Yo, so here is the latest chapter. Thank you very much, BlackCrystal06, that means a lot to me. I will do my best with this story, hopefully it will meet your expectations.

Eddie Perez, about Full Counter, not really sure, I'm not really knowledgeable about the Seven Deadly Sins, but I'll think about it.

XXX

In the instant the two puppeteers released the contents of the scrolls, the area was filled with puppets.

Above Sasori, were over a hundred puppets, while Chiyo had ten puppets standing in front of her.

Asuna, Sinon, Suguha and Yugao gaped at the sheer amount of puppets in front of them. Sure, Chiyo was a renowned puppeteer, known for her ten puppets which could take down a fortress in a night.

But Sasori, his hundred puppets were known to be able to take down a nation in a night. Of course, rumors tend to be exaggerated.

Sasori flexed his wing-like blades on his back, the hundred puppets all eager to crush their new targets. The man smirked, "I'll enjoy adding you to my collection."

Chiyo just narrowed her eyes at the man, her ten puppets ready to move, "Girls, get ready. A single scratch will be fatal, he will have poison on all his weapons. Destroy every single one of his puppets, or we cannot win."

The Konoha kunoichi all nodded. Then Sasori willed all his puppets to charge.

For next few minutes, the five kunoichi destroyed every puppet that came in their sight. Yugao and Suguha slashed apart every puppet they saw, charging chakra into their blades to severe the chakra strings as well.

Asuna stabbed and broke every puppet by punching and kicking them apart, while Sinon used her explosive arrows to destroy the puppets. As for Chiyo, the old woman's ten puppets crushed every single puppet that faced them. Using the interchangeable joints and gadgets in them, Chiyo's ten puppets combined and blasted pressurized air that blew apart all the puppets.

In less than 20 minutes, the five kunoichi had destroyed the hundred puppets.

Sasori fumed, 'One of my best collections, and they destroyed in less than an hour?! UNACCEPTABLE!'

Just as the women were about to turn to Sasori, the human puppet dashed forward, charging at Sinon. The archer's eyes widened and quickly drew her dagger and blocked one of Sasori's blades.

The man tried to shoot poison in her face, but before he could, Chiyo's ten puppets along with Yugao and Suguha came down slashing at the human puppet, forcing him to dodge the attacks.

Then Sasori noticed one of them, Asuna, was missing. His eyes widened as he heard footsteps behind him, and he quickly reattached his chakra strings to one of his broken puppets, using it to block the attack.

But it proved to be futile, as Asuna charged her rapier with wind chakra, and broke the puppets apart before she broke through Sasori's chest, breaking the human puppet to pieces.

Asuna let out a breath and was about to head back to the group when she saw one of Chiyo's puppet shooting a sphere at her. The girl was about to deflect it when it shot right past her head.

Asuna turned and saw Sasori bound to the wall of the cave. But then they noticed the face had turned blank as the circle with the kanji for scorpion on his chest was absent in his chest.

Then, a random puppet rose up and raised a blade, but before he could move, two blades pierced through his heart, making his eyes go wide. Only then did he notice the two puppets beside him, with chakra strings linked to his grandmother.

Yugao, Suguha, Sinon and Asuna were all surprised, they knew basic knowledge about puppetry, in case they ever had to fight them, but this was just taking it to another level.

Sasori chuckled, "As expected of you, nothing ever gets past you."

Chiyo turned to her grandson, "Though you turned yourself into a puppet, a puppet requires a constant supply of chakra. That means you have to have a part of you that remains human, that was your weakness."

Sasori laughed humourlessly, "I knew I should have removed the kanji. Whatever."

The human puppet looked at his grandmother, "In my body, there are several other scrolls, they contain my other collections, give them to that guy I poisoned the other day, he has three my first puppets, right? Might as well give him the rest, don't worry, only one scroll contains the human puppets."

Chiyo wordlessly nodded before Sasori chuckled, "To think I'd be defeated by a team of women, well, I guess there are worse ways to go."

After that, the light faded from his eyes as he finally left the world. The five women didn't say anything as they just stood there for a while.

Suguha then spoke up, "Come on, we're done, we should go see if the others are done."

