A/N - Okay, first off, the title of this chapter is pretty much just a play on words. I couldn't think up a good title for this chapter, so just go with it. *shrugs* Second, my buddy Dragon and Sword Master really wanted to see another chapter of this story done next, and this was the next chapter listed on my schedule anyways, soooo...here it is. Hopefully you all enjoy it. So...read on and, y'know, enjoy! lol
Chapter 5 - Saving a Kage on a Windy Day
It didn't take long before the group came across Temari, who was on her way home to Sunagakure at a casual walking pace. Naruto leapt down to greet her and quickly let her know what happened and the group was back on track towards Suna at a brisk, yet measured pace so as not to tire themselves out too quickly. After all, it wouldn't do to reach Suna just to be too wiped out to be of any use to anyone upon arrival.
As they kept up their pace, Temari couldn't help but glance around at all of Naruto's companions and voice a question. "So, Naruto, who are your companions? The only person I recognize is Kakashi-san. I don't even see Sakura anywhere. I thought for sure she'd be with you. Didn't you used to have a really big crush on her?" she asked inquisitively.
Naruto sighed and shook his head at this point as he looked at his friend out of the corner of his eye. "Temari, a lot has changed over the past three years. I've changed." he said seriously. "I can't discuss the details in depth, but suffice it to say, I've developed some interesting powers and as a result of said powers, I met these wonderful women you see here with us. Their names are Rikku, Meru, Towa, Yang Xiao-Long, and Blake Belladonna. My new team captain is Yamato. I am no longer part of Team Kakashi. He was assigned to the team temporarily due to his summons' ability to track down the people that took your brother." Naruto explained.
After a moment, he closed his eyes for a short time and took in a deep breath before releasing it slowly and opening his eyes again, continuing to hop from tree to tree. "As for Sakura...I still care for her. But I...I turned her down when I returned to the village because at the time I was in a relationship with Rikku and I wanted to stay loyal to her. Then I was called into a council meeting and slapped with the CRA and now...now I don't know. I'm with these lovely women now...and I haven't talked with them about it yet. Sakura used to abuse me every chance she got...but I still have feelings for her. They never went away. Yeah, I moved on from her and became happy with Rikku-chan and the others here with me now. But I never stopped caring for Sakura-chan. How could I?" Naruto said, a frown on his face. He felt guilty and it showed on his face.
Before anyone else could say anything, Rikku hopped up next to her boyfriend and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and squeezed it gently as they continued to hop from tree to tree. "Sweetie, why didn't you say anything sooner? We could have talked about this between all of us. If you truly care about her still...we...well...we could talk to her for you and see what her true intentions are. If she truly wants to make amends and be with you in a romantic light and has no intentions of abusing you again...then I think we would be okay with that. But it's something we'd have to communicate with each other about to be completely sure about. Sakura was never that great of a person to you after all, so it's only right for us to be worried about you when it comes to her. Even though the Sakura we met before seemed to be a truly changed individual, we can't be too sure. She might still be a meaniepants!" Rikku said, an adorable pout on her face.
Chuckling at this, Naruto leaned in and placed a soft kiss on his fiance's lips and smiled reassuringly at her. "I love you Rikku-chan and I always will. If you and the others say that you don't approve of Sakura joining our relationship, then I won't approach her about it. I want us all to be in agreement about it before we allow anyone to join our family. I just want all of us to be happy together." he said, smiling happily all the while.
Temari was smiling at this and hopped up beside Naruto on his other side before placing a gentle hand upon his shoulder. "I'm glad you've found happiness Naruto. You deserve it. You and my brother both. I do hope you'll be inviting us to your wedding when the time comes?" she questioned with a raised eyebrow and an expectant look in her eyes.
Chuckling softly, Naruto nodded and wrapped an arm around Temari in a hug. "Of course Temari-chan. I wouldn't dare think about leaving you three out of it. Now, what do you say we hurry up and get to Suna so we can save Kankuro and then go rescue Gaara, hm?" he suggested, a big smile on his face as he sped up again, causing his friends and family to groan as they did their best to try and keep up with him.
Meanwhile, in the back, Kakashi could only watch on and listen in on the conversations taking place in front of him. You've grown so much Naruto. I feel like I've failed you in so many ways. I should have been there to guide you, and yet I just...wasn't there. I hope you'll let me make it up to you in some way. I really do. You've done so well for yourself and you've even found love in five beautiful women. I have to admit I'm rather envious of you my pupil, if I even have the right to call you that anymore. And...I'm glad you are willing to allow Sakura back into your life at the very least. I hope that you'll allow me back in too, given time.
5 hours later - Sunagakure Hospital
The group was frustrated as they entered the hospital room where Kankuro laid in critical condition. They should have arrived a couple hours earlier, but they were delayed by a blasted sandstorm and had to wait it out. Meru had said that if it wasn't a sandstorm of such a grand scale, she could have used her magic to dispel it, but alas, it was raging too fiercely for her to do anything about it. So, as said before, all they could do was wait it out.
Still, here they were, and now Rikku was looking down at Kankuro and analyzing him to the best of her ability. He truly looked like he was on death's door. Frowning, she quickly donned her White Mage dressphere and held up her staff with one hand while hovering her other hand over his body with the other. After a moment of intense concentration, she shouted out loud, "Esuna!" Within seconds, Kankuro's complexion began to brighten and his skin tone began to return to normal. He stopped sweating and his body relaxed. No longer was he in any pain and he seemed to return to normal.
Temari went wide-eyed at how easy a process this was for the girl beside her. Looking into her eyes, she couldn't help but be completely floored. She was powerful! Before Rikku could utter a word, the Suna kunoichi wrapped her up in a hug and buried her face in the crook of her neck. "Thank you. Thank you for saving my idiot brother. That was amazing. I don't know how you did that, but...thank you."
Giggling a bit, Rikku simply wrapped her arms around Temari and smiled at her. "Aww, it was no problem Temari. It was just a simple magic spell. Didn't even take anything outta me. All I gotta do is concentrate a little and presto blammo, you're cured! Pretty cool, huh?" she said with a giggle following. "Still, as long as I can help people out, I'm all for it. Now, we should probably let him rest for a bit." she suggested. "Once he wakes up, we should ask him if he has any idea which direction those goons left in, because right now we don't have any leads. Unfortunately." Rikku said with a pout.
Temari sighed and was about to say something in agreement when they heard a commotion from out in the hallway. Quickly rushing out of the room, they saw an old woman attacking Kakashi, shouting something about the White Fang, much to Blake and Yang's shock. Naruto quickly patted them both on the shoulder though and explained to them that Kakashi's father was called the White Fang of Konoha, which quickly eased their worries and cleared up their confusion.
