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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any way, shape, or form

Chapter 7: Mission Success

"What is it?"

"Well, upon our reconnaissance in Sand, we came upon leaf shinobi, un."

"And?"

"Sasori-danna's sleeper agent mentioned something about a possible alliance forming between the two, yeah."

"Leader did not speak for a while, as if processing this information. "...Strike before alliances solidify between the two."

"Also..." Deidara spoke hesitantly.

"There's more?"

"Well, I'm not sure if you're particularly curious to know, but I stumbled upon the very same kunoichi Orochimaru captured a few days ago, un."

More silence. "The kunoichi was Orochimaru's business, not ours. Leave her be."

And then the hologram of Pein was gone.

"Holy crap Sakura-chan, that's the fourth one in a row!" Naruto exclaimed loudly, throwing down his cards on the table harshly as Sakura stole the pot yet again -he swore, poker was seriously not his game.

Although Sakura should be elated about winning, she furrowed her eyebrows in distress. Among several of the things she had inherited from her mentor, her bad luck was one of them. "Something's not right..." she had a bad feeling in her stomach.

"Yeah, you cheating, that's what's not right." Temari huffed begrudgingly from alongside her, looking down at her nearly non-existent money. "Nee, Kankuro, help a sister out." she nudged him, only to have him laugh at her.

"You're funny." he merely commented -he had been smart enough to not mess with Sakura after her second win in a row, so he had managed to save himself the money.

Sakura tried to laugh at the antics of the Sand siblings, but the feeling at the pit of her stomach left her feeling with foreboding. What if... what if Daichi and Shikamaru had been right? What if-

"Hey Sakura-chan, are you in this round or no?" Naruto's statement snapped her out of her thoughts, as the people around the round table (the sand siblings and her fellow Team 7 members) looked at her.

"O-Oh, right! Sorry!" Sakura quickly threw in her fair share of the starting pot.

And then Sakura peeked at her two cards.

Two Aces

Something was definitely wrong...

Thirty minutes later, Sakura having won a majority of the games, they decided to call it a night.

"Alright, Sakura-chan," Temari stated with the new endearment Sakura had garnered herself while out shopping, "I'll see you tomorrow for some more shopping. I'll swing by at around noon." she gave Sakura a small grin.

"Sounds good." Sakura smiled back.

"Alright, good-bye Uzumaki. Cute little Uchiha," she paused momentarily to give Sasuke a teasing wink, "and Old Bag Hatake-san!" She, along with Gaara and Kankuro, were gone before either Sasuke or Kakashi could complain about their given nicknames.

Sakura sighed. She couldn't get over her nerves, and it was really starting to get to her. "Alright, I'm going to take a shower. I expect you two off my bed and out of my room by the time I step out." Sakura mumbled, grabbing her pack of belongings as she began walking towards the bathroom of the joint room she was sharing with Kakashi.

"Hai Sakura-chan~!" Naruto stated, although it seemed like he didn't plan on moving any time soon -figures.

"I mean it." she merely mumbled right before locking herself in the bathroom.

And of course, Naruto would wait until the very last second before bailing, quite literally storming out of the room with a quick "Goodnight Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei!" as she was quite literally emerging from the bathroom.

Sakura sighed -Naruto was impossibly stubborn.

Sakura awoke to the strongest feeling of anxiety, looking around anxiously to see if something was amiss. But Kakashi was sleeping casually in the bed next to her, and looking outside, Sakura could tell that it was probably barely even five in the morning, if that.

But why did she feel so... wrong?

'I feel it too, Mistress,' Sakura was glad that she wasn't the only one (somewhat...) who felt like something was amiss.

"Kakashi" she muttered under her breath, getting up as she walked towards the window, her eyes narrowed as she looked outside.

"Hai" Kakashi spoke as if he had been awake the entire time, although it was probably Sakura's own movement that woke him up. The lack of the endearment made Kakashi wary as he watched Sakura staring out the window.

"Something's wrong." she muttered, turning to look at him. "I'm going to go find Gaara. Go wake the two bakas up and meet me at the Kazekage's tower."

Kakashi stared curiously at Sakura, watching as she went to the bathroom, having grabbed her ninja attire. "What do you think it is?" he questioned, partially wondering if this had something to do with them, or with Gaara. Did she perhaps think that Suna-nin were conspiring against them? It was probable.

"I sure hope it's not what I'm thinking." Came Sakura's response from the bathroom, and thirty seconds later, she emerged, fully dressed, pulling on her gloves. "Get going." she was out the door as she said that.

Kakashi didn't even wait, immediately getting up and shedding off his clothing. There was no time to waste. If Sakura felt something was off, chances were they probably were. As such, he had to make sure he got Sasuke and Naruto quickly.

As Sakura began hopping through the rooftops, she couldn't help but notice that there was not a creature stirring -only a single bird flying overhead, and she found it rather strange, seeing as, now that she thought about it, she hadn't ever even seen a single bird in Sunagakure before. It was flying, encircling the Kazekage tower just a few minutes from her current destination. And as she was reaching it, suddenly said bird seemed to swoop down, and Sakura realized that this bird was much, much bigger than any normal bird as a sense of dread filled Sakura's stomach.

Suddenly she was hurled back by an explosion at the corner of the Kazekage tower, having enough force to knock the wind out of Sakura and send her hurling back until she hit her head on a building. She immediately felt blood ooze from her head, but paid no attention to it as she pumped more chakra into her feet, hopping back onto the rooftops as she desperately tried to look for Gaara, or at least his sand, to know he was safe.

As she got closer and the debris in the air began to settle, she could identify that the bird was yet again flying over head, but not just around the Kazekage tower -it was roaming the entire city, and Sakura had a feeling that either he could not locate Gaara, or Suna had just become a battlefield. She hoped it was the former, for the sake of both Gaara and the village.

'Is this what the attack on Suna looked like three years ago?' Sakura couldn't help but wonder curiously.

