Of Puppets and Love

by Mystic Shadow Demon

Hoshi, a one-armed girl due to a tragic event, gets kidnapped by the Akatsuki! Join her as she lives her life in the notorious Akatsuki. But what happens if she accidentally falls in love with a certain puppet master? SasoriOC / Mild AkatsukiOC

18. Battle to the Death

Two new people have favorited this story. So I'd like to thank them at the end. As you may have figured, this part is going to be about Sasori vs Kankuro, the extracting of the Shukaku, and Sasori vs Sakura and Chiyo. Don't worry, I'll include Hoshi in the some of the parts, since this is a story about her, but I won't let her take all the credit. This...is gonna be good…and extremely long might I add. Hell, I'll pretty sure it might reach 10K words.

---

Deidara

"The Kazekage was unconscious and fell downward from the sky, head first. The ninjas that were spectating tried to rescue the Kazekage while some were shooting arrows at me, missing horribly. Not killing him was more difficult than I thought. My bird flew to where the Kazekage was falling and he gratefully landed at the end of the bird's tail, making the bird wrap its tail around him to make sure he wouldn't fall off.

"Mission...accomplished, un."

*•.¸ ¸.•* *•.¸¸.•* *• .¸¸.•* *•.¸¸.•* *•.¸ ¸.•* *•.

Sasori

Where was that brat? He's kept us waiting long enough. It's already nightfall. Why the Hell is he taking so long? I sighed heavily, Hoshi took heed of this.

"Tired of waiting?"

"Do I even need to answer that?" I huffed.

She smiled and shrugged her shoulders, leaning on the rock she was sitting on. Before I could complain more, Deidara's bird flew down towards us. Finally.

"Our mission has been completed, un." he informed.

"You're late," I growled, pointing out the obvious, "I told you not to make me wait!"

He dodged my whipping tail who aimed at his head, "Give me a break! This guy was pretty strong, hm."

I glared at him harder, "That's why I told you to properly prepare yourself."

"And you're preparations are...?" he trailed off, looking at Hoshi.

"They're perfect!" I finished for him and answering for her, "she had plenty of extra time to work on them."

Thanks to how long you took to battle the Kazekage.

"And unlike you, she's fully prepared." I assured him.

"Hmph. Well, let's get out of here, un." he jumped off of his clay owl, landing beside me.

Hoshi hopped off of her seat and jumped next to me. We began the long walk from there, the clay bird carrying the cracked Kazekage. I looked back at the village. I'm never coming back to this village. Deidara took out his straw hat and placed it on top of his head. After awhile when we were a mile or so away from the entrance to the village, there was a rumble that shook the earth beneath us. Heh, fools. Absolute fools. They've triggered the trap. I can't believe that the quality of the ninja in Sunagakure have dropped this low that they can't even tell an obvious trap. The sound of the cave tumbling and exploding filled the air.

"Looks like they fell into your trap, Hoshi. Nice job, un." grinned Deidara.

"Ha, I can't believe what dumbass woulda fell for that," chuckled Hoshi, "Are you sure that you, Sasori, Master of Puppetry, hailed from that village?"

"Unfortunately...," I rolled my eyes, "Though naturally they'd fall for it. Traps are made so that people will fall into them."

"Makes sense." Hoshi shrugged and Deidara nodded in agreement.

"Oi, think that the different trails of footprint tracks worked, un?" Deidara asked.

"They were stupid enough to fall for that trap, were they not?" Hoshi stuck out her tongue.

"Good point, hm."

*•.¸ ¸.•* *•.¸¸.•* *• .¸¸.•* *•.¸¸.•* *•.¸ ¸.•* *•.

We continued to travel for the whole night. We were still traveling now and we had no intentions of stopping. It was probably only 7 a.m. or so, judging from the low altitude of the sun in the sky. Suddenly I froze.

Hoshi and Deidara stopped too, looking back at me.

"What's wrong, Sasori-no-danna?" the blond asked.

"I didn't think someone would be following us." I answered.

Hoshi put her hands behind her head, staring into her hat, that still drooped down and covered her whole face except for below the nose, while doing so,"Ha? They've finally managed to find us?"

"Wait!" demanded a rough voice full of anger.

"Huh?" Deidara turned to his right.

I turned around. This kid dressed in an all black body suit with even a hood that covered his head except for his face. The corners of the hood was like that of a cat. He had on purple facial paintings on his face. His eyes narrowed at us and his lips turned into a scornful frown.

"I found you!"

Then his mouth and eyes widened a bit, looking at the Kazekage wrapped around Deidara's clay bird's tail. His face was cracking, leaking of sand. So that's how he found us. By following the trail of sand of his precious Kazekage.

"I'll be taking Gaara back now." he boasted so confidently.

"Hmph." Deidara narrowed his eyes.

I looked over at those two, "Deidara, Hoshi, go on ahead."

I jumped a few feet in front of the black clothed kid, landing with a heavy thud. He reached for the first and third scroll of three behind his back. Probably summoning scrolls. Soon he unrolled it on the floor and did the same procedure for the next one.

"I'll show you my puppet performance."

Oh? So he was a puppet user too? How nice...I'll see what they've taught the kids of this generation about puppets. Hopefully he'll put up a decent fight. He did a hand sign.

"Karasu! Kuroari! Sanshouo!"

And three puppets appeared on the scrolls. I narrowed my eyes.

"I'll say it once more. You will give Gaara back!"

"The puppet technique?"

At that, Deidara smirked, then jumped on his clay bird. Hoshi did the latter. Hoshi sat down with her legs crossed and Deidara just stood up on the bird.

"Alright! We're going on ahead, un!" he announced.

"I'm not letting you go!" glared the black clothed kid.

As Deidara flew away, he flung Karasu after the clay bird. Deidara turned around with widened eyes and mouth. Before it could hit him, I smacked my iron tail against it, wrapping it around my tail. The black clothed kid looked shocked and gasped. I held it high in the air. His mouth dropped even further.

"I don't like waiting for people and I don't like making them wait," I took off my hat, "This ends right now."

"I'm impressed you can match Karasu's speed." he admitted.

"You mean that little fly? Looks like it's stopped." I said, not impressed.

His eyes narrowed once again.

"Now I remember, hm," Deidara intervened, "This jinchūriki has some siblings. And I heard that one of them uses the puppet technique. This guy's gotta be him, un. I think his name was Kantarou...or maybe Kanpachi?"

He screamed in fury, "It's Kankurou!"

He yanked his hand, making Karasu fall into pieces. It reassembled itself and jumped at Deidara's clay bird again. And again, I swiped my tail against it, smashing it towards the sand.

"Didn't I say that I'm your opponent? Quit gawking at me and move it!" reminding them both, "You're in the way!"

"Right right. I'll head out then, hm."

Fortunately he listened this time and flew his bird away from us. Unfortunately, this kid has got to be the worst listener ever.

"Oi, wait!" he yelled, taking his eyes off of me.

I got annoyed and quickly slashed my tail at his spot. He hurriedly jumped out of the way.

"Don't make me say it again. I'm your opponent." I was losing my patience.

"I'll show you my puppets' performance!" he repeated.

He hurled Karasu and Kuroari at me and then had them hastily circle around me.

"Take this!" he exclaimed.

Soon the two puppets increased in speed, making it seem like a blurry black circle. Karasu opened its mouth and shot forth two kunai at me. I easily smacked it away with my tail.

"You're good, but..." he moved his hands, controlling the chakra strings.

Kuroari came from beneath the sand and tackled me into the sky, making me do a back flip.

"You didn't notice that Kuroari vanished." he finished.

Kuroari leaned on its back while its arms and legs propped up, using it as pillars. Then its middle unlatched, opening up and extending multiple wooden beams on each side and grabbed me in. It closed itself again once I was in.

"Get ready!" I heard him say.

I heard some puppet parts unlatching themselves and felt Kuroari sit up.

"Puppet Performance",

Soon I heard multiple knives sling open.

"Black Secret Technique!"

As he finished saying that, I heard the knives flinging closer, making a slight bang once it hit the wood around the hole that they inserted themselves in.

"The end." I heard him say darkly.

Little did he know...Insolent brat. Is this really what Sunagakure has to offer? I'm disappointed...Sand fell out of the gaps in the holes that the knives were in.

"Sand?" he questioned.

He unlatched Kuroari, revealing my sand clone in my stead with the knives from Karasu's limbs stabbed through various places. The sand soon lost its form and returned to its place on the desert floor.

"A sand clone?"

I emerged from my hiding spot a few feet behind him, tail up. Just as I emerged, Karasu did the same. It leaped high in the air, put its four arms in front of it, and the elbow all the way down from the wrist split in two, releasing poisonous senbon, which I barely needed to dodge. Kuroari flew in from behind me. I didn't even need to look. I just swatted it away like an annoying fly. As I countered his every move, more panic and worry appeared on his face. Pretty soon, beads of sweat trailed down his face. Getting nervous, are we? Kuroari and Karasu separated all their limbs, knives sprang forward and he hurled them at me. Again I slashed them away with my tail. This was way too easy.

"What's wrong? Done already?" I taunted, bringing my tail forward like a scorpion.

"I'm just getting started!" he bluffed.

Again Kuroari and Karasu circled around me. Karasu's elbow joints split and poison gas balls flew out. They landed inches in front of me. When they met contact with the sand, they immediately spouted poison gas.

"Poison Fog, Blind Spot Destroyer." he yanked back his arms, making both of the two puppets shoot out poison senbon into the fog.

When the senbon stopped firing, wind blew away the poison fog. It revealed me still alive. The only thing that was different was that poison senbon surrounded me.

"Done now?" I smirked, though he couldn't see it.

"Impossible! How could you stand in that cloud of poison and be okay?" he asked quite angrily.

"Keeping people waiting any longer than this goes against my policy." I avoided his question, "Now, it's my turn."

I shot my tail forward, aiming to stab him in his heart. He yanked his left arm back and Sanshouo leaped in front of him with its shield already up. My tail hit the shield and it bounced back. He seemed shocked for a moment, then smirked again. Already doubting your skills? There goes the last chance, if any, of you defeating me.

"Sanshouo's got the strength of an iron wall," he boasted, "It can even withstand the impact of a thousand rocks."

He chuckled darkly. Probably thinking he's got the upper hand now. Nonsense, even if your defense could keep me away, it's only defense. All your offensive puppets are useless against me. So you can't win the battle even if that does you any good. But that's only an "if". Your defense doesn't stand a chance against me.

"You won't be able to put a single scratch on me."

"I agree, the defensive power of that puppet is of the highest level," I began to lecture him, "But, it also has a weak spot."

"Don't bother!" he grunted.

My tail shot forward. Before it could hit the shield, it curved upward, making it seem like I missed. Then I brought it down and it banged on the screw that connected the shield to the puppet. The shield flew towards the sky and flipped. He gasped and stared at the shield. I took this chance to try and smash him with my tail. He jumped out of the way just at the last second.

He screamed as he was still in the air, "I-impossible!"

He landed, glare more fiercer than ever, "He discovered Sanshouo's weakness with one glance?"

When he was distracted with his thoughts aloud, I tried to stab him again, this time I succeeded. It made a hole through his clothes and his hands clung to the side of my tail. When my tail was too high of an altitude, he flew off, landing in the sand head first.

I decided to give him a few words of wisdom, "No matter how sturdy a puppet seems, it's only as strong as its weakest joint.", he clutched the spot where I stabbed him and stood up, "Well then...are you ready for the finale?"

Who taught this kid how to fight? He was hopeless. You'd think he'd have a brain if he was a ninja...He just kept on attacking blindly and aimlessly, right in the open too, even if he had no chance of winning. Even if you'd have no chance, you'd at least try to come up with a plan to secretly catch your enemy off guard and destroy them like that. This kid was just attacking out in the open, as if beckoning for me to smack it right out of the sky, and hopefully for my sake, into his heart so he can die already.

