the wooden body as far away as he could get from the fearsome jutsu. He managed to resettle himself into one of the many broken bodies of his puppet army.

Kami, what power…such raw power. I am totally out of my league here. If I don't find a way out of this now I'll be finished. What is that sound?

"Water style; Water Shark Bomb jutsu!" A familiar voice boomed. As announced a burst of water in the shape of a shark charged at the blonde kage who managed to dodge the attack with only seconds to spare. Sasori felt himself being lifted from the ground and turned to glare daggers at the tall, shark-like man grinning down at him.

Although he was eternally grateful towards the Kiri missing-nin Sasori couldn't drop his pride to show it.

"Put me down this instant!" He commanded and was internally relieved when the swordsman didn't oblige him. "I had everything under control."

"Sure you did, Woody." The blue-skinned shinobi said sarcastically before turning to size up the competition.

"Don't take him lightly, he's tough: He's super-fast plus he outsmarted the kid and forced me to fight in my true form." Sasori said debriefing the shark of the battle's events. When the puppet master noticed something amiss he stopped his debriefing and turned to face the shark. "Where's Uchiha?" He asked in a sharp tone.

"Maybe I should have taken my sweet time getting here like Itachi's doing right now and let blondie over there turn you into toothpicks. Relax Woody, I can handle this guy on my own." Kisame said a smug look on his shark-like features as he turned back to face the blonde kage who was watching the pair of them with unhidden curiosity. Sasori ignored the swordsman's taunts as he tried to think of a way to convince the taller shinobi to put off fighting until his partner arrived.

It wasn't as if Sasori didn't have faith in the Kiri missing-nin's abilities, on the contrary he had once seriously considered adding the swordsman to his collection. He knew that Kisame was a very accomplished and immensely skilled shinobi. However, when dealing with an opponent like this it was best to never go it alone. He and Deidara had made the mistake of attacking him separately instead of fighting him together as a team. The only thing that could bring this man down was overwhelming force the type that Kisame was capable of when teamed up with the Uchiha. Because everyone one knew that apart from Kakuzu and Hidan, Itachi and Kisame were the only other team capable of working together flawlessly.

"What's with his skin; sunburn?" The Kiri missing-nin burst into laughter at his own joke earning him an incredulous look from the irritable Master of Puppets.

"Hoshigaki, where's Uchiha?" Sasori inquired again.

"No, no seriously what's with his skin?" The shark-man asked pointing at the Yondaime. "It sorta reminds me of a certain 'Mighty stupid-looking guy' I met some years ago in the Leaf."

Sasori was sure his eyes were going to pop out of his sockets as he glared at the swordsman.

"If I'm not mistaken he's activated at least four of the Eight Inner Gates." The red-haired man replied before adding. "Hoshigaki put me down. If you want to die please do so alone."

"As you wish." The Kiri bred giant replied before flinging the puppet master over his shoulder as far away as he could, snickering as he did so.

Turning to face the blonde, the greatest of the seven swordsmen of the Mist let a feral smile grace his lips. To his credit the blonde didn't flinch or show any signs of intimidation.

"Hmm, according to Woody you're one tough customer huh?" He paused to survey the scarred land around them before adding. "By the way I love what you've done with the place."

Minato refused to get sidetracked by the shark-man. Apparently reinforcements were on the way and he wasn't sure how much longer the Eight Inner Gates jutsu would hold. Placing one leg behind the other he took off running at an inhumane speed.

Huh so Woody was right, he is fast. Well if he's using that jutsu then I really don't have much to worry about. Samehada can handle his chakra for me. My, my he must be really tough; I haven't seen Samehada this excited ever.

Removing his sword from its strap Kisame assumed his battle stance watching the yellow blur that was his opponent. They traded blows at super-sonic speed, and Kisame was unable to keep up with the blonde brat. He smirked internally when he noticed the blonde's movements slowing down as the battle dragged on.

Ha, he's almost out of chakra. The average shinobi can only open two of the eight gates. For him to have come this far and stayed at the fourth gate must mean that he has reached his limit. Just as I suspected; opening more than four gates is unheard of.

Minato noticed the smirk on the shark-like Akatsuki's face and instantly knew that something was up. His movements had been gradually slowing down and he had a feeling that it had nothing to do with the poison in his system. But what was causing his gradual chakra loss. He hadn't seen the swordsman perform any hand seals so far, and the only thing he had done the entire fight was swinging that enormous sword at him. He turned to examine the sword and it finally hit him.

