The long awaited Chapter 22 is here!! The more reviews I get the faster the update will be!!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Chapter 22: I'm Here
"She will not be fighting alone," A voice spoke up behind her. Sakura turned just in time to see Gaara stand; his eyes were glaring hard at the red head before them. "We will defeat you together."
"So be it," Sasori commented.
"Are you sure you're up for it Gaara-sama?" Sakura asked while stepping beside the Kazekage; the red head still looked tired. Even darker than normal rings hung from Gaara's eyes; his face still appeared to be too pale.
"Yes," Sasori snorted from in front of the two. Sasori spoke and shifted slightly; looking from Gaara to Sakura, Sakura noticed Sasori's eyes linger a little longer on Sakura than necessary… Was he staring at her neck? Sasori blinked before stating, "Are you sure you're ready, little Kazekage? If my partner was able to beat you… there will be no doubt I will."
"That's where you're wrong," Sakura stated while adding chakra into her fists; she unconsciously shifted to hide her curse mark below her collar. Glaring deeply at Sasori, she stood defiantly beside Gaara. "There is a difference between fighting while protecting something and not."
"What do you mean, girl?" Sasori asked with a mild irritation.
"Gaara was protecting his whole country while fighting your partner," Sakura stated with a slight smirk. Sakura shifted to give Gaara a slight smile. "He won't need to protect anyone here."
"And he won't be fighting here," A voice spoke from behind both Sakura and Gaara. The two turned around to find Kakashi waving lazily at them. "He's going to go after Naruto, and help Naruto deal with your partner."
Gaara nodded his head, a new look of determination was set in his features. Gaara shot through the cave's door heading to where ever Naruto was.
Sakura took in a slight gasp at Kakashi's appearance; it appeared to take more than Kakashi thought to take out Itachi. The silver haired man's clothes were disheveled; a clear bit of sweat was easily seen on his forehead. Sakura quickly moved to the males side when she noticed the long gash along Kakashi's stomach.
Healing green chakra emitted from Sakura's fingers, and she easily healed Kakashi's wound as she looked into his eyes. "You should have been more careful."
Kakashi was about to respond when a bored sigh caused him to pause.
"I'm growing bored," Sasori commented from before Sakura and, now, Kakashi. Kakashi nodded, and smiled down at Sakura.
"I'm here," Kakashi stated quietly to Sakura. He allowed his fingers to brush against her own, and then turned towards the only red head left inside the cave. "Then we won't let you wait anymore; shall we?"
Sasori's eyes glared at the silver haired man, before he responded. "I do not like to be kept waiting."
"Then I won't let you wait any longer," Kakashi stated.
Kakashi was the first to move; he darted towards the redhead with several kunai in his grasp. Breaking out into a sprint, Kakashi could be only seen as a barely-there silver blur.
Sakura watched as Sasori pulled out a scroll from his cloak; it appeared Sasori was unaware Kakashi was coming at him, either that, or he wasn't concerned at all.
Sasori lifted up his arm, and blocked two kunai Kakashi sent his way. It was a thunk Sakura heard as Kakashi's kunai hit Sasori's arm. Sakura's eye brow rose slightly when she found Sasori in his same location; he hadn't used a replacement jutsu like she had thought.
The thunking sounded tremendously like a kunai hitting wood… Sakura had heard that sound many a times, and knew she wasn't wrong. Looking at the red head questioningly, Sakura spoke.
"What are you?" Sakura called as she moved to get closer; Kakashi wouldn't be able to do this alone. Infusing chakra into her fists, Sakura darted toward Sasori without even waiting for an answer.
A dark chuckle was heard in response to Sakura's question. "I am no longer human," Sasori commented as he dodged a few more kunai Kakashi had fired at him.
"That much is obvious," Sakura commented as her fist flew towards the red head's head. Sasori was not able to dodge the limb completely, however Sakura nicked what she thought was the corner of his face.
It sounded like the splitting of wood; Sakura thought as she flew back away from Sasori.
"Bitch," Sasori seethed as a crack appeared in his face; Sakura quickly noticed it was like the crack that appeared in Gaara's sand shield; the one that protected Gaara's actual skin from getting hurt. Did he have a surrounding shell protecting him?
Sakura's eyes detected chakra flowing through Sasori's whole body on the inside, not the outside. Sakura also noted the fact that Sasori's chakra was stronger around the area of his heart.
