Chapter 68.- Not enough
Why...why did it feel like they were not advancing at all?
Sure, has managed to move her out of harm's way. But as much as they tried, it didn't feel like they were getting close, not one bit. It wouldn't matter so much if not for the visible proof that they were running out of time. At this point, the medic wasn't sure if they would ever get the chance to get close enough to Sasori, let alone take Gaara-san out from whatever ritual these insane freaks were doing. She would've found a way. No...no, Higurashi had fought this same man and failed to break even the outer shell; it had been her strength that allowed them to get even that far. But she was weighed down by the reinforcements; had she had the time Sakura had wasted now...
Looking at the inhuman body standing in front of the couple of kunoichis. Dread fought against the pride that had impulsed Sakura to move against the red-headed puppeteer. There was no other choice but to keep going, time was ticking, and soon enough, the few minutes of immunity she'd gained after being forced to use one of her antidotes would be gone for good. No, even besides that, the ever-dimming chakra surrounding the Kazekage could not last much longer. Waiting for Kakashi-sensei and Naruto, or even Gai-sensei's team to return wasn't something that could be done; Gaara-san wouldn't make it. Self-pitying thoughts didn't change the fact that she was the one who needed to finish this fight. Emerald eyes did their best to gain as much information as she could from Sasori's new form. Blades were connected to his back, arranged in two fan formations, the cable that came out of the place his torso was meant to be could more than likely be used as a weapon as well. And she couldn't forget there had to be more traps in the puppet body the Akatsuki member now controlled. Whatever remanent of the unsettling shiver that had run down her spine at the realization of just how deranged someone had to be to do something like this to themselves was quickly pushed to the back of her mind; she couldn't let her fear stop her. With Chiyo-sama's assistance being lowered after the older kunoichi lost one of her arms, Sakura needed to move on her own once more. Higurashi could probably push forward anyway.
As if to prove her point, the pinkette felt a pull backward the moments the human puppet's hands came up. Fire burst through the openings in the wooden limbs.
Heat pursued her, licking at her heels as she ran back, barely managing to duck under a rock formation. Shit. Being on the defensive would only consume her immunity time. A little over a minute, that was all she had left.
"What's wrong?" Sasori was mocking them once more.
The sound of something coming her way reached her, another pull forced her back.
The rock formation couldn't stop the bladed tip of the cable sent her way, grazing her side and piercing the floor behind her. It was fine, the chuunin reminded herself. No matter how much poison got into her veins, it would still be okay. For another minute, at least...she had to move and finish this fight, fast.
"Die!"
She docked once more.
No...in this battle against a master puppeteer, Sakura was far from being deemed the most dangerous opponent. She should've known from the start that at the first chance, the person who would be targeted would be the one who held the better odds to beat Sasori. If the Suna kunoichi hadn't been using her chakra strings to aid her, the medic-nin would've never made it this far...the person the inhuman puppet was dashing to kill wasn't her; it was Chiyo-sama.
Anger rose within her, flowing through her at being dismissed once more, at being useless once more. Rage-fueled movements had her hands around the cable beside her in a tight grip, the chakra infused strength she'd learned from her master coursing through her. Not yet, not yet, the cord still had some ways to go, and the human-impersonating monster was getting closer to her companion. Haruno Sakura was not useless...not anymore.
Finally, she felt resistance in her pull; Sasori's weight was nothing, not compared to what she could handle. Emerald eyes shone, determinedly following the wooden body as it flew through across the air towards her. The muscles of her right arm tensed as she let go of the cable when her fist connected with the real puppeteer's torso. The material cracked underneath her fingers just as before. Her breathing was ragged, she was bleeding, and the antidote would reach its limits in a few seconds; there were still things she needed to do, but...
"Haha." Relief overflowed her, almost making her sway as her exhaustion hit her. "We did it...Chiyo-sama, we did it!"
"Sakura, you..."
It was the sound that registered first. Even before the pale pallor on the master puppeteer's face. Tired eyes stared at something behind her...from where the sound of clanking wood came from.
Turning around, Sakura could see the light blue strings of chakra pulling back together the body that had taken her so much effort to destroy. Effortlessly, that was the only word that came to mind as all parts rejoined; the head spun around to face them. Shit, the effects of her antidote were done for. No, before that, Gaara-san still needed them to get him out of whatever sick ritual was happening in the deeper part of the cave.
