The author says: Hello guys and welcome to the longest chapter so far.
First of all I need to thank all of you amazing people, who helped me with this! I always read every single review, and this time I actually read some of them several times, because I tried to take all the advise on how to write fight scenes to heart! Thanks so much for that and sorry to the reviewers I didn't thank personally.
I really hope this turned out okay. I'm not a hundred percent sure about this and I really had to force myself to finish this. It was annoying to write, as I had to look up all the Jutsus. I also noticed that my vocabulary on things such as fighting or describing things like Sasori's hidden weapons, was quite limited. I still have the feeling I'm using the same words over and over again in this chapter, but I tried my best with this.
Please leave me your opinion on it, even if you say it totally sucked, at least I'll know what my readers think. I really don't want to disappoint, but I hope you have fun reading!
Oh and also note that I changed the rating from T to M. For this chapter and of course for things to come.
I don't own Naruto.
'He had no idea'
Chapter 12
I've never been afraid of the highest heights
Or afraid of flying now
I've never been afraid of the wildest fights
Not afraid of dying
But now I want off this ride 'cause you're scaring me and I don't like where we're going
- 'Changed The Way You Kissed Me' by Example
They had been running for nearly an hour, when Naruto stopped. It was the sign for the others to stop as well and they came to stand next to her.
"Neji," was all she needed to say for the Hyuuga to begin scanning their surroundings with his Byakugan.
"Two people in black cloaks with red clouds. Target in sight. Approximately two miles away," he stated matter-of-factly.
"All right, we're going to wait here for them," Naruto decided, "keep hiding your chakra completely," she reminded the others, but they were all doing so anyway.
"Let them come to us," the blonde captain grinned evilly under her mask, "It's show time."
The guys around her shifted slightly. Shikamaru and Gaara, whose eyes were not as sharp as the others', tried to make out the approaching criminals in the darkness.
Naruto turned to her left, where Gaara was standing. She stepped closer to him and pushed the Weasel mask onto her head.
Her ocean blue eyes locked with Gaara's teal ones. Her face was serious and the scowl on it seemed to have become permanent over the last week.
Gaara returned her intent gaze. He nodded. They didn't need to say anything. They understood each other without words.
Be careful.
Don't you dare get killed.
Come back alive. Back to me.
Naruto gave him a curt nod and she returned Gaara's blossoming smirk with her evil grin. The mask back over her face, she faced the dark desert again.
What had been a beautiful starlit sky only hours before, now felt like a myriad of eyes watching them; waiting for the outcome of the mission.
It felt like an eternity until the two cloaked criminals finally came fully into view. One was hunched over and appeared to be crawling – Sasori. The taller one had blonde hair, that was up in a rather girly pony tail that somehow reminded Naruto of Ino. This one was Deidara.
Deidara was not in a good mood. Actually, he was pissed. His master – Sasori-sama – was getting on his nerves. Even if their argument about whose art was the real art, was years old by now, the two never ended it. There was just no way for them to find an answer that pleased both of them. Art was an explosion after all!
And now Sasori was even questioning Deidara's abilities. Or rather, he was questioning whether Deidara was prepared for the fight against the Ichibi's Jinchuuriki. Of course he was. Deidara might be young, but he was no idiot. He was strong and was absolutely convinced of his explosive bombs and sure that the Kazekage would be overpowered by his display of booming art.
Deidara was certain that the one pouch of clay he had brought with him on this mission was more than enough to defeat the Kazekage. They had information on him and apparently the boy – as Deidara refused to acknowledge the sixteen-year-old as a man yet – was not very skilled in close combat. Not that it mattered anyway, as Deidara was a long-range fighter, and he didn't intend on letting Gaara get behind his explosive defence.
Also, the Kazekage was devoted to his village and word was he would rather die than let harm come to his people. That was one of their major advantages. When they surprised Sunagakure in the middle of the night, no one would be ready to fight back and the Kazekage would have to be painfully careful to keep his village safe, while defending himself.
They were approximately an hour away from Sunagakure and Deidara's anticipation increased. He would show his stupid puppet-loving master how to properly defeat a Jinchuuriki. This would finally end their stupid debate about the true nature of art. And it would improve Deidara's reputation and Leader-sama was going to be very pleased with him.
"Do you see that?" Sasori's hoarse, growling voice interrupted his thoughts.
"See what, un?" Deidara asked unintelligently, turning his head wildly, making the bells on his straw-hat jingle.
"In front of us, Deidara."
The blond squinted his eyes, trying to make out what Sasori was talking about. He put two fingers on his left temple, activating his binocular and zoomed in. Then he saw it. Or rather them. He counted five people standing in the middle of the desert, facing them.
"Are they waiting for us, Sasori-sama?" he asked, uncertain.
"I don't let people wait, Deidara. And no, they are not here on my orders."
Deidara rolled his eyes under the shelter of his straw-hat. His master had some weird time issues. "So who are they, un?"
"I wouldn't be asking you, if I knew," Sasori growled, impatience thick in his voice, "Let's find out. Either they're masking their chakra completely or they are civilians. Which I highly doubt, though."
They slowly got closer to the small group of cloaked people. Sasori's stupid puppet armour was really slowly, it annoyed Deidara every time they went on a mission together.
The two S-class missing-nin stopped several feet away from the group.
"Let me do the talki –" Sasori started, but was cut off by his young and impulsive partner.
"Who are you, un? And what are you doing in the middle of the desert in the middle of the night?" the blond called out to the people.
One of them stepped forward. It was the person on the very left.
"I could ask you the same," a gentle but strong voice answered, "You are trespassing on my desert after all."
"So this is your desert, un?" Deidara mocked, but then it clicked. "Hey, are you the Kazekage?"
Sasori suppressed the urge to slash Deidara with his steal scorpion tail.
Gaara pushed the hood of his dark cloak over his head and revealed his vibrant red hair, the teal eyes and the tattoo with the kanji for 'love' on his forehead.
Deidara took in the appearance of the Jinchuuriki they were supposed to kidnap. What was he doing here, awaiting them?
"What are you doing here, un? You're supposed to be in Suna," the blond Akatsuki-member called, voicing his confusion.
Again, Sasori next to him was tempted to just chop the young man's head off.
"And you're not supposed to attack my village," Gaara said calmly but decisively, "You are after me, so leave my people out of it."
Gaara threw off his cloak and revealed the large gourd tied to his back. His muscles tensed as he got ready to take off. So far, everything was going according to plan. They had not been attacked and apparently Deidara was even more immature than Itachi had let on.
A cocky smirk appeared on Gaara's normally neutral face and he focused on Deidara. "Catch me!" he whispered teasingly, "If you can!"
Without needing to use any hand seals, his sand began pouring out of his gourd and a dense platform of sorts formed in front of him, hovering a feet over the sandy ground (1). He jumped on it and the sand platform hovered higher. At an unspoken command, it started moving and Gaara raced off into the darkness of the desert.
"Oi, wait, will you, un!" Deidara loudly complained. He threw a tiny bird clay sculpture on the sand to his feet and with a single-handed hand seal, the bird grew in size, now several feet taller than Deidara himself. The blond jumped on its back and made to take off.
"Deidara, wait this is –" but once again Sasori's growling voice was cut off by Deidara.
"Don't worry, Sasori-sama, it's my job to catch him. Just wait, it won't take long!" Deidara's clay bird spread his wings and the two were gone.
" – a trap," Sasori finished lamely, his warning going unheard by his young partner.
Being alone now, Sasori faced the other four cloaked figures. They had not said anything so far and as their chakra was still hidden, he could not estimate how strong these people were. But the fact that they were able to completely hide their chakra signature from him, was already a feat.
The blonde captain watched Gaara and Deidara's departure through the holes of her ANBU mask. Everything was going according to plan and she was actually surprised that luring Deidara away had been so easy. Child's play.
