Hello, everyone. This is the tenth chapter of FHDFHR. Heh.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Negima.
Chapter 10
Utter Chaos
Akatsuki Cave
Sasori stared at his opponents with venomous apathy. "Well, what is the matter? Are you thinking of a tactic to battle the Sandaime Kazekage? That's foolish. Any strategy you may have is futile against the strongest Kazekage."
Kotarou stepped forward and said, "No one is unbeatable, puppet boy, even that pretty puppet in your hands!"
"Then, show me." He whipped out his hand and the Sandaime Kazekage suddenly flew towards the group, summoning an armful of blades from its dominant hand.
Chiyo shouted, "Scatter!" All of them managed to jump away just as the Kazekage slammed its arm down. Setsuna took advantage of the distance between the puppet and its puppeteer and charged at Sasori, blade poised to strike. But she became suspicious when Sasori merely said, "Foolish."
A spear of earth burst from the ground and clashed with Setsuna's sword, surprising her. She jumped away as another spear tried to skewer her. Sasori's fingers twitched and the Sandaime Kazekage was pulled back to block Asuna's overhead strike by her large sword. The puppet pushed her away and both puppet and puppeteer jumped away as flame encompassed the once-occupied spot. The Akatsuki member landed a few meters from the group and had his puppet raise an earth wall to block the double team attack from Kaede and Kotarou. The wall grew two fists to punch the duo away as the Sandaime Kazekage brought out its blade arm to block the staff attack from Negi. As the redhead teacher was pushed away, the puppet whipped out its other arm, flinging out a pair of summoning seals that brought forth a barrage of puppet arms towards its opponents, with Sasori saying, "Senju Sobo."
The whole group jumped away but the attack wasn't over. Poison gas erupted from some of the hands and surrounded the two closest people, Setsuna and Kaede. Chiyo shouted, "Don't breathe in the toxic gas!"
"That is easier said than done, Chiyo-baa-san." That's when Chiyo noticed ropes from some hoses that were hidden by the gas. "Ropes bound them tightly that they can't move or escape."
Asuna started a run but stopped when she felt a powerful gust of wind that blew away the gas. Setsuna and Kaede, taking advantage of the free air, used Kakusan Zankosen and Kawarimi, respectively, and escaped. Everyone, even Sasori, looked at the source and saw the Konoha ninjas fight against Deidara and his clones, with Yukizora being the source of the wind.
Sasori said, "No matter. I can still kill you all with my other weapons." Then, more hoses emerged from the arm forest and began a barrage of kunai towards the group. There was a flash of movement and the youngsters saw the sole elder in front of them with two other puppets in front of her. One was a redhead male. The other was a brunette female.
Chiyo said, "I've seen enough out of you, Sasori. It's time for me to take the stage."
The redhead said, "Ah, those are…my first puppets, the first non-Hitokugutsu of my creation."
She gave a sad sigh. "Yes. Modelled after your own parents, these puppets are Haha to Chichi (Mother and Father)."
"Using them is pointless. Like Sabaku no Kankuro's Karasu, Kuroari, and Sanshuou, I know all of their secrets, as I created them."
Returning silence, the two puppets joined hands and formed wires with the fingers before they charged towards the Sandaime Kazekage, destroying the arm forest in the process.
And before the young people's eyes, a great battle of puppetry began.
One thought went through all their minds, the Mahora watchers included. Whoa!
Konoha-nin vs. Deidara
Another bomb scattered the Konoha retrieval group from one of the blond Akatsuki's clones.
Sakura dashed towards her team's Deidara clone to punch him but a clay bird from her side, forced her to enclose herself in a fetal position to absorb the blow. She yelled in pain as she was blown to the cave wall.
Izumi shouted, "Sakura-san," as she rushed to help her.
A Deidara clone shouted, "I'm not letting you go!" He threw a bunch of clay spiders towards Izumi. When it was nearing her, birds made of ink appeared and returned them to the source by flapping their wings.
"What the," was all he could manage before he was dispelled by the spiders' explosions. Another clone gritted, "Damn you!" Then he let loose a barrage of clay creatures towards his opponents.
He was shocked, however, when lightning shot from the ground and hit every single clay creature, purging them of their explosions. He turned and saw Sasuke, with his arm coated with lightning, removing his hand from the ground.