Once the woman had been calmed, she was introduced as Lady Chiyo, one of the village elders and a powerful puppeteer, as well as the grandmother of Sasori of the Red Sands, a member of the Akatsuki and one of those that kidnapped Gaara, Godaime Kazekage of Sunagakure. After introductions were made, the group were seated in the waiting room and proceeded to wait patiently for Kankuro to awaken.
While they were waiting, Rikku decided now was as good a time as any to begin having that 'talk' she wanted to have with the other girls. So, leaving Naruto where he was sitting, she motioned for the other girls to join her and they walked off to the other side of the waiting room and sat down together so they could begin discussing their feelings for their blonde hunk of a boyfriend.
"Alright, now that we have some time, I want to talk about your feelings for my fiance. Just...just when did you realize you were all in love with him? How long?" Rikku asked, a small frown on her face as she asked this question.
Meru frowned at this and glanced away, looking towards Naruto for a moment with a longing gaze before she looked back into her best friend's eyes with a determined gaze. "I realized my feelings for him six months before you and he got together. That means I've been in love with him for at least a year now Rikku. Possibly longer before I realized it. I just...I didn't act on my feelings. And when you and he got together...I thought I had lost my chance. I felt crushed and I started to hate myself for not acting sooner. But at the same time...I was happy for the two of you because you two are my best friends. I love you both and I want you to know that." she explained with the smallest of smiles on her face, her eyes brimming with unshed tears.
Rikku looked saddened by how upset her friend was and quickly wrapped her up in a hug. "It's okay Meru. I'm sorry you had to hurt by yourself for so long. Naru...he's got such a big heart and I promise he can make us both happy. All of us happy." she said, tears trickling down her cheeks as she held her best friend and surrogate sister close.
After a moment, Rikku pulled away from her dear friend and looked at the duo from Remnant. "And you two? When did you realize your feelings for my hunky man, hm? And what made you fall for the good ball of sunshine?"
Yang chuckled a bit at how Rikku described Naruto before Blake nudged her with her elbow and told her to be serious. So with a sigh, the blonde nodded once and looked hard into Rikku's eyes. "Well, I kinda realized it about four months ago. Blakey here's been interested in him for about a whole year now though. My reason though? Does one really need a reason for falling in love with someone? The heart wants what the heart wants right? But if I had to give a reason, or reasons, well, he's a really great guy. He's just so sweet and charming. He's also a great big ball of energy and he's just so much fun to be with. Naruto's also got a hell of a mischievous side if his past pranks are anything to go on and I can't wait to help him unleash some real chaos back in the village with some new pranks when we get the chance." she said with a grin and a laugh. "There's a lot of reasons I guess, but I think I've said enough, don't you? How about you Kitty Cat?"
Blake blushed at the nickname before swatting Yang on the arm. "How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that in front of others?" She sighed and shook her head, her cat ears drooping atop her head. "Never mind. You're never going to stop are you?" Seeing Yang grinning at her was answer enough, so the Faunus woman sighed again and shook her head. "Oh well."
Looking at Rikku determinedly, Blake nodded once before straightening herself in her chair. "Like Yang said, I've been in love with him for an entire year now. And I don't need a reason to be in love with him. But if you really need me to say something to explain it, I will. He and I are alike in many ways. He doesn't judge me for being a Faunus just like I don't judge him for being a Jinchuriki. He helped me realize that I don't need to hide who and what I am. I no longer wear my bow to conceal my ears because of him. He...he likes me for what I am. Naruto thinks...he thinks I'm pretty as I am. He likes my extra appendages and pets my ears and...it feels good."
Blake was blushing at this point and had to cover her eyes with her hands in embarrassment and to hide the fact that she was about to cry from a mixture of emotions. "Naruto is such a wonderful man. I love spending time with him. I can't get enough of being in his presence. Just being near him is intoxicating. All I want is to be with him and Yang as much as possible. I love them both so much. His scent, his touch, his laugh, his eyes, his everything...it's all too much to bear. I need him as much as I need my Yang. So please don't take this chance to be happy away from me Rikku. I need him." Blake pleaded, looking into Rikku's eyes with a pleading expression, tears trickling down her cheeks.
Rikku was stunned, floored even by what she just heard from Blake. Looking to Yang, she could see a supportive smile on the girl's face as she wrapped her girlfriend in a hug and held her close, rubbing her back up and down to try and comfort her. Yang was sending a look her way as if telling her: 'I told you so.' Closing her eyes, Rikku nodded once in acceptance and leaned back in her seat, a soft smile of acceptance coming across her face. Well if that isn't true, genuine love, I don't know what is.
"Okay. Welcome to the family Yang, Blake. Now what about you Towa? I thought you were still on the fence about the whole love thing after what happened between you and the scumbag that married Toki in your world?" Rikku questioned, genuinely curious about Towa's feelings on this matter.
Towa chuckled a bit and shook her head. "I realized my feelings about three months ago. I tried to simply deny them and say that I wasn't feeling anything for Naruto, and that worked for the most part because, well...you were his girlfriend/fiance. I wasn't about to come between the two of you, and I wasn't interested in trying out a relationship again after what happened with Zack. But...as time went on, I realized that Naruto was so much different from Zack and would never hurt me like Zack did. And then when Naruto was put in the CRA and I gave my advice to Meru, not sorry about that by the way," Towa said to Rikku with a large grin on her face, "I figured I'd go ahead and take my own advice and give a relationship with Naruto a shot. Sooo...here I am. I want to be with Naruto too. So if you'll let me be a part of this family you're all a part of, I'd be very happy with you." the former princess said with a smile on her face.
Smiling at her blonde-haired friend, Rikku nodded once and hugged her. "Of course. I'd rather share him with all of you than with someone we can't trust. Though now comes the question of what to do about Sakura. How do you all feel about her? I mean, from the stories we've heard, she used to clobber him a lot for the stupidest reasons! But...she seems like she's changed for the better and has genuine feelings for him now. When we left her, did you see the state she was in after Naruto's rejection? I felt kinda bad for her." Rikku said, a little concerned about the situation.
Sighing at this, Towa decided to voice her opinion on the matter. "Personally, I don't care if she's changed or not. I don't trust her with our Naruto. Who's to say she won't go right back to clobbering him for the dumbest of reasons? Nobody hurts our Naruto for any reason." she said fiercely.
