AN: thanks to everybody for their feedback.

I have reposted Chapters 14 and 16, the first fixing up Lee's weapons and making Naruto's super bunshin making sense. Finally, I wanted to make it very crystal clear that Naruto did not take any one of those spars seriously.

The second is more of an extension to show off more of the kyuubi's power.

Jon117 ~ Thank you for your input.

from the Collins compact Australian dictionary.

agape
1 (of the mouth) wide open.

2 (of a person) very surprised.

So with all due respect, I do not understand what you are talking about with this. I do however agree that I use it far too often (looks like i have nasty habit to over use words), and will address that.

It appears I have been mispelling kunoichi the popular way it is mispronounced. That was my mistake and thanks for that.

Focussed and focused can be spelled either way by personal preference (my dictionary doesn't even list it with a single s).

-Silent Writer- I do not mind people at all pointing out where I missed something, I am only a typical human bound to make mistakes :)

I Think you are exactly right on that with the kage bunshin. I have attempted to smooth it out in the now reposted chapter 14 (yes, i do believe our blond protagonist has THAT MUCH chakra.)

Now to answer the popular question in my reviews.

No, this story will not be extending into the shippuuden time line, since I am aiming as to not rewrite the Naruto manga with this story. I try to only reuse a few manga moments to keep the story in familiarity, however not overusing them to the point where I am just reiterating the entire manga. I more so am trying to create a 'new beginning' so to speak.

If I was to design a sequel, then that is where I would more so go into the shippuuden time line.

Chapter 51 Lethal Confidentiality

"Nobody there either hmm?!" Deidara barked, while then shifting his finger to another building, "Then maybe this one?!"

Claara's sigh went unheard from the new explosion that sent debris kicking into the air, "Are you satisfied yet?"

"Katsu!"

Kakashi peeked his head around a corner of a building that used to store, looking at the pair above, "So we have found the ninja who uses explosives, and it appears that Claara person is with him."

Shikamaru shifted behind him, "Any signs of Ronan or the others?" "Not from what I can see here."

"Then they probably are just scouting."

"Scouting?! They are blowing the entire place up!"

"We can all see that Naruto." Shikamaru retorted, turning to face the other two.

He watched Naruto twitch when another roar from an explosion was felt underneath their feet, "We have to stop them now! Before the othe-"

"Easy Naruto! We know." Sakura interrupted, placing a supportive hand on his shoulder as if to stop him doing anything 'Naruto-like'.

"I do not think they have confirmation we are staying here."

All eyes fell on Kakashi, with Shikamaru's being the only one not holding confusion, "You are right. Just look at the smoke trails, and where the explosions are happening..."

As if the Nara waited, Naruto and Sakura looked up at the black trails in the sky, and noticed it too, "Completely at random. The guy is just taking guesses."

"Guesses or not! He will eventually hit one where somebody is hid-"

Naruto's response was interrupted by the sudden earthquake, and deafening explosion that happened from two buildings away from them. Before the cloud of dust reached them, the shockwave of the blast hit them first. Sakura was completely caught by surprise, and took flight through the store's window from the blast, "Sakura-chan!"

Naruto's cry went completely unheard by her, since her ears were ringing. She was fortunate enough there was no glass anymore at the front display window. However, that still didn't mean her harsh landing on the rotten wooden floor boards was welcomed by her back. Coughing, she gritted her teeth in response to the pain travelling all up her back. Once her eyes focused, her back pain instantly became her last concern, as she froze staring at the ceiling in terror.

'Oh my god...'

It took her a while to realise the loud thumps were footsteps on the floorboards, and not just intensive beats in her chest. Soon, a blond with a face full of concern was in her view, "Sakura-chan! Are yo-"

She instantly snapped her hand to his mouth, making him go wide eyed in surprise. Naruto then looked at her bulging with fear emerald eyes staring at something above him, and reluctantly twitched his gaze to follow it. He was glad Sakura's firm hand muffled his shocked yelp. Above them, crawling along the ceiling, were dozens of clay moths.

If Sakura and Hinata's report before was anything to go by, it was safe to guess that anything made by the explosives user was lethal, including these. Feeling a sharp tug on his collar, he looked back down to Sakura, 'Do not make a sound.' She mouthed out, receiving a nod from her teammate.

Sakura uncovered his mouth, and accepted his helping hand to get her back on her feet. She restrained herself to not groan out her back's stinging protest, then signalled at the entrance they came from. The doorway could not have been more than several meters away, but even so, it was daunting how long the silent walk to the orange toned sunlight of outside was.

Taking a step into the hued afternoon light of the outdoors, both teens gasped for the air they forgot to breathe in the entire time.

"You both ok?"

The calm voice of Kakashi asked, who was still where he was before, with Shikamaru at his side. Rubbing the sweat from her forehead, Sakura shakily nodded, "A-ah, but I think we just found out how that person is destroying the buildings."

Quickly explaining what they saw, the Nara frowned, "Hang on."

Kneeling, the shadow user formed a seal, "Ankoku metsuki."

Shikamaru's pupils suddenly dilated until his entire eyes black, as his shadow grew a lone tendril behind him, towering over him as it began to 'look' around. The first thing he saw was the bright light of movement from above on the bird, then he noticed a kind of 'fuzzy' motion appearing in the darkness all around. Focusing more to the closest objects, being in the building they were hiding behind, he could see the fine details of the moths inside. Some were flapping their wings momentarily, and others were crawling around, before disappearing into the surrounding darkness when they stopped moving. Seeing so much fuzzy motion around them, the Nara could only frowned.

"Very. Very. Troublesome."

A white blob suddenly covered his view, "Can you see Kiba and the others Shikamaru?"

"Get out of my shadows face, and I will tell you Naruto."