"This is a jutsu I forbade myself." the old kunoichi said, tension clear in her voice. "I thought I'd never use it again, but it seems that wasn't meant to be...I'll put an end to this here."
White cloaked puppets came from a burst of smoke surrounding the older woman.
"Impressive, grandma. They say that the strength of a puppeteer is measured by the number of puppets they can use." It was bizarre how she could actually hear some respect in their enemy's voice.
"So many...amazing."
"Chiyo's great technique, Finger by finger." Respectful, but still arrogant. "I've heard rumors of it...it's a mechanism that is said to have taken down an entire castle...the very first used of Kugutsu no jutsu, Enzaemon's ten masterpieces. That is a considerable number of puppets, but..." A soft, unsettling smile formed on the wooden face. "With this, I took down a country."
...she wished the smoke of the summoning hadn't lifted...that she could stop herself from seeing the dozens of black-cloaked puppets fill the small space inside the cave. Taking down a country...Sakura could believe it.
"How will I explain this," the redhead sighed, bringing a hand to his face in a tired gesture. "How long it took me to take down a little girl and an old hag...that I even had to take out my last trick. Hell, they've even finished over there before I could finish this."
It took a second for the words to sink in, for her gaze to snap to the sight of the Kazekage's body lying limply on the ground, no more chakra surrounding him. She failed...of course, she failed...
They would make it.
They had to make it in this one shot and then rush back to Gaara back in the cave. Team Gai had yet to report back to them, same as Sakura-chan and Chiyo-baasan, and Kakashi-sensei was taking far too much time with these so-called preparations.
"Get ready."
What happened, Naruto wasn't sure he could properly explain...ever. Because even as he made sure to pay close attention, it almost looked like somehow, the space itself was being sucked into some sort of black hole like thingy, distorting everything around it. A jutsu like that...so the sharingan held the potential to use such unbelievable techniques.
Shaking his head, the blond forced himself to focus on the plan.
This was not the time to stop and gawk at somebody else's technique; he had a job to do here.
It barely took time to think now, producing a clone to follow him as he ran, infusing rotation while he focused solely on sending chakra to his hand, never stopping his dash, even as the distortion stopped for a moment. He'd have to finish things off. A rush of chakra to his legs had him jumping just as the void reappeared to his legs had him jumping just as the void reappeared, keeping the bomber's attention off of him and his clone; he was close enough now. And then, Kakashi-sensei's jutsu wore off once more.
Curses ran through his mind as the man turned to look at him.
There was no chance to change direction as gravity pulled him down, uncaring that his enemy had just taken off the white bird with a jump. The explosive broke apart without igniting.
Not yet, Naruto was not done yet.
Chakra coursed through him as he used the falling clay pieces to hide the smoke.
"That bastard..." Behind him, he heard the thump of someone falling.
Cerulean eyes snapped back; Kakashi-sensei was kneeling down on a tree branch. He could hear his heavy breathing. Right, even if the jounin could use it, a regular human body could not handle the strain of using a kekkei genkai with the same ease as someone who came from said technique's original bloodline. And it was more than obvious the Copy ninja had pushed the limits of what he could do with that jutsu.
"Kakashi-sensei! Are you okay?"
"Yeah, one way or another..." he said that, but the blond could hear the tiredness in those words. "Before that, we need to go back to Sakura."
"Wait, but that bastard is still out here! If he goes to the village...!" His finger pointed at the cloaked man.
"From what everyone said, that guy has no more weapons; if he had any bombs left, I doubt he would've led us in a wild goose chase." the jounin shook his head. "Besides, he's probably bleeding quite heavily right now. He's in no condition to mount an attack and face Suna's elites."
"I'll get you!" It was both a threat and a promise.
"Gotcha, gotcha." The bomber laughed in their faces. "I'll fight you again soon, yeah."
"...you've let your guard down," Kakashi-sensei said in a low voice.
There was no jumping back this time, as Naruto's fist finally connected, throwing the Akatsuki out of the branch. Not yet. Smoke appeared around him, four clones rushing to pin the bastard down, stopping him from moving away from his kick when he landed on the man's torso. Not yet. Pain numbed his knuckles as he followed up with another punch. Not yet. A wave of chakra was pushed to his hand, anger guided his movements, and crimson tinted his vision. And then it was smoke that covered his vision...kawarimi...his fist hit nothing but a piece of wood, breaking it in half.
