Naruto's Butterfly

"Normal person speaking"

"This means someone is thinking these lines."

Flashbacks will have a break before and after.

Name no jutsu: this is for jutsus obviously no breaks for them if they are mentioned in flashbacks they will appear as so: name no jutsu, or the English names.

Demons or 'higher beings' along with inners talk and think like this.


Chapter 9: Encounters with the Breaking Dawn

As they followed the small dog, Alice unbeknownst to the others was practicing summoning. She kept running through the hand signs and tried concentrating on different residents of Wonderland she knew were still alive or alive again. She of course didn't use any chakra (or as she called it energy) for the jutsu nor did she shout it out loud.

She almost ran over the small dog, since she was so caught up in her practice. She figured he ran a little bit slower than max speed and had to make sure he had the scent and followed it correctly so they wouldn't be caught off guard by sudden changes in its fading course.

Once he continued, Alice noticed he smelled nice since she was right by the little dog. She couldn't help but comment, "Hey Pakkun did you just take a bath or something? You smell nice."

The miniature pug said in his gruff voice, "I use Floral Green Shampoo. It leaves me feeling fresh as a new spring day."

Alice gave a nod and Sakura frowned once again being reminded that she used the same shampoo that a dog did. She had forgotten about that after all of the things going on at the time during the Chunin exam invasion. She didn't have anything against the little dog, but it still seemed awkward to her to use the same shampoo. She once again promised to get a different brand next time she needed to replace hers.

As they kept running, Pakkun asked, "What about you, Alice? You smell lovely even with the hint of sweat."

Alice blushed, she knew that he was a tracking dog, but she was still caught off guard by his question. Sakura looked at her questioningly as did Kakashi; he wanted to know what shampoo she used for his own thoughts. Chiyo tried to just ignore the question. Naruto kept looking forward focused on Gaara and the mission. He wanted to know, but didn't want it to be obvious.

Alice answered so the others wouldn't keep staring at her. She blushed and said, "Well I haven't really had a chance to bathe since we left Konoha. While there I was using this shampoo, one of the nice vendors recommended me. It was unscented and would bring out my natural pheromones he said. I am not used to this whole shower thing yet."

Kakashi had traces of a perverted smile under his mask. Women that went natural were one of his favorite fetishes. Sakura decided she would look into this and ask for the name brand after this mission. Naruto had to use all of his training to keep from showing his perverted smile. He liked Alice's natural scent... a lot.

{-} {-} {-}

They had to stop for one more night to rest before getting to where they figured the trail ended. Naruto wasn't happy about this at all. He kept control of himself remembering his talk with Alice on their way to Suna.

As they were eating their meal, the comm. piece Kakashi had with him gave a series of clicks that he recognized as a code from Konoha. He clicked it on and quickly pulled the ear piece out since he heard a loud booming voice.

The others listened quietly as the two Jonins talked. Alice's eyes seemed to be glowing green with curiosity at the little thing in Kakashi's hand that he talked into and a voice on the other side responded. She had heard about these headset things from what Naruto told her, but seeing one being used was something entirely different.

She leaned in closer to the device Kakashi held. He pulled it a little closer to his ear seeing if Alice would lean in even closer, which she did. Next the one-eyed Jonin decided to make the sacrifice of his hearing if it got him physically closer to the young woman and put the ear piece almost right back in his ear.

Naruto frowned knowing exactly what Kakashi was doing. He didn't know why but he pulled Alice back a bit and said she was about to lose her balance. Alice thanked him and sat back down and Kakashi frowned and almost shed a tear.

"Curse you, Naruto! I was so close! Oh well at least my ear drums will be spared now." The one-eyed Jonin thought to himself as he held the communication device further form his ears once again. Chiyo laughed quietly to herself at their antics. Sakura gave a little giggle knowing what was really going on as well. After some quick discussion, the two Jonins decided on a rendezvous point to meet at the next day.

{-} {-} {-}

On their way to the rendezvous point, Team Kakashi ran into Itachi Uchiha, who seemed to have been waiting for them. Itachi stood there and said, "Here to get the Kazekage? I am sorry to say, but you will have to go through me first, and if you by chance defeat me it will already be too late."

