Disclaimer: I know.

Arc 2:

Chapter 23: An Instinct

The cloak-covered figure stood before them, unmoving. He pulled out his hand and made a grabbing gesture, making the head of Hiruko snap to attention. Sakura snapped her eyes to the puppet, startled. It can still move?

The head jumped around a few times before launching in the air and turning the place where his neck would have connected to his to her and began shooting more senbon. Chiyo made a swift movement with her wrist and pulled Sakra back, making the girl's body flips through the air to avoid the poison laced needles aimed at her. "Sakura!" Sarada shouted in worry, but Sakura was luckily not hit.

"Well played," Sasōri complimented, sounding genuinely impressed. "Avoiding my attacks by using the Puppet Master Jutsu. I should've expected no less from my granny. No wonder that even two mere little girls could dodge my attacks." His voice was smooth, not the gruffy sound his puppet used earlier.

Sakura felt the chakra strings connected to her tighten. He knows…

"By the way, how clever of you to attack chakra to Hiruko's tail," he added. "Silly me. I only noticed when the puppet's tail was brought to an abrupt halt. You did it when you threw those kunai, didn't you?"

"Good," Chiyo smiled. "Even though I used the tiniest bit of chakra to keep the string from being detected, you still figured it out."

"But of course," Sasōri turned to them and reached for the hood covering his head. "Remember who was the one who taught me how to play with puppets? Who drilled the talent into me? It was you."

"Indeed, but unfortunately, playtime is over!" Sakura felt the strings attached to her tighten.

"You don't know how right you are," Sasōri removed his hood and revealed his true face, leaving Sakura in shock.

"So, do you still think this will be easy?"

He looked like he was only a few years older than Sakura, with messy red hair and brown eyes. Sakura's eyes darted to Chiyo, who stared at her grandson with a hybrid of shock and horror, her mouth agape."Chiyo-sama, is that person there, is he the real Sasōri?"

"I don't understand," Chiyo whispered. "Your face is exactly the same as when you left Suna. You haven't aged!"

Sakura's eyes darted back to Sasōri. It can't be him. They told me that Sasōri left Sunagakure twenty years ago. He couldn't be that young!

Behind Sakura, Sarada groaned in pain. Sakura turned around to see her friend crouching down and clutching her head as if she was in pain, her eyes shut tightly. "Sarada?" Sakura recognized those symptoms as a migraine. "Are you alright?"

"I'm...fine…" Sarada panted. "Just… a headache… forget about it." She rose to her feet wobbly, one hand still holding her head. "Focus on him. He's the target right now."

"Right!" Sakura turned to Sasōri. Real body or not, she's going to defeat him. They're going to defeat him.

Himawari hid in the woods above the river and watched the things that unfolded. From the cave, she saw Sarada's chakra acting up, but chalked it up to her using a jutsu. Both her and Sakura were still there, as well as the old lady, Chiyo that was with them.

Focusing on what was happening in front of her, she saw her older brother, Kakashi and Naruto staring up at Deidara, who had Gaara's body in the possession of his clay bird. Her body was still hurting from the earlier fight against the Akatsuki man, so she placed her hand against a tree trunk for support. It hurt to even breathe, which was making it inconvenient for her to jump down and help out. She needs to still be on her guard, for any surprises the Akatsuki might have up their sleeves.

She saw Kakashi look back to the cave, seemingly worried about what was going on there. She wanted to tell him that everything was being handled, but she also didn't want to let her location be known. Using her enhanced vision to scan her surroundings, Himawari located a small rock close to her. Walking to it and trying not to wince, she picked it up and looked down at the people in the river. Naruto was glaring up at Deidara, who was trying to kick Boruto off the bird.

Now's my chance!

She threw the tiny rock at Kakashi, hitting his back. He immediately turned his head to the place the rock came from and spotted her. His eyes widened, and she signaled for him to be quiet by placing a finger on her lips. She pointed at the cave and then gave him a thumbs up, hoping to assure him that they were fine. He gave her an almost invisible nod before turning to Deidara again.

Now that she had reassured him, she turned back to her brother, who swung himself up to the bird wing and stood shakingly on it.

"Tch, brat!" Deidara kicked Boruto's stomach. Her brother lost his balance for a moment and stumbled backwards, threatening to fall down.

Onii-chan! Himawari bit her lip not to say anything. At the last minute, Boruto regained his balance long enough to jump down from the bird to the river, landing on the water just behind Naruto.

