Hey everybody, I'm glad you all enjoyed the previous chapter. I took into consideration what people answered for my reviews, and hopefully you all enjoy what happens. Well, with that said, on with Chapter Six! I hope everybody had a good Christmas. Happy New Year!

Disclaimer: Oh, by the way, I've forgotten to do this my other chapters. I don't own Naruto. End of story.

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Kawa no Kuni, Akatsuki Hideout…

Kakashi jumped up, and landed on the giant boulder, and stuck to its surface using chakra. He landed right above the fifth tag, which was the only thing keeping them from getting inside the cave. He adjusted himself so that he had one hand on the edge of the seal paper. He brought up his other hand up to his neck, and pressed on the small button.

"Gai. Are you in position?" He asked, releasing the button.

"Yes, my most hip rival, I am in position!" Gai replied loudly.

"YOSH! ME TOO GAI-SENSEI!"

"Sheesh, Lee, relax. I'm here too."

"I've reached my destination as well."

Kakashi smirked underneath his mask, not that anyone could see it, at his 'rivals' team. He had to admit, despite some of their quirks, they were quite a bunch of ninja. He looked over at his team, who were all gazing at him with worried expressions. "Alright then, everybody, on my mark. In three…two…one…now!"

Kakashi slipped his finger underneath the paper, and yanked on it, happy to see that the paper gave no resistance. He bounded off the cave, and watched as the barrier appeared visibly for a second, before shattering as its tags were removed.

"Kakashi. I don't think we'll be making it back in time…move on ahead."

The masked ninja was about to ask what was happening, but he heard static and common sounds of fighting. No matter how weird or awkward Gai was, Kakashi had faith in him to defeat any opponent that dared fight against the man. He wouldn't let himself die, it was just the way he was. He sighed, and looked over at his pink-haired student and gave her the signal to continue.

Sakura nodded, and pulled out her gloves. She put them on, and then adjusted them so that they were completely tight. She called upon her chakra, and focused it into her right fist. With a single punch, just like Tsunade had showed her, she would dismantle that boulder wall. She let a smirk grace her lips, for not many people could pull off what she could—it required the control of a topnotch medic.

She rushed forward, her long steps bringing her closer and closer to the barricade. As she reached a little over a meter away the chakra around her fist flared out, and she leaped forward. She brought her fist crashing into the stone, and released her chakra, which escaped in waves of power.

It started with a small dent, the size of Sakura's fist. Small cracks were surrounding the dent, and they soon began to spread. It was a slow progression at first, but the more area it covered, the faster it began to crack. Sakura altered her body so that she was sticking her feet to the stone.

Deciding to speed the process up even more, Sakura flooded chakra into her feet, using the principals of the Tree Walking exercise. The rush of chakra caused Sakura to be thrown off the boulder, while simultaneously adding to the damage.

Just as she landed, right beside Naruto, she watched her handiwork. The boulder crumbled from the power, and soon it was nothing more than a pile of manageable rocks of varying sizes. The next events seemed like a blur, Kakashi yelled for them to go in, and Naruto rushed in first roaring.

The first sight they saw nearly sent the group into a blind rage. There were not nine people, but only three—two of which were Akatsuki. The first one, Sasori, was standing next to his partner. Deidara found it to be comfortable to sit on Gaara, who appeared to be sleeping.

"GAARA!" Naruto yelled, clenching his fists.

"So I take it this is the Kyūbi child Sasori no Danna, un?" Deidara said, looking over at his partner.

"It seems to be that way," Sasori replied in his gravelly voice, "let's get this over with."

Deidara huffed, obviously put out by his master's impatient attitude. He reached inside a pouch on his hip, and pulled out a small piece of clay. An opening on his mouth revealed itself, and a tongue wrapped around the clay, bringing it inside the Deidara's hand.

A slurping sound came from the hand, and a few seconds later, and the hand spit out the clay; now it was in the shape of a bird. Deidara threw the clay bird up into the air, and made a handseal. The clay was engulfed in a cloud of smoke. The smoke quickly dispersed, and the same bird was flying above the blonde-haired man. The only difference was that it was bigger than the man himself.

"I'll leave this to you then, Sasori no Danna, un."

Deidara stood up, and the bird swooped down and swallowed Gaara into its gullet, only his legs sticking out. The Akatsuki member jumped onto the bird, and threw another piece of clay at the sealing. With a single handseal, with a cry, it exploded. He soon escaped through the hole.

