Author's Note: First of all, I'd like to give a shout out to tzionsinned, who took my Shattered Team Seven challenge. His fanfic is called "The Shattered Path". You can find it in my favorites. So go, read it and give the author your support!
Chapter 54
Battle of the Artists
or
Artists that can't take criticism
For a moment, time froze as both parties stared at each other. Naruto and Hinata kept focused on keeping Gaara alive, while the rest of his Konoha and Suna friends placed themselves around them in a protective formation. The Akatsuki's intentions were very easy to read. Not that it would help them anyway. Deidara grinned, and time continued flowing normally.
"I'll go for the jinchuriki! Sasori, take care of the trash!" Deidara said as his bird started to fly faster around the blond ninja.
"Why I'm always the one who has to deal with the others? I'd like to fight a jinchuriki myself just once," the rogue puppeteer sighed.
"Shit, Naruto and Hinata are like sitting ducks, I have to keep this Akatsuki away from them!" Kurenai thought as she frantically started to make hand seals.
"Oh come on, you're pretty good at keeping them at bay," Deidara replied as he formed several smaller clay birds from the mouths in his hands. "Let's start this!"
However, before he could drop his bombs on the targets below, several massive snakes burst from the ground around them and lunged at the flying Akatsuki with their jaws wide open, their large fangs dripping poison.
"SHIT!" Deidara loudly yelled as he maneuvered his bird to avoid the out of nowhere giant reptiles. "Where did these things came from!? I didn't see anybody summon...hey, wait a minute!"
The blond Akatsuki made a hand seal and with a burst of chakra, Kurenai's quick genjutsu was undone. Deidara looked rather pissed for falling for such a trick.
"Push the Akatsuki away from Naruto and Hinata!" Kurenai shouted.
"Ha! I'd like to see you try!" Deidara boasted. However, unbeknownst to him, the genjutsu, while short lived, had already made its job and created an opening. A cold wind started to blow from above. "What the-?"
Looking above, he saw Haku coming from what appeared to be a portal made of ice floating in mid air. His hands were grabbing a bunch of senbon each and tossed at the Akatsuki as he fell. From such short distance, all of them found their mark.
"AAAARRGH!" Deidara screamed in pain. "You son of a bitch!"
Haku gracefully landed on the clay bird, forcing Deidara to take a step back.
"You almost killed both me and lots of innocents in Kirigakure a year ago. I'm here to repay you in kind," Haku firmly stated, as an ice sword formed on his right hand.
"Well, thanks you for telling me that. I hate to leave a piece of art incomplete!" Deidara said, thrusting his arm forward.
A small insect made of clay flew from under his sleeve towards Haku. The Ice Ninja instinctively jumped backwards, just as the insect exploded, engulfing him in a small but nevertheless lethal explosion.
"Haku!" Kurenai cried.
But much to the Jonin's relief, a mirror made of ice formed besides her and Haku stepped out of it.
"That was close," Haku breathed in relief. "We must be careful, that guy is even more dangerous than I remember."
"Understood. Both you, Temari and Maki's students should try to bring him down with ranged jutsu. Maki, Kankuro and myself will face Sasori," Kurenai stated, as she looked at the rest of the group, looking for their approval. All of them nodded in agreement. "Alright then, in that case, let's go!"
…
As the group split, Kurenai, Maki and Kankuro prepared to fight Sasori, who looked rather nonchalant and even relaxed. He fixed his eyes on Kankuro, ignoring the two women.
"You should be dead," Sasori repeated. "Before I'll kill you, I'll make you say how did you manage to counter my poison."
"Guess now you regret not killing us when you had the chance, right?" Kankuro replied, as he reached for scroll underneath his clothes, and unsealed Tamotsu. "It's time for round two!"
Sasori cast a curious glance on Kankuro's shield-wielding puppet.
"Hmmm. I've never seen that puppet in my life. A creation of yours?" Sasori asked, but didn't give Kankuro the chance to answer. "You see, one does not reach true mastery of puppetry ninjutsu until you create your own puppet. When I was your age, I had already created dozens of them, and my collection just expanded ever since. But yes, now that you finally stopped used those outdated puppets I created so long ago, you might become a worthwhile challenge."
"Don't forget about us!" Kurenai called, upset at being ignored.
"I'd never think in doing that," Sasori said with a painfully fake smile, as he held up the scroll he had pulled out earlier. "Now, prepare to see one of my most cherished creations. I don't use it that much, so consider yourselves lucky to see it, before I use it to send you to hell."
Sasori unsealed the puppet, who appeared to be one with a vaguely human looking face, whose entire body was covered in a long, dull brown coat. Maki gasped upon seeing it, while Kankuro and Kurenai remained unfazed.
"I can't believe it..." Maki stammered.
"So, do you recognize him?" Sasori replied, as his grin grew wider. "Guess that the other two, one being so young, and the other not from Suna, it doesn't ring a bell. Why don't you enlighten them, kunoichi-san?"
"Yeah, what's with that puppet?" Kurenai asked, noticing her Suna counterpart growing pale.
"That's...the Third Kazekage..." Maki finally managed to say. Even if she didn't meet the man in person, she had seen numerous pictures of him in history books.
"Yes, he is. You could consider him the masterpiece of my art collection," Sasori replied, his voice consumed in delight. "He found about my defection, and personally came to confront me. He probably knew I was too powerful for anybody but him to fight. And he was right, to an extent, given the results, hehe. But enough talking, let's begin this already!"
Chakra threads shot from Sasori's fingers, attaching themselves to several points in the back of the Third Kazekage. With a hand motion, the puppet flew at an amazing speed towards Kurenai, who scrambled to adopt a defensive stance.
"You go first!" Sasori yelled, as he made a swift hand motion.
A cluster of blades appeared on the Kazekage's right arm, which were brought down onto the startled Genjutsu Mistress. However, they didn't sink into her flesh, but clashed against a hard, metallic surface of Tamotsu's large shield.
"Mechanical Light Shield Block!"
Tamotsu's chakra—enhanced shield struggled against the Kazekage's blades. Eventually, the former won, and with a burst of chakra, the latter puppet was pushed back.
"Not bad. Not bad at all," Sasori admitted, and with a flick of his pinky finger, a long, jagged katana appeared on the Kazekage's left hand. "Let's do it again!"
