The Situation with Sunagakure and Gaara

Inside the Land of Rivers, nearly three days later, a decently sized group of shinobi arrived in front of the Akatsuki's old secret hideout inside a cavern in a middle of a small river guarded by a very large boulder. They were Might Guy, Rock Lee, Naruto, Kakashi, Sakura, and Lady Chiyo of the Suna. Chiyo was a short and elderly woman with black eyes and grey hair tied in a bun. She wore the traditional Sunagakure outfit which consisted of a dark-colored, loose-fitting outfit with a poncho-like top part. They just stopped the two distinctive-looking people with black cloaks full of red and white cloud symbols. They were Deidara and Sasori, who also carried the lifeless body of Gaara alongside them.

After Gaara got kidnapped by the Akatsuki, and as Konoha was Sunagakure's new ally, Tsunade sent Team Kakashi on a mission to save Gaara. While Might Guy and Lee were nearby, on their own mission, and were called upon by Kakashi's ninja dog Pakkun to help. Lady Chiyo also came in hopes of finally putting an end to her grandson and a current missing-nin, Sasori of the Red Sand.

The rest of Sunagakure's forces were busy guarding against any kinds of surprise attacks from other great ninja villages while the second Honoured Sibling, Ebizo, and their Jonin Commander, Baki, remained inside the village to keep order while their new Kazekage Gaara was missing. Other Suna Council members were already questioning how right was of him to become the Kazekage and the situation needed to be kept under control. They could shamelessly depend on Konoha for support.

Konoha was previously their biggest enemy, especially during the Second Great Ninja World War. Chiyo's own son was killed by the Konoha. Tsunade, the current Hokage, even countered Chiyo's personal poison expertise with her own medical expertise and rendered their biggest reliance useless. These two occurrences effectively ended their once famed Puppet Brigade, the strongest force, they used to contend with other villages on equal footing. It was the start of what came now.

However, they had no other choice now but to rely on that same Konoha, Tsunade, and her student. It was all for the greater good and their own survival. They got a chance to build such an alliance with Konoha, and they took it with both hands. After that failed attack in Konoha, they were like fish on a chopping board. They were even fortunate that Tsunade was Hokage instead of someone else.

Not to mention that they currently really didn't possess any powerhouses of such S-class ranks to actually deal with the Akatsuki. Chiyo and her brother were around that level, but still not enough. Kankuro and Temari were still too young and unassuming while Baki had just now woken up from his slumber after his student and the Kazekage got kidnapped in such a shameful way when a spy Sasori controlled tricked them all effortlessly. He finally exhibited some newfound signs of growth.

To make matters even worse for the Sunagakure, their technically didn't lose just this one jinchuriki. A few months ago, even the Seven-Tails, sealed inside a girl from the Takigakure, got taken away too. And it was their own tailed beast because Takigakure was their own sphere of influence. It was like that for decades. They lacked water the most and the village hidden in waterfalls had plenty of that. They were after all a desert nation with the worst geography of all great nations. They needed to create a large water canal from the Land of Waterfalls in order to exist in the first place. To pay them back, they allowed for the Seventh Tails to be sealed inside of them, instead of directly in the Sunagakure because they thought that it didn't matter since it was all their longstanding sphere. But, it now proved to be a wrong decision as their forest there failed to safeguard the beast and it took them too long to come there and help while Takigarure's own shinobi were too weak to fight.

And that signaled that they effectively lost the two only weapons of mass destruction that they possessed lowering their status inside the five great ninja villages even further. Their Kages got assassinated left and right, they got no real elites, their own Daimyo was often giving them cold shoulder, and now they even lost their strongest weapons. It was no wonder that they treasured their alliance with Konoha currently so much. It was their last lifeline to survive during these hard periods. At times when the world was most turbulent in decades, they were the weakest of all time.

