Hinata: Byakurenden

Sasori of the Red Sand

The four Shinobi slinked through the shadows, approaching the walls to the Village Hidden in the Sand under the canvas of darkness.

They had waited until the darkest hour, trying to give time for Kankuro to return with reinforcements from his village. If for nothing else than to give them a chance to fight for and reclaim their home themselves. However, they never came. Had they refused the call to arms, or had there been some kinda trouble? There was no way for them to know.

What they did know was that they couldn't afford to wait any longer. Sasori was most vulnerable at night, his puppets controlled by sunlight. And tonight was cloudy, even the light of the stars and moon obscured. There would be no better opportunity than this one to strike. So they advanced, aiming to end things as quickly and silently as possible.

Finally, they reached the wall of the village, Hinata, Naruto, and Sasuke pressing their backs to the wall and glancing up. In the darkness of night, it was impossible to see the top, but they had a rough idea of its general height- too tall to scale quickly while hoping to remain undetected. Which was why they wouldn't climb it at all.

Gaara didn't press his back to the wall, but instead stood facing it. With his knowledge as the Sage of the Desert, inherited by the previous Jinchuriki and the spirit of his mother, it was child's play for him to take care of their entrance. Placing his hands on the wall and with only the slightest bit of chakra, he turned the solid stone into soft sand, creating a hole just large enough for them to duck through.

With just that, they successfully infiltrated the village. The architecture was unlike anything Hinata had ever seen in The Land of Fire, many of the homes and buildings more rounded and spherical in shape when compared against the angular, box-like designs she was accustomed to.

Most disturbing was the utter void of life. Even during the dead of night in the Leaf Village, there were at least some signs of life, but here there was nothing. It was like all the puppets had been ushered offstage, their daily performance finished for the day, and now they were stuffed in storage. Where exactly that storeroom was, they didn't yet know.

The only thing for them now was to move deeper into the village. It was highly likely this was a trap, but it was too late to worry about that. After all, they had the power of Asura, Indra, Kali, and a Desert Sage on their side. No matter what lay in store for them, the only thing to do was to overcome whatever the enemy had prepared. Of course, the ideal outcome was that the enemy was unprepared for them and this went off like a true assassination mission.

Hinata had her doubts things would go that smoothly.

This was one of Amaterasu's top generals. The former members of Akatsuki, Itachi's once-time teammates, had all been given the highest positions among the litany of followers she had recruited. It was impossible to consider it, the members of Akatsuki, once having various goals and beliefs of their own, had all been converted to a blind believer in the Sun Goddess. Just what had she been able to provide them that would earn that kind of devotion?

By facing Sasori now, Hinata felt like she might be a little closer to understanding the answer to that question. According to Kali, Amaterasu's presence in this world was the beginning of the end. She threatened to entirely upend the whole world order and reject their entire way of life. Yet there were people that were willing to follow her, some of them the most powerful in their world even without her influence.

Hinata felt like she had to know just why that was. If Amaterasu was really so bad, then why would someone like Uchiha Obito try to summon her to begin with? This wasn't to say she was doubting Kali or her words, and she had experienced Amaterasu's terror first-hand for herself. If it was her destiny to stop her, she just wanted to know that her existence truly was unquestionably evil.

At the very least, Sasori had driven the people of this village from their home and replaced them with nothing more than puppets. And if he was acting in the interests of Amaterasu, that could only be seen as an act of evil. Yet she couldn't help but wonder to what end. How did they think this was better for the village and the world?

She had to know, but knowing meant being caught and their quiet assasination ending in failure. Perhaps she had been contradictingly hoping for such an outcome, even if only in self-consciousness. It was only upon self-reflection that she realized this fact, and those dark thoughts made their way into reality, a kind of jinx made true.

They had only made it a few blocks into the village when it happened: Night ended and day returned. Not the natural, slow transition of the sun rising in the east, the sky filling with a dark purple that changed to light blue. No, this was instantaneous. It was blinding, like a flashbang being set off.

