Elements of War

Chapter 13
Human Sacrifice

Aang gazed into the swirling sphere of dragon spirits. The ghostly beings entered and exited his body in a lazy process of ripping the massive evil beast from the Kazekage's body. "Is he… really going to be okay?" Aang asked.

Itachi looked down from the stone spire at the young monk. He would figure it out soon, he knew. The process of removing the Ichibi would kill Gaara, and Aang would have helped to do it. "Aang, I…"

"I've been incapacitated," one of the shadowy Akatsuki said. He looked very odd as his head seemed to be some kind of flytrap plant to Aang.

"What's this?" Pein asked.

"I was suspicious when I did not see Jiraiya at the Serpent's Pass. He must have separated from the group. I was ambushed and trapped… I believe within a toad. I should be able to survive for now, but I cannot break free without severing my link."

"This is unfortunate," Pein said. "We will be unable to prepare properly for our guests."

"It should be little problem," Itachi said. "The cave is sealed with a barrier that is unbreakable from the outside. By the time the agents of Konoha and the old woman, Chiyo, are able to undo the barrier, even assuming they figure out how immediately, we will have already completed extraction and Gaara will no longer be a concern for anyone."

"He won't 'be a concern for anyone?'" Aang repeated. What did that mean, he thought to himself. It almost sounded ominous.

"Of course," Itachi said. "Little Deidara and Sasori may have to deal with the consequences. I imagine the shinobi will be rather irate when they find out what we've done to the Kazekage."

"Itachi!" Pein chastised his subordinate. "That's enough."

"Wait," Aang said. "What do you mean by this? They... they wouldn't be angry just because we took the beast out, would they? You said, yourself, that these... 'jinchuriki' were dangerous, even to those they loved. Wouldn't they be happy to get rid of it?"

Sasori answered for Itachi this time. "As a matter of fact, most of the sand village was eager to get rid of the Ichibi for some time. My own grandmother, Chiyo, was the person who sealed the beast inside Gaara, from what my spies tell me. She also knows a technique to unseal it, much like our own."

"So... why didn't they use it?"

Pein chose to remain silent at this point. Apparently his Akatsuki had unilaterally decided to let Aang in on their secret. It was really no problem at this point, though. The Avatar would have found out soon, anyway. In fact, it could be better this way.

"There were several reasons," Sasori said. "At first they had hoped to use him as a weapon. By the time they realized his dangerous tendencies, it was too late. His father tried to have him captured so they could take out the beast, but Gaara was too powerful at that point. There was no way the boy would just let it be taken out, besides. After all, the only way to remove a tailed beast... involves killing the host."

"'Killing?'" Aang said. He felt a cold ball forming in his gut. "What... what are you saying? You're going to kill this guy just to get his power?"

Itachi was silent for a moment, as if pensive. "He will die. However, what is the death of one person weighed against the salvation of the entire world?"

"I believe that every life is precious!" Aang said. "You can't just put a price on each individual life like that. One person is just as important as a million."

"Is that so?" Itachi said. "Perhaps you're right, but would you let one person continue living when you knew that it would mean the destruction of everything you stand for? Is it not your duty to protect the balance of the world at any cost?"

"Well... yes," Aang said. "It is my duty to keep the balance... but wouldn't killing someone put the world out of balance anyway?"

Itachi was silent for another moment. "What do you plan to do with the Fire Lord, Aang? When you fight him, even if you manage to defeat him, he won't just allow you to walk away. He will fight you to his last breath as long as fire still flows through his veins."

Aang didn't know quite what to say. He knew he was destined to defeat the Fire Lord. Would he really be able to kill the man? He hadn't really even thought of it, before. Ozai was like a distant boogie man that he could simply destroy and not worry about his humanity. But he was human, wasn't he? "I... don't know. But maybe I can defeat him without having to kill him. Either way, it's different in this case. This is an innocent man you're killing!"

"Innocent?" Itachi asked. "Really? This man has, in fact, killed more men than I. Not only that, he didn't kill them for duty or survival as I have. He did it for his own self-satisfaction. He wanted to kill, and he did so without provocation! Is this innocence? Even aside from the danger he represents due to the evil spirit inside him, he is still a murderer."

Aang felt torn. If this man was as dangerous as Itachi said, it was certainly reasonable to take away his power. However, to kill him or allow him to die went against his entire world view.

"Remember what I told you," Pein said to him. "Death is an illusion. The Kazekage will remain even after his physical body ceases to function. Ensuring peace is your duty as it is ours. If taking this man's life brings peace, then isn't it the right thing to do?"

"I don't know..." Aang said, his voice quavering. He sank to his knees, holding his head. "I don't know!"

- - -

A cloaked figure came to the point in which the Serpent's Pass sank into the river. Looking around, he thought it looked like there had been some kind of powerful storm, the ground soaked and debris littering the ground. Not only that, but the titular serpent's corpse lay across the river, its head atop the path on the far side and its tail floating beside the path on this side.

