What If
By: DisasterMaster445
Welcome to the eagerly awaited tenth chapter of What If! It's been a long time since my last update, but that's because my computer's been messed up. Again. I think I fixed it myself this time though. Anyway, last time, Gaara was captured and the party from the Leaf and Stone encounters Sasori, staying behind to hold them up. Yuzaga and Naruto manage to get past him, with a little help from Akatsuchi, and rush to catch up with Deidara. Sasori summons the Third Kazekage puppet and declares that he will use Kakashi for his next project. At the same time, Yuzaga and Naruto prepare to face off against Deidara.
Chapter Ten: Retribution
"Good bye, Kakashi Hatake." Sasori's Iron Sand Shower shot through the air, the bullets ready to pierce their targets. "Damn." Kakashi cursed, throwing himself in front of the bullets.
"Kakashi!" Akatsuchi exclaimed, starting forward. He was thrown back by a blast of sparks as Kakashi seemed to explode into lightning. "What happened?!" Kurotsuchi asked.
"What?! This isn't possible!" Sasori cried. The bullets from the Iron Sand Shower had reversed direction and were striking the puppeteer and his weapon.
"It's definitely possible." The sand between Akatsuchi and his sister began shifting as Kakashi pulled himself from his hiding place. The two siblings gaped at him in wonder.
"What did you do?" Kurotsuchi asked. "I substituted myself with a Lightning Style Shadow Clone when Sasori was distracted by Naruto and Yuzaga. When the Iron Sand hit the clone, it exploded and released Lightning Style chakra. It reversed the magnetism and attracted the bullets to the magnetic chakra that the puppet uses." Kakashi's eye crinkled as he smiled at the maneuver.
"Hn. Thank you, Hatake." Sasori said contemptuously when the bullets stopped. "You alerted me to a weakness in the Iron Sand. No one has ever been smart enough to think to use Lightning Style chakra to counter the Iron Sand Shower."
Kakashi grinned wider. "Not just the Iron Sand Shower. If my Lightning Style worked on that, then it should work on any Iron Sand technique you use." Sasori's eyes narrowed. "We'll see about that."
The Iron Sand started moving around in the air, flitting around and sticking with other grains. "Iron Sand Gathering!" Sasori called out. The Sand was brought together with more magnetic chakra, forming two giant objects. One was a pyramid, and the other was a rectangular block.
"Try reversing these!" He twitched a finger, causing the puppet to flick its hand at Kakashi and the two Stone-nin. The two objects flew forward with astonishing speed for things so large.
"Uh-oh." Kakashi said, smile dropping from his face. "I don't think I'll be able to deflect these!" He called to the other two shinobi. They nodded and the three began dodging.
Kurotsuchi formed the Bird seal. "Earth Style: Falling Earth Spears!" Rocks shot out of the sand in the form of spears. The spears impaled the Iron Sand objects, trying to interrupt their flight.
"You'll need to do better than that!" Sasori called out as the Iron Sand simply morphed to evade. "Damn it!" Kurotsuchi cursed, immediately launching into another set of seals. She jumped to Kakashi and Akatsuchi, slamming her palms on the ground.
"Earth Style: Earth Dome Jutsu!" Rock came out of the sand on both sides of the three as they crouched down. The two sides crashed together above their heads just as the two Iron Sand objects crashed into the dome.
"Ha!" Sasori laughed. "That was a good try!" The point of the Iron Sand spear had penetrated the dome. Sasori manipulated the hammer back and crashed it against the blunt end of the spear, driving it further in. The dome crumbled away.
"What?!" Sasori's eyes widened. His opponents were gone!
"Today's the day you die, you bastard traitor!" Yuzaga ran forward, paying no heed to his earlier advice to Naruto. He placed his hands in the Monkey seal. "Wind Style: Slashing Wind Scythe Blade!" He brought his arms up in an X and slashed with his hands. A cross of wind cut through the air at the missing-nin.
Deidara easily guided his bird up over the attack. "Your hatred makes you weaker." He taunted. "You know that, right?" He threw his hand out, mouth opening to launch a spider-bomb at the angry Stone-nin. Yuzaga did some quick thinking, activating another Jutsu.
"Earth Style: Stone Armor Jutsu!" Rocks from the ground seemed to liquefy and crawl up the boy, forming powerful armor. The spider-bomb latched onto Yuzaga and detonated. The smoke was cut away by another Slicing Wind Scythe Blade, aimed at Deidara.
