Hi there! Here comes the next update!

…sorry that it took so long…

Please note that I own nothing but this story idea!

Kouma Shōkan: Swirling War

Chapter Four: Kazekage Retrieval Mission

"I'm impressed with how much you've grown, Naruto," Kakashi commented as Naruto carried him through the air by his underarms. "Your Ice Style has greatly improved, and that seal back there was interesting."

"Thanks, sensei," Naruto replied as his wings tucked closer to his form, increasing their speed across the air. "I had a very productive three years, and it wasn't just in my personal training."

"Yes, I hear that the Hidden Whirlpool is doing very well. Did you happen to make any sort of deal with Lady Tsunade?"

Nodding the Uzukage answered, "Yes, I did. But I'll tell you more about it later. We've caught up with the others." He tensed and looked off in another direction. "Looks like Guy's team dealt with the other fake Akatsuki member and are already heading for the others."

When the two of them landed, they took note of the remaining members of Team Kakashi standing on a river in front of a very large boulder. The boulder was blocking the entrance to a cavern and was held in place by a seal tag. As soon as Naruto had his wings meld back into his body, Team Guy arrived on the scene.

"Kakashi, my youthful rival!" greeted the green clad Jonin exuberantly. "I see your team made it before us! We'll just have to be faster next time!"

The silver haired Jonin could only sigh at his self-proclaimed rival. "Sure, Guy… All things considered, it's good that you and your team got here so quickly. We should have the advantage now, considering who we have aiding us."

That last comment was followed by Kakashi turning to Naruto, who was focusing his sights on the sealing tag on the boulder. Team Guy looked surprised at seeing the blonde once more, and Lee took it upon himself to greet him.

"Naruto-san! How wonderful it is to see you again!" he exclaimed joyfully.

Due to being so focused on the seal, the Uzukage didn't hear the Chunin. Turning to regard Lee, Naruto asked, "You say something?"

This resulted in various responses. Firstly, Lee looked shocked before going on a cursing rant about how "hip" Naruto was. Second, Guy was cursing Kakashi for passing down his "hip ways" onto Naruto. Thirdly, Kakashi had an amused and almost proud look on his face at how Naruto had unknowingly copied him in response to a Youthful Exclamation. And lastly, the others either sweatdropped or face palmed at the whole scenario.

Naruto looked lost before shrugging and leaping up onto the boulder to get a closer look at the seal tag. "Hmm… Looks like it's a Five Point Barrier tag," he explained for the others. "Normally, a seal like this would need four other people to go and find the other tags while the fifth stays with the main one."

"Meaning they need to be removed simultaneously then?" asked Sakura, earning a nod from her ex-teammate.

"Exactly. But like I said; that's normally." He gave a small grin and added, "Not many people take into account how effective clones can be in a situation like this." As he said this, four copies of himself shot away from his crouching form and sought out the remaining tags. The real Naruto had his eyes closed as he sensed what his clones were experiencing. After a few minutes, he felt that they had reached the tags and, as one, the five versions of the Uzukage pulled the sealing tags. "All good!"

Sakura smirked at that and cracked her knuckles before rushing at the boulder, shattering it in one punch. Fortunately, Naruto was able to sense her buildup of chakra and felt it was very familiar to how a certain Hokage built up theirs. His assumption was spot-on and he held a deadpan expression at what he was witnessing.

'Way to go, Granny… You made a pink haired copy of yourself… Let's just hope Sakura wont drink or gamble in the future…'

With the boulder out of the way, and the clones easily dispelling the traps from the other four tags, the group of ten stepped into the cavernous base of the Akatsuki just in time to see Gaara floating in midair while the chakra and life force of the Ichibi was being forcibly siphoned from his body.

"Well now… Seems like these humans have found the method of stealing us from Jinchūriki," Kyuubi noted, making Naruto frown. "From what I can feel, the process is also killing your friend. A shame, really. He wasn't bad as far as humans went."

'What about that statue deeper in?'

"That thing is a relic that only has one purpose. I'll tell you what it is later. You have a battle on your hands."

