Chapter 144

"Alright, that is definitely something new." Kiba swallowed hard watching as a massive cloud of iron dust gathered above the incredibly lifelike puppet. Next to him Akamaru whimpered and took a careful step back.

"What can you tell us about that technique?" Shino turned to Chiyo who finally tore away her gaze from the new puppet and the iron dust. She just couldn't believe that her grandson had gone as far as to turn one of the previous village leaders into one of his puppets. There was no redemption for him now, though it was doubtful that there was before.

"The iron sand, an ability of our third Kazekage." Chiyo turned back to Sasori, while pulling back the already battered replicas of her own son and his wife. An ironic and sad reunion in some sense. A family of puppeteers having become puppets themselves.

"How do we stop it?"

"I don't know. The third Kazekage had a reputation of being nearly unstoppable."

"But that is not actually the third Kazekage, that is a puppet." Hinata spoke up. "As any puppet, he is controlled by the puppeteer, right?"

"I doubt Sasori will allow us to get anywhere near, look." Chiyo motioned towards Sasori, whose form at the moment was partially hidden by a veil of iron sand, in many ways resembling the first layer of Gaara's sand shield. But there was more than enough iron sand to use for attacks.

"But Sasori is not controlling that iron sand, or rather, he is doing that through the puppet, right?"

"Yes, that is true."

"So if sever his connection with the puppet, he should also loose control of the iron sand."

"Your plan makes sense, girl." Chiyo nodded, but then sighed shaking her head. "But look at the chakra strings. Even I without those eyes of yours can see how dense the chakra is. Even the famed jyuken will not tear through those, at least not quickly enough."

"I have something better than jyuken." Hinata moved her shoulders and slid into a fighting stance. "I just need to get close enough."

"Got it, get you close." Kiba nodded, but then dived out of the way, when something resembling a massive iron spear appeared from the cloud of iron sand, followed by a whole barrage of projectiles, many of them so big, that taking cover behind any of the remaining market stands was useless. The whole group was forced to scatter, with only Hinata remaining in more or less the same, spot, easily avoiding the attack.

"You are overconfident girl." Sasori moved his fingers and the numerous iron projectiles around Hinata turned into iron dust, reforming into irons spikes that were launched at the girl from all sides. Still, they bounced off harmlessly coming into contact with a swirling chakra barrier.

"Sasori!" Chiyo sent both her puppets around the third kazekage trying to reach her grandson, or at least distract him, but her puppets were almost instantly covered by iron sand and fell down harmlessly halfway between Sasori and Chiyo. The iron sand simply filled up the joints and mechanisms, rendering the puppets unable to move or use any of their hidden weapons.

Still, the weapon barrage proved fairly ineffective and Sasori switched to another approach. A massive iron ball formed out of compressed Iron sand, going straight at Chiyo. The old woman dived out of the way, but the thing was just too big. The old woman barely managed to roll slightly to the side and the large boll rode over her hand. For a moment the leaf genin looked horrified, but it was soon revealed that Chiyo's hand was a puppet like prosthetic, that was now utterly crushed. The old woman now stood up with bits and pieces of her artificial arm hanging out from the remains of the torn off sleeve.

Sasori in the mean time create a large pyramid shaped object, that he launched at his own grandmother and this time there was no dodging it, but lucking Chiyo managed to jump onto a cloud of Shino's insects just in time, avoiding danger.

"Not so fast!" Sasori moved his hands and the iron pyramid exploded into a shower of metal shrapnel, sending razor sharp bits or iron in every direction.

"Huh?" Chiyo raised her only remaining hand in a hopeless attempt to shield herself, but suddenly found herself falling down, as the cloud of insects under her feet dispersed. She feel into a shallow trench, that was left by the iron ball that previously nearly rolled over her. Obviously such a massive and heavy object left a significant trail in the ground.

"Annoying pests, you seem to just refuse to die." Sasori sounded irritated. The giant metal ball exploded into a cloud of iron dust, reforming into numerous large shuriken, that immediately flew forward at Hinata, before she could take cover next to Chiyo.

"Aghh." The girl cat wheeled to the side avoiding the first projectile, flipped back allowing one to fly harmlessly underneath her and crouched down upon landing avoiding the third. She instantly jumped to the side, spinning in mid-air avoiding two more shuriken and landed atop another one, simply slamming the thing into the ground with her whole body weight. She then leaned back avoiding yet another shuriken, this one passing over her face. It was so close, that she for a moment saw her own reflection in the metal surface. She used the moment to roll back, avoiding another shuriken that came straight down, smashing to pieces the one she originally slammed into the ground and then she brought her hands together, coated in chakra, stopping the blade of the last shuriken inches away from her face. The thing was too big to stop fully, but he spun around, redirecting the attack and throwing the large shuriken away.

"Impressive yet useless." Sasori nodded. He was not wasting time, observing the impressive show of agility and coordination, gathering even more iron sand and forming a huge metal beam, that he sent at Hinata.