Yang spoke up at this point with a counterpoint. "Well, say we give her a chance. What if we made it perfectly clear to her that if we give her a chance, that she can't hit Naruto for any reason, even if he does something stupid that she doesn't like? Besides, I think she deserves a chance just like we do."
Meru decided to speak up and be the voice of reason at this point. "I say that we wait until we return to Konoha before we make a decision about this. While you both make good points, it would be best that we speak with Sakura about this and see exactly what made her change her feelings regarding Naruto. We can speculate all we want right now, but we shouldn't make any hasty decisions without first confronting her. Agreed?"
Looking around at each other, the others nodded in agreement and looked back at Meru. "Agreed." they all said as one.
Before anymore could be said, a nurse came out and informed the group that Kankuro was awake and wanted to see them. So, entering his room, Temari quickly rushed over to him and wrapped her arms around him tightly, tears in her eyes as she told him how stupid he was, but also how glad she was he was alright. However, Kankuro was more focused on the others in the room that he didn't recognize. However, rather than ask about them, he looked to Kakashi and Naruto and presented to them a piece of Sasori's cloak. "Use this to find my brother. Bring him back. Maybe once you've brought him back, then you can tell me who all these people are." he said with a chuckle.
Naruto smiled at him and gave him a nod. "Sure thing Kankuro. You just get some rest and leave rescuing Gaara to us. We'll get him back here in no time, just you watch. Those Akatsuki bastards won't know what hit 'em!" he said with confidence. With that said, the group left the hospital room and, before Temari could go with them, Chiyo turned to her and told her that she was to stay behind and take care of things in the Kazekage's absence. Meanwhile, Chiyo would join the group in her place to go and punish her 'misbehaving' grandson.
Now, in the past, Naruto would have questioned Chiyo about this due to her age and asked if she was sure she could keep up or if she needed any help, but he knew better now and figured that if she was willing to come along that she must be sure of her skills. So, together with someone he affectionately nicknamed 'Granny' Chiyo, the large group quickly made their way out of Suna and began to follow Sasori's trail.
Shortly after arriving in the Land of Rivers, the large group were stopped by Itachi Uchiha, another member of the Akatsuki. Quickly, Naruto shouted to his girlfriends not to look into his eyes and each of them quickly looked at his feet instead. Itachi apparently found humor in this as he chuckled. After a moment, he spoke up. "It's good to see you again Naruto-kun. Do tell me; how have you been?"
"Better than you've been, I'm sure. But we're not here to talk. Get out of the way Itachi, we need to rescue Gaara. I won't let you assholes kill him." Naruto declared angrily. There was no way he'd let this asshole delay him for long. So, moving his hands behind his back, he quickly began going through a series of hand seals before darting forward as fast as he could. Once he was within range, Naruto lifted his head until his mouth was level with Itachi's chest and shouted his technique within his mind. Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique! In an instant, a large fireball spewed forth from Naruto's mouth and engulfed Itachi's form.
However, it wasn't meant to be as Itachi had performed a quick Substitution Technique and replaced himself with a log behind Yamato and proceeded to use a Great Fireball Technique of his own to attack him from behind. However, Yamato was prepared for this and quickly erected a wall of mud to protect himself from the attack. Rikku smirked at this point and quickly donned her Dark Knight dressphere and cast Bio on Itachi, catching him off guard due to the unusual nature of the magic spell. Unused to the attack, Itachi was stunned for a moment, but that was it. Rikku looked surprised at the fact that Itachi wasn't poisoned, but then a look of realization came to her face. Before she could say anything though, Itachi turned his attention onto her.
Deciding that the girl was the most dangerous opponent out of the bunch, despite the others being unknowns currently, he turned on her and prepared to attack before he was forced to dodge a hammer strike from the side by Meru. Suddenly he felt himself slowing down and looked sluggishly towards his right to see the blonde with with her hair done up in a ponytail smirking at him while waving goodbye to him. Shit. was Itachi's last thought as he felt multiple attacks land and he collapsed to the ground, his clone technique dispelling.
When Chiyo got a look at the body laying before them, she frowned and shook her head. "I almost can't believe it. This is one of our men. It's no wonder, then, that the Akatsuki got into our village so easily. This stupid bastard was a traitor and a spy. Come, we'd best hurry." she said before scoffing and quickly taking off, following Pakkun as he began to hurry off in the direction of Sasori's trail once more.
Naruto frowned a moment at the body before turning and taking off after the others. That was almost too easy Itachi. It's almost like you just let us have that win. But why? What's in it for you to let us pass so easily? Or were you really not expecting my girls to have such abilities? Did we catch you off guard so badly that you just couldn't counter any of our attacks? Which was it I wonder? He pondered curiously, a frown on his face as he hurried along.
Ten minutes later - Akatsuki's Cave Hideout
Upon arriving at the hideout where the Akatsuki were waiting, Team Yamato met up with Team Guy and soon found out that they had had a run-in with a clone of Kisame, another member of the Akatsuki. None of that was important right now though. What was important was dealing with the huge boulder in their way as well as the seal tag affixed atop it. Naruto frowned and decided to speak up. "That looks like a five point barrier seal. Normally we'd need to find the other four seal tags and remove them all at once, but I can easily slap a counter seal on the one here and negate that particular issue. However, the problem comes from the boulder. Hey Meru, think you can do something about that?" Naruto questioned, looking to his beautiful blue-haired girlfriend.
Smiling, Meru nodded once emphatically and grinned at him while flexing a muscle. "You betcha Naruto! Just take care of that annoying seal and I'll show you how it's done!"
Chuckling at this, Naruto nodded once and quickly set about making a counter seal. Once he was finished, he hopped up onto the rock wall and made his way to the seal before slapping the counter seal atop the five point barrier seal and shouting out: "Dispel Seal: Release!" and with a pulse of chakra that could be felt for well over three miles, the five point barrier seal was cancelled.
As soon as the barrier seal was nullified, Meru waited just a second for her boyfriend to leap away before she revealed her wings and charged some magic into her hands. In an instant, a large fireball appeared in her hands. "Take this you stupid rock! Hope you enjoy some Wingly magic! Ha!" And with that, she shot the powerful fireball forward and watched as it impacted against the rock and exploded in a brilliant flash of flames and light, forcing everyone to cover their eyes.
When the light died down enough for everyone to be able to see again, they were stunned. Nothing remained of the giant boulder! Not even a single pebble. The entire thing had been completely vaporized! Obviously, whatever she had just used was incredibly powerful and none of the ninja there wanted to get on her bad side. Ever!
Seeing all of the ninja looking at her with bewildered looks, well, beside Naruto of course, Meru shrugged her shoulders and asked, "What? If you're done staring, shouldn't we get in there and rescue Gaara now?"
