Sakura's eyes went wide as did Kiba's while Shino looked unfazed. In their hands were wanted images of Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Hinata Hyuuga.
A figure sat in a meditative pose near a pool of muddy colored water. His legs, covered in black loose fitting pants, crossed beneath him. He wore no shirt exposing his well toned body to the warm humid air. His hands in an oval shape, resting on his lap, backs of the fingers touching. His wild blond hair moved slightly with the breeze. He was sitting perfectly still, feeling the nature energy around him. He could feel it enter his body and meld with his chakra. His eyes were closed as orange markings began to appear on his eyelids. He opened his eyes, revealing yellow iris' with a rectangle shape for a pupil, just like that of a toads.
"Yosh. It's easy now." He said, smirking to himself.
"Done meditating for the day?" A voice behind him called out. The man turned to see the wild white hair of Jiraiya, the great toad sage.
"Yeah, it's easy now. I can draw it in faster and Kurama's been working on being able to do it for me." Naruto replied.
"Glad to hear it kid." Jiraiya said, looking at him proudly. His pupil had grown immensely over the last few years. His bond with Kurama had deepened to the point where he could pull a full jinchuriki transformation, if only for a few minutes. He had even taught the once young boy, how to call upon nature energy, being able to enter Sage mode like himself. He had insisted, recalling how Jiraiya had done so during the fight with Koga. He had to admit, the boy was a natural, albeit rough around the edges. Perfect mix of his parents in his mind. He began to smile at the thought.
Naruto started to squirm and got an odd look on his face. "What's with the look?" He asked.
"Ah… I was just thinking about something good…" Jiraiya trailed off.
"Something perverted probably…" Naruto said, crossing his arms.
"Hey now, I may be the world's greatest super pervert, but I do have my moments!" Jiraiya said, mimicking Naruto's expression.
"Whatever." Naruto said indignantly, much to Jiraiya's annoyance.
"Anyway kid, I've got some important news. Looks like two of your friends have reunited." Jiraiya said happily.
Naruto jumped to his feet with a happy expression on his face.
"I get to see Hinata again?!" He asked, full of energy. JIraiya chuckled but then turned serious.
"They're going to need your help. There are two Akatsuki members in the area. A particularly troublesome pair to deal with. One long range specialist and one puppet master who deals with poisons." Jiraiya said, looking at Naruto sternly who smirked back at him.
"Perfect." Naruto said. "Will give me a chance to try out my new moves." He said, grabbing a white button up dress shirt from next to him and putting it on. He then grabbed a long black jacket, going down to his knees, but left open in the front, similar in style to what his father used to wear. He then grabbed the black headband with the Uzumaki clan symbol on it he had received from the shrine and tied it around his forehead.
"Let's go then." He said with a grin. Jiraiya returned the look. Akatsuki should be very afraid of this jinchuuriki. The boy had evolved his bloodline even further, it was truly terrifying what he would be capable of. He still had some work to do on that front, but what he had created was… truly terrifying. He had to admit, with a bit of annoyance, that Naruto was stronger than him now.
"I've got a toad in the area, but he's still a few minutes away. I'll let you know once he gets there." Naruto hung his head and pouted.
"But I want to see my hime…" He whined. Jiraiya sighed, three years and some things just didn't change.
Deidara sat atop his flying bird like bomb, Sasori casually sitting next to him. He was looking through an ocular device down on the ground.
"Did you find anything?" Sasori asked.
"Nothing yet, hn." Deidara said, looking down. They had been sent to track down the Rokubi and Utakata, but so far, he had been tricky to find. The one time they did run into him, his bubbles engulfed his miniature bombs, rendering them ineffective. He admitted he had underestimated him before, he wouldn't make the same mistake twice. He pressed a button on his device, zooming in on the ground further when something caught his attention. A young boy and a girl, sitting on a log. What in particular he noticed was the Uchiha crest on the boy's back.
"Hoh, isn't that interesting…" Deidara said, reaching into his pouch and eating some clay with his hand.
"What do you see?" Sasori asked in a bored tone.
"There's an Uchiha down there hn…" Deidara replied.
"An Uchiha? They don't normally wander too far from the village, especially with how it's been lately." Sasori replied with slight more interest.
Deidara pulled out a few small spiders and was about to throw them but he saw another person, taking a double take. Sitting on a log, behind the two he had seen before, was Itachi Uchiha.
Deidara's eyes widened slowly and he smiled wickedly, his face twisting into a deranged crazed look. He started chuckling.
"We're making a detour, Dana." Deidara said, readying his bombs. Sasori looked over to him with a confused look.