He used Karasu and Kuroari to fire kunai at my right and left at the same time. When will he ever give up? Or at least put up a decent fight? This was boring. And he was making me waste my time on him too. I circled my tail around me, circling it so quick it looked like a white blur, deflecting all kunais as they landed harmlessly on the ground.

"You've got a lot of skill, but you messed with the wrong guy." I declared.

Karasu's head shot up from the sand and opened its mouth. Before it could fire any more, I whacked it down to the ground. Hopefully it'll stay down this time. I could tell from his expression that he wondered how I could read his every move and even his hidden weapons.

"As for those puppets and their hidden poison weapons," I stabbed my tail in the ground and hurled it up once again, this time bringing Kuroari with it, "I can see right through them!"

I smashed all three of his puppets apart with my tail. He gasped in surprised yet again.

"Karasu! Kuroari! Sanshouo!" came his desperate cries.

I chuckled darkly, "You look confused. You're thinking, "How did he read my attacks so easily?" Am I right?," at the last part my voice was practically cackling in amusement, "Karasu, Kuroari, Sanshouo. The designer of those three battle puppets is none other than me!" I revealed.

His eyes widened in shock and remembrance.

"Looks like I've ended up making them wait a bit. But I couldn't resist fighting against my cute little successor (1) and these hand-me-downs. I haven't had this much fun in a while." I continued.

"Then, you are...the genius designer who created the puppet squads? Akasuna no Sasori?"

"Even a whelp like you knows my name? I'm honored."

"You deserted the village over 20 years ago. Why are you doing this?" he shook.

"What's the point of asking that right before you die?" I raised my tail.

He still shook, even more fiercer than before. Then his eyes enlarged a bit when he realized what had actually happened. Before he could say anything, he fell to the ground, gasping for air as if his lungs had failed him, which it probably had thanks to me. He struggled to lift his face up to talk, wincing from the pain. Again his eyes enlarged when realization hit him like my tail had when I stabbed him with it and its poison.

"The poison has started spreading. You're finished!" my tail shot forward to stab him, ending his life for good.

He seemed to want to live badly, for he tackled Kuroari's dismembered head at my tail to direct it elsewhere.

"Hm?" I was startled he actually managed to still be able to move his puppet.

One of the arms of Kuroari raced to finish me, its blade gleaming in the sun. I tilted my head up and it cut the end of my mask instead.

"You're only causing yourself to suffer more. But since you want to live so badly, I won't finish you off," I receded my tail back into the Akatsuki cloak, "Though that poison will kill you within three days." I turned 180 degrees and started walking towards where Deidara and Hoshi went.

*•.¸ ¸.•* *•.¸¸.•* *• .¸¸.•* *•.¸¸.•* *•.¸ ¸.•* *•.

After a few minutes, I'd got up with them.

"Ah? Was he really that strong for you to take longer than usual?" Hoshi questioned.

"Oi, welcome back Sasori-no-danna, un."

"No. It was just fun toying with my cute little successor and those hand-me-down puppets."

Deidara stared blankly at me while Hoshi cringed, one eyebrow raised while the opposite eye glared with her mouth turned into a scowl, her hand in front of her as the fingers twitched.

"Cute. Little. Successor? (un)" they both said.

Before I could ask anything, they both laughed. Deidara put his hands on Hoshi's shoulders to support himself and Hoshi grabbed her stomach as if it'd split apart if she laughed even more. I glared at them. They just laughed even harder. I sighed at their childish immaturity. I thought they'd never stop laughing but I was proven wrong after...10 minutes. Deidara wiped his eyes of his tears from laughing.

"Ahh...good one, Sasori-no-danna, un." he placed his hands on his knees.

Now it was Hoshi's turn to lean on Deidara's shoulder for support. I just glared at them the whole time.

*•.¸ ¸.•* *•.¸¸.•* *• .¸¸.•* *•.¸¸.•* *•.¸ ¸.•* *•.

Hoshi

After calming down from Deidara and my laughing outburst, we both sat down on the bird back to back. After an hour or so, we finally arrived at the cave where the extracting of the Bijuu was. Deidara and I jumped off from the bird and started walking side by side next to Sasori-san.

"Let's go." said Sasori-san.

We leaped down from the mini-cliff and jumped into the river of some sort. Using basic chakra control, we walked on water. When we arrived at the boulder with a seal on it, Deidara made a hand sign and the red kanji on the seal grew bright red. The boulder created rumbling, making the water sway a bit as it lifted itself up. As we entered into the cave, I was thankful for the coolness, which was even more cool than it was suppose to be because of the shade and lack of sunlight. Deidara's bird landed in front of the cave.

Leader-sama was in a Jutsu that allowed him to be in the cave even though he weren't physically there.

"You're late. Prepare yourselves, now." commanded Leader-sama.

Konan had taught me a few days ago how to extract the Bijuu so I wouldn't fuck up the process and have Leader-sama give me the most excruciatingly painful death. I mentally thanked her for that now.

"The jinchūriki was stronger than I thought." was Deidara's excuse.

The opening to the cave closed behind us. Now that there was absolutely no sunlight, the cave's temperature dropped about 10 degrees. Deidara's clay bird dropped the Kazekage on the ground in front of us and then disappeared. Leader-sama's figure stepped forward and stopped when it was in front of the body. Tiger. Snake. Rat. Ox. Dog. Ram. With a cry, Leader-sama slammed his right palm down in front of where he stood. The location behind him rumbled and soon rose the Demonic Statue of Outer Path (2). The three of us immediately removed our hats.

"Assemble." Leader-sama demanded after the statue stopped rising.

Almost immediately, all the remaining Akatsuki appeared on each of the fingertips of the statue, except the four of us. They were in the same Jutsu that Leader-sama was in. We hurriedly jumped to our spots.

"Now, let's begin." stated Leader-sama.

Leader-sama transported to his spot and did a hand sign. The mouth of the statue opened and dropped something.

"This is going to take us three days and three nights." Leader-sama informed us, "Everyone be careful with the body. I also want Zetsu to keep watch on the area outside. Use your longest range."

"I know." Zetsu-san replied.

"Three days?" Kisame-san asked, "Shouldn't we give it more time since Orochimaru is no longer here?" he tilted his head.

"Hoshi is able to take his place. Start working on it now." Leader-sama answered.

"That's right." agreed Itachi-san as he closed his eyes and made the hand sign.

"Fair enough." said Kisame-san and mimicked Itachi-san.

Everyone mimicked them, "Let's do it, un." added Deidara.

Once everyone did the same, a green orb of light appeared below us. It stated the kanji of our (with the exception of me) rings. In the mouth of the statue, a blueish fog-like substance appeared.

"Sealing Technique: Illusionary Dragon Nine Consuming Seals" declared Leader-sama.

The substance formed into numerous dragons, all leaping towards the Kazekage. When they had made contact, he was lifted up in the air and the dragons disappeared, leaving behind a white gust of wind.

*•.¸ ¸.•* *•.¸¸.•* *• .¸¸.•* *•.¸¸.•* *•.¸ ¸.•* *•.

A day has passed by and we were still far from done with the sealing. The substance has engulfed the Kazekage in a massive sphere and now his chakra was leaking into the liquid-like substance from his eyes and mouth. As more of the red chakra flowed into the statue's mouth, the statue's eyes opened depending on how much of the chakra was absorbed.

"There are enemies closing in on the base." Zetsu-san informed, breaking the silence.

"Enemies?" Deidara opened his eyes.

"And they seem to be fairly powerful. One of them is called Maito Gai." Zetsu-san went on.

"Who's that?" questioned Leader-sama.

"A skilled Konoha jounin who uses taijutsu," Itachi-san answered for Zetsu, "Don't take him lightly."

"That wild animal again, eh? We'll use that technique." remarked Kisame-san.

"All right, Then let me go. I've had a hell of a time finding my Jinchuuriki and it's starting to piss me off." fumed Hidan.

"No. I'll go. I've got a bit of a score to settle with him." Kisame-san disagreed.

"That's fine. The technique suits you better anyway, considering you have the greatest amount of chakra in the Akatsuki, Kisame." agreed Leader-sama.

"Indeed." Kisame-san chuckled.

"Even so, I'll need about thirty percent of your chakra."

"My, my. It looks like I can finally get even with him for kicking me."

"There are more coming." Zetsu's voice rang with slight annoyance.

Twitch. Jeez, why are they so persistent? The Kazekage's life was already ending right before us. It'll be useless to save a corpse.

"It's been a bit crazier this time around, Deidara." Leader-sama's eyes rolled to meet Deidara's.

"W-well, this jinchūriki was stronger than the other two, un." Deidara stammered.

"I tried to tell you, your techniques aren't good for stealth missions." Sasori-san's voice was full of annoyance and impatience.

"Heh, well you didn't seem to mind Hoshi's trap from early. In fact, you're the one who came up with the idea of using it, un." Deidara retorted.

"What did you say?" roared Sasori-san.

"Shut up the both of you!" Leader-sama was getting tired of their bickering.

"Just focus on the technique," he sighed, "Who else is going?"

"Can I go this time?" asked Hidan.

"It's more Konoha shinobi." said Zetsu.

"Tch." Hidan scoffed and lost all interest.

"It's decided then. Itachi." Leader-sama called.

"Hai." came Itachi-san's reply.

*•.¸ ¸.•* *•.¸¸.•* *• .¸¸.•* *•.¸¸.•* *•.¸ ¸.•* *•.

"Itachi has made contact with the enemy," announced Leader-sama, "Kisame is already fighting."

A few hours after that announcement, the eyes of the statue were almost all open. Soon, Itachi-san and Kisame-san had opened their eyes, signaling they were back from the Jutsu. Leader-sama seemed to notice this and opened his eyes as well.

"The technique has ended? We've bought enough time for now. That's good enough. Well done Itachi, Kisame." he complimented them.

"How about a little gratitude, considering that the bodies you sacrificed were my subordinates." Sasori-san glared.

"Hmph. You should be thanking me," Leader-sama closed his eyes in thought, "Thanks to my Shapeshifting Technique, they were able to become full Akatsuki members, if only for a short time. Almost done."

I narrowed my eyes at him, obviously displeased with his remark. I tried to shove my feelings back to the deep caverns of my mind, trying to focus on the technique instead. Though what he said made it harder to even do just that.

"Zetsu, clean up those two we used for the Shapeshifting technique."

"Roger." Zetsu got to the task.

"Itachi, brief us on the enemy's numbers and any special abilities they have." he ordered.

"They're moving in a four-man cell consisting of Konoha's Hatake Kakashi, Haruno Sakura, the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki Uzumaki Naruto, and the Sand's senior councilor, Chiyo."

"Hm?" Sasori-san looked up in surprised but then quickly looked down with eyes that said he was thinking in thought.

*•.¸ ¸.•* *•.¸¸.•* *• .¸¸.•* *•.¸¸.•* *•.¸ ¸.•* *•.

"We're about to enter the final stage." Leader-sama affirmed.

"What should we do about those annoying flies?" asked Kisame-san.

"They were faster than I thought." admitted Zetsu.

"Not a problem. We've delayed them enough. That and we have a backup plan." Leader-sama looked at Deidara.

"Meaning some of us will have to finish them off, un." Deidara nodded with pleasure.

"Let's hurry and get this done. We've got some guests on the way. And we've got to make sure we're ready for them." Sasori-san told the both of us.

"That's right. We need to prepare a good welcome." my small smirk had malice written all over it.

"They're rather annoying, aren't they?" Kisame-san sighed.

"Tch, man, we haven't even found our jinchūriki yet..." Hidan grunted.

"Settle down. We'll complete our mission soon enough." Kakuzu reassured him.

"Enough with the idle chatter. Focus!" ordered Leader-sama, "I won't forgive anymore screw-ups from now on."

I inwardly rolled my eyes. He's the one who's always starting the conversation anyway...Hypocritical asshole of a damn leader...Who does he think he is, our mom? And he never forgave us in the first place. What the fuck was he talkin' bout 'forgive anymore'. The eyes were about to be completely open. Finally, took long enough.

