Well, this is the next chapter. I had a lot of personal affairs that I had to attend to but I finally was able to get the next chapter finished. I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does.

Sasori and Elder Chiyo stared at the other and then attacks began. The Father and Mother puppets linked their hands where wire had connected the two. Both puppets used the wire between them to cut the arms that Sasori had used before. Then the Third Kazekage disconnected the arm and then made a buzz saw appear out of his left arm. The Father shot out kunai attached to wood and the Mother pulled out a serrated sword then they both countered the attacks. Soon, they were both using the puppets with such fast hand movements that Ino and Sakura watched in amazement. After a few more clashes, they pulled the puppets back, and as a result of their clash, the weapons that all three puppets used were worn down and broken.

"Your skill with puppets hasn't changed at all, Grandma," Sasori admitted.

He continued, "So let's see how you deal with this."

He made a sign to make the Third's mouth open and a black grainy substance came floating out.

Chiyo instantly recognized the substance as she said, "So that puppet can use the Third's techniques after all."

Sasori replied, "It's been a while since you've seen it, right? This was the reason why the Third Kazekage was known as the strongest in the village. You three are about to get messed up."

Ino watched the puppet continue to protrude the black substance out of his mouth.

As she did, she asked Chiyo, "What is that?"

Chiyo grimly replied, "The most feared weapon in the history of Sunakagure. Iron Sand!"

Sakura then exclaimed in surprise, "Iron Sand?"

Chiyo continued, "At one time, it was a technique that Shukaku's host used. This is 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 seems like this puppet can perform the same technique…"

Confused, Ino asked, "But how can that be? Even though he's using the Third Kazekage's body, it's still just a puppet. How can a puppet have chakra?"

Chiyo rebutted, "No, human puppets made from real flesh are different from 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. And going by that, he is able to use any techniques they had when they were alive. That's a Human Puppet's greatest advenatage."

Sasori smirked as he said, "That's not all. After all, they are part of my beloved collection."

Chiyo then said, "Ino, Sakura, you need to get out of here."

Ino and Sakura looked at her in shock, and she added, "I'll fight him by myself. This was unexpected and you two don't stand a chance against that."

Ino argued, "But..!"

"You're too slow! Satetsu Shigure!"Sasori shouted.

The Iron Sand shot out towards them like bullets as Ino and Sakura were pulled out of the way by the mother puppet. The sand hit where Chiyo was but there was dust clouding their view. Then Sasori had a surprised look on his face, as the dust cleared, it was revealed that the Father puppet had used a chakra shield.

"I see you have upgraded him since he last played with me," Sasori said to her.

Chiyo then tried to move the puppet but realized the puppet couldn't move because of the Iron Sand.

Sasori added, "You know you have to dodge that technique, not block it. Was getting those two girls out of the way 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'll attack all three of you at once. In order to finish you off, I'm going to put it in vorpal mode."

Ino watched in surprise as the sand flew up in the air and formed into spikes aimed at both Chiyo and the two of them.

"You won't escape again and one puppet can't protect three people. What will you do, Grandma?" Sasori asked mockingly.

The spikes shot towards them as Sasori asked, "Who will die first?"

The spikes struck where they were only for them to be blocked. The mother puppet protected Ino and Sakura, while they looked on in surprise; Chiyo protected herself with her own chakra shield in a puppet arm.

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

Chiyo tried to control her puppet arm as she realized something; she said to herself, "I see, so that's it." Then she released the arm off her body.

"Once Iron Sand gets in, it's over; you're out of puppets. What will you do, Grandma Chiyo?" asked Sasori with a mocking smirk.

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

The sand started to form into bigger shapes until finally one was shaped as a rectangle and another a pyramid. While on the Kazekage's back it formed wings.

Chiyo then shouted to Ino and Sakura, "Ino, Sakura, you get out of here. I already said that you two can't fight something like that."

Ino thought to herself, "We can't just leave Elder Chiyo alone in this. But what can we do?"

She contemplated the situation but then heard this; "Elder Chiyo, please use me."

Ino looked up in surprise as she watched Sakura stand in front of Chiyo and she added, "If you use a puppet made of flesh, the Iron Sand won't have any effect."

Chiyo replied, "I only have one arm, so I can't support you like last time."

"It's fine, I may not have weapons built into me like a puppet, but I have my master's hatred of losing!" Sakura declared.

Ino looked at Sakura and how determined she was, she couldn't help but smile at her and acknowledge how far she has come. She watched as Chiyo connected her chakra strings to Sakura and she stepped behind her as Chiyo told Sakura, "The Third's powers lie in magnetism; metallic weapons won't work."

Sakura punched her fist unto her hand as she exclaimed, "That sounds good, I also have my master's hand-to-hand combat skills!"

