Author Note
Hi there and welcome to another chapter of Nidaime no Sairin.
Major fighting scenes along the way, so I won't bother explaining it beforehand. I feel, however, it's important to answer some of the reviews from the last chapter.
Jmg1988 – Fighting Itachi in nothing but Genjutsu is considered quite taxing and for a chakra powerhouse like him, it's even worse. No matter if he's well versed in Genjutsu as well, facing an illusion master is always ill-advised.
Six Foot Assassin – Canon Naruto in the Gaara retrieval arc was helpless against Itachi and useless throughout the entire arc, if you may recall. If the elder Uchiha truly wanted, Naruto would be a goner faster than he even realized what was going on. Deidara was toying with him the entire time, goading him and making Kakashi's life even harder, having to deal with a Kyuubi influenced Naruto. Naruto was only able to use the Rasengan on Itachi, after Kakashi kept Itachi trapped. So, yes, Canon Naruto is useless throughout most of the arcs. Only when he learns to use the fox's chakra, that he becomes strong enough. Until then, he is treated like a punching bag and a one-trick pony. Of course, it's not his fault…since no one bothered to give him proper tutoring. But, this is a subject that could render an entire story… by the way I had written two stories of this fact alone in the past…'Regret' and 'Tired'.
Jose19 – Don't worry, I plan to focus on this in the arc's epilogue.
Amavgupta0 – Multiple layered illusions can be seen in the anime, when both Itachi and Sasuke fight using it. You dispel one illusion, only to realize that yet another has taken place, further trapping you. Plenty of other anime uses it as well. Kirabi in his fight against Sasuke details that he's immune to Genjutsu thanks to his bond with the Hachibi. I don't suppose you call the rapper Kirabi weak, because of it. It's true, though, that Naruto's weakness will be Genjutsu, no matter how much he trains in the art. He still has a lot of chakra, so it's more susceptible to being caught in illusions. However, a shinobi fights using the tools at his disposal…and this Naruto uses the fox's chakra in concentrated bursts, to expel the invading chakra. He does not exaggerate in it, like Canon Naruto does.
Oxy27 – I'm sorry if you think like that….perhaps this chapter can change your mind. If not, then, well, best of luck with your future endeavors.
Midnightscar17 – His heritage shall take a while to be revealed, sorry.
Now here comes the chapter.
Nidaime no Sairin - Naruto Shippuden
Chapter 31 – Gaara's Rescue Part II
Beta: Scheffinator
Once Naruto's clone yanked the Kazekage's body away, the strange skeleton figure left the cave as well as the astral projections of the members, leaving only Deidara and Sasori there to face off against two teams of Konoha shinobi plus Chiyo.
Still, despite the odds not in their favor, Deidara was enjoying their odds here, especially since one of the Konoha shinobi happens to be the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki.
"Well, more people for me to show my art to, huh Sasori-danna." The man in question hummed in recognition, while turning his eyes briefly to his partner.
"In the end, more bodies for me to add to my collection…aside from that, however, we still have to recover the Kazekage's body." Deidara kept on smirking at that, however, while focusing on the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki's clone holding their prized target. The Konoha shinobi, meanwhile, were having a discussion of their own, regarding their next possible moves right now. Despite having the numbers' advantage, those two were still S-ranked shinobi, which meant that said advantage could be short lived quite fast…not to mention that from the nine fighters in Konoha's disposal, four of them were Chuunin.
"Kakashi, how do you want to play this?" The scarecrow Jonin saw Gai looking at him and pondered for a while. So far, their mission appeared to be secured, but not at the same time.
Taking Gaara back to Suna was paramount, but at the same time, if he didn't play his cards right, then Akatsuki could recapture him….not to mention the possibility of getting his comrades killed in the process.
"Gai, we need to take the Kazekage back to Suna. Can your team protect the clone along the way?" The other Jonin nodded with a thumbs up and a full out smile, already understanding his partner's trail of thought. Kakashi, then, turned to Naruto. "Your clone must carry Gaara back to Suna, Naruto. Gai's team shall accompany your clone and protect him." Naruto accepted the directive and eyed the clone, who nodded and bolted away from the cave, together with Gai's team. Deidara anticipated the move, however, and much to everyone's surprise, called upon a white bird and flew towards the cave entrance, making Naruto's clone as well as Gai's team turn in surprise.
Kakashi moved in tandem, hurling a couple of shuriken straight at Deidara's flight path and seeing the bird make evasive actions, while continuing in hot pursuit. The scarecrow Jonin realized that he would need to follow as well to secure the safety of Kazekage's body. While Gai's team had enough experience in that front, Akatsuki could still lurk outside and the one carrying Gaara was just a Kage Bunshin.