Sasuke smirked. "Your clay is mostly made of Doton chakra, so it would be easy for Raiton to destroy it." He pointed his lightning-infused sword at him and said, "After removing your clay's threat, it would be easy to deal with you." Then, he charged towards the bunch of clones.
The original shouted, "Don't get cocky, Uchiha brat!" All the Deidaras started to unleash clay hell towards Sasuke, who merely swatted away all of them with his lightning sword. Upon nearing, Sasuke dashed forward, stopping behind the clones.
A slice towards the Deidaras' torsos appeared and they all melted away.
Their eyes widened. Kakashi said, "Where's the real one?"
Cracking reached their ears and they looked down to see clay hands grab hold of their legs and they heard a voice. "Art is a bang!"
As explosions hit them, Deidara emerged out of the earth with a big grin on his face. "And that is the finale."
But a voice stopped him completely…and literally. The voice said, "Kamui!"
The blond Akatsuki felt utter pain as he saw his whole world turn distorted and felt his whole body tear itself apart. He screamed loudly when he felt one of his arms detach from his body. That was when the distortion stopped and he was blown away by a Rasengan blow to his torso, courtesy of Kushina.
He supported himself onto the cave wall and shouted, "Don't think this as over, you Konoha-nin!" He removed his Akatsuki cloak to show a big mouth on his chest that is sown shut. "This will be your end and my final art!" He removed the strings and put a large chunk of clay into it. To everyone's surprise, he bloated up. "Witness my ultimate art!" He formed his handseal and shouted, "KATSU!"
At that moment, lightning ropes tied him tightly to the wall and prevented the human bomb from exploding. "NO!" He looked at the two ends and saw that they were connected to two katanas imbedded on the ground. And the ninjas causing the electrical interference were Sasuke and Yukizora. "You sons of bitches," he raged, "How dare you interfere with my art?!" Both of their emotionless faces only irritated him more. But before he could say more, he was knocked out by a chop to the neck by Kushina, who suddenly appeared behind him.
She said, "We've successfully apprehended one Akatsuki member. Sasuke, Yukizora, keep him like that until we're done with the mission." Both nodded.
Another explosion gathered their attention. Turning towards the Mahora group and Suna-nin, they gazed upon the sight of the puppeteer redhead revealing himself as a puppet to his enemies.
"The others will come with me. Let's give support to them."
Outside – with Fate
Right now, Fate is dealing with his own problems: himself…four times. As soon as he saved Setsuna, he sensed four energies similar to his approaching fast. He dashed outside towards the mountain above the cave to see four other copies of himself, readying their obsidian blades against him. He readied his own blade. "Traps that summon identical copies of the destroyer of the seals…that's foolish. You may be my copies. But you do not have my mind or my soul and that will be your downfall."
One copy jumped high to strike him down. Fate parried his strike, kicked him away, and threw his blade towards the incoming second copy. It was sent to the sky, which gave Fate the opportunity to appear in front of it and punch it directly in the face, sending it flying away. As Fate landed, he flipped back away from an earth-shattering heel drop by a third copy. Following through, Fate jumped forward, grabbed the copy's head, and slammed it down on the ground. Thin, red chakra strings trailed from his stomach, towards the copy, and back again. Not even a few seconds later, the copy dissolved into mud. He stood and held out his hand as his blade finally fell from the sky.
He quickly put his blade at his back and blocked the failed surprise attack by Clone 1. He also raised his leg as an attack and leverage against Clone 4 to flip over Clone 1 and give him the opportunity to stab him through the chest. As he pushed Clone 1 away, he removed his right hand from his pocket and incinerated his clone with a burst of Kudo Senkou. He stared at Clone 2 and Clone 4 before him. "And then there were two."
The two clones decided to go all-out and removed their right arms from their pockets and switched blades. To add it up, they seemed to glow with an unusual aura.
Fate summoned his second blade and all three charged at each other. Clone 2 went forward and clashed with Fate, allowing Clone 4 to jump over him and slash down powerfully. In retaliation, Fate flexibly raised his recessive foot enhanced with chakra and blocked the strike. Then he said, "Futon: Shinkugyoku." An expulsion of air came from Fate and forced the two away. Recovering, Fate dashed forward and clashed with Clone 4, the force pushing him away from his companion. The white-haired boy landed right beside Clone 2 and beheaded him before he could act.
