A/N: What's going on guys! Happy (belated) New Years!

XXX

Deidara's bird soared over the quiet sand village, the nin shaking his head in disappointment, "Such an ugly little place." he pulled an eyepiece from his supply bag, fastening it to his face as he looked over the village for his target. He pushed his bang aside so he could see properly. A smile crossed his face as a thought came to mind; the thought of dropping an explosion right on top of this dust bowl. He could already see it, the blinding flash of light, the crushing shock wave followed by a flaming tidal wave that would sweep away the foundations to this squalid burg.

'Hm, to add my artistic touch would be an improvement.'

He gazed all across the village.

"Come on… show yourself." Deidara said to himself. He grinned as he caught his target in his line of sight. "Ahhh, there you are."

Gaara stood from his rooftop, staring directly at Deidara.

Deidara removed the eye piece from his head, the Akatsuki preparing himself for whatever the Kazekage was planning.

Carefully, Deidara's hand slowly inched inside of his clay bag. His tongued hand molded the clay inside while adding chakra to the material.

The sweeping sound of wind behind him made Deidara's gaze quickly snap to his right. To his surprise, Temari flew directly at him, the kunoichi riding atop her fan.

The young woman grabbed her fan by the handle, leaping from it as she swung a deadly gust of wind at Deidara.

The Akatsuki was knocked clearly off his bird, Deidara grinning maniacally as he fell over the village. Temari's gasped as Deidara's bird swelled up akin to an overfilled balloon.

BOOM!

Temari was blown away by the massive explosion, Gaara quickly sending up a torrent of sand to shield his village from the violent shockwave and fire.

Deidara held in his hand another clay bird. With a hand sign, the pocket sized sculpture formed into a massive kaiju of a bird that he rode atop, its white wings flapping torrents of wind that shook the sand village.

Temari, though dazed, could feel the soft grains of sand underneath her. She sat up, quickly noticing that Gaara managed to catch her and her fan in mid-air. The bed of sand quickly levitated her over to her brother, laying her down gently next to him.

"Are you okay?" Gaara asked his big sister, not taking his eyes off Deidara's bird as it soared high above the village.

The shockwave hit Temari before any of the heat did, clearing her of the range of the blast before she could suffer any major damage from the explosion.

"Just fine, don't worry about me." Temari said as she stood up and wielded her fan.

The two siblings guards went up as a flock of smaller birds soared off the gargantuan, dive bombing straight for them.

XXX

Team Shikamaru gathered at the village gates; Tenten strapping her scroll to her back as the rest of the team waited for Shikamaru and Sasuke to join them.

Sasuke walked silently with Shikamaru, the two having exited the Hokage building from their meeting with Danzo.

Shikamaru, like the rest of the Konoha 8 that stayed loyal to the village, had come to find missions that he'd disagree with as he moved up in rank. This mission, was one of them. The thought of assassinating a Kage did rub him the wrong way; not that he didn't believe he could accomplish it, but because of the moral implications of such an act.

Despite these thoughts, he would do what his village asked. Shinobi were expected to perform harsh acts, it simply came with the territory.

Sasuke and he made it to the rest of the team, the group quickly shooting off into the air with a confirming nod from Shikamaru.

The Nara groaned as the group soared through the cloudy evening skies, "Ugh, this missions such a drag."

Some things never changed.

"12 hour flight here we go." Tenten sighed as Choji nodded. Neji grunted, a sign of his agreement as well.

"We still don't know what the Akatsuki are capable of." Shikamaru said, "A long ranged surprise attack is the most logical choice. Nobody make a move until I can catch the two of them with Shadow Possession. If Sasuke can nail'em with a fireball before they even knew what hit'em, this mission will be a wrap."

"And what if they've already captured the Kazekage?" Tenten asked, "I think getting him out of harm's way would be ideal."

"We'll cross that bridge when we reach it." Neji said, "We still don't know what sort of environment we'd be working with once we reach them."

"Fair." Tenten said.

