Challenge by Kfbanime87

GoD Among Shinobi

Chapter 6

Training against one Angel was always tough and three was nigh impossible. It had gotten to the point where if it wasn't for Kurama being an extra set of eyes inside him he would have gotten a whole lot more lumps and bruises over his years of training.

Personally, while difficult, he liked it when he trained against all of them since not only did it make him stronger but it also helped his teamwork with Kurama. They had gotten in sync well enough to where they had a shorthand call out system to alert him if he needed to dodge or block and where the attack was coming from.

And if it was too fast to call out Kurama would occasionally take control to help keep him safe.

But it wasn't perfect since both of them weren't nearly anywhere close to the speed of his three Angels so they stuck to reacting and dodging to what they could and hoping they could tank whatever was too fast for them while learning to react faster.

"Wow….you really weren't kidding, those three are intense" Temari said in slight surprise as she and a few others relaxed and watched Naruto train from inside the Uzumaki compound. It had been a few days since Caulifla and the others showed up and so far everyone had been getting used to and enjoying them.

"The Angels are the strongest beings in any given universe, originally I only had Marcarita as my Angel so having a total of three in this universe is rare" Naruto told them, being a clone he created to spend some time with everyone while the Angels did his mandatory training that he had set up with them.

"So that means this universe is really protected right?" Hinata asked with a soft blush as Naruto looked over to her only to have him shake his head with a 'sorta' hand gesture.

"Protected cause they are making me stronger but Angels are forbidden from actually fighting, they can only train. If I were to struggle all they can do is watch and protect those I ask them to with their barriers or rewind time if shit goes south" he told her as at first he thought the same thing before Marcarita 'burst his bubble' so to speak.

"So wait, if they can train does that mean they could train us if we asked them to?" Neji asked as he and Tenten sat nearby, him being there due to also wanting to spend time with Naruto alongside keeping Hinata from potentially being felt up by now two girls - Ino and Caulifla - with Tenten tagging along with him.

"Yeah but don't expect them to go easy on you, they'll push you to your limits and strive for you to get stronger even if it means having to heal you from a broken state at the end of it….Caulifla gets a kick out of it" Naruto said with a bit of an eye roll since Caulifla was an eager student of his Angels.

"Sounds troublesome and it's your move" Shikamaru said, getting Naruto's attention back to the shogi match they were having as with him back in Konoha Shikamaru wanted to see how Naruto had progressed mentally over the years.

"Who knows, they are surprisingly adept at helping with chakra a bit as well after they spent a day learning about it. Angels are fast learners especially when they can view the entire history of a planet in a matter of minutes" Naruto told him, shuddering a bit with a chuckle as he had seen them do that a few times and it always surprised and stunned him. "I'm certain they could give you some trouble with your strategy" he teased, making his move and somewhat enjoying how he was making Shikamaru work for his win since he hadn't just trained in brawn but also his brain as - in Marcarita's words - a dumb God was a dead God.

"By the way, where is Dyspo?" Tenten asked while Naruto gave her a 'do you need to ask' look which made her sigh. "I really wish Lee and Gai-sensei would stop bothering him all the time for races" she said with a groan which only got Cocotte to chuckle at.

"I think Dyspo enjoys it, he likes pushing those two to grow faster and stronger. I personally think he's trying to recruit them to the Pride Troopers as a new chapter" she told them as she walked back into the room with a tray of cups for tea that she had started for their visitors.

"One jumpsuit for another, can't say I'd miss the green" Tenten droned out, Neji finding himself nodding along with her while Shikamaru rose an eyebrow a bit.

"Wait, can people from this planet learn to awaken Ki?" he asked, getting several eyes on Naruto since he was the one who'd know.

"I asked the Angels about this in the past and they told me that anyone and everyone in the universe has the capability to awaken Ki but our planet is a bit tricky due to chakra. They hypothesized that if someone really pushed themselves and trained to awaken Ki then they could but it won't be easy" Naruto explained to them before a loud explosion rang out, getting them to turn to see his real self get sent crashing down into the ground hard enough to make the ground shake a bit.

"Ouch….will you be okay?" Sakura asked with a wince before Naruto held up a finger, telling her to wait a second before his real self flew out of the crater he had formed and back towards the Angels.

"I was durable before all this and I'm even more durable now. Even with the Angels it'll take more than that to make me stay down" Naruto assured them while Kale softly nodded from her seat beside him.

"Naruto also has trained against other Gods of Destruction so he's really grown to be able to take a lot of damage and keep going" Kale said, wanting to reassure them as well since even she and Caulifla had been worried about him in the past when he trained against some Gods like Beerus and Liquiir.

"This is still so insane….I miss the days when things were simple" Kiba groaned out, still not adjusting well to the space aspect of things even after almost a week having passed since Naruto returned.

"I believe this will be for the best. Having all this around will strive to make us stronger in the long run" Shino said as he nodded thankful to Cocotte for making some sugar water for his bugs.

"Yeah well it still freaks me out" Kiba grumbled with even Akamaru rolling his eyes at him.

"Man up already dog boy!" Caulifla roared out as she kicked his back, sending him flying out of the living room a bit as she crossed her arms and glared down at him. "Stop whining about shit and just get used to it or else you'll be left in the dust" she yelled out while Kiba huffed but had the smarts not to complain or talk back.

"Think of it as the introduction of all this as a 'jump start' to help you all evolve and grow stronger, akin to what Shino said" Naruto said while Caulifla grumpily plopped down on the other side of him and he - along with Kale - rubbed her back a bit to help calm her down.

"Ah, thought I heard some rumbling and explosions" a new voice chuckled out, getting them to turn and see Tsunade and Shizune walking in with smiles on both of their faces.

"L-Lady Tsunade, why are you here?" Sakura asked, hoping this wasn't one of Tsunade's ways to slip out on paperwork but then quickly realized that if it was then Shizune wouldn't be there with her.

"I finished up on a batch of paperwork and I felt like checking on Konoha's god" Tsunade teasingly told them, her smirk growing larger as she heard both Naruto's groan at her comment.

"Please stop calling me that!" the real Naruto yelled out only to barely avoid a blast that nearly hit him in the face.

"Please pay attention Naruto or else we'll have to heal up more than we usually have to" Cus said with a sweet and calm smile that had a scary aura to it that made him quickly nod and get back to the training, leaving it to his clone to do the talking.

"Yeah, as my real self said, please stop calling me that" the clone said with a flat look before Tsunade waved him off like it was nothing.

"Come on, have a little humor" she teased as she sat down at an empty spot at the table with Shizune joining her. "But in all honesty I also came by to tell you that thing you set up has begun, they were swapped out" she added, quickly getting the real him and the Angels to pause.

"Really? That was faster than I expected" Naruto said as he dusted himself off, the Angels healing him up to show that the training was done for now.

"What is she talking about?" Sakura asked, confused what the two of them were talking about.

"Just a little something Naruto set up to catch an annoyance. It's nothing serious" Vados told them as Sakura nodded, having no reason to question one of the Angels since when they told them something - to everyone - it felt like an unspoken rule of that being how it was.

After all they didn't seem the kind to mess around too much - at least not Vados and Marcarita given Cus sometimes teased them.

"It'll be fine, trust me" Naruto reassured her before he perked up with a raised eyebrow. "Wait, did someone invite someone else here?" he asked, sensing someone else having walked in through the front door.

"Oh yeah I kind of did….sorry. It's just after you left Tsunade had to assign someone else to Team 7 to keep it an active cell. He's been busy recently and just got back into the village and I figured with you returning it might be nice to introduce you to him" Sakura said with a bit of a frown, worried she might have overstepped by inviting him here only for Naruto to smile and wave off her worry.

"It's all good, just wondering if it was someone I might have to kick out but then again if it was someone trying to sneak in they really wouldn't have come in through the front door" Naruto said with a chuckle as the person grew closer.

"Nice to see the person who fled from the village for six years isn't an idiot like I heard he was" the man said as he walked into the living room.

The man had short black hair and dark eyes, both being a sharp contrast to his incredibly pale skin. He wore a short black and grey jacket that showed off his entire midriff and a pair of black pants, black sandals, and a pair of black gloves that left his index fingers and thumbs exposed.

"I'm Sai, nice to meet you dickless" Sai said with a clearly false and transparent 'cheerful' smile as he held out his hand to shake.

"Well thats a first I'll give you that. I'd be careful who you say that to as there are some people I might bring around that would erase you for saying something brash like that" Naruto said as he shook Sai's hand.

"Yeah he nearly called Choji a fatso" Shikamaru whispered to Naruto's clone before it dispelled, getting a shiver from Naruto since he knew how dangerous that was.

"Sure, I'll keep that in mind dickless, or should I say idiot?" Sai asked Naruto merely shrugging with a look that showed he really didn't care.

"Whatever floats your boat, have a seat. It's nice to meet a fellow Team 7 member" Naruto said while Sai tilted his head to the side.

"You are still on Team 7? I thought you were a missing-nin after being gone for so long" Sai asked, making several people send some sharp looks towards him.

"Ah well I was gone for a good reason you see, I had to train to become a God" Naruto said with a straight face, summoning an orb of Destruction Energy before Sai could respond and blasting it at a nearby tree and instantly erasing it. "You see if I didn't control my power as a God of Destruction that orb could have been charged with so much Destruction Energy that it would have carried on and started to erase this entire planet. Your welcome" Naruto said, figuring bluntness would work best to silence someone like this.

No one could say this planet didn't have its fair share of characters after all.

"And these blue women are…?" Sai asked as he looked at the three Angels before leaning down a bit towards Cus. "I didn't know you abducted children, that's pretty gross of you mister 'God'" Sai said with the same fake smile on his face before Cus gave him a calm and seemingly sweet smile.

"Call me a child again and your very soul will be crippled beyond repair" Cus said in a cheerful tone, the pressure she exerted - even if not directed towards them - being enough to make it impossible for some people to breathe and for Sai, who it was directed at, to pass out near instantly.

"And that is why you don't piss off an angel. Especially Cus" Naruto told everyone, as if this was a lesson, with everyone nodding before Sakura dragged the unconscious Sai away from Cus who was still smiling down at the man.

He quickly pet Cus's head, hoping to calm her down before she looked up at him, her dangerous smile being quickly replaced with a genuine one to show him she was okay.

She might be an Angel but that didn't mean she liked being called or treated like a child. Especially since due to Naruto's influence she, and the other Angels, started to showcase emotions and see themselves as women and no woman ever liked their age or appearance being teased.

And while she might have threatened him with violence that didn't mean she'd enforce said violence. She had Naruto for that after all.

"Hopefully he learns that lesson as well…" Sakura muttered as the worst Sai had done in the past is fall her 'ugly' but with all of this she hoped he learned not to do that to just anyone. She could take it and brush it off but others might kill him….or worse, if he did it to them.

"Moving on from that….I'm sorry to leave you guys with another clone but I have something I have to do, something kind of important" Naruto apologized, getting nods and looks that showed they understood.

"Your a busy man now Naruto, we understand but do try and make some time for us, more importantly, me in the future" Ino teased with a wink, getting Naruto to chuckle and nod as he winked back at her.

"You know it" he played along, getting a giggle from Ino before Temari rolled her eyes at Ino and her flirting while wishing that Naruto didn't encourage or play along with it as much as he did.

"Tonight I was thinking of having a little party since I have to return to Suna in the morning, will you be able to make it?" Temari asked before Naruto smiled at her.

"Of course Temari, this isn't going to take me that long and I doubt I'll be that busy today since this is the only thing I see popping up" Naruto told her, putting his hand on her shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze which made her smile at.

"I'll be back in a bit, don't let me stepping out like this make you guys feel like you all have to leave. What's the use of a big house if not for having friends over after all" he made clear to everyone that they were more than welcomed here before he and Marcarita warped away.

-Root Base - A bit before Naruto left-

"So these are the Dragon Balls?" Danzo asked as he looked over the set of seven orbs, they definitely giving off an 'other worldly' feel to them.

"Yes, we were able to finally sneak them out when Tsunade was out of the office and all the ANBU watching over her office ended up being from Root thanks to your subtle shifting of the ANBU on duty over the last few days" the Root ANBU said while Danzo looked back at him.

"Return to your post, you need to keep her from noticing they are gone" he quickly ordered, the ANBU leaving immediately as they knew not to make him speak twice.

"Are you sure about this Lord Danzo? They could be trapped and that man might be tracking them" Fū said as he and Torune appeared behind Danzo.

"Yes I am sure and if anything I am betting on the fact that he appears. Little is known about how to summon this dragon other than all of the Dragon Balls are needed in one place so if he shows up then I can question him" Danzo told them as he slid his right arm out, revealing it and the three large gold braces were clamped around it. "When he arrives you and Torune keep him occupied to give me time to get ready" he added before a chuckle sounded out.

"Oh so I'm expected? That makes me feel a bit better about crashing in here, makes me less of an unwanted guest" Naruto said with a smile, getting them to the two men to quickly turn around with their weapons drawn while Danzo calmly looked over his shoulder.

"The ability to travel anywhere instantaneously, truly more dangerous than even the Hiraishin" Danzo said, keeping his eye locked with Naruto's as the boy merely shrugged.

"Yeah I know my dad's signature technique was pretty deadly and while I don't necessarily need it I'm starting to learn it" Naruto told them, revealing not only his heritage but also that he had the notes on the Hiraishin.

"Tsunade gave you the seal to your parent's house. I've tried for the longest time to get that but your father was an overly cautious man, leaving the way to get it only to three people: Hiruzen, Jiraiya, and Tsunade - all of who are foolish with their choices" he rebutted which only got an eye roll from Naruto.

"Enough with the back and forth as you buy time to get those off of your arm, isn't this where your men attack me?" Naruto asked with a flat look before the men disappeared in a flicker of speed.

"Mind Body Switch!" Fū spoke out from behind Naruto as the technique connected with him.

"Got him" Fū said from within Naruto's body only to instantly pause, his eyes going wide as he was pulled into his mind.

"And who exactly do you 'got' there?" a loud booming voice spoke out, getting Fū to turn around to see not only the Kyuubi but the other Bijuu glaring down at him.

'H-How? I-I thought the best was under a seal' Fū thought as he knew it was dangerous using his technique on a jinchuriki but had assumed the Bijuu wouldn't be able to interfere due to the seal it was locked in.

"Well you thought wrong!" Kurama roared, swinging its hand down at the 'invader' to squash him only for him to quickly cancel the technique.

As Naruto regained control he quickly had to lean back to avoid a punch from the other man who had seemingly taken off his gloves to reveal his oddly purple skin.

"What went wrong Fū?" Torune asked as he leapt back away from Naruto, looking over at his partner only to see him rubbing his head, seemingly in pain a bit.

"He has his Bijuu out of its cage and the other Bijuu were there. Not full but as if their chakra was in him" Fū said getting Naruto to nod with a smile.

"Me and my Bijuu are friends, hell I've befriended the other ones as well given one of the wishes I made was to free all of the Bijuu except mine. Mind you not cause I was greedy but merely cause mine wanted to stay with me" Naruto explained to them before quickly swatting away a few kunai Torune threw at him.

"Fine, fine, I get it. No talking, geez" Naruto said with an eye roll before summing some Ki to blast and break Fū's sword as the orange haired man quickly recovered and dove at him. Though, Fū seemed to be a decoy as Torune appeared quickly behind to launch a punch at his back.

Naruto didn't really dodge as the fist made contact, wanting to see what was up with his purple skin and even more curious as both Torune and Fū leapt away.

