Chapter 92

Eiji wanted nothing more than to ask how.

How had Deidara survived being pierced with a Legendary Sword through the chest? How had the man molded his wires into one of his explosive creations? How had he even moved with Eiji's wires tying him up? How had he just brought his clay constructs back to life at the drop of a hat? On the other hand, maybe he should just be grateful that Deidara hadn't gone nuclear just yet and had just exploded a whole lot of clay that had been around.

He didn't have the time to think much, unfortunately.

Desperately, as the dust Deidara's explosion had kicked up surrounded him, he felt through his Web Sense. Sasori was unbothered, Eiji realized as he dodged the Kazekage's buzzsaw. Not only was he persisting in their fight continuing, but he was also still fighting his team with the rest of the army of puppets.

To add on to the bad news, the team wasn't doing so well. The explosions had clearly thrown them off their game. Yugito was holding her ground, but only barely. Jirobo and Kabuto though, had been wounded and singed respectively. The wounds weren't that bad, but Sasori's poison certainly was. Eiji just hoped the med nin would be able to deal with that. Otherwise they were fucked and there was nothing he could do about it at the moment.

'God bless Temari,' He thought then as the girl blew away the cloud that had been covering the battlefield. At least Tayuya and Temari hadn't been that affected by the commotion. They'd been hit by the explosion, but didn't seem to be worse for wear.

"Katsu!" Eiji heard and he internally cursed as he Flickered away from a clay creature that had sneaked on him. 'There's too much shit around.'

"Then we should reduce the number, right?" Hachi suggested and Eiji had half a mind to give her a piece of his mind because it was so not the time to be a smartass. It wasn't like he could just do that and had been choosing not. "But you have, haven't you?"

"What are trump cards if not for situations like this, Eiji?" Kage agreed then and the boy stopped in his tracks. The sudden change seemed to catch both Akatsuki off guard because they hesitated.

"Finally realized that you are done for, brat?" Deidara spat out, a thin trail of blood coming out of his grinning mouth. "Because even if you surrender I'll blow you up, you little shit," He added, his smile widening ever so slightly as he brought his hands up, his small army of clay creatures responding to the sign and approaching Eiji slowly.

"Yugito!"

"Ok!" She replied before he could even voice his order and the battlefield felt the new presence for what it was. A force of nature had joined the fight.

"So, she was really the Nibi Jinchuriki," Sasori commented, his tone still that almost emotionless thing that had Eiji wondering how much of him was puppet and how much was still human. Neither of them was surprised, which the boy supposed was fair. There were nine Jinchuriki, it would have been too much to ask for Akatsuki to not know them.

"Wishful thinking on my part," He thought with a weary smile. Still, chances were that the battlefield would be more even then. He shot an Electromagnetic Murder at a clay construct that had been charging at him. "I'm so tired of his fight already…" He thought, his eyes narrowing. "Tsuchigumo?" He asked. The Chakra Beast instantly flooded him with energy that he was sure would have manifested outwardly if not for the fact that he immediately used almost all of it. 'Sacred Flock,' He called in his mind and the Lightning birds came to life.

"Why won't you die already?!" Deidara shouted, what little was there of his sanity seemingly struggling to remain. "How much chakra do you have!"

Eiji withheld a smirk at that.

If only he knew…

Still, the fight was far from over. Living Thread, Stunning Thread and Chakra Flow worked together to make the wires he'd spread everywhere a weapon instead of just a tool to keep an eye on things. 'Let's finish this shitshow,' He thought as one of the steel strings wrapped around one of the Kazekage's legs. Sasori and his armor managed to dodge the ones coming for them, but Eiji could already work with what he'd gotten.

Flickering towards the latter of those two, he smashed it to pieces. Tsuchigumo and World Ender together made for quite the punch, if he did say so himself. It was a shame that he hadn't been able to see what adding Senjutsu on top of that would do to them. The thing wasn't done though. Even if most of its body was dead, the pieces could still function. This was evidenced by the blade tail thing twisting to try and cut him.