"Oh." The girl barely managed to set up her chakra barrier in time, sliding back and leaving long gashes in the ground, stopping on the edge of the trench, just over Chiyo.

"And now, the final blow." Sasori lazily moved his hand, forming another metal ball, that he sent at the metal beam Hinata was struggling against. Suddenly, the chakra barrier Hinata was maintaining expanded slightly, with reddish wisps of chakra appearing among the seal of blue.

"Eight trigrams …" the world once again seemed to stop for Hinata, as the ying and yang symbol appeared under her feet. But this time Hinata saw everything through a reddish tint.

" …. Repulse!" The chakra barrier expanded, with a sound resembling a bestial roar. The metal beam was blasted high into the air, smashing away the metal ball that fell down to the right, completely missing Hinata and Chiyo, who was rammed into the ground by Hinata's technique. Painful yes, but that was sure better than getting squashed.

"Our turn boy, lets go, give it your best shot!" Kiba rushed forward with Akamaru next to him, turning into Kiba's replica once again. Both leaped forward and began spinning, moving towards the still airborne iron beam

"Fand over fang!"

The double attack did not break the massive metal object, but dented it. But more importantly, it sent the thing flying towards Sasori and it was clear, that the thin barrier or iron sand had no hope of stopping such a massive object.

The metal beam flew landed some distance away from Sasori, but kept sliding forward, threatening to run over the rogue puppet user.

"Annoying brats." Sasori observed the approaching mass of metal with distaste, but simply jumped over the thing when it was close enough.

"Huh?" Sasori noticed a shape riding atop the metal beam. The girl he had so much trouble to pin down was now directly beneath him. She jumped forward, for some reason not attacking Sasori directly.

"You little ... no." the puppet user landed on his feet and faced the girl who was holding the chakra strings that he used to control his puppet. She managed to grab then in mid-air, a task fairly easy for anyone with a byakugan. Even now, the control over the third kazekage was limited, but the chakra strings were still quite intact. Sasori was no longer just irritated, he was outright pissed, but he never showed it. Instead the puppet use merely smirked.

"And what now?" He held up his hand with a built in flamethrower. "You can't move away without letting go, you can't use your barrier without both hands. Once you let go, you are finished, your allies are too far away to help out. And you can't hope to break my chakra strings, even if you are a Hyuga."

"Really?" Hinata raised her hand holding the chakra strings and suddenly something changed. The still activated byakugan gained an unnatural crimson tint and the girls hand was suddenly encased in unnatural reddish chakra, somewhat resembling a flame. That strange chakra shifted, moved around as if having a mind of its own. It was aggressive, violent, dangerous. The girl tilted her hand slightly and the chakra seemed to obey the silent order, forming something that resembled a snarling head of a fox, that now glared at Sasori through crimson hate filled eyes, holding the chakra strings between its bared teeth.

Hinata saw that the third kazekage puppet revealed several weapons hidden within its body. Sasori was no worried that should he produce even a spark, the girl would sever the strings. But he could only send crude commands to the puppet with her holding the strings, the use of the iron sand was out of the question. So the puppet slowly glided towards the girl with weapons bared.

"I can see that." Hinata narrowed her eyes, but not turning her head. She tightened her grip and the chakra shaped as the fox head did the same, the teeth of crimson chakra biting through the chakra strings without much difficulty. Instantly the puppet behind her crumpled to the ground as lifeless as it actually was. The numerous sand structures began to crumble into iron dust.

"Burn." Sasori's face betrayed his anger as he unleashed a stream of fire at the girl. But just in time two figures appeared from the side, shielding the girl and allowing her to escape. Chiyo was standing not far. Apparently she use the time to unseal a prosthetic arm and now was once again wielding the two puppets that were made to resemble Sasoir's parents. With the iron sand, no longer being an issue she once again had full command of them.

"You are getting on my nerves, grandma!" Sasori spun around, this time releasing a stream of water with such pressure that it acted more like an incredibly long and sharp blade.

"What?" a small white dog latched onto Sasori's stretched arm, the weight being enough for Sasori to completely miss his target.

"Get off!" the rogue puppet master raised his other hand, but saw it was coated with a layer of insects that were now spearing over his whole body. Without another word Sasori tilted his head, something snapping inside of him and purple gas starting to come from outside his body, forcing Akamaru to let go and the insects to fly off, though not before several dozen of them fell to the ground.

"Just die already!" Sasori growled, releasing a stinger from his stomach cavity and sending it flying towards his grandmother. Chiyo tried to shild herself with her puppets, but the metal stinger attached to a thick cable went right through them, without showing any sign of slowing down.

"Whoah, just in time." Kiba appeared in front of Chiyo, kicking the stinger to the side. The thing flew past Chiyo, getting imbedded into the ground. Chiyo's puppets in the mean time grabbed the cable and pulled it back, throwing Sasori off balance. The puppets that once looked like Sasori's parents now barely resembled humans, with their cloaks hair and even most facial features burned away by the intense flame from Sasori's flamethrower, but most of their internal mechanisms were still pretty much intact.