But now she needed to concentrate on the hunched figure in front of her. He wasn't speaking, probably trying to comprehend what was happening.
Naruto's fingers moved mere millimetres, but it was sign enough for Shikamaru to start his jutsu.
The Nara formed the rat hand seal and his shadow raced towards the still staring and unsuspecting Sasori. The combination of darkness and the speed in which Shikamaru's shadow closed in on the man, made it impossible for his bulky puppet to react.
"Kagemane no Jutsu (2) successful," Shikamaru whispered, voice laced with satisfaction.
This was the sign for Kiba to attack. He and Akamaru jumped towards the immobilized Sasori. "Gastuuga!" (3) Kiba shouted and both began spinning at an incredible speed.
Naruto and Neji watched, both holding their breath. Was this going to work?
Kiba and Akamaru darted forward and hit the puppet armour from both sides. There was a millisecond of resistance, but the armour soon gave in.
It burst apart. The puppet armour Hiruko was destroyed.
Second part of the plan – accomplished.
Kiba and Akamaru landed back next to the others.
Shikamaru's Shadow Binding Technique broke and the team saw a figure jump away from the remnants of the puppet.
The figure stood still, some feet away, now obviously alarmed. Neji and Naruto shared a look. They were about to attack, when a surprisingly high voice sounded from where Sasori now stood.
A mirthless chuckle sounded through the darkness. "I see, you people don't waste time, I like that."
Naruto watched Sasori as his head came up and his face was revealed in the pale moonlight. His hair colour was almost the same as Gaara's. His face was young and actually beautiful, but Naruto wasn't fooled. She knew that this was only a human puppet. The man Sasori himself was already older. And experienced, she mustn't forget that.
"You destroyed my armour surprisingly fast. It appears you know about my secret techniques," the redhead said, his voice no longer hoarse and growling. "And you separated me and my partner, knowing that we are after the Kazekage. It makes me wonder, who I am facing. Who are you and where did you get all the information from?"
Sasori's body was hidden behind his black and red Akatsuki cloak. Naruto watched him closely, looking for the smallest sign of an attack.
In a perfectly synchronized motion, all four Leaf-nin shed their cloaks, revealing their masked faces.
"ANBU," Sasori whispered to himself. He regarded them in the darkness. Three obviously male shinobi. The fourth person's hair was still hidden under a hood, but this one was evidently smaller than the others and something told him the last person was a female. And judging by the way she held herself, she was the captain of the team. But their masks were not those of the Sunagakure ANBU. He searched his memories and finally decided on them to be from Konoha. Interesting.
"Why do I fight Konoha ANBU when I mean to attack the Village of Sand?" he asked, his voice not betraying his curiosity.
The figure he had deduced to be female started walking towards him. The puppet master watched her closely. He still didn't feel any chakra coming from her. By now he was sure that it meant she was strong. Why else hide your signature this long?
"Akasuna no Sasori," a female voice spoke up. It was actually pleasant, but the cold tone in it told another story. "You made a mistake coming here tonight."
So they even knew his name. They were obviously well-informed. Intrigued, Sasori played the game, "Oh, why is that?"
Had his puppet body needed to breathe, he probably would have gasped from the sudden killing intent that was rolling over him like a tsunami. He had never felt anything like it before. His former Akatsuki partner, Orochimaru, had one fierce killing intent, but compared to this, it was a mere tickle. Who is this person?
"Because," the female voice said – there was a feeling to it now, that made the criminal wonder how he could ever have called this voice pleasant – "tonight is the night you will die."
"Have the courtesy to tell me your name, if you intend to kill me," Sasori demanded.
As if she had waited for the invitation, Naruto pulled the hood off her head and pushed the mask up enough for him to see her face.
Sasori recognized those features immediately. They had pictures of all the Jinchuurikis. But what was the Nine-Tail's container doing here? Weren't Itachi and Kisame supposed to be hunting the girl?
"Uzumaki Naruto," Sasori stated, "it seems that I am the lucky one tonight. Leader-sama will be pleased, if we return with two Jinchuuriki."
Naruto covered her face with her mask again. The time for exchanging words was over. She had meant it when she said she was going to kill Sasori tonight.
Slowly, she freed her katana from the sheath on her back. The blade reflected the pale moonlight. For her, Kiba and Neji it didn't matter that they were fighting in darkness. They had exceptionally good eyes and none of them was hindered by the lack of actual light. The only one who had no enhanced eyesight was Shikamaru, but neither had Sasori.
Neji walked up to Naruto. His Byakugan saw through the cloak of the puppeteer. "The device with his heart is in his chest, slightly to the left, where the heart usually is, taichou," he informed his captain and also confirmed Itachi's information.
Naruto nodded. She was going to give it a first shot. They didn't know what kind of tricks Sasori had up his sleeves. So just charging him, luring him out, was the current plan of action.
Naruto gripped her katana with both hands, holding it up in front of her almost vertically. Swinging the sword over her head, she charged her opponent.
Gaara threw a look over his shoulder. Perfect. Deidara was really following him. Hadn't this trap been kind of too obvious? However, it worked, and that was all that counted at the moment.
Gaara flew through the desert on his sand. The darkness sped by him in a blur. He was still some distance away from the rendezvous point, but it didn't matter. His task right now was just luring Deidara away from his partner and the village. The fighting would start once they'd arrived.
Deidara saw the Jinchuuriki flying several feet in front of him. His clay bird was heavier than the Kazekage's sand and he didn't manage to catch up to him. Yet.
Deidara briefly wondered about how easy it had been to convince Sasori to let him fight the Jinchuuriki alone. Their plan had been to attack the village, but whatever. Plans change, right? As long as Deidara was able to prove himself, it was fine with him. Besides, there were still those other four shady people. So Sasori probably wouldn't be bored until his return.
He just needed to make this quick. He already heard his master's bitching about his tardiness. He sighed and fuelled more chakra into his bird. Better to get this over with quickly.
Naruto swung her katana down at Sasori's head. A 'clang' sounded through the silence of the desert night.
Sasori had managed to attach his chakra strings to the metal tail of his Hiruko puppet. It was blocking Naruto's blade just in front of his body.
Naruto jumped back. Reflexively, she blocked an attack from the tail. She saw and even smelled the purple poison dripping from the weapon. She mustn't let it touch her.
Defending herself from the moving tail, she was pushed back. This was not going to work.
She channelled wind chakra into her katana and the blade began glowing, blueish. The tail aimed for her arm, she dodged it, whirled around and brought her sword down on the tail.
The wind chakra enhanced blade cut through the tail like a hot knife through butter. Naruto continued and chopped off piece after piece of the annoying weapon.
While his captain was taking care of the tail, Shikamaru was trying to once again catch Sasori in one of his shadow techniques. But this time, the shinobi knew what the shadow creeping towards him meant.
Sasori jumped back, evading the shadow on the floor. Forgotten was the tail, it was useless now anyway.
Shikamaru smirked.
Sasori's puppet eyes widened in surprise as he felt someone coming up behind him.
His Byakugan activated, Neji easily saw that the chakra system of Sasori's puppet body was not like the human chakra system. Instead of having tenketsu points, the main amount of Sasori's chakra was gathered in the device within his heart. There weren't many places for Neji's Tirgrams Palm to hit.
Making his decision, Neji directly aimed for the device in Sasori's chest. Maybe he could end this with just one blow.
But before his outstretched fingers could connect with the human puppet, he heard a clicking sound and a mechanism on Sasori's back opened under his cloak. The Akatsuki robe was torn apart as two metal poles extended from his hips. They ended in several curved blades, which began rotating like propellers.
Neji could stop his attack in the last moment. He staggered back, losing his balance from the sudden change of direction.
