Hokage no Isan: Hi no Ishi Chapter 9, a Flame of Recca + Naruto Crossover fanfic

Man, so many plot twists recently...I had that samurai guy pegged as Madara because of his wrinkles at one point.

Halibel: Do not judge based solely by appearance.

Apache: The grey one just left, Hsalibel-sama.

Kyugan: Time to earn your porn, Kakashi...(notes Sun-Sun smiling) Hm?

Sun-Sun: (Holds up pilfered Tactics) He'll have to come back for it.

Women are scary, make note.

Mangekyou Kakashi; Deidara's Big Crisis!

"Did…Did he just say what I THINK he said?!" Recca gaped, the enjutsu-shi's eyes widening as he stared at Sasori's silent corpse, the fallen puppet master lying between the equally still forms of his 'Parents'.

"I assure you he did." Kagero spoke up, reassuring her son that his hearing hadn't been on the fritz, and that Sasori's last words had indeed not been a flight of fancy "Does this mean…Chiyo-basama?"

"How can this be?" Chiyo muttered, looking over the silent form of her grandson in disbelief, her face one of absolute shock from this latest bombshell "How could he have sired a child without me knowing?"

"Perhaps he didn't want to risk losing them as he had his parents?" Kagero opined, looking over the still form of the master puppeteer solemnly "Or perhaps he just didn't want them following in his tracks?"

"It'd explain why he went so easy on Kankurou." Recca spoke up, blinking in realization as he recalled the middle sand siblings description of the battle "I mean, he purposefully challenged him instead of teaming up with that Dei…something or other guy."

"All this time…" Chiyo muttered, looking down at her grandson's wooden remains in disbelief "I had thought my grand child was a traitor to our village…now I learn that I have three more…"

"Old bag?" Recca queried, looking over as Chiyo slumped, his eyes widening as he noticed the cut on her shoulder "Shit! Mom! The poison!"

"Chiyo-basama!" Kagero called out, scooping one of the anti-poison madogu pills out of her pouch and holding it up to the elder's mouth, looking alarmed when she refused to loom up at her "Please, eat this!"

"I'm okay…" Chiyo assured them, though she did accept the pill, looking up to reveal tears streaming down her cheeks in rivulets "I'm just…so sad…and happy…" she snorted mockingly "I must be getting old…I've never been so worked up before in my life…"

"Family will do that to you." Kagero agreed, recalling the first time she'd laid eyes on Recca since sending him into the future, the joy and tears she'd shed at seeing her son, alive and healthy, after centuries alone "But this isn't the place for this, we should regroup with the others first."

"Yeah," Recca agreed, looking around the battlefield in distaste "No offense, but this place reminds me WAY to much of the House of the Dead."

Chiyo snorted, before popping the pill into her mouth and swallowing it, rising to her feet with a little help from Kagero, the ten treasures whirling over her head as she tossed their scroll in the air, resealing them back into it with a flourish, before tucking it away about her person. "Let's go." She ordered, stepping away from Kagero with a confident air "I have a Great-Great Grandson to rescue!"

"What about…" Recca began, tilting his head towards Sasori and his 'Parents', which were lying where they'd left them. Chiyo looked back, a look of sorrow crossing her features at the sight, before sighing and shaking her head.

"Leave them be…" she stated calmly "they're together again…at last."

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'Holy Freaking Sheep Shit-un!' Deidara yelped, leaping out of the path of yet another frenzied strike as the redhead Jinchuriki's sword missed his neck by a scant millimeter, a small scratch lining his cheek 'This ain't no firecracker! She's like a crate of Nitro!'

"COWARD!" the fiery redhead snarled, rising up in the blonde's face again, blade singing for blood, only for Deidara to fly out of reach once more, losing nothing more than an inch of forelock to the strike "FACE ME!"

