Part 6
The Naruto wiki says that the Shakuton is weak to the Water Release, which doesn't really make sense considering it can 'mummify' people and that, so instead I am making the Shakuton weak to the Earth Release unless the Shakuton jutsu is super powerful.
It took the better part of an hour, but Sakura was finally able to draw out the poison from Kankuro and heal him fully. He'd need to rest for a few days to come back from his chakra exhaustion and for his internal organs to heal with the assistance of Suna medic-nin, but he'd make a full recovery. Sakura had also developed several portable antidotes, amazing the medic-nin as well as Naruko who previously had no idea how skilled Sakura was.
Sakura had spent the next few minutes resting. Temari and Naruko had talked to the medic-nins while they examined Kankuro to get some more details on his condition and Kakashi was talking to Baki about the two Akatsuki members that had taken the Kazekage.
"Naruko, Sakura, come here." Kakashi called as he walked into an empty corner of the room, away from the others. Naruko placed a reassuring hand on Temari's shoulder who smiled gratefully at her and then she made her way over to Kakashi, Sakura trailing after her, leaving Temari standing over her brother.
"What's up, sensei?" Naruko asked.
"From what Baki-san told me, I think I know at least one of the Akatsuki members that attacked Suna." Kakashi opened a slightly battered bingo book, showing them an image of smirking blond man with an Iwagakure Hitai-ate. "This is Isshun no Deidara (Deidara of a Single Moment). An S-ranked missing-nin from Iwa, he possesses the Bakuton, the Explosion Release. He defected from Iwa after stealing some type of kinjutsu which allows him to create explosive sculptures. Based on Baki-san's description of the bird Deidara flew on, I believe that the sculptures are autonomous in some way."
"The bird?" Sakura asked. She then remembered the Hokage's description of a 'weird white bird'. "Is it one of his sculptures?"
"I believe so, yes. The bingo book makes no mention of a summoning contract in his possession, so that's my best bet." Kakashi responded.
"What about the other one?" Naruko asked.
"On that, I have nothing. They're clearly a poison user of some kind since it's not Deidara's style. Based on Temari's description of events, this member was also skilled and/or powerful enough to incapacitate the Kazekage by themselves."
"I can tell you exactly who the other member is."
Turning, the three of them saw an elderly woman standing over Kankuro, examining a small amount of the poison Sakura had extracted from him.
"Yeah? Who?" Naruko asked.
Temari quickly walked up to her and whispered in her ear, "Naruko, she's Lady Chiyo, one of the village elders. Show some respect, please!"
"That is quite alright, Temari." the elderly woman stated, turning to them. "The other Akatsuki member is a missing-nin from this very village."
"What!?" Temari exclaimed in shock. "Who?"
Naruko looked at her worriedly, it was like she could feel Temari's anger tangibly.
"My grandson, Akasuna no Sasori (Sasori of the Red Sand)." She answered evenly. Out of the corner of her eye, Naruko saw Kakashi stiffen. "Ah yes, that name rings a bell, doesn't it, Hatake?" Chiyo asked, a barely detectible amount of anger in her voice. "Alas, now is not the time." she stated, her voice even again. "I believe you have we have a Kazekage to rescue, do we not?"
"We?" Naruko asked with some surprise.
"Yes, girl, we. I may be retired, but I am still a Sunagakure kunoichi. I will accompany you to recover the Kazekage." she turned to Temari. "You will take over command of Suna's defences. My brother will be here soon, to assist you."
Temari bowed, her face forcibly blank. "Yes, Lady Chiyo."
Chiyo turned to Kakashi. "I assume you still possess your Nin-ken contract?" Kakashi nodded. She handed him a piece of ripped black cloth, half of which had a red cloud on it. "This was recovered from Kankuro's puppets."
Kakashi nodded in understanding and turned away from them. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu." In a burst of smoke, Pakkun appeared in front of them and saluted.
"What's goin' on?" the tiny dog asked.
"We need you to track someone for us." Kakashi answered, holding the cloth out to the pug.
After a few sniffs of the cloth and then the air, Pakkun nodded. "Yeah I got it. Come on then."
The dog jogged out of the room, the three Konoha-nin and the Suna-elder following close behind. Temari watched them leave with a troubled expression. "Please be safe." She begged to no one in particular.
