Temptation of the Heart
Chapter Eight: Fight and Flight
Sakura had already forewarned Deidara and Sasori about Kakashi's Sharigan eye. Neither Sasori's puppets nor Deidara's clay fighting animals were susceptible to the Sharigan. They expected to defeat Kakashi with relative ease.
Deidara and Sasori had already defeated the Kazakage Gaara and taken him to the Akatsuki. A simple jounin would pose no problem for the two S-Ranked Akatsuki members.
Likewise, Sakura had fully prepared her attack plan for Naruto. She would have him chase her to a place in the woods that she'd set-up before hand. Once there, Sakura would spring her traps. She expected to catch Naruto by surprise and bind him with no difficulty.
Traveling along the tree limbs ninja-style, the three spotted Kakashi and Naruto below. As planned, Sasori and Deidara attacked Kakashi on sight. Sakura leapt from her high branch and landed right in front of Naruto.
Naruto, seeing Sakura, looked astonished. Neither he nor Kakashi knew what had happened to since she disappeared over 2 years ago. Amazed to see his lost friend now, Naruto barely realized Kakashi was under attack. All he could think about was rescuing Sakura from whatever trouble she might be in.
"Sakura! Sakura! I'm so glad to see you. I've missed you so much!"
Sakura ran towards her prepared location. Without looking back to see if Kakashi was okay, Naruto followed.
"What are you doing? Where are you going? Wait up!"
Out of the corner of his non-Sharigan eye, Kakashi had seen Sakura run off with Naruto following her; however, he was unable to do anything other than fight for his life. He tried to warn Naruto not to follow Sakura, but it was too late.
Getting further and further away from Kakashi, Naruto pursued Sakura. She wouldn't answer him, and he was bound and determined to talk to Sakura and find out what was going on. Naruto had missed Sakura enormously over the past couple of years. There was no way he'd let her get away now!
All along, of course, Sakura had planned this chase. She was a ninja with a mission. Sakura had no need or desire to speak to Naruto. He's always been trying to get between her and Sasuke. Sakura was certain Naruto had intentionally let Sasuke slip away into Orochimaru's clutches that day.
Inner-Sakura was in full control now, and she held absolutely no fondness for Naruto. As far as Inner-Sakura was concerned, Naruto was a pest best dealt with quickly and efficiently.
Reaching her pre-prepared spot and slowing down, Sakura allowed Naruto to catch up to her.
"Sakura-chan," he said. "Are you okay? Where have you been all this time?"
Without saying a word, Sakura formed the jutsu symbol motions with her hands and cast it at Naruto. Seeing the attack and being a jounin himself, Naruto wouldn't be so easily trapped. He easily side-stepped the rapidly approaching net – only to find himself wrapped in a similar net cast from a trap he'd not seen.
As the chakra-net wrapped tightened itself around Naruto, Sakura approached with a look of distain on her face, "So easily captured, Naruto. I expected as much. You're too blinded by your misguided love for me to see your danger."
"Sakura. Why are you doing this? What have I done to offend you?"
"You let Sasuke get away – even after giving me a 'good guy' promise that you wouldn't!"
"I did everything in my power to stop him, Sakura. Honest!"
"Too late for that now, Naruto. You're my prisoner. I'm taking you to the Akatsuki. They want the demon inside of you. I'm delivering."
Noticing Naruto's thrashing about in her chakra-net, Sakura noted, "Struggle all you want Naruto, but my net is made to absorb the energy and chakra you use against it. The harder you struggle, the more powerful my net becomes. You can't overpower it either. My chakra-net has infinite capacity."
"Sakura-chan. Listen to me! You don't have to do this. We can take you back to Kohona Village. Your family has missed you. Your friends have missed you. We can welcome you back with open arms. You don't have to follow these evil people who've captured you!"
"Enough," said Sakura casting a smaller net at Naruto's face. The small chakra-net hit and covered his mouth. The only sounds Naruto could make now were muffled noises as he persisted in trying to speak to Sakura.
With hidden strength belying her slight, girlish frame, Sakura picked up the bound and gagged Naruto and fled the area. The last thing Sakura wanted to do now was encounter more Kohona ninjas. They were still too close to the village for comfort. They'd planned for Sakura to run to a pre-designated spot and wait for Sasori and Deidara.
Kakashi was in the fight of his life. These ninjas were strong! He'd not fought anyone this strong ever before. These ninja pets, the clay animals and puppets, were immune to his Sharigan, fast, powerful, and deadly.
Kakashi couldn't see the masters commanding their pet either. They were well hidden. Without being able to attack the pet masters, he'd have no chance of winning. It didn't take very long before Kakashi realized he was doomed. There was no way to survive the battle.
