Chapter 33: The Battle of Iron
I took a breath as my heart thundered in my chest, several tons of concrete and rubble rested above me. The only thing preventing me and by proxy, Tsunade and Kakashi from being crushed was Kurama's tails.
Taking control of the tails, I slowly flexed them outwards, forcing the concrete away from us and I was soon greeted to the sight of the snowing sky. The tails quickly retracted into my back, revealing Kakashi and Tsunade, both of whom were unharmed.
"To think that the Akatsuki would grow so bold as to attack us in the land of Iron," Tsunade muttered as she stepped out into the light. "And that they almost took us completely off guard too. Good work on reacting in time, Naruto. Is everyone else alright?"
"It feels like it," I replied, wiping sweat and dust from my head. "I can feel Bee using the Hachibi's Chakra over there," I said, pointing to one of the numerous piles of rubble. If Bee was alright, then Ay was most likely alright as well.
"Are you… alright?" Tsunade asked, her eyes narrowed as she quickly examined me.
"I'm fine, I just need to catch my breath, that explosion really got my heart going," I explained. "The one I'm worried about right now is Mifune, he's still alive, but the floor seems to have collapsed under where he was standing."
Right now there was the smallest of opportunities to regroup and get ready for the Akatsuki's next attack. The explosive charges that Deidara had used were likely meant to kill Tsunade and Ay, but at the same time only wound Killer Bee and myself. He would likely be circling back for another attack soon.
There was a loud crackle, before the rubble to our side was engulfed in a flash of lightning, reducing it to dust that wafted off into the icy air. A mass of tentacles retreated inwards, revealing a pissed off Ay standing alongside Bee and Darui with C leaning on his shoulder, his leg mangled by one of the explosives.
"It seems that we all did well enough to survive the Akatsuki's ambush. It would be best if we prepared a counter attack," Tsunade noted, shooting a glance to C's leg. "That looks like a nasty wound. If he doesn't get medical attention in the next twenty minutes, he'll likely lose it."
Unfortunately it didn't seem there would be time to form a proper response. Feeling Deidara's rapid approach, I quickly began to flash through hand seals as a pair of clay homing birds raced towards us, only to see a bold of lightning and a piece of debris collide with them, disarming one while detonating the other.
"Well?" Tsunade asked, picking up another piece of rubble. "Are you going to stubbornly hold to your beliefs of fighting on your own and potentially end up dead or are we going to work together and take down the Akatsuki?"
Ay scowled before glancing towards C. "The Akatsuki have trespassed on neutral land and attacked the both of us, Kumo will corroborate with Konoha to see them all dead," he snarled.
Ay was a hard man with a lot of pride, he wouldn't want to be seen rushing into an alliance at the first sign of trouble. It wasn't perfect but it definitely was a step in the right direction.
"Then we can discuss the terms after the Akatsuki is dealt with," Tsunade announced.
Ay cracked his neck as a lightning cloak flared to life around his body. "Bee, we're going to be taking that Shinobi down right now," He grunted, pointing towards the clay bird that Deidara was hovering on.
"Yes brother," Bee cheered as a red cloak of bubbling Chakra surrounded him. Several tails sprouted in quick succession and the skin on his face, chest and forearms were burning off as he began to enter the second state, before suddenly the cloak dissipated entirely. "Broth… er," Bee gasped as he collapsed to the floor.
"BEE!" Ay roared as he rushed to his brothers side. "What's wrong?! What happened?!"
"Can't move," Bee grunted, blood leaking from his mouth. "My body… feels heavy."
"Incoming!" Kakashi called out as several dozen clay birds of various species and design rushed towards us.
Racing through hand seals, I shot off several bolts of lightning that were quickly joined in by a fireball from Kakashi, Darui's storm release attack, some lightning from C and several pieces of fast moving debris courtesy of Tsunade.
"Damnit," Ay cursed loudly as the sky was engulfed in bright flashes of explosions and lightning.
"Get your head in the fight, Ay," Tsunade snapped, keeping her gaze on the sky. "I can't heal your brother and your Jonin if I need to keep them safe too."
Slowly standing up, Ay's lightning cloak flared back to life. "Darui, you and I will take on that Akatsuki agent while the Hokage heals Bee and C."
"Take Kakashi as well," Tsunade added. "That specific Akatsuki agent is a missing nin from Iwa who uses explosive release through a clay conduit. It's weak to Lightning Style Chakra and Kakashi could come in useful."