And as she thought this she finally saw it, a glimpse of red hair, as she heard a swish of sand. "Gaara!" But there was no way he could hear her, far overhead on top of the mountains that loomed over Suna, his vast sand looking for, she was sure, Deidara.

Sakura's eyes narrowed, her Flower Eye activating. If Deidara was here, she was sure that Sasori was close behind, and as such, Gaara needed back up. And with that thought, Sakura pumped more chakra into her feet, dashing towards Gaara's location before it was too late.

'Hurry up Kakashi-sensei.'

Deidara grinned. He hadn't felt this exhilarated in so long; he could nearly laugh in excitement. Why was it that it was only ever a challenging fight when he was fighting against a monster? "Come on One-tail, show me what you're made of." he commented to himself, his clay already forming on the palms of his hands. He noticed with much amazement, that Gaara's sand was faster than his own bird, and was catching up relatively quick.

It was a showdown in the air -the best kind. This would no doubt be a dynamic explosion -a work of art like none ever seen before.

And where did Sasori-danna go anyway?

The sand was everywhere -it was nearly breathtaking, Sakura had to admit, seeing Gaara's sand chase after Deidara from up above. Gaara's sand made a move around her, acknowledging her existence, but Gaara did nothing, too focused on trying to capture the Akatsuki member in the air.

Sakura was left looking up at said Akatsuki member, her eyes deactivating for the moment, seeing as there was simply nothing she could do. How could she help at all? She couldn't fly. But she knew, if only she could get up there, perhaps she could make a difference in the battlefield. Before she could even think anything else though, suddenly she noticed something move, something that was most definitely not her and most definitely not Gaara or his sand, and before she had any time to register, Gaara's sand was making a wall before her, protecting her from hundreds of senbon that were hurled not just towards her, but towards Gaara as well. But of course -there Deidara was, way up ahead, but she had not seen Sasori at all. He must have been bidding his time to attack when Gaara was most vulnerable.

The wall of sand waited until the senbon barrage was over nearly two minutes later, before it dropped back onto the floor, revealing their second opponent.

"Sasori..." Sakura's eyes narrowed in confirmation.

He didn't speak, merely staring at Sakura for several seconds, a flash of recognition in his features. "You're the kunoichi. The Haruno Orochimaru captured, aren't you?" he merely stated, his scorpion tail aimlessly flailing before him as he examined her. True he had not actually seen her, but there was no doubt about it, based off of the description that Deidara had given him, plus his reconnaissance the day prior.

Sakura didn't respond, her mind racing. She didn't have an antidote prepared for this meeting -if either of them got hit once it'd be game over. "Gaara. Leave Sasori to me." She had no choice. Because she had a better chance at dodging and evading Sasori's moves, having already fought him, and Gaara had a village to take care of -she could do nothing to Deidara as he stood, but Gaara could, and there was no way Gaara could take on both Akatsuki members on his own. Last she knew, Deidara had defeated Gaara one on one, so there was no way she was going to let Gaara go two-on-one. Hopefully Kakashi or Sasuke or even Naruto would be able to find a way to help Gaara once they arrived, whenever the hell that would be.

"Move unless you insist on dying." Sasori's voice would have made Sakura tremble in fear three years ago, his impatience rolling off in waves. Because as interested as he was in the kunoichi, he didn't want to be here at all, and the sooner they could capture the One-tail, the better. Plus, he reasoned, it was all her fault he was here anyway. If it weren't for her, Orochimaru would still be in the organization and this would be his Jinchuuriki to capture, not his.

"Sakura" Gaara flashed her a look, a mixture of uncertainty and protective-ness all at once that it would have nearly been cute were they not standing before two deadly Akatsuki members.

"Just go. I'll be fine." Sakura stated. Already she could hear some more explosions in the background, Deidara no doubt detonating bombs around the village, trying to draw Gaara out -attempting to, at least, for every detonation was met with Gaara's own deadly force of sand.

Gaara stared at her for a few seconds, before nodding and disappearing in a flurry of sand. Yet, Sakura noticed that some sand remained, as well as a small sand-sculpted eye. 'He's keeping an eye on me.' Sakura couldn't help but note. Her eyes landed back on Sasori, who made an irritated sound from the back of his throat.

"You must want to die, little girl."

"Bite me." Sakura glared, looking around to see how she could possibly get an advantage. She had to destroy his defensive shell first and foremost, but how to distract him long enough to do that? She didn't have Lady Chiyo with her to help her now...

But she did have her kekkei genkai, and she did have her contract with the Cherry Blossom trees, and that would have to suffice for now. And so, gripping on to her gloves tightly, Sakura allowed herself to charge, just as Sasori's scorpion tail went straight for her with deadly accuracy.

'One hit and I'm done.' Sakura reminded herself, quickly evading his tail but finding that it made a complete u-turn and continued its attack on Sakura before she could continue her attack. Sakura quickly allowed herself to jump away from Sasori, suddenly feeling an all too familiar chakra signature nearby, quickly approaching.

Sakura smirked, once more charging, gaining the attention of Sasori and his tail. Drawing out his tail to the point where it would not be able to quickly retract, Sakura allowed it to attempt to impale her. Yet, as it nearly made contact, Sakura quickly side-stepped and grabbed hold of said tail, Sasori quickly trying to pull back but finding that the kunoichi's strength was simply too much to over-power. But of course, because he had yet to come across Sakura and as such, had no clue about her incredible strength.

"Now!"

And before Sasori could even wonder why his opponent was shouting or even try to think of a way out of whatever trap she had devised, suddenly there was another shinobi before him, a man with grey hair and a single Sharingan eye, just as a Raikiri blasted through his defensive shell, and Sasori was left scrambling to evade the electric jutsu that would have no doubt torn right through his own puppet-structure if he hadn't dodged.

