(Welcome back to my next installment. I hope you're all ready for when the good guys prepare themselves against the first two members of Akatsuki in three years.)

The very next day in the Hokage's office, Naruto, the rest of Squad Seven and Naomi were present. Tsunade spoke up, "Today you all will be going to Suna for an important mission."

"What kind of mission?" Sakura asked.

Tsunade turned to Naruto, "Explain to them, Naruto."

"Yes, baa-san," Naruto turned to his group, "Last night I got a visit from one of my spirit friends who I've had sent to spy on the Akatsuki. And he informed me they're on their way to Suna, and should arrive by tonight."

"What?" Sasuke gasped.

"Whoa." Naomi said in surprise.

"On the move already." Kakashi squinted his eye.

"I did manage to get word to Gaara about this secretly, because the members on their way have a spy from inside the walls."

"Like Kabuto?" Sakura asked.

"Precisely. My spy informed me the names of the two Akatsuki members are former Suna shinobi Sasori, and former Iwa shinobi Deidara."

"A Suna shinobi and an Iwa Shinobi?" Sasuke inquired.

Naruto nodded, "Which is why I informed Tsuchikage-jiji of this and he himself will also be attending this little sneak ambush."

"With someone like him combined with yours and Gaara's abilities we're sure to beat them." Naomi said.

"Don't get cocky, Naomi," Tsunade warned her, "Remember the Akatsuki are composed of shinobi who rank high on the nukenin chart."

"She's right," Sasuke nodded, "After all my brother is one of them, and he was one of the best in the village."

Tsunade spoke up, "You are to go to Suna and rendezvous with Gaara immediately."

"Hai!" they agreed, before taking their leave.

After packing for the mission, they met by the village gates with Soreth and Spitfire ready to fly. Naruto turned to Naomi, "Hope you're ready for this."

"I'm always ready," Naomi assured, "Though it's a shame the others are wrapped up in other work to join us."

"There's always next time." Naruto replied, as the two mounted their dragons.

Sasuke and Kakashi climbed on Soreth's back, while Sakura joined Naomi on Spitfire. Naomi spoke to her partner, "Ok, girl. Take off!" Spitfire flew off.

Naruto spoke to his dragon, "All right, boy. Let's ride!" Soreth took it to the air and flew after his mate.

The two dragons flew over the forests of Konoha before crossing into the sandy deserts of Suna. Sakura looked down at the deserts, "These deserts stretch for miles."

"That's right. You won't find any bigger deserts than Suna's." Kakashi explained.

"Not counting the ones in the Earth Empire of course." Naruto noted.

"Hey, look up ahead." Sasuke noticed a big wall up ahead.

"That's the entrance to the village." Kakashi deduced.

The two dragons got closer before gently landing on the ground, "Good work, Soreth." Naruto patted his dragon's head.

"You too, girl." Naomi patted her own dragon.

"Hey, guys!" came a voice. They looked seeing Kankuro was waiting for them.

"Hey, Kankuro. How's it going?" Naruto greeted.

"All good. Nice to see you guys made it."

Kakashi looked to the side and spoke, "And it looks like our other guests have arrived to." Everyone look and saw floating down was Oonoki, and his two closest guards Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi. Squad Seven minus Naruto were surprised, until Kankuro greeted the second group of guests.

"Tsuchikage-sama, welcome." he bowed his head.

"Arigato. And it's good to see all of you made it. Especially you, Naruto." Oonoki greeted him.

"How's it going, Tsuchikage-jiji?"

"All well, considering my back." the old man groaned.

Kurotsuchi chuckled, "Luckily we came along with gramps."

Sakura spoke up, "Uh, how're you three flying just now?"

Oonoki explained, "That my dear is the power of one of my jutsu. I can decrease the weight of anything I touch making it as light as a feather or as heavy as a building."

"In our case, he can decrease our weight making us light enough to fly in the air." Akatsuchi put in.

"It's a hell of fun." Kurotsuchi added.

Sasuke turned to the old man, "You can really do that?"

"You bet I can, boy." Oonoki smirked.

"All right. Let's all get inside. Gaara's waiting for us." Kankuro instructed.

The group agreed, as Kankuro led them into the crevice entry. They waled before making it to the other side where they stood inside the village.

"So this is Suna." Sakura looked around.

"Yeah. Little dusty in the streets, but we get all the sunlight we need." Kankuro explained.

"Too much if you ask me." Kurotsuchi remarked, while trying to keep the sun out of her eyes.

"Yeah. You get used to it." Kankuro said, as he led the group through the village before entering the administration building.

They walked to the Kazekage's office, as Kankuro knocked on the door, "Come in." came Gaara's voice from inside.

Kankuro opened the door, and they walked inside seeing Gaara at his desk with Temari standing off to the side, "Gaara, our guests have arrived."

