Team guy was standing on water surface, facing a cave whose opening was closed by a boulder with a paper stuck on it.
"Kazekage Gaara is inside that cave!" Pakkun said coming from back of Lee. He was standing on Lee's shoulder.
"It's guarded by some kind of barrier, it seems." Said the might guy and turned to his team.
"You are late! Kakashi" Guy said and his team members looked behind to see team Kakashi.
Team Kakashi also arrived with Lady Chiyo from sand village.
"We ran into some trouble on our way"
"Naruto…?! You are back!" Lee shouted
"Bushy bro!" Naruto smiled looking at Lee's cheerful expression.
"Naruto...!" Neji was in shock. Shocked to see the growth of Naruto, the guy who crushed his arrogance and showed him the right path.
"Alright let's do it! Let's save Gaara!" Naruto said bumping his fist in palm of other hand "Neji please check what's going inside?" Naruto instantly reacted to the situation.
"..." Neji was even more shocked to see Naruto's quick reaction. 'is he the same Naruto , who left the village 3 years ago?'
"Neji!" Naruto shouted at Neji to snap him out of his thoughts.
"Yeah... Byakugan" Neji said activating his ocular jutsu and started searching for Gaara.
"Wa-what..?" what Neji saw was a something giant humanoid structure coming out of ground, with people standing on its fingers.
"What's the matter Neji? what did you see? is Gaara there? Can you see him?" Naruto attacked Neji with too many questions. Hearing Naruto's voice, Neji started looking for Gaara.
"I located Kazekage Gaara… but It's hard to explain the situation inside..." Neji said.
"It means…" Tenten gave a worried look.
"We have to look for ourselves" replied Lee
"In that case, I'll keep it short" Guy told lee and jumped few yards backwards.
Guy bent a little and took a start, he ran as fast as he could. Using the momentum, he punched the boulder. Force of punch was too much, it sent shockwaves through the whole cave.
The force of punch was too much, enough to crush the boulder of that size, but it didn't seem to have suffered a single scratch "A barrier…?"
Inside cave…
"It's getting noisy outside" said one guy amongst the group members.
"It seems that they have made it here" said Kisame Hoshigaki, who was only a projection of his real self.
"Which group it is? Is it the one that Kisame fought or-" Deidara asked, he and Sasori were the only ones that were physically present others were just projections.
"Both of then" answered Zetsu.
"So both of them made it, unfortunately" said a random guy turning from Zetsu to Gaara " they are bit too late"
"There's a Jinchuuriki among them, right?" Sasori smirked "hahaha… don't think poorly of me, Itachi... hahah..."
Outside of cave…
"We have to break the barrier first" said Might Guy.
It took no more than one minute to identify the barrier.
"It looks like a five signs barrier" Kakashi studied the seal by outlooks of it.
"Indeed it looks like one" granny agreed with Kakashi.
"It means there are four more signs spread across this area" guy said
"Yeah... and they need to be removed at the same time or else it will be stuck and cannot be removed" Kakashi agreed and turning to Neji "Neji could you please-"
"I'm on it" said Neji and started searching and within five min he pinpointed their location.
Guy took out wireless radio for communication "we'll go for search of those seals and Neji will provide directions"
With Akatsuki…
"Sasori… Deidara..." a man called then to get their attention "take care of the guys outside but I want the Jinchuuriki alive!"
"Understood" replied Sasori
"Rest are dismissed" ordered the man.
"Let's go" another proximity said and vanished, with that his unknown partner also vanished.
"Well then, we'll go too" said Kisame turning towards Itachi.
"Itachi… how do I know which one is the Jinchuuriki?" Sasori asked.
After a while of silence and eye to eye fight, the leader spoke "go ahead Itachi, tell him"
"He's the one who barks and charges first, but be wary of him, he's too strong compared to this one" And with that Itachi vanished.
"What the hell?" Sasori growled
"Can't he be more specific?" Complained Deidara.
Outside of cave…
"What's the frequency?"Kakashi asked adjusting his radio.
"It's 174" Guy was ready and so was everyone.
Lee took a deep breath and "everyone, can you hear me?"
This shook everyone from the ground "chaaaooo..!" Guy shouted
"Erhhhaa" tenten screamed.
Neji and Kakashi were in no good condition, Kakashi was twitching like a helpless bird and Neji was just holding his ears, it's not his style to show any emotions, a Hyuuga genius.
"Lee, your Mic volume is too high" Tenten shouted at lee holding her ears.