Sasuke's eyes were closed, the Uchiha practically sleeping mid-flight. He wasn't worried about this mission in the slightest. He was more than confident that he could take out these Akatsuki with little difficulty.

Or… most of them, at least.

His brother, he was still certain could give him quite a bit of trouble.

Maybe he couldn't. Or, maybe Sasuke still held some morbid feelings of Big Brother Worship that he hadn't moved on from.

Sasuke both anticipated and feared the day he crossed paths with Itachi again. He knew, absolutely and without a shadow of a doubt, that the next time he crossed paths with his big brother, only one Uchiha would be left breathing in this world.

Every mission he undertook, he would pray he'd cross paths with Itachi, or, at least another member of the Akatsuki. To even cross paths with another Akatsuki member would mean he could interrogate them on Itachi's whereabouts.

Danzo had tried his best to make the Leaf's enemies Sasuke's own, something that hadn't went over Sasuke's head.

Danzo had tried to make Gaara Sasuke's enemy, but that simply wouldn't be. Sasuke would only ever consider the Akatsuki and his brother his true enemies… and Otogakure… and the Androids, to an extent.

Though, the Androids, he'd leave to Trunks. They were to Trunks what Itachi was to Sasuke. An enemy only he had the right to defeat.

Though, admittedly, a small iota of Sasuke wanted the Androids to kill Itachi as well. But, alas, if that were to happen, his clan wouldn't truly be avenged.

Sasuke's eyes opened as he and his team quietly flew over the sea of green foliage below.

Regardless of this mission, he knew where his priorities were. Shake the Akatsuki for information on Itachi's whereabouts. That's it.

Did Sasuke care about Gaara? Nope. Did he care if the Kazekage died on this mission? Not really. Did he even agree to killing the guy himself? No, he did not.

So, as such, Sasuke wouldn't make the Kazekage his problem.

Danzo could shove it.

XXX

Kankuro leaped back, hands and fingers shifting as he manipulated his puppets to move in the path of Sasori's attack.

The puppet master of the Akatsuki intended on stabbing or slicing Kankuro with his bladed tail appendage, a tactic that quickly put Kankuro on the defensive.

The Jackal rapid fired senben needles from his fingers, Sasori's tail swinging wildly to deflect the needles.

Kankuro intended for the Jackal to serve as a replacement for the Crow, the puppet he lost three years ago. Having created this puppet from scratch, he'd made it to not only be faster than Karasu, but also have several upgrades as well.

The Jackal's chest opened, a canon shooting up at Sasori from the hole in its torso. The missing nin of Suna sliced the cannonball in half, the halves of the ball exploding behind him as he dropped over Kankuro.

"Oh, damn!" Kankuro cursed desperately as he manipulated Salamander get in front of him, effectively shielding him from the thrust of Sasori's blade tail. Sasori, sensing danger from behind, phased out as a bladed scythe spun through the air behind him.

Missing its target, the blade boomeranged back to the Jackal's forehead, reattaching itself. The Akatsuki appeared back down on the ground, the Salamander setting itself in front of Kankuro like a shield while the Jackal hung up in the air several yards above it.

"I must say," Sasori said as he eyed Kankuro's newest puppet, "I have yet to see a model such as this. It's crafted well. You've designed it yourself?"

"That's right." Kankuro said, "My old puppet got blown up by some asshole I ran into a few years back."

"Pity." Sasori said.

The sounds of footsteps along the rooftops drew near, Sasori disregarding the other Sand ninja that were entering the fight.

Six suna-nin stood on the rooftops as three leaped down with kunai drawn to get in close to Sasori. Even more were quickly closing in.

With the Akatsuki nin completely surrounded, Kankuro manipulated the Jackal's thick arms to aim at the cloaked ninja. The slots on the puppet's arms shifted apart, opening to four black rocket-like projectiles that hissed smoke at their base, before firing at the Akatsuki.