"Excellent," Gaara answered, as they closed the door behind them, "Welcome, everyone, to Suna. I hope your travel here wasn't too strenuous."

"Well, maybe not for us." Kurotsuchi snickered while motioning to Oonoki who grumbled.

"Now that you're here we can get down to business." Gaara said, as Temari closed all the windows and the drapes making sure no one could see inside the office.

Oonoki spoke, "All right. We all know why we're here."

"Yes. Naruto told us two members of the Akatsuki are planning to sneak into our village tonight." Temari explained.

"And one of them is a former shinobi from our village. And the other is from yours." Gaara told Oonoki.

"Indeed." Oonoki confirmed.

"Tsuchikage-sama, tell us what you can about Deidara." Kakashi inquired.

The old man sighed, and explained, "Deidara was once part of Iwa's Explosion corps, due to his ability to use explosion style jutsu. He was one of the best there was, second only to Gari of the explosion style. He was especially known for his talent in making clay models. He took pride in his art so far he stole a forbidden jutsu which allowed him mold his chakra into objects, thus developing the ability to turn his clay objects into explosives. He left the village and form what we heard became a bomber for hire. I guess some time ago he joined the Akatsuki, though I can't understand why."

"Arigato for this useful information." Gaara thanked him.

"So what's the deal on this Sasori we heard?" Kurotsuchi inquired.

"There's only so much we know about him from history. But there is someone who knows more about him." Kankuro answered.

"Who's that?" Akatsuchi wondered.

"Come with us, and we'll show you." Gaara said, as he got up and led them out of the office.

As they walked, Gaara explained, "After hearing that Sasori was among the Akatsuki members, we went to talk to Sasori's closest known living relative."

"And who's that?" Sasuke asked.

"You're about to find out." Gaara answered, as they entered a room. They entered and saw a little old lady sitting down, "Meet Granny Chiyo."

Naomi looked at her, "Whoa, she looks even older than Master Jinora and the others."

Sakura shushed her, "Naomi, don't be rude."

"I don't think she can hear us." Naruto noted seeing she hasn't moved an inch.

"Is she even breathing?" Kurotsuchi noticed.

"You don't think she's..." Akatsuchi began shaking in worry.

Suddenly the old lady's eyes opened, "Gotcha!" she cackled.

The group backed away feeling freaked out, while Oonoki looked ready to have a heart attack. Kankuro chuckled sheepishly, "We should've told you, Granny Chiyo has a habit of playing possum. Just when you think she's dead, she surprises you."

"So that rumor is true." Oonoki said.

"Granny Chiyo, our guests from Konoha and Iwa have come." Gaara introduced them.

"I see. I never thought I'd actually see the day where shinobi from two villagers who've never been acquainted would be standing here in our village." Chiyo observed the group until her eyes fell on Kakashi. Kakashi was confused as the elder woman squinted her eyes at him. Suddenly her eyes widened and she shouted, "White Fang of Konoha!" this took everyone by surprise, as the old woman jumped at Kakashi, "I will destroy you!"

The old woman was quickly restrained by Gaara's sand, as the old lady struggled. Suddenly an elder man walked in and overheard Chiyo's rant, "Chiyo, if you opened your eyes more you'll see that's not the White Fang of Konoha. And if you recall he already died."

Chiyo blinked before looking back at Kakashi, "Oh, you're not the White Fang. My bad." she cackled, and everyone face faulted.

"Who's the White Fang of Konoha?" Sasuke asked.

"My father." Kakashi answered, as they looked curious.

The old man spoke, "I apologize for my sister's brash behavior. I'm Ebizo. Welcome to Suna."

They nodded, as Naruto spoke up, "My name's Naruto Uzumaki, and like Gaara I'm also a Jinchuriki."

"Ah, yes. The boy who wields the power of the nine tails," Ebizo recalled, "We've heard of you around the village when you were visiting. Shame we never got a chance to see you back then."

"I know, but I'm not just a Jinchuriki. I'm also the Avatar."

"Hm, the Avatar you say?" Chiyo asked.

"That's right. It's not only my job to keep balance in this world, but it's also my job to keep the tailed beasts like Kurama and Shukaku out of evil hands like the Akatsuki."

Kankuro spoke to Chiyo, "Granny, they're hear to learn about Sasori of the Red Sands."

"Sasori, huh?" Chiyo asked bitterly.

"I know you have trouble talking about him," Gaara began, "But he is part of the Akatsuki. And we could use your knowledge of him because he's coming tonight."

Chiyo looked around seeing the faces of everyone in the room giving her a hopeful look with Soreth and Spitfire giving her puppy dog eyes. The elder woman sighed, "All right, ya got me. I'll tell you all I can."

"Arigato." Gaara thanked her.