"Don't make me laugh!" Deidara cried, easily dodging once more. "You'll never hit me with that!" "I wasn't trying to!" Deidara turned, eye widening. Yuzaga had used the Slicing Wind Scythe Blade as a distraction, running under the bird and jumping off the wall to get at the missing-nin from behind.
"Earth Style: Crumble Fist!" He drove his rock-covered fist into Deidara's face, breaking his scope and throwing him off the bird. "Now, Naruto!" Yuzaga cried out. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Four clones jumped up, grabbed Deidara's arms and legs, and drove him into the ground.
"Hold him!" Yuzaga called from atop the bird. He clapped his hands together. He drew them apart, forming a glowing sphere between them. "Hey," Naruto began. "That looks like my Rasengan."
"It's not." Yuzaga answered. "It's the Dust Style: Atomic Dismantling Jutsu!" The sphere shot out of Yuzaga's hands and hit Deidara in the chest. The outer sphere expanded, surrounding the missing-nin and the four clones. The inner sphere imploded, dissolving all five targets.
"Yes!" Naruto cried, trying to push down the memories the clones sent him. "We did it!"
"Earth Style: Erupt!" The sands under Sasori began shifting as something began to surface. Sasori was thrown away as a huge rock burst from the sand. It looked somewhat like a volcano, with a flat top. On that top, Akatsuchi and Kurotsuchi were crouched down with their hands on the rock. In the air, propelled from the mountain, was Kakashi, coming down with his arm lit with his signature attack.
"Lightning Blade!" He was feet away from the former Sand-nin, about to thrust the attack through, when the Iron Sand wrapped around Kakashi, stopping him in his tracks. "Nice try, Hatake." Sasori commended, picking himself up. "But you've lost now. Time to join me for eternity!" He manipulated the Iron Sand objects to point at Akatsuchi and Kurotsuchi.
"Time for them to die!" The objects began moving, but the Stone-nin were doing a good job of evading. For the moment. Kakashi trained his Sharingan on the Kazekage puppet. The Sharingan transformed. Kakashi would need time to utilize his attack.
"Idiots." Yuzaga and Naruto cut their cheering short at the contemptuous voice. "It was a Clay Clone." Both of them were hit with globs of clay. "Oh, crap. I know where this is going." Yuzaga said. Deidara appeared before them.
"Fire Style: Burning Pressure!" He put a palm to each of their chests, and roaring flames blasted the two back. Smoke rolled from Deidara's palms. "Damn." He started, shaking his hands. "That stings."
Naruto groaned, trying to stand. "Get up, man." Yuzaga used the blond to pull himself up. "I friggin' hate when he does that." "Are you two ready to get serious about fighting me? Parlor tricks won't cut it." Deidara vowed.
"I'm dead serious." Yuzaga growled. "Wind Style: Slashing Wind Scythe Blade!" He sent two more wind blades at the missing-nin. "I said get serious!" Deidara cried, sidestepping.
"And I said, 'I'm dead serious.'" Deidara cocked an eyebrow and turned. His bird was missing its wings. The bird was laying on the ground, and Gaara's leg poked out of its mouth.
"Hn. Not bad." Deidara conceded. He turned back to see nobody. "What the hell? What now, hmm?" He heard the ground crack under him and he was thrown off his feet as Naruto erupted from the rocks below. "Na!"
Another clone appeared behind him. "Ru!" He raised his leg high over his head and brought it down on Deidara's head. The missing-nin impacted hard against the ground, bouncing up a few feet into the air.
A third Naruto rushed up as Deidara fell, kicking him in the side with his boot. "To!" Deidara flew, gliding just inches off the ground. Yuzaga appeared in the missing-nin's path, hands in the Snake seal.
"Earth Style: Pillar Jutsu!" He slammed his palms against the ground. Cracks started forming, leading toward the airborne nin. Just when Deidara passed over the cracks a spire of rock burst from the ground, propelling Deidara high into the air with a disgusting cracking noise.
The real Naruto appeared, dropping from the sky in Deidara's path of flight. He flipped, putting both feet down. "Uzumaki Barrage!" He drove both feet into Deidara's chest in a perfect drop kick. Deidara spat blood and shot down to the ground, forming a crater. Naruto landed nearby.
"Was that good enough for you?"
"You rats are pretty good at dodging." Sasori complimented. Kurotsuchi began making seals. "Lava Style: Quicklime Jutsu!" She launched another volley of that same white substance at the puppeteer.
"That won't work on me twice!" He declared, swiftly moving out of the way. He was met by Akatsuchi. "Earth Style: Shatter Fist!" His right arm was encased in stone, like his younger brother's attack, but instead of the stones meshing together to form a somewhat smooth gauntlet, all Akatsuchi's stones were jagged.