"I'VE HAD IT! HAND OVER GAARA RIGHT NOW!" Naruto shouted at Deidara. Himawari concentrated on the body of the Kazekage the bird had in its mouth. There was no chakra circulation in it, meaning that sadly, the gentle Kazekage she knew since childhood was gone. Himawari looked at Naruto, her heart breaking. Her father truly cared about his friends, so for him to lose someone close to him…

Suddenly, Deidara turned the bird and started to fly away from the hideout.

"You bastard!" Naruto called after him in anger, running down the river in pursuit of the bird. "You're not getting away!"

"Naruto, no! Stop!" Kakashi yelled in panic.

"Dammit!" Boruto jumped after Naruto.

"I can take this guy, Kakashi-sensei! You stay and help Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled over his shoulder.

Himawari ignored her aching body and took off to the tree branches, following the trail of the Akatsuki member.

With her Byakugan, she saw how Kakashi joined her brother and young father in their chase. Landing on a branch, she cringed at the pain shooting up her right leg. She must have twisted her ankle with all this moving around.

No time to think about it, she steeled herself and continued to move ahead.

I hope Neji-niisan is okay, she thought as she moved through the trees. And Sarada-chan too.

Sarada tried to stabilize her breathing and balance her stance. Without her Sharingan activated, she felt weak. Vulnerable.

"What's the matter, Granny Chiyo?" Sasōri asked the shocked old woman next to Sarada with a smile. "Are you so overcome with emotion that you can't speak?"

Sarada clenched her fist. He was seriously getting on her nerves.

"While I have you, let me show you something special," Sasōri took out a scroll from his sleeve and started to roll it. "This piece was particularly difficult to acquire."

"Three, what…?" Sakura read from the scroll.

Sasōri opened the scroll completely, releasing a cloud of smoke directly into Sakura's face. Sakura! Sarada tensed. She could really use her Sharingan right about now.

"No, that can't be…!" Chiyo sounded horrified.

"What is it?" Sakura asked Chiyo worriedly. "What can't be?"

The smoke disappeared, revealing a puppet. "It's him…" Chiyo whispered. "It's the Third Kazekage!"

This thing is the Third Kazekage? Sarada's eyes darted to the puppet, widening.

"The Third… Kazekage?!" Sakura stared at the huge puppet in front of her. Sarada felt an odd sensation building up in her chest. It was the kind of feeling she got before something bad happened.

"What do you think?" Sasōri was almost enveloped by the large puppet's arm. "Doesn't it just take you back, Granny Chiyo?"

"Chiyo-sama, what does this mean?" Sakura asked the old woman.

"So this must be what happened to him…" Chiyo concluded. "It's been over ten years since the Third Kazekage had disappeared from the village. We looked through the entire countryside but couldn't find him. The strongest of our Kazekage simply vanished."

Sarada looked closely at the puppet. He was that strong?

"My own grandson. It's bad enough that you involved yourself with bad people, but to betray our village by meddling with the Kazekage for the third time?!"

"The third time?" Sakura asked her, and Sarada frowned. Was she talking about the Fourth Kazekage?

"Orochimaru may have been the one who killed Gaara's father, the Fourth Kazekage, but Sasōri was compliset from the beginning. And now he's taken Gaara, and the third Kazekage too."

Orochimaru? Sarada thought about the odd scientist she knew from her time. He killed the Kazekage?

"Wait a second, I wasn't involved in killing the Fourth Kazekage. That was all the doing of one of my agents." Sasōri corrected her.

"If that's the case it's the same as if you did it with your own hands!" Chiyo yelled at him. "Do you claim you weren't involved at all?"

Sarada realized that Chiyo has an enormous amount of pride and love for her village. That was the reason she was acting as if Sasōri has crossed a line greater than treason.

"It's true Orochimaru and the Akatsuki have some history, we've done some work together."

Sarada saw Sakura's back tense at the mention of the Snake Sannin.

"So you were," her young mother spoke, her tone so cold it sent shivers down Sarada's spine. "If you worked with Orochimaru, then you know all about him! And the things that he's done." Sarada didn't like where the conversation was headed. "Which means, you have all the answers I've been looking for."

Sasōri smirked, not impressed. "I'd love to stay and chat, but unfortunately I really must eliminate all of you and then go and capture the Jinchūriki. I do hate to keep people waiting. Sadly, there's not time to your little quiz."

He leaned backwards. "Well then, shall we begin?"

And with a slight movement of his wrist, all hell broke loose.

Sakura prepared herself for the puppet, not realizing how quick it is. Chiyo pulled her backwards, sending her flying through the air.