Snapping out of their stupors, the large group quickly rushed into the cave and what they saw quickly soured their moods. They saw the two Akatsuki members, and one of them was sitting upon the deceased Kazekage of Suna. Naruto clenched and unclenched his fists, anger boiling over within him. His chakra was spiking almost uncontrollably within him, but he maintained his cool and stayed in control of himself. Still, he decided to speak up. "You...you bastards. How dare you do this to him?" he growled out.
At this, Deidara smirked and looked directly at him. "Ah, you must be the Kyuubi Jinchuriki, hm? We were told about you. You seem much calmer than we were told though. Especially considering we just killed your dear friend here. Too bad, so sad, hm." he said in a mocking tone of voice.
"You talk too much." Sasori said to his partner. Looking around at all their opponents, the shorter of the two individuals frowned beneath his cloak and shook his head. "We're at a severe disadvantage here Deidara. If we aren't careful, we could die here today. Take this seriously or you will perish."
"Yeah, yeah. Don't get your panties in a bunch." Deidara brushed him off, much to Sasori's irritation. "Just watch, this'll be easy. Now, what say we have some fun?" the blonde bomber said with a chuckle as he hopped on his clay bird and had it swallow Gaara before flying out of the cave and making off with him.
Naruto frowned at this and quickly began barking out orders. "Sorry Yamato-sensei, but I know my girls better than you do. Rikku, Towa, stay here and help Yamato-sensei and Granny Chiyo take down Sasori. Guy-sensei, Neji, Lee, please back them up. You can't really help against a flyer like Deidara-teme. Meru, Yang, Blake, Kakashi-sensei, and Tenten, you're with me. We're going after the blonde bastard that took Gaara. We can't let him get away!" he ordered quickly before dashing out of the cave in pursuit of Deidara.
Kakashi smirked at Yamato and nodded his head. "Well, you heard him. I think his idea sounds great. Good luck Yamato. Everyone, let's go!" Kakashi said before rushing off with his team while the others stayed behind to help take on Sasori.
Sasori frowned as he was left alone with a rather large group of people. Sure there weren't as many as before, but he knew that he was in for the fight of his life. Quickly, he lashed out with his tail, aiming to take out his grandmother at the very least with this attack. When she quickly dodged, he was preparing to open up his mouth to unleash thousands of senbon needles laced with a highly potent toxin, but something happened before anyone could even react…
Towa, getting an incredibly bad feeling that something was about to happen that nobody could possibly prepare for, quickly activated her Time Surge spell and sped up time around herself. Quickly, she rushed forward faster than anyone could possibly see and unleashed her most powerful Earth and Fire spells on Sasori in that order, thus causing a Chemistry spell to be unleashed that caused a pool of lava to open up beneath Sasori that began to pull his puppet body into it.
When time returned to normal, Towa quickly ran away from Sasori and back to her companions while Sasori's puppet body took the attacks and was quickly destroyed, forcing him to reveal his true body. He was furious at being bested so easily by some blonde bitch! "I don't know how you did that, but it won't happen again. Prepare to meet my favorite puppet." he said with a manic grin on his face as he opened up a scroll and summoned forth the Sandaime Kazekage, master of the Iron Sand.
Chiyo couldn't help but frown in sadness at her grandson. "So you're the one that killed him. I can't believe you would stoop so low Sasori. How despicable you've become." she said, shaking her head in sadness and disappointment. Unsealing a scroll of her own, she called forth her Father and Mother puppets and prepared to do battle with her 'precious' grandson.
Sasori scoffed at this and shook his head. "What? Do you think I'll have some kind of emotional response at seeing my parents again Grandma Chiyo? Hardly. They'll be destroyed like the cheap puppets they are." he said with malice in his voice.
Rikku, having enough of the talking, spherechanged into her Gun Mage dressphere. Once changed, she did a little spin and smiled cheerily before pointing her magic gun at Sasori and speaking up. "Time to take you and your puppet down like the small fry you are. Mortar!" she shouted as she took aim and fired upon the Sandaime Kazekage puppet, launching a mortar blast that quickly tore through the air towards her opponent.
Not willing to risk having his puppet destroyed, Sasori had his puppet erect a large barrier of iron sand in the way of the attack, but he and the others were shocked beyond belief when Rikku's attack tore right through the wall of iron sand and continued on its way, tearing right through the Sandaime Kazekage, destroying it in one blast.
Sasori couldn't help it. He collapsed to his knees and stared in utter horror at the monsters before him. For that is all they could be. One of the women had destroyed his Hiruko puppet so fast nobody could see her move. And this one had unleashed some attack that couldn't be stopped, even by the Sandaime Kazekage's Iron Sand! They were monsters! Plain and simple. Sasori knew it in his heart that he was going to die if he stayed here, but he also knew that he wasn't going to get away. So, with a resigned sigh, he opened up his chest and summoned forth his ultimate weapon, his army of 100 puppets.
Chiyo couldn't help but chuckle to herself at how she didn't even get the chance to use her Mother and Father puppets before resealing them and calling forth her ten puppets that she would use for this fight. She hadn't expected for Naruto's girlfriends to be quite so strong, but she was pleasantly surprised.
It didn't take long for everyone to get into the fight, lashing out and striking down every puppet they came across. Guy and Lee worked together in an extraordinary fashion, screaming about youth this and youth that, much to the annoyance of everyone there. Neji was striking them down with brutal efficiency, severing the chakra strings connecting them to Sasori and doing his best to protect both himself and those close to him.
Rikku and Towa were working together to destroy as many puppets as they could. Rikku was using her Dismantle Fiend Hunter ability on the puppets due to how similar these puppets were to machina and it seemed to be working quite well, destroying them in spectacular explosions of wooden showers. Towa was blasting them away with magic and, for those that got too close, she would cut them down with her dagger. Bullets were a precious commodity and she didn't want to waste those she had on these pathetic wooden creatures.
Chiyo was having the time of her life, having not had a good fight like this in quite a long time. She was easily dispatching quite a number of puppets with her army of ten. Sure she had lost a few of them in the battle, but she could repair them later...if she lived to see tomorrow. Otherwise she'd leave her puppets to Kankuro to look after. Yamato on the other hand was making clever use of his Wood and Earth Release jutsus to destroy as many puppets as possible.
When all the puppets had been destroyed, they went after Sasori, who seemed to have a few more tricks up his sleeve as he unleashed torrents of flames from his hands towards them, forcing them to dodge out of the way and keep on the move so as not to be incinerated. Guy and Lee removed their weights and quickly vanished in bursts of speed, appearing on either side of Sasori and kicked him as hard as they could, causing him to go flipping end over end through straight up through the air.