Backing out of his space, Shikamaru looked around, but groaned, "Not within my shadows range. My vision is being mostly blocked by the moths randomly moving. That, and my sight is limited to only around twenty or so meters...I told you it doesn't compete with the Byakugan, remember?"

Cancelling his jutsu, Shikamaru stood up, "So there is a possibility most of the buildings are rigged. What a hassle, this is going to make attacking them that much harder."

Shikamaru formed his signature seal, while Kakashi looked again, "They are flying so high...too high. They have positioned themselves so that they are close enough to see most fine details of the streets, but are too far to be able to be attacked by a ranged jutsu effectively. Even so, that bird appears to be able to shift very quickly if need be."

"We could use the buildings to get close to them?" Sakura suggested, although she would prefer to not go into another one of the buildings anytime soon.

Naruto looked around them, "But most of the dumps around here are just homes Sakura-chan, only a couple are high enough to help."

"The only place that would have any good height for a ranged jutsu to hit them would be the school..."

Kakashi tilted his head further, and then reeled back, "-It is still standing."

Shikamaru snapped his eyes open, which earned everyone's instant attention on him, "What are we going to do Shikamaru?"

Sakura perked an eyebrow as to why her question made the Nara smirk, "You are going to enjoy this...Kakashi, not so much."

"Deidara-san, why don't you just satisfy your frustration, and blow them all up in one go so we can move on?"

"And ruin this game hmm? pick one."

She frowned at his childish behaviour, but sighed and just pointed at a random house.

"Katsu..." She mumbled out mockingly, while said house suddenly exploded with a blinding light. The hectic blast was enough to cause parts of the other nearby houses to collapse like a domino effect.

Fortunately for the two shinobi hiding in one, the house did not cave in on them, "Are you injured Hinata-san?"

The heiress shook her head, while pushing herself up off the now uneven floor, "That was too close Lee-kun."

Quickly assessing that the house they were in was still mostly standing, Lee returned his focus to the heiress, "Any news from Shikamaru-kun or the others?"

Hinata refocused her byakugan on the group, "They do not appear to be injured from that close call they had fortunately. Shikamaru-kun is currently writing down something. I think he has a pla-"

She gasped, while her mouth hung open in surprise, "H-he is writing down a message...for me?"

The heiress went quiet, while Lee watched her eyes shifting, almost as if she was reading something. Eventually her irises stopped moving, and then she looked up to Lee, "We have to move Lee-kun."

"Do you think she read it?"

"Assuming all the best, yes."

Naruto bit his lower lip at Shikamaru's response, but tried to share his optimism, "Ok, so we are heading out?"

"Yes. Now remember the plan Naruto-"

"Yeah, I get it."

The shadow user stared into Naruto's firm blue eyes to see his was being serious, and slowly nodded in acceptance, "Good...let's move." Sakura and Naruto broke off to a dash, and began running through the maze of streets.

"Ready Kakashi?"

"Hai. How long do you estimate I need to stall them for again?"

"As long as you can, it would be ideal if you can occupy them for a couple of minutes at most."

"You will have your time."

Kakashi then ran through seals, before stepping out, "Katon, hosenka no jutsu!"

'Honestly, such behaviour I would expect from a kid instead of a S ranked missing-nin.' The ex grass nin mused, while deciding to look elsewhere. Her eyes soon narrowed in question when she saw several small red dots approaching from below.

That was until they were close enough to now be identified as fireballs, "Deidara-san!"

Despite Deidara's surprised 'huh?!', the bird acted on its own will, and evaded the flaming projectiles effortlessly. Once the danger had passed, the pair watched the lone Hatake standing there in the open of the empty street.

"Yo!" Kakashi stated casually.

"Hatake Kakashi." Claara announced, while Deidara was practically bouncing with excitement at having action at last.

"So they are here after all, hmm!"

"Deidara, S ranked missing-nin from Iwa, and the mysterious Tsuta Claara that was not in my bingo book as he was. What brings you out here?"

"Eh?! I will give you something to talk about hm-"

Deidara was forced to stop by Claara's holding back hand on his shoulder. Said kunoichi smirked, "Hatake Kakashi, dubbed the copy ninja, son of the Konoha's White Fang who committed suicide. We could ask you the same question."

Deidara simply starred dumbly at his partner, asking 'what are you doing?', while Kakashi shrugged, "It is a nice town, figured it would be ideal place to get lost on the road of life."

Claara clicked her tongue, while moving to another question, "Quite unfortunate about your student. I must say, I expected more from one who had learnt from the great slug sannin. "

Claara's question made both teammates of team 7 suddenly come to a stop in their run, 'She thinks I am dead?'

Naruto nudged Sakura, "Come on Sakura-chan, we have to hurry." Sakura was about to nod, until Claara's chilling laugh echoed throughout the streets.

"Why so silent? Do you have something you wish to say to me Hatake Kakashi?"

Trying to ignore the conversation, Sakura nodded to him again, "Sorry, let's go."

Kakashi simply glared at the kunoichi's question, while inwardly he could see what it was she was trying.

'She is trying to find out if Sakura is still alive by attempting to trigger a response from me in either my body language, or me retaliating. I have to be very careful in what I say or do. One thing is certain, she definitely is a good actress.'

'He is smart, while he is tensing to show he was affected by what I said, he did not respond, not giving me a solid answer...as you would expect from an experienced jounin.' The ex grass nin concluded, while shifting her gaze to her partner.

Seeing Deidara was taking advantage of their talk to inform Ronan, she continued, "Moving along, where is her teammate she so proudly was wanting to die for?"

"Wouldn't have the slightest clue."

"Heh. I am sure he was with her when the poison took her life? Probably blamed himself too, watching her suffering because of his selfish action of not turning himself in." Naruto this time was the one to stop and stare in the general direction, with his face in shock.