Kami I was such a fool.

Within the blink of an eye Minato had put as much distance between himself and the shark as he could without losing sight of him. From where he stood he heard the shark-man burst into a fit of boisterous laughter as he shouldered the bandaged sword.

"Very clever, very clever indeed." The Kiri missing-nin called as his hands performed a series of hand signs in quick succession. "Enough playing, time to end this!"

"Boy if I had a penny for every time I heard that." Minato shot back eliciting more boisterous laughter from the giant Akatsuki.

"How's this then?" With that Kisame proceeded to release a violent jet of water from his mouth. The water pooled at his feet, flooding the scarred earth. When he was satisfied with the water's quantity he began forming another series of hand signs.

"Water style; Water Vortex jutsu!" On cue the water began churning violently sweeping Minato and everything else in its path. Minato was disoriented by the rapidly spinning water and struggled as much as he could against the overwhelming current. Closing his eyes Minato tried to focus his attention towards opening the remaining inner gates.

"Now remember Minato, there's a reason why this jutsu is forbidden so don't use it recklessly." Minato saw a tall silver-haired man addressing a younger version of himself in his mind's eye. Something about the man seemed very familiar and Minato racked his brains to quell his curiosity.

"Jiraiya-sensei," the younger version of himself said in a small voice attracting the silver-haired shinobi's attention.

"If it's called the Eight Inner Gates Release jutsu then how come you only taught me how to open four?" The man he addressed as sensei had given him a strange look before answering him finally.

"The shinobi who invented this jutsu unlocked the first gate by accident. He became dependent on the jutsu and used it regularly. However, the more he used it the more his opponents found a way to counter it. Hungry for more power the man pushed his body further, unlocking more and more gates as he went and attaining the power each gate released to him.

However, when he finally reached the eighth and final gate something happened…"

"What happened?" He remembered asking. But his sensei only smiled at him sadly before replying.

"Let's just say there's a reason why the eighth gate is known as the gate of death."

Minato considered his options very carefully. If he proceeded to unlock any more of the inner gates he would be tempted to go all the way and unlock the eighth gate. However, if he didn't unlock any more gates there was no way he was going to survive this water vortex jutsu. He would have to hold out until the Akatsuki reinforcements arrived, that way he could take them all out with one devastating blow.

His mind made up, Minato focused on squeezing out more chakra from his already exhausted body. The vortex was sucking him in and he knew he had no time to spare at all.

Fifth gate; Gate of Limit…release! A sudden burst of chakra alerted him of the jutsu's success and he could feel the water around him spinning furiously from the force of the newly unleashed chakra. He opened his eyes and was rewarded with a look of unadulterated fear on his sword-wielding opponent. He smirked and proceeded to unlock the sixth gate.

Sixth gate; Gate of Joy…released! By now Minato could feel another rapidly approaching chakra signature nearby and knew that the reinforcements would soon be upon him. He took advantage of the massive burst of chakra the sixth gate gave him and began his preparations for his final jutsu.

"Seventh gate; Gate of Wonder... release!" He screamed as the agonizing pain engulfed his entire being.

"Don't do it you crazy son of a bitch!" Kisame hollered at the blonde kage. But his cry fell on deaf ears.

"Eight gate of opening; GATE OF DEATH…RELEASE!" Minato felt something explode inside his chest as an overwhelming surge of white-hot pain engulfed his entire body. But he didn't care; he was already dying anyways might as well end it himself.

Minato heard the shark-man address the new arrival in a voice laced with fear and unhidden terror. He ignored them and turned his eyes skyward as he felt an immense surge of power channeling through every vein in his body.

"Lightening style; SCREAMING GOD!" He roared just as a large bolt of lightening plunged into his body accumulating all the chakra stored there. He smiled at the knowledge of what was to come; in an instant the lightening would use the immense chakra in his body to take out everything within a 100 km of him from all angles. He would die knowing that he had accomplished what he set out to do.

My only regret is that I couldn't take that miserable snake with me…Nani? What is going on?

As quickly as it had come Minato felt all the power leave him. In the aftermath of the jutsu his body succumbed to the searing, painful side effects of the forbidden jutsu and he collapsed to the floor unaware of everything but the pain eating him whole. And once again the pain disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. Minato heard a small voice echoing in the blankness of his mind.

"Ninth gate of opening; Gate of Resurrection…unlocked." The voice said as Minato felt himself falling into the never-ending abyss of death.

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