Author's Note: And with this chapter, we officially entered Shippuden! Yay!
This chapter finally feature the return of the Sand Siblings, not seen since the end of the Chunin Exam arcs. And boy, did I miss writing for them, all three of them. Oh, and unlike the canon Kazekage Rescue Arc, rest assured that Kankuro and Temari are NOT going to be pushed away to put Chiyo in their place. All arcs that focus on Suna in some way should have them front and center.
Anyway, enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 51
The Wind Stops Blowing
or
When the Sand Explodes
Fifteen and a Half Years since the Nine Tails attacked
A year had passed since the Kirigakure Civil War came to an end, thanks to Mei Terumi recruiting Konoha ninja to her side. After she was inaugurated as the Fifth Mizukage, she and Jiraiya wasted no time in formalizing an alliance treaty. With both Suna and Kiri as its allies, the future seemed bright for Konoha.
Seemed being the key word.
Turns out Suna hated Kiri with a passion. During the previous war, they sent Pakura, one of Suna's strongest ninja, and a hero the village looked up, to formalize and alliance with them. However, the Kiri ninja betrayed Suna and ambushed Pakura and her squad, revealing that their intention was to kill one of Suna's greatest ninja. Suna never forgot such transgression.
So naturally, when the news of Konoha's alliance with Kiri reached Suna, the Kazekage wasted no time and expressed his thoughts in a rather...colorful letter to the Hokage. Jiraiya learned at least five swear words he wasn't even aware they existed after reading that letter.
It took almost a whole year to smooth things up, in which multiple negotiations and diplomatic visits had to be made. Jiraiya was really thankful for keeping his old sensei around as an advisor, as Sarutobi's diplomatic skills saved his skin multiple times. Even then, it took giving Rasa a few Chakra Golems –with Naruto and Karin's explicit permission– to satisfy him. The fact that Kirigakure was under new leadership helped to alleviate some of the tensions between Suna and Kiri.
Eventually, they did manage to convince the Kazekage to let go of the old hatred of Kiri, and form a three way alliance with them and Konoha. However, Kiri had to make quite a few concessions, some of them of the monetary kind, but in the end, everybody was happy.
Right now, the long, arduous process was finally coming to an end. The Kazekage had sent his own children to Konoha in order to deliver the final draft of the alliance treaty Jiraiya had to sign in order to make it effective. Rasa, however, had forced Mei to come to Suna to sign the treaty herself. Given the circumstances, she had no choice but to comply.
Right now, both parties were gathered at the Hokage's Tower Council Room. Jiraiya was surrounded by his four advisors, Sarutobi, Koharu, Homura and Danzo, with the document on the table in front of him. At the other side of the table were Gaara and Kankuro. Wordlessly, Jiraiya took out a pen, and signed the document.
"Alright then, this should be it," Jiraiya picked the document as he got up from his chair, walked towards Gaara, and handed him the piece of paper.
"That was...quicker than I expected," Gaara said, as he took the paper from Jiraiya's hands. "Don't you want to negotiate more?"
"I discussed this with my advisors, and we found your father's terms pretty reasonable. Even Danzo, and that should say something!" Jiraiya laughed as he looked at Danzo, who shot him a neutral stare with his one eye. "Besides, after this year, I'm pretty sick of negotiations."
"So send your father our regards, and tell him that Konoha will always be a friend of Suna," Sarutobi interjected.
"Don't worry, he already knows that, even if he doesn't really show it," Kankuro assured. "It's just...well, your alliance with Kiri really pissed him off. It's like if we decided to ally with Orochimaru without telling you first."
Jiraiya chuckled. "Honestly, I can't picture that. But yeah, I can empathize with him. Hopefully, we can put this mess behind us."
"Yes," Gaara agreed. "Well, as much as I'd like to stay more, Father wants us to deliver him the treaty as soon as it was signed. So we will pick Temari up and leave."
"Sad, but understandable," Jiraiya said. "Anyway, have a good trip back home."
"Thank you, Hokage-dono," Gaara said as he made a polite bow, before he and Kankuro left.
They walked outside of the tower, and saw Naruto and Hinata still there. The couple had walked with the brothers to the tower and told them they would wait for them when the meeting was over. Gaara told them not to since it could last several hours, but in the end, it ended up being as short as Naruto had expected.
"So, I presume everything went alright?" Naruto asked with a hopeful grin.
Gaara nodded. "Indeed. I was expecting for Hokage-dono to try to negotiate better terms, but he's a far more generous leader than most."
"Heh, yes, dad knows the value of friends and allies," Naruto chuckled. "So, what now?"
"Now that the treaty is signed, we need to return to Suna as soon as possible and deliver it to Father," Gaara replied.
Naruto deflated a little. "Aw, shucks. I was hoping you guys would stay a little more. I feel I haven't seen you guys in forever."
"Don't worry, we'll return to see the Chunin Exams," Kankuro told them. "Temari is planning to enter her Genin team for the exams, so we'll come to help her."
"Ah, the Chunin Exams..." Naruto said, as he became a little nostalgic. "It feel like they were so long ago, given that all of us are Jonin now!"
"Well, I'm just Special Jonin, but hopefully I'll become one soon..." Hinata said, rubbing her arm. "Then again, so is Haku-kun."
"By the way, where is he?" Gaara asked. "I wanted to have a chance to talk with him as well, yet I didn't see him."
"Haku-kun is a bit busy now. Yugao-san and Hayate-san had a child recently, so Haku-kun is a bit busy helping them taking care of the little boy. His name's Seiichi, by the way," Hinata explained.
"In a way, I can understand him. Shizune-neechan also had a second child, and she sometimes calls me whenever she needs a babysitter for her and Shiro," Naruto explained.
Shizune and Shisui had decided to call their daughter Shizuka. The name got even more groans and eye rolls when they decided on it.
"Speaking of the absent, where is Temari-san? I thought she would be present for the signing of the treaty," Hinata inquired.
Kankuro snorted dismissively. "She wanted to spend some time with Pineapple Head," Kankuro said, rolling his eyes. "I'm betting the two of them are having some fun while we are here stuck doing all the boring diplomatic chores."
…
Training Ground Ten
"I'm so NOT having fun right now!" Shikamaru cried as he barely avoided a powerful gust of wind, which shattered into splinters a tree stump.
"Really? Because I'm having a blast here," Temari laughed as she prepared her giant folding fan for another attack.