"Sorry I'm late, Sakura." Kakashi was quick to jump back until he was just a few feet away from Sakura, giving her a quick glance.

"Where are Naruto and Sasuke-kun?" Sakura ignored his prior statement, eyeing Kakashi cautiously to make sure he hadn't gotten hurt somehow, before her eyes once more landed on Sasori, his true form finally appearing.

"They're off attempting to aid Gaara."

"Ahh" Sakura's eyes landed on Sasori, his hooded figure a distance away from them, probably furious that he had been caught off guard so quickly into the fight. But of course, because Kakashi was one of the most skilled shinobi Sakura had ever come across (the exceptions being shinobi like Itachi or Kisame or Orochimaru), and he was extremely skilled when it came to stealth. "Are you confident you can dodge all of his abilities?" Sakura mumbled, seeing Sasori pull out a scroll, something she assumed would contain the Third Kazekage within it, if this fight would go anything like the one from her own timeline.

"All?" Kakashi inquired, looking at their opponent, their cloak now gone.

"All" Sakura confirmed.

"Well, I'm always up for the challenge." the typical Kakashi-esque smile was on his face.

Sakura tried not to roll her eyes at Kakashi's statement. "Leave this one to me, Kakashi-sensei. Back up until I need you." Sakura was clearly referring to the puppet that was now being summoned. Kakashi tried to argue, but she shook her head in defiance. "Kakashi, I've fought and defeated him before. Albeit, I had some help, but I am more skilled now than I was before. I don't want you taken by surprise. He is a slippery bastard."

Although hesitant to comply with her demands, Kakashi knew that she was stating this out of past experience, not because she was being cocky or anything (he left remarks like that to Naruto and Sasuke, after all). "Be careful Sakura." And then he jumped away a safe distance, close enough to aid Sakura if she needed it but far enough so that he wouldn't get caught in the crossfire between the two shinobi.

And then it was Sakura and the Third Kazekage, his iron sand slowly seeping out of his mouth, and Sasori standing a distance away.

Had the kunoichi seriously just told her aid to back off? The very same aid that had just destroyed his defense with a single blow? Was she that cocky? Did she take him that lightly?

Hmmpph. He'd just have to kill her quickly. Although curious about her skills, still skeptical about how she had managed to bypass his chakra blocking toxin during her interaction with Orochimaru, he didn't care to find out. Plus, he had things to do and was simply too impatient to try and assess her skills. Deciding he didn't want to waste energy and chakra, Sasori opted instead to begin with his trump card; his ace. He needed to conserve energy to defeat the One-tail anyway, for he had a feeling Deidara was just stalling in order for Sasori himself to strike at the Kazekage (Either that or Sasori just thought Deidara too incompetent -it could be a little bit of both, honestly). And although the technique itself was taxing, Sasori knew it would probably be the best way to go.

"Iron Sand: World Order"

Sakura's eyes widened as she heard the words -Sasori hadn't resulted to this technique until much later on in their battle the first time around. But even as he said these words and enough iron sand was being gathered for the jutsu, the Kazekage's own hands detached and multiplied into hundreds of hands, a technique that she had previously needed Lady Chiyo in order to evade completely. He was stalling for the completion of the jutsu, Sakura noticed, increasing his defenses while his puppet was left vulnerable, if only for the sake of preventing Sakura from destroying it like Kakashi had the previous one.

Sakura's eyes briskly turned golden as she stared on with deep concentration on her features.

No, she didn't need Lady Chiyo for this. She was far stronger now than she had been back then. And so, even if the hands ranged anywhere from one to two hundred, they were all sloppily targeting her, so dodging them was not as difficult as she expected or even remembered them to be. But then suddenly the hands began to move after they embedded themselves around Sakura who dodged them easily, an upgrade which Sasori had not had three years earlier, and Sakura desperately pulled out her kunai trying to cut them down, but even as she did this two latched on to her ankles, and a third's hand opened up to reveal a fume gas, something that she had definitely expected.

And so the area around her was suddenly filled with poison, Sakura taking one last deep breath before it was too late, and she was glad to see that Kakashi had taken the necessary precautions to stay away from the purple toxin in the air.

Sakura held her breath, frantically looking for a way out of the poison, cutting down the hands that held her tied to the spot, but just as she did this she suddenly saw movement above her, the Kazekage's World Order jutsu finally ready as it began to speedily dash in all sorts of directions, even going as far as attacking Kakashi. Luckily, he was close enough to Gaara's sand for it to protect him, but Sakura was not as lucky. After all, this was not Gaara's special sand and as such, greatly lacked the speed provided by Gaara's chakra.

Although, she thought with a quick smirk, her mind racing through all sorts of possible ways to possibly get her out of this mess, she could probably use the toxic fumes to her advantage.

She just had to pray she could last long enough.

"Sakura!" Kakashi shouted frantically, unable to see Sakura from within the confines of the toxin -despite the fact that he wanted to help her, he knew that he couldn't. If he stepped anywhere near it he'd be a goner, he knew. And then suddenly the Kazekage's sand was on him all too quickly, but Gaara's sand suddenly sprouted from seemingly nowhere, and their two sands clashed before him. His eyes widened as he saw the fighting sands clashing, but Gaara's sand ultimately defeating that of the Kazekage's -but of course Shukaku's own sand manipulation would be greater than that of the Kazekage's, who was manipulating his own chakra to copy that of the real deal's.

His eyes darted back to Sakura's own arena, the toxic fumes slowly dissipating in the air.

And then, when it finally cleared, easily over a minute later, he saw Sakura barely standing, two deep gashes on both of her arms as she desperately tried her best to remain standing -she had been struck, not just once, but twice. And suddenly she was on her knees falling to the floor and beginning to convulse slightly, an action that left Sasori smirking.

