Kakashi gave a slight wince as he sat down on one of the many chairs in the Jonin lounge. The injuries he received from his fight with Naruto were still there, though they did feel quite a bit with Tsunade's help, it did little to erase the pain once he exited from his 'battle' mode as he liked to call it.
After the battle with Naruto, Kakashi went to immediately get some rest, and tend to his various wounds. Who would have thought that the blonde would become so powerful in such a short amount of time? It made Kakashi smile in pride.
That is until he realized that he had no right to feel whatever pride he may have been feeling at the moment. After all, he only actually taught the blonde the tree walking exercise, and the was when they were all way in over their heads. To Kakashi, he believed that the one with the most training should be trained first, as it would be at least ten times easier.
However that cost him dearly. His laziness, and inaction with his team, team seven, led to them slowly falling apart. At first it began with Sasuke and his anger at losing to his brother. Than Sasuke began to use Naruto as a measuring stick, and when he saw how much progress the blonde was making, he began to get frustrated.
This led to Sasuke envying the blonde, and his anger continued to grow... Until he snapped, and challenged Naruto to a dual. When Sasuke saw how much damage the Rasengan did, and how it was better than his Chidori Sasuke had gotten angrier.
But Kakashi never paid any attention to it. He had just assumed Sasuke needed to blow off some steam, and left at that. He did have a few words with Jiraiya about teaching Naruto the Rasengan. But he came to realize that he was being hypocritical, after all, he did teach Sasuke the Chidori.
It was with reality bitch slapping him in the face, did Kakashi realize that the reason that team seven fell apart... Was because of his own laziness. Thinking about it now. He didn't really teach them anything did he? And whatever he did teach, he spent most of the time with Sasuke as he was easier to teach.
Kakashi gave a sad chuckle. Anko was right... He really wasn't that good at being a teacher. His own laziness, and habits were the reasons why his team fell apart. He had assumed that since his teacher made teaching so easy that it would be simple for him. However it was more difficult than he imagined. Teaching his students tree walking during a C-rank turned A-rank mission!? What was he thinking at the time!?
Kakashi didn't know whether to be ashamed of himself, or be extremely glad that his team survived the ordeal. He was certain that Minato was rolling in his grave at the moment, probably threatening to give him a 'training' session of a life time when he joined him in the after life.
Kakashi gave a sad chuckle, he wonders... What his Sensei would say about his laziness?
He was taken out of his thoughts when he heard the door to the Jonin lounge open, and in entered Sarutobi Asuma the son of the Sandaime Hokage. Yuhi Kurenai, Asuma's lover, as it was freaking obvious. Might Gai, Kakashi's self proclaimed rival. Mitarashi Anko, the snake mistress of Konoha, and finally Mirono Ibiki, Konoha's best interrogator.
Kurenai, and Asuma were chatting quietly, while Anko and Ibiki were speaking with sadistic looks on their faces. Kakashi shivered, looks like they found a new toy to play with. Kakashi pitied the poor fool who was at their mercy.
Kakashi did the best he could to remain hidden, their was no way he was gonna let his fellow Jonin see the state he was in. They would never let him live it down, He prayed to Kami that they wouldn't notice him.
However it seemed Kami decided to fuck with the masked Jonin as Gai instantly spotted him.
"YOSH KAKASHI MY ETERNAL RIVAL! HOW IS YOUR FLAMES OF YOUTH TODAY!" Gai exclaimed as he blurred towards his eternal rival.
Everyone's attention now turned towards Kakashi and Gai, as the green spandex wearing Jonin picked up Kakashi and gave him a manly hug, crushing the life out of the poor masked Jonin.
'Oh Kami-sama help me! He's gonna infect me with his flames of youth! Dammit it's already happening!' Kakashi thought in both despair and horror.
The other Jonin's seeing Kakashi's horrified expression chuckled, and snickered amongst themselves.
Gai stopped hugging his eternal rival and gave him a hard pat on the back, making Kakashi wince in pain, as that was where his back impacted into a boulder that Naruto slammed him into yesterday.
"Kakashi, is something wrong?" Asuma asked, seeing Kakashi wince. When Asuma said that sentence every Jonin in the room looked more closely at Kakashi and they all finally noticed the various injuries he had.
"Holy shit Kakashi! The fuck happen to you?" Anko asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Kakashi sighed tiredly, he wanted to keep the specifics about his match with Naruto a secret, but now. Oh well what's the worse that could happen?
"Well it's like this." And so Kakashi began explaining his match with the one and only Uzumaki Naruto, and as the other Jonin's heard about the match, their eyes were slowly getting wider and wider.