Sasori's head tilted, tail whipping before he burst into action. He leaped up at the shinobi that dropped down over him; quickly cleaving one in half, bisecting another, before impaling a kunoichi with the tip all in one lightning quick and fluid motion. He flung the kunoichi at one of the missiles, the detonation from the impact pasting her and setting off the other projectiles.

Forcing his eyes open through the smoke, heat, and liquid; Kankuro watched as Sasori, instead of diving down for him, aimed his left arm up into the sky.

"Puppet Technique: Prosthetic Arm Senbon!"

The bulky appendage shot off and up dozens of yards into the sky. The bucket rotated at a high speed, before the wooden cylinders attached to it shot off in a dozen different directions. The cylinders opened, each one releasing a wave of senbon that shot into the village populace at bullet speed, hitting shinobi and civilian alike.

Of the suna-shinobi that pursued Sasori, several of them were unfortunate enough to take a senbon to the neck, the eyes, and the skull.

Kankuro, lucky enough to have Salamander as a shield, could hear the nin and populace cry out in pain when the effects of Sasori's special toxin took hold.

Before he could act further, Kankuro's heart leaped into his throat at the sound of an earth shattering explosion blossoming on the opposite end of the village. A massive fireball with the potential of wiping out a massive chunk of the village hung in the sky, the force of the sphere pushing away buildings and burying people under the destruction. He could barely spot a sphere of sand hanging a mile high in the air, what could only be Gaara and Temari only disappear within the flash.

The second Kankuro noticed a shadow appear at his side, he followed suit by diving back, narrowly dodging Sasori's tail that slammed into the side joint of the Salamander's frill, knocking the shield off completely.

Now at close proximity to Sasori, and without Salamander as a practical defense, Kankuro put his focus on using offense as defense. Twin wrist blades a foot long slid from the slots of the Jackal's arms, the puppet getting in an up close assault on Sasori in an effort to allow Kankuro more distance.

Sasori sliced Kankuro's puppet vertically in half to neutralize it. Sasori's gaze burned holes into Suna's ventriloquist. Kankuro's fingers twitched in anticipation of the upcoming attack.

Sasori charged straight for him, tail blade hanging over his head.

Just as Sasori was within a yard's distance of his target, the Black Ant sprung out from the dirt below, torso opened wide to swallow and entrap the Akatsuki nin.

'Can't waste time!' Kankuro thought as he hurriedly manipulated Jackal, despite its mangled form, "Ninja Art: Grenade Maiden!" The puppets limbs disconnected, the bladed ends that connected to the puppets joints flying into the opened slots of the Black Ant. The hissing of smoke from the limbs themselves were a signal that Kankuro would hate himself for what came next.

The limbs exploded akin to six powerful bombs, the puppet master covering his face to shield himself from the explosion.

'Sorry Ant… that was the only way…' Kankuro thought as he lowered his arm, the wood shards that remained from the Ant littering the ground. A ring of soot from the explosion stained the dirt.

Kankuro immediately noticed something wrong… a severe lack of human messy bits.

The shift of sand grains behind him brought Kankuro to a panic. He moved to leap forward while turning his head, him just barely catching a glimpse of the tail protruding from the dirt.

With a quick swipe, a deep yet thin gash was opened in Kankuro's back. The puppeteer cried out and stumbled forward.

The cold sting of sliced flesh was only the beginning.

Suddenly, without warning, an explosion of raw, searing, firey pain dropped Kankuro to his knees, howling to the sky as he grabbed at his back.

Sasori emerged completely from the dirt, the hunchback staring down at Kankuro as he writhed on the ground in agony.

"Wh-What did… you… do to me!" Kankuro ground out, his eyes reddening as saliva poured from his mouth.

"Poison." Sasori said, voice casual as Kankuro's eyes widened in horror, "You'll suffer for three long days, and then you'll die." He looked to Deidara who flew in, a red headed figure lying unconscious on the bird.

Other suna nin lay dead on the battlefield, decapitated from explosions to the head…

"Can we take our leave?" Deidara asked.