Finally, he turned to his last clone opponent, who slowly approached him, just as the cave roof exploded, making both of them jump away. Fate looked at the floor and saw the lone puppet redhead summoning a hundred puppets against the Konoha-nin, Suna-nin, and Negi's group.
Suddenly, he felt KI coming from his opponent, who prepared to attack him again.
With the others
Everyone stared in shock at the Akatsuki puppeteer, who said, "A puppeteer's strength is dependent on how many puppets he can control. It is true, Chiyo-baa-san, that the Shirohigi: Jikki Chikamatsu no Shu is used to conquer a castle. However, with this, Akahigi: Hyakki no Soen, I conquered a COUNTRY!"
Kotarou gasped, "No way! He can control this many puppets?! First, he has human puppets. Then, we find out that he's also a puppet! And now, we see that he can use a hundred puppets at once! What's next?"
Within Mahora, Evangeline's eyes misted in reminiscence. Chikamatsu…that's a name I've long since forgotten.
The redhead Akatsuki rubbed his temples and said, "How to explain this…that I took this long to kill brats and an old hag, which cost me my two favorite puppets…that I had to unleash my final act against more of their reinforcements. This," he focused his very terrifying glare to his opponents, "truly is annoying." Without warning, he sent his puppet army towards the three groups. What happened next could be described as utter chaos.
Despite the teamwork displayed by the units of Konoha, Suna, and Mahora, they were too overwhelmed by the sheer number of Sasori's puppets. Finally, Chiyo saw an opening and turned to the person closest to her, Negi. "Child, get a small bundle from my bag and prepare to throw it at Sasori."
The young teacher nodded and did as instructed. Then, Chiyo shouted, "Now!" Negi started running towards the main puppeteer, his way cleared by the combined force of the Chikamatsu puppets and Pakura. Negi's eye flashed and he threw the ball towards Sasori, who was too late to stop the ball form into a lion head and slam him into the wall.
Everyone gave a breath of relief when the last puppet fell down in complete disarray. Sakura said, "It's done! Finally, it's done!"
Suddenly, there was a click so soft and so silent that only one heard it. His ear twitched as he quickly turned and ran to its source. "Watch out, old timer!" Chiyo's eyes widened as Sasori, reborn in another puppet, stood and attempted to stab her. Someone jumped in-between them and took the blow.
Sasori didn't flinch from the blood. "I thought I was being subtle. But it seems that there's more to you than it meets the eye," he said towards the brown eyes of Inugami Kotarou. Shouts of the hanyo's name rang in his ears.
Kotarou smirked at him, ignoring the pain on his stomach. "Yeah, well, you're too easy to listen to." Chiyo took advantage of the conversation and flicked her fingers, summoning two puppets and impaling two swords onto the device on Sasori's chest.
She said, "You never did learn to mind your surroundings, Sasori." She took out the last antidote from her sleeve and injected it to Kotarou as Sasori finally noted that he's in the middle of a seal array, created by four of the Chikamatsu puppets. "To harness chakra, one must have at least one part of the body that has it. That core on your chest is your weakness. Destroy it and you will die." Kotarou suddenly fell to the ground, succumbing to the pain. In alarm, she knelt beside him, her hands coated in chakra.
"Hmph," Sasori said, "you're still attempting to save him. Give up. I hit a vital spot that even the most accomplished of medic ninjas would find difficult to heal. He would die before you could heal him."
"What I'm attempting now is more than mere healing, Sasori. This is a kinjutsu labeled by Suna out of morality: one of the few Tensei ninjutsu." All of their eyes widened. "This jutsu can return the dead to life…and can even resurrect puppets. I originally intended this jutsu for you, Sasori. But it was all just a foolish dream." She started to remove the blade while hovering her other hand over Kotarou. Suddenly, he coughed up a bit.
Sasori said, "Hmm? That's odd. You say it's a Tensei ninjutsu but you are still alive."
"It's because the boy has not yet died that I am still alive. But I'm left fatigued from the jutsu."
The redhead gave a grunt before saying, "Well…pity he hasn't died yet." He was cut off by a punch from Kaede. "It's useless. Didn't I tell you? I feel no pain. Punch me all you want. You will be the only one who will feel pain.
She said, "Don't insult my student by saying that he'll die from such a small wound."
"Hmph, women always do stupid things. Even if the old woman dies, I will feel nothing. I've killed thousands before now, earning my moniker. To me, she's just one of my victims."