"I am afraid I shall have to leave you three to handle him…" Naruto, the real one, nodded along with Sakura, while Chiyo observed Kakashi leave.
Seemingly ignoring Naruto and Sakura's presence, the Akatsuki member turned to Chiyo and asked her.
"Hmmm, I heard you had retired long ago." Naruto and Sakura eyed each other and then at Chiyo, who only smiled at the pondering.
"Call me sentimental, but I suddenly got the craving to see my grandson's face again." Sakura and Naruto, then, received the full blast of an S-ranked shinobi's killing intent, while Sakura started to sweat, feeling the strain of being a target. She could feel the precise difference between herself and this foe… was quite different from the feeling she had of Itachi's presence moments before coming here. Looking at the focused Naruto next to her, she wondered how she would fare, being in his position…hunted by not one, but nine of these monster-like shinobi. The weight of this battle began to pressure her and her throat became dry.
"Do not fear girl…" She turned to see Chiyo begin to walk. "I shall face him, you two stay back." Sakura looked at Chiyo's back in question, before turning to Naruto.
"What should we do?" Naruto's focus was on Sasori the entire time, however, as he extended his chakra perception towards the enemy, Naruto could sense a major chakra power source, though it surprised him to realize that he couldn't feel Sasori's chakra running along the tenketsu like a regular shinobi. No, it was focused in one region only, though he couldn't quite perceive where it comes from. The presence in front of them couldn't be human in his mind. There was simply no chakra running through it, for Log's sake. He turned when Sakura pondered aloud, making him think for a while.
"For now, we can act as Chiyo's support, Sakura…and observe his movements." Sakura wondered about that as Naruto continued. "I can't get a proper feel of his chakra from here…perhaps, the real enemy is still hiding."
Sakura understood Naruto's train of thought.
"A puppet user rarely reveals himself right away…" Naruto nodded with a smile as he observed Chiyo's movements as well.
Chiyo had then placed both hands inside her robes and pulled a chakra string carrying a sequence of kunai. Each kunai was then attached to Chiyo's chakra as the projectiles hovered in mid-air, before traveling towards Sasori at high velocity. Sasori's iron tail blocked all of the kunai, but each weapon appeared to have a mind of their own and attacked once more, this time managing to carve Sasori's Akatsuki robe off, entirely. When the enemy's body was revealed, Naruto and Sakura narrowed their eyes at the sight of the enemy's body…or rather, what was perceived as a puppet's body with different appendages in its legs, arms and entire body.
"If you're going to defy me, Chiyo-baasama, then I have no choice…you all shall be nothing more than additions to my collection."
Chiyo just narrowed her eyes at her grandson's open defiance.
===With Kakashi and Naruto's Clone===
As soon as the rest of the crew left the cave, with Naruto's clone carrying the unconscious Kazekage, Kakashi and Gai's team had begun a new mission of escorting the asset.
Their new assignment was to escort Naruto's clone while the clone carried Gaara all the way towards Sunagakure, where he could be better treated. Naruto could attest to the chakra – or rather lack of, that he was feeling from the fellow Jinchuuriki. Naruto snarled at wondering what would be of Gaara if they had arrived later than they did. The feeling of the beast's chakra is also at its bare minimum, which worried him. To realize that Akatsuki had this power in their hands to extract the beast from within the Jinchuuriki was staggering.
"How is he?" Kakashi approached the clone while they exited the cave, heading towards Suna.
Deidara was still hovering over them, observing them in the meantime. Gai's team was forming a protective position around Kakashi and Naruto.
"I can barely feel his chakra, he's in critical levels, sensei." Kakashi nodded and then turned to Gai, who was closer to him.
"Gai, we need to run faster towards Suna…he needs medical attention as soon as possible."
The normally exuberant taijutsu Jonin at least accepted the severity of the situation.
"Neji, we need your Byakugan to warn us ahead of time, when he attacks." The Byakugan user nodded and activated the Dojutsu. As soon as he did so, the Byakugan picked up on a torpedo like projectile accelerating toward them and Neji could pick up on the amount of chakra laced in this specific projectile.
"Everyone, disperse now!"
Everyone attended quickly to Neji's warning as soon as Deidara's bomb smashed on the hill in front of them, forcing them to take different directions as the land trembled and the fire erupted uncontrollably. Deidara merely smirked from atop the sky. He was caring less and less for everyone's safety and both Jinchuuriki were tough enough to survive whatever it is that he could send, until the organization could extract the beast from within. From the ground, everyone was looking upward in quiet surprise at the level of destruction. Still, the mission itself has not changed its parameters, so they kept on running towards Suna.