Naruto, not really thinking things through the best at this moment, immediately looked Itachi in the eyes and made a Rasengan and charged Itachi before hitting him with the move. He was surprised when Itachi dispersed into crows. Soon he felt pain on his wrist and looked around to see Itachi smirking.

Kakashi said to his student, "It was a Genjutsu. Don't look him straight in the eyes." Kakashi then turned and said, "You three wait there we will deal with him." After that, Naruto and Kakashi teamed up against Itachi.

Alice held a half frown and said quietly, "Something's not right…"

Sakura heard her and asked, "What do you mean, Alice-chan?"

Alice thought for a moment and answered, "His chakra doesn't feel right. It feels like he is being controlled by someone."

Sakura narrowed her eyes and said, "We should tell them then." She was about to say something when Alice stopped her. Sakura looked at Alice for an answer.

"I don't think we should let these Akatsuki people know I can tell that much about chakra already. I don't think they even know about me period. Like I said he is being controlled I think by the real Itachi from somewhere else." Alice told her. Sakura wasn't sure what to think, but she sort of saw what Alice was saying. If they said anything it would give away information to Itachi.

The pink haired girl then said, "Haven't you already fought them before? Wouldn't they tell each other about things like that?"

Alice answered, "They are a group of S-ranked missing Ninja. They each have betrayed their home at least once. Judging from what Jiraiya told us they don't share much with each other at all." Sakura turned back to the fight. It seemed like it was about over.

Naruto and Kakashi were doing fairly well against Itachi. So well in fact that Kakashi was figuring out this was just to delay them. He was about to finish this quick when Naruto was sent flying a good ways back. He managed to block and push Itachi back and was just about to make his move when it all ended.

Alice saw Naruto get sent back and then Kakashi make some space between him and this Itachi guy. She didn't like being told to sit back like she was some little helpless girl, but at the same time she didn't want to outright go against Kakashi's orders. She figured it was an order so that they wouldn't end up getting in each other's way or something. This was the last straw though seeing Naruto being thrown even if he was perfectly fine.

She was sure she would be forgiven; besides she wouldn't be in the way. She took the opening and butterflied in and slashed with her Vorpal blade and blood splattered on her white apron. Naruto soon appeared and he was ready to try something different but saw Alice finish the job.

They then noticed the corpse change to a Suna ninja. Kakashi was unsettled by this new jutsu. He had never seen anything like it before. Alice then said, "It's gone. The chakra controlling him is gone. He seems to still have some small hint of it that is fading away."

Chiyo identified the body and said, "He was a guard at the gates the night everything went down. What kind of jutsu uses the dead in such a way?"

Kakashi just said, "I don't know. It isn't anything I have seen before. Anyways we should go."

Naruto a little bit agitated with the wasted time said, "Yeah we have wasted enough time."

{-} {-} {-}

Somewhere far away from Naruto and the others two cloaked figures sat on a rock ledge. One was a really tall man with blue skin. He was complaining about not being remembered by Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey.

The other figure was shorter with dark hair, red and black eyes and two what he called 'maturity' lines on his face. He said while concentrating on the sealing jutsu "It is done we have delayed them. Turns out we guessed where team Kakashi was headed after all."

He then thought over what he had seen. Both Naruto and Kakashi had gotten stronger and improved a good bit. They handled his body double fairly well even if it only had a small amount of his chakra at its disposal.

However, it was the last moment of the fight that intrigued him. The green-eyed girl he didn't know moved faster than his eyes could keep up with, and when she slashed the double's throat her blade sang through the air.

He guessed she might have been the real reason why Zetsu didn't 'need' to follow Team Kakashi, since they were following Sasori's trial thanks to the tracking dog. He would hazard a guess she was a good sensor maybe, and for some reason the Akatsuki spy didn't want to deal with her. He was there when Zetsu returned to their base earlier than expected claiming there really wasn't a reason to keep watching the boy when they had other matters to deal with.

Zetsu, Itachi knew, was the most loyal of Akatsuki. However this didn't say much really. No one in Akatsuki was truly loyal. They were all traitors to their village and everyone else. Well they were all traitors to their village except for him.

He was only there because he couldn't kill his brother and chose to disappear so Sasuke could kill him and restore the honor of their clan. While he dealt with that man and protected Konoha form the organization.

