I'm so sorry that it took so long for this chapter to come out, and I'll let you all know now that I just now finished it. So, the next one might take a while as well, but hopefully not.

Anyways, I'm glad to say that the vision I had for this chapter came partially into word. Most of it you have to put more detail to, but I think that's with everything we read or write.

Thank goodness for comics/manga and cartoons/anime, huh?

Oh well, now with that crap done onto the story!

Chapter 16: Coming At You with a BOOM!

Looking off in the distance, Deidara saw a giant toad appear from nowhere as it dropped to the ground. From atop his bird he saw the poof of smoke as the toad dispelled, and a black dome where it landed. Deidara grinned as he watched the fight with scope. That was until a shadow moved over him and his head was loped off. His body fell toward the ground, but it was kicked back into the air before it exploded in a wide range of the sky. Naruto landed atop a roof as Yamato jumped across buildings to join him just as he re-sheathed his sword with an audible click.

"I really thought you had him that time, Hokage-sama." Yamato said as he looked up at the black smoke cloud. Naruto merely sighed and ran a hand through his hair as looked up at it to.

"I think I'm starting to see it. His art, I mean; I think I understand it now." Naruto said as he weaved through hand-signs.

"We need to get rid of the bird." Naruto said before inhaling deeply.

"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Bombs!"

Naruto blew out a torrent of red-hot flames that took the shape of a dragon head. They headed straight for the bird as it made no move to get out of the way. The contact between the two was a explosion twice the size of the Deidara Clay-clone's. Yamato grinned only slightly as he looked about, a kunai held tightly in the ninja-style reverse-grip while he gazed around.

"I don't see any movement, Hokage-sama." Yamato said as Naruto glanced over at him, eyes of purple ablaze as Naruto seemed excited and yet bored at the same time. Naruto raised a brow as he slightly pushed Yamato to side. Yamato only gave a confused look as he let himself be pushed. The look turned into one of horror as he watched a rain of clay spiders attach themselves to Naruto and the building top. Yamato used the momentum from the push and jumped across the gap in buildings as Naruto was blown up with the same bored look on his face.

"He really needs to stop doing that. It got boring after the second time, though I'm glad he never does it in the same way twice." Naruto said as he appeared beside Yamato. Yamato gave a slight sigh of relief, only slight because he was mental berating himself for still being surprised at all.

"I think the spiders were his fastest attack, Hokage-sama. If we could just-"

"No, I'm sure that they weren't. They still entered my sight long before they fell from the smoke cloud. He's not going all-out. He's preparing for a large-scale escape. Those two sacks of clay are still half-full each probably, so he's trying to injury me so he can get away with a large diversion. If he can, he'll save just enough of that special clay to create a bird large enough for him and the other that invaded the village to escape on. I just can't see why he's not trying harder to stop us." Naruto said as he shrugged off his haori and scarf, handing them both to a Jonin-ninja he called to him, "Take those back to my office, and then check with the others. While in the air I saw that Hiashi had moved from his post and is now engaging the other enemy alongside Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Neji. I appeared that the enemy took a captive, but I couldn't see who do to some form of a tail-thing being over it." With a nod, the ninja was off.

"A captive? Wait! Didn't you just say the Genin named Neji was there? I thought you ordered all Genin to their homes along with the civilians and Academy students?" Yamato asked as Naruto chuckled with a small smile.

"To be honest, I've never really considered Neji a Genin, even before becoming the Hokage. He's always so calm and cool about things that he always seemed like a Jonin or something, that's why I didn't say anything when I saw him on patrol with Hiashi. Though if any of the others got out…" Naruto said, trailing off as a figure leapt out of the smoke and spun in open air. Naruto threw three shuriken at it as he moved through three hand-signs.

"Ninja Art: Shadow Shuriken Jutsu."

The three shuriken turned into a volley of thirty. The figure moved through most of them and batted some of them away, yet it was still caught by a few. It dropped to the street below before exploding as Naruto moved his gaze toward Deidara, who was clapping as he slowly walked down the street. Though his clapping was for long when a Naruto clone sprang out of the ground behind it. Deidara jumped away, but the clone narrowed its eyes as it simply tossed a kunai at Deidara. The bomber's eyes widened for a second as the kunai struck true into his heart. He smiled as his body glowed and exploded into the open street as the Naruto clone dispelled.

