Author Note
Okay, now chapter 487. I'm glad Kishimoto postponed the fight, but of course he wouldn't subject Sasuke to such a fight without saving his eyes first. Now, because of Sasuke's new resolve, Naruto will have some serious trouble fighting him. I hope that the damn idiot does some training after arriving in Konoha or else Sasuke will wipe the floor with him.
Furthermore, Kabuto shows his face once more, quite to everyone's relief I assume. I've saw some complaints that Kishimoto created the scene where Anko, Sai and Yamato are chasing Kabuto close to 40 issues back, but nothing happened afterwards. Maybe, once Naruto returns to Konoha, he will talk with Hinata, huh? There is a possibility, what the man could create right now that would postpone this meeting, that now goes for 49 issues (correct me if I'm wrong) without any mention of Hinata's love declaration.
Now on to the chapter; I have a special interest in this story, because in here I can correct every mistake Kishimoto ever made concerning the actual series. Note that I won't make Naruto a super god, invincible. He will have problems defeating his opponents, but at least he has more jutsus under his arsenal, instead of Kage Bunshin and the Rasengan.
Read it and tell me what you think.
Chapter 11 – A Kage's Rescue
Beta: Kyuubi123
As the sun rose once more in a specific location within Fire Country, Sakura and Temari awakened as they saw the jounin leader Kakashi seating close by and looking at them.
However, as they looked around, one integrant of the team was now missing. Sakura decided to ask Kakashi about where Naruto was. The jounin just pointed up, before both girls looked in the direction only to see the blond standing on top of a tree log, while looking at the majestic sight of the sun rising. Just like Kakashi, Naruto had already been up for a while and he was ready to move by the time the girls woke up. Gaara was his friend and the only one who could understand him.
There was no way in hell Naruto would let Akatsuki have their way with him.
The blond was so entranced with his line of thinking, that it took Sakura calling his name a couple of times to wake him up from his trance and jump down to meet his team. Seeing that his team was already ready to move towards Suna, Kakashi ordered them to charge once more as the group would reach the desert in about twenty minutes.
===At Suna===
While waiting for the cavalry to arrive, Suna was doing its best to remedy the situation they were now in. The Kazekage was kidnapped and the kidnapper went through a lot in order to halt the village from going after him by adding hidden traps along the piles of rock that blocked the village entrance.
And from fear of triggering said traps, a couple chunnins and jounins were busy clearing the rock pile rock by rock, while at the same time, looking out for dangerous traps. One jounin managed to find a medium sized exploding seal, before asking everyone to step aside as he would detonate it. The explosion was considerably large and could easily wipe out an entire battalion. Meanwhile, other contingents were taking care of the dead bodies that tried opposing the enemy, but failed miserably.
In total, Sunagakure lost thirty chunnins and five jounins and the bodies would be transported to the medical ward for analysis.
Watching the entire situation from afar, one of the council members Baki frowned as he remembered the last event that rocked the village's foundations. When the enemy appeared, the entire village was sleeping and clearly no one spotted their approach. Gaara must have been the only one who saw them, since he fought the intruder.
Oh and what a fight it was.
Gaara's sand, at first, managed to overwhelm the blond enemy, but the man had a few cards up his sleeve. He had the audacity to try and destroy the hidden village of Sand by using a strange explosive jutsu. It was only due to Gaara's protective sand shield, that the buildings remained intact and the villagers were safe from harm.
'The problem was from that sacrifice.' Baki cursed.
Because of this, Gaara's chakra wasn't high enough to protect him against his enemies, hence why they were able to capture him. Worse was that Gaara's brother Kankuro went after the enemy, only to return carried by a group of Jounins in very bad shape. The medics knew it was poison, but so far not one of them knew how to extract it. As for the antidote to be produced, they would need to know about the poison's components.
What Baki feared was that not even old lady Chiyo knew about this poison and she happened to be the village's expert on the subject.
Sunagakure, because of this, had to count on asking for help as they knew of only one person that might save the jounin puppeteer. The Hokage was considered the best medic-nin in existence throughout the elemental nations. Right now, only she would be able to heal did the village know that Konoha wouldn't be sending Tsunade, but instead her apprentice Haruno Sakura.
