Naruto groaned, eyes rapidly blinking as he became adjusted to the sudden onslaught of unfiltered sunlight. He slowly sat up, holding his head as he assessed the damages of what had occurred. To his right lay Sasuke, waking up in a similar state to him, while to his left lay B who seemed to be knocked out cold. A few feet away from them lay Gyuki; his sides were still moving, indicating that he was alive, yet it was obvious that he was injured by the blast.

"Gyuki," Naruto called, standing up quickly; the dragon shifted his head to look over at him, eyes blinking slowly.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." He responded, moving his head to look back up at the sky. "We've got company though."

Naruto looked up in the direction that he was looking, spotting in the distance the quickly descending figure of Deidara on his sculpture. Deidara smirked as he landed in the clearing, hopping off the bird; it immediately shrunk into a smaller size, getting lost among the blades of grass.

"Well then, wonder who I should kill first?" Deidara asked, observing the three of them. "Perhaps the future king, so that I can fight the elf as he feels failure at the journey? Or perhaps the elf first, so that the future king can piss himself in fear as he watches me kill a comrade? The guardian will be last in each situation of course; it's no fun to kill someone when they're unconscious."

"There's no way I'm going to let you kill us!" Naruto shouted, drawing his sword and shield. Before he could attack though, Sasuke held out an arm to block him.

"Don't bother Naruto," He said, glaring at Deidara; his eyes had changed into the ruby red irises from before, "I'll hold him off until Kakashi gets here."

Deidara frowned, teeth gritting together as he stared at Sasuke's eyes. "So, you truly are Itachi's little brother…perhaps you won't be such a boring fight after all."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he drew his bow, an arrow already nocked and aiming at Deidara's throat. "What do you know of my brother?"

"Just that we parted ways near the stronghold of the Snake King, Orochimaru." Deidara said, smirking at his reaction. "Other than that, nothing more."

Sasuke released the arrow, drawing his sword and immediately charging towards Deidara. Deidara dodged the arrow, grasping a hidden dagger from his side; he parried the blow of Sasuke's sword, smirking as he stared up at Sasuke's angered appearance. He pushed him away and reached into his pocket, pulling out an array of smaller bombs shaped like spiders. He threw them towards the elf, making a hand sign that caused them to explode at Sasuke's feet. Sasuke jumped backwards, the explosions catching him off guard and causing him to land onto his back.

Naruto watched, hand tightening around the hilt of his sword as Sasuke flew backwards. "There's gotta be something…anything I can do!"

"There is…something." Gyuki said, catching Naruto's attention. "As I hope Kakashi told you, dragons are embodiments of magic. I am the embodiment of lightning magic."

Kakashi's words from the village rang through Naruto's head. "Wait…if you're strong against him, then why didn't you get rid of that bomb before it exploded?" He asked accusingly; Gyuki's eyes narrowed at him as he explained.

"I generate the electricity in my body, while you humans would pull it from the air! If I had created lightning, my entire body would have been electrified; meaning that, with you sitting on me, you would've felt as if you had been struck by lightning."

Naruto gulped at the thought; he had felt minor shocks during dry days in the winter, but the idea of it being multiplied to the intensity of a lightning bolt had him flinching. Gyuki snorted at his expression in amusement. "Now you know why I couldn't do it. However, I can lend you my strength."

"Eh? You mean…"

"Yes; I can give you the power to use lightning magic to save your friend."

Sasuke groaned slightly as he propped himself onto his elbows, only to immediately have his body pushed back into the ground by Deidara planting his foot into his chest. Deidara sneered down at him, twirling his dagger in between his fingers.

"Heh, you're nothing like your brother," Deidara stated, looking at him disdainfully. "Lady Kaguya and Lord Kokuo praise him as some sort of genius; something about his skillful manipulation of illusions. Either way, just with fighting you, I can't see why she'd want you so badly. I guess killing you will be doing her a favor, yeah!"

As he began to raise the dagger to pierce him through the heart, a sudden blast of lightning struck him in the side, knocking him off Sasuke. Deidara was sent sprawling a few feet away, groaning as the electricity coursed through his body. Sasuke sat up as he looked to the skies, thinking that Kakashi had finally made an appearance; however, when he looked, he saw no trace of Rin.