Deep in the underground of Konoha, a ANBU with a blank face mask and the insignia for ROOT slowly moved through the corridor. Several moments later he entered a large room, with a massive platform in the middle.
Their were at least three walkways, and in the center stood a single old, and heavily bandaged individual.
The ROOT ANBU briskly moved towards his master, and knelt before the elder individual.
"Danzo-sama, I returned to inform you of outcome of the match between Hatake Kakashi, and Uzumaki Naruto." The ROOT ANBU said, not even a single tone of emotion in his voice.
Shimura Danzo, one of the elders of Konoha, and the rival of Sarutobi Hiruzen. Opened his cold, and wary eyes, and he gave his ROOT ninja a single motion to continue.
"Uzumaki Naruto the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no kitsune has proven to be a powerful opponent for Hatake Kakashi. His TaiJutsu was superb, at least on par with Might Gai of the leaf. His NinJutsu has proven to be quite powerful even though he only used two Jutsu's from what I've seen. He is able to draw water from the Atmosphere like the Nidaime Hokage, and it appears he has created a new version Rasengan the Jutsu created by the Yondaime Hokage." The ROOT ANBU paused, allowing Danzo to digest the information he had been told. At Danzo's nod, the ANBU continued.
"When Uzumaki Naruto drew his blade from his sheathe. He dominated the KenJutsu battle between him and Hatake Kakashi. The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki from my observations has become a powerful and fearsome Shinobi, as he could have defeated Hatake Kakashi at a moments notice." The ROOT ANBU finished.
Danzo slowly raised an eyebrow, before he indulged in his curiosity a bit further. "What do you mean by that?" The bandaged elder asked.
"Uzumaki Naruto was clearly holding back a majority of his strength during his battle with Hatake Kakashi. By my observations the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki should be at least Kage level, as during the battle Hatake Kakashi had not once laid a finger on the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki." The ROOT ANBU explained.
Danzo hummed in thought for a moment. To think that the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki would become so powerful in such a short amount of time... It was obvious that the Jinchuuriki's talents were being stunted during his time in the academy. After all the Jinchuuriki's linage was that of the powerful and dangerous Uzumaki clan, and the one and only Namikaze Minato, the greatest Shinobi of his generation.
As a matter of fact. Danzo was certain that should the Jinchuuriki had been trained properly he would have been rookie of the year instead of the Uchiha brat.
To be honest Danzo never really liked the Uchiha brat and his attitude. And Homura, and Koharu saw to it that the brat was handed everything on a silver platter. That was poor judgement on their part.
Nonetheless, Danzo knew the Jinchuuriki would become a powerful Shinobi provided he received a proper teacher. When Kakashi became the Jinchuuriki's teacher, Danzo had hoped that the blonde ould become powerful that way he could approach the blonde about joining ROOT once he was at a exceptional level.
But to his disappointment, Kakashi's laziness and his habits didn't serve any actual purpose in training the blonde. When the third round of the Chunin exams were beginning. He resolved to speak with the blonde about giving him training, and possibly wavier his trust in Hiruzen. But to his dismay Jiraiya got to the Jinchuuriki first.
And as the blonde trained with Jiraiya, Danzo knew that the chances of getting the blonde into ROOT were slim at best.
"Danzo-sama?" The ROOT ANBU asked, a questioning tone in his voice, unintentionally breaking Danzo out of his thoughts.
"Dismissed." Danzo ordered. Not even a moment after he uttered that word, the ROOT ANBU fazed away from existence.
Danzo uncovered eye narrowed in deep thought... He pondered over how to convert the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki over to his cause, even if the chances were slim. A slim chance was better than nothing.
Though Danzo cursed Hiruzen over in his head for not giving him the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki sooner. He knew he should have kidnapped the blonde when he was an infant and blame it on a another Shinobi village.
Danzo sighed, this would take careful planning.
Gaara gave an annoyed grunt as he continued to sigh another piece sheet of paperwork. Honestly he didn't know why other Kages made such a big deal out of paperwork. Though considering he has never slept a day in his life, paperwork must be a breeze for him.
As the he could continue signing these documents even throughout the entire night.
He frown once again when he caught sight of another funding request by a villager who was hoping to create a new planting business in the village. This has been going on for the past few days. A villager would have a request for a whole new business that they would like to open up, however they needed the proper funds.
