Hi guys. My thanks to the guys who reviewed to for the previous chapter. Here is the 28th chapter of my story officially making it the longest story I have written so far. Please review!
Sasuke ran out of the room leaving Suigetsu staring at him. He gripped his katana tightly wondering if the one he seeked was amongst the two present.
He kept running through the streets towards the flaring chakra when a paper bomb attached to a kunai landed before him and exploded just as he dodged it.
As he somersaulted in the air hundreds of kunai with bombs on them shot at him from every direction. Due to the fact that he was in the air he couldn't dodge it.
Sasuke turned and countered all the kunai by spinning and using his Chidori Senbon and deflected the bombs which slowly fell to the ground and exploded like a mine field below him.
Landing on the roof of a building he glared at no one in particular.
"Why don't you quit hiding in the shadows and come out and face me coward, or perhaps you're a little bit afraid of the consequences, Akatsuki-trash" said Sasuke coldly.
"Hmm, it appears Akane was correct, you people do need to be more innovative with your insults, frankly I'm tired of hearing scum, trash, dirt etc from almost everyone we meet" said a male voice resonating all around Sasuke.
"You're called what you are" stated Sasuke activating his sharingan.
"Is that so? Then what would I have to call you? A punk? Or perhaps a ninny?" asked the voice as Sasuke suddenly turned and slammed his Sword of Kusanagi into the ground to channel his Chidori chakra in every direction possible.
"Impressive, it seems three years of training with Orochimaru has not gone to waste, I would be upset to think my former partner had wasted his life on somebody unworthy" said the voice as Sasuke's eyes widened.
"Orochimaru's former partner? Then does that mean Orochimaru was in Akatsuki too? Who could this guy be" he thought when suddenly he caught sight of a young man standing on a thin pillar regarding him most curiously.
"Uchiha Sasuke, I've grown tired of waiting for you over here, I even had to have Akane flare her chakra to get you out of your hen coop" said Sasori.
"I knew it, you are from the Akatsuki aren't you?" said Sasuke as he charged towards Sasori but before he could reach him a one eyed, troll-like creature appeared in front of him and raised it's arm to reveal a gaping hole. From that hole flew thousands of sharp senbons.
Sasuke once again used the Chidori senbons to counter Sasori's senbons and when he stopped snipping to his shock he found himself tied up tightly with sharp, almost invisible strings.
Using Sasuke as a puppet Sasori used his troll-like puppet to raise its other arm and a huge extending sword emerged out of it, directly towards Sasuke's heart.
Just then the sword of kusanagi which had fallen to the ground flew up on its own and struck the extended blade with a loud clang.
Sasori's eyebrows rose in surprise, "Hmm, who would have thought you could control things with strings too" he said as the sun caught on the filament strings being controlled by Sasuke from the very tip of his fingers.
The puppet retracted its extendable blade but before anything else could happen it raised both hands.
"You countered my thousand senbons, you countered my extendable blade, now how will you counter them both when they hit you at the same time?" asked Sasori.
As the thousand senbons shot towards Sasuke with the extendable sword in the middle he activated his blaze release.
A spiked barrier formed between him and the deadly weapons of Sasori's puppet. From behind the barrier a bird made of the black flames resembling those of amaterasu emerged and pierced the puppet and burnt it into ashes before flying towards Sasori.
Immediately another puppet emerged in front of Sasuke. It resembled a thin, bipedal creature with four eyes and a circular mouth with jagged teeth in the middle.
From the mouth a grey, ash like substance began to flow.
Immediately it shaped itself into a triangular prism and surrounded Sasori. As the flame bird hit Sasori Sasuke found to his shock that it couldn't burn the strange sand-like substance and soon extinguished.
Meanwhile more of the sand appeared over Sasuke and formed into a giant hammer.
"Lets play a little game of Whack-A-Pest shall we?" asked Sasori smirking as he brought down the hammer hard upon Sasuke who dodged it but found a spear made of the same substance piercing through his left thigh.
"This thing, what is it? Is it sand?" thought Sasuke as he kept dodging the hit of the giant hammer which exploded into a sandy wave whenever it struck the ground but reformed immediately and hovered menacingly over Sasuke's head before striking again.
"Wondering what it is, are you? I'll enlighten you but not right now, it's too amusing seeing you keep flopping here and there trying to save your pathetic life" said Sasori.
Sasuke rolled on the ground and barely missed being shot at by another spear before the hammer came down at full speed and crushed his of his legs before he had the chance to roll away.
"This isn't working, I can't dodge this guy on the ground" thought Sasuke as he activated his cursed seal and spread his wings as he took off into the sky.