Shikamaru knew he had no one but himself to blame for this. He promised he'd give the Suna kunoichi the rematch she demanded since his first Chunin Exams. Whenever he would meet Temari –and he did meet with her A LOT during the past year– she would always bring that up, but Shikamaru wanted to leave it for the next time, arguing that ne needed to train more in order to be a match for her. Which wasn't a complete lie either.
However, Temari couldn't wait anymore, and pretty much forced him to fight her before she would leave for Suna. Shikamaru realized he couldn't delay their clash for any longer, and decided to get over it already.
Feeling it was his time to attack, Shikamaru's hands flew through hand seals.
"Fire Release: Great Flame Jutsu!"
Shikamaru took a deep breath, and exhaled a large stream of fire at Temari, which widened as it flew. Temari just shook her head, and smirked.
"Tsk, tsk, still thinking you can defeat me because your affinity beats mine," Temari confidently said as she wounded back her giant battle fan. "Great Sickle Weasel Jutsu!"
Temari motioned her fan forward, creating a powerful gust of wind that stopped the fire stream right on its tracks. The fire stream then burst into a multitude of embers, that set several parts of the battleground on fire. Temari smirked confidently as she stopped her opponent's attack, but her smile disappeared the moment a realization dawned upon her.
"Wait a minute, the flames, they're casting shad-" she started to realize.
"Shadow Imitation Jutsu!"
With all the shadows created by the small flames scattered across the battlefield, Shikamaru could expand and extend his shadow far beyond his usual limit, and catch Temari from a safe distance. The Suna kunoichi started to run and jump around, trying to avoid the multiple shadow threads attempting to bind her shadow. She did try to get closer to Shikamaru in order to counterattack, but the Nara was cleverly pushing her away from him with his jutsu.
"Enough!" Temari said as she reached for something inside her ninja tool pouch, before tossing it at her feet.
A cloud of smoke formed, hiding her from Shikamaru's eyes. He probed the cloud with his shadow threads, but was unable to find Temari. And before he had time to keep probing, several shuriken flew out of the cloud of smoke towards him. Having no other option, Shikamaru cancelled the jutsu and jumped sideways in order to avoid them.
"Now's my chance!" Temari said as prepared to attack. She then motioned her giant folding fan downwards, creating a gust of wind under her. She then hopped onto her fan, and flew on it as if it was some sort of glider.
"This has to be a joke..."
Joke or not, Temari was coming from him from the air. He could barely jump and hit the dirt before Temari passed over him. Unfortunately, the danger wasn't over, since Temari maneuvered her fan to spin around, and glided at him once again, a sadistic smile on her lips.
"Troublesome woman," Shikamaru muttered as he rummaged through his ninja tool pouch, in order to find something that could save his ass. "Take this!"
Shikamaru tossed a handful of kunai and shuriken at the flying kunoichi. While it looked like a lame counterattack at first, it proved to be effective as Temari had nothing to protect herself with, and was forced to jump out of her fan, which fell to the ground a few meters from her
"Now that she's unarmed, this is my chance!" Shikamaru said as he pulled out several kunai with explosive tags attached to it, and tossed them to the intermediate space between Temari and her fan.
"Whatever you're planning, it won't work!" Temari declared as she boldly rushed through the improvised minefield. Explosions went off as she passed the tags, but she soldiered on. With one final leap, she landed besides her fan, and recovered her trusty weapon. "You failed, Shikamaru!"
"You think so?" Shikamaru's voice said behind the cloud of dirt and dust the explosions had created. "Shadow Imitation Jutsu!"
Once again, several shadow threads appeared from the vanishing cloud of dust, but Temari wasn't deterred.
"Trying to put me on the defensive again? Ha, fat chance!" Temari said as he blew her fan once again. "Great Sickle Weasel Jutsu!"
Temari made sure to put as much chakra into the attack as possible in order to give it enough power to reach and hit Shikamaru. She felt her body going stiff as Shikamaru's jutsu bind her shadow, but it would be temporary. The gust of wind caught the Nara, and violently hurled him against a tree.
"Yes!" she cheered.
However, there was something wrong. Despite cancelling the jutsu, Temari didn't recover her mobility. She looked down, and saw that the shadow thread was gone. Then how is that she couldn't move anymore? Was that a new jutsu that permanently left you paralyzed despite only touching your shadow for a few seconds?
Then, to answer her question, 'Shikamaru' disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Shadow Neck Binding Jutsu!"
A shadowy arm crept through Temari's body as it reached her throat, and put a slight pressure on it.
"And unless you think otherwise, I believe the fight goes to me," Shikamaru's voice said from behind.
Temari sighed. "Okay, okay, I admit defeat."
Shikamaru smirked in victory and undid the jutsu. She then walked towards Temari, hoping she wouldn't be too mad for the loss.
"So, was the fight to your liking?" Shikamaru asked.
Then, in a split second, Temari pushed Shikamaru backwards as she tripped his feet, making him fall on his back. Temari then sat on top of his chest, and pinned his arms to the ground.
"Ugh..." Shikamaru groaned, as she looked at Temari, staring into his eyes. "If I won, how is that I'm in the ground and you're on top?"
Temari smirked at him. "Because that's the way it should be."
Temari then closed her eyes, lowered her head, and planted a kiss on Shikamaru's lips. A kiss the lazy Nara happily welcomed.
"See? Just like I said, having fun with her boyfriend and leaving all the work to us," a new male voice complained.
Temari quickly broke the kiss, and realized that her brothers, Naruto and Hinata were staring at them. Gaara looked as stoic and unexpressive as usual, Kankuro was looking at them un-amused, Naruto was grinning widely, while Hinata was smiling at them. Temari blushed a little, quickly got on her feet, and helped Shikamaru on his.
"Um...what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in the Hokage's Tower?" Temari awkwardly asked.
"We were. The meeting is over, and the treaty is signed. Time to go back home. Unless you want to spend more time here sucking face with Pineapple Head," Kankuro retorted.
"Why does everybody calls me that?" Shikamaru complained to no one in particular. Then he turned at Temari, and smiled sadly at her. "So, you're leaving then?"
Temari nodded, returning the sad smile. "Yeah. I was expecting that things would last longer. But oh well, I'll be back for the Chunin Exams."
"Well, I can still walk you to the gates then," Shikamaru offered.
"You better," Temari replied, as she and Shikamaru started walking with the others. "By the way, when did you learn the Shadow Clone jutsu? It requires a lot of chakra, and you don't look like having a big chakra pool to me."
"My mom taught it to me," Shikamaru replied. "After failing the first Chunin Exam, she pretty much ran me into the ground with training exercises until I had enough chakra to create a single clone. Then again, she wanted me to expand my chakra reserves. Learning the Shadow Clone was just an added bonus. Though I have to admit it's very useful. No wonder Naruto spam's it nonstop," Shikamaru mentioned, making Naruto chuckle a little.