As Hinata blinked away the spots that had formed in her vision, she saw all the others had been equally affected, all of them staggered and shielding their eyes from whatever it was that was currently lighting up the sky. It wasn't an exaggeration to say the sky was "lit up" either, and as Hinata glanced upwards, she saw the sky was very much blue, filled with fluffy white clouds… at least, over the village it was.

For the thing that had startled them was like a second sun, floating high above the village and burning bright enough to actually simulate a false high noon.

"What the hell is that?" Naruto yelled, breaking the silent rule they had agreed upon before beginning their sneaking operation. Not that there was any need for such a rule anymore, as they had clearly already been caught. Before they had really even begun, the jig was up.

Hinata focused the enhanced vision of the Nichiren Byakugan, trying to stare into the false sun without damaging her eyesight. She didn't know where to even look, the light so intense, she feared it was an actual celestial object brought within the atmosphere. The idea wasn't all that ridiculous either after witnessing Sasuke's Chibaku Tensei.

This wasn't that. Finally, she saw it and it wasn't some jutsu that was there in the sky, but a person. No- not a person, but a god.

"Amaterasu!" Hinata cried, her heart full of dismay. How could this happen? She had taken up residence in the Sand village? If that was the case, surely Itachi would have known about that and informed them as such. Yet it was undoubtedly her that Hinata saw in the center of the false sun, and who else could create such a convincing replica aside from the Sun Goddess herself.

"Not quite, but your words honor me." An unknown voice corrected Hinata's cry. Not just one voice, but a chorus of them coming from every conceivable direction. The doors to every single building were thrown wide open, and from within the darkness there was the sound of wooden limbs clattering before the puppets that had been performing throughout the day stepped into the false light.

It was only then that Hinata, along with Sasuke and Gaara realized they had been deceived. The doorframe of every single house had a seal written on the border, while the doors had strings attached to them. The puppets hadn't actually gone anywhere, other than "home", and had been sealed inside the very houses. That was how far Sasori was taking his puppet show.

Now they were surrounded, the entire village waking up to greet them, aided by the light of the Sun Goddess. Only it wasn't her, at least not according to the puppets that had spoken to them.

"I don't suppose you care to explain?" Sasuke asked, an obvious play for time as he and the others all took up defensive positions, placing their backs to one another. Hinata could hear the metal mechanism on his back shoulder open, which could only mean he was preparing natural chakra for sage mode.

"I don't mind answering." One of the puppets near Sasuke said, before another on the opposite side continued. "You should know beforehand that bidding for time works both ways." The next time it was one in front of Hinata that spoke. "The longer you stall, the more puppets from all over the village will make their way to this spot." Every line was spoken by a different puppet, in various locations, showcasing their complete unity. "So if you would rather retreat, now is your only chance."

It was easy to suspect that Sasori's offer was a trap, but the more anyone on the team considered it, the more genuine it actually seemed. Sasori had completely played them, but he could have just as easily waited for them to be far deeper in the village before revealing his cards. That could only mean that he didn't want a direct confrontation anymore than they had.

"You're scared of us." Gaara realized out loud for all of them, his shock slowly giving way to a terrifying smile, much like the one Hinata remembered he made in their battle. "And you should be. This is my village, and I'll have you give it back. Either willingly or by blood." Dark circles appeared around his eyes, and Hinata could tell he too had entered a kind of Sage Mode.

"Unfortunately for you, I have no more blood to give." A random puppet of Sasori said, and yet another different one was the one to continue. "So if any blood is to spill today, it can only be yours." The puppets all took a threatening step forward as one, their wooden limbs rattling.

"What did you mean when you said that wasn't Amaterasu?" Hinata hurriedly spat out her question, both desperate for more time, but more importantly to know just what that sun in the sky was.

"Ah yes, do you like it?" All the puppets looked up, raising their arms as if praising the false light and the one providing it. "It's my masterpiece. The most beautiful, powerful puppet I have ever created, made in the visage of the Sun Goddess herself. Never before in my life, did I have a muse such as her, and it has allowed me to reach the pinnacle of my career, my magnum opus you could even say!" The voice of Sasori trembled as he spoke, as if he would weep if the puppet bodies he spoke from were capable of such an action.