No one disagreed and they quickly left the cave, not before Chiyo gave her grandson a small and brief burial with the two puppets though. As a grandmother, she didn't want her grandson to die parentless, even if he had committed so many sins.

Meanwhile, back to when the fight started, team Kakashi were chasing after Deidara on his clay bird.

Hikari glanced back, "Kakashi-sensei!"

The cyclops nodded, knowing what she wanted to do, "Go!"

The Uzumaki nodded and threw a dozen kunai at Deidara's bird, purposely missing the man. The Iwa nuke nin smirked, "Where are you aiming?"

His smirk vanished when he saw the yellow flash. In an instant, Hikari appeared in front of him, a Rasengan in her hand, "Raiton: Rasengan!"

Deidara instinctively threw a clump of explosive clay at the girl, but the lightning infused Rasengan just rendered the explosive clay useless and ripped to shreds.

The mad bomber's eyes widened as the lightning infused Rasengan slammed into his chest, sending him flying straight into the ground, at the same time destroying his bird.

This also caused Gaara to start falling to the ground, coupled with his injuries, the Kazekage wouldn't survive the fall. But fortunately, Hikari was prepared, and sent a bundle of chains that wrapped around the unconscious man, preventing him from hitting until she reached the ground herself.

As the girl landed on the grass, with Gaara caught by her chains, she slowly set the Kazekage on the grass. The blonde sighed in relief, at least he was still alive, barely breathing, but alive nonetheless. She also noticed that she couldn't sense the Shukaku's chakra anymore.

Hikari turned and yelled, "Sakura!"

Quickly, the pink medic appeared along with the rest of her team. Sakura's eyes widened when she saw Gaara and she quickly went to heal him.

Sasuke asked, "Where's Deidara?"

Hikari glanced to the trees behind her, "Somewhere over there."

Kakashi nodded to Sasuke, "We'll go take care of him, we'll have to defeat the Akatsuki eventually after all."

Sasuke nodded, "Yeah, better kill one off first. Besides, I heard his bounty's quite high."

Kakashi chuckled, "Come on. Hikari, stay here and guard Sakura and Gaara, we don't want to take any chances."

The girl nodded. While the Shukaku may have been extracted, apart from getting the Bijuu, no one really knew of the Akatsuki's goals, so they couldn't risk them coming back to take Gaara.

The two Sharingan users then leaped away to search for Deidara. As they left, Hikari turned her attention to Gaara and Sakura, "Sakura, how is he?"

The pinkette frowned, "He's slipping away, I'm doing everything I can to keep him alive."

Hikari just nodded as she guarded the two.

Meanwhile, Sasuke and Kakashi were running towards where Deidara was supposed to be. All of a sudden, a clay spider jumped out of the trees at them.

The cyclops instinctively activated his Mangekyou Sharingan, "Kamui!"

The clay spider swirled away, preventing the spider from exploding. Then they heard a loud voice, "What do you think of my art? Beautiful, right?"

The two turned and saw Deidara on a tree. Sasuke mocked, "Art? You call this shit art?"

Deidara fumed for a moment before he roared, "Insolent brat! You have no idea what true art is. ART... IS AN EXPLOSION!"

Only then did the two notice that they were surrounded by clay spiders and clay birds, all ready to detonate. The two Sharingan users quickly flashed through handseals and slammed their hands on the ground, "Doton: Dome!"

Three domes made of mud rose around them, blocking most of the explosion before the domes gave out and crumbled away. Deidara hmm'd, "Impressive, to be able to block that."

The man then brought out another clay doll, "Then how about this?! My C1 explosives!"

Kakashi cursed and activated his Mangekyou Sharingan, aiming at the clay doll, "Kamui!"

Instantly, the doll swirled away to Deidara's shock. Then taking advantage of the pause, Sasuke charged forward, drawing his chokuto and charging it with lightning chakra.

The young Uchiha swung his blade at Deidara a few times, which Deidara either dodged or blocked them, before Sasuke spun and slammed his sword onto the ground, the Chidori streaming around his body and expanding into a 5 meter radius, "Chidori Nagashi!"