The mere millisecond of unsure footing was enough for one of the sharp blades of the propellers to slice his retreating hand. The Hyuuga hissed, more from surprise than from actual pain.
Naruto clapped her hands twice. It was the sign for the others to retreat to her. She had seen how Neji's normally controlled face contorted in surprise. He must've been hit.
The team gathered around her, bringing several feet of sand between themselves and the opponent.
Neji was already opening his medical pouch with his uninjured hand and searching for the syringe with the antidote.
Naruto was keeping an eye on both her team mate and the opponent. This was a good opportunity for the criminal to strike back.
Neji found the syringe and handed it to Shikamaru. The Nara pulled off the safety cap and pushed the needle into Neji's deltoid muscle.
There was a moment of tense silence when they all thought the same thing. Let it be the right antidote.
Gaara's eyes scanned the dark desert. In one hour the sun would begin to rise. Until then, they'd fight in darkness.
The little rock formation, that was their meeting point, came into view and Gaara slowed down. He felt Deidara's chakra signature closing in behind him. The blond had actually chased him through half of the desert.
As he approached the rocks, he searched for his siblings' and Kakashi's chakra. They were not hiding it, but keeping it low. They were there, waiting for him.
But he had told them not to interfere until it looked like he was really losing. Not that he intended to go there.
Gaara stopped, hovering in the air, carried by his sand. He began infusing the surrounding desert sand with his chakra. It would make it easier later, if he needed to make use of it. While the sand in his gourd was mixed with his chakra the whole time, he could also command sand that was not in his gourd, but it afforded more chakra.
Deidara saw his prey stop. Smirking, he closed in; one hand in his clay pouch, the mouth on it already chewing the clay and infusing it with his chakra.
"So you're finally tired of running away from me, un?" the blond called out, trying to get his opponent riled up. But his teasing went unnoticed by Gaara. It took a lot more for him to get really angry and emotional.
"It took you long enough to catch up to me," Gaara stated in his neutral voice.
"Tche, I don't think I like the way you're looking down on me, un," Deidara said, squinting his eyes at Gaara, "But I will get some emotion on that pretty face of yours." He pulled his hand out from under his cloak and threw what looked like three clay pigeons into the air. "And it will be pain!" he declared and a maniacal grin split his face.
Gaara tensed, he knew these were the explosives Itachi had warned them about.
He saw Deidara make a single-handed seal. The pigeons raced towards him.
"Katsu!" Deidara shouted and immediately, the three clay sculptures exploded.
Gaara's Ultimate Defence came up as a sandy wall around him. He had gambled, trying to find out whether Deidara's attacks were faster than his automatic defence. They weren't.
Sand broke away from the spot where the explosions had hit the defence, but nothing had gotten through. The impact was swallowed by his sand.
Satisfied, Gaara raised his arms. He needed neither hand seals nor actual contact with his sand to control it.
Mesmerized by the display of Gaara's arm-waving, Deidara was almost too late to dodge the sand bullets that came flying at him (4). He manoeuvred his bird to evade most of them, but still some managed to shoot through the bird's wings, causing it to lurch about in the sky.
Deidara cursed loudly. This boy was starting to piss him off.
Flying higher into the air to get away from the bullets, Deidara prepared his next attack.
"I'm going to show you my C1 bombs (5), un," a number of small insect-like creatures crawled out of his left palm. He took aim and threw the clay insect at his opponent.
This time, Gaara was prepared for the bombs. He waited for them and as he saw Deidara form the tiger hand seal, his defence came up.
Deidara allowed himself a victorious grin, as the sand wall fell away to reveal the still body of the Kazekage. Obviously, his explosives had been too much for the sand shield. Manoeuvring his bird closer to the unconscious boy, his sole attention was on what happened in front of him.
He didn't see the huge wall of desert sand coming up behind him; so huge, that it was casting a shadow over Deidara's form even in the dark, moonlit night. It rose from the ground, almost soundlessly starting to grab for the blond missing-nin.
Gaara stretched his arms higher over his head, ordering his sand to close in on his opponent.
The seemingly unconscious body of the Jinchuuriki melted away; it had only been a Sand Clone. Finally sensing the danger looming above and behind him, Deidara looked up, his eyes widened in shock, as he had less than a second to take in the terrifying sight of Gaara's attack.
Gaara's hand clenched, "Sabaku Rou (Desert Prison)." (6)
The sand swallowed Deidara together with his clay bird. A large sphere built itself around the caught blond. With another flick of Gaara's hand, the sand prison tightened.
Gaara's teal eyes watched the cloud of sand hanging in the air over him. He was sure that this was not enough to kill Deidara, but it would leave him definitely injured and weakened.
Gaara prepared for his next move, when suddenly the night sky lit up in a blinding explosion.
Still keeping an eye on Sasori, Naruto's heart was beating frantically against her ribcage. If this was not the right antidote, Neji would be dead within three minutes. And he was their only medic nin. Would she make it to Suna in only three minutes? It had taken them one hour to get here, they were truly in the middle of nowhere. There was not much hope, if...
"Guys, three minutes are over," Kiba said hesitantly, not sure whether the danger of the poison had truly passed.
Neji looked up at his team mates from his sitting position on the sand. He moved his arms, clenched his fists, waggled his toes. "I think I'm fine," he said. More certain, he added, "Everything feels normal, the antidote's working."
Naruto briefly glanced at him, assuring herself of his well-being. She let out a small sigh of relief.
But she regretted it the moment her eyes were back on Sasori.
The criminal looked at them; a creepy smile on his young puppet face. "I see you even know the formula for the antidote to my favourite poison," he said, his voice still void of any emotion, "I guess this means we have a traitor in our midst."
Naruto followed the movement of the man's hands. A scroll dropped out of his cloak and into his open hand.
"Who is it, I wonder," the criminal mused, "Is it an active member? Or maybe you met up with my old partner Orochimaru?"
He raised his arm, holding the scroll in front of him.
"But last I heard, poor Orochimaru was killed by his ambitious student," he said, still in his eerie, emotionless voice.
Naruto's lips curled up in an involuntary snarl. She just couldn't stand hearing the Snake Sannin's name. And the man better stopped talking about Sasuke.
"So the traitor must still be an active member." Sasori unrolled the scroll. "I wonder, who it is. Maybe you will tell me after I defeat you all. And make you part of my human puppet collection."
Naruto's demonic eyes easily made out what was written on the scroll. It was a seal, the number 'three' under it.
"This one is my favourite," Sasori explained to the staring ANBU team, "I will show you real puppetry now."
The scroll glowed, as he channelled his chakra into it. As the seal was released, smoke obscured their view on the criminal.
Naruto squinted her eyes. What was going on? She had given her opponent too much time to prepare an attack, while Neji had recovered from the poisoning. She had hoped they could defeat Sasori before he could make use of his puppet techniques. But that had obviously been wishful thinking. They were facing an S-class criminal after all.
The smoke cleared and revealed a dark-clad puppet, hovering in the air in front of the redhead. Naruto saw the faint glow of the chakra threads, that connected Sasori's fingertips and the puppet.
"From your lack of reaction, I assume that you have no idea, whom you are facing," Sasori stated, taking in the blank stares of Naruto's team.
Naruto began to wonder whether she should know this person – or rather puppet. Sasori's words indicated that this was another of his infamous human puppets. Whoever it was, she didn't know him and after seeing her team mates' clueless faces, she was sure that they didn't know him either.
"I don't care who your little friend is," Naruto called out, her muscles tensing, "but you better say good-bye to your favourite plaything."
An eerie chuckle filled the distance between them. "Your ignorance is almost sweet, girl. But please let me tell you who this is. You have the honour of facing the Third Kazekage."
Shikamaru's eyebrows shot up. Leaning over to his captain, he spoke quietly, "The Third Kazekage is supposed to be the strongest of all the previous Kazekage. He disappeared without a trace and his body was never found. I think he used some kind of sand technique, similar to Gaara's."