"Well, this is easy," he said as he jumped on the back of the serpent and ran across the river. When he reached the far bank of the river, he noticed a giant toad sitting there, staring at him.

"Uh... hello..." The toad nodded to him and gestured down the road. Apparently it was pointing him where he needed to go. That was helpful of it.

"You... don't happen to know Jiraiya and Naruto, do you?" he asked. The toad nodded to that, and gestured again. Well, that was the direction he was going, so he might as well go. "Thanks," he said to the toad.

- - -

"I... I can't let you do it!" Aang declared. He ran up Itachi's spire, causing Momo to fly from his shoulder and Appa to growl nervously. He reached the top and tried to grab his shoulder, but his hand passed right through.

"I'm sorry, but this is just a projection of my spirit. Kisame and I left our real bodies nearby," Itachi said.

"We're real, though," Deidara offered. "Unlike that Uchiha, Sasori and I aren't scared to be caught with our pants down with a dead Wind Shadow."

Aang looked from Akatsuki to Akatsuki, and then looked down at the Kazekage, still floating in the midst of the nine spiritual dragons. He just couldn't allow this. "No," he said. He leaped from the spire into the the sphere of dragons, intending to knock the young man from the grasp of the sealing technique.

"No, Aang!" Itachi shouted. He hadn't expected this. If he entered the nine dragons, he wouldn't end the technique. He would certainly prolong it, but he would in fact end up being sealed as well. "You don't know what you're doing."

It was too late. As Aang fell, one ghostly dragon plunged itself down the boy's throat, then another entered his body through his stomach, and another went into his eye. They then began to exit through his ear, the crown of his head, and from the other chakras.

Aang kept drifting forward, though, toward the center of the storm where Gaara lay. As he drifted, he saw visions. Visions of the young Kazekage.

The young red head was sobbing in the midst of a barren, cracked wasteland. He was alone. All alone. He grew older, and he was still alone. He still cried out, but still no one came. He grew older, and collapsed to his knees. He was all alone. Complete desolation. Nothing but the sand as his friend.

Aang's hand grasped Gaara's shoulder, and he pulled the young man's body toward himself. The nine dragons now flowed freely between them, connecting them together. Aang appeared in front of the crying boy. Gaara looked up, and through his tears he thought he saw a familiar person standing over him. "Na… ru…"

No, it wasn't him. His tears cleared from his vision and he could see it was that airbender. He gasped and pulled back. Was he here to finally end his wretched existence? No… he couldn't let him. He couldn't let himself end like this!

Aang reached out his hand. "Come on," he said. When he saw the young man was unresponsive, he said, "I know reaching out to just me doesn't seem like much when you've been so lonely… but when you reach out to even one person… well… you'll find that you're really reaching out to many." Mist had gathered around them, and from this mist emerged an old man from the Fire Nation, a gigantic woman with face paint, a middle aged waterbender, a nun from the Air Nation, and many, many more. Perhaps thousands.

Deidara's and Sasori's cloaks blew back from the sudden pressure that came when the light of the Avatar State began to shine from Aang. They felt their chakra connection to the statue break, and the nine symbols that glowed upon the fingers of the grotesque sculpture faded for a moment before being replaced by ten that glowed with the power of the Avatar Spirit. When, in the boys' minds, Gaara took the outstretched hand, the Kazekage began to glow as well. The sand from Gaara's gourd rose up and engulfed the spirit dragons at this point, and even the sand from the young man's body began to swirl about the two.

The mist had thickened to impenetrable clouds, and now Aang said to Gaara. "We're friends, now, okay? Except… you can't stay here with me right now. You have to go back to your own world. We'll meet again, though."

"No," Gaara said. "I don't want to be alone, anymore."

Aang nodded. "I know. I feel the same. But… I don't think you will be. Go back, and you'll find what you need." He let go of the boy's hand, and Gaara began to sink into the sand, almost as quickly as if it were water. He became engulfed in it, thick at first, but then it became more like a dust storm. He found that he wasn't sinking, but was standing on solid ground as the sand flowed up and away from him. Soon he was breathing clean air, and the dust was fading high in the sky, leaving a bright, grassy field behind.

Gaara's body dropped to the floor, and the nine dragons made of sand focused their efforts solely on Aang. His body was now completely covered in sand, and the glow of his tattoos began to take on a dull red hue. He had temporarily become the Ichibi's jinchuriki.

- - -

"It looks like I caught up with you just in time," Jiraiya said as he sauntered up to Team 7, the members of which who were standing in front of a large boulder, as well as the old woman, Chiyo. "I took care of the spy that was following us for now, so they shouldn't even know we're here."

"I'm impressed, as always," Kakashi said. "I never had a clue we were being followed."

"There's no time for patting ourselves on the back!" Naruto exclaimed. "Come on, we need to get in there! It's been three days, so who knows what might have happened, already?"