Naruto refocused just in time to lock eyes with the hologram on the head of the statue. Arctic blue eyes met pale purple ones that held rings around the pupils. "The Uzukage himself has graced us with his presence. Interesting…"

Deidara, the Mad Bomber of the Hidden Stone, grinned insanely at the others. "Looks like you idiots arrived too late, hm! Take a good long look at the Kazekage while he still has some life left!"

Sasori of the Red Sand sighed gruffly. "I swear you talk too much, Deidara…" He turned his head to the eldest of the group and sighed again. "Of course she would come…"

"Deidara, Sasori," began Pein, "be sure not to accidentally kill the Uzukage. He holds the Kyuubi after all."

Naruto showed no reaction to that reveal, even when the others, save for the Leaf Jonin, looked surprised at it. Instead, he had a pair of chains poke out of his back and sink into the ground, slowly moving towards Gaara's position while he made a show of pulling out a kunai and a sealing tag. Wrapping the tag around the handle, he activated his Chakra Severing Tag and tossed it to Tenten, who caught it easily.

"I hope your skills haven't dulled over the years," he commented, earning a smirk from her.

"Still as sharp as every edge in my arsenal," she replied easily, giving the extended edge of the kunai a couple of practice swings before nodding. "Nice length, by the way."

Kakashi took charge. "Looks like there are only two members here physically. We'll split up to handle them, taking them both on 5:1."

Naruto gave Kakashi an amused look and said, "You must feel proud about being able to order a Kage around, Kakashi."

This only earned him the famous eye-smile of the Hatake. "But of course. It's been a secret goal of mine to order around one of the other Kage."

Naruto shook his head at that. "Well, that will have to stay a goal."

As soon as he finished, his two chains shot upward from the ground directly beneath Gaara, wrapping around the Kazekage while Naruto's chakra acted as a repellent for the Akatsuki's. With a jerk of his head, the chains fully broke free from the ground, making two parallel trenches as they pulled Gaara away from the sealing jutsu and to the safety of the others.

"I'm taking over here," Naruto continued, speaking like the Village Leader he was. "Sakura!" she jumped in surprise, but gave Naruto her undivided attention. "Stabilize Gaara. Guy, Lee, and Neji, you three will run the frontline against that Deidara guy; the blonde one."

Neji nodded immediately, his training to respect his superiors coming forth. "Yes, sir."

Guy shared a look with his protégé before the two of them shot forward at high speed, both of them giving a cry of, "YOUTH!"

"Kakashi, you and Lady Chiyo take on Sasori. She knows how he fights and your Sharingan will give you an advantage," continued Naruto, still speaking like a leader as Sakura moved over to Gaara and did what Naruto told her to for the Kazekage. He then turned to Yamato and Sai, looking thoughtful. "I honestly don't know what you two are good at, so I want you both to help out Kakashi and Lady Chiyo against Sasori."

Yamato nodded and took point with his superior while Chiyo unsealed two puppets and had them fly towards her grandchild. As for Sai, he pulled out some ink and a brush before using it to create five ink lions that sprung to life and charged alongside the puppets.

"What about me?" Tenten asked.

"You have the most experience with sealing arts compared to the others," he confessed. "I'm going to need your help with unsealing the stolen chakra from that statue." He pointed to the massive statue that the Akatsuki holograms stood on. "Worst comes to worst, I'm going to need you to help me cut into the chakra and destroy it. Whatever the Akatsuki want with the chakra of the Nine Bijuu can't be anything good; so it'd be better to destroy it if we can't reclaim it."

She nodded. "Got it. After you, Lord Uzukage," she teased with a smirk. She remembered when he was still a runt dressed in orange years back. She found him admittedly to be cute with his determination and resolve, but she was glad to see how much he had matured over the years.

As the ten ninja did their jobs, Pein spoke to his subordinates. "This was, regrettably, a failure. Deidara, Sasori, don't let them near the statue. Dispose of them and return to base as soon as you can." With that order, he and the other holograms vanished, leaving the partnered Akatsuki duo to deal with their adversaries.