Making sure that there was no Iron Sand too close and that both of the other puppets were otherwise entertained by his wires and the Flock, Eiji made sure that the armor puppet was completely destroyed before turning back to the battle field. The birds were making a mess of everything in the best way possible. Not only were they repeatedly turning Deidara's creations into useless clay everytime they were touched by Lightning, much to the man's obvious annoyance, but they were also aiding his team in their fight against the enemy 'army' and keeping Sasori's main puppets busy too.

Tsuchigumo barked something in his mind and he felt her pride and her joy at being successful in her first official battle.

"Just die already!" He heard Deidara scream then. "Katsu!"

Eiji Flickered away then, even if he didn't feel anything in his range. It turned out that was unnecessary too. The clay creation that exploded had been next to the Kazekage puppet. For a second, both Akatsuki members and Eiji himself stood still, confused. Then it clicked in the boy's mind. 'Tayuya, you positively brilliant woman, I could kiss you,' He thought to himself, fully intent on telling her that to her face at the first chance he got.

A split second ahead of the two men, he Flickered towards the puppet victim of Tayuya's scheme. Just as his fist crashed through the thing's chest, he heard Deidara let out a deranged shout that probably was supposed to be words but ended up being a rough meaningless angry scream. Evidently, someone wasn't too happy with being deceived.

"You, with those fucking eyes," Deidara spat out, snarling like a rabid dog. "And your fucking tricks. I'm tired of you," The man said, sticking his hands on his clay pouches. 'That can't be good,' Eiji thought, immediately flickering towards him. It wasn't like he had better targets anyway. Sasori's body puppet was good, but it wasn't on the Kazekage's level, especially with one less arm to shoot elements out of. The boy could almost physically feel how the pressure of the Iron Sand's presence lifted from his shoulders.

As if just to prove him wrong, Sasori a stream of fire was shot between Eiji and Deidara, stopping the former from reaching the blonde. 'That's a lot of fire,' He thought, feeling the heat burning him even from a distance. He knew it already, but Sasori's cannons, or whatever those were, were no normal weapons. 'Still easier than the Iron Sand, gotta say,' The boy grumbled to himself, switching targets immediately.

In a split second, he was already on the puppet master. Just as he slashed with Nuibari, ready to split the man in two, he was replaced by one of his other, much less impressive tools. 'That's fucking annoying.'

"That's how everyone feels when you move around with the Flicker, just saying," Kage commented, and Eiji just knew he wasn't the only one annoyed by that. Tsuchigumo certainly made him know that, and if Hachi's groan was anything to go by, she was in agreement with them.

Still, that'd given him a moment, maybe. Flickering once more, he rushed towards Deidara. He was stopped again, just like he'd been before. This time, however, he was ready. He was a distraction, after all. While the blonde's eyes were on him, two of his birds rushed him from behind. The man noticed them a second too late.

It was almost surreal for Eiji, seeing a man that had once terrified him, twitching and screaming under one of his techniques. 'And I still have such a long way to go,' He thought, because he knew that many of the other Akatsuki could wipe the floor with him. He was just fortunate enough that he'd had to face these two instead of Itachi and Kisame, for example.

He didn't have time to dwell on that, however. He Flickered, baiting Sasori's fire stream. He dashed again, narrowly stopping before he skewered himself with the puppet master's cable. One last Flicker saw Nuibari finally pierce through his target, Deidara's head. For good measure, he used Chakra Flow through his sword, seeing the body twitch but little else. One down, this time for sure. Eiji coughed as he stomped on the man's chest, feeling the ribs crack under his foot.

"Eiji!" He heard Temari scream, concern and fear bleeding into her tone.

He smirked, his lips stained with blood as the red liquid dripped from his mouth. Tsuchigumo started barking, and he didn't have to be a genius or bonded with her to understand what she was saying. Kage and Hachi voiced their own worries too. 'I'm fine,' Eiji thought, looking down at his chest, where three blades were coming out.

Sasori hadn't been stupid, it seemed.

"I'm fine," He repeated, both to his mind companions and himself. His hand shook, his body now feeling the effects of the poison even through World Ender. 'Thank God for Iron Will,' He added as he twisted his body and smashed the puppets to pieces. With his limbs trembling, he pulled the blades out of his body, letting his regenerative technique do its work. Turning to the remaining Akatsuki member, Eiji wiped the blood from his mouth and gave the man a smirk. One that grew wider when he saw Sasori look around, as if realizing what the situation was like for him.

