Italics indicate thinking

Bold is for attacks

Kale's POV

I looked around at the situation, Sakura and the old lady were in bad shape and I was starting to run low on chakra, that three minute time limit was gonna get tight.

"CROW!"

I waved my staves and moved the puppet forward, and popped the blades out from it's wrists and started slicing at Sasori. He waved back and forth to dodge before kicking the puppet in the chest and breaking it up.

"It seems I must really get serious." Sasori said unbuttoning his cloak.

"So that is what you did." I said looking at this body "You're a puppet too."

"It's been a long time since I had to use myself." He groaned as blades what out of his back like wings and his abdomen opened up to show meatal rope like intestines.

I moved Crow forward but with a flick of his rope Sasori shattered it.

"Dammit!"

The palms of Sasori opened and started spewing out flames.

"WHOA!" I dove for cover and ducked low.

"Come out and play." Sasori yelled throwing his tendril at Sakura.

"GAH!" she hissed as it cut her side.

The rope stuck to the ground and Sasori used it as an anchor to pull himself to Chiyo.

"NOW DIE!"

"Pull!" I told Sakura.

"HAA!" she grabbed the rope and started to reel Sasori in.

I quickly formed hand signs "The Strength of Fire: Inferno Blessing!"

I pushed the attack toward Sakura and her hand engulfed in flames. Sakura focused her Chakra in her hand and the flames grew brighter.

"Duo Art: Blazing Battering Ram!"

Sakura's punch connected and shattered Sasori to pieces as orange fire burned around the air.

"Just in time…" Sakura panted as her fire on her hand went out.

There was a clattering noise and I looked back to see the puppet reassembling itself.

"No way…"

I summoned a chain and used it to pull Sakura to safety.

"I thought I'd never have to use this Jutsu again but it seems it was not meant to be." Chiyo said pulling out a scroll.

She released the seals on the scroll and ten puppets appeared.

"Impressive, they say you can measure the strength of a puppeteer by counting the puppets they can wield at once." Sasori said in a dead voice "The Ten Finger Technique, I've heard of it was once used to take out a whole castle by itself. That may be a considerable amount of puppets but…"

A scroll popped off Sasori's back and he opened it up and summoned a hundred puppets in one shot.

"I took down a country with these." He said without an emotion "How will I ever explain that it took me this long to kill an old hag and two bratty kids, and I even had to use my trump card…Deidara will never shut up about this…Secret Red Technique: Hundred Manipulation!"

"The antidote has worn off, you two don't do anything." Lady Chiyo said.

"Hmph." Sakura stepped up "Haven't you learned my character by now?"

I sat down and place my staves in a triangle around me "Just like a certain old hag…cover me Sakura."

"Right!"

I slowly started making hand signs, gradually picking up the pace until I was moving at a blinding formation. Around me Sakura was knocking apart each puppet that attacked in my direction while at the same time helping Lady Chiyo on offense.

"Bull…Ox…Ram…Tiger…" I kept chanting as I moved my hands "Eagle, Serpent, Toad…"

With each seal the tips of my staves grew brighter as chakra collected.

"Whatever you're doing stop now." Sasori said as a puppet jumped from behind me.

"Kale!"

"It's done!" I slapped both my hands down "Arcane Jutsu Sealing Arts!" A large circle appeared on the floor "Curse of Silence!"

In a flash everyone of Sasori's puppets vanished.

"Impossible you…resealed all of them?!"

"Now Sakura!"

"CHAAA!"

Sakura threw a orb that transformed into a seeker head midair. It reached Sasori and pinned him to the wall.

I quickly moved my hands and sealed the face to the wall.

"Close!"

A seal appeared on the back and locked Sasori there.

"We're…done." Sakura panted.

"Ugh…" I feel to my knees.

"Kale!"

"Too much chakra in a short time." I smiled "I'll be fine in a minute, a seal that size isn't easy on me."

"You ability to break and create seals in incredible." Sakura smiled.

"Die…"

"GAH!" Sakura stepped in front of me and was impaled with a sword.

He…changed bodies?

"Sakura!"

Even with the sword in her Sakura started healing her wound right then, but like every weapon he had that sword Sasori was using was poison.

"HM!" I watched as the old lady injected Sakura with the very last of the antidote, at that same time I saw the cut on her arm.

Dammit!

"You're not going anywhere!" Sakura growled as Sasori tried to free his arm.

In order to get away Sasori disconnected his arm and tried to back up.

"HYA!"

I flicked my wrist and used a little bit of chakra to throw Crow's head at him, stabbing into his side at the same time the Parent puppets pieced his living tissue with swords.