"That thing's a puppet?" Naruto squinted against the sunlight, but unlike Hinata, he couldn't see into the center. As Kurama began to feed him nature energy, he could feel it, and what he felt made him uneasy.

"To call my magnum opus a mere puppet shows the depths of your ignorance." Sasori sneered, or rather, one of his puppets did. "However, I suppose it can't be helped, as you cannot even see her behind the light… but you can, can't you?" Every single head faced Hinata at once and she felt a shiver run down her spine. "You, who have faced her before, which means I cannot help but ask for your impression. Is she not perfect, down to the last detail?"

"…She's certainly a convincing replica." Hinata was embarrassed to admit it had been good enough to even fool her, even if temporarily. "And you clearly have a lot of pride in your work, so please forgive my ignorance on the matter, but what about this makes it your greatest piece?" No matter how she looked at it, she couldn't help but feel dread at the visage inside the sun.

It wasn't that Amaterasu and her likeness wasn't beautiful, for she was. However, her beauty wasn't the kind that inspired awe or jealousy in Hinata, but terror and a kind of weightiness that felt like it was crushing you. She supposed Amaterasu was beautiful in exactly the same way someone could say the sun was.

"I see that you too cannot understand true art even when it's before you." Sasori sighed, voice laced with disappointment. "Since you're polite, I will share it with you. Amaterasu is thousands of years old… and yet according to her, she is unaging since reaching maturity. Unaging, or in other words without need for change or to evolve - the ultimate goal of perfection itself. The very thing I had been searching my whole life for, but unable to achieve. For even puppets change over time. They break, must be repaired, and their parts replaced. Not this one. Finally, I have created something that no one else could. All thanks to her!" Once again, the puppets resumed their prayers.

As Sasori promised too, but there were far more puppets around them now than before. With even more still coming, walking without having to look forward, their hands and heads raised in reverence to the sunlight that allowed them to move.

It would seem this was his answer. The reason why he would follow a Goddess that threatened to upend their entire world was simply because she gave him the inspiration to perfect his art. It was already as Hinata suspected, but Kali was absolutely right- Amaterasu and her followers had to be stopped at all costs.

"So we gotta destroy that sun, right?" Naruto whispered backwards, although there was likely not much point in secrecy at this point. If the false sun was the source of the puppets ability to move, then that was their obvious target, and it seemed even more certain that was also Sasori's true body.

"Now, now. Don't be so hasty, Naruto-kun!" A new voice called from within the crowd. Unlike Sasori's unfamiliar voice, this one was known to all of them. It just hadn't been one any of them had heard since the last Chunin Exams. Yakushi Kabuto stepped out from among the crowd of puppets, smiling at them casually, like he was reunited with long-time friends.

Traveling behind him was another person, or at least partially one. It was a white-haired man with piercing red eyes. His head was human, but the rest of him had been turned into a puppet. How he was even alive in such a condition was beyond anyone, and he wouldn't be able to answer them anyways, his mouth gagged with some type of device.

"Ah, don't mind him." Kabuto waved his arm dismissively, revealing it from the cloak that had previously been hiding the appendage. The moment he did, Hinata's blood ran cold. The arm was similar to Naruto's, infused with Asura's genetics, but it wasn't just that… it had numerous eyes implanted throughout. Not just any eyes. "Oh, this? Do you like it?" Kabuto held up his right arm, still smiling but the sunlight reflecting off his glasses and hiding the eyes in his sockets.

"Where did you-" Hinata couldn't even finish the sentence, her previously frozen blood now running hot with rage. She knew that Kabuto was Orochimaru's closest confidant thanks to the information she received from Uzumaki Tayuya. And she knew that Orochimaru had joined up with his old teammates on the Akatsuki to worship Amaterasu. Most recently, she had learned that Orochimaru was hunting the branch members of the Hyuga clan now that they no longer bore the Caged-Bird Seal.