"I truly have figured your art out…" Naruto said as he turned to look up at his mansion's roof. There sat Deidara on the railed edge as he casual swung his feet like a child, "Deidara."

"Oh, Hokage-chan? Tell me, what you've discovered about my art. It's beauty, its finesse? Or perhaps it's destructive force of pure brilliance?" Deidara said as Naruto's eyebrow twitched slightly at the 'chan' comment. He sighed as he coolly shook his head.

"No, none of that. It's only because of these eyes that I can see it. You see, my eyes don't see chakra, or memorize movements. No, my eyes see distance, detail, and default. But what I can see most of all is that your art, with all its beauty and explosions… is boring." Naruto said with a shake of his head as Deidara looked at him in shock and confusion, before it all turned to murderous rage. He stood straight up on the railing in a flash as he glared venomously at Naruto, trying to burn a hole in the young Kage's head.

"What did you just say, Hokage-chan?" Deidara spat acidly. No one ever calls his art boring! No one! It's always a blast, and no pun intended!

"It's boring; plain and simple." Naruto drawled with a blank look, "You make so many artful animals, and clones out of it, and they explode. That's it. Nothing new, and nothing special, especially if one likes fireworks and festivals. Perhaps if you had joined the traveling carnival, then your art wouldn't be so… stale." Naruto said as Deidara looked steamed. His fists clenched as his nails dug into his palms. His teeth clenched just as tight as he gritted them. How dare the brat call his art stale! The nerve of him! The boy would be dying today!

Deidara dug into his pouches as he muttered curses at Naruto, but then shot a look at Yamato. He took a deep breath before smirking as Naruto raised a brow.

"Let's see how your little lap dog likes my art-"

"Wood Style Jutsu: Naivety of Life!" Yamato shouted out from the street as he pressed his palms against the bare ground.

Deidara blinked in mild confusion as the Yamato next to Naruto turned to wood and fell apart. Deidara watched as large branches shot out from the ground around Yamato and toward the sky, some branches shooting out at him. They attempted to ensnare Deidara, but he quickly moved, ducked and weaved out the way as he slid down some of the branches. However, the branches eventually got him as one snaked around him and caught him from behind. The others quickly moved in and entrapped him as they tried to squeeze the very life from him. They gave him almost no room to move, and even smaller to breathe. Deidara cursed and used a close range explosive as he hopped away from his now burning entrappings right as a sharpened branch impaled the spot he was in.

The arm of his robe was burned off as he used said arm to do a hand seal and called out "Katsu". A small clay spider exploded and destroyed another branch that allowed the light of night to get into the now wooden jungle, but he did not dodge the knee to the gut and the punch to his jaw. Deidara was forced to flip onto another branch, but he was ensnared by a wooden man coming out of it. It was the young Kage that landed on the opposing branch, but the Jonin that held his arms in wrestling grip.

"How the- what just happened?" Deidara asked in true confusion as he had not seen either move within the literal jungle of branches and leaves.

"This Jonin here has the Shodai's abilities." Naruto said simply, not caring if Deidara found out or not since he had already seen Yamato perform jutsu.

"I figure that out, but how did you move to intercept me so quickly?" Deidara said as he felt something move under his skin. Good…

"Shadow clones…" Naruto said as his eyes caught the very subtle movements under Deidara's Akatsuki cloak. His eyes widened when he felt something attach itself to his back, and he moved forward when the explosion caught him.

"Hokage-sama!" Yamato shouted, tying his wooden clone body around Deidara before diving into the many braches below to help his Kage.

As Yamato dived he heard yet another explosion, but before he could look up, the shockwave hit him and knocked him into a painful sideways hand-stand along a tree branch.

