A/N: I'm back at it again. Hope you enjoy.
XXX
Bardock tossed Trunks his jacket, the half-saiyan briskly throwing it on. Bardock pressed a button on the side of the capsule ship, shrinking it down and pocketing it.
"So, where do we start?" Tenten asked, the group standing among the ground littered with puppet pieces and ash.
"Yeah," Shikamaru looked to Trunks, "Unless you honestly think the Akatsuki would run from your buddy here in the direction of their hideout." Shikamaru asked, "Tell me you're smarter than this."
Trunks smirked, "Well, my buddy here did slice off one of their arms. I think you're smart enough to know arms keep a scent." he turned to his old sensei, "Hey Kakashi, you mind-"
"Already ahead of you." the silver-haired man said, having summoned Pakkun to sniff at the dismembered arm of Deidara. The pug looked to the southeast, giving Kakashi a nod.
"He's got it." Kakashi nodded with a thumb up. He picked up the dog and put him on his shoulder.
"Then let's get to it. Gaara's counting on us." Fu said, wings spreading and flapping as she and the others lifted up. Lee allowed Temari to hitch a ride on his back. The wind-bender looked to the others, feeling an undeniable sense of bitterness that they could all fly and she couldn't.
She'd definitely be rectifying that later.
The ex-Leaf jonin led the group of teenagers through the skies, the energy among them a mixture of tense and joy.
Neji, Shikamaru, and Kakashi could see the signs of battle littering the ground, craters and scarred earth from Deidara's explosives the cause.
The signs of damage began to thin out, a sign that they'd reached the point Mino lost the Akatsuki.
"Hey Trunks," the half saiyan turned to Ino, the blonde flying beside him. She looked back and forth between him and the mysterious visitor he brought with him, "Who's your friend?" she whispered, a question Trunks knew was quick to come.
"My friend here... is Minotia, Tapion's younger brother." Trunks told her, to the other's surprise. Those who knew of Tapion, that is.
The mohawked alien passed a friendly smile and nodded, "Nice to meet you all. I've heard a lot about you."
"Heh, good things I hope." Naruto said, turning to Trunks, "How was the space trip?"
Shikamaru and Choji looked to each other, before turning back to the half-saiyan in shock, 'Space trip?'
"Amazing!" The saiyan said excitedly, "We might've hit around thirty different planets while we were away. Met dozens of different species of creatures, fought with many different types of warriors with unique powers, and got to learn about their cultures."
"Bring back any souvenirs?" Shinhan asked, half-joking half-serious.
"Maybe." Trunks smirked, "You'll find out."
"Soon, I hope." Kakashi said, looking down to the insignificant looking stream, a red gate marking the Akatsuki's hideout locale "But that's gonna wait. We're here."
The pack landed down in front of the gate, a large stone barrier built behind the red structure.
The pug held his paw to the massive piece of stone, "Gaara's through there, just beyond that boulder."
Kakashi nodded, "Thank you." before he dismissed his summons in a puff of smoke.
Trunks turned to Bardock, "You want the honors? You haven't blasted anything all day."
The elder saiyan smirked before holding his palm to the boulder, "You're goddamn right."
"Wait!" Kakashi said, holding up his hand. He eyed the tag pasted on the center of the boulder, "We're in their territory. Bad idea to just go charging in."
"Agreed." Neji said as he activated his byakugan, an action everyone else noticed.
"What do you see?" Tenten asked, the uncertain expression in the Hyuga's eyes not filling her with confidence.
"I...I don't know…" Neji said.
He couldn't make out details. He could only see glimpses and flashes of some eldritch looking statue, eight figures standing atop the statue's fingers.
"Enough wasting time," Bardock said, hand outlined in blue flame, "move it or lose it, 'cause I'm taking a shot!"
Kakashi leaped to the side as a blue energy sphere shot and hit the boulder, a massive explosion raising dust and pebbles.
XXX
The translucent forms of the surviving Akatsuki each stood atop a finger of the Gedo Statue, the shadowed body of Gaara suspended in the space before them.
"Hm, well fuck, they work fast." Hidan said, he and the others hearing the commotion coming from outside.
"Awww, well that's no good." Fuka said, "We won't have nearly enough time to fully seal the beast."
The silhouette of a blue haired woman looked to Pain, "What is the next step."