"Rahhh!" The large man growled, lashing out. Sasori dodged again. "Trying to maneuver me into your brother's attack?" Sasori asked Kurotsuchi with a contemptuous smile. "That won't work either." Kurotsuchi smirked. "Check your face, Doll-Boy."
Sasori lifted a hand up, causing the puppet to move a little. He felt of his face, noticing a chunk was missing from his cheek. His smile changed to a look of shock, and then a crazy grin.
"So…you made contact." He moved his hands, making the puppet lift its left arm. "I think it's time to immobilize you. Puppet Style:" He cried. The arm snapped apart, revealing several compartments with seals on them. "Thousand Arms Manipulation!" Each seal burst into a cloud of smoke, revealing a thousand arms that seemed to reach for an eternity.
Kurotsuchi cried out as she was grabbed and driven into the sand by the arms. Sasori manipulated a few of the arms, which opened as well. They released more arms that reached for Akatsuchi.
"Earth Style: Earth Golem Jutsu!" Akatsuchi spat out another Earth Golem to block the hands, but they punched right through. They overwhelmed the large Stone-nin, holding him down to the sand. Sasori twitched a finger and the left arm detached, leaving a saw blade in its place.
"No backup coming for you, Hatake." Sasori taunted, finally training his focus on the Copy Ninja. "Wait…what are you doing?!" Kakashi had finally achieved the focus he needed for his special technique, and was staring Sasori in the face.
"Kamui!" He began to strain, and Sasori's face started to warp. Black lines of energy began swirling around, but Kakashi's eye began flicking erratically. He tried to keep the focus on Sasori's head, but the gaze shifted to the puppet. Blood began dripping from the corner of his eye. With the sound of splintering wood, the top part of the puppet disappeared entirely. The Iron Sand objects, as well as the sand holding Kakashi, dropped to the ground. Kakashi landed in a crouch, Lightning Blade active again.
"I'll end it here!" Kakashi panted. He thrust his arm into the stomach cavity of the puppet, grabbing the metal rod the cable was wound around. Sasori's body began convulsing as the electricity flowed through his body. The gash in his face and his eye sockets flickered with light, showing what was happening inside the hollow body.
Kakashi let the body drop, disgusted. "Rest in peace." He snarled. He made a few seals. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" He breathed flames on the Thousand Arms, freeing the Stone-nin. His eyes crinkled, showing his smile, and he fell over.
"He's out." Kurotsuchi remarked. "That's the power of the Sharingan. He overused it. But I've never heard of a Sharingan doing that…" They looked to Sasori's puppet body.
"Well…at least it's over." As they watched, they noticed something very important: the cylinder from Sasori's chest was gone.
"That hurt. But at least I don't have to weaken Kakashi anymore. He should be proud. The Mangekyo wouldn't take the toll it takes if he was my puppet."
Deidara crawled to his feet in the bottom of the crater. His arm was bent at a weird angle, but other than that he didn't look that injured. "That was impressive." He declared. He grabbed his arm and jerked. He grunted in annoyance as his arm snapped back into place.
"Now, where was I, hmm?" He grinned evilly. "That's right. My turn!" He formed a seal. "Ha!" Naruto and Yuzaga looked around them. There were hundreds of spider-bombs scattered around them. They all started to glow.
"Damn it! He must've been scattering them when we-" Naruto was cut off by the massive chain of explosions. "Wind Style: Trunade!" Yuzaga's voice cried out just as the bombs began to detonate. A giant green whirlwind appeared around the two shinobi, blowing the bombs away from them. Deidara was the one blasted back by his own bombs.
"-attacked." Naruto finished meekly. "Nice save." Yuzaga smiled, rubbing the back of his head. "Thanks. But I know Deidara's still alive. We're gonna have to go with everything. No more Taijutsu. We go for the kill with every attack." Naruto nodded.
"Fantastic. Now that you've got a battle plan, why don't we kick this up a notch?" Deidara thrust his hands out, and four globs of clay plopped onto the ground. Each glob was connected to Deidara's hands with a thin string of clay. He focused his chakra, and each blob took the shape of a humanoid warrior. However, they weren't like Deidara's usual creations. These were sloppy and misshapen.
"Let's go!" The warriors ran forward, two for each shinobi opponent. "I'm gonna even up the odds!" Naruto cried, running forward. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Another blond boy appeared and they both began exchanging blows with two of the warriors. They soon found that their attacks didn't work as their fists got caught in the clay.
