Chapter Twenty-Two: Sasori, the Puppeteer of Flesh
Eventually, they picked themselves up and got to work tying up Deidara. Sakura made sure to gag him as well; she'd had all she could take of his bragging. Naruto, meanwhile, looked really beat for once. As they worked, a bit of a mist began to rise up around them so they couldn't see very well through the broken wreckage.
"Come on, Sakura, we'd better head back home and tell Sasuke what happened here," said Naruto.
And then, out of the mist rushed a short, brown-haired man in a business suit. The suit was torn, and he was running with a look of panic on his face. Falling to his knees, he pointed at them. "You! You!"
"Who are you?" asked Sakura.
"No time for that!" said the man. "I need your protection!"
"From who?" asked Naruto.
"I'm Gato, and the Akatsuki are-" began the man.
Naruto and Sakura both drew knives, and Gato scrambled backward. "-they're trying to kill me! I can testify! I can testify, and it'll put some really bad people behind bars for years!"
"Who!" asked Naruto.
Sakura totally agreed.
"Ninja," said Gato. "People in the Leaf. People from all kinds of nations. If I testify, it could bring down a whole criminal syndicate."
"How do we know this isn't a trap?" asked Sakura.
"Sasori's gone nuts!" said Gato. "I got angry at him for botching the job of killing you and...
"He started killing people. He wiped out the core of my gang and took over. I had to hide for my life, and he's taken over my gang!"
Sakura sheathed her kunai and peered around for a trap. "Fine, I'm going to tie you and your buddy Deidara up, and Kakashi-sensei will decide what to do with you.
"Now move, gangster man!
"And for a start, you can tell us what Sasori was doing?"
Sakura drew out more rope and started tying up Gato while Naruto watched. Gato shuddered. "I don't know; he just said something about sending most of the goons after Tazuna!"
"Tazuna?" asked Naruto.
"Yeah, he got together all my boys, and he wants them all to converge on Tazuna's house at once," said Gato.
Sakura looked to Naruto. This was really bad. If Gato was telling the truth... "Naruto, we've got to do something about all this."
"Right, I'll create some clones and..." Naruto sighed. "I'm nearly out of chakra, Sakura. I blew almost all of it fighting Deidara. What if he gets loose?"
Sakura hoped things worked out here. She and Naruto weren't going to be any help in this.
Sasuke was sitting on a branch under the night sky, reading the scroll Orochimaru had given him.
It was fairly ornate, but it seemed to have a different function from a standard Edo Tensei. Sasuke had ready about the functions of it, and this one was slightly different. The original formed the specter around the corpse of the sacrifice. This one, however, was a perfect conversion. It consumed the corpse to create a new one. Though it didn't have as much power as the base spell.
"...I think I've got this scroll memorized," Sasuke murmured to himself. "If I just use this, I could resurrect someone, anyone of my choice—definitely Mom. Father and I were never exactly close, and it has to be from my immediate family.
"Now, I just need someone to use for it?
"I need a sacrifice.
"Wait a minute; what am I thinking? These are Forbidden Jutsu. If I used one of these casually, they'd strip me of my rank.
"But...
"What if it was in a crisis?" Sasuke considered that angle. If he could argue that he used the jutsu to save the mission, maybe he could get away with it. Tobirama had used this kind of jutsu, after all.
And then, suddenly, Sasuke heard a ringing.
Glancing up, he drew out a scroll and checked the scroll. Several of his traps had been activated, and in the distance, he heard an explosion. Turning, he raced into the house and up the stairs. Banging on the doors, he opened them.
"All of you get up, now!" said Sasuke.
"What?" said Tazuna, sitting up. "What's wrong?"
"My traps were just triggered," said Sasuke. "There are men coming to this house right now."
"Traps, what traps?" asked Tsunami, pulling herself up.
"I've been assembling a series of traps and systems in place to protect this house," said Sasuke. "There are-" He heard more explosions, one after another as if they were just marching on. How had they not even been slowed down? "Nevermind, get the packs we set up and make a run for it to the south. They're mostly coming from the east."
"Can you take them?" asked Inari as they rose.
"Of course," said Sasuke. "But I need you out of here. Tazuna, take Tsunami and Inari and head south for the town. I'll hold them here."
Then Sasuke raced off.