The Akatsuki leader thought, before he spoke, "We adapt. We'll take what we can of the One Tail's chakra. With it, the path to taking the others will open. To see things through to the end, we will simply reacquire the rest of Shukaku in the future."
The robed villains had no worries.
The leader made sure to be prepared.
XXX
Bardock snarled in pain as the force of the blast was reflected back into his palm. He shook his hand to rid himself of the sharp static pulsing through it.
"Barrier seal." Kakashi said, eyeing the unscarred paper still stuck to the paper, "Any offensive attack is reflected back to the wielder."
"You tell me that now, cyclops?" Bardock asked.
"Someone had to confirm it." Kakashi said, turning to the others, "There are five seals to a barrier like this. We'll need to find all five seals, and remove them at the same time before we can get this thing open."
"And where do we find the seals?" Tenten asked.
Kakashi looked to Neji, the Hyuga getting the message. He activated his Byakugan again, one on a boulder 800 miles to the southeast, another on a tree about 720 meters southwest." his eyes jerked around, "I see one on a cliff 650 meters northwest, and the last one is deep in the woods, 490 meters northeast."
"Sounds easy," Shikamaru said, "it'll still be a bit of a search, though. I'll take the one northeast."
"I'll go for the tag in the southeast." Lee said.
"I got the southwest." Shinhan nodded.
Neji turned away from the others, "That leaves me with the northwest tag."
Before the four moved to pursue their targets, Temari spoke up, "Wait, if these tags are supposed to be removed at the same exact time, how are you going to signal to everyone else when you've found yours?"
"Don't worry about that." the triclops of the group said, "I've got that covered."
Temari looked confused, but the others casually flew off in search of their targets.
Trunks sighed before taking a seat in front of the stream, relaxing in the face of the situation.
Ino took a seat next to him, "Nice to see you got your sword fixed."
A half-smile found its way onto Trunks face, "Yeah," he said to Ino, nodding to the alien, "he managed to work some of his magic," the blonde noticed a red charm implanted into the metal of the swords hilt, "to keep some people from breaking it again." he said lightheartedly.
A sigh escaped Ino, the teen smiling as she closed her eyes and thought back, "Guess I'm not livin' that one down."
Tenten looked to the mohawked alien who polished his ocarina, noticing the identical sword he wielded to Trunks strapped to his back. An obvious connection there, "So, what's your story?"
Minotia looked to her, "As you know, I come from a planet far from here. Many years ago, before you, your father, and your father's father, the people of my planet were attacked by a monster. A monster that me and my brother were tasked with slaying."
"Hirudegarn…" Ino said, listening in on the conversation.
Minotia nodded, "Then you've heard the story. To neutralize Hirudegarn, me and my brother were to carry the burden of sealing each half of the monster within ourselves."
"That, we have in common." Naruto said as Fu nodded.
"So I hear." Minotia nodded, "To ensure Hirudegarn's imprisonment, the wizards were to seal me and my brother into separate music boxes, and then cast us away from each other. As you know, my brother was sent to Earth, while I… was sent to a planet that was like mine, but unlike it."
"That is a burden." Kakashi said, "These wizards on your planet must have taken an extra precaution to ensure this monster couldn't reemerge, and sent you to our realm."
"How did you get out of your box?" Fu asked.
"Yes." Mino said to Kakashi. He looked to Fu, "In due time, my music box was discovered on that planet, a treasure hunter thinking he'd struck a fortune. In his desperation, my music box was unsealed by the wizards of that planet." Minotia explained.
"Must've been a lot to take in." Tenten said, "Being stuck in a home that wasn't yours."
"It wasn't easy. And it never got better." Mino said, "The people on that planet may have resembled my own, the planet may have looked like home, but it wasn't. I knew this and they knew this. When I inevitably released Hirudegarn due to fatigue, I had been made an outcast. I'd been living as a hermit on the planet for years since."
"That's another thing we have in common." Fu said as Naruto nodded.
"How did you deal with Hirudegarn?" Kakashi asked.
"I'd been blessed to be sealed with only his lower half." the mohawked alien said, "Fortunately, he couldn't cause nearly as much damage as his upper half. The wizards of the planet managed to seal his lower half into the core of one of the planet's many moon's. He's never getting back out."
It was then Shinhan's voice rang through everyone's ears, "Found my tag, everyone else?"
"Took you long enough." Neji's voice responded, "I have mine."
"Same here." Shikamaru said.
