AN: Here is the 4th chapter, hope it turns out alright and that you guys like it.
I do not own Naruto.
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Naruto looked out the windows, the setting sun was a nice sight to see, and it gave Naruto something else to think about besides the serious topic that was being discussed at the moment. The blond shinobi was in the middle of his debriefing on his mission with Anko.
Naruto had to retell every event that happened, but the blond decided to withhold a small part of information on the conversation he and the Ashi character had. Naruto had waited for most of the day before he decided that it was needed to go to the Hokage's office.
Once he arrived he scheduled a meeting with Tsunade; then after being permitted into the office Naruto had to wait a little while more for Tsunade to find Jiraiya and Kakashi. After they arrived Naruto told everything that happened during the mission, but kept part of the conversation with Ashi to himself.
Now Naruto sat in a chair in front of the Hokage's desk; all eyes in the room were on him. He had just finished giving his mission report and explained all that happened in detail; besides not telling a part of Ashi's conversation. The blond planned to talk with Jiraiya about that. Tsunade had been pissed at first about the collateral damage done to the town and forest, but that couldn't be helped. What held the attention of the room, was the information pertaining to the silver haired man Naruto met.
Naruto looked over at Kakashi, he had his one exposed eyebrow furrowed, looking intently at the ground. Probably thinking of the events Naruto replayed for them. Tsunade had much of the same aura as Kakashi, looking intently at something on the desk. The blond shifted his eyes to the side to look at Jiraiya, who seemed to be waiting for Naruto to look at him, because as Naruto made eye contact with the toad sannin he gave the blond a look that told Naruto they would be talking latter, away from the office.
After a few minutes of every brewing in their thoughts at the disturbing news about the shady character called Ashi, Tsunade decided to break the silence. "The mission was completed though, despite all the interferences?" Tsunade asked.
"Hai, Hokage-sama." Naruto replied.
"And you are sure that you removed your forehead protectors, and remained anonymous when in the village? Did anyone identify you as Konoha shinobi during the mission?" Tsunade pressed, making sure that Naruto and Anko had done the job to the best of their abilities.
Naruto sighed inaudibly before he answered. "Hai, we removed our forehead protectors. And I don't think that we were identified on this mission, but I believe that it's unlikely it happened." Naruto answered, looking Tsunade in the eye.
Grabbing papers on the desk in front of, Tsunade began to organize them before she spoke. "Alright, well that wraps up the mission report for the most part," Tsunade started, "but I am ordering everyone to keep the information on this Ashi character a secret for now. Whatever their organization is, they haven't made any moves that have put Konoha in immediate danger."
Naruto, Kakashi, and Jiraiya nodded at that, each standing up. Naruto and Jiraiya then made their way to the door, and walked out of the office.
After the duo left, Kakashi turned towards Tsunade. "They will probably talk quite a bit about what happened on the mission." The cycloptic Nin said, predicting what the apprentice and sannin would do.
Tsunade sighed before responding, "Yes I know, but I would rather Jiraiya and Naruto talk about the mission to each other, which is probably what is going to happen. It's better than either one of the two talking to someone who doesn't need to know that we have another possible threat." Tsunade replied, looking back at Kakashi she added, "I have another mission ready for you, if you are willing to accept. Be back in my office at 6 o'clock for the briefing of the mission, you can decline or accept the mission then." Tsunade added.
The silver haired man nodded before he reached into his back pocket and withdrew a little red book. This action brought on a cough of annoyance from the Godaime Hokage. Kakashi at least looked a little embarrassed as his eye curved upward, indicating a smile under that mask, before he vanished in a swirl of leaves; leaving Tsunade alone with a rather large stack of paperwork and leaves all over her office floor.
Looking at the pile of paperwork and the small pile of leaves on the office floor, Tsunade's eyebrow twitched. To get this mess cleaned up she would have to tell her secretary to call a cleaner. That would take paperwork to set up an appointment; then the payment of the cleaner would be necessary, which would bring on more paperwork. The cleaner probably had to make sure that no one in the office was allergic to anything, yet again more paperwork for her to fill out. Tsunade cursed and swore at Kakashi for doing this impudent thing to her.
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After leaving the Hokage tower the blond haired shinobi walked down the streets of Konoha with Jiraiya right by his side. As the two companions walked the blond felt many eyes staring at him. He had been receiving more and more attention recently, as he was in public more often. The stares confused Naruto a little bit, for they weren't the regular stares of hate he got when he was a kid. No these stares were ones of hope, and joy, which confused the blond; making a mental note to ask someone about it later, Naruto glanced at his companion and noticed a serious and stoic face upon Jiraiya.
This bothered the blond a little bit; he knew when the toad sannin had that look, it meant something serious was going down. The white haired man was probably thinking of the mission report he gave earlier in Tsunade's office.
Continuing their walk through the crowded streets Naruto was still receiving glances and stares. Ignoring the stares for the most part, Naruto walked down the street with Jiraiya by his side. Each walking in silence, Jiraiya probably thinking about the meeting, while Naruto was just enjoying the atmosphere.
"Let's talk at the camp." Jiraiya said, finally breaking the silence between the two of them.
Looking at the white haired man with a quick glance confirmed Naruto's suspicion; the stoic face was still in place. "Alright sensei." Naruto replied, and at that confirmation both ninja disappeared wordlessly off the street. No one noticed their disappearance, or when the disappeared, leaving only a slight breeze that passed by where they had just been standing.
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Both ninja appeared in the clearing that Naruto and Jiraiya had lived in since they returned to Konoha. They had appeared by the fire pit with seats on opposite sides of the fire pit. Sitting down first Jiraiya didn't have to wait long before Naruto quickly joined him on the opposite side of the pit, giving each other their full attention.
The blond knew what the toad sannin was going ask, it was going to pertain to the Ashi character. Deciding that it would be better to get the whole thing over soon, the blond spoke first. "What do you want to know sensei?" Naruto asked.
"What happened with Ashi on the roof?" Jiraiya responded almost instantly, answering Naruto's question with a question.
"Alright sensei, I needed to talk to you about this. In Tsunade's office I left a part of our conversation out, as it particularly disturbed me." Naruto started, watching his sensei for any signs of disappointment that could show up in his facial expressions.
Naruto felt relief when he saw that no signs of disappointment came when Jiraiya answered. "I suspected that you did, the conversation had an odd change in it, and the other two probably know you withheld some information also." Jiraiya said to Naruto giving his thoughts on the matter.
Checking for disappointment again, and seeing none, Naruto then began to tell his sensei the entire conversation that he and Ashi had.
Flashback: Mission with Anko
"Your organization?" Naruto inquired.
"Yeah, a group of people, kind of like me, that have a specific goal in mind." Ashi answered still walking around Naruto.
"What is your organization's goal?" Naruto pushed further trying to get information out of Ashi.
The silver haired man let a wide slow smile spread across before he answered. The smile sent a large shiver down Naruto's spine. "The typical take over the world stuff, and rule over everything; it's all a bit too morbid for me though." Ashi said in an uninterested tone.
