The fear, so primeval and wild it was barely above the instinct of fight or flight, shook the blue haired paper witch to her bones. A powerful, paralyzing emotion that spread to every fiber of her body as those dark red eyes continued to bear down on her from their place above.
She closed her eyes, forcefully wrenching them away from the sight with a barely suppressed shudder, and whatever spell bound emotion of fear she had felt vanished as she lost sight of his gaze.
Her gaze hardened, and her resolve solidified, bolstered as her mind moved quickly to contain the situation, to contain him before he could recover more of his former strength. "Kisame, move onto section seven of the seal, channel your chakra into it with the Ram hand signal! Tobi, Deidara, sectors twelve and nine, use the Ox and Bird seals respectively. Itachi!"
She turned to look over her shoulder at the raven haired Uchiha. "Trip him up."
Marching over to another portion of the seal, Konan placed her hand firmly down upon the dried ink, forming a single seal with her other hand as she too began channeling chakra into the construct.
Itachi's spinning sharingan eyes trailed slowly towards the hanging figure, a twitch in his jaw being the only shift in his expression that belied his current unease.
His hands rushed through a quick sequence of seals and above him, Naruto tensed in preparation, bracing his muscles for the onslaught he knew was coming.
With a spark and crackling flare, lightning burned to life in the Uchiha's hand and with a grunt, he launched it upwards.
Unable to brace himself, the lightning slammed into him with full force, a searing burning sensation spreading over his entire body. His muscles tightened and loosened spasmodically, bursts of lightning were strengthened and weakened at random intervals and locations, not allowing him to become used to the sensations.
His teeth clenched so hard that he felt pain in his jaw bones, muscles tightening so much he felt they would snap or his bones would break.
Heightened senses, usually a blessing in the ninja world, now proved their cursed weight. He could almost feel the calcification of his bones, the electricity racing along his veins through the Iron minerals in his blood, the spasmodic pumping of his heart as he entered the first stages of ventricular fibrillation.
Abruptly the sensation was cut off, and Naruto was allowed a short reprieve before he heard Konan's voice reaching into his ear.
"Hit him again!"
XXXXXXXXXXXX
The four Shinobi rushed through the snow, using chakra to tightly pack the snow beneath their feet in mili-seconds as their feet made contact with the shimmering white surface, allowing them an unbroken stride as if they were in Kumo's plains rather than this frozen wastelands.
In the distance, about, half a mile away if they had to guess, the four could begin to see the towering formation of Ice, a structure that had stolen their breath when they first found its full body beyond the fog and misty ice.
'I did not think man could build such things'
Had been Yoshihiro's stunned assessment.
It was tall, unbelievably so, so much so that its very tip reached above the clouds and they could not even see it. It gleamed like a spike of sapphire in the thin lights that broke through the perpetual storm.
At its base, the structure jutted out with massive spikes in every direction, it was nearly as wide as Konoha itself, becoming thinner and thinner the higher it went, until finally the dozens of spikes dropped in number to just one. It seemed like a knife, seeking to reach the heavens themselves.
At the juncture, where the base structure condensed itself into the tower, that was where all four of them could see the faint red glow, flickering and dimming with each passing moment.
"Got to move faster." The sharingan wielder hissed before he increased his pace.
As fast as they ran, as much distance as they covered the citadel of ice only loomed over them more ominously with each step, and the red glow continued to diminish, a roaring fire being doused till it was merely a cinder.
Kakashi felt a myriad of emotions flare up within him as he, more than any other except for possibly Naruto's own sister, whom had inadvertently led them here, could sense and see, physically see with his sharingan as Naruto's strength and force was being leeched from him.
A hopeless fear, a blinding range, a blood curdling indignation. All these welled up, and swirled in his stomach until he felt he would burst from them.
It was a horrifying ordeal. Naruto was not only his commander, and leader for over a decade. He wasnt just, the person that Kakashi trusted could keep this entire thing from falling apart at the seams and thus condemning the last ten years of his life and the progress of the villages into a meaningless, senseless bloodshed that would become nothing more than a footnote to the histories.
He was also someone that he had known since the young man was born.
He had been there. Been one of the Anbu that had trained him while he was still just a fledgling and not the entity of power he was now. Seen and read the health reports, the checkups, the psychological monitoring of the boys condition.
Only when he had washed his hands of the Anbu corps. had he lost contact with the boy, for a mere four years, merely hearing of him in passing and whispered words of dread. Until that fateful day where Sandaime had drawn the boy to that false mission. In the hopes to undo what had become a killer 13 years in the making.
