Sorry again guys. I was just really having a hard time with this chappy. Please read the author's notes at the end. Enjoy :)

Chiyo clenched her teeth as she franticly searched through her mind for any solution to the current situation that wouldn't involve her death. "Just Sasori was bad enough, but if I'm right about what kind of puppet that is then we are in deep trouble." She turned to the Kazekage. "Takaifuujin, I'm going to need help."

Takaifuujin nodded. "Nhm!"

Kesshouryuu walked up next to Takaifuujin. "We're with you too, Kazekage-sama."

Takaifuujin took a quick look around and noticed that all the previous puppets had been destroyed. He also noticed that eight of his original team were still standing and so were most of the Konoha nins. He smiled. "Thank you, Kesshouryuu, but considering the poison he uses I think you all should stay back. Only enter the fight if Chiyo-sama and I have failed."

Kesshouryuu didn't look happy about it but did as he was commanded to. "Hai, Kazekage-sama."

Naruto returned to the fight to find the Kazekage and an elderly woman he'd never seen before standing in front of the enemy--surrounded by their allies. "Why the hell aren't they attacking?" he wondered as he ran to Hinata's side. "Hina-chan, what's going on?"

"Kazekage-sama told everyone to act only as back up," Hinata said with a tone that clearly said she wanted to help.

Naruto let out a puff of air. "Well, then that's what we gotta do," he said darkly.

Hinata looked at him with surprise. The boy she loved wasn't known for being so mature in this kind of situation. "Nhm," she said with a bit of pride.

Dog, dragon, horse. "Suna goremu no jutsu!(A/N-Sand golem technique)" A humanoid sand creature emerged behind Takaifuujin.

Sasori smirked. "Hmf. What are you going to do with that? You should know that's too slow to get anywhere near me."

Sasori's Sandaime puppet shot forward, its right arm opening up into a nasty array of bladed weapons. Just a foot or so before these blades made contact something rushed in front of them, blocking them from their intended target. Now it was Takaifuujin's turn to smirk. "Heh."

Sasori glared at the golem as it held back his puppet's blades. "That's impossible!"

"By itself, a golem is slow, but with a puppeteer controlling it..." Takaifuujin turned to look at Chiyo. Chakra strings, emanating from her fingertips, were attached to the golem.

"Like that'll make a difference!" Sasori yelled. The puppet's left arm flipped open and several kunai shot out at once. The golem blocked every one of them, but just barely. "Heh. You're getting slow in your old age grandma!"

"Don't get cocky, Kiddo! I taught you everything you know!" Chiyo countered as she used the golem to knock back the puppet.

Suddenly Takaifuujin began to feel woozy. "What the...?" he said weakly as he put a hand on his forehead.

"So, it's finally taken effect," Sasori said with satisfaction.

"I'm...poisoned? But," Takaifuujin stumbled a bit as his golem dispersed back into the sand it came from, "how? I never got cut."

"Did you think all my puppets were easily seen?" Sasori smiled. "Lift up your right sleeve."

Takaifuujin moved his sleeve and there, on his arm, was a tiny scorpion puppet. "Shit!" He fell down in a sitting position on the sand. "I'm sorry, Chiyo-sama...but it looks like I'm out of this fight." He fell over onto his side and slipped into unconsciousness.

Chiyo pulled two scrolls out of her sleeves and unrolled them. Two popping noises sounded and when the smoke cleared, two puppets appeared in front of the aging puppet master. One was female and the other was male. "I didn't think Takai-kun would have been taken out so easily. I really didn't want to have to use these two."

Sasori cocked an eyebrow. "Are you kidding me? Those were the first two puppets I ever made." Memories of those very same puppets holding him in comfort when he was little flooded his mind. "Hmpf. Mother...and father. How stupid of you. I know all their tricks!"

Both Sasori's and Chiyo's puppets shot towards each other. After several punches, kicks and swipes with blades they jumped back to their masters--each sporting massive damage. Sasori looked at his puppet. It was missing a chunk out of it's left arm and some of it's right side had been splintered. "I underestimated you, Grandma. Looks like I may need to take this seriously after all." His puppet's mouth opened and something that looked a bit like black sand began to snake from it in tendrils.

"So, it seems it can use the Sandaime's jutsu." Chiyo gritted her teeth. "The most feared weapon in all of Sunagakuru...satetsu (A/N- Iron sand)"

"It's been a long time since you've seen this hasn't it? This 'family reunion' is about to be cut short!" The tendrils surrounded Chiyo's puppets and separated into the tiny granules that they really were. They filled every joint of the puppets, rendering them useless.

The satetsu formed into needle-like projectiles and rocketed toward Chiyo. She raised her right arm. The sides of it opened into four long strips which had chakra run between them, creating a shield. "So, you've turned your arm into a puppet. How fitting. And a chakra shield as well. You're just full of surprises today, Grandma."