"Almost there." stated Leader-sama.

Again with him starting the conversation. About a few minutes later, a red orb appeared at the mouth. The process was finally over. The blue substance subsided and all the red chakra was formed into that red orb. One of the eyes had grown the iris and pupil completely, representing that the Shukaku was finally done being extracted from its host's body.

"It's finished." Leader-sama narrowed his eyes.

The Kazekage, who was in the air a moment ago, fell down to the ground since the substance no longer held him in the air. No longer was he breathing, for he was dead. I stared at him with cold eyes, no feeling of sympathy for him.

"Good grief." Sasori-san stared at the corpse.

"It ended up taking three days and three nights, un. Thanks to Hoshi." Deidara closed his eyes once again.

"It's exhausting every time we do it, isn't it?" Kisame-san said everyone's thoughts aloud.

Hidan rubbed his shoulder, "Seriously! That took forever."

"Good work everyone." uttered Leader-sama.

One of the eyes began to move around as if searching for something. It must've gave up because it had closed just a few seconds later. The other eyes followed in pursuit, leaving all closed closed for now.

"It's gotten noisy outside, hasn't it?"

"It seems that they've made it here." I scowled.

"Which group, un?" Deidara asked, "Was it the one that Kisame-no-danna was holding up? Or is it..."

"It's both of them." Zetsu opened his eyes.

"So they both made it here at the same time. However...it's unfortunate. They're a bit too late." Leader-sama said.

"There's one more jinchūriki here, right?" Sasori-san chuckled evilly, "Don't think poorly of me Itachi." he chuckled again.

"So then, it's about time we go. It's getting a bit noisy outside after all. And we have to finish up our work here too." Leader-sama was getting extremely irritated of the noise.

"Exactly." Zetsu agreed.

"What are we going to do about those guys outside? Well, we don't even know if they can make it inside or not. Don't underestimate them." Kisame-san told us.

"You should know." retorted Itachi-san.

Kisame-san laughed, "Well, I acknowledge their brute strength."

"Sasori! Deidara! Hoshi! Take care of the guys outside." Leader-sama ordered.

"So that's how it's going to be after all, hm."

Leader-sama added, "But take the jinchūriki alive."

"I know." Sasori resisted rolling his eyes.

"The rest are dismissed."

"Let's go." Hidan said to Kakuzu-san.

Kakuzu-san grunted in agreement and they both undid their Jutsu.

"Well we should go too." Kisame-san said to Itachi-san.

"Itachi," Sasori-san called out, "Just what type of person is the Jinchuuriki for the Nine Tails?"

Itachi-san glared at Sasori-san. Sasori-san did the same. It would've went on for hours if Leader-sama had not been sick of it.

"Tell him." he hissed.

"He's the one who screams and charges first." he finally revealed.

"Hm? What the Hell?" Sasori-san grumbled.

"Couldn't you be a little more specific, hm?" Deidara asked.

Instead of answering him, Itachi-san just undid the Jutsu, leaving no trace of him behind.

"Oh my..." Deidara exclaimed.

"Well, that's that." were Kisame-san's last words before he too undid the Jutsu.

Sasori-san glared at the spot where Itachi-san had stood, "Tch."

"I'll leave the rest to you." Leader-sama nodded to Sasori-san.

"Yeah..."

"We know." Deidara and I had malice and sadistic written all over us.

"Cheh, this'll be fun." I smirked.

"I'll wait to hear from you again." Leader-sama did hand signs and just like the others, he disappeared.

With Leader-sama gone, the statue quickly vanished in a poof of smoke. We jumped off and landed next to each other. I sighed as we waited for them to burst in.

"They're slow, hm," Deidara's narrowed eyes opened a bit, "If they're coming in, I'd like it if they came quickly, hm."

We looked at Sasori-san for a sarcastic remark. Surprised when we got none, I wondered what he was thinking about.

"What's wrong, Sasori-no-danna? I thought you hated being made to wait, un." I nodded in agreement.

Deidara got bored and went over to sit on the Kazekage's corpse. I narrowed my eyes at him. Even though he was dead and our enemy, I still felt that it was disrespectful. I was about to go over there and smack him upside the head before Sasori finally answered, coming back from dreamland.

Sasori let out a groan of displeasure, "I hate it."

I growled in impatience. When the fuck were they gonna get here already? We've already had to endure three days and three nights of waiting. This waiting was seriously gnawing on my nerves. I was about to go over and break the rock myself just to get them to hurry their asses up. Though before I could move a step, the task seemed to have been done for me. Four shinobi jumped inside. An old hag and a pink haired bitch on the left of us, a blondie and a masked silver haired man on our right. They scanned the place, most likely for the Kazekage, and Blondie and Pinky gasped while Silver glared at us. Soon the Blondie averted his eyes to the Kazekage and...well...Deidara...sitting on him. He began to tremble while his face slowly transformed in rage.

"It's 'bout time you guys got here." I frowned in displeasure.

"So then, I wonder which one is the jinchūriki." Deidara wondered aloud.

Blondie's pupils turned into slits. Maybe he was the jinchūriki? He began trembling and twitching in rage. His iris soon became red. His teeth sharpened and the whiskers of his cheeks seem to deepen. He clenched his fist so hard I thought that his fingernails would penetrate through his skin. He let out a shriek.

"You bastards! I'm gonna fucking kill you!"

"The one who screams and charges first..." Sasori-san repeated.

"Looks like we've found him." I confirmed.

"That's what it looks like, un." Deidara enjoyed his rage.

"You son of a bitch! Where're the Hell do you think you're sitting?" he screamed.

I looked at Deidara with my eyes narrowed teasingly, "Yeah Deidara, get off the poor man or this one's just gonna have to kill you."

Deidara smirked and looked up at me, "Oh boo hoo. That is so sad."

I returned the smirk, but then it lowered, "But seriously, get offa him you fatass."

"There's no mistaking it. That's the jinchūriki." Sasori-san interrupted before we could argue.

Apparently Sasori-san seemed to have wanted us to save our rage for the fight with our enemies instead of ourselves.

"The first thing he'll do is scream and charge at you. Itachi actually described him quite accurately, un." added Deidara.

"Gaara! How can you be asleep at a time like this?" the jinchūriki yelled.

Did he just seriously say what I thought he said? When he got no reply, he shook again and gritted his teeth.

"Stand up!" he shouted.

Pinky looked at him with concern and pity. So, she's like Misaki Suzu huh? Her eyes resemble hers...I might have fun destroying and tearing this bitch up after all...

"Gaara!" Blondie tried again, "Oi, Gaara! Are you listening? Stop it already!"

He stepped forward and reached his hand out.

"Enough Naruto!" Silver's voice boomed.

Blondie stopped dead in his tracks. He hesitated but listened in the end anyway.

"You should already know."

So, they can't stand to see his misery anymore huh? Well I was hoping for a whole show of Blondie just ranting and yelling and we can knock him out after he gets tired of ranting and extract his Bijuu that way. But sadly I was wrong.

"That's right. You get it don't you? He's been dead for a while, hm." Deidara's eyes widened with sadistic bloodlust.

I couldn't blame him, I myself was just itching to tear Pinkie apart. He patted the Kazekage's cheeks.

"And you've been using him as a chair ever since." I rolled my eyes.

Blondie's hair spiked up. His eyes full of fury. A killing intent illuminated around him.

"Oh?" Sasori-san finally snapped out of his silence, probably daydreaming again, "He's definitely the jinchūriki."

Pinky's eyes finally snapped out of their gaze at Blondie and shot towards Sasori-san, gasping.

"Give him back. Give Gaara back you bastards!" Blondie raged in fury.

He couldn't take it anymore and charged forward. In a flash, Silver appeared in front of him, stopping him from attacking Deidara. The jinchūriki stepped back, arms spread out and face in confusion and rage.

"Calm down," he hissed, "If you charge right in without thinking, we're all dead."

His growl intensified. Sasori-san looked over at the Kazekage.

"What's wrong, Sasori-no-danna, hm?" Deidara asked.

"I'll take him. It seems that this jinchūriki wants to take him back." Sasori-san answered.

"Looks like it, hm." agreed Deidara.

Silver examined all of us, probably thinking about what our abilities are and tactics on how they can defeat us. They were even more foolish than I thought. They seriously thought that we could be defeated by the likes of them?

"Sasori-no-danna, hm." started Deidara, "You might get pissed at me for saying this, but I'm going to fight the jinchūriki."

Sasori-san glared his eyes at him, "Each of us gets our own. Don't get cocky Deidara."

I rolled my eyes, "Too late for that."

Deidara ignored me, "With art, you must constantly seek greater and greater stimulation or your ability to appreciate it will dull. I've heard rumors that the Kyuubi jinchūriki is pretty powerful. He'll be perfect for my art, un."

"What? You call those explosions 'art'? Art is something that endures the test of time beautifully and gracefully. True art is eternal beauty." argued Sasori-san.

Each of our opponents seemed confused and angered at their argument, especially Blondie. He looked as if he was about to explode from his anger. All these two did was ignore all of them and continued arguing about art. So much for saving all that rage towards our enemies instead of ourselves.

"Eternal beauty? Danna, I respect you as a fellow artist, but art is something that blossoms for an instant before withering away, un." Deidara responded.

"What did you say?" Sasori-san was getting angry at his point of view and constant bickering and disagreeing.

They both had a glaring contest. The enemies looked beyond confused, with the exception of the old hag. I took notice of her, for these shinobi to have taken her with them, she must be greatly skilled.

"Wh-what's up with them?" Pinky stared in horror.

She was seriously getting on my nerves. In very single way she reminded me of Misaki Suzu. I clenched my teeth and fist, resisting every fiber in my being to pummel her to dust.

"Deidara, apparently you don't understand what true art is." Sasori growled.

"That would be you, danna." Deidara replied.

"You bastards!" the jinchūriki tried to get their attention.

Not surprisingly, he failed.

"Eternal beauty is the only true art." Sasori-san nearly shouted.

As much as I love eternal beauty, I'd have to disagree with that. Art is something...beautiful, and creative, that expresses human emotions (3). It could be eternal, fleeting, music, paintings, sculptures, poems, plays, anything really. But I had to admit, I had to agree with Sasori-san on eternal art being better.

"That's absurd!" Deidara remarked, "Art is beauty that lasts for just a moment."

He opened his mouth to say more but a screech stopped him.

"Stop screwing with us!" from none other than the jinchūriki.

He reached into his pocket to pull out a scroll. Unwrapping it, it summoned one of my personal favorites, the windmill shuriken. Grabbing it in the center, he tossed the scroll aside and charged. Jumping, he threw the shuriken at Sasori-san. Before it could hit, his tail was in front of him in an instant and the shuriken bounced off, planting itself in the ground. As expected, Sasori-san didn't even need to look. The looks on the others however, were of shock and fear.

"Are you trying to piss me off?" Sasori-san asked nonchalantly.

"That's why I said that this would probably piss you off, un!" Deidara defended himself.

Sasori's tail twitch up and down, then its sharp point pointed at Deidara, "You should know what happens when I get angry!"

I crossed my arms, looking at the enemies to try and get more information about them. When I looked over at Pinky, her eyes shook with fear. I smirked, she's more easier to crack than I thought. Though I can't underestimate her, they did bring her along. I looked at her gloves. They had dust, the dust that would rub off of rocks. Underneath the dust you could see there were slight scratches. Not very noticeable. Earlier, the boulder had been smashed to pieces. So she was the one that broke it? Must've pinpointed chakra control to make her punches exaggerate her actual strength. So she's probably the best at chakra control in this group.

I looked over at the old hag. She kept staring at Sasori-san for some odd reason. What's her relationship with Sasori-san? Maybe...

"What do you say, Deidara?" Sasori-san pierced through my thoughts once again.