With a hand motion, the Kazekage skyrocketed forward, not choosing any target in particular. Sasori probably wanted to surprise his target at the last second and give them no chance to react. Kankuro, however, wasn't going to allow that.
"Like hell I'm gonna let you!" Kankuro replied, making a finger motion.
Tamotsu's shield horizontally split in two. The upper half split into two parts once again, and bended forward. From the resulting slot, a barrage of kunai with explosives attached to them fired forward. Sasori was forced to pull back his puppet in order to avoid the ensuing explosions.
"And that's not all!" Kankuro added, with another finger motion.
Tamotsu rose its other arm, and two small cannons appeared at its sides. The guns fired two kunai with ropes attached, that flew towards the retreating Kazekage in a wide arc. The kunai successfully tied themselves around the puppet's arms, immobilizing it.
"Come on, now!" Kankuro shouted. "Ignore the puppet! Attack Sasori!"
Kurenai and Maki nodded and rushed forward. Kurenai made hand seals, while Maki unfolded a large scroll made of cloth.
"Earth Release: Stone Dragon Jutsu!"
A giant serpentine dragon made of earth and stone burst from the ground, arching over the Third Kazkekage and lunged at Sasori, with its jaws wide open. Sasori did the most logical thing, dropped his puppet and jumped to avoid the earth jutsu. However, while he was mid air, Maki choose that moment to attack.
"Cloth Binding Jutsu!"
As if it was alive, the cloth scroll unfurled on its own and flew towards Sasori. However, a blade appeared from the Akatsuki's sleeve and used it to slash the incoming cloth before it could wrap around him.
Realizing he was wide open, Kurenai and Kankuro moved to attack once again. However, Sasori's reflexes were faster than the two of them anticipated, as he shot chakra threads towards Tamotsu.
"Oh shit, not again!" Kankuro cursed, remembering his disastrous fight against Fu in Konoha's Chunin Exams.
However, Sasori wasn't interested in stealing Kankuro's puppet. With a hand motion, he forced the puppet to slam against the unsuspecting Kurenai, The Genjutsu Mistress crashed against the ground, making a splash upon impacting against the shallow water. Wasting no time, Sasori regained control of the Third Kazekage, and with a flick of his finger, he made his puppet to open its mouth, releasing a purple gas that quickly covered him completely.
"Watch out! Sasori's poison is something you don't want inside your body!" Kankuro warned the two kunoichi.
"How can he survive inside the toxic cloud?" Kurenai asked.
"Maybe he has an antidote. Or purposefully build immunity towards his own poisons in case they were used against him," Maki guessed. It was a common tactic employed by ninja who used poisoned weapons.
"He's using that poison cloud as a way to build time. Should I blow that poison away with a Wind Jutsu?" Kurenai suggested.
Kankuro shook his head. "If you do that, you'll spread the poison around. Let him have this round. We can use the small reprieve to regain our breath. Don't worry, the poison mist should dissipate soon"
…
Meanwhile, not far from there, the rest of the Konoha and Suna ninja were trying, without much success, fighting against the flying Deidara on the ground.
"Wind Release: Wind Scythe!"
Matsuri crossed her arms, before spreading them in a wide arc, releasing a sharp wind blade at the aerial Akatsuki. This time, it graced one of the clay bird's wings.
"Not bad girlie! Keep trying, and maybe you'll hit me before I die of old age, hn!" Deidara mocked, as he prepared more of his clay figurines. "As a reward for your tenacity, you can enjoy my art!"
Deidara started to fly in a circle at a fast speed, dropping his clay figurines, which exploded upon hitting the ground.
"Let's wait until he flies close to the ground. That way, our chances to hit him will be greater," Mikoshi suggested.
"The problem is, he knows he has to keep some distance if he wants to retain his advantage," Haku replied. "He won't come down on his own."
"Then we will force to!" Temari energetically insisted. "Continue with the attack. Let's goad him into attacking us! I figured out a weakness to his jutsu."
"As you say, Temari-sama," Yukata obediently replied as she made several hand seals. "Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu!"
The black haired kunoichi fired a wide volley of fireballs at the flying Akatsuki. Deidara was forced to actually maneuver to dodge them rather than casually fly aside. While he was busy doing that, Haku decided to attack.
"Ice Release: Piercing Icicle Shot!"
Using the shallow water that covered the ground, Haku created a spear made of ice, and lunged it at the dodging Deidara. Though rather than dodge the ice projectile, he opted to destroy it by tossing it an exploding clay figurine at it.
"Oh, getting bolder, are you?" Deidara asked, less amused than before. "Okay then, let me show you how below my level you bunch of nobodies are!"
Once again, Deidara dropped several of his explosive clay figurines as he swooped above the group of Konoha and Suna ninja. Just like Temari was expecting. The blonde kunoichi prepared her war fan for a counterattack.
"Now, feel my ar-"
"Great Sickle Weasel Jutsu!"
Temari blew her fan, creating a powerful gust of wind that flew upwards, and while it did so, pushed Deidara's clay bombs back towards him, which were about to explode.
"Oh shi-" the Akatsuki cursed, before his voice was muffled by a chain of explosions.
Temari watched expectantly from above, but much to her disappointment, the Akatsuki and his artificial flying steed came out from one of the clouds of smoke with only a few minor burns. A snarl of fury appeared on his previously confident face,
"You dare use my art against me!? Oh, such insult won't be left unanswered, you Suna bitch!" Deidara hollered from above, as he prepared his next move.
…
Meanwhile, Naruto and Hinata continued working on keeping Gaara alive, the former pumping his own chakra into Gaara's system, while the latter keeping his body from shutting down with the Mystical Palm Jutsu. Hinata was starting to grow desperate, something that didn't go unnoticed by her boyfriend.
"Hinata-hime?" Naruto asked. "Something wrong?"
"No matter how much I try, his body doesn't heal! While I can keep him alive, the moment we leave his side, he will die!" Hinata cried, much to Naruto's shock.
"But...but there has to be something we can do!" Naruto shouted back. "We managed to catch Gaara in time! Please don't tell me it was all for nothing!"
"I'm trying but...I don't know what to do! If Tsunade-sama was here..." Hinata moaned.
Naruto cursed under his breath. He was almost going to let go of the chakra flow, but managed to keep it steady. "We did interrupt the extraction...this shouldn't be happening..."