Asuna shouted, surprising them all, "SHUT UP! WHAT DO YOU EVEN THINK A HUMAN LIFE IS?!"
"Only children such as you would say such things." She growled at him. "You would not know what it feels like, unless you become like me. Bodies that are not touched by the sands of time, I can make as much as I want to. But, of course, I do not just make anyone into my puppets. It's about their quality."
"What the hell are you?"
"To me, I am someone who neither a human nor a puppet. I have a puppet's body but also have a core of my real body." He paused. "Tch, since I cannot move for much longer. I'll do something pointless for you people. Think of these are rewards for you. At noon, ten days from now, go to the Tenchi Bridge near Kusagakure. I'm supposed to meet with a spy within Orochimaru's forces." The Konoha-nins narrowed their eyes. "Another…Chiyo-baa-san…didn't you wonder why I created Hitokugutsu, how I turned from wooden puppets to human puppets?" He turned to Chiyo, who was listening intently. "It all started…when you left me to my own devices to deal with your duties. I accidentally stumbled across an abandoned workplace, Chikamatsu Monzaemon's workplace. And in it, I discovered his journal. I read it and understood his teachings, his lessons, and his studies under his master, the first and only person to achieve immortality. I assume you know of what I speak?" Negi slowly figured out who he is talking about.
"No! She's nothing but a myth!"
"Is she? Or is her mythical existence based on lack of sufficient evidence to prove otherwise? She gave up her title as founder of puppets to Chikamatsu out of disdain for the fame it would bring and settled for wandering the world, enslaving those who are unfortunate to challenge her. She is the source of Hitokugutsu and my quest for immortality, the Doll Master, Evangeline A.K. McDowell!" That was when Negi and his friends gaped in shock.
In Mahora, Evageline clicked her tongue. "Tch, I thought I told that fool to remove all traces of me."
Konoka asked, "So you visited their continent before, Eva-chan?"
"Once, Konoe, just once, and that was just a mere coincidence. I took in an apprentice on a whim and almost paid the price for it. I knew that Chikamatsu won't take the credit of inventing puppetry for himself so I altered his memories right after I forced him to destroy all references to me. I never thought he would be so sneaky as to hide his damn journal from me."
Sasori finally ended with, "If you want to learn more…then…you might have to look even harder inside…my workplace…to find…it…" His head lolled down and he died in the arms of his parents, which Chiyo noted. As the three puppets fell, Chiyo suddenly keeled over in pain, making everyone run over to her.
Sakura said, "She's wounded! Come on! We have to go back to Suna to make an antidote!"
"No…" The elder's weak voice answered.
"But if we don't make an antidote, you'll die!"
"I still have something to do…where's Gaara?"
A scroll was thrown and caught by Kushina, who looked at the newly-arrived Fate. "Where were you?"
His answer was, "Dealing with nuisances. Unseal Gaara from the scroll."
She followed, laying the redhead onto the floor. Sakura stepped forward and attempted to use her jutsu on him. Then, she shook her head at Fate.
"Can't you do something about it, Fate," Kakashi asked. Fate was silent before summoning a barrier of sorts around them.
"He still has trace amounts of Ichibi's chakra in him. Should I attempt to bring him back using Kyuubi's, both chakras would clash and Gaara would explode into nothingness."
Chiyo sighed and went over to Gaara's body and put her hands over it. Chakra began coating her hands. They tensed in suspense.
Kotarou asked, "Are you sure you want to do that, old timer?"
"I've done stupid things all my life. And I have yet to right a single one. But it looks like…in my last moments, I'll be able to." She winced as the chakra coating reduced in size. "Damn. I don't have enough chakra."
"Use mine." She looked up in surprise at the sad eyes of Izumi. She chuckled.
"Put your hands above mine, girl." She did so. "It seems I misjudged this new generation…heh." Her eyes went over to Fate. "The long lost Kyuubi jinchuuriki…you've changed since your last appearance. No matter. I want to ask one last favor. Take care of Gaara." He didn't reply as her eyes slowly drooped. But none of them noticed a very thin line of red chakra escape his stomach and his shirt and wrap itself around Chiyo.
Gaara's subconscious
Wait…I'm seeing something again. Oh? It's just my hand again. Hmm, who's that? Is that me?