'H-How did she-'

"The sky high fever, the constant trembling, the icy and sweaty touch. Must have been a sight he will remember for quite some time. That poison does not grant relief when it shuts down your body by the way. You feel it all the way until it is over. He should be proud she felt so strongly to protect him, because she would have felt it alright. Every. Little. Bit of it."

Kakashi's eye widened a fraction in realisation, 'She isn't just talking to me! She is trying to bait out-'

"Is that true Sakura-chan?" Naruto's dry voice croaked, while his fist was trembling in anger.

Sakura marched up to him, "Don't listen to her Naruto." She ordered, while the blond only gritted his teeth in response to what that meant.

'Sakura-chan was feeling all that, even when she was out...'

"I hope he is aware all he is doing is making you all suffer just like she did. The longer he resists, the more of you will be joining Haruno Sakura and the sannin's fate. How selfish can one get, to have such loyal comrades, and you damn them to this. I hear Ronan-san isn't the only one seeking his death either...how many more lives does he want to watch disappear until he gets the message?"

Sakura wished Kakashi would shut her up, because Claara's smug words were practically cutting into her teammate. Trying to pull him out of his stunned form, she shook his shoulders, "Naruto, ignore her! I mean i-"

"Yet all he can think about, in all this, is trying to 'save' his teammate from a fate he has chosen? Ha-ha-ha, How childish. The shinobi world is unforgivable, and chasing something based on a 'fantasy' of how the world works will always lead to dying young. I guess he is as delusional as he is selfish. Then again...Sakura was even more of a foolish child than he is, it wouldn't surprise me if she was involved in making him so stubborn about this dream. Care to share me some insight on the matter so I am not just making assumptions, Hatake?"

Sakura's nails began to dig into the tense Naruto's shoulders, but she tried to suppress her own quickly growing anger, 'SHUT HER THE HELL UP SENSEI!'

Kakashi already was flying through seals, 'If I do not silence her, either one of those two is going to snap.'

Claara smirked at the scarecrow's response to her taunting, 'The jinkuriki is here.' She concluded, while Deidara already had his hands jammed into his clay bags.

"Enough talking now hmm!" While an exchange of jutsu's could be heard in the background, Sakura was more concerned on her still frozen teammate.

Naruto's continued trembling made Sakura finally calm herself, and again she shook his shoulders, "Naruto, don't you dare listen to a word that-that bitch said!" Despite her firm instructions, he did not react.

"Narut-" She was taken aback when he gave a wide smirk, and raised his head to show his hurt eyes.

"I can't wait to see the look on that hag's face when she finds out you are alive Sakura-chan."

Recovering with a grin, she nodded and tightened her grip on his shoulders, "Me neither. Come on Naruto, we have to hurry."

'Thank god Kakashi shut that woman up. Luckily neither lost focus to their task and retaliated.' Shikamaru mused conclusively, peeking from his spot to see Kakashi now had their complete attention. When he decided it was safe, he sprung out of his spot and dashed through the streets, 'Hopefully Hinata read that message, and she is waiting for me where I specified.' Turning the corner to the familiar street of where they were centralised, Shikamaru froze in shock.

The outpost they had been using all this time was completely destroyed, with debris littering all across the path way.

'This isn't good.' Darting towards the wreckage, he tried to look in the rubble and cursed. He couldn't make out anything. 'Please tell me they were not inside it whenever it exploded.'

"Shikamaru-kun."

Hearing Hinata's soft voice from behind him brought a wash over of relief, which the Nara only showed with a sigh, "Are you guys injured?"

"We were fortunate enough to avoid any harm Shikamaru-kun." Lee responded, while the Nara walked into the shelter of the building across the road. Cautious of what Sakura told him earlier, he was hesitant to step inside.

"Do not be alarmed Shikamaru-kun, this house is clear of that person's jutsu." Hinata assured, making the shadow user walk in.

"Where are Shino and Kiba?"

"They are located in the school, secured in a class room."

"That is where Naruto and Sakura are positioning themselves. Do you know where they are?"

"Hai, they are still circling around the town. They should reach the school in around two minutes, but..."

The shadow user narrowed his eyes in annoyance to the coming bad news, while Hinata continued, "T-The building is completely swarmed with those creatures, Shikamaru-kun."

"And Shino and Kiba are still inside? Troublesome...Naruto and Sakura should hopefully just walk up the side of the building, but we have to get them out of there."

"There are windows they have sealed using Shino-kun's bugs, we can gain entrance from there."

"Lee will go, I need you with me. My shadow jutsu is far too limited in comparison to your Byakugan."

"H-Hai."

Unclipping his weights, and putting them down gently, Lee stood at attention, "Yosh! I am prepared to execute your orders with all my will, Shikamaru-kun!"

Smirking at Lee's typical attitude, Shikamaru nodded, "Once you have made contact with them, this is what I want you to do."

Jumping over the boundary fence with ease, the teens had finally entered the school, "Kakashi-sensei still is taking them around, we have plenty of time, Naruto." Sakura explained, still being cautious as they moved across the yard.

Now under the cover of the tree, she paused for a moment, "It will be a little bit risky, but we should just be able to sprint right up to the roof from here when sensei gives us the signal."

"Yeah, sounds good."

They didn't talk for a while after that, as they stood prepared, listening to the distant explosions slowly moving closer. Eventually, Naruto couldn't suppress his rising nerves anymore after a loud bang, "Sakura-chan?"

"Yes?"

"Please be, umm-"

His hesitance made her risk looking eye to eye with him, seeing his anxiety. The blond didn't respond for over a minute, while just staring into her firm emerald orbs. Finally, he grew a soft smile, "...Let's whoop these guys."