Since then he'd become involved...entangled in the fabric of his life...as they all had been.
And the thought of Naruto, dying mere feet away while he was too slow to arrive, for various reasons, was more than he could stand.
So focused was Kakashi on the fading signature, it was Yoshihiro that had to bring him to a halt with a rough grip on the back of his vest.
"What are you doing?" The Copy nin hissed at the older male who merely pointed ahead of them.
"We actually have a welcoming committee." He answered gesturing ahead of them with a nod of his head.
Kakashi turned his dual colored eyes to the gestured area, finding a crowd of...if he had to give a rough estimate, fifty or so ninja rushing towards them.
"If they're Jounin level we're finished." Temari said flaring her fan wide open.
"Then we'd better hope they're not Jounin level!" Akina stated drawing her signature three pieced staff before she rushed past Kakashi and the others, charging the group head on in a familiar display, Kakashi had been on the receiving end of once.
"Crazy brat." Yoshihiro grumbled before his warhammer was unleashed from a scroll before he too rushed after her, followed by Temari whom had taken to the sky on her fan.
Kakashi's eyes however, once again raised themselves towards the red glow at the base of the Ice tower.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
"Hit him again!"
Itachi took a deep breath, hearing those words for what must have been the 12th time in the last thirty minutes. With every jolt of chakra formed electricity he felt the oppressive presence of the demonic chakra diminish more and more. Several times he'd cut off the flow, in fear of actually killing their troublesome prisoner, and for a while it seemed as though Konoha's Kage would give up the fight, and he could feel Kisame, Deidara, Tobi and Konan's chakra pushing his own back, suppressing it back into the seal that had come dangerously close to shattering before their arrival.
Lightning leapt from his fingertips again, fangs of blue flame latching onto the blond like a vice, sinking into his bones.
He was left panting, in pain and out of breath as the attack died away again before he re-bolstered his hold over the escaped chakra of the ninetails. Normally, he would have given up the first time his chakra was pushed back, knowing that as it progressed, with Itachi's interference it would become less and less likely, that he would prevail. And so would be better to save his energy, since he could not be sure just how much control he would wield over the destabilized demonic chakra once he did escape this seal.
But he was also aware of something they weren't.
She was coming.
And though he held no great faith in his younger twin's skill and power. The fact was that through her blind ignorance she wanted to save him from these individuals for some sentimental tripe or other only served to his advantage given the situation. He cared not for her motivations only in her chance of success.
And the fact remained that she held a much greater chance of success than he did at the moment. Perhaps, when they were all focusing on her, distracted by her, he could attempt his escape again. But until then he needed to do the only thing he could do from this disadvantageous position.
Weaken them.
With every second he resisted that was another second they needed to expel their chakra to hold him at bay, coupled with the initial attempted sealing that had drained them of energy already he hoped, that these ninja would enter a fight with his sister, at the very least with only 3/4ths of their normal reserves.
The fact that he could only put faith in her, skill, something that had repeatedly succeeded for her only in surviving their encounters and not truly damaging him without outside influence did not sit well with him at all.
But the fact remained, that she was also the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, and possibly had the best chance out of anyone, save for a small army of Anbu and some of his elite ninja, to get him out of the situation he currently found himself in.
And as blue flames slammed into his chest once again, and spread out to his extremities the blond Kage
heard, more than saw the ninja that rushed up behind Konan.
"Ma-m-isturbance-south west." Was the message his ears were able to pick up over the deafening roar of the electricity running through him.
The sound of his own blood was deafening to his ears, and with only a vague cry of a startled 'What' graced the shell of his consciousness before he finally succumbed to blackened abyss.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
"Ma'am there's a disturbance in the south western perimeter."
Konan's gaze snapped back to look over her shoulder at the messenger, prompting him to continue with the simple movement.
"Four chakra signatures Ma'am. We...we believe that its Hatake Kakashi from Konoha."
"WHAT!" The blue haired woman suddenly roared standing and rounding fully on the man, who suddenly felt very small beneath the paper witches fury.
"Ha-Hatake-" The man began to stutter out the repetition, but Konan didn't pay much attention. She had heard him very clearly.
How could Kakashi be here? How could he have followed them, or gotten through the storm? Did he get a message out? What if it was not only him and four ninjas on there way but half of Konoha's Military bearing down on them? He could be an advanced scouting party for the main force.