Naruto remained silent as he watched the silver haired man walk slowly around him, preparing himself for an attack at any moment if necessary.
"I would much rather have it my way, but he is running the show." Ashi spoke slowly, voice dripping with cheery malice. "To take control of the world the way he wants is going to take too long."
Naruto's ears perked now, listening intently at what the man was saying, he was releasing information on his organization. "How is 'he' planning on taking over the world?" Naruto asked the man, still very much on edge.
"He wants to strategically capture and destroy certain cities villages, and use the conquered people as his warriors. In this fashion he would eventually gain enough of a force to attack a large hidden village if he had enough of a force." Ashi said slowly as if the subject bored him. "Not how I would do it, and not what I want." The silver haired man mumbled the last part.
Naruto looked at Anko as she rushed to their position sitting atop the roof. She would be arriving shortly. "What do you want other than to rule the world then?" Naruto asked as he watched the man closely.
Turning abruptly to look at Naruto dead on, Ashi smiled a smile that made Naruto's blood run cold, and spoke in a voice that made the hairs on the back of Naruto's neck raise. "I want to burn the world to the ground, and everything in it." Ashi spoke slowly, punctuating every one of his words, looking like he enjoyed the idea of it too much.
At this development Naruto's eyes widened, the unease growing rapidly in the pit of his stomach, making the blond almost sick to his stomach being around the man.
Ashi smiled as he watched Naruto, "It seems like your friend will be joining us very shortly. Should I give her a warm welcome in the form of a deadly katon jutsu? She seems like the type to enjoy pain." Ashi said, watching the way Naruto's eyebrow twitched. "Maybe a raiton jutsu would be suiting, as they can be very painful, with some slow deaths, mind you." Ashi spoke only to Naruto as Anko landed on the roof, behind the silver haired man.
"Ah, so the partner finally made it. That's good news, Naruto-san we can finally end our conversation." The tall man said, now the center of attention as both Anko and Naruto were staring at him.
End Flashback: Campsite
"And that is what he said to me." Naruto finished, remembering the meeting with the tall skinny man. During the whole retelling of the event Jiraiya remained quiet, most likely contemplating things that Ashi had said. Jiraiya remained quiet for a few minutes in deep thought about what Naruto had told him.
Naruto watched his sensei, and eventually broke the silence with a question he wanted answered. "Sensei, do you think it's a real threat?" Naruto asked. The blond truly felt that the man's claims about an organization were real. He just hoped that he wasn't the only one who did.
Jiraiya remained quiet for a few seconds before he answered. "Yes, I do. But I don't think that this organization will be a threat for a little while. In a matter of time something will come up and if this organization has any cahoots with it, then we'll know if it's a real threat." Jiraiya said, analyzing the situation.
Naruto nodded, "I'm surprised that we haven't heard of them until now, they must be competent shinobi to keep themselves under the radar of your spy network." Naruto added as an afterthought.
Jiraiya nodded silently in agreement, that bit of information was almost a worrisome piece of information. To be able to hide from Jiraiya's spy network was not something easily done, as he had spies everywhere, in every sense of the word.
Despite the conversation that they had just finished having Jiraiya was starting to get hungry, and the white haired man would bet that his companion was probably hungry as well. And they both tended to get grumpy and agitated when they were grumpy. So Jiraiya changed the subject.
"So, what do you want for dinner?" Jiraiya asked Naruto.
Naruto rubbed his chin in though, "We had fried salmon and pineapple yesterday, so how about grilled chicken and rice tonight." The blond suggested as his stomach rumbled at the thought of the appetizing chicken.
Jiraiya smiled, that was one of his favorites. "Alright, chicken and rice it is." With that the white haired man then proceeded to wipe out a small metal grill, package of chicken, and box of rice out of thin air as Naruto prepared the fire for the grill.
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Far away, two figures floated above a village; one standing on a creature with wings that resembled some type of bird. This figure wore a black cloak with red clouds on it, with blonde hair fashioned in a style that let a piece of hair cover one of the figure's eyes. A rather disturbing sight was the bloodied rags on the left side of the figure, with no arm present.
The opposing figure stood in a sphere of sand that was partially open, revealing the face of the other figure. Spiky red hair sat atop a stoic face, black rings surrounded the light green eyes, and a kanji for love on the figure's forehead. He wore a red trench coat underneath a grey leather chest plate.
Gaara watched the Akatsuki member as he held an odd shape in one of his hands. This particular Akatsuki member had a keen likeness for explosions, and that meant that whatever was in his hands was probably another deadly example of the blonde's obsession.
Watching the blond as he threw the object into the air, the object then burst into smoke. Narrowing his eyes Gaara continued watching. As the smoke cleared away it revealed a large figure, twice the size of the bird that the Akatsuki member was riding on. At this sudden development Gaara's eyes widened, he had an idea what the blond Akatsuki member was planning, and began gathering chakra for what was to come.
"Such a pity," Deidara started with a slight smirk on his face. "This village has come to this fate, only because they had a resident jinchuuriki." After the blonde Akatsuki member spoke this the large clay figure began descending upon Suna.
Gaara watched, his pulse quickening, as the bomb plummeted towards his home, he was only moments away from gathering enough chakra to stop that monstrosity.
Right when the clay bird was above Suna, a large flash of light and an audible boom was produced by the explosive clay. As the clay exploded Deidara's smirk grew even wider, his target had fallen right into his trap.
As the dust cleared away, it revealed a rather large floating blanket of sand that had stopped the blast from harming the village in any way. The shinobi in the streets let a breathe go that they had been collectively holding as they watched the bird descend upon them.
Gaara felt a wave of relief wash over him as he saw that the sand had done its job properly. The relief was short lived however, as out of the corner of his eye Gaara spotted a clay bird, the size of a crow, come flying at him from the opening in his sphere.
In an instant Gaara had closed the hole in his sphere, and hardened the outer shell. The red head still felt the heat and shockwave inside his protective sand barrier, but it had successfully done its job again. Gaara stood completely still for a few more moments, thinking to himself.
'I cannot beat this opponent by myself.' Gaara concluded, looking down at his right forearm. Reaching down he rolled the sleeve up quickly, and looked at the seal in the middle of his forearm. 'This is out of my hand now, I need his help, otherwise Suna may no longer be.' Bringing his finger up to his mouth Gaara bit through his sand armor and drew blood from his thumb.
With the small amount on his thumb, Gaara then wiped it across the seal on his forearm. Immediately it began to glow a bright blue. After his task had been completed, the red head looked up, hearing a small scratching noise.
Gaara froze. There, inside his protective sphere of sand, were small clay centipedes. More started coming in from all over the place, entering the sphere of sand. Gaara realized that what was meant to protect him had in the end defeated him.
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Deidara watched as all of the clay centipedes entered the sand shield and successfully made their way through the sand barrier, detonating once inside. The blond Akatsuki watched in with a grin as the sand violently and suddenly disfigured from within.