"Easier said than done, hm," grumbled the Mad Bomber before he created a clay bird that enlarged with a burst of smoke and flew towards the male members of Team Guy. Sasori stood his ground as Kakashi and Yamato charged at him alongside his old puppets and those peculiar ink creations.

'Better make this quick. Lord Pein doesn't like to be kept waiting,' he mused before opening his jaw and firing a continuous volley of poisoned senbon needles.

Meanwhile, Naruto had two clones make a barrier to protect Sakura as she focused on Gaara. He then ran up the rock wall with Tenten and the two raced for the statue by running across the ceiling. 'Any ideas on how to get Shukaku's chakra back from that thing, Fox?'

"Search for the largest gathering of it and try to siphon it from there. If that fails, then try to destroy it from the inside. And if that fails…attack the statue with everything you've got."

The blonde Kage nodded grimly as he and his current partner continued to head for the statue.

Kakashi, with his Sharingan revealed, rolled away from another burst of senbon before he unleashed a Grand Fireball at Sasori. Unfortunately, the puppet user substituted with some upturned rubble before trying to skewer Yamato with his bladed tail stinger. The man blocked this with a surprising use of Wood Style in the form of a dome-shaped shield.

As soon as the stinger was plunged into the wood, Yamato had more wooden tendrils erupt from the ground and wrap around the tail, holding it in place. Sasori narrowed his eyes at this in annoyance before he detached the right arm of his puppet Hiruko, and had it shoot towards his opponents. With an explosive bang, the arm fired shrapnel and senbon in every direction, forcing Kakashi to erect a Mud Wall to defend himself while Yamato was still protected by his Wood Dome. Chiyo used the Mother and Father puppets to cover her form while the Mother puppet used its arm machinations to create a solid shield of chakra. As for Sai, he had his lions take hits for him while he used his tanto blade to deflect any that got too close.

Kakashi then created an illusionary clone to rush towards Sasori, using it as a distraction for him to use the Body Flicker to attach himself to the ceiling directly above the Akatsuki member. When he saw Sasori take the bait, he kicked off the rocky ceiling and shot downward, his right hand sparking with his signature technique. "Lightning Blade!" he roared, breaking through the Hiruko puppet with ease.

Unfortunately, Sasori's real body leapt away in time to not take the hit. Scoffing in annoyance, the redheaded Akatsuki member unsealed another puppet; this one with a mane of blue hair and golden eyes. Seeing his grandmother's look of shock made him smirk.

"You didn't…" she begged.

"Oh, I did," he corrected. "Say hello to the Third Kazekage, the Master of the Iron Sand!"

"Eight Trigrams: Air Palm!" Neji cried as he fired a concentrated burst of air from his hand to intercept another flying bomb. "Palm Rotation!" he then spun in place and activated his ultimate defense to block more bombs that came at him from all sides. As soon as he finished spinning, he leapt away while Lee leapt forward with one of his signature moves.

"Leaf Hurricane!" he exclaimed, trying to kick the flying mount that Deidara rode on. Unfortunately, the clay bird glided higher, moving just out of Lee's range.

But unknown to Deidara, Lee's attack was actually a feint, and it moved him directly in range for…

"Dynamic Entry!"

…a heavy diving kick from the Green Beast of the Hidden Leaf. With a cry of pain and surprise, the Mad Bomber was dismounted and fell towards the ground. He was about to form another clay bird, but he was forced to substitute with his previous one when Neji leapt up to intercept his descent. The clay bird took a big blow from the Gentle Fist strike, disrupting the chakra within it and causing it to erupt in a mess of brittle clay that was harmless upon impact.

"Dammit, hm!" Deidara cursed before he went through handseals with his remaining arm. 'Been a long time since I used any other jutsu… Dammit, using one hand is taking too damn long!' he cursed with a mental cringe before he slammed his hand on the ground. "Earth Style: Precipice Blades!" he roared, his jutsu making spikes erupt all around him in hopes of skewering his annoying opponents.