"You think you can escape me if you switch to aerial combat?" scoffed Sasori.
Sasuke glared at the man when he felt a light pull on his sword. He saw another spear forming below him and quickly dodged it.
"Why did it feel as if my sword was being pulled towards that spear? Could it me that it's made of some metal and the magnetism is attracting it?" thought Sasuke as he smiled a little.
Sasori formed ten smaller spears which all shot up towards Sasuke who effortlessly dodged them using his sharingan.
Lightning chakra began flowing through Sasuke as he cried out, "Chidori Current".
Electrical current flew from his body to every direction. It struck the ground all around Sasori who did not have time to form the prism and before he knew it the current had him paralyzed.
Passing chidori current through the Kusanagi sword Sasuke flew at Sasori with great speed.
As Sasuke neared Sasori a jet of water tore through the Akatsuki cloak from the chest area and hit Sasuke directly in the face causing him to move off track and hit the ground hard.
Sasuke got up wiping water away from his mouth, "Don't play childish tricks" he yelled at Sasori who smirked slightly despite the paralysis.
Now Sasuke attempted to stab Sasori from the back, this time flying in a zigzag manner so that Sasori's water projectile would not be able to shoot him.
But two holes tore in the Akatsuki uniform as burning hot flames emerged from them Sasori's back and Sasuke's left wing got partially burnt as he took to the sky again.
By this time Sasori's paralysis wore off and he sent a look of triumph and contempt at Sasuke who glared daggers at him.
"Childish tricks you say?" asked Sasori with his voice filled with malice, "No wonder you're in such a pathetic condition if these appear to be childish tricks to you"
Sasuke did hand signs very quickly and summoned hundreds of small snakes that slithered all over the ground towards Sasori and began covering him.
But quicker than they could cover him up the sandy substance surrounded him like a whirlwind and within minutes every one of those snakes lay sliced into pieces at the feet of the red-headed puppeteer.
"Pathetic" said Sasori before his eyes widened in shock when Sasuke suddenly appeared behind him and wrapped him up in many filament wires.
Doing hand signs Sasuke grabbed the strings, "Fire Release: Dragon Fire Jutsu" he cried as the multiple wires flared up with flames and conducted themselves to Sasori who could not shield himself on time and received the full impact of the jutsu.
Three puppets appeared around Sasori and shot water projectiles at him and as the fire extinguished itself Sasuke suddenly appeared with three large snakes that wrapped themselves around the three puppets and crushed them into pieces.
Sasuke punched Sasori right in the face and immediately used Hidden Shadow Snake Hands to poison the puppet-master who spat on the ground and retreated back to a distance.
"Hm, okay you're a little better than I gave you credit for" he said wiping his mouth when suddenly everything around him went black and he fell to the ground clutching his head.
"It's over, now that you've been poisoned by the snakes there's no way you'll survive" said Sasuke coldly as he turned away from Sasori.
As he walked away he heard Sasori laughing loudly and turned to see a puppet of a slim young woman with a familiar face appeared over Sasori and shot three senbons at Sasori which hit him on the back.
"He…he hit himself with the senbons, is he trying to suicide?" thought Sasuke in shock as the body of Sasori lay dormant on the ground for a while before Sasuke heard laughter again.
Slowly Sasori got up and wiped blood from his face with his charred hand.
"Do you call that thing poison? Did you actually think you could take me down with ordinary snake venom? Did you think you could kill me? Akasuna no Sasori? Master Puppeteer and inventor of thousands of poisons and they're antidotes?" cried Sasori, rage swelling within him.
Sasuke stared in shock as a memory came back to him.
FLASHBACK
Sasuke stood leaning against the door of Orochimaru's room. The Sannin sat on the bed heaving and coughing while Kabuto fussed around him with medicines, drugs and bandages.
"Did you hear the news Master Orochimaru? Konoha apparently defeated a member of the Akatsuki yesterday" said Kabuto wiping blood away from Orochimaru's mouth.
The snake-like man gave a short laugh, "Yes I heard, it must have been satisfying for you too Kabuto, after all Sasori was once your master wasn't he?" said Orochimaru.
"He was indeed. It's good to hear that old creep is dead. One less for us to kill correct?" said Kabuto as Orochimaru glanced at Sasuke and licked his lips.
"Correct"
END FLASHBACK
"Akasuna no Sasori, but that's impossible, you're supposed to be dead" said Sasuke.
"Your memory isn't very good is it? We have met before" said Sasori as Sasuke remembered.