Gaara sighed as he marked it as declined. Money was scarce here in the desert. True that ever since the whole invasion of Konoha fiasco their damiyo has been giving their missions back. However that still didn't excuse the years of funding they lost because of their damiyo actions. As of now Suna was still recovering the lost funds they lost after the Konoha invasion.
As such most of the money was going towards the entire village as a whole. They didn't have enough money as it was to actually fund new businesses until they had more funds.
And at the pace they were going it would take at least several more months. Even though the villages Jonin and Chunin teams were going in and out of the village going on high ranking missions, bring back a impressive sum of money, it still wasn't enough to help them recover financially.
As moved to grab another sheet of paper, a slender hand had already picked it up and began to examine it.
"Gaara-kun if you keep working in this office doing this paperwork I'm gonna think you don't want to spend time with me." A female voice whined with a pout evident in her voice.
Gaara let a small smile reach his face as he stared at the female in front of him.
Long waist length black hair gently flowing down her back like a smooth river. Orange colored eyes with slightly slitted pupil, curved eyelashes. Several bangs swaying messily yet cutely into her eyes, two long bangs framing her face and stopping at her stomach. A heart shaped face, a small nose, and mouth.
She wore a black shirt with a dark blue unzipped jacket over it. Black pants with red streaks running down the middle of them. Black sandals, with dark blue socks. A sheathed short sword at her side, and finally multiple pouches held together around her waist with a red sash holding them in place.
However what would really catch someones attention was the large bat like wings she had on her back, and the slightly hooked nails she had.
This female was named Yui, a succubus.
Gaara had met her on one of his assignments before he became the KazeKage of Suna. He found her incredibly injured. And out of compassion and curiosity he helped her, and cared to her injuries until she was healed.
During the time he tended to her injuries, she awoke, and watched curiously as Gaara tended to her injuries. When Gaara was done, she asked why he helped her, and treated her injuries considering she was succubus. Gaara merely told her that if he had the power to save someone, whatever race they be than he'll take it, regardless of who they were and their past or race. After all, after his fight with Naruto Gaara firmly believed in second chances.
Hearing Gaara's answer swayed something inside Yui and so she decided to hang around with Gaara. At first the villagers of suna were wary of the femal succubus, but slowly warmed up to her, as they noticed that she wasn't as bloodthirsty and violent as they thought her to be.
Soon the villagers got used to her constant presence and treated her like they would any other villager.
During their time together, Gaara enjoyed both Yui's company and presence, soon the two were almost always seen together, which Gaara's siblings teased him mercilessly about.
Yui was slowly but surely falling for the Ichibi Jinchuuriki, and after a year she confessed her love for the redhead. Gaara merely blinked, and said he wasn't that experienced with relationships, and said that she may have to get used to the fact that he may get confused on several things surrounding relationships. Yui merely waved him off and said it was no problem to her.
Since than the two have been on many dates, much to the ire of Gaara's new fan-girls.
When Gaara became KazeKage Yui immediately embraced him and excitedly yelled how it was amazing that he got such a position.
Since than They spent most of their time in the office, as there was no KazeKage for at least two years and a half, as such the paperwork was really piling up. However with both Gaara's and Yui's combined efforts they managed to amount of paperwork by a large amount.
Yui spent her time helping Gaara mark, file, organize, and transfer the paperwork. Gaara at one point thanked her for the help she was giving him. But she waved him off and said she was happy being able to help him with his workload.
"I apologize if I am spending to much time in the office, but I was under the impression that you were asleep, or were you just pretending to be asleep so you could get a break?" Gaara asked, his eyes glinting in amusement.
Yui pouted at her boyfriend, before she playfully slapped him on the arm. "Oh hush you. You act like I haven't seen you trying to fake being sick to get out of the paperwork for at least a couple hours." She huffed, her eyes glinted in amusement however when she saw the surprised expression on her face.
Gaara however quickly regained his composure "I have no idea of what you speak of Yui." Gaara said feigning ignorance. Yui gave a small snort at Gaara's obvious attempt to cover up his tracks. However she won't let him get off that easily.
"Oh really what about the time when you pretended to have a heart attack after your third day of being KazeKage?" She asked, raising an eyebrow in feigned confusion and amusement.
Gaara slightly choked on his own spit, before he glared playfully at the succubus. "What is on the form your holding? Is it another request for funds?" Gaara questioned, wanting to change the subject.
Yui playfully winked, she knew she won that little argument. Whenever Gaara knew he couldn't win an argument with her he would change the subject in order to save some of his pride.
"Nah it wasn't a request for funds. It was a mission request for a noble gentlemen to escort him back into his homestead. back in the land of springs." She answered.
