Chapter Four: We're coming Gaara!
"There it is!" Naruto yelled as he spotted with his enhanced sight the outer walls of the Hidden Sand Village, 'Good thing I was able to follow those train tracks all the way here from Konoha, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to find it.' Naruto thought as he came to a stop in midair.
Pulling out one of his kunai, he pegged it as hard as he could before feeling outwards for his other seals, 'Got it!'
*FLASH*
######
Feeling a pulse of chakra from Naruto's kunai, Hinata lifted it out of her pouch…
*FLASH*
…just in time as Naruto appeared next to her.
"Have you guys found anything?" Naruto asked as he looked over the trio.
Kimimaro nodded, "Tayuya used her enhanced sound jutsu to hear over a long distances for conversations. In that direction, there were two voices talking about the Ichibi about two hours ago before the loud sound of rocks clashing cut off their voices. Hinata used her Byakugan to determine that the voices were coming from somewhere in the Land of Rivers." Kimimaro reported.
Naruto nodded, "Alright, we will go to the sand first then I will take us back here. That's thirteen hours of travel both ways in about an hour. We'll make it on time." Naruto calculated out loud.
Tayuya raised a brow, "On time for what exactly? Who are these Akatsuki anyways?" she asked.
Naruto frowned and looked to Kimimaro as he dropped one of his tri-pronged Kunai, "You've been informed. Tell them when we arrive at the sand." He said before holding out his arms, "Grab on." He said.
Tayuya and Hinata grasped either of his hands and Kimimaro rested his own on Naruto's shoulder.
Naruto frowned in concentration as he reached out to the kunai which he felt just impacted the sand.
*FLASH*
######
The Chunnin waiting for the leaf ninja stood at the gate with a sigh, 'They can't possibly get here for another fifteen hours! Why the hell do I have to wait here for them now?!' he thought angrily.
*Thunk*
The Chunnin looked to his right at the odd kunai that just stabbed into the wall, "Huh? Who threw tha-"
*FLASH*
"Naruto Uzumaki reporting for duty, get me to the poisoned girl now!" Naruto ordered as his three teammates shook off the disorientation of de-molecularisation and travelling through a spacial rip.
The Chunnin spluttered in shock at the sudden arrival and demand, "U-Umm, Temari-san is at the hospital?" he squeaked out.
Naruto facepalmed, "No shit Sherlock! Where is the hospital in this village!" Naruto demanded.
The Chunnin shook, caught completely off guard, "Umm, U-umm."
Kimimaro took a step forward and sighed, grabbed the guy's shoulder he asked, "Take us to the hospital now." The bone user said slowly and clearly.
The Chunnin nodded, "R-right!" he said before turning and leaping onto a nearby building, the others following after him.
######
The ICU door slammed open as Naruto walked in, "Move! Tell me what happened!" Naruto demanded as he pushed two doctors out of the way and leaned over Temari, placing a green hand on her forehead and stomach.
The doctors were too stunned to say anything, but Baki was there, "Naruto! She was injected with poisons that are far more advanced than anything we know! We don't know what to do!" he informed.
Naruto nodded, "Get me two large bowls of water, I'll be ready to finish this in three minutes." Naruto said as he lifted his hands away and reached into his ninja pouch.
The doctors watched in confusion as Naruto brought out a belt pocket and unravelled it to show over fifty different types of seeds of medical herbs and ten poisonous herbs. He ran his hand along it as he lay it on a bench next to Temari's bed.
Naruto pulled out seven different seeds and placed them along his left forearm as he grew them with his wood chakra.
The doctors watched in amazement as the herbs grew into existence on Naruto's left arm while he used his right to push green chakra into Temari's stomach. After a moment, the semi-conscious girl coughed up a small purple glob that Naruto instantly grabbed and brought to his own mouth.
The doctors gasped as Naruto licked the poison, "Ah, dammit." He muttered before grabbing two more seeds and placing them on the back of his left hand, causing them to grow at a faster pace.
"Here is the water Naruto-san." one of the nurses said as she placed the water down next to him.
Naruto nodded in thanks before grabbing the leaves from each of his self-grown herbs and clasping them between his hands, "MEDIC ART: ANTIPOISON SERUM!" Naruto exclaimed as his hands glowed green.
He dipped his hands into one bowl of water before lifting it out and pulling them apart, the water slowly turned a dark green from the herbs moulding into it as it stayed on his left hand. He then lifted a needle from the bench and filled it with the liquid before dropping the Anitpoison into an empty bowl.
He injected it into her lower torso, and then stepped back, "That will attract all the poison to one spot then eat it, leaving some uncomfortable but safe liquids behind. The only problem is that the end result is gonna feel uncomfortable." He said as he placed Temari's hand in the other bowl.
The doctors watched in shock, having been completely shown up in the field that they dedicated their lives to. Baki frowned before asking, "And why does her hand need to be in that bowl Naruto?"
Naruto nodded seriously, "My Antipoison is smart on its own, but it gathers everything in the bladder for expulsion. Ever slept with your hand in cold water?" Naruto asked with a smirk.
Baki sighed, "Well…you have quite an unorthodox method, but I am told that no matter what you do I should trust you." he said with a frown.
Naruto nodded, "Now, we just have to find Gaara." Naruto said before walking out of the room.
"Wait…"
Naruto turned to see Temari glaring at him with all the hatred she could muster up, "You…took one of my brothers away…you better save my last one, or I swear I'll kill you." she said before breathing heavily.
Naruto walked back over and placed a hand on her head, "Firstly, I will save Gaara because he is someone important to me. Secondly," he said before his hand glowed green and her breathing relaxed, "You threaten me one more time. And I will destroy everything you've ever cared about before taking your life. Drip. By. Drip." He whispered into her ear as he put her into a deep sleep.
Naruto turned and walked out, "We're heading to the land of rivers. Are you guys ready?" Naruto asked as he held his arms out.