[Poison Resistance has gone up a level.]

"Akatsuki won't underestimate you again," The puppet master said then, standing there, as if pensive. His little army was still fighting the team, but Yugito was decimating them already and she was not going to stop.

"What makes you think they'll know anything besides the fact that I beat you?" Eiji asked curiously, his body calming down a little as World Ender continued aiding in its recovery from the poison. He wondered how soon he would have died without that technique.

Of course, he knew the answer to his own question already.

Zetsu was probably watching.

He might not know much about the plant bastard and what he could do, but he had, or at least had once had, a distinct memory of him watching Sasuke and Naruto fight when the former defected along with some other things. That had, in turn, instilled in Eiji the fear that Zetsu could always be watching, doubly so if Akatsuki was involved.

"Akatsuki always knows," Sasori said ominously, but the boy only chuckled.

"And what makes you think that's all there is to me?" Eiji shot back this time, blinking as he noticed the shudder in his breathing. Evidently, he'd overestimated World Ender or he'd underestimated Sasori's poison. He wondered which it was.

"The second, I'd wager," Hachi commented, still sounding slightly concerned. Evidently, even them, that knew him better than anyone else, had a moment of doubt when they saw the extent of his injuries. Eiji could hardly blame them though, it was a rather worrying sight.

"Akatsuki has people against whom you would stand no chance," Sasori told him, and he had to reluctantly give that point. He had very big doubts about how a fight against some of the members would go, that was for sure. "Even if you have tricks up your sleeve, you'll die if you continue interfering. I hope you know that, Eiji Satou."

"Maybe," Eiji conceded, making the puppet master tilt his head. "But you are targeting my brother and I can't have that, sorry. Should have picked something other than Jinchuriki as your target," He explained with an empty grin. "Now, let's get this over with, yeah?"

"It would-" Before the man could finish, Eiji was already Flickering to him. Sasori was prepared for that though, it seemed because he was already mid-dodge when he arrived, and easily slipped around Nuibari. Eiji had to make his own dodging motion to avoid a stream of fire that came out of the man's remaining arm.

His motions felt sluggish, but he supposed that was to be expected. World Ender was good, but it was better for 'normal' wounds, as it were. Poison was a different thing entirely and it was evident that he'd have to work to improve the technique's performance against such attacks. He was sure either Hachi or Kage would take a note of that.

"I did, now focus, damnit," Kage snarled at him. It wasn't Eiji's fault, honestly. There was so much to be aware of, he couldn't slip. A slip could mean that he wouldn't be prepared in the future. A slip could kill him at that very moment by one of Sasori's fire attacks. A slip could see him skewered by the puppet master's cable. A slip could see him-

Sasori opened his mouth and out came a cloud of what could only be poison.

Eiji didn't even have time to react, getting a good breath of the obviously very dangerous attack before Temari could sweep it away with her wind. He heard her call for him but it was just concern for his well being, he didn't have the time for it. Instead of answering, he dodged the puppet that had rushed him from his blindspot and shattered it to pieces with a kick. With that done, he focused on the only real danger that remained.

'No slips, come on,' He told himself. 'Just a bit more and we are done here…' The blades on Sasori's back started spinning then, and Eiji was acutely aware that they could cut off any of his limbs. 'Another thing to keep track off, easy,' He thought sarcastically.

"Eiji, Tayuya wants to know if you want a boost!" Temari called then and he almost paused to think about that. Actually he was pretty sure he did, but his body kept moving.

"Keep on moving, Eiji," Hachi said, having been the one to move his body when he lost focus.

"Thanks," He thought out loud as he continued fighting, narrowly dodging the spinning blades when Sasori unexpectedly twisted his body mid air with the help of his cable. The man had way too many tricks for Eiji's liking. "Is this really what others feel fighting me?" He wondered.

"Do you want a good answer or an honest answer?" Kage shot back. It is a shame that the amusement that should have been there for both of them wasn't. The two, together with Hachi, were too busy keeping track of Sasori's moves and possible attacks, just in case the other two weren't fast enough to react. Which was good, because, somehow, Sasori's army puppets kept coming to join their bout.