"The arm was a gift from Obito." Kabuto waved it like he was still not familiar with the appendage, almost like it was only just recently attached. "It used to be Shimura Danzo's, created from an experiment he cooperated on with us. That experiment unfortunately didn't work out, and Amaterasu helped us put it down once and for all. Fortunately, we found a new use for it-"

Chakra erupted off Hinata, sand being blown away, as she unconsciously unlocked the first of the eight chakra gates. "I'm not asking you about the damned arm!" She yelled, taking a threatening step forward. Her shrine-maiden robes waved wildly, ponytail dancing behind her.

Back when the arm had been Danzo's, it was implanted with ten Sharingan eyes. Now, it wasn't Sharingan… but Byakugan. And as Kabuto adjusted his glasses, it was revealed that those too had been replaced with the same eyes. Hyuga Natsu had informed Hinata that four members had been killed and their eyes stolen, but it would seem two more would have to be added to that number.

"Such language from the former heiress of Konoha's most prestigious clan." Kabuto sneered snidely at her, and it was obvious he was enjoying her reaction. No, it would be more accurate to say he was here exactly because they had expected this reaction. Hinata needed to be focused on the fake Amaterasu in the sky, but there was no way she could focus on that, not with Kabuto and the eyes of her clansmen here in front of her.

It was all her fault. Even if she didn't believe that, there was no way she couldn't help but think that at this moment. She gave Neji the Moonfire Elixir and left her clan the instructions on how to synthesize more of it. Her direct actions allowed the branch members of her clan to remove the Caged-Bird Seal. Now six of them had been murdered and their eyes stolen, all of them implanted in Orochimaru's subordinate.

"Hinata, calm down." Naruto said as he broke formation to get between Hinata and Kabuto, not quite believing he had to say those words to her of all people. No one would believe him if he told them and they would all assume it had been the opposite way around.

"Now, now. I'm not done yet, Naruto-kun." Kabuto bit his thumb as he spoke and was already bending down. "I was brought here specifically to deal with all three of you. Hinata-san interrupted Orochimaru-sama before he could use this Jutsu during our failed Konoha invasion, but now is the perfect time to reveal it." He casted a summoning jutsu, but instead of any kind of animal, two coffins arose from the sandy terrain.

"Those are-" Even Sasuke couldn't maintain his composure and also turned to face Kabuto as the lids of the coffins fell away to reveal the First and Second Hokage.

"Edo Tensei!" Kabuto proclaimed gleefully as the two stepped out from their coffins. "A Jutsu designed originally by the Nidaime, whom you see before you. These are immortal zombies with infinite chakra and the ability to regenerate from any injury. Good luck dealing with this, no matter how strong you've become."

"The Jutsu I developed, huh?" To everyone's surprise, the Nidaime Hokage seemed to move of his own volition, holding up his hand and flexing his fingers. "I didn't expect to ever be the one summoned by it though." He turned to inspect Kabuto, looking far from impressed at what he saw. "You've summoned us to something close to our original power… and you expect to control us?" He began to flare his chakra, but before any kind of action could be taken his body froze, and his eyes widened.

"I do indeed." Kabuto had formed a single seal, licking his lips in delight. "You two will fight for me… and destroy the two men you see in front of you." He ordered Tobirama, the Second Hokage, who once again turned around, this time towards Naruto and Sasuke.

"Even if you can control me… my brother-" Tobirama glanced at the First, the man who was once regarded as a God among Shinobi. His chakra was beyond anything that anyone had ever seen before or since. And unbeknownst to him or anyone else, was Asura's latest reincarnation before Naruto. If anyone could resist the Edo Tensei, it would be him. Only-

"Sorry to disappoint, little brother." Hashirama let out an awkward chuckle, taking a step forward against his own will. "But it seems the one controlling us is quite the formidable existence." Of course, if it had just been Kabuto's own power, then he wouldn't have any hope of controlling either of the Hokage when they were summoned at their full power, but with the boon granted by Amaterasu, he was now capable of it.