Unfortunately, it was more difficult than he thought it would be to deal with that man. Itachi knew that Tobi, 'Madara Uchiha', was really running the show and that Nagato, 'Pain', was the figurehead leader. Since the two worked together he couldn't make a move yet, especially since Konan was always by Pain's side. Itachi was strong and he was good, but three S-ranked ninjas on one were not odds he liked.

{-} {-} {-}

The group kept going as fast as they could, following the trail until Alice said aloud, "Four chakra signatures almost heading this way, a little ways to the left of us." Kakashi thought for a minute.

He wasn't sure if they should take a quick detour to meet with them or not. The group could be the reinforcements, a Suna patrol or enemies that might try to ambush them thus delaying their retrieval of the Kazekage.

"Are they moving fast?" Kakashi asked needing a little more information for his decision.

Alice held a thoughtful look for a minute before replying, "Yes they are going very fast towards the meeting place it seems like."

That was all Kakashi needed, he knew now they would be the reinforcements. "Alright we are going to intercept them be on your guard. However, I think they might be friendlies." With that they headed to intercept before getting to the assigned meeting place. They might as well meet up sooner since they were close especially after what happened earlier.

{-} {-} {-}

Team Gai was well on their way to help and support Team Seven in their mission to save the Kazekage. Tsunade-sama felt that she could at least send some help as soon as it was available against Akatsuki. Fortunately Gai-sensei also had experience with Akatsuki and fared pretty well against his opponent from the reports she read.

So they were sent to help and Gai decided to declare it a race to see who gets to Suna first despite team seven's lead. Last night they had gotten in radio contact and set a meeting place so they were racing there instead now.

Their race had been going fairly well and they were making good time. Until they came across Kisame, who attacked them in an effort to delay them. The blue skinned shark man put up a good fight and even managed to capture all of Team Gai in water prisons except Gai-sensei. Gai soon turned the tables by opening the sixth gate and using his Morning Peacock jutsu, which is so fast the kicks and punches catch on fire from friction and speed alone.

Despite this set back, they were back on their way and everyone was back to normal while they focused on the mission. Lee was being as youthful as ever. Neji was serious even though he was more youthful than before, after his first Chunin exams. Tenten, as always had her fires burning bright. Gai was proud of his team and how they had all grown.

Soon Neji spoke up snapping Gai from his musings, "Gai-san. Team seven is heading this way with a couple of others I don't recognize." Neji had noticed them for a while, but he didn't see a reason to say anything, since they would meet up soon enough at the assigned location. However once they changed course, which he wondered about, to intercept he spoke up.

Gai put on his serious face, as he said, "Alright we will wait for them to meet with us." They all stopped. Tenten was happy to stop. This 'race' was getting to be a bit ridiculous she thought.

Lee was disappointed. He wanted to finish the race. He vowed that once they were back in Konoha he would do 200 laps around Konoha hoping between alternating hands. And if he couldn't do that he would do 1000 kicks to each post in his favorite training ground.

After a few minutes, team Kakashi landed near them with Pakkun, an old lady, and a beautiful girl with dark hair and vivid green eyes. The green-eyed girl caught Lee's attention right away. Kakashi said, "Good job, Alice-chan. Remind me to have your sensing abilities tested once we get back to Konoha."

Lee's youthfulness ignited hearing her name. It was so youthful! In a sudden motion he appeared in front of her and said, "Alice-chan! Will you go out with me?!"

Tenten placed a hand on her forehead and sighed. The whole thing was just so much a Lee thing. Sakura was trying to control her features. She thought it was horrible a man would just ask a girl out without even thinking.

Besides she thought he only reacted like that to her, so the pinkette was a little bit jealous though she wouldn't let it show. Naruto almost growled at this. It was a waste of their time on this important mission. Also he didn't like how Alice was blushing at Lee's question.

Alice was shocked at this green wearing ninja with large thick eyebrows in front of her, he was fast. She barely could see him move. She was even more shocked and a bit embarrassed when he asked her out on a date. She wasn't used to any kind of attention like this. She blushed a bit but still kept her manners and said, "I thank you for the offer, but I regretfully must decline. I don't even know you, sir."

Lee actually gave a nervous laugh before saying loudly, "I am sorry it is just your youthfulness caught me off guard, Alice-chan. I am Rock Lee Konoha's Beautiful Youthful Beast." Alice thought the guy seemed nice enough, but she still wasn't sure what to make of this scene.