"How hasn't the team cleared those out already?" Eiji asked in disbelief.

"He keeps summoning more," Hachi answered and he almost growled at that. "He's being discreet about it, you wouldn't notice without paying attention to it. Good thing you have two more pairs of eyes, right?"

"Because of course he does," The boy grumbled. "And yeah, thank God for you two." There was a loud metallic sound when Nuibari stopped one of the spinning blades, giving Eiji just a split second opening to kick that weapon off Sasori. The other blades managed to cut half-way through his left arm before he could Flicker. 'And thank god for World Ender,' He added as the wound healed.

"Careful, Eiji," Hachi cautioned. "We don't want to test if the Jutsu can regenerate limbs," She reminded him, to which he could only agree. At that moment he caught a small puff of smoke behind Sasori.

'Huh, there goes another puppet for the team, I guess,' He thought. 'Or me,' He corrected when an army puppet started shooting needles at him. Before he could do something about it. The strongest gust of wind Temari had ever used shattered that puppet to pieces. 'Tayuya's boost? Pretty sure that's not enough for that to happen,' Eiji mused, before sensing through his wires that Kabuto was on Temari. 'Huh, copying Tayuya, Kabuto? Not sure she'll like that.'

Eiji almost smiled when he noticed that his little pause had worked as intended, making Sasori take advantage of the opening. As the puppet master rushed him, remaining blades spinning and cable sneaking from a side, Eiji's threads rose from the ground and wrapped around every limb and weapon, several times in some cases.

"It's over," Eiji declared, taking a deep breath in.

"Indeed," Sasori agreed, but something was off, the boy could tell immediately. The man sounded almost pleased and that made no sense. Of all times to start showing some real emotion, why at that moment?

"Eiji!" He heard Temari call, but he was unsure why, he wasn't injured this time and they had to have seen that he was alright. The fighting was done- "Eiji, Deidara!" The girl said then and he felt his blood freeze over. 'He can't still be alive,' He thought to himself, managing to kick Sasori away. Unfortunately, he did so hastily and thus he couldn't put enough force in the attack to shatter the man. He needed to check on…

He stopped cold at what he saw. There was Deidara's body, just like he'd left it. However, his skin was cracking even more than before, darkening to a color that was supremely unnatural. 'What the…? Dead man's switch?' He realized then.

The blonde had laid a trap on him and he'd fallen for it.

His mind raced, what could he do? If Deidara had left behind the present Eiji thought he had. What could he do? There had to be something he could do, anything at all. His lightning birds crashed onto the man's body.

And achieved absolutely nothing.

Light was starting to shine through the cracks.

Eiji moved.

[}-o-{]

[Onoki]

Akatsuki couldn't be dealt with quickly enough.

The Tsuchikage really, really hoped that Satou and his team could find them, because chaos reigned inside Iwagakure ever since that first incident. If Onoki was honest with himself, the news that one of his ninja had brought about the Weaver going on the offensive against Akatsuki brought a great deal of relief. Evidently, Deidara held some sort of grudge against his home village, because the man had left bombs everywhere.

Thus, Onoki's hands had been tied trying to protect his people. He couldn't afford to leave or even send someone else to assist the team, unfortunately. He was sure that had been the intention behind the explosions, but if that was the case, it had worked. He couldn't leave his village without risking everything for himself and his people. Satou would have to deal with the issue on his own, and Onoki prayed that he could, because the Tsuchikage was tired of the threat hanging over his head. That and the Weaver's time to stay inside the village had been running out for a while, now, it was almost over.

If this last effort didn't work, they'd have to leave and Onoki wasn't a fan of what that would entail for his remaining Jinchuriki and village.

"The explosions seem to really have stopped, Tsuchikage-sama," One of his ninjas informed him. Not that he needed to be told that, but the words did bring some relief.

"Can we get going already?" Another voice all but demanded and Onoki felt his eyebrow twitch. 'Agreeing to that was certainly a mistake,' He thought to himself as he turned towards Kurotsuchi. The girl had arrived after her help was rejected by the Weaver - 'And thank God for that.' - and since then she'd been pestering him about joining the effort against Akatsuki.