"He's that puppeteer who saved that woman who I questioned about Itachi, I knew that chakra felt familiar, it's that woman, and this puppet" thought Sasuke looking at the puppet which still hovered over Sasori.
Sasori spat at the ground, " How dare you call this poison, no wonder your alive today merely by the will to kill Itachi, it's pathetic, you're living to end the life of someone else, and in that process you've destroyed several pieces of my art" said Sasori as he glanced at the broken pieces of his puppets.
Rage and anger gripped Sasuke as he saw Sasori's sneering face. It replaced itself with Itachi's cold glare and even colder voice.
"I will kill Itachi. There's nothing that can stop me from killing him. But first I will get you out of my way" said Sasuke with anger making his lightning chakra more sharp and deadly.
The sky around them became very dark and stormy.
"It's a good thing I used my dragon fire jutsu on you" said Sasuke as blue lighting flashed across the sky and formed a great explosion.
Suddenly a great bolt of blue lightning shaped like a ferocious dragon formed in the sky.
Sasori's eyes widened in shock as he saw the beast.
"What…is that?" he said not being able to say anything else.
"It's time to end this battle Akasuna no Sasori, once Kirin strikes out, there will be no more escaping in" said Sasuke as he began assimilating chakra in his arms.
The ash coloured sand swirled around Sasori as his eyes lost the shock and slight fear they held a few moments ago.
"Iron Sand Drizzle" he cried as the Kirin descended on him.
Pointing his hands upwards he began gathering sand together.
Just as the Kirin roared like thunder he released the sand like a bullet and it pierced the lighting but did no specific damage to it.
"Your sand will not be able to help you; you can't run because Kirin travels at 1/1000th of a second, you cannot block it because its destructive force is far too much, Kirin is unavoidable" said Sasuke.
Sasori ignored him and continued shooting bullets of Iron sand at the lightning.
"Finish him off!" cried Sasuke as thunder roared in the sky and the beast descended on the spot where Sasori stood and with an enormous explosion it ignited.
Sasuke closed his eyes as the light flashed across the area. He fell to the ground because using Kirin completely exhausted him of his chakra.
He looked up to the area where Kirin had struck. It was now a huge crater where an entire hidden village could fit in.
"That did it, but I'll have to find Karin as fast as possible, if I don't get myself healed soon I'll loose consciousness and goodness known who'll find me" thought Sasuke as he got up.
He turned but just then he heard a noise and turned around in shock.
A few huge rocks blasted off as a golden dome appeared exactly in the middle of the crater.
The dome sparkled and shone in the sunlight and had a tiny pole on the centre.
"W-what is that thing" said Sasuke as it shattered into many pieces with the sound of glass.
To the Uchiha's shock he saw Sasori standing practically unharmed and beside him stood the woman who he had saved on the last occasion.
"Impossible, there's no shield that can be effective against Kirin, it's not possible" thought Sasuke as he remembered Sasori continuously shooting bullet of iron sand at Kirin.
"Each grain of sand must have conducted some of Kirin's electricity thus lessening its destructive force a lot, and that must have enabled the woman to use that shield" thought Sasuke as he cursed out loud and collapsed, unconscious.
"I must say that boy has great power, this is only the third time in my life I had to use the 6th Shield of An, and it would still have failed had you not weakened the lightning with your bullets" said Akane as she collapsed on the ground panting a little.
Sasori sent her a glance, "I felt you were coming here, I know of your skill with barrier art, I thought if I could weaken the beast enough for you to shield us then we'd get away, and I guess it worked" he said pulling Akane up and putting her arm around his shoulder as he supported her.
"I can walk by myself" said Akane blushing a little.
Sasori ignored her and they walked to where Sasuke had fallen.
"You're in a pretty bad state, while I have only lost a lot of chakra you've been burnt and poisoned too I think" said Akane before she caught sight of the puppet which had shot senbons at Sasori.
"Great god" said Akane forgetting that she was out of chakra and rushing over to the puppet and staring at it from head to toe.
"Explain yourself Sasori-San, why do you have a puppet that looks like me" accused Akane pointing at the puppet.
Sasori got up as he swung Sasuke over his shoulder and smiled slightly at Akane.
"That puppet is my angel, she carries all the antidotes to practically every poison of the Shinobi world, she is who I turn to when I get poisoned or hurt" he said softly before turning away leaving a rather flustered Akane behind him.
Well that's it for this chapter. I had originally planned on releasing this on Tuesday but I was so happy with your reviews that it fueled me to finish it today itself. I hope you like it. Please do review! Bye~nee.