"Holy…" He heard Naruto mutter. He turned in the direction of his voice, eyes widening as he took in the sight. Naruto was staring at his hands in awe, as his blond spikes stood up even straighter, sparks coursing throughout them. Slowly, his face became determined as he looked towards Deidara, sword drawn. To Sasuke's surprise, the sword began to crackle with electricity; Naruto charged towards Deidara. Deidara quickly reached into his jacket, frowning slightly as he pulled only a handful of bombs. He threw them towards Naruto and clapped his hands together, causing them to explode. Naruto braced himself as he lifted his shield, feeling himself being knocked backwards by the explosions. He peeked out from behind his shield, carefully observing Deidara's movements.

"Hmph…" Deidara huffed, "You made me waste the last of my premade bombs, yeah! Now I'll have to waste my clay on you." He grumbled, pushing his cloak to the sides to expose pouches attached to his hips. He shoved his hands into them, rummaging through them, appearing to be searching for something. He smirked as he yanked his hands out of the pouches, directing them towards Naruto, the palms appearing puckered. While Naruto observed his hands, white clay suddenly erupted from the puckered skin, oozing onto the ground like a festering sore. Color drained from his face as he saw that the openings on the hands had teeth and tongues, mind conjuring images of those teeth ripping apart human flesh. So preoccupied with his gruesome thoughts that he failed to notice the puddles of clay take shape into two disproportionate creatures connected by a thin strand of clay to Deidara's hands. They began to run towards Naruto, bodies wobbling due to the imbalance from their asymmetric design. As one of them swung their fist at him, Naruto felt himself being pushed backwards, eyes widening as he watched Sasuke catch the fist with his sword.

Sasuke tried to pull the sword back to strike again, but found that it was stuck in the clay. In his peripheral, he saw the other fist swing towards him; he released his sword, rolling out of the way. He quickly grasped the bow on his back, notching one of his arrows as he took aim at the creature as it charged towards him. He released, the arrow soaring through the air as it sunk in the middle of the creature's forehead. It raged on however, ignoring the protrusion and instead lunging at him again, falling to the ground as Sasuke leapt out of the way. He watched as the creature struggled to push itself back onto its feet; vaguely he registered the crackle of lightning as Naruto fought the other creature.

"Damn it," He thought, watching as the being righted itself, toddling back and forth, arms waving to keep balance. "How the hell am I supposed to kill this thing?"

"Perhaps we could be of assistance?" The voices purred in his mind; he could almost envision them stretched out, looking like the cat that had caught the canary. Sasuke scoffed as he notched another arrow, taking aim at the being's chest.

"You heard Kakashi," He released the arrow, watching it strike; he cursed as the creature merely ran towards him. "Only lightning magic can affect his creations. Unless you've a new trick up your sleeve, giving me power over fire won't do anything."

"Fire and lightning are not that different," It noted, "Besides, we were one of the original wielders of magic. To be limited to just fire would be embarrassing."

"…Then what do we need to do?"

"If you allow it, we will move your body; you'll be aware and able to speak, but we will be the ones in direct control of your movements."

Sasuke barely dodged the strike of the entity, preoccupied with the conversation with the shadows inside. "And you swear that it will work?"

"We are many things, but liars is not one of them. Now, grasp your sword and let us do the rest."

Sasuke crouched down, waiting for the entity to strike again, eyes trained on his sword protruding from its fist. It raised its fist, lurching forward as it threw a punch towards him; Sasuke leapt, dodging the punch and grasping his sword handle. Suddenly electricity coursed through his veins and, almost as if in response, lightning danced around his sword the same way that Naruto's had appeared. Immediately he sliced through the entity's fist, ignoring how the clay plopped to the ground as he lunged forward, slicing the electrified sword through the creature's abdomen. He smirked as its top half fell to the side; his brows furrowed in confusion though as he saw the clay of the lower half reform into a smaller creature. Quickly, Sasuke moved out of the way as the smaller being charged towards him with its lowered head, crashing directly into another being that had formed behind him.

"Regeneration, huh," He thought, slicing through another creature, "What do we do now?"