"You got careless." Chiyo said "And missed the binding seal on the floor "This time it is certain."

"That tube like thing in your chest, that's you." I said "by implanting it you can move from body to body at will. Now that it's been poisoned and pierced you're finished."

"Ugh…" Sakura suddenly fell over.

"No!"

"I…still…win." Sasori groaned "She'll die from blood loss at any moment."

I watched as Lady Chiyo carefully pulled the sword out of Sakura and healed the wound.

"Why do you persist?" Sasori asked "She is going to die, medical Ninjutsu will do nothing."

"I stopped regular medical Jutsu…I am giving her my own life-force." Chiyo explained "This is Life-Transfer Jutsu. In the beginning I meant it for you…it gives life to puppets in exchange for the user."

"Hmm…" Sakura groaned waking back up.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"Y-yes."

"Impossible, the user dies from that Jutsu." Sasori growled.

"She only received a wound, she didn't die." Chiyo explained "So they balanced out."

"What Crap." Sasori hissed "BAH!"

Sakura ran up and punched him in the face.

"It's useless, I feel no pain." Sasori told her "Women seem to like doing useless things. My heart is as hard as my body, if my grandmother dies here…I will feel nothing."

"How can you treat life like that?!" Sakura yelled "To treat you bonds so feebly! How are you so closed minded?!"

"That's enough Sakura." Lady Chiyo said "The Sand did this to him."

"When you become like me, then you'll understand." Sasori coughed "A body that doesn't decay, stripped of the mortal coil, with puppets I can make as many people as I want. I don't add for the sake of numbers, I add for quality."

"What the hell are you?" I mumbled.

"I'm incomplete…I haven't shed all my humanity yet, because of the core…" he mumbled "Since I'm unable to move I'll be nice to you for just a second…think of it as your reward for winning. You wanted information about Orochimaru yes?"

"Huh?" Sakura perked up.

"Go to the Tenchi Bridge in the Village Hidden in the Grass ten days from now at noon. I have a spy among Orochimaru's subordinates. I'm supposed to meet him there." Sasori said as his eyes closed "But I don't think…I'm going to…make it…Hmm…"

His eyes slowly closed and the last bit of life left his body.

"We did it…it's over." I said walking over to his body.

"No…we lost." Chiyo said "He had a chance to avoid the last attack…but took it."

"Hmm" I started looking at the body "What to do with you…"

Fu's POV

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Naruto spawned a few clones and used them to throw Deidara to the ground. In our pursuit we had managed to blow off one of his arms and incapacitate him. Now that he had him pinned Naruto was laying into him.

"You're attacking a clone!" I yelled.

"Hmm…" Kakashi-Sensei was looking at him.

I felt a dangerous chakra gathering around Naruto and he was suddenly enveloped by the chakra, it started to take the form of a fox.

He's losing control…

As he grew angrier another tail formed in that instant Sensei ran forward and stuck a tag on his head that stopped the transformation.

"When a Jinchuriki loses themselves to their emotion they begin to take on the characteristics of their beast" I explained "Fu has experienced it once herself, although hers was far more gruesome looking."

"We're back." Sakura and Kale said dropping from the trees with Lady Chiyo.

Kale had a large dummy tied to his back but otherwise they looked tired but fine.

"That clay guy still giving you trouble?" Kale asked.

"What happened to Gaara?" Lady Chiyo asked."

"…"

"I see."

"Ugh…"

"We found him!" Guy and his team yelled form far off.

There was commotion in the trees as Deidara made one last effort to escape, he came to a stop by the downed body of his bird from before.

"Watch out he uses explosions!" Kakashi yelled.

"HOOOMM!" Deidara took a bite of his sculpture "Take a look this is true art!"

His body started to contort and bulge up.

"He's not gonna."

"The Chakra is gathering in one place." Neji said.

"ART IS AN EXPLOSION!"

"Get out of here!"

Deidara popped like a billon and a massive explosion went off. We all ran for cover but there was no outrunning a blast like that, but then in a flash…the explosion was gone.

"What the…"

"UGH" Kakashi-Sensei grabbed his chest and fell back.

"Sensei!"

"What did you do?" Kale asked as Sakura started to heal their teacher.

"I sent the explosion to another dimension." He explained "More importantly is everyone else safe?"

"Yeah we're fine."

"Sakura." Naruto's clones arrived with Gaara's body.

Kale's POV

When we retrieved Gaara we moved him to a nearby field. Sakura tried to heal him but we knew before we got to this field there was nothing to do…his beast had been extracted, he was dead.