"Gaara still has some traces of Tailed Beast Chakra inside his system," Hinata pointed out. "But they're fading as we speak. If we could reinvigorate that chakra..."
"Do you think that if I use the Nine Tails' chakra, it would boost the One Tail's chakra and save Gaara?" Naruto asked, sounding now more hopeful.
Hinata took a few seconds to ponder the answer, before he finally nodded. "I don't know much about Tailed Beast's chakra, but if it's similar to our own, I think it could work."
"Alright then!" Naruto cheered, before closing his eyes. "This shouldn't take too long!"
After a second, Naruto opened his eyes, and he was no longer in the shallow river in front of the Akatsuki hideout, even if there was water at his feet. In front of him was the massive jail gate that kept the strongest of the Tailed Beasts trapped within his being.
"Hey, Kyubi!" Naruto shouted, but got no answer. "I know you're not asleep, so stop pretending you are!"
A loud grumble echoed through the chamber, as the sound of a massive body shifting and steps getting closer filled the area. Soon, Naruto saw the head of the fox behind the bars.
"What do you want, brat?" the Nine Tails asked.
"I need you to loan me some of your chakra, like, really quick!" Naruto demanded.
"Let me think about it..." The Kyubi pretended to consider his request. "I thought about it. The answer is no. Now scram."
"Come on!" Naruto insisted. "It's very important! A matter of life or death! If you don't give me some of your chakra, Gaara will die!"
The Nine Tails grumbled, as he rested his head over his crossed paws. "The life of Shukaku's jinchuriki is of no concern to me."
"Please!" Naruto begged, but the Nine Tails didn't reply. An idea then formed inside Naruto's head. It was a big gamble, but it was worth trying. "You know, I admit that I'm not the brightest person around..."
"Your honesty is touching, brat," the Kyubi snarked.
"But I'm not as dense to not realize what's going on with somebody who literally lives inside me," Naruto continued. "Just like I noticed your reaction to the Valley of the End...I also noticed the way you reacted when I saw the statue they were using to store captured Tailed Beasts."
The Kyubi's eyes were wide open for a split second, but Naruto noticed his guest's reaction, and grinned. It may work yet.
"You know what that statue is, do you?" Naruto asked the Kyubi, sounding bolder.
"That's none of your business!" the fox roared back.
"I also have the impression that, as much as you hate being inside me, you'd hate a million more times being sealed there, am I right?" Naruto asked.
"What is your point, brat!?" the Kyubi impatiently shouted.
"If you don't help me save Gaara, I'll hand myself to the Akatsuki," Naruto replied, and his grin grew wider upon seeing fear in the Kyubi's eyes. "And you'll be sealed there. How does that sound?"
"You...you wouldn't dare to do that!" the Kyubi shouted, sounding both angry and genuinely scared. "If you do that, you'll die!"
Naruto shrugged. "We all have to die someday. Well, at least, we humans do."
"It's a bluff! Nobody would be stupid enough to do something like that!" The Kyubi roared.
Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Is that a challenge?"
The Kyubi grit his sharp teeth, as it growled menacingly at Naruto, before deciding that it was better not to test the blond's idiocy.
"Alright...you win," the Nine Tails conceded. "What do you need of me?"
"Gaara still has some of his beast's chakra inside his body, but it's too weak. I need your chakra to reinvigorate it," Naruto explained.
A wave of red colored chakra came from within the cage, and washed over Naruto, who immediately felt the power of the fox coursing through his chakra system.
"That should be enough," the Kyubi snarled as he walked to the back of his cage. "Now leave me alone!"
However, Naruto didn't leave. Not just yet.
"Hey, Kyubi?" he called.
"WHAT!?" the Tailed Beast hollered back.
An earnest smile formed in the blonde's mouth. He gave the Kyubi a thumbs up. "Thanks a lot. I will never forget this."
The Kyubi remained silent for a few seconds, looking almost surprised by the blond's reaction. He quickly gave up trying to understand the human's reasoning, and returned to the darkness of his prison.
"Bah, whatever. Now disappear if you know what's good for you..."
…
A veil of fiery red chakra formed around Naruto, and that same chakra started to flow into Gaara as well. Rather than mold his own chakra to fit Gaara's, he molded the Kyubi's chakra to fit the One Tail's. In a few seconds, Gaara was covered in the same red cloak of pure energy as well.
"It's working!" an elated Hinata cried. "The Kyubi's chakra is boosting the One Tail's chakra as you guessed!"
As the process continued for a couple minutes, Hinata saw how Gaara's chakra network finally stabilized thanks to the few remaining bits of the One Tail's chakra, and his health returned back to normal. Confident with her work, Hinata stopped applying the Mystical Palm Jutsu. Taking that as a hint, Naruto also stopped the chakra transfer.
"Did we...?" Naruto tentatively asked.
Hinata smiled brightly, and nodded. "Yes. Gaara-san, while still weak, is out of danger now," she said, before a explosion rocked the entire place. "Or all the out of danger he can be with those two around."
"Even if I doubt Akatsuki still has any interest in Gaara, I'll take him somewhere safe. I'll return as soon as I can," Naruto stated as he tossed Gaara's unconscious form over his shoulder.
Hinata nodded. "I'll go help Kurenai-sensei with the puppet master. I doubt I'd be of much help against the flying one," she said as she watched her boyfriend leave with the unconscious Gaara.
Through her Byakugan, Hinata could see that in the fight against Sasori, the rogue puppeteer was dominating the battle, with the two Suna and one Konoha ninja mostly defending themselves from his attacks rather than trying to attack. So far the Akatsuki was pretty focused on the combat, Hinata was sure he could deal a blow without him noticing. And sometimes, one blow it's all what it's needed to finish a battle.
Hinata looked down at the shallow water, and frowned. 'With all this water, I can't use Lightning Jutsu without a huge risking of harming the others. This is like fighting on those rice fields all over again. Gentle Fist only, I guess.'
Two blue flaming lions made of chakra appeared on Hinata's hands as she rushed towards the cloaked puppeteer. The splashes her steps were making when touching the water would make an stealthy attack impossible, but if she attacked from behind, it would force Sasori to address her and turn his back to her teammates, and use that window of opportunity to attack.