As the "Copy Ninja Sharigan Kakashi," he normally didn't have much trouble battling even highly ranked opponents. Kakashi could see what they were doing and use his Sharigan to hypnotize them or copy their movements. With his exceptional tai-jutsu and other ninja skills, Kakashi had always been able to win his battles.
Not this time, though. These opponents were no where to be found. He couldn't use his Sharigan against them directly, and Kakashi wasn't near any decent source of water. Many of his techniques were water-based! They were useless here.
Calling on Chidori, Kakashi's hand glowed with power. He blasted through an 8-foot high clay bear and ripped to shreds a wooden puppet with many spider-like arms – only to find two huge clay wolves jumping at his throat.
Leaping aside with incredible speed, Kakashi found himself jumping into the deadly embrace of a barrel-like puppet capable of holding and entrapping him. Barely rolling aside in time, Kakashi shot skyward and barely missed being skewered by the tail of a giant clay scorpion.
It was non-stop roll, duck, leap, side-step, etc. for Kakashi. He barely had time to think of his next move let alone plan any sort of counter-attack. In the back of his mind, Kakashi wondered what was going on with Naruto and Sakura. Was Naruto safe? What about Sakura? Why was she here with these other super-ninjas? Was she their victim too?
Kakashi knew his only way out of this dire situation would be to use a technique he'd just learned not too many weeks ago – copying it from an A-Ranked criminal he and Naruto had captured on a mission. It was a feign-death technique.
The feign-death technique was a very difficult and dangerous technique to use. When used, you appeared dead with no pulse, breathing, or any bodily functions working for 3 minutes. If you didn't come out of the technique in 3 minutes, you'd actually die.
Therefore, you had all of 3 minutes to fool whatever or whoever was hunting you. After that time, you either "woke up" from the feign-death technique and faced whatever consequences awaited you, or died forever.
Likewise, the feign-death technique left you exposed to your enemies. They could do anything they wanted to you during the time you were "dead". If they wanted to make sure you were dead by cutting off your head or stabbing you in the heart, they could. Kakashi would just have to chance it. He had no other choice.
Calling upon this last-resort technique, Kakashi formed the symbols with his fingers, said the words, and dropped "dead" just as a puppet's club-like arm slugged Kakashi in the head.
It was perfect timing on Kakashi's part. To Deidara and Sasori, it appeared the puppet hit Kakashi on the head and dropped him like a felled tree. Bewildered by the sudden ending of their prey's movements, both S-Ranked criminals stopped their attack.
"He's faking it," said Sasori. "There's no way that blow to his head could've killed him."
"I'll go check," Deidara offered. "I want to make sure he's dead. I don't want to leave anyone behind that knows what happened to Naruto to follow us later."
"Hurry up. I don't want to stay here any longer then necessary. We don't know if any other Kohona shinobis will come by anytime. Be careful he doesn't use his Sharigan on you."
It was one thing to hide quietly while awaiting someone, like they'd done earlier. It was a totally different thing to try to hide a full-scale battle. That simply couldn't be done. This was the main reason Sakura had run off with the captured Naruto right away – in case others noticed the fight and came to help Kakashi. Fortunately, no one had… yet.
"I'll keep my eyes closed. I will be able to tell whether he's dead or not with my extra-sensitive hands." With that said, Deidara cautiously approached Kakashi. When she got close enough, she closed her eyes, knelt down beside him, and placed her hands on Kakashi's body.
Deidara's hands, responsible for giving life to her clay creations, were extremely sensitive to the life force within any living organism. Her hands felt nothing. Kakashi's body was an empty shell. He was definitely dead.
Looking over to where Sasori remained hidden, Deidara announced, "He's dead all right." Failing to think to damage Kakashi any further because of the hurry they were in, she said, "Gather your puppets. Let's go and meet with Sakura."
In a flash, both S-Ranked Akatsuki members were ready to travel and running towards their rendezvous point with Sakura.
Two-minutes and 58 seconds into his feign-death technique, Kakashi "awoke" to find himself alone in the woods. He'd survived!
Rising up, Kakashi immediately searched out Naruto. Was he injured or dead? What happened to him when he followed Sakura? Where are they?
Shortly, Kakashi found the answer to his questions when coming to the spot where Sakura had netted Naruto. There, Kakashi found three other un-sprung net-traps as well as the signs of Naruto's struggles. He was certain now that Naruto had been captured.
Kakashi felt a cold chill run up and down his spine when he thought it might be his old student, Sakura, who'd captured Naruto. Could she have turned evil? He could only hope not. He would have to follow them and find out.
Summoning his dog companion, Kakashi commanded, "Follow them." Together, the two of them chased after the scent of Naruto and Sakura.
(to be continued in Chapter Nine: Delivery and Rescue)