"Your mom sounds like my kind of woman," Temari said, interested. "Speaking of which, how is that you never introduced me to your parents yet?"
"I don't think our relationship is in the appropriate stage for such thing to happen," Shikamaru uneasily replied, as he rubbed the back of his neck.
Temari frowned. "I'll be the one to decide that. Plus you met my father already."
"Yeeeeeeesh, and I'm trying to forget that day as hard as I can," Shikamaru replied.
"Why? It was hilarious!" Kankuro interjected, followed by a loud laugh. "I can't wait until Temari brings you to have dinner with all of us!"
Shikamaru let out a weary sigh, and realized that Kankuro's words would be true sooner or later. Why couldn't he just have dated an orphan...
…
A few minutes later, the group of six were heading towards the gates of Konoha, making some small talk among them, when suddenly, a brown blur passed in front of them at an almost imperceptible speed, causing the three Suna ninja to startle and get ready for a fight. Naruto, Hinata and Shikamaru though, didn't, since they were used to it.
"Boy, she did last a lot longer this time around," Naruto chuckled.
"Yes. Wonder who will be the unlucky ones tasked to catch her this time," Hinata giggled.
"What are you guys talking about?" Temari asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Somebody stop that cat!" a high pitched female voice yelled, answering both Hinata and Temari's questions.
The group of six saw Kaida, Hagane and Hanabi running from the same direction the blur had came from. The three of them were wearing Konoha headbands, indicating their status as ninja.
"Hey there, guys," Naruto greeted the trio. "So, you got the Tora mission?"
Hagane nodded. "Unfortunately, yes. This is the second time in a month that we got it. Honestly, this isn't what I was expecting when I graduated the Academy."
"I'm the closest thing Konoha has to a princess! I can't spend all my time chasing cats!" Kaida whined.
"Do you guys need some help?" Hinata offered.
Kaida's face beamed in response. "That would be-"
"No, thank you," Hanabi interrupted her. "We are now full-fledged ninja, we can't let others do our work for us."
Hinata smiled at her sister. "That's a very mature way of thinking, Hanabi-chan. I'm proud of that."
Hanabi smiled back at her older sister. Kaida, however, shot her a murderous glare.
"So, where did that damn cat go?" Hagane asked.
"I'll tell you right now. Byakugan!" Hanabi said as she activated her Bloodline Limit. "There! It's hidden behind a trashcan in that alley!"
"Good, that alley is a dead end!" Kaida said as she rushed towards the alley. "That damn cat is about to feel the power of the First Hokage!"
"Sister, wait...!" Hagane said as he and Hanabi trailed behind her.
"You have nowhere to run down, Tora! Nobody's going to save you!" the heard Kaida's voice yell. "Wood Release: Great For-AAAAAAAAHHHH!
"MEOOOOOOOOWWWW!"
"STOP! STOP IT, YOU DAMN PEST! NOT IN THE FACE, NOT IN THE FACE! BROTHER, HANABI, SAVE ME!"
Eventually, between the three of them, they managed to subdue Tora. The cat was now trying to break from a wooden cage made by Kaida, as Hagane used medical ninjutsu to heal his sister's many, many, many scratch wounds. The Team's Jonin-Sensei, Tenzo, appeared shortly after in case they needed help.
"I hate that cat so much..." Kaida seethed.
"Good job catching Tora, kids," Tenzo congratulated them. "Madam Shijimi will be happy to have her beloved pet back."
"Why can't we just kill it and tell her she went to live to a farm?" Kaida protested. "I'm tired of having to catch that cat!"
"Sadly, we can't. Tora represents a fifteen percent of the village's mission income. It would be a huge blow to our economy," Tenzo explained to her. "Now let's go back to report that the mission has been a success."
As Team Tenzo left, Naruto, Hinata, Shikamaru and the Sand Siblings continued their way to the village's gates.
"I see you guys also have your own Emi," Kankuro noted.
"Emi?" Shikamaru asked, looking a bit confused.
"The Wind Lord's pet dwarf pig. It constantly tries to escape, and many Genin team are assigned to catch it. From what I heard, it's quite the nightmarish beast despite its small size," Temari explained. "Thank goodness we never had to catch him."
"How so?" Hinata asked.
"Being the Kazekage's kids has some perks, you know," Kankuro said with a wide grin.
"Well, I'm the Hokage's son and that never got me out of doing an awful mission," Naruto bitterly said.
"Come on, don't complain. None of us got to catch Tora when we were Genin," Shikamaru told him. "Thankfully so, I admit."
"Because we had Tamaki-san to summon her. But even Tamaki-san got tired of doing that all the time," Hinata interjected. "Not to mention that now that she's Chunin, there's no way for her to take that mission again."
Finally, they reached the gates, and the group stopped.
"Our stay in Konoha has been pleasant, but now we must leave," Gaara announced. "We'll come back for the Chunin Exams in a couple months, though."
"I'll be looking forward it, then!" Naruto happily said.
"Yeah, me too. Of all the women I ever met, you're the least annoying," Shikamaru told Temari.
Temari shot an un-amused look at her boyfriend. "You know, we'll need to work on your compliments a bit more."
"Come on, you know I'm just kidding," Shikamaru said with an earnest smile. "I'll be looking forward seeing you again."
"You can always visit me in Suna, you know," Temari suggested, placing her hands on her hips.
"I could but...crossing a desert sounds beyond troublesome..." Shikamaru whined.
"What!? You wouldn't cross a desert to see me? Some boyfriend you are!" Temari protested, before Kankuro grabbed her arm and dragged her out of Konoha.
"Enough of love quarrels, we need to go, now!" Kankuro told his sister.
"Don't think I'm ever going to forget this, Pineapple Head!" Temari said as she and her brothers headed back to Suna.
Shikamaru sighed. "Oh boy, I better prepare a good way to make up to her for that when she comes back. Man, sometimes I almost feel that girls are not worth the effort. Almost."
"Well, you weren't exactly very sensitive there, Shikamaru-san," Hinata told him.
Shikamaru shrugged. "Eh, it's who I am."
As the three Suna ninja disappeared behind a sea of trees, the three Konoha ninja headed back to their village. And unbeknownst to both groups, a White Zetsu emerged from the ground, and smirked.
"Yes, the Jinchuriki finally left Konoha, and has minimal protection. Time to warn the artists..." the Zetsu said as he sank back into the ground.