But of course it would -it served the kunoichi right, not just for thinking herself good enough to take him on one-on-one, but also for causing Orochimaru to abandon the organization and having Tobi promptly chasing after him. If it weren't for that damned kunoichi, he wouldn't even be here right now, after all. He'd be at the base relaxing and doing away with his new puppet creations.

"I'll finish this quickly." he muttered, his chakra strings ordering the Kazekage to charge at the fallen kunoichi with blades protruding from both of its arms.

Kakashi watched in near horror as he watched his own student fall to the ground, but upon trying to go to her and shield her, he noticed something stopping him from moving, a small root on the ground, and he watched with mild curiosity. But why wouldn't he look at it questioningly, when they were atop a mountain in a place where no plant or tree could possibly physically grow on their own... unless...

He turned his eyes back on the scene as the Kazekage was no more than two feet away from Sakura and moving quickly, before Sakura sprouted from the ground with such speed he was nearly taken aback, her fist colliding with the body of the Kazekage's puppet until it created a hole right through it's center, successfully breaking it into thousands of pieces.

And there Sasori stood, utterly speechless, as he watched his most prized puppet being smashed into smithereens right before his very eyes -by a puny kunoichi with pink hair no less. But how? He had scratched her, not just once, but twice with the Kazekage's poison-infused iron sand. There was no way she should be able to even move right now. And there was no possible way she had an antidote already -it had taken him months to create one, and he had made the poison!

Almost as if reading his thoughts, the kunoichi spoke. "You assume I was wounded by your iron sand." the smirk in her face made him bubble with anger, his eyes narrowing.

But of course -because he hadn't actually physically seen her being injured by his jutsu, not being able to see past his toxic fumes; he had merely assumed she had, because what kind of godly taijutsu skills did she have to evade his World Order jutsu, on top of being trapped within the confines of his puppet arm arena and having to hold her breath? Had he really under-estimated the puny kunoichi so much? No, that wasn't even it. The probability of her dodging it all, despite being able to predict the movements, was nearly impossible. He didn't under-estimate her; she just displayed more skill than he could ever even consider giving someone credit. Even the most elite in Akatsuki lacked the skill she had performed.

"Those are self-inflicted." he merely stated, his eyes boring holes into Sakura's two injuries, two clean and precise cuts made to look exactly as if he himself had inflicted them with his World Order Jutsu, but now they were clearly identifiable as two simple slashes from a kunai.

Sakura didn't respond, her hands going to opposite arms as she began to heal her own injuries, 'made by her own kunai', the thought made Sasori angrier than before, while she was snugly protected from Sasori's poison in her cherry blossom tree, which had disappeared just moments before the toxic fumes dissipated in order to not alert Sasori about her trap.

Kakashi watched in out right astonishment as Sakura single-handedly, in seemingly under five minutes, did away with a Kazekage -the Kazekage that had been known as the strongest of all shinobi in Sunagakure thus far, destroying a renown S-Class criminal's deadliest weapon as if it were a breeze. Which it shouldn't be, even if Sakura had already faced off against him once before. Kami, Sakura was amazing... When had she grown so strong?

"I'm going to enjoy making a puppet out of you." Sakura didn't miss the irritable tone of Sasori's, or the way his fingers twitched with malicious anticipation, suddenly pulling out another scroll.

"And this is where I ask for your assistance, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura looked back at Kakashi, snapping him out of whatever daze he was in.

He didn't respond, merely watching as Sasori suddenly summoned what seemed to be over one hundred puppets. "I conquered an entire nation with these. Two shinobi shouldn't be too much of a hassle." But even as he said this he felt doubts, suddenly realizing that this kunoichi was much more resilient and witty than he had given her credit for. Perhaps Orochimaru had reason to want her so badly -hell, he found that he wanted her too. He'd need her to reconstruct his army anyway, seeing as she, along with the silver-haired shinobi, were quickly doing away with his one hundred man army and had already destroyed two of his most valued puppets.

But if he wanted to accomplish this, he'd have to use this distraction to strike her, for he was sure any other time and her eyes would be quick to save her from much of anything else.

And so he began charging, hurling more senbon at her as she was simultaneously dealing with a dozen or so more puppets, but he found that before any of the senbon could even make any contact, that there was suddenly a giant Sakura tree, it's branches flailing wildly and deflecting all of his senbon, Sakura not even batting an eyelash at his attempt, as if she had seen this coming, and as if his attempts were futile to begin with. And so he unleashed a hellish fire, quickly angered, as he burned down that Sakura tree, but as he began to quickly dash towards her, suddenly his blade collided with a barrage of sand that nearly overwhelmed him and had him jumping back before its sheer size and brute force could crush him.

"Tch" he glared. This was quickly becoming more and more irritating.

Sakura and Kakashi were panting heavily, sweating trickling down their foreheads and dropping by their feet. Defeating one hundred puppets was definitely a feat easier said than done Sakura and Kakashi decided, both near the brink of exhaustion. And there they stood, trying their best not to show how tired and exhausted they were before the unscathed red head with a seemingly bored expression on his smooth puppet features.

"Impressive." he merely muttered, commending the two shinobi for not having been scratched even once -of course, it didn't hurt that whenever one seemed to be under a pinch, either another Sakura tree would come to their aid, or the Kazekage's own sand would.

"Give it up Sasori." Kakashi stated.

But Sasori ignored Kakashi, his interest lying more so on the pink-haired kunoichi, the real star of the show in his eyes. "Why do you fight kunoichi? This is not your village. Your ties lie not within this Kazekage." he spoke curiously. Because, honestly, why was she going through such extensive efforts to protect a village not her own? She held no alliances to the Sand, and as such, it was quite stupid of her to risk her life for them. And even if it were her own village, he still found the notion a bit stupid. The only thing worth striving for was power and life -neither of which would she gain from fighting for her village.

"My ties lie with my comrades." Sakura rebutted. "Just because we are from different villages does not mean we cannot find ourselves friends."