"Twin Lion Fists!"
As expected, Sasori already moved to dodge Hinata's attacks a couple seconds before the Hyuga was even close to hand to hand range.
However, Sasori didn't use his puppet to defend himself against Hinata, but merely sidestepped, and jumped back and to the side, so he could have all four ninja within his range of vision and attack. The redhead smiled at Hinata.
"Oh, a Hyuga," Sasori softly said, as his smile grew wider. "What a lucky find."
"Let me guess, you want my eyes, right?" Hinata asked as she adopted a fighting stance. "That's not going to happen."
Sasori just shook his head. "Oh, no, no, no. You misunderstood me. While your eyes are indeed very valuable, that's not the only thing that interests me. No, I want your whole body. That way, I can make a puppet out of you. I always love to make a puppet of my victims that have a powerful Bloodline Limit, just like the Kazekage here. You'll make a fine addition to my collection."
"As...interesting as such offer sounds, I have to turn it down. I'm not planning on becoming one of your toys," Hinata replied. Though, as she focused on the Akatsuki in front of her, she noticed something she had overlooked at first. "Wait a minute, you...you aren't even human! You're a puppet too!"
Kurenai, Kankuro and Maki were a bit confused by such revelation. Sasori, meanwhile, chuckled lightly.
"The Byakugan is sure useful to spoil surprises," Sasori replied, shaking his head in mock disappointment. "But yes, I am a puppet. I have transcended my humanity, and become a form of art myself! A body that doesn't age, doesn't rot, is easy to repair..."
"Not all your body is a puppet. I do see living tissue," Hinata pointed out.
"Yes. Sadly, I can't become a full puppet without losing my ability to use chakra. That's why I had to keep a little piece of my former self untouched," the puppeteer mentioned.
"You're sick," Hinata replied in disgust. "Though whatever you wanted to accomplish by mutilating your body, it won't help you against us."
"We'll see then," Sasori said, making a finger motion. "Thousand Hands Manipulation Force!"
Several compartments opened on the Kazekage's left arm, revealing several storage seals. From said seals, a large number of long puppet arms emerged, all of them ready to smash Hinata. The Hyuga, however, had a fitting counter in her arsenal.
"Protection of the Eight Trigrams: Sixty Four Palms!"
Hinata started to move her palms forward in a pushing manner, so fast they became blurry, releasing thin streams of chakra from the palm of her hands, effectively countering the incoming mechanical arms coming at her.
"Interesting ability..." Sasori praised, not realizing Maki rushing forward, scroll of cloth in her hands.
"Cloth Binding Jutsu!"
Once again, the cloth Maki was holding flew as if it had life on its own, and tightly wrapped itself against the mass of arms.
"Quickly, now!" the Suna kunoichi called.
Hinata and Kurenai nodded, and both rushed towards Sasori. Each one of them pulled several kunai with explosive notes attached to them, and ignoring the puppet, they tossed them at the redheaded Akatsuki.
With a flick of his finger, the mass of arms detached from the Kazekage, and both it and Sasori jumped backwards.
"Mechanical Light Shield Block!"
A shield of chakra formed around the Kazekage, protecting both the puppet and Sasori from the chain of explosions. Following that, several pipes emerged from the puppet's chest, tearing holes in the dull brown cloak it was wearing. The pipes fired multiple kunai, prompting all the women to jump aside.
"No! Deflect them, don't dodge!" Kankuro called out, using his puppet to protect himself from the projectiles.
"Too late," Sasori stated, with a confident smirk.
Like before, the kunai had ninja wire attached to them, and Sasori used it to maneuver around the three kunoichi. While Hinata and Kurenai were able to avoid or downright cut the wire before it trapped them, Maki wasn't so lucky, and the wire wrapped itself around her legs.
"No...!" Maki cried, as she fell to the ground, while being pulled towards the puppet.
"Got you!" Sasori cheered, and his grin grew more sadistic as he made a couple of finger motions. "And the real fun beings now!"
Kurenai and Hinata were quick to help Maki, but were forced to stop and take a step back when they saw what Sasori did next. Another pipe burst from the puppet's chest, and expelled a stream of purple gas. Maki was soon engulfed by a purple poisonous cloud.
"Don't breathe that gas! It's a deadly poison!" Kankuro warned the Konoha kunoichi.
Hinata then pulled out something from her ninja tool box. Kankuro could see it was some sort of capsule with a yellow liquid on it. Hinata tossed it inside the cloud. Thanks to her Byakugan, he could see that Maki caught it.
"Maki-san, that's an antidote for Sasori's poison! Inject it into your bloodstream, and you'll be immune to the poison for the next three minutes!" Hinata told the Suna kunoichi.
"What!?" Sasori asked in shock. "You...you made an antidote for my poison? How? It couldn't be possible! No one can...it's impossible!"
Hinata couldn't help but smile a little at Sasori's shock. "Like Naruto-kun used to say, impossible only means it hasn't been done yet!"
A couple of soft snapping sounds signaled that Maki had finally cut the wires that were immobilizing her.
"Sealing Art: Cloth Binding Armor!"
"Huh?" Sasori dumbly asked.
Maki then jumped out of the cloud of poisonous gas. She was now covered in one long piece of cloth which wrapped around her body and limbs, leaving only her eyes exposed, which gave her the appearance of a mummy. While she was mid air, she made a single hand seal.
"Multiple Cloth Razor Whips!"
Like the name of the jutsu implied, many whips made of cloth emerged from under Maki's bandage, and lashed at both the Kazkeage puppet and Sasori. The redhead jumped aside, as he maneuvered his puppet into dodging or cutting the incoming cloth with the multiple blades on its right arm. However, Maki managed to wrap one of her cloth whips around the base of the arm, and pulled, leaving the puppet unable to move.
"How did you...?" a dumbstruck Sasori asked.
A buzz saw appeared on the puppet's left arm where its forearm used to be, and moved it to cut the binding cloth.
"Quickly, now!" Maki called.
Kankuro maneuvered Tamotsu forward, ready to smash Sasori's puppet with a brutal shield bash. However, the Kazekage's right arm detached from its body, allowing Sasori to move the puppet once again. Kankuro shot a thread of chakra at the discarded arm full of blades, and tossed it backwards as far as he could so the Akatsuki couldn't reattach it later.
