True Power

Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me; I am just borrowing the characters for this story.

Taking on the Third Kazekage was not something that was to be taken lightly, he was known throughout the lands for his fearsome control of iron sand. Calling forth shapes of all sizes from pyramids, cubes, and lastly orbs. It wasn't altogether scary by itself but knowing that those same objects could crush you like a bug would leave anyone a little apprehensive.

Springing into action, Sakura and co. attacked the blocks and orbs to clear the way toward Sasori. The villain would not be so easily cornered though and weaved in and out of the trio's many attacks. The mother and daughter team from the Inuzuka clan were constantly on the move with their signature technique that left deep gashes in the cave walls. Sakura had a more direct approach and caused miniature earthquakes in the enclosed space, dealing with the tremors and dodging the spinning revolutions was more taxing to Sasori then he let on. Deciding enough was enough he called forth the more deadly aspect of the Kazekage's sand and with the newly infused poison prevalent in the grains there was a new danger to the women.

The aggressors had now become the ones on defense, Sakura only had a finite amount of antidote to the poison that had infected Kankuro. If the girls didn't finish this quickly they would be the ones lying face down on the ground instead of Gaara. With an almost imperceptible nod of their heads the trio launched into a new offensive style. The mother and daughter duo cleaved large sections of the cavern ceiling down onto the long dead Kazekage and watched as the puppet danced to and fro to dodge. While it was preoccupied with the falling debris Sakura raced up the side of the walls and launched herself directly at the puppet.

Not in the least bit surprised by the attack Sasori directed the puppet to intercept the medic and finish her once and for all. Unbeknownst to Sasori, Sakura had already shot forth chakra scalpels that severed the master's connection to the puppet. Without someone to play a tune for the puppet it crumpled to the floor in an unruly heap. It was an easy target for the full force of Sakura's monstrous strength, there was nothing left of the marionette except for kindling.

Moderately surprised by the dismantling of one of his most powerful puppets, Sasori clapped his hands and smiled wickedly at the trio. "I was wrong to coddle you three, I apologize. Now I will show you the real reason that whole nations fear me!" Without another word Sasori had called forth 100 puppets from a sealed scroll, this was the technique that had conquered an entire nation.

Recognizing that the cave was not the best place to fight a hundred new enemies the trio blasted out of the cave and reformed to take on the new threat. Tossing a vial of antidote at Tsume, Sakura signaled her to ingest it. Without a second thought the matriarch of the Inuzuka clan drained the vial and tossed it to the ground. "That should give you at least 3 minutes of immunity to the poison, don't waste a single second of it." Smiling with a bloodthirsty grin Tsume advanced on the horde of the puppets. Pumping in a massive quantity of chakra into her hands and legs Tsume shot off like rocket at the mass of puppets. It was a spectacle to see, she bulldozed 2 dozen of the puppets before they even had a chance to use an ability.

The rest were able to avoid the onslaught but were not prepared for the introduction of her daughter to the mix. And another dozen or so had bit the dust, without the fear of being poisoned and put out of commission for a while the duo went wild. Sasori was now getting a little irritated, usually when called forth this technique the opponents quailed in fear and all he had to do was mop up the stricken prey. Instead these women had reduced his forces to half in a matter of minutes.

"Enough! I will not be publically embarrassed by a trio of tramps tagging along with their master." Whatever else had to be said was lost, Sakura didn't take too kindly to the viewpoint that Sasori had so loudly professed. Sasori didn't even see the hit coming, Sakura had just tore a whole chunk of the ground and threw it at the puppet master. Crushing the remaining puppets and throwing Sasori for a loop.

There was no way that he had just gotten beaten by kittens tagging along with their boy toy, but there it was, Sakura standing on top of his chest. "I would say it was a pleasure to meet you, but it wasn't, so enjoy the afterlife Sasori-san." With that Sakura tore out the core that held Sasori together, if it had been a normal human being it would be horrific, but since it was Sasori it just meant that she tore out the piece that controlled the puppets. Watching the light leave Sasori's eyes was euphoric for the teen.

"Nice work Sakura, but I think it's time we caught up with Naruto-kun and Temari-chan." Nodding her head at the matriarch, Sakura and co. took off toward where they had last seen Deidara fly off to.

Meanwhile with Naruto and Temari

Chasing after the detonation freak was one thing but when he continued to spread his explosive clay all over the place it was a wonder that Temari wasn't full of holes. Most of the clay was rendered harmless when Temari shot forth great gusts of wind and sent them directly back at Deidara. Although that just made it easier for the psychopath to reform the clay into something that much bigger to drop on them. 'Itachi was lying, he didn't mention that there was a wind user among them. I might actually have to land and fight them directly.' While Deidara was continuing to slow down the Nine tails and the deceased sister, he didn't notice that Naruto had motioned to Temari to come closer.