"I've infected him, it shouldn't be much longer" Torune said, getting a nod from Fū as Naruto smirked and rose up his shirt a bit and turned around to show them.

"Infected me with what exactly cause I doubt anything you have can eat away at Destruction Energy" Naruto said as he showed how the area Torune had hit him was coated in a dark purple energy.

"You see, Destruction Energy is pretty self explanatory. It destroys anything that it touches or touches it so I figured, if you leapt away like that, then you must have done something to make you think one hit would be enough" Naruto explained to them before he coated his entire body in a cloak of Destruction Energy.

"I don't know what you tried but lets see if any of you have the guts to try again. I'll warn you, it'll take a lot to actually hit me not" he warned before he appeared behind Fū and gave him a hard chop to the back of the neck with a hand that he removed the Destruction Energy off of temporarily.

"So how about it, just the two of us since this guy can't seem to do much against me" Naruto said before Torune leapt back again to create some space between them.

"Poison Cloud!" Torune yelled out as he sprayed out a massive dark cloud that moved in the air as if it was alive. He was glad Naruto had moved away from Fu well enough for him to use this technique without endangering his partner.

'Hmmm, the goggles make me think Aburame so then these must be bugs' Naruto thought as he rubbed his chin in thought before the cloud descended on him.

"My bugs eat away at anything and everything they touch whether its chakra or flesh so they have a chance to eat away at your Destruction Energy or whatever you call it" Torune said, unsure if Naruto was alive inside the cloud of his bugs.

"When I called it Destruction Energy it wasn't done to make it sound intimidating, it literally destroys everything it touches and nothing can absorb it. I mean I've heard stories of people resisting it but you need an insane amount of power, both in strength and will, to do so" Naruto's voice spoke out, his tone a bit annoyed before he walked through the cloud like it was nothing before he launched another sphere of it back into the cloud, it expanding a bit to finish erasing the last bit of the bugs.

"So I'm sorry to do this but on the other hand it's simpler this way than to draw it out" Naruto told Torune before he appeared right in front of Torune and hit him with a strong uppercut, the Destruction Energy coating his fist being just enough to protect him from the bugs without affecting Torune.

"That give you enough time Danzo?" Naruto asked, canceling out the cloak he had around him to turn and see Danzo standing and waiting, all the braces off his arm and the bandages removed to reveal an pure white arm with ten Sharingan implanted in it that also seemingly had a face sticking out on his shoulder.

"More than enough" Danzo said as he weaved three hand signs before rushing off towards Naruto with a wind chakra coated kunai.

He was a bit surprised as Naruto blocked it with his arm, only this time it was coated in orange-ish gold energy as if his arm was a sword and now capable of stopping his kunai. "You know Danzo, I watched through the history of this world to learn more about it and you are involved in a lot of evil" Naruto said, glaring at the man before Danzo leapt back.

"Dealing with Hanzo, working with Orochimaru on shady dealings, going after Shisui Uchiha, and pushing for the execution of the Uchiha clan. There is a whole lot more you've done but I'm merely naming the big events" Naruto revealed, inwardly surprising the man as he took a quick look towards Marcarita who peacefully stood nearby.

"I've gotten reports stating you mentioned space and other universes. At first I took them as idiotic prattle but it seems there is merit to them, especially when considering your new powers and the people surrounding you" Danzo said while he narrowed his eye at Naruto. "You say you know my past, does that mean you know everything?" he asked with Naruto nodding.

"You say you do everything for the safety of the village when you helped create the most of its problems. Trust me when I say I've done my research" Naruto told him as he nodded towards Danzo's arm, getting the man to tense up and throw his kunai only for Naruto to swat it away with his energy sword and extend it until it pierced through Danzo's chest.

"One down, nine to go unless I stop you before you do the hand signs" Naruto said, looking around to find out where Danzo would materialize as he came out of Izanagi. It was rather easy to react to Danzo and grab another kunai of the war hawk's with his free hand that was now coated in Destruction Energy as the man tried to stab him from behind.

"Isn't this rather predictable for Shinobi?" Naruto asked, grabbing Danzo's head and firing a strong Ki blast through it. 'Two….if I want to keep Shisui's eye safe I need to either run down the clock and erase that suicide seal or stop him before he can cast Izanagi again and then destroy that seal on him….Either way it comes down to taking out that seal' Naruto thought to himself as Danzo once again disappeared.

"Also don't think about trying to escape! Marcarita created a barrier around this entire room" Naruto yelled out to the room before he rose a hand to blast a wind infused shuriken out of the air and dodged two others easily enough.

"Running away would be cowardly and a waste of a chance to get you under control. I have the Sharingan and Mokuton! As a jinchuriki I have two of your three weaknesses!" Danzo declared only for Naruto to smirk.

"Oh yeah? Then use them instead of sticking to your one trick pony technique to keep yourself alive cause trust me, I can out last any number of these 'redos' you attempt" Naruto told the man, staring him in the eye as he flared his ki, smirking as he saw Danzo nearly falter down to a knee.

This only lasted for a second before Danzo weaved through a different set of hand signs and took a deep breath, showing Izanagi was still active. "Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere!" Danzo yelled out before firing out several small blasts of wind chakra.

Danzo smirked slightly as the boy didn't make an attempt to move with his technique kicking up dust on impact only to frown as, once the dust settled, a large orange shield made of solid energy in front of him that had seemingly protected him from the attack.(*1)

"Impressive wind techniques but you'll need more than just that, a whole lot more" Naruto told him as the shield started to disappear and he held out a hand with a staff of orange energy starting to materialize and grow before at one end a blade formed.

He tried his best not to give Danzo any time to react, going in to attack instantly but he had to hand it to the old war hawk as even after all these years he was fast for his age. Though, in terms of weapon strength, one made entirely of Ki easily overpowered and sliced through one merely coated in chakra after the second hit.

Not letting up Naruto continued on, speeding up to swing his naginata in a full circle to lob off Danzo's head. 'Lets see how much more he has before it gets repetitive….well, more repetitive since after three times I don't see anything different with him and how he's going about this fight' Naruto thought with a slight frown before Danzo appeared on the other side of the room from him.

"Summoning Jutsu!" Danzo spoke out with a massive cloud of smoke appearing and a loud elephant trumpeting rang out before the dust was blown away and a massive beast that looked like a mix of an elephant, ox, and tiger that resulted in something that reminded him of a tapir.

It quickly started to act, creating a powerful vacuum that tried to draw him in only for Naruto to stab his naginata into the ground and start to fly to help counteract it as it started to swallow up chunks of the room around them. While it was impressive he's personally gone against stronger currents since Jiren had made him train in flight by flying against the pull of a blackhole.

"Wind Style: Vacuum Blast Barrage!" Danzo yelled, once again firing a massive blast of wind at him only to widen his eyes as Naruto merely looked at it and caused it to hit something. It wasn't all he did as instantly after an invisible blast slammed into him and sent him crashing into the wall behind him.

"You can stop that now" Naruto told the summon as he weaved through a set of one handed hand seals - another skill his Angels made him look into incase he was busy - and took a deep breath. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" he yelled out before breathing out a massive fireball, the wind around that the summon was sucking in causing the fire to grow massive and explode before it quickly retreated.

"Okay this is enough, lets end this" Naruto said with a sigh as he made his naginata disappear and quickly turned around to grab Danzo by the throat just as the man reformed.

"Yes, lets end this" Danzo choked out with a smirk as he grabbed Naruto's arm only to frown as nothing happened. Fearing the worst he quickly tried to weave through the hand seals for Izanagi only for Naruto to grab the arm of his that had the Sharingan and - rather effortlessly - ripped it off of him as if it was just a shirt sleeve.

"Enough of Izanagi and enough of your seals. I'm done with you and this fight cause you see, I hoped this might be a good stretch after not seriously fighting someone for some time" Naruto said as he looked at Danzo with a somewhat bored look in his eyes. "You see if you just train constantly things get a tiny bit boring so I humored you. I let you fight longer to see if this would be a nice 'stretch' so to speak and honestly….it wasn't" he continued with a disappointing sigh.

"Playing around!? That overconfidence will be your death!" Danzo yelled, ripping open his shirt only for Naruto to put a hand on his chest and his 'last resort' to merely fade away. "W-What did you do!?" Danzo yelled in shock and now fear as he now had nothing, he couldn't even reach up to uncover his last eye due to Naruto keeping ahold of his wrist.

"Simple, I used Destruction Energy to take care of your suicide bomb by mixing it with chakra, creating a weakened Destruction Energy that only destroys things similar to it which is anything chakra based whether they be seals or jutsu. I found this little skill out after I learned I could mix chakra and Ki" Naruto said before he let go of Danzo and used his Spirit Blade to lob off Danzo's other arm and use his foot to keep Danzo in place as he fell down on his back.

"Do stop trying to struggle or crawl away, it's rather sad and will make retrieving what we need more painful for you" Marcarita said, getting Danzo to look up at her as her staff was in front of his face.

Danzo could only scream in a mix of frustration and pain as he felt the eye hidden under his bandages disappear from his head. "You were after Shisui's Sharingan all along!?" Danzo yelled out, his glare beyond furious as Naruto merely shrugged.

"Not really, I just wanted to take you out - hence the trap with the Dragon Balls. I'm surprised you took it so easily or that you seriously believed I'd talk about something like them in the open without worrying about people overhearing" Naruto went on, ignoring how Danzo's glare grew more and more furious.

"If looks could kill" Kurama joked with a chuckle since he had no sorrow for Danzo's suffering.

"So you're going to kill me!? Without me the village will fall apart! You need someone like me to look out for it!" Danzo yelled before Naruto put more pressure down on Danzo to shut him up, breaking a few ribs as he did so.

"Personally I want to kill you as robbing you of going to hell for everything you did in your life feels crappy but no, I'm not going to kill you...I'm going to erase you" Naruto explained to him as he held out his hand down towards Danzo, his hand flat with his palm facing him and thumb over it. "Destruction Energy, as I said before, destroys anything and everything. That includes human souls, meaning in the end, after everything you've done, you aren't deserving of an afterlife either" Naruto explained as he stared down the man as Danzo experienced his last moments of existence.

"Hakai" Naruto solemnly spoke out before Danzo screamed as slowly his body was erased from underneath him until there was nothing left. Not even Danzo's non-Sharingan infused arm was left behind as it was clear the ones with the Sharingan wasn't originally Danzo's hence why it didn't leave with him.

"Take that Sharingan arm as well when you are picking up the Dragon Balls please" Naruto asked, getting a nod from Marcarita before she put her hand on his shoulder.

"Are you okay? I know you do not take this lightly, even if it's someone like Danzo" Marcarita asked with a frown since she knew he respected life. Sure he's open to killing but that was because there was something after it, the afterlife, but with Hakai there was nothing.

"I'll be fine….just have to remember what a monster he was….that should help" Naruto said with a sigh before Marcarita nodded and stored the items he asked for in her staff.

"What about these two?" Marcarita wondered, referencing Fū and Torune who both were unconscious on the ground.

"Leave them, hopefully being free of Danzo will make them turn over a new leaf. If not then they are free to try and get revenge, I really don't care right now" Naruto told her with another sigh as she nodded and understood the silent request to get them out of here.

-Later that Day - Barbecue Restaurant-

"So you guys really raced against Dyspo 100 times in a row and Dyspo didn't even break a sweat?" Naruto asked Lee and Gai as both of them looking moderately exhausted which, after 100 races in a row, was incredibly impressive.

"I have to say Naruto, your friend Dyspo is a true embodiment of youth! It was truly a great experience and, if Lee and I had the energy, we'd do 20 more laps around the village on our hands to make up for our failure" Gai said before Naruto patted the taijutsu master on the back.

"Well win or loss you guys did great, been a while since I had someone who can give me a nice jog like that" Dyspo said with an encouraging smile before Naruto noticed Temari subtly calling him over.

"I'm sure you guys will get faster and faster, just keep at it and Dyspo….try not to kill them" Naruto said with a flat look towards the Pride Trooper before heading over to Temari as sat in the little outdoor section attached to the part of the restaurant that they all had rented for this dinner.

"What are you doing out here? This little dinner party thing, whatever you want to call it, is to see you off….though it has been bolstered a bit due to my company….sorry bout that" Naruto said with a bit of a frown, only to get her to wave it off with a smile.

"It's really fine, I more so just wanted a meal with everyone before heading back as everyone is more or less together with you returning" Temari said, wincing a bit as she was afraid she brought up a potentially bad topic.

"Everyone who matters is together as, don't tell anyone else this, but I truly believe Sasuke is too far gone. Sure I'm still going to bring him back but not in a 'you can still be one of us' way but a 'wanted criminal' way" Naruto told her with a sigh before Temari rubbed his back to console him a bit as she knew that had to be tough for him.

"Enough about all that sad somber stuff! Be sure to tell Gaara to invite me over as soon as he can, that way he can't get the snotty old people around him upset at him" Naruto said with a smile, getting Temari to chuckle a bit since she too knew how the elders got at times about little things like that.

"You already know that he has it all set up, he just has to wait for me to get back so he can officially know you are back" Temari said with a smirk as he had told her about how he had talked with Gaara through their Bijuu. "But you see….I called you here cause, now that you're back, I want to talk to you about something" she continued, taking a deep breath as to psych herself up only for a throat to clear.

"I am truly sorry to interrupt this personal conversation but this is dire...the Akatsuki are attacking Sunagakure" Marcarita said, interrupting them and showing a screen of Gaara fighting against someone flying around on a white bird while Tsunade frowned beside her, having also been brought along due to the direness of the situation.

"W-What? I-Is this real?" Temari asked, bursting up from her seat before Naruto calmly put his hand on her shoulder.

"Take a deep breath Temari, it'll be okay. I won't let Gaara die" Naruto assured her, giving her shoulder a squeeze before turning to Tsunade with a serious look on her face that made Tsunade smirk a bit at as she knew what was coming.

"Hokage, I request permission to leave with Caulifla, Kale, Cocotte, and Dyspo to retrieve the Kazekage from the clutches of the Akatsuki" Naruto requested which got a nod and a smile from Tsunade.(*7)

"Granted on the condition you take a skilled medic with you, I personally suggest the one eavesdropping in on us" she said, smirking over her shoulder which got Sakura to step out from around the corner.

"Sorry Lady Tsunade but….the Akatsuki are the people that are after the jinchuriki...and the organization that Sasuke is a part of right?" Sakura asked before Naruto nodded, getting Sakura to gain a look of determination on her face.

"Then I'm definitely in. I might not be at the same level of power as your friends from other universes but I refuse to just stand by as you go about things" Sakura declared, staring him right in the eyes to show she wasn't messing around only to get a smirk from Naruto.

"I never expected you to just stand by Sakura. Get your things ready, we leave in the morning" Naruto told her while getting a confused look from Temari.

"The morning? Why wait until then?" Temari asked before Naruto held up three fingers.

"Three reasons. One - going there instantly might endanger Sunagakure as the Akatsuki would do everything they can to escape, two - we have time since it takes at least three days to extract a Bijuu and even if Gaara only has a portion of Shukaku's chakra it'll still take at least a day and a half, and three - it takes extra time for them all to get together and start. I estimate even if they have everyone ready beforehand we still have more than enough time as the second we arrive we'll be able to track them" Naruto explained before giving her shoulders a squeeze to reassure her it'll be okay.