The Kazekage fired several smoke bombs, covering the zone in one big, mist like grey cloud, while it moved towards Hinata, whom for some reason gave Sasori the feeling that she was the most dangerous of his four opponents. The arm with the buzz saw came down.
"Heavenly Spin!"
Hinata turned into a spinning blue dome of chakra, which incidentally raised gusts of wind that blew the smoke away, and splashing water around. When the buzz saw struck her, the force the Hyuga's jutsu blew the weapon away from the puppet's arm. Foiled, Sasori put some distance between him and his attackers. Having lost both its arms, it seemed that the Kazekage wouldn't be a threat anymore.
"Seemed" being the key word here.
Despite appearing to be on the losing side, Sasori's face sported a confident smirk. This didn't sit well with the Konoha and Suna ninjas, who were smart enough to realize that the Akatsuki wasn't simply overconfident.
"Well," Sasori began, sounding a bit tired. "I have to admit that the quality of my current opponents is, at the very least, worth of some respect. Guess I have no choice to use this, but once I do, your chances of winning will be close to zero."
Sasori made a hand seal, and the Kazekage opened its mouth with a mechanical click. Black sand started to pour out of it. Maki and Kankuro gasped, immediately recognizing what the puppet was doing, something that didn't go unnoticed by the Akatsuki.
"Being from Suna, it seems that you're familiar with this ability in particular, am I right?" Sasori said with a teasing grin. "Why don't you educate your Konoha collaborators, and let them know what they're against?"
"The Third Kazekage had a very rare Bloodline Limit called Magnet Release," Maki explained, growing more uneasy by the second. "Such Bloodline can be used to manipulate metals, but it's incredibly hard to master. The Kazekage, trying to imitate the One Tail's sand powers, used it to manipulate iron grinded into fine powder that was called Iron Sand. Such ability...made the Third Kazekage the strongest ninja Suna has ever seen."
"Yet Sasori was able to best him..." Hinata squeaked, with a gulp.
"Wait a minute, if the Kazekage is a puppet, how can he use a Bloodline Limit? It shouldn't be possible!" Kurenai pointed out.
"That's a good question. A short answer would be that I developed a special process in which the people I turn into puppets retain their special abilities. Otherwise, doing so would be pretty much useless. The process requires the person to be alive while the transformation takes place, which makes it...more difficult than it should be. But the results are definitely worth it.
"You three are worthless, so you won't have the honor to be included in my art collection," Sasori's eyes rested on Hinata, and glinted with a predatory glee. "But you, a Main House Hyuga...you'll make a lovely puppet. Oh, I can't wait until I can turn you into a work of art!"
"And I can't wait until I can turn you into...uh..." Hinata started to trail off. "Naruto-kun is much better at this than I am. Anyway, your art career will end today!"
"What's an artist who doesn't welcome some challenge?" Sasori asked no one in particular, as he made a hand seal. "Let's begin this. Magnet Release: Iron Sand Drizzle!"
The Third Kazekage tore part of his already ruined cloak, exposing its chest. A compartment on its left chest opened, revealing some sort of chakra-emitting apparatus. The iron sand floating around him started to gather and compress into hundreds of projectiles.
"I don't like where this is going," Kurenai said as she started to make hand seals. "Earth Release: Multiple Earth Style Walls!"
Three walls emerged from the ground between the four Konoha and Suna ninja, and the Akatsuki and its puppet.
"I don't think that's going to be enough," Maki stated as she generated two long cloth whips from her hands. Hinata also took a step forward, ready to take the attack head on.
With a shout of "DIE!", Sasori launched a barrage of iron sand bullets forward. In no time, they shattered the first wall Kurenai had erected. Other two barrages, and the walls came down. The next barrage of bullets came soon.
"Double Cloth Helix!"
"Protection of the Eight Trigrams: Sixty Four Palms!"
Maki's cloth whips started to spin at high speed, forming two cones in front of her that successfully deflected most of the bullets, while Hinata used her custom made technique to do the same.
"An impressive defense," Sasori praised, his confidence unwavering. "But how long can you keep it up?"
Kurenai and Kankuro noticed that while he fired the bullets, Sasori was also retrieving the iron sand from the ones he already fired, and compressed them into more bullets that he could fire. He was right, Sasori could go on forever, while Hinata and Maki couldn't. In fact, they were starting to show signs of exhaustion.
"Shit, I need to do something!" Kankuro seethed as he made a hand seal. "Shadow Clone Puppet Jutsu!"
Two clones of Tamotsu appeared, and the hooded puppeteer took no time to attach chakra strings to them. With a swift motion of both hands, he positioned them in front of Hinata and Maki.
"Triple Mechanical Light Shield!"
Tamotsu and its two clones used the defensive jutsu in tandem, creating three chakra shields that quickly merged into a really big one, successfully blocking the barrage of attacks.
"This is your chance! Go while I'll cover you!" Kankuro stated, as he tried to keep the shield active as long as possible.
Maki nodded, and rushed forward, but she was met with an admittedly small barrage of bullets that forced her to step back behind the safety of Kankuro's puppets.
"Even with this cover, his puppet can attack in multiple directions," Maki said, panting a little.
"Kurenai-sensei?" Hinata asked, looking at the raven haired woman.
Kurenai nodded as she started to make hand seals. "I'll provide you a distraction."
Sasori saw Maki jumping from her hiding spot behind Kankuro's puppets, and rushed towards the Akatsuki once again. The redhead grinned as he made a hand seal.
"Quite the bold move," Sasori praised, as he formed iron sand into a spear, which dived at the mummy-looking woman, impaling her in the chest. "But foolish."
Then much to her shock, Maki burst into smoke, and two Makis took her place, which continued her dash towards the now startled Akatsuki. He repeated the process, nailing the two Makis, but it only caused them to split again, having four enemies to deal with.
"What kind of jutsu is this...?" the stupefied redhead wondered, until he realized what was going on. "Oh, a genjutsu. Turns out I'm still vulnerable to those."
Sasori brought his hands together to form a seal, and a with a discharge of chakra, the illusion was broken. That didn't mean that all Makis disappeared, they were simply reduced to one, who was still charging at him, accompanied by Hinata. With a hand motion, he brought the Third Kazekage closer, and issued his next command.
"Magnet Release: Iron Sand Gathering Assault!"