Hinata took his left hand and Tayuya took his right, Kimimaro stood behind Naruto back to back, "We're ready taicho." Kimimaro said as he glared down the people who were glaring at them.
Naruto nodded, "We will win this. We have to." He muttered with his eyes closed as he channelled the necessary chakra.
Naruto felt a sudden grip on his chest.
*FLASH*
######
*FLASH*
Tayuya fell to her knees, "Fuckin hell." She muttered with a moan.
Hinata leaned against one of the few trees nearby while Kimimaro looked perfectly fine, but subtly was using his bones as an anchor for support, "What now taicho?" he asked with only the slightest look of discomfort as the three glanced at the newcomer.
Naruto sat with his hands folded together as he stared at the person who had hitched a ride by grabbing the front of his coat, 'A poison of that extreme level has to be from Sasori of the Red Sand. And according to Ero-sensei, his partner is Deidara the Bomber…this'll be hard.' He thought before sighing, 'I guess having a fifth person along won't be too bad…though I'm not sure about this Granny.' Naruto thought with a frown.
An old lady, older than even Hiruzen, stood calmly with a soft smile as she turned to Naruto, "So, you are the Final Flash. The rebirth of Hokages." She said with a nod, "I do not like your village, but I like you." she said before laughing a bit too loudly.
Naruto frowned as he stared at her, 'Rebirth of Hokages?' he thought before turning serious, "Who are you and why are you here?" he demanded.
The lady smiled, showing her lack of teeth, "Well with a poison like that…" she trailed off before beginning in another way, "My title is the Honoured Sibling: Chiyo. If what they say about you is true, then that should be enough." She said with a stubborn nod.
Naruto's eyes widened, "The great master of the Chikamatsu puppets. You want to reign in your grandson I assume?" Naruto asked as he stood straight and unfolded his hands.
Chiyo laughed, "Hit the nail on the head!" she said happily if not a little crazily.
Naruto nodded, "We will accept your help. Girls, are you ready?" Naruto asked as he turned to the group.
Tayuya and Hinata nodded as Tayuya turned in the general direction of the land of rivers, "Follow us." Hinata said before following after her, the group leaping behind them.
#######
Two hours later and the group arrived at the top of a large hill in front of a large river, "This is where we last heard them." Tayuya said while looking around.
Naruto's mind raced, 'This is the Akatsuki, so their hiding place must be extremely hard to get to.' He thought as he looked around, 'Somewhere hidden so well that no one would look for it.' he thought before feeling…something.
Naruto looked around, noticing that Chiyo was looking at their feet expectantly. He looked down and stared at the floor beneath him, 'There's chakra running through this hill.' Naruto realised.
He channelled chakra into his hand, shocking everyone as he threw a downward punch, "UNIVERSE!"
The impact zone of his fist was covered by a small purple shield of chakra, causing Naruto to scowl, "Dammit! There has to be a seal nearby or someone holding the jutsu!" Naruto said in frustration as he began looking around again.
"BYAKUGAN!"
Naruto turned to Hinata with a smile as she ran to the edge of the hill and leapt off, flipping around as she landed on the opposite chore nearly fifty meters below.
The group followed behind her as she nodded, "There's your seal." Hinata said with a soft smile of victory.
Naruto nodded as he stared at the seal, 'I'm kinda out of my depth here.' He thought.
"It's a multi-seal, focussed on an area lockdown."
Naruto turned to Tayuya who was staring at the seal in thought, "By the looks of things, it'll have four corresponding seals similar to this one. Can you see them Hina-chan?" she asked before looking at her harem sister.
Hinata flared her Byakugan, "Yes I see them!" she declared.
Naruto nodded, "Great, let's go get rid of the seals and-"
"We can't, they have to be taken off at the same second or else a backup seal will activate. I'm unable to tell what it does until this seal is removed." Tayuya said, cutting off Naruto.
Naruto nodded, "Easy enough solution, WATER CLONE JUTSU!" he declared.
From the nearby river walked four Narutos and he turned to them, "Listen up! Hinata-chan will tell you each a location. Go to that location and wait for the signal once you find the seal. Go!" he ordered.
The water clones nodded, then suddenly fell into puddles as they were pierced with a handful of kunai and shuriken.
"I'm afraid I cannot let that happen."
The group looked up to the top of the cave to see the silhouette of a man with glowing Sharingan eyes, "Itachi!" Naruto exclaimed, 'I don't understand! Ero-sensei said that all of them were needed for the sealing process, so are they already finished? Or was he wrong?' Naruto thought with a frown.
Kimimaro stepped forward, "I will handle him." He said cockily before reappearing next to Itachi in a shunshin.
Naruto's eyes widened, "No Kimimaro!" he yelled as Kimimaro swiped his bone at Itachi.
Itachi easily ducked under the blade and kicked Kimimaro back off the cliff headfirst, the bone ninja smirked while forming hand signs. The moment he fell out of Itachi's line of sight, he moved into a diving position and went underground with a jutsu.
Naruto realised Kimimaro's plan, and sought to distract Itachi. He looked up as he pulled his hands back to his side, "FLAME-"
Itashi's Sharingan flared and the world warped. Suddenly Itachi stood in front of Naruto, moving to stab him in the chest with a kunai.
Suddenly, Tayuya appeared in front of Naruto's position and was stabbing at Itachi. The Sharingan user was stabbed through and looked over at Naruto.
"You will make the village strong." Itachi said with a kind smile before bursting into a flock of crows, one of which forced its way into Naruto's mouth.
Naruto gagged for a moment before Tayuya brought her hands together and dispersed the Genjutsu on Naruto. The world warped again, and he stood back in position as if the moment hadn't happened at all, thoug by the way Hinata and Chiyo were slightly ruffed up proved that was wrong. "-RASENGAN!"