===With Akatsuki===
Deidara and Sasori were traveling throughout the desert in a slow pace as Deidara's clay bird carried an unconscious Gaara on its tail. The wind was starting to increase and soon sandstorms would start to occur, forcing the two to take shelter and wait for it to stop. Looking through his puppet, Sasori was already snarling in anger from slowing the pace down. The man hated to make people wait, but he knew better than to go out facing the sandstorms. Deidara, though, was content to just explore his art as he would use his clay to make different shapes, much to Sasori's frustration.
"Sasori-sempai, in time you'll learn how to appreciate my art..." Deidara said, as this happens to be their never-ending debate since the blond shinobi joined the Akatsuki organization.
The only puppeteer of the group groaned as he didn't consider Deidara's explosive clay as art, no matter how many times Deidara would bring the subject to discussion.
"You insist on calling those fireworks of yours art? True art endures the ages...beauty everlasting"
Sasori's voice was slow and rough, qualities of someone who was getting irritated with the topic of discussion.
"Don't you dare to compare your puppets to my art. After all, art is a bang..." Deidara said as he sent a little clay spider towards a small rock in front of him and activated a considerable explosion, feeling good about himself, quite to Sasori's groan of frustration.
"You seem like a child with explosive matches...Deidara".
===With Kakashi's Team===
Because of the sandstorm, the rescue group was forced to hide inside a small cave quite to Naruto's frustration.
He wanted, more than anything, to save his friend Gaara but the more they waited the less time they would have to stop Akatsuki from taking Gaara's bijuu. Naruto wasn't sure what would happen if the bijuus were extracted from their host, but he had a bad feeling that his friend wouldn't live to see tomorrow, if Akatsuki got their way, of course.
The group sensed his frustration and Temari was just as frustrated as Naruto. Gaara was her brother after all. However, she knew better about than to face the largest cause of deaths for those who lives in the desert.
The sandstorms took approximately half an hour to settle, allowing the Konoha ninjas and Temari to charge once more towards Suna, where they would finally know what really happened to Gaara.
"We should speed things up a bit, usually its one sandstorm after another."
Naruto wasn't listening, though, as he was now the fastest of the group. The girls were astonished with the speed, but Kakashi knew better. This wasn't speed, but pure chakra control. Naruto must have trained exhaustingly in this specific field, because of his abundance of chakra. Another interesting observation was that Kakashi could, somewhat, see a current of air being formed in front of Naruto.
'He is diminishing the air resistance in front of him. I've never seen this level of wind manipulation. Surely, Jiraiya must have taught him well, or perhaps asked another for guidance' Thought Kakashi as he observed the blond running by not only adding chakra to his limbs, but also manipulating the air in front of him, diminishing its resistance as he ran. Certainly, he could increase his speed to top Lee and Gai's speed, Kakashi deduced giving the amount of control he had over the air.
The winds were beginning to increase once more, but the hidden village of sand already appeared in front of them.
It wasn't long until Temari saw the two chunnins in front of the gate as they greeted her and Konoha. As they ran throughout the village streets, Temari was informed of Kankuro's condition, urging the group to run quickly towards the hospital.
===At the Hospital===
Once the group arrived at Kankuro's room, Temari gasped at the scene she encountered. A group of four medics discussing some theories while her brother laid suffering on the bed in the middle of the room. His breathing was erratic and his body was sweating profusely, all symptoms of poisonous infection. Nevertheless, the doctors all but remained there discussing what to do, instead of saving her brother.
As she approached the bed, Temari suddenly looked at the medics with an indignant scream.
"What are you four doing? It's clear that my brother is suffering from poisonous infection, give him the damn antidote"
Being a doctor, it requires patience and full knowledge of what they would be treating, before even touching the patient. But, clearly, Temari didn't understand this concept. As soon as one of them stepped forward to speak, Chiyo appeared with her brother in tow.
"Had we known the ingredients of this poison, surely we would have cured him already. Sasori of the Red Sand has a knowledge of poisons ever greater than my own, I...I can't heal your brother"
The sudden long look on the old lady was only evident to her brother, seeing that Sasori of the Red Sand was actually her grandson. However, the group's attention to the ongoing discussion faltered once the team from Konoha appeared and Chiyo eyed Kakashi with a sudden rage clear in her eyes.
With unreal speed, at least for an old lady there is, Chiyo charged against Kakashi.
"You'll die White Fang for what you did to my son!!!"
Kakashi's one visible eye was widened, as the old lady's charge caught him by surprise.
Well, who would suspect an old lady inside the hospital?