"I do want you to do something for me, I'll have Vados go with you and stay with you until everything is settled down. I want you to tell everyone to not follow them or go after them, the less people getting hurt trying to stop them the better" he told her as she nodded, that making sense before the taller Angel put a hand on her shoulder.

"My sisters can grab all your stuff in your hotel room and bring it to you in the morning" Vados said, getting Temari to nod showing she was ready to go before the two of them disappeared.

"You better prepare, I plan to leave at the crack of dawn" Naruto told Sakura, patting her on the shoulder as he walked past her and back into the restaurant. "Caulifla, Kale, Cocotte, Dyspo, we have a mission" Naruto alerted his friends, getting Cocotte and Dyspo to get into their serious 'Pride Trooper' mode while Caulifla gained a million watt smile as she gave Kale a one armed hug.

"Some action! You just point me in the direction and I'll let loose" Caulifla roared out excitedly while Naruto rolled his eyes with a smirk.

"Just be ready to leave first thing in the morning" Naruto told her while he noticed Shikamaru seemingly catching on at the lack of Temari anywhere to be seen.

"Do I want to know?" Shikamaru asked Naruto who merely shrugged.

"Depends, afterall I think we both know you have it figured out already" Naruto replied which got a serious look from Shikamaru before Naruto gave him a light smile. "Relax, I'll make sure Gaara gets back safe" he added before he walked off with those he had called out to following after him.

"It's the Akatsuki isn't it?" Cocotte asked, getting a nod from him.

"I knew they were going to react fast so we also have to react just as fast. Marcarita and Cus are going to gather all the info that we will need to know about the two Akatsuki members that have showed up as well as all the others so we are all up to date" Naruto told them as the ability to look into the history of the world and focus on certain parts was insanely helpful when it came to being prepared.

-Next Morning-

"So why exactly did you send an ANBU to call for me right before we planned to leave, if you don't mind me asking?" Naruto asked Tsunade as she knew he planned to leave right away.

"It wasn't exactly my doing, the elders wished to speak with you" Tsunade said, Naruto sensing annoyance hidden under her 'Hokage business tone' before she motioned to the door moments before it opened and two elderly people walked in - one male and the other female.

"These are Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, two of the three elders" Tsunade introduced as Naruto nodded towards them.

"Nice to meet you but couldn't you two wait? The Kazekage has been taken by the Akatsuki and I need to leave right away" Naruto said, a bit impatient as sure he's fully able to instantly get to Sunagakure with the help of either of his angels but it still didn't mean he could - or wanted to - waste time.

"Do be careful how you speak to your superiors child, Tsunade might stand by as you speak your mind but we will not" Koharu warned him before Naruto couldn't resist rolling his eyes.

"Last I checked you two just advise the Hokage, you don't have the position to do stuff on your own as Hokage has the final say on everything. The Hokage gave me this mission and it is urgent so please, get whatever you want to lecture me about out already so I can nod along like I'm taking your words seriously and then leave" Naruto said, a bit sharp towards them both since he knew how they sided with Danzo on everything he suggested back with Hiruzen.

"You do not command us and you will wait until Danzo arrives, we sent a messenger to his place so we hope he shows up soon" Homura said, narrowing his eyes before Naruto sighed and stood up.

"Waiting on a dead man will only waste time so instead can I just go already?" Naruto asked Tsunade, getting wide eyes from both the elders.

"Dead? What do you mean by that!?" Koharu demanded before Naruto looked her in the eyes.

"Dead as in he's dead, I should know given I'm the one who killed him. You would not believe all the shady shit he's done over the ages" Naruto told them both, looking to Marcarita and nodding before she started to play images of the past through her staff.

"Working with Hanzo, attacking Shisui Uchiha, going behind Hiruzen's back to facilitate the Uchiha Clan Downfall, trying to steal Kakashi's Sharingan for himself, trying to have Hiruzen assassinated. I can go on but honestly, neither of us have the time as by the end of it you two will have died of incredibly, incredibly old age" Naruto said in a rather short tone since it wasn't like being a God of Destruction made him feel above everyone but, to have people like them act like they somehow were above him when they were just advisors, pissed him off a good bit.

If he had to put a word on it he didn't like people who felt like they were entitled to have everyone listen to them.

"So please, just let me leave and you can do your little 'you shouldn't leave the village cause your a jinchuriki and you shouldn't have been allowed out in the first place' spiel on a later day even though you'd think being the son of the Fourth Hokage would mean something but naw, being shitty to jinchuiki overrides that" Naruto ranted before taking a deep breath and sighing as he turned to look at Tsunade.

"Sorry about ranting there Tsunade, you'd be surprised how long I've wanted to vent that" he said with a chuckle, getting a laugh from Tsunade as she waved him off.

"Don't worry about it Naruto, I'm personally surprised you didn't do more" she said, referencing what all he could do before he walked over and whispered to Marcarita.

"Trust me, I could have done worse but these two...they're lucky they don't deserve it" Naruto said, walking out with Cus as Marcarita quickly played the last moments of Danzo's life before he was erased for them to see before she quickly rejoined him.

"We ready to go? What did Lady Tsunade need you for?" Sakura asked as he came out of the Hokage building.

"The Elders wanted to be nosy but I don't think they'll be bugging me anymore" he told her before looking around to everyone else. "Everyone ready to go?" he asked, moving the topic away from the annoying Elders as everyone nodded.

"Come on! I want to finally fight some people I can actually finish off!" Caulifla yelled out, clearly excited and wanting to let loose her Saiyan instincts to defeat anyone in front of her while Naruto rolled his eyes with a chuckle.

"You can't be seriously going off to face the Akatsuki with a group of people who have never fought chakra users before" Jiraiaya spoke out before he dropped down from a nearby roof, making Naruto groan again.

"Can't people, oh I don't know, just let me do what I want. I'm not some kid and I have more intel then you do so I'm more than prepared but if you keep wasting my time you make things more difficult" Naruto told Jiraiya, once again annoyed that he was being stopped like this.

"If I may be blunt Jiraiya, no one in this group is new to combat" Cocotte started as she looked over at the man with a serious look in her eyes. "Dyspo and I are part of a group that goes around keeping peace in this entire universe while Caulifla and Kale are part of a race that grows stronger the more they fight. Even Sakura seemingly stood her ground in a fight against Caulifla, even if no Ki was used so to insinuate we are ill prepared is insulting to all of us and Naruto" she listed off with a slight glare as she started to let out more and more pressure until Naruto stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

"As you can see Jiraiya, we are fine. I knew what I was getting into when I requested the mission from Tsunade and - since you eavesdropped in on the meeting with the elders - you know I can handle things" Naruto told him, getting silence from Jiraiya before he turned back towards his group.

"Now everyone just try and remember what Marcarita and Cus showed you all about each potential Akatsuki member and their powers" he reminded them, getting an annoyed and impatient nod from Caulifla which just made him sigh before he nodded to his angels to signal they were ready to go.

-Sunagakure-

"See I told you he'd be here" he heard Temari say once he arrived, seemingly in what looked like a council room with Vados standing beside her while she stood in front of a group of old people seated around a large table.

"Sorry, we got a little held up by elders of my village being fussy. What is the situation Vados?" Naruto asked as he rubbed Temari's back to settle her down, seeing she was incredibly nervous. He also made sure to give Kankuro a slight smile and a nod, the look on Kankuro's face showing he got the message about they both would have preferred that they would have met again under a better situation.

"Gaara was taken by Deidara of Iwagakure and Sasori of Sunagakure. Sasori was able to use moles he had in the village to allow him and Deidara to get into the village without any trouble. Gaara fought valiantly to protect the village, taking an arm of Deidara in the process. The duo then left and headed off towards the border of Wind Country but haven't crossed over" Vados recapped, showing him some clips alongside it. "We were also able to identify all those who were sleeper agents for Sasori after some quick scanning through history and looking for a pattern of similar effect on multiple people's brains" she added since she had been asked by Temari to help with it and it had been well within her power to do so.

"Naruto, it's been quite a while and it seems you have grown and matured over the years" Baki, Gaara's old sensei started off before Naruto smiled over to him and held up a hand to politely interrupt him.

"I know what you are going to say but please, just believe and trust that I can get my friend and your Kazekage back safely. I'm certain Temari filled you in a bit about me and everything so I know it's hard to accept, as if Vados wasn't an odd sight to make you believe her words, but trust in her words and in my promise that I will get Gaara back safe" he told the man, filling his voice with sincerity and confidence before the ever stoic man couldn't keep from smirking and shaking his head.

"Okay, I'll have faith...what do you need us to do?" Baki asked getting a sigh from Naruto, not out of annoyance but one that sounded like he was a bit unsure.

"The hardest thing I can ask you and your people to do while their Kazekage has been taken….wait patiently for me to return" Naruto said as he knew everyone was on edge and they all wanted to help in some way.

"That's a tall task Naruto but I think we can do it, as long as you don't mind us impatiently waiting at the entrance to the village when you return" Kankuro replied with a weak smirk before Naruto gave him a thumbs up.

"Hey I don't blame you, it'll make for a nice warm welcome back for Gaara when we return" Naruto told them before Vados rejoined his other angels and they started to walk out of the room, Naruto wanting a bit more intel before they warped out.

"Wait!" Temari yelled out a bit after they left the council room. "Can I talk to you for a second before you leave?" she asked, getting a nod from Naruto as he turned towards the others.

"Of course Temari, you guys start heading towards the village gate and wait for me there" Naruto told the others, them nodding before he was left alone with Temari - well other than the Angels who had to stick close to him but at least gave them some space so it felt more private like Temari was seemingly hoping for.

"Don't get yourself hurt out there as even if it's for Gaara's sake he wouldn't like it and neither would I….just...good luck out there" Temari said before she surprised him with a quick kiss on the cheek, her face turning red as she stepped back and rushed off.

Naruto could only blink in surprise, entirely not expecting to get a kiss from his best friend's sister like that. But then again a 'good luck' kiss when going off to save her brother made sense in his mind a bit.

Though as he walked off with the Angels following he missed the knowing look and smile that the Angel's shared amongst themselves. 'He can be so cute and dense sometimes' they thought in seeming unison.

It didn't take him long to rejoin the others, them ready and waiting at the entrance to the village and trying to not stand on any of the blood that still seemed to be splattered along the walls and ground.

"Can we please go? Standing in blood really isn't appealing if I'm not the one who spilt it" Caulifla groans out while Kale clung to her a bit, her precious protege not liking blood in general.

"What did Temari need you for by the way?" Sakura asked, wondering what the Sand Sibling seemed so nervous about before they had left Naruto behind with her.

"She just wanted to wish me luck, I can only imagine how nervous and scared about her brother's safety so the sooner we get him back the better" Naruto told them before he turned to Marcarita, getting a nod from her as she understood what he wanted, bringing up a map for them with the location of where Gaara was being held lit up with a red dot.

"I doubt they'll be unprotected on the way there so while we can just teleport there doing so might be dangerous as we don't exactly know what is in there with them. We have to be fast as we move and if we get caught up we will have to deal with the roadblocks we meet quickly. Also stick to the ground and stick together as we move" he told them, getting nods from everyone before they quickly set off with the Angels floating as they followed behind them effortlessly.

"Don't worry about me Naruto, I can keep up with you all just fine" Sakura told him as she ran alongside him, impressing him a good deal since while this wasn't full speed it wasn't as if he was holding back completely with her in mind.

"I figured you could, I was mainly talking to Dyspo since he'd leave us all in the dust if I didn't tell him otherwise" Naruto said, giving her a smile before rolling his eyes as he looked over at Dyspo to see him running backwards just to show off.

"What can I say? I'm fast" Dyspo said with a smirk, getting a laugh from Caulifla.

"Don't let any girls hear you say that or they might get an image in their heads" she joked, getting laughs from a few others, turning Dyspo's cheeks red before he started running normally.

"Shut up!" Dyspo yelled out, frustrated and a bit embarrassed as they kept running.

-Akatsuki-

"It seems the Kyuubi jinchuriki is heading our way with a group of people clearly not from this planet. What shall we do?" Zetsu asked as while this jinchuriki seemingly having less Bijuu chakra in them than they expected even he knew that if they were interrupted before it was finished would ruin all their progress, sending all of the chakra back into the host.

"I'll use the Impersonation technique, Kisame and Itachi, you'll be used" Nagato said before he noticed someone staring at him. "Yes? What is it Sasuke?" he asked as he could tell the younger Uchiha wanted to speak out, thankful he at least learned to wait before speaking out after the first few times.

"I'll do it. My relationship with them will be enough to slow them down as they still want to bring me back. It should give use more than enough time to prepare the next step should they get past it" Sasuke suggested as his hologram stood atop the Gedo Mezo's left hand little finger, his retrieval of Orochimaru's ring being one of the main reasons he was allowed in the organization.

Normally, given the boy's intense desire to kill Itachi, he would have barred him from joining but two Uchiha with Mangekyo Sharingan was impossible to pass up…..plus their new benefactor Towa suggested letting him in given his past with the Kyuubi jinchuriki.

He had to have the younger Uchiha swear not to attempt killing Itachi until they were done collecting the Bijuu and - after a brief fight between his Six Paths and the green Uchiha - the boy agreed to his condition.

Plus he had ordered everyone ahead of time to deny Sasuke any and all information on Itachi and what he was up to. He wasn't dumb so he knew if the boy learned of Itachi's location he'd go after him first and then apologize, or flee, after.

"Fine, Zetsu will prepare the body while you set aside 30 percent of your chakra" Nagato said, hoping this would buy them enough time otherwise they'd be in a tight spot.

Then again if it did fail he had a contingency plan that'd be able to make up for it and allow them a possible second chance at taking the Ichibi again and possibly the Kyuubi.

-Naruto and Co.-

"Watch out, someone is waiting ahead of us" Cus alerted them as everyone stopped.

"Yeah, I can sense him and know this signature anywhere" Naruto said with a frown as a massive snake burst up from the ground with a very familiar figure stepping out of its mouth. It might have been several years since either of them last saw him but he and Sakura both could recognize Sasuke instantly, even as he wore an Akatsuki cloak.

"Been a while dobe, you still look ridiculous" Sasuke said with a smirk, his Sharingan already activated while Naruto merely looked him over with a raised eyebrow.

"Coming from the man wearing a jacket that looks like it would be big on Choji that's a bit 'pot calling the kettle black'. Plus I feel my uniform is much cooler than your boring uniform" he said with a smirk before Sakura stepped forward and clenched her fists as she glared at him.

"Sasuke, stand aside and let us pass. We need to save the Kazekage and if you get in the way we'll take you down" Sakura said, showing she wasn't about to get weak just because he was here.

"Take me down? I thought you wanted to save me and bring me home" Sasuke said with a hint of mocking to his tone before he rolled his eyes and looked her over. "Though out of the two of you the years have been the best to you...you could potentially be useful to me after all since I have been looking to remake the Uchiha clan and it won't be too hard to stomach you if you are like this" Sasuke said, smirking at her only to get a disgusted look from Sakura before a massive oppressive force weighed down on him.

"You'll do well to never make a comment like that to her ever again or I promise you won't live long enough to regret it" Naruto growled out, Kurama's voice mixing with his as he flared his Ki around him, a dark aura from his 'God of Destruction' powers flaring out.

"So take this as a warning, if we meet face to face - instead of this fake copy of you - and you make a comment like that I'll do more than this to you" Naruto growled harshly into Sasuke's ear, shocking the Uchiha as well as Sakura by how Naruto was suddenly in front of Sasuke with his arm plunged completely through his chest.

