CHAPTER NINETEEN:
KAZEKAGE RESCUE MISSION…
—PT. II—
The Plan is…!
Naruto and Kakashi did the dumb-plan-replay and the plan-b, c, d reruns. Here's the schtick:
Naruto makes shadow-clones. He has them perfect-style transform into hawt-chicks and then promptly waltz through that rock barrier—after they crack The Code. Distract The Akatsuki with thy unholy hawtness. Then whoop their asses to kingdom come and in the midst of chaos kipe Gaara out.
Kakashi said, "Alright, but even if this works, what do we do after we have Gaara? You can't really believe that The Akatsuki aren't going to put up a strong front? I mean, they'll be on us till we make it back to Suna—if we make it back to Suna…"
Naruto flicked Kakashi's headband. "Don't sweat it, sensei. We'll be fine. I've got an escape plan too. We'll be out in a flash."
Kakashi went, Huh?
Naruto wink-winked.
Kakashi went wide-eyed, Are you ser—
Naruto leapt from here all the way to the rock-barrier. He examined the sealing jutsu. He recollected the number of times he got ass-whooped by The Pervert-Sage. He formulated a counter-seal in a hot second. He whipped out his scroll
(we're talkin' ninja-tools, not his personal-ninja-tool…wink-wink)
and scribbled an illegible seal-formation.
Kakashi was adept at fuuinjutsu. He didn't get it.
Naruto pasted the seal on top of the primary seal with precision. He matched corner to corner. He didn't flinch. He didn't waver. He stuck it then rolled his palm over it to ensure it stuck.
Naruto hopped off the rock-wall and landed on a nearby stream. Kakashi ditto. They observed the seal. Kakashi waited for something to happen. Naruto undid his bandages. He went sage-mode-eyes. He radiated purity. He evinced nature.
Kakashi observed. He was prideful. His student had grown. Hokage didn't seem so far out of the picture anymore.
Naruto snapped to. He shot Kakashi a look. It said, Ready?
Kakashi went, Always!
Naruto fox-grinned. "It's hollow. It only allows specific chakra signatures through. I layered in our nature. So it's a free-for-all, inside and out. Once we jump through, activate the strongest cloaking jutsu you know. I'll extend some nature-energy to mask your presence, but if Itachi is in there he'll find us out in a second. Got it?"
Kakashi nodded. "Let's do it now."
Naruto shook his head. "The seal won't allow jutsu to pass through. I can't counteract that without allowing damage to escape. This has to be a contained battle. Once we nab Gaara we cut-bait right back out…I'll seal the pathway shut behind us. I layered that into the seal."
Kakashi nodded. Kakashi eye-smiled. He ruffled Naruto's long-locks. Naruto fox-giggled.
They readied. They leapt in unison. The journey through the rock-wall was barren. They saw blackness, then—
Long, cavernous walls. It was endless. It was hollower inside.
It always is…
Naruto shook-shook. He side-jumped up-left. He activated his nature-cloak. He went invisible to the naked-eye and mostly all chakra-sensory-jutsu. Kakashi ditto. His cloak was weaker by proxy of non-sage-mode. It was still strong-af. They observed.
The Akatsuki.
Almost all members were present.
No.
Only Deidara and the puppet-master that poisoned Kankuro. The others were phantoms. They used advanced jutsu. Naruto chewed his fingernail. Kakashi one-eye-watched.
A giant statue hovered in the b.g. It emanated light. But where's Gaa—
WTF!
Naruto held himself back. He saw Gaara. THERE—floating, lifeless, the beast being siphoned from the inside out. Naruto clenched his stomach. He felt his pain. Sage-mode did that.
Naruto held back tears. He no-hand-seals/no-noise-no-smoke made four shadow-clones. They transformed before he even fully conjured him. His pain drove him. He locked eyes with them. He went, You know what to do.
They nodded, Yes-boss!
The two shadow-clones, disguised as himself and Kakashi-sensei leapt off towards the opposite corner.
Naruto saw Itachi's phantom-eyes rove. He pain-grinned to himself. The Plan was already in motion. The Plan was already working.
Naruto signalled the other two shadow clones—the hawt-chicks duo. They knew their roles. They leapt to the ground. They were in revealing dresses. They appeared regal/regally-slutty. They embodied the whole deal-io—the 100-foot-wide/I can-almost-see-your-N*PS-cleavage; the sex-me-eyes; the barefoot/loooooooong-legs/get-lost-in-my-skin allure; the b.j.-lips and belly-chains that clink-clanked with every step.