…
Sometime later, deep in the forests of the Land of Fire, the Sand Siblings continued their trek back home, leaping from one tree branch to the next as fast as they could.
"If we can keep this pace, we'll be home in less than two days," Gaara told his older siblings. "Father will be pleased when he hears the news of our early arrival."
"I don't know why we have to bring the treaty ourselves. Couldn't a courier bird do the trick?" Kankuro said, unhappy with the idea of being a courier himself.
"This treaty is far too important to trust an animal to carry it back home, Kankuro," Temari pointed out. "The fact that it has been trust to us of all Suna ninja should speak volumes of its importance."
Kankuro just rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I just want to go back to do real missions as soon as possible. I've been carving for some action recently."
Shortly after those words left Kankuro's lips, a set of explosions rocked the forest, engulfing the Sand Siblings in fire and shrapnel. Several birds that were calmly perched on nearby tree branches flew away, letting out caws of fear. A couple trees toppled down after the explosions shattered their trunks, and fell to the ground with a loud thump.
When the smoke and dust raised by the explosions, there were several craters in the ground, surrounding a large sand dome. The dome then dissolved into sand, which returned to Gaara's gourd on his back.
"Are you okay?" Gaara asked, as he looked around for whoever attacked them.
"Yes," Temari grumbled, before he glared at his hooded brother. "Way to go, Kankuro! Hope you're happy with all this 'action'!"
"Hey, how did I know something like this would happen?" Kankuro protested as he raised his arms in defense.
"Silence," Gaara said, softly but firmly. "We need to stay alert. Whoever attacked us is still there, and will strike again soon. There's no time for meaningless quarrels."
Temari and Kankuro nodded somewhat sheepishly, and prepared for the incoming fight. Temari unfolded her giant war fan, while Kankuro unfurled three scrolls before him. From the scrolls, three puppets were unsealed: Karasu, his very first puppet, and the one he had used in the Chunin Exams –to very little success– . The second one was similar to the first, only with a bulkier, barrel-shaped body, a bucket shaped face, and six arms instead of four. The third one, however, resembled a large mechanical lizard.
A minute passed, but the attack never came. Gaara managed to remain calm, but his older siblings were starting to grow antsy. That's it, until they saw a shadow quickly passing over them.
"Kankuro, up there!" Temari pointed somewhere in the sky.
Kankuro wasted no time and directed Karasu towards the spot the enemy has been seen, and directed it to attack. Raising its four arms, the puppet fired a barrage of senbon and kunai while moving its arms in an arc to cover a wider range.
The shadow appeared again, moving between the branches. This time, it wouldn't escape as Gaara prepared to attack.
"Wind Release: Sand Shuriken!"
Several sand projectiles fired towards the shadow, and a loud "ouch!" could be heard. Then emerging from the treetops, a large, artificial looking white bird appeared, with a blond young man wearing a black cloak with red clouds on it riding on top of it.
"Akatsuki. I knew it," Gaara said as he eyed his attacker.
"Dammit, so much for stealth," the Akatsuki grumbled.
"Wait a minute, I think I know this guy," Temari mentioned. "Konoha told us that two Akatsuki appeared in Kiri to abduct the Mizukage, and one of them fits your description. Are you Deidara, the missing-nin of Iwa?"
"You bet I am!" Deidara proudly confirmed. "And today, you three will have the luck to die by my magnificent art!"
"Gaara, he's coming after you. Stay behind us," Temari said, as she took a step forward, ready to face the Iwa missing nin.
"Actually, I don't believe he's alone. Akatsuki usually attack in pairs. His teammate must be close," Gaara warned his siblings.
"Here it comes!" Kankuro warned.
Deidara started to fly above them, close enough so they could be seen, but far enough so their attacks couldn't reach him. Reaching into his bag, the Akatsuki pulled out some explosive clay, and molded it with the mouths he had on the palm of her hands. After chewing the clay a bit, they spat it in the form of ugly looking birds.
"Let's start with something soft," Deidara said as he dropped his bombs as he flew above the trio of Suna ninjas. He then made a hand seal. "Boom!"
The clay birds exploded just before they were about to touch the ground. Kankuro and Temari jumped away in different directions to avoid the explosions, while Gaara shielded himself once again with his sand.
"Scatter! If we're together, his explosions won't be able to reach us!" Kankuro suggested.
"No! That's what the Akatsuki wants! To drive us away from Gaara and leave him unprotected!" Temari argued back.
Gaara had to admit that both his siblings had a point. Remaining together would make them too vulnerable to Deidara's explosive attacks, but it was very clear that the Akatsuki were playing a divide and conquer strategy.
"Both of you are right. However, we can't play into the Akatsuki's hands. We need to be smarter than them," Gaara told them.
"What do you suggest, then?" Kankuro asked.
"Let's remain split apart, though close enough to provide help. The Akatsuki want me, so they'll focus their attacks on me. Of the three of us, I'm the one with the best defenses, so I'll be able to handle them better. Attack the Akatsuki when they're vulnerable," Gaara told them.
Both Kankuro and Temari admitted that it was a sound strategy, even if a little risky. But then again, they weren't in an advantageous position, so they'll have to work with what they had. The three Suna ninjas placed themselves in a triangular formation, with Gaara in the middle, as if tempting the Akatsuki to go and get them.
"You think you're so smart, do you?" Deidara said with a snarl. "But your little plan has a hole on it!"
The Sand siblings were alerted but multiple piercing whistles, as a multitude of equally piercing senbon flew towards them. Temari and Kankuro sprang into action. Placing herself in front of Gaara, she fully unfolded her fan and hid behind it as if it was a shield. Kankuro, meanwhile, used his own puppets to parry the needles.
"You should look were you're stepping into, girl!" Deidara shouted from above.
"What the...?" Temari asked as she reflexively looked down, and much to her horror, she saw some of Deidara's clay animals emerging from underground. "OH SHIT!"
Deidara made a hand seal. "Boom!"
Once again, more explosions rocked the battlefield. Gaara was able to shield himself with the sand, but he wasn't fast enough to protect his siblings, which were painfully hurled into the air, before falling back into the ground, away from Gaara.
"Well, now that I got rid of those two, we can focus on the matter at hand, hm?" Deidara said with a wicked grin.
Gaara fixed a deadly glare on Deidara, as more sand started to pour from his gourd. "You will pay for that."
Far from being intimidated, Deidara grinned in response. "And how do you plan to do that, jinchuriki?"
"Sand Suspension."
With a hand motion, he gathered all his sand under his feet in the form of a platform, and with another gesture, the platform elevated him high into the air, above the trees below almost as high as Deidara's bird was.