Chiyo closed her arm back up and stood still for a moment...thinking. "Damn. I really don't want to use 'those'." Just as Chiyo was about to pull out another scroll a strange looking humanoid figure stepped up next to her. It was like a living shadow. "What is this?"

The shadow figure spoke. "I'm a jutsu made by Haruno Sakura. I can't be destroyed unless Sakura is knocked out and that strange sand won't effect me. Please, use me as your puppet."

Chiyo stared at this thing that spoke with no mouth for a moment and then looked around till she saw a girl with roughly the same shape as the shadow humanoid. The girl with pink hair gave her a thumbs up and a grin. "Hmn. Thank you, child." She turned back to her grandson. "Alright, kid. Let's see what this shadow can do."

"Golem or shadow puppet--it makes little difference!" Sasori goaded as he sent another rain of satetsu needles.

Chiyo used Inner Sakura to pull herself out of the way of the onslaught. After they landed Inner Sakura spoke again. "What is that attack?"

"Satetsu. It's a jutsu developed by the Sandaime, based on an attack by the previous host of Shukaku. It can be formed into any shape, such as weapons that are perfect for any situation. The Sandaime had a kekkai genkai allowed him to turn the chakra he formed into magnetic forces," Chiyo explained.

"But why would a lifeless puppet have chakra?" Inner Sakura asked.

"Because...that's no ordinary puppet. That's a hitokugutsu--a puppet made from the body of a living person. It's made so that the puppet retains the chakra the victim had while they were still alive."

"Th...that's horrible!" said Inner Sakura.

"Only Sasori can make them. And it also allows him to use all the victim's jutsus." Chiyo turned to Inner Sakura. "It's a good thing you're not made of flesh or I would make you get back."

"Enough talk! Satetsu Kaihou!" Starting at the puppet's mouth, a web of spikes forward. They kept branching off of each other until a huge, spiky mass of brambles headed toward Chiyo.

Inner Sakura pointed at the center of the attack. "Throw me!" Chiyo did as was instructed. Inner Sakura poured chakra into her fist and rocketed through the brambles, shattering them into thousands of tiny splinters.

Hinata's eyes went wide. "Su...Sugoi!"

Sasori glared at Inner Sakura. "That thing is impossible to destroy, but it can't have come from nowhere." He looked around until his eyes settled on Sakura. It didn't take more than a second for his brain to put two and two together after realizing their outlines were identical. "So...that's where you are."

Naruto noticed Sasori's eyes flicker in Sakura's direction for a moment and he didn't like what it implied.

Sasori's puppet headed for Sakura with frightening speed. "Shit," Inner Sakura thought, "I don't have time to get back to myself!"

Sakura's eyes widened when she saw the puppet coming for her.

"No!" Chiyo yelled.

Everyone barely saw the golfball-sized, snow-white ball before it hit the puppet and exploded, causing everyone to cover their ears to block out the noise. When the dust cleared the puppet lay on the ground...in several hundred pieces.

Sasori had managed to catch the trajectory of the sphere and looked in that direction. He saw Naruto standing there...with eyes he'd never seen. "What the hell? He didn't have a dojutsu in the reports." He glared in thought for a moment. "It must be a side effect of the niji chakra."

The white flame in Naruto's eyes seemed to glow a bit as he reached out into the air and, with the speed of building a rasengan, pulled material seemingly from thin air and made another ball identical to the first. Sasori's eyes widened as much as possible when he realized what Naruto had just done. "You...you can see sugikon?! (A/N-after soul, aka: chakra residue)"

Naruto grinned. "Yep. And that's not all." He held out the hand which contained the sugikon bomb and formed a niji rasengan around it. "Everyone, run! I'm the only one of us who could live through this!" he commanded to the crowd. Hinata, Sakura and Sasuke looked at Naruto. He saw their fear and smiled. "Don't worry--seriously. I've done this before."

Hinata was surprised. "Y...you have?"

Naruto laughed. "What did you think I was doing with Jiraiya for six months?--Watching him peep?"

Sasuke smirked. "Hmpf, just be careful."

"You know me," Naruto replied.

Sasuke cocked an eyebrow. "That's why I said be careful."

The remainder of his allies departed, with Hinata casting a nervous glance behind her as Naruto turned to face his enemy.

Sasori simply shook his head. "How do you think you're gonna hit me with that, kid? There's no way," Sasori took off his cloak, "you can match my speed."

Naruto was shocked as he looked over the many wooden limbs and joints where there should have been skin. "He...he made himself into a puppet?" He smirked. "Now that I know you're mainly wood, I don't feel so bad about doing this."

Sasori looked disgusted. "Feh. 'feel bad'--about killing an enemy? What kind of ninja are you?"

Naruto's smirk widened. "The good kind." He crouched down, loaded his legs with chakra and launched himself at Sasori.