Soon, everyone reached a narrow passageway in between mountains with a small river passing below. The narrow passageway had many tree logs uniting it.
Deidara kept on sending its bombs against them, but the tree logs were sturdy enough to protect them. The mad bomber merely smirked at that and this time, changed strategies, going from big to small blasts. Neji's Byakugan had alerted them of the change as he saw clay spiders falling from the sky.
The clay spiders moved fast towards them and Tenten began her expertise of sending kunai strapped with exploding tags to blast the spiders. The little buggers, however, had a life of their own and evaded the kunai as well as the blasts. Both Lee and Gai had taijutsu up in spades, but both lacked excellent chakra-like capabilities, forcing Neji to use his prowess in the Jyuuken to rid the clay spiders of its small chakra capacity, thus rendering some of the spiders useless. Still, Neji was just one and Deidara sent more than enough spiders to bomb them all into smithereens.
The Naruto clone observed this and looked at Kakashi, who nodded, apparently understanding his strategy.
Juggling Gaara's body, the clone managed to summon another clone, who joined closer to Neji and went through hand seals.
Suiton Suijinheki (Water Release: Water Encampment Wall Technique)
Neji saw pillars of water emerging from the river below them as soon as the spiders blasted close to their location, protecting them from the explosions. Neji had been witness to his fellow young Jonin's expertise in water ninjutsu to the point that Naruto needed very little hand signs to perform high level techniques. Still, everyone knew that the enemy had the high ground right now, so none of them could afford much breathing room right now. Their apprehension got even worse as soon as they left the canyon with the tree logs and reached the mainland to run across the rest of River Country, towards Wind Country.
Deidara had blasted them once more with big bombs, forcing them all to take evasive actions. This time, however, Lee and Tenten didn't leave unscathed, forcing Neji and Gai to protect them, while Kakashi remained with the first clone, carrying Gaara.
The second Naruto clone moved in between Gai's team and shifted elemental strategy. As soon as the bombs came their way, he would use wind ninjutsu to change the bomb's direction. Doing so, the blast shifted directions, keeping the team protected.
"Tenten, Lee, are you okay?" The two shinobi from Gai's team nodded, despite the pain, while running.
"I'll live, thank you Naruto." The clone nodded and then turned to Gai and Neji, both nodding at him.
The second Naruto clone then decided to summon four more clones, knowing that he wouldn't have much more to spare.
Summoning three more clones, while Gai's team observed, the four Naruto clones formed a protective square around Gai's Team, while going through hand seals.
Kekkai Houjin (Barrier Method Formation)
As soon as the clones finished the hand seal sequence, four lines united the clones, drawing a specific barrier as a protection barrier for Gai's Team.
The blasts smashed at the Barrier, but Gai's Team saw it blasting on top of them, leaving them unscathed.
"Nice one Naruto-kun…your flames of youth burn bri…" Lee was overwhelmed as he observed his senior in command in action.
"I hate to interrupt you Lee, but I won't be able to keep the barrier for long…let's go!" Tenten and Neji both chuckled at the explanation given by the clones as Neji's Byakugan could very well see that the clones had enough chakra to last quite a while. Still, the huge blasts and earthquakes just kept on coming, while the mission to take Gaara back to Suna was a go.
===With Naruto===
Chiyo was standing close to Naruto and Sakura as she eyed the puppet body in front of her…seeing this puppet brought her back to the time where her grandson was still a shinobi from Suna.
"So, what's the plan here?" The elder kunoichi turned to Naruto and then to the puppet in front of her.
"The puppet is named Hiruko…I know it from back when Sasori was still a shinobi from Suna…though, he had clearly made improvements to it. He is hidden inside the puppet, so we need to destroy that puppet."
"Sounds simple enough…I take it that you now wish for us to take part in the fight." Chiyo snorted at those who weren't accustomed to fighting against a puppet user.
"To destroy it, one must have destructive capabilities, which I lack…but Sakura has Princess Tsunade's abilities. We need to get close to him and destroy it, but we need to look out for the hidden weapon mechanisms…one mere scratch from his weapons and you won't live much longer." Sakura closed her fists, getting ready for her part. Naruto, in the meantime, focused on the enemy, still radiating enough killing intent. Itachi never displayed emotion and Naruto was never able to make a read of the elder Uchiha's intentions. Kisame had his maniac glint in his eyes and wanted nothing but to cause pain on him for the fun of it.