Sakura looked at Naruto, holding back tears. He was so concerned for Gaara. He didn't even think about himself when Chiyo had told them of the fate of those whose tailed beasts were extracted. He had seen her shed a tear and had assumed it was for Gaara. She couldn't imagine how someone could be so selfless. She was determined not to let this man down. "Right," she said, turning toward the boulder. She reared back and punched with all her might. Energy crackled all along the sealed cavern, stopping her fist from reaching its intended target.

"It's sealed," Kakashi said. "This particular type of barrier can only be taken down if the five seals are simultaneously removed. Unfortunately, the other four seals are probably hidden apart from each other, so not only would we have to each split up, but it would take a long while to find the seals."

That wasn't acceptable at this point, Sakura thought. They couldn't each split up like that and waste time blindly looking for the seals. Gai's team could easily find them, but they also couldn't wait for them. "One more time," she said, focusing as much energy as she could into her fist.

"It doesn't matter how much strength you apply, you can't break a seal from the outside without finding the keys…" Kakashi tried to explain, but she didn't seem to be listening.

Sakura struck at the boulder with all the strength she had, and the barrier once again flashed and shuddered. Then the cracks appeared.

Inside, Deidara and Sasori found themselves being hurled through the air as their spires turned to sand. The astral projections of the other members flickered out of existence, as well, as their spires turned to dust. Momo hid in Appa's saddle, meanwhile, and Appa just did his best to keep the sand out of his nose as his friend seemed to lose control. The pressure of the Avatar Spirit combined with the demon spirit cracked the walls and was quickly turning the cavern into a sand pit ready to collapse.

The boulder sealing the entrance split enough that the seals tore right in two, and the barrier came down. Sakura laughed as she saw this and slapped the boulder, allowing it to crumble. "We're in," she said.

When the shinobi entered, though, they were taken aback by the amount of wind blowing them back. It took most of their strength just to move forward. Then they saw the Avatar floating amidst the sand dragons, glowing that bloody color and shrieking. Gaara was beneath him, unconscious.

"Gaara..." Naruto said, his voice strained with emotion. "What are you doing sleeping their lazily?" He raised his voice. "Stand the Hell up!"

Deidara laughed. "I take it you're the jinchuuriki?" he asked. "Such a loud mouthed ninja. Don't worry, though, he's alive. The Avatar took care of that. However, I would say the damage done by the technique is too much for him to survive without treatment, soon."

"Kyuu… biiiiiiiii!" Aang said in the dual voice of himself and the Ichibi. "It's… you!" He fixed his gaze on Naruto, and the glow around him and the glow of the symbols on the statue's fingers disappeared. His corneas had turned black and his irises and pupils were now that of Shukaku. His entire body was covered with the sand armor, even his tattoos only a loose pattern in the sand. The power he was emitting died down then, but he lifted his hand and from the sand covered cave floor a larger hand emerged, threatening to flatten Naruto.

"Hya!" Jiraiya exclaimed, jumping in front of Naruto and striking the sandy palm with a large rasengan. "Naruto!" he said. "It seems our one tailed friend holds a grudge, and also holds the power of the Avatar. If we want to keep Gaara safe, I would suggest leading him away before the beast causes too much destruction!"

"R-right!" Naruto agreed. As if on cue, the possessed Avatar raised a hand, and the walls of the cavern seemed to simply explode outward, leaving them exposed completely to the sky.

"I think I'll take that as my cue, too," Deidara muttered, rising from the ground. "Master Sasori, I'll take care of this one." He gestured toward Gaara. "It seems the jinchuuriki wants him back. It might make you angry, but I'll take care of this one!"

"The assignment is one person per beast," Sasori said smoothly. "Don't push it, Deidara."

"If an artist doesn't get high levels of inspiration, his sentiments are dulled... master," Deidara said. "It's said that the kyuubi's jinchuuriki is considerably strong, hm."

"What, you call those explosions fine art?" Sasori asked irately. "Fine art is something wonderful that's left long into the future... eternal beauty."

"They involve the same skilled labor," Deidara admitted. "I respect you, but fine art is the beauty of that single, fleeting moment of explosion!"

"Quit playing around," Naruto shouted, tossing a huge shuriken at Sasori. The puppet master deflected it easily with his tail, not even pausing from his argument with Deidara.

"He handles his puppets just like he did long ago," Chiyo commented.

Deidara quickly grabbed up Gaara's body and left as Sasori's ire became violent. "See you, master," he called back to Sasori as he flew away.

"Wait the Hell up!" Naruto shouted. "Well, if we're going to lead him away, we may as well go that way!" He began to run after the fleeing Deidara, followed by the others. The Ichibi possessed Avatar watched them run and began to fly after them.

Sasori turned to Chiyo, eyeing the old woman among the group. She gazed back at him with a mixture of love and resolute murderous intent. "Oh, well, I've kept you waiting for too long. You know how I hate to keep people waiting."