"I'm sorry!" Apologized Lee.
This again sent a painful wave in everyone.
"Lee, hey Lee!" Guy pointed at volume key on his collar Mic. He was twitching and so was Kakashi, Neji held his hands on his ears out of pain.
Lee turned is volume low and apologized to everyone.
"Ok! the radio settings are fine, we are good to go!" Tenten said turning to Guy.
"Guys do your best" Naruto cheered them, and with that they dispersed in their respective direction.
"Ok then, I'll go too. If I be here I'll just be your way" and with that Pakkun also vanished.
While running towards the destinations Guy did a recheck on his plan "After you all find the seal, you'll wait there for signal. After everyone is in their position, we'll remove the seal and barrier will be undone"
"After the barrier is removed, Sakura will break the entrance and we'll charge in" explained Kakashi.
"I'm in position" guy said
"I'm Neji, I'm in position"
"I found mine as well" lee said
"This is Tenten, I'm in position"
"Hey Kakashi!?" Guy sensei asked to confirm the situation with other team.
"I'm good to go! We will go by button hook entry" Kakashi informed every one of his team members.
"Yeah" Sakura acknowledged
"I know" Naruto smirked while his hands were in a ram seal. He started releasing his chakra slowly so that the environment wouldn't be disturbed, wind gathered around him started blowing away but at a slow pace.
"On count of three, 1... 2... 3" and with that everyone removed the barrier.
As soon as the barrier was removed, Sakura charged towards boulder and punched it. Kakashi jumped away from boulder before Sakura could punch, to avoid any damage. The boulder crumbled down to small stones.
As soon as the boulder was broken down, everyone jumped in, and as per the plan they took the formation.
"I thought we've set a trap, Sasori my man!" Taunted a blonde man sitting on a body lying on ground.
"Now now Deidara, don't test my patients" warned a man which seem to be kneeling with a weird mouth and a tail made of steel came out of his rear.
With others…
"What is that?" Tenten wondered looking at small bulge of water that rose up in the river, which was located beside the seal that Tenten was given to remove. The bulge of water was continuously increasing in height.
"It's a trap!" Neji said over radio looking at exact same copy of him.
"I encountered it too" Guy sensei acknowledged.
"Me too, but its exact copy of mine" Lee informed everyone and the fight began.
"It seems very strong technique, to create exact same copies of ourselves with same strength, this is no ordinary jutsu" Neji explained after exchanging few blows, his battle with clone had already began.
"Kakashi, what about you?" Guy asked over radio.
"We've encountered the enemy but there is no sign of trap..." before Kakashi could finish, someone came from behind to punch him. Kakashi turned over his shoulder to take a look at the person but he could only see the fist coming in his direction. *pat* there was a sound and the fist stopped inches away from the face.
Kakashi turned to take a look of whole situation and found that his exact copy was standing there with punch directed towards his face but it was grabbed in mid-way by Naruto. He pulled the clone and kicked him, which sent him across cave and crashed with wall at the other end. Naruto then turned towards the two Akatsuki's with clenched fist, and sent the killing intent.
After a min of glaring, Naruto noticed that the blonde guy was actually sitting on Gaara, who was lying down "where the fuck do you think you're sitting, you bastard!?"
"There's no mistaking it, he's the Jinchuuriki" Deidara spoke keeping his calm "Itachi described him quite accurately... the one who barks n charges first". While Deidara was busy observing Naruto, Sasori was continuously staring at Chiyo without uttering a word.
Meanwhile the clone charged at Naruto and Kakashi with Kakashi's lightning blade in his hand. Kakashi who was standing diagonally behind Naruto, took a fighting stance, knowing the power of lightning blade. "Naruto be careful" warned Kakashi thinking that he would move out of the way.
As the clone came closer n closer tension of the situation grew, Sakura was scared and Kakashi was shocked to see Naruto. He was standing still, glaring at Deidara.
As the clone was about to poke Naruto, "Naruto!" Sakura ran towards Naruto screaming out and so did Kakashi but they were too late.
Just when the lightning blade was about to make contact with Naruto, he grabbed clones wrist. Clone tried to break free but couldn't due to Naruto's strong grip.
Still looking at Deidara, Naruto twisted his arm, gave it a jerk downwards and kicked him again. This time clone crashed with the wall behind the Deidara and Sasori but the wrist remained in Naruto's hand. He snapped it the moment he pulled him down by jerk.