The fiery rasengan shot forward from Naruto's hands thanks to his wind funnels, and he stared in confusion at the slightly smirking Itachi, who burst into crows as the attack almost hit him.
The crows flocked down and morphed in front of the group to form Itachi, who was holding a hand seal, "UCHIHA FIRE STYLE: GRAND FIREBALL JUTSU!" he yelled as he spat the largest fireball Naruto had ever seen.
Quickly, he went to dodge when Tayuya landed in front of him and played a few notes, the fireball moved up and over them before exploding.
Instantly, Kimimaro popped up from underneath the ground right in front of Itachi, making Naruto think they had made eye contact, but Kimimaro's eyes were closed as he focussed pulsing his earth chakra to feel were Itachi was, "LARCH DANCE!" he yelled as he lunged forward, his ribcage extending and growing.
Using his advanced Sharingan, Itachi was able to dodge almost every single swipe, receiving only one cut on his left forearm. As Kimimaro finished his dance, Itachi fell to his knees and swept Kimimaro's legs from under him. He rose up with his spin and kicked at Kimimaro, only to have to lean back and use the momentum of his kick to dodge Hinata's palm strike.
Hinata followed normal Jyuuken for the first three steps, letting Itachi easily dodge them before she caught his off guard with an extremely non-Hyuuga attack. She went from a basic palm thrust to pulling a string attached to her thumb, shooting a hand full of senbon from her sleeve which stabbed Itachi in the shoulder. She used his momentary hesitation to slam her hands at his chest.
But once again, Itachi burst into crows. Reforming back in his first position back up on the cliff, showing that he had only been struck true by Kimimaro and only a few of the handful of senbon, "You are all very strong, which is why I am sorry I must disappoint you all by leaving." Itachi said calmly.
"No chance!"
Itachi looked down at Tayuya who had just played a single note, suddenly Itachi was hit in the stomach by an invisible force. Tayuya hit another note, making the force knock the senbon from barely in his shoulder, to buried entirely. Some of them even stuck through to the other side.
She went to hit another note when her hand was suddenly struck with a normal shuriken, she gasped in pain before trying to ignore it, only to feel an intense heat when she looked up.
"UCHIHA FIRE STYLE: SEA OF FLAMES!"
The waves of flames flew down upon the group, forcing Naruto to step forward as he unleashed Samehada with his right arm, "Time for lunch!" he exclaimed as he slashed at the flames.
The flames parted around Naruto, protecting the group who stood behind him. Naruto then continued his swing while forming one handed seals and hit the very edge of the river with his sword, "WATER STYLE: GEYSER WATER PRISON JUTSU!" he yelled as he channelled chakra through his sword.
From the impact zone of Naruto's attack grew a great geyser that shot up at Itachi at high speeds, to the groups shock, he just watched it and was promptly caught by the water which formed a water prison around him upon contact.
Naruto didn't waste time and seized the opportunity as he flashed through two hand signs before compressing his chakra in the ball, "WATER STYLE: DEEP PRESSURE!"
The water compacted and grew dark as the blood seeped throughout it. Naruto let out a sigh of relief as well as sadness, 'Sasuke was the one that wanted to beat Itachi, but even if I only rendered him unconscious while tearing open his two wounds, I have to capture him now that I have the chance.' Naruto thought as he let the jutsu collapse.
Kimimaro jogged forward and caught the corpse, only to gasp, "Taicho! It's not the Uchiha!" Kimimaro proclaimed as he brought the corpse over to them.
The group stared in confusion, as Hinata said, "But those fire techniques, he really was an Uchiha. So who is he?" she asked.
Chiyo gasped as she recognised him, "He was from our village, a councilman even. I don't understand what's going on." She said in confusion.
Tayuya snapped everyone back in to focus, "Well that sucks, really it does. But shouldn't we be getting those tags?" she asked.
Naruto nodded as he made more water clones while Hinata formed the single seal of the bird, "BYAKUGAN!"
Moments later, each water clone was stepping up to Hinata, "One kilometre east from here on a rock." She said to the first clone while pointing in the direction. The clone ran off while Hinata finished her instructions, "Eight hundred metres north-north west on a cliff side. Seven hundred metres dead south on a tree. And three hundred metres west on another rock." Hinata said to the last clone before it ran off.
After a minute of waiting, Hinata smiled, "They're all ready, now Tayuya-chan!" she said.
Tayuya lifted her new flute, which was a blood red colour, to her lips, and played a high F that echoed loudly while being enhanced by her chakra.
The clones looked up in unison at the sound, "That's it!" they said before ripping the seals at the same time Kimimaro - who stood over the seal on the cave - ripped it off.
Naruto leapt forward at the giant boulder, "UNIVERSE!" he yelled as he slammed his fist forward.
**BOOOOM**
The boulder exploded, causing Naruto to smirk before leaping into the clearing in the cave, only to be met by a small white spider.
**BOOOOM**
In a flash, Naruto appeared behind Hinata once again before pulling himself to his feet, he glared through the falling debris and spotted a large statue which was glowing, "What the hell is that?" he asked out loud.
A sudden flock of white birds appeared and flew at the Konoha group, Hinata stepped forward and began whipping her hands around to guard herself and Tayuya while Naruto began spinning in front of Chiyo while whipping up stones with his earth chakra.
"PROTECTIVE EIGHT TRIGRAMS: SIXTY FOUR PALMS!"
"EARTH STYLE: KAITEN!"
The clay explosives either had their chakra cut from them by Hinata's attack or they exploded upon contact with the stones of Naruto's technique while the chakra protected him from any blowback.
After a moment, they came to a stop and saw Deidara standing with a smirk before a large flash of light occurred behind him.
He glanced over his shoulder and smirked as the rest of Akatsuki and the stature disappeared. Gaara's body began falling to the ground and landed with a crash next to Sasori's hunched form.