'To hell with that!' Deidara countered, visibly shaken from the sheer amount of killing intent the redhead had leveled at him 'This is bad, I'm practically out of explosive clay…' he glared at the pursuers 'Normally Sharingan Kakashi would be my primary concern…but the Kyuubi jinchuriki's some sort of monster!'

It had all gone to hell when the redhead had released that burst of crimson chakra from her tekko, blinding everyone before leaping up into Deidara's face and nearly cutting his head off in the process, despite his mount being well out of range of a chakra propelled leap.

'Should've figured a monster would have monstrous strength.' He reasoned, suppressing the inexplicable sense of fear that had washed over him from the feeling of the Kyuubi's chakra seeping out from the brat's tekko 'That thing must act as a seal…she only opened it for a second and all that chakra just burst right out at me.' He smirked 'Which means she has next to no control over her chakra.'

Not that this was a lot of comfort, while his golems tended to be self-sustaining unless he detonated them, they still required him to direct them with Chakra, otherwise they just lay there like decorative paperweights, albeit paperweights with the force of C1 explosives.

'As it stands my chakra's already pretty low to be taking on a jounin even Itachi respects.' Deidara muttered, grimacing at the mention of the taciturn Uchiha, who he just plain didn't like, but respected for his skills and ability nonetheless 'But if I can goad them on just a little further…'

He smirked as the Kyuubi brat tried using a kage bunshin to leap up at him, only to fall short by about ten feet "Almost, un." He called out, smiling mockingly as the brat glared spitfire at him "Keep it up why don't you? Maybe you'll get lucky in another…ten years or so?"

The roar of rage from the riled up redhead was well worth the gash he received on his cheek from the kunai she'd hurled at him as she fell. But only just.

"Naruto!" Kakashi snapped, leaping up alongside his charge as she came down from her fall, gripping her shoulder tightly despite her attempts to throw him off, his sharingan glowing as he forced her to look at him "CALM DOWN!"

Naruto snarled, actually moving as if to draw her sword against the jounin, only to blink as the subliminal order from Kakashi's sharingan took effect, the redhead shaking her head with a grunt as the battle frenzy faded to nothing.

"That's better." Kakashi offered soothingly, though he breathed a sigh of relief. The second the crimson chakra had exploded from Naruto's tekko, the jounin had instantly gone on edge, waiting for his chance to leap in and calm his students without drawing the Hanyou's murderous attention towards himself. "That was a close one, wasn't it?" he asked cheerfully, keeping his grip on the redhead's shoulder as he guided them to a protruding tree trunk just below their opponent's mount.

"Y-yeah…" Naruto muttered, a little shakier than normal as she caught her breath, glaring up at Deidara, who had come to a halt just out of reach as usual "Bastard's trying to wear us down isn't he?"

"Yeah." Kakashi allotted, patting his student on the shoulder and turning to regard the annoying Akatsuki that had been leading them steadily away from the hideout "He's low on Chakra, my Sharingan can read next nothing from him, so it's clear he's trying to buy some time to recover while his partner handles the others."

"Where the heck's Gejimayu sensei's team?" the redhead muttered, teeth clenched in concern for the older shinobi's whereabouts "They shoulda been back well before now!"

"That they should have." Kakashi agreed, his eyes narrowing in concern for his annoying 'eternal rival', as believe it or not he DID care about Gai. When Rin and the Yondaime had passed away, leaving Kakashi the sole surviving member of Team Minato, Gai had been a lifeline that had kept the jounin from going mad with grief, as it was hard to stay focused on moping when a man in day-glow green spandex keeps popping into your life to challenge you to asinine contests of skill.

'He still hasn't figured out how I'm able to beat him at janken.' The jounin chuckled, as Gai had a nasty habit of always leading with rock no matter who he was up against, likely a result of his always clenching his fists before a match 'But that doesn't help us now…'

"Naruto…" he called out, not taking his eye off the Akatsuki as they leapt after him, bringing his hands into a ram seal as he closed both eyes "Keep an eye on him for me…I'm going to try something."