"Hokage-sama, are you sure?" Kakashi asked.
Tsunade nodded. "This is the heart of the land of Iron, it's swarming with Samurai and there will still be two Jonin present… besides, I'm still a Kage."
"Then I suppose there's no arguing," Kakashi hummed.
"Naruto," Kurama began.
'I know,' I thought back, shooting a quick glance to Tsunade. 'I'm pretty sure she knows as well. I'm not sure what she's thinking, but whatever it is, it's probably our best bet.'
"Very well. This is not going to be an easy fight. I'll do my best to help out however I can."
'Thanks buddy, I'll be sure to keep that in mind and look for the perfect opportunity.'
"Hatake Kakashi," Ay began, pointing to Kakashi. "This is an important matter, you had better not fall behind during our pursuit of that Akatsuki member."
"I'll be sure to do my best," Kakashi said, his tone serious for once.
"Good," Ay smirked, before turning to Tsunade. "I'm trusting you to handle this area, Hokage. Don't disappoint."
Tsunade let out a tired sigh as Ay rushed off and was swiftly followed by Darui and Kakashi. "That man really knows how to be aggravating," She muttered to herself. "You there, C. I'll begin with you first, so don't move your leg."
"Actually, Hokage-sama, I would prefer it if you focus on Bee-sama first," C argued. "My own treatment should come after his."
"Idiot, if I don't do anything now, you're really going to lose that leg," Tsunade snapped. "Although Bee's condition seems serious, he can still wait. The Akatsuki want to capture Jinchuriki alive, so they wouldn't do anything that put Bee's life in immediate danger."
The sound of explosives and booming thunder were slowly growing more distant as Ay lured Deidara further away from the demolished meeting room.
Tsunade's hands lit up with a green glow as she placed them on C's leg. He momentarily tensed up, before relaxing as the pain was slowly numbed.
"Now, we don't exactly have enough time to fix this fully, so I'm only going to be able to fix it partially," Tsunade explained. "You won't be able to walk on it, but you also won't be in danger of losing it. Although, you should know, this is going to be painful."
"I'm ready," C grunted.
Taking a deep breath, Tsunade pressed down on various points of C's calf. C let out a strangled gasp as his muscles contracted almost instantly and bone was forced back into its proper place.
"There, that should hold you over for now," Tsunade announced as she moved on to begin examining Bee. "Now to see what's wrong with you."
"Naruto," Kurama warned.
Clapping my hands together, I rapidly brought them down on the ground, forming a stone wall. There was a loud clang as something metallic bounced off it.
Rushing forward, Tsunade's fist impacted the wall where the sound came from, sending fragments of stone rushing towards our attacker. Flashing through several seals, I slapped my hands to the ground once more and several stone walls rose up behind our attacker, preventing him from being able to escape.
Tsunade rushed forward, her hand cocked back, ready to destroy everything in front of her. A poisoned mist flooded the area, only to be blown away by one of my Wind Style techniques. Reaching our hunched over attacker, she brought her fist down on his body, shattering it on first contact.
A shadow darted out of the destroyed body and Tsunade attempted to pursue it, only to be interrupted by several Kunai that shot out towards her.
"This is certainly a new experience," A soft male voice sounded through the ruined building. "Not only was I discovered so quickly, but my Hiruko puppet was also destroyed. I assume that you found me so quickly through your unique sensing ability that allowed you to detect Zetsu."
"I wonder about that," I muttered. The dust began to settle and I finally got a good look at our attacker. Red hair and an inhuman puppet body, this was definitely Sasori.
"Keeping your secrets right up until the end," Sasori smirked. "Ordinarily I don't like wasting time on pointless things, but the two of you are different. Tell me, would you like to know what I've done to your fellow Jinchuriki?"
That was sort of Ironic. The guy who hates wasted time above all other things was doing his best to stall. The longer this fight went on, the better position he would be in.
C shot off a bolt of lightning that was easily sidestepped Sasori.
"I'll take that as a no," Sasori replied. Pulling out a scroll, he unsealed it in one smooth motion, revealing his next puppet, the Sandaime Kazekage. "This puppet of mine is one of a kind, it's special to me… although, I've been thinking about expanding my collection to the other Kage," He said, shooting a glance towards Tsunade.
'Kurama, how much of your Chakra can I use right now?'