He had lifted up his tail. I could see the purple poisonous liquid drip down from the tip, waiting for Sasori-san to stab through Deidara so it can spread through his body.

"Hmph," Deidara got up from his 'chair', "To me the essence of art is..." he looked at his hand-mouth.

It had spit out some clay, which he morphed into a clay bird sculpture. He looked pleased with it. Then he threw it up in the air.

"...explosions!" he finished.

He made a hand sign and the bird grew in size. It spread its wings out and let out a cry. The others looked electrified as it came to life. When it landed, it ducked its head, picking up the Kazekage in its mouth.

Deidara looked at Sasori-san, "It's completely different from your silly puppet shows."

Ouch. I knew that Deidara was gonna get killed for that one. No one said that to Sasori-san and lived. Sasori's tail curved around him and headed straight towards Deidara, aiming for kill. Before it could reach its target, Deidara's bird saved him. It flew high in the air in flight as Deidara jumped on.

"Later danna, Hoshi, un." Deidara called out.

He looked forward, then down at the jinchūriki and smirked. To taunt him, Deidara made his clay bird swallow up the Kazekage, leaving only his feet to stick out. It flew out of the cave, leaving only the enemies to watch. When it left, Blondie had contorted in rage. He closed his eyes and fists so tightly I thought they'd explode from his wrath. Instead he began running out of here like a mad man, chasing the clay bird.

"Freaking Deidara acting by himself." Sasori-san complained.

With Sasori-san furious that he lost his prey, the jinchūriki, his opponents wouldn't stand a chance against him.

"Wait! Damn you!" I heard Blondie scream.

"Naruto!" now Silver has started chasing Blondie.

Right before he could exit out of the cave, he stopped, "Naruto and I will take care of the guy outside. Sakura and Chiyo-baasama, I'll leave this guy to you. But don't take any unnecessary risks. Wait for Team Gai to come back!" he ordered.

"Got it." Sakura replied, which I just learned the name of.

With that, he left to chase after Naruto. As I watched him jump away, Sasori-san heaved a deep, heavy sigh.

"I thought you retired a long time ago." tilting his head.

I knew that they know each other. Now its' time to find out what their relationship is...though I have a pretty good idea...

"I had a sudden desire to see my grandson's face." she explained.

Okay, that answered all my hunches and guesses. Sasori-san blinked. When he did, his eyes afterwards widened in a maniac way. This startled Sakura, for she gasped like she was about to have a heart attack. She gulped. I grinned like a maniac, this was gonna be so awesome. I'll finally experience that event again, of beheading Misaki Suzu. Except this time...I'll rip her to shreds too. She saw the bloodlust in my widened azure eyes. She gasped again, except even more frightened, if possible, and took a step back, hands in front of her like a defensive position.

Chiyo noticed, "Sakura, don't be frightened," and walked forward, "I'll fight him. You stay back."

When Chiyo stopped in front of Sasori-san, I took this chance and grabbed a kunai from my weapon pouch. Clutching it in my hand, I charged at Sakura. She wasn't expecting this a bit, so her defense wasn't all that strong. Right when I was about to slash her eyes out [because those were what made her remind me of Misaki so much], she hurriedly reached inside her weapon pouch and grabbed a kunai to stop me from doing so. She winced when my blade was inches away from her face. She was losing in the battle of strength. To stop me from cutting her face she jumped to about 50 feet away from where Sasori-san and Chiyo were fighting. I smirked, I purposely did that so she could move a far distance away. Now I had nothing to hold back, seeing as how my weapons might've actually affected Sasori-san's fight, with me always making a big scene with them and moving around so much.

Chiyo reached inside her big sleeves. When she pulled her hands back, she stretched her arms out. Darkened kunai were floating in the air, held by chakra strings, all lined up in a row.

"Flying Blade Manipulation!" she exclaimed.

She let go of her chakra strings and blue chakra enveloped the kunais. Each directed them in front of Sasori-san. He raised his tail in defense, but Chiyo moved her hands. They all bounced off of Sasori-san's tail, but it was still flipping in midair in the same spot. Some had cut his cloak before they all landed on the ground.

"If you're going to oppose me, then I have no choice." Sasori-san ripped his cloak apart, revealing the rest of Hiruko.

Sakura's eyes trembled with fear yet again. This time there were beads of sweat rolling down her chin. Hiruko had a shield that covered his whole back. It looked like a devil or some other demon, with Hiruko's tail stretching out of it. Sasori-san positioned Hiruko in a dog-like stance, arms and feet apart on the ground.

"Will you become a part of my collection along with that brat, Chiyo-barrio (4)?"

"Wh-what is that?" Sakura trailed her eyes off to look at Hiruko.

"That's a puppet. What a clever one you are..." I rolled my eyes, sarcasm dripping in my voice.

She jumped back, seeing as how I was all 50 feet away from her at first and now I was so close to her that I was breathing on her ear. When she was still in the air, I threw my kunai at her. Her green orbs widened in shock. Before it could hit its target, she used her kunai from before to deflect it.

"That isn't Sasori's real form." Chiyo sounded disappointed.

"If that's true, then I think I see what you're getting at." Sakura suggested.

"Correct. That is a puppet." Chiyo confirmed their beliefs.

"And this is a battle. So pay attention!" I pressed my kunai against Sakura's throat.

She was too easy to sneak up on when she was distracted. Her eyes enlarged once again and she jumped sideways. My kunai had still managed to cut her. Blood was dripping down her neck from the horizontal red line. I licked my kunai free of blood and grinned. She backed away and turned to Chiyo once again.

"But then, where's his real body?" she asked, "A puppet master usually pulls the strings from behind."

"You really are dense aren't you? How did you manage to become a shinobi? And you'd think that you'd be smart, I mean, with that large forehead of yours anyway." I teased.

"What did you say?" she growled and raised her fist up 'threateningly' as fire thrashed in the background.

Chiyo's answer snapped her back to seriousness, "His real body is inside. Puppet masters are poor at close-range fighting. It's easy to leave openings when controlling the puppet. In other words, that puppet is a way around that. The puppet becomes their armor, as well as their weapon. That is Sasori's 18th puppet, Hiruko."

"Chiyo-baasama, you recognize it?" Sakura asked.

"It's a magnificent masterpiece. Why wouldn't she recognize it? It truly is a fine puppet, one of my best creations yet. An offensive and defensive puppet." I could tell Sasori-san grinned inside Hiruko.

Hiruko's tail soon twitched, "Do you know how I add to my collection? First I tear out the organs. Once I've washed it clean, I drain all of the blood. After I've made sure it won't decay, I fill it with weapons and traps, and make its addition official. Just as Baa Baa said, Hiruko is part of my collection. And with you and Chiyo-baabaa, I will have exactly 300 puppets in my collection! This...is my art!" his voice rang with passion.

"Art, huh?" Chiyo repeated.

"Chiyo-baasama?" Sakura looked at Chiyo.

"When he was in the Sand Village, he created many impressive puppets and was widely regarded as a genius. But his real interests lay in transforming humans into puppets and collecting them."

This grabbed Sakura's attention even more. And I, myself, was a bit interested in hearing a bit more about Sasori-san's early life.

Chiyo continued, "He claimed that it was 'art'. That puppet Hiruko was once a shinobi of our village. Sasori turned him into that. Puppets that maintained their original form are called human puppets."

"Human puppets..." Sakura repeated.

"And you're next," Sasori-san nonchalantly stated, "You will become one of my works."

Sasori raised his tail as I raised my arm. I swung at Sakura, she barely ducked. I cut a little of her hair off though.

"Hiruko is a battle-type puppet. But regardless, we must first separate it from Sasori."

"So what should we do?" questioned Sakura.

Sasori-san and I both glared as Chiyo continued on, "His additions to the puppet are the most dangerous part. As long as we don't know what he's done to it, we can't tell where and how he'll attack."

"But you know how that puppets works. We have the advantage." reminded Sakura.

Chiyo nodded, "That's why I said that I was going to go by myself at first."

"At first?" Sakura and I both repeated.

"Oi oi oi, she's facing me. She's my opponent." I growled.

Chiyo continued to ignore me, much to my annoyance, "But now I don't think that will work."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked again.

"Its form is a bit different from the Hiruko I knew. It never had such a large shell on its back. So the defenses have probably increased. And this is the first time I've seen that left arm. In which case, he may have changed the most important weapons as well."

Furthering my anger, Sakura once again asked, "What should we do?"

"In order to defeat Sasori, we must destroy Hiruko first."

Before she could continue, I grew extremely impatient beyond this point and pulled out a scroll similar to that of the Jinchuuriki. As it unfolded, a windmill shuriken appeared. I grasped it in my hand and threw it at Sakura with great force. She gasped and stepped aside. It grazed her arm, cutting it deep. She winced in pain as she grasped it with her right hand. Lucky for her she dodged, or she wouldn't even have a left hand. I took the opportunity, ran over to where it had landed, picked it up, and slashed at her with my oversized shuriken. She barely managed to dodge, jumping back away each time.

"You ready yet? You know I hate to wait." Sasori-san reached for his mask.

"Don't worry, we'll defeat you!" declared Chiyo.

Chiyo charged forward, kunai in hand. With a grunt, Sasori-san ripped off the mask of Hiruko. Opening its mouth, Hiruko shot out poisonous senbon. Chiyo gracefully dodged them, jumping from left to right and doing twists and back flips, even deflecting some with her kunai. After awhile the rain of senbon stopped.

A moment of silence reigned, except for me slashing my kunai at Sakura.

"You saw through it. Alright then." he took out his left arm. The capsule-like thing flew off, right in the middle of Chiyo and Sakura. I continued to slash at her.

"Die!" Sasori-san exclaimed.

I retreated back, jumping on the far side of the wall of the cave. The rods on the capsule fell off and split in half. When they did, more poison senbon flew their way. Sakura did the same thing as Chiyo. When the senbon stopped, Sasori-san was getting frustrated. Thousands of poisonous senbon littered the floor. Sakura just stared at Sasori-san. When she had a chance, she charged forward. I jumped in front of her, landing on my knee and hand. Her face said it all, she had forgotten about me.

I grinned sadistically, "Miss me?" and slashed out at her once again, "Don't forget. I'm your opponent. Not the puppet master over there." I glared.

She took a step back. Again our fight replayed. I kept swinging my shuriken at her and she kept dodging and jumping back. Chiyo had charged at Sasori-san. Sasori-san raised his tail and was planning to stab at it her face. Just before it met its 1 inch mark, the tail stopped. Sasori was taken back in surprise.

"Baa baa!" he screamed in rage.

Sakura froze at his outburst and had stopped jumping back. Big mistake. I kicked Sakura in the stomach, sending her flying to the cave wall. She coughed up some blood. I jumped in front of her. I grinned a grin more sadistically than I ever had as I raised my windmill shuriken just above her head. I pulled it down the fastest I can. A millisecond before the blade connected with the first few layers of the skin on top of her head, she got pulled towards Chiyo somehow.

I glared in wrathful fury, "NO!"

Some of her hair got cut off and her head was now bleeding, making her smooth pink hair stain with crimson blood. She was now standing next to Chiyo, but not for long. Without hesitation, she charged forward at Sasori-san.

"Now Sakura! Crush it!" Chiyo yelled.

Sakura raised her fist and pinpointed her chakra into that spot. The sound of cracking echoed through the cave. Chiyo and Sakura looked horrified. I smirked, wiping some blood off my mouth.

"Is that all you got?" I screamed.

I stretched my arms out, protecting what was behind me. Sasori-san wanted to keep his puppet body a secret, which is one of the reasons why he hid in Hiruko most of the time. I valued that secret, which was why I had jumped in at the last second. And...for some unknown reason, my body and mind just reacted on its own, wanting to protect Sasori-san for some reason. Sakura had managed to break at least more than half of my ribs and my stomach along with my liver, though it was worth it, protecting Sasori-san and his secret. Sasori-san seemed as speechless as they were, for he was silent with wide eyes, until he thought of something to say.