Being patient enough to watch the rest, Deidara continued to watch as the sand sphere then proceeded to slowly melt off the red head, falling straight down into the village. After a few seconds of the sand falling, the Shukaku jinchuuriki was left alone in the air, levitating for a second, before a sudden plummet to the earth.
Before the red head could complete his downward journey, Deidara caught the jinchuuriki in his clay bird's tail, and began sailing towards his partner who was waiting for him.
Little did Deidara realize how much danger he and his partner were now in as the seal on Gaara's forearm continued to pulse blue.
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Jiraiya looked at his student; the blond haired teen had a stoic face that screamed silent anger. This battle face of his reminded him too much of his other student. Naruto had a reason to be angry though. It looked as though the Akatsuki had made a bold move, and attacked the one-tailed demon jinchuuriki, Gaara of the desert, Kazekage of Suna.
Jiraiya recalled not only moments ago, when he had just served himself and his blond companion the fried chicken and rice he had made for the two of them, before a seal went off on the inside of Naruto's right forearm. Looking at the seal pulsing a dark blue Naruto looked up at Jiraiya and wordlessly they both shun-shined to the Hokage's office. Interrupting her from her paperwork she hadn't been too bothered by their sudden visit. What had bothered her though was the news that the two of them told her.
Jiraiya knew of the seal Naruto had placed on Gaara, and certain other individuals. He helped the blond develop it; the seal was like sending a chakra S.O.S. to the other part of the seal. And if Gaara was using it that meant something serious was happening to him, and he probably did need backup.
And here the white haired man stood, beside his student. He knew what he was going to do, and he approved; it had to be let out of the bag eventually. Also, one of Naruto's closest friends was in danger.
Tsunade looked at Naruto with his emotionless face and hard angry eyes and couldn't help but feel a little intimidated. They looked so much like the fourths that people might start mistake Naruto for his father. Looking at Jiraiya, the slug sannin noted the same hard look in the man's face, and realized that they were out for blood.
"Who did you have in mind as a team?" Tsunade asked, as serious as the two in her room.
"Whoever is a high ranking ninja that is ready, there can be no delays Hokage-sama." Naruto said with a level tone.
Tsunade looked at him, "Alright, I'll see who we have to work with." Tsunade said as she started looking through papers. Tsunade stopped however when she heard a growl from before her, looking up she meet the gaze of Naruto.
"We need ninja now! No looking, anyone in this building would probably do." Naruto said in a dark tone.
Just as Naruto spoke the door to Tsunade's office opened up, to reveal one Hatake Kakashi as he entered the office slowly, with Sakura following nearby.
"Tsunade-sensei, Kakashi-sensei was here to report for his mission that you were going to send him on, sorry for interrupting." Sakura said, looking between Naruto and Jiraiya.
"Actually Sakura, you aren't interrupting anything," Tsunade said in serious tone. "We need you and Kakashi right now, Jiraiya and Naruto know that Sabuku no Gaara is being attacked by the Akatsuki, and we need a couple ninja to go with them." Tsunade finished.
Kakashi went from non-interested to total business upon hearing the situation that the red-headed Kazekage was in. "I accept Hokage-sama, and I came prepared to leave on a mission."
Sakura looked at Kakashi, then back to Tsunade. "Yeah, I'm ready to go Tsunade-sensei."
With that Tsunade nodded, and looked back at Naruto. "Is that enough, or do you need anymore?"
"This should be good, but they will have about 4 to 5 minutes time before they leave." Naruto replied, still watching the slug sannin.
"Alright, why do we need 4 to 5 minutes before they leave, shouldn't you be leaving right now?" Tsunade asked, not really understanding the blonde's logic.
Naruto then took a few steps back, so that he was in the center of the room, and replied. "They leave in 4 minutes, because I need to make sure that the path is clear, and they don't die upon entering a battle field."
Tsunade looked at the blond, realizing what he was saying, "You don't think you can make it to Suna in that little amount of time, and secure an area." The slug sannin said.
"Kakashi, Sakura get over here." Jiraiya said, watching as the two of them crossed the room, so that everyone was by Tsunade's desk, except Naruto, who was standing in the middle of the room.
"And Tsunade," Jiraiya said, glancing over at the blond woman, who in turn looked straight back at him. "He can make it in that time."
With that said, Naruto closed his eyes, and brought up his hands in the ram seal, gathering chakra and concentrating. All eyes watched as Naruto started gathering more chakra, before Kakashi's, Sakura's, and Tsunade's eyes widened. As Naruto gathered enough chakra for the technique, he looked up at the group of people with an expressionless face and determined eyes, before he disappeared in bright yellow flash.
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Sabuku no Kankuro watched with wide eyed horror as the slouched cloaked figure destroyed his puppet, and his obvious partner was about to leave with Gaara's unconscious body. It had been the first time his puppet had ever received that amount of damage, but that barely dissuaded Kankuro as his brother's life was on the line. Grabbing a kunai out of his holster, Kankuro charged the slouched Akatsuki member.
Though the man had dismembered his puppet with that vicious tail that he controlled, Kankuro figured he could get within striking range if he was fast enough, and careful.
As if on que the tail that was hidden behind the Akatsuki member's cloak shot out towards the charging nin. Ducking under it, Kankuro continued rushing forward; nimbly Kankuro jumped over the tail, avoiding the entire tail swinging trying to cut Kankuro with the poisoned blades.
Now the sand shinobi was close enough and jumped to attack the Akatsuki member, only to have his eyes widen as the mouth of the slouched Akatsuki member opened, and darts shot out towards his air born body, undoubtedly poisoned.
Kankuro didn't even have enough time to close his eyes before a bright yellow light flash blinded him momentarily. Still in the air but unable to see, Kankuro heard a large explosion, and felt his body suddenly being pushed, and then he felt the hard impact of earth. Opening his eyes and letting them readjust, Kankuro was glad that none of the darts make contact with his body. Being able to see again after a few seconds, the sand shinobi looked at the person now standing beside him, and felt a wave of relief.
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Sasori watched within his puppet as his attack was thwarted by a bright yellow flash. A moment after that Sasori wiped his head around to watch Deidara's bird explode. It was about to take off, but a kunai with an exploding note dug into the side of the body of the bird detonating it, with Deidara standing on the thing, while their target remained wrapped in it's tail.
Turning back to look at the sand shinobi that had been attacking him, Sasori almost choked on his breathe. The Kyuubi jinchuuriki was standing before them; though the organization hadn't heard anything about the brat for the past 4 years they knew he was still out there. Sasori studied the face of the blond and realized something however, when the brat had been younger he seemed to have no talent as being a ninja. Looking at the blond before him seemed to contradict what the file said about the blond.
Deidara stood slowly, his bird having been destroyed by this new arrival, and looked at the said new arrival. Many of the same thoughts that Sasori had were going through Deidara's mind. Quickly creating another bird, Deidara had already hoped atop of it, all the while keeping his stare at the blond jinchuuriki. As Deidara was about to secure Gaara once again in the back of the bird's feathers, a cold voice interrupted him causing him to stop momentarily, and cut through the silence that had fallen over everyone.