Feeling his danger sense tingling, Deidara leaped back towards Sasori, as Kimimaro fell from above the cave entrance and stabbed the ground where Deidara once stood, barely slashing the man's cloak as he dodged.
Deidara landed softly next to Sasori, "Hn. Seems we finished just in time eh Master Sasori?" he asked.
Sasori merely nodded, "Deidara, take the Jinchuuriki's body away. I will handle the stragglers." He said in a deep voice as he stared at Chiyo.
Deidara raised a brow, "I guess I can do that. Hn." He said before throwing down a piece of clay.
Naruto watched on trying to figure out the best way to separate the two, he gasped as he saw Deidara's clay turn into a large bird and swallow Gaara. "No! Gaara!" Naruto yelled as Deidara flew overhead and away from the cave.
Naruto took a step forward before hesitating, 'Out in the open I could easily handle Deidara by myself, maybe not as easily with Sasori. But with Gaara's body being in the way…' he then glanced at Chiyo, 'I need to keep her alive, make her use that reanimation jutsu I've read about to revive Gaara.' He thought before blowing out air harshly, 'Damn it to hell!'
"Kimimaro, Tayuya and Hinata. Go take down Deidara's wings and bring Gaara's body back here." Naruto said while reaching behind his back.
Kimimaro frowned, "What about you?" he asked as his level one curse seal grew across his body.
Naruto smirked, "Someone has to help Granny take down this guy." Naruto said as he swung around his bandaged sword.
The three Leaf ninjas nodded before running out after Deidara, with Kimimaro instantly landing a hit through the bird's wing with his bone bullets, causing it to plummet as they disappeared from Naruto's view.
Naruto turned back to see Chiyo and Sasori continuing their stare off, he walked up to stand by Chiyo's side, "So Granny, how do you want to do this?" Naruto asked while holding his sword by his side calmly.
Chiyo glanced up at Naruto, "And just why are you staying behind? Gaara should be your main responsibility." She asked before turning back to face her grandson.
Naruto scoffed, "Right, cause I would feel totally fine with leaving an elderly woman to deal with this S-rank creeper by herself." Naruto said sarcastically before swinging his right arm past his containment seal on his right leg, unsealing a single battle shuriken.
Chiyo frowned, "Well… let me start. Provide cover with that shuriken of yours while I get ready then you can follow in when I give signal. Sound good?" she asked.
Naruto frowned before placing Samehada Bocho back on his back, "Alright fine…here I go then." Naruto muttered before blowing out a deep breath and spinning.
"WIND STYLE: UPGRADE BLADE! SHURIKEN SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!" Naruto yelled as he threw forward his green glowing ninja tool.
Sasori scoffed as the one tool became one hundred, "You think I'm that easy?" he asked as his scorpion tail appeared and arched over his body.
Naruto's brow rose, 'By the looks of things that's actually connected to his body…does that mean he's hiding inside a puppet?' Naruto thought as his shuriken began to start a barrage on the tail.
*POOF*
Naruto looked to his left to see two puppets floating in front of Chiyo, "Mother and Father." Chiyo said as an explanation before the two puppets flew forward.
Sasori glared at the puppets, "You've mutilated my first puppets Baa-sama." He said as he knocked away the last shuriken that poofed into smoke and shot his tail forward.
The mother puppet went low while father went high, the tail moved between them. They quickly circled the tail, tying it up in ninja wire and halting its movement.
Chiyo smirked as she moved her fingers to shred the tail with the wires, only for her puppets to come to a stop as his tail was too thick, "Darn!" she muttered as she tried to pull back the puppets before he retaliated, unfortunately, his tail was already moving to strike back.
"WOOD STYLE: WOOD SPIRE!"
A strong spire of wood shot from the ground and cut the wire while knocking the tail to the side, freeing Chiyo's puppets in the process of defending them.
Sasori's wide eyes turned to Naruto, "A wood user? It can't be… you're the Nine Tails Jinchuuriki!" Sasori proclaimed in shock.
Chiyo stared at Naruto in shock who was smirking, "Apparently my reputation precedes me." He said before clenching his hands tighter, "Hurry up Granny, I'll support you with my jutsu but you're taking lead on this!" Naruto reminded her as grass began growing around his feet.
Chiyo nodded, 'This boy's is the jinchuuriki? How is he like this then? I thought all jinchuuriki were like little Gaara.' She thought as she moved her fingers in complicated manoeuvres.
'Damn, this may be more of a challenge than I thought, better not pull any punches.' Sasori thought as his jaw dropped open from underneath the cloth on his face.
Naruto's sensitive ears heard the click and he quickly stepped in front of Chiyo and slammed his hands down, "EARTH STYLE: MUD WALL!"
Two poisoned senbon managed to get passed the rising wall while the rest of them turned it into a pincushion, Chiyo watched on, amazed that Naruto managed to deflect the two senbon with his headband to protect her.
Chiyo moved her hands and her puppets came back to life on the other side of the wall, father raised his arms and shot a ring of explosive kunai at Sasori.
Sasori redirected the last of his senbon and aimed at the kunai, causing them to fly off course and hit the wall behind him before exploding.
Mother quickly gave its hand to father who pulled, mother's arm extended and blades flipped out, forming a metallic spiked whip that she swung towards Sasori, who knocked the whip aside with his tail before lifting his right arm up forward and having it launch off from his body, and punch the mother puppet away.
With the chakra strings of mother pulled away, father was forced to hesitate before it could move thanks to the chakra strings being entangled. Sasori used the opportunity by having a seal on his midair hand activate, causing a small slim arm to shoot out from the first hand's palm. The smaller hand slammed into father's chest before exploding loudly, destroying it from the lower torso down.
Chiyo stared in shock as her puppetry was pretty much squashed by Sasori's, 'When did he surpass me like this?' she thought.
Naruto growled, "Granny, use these, WOOD CLONE JUTSU!" he declared and made two clones from the wood.