"About a tails worth for a few seconds," Kurama replied. "Not nearly enough to take down Sasori instantly."
'Damn.' That meant I was going to have to do this the old fashioned way.
One of the options that were currently available to me was summoning Pa, but that was a risky move. Sasori had taken precautions and planned to fight us. The Akatsuki likely knew about Pa from when we fought off Itachi and Kisame, so it wasn't too much of a leap to say that Sasori also knew about Pa.
Sasori had proven himself to be incredibly dangerous by creating a poison that effectively cut off a Jinchuriki's access to their Biju's chakra. However, there was an upside, such a poison was likely incredibly difficult to create and Tsunade would likely be able to make an antidote in the future, nullifying its effects.
Sasori needed to die here today, although, such a thing wasn't going to be easy. He still had an entire arsenal of puppets, the Sandaime Kazekage and his own weaponized body. I was poisoned and unable to use Kurama's chakra, C was injured and not very useful in his current state, Tsunade on the other hand was the only one that was in perfect condition.
In theory, she should likely be able to tank everything Sasori threw at her with her hundred healings, but there was a problem. I didn't know how well her healing would work if she was poisoned.
Tsunade knew that the Akatsuki worked in pairs and took a gamble sending Kakashi away, betting that the two of us would be able to take Sasori out, regardless of my current state.
A Rasengan formed in my hand and quickly grew in size as I rushed towards the Sandaime Kazekage puppet. Bringing my massive Rasengan down on the puppet, I felt resistance as its Iron Sand pushed back and kept reforming itself, preventing me from destroying the puppet.
I was met with a brief stalemate before a large slab of concrete was thrown towards Sasori. With his focus interrupted, I pushed through the Iron sand and felt my massive Rasengan make contact with the Kazekage's body for a brief moment before Sasori managed to pull it back.
Stopping, I held the massive Rasengan to my side as I examined the damage done to the Kazekage puppet. While I had only briefly made contact with my Rasengan, it had been more than enough to blow off the bottom half of its body while severely mangling one of its arms. The puppet itself was no longer a threat, but it seemed that it was still able to control the Iron Sand.
"Getting a little impatient?" Tsunade asked as she landed next to me.
"Just using it while I still can," I replied. When it came to the Akatsuki, I had a massive advantage, they needed me alive, and I on the other hand didn't need them alive.
Readying myself for another charge with my Rasengan, I heard a brief yell from C, before feeling an abrupt impact in my chest, sending me flying to the side.
Dispelling the Rasengan, I righted myself in the air only for and hard impact hit me in the chest, imbedding me into a concrete wall. Pushing off it, I brought my arm up on reflex as a blade pierced through me, into the wall.
Looking up, I immediately took stock of my situation. Killer Bee stood over me with the sword that nailed me to the wall in his hand, but his body was standing crookedly… not under his own power. In the distance, I could see a wall of Iron Sand racing towards Tsunade who fought against it, dodging and weaving her way through the poisonous spikes.
Sasori stood in the distance, his hands outstretched in both of our directions, although his attention seemed to be focused on Tsunade right now.
It seemed that Sasori had wizened up, he knew that he couldn't kill me and that I could quite easily destroy his puppets, so he decided to use someone that I wouldn't kill. It wasn't even a gamble on his end, he knew that if I killed Bee here, it would mean war between Konoha and Kumo, regardless of the Akatsuki's ambush.
Seeing Bee raise another blade with the intent of impaling my other arm, I formed a Rasengan in my free hand and brought it down on the wall behind me, shattering it.
Pushing back, I freed myself from Bee's sword and slipped into the rubble. Climbing out the other end, I was forced to start dodging a flurry of sword strikes from Bee who was forced to chase after me. On the upside, Sasori didn't have Bee's skill with using swords nor could he make Bee use Lightning Style Chakra.
My only option right now was to trap Bee and assist Tsunade with taking down the Kazekage puppet. Bringing my hands together, I winced as I failed to form the proper hand seals. Bee's sword had cut the tendons in my arm.
'Hey Kurama, have you got any idea where C is?'
"Fifty meters to your left."
'Thanks.'
Forming a Rasengan, I slammed it into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust before rushing off towards C's location. It wouldn't keep me hidden for long, but it should hopefully buy me enough time to get everything ready.
Stealthily making my way to C, I found him crouched behind a boulder, his sights set on Sasori, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Getting his attention, C silently turned to me. Gesturing towards my injured arm I made a few more gestures with my working hand before pointing to Bee, only for C to shoot me a confused look.