Unfortunately for him, Guy and Lee were much too quick and easily leapt away while Neji used his Palm Rotation once again, shattering any spikes that shot up from the ground around his form. While the jutsu was a failure, it did give Deidara enough space to dig his hand into more clay and shape it into a serpent. When it was activated, it grew to be the size of an apartment room with Deidara standing on the serpent's head with a mad look on his face.

"I'm not finished yet, hm!"

Naruto furrowed his brows as his palm rested against the statue, eyes closed as he concentrated. He hand Tenten do the same after giving her a basic description of what Bijuu chakra felt like. While she wasn't a natural sensor like he was, she did know what chakra felt like. So, she was able to make a solid attempt at finding the largest source of the Ichibi's chakra sealed into the weird statue.

"Anything yet?" asked Naruto, slowly moving his hand across the surface of the statue.

"Not yet…" she answered in irritation. "Where the hell would they place that chakra in something this big?"

"This thing is big enough for them to choose any number of specific spots," Naruto growled out, opening his eyes to scan the statue visually. "But if I had to make a guess," he continued as he leapt up to the face of the statue, scowling at the many closed eyes it had, "I'd say that it's in one of these eyes."

Leaping up beside him, Tenten started to try and locate the Ichibi chakra in one of the eyes while Naruto checked another. It was she who found it when she felt the heaviness and maliciousness of the chakra from one of the eyes.

With a shudder, she stepped back and called Naruto over. "This one," she said as he felt the energy for himself.

"…Yep, that's Shukaku's chakra alright," he sighed out. "Stab the chakra blade into the eye, Tenten."

"You sure?" He nodded once. "Alright then…" She complied with his order, stabbing it directly in the center of the eye; showing the perfect aim she was famous for.

Standing behind her, Naruto had four chakra chains stab around the eye socket, each bladed point stabbing at a cardinal point (North, East, South, and West) with the chakra blade in the very center. He then handed Tenten a sealing tag with a difficult design on it as he sat down in a lotus position.

"I need you to place that tag on my back when I say so. I'm going to try to draw out the chakra into my chains while the chakra blade you used keeps the Bijuu chakra from settling. Once it settles, it will be fully absorbed into the statue, so we need it to stay active."

She eyed the tag, amazed at the intricacy of the design. "What will this do?"

"It will temporarily store Shukaku's chakra inside of it. Hopefully I can return it to Gaara's body before the tag destabilizes since Bijuu chakra is incredibly difficult to handle. Now, I need to concentrate. Wait for my call."

"Got it," she answered, crouching behind him with the tag ready to be placed at a moment's notice.

"Iron Sand unleash!" Sasori cried out with a manic look on his puppet face. It had been revealed by Chiyo that he had turned himself into a puppet; even though he himself called it "becoming art".

With the use of the Third Kazekage's control of Magnet Style, the poisoned grains of iron sand took shape in the air and flew at the four ninja facing the Red Scorpion. When the ninja dodged the attacks, they also had to take into account how the sand would branch out erratically, making it increasingly difficult to not get cut; especially when Chiyo only had one vial of antidote that she and Sakura had made when healing Kankuro back in the Hidden Sand.

Chiyo used the Mother and Father puppets with incredible efficiency against the Third Kazekage puppet, their weapons clashing in a flurry of strikes and parries and with such speed that Kakashi had to use his Sharingan to witness it clearly.

When their exchange broke off, their puppets' weapons were badly damaged to the point of being practically useless. Kakashi decided to act by preparing his Sharingan to be used with its advanced stage; the Mangekyō. Seeing that his superior needed time to prepare, Yamato turned to Sai and ordered, "Cover me!"

The ink user nodded and summoned forth another pride of ink lions while also creating a large ink bird to ride on over Sasori. With his lions on the ground, Sai attacked from the air with a relentless barrage of kunai and shuriken; both naturally made and ink-created. Meanwhile, Yamato was using Earth Style to send forth his own onslaught of man-sized stones that were launched at Sasori and his puppet. Beside him was a Wood Clone who was shooting forth continuous shots of Water Bullets.