Chiyo was sure that Sunagakure would've already been attacked by other great villages recently were they not so hard to actually invade due to various reasons. They were surrounded by a vast desert, the village's natural deterrent against invasion, which few foreign powers would be willing to endure because of the harsh sandstorms and water scarcity. Sunagakure also lay in a fortified valley behind cliffs of rock, with a passage in and out of the village restricted to a single cleft between two cliff faces, making the area very hard to attack from the ground. The only reason Gaara got taken so easily in the first place, was because Sasori knew the terrain very well and had a spy, a jonin named Yura, tasked with the village's security, under his control. The other invader could also attack from above. Not even their shuriken machine-gun like weapons managed to take that person out then.

Previously they even had to rely on Sakura Hakura, Hokage's disciple, to save Kankuro and create an antidote with which they were going to counter Sasori later. Chiyo planned to use that antidote, and her great knowledge of Sasori's abilities, in order to defeat him once for good and end his evil ways. Puppet core was one of the three principal fighting styles of the Sunagakure, the other two using wind battle fans and using cloth binding. A few of the previous Kazekage used the first two of them.

Just now Konoha's forces and Chiyo gathered in front of this hideout but couldn't enter because of the barrier. Then, all of a sudden, the barrier ninjutsu got released and then they stopped Deidara and Sasori who attempted to withdraw from the other side of the cavern, through the forest behind.

"Damn, Sasori my man, and here I thought that we could just withdraw peacefully now!", Deidara jokingly commented. He had slanted blue eyes and long golden blond hair which he wore drawn into a half ponytail with the rest hanging down freely. The bang hanging over his left eye is what concealed his eye scope signifying that he was a long-range fighter. He carried Gaara's body on his big clay bird, "Well, it doesn't matter. I can just blast you for a while and show you my amazing art!", He added while looking at them. They were now standing across them in some kind of forest road passage. Both groups suddenly started analyzing each other and thinking of their following moves.

Deidara of Iwagakure was a prodigy with great expectations placed upon him and praised equally as a genius shinobi and as a talented artist. As a ninja, he had a manic passion for wielding explosions as his weapon by utilizing his Explosion Release kekkei genkai and acquiring knowledge of all manner of explosive weaponry until he become the youngest ninja to be accepted into the Explosion Corps. As an artist, he was exceptionally gifted at sculpting clay into all manner of animals, people, and more abstract shapes which earned the appreciation of his peers, and even influenced the designs of his earth ninjutsu. Once Deidara heard of a kinjutsu that can knead chakra into inorganic substances, he realized that he might be able to combine his two greatest passions.

Being as impulsive as he was talented, Deidara wasted no time in seeking it out. He infiltrated the secure vault for Iwagakure's most prized techniques and weapons, found the kinjutsu, and used it there and then to permanently transform himself. Unlike most who had attempted it, he survived the risky process and grew human mouths on both hands and his chest, complete with teeth and tongue. However, it broke his village's several laws and he was forced to immediately escape in rush.

Then while using that explosive clay to take out his Iwa pursuers, Deidara found the name of the that he ultimately sought all his life. It was the Art of a Single Moment. And not just his art, it also became his life philosophy. Deidara now lived for the moment, creating explosions, fighting people, proving his art's worth, and others. For that reason, Deidara and Sasori, who was a way calmer person frequently argued. Also, they held different views of artistic concepts. Deidara thought that art is what lasts within a moment while Sasori believed fine art is something that lasts for eternity.

This clearly reflected their individual fighting styles. Deidara made clay sculptures that exploded, Sasori made long-lasting puppets of humans, even from his own body in the end. But, they still secretly respected one another deep down in their minds. Both Sasori and Deidara were recruited into the Akatsuki in the same way by losing their battles against some previous Akatsuki members.

They were told earlier by the leader of the Akatsuki to retreat as soon as the sealing process was over and to not engage these intruders any further afterward, even if there was another important jinchuriki in their group. Both Sasori and Deidara noticed that the person started behaving really strangely during the sealing process right after he made that pause saying that there was an error in his chakra transmission technology. Konan, the closest person to Pain, also appeared out of it in a way. Kisame and Itachi, who were nearby, held back some of the intruders, while sealing was still in the process, by using Pain's "Shapeshifting Technique" and sending clones with parts of their chakra.