But Konan shook these thoughts away, Iwa, the nearest Konoha controlled territory was four days away, there was no way a message could have reached them, and their armies could have been mobilized this quickly.
Still, this did not mean Kakashi's group could not double back to get reinforcements.
Focusing her eyes back up on the man cutting off his babbling with a sharp order. "Get down to the barracks. I want every warrior we have, outside and battle ready before they're even one hundred yards of this structure. Tangle them up, make sure they do not manage to escape until we arrive."
"Yes my lady!" The man said with a quick bow before making a hasty exit.
Konan felt the hairs rise on the back of her neck rise, as the air became charged with electricity once more with another burst of Itachi's lightning technique and finally, felt the red chakra recede and weaken in its intensity. She swiveled around on her heel, looking straight up as the blond ninja's form finally fell still, with nothing but shuddering breaths to tell them he was still alive.
Looking towards the others of the room she was soon shouting out orders to them as they too, felt the chakra of the Kyuubi die away and pulled away from the seal construct.
"All of you go; get your gear. I want you down there and this problem dealt with, now! We cant risk these people sending a message to Konoha. I will remain here and make sure the seal has fully locked away his chakra before I join you, Itachi, find Zetsu, and find Sasori. Tell one to get down there as well, and tell the other to guard the Kazekage. The last thing we need is for Kakashi to find him and see this as a free pass at killing Suna's leader."
The Blue haired woman narrowed her eyes at all of them, and though she could tell that, particularly Kisame and Deidara, were not fond of taking orders from a woman, they would follow them. Mainly because neither one wanted to face Pein's fury should they break rank with her.
In a grave voice however that brokered no argument she made even the aforementioned two, nod quickly at her words. "I want. No mistakes."
As they each rushed off to complete their duties Konan marched to the center of the seal, sitting down in a Lotus position, she hastily began channeling her chakra through the complex construct. Weeding through every last plane and layer of it. She couldn't afford to mess up the containment.
She couldn't afford to mess up his containment.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
The clanging of steel shrieked in their ears, metaling clanging noises making the people around the battlefield cringe as though nails were being scraped across tempered glass.
To their immense luck, most of their enemies, or even all weren't even at the standard level of a high Konoha Chuunin. And each had trouble adapting to the distinct styles of combat each of the four intruders came with, which ranged from the, almost brutish toughness of Yoshihiro, to the swift evasiveness of Temari and her wind techniques.
But their numbers were beginning to get overwhelming, and more and more were approaching from the Ice fortress.
Even fire ants could bring down lions given enough numbers.
Yoshihiro swung his hammer with a battle cry, breaking ribs, legs and skulls of several individuals with ease as they got hit, tried to leap over or duck under the massive weapon he wielded. Roaring as one of the desperate kids tried to jump onto his back struggling to put his arms around Yoshihiro's massive shoulders.
With a grunt, the Kage jerked one shoulder forward and the little (at least to Yohihiro) man flipped forward, his grip slipping from the older Kage's neck before his back hit with a solid -thud- against the snow screaming as he saw Yoshihiro's foot descend on his face before they were abruptly silenced with a crack that sank his head several inches into the surface of the snow.
The Kage paid the dead man at his feet no other action other than grinding the ball of his foot into the mans face, and even then, it was only because of a rather hard swing he threw out with his hammer.
All around him the others were taking on more than their fair share of these grunts, firing away with ninjutsu after ninjutsu, dodging those thrown back as whatever weapons they wielded flashed with flares of sparks.
Akina's weapon flashed with lightning, swift and brutal in her attacks. The Akatsuki soldiers swarmed over them, scurrying like insects as they hoped to surround them.
Akina moved swiftly on her feet, dodging and weaving. Though she could easily use the Kyuubi's chakra to her advantage here, possibly destroy this entire party in little more than a few moments.
But something told her not to, half was her own logic, telling her that keeping her trump-card a secret for as long as possible was the smartest move she could make.
But there was something else. A dull, whispered warning gnawing on the back of her mind.
The young woman threw her heavy woolen cloak onto the charging ninja, a sheet of grays and white snow that blinded her opponent as she swiveled around, a kick smashing into a ninja approaching behind her.
The heavy wool blinded him, keeping him in the dark just long enough for the young woman to swivel around, spearing him in the chest with a flash of lightning from the tip of her weapon.