The Chidori stunned and electrocuted the man, but unfortunately couldn't kill him. But Kakashi wasn't done, nor would he allow the chance to slip by.

Going through a set of seals, Kakashi charged forward with a spear hand, clad in lightning, "Raikiri!"

He stabbed his arm through Deidara's chest, making him cough blood. Deidara growled, "You think this will be enough to kill me? I will show you my strongest art, my C0 explosives!"

The man activated his final jutsu, his body turning transparent as he used the earth element of the human body as material for his explosives. But unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen.

Kakashi increased the intensity of his Raikiri, "Omae wa mo, shindeiru."

Deidara's eyes widened as another arm burst through his chest, this one clad in the Chidori, "N-nani?"

Due to the two lightning element jutsu, Deidara's C0 technique faded, nullified by the electricity as his body regained its colour. The teacher and student then pulled their hands out, letting the man to fall to the ground dead.

Sasuke huffed, "So much for your art, it was abysmal. Fuinjutsu is a whole lot better if you wanna talk about art."

Kakashi chuckled, "Well, you're not wrong. But I prefer Jiraiya-sama's work."

Sasuke sighed, "You and your porn. Whatever, come on, let's head back."

Kakashi didn't object and the two quickly went back to where Hikari, Gaara and Sakura were. As they entered the area, they were met with a grim sight.

Sakura and Hikari both sat by Gaara's body, both sporting sad and grim expressions. Sasuke asked, shocked, "Is Gaara?"

The two girls turned to the man, and they nodded softly. Kakashi sighed, "I see."

The team just stood/sat there for a while until team Yugao and Chiyo reached the area. The five's eyes widened as they saw the scene.

No words were needed as they just stood there. Chiyo thought, 'All my life, everything I have done, has always harmed you and your siblings, Gaara. Its time I did something good for a change.'

The old woman walked to Gaara's side and knelt down. Sakura asked, "Chiyo-sama?"

The old lady said, "All this time, everything I've done always hurted him. I sealed the Ichibi in him and I did a very bad job. Now because of my grandson, it costed his life. Its time I atoned for my sins, even if for a little bit."

Her palms glowed a mix of green and light blue as she placed her hands on Gaara's chest. Sakura blinked as she saw Gaara's chest slightly moving, his breathing slowly returning.

After a while, Chiyo winced, "Not enough chakra..."

The old lady glanced around and remembered there was another Jinchurikii present. The woman turned to Hikari, still not moving her arms from Gaara, "Hikari, I need more chakra, place your hands above mine."

The blonde didn't hesitate and quickly placed her hands above Chiyo's. At that instant, the glow intensified and Gaara's breathing steadied. Everyone's eyes widened as Gaara's heart beat strengthened until it was constant, showing that she had successfully revived the former Jinchurikii.

Chiyo finally stopped the jutsu and fell on her back panting, "There, he's fine now."

Hikari stared at the old lady in surprise, "How?"

Chiyo didn't answer, instead it was the Kyuubi, "She used a forbidden jutsu, most probably. I can feel her life slipping away, not surprising, as to bring back the dead, you would need something of equal value."

Hikari snapped her head to Chiyo, "Chiyo, you used your own life?"

That statement surprised everyone present, and the elder chuckled tiredly, "I originally only had less than a year left anyways, exchanging that for Gaara's full lifespan, not a bad trade, right?"

No one answered that question as Chiyo said with a smile, "Tell Ebizo not to join me so soon, I want some time alone with my son, daughter in law and grandson."

With that said, the old woman fell to the ground softly, her eyes closing as she gave her final breath with a smile. The Konoha shinobi all just stood there for a moment, respecting the final act of the village elder of Sunagakure.

A while later, Gaara woke up, the young Kazekage saw the Konoha shinobi standing and Chiyo on the floor. He quickly realized what had happened, "Did Chiyo-baasama?"

Hikari nodded, "She used her life to save you."

The young Kazekage nodded, "I see. We'll have to give her a proper burial."

No one disagreed and they headed back for the village.

Later at night, back in Konoha, while team Kakashi and team Yugao were still in Suna, Kirito was taking a nap back in his room. He had just finished forging another blade and decided to get some rest, since Klein could close the shop anyways.