Gaara nodded "I take you approved it than." Gaara stated.
Yui gave him a playful huff "Of course. I understand full well that Suna needs whatever funds we can get our hands on." She flicked her hair as she spoke, making sure Gaara had full view of her backside, before she moved towards the window. "Man we've been in this office for what? A whole two days?" She idly asked.
Gaara nodded as he continued to work through all of the papers on his desk. He honestly didn't know why all the other Kages complained about this, but he could admit it does get boring rather quickly after awhile. Hmm he idly wondered what he was gonna have for dinner tonight before he discarded that thought from his mind. He'll think about later.
Meanwhile Yui narrowed her eyes as a strange large white bird came into her vision. She may have not been living in the desert for long. But she knew that white birds that large do NOT belong in a desert like this.
"Hey Gaara?"
Gaara hearing the questioning and serious edge in Yui's voice stopped sorting through his paperwork and turned his attention towards Yui who was keeping her steely gaze on large white bird.
"Yes Yui?" Gaara asked giving Yui a serious and curious gaze.
"Is there supposed to be large white birds in the desert?" Yui asked.
Gaara rose a non-existent eyebrow before he stood from his chair, and moved over to the window. He looked over at the sky, and spotted the large white bird that Yui was speaking about. His eyes narrowed. He lived in the desert his entire life, and he knew that birds of those type do not exist in the desert.
"Yui, find Kankuro and Baki, and tell them that all Shinobi are to mobilize and that their main concern is the safety of civilians." Gaara ordered, his voice giving away none of his emotions.
Yui glanced at Gaara wondering why he would give such an order, before she nodded, and her wings promptly flapped several times before she took to the air air and flew out the window.
Meanwhile Gaara calmly, and leisurely made his way to the balcony of his office, and gave a sharp and impassive glare to the large white flying bird. He narrowed his eyes as he spotted a barely spottable cloaked figure in the night sky of the desert.
Sand from around the village slowly began to converge around the young KazeKage. Once the redhead had enough sand he immediately launched it towards the large white bird, and he bore witness to how the bird dodged his sand, with reflexes that shouldn't even belong to a normal bird. His eyes narrowed once more, before he redirected his sand, aiming it towards the back of the bird as it seemed to be carrying someone.
The bird dodged once more, but this time Gaara was ready, and he clenched his fist, out of seemingly out of nowhere more sand burst from the ground, and surrounded the bird. And once again Gaara clenched his fist, however the bird dodged at the last second and it was safely still floating in the sky. However the figure falling from the birds position would have better luck.
The figure flipped over in mid-air so that as he landed he can land in a kneeling position. Just as Gaara expected, the cloaked figure landed in a kneeling position almost as if it were begging to be spared. However Gaara noted the tense frame the figure held, proving to Gaara that this person wasn't surrounding anytime soon.
As the cloaked figure stood Gaara was finally able to get a good look at his opponent.
His opponent had long blonde hair tied in a high pony tail, a large bang framed the left side of his face while partly covering it. Gaara was able to catch a glimpse of a metal contraption on his opponents left eye, before his hair covered it away. His opponent carried a pouch on his right side, what that pouch contained Gaara didn't know.
However what really caught his attention was his opponents cloak. It was black, with red clouds that had a white outline. Gaara's eyes narrowed, and a scowl formed on his face.
Akatuski has begun to make their move.
Gaara's sand swirled slightly, and Gaara shot it a look. The sand stopped swirling, however it twitched slightly in a threatening manner at the standing Akatsuki member. Gaara knew the reason why his sand swirled... The Ichibi inside him, was demanding for the Akatsuki's blood.
Gaara's attention was taken from his twitching sand, when the Akatsuki member spoke.
"Yare, yare. I didn't expect to be attacked so soon. Tell me how did you know to attack me? Un." The blonde Akatsuki member asked.
"There are no birds like that in this desert." Gaara simply, and blankly answered, giving the Akatsuki member a impassive and stoic look.
The Akatsuki member smirked "Well I guess that's true to a extent. Un. Man what bother, I was kinda hoping to catch you off guard, but I guess that's a bust, un." The blonde said, giving the Ichibi Jinchuuriki another smirk. "Where are my manners? My name is Deidara, otherwise known as the mad bomber in the bingo book." Deirada said, giving a mock bow to the stoic KazeKage.
"Subaku no Gaara." Gaara said, narrowing his eyes at his opponent.