"Friends weaken your resolution." Sasori sneered, disappointed with her answer.

"No." Sakura shook her head. "Friends are what drive my will to fight. Because I want to protect everyone I once failed to." And if only he knew that this was somewhat of a second chance at re-doing previous wrongs, he would understand that to Sakura, this was much more than just fighting to protect people she cared for -it was Sakura fighting to save everyone she had been unable to before, such as Gaara or Sasuke-kun, or Mikoto or Itachi. This was Sakura fighting for more than just the safety of her friends; this was Sakura fighting for the safety of all the Shinobi Nations; fighting for a brighter future.

"Tch. You'll find yourself dead in the future because of this idealism. You're a waste of talent, kunoichi."

Because Sasori had already come to the realization that this would be his final battle -the kunoichi had come out of seemingly nowhere and overwhelmed him. How had nobody heard of her talent beforehand? Why had she not been noticed prior to now? Why hadn't they found themselves in a confrontation with her beforehand? Surely Konoha hadn't just locked her up and hidden her talent up until now?

"Maybe. But it'll be worth it if I can save those I care for." And so Sakura and Kakashi suddenly charged simultaneously, a Raikiri already forming in Kakashi's palm as Sakura's chakra-infused fist was held back, ready to strike.

Sasori's mind raced. Even if he were to die today, during this fight, he would make sure to fight with all his might, perhaps taking out one of those pesky Leaf shinobi with him.

He wouldn't mind killing the pink fluff ball, he decided contemptuously.

"You'll have to try a lot harder than that." Deidara snickered, taunting Gaara as his sand continued to chase after him.

But seriously, where was his danna?

He supposed he got his answer minutes later when, from the distance, he could see a cloud of iron sand, proof that Sasori was currently fighting with his own opponent. And how had Sasori been forced to take such measures as using that jutsu? His opponent couldn't possibly be that strong.

Too lost in his train of thoughts, he didn't notice that Gaara's sand had suddenly appeared in front of him, but suddenly a figure appeared from within the sand, a black figure with spiky black hair, and he could already hear the thunder technique, and he had no choice but to jump off his clay bird swiftly before a chidori penetrated his chest.

As he began free falling from the sky, he turned back, his fingers already placed in the proper hand sign to detonate the clay bird he had just previously been on.

"Kai!"

The explosion hit, Sasuke still well in the danger zone, but Deidara had no time to look at the damage he had caused, for suddenly there was more sand running towards him, ready to swallow him whole. Deidara's eyes widened at the sheer size of the monster sand, quickly creating a clay block which he used to propel himself away from the sand by kicking off of it, suddenly finding himself among the rooftops of Suna. But even here he could catch no break as suddenly there was another shinobi before him, this one identifiable as a Leaf shinobi clad in an obnoxious orange attire (and why did this eerily remind him of something or someone he should know?).

"Rasengan!" he charged quickly, but Deidara could easily tell this was meant as a distraction as another figure appeared above him, the same dark-haired shinobi from the sky.

'He's unscathed' Deidara noticed, eyes wide, as he sent two tiny spiders towards both shinobi.

Instantly knowing these to be a threat, both shinobi retreated, allowing Deidara time to jump off the building, seconds later soaring back up towards the sky. And just for the hell of it, he detonated these, hoping they would somehow stall him long enough to locate his real target, the Kazekage. Luckily, with a little more flying and leaving the two unknown leaf shinobi far behind, he was finally able to identify the aforementioned Kazekage, quickly hurling his clay bombs at him, although he was quick to shield himself in a tight ball of sand around him.

'His Ultimate Defense...' Deidara examined his enemy. How to overcome such a thing?

Whatever. Deidara was always up for the challenge.

"Tch" Sasuke glared, quickly jumping away from the clay spider that had attempted to attach itself to him. Suddenly it exploded, but somehow, Gaara's sand was there to protect him from any incoming damage, as had been the case when Sasuke had attempted to hide himself in Gaara's sand for a sneak attack. Unfortunately, riding sand that he was not controlling proved much more difficult than he had imagined, and his and Naruto's attempts at trying to corner him had been relatively fruitless as well, no thanks to his air advantage.

As you would expect from an Akatsuki member.

"Naruto" he called out, trying to pinpoint the blonde through the debris and smoke in the air.

"Hai" he could hear but not see the blonde, but it was enough to let Sasuke know that his blonde friend was okay. By now, several shinobi had already come outside of their respective homes and buildings, wondering what it was that they were hearing outside as they gathered in groups on rooftops.

"Tch. We can't aid the fight like this." Sasuke glowered.

"Does it look like Gaara's got it?" Naruto debated, chewing on his bottom lip as he saw Gaara jump on his sand and soar high above the city, a place where nobody could reach them.

"You better pray he does, for everyone's sake." Sasuke glanced at Naruto, before he looked around. "We should find Temari and Kankuro." he merely stated. After all, it was better that they be located quickly before somehow people began suspecting that they were behind the attack on the Kazekage, even if it seemed a preposterous thought to them.

"I think I smell them this way." And so Naruto led the way, four minutes later finding themselves atop the partially destroyed Kazekage building, alongside Kankuro, Temari, Baki, and several other Suna shinobi.

"What's going on?" Temari was quick to squint up towards the sky, but could not make out the figure standing on the bird.

"Akatsuki." Sasuke merely mumbled, the tension around the building suddenly increasing three-fold.

"Where are Sakura and Kakashi-san?" Temari looked around.

"My guess would be over there." Kankuro was quick to point to the sudden explosion that seemed to have erupted out of nowhere just as Temari had asked her question.

Before Temari could ask any more questions, Naruto was quick to comment. "Akatsuki always travel in pairs." His eyes narrowed dangerously, his hands balling into fists. What if his Sakura-chan was in danger...? What if she was hurt? And what of Kakashi-sensei?