When using it, Pain allocates a portion of an individual's chakra to a living human sacrifice. This causes the sacrifice to become the individual's identical copy, complete with perfect imitations of the original's kekkei genkai (such as the Sharingan) and unique weapons (such as the Samehada).

The original then control their copy remotely, thus making the copy's movements and knowledge indistinguishable as well. But the copy is limited by how much of the original's chakra they are given, so particularly chakra-taxing jutsu cannot be used. Once the chakra from the original runs out, the sacrifice reverts to their own appearance and they die. It bought them some time to finish.

Sasori just remained silent while looking at Chiyo, among the crowd, who was also a little disturbed after seeing him now. Naruto looked into Gaara's state feeling stunned and angry while Kakashi and Sakura tried to calm him down. He already manifested some of his Nine-Tails characteristics on his face. Might Guy and Rock Lee was already ready to fight. They were now the last members of their original team after Tenten seemingly vanished from Konoha overnight, a few weeks ago, but more likely than not, Neji just came and took her with him as he left some subtle clues on the scene too.

Deidara started mocking Naruto a little, "Well, he's dead, can't you see? What is the point of being mad about something you can't change?", "Shut up!", Naruto started getting even more furious despite all of his personality changes in recent times. Gaara was really one of his closest friends.

"Granny Chiyo, you have gotten so old and frail now, therefore, I will not be adding you inside of my collection!", Sasori snickered, "Sasori, I will be the one to personally end you!", Chiyo responded, after removing all of those emotions from inside her, after seeing Gaara's situation. She knew that was just his main puppet and that the pink-haired Sasori was inside of it. She prepared her chakra strings for battle and started whispering something to all the people beside her while Sasori smiled.

He also took a sudden very dangerous look at the white-haired man in front of him with Konoha's headband. He quickly realized that he was the son of that person who killed his parents in that war, 'Pity that we aren't allowed to fight here... But, he's giving me a way stronger feeling than previously described in the black market...', Sasori had a vast spy network, in the entire continent, due to his unique ability to control people like puppets and was therefore knowledgeable about a lot of different matters. He realized that today they might have a tough time escaping and will instead have to rely on tricks. Might Guy's strength was known, Chiyo was knowledgeable of his fighting style, while even Kakashi had a special saber on his back, the same one that killed his parents then.

Nowadays, he was busy learning new kinds of ways, from all over the Ninja World, for the possible elevation of his art. To improve his new puppet body, and acquire some new puppets, but it didn't mean that he didn't want to take revenge too if that person really tried to get in their way currently, 'Maybe I decide to use that 'thing' today and add that Kakashi in my collection...', Sasori pondered.

Sasori grew up in a sad and lonely environment due to the absence of parental love after Sakumo Hatake killed his parents during the Second Great Ninja World War. When introduced to the art of puppetry by his grandmother, Chiyo, he grew a little happier. He eventually created puppets in the likeness of his parents, but when he realized that the puppets could not give him the actual love that he desired, he became nihilistic, cold, and aloof which led to his general disregard for human life. Sasori even went so far as to state that he would feel nothing if Chiyo died, as he claimed that his heart had become like his puppet body, without any emotions. Neither did Sasori have any loyalty for his village, as he defected to pursue personal interests and even assassinated the Third Kazekage, in a sneak attack, and by poisoning him, which caused tremendous damage to the Suna.

Trained by his powerful grandmother, Chiyo, in the art of puppetry, since he was very young, Sasori was an extremely powerful puppeteer and had great skill in creating and controlling his puppets. He created a number of ingenious ones including the three main puppets that Kankuro uses, which were made in Sunagakure before he fled. Now he numbered nearly three hundred different puppets in his collection including one of the strongest Kazekage ever, the Third in line, and his magnetism.