"Ho...shi..."

My knees were about to give in to temptation about the thought of just passing out. Though my pride refused to let them even buckle and show weakness. My eyes half closed and my vision blurred. I was about to fall forward until I stopped, Sasori-san had moved in front of me so I could lean on him to support myself. I leaned my right arm on Hiruko's hard wooden back while my left hand hovered over the hole that showed practically half of my digestive system. I was never really good at healing or Medical jutsu, though at least I'll be able to poorly seal it closed. The pool of blood circled around my feet and staining Hiruko's Akatsuki cloak. Concentrating the chakra to my hand, green chakra enveloped it, painfully and slowly healing my wound. Sakura seemed to snap out of her daze first and did the same again, only this time, it hit the wanted target. The force of the punch blew me away, knocking me against the wall, making me vomit out blood. I coughed up blood even more when Hiruko's tail smashed against the wound horizontally. Though the part that did hit me was covered in shawls, therefore no poison infected me.

Bits of Hiruko scattered and flew everywhere. Hiruko's head landed near my foot, but where was Sasori-san? I scanned my half closed eyes to see where he could've gone. Sakura heavily panted from the energy it took to smash both me and Hiruko. My eyes landed on a bundle that was covered in a black shawl in the middle of what used to be Hiruko's back. Before Sakura could uncover it, the bundle leaped over, landing right next to me. I looked up at the bundle, his face was still covered, head hung low.

"I...I..." I tried to form a sentence, but I coughed up more blood, "S-sorry...I...h-h...avee...f-failed...to keep...y-you...hidden...S-Sas...or...ii...sannn..." I shut my eyes tightly in pain.

He pushed Hiruko's tail away, shoving it aside. His cloak that still covered his back hands hovered over my injury. Only I could see the glowing green chakra that confined his hands and the hole. Since he was excellent in Medical jutsu, his progress to heal me went 50 times faster.

"Shh...," he murmured so only I could hear his smooth silky voice, "don't strain yourself by talking for now. And...to make it easier to talk, lose the -san."

For a moment I swore I heard amusement in the last part. Before I could think more of it, Chiyo shattered my thoughts.

"So you finally came out."

As she finished the last word of the sentence, Sasori finished healing me. He stood up, still facing them with their backs.

"A-arigatou Sasori-s...Sasori." I corrected myself.

"That's his real body?" Sakura gasped.

"I've come all this way to see my little grandson's face." Chiyo tried to persuade him into taking off the shawl.

Sakura started hyperventilating. I rolled my eyes, about to get up. I stopped when I saw a clothed hand reach out for me. Blushing slightly, I reluctantly accepted as he pulled me up. I averted his gaze so he couldn't see me blushing. Though he probably couldn't either way due to the shawl.

"It's been about twenty years since I've seen you, my grandson." Chiyo tried again.

Sasori held his hand up from under the shawl, palm facing up. I could see his teal colored nails. Then, his fingers twitched, and Hiruko's head that was lying on its sides jumped and faced right side up. Sakura gasped. The head's teeth chattered, jumped a little from right to left, then flew up. When Sasori was satisfied with the altitude, he made Hiruko's head lay on its side once more. The neck directed towards Sakura and Chiyo. More poisonous senbon rained down at them. Chiyo's arms danced, and so did Sakura in mid air, dodging every last one. Hiruko's head cracked in two and fell. Sasori turned to me, when he didn't say anything, I inched closer to him. As he whispered a plan in my ears, my eyes enlarged themselves and then narrowed as my lips curled upwards and I nodded.

"As I thought. Just what I'd expect from my grandma. No wonder that girl dodged my attacks so easily. She had you, who could see right through them, controlling her with chakra strings. And on top of that, you secretly put some on Hiruko's tail. But for me to not have noticed until I was unable to move the tail, you must have done it when you first attacked with those kunai. You transferred the chakra strings connected to the kunai onto the tail as I blocked them." calculated Sasori.

"Impressive, considering that I suppressed the chakra flow to the point of making the threads invisible." Chiyo commented.

"It wasn't that hard. After all, you're the one who taught me how to play with puppets." Sasori turned around.

His face was still covered with the shawl either way. His hand reached up towards the top of it. Chiyo's eyes sparkled with curiosity.

"But today, the games come to an end!" she raised her voice.

"That's the plan." Sasori pulled off the shawl.

Chiyo's eyes widened, mouth hanging open. Sakura gasped. I smirked at their expressions. The shawl hit the floor and his unkempt maroon hair bounced a little when the shawl was removed.

His voice was full of amusement, "But honestly, do you think it'll be that simple Chiyo-baasama?"

Sakura was the first to snap out of the daze, "Chiyo-baasama?"

Chiyo still wore her expression, "He's...he's Sasori?" Sakura questioned.

I couldn't help it anymore. Her constant repeated questioning that were obvious.

"No. He's not. He's Kami-sama. What do you think?" my voice was full of scorn.

Chiyo's expression was still the same, except for her mouth moving, "What's the meaning of this? He looks the same. He hasn't aged a day."

Sasori's mouth tugged in a small smile. Chiyo looked as if she was about to fall to the ground at that moment. Sakura's face was contorted in utter confusion.

"What's wrong, Chiyo-baasama?" Sasori was still smiling, "Are you so choked up that you can't even speak?"

He was obviously enjoying her appalled face.

When no answer came, he spoke again, "That's okay. It's our first reunion in twenty years."

Beads of sweat poured down Chiyo's face, her eyes twitching, "Sasori, you..."

When she was unable to speak, Sasori took over, "Want to see what else I've got up my sleeve?"

He meant it quite literally, for a scroll slid down from his right sleeve into his hand. He held it up in front of him.

"This might be even more shocking," he unwrapped the scroll with one hand slowly, "He was one of the hardest to kill and add to my collection. But that's what makes him my favorite."

His fingers that were once up in the air (except for the thumb and pinky) now tapped the scroll (along with his pinky). Purple flooded the lining of the scroll, when it was completely surrounded, a poof of smoke appeared.

"Th-that's...it can't be!" Chiyo lied to herself.

Her reaction finally changed, except now it was in an even more shocked face than before, if that was possible.

"What? What's wrong?" Sakura pestered with her questions again.

When the smoke that surrounded Sasori and me finally blew away, a new puppet appeared in place of where the scroll was.

"That's the Third Kazekage!" Chiyo choked out.

The Third Kazekage? And Sasori had managed to kill him single handedly at an age younger than 15? I'm impressed.

"The Third Kazekage?" Sakura repeated.

I swear, was this girl deaf or something? Sasori chuckled to himself. Finally Chiyo's expression had changed. Instead of confusion, now it was just grief and disappointment.

"Well? Does this take you back, Chiyo-baasama?" Sasori asked.

"Chiyo-baasama, how can the Third Kazekage...?" Sakura started to say.

Chiyo's features fell, "How terrible..."

"Then..." Sakura looked back at the Kazekage puppet.

Chiyo explained, "It happened over twenty years ago. The Third Kazekage suddenly vanished. We did everything we could, but were never able to find him. He was the most powerful Kazekage in history, but...Sasori, you did it?"

"So what?" Sasori remarked nonchalantly, "You're telling me, a retired old hag about to keel over, is going to avenge him? How admirable."

"Even if I'm retired and about to die, I just have to remember the past. I have too many regrets to die just yet. Especially when I see that my grandson has become a villain! You betray the village and have attacked three Kazekage!"

"Three?" repeated Sakura, face full of confusion.

"Orochimaru may have been the one who killed Gaara's father, the Fourth Kazekage. But I know your companions were the ones behind it! And now Gaara. And even the Third!"

"Oi oi. I don't know anything about the Fourth. I only have control over my own subordinates."

"Given that he did the exact same thing as you though, how can you say that it's unrelated?"

"It is true that Orochimaru was my original Akatsuki partner, and we accomplished a lot together."

Sakura's eyes grew bigger, "You...If you worked with Orochimaru, you must know all about him. I have a lot of questions for you."

"Sorry kid. I have to finish you two off and catch that jinchūriki. I hate to keep people waiting. I don't have time to answer questions. Now, let's do this." Sasori responded.

He swayed his hands and the Kazekage puppet was on the move. I jumped back to the side, seeing as how I would just get in the way. The puppet flew towards her with fast speed. Without warning, Chiyo yanked her back, pulling her in surprise.

"Die!" exclaimed Sasori as he forced the puppet to pull out poison laced swords encased in wood and a windmill shuriken blade on top behind the Kazekage's arm. Chiyo barely had time to block Sakura with Hiruko's tail. The Kazekage sliced the iron tail, breaking it.

"Nice one Chiyo-baasama. But how about this?" he raised his hand and brought it back down. The Kazekage's left arm shot forward, the limbs separating to replicate a satellite rod of some sort.

"Oh no!" Chiyo screamed.

"Now what?" Sasori grinned.

Millions of arms came from the rod, all shooting for Sakura. The arms became a large cord like weapon and they shot down on Sakura.

"Sakura!" Chiyo worriedly yelled.

Sasori twitched his fingers. His face showed disappointment. So...she didn't die. Yet. Sasori seemed to be thinking up of a plan.

"So then..." he twitched his fingers.

Chiyo drew back her arm, yanking Sakura out of the million arms. Before she landed, a canon-like pipe shot out, releasing purple gas. Knowing Sasori, it was poison.

"Not good!" panicked Chiyo, "Sakura, hold your breath!"

The poison gas reached Sakura and soon swallowed her whole.

"Sakuraaa!" Chiyo screamed desperately.

A few minutes went by and the poison still didn't clear.

"Sakura." Chiyo whispered.

She twitched her fingers, trying to pull Sakura out of the fog.

Sasori's features were swallowed in displeasure. I guess it's my time to help. I quickly reached into my pocket and summoned two ropes attached with kunai at each end, holding one in each hand.

"I don't think so." I flung one of the kunai of each side into the poison mist, one lower and one higher.

When they breezed passed something, I figured it was Sakura's leg and torso. I pulled slightly to the opposite direction of the two, binding her legs and torso. I smirked when Chiyo tried to pull her out anyway, failing when I tugged back. Sasori smiled, pleased at this.

"Wh-what is this...?" Chiyo scowled.

"Kunai tied to ropes," I answered, "You're supposed to deflect them, not try to dodge."

Sasori whispered, "Reel her in."

And I did what he asked. I tugged both of the ropes that laid in my hands. Chiyo wasn't putting up much of a tug. Sakura was coming straight to us.

"You're hellbent on not letting her out, aren't you?"

"Mayyybe." I stuck out my tongue with a smirk.

"It's pointless, Chiyo-baasama. She'll die from inhaling the slightest bit of poison. She's done for." now it was Sasori's turn to smirk.

My smirk turned into a surprised frown.

Sasori noticed this, "What's wrong?"

"I feel her struggling at the ropes."

"That's nothing to worry about." shrugged Sasori.

The poison slowly decreased in size as the pipe was running out. The poison was slowly lifting up. Chiyo noticed this and a small smile hung on her lips.

Sasori informed, "That's not the only poison fog." crushing her hopes.

As to prove his point, Sasori twitched a finger and out came yet another pipe spewing out the contents. Chiyo had now rushed forward to grab Sakura out herself. Soon I felt the tugging get worse. Before she charged into the gas, Chiyo stopped when she saw something. My eyes grew larger in realization, only getting one word out before it happened.

"Sasori!"

And then the explosion on the explosion tag went off, exploding even the poison gas away. Dammit! The ropes that bound Sakura broke. Sakura fell backwards from the force. Chiyo had caught her before she crashed onto the ground, her weight forcing Chiyo backwards.

"Sakura, hang in there Sakura!" Chiyo shook Sakura's head.

"Oh? Not bad." Sasori complimented her.

"Oh no, she's not breathing." Chiyo pushed Sakura onto her shoulder and gave a tap on Sakura's back.