Sakura and Kakashi were stunned to see Naruto's brute strength.
"That was some strength you have there" taunted Deidara
"Give Gaara back, you bastard!" Naruto shouted before going insane and started running in their direction.
"Wait Naruto… calm down" Kakashi stopped him, jumping in between Akatsuki and Naruto "if you attack hastily, we are all going to die!"
Sasori turned his gaze from Naruto to Deidara. "What's wrong master Sasori?"
"I'll take him!" Sasori said to Deidara. Seeing that Naruto was constantly staring at Gaara, Sasori spoke "it seems he wants him back"
"It seems he wants him, but I've never seen a Jinchuuriki act like that before" Deidara was still looking at Naruto 'I think he is hot head that means if I could just provoke him...'
Meanwhile Kakashi was analyzing situation 'the left one with blond hair took down Gaara, so that means the right one is...' Kakashi turned to Chiyo 'Sasori, her grandson'
"Sasori my man, I know you'll get angry but I'm going to fight the Jinchuuriki. I've heard he's pretty strong."
"Don't get cocky Deidara, each one of us gets their turn"
"With art you must seek greater and greater simulations, or your ability to appreciate it will go dull" Deidara started his shit about his art and in response Sasori argued with him. Their fight about art seemed to be endless which made naruto run out of patients. Meanwhile the Kakashi's copy approached the duo and stood beside them. This time the clone didn't act on its own, cause he knew that this time it will be the end.
"Why you bastard! Get off Gaara you!" Naruto growled
"Why do you care so much?" Deidara asked and slapping Gaara he said "he's already dead anyway"
"W-what" Naruto's expression changed to shock and then slowly anger started consuming him "I will kill both of you" Naruto shouted taking out a scroll, he spread it and unsealed a big shuriken. It was half the size of Naruto and too much heavy for any chunin to use in a combat and yet Naruto hurled it like it was nothing.
"Your opponent is me" throwing away his Akatsuki cloak, Sasori jumped in front of Deidara and shielded himself from shuriken by using his tail.
*metal clashing sound* shuriken was having too much of momentum, Sasori was pushed back and to avoid any harm, he had to divert the shuriken.
Shuriken got embedded in the cave wall and the Sasori's tail suffered a significant damage.
"Why you..!" Sasori growled seeing the damage to his tail.
'This one is strong, I've to careful while fighting him' while thinking, Deidara took his hand out of a pouch which was attached to his waistline. The palm of his hand had mouth and it was chewing clay. Closing his fist, Deidara formed a bird out of clay which he took out of pouch, throwing that small bird made out of clay in air, he formed a ram seal and that small bird increased in size, it was large in size and white in colour.
"What the hell!" Naruto was clenched his fist.
'Sasori... your Hiruko puppet has some upgrades from the last time I saw you... you really-'
Seeing Deidara's abilities n Sasori's true form Kakashi again started making amendment in his plan 'from the Intel provided by sand, that white thing explodes as per his wish and I suppose he can form many more of those and use them with long range attack' and then turning to Sasori 'and he uses puppets to fight which makes him a long-range opponent, and considering Naruto and Sakura they both are short range type'
Suddenly, while Kakashi was busy analyzing, bird took Gaara in its mouth and spread its wings. Deidara jumped on its back and headed towards exit to cave 'you better follow me Jinchuuriki'
"Gaara…! where do you think you are taking him" Naruto followed Deidara outside the cave. "Naruto... wait.. damn it"Kakashi tried to stop him with his useless efforts.
"Fucking Deidara, acting all by himself" Sasori said seeing Deidara taking his Jinchuuriki.
"Wait! Damn you!" Naruto growled at Deidara standing on river outside cave.
Kakashi ran behind Naruto "he isn't going to control himself after all!" He stopped at the exit "Naruto and I will take care of the guy outside, Sakura and lady, I'll leave these two to you but don't take any unnecessary actions. Wait for team guy to come back."
"Got it!" Sakura acknowledged Kakashi.
Naruto was standing on a post that was just outside the cave.
Kakashi jumped near Naruto "Guy, come in!" Kakashi touched the collar radio "the enemy has split in two, we need backup. Come right away"
"We can't" guy responded while taking breath, he was panting "we got caught in enemy's trap. We need more time" *yeaahhh* "over n out!"
"I can't afford to hold back" Kakashi lifted his head band from his left eye revealing sharingan.