After a couple hours of Sand Surfing, Kakashi having placed Pakkun on his shoulder as they did so, they had reached the edge of Kaze no Kuni and had travelled into the scattered forests of Kawa no Kuni (River Country/Land of Rivers). Eventually they entered an area where the treetops were so thick that very little sunlight was getting through. In the corner of her eye, Naruko noticed a number of explosive tags underneath the branches of a tree they were about to jump to and yelled. "Scatter!" at the last second.
Not a moment later the tree that they'd been moving through exploded brilliantly, sending debris from the trees in every direction. They had all dropped to the ground and looked around for their attacker. Simultaneously, they all saw none other than Uchiha Itachi standing casually on a tree above them. "Do not look into his eyes! No matter what you do!" Kakashi told them.
"You have grown since the last time I saw you, Naruko. I wonder, where is my dear brother, Sasuke?" he drawled in a monotone.
Naruko scowled up at him. "You know damn well that he defected, you bastard."
"Ah yes, now that you mention it, I do remember hearing something to that effect. No matter. You shall not pursue the Ichibi any further." Itachi stated, his demeanour changing as his stance became more rigid and threatening.
"We will get Gaara back, you arsehole! You won't stop me!" Naruko yelled, gathering her chakra. As she did so, Kakashi silently directed Chiyo to flank around the left, while he and Sakura moved right. Moulding her chakra and channelling it through her stomach coils, she formed her chakra into oil. At the same time, she formed Katon chakra inside of her lungs. She spat the oil out of her mouth, at the same time releasing Katon chakra through her nose. The result was a powerful 'Katon: Enden' (Fire Release: Flame Bullet), that lit up the forest in front of her and forced Itachi to Kawarimi.
While Team Kakashi fought Itachi, Team Guy was swiftly moving west toward Kaze no Kuni after being sent to back them up in their mission to save the Kazekage. They were moving through a rocky area when they suddenly stopped, seeing a familiar missing-nin in front of them.
Hoshigaki Kisame himself stood in front of them, his massive wrapped sword resting on his shoulder. Without any greeting other than a smirk, he threw his sword into the air and began forming hand seals, then shouted "Suiton: Bakusui Shōha!" (Water Style: Exploding Water Shock Wave). A massive amount of water surged from his mouth, filling the dip in the earth in front of them. He caught the massive sword and then rode the giant wave down to them, said wave forcing them to jump high into the air or be washed away. Guy and Lee both landed and began trading blows with him, narrowly avoiding his sword as they did so. Lee managed to duck underneath a swing and his leg rose in a swift kick, connecting with Kisame's wrist and sending the massive sword spiralling away. Dodging out of the way, Guy and Lee watched Neji shout "Hakke Kūshō! (8 Trigrams Air Palm). A powerful gust of wind flew from Neji's palm and thrust Kisame back. Kisame caught his sword, startling the Konoha-nin, and used it to stab into the water's surface, stopping him from going any further back. He was then surprised by a spiked ball flying toward him courtesy of TenTen, barely managing to block it before it exploding, launching its spikes in every directing, and blowing him into the water.
Team Guy stood on the water's surface and scanned for the fish-like man, wondering if he'd survived. They were simultaneously stunned and unsurprised when he rose out of the water, sword in hand. He smirked at them again and launched himself at the Konoha-nin.
Itachi easily dodged a punch from Sakura then blocked a blade from one of Chiyo's puppets, proceeding to kick it away. Using a shunshin, he escaped having his head removed by a wind-enhanced katana strike from Naruko and moved into a taijutsu stance as Kakashi ran at him. He blocked a kick with his left forearm, using his right hand to grab Hatake's leg and fling him at Chiyo's fast approaching puppet, forcing her to pull the puppet back to stop it from being crushed. He then leant backwards, dodging a number of shuriken thrown by Sakura. In a burst of speed, he appeared in front of her and connected a kick to her mid-section, sending her flying backwards to be caught by a newly created Naruko shadow clone. He was then quickly descended upon by multiple sword wielding blondes. Due to the blade's wind chakra enhancement and the sheer number of attackers, he was unable to counter, being forced to dodge until he had an opening. It was at that moment, he was surprised when the real Naruko exploded from the ground behind him and shouted, "Get back! Shakuton: taiyō no shi!" (Scorch Release: Death of the Sun!) Naruko's hands were held in front of her as a glowing yellow ball began to form between them. The next moment, she pushed her hands forward, essentially throwing the ball at Itachi at an incredibly high speed. They all jumped as far away as they could as the miniature sun connected with Itachi's back, engulfing him and collapsing in on itself before it exploded, vaporising the area around it. It seemed the attack was successful, but Itachi was an S-ranked ninja for a reason. There was a cough on the edge of the vaporised area and they turned to see Itachi in a crouch with a pained expression on his face. His back was burned horrifically and his arms were gone from the elbow down. He collapsed onto his back and stopped breathing, his eyes empty. His body then morphed and contorted to become a non-descript sandy-haired man.