So it was no surprise…that when they took their very first step…The Akatsuki were all-eyes-on-sluts.
Naruto and Kakashi watched the scene unfold.
The hawt-chicks waltzed.
The Akatsuki watched.
They said, "Hello, gentlemen."
Phantom-Itachi said, "You've got company…Deidara…Sasori…"
The phantom-Akatsuki's fizzled. Deidara chucked clay-birds at the two chicks and went, KATSSSSUUU!
Big-bang-'splosions overtook the scene. Smoke bogged the arena. The cavern went blind. Naruto and Kakashi were immune to blindness. Kakashi had a sharingan. Naruto felt with sage-energy.
The Akatsuki were immune to hawt-chicks, it would appear.
The two other Naruto and Kakashi clones blitzed! to Deidara's location in a flash. They held kunai around his neck.
Clone-Naruto jested, "You a gay-boi?"
Deidara went red.
Clone-Kakashi nearly dropped his kunai out of sheer laughter.
Sasori flailed his dagger-tail at them to knock them both off his partner.
The clones blitzed!
Deidara cussed a million expletives—Jap and other languages.
Sasori said, "Stfu Deidara. Focus. Nobody cares if you're gay."
"I AM NOT GAY!"
Sasori went, SHUSH!
Deidara flipped him the finger and plunged his fists into clay-filled ninja-pouches, holstered to his waist-sides. He flung artful creations of clay everywhere.
Sasori stayed still. It unnerved the real Naruto and Kakashi.
Kakashi looked at Naruto with q-eyes. Naruto got the message: abort the plan—whoop their asses to kingdom come.
Naruto made a trio more of clones and sent them off with Rasengan's the size of moons. They chase-chase-chased! Deidara all around the cavern. They didn't allow him to construct much more art, as he called it.
Kakashi divided his sharingan between watching Sasori's every move—in this case, none at all—and battling Deidara—which, at this point, was basically just tailing Naruto while he whooped Deidara black and bloody and blue.
A split-second was all it took…
Naruto's clones dealt with Deidara and his claymations while the real one scooped up Gaara from the ground. Naruto flashed Kakashi a somber expression.
He signalled, No pulse.
Kakashi chewed his lip from the inside. He spun a wheel with his fingertip. Let's go home. He hoped Naruto got the message. Despite the fact that Naruto's clones were doing a spectacular job at occupying Deidara, Kakashi had the faintest feeling that all of their efforts were nothing more than temporary impediments. The two S-Class shinobi hadn't broken a sweat; heck, one of 'em had yet to even move.
CLANGGGG!
FUCK!—
Kakashi felt a sting in his back. He turned around to see a long metal tail made of daggers and knives extending out from beneath the earth. It led to Sasori's cloak. Kakashi was badly wounded…and most likely poisoned.
SUNAGAKURE
KAZEKAGE TOWER
Kankuro breathed his first peaceful breath as Sakura snapped her gloves off and wiped the sweat off her brows. Lady Chiyo appeared enviously awestruck. Sakura held back grins.
"It's done!" Sakura said. Lady Chiyo faux-patted her on the back. She didn't really mean it, at least that's what Sakura thought.
"Well done," Chiyo said.
Sakura nodded. "He needs rest. Temari, I'll be leaving him in your care. I ought to join my teammates on the battlefield. Gaara is still top priority."
Temari smiled and hugged Sakura. She whispered thanks in her ear and pulled away.
Sakura spun and reached for the door—
Chiyo stopped her. "We, my dear. We."
Sakura raised an eyebrow.
Chiyo batted her expression away. "The boy is dear. He is our Kazekage. If you think I'm leaving him to the likes of youse, you're poorly mistaken, pinkie."
Sakura clenched her fists and took deep breaths. "As you wish. Try not to get yourself killed."
"I know the drill, kid. I've killed more people than the number of years you've been alive. Let's get with it. Every second wasted gets us nearer to Gaara's funeral."
Sakura chewed her lip. "I'm sure Kakashi Sensei and Naruto are doing just fine." I really hope you are…Naruto…
Chiyo and Sakura left the room in a hurry.
The poison coursed through Kakashi's veins. Heh…spoke to soon, he thought.
He felt the effects quick. His sight became wavy. His body felt like a bundle of ramen noodles in hot broth. He was this close to falling on his ass. Then he did the impossible…
He moved.
Sasori never batted an eyebrow.