Chiyo's eyes widened, "How do you know of my human puppet control techniques?" she asked.
Naruto raised a brow, "IS THIS REALLY THE TIME TO ASK STUPID QUESTIONS?!" he yelled before leaping up into the air as either of his clones grabbed one of Chiyo's arms each and leapt away, avoiding the needle storm that broke down his wall and hit the area where they once stood.
Chiyo snapped back into fighting mode and landed on the cave wall, using chakra to adhere herself to it while she attached chakra strings to the wood clones, "If you get an opportunity don't hesitate to strike by yourself, but before that happens just keep your body limp." She ordered.
The clones nodded before closing their eyes and relaxing. Suddenly, they started to move thanks to her chakra strings and they sprinted at Sasori.
The real Naruto just sent chakra into his eye seal, 'Now let's have a look.' He thought as he got an extremely detailed look at Sasori in action.
The two clones and the puppeteer clashed in battle and Naruto used the opportunity to watch, seeing the barest glimpses under Sasori's cloak, but noticing things of vital importance, 'All his joints are mechanical, so this is a puppet…but Sasori's voice was clearly coming from it so either he's nearby using the puppet and some kind of voice throwing seal, or he IS in the puppet like I suspected…time to find out.' Naruto thought as he began forming hand seals.
Sasori's tail battered aside a wood clone once again then lifted his remaining arm to block the other clone's attack before skewering it with his tail, making it fall into wood, leaving Chiyo with one clone.
"WIND SCYTHE JUTSU!"
Hearing the shout, Sasori looked up to see Naruto swinging his sword through the air and shooting a single blade of wind at him. He was about to slash the wind blade with his tail when Chiyo used the clone to grab the tail and hold it in place.
Seeing the blade about to slash him, Sasori simply closed his eyes.
The wind blade completely shredded his akatsuki cloak, revealing the large oni mask sitting upon his back. The puppet flexed and showed off its true form.
Chiyo frowned as she pulled the clone back, "That's Hiruko, his unbreakable defence puppet." She said.
Naruto landed next to her, "That's nice…do you want me to smash it?" Naruto asked.
Chiyo looked at Naruto with a 'dafuq' expression on her face, "What part of 'Unbreakable' don't you get?"
Naruto scoffed and whipped forward Samehada, causing Chiyo to gasp as he easily held Sasori's tail off with one arm, "Probably the 'Un'." He said with a chuckle before swinging his blade aside, throwing the tail off and pushing Sasori off balance.
Sasori reeled in shock before turning his tail back to stab Naruto in the back as he sprinted at Sasori, "The hell is this kid?!" Sasori exclaimed as his tail curled around intending to split Naruto's spine.
Naruto leapt into the air horizontally and slashed with his blade, severing the tail in one clean swipe before landing back on his feet and charging at Hiruko.
Sasori shot Hiruko's remaining fist at Naruto, it dropped small rectangles as it flew at him in a punch. Naruto threw his own punch forward, which obliterated the fist and destroyed the last container in it, letting Naruto see that they held explosive senbon.
Naruto moved his chakra into the seal on his sword and swung as the senbon shot up at him, "WATER STYLE: WATER SHARK BOMB JUTSU!" he yelled as he shot the chakra eating shark forward.
The shark was thick enough to catch all of the senbon before they exploded mere meters from Naruto's and Sasori's faces.
Sasori opened his eyes from the blast to barely catch a glimpse of Samehada's bandaged form as it slammed into Hiruko's face, shattering it.
Naruto smirked as the puppet was obliterated, he caught a glimpse of a shadow that moved away from the area before he leapt back to Chiyo's side, panting heavily, 'Why am I feeling so…tired.' He thought as his vision got a little blurry.
Chiyo gasped as Naruto fell to one knee, "Naruto! What happened?" she asked before setting her sights on the smoke of the explosion.
Naruto was unsure, but then he felt a twinge on his left arm. Looking down, he saw the slightest scrape from where a senbon had slashes him, "I must've been slightly poisoned. I'll handle it." Naruto said before forming a hand seal, "WOOD CLONE JUTSU!"
Three more clones appeared for Chiyo to use and she quickly attached strings to them as the smoke finally cleared as Naruto placed a green right hand over the scratch, "MEDIC ART: EXTRACTION!" Naruto yelled, forcing all the poison and a large amount of blood to begin flowing from his arm.
Chiyo's eyes widened, 'He's gonna drain the liquids of his body until he has no poison left! That could easily kill him! I have to stall for time.' She thought as she moved the clones into a fighting position, now having four at her disposal.
Chiyo looked at Sasori only to gasp in shock as his face is revealed, "H-How? You haven't aged a day!" she exclaimed.
Indeed, Sasori merely looked like a red-headed young teen. He smirked lightly, "Let's just say I've truly mastered my art." He said in a completely different voice from before.
Sasori calmly reached into his coat and pulled out a scroll that he unravelled, "I must say you two have impressed me, in thanks I will show you my favourite puppet. The Third Kazekage of the Hidden Sand!"
*POOF*
Chiyo stared at the Third Kazekage in complete shock, "Y-You're the one that killed the third?! You turned him into a puppet?!" she asked.
Sasori chuckled, "Oh yes. And it's time for this puppet to show you its power!" he said as he made a single handed seal.
"PUPPET ART: ONE MILLION STRIKES!"
Kazekage lifted its arm and from a compartment that opened up on it, a single arm rose, which let out two, both of which let out three, until there was one million hands aiming directly at Chiyo and her Naruto puppets.
Chiyo whipped her fingers about, causing the wood clones to run their hands past the seals on their thighs, causing all of them to pull out two battle shuriken. She used the clones as close combat fighters to slash and cut through each and every arm.
Unknown to her, it only took Sasori the single hand seal to use this technique. So while she was busy for the next minute forming complex manoeuvres, Sasori was building the necessary chakra for his next technique.