"Heh, now this is interesting." Naruto didn't seem intimidated at all, instead punching a fist into an open palm as he stepped to meet them both head on. "I'll have y'all know, I'm the man that's gonna be the Sixth Hokage! So being able to beat my predecessors is just common sense, y'know!"

"Oh, the sixth Hokage?" Hashirama beamed in excitement, a bright smile splitting his face. "That means there's been a fourth and a fifth? Oh, to think the village has prospered for so long!" He seemed absolutely elated, completely oblivious to the fact that he was under control and about to have to fight against those who should be his comrades.

"You know it, and this guy is the Fifth Hokage's younger brother!" Naruto hiked a finger at Sasuke, who hadn't dropped his guard and instead stood ready for anything. Something about his words this time seemed to interest the Second instead.

"An Uchiha?" He mumbled under his breath, but it didn't go unnoticed by Sasuke, who narrowed his visible Sharingan eye. He didn't know why the fact he was an Uchiha was important or not to the Nidaime, but it would seem he had now been targeted as a person of interest.

"This seems good." Kabuto mumbled to himself, noticing the First and Second had both taken separate interests in each of the two Shinobi. "I guess we'll go with those match-ups then, shall we?" He had to tip his hat to Obito, but everything had gone exactly to plan.

He alone would be able to handle all three Konoha Ninja, and with them taken care of, Sasori only had to worry about Gaara of the Sand. While it was true they hadn't expected the Village's Jinchuriki to return, he was still only one Shinobi and his opponent had the strength of an entire army. Their victory was all but assured. Just before Kabuto could give the command for the Edo Tensei Hokages to leap into action, the final player for the evening arrived.

"Hold it right there!" Kankuro roared, drawing every eye towards him. No, not just him, but the hundred Shinobi that stood by his side. It was like the entire remaining Sand Village had heard his call to arms, which was what had taken him so long.

It wasn't just getting everyone armed and ready, but they had also been scouring the desert, recruiting all the other Ninja that had hidden themselves throughout the desert. When they heard that they were making a last stand, every single soul answered the call. For they had lost their home, but not their spirit. This was their village, and they would fight to take it back, or be wiped out from existence trying.

When they saw the false sun light up in the sky in the distance, they put on a final burst of speed and scaled the wall to the village. And to their relief, they saw the fight hadn't yet begun. They were just in time.

"Well, I guess you'll get your chance to be of use, after all, Hidan." Kabuto sighed, reaching over and unclipping the muzzle that had gagged the man next to him. The moment the device fell away and there was a torrent of unintelligible curses.

"If you think I'm gonna let you fake-ass-goddess-worshipping-butt-munchers manipulate me, then you've gotta 'nother thing comin'!" Hidan screamed at Kabuto, reaching his jaw forward and attempting to rip out his jugular with his teeth, but without the ability to control any other part of his body, he couldn't even get close. "Jashin is the only one and true God, you hear me! I'll never fight for your pathetic sun bitch, and when I get my body back, I'm a shove my scythe down your throat until it pops outta your asshole! You hear me!?"

"Yes, yes." Kabuto picked at his ear, Hidan unable to harm him physically, but his screams managed to do damage to his eardrums. "Sasori-sama, get him away from me already." At his request, the puppet body with Hidan's head began making its way towards the army of Sunanin, while he continued to strew curses. Only to stop as a bullet of sand flew just in front of it, dodging just in time.

This did nothing for the puppet that had been standing in the path of the bullet, the sand piercing straight through the puppet and leaving a hole in its sternum. The puppet looked down at its chest, then back up at Gaara, who stood there with his hand extended. Unlike a normal human, just a small hole in the chest wasn't enough to stop a puppet. The damage would need to be more substantial.

That sand bullet Gaara had fired to stop Hidan from approaching his people served as the first shot. With that single action taken, the battle for Sunagakure had officially begun.

Chapter End

AN: Alright, so all the pieces are set and it's time to get into some action.

I really don't have anything else to say this time around, so please look forward to some of the battles that will likely take place over the next couple of chapters.

See y'all then!