However, Chiyo realized after some time that the distance between her and her revenge wasn't shortening, in fact she was hovering in mid-air for a while before landing her feet on the ground.
Her face was speechless while searching for what caused this strange act of nature. Kakashi was too, but he was more focused in solving this little misunderstanding before the old lady came and attacked him once more.
Luckily for him, the man with the white beard came and explained that he couldn't be the White Fang, simply because the man was dead a long time ago, to which Kakashi let out a whisper in relief. The woman, though, started laughing while saying that it was just a joke, earning questionable looks from everyone in the room. Little did everyone realize, though, that Naruto's arm was extended the entire time and that he used pure wind manipulation to stop the woman's advance.
After the little altercation, Sakura took a step further towards the medics.
"Excuse me, can I see the patient's chart for a moment?" Asked Sakura, but the medic was reluctant to hand the file, quite to her expectation, seeing that her appearance had yet to demand respect in the medic field. "I'm a medic-nin and the Hokage sent me here to be of any help you'd need"
With that, the medic gave her the chart, before she looked at it with severe scrutiny, while coming up with the necessary procedure in her mind. Chiyo, in the mean time, looked at the pink haired chuunin with certain nostalgia as she remembered one blond woman twenty years ago, that cured every poison Suna would throw against Konoha in the first Great Ninja War.
Meanwhile in Konoha, one busy blond Hokage sneezed out of a sudden.
"Tell me something little girl..." Asked Chiyo, alerting Sakura's attention as the old lady proceeded. "Why do I see Lady Tsunade of the Sannin in you?"
Sakura's smile grew further as her attention went back to the chart.
"Well, I'm her apprentice after all. I might have picked her habits a bit. Now, Temari let's cure your brother."
Temari looked at her with a thankful smile as Sakura related to the Suna medics exactly what she needed. Naruto, meanwhile, was talking to Kakashi about Sakura's growth as they took a seat next to Chiyo and her brother.
"Well, indeed Sakura didn't waste her time while I was away. I wouldn't imagine her being a medic-nin though"
"To someone who has the same level of chakra control as the Hokage, Sakura's potential would be wasted, otherwise. Her skill doesn't belong in the battle field, though that punch of hers could certainly break some bones. Tell me something Naruto..." While Naruto turned his head to face Kakashi, the jounin remembered the level of wind manipulation he showed throughout the trip and the fact that he felt wind chakra stopping Chiyo's advances.
"Was it you who stopped Chiyo from attacking me?" Asked Kakashi, earning a smile from Naruto.
Certainly, Chiyo was listening to the entire thing. It's been some time since now someone managed to control wind like this and the blond brat couldn't have met that man, could he?
"Air currents exist all around us Kakashi-sensei. I just increased its force with chakra that's all. Now I was curious about something. Who is this White Fang the old lady was talking about? And why would she confuse you with him?" Now this was another question Chiyo wanted an answer for, so she forgot the first one.
The person in question placed his hands on his chin and made a thinking noise, but it was more for effect than anything.
"Well, he was my father, Hatake Sakumo" Kakashi said, shocking Naruto and Chiyo, but he continued nevertheless. "The White Fang was a very skilled jounin, rumored to rival the sannins in power"
As the conversation was going, Baki arrived with a message to Kakashi from Konoha. As he opened the scroll, he saw the team's new orders. Begin chasing after the Akatsuki immediately. The scroll also revealed, quite to Kakashi's sudden curse to the heavens, that Team Gai would be the one providing backup for them.
"What is it Kakashi-sensei?"
"We are to begin chasing after the Akatsuki and rescue the Kazekage. Team Gai will meet with us halfway"
By this time, Sakura managed to extract the entire poison from Kankuro's body and wiped sweat from her forehead in exhaustion. The technique involves constant usage of chakra and to maintain a steady flow, it takes a lot from the medic. However, Sakura still had plenty of chakra to work with. She, then, joined the group and saw Naruto smiling at her.
"Good job Sakura. Surely, you'll surpass the Hokage in no time. Now, we must leave immediately"
The sudden appraisal was enough for her to flush. It was different than the cheering appraisals Naruto did when they were genins. It was different, it was a genuine appreciation of her skills as a medic and it came from Naruto of all people. Certainly, it would take time getting used to this new personality of his.
As the team started to run towards the village exit, Chiyo screamed at them saying that she would go with them. She explained her affiliation with Sasori and the fact that she had the highest chances of survival against him. Kakashi wasn't going to rebuke, so he shrugged and started running once more. Meanwhile, Baki turned to a chunnin nearby and ordered him to gather a group for support later on.