"N-Naruto! W-What did you just do!?" Sakura yelled out, Naruto holding up a finger to tell her to wait before he pulled his arm out of 'Sasuke', the body falling back and changing into someone else.

"It wasn't Sasuke, they used someone to make a fake version of him. Something felt off, I could feel two energies in him, one overlapping the other" Naruto said before Vados pulled up an image with her staff.

"The body belongs to Yura, the man who was a sleeper agent for Sasori and the one who let the Akatsuki into Sunagakure" she explained before Naruto cleaned off his arm with a shudder.

"I know what I'm doing Sakura, I wanted this fake version of himself done with. Especially after those disgusting comments he made. I mean I know you easily could have slugged him with all your strength to defend yourself but just, ugh, I couldn't stand it" Naruto said, still clearly angry at his comments before Sakura patted him on the back with a smile.

"Thanks Naruto, you being angry as well on my part does mean a lot" Sakura said as she cupped his cheek a bit to hopefully cheer him up a bit before Marcarita cleared her throat a bit.

"As sad as I am to interrupt this cute moment between the two of you, we have to continue on" Marcarita said with a calm smile, getting Naruto and Sakura to blush a bit as a few others were smirking at them.

"R-Right! Let's continue on" Naruto said as he coughed into his fist and started to resume heading towards where they kept Gaara.

-Akatsuki-

"Well that utterly failed. What happened to your relationship with them being enough to slow them down?" the voice of a hologram on the Gedo Mazo's left hand index finger yelled out with a laugh.

"He was faster than I expected….I can assure you next time if we fought in person it would have been a lot different" Sasuke said with a glare only to get an eye roll from the same hologram.

"Sure and I'm a nun" the man said before Nagato cleared his throat, getting him to stop laughing and keep Sasuke from replying.

"While it is a disappointment I was prepared for something like this thankfully. Those who know their roles maye leave, everyone else, you are to standby and wait until the Ichibi is recaptured and we restart this process" Nagato said with an incredibly annoyed tone before the holograms on the right index, left middle, left index finger , and left thumb disappeared.

-Naruto and Co.-

"There seems to be a barrier in place here, should be easy with Destruction Energy right?" Sakura asked as she inspected the seal tag on massive boulder blocking the entrance before Naruto nodded.

"Easily" Naruto said with a smirk as he summoned an orb of Destruction Energy before blasting it into the boulder, easily erasing the barrier and the boulder in a matter of seconds.

Caulifla and Kale were quick to react, getting in front of Naruto, Kale blocking a punch as a tanned arm that was seemingly attached to metal threads launched out from the dark cavern with Caulifla snatching a red three bladed scythe that was thrown out at them.

"Seems they were prepared and had more than just Deidara and Sasori here for us. Hidan and Kakuzu are definitely dangerous so be careful, remember what you heard about each of them" Naruto said with a frown before nodding to Caulifla and Kale which signaled to them that they were clear to take those two as opponents.

"Come on Kale, we got some asses to kick!" Caulifla yelled out, her and Kale flaring their aura before taking off and fly back away from the cave, each holding tight to what they had grabbed which in turn dragged the other two Akatsuki out of the cave and quickly away from everyone else.

"There goes our numbers advantage, lets see how many I get to follow me" Deidara said before he quickly took off into the air, Gaara in the mouth of his clay bird and away from the cave.

"Don't worry boss! I'll follow him and start fighting once I'm far enough from you all" Dyspo said before he burst off after Deidara, knowing about the man's explosions and not wanting to get others caught up in it when they fought.

"So that just leaves you two with Sasori" Naruto said to Cocotte and Sakura, getting a confused look from Sakura.

"What about you?" Sakura asked, looking back at him only to widen her eyes as she saw a figure behind them, his appearance screaming that he wasn't from this planet.

"Cause they have back up and I think he's here for me" Naruto told Sakura as the man had suddenly showed up moments after Dyspo and Deidara had left. He knew the man hadn't snuck up behind him and instead was teleported here.

"Cus I want you to go and watch over Kale and Caulifla, Vados you stay here with Cocotte and Sakura, Marcarita you go with Dyspo and the second he gets Gaara put him in your staff and come back to me" Naruto directed his angels, each of them nodding with Cus teleporting over to where the two Saiyans had flown off to and Marcarita teleporting off to Dyspo.

"Can I at least ask your name before we start fighting?" Naruto asked the blue skinned man, his stoic glare making him think he wouldn't get a name out of him only for the man to look him in the eyes.

"Mira" was all he got from the man, Naruto quickly marking him as the 'strong silent type' before he flared his Ki and summoned a blood red aura around him.

Naruto could definitely feel he was strong, even when the man was clearly holding back. 'Let's see how much of the 'strong' in 'strong silent type' applies to your physical strength as well' Naruto thought as he definitely felt Mira would give him more of a fight than Danzo did.

-Caulifla and Kale-

"Now!" Caulifla yelled out as she and Kale both let go of the thing they were dragging and hopped back to give more space between them and their new enemies.

"About fucking time you two stopped dragging us! I've got splinters all over cause of you, you bitch!" Hidan yelled out, pulling out a massive tree branch from his gut as if it was nothing before fixing his combed back grey hair.

"You wouldn't have gotten injured so much if you tried to stay on your feet at all" Kakuzu said with a roll of his eyes as he reeled in his arm, it reattaching like it was nothing before looking over at them.

"You two aren't in any real bingo book but I know a few people who would be interested in your corpses given how you aren't from this planet. I'll try not to damage you too bad as I know all too well that a fully intact body pays more" he added before he leapt back to avoid a blast.

"Enough talk" Caulifla said, proud that Kale had shot him to try and shut him up. "You guys came to fight and so did we!" she yelled as the both of them flared their Ki before dashing at them.

"Remember to be careful with him Caulifla" Kale warned, getting a nod from Caulifla as she appeared in front of Hidan.

"I know Kale, don't worry about me, you focus on your fight as neither are going to be easy" Caulifla told her with a serious look in her eyes before she blasted Hidan's scythe away as he tried to swing it at her. "I know you can't die but this'll still hurt like hell!" she yelled as she put her hand on his chest for a brief second before firing off a powerful Ki blast point blank into it which in turn sent him flying back.

"You fucking bitch! Your sacrifice will make Jashin reward me greatly as its not everyday I get the blood of a non-human to use in a ritual!" Hidan said with a manic grin as he got up, Caulifla's eyes widening a bit as the hole in his chest healed up.(*2)

"That so isn't what we were told by the Angels…" Caulifla said with a frown before Hidan patted his chest with a cocky smirk.

"Lord Jashin was gracious enough to allow someone else to help strengthen his rituals if it ensures he gets more sacrifices" Hidan told her as he gained a faint black and purple aura around him that Caulifla instantly knew was Ki, more specifically, someone else's since Hidan had no Ki.

"I'll have to tell Naruto about it after I take you out," Caulifla said as she summoned a red energy sword, its color based off her Ki color "after all, you just seem like a hard to kill cockroach to me" she added with a smirk before she quickly shot off towards him in a burst of speed.

"Do you seriously think you can handle me? You don't exactly seem the fighting type" Kakuzu said, a smirk evident in his tone despite the majority of his face being covered.

"Don't look down on me, I'm tougher than I look!" Kale yelled out as she burst off towards Kakuzu only to quickly duck and slide on as he launched one of his arms towards her with her blasting through the cords that attached the limb with a Ki blast. 'That isn't going to permanently detach it but it'll help a bit' Kale thought as she used her hands as she continued to slide to quickly push herself up to help deliver a strong knee to Kakuzu's face only for him to block it as a shockwave burst out from the force of her strike.

"Gotcha" Kakuzu said with a smirk only for it to falter as Kale smirked back.

"You sure about that?" Kale asked as a translucent green light burst from her only to condense down towards her knee and turn solid. 'Gigantic Impact!' she thought as her attack exploded and she leapt back, her attack not damaging her at all but as the dust settled she could see frowned as Kakuzu seemed unhurt and his skin a much darker shade.

"Nearly didn't have time to use Earth Spear, I have to remember that Ki is annoying" Kakuzu said while silently keeping the fact that even with Earth Spear that attack had still broken a few bones in his hand, something he could fix compared to a splattered hand. 'This girl might look meek but her power is intense. Might not be enough to fully break through it but I have to be careful' he thought before he clenched his fists and his body started to shift.

"Sorry girl but I'm not going to hold back" Kakuzu said before the back of his jacket burst open and four masks connected by countless wires popped out, as if tails of his that were facing forward.

Wasting no time he wove through the hand seals with his fire mask opening its mouth. "Fire Style: Intelligent Hard Work!" he yelled out before his fire mask shot out a stream of fire, Kale quickly taking to the air to avoid it as it instantly grew in size the second the fire touched the ground.

"Too easy" Kakuzu said with a smirk as he wove through another set of hand signs. "Wind Style: Pressure Damage" he said before his wind mask shot out its powerful and wide blast of wind, instantly causing the fire to explode out with the air, seemingly catching Kale in the blast.

"Kale!" Caulifla yelled out as she could see the massive blast of fire out of the corner of her eye, turning to look for Kale only for Hidan to force her to block his scythe strikes, making it impossible to worry for her.

"Focus on me unless you secretly want to be sacrificed to the great Lord Jashin" Hidan said with a deranged smile as he kept attacking, Caulifla narrowing her eyes as she was beyond annoyed that she couldn't cut through the man's scythe.

'Whoever the hell powered him up strengthened his damn weapon as well' she thought with a frown, wishing she could get rid of it but even when she was cut or blasted off the arm wielding the scythe he merely swapped hands while the arm she dismembered or destroyed regenerated from the stump left behind.

Interestingly enough the arms all disintegrated a bit after being cut off from him.

Caulifla grit her teeth as she fought the urge to look over at Kale's fight, blocking another strike from Hidan before she opened her spare hand and summoned her Ki into it. "I know your head is needed so lets see what happens when it goes splat!" Caulifla yelled out as she moved in closer to him, pointing her hand inches from his head. 'Crush Cannon!' she thought before she fired multiple high powered blasts at him and leapt back to avoid being caught in the blast.

"In the past that would have worked but….even he can't be killed like that anymore….sadly" Kakuzu said as Caulifla widened her eyes in shock as Hidan's head started to slowly grow back from the neck up, giving them both a rather disgusting show.

"That fucking hurt! I'll kill you for Lord Jashin and for myself!" Hidan yelled out utterly enraged as he leapt forward at Caulifla with his eyes full of anger.

"Don't forget about me!" Kale yelled as she appeared behind him with a fist coated in another of her Gigantic Impact before she drove it towards the back of his head. Only this time he couldn't block it with his hand, point his water mask towards her.

"Water Style: Hydro Downpour!(*3)" Kakuzu yelled as the mast shot out a massive beam of solid water only to widen his eyes as Kale's punch went through it like it was nothing and her fist collided with the mask. A second later her attack went off and shattered it as well as the heart inside it, his Earth Spear protecting him from the remainder of the blast as best as it could.

Kakuzu grit his teeth in pain from a heart of his being destroyed like that but also due to the fact that even with Earth Spear her attack had seriously stung.

Her suddenly getting stronger like this didn't make any sense to him until he actually saw her and how she had changed. She was noticeably taller and more muscular, her hair golden with a slight green tint to it and spiked up like crazy as she was coated in a golden aura.

"I'm sorry Caulifla but I had to. I know I can keep in control for a while and I promise to do my best not to lose control" Kale said as she looked over to Caulifla who smiled and nodded at her while she fought Hidan.

"Don't apologize Kale, use your power to kick that guy's ass!" Caulifla cheered on before Kakuzu smirked at her.

'Lose control, that sounds like it could be advantageous for me' Kakuzu thought with a smirk before he made his remaining three masks separate into their seperate creature forms and instantly attack her.

Kale knew she was in for it as the masks seperated and transformed, giving her a four against one battle, but was confident that now as a Super Saiyan she could handle it.

Caulifla though was much more worried for her precious protege, not because she feared Kale couldn't handle Kakuzu but fear that it might call out that legendary power that slumbered with in her.

-Dyspo and Deidara-

"So when are you actually going to start trying to escape?" Dyspo asked as he effortlessly kept up with Deidara, even as the man tried to fly and turn erratically at random moments in an attempt to 'shake him'. "Or is this you trying to escape? Cause if so then it's pretty sad" he said with embarrassment leaking heavily off his tone which only seemed to enrage the man, causing Dyspo to start dodging more explosions as he yawned.

Deidara had also done a lot of this as well, attempts to blow him up with his clay creatures but with his speed, dodging was something he could do with his eyes closed. Hell he had dodged a few with his eyes closed just to piss the man off even more.

He knew he had a finite amount of clay and if he made the man waste more and more it'll leave him with no more bombs to throw.

"Shut the hell up you annoying unartistic swine! All you have done is follow me and dodge! Is that all you can do!?" Deidara yelled, throwing another bomb only for the purple creature to disappear and reappear inches from him with his foot thrown back to launch a kick.

"Nope, I can do this!" Dyspo said with a smirk as he launched a powerful kick too fast for Deidara to even react to, one second the mad bomber being in the sky and the next finding himself crashing down hard into the ground.

Dyspo had to act quick - thankfully that being his speciality - as he coated his arms in Ki to help cut through the clay creature to fish Gaara out of its insides, grabbing him and jumping off the clay bird long before Deidara could detonate it.

"Do be careful fighting Deidara as it seems people from off world are involved with the Akatsuki and are powering them up as well as working alongside them. I'll be waiting nearby while you finish up" Marcarita told Dyspo, having gotten the intel from Cus, before the Pride Trooper nodded to her as she took the unconscious Gaara into her staff and teleported a bit away so she could watch over the fight without being bothered by Deidara.

"Not so fast! I've got a job to do!" Deidara yelled as he had crawled his way out of the trench Dyspo had sent him into and send clay centipede after them only for his two targets to disappear and quickly feel a sharp pain in the side of his face before being sent flying from a kick again.

"I'm your opponent so focus on me" Dyspo said, already a tiny bit impressed that the man was able to withstand his kicks even if they weren't exactly full power.

"Okay fine then! I didn't want to do this as it goes against my artistic integrity but push a man far enough and any explosion will be art! You'll regret kicking me!" Deidara yelled as he held out his one remaining hand towards Dyspo.

"Katsu!" the mad bomber yelled out with no hand seal apparently needed as Dyspo widened his eye as his boot started to glow, putting two and two together and being just fast enough to take it off and jump back before it exploded.

Dyspo didn't have much time to settle as he could see the ground glowing under where he landed, his eyes following the trail of glowing land back to Deidara and his hand.(*4) 'Great….he can detonate other things he touches. If I had to guess it'd probably involve his chakra' Dyspo thought as he dodged the explosion and started to fly in the air.

'I doubt he can make the air explosive since he can't touch it but I better be careful' he thought with a frown, hoping that this won't be too difficult to handle.

-Cocotte and Sakura-

"Do you think Naruto will be okay?" Sakura asked, wanting to look back to check on Naruto but knew better with an Akatsuki member in front of them.

"He'll be fine, he's trained and sparred against several strong Gods so even if this is someone who does have the potential intent to kill I feel he'll be able to handle him" Cocotte, having complete faith in Naruto and his skill

"So I'm stuck with you three it seems….I don't know about that blue skinned woman but with you two once I defeat you both I'll have a solid 300 puppets in my collection. Plus I'll have the first ever alien puppet...two if I go after that blue woman next" Sasori said, a smirk heard in his tone even through his Hiruko puppet as the puppet looked Cocotte over as if imagining how she'd look as a puppet and casting a side-eyed glance towards Vados.