Naruto didn't take her eyes off the new threat while listening to Shikamaru's input. Apparently, Itachi had not known about this or otherwise he'd have told her about it. Naruto shrugged, "It really doesn't matter who this puppet is or was, all I care about is eliminating it so we can kill Sasori and get this over with!"
The blonde captain turned slightly to her team mates. "Neji," she began giving orders, "you stay with me. Shikamaru, Kiba, you will try to attack Sasori's body directly, while Neji and I distract him."
Three nods where her answer and Kiba and Shikamaru scattered away. Naruto locked eyes with Neji. "Let's do this," she said, determined, and an excited smirk crept back on her lips.
"Taichou," Neji smirked back at her, liking her attitude.
Her katana still in hand, Naruto raised it in front of her and dashed towards the puppet.
Sasori spread his arms wide, fingers moving in the air. The puppet shot forwards accordingly, speeding towards the advancing Jinchuuriki.
Naruto's blade came down. At a flick of Sasori's finger, the puppet's left arms spread, a set of curved blades dripping with poison blocked the blonde's sword. Naruto was pushed back from the force of the retractable blades, just barely avoiding the sharp weapons.
Her heels dug into the sandy ground as she came to a stop next to Neji. Their eyes were on the puppet, as it lifted its other arm. With popping joints the wooden arm split in the middle, several compartments opening. Summoning seals were attached on the inside of each. A short blue glow indicated the activation of the hidden technique.
Hundreds of puppet arms escaped the seals, growing, lengthening, shooting at Neji and Naruto; wooden hands grabbing to catch them.
Both easily avoided the attack, splitting up. The arms crashed into the sand, wood breaking and becoming useless.
Sasori smirked. A pipe opened from one of the arms, emitting a cloud of purple poisonous gas.
Seeing the cloud of poison spreading, Naruto stabbed her katana into the sand in front of her. With her now free hands she went through well-practised hand seals. "Futon: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)," (7) she yelled, inhaling deeply, and a gust of wind escaped her mouth. Its force blew away the poison and with it the danger.
"I'm not done yet," Sasori announced, the smallest hint of annoyance in his voice now. The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki and her team were not as easy to defeat as he had first assumed. But like he had said, he was most certainly not done yet.
His puppet moved, detaching the now useless arm. The Third Kazekage opened his mouth, releasing a dark powder into the air.
"This is the Sand Village's most feared weapon," Sasori explained to the four unknowing shinobi, "The Sandaime Kazekage's Iron Sand."
Unfazed, Naruto stared back at the redhead. Iron Sand, she mused, the difference between normal sand and this one can't be too big. And she had fought Gaara so many times by now, that she knew very well how to counter his attacks. This was something she actually knew how to fight against.
"Neji," she whispered to the brunette, glad they were out of Sasori's hearing range, "I'll fight him and you wait for an opening to destroy the Kazekage's puppet body."
Neji gave a curt nod and left her alone. He landed several feet away, in a safe distance of her attacking range. With his Byakugan activated, he easily saw the chakra threads running from Sasori's fingertips to the Kazekage's limbs. There was a compartment filled with chakra in the human puppet's chest, similar to Sasori's own body. It was the chakra source of the Third Kazekage. But in order to fully disable the puppet, Neji needed to completely destroy it.
His pale eyes watched as bullets made of Iron Sand came flying at Naruto. The girl dodged them expertly. As if she is used to this kind of attack, Neji mused.
A plan formed in his mind and Neji got into position. Naruto was now running in a zig-zag, avoiding huge squared stones made of Iron Sand. The brunette watched, a bit anxious, but he soon realized that there was no reason for him to worry about his captain. The blonde girl was too quick, winding her way through the dangerous and sharp projectiles like she had done this a hundred times before.
His pale eyes were back on the human puppet. A quick glance in the direction of Sasori showed him that the puppet master had his eyes on Naruto. Channelling chakra to his feet, Neji started running towards the Third Kazekage. His hand went to his pocket, taking out a small stack of white papers. He dashed forwards as fast as possible.
Sasori must have seen him, since one of the Iron Sand formations started disintegrating in mid-air. With his nearly 360 degree vision, Neji saw the Iron Sand gather itself again, once more forming those annoying bullets. And just a second later they came flying at him. The Hyuuga spun into his Hakkesho Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven) (8), effectively deflecting all of the attacking objects.
In two big leaps Neji crossed the distance between himself and the Kazekage's puppet. His palms shot out as he called, "Hakke Rokujuuyon Shou (Eight Trigrams Sixty-four Palms)!" (9)
With the incredible speed of the Hyuuga's precise Taijutsu, the puppet was lifted into the air, cracking noises were heard as the wood slowly gave way. Neji finished his attack and made a back-flip, bringing as much distance as possible between him and the puppet now.
The brunette took in how Naruto tensed and retreated. She had probably seen the white papers sticking to the puppet's body. There was a simple seal on each paper, one which they taught you in the Academy already. Neji allowed himself a victorious smirk and whispered, "Boom!"
The exploding tags he had attached to the puppet detonated. A huge ball of fire shot into the night sky, illuminating the darkness. The force easily destroyed the puppet and the flames were eating the last remaining pieces of wood.
Neji felt Naruto land next to him. She clapped him on the back and flashed him a foxy grin, "Neat!"
Gaara watched as his sand coffin exploded. Deidara's clay bird must have detonated. As the smoke cleared, he heard the panting of his opponent. The blond emerged from a pile of sand, staggering. His cloak was burnt in several places and he was bleeding from a wound on his head.
Gaara didn't let Deidara much time, as the sand around the Akatsuki member rose again, this time binding him in place.
Deidara glared at the Jinchuuriki, who was still hovering above him in the air. The blond wiggled and growled, trying to free his arms from the sand. He couldn't use the mouth in his hands to build new bombs when his arms were caught in the sand.
Cursing his opponent loudly, Deidara somehow managed to get one of his arms free. The mouth was already chewing, ready to spit out one of his bombs.
In the air, Gaara quickly moved his hands, ordering his sand to wrap itself around Deidara's body. But the former Iwa-nin was already pulling his second arm free of Gaara's sand prison. The redhead swiftly closed his fist. "Sabaku Sousou (Desert Funeral)!" (10)
A cry of pain was answer enough for Gaara to know that he had injured his opponent. The blond now fully wiggled free of the sand holding him, and leaped away. He was clutching his right arm, red blood was running through his fingers.
"You little shit, you severed my arm!" Deidara yelled, pain and shock more than obvious in his voice.
Gaara's face remained neutral at the insult.
Deidara's remaining arm moved away from the wound. He opened his palm just as the mouth in it spit out what could only be described as a bird with its wings folded in front of his body.
"I see you want to play, un," Deidara spat, "Then meet my C3 bomb. It's my most powerful large scale bomb." (11)
With his sole left arm, he threw the bomb into the air.
"Let's see if your sand can protect you against this!"
In their hiding place behind the small rock formation, Temari and Kankurou were holding their breath, while Kakashi was holding back the siblings at the back of their cloaks, trying to stop them from dashing out and helping Gaara.
The Kazekage had given them strict orders. They were not to interfere until it looked like Gaara was either truly losing or until Gaara gave them a sign. Neither had happened so far, so Kakashi would not let the two hot-heads run into the fight, especially not as Gaara had just cut off one of Deidara's arms.
"Calm down," he growled lowly, while keeping both his mismatched eyes on the battle in front of him.
They were a safe distance away from the action, but his uncovered Sharingan was seeing nicely in the darkness. By now the sun was slowly creeping over the horizon, a small strip of light hanging over the desert.
Kakashi couldn't say for sure how long the battle was already going, but he assumed it must be close to two hours already.
