"I'm glad that mission's done with." Naruto sighed as he and Yuri walked back to the gates of Konoha.
"Hey, maybe we should go to Ichiraku for some ramen. I'm getting a little hungry." Yuri said.
"You read my mind!" Naruto grinned before he noticed Yuri looking in a direction, looking a little distracted. "Hey, is there something wrong?"
"I thought I sensed someone over there."
"Now that you mentioned it. I do sense someone approaching. They seem to be in a hurry." Naruto spoke. The two quickly headed towards the source where they felt the presence and hopped into the trees and waited. Then they heard fast footsteps coming closer towards them, a shinobi cladded completely in black, wearing purple face paint.
"It's Kankuro!" Yuri recognized him. Naruto and her quickly followed Kankuro, trying to catch up to him.
"Man! How much further is it to the village!?"
"Hey, Kankuro!" Yuri called out. Kankuro looked up in surprise to see Yuri and Naruto jumped down and land front of him.
"Hey, what are you in such a rush for?" Naruto asked.
"Your village is in danger! You've gotta get word to them!" Kankuro shouted, urgently.
"Slow down. What's going on?" Yuri frowned.
"And what do you mean in danger!?" Naruto exclaimed, wondering as well. Then three puppets suddenly appeared from the shadows in the woods and slowly began to inch closer towards the three shinobis.
"What are those things!?" Yuri asked.
"Darn it! They followed me after all!" Kankuro hissed. One of the puppets lunged out to attack, but Naruto quickly got in front of Kankuro and punched it, knocking it away. Yuri quickly moved taking out the second puppet, knocking it back as well. Then Naruto took out the last one, destroying it.
"Are you going to explain what's going on?" Yuri asked Kankuro.
"We'll talk later! First, we've got to get to the Hidden Leaf Village!"
Yuri and Naruto nodded, and they quickly took Kankuro to the village. But as soon as they entered the gates, trying to get to the Hokage mansion, several more puppets leaped down from the buildings, landing behind them and began to surround them.
"These guys came all the way to the village!" Naruto shouted. Kankuro gritted his teeth.
"We didn't make it in time."
"Hey, you jerks! Get outta the way!" Naruto shouted, angrily.
"There's no use trying to talk to them. They're puppet walkers." Kankuro spoke.
"So, someone's controlling these things?" Yuri asked.
"I don't know what's going on, but I'm taking these things down!" Naruto shouted. The group tried to fend off the puppets, destroying them. But more appeared out of thin air and hopped down, inching towards the group.
"There's no end to these guys!" Yuri panted.
"No matter how many I take out, they just keep coming!" Naruto shouted, frustrated.
"Our village was attacked by these things too." Kankuro told the two of them.
"The Hidden Sand Village was attacked!?" Yuri shouted, shocked. Kankuro nodded.
"Yeah, they're invading the Land of Wind and we we're in the way. Did their homework, too. They took out our village in advance and destroyed the rest of our lands like it was child's play."
"What about Gaara and Temari? Are they okay?!" Yuri asked him, worried.
"Gaara and Temari are fine. They're helping some of the people escape to shelters." Kankuro told Yuri. "But it's not just the Land of Wind that was attacked. The Lands of Water, Lightning and Earth have all suffered at the hands of the Shirogane Clan!"
"Shirogane Clan?" Yuri questioned.
"Who are they?" Naruto asked, as well. Suddenly, a deep voice laughed. Yuri, Naruto and Kankuro looked around, trying to find him. Then another puppet appeared, behind the other puppets. It looked like a lizard of some sorts.
"Exactly. And last but not least...Is the Land of Fire."
Naruto yelped in shock. "It's...It's talking!"
"Calm down! It's still only a puppet. It's just transmitting someone's voice." Kankuro assured.
"We have but one goal. We've come to retrieve the Spirit Orb form the Land of Fire."
"What the heck is a Spirit Orb?" Naruto asked.
"Playing dumb, huh? Looks like we'll have to be more persuasive!" the puppet shouted and lunged at the group. Then Kakashi jumped down in front of them and knocked the lizard puppet back.
"Kakashi sensei!" Yuri shouted.
"I'm curious to know, too. What are these Spirit Orbs?" Kakashi asked. "What could be so important that you'd attack this village to obtain it?"
"Do you take me for a fool?" the lizard puppet replied. "We're taking that orb, even if we have to burn down the village to get it."
"Try if you will. But the ninja of this village will fight to their deaths to protect it. Are you prepared to face such opponents?" Kakashi spoke.
"Hmph. Looks like you aren't playing dumb after all. I thought the Leaf ninja would surely be safeguarding a Spirit Orb, but, if even a Jonin doesn't know, then I'm just wasting my breath."
"So, what are these Spirit Orbs that you're talking about, huh?!" Naruto demanded.
"Never mind. I will find them, one way or another." the lizard puppet retreated as it vanished in thin air.
"Hey, wait a sec!" Naruto shouted about to chase after them. But Kakashi stopped him.
"Forget it, Naruto. It's too dangerous." He spoke then turned to Kankuro. "Anyway, did you say the Hidden Sand Village has come under attack as well?" Kankuro nodded.
"Yeah. I'm supposed to report to the Hokage in the Hidden Leaf Village."
"I'll take you there." Kakashi replied. Yuri and Naruto followed as Kakashi took Kankuro to the Hokage Mansion, to Lady Tsunade's office. Kankuro explained to her about what had happened.
"I see. So, the assault on the Hidden Sand Village wasn't life threatening."
"Well, it was a sneak attack, so we did suffer quite a bit of damage. But the repairs should be starting very soon." Kankuro spoke.
"So, what are those guys?" Naruto asked.
"According to the sages, the Shirogane Clan is a group of Puppet Handlers. They're the only clan to wield the power of Puppet Walkers. It's been said that the Shirogane Clan perished long ago."
"So basically, we're seeing the survivors starting to act out." Kakashi spoke.
"Yeah, in order to collect these jewels called Spirit Orbs." Kankuro answered.
"Spirit Orbs, huh? That seemed to be what that Puppet Handler was after." Kakashi hummed, thinking.
"Apparently, there's one Spirit Orb in each of the five Great Nations. And they've already gotten their hands on one in the Land of Wind." Kankuro told them.
"What are they going to do with 'em once they get them?" Naruto asked.
"That lizard guy said collecting all five Spirit Orbs will revive the Master Puppet...a puppet with the power to destroy entire NATIONS."
"Master Puppet?" Yuri murmured in concern. Tsunade frowned.
"If that's true, then this is a threat to all five of the great nations."
"We should come up with something to find that last orb before those guys get it!" Yuri shouted.
"Yuri's right, grandma! If we don't come up with something, we'll-" Naruto spoke before he was cut off by Tsunade.
"I know! You don't have to tell me!" she shouted and stood up. "We need to call a strategy meeting. Once we have a plan of action, I'll call on you both."
"Understood." Yuri nodded.
"I'll make that Shiro-what's-it clan sorry that they were ever born!" Naruto shouted.