"Kakashi-sensei is with her, dobe. Don't worry." But even as he tried to assure Naruto this, his own gut told him that Sakura was never safe unless he and Naruto could personally guarantee it.

Suddenly there were yelps of excitement going on around the shinobi, and their eyes were back on Gaara, who seemingly had the Akatsuki member's left arm trapped within his soon-to-be sand coffin.

"Z-Zugoi..." Naruto muttered in astonishment, looking at the sheer size of Gaara's own sand attacks. Why couldn't he have some uber cool control over his Jinchuuriki like that? It wasn't fair; he could nearly "hmmph" in annoyance.

And then suddenly a big owl-like thing formed in the sky and began dropping, everyone's eyes widening in panic as they looked around. And then there was a giant explosion, a shock-wave that shook the entire village, it seemed, but as the bright light cleared, they could see nothing but sand over the village, protecting them from what would have most definitely been destruction and death for all of them.

"Kazekage-sama...!" Naruto and Sasuke could hear more yelps and chants of adoration towards their Jinchuuriki-now-kage, his breathing ragged and his eyes scrunched up in concentration and exhaustion. It was obvious now that wielding all that sand was extremely taxing on the body -but how would it not be, even with Shukaku's giant chakra reserves to help him out?

Deidara grinned.

He got him. All he needed was that small distraction, enough to leave his Ultimate Defense open for the slightest of seconds.

And suddenly another explosion detonated, this time a small bird right outside of Gaara's vision, but as the dust cleared he noticed that Gaara had had enough time to protect himself from this, even without all of his special chakra-infused sand.

But it didn't matter anyhow. The fight had been decided the moment Gaara had taken his arm -a much needed sacrifice, although it was a pity.

"Sakura..." Kakashi looked on in trepidation as, from their location atop the mountains, they could see Gaara's Ultimate Defense failing.

Sakura's eyed widened. "No..." but she didn't waste any time, knowing that if Deidara had defeated Gaara once, that there was no way he couldn't do it again. And so Kakashi and her quickly abandoned the battle field, a lone red-headed puppet lying on the floor, smashed to pieces and a heart-container lying stabbed in three different places a short distance away.

'It's not too late to save him' Sakura's eyes darkened. She could make a difference -she would make a difference. Without Gaara they could almost certainly kiss any chance at an alliance with Suna goodbye, and this they could not have. Gaara was an important friend, and a crucial piece of the puzzle to Akatsuki's eventual destruction, and as such, Sakura could simply not allow for Deidara to escape with a nearly dead Gaara. Sakura would rather die than let that happen.

Two minutes later she found herself among her team and several other Suna shinobi, watching as Gaara's seemingly last strengths were spent moving the sand from the village, an effort to not harm it or the people in it.

But even if it was awe-inspiring, Sakura knew that they had to do something, for Gaara would surely lose all strength any minute now and would be left in a free-fall, and they had to do something before Deidara captured him and left.

But what would they do?

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. "Throw me!"

Sakura stared at him, taking the time to process what he was saying. "Wha... Naruto, don't be-"

But he cut her off, one of the few rare times that Naruto became a father-like figure to her, his eyes showing wisdom far past his years as determination fueled his cerulean eyes. "Throw me Sakura-chan. You're the only one who can possibly manage to get us that high up."

And Naruto was right, so Sakura decided that trying something was better than trying nothing, and so she cleared some space as she suddenly picked up Naruto by the collar. "Are you sure about this Naruto?" she questioned him once more, looking from Naruto to Deidara, and then back at Naruto. She was practically feeding her baka to the piranhas -quite literally tossing them a second Jinchuuriki (although she desperately hoped he hadn't realized that already), and were it not their only option, she would have beat Naruto senseless just for mentioning it.

"It's now or never." he gave her one last confident nod. "I'll be fine Sakura-chan. I'll bring Gaara back, dattebayo."

Sakura gave a small nod, concentrating chakra into her fists and feet. She closed her eyes for a moment's concentration, until she began swinging Naruto around in a circle to build momentum, Sakura concentrating heavily on where it was that she needed to throw him.

And then she saw Gaara falling, and she knew that if she didn't do it now that they'd miss their chance, and with one last spin she suddenly thrusted Naruto upwards, a strong gust of wind, courtesy of Temari's strong fan, increasing the force and speed in which Naruto was suddenly hurled towards the falling Gaara.

Mid-air, suddenly what seemed like hundreds of Naruto's appeared, if only for the sake of making sure that Deidara didn't get the chance to obtain the Jinchuuriki, and suddenly Gaara's figure was lost well within the Naruto Shadow Clones as they pulled him deeper and deeper into the confines of his clones.

Cheers erupted from the crowd, but almost in seconds they were gone as Deidara summoned another clay structure, this one a much smaller and faster bird that collided straight into the Naruto Shadow clones and then quickly detonated. Puff by puff, all of the shadow clones disappeared until there were only two figures remaining, a heavily injured Naruto desperately gripping on to the shoulders of the Kazekage.

Sakura was on her feet faster than anyone, racing towards the two Jinchuuriki that would be landing all the way on the other side of the village.

Yet, this didn't even seem to deter Deidara, as suddenly he was free-falling from his own clay bird, knowing that if he could only reach the Kazekage, all he had to do was quickly grab him and flee, and no one would be able to stop him. Sakura's eyes widened frantically as it suddenly became a race towards the Jinchuuriki. Sasuke was alongside her in a split second, but it seemed that Deidara would be the first to reach the falling shinobi, clearly having been much closer than either of them.

Somehow, with whatever strength he had left, Gaara was able to allow the sand around them to soften the impact as they hit the ground, barely able to keep his eyes open. "Don't worry Gaara... I'll protect you, dattebayo..." the pained grin that Naruto offered him somehow made him feel at ease, even as Deidara suddenly landed before them.

"Say, you're the Nine-Tails aren't you? Leader-sama will be so pleased with me, yeah." Deidara grinned a not so nice grin.