"Found my tag as well." Rock Lee's voice finished.
"Alright," Kakashi voiced in his head as he grabbed the tag, "On three we rip, one… two… three!" he pulled the tag off. He nodded to Bardock, the saiyan firing a ki blast at the boulder.
A dark cave was all that greeted them through the smoke. As Kakashi moved to take the first steps into it, a kunai was thrown at him from the side, the man narrowly leaping back to clear it.
All eyes instantly shot to the right. Whatever they were expecting, it wasn't to see a clone of Kakashi standing on the river bank across from them. The sounds of ki and explosions in the distance told the group that Shinhan and the others were dealing with a similar dilemma.
"Of course, they had to make this more complicated." The copy-ninja said as he shifted into a fighting stance. He looked to the rest of the group, "You continue on ahead, we can handle our copies."
"You sure?" Trunks asked as Temari, Choji, Sasuke, and Tenten hurried inside.
"Of course." Kakashi said with a nod and a smile, "It's not often you get to kick your own ass."
"Fair enough." Trunks said as he and the others rushed in, his allies clashing with the clones meant to serve as a trap.
The teens moved through the near pitch black tunnel, moving slowly as to not set off any more possible traps or obstacles.
A faint light signalled the end of the tunnel, the group emerging to a shocking sight.
Gaara lay on the ground, Itachi and Deidara behind him. A large clay-formed dragon was behind Deidara, a clear upgrade from his earlier bird. The claymation sat ready for whatever the mad bomber had planned.
That didn't concern the teens. Temari, Naruto, and Fu were the first to notice that Gaara's body was riddled with something they couldn't quite make out...
"Gaara…" Temari gasped in horror. She moved to go after him, but a hand in front of her from Trunks stopped her,
"Take it easy." Trunks said gently to try and calm her down, "It might be a trap, don't need you getting blown up if it can be avoided." The half-saiyan tried sensing for Gaara's energy… but there was something wrong. There was barely a trace of it. There was something there, he could hardly make out, like listening to a song from a static filled radio. Was he dying?
Something was off, they couldn't possibly have been too late, could they?
"Pleasure for you to join us." The leader's deep voice rang out. The form of the leader appeared from the shadows, before he phased in front of the group. The teens could tell this wasn't the leader's real body, by evidence of his translucence.
"You must be the one called Trunks." Pain said, the leader's form standing just feet away from the half-saiyan, "Nice to meet you."
"Likewise. We could make our meeting face to face… if you bothered to show yourself." the saiyan said.
"You and I will have our day, that I'm certain." Pain said, ringed eyes locked onto Trunks blue eyes, "But it's not today."
Trunks eyes narrowed, "Tomorrow… next week, you name the date and place and I'll gladly kill you. Unless you're just afraid."
"So eager." Pain said, turning and walking away from the saiyan. He passed Trunks a side eye, "You fight for peace, all of you do, I can tell. For this, you'd come to learn that the lot of us aren't very different."
"What?!" Naruto shouted, "Are you fucking kidding me?!"
"Naive children." Pain said, giving the teens a side glance, "When you can learn to judge the forest for the trees, you'll understand."
Bardock noticed the leader's eyes, 'Ringed eyes… seen that before…'
Sasuke's blood boiled as he looked to the other Uchiha in the cavern, his brother's sharingan shining brightly in the darkness, "Itachi…" he hissed, voice dripping with hatred. He took steps forward, ready to bring a resolution to this vendetta almost 10 years in the making.
The second Temari saw Sasuke pass by Gaara, she pushed past Trunks, and rushed to the fallen Kazekage.
As she was about to make a leap, Gaara's body was snatched away from her, the dragon's tail ensnaring him before he was engulfed by the tip.
"Ah ah ah," Deidara's voice echoed out, "Can't let you have this just yet."
"You bastards," Naruto growled, irises turning red, "Let him go… now." his nails turned into claws.
"We'll let him go alright," Deidara said, "just give us a few more minutes, will ya."
Sasuke stared down his brother, a closer look at the man telling the teen that this was indeed Itachi in the flesh, and not a hologram like the others.
Pain looked to Fu and Naruto, before his eyes went to Deidara, "The seven and the nine are among us. Proceed and survive your assignment."
Temari's eyes widened as Deidara's dragon spewed a flurry of smaller birds that fluttered around him, the man leaping to the top of it.. A flurry of birds flew from the bunch, soaring to the ceiling before exploding, filling the cavern with light from the skies above.