"Should you really be fighting me, Kakashi of the sharingan?" Deidara said while air below his cloak, his left hand seemed to be absent. "Although our opinion on what true art is, differs a lot, master Sasori is stronger than me"
'He probably wants to fight Naruto one-on-one. This is the shinobi who defeated lord Kazekage single handedly. Naruto probably won't be able to handl him alone'
"Kakashi sensei go to Sakura and help her" Naruto said glaring at Deidara and jumped at him. Deidara simply moved out of the way to avoid him and formed a bird in his hand with clay, while Naruto crashed into the wall of valley. Deidara directed his bird in Naruto's direction, but before it could reach Naruto, Kakashi jumped near Naruto and standing on wall, he threw some shuriken which hit the bird half way. Deidara had to make it explode there because they would fall any way.
Deidara threw a shuriken which was countered by a kunie thrown by Kakashi.
"You shouldn't be worth fighting if that's all took you" Deidara taunted.
"I won't let you have Gaara!" Naruto came to the surface of the hole he created by crashing into the valleys wall.
Inside cave…
Granny and Sakura dodged all the senboon attacks by Sasori, seeing he ran out of ammo, Sakura charged at him.
Sasori's tail was about to pierce Sakura in head, but it was stopped. "What! it stopped!.. damn you old hag"
Sakura was standing still only inches away from tail, tried to move but was kicked away by clone Kakashi. "aahhhyaaa " Sakura screamed
Outside…
"You are a weird one for a Jinchuuriki. They are kind of gloomy and hate people around them" Deidara spoke "my comrades defeated two other Jinchuuriki not counting this and none of them had anyone to save them not even their friends."
"Garr" Naruto was getting angrier n angrier as time passed.
"Gaara died, when we removed the tailed beast out of him and this is going to happen to you too" Deidara taunted and the he growled "you hear me?"
"I won't let you get away with this" Naruto's eyes became red and marks dark.
* aahhhyaaa *
'That was Sakura, they are in trouble' Kakashi thought looking at cave, turning to Naruto 'but I certainly cannot leave Naruto with him'
"That was Sakura's scream... what's going on?" Naruto's red eyes became blue again when he heard Sakura scream and he seems to have snapped out of his insanity "Kakashi sensei help Sakura and granny don't worry about me"
"No Naruto! I can't leave you with him, he defeated lord Kazekage and you're no match for-"
"Don't underestimate me Kakashi sensei. What you saw during our match was nothing, I was holding back, you don't know depth of my abilities" Naruto said forming a ram seal, he released all of his chakra. The blue aura that surrounded Naruto was repelling things away from him.
"What's that chakra? its too much for anyone even Kisame don't have this much" Deidara squealed.
"Sensei, I may have snapped your clone's wrist but he has exact same strength as you have. I don't think they'll hold for much time" Naruto spoke "Go sensei" with that in a blink of an eye Naruto was beside Deidara and punched him really hard.
Deidara was sent fighting deep into the forest even while he was crashing though trees, he didn't come to halt until it was ground he hit. He then skidded for few more yards and stopped at a tree.
"That was… too strong! Argh..."Deidara squealed in pain, his jaw broke and some ribs too, due to crashing.
"Kakashi sensei please go to Sakura"
Seeing Naruto's strength Kakashi turned towards cave and said "Naruto remember what lord Jiraiya said, don't lose control of yourself"
"Yeah..." Naruto agreed. He was standing on the bird and as Kakashi left. Naruto took out a a kunie and beheaded the bird, and grabbing head of the bird, Naruto jumped in forest and landed on clear ground.
"Shadow clone jutsu" Naruto formed two clones to be at Gaara's side "be at Gaara's side I'll take that guy out" and with that Naruto ran in Deidara's direction.
Deidara fixed himself and formed an eagle with his clay. Riding on its back, Deidara started searching for Naruto.
"I'm here you bastard" Naruto shouted standing on tree.
Deidara increased the height and going out of the range. He took out some birds which he already had in pouch. He dropped them and formed a ram sign which brought them to life.
They started flying towards Naruto. He threw some shuriken to stop them but most of them were dodged, these bids were specially made for speed but even though Naruto was able to hit 4 birds, the rest followed Naruto.
Naruto was running through forest to evade them but it didn't seem to work "these things are everywhere, damn it! Even with this speed I can't evade everyone them, there's too many" and some birds got closer to Naruto. Seeing this as an opportunity, Deidara detonated them.
There was a series of blasts that created huge explosion which engulfed Naruto.