"Kaka-sensei?" Naruto wondered, looking over at the jounin on confusion, only to blink as she noted the small smirk under the man's mask.

"C'mon…" Kakashi chuckled, looking at the redhead with an amused twinkle in his normal eye "didn't I say you weren't the only ones that have gotten stronger these past two and an half years?" he smiled and turned back to the task at hand "Lemme show you…this old dog ain't out of tricks yet…"

"Konoha REPPU!" Lee yelled, spiraling upwards to collide with his double's own attack, following it up with an axe heel kick that was promptly mimicked and turned aside "You're tenacious!" he applauded, flipping away and landing on his feet in his ready stance, the double mimicking him as always "I can see that the Akatsuki are truly something to be feared if they can deploy diversions such as this."

The double said nothing, merely charging towards him with a Gouriki Senpuu that rather than blocking, lee ducked under, rising upwards in a Konoha Shou Fuu that clipped his double on the jaw, sending it sprawling backwards "Gai-sensei!" he called out, tapping his radio in the short break "Are you alright?"

"BAHAHA!" came the man's jubilant reply, having just finished another brutal exchange of blows with his equally tenacious double "I HAVEN'T HAD A CHALLENGE LIKE THIS SINCE KAKASHI AND I SPARRED LAST WEEK!"

"He's fine…" Neji's voice muttered over the line, the Hyuuga's tone as dismissive as ever, though he sounded like he was breathing harder than normal "That said, the Akatsuki know their stuff…these things aren't regular doppelgangers."

"Strength, Speed, Technique…" Tenten listed, her voice filled with awe "Hell mine even has it's own weapons scroll, and my weapons too!"

"Weapons?" Lee muttered, blinking as he looked down at the rings he'd placed on his fingers from Kagero "Tenten, what about the madogu we got from Hanabishi-san?"

"No, it's pulling things out of my old scroll." Tenten muttered, confused at her teammate's question as she looked at her double, only to blink "Wait…you don't think?"

"Let me try something…" Lee muttered, turning to face his opponent, the Lee replica charging him with an unnaturally impassive face, the original's eyes hardening as he clenched his fist, focusing his fledging chakra capabilities on the rings Kagero had given him as he thrust a fist out at the double with a yell "KUU DAN!"

A blast of concentrated air pressure flew from the teen's fist, crashing into the double and sending it flying into a tree trunk, bringing the whole thing down on top of it with a crash of falling timber. Lee, unwilling to let up for a second, charged the double before it could regain its footing, leaping into the air and delivering a second blow, this one smashing it into the firmament like an iron spike.

"How do you like that?!" he demanded, landing in a crouch nearby, ducking under a retaliatory kick from the double as it rushed him, looking decidedly battered but still going strong "Still limiting yourself to Taijutsu…" Lee muttered, his eyes narrowing in confirmation of his suspicions "that proves it!"

Ducking under a punch that, from experience, could have pulped his skull flat, Lee promptly opened three of his inner gates, his skin turning crimson as his chakra skyrocketed, a howl tearing from his lips as he delivered a punch of his own to the double's midriff, the sound of shattering bones promptly being followed up with a point-blank air hammer from his other fist, the blow literally punching through his double's chest, sending it flying backwards to land in a boneless heap, slowly resorting back to a lump of lifeless wooden pulp.

"Tenten!" the bowl-cut sporting teen gasped, collapsing to one knee as the inner gates shut themselves once again, leaving him winded and sore, but otherwise all right "They can't replicate Madogu!"

"I know!" Tenten agreed, her voice sounding oddly chipper despite her exhausted pants for breath "I trapped my double inside the sphere Kagero-san gave me…" she revealed, the smirk on her face carrying over the radio waves to her teammates "I think Tsunade-sama'd like to examine it later."