"Ha!" Deidara exclaimed, making a seal. Both warriors exploded, taking Naruto and the clone with them. "No!" Yuzaga yelled, dodging attacks from both of his opponents. He jumped back from them, hands in the Snake seal.
"Earth Style: Fissure!" He stomped the ground, opening a crack that would take those warriors straight to hell. They fell in, and began dragging Deidara by the thin strands of clay that connected them. He cut the strands as Yuzaga closed the fissure.
"So you took out my warriors. I took out your friend." He smiled. "Seems like a fair trade. Sure, Itachi's gonna be mad at me for killing his target, but that just means I'll get my rematch earlier than I expected."
"I don't think you're gonna get any rematches." Yuzaga said. "What are you talking about, hmm? You don't think you can beat me, do you little Yuzaga?" "I'm not so little anymore. And you have more to worry about." "Yeah?" Deidara asked with a smile.
"What would that be?" "Me!" Deidara looked up just in time for Naruto to drop from the sky, hands clasped together. He brought his hands down on Deidara's head, hammering him back into the ground. Naruto flipped back to land by Yuzaga.
Deidara began laughing from the crater. "If Gaara or Jikai had been as resilient as you, they might've had a chance." Naruto went livid. "What did you say," He began, voice getting deeper and more gruff. "you bastard?!" Wind started to whip around him, throwing up dust. Small rocks around him shattered and were carried away on the breeze.
"Oh? This is interesting, hmm?" Deidara said with a perverse smile. Naruto bared his teeth, incisors becoming fangs. His hair and whiskers thickened, and his eyes changed.
"Yuzaga," He began, voice more a growl than anything else. "get back…" Yuzaga looked at the Leaf-nin in confusion. "You don't wanna get in my way!" And he vanished.
"How many times do we have to kill this guy?!" Kurotsuchi asked angrily. "You didn't kill me before. I changed bodies." The Stone-nin looked shocked and disgusted. "Did I forget to mention that?" He smiled, and the fourth scroll on his back lit up.
He opened the scroll, and the compartment on the right side of his chest. Hundreds of chakra strings burst from the compartment and into the scroll. "Red Secret Move: Performance of a Hundred Puppets." The strings began retracting from the scroll, each bringing a full-sized, human puppet with it.
"This is the technique I conquered a country with. What chance do you two weak shinobi stand?" All traces of any emotion but indignation fell away from Kurotsuchi's face. "Weak? We're the bodyguards to the Tsuchikage! Shinobi from the Hidden Stone are anything but weak!" She launched into a volley of signs.
"Lava Style: Armor!" The ground around her started to heat up, bubbling into boiling magma that slowly crawled up the kunoichi's legs. If she felt any pain from it, she didn't show it. Her clothing and ninja tools remained unscathed as the was fully covered in the deadly armor.
"Let's go!" She called to Akatsuchi. She leaped forward, straight into the fray. Sasori moved the puppets in for a direct assault. "Big mistake!" Kurotsuchi taunted, letting the puppets come. As soon as they made contact, they burst into flames and melted away. Sasori moved the puppets back, but inadvertently gave her a perfect line straight to him.
"I've got you now!" She cried. However, when she got close, she saw two pipes sticking out of Sasori's hands. Her eyes widened, not knowing their purpose. Sasori smiled. "Too late to get away! Water Stream Shooters!" He doused the burning girl, sending her flying back through his puppets. The Lava Armor was cooled by the water, immobilizing Kurotsuchi in the rocky covering. Akatsuchi moved in and caught her.
"You were reckless, sis." He set her on her feet and flicked her on the shoulder. The armor cracked and the girl was freed. "I wouldn't try that again." The large man advised. He looked over at Kakashi, who wasn't unconscious like everyone thought. He subtly motioned for Akatsuchi to be quiet and distract Sasori, his Mangekyo Sharingan activated again.
"We've gotta take those puppets down." Akatsuchi said quietly. Kurotsuchi nodded. "Where's Yuzaga when you need him?" Just then, Sasori set the puppets on them.
Deidara chuckled. "You can't hide from me. I've trained my left eye to see through Genjutsu. Sort of an anti-Sharingan thing. It's had the added effect of allowing me to see people and objects traveling at Sharingan-speed." He was twisting and turning, following Naruto with his eyes. Yuzaga didn't see how it was possible. The blond shinobi was moving so fast he couldn't even get a lock on the boy's chakra signature.