She winced when suddenly the boy said much too loud, "Yosh! I must get to know Alice-chan and prove my youthfulness!" Alice didn't have any idea what he meant by youthfulness, but stayed silent not wanting to ruin his apparent good mood.

Gai let out a booming laugh to match his equally loud voice, "Ha Ha Ha! Lee-kun it is nice to see your fires of youth burn so brightly. But we do have a mission to complete and introductions to make."

Lee bowed and apologized to Alice as Gai continued, "As you know the wonderful youth there in beautiful green is Rock Lee. Neji Hyuga is the serious faced one over here. And Tenten is the fiery youthful Kunoichi. I am their sensei and team leader, Konoah's Sublime Beast of Prey Maito Gai!" He then struck some strange pose.

Neji rubbed his forehead and sighed. He and Gai were the same rank and yet Gai still acted like his sensei. He didn't really mind so much, but sometimes Gai went a little far. Tenten just gave a friendly smile and waved to the others.

Alice bowed her head a little and gave a small curtsy as she introduced herself. "I am Alice Liddell a new Kunoichi of Konoha. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance good sirs and ma'am." She then stood back up straight and gave them a small smile.

Neji's eyes narrowed and he looked Alice over carefully and kept his features schooled despite a very small and almost unnoticeable blush on his cheeks. He decided that he liked the girl already. She gave the most polite, formal and pleasant greeting he had ever received. The fact that she wasn't from the Hyuga clan made her manners seem even better.

Tenten rubbed the back of her head and gave a few bows feeling she needed to do so after such a greeting. Gai gave a nice guy pose as he decided this girl's fires burned bright as well.

Chiyo blinked a couple of times and decided she couldn't follow up such a greeting. Since she was old though, she didn't need to do that. "I am Elder Chiyo of Sunagakure. I am here to aide in dealing with Sasori of the red sand. He is a puppet user and I am one of the best in Suna."

After the introductions, they continued until they reached the end of the trail. They looked around the area and noticed a seal on the ground in front of them holding up a barrier.

Neji used his Byakugan and noticed the chakra linking to it from other sources. "There are other seals and they are linked together. It looks like we will have to remove them at the same time." Kakashi then gave a little smirk under his mask and pulled out three more comm. devices and held them out for all to see.

Alice leaned in closer and looked at the small devices with vivid green eyes burning with curiosity and eagerness. Kakashi gave a look at Naruto and said, "Here Gai-san have your team put these on and then spread out to find the other seals and remove them."

He gave an eye smile to Naruto and said, "If you want, Alice. I can show you how one of these works personally after this mission."

Alice looked at Kakashi who was facing her once again and said happily, "Oh? Would you do that Kakashi-san? I so very much would love that." She gave him a bit of a puppy eyed look without even knowing she was doing so.

Kakashi scratched the back of his head and eye smiled at her with a bit of a blush as he said, "I did just say that, Alice-chan. It would be my pleasure."

Naruto was about to say something to break up the atmosphere, but it was surprisingly Neji that did so. "Anyone could show you, Alice-cha… Alice-san. But anyways we have a mission right now."

Naruto's mouth was agape. "Neji?! Neji almost called a girl –chan?! I didn't even know he thought about girls. I thought it was all fate." Naruto thought to himself.

Team Gai then grabbed the comm links and Neji lead them to the first seal and pointed out to them there was a trap of some kind on these secondary seals for the barrier. Once they were all in place, they clicked on their comm links and Gai said in a rather normal voice, "Alright Kakashi-san we are in place. It looks like your team should go ahead without us once we remove them. There is some kind of trap on all of these secondary seals that will activate once we remove them."

"Thought there would be something like that. Alright. Once your team has dealt with whatever happens, come back to this cave entrance." Kakashi replied to them before explaining to his team.

"Alright team on three." Gai-sensei said, "1. 2. 3!" With that all of team Gai removed the seals and braced their selves for whatever was to happen.

{-} {-} {-}

Kakashi also removed his seal and they watched as the barrier fell. Kakashi then said, "Alright now to just deal with this boulder." He was thinking for a minute and about to ask Naruto to try a Rasengan when Sakura walked up to the boulder, brought back her fist, and then punched the rock causing it to crumble into pieces.