As he began to plummet, Rikku took aim at his heart and smirked at him. "Say goodnight buster! Blammo!" and with that, she pulled the trigger on her gun and fired, watching with satisfaction as her bullet pierced his heart and he came crashing to the ground in a heap.
Seeing as he was now dying, Sasori chuckled a bit before coughing. Motioning for the group to come closer, he waited until they were close enough to him before speaking up. "I might as well leave you all with a parting gift. I...I was to meet a spy of mine in Orochimaru's service in a week's time. The meeting was to take place on Tenchi Bridge. If...if you want to get that Uchiha of yours back, that's the best time to strike." Sasori said with a chuckle before the light finally left his eyes and he passed on into the afterlife.
Taking a moment to digest the information, Yamato sighed and shook his head. "A spy in Orochimaru's care, hm? Hokage-sama will want to hear this. Though I can't say for sure what she'll want done about the Uchiha. He is a traitor after all." he stated with a casual shrug of his shoulders. "Let's reconvene with the others. They should be done with their foe by now." he said. "If not, we should back them up." And with that, the group quickly vacated the cave and proceeded to rush off in search of the others.
Earlier with Naruto's Team
As they chased after Deidara, Naruto was trying to think of some way they could knock the blonde bomber out of the sky. After a moment, he glanced to Meru and decided to ask her if she could do something. "Meru-chan. Do you think you could fly up there and knock him off of that bird? If you don't feel comfortable with it, that's okay. I don't want to put you at risk." he said.
Meru smiled sweetly at him and patted his cheek a few times before spreading her wings and smirking at him. "Just watch this Naruto." she said before taking off faster than Deidara expected and appeared in front of him, halting the Akatsuki member in his tracks. Before he could react, she swung her hammer at him and forced him to lower his bird to avoid the attack. However, Meru's initial attack was a feint. Lowering one of her hands, she revealed that she had charged it up with some of her Wingly magic and unleashed a point blank lightning blast directly into his face, causing him to not only feel immense pain shoot throughout his entire being, but for him to also go flying off his bird and to crash down into the forest below.
Giggling at her success, Meru smirked down at her boyfriend and gave him a cheeky grin and a thumbs up. "Told ya I could do it Naru! Now let's go kick his butt!" she exclaimed before flying off in search of Deidara, completely forgetting about the bird plummeting towards the water below.
Naruto quickly looked at the others with him and nodded towards the bird and then in the direction Meru left in. "Kakashi and Tenten, you're with me. We're going to get Gaara's body to safety. Yang, Blake, you two go help Meru with Deidara. We'll catch up as soon as we can." he said before leaping off towards the bird that was nearing the water at an alarming speed, Kakashi and Tenten hot on his heels.
Yang turned to Blake and nodded, the both of them quickly hurrying off after Meru to assist her in taking down Deidara for good. Upon arriving at the battle scene, they saw their friend donned in her Dragoon armor and fending off a veritable army of clay creatures and Deidara panting heavily as he did his best to keep up the fight. Obviously he was struggling just to keep up the fight, let alone stay standing.
When the blonde bomber saw that the two of them had arrived on the scene, his eyebrow twitched a few times and he quickly began to send some of his explosive clay creations their way to try and buy himself some time to recover.
Blake, quickly sensing the danger behind these things, warned her girlfriend about the danger. "Careful Yang, these things are dangerous. I don't know exactly what they can do, but I'd rather not find out. Don't just rush recklessly into this, okay?" she cautioned, hopeful that her girlfriend would heed her advice. "Don't let them get on you, whatever you do. In fact, try to avoid contact with them entirely. Try to go directly for Deidara instead. If we take him out, we should be able to stop his creations in their entirety."
Yang smiled reassuringly at her girlfriend and nodded once. "Gotcha Blakey. I'll be careful, I promise. Let's do this!" the blonde bombshell said before she rushed forward, weaving through the clay creations to the best of her ability, dodging them, leaping over them, ducking under them, whatever it took to keep them off of her. When she couldn't avoid them, she shot them with blasts from her Ember Celica gauntlets and quickly found out that they were clay explosives of all things! Glancing at her girlfriend out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Blake saw what she did and nodded in her direction before she resumed her rush towards Deidara, desperate to take the bastard out before anything bad could happen.
Blake, on the other hand, was trying to dwindle the number of clay explosives alongside Meru. Thanks to the superior reach of her katana, Gambol Shroud, and her ability to throw it and twirl it and swing it around, she was able to make quick work of the explosives from a safe distance, unlike her girlfriend, who was a close-range/melee combatant. So, Blake made it her personal goal to provide covering fire, of sorts, for her girlfriend and kept the enemies off of her to the very best of her ability while also dealing with any that got too close to her and Meru.
However, Blake didn't notice one of the clay spiders that had managed to slip around behind her and Meru. It slowly crawled up the back of her leg and latched itself onto her back and began to glow brightly before exploding, catching everyone by surprise as she screamed out in horror, surprise, and agony.
Yang was caught by surprise by what happened to her girlfriend and stared in horror at where she was as smoke covered her form. However, rather than allow herself to become overcome by grief, she turned her attention onto Deidara and allowed her rage to take hold, activating her berserker form, her hair flailing wildly and her eyes turning red. "You rotten bastard! I'll fucking murder you!" Yang shouted as she charged forward, completely obliterating any obstacles in her way and completely shrugging off any explosions that followed as she neared her target, much to his shock and horror.
Meanwhile, as this was happening, Naruto, Kakashi, and Tenten had arrived on scene just as Blake had been caught in the explosion. Naruto's eyes had widened in horror and tears began to flow from his eyes, trickling slowly down his cheeks as he feared the worst. "No...no...Blake! Blaaaaake!" he screamed before glaring towards Deidara. "You rotten bastard! Die!" he yelled out before he felt his powers activating again and, out of nowhere, another portal opened up in front of him. "Shit...not again."
Pandora - Same time
No...this wasn't supposed to happen. What...what's going on? She couldn't believe it. She refused to believe it. She and her friends had just won a fierce battle. They had got past the death wall. They had stormed all the way through that fucking fortress and destroyed that fucking BNK3R after a long, hard battle with that and a ton of fucking turrets and Loaders and...God that was just complete and utter chaos! And then...then in Control Core Angel, after being granted access with fucking Handsome Jack's voice, which Axton still hated having by the way, they had fought another, long fucking battle after finding out that Angel was a freaking Siren of all things! Then again, it made sense, all things considered.