Chiyo remained stationary, face to face with her scorpion-like grandson.

"Naruto, Jiraiya, and I will handle the one outside and the Avatar!" Kakashi told Sakura. "You and Chiyo take care of that one, but don't overdo it until your backup is ready."

"Got it," Sakura said, turning to Sasori. She felt no small amount of trepidation seeing him. She could tell he was an experienced fighter and no stranger to murder.

"Sakura, don't be afraid," Chiyo said. "I'm here. Stay behind me." She tossed kunai at her grandson, and the Akatsuki blocked with his tail, though some managed to slash open his cloak, revealing a grotesque face on his back, out of the mouth of which his tail emerged.

"If you plan to oppose me, then I've no choice. Why don't you and that kid join my collection, eh, Chiyo? First I'll drag out your entrails, then when I've ripped off your skin, I'll clean off all the blood..."

"Sakura," Chiyo said. "That's not Sasori's real body. It's a puppet."

"I'll treat it so that it doesn't decay, then stock it up with the rest of my puppet collection. Like the old hag said, this me is but one of those bodies... also, with the two of you, it will become exactly 300 bodies. That is my fine art."

- - -

"Go faster, Naruto!" Kakashi urged as they flew through the forest canopy. He glanced back to see a storm of sand following closely at their heels. The Avatar was grinning madly as he pursued them.

"Kyuuuubiiiiii!" he shouted in a high pitched squeal.

"I'm going, I'm going!" Naruto said, his red, animal eyes focused on the flying blond in the distance. "I'm not letting him get away with Gaara!"

"I don't think that's what we're so much concerned with," Jiraiya said. He looked ahead, and saw four familiar faces making their way toward them. "Ah, so there they are."

Team Gai had been making its way slowly toward the Akatsuki's hideaway. Gai, himself, had been the most wounded of them, so Lee, the one who had sustained the least damage or fatigue, was now carrying him piggyback, with the other two following. They saw Kakashi and company as they approached, and veered toward them.

"Are we late?" Rock Lee asked.

"Yeah, I'd say you missed a few things," Naruto shouted back.

"The Avatar seems to have been possessed by the Ichibi. It seems to have a grudge against our Naruto," Kakashi explained. "We're also trying to recapture Gaara's body. He's not dead, yet, but he will be if he's not treated."

"Got it," Gai said. "Alright, Team! It's time to show the power of your youth. We'll stop the Avatar in his tracks to let Kakashi's team defeat Daybreak!"

"Wh-why are we always the distraction…?" Tenten wondered aloud as they came to a halt upon some tree branches and turned. She felt a sense of dread as she saw the Avatar bearing down on them, giggling maniacally.

"Okay!" Lee shouted, letting his master down. "I've fought this type before. I won't let you pass!" He leaped for the Avatar, bellowing a warcry.

"He's already forgotten how last time turned out, I suppose…" Tenten sighed as she unrolled a weapons summoning scroll.

- - -

Sakura dashed toward the puppet Chiyo had identified as Hiruko. This puppet contained Sasori's true body, becoming both armor and weapon. Sasori's grandmother knew the puppet well, but some modifications were unknown to her. Sakura, however, had the raw strength of her master, Tsunade, which could overpower any unforeseen traps. Because of this, Chiyo used her art of human puppetry on Sakura, who had to submit completely to the technique as the old woman could not overpower Sakura's will without the aid of the full moon. With the combination of Chiyo's experience and Sakura's power, the two managed to weave through Hiruko's defenses, and Sakura delivered a single blow to Hiruko's shell.

A form burst from the puppet. After the shadowy figure landed, it said in a youthful voice, "Of course, that's my grandmother. No wonder even that little girl could avoid my attacks." He laughed. "You saw my attacks, but used chakra threads from the puppet jutsu to control her. You even attached them to Hiruko's tail… back when you used the kunai."

Chiyo wasn't surprised that Sasori had managed to work it out. After all, it was she who taught him everything about the art of the puppet. What did surprise her was his appearance. When he revealed his face to them, it was as youthful as the day he left the village of the sand a decade ago. Perhaps even more youthful. Another surprise was his next move.

"I'll show you what I brought along," he said, unrolling a scroll with the kanji for three written on it. "Killing him for my collection gave me a hard time, indeed. That's why I like him best." From the scroll, he summoned a black haired human puppet garbed in a dark robe. It was a face all too familiar to Chiyo.

"The Third Kazekage!" she gasped. It had been over ten years since the Third had disappeared from the village, prompting Gaara's father's appointment as the Fourth. She realized now that her grandson was thrice the traitor, having helped capture Gaara, having led Orochimaru to the Fourth, and having murdered the Third, himself.

"I don't know about the Fourth," Sasori said. "It was my subordinate who guided him. I was partnered with Orochimaru in the past, so we did do many things, but…"

"You…" Sakura said tersely, having come to a realization. "You know about Orochimaru!"