Softening her expression, she returned the gesture, "Hehe, let's."

Both the turned back their focus to the building, as the sound of the explosions were still moving closer, "Naruto."

His lack of response made her assume he was listening, "...I will be careful."

His gasp made her smirk, and lock eyes with him again, "That is what you were trying to say before I assume?"

Finally out of his shock, he chuckled, "It could have been."

"Silly baka." she mumbled, looking back at their heading.

"I am the one who is meant to nag my concern and worries, and you are the one who is meant to smile in that way you do, and then comfort me. When did we switch?"

The blonde's laughter made her look over in question, while he scratched the back of his head, "A promise is a promise as you said, Sakura-chan." His traditional fox smile stunned her for a moment, and then she recovered and sighed.

'So he saw what I meant...'

"...Ah, that's true."

Before either of the pair could talk again, they witnessed Lee running past them, 'Lee-san?'

The spandex wearer never acknowledged their presence, as instead, he was marching across the side of the building as if looking for something. He soon stopped at a change in pattern against the wall. The colour wasn't what struck out as amiss, but instead the fact that there was no window frame.

'What is he doing?'

Kakashi was beginning to think the typical cat and mouse game was not the best approach to this matter...especially since the cat was lobbing bombs at the fleeing mouse, and the obstacles he had to run through were rigged to blow at the cats leisure. Cutting sharply around a bend in the pathway, Kakashi heard the impact of the house he passed taking yet another explosive aimed for him. 'I don't think I will be able to keep this up for long.'

At his next step, the scarecrows eyes shot wide open in surprise when the ground suddenly broke open, revealing a clay centipede that was taller than he was. The creature was too slow for the Hatake, as Kakashi quickly strafed around it as it desperately lunged to entangle him like a snake. 'Not too bad, he is quick on his feet.' Deidara mused, growing irritated at not being able to score a hit on the running Kakashi. Claara wasn't particularly paying attention to their chase, instead, she was remaining cautious, and focusing her attention elsewhere.

'Ronan-san stated that they had an excellent tactician amongst them, and Hatake Kakashi can't honestly be so foolish enough to just allow us to drop explosives on him...he is leading us.'

Kakashi reached the end of another street, and eyed the building on the corner. It looked like it was once a typical house, although it didn't appear stable. Chances are it was full of those moths, but he needed to take the risk to change this losing game. Deidara perked an eyebrow when he saw Kakashi sharply change his course for the building, while the scarecrow reeled his hand back.

"Raikiri!"

As he predicted, the wall practically crumbled away just at the sudden impact of his lightning blade, making him invisible from the outside thanks to the sudden burst of dust. Deidara's mouth hung in question, until it perked at the corner into a smirk, while he formed his seal, "Katsu!"

The impish giggle could not be contained as he watched the building implode on itself. Seeing no movement, he risked lowering the bird down to get a closer inspection.

Still snickering, Deidara scoffed, "And you are supposed to be famous for your 'talents', Ha! Your 'talents' were no match for my-"

Deidara suddenly pulled the bird up, when a fire dragon suddenly erupted out from the rubble. The flames had just burnt the underside of his bird, however it remained airborne.

"Let me guess...I am no match for your 'art'?"

A sarcastic tone came from below, as the ex Iwa nin glared at the seemingly unhurt Kakashi. The scarecrow then continued his run, with the bird again on his tail. Deidara's patience was now long gone from Kakashi's taunt, but despite that, he bared a sadistic grin on his features.

"You are quite a nuisance, hmm! perhaps you deserve to experience only a taste of my greatest masterpiece. My C3 art!"

Kakashi did not like the sound of joy in the ex Iwa nin's voice the slightest, while cautiously tilting his head so he could see what was coming. Deidara casually tossed something off the side of the bird, which suddenly emitted a loud 'poof', blinding Kakashi from seeing it through the now thick smoke on the ground. If he did not have a sharingan, his eye would never have even saw the creature that suddenly 'shot' through the smoke at blinding speed. Judging from its look, it appeared to be a type of cockroach that easily was twice to three times his size, but it was moving so impossibly lightning fast, the distance between them was closing rapidly. 'Damn it!'

Deidara's sadistic smirk widened further, while he slowly formed his seal as if to add suspense for himself, "Art is a blast!"

"So that is the plan then? jeez, talk about us just sitting and waiting." The Inuzuka grumbled, as Lee explained to them their task.

"Shikamaru-kun is counting on us to ensure they are incapacitated once Naruto-kun and Sakura-san disable their means of flight." Lee quickly countered, while they exited out of the windows of the school.

"Huh?!"

"Y-You were hiding in there?!"

Ignoring both of the members of team 7's shocked responses, Lee gave a salute, "My humble apologies, but there is no time for discussion Sakura-san, Naruto-kun." Before either of the teens knew it, the trio and canine dashed away, leaving them with their surprised expressions still fresh.

Finally recovered, Naruto fixed his attention to the sky, "Where is sensei's signal? He said he would throw several explosives notes in the air, didn't he?"

"Yes, but not only that. Why haven't there been any more of those explosions all of a su-"

Sakura's question was literally turned mute by the sudden ear ringing roar of an enormous explosion that came very close from the other side of the building. There was a burning pure white aura blazing from behind the structure, causing the world around to dim into shadow. Bundled with it, came a ground shattering earthquake which made both fall to the floor, along with a rain of leaves from the tree.

Finally, the shockwave of the blast had arrived, swishing thick, and heavy dust around the building, further impairing their vision. The rumbling never eased, as several nearby buildings began to collapse from the force. The school shielding them from most of the effect miraculously was mostly unaffected. The powerful glow finally started to dim, with now a mushroom shaped black cloud towering into the sky.