"Gaara!" Temari gave chase, Trunks nearly following suit as well, until he sensed danger from above. He looked to the ceiling, seeing nothing but sensing something… and it was approaching rapidly!
"EVERYONE FALL BACK, NOW!" he shouted, leaping to tackle Temari out of the way as a massive figure crashed into the ground, kicking up dust and damn near bringing the rest of the cavern down on their heads.
All eyes went to the invisible figure, its form now taking shape. It was a massively oversized reptilian, a chameleon with an eye similar to that of the Akatsuki leader in its left socket. The tail of the chameleon was that of a snake head, fangs bared and dripping with poison.
"Urgh, don't have time for this shit!" Naruto growled as the other took defensive positions.
"Trunks!" Ino called out, "You're faster than us. You go after bomber boy, we'll handle things here."
"You're taking me with you!" Temari told Trunks, snatching at the back of the saiyan's collar. With no time for arguing, he grabbed her before launching after the rogue ninja.
"I'm going with him." Bardock said, flying after the half-saiyan.
Sasuke launched himself at his brother, throwing a kick aimed at Itachi's chest. His brother's form burst into a flock of crows.
"I traveled all this way to finish this, Itachi." Sasuke said, in a way begging for his brother to make a stand.
"I'm sure you have, baby brother." Itachi said, "Let's." he burst into a flock of crows, the birds flying through the opening above.
"No!" Sasuke growled as he flew after him.
The snake that was the chameleon's tail lunged out Fu, the mint-haired jinchuuriki grabbing the snake by its fangs and holding it still by putting her foot down on its lower maw. Ino grabbed the snake by its throat, using it to whip the chameleon up into the air.
Naruto was set to follow up the attack, only for the ground to tremble below him. The second cracks formed, he and the others instinctively leaped up to avoid the figure that burst from below.
It was a colossal crustacean, claws pinching and eyes baring the rinnegan.
"Dick move, man!" Naruto shouted at the leader. Pain's response was to disappear, leaving his summons to deal with the young warriors.
XXX
Temari clenched her fan tight, tempted to end this chase with a simple wind-scythe jutsu. The only thing keeping her from doing so was Gaara's close proximity to Deidara.
Deidara, picking up on this, noticing the lack of offensive attacks from his pursuers, looked back and grinned. Being down an arm did nothing to stop Deidara's C2 dragon from spewing flurry after flurry of bird bombs, the air behind him lighting up like a fourth of July firework event. He reached into his pouch, pulling out a handful of locust shaped clay, before throwing them at his pursuers.
Trunks eyes widened, but not for his own safety. He grabbed Temari and held her back, allowing his back to shield from the potential explosives, "Bardock!" Trunks called out.
The older saiyan phased into the path of the birds, hands shining with blue ki. He fired a volley of blasts that detonated the explosive clay, filling the air with a shockwave that whipped the hair of those present.
"Damn." Trunks grunted, "He knows good and well we won't attack him out of fear for Gaara's safety."
Bardock gave Trunks a side glance, "Really think he'd blow himself up if we just flew up there? I think we should call his bluff."
"NO!" Temari shouted, "I am not gonna gamble with my brother's life, that's out of the question."
Trunks gave Bardock a knowing look, one the saiyan picked up on, "Alright." Bardock said, "I'll use… that, but it'll take me out of commission for a while. Whatever comes next, you're on your own."
"Deal." Trunks nodded.
Bardock closed his eyes and focused, an act that served to annoy Temari the further she saw Deidara fly, "What the hell are we doing?!" she asked Trunks as he lowered her to the forest floor, her patience being tested.
"You'll see." Trunks said as he eyed Deidara, "Get ready to throw the largest wave of wind you can muster. You'll know when."
She looked unsure, but she held her fan tight and nodded.
Bardock's eyes opened blue, a field of energy that slowed the movement of every tangible thing in the vicinity to a crawl. The field spread to that of a near half mile, Deidara getting caught in the wave. Trunks moved as fast as he could within the field to reach Deidara, the blonde man's eyes slowly widened in surprise when he found his movements slowed.
If Deidara could gasp, he would've when Trunks appeared behind him on his dragon. The saiyan immediately flip kicked Deidara, knocking the Akatsuki off. Trunks turned to Gaara, seeing the jinchuriki slightly swallowed into the top of the claymation.