"MAGNET STYLE: IRON SAND RELEASE!"
Chiyo cut down the last arm before raising her head in horror as Kazekage spat out tonnes of iron sand, forcing her to pull back her puppets and dodge.
*BANG*
Chiyo looked up to see a huge pyramid made from the sand carving through the inside of the cave wall, bearing down on her position, 'It's too big! This is the end for me…' she thought as she made the clones throw their shuriken at Sasori in a last ditch effort.
Sasori moved his arms, making a small wall of the iron sand lift up and catch the shuriken, but too his surprise, the last shuriken of the bunch was covered in the green hue of a wind upgrade and slashed through the sand and stabbed into his stomach, just as the sand was about to crush Chiyo.
"ULTIMATE WIND COMBINATION!"
Chiyo stared in shock as the real Naruto ploughed into the pyramid of iron sand surrounded by a huge hurricane that shredded the pyramid apart before pulling it all in behind him. He continued through the wall of the cave, taking half of the iron sand with him into the air before he and his whole jutsu suddenly disappeared in a flash of light.
Chiyo stared up after him with wide eyes before looking at Sasori, who stood with merely a frown. And the battle shuriken stabbed halfway through his body.
Sasori looked around the cabin and smirked, 'He didn't have time to drop any of those kunai, I will finish this now and go join with Deidara, although I can't do the strongest techniques with only half the amount of sand, it'll have to do.' He thought before turning his attention back to Chiyo, who was staring at him in confusion.
Sasori looked down and noticed the shuriken, "Ah yes, I forgot about that. The benefits of not being able to feel pain I suppose." He said before pulling the shuriken out and letting his destroyed cloak fall to the ground.
Chiyo gasped as she saw Sasori's body, "Sasori?! What have you done?!" she asked, causing the clones to open their eyes for the first time since the puppet technique took hold.
Sasori chuckled, "I guess I have some time, let me explain…" he muttered with his eyes closed, not noticing that in that split second a clone had dispelled, giving Naruto it's memories as he flew back at full speed.
######
Naruto blinked as the memories assimilated, 'I'll be there in less than a minute now, so there's-'
A kunai flew into his vision, but not just any kunai, a tri-pronged kunai.
*FLASH*
Naruto was kicked in the face, launching him at the ground as he thought, 'What the hell?! Who is using my technique? How are they using my technique?!'
Naruto flipped and landed on his feet before looking up ad seeing…him?
The midair Naruto had a dead expression and Naruto frowned as he pulsed out his chakra to dispel Genjutsu while analysing his opponent if he was real.
A moment later, Naruto had his answer, 'That's a copy. Identical to my water clones, so how did it use my jutsu? Water clones aren't stable enough to handle things like that.' Naruto thought as the water lone was joined by three more. 'The fuck?!'
The clones each held their hands by their sides, causing Naruto to pale slightly, "Well damn." He said before holding his hands above his head as eyes flashed red, 'Come on Fox! You with me?!' Naruto thought into his mind.
"Finally! I get to let loose!" The Kyuubi thought in return as it flowed it's chakra throughout Naruto's system.
The four clones lined up, "FLAME RASENGAN!"
"WHIRLPOOL RASENGAN!"
"WIND STYLE: RASENGAN!
"GIANT RASENGAN!"
Each clone held their red, blue, green and oversized rasengan forward as they dove at Naruto, while the original blonde held a larger crimson rasengan above his head.
Naruto threw his rasengan down at the oncoming clones, "DEMON PULSE: MASSIVE RASENGAN!"
***BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM***
######
Sasori's speech was interrupted as the ground shook, 'That was as powerful as Deidara's so called art! I wonder if they've caught him.' He thought.
Sasori turned back to his grandmother, "Alas, we must end this now Baa-sama. It was nice seeing you again." he said before forming another hand seals with the Kazekage.
"IRON SAND: UNLEASH!"
The sand formed a ball in mid air before shooting out as spires, although there weren't that many considering the small amount of sand available. Chiyo tried to manoeuvre the clones out of the way, but all of them were pierced by a spire. She then looked up to see the last spire shooting down at her.
"PUPPET TECHNIQUE: MECHANICAL SHIELD!" she announced as she raised her arm, her arm revealed itself to be mechanical when it's compartments flipped open and activated a shield which completely stopped Sasori's attack.
He frowned before moving his fingers, causing Chiyo to stumble from the sudden lack of pressure as the iron sand spread apart giving Kazekage direct access to her.
Chiyo looked up as the puppet lifted its arm, revealing a blade that it swung down at her.
*CLANG*
Suddenly, Naruto was there using his sword to hold off the puppet, he smirked as Chiyo looked up at him and noticing the small lacerations on the back of his hands, "Seems I got back just in time." He said before blocking the puppet's other arm then kicking it away.
Sasori frowned, "How are you back so soon? Even I cannot move that quickly." Sasori asked as he pulled the Kazekage to be back between him and Naruto.
Naruto scoffed, "As if I'd be as slow as you Woody. Now shut the fuck up and bug off!" Naruto yelled before throwing Samehada like Kubikiri could once have been thrown.
Sasori got Kazekage to raise a wall of iron sand which caught the blade, but his eyes widened in shock as the blade ate the chakra in the sand, causing it and the sand to fall to the ground just as Naruto's next weapon flew over it.
A tri-pronged kunai slammed into Kazekage, and in a flash Naruto appeared mid spin in the air, "WIND STYLE: TSUUGA!"
In the single quick move, Naruto shredded Kazekage to smithereens, making it useless before he stopped his spin and turned to take on Sasori while he kicked up his sword into his hand, purposefully leaving his kunai underneath Kazekage's remains, "So, guess whose next Woody?" he asked with a smirk.