"If you let Sabuku no Gaara go now, then I will let you go, there would be no need for bloodshed today." Naruto spoke dangerously, his eyes staring down each of the Akatsuki members. "But if you do not let Gaara go, then you will try to run. I will catch up to you. And I will kill you."
Sasori looked at the blond before him and realized that he was a serious threat, both he and Deidara needed to leave immediately. Deciding that their priority was to get the jinchuuriki they had in custody to safety, Sasori acted.
Turning towards his partner, Sasori yelled, "Leave with the jinchuuriki, find a place and begin the extraction." After the puppet user of Akatsuki told his partner what to do, he looked back at the blond. Deidara nodded before he took off from the ground flying at a high speed.
Naruto's entire body tensed up as the blonde Akatsuki took off from the ground, with a growl the blond said aloud, "Wrong choice." With that the blond was about to launch himself at the hunched over Akatsuki, only to find that the cloaked figure had a tail flying towards him and Kankuro who was still on the ground. As the attack closed in Naruto realized that if he were to dodge, Kankuro would be hit. Deciding that wasn't a good thing Naruto set his plan in action.
Instead of dodging the tail, like Sasori thought he would, the blond grabbed onto it, as it wrapped itself around his arm, digging into his skin and cleaving his flesh. Sasori watched as a flash of pain showed on the blonde's face, probably from the amount of poison in his system.
Then before Sasori could act, he was being launched towards Naruto. He had used his tail and pulled on it hard, sending the red haired puppet user rocketing towards the blonds. Just within feet of the two, Sasori prepared himself for a counter attack.
That was before both Naruto and Kankuro launched themselves at him. Activating all his hidden knives with poisoned tips, Sasori made pin cushions out of the two as they tackled him to the ground. He was almost disappointed by the lack of a challenge the two of them provided, both dead due to his poison. As Sasori tried to untangle himself from their limbs, a deadly explosion rocked the street Sasori had just been in as two kibaku-kage bunshin's detonated.
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Kankuro ran next to the shadow clone of Naruto who had just arrived. Though Kankuro would never admit it, he was ecstatic that the blond ninja was present; if he was here then that meant Gaara might turn out to be all right in the end of things. The blond shinobi had the knack of making everything work out all right.
Kankuro looked at the clone as it spoke, gaining his attention. "Kankuro, is your sister here in the village?"
"Yeah she is, but I don't think that she knows what is happening." Kankuro said, knowing that she probably didn't see Gaara's enormous sand arms attacking a clay bird.
The clone nodded before it responded, "Alright, you need to get her, and organize roughly 10 to 20 high ranking trustworthy shinobi." Naruto clone instructed the Suna nin. "Once you have that many shinobi, you need to proceed to where were just at with extreme caution."
At the given instructions Kankuro nodded before the clone disappeared, leaving Kankuro to sprint to the center of the village. As the Suna nin ran to retrieve the requested amount of ninja, Kankuro was distracted by a rather large explosion, looking over his shoulder Kankuro saw a large cloud of black dust in the sky. Wishing Uzumaki Naruto luck, Kankuro continued running, ignoring the chakra that was being released behind him.
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Deidara was moving quickly atop his clay bird; he just took off and was trying to get as high as he could so no one could attack him. As the blond Akatsuki reached a comfortable height he turned around and looked down at the village. Deidara looked for a second only to particularly notice a yellow flash down on the ground before he sensed an attack from behind.
With no time to prepare for such a quick attack, all Deidara could do was tense his back as a fist hammered into him, pushing the cloaked man off balance and forward, almost off of the bird he was standing on. Deidara applied chakra to his feet, slowing him down enough and saving him from falling off the flying creature. Turning around after the blow Deidara watched as Naruto was hacking away with two kunai at the tail feathers of his clay bird that held Gaara.
With a small smile Deidara allowed himself to fall off the side of his bird, and let himself fall for a couple hundred feet, before he did a short series of one handed seals. Applying the required chakra, Deidara watched in satisfaction as the bird detonated with a rather large explosion.
Turning his head towards the Earth Deidara grabbed some good clay with his only good arm, and created another bird to fly on.
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Kankuro stood in the small street and watched as the slouched Akatsuki figure stood very slowly. Eyes widened slightly at this sight; that explosion was a rather brutal one, and to be able to stand after a direct after that was no small feat. Kankuro was distracted from Sasori though as a yellow flash appeared beside the Suna nin.
Kankuro looked at Naruto and gasped; in all the while that the two had seen each other since he started training, Kankuro had never seen the blond look this bad. Naruto carried an unconscious Gaara bridal style, though Gaara looked a little rough, a bloody scrape was adorned on his left cheek, while it looked like he had some burns on his body also. Most of the red-haired Kazekage's sand armor was gone, and his clothes were smoking, and tattered with debris.
Looking at Naruto Kankuro realized that the blond must have tried sheltering Gaara from the blast as best as he could. A large cut was bleeding freely on the side of his neck, while his face was brown with dirt and debris. A cut seemed to be on his head as he had blood mixed with his blond locks. He was entire left side of his body had shrapnel in it, in the form of clay, poking out from various parts of his body, his clothes were torn and burnt on the side of the shrapnel.
Naruto winced as he slowly put Gaara on the ground. Kankuro looked at the blond as the pieces of clay started falling out of his body, already being healed up by the Kyuubi's chakra, though the blood and holes in the clothing remained.
"Kankuro you need to keep an eye on Gaara, they cannot get their hands on him again." Naruto said as he caught his breathe; that stupid blond Akatsuki knew he was going to shelter Gaara using his own body. The entire detonation of the bird took Naruto by surprise though; he had barely enough time to use the hirashin no jutsu before the bird fully detonated, if it had it probably would have killed himself and Gaara.
Kankuro looked at Naruto again, "They will be coming back, and you aren't going to be able to hold them both off by yourself, and I don't think I would be able to keep Gaara safe." Kankuro said in a frustrated voice.
"That is why we have backup coming." Naruto said, as he reached into a hidden kunai holster on his leg, and withdrew a three-pronged kunai with paper with seals wrapped around the handle of the kunai. Spinning the kunai on his finger once Naruto threw it into the ground 5 feet away from where he, Kankuro, and Gaara were located.
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"So Sakura, when we arrive there, you need to give medical attention to anyone who needs it. Kakashi, you are to cover Sakura while she does this, and if you deem that she has adequate cover than you may join Jiraiya and Naruto in the fight. Jiraiya, you have to fight one of the two Akatsuki." Tsunade ran over the plan that they had come up with. It was solid and basic.
"At all costs, try to kill these two men. The less Akatsuki we have, the better." Tsunade said, receiving a round of nods from the people in the room. After she said this, Jiraiya's eyes suddenly widened.