After the explosion died, Deidara lowered a little to check on Jinchuuriki. He was lying in dirt with no movements, with his back was facing up and all over his body had burned marks "huh.,. I guess it's over!"
Naruto opened his eyes and suddenly jumped towards Deidara with great speed that he could not react "what-" and punched him in gut. Naruto then side kicked him taking support of bird. Trying hard to block the attack, Deidara brought his hand in middle, barely managing to avoid a direct hit on face. He barely kicked Naruto in response, which didn't do much damage but he was thrown away from bird to ground.
"You should teach your little toys, how to differentiate between a real person and a substitution" taunted Naruto.
"It means after you substituted, you purposely lied down to lure me into your trap?" Deidara asked while blood was coming out of his mouth from sides.
"You're not as dumb as you look" Naruto taunted.
"You bastard, I'll kill you" Deidara roared with little blood coming out of his mouth. He reached his back pack and took out all of his creations 'I don't have much clay left. I shouldn't waste them...'
He dropped his puppets to where Naruto was. This time they were like grass hoppers, their rear limbs were designed for jumping.
Naruto backed off from tree to tree but they seem to follow his with some speed. Although they weren't match for Naruto's speed but their numbers did the compensation. They were everywhere.
"I guess I don't have any choice" Naruto formed a hand seal "Multi shadow clone jutsu". The whole area was filled with Naruto and they were forming Rasengan.
"Looks like he's up to something…" Deidara said and took a last bite of his clay and formed 3 birds of small size and directed towards Naruto.
*boom* there were series of blasts which cleared the forest area. "Oh shit!" Naruto blurted out as he saw 3 birds near him.
"Hyaaa!" Deidara formed a ram seal and all 3 of them exploded with Naruto caught in explosion.
After the explosion died one could see Naruto kneeling on ground panting heavily. He suffered some damage due to that explosion and was all bruised up.
"Hahaha... you let your guard down boy!" Deidara laughed at Naruto.
Naruto got up and was on his feet already "oh is that so..." and smirked.
"What!" Deidara was shocked to see Naruto on his feet once again "it's impossible! That attack was a point blank range. At this close distance no one could survive it"
'He's right. It wouldn't have killed me but I would have suffered a great deal of damage, if I hadn't formed a wind shield, even if it was for just one of those...' Naruto thought and then started "it's not impossible now is it"
"Why you-" Deidara was cut off by sensing a proximity behind him.
"You shouldn't let your guard down" Naruto said slamming Rasengan in is gut "Rasengan" and attacked a wing of bird with a kunie attached with paper bomb. As soon as Naruto and Deidera left the bird, Naruto detonated the paper bomb.
He came down crashing along with his bird. He was lying beside his white bird on ground whose one wing was torn apart by blast. Deidara suffered a great deal of damage due Naruto's attacks. He was breathing heavily while leaning on bird.
"You... are a... strong one... I... underestimated you..." Deidara struggled out words but is was very painful. His jaw was broken and most of the ribs too. His remaining right hand also suffered a damage but wasn't a vital one.
"I'm going to take you alive!" Naruto said as he got closer to Deidara.
"You are... strong... but... don't..." Deidara said turning his head, he took a bite of bird and started chewing it "ARGH" he winced in pain. One could hear his jaw cracking he gulped it "DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME"
Deidara started expanding and he started concentrating his chakra to on point.
"What!?" Naruto formed a clone and dispelling it, retreated as fast as he could.
Dispelling a clone sent back memories to the other ones, that were guarding Gaara. As soon as they came to know the situation they took Gaara and ran as fast as they could to get out of the range of blast as they don't know the range of it. However Naruto was caught in the blast and thrown away.
After the blast died Naruto stood up panting heavily "I shouldn't have held back... eek..." Naruto squealed out of pain "he slipped out..!" Naruto said looking at Deidara's direction "But right now providing backup to others is my top priority" he turned to cave where others were fighting.
With Kakashi and others...
Kakashi and his clone was near each other while Sakura and granny Chiyo was holding off Sasori with her eight puppets and Sasori's hundreds. Kakashi was handling his clone opponent single handedly and was also providing help to Chiyo and Sakura. Kakashi also destroyed the 3rd Kazekage, a puppet Sasori made by killing former 3rd kazekage.
Kakashi's right hand was straight through clone's heart while with left hand he was holding clone's right one with tight grip, while clone's left hand was in Kakashi's gut.