"A fake." Chiyo stated.
"Regardless, he fought just like Itachi. Good work guys, but we need to move." Kakashi said, jumping back up into the treetops. They followed him, Naruko casting a glance back at the destruction behind them.
Team Guy stood over a corpse that was smashed into the earth. "A fake?" Lee asked.
"Yes, it seems to be." Guy answered with uncharacteristic seriousness. "It even fought just like him..." he then smiled brightly at his somewhat battered students. "No matter! The battle was won and we must continue!"
"Yes, Guy-sensei!" his three students chorused. The quickly began heading west again, on the lookout for any more attackers.
"The fuck is that?" Naruko asked, her anxiousness getting to her. The fight with Itachi had lasted too long, they'd lost too much time. They stood at the edge of a river, the other side was a cliff with a perfectly spherical rock wedged into it. On the front of the stone was some type of sealing tag Naruko didn't entirely recognise, but could read some parts such as 'direction' and 'barrier'.
"Some kind of barrier. Hm..." Kakashi answered, a hand on his chin. "I've seen this technique before. To the north-west, north-east, south-west and south-east there will be a seal that holds this barrier together. They must all be destroyed simultaneously so that we can destroy the barrier."
"I can do it." Naruko said, creating four shadow clones. She pulled four blank sealing tags out of her pouch, as well as a brush and bottle of ink. Within a minute, four intricate seals had been drawn, one given to each clone and they headed in the directions Kakashi had said.
"What were the seals?" Sakura asked.
" Sibling Exploding tags. Once all of my clones are dispelled, I'll activate them and boom. No more barrier." Naruko answered.
"Good thinking, Naruko." Kakashi praised with an eye smile.
Naruko nodded in thanks with a small smile. Her body jolted slightly and she said. "It's done." She formed one-handed ram and explosions echoed from all four directions.
"Sakura, if you would." Kakashi said nodding to the giant rock that sealed the entrance to the Akatsuki hideout.
"Sure thing, Kakashi-sensei." Taking a running start, she jumped at the giant rock with her arm pulled back. Her fist connected with the rock and her Enhanced Strength jutsu shattered the rock into many pieces, the fragments falling into the river.
"Let's go." Chiyo ordered.
They entered the cave to see Gaara face-down on the ground. Deidara sat on a large stone while the hulking form of Sasori stood next to him. Seeing them enter, Deidara stood and exclaimed. "Welcome, Konoha-shinobi and Old-Lady-Suna. We do hope you'll enjoy your stay, and appreciate our fine art collection. Before you die, make sure to tell us who's art is better. Sasori's 'timeless'" he said with dismissive air quotes "art. Or my beautiful art! The explosive art of the moment! KATSU!" he shouted with glee, his hands reaching upwards.
Suddenly the ceiling exploded, huge chunks of rock smashing into the ground like meteorites. The four intruders only just dodging. Sakura and Chiyo ended up back near the entrance and Kakashi and Naruko were near the two Akatsuki-nin. Looking at Gaara's lifeless body, Naruko was filled with rage. Thankfully, the reinforcement to her seal kept too much of the Kyuubi's chakra from coming through, just stopping short of covering her in a chakra cloak. Her eyes turned an unnatural blood-red with slitted pupils, her nails elongated and sharpened and her whisker marks became darker and thicker. Deidara seemed amused by her rage and casually walked forward and slowly lowered his foot onto the back of Gaara's head.
This of course only served to make her angrier. "I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" she screamed. Without warning, she exploded forward and slashed at the Ex-Iwa-nin with her new claws like a wild animal. She pursued him until he created and boarded a clay bird and flew through the massive hole that was once the ceiling to the cave. Naruko easily followed with a chakra-enhanced jump. Kakashi swore and followed, narrowly dodging a swipe from Sasori's tail.