"I guess the littlest Kage is just big talk and no walk, huh. Smart-mouthed brat should have shut his trap, yeah. Then he wouldn't have gotten hurt," Deidara said as he created a clay art, rising high through the treetops as he soared atop his beautiful creation. He had escaped the woven branch's grip and blew it up as soon as he saw the Jonin dive for his beloved brat.

He jumped away and put his hands in front of him. Huge amounts of clay came from out his mouths and took the form of a dragon. Yamato, not having seen his Kage, prepared himself to make the artist pay for his crimes as Deidara jumped on the dragon's head and soared through the treetops.

Deidara dodged all of Yamato's thrown kunai, and even the swipes the man had made once he got in very close range. He threw two clay birds at Yamato, hoping to keep the guy back while his dragon was still orbiting the manmade-jungle. Yamato was forced to duck behind a branch, but the birds followed him. Deidara had his dragon move upward some before the birds exploded.

He smiled smugly as dug his hands back into his pouch and noticed that he was getting low on his clay.

"Damn, these ninja are starting to annoy me. I kept showing off, but they used clones to escape me. Perhaps it's time for my Grand Final, and Master Escape, yeah…?" Deidara thought as he and Yamato began their fight once more.

"Damn, this is just getting more and more difficult. I hope Deidara will commence extractment soon." Sasori thought as he and his Kazekage were forced to duck, weave, and dodge all the attacks of the two Sannin and two elite Hyuga. He didn't realize that they would actually fight him more furiously once he took a hostage. He had done the same in wars, but every time he had done so, the Konoha ninja had given in so easily. Perhaps these elite were different…? Yeah, the footprint on the left-ass of his Akatsuki robe proved that. Damn that Slug Queen…

Deidara, after being forced to jump from his dragon and back into the giant tree, realized that he had a very big disadvantage when he fought within it. It only took Yamato two minutes to destroy the clay dragon with a large branch. He had been forced to detonate the thing, causing several branches to fall onto some few buildings around the district. He tried keeping the fight between them a long-range one, but that damn Wood Man (as Deidara had named him) proved to be too quick, and far too unpredictable. He had even managed to get in a couple of slashes and swipes with those damned kunai of his.

Right now the two were hidden from the other, yet they knew exactly where the other was.

"His clay creations detonate on contact with anything I believe. That means that if I can time a throw right and make it accurate, then I can give him a taste of his own medicine." Yamato thought as he patted his pouches once; a few kunai left, and an entire volley of shuriken.

Sweet…

Deidara jumped out of his hiding spot, having finished his constructions as he came for behind Yamato. He threw his two clay birds, but before he could enlarge them, Yamato threw several shuriken at him. The metal projectiles hit the explosive clay, almost directly in front of Deidara they detonated. Deidara growled in pain as he was too close to the blast, having been blown back by it.

"That… was not fun…" Deidara said as he flew backward through the smoke.

Yamato using the momentary distraction to his advantage, thrust his right arm forward. Several wooden pikes came out of his arm, and shot toward Deidara, piercing the terrorist's in his chest. Deidara's eyes widened as he fell the way of Naruto, down into the darken bottom of the tree branches toward the ground. Yamato watched as Deidara fell toward the truck of the tree and heard a thud. He was about to turn away, but suddenly a white spot caught the corner of his eye. He turned his full attention to it, seeing the body he had hurt turn into clay. He looked up just in time to see a dozen clay spiders from above.

"Damn!" Yamato shouted.

"Katsu!" Deidara shouted as Yamato limited his vision with his forearms to stop his face from being hurt… and that was his mistake. The clay spiders latched onto him while he looked about himself in shock.

There was only one thing to do. He had to-

Deidara repeated his earlier actions, and in a flash of bright light and thunderous noise, Yamato was gone. Deidara let a smile grace his face as he watched the Wood Man get blown to bits in a particularly beautiful display of his art.

A sudden flash of pain wiped the smile off his face, as he was about to turn toward it, but a fist had other plans for him. Yamato continued his assault on the former Rock-ninja, and ended his attack with both hands locked in a hammer move, turning his hands into a giant wooden hammer as he smashed them into Deidara's skull with all his might. Deidara hit a random branch… hard, but he jumped away just in time to avoid the five shuriken that had been perfectly aimed at his vitals. The two jumped, dashed, and clashed at each other, explosions and flashes of steel the signs of their battle.