"Well, let's get going," Sasori said.

- - -

Back above the forest floor, Team Gai navigated the undulating bridges of sand that surrounded the Avatar. Rock Lee and Gai were in the Avatar's face, kicking and punching their way through the sand, but there was so much of it that it was almost impossible to land a firm blow. Neji tried to break down the possessed boy's defenses with his vacuum palm technique, but even this only gave a short window of opportunity in which they could attack. All the while, the wall of sand inched ever forward, though it had been significantly slowed by their distraction.

Below, two blue garbed teens were limping onto the scene.

"H-hey, are we late?" Sokka asked.

"I'd say we missed a few things," Katara replied, looking into the storm of sand. "Did the Wind Shadow break free?"

"I can see that guy who beat the bending out of you," Sokka said, pointing to the white eyed soft fist expert high up in the sand.

"Shut up," Katara said. "You're one to talk. I think that green guy who just popped up there is the one you couldn't even hit."

"Oh, yeah," Sokka said. He squinted his eyes as he saw him kneeling down. "Eh? I wonder what he's doing?" Rock Lee stood again and tossed something off the sandy structure. It was small and appeared to have been around his ankles. "Are those training weights? Geez, don't tell me he beat me while wearing…"

A sudden explosion sounded as the weights hit the ground nearby.

"Whoa," Sokka said weakly. "I… I don't think we need to get into this, right now."

"I think you're right," Katara said.

- - -

"I'll get you!" Sakura screamed like a madwoman. "Even if you blow off my arms and legs, if I take in your poison and it paralyzes me, I'll get you, I swear it! No matter how much you resist, no matter what you do! I'll beat you half to death and make you talk about Orochimaru!"

Sasori was surprised that this little girl was taking it so hard. All he'd done just now was tried to poison her. It was she who had caused the explosion to get herself away from the gas. In any case, he found her ranting boring, and in the middle of her speech he decided to launch his puppet's kunai.

Sakura heard the thunks of the kunai on wood before she even noticed the two figures in front of her. Looking back, she could see that Chiyo had protected her from harm with two of her own puppets.

"Ah, them…" Sasori observed passively.

"Yes, the first puppets you constructed," Chiyo said. "Your mother and father."

"Pointless," Sasori said. "What do you plan to do with them? I know all their moves."

Chiyo answered by joining her childrens' hands together, connecting wires between their hands. In a deft display of puppetry, she guided the two around the manifold arms the Third had extended from his body, and sliced them to pieces.

"Awkward," Sasori commented. "Shall I get serious, then?" He allowed the mouth of his puppet to open and black sand spewed forth, floating in the air. "It's been awhile, eh? Since this is the jutsu that made people see the Sandaime Kazekage as the strongest of them all. So I'm really gonna kill you, now."

"What is that?" Sakura asked.

"The most feared weapon in the sand," Chiyo responded. "The iron sand. Based on previous Shukaku hosts' jutsu, the Sandaime created this, himself. It can be changed into any form, and weapons to suit the situation can be created. The Third Wind Shadow was born with a curious gift. He had a fire affinity, but he had the instinctual knowledge to use it to somehow attract or repel metal as he saw fit."

"But how can a puppet have the chakra energy to do that?" Sakura asked.

"The 'human puppet' was once a human being. A technique is used to contain the power and knowledge to perform the techniques the puppet used in life, but at the will of whatever puppeteer comes along. Sasori was the originator of this technique, and is the only one who knows how." Chiyo looked sternly at the young girl. "You should get out of here, now. I'll handle this from here out."

In spite of her warning, however, Sasori attacked too soon. His puppet used the iron drizzle technique, which rained down on them both. Chiyo moved her puppets to defend them, the mother getting Sakura out of the way while the father defended Chiyo, herself, with its shield. However, the iron sand seeped into the father's joints, stopping it from moving.

Sasori moved to attack again, both at the same time. "With one puppet," he taunted, "There's no way you can both be blocked. What now, old woman?" The sand, now formed into long, black spears, crashed down upon the two women, kicking up a cloud of dust. When it cleared, Sasori could see that the puppet of his mother had saved Sakura. However, when he scanned for his grandmother's corpse, he saw her, a shield having sprouted from her own arm. "Your arm… you've rigged your own arm. I guess we puppeteers think along the same lines." He laughed.

Chiyo wasn't quite sure at the moment. Her arm was now useless, as were the two puppets of Sasori's parents. She couldn't help but think back to Sasori's childhood, when he had turned his dead parents into puppets. He had been happy with them at first, but puppets couldn't replace the love of his real, living parents. She shook off the memories. At this point they were useless. Even for her, it was hopeless.

"Use me!" Sakura said. "I'll be your puppet!"

Chiyo was surprised at the girl's determination. "I can only use one arm," she said. "So I can't help you as much as before."

"That's fine," Sakura said. After all, she was a medical ninja, and Tsunade had trained her in the art of evasion. Even if it was only a short time, she could figure out Sasori's patterns and fight him on her own if she had to.

