(Welcome to my next installment. I took this time to figure out what to do with the Akatsuki at this point. And I think I've come up with an idea. Enjoy.)

One afternoon at Plumber's HQ in Konoha, Naruto, his team, and various other Plumbers were gathered before Minato, Kushina, and Azmuth.

"So what's this emergency meeting for?" Kiba asked.

Minato cleared his throat, "I'm gonna get right to the point with all of you. The Akatsuki are on the move."

"The Akatsuki?" various Plumbers asked.

"How can you be sure?" Naruto wondered.

"Yeah, haven't they been in hiding for three years?" Sakura asked.

Kushina nodded, "Yes. But now we're certain they're ready to strike."

"Does that mean I should be ready for the worse?" Naruto inquired.

Azmuth answered, "Yes, Naruto. However, they will not be targeting you so quickly. The first one they will obviously be targeting is Gaara."

"Shouldn't Suna be safe with their Plumber faction helping to defend from any attack?" Sasuke asked.

Minato spoke, "That may be, but we have reason to believe that there is a spy among the Suna ranks who works for the Akatsuki."

"A spy?" Akane asked.

"So Suna has a Kabuto as well?" Naruto added.

"We're afraid so." Kushina sighed.

"We have to stop them." Lee spoke up.

"But how?" Tenten asked.

"Magister's?" Neji asked hoping they have an answer.

"We've alerted to Gaara that we will be going undercover in the village." Minato explained.

"But this is a top secret mission," Kushina warned them, "So top secret only Gaara himself knows about this."

"You're keeping everyone else in the dark?" Zaku asked.

"Like Minato said," Azmuth began, "Suna has a spy among them. If word of this got out then that spy would report to the Akatsuki and our ambush on them would be a failure."

The Plumbers nodded in understanding, until Minato spoke up, "Squad Seven, Team Guy, and you three," he motioned to Zaku, Kin, and Dosu at the end, "You'll be joining me, Kakashi, and Guy on this undercover mission."

The groups nodded, before Kushina continued, "The rest of you will remain here on standby in case we're in need of back up."

"Yes, ma'am!" they answered.

Azmuth turned to the selected groups, "Move out!"

They nodded and left to prepare, while the other Plumbers got back to work. When they were gone, Azmuth, Minato, and Kushina left as well before going into another chamber.

"We're lucky they didn't constantly question how we knew about the spy." Minato said.

"I know." Kushina agreed.

"We're more lucky Itachi was able to relay this message to us." Azmuth added.

"With him undercover we stand a far better chance of bringing the Akatsuki down." Minato said.

"Yes, but for how long?" Kushina asked, "Itachi may be as good at espionage than Kabuto, but this it the Akatsuki organization we're dealing with."

"Itachi is more than capable of handling himself, Kushina," Azmuth assured her, "But we'll worry about that later. Right now Minato has to get ready."

Kushina sighed, "Yes. You're right." So Minato left to get ready.

An hour later, Minato, Kakashi, Guy and the selected squads stood in position on a transwarp platform, "Ok, everyone ready?"

"Ready!" they confirmed.

"Then let's go. Prepare transportation." Minato ordered, as some of the scientists started the machine.

"Good luck to all of you." Kushina said.

"We'll be fine, mom." Naruto promised. The machine powered up, and the group was teleported off.

Meanwhile in Suna, Gaara was waiting at a secure location away from prying eyes. Suddenly he saw the group appear before them.

"Kazekage-sama, we have arrived." Minato greeted him.

"Welcome, guests to Suna." Gaara greeted them.

"Hey, Gaara, long time no see." Naruto greeted him.

Gaara smiled, "It's good to see you again, old friend."

"So word around is you're Kazekage now?" Naruto inquired.

Gaara nodded, "That's correct."

"Well, I just want to say congratulations, man. But don't think just because you're Kazekage I'm inferior to you now."

Gaara smirked, "Hadn't crossed my mind."

"Good. Because just you wait. I'll be Hokage soon enough. And when I do, let's share a drink together."

"Sounds good to me." Gaara replied.

"I hate to break up this moment, but we're on a mission." Sasuke reminded them.