Deidara frowned for a moment, before his smirk came back on his face. "Your not much of a conversationalist are ya? Un. But that doesn't matter. What matter's is that you are coming with me, the easy way... Or the hard way. And please... Do choose the hard way." Deidara added after an after thought.
Gaara's only answer was a swirl of sand speeding right towards the Akatsuki member. Deidara, with a Chakra enhanced jump, leaped right onto his floating bird, right before it took off at blinding speeds. Gaara however wasn't planning on letting the Akatsuki member go so easily, as such he controlled the sand around him, and made it give chase to the blonde bomber.
Deidara gave a dark smirk as the snad relentlessly chased him down. Deidara's bird curved, and speedily dodge most of the buildings it was about to fly into. Deidara idly noticed he passed a couple of Suna Shinobi, and a strange girl with bat like wings on her back, before he returned his attention to the sand chasing him down.
He glanced to his hands and he noted that they were still in the process of creating his explosive clay. 'damn, I need more time.' Deidara thought.
He was broken from his thoughts as Gaara once again sent another wave of sand towards Deidara. However Deidara proved to be a stubborn blonde, as he quickly began to dodge all of Gaara's attacking sand, even though multiple streams of them were bearing down on him.
Gaara felt a urge of frustration as the Akatsuki member kept dodging his sand. His sand was suppose to be inescapable, and yet this member of Akatsuki was proving that to be false. In all of Gaara's life, he has only fought two other people whom his sand could never catch. The first was Uchiha Sasuke, one of the last of the Uchiha clan, and the former 'loyal' Uchiha of Konoha.
The second person was someone Gaara respected greatly, and the young KazeKage considered him to be a very good friend. The thought that they're may be other Shinobi out there that can dodge his sand was worrying.
Gaara was brought out of his musings when he noticed the blonde member of the Akatsuki smirked. He narrowed his eyes and silently made several hand motions thus moving his sand speeding directly at the Akatsuki member. The smirking blonde seemed to have smirked even wider, and he promptly mentally ordered his bird to dash to the left.
However Gaara was expecting that, and suddenly more sand burst from the ground and encircled the blonde. The blonde grimaced slightly, and Gaara feeling a sense of satisfaction slowly clenched his fist in order to crush the blonde.
However suddenly another smirk crossed the blonde's features. "It's to late, KazeKage-sama~" Deirdara began in a mocking tone "My clay is finally ready!~" The blonde finished with a malicious grin.
Gaara's eyes narrowed, and he idly wondered what he meant by his clay, but thought nothing of it. He wordlessly ordered his sand to begin crushing the blonde, however, the blonde suddenly threw a handful of small... spiders made of clay? The young KazeKage raised a non-existent eyebrow. However his eyes widened at what happened next.
"Art is an explosion! KATSU!" Deidara gleefully yelled. And suddenly the spiders that were latched onto Gaara's sand promptly exploded, sending grains of sand everywhere, and creating a large smokescreen.
Gaara's eyes widened when out of the smoke came more clay animals such as grasshoppers, spiders, cockroaches, and beetles came flying right at his perch on the balcony. Gaara manipulated the sand inside his gourd to not only give himself a proper defense, but to also lift him the balcony and to the sky.
He had enough paperwork to deal with dammit! He didn't need more paperwork on collateral damage to!
Deidara smirked as his opponent was now floating inside a large ball of sand in the middle of the sky with a large proportion of the ball missing it's sand. Gaara gave Deidara an impassive glare. 'So that's the Ichibi Jinchuuriki's absolute defense huh?' The blonde thought.
On nothing but pure instinct Deidara dashed his brid to the left just in time to avoid, a blur of sand that nearly went through his head at an intense speed. Deidara cursed as the sand, once again, began to chase him relentlessly around the sky, no matter what he did the sand would follow him endlessly. And the messed up part was that the sand Gaara was using this time was at least five times faster! Deidara only had one thought to sum this all up.
'WHAT THE FUCK!? UN!' Deidara thought, narrowly dodging another strike of the sand.
The blonde quickly threw some more of his clay animals, and they began to explode whenever the sand got to close to them, however the sand proved to be stubborn, as it zigged and zagged all around the clay animals.
Deidara kept this up for several moments, before suddenly, more sand from below began to converge and form in the might hand of the Ichibi.
Deidara gave an unmanly yelp as he was forced to rapidly dodge all of the hands made of sand, and the very same sand that had been chasing him for the past fifth-teen minutes. Seriously what the fuck? Now he has deal with the madly insane sand that was chasing him, and the giant hands of sand... This was just fucking great!
