Thanks for the initial reviews, much appreciated :)

Sorry for the long wait as well, was on vacation and was also on a bit of writer's block. But now its back on track!

XXX

Sasori

He walked onto the bridge as it titled queasily in the breeze. Kabuto stood idly in about the middle, his glasses glaring off the morning sun. He brushed his red hair out of his eyes and stopped a few feet shy of his informant.

He had easily beaten Kabuto in the past and broken his mind into being an obedient servant before sending him back to Orochimaru to spy on. The former Akatsuki member was an object of interest to Sasori, not just because of the power he wielded, but simply that the power was so immense that he could not go unchecked. Injecting Kabuto into his side was a precaution, as much as an amusement to have the snake be unaware.

And power was an attractive feature as well. It made the individual stronger, and thus made them live longer.

And I'm all for that.

"Kabuto."

"Master Sasori."

Immediately he saw something was off. He didn't bow. And his stance...

"What news do you have for me, Kabuto?"

The man shrugged. "Nothing you have probably not already heard. Sasuke Uchiha is in his possession and is being trained day after day. There is not much else to say."

Sasori took another step forward, his puppet eyes staring, trying to see behind the shining glasses. "What of Orochimaru himself?"

"His health is progressing." Sasori waited for more information, but nothing was forthcoming. Something's wrong, he's holding back. There's something amiss, has he broken control?

The wind kicked up. There was only one way to tell. "Where is your master now?"

"Back at his hideout-"

Sasori's puppet arm swiveled about, releasing the thin scimitar, and made to cleave the young man through the stomach. As expected, Kabuto was still as skillful as ever, and back flipped long before the blade had reached the spot he had been at before.

"Lord Sasori?" He was still feigning loyalty.

"There's no longer any point, my former little spy," Sasori grunted, retracting the scimitar for a more maneuverable weapon. "I can see you've slipped from my service."

The perfectly confused face switched a hard set one. "What gave it away?"

"You referred to your 'master' as Orochimaru. When one comes to serve under another so long, it comes reflexive to address as master." The puppet arm broke apart in many spots, the wood sliding out of place, and numerous small blades stretched out, all glistening with his unique poison. "The jutsu placed on you erased that impulse... which can only mean you've slipped free."

Kabuto's hands shimmered blue, and he held them up defensively. His mouth curled into a leer, but Sasori's keen eyes could see the sweat trickling from his forehead. He's unbearably nervous.

"So you're going to kill me?"

"You know me very well." He dashed forward and swiped with his multiple small blades. Kabuto swung his chakra scalpel and caught two of the blades, causing a deadlock.

"What the-!"

Three other blades had begun swiveling about interdependently, while a fourth extended significantly to strike the former slave in the gut. Kabuto jumped into the air and kicked the extending blade away, causing Sasori to spin around. The hum of the chakra blade came close to his head-

He swiveled his head around to directly face his opponent, then shot out a series of poisoned darts out of his mouth. Kabuto switched from offensive to defensive and slashed all the incoming needles expertly. Not one bit of poison had gotten into his skin, but he was already breathing heavily. No human would have been able to move like Sasori, to talk from every direction and manipulate weapons so easily. It was a taxing battle for anyone.

"Your skills are still as sharp as ever," Sasori commented smoothly, retracting all his blades. "Seems your new master has taught you some new tricks."

Kabuto smiled. He stood up faced the puppet master with amused eyes.

He's here, then. "Then how about he comes out, then?" he said aloud to the forest behind Kabuto. "Before I make a mess out of his little servant boy."

A shape darted out of the trees, landed behind Kabuto. He recongizned Orochimaru instantly, the features were as sharp and identifiable as ever. The pale face, green snake-eyes, sickly skin tone, and disgusting tongue.

"Sasori, my dear, dear partner. Whatever are you doing out here in a place like this?" The tongue slipped back into the impossibly large mouth. "Away from the mothership?"

"The Akatsuki is a part time job," he replied loftily. He gestured towards Kabuto. "Seems like you've taken my spy away from me. How did you do it." He said it not as a question, but as a command. Orochimaru had been his partner, after Sasori and the Leader had forcibly beaten him into submission. Therefore, Sasori was the superior force here.

The snake smiled. "You didn't come out here just to hear why. You came here for something else..."

"Information. On you."

The arms spread in an inviting manner. "Then please, ask away, my old friend! I'm sure I can satisfy your curiosity."