Kakashi coughed some blood and "it's over here..." and turned to Sakura and Chiyo. They were standing in same cave but only the different thing was, this time cave did not have any roof.
Kakashi jumped by the Sakura's side hittinng a puppet which was about to acttack her. "Thanks sensei"
Team guy was still fighting their trap.
Naruto got up and moved to Gaara. He saw his lifeless body and gritted his teeth "why... why it's always him... why" Naruto punched a tree nearby. Tree was fell from the point of punch and skidded a little.
Naruto lifted Gaara and left the place dispelling the clones.
A puppet got closer to Chiyo and slashed her. She moved sideways to avoid it but the sword did cut her. The puppet again tried to slash her and she didn't have many of her puppets left that would guard her. Only 3 remaining puppets that left were fighting on front line.
"LADY CHIYO" Sakura screamed in horror.
"Oh no!" Kakashi ran for help but it was too late for him.
Just the puppet was about to make contact with Chiyo, Naruto jumped on puppet destroying it.
"Naruto..." Sakura was happy to see Naruto. 'I don't know why but whenever he comes to aid, I feel very happy, carefree and secure. It's like he is going to make everything okay'
Naruto laid Gaara near granny Chiyo "take care of Gaara"
"yes!" Chiyo said, while she was distracted taking care of Gaara, her other remaining puppets were also destroyed.
"What happened Naruto? Did you defeat that guy?" Kakashi enquired
"No he ran away..." Naruto replied.
"That coward... I never thought he'd run away" Sasori said knowing Deidara that he'd never do it.
"It's your turn now... bastard!" Naruto roared and formed a cross hand seal "shadow clone jutsu". With that more than 50 clones were formed and each pair formed a Rasengan.
"Let's go" and with that Naruto attacked all at once. The puppets and clones clashed making a huge blast.
After the attack was over and smoke dispersed, only thing that was left was broken pieces of puppets.
"You took them out, all at once. Impressive!" Sasori said standing at the wall.
Naruto brought out a kunie from his sleeve and ran to Sasori with intent to kill. Sasori removed a last scroll remaining on his back and use it to charge.
He raised his palm towards Naruto and a black pipe came out of it. Its diameter was bigger than that of shuriken and he started firing a barrage of shuriken and kunie.
"You see that scroll contained a lot of shuriken and kunie" Sasori informed Naruto and others. Naruto was constantly dodging and deflecting Sasori's attacks.
Kakashi also followed Naruto, seeing him jumping in fight alone. He activated his mangekyou sharingan to aim Sasori. Kakashi was unable to aim Kamui at Sasori while dodging his attacks.
"You can dodge as much as you want, brat. I can go all day long like this" Sasori smirked "I have enough ammo to last till 8 hours nonstop... hahaha"
"Earth style: mud wall jutsu" Kakashi formed a mud wall just behind Naruto, taking his cover "Naruto here" Kakashi called him to take cover and think.
"Wind style: blade wind hurricane" Naruto shouted raising his hands towards Sasori. The compressed wind blast was closing in to Sasori and he had to think of something.
"Jutsu span is too wide to evade it. Then..." he formed a hand signs and extended his palm. There was a blast as soon as Naruto's jutsu reached Sasori.
"Argh..." Sakura brought her hands in defensive position to bace herself and after attack died she screamed out "Naruto!" while healing Chiyo.
"haf... huh..." Naruto was panting heavily after the attack.
Sasori was all broken, his hands were cut, his legs suffered the same fate, and it was almost like someone had used a katana to cut a bamboo.
Naruto struggled his way to Sasori to make sure he's dead. Sasori stood up and was laughing "hahaha... I cannot die. I'm immortal" Sasori smirked
"You... huff... bastard!" Naruto growled at him and punched him with all he has got. Just behind Sasori, was the end of cave, a wall was there. Sasori's face was smashed between wall and Naruto's fist.
"He's... huff... done... for... now..." saying that Naruto fell to his knees to take a break. He let lose thinking it's over. After few seconds Naruto heard a sound in front of him.
There was a sound of puppets parts moving. After few seconds Sasori was standing like nothing ever happened. He lifted his hand and tried to behead Naruto with the sword he was holding.
'I can't make it in time' Kakashi thought and forced all his chakra to his sharingan. "Kamui" shouted Kakashi and sent his whole arm to another dimension.
Kakashi again tried concentrate on his head but Sasori jumped away.
'What was that jutsu? My arm is like vanished in another dimension!' Sasori thought "I never thought I could see a sharingan as strong as Itachi's. I'm impressed!"