As he slept, he had a dream. The blacksmith was in a huge throne room, standing in front of him was a man with white hair and a crown.

He also noticed two women, one short and one tall, standing some distance away from them, the taller woman had white long hair while the shorter one had curly brown hair with a scholar's hat.

But Kirito was more focused on the man, who was speaking, "Why, do you side with them?"

Kirito didn't know what was going on, but he spoke on his own as if they were his words, yet not at the same time, "They did nothing wrong, they merely discovered their own power. It is a part of their evolution, we do not have the right to stop it."

The man frowned, "We are gods. That princess ate a fruit from our realm, claiming our mana and calling it their chakra. Now, she calls herself a god, do you see how they are mocking us?!"

Kirito frowned, "Even so, it does not mean we have the right to destroy a civilization just because of that."

The man sighed, "Your time in the human world has changed you."

Then his expression hardened and he turned, walking away, "Regardless, I will destroy them, whether you stand with me or not."

Kirito felt anger swell in him and he spoke coldly, "If you dare lay a finger on them, I swear I will make you regret it."

The man's eyes widened and he turned as the two glared at each other. The man replied, "Then so be it. Ready your troops then, the next time we meet, one of us will fall."

The man then left the room. The two women approached Kirito, the one with white hair spoke, "Was that really necessary?"

Kirito nodded, "Yeah, our worlds are connected, this planet will collapse if we lack any part of it. So, what are you two going to do?"

The shorter woman sighed, "I'm not going to participate in this war, I'll be in my library, tell me when everything is over, I still have to look over the two worlds after all."

Kirito nodded and he looked at the white haired girl, "What about you?"

The girl sighed, "Fine. I'll help, I'll get the knights ready."

Kirito smiled, "Thank you."

The woman sighed, "I seriously have no idea what goes through that idiot's mind. True, that woman ate a fruit from the tree, she gained mana as a result and passed it down to her children. But it is the same as what we did here, we gave the humans access to mana, and they flourished."

Kirito chuckled, "Probably, because they got it without his permission, you know how prideful he is."

Then his expression turned serious, "But, I can't just let him destroy them just like that."

The woman smiled softly, "You've really changed, maybe sending you to experience life in the human world wasn't so bad. Just try not to kill each other much."

Kirito nodded before everything turned white.

Then, Kirito woke up, the dream still fresh on his mind, 'What was that?'

He thought back to the dream, it was too real, as if he was really experiencing it. Then the next question came, who were those three people. It felt familiar, like he knew who they were, but at the same time, he couldn't recall who they were to him.

Kirito decided to file it off for later, since dreams could be weird sometimes. He looked at the clock and saw that it was only 2am, so he just went back to sleep.

The next day, back in Sunagakure, teams Yugao and Kakashi stood by the border, Gaara, Temari and Kankuro stood with them.

The Kazekage said, "Once again, thank you for your aid, we are once again in your debt."

Kakashi nodded, "Of course, we are allies after all."

Gaara nodded, "Hikari, take care, the Akatsuki will come for you next."

Hikari grinned, "Don't worry about me, I'll just have to train as hard as I can."

The Kazekage just chuckled and nodded, "I suppose we shouldn't delay you any further, have a safe trip."

Yugao nodded, "Thank you, Kazekage-sama."

Gaara just nodded before the Konoha shinobi left the village, heading back for their own village.

Meanwhile, in Amegakure, Pein stood on the tower, watching over his raining village. In a blink, Konan appeared beside him, "So, we have the Ichibi now, what do we do next?"

The dead body of Yahiko spoke, "The next one would be the Niibi. From Zetsu's intel, the Jinchurikii is Nii Yugito, from Kumogakure. I'll have Hidan and Kakuzu hunt her down."

Konan just nodded as they continued watching over the village.

XXX

Done. Review please. So that's the end of the Ichibi sub arc, it came out a bit shorter than I expected though. The next one will be the Niibi sub arc. And we have a small glimpse of a vision from the Underworld, I'm just gonna let you guys guess why I put that there. Tell me what you guys think.

Until next time.