The bridge creaked ominously. Sasori casually undid the button holding the cloak together, and allowed it to fly off entirely.

Orochimaru tilted his head. "Or perhaps you want to settle something?"

"You could say that."

Kabuto looked back and forth between the two, then jumped out of the way. The air seemed to cool significantly, though Sasori could not exactly feel it against his smooth artificial exterior. He merely sensed the environment bracing itself.

In a moment, the white fiend's sleeve was filled with hungry, biting snakes, racing towards Sasori. He lifted up his arm to protect himself, and multiple fangs sunk into them. Orochimaru heaved his arm, and the snakes, carrying Sasori, followed. He went flying into the air, but the situation was still very much in his control.

His palms came apart with a crack and the two flamethrowers popped out. He released a tirade of fire that shot down onto the bridge and his opponent, momentarily overpowering the light of the morning sun as the ground became swallowed in a orange haze.

But he's much better than that to be taken in so easily. Still soaring through the sky, he retracted the flamethrowers and pulled out Blade. He had no real name for it, only called it that to give it the respect it deserved. He had claimed it from an old puppet-master who in turn had claimed he was the descendant of the Omoroski or Ototaski clan or whatever it was called, the clan that had originally created puppets. Regardless if the old man's story had been true, the Blade had broken all of Sasori's own tempered swords that day, earning it the position to be his personal weapon of choice.

True to his hypothesis, the flames suddenly seemed to stretch out towards him as Orochimaru flew out of them. He was clutching his infamous Sword of Kusangi, another legendary weapon of history. The clash of mystic steel made the air ripple and sparks fly. They grappled in midair, trying to gain leverage over each other.

The snake face grinned, then his tongue suddenly lanced out. It wrapped around his sword arm and tugged him down. He clutched the sword firmly in his hand-

His eyes tracked sudden movement below him. The former Akatsuki's foot crashed into his head and sent him spinning out of control towards the ground. He tried to pull himself into a controlled dive, but the ferocious wind prevented him from moving his sword arm. The ground was racing toward him quickly, and he found himself irresistibly shutting his eyes in that cowardly human fashion-

There was a huge rush of the air beside and then bloew him. He hit something soft but solid, to soon and not the right texture to be earth. He opened his eyes. A white ground?

"Yo, Sasori why'd you have to go tangling with a dried out loser like this guy, hmm?"

Of course he would come looking. Why am I not even surprised. He clutched a handful of the clay bird and then relaxed his grip. At least he came. Now the tables can turn.

XXX

Deidara

He guided the bird through the air, keeping Orochimaru in his sights. Sasori and the rest of Akatsuki had never spoken of him in warm tones, and his power was well respected. The rumor was that he was the most wanted shinobi in Konohagakure, on par with Itachi.

In other words, he's the perfect person to be made an example of with my art.

There was another young man, around his own age, standing off to the side. No doubt he had some purpose in the situation, but he hardly mattered.

"Let's size up the old man with some C2 explosives then, shall we?" He dug his palms into the bags at his hips, letting them chew up and mold the clay. He clapped them together, pouring his chakra into the creation-

"What an interesting sidekick to possess, Sasori of the Red Sand," called Orochimaru from below. "But I must say he's a far cry from being anything remotely useful. It seems all he can do is help you run away!"

Sidekick!

Sasori let his laugh trail down. "You'll find were both full of our own surprises." He dropped his voice down to just above a whisper. "You do have a plan, right? I'm not going to let myself look like an idiot for nothing."

"Oh stop your worrying and just enjoy the show!" He spread apart his palms, and in them rested a small pig-like creature. He threw it up into the air and did the hand signs, and suddenly it went from an almost childlike toy into a bloated, demonic looking machination.

"Is this-?"

"Oh, you know it!" The pig-like clay creature abruptly dive-bombed towards Orochimaru, who jumped to get out of it's line of attack-

"Oh, you wish snake-man." He concentrated his chakra, making his creation follow the former Akatsuki.

But that won't be enough, will it? Not against one of the famed Sannin, hmm...

Orochimaru took off running, obviously having some inkling that nothing good would happen if the clay animation struck him. He jumped into the canyon, but Deidara knew there was no chance for it to escape his seeking explosions.

A small detail caught his eye. The other man, where did he go?