"There you are!" Deidara screamed, throwing a bomb. Naruto reappeared behind Deidara, thrusting an elbow into the missing-nin's back. Deidara cursed. "An afterimage. He's even faster than the Sharingan can follow!" The other blond was flying right at his own bomb. What Deidara had expected to happen was that the bomb would catch the Jinchuriki right as he ran at Deidara. He hadn't counted on an afterimage.
"Yuzaga!" Naruto yelled. The Stone-nin stomped the ground. "Earth Style: Earth Dome!" The dome closed over Deidara and his bomb, just as it detonated. The dome was blown apart, but the two shinobi were shielded from the blast.
"I'll fuckin' kill you." Deidara hissed from inside the smoke. He strode out, his cloak singed. "I think you've just become worthy of my C2." He grinned maniacally. He opened his hand, holding a small clay dragon. He threw the sculpture into the air and signed.
"Go!" He jumped up as a cloud of smoke obscured the others' vision. The two heard a giant flapping noise that nearly deafened them and buffeted the winds away. They saw a giant dragon with a segmented tail.
"What the hell is that?!" Yuzaga exclaimed. "I'll rip it apart!" Naruto answered. "Please! I'll blow you two straight to hell! This is my C2 Dragon!" He made a seal and two segments of the tail vanished. The dragon opened its mouth and launched two identical dragons.
"Die!" "Fire Style: Inferno!" Yuzaga put his hands together, and then brought them apart. A ball of flames appeared, and he threw it before placing his hands in the Monkey seal. "Wind Style: Updraft!" He aimed his outstretched hands at the ball of flames and shot streams of wind directly into its heart. The ball expanded to three times the original size, engulfing both bombs.
Naruto growled, leaping through the smoke. Yuzaga's eyes widened. "He's gonna get killed." The blond shinobi flipped, slashing his claws into Deidara's shoulders. The clay-wielding shinobi fell back, somersaulted, and landed on his feet. Naruto appeared in front of him, tendrils of orange chakra swirling around him. He lashed out with two punches that cracked ribs, causing Deidara to step back. Naruto pursued, slashing with his right hand from Deidara's left shoulder to his right hip. Then, he crouched down, arms crossed over his chest. He slashed both arms out horizontally, scoring deep cuts in the missing-nin's cloak. Finally, Naruto leaned back, delivered a devastating uppercut that sent Deidara into the air, and ended his combo with an aerial punch to the chest that smashed Deidara into the ground.
All of that happened in just a few seconds, and Yuzaga didn't see any of it. Naruto appeared next to his prone opponent. He reached down, digging his claws into Deidara's cloak, and pulled him up. "Fight back!" He growled into the former Stone-nin's face. Quicker than Naruto thought possible, Deidara's hands were on his chest. "Fire Style: Burning Pressure!" Naruto was blasted back, and Deidara dropped back to the ground.
"Little bitch." He crawled to his feet, brushing himself off. His eyes flicked to his left, where Yuzaga was running at him. "Wind Style: Slashing Wind Scythe Blade!" Deidara smirked. "This again?" He started to jump back to dodge just as Yuzaga was moving past him. Everything happened in slow motion as the Dust-user swung his hand high and felt his attack hit flesh. Deidara's eyes widened as he watched his right arm, the one with his ring, fly into the air. Yuzaga stumbled to a stop, and Deidara crashed into a heap ten feet away.
"My arm!" He screamed. "You little bastard! I'll plant bombs in your guts and blow your insides outside!" "Try it!" Yuzaga yelled back. "I'll take everything you've got, and I'll still get back up to kick your ass!"
For the first few minutes it was nearly impossible to get an attack off at any of the puppets. It was all they could do to use defensive Jutsu. Eventually, however, Akatsuchi and Kurotsuchi got used to the rhythm of the puppets' attacks.
"Let's take 'em out!" Kurotsuchi cried, forming seals. "Lava Style: Quicklime Jutsu!" She fired the white substance at Sasori once more. It was now completely dark, and the Quicklime put off a sort of glow. "Water Style: Water Trumpet!" At least twenty puppets had been caught in the trap.
"This isn't so hard, is it Akatsuchi?!" The large man sweat dropped. "Maybe not to you." He muttered with a smile. "Earth Style: Shattered Fist!" He covered both arms with the jagged rocks and displayed amazing speed to quickly behead all the captured puppets. However, he was caught unawares by three puppets that came up behind him.
"Behind you!" He whirled, bashing two foes away, but the third drove a sword through his shoulder before being broken to bits. Sasori began laughing. "There's a finisher! You'll be dead soon, now! All my puppets' weapons are coated with multiple types of poison. Soon, that arm will feel like it's on fire, and that sensation will seep into the rest of your body! It'll be over soon!"