"Alright, it's time to go." As Jiraiya said this, Sakura and Kakashi moved to the center of the room. "You two need to take one of my arms each, and don't do any sudden movements, because with this distance something bad could happen." Jiraiya instructed as the two shinobi listened to the orders he gave them.
Jiraiya closed his eyes, and began gathering the chakra, taking less time than it had for Naruto. As Jiraiya opened his eyes he gave his two fellow shinobi a warning, "This is going to feel weird, so be prepared."
With that, Jiraiya released the chakra, and the three of them disappeared from Tsunade's office in a bright flash of blinding white light.
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Sasori stood slowly, checking his puppet. The tail was destroyed, the face cracked and broken; its leg joints were stripped and becoming loose. In an overall summary, one of Sasori's favorite puppets was destroyed. Slowly taking off the puppet's parts, Sasori eventually stood up, exposing his face to world. It had been a while since someone made him fight with his 'body', this could be interesting.
It had been a while since someone had pulled a number on him like that one; it was ingenious in and of itself. Though the red haired puppet user was furious that his puppet was destroyed, he could only blame himself as much as the blond. He had fallen for such a blatant trap.
Turning to look at where the blond was now located, Sasori noted that there now seemed to be more shinobi surrounding the blond. How unfortunate, he wanted to give Uzumaki Naruto his personal thanks. Looking over his shoulder, Sasori noted that Deidara was sticking around too, probably wanting to finish his mission. Knowing that Deidara wasn't leaving Sasori began walking towards the group of ninja who seemed to be watching him with interest.
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"Naruto, who are you going to fight?" Jiraiya asked without taking his eyes off of the red haired man who was making his way towards them as they spoke. Using the hirashin with that many people was a little bit difficult, but thanks to Naruto, the toad sannin had eventually learned it to use it successfully. Not nearly as successfully as either of his two students seemed to be able to use it.
Naruto remained quiet for a second thinking about the best course of action to take. "I should the one flying on the bird thing, he seems to fight at a distance, and unfortunately I'm the only one here who can reach him easily enough." The blond summed up, keeping an eye on the trek of the red-headed man that was making his way to their position.
"The red head seemed to be using a puppet as his body, but I think I destroyed that thing for good, but he uses a lot of quick and lethal attacks. Poison darts, chains laced with deadly venoms, and hidden poisoned tipped blades." Naruto summarized all that he knew about Sasori.
Jiraiya nodded grimly, he would have to be careful with this one; poison experts were exceptionally ruthless when it came to a fight.
"We have one more thing to discuss though." Jiraiya said, loud enough for everyone to hear, causing Sakura and Kakashi to listen as well. "The mission is to protect Gaara, and don't die. Failing this mission is unacceptable, do whatever you deem necessary to complete this mission." The white haired man finished, causing both Sakura and Kakashi to mentally agree.
"Here we go." Naruto said before he yet again disappeared in a flash of yellow, while Jiraiya blurred out of sight as he sprinted forward to meet the Akatsuki that was marching towards them.
Jiraiya was approaching fast, the marching Akatsuki member recognized this as he stopped his march, and prepared for the toad sannin's assault. As Jiraiya entered striking distance he began a series feints. Feint left, right, right, then left again before with a burst of speed attacked the Akatsuki member throwing a chakra empowered punch.
At the last second Sasori threw up his arms, blocking the attack; Jiraiya only had a moment before he had to escape as knives flew out the missing nin's cloak. The knives flying all around the white haired man, though none made contact with his body.
Jiraiya looked at the puppet, user; this would be a dangerous fight, one mistake on his part and he could be dead within seconds due to the poison. Reaching into his kunai holster, Jiraiya grabbed two kunai, hiding one behind the other.
Sasori looked across the battle field at the sannin, and waited for the white haired man to make a move. Jiraiya complied instantly throwing one of the kunai in his hands at the feet of the Akatsuki member, while he discretely threw the second kunai into the ground behind him.
Sasori noted that the kunai flew into the ground before him, it didn't have an exploding note on it, so he didn't take his eyes off the toad sannin as he charged towards the puppet user.
Sasori ducked under a harsh roundhouse kick, and had to block with his arms as a follow up punch was aimed at his face from the same direction of the kick. The impact of the punch sent the puppet user skidding back; Sasori looked past his arm and at the toad sannin who was charging him again, that last attack was enforced with chakra. The red headed Akatsuki made a mental note of dodging the white haired man's attacks. They were coming close to breaking parts of the joints in his puppet's body.
As Sasori prepared for the incoming attack again, he planned on exposing himself for the sake of successfully hitting the toad sannin with one of his poisoned darts. As Jiraiya was within striking distance again, Sasori jumped back to avoid a kick to his ribs, and moved to the side avoiding a punch that followed the kick again. This time though, Sasori overextended himself slightly, exposing himself to Jiraiya.
The toad sannin took the bait and moved in closer and brought his knee up to attack, that was before he noted that a dart had been shot at him from somewhere within the Akatsuki member's cloak. The dart was heading for a path straight to Jiraiya's neck, and Sasori expected the man to attempt to dodge.
Sasori's eyes widened however when the man continued forward, taking the dart to the neck, and successfully landed another harsh blow Sasori's doll's midsection. Grunting in pain, Sasori watched as the Jiraiya before him disappeared in a puff of smoke, indicating that it was a kage-bunshin.
Sasori barely had time to register the fact that there was a rather large release of chakra directly behind him, before a very intense heat caused the red head to think rather quickly.
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Jiraiya just finished up using the katon gokagyu no jutsu; the shadow clone had been a successful distraction, and bought the white haired man enough time to hit the missing nin in the back with the technique. Jiraiya was still tense though, this man was an S-class missing nin for a reason.
As if on que, a figure started standing slowly, getting Jiraiya's attention. As he watched his enemy stand, Jiraiya's eyes narrowed; his suspicions had been correct. Sasori was standing slowly, but most of his cloak had been burned off the top half of his 'body', revealing all the joints, and lines that the wooden puppet body he had. A part of the Akatsuki member's shoulder had the look of charred wood.
Sasori looked back at the toad sannin; now it was time to use his puppet. Releasing a winding cable from his stomach, and two windmill blades attached to his back Sasori prepared for the next attack. Jiraiya didn't keep the red head waiting long before he bolted forward.
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Deidara looked down at the two people guarding his target, one was performing medical jutsu on the jinchuuriki, and the other was standing over her. That would prove to be a pain if he ever got down there. The blond Akatsuki member was having trouble fighting for his life as a ghost kept attacking him. Deidara knew the Yondaime was dead, but yet here was a ghost of the man fighting him; Deidara no longer viewed Naruto as a jinchuuriki, he thought of him more as an angel of death.
Deidara saw another flash of yellow before he was assaulted by blow after blow, the Konoha nin moving to fast for Deidara to follow. After a succession of heavy blows Deidara was launched off his clay bird for a third time, out of instinct Deidara detonated that bird as well.