Naruto attempted to stand up, albeit shakily, but suddenly the Akatsuki blonde-haired nin was upon him, a strong kick to the gut sending him flying until he hit a building, breaking it with ease and going through it. Yet, Naruto did not let this derail his attempts at protecting Gaara, and the next second his eyes were no longer blue but a red in color as he stepped out of the rubble, the Kyuubi for once allowing Naruto some control over his power.

'Don't act too recklessly with it, kid.' he could hear the Kyuubi's comment pulse within him, wondering why it was that the Kyuubi was barely now relenting and giving Naruto some form of control when he had been asking for it for years.

Deidara watched in trepidation, his only hand reaching towards his holster of clay, already working on some more clay structures.

Naruto was upon him in the blink of an eye but Deidara speedily jumped away. Yet, as Naruto extended his arm at what seemed to be an attempt at a scratch, red demonic chakra bubbled up and extended into a chakra-formed claw, and Deidara was making his own crater through a miscellaneous building, the impact of the blow temporarily knocking the air out of his lungs.

"N...Naruto..." he heard Gaara's attempt at gaining his attention.

And before he knew it there was suddenly an explosion at his feet, an explosion so big that even Gaara was caught in the explosion, and it was all Naruto could do to lay atop him, covering him from most of all the damage. But there was something different about this explosion, all sorts of shrapnel being thrown every which way, kunai embedding themselves in Naruto's body.

Although Naruto wouldn't admit it, if they didn't get back up, he couldn't guarantee Gaara's safety as they stood now. After all, it was hard enough trying to fight off an Akatsuki member -trying to fight him off while simultaneously protecting Gaara and being already heavily injured as well proved a challenge on another level. Not to mention that he couldn't exactly go full Jinchuuriki mode and unleash hell on the village, for he was sure, if they lived past today, Sakura would be the one to castrate him for ruining all chances at an alliance with Suna (after all, they probably wouldn't take fondly to a foreign Jinchuuriki being unleashed in their village and destroying half of it).

Once more, Naruto found himself being kicked harshly, a blow strong enough to have probably cracked a rib or two, as he was left rolling to a stop, blood pooling around his mouth as he tried to wipe it away.

"And Sasori-danna didn't even help me capture you, un." He could hear Deidara's cocky comment, almost as if he had already won the fight, approaching Naruto as he stepped through the rubble, gripping and lifting him up by the throat.

"Sasori is dead."

Suddenly there was a voice behind him, and he turned, looking to see a familiar dark-haired shinobi, and the pink kunoichi who Orochimaru had kidnapped a week ago. He could barely understand the words that the pink-haired kunoichi spoke, staring at her with an unreadable expression. No, there was no way his danna could be dead -definitely not by the hands of the pink hairball.

Using the distraction of the two new shinobi, the Kyuubi brat suddenly had a close range rasengan ready, but Deidara was too agile for this, quickly releasing his grip on Naruto's throat and ducking, missing the rasengan by mere inches as he hopped away hurriedly, assessing the moves he could possibly make (curse him for only having one arm to fight right now).

"If you know what's best for you, you'd leave while you still have the chance." It was Sasuke who spoke this time.

Deidara stared at the two shinobi before him, red and gold eyes watching his every breath, and he realized that perhaps the creepy Itachi look-alike was right. He was out-numbered, was completely out of clay, and he had lost his air advantage. Which really sucked, especially after seeing the Kazekage lying defeated on the ground a mere three meters from his own location, safely protected behind the two Leaf shinobi. And he had lost an arm for this. Tch, this hardly even seemed worth the effort (and somewhere in the back of his mind, he identified that this was perhaps why Sasori always seemed unwilling to get into fights; they truly were troublesome).

"Is he really dead, un?" Deidara looked at the kunoichi, seemingly uncaring although deeply troubled on the inside. Although he hated to admit it, Sasori was far superior in skills to him -so if the kunoichi had managed to take him on and win... (and survive afterwards, no less) Well, he dare not think what could have happened to him had he been in Sasori's shoes.

"I wouldn't have called him alive with the way he was living now." Sakura merely responded, not even batting an eyelash at her comment.

But Deidara knew this to mean that yes, Sasori-danna was dead, because there was no way Sasori would have revealed himself to be a living-puppet unless they had figured it out themselves, and if the pink-haired kunoichi was standing there before him, it meant that she, along with whatever help she had had (if she had any to begin with) had defeated Sasori, for Sasori never let an enemy escape him.

"You got lucky, Gaara no Subaku." he glanced at Gaara, who merely lay there un-moving, his eyes staring directly at Deidara's. "You won't be next time."

And then suddenly Deidara was gone with a small burst of air, his bird having picked him up and taken him away before anyone could even consider making a move.

There was nothing more he could do in Suna.

His mission was a failure.

Gaara awoke late at night to an all white room, hearing the small beeps of a heart monitor.

He felt... at ease...

Surprising, considering that he couldn't quite remember when he had passed out, only that he had seen the Akatsuki member with blonde hair flee before seeing Sakura's concerned face.

And then at the thought of Sakura, a sudden thought not his own appeared within him.

'She saved your life.'

Yes, he agreed with Shukaku, her and Uzumaki Naruto, and even Uchiha Sasuke and Hatake Kakashi. Shukaku had been right to prevent Gaara from attacking Konoha back in the Chunin Exams, he couldn't help but think.

"Gaara..."

His eyes turned to the right, where he could see Sakura rushing to his side, alongside Temari, Sasuke, and Kankuro. "We were so worried..." It was Temari who spoke this time, small tears threatening to spill from the corner of her eyes.

"...Ahh..." he didn't know what else to say, frankly -he had never been all too good at expressing emotions. "The village?" he questioned.

"Safe" Kankuro assured with a small smile. "Everyone is safe Gaara. No casualties."