But...then, after Angel died, while they were talking...Handsome Jack showed up and shot Roland! Roland...he collapsed dead before them. Gaige...she just couldn't believe it. She had to admit that she had grown fond of the Soldier. He was a good guy and, despite his quirks, he was kind and treated them like family. She liked that about him. But now...now he was gone thanks to this rotten fucking bastard!
But before she could do anything, Lilith tried to attack him. It was at this point that Jack slapped some kind of collar around Lilith's neck and ordered her to attack the six of them. Naturally, Lilith refused and began to try and teleport them away, but Gaige blinked and looked behind her as she sensed something was off. There, before her very eyes, a strange tear in the fabric of space & time was just floating there. How did she know this? Well, she was a genius of course! Unfortunately, before she could do or say anything, Lilith's attempt at teleporting everyone caused Gaige to be pushed forward into the tear in space/time while the other five were teleported away. Sighing as she resigned herself to her fate, Gaige just hoped that wherever she ended up, she'd get to kill someone or something because she was pissed.
Back in the Elemental Nations
When Gaige fell out of the portal and landed on her rump, she groaned and quickly stood up before rubbing her bum. "Ouch. Talk about a rough landing." she said somewhat grouchily. Looking behind her, she watched as the tear in space/time closed itself before she looked forward again and saw a spiky-haired blonde looking at her alongside a cyclops and a bun-haired girl with a giant scroll on her back. Turning to face the other direction, she saw some blonde chick trying to kill some pretty boy blonde and quickly deduced that this group had some beef with him. Turning back to the others, she decided to ask them a question. "Hey, any of you have any objections with me killing that pretty boy blonde over there? I'm kinda in a pissed off mood right now and need to let off some steam." she questioned, a small scowl on her face.
Blinking at this strange request, Kakashi decided to answer her request for the three of them before Naruto could say anything. "Feel free. He is our enemy after all." he said with an eye smile.
Smiling at the silver-haired cyclops, Gaige whipped out her shock SMG and skipped off towards Deidara, whistling a merry little tune as she did. Once she was close enough, she took aim and unleashed a hail of electric bullet hell on him. The bullets flew so fast and so many that he didn't have time to dodge out of the way in time. Deidara was struck so many times by his weakness that he collapsed to the ground, convulsing and eventually succumbing to his injuries. Gaige approached him once he had passed out and pointed her explosive pistol at his head and fired it point blank into his skull, watching as it exploded in a shower of blood, bone, and brain matter, completely uncaring that a chunk of it got onto her legs and clothes.
Returning to the others, she offered up a smile and a wave as she slipped her pistol away. "Hiya! The name's Gaige. Who're you guys?" she asked cheerily. Though inside she was still a mess after Roland's death, she decided to try and make the most of her new situation. She was a girl that could adapt to most any situation after all, and she still had her best buddy Deathtrap after all, so she would be alright in the end.
Naruto wasn't concerned with Gaige right now however. Instead, he offered the girl a quick apology and rushed past her to where Blake was and smiled as he saw her coughing and curled up on the ground. She was hurt, but not terribly so. It was obvious that her Aura took the brunt of the damage. Yang hurried over and knelt down, pulling her girlfriend into a hug and held her tightly. Naruto knelt down and wrapped them both up in a hug as well, happy that they were both alright. He was incredibly worried about the both of them and was just happy that everyone was alright.
It was this scene that everyone else arrived to. At first they were confused about the new girl on the scene, but they figured they'd question that later. Instead, the more important topic was the second Akatsuki member and the whereabouts of the Kazekage. So, Yamato decided to voice the question they were all thinking. "Alright, where is Deidara and who is the girl?"
Gaige looked at the new people and then looked at the strange guy and smirked. "If you're talking about the blonde pretty boy, I killed him. Just blew his brains out after pumping him full of zappy bullets from Hell and BOOM! One seriously dead villain for the pleasure of yours truly. As for me? I'm Gaige. Nice to meetcha creepy-looking dude!" she said with a grin on her face.
Naruto chuckled at this and looked over at the others before he and his girlfriends walked over to the group. "I like you. You remind me of me and my girlfriends. Though I have to apologize for pulling you from your universe and world the way I did. It wasn't intentional, I assure you. I still don't have full control over my powers, especially when I'm angry or feeling too emotional." he explained while rubbing the back of his head.
Gaige looked Naruto up and down and smirked at him. "Ah, I see. So you're the one who has the power to open holes in the fabric of space & time hm? How interesting. I think I'm going to have to study you Mister. Do tell me, what's your name handsome?" she questioned, licking her lips in the process as she thought about the fun she could have researching this particular specimen.
Rikku narrowed her eyes at this girl and pointed in her face. "Hey! You don't get any funny ideas now. He's our man and you aren't going to be making any moves on him when you don't even know anything about him. You can be his friend and get to know him, but nothing more than that, got it? And no getting any ideas about dissecting him like he's some research project either. You can spend time talking with him and perhaps even try to help him learn about his powers and offer up advice, but don't go trying anything weird. Understand me Missy?"
Laughing a bit at this, Gaige smirked at the girl in front of her before looking at Naruto who simply smiled at his girlfriend and then at her as if to say the ball was in her court now. It was obvious he was in agreement with his girlfriend's decision. This guy is obviously whipped. Gaige thought to herself with a chuckle. Sighing softly, she nodded her head and shrugged her shoulders. "Alright, alright. You win. No funny thoughts, and no trying anything weird. I promise. Besides, as cute as he is, I don't even know him yet. I wouldn't just try and jump into a relationship with someone right off the bat. I'm only 15 years-old you know?" she said with a shrug. "Got plenty of time to grow up and have some fun."
Naruto's girls nodded in acceptance at this before Rikku turned to Blake and looked her over. "Alright, it looks like your Aura protected you from whatever attack you received that had these two worried so much over you. Still though, you are wounded. Allow me to heal you up real quick before we go get Gaara's body...God I hate saying that. I'm so sorry Naruto." she said with a sad frown on her face as she looked at her honey.
Naruto looked down at the ground at this and shook his head. He couldn't even find the words to say how he was feeling right now. He knew that Rikku and Meru had magic that could save people when they were on the brink of death, but reviving people when they were recently deceased? He was pretty sure that was beyond even their remarkable powers. Still, he hoped that maybe, just maybe, something could be done. So, with a heavy sigh, he sent a mental order to his clones that were guarding Gaara's body and waited for them to bring Gaara's body to them so that something could hopefully be done for him.