Kakashi nodded, "You have spots stationed for us to hide until the ambush?"

"I do. I shall take you each there personally." Gaara answered, as they all left.

Later on, each member was stationed at a secure location close to the entrance of Suna. Naruto who was in his hiding spot spoke to Kurama.

'So not much we can do until tonight, huh?'

'So it seems.' Kurama replied.

'Well, good thing I had plenty to eat before we left.'

'Let's just hope you don't have to use the bathroom in the middle of the fight.'

'That would be bad.' Naruto laughed in his thoughts.

When nighttime rolled in, all the Konoha Plumber/Shinobi were on guard along with Suna's Anbu as always. They waited quietly and patiently for a sign of suspicious activity. Naruto was looking ready to fall asleep, but kept his eyelids opened. Suddenly he and the rest of his fellow shinobi saw someone in a cloak approaching the entrance.

Naruto thought, 'That must be the spy. Taking him out now will probably spare us in letting the Akatsuki in the village... On the other hand, if I did that the Akatsuki would sense something's up and fall back. Then we'd miss a chance. Guess we play it by the plan now.'

The figure walked through the crevice of the village gates, while the others waited. Minato spoke into his comlink quietly.

"You all see that?"

"Copy that." Sakura answered.

"What're you're orders?" came Dosu's voice.

"Don't move until I give you the signal." Minato answered.

"Wait, captain," Neji began as he looked above, "I'm getting something on my Byakugan above the village."

Kakashi, Guy, and Minato pulled out Plumber binoculars and saw a giant white bird flying above the village with someone on top. From what they could make out from this figure other than his Akatsuki cloak was he had blonde hair tied in a ponytail with one side of his face hidden beneath his bangs.

They watched as he reached into a satchel and pulled something out. They enhanced the magnification to get a closer look and saw some little clay spiders emerge from his palms.

"What're those for?" Guy asked.

"I think we're about to find out." Kakashi said, as the figure dropped the spiders from above and they rained down and exploded upon contact.

"Bombs!" Minato gasped.

The explosives alerted the Suna shinobi who got ready to fight, until Gaara appeared as used a sand saucer to fly up to the strangers level in the sky.

"I take it you're looking for me?" he inquired.

"So the village Jinchuriki comes straight to me, hm. This makes it easier."

"You are not welcomed here. Leave at once!" Gaara ordered.

"Oh, I will. But you'll be coming with me." he smirked.

Gaara frowned, as the strange launched more clay explosives. The Kazekage quickly used his sand shield to protect himself from the explosives.

"So that's your ultimate defense. Hmm. Let's see how long it'll last!" he was prepared to launch more bombs only to get shot at, "What gives?!"

On various building rooftops, Suna Plumbers were blasting at him with blasters.

"Protect the Kazekage!" one Plumber announced.

Naruto who regrouped with the others noticed the situation above, "Looks like he won't be able to concentrate with all those shots. Still Gaara could use some extra help."

"Worry about helping yourself." came a deep voice.

The Konoha group looked and saw another figure wearing the Akatsuki cloak. This figure was big and round with all but his eyes hidden behind a mask, and looked like he was crawling.

"This must be his partner." Kakashi deduced.

The figure spoke, "I would've thought my partner Deidara would've had no trouble collecting the Jinchuriki, but it seems I must come to his aid."

"And you are?" Kin inquired.

"You may call me Sasori."

"Did you just say 'Sasori'?" came a new voice.

The group turned and saw Kankuro and Temari looking ready to fight, "Kankuro! Temari!" Akane called.

"Get away from him he's dangerous!" Temari called.

Bursting from the back of Sasori was a metal scorpion tail that came right for the others like a serpent.

"Look out!" Sasuke jumped in and whipped out his sword to block the tail.

"Sasuke!" Sakura called.

Sasuke called, "Chidori Stream!" he emitted shots of Chidori from his body, that pierced at Sasori who backed off.

"Good one, Sasuke!" Naruto cheered.

"Naruto!" Minato called, "We can take care of things down here. Go help Gaara!"

"On it, dad. It's hero time!" he activated the Omnitrix and transformed, "Big Chill!" he flew up to help Gaara.