"I don't think I've ever had to fight against an airborne opponent. Anyway, this going to be fun!" Deidara said with a glee as he threw something forward. Gaara could see there were tiny birds made of clay that flew towards him.
"More explosives. Better get rid of them as soon as possible," Gaara deduced before making another hand gesture. "Sand Bullets!"
Gaara formed bullets of super compressed sand and shot them towards the incoming explosive birds. The clay figurines detonated once the bullets impacted them, but being that far away from Gaara, the explosions were harmless.
Before the ensuing clouds of smoke could dispel, a few insects made of clay flew out of them, and dashed towards Gaara. The jinchuriki was unfazed, as with another hand motion, he prepared his defense.
"Wind Release: Infinite Sandstorm!"
Gaara blew a massive sandstorm forward. Deidara commanded his clay insects to dodge it, but the sand jutsu's range was way too wide, and the insects were caught, prematurely exploding once again.
"Okay, I think I have a good assessment on what this dude can do. Catching him off guard won't be easy, but there's no challenge my art can't overcome!" Deidara confidently thought.
"I can't let him push me into the defensive. If I want to win this, I have to attack," Gaara thought, and with a hand motion, he commanded the sand platform to fly closer to Deidara.
The blond Akatsuki noticed this and, flew away, trying to keep the distance, since he wouldn't be able to use his explosives on such a short distance. Well, technically he could, but his self preservation instincts told him otherwise.
As Gaara began his chase, he saw Kankuro and Temari in the ground from the corner on his eye. They were back on his feet and looked ready to fight, filling the redhead with relief.
"Oi, you don't have time to look around!" Deidara called him out, as if reading his mind. "Don't worry about your friends. My pal's down there with them, and he will make sure that they enjoy a slow and agonizing death. Then again, that might be a reason to worry, don't you think so?" Deidara asked, shooting him an unnerving grin.
"Kankuro and Temari are far stronger than you think. Your partner is going to be for a rough time," Gaara fire back.
"I won't worry about him, just like you shouldn't worry about those two other kids. All you should worry...is my art!" Deidara said as he threw more explosive clay figurines at Gaara.
…
Meanwhile, down below, Kankuro and Temari were back on their feet. They were looking at the sky high battle above them, which filled them with a sense of uselessness upon realizing that there was nothing they could do to help their little brother.
"That guy's smart. They sent a fly-capable Akatsuki to deal with Gaara, knowing that Gaara can fly as well and thus forcing him to fight alone," Temari said, as she intently watched the fight.
"When this is over, I'm going to build a flying puppet," Kankuro said.
"Forget about the future. We need to find a way to help Gaara NOW!" Temari stated, stomping his foot for an added emphasis.
"I know, but what can we do, Temari? We have no jutsu that can reach that high!" Kankuro protested.
"Don't worry about not being able to help your brother, kids. I'll keep you busy in the meantime. After all, I know how tedious can be when somebody makes you wait," a new, deep and raspy voice said.
Temari and Kankuro quickly turned around, ready to fight however was there, and as expected, another Akatsuki was standing before them. Well, 'standing' might not be the right word.
In front of them was what appeared to be an extremely hunched man, almost looking like he was walking on all fours, wearing the standard black cloak with red clouds of the Akatsuki. The lower part of his face was covered by a piece of black cloth, obscuring his identity.
"Here's the other one," Temari said to no one in particular.
"What's with that guy? Is he even human?" Kankuro asked, taking note of the being's strange appearance.
The Akatsuki seemed to find Kankuro's question amusing, and let out a small laugh.
"Human? No. At least not anymore. Funny you ask that. You are right, though not for the reasons you're thinking," the Akatsuki chuckled.
"Well, human or not, you're about to become a corpse!" Temari said as she took a step forward, and wounded her fan back. "Great Sickle Weasel Jutsu!"
However, before the ensuing gust of wind could blast the Akatsuki, it disappeared, shocking both siblings.
"He's fast!" Temari said in awe.
"Of course he is! If he was a weakling, I doubt he'll be part of Akatsuki!" Kankuro said, as he motioned his puppets to place themselves in a formation surrounding both he and Temari. "Get ready for his attack!"
"Your name is Kankuro, right? Or so I heard," the other Akatsuki asked. "I see you're a puppeteer. It's been a while since I met one. Do you mind if I test your abilities for a bit? Since I have nothing better to do until Deidara finishes the job."
"Show yourself, you coward!" Kankuro shouted back.
The Akatsuki chuckled. "I'll take that as a yes."
Multiple whistling sounds warned the two Sand Siblings of another attack, several senbon coming flying from a nearby group of bushes. Temari turned around, and swung her war fan once again.
"Great Sickle Weasel Jutsu!"
A wall of wind stopped the barrage of senbon dead in their tracks, while clearing the area of small vegetation, leaving the weird looking Akatsuki in the open, though unaffected by Temari's wind attack. Meanwhile, Kankuro moved Karasu and Kuroari to attack their now uncovered enemy, and positioned them to make sure the Akatsuki wouldn't escape nor have space to evade them.
"Take this!" Kankuro yelled.
Karasu and Koruari started to spin around the Akatsuki at high speed. Then, with a tiny flick of his finger, Kankuro triggered their hidden weapon mechanisms. Karasu fired several poison coated kunai, while Kuroari fired several senbon, also poisoned as well. The Akatsuki didn't move. He didn't need to, as a segmented, metallic tail ended in a triangular tip appeared from under him, and parried all the attacks at a break-necking speed.
"What the...?" Kankuro asked in shock.
It didn't finish there. The metal tail slammed into Kuroari, dismantling it to pieces, before it wrapped around Karasu, and lifted it above his body.
"Is this the best you can do, puppeteer?" the Akastuki asked in his guttural voice. "Not only I'm not impressed. I'm disappointed even," he finished, before tossing Karasu against Kankuro and Temari.
Both of them jumped aside to avoid the incoming puppet, but soon they would find that was a mere distraction. The metal tail flew at Temari, ready to impale her. The kunoichi reacted in time, folded her war fan, and used it to parry the blow. Still, she was unprepared for the amount of force the metallic tail was carrying, and she was hurled backwards.
"Ugh!" Temari groaned as her back hit a nearby tree.
"Temari!" Kankuro instinctively yelled, but forced himself to ignore his sister's predicament. "No! I have to take advantage now and attack while he's focused on Temari!"
Kankuro reassembled both Kuroari and Karasu, and send them again after the Akatsuki. It proved to be fruitless, as the black and red clad man...thing repelled the attack with another swing of his powerful tail.