When her body finally stopped trembling, Sakura pushed herself up, and shared an eye bulging, shock filled expression, with her similarly wearing teammate.

'N-No!'

Neither of them spoke, they just bolted for the building, ignoring their eyes stinging from the hot dust. Still sprinting as they began to ascend, both felt oddly lighter than normal from the combination of adrenaline and their still screaming in fear minds.

'Kakashi-sensei!'

Reaching the top at last, both relapsed into their shock, as they took in the chaotic sight before them. From what they were able to make out through the thick smoke, the centre of the street in front of the school was marked with an enormous, and scorched, impact crater. It was easily several meters in depth and width. There was not a single thing standing within sixty metres of the otherwise completely flattened zone. What made Sakura's eye unconsciously twitch out a stray tear was one haunting fact that Naruto also was aware of. There was no sign of Kakashi.

"K-...Kaka-...Kakashi-"

"Relax you two."

Both teens literally jumped out of their skin from the ever so casual voice that held familiarity to both their ringing ears. Dragging their gaze to the source made them confirm their ears didn't give them false hope, "K-Kakashi-sensei?!!"

Defying their fears, there he was, leaning against the safety fence on the roof, with his arms crossed. Naruto finally caught up with reality, "H-How-W-We thought-..."

'When the house collapsed on me, I switched with a kage bunshin, and remained in the rubble.'

"Don't worry about that, just focus on them. I trust they are close enough?"

Turning back in the other direction, both became aware of the sadistic laughter echoing through the still settling dust.

"AND THAT WAS ONLY AN OUNCE OF MY AWE BRINGING MASTERPIECE OF ART!"

Finally recovering from hearing Deidara's voice, Sakura rubbed away her stray tear, "Come on Naruto, let's stop that freak."

The still laughing Deidara was none the wiser, since he was admiring the destruction his creation had caused. "So what do you have to insult about my incomparable handiwork no-..."

Holding a blank expression, he blinked in realisation that his partner was no longer standing on the bird with him...when did she jump off?

"Where did that crazy woman get t-WHA?!!"

It happened so fast he hadn't even realised when he went from hovering, to suddenly falling like a stone out of the sky. Something was shot from behind him, and whatever it was instantly tore clean through his bird as if it was made of tissue paper.

While in mid fall, he looked back up in time to see the turquoise haze of a dispersed jutsu. Guessing where the jutsu came from, he looked at the roof. He was greeted by three shinobi standing there staring at him, causing his shock to mould into anger when he noticed Kakashi was amongst them.

'I never got him?!'

Trying to land gracefully on the ground, he flipped around and landed harshly on his knee. Before he arose, he quickly reached into his pocket and dropped something tiny on the ground. The rough halves of the bird crashed down at his sides soon afterwards.

Glaring at the building, he growled, "LET'S SEE YOU GET OUT WITHOUT A SCRATCH THIS TIME WHEN I SEND THIS DUMP TO THE GROUND HMM!"

Deidara then went to form his seal, but suddenly his entire body froze, with his hands not in the seal position, 'W-What the hell is going on?! I can't-'

"Kage Shibari successful." Announced Shikamaru, who was knelt down from the side of the building. Hinata was by his side, tensing when Deidara let out a groan of annoyance.

"W-What the hell sort of jutsu is this?!"

"You can't blow them up, can you?"

Shikamaru's simple question made Deidara's eyes widen in surprise, while Shikamaru explained, "So far with every explosive we have seen you use, you always form a seal. So I assume despite your strange creation's ability to move freely, they will only explode with your command?"

There was something about the way Shikamaru made it sound so a matter of fact, which was why Deidara was now wishing death at the Nara's calm face.

Hearing three landings nearby, Shikamaru greeted the newcomers, "Perfect work with that flying rasengan. I guess it wasn't so pointless after all."

"Bah, I was right. We were literally told to just sit and watch." Kiba groaned out, with the others coming out of their hiding places.

"You should respect your comrades orders regardless Kiba. Why is this? it's so that-"

"SHUT IT SHINO!"

"Enough. Stay alert everyone, remember, there is still one left." Kakashi ordered.

"Where is the hag?"

Naruto's dubbed name for Claara made Deidara snicker, "Heh, very suitable name for that crazy woman, hmm."

The comment earned a few raised eyebrows, but they ignored him, "Hinata?"

"She is close by-" The Heiress then pointed down the street at some kind of old market, "-In there...wait."

Hinata held confusion across her face, as she watched the kunoichi form a seal she had never seen before, 'What is that?' Her byakugan then noticed a small glow of chakra forming from something next to Deidara's foot.

It appeared to be...a seed?

She twitched when it suddenly 'cracked' like an egg down its centre, leaking out chakra that only her byakugan could see. She wasn't the only one fixated on the small seed, as now Kakashi's sharingan could see the chakra.

'What is...'

Suddenly the seed began to sprout out several fine green vines, that slithered across the ground for a few inches, as a stem also grew up to Deidara's hip in height. All observers soon were stunned when they saw solid blue chakra begin to form at the tip of the stem, creating the outline of a closed flower. The chakra then dispersed like rain drops, revealing a closed purple colour rose. The actual rose itself was at least a foot in height.

Deidara himself was in awe, but for a different reason, "This is such a passionate form...of pure artwork."

Kakashi's and Hinata's eyes suddenly bulged when they saw the build up of chakra happening from the core, "Everyone run!"

The rose suddenly blossomed, but inside it was not the vibrant colours some were expecting. Instead, the flower contained a thick purple cloud of some kind of gas. Sakura didn't need to even think what it was, 'Poison!'