Leaping over the falling man as he fell to his knees, Akina pushed chakra towards the very tip of her weapon, gathering the electricity in a tight ball before she flipped in mid air, swinging her staff in a wide, powerful arc before she slammed the tip onto the Icy surface, kicking up snow with the impact and subsequent shock wave.
Several sparks and blinding white flashes stung her eyes as the voltage trailed over the frozen water like liquid soap over tiled floors, racing up and down the Akatsuki soldiers, damp clothing.
They lost control of their muscles, twitching and screaming in agony as they writhed on the ground
As the young woman landed she found a sudden kick was delivered to another approaching Akatsuki warriors face to her right, startling her a bit before she registered it had been Kakashi that had delivered the blow.
Paying no more attention to the copy nin she rushed forward, a flying kick smashing into another of the Akatsuki soldiers face. Landing, she lashed out with her three pieced staff at two others, the last of which attempted to grab the metal weapon before a bolt of lightning sent him skidding across the ice on his back.
The young woman's sixth sense was the only warning she received before she ducked low, allowing another of the warriors to sail over her head, slamming into several of his comrades. She allowed a spared glance behind her, finding she owed that to none other than Yoshihiro.
Above them Temari soared with her fan, twisting and weaving between projectiles and jutsu, the Suna princess couldn't help but take a moment to appreciate the rush, the familiar feel of adrenaline, fear and sheer exhilaration she had been deprived of for the better part of the last several months.
Through the worry. Through the fear and anxiety was the spark of sheer enjoyment as she felt the crisp, cold northern air against her face, her hair caught in the wind and the rough grip of a weapon in her hands as she descended in a dive towards the crowd of ninja.
She could see that three, more than any of the others were the main attackers that were launching volley after volley of Jutsu towards her.
She banked right, a sharp turn in her dive as she avoided several small fireballs before sweeping downwards again and sharply to the left, approaching the three nina's left side.
They backed away, spreading out, away from her path, an instinctive fear they couldn't suppress at the sight of an object about to fly so close overhead.
Temari adjusted her flight path, and with a chakra enhanced push, shoved her fan straight towards one of them, while she leapt towards another one.
The Akatsuki nin barely uttered a scream before the thirty pound weapon smashed right on top of him, burying him almost completely in the snow. Unconscious, but most likely dead or dying.
Temari twirled through the air, drawing a kunai mid spin before she began her descent.
The Akatsuki ninja could barely adjust the aim for his Jutsu before blood pecked his face and chest, watching, somewhat numbly as his arm began to fall away from his body, the pain, so sudden and so fast, it hadn't yet fully registered in his mind before his head was severed from his shoulders.
Temari pivoted around the falling body arm rearing back before she threw the kunai with pin point accuracy, towards the third aggressor. Laced with wind chakra, it cut and sliced straight through the mans chest, a clean cut hole right through and piercing the head of a man behind him killing them both.
She turned, three chakra strings extending from her hand towards her fallen battle fan, latching onto the weapon before yanking it towards her.
The Suna princess caught it with both arms, grimacing as she was reminded of just why she hated battle fans that she didn't design herself.
It was heavier than hers, and the blades that made up the centerpiece were of flimsy metal that must have just barely made the cut for weapon grade.
Weighty and clumsy, this was not a weapon she could appreciate.
But beggars cant be choosers, she thought before turning, closing her fan as she did and smacking one of the approaching ninja, upside the head, hard. A crack vibrating through her weapon and down to her arms, sending a shudder, of something that wasn't entirely disgust, racing up her spine before she smashed the weapon onto the ground and lifting herself onto it in a straight handstand.
Bending her arms she suddenly pushed herself into a flip, manipulating the battlefan beneath her with several more chakra strings from her fingers. The weapon twirled and opened up beneath her, the metallic blades gleaming in the bleak sunlight before she landed firmly on the interlocking blades of metal before a chakra driven updraft rose her towards the sky, pulling them away from the various Jutsu that sought to strike her, beginning the death defying mid air ballet all over again as more and more of the soldiers arrived, attempting to shoot her down.
More and more of these gray clad ninja arrived, swarming over and around them, and Yoshihiro could tell that they would soon be overrun. Calling out over the roar of battle cries and harried shouts of frenzied hate and pain, he addressed his three companions, mind returning to days of the great wars of his youth as he took the role of tactical comander.
"Hatake! Akina! Temari! Get over here, we cant let them separate us, we have to get back to back!"
As the words spilled from his lips, the Tsuchikage knew that it was already too late, they circled over and around them, tripping over their own feet in their haste and inexperience but their numbers enough to prove...troublesome...isolated as they were.