"You bore me," the Akatsuki flatly said, before digging underground.
"For such a strange being, he doesn't lack in mobility," Kankuro said to no one in particular, as he gathered his puppets around him, waiting for the inevitable attack.
It didn't take long before the iron tail burst from underground and lunged at Kankuro. The Suna Jonin quickly moved Sanshouo between him and the impeding attack. The lizard shaped puppet deployed an iron shield above its head, which successfully parried the attack.
"You won't be able to pierce Sanshouo's iron hard defense!" Kankuro boasted. "Now, let's get you back into the open!"
With another hand motion, Karasu fired a barrage of kunai with explosive notes attached to them at the area where the tail came from, creating multiple explosions. Predictably, the Akatsuki was forced out in the open. The strange-shaped being chuckled.
"Heh, maybe you have-"
"Wind Release. Wind Pillar!"
A powerful gust of wind hurled the Akatsuki into the air, much to his surprise.
"Don't dare forget about me!" Temari called.
"Good job, sister. Karasu and Kuroari will finish this now!" Kankuro said, as he moved Kuroari where the Akatsuki would fall.
The puppet then opened its barrel like stomach, revealing a large empty space inside. The Akatsuki fell inside, and in a heartbeat, the compartment was closed. Meanwhile, Karasu disassembled into many body parts, all of them ended in sharp blades, which floated around Kuroari.
"Time to finish this," Kanuro said, making a hand motion.
…
Meanwhile, back above the trees, Deidara and Gaara continued their aerial duel, exchanging explosions and sand-based attacks.
"You're a tough nut to crack, I admit that," Deidara said. "Say, let's make a deal: you come with us in piece, and you dear siblings will be spared. What do you say, hn?"
"You suppose my siblings will fall to that partner of yours. They're strong ninja, and those who underestimate them will pay for it dearly," Gaara stoically replied.
Deidara couldn't repress a smirk. "I'd knew you'll turn down that deal, that's why I offered it in the first place. It won't be no fun if you gave up like that. Then again, I'm afraid it's you who's underestimating Sasori."
The name seemed to resonate with the redheaded Jinchuriki. "Sasori? As in...Sasori of the Red Sands?"
Deidara chuckled. "Do you know any other Sasori? Besides, that guy's from the same turf as you are, hn?"
Gaara never met Sasori, but he heard about him multiple times. Sasori of the Red Sands was probably Suna's greatest puppeteer, as well as one of deadliest ninja the village ever produced. Almost nothing was known about him after his defection. But if what Deidara said was true, then his siblings were in grave danger.
"I have to help them!"
On instinct, Gaara turned around and headed down once again, but Deidara got in the way.
"Where are you going, kid? Don't forget that I'm your opponent!" Deidara shouted, sounding almost indignant.
Gaara's face formed a dangerous scowl. "Then I'll take you out of the picture."
Deidara grinned widely. "That's the spirit! You're the kind of opponent I love to unleash my best art against!"
Gaara prepared to resume the fight. It was one thing when it was just his life was on the stakes. But if he wanted to save his siblings, he'll have to fight like he never did before. He made a hand seal.
"Wind Release: Multiple Sand Dragon Bullets!"
The sand floating around Gaara took the shape of multiple serpentine dragons, who all launched themselves at Deidara, their jaws wide open ready to chomp the Akatsuki to bits. Deidara cursed under his breath, and maneuvered his giant clay bird to evade the incoming attack. He tried to make the dragons to crash against each other, however, they would easily rebuild themselves in no time, and continue the chase.
"Okay, let's see what he thinks of this then," Deidara mused as he molded more explosive clay with the mouth on his palms.
He produced what appeared to be an insect with a bloated body. He tossed it forward, and after a smoke explosion, it grew to the same size of its bird. Art its bigger size, Gaara could appreciate it was a crudely made bee that carried a large egg shack on its abdomen.
"Let's see what you do about the Explosive Clay Hive Queen, hn!" Deidara boasted, as the giant clay insect flew forward.
The Hive Queen opened its jaws and spat two clay balls that quickly took the form of clay insects that flew towards him. The redhead stopped directing the sand dragons, and sent a barrage of sand projectiles towards the clay insects, causing them to prematurely detonate. The Hive Queen pressed the attack, this time spitting four explosive insects. When Gaara tried the same tactic, the insects skillfully maneuvered around the sand projectiles. Gaara put an end to them with a wide ranged sandstorm.
Gaara's sand reacted on his own and formed a protective dome above him. Several explosions shattered the dome, but absorbed most of the impact, protecting the jinchuriki. Taking a quick glance upwards, Gaara saw Deidara flying above him in circles.
Gaara realized that Deidara's plan was to force him to divert his attention to something else so he could attack when the jinchuriki was distracted, yet this knowledge wasn't of much help.
"Come on, Gaara, think!" Gaara chided himself as he tried to focus on both Deidara and the Explosive Hive Queen.
Speaking of which, the latter released four more clay insects at him. Gaara decided to fight fire with fire, and tried something he had never done before. He formed four globs of sand, shaped them like bats, and send them after the explosive insects.
"Sand Flying Ambush!"
Each of the bats focused on the targets, which tried to evade them, but unlike previous attacks, this one was homing, and even if the bats didn't catch the insects, they would keep them on the run pretty much forever.
"Now is when the Akatsuki would try to attack me," Gaara thought as he looked upwards, but saw nobody above him. "Where did he-?"
Suddenly, an explosion from below knocked him out of the sand cloud, and fell to the ground below. Fortunately, his sand reacted in time, and formed a sledge that allowed him to slide to the ground safely.
"The bastard attacked from below this time around," Gaara said in realization, far too late.
"Oi! No time to get distracted!" Deidara mocked from above.
Not forgetting about the other enemy, Gaara turned around to see the Explosive Hive Queen flying towards him once again. It spat four more globs of clay that turned into clay insects.
"If I have to fight two enemies at once, I might as well split in two," Gaara said as he made a hand seal. "Sand Clone Jutsu!"
Part of his sand gathered and formed a humanoid shape, that quickly morphed into an almost perfect replica of Gaara. Both Gaara and the clone summoned sand clouds once again, and hopped onto them in order to return to the aerial fight.
"So, a clone. You must think you're pretty smart," Deidara said in a taunting tone. "Too bad that by doing so, you cut the amount of sand you can use in half."
"That's all what I need to defeat you, Akatsuki. And if it's not, I can assure you that getting more sand is not a problem to begin with," Gaara retorted as he made a hand motion. "Wind Release: Sand Shuriken!"