'Naruto smashed his head but he's still alive that means his life force isn't inside the puppet…'. While thinking, Kakashi saw something 'that's it... because of his robe on previous puppet, I couldn't figure it out but now it's clearly visible' he also remembered how all the parts of his body gathered around it after Naruto destroyed the earlier one.
"Naruto target his heart it's his only weaknesses and his life support"
"So you figured it out! As expected from copycat ninja Hatake Kakashi" Sasori said looking at Kakashi.
"Naruto aim for it, I'll cover you!" Kakashi said while preparing another Kamui.
"Ok... "Naruto said while panting heavily, he picked up a sword and ran to Sasori with all the strength he had, while Sasori was also in same conditions. Although he had a puppet body which didn't show any tiredness but he was also at his limits.
Just as the distance closed between both of them, Naruto directed his sword to his chest while Sasori was ready to strike him down. While Kakashi's Kamui aimed at Sasori's arm "damn it! I can't make it".
Finally the sword's clashing and sound of sword piercing flesh was heard. There was a blood on one end of the sword.
"NARUTO!" Sakura shouted her lungs out till which could cause glass to break and vocal cord to tear apart.
Kakashi was panting heavily while holding his left eye "argh! Huff... I didn't make it" and fell to his knees.
Naruto fell to his knees unable to stand up on his legs while Sasori was also in no condition to move. All over Sasori, there was a violet colour thick blood and the sword he used to attack Naruto was blocked by a mother puppet, he made when he was a child and father grabbed him from behind.
"Huff... it all makes sense. You may have puppet body but you use chakra to control puppets so there must be a living part" Chiyo said "I've much more experience than anyone but even I couldn't figure that out"
Turning to Kakashi 'Kakashi how did you figured it out?'
"Hatake Kakashi... I never thought that I could see anyone with analytical skills as keen as Itachi." Sasori praised Kakashi while his life force was depleting.
Naruto struggled to get up on his feet "gyah... huh... huff..." Naruto was now pushing himself beyond his limits.
Looking at Naruto, Sasori said "idiot... trying to save someone who is already dead"
"Shut... up...!" Naruto stood trembling on his feet "what the hell do you know about Gaara? *huff* what he has to go through. If it wasn't for the beast he'd be alive now" tears started rolling down his cheek "going through the same sadness and loneliness in life all along and no one to care. His life was enough of a hell before you bastards showed up!"
"Why do you care so much..? Being a Jinchuuriki I thought you'd hate everyone around you"
"I also went through the exact same sadness and loneliness in life and hated everyone but someone saved me from my own hatred" Naruto said his with eyes watering.
"Before you die, tell me where Orochimaru is!" Sakura demanded Sasori a piece of information.
"Hn... fine I will tell you a about Orochimaru. Since I'm going to die and no one from Akatsuki is here to share information, I guess I'll tell you about it." Sasori said while his life core got weaker n weaker by every second. "Then days from now, go to Tenchi Bridge in the hidden grass village. I... was supposed... to rendezvous... with a spy... working as... his henchmen...-"
After confirming that Sasori was dead, Naruto and Kakashi, both of them have in to fatigue and fell to the ground, unable to move.
Naruto was on his knees while Kakashi was unconscious. His battle with his clone and Sasori took its toll on him. He used his mangekyou sharingan the whole time while fighting his clone and also used it on Sasori.
"Naruto! Kakashi sensei!" Sakura shouted looking at them. She laid both of them near Gaara. "Lady Chiyo we should head to the village immediately. You need an antidote, we used up all of them."
"Gaara..!" Naruto crawled towards Gaara with tears in his eyes "I failed... I couldn't save Sasuke and I couldn't save Gaara either!" Naruto started crying out loudly.
"Why do you care about Gaara so much? He's not even from your village" asked Chiyo. She was also at her limits and there was poison running through her veins.
"From my village or not, Gaara is my friend who have been in same sadness and loneliness that I had to suffer." *Huff* "I had Iruka sensei and my team to save me from my solitude but Gaara had no one… No one all along.." Naruto was on his knees beside Gaara's dead body.
Sakura's eyes were also watering due to Naruto's words. "Naruto, you did all you can do! You don't have to blame yourself!"
"But why? why did Gaara have to die like this? Why it'd have to be him, he just became the Kazekage, then why? Why..?" Naruto was too much into emotions that he let loose and cried his heart out.