The Iron Sand formed into multiple, long and thick nails, which rained upon the two Kunoichi, forcing them backwards. The attack didn't cease, since the Akatsuki wasn't going to let his enemies go on the offensive.
A few meters back, the Tamotsu clones disappeared, and Kankuro stopped channeling the protective jutsu through them and started panting heavily.
"I don't think I'll be able to do that anytime soon," Kankuro said between pants.
"Can you still fight?" Kurenai asked.
Kankuro smiled, and nodded. "Of course. I still have a few surprises that-" Kankuro, however, was taken aback when he found himself unable to move his puppet. "The hell? Tamotsu doesn't move! It's like...there's something jamming all its joints!"
"It has to be the Iron Sand," Kurenai deduced. "Guess that Sasori doesn't want you to interfere again."
"Goddamit..." the hooded man cursed, stomping his foot on the wet ground.
"Since the Iron Sand is connected to that puppet, if we destroy it, yours might be able to move again," the Genjutsu Mistress deduced.
"Let's hope we can do that. I'll try to help you as much as I can," Kankuro said, sadly discarding his now useless puppet.
Meanwhile, Sasori continued to bombard Hinata and Maki by dropping large and/or sharp Iron Sand constructs on them, forcing them to stay in the offensive. The two of them were forced to fall back where Kurenai and Kankuro were.
"This isn't working," Maki realized. "His Magnet Release is way too powerful. There's no way of getting close to Sasori as long as he has the Kazekage!"
"Maybe we've approached this from the wrong perspective," Hinata thoughtfully said.
"What do you mean?" Kankuro asked.
"We focused on Sasori, because a puppet's weakest part if the ninja controlling it...but what if we focus on destroying the Kazekage first?"
"While it's a good idea, the result would be the same. Even if we focus our efforts on destroying that puppet, we have no ways to surpass the power of the Magnet Release," Maki explained.
Kurenai smiled confidently, realizing what Hinata was suggesting to do. "We can, if Sasori thinks we're going to target him, just like we did so far until now."
Hinata smiled back, and nodded.
"Whatever you're planning, it won't work," Sasori said as he and his puppet came closer. "I'm already growing bored of this fight. Now, die."
The Iron Sand above him took the shape of several cubes and pyramids. With a hand motion, Sasori started to directed them at the four Konoha and Suna ninja.
"Come on, go!" Kurenai urged, as she started to make hand seals. "Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet!"
In front of Kurenai, a serpentine dragon made of earth and stone emerged, and lunged at the incoming Iron Sand block. Both constructs were shattered to pieces when they crashed. Undeterred, Sasori send more constructs towards the incoming trio, but Kurenai kept repelling them with her Earth Release jutsu.
When she felt she was close enough, Maki made a couple hand seals and slammed her fists into the water-covered ground.
Feeling a tremor under his feet, Sasori jumped backwards just in time to avoid several sharp cloth whips emerging from underground. The Akatsuki smirked once again.
"Close, but you'll need to do better than-uh?" Sasori then realized that he was struggling to pull the Kazekage back. Much to his shock, he saw that Kankuro had attached his own chakra threads to him, and was pulling back.
"Nothing stops a puppeteer from trying to snatch somebody else's puppet. I learned this during my first Chunin Exams," Kankuro boasted, with a grin of satisfaction. "This is your chance, Hinata!"
The Hyuga dashed forward, as chakra lions covered her fists. A scowl formed on the Akatsuki's face as she passed the Kazekage.
"I'll admit that it was a good plan, but you won't catch me off guard," Sasori replied, making a hand seal, commanding the Kazekage to create a shield of Iron Sand around him, and waited for Hinata to get closer to skewer her alive.
However, Hinata didn't do that. Instead, she suddenly spun over her heels, and with a quick double palm strike, she shattered the Kazekage to pieces. It took a few seconds for Sasori to process what had happened, as the Iron Sand around him became inert, and fell to the ground.
"Yes! We did it! We destroyed the Kazekage!" Maki loudly cheered. It was something rare for the otherwise soft spoken woman.
"You were right, Kurenai-san! Tamotsu works once again!" Kankuro cheered as well, happy to recover his puppet.
While happy on the inside, Kurenai didn't share the Suna ninja's optimism. Sasori was angry, but he didn't look like somebody who was just defeated.
"Hinata, fall back," the raven haired woman commanded. Hinata nodded, and did as she was told.
The group of four waited intently to see what Sasori would do next, now that his allegedly strongest puppet was nothing put pieces of scrap.
"I admit that it was quite the impressive tactic. Such teamwork in the heat of the battle is mostly unseen, especially from people belonging to different villages," Sasori genuinely praised, as he started to unbutton his cloak. "To think that you even destroyed the Third Kazekage...however, diverting my attention by making me think you're going after me and then destroy my puppet won't work with the next one..."
"Don't tell me he is going to..." Hinata began, becoming mildly distressed.
Sasori then discarded the cloak, confirming his initial suspicions. Everybody gasped. Even if the Hyuga had told them beforehand, seeing it with their own eyes was something else. Underneath the cloak, there was another puppet. Two poles emerged from the back of his hips, deploying five poison-dripped blades. His gut was open, revealing a thick steel cable coiled around a pole instead of intestines. He had four scrolls attached to a compartment in his back. On his chest was his core, the only living part of his body left, marked with several red kanji.
"...myself!" the Akatsuki proudly announced.
…
Meanwhile, not far from there, Deidara continued his fight against the Suna ninja and Haku. After realizing Temari's tactic of blowing his explosives back at him shortly before he detonated them, he had changed tactics, and opted to attack closer to the ground.
"I might be more vulnerable to their attacks, but this way, my attacks will have more chances to hit," Deidara thought as he commanded his bird to do a low swoop and prepared more explosive clay figurines. "And they won't see THIS coming!"
As Deidara approached the Suna ninja (and Haku), Yukata stepped forward and made several hand seals.
"I'll stop him before he has any chance to attack!" Yukata proudly stated as she prepared her jutsu. "Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire!"
Yukata breathed a stream of fire at the incoming Akatsuki. Deidara quickly tossed a clay figurine at the incoming inferno, which instantly exploded. From the ensuing cloud of smoke and dirt, multiple clay birds flew out in arches, most of them headed towards Yukata. The black haired girl yelped, as she jumped backwards multiple times, trying to avoid the incoming explosions.