Sasori turned away from Kankuro, the puppeteer reaching out weakly to his brother, "G… Gaara…" it was then his thoughts went to his sister… "Temari… no…"

And with that, darkness overtook him.

XXX

(Mount Myobokuzan)

Naruto and Sakura stood before Kakashi, the two former students facing off with their former sensei in front of a live audience.

Kakashi's sharingan was exposed to the two teenagers, the silver haired man pulling a familiar object from his side.

Two bells, that he jingled tauntingly in front of his opponents.

At seeing the bells, a wave of nostalgia filled Tsunade. She could remember the test Hiruzen conducted when she, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru were genin… life was so simple back then.

"So…" Naruto grinned as he stretched his arm, "Same rules still apply?" he asked Kakashi.

Kakashi noticed the equally cocky grin across Sakura's face, and immediately knew what they were counting on. When he performed this test with Team 7 over three years ago, he gave them explicit directions to kill him. At that time, he was more than capable of handling them as newly grads of the academy.

Now, he could say for certainty, that his former students were now a force to be reckoned with.

But… he couldn't allow himself to look like a chump, "Lets just say you've been granted whatever means to get these bells."

"Even prying them from your cold dead fingers?" Sakura asked, "I can work with that."

"Hoo boy." Kakashi sighed.

Bulma cheered from the sidelines, "You got this Kakashi! Make those kiddies learn to respect their elders!"

Shizune and Tonton watched happily from the sidelines, silently rooting for the jonin as well.

All of the youth's were actively rooting for Naruto and Sakura; Fu, Ino, and Rock Lee cheering the loudest out of the group.

Tsunade, though she wouldn't express it, was silently rooting for Sakura most of all. Her hatred of this exercise back when she was a kid, coupled with her seeing a bit of herself in Sakura pushed the sannin into throwing her lot in with Haruno.

The instant Kakashi saw a twitch of movement in the teen's feet, he shot up in the air, Sakura going straight up for him as Naruto launched back, hands forming into a sign he knew all too well.

Instantly filling the battlefield with close to fifty Shadow Clones, each bunshin pulled fistfuls of shuriken into their grasp.

Kakashi eyed Sakura, who was quickly ascending up to him, but could still take notice of the bunshin's actions down on the ground below.

The copy-ninja's eyes widened when the ground turned went from orange and black, to just pure black as a storm of metal shot past him from all directions, Naruto's throws expertly missing Sakura who continued straight for the older man.

"Interesting." Tsunade thought out loud, "Naruto's making it impossible for Kakashi to properly maneuver,"

"Meaning he'll be still for Sakura to close the distance." Shizune finished with a nod.

Sakura's hand glow blue as she reared her fist back, Kakashi growing apprehensive as he put up his cybernetic to block the punch head on.

The shockwave of the impact knocked dozens of the shuriken out of trajectory. Sakura followed up with another punch that Kakashi weaved, the man quickly learning that he would have to take Sakura from a distance.

He tactically blocked another punch from Sakura with his prosthetic, allowing the force of the punch to send him back and up a great distance. The man's bicep was nicked by a shuriken in the ceasing assault.

The Jonin put his hands to his eyes, "Solar Flare!"

Sakura and every Naruto on the ground cried out in surprise, the mass eruption of the bunshin's filling the battlefield with so much smoke it piled up a half-mile into the air.

The light on Kakashi's prosthetic changed from blue to yellow as he flew towards Sakura. Though the young woman could sense Kakashi, the teen's blurry eyes kept her from acting appropriately.

A ki blast at point blank range sent Sakura back towards the ground. She caught her bearings enough to soar back next to Naruto.

The two nin's rubbed the vision back into their eyes. Naruto and Sakura looked up to see that Kakashi was nowhere in sight.

"Ugh," Naruto groaned, "I really hate that move."

"Where'd he go?" Sakura asked out loud, her green eyes unable to spot Kakashi up in the sky.