Anger and heat boiled inside him, curses running through his head.
Fucking fox...it was trying to take over.
No.
No, he couldn't let it.
Dispelling his clones, Naruto forced himself to breathe. Just breathe. Calm down.
The Kyuubi was his prisoner, not the other way around. It was him who had the control here, and the blond was not about to lose it just for the bastard of a terrorist that was nothing but a coward. There were things he still needed to do; he had to go back and help get Gaara out of whatever sick ritual had been going on inside the cave. There was no time to waste by losing his mind.
It was fucking frustrating to think he had no choice but to let the Akatsuki bomber escape, however, he knew where his priorities should be.
So he needed to calm down. Calm down and breathe.
Something was pressed against his forehead, paper, he realized. A daze fell over him as the seal Kakashi-sensei had plastered on his head sapped the Kyuubi's chakra and returned his control. Shit, when was it that the white-haired jounin had gotten that close to begin with? Bitterness spread through him as his body fell to the ground, the sudden release of tension leaving his legs shaky and unreliable. It didn't matter that he needed someone else's help to chain the demon back down, not now when what he needed to do was to go back to that stupid cave.
And yet...a part of him couldn't help but wonder if his training had been of any use...
Not Sasuke
Her first thought bothered her almost as much as the pounding pain that was making it hard to come back to her senses. No, even if that were the case, the anger that was slowly adding heat to the unrelenting headache would've probably made it hard to re-center herself once more.
Useless.
Everyone within Konoha was utterly useless.
Here they went and took on the copies left behind to stall them and allowed their groups to reach Gaara while the jinchuuriki was still breathing; the hopeless lot from the eminent Hidden village had done nothing more than waste the valuable time their intervention had gifted them. Useless, incompetent, how in the world did they manage to maintain their place as one of the big five with people who couldn't even manage to get a single victim out of harm's way when they were unburdened and outnumbered their enemies?
The shikigami left behind to monitor the situation was by far her strongest one to date, but without any chakra to bolster the paper doll's attacks wouldn't be enough to beat someone of Sasori's caliber. With her consciousness spread so far wide, the amount of direct control over it was also severely limited. So how come Haruno, who wasn't chained down by all of it, still managed to fuck up such a critical part of the assignment? She guessed it didn't matter; in the end, her shikigami had registered Gaara's life had slipped by. And as soon as Kagome lost the feeling of his soul amongst the living, she also felt Itachi and his partner's aura vanish.
Sounds of metal hitting metal finally penetrated the fog that drowned her mind.
Fighting... Someone was fighting, and Sasuke was not the one holding her right now. Regaining awareness, she could feel Suigetsu's arms tensing around her at the echo of metal being hit back. Juugo was in front of them, and further away, Kagome could feel the Uchiha's aura flaring just a little as he continued to fight against someone she could not recognize. Not from any of the places they'd passed nor the watchers that tried to follow them.
And it was someone who was strong enough that her safety had been placed in their tag alongs' hands.
Opening her eyes, the Higurashi's gaze fell on the unknown figure trying to keep Sasuke back and directing attacks towards them with a...was that a sword? A frown made its way to her face. This guy was better than most of their hunters, but he wasn't anywhere near the level that neither of them should have that much trouble against him. The Uchiha was barely using the sharingan at all; he wasn't even using the first level of the cursed seal. So then, why...oh...he was trying not to distract her, wasn't he?
Bitter laughter threatened to rise through her throat.
They really couldn't hide a thing from each other, could they?
He'd seen through her, completely and absolutely. And he was prioritizing helping her soothe her own fears over doing the easy thing and getting rid of this guy. Even though every comment she could hear had to be getting on his nerves. Really, this was so much like him.
"Suigetsu..." Thankfully, her voice didn't waver. "Let me down."
"Ah..."
"Please," she insisted when the older teen hesitated.
"Kagome-san, are you...?" Juugo asked, glancing back to look at her.
"I'm just fine, so please, do tell." Standing on her own two feet again felt somewhat strange after controlling so many shikigamis. "What is happening?"