The three followed Gaara with their eyes, as the Jinchuuriki spread his arms. At his gesture, the sand under him began to rise. More and more rose, faster and faster.
They didn't hear Deidara call out the command to activate his bomb, but they saw how the bird-like clay figure increased in proportions, growing as tall as a man.
Then it dropped. On Gaara.
Naruto stood next to Neji, waiting for the smoke of the explosion to clear.
She looked around, searching for her other two team mates. She hadn't been able to pay much attention to them while fighting Sasori, but she hoped that Shikamaru was doing his best of coming up with a plan to finally finish this. She didn't know how long this fight already lasted, but she really wanted to get this over with.
An eerie chuckle caught her attention. The smoke had cleared and revealed the form of Sasori. The man slash puppet had his eyes wide opened, a crazy look on his face.
"You defeated this one quite easily, too, I must admit," his voice broke the silence. "But now I have no more reason to hold back. I will show you, what a real puppet master is, girl!"
His hands moved over his cloak, unbuttoning it. He yanked it off, exposing his puppet body to his opponents. Naruto's eyes widened slightly, seeing the chakra storage device in his chest. This little thing was what kept him alive. They only needed to destroy it. But it was already within their reach.
She also recognized the coiled cable in his stomach Itachi had told them about. They also knew of the scroll holder on his back, which contained his most feared weapon; his puppet army. Other than that, they didn't know what kind of weapons he was still hiding and waiting to use.
"I haven't used myself for some time, you may feel honoured," Sasori said with the manic expression on his puppet face. He reached behind his back, removing one of the scrolls from the container.
"But I see the time has come to use my most feared technique," he chuckled eerily, his eyes widening even further. "Four against one is a bit unfair, don't you think? Let's see..." he trailed off and unrolled the summoning scroll with one fluid motion. Next, he reached for his chest and opened a compartment where his right lung was supposed to be.
Even Naruto saw the bluish glow of chakra, although she didn't have the Byakugan like Neji. They saw more than a hundred chakra strings emit from Sasori's chest, attaching themselves to the red shadows that had begun emerging from the scroll only seconds before.
Soon the brightening desert sky was filled with exactly one hundred red-clad puppets looming above Naruto and her team mates.
"Let's see how you will do four against one hundred!" Sasori laughed creepily.
Naruto leaned over to Neji. "I'll take this. Go find Shikamaru and Kiba and finally kill this fucking lunatic!"
Neji knew better than to ask her if she was sure that she wanted to face this feared technique alone. Instead he squeezed her shoulder and murmured a, "Have fun!" before he left her alone yet again.
Naruto turned to her opponent – or rather her new one hundred and one opponents. She placed her hands on her hips and gave Sasori a cocky smirk. She had no reason to be afraid of his attack. Training with Kankurou had taught her a lot about puppetry. While it was not that easy to defeat a single well-controlled puppet, it became easier, the more puppets were used.
Because Uzumaki Naruto controlled her own army.
"So this is your most feared technique? The Red Puppet Technique?" she called, sounding way too confident and unimpressed for Sasori's liking.
"Are you sure about facing me alone, little girl?" Sasori tried to anger her, but Naruto's smirk only widened.
"Oh, I am not alone, Sasori."
She formed a well-known crossed hand-seal and shouted, "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Multiple Shadow Clone Technique)!"
Sasori stared at the mass of clones. Exactly one hundred.
Simultaneously, the Shadow Clones reached up to their shoulders, grabbing the hilts of their katanas with their right hands.
"Let's go!" they shouted as one and threw themselves at the red puppets.
The original Naruto stayed behind. She needed to form a new Kage Bunshin each time one of hers was killed. But she had a considerable advantage. While Sasori had to control all of the hundred puppets at once, ordering them like crazy to keep up with Naruto's clones, all Naruto had to do was watch and replace the dispelled clones. Her Kage Bunshin were able to think for themselves, they were not dependent on her orders or guiding. They were individual fighters, who thought exactly like her. And right now she was thinking of destroying those annoying dolls.
Sasori tried his best to hide his annoyance. This girl was playing with him! He saw it clearly. The grin on her face proved that she was rather enjoying this.
He had never heard of anyone using the Shadow Clone Technique to this extent. A hundred clones! This was getting ridiculous!
He needed to end this. As soon as possible.
Three pairs of eyes stared at the scene in front of them, absolutely mesmerized by the display.
Their captain was fighting the most feared technique of all puppet masters. Completely alone. And instead of being afraid, the blonde was grinning; looking as though she was having a good time.
One by one the puppets were destroyed, their broken wooden limbs covering the sandy ground.
"Erm," Kiba began hesitantly, "Is it only me or are you feeling kinda useless, too?"
Next to him, Shikamaru and Neji dumbly nodded their heads, not taking their eyes off the battle.
An angry voice shook them out of their stupor. "What the hell are you doing just standing there?"
Three heads snapped around to stare at their captain.
"Get the fuck moving and kill him! NOW!"
Naruto shook her head, not admitting that she was slightly amused. Their gaping faces had just been too funny. But they really needed to end this. She couldn't do this forever, even though the number of puppets was steadily decreasing.
Annoyed that everything was taking so long, she crossed her fingers and another fifty clones appeared. They charged the remaining puppets with feral looks on their faces.
Shikamaru tore his eyes off Naruto and quickly spoke to his team mates, explaining his newest strategy.
Kakashi and the Sand siblings had to shield their eyes and duck behind the rocks they were hiding behind as Deidara's C3 bomb detonated.
The heat was so intense, they felt it on their skins, even from the supposedly safe distance away. Temari gasped as the shockwave of the explosion hit their rock. It cracked ominously and for a second she thought it was going to break under the pressure.
Kakashi was the first to raise his head again. He had not anticipated such a powerful blast. But on the other hand, Itachi had warned them enough about Deidara's special explosive powers.
His ears were still ringing from the sheer volume of the explosion. Nothing moved as far as Kakashi could tell. Even his Sharingan couldn't see through the dense smoke, he'd need a Byakugan to do that.
"Gaara," Temari breathed, fear for her baby brother evident in her voice.
She was about to leap over the rocks to come to Gaara's aid, when Kakashi pulled her back once more.
"Wait!" he said urgently, "Look!"
Temari's eyes scanned the cloud of smoke once more. A swirling in the smoke caught her attention. Focusing on the movement, she gasped when she saw vibrant red hair emerge.
"Gaara!" she whispered softly, not quite believing it yet.
But indeed, her baby brother was slowly getting to his feet. The explosion had knocked him over, buried him in his own sand. Or had that been his intention? When he had ordered the desert sand around him to rise up? Right, Temari recognized one of her brother's jutsus; with which Gaara was able to summon the sand around him and forming an almost impenetrable shield to protect him. It was practically his Ultimate Defence, only with a considerable larger amount of sand and also more chakra. (12)
The smoke was gone completely, revealing Deidara. The criminal was standing so far away that his own bomb hadn't affected him. The blond was breathing heavily, clutching his shoulder again, where his right arm was missing.
As his eyes fell on the living Kazekage, his blue eyes widened, clearly shocked, but also furious that his attack hadn't killed the Jinchuuriki. The time to capture the Ichibi-container alive was long over. This had turned into a fight of life and death. And also of pride. Deidara would not lose to someone younger than him.
Deidara's left hand sank into his clay pouch. There was not much left. He had enough clay for either two middle scale or one large scale bomb. Maybe he should have listened to Sasori-sama once in his life and taken another pouch of clay with him. Sasori was probably fuming by now because Deidara was taking so long.
He watched the Jinchuuriki in front of him. The boy was supporting his weight on his knees as he was standing up. With his binocular Deidara zoomed in on the redhead. He saw sand falling away from his face. Apparently his sand had formed a layer of sand on his skin, covering him completely. This must be the Jinchuuriki's famous the Armour of Sand. (13)
Deidara didn't see signs of injury, but clearly this fight was taking its toll on his opponent as well.