Kakashi's eye grew wide and even the two Akatsuki members inside were surprised at how quick she got through. Alice smiled and asked, "Sakura is that what they call 'girl power'?"

Sakura smirked and said, "You're sure right it is." Naruto and Kakashi both once again thought to their selves they never wanted to piss off Sakura.

The blonde haired Akatsuki member said, "Unnnn. Seems like you won't have to wait too long after all, Sasori."

The hunched back Akatsuki said, "Good! You know how much I hate waiting, Deidara."

Deidara then gave a smirk and said, "So you have come to retrieve the body of the Kazekage Unn?" He then patted the gord on Gaara's unmoving body.

Naruto growled and charged forward only to be stopped by a puppet from Sasori. He hit the puppet to the side, but already Deidara was on some kind of clay bird looking thing taking off while he laughed at the others. Naruto quickly launched himself to the walls and ran up to start following the blonde Akatsuki man.

Sasori then said, "Ahhh, old lady Chiyo. I didn't think you would come after me yourself."

"I should have dealt with you long ago. I thought that maybe you would come around, but clearly I was wrong. I am only here to clean up my own mistake. Attacking your own village, taking our kage and leaving his brother to die! I can't believe you are the same person I once cared for after your parents died and taught the art of puppetry to." Chiyo shouted at him.

Sasori gave a rattling laugh, "Tell me how is Kankuro? I found his ideas about art interesting. He would have lived if he didn't get struck by that poisoned needle trying to pull a fast one on me after I had already defeated him. The flesh is so weak. Puppet form is much better."

Chiyo grimaced and said, "Your beliefs about art and puppetry are flawed greatly."

Sasori shifted a little bit and said, "Then I will have to show you how my art is correct and it is you that are flawed as your body ages and you become weaker. Now get ready."

Kakashi asked quickly, "Think you can handle this, Chiyo?"

She thought for a second and said, "Leave this to me and Sakura. Go get our Kage back." She knew she couldn't do this alone, but with the pink haired girl she figured they had a chance.

Kakashi nodded and motioned for Alice to follow him, and the two of them left to chase down Naruto.

{-} {-} {-}

Naruto was running and hoping on tree tops throwing kunai and shuriken at the clay bird Deidara was flying on. Deidara was dodging rather easily. The clay user laughed and taunted the blonde shinobi, "You are so unfocused and angry that this is hardly any work at all for me, Demon Brat!"

Naruto just growled remembering how he was always called things like that when he was younger. He was close to losing himself to the rage when he lectured himself for getting careless.

He made some shadow clones the next time he went under the tree line before reappearing afterwards once again. He had his clones stay under the tree canopies so that Deidara wouldn't see them.

Deidara noticed the kid seemed calmed down now and knew he would have to be a bit more careful. However he hadn't expected kunai and shuriken to come suddenly from different locations. He thought quickly and used his clay to explode and knock them off course or destroy the ninja weapons.

Naruto gave a little "Tch…" but was glad that he now at least knew about the exploding clay. His clones below threw more projectiles at him from different angles, which the clay user again responded with explosions.

Deidara laughed and taunted, "You should know I can keep this up a long time, Blondie boy."

Naruto was trying to think what to do about this situation and wished he hadn't left the others behind. He would have summoned Alice, but the Akatsuki member started throwing his own shuriken at the boy. Naruto stared wide eyed as he noticed the shuriken were made of clay. He managed to get out of the way just in time as they exploded.

{-} {-} {-}

Alice and Kakashi were going as fast as they could to catch up to Naruto. Fortunately the trail was easy to follow with Alice's sensing abilities. Soon enough they started to hear explosions going on and that made them hurry faster.

Alice seemed to get more focused and move even faster to get to Naruto. Kakashi sped up as well, though he was a little more exhausted than Alice. He had gotten better with his Sharingan than before, but it did still drain him and he used it some when they fought the Itachi double earlier.

They finally managed to catch up to Naruto and barely dodged clay kunai from the bird riding man. Naruto yelled at them, "Move! They explode."

The two jumped out of the way just in time. Naruto growled and said, "Damn bird! If he wasn't on it then this would be so much easier."