Mikoshi grabbed a handful of kunai and shuriken tossed them forward, and made a hand seal.
"Manipulating Attack Blades!"
As if they had life of their own, the kunai and shuriken flew towards the clay birds, impaling most of them to the ground. Yukata was able to avoid the few that exploded, before she fell on her butt.
"Ow..." Yukata whimpered, panting heavily. Matsuri walked towards her friend and helped her back on her feet. "That was close. Thank you, Matsuri-chan, Mikoshi-kun."
Temari blew a small gust of wind with her fan to dispel the smoke of the explosions, and much to her annoyance, Deidara was nowhere to be seen.
"Where did he go?" Matsuri asked, gritting her teeth a little.
"He's possibly underground! Watch out from attacks from below!" Mikoshi warned.
"That can't be true! If he was underground, there would be a hole!" Matsuri protested.
True to the bespectacled boy's words, clay creatures started to pop from the ground, and launching themselves at the Suna and Konoha ninja.
"Watch out!" Haku shouted, tossing three senbon at a clay creature that was about to latch onto Matsuri, breaking its momentum, and exploding prematurely.
At first, they were able to fend off the creatures reasonably well, but the more they fought, the more they appeared. Haku and Temari realized that some of them didn't explode, got back on their feet, and tried to attack again.
"If Hinata was here, she could locate Deidara underground and see the creatures before they emerged," Haku thought, as he impaled a small clay creature to the ground with an ice spear. "And if Kurenai-sensei was here, she could bring Deidara out with an earth jutsu. But they aren't here. Come on Haku, think! What can you do that can be of help!"
"Everybody, to me!" Temari called as she reared her fan backward.
The trio of Suna Chunin and Haku all leaped towards her, with the explosive creatures waddling towards them, forming a large group. Just like Temari wanted.
"Great Sickle Weasel Jutsu!"
With all enemies in one spot, Temari was able to blow them away with a powerful gale. However, that proved to be a temporary solution at best, since the creatures got back on their feet, and charged once again. Worse, more creatures continued to pop from the ground. It was then when Haku noticed something.
"That's it! All the creatures appear around the same spot!" the Ice Ninja deduced. "That has to be where Deidara hides!"
"They keep coming! Matsuri-chan, what are we going to do?" Yukata cried.
Matsuri herself didn't look that confident about their chances either. "I...I don't know! Just keep fighting! He's bound to run out of these things sooner or later!"
"Temari-san, I think I have an idea!" Haku called, while casting a freezing blast at a group of small clay creatures, slowing them down. "They all come from the same spot! Push them against that spot!"
Temari gasped in realization, before she smirked, realizing what Haku was suggesting. "Alright then! Matsuri, I need your help! Use wind attacks to push the clay dolls from where they come from!"
"Understood, Temari-sama!" Matsuri obediently replied.
Both kunoichi jumped at opposite sides of the spawning spot so they could surround their enemies before pushing them back.
"Wind Release: Breakthrough!"
"Wind Release: Wind Raging Wall!"
As they pushed the clay creatures backwards, the clash of wind jutsu had the unintended effect of creating a tornado that kept them inside, pushing them backwards whenever they tried to walk towards Deidara's enemies.
"What do we do now?" Matsuri asked.
"Nothing! Keep blowing! Wait until more clay creatures emerge!" Temari ordered.
Haku smiled to himself. Temari had quickly realized what was his plan. As more clay creatures emerged, the tornado was having trouble keeping them trapped. The accumulated mass was starting to become too heavy for the current winds. That means it was the time.
"Matsuri, get away! Yukata, set those bastards on fire!" Temari hollered as she jumped backwards. "Haku, protect her from the explosion!"
Yukata nodded and made several hand seals. "Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire!"
Once again, Yukata breathed a stream of fire at the gathered clay creatures, causing all of them to detonate, producing a massive explosion that would have made Deidara proud. Haku managed to build around Yukata and himself a sturdy ice barrier that absorbed the shockwave of the explosion.
Just like Haku had predicted, Deidara was hidden underground under the spot where the clay monsters where emerging, and that explosion had forced him out, hurling him into the air before he fell with a thud a few meters away from them.
"This..." Deidara grumbled, as he got back on his feet as badly as he could. "This is...the second time...you use my art against me...how dare you...HOW DARE YOU!?"
The Suna ninja and Haku slipped into fighting stances as they watched the Akatsuki shambling towards him. Despite being badly bruised and having numerous burns across his body, none of them were foolish enough to think that he may have one last nasty ace in the hole.
"That's it, no more playing around! You're about to feel the full power of my art!" Deidara shouted as he tossed a clay figurine at his feet.
A cloud of smoke enveloped Deidara, and when it disappeared, the Akatsuki was riding another giant clay bird. However, this one was much bigger than the ones he had used before, especially its wingspan, which gave it a majestic appearance.
"Behold the C3 Clay Phoenix!" Deidara hollered as the clay bird flapped its wings, taking flight, gaining attitude in no time.
After quickly flying around in circles a couple times, the phoenix opened its long beak, releasing two balls of clay. In a poof of smoke, the balls of clay turned into smaller replicas of its progenitor, but still noticeably bigger than the ones used before.
"Oh, you still back to that?" Temari asked, as she readied her fan. "Yeah, I don't like your 'art', you can have it back!"
Temari blew a powerful gust of wind once again. However, unlike the other time, the clay creatures weren't pushed back. The artificial birds flapping their wings faster, pushing against the wind current blowing against them. The wind eventually ceased, and clay birds continued their descend. Temari grimaced. Deidara grinned.
"TAKE COVER!"
"Boom!" Deidara shouted, as he made a hand seal.
The clay birds exploded, producing a blast much more powerful than his other figurines. While narrowly avoiding the explosion, the Suna ninja and Haku were tossed into the ground by the ensuing shockwave.
"No time to sleep!" Deidara hollered, sending another duo of clay birds from his phoenix's beak.
"I'll stop them this time!" Yukata said, making hand seals. "Fire Release; Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu!"
The black haired kunoichi breathed a volley of small fireballs from her mouth, that spread in a rather wide arc. The clay birds, however, expertly maneuvered through the fireballs as if there was an intelligence controlling them. However, while they did so, Mikoshi prepared his next move.