Sasori, however, was different…the desire he could perceive of a mass murderer. He had never felt such a dangerous vibe from someone other than the fox…
"You three shall be members of my collections soon enough." The way he said it brought chills up their spines. "Do you know how I make my collection? First, I pull out the organs…then, after I wash the body nice and clean…I extract the blood. Once I've prepared the body, so it won't decay. Afterward, I fill the body with hidden weapons and then…only then, it becomes a complete addition to my puppet collection. And after adding you three to my collection, I shall have exactly 301 puppets in my collection. It's my art!"
"Art!?" Sakura's outburst was well-reasoned…if possible, this person had lost all possible reasoning and was only interested in killing.
"Hmmm, that art of his was when he was still a Suna shinobi…but that's in the past right now. Listen…" Sasori saw as Chiyo gathered with Sakura to explain her planning, while Naruto observed their opponent.
Soon, the man who hates to be kept waiting and hates to keep others waiting got his reward as he saw Chiyo and Sakura running side by side towards him. Naruto then ran in a similar path, though opening up a flank of attack.
The puppet then released the cloth from its mouth and it opened, before endless metal senbon flew towards Sakura and Chiyo.
Normally at such projectile speed, it would be incredibly hard to evade, not to mention keep on advancing. Sasori certainly was counting on Chiyo being able to evade, but certainly not the girl next to her. He then focused on the Jinchuuriki, who released his sword and blocked the most dangerous ones, while using his agility, together with the afterimage ability of Yuugao and Hayate. Sasori couldn't focus on all three at the same time, so he stopped focusing on Naruto and bombarded Sakura and Chiyo once more, but at the same time, both girls managed to evade most of the projectiles.
Naruto would release a bunch of shuriken and kunai, but all of his projectiles were blocked by Hiruko's metal tail.
Soon the ground became filled with projectiles of all shapes and sizes as the battle of long range continued.
Naruto saw Sakura's movement mirroring Chiyo's and smirked, seeing the elder kunoichi's hidden plan. Sasori's rain of projectiles stopped as its mouth hung open, while wondering how they managed to see it through. Naruto then looked in surprise as a hidden gauntlet left Hiruko's arm like a rocket, before spinning madly and sending small wooden sticks all around the cave. The sticks, much to everyone's surprise, would open up and reveal even more senbon.
Chiyo and Sakura managed to evade easily enough, but their plan didn't account for him, meaning Naruto was by himself.
As such, he went through hand seals and then swung his sword.
Fuuton Shippu Shouheki (Wind Release: Hurricane Barrier)
Each of the projectiles that threatened Naruto's position would be sliced in half as soon as it reached the hurricane that formed around him. While Naruto used ninjutsu to save his hide, Sakura and Chiyo were just easily evading as if they were taking a nice stroll. Sakura's morale was gaining enough points as she perceived the projectiles passing by her, without posing as much of a threat. Once the projectile rain stopped, Sakura then ran towards Hiruko with a kunai in hand, throwing it at him. Naruto had also completed the rain of projectiles of his own, adding the Reppushou to carry more punch.
Still, that alone was not enough as Hiruko's tail blocked all of their attacks, before aiming it straight at the running Sakura…certain that he would skewer her.
It came as a surprise when the tail stopped just inches from Sakura's face, before Chiyo screamed for her to go ahead and smash Hiruko to pieces. Naruto saw her fist glowing in blue chakra, before the puppet was smashed into small pieces by her strength. Chiyo and Naruto saw what appeared to be a man hidden beneath a black cape, leaving Hiruko's debris and creating some distance from them.
"Hmmm, so, you finally come out, huh?" Chiyo's condescending tone towards her grandson spoke volumes as the human being got up from the ground, with his back facing the Suna-Konoha trio. "I've come this far just to see my grandson's face."
Naruto soon stood next to Sakura, as he eyed the opposition, the real opposition this time. He could feel the chakra output more clearly now, but he still couldn't perceive precisely where it came from. Sasori for his part kept looking at his hand for a while, before flexing all of his fingers to control Hiruko's head that was still in one piece. Making it hover in mid-air, the head started spinning and sent more projectile rain towards Sakura, forcing Chiyo to reveal what she was doing, by moving Sakura out of the way, using her chakra threads.
"As I thought…" Came a more human type voice instead of the raspy one that came from within Hiruko. "Just what I would expect from my granny…no wonder this little girl was able to dodge my hidden weapons. Also, it appears that you had used the chakra threads on Hiruko's tail as well…hmmm…though when you did that, I wonder…was it when you sent the flying kunai at the beginning." Naruto paid rapid attention to the opponent's degree of perception. He managed to pick up on Chiyo's usage of chakra threads, because he knew the plan beforehand.
Sasori, however, managed to pick it up in the midst of the fight, seeing the chakra threads both from Sakura and the metal tail as well.
This guy had chakra sensitivity in spades and in a S-ranked level fight no less.