But so it did on him. Deidara was running out of chakra and clay.
Gritting his teeth, the missing-nin made a decision.
Kakashi didn't like the determined expression that suddenly crossed Deidara's face. Whatever the young man was thinking, it couldn't be good for Gaara.
Time to interfere, the grey-haired jounin thought, closing his Sharingan eye. His hands formed a seal and he began gathering his chakra. It didn't matter any more if Deidara detected them now. This fight would soon be over. And Kakashi would make sure that it was going to be the good kind of over.
He felt the chakra flowing to his Sharingan, felt the pupil change its size and shape. Very slowly. He just hoped he wouldn't be too late. But he knew that Gaara had no chance of surviving another of those bombs.
And whatever kind of attack Deidara had left up his sleeve, Kakashi had the vague feeling that they were no longer safe behind their rocks either.
"We can't get close to him as long as he has those propelling blades on his back," Kiba said, scowling at said spinning blades, which Sasori used to keep them away. While most of the criminal's attention was still on his Puppet Army fighting Naruto, he had still been able to defend himself against all attacks from the three boys.
Shikamaru nodded, acknowledging Kiba's words. Whenever they were able to close in on their opponent, Sasori would either use the flame throwers in his palms or the sharp cable to fend them off.
Shikamaru's face grew more irritated. As quick as his mind was with developing new plans, Sasori was just equally as quick to make them all null and useless.
But the Nara genius was not done yet.
He gave two small commands to Kiba and Neji and off they went. Time for the next attack.
The brunette kneeled down on one knee, his hands coming up in front of his chest for his most-used jutsu. His shadow lengthened, gaining speed, racing towards Sasori.
But the former Sand-nin was aware enough of the others to see the coming attack. He pointed his open palm on the ground. A searing hot flame shot out, effectively eliminating all shadows under him.
Sasori changed positions to fully evade Shikamaru's Binding Technique, but that only brought him into range of Neji's attack.
The Hyuuga gathered the chakra in his right palm. "Hakke Kusho (Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm)," (14) he said calmly and released the compressed air from his tenketsu points.
The vacuum sphere flew at Sasori. The redhead manoeuvred his propellers, half hovering, half jumping to the left, and Neji's attack missed him by a hair's breadth.
But Kiba was already in position, coming up behind the puppeteer, a kunai in his one hand, ninja wire in the other. He swung the kunai like a lasso, gaining momentum and threw it at Sasori's propellers. On Sasori's other side, Neji was doing the same.
The wire attached to the kunai wound itself around the spinning blades like a spider web.
There was a moment of anxious silence as the three boys held their breath, waiting for the wire to tear. But it held.
The propellers stopped spinning, constricted by the wire, causing Sasori to fall to the ground, no longer hanging in mid-air. He landed on his feet awkwardly, as Neji and Kiba pulled the wires tight, securing the criminal in place.
Sasori's head made an unnatural turn of 180 degrees, facing backwards. His eyes shone with insanity in the early morning sun.
The sharp cable from his belly struck at the two ninja holding the wires in place. Kiba was about to let go off the wire, trying to evade the pointed end of the cable aiming for his head, when a loud voice shouted,
"Don't move!"
Then many things happened at the same time.
Kiba turned his head towards the origin of the voice, seeing his blonde captain dashing forward at Sasori. A Rasengan charged in her hand, glowing and swirling.
Shikamaru clasped his hands together, forming a tight hand seal for his Kagemane no Jutsu, desperately channelling the remnants of his chakra to stop the cable whizzing at Kiba's face.
Neji's pale eyes widened in wild worry, as he took in the whole scene with his 360 degree vision.
He saw Naruto pumping more chakra into her legs, pushing herself off the ground in a last effort to reach Sasori while he was still restrained.
Kiba bent backwards, squeezing his eyes shut, and doing his best not to let go of the wire, while preparing for the pain that awaited him if the pointed cable buried itself in his body.
Shikamaru's shadow was racing over the sandy ground with a speed he didn't know he was capable of.
Naruto drew her right hand back, aiming for the chakra device in Sasori's chest. She hardly felt her feet hitting the ground. She thrust her hand forward –
– and into Sasori's chest. She felt the wooden puppet body splinter under her attack, as her Rasengan buried itself in the softer tissue of what was left of the criminal's heart.
Something hot and wet splashed against her arms and Naruto was surprised to see it was blood. She had not thought that there was still blood in this abnormality of an organ. It was just wrong.
Naruto felt the heart shudder under her fingers, giving a last pitiful pulse. And then. Nothing.
Neji saw the chakra fade away, his Byakugan showed him that their opponent was truly dead.
Sasori was dead. They had killed him.
Kiba dared to open one of his eyes, hesitantly checking whether it was safe to move again. A rather surprised female shriek escaped his lips when he saw the tip of the cable hanging only millimetres over his nose, the sharp metal almost touching his skin.
He finally let his grip on the wire slack, which caused him to very ungracefully fall on his butt; still staring wide-eyed at the weapon that had almost split his head in two.
Sweat was running down Shikamaru's forehead, his whole body was shaking from the effort to hold up his jutsu. He saw Kiba sprawled on the ground and deemed it fine to release the technique. His shadow shrank back and the cable fell to the ground, lifeless and harmless.
Naruto stared at her arm buried in Sasori's chest. She had killed the manic Akatsuki member. With a hand through his heart. This was just too eerily similar to a certain scene to feel comfortable.
She drew her arm back with a squishy sound. Purple blood dropped from her fingertips onto the golden desert sand. Purple, she thought, fascinated by the colour that was just so wrong, so even his heart was poisoned.
Neji let out a sigh, finally dropping the wire. Sasori's puppet body fell over with a hollow 'thud'.
Shikamaru wiped the sweat off his brow. The danger had passed. They really did it.
He turned his head to look at his blonde captain. What he saw made him cringe. The girl was intently staring at her hand, which she had lifted in front of her face. He could see the purple blood on her tanned skin. Her blue eyes glistened in the sunlight and it looked as if her pupils had turned into slits... or was that just a trick of the light? He hoped so.
"Naruto," he called out, slowly getting up from the ground. The girl didn't react.
"Naruto," he called again, louder this time. He walked over to her, his legs heavy from the long battle.
"Taichou!" he said, gripping the girl's shoulder and turning her around to face him.
There was a moment of confusion, where he thought that Naruto was not clearly recognizing him, but it was gone in an instant, leaving behind tired blue orbs.
"Shika," she blinked, "What's up?"
"Naru?" the brunette asked carefully, "We killed him. Sasori is dead." He squeezed her shoulder gently, trying to bring her back from wherever she was right now.
The smaller blonde blinked again, gazing up at him with her big blue eyes, and looking so innocent in that moment, with the sun illuminating her blonde hair, that the fact that this girl had just killed one of the most feared S-class criminals in the Elemental Nations with her bare hands, made his chest hurt.
Naruto blinked a last time and finally seemed to join him back in reality. Her eyes hardened and the image of the innocent girl was swiftly replaced with a strong, young ANBU captain.
Naruto clapped Shikamaru on the arm in a gesture of saying 'Good work'.
Her eyes wandered over to her other two team mates. Kiba lay still sprawled on the ground. She watched Neji walk over to him. The Hyuuga offered the Inuzuka a hand and lifted the boy off the ground. Akamaru yelped next to Kiba, his pink tongue hanging from his mouth.
The two brunettes plus nin-dog strolled over to their captain and the Nara. Kiba had a huge grin on his face, the adrenaline from just barely escaping death still pumping through his veins.
Before anyone knew what was happening, Kiba glomped them, roughly pulling them all into a group hug.