Deidara led the fight toward the top, hoping to escape since the Kage brat was obviously dead. Yamato saw through him though, and tried to stop him from breaking through. Deidara, wanting his way more than anything, threw a kunai at the accursed Wood Man. Yamato dodged, and in a rare moment of slowed sight, he saw an explosive note attached to the handle of the throwing knife. He jumped away, just in time before the explosion, giving Deidara the time to escape. He grinned as he broke through the treetops for the second time, and threw a clay owl for him to stand atop of. He took a large clump of clay and ate it; with his normal mouth. The people of Konoha were going to see the depths of his art, all thanks to their stupid brat of a Kage and the damnable Wood Man. Yamato broke through the treetops, but his eyes widened as he saw Deidara spit out a rather large lump of clay. Yamato watched helplessly, since Deidara was far too high for any of his jutsu or kunai to reach, as the clay formed into a large… something. Maybe it was a clay person…?

Deidara grinned as he finished his newest and most brilliant art piece to date; the C-3 bomb. He had just created the thing last week and hadn't even tested it yet, but Konoha would no be the canvas to his paint brush. It would now know…

"True art!" Deidara howled aloud as he laughed manically into the night sky. They would all pay for the words and actions of that brat and the Wood Man! They would pay!

"This looks bad." Yamato muttered as he jumped from treetops toward the ground. He really hoped he'd be able to do something from there, especially since he was nearly out of chakra.

Naruto cursed himself for the thirtieth as he limped along the trunk of Yamato's giant tree. He leaned heavily upon the tree for support as he thought about how weak his body still was. Even though he had jutsu, chakra, and abilities, his physical body was almost still the same as after the Chunin Exams. He needed to get into even better shape and way more endurance training.

Damn there was gonna be a lot of work to do later…

Naruto limped out into the moon light as he comforted himself with the thought that he was still stronger than the average shinobi, having known that that close range a blast (having taken it without any guard or defense at all) would have killed a normal ninja, and made their body unrecognizable, though he berated himself as he mental scream that a true Kage should have been far stronger than he was right now.

Naruto, eyes cerulean-blue as normal, caught a shape rise out of the tops of the trees. Then a white shape appeared and he narrowed his eyes as he knew it was most likely the Akatsuki he had been fighting. He was sure that Yamato could hold his own against the mad bomber, but he wasn't exactly sure to what lengths the ex-Rock-ninja would go to in order to escape.

That was when he saw it. Hell, he actually felt it before anything. Now he had been good at sensing chakra, but this thing was so compressed in power that it didn't take any skill (or knowledge of chakra sensory what-so-ever) that you could pinpoint it just by being in the same country as it. Naruto felt a bead of sweat run down the side of his face as his mind raced.

A bomb with the kind of power he was feeling would blow Konoha off of every map with the Elemental Nations. What would he do? What could he do?

"Just protect them, Naru-kun." A soft, alluring voice whispered in his mind.

"Kyu-chan?" Naruto mentally exclaimed as the foxy vixen giggled.

"No time to scream my name, Naru-kun. You have to do something." Kyuubi said as Naruto nodded, though dejectedly.

He didn't have any defensive jutsu yet. He didn't even have a damn long-range jutsu! How could he fail his people so badly? Why was it that every bit of happiness, love, and respect that he got it was taken from him? Why was it that these people- his people had to die for him? They may have been cold toward him and hated him his entire life, but that didn't mean they deserved to die because of him!

Naruto's tears streamed down his face as he could practically see the devilish smirk on the bomber's face. His fist slammed into the trunk of the tree as he cried in silent agony and depression.

That was when it hit him. His head jerked up as he stared unabashed at the tree trunk. Could he- Would it work- But what if- No, it would- Yes, yes it would work, but first he needed-

"Yamato, I need your assistance!" Naruto shouted, a powerful and proud roar of hope echoing through the village- his village from his throat. Yamato, having just touched ground, jumped back on pure instinct toward his Kage as he skidded at the feet of Naruto.