"Akatsuchi, you have to stop fighting!" Kurotsuchi cried. "If you don't move, you'll survive longer!" "I can't stop fighting!" He declared. "I have to do my part in this fight!" He held his hand against the wound in his shoulder, collecting some of the blood to use with seals.
"Summoning Jutsu!" The whole area exploded with smoke, and a powerful trumpeting noise sounded. The smoke cleared and a building-sized, brown furred mammoth pawed at the ground.
"Iwagakure Summoning Special! Warstone Mammoth!" Akatsuchi leapt onto the creature's back. "Let's go! Collaboration Jutsu!" He pumped chakra into the beast, steadily becoming weaker in the process.
"Go! Mudslide Battle Charge!" The mammoth lifted its trunk, blasting high-pressure mud that knocked back the puppets that had charged at them. The Warstone Mammoth then reared back on its hind legs and charged into the middle of the mudslide. It easily ran through the mud, crushing puppets under its girth.
"Destroy as many puppets as you want!" Sasori called out. "For every one destroyed, that's just more focus I can give to the remaining puppets!" It was true. Sasori was down to about half his original number, and the ones left were fighting harder, better, and were more difficult to land a hit against. Akatsuchi had already taken more hits in the form of minor scratches, but each one weakened him exponentially. The Warstone Mammoth had several swords sticking from its belly, and one through its trunk. One tusk was sliced clean off.
As Kurotsuchi watched, the mammoth fell to the ground. Akatsuchi rolled off, collapsing on the sand. Another blast of smoke signaled the exit of the Warstone Mammoth. Kurotsuchi ran to her fallen brother.
"Akatsuchi, are you alright?!" The man didn't answer. He shuddered and his eyes flickered. "He's just unconscious." She said in wonder. She turned to Sasori, eyes passing over the Copy Ninja in the process. She doubled back, making sure she was seeing right.
Deidara was getting pretty reckless with his attacks. He didn't care about anything but blasting Yuzaga into oblivion…and maybe making good on his promise to blow his insides outside.
"Damn it!" Yuzaga cried as he dodged another blast from the C2 Dragon. "Where's Naruto?!" Wind began to whistle and Deidara cursed. Yuzaga had to leap to the side as the dragon's wing crashed to the ground where he'd been standing. The other wing landed not far away. The huge dragon slammed into the ground and Deidara toppled from its back.
"I've had enough of this!" He cursed. "It's not even worth sealing that One-Tailed fucker!" He opened his mouth wide and started chomping down on his own detonation clay.
"Uh-oh." Yuzaga could sense the chakra building up in Deidara's system, and it didn't take a genius to figure out that Deidara was going to detonate himself. "Naruto!" He screamed. "We've gotta do something!" Naruto jumped from where he was hidden, landing next to his friend. "I'm here. What do you suggest?" "I suggest we kill him." He raised his hand up. "I agree." Naruto brought his hand up and they high-fived.
Yuzaga clapped his hands together to form a Dust Style technique. At the same time, Naruto formed a clone to shell out chakra for the Rasengan. But when Yuzaga pulled his hands apart, and Naruto tried forming his Spiral Sphere, nothing happened.
"What…what's happening?!" Naruto asked. "I swear…this has never happened to me before!" "We're low on chakra." Yuzaga noted. "How?! We've been chomping chakra pills for hours!" "We've been fighting for at least an hour. The pills have worn off. And we don't have time for them. Look."
He was right. Deidara's body was already starting to balloon. "We need to get out of here." Yuzaga said. "We can't just run! What about Jikai?! And we have to save Gaara!"
"Gaara's right there! We can grab him easily! Besides, if Deidara blows himself sky-high, Jikai will have been avenged!" "It won't be the same! You'll hate yourself for not dealing the finishing blow yourself!"
"Then what are we supposed to do, Naruto?!" The blond pondered for a minute. "We share chakra. I did it with Sasuke once, and it ended up being a super-powerful Jutsu." "We…share chakra. That might be the dumbest thing I've ever heard. But, if we're gonna do it, we better do it fast. What Jutsu do we do: Dust Style, or Rasengan?"
They high-fived again. "I say…we do them both!"
"Earth Style: Multiple Pillar Jutsu!" Kurotsuchi crouched down, repeatedly punching the ground. With each punch a pillar burst from the sand in front of the one that came before it. Each pillar knocked a few puppets away from her, but they weren't damaged too badly and she remained surrounded by the puppets.