"Oh, I had suppressed my chakra as much as possible so as not to be seen…and yet you still figured it out. I'm impressed."
Chiyo said that with a knowing smirk, with a hint of pride, despite it all.
"But of course…after all, the one who hammered the principles of puppetry into me was…none other than you." Sasori's words followed by him removing the cloth that covered his face. "This little gathering of ours, though, shall be its last."
As soon as he removed the hood, Chiyo's eyes widened as well as Naruto's and Sakura's.
===With Kakashi and Naruto's Clone===
Naruto's clone and Kakashi were still running with Gai's unconscious corpse, with Gai's team for protection.
The other clones had taken the blast from Deidara's bombs and vanished. The only clone that remained was the one carrying Gaara and Kakashi urged him not to summon anymore clones, for fear of running out of chakra. As such, the scarecrow Jonin had taken up the duty of protecting Naruto, leaving Gai's team unattended. Tenten was running out of her arsenal at this point and the taijutsu fighters were quite fatigued at this point. Neji was the only one redirecting the bombings with his Jyuuken and even the occasional Kaiten in mid-air to block the blasts.
Deidara was merely having fun airborne as he fired clay bomb after clay bomb at them. Still, the mad bomber realized that they would be reaching Sunagakure soon, hence why he needed to take things up a notch.
Grabbing more clay from his pouch, Deidara summoned a pack of wolves made of clay to chase after the enemies.
Neji stood by, waiting for the new creatures to appear, facing it head on, but the pack of wolves had simply passed by him and kept on running towards Kakashi. Gai and Lee looked at one another and both ran faster to smash them to pieces, however the wolves outran them. Kakashi turned when Gai screamed at him to watch out, before seeing the pack of clay wolves coming their way. With his Sharingan activated and surging lighting chakra through his right hand, the scarecrow Jonin used his Raikiri to slash the wolves in half. However, he could only deal with three of them, thus allowing the other three to pass by and go for Naruto's clone.
The clone saw the wolves approach his position, before Deidara made the ram sign for all three to explode at the same time. Kakashi kept on running and soon reached the position of the blast.
"Naruto!"
The fire caused by the blast kept on growing and Kakashi became worried that the clone had vanished and Gaara's body would be too injured. A blast of water erupted from within the fire and Naruto's clone was still holding Gaara.
"Let's go sensei…we don't have time to waste." Kakashi breathed a little easier and nodded as he followed the clone forward.
Gai's team was about to follow, when a creature emerged from the ground…a gigantic venus flytrap from the looks of things, dressed in Akatsuki robes.
"Gai!" Kakashi screamed while running.
"Go on Kakashi, we can handle this! Get the Kazekage to Suna at once!"
Kakashi didn't like the current situation…the real Naruto and Sakura were battling Sasori and now Team Gai had to face another of Akatsuki by themselves. However, saving the Kazekage was the mission right now.
===With Naruto===
Back at the cave, Chiyo looked on in surprise at her grandson's face…she was expecting a much more senior face looking back at her, not the same face she last remembered him by.
"How is this possible!?" Chiyo murmured, while Sakura looked at the old kunoichi and then at Naruto who was focusing on the enemy.
"Is he…Sasori?" Naruto looked at Sakura and lifted his shoulder, just as surprised.
"What's going on here?" Chiyo, though, was still murmuring uncontrollably, baffled at what she was seeing before her, while Sasori just kept his arrogant smirk. "He's just as he was before…he hadn't aged one bit…how!" Sasori, though, just kept on grinning.
"What's wrong, Granny? Are you so filled with emotion that you cannot speak?" Chiyo was indeed speechless, so he continued. "It's our first reunion in over 20 years."
"Sasori, you…" Chiyo was struggling to come to terms with the truth…she knew perfectly well the reason, though she was struggling to understand why…
"Well, allow me to show you something special." Sasori said as a scroll slipped within his robe sleeve. "It's guaranteed to move you." Sasori then slowly opened the scroll, revealing the number three kanji written in it, before releasing the new puppet.
And yet again, Chiyo's eyes widened…if possible, her grandson had reached impossible levels of treason towards the very village he was born in!
"Chiyo-baasama, what's wrong?" Sakura screamed back, still seeing Chiyo's catatonic expression.
"That's…the Sandaime Kazekage!" Naruto and Sakura looked at one another in surprise, before they focused on the new puppet in front of them. Sasori had fallen into position with the Kazekage's puppet positioned close to Sasori's shoulder.
"Now, then, I believe this squabble has taken long enough…you're lucky Jinchuuriki that I need to capture you alive…but I don't have to worry about Granny Chiyo and you, little girl." Naruto narrowed his eyes and stood close to Sakura's position.
