Sasori shattered.

The sheer force released from Gai's strike was more than enough to break the Chakra Strings holding Sasori's body together. Gai had struck the torso, directly targeting the organic core of the puppet. It had been a solid, powerful strike; vibrations alone would have torn it apart, but Gai's strike had forced it to compress against the rest of the puppet. Against the core, the results were as expected.

The core exploded.

The scattered pieces of the puppet landed across the battlefield with heavy thunks and the sound of metal hitting metal. The scattered pieces of the core landed somewhat in a mess, along the cone of force.

If Sasori could survive that, then Hinata didn't know what would be able to kill him.

"Targets eliminated." Neji spoke shortly, his eyes flicking around the battlefield. "No signs of life aside from us."

Gai stood up, sighing. "Alright. Tenten, seal the bodies." He paused for a moment, looking across the battlefield, glancing at Sasori's separated head. It was a strange sight- appearing young, with light red hair, but completely lacking expression, the machinery visible at the neck showing just how organic it wasn't. "We're heading back as soon as we can."

Pulse

Oh, not again.

Where... there. A rush of Chakra along the dimensional link, accompanied by a Heart and a Soul...

I teleported to it as it appeared. A light tap with my Keyblade took the Bijuu safely away.

"What just-" A deeper, masculine voice. More Chakra than Isobu...

"Son?" Isobu asked.

Ah, four tails. Son Gokū.

"Isobu? Shukaku?" Son asked. "What." He paused for a moment. "Why are there so many weapons around here?"

"Those are mine." I cut in. "Don't touch them. They're souvenirs and I don't want to lose them."

"And... you are-" Another Bijuudama flew at me, but this time, I dodged it instead of letting it hit me. "IS THAT THE JUUBI?!"

Wow. That was exactly how Shukaku reacted.

"Isobu, please be a dear and fill him in. Kind of busy myself."

"I see. Quite a fortunate set of circumstances." Hiruzen nodded as he stamped a few papers. "Well done, all of you. It warms my heart greatly to see that you came back unhurt."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama." Kurenai nodded.

"I'll have the pay added to your accounts within the hour. Dismissed."

Teams Kurenai and Gai bowed, before quickly leaving the room. The moment the door was closed, Hiruzen heard a muffled cheer, likely from Kiba.

He smiled as he heard it, before letting it fall away as he turned his attention to the other two in the room.

"That's five members of Akatsuki dead." He began. "They'll be forced to be either more cautious or more active."

"Unfortunately, probably the latter." Jiraiya sighed. "My network recently reported to me that the Three-Tails was sighted and subsequently vanished not too long ago. I figure that it was captured."

"Well, five Akatsuki for three Bijuu." Tsunade noted. "Not sustainable numbers. All the next ones would be more difficult to acquire, too."

"The Yonbi and Gobi both have Jinchuuriki, but I'm not entirely certain where either is." Jiraiya noted. "The Rokubi is the same. Nanabi is within Takigakure, from what I know. The Nibi and Hachibi are both with Kumogakure."

"Unfortunately, just as the remaining Bijuu will be more difficult targets, so too will the remaining members of the Akatsuki." Hiruzen sighed. "Zetsu, Kisame, Konan, Nagato, and Obito Uchiha. The first may not be a direct threat, but the last four definitely are. To hunt them, we'll either need luck, or we'll need to operate inside the borders of the other Lands. Iwagakure and Kumogakure won't appreciate that. Kirigakure likely won't, either."

"A messy situation." Tsunade frowned. "Though at this point, maybe we could use the recent events to our advantage. If we could call a Summit, then maybe we can drag the other villages into the operations against the Akatsuki. It's in all their interests to do so."

"Iwagakure would likely attempt to undermine us if we involve them." Jiraiya noted. "That is a tendency they haven't given up on."

"It is quite likely." Hiruzen agreed. "Currently, they're in a good position, having both of their Jinchuuriki. Keeping their own, while undermining the efforts of the others to keep theirs, would put them in a more potent position for later. Especially after the debacle that was the attempted invasion of Konoha."

Hiruzen sighed. "But... a summit is not a bad idea. Regardless of whatever Iwa might try, it is still preferable that they keep their Jinchuuriki, rather than the Akatsuki take them and use them for their own purposes. Iwa, at least, won't use them freely."

Tsunade crossed her arms. "There is one problem with it, though. Calling a summit will mean that you'll have to leave the village."

"Which would leave us with lower strength that the Akatsuki could potentially exploit." Hiruzen nodded, already aware of that. "A risk, yes, but a risk that would be worth it if we could get the other villages to agree to work with us."

He sighed once again, his fingers crossing under his chin. "I'm going to need to think about this."

"Still, how is this even possible?" Son asked. "You can't revive the Juubi just like that. There's no way it should even be moving."

"It is weaker than all of you. Even Shukaku."

"FUCK OFF! I'M NOT WEAK!"

"But you are the weakest of the Bijuu, yes?"

Shukaku growled.

"Purely Chakra-wise, you can't match the others. Certainly-"

Pulse.

That had better not be what I think it is.

It's barely even been an hour...

In the distance, angry red Chakra surged out of the ground.

And an ice-cold feeling of horror stabbed through me. The Chakra was familiar. The Heart and the Soul were both familiar. I knew it from spending over a decade in this World, commonly in its presence. It was as familiar to me as Naruto's and Sasuke's own Hearts and Souls.

"Impossible-"

"That's-"

"No fucking way-"

Kyuubi.