"It is under control," The voices said, using Sasuke's eyes to glance over at Deidara. As two of the smaller creatures leaped towards him, he sliced through them as he ran past, heading towards Deidara. In his peripherals he saw how Naruto was slowly becoming overpowered by the sheer number that attacked him. He tightened his grip around the hilt of his sword, pushing himself to move faster. Deidara's eyes shifted away from watching Naruto's battle, widening slightly as he saw Sasuke sprinting towards him; Sasuke watched as he formed a sign with his hand.

"Damn it," Sasuke cursed; he found that he wasn't able to cast the spell to increase his speed, leaving him powerless to stop Deidara from detonating the creatures.

"Do not underestimate us child!" The voices roared in response to his thoughts. Suddenly he felt as if he were just a spectator, watching as his hands came together, palms facing Deidara. Lightning crackled in palm of his hands, and he heard his voice utter a spell as if from a distance; the lightning shot forward, striking the wide-eyed Deidara straight in the chest. Deidara fell backwards from the force, hands falling limply to his sides as his eyes rolled up into the back of his head. All of the beings suddenly began to collapse lifelessly in response, losing their forms as soon as they struck the ground.

Panting, Naruto looked over at Sasuke who seemed to be staring at Deidara in slight disbelief. "The hell," He shouted, snapping Sasuke out of his thoughts, "You can use lightning now too?"

Sasuke straightened himself, looking over at Naruto. "Fire and lightning are not that different." He replied coolly, mimicking the entity's response to his inquiry earlier. He turned his body, prepared to walk towards Naruto, when he suddenly felt a harsh tug from around his ankle. He jerked his head down, eyes widening as he saw Deidara's upper half protruding from the ground, grinning maniacally up at him.

"Heh, I thought it was going to be that brat that destroyed my clone. Yet here you are, wielding lightning magic of your own. Perhaps Kaguya had a reason to take an interest in you, yeah. No matter," Deidara said; Sasuke felt him tug on his ankle, as if he were pulling himself up. "You'll be dead soon enough!"

As soon as he finished speaking he leaned forward, tugging downwards on Sasuke; his foot came flying upwards from beneath the ground. It hit Sasuke squarely in the chest, sending him stumbling backwards as Deidara released him to right himself after performing the flip. Sasuke glared at Deidara as he caught his balance again a few feet away from him, not noticing how the earth seemed to sink a little beneath his weight. Deidara merely smirked, forming a hand sign as he concentrated on the spot that Sasuke stood on. Instantly the ground erupted, debris flying everywhere; Naruto cried out as he could only helplessly watch. So engrossed in watching what he could only believe was his friend's death that he didn't notice Deidara sink back into the ground, preparing himself to finish the mission.

Naruto began to move forward, but was stopped as Gyuki's voice rang out in his head. "Don't move," The dragon commanded, "I see that he has bombs planted all throughout this area…one wrong move, and you'll end up like Sasuke."

Naruto grit his teeth, feeling his blunt nails dig into the palms of his hands as he balled them into fists. "Then what the hell am I supposed to do? I can't just leave you to get captured!"

"It looks like you won't have to," Gyuki said, looking up at the skies. Naruto raised an eyebrow in confusion, before seeing the large shadow of a bird pass over the clearing. He looked up, face involuntarily breaking out in a grin at the sight of Kakashi riding Rin above them. It suddenly dawned on him that Kakashi was probably looking for a place to land; panic gripped his heart as he began to wave his arms wildly, doing whatever he could to signal not to land.

Kakashi raised his staff, waving it down at him. "Gyuki has informed me," He shouted down, hoping that Naruto had heard him. He looked down at the ground; even from his height, he could see the colors of the bombs buried beneath the earth, as well as Deidara tunneling from beneath. He raised his staff high, stirring the air above his head, the crescent moon glowing and beginning to crackle with electricity. As sparks began to dance around the edge of the staff, Kakashi halted in his movements and raised it higher, both hands holding the shaft. Lightning shot forth from the tip, ascending into the heavens; a few moments later, thunder began to rumble. As he brought his staff downwards to point at the ground, lightning bolts followed his movements, striking throughout the ground. Naruto watched in amazement as the lightning danced around him, burned patterns appearing wherever it had struck. In the distance he saw Deidara pop out of the ground, writhing in pain as the lightning ran throughout his body, causing serious damage to his internal organs. Slowly, the lightning storm stopped; Rin descended, Kakashi hopping off her as soon as she landed.