Kakashi smirked knowingly. Too easy—
He blitzed the cave with wolves made of lightning. They bobbed and weaved around Sasori and his puppet strings.
Sasori effortlessly weaved strings of chakra through the air, like an expert seamster cutting through the fabric of the air. His trick worked and he managed to wrap nooses 'round the lightning wolves necks and bind their hind-legs with a pair of chakra-strings each. He smirked beneath his mask. He clenched his fingertips and was about to pull the trigger on his strings—
The ground beneath him burst open, lava-out-of-a-volcano-style, and out came Kakashi, a chidori fashioned in his right-hand grip. He, too, smirked beneath his mask.
Kakashi plunged his chidori deep into Sasori's neck—
—Sasori's strings tightened 'round the wolves, effectively dismembering them.
It was a light-show like no other; lightning as blue as the heavenly skies rained like electric sparks from everywhere; to the naked eye, the darkened cave strobed with great epilepsy.
Kakashi followed through, tearing past Sasori into the air, rocketing towards Deidara, who was now floating upon two clay-birds he treated as footstools to hover around on; he was like Aladdin on his magic carpet and Kakashi was about to pull the rug right out from under him—
"AGH!—"
Naruto snapped towards Kakashi—SHIT!—
A large, spiked tail impaled Kakashi between the torso. He looked like a shish-kebab'ed mess.
Sasori stood on the ground, commanding a battalion of ninja-tools, all expertly navigating the air with the help of his chakra-strings. He appeared different. He wasn't low and hunched over. He wasn't wearing a mask anymore and his body was bare of any clothing. He had no male appendage. He was really a red-head and appeared somewhat like a puppet himself…
That was when Naruto realized something—I never sensed him…because he's not human. There is no real soul in him to identify. Shit. Shit-shit-shit!
Kakashi twitched involuntarily as he hovered—impaled by the dagger-tail—in mid-air. His eyes were wide. His mask was wet from coughed-up blood.
Sasori smirked. "Hatake Kakashi…S-Class Bingo bounty. I'll be collecting a tidy sum for myself with your corpse. It was nice knowing you."
"You don't know me at all—"
—Sasori went wide-eyes at the sound of the voice.
Kakashi impaled a chidori, this time through the real Sasori. He sliced his puppet-body in half. His body split apart and fell to the ground; his body lay cracked and broken like a vase when it hits the floor and shatters into a million pieces.
"How? The poison should've long rendered you immobile." Sasori asked, his arms and legs twitching at a distance from each other.
Kakashi flexed his wrists and neck. "C'mon—lightning clone—"
The Kakashi suspended in the air fizzled into electric sparks and the dagger-tail broke apart and fell. A delayed effect. But now Sasori had finally lost control of his chakra. He could no longer summon strings or even mould enough chakra to conjure a simple clone. He was ground material for the lightning. It hit him in small jolts and coursed through him like a repetitive drone. He jittered every so often from the after-effects. He was not dead. He was just inept now. What good is a broken man anyway?
"—I like to pace my battles from afar. A clone is a perfect way for me to gauge your powers without taking damage."
Sasori half-smiled on his left severed side. "Hah. I didn't even see you conjure it."
Kakashi eye-smiled. "Yes you did, but this is no time for a conversation. I've got to deal with your friend over there. Sit still won't you?"
Kakashi summoned a shadow clone. The clone put a paralysis seal on Sasori's broken parts to ensure the puppet-man didn't move.
"OUUU! Famous Copy-Ninja!?"
Kakashi snapped to. It was a new voice. He couldn't see anyone in his field of vision. This wasn't the time for ptsd-hallucinations. He wasn't going mad. Genjutsu? he thought.
"I'd love an autograph!…but perhaps that's wouldn't be right…"
Kakashi saw him materialize out of thin-air. A man with pitch black hair, wild and unkempt, cloaked in the trademark Akatsuki cloak, clad in red clouds, and he wore a mask. A bright, orange, one-eyed mask. His voice, his pitch, his mannerism, they were antithetical to his appearance…Kakashi had a bad feeling about this man…
Naruto sent barrages of rasengan like they were shot out of a cannon. He utilized acute chakra control to weave the spinning balls of jutsu around Deidara with expert ability. Kakashi was hit. He saw it before Deidara's presence demanded his absolute attention. And he was using up a lot of chakra. He could tell; his stomach grumbled; the beast was getting hungrier…
A part of him was occupied 24/7 fighting the Kyuubi for control. As the years passed, so, too, did his seal weaken. Apparently it was part of its design, from inception—that's what Jiraiya told him anyway. Naruto bought it, but he just couldn't figure out for the life of him, why in the world Lord Fourth would design the seal that way?