Although he hid it well, Gaara was visibly left at ease at the words. "You were so cool, Gaara!" his eyes snapped towards the left, having not noticed Naruto lying on a hospital bed alongside him until he had spoken. "The villagers are lucky to have such a caring and strong Kazekage!"

His proclamation left Gaara with wide eyes for several seconds, taking in the words. "I'm glad..." Because frankly, he didn't know what else to say -he had also never been too good at accepting compliments.

"We'll let you two rest more Gaara. You're still recuperating. There are shinobi right outside the room if you need anything. I hope you don't mind, but I made myself your medic." Sakura stated, albeit a bit sheepishly. She hadn't dared let anyone handle her favorite knuckle-headed blonde, and not particularly trusting anyone else with the recuperation of either Jinchuuriki, she made herself their medic -it didn't hurt when Temari and Kankuro supported her fully, though.

Gaara gave a small smile, seeing Sakura's worried and caring face. Yes, she looked so much like the Sakura-neechan he had met when he was six, looking down at him with those very same eyes, that he couldn't help himself. "Hai" And he allowed himself to close his eyes, welcoming the sleep that he had been able to indulge himself with often ever since he had met Sakura at the Chunin Exams.

"What do you mean Sasori's dead?" Pein's eyes narrowed slightly.

"It was the Haruno, un. She killed him." And as proof, he pulled out Sasori's ring and placed it before Pein, atop his desk. "As you can tell, I took my fair share of damage."

But yes, Pein could clearly see that -he had no arm.

Pein closed his eyes momentarily, and with a wave of his hand, dismissed Deidara, who gave a curt nod and exited the room. "I'll see what I can do about getting you an arm." There was a minutes silence as Pein made sure that Deidara was definitely gone, and then from the shadows came Tobi, picking up the ring and tossing it high in the air, allowing it to drop back down on his hand after several seconds.

"And this is why I am wary of Harunos'." Tobi stated, examining the ring, seemingly bored.

"This was an unfortunate turn of events. We could not have foreseen that the Nine-tails would have also been there." Pein stated. "Our members were clearly at a disadvantage from where they stood."

"Perhaps not. But now we are definitely behind on our plans." Madara tried not to frown distastefully, not that Pein would be able to see it.

"We're down two members in the span of a week." Pein's eyes narrowed in trepidation. Although he could hardly care less about Orochimaru's betrayal, if he were being completely honest.

Madara did not respond, although mentally thinking 'All thanks to that kunoichi', stuffing Sasori's ring in his pocket and disappearing.

It had been a whole day since the ordeal with Akatsuki. Tsunade had been informed the moment Gaara and Naruto had been stabilized at the hospital, thanks to Sakura, and every detail of the events that had occurred were described in full descriptive detail and sent off by Kakashi and Sasuke.

Luckily, it seemed that Tsunade would forgive them this time for engaging in battle against Akatsuki.

And now Team 7 found themselves yet again in a familiar meeting room, Elders in place as Gaara shakily got up to speak, with the assistance of Kankuro and Temari. Although Sakura had greatly protested against it, Gaara and Naruto had released themselves from the hospital, if only for the sake of attending the meeting that was meant to discuss the alliance between Suna and Konoha.

The Elders this time seemed less chatty than before, waiting with near impatience as Gaara began to talk.

"We are lucky with the way that the events played out yesterday." he began. "Haruno Sakura and Hatake Kakashi single-handedly took out the threat of Sasori of the Red Sand. We discovered his body just as they had described it, atop the mountains surrounding our village."

News that they all already knew, but Gaara was just restating in order to start from the top.

"They also put themselves at risk in fighting back a second Akatsuki member, and even rescued me from capture."

Again, more news that they already knew.

"Konoha," he addressed Team 7 this time, "you have all acted bravely and selflessly, and on behalf of Sunagakure, I accept the treaty that has been proposed to us." And then he looked back at the Elders, their spokesperson slowly getting up to express the deliberation of the Elders as Gaara was helped back onto his seat.

"We would be remiss to not show gratitude for the bravery that you all showed on the battlefield yesterday. We welcome an alliance with Konoha with open arms. We hope that all future proceedings run smoothly between our two nations."

And that had been that.

Mentally, Sakura couldn't help but think that perhaps the attack on Sunagakure by Akatsuki was all that they had needed in order to finally get Suna on their side and see that this wasn't some form of trap on Konoha's behalf. And now here they were, absolutely no casualties (although she did wish Naruto and Gaara hadn't taken such a beating), one Akatsuki member down, and another heavily injured.

All in all, it seemed like a very successful mission to Sand.

They remained within the confines of Suna for another two days, allowing time for Naruto and Gaara to take some RnR, before they were once more on their way to Konoha, where Sakura was sure that they'd be revered as heroes, all things considered.

But Kami, she couldn't wait to go home. She hated the sand.

"Did you hear that Sasori's been defeated?"

"Hn"

Kisame and Itachi were currently sitting at a small tea shop on the outskirts of Ame. "Did you hear that the Haruno defeated him?"

Itachi remained silent at the information.

"She's impressive." Kisame merely stated, as if trying to make a point. She was good -just like the Sakura that they knew.

"Most Konoha-nin are." he merely stated.

Kisame could have rolled his eyes at the semi-cocky response of Itachi's. "Whatever."

But even as he dismissed Kisame's comment and pretended not to care, he knew he had been surprised at Sakura's actions.

His crow had never left her side, after all.

End of Chapter

A smidge shorter than what I have been writing so far, but that's just because I don't want to break up the part that follows too much ^.^ I promise I'll make up for it.

I know you guys must be wondering when there'll be some more ItaxSaku interactions, which I'm thinking will be within the next 2-3 chapters ^.~ please be patient with me :3

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Critiques? Pointers? Leave 'em all here!

Any and all feedback is much appreciated! And remember, the more reviews, the more likely I am to update faster ^_^

-MarzSpy