However all of Deidara's rapid movement, and dodging failed to actually work as Gaara's sand soon caught up with him. The sand slowly wrapped around his arm, and Gaara slowly lifted his hand. His facial expression as blank as a brick. Seriously you would have a better chance of actually trying to read a bricks expression.
'Oh fuck me sideways extra hard!' Deidara thought in slight panic as the sand slowly enveloped his arm and began to move to his shoulder. 'Oh no your not!' The blonde Akatsuki member exclaimed, before he created a large centipede made of clay and ordered it to wrap around the sand.
"Art is an explosion!" Deidara gleefully exclaimed, before the clay centipede exploded. The explosion stunned the sand, however it didn't force the sand to let go of his arm, making Deidara frown lightly.
Gaara grunted in displeasure, before he gave a mental shrug. He was still gonna take his opponents arm so it didn't really matter. The young Kage slowly clenched his fist, and Deidara gave a small yelp as the sand was constricting.
"Sand coffin!" Gaara impassively said, clenching his fist tightly.
Deidara gave a low groan of pure agony as his entire left arm was devoured by Gaara's sand. Understandably, Deidara was displeased at losing his arm, but at least the young KazeKage didn't take anymore than his arms... Deidara didn't think he would be able to take that. Besides now all he had to do was get that stupid sand in position.
Meanwhile down below, dozens of Suna Shinobi, with Kankuro, Baki, and Yui were watching the battle. And they were all glad that Gaara had taken The Akatsuki's members arm.
"Just as expected of KazeKage-sama!" One Suna Shinobi shouted, a grin on his face, as the other Suna Shinobi cheered.
Yui had a shit eating grin on her face as she stared at the battle. "YEAH GAARA KICK HIS ASS!" The black haired succubus yelled.
Kankuro gave a small smirk as he stared at the sweating Akatsuki member in the sky. "Teh, no one escapes Gaara's sand. That Akatsuki member is toast." He confidently said.
Baki merely narrowed his eyes, he knew not to underestimate other opponents. This battle was very much far from over.
Meanwhile back in the airborne battle, Deidara stared at the stump that was once his left arm. That merely left him with a single arm. He idly wondered, if he should get Sasori to make him a new one, but he shook himself of such thoughts.
He was quickly growing tried of this fight, first his infiltration didn't go as planned. Than he was forced in a life or death battle with the Ichibi Jinchuuriki. His supply of clay was running dangerously low, and now he lost his left arm because he seriously underestimated his enemy... Oh yeah he definitely wanted to end this battle as soon as possible.
With that thought in mind the blonde member of the Akatsuki began to fly directly at the floating KazeKage, dodging and weaving through every hand of sand attempting to slap him out of the sky.
Deidara released a manic grin as he was now close to the KazeKage, and he prepared a bunch of clay animals in his hand, right before he was suddnely forced to dodge over dozens of Kunai trying to strike him out of the sky via Suna Shinobi down below. 'Oh hell no! Un.' deidara thought.
"You know-" Deidara began, as he began to clench and unclench his fist. "-I was really hoping they wouldn't get involved in this. But it's their fault for whats gonna happen." Here Deidara gave a gleeful and sadistic grin. "Choose KazeKage-sama. Save the village... Or continue our battle." The blonde said mockingly, as he unclenched his fist, and a small animal of clay began to float in the center.
The animal floated to the center between Gaara and Deidara "And besides... I am sick and tired of looking at that impassive face of yours." Deidara darkly uttered, before he made a single hand-sign. And the small animal suddenly expanded to great sizes, almost as large as the Ichibi.
Gaara's eyes widened drastically as he stared at the massive clay animal. Deidara smirked, as the clay animal began to descend to the helpless village below.
"ALL SUNA SHINOBI TRY TO EVACUATE AS MANY VILLAGERS AS POSSIBLE! i REPEAT TRY TO EVACUATE AS MANY VILLAGERS AS POSSIBLE!" Baki roared. The Suna Shinobi in a state of panic, readily followed Baki's orders. Yui clenched her fist in rage at the blonde Akatsuki's member's cowardly tactic.
"DAMMIT!" Kankuro cursed.
Deidara gave a sickening laugh of pure glee as he help his hand in a single hand-sign. "ART IS AN EXPLOSION! KATSU!" Deidara gleefully roared, before a massive explosion overtook the skies, and ground level.
Many Suna Shinobi covered their eyes in terrier and as a acceptance of their fate. However the only thing that truly felt different was... A large Shadow overtaking the sky. In confusion, the Shinobi opened their eyes, and as the smoke cleared they witnessed as sight they thought they would never see.