"YOU BASTARD!" Naruto yelled out, blood seeping out from the cuts on his hands, which were caused by his claws that were forming. He was about to rush after Deidara, but he felt a strong hand wrap around his wrist.

He looked behind him, and saw Fū staring at him. Time seemed to slow down as he looked into her orange eyes, and he was able to control himself. His claws slowly reverted back into normal fingernails, and his eyes returned to their normal blue.

"Naruto-kun….be careful." She said.

The blonde couldn't say anything; he had too many emotions running through his mind at once. He did the best thing he could, and leaned forward. He placed his lips on the girl's forehead, hoping to convey his feelings to the girl.

"Kakashi. Sai. Follow me. Fū, stay here with Sakura and Chiyo." Naruto said, getting his head on straight and passing out orders.

The boy left no room for arguments, for he leapt into the air, intent on catching up to Deidara. Kakashi and Sai both followed suit, and jumped up. All three of them were alerted to danger by the sixth sense that was honed into them, and they were able to avoid a segmented tail coming from Sasori.

To everyone's surprise, especially Sasori, the three ninja used various parts of the tail as a springboard to elevate themselves further. They were able to barely catch the edges of the opening, and pulled themselves up. They weren't still for long, for as soon as they had all gotten their bearings, they were off to chase after the fleeting Akatsuki member.

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With Naruto and Co…

Naruto gripped a hold of the edge of the whole in the ceiling, and flipped out, landing solidly on the ground. He was quickly followed by both Sai and Kakashi, on his left and right respectively. The blonde haired jinchūriki looked up, and saw that Deidara was making his way through the air, still flying on his giant clay bird. He scanned the area, and found a chasm that went the same way with many places to jump from spot to spot.

He looked over at his support and motioned for them to follow. As they leaped off the cliff, Naruto caught sight of Gaara's legs hanging out of the bird mouth; and his anger was suddenly rekindled. An angry burst of chakra escaped his body, and a change overcame him. His cerulean blue eyes turned into an angry crimson, and his normal whisker marks looked as if somebody had gouged them out. He bared his fangs, and let out a vicious roar that got shake one's very soul.

Using the newly released ferocity, Naruto lunged with extra speed, leaving both Kakashi and Sai further behind him. The older ninja sighed, and yelled out to Naruto, "Yo, Naruto! Slow down!"

"I won't slow down, Kakashi-sensei! Gaara's counting on us!"

Deidara looked behind him, and saw that he was being pursued. He crumbled, and fed his both his hands a small glob of clay. A few seconds passed, and the blonde-haired Akatsuki member threw both molded pieces, directly at the pursuing ninja's. Just as they reached maximum speed, he made a single handseal and the projectiles both went up in smoke.

Fully grown creatures that appeared to be large caterpillars shot through the smoke; the first one aiming directly for Naruto, while the other was aiming for Kakashi and Sai. They made small clicking sounds as they soared through the air.

Kakashi, who had his Sharingan revealed, could see that the clay itself was filled with earth-natured chakra; meaning it was weak against lightning. He took a single kunai out, and channeled his chakra into it, manipulating his affinity. He threw the kunai with impressive strength, and the knife flew straight and true. It crackled with pent up energy, and it pierced the caterpillar between the eyes. The pale white creature soon turned into a dull brown, and fell to the ground.

Naruto was not as lucky as Kakashi. Not only did he not have the lightning affinity, he had no way of deducing the elemental affinities of the technique. He did, however, have the ingenious brain of a prankster. He formed the cross handseal, and a shadow clone appeared next to him; equally changed by the Kyūbi's chakra. Through silent communication, the clone grabbed a hold of Naruto's wrist, and when they jumped up, spun around. It flung the true Naruto forward, giving him the extra speed to get in front of the bomb.

"KATSU!" Deidara yelled, hoping that detonating it at that point would catch Naruto in the surrounding blast radius.

While it didn't do what the man had hoped for, the blast was sizable enough to disrupt Naruto's trajectory, and he was launched much further downward than he aimed for. He was forced to grab a hold of one of the lowest platforms, and swing around it. This maneuver launched him back to the upper levels.

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With Fū and Co…

Fū watched with hopeful eyes, praying to whatever god was listening, that Naruto would come back safe. She put those thoughts aside, deciding to give Naruto all her faith. She looked at the man in front of her, the man who would soon be hunting her. He was still hunched over, and his eyes looking at her menacingly. His metal tail swished back and forth, taunting the trio of the death it was hoping to bring.

"Chiyo-Baasama, what can you tell us about him?" Sakura asked, knowing that Chiyo would have the most knowledge about the man's fighting style and techniques.