"If you think I will simply stand by and wait, you're sadly mistaken." Sasori only smiled at the bravado coming from a mere kid.
"It matters little what you do…the outcome will be the same. Now, let us proceed." All ten fingers of Sasori showed his chakra threads and the Sandaime Kazekage flew towards Sakura at high speeds. Chiyo had pulled Sakura backwards in order to protect her, but Sasori had merely smiled and closed his hand as a new gauntlet of multiple blades emerged from within the Kazekage's sleeve, ready to skewer Sakura in half. Chiyo had positioned Hiruko's iron tail and blocked the Kazekage's attack, when Naruto attacked the Kazekage's flank.
Fuuton Kaze no Yaiba (Wind Release: Blade of Wind)
The multiple transparent blades of wind traveled fast and precisely towards the Kazekage puppet, though Sasori was experienced enough in the technique to know how to evade it. Still, Naruto was not done and kept sending multiple blades of wind towards the Kazekage's puppet. Sasori was observing the precise wind application, understanding that he couldn't underestimate the Jinchuuriki, based on his knowledge in wind ninjutsu. His interest was piqued as the Sandaime Kazekage's puppet didn't come out unscathed from the technique, showing multiple slashes in the puppet's corpse.
"You're not all talk, it seems…though that won't be enough, Jinchuuriki." Sasori then moved his right hand. The Sandaime Kazekage's other arm came out from within the sleeve and extended towards Sakura this time.
After extending a bit, from the arm, multiple contraptions opened up, showing seal designs.
From within the sealing technique, multiple puppet arms surged, until it formed a gigantic and unified beam that traveled quickly towards Sakura. With a mere flick of his wrist, Sasori then commanded the multiple hands and arms beam to descend upon Sakura and would have skewered her, had Chiyo not yanked her away. However, Chiyo found that Sakura wasn't moving, despite her efforts to pull her away. Sasori merely smirked as he finished his combo with a mere flick of his middle finger, before a couple of pipes appeared from the hands and arms beam, sending a cloud of poison straight at the trapped Sakura.
"Sakura!" Chiyo screamed in fright, seeing as one mere breath of that cloud and Sakura would be killed instantly.
Fuuton Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)
Fuuton Kaze no Yaiba (Wind Release: Blades of Wind)
Naruto unleashed a strong blast of wind that blasted the smoke away, followed by the wind slice technique that cut the rope trapping Sakura, before taking her close to Chiyo.
The pink-haired Chuunin was closing her eyes and trying her best not to breathe, when she felt her body being yanked away.
"Are you alright, Sakura?" When Sakura opened her eyes, she was on the ground being attended to by Naruto.
"Naruto…yes, I'm okay…" Sasori, though, didn't allow them breathing room as he moved his right thumb and six kunai canons emerged from the hands and arms beam, sending a barrage of kunai towards Naruto and Sakura.
Naruto and Sakura were caught by surprise and Naruto summoned his ninjato to block, but Chiyo moved faster, summoning two puppets of her own to block the six kunai.
"It isn't nice to attack a lady while she's down Sasori…that's not very chivalrous of you. Now, I trust you know who they are, right?" Sasori, though, was unimpressed with the showing, despite who these puppets reminded him of.
"Oh…those two…I fail to see why you summoned the very puppets I made in the first place?" Chiyo urged Naruto and Sakura to stand down for now as she urged the puppets to join hands, before metal wires could be seen as the hands separated. Chiyo's puppets then flew fast towards the hands and arms beam from the Sandaime Kazekage, slashing the united beam in equal parts. Sasori then released the arm which summoned the other arms, before a spinning chainsaw appeared in the Kazekage's right arm.
Chiyo's two puppets then revealed their respective weapons of similar metal quality.
Sasori and Chiyo's hands became a blur as they controlled their respective puppets in a battle royale that surprised Naruto and Sakura.
Eventually, the puppets' blades were all wasted and shattered.
"Hmmm, this is getting messy…" Sasori said as he eyed the rest of the debris on the ground. "I better hurry up and use this, then." He then made the dog hand sign and from the Kazekage's mouth, came out what appeared to be black sand.
"So, that puppet uses the Third Kazekage's Jutsu. This is troubling."
"What's that, Chiyo-baasama?" Sakura asked as she saw the troubled look on her face.
"That was Suna's most feared weapon at the time of the Sandaime Kazekage…The Iron Sand."
With her experience, Chiyo had come to terms with the fact that this fight would be incredibly tough, but right now, seeing the famous Iron Sand being used against her, she considered their odds of survival as dismal at best.