He quickly looked away though once Vados started him dead in the eyes, not Hiruko's eyes but, if either of them had to figure, Sasori's eyes from within Hiruko.

"Sorry but no, it'll take a lot more than poison and some puppets to take either of us out" Cocotte said as she wasted no time before launching a barrage of lavender colored Ki blasts at Sasori.

Sasori tried to block as best he could with Hiruko's tail only for it to shatter after repeated blasts and his cloak to be torn to shreds but in the end the tail helped save the puppet.

"Enough of this!" Sasori yelled as Hiruko's mouth opened and he started his barrage of poison dipped senbon.

"Get behind me Sakura!" Cocotte ordered out, Sakura nodding and falling into line before Cocotte summoned a barrier around the two of them. One look from Cocotte and a nod towards the ground Sakura quickly got her message and started on her part.

Sasori narrowed his eyes as he fired off Hiruko's left arm, it flying through the air before the studs on the arm fired off and launched hundreds of more senbon at the barrier. Sasori might not know how the technique worked but wasting senbon wasn't too much of an actual waste.

"You can't hide in there forever. This isn't much of a fight if you do" Sasori said before Cocotte smirked at him.

"I can keep my barrier up for as long as I want but, if I'm being honest, I'm just buying time for Sakura" Cocotte said, confusing Sasori before he noticed Sakura wasn't in the barrier behind her anymore.

"Too late! Shannaro!" Sakura yelled as she burst up from the ground below Sasori before he could react, Cocotte having directed her to travel underground to attack him with her enhanced strength. Her strength was easily able to shatter the Hiruko puppet, Sakura noticing as a figure leap out before she could hit him, deciding to leap back towards Cocotte.

"So that's the real you Sasori, the living puppet" Sakura said with a frown, hiding her shiver as she had been somewhat disgusted and freaked out by it when she first heard about it from the three Angels.

"So you know about me, seems you are more informed than we expected" Sasori said as he took off the black sheet that was left over from Hiruko, revealing the youthful appearance that becoming a puppet while still moderately young. "Information doesn't mean much if you are too weak to fight and defeat your opponent" Sasori started before he pulled out a scroll, unrolling a part of it to reveal the kanji for 'three' on it.

"Let me show you both my favorite. It was truly the hardest one for me to get and to complete but thats what makes me so fond of him" Sasori said before a cloud of smoke erupted from the scroll.

As the smoke died down both Cocotte and Sakura were finally able to see the puppet of the Third Kazekage appear behind Sasori.

"So you finally bring him out? Must have been rather difficult to make when you had to go through all the trouble of having a mole of yours poison him so you could take his dead body" Vados said with a calm smile, looking over to Sasori who narrowed his eyes ever so slightly but kept his calm look strong.

"What do you mean Vados?" Sakura asked, noticing the effect that the angel's words had on Sasori.

"The Third Kazekage from what I've seen in the history of Suna was the strongest of all the Kazekages, his Iron Sand being the true reason for that. It doesn't make much sense that a puppeteer would be able to take him down when his sand would have ruined any and all puppets upon contact with his sand, of course Sasori knew this so he had one of his sleeper agents poison the man and bring his body to him only to kill the agent so he could truly claim it was he who killed the Third Kazekage. Rather cowardly if you ask me" Vados explained to them only to easily block an attack just as the Kazekage puppet tried to hit her with a hidden buzzsaw, the weapon breaking instantly once it struck her staff.(*5)

"Oh my, did I strike a nerve?" Vados asked, completely unfazed and unaffected as she looked at Sasori with him quickly recalling his puppet and ejecting the damaged weapon.

"I don't care if you found it out, it makes no difference as you three will die and become puppets of mine as well" Sasori said while he tried his best to keep his calm tone despite the clear anger they all could hear barely hidden in it.

"Stay on your toes, that puppet is fast and who knows how many more tools it has. I can protect you if things go south but only if you are within range" Cocotte told Sakura, getting a nod from her fellow pinkette before Sasori wasted no time sending his puppet after them.

It seemed he learned his lesson not to attack Vados as, while she couldn't fight, she could waste time if he attacked her which would give the two of them clear windows to attack.

The puppet was fast, summoning several blades alongside the puppet's right arm as it dove at Sakura, appearing in front of her with it already poised to swing them at her.

Sakura knew something was coming, preparing to leap back, and while she was too slow Cocotte helped 'cover' her as a thin barrier wall appeared in front of her to block the Kazekage's strike (*6). The barrier, while thin, would not budge or show any signs of breaking no matter how much Sasori tried to push against it.

"You're to go first if I'm to get anything done" Sasori said as he commanded his puppet through his chakra strings to open up the forearm and bicep of Kazekage's left arm, revealing several seals lining the insides of it.

Cocotte knew to be on guard as the seals activated and several hundred nearly never-ending puppet arms shot out at her. With Sakura having leapt away from the blades of the Kazekage, and the puppet seemingly not being able to move while it did this, Cocotte flared her Ki in her hands and started to take aim.

"Justice Barrage!" Cocotte yelled as she fired off an even stronger barrage of larger lavender Ki blasts at the arms that raced towards her, quickly noticing how each blast easily shattered an arm on contact. She knew she couldn't let up, her blasts easily keeping the arms at bay before they stopped pushing forward and suddenly shot out a massive cloud of poison at her.

Cocotte tried to leap back to avoid it only for a kunai on a rope wrapped around her and pulled her back towards the cloud of smoke.

"Cocotte!" Sakura yelled out, hoping Cocotte would be fine in the cloud of poison and felt a bit helpless that merely standing there was all that she could do.

"If you can breathe in that barrier then air has to flow through it which means my poison will as well" Sasori said with a smirk, at least hoping his hypothesis was correct since if it was it'd get the the unknown factor out of the way.

But, as the rope reeled in after having been cut and the additional ropes he sent out seemed to be deflected it seemed that the woman was inside one of her barriers.

"Sorry to disappoint but my barriers are a lot more versatile than you think! Air is filtered completely in it and it isn't as immobile as you think! Training with Naruto has assured that!" Cocotte yelled as she, still in her barrier, shot out of the poison cloud and into the air before quickly slamming down and destroying the Kazekage's arms that were spewing poison.

She tried to dash at the puppet only Iron Sand to fly at her and grab her barrier before flinging it at a wall of the cave. Cocotte though quickly dispelled her barrier and dropped down beside Sakura before she hit the wall.

"Iron Sand...like how Gaara can control sand. We need to be careful if he's even halfway as good as Gaara with it" Sakura said given her first hand experience of seeing Gaara fight with his sand she knew the Magnet release was definitely powerful.

"Might I suggest something given how you two are struggling a bit?" Vados asked, surprising the two women as she appeared between them.

"Wait you are able to help us?" Sakura asked which got a 'sort of' gesture from Vados.

"I cannot actively participate in a fight but I can help in any other way I am ordered to which I have ongoing orders to ensure everyone survives. So to ensure that, and fix the struggle of balancing your offense and defense, I am giving you both these" Vados told them before she summoned a pair of purple earrings that Sakura noticed looked the same as the ones she had seen on Caulifla and Kale.

"Are you sure about this Vados? This isn't something we can just force on Sakura" Cocotte said, giving Sakura and unsure look as they each got one earring. The female Pride Trooper though was thankful that Vados' presence seemed to make Sasori stop attacking for the time being, how long that went on though depended on how quickly he grew tired of waiting.

"Force what on me? I know Caulifla and Kale have these earrings so what do they do? Are they power boosters or something?" Sakura asked, unsure exactly what they were or what they could be given she knew absolutely nothing of the wonders of things out in space.

"They are Potara earrings, when two people wear them in opposite ears they temporarily fuse the two people together into one being for an hour. Caulifla and Kale use it for various reasons but they work as they are very close" Cocotte explained, not wanting to 'overstep' things with Sakura given they had just met.

"Have some time to think it over if you want" Vados said as she quickly teleported them back a few feet and set up a barrier for them, her back turned to Sasori which seemed to be enough to set him off.

"Iron Sand Drizzle!" Sasori yelled out as he fired off hundreds of iron sand bullets at Vados, her back still turned to him before his eyes widened as she effortlessly seemed to dodge absolutely every single one of them.

"Oh my, how rude. Attacking before I even turned around like that. So improper" Vados said as she put a hand to her cheek with a disappointed sigh while she continued to dodge.

"Look Cocotte, fusion sounds crazy but I trust you and the people Naruto surrounds himself with" Sakura said as they watched Vados dodge and almost gracefully dance around Sasori's attacks. "Naruto is a good judge of character and if Vados is suggesting it then it's even more reason to do it….I might not know how it'll feel to be fused but I'm willing to try" she added before she quickly put on one of the Potara on her left ear.

Sasori didn't let up, getting beyond frustrated before he turned all the iron sand around her into blades and firing them at her from every direction. Only he was surprised as a lavender barrier appeared around the woman with another woman he hadn't seen before inside it as well.

"Seems you took up the offer, how does it feel?" Vados asked as the woman before her pushed her hands out, the barrier expanding for a quick second before reverting to normal size, repelling the sand blades with enough force to embed them into the far off walls and cause Sasori to dodge a bit.

"It feels odd but I'll get used to it" the woman said, her voice being a mix of Sakura and Cocotte's as the barrier slowly faded away.

The woman, as all fusions Vados had seen, was a mix of the two that had put on the Potara.

Her eyes were still green, the color being more akin to Sakura's shade with her skin being a lighter pink than Cocotte's usual skin tone and possessing slightly less pointed ears. Her figure was also a mix of the two, bustier than Cocotte but smaller than Sakura, a J cup which was right between Cocotte's I cup and Sakura's K cup.

Given she was a fusion of two pinkettes her hair was now a dual pink tone, it styled like Cocotte's hair with the dark pink on the top and lighter pink under it with a few lighter pink bangs hanging forward, her hair a bit long but shorter than Cocotte's normal length.

Her outfit had Sakura's red top become an open vest with the black 'V' on it like how it was on Cocotte's uniform to represent the Pride Troopers with a tight long sleeved red shirt under it and Sakura's biker spats being replaced with black tights with the pink apron she wore turning into a pair of pink spats that were worn over the tights. Cocotte's white boots and gloves had turned black due to Sakura's sandals and gloves, their boots also gained a heel on them from Sakura's sandals.

"And your name?" Vados asked, curious of what this fusion would be called while she watched them stand up.

"Given we are a mix of Sakura and Cocotte I'm thinking Sakotte works best" the newly named Sakotte said as she clenched her fists, summoning a strong light-colored pink aura of Ki around them.

"Okay then Sakotte, give him hell" Vados said with a smile as she teleported away to give them space.

"Oh we will" they said before disappearing an intense burst of speed and appearing in front of the Kazekage puppet, launching a punch to its face before Sasori could react and instantly shattering the puppet into a thousand pieces.

-Naruto and Mira-

"So which universe do you come from? I ask cause it's obvious you aren't from this one" Naruto said as he and Mira stopped their ascent, being high enough and far enough from the others to ensure nothing would get in their way.

"It doesn't matter, I'm here to stop you from interfering, to keep you busy, and ensure the Akatsuki don't die too quickly" Mira bluntly told him with the same stoic look on his face. "Personally I don't find you worth the time but I was ordered to stop you from fighting the Akatsuki" he added, making Naruto raise an eyebrow at.

It wasn't like him being a God of Destruction he felt entitled or expected people to see him as someone strong but the whole 'not being worth the time' stung a bit. He knew he was new to being one but he liked to believe the fact he became a God of Destruction by killing the previous one at least amounted to something.

"Really? So if I attack you you'll just take it?" Naruto asked before Mira crossed his arms.

"I doubt anything you could give me besides an orb of Destruction Energy would make me feel anything" Mira said, a slight smirk breaking through his stoic look.

"Then I guess I'll just have to try and see but don't complain when I surprise you" Naruto said with a smirk of his own before he flared his Ki, summoning a golden orange aura around him before he disappeared in a burst of speed.

As Naruto appeared behind Mira the man didn't even turn his head or visibly react, even when he struck him with a kick to the side of his face, the force of it resulting in a powerful shockwave around them. He didn't let up though, using a move he learned from two friends of his he created three powerful Ki blasts floating in each hand and fired them point blank into Mira.

"Is that all you got?" Mira asked as the dust settled, his clothing and himself somewhat scuffed but no damage seemingly being dealt.

"Nope, thats what we call a diversion" Naruto said before another version of himself appeared behind Mira with the largest Rasengan he could make in his clone's hand.

"Sage Art: Chōōdama Rasengan!" his clone yelled, its orange toad eyes and red eyelids showing it was in the Toad Sage mode he had snuck back to learn before slamming the beyond massive Rasengan down on Mira faster than the man could react or move out of the way of it.

As the Rasengan bore into Mira it didn't take long before it exploded and sent Mira rocketing down to the ground, the force of the impact enough to cause a minor earthquake and destroy a lot of the ground under them.

"How's that for feeling anything!?" Naruto yelled down at Mira, sensing the man's anger and frustration as he floated up out of the deep crater that he had made upon crashing into the earth.

Unlike his other attacks, which weren't meant to have any actual effect on him, this one had a clear and obvious effect since Naruto could see one of Mira's arms were hanging limply by his side and he had several cuts and gashes from the attack and the crash.

"And don't go trying to make excuses how 'I could have handled any Ki attacks of yours' since both Ki and chakra are how I fight" Naruto told him before he watched Mira flare his Ki, producing a red and black aura around as the man glared with anger blazing in his eyes.

He also noticed how Mira's arm seemed to fix itself, as did most of the gashes and injuries he had caused him.

"I'll admit I might have underestimated you but tricks like that won't work on me again" Mira said which only got a loud laugh from Naruto.

"Mira, I'm a ninja, tricks are our bread and butter" Naruto replied only to find himself blocking a powerful strike from Mira that caused a powerful shockwave on impact.

"Then I'll just have to keep you from doing any of them" Mira said before going on the offensive a bit.

"We'll see about that but I'd keep an eye on the Akatsuki as well since I know you can feel the power levels of my friends rising higher and higher. Do you really think the Akatsuki can handle them even with your help?" Naruto asked as he could feel everyone's power growing massively all around them and he couldn't be happier about it since it meant he didn't have to worry as much and could fully focus on the new trouble in front of him.

"Don't worry kid, we still have a ton of cards up our sleeves" Kurama said as the sage mode clone dispelled, sending the Nature Energy into Naruto.

'You're right Kurama, let's start by showing off one of them' Naruto thought with a smirk as he used Sage Mode's invisible coating around him to help dodge a punch from Mira even quicker than he usually could before launching a strike at the man with all his strength.

He had to resist smiling as tried to Mira minimally dodge it, not nearly being enough to completely dodge it and resulting in another powerful and solid hit on the man.

"I'd be careful though Mira as I have more tricks than I can count and I just recently got a few more. You can try and stop me from using them but thats pretty difficult when you have no idea what they are" Naruto told him as he stared the man down, not wanting to have to use the Bijuu's chakra against him but was ready to if he needed to.

Its been awhile since he seriously fought someone that could give him a challenge and he wanted to enjoy it as best that he could.

-Caulifla and Kale-

"Lightning Style: Fasle Darkness!" Kakuzu yelled out, as his lightning mask fired a laser-like blast of lightning at Kale, the woman barely able to avoid it in time only for the wind mask to appear above her. He could only smirk as she widened her eyes just before it shot a Pressure Damage down at her.