His child form cried his sorrows…until a hand found its way to his shoulder. He looked to his side and saw the smiling face of a young Uzumaki Naruto.
His environment shifted and he found himself face to face with Izumi. "You are-" Then, he looked around and saw himself surrounded by a bunch of unknown kids, Konoha-nin, and Suna-nin, even the fellow elder Ebizo.
Izumi hugged him, to the ire of the female Suna-nin, and said, "You're back...you've put us through a lot, Gaara."
Kankuro stepped up. "Yeah, you're my otoutou that I always have to worry about." Temari scoot him over and scolded him before tending to Gaara.
He slowly stood, despite his sister's recommendations against it. As he stood, he took note of Kushina and Kakashi and said, "Kushina-san, Kakashi-san, thank you for taking the time to rescue me."
She smiled. "It was nothing, Gaara-san. But you should really thank Chiyo-baa. She used her Tensei ninjutsu for you."
"I see." He walked over to her fallen form and said, "Everyone…say a prayer for Chiyo-baa-sama." As everyone, even in Mahora, but Fate, closed their eyes, they suddenly heard a small groan.
"Don't count me out just yet, Gaara-chan." Shock was plastered onto everyone's faces. "I'm…*cough*…just playing dead." Chiyo grinned up at them, despite her fatigue.
"Chiyo-baa-sama," the Kazekage gasped, "but how?"
She sat up and frowned. "I…don't really know…. As I was dying, I felt an unusual voice inside my head…saying, 'Rise, Elder Chiyo. Your time in this world has not yet finished,' and was pulled back into my body. It doesn't matter now! I'm back and better than ever!" Her grin widened.
Negi's group and the Konoha-nin gave a subtle glance at Fate, who raised a brow at them and shrugged in response.
Later in Sunagakure
Gaara sat in his desk, staring at the children and Konoha-nin before him. His siblings and sensei stood behind him. "It's unfortunate that Deidara escaped during the fight with Sasori. But we have defeated one Akatsuki member and that's what matters. While I don't know how Chiyo-baa-sama returned from the dead, I do know that introductions are in order." He stared at the Mahora group.
"I'm Negi Springfield, and this is Inugami Kotarou, Kagurazaka Asuna, Sakurazaki Setsuna, and Nagase Kaede." He said, pointing to the respective people.
Gaara nodded before turning to Fate. They stared into each other's eyes for a brief moment before the redhead stood and held out his hand towards Fate. "It's good to see you again, Uzumaki Naruto."
They were surprised. "You knew who he was, Gaara, just from staring into his eyes?"
"I was brought into his subconscious, where I met Naruto and Kyuubi. They explained everything to me."
"I see."
Kakashi smiled. "Well, we should be going. Our mission is complete."
Gaara replied, "Okay. Before you leave though, I wish to speak to Naruto alone." They complied, leaving Fate and Gaara within the office.
Akatsuki cave
Amidst the wreckage of puppets, two people stood, Zetsu and an eccentric man with an orange spiral mask.
"So this is Sasori's real face." "Well, he's always hiding in that darn puppet of his." "Deidara's not anywhere near here. So it's most likely that his ring is with his captors."
"Zetsu-senpai," his companion sing-sang. "I found Sasori-san's ring! That means that I can join, right?"
"It's not that simple." "Don't be so critical. He can join. After all, Tobi is a good boy." "Either way, we still need to find Deidara's ring."
"Don't talk about me as if I'm not here, un," Deidara said as he emerged from the ground. "It was quite a hectic fight but Sasori-danna sneakily got me out of that Uchiha and Uzumaki's lightning cage before he died by distracting them. Tch, I guess I owe him one."
Tobi giggled. "Deidara-san, you are quite lucky that Sasori-san didn't poison you for being caught."
"Shut up, new guy."
"Oh, wait, wait," he continued, "or maybe you tried to escape but the lightning messed up your clay and you might have died by your own explosions!"
"One more, new guy, just give me one more annoyance, and I'll kill you!"
Tobi seemed to be ignorant of the danger and said, "How, Deidara-san…death by explosions?"
A tick mark made its way to Deidara's forehead as Shiro Zetsu said, "That's…three, I guess." Later, we find Deidara strangling Tobi using his legs, shouting, 'Death by asphyxiation!'
That's done!
I hope you guys like the fight scenes.
Thank you! ^_^