Kakashi then said, "I have an idea I need just a little bit of time to set it up though."

Naruto said, "Make it quick then, Kakashi-sensei." Kakashi nodded and disappeared below the treetops.

Naruto and Alice dodged more explosive shuriken. Alice then whipped out her cards and started throwing them. Deidara smirked and launched a few explosives to intercept them. However he was surprised when the cards cut through his clay before it exploded and would have taken his head off if he hadn't ducked just in time. "Seems I'm in a bit of trouble unn." He said to himself.

Kakashi was focusing on his Sharingan. He had during the last two years mastered the fourth stage of his Sharingan and learned a new ability. His ability, Kamui he called it, allowed him to send a target to another dimension.

He still had some trouble aiming it and getting the size just right but he had to take the chance nonetheless. Once he was ready, he came back up and after dodging more explosive clay and seeing one of Alice's cards clip the wing of the clay bird, but not causing enough damage to force it to land he aimed and shouted, "Kamui!"

Deidara shifted just a bit to the side and noticed some strange spiral distortion of air around his right arm. A barrier formed around his arm and he couldn't move it. Soon what looked like a black hole started appearing on his arm before everything near it disappeared including his arm. The strangest thing was he felt no pain at all. However his weight shifted more to the side and it caused his clay bird to tip a bit, and the Kazekage's body fell off. "Un. This really isn't going so well." Deidara said to himself.

Kakashi shouted as he moved towards Gaara's body, "Damn I missed! I'll get the Kazekage to a safe location and check on Sakura and Chiyo. You two will have to handle this."

He managed to use his Sharingan to see where the body would fall and get to it just in time to keep it from hitting the ground. He hated leaving them like this, but he had no choice. He was exhausted from using his Sharingan. He had to turn off the fourth stage with some difficulty.

His Kamui attack took more out of him than he thought. He had to trust Alice and Naruto here and for some reason, he wasn't sure why, he knew they had this. However he was concerned about Chiyo and Sakura. So with Gaara's body, he went back to the cave and would help them the best he could.

{-} {-} {-}

Once Kakashi left them, Naruto growled and said, "That was so close! If only we could get him off of that damn clay bird!"

Alice thought for a second and said, "I think I have an idea on how to even out the playing field so to speak."

Naruto asked, "What is it Alice-chan?"

She said to him, "Watch! And keep him from throwing those explosives at me for a second."

She landed on top of a tall flat top rock. Deidara threw some explosive shuriken at her thinking she was stupid, but they were intercepted by Naruto's own shuriken and shadow clones. Before Deidara could make more he heard her shout. "Summoning no Jutsu!" Both Naruto and Deidara were surprised, neither knew she could summon.

Alice waited for the smoke to clear and was glad she had memorized and practiced the summoning hand seals. She knew the energy signatures of her Wonderland friends having been there many times before during her life. They would change, but they always had a similar feeling to them. Naruto's explanation helped her realize what this was.

The smoke cleared and before Alice stood a proud and noble beast with the head of an Eagle and the body of a lion with wings. He was also larger than he was when she saw him in Wonderland. The noble beast bowed his head and said in a grand and majestic voice. "How may I aide you this time, Alice?"

Alice reached up and gave Gryphon a quick hug before saying to him, "I'm sorry… I'm sorry I cannot give you a proper welcome back. I need you to allow me on your back along with my friend Naruto. I will ask more once we have done that. Also watch out for that clay bird's explosive projectiles."

Gryphon responded as he lowered himself so she could climb on, "No need to apologize, Alice. I am honored to fight by your side once again."

With that Alice got on and Gryphon shot into the sky as Alice grabbed Naruto on the way up. Naruto smiled and said, "I should have known there was more to your questions about summoning than just simple curiosity, Alice-chan. I guess this is the results of Cheshire's project?"

Alice smiled and said, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, Naruto-kun. I wanted it to be a surprise. Yes Cheshire made a Wonderland contract. I daresay once this mission is over and we are back in Konoha I will have to make a visit there."

Gryphon hearing this said, "It would be a good idea, Alice. Many wish to see you again so they can thank you for saving it another time and ask that you don't let it go to ruin again. Anyways what shall I do?" Alice thought for a minute and then asked Naruto if he had any ideas. He did and shared them so that only they could hear.