Sakura ran forward as one of the weapons headed towards her, but Chiyo made her dodge as the weapon went through the wall of the cave. Another one came on top of her and she dodged that too.

Then she yelled, "Take this!" as she ran forward and delivered a chakra-enhanced punch to the rectangular weapon towards Sasori and he had to dodge.

"Bitch," Sasori muttered.

"I'm not done yet!" Sakura yelled.

Soon, with Sakura punching and kicking the weapons each time, the cave was crumbling and the ceiling caved in. Ino watched in amazement as her best friend used her strength to battle.

"She really has come a long way since she was that unconfident girl in the academy," Ino thought with admiration.

But then she got back to focusing on the fight. Then she watched as Sasori put the weapons together and said, "Satetsu Kaihou."

The Iron Sand formed into an array of spikes spanning outwards like a web. Ino got worried for Sakura but then watched in shock as the spikes descended upon her and covered the area in spikes Dust clouded their vision but then Sakura punched out of the rubble but she was covered in scratches and was bleeding. Elder Chiyo had caught her arm under a a rock and couldn't move Then Sakura stance had faltered and she collapsed onto the ground face first, with her body twitching.

"Impossible, you had poisoned the Iron Sand too?" Chiyo asked in surprise.

"Yes, she will die in three days if I leave her be, but I don't plan to!" Sasori exclaimed.

He sent the Third Kazekage at Sakura but then it suddenly faltered, as if it wasn't in control but it was still heading towards Sakura. Chiyo looked on in confusion, questioning why Sasori stopped controlling the puppet.

Then Sasori shouted, "Destroy it now, Sakura!"

Then Chiyo watched as Sakura had gotten up, and destroyed the puppet to pieces as it came to her. With the Third Kazekage puppet gone, the Iron Sand started to lose it's form and dropped harmlessly to the gound as Sakura made her way to Elder Chiyo.

Sakura lifted the rock of Chiyo and she said, "You can release your technique, Ino."

Chiyo looked behind her and saw that Ino was unconscious but then started to stir.

"That was hasty and reckless of you to use your technique Ino, but I guess it worked," Sakura scolded.

Chiyo asked, "Sakura, how can you move and what did you do, Ino?"

Ino answered, "Sasori isn't a sensor-type ninja so he wouldn't be able to tell that I was speaking to Sakura telepathically as she was fighting. I said we needed an opening and before he used that attack, I said I would get into position to use my Mind Transfer jutsu. Then I used my technique to take over Sasori's body and stopped the puppet's direct course for Sakura to destroy it."

Then Sakura added, "I had used an antidote to nullify the poison, whatever poison gets into my system is broken down into harmless proteins. But this antidote only works for three though."

Chiyo asked, "When did you make that?"

"It was when Ino and I made the antidote for Kankurou-san. She and I made three; one was for Kankurou-san and I put the other two into syringes and brought them with me," Sakura answered and held out a syringe.

"This is the last one, so you keep it Elder Chiyo. We need to finish this in three minutes," Sakura added.

Ino was healing Elder Chiyo while Sakura was healing her own wounds. Sakura was breathing heavily as she healed herself.

Ino thought to herself, "With fighting, dodging and healing herself; Sakura must be at her limit. We have to finish this quickly."

After Chiyo had been healed, they all got ready to attack Sasori. Sasori had a deadly stare in his eyes as he realized that Sakura had somehow created an antidote and figured out that Ino took over his body.

"I will acknowledge you, you two are impressive; destroying the Third Kazekage is quite a feat. But will you be prepared for this; I haven't used this one since I've joined the Akatsuki. I wonder how long it has been." Sasori said to them. He unbuttoned his cloak and it fell to the ground; what was revealed shocked Ino and Sakura.

Ino then said, "No wonder it seemed that his body felt unnatural when I took control of it."

Chiyo grimly added, "He hasn't aged a bit since he left; he looks like did back then. And now we know why."

It was revealed that his body was in fact into a puppet. There was blades protruding from his back, a long wound up metal rope dripping with poison inside the area where his stomach would have been. He stood on the rope looking down at them with a scowl.

Then he said to them, "It's really been a while… since I've used myself."

They stood there, staring at him and he was getting impatient, so he shouted, "If you're not going to attack, then I'll make the first move!"

From his hands, he used weapons to spew out fire, hitting the rocks that they had hid behind.

"Now what will you do?" Sasori asked menacingly.

Meanwhile, with Naruto and Kakashi…

They were still after Deidara, jumping from log to log, Naruto far ahead of Kakashi. When Naruto was close enough, he threw three shuriken in the air at Deidara, jumped into the air, clapped his hands together and yelled, "Fūton: Reppūshō!"

A powerful gust of wind blew at Deidara, the wind nearly knocked him off the bird and barely dodged the shuriken that were sped up because of the wind. Then Naruto clapped his hands again sent another gust of wind towards Deidara.