Chiyo wasn't sitting idly by as this went one though. She had the puppets she was using grab some of the deflected kunai knives and attack Sasori's puppet relentlessly. She kept glancing at the son of the White Fang, noting how he had a handseal in front of his implanted eye while he took a knee, remaining motionless to focus more clearly. 'Hurry up, brat,' she urged mentally.

"Kamui!" was suddenly heard coming from Kakashi, and the four others were shocked to see a distortion form within the body of the Kazekage puppet before it was absorbed inward and vanished into nothingness with a mess of splinters falling harmlessly onto the stone floor. They were left in their shocked states as Kakashi gripped around his eye at the backlash of his technique. "Finish him off!"

Sasori growled at the loss of his favorite puppet, and he removed his cloak before summoning one hundred puppets. It was his ultimate technique; Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets. "Welcome to Hell," he sneered before he sent forth his army of puppets.

Chiyo frowned at their odds, so she sealed away the Mother and Father before unsealing her own trump card. From the smoke, ten puppets in white cloaks were revealed, and Chiyo declared, "White Secret Technique: The Chikamatsu Collection of Ten Puppets!"

The Performance took on the Collection in an epic duel of puppetry and the Leaf ninja were left impressed, awed, and silenced at the battle before them. Chiyo's ten puppets were like a machine; each puppet playing a part that worked towards a common goal: defeating Sasori.

By the time the clash had ended, the ceiling of the cave had been broken through and revealed the sunlight from outside. The red cloaked puppets had been defeated and Sasori had been pinned in place by the puppets made in the likeness of his parents; the Mother and Father.

"Damn," he cursed, smiling woodenly through his puppet face. "I didn't think the old bat still had that much left in her… I had hoped…to have my art last longer than this… But, some things aren't meant to be eternal…"

"Sasori…" whispered Chiyo, saddened at having to kill her own grandchild.

"Don't weep for me, old woman," he admonished weakly. "I won't be pitied by you in death." He turned his head shakily to Kakashi, control weakening as he neared death's grip. "Kakashi…I have something for you… Call it a reward for defeating me…"

While he frowned at what this reward could imply, he decided to hear the dying Akatsuki member out.

"Dammit!" cursed Deidara as he rolled across the ground ungracefully, having been double-kicked by Guy and Lee with a combined Dynamic Entry. Before he could stop his tumble, he was hit by compressed air from the Hyuuga and sent flying into his downed clay serpent. 'Shit, that hurts! Damn these bastards!'

"It's over!" declared Guy with his two students standing on either side of him. "Give up! You can't win against our combined youth!"

Neji had to seriously resist the urge to face palm at that. 'Don't rope me into your antics!'

Deidara growled at them, angered at his obvious disadvantage and inevitable loss. 'I'm not out of this yet, hm! Not by a long shot!' He then turned in place and starting ripping off clay with his teeth, chewing it like a wild animal and eating as much as he could. His actions shocked the others, but Neji still had his Byakugan active and saw the buildup of chakra.

"He's turning himself into a living explosive!" he exclaimed.

"That's right, hm! Now…get ready to become my art!" His chakra began to fluctuate wildly. "True art is short and radiant!" It became more and more unstable. "There is no equal to its beauty!" It reached its critical point. "True art…" It spiked. "…IS AN EXPLOSION!"

"MOVE!" Neji yelled as he and his teammates got ready to leap.

But they were saved when four golden chains erupted from the ground, wrapping tightly around Deidara, much to his surprise. To the surprise of Neji, the chains instantly calmed down the erratic chakra, bringing it down to a stable level before suppressing it even further.

"Sorry," they heard Naruto say as he walked over to the Mad Bomber. "You won't be becoming one with your art today." He then slapped a seal tag on the man, weakening him even more. As the man's enraged eyes dimmed and his eyes began to shut, Naruto finished, "Take a rest. You have a bed waiting for you in the Hidden Sand Prison."