"I need a hand," I mouthed to him, holding out my working hand.
Reaching forward, C's hand lit up in the familiar green healing light that I'd grown familiar with and he attempted to start healing my wounded arm. Raising a brow, I instead latched onto his hand with my good one and began to form assisted hand seals.
I hadn't know that C was capable of medical Ninjutsu, under other circumstances I would have welcomed having my arm healed, but there wasn't enough time now. Sasori's poison would eventually begin to take a toll on my body, I needed to do as much damage to him as possible before I reached that point.
Finishing my hand seals, I brought my hand down. The ground rumbled as a large hole opened underneath Bee, but Sasori pulled back heavily with his hand, reeling Bee in before he could fall into the hole.
I cursed as I saw Bee's body change direction in midair, rushing towards our location. Changing up my tactics, I rushed through several more assisted hand seals and quickly spat out a large wall of water and held my arm out, shaping it into a water prison.
Feeling a stinging sensation in my leg, I looked down to find one of Bee's blades pressed up against it. It seemed that I'd managed to stop him just in time.
There was a loud clang of metal on metal and I turned around, catching sight of Sasori's puppet body, blades outstretched from one of his arms locked in place with a pair of Kunai wielded by C.
"Impressive," Sasori noted. "There's no shortage of skilled Shinobi here, but unfortunately this is the end for you." Bringing his other arm up, several razor sharp blades dripping with poison sprouted from it. "Don't fret, I'll be sure to make this as non invasive as possible. I wouldn't want to do too much damage to your body after all."
'Kurama, I need some help.' I didn't have that many options left, Sasori was a master at putting me in unfavorable situations. If I didn't move right now, then C was going to be killed, but if I did, I would be releasing Bee and this fight would start over again. The only thing I could do in this situation was taking one final shot at Sasori while gaining a wound from Bee.
"Not yet, another option might have just presented itself."
Sasori swung his arm down and I felt the blood in my veins begin to freeze over. I had no idea how much of Kurama's chakra I could currently withstand, so I didn't even know if I would be able to make it in time to save C.
'KURAMA!'
There was a blur of movement and another metallic clang as Sasori's arm blades were blocked by a single sword.
"What a poor host I have been, allowing my guests to be attacked by this miscreant," Mifune commented mournfully. Pushing Sasori's bladed arm back, Mifune narrowed his eyes. "Your actions here today have sealed your fate. You will not be leaving the Land of Iron alive."
"Perhaps," Sasori smirked as a nozzle extended from his palms before bright red flames began to pour out.
C and Mifune pushed back, managing to keep the jets of fire off themselves, but that hadn't been everything Sasori had up his sleeve. A thick cable tore through his cloak, darting towards me. Forming an unstable Rasengan in my damaged hand, I managed to divert it, only for the cable to wrap around my arm, tugging me away from the water prison that held Bee.
Tugging my arm free, I avoided a slash from one of Bee's swords. It was strange, Sasori wasn't controlling Bee's movements as well as he had been before, if he had, I definitely would have been cut then. He was fighting Mifune, C, Tsunade and myself, so he was likely struggling to keep up with all the different fights.
"C, Mifune. Right now, Bee and I are only a hindrance here. I'll draw him out of this fight while the two of you handle Sasori."
"That's really not something you should be announcing in front of an enemy," C grunted, pushing Sasori's arm back.
"There's nothing he can do about it. The moment Bee stops attacking me is the moment I throw everything I've got at Sasori," I explained while continuing to dodge Bee's attacks. We were all in a stalemate, but the odds were in Sasori's favor as I was poisoned. All he needed to do to win was stall.
"Very well," Mifune replied. "You handle things on your end and we will do the same here."
Nodding, I ducked under a slash and took off running, keeping an eye on Bee, making sure that he didn't stop following me. "Be careful with Sasori, he's probably still got a few tricks up his sleeve."
If I remembered correctly, he still had his puppet army left. It was powerful, but its main function was to overwhelm an opponent through use of sheer quantity. Mifune and C should be capable of fighting it off for a time if Sasori brought it out. They should, at the very least last long enough for me to complete my plan.
Rushing to the other side of the destroyed building, a gust of wind and snow hit me as I caught sight of a massive tree made of Iron Sand shake violently and break, only to reform itself. It seemed that Tsunade was having a hell of a time dealing with the Sandaime Kazekage's puppet.