"Hold on, princess," the former Kiri-nin shook his head. "We were told not to let you get hurt; we can't let you go and jump in there."
"He worries too much." A bit of an unfair critique, considering she did the same. "I'm perfectly safe, so...what is going on?"
"That guy hasn't really said much of anything, but it seems as if the one he's after is Sasuke-san." Unsurprisingly, it was the orange-haired shinobi who replied.
"Those attacks patterns are hell to try to see. But well, hard to fight against the sharingan," Suigetsu scoffed as he gave up on trying to keep to the Uchiha's orders. "After he couldn't get close to Sasuke, he began directing his sword this way. Now that you're back among the living, he can just go all out and..."
"Suigetsu, there will be no punishment. I won't get hurt." No way for her to remain on the outskirt this time.
And really, what she truly wanted right about now was to find a way to let out her frustrations, and this unknown man that kept shamelessly trying to flirt with Sasuke would serve as the perfect outlet for her anger. It wasn't like Suigetsu saw her as anything remotely close to innocent, and Juugo's devotion to her had been cemented thanks to the fact that her reiki could calm the murderous instinct that would wake up inside him. There was absolutely no need for her to hold back her frustration. Paying no mind to the former Kiri nin's worried complaints, Kagome made her way close to the active battlefield.
Unusual sword skills, enhanced by chakra but with no elemental addition.
The fast slashes were designed to kill from unexpected places before one was even aware of what was going on. Her eyes could not fully distinguish just what was it that Sasuke kept evading as he inched closer to the man, though judging by the speed the other teen was maintaining, it was nothing that couldn't be handled. As for her lack of visual information... Well, that was something she didn't really need, did she?
Overcharged by reiki, her senbons sliced the air, piercing through a gap in their unknown enemy's attack.
Definitely sharper than the usual delusional bounty hunters that came after them, the man turned to see her just a second before her needles found their way into his shoulder. A hasty motion brought his blade up, barely managing to redirect her projectiles.
"Now then, my head is killing me, and I'm not in what I'd call a good mood...so, let's make things easy for all of us and just tell us who sent you after us." There was an edge in her voice she couldn't quite care enough to hide.
"Who do you think you are to give me orders?!" The unknown man glared at her. "Don't get in my way, wench!"
"Kagome...!"
"Gaara is dead." The words came out tonelessly, simply stating a fact. "Just now, the ritual has been successfully completed...and all members of Akatsuki are on the move away."
"Huh? Why should I give a fuck about that?!" Their hunter raised his arm, about to let out another blow. "The thing I care about is you fucking off!"
Whatever his next attack was meant to be, it was cut off by a wall of fire and a quickly expanding cloud of dark, purple smoke. Poison. Shimmering pink extended around her, reaching across to cover Sasuke and the other two that had followed her. Two more auras could be felt on the edge of one of the many rocky formations. Shit, she still wasn't back on her feet if she missed them coming this close to them.
"Jakotsu! What do you think you're doing?!"
"Renkotsu-aniki!"
Behind her, Suigetsu inched closer to her barrier. "What the...!"
"Don't," Kagome bit out. She'd rushed through the seals once more; moving this barrier would be almost impossible without breaking. "that smoke is poison. If it's fast-acting enough, it could kill you before I can get to you."
"Are you alright, Kagome-san?" Juugo's concern was genuine.
"Just a migraine, nothing to worry about." Truly, Kagome could handle the pain. It was her frustration that stung the most. "That sword..."
"It folded in on itself, annoying, but nothing special." Sasuke closed the distance in a heartbeat, stopping right at her side.
"Well, now what?"
Onyx locked on azure, worry evident in their depths. Whatever she said next would be it. The Uchiha was probably far more concerned with her than chasing the trio of ninjas that had been hunting them. A heavy sigh left her lips; even if the Higurashi could take direct control of all of her deployed shikigamis without risking overloading her brain with too much information, there would be no point. Itachi hadn't spared a second after the ritual ended and convinced his partner to depart as fast as possible. They were out of range.
Kagome couldn't say it was a complete waste of time, of course, but all in all, this only left a bitter aftertaste. Before she could open her mouth to say the words that would lock in their next move, a flash of a vision flooded her vision.