Sakura immediately started coughing violently.

"Are you all right, Sakura?" her voice laced with worry.

"Yes." she answered her.

After her coughing fit, she looked over at Sasori, "You...I'm gonna capture you!", the volume of her voice almost as loud as Naruto's.

Sasori did not look pleased with this at all. Sakura tried to stand up but trembled.

"Even if you blow away my limbs...and paralyze me with poison, I will definitely get you! No matter what you come at me with, no matter what tricks you have up your sleeve, I'll make you tell me about Orochimaru! Got it?" she screamed.

I clapped my hands, "Valuable and inspiring speech, girl. Now...let's see if you can actually accomplish such a task."

Sasori just shrugged her off and twitched a finger, making yet another pipe pop up, this time it shot out six kunai. Sakura just stood there. She could barely stand up, let alone dodge high speed kunai shooting towards her. As usual, before the impact could land, something got in the way. Chiyo summoned two puppets that smacked the kunai away. The two puppets...one was a woman with brown hair while the other was a redhead man. They both hung their heads down as if they were ashamed of something they did.

"A man should listen quietly when a woman speaks to him." Chiyo held up two scrolls, now empty with smoke rising from them.

Sasori's eyes opened up a fraction, "Oh, those?"

"So you do remember them." Chiyo commented.

"Yeah, more or less." replied Sasori, quite unimpressed.

"The very first puppets you created. 'Father' and 'Mother'."

The puppets looked up when their names were called. I gasped a little in surprised. So those were his first puppets? They were extremely well made, even better if he was a first timer when he made them. So he really is a prodigy. But...those? Those were the puppets he was talking about? The puppets he made to resemble his parents? I thought he said they broke. Unless Chiyo fixed it and repaired them to claim as her own, since it certainly looked that way.

Again, Sakura just couldn't get enough of repeating, "Father and Mother?"

What is she? Some kinda parrot (5)?

"So these are Sasori's...?"

"And what do you plan on doing with those? I made those puppets. I know all their secrets. How stupid." Sasori stated without feeling.

"I wonder about that." Chiyo's eyes filled with memories.

After awhile, they started to fill with sadness and misery. Maybe she was thinking of the time when Sasori...attempted...to have his parents back...Soon my eyes drooped of sadness. The two puppets stretched out one of their arms until their hands met. Mother extending her left while Father extended his right. Then they pulled apart, fingertips that now shared the same wire.

"Sakura, stand back." Chiyo ordered.

"Hai." she obeyed and stood at the sides.

The two puppets moved forward, matching in every way. Sasori was prepared. The Kazekage pulled back his millions of arms. The arms tried to stomp them but it failed when the Mother and Father cut the arms with the wire. This continued like that until just when Mother and Father were about to cut the Kazekage. Sasori unlatched the joint that connected the Kazekage's arm with the rod the held the millions of arms right before the Mother and Father could bind him. Now in its stead was a spinning shuriken-like weapon. The only difference was that it had many more blades.

Chiyo moved her hands and out Father's arm sprang this...chain like weapon. Instead of metal chains, it was a long chain of wooden cylinders attached to each other. At the end of each cylinder had two kunais that stuck out each side. From Mother's right arm, a sword with a jagged edge popped up. Sparks went flying as soon as Kazekage's shuriken-like weapon met with Mother's sword. Father had swung his arm at the Kazekage, making the chain weapon follow in pursuit. The Kazekage dodged and sliced it in two. Another clash between those two weapons and Father's chain was chipped. Mother swung her sword at the revolving shuriken, creating sparks flying again.

Pretty soon, both Sasori and Chiyo danced with their arms in fury, moving so fast the movements were a blur. The two 'parents' faired off with the Kazekage in a blurred motion too. Orange sparks flew everywhere.

"U-unreal..." Sakura muttered.

I couldn't help but agree with her. Never had I seen such skill in the puppet technique, much less this crazy speed. After the "sparring match" ended, all three of them jumped back. Sasori and Chiyo stared at each other with great intensity. Each waiting for the other to make the next move so they could counter. The puppets retreated to their master's side. The blades of Kazekage's weapons were chipped and jagged. The bits and pieces wearing off and falling to the ground. Father's whip of kunai had barely any shards left. Mother's jagged sword was barely 5 inches tall, excluding the hilt.

"This is getting annoying. Guess I need to bring this out." Sasori made a hand sign and Kazekage's mouth opened.

Nothing came out at first. The three of us, not including Sasori, stared at it, wondering what could he be planning this time. At last, a black grain of sand came out. Followed by another. And another. Until they came out in a large group. It looked like tiny flies flying in a huge group.

"So that puppet can really use the Third's techniques." Chiyo commented.

"It's been a while since you've seen it, right? This is the reason why the Third Kazekage was known as the strongest in the village. The two of you are about to get messed up." he boasted.

"What is that?" Sakura asked.

I was wondering that myself. Why did this...dark sand...make him the most powerful of all Kazekages lived? What could it do to be so...notorious?

"The most feared weapon in the history of the Hidden Sand. Iron Sand!" Chiyo stared in awe.

The sand was now circling around the Kazekage.

"Iron sand?" Sakura was like a parrot...

"At one time, it was a technique that Shukaku's host used. It's a technique that the Third invented himself. He could mold the Iron Sand into various forms, changing it into weapons appropriate to the situation. The Third Kazekage had a unique body that allowed him to change his chakra into a magnetic field. It looks like the puppet can perform the same technique." Chiyo lectured.

"How can that be?" Sakura stared, "Even though he's using the Third Kazekage's body, it's still just a puppet. How can a doll have chakra?"

I mentally sighed, thinking to myself, "How can you have a brain...?"

"No. Human Puppets made from real flesh are different from the normal puppets like his father and mother. And Sasori is the only one able to make Human Puppets. They're made to retain the chakra they had when they were still alive." Chiyo answered.

I had to admit, that was a very nice way of retaining one's unique abilities or techniques that only they could perform, or Kekkei Genkai. Even if it was a cruel cruel fate...

Chiyo continued, "And going by that, he is able to make use of any techniques they had when they were still alive. That's a Human Puppet's greatest advantage."

The Kazekage closed his mouth as Sasori added, "That's not all. After all, they are part of my beloved collection."

"Sakura, you need to get out of here. I'll fight him by myself. This was unexpected. You don't stand a chance against something like that." Chiyo begged.

"But-" she began to differ.

"You're too slow! Iron Sand Rain." Sasori commanded the Kazekage's sand to shoot out small balls that shot out like cannonballs.

"Oh no!" Chiyo barely had time to snatch Sakura out of the way with Mother.

Sasori strained to see what was in the smoke that was caused by the Jutsu. However, he did not expect to see Father holding his two wooden arms out that split in half to create a force field-like shield with his chakra to protect Chiyo behind him.

"I see you've been messing with them. The chakra shield...Seems that he's been upgraded since he last played with me." Sasori commented.

The chakra that surrounded Father's hands dimmed to nothing and the arms had almost snapped back in place. When Chiyo moved her fingers delicately, she gasped as she tried to move her fingers again. She stood up in shock as Father had crumbled down to his knees. Iron sand had placed itself on his arms so he couldn't snap them back completely. Chiyo tried again to move Father, but she failed.

"You know you have to dodge that technique, not block it. Was letting the girl escape all you could manage? I've pumped his body full of Iron Sand. As long as I have the Third's magnetic powers, he's useless. This time, I'm going to attack both of you at once. In order to make sure I finish you off, I'm going to put it in vorpal mode." Sasori explained.

The holes that the iron sand had made when it was being shot still had iron sand in them. Now the sand had flown together in the air, forming several sharp spikes that hovered in the air, surrounding them both.

"You won't escape again. One puppet can't protect two people. What are you gonna do, Baa Baa? Who will die?" he smiled darkly.

The blades soon dropped down on them, colliding with the ground. When the dust disappeared, it revealed Mother using the chakra shield for Sakura. Both surprised, they looked over at Chiyo. She had used a chakra shield, from her own right arm. So, she had turned her own right arm into a wooden puppet's, eh? Mother's shield dropped. I looked closely at Chiyo's arm, it was infected with the sand.

"So you turned your own body into a puppet, even if it was just an arm. Great puppet masters think alike, I suppose." Sasori was amused now.

Chiyo tried to close her shield, but the iron sand was preventing it from doing so.

"I see. So that's it." Chiyo finally realized the meaning behind Sasori's words.

"Once Iron Sand gets inside, it's over. You're out of puppets. What are you going to do, Chiyo-baa?" Sasori asked.

Chiyo looked at Father, who now kneeled to the ground, unmoving. Then at Mother, who laid still like the puppet she was. There were sadness in Chiyo's eyes. She seemed to be thinking of something for a long time. Sasori couldn't take the silence anymore.

"Even if you're an elite puppet master, without puppets, you're just a regular person."

Chiyo clutched her upper arm. The one that was made into a puppet's fell on the ground. Kazekage's mouth opened again, and more iron sand began to flow out. The iron sand began to form into shapes. One rectangular prism and a square pyramid. Sasori also had the Kazekage make wings for himself.

"There's me and someone else. What should I do in this situation?" Chiyo quietly murmured.

Sasori put on a triumphant smirk as he closed Kazekage's mouth, no longer needing it for now.

"Sakura, you have to run for it." Sakura kept staring in horror at Sasori, "Sakura, what's wrong? Hurry up, I already told you! I've told you already. You can't fight that. Run while you can."

She stood up. Her eyes gazed into the iron sand. Her eyes and hands were shaking. Then she looked over at Father, and back at Mother. When she quit her staring, she clutched her fists and clenched her teeth.

"Chiyo-baasama!" Sakura called for Chiyo's attention, "Please use me!" she stepped forward in front of Chiyo.

"If you use a puppet made of flesh, his Iron Sand won't have any effect." she reasoned.

"I only have one arm now. I can't support you like I did before."

"It's okay. Maybe I don't have any secret weapons built into me like a puppet, but I have my master's hatred of losing!"

With that, Chiyo was convinced. She latched chakra strings onto Sakura.

Punching her right fist into her left palm in front of herself, she exclaimed, "Sounds good! I also have my master's hand-to-hand fighting skills!"

"That again? How lame." Sasori sighed, "Hoshi." he called for my attention.

I looked over at him. "Hai."

I smirked, since I knew he was going to commence with the plan he whispered in my ears. I stepped in front of him. Tossing the shapes aside for now, he mimicked Chiyo in attaching chakra strings on me. I clutched my windmill shuriken, preparing for a good battle. This time, Sasori had attacked first. I charged forward at Sakura, shuriken in hand. Before I could slash her, she leaped away. I reached into my weapon pouch for a kunai and threw it at her while she was in midair. Sasori pulled me back. Sakura quickly grabbed her kunai and deflected it. When she realized what she had done, I smirked. Too late.

BOOM!

The explosive tag had been ignited and Sakura couldn't dodge it in time. When she was knocked down to the ground, I summoned my Vigoorian Flail, one of the blades in hand. As I swung it around in my hand, I flung it at Sakura. It cut across her cheek as it flew past. Tugging it beside me, it wrapped itself around her torso, binding her. My smirk grew as her eyes did. Gripping hard on my chain, Sasori had made me pull Sakura to the side, aiming for the cave's wall at full force and speed.

"Sakura!" Chiyo had screamed.

"Is dead meat." I finished for her.

When the dust cleared, it revealed Sakura to have a bleeding forehead and arms. I yanked the chain back and pulled it towards the sky with even more force. She crashed against the ceiling of the cave. Then I threw her across the cave. With a pleasing CRASH I yanked her back. She landed face first 30 feet away from us. I pulled her back, making her face scratch against the cold, hard rock. She tried to stand up when I slid her to a stop, her cheeks burning of blood. When she succeeded, she tried her hardest to burst from the chains that held her back. I tightened them. She screamed out in pain. Suddenly pain shot forward from my ribs. I winced in pain, lowering a bit.