The blond Akatsuki member's anger grew as he saw a flash of yellow before the actual explosion took place. He had been trying this tactic ever since they had started fighting with Gaara in his custody; the blond should have been unconscious or at least incapacitated after being hit by that first blast.
Looking at the ever approaching ground, Deidara got an idea. Shooting his hand into his clay pouch Deidara then made a rather small sized bug, and then he also made another bird for him to sail on. Inflating the bird to a proper size the blond Akatsuki tense his body, with the bug hidden; this was going to work. The blond brat kept attacking him from behind, and this time it would be his downfall.
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Naruto watched as the explosion loving Akatsuki created yet another bird, and apparently waited for his next attack. Naruto had been using the Hirashin to appear behind the guy and knock him off those annoying birds, but he kept detonating them after he was off of them and he made another one. Naruto frowned; he was going to have to come up with a counter attack to that soon. Standing on a roof that he had been continuing to return to, Naruto then focused his chakra again and disappeared in another flash of yellow.
Appearing right behind the Akatsuki, Naruto only had a millisecond to realize the mistake he had committed. There in the middle of the blond Akatsuki's back was a small clay bug, and it seemed to have a large triangle angled away from the blond missing nin's back, and more importantly, the triangle was aimed right at him. Naruto didn't even have enough time to fully cover his face with his arms, as the small bug detonated in a harsh explosion, knocking Naruto unconscious and sailing through the air towards the ground, hundreds of feet below.
Deidara grimaced; the bug placed on his back had worked, knocking the annoyance out of the fight. But the explosion had hurt the blond Akatsuki; usually detonating a bomb on you back wasn't an overly advised thing, even if it was only a type of bomb that exploded in one direction. Looking back down at the ground Deidara pushed his clay bird faster and into a dive aimed straight at the two Konoha nin huddled over his target's body.
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Jiraiya grimaced, the puppet user was very talented, but he wasn't enough to beat the toad sage. Jiraiya's eyes left his opponent, and darted to the side quickly, where the two odd kunai still lay embedded into the ground.
'If I could get him over there, I will have this fight in the bag.' Jiraiya thought to himself; the puppet user had no sentient body, but he still had a heart. That was the circular container in the chest of the man's body, if he could destroy that, then he would kill the man. Jiraiya frowned, how am I going to maneuver him over there between the kunai?
Jiraiya was left to his thoughts as the two shinobi stood facing each other in a face off; each had attacked one another and each time no lasting damage was done. So far Sasori looked worse for wear, but Jiraiya's reactions were getting slower from constantly having to move at a moments notice due to all the knives darts and bombs his puppet opponent had in his body.
Suddenly Jiraiya leaped into action again, running in a wide arch, on the same side as the kunai, Sasori turned his body, keeping a steady eye on the white haired man. As Jiraiya finally had the kunai to his back as he charged the puppet user, he set his plan into motion.
Sasori watched as Jiraiya sprinted at him, he shoot forth his tail in hopes to slow his attack. Jiraiya nimbly dodged the attack and continued forward. As Jiraiya entered the range to attack the red head, he jumped into the air, aiming a kick at the man's head. Sasori ducked under the attack, not wasting the energy to block the attack. As the white haired man sailed overhead Sasori tried attacking with his blades attached to his back, only to have the sannin avoid them.
As Jiraiya was descending to the ground he threw a kunai at the puppeteer's chest; Sasori's eyes widened as he saw the exploding note wrapped around the handle of the kunai. Quickly jumping back and bringing his arms up to protect himself, Sasori was blown even further back as the blast pushed him right where Jiraiya wanted him to be.
Bringing his arms down, Sasori looked at the cloud of smoke where the white haired sannin was gathering a dangerous amount of chakra. The red head Akatsuki kept his eyes on the place where he knew Jiraiya was located; Sasori's body tensed as a white flash shone around him, drawing his attention to his side where he saw movement.
Turning quickly, Sasori saw Jiraiya launching himself into the air, moving quickly with a ball of raging chakra in his hand, aimed at the red head's chest. Reacting quickly Sasori shot his tail forward, as quickly as he could; the attack sailed through air, and deeply pierced Jiraiya's chest, causing his face to falter.
Sasori let a brief moment of relief wash over him as he watched the poison take its toll on the white haired man as he fell to the ground. Then Sasori felt his body being ripped to shreds from behind, as he watched the Jiraiya before him puff into smoke. He only had a moment to realize he had been fooled again, before Jiraiya's rasengan tore through the container holding his heart.
Sasori's body hung in the air after his entire torso had been ripped out, sending pieces of wood flying everywhere. Jiraiya then forcefully removed his hand from the empty chest cavity, letting the puppet fall to the ground. The fight had been somewhat of a disappointment, but he had different matters to worry about. Turning to look at the image of a diving clay bird, Jiraiya created another kage-bunshin, and left to help the other Konoha nin; leaving behind the bunshin with the task to burn the remains of the body of Sasori.
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Kakashi watched as the giant clay bird made its way toward their current position. Looking behind the bird Kakashi saw that Naruto was still in a free fall down to Earth, quickly looking back at the fast approaching enemy, Kakashi thought it would be wise to alert Sakura.
"Sakura," Kakashi said, interrupting the pink haired girl. Sakura's hands stopped glowing green, as they worked over Gaara's body and turned to look at Kakashi. "We might have company."
Sakura followed her sensei's line of sight and saw the incoming bird with the Akatsuki member atop of it. Standing up, and leaving Gaara on the ground for a moment, Sakura stood beside Kakashi.
"Kakashi-sensei, what should we do?" The pink haired girl asked as she also watched the incoming clay bird.
Kakashi was quiet for a moment before he answered. "If I miss my attack right now, I want you to get Gaara to safety, he holds the bijuu that these Akatsuki are after. If they get them, it's not gonna be good. So you run for cover with Gaara, understand Sakura?"
"Hai, sensei." Was Sakura's short reply, eyes focused on the bird, sky bombing them.
Kakashi moved his hand up to his forehead protector, and revealed his sharingan eye, the enemy was coming at them in a straight line, he had one chance to do this. Activating the mangekyou sharingan that the cycloptic nin had obtained years ago.
Whispering under his breath Kakashi activated the sharingan in his eye, "Kamui." Causing Sakura to turn her head and stare wide eyed at her sensei's new technique.
The silver haired man didn't notice though, as he was concentrating on the task at hand. Supplying his eye the chakra needed he focused on the figure riding on top of the clay bird. Feeling the technique beginning to work, Kakashi furrowed his brow and pumped more chakra to his eye, and concentrated even more.
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The wind almost made Deidara's eyes water as he continued his dive towards the two Konoha ninja guarding his target. Narrowing his eyes Deidara started planning how he was going to fend off the two shinobi guarding his target. It would have to be quick and deadly, which would give the blond Akatsuki enough time to extract Gaara.
Deidara was interrupted from his attack plan when something felt wrong. The air around him started to feel empty, or heavy, or one of the two. That was when Deidara felt the full force of the attack; something was sucking himself, into himself. Deidara looked back to the ground and noted that one of the Konoha ninja resembled a ninja in bingo books around all the countries.