Chiyo sat down with her brother and explained, "Sasori was my only grandson, and I loved him like any grandparent would love their grandchild. When his parents died in battle, I took it upon myself to raise Sasori. To help him move on, I decided to teach him puppet jutsu. He showed to have an affinity for it by turning them into weapons. As the years followed he sought to make even better puppets that would last forever. To that end he started experimenting on people turning them into puppets."

"Turn them into puppets?" Sakura inquired.

"Correct. Through the process of turning human into puppets, he managed to make it so the puppet retains the abilities of who they once were, even bloodlines."

"Are you saying he can make actual puppets from anyone with a bloodline?" Sasuke asked.

"That's right. Even those in possession of Sharingan." Chiyo snickered.

"Your grandson really lost himself as he grew up." Oonoki said before turning to Kurotsuchi, hoping she'd never turn out like that.

"I blame myself. I was simply trying to give him a hobby to fill in the hole in his heart, but in the end I feel responsible for the atrocities he's committed on various innocent lives." Chiyo sighed, as Ebizo comforted her.

"Well, we can put a stop to that tonight," Naruto promised, "When he walks in, he'll be sorry he ever came back here."

"That's right." Sakura assured, as Sasuke smirked, and Naomi nodded.

"And we'll be sure to handle Deidara." Oonoki added.

"It's a promise." Kurotsuchi promised.

Chiyo smiled seeing their dedication, "It looks like the new generation really has a handle on things."

Kakashi turned to Gaara, "We'll need to make sure there are guards stationed in the shadows aside from your usual nighttime patrol."

"Agreed." Gaara nodded.

"I'll be participating in this ambush tonight as well." Chiyo spoke up.

The Suna shinobi looked surprised, "Are you sure about this?" Temari asked in concern.

"I haven't seen my grandson in so long, I could use a little reunion." she snickered.

"Very well, elder Chiyo. You may join us," Gaara granted permission, "All right. We got work to do."

That night in the village, a cloaked figure was sneaking around in the village carefully making sure to not be seen by any guards or any villager that was out and about. It reached the village gates and went through the crevice before stopping outside. He looked ahead seeing two figures approach. They each bore the cloak of Akatsuki, but one was a tall blonde haired man, and the second looked like a hulking figure that appeared to be crawling.

The two stopped before the figure, as the hulking one spoke in a deep voice, "Were you followed?"

"No Sasori-sama." the figure answered with a shake of his head.

"And is the entry clear?" the blonde asked.

"No one in sight."

"Good," Sasori said, "You did well, Yura."

The figure removed his cloak hood to reveal he had black hair that hung over his right eye, a goatee and dark eyes, "I live to serve you, Sasori-sama. And thank you again for restoring my memory."

"Nevermind that. We got a job to do. Deidara, stay close." Sasori ordered his partner.

"Yeah yeah. I know, Sasori my man. Hm." the blonde answered.

So Yura led the three through the entrance. Upon entering the village they looked around seeing the whole village looked deserted. Not even a trace of anyone who preferred to stay out after dark.

"Was is this quiet when you came?" Sasori asked his spy.

"No, sir." Yura assured.

"Who cares if it's quiet?" Deidara asked in annoyance, "Let's just get started already."

"Shut up, you fool!" Sasori shushed him, "I have a bad feeling about this."

Suddenly they were blasted by two fireball shots. They jumped aside to avoid the attack, "What the hell was that?!" Deidara demanded, until they heard growling.

They looked up seeing Soreth and Spitfire flying above them, "Dragons?" Sasori asked in disbelief.

"That ain't good." Deidara said.

Suddenly they saw a pillar of sand rise up from the ground and standing atop the pillar was Gaara, "You two aren't welcomed here."

"There's our target." Sasori stated.

"You two are the target now." came Naruto's voice, as he appeared before them along with all of Squad Seven, Naomi, Oonoki and his guards, Kankuro, Temari, and Chiyo surrounding the two Akatsuki members and their spy.

"We've walked into a trap!" Sasori growled before turning to Yura, "Did you know about this?"

"No, sir. I had no ideas Konoha shinobi or Iwa shinobi were here." Yura pleaded.

"Falling right into a trap. Your newest big mistake, Sasori." Chiyo answered.

"Grandmother?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm still alive. Surprised that much?" she joked, but Sasori didn't even answer her.

Deidara saw Oonoki looking at him with a snicker, "Hello, Deidara. It's been a long time."

"Oh, shit." Deidara cursed, as he backed up against Sasori in fear.

Sasori eyeballed Naruto and thought, 'So he's not only vessel to the nine tails, but the infamous Avatar as well. This'll be a challenge.'

(And there you go. The guys got the element of surprise on Sasori and Deidara, and don't miss next time as they fight for the protection of both Gaara and Suna. See you around.)