A massive amount of sand was formed just at the moment of impact and placed itself as the shield to take most of the blunt damage and force of the explosion. And the Suna Shinobi only knew of one person who had this amazing control of sand. And their assumption was justified as they turned their gaze upon a sweating and panting Gaara.
"K-KazeKage-sama protected us!" One Shinobi exclaimed. Every single Shinobi gazed upon Gaara with shock and awe... Why would he go so far for them? Didn't the KazeKage hate them for how they treated him during his childhood?
Meanwhile Kankuro thought back to the conversation he had with Gaara only several months ago, and the very words gaara said.
"I want to be strong just like Naruto. I don't want to fight just to kill anymore, I now understand what made Naruto so strong. Being hateful, and casting away your humanity will make you exceptionally powerful. But true strength comes from the heart. I learned this during my fight with Uzumaki Naruto. I learned that by acting like the monster others thought me as I was only proving them right. As this village's KazeKage... I will defend this village, for it is my home... My family... And where my true strength lies is in my heart. I will defend this village, so that I may hope that this village will love me as well." The redhead said with a smile.
'Naruto... You truly changed Gaara for the better.' Kankuro thought.
Yui gave a bright smile, as he stared Gaara, giving him a thumbs up when she saw him glancing her way.
Gaara allowed himself to have a small smile as he stared at the undamaged village below.
Deidara gave a pleased smirk, as he stared at the panting Kage. "So you managed to save the village. But your wide open! Un."
And Gaara's small smile was replaced with a look of pure shock and surprise as two clay birds flew directly into his face and promptly exploded soon after, startling the Suna Shinobi and Yui in the process.
"KAZEKAGE-SAMA!" The Suna Shinobi yelled in panic.
"GAARA!" Yui, Kankuro, and Baki shouted in surprise and horror.
Everyone watched the smokescreen clear with both hope, and anticipation. When the smoke cleared everyone got a full view of the sand that was previously chasing Deidara had now moved to protect Gaara, in casing Gaara in a fully completed sphere.
Deidara frown for a moment, before a malicious smirk crossed his features. "Sorry KazeKage-sama, but you've lost this battle. Un." Deidara said in a matter of fact tone. Inside his defensive sphere Gaara frowned as he heard his opponents statement. However his frown was replaced with a shocked expression as he noticed his sand seemed to be drilled through.
And his expression turned to horror, when he saw what exactly was drilling through his sand. It was seven large ants made of clay. 'Impossible when could he have-!?' Gaara was broken from his thoughts when his opponent spoke.
"It was back when you had my arm encased in your sand. Back than, before you retracted you sand, I planted several of my clay arts inside it. Un." Deidara said smugly.
"This is where it ends Jinchuuriki. Art is an EXPLOSION! KATSU!" The blonde gleefully exclaimed, before the inside of Gaara's sand promptly exploded. The Shinobi down below could only look on in horror as their KazeKage began to rapidly descend from a height that would kill him, Jinchuuriki or not.
"KAZEKAGE-SAMA!" The Shinobi of Sunagakure shouted in both horror and disbelief.
"GAARA-KUN!" Yui exclaimed in fear and horror, before her wings began to flap wildly and she took off into the sky in order to save her red haired boyfriend. However just as she was about to reach the red haired Kage, she was suddenly forced to veer off course as a large bird made of clay flew into her face, and promptly exploded.
Yui flew out of the smokescreen covered in smoke, and he coughed to get fresh air back into lungs. As she was distracted however, several grasshoppers of clay latched on to her wings and promptly exploded, gravely damaging her wings. She yelped in pain, and she began to plummet into the cold harsh ground below.
However before she could go splat on the unforgiving ground, a wall of sand formed below her, and wrapped around her protectively, and lowered her to the ground as gently as possible. Yui was able to look into Gaara's relieved eyes, before the redhead closed his eyes and lost consciousness. That was all the black haired succubus could see, before the blonde Akatsuki member and his large bird promptly caught the falling Kage.
"One Jinchuuriki down. Eight to go. Un." Deidara darkly, and smugly stated, a grin crossing his features as he stared at his captive. The Shinobi of Suna could only look on helplessly as their KazeKage was being taken right before their eyes.
"GAARA!" Kankuro yelled before he began shoving through the crow of Shinobi and pursued the blonde Akatsuki.
