Last Time:
"What do you say to that, witch? One puppet, two people. You can't protect both!" Sasori grinned.
Now:
'She won't have to,' Hanara thought, 'There's a reason the Hyuga only use Eight Trigrams, Palm Rotation, and it isn't because we couldn't think of something else.'
As Hanara spun, using the aforementioned jutsu to protect herself, she saw Lady Chiyo stick out her own arm, releasing a chakra shield to protect her from the iron sand weapons.
"Just an arm, but still, rigging your own body? We puppet masters are all the same, aren't we?" Sasori commented.
'Huh. What is it with ninjas and adding random bits to their bodies? Orochimaru, Sasori, Deidara (well actually, who knows if it's a kekkai genkai), and now Lady Chiyo…'
Studying the arm closer, Hanara noticed little particles of iron sand inside, jamming the arm.
"Iron sand is stuck in your arm," Hanara sighed.
"I see… So that's what you did, Sasori," Lady Chiyo remarked.
Sasori didn't respond, instead sending another shower of iron sand at them.
Hanara rotated again while Lady Chiyo used her 'Mother' puppet to block the sand.
And, Sasori got iron sand stuck in there again.
"Once the iron sand gets in, you're done for," Sasori told Lady Chiyo, looking pleased. "Well, you're out of puppets now. What next?"
'Sand and dirt can't be the only thing that can jam puppets. Something sticky–'
FLASHBACK:
Hanara and Izumo were on gatekeeping duty; something extremely rare. Izumo hardly did anything without Kotetsu, but after a mission gone wrong, Kotetsu was injured to the point he had to spend a few nights in the hospital, leaving an open spot for the most boring mission in history: gatekeeping.
At this point, Hanara was so bored she was making little balls of water and letting them float around her.
Izumo stared at her in surprise. "You have a Water Affinity? Man, it's been a while since I've met another Water Nature shinobi that isn't a medic!"
"Oh! You're one, too? I've been trying to learn some jutsus, but I've only got the library for help. "I know four, but two are almost always a waste of chakra for me." she said, referring to the Hiding in the Mist Jutsu and her newly learned Water Whip. Hiding in the Mist was a literal substitute for smoke bombs, and why would she need Water Whip when she has chakra threads? Sometimes, she wondered where her brain went!
"Well, I'd be happy to help another Leaf shinobi for a few jutsus in exchange!" Izumo smiled.
FLASHBACK END
'That's right! Izumo helped me create that thing a bit after we found out Orochimaru was dead!'
Ram. Tiger. Rat.
She started off with the handsigns needed for Izumo's signature jutsu, the Starch Syrup Capturing Field, and ended with the last handsign of her Water Bullet Jutsu, creating her very own technique.
"Water Style: Starch Syrup Stream!" Hanara exclaimed after taking a high jump so that her liquid wouldn't hit the two puppets' clothes.
Just as the technique stated, Hanara spat out a wave of sticky syrup, completely engulfing Sasori and his puppet with the fluid. The nice thing about Water Bullet was that the way you spat it out could vary based on how you moulded the chakra in your stomach, something Hyugas excelled in. Hence, the bullet easily changed to a stream with that addition of a rat seal.
'I'm so stupid! Battle stress must've affected my brain. How the hell does someone forget about a new jutsu?'
She smirked when she realized it worked. A ninja trapped was useless, after all.
'His heart's the only vulnerable spot, better hit him there.'
Sasori eyes widened in shock, as did Lady Chiyo's.
Chakra threads formed from inside Sasori's cloak, reaching towards his weapon's pouch, pulling out no doubt poisoned kunai and shuriken.
'Should've expected this. His heart isn't a puppet bit, after all… Lady Chiyo is out of puppets, I better protect her, too.'
"How…?" Lady Chiyo asked in disbelief.
"His heart." Hanara responded briskly, slipping into her stance.
"Eight Trigrams, Rotative Blades," Hanara said, spinning.
She used two blades to cover Lady Chiyo and sent one blade straight through Sasori's heart. It was quite easy to hit, considering the fact that he couldn't move. The shower of poisoned weapons stopped, and once Hanara was positive Sasori couldn't heal from that, she stopped spinning.
"Ah, I underestimated you…" Sasori breathed, "I suppose I'll do something pointless and give you a reward…"
Hanara stared at him, confused.
"That Nine-Tails brat… he's Uzumaki, right? Go to the Hidden Grass Village. You might find something surpri–"
Sasori went limp, and he could say no more.
Hanara quickly sealed his body in a scroll, the gears in her mind spinning.
'He means… no way! There's another survivor from the Whirlpool Village? But, by all rights, the Leaf should be taking care of them! I've got to tell Lady Tsunade! But first, Naruto and Kakashi-Sensei. I don't know how fast Deidara can travel, and we can't let him get Gaara again.'
"Lady Chiyo, we have to go help Naruto and Kakashi-Sensei," Hanara said, "You aren't injured are you?"