Naruto's blue eyes quickly widened before he looked down at the grass under his feet.

He immediately shot up into the air as Kakashi's hands burst out from the ground under him, barely missing his ankles.

Sakura smirked as she lifted her foot, before bringing it down into the ground so hard the plain exploded like a bomb went off.

Giant chunks of the earth lifted up, Kakashi laying in the deep crater… seemingly unconscious.

Sakura wasn't fooled for a second.

She pulled a kunai and threw it at Kakashi's body, the jonin's form bursting in a surge of electricity when the knife made contact.

"Great. Now where did he go?" Naruto wondered.

"Kakashi knows I could take him in a boxing match, so he's definitely gonna keep his distance." Sakura said.

The two teens then looked to the forest at the edge of the battlefield.

"We should stick close." Naruto said, "We don't need him tricking us with a transformation."

"Keep clones to a minimum for the same reason." Sakura said as the two shot into the forest.

The audience floated up into the air over the forest to get a better view. Bulma sat atop #16's shoulder as she sipped on a glass of lemonade.

Naruto and Sakura hopped from tree to tree in an effort to find their former sensei.

Eventually the two got fed up, "Oh Kakashi-sensei~" Sakura said in a sing song voice, "If you don't come out we're gonna have to pull a Trunks and start blowing up half the forest with you in it~"

"You remember what happened last time we had this test." Naruto smirked, knowing Kakashi was somewhere having flashbacks to the first bell test.

And the jonin was.

Kakashi's eye twitched when he remembered how Trunks almost blew him up along with half the training ground forest with that "Burning Attack" technique those years back. And, Kakashi knew full well that Naruto was now capable of equal destruction.

Kakashi sighed. He didn't even wanna do this test. It was Naruto and Sakura who'd challenged him to it. The jonin flashed through hand signs at an inhuman speed, before he held his prosthetic hand to his side, light flashing blue and yellow as electricity sparked at the palm. In less than a second, a lightning formed disk of ki filled his palm,

'Lightning Kienzan!'

Naruto's eyes widened as the sound of a blade slicing through air quickly reached his ears. He twisted into a dodge that barely allowed him to clear the disk that shot past him, the disk cutting cleanly through trees.

Sakura gasped as wire wrapped around her, pinning her to a nearby tree.

Naruto felt Kakashi come down on top of him hard, pinning him to a tree branch where the silver haired jonin pinned Naruto's arm behind his back.

Kakashi sighed with satisfaction, "Ahhh, you should know not to mess with your sensei Naruto." The copy-ninja smiled, "I wonder how it feels losing a game you started."

"Who says I lost?" Naruto grinned, "Me and Sakura were just having fun. We can end this right now if you want."

Kakashi looked back to Sakura who was still pinned helplessly to the tree, "Now I'm interested."

Sakura's form burst into white smoke, a mild surprise to Kakashi.

And then he looked back to the still grinning blonde beneath him, who burst into white smoke as well, in his place a paper tag that hissed yellow smoke that Kakashi breathed in.

The jonins eyes widened as his muscles softened into what felt like wet bags of cement, his arms flopping down limply to his sides as his vision in his right eye turned into a haze akin to a foggy mirror.

Ino smiled as she watched the poison she concocted affecting Kakashi, "Your welcome, Sakura."

Kakashi, though he couldn't move, heard the jingle of bells to his side.

"Wh-what… is… that…" Kakashi said through lips he could barely move.

"A toxin Ino made." Sakura said, "It tells your brain to turn off the nerves in the muscles. After two minutes it should affect the heart."

"Meaning we should probably get the antitoxin in you." Naruto said.

"Do you want the antitoxin Kakashi?" Sakura asked with a smile.

"Th… that… would.. be… nice…"

Sakura took out a small pouch within her ninja tool bag. She poured a white powder within her palm and blew it into Kakashi's face, the jonin breathing it in and regaining control of his body.