Sasori yelled in frustration, "That was my favourite piece of art! My best puppet!" he yelled before jumping back, landing on a wire that came from his stomach and stabbed into the ground behind him as his metallic blades on his back fanned out, "I'm through playing!" he yelled as he threw a large scroll into the air.
"RED SECRET TECHNIQUE: PERFORMANCE OF ONE HUNDRED PUPPETS!"
Naruto frowned as he looked up at the massive amount of puppets that were glaring down at him and Chiyo, "Ah…Now I understand why Ero-sensei said your skills were a bit understated." He muttered before gulping and throwing one of his unsealed kunai back towards Chiyo.
He appeared in a flash next to her as she slammed her hands onto a scroll she had unravelled, "WHITE SECRET TECHNIQUE: CHIKAMATSU'S TEN PUPPETS!" she announced as they appeared.
Naruto smirked, 'This will work out how I planned it by the looks of things.' He thought before refocussing on the storm of puppets that charged them, 'But for now, I gotta kill this evil doll.' Naruto thought before resting Samehada back in her position and pitching forward a battle shuriken.
"MASSIVE SHURIKEN SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"
The single shuriken became one hundred and Naruto aimed them all straight at the center of the group. He counted himself lucky that over twenty seemed to be damaged out while the others spread to the side of the cave where his was now aiming his palms.
"FLAMESTREAMS!"
From each of his palms launched a stream of fire that took out nearly another twenty puppets each and caused a fair few more to be set alight.
He jumped into the air as Chiyo barked orders, "Naruto! I will handle close range defence while you shoot off as many techniques as you can! Take them down!" she yelled as her ten puppets clashed with the many more that were trying to overwhelm her.
Naruto nodded before forming hand seals and blowing, "WIND STYLE: GREAT BREAKTHROUGH!"
The puppets that were nearby were blown back to behind Sasori, who had anchored himself using the wire, he growled before facing his hands forward, "FLAME THROWER!" he yelled as flames just like Naruto's flamestreams burst forward.
If Naruto was caught off guard, it didn't show as he began making more hand seals while Chiyo swung her fingers around, "WHITE SECRET TECHNIQUE: MECHANICAL FORCE FIELD!"
Two of chikamatsu's ten puppets leapt away from the battle against Chiyo's many opponents and clapped their hands against each other, from their backs grew two large semicircles that came together to form one giant shield that the flames bounced off. Naruto dropped behind it as he launched one of his new techniques, "SUMMONING: EARTH STYLE: FANGED PURSUIT JUTSU!" he said as he slammed his hands on the ground.
Seeing his flames were doing nothing, Sasori sent forward his puppets once again, using the poisoning puppets to take the lead.
As soon as the puppets passed halfway, six large snakes shot out of the ground and began tearing apart the puppets with their fangs, forcing Sasori to focus on saving his puppets instead of attacking.
Naruto flew up over the snakes while forming seals, he landed amongst them as their mouths began to emit an ugly green cloud that stopped mere meters from the group, just as Naruto through his hands forward, "SNAKE STYLE: ACID POISON FANGS!"
Thanks to Naruto's chakra, the acidic poison clouds began to solidify before the solidified parts shot forward as acidic needles reminiscent of the snake's fangs.
Sasori quickly began dodging frantically, unable to put as much focus on saving his puppets. This caused the acidic fangs to tare through them and destroy a large portion of the group.
Naruto smirked until from the clouds of acidic burning smoke came a larger stream of flames then previously seen, completely smothering Naruto and his snakes.
Chiyo stared as she saw their silhouettes began to be burned through, that is until Naruto and the snakes appeared from the ground behind her shield before the snakes disappeared in a poof of smoke. She looked at him questioningly while he just smirked, "Snake skin substitution. It makes the enemy think they actually got me for a few seconds, which gave me the chance to set up this." Naruto said as he began forming seals.
Sasori watched the remains collapse in his fire, until he noticed something odd, 'They're not moving. They should be writhing in pain.' He thought before his eyes widened, 'Then that means-!'
His thoughts were cut off as he saw water rising from a hole in the ground and putting out his fire. As he realised that Naruto and his snakes had escaped underground, he also realised that the snakes had used their larger size to dig into an underground water source, which Naruto was about to use to attack.
"UZUMAKI WATER STYLE: PULSE WHIRPOOL!"
The water formed a violent whirlpool that moved horizontally at Sasori, who could do nothing more than anchor himself to the ground while the remainder of his puppet army was crushed by the pressure that slammed them against the cave wall to smithereens.
When the water finally passed he opened his eyes in shock to see a large puppet head flying at him while Chiyo's voice rang out throughout the cave, "LION-HEADED CANNON!" she yelled just before the 'lion's' mouth opened.
"SEALING TECHNIQUE: LION CLOSING ROAR!"
The head enlarged and picked up Sasori before slamming him into the wall of the cave, the kanji for 'Closed' appeared on the back of the head and Sasori moved no more.
Naruto smirked and turned to face Chiyo, "Mission accomplished Granny." He said with a smile and a thumbs up.
Chiyo smiled at Naruto's happy face, while on the inside she was crying, 'I guess it was for the best…though I wish Sasori didn't become like this.' She thought before closing her eyes and sighing.
"Granny look out!"
Chiyo's eyes snapped open and she saw Sasori had taken over a different puppet with a sword, he was seconds away from plunging it into her stomach, when she felt a gentle push from her right.
Chiyo looked back to see Naruto had pushed her out of the way, the sword mere millimetres from his head as it sailed above his shoulder, seemingly moving in slow motion.
Naruto leaned his head back as far as he could buying him the few extra milliseconds needed as his outstretched arm barely touched Sasori's arm before the blade could cut his face.
*FLASH*
Chiyo watched the sword clatter to the floor in relief.