"Don't start treating me like an old hag now!" Lady Chiyo said, before acting a bit more serious, "I never imagined that the last time I saw my adorable grandchild, I'd end up killing him… Ah well, what can you do?"
Hanara bit her lip, 'I'm not good at this stuff… where's Ino when you need her?'
Deciding to just get down to business, Hanara summoned Fuji.
"You need me again?" Fuji questioned, "I'm starting to not want to be Pho, now."
"Sorry," Hana said sheepishly, "It's an emergency though."
"Yeah, yeah."
Hanara lead Fuji to Deidara, and they made it in time to see Naruto using his Rasengan against Deidara, ripping off his bird's head.
'Deidara's arm's blasted off, so he probably won't be able to use jutsu. One Gentle Fist strike will make sure that he can't use chakra. He is S-ranked, so I wouldn't put one-handed seals past him, though.
She pulled out her fan and jumped off Fuji and then motioned for Lady Chiyo to follow.
"Fuji, you can go now," Hanara said.
A puff of smoke signified Fuji's departure.
"Hanara? Lady Chiyo?" Kakashi called, "You defeated Sasori?"
"Hm? Oh yeah," Hanara nodded, floating towards him.
"It seems like the two of you are having some trouble." Lady Chiyo added.
'Once my brain actually worked, it was easy. I'm ashamed of myself… Hell, even Konohamaru would've thought of that the moment he realized Sasori was a human puppet!'
Hanara and Lady Chiyo jumped off the fan, and Hanara put it away.
"You've wasted a lot of chakra…" Hanara commented. "Is there anything I should know?"
"He makes his clay with the mouths on his hands," Kakashi-Sensei informed her.
Hanara nodded.
"It's time for you to get hit!" Naruto yelled from in front of them.
"Yeah, yeah… I'll have it out with you another time." Deidara sighed.
"You're too careless," Kakashi-Sensei told him as Naruto charged.
Naruto's punch sent Deidara flying and his back hit the branch of a tree.
"Ah, so I see Sasori's been defeated. An old hag and a little girl. It seems like I thought too highly of him." Deidara grunted, finally noticing Hanara and Lady Chiyo.
'Not even a shred of sadness? These people really are heartless.'
Naruto made four shadow clones and used them to hurl Deidara off the branch he was laying on and onto the ground.
'Uh… seems like he's got that handled… I'm surprised that he's not yelling for Gaara, honestly, but I guess after seeing Sakura heal Kankuro, he's confident that Gaara's okay.'
"Why does that boy care for Gaara so? They're not from the same village." Lady Chiyo said from beside her, drawing Hanara's attention away from the battle.
"I'm sure you know by now, but they're both jinchuriki," Hanara replied. "When we were younger, he was always alone, and I… I wasn't really much help. I thought he was an idiot, and I was too engrossed in my own troubles to even consider helping him."
"They know the same pain," Kakashi-Sensei added. "Naruto sees himself in Gaara. Gaara's the only person that every truly understood what he went through, so seeing Gaara being hunted like this for what's inside him makes Naruto furious."
"I see… Naruto understands Gaara more than anyone else in the Sand Village…" Lady Chiyo looked down guiltily. "That is partially my fault. I was the seal master that sealed Shukaku into Gaara on orders of Lord Rasa. But, I am not a seal expert. The seal I used was flawed, and that led to the pain that Gaara felt. He didn't know love, but that Uzumaki Naruto… he showed Gaara. He taught Gaara what no one else could."
Hanara stared at Naruto, who was slamming his fists into Deidara.
'He's incredible for standing up all the time. I would've given up on the Leaf a long time ago…'
Naruto slammed a Rasengan into the stomach of the bomber, but it revealed a clay substitution.
Hanara looked around and found the former Stone Village bomber easily while Naruto looked around wildly. She jumped to the bushes that Deidara was hiding behind and sent a Gentle Fist strike to his heart. Or was about to before she was startled by the mouth there and hit a few inches off. The strike was still hard, however, and it sent Deidara flying back, and he hit his head on a rock. The blonde went limp, and Hanara pulled out a kunai.
'I don't know how that mouth affects him, so it's best not to go for the heart…'
Hanara made her way to the unconscious Deidara and quickly slit his throat with the kunai in her hand, putting her hand under the man's nose to make sure that he was dead. Sighing in relief, she pulled out a body scroll and deactivated her Byakugan.
"Is he…?" Kakashi-Sensei asked.
"Dead." Hanara confirmed, rolling up the scroll once she finished sealing him up.
'Two in one day. Huh.'
"Good job, Neji!" she heard Guy-Sensei exclaim.
"Both of them are dead," Hanara informed him.
"You– You killed Deidara?" Naruto questioned, looking a bit frustrated.
She nodded.
'Oh! He– I see… He wanted revenge…'
"Anyway, we better go back to Sakura and Gaara." Hanara said.