Sakura flipped away as Sasori struck out at her; his arm seemed to lengthen in mid-stride of his attack causing Sakura to dodge to the left; just getting away from Sasori's grasp. Flipping until she was a good twenty-feet away from him,
"I will kill you for harming my body," Sasori spoke viscously as he slowly began unraveling the scroll in his hands; Sakura had forgotten about the scroll... With a slight poof, a burst of smoke and a new figure appeared before them.
Sakura watched as the smoke cleared to reveal a long messy-haired male; or what was once a male. The skin of the male was now turned to wood; his eyes… his eyes were completely vacant and void of emotion; this is what a human puppet looked like.
"Meet the third Kazekage of Suna; the Sandaime," Sasori chuckled evilly as blue chakra strings were sent from his fingers to the puppet before him. "Or at least, what's left of him."
"He was said to have disappeared many years ago," Kakashi commented as he found himself standing beside Sakura. The new appearance of the old and forgotten Sandaime Kazekage worried him; he did not know all of the third Kazekage's techniques, nor did he know how powerful a human puppet could be.
"He did," Sasori commented with a maniac-like smirk. "I took him just a short ten years ago; I dare say he is my most effective puppet. You two should feel privileged to be seeing him; I only take him out when I feel a good battle coming on."
Sakura took a deep breath and sighed. Taking a step forward, she brought chakra into her fists; she squeezed her fists together tightly before speaking.
"You're too cruel to be a human being," Sakura stated while squeezing her fists tighter. Kakashi quickly flew to Sakura's side; squeezing her shoulder tightly. She looked back at him with a smile, and seemed to calm down. Well at least she did before the red head spoke again.
"A human is what I am not," Sasori stated with a nod; his eyes still glaring daggers at the pink haired girl. "And I will make sure you do not forget it. Humanity is cruel, girl; what I will bring you will be more so."
Blue chakra strings were attached to the Sandaime Kazekage's body; the body was made out of wood. Sakura watched slowly as Sasori's fingers began to twitch; the Kazekage slowly began to move before them.
"Kakashi," Sakura called to him; her eyes trained on Sasori. "I've never fought a puppeteer before… "
"I have," Kakashi stated while lifting his hi-ate. "It was a long time ago… puppetry is a lost art in the shinobi world. Whenever their fingers move, the puppet moves; keep your eyes on his fingers."
"I understand," Sakura said with a slight nod. Smirking to herself she drew in another breath, she had an idea. Glancing over to Kakashi, she had a light glint to her eyes. Sakura slowly willed the chakra away from her hands before she began to make rapid hands signs. "Water Bullets," she spoke quietly.
Three water shots flew out of Sakura's mouth and were aimed perfectly towards the smirking red head. Sasori's fingers responded quickly; they began twitching and his puppet flew in front of the water bullets to prevent himself from getting hit.
"Nice try," Sasori commented with a flat town. With another twitch of his fingers, the puppet was sent flying quickly towards Sakura. Sakura's eyes glittered forest green as she flipped backward, away from the rapidly approaching puppet.
Sakura glanced to her left; seeing Kakashi stand there she nodded her head lightly. Kakashi's eyebrow lifted slightly, but when she nodded toward the Sandaime he understood; the puppet was now wet… some electricity would hopefully stop it depending on what type of wiring Sasori used… it was an incredibly smart plan; Kakashi just had to wait for the right time to continue it.
Sakura noted the extra chakra coming out of the puppet's arm. Narrowing her eyes slightly, her eyes widened as the puppet's arm opened suddenly, it revealed a seal inside of a panel.
"You will no longer be able to dodge this," Sasori muttered as his hand formed the tiger seal. His eyes glowed with amusement before speaking again, "Kai."
The seal disappeared and out of the puppet's one hand shot thousands of other wooden hands. The hands were attached to arms, and they flew quickly at Sakura. Sakura could do nothing more then flip backwards again, and prepare to dodge the onslaught of approaching arms.
Sakura's eyes widened slightly as wooden arms flew over her head. Squinting slightly, she noticed a purple ooze that dripped off the puppet arms; they were all poisoned…
Flipping forward now, Sakura narrowly dodged the hundreds of hands that tried to pierce her. "Kakashi," Sakura called as she maneuvered her way through the arms. "The puppet is still wet."
Nodding his head, Kakashi flew towards the Sandaime's body. Quickly, Kakashi did a few hands signs before a bright blue light appeared around his hand,; a loud chirping noise went along with the bright blue light.
"Chidori," Kakashi muttered as his blazing blue hand shot through the puppet's body. The puppet spasmed before him; Kakashi wrenched his arm away swiftly, allowing the puppet to fall motionlessly to the ground before him.