===With Kakashi and Naruto's Clone===
Hatake Kakashi looked at the clone carrying Gaara's unconscious body and realized that the clone's chakra supply was coming to an end soon.
Deidara's bombs were still descending madly and he couldn't count on Naruto's clone using anymore chakra than he already had used, hence why Kakashi was right now doing all the work of keeping Deidara's bombs away from them, focusing on projectiles and lightning chakra in brief intervals. The mad bomber didn't appear to switch tactics for now, which was a blessing. Of course, Deidara had spent three days' worth of chakra attempting to remove Ichibi from Gaara, hence why he couldn't afford to use his most destructive techniques right now.
Still, it was still dangerous to keep him upward and Kakashi needed to keep Naruto's clone as much as possible, to allow them to reach Suna in safety.
He didn't know how Gai's team was fairing against the unknown Akatsuki member, but right now, he needed to have faith that the Taijutsu Beast would be able to keep his team together.
"Kakashi-sensei, we can't go on like this…I don't know how much longer I can sustain myself…the original had given me plenty, but I had used quite a lot of chakra right now." The senior Jonin nodded as he looked upwards to pinpoint Deidara's position.
"I know…we need to take him out…however, I don't believe you have anything under your sleeve to attack him from long-range…hmmm." The clone negated Kakashi's presumption.
"Actually, I have…but not with the overall chakra I have left…" The Sharingan wielder knew never to presume anything regarding Uzumaki Naruto, especially considering how much he had improved in the ninja department.
"Well, call me curious, Naruto-kun, but now is not the time for show and tell, perhaps later. I happen to have something, but I would need some time for that. In the meantime, we will need to evade the blasts with nothing but our evasion tactics."
The clone looked as Kakashi then made a different hand seal, while positioning both hands close to his Sharingan eye.
"Now, I am the one who's curious, but I don't think evasion alone will help us…so it would help plenty if you didn't take too long to do what you're planning to do." Kakashi snorted at the slight jab right in the middle of a S-ranked mission no less.
Nowadays, even without the fox, Naruto was already a chakra monster to the extent that no one in Konoha could compare with him in terms of overall capacity. Hell, his Kage bunshin alone possessed more chakra than Kakashi.
"Hmmm, not everyone is a chakra monster like you, Naruto-kun, but I will try to leap up to your lofty standards." Naruto was about to comment further, but he couldn't as another batch of bombings smashed on the ground close to them. Forcing chakra on the soles of their feet was the most they could do right now, but Naruto could at least saturate the air with water chakra, for when the situation requires desperate measures. Also, running through the desert was quite challenging, requiring them to modulate the amount of chakra so as not to make a wrong step.
Kakashi ended up taking close to five minutes focusing on this new technique of his and Deidara had even used his batch of spider bombings, which forced the two Jonin to evade them using high speed movements in tandem.
Still, as Kakashi removed the hand seal, Naruto was surprised to see the different design of Kakashi's Sharingan.
"What the hell?" Kakashi turned to look at the flabbergasted Naruto clone.
"Yeah, this is an evolved version of the Sharingan, Naruto…now, could you keep him occupied while I focus a bit more." Naruto, if possible, was even more curious wondering about the accursed Dojutsu, however now wasn't the time. With a simple flick of the wrist, Naruto shifted Gaara's body in between his arms, while throwing shuriken and kunai after Deidara. The mad bomber, for his turn, had simply snorted at the pathetic attempt and evaded the slow pacing projectiles that came his way. However, his long-seeing device managed to check on Kakashi and gasped at the sight of the man's different Sharingan pattern.
'Mangekyo Sharingan! But I thought only Itachi had it!'
Back on the ground, Kakashi's now evolved Sharingan focused on Deidara's position and began his supreme eye technique. For a couple of seconds, nothing happened. However, Deidara was then surprised when an air vortex opened close to his position, sucking him into it, somehow. He had never seen such a technique…certainly Itachi had never shown this to him. His movements became hindered by the vortex and even the clay bird was having trouble flying away from the extreme force. Naruto merely observed transfixed at the technique, while the veins in Kakashi's eyes were quite evident…such is the strain in keeping this technique activated for long.
The mad bomber fought against the vortex as best as he could, but he couldn't escape…at first, the center was focused on his stomach and it would rip him apart for sure if he allowed it. Grunting in extreme effort, Deidara released the rest of the chakra he had to control the bird away from Kakashi's technique…all of his efforts, however, only allowed the center of the vortex to leave his stomach and land on his right arm.
The Iwa nuke-nin screamed in pain as Kakashi's vortex technique managed to yank off his right arm and send it somewhere else.