Gaara was being given first-aid by Naruto's clones off to a corner. The real Naruto did his best to occupy Deidara. His clones knew to escape whenever the coast was clear.
Deidara weaved around the rasengan atop his hover-birds. He shot clay-'splosive materials at machine-gun speed in Naruto's face. Naruto countered each explosive with defensive chakra maneuvers. Direct contact with a jutsu at its nucleus—then, inject a dose of your own chakra and allow it to stretch—thereafter, it should nullify the jutsu…the catch being your chakra must equally match the strength of the jutsu upon contact; after that one must be able to increase and stretch; visually, like two equal size shapes meeting, and upon contact, one overwhelms the other, growing, turning rogue, controlling the perimeters and damage and possibilities, changing its nature against itself, turning it rogue. Making another man's chakra your bitch.
Who knew Ninja Theory would actually come in handy…
Naruto replicated a byakugan-user's finesse in movement. He was graceful, a paradox to his own true nature—the nature of that beast deep inside his belly.
He frustrated Deidara as he seemingly poked his claymations to death, but Deidara had no clue the amount of concentration it took to keep this up. And with the amount of chakra Naruto was dispensing per second, he was sure to be out of it in 5 minutes flat.
Deidara shot more clay-'splosives. He put out a flat palm and gunshot balls of clay, spitball-style. Nothing seemed to be working. The fuckin' brat had him occupied with a goddamn light-show of rasengan. He shot clay-'splosives at the rasengan. They exploded one by one, it blinded him further. Blue light turned to bright orange. New ones appeared in their place. He was getting quite tired of it.
A drop of sweat got in Naruto's eye. It burned. He blinked through it. He huffed. He was getting tired by the second. He kept on poking. He bided his time for too long. I don't have any time left. I gotta end this now and we gotta get…otherwise Gaara—
—SHIT!—
That one barely missed him. There was no time to pause and think and formulate—he just had to execute on the fly. Just like he always did. He had to improvise.
Deidara shot another barrage of clay. Naruto poked past them. Deidara focused on him with one hand, and his rasengan with the other. All he had to do was wait 'til he dipped his hand to reload, and then cluster the rasengan right into his blonde-ass and KABOOM! there won't even be a trace of him left to bury.
Deidara felt his teeth balling together thinner explosives. He moulded extra chakra to give them more oomph but he knew it was only a matter of seconds before he would have to refuel. He waited. All he had to do was send a barrage of clay at Naruto, precisely the right ratio, at exactly the right time, and the timing had to be perfect. And he'd be refuelled and ready to go.
Naruto pumped as much chakra as he could through his body. His stomach stopped growling.
Deidara's hands chewed faster and shot that much harder. Aaaaaannnnddddd—
—Aaaaaannnnnnnnddddddd—
NOW!
Deidara machine-gunned clay-splosives at Naruto; Naruto dodged and poke through every single one. Deidara dipped his hand into his clay-pouch—Naruto clamped his fist together as tight as possible…
No impact resounded. No hits on either side.
Naruto blinked his eyes. He felt someone pull and push him out of the way. He thought who other than Kakashi could have done that. The teacher jumping in to save the student. An old tale, worn out over the years. Naruto smiled despite that fact. But the sight before him was not Kakashi.
"You…really could have hurt my Senpai!" The masked man said. He shook his hands animatedly.
Naruto q-eyed him. Who-tf are you?
"Take off your mask," Naruto said.
The masked man laughed. "You first."
Naruto grit his teeth. His stomach was growling again. "Where's Kakashi-sensei?"
"In a quiet place. Tee-hee! I like this banter. We're getting along grandly aren't we!"
"Who are you?"
"My name's Tobi. What's yours? They only call you '9-tails brat' at HQ. It's quite tedious as I'd love to get to know the people we're out capturing. You know, I love making new friends. Can't you tell?"
Naruto was getting annoyed. "Where is Kakashi Sensei?"
"I already answered that."
Shit! I'm all but running on empty. I can't afford another fight right now…
The masked man, Tobi, retreated to Deidara, much to the blonde-man's chagrin. He seemed quite fed up of Tobi. "Nehhhhh—Deidara-senpai! Isn't this quite the opportunistic turn of events?! We get two for the price of one, hahahah! The 1-tail and the 9-tails brat!"