"You can keep wasting chakra by using those high-level Earth Jutsu, or you can surrender. I can't promise you'll die quickly though." He smiled evilly. "Or painlessly." Kurotsuchi looked at him incredulously, slumping a little because of her shortage of chakra.
"I'll never give up! And I won't let these lifeless puppets kill me either! You'll have to come down here and do it yourself!" Sasori cocked an eyebrow. "Fine." The blades behind him began spinning and throwing up sparks.
"I will!" He screamed, shooting forward. He grabbed a sword from one of the puppets as he flew at her. Kurotsuchi tried standing, but dropped back down. "Damn it!" She thought. "I won't be able to dodge! Whatever you're going to do, Kakashi, you need to do it now!" Sasori was just feet from her and drew back to run her through.
"Kamui!" Kakashi yelled from where he laid on the ground. Sasori's eyes went as wide as they'd go as he stopped. His blades stopped spinning and his body dropped down to its knees. He looked down and saw a saw blade sticking horizontally through his chest. It was spinning, and it had pierced the 'Scorpion' cylinder.
Sasori turned his head and saw the rest of the Third Kazekage puppet behind him. "H-how?" He rasped. Kakashi struggled to his feet. "It wasn't easy." He panted. "I had to wait until you let your guard down. My Kamui can send and bring things back from another dimension. I don't know how it works yet, but it's very useful. I activated the ability right as you began flying. I had to time it to where the puppet would only appear once you'd flown mostly past it."
The Copy Ninja staggered over to Kurotsuchi, who was still slumped over. "You performed admirably." He said, patting her on the shoulder. She slid all the way to the ground. Only then did Kakashi see the pool of blood under her and the sword that Sasori had impaled her with.
"Three and counting." Sasori said with a raspy laugh. Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Stone-nin." The redhead explained. "We've killed three. And when Deidara's through, it'll be four. And a Leaf-nin." Then he got serious. "You did well to defeat me in such a way. You hit my only weakness. I've decided to reward you with some information that won't do me any good anymore."
Kakashi's interest was piqued. "In two weeks one of my spies will be at the Tenchi Bridge in the Land of Grass. He holds information that will interest you. He's been spying on Orochimaru for quite some time." Kakashi's eyes widened. "Your teammate is the Uchiha, right? I know Orochimaru wants him. My spy knows where he is…" Sasori stopped talking and fell forward. His chakra strings struggled to stay active, but there was no more chakra. His last puppets dropped to the ground behind him.
Kakashi looked around, wondering if what Sasori said was true. He forced himself over to the two Stone-nin, looking for pulses. Both were still alive, but barely. "Damn. Summoning Jutsu!" He summoned Bull, who picked all three up and padded back to the Sand Village.
"Naruto…Yuzaga…you two have to finish this…I can't be there to help you. But I know you can do it." He smiled before closing his eyes. "I've never used my Mangekyo this much. I'm wiped out. I need more training…"
"He's about to detonate!" Yuzaga said, feeling the buildup of chakra in the Missing-nin. The two pooled their chakra together, making their hands glow. They pulled them apart, forming a sphere between them. The outer sphere glowed bright white, but the inner sphere was black, and swirled like a hurricane.
"Who's gonna take the shot?" Naruto asked. "Go for it." Yuzaga offered. "It's your vendetta. You should do it." They kept arguing until they felt the ground begin to shake.
"Damn! He's gonna blow!" Yuzaga cried. He took off running, sphere floating just above his hand. He stumbled a few times as the ground quaked, but he got to Deidara just as the Missing-nin started to detonate. Everything happened in slow motion: Yuzaga saw Deidara's bloated body one second, then the next he saw a corona of flames. He threw his hand forward.
"Dust Style: Rasengan!" The explosion was contained by the first sphere, and the second expanded to catch Deidara. It left nothing. However, the force of the detonation couldn't be kept inside of the sphere. The transparent dome cracked and shuddered, then gave way completely. The sphere released all its contents in a wave of spiraling wind and fire that blew Yuzaga and Naruto back into the sheer cliff face behind them.
A strange man stood over the puppet body of Sasori of the Red Sand. He was a man of average height, but seemed much taller due to his…weird accessories. Sprouting from his neck was a huge Venus-flytrap. His hair was a dull green, and his body was both black and white. The left side was white, and the right was black. His eyes were yellow.
He wore a familiar garment. A black cloak with red clouds. Standing with him was an equally strange man. He was about as tall as the other man (flytrap non-withstanding, of course) and had similar short hair, albeit black. He wore an orange, swirly mask that covered one eye, a black long-sleeve, high-collared shirt, black gloves, and a pair of dark pants. He also wore a thick black belt with armor metal plates attached to it. He wore the same metal plates on his shoulders, along with a green scarf.