Sasori tried to attack again, but his tail was knocked away by a chakra-enhanced fūma shuriken. He turned to see Sakura lowering her arm, Chiyo standing on a rock behind her. "It is us you will fight Sasori. It is time to end this." Chiyo stated, her voice even but with an underlying sadness.
"Right you are, Chiyo-baa-san. This is where it ends." he responded, his gravelly voice echoed throughout the cave. His tail rose menacingly behind him. "For you." The tail flew forward, heading straight for Sakura. She dodged it, jumping onto the tail itself and then leaping at Sasori.
She descended toward Sasori, her fist glowing and cocked to punch.
As Naruko pursued Deidara, her head cleared to the point that she could think clearly. She realised that she'd never be able to do anything to him from down on the ground. She remembered what Tsunade said to her about remaining professional and tried to calm down. She stopped and thought about what to do. Tsunade was correct in that she had a number of ranged techniques but at the speed Deidara could fly, it would be just about impossible to hit him.
"Naruko!" She turned to see Kakashi come up behind her, Sharingan blazing. "Naruko, I understand how you feel, but you cannot let it get to you." he said imploringly.
She looked down. "I know, I'm sorry, Kakashi-sensei. But right now, we need to take care of Deidara."
"Yes. We do." he looked up to the circling bird, it seemed Deidara was waiting for them to make the first move. "I have an idea, but afterwards I won't be able to fight. I may fall entirely unconscious." he warned.
Naruko nodded. "I got nothin' else. Go ahead, sensei."
Closing his Sharingan eye, he focused more chakra into it, morphing it into the vague shape of a shuriken. As he focused his attack at Deidara's head, the pain of activating his unnatural Mangekyo Sharingan became too much, even for him, and he cast it somewhat randomly before he would be unable. "Kamui!" he shouted.
"The fuck!?" Deidara cried. A strange intangible swirl began forming around his head. He managed to veer away before it activated but it suddenly collapsed, taking his right arm with it. "You fucking tree-hugging CUNTS!" he screamed, his eyes closed as he tried to get passed the pain. He lost control of his bird for a moment and it plummeted toward the ground. Opening his eyes, he saw a massive sun-like fireball screaming toward him. Before it even hit him, it felt as if his blood was literally boiling inside of him. He tried to pilot the bird out of the way but he couldn't gain control back in time, the bright yellow ball engulfing him.
Naruko watched with uncharacteristic satisfaction as Deidara struggled to pilot his bird. She watched as he was swallowed by her powered up Shakuton: taiyō no shi (Scorch Release: Death of the Sun). Turning around she saw Kakashi leaned against a tree breathing heavily, a hand held to his left eye as blood flowed through his fingers. Her face softened and she trudged over to him. "Come on, sensei" she said quietly. She picked him up, draping the arm that wasn't covering his eye over her shoulders and they stumbled back toward the cave.
They eventually arrived at the hole to find a massacre of puppets, with Team Guy and Sakura as well as a small squad of Suna Shinobi, one of which was Baki, standing around Gaara's body, Chiyo crouching over him. As they entered, Lee and Guy ran over to help her with Kakashi, easily carrying him back over to the others. Naruko trailed behind them, a depressed expression marring her face.
Her gloomy expression took on a curious quality as she watched Chiyo's hands glow above Gaara's chest. She then closed her eyes, and rose her head to the sky, then opened them to look at Naruko. "I hope your village and mine can lead our peoples into a brighter future, Naruko. And I know it will be you and Gaara at the helm." with that she closed her eyes again and the glowing chakra on her hands intensified. Her eyes suddenly opened and she shouted. "Kishō Tensei!" she immediately fell backwards and lay still. Naruko looked at her with wide eyes. She then heard coughing and turned to see Gaara's chest shaking as he tried to clear his throat. The Sunagakure shinobi tried to get close but were stopped by Sakura.
"Wait! Let me examine him." she said.
Gaara's eyes opened and starred at the sky. He looked at each of their faces in shock. "I am... alive?"
Naruko ran over and couched next to him. She smiled with teary eyes. "Yes, Gaara. You're alive."
End Chapter 6