===Outside the village===
Trusting both the trail left behind and the information from Suna regarding Akatsuki's directions, the team passed through the desert in no time and soon they reached the borders of River Country as a sudden forest appeared in front of them. Now up in the trees, the group was traveling fast, but naturally Naruto was faster as he couldn't waste anymore time in rescuing Gaara and this spiked Chiyo's curiosity. She knew Gaara to be rather reserved socially and the only ones who hanged out with him was his brother and sister. Surely, this Naruto character has a deeper bond with the Kazekage jinchuuriki.
Turning her attention to Kakashi, she addressed the proper question.
"What is that kid's relationship with Gaara?"
Upon hearing the question, Kakashi sighed in sadness as the subject of the bijuus always caused him sadness and a disguised hint of shame for never being there for him. Still, Sakura was there, so he couldn't exactly divulge the information and risk breaking Sandaime's law concerning Naruto's position.
"Gaara and Naruto share the same fate upon their birth. Both had the same suffering while growing up, but whereas Gaara went against everyone, Naruto did the exact opposite" Kakashi said, shocking Chiyo as she looked at Konoha's Jinchuuriki. But Kakashi went further and explained Naruto's reasons for being so apprehensive. "Now, the only one that could ever understand Gaara's life is Naruto. He was really happy once he heard Gaara was recognized as Suna's next Kage"
Meanwhile, Sakura was hearing everything while looking at Naruto's back.
Suffering?? Same fate as Gaara?? But he was always cheerful and happy, while Gaara tried to kill me and destroy Konoha. How could they understand one another??
Naruto was always such a mystery to everyone, even without knowing his darkest secret. Sakura, for the life of her, couldn't understand what was going on. Who was the man in front of her, she asked. Naruto was faster than the group, but in Sakura's mind, the blond was increasing his distance between her at each step. In her mind, she couldn't see Naruto, but another person, a complete stranger. It was then that she realized the ugly truth.
She didn't know Naruto at all.
Suddenly, as a small clearing appeared in the horizon, the group was alerted to a hail of shuriken that came flying from the right direction, forcing the group to scatter as they landed in the clearing. Once the group took a look at the enemy, everyone flinched instantly.
Black robes filled with red clouds, raven hair down to shoulder level and three tomes Sharingan blazing at his adversaries. Uchiha Itachi eyed the group from Konoha with the same look every Uchiha displays.
One of pure superiority and even, in some occasions, one that underestimates the enemy's capabilities.
"I'm afraid your path ends here Hatake Kakashi. None of you will go any further"
Kakashi flinched once he saw those menacing red eyes. He knew that upon the Mangenkyou's appearance, everyone would be screwed. Looking at his team, Kakashi assessed who was the best choice to team up with him against Itachi. Sakura used a lot of chakra saving Kankuro and didn't have enough to face Itachi. Chiyo had the experience, but her agility probably wasn't the same as before.
"Naruto, I can't face Itachi alone. I need your help"
By this time, Naruto already fell into position next to Kakashi as both Sakura and Chiyo stepped back a little bit. Kakashi charged against Itachi immediately, as Itachi with unknown speed, made hand seals, before gathering air inside his lungs.
Katon Housenka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Mythical Fire Phoenix Jutsu)
The consecutive shots of fire were enough to stop Kakashi's charge, forcing him to dodge. The last one, Kakashi jumped in mid-air, before warning the group that Itachi would attack once more.
Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu)
The fireball was huge and it charged against the group with great speed as the oxygen in the air allowed the ball to grow even more. Naruto, though, had a starting plan, so as Sakura and Chiyo jumped away, Naruto did some fast hand seals as he focused on a nearby water supply below ground.
Suiton Suigadan no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Fang Jutsu)
Suddenly, from the nearby stream of water a jet of water suddenly erupted and charged against the incoming fireball, extinguishing Itachi's technique. Also, because of the element superiority, the water beam charged against Itachi, who jumped in mid-air in order to dodge the technique quite to Naruto's smirk as he was counting on that. Gathering a group of four shuriken, he threw them at Itachi's direction, but immediately frowned once he sensed his chakra being invaded.
The shuriken suddenly stopped their course and started spinning towards Naruto, instead.