"Manipulating Attack Blades!"
A foursome of kunai with explosive tags attached to them flew towards the clay creatures. The clay birds managed to dodge them as well, but Mikoshi directed them back, and they found their mark. With a hand seal, the bespectacled Suna ninja detonated them, destroying their targets.
"Heh, not bad," Deidara said, as he prepared his next attack. "But the next one is going to be-"
"Wind Release: Rasenshuriken!"
A loud whirring screech interrupted Deidara's ramblings, and much to his surprise, he saw what appeared to be a shuriken made of pure chakra flying at him. His battle instincts screamed to get out of its way. Not having time to maneuver his clay phoenix into dodging it, Deidara opted to jump away. As he fell, he saw the shuriken crash against his clay phoenix, resulting in a massive explosion of wind and chakra.
"Wow...that was sure something..." as he fell, Deidara couldn't suppress a tinge of admiration for the ensuing blast the shuriken produced. Despite the height he fell from, he managed to land on his feet and eyed his opponents. He noticed that there was somebody there who wasn't before.
"You!" Deidara said, outraged. "The jinchuriki!"
"Yeah, that would be me," Naruto said with a smirk, flanked by a single clone. He then pointed upwards. "And that was my most powerful jutsu so far. I still have enough nature energy for a second one. Except this time around, you won't be able to dodge it."
Naruto formed a rasengan, and his clone started to infuse it with wind chakra, taking the form of a shuriken as he did.
"Wait a minute, did he said nature energy? Is this fucker a sage?" Deidara asked, before noticing the coloration around Naruto's eyes, confirming his doubts. "Then there's no way I can defeat him like this, especially with all these people around!"
"Make sure he doesn't escape!" Naruto told the others as the jutsu slowly reached completion.
"It will be you who won't be able to escape!" Deidara fired back as he grabbed some of his explosive clay, and ate it with the mouth on his face, instead of the ones in his palms.
"I have a bad feeling about this..." Matsuri began.
Deidara then started to bloat as if he was balloon, while laughing maniacally.
"HAHAHAHA! Let's see how you stop this! There's no way to avoid this explosion!" Deidara boasted as he swelled up more and more. "Even if you avoid the initial blast, the shockwave will tear apart the land and cause a massive torrent!"
"Is that madman going to blow himself up?" Mikoshi asked in shock.
"I'll stop him before he explodes!" Naruto said as he prepared to toss his Rasenshuriken, which had reached completion.
"No! If you do that, you might trigger the explosion!" Haku stated.
"Then what do we do?" It was Matsuri who asked this time around.
Another idea dawned upon the Ice Ninja. "Send him high into the air with a wind jutsu! It might be the best way to avoid the aftereffects of the explosion!"
"Good idea! Come on Naruto, Matsuri, let's do it!" Temari said.
The blond jinchuriki and brown haired girl nodded. Naruto undid the Rasenshuriken, and the three of them placed themselves around Deidara, surrounding him. Three wind jutsu came from three different directions, clashing against the bloating Akatsuki, producing a powerful tornado that hurled Deidara into the air.
"Keep going! He's still too close to the ground!" Haku urged.
The three wind ninja poured as much power into their jutsu as possible. However, thanks to Naruto's nature energy, he was able to give his the necessary boost to push Deidara much higher. And a couple second later, the Akatsuki exploded in a massive fireball, which started to quickly expand outwards.
"Everybody, get close to me!" Haku yelled as his hands flew through hand seals.
Thankfully, the Ice Ninja created a multi-layered ice barrier around the group in time, which thankfully protected them from the massive blast that Deidara's bloated body produced when it detonated.
"So, this may sound dumb, but...is he dead?" Mikoshi asked.
Naruto shook his head. "No. I'm afraid that was a decoy. I still sense the real Deidara, a kilometer or so to the north. He probably used Body Replacement with a clone without us noticing."
"As much as I'd wish to, there's no time to chase him," Haku stated, earning a nod of approval from Naruto. "We need to help the others against the other Akatsuki."
"Alright. This one won't escape," Temari said in determination as she and the rest of the group rushed towards the other battleground. "By the way, where is Gaara? Is he okay?"
"Gaara is fine. I left him in a safe place near here, with two clones watching over him. We'll get him back once we're done with the Akatsuki," Naruto stated.
"Whoa..." Yukata said in awe, stopping dead in his tracks. "What...what is that?"
The others stopped as well, catching what the black haired Suna girl had seen first: a mass of puppets, almost one hundred, floating above Hinata, Kurenai, Kankuro and Maki.
"I'll tell you what that is. Trouble. A big one," Temari deadpanned.
Author's Note: You know, I was hoping that I could do the fight against the Akatsuki in a single chapter, but damn, even after previously getting rid of Hiruko, Sasori has more phases than a World of Warcraft boss, and I was feeling that the chapter would drag on way too much. So the fight will end the next chapter. Now, a couple clarifications:
No, Sasori didn't go directly with the hundred puppets after the Kazekage was destroyed. Hinata and the others still fought his puppet form before that, it just happened at the same time Naruto and the others finished Deidara off. But don't worry, you'll get to see that side of the fight the next chapter.
Before you point out that Hinata's lightning jutsu could nullify Deidara's explosives and thus she should have fought against him and not Sasori, remember that Hinata didn't know this. Go and reread/rewatch the Sasuke vs Deidara fight, and you'll see that Sasuke didn't know this either. He came to the conclusion mid-fight, when he realized that the clay figurines he hit with his chidori didn't blow up, and even then, he still has to do more tests just to be sure. So, Hinata's train of thought is this: she's a melee specialist with a couple ranged jutsu, she clearly would be much more useful against groundbound opponent than an airborne one.
You know, rewatching the Suna Chunin Exams arc for Team Matsuri, I realized that none of them actually show any kind of jutsu, much to my huge disappointment, so I had to make their fighting styles up from scratch. Though it's confirmed that Matsuri has wind affinity.
Thanks to gio08 for betareading this chapter, even injured. Hope that by the time of this writing, you got better.
So the next chapter will be the conclusion of the fight against Sasori, and thus the end of the Suna arc! In the meantime, tell me your thoughts and impressions on this chapter via review! Reviews make me really, really, really happy!