Despite its size, the flower continued 'leaking' the gas until Deidara was completely consumed by it, making him invisible to all but Hinata. Squinting into the gas as she pulled back, Sakura did not miss the brief moment she stared into blue-gray irises. The genuine smirk directed at her only added to her bewilderment.

"Claara is in the gas!" Hinata shouted, as the stare off was broken when the gas began to expand out from the area. Once he was certain everyone was at a safe distance, Kakashi flew through seals.

"Futon, Kuuchuu dangan!"

Firing an air bullet straight into the cloud swished most of it away, to reveal the missing nins were no longer there.

Still daunted from the exchange, Sakura tried to shake it off, "Did anybody inhale any of the gas?!" Sakura barked, quickly glancing at everyone to confirm they were ok.

"W-What was that?!" Naruto blurted out, staring at the now limp rose, that now held an appearance as if it had dried up weeks ago.

"That jutsu was not of any normal element." Kakashi stated dryly, while answering Naruto's next question in advance.

"Tsuta Claara...has a kekkai genkai."

Deidara's entire world was spinning, be it either from his eyes spinning, or from some other means. His murky vision could only make out the rough reddish kind of tinge from early evening sky. He didn't understand why, but he felt as if he was floating down a running stream. Suddenly his stream like sensation abruptly came to a halt, making it feel as if his brain 'bounced' in his head with a shot of sharp pain that he could only protest with a groan.

His blood pumping ear drums just made out the sound of rustling to his side. Deidara's arm suddenly felt a icy cold chill run up his arm, which then began to spread throughout his entire body.

The awkward sensation soon numbed away, clearing his vision slowly, "Get up." A familiar and cold voice ordered emotionlessly.

Grunting, Deidara sat up and rubbed his pounding forehead, "What the hell?! YOU POISONED ME, HMM?!"

Claara's chuckle made him drag himself back on reflex, "Of course, I am a 'crazy woman' after all."

He had to relent on that, considering she could have just let him rot, "...Thanks."

Claara didn't reply to his forced gesture, and instead began walking away. Becoming now aware to where he was, they were on the other side of town, "You never told me you had a type of admirable art?! You just told me to drop that stupid seed by my side if worse came to worse?!"

Pausing in her step, she answered flatly, "A true shinobi should never reveal their trump cards unless they absolutely have to...otherwise your opponents will eventually discover weaknesses in it, and exploit them, Deidara-san."

Pushing himself up not too quickly, Deidara growled at her educative like tone, "Not all my explosives require a seal!"

"Who says I am criticizing you, Deidara-san?"

'Why you little-' Deidara bit his tongue, and shook his frustration off with a grunt.

"Whatever. Did you see that the kunoichi you poisoned before is still alive?"

The corner of Claara's visible face morphed an oddly genuine smirk, "Yes, I did. Now would you kindly just detonate all of the moths?"

"...I can't anymore."

Tilting her head to show her perked eyebrow made Deidara somehow feel belittled as he continued, "They are so small, that the amount of chakra being used to keep them mobile drains away after around ten or so odd minutes. So eventually they do not have enough chakra to cause anymore than a weak pop."

Her scoff added insult to injury, "So basically, they are just worthless dud bombs now. At least until the chakra in them is drained, from which I guess would be a couple of moments from now."

"...Yes."

Rolling her eyes, she turned and started to walk away again. "Anyways, where are we going?"

"At least to the border of this town."

"What the hell for?"

"You will see."

"Is that so Hinata?" "Hai, I am no longer seeing any movement from the moths...it's as if they died?" She explained to Kakashi.

"What about Claara and Deidara?"

Focusing with her byakugan, she found them, "They are leaving." she answered with relief.

'So we are safe for now...'

"Stay alert, we don't know what they are planning."

"Hai Kakashi-sensei."

Meanwhile, most of the others were fixated on the clay bird, "Be careful, we have no idea if these things can still detonate." Shikamaru's warning didn't seem to register, as Kiba in a carefree manner, walked up to one of the parts of the split clay bird and poked it.

"How the heck does something like this explode?"

Naruto soon was by his side and did the same, "What a creepy jutsu."

'I am leading a bunch of idiots.' Shikamaru internally sulked. Shino was inspecting the other half with Lee, although the Nara didn't miss the dozens of bugs there were crawling all over it as if it was sugar for an ant.

Sakura's interests were more so on the dead plant. Knelt in front of it, she cautiously touched the dry vines, "What kind of ability is this?" She voiced to herself, while shifting to the now brownish coloured rose.

One of its petals fell off from her touch, 'How could a small seed create this?' Searching for any remains, she tried to pull away the vines, only to realise that they weren't vines at all. They were very thick roots. Tugging on one again, she succeeded in pulling out one that was dug into the ground, only to then make yet another discovery. The roots felt incredibly damp.

Patting her hand around the plant, she soon came to a realisation. The dirt felt almost as wet as mud, "What on earth is this?" She mumbled, looking up when her senses detected a visitor.

"Great, most of my team is poking a possible explosive plant, while the medic-nin is playing with a poisonous plant."

Shikamaru's typical sarcasm was a welcome to the otherwise tense atmosphere, "It's fine, this plant is dead."

Returning her interest, she still felt the ground, "I don't know much about plants, but I am certain they aren't meant to do this."

"And you know many plants that leak out a poisonous gas?" Deciding to ignore his rhetorical remark, she decided to press down on the surface. She gasped though when the result was her hand being slowly submerged in muddy liquid.

"Water?"

Remembering what Kakashi explained to them earlier about water, she took a guess, "All plants need water to survive, but this much..."

Narrowing his eyes on the once lethal plant, the Nara continued from her words, "-is far more than what a typical plant needs."

"I wish Ino was here, she understands much more about these kinds of things than I do."

"Well she isn't."