He should have known never to underestimate those eyes, but he practiced long and hard how to feel the genjutsu invading his body and how to immediately dispel it.
Gathering his hands, Naruto managed to overcome Itachi's chakra, thus dispelling the genjutsu. The Uchiha was quite surprised at how easily Naruto broke free from his illusion. However, when he was about to cast a stronger illusion on the blond, Kakashi came charging at him with his favorite lightning attack, forcing Itachi to evade by grabbing Kakashi's wrist and using the momentum to flip his body all the way towards Naruto's position.
"What's the plan Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked as he eyed Itachi.
"Pick your bo-staff and charge once you see the signal. Don't forget to avoid eye contact. I'll provide backup while you charge at him"
Suddenly, another Kakashi appeared from below the ground as he tried to deliver an uppercut at his chin, but failed miserably. However, his intention was to keep the enemy occupied as Naruto was already by his side, with his bo-staff in hand. Naruto focused some wind chakra throughout the metallic staff, and it started glowing. Naruto meant to kill.
Itachi saw that he wouldn't be able to parry the weapon and jumped out of the way of the attack.
Kakashi was already making hand seals as he unleashed a great fireball technique at Itachi. The Uchiha did the same thing and the attacks collided, causing a major explosion throughout the clearing.
When the smoke faded, only Itachi and Kakashi faced each other as Naruto was nowhere to be found.
The silver haired jounin charged Itachi with taijutsu as he began with a series of kicks and punches against Itachi. However, the Uchiha was faster as he managed to immobilize Kakashi's body and grabbed the man's head, positioning it in front of his, forcing eye contact between the two. Kakashi was trapped in Itachi's genjutsu, instantly.
However, as the genjutsu was in full effect, Itachi noticed something amiss.
"I see, you're a kage bunshin." Itachi said, as the clone grabbed Itachi, forcing him to remain in his position.
Suddenly, Kakashi appeared from the hole he created prior to the explosion and screamed for Naruto to attack now that Itachi was immobilized.
Naruto, from out nowhere, charged against Itachi with a much bigger Rasengan.
"Take this, Oodama Rasengan" Screamed Naruto as he slammed the blue sphere into Itachi, before a huge backlash of chakra enveloped the arena, increasing the wind and sending sand and debris everywhere. Kakashi was still focused on the fight, seeing if Itachi had managed to dodge the attack. Sakura and Chiyo were amazed at the technique. Naruto, though, was looking at the smiling face of Itachi, before his body was propelled towards a set of trees.
'Why the hell was he smiling after receiving the Rasengan…?' Thought Naruto as he went to see Itachi's position and confirm what happened. When the group went to check what happened, they were shocked to see someone else wearing the Akatsuki robes. Chiyo recognized the identity immediately.
"I know this man" Chiyo said, alerting everyone's attention. "His name is Yuura and he was one of Suna's advisers. His body went missing a couple days ago"
Kakashi was examining the possibility of Itachi doing such a technique, but he didn't think possible. Either way, their mission wasn't over and rescuing Gaara was their top priority. Still, Kakashi wanted to know about the real Itachi's position as for this technique, one must be rather close to their location.
===Kisame x Team Gai===
It's been a couple days since Team 10 received the mission from Tsunade-sama to serve as backup for Kakashi's team and together they would be rescuing the Kazekage from the hands of Akatsuki. Three years ago, if someone were to ask to Gai, Lee, Neji and Tenten about this organization, none of them would even know who they were, nor what their purpose was.
However, ever since their first appearance in Konoha territory, a considerable investigation was in progress and every shinobi ranked chunnin and above was obliged to read the entire content of this research. Whether or not Team Gai knew about the real reason behind this organization's interest in Naruto, they knew about some of their abilities and how skilled they are. Right now, the team was passing through the immense desert heading to Suna.
Suddenly, the team stopping their movement once they saw someone approaching or rather something as it appeared that they could only see bandages approaching their position like a shark in water, seconds away from attacking his prey. The team was ready for battle as suddenly a person rose from the ground with black robes, carrying a bandaged weapon. The man was smiling at them with sharp teeth.
"I was getting eager for a little fight, thought I could use you four to calm my nerves"
The man's figure didn't need introductions, well at least not for Tenten and Neji as they recognized the man instantly from the bingo book. Gai and Lee, though, didn't know him at all, but Gai wouldn't ever underestimate an opponent, no matter his opponent's appearance. Kisame suddenly jumped from the rock he was standing on, before landing a few feet apart from Gai.