Within minutes, the group were back in the Capsule home. #16 sat in the dining room, hands disconnected and laying on the table as Bulma performed maintenance on him. Lee did her the courtesy of handing her the necessary tools when needed.

"Nice work with the poison Ino!" Naruto said, the blonde sitting next to Fu on the couch, the young woman busy gaming.

"Thanks!" the Yamanaka said as she went back to her botany book, "I'm still trying to come up with one that kills on the spot."

"Can I not be your guinea pig for that?" Kakashi asked, the man sitting at the dining room table across from Bulma and the Android.

"Well I have to test someone." Ino said, "If I use it on someone in the battlefield and its a dud then I'll look dumb."

"You can't argue with that!" Karin added; Fu, Shinhan, and Shizune nodding in agreement.

Tsunade nodded to Sakura, "Later on, I want you to arm wrestle the robot. I wanna see how-"

A gasp from Naruto and Fu brought everyone's attention to the two teens. Red youki seeped off the two of them, the chakra gathering on to the coffee table in front of them.

The chakra began to take on two different shapes, until two foot-high critters sat on the coffee table… a beetle and a fox.

"OH MY GOODNESS THEY'RE SO CUTE!" Karin squealed when she saw them. She reached toward the nine tailed fox in a trance-like manner, "I must pet-"

"Wanna keep that hand?" Kurama growled at her, Karin frowning and stepping back.

"Kurama, Chomei, what are two doing?" Naruto asked, everyone else in the home gathering around the two mini-bijuu.

Kurama glared at Naruto, the fox still not too fond of the boy, "Our kin… Shukaku the one tail, he's in danger."

"Gaara? Gaara's in trouble!?" Fu asked, "How do you know for sure?"

Chomei turned to his host, "Oh, ya didn't know, Fu? We bijuu can sense each other's well being, even from long distances! From the looks of things, Shukaku's host has been beat down so badly Shukaku can't even take over his unconscious body."

Fu immediately stood up, "Well, we've gotta go find him!" She looked to Naruto, "I promised Gaara we wouldn't let anything happen to him!"

Naruto nodded as he stood up, "We're gonna do something. Don't worry."

Kakashi looked down, 'Akatsuki's made their move now. None too surprising.' He looked to the small bijuu on the table, asking "Is it possible for you to track where Shukaku is right at this moment?"

Kurama glared at the man, "No. Nor do I care to. My only concern is of hindering the forces that wish to take me."

Naruto glared back at the fox, 'Does he still have to be such a dick?'

Sakura looked to Tsunade, "Do you think it's safe for us to come out of hiding again?"

Tsunade looked over the teens, "There's not a doubt in my mind that you all can handle yourselves. Just don't get careless."

"Right."

XXX

(Rice Country)

Within a small border town where Fire Country met Rice, the Sound Six made a stop at a local tea shop.

Guren's eye twitched as the never ending sounds of Tayuya and Suigetsu's arguing gradually chipped away at her sanity.

"Really Suigetsu, are you shitting me?" Tayuya said, "How the fuck old are you? Fucking six?"

Suigetsu grinned cheekily, "Because only six year olds need snack breaks… is your genius level statement." A familiar broadsword wrapped in bandages was leaned against his chair behind him.

"Your lameass snack break is holding up our entire fucking mission, wethead" Tayuya growled, "And the snack you just had to get was fucking yogurt?"

Suigetsu kept his cool as the server brought him what he ordered. He held up the bowl to Tayuya, "Wanna show me on the bowl where the yogurt touched you?"

Like an animal, Tayuya snarled and swatted the yogurt bowl out of Suigetsu's hand, sending it clattering along the floor.

"Well shit…" Suigetsu smirked, "Now we gotta wait even longer for another bowl."

"JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP SUIGETSU, I SWEAR I'M GONNA-"

"I swear I'm gonna kill the both of you if you don't shut the fuck up!" Guren ground out.

"Seriously." Sakon said in agreement.