"Well?" Naruto asked.

"Mhm…" Sakura only shook her head.

"Why…" Naruto asked as he began crying "Why is it always Gaara? He's the Kazekage…and he's just supposed to die like this?"

"Relax Naruto." Lady Chiyo said walking over to Gaara's body.

"You shut up!" Naruto yelled "If you had never put that thing inside him in the first place this wouldn't have happened, did any of you ever take even a second to ask Gaara how he felt?! Jinchuriki…you all just made that word up to label us."

"Naruto…" Sakura looked concerned.

"I was too weak for Sasuke so a trained…and after all that…I was still too weak. Nothing has changed…"

"Hmm…" Lady Chiyo kneeled at Gaara's body and place her hands on his chest.

This is…

"That Jutsu!" Sakura yelled.

"Mhm." I grabbed her shoulder "No…"

"But-."

"Sakura…no." I looked at her.

"What are you doing now?" Naruto asked with anger and only grew more upset when she didn't respond "I said what are you doing?!"

"She's bringing Gaara back." Sakura told him.

"Bring him…back?" Naruto asked confused.

"This Jutsu…is something only Lady Chiyo knows." Sakura explained.

"Ugh…dammit." Lady Chiyo groaned "Not enough…Chakra."

"Then use mine." Naruto begged "You can use it right?"

"Hmm…place your hands on mine."

The force of the Jutsu increased as Naruto added his Chakra to Chiyo's.

"This world of Shinobi has made many foolish old people." Chiyo said "I'm glad to see that the next generation has appeared. My past is just a series of mistakes, but I'm glad that in the end I was able to do something right. The Village of the Sand, and the Village of the Leaf, their future…will surely be different than the past. That gift Kakashi spoke of, will change the future, Naruto…you will become a Hokage unlike any other…Sakura stop risking your life for foolish old women who are dying, protect those important to you, you're a lot like me women with spirit like a man's are hard to come by, you will be even greater than your master…Kale your skills are just blossoming, I have a feeling you will become a great master, you're a smart boy people will look to you for knowledge…and Fu…stop keeping secrets, trust the people close to you."

"Stupid old woman." I sighed.

"Finally Naruto I have a request, you are the only person who can understand Gaara's suffering, you understand him as he understands you. So…look after Gaara."

"Hmm…" the old woman fell back into Sakura's arms.

So that's it…dying like that…with no show…

"HA!" Gaara suddenly sat up.

"Gaara…" Naruto looked at him.

"…Naruto?"

I looked around, we weren't the only people here, seemed like half the Sand village was here.

"Everyone came rushing to save you." Naruto laughed "You scared all of us."

"That's for damn sure." Kankuro sighed "it's rude of the little brother to make your siblings worry like that."

"Gaara is still Kazekage, you should be more formal." Temari scolded.

"Lord Gaara is so cool~" the girls were pushing Naruto out of the way so they could look at their leader.

"I'm chopped liver." Naruto grumbled.

"Don't worry about it." Kankuro shrugged "The ladies always go for the cool types."

"I think Shikamaru said that once too…" Naruto mumbled.

"Hey Crow's shot." I told Kankuro.

"Not a surprise he was on his last legs after the first fight." He shrugged.

"Here I got you a present to make up for breaking your toy." I said taking the dummy off my back.

"Fair trade, I got the stuff you were looking for." He said taking the bag off his back.

I opened the bag "Perfect…wood from the rare palms of the Desert."

"Sweet you got it!" Tenten nodded "We'll get to work building staves four and five when we get home."

"Thanks for everything." Kankuro told me and Naruto "You guys save Gaara."

"Don't thank us." Naruto said "You should thank that old lady, she saved Gaara with the medical Jutsu. I mean she passed out from using."

"Naruto…" I sighed.

"She'll be fine when we-."

"No." Kankuro cut him off "It wasn't Medical Jutsu…Naruto Lady Chiyo is…is dead. That was Life Transfer Jutsu. It was a technique developed to give life to puppets but was deemed to dangerous and declared forbidden."

"Naruto you really do have the power to change people." Temari said "Lady Chiyo would never do something like this."

"She entrusted the future to you and Gaara." Kakashi-Sensei said "A fitting moment for a Shinobi."

"Yeah just like the Third…I understand for sure." Naruto nodded.

"UGH!" Gaara struggled to stand up.

"Gaara you shouldn't."

"No…" he stood up "Everyone…we pray for Lady Chiyo."

AN

Thank you for reading. Feedback is appreciated. Feel free to message me any questions or concerns.

Till Next Time!