"He's a puppeteer, and one of the best. He is capable of controlling multiple puppets efficiently. He learned the use of poisons from me, and has improved drastically, seeing what he did to Kankuro I have one piece of advice—don't get his by his weapons; they are all coated in his special poison!"

The younger girls nodded the affirmative, and they all prepared themselves. Fū brought her hand up to the red wrappings that crossed over her chest, and arranged it so that they were no longer crossed, but each one was on the correct shoulder. She wanted to be prepared for what was to come.

Sakura already had her gloves on, from breaking down the boulder, and just rechecked to make sure they were tight. She wiggled her fingers, and clenched her fist; satisfied with how it was adjusted. Her, along with the other two girls, were forced to jump out of the way.

Sasori's tail slammed down on his opponent's former spot, and was aggravated that he couldn't end this in one shot like he had hoped he would be able to be. He observed how they moved. Sakura and Chiyo had jumped with each other to one side, while the jinchūriki had jumped the opposite direction; alone. He brought his tail back in, and planned his next move.

Chiyo, on the other hand, was planning the team's next move. She grabbed a hold of three kunai, and connected them to thin chakra strings. She hurled the three knives with keen precision, and Sasori batted them away with his tail; exactly what Chiyo was hoping he would do. She took this opportunity to connect the chakra strings to her grandson's tail. The strings were thick enough to warrant some sort of control over the limb, but not thick enough for the man to notice them.

"Foolish move, Obaa-san, you truly believe such simple weaponry will be enough to take me out?" Sasori commented, his dark voice taunting the older ninja.

While he was momentarily distracted, Sakura hurled a multitude of weaponry; ranging from kunai to shuriken and even a few senbon. The puppeteer saw these weapons flying at him, and prepared to deflect them all. He felt an opposing tug on his tail, and saw that Chiyo was moving her hand. The momentary lapse in concentration forced Sasori to jump out of the way.

"Very good, I must say, disabling my tail; hoping to land a hit," He said, stressing the word 'hoping', "but I'm afraid it's going to take more than that."

With that said, Sasori let his 'mouth' drop open, and released a barrage of poisonous needles. He had released them in quite a wide range, aiming to get all three of his enemies at once. He had especially released them in Fū's direction; making it so the girl had nowhere to run.

Chiyo saw what the man was planning, and thrusted forward all ten of her fingers towards the green-haired girl, launching ten chakra strings. She felt them make connection with the Jinchūriki's body, and she jumped up high. Using the free movement the air granted her, Chiyo heaved with all her strength upwards, bringing Fū into the air as well.

Sakura, using her training as a medic-nin to avoid being hit, she ducked and rolled underneath the senbon. She could feel the wind swish above her, a testament to the closeness of the needles. She looked up, and saw Sasori's tail heading straight for the mid-air duo; knowing that it left them with less than great maneuverability. The pinkette took this chance, and got up from her crouch and ran right at Sasori.

Sasori let chuckled, happy that he was finally going to be able to skewer his grandmother, as well as capture a Jinchūriki. Out of his peripherals, he saw the third member of their team running towards him at high speeds. He couldn't retract his tail quick enough to catch her, so he lifted his left arm, and a small explosion occurred. His arm, which contained a small explosive tag, shattered and launched all its poisonous shrapnel towards the medic.

Sakura threw herself into a side roll, letting all the weaponry pass by her harmlessly, and she continued her sprint. As she reached a meter away from Sasori, she channeled her chakra through her hand. Two more steps, and she was within range.

"HYAAA!"

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Back with Naruto and Co…

Naruto and Sai ran on either side of Kakashi, who had both his eyes closed and his hands held together in a concentration seal. The two younger ninjas could feel the chakra that was spiking off the older man and was wondering what he was planning. He had said he could potentially end this whole chase with a single technique, but that it needed time to prepare.

They were tasked with making sure Kakashi was not struck by any bombs, and it had been difficult to say the least. Apparently they weren't the only ones who could sense Kakashi's chakra, for Deidara had kept on them with explosives. Sai had been able to keep most of them at bay, using ink creatures to fly right into the bombs, setting them off prematurely.

Kakashi's eyes snapped open, and he was looking at Deidara with his Mangekyo Sharingan active, its pinwheel shape staring right at the blonde. Kakashi focused chakra into his newly revealed eye, and focused his entire concentration on Deidara. Waves of disruption could be visibly seen surrounding Deidara, focused on his chest.