"Use my chakra, Yamato. Help me to protect the village, and show this bastard that the leaves of Konoha shall not burn in his wicked flames! We will use the very land our forefathers labored over. In the name of the Shodai Hokage, I shall defend this village with all my power!" Naruto said as Yamato stared at him in awe. His eyes were ablaze with determination like Yamato had never seen in his life. The look in Naruto's eyes wiped away any doubts Yamato had of losing their battle.

"Yes sir, Hokage-sama!" Yamato said as he blazed through hand-signs in mere seconds. He ended with a clap of his hand as Naruto rested his hand on Yamato's shoulder, closing his eyes in concentration. Yamato slammed both of his hands down onto the tree trunk as his body glowed a deep earthy brown.

The amount of power coursing through his body was amazing! He felt that anything was possible with all the chakra he was just flowing from Naruto, through himself, and into the tree. Whatever Naruto was doing, he was positive that it would change the very face of the village forever.

Deidara placed his hands into a hand-sign as he dropped the bomb toward the village below. It hovered meters below him before it transformed into a much larger version of itself, outstretching its arms as it fell to the village.

"BOOM!" Deidara yelled in glee as his C-3 bomb exploded over the village, covering the entirety of the village in a giant flash of flame and smoke.

"What the-" Tsunade and Jiraiya yelled as their vision was encompassed by the bomb.

"Holy sh-" Sasuke whispered in awe as he saw the bomb above the village, Inoshi dropping down beside in as she too stared at the bomb in awe.

"Hot damn…" Inoshi, and Anko (who was on the other side of the village with Kurenai, Asuma, and other Jonin) said in unconscious unison.

"Dear Kami…" many villagers whispered from inside their homes as they watched out their windows, the giant clay bomb dropping toward their village as it glowed brightly before exploding. Their vision overtaken with the sight while they clutched their children and families tightly.

Deidara hovered high above the village as he grinned widely. He began to chuckle quietly until it escalated to full-blown wicked and maniacally laughter that rang out through the skies around him. The black smoke that covered the entire village was more than funny enough for him.

"The great poetic justice!" Deidara shouted into the night air, "He thought that my art was boring, but it turned out to be far too much for him! The irony is astonishing!"

Deidara had his bird dive into the smoke so he could further base in the glorious glow of victory and dance on the ashes of the once great village of Konoha. He was going to go right to the epicenter and piss on the-

"What the… How the… It's… It's…" Deidara said in a deathly low whisper. Right before his face contorted into pure hatred and anger, "Impossible! How the hell? Damn them! Damn them all to the deepest pits of hell and oblivion!"

Deidara glared at the flaming mass of tree branches and the giant dome jungle that overshadowed Konoha, having protected it from his most powerful bomb yet. His eye twitched in fury as he knew exactly who had done the protecting. It had to be that damn bratty bastard of a Kage. He and that damned Wood Man Yamato!

"Secret Wood Style Jutsu: Demeter's Retribution!" A powerful voice carried through the skies, up to the heavens as Deidara's jaw dropped. Had that been the Shodai Hokage…? No… it couldn't be… right?

He flew down still, going past the tree. He gazed at it as he realized that his bomb had blown half the tree into nothingness. But, that made him think about just how powerful the tree itself was.

He shook his head clear of those thoughts while he searched. He flew down, almost to the ground as he looked for any damage to the village he might have gotten in, and saw none that he hadn't already done before his C-3 bomb. His bird glided around the streets, Jonin all staring in one direction and not bothering with him. He turned his bird in the direction and looked until he saw it. The Wood Man was holding the sweating and barely breathing young Kage at the base of the tree trunk, which had become like a mountain itself.

He allowed himself to breathe (not having known he held his breath) as he knew that Yamato was barely keeping himself up and the young Hokage was out cold from… chakra exhaustion maybe? He gazed up at the tree that had protected the village and saw that it stood higher than the Hokage Mountain and larger as well.

Deidara raked a hand over his forehand and through his hair. This had been a very annoying battle for him, and he had only just realized that he used up all of his clay for the next six months.