With that, the two Akatsuki were taken down, Gaara had been saved and stabilized by Sakura, and the mission was declared a success.

Naruto was sitting on a chair in Gaara's personal room in the hospital, reading a scroll that had been delivered by Derpy about an hour before. He smirked at how the report by Karin noted how impatient Hanabi was becoming at her training not starting yet.

"Looks like she's a black sheep Hyuuga like Hinata-chan," he mused with a chuckle. "That's good. They could certainly use a change from their old ways."

The door to the room opened and Naruto turned his attention to Temari as she entered. "He still resting?"

"Yeah," answered the Uzumaki. "Can't blame him though; not after everything he's been through recently."

"I know." She moved over to her youngest brother's side, resting her hand on his arm. "I was so terrified…" she whispered.

"I don't doubt that," replied Naruto. "If anything had happened to my family, I'd be just as scared." He closed his eyes, thinking of the Ponies, the Princesses, Discord, Chrysalis, and his sisters. He couldn't imagine them in some kind of peril; nor did he want to. "He'll be okay, Temari. We got to him in time, Sakura was able to stabilize him, and Shukaku has been fully restored inside of his seal. I also made sure that his seal was fully secured again. Just let him rest."

She took a deep breath and nodded. "I know…" Turning to him, she moved over and leaned down over his seated form to embrace him. "Thank you for bringing him back… Thank you, Naruto…"

He smiled and rubbed her back soothingly. "You don't need to thank me. Gaara is my brother too, after all. Of course I'd go after him."

She chuckled trough her building tears, pulling away from her fellow blonde so she could wipe them away. "I should've known you'd say something like that." Her smile warmed and softened as she finished, "I'm glad we met you, Lord Uzukage."

He slumped comically at the respectful title, making her chuckle again as she left the room. As she left, she fought back full-blown laughter at how he moaned pitifully at "stupid formalities".

Gaara, fully recovered and rested, faced his rescuers from foreign villages. A grateful smile was on his face as he bowed to them all. "You all have my thanks for your efforts. The Hidden Sand is in debt to the Leaf and Whirlpool. I'll be sure to send a message to Lady Hokage about this soon."

Kakashi eye-smiled modestly. "It wasn't much trouble, Lord Kazekage. We're always happy to aid our allies." He and the other Leaf ninja all bowed in farewell before he turned to his old student. "I look forward to hearing more about your endeavors, Lord Uzukage."

Slumping once more, Naruto moaned, "Not you too, sensei…" This caused everyone to chuckle before the Leaf ninja took off.

However, before she did, Sakura moved over to her estranged teammate, fidgeting nervously. "Naruto… I wanted to… I mean, I was hoping to…"

He listened to her try to come up with the right words for a few moments longer before silencing her with a gentle hand on her shoulder. When her green eyes met his blue ones, he asked, "Clean slate?"

Her eyes widened at the offer before she smiled brightly and nodded. "Yes. I'd like that, Naruto." She then moved in and hugged him tightly, clutching the back of his robe. "…thank you…"

Naruto let her hold onto him without any resistance, and he smiled at her warmly as she took off before turning to his fellow Jinchūriki. "Well, I'll see you soon, brother."

Nodding, Gaara shook hands with his fellow Kage before the two of them embraced in a brotherly manner. "I'll look forward to it, brother."

When Naruto pulled away, he grinned at the rest of the Hidden Sand citizens before he unleashed his wings and took off, shooting into the air like a missile before heading towards his home with a sonic boom.

He had grown slightly homesick over the course of the mission, and his Firecracker of an apprentice was no doubt eager to begin her training.

Tada! That's chapter four! About damn time, huh? *sheepish grin*

All things aside, I really am glad that my muse isn't dead for this story! Let's hope it stays that way, yeah?

Next chapter begins Hanabi's training as the apprentice of the Uzukage! How will she do when her lessons begin?

Off topic, I'm in the midst of planning out a Bleach crossover with the pairing being Naruto and Orihime Inoue! Let me know what you guys think!

Until next time!

~pain17ification~