Chiyo nodded and extended her strings to Sakura.

- - -

Rock Lee and Gai were leaping about at break neck speed, their punches having a much greater rate of successful impact than before. Now, though, they had opened their chakra gates as well. Even so, as they took chunks of rock off of the second skin the Avatar had given himself, they only seemed to be making him… laugh. It was unnerving.

Tenten had just been caught by some of the sentient sand that they were fighting upon, and it had broken several of her ribs. Neji, whose leg had already been broken in the conflict, managed to free her from the tendril's clutches, and he leaped from the sand to safety. Both of them were out of their league, now.

Shukaku allowed the green clad shinobi to have their way with his new host's body for awhile. However, it was starting to get bloodied. Ignoring the blows, he slowly inhaled as he summoned the great power held within this host's body. Much more power than Gaara could handle, he mused. Then as the older one came at him for one more skull cracking punch, he let loose the air, and the bolt of carbon dioxide slammed into the man, cracking his sternum and launching him almost a kilometer from where he had started.

"Master!" Rock Lee called, seeing Gai falling into the trees below. "No…" he scowled at the Avatar and felt his life force moving strongly through his chakras, and he further released the fifth and sixth gates within his fire and water chakras, respectively. He shot at the boy and began pounding on his body with all the speed and power he could muster.

The Avatar's hand shot up after a moment, grabbing one of Lee's fists. His other hand was clenched into a fist, and had grown to a ridiculous size due to a glove of sand that had formed around it. The Avatar delivered a bone crushing blow to Lee's side. The shinobi tried to kick, but his feet had been devoured by the sand on which he was standing. Shukaku used his host's fist to pound mercilessly on the shinobi, until finally the boy was unconscious and sagging waist deep in the sand.

The Avatar smiled and let Rock Lee sink into the sand. He and the mass of sand that had once been the cavern of the Akatsuki trudged on, depositing Lee on the ground as it left.

"He's hurt bad!" Katara shouted as she rushed over to the prone figure.

"Whoa, Katara!" Sokka said as he saw his little sister begin to go over the boy with glowing water. "He's Fire Nation! You know, the enemy?"

"Still, they could have killed us," Katara said. "But they didn't. We can't just let them die. Besides…" she looked fearfully toward the living sandstorm that was receding from them, now. "That… that was Aang. He's… I think he's been possessed by something."

"Yeah," Sokka said. "Apparently by a real badass."

"Sokka!"

- - -

True to her word, Sakura proved a devastating opponent for Sasori, even being able to see through his attacks on her own. He had been forced to use an almost impossible to dodge technique one her, trapping her in a maze of iron blades. She had indeed been scratched multiple times by the poisoned iron, but again Sasori's tactics had been predicted. The poison she had drawn out of Naruto's body had allowed her to create three antidotes, one going to Naruto, and the other she used now. With that surprise, she was able to destroy the puppet of the Third, which had attacked while Sasori thought her paralyzed.

Now Sasori realized that it was time to bring out his ultimate weapon. The reason he had not appeared to age since he had left Sunagakure was that he had made his own body into a work of fine art. He was his own greatest puppet.

He attacked the girl with all his murderous intent, now. Firing weapons from his body and flames from flame throwers within his hands. Throughout the barrage, Sakura managed to dodge him alone. He then fired a cable with an edged weapon attached to the end from his gut, which slashed Sakura's arm.

Using the distraction, Sasori leaped at his grandmother, the blades installed in his arm whirring like saws. However, before he could strike, the cable in his gut twanged musically as it suddenly came to an end. Looking back over his shoulder, Sasori saw Sakura holding his cable, with a look of rage in her eyes.

"Shannaro!" she shouted, pulling him toward her. She laid a devastating punch on him which burst his body to pieces. She panted for a moment, relieved that she had defeated him within the time limit of the antidote. Then she laughed. "Haha. We did it… Chiyo-sama, we did it!"

"Sakura… you…" Chiyo began, awestruck.

Sakura suddenly heard a rattling behind her. Turning, she saw Sasori's body reassembling itself. His head spun around unnaturally and his eyes focused on Sakura with a cold rage.

Chiyo readied herself to summon her ultimate technique, the ten puppets that had let her defeat an entire fortress single handedly. However, just as she was about to make her move, her grandson's limbs went akimbo.

"…" Sasori's eyes moved back and forth between his limbs. "Wh-what is this? I… can't move. This… this isn't you, grandmother?"

"It's a pain." Sakura and Chiyo looked behind Sasori to see a sand covered figure taking the same position as Sasori. "We go through all the trouble of arriving early by air and digging an underground tunnel in preparation for a surprise attack, and then you go and dump a bunch of sand on the floor. Not to mention that explosion at the beginning caved in part of our tunnel."

"Shikamaru!" Sakura shouted.