The usually stoic Neji gasped at the sudden contact. Naruto glared at Kiba for ramming her head into Shikamaru's and Shikamaru rolled his eyes at the Inuzuka's antics.
"Man, guys," Kiba yelled excitedly, way too loud for being so close, "That was some insane team work!"
Shikamaru and Neji both rolled their eyes at Kiba for once again stating the obvious.
The exuberant boy barked a laugh and loudly admitted, "I thought I was gonna die there for a sec, though. Thanks man!" and clapped Shikamaru on the back, pulling all his friends even closer.
Neji sputtered as his cheeks touched Naruto's on one side and Kiba's on the other. Shikamaru didn't have enough space to even roll his eyes and Naruto got a good whiff of very male sweat.
"Yuk," she yelled playfully, shoving against the prison of arms, "You guys stink!"
Akamaru barked in agreement and Kiba erupted into laughter. Even Neji chuckled softly, pushing his sweaty hair out of his face.
Shikamaru had a wide smirk on his face, but it quickly diminished as he saw the tense look on his captain's face.
Naruto's gaze wandered over the quickly heating desert, lingering where Gaara and the others were supposed to be fighting. He understood that Naruto wouldn't be able to rest completely until she saw the others safe and well.
The captain tore her eyes off the horizon. "Let's finish up quickly. I need to see how Gaara is doing."
Her team nodded, the mood immediately growing more sombre. But after all they were still on a battle field and as long as not all of them were safely back together, none of them would find peace.
They gathered their ANBU masks up from the ground from wherever they had lost them during the fighting. Their cloaks were dusty, but otherwise amazingly undamaged. Naruto sealed Sasori's puppet body in a scroll. Kankurou had made her promise to bring him the puppet master's body. No matter what condition it was in. After that they collected every single piece of Sasori's Red Puppets, as not to leave any evidence behind. The Akatsuki would soon find out that capturing the Ichibi Jinchuuriki had been unsuccessful, but Naruto didn't want them to find out what exactly had happened.
By the time they were ready to leave, the sun was up in the sky and the soothing coldness of the night had given way for the burning heat of the day.
Letting Neji lead the way with his Byakugan, Naruto followed behind him, her eyes scanning the horizon, impatiently trying to move faster. Gaara, you better be okay!
Gaara was glaring at the man in front of him. What was he doing shedding his clothes in the middle of a fight?
Indeed, Deidara was yanking off both his cloak and shirt, leaving his chest bare.
"You're starting to fucking piss me off," the blond yelled, spit flying from his mouth.
The redhead's eyes opened only slightly in horror at the sight of a sewn up mouth on Deidara's chest, right over the place where one expected the heart. The blond's left hand began biting threw the threads and the mouth opened, a pink tongue greedily lapping for air.
Deidara's hand reached in his pouch, removing the last lump of white clay from it. "How can you remain so calm, even at the sight of my explosive art!"
Seeing that it was truly Deidara's last explosive clay, Gaara knew whatever attack he was planning, it would be grander than anything so far.
The redhead spread his arms, his limbs shaking from exhaustion and chakra overuse. His last barrier had hardly been able to withstand the power of Deidara's bomb. He was uncertain whether he would manage to shield himself against the next one.
He observed his opponent closely, slowly channelling his chakra to his hands. He got down on one knee, pressing his palms onto the sand. This attack would cost him his last chakra. And it would take a while to take effect. Hopefully it wouldn't be too late.
Across the desert, Deidara was feeding the clay lump to the unnatural mouth in his chest. The pink tongue flicked out, greedily tasting the clay, eating it all up.
Thanks to the sunlight, Gaara saw Deidara's transformation clearly. It started with his veins; beginning to stand out; black against the light skin.
"You should be expressing admiration over my artistic ability," he yelled, "It pisses me the fuck off!"
He was panting, taking needy breaths, while trying to express his anger at not being taken seriously about his art.
The black lines spread over his entire body. "This will be my ultimate piece of art, Jinchuuriki!"
His skin turned ashen.
Whatever was happening, Gaara knew his jutsu wouldn't be ready in time. In a last desperate attempt to protect himself as best as possible, he began forming yet another shield, layering sand over sand. It obscured his sight on his opponent, but Gaara was most certain that he would know the second Deidara's jutsu went off.
Sand rose over him, blocking the morning sun and leaving him in shadows. He hoped this was going to be enough.
"We really need to do something now, Kakashi-san!" Temari urged on the grey-haired jounin.
Said man was sitting behind one of the rocks, both his eyes closed and his hands still in the same seal. Kankurou felt an immense increase in the man's chakra, but whatever he was doing, the Sand-nin hoped it would safe his little brother. And preferably them, too, as the sight before him was enough to almost send him running away in panic.
"I'll explode!" Kankurou heard Deidara shout, definitely sounding more insane than ever.
"I shall die and become art itself! This shall be like no explosion before it! My C0, my Ultimate Art!" (15)
Kankurou gulped. His baby brother was no longer safe, that he was sure of. But Kakashi only said not to worry.
"Then," the crazy S-class criminal kept on shouting, "my art will receive the admiration it's always deserved!"
Kankurou squinted his eyes. Was it only his imagination or was Deidara turning to be transparent? No, he was right. The man was becoming transparent! See-through! What kind of jutsu did that?
At Deidara's next words, the Sand siblings' heart sank.
"The radius of this explosion is ten kilometres! There's no escape from this!" A maniacal laughter followed his declaration.
Temari had enough. She could no longer wait. Breaking free of her brother's clutch, she leapt over the rocks, starting to run to Gaara on unsteady feet.
Something slammed into her from behind, effectively forcing the air from her lungs as she was buried underneath someone.
Kakashi held her down with one hand, the other on his closed Sharingan; a knee between her shoulder blades.
"I said. Not. To interfere," he growled out, emphasizing his words by pushing the young woman's head into the ground.
Kankurou gaped, but got to his feet and joined Kakashi and Temari. But he knew better than to recklessly charge onto the scene now. Temari was colourfully cursing Kakashi, who seemed to have no intention of removing himself from his place on her back.
Their attention was caught again, when Deidara's body... disappeared, leaving behind only the outlines of his chakra-filled veins. His last words echoed through the silent desert.
"Art is a blast!"
The veins were sucked into a black sphere, which had taken the place of the mouth linked to Deidara's heart.
The tension in the air was almost palpable, as slowly, cracks lined the black sphere, bright blue chakra shining through. The cracks widened, rays of chakra broke out and still –
– Kakashi was doing nothing.
The chakra completely broke out of the sphere. The ball of compressed energy grew in size, until a column of pure explosive energy shot into the sky.
Temari wiggled violently, trying to break free, only for her head to be shoved into the ground again.
Kankurou's mouth opened, desperately yelling the name of his little brother.
He saw the explosion race towards them, an unstoppable force, eliminating everything in its wake. Mere seconds and it would reach Gaara's wall of sand.
Kankurou closed his eyes, not wanting to watch his baby brother's shield give in.
He held his breath. Mere seconds until he would die.
One second. Two seconds. Three seconds. Another second. Went by.
Nothing.
Carefully, Kankurou opened his eyes.
The air across the desert was swirling, running together in a blur; the light blue of the sky mixed with the white-yellow of the sun. Gradually, the air turned back to normal, gone was the illusion.
Kankurou blinked. Where had the explosion gone?
He heard a dull 'thud' and saw Kakashi keel over from the corner of his eyes. Now free of the tall man's weight, Temari sat up, her eyes wide with confusion. She shared a look with her brother, who looked just as dumbfounded.
A loud bark made their heads snap around. Kiba's large nin-dog ran toward them, Team Naruto in tow.
Hesitant grins spread over the Sand siblings' faces. Their arrival meant that Sasori had been defeated.
Naruto pushed her mask onto her head as she came to stand in front of Temari. She offered the older girl a hand and pulled her up.