Kakashi flew a few feet backward from the Sandaime puppet as he saw Sasori begin to draw closer. Blinking his eyes in confusion, he watched as Sasori's fingers moved swiftly; the Sandaime's head corresponded to each movement. Kakashi jumped backward until he stood beside Sakura; he inspected her for wounds, and sighed happily when he found none.
"You didn't think that would work, did you?" Sasori asked with a tone of irritation. He moved his fingers allowing the puppet's body to stand tall before the two Konoha nin. "It seems I am wasting my time here."
Sasori flexed his fingers once again, and blinked in confusion as the puppet's body slowly slumped in his chakra strings grasp; it appeared the puppet really couldn't move.
"You appear to be wrong," Sakura commented with a small smirk. "The water bullets doused the wiring of your puppet; the water was sucked through your wooden puppet's body. Kakashi's chidori short circuited the wiring; even with your chakra strings you will not be able to use your puppet properly. Your puppet is now essentially useless; you will only be able to move it's mouth."
"You bitch," Sasori stated with a bit of venom in his voice. He glared at the girl, but there was a small smirk located on Sasori's face that caused Sakura to blink in confusion.
"You have said that twice now," Kakashi muttered with a glare. "You will refrain from talking to Sakura in such a manner."
Sasori seemed to ignore the silver haired man, until he spoke Sakura's name. The glare turned into astonishment as Sasori continued to stare at Sakura. "Sakura? Your pink hair… a Haruno; perhaps the missing Sakura Haruno? Yes… I do believe I have found the missing heiress to the Haruno clan. You would make a wonderful addition to my collection… you shall be the 300th puppet to my collection."
"She will be no such thing," Kakashi stated while standing in front of the pink haired girl; his eyes glaring at Sasori. "You will not get your hands on her."
"So you say now, Copy-nin," Sasori stated with a glare. With a slight smirk, Sasori's finger twitched again; the Sandaime started twitching also. "I may not be able to use his body, but I can still use his abilities."
The Sandaime's mouth opened slowly, and black particles flew out. Kakashi's eyes widened before he spoke with bewilderment. "Iron sand… but how… wasn't that the-"
"The Sandaime's technique," Sasori nodded with a smirk. "I am able to use whatever technique the puppet had before they died, but I am growing tired with all this talking. We battle now."
Kakashi flew backwards as the iron sand molded into small bullets. Sakura quickly followed him; her eyes blazing brightly through the darkness of the cave.
"What are we going to do?" Sakura asked as she dodged the first wave of iron sand bullets.
"Dodge," Kakashi stated while mimicking Sakura's movements. She had gotten a lot quicker in the time he had been away; it looked like she was effortlessly dodging the bullets that flew at them. "That's all we can do at the moment."
Sakura frowned, and shook her head. Wasn't there something else they could do? She continued to move her body; it was so graceful her movements could almost be seen as a form of dance. Sakura blinked and her eyes seemed to dark from their already forest green, to a much darker, almost black color.
Flipping through the air, Sakura's fist began glowing a bright blue color. Honing in on Sasori's body position, she sent her fist forward allowing it to connect with several bullets. The impact caused the bullets to fly backwards; retreating from whence they came.
Sasori's eyes widened as the bullets flew through the Sandaime's body and into his own. Sasori twitched slightly, before his grip on the Sandaime's body dropped his chakra strings retreated, and the red head gasped in pain before gripping his chest tightly.
"You hit…" Sasori spoke between panted breaths. "…My heart…"
Sakura smirked before blinking her eyes again. Slowly she began to stumble, her eyes still closed tightly. Sakura opened her eyes, now back to their normal emerald color, and trembled slightly. Hissing out in pain, the curse mark on her neck started to glow before it slowly grew.
Kakashi appeared at Sakura's side within seconds; he was holding her tightly against him. "Are you alright, Sakura?" Kakashi asked with urgency in his voice.
"My curse mark," Sakura gritted out. Her hand gripped the mark tightly as she pumped emerald green chakra into it. "It's never reacted or hurt this badly before."
"Time is drawing to a close then," Sasori spoke as he grimaced through his pain. "Orochimaru will be coming for you soon… or you will be going to him."
"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked with clenched teeth; her healing wasn't working… her healing never not worked with her curse mark.
"Your curse mark," Sasori stated. "It is almost finished; when it is Orochimaru shall get what he wants."
"What the hell does Orochimaru want?" Sakura asked again; she was now glaring at the slowly dying red head.
"He wants you, my dear."