Deidara remembered the page that had the silver haired man's picture in it; Sharingan no Kakashi, very high A rank, said to know over 1,000 jutsus. The sharingan that Kakashi had was probably responsible for the odd technique happening to Deidara. Growling, Deidara pushed through the unease in his stomach and forced his bird to try and take a sharp turn, attempting to avoid the technique before it was too late.
Just Deidara thought that he had cleared the attack; he felt an extreme pain in the arm he had left. Looking at his arm, the blond watched as it seemed implode and disappear, but not without causing Deidara a great amount of pain. Hissing Deidara continued flying the clay bird, turning it away from the Konoha ninja who were guarding his target, not wanting to deal with the shinobi on the ground.
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Naruto jerked awake, he was in quite a bit of pain. He could tell that his right shoulder joint was destroyed, a couple of ribs had been fractured, and he probably had some internal damage. Eyes focusing the blond noted that he was still in the air, and falling towards the ground, which was getting frighteningly closer each passing second.
The blond looked around and saw his enemy soaring on top of the clay bird; that last attack the blond Akatsuki had done to Naruto was brilliant. But Naruto would not admit that yet, at least not until he could feel his right hand.
Looking back at the man on the clay bird, Naruto began focusing chakra, despite it taking a moment as it moved sluggishly. Focusing on the man, Naruto felt the rasengan in his left hand form flawlessly; now armed with the killing blow Naruto released even more of his chakra, and disappeared using the hirashin no jutsu yet again, stopping his continuous fall to the earth and impending doom.
With another yellow flash signaling his arrival, Naruto stared at the back of the Akatsuki member. Deidara didn't even have time to turn his head around before Naruto's rasengan powered hand tore through the flesh of Deidara's back and forced its way through, creating an empty cavity in Deidara's chest where the man's heart and lungs would have been. The blond Akatsuki member's body fell to the back of bird, face hitting the clay bird he had been riding, obviously dead.
Naruto looked upon what his jutsu had done with cold hard eyes, and an expressionless face. Reaching into his kunai holster the blond withdrew an exploding note, and threw it onto the back of the bird as it continued flying, before disappearing in another bright yellow flash signifying use of the hirashin.
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Kakashi covered his sharingan eye, feeling more than a little drained. Using the mangekyou wore him out like nothing else. Looking over to Sakura again the cycloptic nin noticed that she had revived Gaara, despite the fact that the boy in question looked a little worse for wear, he would probably be just fine in a matter of minutes.
Hearing someone approach, Kakashi wiped his head around to note that Jiraiya was making his way back over to their group. Kakashi relaxed at this, if Jiraiya was coming back that meant the silver haired man wouldn't have to worry fighting in such a tired state.
Everyone's attention was drawn to the sky at that moment though, as another great explosion sounded through Suna. Looking up at the sky, Kakashi noted that unlike the past explosions where the Akatsuki member had free fallen until he made another bird, there was no one falling, only debris fell to the ground from the bird's explosion.
Kakashi's attention was drawn away from the sky as a yellow flash behind him made the silver haired man turn around to see his student. Naruto had a scowl on his face as he slowly sat down, using a building's wall as help. The blond didn't look to good, his right arm hung still at his side, while his left arm was wrapped around his chest, supporting his right rib cage. The blonde's face had scratches all over it, along with dirt or clay. Burn marks could be seen on his neck, and hand of his useless arm.
As Kakashi was taking in the sight of his student Sakura had finished doing all she could for Gaara before she turned around and noted the condition the blond was in.
"Naruto you need to stay still," Sakura commanded as she was at his side in an instant, hands glowing green. "Let's see what type of damage was done to your body."
Naruto's face contorted with pain as his body finally made it to the ground, resting his body on the building's wall behind him. "Nah, Sakura, I'll be alright in a couple of minutes." Naruto said as he closed his eyes and rested his head on the wall also. His reply didn't seem to appease Sakura very well.
"Like hell you will, you look like you can't breathe without any pain." Sakura said, waiting for the blond to relent.
"Sakura, remember I have an 'advantage' when it comes to healing quickly." Naruto said 'advantage' with obvious disgust. Everyone there knew that the blond was referring to the Kyuubi's healing ability.
Naruto opened his eyes and looked across from him, looking into two green eyes with dark rings circling them. Naruto smirked, "Geese Gaara, you had to make it as close to a disaster as you could." Naruto said, laughing a little with no pain on his face.
Kakashi and Sakura turned to look at Gaara, who also had a smirk on his face. "I didn't want to give you another chance to save me so easily. I thought I would attempt to even up the score between us. I however did not presume that you would be so injured after the fight." Gaara said.
Naruto's smirk fell off his face, "The bastard cheated, he put an explosive on his own back in order to beat me." Naruto defended himself. This piece of news shocked Sakura and Kakashi though, as neither of them saw the attack that had injured their blond team-mate.
As Naruto was talking Sakura noted that the cuts on the blonde's face were healing, and the burns on his body were doing the same thing. This relieved Sakura of some of her concerns about her blond team mate's health.
Suddenly everyone's attention was drawn to the new arrival of the toad sannin. "You should have thought of that situation, he might have tried using an exploding clone on you also." Jiraiya said as he looked down at Naruto with a small smile on his lips.
"Yeah I thought about that last part. I even made sure to check and make sure it was him every time I attacked and not a clone." Naruto defended himself.
Jiraiya nodded, "I'm surprised you didn't try using your own kibaku-kage bunshin with the hirashin to catch him off guard." The white haired man thought as he stood by Kakashi's side. Kakashi's suspicions were correct as he heard the toad sannin say the name of Naruto's technique that was like the Yondaime's. Kakashi was very curious as well to know how his student had learned the hirashin, but decided to keep his questions to himself until later
Naruto shook his head and frowned. "Using the hirashin uses a good bit of chakra in the first place. But to make an exploding clone with enough chakra to use the hirashin would have been such a pain. I thought about it though." Naruto said in his defense.
Jiraiya nodded at that, and noted that the scratches on his student's face were disappearing. "Almost fully healed yet?" Jiraiya asked plainly.
Naruto suddenly stood up, and started doing stretches that would have probably made the blond pass out in pain minutes before. "Yeah, I'm fully healed again." The blond then proceeded to swing his right arm around and over his head, stretching his shoulder. "My shoulder is a little stiff though, probably all the reattached muscle." Naruto added as an after thought.
Sakura was standing up and was scanning Naruto's shoulder with her glowing hands. Surprise was etched onto her face, the entire joint had been healed, nothing was wrong with it. Naruto complied and stayed still as Sakura moved her diagnosis down towards his right ribcage; again she was shocked to find everything perfectly fine in such a short amount of time.
Standing back up Sakura looked at her team mate, "You're perfectly fine, but I would advise for you to be a little more careful from now on." Was the short berating the pink haired girl gave Naruto.
