Return and Attack Chapter 10: Of Paper Work and Saviors
Part II: Red Sand vs. Sand and Leafs
The group consisting of Gaara, Tsunade, Kakashi, Gai, Sasuke and Shino continued to race towards their next opponent while their fellow comrades were fighting the Cloud Akatsuki. Tsunade's cave-in effectively sealed them off from the other group, and in essence, any chance of reinforcements. Finding themselves in a continuation of the corridor that they were traveling earlier, the group raced on, in hopes that they would be able to save Naruto from a certain death. After a relatively short amount of time, the group came into another expansive cavern, even larger than the last one. The main difference was that this one was completely barren, and was lighter. The other obvious difference was that it was empty. While the other ninja had broken cover, quickly after the group had entered, this room was completely empty. Gai was in front of the group, his speed would allow him to dodge any trap that was set, and behind him were Kakashi and Sasuke, their sharingan would allow them to react to any traps or ambushes that may have been set. Just as Gai entered the 'room' a tail, gleaming with poison appeared from his left. The green clad taijutsu master dodged the tail, and counter attacked with a right footed heel kick. As he disappeared to the groups left, the rest flooded the cavern to watch as the jounin's kick was blocked with the tail. The metal of the weights Gai wore clashed against metal blades stored on the tail of what could only be described as a scorpion. There against the wall of a cavern, stood a hunched over figure, draped in a black coat adorned in red clouds. He had a large tail coming from his back.
Upon having his initial attack blocked, Gai quickly rejoined the team, a safe distance away from the figure.
"Ah, I see that you have Itachi's younger brother with you, which is good, we could ill afford to allow my former partner to obtain a weapon such as the sharingan." The figure said.
Sasuke merely looked at the figure, eyes shifting from onyx black, to a crimson red. Flashing through a series of hand seals, the final Uchiha released a large ball of flame from his mouth, directly at the hunched over figure. It just stood there, as the fire ball collided with its body.
The group was surprised when the figure emerged from the blaze with no visible damage, save for its cloak. It was a figure, with two arms and legs, unlike a true scorpion, its legs seemed to be normal, as well as its right arm and the left arm seemed to be covered in a weird gauntlet. The tail sprouting from his back seemed to come from the mouth of a face that adorned his back.
Just as he appeared from the inferno caused by Sasuke, Gaara's sand enveloped the man's arms and legs as well as the tail. Taking this as their cue, Gai, Kakashi and Sasuke attacked the body of their opponent. All of their attacks did little damage however. Shino was about to send out his kikai bugs, however the Godaime, in a fit of rage, ran forward and obliterated the body in one punch.
Dust and splintered wood flew into the air, as a black figure emerged from the debris and coolly addressed the group.
"As expected from Tsunade the legendary sannin, however, I will make you pay for damaging my favorite puppet." The man, who could now be identified as Sasori of the Red Sand said.
Sasori emerged from a small cloud of smoke still circulating around the cavern, and the group was able to see the true face of their opponent for the first time.
The young man standing before them was quit handsome, with blonde hair and light skin. He was wearing the standard cloak and it covered most of his features. Looking over the team of six, Sasori took view of his situation.
"Hmm, it seems that I have the pleasure of fighting two kage's and the legendary copy-ninja Kakashi. I think I have just the puppet for you. Especially you, Kazekage-sama." He spoke those words with only mild interest in his voice, however the inflection in his voice at the end when he mentioned Gaara was indication that what ever puppet he had, they wouldn't like it.
Removing a scroll, Sasori used it to summon a puppet in the shape of a man with black hair wearing a black shaggy coat. Only two people recognized this puppet. It was the Sandaime Kazekage, said to be the strongest of the five leaders.
"Since I don't have time to waste on the likes of you, I must make this quick. I hope you'll all go to your deaths knowing what fine puppets you all will make." The puppet master said with a hint of excitement in his voice.
A black cloud began to emerge from the puppet of the sandaime, and began to form itself into a large block.
"What is that?" Asked Tsunade, directing her question at Gaara.
"That is Satetsu (Iron Sand). It is the Sandaime's own creation. He was able to control the magnetic forces, and created this jutsu after a previous host of Shukaku's. You will not be able to copy it." He stated, rather calmly, directing the last part of his statement at Sasuke and Kakashi.
With a flick of his wrist, Sasori had the puppet propel the block of small metal particles at the group. They all scattered, with the exception of Gaara. He simply stood were he was, and waited for the block to reach him. There was a loud explosion as the block hit the ground, hiding Gaara from the view of the fighters. As the dust settled, there stood Gaara, hands still crossed over his chest, with sand swirling around him like a swarm of bee's buzzes around its hive.