Deidara groaned in pain as he pushed himself into a sitting position, panting heavily. He glared at Kakashi and Naruto, his arm holding his side. "So, you finally decided to join the party," He called out, trying to push himself to his feet. He fell backwards again, legs shaking violently from the aftershocks of the lightning, leaving him unable to stand. "Did you enjoy my art display? I know your elf friend certainly did, yeah."

"No one gives a damn about your art, you lunatic!" Naruto shouted, glaring back at him. "You destroyed homes, injured hundreds, and killed my friend!"

"No one gives a damn, hmm," Deidara muttered, looking down at the ground. He grinned, hands digging into the ground as he met his glare again. "All those people that I affected with my art, I'm sure they care! I've left my mark on their lives; they will appreciate the fine art of that single moment before an explosion! The peace and serenity, destroyed by my bombs to create a catastrophic masterpiece! But of course, how should I expect a kid like you to understand without truly experiencing it firsthand?"

Confused by his statement, all Naruto and Kakashi could do was watch while Deidara suddenly ripped his shirt from his body. Their eyes widened as they noticed the third mouth sewn shut on his mouth, right where his heart was. He smirked, bringing his left hand to the strings holding it shut; the teeth snapped the cord, allowing to pull the stitching out. The mouth snapped open, a large tongue lashing out, seemingly stretching from having been kept shut for so long. He reached into his right hand pouch, pulling out a large wad of clay and holding it up for the mouth to ingest.

"I know when I've lost a fight," Deidara began; slowly, cracks began to appear in his skin as he became more translucent. "You both can use lightning magic, and I can't move from that storm Kakashi created earlier. If I were to leave now and return to Lady Kaguya, she would surely have my head hung above her mantle place for failure. However…that doesn't mean my art has to die with me! This…this will be my ultimate form of art! It will create an explosion like no other, and leave a scar upon this very Earth; a testament to the power of my art!"

Kakashi grasped Naruto's shoulder, causing him to jump slightly. "Naruto, we need to leave."

Deidara laughed as he heard it, the cracks in his skin grower darker; where his heart should have been, a black face grinning back at them was seen. "You can try and run, but my explosion will cover six miles! By the time you get into the air, it will already be too late! Accept your fate, and cower in awe at the prospect of being part of my greatest masterpiece yet! Because my art…"

"Is an explosion," A voice said quietly from behind him. Deidara's eyes widened as he looked behind him, only to feel the sharp pierce of a sword run through the bomb. Suddenly, he felt electricity course throughout his body, causing him to scream in agony; he could feel every inch of his body being destroyed as the lightning disarmed the explosive. Blood began to pour from his mouth as he coughed, blue eyes still locked with the ruby red staring apathetically back at him.

"Y-You…" He coughed, "I…I saw you! You should be dead! How are you still alive? It's…it's not possible!'

Sasuke smirked, leaning closer to Deidara. "If you think you can kill us, you are sadly mistaken."

Deidara's eyes widened more, trembling as he listened to a voice far older than the body it was currently inhabiting. "Impossible…" He murmured, "No one…no one in their right mind…would knowingly…"

"Let's just say we're quite persuasive." He finished, pulling the sword from Deidara's body. Deidara limply fell forward, breaths coming in short pants as his eyes slowly lost focus. He could hear the sound of Sasuke's body falling to the ground as well, a groan of pain emitting from him. The sound of Naruto calling out to him sounded muddled, as if it were just an echo of child shouting through a massive cave. As he slipped into darkness, there was only a single passing thought in his mind.

"So Lady Kaguya has competition, hmm?"

"You dauh," Sakura chided as she gathered herbs and bandages. "I leave you alone to fight on your own, and what do you do? You get injured! Especially you Sasuke; I would've thought you'd have been more careful!"