The only one currently free of said encirclements was the flying Suna princess above them, but even now the variety of sounds from sailing Jutsu were beginning to increase, it was only a matter of time before she'd be shot down herself.
Holding his hammer high over his head, an unorthodox, defensive starting stance, meant to deceive the Tsuchikage looked over each shoulder finding the same, faceless kids all dressed the same. One didn't remember faces much at his age, those that did didn't reach his age.
As they all encircled him Yoshihiro wondered just how thick this Ice was. Given this places perpetual cold, he'd guess pretty deep, but he'd never heard of any ice being thicker than 20 feet below the surface. He'd only have a few sings with his hammer before these brats were on him but with fire chakra, he'd only need one or two.
But still...Glancing at the fortress of ice he acknowledged that the thickness of this lake ice might be much much much greater than any previously recorded...So maybe three swings. Hopefully the shock waves of the explosions would hold these kids back...and hopefully Kakashi and this girl knew better than to loose their footing.
The head of his hammer grew bright red, steam rising from it as the cold, damp air came in contact with it, the minuscule particles of moisture evaporating before they ever even touched the metal.
Looking through the heat distortions in the air the Tsuchikage growled at the assembled group of enemies. "Hope you brats know how to swim" 'Hope my guess on this Ice's thickness is decent, otherwise all I'll do is waste chakra'
With a great, heave the Tuchikage raised the massive weapon high over his head, and, realizing the elders intent, the soldiers rushed forward, but it would be too late, far too late by the time they got to him.
The beginnings of a battle cry were suddenly choked upon the lid of Yoshihiro's upper throat as a pillar of purple flames suddenly tore right past him. The ghostly fire was silent, no roar, or crackle or explosion, merely a silent rush of air, and the swiftly cut off screams of their enemies would have alerted him to its passage if he hadn't seen it to begin with.
Swiveling back around to look over his shoulder Yoshihiro was greeted by the sight of over half a dozen Suna Anbu, a platinum haired young woman, who's arms were covered in that ghostly flame, and a wooden Juggernaut materializing out of thin air.
'Genjutsu' The older man realized just as the Anbu rushed forward in a flurry of flashing blades and bloodletting wounds, unlike the undisciplined kids around them, they released no battle cry, completely stoic in their actions as they attacked.
All but one...
"Temari!"
The shout rang loud in the ears of all around them, and Yoshihiro noticed the Suna princess falter in her flight, peering down to the wooden tank beneath her.
The hiss of hydraulics brought Yoshihiro's attention to the suit before the T shaped visor broke away, releasing itself to reveal a young dark haired man within, eyes wide in stunned disbelief as he stared up towards the soaring young woman.
Raising his eyes up towards her the Tsuchikage noticed that she was no better in her shock, mouth working wordlessly as sounds refused to escape her opening and closing lips.
Several yards away, as the newly arrived Suna ANBU cut a bloody swathe through the opposing, gray cloaked Akatsuki ninja Akina was brought to stillness, both through the sudden lack of opponents, and the heavy presence she felt standing directly behind her, like a great weight now pressing down over her shoulders.
Slowly, weapon still crackling with electrical charge in her hand she turned, sky blue eyes finding dark violet, staring at her with various emotions lilting across her face, the least of which was shock.
But the older girl stood with a guarded stance, both physically and emotionally. Recognizing that she had found her younger sister fighting alongside two of their greatest enemies and that no trust could be given freely with this revelation.
"What are you doing?"
The question. So simple yet carried with it such terrible weight and implications, the young, woman of sun kissed hair opened and closed her lips several times, seeking an answer that refused to come to her.
Finally she looked back at the purple laced eyes and spoke. Her voice, soft yet firm, unwavering in their stance as she expressed the only truth that could give her solace here. In this place. At this stage where she found herself in.
"What I think is right."
She felt pain blossom in her chest as Yugito reeled as though physically struck, no doubt that she too could sense the chakra fluctuations of the Kyuubi far above them just as she could. The implications of Akina's statement washing over her like a douse of cold, frigid water.
She was helping him.
She wanted to help him.
She wasn't sure...what would happen after this battle. But she knew, that never again could things go back to the way they were, and Yugito felt the nostalgic desire for simpler times...when Zhuge Liang was still sensei to them both, and only the thoughts of how they could pass his next test was their concern.
How had it all come to this now...here...where they stood...possibly on opposite sides of the battle line.