*FLASH*
Chiyo turned to see Naruto slamming Sasori face first into the ground a meter past the tri pronged kunai he had left under the Third Kazekage's puppet corpse earlier, Naruto brought his fist back, "It's over Sasori! UNIVERSE!" Naruto yelled as he slammed his fist into the back of Sasori's head, shattering it into thousands of pieces.
Chiyo closed her eyes as the fist impacted, letting Naruto rip Sasori's heart containment unit from the puppet as he placed it in his seal pocket without her noticing. Naruto stumbled over to Chiyo as she finally looked at him, "That was…intense." Naruto said before falling onto his ass.
Chiyo took the few necessary steps to get to Naruto and fell to her knees, examining him with her medical chakra, "Naruto, you have lost over a quarter of your body's blood! You could die!" she proclaimed in worry.
Naruto waved her off, "Don't worry about me Granny, I got a demon in me. As long as Kyuubi wants to live it won't let me die from something as simple as blood loss." He explained before reaching up and touching the bridge of his nose where the sword almost impaled him, felling a miniscule scratch that luckily enough didn't penetrate enough to inject the poison again.
Chiyo looked on in worry before glancing at the puppet that was last Sasori, she looked away as she noticed his eye ball looking right at her.
Naruto shakily got to his feet, "Wow, okay I do feel a little woozie." He admitted before flashing to the single kunai he had used and lifted it up before floating into the air, "We better go see how the others have managed Deidara the Bomber now." He said as he flew over to her and grabbed her arms, letting her dangle below him as he flew out of the cave.
######
"KATSU!"
**BOOM**
Kimimaro's bone wall stood strong against the barrage, "Do it Tayuya!" he yelled as he leapt up and used his bone bullets to buy an extra few seconds time by exploding the bird barrage.
Tayuya slammed her hands on the ground, "SUMMONING JUTSU!" she yelled before the entire area she stood on became covered in smoke.
Up in the air, Deidara halted his attack, "Hn, these two are quite a handful and I'm running out of clay." He muttered before glancing down at the bird he originally flew on to see Hinata pulling Gaara's corpse free, "I guess I've stalled long enough, I'm tired of waiting for Master Sasori." He said before something in the corner of his eye caught his attention.
Deidara's visible eye widened as a Doki stood with its head just below his height. It swung its club, forcing Deidara to abandon his bird as it exploded upon contact with the club, pushing it back a few steps, "So, the Boss summons for the Ogre clan. Hn, didn't think I'd be seeing this thing." He said to himself as he made a decision, "I'm not prepared for this battle. I'm heading to the checkpoint now, Hn." He said before throwing the last of his clay out to the side.
As Deidara landed on his bird he yelled out, "Fine! You can have the Jinchuuriki! I'm done with you! Hn!" he said before flying up and towards the sun, disappearing in its glare.
Tayuya stared after him for a moment before screaming, "WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT MEAN, 'YOU'RE DONE'?! I JUST WASTED NEARLY ALL OF MY CHAKRA ON SUMMONING THIS GREAT MUTHAFUCKA AND YOU'RE LEAVING?!" she shouted in frustration.
Kimimaro sighed in relief, 'I'm exhausted, I don't think I've ever had to remake my bones so fast for so long just to combat his explosives.' He thought before dropping his bone wall and limping towards Hinata, who had just lay Gaara softly on the ground.
He collapsed next to her, "Hinata…?" he asked.
Hinata shook her head as she moved her hand from Gaara's neck, "Nothing…no pulse." She whispered.
The two looked down at Gaara's face sadly while Tayuya dispelled her Ogre and looked up into the sky. Her frown disappeared as she spotted Naruto and Chiyo arriving, "Hey! Naru-kun, Grandma!" she yelled out while waving them down.
The two landed and Chiyo instantly ran over to Gaara's body while Naruto fell lightly onto Tayuya, who caught him and helped him stand straight, "You alright?" she asked.
Naruto nodded, "Yeah, though I'm starting to wish I didn't leave my sheathe at Baa-chan's place. I only had one blood replenishment pill on me and I got no water. I usually keep all my stuff in that." He said while leaning against her for support.
Tayuya reached into her pouch and pulled out a small canteen, "Here tough guy, drink up." She said, passing it to him.
He nodded in thanks and began drinking as the two hobbled over to Gaara's corpse, as they arrived, they noticed Chiyo resting her pale-blue glowing hands on Gaara's chest, "Yo Grandma, what type of medical jutsu is that?" Tayuya asked.
Hinata wiped a tear from her eye as Naruto fell down next to her, she turned and began crying into his chest as he hugged her tight. Naruto and Tayuya turned to Kimimaro, wanting an answer.
He didn't look up from Gaara, but he began talking, "Chiyo-Baa-sama said this is an animation jutsu, capable of giving life to things without life…she's bringing him back." The bone user said quietly.
Tayuya raised a brow, "So what are you two sad about?" she asked.
Through her crying, Hinata sobbed, "Because she's giving her life force to do it!"
The group looked at Chiyo as her chakra flared, "NINJA ART: ONE'S OWN LIFE REANIMATION TECHNIQUE!"
In a large flash of blue light, Chiyo's chakra flew into Gaara, causing him to take the first breath of his new life as Chiyo took her last.
As Chiyo fell to her side, she smiled, 'At least with this, I'm able to pay you back Gaara. I'm so sorry for sealing that monster in you. Have a good life with your friends.' She thought as her last glance went from the unconscious Gaara to the crying and sad faces of Kimimaro, Tayuya and Hinata.
Her smiled fell and she stared in shock at Naruto, since everyone was either looking at her sadly, or Gaara in hope, she was the only person to see the expression on his face.
His red slitted eyes glowed gleefully as he watched her fall, his malicious grin stretched across his face as if in some huge victory. For just a split second, it was as if Chiyo could hear his thoughts along with him hearing her last thoughts.
'I've won!'
'Please no!'
And then, everything went black.
#######
Chapter End.
DUM DUM DUUUUUUUMM!
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