Deidara was launching more bombs in Gaara's direction while some were blasted by the Plumbers or blocked by Gaara's shield.

"I'll blow every single one of you sky high. Because art is an explosion!" Deidara declared before almost getting blasted by ice.

Big Chill flew up, "I don't know much about art, but it's definitely not explosive."

"Perfect timing, Naruto." Gaara said.

"What you getting tired?" Big Chill joked.

Deidara growled, "Back off, bug. Or I'll squash you!"

Big Chill responded, "I'd like to see you try." he flew around with Gaara to confuse the bomber.

Back on the ground, the rest of the group was dealing with Sasori who was using his metal tail to block and deflect multiple blaster shots from Plumber blasters.

"Everyone get back!" Zaku called, as he extended his hands out to blow Sasori away with his air blasts.

Sasori however stood his ground, much to Zaku's shock, "Is that the best you can offer?" the shinobi asked the former Sound shinobi.

Neji observed Sasori with his Byakugan and noticed something, "Everyone, there's something inside him."

"What is it?" Tenten asked.

"It looks like like another person." The Hyuga answered.

"Another person?" Lee wondered.

Kankuro observed, "He's right. That body's actually a puppet."

"A puppet?" Akane asked.

"Yeah. It's called Hiruko, one of Sasori's many puppets."

"How do you know that?" Sakura asked.

"Sasori was a former Suna shinobi. He founded the puppet corps here. My puppets Crow and Black Ant; they were originally built by Sasori."

Sasori spoke, "I see you know plenty of my history. I actually feel flattered. Such a shame I have to destroy you." he attempted to strike again with the metal tail.

"Chidori spear!" Sasuke extended his palm and emitted a long spear that sliced off the tail.

Sasori grunted from seeing his tail sliced off, "Sakura, Guy, Lee, now!" Minato ordered.

The three shinobi jumped above Sasori reading their fists and came down with a triple earth splitting blow causing the puppet to crack. As it did something jumped out from it and landed at the side.

"They broke Hiruko." Temari gasped.

"But look over there." Akane motioned to the side.

The figure who escaped the puppet stood up and spoke, "Now I'll have to rebuild Hiruko when this over." he turned around and removed his hood revealing to be a red haired youth."

"Is that?" Kin asked.

"Yes. Sasori of the Red Sands." Kakashi confirmed.

"How can this be?" Minato wondered, "How can he look this young if he's been around for so long?"

"That is my secret." Sasori said as he prepared himself to fight.

As the Konoha shinobi were prepared to attack, a cylindrical force surrounded Sasori and his particles were beamed up.

This shocked the group as Zaku spoke, "What just happened?"

"He vanished into thin air." Lee said.

"How?" Temari asked, as no one seemed to have the answer.

Back above, Deidara was still launching bombs at Gaara and Big Chill, as the two were striking at him with Sand and ice attacks.

Big Chill flew in at Deidara, "Try this!" he threw a punch at Deidara's stomach, but found his hand get stuck in it, "What the?"

Deidara smirked and his whole body turned white, "A clone?" Gaara gasped.

The real Deidara emerged from the clay bird and spoke, "You fell right for my clay clone. And now he's gonna blow with you!" he jumped off and ignited the bomb that self destructed along with the clay bird.

The force of the explosion knocked Gaara off balance, while Deidara created a new clay bird to ride on, "Bye-bye." he laughed.

"Surprise!" Big Chill and a shadow clone of him flew form behind Deidara and froze his arms into blocks of ice.

"GAH! What?! But how did you?" Deidara called, while feeling cold from the ice.

Big Chill's clone dispelled, as the real one spoke, "Intangibility. I didn't even feel the explosion."

Deidara growled, "I'm gonna blow you up if it's the last thing I..." the bomber was cut off, as the same force that surrounded Sasori surrounded him and he was teleported off.

"Huh?" Big Chill asked in confusion.

Gaara hovered down on his sand, "Where'd he go?"

"I don't know," Big Chill answered, until he heard the Omnitrix beep. He quickly flew onto Gaara's sand saucer before changing back, "So does this mean we've won?" Gaara himself was too shocked to answer.