It also seemed that whatever spell the Jonin and other ninja were under had been under was shattered like glass as they started attacking him with everything they had. He, even with low chakra and no clay other than his bird, still avoided them all with great ease. Hell, after battling the littlest Kage and that Wood Man, this was like a nightly stroll as he ducked kunai and avoided jutsu. He flew out of the main village and toward Sasori's black sand. He looked down at the training ground for any sign of Sasori, who he need was going to lecture him later on about being prepared and having kept him waiting. He sighed as dived down, Sasori spotting him quickly.

Sasori saw the white bird out of the corner of his eye and made his plans for escape in a matter of seconds. He moved his tail toward his side as well as his Kazekage puppet. Hiashi jumped at him, but he put the Kazekage's black sand-bladed arm to the girls slightly bleeding neck. The Hyuga man seemed to freeze up and think about something. He wasn't sure what, but it seemed that the others did as well since he saw the Toad Sage and the Slug Princess whispering to each other.

"What do we do, Jiraiya?" Tsunade whispered as Jiraiya's narrowed eyes were locked on Sasori.

"The white bird is coming, so that means his partner is here. That giant thing we saw earlier and the explosion that we caused by him. I don't have any defense techniques that can effectively deal with explosions, so we'll have to… let them escape." Jiraiya said as Tsunade glanced at him in shock, but quickly returned her eyes back to Sasori.

"What about Sakura?" Tsunade asked as Jiraiya sighed solemnly.

"They may take her, or they may kill her before they leave just to keep us in shock. Don't make any sudden moves. Remember, she's one of those precious people that Naruto told you about while we were on the road back her." Jiraiya said as Tsunade gulped and nodded.

"I'll crush anyone or anything that tries to hurt my precious people! They're special to me and I'll use both my bare hands to protect them from harm! I'll never give up and I'll keep them safe enough my bitter end; that's my Nindo, my Ninja Way!" Naruto voice echoed in her thoughts as she looked at the unconscious form of Sakura. She remembered when Sasori had knocked the girl out for her "loud annoying screams". Her blood boiled when she thought about it, but gritted her teeth and clenched her fists in order to stop her temper from taking control.

"Well then, it's been fun, but I really must be going. Good bye, for I hope that we shall meet again, Sannin, Hyuga… girl." Sasori said as he had the tail throw the girl high and far while the hand on the Kazekage detached to shot off a poison smoke bomb. Hiashi and Neji saw it first.

"Cover your mouths and hold your breaths!" Hiashi ordered as he and Neji did so. Jiraiya jumped away to catch Sakura and Tsunade charged forward to kill Sasori, but her fist only impacted on a black sand shield as Sasori and his puppets jumped atop the bird with a blond Akatsuki member.

"Had fun, Sasori-senpai, hmm?" Deidara asked with a grin as Sasori glared at him.

"Get us away from here, fool! Move it!" Sasori said as the bird took to the high untouchable skies. Both Sasori and Deidara could hear Tsunade loud and colorful curses as they took off into the night and far from the village. Sasori and Deidara finally allowed exhaustion to overtake them as they flopped on the back of the bird, panting as they sweat profusely.

"Damn that Kage and his Wood Man guard. They'll pay for their insults and making my art look and sound distasteful." Deidara said with venom as Sasori glanced over at him.

"You almost killed me as well with that explosion, Deidara. Count yourself lucky that the young Hokage stopped you." Sasori said calmly as his thoughts were anything but, "Still though, with the power it took to create that enormous tree barrier and make every branch as strong as adamantine! Such power…! If I had fought the two that had held off Deidara, then I would have been hard pressed even more with the Sannin. Thought I must admit that we of both sides were going all out or even attacking much. Deidara and I were scouting out Konoha's power along with that of its Kage, while those in Konoha were trying to capture us unhurt for interrogation and such, though it seemed that those two Sannin weren't really trying to catch me, but more of stop me from helping Deidara. I wonder why…"

"Sasori my man, did you see what I had gone through! That brat of a Kage and his Jonin guard we tough. Even though the Kage didn't use many jutsu, I think he's still too early on for him to have fought well. We should report this to Leader-sama, and have him call off Hidan and Kakazu. Those two won't get the break that we had if they just go into the village destroying things. I could tell the Wood Man and Kyuubi brat were on to our spy mission. The Jonin didn't jump in to help, and only attacked after they saw that their Kage was alright and knocked-out. The Anbu are probably down in the forest below tracking us now." Deidara said as Sasori raised a brow, but nodded.