Iron Sand, as it turned out, seemed to be a perfect counter to Tsunade's strength. It was pretty durable, meaning that she had to put some effort into breaking it, but more than that, it was capable of quickly recycling itself when broken.
The Kazekage's puppet was already heavily damaged, so all that I needed to do here was nullify the Iron Sand, but that was easier said than done. It lacked the same weaknesses that Gaara's sand had, being oil and water. There was a limited supply of it, so transporting it off the battlefield or sealing it away should be able to work, but I currently lacked the method to do those two things.
Perhaps there was another way around it, but I might need some help.
"Bee, you still awake in there?" I asked, slowing my pace. "If you're awake, channel some Lightning Chakra through your swords." I watched for several moments, before seeing the slightest spark dance off Bee's sword. Alright that was great… well, not for Bee, this probably sucked for him. "Listen, I've got a plan, but I need some help. I need you to build up as much Lightning Style Chakra as you possibly can and I'll let you know when to release it."
"You know, I think this is a very dumb idea."
'Yeah, but it's the best that I've got right now,' I thought back. 'Besides, this fight has gone on for long enough, I can feel my body begin to grow sluggish, so I might as well try everything.'
Circling the Iron tree, I began to build up my own Lightning Style Chakra. Feeling my Chakra begin to hum inside my body, I rushed towards one of the larger Iron roots, making sure that Bee was right behind me.
Stopping on the spot, I darted towards Bee and grabbed onto his arm with my good hand while placing my other one against the Iron root.
"NOW!"
Bee's lightning flooded through my body and was accompanied by my own as it rushed into the massive Iron structure. The tree sparked violently and slowly began to turn red. It gave a shuddered groan as it tried to continue growing but failed in doing so. The Iron Sand had been melted down and merged together forming a red hot Iron tree that the Kazekage's puppet could no longer control.
Bee's body collapsed beside me as Sasori released his hold. Pulling my hand back, I winced when I saw the blackened flesh that made up my palm.
Reaching down, I grabbed Bee's arm and began dragging him away from the newly formed Iron tree. Feeling dizzy, I stumbled slightly, only to find a pair of arms steadying me.
"You know, I've seen a lot of things back in my day, but this… this is new," Tsunade commented, looking at the Iron tree.
"Glad I can surprise you," I muttered. Glancing at her, I immediately noticed the rips in her clothes and the sweat coating her form. "When I said that I wanted to get hot and sweaty with you, this isn't exactly what I had in mind."
"Really," Tsunade deadpanned. "You forge an iron tree and that's one of the first things you say?!"
"It's in my nature," I shrugged helplessly.
A massive cloud of smoke burst from the other side of the destroyed building and a few stray puppets peaked over the rubble of the destroyed building. Sasori had finally been pushed into playing his final card and summoned the puppet army that he had once used to take down a small nation.
"Finally," I breathed. Now that Sasori had used everything in his arsenal, I could stop fighting cautiously.
"It sounds like you've got a plan," Tsunade noted.
"It's more of an idea, really," I replied. "I've got one last technique in me that should take care of most of the puppets. I'll lead Sasori of towards… that direction," I pointed towards the snowy forests that sat at the base of the ruined building.
"And I can take him by surprise while he's distracted," Tsunade nodded.
"Right, just remember that his weak point is his…"
"Heart, I know," Tsunade interrupted me. "Let's just kill this guy already so I can start healing you."
"You got it," I replied.
Tsunade raced off into the distance, getting ready to deal the finishing blow to Sasori while I began to focus the remnants of my chakra to my left hand, forming a small Rasenshuriken.
'Kurama, I'm going to need a little help with this one.'
"You're only going to have a few seconds at best before the poison kicks in."
'Then we best use those seconds to their full potential,' I thought back.
Feeling Kurama's powerful Chakra course through my body, I began to channel it all to my left arm, forming a partial Chakra cloak in an attempt to mitigate the damage done by Sasori's poison. The Rasenshuriken began to hum violently as it swelled in size and a heavy breeze blew through the ruined building, picking up snow and dust alike.
'We're pretty far away, I'm going to need your help to guide this and make sure that I don't accidentally hit C or Mifune.'
Kurama gave a short grunt and I pulled my arm back before throwing it forward. The bubbling red Chakra cloak extended, guiding my Rasenshuriken towards Sasori and his puppet army.