"You're..." Said Gai.
"Uh, so you know me, huh? My legend precedes me after all"
Kisame didn't know, but Gai, while looking at him, was trying to remember who the hell this dude was.
Kisame took his chance and charged the group with Samehada, but everyone managed to dodge. Lee approached Kisame before inclining his body and landing a strong upper kick on Kisame's hand, sending the sword flying. Tenten took the opportunity and sent a couple of kunai at Kisame, who in turn just grabbed them with his right hand. By this time, his sword had already returned to his hand once more.
Neji began evaluating the man's chakra with his byakugan and smiled upon knowing he was a suiton user.
"We have the advantage here, there is no source of water nearby"
Kisame smirked, while observing Konoha's famous Byakugan in action. Surely, figuring out his prime affinity just by looking required a doujutsu. The fish like shinobi laughed once more and threw his sword up in the air.
"You're quite proud of those eyes of yours Hyuuga. But that isn't an issue for someone like me"
As Kisame finished the last hand seals, he started gathering lots and lots of water inside his lungs.
Suiton Baku Suishouha (Water Release: Bursting Water Collision Waves Jutsu)
Once he couldn't take it anymore, he expelled all the gathered water from his mouth, as a little waterfall was formed, pretty much transforming the dry desert into a nice lake, quite to Team Gai's astonishment. Fighting a suiton user in the desert was an advantage they could exploit with ease, seeing as it's every water user's weakness, but this man doesn't possess such weakness.
Just as the technique was over, Samehada appeared once more in Kisame's hand as he laughed at his opponent's faces. Suddenly, the man skidded on top of the water as he charged at his opponents. Gai was already with his nunchaku as Kisame tried attacking him with a vertical assault. Holding the sword with his weapon, Gai managed to land a powerful kick on the man's chest, which sent him skidding a bit. Getting up, Kisame was surprised when Lee came from his back and landed a roundhouse kick on Kisame's face.
Gai took the opportunity and embraced Kisame's Samehada with his right leg. The Konoha Jounin tried wielding the fierce weapon against Kisame. Suddenly, something happened and from the weapon, emerged some spines that forced Gai to let go. Kisame all this time grinned at the man's misfortune.
"Sorry, but my sword is self reliant. It chooses the wielder and in this case, it chooses me"
Kisame saw that the entire team moved to attack him at the same time, causing him to smirk as he proceeded with his plan to get rid of these three nuisances. Focusing some chakra, the man produced three Mizu Bunshins. As the team approached, the bunshins started making a quick sucession of hand seals.
Suiton Suirou no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Prison Jutsu)
As they extended their hands, water rose from them until it enveloped Lee, Neji and Tenten inside a bubble of water.
Gai shouted their names and was about to help them, but the real Kisame stopped him by charging him with Samehada vertically once more. Gai managed to stop the sword's advance with his weapon, however the strength behind the attack was too much and Gai couldn't hold the control over his chakra to remain afloat. He was propelled below water, before reaching the bottom of the river.
Kisame smirked as he placed his sword between his arms, before joining his hands in a prayer position.
Suiton Goshokuzame (Water Release: Five Sharks Eating Jutsu)
As he slammed his hands on the water, chakra started leaking from his hand as he created five sharks to charge at Gai.
Meanwhile, Neji was observing the technique he was now trapped in and his teammates as well. Lee and Tenten clearly were having trouble holding their breath as they were in a fight against an S-ranked missing-nin. But Neji was a jounin and he'd been through adverse situations before. He would just have to focus and get out of this predicament. Activating his byakugan, Neji started to analyze the water prison technique and how each Mizu Bunshin maintains the flow of chakra. At first, he didn't find any alternative he could exploit and he was beginning to get desperate. Tenten and Lee were seconds away of drowning; he needed to think of something fast.
Suddenly, his Byakugan gave him a way out. The water prison technique requires constant flow of chakra to be maintained. Not only that but the technique links both the victim and the caster, allowing Neji to get out of the prison and eliminate the bunshin at the same time. He would have to be fast, though. Tenten was already losing her conscious and he didn't want to think of how much water she ended up swallowing.
Focusing on the Hyuuga's impenetrable defensive Kaiten (Heavenly Spin), Neji started exhaling chakra from all over his tenketsus, before spinning it. The bunshin realized immediately, but he couldn't do anything as Neji managed to stop the flow of chakra needed to maintain the water technique. The Hyuuga prodigy got out of the technique and immediately landed a powerful jyuuken strike on his bunshin, dispelling him. The other two were caught as well, seeing as they were busy holding the other two.