The answer came as something struck the underbelly of the bird and wrenched it open. Both he and Sasori went falling through the sky, and he hastily dug into his picket for another quick transformation. He formed the bird, did the hand sign-

"Not this time, blondie!" A blue hue came carving out of nowhere and struck his right arm in the raw red mix, sending unbelievable pain running along his body. Whatever jutsu the man used was a high caliber, precise injury one, focusing chakra into a sharp blade that didn't pierce the skin but instead went for the vulnerable muscle beneath.

He stuffed the bird back into his palm, and this time the Iwagakure rogue spat out something a lot smaller.

"KATSU!"

The little insect-balls of C1 clay spread out like a blanket, lighting up the field in miniature explosions. His attacker was lost in the smoke and fire, and Deidara saw him clumsily falling to the ground.

"Teach you to mess with an artist, hmm!"

Sasori had landed well enough, and was looking down into the canyon to observe the chase. Orochimaru was running up along the vertical canyon wall now. Deidara raised an impressed eyebrow. He's managed to keep up the speed this long? Old man's got some stamina. But, time to add him to the museum.

The clay animation put on a burst of speed, seemingly growing larger-

"KATSU!"

The canyon lit up in a miniature sun, causing the bridge to shake tremendously. Smoke unfurled from the depths like a witch's cauldron, and below the sound of crashing rock thundered above to the heavens.

He smiled gleefully to himself. And that was only a C2! He unclasped his hands, knowing the battle was still unfinished.

From within the smoke, a massive snake emerged, a summoning no doubt. It's head craned out of the canyon, Orochimaru on it's head.

He threw down the bird, flattened himself down on it as the serpent's head came dangerously close to batting him out of the sky. He dug into his pockets for more clay. Something that can really tie up this beast and his trainer up...

"Deidara!" He looked down, saw Sasori with a new puppet. A sealing one. The puppet eyes looked up at him, conveying intent. He saw it, nodded his assent. The old one-two, then, hmm.

XXX

Sasori

The appearance of the serpent wouldn't have been problematic if he still had his hundreds of puppets available. As it was, he only had a handful of scrolls left, not to mention only one more elemental scroll.

But this puppet will do the job, if Deidara can do his job right.

The terrorist sculptor swooped down onto the snake, playing risk with the fangs. The monster lashed out once, twice, snapping its jaws at the hem of his trailing cloak. Orochimaru was oddly just observing Deidara, not making any move of his own to attack...

"That's an interesting kekkai genkai you possess," the Sannin called out, his curiosity tangible. "Such a gifted prodigy of Iwagakure... how on earth did you end up in a mud organization such as this one?"

He likes unique jutsu, Sasori remembered. Kekkai genkai, if I remember. There was that Kaguya Clan boy, and then the rumor of a woman who could utilize crystals. Now he has the Sharingan... could he really be making a move for...

The thought seemed disgusting to him. What would anyone want with someone like Deidara, kekkai genkai or not? He's almost a liability.

He brought his hands together and did the hand signs, and the scroll popped out of his shoulder joint and into his clasped palms. Can't be helped. But, it's time to show these two who's really in control here.

"Forty-Nine Blades Dance!"

He ripped open the scroll, and from within it spears, swords, axes, kunai, and other assorted weapons shot out, controlled by some invisible force. They plunged into the snake from down into the canyon up into its body, running along it's impossibly long structure and puncturing every organ the beast had.

Sasori came out with the Blade as the finish to the technique. Orochimaru, confused by the sudden pain and death ripping through his snake, swiveled his head with wide eyes at Sasori's approach-

"Take my spies from me, will you?" he growled at his old partner. "Always a bit to greedy, weren't you?"

The mouth spread in an inhumanely thin lipped smile. "Not greedy, just in pursuit of more things, my old friend." The Sword of Kusangi clashed against his Blade, knocking it away from being impaled into his right lung. They struggled in a deadlock, their full might pressed against each other. "We're both masters of power," the snake went on. "He was hardly 'yours.' But that's besides that point now. You and Akatsuki are a meddlesome organization that needs to be put down."

"I could say the same about you." He pushed vigorously against the other, and he stumbled back against the burst of wooden strength. "All these experiments you've conducted can hardly be justified, can they?"

Orochimaru recovered quickly, came slashing back, and again the deadlock reformed. Their strength was equalized, both had progressed heavily in their pursuit of strength. "But what of your own experiments," the snake whispered back. "How many lives to craft your own invincibility? We are not to different from each other, Sasori, we are both just two-"

"Don't talk about things you can never understand!" The Blade sliced down ferociously, the strength of it causing sparks to fly off the Sword of Kusangi. The sword tilted left as he brought his weapon up again, this time severing Orochimaru's arm off at the base. He finished with a kick that sent his one-time partner flying off the head of the dying snake and into the swinging Tenchi Bridge. The structure splintered upon impact and collapsed into the chasm, hundreds of meters down.