"He's fast," Sasori thought as Naruto shot forward. He pulled a length of spear-tipped cord from the spindle he'd built into his midriff and launched it at Naruto. It was dead on target and Naruto was still heading forward. "Heh. Got you."

Just before the blade would have hit Naruto he moved the rasengan in front of himself like a shield and the projectile merely bounced off it.

"What?!" Sasori's hands flipped upwards, revealing kunai launchers in his wrists.

Naruto saw this and only smiled. "Too late..." The rasengan hit dead on target. The explosion that resulted was so powerful that it shook the village with the force of a 3.0 earthquake. Citizens had to run for cover as baseball sized chunks of rock fell from the cliff above.

Hinata had been told he would be alright, but she couldn't help herself as her instincts took over. "NARUTO-KUN!" she screamed. Before her comrades could catch her she darted away from the relative safety of the Kazekage tower roof toward the settling dust from Naruto's attack.
Pieces of Sasori's body were scattered everywhere on the hot sand. In the center of this mayhem was a softly moaning Naruto. "Aw, dammit," he choked out as he felt Hinata's chakra signature get closer to him. He hadn't wanted her to see him until he'd healed the worst of his wounds. He winced at the pitch hit by her shriek of fear.

"Naruto-kun!" She dove to her knees next to her boyfriend. Her eyes filled with tears as she looked him over. He had multiple second degree burns and small cuts--the exception being a large gash on his left cheek. There was blood leaking from both corners of his mouth and he was bruised everywhere. Hinata took out a cloth from her side pouch and wiped away some of the blood.

"I told you not to come," Naruto said horsely.

"You said you would be alright," Hinata said, a touch of anger entering her voice.

"I will be. You just got here before I was done healing myself," Naruto replied gently.

"What?" Hinata said in surprise.

Naruto smiled slightly. "Look at my cheek."

Hinata looked and saw a faint glow as the tissues slowly knitted themselves back together. She swallowed. "H..how long before we can move you?"

"About ten minutes. The burns are almost gone already," Naruto replied as he looked at his hand.

Hinata's eyes widened a little. The second degree burns had gone down a level to first degree.

Sakura walked over and knelt beside Hinata, placing a hand on the smaller girl's shoulder. "Why don't we help him along?" she said with a smile.

Hinata nodded. "Nhm," she replied stiffly. She saw the confused look on Sakura's face produced by the strange tone in her voice, but avoided clearing up the confusion because even she didn't understand why her own voice sounded so...irritated. It wasn't like her. Glowing green hands were soon speeding the healing process further, but an unfamiliar feeling was boiling underneath her own skin, something that was quickly turning into anger.
"Thanks," Naruto said. Sakura smacked the back of his head. "What was that for?" he asked indignantly.

"For making us worry," Sakura answered without looking up from her work.

Naruto frowned.

Sakura turned to Sasuke. "Please get a med team up here with a stretcher."

Sasuke nodded and left.

Once the wounds were healed enough that the girls could lessen the help they gave Hinata uttered words that Naruto had never thought could come from her mouth. "Naruto-kun?" she said without looking at him.

"Yeah?"

The tone in her voice held barely contained rage. "Don't you ever do that again."

Naruto shrank back a bit at the quiet anger in her words. "I did what I had to..."

Hinata's head snapped up. Tears were streaming down her face. "EVER!" she screeched.

"Hina-chan, we're ninjas. We're going to get hurt," Naruto replied, feeling a bit defensive as he eased himself into a sitting position.

"That's not what I was talking about."

"Then what...?"

Hinata had calmed down considerably, but the tears still flowed. "You lied to me to get me to leave. You said you would be alright. The way you looked when we first got here--that...that wasn't alright," she finished softly.

Naruto hated to admit it, but she was right. He wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sorry, Hina-chan. Next time we fight together...I promise."

...TO BE CONTINUED

FINALLY:dies: I was starting to think I'd be writing that battle for another chapter :shudders:

I know some of you will think Hinata is OOC, but with how much she's grown during COLAD and considering the circumstances I think her reaction was correct.

DOUJINSHI NEWS!!: Yep, you heard right. We actually have more pages to look at! These were drawn by the unbelievably talented Charu-san. You guys will LOVE her work to bits and pieces. She's not doing all of book one, but she's said that she does plan to do many scenes from it. The first one being Naruto's confession from chapter 20. She's been adding new pages daily. We're already up to ten and she said the scene has five more coming before she's done! If you'd like to see her work please go to the COLAD homepage (Link in my profile). They're under doujinshi/Charu-san. Please be certain to leave comments. She deserves a ton!

Radioplay news:Why me? sigh My narrator doesn't have time to do it for the summer, so now I get to do it myself. It's gonna be hard coming up with a voice different enough from Tsunade's so everyone doesn't get confused. Chapter 3 will come, I'm just not sure when.

Now that the battle is done with the next chapter should come out much faster. Crosses fingers

C-ya later all,

Song