Kimimaro, sitting next to Guren, took a sip of tea. He could see Jugo outside the ship in his peripherals, the teen silently playing with the squirrels. Kimimaro set the cup down, "There's no issue with taking a small break. The Leaf is only a few hours away. If the worst case scenario presents itself, we'll need to be at peak condition."

He took another sip.

XXX

Temari lay in the bed of a Suna Hospital. Her body was covered in scars and burns; her arms, legs, and torso bandaged up. Her barely conscious form struggling through more emotional than physical pain.

"G… Gaara…" she sniffled as she thought back to the battle that she'd lost, her memory fuzzy due to a slight concussion.

She'd swatted away wave after wave of birds, the impact of her winds detonating the claymations and filling the skies with explosions. For every flock she and Gaara fended off to defend themselves, another flock was there to continue the assault.

Once Deidara aimed his assault on the village, both she and her brother were distracted by the sight of innocent civilians getting blasted apart by Deidara's explosions.

With that minor distraction, she could only faintly hear the words, 'C3', before her vision was filled with light...

Her eyes barely opened as she heard the hospital door open. She saw a group of people step into the room, most of them familiar faces.

"Hey Temari, been a while." Naruto grinned, "How's it hanging?"

Temari glared at him, "Let's see, me and only a chunk of my village got blown the hell up, my baby brother kidnapped, and my other brother walking the valley of death." She finished as she nodded at Kankuro, who lay unconscious and in pain in the bed to her right, "All things considered, I'm just great."

Naruto responded in kind, "Good to hear!"

Temari huffed and sat up as best she could despite her injuries, "I know you're all here for Gaara." She looked down at her sheets, "You're too late."

"We figured." Shinhan said, Temari gasping when she saw the third eye on the teen's forehead, "So we'll just help bring him back."

'So weird…' Temari thought as she looked at the eye. Karin approached the Kazekage's sister, pulling a bean from a brown wool pouch. Temari looked at the bean, its appearance completely unnatural. It was white with blue splotches all over it, "The hell is this?" Temari asked the redhead as she was handed the bean.

"It's called a Katsu Bean." Karin said, "It's a special healing medicine. It'll instant heal all injuries, including lost limbs and illnesses."

Sakura put her fingers atop Kankuro's jugular, checking his heart rate, "Unfortunately it can't deal with poisons."

Temari sniffed the bean, before she hesitantly put it in her mouth. When she bit down on it, she knew she had every reason to be weary.

"BLECH!" Temari nearly spat out the bean. That was the single worst thing she'd ever eaten in her life. It was like she'd just eaten a slug wrapped in fish. "What the hell are you trying to do, kill-!"

Her eyes widened as her injuries vanished. A jolt of energy coursed through her veins, pushing her to hop out of the bed. She pulled off her bandages.

"You're welcome!" Karin fumed, "No one ever thanks me for this!"

Temari looked to Sakura, who had gone to a nearby sink to wash her hands before getting started on Kankuro.

"Are you sure you can help him?" Temari asked her.

"Positive." Sakura said, "The main draw is getting the poison out of his blood. Ino, take a sample of his blood to see if you can find what exactly he was poisoned with. Karin, help me with drainage."

"On it." the girls said in unison.

Temari stood out in the hallway with the rest of the group; everyone allowing Sakura, Ino, and Karin the room to themselves to work on Kankuro.

"You don't have to be worried." Fu said, "Those three were trained by Tsunade of the Legendary Sannin. They'll put Kankuro back together."

Still worried, naturally, Temari's gaze was still glued to the floor.

"What happened here, exactly?" Kakashi asked.

Temari shook her head, "It went down as you expected. They walked right in and took him away."

"Did they say anything about where they may have headed?" Naruto asked, "Did you hear anything that might give us a clue on where to even look?"

A flex in Temari's jaw was all the answer they needed.

Fu shook her head, "We have to do something." she grabbed Naruto's arm, "I promised him, Naruto." tears came to her eyes, "I promised him!"