Looking sheepish enough, Naruto walked through the small group of people around him and stood right in front of Gaara. "You're alright, right? No broken bones or concussions? How about any immediate loss of one-tailed demons?" Naruto asked Gaara with a concerned yet happy look in his eyes.
"I do have a bit of a headache, and I think I pulled a muscle in my neck." Gaara replied, with an expressionless face.
Naruto however rolled his eyes, "Ah that's good to hear, glad that you're in perfect health." Naruto said as he patted his friend on the shoulder before walking a little ways away and stretched his arm and shoulder joint some more.
Jiraiya looked at the red head, "Hey ya brat, how's that new seal holding up?" The toad sannin asked as he leaned against the wall Naruto had been a few minutes earlier.
Sakura felt uneasy as she watched Gaara's eye twitch before he answered. "It is holding up fine, it has also given me the chance to experience sleep, which is very addicting."
Sakura looked at the red head she remembered as a killer during the chunin exams, and couldn't imagine the teen being addicted to sleeping. Then Sakura imagined Gaara sleeping with an open mouth allowing a stream of saliva to find its way onto his pillow. That mental image made Sakura laugh little.
As everyone gathered in the street, they began walking back towards the center of the village, as the battle that they had participated in took place along the outskirts of town. Everyone walked close, and only Jiraiya, Naruto, and surprisingly Gaara talked. They were poking fun at each other, calling each other names, and having a good time. Kakashi noticed that Gaara was obviously stable now, and even smiled when Jiraiya insulted Naruto; only to have a scowl on his face once he got insulted also.
As they continued walking Kakashi needed to know the answer to his question. Finally Kakashi had enough of wonder how they were able to do it, and asked, "How are you two able to do the Hirashin no jutsu?"
The question was directed to Naruto and Jiraiya, and both looked at Kakashi, dropping their conversation with Gaara. "It would probably be better if we discussed that issue in Tsunade's office." Jiraiya said. Kakashi frowned at that; the silver haired man wanted to know. At least they were willing to explain how they were able to do it.
The group continued to walk towards the center of the village in silence; Kakashi was left to ponder the events that happened today until he saw Naruto Jiraiya and Gaara all visibly tense up. Kakashi narrowed his eyes; whatever made those three tense up was probably something bad.
"…Do you smell that?" Naruto broke the silence asking what seemed to be an odd question.
"…Yeah, it is not a particularly common scent within Suna." Gaara answered, leaving Sakura and Kakashi to raise an eyebrow at the conversation.
"…I like the smell of flowers." Jiraiya said, before the three of them jumped into action, leaving Kakashi and Sakura in a defensive stance at the sudden movement. Gaara sent a wave of sand down a particular street, Naruto disappeared in a yellow flash, while Jiraiya flew through a set of hand seals.
Finishing the hand seals for the jutsu, Jiraiya slammed his hand into the ground, "Anda-guraundo kangoku no jutsu." (Underground prison technique) Calling out the name of the technique Jiraiya then pointed all his chakra at the very well hidden chakra source underground, spying on them.
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Zetsu wasn't a person to be surprised very easily. However as soon as the plant-man knew that his position was jeopardized he had tried to get away, only to find that he couldn't move, as the sand around him had solidified and created a chakra imprisonment. Zetsu handled this situation in two very different ways, his optimistic side thought: 'Oh this could be a chance to introduce myself to these people.' While his darker side thought: 'This could turn out very badly.'
As if on que, the plant-man's thoughts were proven correct as he a wave of sand underneath him launched him into the air; the imprisonment jutsu ending leaving Zetsu exposed to his attackers. Zetsu didn't pay attention to the red head and white haired men in front of him; he was more concerned with the flash of yellow that came from behind him.
Naruto appeared behind the plant thing, and grabbed both of his arms at the wrists. Moving to fast for Zetsu to retaliate Naruto then kicked the plant-man square in the back while pulling up on his arms. Naruto's goal was accomplished as he felt a series of cracks and pops through the plant-man's arms. Pushing off of Zetsu's back, the blond sailed higher, while the Akatsuki member was sent rocketing to the Earth. Naruto then proceeded to make a kibaku-kage bunshin, creating it right behind the falling Akatsuki member.
Zetsu could only close the fly trap around his head as his last line of defense as the clone exploded, sending the plant-man rocketing even harder into the Earth, ricocheting several times on the hard sand before finally coming to a stop.
Naruto then landed beside Jiraiya and Gaara as each of them watched as the Akatsuki member slowly melded into the ground. Kakashi and Sakura ran up to the three, also watching the place where the Akatsuki member had disappeared.
None of them moved as they each searched for the enemy with their senses. After a couple of minutes none of them could sense the plant-man, and doubted that he would return.
"…Um, sensei?" Naruto broke the silence, causing the entire group to look at him. "What exactly was that guy?" Naruto asked, referring to the fly trap looking thing that covered most of his body.
Everyone in the group turned their attention to the white haired man, expecting an answer. "Well…it would appear that he was a…um…Yeah I have no idea what exactly that guy was." Jiraiya finally admitted, causing everyone to sweat drop, except Naruto.
"Alright, well we better get Gaara back to his siblings and village before Temari throws a fit." Naruto said, causing Gaara, himself, and Jiraiya to shiver.
"Do you think she will?" Gaara asked Naruto, a hint of fear in his eyes.
Jiraiya then answered for Naruto, with a question of his own. "Did you get hurt?"
Gaara was silent as he looked forward contemplating the question, "A little, the explosion that knocked me out gave me an impressive headache." The red head answered.
Naruto had tears in his eyes, and his shoulder's slumped, "We are sooooo gonna die, because of Gaara's sister." At this, both Jiraiya and Gaara had a look of horror on their faces. For Jiraiya it was a wide open mouth, with enormous eyes; for Gaara it was an open mouth with wide eyes that held fear behind them.
Sakura and Kakashi could only stare at the three in front of them. Obviously Temari had a wrath that could rival Tsunade's; Kakashi felt a shiver travel his spine at thought.
"Well, we better get back or else she will become more distressed, adding to her agitation, and that would feed her anger." Gaara said gloomily, as the three men dragged their feet, making their way to their dooms, while Sakura and Kakashi walked behind them.
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AN: This chapter was a little difficult for me to write, so I apologize if it isn't up to standards. This next chapter will be better I promise. I also apologize for the amount of time it took me to post this chapter, it took me longer because I had difficulties writing it.
Anyways, a lot of stuff will be described in detail in the next chapter, I promise. And also the whole meeting that was supposed to take place with Sasuke hasn't happened YET. It will and I have something special planned for that. Also Chyou or whatever her name is lives in this time, thanks to Jiraiya beating Sasori.
Plus Kakashi and Sakura didn't have a big role in this chapter because I had no idea how to get them more involved. I at least got Kakashi's mangekyou in here, but Sakura was impossible to include, because Sasori was fighting Jiraiya, and she would have gotten in his way if she fought with him. But both Sakura and Kakashi will larger parts in fights in the near future, you'll see. Thanks for reading!