"Why? Our orders were to capture the six tail."
"Itachi Uchiha is down there hn.." Deidara replied chuckling. Before Sasori could saw anything, the bird made a dive bomb towards the ground.
"Oi! Deidara!" Sasori complained as he had to use chakra to keep on the bird.
Itachi was staring at the bird like creature when it suddenly took a turn and was heading straight for them. He eyed it suspiciously, what kind of animal would do that? Until his eye widened slightly as he saw a bit of blond hair. This was not a bird.
"Sasuke, Hinata, get down." Itachi commanded in a calm tone. Hinata and Sasuke looked at him questioningly before he pointed upwards and they noticed the white bird like creature coming at them at great speed.
"Quickly. Take cover. Now." He commanded, taking charge. Hinata and Sasuke both hid behind some trees while Itachi looked up at the bird.
"IITTACHII!" Deidara yelled as they came closer.
"Who is that?" Sasuke asked.
"He's an Akatsuki member. Specializing in explosives. His partner uses poisons and puppets, be careful." Itachi said, readying himself.
Deidara let fly his miniature spider bombs. They grew in size slightly as they plummeted to the ground.
"KATSU!" Deidara yelled as the effectively carpet bombed the area. Trees began to fall over, other's catching fire.
"Heh heh heh, there's probably nothing left of them, hn." Deidara said, proud of his work until he felt a presence behind him. He looked back to see Sasuke with crackling lightning in his hand, Sharingan active.
"Chidori!" Sasuke called out, slamming his hand towards Deidara. He lept out of the way in time as Sasuke used his momentum to cut the bird in two.
"Tch, Katsu!" Deidara called out, using a hand sign to detonate the two halves of his bird, except, they didn't explode. Sasori flipped in the air after falling off the bird and pulled a scroll out of his pouch. Deidara and Sasuke both landed on the ground, not far from each other. Hinata and Itachi emerged from the trees, ready in battle stances.
"Time to test out my new puppet." Sasori, revealing the kanji for "love" written on it. A puff of smoke emerged and a figure was standing there. He had short red messy hair and a brown vest. Sitting on his back was a large gourde.
"Sabaku no Gaara." Sasori said, attaching his strings to the former host of the Shukaku. Itachi looked saddened, the boy was still so young and to be turned into such a creature.
"Hinata, I need you to try and fight Sasori. Do not engage his puppets, just keep him occupied." Itachi commanded. Hinata nodded and activated her Byakugan.
"Sasuke, you and I will deal with Deidara." Sasuke nodded, letting his curse mark surround his body and two black wings emerged behind him, passing through two small patches in the back of his shirt. Itachi activated his eye, immediately morphing it into it's Mangekyou state.
"Tch." Deidara said before dropping a small dragon like creature onto the ground. As much as he hated to say it, two Uchiha's were going to be trouble. Especially with one of them being Itachi. He made a hand seal and his small dragon turned into a very large one. He jumped onto it's back and began flying up into the air.
"Don't lose to a little girl, Dana." Deidara chided as the flew up in the air.
"Tch, fool." Sasori replied with his Gaara puppet standing perfectly still with it's arms crossed.
Itachi, Sasuke and Hinata all prepped for battle, each staring at their opponent, none of them moving. The wind blew gently across the battlefield. The silence was broken by a small toad, hopping in between them all.
'A toad?' Hinata thought., Without warning, there was a puff of smoke, all the combatants looked intently at the smoke filling the area. As it started to clear everyone could see two figures. Each standing back to back with their arms folded. Hinata's face instantly lit up.
"Naruto-kun!' She said seeing who it was and smiling at him. Naruto stood with his back to Jiraiya, long black cloak gently moving in the wind. Naruto's face went from serious to ecstatic.
"Hinata!" He said, running towards her.
"Pay attention to your surroundings kid!" Deidara yelled as he sent two small bird like creatures hurling towards him.
"Naruto-kun! Look out!" Hinata cried out. In the blink of an eye, Naruto had thrown two thin electric senbon through both bird bombs, disabling them both.
"What the…" Deidara said before observing closer and seeing a blue ball of chakra in the boys hand.
"Heh, you think you can reach me with tha-" Deidara started before the ball began to glow white and crackle with electricity.
"Raiton: Rasenyari" Naruto said, looking at Deidara.
"Oi, what is that…" Deidara said. Naruto smirked and threw the ball of electricity at Deidara. It was faster than anything he had ever seen. It collided with the dragon and shot straight through, connecting with Deidara's shoulder. He cried out in pain before looking down and seeing, much to his surprise and horror, Naruto standing right in front of him.