Frowning, she waved her hand dismissively, "You are not helping." Patting around further on the dirt ground, she went wide eyed at yet another enigma. Shikamaru grew interested when instead of simply patting on the surface, she was almost knocking on it as if it was a door.

"Shikamaru...it's completely solid, like stone!"

Perking an eyebrow, he lowered himself to the ground and pressed down on the surface. He then slightly widened his eyes in surprise. "So the area surrounding the plant is solid, but where the plant itself is located is muddy..."

"This is so strange..."

Hearing footsteps, she looked to her side to see Naruto, "What's up with that thing?"

Explaining again what they had discovered, the blond held to both their surprise understanding, "So it sucked up the water in the dirt."

Blinking several times in puzzlement, Naruto then explained to his confused audience, "Well Kakashi-sensei told us that water can be found everywhere if you know where to look. So maybe the plant sucked up the water in the dirt?" Despite his uncertainty, Sakura was furiously nodding, and then formed a seal.

Shikamaru's still risen eyebrow remained when she then pressed down on a softer part of the dry surface, "What are you..."

She then after several moments, raised her hands to reveal they were moist, "I see...it now makes sense. "

"Did you try the suiton exercise on the dirt Sakura-chan?"

"I did Naruto-" knocking the ground with her fist a couple of times, she nodded when the results were similar, "But it shows that the plant was absorbing the water in the ground all around it. The reason it is moist and muddy around the plant itself is because this is where all the water has been absorbed to."

Shikamaru accepted the explanation, but still had another question, "But why would it need so much water for such a small thing?"

"E-Everyone!"

Hinata's stressed announcement made all turn heads to see her wide milky eyes, "T-They are here."

"So this is where they have chosen to conceal themselves?" Ronan declared, as they surveyed the town in the distance.

Seeing the smoke clouds still rising into the sky, he narrowed his eyes, "I should have known better than to expect Deidara to control himself. But no matter."

"I am eager now to meet this jinkuriki. He must be strong if him and his team defeated Zabuza."

'That information is not fully correct.' Ronan rebutted, but decided to respond harshly.

"I am afraid you will not get the opportunity to test the boy Mangetsu. There have been too many failures to let it happen again."

Looking back at the town, Ronan's eyes flickered to his angered sharingan in a blink, "I will personally deal with the jinkuriki."

Mangetsu's face held annoyance, but simply nodded, "As you wish then."

Ronan then looked down at Thomas, who was kneeling down and writing something on a very large scroll, "Is it prepared yet?"

"Almost."

Thomas then sat up, allowing Ronan to see his handiwork. Ronan could not make out what all the different seals meant, but the blood they were written in was more than satisfactory to assume Thomas now was waiting for his go.

"Do it."

Thomas then slapped his hands together, and began running through seal after seal. Watching with his sharingan, Ronan counted a chain of at least three dozen hand seals being flown through by Thomas. Finally, he paused on a tiger seal and then bit down far more harshly than necessary on both his thumbs, causing blood to run down his hands. He then whipped his thumbs across the scroll from opposite sides, leaving two parallel blood lines through the scroll.

Thomas then ended by slamming his palms down in the centre of the largest seal on the scroll, "Kuchiyose, okoku no shin'en!"

'Realm of the abyss...'

"Where are they Hinata?"

Naruto voiced everyone's question aloud, his intense nerves clear as day. The Heiress never replied though, instead, she was fully agape in shock.

"Hinata!"

Naruto shout finally pulled her back into reality, "W-We have to get out of here, now!"

"What are you sa-" The sudden tremor beneath their feet halted Naruto's question. The rumbling suddenly began to intensify so much, that Naruto's vision even was shaking.

"Run!" Hinata again cried out, being the first to start sprinting down the street, the others following.

"What are we running from?!"

"U-Underneath us- its a-" The rumbling suddenly increased exponentially, making Naruto lose his footing and hit the ground hard.

Struggling to stand, he froze when the sound of a great building collapsing behind him reached his ears. Snapping to behind him, he was stunned to see the school they were standing at before completely collapse from the inside out. The other anomaly that made him now completely baffled was why there was a sky high stream of water bursting out from the ground where it once stood. Feeling a sudden jolt on his collar, he broke his focus to realise it was a furiously tugging Akamaru.

"Just drag the idiot Akamaru!"

Naruto couldn't even react to Kiba's order, as the giant dog literally threw him onto its back as if he was a ragdoll, and then bolted in a blur on all fours. Hearing another burst, Naruto now had the semi convenience to stare at what was happening, 'What the hell is that?!'

Hearing an explosion echo around him made his head dart everywhere to see dust picking up all around the border of the town. With the dust clearing, he could only yelp out his shock to see what might as well be classified as a rough stone wall boxing them within the town.

'W-We're trapped!'

Naruto never was relieved from his shock, as suddenly the area where the school once was now fully erupted, blasting an more water out. The worst still was not over, as soon, the group of shinobi were bombarded by the heavy rain of water. The weight from the falling stream was heavy enough to cause an unfortunate building to collapse on connection, so it was safe for Naruto to assume he did not want to get hit by it. Yet another burst came from the area, this time by far much louder and bigger than the previous one. Naruto was impressed he didn't cry out his surprise when giant sized tentacles now were wildly whiplashing in the air. The glass shattering shriek that echoed now made Naruto understand who it was.

'That's Wani!'

Smelling the strong scent of salt water made him finally look down from the still emerging creature to gasp, "H-Hoi Akamaru! RUN FASTER!"

The cause to his sudden fear was the house sized wall of water gushing towards them like a tide. The force of the wave of water was enough to smash through most of the already weak structures, which made Naruto gulp in realisation that it was getting closer.