"Hoshi? What's wrong?" Sasori asked.

I clutched my ribs, shaking in pain.

"Oh. Dammit..." he whispered.

Before he could come and heal me yet again, Sakura took this chance and broke the chains apart. I gasped, she grinned at my expression. I death glared at her. She lunged at me, fist in the air. Just like that, I had ended up on the wall of the cliff, coughing up blood once again. This time around, she had kicked me in the legs so I fell down on my palms on the ground. I think I heard a crack. Shit. Then with her fist raised, she punched me in the stomach, sending me high in the air and opening my wound again. Blood gushed out like a sprinkler.

"Hoshi!" Sasori yelled.

Before he could pull me back, Sakura threw kunai in the air, cutting off Sasori's chakra strings.

"Dammit bitch!" he shouted.

As I came down, she twirled and added chakra towards her foot, making my ribs crack yet again as I shot towards the cave wall. I sat there, limp and bleeding, like a broken doll. I raised my head and leaned it on the cave wall so I could watch the battle.

"S...Sas...ori..." I whispered.

Sakura charged forward to punch Sasori before he could come and heal me. Sasori added chakra strings back to the shapes and the square pyramid's tip became sharper, like a spear's point. Chiyo charged forward as well. When the tip was just about to stab Sakura, Chiyo pulled her back, making the pyramid stab the ground until it crashed into the wall of the cave instead. Sakura didn't notice until the rectangular prism nearly squashed her flat had she not been pulled back by Chiyo.

"Eat this!" she ran and punched the prism as it threatened to crash into Sasori.

Sasori jumped back on the cave's wall, whispering "Bitch."

"I'm not done yet!" she grinned.

Sasori jumped off the wall. He grinned, pulling out the shapes from the walls and pulling it in front of him. He molded the altered square pyramid back to its original square pyramid form, making it spiral so fast it turns into a drill-like state. He pulled it towards Sakura, who jumped away as it collided with the floor. When she landed, the prism tried to smash her but again she jumped away. This happened again with the pyramid before she leaped onto the prism and used to as a boost to punch the drilling pyramid that headed towards her. It landed on the ground again. When Sakura was still in mid-flight, Sasori pulled the prism out.

"Over there?" she yelled as she kicked it away.

It hit the top of the cave, making a huge hole in the forest like meadow that laid on top of the cave. The hole made cracks in the ceiling. Soon rocks fell down on the battlefield. Sakura got into a sprinter position, right hand downwards while her feet were slightly apart and far back. Sasori wielded the prism to smash itself against Sakura, but Sakura leaped away.

"Sakura!" warned Chiyo.

She was in mid-flight when the pyramid threatened to drill her to shreds.

"Hell yeah!" she let out her battle cry and punched the pyramid away yet again.

The cave shook some more from the impact. The pyramid poked a hole in the wall of the cave that held its entrance. Rocks fell into the river. The meadow on top couldn't stand it any longer and collapsed onto the battlefield, leaving a hole at the top. Daylight spilled in the cave. Again Sasori hurled the pyramid at her. Again she punched it away. This time, Sasori tried using both at once. She kicked them away. Sasori brought them in front of him.

"That's a lot of power for a little girl." Sasori remarked.

Sakura panted heavily. Probably exhausted her chakra. She slouched forward, looking ready to collapse any minute. Sasori made the pyramid sharper and tried to stab her. She got out of harm's way, barely. Sasori called it back to his side again. A moment of silence occurred. Then he sharpened it even more, aiming it at Sakura. She side stepped out of the way. A twitch in Sasori's hand and the prism came forth. Sakura stood there and timed herself. When the prism was closer, she stepped to the side again, making the prism connect with the ground. With a battle cry, she punched it out of the way so it hit the pyramid. Sakura watched with intent eyes at Sasori. Sasori narrowed his eyes, he didn't like her examining him too closely. The corners of his lips curled in a small smirk and he changed his stance. The pyramid stabbed its sides into the prism. Chakra emitted from the Kazekage's...heart?

"Iron Sand World Law!"

Bits of sand formed into branches and soon it branched on and on. Sakura stared at it in amazement, unaware that it was going to stab her soon. Chiyo pulled her back before that could happen. Two more branches spread out to kill her, but they failed. Now branches lay everywhere. It caused some boulders to crash. One landed on Chiyo's arm. She tried to get out from under it, but it couldn't budge. Sakura had a boulder under her. Sasori smirked. I had a feeling that the fight wasn't over though. And I was right. The boulder smashed to pieces has Sakura punched it. She slouched forward, cuts all over her.

"Sakura!" Chiyo tried to move, "Sakura are you okay?"

Blood dripped from her cuts. She slumped forward and almost fell but caught herself in time. When Chiyo realized what had happened, she was too late.

"Poison!" she exclaimed.

Sasori smirked, "I told you I had plenty of moves left."

"So you poisoned the Iron Sand too?" exclaimed Chiyo.

Sakura fell on her knees. Soon even her face collapsed onto the floor.

Sasori chuckled, "Payback's a bitch, isn't it? The poison's working."

Twitching his finger, he closed the compartment that held the Kazekage's chakra.

"Soon her body will go numb and she won't be able to move. She'd last three days if I let her be, but I don't plan to!" anger and malice filled Sasori's voice.

The Kazekage charged forward and a blade shot out of his right arm.

"It's over, girl!" grinned Sasori.

"Sakura!" Chiyo called out.

Before the Kazekage had the chance to kill her, Sakura reached forward and smashed him apart. His body broke into wooden pieces. So she was playing dead...How dare she...The pieces all fell onto the ground. The branches of iron sand soon crumbled, seeing as how the user was no longer 'alive'.

Sakura leaped over to Chiyo, "Chiyo-baasama."

She lifted up the boulder to free Chiyo's arm. Sasori glared at her.

"Sakura, how...?" Chiyo questioned.

Sakura stopped glaring at Sasori and looked at Chiyo, "I used an antidote."

She looked over to a spot on the ground. I looked over too. There laying on top of dirt was a vaccination of some sort, the bottle being empty.

"When did you make something like that?" Chiyo stared in awe.

Sakura reached behind her, "In the Sand Village, when I was working on an antidote for Kankurou-san.", she pulled out another one of those vaccinations.

This time, it had yellow liquid substance inside the bottle.

She continued, "I made three of them. I used one to heal Kankurou-san. I knew that our enemy used poison, so I put the other two into syringes and brought them with me."

"I see. So that's how." Chiyo looked at the syringe.

"Right. I used one of them now. However, it will only work for around three minutes. During which time, no matter how much poison gets in my systems, it'll all be broken down into harmless proteins."

"I see."

"I couldn't let Sasori find out about my anti-venom. I knew I had a chance when he would let his guard down as he used his final attack. That's why I didn't use it until the very end. I have just one left. You should hang on to it, Chiyo-baasama."

Chiyo nodded and reached out to grab it but she trembled in pain before she could.

"Are you okay?" asked a worried Sakura.

She took off her right glove and started healing on Chiyo. Sasori continued to glare. So he hadn't heard.

"S-Sasori..." I tried to get his attention.

He didn't even hear me. My eyes fell like my heart and lowered to the ground. He was too absorbed in this fight to even notice me. I guess I should leave him alone. I raised my left arm to heal myself. It was barely working, healing just 1 millimeter of the wound per minute. I should've totally paid more attention in Medical jutsu class.

"Sakura, my left hand is okay now." I heard Chiyo say.

She flexed her hand and clutched it tight.

"Right." Sakura's green healing chakra diminished.

When she was done, she sprawled out on the ground, panting heavily. After a few seconds of that, she calmed down and made a hand sign. Then she lifted her right hand up to her left arm so that she could heal it, wincing from the pain. When she was done healing it, she stood up and stood by Chiyo's side.

"Let's go, Sakura!"

"Hai!"

Sasori stared, conjuring up a plan. Slowly he reached up to his cloak. I gasped. He isn't. Is he? Oh no. He was. He started unbuttoning it, revealing his puppet chest.

"I haven't used this one since I joined Akatsuki. I wonder how long it's been..." he took off the cloak and handed it to me.

I clutched it tightly, inhaling his wooden scent. Sakura's eyes widened. The razors attached to Sasori's back sprung out.

Chiyo glared, "He hasn't aged a day since he left."

The poisonous cord that coiled in Sasori's 'stomach' crawled out. The kunai at the end of it planted itself on the ground.

"He looks exactly like he did back then."

Sasori placed one foot on the cord and another one on the other side of the cord. The cord elevated itself, lifted Sasori higher in the air. His eyes opened in a maniacal way.

"And now we know why." finished Chiyo.

"It's actually been awhile since I used myself." commented Sasori.

"He turned himself into a Human Puppet?" Sakura stared.

The venomous poison dripped off of his cord and made a small pool on the ground beneath him. The poison that dipped his razor blades slipped down, like rain on the glass of a window.

"What's wrong? Weren't you going to finish this? If you aren't going to attack...," he raised his arms out in front of him, "I'll make the first move!"

Rods had appeared on his palm and fire spouted out. The two leaped away, hiding behind rocks.

"Hiding is meaningless!" he grinned.

Fire shot towards the rocks they hid themselves behind.

"Now, what will you do?" Sasori's voice croaked.

A few minutes passed with Sasori still firing. When it had stopped however, Sakura reached to her weapon pouch and pulled out a kunai. Doing a back flip she threw the kunai at Sasori behind landing behind yet another rock. Immediately Sasori started firing at that rock. The kunai couldn't reach Sasori however, seeing as how it melted to nothingness due to the intense heat of Sasori's fire. Sakura looked over at Chiyo. Chiyo did a back flip and landed behind another rock that was behind her first one. Sasori moved the fire to that rock. Sasori stopped firing. They both moved to a rock in the middle. Sasori immediately fired at that.

"We've got one and a half minutes left." I heard Sakura say before they both leaped away when the flames cleared.

"Die, Baa baa!" Sasori yelled, aiming the fire at Chiyo when she leapt in mid air.

Sasori hit it right on target. Chiyo would've died if she hadn't used a Substitution Jutsu. Chiyo now leapt in a wide open area. She moved her arms and out sprung the Kazekage's head.

"Take this!" Chiyo threw the head at Sasori, mouth open.

"Nice try." Sasori burned thing the before it even came close to him.

Sasori jumped down from his cord, recoiling it back into his stomach, "Just as I thought. You attached chakra threads to it during the previous fight. But the same trick won't work twice. Too bad for you." Sasori raised his hands towards them.

The fire was even more intense than the last. A few seconds after the burst of flames, Sasori stopped firing and brought his hands back.

"What's wrong? Aren't you going to attack me?", the first scroll on his back disappeared, "In that case..." he held his arms out again.

The last scroll behind his back glowed bright blue. Water blasted out instead of fire.

"Water..." Chiyo started, then realized, "Sakura, move it!"

She jumped out of the water. Sakura was too slow, however, and when the water made contact with the still burning boulders, steam arose and the sudden change in temperature cracked the boulders. The force of this knocked Sakura away. Chiyo landed and the rocks from Sakura's boulder hurled at her. She knocked one away and jumped away right before Sasori's water attack got her. Sasori had turned the water into huge wide ranged streams instead of the straight and small streams from before. Turning his hand around, the streams now altered into the latter. The force of it blasted through the boulder and Sasori moved it upward towards the cave's 'ceiling'. The cloud that Sasori had accidentally hit dispersed and the cave that Sasori hit had broke. Now it broke off had rocks had fallen on top of Sakura, though she dodged out of harm's way before it could.

"Take that!" Sasori cut through the rocks that Chiyo had hidden behind with his water.

Chiyo jumped in the air and did a back flip when Sasori aimed his water at her, making the puppet master miss. Chiyo landed behind some more rocks. The last scroll behind Sasori's back vanished. The rods that the water shot out of disappeared back into Sasori's hands.