"Wha—what the hell is this?" Deidara screamed, an uneasy feeling working its way into his chest. The air around him began feeling like it was closing in on him, an oppressive force fighting him.

Kakashi felt a massive strain overtake his brain, as well as his eyesight. With him running, coupled with Deidara flying on that bird, keeping his technique focused was a truly challenging task. The veins in his eyes burst, the red lines touching his pupils. His aim began to slide to the side, and he was able to bring it back to Deidara's arm.

The feeling intensified in his arm, and Deidara was close to screaming. He looked down and saw that his arm was blurred out by whatever technique Kakashi was preforming. A searing pain began on his arm, and he was horrified to see a small black hole opening up, all the distortion waves centering around it.

'Kamui!'

The hole's force intensified hundreds of times in a mere second, and Deidara howled in pain as he felt everything in his arm fill with pain. The black hole expanded for but a moment, and then slammed shut. Deidara tried to move his arm, but nothing. He looked down, and saw nothing. The sleeve of his cloak was shredded and blowing in the wind, but there was no sign of an arm.

The Akatsuki member was so absorbed with the loss of his arm, that he didn't notice Sai unraveling a scroll. The emotionless boy quickly drew a picture of a bird with a sharp beak, and preformed his jutsu. The bird flew off the scroll, and grew to full size. He shot forward, and cleaved one of the wings off of Deidara's own bird, causing it to spin out of control.

Naruto congratulated his teammates, and was overjoyed to see the man crash on the ground. They increased their speed, and jumped onto the side of the cliff. The three ninja, Naruto on point, rushed vertically up the cliff, in hopes they could catch the Akatsuki member and bring him in.

Just as Naruto reached the tip of the cliff, he heard Deidara yelling, and he jumped the rest of the way. He was greeted by the sight of a clay bird, much smaller in size, rushing right for his face. The blonde rushed through a series of seals.

"Fūton: Teimori no jutsu!"

Naruto held his hands in a cage formation, and the wind swirled around his hands, and in a second, he held and orb of wind between his hands. He removed his top hand, and thrusted the orb forward, letting it go. The second it left his grip, it lengthened into a spear shape, and shot right through the bird.

Naruto flipped through the air, and landed just as Kakashi and Sai ran up behind him. In front of them, Deidara stood heaving. His hair was undone from its typical ponytail, in a mess, and he had dirt covering his face. The mechanism on his left eye was shattered. He ripped the gadget from its spot, but kept his eye closed.

"You…you bastards!"

Deidara's visible eye was completely filled with madness, as though he had lost all shred of humanity. He shoved his remaining arm into his side pouch, and pulled out a decent sized piece of clay, to which he fed his remaining hand the whole thing. Before anyone could react, he held his palm into the air, and the mouth regurgitated a dragon shaped piece of clay.

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With Fū and Co…

A sound of shattering wood filled the cave, and there was a collective surprise around the group, they were shocked that they were able to destroy the puppet which Sasori prided himself on, and kept himself contained in. They figured it would have been much harder than that.

Sakura jumped backwards, landing near Fū and Chiyo, who had regrouped when she had made her mad dash towards Sasori. The three girls tensed themselves when they heard laughter, and the oldest ninja's eyes widened when she saw her grandchild.

Sasori stood there, a grin on his face. He was tall, and had a seemingly slender body frame. His red hair was long and shaggy, giving it a sort of messy appearance. He was wearing the standard Akatsuki cloak that all the members wore, and his nails were painted a teal color.

"He…he hasn't changed at all." Chiyo said, her mouth open in astonishment.

"What do you mean, Chiyo-Baasama?" Sakura asked.

"Sasori left our village twenty years ago, when he was still a teenager," She began, still eyeing her grandchild, "he looks the same, physically, as he did the day he left. He has not aged at all."

"That can't be possible, ya know? I mean…he's gotta be thirty something by now." Fū commented, distressed at the thought of somebody being immortal.

"Enough! As much as I enjoy the reunion, Baa-chan, it must end. Now."

There was a cloud of smoke accompanied by a popping sound, both characteristics of the summoning technique. The three girls tensed, preparing themselves for what was to come. When the smoke cleared away, Sasori was standing there, with a puppet hanging over his shoulder. It was garbed in a dark grey cloak.

"The Sandaime Kazekage!"

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Well there's chapter six. I'm breaking these fights up into two chapters; this one and the next. So the fight scenes will be over next chapter, and the Rescue Gaara arc will be over. I didn't want to update any later than this, so that's the reason for the split chapter. Until our next meeting, Have Fun!