Deidara, in his daze and slow descent, made a hand sign…
The second Trunks felt a vibration from the dragon, he grabbed Gaara by the exposed chest of his robes, and ripped him out of the claymation as it slowly detonated, the effect of the time crawl immediately wearing off as Trunks shielded the jinchuriki with his back, the saiyan teen flying out of the explosive wave.
Deidara was in free fall, nearing ground level with the forest floor below. As he reached into his pouch, prepped to form something that could break his fall, he could hear a faint voice in the distance. He couldn't tell what it said, but what followed told enough.
A gust of wind sent Deidara's trajectory from vertical to horizontal in a heartbeat, the force giving him whiplash and sending him skidding and tumbling across the forest floor.
Before the young man could even make out what the hell just happened, a vice grip snatched him by his throat, his head and back getting slammed into the nearest tree and pinned there by an unseen force. Deidara could feel the thin coldness of a piece of steel pressed against his Adam's apple, his ears ringing and his vision faded.
He could slightly make out angry blue orbs just inches from his face, his vision focusing to an angry demi-saiyan pinning him. From his peripherals, he could see Gaara laying on the ground a short distance behind Trunks.
"Heya," the swordsman said with a friendly voice, though his eyes told a different story, "I'm thinking you and me are gonna have a little chat, any objections?" he asked, pressing the blade further into Deidara's neck, a slight bit of blood leaking from the pressure of the steel.
"Sounds… good." Deidara forced out with an equally forced smile.
"Where… is… your… leader." Trunks growled, his tone reeking of 'test my patience, I test how quickly I can take your head'.
Deidara smiled, "He's out in Rain Country… sometimes. He's also in Lightning Country, Earth Country… here in Wind Country. What can I say, he gets around."
Trunks eyes narrowed. Before he could press further, he heard Temari cry out,
"GAARA! Oh my God..."
He turned to the young woman, her eyes filled with horror as she got an eyeful of her brother's state from up close.
The jinchuriki's body was riddled with small black rods, from his arms, to his legs, to his chest, to his back. His skin was now deathly pale, cold, and clammy.
Temari desperately tried to pull the rods from Gaara's body, her heart sinking even further when the first one she went for proved a herculean task to get out.
Those rods. So there was a reason he just couldn't feel Gaara's energy…
A sadistic smile spread across Deidara's face, "Well, if it's any consolation, my organization didn't get everything we needed out of him. And from the looks of things, you won't be either." he looked to Trunks, "Such a shame, and you were so clo-"
*SLASH*
Deidara's eyes widened in pain and shock as Trunks ran his sword across his throat. The saiyan ignored the Akatsuki and walked to Temari, kneeling down next to her as she quietly begged Gaara to wake back up.
Bardock slowly stepped into the clearing, the saiyan holding his head in pain from the massive migraine that still afflicted it. He said nothing when he saw the scene before him, easily putting the pieces together.
Trunks may have been enemies with this woman once upon a time. They'd tried to kill each other, but despite that, his heart went out to her.
XXX
Lee was in a blow exchange with his clone, the copy surprisingly able to mimic the original's fighting style. Lee blocked a flurry of hard punches from his clone before returning a knee and a roundhouse to his copy, sending it crashing through a rocky plateau.
The clone proved durable as it easily recovered, and launched itself back at Lee. The bushy browed fighter met his clone head on. Lee's and his clone's forearms slammed into each other, their free hands grasping each other's in a push to force back the other.
Kakashi quickly deduced a flaw with his clone. While it may have been able to mimic his techniques and match him in strength, the difference was that the nature of the clone was unable to mimic the technology that Bulma implemented for Kakashi's prosthetic.
Meaning, his clone was essentially forced to fight one handed. A flaw Kakashi quickly took advantage of.
The scarecrow caught a punch from his clone, locking it's arm with his own. With his free arm he punched the in the gut, the chest, and the face, disorientating it before forcing it over, intent on breaking the one arm it could use.
The clone dropped its weight, bringing its legs up to Kakashi's neck to throw him several yards away. Kakashi dropped his hands to the dirt, his fingers scraping the ground to break his momentum.
Kakashi stood to his feet, his clone a good distance away from him.
Hatake's clone charged up a raikiri, the chirping of electricity filling the air. The real Kakashi simply stood his ground, forming a handsign as his basic sharingan shifted to that of the mangekyou.