The Suna shinobi and plumbers cheered and applauded seeing that they were safe now. Down on the ground Gaara and Naruto landed and met up with their comrades.

"Everyone ok?" Gaara inquired.

"We're all fine." Minato confirmed.

"Naruto, what happened up there?" Akane asked.

"Gaara and I were fighting the guy, when all of a sudden he vanishes into thin air."

"The same thing happened with Sasori." Kakashi explained.

"What?" Naruto gasped.

"Magister what do you think was the cause of this?" Sakura asked Minato.

"This was clearly the work of teleportation technology. But I have doubts the Akatsuki were behind it."

"Kazekage-sama!" a shinobi called, as a bunch came over.

Gaara spoke, "Any casualties?"

"Nothing critical, sir. But we did find something."

"What is it?"

Two shinobi brought over one shinobi, which shocked Gaara and his sibs. Kankuro spoke first, "Yuura?"

"We found him outside the gates killed. Why would he be out there?" one shinobi asked.

Gaara scowled, "Because he was a traitor."

"Him?" Temari asked.

"He's been part of the council for four years. And has never shown signs of disloyalty." Kankuro noted.

"Looks like you didn't know him as well as you thought." Sasuke replied.

"Well, at least we snuffed out your traitor." Dosu said.

"Maybe so, but we still don't know what happened to the Akatsuki members." Gaara said, as they looked up at the sky suspiciously.

Up in space on board Valmark's ship, the Vilgaxian lord, Orochimaru, and Kabuto stood before Deidara with his arms unfrozen and Sasori who were imprisoned inside two containment bubbles.

"Comfy, boys?" Orochimaru chuckled.

"Orochimaru! You traitor!' Deidara growled.

"I never would've suspected this would be your doing." Sasori added.

"Well, I did have help, Sasori, my old chum." Orochimaru snicked.

"So these are two of your former Akatsuki accomplices?" Valmark inquired.

"Indeed. Sasori of the Red Sands and Deidara from Iwa," Orochimaru began, "Boys, meet Lord Valmark of Vilgaxia."

"Man, you are one nasty guy." Deidara told the lord.

"Have you looked in the mirror?" Valmark rebuffed.

Deidara growled in anger, until Sasori spoke, "Kabuto! I think it's time you remembered who your true master is!" he formed hand sign, "Well, now do you remember?"

Kabuto smiled, "Yes, I do, Lord Sasori," Sasori looked pleased, until the boy continued, "However, that jutsu was removed from me by Orochimaru years ago. I've simply stuck around because I grown to empathize with his ideals."

Sasori frowned, "You double crossing little..."

"Oh, hush up." Valmark said, as he clicked a remote device and the two were suddenly frozen in a state of suspended animation.

The two bubbles were brought over to two stasis pods and contained in them. Orochimaru spoke, "They'll be nice and comfy in there."

"I don't understand why you abducted these two?" Kabuto asked.

Orochimaru answered, "Because Kabuto, we still require more test subjects to become part of our amalgam army. And the Akatsuki members will be fine additions."

"And with Kilotron's brain warping machine we will have them completely obedient to us." Valmark added.

"But you realize this is also helping our other enemies?" Kabuto reminded him.

"If anyone is going to be getting to Naruto Uzumaki, that's going to be me," Valmark answered, "I won't let them take the nine tails from him before I obtain the Omnitrix."

Orochimaru nodded in agreement before looking at the preserved Sasori and Deidara, "Sleep you two. For the next time you fight it will be for us." he laughed.

Elsewhere inside a cave, a bunch of astral projections appeared as the main one spoke, "What happened to Sasori and Deidara?"

"Do you think they've been captured?" one asked.

"Highly unlikely. They were two very capable shinobi. They wouldn't go down that easily." the lead answered.

"Still they failed in obtaining the one tail."

"No matter. There will be plenty of other chances. But for now we must prepare ourselves for the next time to strike."

"Hai!" they agreed, before the apparitions have vanished.

(And there you go. May not have been the best Akatsuki fight, but I have much bigger plans for them down the line now. Don't miss next time where Naruto with the help of Paradox comes across more of himself when Valmark pops into another dimension. See you until then.)