Sarada leaped forward, aiming her fist at the puppet's side. Unfortunately, the arm of the puppet was filled with poison-laced blades, forcing Chiyo to pull her back as well.

The puppet then swung its arm at Sakura, but Chiyo blocked it with Hiruko's tail. However, the tail broke under the strength of the blades.

Sasōri huffed. "Slick move, old lady…" he moved his hand. "But how are you going to block this one?"

The Third Kazekage puppet hand moved forward and started to unfold itself, revealing summoning jutsus on each part. "No!" Chiyo gasped and tried to move, but it was too late. Dozens of wooden hands made their way out of the arm and towards Sakura, moving at uncanny speed. Sakura stood frozen as she watched that unhuman contraption reaching for her from above, about to crush her-

"SHANNARŌ!" Sarada appeared before her and thrust her fist forward. The shockwave of the blow crushed the hands into tiny wooden pieces, scattering them around the cave. Sakura stared at Sarada, who was panting, her back turned to her. From this close, Sakura could feel the anger radiating from her fellow teammate. Sarada was fuming, and at that moment Sakura decided that she never wanted to be the object of the girl's anger.

"Are you alright, Sakura?" Sarada asked her without moving her eyes off Sasōri.

"Y-yeah, I think so…" the feeling in her arms returned, and she opened and closed her glove-covered fist in order to relax. That was a close one.

"Girls, be careful!" Chiyo's sudden shout caused them to freeze. A few hands that survived Sarada's blow made their way to them, not looking too friendly. Chiyo moved them away, both of them dragged backwards in mid-air. The hands opened, revealing a tube. Sakura had a second to realize what was going on before the poison gas flew out of the tube straight into her face.

It's okay, I can dodge this- Sakura's thoughts were interrupted by a sudden headache. It was so intense she couldn't breathe, let alone dodge the poison. No, not now, I need to-

She was walking on a bridge at sunset, shopping bags in her hands. In front of her, two men were having an argument. The white-haired one pointed at her, though she couldn't see his face. The other man, a black-haired one, turned to her.

"Sakura," he said. Sakura's breath hitched again. It was-

"SAKURA!"

Ba-bump.

There are moments in your life that you'll forever remember.

Ba-bump.

Even if you try to forget, they will always be engraved in your mind.

Ba-bump.

Like the time you almost died.

Ba-bump.

Or the time you watched your mother almost die.

BA-BUMP.

Sarada's body moved before she could even comprehend what was happening, guided by instinct alone. With every bit of chakra left in her, she used the force of her blow to throw Sakura away. She knew what she was doing was stupid, impulsive, and short-sighted, and would most likely get her killed.

She didn't care.

Closing her eyes, she felt the cloud of poison envelope her in Sakura's stead.

His fingers twitched, and he felt like he needed to grab something. Nothing came to mind, as he was just leaning against a boulder. All of his body got goosebumps, the hair on his neck standing like he was zapped with electricity. Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong.

He swallowed hard, his throat almost not opening. It felt as if someone has ripped a hole in his stomach, creating a dark pit. He heard his heartbeat in his ears.

Ba-bump.

Ba-bump.

Ba-bump.

What's going on?

He didn't know, that somewhere else, at that very moment, something had happened. He had no idea what was wrong, why he felt like someone had just stepped on his grave, or so the stories suggest happens when you get a chill like this.

And he didn't care. For now, at least.

Ignoring his instincts to run into the unknown and look for the source of his uneasiness, he instead grabbed the sheath tied to his waist and drew his katana.

Time to get back to training.

A/N (written October 9th, 2021): So it's been a… while. Sorry? I'm finally regaining my passion for the fandom back, and for writing in general. I'm splitting my attention between two fandoms right now, and two platforms as well. Ever heard of Archive of Our Own? I'm considering uploading the story there too. Anyone here reads stuff there?

Written September 27th, 2022:

It's truly been a while. Hi. I hope you're doing well. I've pretty much moved on from the Naruto/Boruto fandom. I do have chapters 24-27 written, and they complete the arc, so I figured; hey, what if I just posted them, finished the arc, and gave some sort of conclusion to the story? So if you're reading this the moment it got posted, keep an eye out for the next few hours as I upload stuff.

I never ended up putting this story in AO3. I moved on. I do appreciate this fic, you guys, and every comment I got. It's what fueled the beginning of my writing, it was something I did as an experiment and fell in love with. I'll never forget this fic.

Thank you.

Thank you for reading and for sticking around!