"H-How did you…" He said.
"I can follow the spear at the same speed it travels." Naruto said. Deidara tried to move but the electricity coursing through him from the wound kept him completely immobile. They were starting to fall out of the sky as his dragon was immobile.
"I'm going to give you a taste of your own medicine." Naruto said, opening his hand and two more electric spears shot out of his hand and piercing Deidara's feet, pinning him to his dragon. He cried out in pain but otherwise could not move.
"I've seen what kind of jutsu you use and frankly I'm not impressed." Naruto grabbed a chunk of the explosive clay, he threw the clay into the air and without a hand sign, it exploded to Naruto's will. "I can also do the Bakuton." He said, glaring at Deidara who had a look of terror on his face. Naruto stomped his foot on the back of the dragon, causing it to start inflating.
"You are going to pay for all the jinchuuriki you have harmed." Naruto said as the dragon began to fall faster. In that same moment, Naruto vanished and reappeared where he had been standing before.
Deidara was stuck to the dragon, his mind being constantly assaulted by blinding pain.
"DANA!" He cried out looking towards Sasori who looked back impassively.
"I knew he would blow himself up…" Sasori said in a bored tone.
"HELP ME!" Deidara cried out again but Sasori made no indication he cared in the slightest. Deidara's cries could be heard as the large dragon landed on the ground and exploded with great force. Everyone in the area had to shield their eyes from the debris and dust kicked up by the explosion.
'Kurama… can you feel his presence anymore?' Naruto thought in his head.
"He's gone." Kurama replied, "You did a number on him, he's definitely no longer alive."
'Good. Just one more to deal with.' Naruto thought turning his attention to Sasori.
"I'm not stupid enough to fight you with your teammates here." Sasori said. "Good thing I've come prepared." He had a smirk on his face. He pulled three more scrolls out from behind him and unleashed their contents.
Three large puppets emerged. One of them had long dark hair and a dark cloak hanging around it. Another had dark auburn hair with a similar cloak and the final one had a bald head with a green dragon tattoo going around starting at the right eye.
"With just these puppets, I can take out an entire fortress." Sasori gloated. He twitched his fingers and all of the puppets opened their mouths. The air started to fill with small particles of Sand, Iron, Gold and Steel. The particles soon came together, forming different shapes, each using their own elements.
"Meet, the Third Kazekage, able to manipulate and control Iron sand. The Fourth Kazekage, able to do the same with Gold Dust and the Second Kazekage, controller of Steel. You have no chance of defeating them all." Sasori said as the brought his hand up.
"Satetsu Kaihou (Iron Sand World Method)" Sasori exclaimed as the block of Iron sand erupted into a shower of spikes, all aiming at Naruto.
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata yelled as they approached him. Naruto raised his hand and the Iron stopped dead in it's tracks. Sasori's smirk vanished as he looked in shock.
"JIton (magnet release)" Naruto said. He closed his palm and the Iron fell to the floor uselessly.
"How is this possible…" Sasori said in disbelief. Naruto looked to the other blocks of metal and they all fell to the ground. He raised his hands and the metals on the ground started to envelope the very puppets that had spawned them in the first place, except for Gaara. The sand would not bend to Naruto's will. He shrugged that off, the sand could be dealt with. Once all three puppets were surrounded by the metals they had created Naruto closed his fists. Each one of them exploded into tiny fragments.
"You're going to have to do better than that." Naruto said, looking at Sasori.
"Tch." He replied commanding his Gaara puppet to attack. The sand came rushing towards Naruto. He coated his hand in electricity and cut the sand as it approached him with ease. He rushed towards the Gaara, attempting to aim a punch that would surely shatter it, only for the sand to move and protect the puppet.
'Tch, guess she just can't let her little boy go…' Sasori thought. He could not control the sands defense. Naruto called the Iron, Steel and Gold from around the area and mimicked Sasori's Iron spike move. Each element came crashing down upon the Gaara puppet, only for the sand to form a complete sphere around it, protecting him. Naruto smirked as he put both his hands upon the sand dome. Intense heat began to emanate from him, going through the sand.
"Yoton (lava release)" Naruto said as the sand started to harden and become clear. When he pulled his hands away, Gaara was encased completely within a dome of glass.
"I'm tired of these games." Naruto said looking towards Sasori who could not believe what he was witnessing.