"This kid is not making it easy for me, but we'll see how they like this," Deidara gave a smirk before throwing bug-like bombs onto the logs.

Naruto went past them and then they were following Kakashi. Naruto went far ahead when he heard an explosion, he thought, "Where is Kakashi-sensei?"

Suddenly, Deidara stopped flying away and was hovering in the air and said to him, "Well, finally I can capture you without inference from Kakashi, hm."

Naruto got angry then Deidara added, "Don't make such a scary face, I'm letting you see your friend again." The bird opened it's mouth to show Gaara to Naruto.

This only made Naruto angrier until Kurama said, "Calm down, he's only trying to make you angry. Don't give him that satisfaction; remember to focus, Naruto."

Naruto calmed down a bit but was still angry as he yelled, "You bastard! Give Gaara back!"He jumped up but a hand stopped him and held him back.

"Calm down Nauto, we will get Gaara-kun back," Kakashi told him.

"So if you're calm now, listen closely, I'll tell you the plan," Kakashi added.

Back with Ino and the others they thought they had finished Sasori but he simply put himself back together.

"Alright then, I'll finish you off this time," Chiyo declared, as she got her puppet arm back in place. Then she pulled out a tied up purple scroll and started to untie the string.

She said, "I forbade myself from using this technique; I didn't think I would need it again. But I suppose life isn't that simple. Let's end this." She unrolled the scroll and ten puppets materialized out of it, surrounding Chiyo.

"Grandma Chiyo's Quissential Ten Fingers or her Shirohigi: Jikki Chikamatsu no Shū technique; I've heard the rumors. A puppet master's ability is only measured by the number of puppets they can use. Impressive, Grandma; I have heard that you conquered a castle with those. But…" Sasori paused.

He took a small scroll from his back and let it hover in the air. He opened the scroll and had chakra strings come out of his chest as many puppets came out of the scroll. The puppets all hovered above them, nearly blocking their view of the sky.

Sasori continued, "I used these to conquer an entire nation." He put his hand to his face as he added, "This is beyond annoying for me. Just how long will I fight with an old hag and two little girls? And to think I even have to use my final puppets. I'll give you a special showing of my Akahigi: Hyakki no Sōen technique."

Sakura ran back to Chiyo and stood in front of her, healing a cut on the side of her waist.

"Sakura… your antidote isn't working anymore; don't fight," Chiyo advised.

But Sakura only smiled and exclaimed, "By now, you should understand my personality."

Chiyo smiled as she said, "That's right, you inherited that from Tsunade too. This is the finale, are you prepared Sakura, Ino?!"

Both Chūnin answered, "Yes!"

Soon it turned into an all-out battle; Chiyo had effectively destroyed a lot of Sasori's puppets. Sakura had also fought a good number of puppets as well. Ino managed to protect Chiyo and destroy a few puppets herself, but it was getting hectic as some of Chiyo's puppets were destroyed too. Soon a puppet snuck up on Chiyo and slashed her arm, and then she used her puppet to move the puppet away from her.

Then one of her puppets handed Sakura an orb and Chiyo shouted, "Sakura, use that!"

Sakura held the orb and ran toward Sasori while dodging all of the puppets sent her way. Then with all her strength, she threw orb at Sasori and it grew into a large tiger puppet head. It sunk it's teeth into Sasori and stuck him to the cave wall. The puppets all stopped moving and Sakura was breathing heavily. Ino was relieved that it was finally over; but then she felt something was wrong.

Chiyo dropped to her knees and Sakura ran back to her and yelled, "Elder Chiyo, hurry and use the antidote!"

Then something came up from behind Chiyo wielding a sword and Sakura saw Sasori with killing intent in his eyes. He ran at Chiyo, sword drawn and then made contact…

Back in Konoha…

Shikamaru was in front of the Yamanaka Flower shop, just looking at the flowers as he made his way to the Hokage tower. He saw a few daisies, peonies and all kind of flowers on display. His eyes landed on a display of purple bush clovers; the flower symbol of the Yamanaka clan. He reached out his fingers to touch one of the prettier bush clovers, to feel the petals. But when he only touched them slightly, all of the petals fell off at once, causing him to look on in confusion. Suddenly, he felt that something wasn't right, and it bothered him, like something bad had happened.

He looked up into the sky and watched the clouds as he murmured to himself the first word that came to his mind, "Ino…"

Back in the cave, Sasori had made contact with someone but it wasn't Chiyo. Standing in between Chiyo and Sasori with a sword through her and bleeding, was… Ino.

AN: I realize that a lot of the battle has been shortened or skipped, but I thought it would move the story along faster. Besides, anyone who either read the manga or watched the anime would know how the battle of the puppets went in sequence. I also tweaked it so that Ino was part of the fight too, just fighting in her own way. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please feel free to leave a review.