"We saw a huge explosion, but then it suddenly vanished," Naruto explained, raising her eyebrows questioningly.
Temari shrugged and pointed at the unconscious Kakashi. "He did something with his Sharingan. I didn't exactly see what he did, but it somehow saved us all."
That made Naruto's head snap up from resting on her sensei. "Where's Gaara?" she asked, her voice laced with concern.
Temari clasped a hand over her mouth, shocked about the fact that she had actually forgotten to check on the very brother she had been so worried about only minutes before. Before she could say anything, Naruto was already rushing over to where she saw Gaara's sand shield.
Please let him be okay, she pleaded silently, falling to her knees next to a larger pile of sand. She could feel his chakra and that was at least an indication for that he was alive.
"Gaara," she called and watched as the sand shield disintegrated.
Soon, dusty red hair emerged from the pile, sand drizzling down his head. Eager to get him free, Naruto grabbed his arm and pulled him out of ground. Her fellow Jinchuuriki slumped down, leaning heavily onto her shoulder.
"Gaara," Naruto whispered, her mouth right next to his ear, "you did it. Deidara's gone!"
Gaara's head moved and Naruto took it as a confirming nod. "Naruto..." His voice was barely audible, but thanks to Naruto's enhanced hearing, she heard his words clearly. "You're here..."
"Yes," she breathed in awe, only now fully comprehending the situation; the knowledge of having defeated their opponents and successfully protected Sunagakure sinking in.
"I'm here, Gaara," Naruto smiled into his dirty hair, not bothering about the sand on her lips. She pulled her best friend into a fierce hug, adrenaline pumping through her veins from the sheer knowledge of being alive. "We really did it."
Insanely long Jutsu list:
(1) Sabaku Fuyuu: Desert Sand Floating. Ninjutsu, utilized by Gaara. Using his ability to levitate sand, Gaara will bring together sand into cloud shaped clumps. These clumps are dense enough for Gaara or another ninja to rest on.
(2) Gatsuuga: Fang Passing Fang. The user and his partner spin at a ferocious speed and deliver many powerful beast-like attacks when contact is made with the target. The force of this attack is strong enough to drill through stone. This attack can be done alone.
(3) Kagemane no Jutsu: Shadow Imitation Technique/Shadow Binding Technique. The Shadow Imitation Technique allows the user to extend their shadow on any surface (even water and as far as they want as long as there is a sufficient area. Once it comes into contact with a target's shadow, the two merge and the target is forced to imitate the user's movements.
(4) Rendan: Suna Shigure: Successive Shots: Sand Drizzle. Gaara creates dozens of sand bullets that he uses to shower the enemy with.
(5) C1: Deidara's most basic and versatile form of explosive clay, that is created from a single palm mouth. These are small animated dolls that often resemble animals. Depending upon which variation is created, they will retain the abilities of the creatures they where modelled after, i.e. those resembling birds can still fly. This feature combined with their little independent explosive power, makes them excellent for covert operations. He can produce and release a significant number of them at high speeds.
(6) Sabaku Rou: Desert Prison. Ninjutsu; a large scale version of Sabaku Kyuu (Desert Coffin). With this technique, Gaara will cause a large sphere of sand to encircle and trap his target.
(7) Futon: Daitoppa: Wind Release: Great Breakthrough.This is a relatively simple technique that creates a sudden gust of wind, but its scale varies greatly depending on the user. If used by a superior shinobi, it has enough destructive power to knock down a large tree. The wind from the squall can blow away all things in the user's line of sight.
(8) Hakkesho Kaiten: Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven.After releasing chakra from every tenketsu in their body, the user then spins rapidly to parry the attack, both creating a rotating shield of chakra around themselves and tossing away any nearby attackers; only members of the Hyuuga clan can use it.
(9) Hakke Rokujūyon Shō: Eight Trigrams Sixty-four Palms. With the Byakugan's near 360° field of vision, the user envisions an Eight Trigrams circle. Then the enemy within this circle is hit with a series of violent blows. By striking sixty-four of the tenketsu throughout the opponent's Chakra Pathway System, their chakra flow is stopped, making them unable to even stand.
(10) Sabaku Sousou: Desert Funeral.Gaara will cause sand to rise from the ground and encase his target using his Sabaku Kyuu technique, making them captured in place. Gaara will then do this jutsu to constrict and crush his target killing them.
(11) C3:Deidara's most powerful large scale bomb, that once activated becomes an enormous statue that Deidara drops on his target from above. It's the one Deidara dropped on Sunagakure.
(12) Kusa Boheki: Air Sand Protective Wall.This air defence technique creates a giant shield of sand that is suspended in mid-air by raising a great amount of sand from the ground. By gathering the best possible mineral-rich sand, the hardness of the shield is considered to be very high. Furthermore, the sand has its defensive strength raised by flowing chakra through it. It was strong enough to protect Sunagakure from Deidara's C3.
(13) Suna no Yoroi: Armour of Sand.Using this technique, Gaara can cover himself in a compacted layer of sand, providing an additional defence should his Shield of Sand fail; combined together, these two are known as Gaara's "Absolute Defence". Though quite effective, maintaining the armour requires a large amount of chakra and stamina.
(14) Hakke Kusho: Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm.The user precisely pinpoints the enemy's vital points with the Byakugan and releases a high-speed palm thrust. A "vacuum shell" compressed using the Gentle Fist is formed to attack the opponent's vitals from a distance, blowing them off their feet with tremendous force before they even notice they were hit.
(15) C0:The highest form of Deidara's explosive clay; his "Ultimate Art"; C0 is a suicide technique used as a last resort. He reveals a mouth on his chest, which is stitched up. After undoing the stitches, Deidara feeds it a large ball of clay. The mouth on his chest has a direct connection to his heart so a large amount of chakra is built up. It then kneads chakra directly from the meridians of the heart and keeps doing it without interruption until the moment of the explosion. His explosive chakra then manifests itself in his veins, flowing through his body. These "veins" then condense into a sphere that slowly cracks open and detonates, producing a unique explosion that covers a ten kilometre radius.
I'm taking all the information on the techniques from either Narutopedia or Leafninjadotcom (Thanks to Aryk von Straln for pointing this site out to me; but you're right, it takes quite long to find what you're actually looking for). It was such a pain to look them all up... But I hope it was worth it!
Thanks for reading everyone and I'm so curious to see how you liked it! Please be honest with me, you know that I do have problems with writing fight scenes, but I hope it turned out okay...
I tried to keep this fight as realistic as possible. I don't want to make Naruto and her team too strong. But on the other hand, it was a four on one fight, so they really had an advantage over Sasori. His end might not have been as epic as in the Anime/Manga, but this story is not supposed to be a rewrite of what we already know. And Deidara really died, using his suicide bomb, so he won't appear again.
Also keep in mind that I messed with the time line a bit. In this story, Orochimaru has already been killed when Naruto faces Sasori and Deidara. So of course, Sasori can't spill any information on Orochimaru or Sasuke. And besides, Naruto is not looking for news on Sasuke. This mission solely serves the purpose to help protect her friend Gaara and hence also Sunagakure. And as Naruto made it her new aim to destroy the Akatsuki, this is the first step.
There were actually 5 more pages to this chapter, mainly Sasori's and Deidara's POV on their respective battles, but I deleted it, since I thought it was interrupting the little suspense I was able to create... And also their POV was not that essential to the fighting.
Everything that seems to be unclear right now, will be solved in the next chapter.
Enough talking now. But one last thing, I don't know when the next chapter will be up. I have exams one day before Christmas... yay... And even if it is still some weeks, I need to study a loooot – and I mean a lot. I hope you won't have to wait until after Christmas, I'll do my best to get the next chapter out as soon as possible!
Until the next time!
xXHaneliXx