"As expected of my youthful disciples!" Gai cackled, even as he backhanded his own copy into a mountain "Neji! We cannot let ourselves be outdone! We must let our youth explode to defeat these foes!"

"I've already finished mine off." Neji countered, his voice haggard, but otherwise as infuriatingly calm as ever "Gai sensei, you're the only one still fighting."

Gai's world went grey as he froze, tearstains running over his form for a scant second, before he snapped to attention, his eyes igniting with righteous flames as he pumped his fist "YOSH!" he roared, opening six of the gates as he spoke, knocking his double of it's feet once more as he unwittingly backhanded it again "I CANNOT SET A BAD EXAMPLE FOR MY STUDENTS! I WILL DEFEAT MY YOUTHFULL, HANDSOME OPPONENT IN THE NEXT TEN SECONDS OR I WILL CARRY EVERYONE TO KONOHA ON MY BACK!"

"There he goes again…" Tenten sighed, even as the sounds of the greatest act of self-mutilation in the history of mankind echoed through the air, despite the distance between them "He does know this isn't a contest, right?"

"Neji! I defeated my opponent before you!" Lee crowed, sounding oddly ecstatic, even as Tenten face faulted from the sheer stupidity "Yosh! I will etch this moment in my memory forever!"

"Idiot…" Neji muttered, not quite scoffing as he put down his energetic teammate, Tenten thanking the Kami that at least ONE member of her team was sane "I defeated mine the very moment you opened your gates."

'Fuck you Kami-sama.' Tenten muttered, pounding her head into the ground even as Lee's vows to surpass the smug Hyuuga clashed with the sound of Gai-sensei tearing himself a new one 'Fuck you very much…'

"Kaka-sensei…" Naruto muttered, her tone growing more impatient by the second as she glared up at the airborne Akatsuki, who was hovering above them just outside her jumping range, almost tauntingly "I know you asked me to wait, but if this takes as long as you normally do-!"

"Patience is a virtue, Naruto." Kakashi quipped, smirking to himself as he felt the redhead glare at him "Still, I suppose it's more than I should expect from my cell, but that's not a problem…" he opened his Sharingan eye, Naruto blinking as she noted the transplanted organ was different from before "I'm ready now."

"Kaka-sensei…?" the redhead stammered, blinking in confusion at the sight of the three, sickle-like blades of the pinwheel that spun in place of the traditional Sharingan tomoe she'd come to recognize "Is that what you meant by…?"

"Yep," Kakashi admitted, regarding his unpredictable student with both his eyes as they leapt along "I did some work with my Sharingan while you were gone…this is the result."

Naruto said nothing, recalling the tales of Itachi, and his so called advanced Sharingan from Jiraiya, wondering just what type of training Kakashi had undergone to awaken his own, before looking up at their prey with a growl "Kaka-sensei…" she muttered, teeth clenched "If anything happens…I'll finish it."

"By all means." Kakashi chuckled; turning deadly serious as he turned his eye upon the airborne foe "If you get the chance that is…" he added as an afterthought "but for now…hold back and give me room." His brows narrowed authoritatively "Trust me…you DON'T want to get caught in this."

Naruto blinked, surprised by the dead certainty in the jounin's tone, before nodding and falling back slightly, out of Kakashi's field of vision but close enough to leap in should he need a hand.

"Here goes…" the Copy-nin muttered, the eye Obito bequeathed him focusing on his airborne target with hawk-like intensity "MANGEKYOU SHARINGAN!"

Deidara, soaring overhead and wondering what the hell was taking them so long to make their next move, flinched as a peculiar sensation washed over him, akin to being dumped in the middle of the ocean during a storm, only without the water.

'What the-?!' he wondered, looking around in alarm as the air itself seemed to distort, as if caught in a heat haze, looking down at his hand in disbelief as it warped like superheated metal 'WHAT THE HELL IS THIS UN!?'