A large barrage of star-shaped sand projectiles flew at Deidara. The Akatsuki maneuvered his bird with great skill to avoid the deadly projectiles, but the amount of them were too many this time, and some of them ended up finding its mark, producing multiple cuts across his skin, some of them rather deep.
"ARGH! So, you like to play rough, hn? Well, so do I!" Deidara said as he made a hand seal. "Explosion Release: Swarm of Fire!"
The Explosive Hive Queen, who was dealing with the sand clone, start to spat globs of clay like crazy until it emptied its egg sack. The globs quickly took the shape of flying insects. With a loud buzz that sounded more like a roar due the sheer intensity, the insects charged forward. Their first target was the Gaara clone, who, being much weaker than the original, perished instantly upon being engulfed by a chain of explosions, obliterating it. The remaining of the swarm set their sights on Gaara, and began the chase.
Gaara frowned upon seeing the swarm approaching. He made a single hand seal with both hands.
"Wind Release: Infinite Sandstorm!"
Gaara gathered all the sand he could, and directed it at the incoming swarm in the form of a devastating sandstorm. The winds were so powerful it successfully halted their advance, some of the clay insects.
Unfortunately, that left him wide open for Deidara to attack, and the Akatsuki sent two explosive clay birds at him. Seeing that if he remained in the air, the insects would have more ways to attack him, Gaara descended upon the ground, and formed several layers of sand domes around him in order to protect himself against the incoming swarm.
"Let's hope this will be enough," Gaara inwardly pleaded.
He was soon about to find out, as multiple explosions rained upon him and his makeshift bunker.
…
Back to Temari and Kankuro, the hooded Suna ninja was about finish Sasori off.
"Black Secret Move: Iron Maiden!"
The improvised swords that were Karasu's limbs inserted into the slits around Kuroari's torso, impaling the Akatsuki inside.
"...and done!" Kankuro said, with a triumphant smirk.
Temari, however, wasn't so optimistic. "No blood spilled. I have a bad feeling about this. Open up. I want to make sure the bastard's dead," Temari asked as she got her giant fan ready.
Kankuro nodded, and with a pull of his finger, he opened Kuroari's stomach. And much to his shock and anger, there was a log in the Akatsuki's place, impaled by the improvised blades.
"The hell? Where did he go?" Kankuro indignantly asked.
"Goddammit Kankuro, he fooled us! Get your puppets back to normal before we're attacked!" Temari urged him.
"Too late for that," the Akatsuki's raspy voice said, as his metallic tail burst from behind a nearby bush, and stabbed into Kankuro's stomach.
"Kankuro!" Temari screamed.
Kankuro grunted in pain, before he wrapped one of his arms around the metallic tail. Then, he created several chakra threads with the other, and tied those threads to nearby branches. When the Akatsuki tried to pull his tail back, he found unable to.
"I got him, Temari! Go for the kill!" Kankuro cried, as he spat some blood.
Temari nodded and rushed towards the Akatsuki. She folded her fan, and hoisted it over her head. Once the Akatsuki appeared before her, she got ready to attack. The Akatsuki, however, opened his mouth, and fired a barrage of senbon that sank into Temari's flesh. The kunoichi ignored the sharp pain and smashed her fan against the Akatsuki's head with all her might.
The effect was instant. Temari had put so much strength into her swipe, that the Akatsuki shattered instantly as if he was made of wood, metal and plastic. And, upon closer inspection, that was the case, much to the Suna kunoichi's bewilderment.
A hooded man wearing the Akatsuki cloak came out of the shattered construct. Pulling his hood back, he revealed to be a very young man with soft facial features and short red hair, not unlike Gaara's.
"Congratulations, you destroyed Hiruko," the Akatsuki said, his voice no longer sounding deep and raspy, but soft and youthful. "Too bad you did it at the cost of your lives."
"Wait a minute, that thing...it was a puppet!" Kankuro said in realization, before he winced and brought one hand to his wounded gut.
"Yes, it was. Not that it would have been of much help had you realized of that earlier," the Akatsuki replied in a bored tone. "The weapons I hurt you with are coated in a lethal, slow acting poison. You might not notice it now, but trust me, you're already dead."
"Who the hell are you!?" an enraged Kankuro asked.
The redhead smirked. "I am what you strive to be. I am the strongest ninja Suna ever produced, as well as its most skilled puppeteer. The hilariously outdated puppets you tried to use against me were some of my earliest creations. Though, to your credit, I'll admit that you handled them with mastery.
"My name is Sasori of the Red Sands. You might have heard of me."
Kankuro paled. If this man was who he said it was, then no wonder he defeated them so easily. But there was something that didn't make sense. Sasori disappeared from Suna twenty years ago, back during the Third Ninja War, when he was just fifteen. Yet the young man in front of him couldn't be older than eighteen.
"You lie!" Kankuro called him out. "If you were really Sasori-"
At that moment, a long chain of explosions happened nearby, raising powerful winds and several clouds of smoke and dirt.
"And it seems that my partner is done. Just in time. Good, since I hate waiting," the redhead said with a smirk.
…
"Hmmm...I think I overdid it..." Deidara wondered, as his bird began to fly in circles around the clouds of dirt and smoke product of the explosions. He then smiled and added: "Nah! It was epic! One of my best jobs!"
As the dust started to clear, among a field of craters, Deidara could see his prey: the redheaded jinchuriki, lying on the ground, motionless. His clothes were torn apart, and his body was covered in burns and bruises. A bad feeling started to creep through the Iwa missing-nin's back, and grimaced in result.
"Boy, I may have overdone it there..." Deidara mumbled as he got off his bird, and started to walk towards Gaara. "If I killed the jinchuriki, then I...no, better check before jumping to conclusions. Oi, are you alive, hn?" Deidara asked as he kicked Gaara's body.
Then, "Gaara" dissolved into a mound of sand, much to Deidara's shock.
"Another clone!" Deidara said in realization, as he looked around trying to find the real deal.
But it was too late. Sand started to burst from underground with the same power as a geyser. The sand then started to form thick tendrils which took no time to wrap themselves around the Akatsuki, leaving him immobilized.
"What the hell is this!?" Deidara screamed as he futilely tried to break free.
"A decoy. They're widely used by ninja around the world," Gaara's voice said from behind as he walked towards the trapped Deidara. "Don't bother, you won't be able to break free of that sand prison. Now, we're going to head towards your partner, and you'll tell him to leave, or else I'll turn your bones and organs into pudding."
"And you'll kill me afterwards. You think I'm an idiot?" Deidara retorted.