He was also a long-distance fighter like Deidara, therefore he devised this puppet-like cacoon called Hiruko, which he was operating from, to try and overcome that weakness of his at least a bit. He had tremendous skill with chakra threads, suppressing them to the point that they became invisible and he could control upwards of a hundred puppets at the same time, a feat thought impossible for ordinary shinobi. Sasori can also control living people as puppets, even against their will, if they are weakened enough. His usage of puppets was at such a high level that he made mere techniques appear as an artistic performance, which he called his "Red Secret Technique" similar to his famous nickname, Sasori of The Red Sand, which he earned during the Third Great World War in the past.

Sasori's puppets were unique in that they were made from the still-living bodies of humans. These human puppets were more versatile than regular puppets, since, in addition to possessing many dangerous devices installed within them (as is common with regular puppets), they were also able to use chakra and perform any techniques or kekkei genkai that they possessed during their lives. Being the developer of this form of puppets, he is also the only one who knows how to make them.

Hiruko was Sasori's eleventh puppet and the one that he used as both a weapon and armor. Having worn the puppet, Hiruko served as a means to eliminate the puppeteer's prime weakness of being a separate and exposed target. As Hiruko was one of his favorite puppets, Sasori also adorned it in Akatsuki attire for nearly the entirety of his tenure in the organization. Because of this, only certain members like Orochimaru, Deidara, or relatives like Chiyo knew Sasori's true face while others had no idea that Hiruko was not his actual body. While within Hiruko, Sasori maintains the ability to see through the puppet's eyes and speak through it in a deeper and hoarser voice, as well as use jutsu.

Sasori suddenly exchanged his gaze with Deidara. And due to such a long time of working together, they immediately understood what they should do in order to withdraw and how to cooperate, "Puppet Technique: Prosthetic Arm Senbon!", Sasori fired the first attack out of everyone. His Hiruko armor fired the puppet's torpedo-shaped left arm toward the enemy. The arm rotated at high speed, launching the wooden cylinders attached to it. The cylinders then open, each one releasing a large amount of senbon, creating a quick rain of poisoned needles in all directions. He then also started moving its body around and firing even more poisonous needles from his puppet's mouth. He used his gigantic metallic tail as some kind of extension of his puppet to move around attacking.

Everyone immediately started dodging, without much difficulty, as they were not on a level where that kind of attack could hurt them, however, they didn't manage to grasp something else, Deidara grinned in ecstasy as they were guided by Sasori right toward his previously hidden explosive clay trap bombs. However, it forced Chiyo to immediately summon her ten puppets and start cleaning the landmines. They were called the "White Secret Technique: The Chikamatsu Collection of Ten Puppets", her strongest puppet jutsu. They passed various abilities perfect for swiftly dealing with all of those deadly mines. Sakura, Lee, Might Guy, and Kakashi, started jumping around to dodge.

These ten puppets were created by the first puppeteer Monzaemon Chikamatsu and later came into Chiyo's possession, the use of which earned her great fame. These puppets are very powerful, as Sasori claimed that there were rumors that they had been used to take down an entire castle at one point in time. The Chikamatsu Collection has terrifying prowess in taijutsu, ninjutsu, bukijutsu, and so on. Furthermore, as they can change their numbers by combining, the number of abilities they can show becomes even greater. The puppets were constructed in such a way that they all can work in tandem with each other both offensively and defensively. Each of Chiyo's fingers controlled one.

Sasori was about to summon his own, superior puppets and counterattack, creating an opening for them to escape, however, he was shocked as some kind of purple electricity suddenly burst from Kakashi's hands, in a chaotic manner similar to a real thunder in the sky, in bright beams of light, and the whole area instantly got turned upside down and cleaned of Deidara's clay mines. Even Chiyo opened her eyes a little, never expecting for Kakashi to possess something like that. His purple lighting worked like the deadliest force possible for Deidara's clay, who was also astounded. Guy, Lee, Sakura, and Naruto all already knew of Kakashi's new ninjutsu so they were not surprised.