36 Akatsuki
Without another word, the team moved forward into the darkness.
The cave swallowed them whole.
Torchlight and chakra glow revealed the scene, and for a heartbeat no one spoke.
Gaara was suspended in the air, bound by sealing chakra, his body unnaturally still. Beneath him lay the stone floor, etched with complex markings that pulsed faintly. Towering over him was the statue. Enormous. Grotesque. Its mouth twisted in a silent scream, its hands raised, fingers spread wide like it was begging the world to feed it.
On each finger stood a shadowy projection. Distorted silhouettes wrapped in Akatsuki cloaks, their chakra pressing down on the cave like deep water.
Shizune whispered, "By the Sage… what is that thing?"
Kurama's voice rumbled inside Naruto's mind, low and sharp. "That is the Ten-Tails' husk. The Gedo Statue. Do not underestimate it."
"I know," Naruto replied under his breath. His jaw tightened.
The projections stirred. One stepped forward, the spikes on his face catching the dim light.
"You are quite early, Nine-Tails."
Naruto walked past Kakashi without hesitation, eyes locked on the statue, on Gaara. "Yeah. You guys broke in without an invitation. Thought I'd return the favor."
Chakra flared. The air vibrated.
"I'm not letting you take Shukaku. And I'm definitely not letting you take Gaara."
Both of his hands spun with violent precision. Two Rasengans bloomed into existence, dense and screaming, their rotation shredding the air around them. Wind chakra wrapped tight around their cores, sharp enough to cut skin just standing near them.
Naruto lifted his gaze to the figures on the fingers. Deidara. Sasori.
"So do me a favor," he said calmly, almost politely. "Get the hell away from him."
He thrust both hands forward.
"Rasengan Blast Cannon!"
The cave roared.
Twin spirals of destruction tore forward, ripping through the air and slamming into the statue's fingers. The shockwave detonated inside the cavern, stone exploding outward as the rear wall of the cave ruptured. Light poured in through the collapsing rock, dust and debris raining down like a storm.
Deidara's projection shattered in a violent burst of chakra. Sasori's flickered, cracking as the force tore through it.
The Gedo Statue groaned, an ancient, hateful sound that vibrated through bone and blood.
Kakashi raised his arm to shield his eyes. "Naruto…"
Naruto didn't step back. He stepped closer.
Gaara was still there. Still breathing.
And the fight had only just begun.
Naruto's clone skidded across the stone floor, smoke trailing from its heels as it reached Gaara. The bindings resisted for half a second, then snapped under a surge of chakra. The clone caught Gaara against his chest and leapt back, landing hard beside Shizune, who immediately moved to stabilize him.
Naruto did not look back.
He stepped forward instead, calm and deliberate, the Ninth Cutter sliding into his grip from the seal on his forearm. The blade hummed as chakra settled into it, impatient, hungry.
His eyes lifted to the central projection.
"From the sealing array and the way your chakra leaks," Naruto said evenly, "I can tell you're not here in person. Just puppets and projections."
Pain's image did not respond.
Naruto's gaze shifted to Deidara and Sasori. "So I won't waste time on you. But these two?" His grip tightened. "They touched my friend."
He smiled, thin and dangerous. "Stay and watch. I'm ending this right here." but they didn't as the statue POOFed away with them
Deidara spat blood and dust as he pushed himself upright, his cloak torn, one sleeve gone. "You've got a big mouth for a Jinchuriki."
Sasori's outer shell collapsed completely, fragments clattering to the floor. From within rose his true body. Wood and metal, joints clicking softly. His exposed core glowed faintly in his chest.
"You've grown bold," Sasori said flatly. "That will make your death more interesting."
Deidara's hands split open, mouths stretching wide. He flung his arms forward. "Let me show you real art!"
Clay spiders poured out, skittering across the ground in a white swarm.
Naruto formed a single hand seal. Lightning snapped into the Ninth Cutter, racing along its edge. One clean slash.
The blade sang.
Every spider detonated harmlessly in midair, their chakra destabilized before they could trigger. Smoke cleared, leaving scorched stone and silence.
Naruto didn't slow. "Whatever Kisame and Itachi told you about me," he said, voice steady, "that was three years ago."
He inhaled sharply. "Fire Style. Giant Fireball Jutsu."
Flames erupted from his mouth, massive and compressed, filling the cave with heat. The blast roared toward Sasori.
Sasori flicked open a scroll.
Black sand surged up like a living wall, forming a shield just in time. The fire washed over it, sparks hissing as metal grains absorbed the heat.
Everyone froze.
Lady Chiyo's breath caught. "That sand… no. That's impossible."
Her eyes widened in horror. "The Third Kazekage."
Sasori tilted his head slightly. "Nothing personal, Grandma. His ability was… efficient. It seemed a waste not to use it."
Chiyo's hands trembled.
Lightning cracked through the cave.
"Lightning Style. Thunderhound."
A snarling hound of pure lightning burst from Kakashi's hands and tore across the ground straight at Deidara. Deidara cursed and leapt back, scrambling into the air as the hound snapped at his heels, detonating his clay birds mid-flight.
"Damn it!"
Shizune moved fast, tossing small vials. "Antidotes!" she shouted. "If his poison hits you, inject immediately!"
Naruto caught one without looking. Kakashi snatched another, already spinning a kunai as his Sharingan whirled to life.
"Thanks," Kakashi said shortly.
Naruto lifted the Ninth Cutter again, wind chakra coiling around the blade like a storm waiting to break. He glanced sideways at Kakashi.
"You take Deidara," Naruto said. "Lightning shuts down his clay. Don't let him get altitude."
Kakashi smirked faintly. "Already planned."
Naruto's eyes returned to Sasori. The black sand shifted, forming blades, spears, wings.
"I'll take the puppeteer," Naruto said.
Sasori's core pulsed once, bright and cold.
"Then come," he replied.
The cave filled with killing intent as Naruto stepped forward, blade low, chakra roaring, the space between them collapsing into the opening strike of a fight that would decide Gaara's fate.
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