Kakashi cursed the pain in his eyes and had to shut it off immediately, however he turned to Naruto, who nodded and summoned a kunai with a sealing tag strapped to it. He then gave the kunai to Kakashi, who looked at it strangely.
"Could you throw it at him with all your strength, sensei…" Kakashi looked at it some more. He was expecting a different tag attached to the kunai.
"Why is there a sealing tag in this kunai as opposed to an exploding tag, Naruto…?" The clone smirked in soon to be glee as he urged the senior shinobi one more time.
"You shall see, but can you please throw it while he's distracted?"
Kakashi was still doubtful, but he acquiesced to the request and sent it flying straight towards the still in pain Deidara.
Gojo Kibaku Fuda (Mutually Multiplying Exploding Tags)
As soon as Deidara saw the flying kunai inches from his position, Naruto used the ram sign to release the never ending explosive tags within never ending sealing tags. Kakashi's eyes widened as he saw exploding tags come out of the original sealing tag, then new sealing tags coming out as well with even more exploding tags…causing a never-ending cacophony of explosions in the air, as if they were celebrating the new year. Deidara was sent flying, courtesy of perhaps his own medicine, which was all the more nerve wrecking.
Naruto's clone and Kakashi stopped running to see the end result of Naruto's technique and Kakashi could only ask one thing from the prodigy Fuuinjutsu user, still trying to understand just where he came up with these new techniques.
"Nicely done…though, I think you could lead with that next time, Naruto-kun." The clone shrugged it off, though.
"It takes me close to a week just to make one of those, sensei…it's a one-off type of move." With the number of sealing tags and exploding tags, it's no wonder, but then Naruto's clone moped, while completing the explanation. "Not to mention the fact that I had to blow an entire B-ranked mission salary with ink and paper for that…it was worth it, though." Kakashi sweat dropped at the info, but then he remembered Minato-sensei complaining about that as well, on occasions.
"I take it this was what you're referring to early on, then."
"Ah…no…"
Kakashi by this point covered his Sharingan eye and replied with a nostalgic chuckle.
"Right then, let's get going…I believe Suna is now close by."
===At Sunagakure===
The Suna guards, one Chuunin and one Jonin, who were stationed at the only passageway separating the desert from the village looked on in the horizon as they saw two silhouettes running towards their position. It took a couple of seconds for the guards to realize in surprise to see the Konoha shinobi carrying Kazekage-sama's body. The Jonin turned to the Chuunin with a set of urgent orders.
"Hurry, call Temari-sama and Kankuro-sama here immediately."
The Chuunin left immediately to retrieve the Kazekage's siblings. When Temari and Kankuro appeared by the passageway, Naruto and Kakashi arrived.
"Gaara! Is he okay? Gaara! Answer me, please." Temari was shaking her brother, but to no avail…she then turned to Kakashi and Naruto.
"Temari-san, he was barely alive and chakra depleted when we found him, he must be treated right away." The blonde Jonin didn't need to be told twice and urged the locals to take him immediately to the hospital. She then turned to Naruto with a smile.
"Uzumaki Naruto, you have fulfilled your promise…thank you." Naruto's clone nodded with one final phrase before vanishing.
"I will be sure to pass the message along, Temari…" The woman was surprised to see Naruto vanishing and then turned to Kakashi,
"That was his Kage Bunshin. Now, with the Kazekage safe and sound in Suna, I have to go back and assist the others…" Temari once more appreciated Konoha's assistance and followed after the medics that would treat Gaara.
Kakashi, then, went through hand seals after biting his thumb and placed his hand on the ground.
Pakkun soon appeared and took a seat in front of its summoner.
"What do you need, Kakashi?"
"I need to return to that cave you found earlier, Pakkun…but I need to rest a bit and you can get there faster. Once you get there, use the reverse summoning right away."
The pug ninken saluted the order and immediately ran, while Kakashi took a soldier pill.
He now needed to conserve as much chakra as possible, while waiting for the pull, confident that Naruto, Sakura and Chiyo would be able to hold things off in the meantime.
Author Note
Ok, that's it for now.
I wanted to finish the Gaara retrieval arc in two chapters, but this chapter would be too long, so I separated some material for the next chapter aside from the arc's epilogue and some scenes from Konoha. For those who wonder how Pakkun can use reverse summoning, despite never showing it in Canon, I believe that any animal summon can use it to summon the host, using the theory of space-time ninjutsu.
Lastly, I have recently created a P-atreon account for those who wish to follow my stories more personally, sending suggestions and occasional polls to help me.
Also, for those who wish to make a pledge there, it would be greatly appreciated. If not, then, it's fine as well. What's important for me is to have more readers admiring my stories.
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Next update: Avalon Bond