Quickly getting to the top of a tree, Sasuke raced across the forest and saw the men moving forward. There seemed like there were hundreds of them, marching forward in ranks, five feet apart. Whenever they ran into a trap, several were consumed or pulled up. But they just kept on moving forward.
Pits fell out from under them, and they fell onto spikes. Other ropes grabbed them and pulled them up to hang. Yet, no matter how many were caught, they just moved on without glancing up.
"So, what are we up against here anyway?" said one.
"Nothing much," said another. "Maybe one or two ninja. They can't possibly take us all."
Sasuke had to do something about that. So he dropped down onto a branch and drew out kunai. "You morons sure about that?"
They turned around and looked at Sasuke. "You, who the hell are you? Beat it, kid, we're here for Tazuna."
"Well, that's going to be a problem," said Sasuke, waiting to see them gather around. "See, the old man's under my protection. So I guess you muscleheads will have to beat it."
"Take him," said the man.
Sasuke hurled the kunai and caught two in the throat, and they fell dead. Backflipping over them, he hurled two more kunai and killed two more. He'd seen more than his share of corpses when Itachi had massacred his clan. Compared to those, these slime were easy to watch die.
Yet there were a lot of them.
And they came at him all at once. They didn't flinch when blood spattered over them. And no matter how many Sasuke killed, there were more coming in around. Sasuke kept on having to move to avoid them. Yet even as he tried to get distance, others came in from behind, pressuring him. Soon he was running out of kunai.
The bodies of his enemies were all around Sasuke, and yet there were always more.
How many more would he have to kill? Any ordinary group of thugs would have run! What was pushing them?
No.
Who was pushing them?
Then Sasuke noticed a large amount of the enemy heading after Tazuna. Surging through the trees, he saw them catching up to Tazuna's group. Inari fell, and they were nearly on him. Then Sasuke surged down and barred their way. A spear slashed the top of his shoulder before he drove his kunai into the man's stomach and shoved him back.
There was no way Sasuke was botching this mission.
"Sasuke!" said Tazuna.
"Go!" shouted Sasuke as he slashed several down. "GET OUT OF HERE! I CAN HANDLE THIS!"
At last, they were dead, and Tazuna and his family were running. Still, at the same time, Sasuke saw more coming down the path toward him.
"What the hell is happening here?" muttered Sasuke. "These guys aren't just thugs. They're fighting as one entity. This is the kind of coordination I could only expect from training Shinobi.
"But individually, they're slackers."
Activating his Sharingan, Sasuke peered through the woods as he slashed. As a man fell dead before him, Sasuke spotted something in the woods.
"Fire style: Fireball Jutsu!" cried Sasuke.
He blew a wave of flames toward the figure. It consumed a whole line of thugs, burning them to ashes in instants. And as they reached the far edge, there was a blur. As the flames died down, Sasori landed before him.
"Sasori," said Sasuke. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
Even as it surged toward him, however, many thugs leaped in front of the flames. They formed a wall of bodies that warded off the fire. Finally, the ashes faded away, and Sasori was unharmed. "I'm impressed that you managed to notice my presence here. As you can see, Gato's thugs are under new management."
More of them formed in front of Sasuke, who stepped back. These guys were taunting him, but they were like puppets. Except these were puppets without any strings.
"How are you doing this?" asked Sasuke.
"A kind of puppetry, if you must know," said Sasori. "Once you learn to put strings into a mind, you can get it to do whatever you want.
"Right now, I have an unending tide of puppets to remove you."
"Well then, all I have to do is strike you down!" said Sasuke.
Then he leaped over the thugs and surged toward Sasori. Even as he did, however, needles surged from Sasori's cloak toward him. Sasuke knocked several back, but several hit him in the leg. Falling backward, Sasuke caught himself and rolled away into the underbrush. That was mere moments before a tail of metal hacked where Naruto had been.
"And how do you intend to do that?" asked Sasori. "Speak quickly; I hate keeping people waiting."
Sasuke sprinted into the forest, before turning to rush along the path. "...Sasori is sending his minions after Tazuna now that he can't get me. But if I go out there, I'll be cut to pieces. Where the hell is Kakashi-sensei and Naruto when I need them?
"I can't take an S ranked ninja and an army.
"Wait..." Sasuke halted and drew out the scroll. Glancing back, he saw Sasori's minions coming after them. "Father was powerful. Nearly as powerful as the Legendary Sannin.
"If I could summon him, maybe his spirit could handle this for me. This is what the Edo Tensei was meant for anyway! I just need a subject..."