Growing long tired of just lying over the dog like a useless toy, Naruto snapped into action and heaved himself into a seating position, 'This is bad. We can't outrun it!' Catching up to the others who long gave up running, he saw that everybody had the same realisation.

"The force of that water alone will crush us like bugs!"

Kiba's blurt made Shino's goggles flicker, but even he had to agree. Jumping off the dog, Naruto could only stare at the incoming wall of water.

'T-Think damn it!'

Shikamaru was completely in awe, 'None of us have anything to protect us from that. Most of the buildings that it has passed have just completely flattened, so trying to stand on the rooftops are a massive gamble. Even so, the force of the water alone will make it crash over the rooftop, knocking us completely off...' Shikamaru's defeated thought's did not go alone.

"M-Maybe we should head to higher ground?!"

"The school was the highest point, and it is destroyed. We have nowhere to run." Shikamaru answered Hinata's desperate suggestion dryly.

"Well we have to try something!" Sakura shouted back, although her voice was beginning to be drowned out by the sound of the water crashing towards them like a tidal wave.

Kakashi was forming a seal, 'It is desperate, but this is all I can think of to save us...but how long can I hold out with constantly using 'it'?' Shaking his head clear of doubt, he continued to mould the chakra he needed.

'They are my responsibility, I will protect them even if this will kill me.'

Naruto had his jaw clenched, while his fist was trembling, 'DAMN IT! We need something to protect us...but what?!' Finally coming across something in memory, his wide eyes narrowed to iron determination.

'Just a bit more, and then I will have to just hold out with the jutsu as long as I can mana-'

"What the hell is with all of you having that look like your calling it quits?!" Naruto's fearless voice cut through everyone's panicked minds and protests. Naruto was standing in front of them, with his back facing them.

He appeared to be holding a seal, "I am not going to give up just because some stupid wave of water is heading towards us!"

'Naruto...'

The group only stared as his hand raised up to his head, with his thumb pointing to around his mouth. 'Ero-sennin told me that I must picture what I want to summon...I can do it, I will do it!' Naruto's mind demanded, as he slammed his hands down on the ground after biting his thumb hard.

Kakashi's several seconds of being distracted then made him suddenly curse when the water had now reached them, 'Damn it! I was too slow!'

Sakura could only shield her face in terror, until suddenly everything just went dark and unbelievably silent.

'...What is going on...am I dead?'

Her question seemed to be passing through everyone's head, until a warm and cheerful voice sliced straight through the deafening darkness, "Hehe!"

Gasping, she replied back to the familiar chuckle, "Naruto!?"

No longer frozen in terror, she reached into her weapon pouch in the darkness for her light stick, and then made a loud and echoing 'crack' as she mixed the liquids. Sakura's action was also follow by Shikamaru.

"Where the hell are we?" Not interested in Shikamaru's question, she focused on where the blond was before the sudden predicament. Finding his rough kneeled outline, she ran to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Naruto?!"

His still warm chuckling did not wipe the shock off her face, as he looked up to give her his fox smile, "I did it!"

"What..." Now becoming more alert to their environment, she realised her foot was stepping on something oddly squishy, and somehow...organic. Forcing more chakra into her light tick, the green glow intensified, allowing her to now see clearly around them in a seven foot radius.

She soon regretted the action when she saw the odd textures of the 'room' they were in. It somehow reminded her of an intestine in texture, and that alone made her feel sick. She unconsciously took a step back in surprise, only to nearly stumble when her foot met the same slimy surface.

Naruto's still lively chuckling made her look down on him to show her still gaping form, "W-What did you do Naruto?"

"We are in a toads stomach dattebayo!"

His announcement only added to her stunned figure, "W-We are what?!"

Kakashi relaxed, while dropping the seal he was still channelling, 'He came up with an idea that saved us all...You surprise me yet again, Naruto.'

"HAWWW! Naruto-kun! this will instantly count as one point in our rivalry in your favour!"

"Naruto-kun saved us..."

"Way to go Naruto!"

"...My bugs feel very uneasy in here."

Shikamaru finally closed his dish wide mouth, to then shake his head with a smirk, "Troublesome."

Naruto was sheepishly scratching his cheek at their praises, "Hehehe. thanks."

Still not hearing any response from his side, he looked up at Sakura, "You ok Sakura-chan?"

She recovered gracefully by shaking away her gaping form and smiling, "You never stop surprising people, do you?"

Leaving her question rhetoric, he stood and softened his fox like gesture, "So what are we going to do now?"

Shikamaru shrugged, "Beats me. It's not every day I end up inside a toads digestive track."

"It is done Ronan." Thomas muttered through his laboured breaths, as he soon collapsed over his scroll. Stepping forward, Mangetsu tried to investigate the cause.

"This is Thomas's most powerful jutsu. It summons Wani with an entire legion of her subordinates. Since they cannot survive outside water, Thomas has to design via the scroll a boundary of how much of the abyss realm will be summoned. Because the border of the jutsu was the entire area, it has completely drained him of all his chakra."

Mangetsu accepted the explanation from Ronan, "Will he survive?"

"Give him a soldier pill. It is all we can do for now."

While Mangetsu shuffled through Thomas's gear in search for the item, he asked, "Are we to resume the attack without him?"

"No. We are going to use Thomas's summons to what they are worth. Once Wani and her subordinates have dealt enough damage, we will exploit that advantage when they are exhausted." Looking to the silently perching hawk on his shoulder, Ronan stared into its eyes for a moment. The hawk then took flight, and began circling around from above.

'When the opportunity arises, I shall end this.'

End of Chapter

AN: There will most likely not be an update before then, so merry Christmas and a happy new year to everybody in advanced. Although if a certain review number reaches a double digit number, I will try and post the next one before 2010.

Otherwise if you will excuse me, I must how some attention to my other story.