Making contact with the puppets, the Rasenshuriken passed through the hoard as if there wasn't anything there, grinding everything it touched to dust instantly. With Kurama's help, I was able to direct to maneuver passed C and Mifune, directing it towards Sasori.
Seeing my Rasenshuriken eat through his puppet army, heading towards him, Sasori attempted to evade it only for me to continue guiding it towards his new location.
Sweat began to drip down my face as an iron taste began to fill my mouth. The partial Chakra cloak began to flicker.
"You're not going to be able to maintain the cloak for much longer."
"Just need to get a little closer," I grunted, swiping my hand towards Sasori. The Rasenshuriken began to inch closer and I gave one final push before clenching my hand, detonating it.
A white dome of volatile air blades suddenly expanded midair, destroying everything it made contact with. A good chunk of Sasori's body had been swallowed instantly, but he managed to eject his core, hurtling it away before it too could be dragged into the deadly vortex of microscopic blades.
Keeping my eye on Sasori's core, I felt the partial Chakra cloak fizzle away as the poison did its work. Until this was over… I wouldn't allow my body to fall until this was over.
A green and blonde blur shot through the sky and snatched up Sasori's core. Tsunade landed just on the edge of my Rasenshuriken's shockwave, with Sasori's core clutched in her hand. The remains of several puppets began to shift towards her, but stopped as she clenched her fist, crushing the only thing that tethered Sasori to life.
Watching to make sure that the fight was really over, I relaxed for the briefest moment and suddenly found myself on my back, looking up at the snowy sky. The exhaustion from the fight and Sasori's poison had finally caught up with me.
One of the Akatsuki members was dead, but this fight had been a bit of a near thing. Sasori proved to be an incredibly difficult opponent and had been capable of briefly fending off all of us. It made me wonder just how Sakura and Chiyo would have been able to beat him.
"They didn't."
That's right. Sasori let himself die there. In this fight, however, he gave it everything he had. Sasori was strong, there was no doubt about that, but, if I hadn't been poisoned, this fight would have gone a completely different way.
"I wonder how Kakashi's fight is going," I muttered to myself, resting in the snow.
Kakashi raced through the frozen wilderness alongside the Raikage and his subordinate Darui. Initially he hadn't wanted to split up… It had been obvious that the Akatsuki was trying to divide them and pick them off individually, but sadly they didn't have much of a choice.
Between Kakashi, Darui and the Raikage, they had each been able to neutralize every one of Deidara's bombs before they even had a chance to get close. The only problem and the main reason why they hadn't been able to kill Deidara yet…
He was simply too far away. Deidara was an extremely long range fighter while Kakashi and Darui were mid to close range and the Raikage was extremely close range.
It had been a bad mash up for everyone involved with neither side being able to land a decisive blow. Given enough time, it was likely that Deidara would simply run out of Chakra, but that was assuming nothing else happened. They still needed to get back to the ruined meeting room to ensure the Akatsuki hadn't tried anything there in their absence.
Several clay birds began to fly towards the trio of lightning users at a faster rate than before, but it wasn't anything they couldn't handle. Kakashi flashed through several hand seals and lightning arced off his hands, zapping the clay birds and dropping them harmlessly to the ground.
"He's beginning to fly higher," Kakashi noted.
"Darui, clip his wings," Ay ordered suddenly. "We're not letting this Akatsuki member escape!"
Rapidly cycling through his own hand seals, Darui clapped his hands together and aimed them at Deidara. A halo of light surrounded his hands before massive streaks of hot plasma shot off towards Deidara at blinding speeds.
Deidara's clay bird spun to the side, but the numerous bolts of plasma followed him. Every attempt that he made to avoid the plasma ended up failing. They just kept growing closer and before too long, one of them made direct contact with his clay bird.
Deidara's clay bird erupted into a massive explosion and Darui finally released his Jutsu, tired from having used a significant portion of his Chakra.
They watched intently. Kakashi used his sharingan to search for anything at all, ranging from any piece of Deidara's body or even his clay bird.
Peering higher, Kakashi found what he was looking for, a faint blur of Deidara's Chakra that continued to climb higher into the sky.
"He's still alive," Kakashi announced, pointing to the area where he was just barely able to see Deidara's Chakra.
"Damnit," Ay cursed. "He's seen that he can't beat us and now he's fled to a place that he knows we can't follow."