The clone shot straight for Kakashi with a palm fused with lightning. The silver-haired jonin simply drawled, "Kamui."
The instant before the clone could strike home, the top half of the clone vanished, the bottom half falling to the ground where it melted back to the dirt it came from.
Shinhan, like Lee, fought her clone on equal footing. The clone and her clashed with a blow exchange, trading fists at a rapid pace that left them invisible to the naked eye. She kicked her clone away, throwing a destructo disk after it that the clone blasted to disperse.
"Heh, this is kinda fun." she commented as she cupped her hands for a kamehameha, her clone copying the action.
The beams fired simultaneously, the clash of beams equalling out.
"Kaioken x4!" Shinhan shouted as a red aura ignited around her body, the Kamehameha amplifying in tandem.
The beam sent the copy into a river.
XXX
"For God's sake, die already!" Ino shouted as she pummeled at the Chameleon that just wouldn't seem to go down. The group had split into two teams to fight the different summons; Ino, Tenten, and Minotia fending off the Chameleon as Naruto, Fu, and Choji went after the Crustacean.
The cavern was filled with a slick foam spewed by the crab, Ino quickly deducing it was poisonous. This ensured that the others needed to avoid it, and made sight strained and ground movement more difficult.
Tenten threw a demon shuriken at the chameleon's tail, aiming to slice the snakes head away. The snake coiled to avoid the projectile that cleaved into the ground. In a hyperspeed movement, the snake shot out at Tenten, maw open and ready to bite or swallow the kunoichi.
Before she could move to dodge, Minotia appeared in the path of the snake, catching it by its maw with one hand. His sword appeared in his hand, having boomeranged through the air.
Tenten saw the snakes head was decapitated, courtesy of the swordsman who turned to her, "Pardon me, was this troubling you?"
"I think it was only trying to eat me, but I could be mistaken." Tenten said jokingly. To the surprise of the two, the snake's head grew back.
"Ah, lizard tail. Naturally it grows back." Tapion groaned, dropping the snakes maw.
"Worth the effort." Tenten said.
Ino caught the Chameleon's claw as it came down on her, the blonde struggling against the creatures abnormal strength, even in proportion to its size. She dropped back, using the momentum to suplex the chameleon behind her. She immediately rolled to the side and hopped into the air to avoid the snakes bite.
Naruto and Fu, bathed in their chakra cloaks, dodged the pinching of the crustaceans' claws, Choji trying his best to breach the crustaceans shell with his expansion techniques.
In contrast to the chameleon's regeneration, the crustacean's shell was about as tough as steel coated lead. There was no penetrating it.
Naruto stopped in front of the oversized crab, a slight heave to his breath, but he was otherwise fine. He saw Fu come down from above, aiming to make an attack aimed for the crustaceans mouth. The crab intelligently used its claw to shield its face, before launching its free claw to nearly clamp at her throat and take her head off. Fu avoided the strike with a flip before landing back to the ground. The seven tail jailer appeared next to Naruto, no worse for wear. Choji leaped back to gain distance from the crab, finding himself next to his former Leaf ally.
He looked to Naruto, "I can't break through this thing. Got any ideas that don't involve bringing the entire mountain down on our heads?"
Fu shrugged, "I have a thought."
"Tell it." Naruto said.
"Well, when I eat crabs, I never break it from the shell." she said, hoping Naruto would piece it together. She frowned at the blank looks Naruto and Choji passed her. She sighed, "You never ate crab before have you."
Naruto shook his head while Choji scratched the back of his, "I always had mine pre-peeled." the Akimichi said meekly.
Fu sighed, "The joints. You take them at the joints."
"Got it." the two nodded, before breaking apart to run at the crab from opposite sides.
Naruto avoided the crustacean clamping down on him, nimbly hopping atop its left claw and running along top it to get to the base of its arm. He saw Choji use his human boulder jutsu for a speed boost, making it to his target before using his expansion jutsu on his hands to get a better grip on the thing.
Using flight, with a bit of force, the two teens ripped off the crustaceans arms. Fu cracked her knuckles as she flew in, leaped and flipped on top of the crab. She placed her hand down on top of it, 'Lightning Release: Spider Web!'
The crustacean made a horrid sound as spider-web like cracks burst across its form, before it exploded in a shower of wet white meat and electricity.
Fu sighed, "If only we had butter."