"Kale!" Caulifla yelled out in worry for Kale, wanting to rush over there to help her only to quickly have to leap back and dodge as Hidan started to get even more wild with his swings.

"Yes! Let me get some blood for you! I'll ensure that the ritual is a grand one!" Hidan screeched out, his eyes wild with a frenzy to get her blood which required Caulifla's full attention to ensure that didn't happen.

She knew what he could do and the idea of dying that way wasn't the way she wanted to go down. The warrior in her refused to let her.

"I-It's okay Caulifla, I'm fine" Kale groaned out, her hand on a tree to help her stand up as her clothes were a bit torn and burnt. "I-I won't lose control and I will defeat you as I am right now!" she declared, her hair flashing greenish gold as she fought to stay in control.

"More durable than I expected which is annoying. I really didn't want to use what I got from those two but I guess I have to" Kakuzu said before he snapped his fingers which caused his creatures to gain a thin dark purple aura around them and the markings on their masks to change a bit.

"Lets see how you handle these!" the man yelled as he wove through a flurry of hand seals while his beasts kept her busy and he clapped his hands to finish it off, signalling the beasts to leap back.

"Lava Style: Magma Rush! Scorch Style: Hellion Spheres! Storm Release: Hectic Haywire!" Kakazu listed off as his fire mask became coated in liquid magma and rushed her, his wind mask launching three rather large 'miniature' suns at her, and his lightning mask fired off a free flowing blast of lightning that flowed around randomly at varying speeds before speeding off too fast to follow.

Kakuzu smirked as the attacks struck only for his fire mask to be launched back from within the dust.

"C-Caulifla?" Kale stuttered out, wide eyed as Caulifla stood in front of her with her back to Kakuzu having leapt in to help shield her from some of the attacks. The sight of her injuries was enough to make her yell out in rage in instantly go into her Berserk state.

"Stop!" Caulifla yelled as she looked up at Kale, even in her berserk state Kale always did her best to listen to her. "Don't do this Kale, if you want to get back at him we can do this together" she told her while she reached up for her Potara earring, smiling as Kale calmly powered down and nodded.

"Finally got you you fucking heathen!" Hidan yelled, his scythe cutting Caulifla's arm a bit as Kakuzu made more hand signs.

"Hurry and finish her off with your ritual! I'll take care of the other!" Kakuzu yelled before he fired off the same kekkai genkai techniques as with the woman's massive form, even if she eased out of it, screamed trouble.

Hidan was gleeful as the attacks hit and he set up his ritual before stabbing himself in the heart only to frown as he heard no screams of pain and had Kakuzu's fire mask creature thrown directly at him.

"Sorry about that but Caulifla no longer exists so her blood won't do shit for the next hour, you'll have to deal with us now!" a new voice yelled out before the dust was quickly blown away and they were almost knocked over from the force of the gust.

They were both a bit confused as they saw that the two women were gone with a new person standing where they used to be.

The woman was young and slender while standing around the height of the Kale woman with her hair spiky like Caulifla's with bangs framing her face and most of it held up in a ponytail. Her complexion even seemed a mix of the two, as did her entire outfit.

She wore a purple belly shirt that was rather snug around her F cup chest with form-fitting purple pants, a pair of gold armbands, and a pair of black and gold boots.

"Who the hell are you and what do you mean she doesn't exist!? Lord Jashin's ritual can never fail!" Hidan yelled only for a barrage of six green orbs to slam into him and destroy everything from the waist up for him.

"We are the fusion of Caulifla and Kale, our name is Kefla and yours is now screwed" Kefla said as she looked over to Kakuzu before she disappeared, the next second Kakazu widening his eyes in shock and pain as a fist collided with his cheek and he found himself flying through countless trees.

"Whoo! Feels so good to be around again! I swear fusing always feels great! If only I could get some fun within the hour I'm around" Kefla said as she bounced in excitement before pouting a bit once she remembered she was only around for an hour and Naruto was busy.

"I wonder if I can get some time with him if I get done quickly with these two, help him with his fight, and then rush to get everything else done. Then again that'd be running it close" she said with a groan only to backflip over one of Kakazu's masks as they tried to attack her.

"Oh right, I forgot about you guys. Here, let me get rid of you all" she said with a smirk as she summoned an orb of Ki in her hand. "Fist Cannonball!" she yelled as she threw the blast at the lightning mask, smirking as it didn't know what to do as the blast zigzagged around before she made the blast hit and kill it.

"One down, two to go" Kefla said, looking around for the other two masks only to see that they had merged together. "Oh copying me are we? Well come on, lets see what you can do" she goaded with a 'come at me' gesture before the mouths of both masks opened up for her.

"Strange Mask Simultaneous Arson!" Kakazu yelled as he limped out of the forest, his outfit and mask torn to reveal a glasgow smile before the masks took aim at her and let out a massive blast of fire, made even stronger by wind mixing in with it.

"Cocky arrogant girl, doesn't she know that's how you get killed?" Kakuzu said with an annoyed glare before turning to look over at Hidan to see he was working on regenerating his head and his right arm.

"Oh yeah? Like you are about to be?" Kefla said as she appeared in front of him, slamming him with an upper cut before she grabbed his feet before he flew too high up in the air. "Here! Let me take care of your hearts, you just go lay down!" she yelled as she quickly began to spin him around, going faster and faster before she threw him again through the forest to crash through some trees.

"I won't even have to go Super Saiyan for you weaklings so lets make this quick" she said as she held up her right hand to summon six Ki spheres before they started to rapidly spin around her hand so fast they started to look like one blast. "Gigantic Breaker!" she roared out before she burst forward, slamming it into the new mask fusion and smirked as it utterly exploded into a million bits.

"You fucking bitch!" Hidan yelled, having fully regenerated and quickly charged at her with his scythe somehow still intact although now with only one blade on it.

"Seriously!? You're still alive?" Kefla asked with a raised eyebrow in shock and annoyance as she easily dodged the man's attacks.

"With Lord Jashin's blessing I truly cannot die! You will though!" Hidan yelled only to fall to the ground as Kefla blasted his legs off.

"We'll see about that" Kefla said with a smirk as she slowly walked away a bit before turning back around. "Let's see how you deal with this you human cockroach!" Kefla yelled as she summoned six Ki blasts in each hand before she poured more power into them and made them spin until she had a massive swirling red and green disc in each hand.

"Lord Jashin will strike you down! He will curse you! He will kill you!" Hidan yelled as he tried to crawl away.

"If what you're saying is true then good thing I only exist for an hour at a time!" Kefla yelled with a laugh. "Have fun in hell! Gigantic Burst!" she yelled before she fired the two swirling beams at Hidan, the crazy cultist merely laughing before the beams overtook him.

As her attack died down she couldn't help but let out a whistle at the destruction she left behind. "Let's see you regenerate from that" she said with a chuckle before Cus landed down beside her.

"He won't, his soul has officially moved on to Hell. It seems you destroyed every bit of him so there was nothing for him to regenerate from" Cus explained which got an excited fist pump from the fusion.

"Yes! I knew I could finish off that fucker! Now I just have to deal with that stitched up creep" Kefla said before Cus shook her head.

"With Kakuzu though it seems he was teleported away, I assume whoever is empowering the Akatsuki don't want too many of them killed, or at least doesn't want two of the same group killed" the small angel said while she looked over in the direction she had thrown Kakazu.

"So what should I do? Should I help someone else?" Kefla asked since she was still itching for a fight.

"While helpful I believe everyone has things handled. All we can do is wait for them to get done" she explained and while Kefla groaned she knew that Cus was right.

Didn't mean she liked it.

"Don't worry, I'm sure Naruto will let Caulifla and Kale fuse again since you rarely get to see him" she added, noticing the fusion's somber look before she smiled and pumped her fists again.

"Awesome! It's been a while since I got to have a go with him" Kefla said with a giggle before she started to drift off into her imagination a bit, even going as far as to droola bit and giggle some more while she and Cus waited for the others to get done.

-Dyspo and Deidara-

"Stop moving!" Deidara yelled as he continued to make everything and anything explode around the purple creature in front of him in an attempt to catch him in an explosion but everytime the explosion started he was gone only to appear somewhere else.

"Ah yes, just let me stand still while you try to blow me up. That makes perfect sense" Dyspo said with a flat tone, looking at Deidara with a 'are you kidding me' look before dodging a centipede that tried to burst up from the ground under him.

"Come on, you can do better than that" Dyspo said with an eye roll as he blasted the centipede as it tried to go after him. 'All I have to do is run out the clock with him given his reserves aren't that large and hit him when he isn't expecting it' he thought as he kicked away a large chunk of the centipede as it lunged at him in an attempt to catch him in the explosion only for it to go flying back at Deidara.

"I can take a small explosion like that so don't think you got me!" Deidara yelled as he ran out of the dust, looking over to Dyspo only to find him gone.

"Trust me, I knew" Dyspo said as he appeared behind Deidara with a kick mid-swing aimed at the man's chest from the side he was missing an arm but as the kick connected, instead of Deidara being sent flying, Dyspo found his foot sinking into the man who now started to turn pure white and reveal he was made of pure clay.

"I had to use the last remaining bit of my clay and nearly the last of my chakra but in the end I at least will have finished you off!" Deidara's clay clone yelled out as it grabbed onto Dyspo and started to glow before exploding.

"Are you okay?" Marcarita asked as she reappeared beside the dust cloud before she blew it away to reveal Dyspo who, while a bit scuffed up with a damaged suit, was still alive.

"Yeah I'm fine, he underestimated my durability thinking it would kill me rather than just hurt a lot" Dyspo said, giving Marcarita an appreciative nod as she fixed up his suit and healed him up which confused him since he thought the battle was still going on.

"Deidara escaped, he used earth jutsu to begin making a tunnel. We got what we needed which was Gaara, if he flees then it's not important for now" Marcarita explained which made sense to Dyspo as sure, killing him meant one less Akatsuki member but at the same time retrieving Gaara was his mission.

"How are the others doing?" Dyspo asked as he could feel some crazy power levels out there.

"Kefla finished off Hidan with Kakuzu being teleported away while Sakura and Cocotte fused to fight Sasori as Naruto fights against a man named Mira. All we can do is wait and see what the final results are" Marcarita filled him in as she turned to look over to where the rest of the fighting was happening.

She was confident that the new fusion could finish Sasori and was also confident in Naruto's strength but that Mira figure was far too unknown to allow her to 'rest assured'. She knew she couldn't get involved so all she could do was have faith in the man she loved and the God she served.

-Sakura and Cocotte (Sakotte)-

Sasori was instantly on guard as the Kazekage was destroyed, throwing off his cloak to reveal his puppet body. He knew that given this fusion - no matter how outlandish that sounded to him - rushing in to fight against them with himself would only result in potential defeat, instead pulling out the second of four scrolls that were holstered on his back and opened up the left side of his chest.

"Secret Red Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets!" Sasori declared as a hundred chakra threads appeared out of his chest and connected to the hundred puppets he quickly unsealed from the scroll in his hand.

"I'm done messing around. This is show time" Sasori said with an annoyed look before he sent the small army of puppets out to attack.

Sakotte wasn't too worried though as she dodged and weaved through the puppets, their speed being nothing for her as she effortlessly began to take them out. They shattered easily whether it be from her intense strength or her Ki blasts.

"Is this really all you have left Sasori? Some army of throwaway puppets to try and save your skin before you decide to fight me?" Sakotte asked she trapped the torsos of two puppets inside separate barriers, cutting them apart before sending them flying into another two puppets.

As she fought she used her barrier almost like Gaara's sand, her creating partial barriers around her to block attacks while she focused on fighting. It was more like her barrier dome was always around her, invisible and only becoming solid when she wanted it to so that it could protect her.

She still had to stay on her toes and keep an eye out for where the attacks were coming from but with the speed the puppets were going at they might as well be in slow motion.

All the puppets slowly became incredibly annoying, even with the speed she was taking them out at. "Enough of this! Let's get you out here" Sakotte said as she created her barrier around her, flaring her Ki before she pushed her arms out which in turn caused the barrier to instantly expand and cause all the puppets around her to get sent flying into the walls to shatter into pieces.

"Since the trouble I had getting into the Akatsuki I wonder when exactly was the last time I've had to do this…..I'll acknowledge you two are worth going this far so let's see how you handle finally facing off against me" Sasori said as he looked down at them, the blades on his back fanning out and the cable from his gut reeling out to reveal a sharp spike at the end of it.

Sakotte leapt to the side as Sasori's cable tried to stab into her, knowing it too was slathered in a fast acting poison. She had to keep dodging, leaping and sliding out of the way as Sasori continued to stretch out the cable to go after her.

"Got you! Your barrier can't protect you if its this close ranged" Sasori yelled out as he reeled in his cable which caused it to contract and, due to how he had moved it around her, caused it to wrap around her to bind her. This in turn allowed Sasori to rush at her with his blades spinning like a buzzsaw and the spike from his cable to go in to stab her.

"You seriously are an idiot" Sakotte said with a flat look as she summoned her barrier, cutting off part of the cable which went slack and dropped off her while also slicing off the spike due to it being inside the smaller than normal barrier she made around herself. "You know nothing about my powers and assume you do. That is a wrong move" she told him while his buzzsaws attacked her barrier, him trying to retreat before she lowered the barrier and made partial ones coating her forearms enough to protect her from his blades but still allow her to grab them by the base to rip them out.

"Come on Sasori, lets see what else you have" she said with a smirk, tossing the ripped out blades to the side as she stared him down only for him to make a rather obvious choice and try to flee. "Not so fast! Special Zone Max!" she yelled, creating her strongest barrier to ensure he couldn't escape the cave with the added bonus of ensuring no one could teleport into it.

"Running sounds about right for a man who used poison to kill an opponent behind his back" Sakotte said as she fired a fast Ki blast at Sasori, watching as it exploded both Sasori's left shoulder and bicep. She didn't even blink as she dodged swords thrown at her via chakra strings as Sasori seemed to be trying to hit her with anything he could while he just glared at her.

"Be careful, it seems that he - like all the other Akatsuki - have gotten a boost from an outside source" Vados said from nearby, bringing her attention to how Sasori now had a slight dark purple aura around him before she noticed two other things.

First being that Sasori somehow didn't have his core like what was shown in the intel and the second being that the destroyed portion of his arm was being pieced back together by small barely visible dark purple wisps of energy that were connected to the shards of himself that she had just shattered. She even noticed his blades were being brought back to him and his cord piecing itself back together before reconnecting to him.

"Great so not only does he not have a human aspect for us to kill but he can heal himself….there has to be a limit to it right?" Sakotte asked, Vados merely shrugging her shoulders as she didn't have the answer and telling her that it was something she'd have to figure out on her own.

"Well, no better time to figure out than right here" Sakotte said to herself before she appeared in front of him in a burst of speed, her fist drawn back and aimed at the human puppet's head.

Though sadly, shattering it didn't even stop him as even without a head Sasori attacked with his blades and cable, her shield protecting her but also resulting in her being pushed back due to being in mid air and not flying.

'Okay….that test failed….Not even removing his head works and yet he can still see somehow, probably seeing through the eyes of other puppets since even the destroyed puppets have that purple aura' Sakotte thought with a frown as she noticed the aura spreading to various puppets while Sasori's head was pieced back together.