He paused in mid-freak out as a section of the distortion focused on his heart, the air around it seeming to compress, like it was pulling in on itself 'Don't tell me!' he swore, the lens of his eyepiece clicking away as he focused down on the advancing copy-nin, his visible eye widening as he espied the exposed, eerily familiar pinwheel sporting Sharingan glaring back at him 'Dojutsu?! SHIT!'

Kakashi swore as the bastard swerved in mid-air, making it hard to focus on his main body for the desired length of time 'Not good…' he muttered, 'He's figured me out…making his body a moving target.'

Not giving up in the slightest, he kept up the assault, closing his normal eye to enhance his concentration of his acquired dojutsu, the spatial distortion of the space before him intensifying, as if light itself was being refracted and sucked into the spot his pupil rested on, which just so happened to be Deidara's right arm.

'Gotcha!' the Hatake grit out, his eye widening as he pinned the limb down, Deidara gaping in alarm as the distortion refused to release it's hold, a small, black hole appearing in the center that sucked the surrounding light into it.

With an audible sound of tearing flesh and bone, a portion of Deidara's arm from the elbow to forearm vanished, his severed right hand falling to the ground even as the distortion shrank to the size of a pinhead and vanished.

'Still can't fully control the size and position of the barrier space.' Kakashi noted with a grunt, even as he covered his Mangekyou with one hand, the strain of using the dojutsu like a searing migraine. Gritting his teeth beneath his facemask, the Hatake pushed the pain aside, using it as a focus for his second attempt as he leveled another glare at the crippled Akatsuki shinobi, who apparently was to focused on the pain in what was left of his arm to focus, as his mount had started to drift lower.

'Son of a bitch-un!' Deidara gasped, gritting his teeth to keep from screaming in agony as he knelt atop his golem, the bleeding stump of what used to be his right elbow and lower arm staining the flawless white of his clay a dull crimson 'Why the hell weren't we warned about him having a dojutsu of that caliber?!'

He shivered, shaken out of his desire to blast Itachi to kingdom come for his negligence as the peculiar sensation washed over him again, this time centered on his face. Letting out a curse and ducking to make himself a smaller target, the crippled nin realized that, in his agony, he'd allowed his golem to drift lower than was safe, meaning the copy-nin had a better targeting range.

'Not this time!' he swore, using the bare minimum chakra to remain planted to his mount as he commanded it to swerve out of the range like a kite in a breeze, only to curse as the distortion followed him at a doggedly faster pace than before 'Damn!' he muttered, crouching as low as possible to his mount in an effort to hide 'Gotta get to higher ground before-!'

Something in his peripheral vision, a flash of blue and red, caught the nin's attention, his head snapping to the left just in time to see the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki bearing down on him with a spiraling sphere of concentrated chakra in hand, her eyes glowing a murderous red as she reared her arm back to ram it into his face.

'Not so fast there hot stuff-!' the blonde pyrotechnic countered with a smirk, leaping back to put some distance between them, only to blink as the redhead smirked at him knowingly, before drawing her katana with one hand and swiping at him as she let the chakra sphere die out.

"Fuuton: Tachi Kaze!"

Deidara, caught mid-leap and off guard by the jinchuriki's switch from short to long range combat, nonetheless managed to use the wing of his mount as a springboard, kicking off it as it descended and dropping out of the attack range of the severing wind, even as said wing was reduced to so many lumps of clay.

'Using a dojutsu like that as a distraction…' Deidara muttered, landing awkwardly on the branch of a tree in the woodlands below, wincing as the landing jarred his wounded arms 'If they'd mistimed it by one second, the two of us could've been sucked up together…' he smirked as he caught sight of another clone helping a haggard looking Kakashi 'Yare-Yare…no wonder Itachi had a hard time of it three years ago…not only was he up against someone with a dojutsu on par with his…' he turned his head heavenward, where the real redhead was severing his golem's head from it's falling body " but the Kyuubi's host is turning out to be a real is a monster, un.'