While they waited for Gaara's body to be brought to them, Rikku took this time to heal Blake, much to the cat-eared girl's relief. She'd need to get some new clothes, but that was nothing compared to being alive!
Moments later, Gaara's body arrived with the two clones of Naruto and they looked solemnly at their creator, shaking their heads in pity for him before dispelling. The blonde ninja walked over and lifted Gaara up into his arms, deciding he would be the one to carry him back. Tears began to trickle down his face as he walked, the large party of people following a short distance behind him. However, Chiyo lagged behind a bit as she thought over her options. Sighing to herself, she came to a decision and nodded decisively to herself before rushing forward to match Naruto's stride.
Upon reaching an open field, she decided to speak up. "Naruto, lay Gaara down here. I'm...I'm going to use a jutsu to revive him." she said, much to everyone's shock. Before anyone could interrupt her, she decided to explain. "It's called One's Own Life Reincarnation. Now lay him down and allow me to begin the process." she commanded.
Nodding, Naruto laid his friend/brother figure down upon the ground and allowed Chiyo to get to work. However, he had to question her on something. "Granny Chiyo...are you completely certain about this? You're giving up your life in exchange for his. Is this really what you want?"
Chuckling softly to herself, Chiyo continued her work as she spoke to the young man. "I've lived a long, good life young Naruto. Do I have regrets? Oh most certainly. But I'm happy with the life I've led. However, it's necessary for the old to pave way for the youth. Gaara was taken before his time, and it's only right of me to give him the chance to live again. Besides, the village needs their Kazekage. They don't need an old hag like me anymore anyways." she said in a good-natured way before laughing at her self-deprecating talk.
Naruto felt tears trickling down his cheeks again and knelt down to help her by offering up some of his chakra to speed the process along, and also because he could sense she was running low on chakra. "Granny Chiyo...I'll never forget you. You're a good person and I'll miss you. I'm sorry it came to this. I really am. If you had lived, I bet you would've been like the grandma I never had. We might not have seen each other much, but I really do think we could've been like family." he said with a teary smile on his face.
Chiyo smiled softly at this and rested her forehead against his. "I would have liked that very much Naruto-kun. You would have made a fine grandson." she said tiredly. After a few moments longer, the jutsu ended successfully and the old woman began to fall to the side, now deceased. Naruto caught her in his arms and held her close, however, and wept for her as he did for Gaara. She was a good woman and he would forever be thankful to her for saving his dearest friend.
Ten minutes later
As the group waited around and conversed with one another about whatever, simply enjoying idle chatter while they waited for Gaara to awaken, they were a bit surprised when a veritable army of Suna ninja showed up on the scene, led by Temari and Baki. Looking at them, the group couldn't help but chuckle awkwardly and raise their hands in a wave. Naruto just pointed over at Gaara and said, "We're just waiting for him to wake up. Though...Granny Chiyo had to give her life to revive him. We didn't make it in time to save him...I'm sorry. Granny Chiyo had to use a jutsu to revive him and it took her life in the process."
Temari looked both happy and saddened by this news, while Baki kept a stony expression on his face, betraying nothing about how he was really feeling inside. The other ninja were just waiting to see if their beloved Kazekage would awaken anytime soon, each expectant that he would wake up and be okay. Some had tears in their eyes that Elder Chiyo had passed away, but they were glad that their Kazekage was safe and sound because of her sacrifice.
After a moment, Gaara finally stirred and his eyes slowly opened. Naruto hurried over and looked down at him, smiling softly at him and gently clenched his hand with his own. "Gaara. I'm glad you're okay. How do you feel?" he questioned, hoping his friend was back to normal.
Gaara smiled weakly at his brother figure and was about to speak up in response before his two fangirls roughly shoved Naruto away and crowded around him. "Kazekage-sama, are you alright? How do you feel? Are you hurt?" and on and on they went. He was frustrated that they just roughly shoved aside his best and closest friend, but he wasn't in any shape right now to do anything about it. Instead he sighed reluctantly and closed his eyes again, simply sighing in exasperation and shaking his head, not even bothering to deign them with a response. Sari and Matsuri were truly insufferable at times, and now they had actually irritated him, if not downright pissed him off, which wasn't easy to do these days.
Naruto, meanwhile, glared daggers at their backs and scoffed in annoyance. "Bitches, the both of them! What the hell?!" he shouted out before returning to his girlfriends and sat down with them once again, folding his arms across his chest in frustration. "I don't even get a 'thank you' from them for helping to save his life. No, I get shoved aside and I don't even get to talk to my best friend. Fucking hell!"
Rikku hugged her boyfriend close and rested his head on her shoulder. "It'll be alright Naruto. We'll talk to him later, I promise. I'm sure he's just as annoyed right now as you are with them. Seriously though, they don't need to be so darn rude. Look, Temari's coming over here at least!" she said, pointing over her boyfriend's shoulder.
Sure enough, when they all looked in the direction Rikku was pointing, they saw Temari walking towards them. Naruto stood up to greet her, but he didn't expect for Temari to pull Naruto into a hug and begin crying into his shoulder. "Thank you. Thank you so much for bringing my baby brother back to me Naruto. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't come to our aid. So thank you so much Naruto." she said before pulling away and smiling at him.
After a moment of shuffling on her feet, Temari placed her hands on Naruto's chest and leaned forward, capturing his lips with hers. Moaning into the kiss, she clenched his shirt in her fists and closed her eyes, savoring the taste of him on her lips as she licked at his lips, begging for entrance into his mouth.
Surprised at Temari's forwardness and by what was happening, Naruto wasn't sure what to do at first. He had a fiance. He had girlfriends! But...this? This felt good. Temari was a beautiful woman and he did care about her. So, despite his inner protests, he found himself opening his mouth and allowed Temari to probe around in his mouth for a time before their tongues began to wrestle with one another.
Finally, when they pulled apart, the both of them wore fierce blushes on their faces and rested their foreheads against one another. Temari smiled widely and muttered out a quiet, "Wow. That was...amazing."
Naruto couldn't help but chuckle a bit and nod a little in agreement. "Yeah." he said.
However, his girlfriends were not happy with what had just transpired and made it known. Meru decided to speak up for them. "Hey! What the heck do you think you're doing Temari? That's a heck of a way to say 'thank you'. Or are you genuinely interested in our man? When we get back to Suna, we're going to need to have a talk about this." she said, clearly upset with the blonde Suna kunoichi.
Temari flinched at the tone in Meru's voice and glanced away as she scratched at her nose awkwardly. "Um...yeaaaah. About that...I've kiiiinda had a crush on him since he changed my brother for the better. My feelings only intensified when I saw him again recently and now? I just...couldn't stop myself." she explained, laughing sheepishly afterwards. After she was finished, she looked at the other girls and gave them a sharp stare. "I'm dead serious though. I'm willing to fight you girls for a chance at being with him."