The snake blew up in a puff of smoke, but he had already jumped down in a more controlled vise into the chasm. Behind him, he could hear the rushing of Deidara on his clay bird.

Both landed safely into the chasm, where the wreckage of the bridge and Orochimaru sat quietly among shifting dust. The Sannin was still alive, of course, but the damage he had sustained was more than enough satisfaction.

Orochimaru hefted his last arm in mock surrender. "I yield, I yield."

Sasori shrugged off the feeble attempt and kicked him onto his stomach. "The Uchiha boy. He was from Konohagakure, wasn't he?"

A horrid coughing sound from the overturned body. "What of it?"

"Konohagakure doesn't have a lot of missing-nin, and they rarely allow them to stay missing for long. There's been several attempts by members of his old team to retrieve him." He bent over and picked up the Sannin by his purple sash, then with his other hand grabbed him by the throat. The snake eyes, once mocking and amused, were now barred with unmasked hatred and pain.

And worry. He was worried. About Sasori? About his line of questioning?

Fear was useful. He bent in close to the pale face. "That same team has been active in this area. I want them."

"To what end?"

The puppet fingers closed tightly around the other's neck. The snake eyes continued to glare, making no recognition of the pain.

"You don't need to know that, do you? But I require the use of Uchiha as bait for them to arrive. When they come and I've captured them, the boy will be yours to do as you please again. But the team itself I need."

He was aware Deidara was staring at him, probably in disbelief. The plan in his mind sounded reasonable, lure in Kakashi and his team with their missing member, then capture the jinchuuriki while killing Kakashi Hatake. But as he said it, he immediately realized how foolish it sounded. There was no way he would get this Uchiha boy to listen to him, especially when he was forcing his master to send him off. And what if they didn't even send in Team 7?

What am I thinking...

His grip loosened. In an instant, a massive dark bornw snake ejected itself from Orochimaru's mouth and wound itself around his arm. It squeezed, and he felt the wood creak in protest. He reacted by protruding several blades out of his arm, stabbing the snake in multiple places.

Orochimaru skittered up the vertical rock wall, taking off to his hideout undoubtedly.

That only left-

The hum of condensed chakra came close to his head. He shot his arm out like a piston, and he was met with a warm spray over his whole body.

Deidara gasped, having been to slow to actually see what happened. The inhuman speed Sasori could move was often to fast for the human eye to register, so it had merely appeared his arm had teleported into Kabuto's stomach.

At any rate, the result was the same. The blue hand came pathetically down on his shoulder, making a small indent. The eyes grew dim behind the cracked glasses, until both the hand and glasses fell away.

"Traitor," he said to the body on the ground. "What a weak sense of loyalty."

"Right, hmm," Deidara said, unnerved by the spectacle. "So, uh, what's the plan now? You weren't serious about that whole Uchiha kid thing, were you? Not that I have a problem with him, I'd love to fight someone with a Sharingan to hone my skills for Itachi, but controlling him like that would be impossible, hmm."

"I know, I was only trying to scare him with the notion of taking his prized possession away."

"Oh! Well, good play, hmm." The blonde shifted uneasily, rubbed his hand along his bird. "What was that about Kakashi Hatake, though?"

Sasori sat down, closed his eyes. He needed to think, and rest. Not rest in the terms of sleep, he never slept anymore. Rest as in recuperate his chakra and gather his thoughts.

"He is our new target. The Nine-Tails as well, if we can manage."

"Why Hatake?"

He paused, trying to find a suitable reason. "Because you wanted to test your might against the Sharingan, didn't you? So don't question it. He's just our target now, that's it."

Deidara grumbled a little, finally conceded. "Alright, so how do we bring them in?"

"We don't, we go to them. I have an informant in a central crossroads village not to far from here. We'll see if they've passed through, and then trace them."

The young artist ran a through his hair nonchalantly. "Fine, hmm. Just let me know when we take off, I'm going to go sculpt."

Sasori smiled, still facing away from his partner. Sculpt was just his way of saying he was probably going to demolish the forest.

"Don't take long, I'll only be a few minutes. We have little time to spare before they return to the village."

"And I won't miss my chance."