"Now do you see the futility of fighting me? That woman truly allowed me to be the perfect immortal puppet. No human aspect to me any longer and I am not a fragile doll either. She ensured me that if even the smallest shard of my body remains I can use my chakra or even parts of other puppets to heal myself. Hidan and Kakuzu are no longer the only immortals in the Akatsuki anymore" Sasori said with a smirk as he held out his hands towards her and revealing two pipes that emerged from his palms, wasting no time before firing a stream of fire at her for her to protect herself from.

'Seriously!? An immortal puppet!? How the hell are we going to kill him if he can reform from a small part of himself?' she thought to herself with a frown as she stayed in her complete barrier to protect herself from the fire.

His attack actually was helpful as it gave her time to think about what to do next.

'I don't want to rush forward and attack him in my barrier as all that would do is shatter him….he said he regenerates from his body and only needs the smallest part. Do his blades and cable count or are they essentially tools that are added onto his body? He was able to attach them back to himself so they might count….' she thought with a groan and ruffled her hair in annoyance.

'I have something I think could work but I have to ensure I get all of him or else it won't work a second time….' she thought as she gained a resolved and determined look as the fire ended, instantly dropping her barrier and charging at him.

He didn't seem to care, though why would he if he could regenerate damage, merely attacking her with his cable and not even caring as she grabbed it a bit below the spike.

"Nothing you can do can work. You might as well just give up as all it takes is one knick to get infected by my poison" Sasori told her, watching as she ran from place to place around him, confused at what she was doing before his cable reached its end.

"Finally got it all" Sakotte said, ignoring his usual villain 'it's no use' prattle that Cocotte has heard a million times as she began her plan to take him out. Taking a page out of his book she quickly gave his cable a strong pull, not intending to rip it out but instead wrap him up in it before running around him a few times more to make sure it was nice and snug.

"This is ridiculous, this is a part of me so I can easily loosen this" Sasori said, clearly annoyed and confused before she appeared behind him with a smile on her face.

"A second is all I need, got to make sure I get all of you in here from head to toe, blades and cable included" she told him before trapping him in a barrier.

"This is your plan? Trap me? I promise you I can outlast you given I don't age. The second you drop the barrier from exhaustion you are dead" Sasori plainly stated only to frown as the barrier started to shrink while the woman gained a strained look on her face.

"Don't worry, you won't be in here for long and hopefully - if my gamble pays out - you won't be alive much longer" she told him, pushing herself more and more as she continued to shrink the barrier around Sasori.

"W-What are you doing!? Even if you crush me into dust I will piece myself back together!" Sasori said as the barrier kept shrinking.

"Who says you'll be dust? I'm going for complete implosion if I can push myself to do so since I'll be honest, I've never done this before. As a fusion though, I feel I can since even with half of me lacking Ki I feel stronger than ever" Sakotte said with a smile, staring Sasori in the eyes as she kept pushing her barrier to go smaller and smaller.

All of Sakura's medic-nin training was helping her stay laser focused on this one task, completely drowning out Sasori as he tried and failed to attack the barrier in hopes of breaking free.

"This won't work! I will piece myself back together! There is no way you can pull this off!" Sasori yelled out, actually showing anger and fear as his body was completely broken up with only his head left slightly in tact. He was a bit thankful as it seemed his cable and blades were making it difficult for her.

"It will work as I have a whole lot more power to draw on!" Sakotte growled out in determination as a purple diamond appeared on her forehead before markings emerged from it, the lines wrapping and going all along her body.

'Strength of a Hundred Seal….I didn't want to use it so frivolously but using it power up a technique to kill an Akatsuki member who is immortal feels like a valid reason' Sakotte thought as Sakura had spent years learning this technique, hiding it until she actually needed it in battle.

Almost instantly after activating it Sakotte found it so much easier to push the barrier smaller, the metal of the blades and cable crumpling and Sasori's head shattering. She didn't let up, pushing more and more as it got smaller and smaller.

She flared her Ki as hard as she could as she gave the final push, the barrier now smaller than her fist but knowing she needed to go even smaller.

"Sakotte Zone: Complete Implosion!" she yelled out before the barrier completely disappeared with an intensely powerful shockwave that nearly shot her into the wall only for Vados to catch her.

"Very well done, I know you two had it in you" Vados praised them with a smile, watching as the markings from the diamond on her forehead rescinded.

"Y-Yeah, we knew we could do it" Sakotte said, her voice tired and weak before Vados put a hand on top of her head.

"Yes now you two rest, I will ensure you are both safe" Vados told the both of them, putting them to sleep to rest as the fusion ended. 'For a first time and sudden fusion they were incredibly stable….I might have to see if they'd be willing to train like Caulifla and Kale do with Kefla' Vados thought with a smile, watching as the barrier that they had formed to keep Sasori from running finally dropped.

"Do be quick Naruto, you've played around long enough" Vados told him from afar with a smile, knowing he enjoyed a good fight nearly as much as Caulifla.

-Naruto and Mira-

"Fine, I'll end this soon" Naruto said with a smirk, responding to Vados in the middle of fighting Mira. He couldn't really argue with her since he knew she was right, even with Mira fighting more seriously neither of them were fully serious.

That didn't mean neither of their hits were anything to scoff at as the shockwaves from their hits were getting stronger and stronger, Naruto's Sage mode helping keep him from getting too hurt from the ones he blocked from Mira.

"End this? I don't see you being able to seriously do that" Mira said as he fully dodged a punch from Naruto, getting used to the invisible extra range to his punches. "You haven't got me anywhere near serious" he added while Naruto smirked.

"Really? Cause neither am I and I'm still putting you on the defensive" Naruto told him, smirking as he dodged another punch from Mira only to shoot a Ki blast just as he tried to fire one at him.

"Your strength is false! Derived from sources not your own, whether they be whatever energy you absorbed to change your eyes or the beast inside you. My strength is my own and I refuse to struggle any longer!" Mira yelled, his Ki flaring even stronger before charging at him.

Naruto winced in pain as he blocked one of Mira's punches, his power being far more than it was mere moments ago and being enough to bypass the added durability of Sage mode. Mira's speed was also a whole lot more intense as Naruto had to really work to dodge his barrage of punches.

"Here, use some of my chakra to match his and get yourself a window to fight back" Kokuo's voice softly spoke out as he started to feel his chakra start to almost raise in temperature. "My chakra will bring yours to the boiling point for Unrivaled Strength!" she informed him before he erupted in an 'explosion' of hot steam that caused Mira to retreat.

"You may complain about me getting help from others but I wouldn't be here if it weren't for the help of my partner. Though that isn't to say I'm entirely weak without him, hell I've been holding you off without their help….though to finish it I'm borrowing a bit" Naruto said as the massive amount of steam was still shooting off of him before it stopped and he dashed forward, completely ready for his increase in speed as he slammed his fist into Mira's gut, the steam rocketing his fist forward at the last minute to really increase the power enough to visibly hurt Mira from the look on the man's face.

Although he wasn't nearly done.

"One Handed Style: Shockwave Gun!" Naruto yelled as he immediately followed up the punch - as it was still happening - with his Shockwave Gun, hitting Mira essentially twice at once before the man shot backwards from the combined force.

He could see the man was trying to stop his flight through the air, smirking as he got an idea before he put his hands in a 'C', a familiar ball of blue swirling energy appearing in his hands. "Allow me to help you slow down!" Naruto yelled out to him before he quickly used his new increased speed to instantly get behind Mira and stop him.

"Tell whoever is helping the Akatsuki that if they keep it up I'll have to come and find them" Naruto told him before instantly going to fire his Rasenha at Mira's back only for the man to suddenly disappear after a purple aura enveloped him.

"Seems you were a bit too slow" Marcarita said with a slight frown before Naruto canceled his technique.

"Yeah, someone was ready to pull him away at a moments notice" he told her with a frown as they both started to descend, him looking down to see everyone waiting for them, some being a bit exhausted even if they were healed up.

"How did it go for you all?" Naruto asked as he landed with Marcarita and followed her as she brought Gaara out of her staff, his eyes on his friend while the others followed along - thankfully understanding why his focus was on Gaara.

"Kefla kicked Kakuzu's ass so much he got teleported away and we killed Hidan completely" Caulifla said with a massive smile, always happy and proud when she got to fuse with Kale as it was always a fun experience.

"Deidara ran off after his attacks kept failing, Gaara was my first priority so he wasn't around for the fighting" Dyspo reported before Sakura rubbed her arm as if she was embarrassed or shy.

"Sakura and I took out Sasori for good after we….kinda fused as well" Cocotte said as she opened her hand to reveal a purple Potara earring while Sakura pulled a matching one out from her pouch.

"Really? Wow….I didn't expect that…." Naruto said as he and the others were reasonably shocked at the revelation. Fusion was something he only expected from Caulifla and Kale given how close the two of them were together while Sakura and Cocotte on the other hand had just met a week or so ago.

"W-Well Vados suggested it and it was a lot easier given Cocotte was defense with her barriers and I was offense with my strength" Sakura explained with a slight blush, not really being ashamed but just still stunned by the whole experience.

"Yeah that sounds like Vados or any of the angels. They will tend to offer advice and give pushes when needed to help you grow in strength. If Vados gave you both those Potara I suggest you keep them...if you want to that is" Naruto suggested to them, looking at them both to show it was entirely up to them before they nodded after a few moments of thinking it over, Cocotte clipping it on her left ear while Sakura put hers on her left ear as well.

It felt a bit odd putting it back on but it was fine...for now.

"How is Gaara?" Naruto asked, now able to focus fully on his friend now that he was assured that everyone had handled things okay.

"He's alive but whatever technique they used to try and rip the leftover Bijuu chakra out of him put a massive strain on him. Healing him is easy" Marcarita told him, allowing him to let out a sigh of relief.

"Good, please heal him and bring us back to the front entrance of Sunagakure please" Naruto asked, getting a smile from his angels before they complied with his request.

-Sunagakure-

The second they returned he saw a brief moment where the shinobi of the sand went on guard mode before they saw it was them and quickly relaxed before growing worried as they noticed Gaara.

It was a nice show of shinobi training where even if he were to suddenly appear it wouldn't stop people from being on guard from it.

"Gaara! Is he okay!?" Temari asked as she rushed forward, Naruto nodding before Marcarita held her staff over Gaara, instantly healing his body and wake him up a bit to where he started to stir awake.

"Hey there Gaara, you had a lot of us worried for a while there" Naruto told him with a smile, crouching down as his friend woke up and softly smiled at him.

"Apologies, as Kazekage I felt I had to protect my village on my own" Gaara said as he sat up and looked over at him before noticing everyone surrounding them.

"Yeah and it seems your villagers really appreciate it as in the end you did protect them" Naruto pointed out, patting him on the back.

"What a relief….I thought the Kazekage was really gone" one shinobi said, crying a bit into his arm as he used it to wipe his tears.

"Lord Gaara wouldn't die so easily!" the kunoichi beside the man yelled, smacking him on the back before another kunoichi moved beside her. "Lord Gaara is a silent, cool, strong, and handsome elite warrior" she praised with the girl beside her nodded with a smile.

"Yes, yes,and he's cute too...but he is still the Kazekage" the other kunoichi said, showing that while they admired him they also respected him greatly.

"I'll protect you from your enemies next time! No I will!" the two girls yelled out as they tried to run forward only for Temari to get them to stop and settle down.

"Oh~? Seems you have some fans" Naruto teased him with a smirk, looking over his shoulder a bit at the two kunoichi which got the two of them to blush a bit. "I'm just glad you are okay though I would've liked it if our meeting again after so long had been under better circumstances" he added before he helped Gaara to his feet as his friend nodded to show he would have liked it as well.

Naruto stuck around as Temari, Kankuro, and various other Suna citizens talked with Gaara before Temari walked over to him and surprised him with a hug.

"Thank you for getting my brother back safely" she said as she buried her head in his shoulder.

"Hey I promised I would and I always stick to my promises. Plus Gaara is like a brother to me with how things have been, there is no way in hell I'd let those Akatsuki assholes take him" he told her with a smile, giving her a squeeze back before she pulled away.

"Enough cuddling you two" Kankuro teased, smirking massively as his sister instantly jerked around to glare daggers at him. "Gaara wanted to have me come and, on his behalf, invite you and your friends to stay the night in Suna before heading back. Honestly I feel everyone wants you to stay for a bit after everything you just did" he went on as Naruto looked to the others before nodding with a smile.

"Of course I'll stay the night! It's been a while so I want to catch up with Gaara and I can easily have an angel report back to Tsunade about how the mission went" he told Kankuro, getting a nod from him and - even if he didn't see it as she wasn't facing him - a smile from Temari.

"Great! We'll set up rooms for you in our house, we should have enough to handle everyone" Kankuro said with a smirk, looking over to Temari and getting a glare from her again before he headed off before he undoubtedly would have gotten whacked by her fan.

"I'll guide you there, just let me get Gaara since after all of this the council is insisting he gets some rest" Temari said before speed walking over to Gaara to retrieve him from the citizens of Sunagakure that were all expressing how grateful that he came home safe after protecting them.

"Shall I head to Konoha now with a clone of yours to report the mission?" Marcarita asked as he summoned a clone with a nod.

"She should understand but also give her a device that can call an angel staff in case something pops up" Naruto told her, getting a smile from Marcarita.

"How very cautious and smart of you, right away" Marcarita said before she teleported off with his clone.

"So you are close with this Gaara guy?" Caulifla asked with a raised eyebrow as she peeked around him over to where Gaara was talking with some other people.

"Gaara and I were both ostracized due to something inside of us…" he started off as he put his hand over his stomach with a bit of a frown."Suna treated him a bit harsher than Konoha did me though, in Konoha people ignored me….in Suna they saw him as a monster and raised him as such. It wasn't until we met, and subsequently fought, that I was able to get through to him. If I'm being honest he's more like a brother to me than I stupidly believed someone else was" Naruto finished, Sakura and his eyes meeting for a brief moment before she looked down at the ground.

"Then I am glad we were able to save him" Cocotte said with a smile, them all watching as Temari signalled for them to come over to her as everyone else seemed to be heading back into the village.

"Sorry to ask this of you but do you think you could take us to our house? I really don't want Gaara walking around more than he absolutely needs to" Temari asked with a slight frown, Gaara looking like he wanted to tell her it wasn't needed but also knowing it was pointless arguing with Temari when she got like this.

"Sure, makes it easier for us as well since some of my friends are a bit exhausted from their fights as well" Naruto said as he nodded to his angels, Cus stepping forward before all of them quickly reappeared in what Naruto figured to be Gaara's living room.

"Whoa...I mean I saw Temari arrive last night and you show up this morning but seeing and doing it are two different things" Kankuro said, looking around in shock at the sudden change in his surroundings.

"You should see what else is possible. Vados, Cus, can you make more seats for everyone as I feel it's about time we sat down and finally caught up" Naruto told them with a smile while his angels made seats for everyone as well as tea since they knew this would be a potentially long chat.

Thankfully, Gaara and Temari took it all in a bit easier than Jiraiya did. Kankuro wasn't that bad but did require a bit of 'proof' and also unlike last time he felt no need to erase the sun, instead erasing the seat out from under him which seemed to make Temari laugh at.

"When I saw you back when we talked amongst our Bijuu I felt there was something more about you and after seeing that dragon you warned us about as well as the people you keep around you I can't in right mind deny what you have said. Especially when Temari is backing you up" Gaara said with a smile as he looked over at his sister.

"You should have seen how he proved it to use, lets just say he destroyed something more than a simple chair" Temari said, still remembering the sight of the sun being erased above them like that.