"I don't think that's what he's doing," Kakashi said, observing Deidara cautiously. "He's building up a significant amount of Chakra!"
"Then he's planning on attacking us from an even greater distance," Ay noted. "He's growing desperate. Things could start to become dangerous, a cornered dog will lash out if pushed."
"So the next attack will likely be something big," Darui suggested lazily.
As it turned out, Darui had been correct. Deidara had been planning something big. An absolutely massive clay sculpture dropped past the clouds. It had a massive rounded body, a pair of wing like arms and a hollow face that was twisted into a silent scream.
"Neutralize it," Ay ordered suddenly, his lightning cloak sparking to life.
Kakashi and Darui sent their fastest moving lightning style attack towards the clay sculpture, but it was no use. The sculpture detonated before the lighting even had a chance to cross half the distance.
The sky erupted into a bright flash of light and Kakashi's perception slowed down to a crawl. There would be no surviving this, that much was clear to him. The force of the explosion and its rapid growth, he couldn't outrun that nor could he shield himself from it… It was simply death that was heading his way.
Funnily enough, that actually bothered him. The thought of dying never bothered him before, in fact, it had been one of his main motivations. To die in battle, to die serving Konoha, to die in such a way that when he once more met those that he had once lost, they wouldn't fault him for his death… that they wouldn't say he simply gave up… like his father had done.
Now however… the thought of dying wasn't as pleasing as it had once been. He had rebuilt his life, gained friends and family… He had a reason to continue living and that… That was something that was about to be cruelly ripped away from him again.
From the corner of his eye, Kakashi could see the Raikage moving. He too would likely be caught up in the explosion, but due to his lightning style armor, he had a higher chance of surviving.
The world was unfair, that was something Kakashi knew and accepted from a young age. People die, both good and bad, but the greatest loss was in those that didn't truly deserve it… those who had more to offer the world than bloodshed. Those like Rin and Minato who could have built a better future if they hadn't been cut down so soon… Through his own actions nonetheless… And now it was finally his turn.
The Raikage in his super speed had Darui slung over his shoulder now and grabbed Kakashi, flinging him over his other. It was no use, Kakashi could tell. From the rate of the explosion and the Raikage's speed, they were definitely going to be caught up in it.
The Raikage had began to run, moving in competition with the rapidly expanding shockwave, but it wouldn't be enough. They were still going to be caught in the explosion before they can exit it.
If only he was stronger. If only he was faster. If only he didn't have to die here. Kakashi had a lot of regrets, but those were his main ones. His pain, his grief and his sorrow and hopes all flowed through him and threatened to overwhelm his mind. Just when he thought he could no longer bare it, something clicked in his mind. Something had opened to him… a doorway to a new path that could potentially save all of their lives.
Latching onto it, Kakashi gave it everything that he had and suddenly felt a stabbing pain in his Sharingan eye. A small hole began to appear in the direction of the explosion and began to absorb a part of the shockwave… He could work with this.
Aiming at the immediate danger, Kakashi allowed his Sharingan to absorb the part of the explosion that would have hit them. In the end, this area was still going to be devastated by the explosion, but any shockwave that neared them would be blasted into another dimension.
The drain on his Chakra was immense, but in the end, Kakashi managed to hold out just long enough. They exited the blast radius and headed towards the ruined meeting room.
Kakashi's Chakra was almost completely exhausted and his eye was throbbing in pain, feeling like it had been lit on fire, but he didn't care. He was alive and that's all that mattered. Now he just had to make sure that Naruto and the Hokage were alright as well.
And that's chapter 33
The battle's over. The Akatsuki are down one member and Kakashi has awakened his Mangekyou.
I decided to have Sasori use a specially made poison in order to take down Jinchuriki in order to level the field for him because he just wouldn't measure up to Jinchuriki then. He's strong, but none of his weapons, puppets or techniques would be able to handle a version 2 cloak.
Also, Naruto gets to show that he's still a powerful and resourceful Shinobi without using Kurama's Chakra.
Anyways, I'm up to chapter 40 on the spooky P word website.
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I go by the name of ThatKircguy. Just copy the name and paste it in the Patty Rio On search bar. It'd help me out immensely, but don't worry if that's not your style. I will be uploading weekly, so it's not going to be stuck there permanently.
Also, I post my original stuff there as well. It's nothing much, just two short stories for now, but I'll post more as I write them.
Next chapter will be posted on the 16th of August.
See you all then dudes and dudettes.