Haruno and the old lady.
They were definitely in a bad position, and neither would be able to do a thing about the poison the puppet master employed. It wasn't just that she couldn't care less for their fates. Bile still rose at the memories of the pinkette's loud and obnoxious flirting...but Naruto would care.
"Let's go back. We're just wasting time here."
A single mental order had the nearby shikigami rushing back to her, jumping and losing their physical bodies to land in her hands as nothing but the paper doll they'd originally been. Not all of them would get back, or they'd be forced to wait for those far ahead to come all the way back... And there was still one more thing she needed to see through before she let herself give up to the pounding migraine on her head.
"I want to finish monitoring things here."
"You really..." Sasuke groaned before relenting. "Come on, then."
The young Higurashi matriarch allowed herself a moment to rest in the warm embrace of his arms before pushing through the pain in her mind and connecting once more to the one human-like shikigami she'd left behind.
It was hollow...the chest cavity on the puppet sealed under Chiyo-sama's technique was hollow, leaving behind nothing but ait. No way...there was just no way, but if not...
Her gaze snapped forward; Sakura could see it, one of the black-cloaked puppets standing and making its way to the old puppet master's back, sword in hand.
She was moving before she knew it, her body rushing forward in a panic. Throughout this fight, all this time, Chiyo-sama had been the one protecting her, trying to keep her as safe as possible despite the fact that the one Sasori was interested in was the old woman herself. The pain didn't really register at first as the blade pierced through her flesh, rupturing internal organs in its way. But it didn't matter, not now. First of all, the girl had to make sure to pay what she owed.
"Hurry...take the antidote, Chiyo-sama..." It was a struggle to get the words out.
"Oho, worrying about others even with an injury like this?" The inhuman puppet didn't bother to try and sound genuine. "What a girl."
The man pulled on the blade. And it took all of her strength to stop the sword from being taken out, dooming her to bleed to death. Breathing hurt as she attempted to direct her chakra to heal as much as she could...it wouldn't be enough. Sakura could already tell.
"Oh, dear..." A familiar voice reached her ears, and the medic had to wonder if the poison was making her hallucinate at the sight of Higurashi Kagome's pristine form walking toward them. "And here I thought surely, this wasn't something that could be messed up that easily while we finished up with an urgent business. That said, it looks like I may have overestimated the lower end of Akatsuki's power."
"You..."
"Wait...those clothes..." she trailed off.
When the Higurashi had intercepted them before, her clothes had been as impractical as ever, with flowing sleeves and a longer back skirt, but the colors she wore were similar enough to what she favored in Konoha. Darker shades of red mixed with blacks and whites accents in the overly complicated fabrics...sure, Sakura hadn't memorized the clothes, but they were not this bright white and vibrant red elaborate clothing.
"I guess you were always observant." The Kagome look-alike smiled one of those infuriating smiles. "You're right; the me you're seeing is nothing but a paper doll I'm controlling. It's quite a limited technique, in a way." Before anyone could say another word, this 'doll' closed the distance and pressed a hand against the pinkette's bleeding wounds. "Observant...but not quite agile enough, it looks like."
"Her fate has been sealed." Sasori's intervention brought her back to the present.
"Not so fast..." the medic managed to get out when she felt another pull.
"I said this body was limited..." the fake Kagome turned to the Akatsuki puppet master. "Not entirely helpless."
Incredulous, Sakura could do nothing but watch as the paper doll turned away, disinterest clear in her gestures, even as she broke the puppet's arm with a well-placed kick. A second hit sent their enemy back, stumbling. Stumbling right into the path of the first two puppets Chiyo-sama had attempted to use. Their swords crossed each other as they pierced through the odd container in the puppet's chest. For the first time in their battle, blood seeped out.
"In the end, you were careless, Sasori." Chiyo-sama coughed, fighting against the poison. "Now, you cannot move; I am confident. It doesn't matter whether you have a puppet body. A part of your real body is still needed to control chakra. That's your weak point...and from that skinned body of yours, just the left part of your chest was left intact. A puppet body, after all, is just a regular puppet...your real body is that chest part that uses chakra."
"Heh..." Sasori let out a soft laugh.
Her knees hit the ground before the girl could comprehend what was happening; haziness enveloped her field of vision. She was losing too much blood. Her vital organs were beginning to shut down.