"You just keep coming." Sasori stumbled forward. Chiyo's puppets were pulling on the metal cable, not allowing him to regain solid footing, so with a loud snap he disconnected the cable. He looked to the side and saw the white dog charge him again. The rotor blade on his size came to life, but the white dog that jumped at him suddenly lost color and turned into a swarm of insects that flew off. The next moment a spinning object struck Sasori under the knee from the other side. The puppet body was incredibly durable, another person would've lost the limb, but even so, Sasori made an involuntary flip and landed roughly on his back.

"Damn it!" Sasori swore when Hinata landed atop of him, ramming him further into the ground with her feet. She then stomped on his left wrist, sending a powerful chakra pulse through her foot, jamming the joint.

"No!" Sasori's voice for once betrayed panic as the girl grabbed the edge of the container embedded in his chest, the only remaining organic part of his body. The puppet master raised his other hand, but the girl pinned it down with her foot, while trying to pull out the container. Her opponent though moved his left shoulder and his hand detached from the elbow down. What remained of his hand now had a long blade attached, that Sasori thrust forward without any hesitation, aiming for the throat. But yet again, no matter how focused Hinata was on her particular task, the byakugan still showed her everything around. She raised her free hand, allowing the blade to pierce her palm, but still redirecting the attack to the side and keeping the weapon away.

"You … can't." Sasori saw how the crimson tint appeared again in the girl's eyes and the violent chakra once more encased her hand, forming the head of the fox. It looked like while the girl dried to pull the container out with her fingers, the fox head was trying to do the same with it's teeth of crimson chakra. And for the first time in a long time Sasori felt something he have not felt in years. Pain, that reddish chakra, whatever it was, it was causing him pain the moment it came into contact with the container holding his remaining flesh.

"I am art and true art is ….. timeless ….." Sasoris eyes went blank once Hinata finally managed to pull out the container. She fell over, the blade still stuck in her palm.

"Hinata, we are here." Kiba rushed to his friend along with Shino. Chiyo approached a moment later, glancing on the prone puppet body of her grandson and then looking over the cylinder containing whatever was left of his actual body. The thing was already covered by Shino's insects, so it would not be able to create chakra threads and control any of the puppets.

"Aghhh!" Hinata cried out in pain when Kiba pulled out the blade out of her hand. Chiyo kneeled next to her activating a healing jutsu to seal up the wound.

"What is it boy?" Kiba looked down at Akamaru who sniffed the blade. The little dog barked something in response and then looked at Hinata with obvious concern.

"He is right." Kiba also sniffed the blade. "Poison of some sort, the blade is coated in the stuff."

"I will take care of it. I apologize." Shino kneeled down next to Hinata.

"Yeah, sure. Do it."

Even Chiyo somewhat paled when she saw bugs crawl out of Shino's sleeves, moving over to Hinata. She saw the bugs bite into her flesh, some getting under the skin. They were drawing out the poison, quickly and effectively, but the process was agonizing, with Hinata openly screaming and shaking. Kiba was doing what he could to just keep her down, though she nearly threw him off when her back arched once again as the girl released another pain filled scream. One by one the insects either detached from her body or crawled out of her wounds, only to fall down to the ground dead, overcome by the poison. But they were doing their job.

"I am sorry, Hinata." Shino's voice trembled, but he had to see this to the very end.

Chiyo moved away, she would help heal the girl once her teammates would draw out the poison, but until then, she was not needed. She still fought down and shiver when she heard another pained filled scream. The old woman moved over to the now lifeless puppet of the third kazekage.

"Hmm, such a sad fate." Chiyo created several chakra threads attaching them to the puppet. A moment later it flew up, hovering in front of the village elder. The old woman looked carefully into the familiar features of a man she once knew well and sighed, before giving a polite bow. Puppet or not, this was once the leader of their village.

"There, it is done." Shino nodded.

"Finally." Kiba released his grip on the girl that closer her eyes breathing heavily.

"I will be …. Fine. Just need some …. rest." Hinata brought her hands up and then wrapped them around her own shoulders, as if giving herself a hug. Reddish chakra appeared again, wisps of it running across the skin. The bleeding wounds left by the insects began to seal up and Hinatas breathing became calmer. A few minutes later she sat up, looking tired, battered, but overall she seemed more or less fine.

Suddenly all three genin were blasted to the side when some sort of an air jutsu detonated not far from them. The blast also blew off all of the insects off the cylinder containing Sasori's flesh.

"And you allowed three brats and an old hag to reduce you to this?" The a foot stopped the container from rolling away.

"What …." Chiyo moved back when strange black vaguely humanoid shapes appeared between her and the new foe, each having some sort of an animalistic mask attached.

"Rise and shine." Kakuzu pushed the container back into the puppet body and smirked when Sasori's eyes came back to life.