"Gaara!" Naruto yelled, pounding on the severed head of Deidara's golem, summoning a Kage bunshin mid-freefall to help steady the thing as they landed on a tree branch, unaware that Deidara was watching them not fifty feet away "Can you hear me?!" she roared, digging into the surprisingly malleable clay and opening the contents into the sunlight "Gaara!"

Inside the hollowed out chamber of the golem's skull, bathed in the beams of light that her opening that slipped past her head lay the silent form of Gaara. The Kazekage's eyes were closed, and the armor of sand that covered his face was riddled with cracks and holes that normally wouldn't have been tolerated by Shukaku, who despite the seal keeping him from tormenting Gaara in his sleep, could at least maintain a constant guard over his host's defenses as he rested.

"Hey…" Naruto urged, reaching into the clay prison and shaking the redhead's shoulder desperately "C'mon man…" she stammered, eyes widening as flecks of sand armor fell off the prone teen from the motion "Quit goofing off!"

"It's useless you know." Deidara called out, figuring he should get his last digs in before high tailing it to a safe point to signal for back up "He's dead-un…has been since the cave."

Naruto froze, looking down at the still form of Gaara with wide eyes, teeth clenching as she gripped his shoulder, only to release him, bangs covering her eyes as she stood up, her clone looking up at her in trepidation. "No he's not." She muttered, her voice unusually cold as she raised her tekko sporting arm to her face "Gaara's not so weak he'd let a pussy like you beat him."

"Yeah-yeah…" Deidara shot back, internally pissed at the 'pussy' comment, but already making preps for a get away "Sorry if I don't feel like duking it out with you at the minute hot stuff, but I'm afraid letting a woman take the lead ain't my stile." He smirked at her back "But trust me…once I'm back to full strength, I'll gladly take you on."

With that he leapt off the tree, only to be sent crashing into the ground as a fist smashed into his face with the force of a meteor, sending him plowing through several trees before leaving a trench twenty feet long in the dirt below.

'Fast!' Kakashi gasped, eyes widening as he gaped down at the equally gob smacked Deidara, who simply laid where he'd fallen at the end of the trench 'I didn't even catch the attack with my Sharingan active!'

"Kaka-sensei…" the Kagebunshin Naruto had sent to assist him called out, Kakashi blinking as he noted the fear in the clone's tone, looking up to see her trembling, hand clenching her sword as if preparing to draw it "We gotta run!"

Kakashi, wondering just what could unnerve the clone so much, could only hold onto the branch for dear life as a wave of killing intent washed over him, dispelling the clone and forcing him to look back towards the battle field in alarm 'That's-!'

"Neji!" Lee yelled, falling back to kneel beside his teammate, gripping his shoulder in concern. The team had reformed after Gai sensei finally stopped wailing on his opponent long enough to realize it was already dead, and had been making their way back to the cavern when Neji, who had been using his Byakugan to scout ahead, had collapsed on the ground, covering his eyes with a scream.

"I-I'm fine…" the Hyuuga stammered, panting for breath like he'd just run a marathon, tears streaming from his eyes as he blinked up at them "That chakra…so intense…almost blinded me…"

"You serious?" Tenten gasped, looking over the Hyuuga in concern as he allowed lee to help him to his feet. The fact NEJI accepted help from ANYONE was a shocker in itself, but it only went to prove how serious the situation was.

"Was it…Akatsuki?" Lee asked, looking towards the woods in concern, only to blink as Neji shook his head.

"No…" The Hyuuga muttered, his face decidedly more calm than it had been a second ago as he looked them all in the eyes "I can't believe it myself…but it was NARUTO."

Gai, who had been silent throughout the entire exchange, grimaced as his students gaped at one another in shock, understanding all too well what those words implied. "We're speeding up." He ordered, his tone clipped and authoritative as they turned to address him "Neji, avoid using your maximum range in case of another surge, but keep a lookout nonetheless."