Deidara finally recovered from his shock and cursed his luck, his life, and finally and most importantly Akatsuki. They supposedly had the best spy in the five nations, but they didn't have anything on this Alice woman. He sure as hell wouldn't share with them if he made it out of this alive either.

"They screwed up! Let them all burn for it especially Pain!" He thought to himself. He wasn't stupid he knew since they too were now air born he was the one at a disadvantage. He prayed he could fly faster at least.

Soon Gryphon shot towards the clay bird faster than Deidara could see. He was barely able to dodge the flying beast. He threw some clay shuriken at them hoping maybe they weren't as maneuverable as he was.

He was sadly mistaken when Gryphon dodged with ease, dived a bit and then shot upwards at his bird. He dodged this too barely, but saw that the dark-haired bitch managed to clip his tail feather with her cards making it impossible for him to dodge again.

Gryphon flew up and came back for a dive again. Deidara was ready this time though. He threw clay shuriken up at them and he smirked before he saw the blonde haired boy looking right at him and finishing up some hand signs and shout, "Wind style: Great Breakthrough!"

Deidara's eyes grew wide as his own explosive clay came back at him. He jumped off his bird and was glad that he wasn't too high up so he could land safely as the whole thing exploded above him. He wanted to think that maybe the kid was caught in it as well, but he doubted it somehow.

Fortunately the jutsu also sent Naruto up a bit which kept him away from the explosion and gave Alice and Gryphon enough time to catch him before he fell to the ground. They soon landed quickly and close to where Deidara landed.

He had just gotten back up when he saw the winged gryphon take to the sky making it impossible for him to reform his bird even if he had enough clay to do so. It also gave them an extra set of eyes from above so he couldn't easily slip out of the clearing they landed in.

Deidara showed no fear to his opponents even though he knew he would most likely not make it from this battle alive. The three ninja faced each other waiting to see who would move first. Naruto threw shuriken at Deidara.

The clay user dodged them easily enough, but he soon was cut by a singing blade. It wasn't fatal fortunately. He slashed at her with a kunai, but she burst into smoke and butterflies before knocking him with an electrified mallet.

He went flying a bit and recovered just in time to avoid a punch from the blonde that broke a nearby tree's bark. "This is just not fair!" He thought as he continued fighting the best he could with one arm. How was he supposed to hit someone if they burst into smoke and butterflies and moved liked that?

The clay user sent another punch which Naruto dodged. Naruto threw a kick his way, but Deidara jumped out of the way only for Alice to hit him again with that mallet giving him a minor shock along with the hit.

Next Naruto then shouted "Rasengan!" Before the blue spiraling sphere made contact, Deidara managed to use a clay clone substitution. Alice thinking Naruto didn't notice managed to knock him out of the way of the impending explosion.

Deidara cursed his luck again. These two had really good teamwork. He threw some clay shuriken at them, but the girl turned around and used some strange umbrella to knock them back before they exploded. Naruto Charged towards him through the smoke.

Naruto got in a kick that sent Deidara skidding back. Alice then charged at him as well. He jumped to the side dodging her and was about to counter when Naruto sent a punch at him that sent him sideways.

The two blondes started a Taijutsu exchange Naruto broke off after escaping an oncoming kick. Alice went right in and slashed out with her knife. Deidara dodged and weaved and sent a kick her way.

She felt the contact and flew back a bit as Naruto immediately came from the side attacking Deidara. Deidara countered and blocked the best he could but didn't notice the item Alice dropped that looked like a jack in the box.

After a few more seconds, Naruto jumped back and Deidara looked down when he heard the end of some strange tune playing. He jumped back a bit and his eyes widened when he saw the flame coming his way and catch hold of his cloak.

In his last seconds of life Deidara cursed all of Akatsuki to burn in an inferno of incredible horror before he used them for practicing his art in hell for all eternity. Seconds after the cloak caught on fire and he had scrambled without success to get it off. The clay using Akatsuki member exploded and his internal organs flew all around the clearing.

Naruto grimaced at the messy end. The only reason he didn't hurl was his training and the fact that it meant the end of the Akatsuki guy since the mess didn't fade away like it would have if it was only an illusion. Gryphon landed down next to Alice who only flinched with the explosive end to their fight.