"You won't die. At least, not yet. A live Akatsuki member is too valuable. That's why I'll bring you back to my village, where our Torture & Interrogation department will make you spill everything you know about Akatsuki. If you cooperate, you might live."
"So, you want to know Akatsuki's secrets, hehehe..." Deidara laughed mischievously, before shooting Gaara a taunting look. "I think I might share one of those secrets right now with you..."
"I'm all ears. And that would be...?"
"That's not the real me, but a clone," Deidara's voice said from behind.
Gaara instinctively turned around and saw the real Deidara standing there. Startled, Gaara prepared to attack the real one before he could and that proved to be a fatal mistake. The clone behind him gathered its chakra and released it in the form of yet another explosion that engulfed Gaara. The sand trapping the clone tried to move towards Gaara in order to protect him, but it was too late.
After the explosion ceased, Gaara laid there, motionless, just like his clone had been just a few minutes ago.
"I think you're not a clone this time, are you?" Deidara mockingly asked. He then pulled out what appeared to be a compass. The needle in the compass moved a little at a constant pace. "And you're not dead. Alright, our job here is done!"
Deidara jumped onto his giant clay bird, who proceed to catch Gaara with its talons, before it flew to the concurrent battleground. There, he saw Sasori, no longer inside his puppet, with the other two Suna ninja at his feet.
"Oi, Sasori, I already beat him! Shall we move or what, hn?" Deidara asked.
"Gaara..." Temari whispered, disheartened upon seeing her defeated brother being held by that clay bird.
"You did? Nice," Sasori said, before turning to the fallen Suna nin. "The poison inside your bodies will kill you in three days. You will experience the most excruciating pain any human being has ever felt. By the end of the second day, you'll try to kill yourselves. The merciful thing would be to kill you right here and right now," Sasori concluded, shooting them a painfully fake sympathetic smile. "But you destroyed Hiruko, one of my dearest puppets. It's beyond repair, which means I'll have to rebuild it from scratch. And thus, I don't feel especially merciful. So enjoy your last three days of your existence, if you can, that is."
Sasori then turned around, and jumped onto Deidara's bird. The artificial creature flapped its wings vigorously to gain altitude, and started to fly towards the west.
Once the Akatsuki were no longer visible, Temari gathered what little strength she had, and using her folded war fan as support, she got back on her feet.
"Kankuro...get up! We're going to...make those bastards...regret leaving us...alive," Temari said, as she started to cough.
"You aren't thinking in...going after them...?" Kankuro weakly asked.
"Of course not! We need to look for help...for both Gaara and ourselves..." Temari replied.
"We're too far away from Suna..."
"But we're still close to Konoha!" Temari energetically said, as she helped his little brother back on his feet. "Come on Kankuro! Tsunade-sama can...heal us, and then Konoha will help us to...to save Gaara..."
And with the knowledge that not only their lives, but their little brother's life was at stake, the two fallen Suna ninja proceeded to move towards Konoha, as fast as their weakened bodies allowed them to.
Author's Note: And the Gaara Rescue Arc begins! Will Temari and Kankuro reach Konoha in time to save both their lives, as well as Gaara? I think the answer is pretty obvious, not only because if they didn't there would be no arc, but there's no way I'm going to kill the Sand Siblings. You NEVER kill the Sand Siblings. Only villains do that.
And yeah, Shikamaru and Temari are an item already, which happened offscreen during the second time skip. Sorry if it feels rushed, but if I gave all couples the same focus as Naruto and Hinata, the story's pace would be brought to a screeching halt. Romance is good and all that, but it's secondary to the main plot. Also, you enjoyed their rematch. Some people were unsatisfied with their short match in the Chunin Exams preliminaries, so hope this serves to convince you that no, I don't have a grudge against Shikamaru.
Hope you enjoyed the Sand Siblings versus Akatsuki fight. Like I said in the note at the beginning, Chiyo won't upstage Kankuro and Temari from what should have been their rightful place in this arc, and they will get their revenge match against Sasori and Deidara.
BTW, I'm going to leave here a list of rank progression of all the characters of Naruto's age group:
Konoha:
Naruto: Genin-Chunin (Part I), Special Jonin (Kiri Civil War Interlude), Jonin (Part II)
Hinata: Genin-Chunin (Part I), Chunin (Kiri Civil War Interlude), Special Jonin (Part II)
Haku: Genin (Part I), Chunin (Kiri Civil War Interlude), Special Jonin (Part II)
Sasuke: Genin-Chunin (Part I), Special Jonin (Kiri Civil War Interlude), Jonin (Part II)
Sakura: Genin (Part I), Chunin (Kiri Civil War Interlude), Chunin (Part II)
Karin: Genin (Part I), Chunin (Kiri Civil War Interlude), Chunin (Part II)
Shikamaru: Genin (Part I), Chunin (Kiri Civil War Interlude), Chunin (Part II)
Ino: Genin (Part I), Chunin (Kiri Civil War Interlude), Chunin (Part II)
Choji: Genin (Part I), Chunin (Kiri Civil War Interlude), Chunin (Part II)
Kiba: Genin (Part I), Chunin (Kiri Civil War Interlude), Chunin (Part II)
Shino: Genin (Part I), Chunin (Kiri Civil War Interlude), Chunin (Part II)
Tamaki: Genin (Part I), Chunin (Kiri Civil War Interlude), Chunin (Part II)
Neji: Genin (Part I), Special Jonin (Kiri Civil War Interlude), Jonin (Part II)
Tenten: Genin-Chunin (Part I), Chunin (Kiri Civil War Interlude), Special Jonin (Part II)
Lee: Genin (Part I), Chunin (Kiri Civil War Interlude), Special Jonin (Part II)
Hanabi: Academy Student (Part I), Genin (Part II)
Kaida: Academy Student (Part I), Genin (Part II)
Hagane: Academy Student (Part I), Genin (Part II)
Suna:
Gaara: Genin-Chunin (Part I), Jonin (Part II)
Kankuro: Genin (Part I), Jonin (Part II)
Temari: Genin (Part I), Jonin (Part II)
Taki:
Fu: Genin-Chunin (Part I), Jonin (Part II)
Kumo:
Karui: Genin-Chunin (Part I), Chunin (Part II):
Omoi: Genin (Part I), Chunin (Part II)
T: Genin (Part I), Chunin (Part II)
Thanks ato gio08 for betareading the chapter.
Anyway, with this the Gaara Rescue Arc, and Shippuden, have officially begun! I hope that with all the changes I'm going to make, you end up enjoying it better than the original! Tell me your thoughts via review! Reviews make me really, really, really happy!