"Well I'm just glad he's on our side like this" Kankuro said with a shiver since to him the power to destroy anything with no warning sounded terrifying if it was in the wrong hands.

"Can't argue there given the last God of Destruction tried to kill me for merely existing" Naruto reminded them as the whole reason Belmod had gone after him was because he felt Kurama's energy and declared it to be 'unsightly' more or less.

"Belmod was an odd God of Destruction. He was a former Pride Trooper in the past but, as most Gods tend to, he got drunk on his power and lavish lifestyle. Naruto has been very 'grounded' from the moment he became a God of Destruction" Marcarita said with a smile, having returned to catch the end of the conversation.

"Enough about me though! I want to hear everything about how you became the youngest ever Kage! Tell me everything" Naruto told them, wanting to get the conversation off him so he didn't feel like he was bragging and just being genuinely curious in his friend's achievement.

"Well, it actually started because of you" Gaara said with a soft smile as he began telling his story.

-Akatsuki-

"That did not go as I expected. Seems that boy has more power around him and in him" Towa said as she watched over the fights that had just transpired.

"That is rather obvious given we lost not only the Bijuu but also two Akatsuki members and their rings" Nagato said with a frown and slight glare on his face.

"Oh stop the glaring, it could have been four if not for me recalling Kakuzu after he nearly lost all his hearts and Deidara apparently not being worth the effort to chase after" Towa narrowed her eyes at Nagato, putting a bit of pressure on him to make him stop his attitude.

"I could have taken care of him if you left me there to fight him" Mira said with an annoyed tone, getting a raised eyebrow from Towa.

"Oh really? From where I was watching you were about to get severely injured after being caught off guard so many times" Towa scolded him as she pointed her staff at him, the tip of it poking against his nose. "I warned you to be on your toes against the boy but seems like you didn't heed my warning" she added, getting him to grow quiet.

"It is of no consequence though as in the long run those two were not nearly as powerful as your other members. The only benefits I could give them was a healing factor plus they proved useful in helping assess the level of the boy's company" Towa explained as she looked over to Nagato before pulling her staff away from Mira and sitting back on it as it floated.

"For now allow the members who survived the skirmish to recover and recuperate. I have an idea of what to do next so have everyone wait for the next orders" she commanded, getting a nod from Nagato before he walked off.

"Just send me Towa, I can handle that childish God this time now that I have a better grasp of him and his powers" Mira requested before Towa shook her head.

"You still don't, wait until you see more of his skills and abilities. I have other ideas for the time being, mainly involving someone who might create more interesting data from his struggles against the God" Towa told him with a bit of a chuckle as she summoned an image of the younger of the two Uchiha in the Akatsuki.

"Do you think it is wise given his performance earlier today?" Mira asked with a frown, getting a mere shrug from her before she erased the image.

"I expect him to fail but that doesn't mean we can't get good data from him. His past with the God makes things the most interesting so we shall see what fruits he bares in his struggles" Towa said as she motioned for Mira to follow her.

-Sunagakure - Later that Night-

Naruto groaned with a smile as he stretched, dinner having been nice and enjoyable as it was nice catching up with Gaara. Plus it was nice to see everyone get along throughout the day whether it be Kankuro showing off his puppetry or Temari showing off her fans.

Even Gaara showed off his sand a bit once he recovered enough to do a bit of it which had gotten the interest of a few of the others.

"Thanks again for lending us rooms Gaara" Naruto thanked him with a smile as he walked down the halls of Gaara's large house with Gaara and Temari towards the room they set up for him. Temari was mainly tagging along as she was still being a bit protective over Gaara and wanted to help him in case he needed it.

With how the rooms were set up it ended up with the girls all having rooms on one side of the house while the guys were on the other side.

Oddly it wasn't purposefully planned that way but more just ending up like that as with everyone unable to have their own rooms and Gaara's rooms having two beds to a room it just made sense to pair girls with girls for the most part.

The only exception were his and Dyspo's rooms as they were smaller rooms with only one bed which neither of them minded and agreed that the girls should have the larger rooms.

"Naruto you saved my life, the least I can do is offer you a room" Gaara said with a smirk, making Naruto chuckle as he rubbed the back of his head embarrassed a bit.

"Though what about your Angels?" Temari asked as they didn't have enough beds for them.

"We can sleep standing up and require no beds for the most part" Marcarita explained as while Naruto had gotten beds for them they were still able to sleep as they usually did.

It was still cute remembering how confused and worried he got when he learned how they slept, him getting them beds after finding it to feel wrong to have them sleep like that.

"Well here is your room, not too far from mine" Gaara said before Temari started to 'steer' him towards his room.

"Yes, a room you should be laying down in after such a hectic day" Temari urged before looking back at Naruto. "Also...can you maybe wait for me out here for a bit? I need to talk to you about something" she asked, surprising and confusing Naruto a bit before he nodded and watched as she took Gaara back to his room.

"We'll wait inside" Vados said with a smile before they left him alone in the hallway.

"Thanks for waiting" Temari said as she left Gaara's nearby room, not taking too long to come back to him as she probably didn't want to feel like she was keeping him waiting.

"Of course, what is it you needed to talk to me about?" he asked with a slight frown, noticing how nervous she looked as she fussed with her outfit a bit.

"Naruto….no offense but when we first met I thought you were an idiot" Temari said, getting laughter from Naruto as he nodded, hunched over a bit by the sudden bluntness.

"Yeah I was like that a lot back then but I doubt you just wanted to tell me that" Naruto told her, still chuckling a bit before he stood up and smiled at her, silently encouraging her to start.

"Right….well, you were an idiot until I really got to meet you after you defeated Gaara. You had basically every right to end him but….you didn't….you saved him. That simple act gave me back my brother…" she continued, Naruto knowing to stay silent when someone was making a big speech like this.

"From there on you were essentially part of our family as a dear family friend to me and Kankuro and a brother to Gaara. You being gone made us realize how much you meant to us three….and even more for me" Temari said as she quickly looked up at him. "Seeing how you have grown from the kid I first met and yet can still be there for Gaara made me even more certain about my feelings for you. I tried to ignore them, even going as far as to try and date Shikamaru but that didn't work as you were just too strong in my mind" she confessed before she leaned forward to capture him in a quick but soft kiss.

Naruto was surprised, his eyes going wide as she pulled back, her face entirely enveloped in a blush. "I-I know you are with Caulifla and the others as I overheard her talking with Ino and, to be honest, it's kind of obvious when I watched you all. And I might not know how things work out in space but I really don't care" she told her, her eyes giving away how nervous she was as she held his hands before going in for another kiss, this time one that Naruto was able to return this time.

The kiss was full of emotion, Temari wanting to use it to almost get some of the feelings across that she couldn't fully in words, her arms going around his neck while his hands went to her hips before they broke the kiss but she stayed where she was.

"Temari, I won't say this didn't surprise me but I will say I'm honestly really honored you feel this way about me since, as you said, I was just an idiot when you first met me and frankly I still can be at times. So for me to have such a place in your mind and heart means a lot" he told her with a soft smile which seemed to make Temari's smile grow larger and clearly much happier.

"And I'll admit I'm still not sure why so many women get interested in me but I'll tell you the same thing I told them - thank you for falling for an idiot like me and I'll do my best to deserve it" he told her, getting a chuckle from her before she leaned in for another loving kiss.

He though found himself backed up against the door as the kiss deepened, him pulling her in closer which made her smile and continue the kiss until they both froze as a throat was cleared.

Temari's face turned dark red as she knew who it was even before she turned to check. "G-Gaara, w-what are you doing out of your room?" Temari stuttered out, Naruto swearing he saw steam coming off her while Gaara merely looked the two of them over before smirking a bit.

"I wanted to ask Naruto something but I see it can wait until morning" Gaara said as he turned to leave only to stop and turn back around. "Also I will say that I approve since Naruto is the only man I'd be okay having you so goodnight and try not to stay up too late" he added with a smirk which only made Temari grow an even darker blush before burying her face in Naruto's chest.

"You okay there?" Naruto asked with a slight chuckle as he rubbed Temari's back, getting a nod as her face was still buried.

"Yeah but I swear I didn't know Gaara could tease" Temari grumbled before Naruto pet her head.

"Just goes to show he has a sense of humor...I'm just glad he's okay with this" Naruto told her with a frown, not sure how things would have gone if he didn't.

"Oh please, given your past with him it would have been more surprising if he wasn't okay with it" Temari said with a roll of her eyes before she put her hands on his chest and pushed herself back away from him with a smile. "Though I will say that is enough kissing for tonight as that surprise made me more exhausted than I imagined it would" she added with a sigh despite the smile still on her face.

"We can always talk more in the morning so it's fine" Naruto told her, getting a smile and nod from her.

"Night Naruto" she said as she waved to him while she started to walk away, him waving back before she turned the corner.

Temari was all smiles as she walked away, a bit giddy which was surprising given she was a grown woman, which explained why she didn't see Sakura as she bumped into her. "S-Sakura?! W-What are you doing out here?" Temari asked, silently hoping and praying that Sakura hadn't seen or overheard her confession to Naruto.

It wasn't that she was ashamed or wanted to hide it but more just it being a private moment that had already been spied on by her brother of all people….but then again it could have been Kankuro which would have been way worse.

"Sorry, I was just getting some water as I went to the bathroom" Sakura said calmly, instantly calming Temari down as one of the bathrooms were over near their rooms.

"Oh, okay. Sorry I just am a bit on edge after everything. Didn't mean to freak out" Temari said with a sigh before Sakura patted her on the shoulder.

"It's totally fine Temari, go to bed and relax after this eventful day" Sakura encouraged, getting Temari to nod with sigh before she walked off.

"Yeah, that's definitely what I need….night" Temari nodded along before she started walking off towards her room.

Sakura, once Temari was gone, sighed a bit with a frown. 'I knew Temari had feelings for Naruto but knowing and seeing her confession are two incredibly different things….he really has captured a lot of hearts and changed over the years….is his crush for me still in there somewhere?' she thought before she clenched her fists with another sigh.

'I need to go to bed….' was all she could think as she headed back to her room, the thoughts of Lady Tsunade possibly being able to help popping up in her head before she fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow which was understandable after this beyond eventful day.

-Chapter End-

Pairing: Naruto x Marcarita, Vados, Cus, Sakura, Tsunade, Heles, Caulifla, Kale, Cocotte, Sorrel, Caway, Temari, Shion, Cheelai, Hinata, Ino, and one more to be announced.

Maybe: Samui and Mei

*1 = Caway taught him how to create weapons and tools with Ki so I figured a shield would be something he'd be able to make as well

*2 = This is what I meant by 'Towa boosting the Akatsuki' her magic and skills have amplified their powers in one way or another. She knew she had to make her 'pawns/guinea pigs' a bit more durable if she wanted to retrieve good data from them. She only boosts them when they head out to the field to fight so they aren't permanent boosts (except for Nagato and Sasori's)

*3 = Kakuzu never showed off any water techniques so I had to think up a name for it. I know, in japanese, all his techniques are named after Gundam stuff but I can't do that so I tried to make a name that fit the other english names for them on Kakuzu's wiki page. I did the same for the Lava, Scorch, and Storm techniques he had from Towa's boosts - also just so you know the water mask would have been Boil.

*4 = Deidara's power boost is based off Kimblee from FMA:Brotherhood. I know its also similar to a Stand called 'Killer Queen' from Jojo but I've never watched Jojo so the boost came from Kimblee due to me only knowing Kimblee.

*5 = I mean, think about it. Think about how when Sasori used the Third Kazekage and how the second the iron sand touched any of the puppets they got jammed up and couldn't move. It makes you wonder how someone like Sasori was able to kill and take down someone who showed a ton more skill and power with his Iron Sand than Sasori was able to display.

*6 = The way I see it, training with Naruto was bound to help Cocotte develop new ways to use her barriers such as her 'Partial Barriers', 'Condensing Barrier', and 'Mobile Barrier'.

*7 = Had to add this after posting the story and I genuinely didn't think I would have had to but Naruto did NOT ask for permission because he had to. He did it to be playful and to assure Temari that he was going to save Gaara with Konoha being able to show its support. He didn't actually or literally ask for permission, doing so was just a gesture

Before I get to the story notes I would like to remind everyone I do have a pat reon which includes rewards like seeing progress updates, notifications to new stories I plan to do, voting polls, and early access to chapters before I post them on FF.

Simple go to pat reon and paste:

/user?u=4783680

At the end of pat reon's url and you'll find my page.

You don't get anything that everyone here won't get aka there will be no "pat reon exclusive stories" or things where I have to get a certain amount of money before I work on something as both of those are shitty practices.

It is solely "hey, you want to support me, a disabled unemployed writer who survives off my disability checks? Thanks, I appreciate it" and nothing more

So yeah, check it out if you want, now onto chapter notes!

Holy f*ck, this chapter was beyond long (27.9k words long – 26.8k without everything from Chapter End down) but that tends to happen with so much going on with the inability to split it up into two chapters due to everything that happened in this chapter lol - - - (keep in mind on FF the size is a bit bigger as everytime I use these lines to break things up - or edit it in general and save changes - the word cound goes up for some reason)

Also I don't want to come off as needy but today, February 27th, is my birthday and I am officially 24 :D

First thing I have to mention, to clear up some apparent confusion. Kushina WAS NOT revived by Naruto's 'revive the jinchuriki' wish as that wish stated 'killed by extraction' and Kushina died from Kurama piercing her with his claw - plus Kurama was released from Kushina, not extracted. Big BIG difference.

Now with Danzo's fight Naruto 'played around' a bit with him cause with all the training he's done a real fight has a different feel to it and he hoped that Danzo would make for a more interesting fight only to find that he really didn't. I made sure he took Shisui's eye as I have a plan for it (and no he isn't going to put it in his head). As for Fu and Torune they know it's stupid to go after him and Torune would moreso be grateful to be free so he can return to Shino's side as a friend.

This also means that Sai will be freed a lot earlier and be able to regain his emotions easier/quicker. As for pairings in regards to Sai he'll be with Yakumo :)

With Naruto, the reason he waited til morning to handle Gaara are the exact reasons he told Temari. If he went after them immediately then it would have endangered Suna. I feel it made sense in the end.

And now you see how I planned to make the Akatsuki a bit more tricky since if Towa can boost Ki fighters then I figured her magic could grant interesting boosts to a versatile energy such as chakra (after some research). The boosts are given as they go on the field but - as I said above - some like Sasori's are permanent. Also Deidara fled because he was smart and knew he couldn't defeat Dyspo with the man's speed, Dyspo didn't chase as in the end he accomplished his mission and going after Deidara would but the ball in his court in terms of 'setting the field'.

And in this chapter not only did I debut Kefla but a brand new fusion in the form of Sakotte! She is a fusion I thought up somewhat randomly since I wanted to figure out a 'Space x Earth fusion' and I always felt Sakura would be the easiest bet to go with. In the end I'm really happy with how she turned out in both appearance and powers.

Temari's confession was really fun to do since I like the set up of 'crush on Naruto ever since he saved Gaara' that I did with her. It just made sense to me despite not being how it went in canon as it's something I can see being possible in a fanfic. As for the Gaara walking in on them it was just too perfect to pass up and went to show how Naruto and him have a true brother bond (unlike the one Kishimoto tried to push between Naruto and Sasuke which was entirely non-existent =_=)

I hope you all liked it

Until Next Time

Rate and Review!

Buh-Bye!