"As long as there is sand in the attack, Shukaku can control it. It doesn't matter if it is the third's signature attack." He stated, directing his retort as Sasori, who had a look of annoyance written on his face.
Gaara quickly sent his sand towards the puppet in an attempt to crush it. Sasori flicked his wrist again, but the puppet didn't respond to his actions. As the sand enveloped the puppet and crushed its mechanical parts, Gaara gave a nod towards Shino for helping to sever the chakra strings.
"It seems that I have underestimated you." Replied Sasori. "Although, I doubt very much that what I am about to do is necessary, I must accomplish my goals at all costs. Aka Higi: Hyakki no Soen!" (Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets).
Sasori took off his cloak, revealing that he had turned himself into a puppet. A compartment opened on his right breast, revealing a chakra strings spinner. He then removed a scroll from his back and tossed it into the air. Suddenly 100 puppets, all once living, breathing people came to life, to serve Sasori.
Quickly, the six allied shinobi's went to work on the puppets, Shino used his kikai bugs to severe chakra strings, and Gai, crushed the defenseless puppets before Sasori could reattach his strings. Sasuke and Kakashi, were both using Katon: Housenka no Jutsu (Fire Skill: Mythical Fire Flower) to shoot multiple balls of fire at the puppets, thinning the ranks at a quick pace. Meanwhile, Gaara and Tsunade both engaged the puppets that were guarding their puppeteer, making short work of them. As they moved towards the young man, more puppets were called from the fray to guard their master, but Kakashi used his own version of the mangekyo sharingan to send those puppets to another dimension. With their backs clear, Tsunade was able to land a chakra laden punch to Sasori's stomach, sending him into the air, where Gaara's sand caught him, before crushing the puppeteer.
Upon seeing their foe's death, the other shinobi caught their breath, and attempted to replenish their chakra. Suddenly, a sword flew through the air at Tsunade, poison gleaming of the blade, thrown from a puppet that shouldn't be moving about. The move was very sudden, and had Gaara's sand not caught it, the fifth Hokage would have been poisoned and of little help in the continuing fight.
"It's useless to try and kill me, I can take control over any of my puppets at any time, you will never find me, so you can't kill me." Sasori exclaimed from the puppet he was controlling.
This time, he took the offensive, revealing poisoned blades from his new arms, and attacking the chakra depleted Kakashi. However, before he could reach the panting grey haired jounin, a wall of sand emerged in front of the attacking puppeteer, blocking his path. It was at this time that Shino's observant eyes, hidden behind his sunglasses, noticed the only similarity between the old Sasori and the new one.
"Hokage-sama, that talisman over his heart, it must be what allows him to create chakra. If you destroy it, you may be able to kill Sasori." The young bug wielder pointed out. The message was delivered quietly, so that their opponent didn't figure out that they knew his weakness.
Armed with the new information, Tsunade and Gaara reengaged Sasori. Gaara was able to grab a hold of Sasori's legs, and used his sand to immobilize the joints. Tsunade then ran forward and delivered another crushing blow, this time to the talisman, which suddenly popped out of the puppet, where it was caught in a ball of fire, courtesy of Kakashi.
Just as Sasori's human remains were smoldering out of existence, the other six shinobi were able to catch up to Tsunade and Gaara's group. Before they moved on, Tsunade and Hinata treated all the wounds that were incurred during the fighting. The most damage was some bruising on the four ninja that were caught in the cave-in caused by the cloud ninja. Other than that no one had any remarkable injuries, and after handing out soldier pills, the twelve moved on down a hallway that seemed to have a light down a long tunnel.
As the group ran towards the light, they were all worried that if they were late, their efforts would be for naught. Tsunade, and Sasuke were worried that they would loose their brother, Kakashi was afraid that one of his first students would die, like his old teammates did, and Hinata was the most worried of them all. If she lost Naruto, she didn't know what she would do. Quickly taking the lead, Tsunade ran forward at a pace that was matched only by the two demon vessels, and Maito Gai. When they reached the door, they didn't even slow down, as Tsunade pulled her arm back and shattered the door with one swing of her arm.
At first the light was too intense for the twelve rescuers, due to their virtual seclusion into darkness, and they were forced to avert their eyes. However, the sound of battle rang out a reached their ears. As their vision cleared, they saw the object of their search fighting Orochimaru. Kabuto's body was laying on the ground, as well as the body of a man wearing black robes, who had spiky black hair. Both Kabuto's eyes and the eyes of the Akatsuki member were glazed over in death. The sound of steel clashing with steel brought the spectators back to reality. They watched as Naruto fought on par with the legendary snake sannin.
"Well brat, it seems that we've gotten a bit of a crowd. I think I'll finish you with the technique that did Sarutobi-sensei in." Orochimaru chuckled. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Edo Tensei (Impure World Resurrection)!"