As Lee and Tenten were occupied with breathing once more, Neji was now facing the real Kisame, while Gai was below water dealing with the sharks.
Neji suddenly focused chakra on the palm of his hand for a new jutsu he created.
Hakke Kushou (Eight Divination Signs Air Palm)
Before Kisame could understand what was happening, he was sent flying backwards. He only managed to stop by focusing chakra on his feet, but when he was about to retaliate the Hyuuga, the water began to glow green. The reason was unknown to him, but Gai took the opportunity after the sharks to open five of the celestial gates.
Suddenly, the river transformed into pillars of water as Gai's chakra was enough to do just that. The green beast of Konoha jumped from his position and landed in front of Kisame, who flees upwards towards the pillar of water, but Gai was faster and engaged him in mid-air.
Kisame tried hitting him with Samehada, but Gai quickly evaded and landed a fast kick on Kisame, who was sent flying immediately. Kisame was wondering how fast the man was, before Gai appeared once more in front of him with white hollow eyes. Kisame had lost the battle and he knew it right there.
Asakujaku (Morning Peacock Taijutsu Style)
Gai's fists combusted as he landed a mean series of punches at Kisame, who couldn't even defend himself against the assault. The last one sent the enemy flying towards the ground, but just as it happened to Itachi, the real enemy revealed himself as no more than a Suna jounin with Akatsuki's black robes.
===Deidara and Sasori===
Oblivious to the fight between Itachi and Konoha, Sasori and Deidara traveled slowly towards the organization hideout where the first bijuu would be extracted. Stopping a while on top of a boulder, the double looked down to see a small river and the entrance to a cave blocked by a giant stone.
Upon approaching the entrance, Deidara focused some chakra on his ring in order to send a signal to the seal located on the stone. In no time, the stone suddenly lifted off the ground until the cave inside became plainly visible. Deidara and Sasori walked on top of the water path, before both stepped inside the cave ground. Once there, an astral projection of a man with strange swirling eyes turned to greet them.
"You're both late" the man's voice was deep and methodical as he complained.
"Yeah, the Ichibi Jinchuuriki turned out to be quite a challenge to overcome" Deidara said, while scratching the back of his head.
"Never mind, at least the jinchuuriki is in our hands"
The astral projection started with some hand seals, before he slammed his hands on the ground. The entire cave started trembling as a strange statue appeared from the ground. Its material was unknown, but had the shape of a skeleton as the creature wore a blindfold and both hands were visible.
With but a word from the astral projection, six more presences materialized on top of each finger. Deidara and Sasori took their respective positions. Suddenly, a man with a big sword strapped on his back, which by the appearance, was former Mist-nin Hoshigaki Kisame, decided to treat some more pressing manners.
"The extraction technique will be somewhat difficult without Orochimaru. Perhaps it would be wiser to add more chakra to the technique"
"Indeed..." Said Uchiha Itachi, as the only given hint that it was him was his red sharingan eyes.
Then, one by one, the fingers started glowing until a specific kanji appeared on each one.
When the chakra was adequate for the technique, the one with the swirling eyes, remained with the ram hand seal, as he focused on the technique.
Fuuinjutsu Genryuu Kyuu Fuujin (Sealing Art: Complete Nine Mystical Dragon Seal)
Suddenly, the statue's mouth opened and exhaled a purple color beam, before it dissolved into nine different ones. Each of them resembled the shape of the dragon as they charged the unconscious Gaara. Upon contact, there was a mild explosion on the ground as Gaara was enveloped inside a purple cocoon.
The procedure has begun and in three days, the Ichibi will be captured and Gaara will be dead.
===Team Kakashi===
After dealing with Itachi, Kakashi and his team tried following Gaara's trail, but it was to no avail. Akatsuki wouldn't be S-ranked missing-nins if they left clues of their position.
Kakashi, though, had an ace up his sleeve as he cut his thumb and summoned his canine detective Pakkun. Before leaving, Suna managed to retrieve a piece of Gaara's clothing, so Pakkun's sensitive nose would be able to locate their position by following Gaara's scent. The only problem was that the canine decided once more to comment on Sakura's pink hair, infuriating her a bit. She was about to charge at the damn dog before Kakashi stopped her.