"What?" Sasori asked. "How? We were told you and that Gaara's siblings had all stayed behind!"

"You're not the only one with a knack for making puppets," another voice said. It was Temari, who also emerged from the sand, shaking the dirt out of her blonde hair. "My brother stayed behind with puppet copies of us to throw off suspicion. We thought there might be a need for a trump card."

"Well, if you're going to finish him," Shikamaru said. "Do it now!"

Chiyo pulled on two of her puppets with her chakra strings, and used their blades to pierce Sasori through the heart: the only part of him that was still human. He slumped, cradled in his dead parents' arms. "Heh… well, I guess… for defeating me, I'll do something pointless for you," he said. "You want to know about Orochimaru, right?"

- - -

"Augh!" From atop his clay bird, Deidara screamed as his arm suddenly found itself freed from the rest of his body. "Wh-what was that?" he wondered.

Kakashi closed his left eye. The technique he had just used to disarm the Akatsuki was quite painful. His aim was off and he still couldn't control the radius of the barrier of the attack. He tried to focus his new sharingan again, but he was worn.

However, he didn't have to worry, as Naruto had already ascended with a cadre of clones to beat the blond criminal into submission. He punched Deidara away and tore the bird apart, landing in the trees to free the unconscious Gaara.

Deidara panted in the limbs of one of the trees. He wasn't too worried about the jinchuuriki, but anyone with the kind of eye techniques that were on par with Itachi's was not someone with whom he wanted to be engaged. Not yet, anyway. He felt something pat him on the back at that point. Turning his head, he saw that jinchuuriki about whom he wasn't worried frowning with his red eyes glaring at him.

Naruto slammed his fist into Deidara's head, knocking him out of the tree. Following him, he created more clones and proceeded to pummel him in midair before driving him into the ground. His demon cloak flared around him, hissing and bubbling.

"Kyuuuuuuubiiiiiiii!"

Naruto looked up to see the Avatar descending to the forest floor, sand surrounding and encasing his body. "Wh-what... you?" He felt his inner demon writhe inside him, enraged. Two tails bubbled behind him. "Shukaku!" Naruto growled, the name for some reason coming out more easily than any other. "You did this to Gaara!"

The Avatar raised his arms, two large bulges of sand forming beside him. "That's right... Ono. You're still in there, aren't you? It took me a long time to remember, but that's the advantage of having a human body." His face twisted into a sneer. "This time I'll destroy you utterly!"

Five Kakashi clones dropped from the trees at that moment, weaving toward the Avatar. Shukaku lashed out at the distractions with tendrils of sand, and they passed through each Kakashi easily, causing the illusions to vanish. The real Kakashi's electrified fist then burst from the Avatar's chest, as the shinobi had attacked from behind with his lightning blade. The Avatar's head and arm's however, broke off, sand pouring from the rocky shell. Kakashi cursed and tried to remove his arm from the decoy, but it tightened its grip on him, and he felt his right arm's ulna bone snap.

Jiraiya quickly performed a rasengan on the pillar of sand that was now crushing his grand-student's arm and pulled sharply, freeing the white haired shinobi. "This boy is not one to be trifled with," he told Kakashi. "Especially after you've used the mangekyou!"

"My apologies," Kakashi said.

"The Ichibi isn't even the one we need to worry about. Either of them. Naruto's sprouted two tails. We need to stop him before he gets to four!"

The Avatar had now reemerged and engaged the kyuubi's jinchuuriki directly. Naruto's physical attacks were on par with Rock Lee's at this point, but the Avatar was still the superior fighter, here. His rock fists, air bullets, and sand defense combined to bring Naruto to his knees. He was now sprouting a third tail.

"We have to stop him!" Jiraiya shouted to Kakashi as the two tailed beasts' hosts clashed in even hotter fury than before.

"Wouldn't it be better to let him defeat our rather formidable enemy, first? I hate to say this, but I don't think either of us stands a chance, here," Kakashi said.

"He could beat the Avatar," Jiraiya conceded. "If he went four-tail. By then, however, he won't have sense enough to distinguish friend from foe, and it will be damned near impossible to stop him. I nearly died when it happened during our training to open his final chakra." The old man watched the battle, waiting for a good moment to enter the fray. He saw it when, after being slashed badly by Naruto's claws, the Avatar brought a tsunami of sand down upon the boy, pinning him. Jiraiya rushed into the momentary lull, a premade seal in hand. He could see that the fox's cloak was thickening, beginning to peel away Naruto's flesh. He would just barely make it.

As he thought, just a moment before his arrival, Naruto burst from the sand, with a stub of a fourth tail sprouting. The red demon energy was blotting out Naruto's features, as well. Jiraiya, however, smacked the seal onto Naruto's head, and the energy began to dissipate, leaving tired and exhausted Naruto. "Whoa," the blond said wearily. "How'd I get free? I blacked out for a second…"

"You used the last of your strength to get out," Jiraiya said. "You're drained, now, but you've weakened the Avatar greatly."