Naruto picked up a piece of the crab... and ate it, "Hm, not bad."
Ino gasped as the chameleon disappeared from sight, its form camouflaging and using the foam on the ground as a shield.
She called up to Minotia and Tenten, "You guys see anything?"
Tenten shook her head, the alien swordsman looking around.
Ino could hardly sense the chameleon, something about it sent her senses out of whack. Her instincts told her something was coming at her from behind, but it was too late.
The chameleon's tongue snatched her up, and she was pulled into the lizard's maw, swallowed whole…
"Ino!" Tenten shouted, getting the attention of Choji, Naruto, and Fu.
Minotia gripped his sword tight, "Don't worry, I'm cutting her out!" He flew at the lizard, avoiding the poisonous strikes of the snake. Just as he closed the distance, sword set to cut into the reptile, the chameleon leaped up, spinning in a deadly array to keep its attacker at bay.
As the chameleon landed on the opposite end of the cavern, skin fading out to camouflage again, it started to violently shudder.
Before the teens could act, the summon's maw opened, revealing Ino, covered in slimy lizard spit and a pissed off look burned into her face,
"I'VE HAD IT WITH THIS THING!" She roared as she, in one fit of rage, ripped off the top jaw of the chameleon's head, killing the beast instantly.
Shaking with rage and covered in blood and lizard saliva, Ino watched as the others gathered in front of her, "I hate lizards now…" she growled.
XXX
As Gaara's energy faded, Trunks placed a hand on Temari's, "I'm sorry." he told her, "I know what it's like to lose a brother. I wish I could tell you something that would make the pain go away, but I can't." his brow furrowed, "But I can tell you, that we can make this right. We can avenge him."
Temari looked to Trunks, the sadness in her eyes turning into that of anger and determination. She wanted blood, she wanted to hurt the bastards that did this to her family. She gasped as the rods slowly pushed out of Gaara of their own accord, Trunks brow furrowing in confusion at the action.
The sound of chuckling came from Deidara's corpse, an act that shocked the two young adults. Bardock's hand instantly came up, ready to blast the corpse.
"You dumbasses," Deidara said, eyes showing a lack of life, "why do you think we'd take a dead body all the way out here?"
"Quite chatty for a dead man." Trunks noted quietly. A horrified gasp came from Temari as Deidara's body began to chub up, a clear indicator of what was to happen next.
Trunks grabbed Gaara as Bardock grabbed Temari, the two saiyan's flying to safety as Deidara's body violently exploded, wiping out nearly a mile of forest.
The four looked down at the leveled forest below, Trunks silently cursing himself, "Bastard managed to give me the slip with a bomb clone. Damn. Forgot how annoying that was."
"No telling where he is now." Bardock said, "We'll get him. He can't hide from what's coming."
Temari looked to Trunks, "What did he mean?"
Trunks thought back on what Deidara said, *Why do you think we'd bring a corpse all the way out here?*
The saiyan could feel movement coming from Gaara's body, a rhythm coming from his chest… laughter.
He looked to the jinchuriki, to his horror, seeing one of the most disturbing looks a person has given him. A wide-eyed toothy slasher grin.
"Gaara?" Temari whispered, horrified at what she saw.
The chuckles quickly turned to maniacal laughter, a voice that wasn't Gaara's shouting to the heavens, "I'M BACK, AHAHAHAHAAA!"
"Shit!" Trunks cursed as he tossed Gaara's body away, an explosion of sand erupting from the once thought corpse.
What stood before the three was Shukaku, the massive sand tanuki staring them down with bloodlust in his eyes, "Well well, been a while eh, pretty boy." he said to Trunks.
Trunks thought on the rods sticking out of Gaara's body, then thought back on what the Akatsuki leader said, *The Seven and the Nine are among us.* Then on Deidara, *Why do you think we'd bring a dead body all the way out here*
"I get it now." Trunks mumbled, thinking out loud, "The rods kept Shukaku at bay, and kept his energy masked from me. With Gaara out cold, they wouldn't be able to keep the monster inside him caged for long. To keep Naruto and Fu safe, they led me away so they could let it be my problem." Trunks pulled his sword, "They can be pragmatic, I'll give 'em that."
The One Tail's massive claw of sand rose up, "How do ya feel about a round 2?!" He laughed as he attacked the saiyan.
XXX
A/N: I was working on the following chapter back to back with this one, expect another update either tomorrow or sunday.
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