"Pakkun, we have to hurry, find Gaara's trail and take us to his position"
The dog saluted the jounin like a soldier to his commander. Sniffing the clothing a bit, Pakkun suddenly jumped towards a certain direction further inside River Country. The team soon followed as they just entered inside a dark forest, where the sunlight was having trouble passing through the bushy trees. While following the little canine, Kakashi slowed the pace a little to discuss something with Naruto.
At each fight these two participated in, Naruto would show a new ability Kakashi wasn't even aware he possessed. First, it was the ability to increase the air current inside the hospital. Now, during the fight against Itachi, the man casted a considerable genjutsu on Naruto and the blond had just overcome it like it was nothing. Not to mention the fact that Naruto's Rasengan was stronger than before. If Kakashi were to compare, he would think of his sensei Minato. While, of course, Minato's was more controlled and precise, Naruto actually surpassed in strength and power.
"Naruto, what more are you hiding from me, your sensei?"
Kakashi figured that beating around the bush wouldn't solve his present predicament and certainly Naruto would be intimidated and give him everything he could do. However, despite the desperate times Naruto was now facing, he just smiled while looking at Kakashi from the corner of his eyes. He knew no rule that stated Kakashi should be aware of everything he can do. But the blond enjoyed Kakashi's face of frustration when he said he isn't obliged to say more than what Kakashi already knows.
"Please Kakashi-sensei, right now we have to focus on rescuing Gaara, now is not the time"
Kakashi was about to pressure further, but he heard Gai shouting his name, as Team Gai joined the gang. Tenten and Lee joined with Sakura as they started talking and Neji sided with Naruto. The Hyuuga prodigy eyed Naruto for a second, while studying him with care. Naruto's chakra network was a lot different than before and more than one affinity was present, not allowing Neji to see which one was the stronger.
"You know Neji, I'm starting to feel rather violated here, could you please stop looking at me with those eyes of yours?"
The jounin snorted at the comment, but he deactivated the eyes.
"You didn't change so much as I expected you to. Still joking around…"
As the conversation went on, the team arrived at the same river Deidara and Sasori was a few hours before. According to Pakkun, Gaara was inside the cave. Kakashi thanked his canine detective before dismissing the little puppy. Afterward, the entire team was in front of the cave entrance as Kakashi spotted the seal located in the middle of the stone.
"How we get in there?" Lee asked, before Gai rested his hands on his shoulders with his trademark smile.
In little to no time, Gai did some back flips as he focused all the chakra he possesses into one single strike, one that would shatter any rock no matter how strong it may be. Guy was confident that his attack would shatter the stone as he started running very fast towards the stone. In seconds, his fist landed on the stone. However, little to nothing happened as the barrier absorbed the attack entirely.
Kakashi and Chiyo was studying the seal for a moment, before both concurred that it was a five-barrier seal.
"In order for us to lift this barrier, we must locate the other four seals that are acting together with the one in front of us. Neji, would you do the honors?"
With a simple nod, Neji activated his Byakugan. Instantly, he started looking all around the field for the seal's position as he was slowly pinpointing the other four seal's location. Problem was that the seals were very far away from each other and in order to lift the barrier, all seals must be ripped off at the same time.
It was at this time that Gai gave the idea that his team would locate the seals and deal with them. They would contact each other via wireless headsets.
As team Gai left the vicinity, it didn't take long for them to reach the seals' positions. After ripping them out at the same time, it was Sakura's time to shine as she adjusted her gloves for a super punch. Just like Gai, she charged at the stone as with her perfect chakra control, she focused all of it on her fist, transforming the big stone into dust, surprising the people inside as everyone stopped the technique immediately.
"It seems we underestimated their skills. Sasori, Deidara protect the jinchuuriki's body at all costs" Pein said as the astral projections vanished from their current positions.
"It seems our mission isn't over huh Sasori-sempai?" Asked Deidara as he and the puppet master materialized in front of the unconscious Gaara.
"That's an understatement…"
As Naruto saw the unconscious Gaara behind the two Akatsuki members, Naruto narrowed his eyebrows, showing every intent of killing these two and saving his friend.
Author Note
I decided to divide the Kazekage retrieval arc in two parts.
This way, I can add more details on the fight that occurred, given the fact that it will be a lot different. I mean, come on, Naruto isn't a total idiot anymore. He won't just charge without a plan in motion.
Tell me what you think