"Yes, we mustn't be too haste in attacking that village head on. Itachi and Kisame almost got captured as well, but Hidan and Kakazu don't know the meaning of stealth and subtly… especially Hidan. If they go into Konoha destroying things, then the Kyuubi Hokage will merely destroy them and get back any information from their disfigured bodies, or Hidan's cursing head." Sasori replied as they sailed through the night sky.

"Well then, that settles it. Now the only question that remains is where to go; your place… or mine?" Deidara asked, but paused to grin as he realized how dirty that sounded. Sasori choked on air before he turned to glare at Deidara.

Ha, ha, funny, Deidara. My place in Wind country should do just fine. Besides, I have to repair Hiruko and improve him as well." Sasori admitted grudgingly as it was Deidara's turn to choke.

"They… broke him?" Deidara asked, shocked to his core. Hell, some of his bombs couldn't even scratch Hiruko's shell.

"Yes, and ripped off the tail. What about you?" Sasori shifted as Deidara showed him the two empty pouches.

"Out, completely. That Hokage brat kept using clones and diversions to make me run out. I thing when he riled me up by calling my art stall he was trying to make me use up my clay faster so I wouldn't have anymore to escape or attack with. He did it alright. If he had been up and the Wood Man named Yamato to, then I my bird would have gone and both of us would have been caught." Deidara said as Sasori sighed.

"It seemed that in terms of power the Kyuubi Jinchuriki has more than enough, but his simple yet dangerous logic and forethought is freighting. He must have been able to tell how much pride you took into your art and played on that to get you to do what he wanted." Sasori said as Deidara's eyes widened while he remembered what the young Kage had been saying throughout their battle.

"I'm curious; show me this art of yours before I lop off your head."

"That's very beautiful."

"My, my… that's very impressive…"

"Pretty…"

"What I can see most of all is that your art, with all its beauty and explosions… is boring."

"It's boring; plain and simple."

"You make so many artful animals, and clones out of it, and they explode. That's it. Nothing new, and nothing special, especially if one likes fireworks and festivals. Perhaps if you had joined the traveling carnival, then your art wouldn't be so… stale."

"Damn him! He played me like a violin the entire battle, even when I didn't know it. Whether he was being honest or not, he will die in a glorious blaze of my art the next time we meet in battle! I swear it!" Deidara shouted into the night sky as Sasori looked at him weirdly.

"Your bang… it's been cut." Sasori stated as Deidara blinked, running a hand over his bang only to realize that it had and remember when.

"The Kage brat cut it with a sword. He's moderately good with one, but I could tell he was holding back on his power. Like sometimes he wouldn't attack my clay clones and he would go straight for the real me. I don't even know how he could tell the difference!" Deidara explained as Sasori nodded.

"We'll have a lot to tell Leader-sama once we contact him." Sasori said with a sigh.

Maybe getting his ass kicked by Tsunade would have been better…

"Naruto! Naruto, get up, dammit!" Sasuke yelled as he struggled against the hold of Asuma and Kakashi holding him back.

"Sasuke, calm down. Naruto's fine, he's just really exhausted from his battle. Do you not see the size of this tree? He and Tenzo-"

"Yamato" Yamato cut in as Kakashi blinked, but nodded.

"He and Yamato created it with all of Naruto's chakra. Naruto's chakra and nothing else! Don't you think he deserves some rest?" Kakashi said as Sasuke stopped struggling and nodded.

"Boar, take him back home while Jiraiya-sama, Hiashi-sama, Asuma and I take Hokage-sama, Tsunade-sama, Yamato, and Sakura to the hospital to be treated for injuries and chakra exhaustion." Kakashi said as Inoshi nodded and grabbed Sasuke's wrist, but Sasuke's onyx-black eyes widened as he heard Sakura's name.