Normally, Naruto would promise her that they would find Gaara. But, with nothing to go on, the Uzumaki found it hard to make such a promise…

Temari looked between the group once again, suddenly noticing something about the group she couldn't ignore.

"You're still missing one?" she said.

Lee smiled as he instantly caught on, "Trunks-kun is currently out training among the stars."

"What?!" Temari thought out loud, "What do you mean?"

"As in he's training in outer space." the triclops of the group said.

About a million and one questions cycled through Temari's head all at once.

Kakashi, expecting Temari's confusion, sighed as he leaned against the wall, "Long story."

XXX

Deidara and Sasori traversed through a grassy field, the nuke-nin on their way to their base to fulfill their mission. Deidara had Gaara's unconscious and beaten form wrapped up tightly in his bird's tail.

Sitting atop his bird, the claymation gliding mere feet above the ground to carry Gaara and himself. Sasori walked next to his partner, just as satisfied as Deidara in their catch.

"Heh, too damn easy." Sasori said, "If it was this easy getting one of the tails, we're probably strong enough to take on the Artificial Humans."

Sasori grunted, "Underestimating an enemy such as them will lead to an early grave." he glared at Deidara, "They killed Kisame and forced a retreat out of Itachi. Not only do you lack artistic knowledge, but you lack self-preservation."

"Tch, Kisame and Itachi aren't me." Deidara said, his hand holding a clay spider, "And you're a fine one to talk about artistic knowledge. The one who naively believes that art can simply last forever. Absurd."

"You've not made single case to prove your argument."

"My argument is quite simple." Deidara smirked, "It's only common knowledge that nothing beautiful lasts forever. Art, a thing of beauty, is not meant to last long at all. For that reason, I can liken art to an explosion, something… that…"

Deidara trailed off as the two men saw something far off into the west. It was some sort of spaceship lowering through the atmosphere.

"The hell is that?" Deidara wondered out loud. Sasori didn't answer him, the puppeteer just as curious as his partner.

The spherical spacecraft had to have been a good 10-15 miles away, close enough to investigate.

"Hn," Deidara grunted as his bird shot up, Sasori hopping on the claymation before it soared off through the air towards the anomaly.

Within' minutes, the bird closed the distance to the spacecraft. Sasori and Deidara eyed the foreign vehicle, the bird lowering to the ground so the two men could get a better look. Sasori turned to Deidara, "This world just keeps getting stranger."

The door to the spacecraft opened, the Akatsuki weary of whatever may be on the other side.

Three odd men slowly walked out of the spacecraft and out into the open. The physically oldest of the three was a man who appeared to be in his early-mid 30's, wild hair covering his head. He was dressed in black full-body tights, with a strange vest-type armor covering his torso and red arm and leg warmers completing his look. The second of the men was an extraterrestrial with light skin and pointed ears, a foreign garment serving as his dress with a long blue scarf wrapped around his neck.

The nuke-nin didn't miss the sword strapped to his back.

The third member of the trio was a young man who fit the description of a boy they'd heard tales about just years ago. He was tall, tan, had long lavender hair tied back in a ponytail, and hardened blue eyes that bore into the Akatsuki. The young man wore a dark blue jacket over a black t-shirt, black sweatpants, and brown boots. He too had a sword strapped to his back.

Trunks smiled at the Akatsuki before him, "Well well, what a lucky guy I am. Stupid looking robes, funny looking people, and a whole lot of bad energy." he pointed at Sasori and Deidara, "You guys hit every beat. Akatsuki, I presume?"

Deidara smiled back, "You presume correctly. I take it you must be this Trunks guy I've heard so much about."

"The one and only." Trunks nodded, smirk never waning as his excitement grew, "You know, I've been anticipating meeting you guys face to face."

Sasori hopped off Deidara's bird, already knowing where this was going, "And what business could you possibly have with us?"

The demi-saiyan pulled his sword, "Killing you… what's it look like?"

XXX

A/N: And that's a wrap for this chapter!

Let me know your thoughts!