"Tobi! You just got enlisted into the Akatsuki and you're not making a good impression! Don't make me kill you!"
"Deidara-senpaiiii!? I only care about you, senpaiii!"
"Tobiiiiii!"
Naruto plotted while they were distracted.
Kakashi was out of sight. Deidara looked ready to go another ten rounds, and he had backup now, and Naruto knew nothing about the new enemy. And Sasori…
Naruto scanned the cavern.
…broken into pieces. Doesn't look like he's getting up any time soon. He saw now, Sasori's true form was itself, a puppet. It explained Naruto's inability to clearly sense him. Speaking of, his body had begun to ache. Side-effects of sage mode overuse. Nature packs a kick, that's for sure.
I've got one last shot. I hope to friggin' Kami this works…
Naruto went still. He honed in on the nature chakra flowing into his body. He moulded his own chakra inside. He pulled every little bit of chakra he had left. He'd need it all for his next jutsu. He just hoped it didn't kill him to do it. He shifted his gaze—only for a second—and saw his clones ready to go. Good—they noticed. The clones got into a formation; they interlocked their fingers and formed a ring around Gaara's lifeless body.
Naruto shut his eyes. He focused. He tried to sense Kakashi's chakra. It wasn't anywhere in the room. Shit! How is that even possible. Where are you Kakashi-sensei? He stretched his senses outward, he pushed past his own sealing jutsu on the cavern exterior. Kakashi's chakra was nowhere. He couldn't feel it at all.
Naruto opened his eyes. He was ready. The jutsu was ready. Here we go. I'm going to come back for you, Kakashi-sensei. I won't abandon my teammate! I'm sorry, Jiraiya-sensei…I'm sorry. I have to break my promise.
"EH! EHHH! Deidara-senpaiiiii! The '9-tails brat' is up to something!"
"OH, TOBI YOU FUCKIN' IDIOTTTT! I TOLD YOU TO WATCH HIM! INSTEAD YOU'RE AS SELF-OBSESSED AS USUAL AND JUST HAD TO MAKE A DRAMATIC ENTRANCE!"
"DEIDARA-SENPAI WHY ARE YOU YELLING AT ME!? I WAS JUST WORRIED ABOUT YOU!"
"TOBI!"
"DEIDARA-SENPAIII!?"
Everywhere I can feel, I can go. Everywhere there is nature, I exist…HIRAISHIN-NO-JUTSU!—
Tobi and Deidara were blinded. All they saw was a yellow flash…
Have I ever been here before?…it feels like nowhere…but it feels warm…like I can feel love…who's there?…will I remember any of this…wait whose voice was that?…who's there?…Hinata?…Kakashi-sensei?…Oh…you…I'm sorry for using your jutsu…I know it's forbidden…yes, I understand why now…goodbye, already?…what if I'm not ready…don't leave yet…dad…you still haven't told me about mom…
(Keh! Brat. You konoha ninja. You, of all people. You. You will survive. It's funny to think that you remind me of Him…)
Fuck, this feels like shit…I feel like I'm all out of chakra and my muscles are about to give out on me…don't die yet, Naruto…man, I can't die, not yet, please!—
Deidara and Tobi blinked and he was gone. The yellow flash dispirited. They scoured the cavern. He was gone. The 9-tails brat, the 1-tail Jinchūriki, the shadow-clones…he even took Sasori.
"That fucking brat!" Deidara said. He stomped his feet threw clay-'splosions at the far corners of the empty cavern.
Tobi backed off sloooowwwlllyy. "Deidara-senpai…hehe…uhm…I'll just go ahead and report this info back to HQ…since you seem a little occupied at the moment."
Deidara turned on Tobi. He flinched. "TOBI! GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!"
Tobi was out of there faster than you could say dango.
He reached the steel tower where Pain holed up in. Rain pattered against his hood and dampened his hair beneath it. It always rained here. He felt right at home as he thought of his own pain. He smelled the metal air and the dirty, humid rain. He blitzed to the top in an instant. Nagato awaited him. Konan was not by his side today.
"There's been a change of plans?" Nagato said.
"Nothing of the sort," Madara said. "We already have the 1-tail in our possession. We're right on track."
"Your message said that the 1-tail Jinchūriki was taken by the 9-tails Jinchūriki."
"Yes. But we've already got the beast. Extraction is complete. That's all that really matters."
"And the 9-tails?"
"Wasn't scheduled to be captured yet. We will operate according to the plan."
"Of course. But do not undermine me."