"It's been a long time since I had to use myself." Sasori said, pulling off his Akatsuki cloak. Two metal wing like appendages hanging from his sides. A hole where his lower abdomen should be contained a wire with a sharp spike at the end. It began to curl out and around Sasori before implanting itself into the ground. He stood on the wire looking at Naruto with an empty stare. He pulled a scroll out from behind him.
"Welcome to Hell." He said as he threw the scroll into the air. It unfurled itself and red cloaked puppets began to pour out. Dozens of them came out at a time. One hundred puppets floated in the air. Sasori pulled open a compartment on his chest and hundred of chakra strings flew out, attaching themselves to the puppets in the air.
"To think, you've driven me this far... " He said, glaring at Naruto. Naruto simply smirked at the puppet master. He looked behind to his friends.
"You might want to stand back a bit, the next attack is going to be a bit big…" Naruto said with a smirk. Jiraiya quickly started to move, he knew what was coming. Sasuke and Hinata were still trying to process how Naruto was so strong but they nodded and started to back away. Itachi looked confusedly towards Jiraiya, and upon noticing his reaction, also quickly decided it was best to take a back seat.
Satisfied that his friends were far enough away he closed his eyes.
'You ready for this big guy?' Naruto thought to Kurama.
"Yeah, It would be a good time to try it out." Kurama replied. Naruto's eye flew open and he placed his hand on the seal on his stomach and twisted. Immediately yellow and orange flames began to surround him. His eyes turned orange with the familiar black slit of the Kyuubi. He was completely covered in the Kyuubi's orange opaque flame. His whisker marks a dark black and an orange cloak flowing behind him.
"What is that?" Sasuke asked in disbelief. It was miles ahead of anything he had seen before.
"Just watch…" Jiraiya said crossing his arms and smirking.
Hinata could only marvel at what she was witnessing. The cloak resembled the one that Toneri had taught her how to use.
Naruto looked to the hundred puppets in the air and smirked. He was going to end this quickly. He put his hands in front of him and the Kyuubi's head could be seen surrounding him.
"Bijuudama" He said as a large black sphere began to form in the Kyuubi's mouth in front of him.
Sasori stared in shock at what was about to happen and braced himself. He knew, he wasn't going to be able to leave in time.
Naruto launched the ball right at the center of the hundred puppets. The ball exploded into a large dome of energy. Hinata, Sasuke, Itachi and Jiraiya all shouted and covered their faces with their arms. Once the explosion cleared and the dust settled, trees had been felled in the area and all around, the once army of puppets now lied on the ground in pieces. Not a single one of them survived the explosion. Sasori's puppet body was lying in a crater that was formed by the attack. Naruto walked up to it and noticed an empty compartment where he could have sworn there was something before on his chest.
Naruto turned around just in time to see one of the destroyed puppets, looking very much like Sasori, about to stab him with a blade that was attached to it's arm. Naruto reached out and grabbed the blade with his bare hand, just inches from his face, but still surrounded by the cloak.
"H-How… are you… so strong…" Sasori said, staring at Naruto. Naruto did not reply, instead, he sent a bolt of electricity through the blade and into the white cylinder embedded in the puppets chest. The object exploded into a small shower of blood. The puppet fell to the ground, never to move again.
Naruto let out a breath and dropped the chakra cloak.
"Thanks, Kurama." He said, patting his stomach and heard a growl in reply. Before he could even look up he felt a weight press against him and could only see a familiar face in his vision. Hinata had jumped onto him in a fierce hug.
"I missed you so much." She said, nuzzling her head into his neck.
"I missed you too, hime." He said, returning the hug in full force. He then pulled back slightly, lifting her chin with his fingers and planted a kiss on her lips. She returned the kiss happily with a sigh. It had been so long, she missed being close like this with him. They continued this for a moment before they heard Sasuke clear his throat, making them pull apart.
"Welcome back, Dobe." Sasuke said with a smirk.
"You too, Teme." Naruto said with a smirk.
"I have to say, Naruto, you've become quite strong." Itachi said, remarking on the fight. Naruto put one hand on the back of his head and started rubbing it in embarrassment while the other was still around Hinata's waist.
"I've got plenty more where that came from." He said with a chuckle.
"I'm sure you do, but first, I have something I need to discuss with you all." Itachi said, his tone becoming serious. They all turned their attention to him.
"I've neglected to provide this information sooner and I'm sorry for that. I wanted to wait until I felt you were all ready to hear it." They were hanging onto what he was saying. "As you are already aware, Naruto, Hinata, Hanabi is still alive." He said.
Both Naruto and Hinata nodded.
"But what you may not know is that… she is currently being held captive by the current Hokage of the leaf, Danzo Shimura."