Gryphon then said nonchalantly, "That was a rather messy end there, Alice. I am surprised you don't feel sickened by it."

Alice responded, "After going for a romp in Queensland twice there isn't much that causes me to lose my lunch."

Gryphon gave a laugh and said, "Indeed I doubt there is. Well at least now Queensland isn't such a rotting place."

Alice replied, "I'm glad to hear that. Do you mind giving us a lift to the cave, Gryphon?" The noble summon bowed his head and lowered his body so they could climb aboard. Naruto couldn't help, but wonder how horrible Queensland was if the insides around the clearing didn't faze Alice.

{-} {-} {-}

Sakura and Chiyo were both breathing hard, surrounded by broken puppet pieces and weapons. Their battle had not been an easy one. They managed to break and destroy after some difficulty what turned out to be Sasori's puppet armor.

Chiyo was shocked to see that Sasori had managed to make his own body into a puppet. It was bad enough he had done this with two previous kages and planned to do the same with them once he saw how strong Sakura was.

They fought more after that and Sakura realized she couldn't keep up with his movements in this new form of his. They had barely managed to defeat another puppet of his and he then showed that he could work a hundred puppets at once.

It was at this time that Sakura came up with the idea to let Chiyo attached chakra strings to her body and use her as a living puppet. This allowed them to make quick work of the hundred puppets. It turned out that even though he displayed a hundred of them he couldn't use all of them at once. The small groups he had used weren't as versatile either.

Sasori managed to just now get them with a poisoned needle as well. He was gloating a bit, "I must say you two have been very difficult to fight but it matters not now. I have poisoned you both. You two shall die in a few minutes. Though I supposed I could at least make it quick for you two as a way to show my respect." He then sent his last puppet to attack them.

As the puppet approached, the pinkette smiled as Chiyo used the opening to have Sakura send a powered punch to the puppets center causing said puppet to also break apart. Sasori said in surprise, "How? Did you do that? The poison should have slowed your movements significantly."

Sakura smirked as Chiyo got ready for her next attack. The pink haired medic then said, "I cured your poison and kept a few antidotes for our fight with you. Elder Chiyo and I took them when this fight started."

Sakura then sent a punch at him that sent his Heart case flying from the body. However he countered and gave Sakura a good hit. Chiyo pulled her back and brought out the puppets of Sasori's parents.

Sasori glared at them and said, "You dare use my own creations on me? It matters not. You will never destroy my heart now that it isn't inside my body."

Their fight continued Sasori was getting worn down but he wouldn't die not without them finding his heart. The red haired puppet user kept sending it flying everywhere. Sakura was able to land a mid-air hit on it once but that was all. The case was damaged though. Sasori had to be more careful with it now.

Eventually the case did break apart and his heart went flying. Sakura could almost reach it. She threw a kunai at it but Sasori blocked it, saving his heart. However, it was at this time that Kakashi made it back and ran inside to help them.

Kakashi threw a shuriken at the heart and it made contact. Sasori would have been able to save it but at the same time Chiyo used his puppet parents to keep his body in place while cutting all the chakra threads except for one.

Sasori gasped in surprise. He knew it was over now. He looked at them and said, "Heh at least I get to die in my parents embrace… I will tell you something as a reward for defeating me. I know you, Sakura Haruno, along with Naruto wish to save your supposed teammate." The pink haired girl wasn't sure where he was going with this.

"I have a spy in Orochimaru's ranks. He is high up as well. I was supposed to meet him in three weeks' time to exchange information. We were to meet at the Heaven and Earth Bridge near the village hidden in grass. Go there and you might be able to find one of Orochimaru's bases, the one with the Uchiha." With those final words the puppet master died in the embrace of his parent modeled puppets.

"Good thing you came when you did, Kakashi-sensei. I wouldn't have been able to get to his actual heart. Weren't you with Naruto and Alice though?" Sakura said facing him.

Kakashi nodded and then ordered, "Come with me. I recovered Gaara, but it doesn't look good maybe your medical knowledge will help. I left him with Gai's team." The Jonin then led the two women out of the cave to the clearing.


A/N: I know cliff hanger but hey it would have been way to long otherwise. Also I hope I did Alice's and Naruto's fight well. Feel free to tell me what you think of the chapter if you want.