Sighing, Rikku shook her head and held up her hand. "Like Meru said, we'll talk about this when we return to Suna. We've already decided to talk with Sakura. We might as well talk things over with you as well now. You do realize though that if you want to be with Naruto, you'll have to move to Konoha, right? Are you willing to make that change?"
Temari frowned at this point being made, but she looked over at where her brother was and smiled softly in his direction as his fangirls Sari and Matsuri continued to fawn over him. "I would miss my brothers greatly, but they're all that keeps me grounded in Sunagakure. With Gaara's permission, I should easily be able to transfer from Suna to Konoha. That is...if you'll allow me into your family?" she questioned somewhat nervously.
"Like I said, we'll talk about it. But it's nice to know that you're willing to go that far to be with him." Rikku said, smiling gently at Temari. Looking towards Naruto, she saw he was still in a bit of a daze, but he was at least paying attention to their conversation. "Our man is more than worth any sacrifice. Each of us had to give up our worlds to be here with him, but we wouldn't have it any other way." the blonde thief said, a small smirk on her face.
Temari looked confused by this statement, but she decided best not to question it right now. Instead, she decided it would be best to get things moving so they could return to Suna and get some rest. Gaara could probably use an actual bed to rest in, and no doubt the Konoha group could use some rest as well after battling the Akatsuki and rescuing their Kazekage.
So, taking a few steps forward, Temari clapped her hands loudly a couple of times and, once she was sure she had everyone's attention, she shouted out, "Alright everyone, let's get Gaara and our friends from Konoha home to Suna! I think they've more than earned some nice, warm beds to sleep in, don't you?!" she shouted out, a small grin tugging at her lips.
Naruto took this moment to lift Chiyo's body into his arms and decided he would be the one to carry her back to Suna so she could get a proper burial back in the village. The entire time, he couldn't help but think about the kiss he and Temari shared as well as what his girls had discussed with her. Damn. Between this and Gaige showing up, I'm completely confused now. What the hell am I going to do?
Later that night - Hotel in Sunagakure
Naruto would rather be making out with his girlfriends right now, but no, instead he was dealing with this shit. Yamato had decided to hold a team meeting and brought everyone together in his hotel room where he then began to tear into Naruto about barking out orders to everyone earlier in the cave. The blonde ninja finally grew so fed up with Yamato's bullshit that he stood up and glared daggers at him, thrusting a finger in his face and shouting at him. "Shut the hell up already goddamnit! I told you back in the cave that I knew my girls best! You haven't had the time to get to know them well enough yet. Hell, Kakashi-sensei agreed with my decision! Thanks for that by the way Kakashi." Naruto said, sending a thankful nod his way, which Kakashi returned with his usual eye-smile.
Turning his gaze back to Yamato, Naruto continued tearing into him. "You may be the team captain Yamato-sensei, but we are a team that was just thrown together a little over a day ago. I did what was best at the time and I expect you to understand that. Instead, here you are, tearing into me for some bullshit reason because I 'subverted your command' or some such bullshit. My girls proved themselves out there today, and instead of saying 'Good job' or giving them a pat on the back or something, you're being a monumental jackass! So you know what Yamato? You can just fuck the hell off! If you don't change your damn mindset before we return to Konoha, I'm going to talk to Granny Tsunade about finding somebody else to captain this team because you clearly aren't going to work. Now good night. My girls and I are going to go to our rooms and get some rest. It's been a long day and I know I'd like to get some cuddle time with some of my girls." Naruto said, clearly pissed off at Yamato, and with good reason as well.
Standing up with his girlfriends, Naruto vacated the room, Gaige soon following as well, considering she didn't feel like sitting around after the group she was most interested in had left. Meanwhile, Yamato sat there stunned at how he was addressed. Kakashi, however, chuckled as he looked at his old friend. "Well, he sure showed you, didn't he old friend? I have to admit, you walked right into that one. Naruto is right though, he did the right thing today and you really didn't need to come down on him so hard. His girlfriends are a virtual unknown to us, but to him? Well, what he did was only natural. You should have shown you trusted in him to make the right call and accepted that for the time being. At least until you've taken the time to get to know them yourself. Now, though, you might have caused some irreparable damage. You've really got your work cut out for you now Yamato. Good luck fixing this situation." the cycloptic jonin said with an eye smile before he stood up and went to his bed where he laid down and curled up under the covers, turning off his lamp and going to sleep.
Meanwhile, all Yamato could do was contemplate what Kakashi had told him, wondering just how badly he had fucked up just now. Damn. When Hokage-sama learns about this… he thought to himself, flinching as he realized that he was going to be in seriously deep shit. Kami I hope I can fix this before we get back to Konoha or I'm in deep trouble. He thought to himself silently as he went to his own bed and proceeded to go to sleep himself.
A/N - Okay, before anyone complains, I've had plans to bring in Gaige from the very beginning, and yes, I planned to bring her in during the fight against Deidara. Is she going to be in the harem? Hell if I know. If she is, it won't be for quite some time yet because, unlike the other girls in the story, she and Naruto know NOTHING about each other. They'd have to start out as friends first and build up to that kind of relationship. Sure she may flirt with him from time to time, but nothing more than that y'know? *shrugs*
Anyways, I do hope you enjoyed the chapter and are looking forward to seeing more to come. Also, since somebody once left a review asking me to post a list of the characters introduced and where they're from, I just want to say that I HAVE a list of the characters on my profile. Buuut, if you refuse to look at my profile for whatever reason, here's a list you can look at right here:
Rikku (Final Fantasy X-2)
Meru (The Legend of Dragoon)
Towa (Time & Eternity)
Yang Xiao-Long (RWBY)
Blake Belladonna (RWBY)
Gaige (Borderlands 2)
See? Not too big a list, but that's who has been introduced so far. Pretty interesting cast of characters introduced so far, wouldn't ya say? I think they're pretty neat-o characters, don't you?! If you haven't had the pleasure of playing any of those games, I highly recommend giving them a try. Each of those games are amazing in their own ways. The Legend of Dragoon is a priceless treasure that slipped through the cracks unfortunately and deserves some real love from people. Time & Eternity is another gem that really deserves more love. So seriously, get out there and try those games out people, I'm sure you'll enjoy the hell out of 'em! *nods*
Anyways, like I said, hope you enjoyed the chapter and I hope you're looking forward to seeing more! Love y'all!