"Yes," The Tsuchikage reluctantly agreed. "Gather a group, we are going to look for them," He ordered the messenger before turning towards Kurotsuchi. "You aren't coming, however."

Instantly, the girl went to protest, but he was having none of that.

"No, Kurotsuchi. You are not going and that's final. It's an order from your Tsuchikage," He told her. Seeing her flinch as he pulled rank over here, something that he'd never had to do before that day. It was not something that he enjoyed, but it was necessary. He'd let his granddaughter get away with a lot of things, but going after Akatsuki wasn't one of them. Over his dead body. Fortunately, he had an argument that would work pretty well, he was sure. "Did you stand a chance against any of his team members for this mission?"

"Well, Yuki-"

"The ninken?" He asked, interrupting her as he turned towards the dog in question, who had brought with her the location where Satou and the team were supposed to be engaging the Akatsuki duo. It was the only reason why they even entertained the idea that the explosions had really stopped in the first place. Apparently, Satou had either distracted Deidara enough to stop the bombing or he'd taken the man out altogether. Onoki really hoped it was the latter case.

"She's pretty strong," Kurotsuchi protested, but Onoki could see that the argument wasn't enough even for her. The dog certainly enjoyed the praise though, but that was neither here nor there.

"No is no," Onoki informed her with finality, making the girl deflate where she stood.

"Tsuchikage-sama," A ninja called from his side and he turned to see the team he'd asked for already gathered. He nodded at them, making their backs straighten.

"One of you make sure my granddaughter stays right here," He ordered, earning himself a 'Grandpa!' from said girl, which went ignored. "The rest of you, follow me."

And thus, they were on their way to a fight that Onoki really hoped would mean the end of all the trouble he'd been dealing with as of late. He wasn't naive enough to think it would last, but some rest would be much appreciated. It was somewhat surreal, however. Of all things, he'd never thought he'd find himself in a situation where he would become the cavalry for a Konoha ninja.

However, there he was, following a Leaf ninken through his village and out.

With some luck, he'd get a chance to fight something. He really could use that to relieve some of the stress Akatsuki had caused him. Smacking them around would certainly go a long way to making him feel better.

And if it allowed him to repay how much Satou had helped his granddaughter's training, all the better. He'd never have admitted it out loud, but Kurotsuchi seemed to have progressed a lot more under the boy's guidance than she had any of the Jounin he'd assigned to teach her in her life. Once he was gone, Onoki would have to see how Kurotsuchi's classes went with his people. It was possible that being his granddaughter had worked against her instead of in favor, he feared.

The ninken, Yuki, barked something that Onoki was pretty sure meant they were close. He could have been able to tell that by himself, really, since they could already hear Deidara's fighting from a distance. It was a shame that the man was still alive. Or, they had, but the explosions had stopped a while ago and it made him curious as to what had happened to make that happen.

In the end, the scene he arrived at wasn't what he'd been expecting. The puppet parts and the clay everywhere was something he'd foreseen finding, but what he hadn't expected was for Satou to be nowhere in sight. He'd almost turned to ask where he was to who he knew was his second-in-command, the Suna girl, however, the look on her face spoke volumes as she stared off to one side.

Following her gaze, he was just in time to see what Satou was up to.

There, in the distance, he saw an explosion that looked big enough to level an entire village.

"Deidara?" He asked, almost speaking to himself. "Why blow up something there?" It was close, yes, but that explosion, impossibly big as it was, would hit absolutely nothing but mountain.

"Because that wasn't one of Deidara's bombs," Temari, the Sand kunoichi informed, and he noticed a waver in her voice and how pale she looked all of a sudden. "That was Deidara."

'What?'

"Then why-?"

"Because the boss took him there," The redhead ex-Sound ninja interrupted, her eyes fixed on the horizon where the explosion happened. "He took Deidara and Body Flickered the hell out of here," She explained.

"Are you telling me," Onoki started, turning to look in the same direction once more. "That Satou was there?" He knew the answer already. Of course he was. If things had gone as he imagined them, then it was unlikely that the boy had enough time to get away. He could be wrong, for sure.

The expressions on Satou's team spoke for themselves, however.