'Kakashi…' the green beast muttered, resuming his race towards his rival's position with a determined gait 'Hold on until I get there!'

'W-what the hell!?' Deidara stammered, his eyes wide with disbelief as he tried to sit up, a difficult task without arms to support him, only to find his world go wobbly, as his inner ear had apparently been rattled from the blow 'Who…What…?'

"Where do you think you're going?" a cold voice called out, Deidara whipping round just as a foot snapped out to kick him in the face, sending him crashing into another tree trunk, falling with a gasp of pain onto the floor below.

"Who…" the blonde Akatsuki panted, rolling over to glare at the tall, muscular figure that was walking towards him, features hidden by the shadow of the canopy above, save for a pair of murderous red eyes and a mane of crimson hair "Who are you?!"

"You thought you were so smart..." the red-eyed specter growled, walking towards the downed nin even as it dropped something from it's hand, Deidara's eyes widening as he recognized the tekko the jinchuuriki had been wearing "Hovering out of reach like a damned mosquito, leading Kaka-sensei and me around by our nose hairs just so you could waste our time…"

The figure came to a halt, standing over the terrified Akatsuki like some wrathful deity, the sunlight forming a halo behind his head, even as it raised a hand to it's face. "And unfortunately for me, time isn't something I can waste on garbage like you." The figure muttered, clenching his fingers in front of his face, the crimson eyes blazing as he glared down at Deidara angrily "So I'm pulling out all the stops."

"Holy Shit!" Rekka yelped, watching in disbelief as a section of woodland between them and Kakashi's supposed location exploded up ahead "We walk into a shinobi war or something!?"

"That Akatsuki fellow Sasori was partnered with used explosives according to Baki's report." Chiyo opined, a frown on her face "But that didn't sound like a bomb…if anything it sounded like those times that slug woman would go on a rampage."

"Tsunade-sama DOES have a temper." Kagero agreed, recalling how countless advisors had fled the godaime's office for disturbing the woman's naps, those that were fast or smart enough to avoid her first blow that is "However…I get the feeling that this is something else-!"

She trailed off as the branch she was standing on trembled, her eyes widening as the entire tree tilted sideways from a blow that had uprooted it like a sapling in an earthquake, only a quick use of the Eikai Gyoku saving her from a fall to the forest floor below. Recca, like the monkey he was, flipped in mid-air and landed on a different branch, while Chiyo used her chakra threads and kunai to correct her fall.

"What was that?!" the suna elder muttered, gripping the trunk of the tree for stability as she gazed down into the dust below with a suspicious squint "Is there someone down there?"

The Mother and Son duo looked followed the wrinkled woman's gaze, squinting into the cloud of dirt with kunai in hand, ready to let fly if Sasori's partner reared his blonde head, only to blink as the dust cleared, revealing a large, almost six-foot figure with wide shoulders and a main of spiky red hair.

His back, which Kagero noted was decked out in a Konoha Chunin vest, was turned to them, and in one hand he held the battered form of Sasori's accomplice, who was looking like he'd been put through a meat grinder, his Akatsuki robes reduced to shreds, both arms and one leg torn off and dripping blood.

But what drew Recca's attention was not the utter savagery of the Akatsuki's beating, but what the redhead held in his other hand, namely a familiar. compact ball of violently rotating chakra that released a distinctive hum.

"That's a rasengan!" Recca yelped, eyes widening as he recognized the technique, despite it's crimson colour, gaping down at the stranger in confusion "But…the only ones that know that are me, Domon, Naruto and Ero-sennin! Who is that guy?!"

"I wonder…" Kagero muttered, her eyes narrowing as she stared down at the figure from on high, eyes narrowing as she caught a flash of a sadistic smirk on his lips.

Who is this mysterious stranger? How does he know Rasengan? Will Deidara make it out of this alive?

Is it really that hard to guess?

Tune in next time to find out!

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