"Listen. It's bad enough that your men work as slow as they do. I had to show up there and create a personality to distract the konoha ninja from knowing my true identity. We will operate according to plan and I won't undermine you, but allow me to do a little more of the legwork."
"As you wish," Nagato said.
"Good. I've already got our next target lined up for the taking."
"I'll take your word for it," Nagato said.
"Yes. Also…Sasori is dead. The 9-tails brat took his body with him."
"Oh?"
"Yes."
"That is an unfortunate development. I didn't expect such weakness from the infamous Sasori of the Red Sand."
"Yes, well, everyone's a disappointment when you know them for long enough."
Nagato q-eyed Madara. His rinnegan roved the spirals carved into his mask.
"That's all," Madara said.
"Onwards then."
Madara evaporated into thin air; Nagato didn't need to know about Kakashi—not yet at least…that matter of business was quite personal.
Nagato let out held-back coughs and he coughed until his palm was full of his spit and blood.
Sakura and Lady Chiyo traversed barren sand-scapes as fast as their legs would go. They went with urgency. Sakura packed antidotes to Sasori's poison. Just in case, she told herself. Chiyo was quiet during the run. Sakura only heard her deep, elderly breathing. They made good distance in short time. They covered hundreds of feet in a single stride.
They stopped in place. A yellow flash blinded them. It stretched out across the entire landscape, as far as the eye could see. Sakura opened her eyes and saw Naruto and Gaara and a red-haired puppet, all splayed out on the sand. They looked either critical or dead.
"Naruto!" Sakura said. She was by his side in an instant. He was still breathing. Barely. He opened his eyes a crack and smiled when he saw her face.
"Ah, Sakura-chan, you're here to save the day," he whispered.
Sakura rubbed his back and wiped the sweat glazed on his face with her gloves. She told him to hush up and let her fix him up. She glanced over at Chiyo and shot her an urgent expression. Chiyo didn't catch it. She was too occupied with the sight of the broken puppet. Kami, lady, what was that your childhood toy? Get over yourself. It's a stupid puppet. More importantly, get over here and help me!
"Lady Chiyo, please, I need your help. Check Gaara's vitals. I've got Naruto."
Chiyo snapped out of her gaze and rushed to Gaara's side. She shot Sakura a grave look. "No pulse, kid."
"Shit," Sakura said. She chewed her lip. She snapped off her combat gloves and conjured a green aura around her palms. She ran the aura over Naruto. He was in really bad shape. If she didn't get him to a hospital he might die. Worse, Gaara was already gone. She didn't know what to do. All this literally came crashing right on her head. C'mon, Sakura, think. You can do this—
Naruto twitched. She flinched. He moved again. He stretched his arm out towards Gaara. Sakura didn't seem to understand. He struggled. He reached further. He didn't need to touch him. He was just close enough.
"Ahh…" Naruto moaned in pain.
Sakura chewed her lip. She didn't understand any of what was going on. And by the look on her face, neither did Chiyo. "Naruto, you shouldn't move—"
A red aura bubbled out of Naruto. It singed his skin as it permeated through his pores. It was a painful sight to see. She couldn't imagine what it must feel like. Naruto didn't make any noise after that. No matter how much it must've hurt. He stayed quiet and focused. Tears ran down his cheeks and made sand stick to his face. She noticed his eyes were different. They turned red. His pupils were thin, like a cat or a fox. The red aura turned lighter. First orange. Then a bright yellow, like the flash of light they saw before Naruto appeared with Gaara and the puppet.
"Naruto…" She felt his love. There was no other way to describe it. It poured out of him. The aura came out like hot flames. It latched onto Gaara's figure and brought colour back to his skin.
Gaara opened his eyes. Slowly. He breathed. He coughed. He turned and locked eyes with Naruto. He smiled. Naruto smiled back. They both passed out with grins on their faces.
IN LIMBO
Madara appeared out of thin-air. He stepped onto solid-state cubes. This dimension was barren. He kept it so. It was not meant to contain happiness. It emulated the loneliness within him. Everything Konohagakure had taken from him.
Kakashi—that man, alone, untied and unbound to anything. He allowed it because he knew there was no way out.
"Where am I?" Kakashi asked. He was bruised and bleeding and huffing deep breaths. "Where's my team? What have you done with them?"
"Tsk-tsk. I ask the questions, Hatake Kakashi," Madara said. He came this close to Kakashi's face.
Kakashi stared at the spirals in his mask. Sweat trickled down his neck.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"I am your reckoning."
END CHAPTER.