"Calm yourself Naruto Uzumaki" Chiyo said looking at going ninja crying.
"Shut up!" Naruto shouted at her looking her in eye. Chiyo was wide eyed to see Naruto crying, his eyes were telling her everything. "it's because you. If only you hadn't put a monster in Gaara, he'd be alive now! Do you have any idea what burden he carried!? Damn the Jinchuuriki, you have no right to act superior, to label us and use us..."
Team guy appeared at the cave entrance...
"What happened?" Guy asked looking at Kakashi.
"It seems that enemy has been defeated!" Neji stated taking a look around.
"Let's go back before it's too late" Sakura stood up and asked "Naruto can you walk?"
Naruto without saying a word, stood up although he was trembling but he managed to balance himself.
'What is he? He fought one of the Akatsuki all by himself and then took down Sasori also. He was all bruised up before he showed up here and after that battle he shouldn't be even conscious let alone standing'
Sakura started to move towards Gaara and Kakashi
"Sakura wait!" Chiyo said.
"What's the matter lady Chiyo" asked Sakura with a sorrow in her tone.
"Before we return I have on job to do" Chiyo said closing the distance and coming near to Gaara. Ignoring everyone. She got near Gaara and pressed her hands against his chest. She channeled her chakra and it started radiating blue aura unlike green in medical ninjutsu.
"What are you doing..?"Naruto asked wiping his face.
"Lady Chiyo..!" Sakura called her. Chiyo looked at her from corner of her eye, over her shoulder and blinked. 'Then... is she really using that technique she was talking about?' Closely looking at chakra pattern 'yes it's definitely that just she told she developed to make puppets come to life in exchange of casters' "but that means lady Chiyo..."
"What is she trying to do?" Naruto was shocked to see her performing a jutsu while Gaara was dead.
'Medical ninjutsu? No...' Neji thought. Despite being a jounin, he never saw something like this before.
"Is that ..?" Guy started and "a reanimation ninjutsu" Naruto finished.
'A technique as convenient as this could really exist?' Neji thought looking at chakra network of Chiyo and Gaara which was starting to glow ' judging from the chakra flow it-'
'It comes at very high risk!' Naruto thought.
Chiyo gestured at Gaara's face 'common!' She turned her head straight and focused on her hands "Khr". The blue aura was decreasing in its size "damn! Not enough chakra!" Chiyo cursed no one in particular.
Seeing this, Naruto walked to her and kneeling in front of her, he raised his hands. Noticing that someone's hands are in between her vision of her hands, she looked up.
Naruto smiled "take my chakra! Then you can do it, can't you, granny?"
Looking at Naruto, she remembered Kakashi's words. 'He and Gaara, both are Jinchuuriki. He understands Gaara better than anyone in sand ever could. Jinchuuriki are usually treated the same way, regardless of what village they live in. That's why he can't help but want to save him' coming out of her thoughts she spoke "place your hands on top of mine"
Naruto did as he was asked and the blue aura increased in size and intensity.
'Naruto's dream is to become Hokage and when he heard the news of Gaara being the Kazekage, he was frustrated but deep down he was happy for him... you see, Naruto has a strange power. He becomes friends with people very quickly.' Chiyo smiled at Naruto remembering what Kakashi said about him.
"I'm happy that someone like you has appeared in this foolish shinobi world that we old people created" she gazed downwards and continued "everything I've ever done was a mistake. But in my last hour, it looks like I'll finally be able to do something right... the sand and the leaf, future will be totally different that the way things were back in my time... the strange power of yours that Kakashi spoke of will be the power of influence in future. Become Hokage, the likes of which have never seen. And Sakura..."
"Yes?"
"Next time, save the life of a person who is important to you and not of old hag like me. You and I are similar, you'll surpass your masters as a fellow kunoichi" Chiyo said and then turning to Naruto "Naruto, consider it as a request from old woman. You can understand Gaara more than anyone ever could, please save Gaara"
"Yes. I will" Naruto acknowledged with a determining look in his eyes.
At the sand village entrance...
After paying their respects to Chiyo Naruto and rest of the guys prepared to leave and Gaara with sand siblings were present to see them off.
"See ya... well this is the part where you shake hands" Naruto said and started scratching his cheek with index finger sheepishly "but I'm kinda bad at stuff like that so I'll just say-" before Naruto could finish, Gaara stretched out his hand for a hand shake.
Everyone was smiling at the duo and after few moments Gaara's sand brought forward Naruto's hand in a hand shake using his sand.