"This is pretty gruesome, isn't it Zetsu?" He said goofily. "Be more serious, you jackass." Zetsu rasped. Then he spoke again in a lighter voice. "Be nice to Tobi. Tobi's a good boy."
"Yeah!" Tobi exclaimed happily. "Tobi's a good boy!" But inside his head he was replaying images from the battle between Sasori and Kakashi. Images that came from just one eye. A left eye.
"Does this mean I get to join the Akatsuki?" Tobi asked, holding up Sasori's ring. "Zetsu! Are you really planning on letting this moron into the Akatsuki?!" Both turned to see Deidara walking through the sand, carrying his severed arm.
"Oh, so you didn't die?" Zetsu's two voices asked together. "Shut up! You know when both of you talk together it gives me a headache. Let's go. I've gotta get Kakuzu to reattach this." He motioned with his severed arm. They began walking away. "Who the hell is this guy, anyway?" "Tobi's a good boy!"
A Few Days Later
Yuzaga woke up in a hospital room. From the sandstorm raging outside, he guessed he was still in Sunagakure. Akatsuchi and Kurotsuchi sat in chairs beside the bed. Kurotsuchi had bandages wrapped around her torso, but didn't look too bad. Akatsuchi was another matter. Before they could say anything, he was sitting up and gaping at his brother.
"Where's your arm?!" Akatsuchi tried to laugh, but immediately gasped and sucked in a deep breath. "It's not important. What's important is that you're ok." They went on to describe their battle with Sasori. He learned that it was Sakura that had helped the Sand doctors get rid of Sasori's poison. However, the muscles and tendons in Akatsuchi's arm had been severed by the sword that went through his shoulder. There wasn't anything they could do to save his arm.
"Wait…Where are Naruto and Gaara?" Yuzaga asked. Kurotsuchi smiled and went to the door. She opened it and the two Jinchuriki walked in together. Neither one of them showed any damage from their battles.
"Thank you." Gaara rasped. "Not many shinobi would have come to my aid like you and your siblings did." Yuzaga smiled. "It's no problem. It's what Jikai would have wanted me to do." Gaara also smiled, the concept looking foreign to him. "I'm truly sorry to hear about Jikai. He and I would have made good…friend."
Yuzaga looked between his siblings. "You're right. You three would've been great friends. I've already become friends with Naruto, and I'd like to be your friend too." Gaara nodded. "It was done when you came to help me." "From this day on, for as long as I'm alive, the Leaf, Sand, and Stone will be allies. Nobody will ever try to touch us." Yuzaga declared.
Just a few hours later, the parties from the Leaf and Stone were at the edge of the Village, preparing to leave. Gaara and his siblings stood to see them off. Kankuro stepped forward. "Naruto, Yuzaga, I can't thank you two enough for saving my baby brother." Naruto shook his head.
"You don't have to thank us. It was a no-brainer." Sasuke smiled. "Well then, you two were the right men for the job." Everyone laughed while Yuzaga and Naruto turned to the Uchiha.
"What did you even do on this mission, Sasuke?" Naruto asked. "Yeah, didn't you just hang at the hospital?" Sasuke laughed. "I think I saved you from having to scrape Naruto off the sand."
The seven shinobi gave one last wave and turned back toward their home villages. "We'll walk with you till we get to the forest." Yuzaga offered. "You don't really have a choice." Naruto said. He pointed at Akatsuchi. The one-armed man was carrying Kakashi on his back.
"You might have to come to the Leaf Village with us." Kakashi laughed. "Cool. It'll be a nice vacation for awhile." Yuzaga said. "Not for us." Kakashi thought. "In less than two weeks we'll be heading for the Land of Grass…" Not privy to Kakashi's thoughts, everyone took off at a run toward the Hidden Leaf.
There you have it. The first set of Akatsuki fights has begun. The fights might have been a little strange, but I haven't had the chance to write in a month…actually, probably longer. I'm not sure. Regardless, Sasori has been eliminated, but Tobi has arrived to take his place. Kakashi has shown his Mangekyo, and we inadvertently make the connection between Kakashi and Tobi earlier than in the manga/anime. But nobody in the story is privy to the information. Mwahaha. I'm so devious. So, tenth chapter down, quite a few to go. You'll be reading this fic for awhile yet, so don't worry. More righteous fighting next time. By the by, I now have all my OCs for my Seven Swordsmen of the Mist fic, and shall be writing the first chapter soon. No need to worry, and be on the lookout. Ja Nae.