"We need to get up there Temari-chan, think you can summon that pet rat you got?" Incensed by the slight to her summon, Temari nonetheless summoned the pet rat as Naruto so eloquently put it. Nodding his head, Naruto gathered a massive amount of chakra from both his reserves and Kyuubi's and let that flow toward the pet rat. The summon grew 3 times as big as it once was, with the new found strength it was child's play for the summon to carry both Temari and Naruto up toward Deidara.

Shocked that he was not the only ones in the sky anymore, Deidara set to work in making sure the duo wouldn't get close enough for it to matter. Launching numerous clay swallows and pigeons, he was confident that rat couldn't dodge them all. And if it did all he had to do was detonate them close enough to do major damage. What he wasn't expecting was the thin layer of wind chakra that Naruto had built around the summon, whatever got within a 20 foot radius was sliced to smithereens. Naruto was done playing with Deidara, he needed to revive his friend before it was too late.

Quickly extending his hand, Naruto formed an additional appendage through the use of Kyuubi's chakra. While Deidara tried his hardest to dodge and weave around the arm, it was soon apparent that he was boned. With the large bird of clay caught in his grasp, Naruto extracted Gaara from its beak and carefully maneuvered the seemingly dead Jinchurikki toward their own summon.

"Gaara! Can you hear me Gaara?!" Temari was beside herself with worry for her youngest brother.

With the task accomplished Naruto started to squeeze the life out of the clay bird and it's master with it. Seeing no other way to deal with the miscreant harming his beautiful art, Deidara did the only thing he could think of, he blew himself and the clay bird up in spectacular blast of pyrotechnics. Miffed that he was cheated his kill and the sweet pleasure of watching the idiot beg for mercy, Naruto got back to the matter at hand. And that was finding a way to get Gaara to come back to the land of the living.

Channeling his chakra as he did with the summon, Naruto extended it out to Gaara and watched as it repaired the superficial wounds all around his body. Though his young friend still did not awaken, 'Oi… what's going on fur ball? Why doesn't it work like before?'

'It's not that simple Naruto, too much time may have passed before we were able to reach him.' Stubbornly ignoring the information from Kyuubi, Naruto again tried to instill his chakra into Gaara. And again it came up empty. There was no outward sign the massive amount of chakra was having any effect on the teen. "What's going on Naruto? Why won't he wake up?" Torn by the wrenching sobbing that was just occurring to his right, Naruto wouldn't give up on his friend. 'What the hell, if 50% won't do it, then how about all I have?'

The light that emitted from Naruto was almost as bright as the very sun itself, 'What the hell are you doing kit? Are you going to sacrifice yourself for him? Think about the people back home, what would happen to them without us?' The words fell on deaf ears as Naruto infused Gaara with almost all of his power. With a flash of light that blinded Temari for a moment, the process was completed and she heard a light coughing. It was coming from Gaara, he was slowly waking up from what was a terrible nightmare.

"Gaara! Thank Kami you're okay. You had me worried for a second there. That was great work Naruto-kun, huh? Naruto-kun?" Looking toward the blond Temari was struck by how pale he was. Shaking him did nothing and it seemed he was dead to the world. Frightened once more, Temari called again and again toward the blond but nothing seemed to work. Gaara had oriented himself during this time and was slowly piecing together what had transpired. With a quick glance at Naruto, Gaara knew what he had to do. Gathering the chakra was painful, it seemed being dead for a bit really messed with your chakra pathways. Grunting through the effort, Gaara slowly infused the excess chakra he had received back into Naruto.

With a hacking cough, Naruto jumped away and glanced around his surroundings. He felt weaker than he had ever remembered feeling. "Oh anyone catch the name of the summon that stepped on my head?" Stupefied the sheer ridiculous of the situation, Temari just went with it and lunged at Naruto. "Don't ever do that again!"

Chuckling at the attention, Naruto held the blond and stroked her hair as he muttered soothing words in her ear. Starring over the blond he was able to see Gaara looking better than a minute ago, though that wasn't saying much since he had been dead. "Yo, how was the trip?"

"Only you would call meeting my end a trip, thank you for saving my life Naruto."

"Hey no problem, what would I have done if you had died? Temari-chan would have been inconsolable." Shaking his head at the blasé way Naruto viewed his sacrifice for him, Gaara just smiled and nodded his head. It was just easier that way.

'You're an idiot kit, you know you could have really killed us?'

'Its fine, I knew that you wouldn't let me die.'

'And how did you know that oh mighty seer?'

'Because we're family and nothing would come between us and saving our own.'

'Whatever kit, just know that little stunt you pulled is going to keep you in traction for at least a week or more.' Finally feeling the after effects of the huge strain that the chakra exchange had put on his body, Naruto soon succumbed to blissful sleep nestled in the warm embrace of Temari's arms.