Out of the ground sprang four coffins, with the kanji for one, two, three, and four emblazoned on the front. Naruto simply stood their, watching as the coffins of the former Hokages of Konoha rose up before him.
"Nice try, you bastard" the blonde said in a serious voice. "Too bad it won't work this time. You see, those two" he points at the caskets of the Shodaime and Nidaime "were sealed into kage bunshins of the old man, so they can't be resurrected, their souls are in the stomach of the shinigami." True to his word, when the first two caskets creaked open, the bodies that were to be used as sacrifices for the technique to work fell out, still dead and lifeless.
"Now the third, since he summoned the god of death, that means his soul was eaten as well, so he can't be resurrected." As with the previous two coffins, the one bearing the insignia of the third hokage opened and a sacrificial body fell out.
"And that one" the blonde pointed to the casket of the most feared hokage in the history of Konoha. "That one…is mine."
The coffin opened, and out fell another body, devoid of any signs of life.
"Now that you've wasted as much chakra as you have, I think I'll kill you now." The blonde said emotionlessly. He charged forward as an incredible speed and used shunshin to appear right in front of Orochimaru. Launching a right roundhouse kick to the snake's left side, he only paused for a moment as his kick was blocked, however the force of the blow was still enough to dislocate the elbow and shatter Orochimaru's forearm. The snake sannin hissed in pain as the blonde who claimed to be the fourth hokage reversed his momentum, and launched a right heel kick to Orochimaru's rib cage on the left side of his body. Once again this was blocked, but the force still broke the bone. The blonde just smiled as he used his left leg and arm to launch himself into the air, parallel to the ground. He arched over Orochimaru's head and landed a left foot to the snake's collar bone, breaking it in half.
As the blonde separated from the snake, the twelve onlookers were in awe. Not only had Naruto severely damaged a sannin, but he had done it while he was blocked. As the two stared each other down, Jiraiya was rummaging through one of the bags he had hidden on his person. Finding what he was looking for, the toad hermit threw a strange looking object at the teenager, with only a warning of "Catch!"
The blond caught the object in his left hand, and upon looking at it, his face lit up in a smile.
"Thanks, Jiraiya-sensei!" He cried out before hurling an oddly shaped, three pronged kunai at the snake sannin's head. Orochimaru simply turned his head to the right and the missile flew harmlessly past.
"My my, that was a waste of my comrade's gift." The pale man chuckled.
"You wish, bastard." The blonde replied, chakra spinning in his hand. "Here's a new attack for you Raisengan" Suddenly the blonde disappeared, and reappeared behind the legendary sannin, who was now sporting a large hole in his chest.
As Orochimaru fell over dead, the remaning ninja could only stare at the once 'dead last' who had just killed the legendary Orochimaru. As he turned around, the group could see for the first time that something was wrong with Naruto. The whisker marks on his cheeks were gone.
"N-Naruto…" Tsunade stuttered as she tried to make coherent speech.
"I'm sorry, Tsunade, but Naruto isn't in at the moment." The blonde responded.
"Who are you then?" She asked. "Y-You're n-not the K-k-kyuubi, are you?"
"No, the bastard fox is inside this ugly sculpture that's supposed to pass as a medium for the souls of the biju." He replied. "Right now, it's just me." He responded.
"Ano, if you're not Naruto-kun, than who are you?" Demanded Hinata from the back of the group.
"Ah, that's a good question, my name is Kazama Arashi, and I am the Fourth Hokage." The blonde said, smiling.
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(A/N: Well that's just great, the cliff hanger to end all cliff hangers. Oh well, just to let you know, 'chapter 10' has one more part before it is finished, and that will be the explanation of how the fourth hokage came to be in possession of Naruto's body. It will also contain the explanation for the name of the chapter, but that's kind of beside the point.
The raisengan is a move of my own invention; it is a combination of the rasengan, raikiri, and hiraishin. Naruto or the fourth uses Hiraishin (Flying Thunder God) to teleport to the special kunai, and in the process, thrust a rasengan into an opponent like the raikiri. I decided that the chidori and raikiri should be different moves, while the chidori is concentrated on the energy in the palm of the hand; the raikiri focuses on the thrust of the attack.
I would like to thank the following people who have reviewed my story: hells-fox, Embrace nothing, conlan0414863, the DragonBard, Sherely Cano, Suzerain, Basty, Mealstorm, jifury, Silver Warrior, DizzlingDon, Saotome Kyuubi, VASHD1, nonengel, Requim of the Desert, Narutorules, narut0-fan101, dogbertcarroll, Gambet, and necroneox3d. All of your advice and suggestions have helped me out a lot, and I hope you'll continue to review. Thanks!)