Sasuke merely grunted, crossing his arms over his bandaged chest. Naruto merely grinned, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "Aw Sakura, no need for you to worry! Besides, we were worried about you, what with having to go out there in the fires and whatnot to help people!"

"At least I had other people who were able to protect me from danger." Sakura countered, hands on her hips. "You two just had yourselves to rely on, and the both of you end up coming back banged, bruised, and vaurmornlos know what else! I should beat the both of you for turning up like this!"

"B-But you won't, r-right Sakura," Naruto stammered, not keen on the idea of adding to their injuries. "I-I mean, you're busy with the injured villagers, plus you want us to heal! Speaking of which, shouldn't you be heading out? As much as we love your attention, they sure do need you out there, right Sasuke?"

Again, Sasuke merely grunted as a reply. Sakura sighed, rolling her eyes as she turned to head out the door. "As much as I hate to admit you're right, you do happen to be correct Naruto." She replied, opening the door. "So while I'm gone, just rest and laze about. I swear that if I come back and either of you are doing strenuous activity, I will make sure you can't move for another month. Understood?"

Sasuke gave a curt nod as Naruto saluted her, proving that he understood. Sakura's lips twitched upwards slightly at Naruto's behavior, closing the door behind her as she left. Naruto breathed out a sigh of relief as he laid back, arms crossed behind his head. He glanced over at Sasuke, noticing that the elf had been quieter than usual after having returned home.

"So when we come back, how should I tell it?" Naruto asked, looking up at the ceiling. "I was thinking that I could start out by saying how you jumped into fighting immediately, and then I suddenly became able to use lightning. Unfortunately, I can't do it anymore since I'm not linked with Gyuki, which is a bit of a disappointment. Except, then I can change the subject on how you suddenly were able to use lightning as well! And you can, you know, elaborate a bit on that subject since it is about you; I don't mind to share the spotlight you know."

"I'm not telling her that."

"Wha…Not telling her," Naruto asked incredulously. "But that's like the best part! Especially when you came in at the end and killed Deidara! Begrudgingly I'll admit, that was kind of intense, and totally beat any moments from my part. Why would you want to keep it from her?" Naruto asked; suddenly, a sly grin appeared on his face. "Unless, of course, you plan on telling her later, in your private quarters…"

"Get your mind out of the gutter."

Naruto raised his hands in defense. "I'm just saying, if I were wishing to bed a woman, I would totally tell them privately about my heroic and amazing exploits! Of course, if you were to do that to Sakura, I'd have to beat you to a pulp you know." Naruto said lightly, smiling; he frowned when Sasuke didn't respond. "Come on, something is obviously bothering you about it. Just let it out, and you'll feel a lot better."

Sasuke sighed, glancing at Naruto out of the corner of his eye. "I…do not need her to needlessly worry about my condition. She is easily excitable when it comes to injuries, and for the sake of the journey I don't need her to worry if the lightning does damage to me when I use it."

Naruto nodded. "I see…yeah, she would worry about that a lot since she's a medic. And as much as I love her, sometimes she can be a bit overbearing with her medical concerns. Don't worry Sasuke," Naruto said, giving him a thumbs up, "Your secret is safe with me!"

Sasuke nodded, retreating back to his thoughts. He felt some guilt for lying to Naruto, though it wasn't far from the truth; Sakura would worry, but not for medical reasons. Instead, she'd worry about the shadows overtaking him, despite how he would reassure her that everything was under control; it was bad enough that Kakashi saw him use lightning.

"It's for their safety," They purred soothingly. "If they worried about it, they would try to lock us away again. If they try to lock us away again, then we won't be able to help protect your comrades. And if we can't, well…you know."

Sasuke winced slightly as the images from their talk flashed through his mind. He closed his eyes, inhaling deeply through his nose as he worked to block them. "I understand that, but they don't. Especially if I were to say that I don't remember killing Deidara."

"You had suffered massive damage from that explosion. It was only natural that we took over after you had passed out. But without us, your comrades would have died and the quest would have failed. So trust us…we only want what is best for everyone."

"Ah…have I any other choice?"

A/N: Consider this a Valentine's Day present! *throws chocolates and flowers at everyone*