His gaze peered at one person, walking alone.
"There.
"He'll do!"
Drawing his kunai, Sasuke clutched the scroll.
And then Kakashi caught his wrist. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, Sasuke."
Sasuke looked up. "Kakashi-sensei?"
"Sorry it took so long," said Kakashi. "I'll deal with Sasori; you just focus on taking care of Tazuna and the others. We'll talk later."
Sasuke nodded. "...Right."
They separated, and Sasuke raced onto the path. Once again, he saw the thugs rushing toward the path. Leaping between them, Sasuke readied himself. "Come on! I'll take you all myself! Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
A wave of flame consumed many ranks, but still, more of them were coming.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
More came.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
And still more. Sasuke fell to one knee, ready to continue fighting with kunai as they came. "I can't...
"There are...
"Too many of them."
And then an arrow shot one of the thugs in the throat. They halted, and Sasuke glanced back. Standing down the path was a great crowd of villagers. But they were clad in leather armor and wielding crossbows. Tazuna was at their head. "Stay back, you bastards! Leave the boy alone, or you'll deal with us."
"Well, well, the fishermen want to hunt big game now," said a thug with a sneer. "What makes you think you'll do any good against us?"
The villagers replied with a rain of arrows.
The thugs charged.
Sasuke ducked for cover just in time.
Kakashi had forgotten how much he hated fighting Sasori.
The puppetmaster had changed in size and shape since last time they'd fight. But though he appeared as a hunchback, he leaped nimbly around. Needles were constantly being shot at Kakashi, who kept his distance.
However, their battle came to a halt as both looked down the path.
A full-scale battle was now taking place. The villagers of the Land of Waves had mobilized. Now they were fighting with the thugs with spears and crossbows. They had numbers and seemed to be doing well. But the thugs were fearless, and some had training.
"So, from the looks of things, the Land of Waves has grown a spine," noted Sasori. "A full-on battle is taking place now, the likes of which has not been seen since the Shinobi Wars." The puppetmaster made a movement and waves of arms shot through his robes toward Kakashi.
"This is your responsibility," said Kakashi, weaving away from the arms. "Men like you have driven the people of the Land of Waves to desperation. Now they are fighting back to liberate themselves from your tyranny." He landed and saw Sasori for what he was.
A puppet.
The body before him seemed to be made of wood, with four legs. It clambered around nimbly, which meant Sasori must have been within.
"I admit, the Leaf Village has done an excellent job of pulling their strings," mused Sasori.
"The Leaf?" asked Kakashi. "What would you know of us?"
"As much as you, perhaps more," said Sasori. "Surely you do not think that Gato established his holdings here unnoticed?
"Haven't you ever wondered why Gato chose to run this place into the ground? Why he decided to systematically ruin the economy with brute force. An intelligent operator like him could have turned this place into a base of operations.
"But then...
"That wasn't his mission, was it?
"No, if the Land of Waves was prosperous, able to grow in power and prestige, they might become a threat to the Land of Fire. Better for all your neighbors to be miserable and weak."
"The Hokage would never do something like that!" said Kakashi.
"Does he have to?" asked Sasori. "Or has he merely given the power to men who would be willing to? How much about the Root Foundation do you really know, Kakashi Hatake?"
Kakashi decided enough was enough. It was time to take a chance. "I know enough." Lightning flickered in his hand. "Chidori!"
Then he activated his Sharingan and surged forward.
Sasori unleashed waves of needles, but Kakashi dodged and weaved around them. Immense numbers of arms shot down toward him, but with the Sharingan, he was just able to avoid them. At last, he got to the body and stabbed downward.
His strike smashed the puppet, but just as he did, it opened, and something rushed out of it.
The puppet shattered into a million, flaming pieces. Sasori landed beyond, looking much as he had the last time they'd fought. He hadn't aged a day.
"This ends today," said Kakashi.
Sasori threw back his cloak to reveal his redhaired face without expression. "I would love nothing more than to make you into one of my collection to replace the puppet you destroyed. However, I'm afraid I cannot waste any more time with you.
"We'll meet again when the fate of the Leaf is to be decided."
Kakashi surged toward him, but before he could strike, Sasori sent a wave of flame from beneath his robes. The heat forced Kakashi to withdraw, and Sasori was gone when it cleared.
Kakashi didn't pursue him. He headed straight to help Sasuke.