"Right, I suppose we should fix your first." The fake Kagome's voice was just as bored as it had been before.
"It's pointless. I hit a vital spot. The poison is working as intended, and even without it, she'll be dead soon enough. There's too much blood loss." Despite being on death's door, the puppeteer insisted on mocking them.
"I don't think you quite get it. Haruno is still breathing; that is all I need." With a careless wave of her hand, the Higurashi turned to look at her. "Try to keep silent; dislodging this is going to hurt."
"Wait, if you do that!"
That was all the warning she got before the cold metal was wrenched away from her side, crimson rushing to flow out of her, and for half a second, Sakura could do nothing but curse the young woman kneeling by her side. Because she knew the face the Higurashi had shown in the village had been nothing but a farce. A facade to hide the darkness that was now showing as pain almost rendered her unconscious.
Warmth began to spread.
Starting from her abdomen and coursing throughout, she could feel a soothing energy, different from healing chakra seeping into her. It flowed and ebbed, calming the pain, healing the wounds, destroying the poison...humiliating her. As if bringing back someone who'd been on the brink of certain death took no more effort than blinking.
"There, this should be enough for someone else to finish patching you up." Unconcerned and just as hateful as Sakura remembered.
"Why...?"
"It seems like I was too fast to say you were observant," the paper doll scoffed. "If you were to die, Naruto would blame himself for not being here. There's no need for him to grieve more than he already will. Not that I expected to have to use something that took me almost three years to complete for this."
Naruto...was that... Was that really why her former classmate had gone through all these lengths?
She could remember the loud prankster always sticking with the other girl and Sasuke-kun, always annoyingly close to the Uchiha whenever she tried to get a better look at the boy. But for them to go this far just because of...what? They felt guilty for leaving the boy? Somehow, it didn't feel right; there had to be something else going on. Something the Higurashi could gain from doing all this. She might not know what was motivating the other girl, but wouldn't be fooled.
"There's no point in trying to help him." Once again, Sasori's voice forced her out of her thoughts to see Chiyo-sama stumble to sit beside Gaara-san. "The Bijuu has been completely extracted; the vessel is dead. Even that girl over there could do nothing."
"Hm...what I'm doing right now is not medical ninjutsu. I am giving my own life energy...a Tensei ninjutsu." The old kunoichi shook her head. "In the beginning, it was for you...I alone spent many years working out this jutsu just for you...with it, I can even give life to a puppet...in exchange for using up the user's life. But...now, it's already a dream that cannot be realized."
"Pathetic..." Dull and lifeless, Sasori snorted. "When did you start getting senile, grandma?"
Her already ignited emotions flared back up, moving her aching body, her clenched fist cracking the wooden cheek she'd just punched.
"Give it up; this body feels no pain," the puppeteer said with no inflection. "If all you do is hit me, your fist is all that will hurt. Wome like you do useless things, don't they?"
"What do you think a human life is!"
"Haruno, if you're set on preaching morals to a shinobi, please do be quieter about it; my head hurts enough as it is." Irritation dripped from the paper doll's voice as it knelt on the other side of the Kazekage's body. "Here."
"What...?"
"I cannot go against the laws of nature. Once someone has crossed over, that is the end of it." Soft pink began to glow from the fake Kagome's hands. "As long as there is a heartbeat, though, those from the Higurashi bloodline can bring forth miracles."
"...why...you just said this was worth three years of your work, so then?" Chiyo-sama questioned without stopping her work.
From her place, Sakura could see the other girl give the older kunoichi a soft smile, a fake smile, nothing but a mask to hide behind. She gave no answer, however.
"Heh...no wonder he wants you for himself." At last, the inhuman puppet master began to sound winded. "Fine, I'll do something senseless too and give you a warning. Just now, you and your lover have jumped to the top of Akatsuki's priority list."
"Good, that'll save us the trouble of looking for them." Pride laced every word.
Arrogant...just like the girl had been three years ago. This...this is who she really was; this was the real face of Higurashi Kagome, the person who'd manipulated Sasuke into leaving the village and following the freat that had been Orochimaru. Fists clenched, Sakura had to force herself not to act out. As much as she needed to put a stop to the Higurashi's action to be able to help Sasuke, she knew there was no point in trying to stop what was nothing more than a different sort of puppet. That, and there was no way to justify her intervening in what was technically a good-natured effort to save the Kazekage's life. Still, she had to say something, anything, to let some of her anger out. Maybe, if she got the other girl upset enough, she could get a hint of where...