"KANKURO WAIT!" Baki yelled, it was to late however as the black clad brother of Gaara had already began chasing the Akatsuki member and his bird. "Shit!" Baki cursed. "SOMEONE SEND BLACK HAWK TO KONOHA AND TELL THEM WE NEED ASSIST IMMEDIATELY! I WANT EVERY AVAILABLE SHINOBI TO SECURE THE VILLAGE! ANBU FOLLOW KANKURO AND ASSIST HIM IN RETRIEVING THE KAZEKAGE IMMEDIATELY!" Baki roared.
"YES BAKI-SAMA!" The Shinobi acknowledged before they went off to perform their respective tasks.
Yui meanwhile could only stare at the further distancing figure of the Akatsuki's bird with tears pickling at the corner of her eyes. "DAMMIT!" She yelled punching her fist into the ground.
Meanwhile in Konoha, inside of Naruto's seal. The mighty and intimidating presence of the Kyuubi no kitsune stirred slightly, before his crimson red, and slitted eyes slowly opened.
The Kyuubi let out a small sigh "Shukaku... So they have you now." The kitsune uttered, sensing his sibling through the empathy link him and the rest of his siblings shared with each other.
The empathy link was something all of the Bijuu shared. They could feel each others presence, and know if one of them was in the process of being reformed. And if close enough, telepathically speak with each other.
Thus Kyuubi was certain that the rest of his siblings knew of the status of Shukaku just like he did.
"So they have finally made their move huh?" Kyuubi gruffly said, clenching his human like hand. He could not stop the feeling of rage and hatred that cross his being at the thought of his sibling being beaten, only to be in what the fuck the Akatsuki had planned for him. Despite the fact that Kyuubi acted as if he hated his siblings as well, the truth was that he didn't.
They were his siblings, they were his family. It was only natural that he love them, and wish for nothing bad to happen to any of them. The only one of his siblings that could break through his mask was the Hachibi, and the eight tailed octopus like ox never revealed the truth to their other siblings. Something Kyuubi was thankful for.
"Naruto... Wake up, Gaara needs you." Kyuubi muttered, sending a burst of Chakra into his container to wake him.
Meanwhile outside of the seal, Naruto's eyes snapped open, and he slowly rose from his bed. He shut his eyes, and allowed himself to channel SenJutsu Chakra into his body in order to increase his sensing abilities, than he took a small amount of Kyuubi's Chakra to further increase his range. And he reached out towards Gaara's Chakra signature.
The blonde sensed Gaara's Chakra signature... Only to find it steady, and fluctuating, and he was moving away from his village. Naruto clenched his fists, fluctuating Chakra meant he was heavily injured, and was near a critical state. And Naruto knew of only one reason on why he would have fluctuating Chakra, and be moving away from his village at the same time.
"Akatsuki." He lowly growled. He glanced towards Shiroi's sleeping form, and his eyes softened. He leaned down and gave her a small peck on the lips. Than he stood, and opened his closet. Revealing it to be filled with a assortment of his robes. He promptly picked up a pair of clean robes, and placed them on, though not before putting on a dark orange mesh shirt.
Than the blonde placed on his black pants, and boots. Before he moved over to his other closet across the room. He opened his closet, revealing it to be filled with a vast assortment of his throwing knives, rope darts, his pair of hidden blades, his crossbow, and a quiver of arrows. He quickly placed on all of his weapons.
Finally he moved over to a altar that was also in the room. The altar, had a very comfortable, and elegant pillow that seemed as if you would fall asleep the second you lay your head on it. However Naruto was far more interested in the sword that was on the altar. The eagle head for it's pummel. The eagle wings it held for a guard. The handle that was covered in soft smooth leather.
The blade was currently sheathed in it's custamary black leather sheath, however it wouldn't be for long. Naruto delicately picked up the blade, and unsheathed a small portion of it.
"Altair.. Are you ready as well?" The whiskered faced blonde asked.
Altair pulsed an affirmative at his wielder.
"Good but first we have to speak with the Hokage." Naruto stated, his voice serious and cold. He sheathed Altair once the blade pulsed another agreement. He silently opened the window, and looked back to Shiroi's sleeping form. He debated on whether or not to wake her, before he decided to let her sleep a little while longer.
He silently created a clone and instructed it to make breakfast for Shiroi, as she would wake up at exactly seven O clock. He looked towards the night sky, only to see a soft hue of light over the horizon. Morning was coming soon, meaning it wouldn't be much longer when Shiroi wakes.
He silently placed his hood over his head, opened the window, and promptly jumped out of his residence. His destination, the Hokage tower... He had to speak with Tsunade, and he had to tell her...
The red clouds have made their move.