"Weakened?" Shukaku said. "No, no… this spirit has infinite power to draw upon." His tattoos began to glow red from underneath the sand. "I've never been host to a human with such reserves of power to draw upon. Usually it's me the human needs to make himself more powerful, but now I find it seems to be the other way around." He flexed his muscles and a rush of wind blew the shinobi back. "Why, yes, I seem to find myself quite reinvigorated, already! Now it's time for you to die!" He once again raised a mass of sand from the ground, the entirety of what used to be a cavern.

Flames enshrouded the Avatar the next moment. From a short distance away, a familiar scarred boy was thrusting his fists out as rapidly as possible, peppering his target with firepower. He paused for a short moment to gather his reserves and let loose a rather large stream of fire with which to finish the Avatar off. However, a wall of sand prevented his finishing maneuver from connecting. "I'm not through with you, Avatar!" he shouted, drawing a pair of blades.

"Just who do you think you are," Shukaku growled angrily. Zuko got within slashing distance and began to hack away at the Avatar's body, flames washing the steel. Shukaku, however, had formed miniature sand shields on his forearms and used them to block the strikes. Shukaku found Zuko's arrogance that he could match the Great Sand Priest amusing.

The prince, however, did not feel so obliged to continue entertaining the beast. After a quick feint, he managed to slide his swords within Shukaku's defenses, and pushed the tips of his blades into two of the crevices caused by one of Naruto's clawed attacks. He knocked the Avatar to the ground and drove the blades right into his guts, causing Shukaku to let out a shriek of horrible rage.

"That was a biiiiig mistake!" he said. "You'll have to learn your lesson." His sand pulled the boy off of him and pinned him to the earth, where he began to crush his limbs. "And suffering will be your teacher." He could hear the bones snapping already, and grinned at the boy's scream.

"That's enough of that!" Jiraiya shouted, using a rasengan along with his blond student to push the Avatar back.

"I won't stop!" Shukaku said with delight. "My sand will continue to crush him until he's nothing but paste." In spite of the pounding the two shinobi attempted to give him, it seemed he was right.

"You won't win, Avatar!" Zuko cried out. "It's my destiny to defeat you! My honor will be… I won't give up!" He strained against his earthen bonds. They were starting to close on his ribs, now. "Do you hear me Ava… Ava…" He gasped as he felt his diaphragm being crushed. "Aang!" he shouted.

- - -

"Aang!"

The young monk heard his name being called. It was a familiar voice. It was a voice that made him want to run, but at the same time made him want to wait to see why that voice would be calling him by his real name. He hadn't heard that before. He tried to open his eyes, but he realized he was covered in sand. It was dark and made him feel claustrophobic, so he began to thrash, trying to dig his way out of this grave. He rejoiced when he felt his hand touch air, and he began to worm his way in that direction. Finally, his head and shoulders emerged, and he looked around.

His past lives were there, but it was strange. They seemed to be made of sand, and their glowing eyes were a ruddy color. There was also an unfamiliar man, there. He was wrapped in robes reminiscent of an air monk's, though he certainly lacked the distinctive hairstyle. He was also made of sand. "What… what are you doing here?" he asked, for he could feel that this sand monk did not belong.

"What?" he said with surprise, looking down at Aang pulling himself out of the ground. "You can't be here. I buried you!"

Now Aang remembered. When he had let go of Gaara, he had suddenly found himself being sucked up by the sand as well. So it was this person who had done that to him! "You're the one who's not supposed to be here," he said. "Get out!" His eyes began to glow as he walked toward the sand monk.

"No!" Shukaku growled. "I have all your power, now! All your past lives' power!" He beckoned the past Avatars to him as proof, but they suddenly dissolved back into sand.

"You're wrong," Aang said. "They are a part of me." The past Avatars formed from clouds gathering behind Aang, and their eyes were all glowing blue. "Like I said," the Avatars all chanted simultaneously.

- - -

"Get ouuuuuuut!" Aang shouted into the sky as blue light erupted from his eyes and mouth. The sand that surrounded him and encased his body reformed suddenly into the nine dragons as red energy infused them, and they began to fly at full speed toward the destroyed cavern. After a moment passed, he collapsed, clearly wiped out by the experience. The battle damage his body had incurred wasn't much help, either.

"Aang!" a feminine voice called from a short distance away. "Oh, no! What happened!"

Jiraiya and Naruto withdrew as she came to her friend's aid, water already glowing around her hand. Her brother and Team Gai were trailing behind, the members of the shinobi team looking worn, but much better than they had been immediately after their battle with the Avatar. "Sorry we had to rough him up a little," Naruto said to her. "But he was trying to kill us…"

"…" Katara said nothing at first. Then she said, with icicles in her voice, "Whatever. Just go away," and continued working furiously to heal Aang.

The shinobi nodded to each other and, with a puff of smoke, they disappeared along with the heavily wounded Zuko.