"Gaara...wait...Kagome-chan!" Naruto barrelled into the cave, loud as always. "What...what is going on?"
It was definitely her. It was Kagome, and yet, it clearly wasn't.
Because even if he hadn't noticed the fact that the clothes she was wearing were drastically different now. There was no way he could miss the familiar sensation of the girl's reiki coming off on her in waves that did not come out of her healing techniques. After being on the receiving end of it. He knew this was not her. Not even with the amount of energy he could feel was pouring and trying to heal Gaara's unmoving body.
For just one second, azure eyes locked on cerulean.
"Chiyo-sama, earlier you asked me why I would spend the result of three years of my work for this." Kagome raised her voice, cutting him off before he could say another word. "It may be a bit naive of me to say this, but I suppose...I got tired...of the unfairness in this world of bloodshed we live in. When we met for the first time, your people were just as willing to use him as they were ready to get rid of him. Through no fault of his own, Gaara was offered as a sacrifice and then condemned for it when things didn't turn out the way others wanted, and now, after all the effort he put in to be accepted, someone else just jumps in, and tries to take it away. I just got tired of it; if three years of work can help offset the balance a little, then that is something I'm willing to give up."
Naruto could feel his thoughts beginning to race.
What she was saying was the truth, of that, Naruto was sure, but somehow, it felt like there was something else. Something he was supposed to catch...or maybe, it was something he wasn't meant to understand. They wouldn't have done anything without a good reason. Neither of the two clan heirs was the impulsive kind, there had to be some meaning behind their actions. Something different.
"H-hold on...Kagome!"
"Naruto-kun, this doll doesn't have much more energy left, so...will you let me be selfish one more time?" Kagome turned to look at him, and his words died on his tongue. "Please, don't look fur us...there are still things we need to do no matter what. Also...stop trying to go after Akatsuki." Letting the glow die, the girl stood up. "Sasuke and I, we will take care of them, so please...just keep yourself safe...and don't eat just ramen, alright?"
"Wait!" He could hear it in her voice, the tears the shikigami could not show. "Kagome, I...!"
"Also, Gaara," Again, she cut him off. "Do cherish the chance Chiyo-sama gave you, Kazekage-sama."
His gaze traveled to the redhead, that seemed to be struggling to sit up. Alive. Gaara was alive and breathing, and relief almost went to overwhelm him when he noticed the bright azure butterflies that rushed from the cavern entrance. They swarmed the image of his childhood friend, obscuring her from view only for her image to vanish as the other shikigami flew off, a white paper doll being lifted between them.
The scream got lodged in his throat, even as he could feel team Gai and what he'd later realize was an entourage of Suna nins. Frustration warred within him before he turned back to see the redhead, and he couldn't help but smile despite it all. It wasn't enough; none of the answers he got today helped to make things clearer for him. But for now, for now, this would have to be enough.
A/N: Honestly, I do think that out of the seven, Jakotsu isn't terribly strong, thinking back on his canon fights it's more about how unpredictable his attacks really are than anything else, honestly I think that would probably still work pretty well considering most shinobi attacks are kinda straight forward. It's either martial arts or some sort of ninjutsu that tend to be either full area attacks or ones that move in a relative straight line, so an attack as odd as his would probably still work well enough. That said, the sharingan has to be one of the worst things to be paired with, since that unpredictability gets lost when Sasuke can see the blades and their path. Basically, anyone with the sharingan would be a bad match for him.
I considered having Kagome interfere more with the Sasori fight before deciding against it because really, I don't think she would've prioritized it when she was trying to locate Itachi at the same time, so it was only after there was no point in trying to go after them that she jumped in.
Also a bit of potential self promotion here, if any of you have read and liked Wandering butterfly I am currently working in a bit of a continuation, I'm still working out some of the details and want to have a handful of drafts ready first tho, so it's gonna take a little while, but it is coming.
As always, thank you guys so much for reading and any and all review/comment/criticism is greatly greatly appreciated.