"How long do you plan on running around? All right then." Sasori made some weird movements with his body before the cord shot out from his stomach and stabbed Sakura's ribs.

When the cord stabbed the ground, Sasori let it pull him towards Chiyo.

"Are you all right, Sakura?" Chiyo asked.

"Die!" Sasori screamed.

The razor blades from behind his back started propelling.

"Chiyo-baasama!" Sakura tried to stand up.

She staggered, then jumped towards Chiyo. Her wound was bleeding and she was drained of energy. Her antidote was about to wear out soon. Running, Sakura grabbed Sasori's cord. She pulled it back so she could delay Chiyo's death. She tried her hardest to pull the cord back. But the cord seemed hopelessly endless. Spiraling, Sasori was about to reach Chiyo. Chiyo's face was right next to Sasori's propelling blades. Sakura had pulled Sasori back, the cord wasn't endless anymore.

"Hell yeah!" Sakura yelled at the top of her lungs.

She pulled Sasori back with so much force that he flew to her. Sakura raised her fist back and smashed it into Sasori's stomach.

"Sasori!" I exclaimed, then painfully regret it.

My injury was getting worse, it was barely any different than when I started healing it. I was just basically wasting my chakra. I should be out there helping Sasori! How could I be so useless? Especially at a time like this. If only I could protect him.

Sasori's puppet body smashed to pieces. The cylinder with his name on it landed on the ground. Sakura panted heavily.

"SASORI!" I yelled desperately.

Sakura fell to the ground, sitting there.

She smiled ever so sweetly, "We did it, Chiyo-baasama! We really did it!"

"Sakura...you really...," Chiyo's eyes melted with happiness.

Sakura grinned as sunlight hit her face. Why...? Why were they so happy that Sasori died? Why? I started to crawl over to him as Sakura walked over to Chiyo. I soon stopped when I saw that the pieces started to assemble back and the heart slid back in place. I don't think I've ever been so relieved in my life. His head twisted back the way it should've been.

"You did what, exactly?" his voice full of hatred.

They both turned their heads to look at him, eyes full of surprise and fear. Chiyo put her right arm forward and pulled back the sleeves, revealing only a half of her puppet arm since the elbow down to the hand got infected.

"That's right," her fingertip made a chakra string that shot forward and tugged her arm back.

The arm fixed itself onto the joint, the useless iron sand fell out. The part where it split to create the chakra shield folded back.

"I'll get you this time." she glared at Sasori.

Sakura looked back at her with wide surprise. Sasori just rolled his shoulders and 'cracked' his neck. Chiyo reached into her sack.

"This is a technique that I forbade myself from using." she pulled out a purple scroll.

Sasori stopped 'cracking' his neck to stare. Chiyo began unwrapping the strings around it.

"I thought that I would never need it again," she looked towards Sasori, "but I suppose life isn't that simple."

She threw the scroll in front of her and unwrapped it, "Let's get this show on the road." and made a hand sign.

The prints of the scroll lifted off the page with a purplish cloud. The clouds formed into shapes. Everything stared at them. Soon they became puppets that surrounded Chiyo, each one with the seal on their foreheads.

"A puppet user's ability is measured by the number of puppets they can use. Impressive, Baa baa." Sasori complimented her.

"Th-there's so many!" Sakura muttered, "Ten at once!"

"Chiyo-baasama's quintessential 'Ten Fingers'. I've heard the rumors...that those are the puppets you used to conquer a castle. Secret White Attack, Chikamatsu's Collection of 10. The works of the first puppet master, Monzaemon. That's certainly an impressive collection of puppets. But..." he used a chakra string to pull the second scroll from his back.

He held it high above his head and unraveled it with his chakra string, using his right hand to open the compartment on his right side of the chest. When it opened, chakra lit up inside of it. Then, puppets all hurled out of the scroll and the compartment burst out chakra strings that latched onto them. Sakura and Chiyo stared horridly at the sky that were soon filled with a hundred puppets.

Sasori finished, "I used these to conquer an entire nation."

Sasori hung his head low, then he brought his right hand to smack his forehead while his left laid on his hip, "This is beyond annoying for me. Just how long am I going to fight with an old hag and a little girl?" and he looked up with a deadly gaze, "And to think, I even have to use my final puppets."

The puppets all raised their weapons, "I'll give you a special showing of my Secret Red Technique, The Performance of 100."

Sakura began running to Chiyo, sliding so she stopped to face Sasori. Reaching beside her, she healed the injury where Sasori had stabbed her with his cable.

"Sakura," Chiyo called, "Your antidote isn't working anymore. Don't fight."

Sakura stared at her for awhile, then she smiled that smile. Chiyo had a surprised expression. Sakura's smile faded into a frown as she turned to face Sasori.

"By now you should understand my personality."

Chiyo looked even more surprised, but then she recovered, "That's right. You inherited that from Tsunade, too. This will be the finale. Are you prepared? Here he comes!"

Sasori brought his body forward in a fighting stance. All of Sasori's puppets darted forward. Two of Chiyo's ran forward. One of them split his head in two. Blue sparks flew as they joined together hand in hand. The black haired puppet's hand was disconnected and had a chain. The other puppet's chakra formed into a windmill shuriken between his neck and it began to spun. The first charged forward faster than the second and threw the second puppet at the army. Another puppet had a purple chakra infused sword. The fight was absolute chaos. Puppet destroyed puppet. Weapons were littered while sparks were everywhere. Sakura joined the fight with taijutsu, kicking and punching the puppets. Puppet parts were everywhere and most of them were destroyed. Chiyo seemed to be in deep thought for a moment. Sasori saw this as a chance. He instantly used a puppet to slash her arm. Blood spewed out.

"Chiyo-baasama!" yelled Sakura.

She used a puppet to smash Sasori's against the boulder, breaking it.

"Are you okay, Chiyo-baasama?" Sakura almost yelled in concern.

"You don't need to worry about me. Concentrate on getting Sasori. I'll hold back the other puppets." Chiyo raised her hand.

"Hai." obeyed Sakura.

More puppets band together. Sakura ran towards them with high speed. Chiyo's puppets assisted her, taking on the front lines while Sakura took care of the ones that snuck up on her. One of Chiyo's puppets ran beside Sakura, spitting out something.

"Sakura, use that!" Chiyo yelled.

Before Sakura could take it, several puppets attacked her simultaneously. The puppet dropped the orb like thing and Sakura grabbed it, landing on the swords and running towards Sasori once more. Sakura continued to dodge the puppets and debris that flew towards her. Finally she made it towards her goal.

"Here!" she threw the orb and it instantly grew into this piranha-like creature and burst out of the bubble, teeth sharpened. Sasori gasped as he backed away slightly. Before he could react, the thing trapped him against the wall of the cave with its teeth. For once, there was silence.

"We got him," panted Sakura, breaking the silence.

I stared dumbfounded at Sasori's puppet body.

"You can't get away now. That seal completely suppresses the target's chakra. You can no longer use your chakra strings. It's over Sasori."

I glared at them. It had to be false. Sasori would come back one way or another. He had to, he did the first time. Chiyo fell forward on the ground on her hands, exhausted. The poison was starting to take effect.

"Chiyo-baasama! Hurry and use the antidote!" Sakura ran towards Chiyo.

I watched with delight as another puppet had risen, sword in hand. In its chest laid Sasori's heart. Sasori raised his sword, Chiyo turning around with shock written on her face. Sakura reached out her hand to try and save Chiyo. Blood stained the air and Chiyo's face. Chiyo stared at Sakura, too terrified to speak. Sakura had taken the blow for herself. The blood that stained the sword dripped down to the ground next to Sakura's shaking leg. Sasori stared in bewilderment.

"Sakura..." Chiyo muttered.

Then her head drooped down in pain. Sakura looked over to her, her feature's strained with agony.

"Chiyo-baasama, are you all right? Can you still move?" Sakura gasped for oxygen.

"Ha? Still worried about her, even with that wound?" Sasori grumbled darkly, piercing her wound even further.

She backed up with pain, gasping and closing her eyes shut.

"As a medical ninja, you should understand your situation." Sasori grinned.

"Shut up." Sakura cracked.

Sasori chuckled, "You're a tough kid. But, how long do you think you can last?" Sasori dug the sword even further.

By now, Sakura was heavily panting. She tried to stop the bleeding by healing the wound, even with the sword stuck in her.

"I'm okay, Chiyo-baasama. You take the last of the antidote, quickly." urged Sakura.

"Sakura..." Chiyo gasped.

Sakura winced in pain once more, making Sasori laugh, "Looks like the poison's finally working its magic. This katana is poisoned as well, obviously." Sasori stated.

Chiyo lifted the antidote, staring at it. She uncapped it
and stabbed it against Sakura's leg. Sakura stared at Chiyo with magnified eyes. Chiyo still held it against Sakura's leg, waiting for the antidote to be finished transferring into Sakura's body.

"So that's the antidote?" Sasori stared at it.

"Why?" Sakura questioned as Chiyo fell to the ground, "Chiyo-baasama..."

"Everyone's choosing death to save one another. How stupid." Sasori whispered so those two couldn't hear him.

I, however, caught it. I grimaced and my heart dropped even further down. It made me wonder...does he even care? Would he even care if I died? If I had sacrificed my life for him? No...he probably wouldn't...Hell, he doesn't even care about me. He didn't even pay attention to me when I tried to get his attention, to tell him about the antidote. My heart ached at the thoughts circling around my mind. Sakura grabbed the katana, Sasori tried to yank her off but failed.

"I'm not letting go." she choked out, "Chiyo-baasama." she looked over at Chiyo who laid on the ground panting.

Sasori glared at her, then twisted his arm. Pulling his arm away from the part that held the sword, it revealed that at the end of his elbow was another sword. He jumped 20 feet away. Then he ran, raising his arm high in the air.

"Die!" he cried.

Sasori saw Chiyo's hands move up. Purple blood splattered the ground and his face as Mother and Father's swords pierced Sasori's heart. And mine, when I saw it.

"SASORI!" I screamed.

---

(1) - HOLD UP. HOLD. THE FUCK. UP. Did Sasori just say "my cute little successor"? Never thought I'd live to see the day that happened. This whole chapter and the last was taken from the Anime so yeah, the only thing that I changed was Hoshi and her parts.

(2) - If you guys don't know what this is, it's the statue that the Akatsuki use to steal the chakra of the Bijuu's from their Jinchuuriki.

(3) - Ain't that ironic? Sasori claims he has no emotions yet he's in love with art. But yes, despite his claims, he does in fact have emotion. Even in the Anime where there is no romance for him. You can tell because anger is emotion. And he CLEARLY displays anger. I dunno if impatience is an emotion, but I don't think so...if so...he displays emotions a lot then.

(4) - I'm not sure what that is so don't ask me. I just heard it like that when Sasori called his grandma that. I think I might've heard wrong, but oi, I replayed that part over 10 times just to hear what he said, and I'm pretty sure I'm not deaf (much).

(5) - That kinda reminded me of Sasuke, 'cause you know his hair. XD

You know, watching the fight while writing it, I had to pay attention to A LOT of detail (but during the 10 Puppets vs 100 Puppets I got lazy), and in doing so, I've noticed a few things wrong with the Anime. And I also paid more heed to what was actually going on. And that Sakura repeats other people's sentences a lot. That was getting on my nerves so I put the "What is she, some kinda parrot?" thing.

Ahh...finally done with writing this chapter. Took me...two damn days...dammit. Turns out that this chapter didn't reach 10K words. Instead...it reached 20,090. Sighs and facepalms. Took me so damn long. But yes now you know the reason why I hadn't updated in a day. Hope this long ass chapter makes up for it. And I'd like to thank jspike and FangWolf101 for favoriting this story. Also I'd like to thank jspike for adding this story to their Story Alerts. I've decided to write another chapter, seeing as how it can't end here. So NEXT chapter is the last chapter, then an Epilogue, and then my HidanOC story!

...Okay I'll shut up now. Watch out for next chapter!