"Sakura? What happened to her? Kakashi! Tell me, dammit! What happened to Sakura?" Sasuke cried out as he was being dragged away by Inoshi the Boar ANBU.

Kakashi and Asuma turned back to Naruto's peacefully sleeping face with Yamato on the ground beside him. Naruto looked almost dead with his barely ghost breathes and the almost nonexistent movement of his chest rising and falling naturally. Bird and Asuma helped Yamato off the ground while Tsunade was leaning on Jiraiya for support. Sakura was in the arms of Hiashi while Kakashi was given the honor of carrying their young Hokage off a field of semi-victory.

"You did great, Naruto. I couldn't feel more proud. You use every bit of will-power and you created the shield that saved us all. Your parents would be and are so proud of you. Never forget that. The whole village is safe because of you, and you've done your job as Hokage handsomely. Sleep, Hokage-sama, you deserve a peaceful sleep more than anyone." Kakashi said as he carried Naruto bridal-style all the way to the hospital, and into his own private room (blinking when the doctors said that Naruto had always had his own private room), laying the young Kage in bed as the nurse tucked him in.

Nothing could make him any prouder…

"Girls that isn't a popsicle… on second thought lick away, heh, heh…" Naruto muttered in his sleep as he sprawled out across the bed while Kakashi was closing the door.

On second thought, now he couldn't be any prouder…

Okay, this chapter is done and gone. Sorry about it being so short, but these two battles (Sasori vs. Sannin and Naruto vs. Deidara) weren't "main attraction battles. They were more of plot devices and "cool" workings for the main purpose of this arc (The Kage's Mission Arc). They were to serve a purpose in which shall be revealed within the next few chapters.

Now, as some of you aren't getting everything, let me remind you, "Not everything is written out, and almost nothing is black and white. Everything has a purpose and sometimes you have to infer (read between the lines) in order to get the un-worded meanings and plots."

Like, take for example, Orochimaru. I had him as a "villain by comical choose" in this story. He's basically a villain just to scare the crap out of people, be bad, and get what he wants. I never said he was a saint. I never said he was the devil. All I'm saying is that he isn't that bad, but he damn well ain't that good.

Same as Danzo. The Old War-hawk is watching Naruto like a… well, hawk! If Naruto steps a toe out of line or does some bull crap, then Danzo will step in. But whose to say that Naruto isn't watching Danzo's every move too…? (Think people!)

Also, on an unrelated note, I have recently been getting beaten into the head by inspiration for other story ideas and things. Now I normally like to get a good foot into the ground so I can return to them later (hence why you see so many stories for me on this site). I will continue to do as I have, but if you feel that I've neglected a story or that you want to contribute ideas to it to make it better, more "realistic", or that I'm not using the stories full potential, then… TELL ME, GODDAMMIT! I know some of you have ideas, and some of them (some more than others) are really great and work while I'm writing (by the way, shout out to a;; my regular reviewers for their faithful reading and for putting up with my crap. You people deserve a damn good and shiny gold star, or like; a car or something). I like feedback from my readers (good feedback and even flames, I don't care). I will take them all, and then if I feel that your concerns need a response, then I will send one. *Sorry if I haven't or hadn't gotten to you or that I didn't send one and you were expecting it.*

So on this note, I'd be able to UPDATE quicker and better if everyone cooperated with me on the small things. Like answering the POLLS I put up instead of having me sit at this laptop for weeks going over villains, powers, series, characters, and harems by myself or with my extremely stubborn friends who have abandoned me in the story writing. That's right, their gone and now things are even harder than before. So I ask, in the name of my sanity which died long ago, can you guys and girls please just work with me. I understand that you're not into some of the things I write, or that you don't really like them that much, but a little help or even feedback would be nice.

Pease, just try and bear with me, because if you can't then… it's over. I'm sorry, but it will come to that if you guys/girls can't bring yourselves to share a little of your time (at least once in a while) to answer me back.

Until Next Time, See Ya…

-T.K