Where had it all gone so wrong?
When had they all been swept up into this tumultuous tempest of raging fire that swept the entire world away in its fiery abyss, leaving nothing but barren wastes and ashen fields in its wake?
How did it come to this?
She did not know, and the answers stung the young womans eyes with emotions. She turned away, angry at herself for her weakness. Angry at Liang for his treachery. Angry at Akina for her betrayal. Angry at Tsunade for her despairing helplessness. Angry at Yue Ying for her aloofness.
Angry at everything for simply being too damn complicated.
Suddenly, the Nibi container felt something vanish, a sudden emptiness fill the air before she heard Akina's strangled, choked gasp of horror.
Kakashi's Sharingan eye rose heavenward, wide and disbelieving as he looked to where that chakra had been. Where it should be right now.
"No." The Copy ninja felt spill from his lips without pause or hesitance, his body moving in wild, frenzied moves as he, literally, tore his way through the Akatsuki soldiers lines, carving his way with kunai jutsu and sheer, desperate strength as he felt that chakra blink out of existence. The mantra repeating in his head with harried disbelief and desperate hope. 'No, No, No, No!'
Akina felt as if her chest had just caved in, and her lungs, crushed as they were with the sudden weight, refused to move to her command, refused to inhale.
Her blood was loud in her ears, and a sudden, sharp spike of pain pierced her skull from temple to temple, nearly bringing her to her knees before she regained herself.
Eyes, wild and in a panic, looked around, ignoring the still fighting and dying warriors, ignoring Yugito, Yoshihiro, Kakashi. Everyone. Recognizing only that she needed to reach him. Reach Naruto.
She needed to save him!
Her eyes found Temari's slowly descending fan, and without another moments hesitation, ran towards her.
"Temari!"
The older female was broken from whatever trance had taken her upon the sight of her younger brother, standing in this god forsaken ice pit and shifted towards the second Kyuubi Jinchurikki, just as said young woman lunged towards her, and the Suna princess had to shift her position rather abruptly so as not to send them both falling to their painful meeting with the Ice.
Sputtering in ruffled anger at the abrupt and unnecessary stunt the young woman turned to yell at the person that had been her traveling companion for the last two days only for Akina to interrupt her before she even got a word in edgewise.
"You have to get me up there now!"
Temari glanced up to where she was pointing, a dawning realization settling into her mind that, where she was pointing, was the place that they were keeping Naruto...the place...where he was being killed!
Temari looked back once, towards her brothers confused face, a pit forming at the bottom of her stomach, trepidation and fear gripping her before she pushed it down, and, in a single, surge of chakra rose into the air with another updraft.
Kankuro watched her leave, wide eyed and uncomprehending, a suspension of his motor functions as he struggled to wrap his mind around, not only his sister being alive, but...helping the enemy...
Only the voice of one of his Anbu commanders brought him back down to earth. The Man's voice, wary and hesitating. "Sir? Orders?"
Kankuro swallowed thickly, feeling momentarily torn between going after Temari, or his brother whom he knew was also within this fortress. He ignored the presence of Kakashi and Yoshihiro, realizing that whomever it was that had kidnapped Gaara had royally pissed them off as well. Right now. They were on the same page. He'd kill them after he got his brother back, and get Temari to a psych ward to help her through whatever Stockholm syndrome or sympathy of her captors bullshit the girl was going through right now.
The visor of his helmet hissed, back into place as he watched the Anbu cutting down the last of this small, pathetic army that had come out to fight them.
"Mission still stands...we rescue Gaara...everything else...comes second."
The Anbu lieutenant nodded once and appeared as though he was about to leave towards his troop again when a shadow suddenly loomed over them both.
"Look out!" Kankuro cried, shoving the man out of the way with a giant fist before the engines on his feet revved to life and the wheels were put in reverse, backing him away before a massive shark-like man fell over the area with a heavy sword swing.
At the new intrusion the entire group of Suna Anbu regrouped, rallying behind Kankuro, and the puppeteer made sure to register Yugito's position, as well as Kakashi's and Yoshihiro's.
In a quick shunshin, another man soon appeared, this one with a spiral mask. And above them, Kankuro could now see a giant, brown bird beginning a dive.
Off on the side, Kakashi narrowed both eyes on the two men. "Hoshigake Kisame..."
Multi-colored eyes shifted slowly, vaguely looking over his shoulder from the very corner of the rim of his eye, narrowing as the crimson of the Sharingan stared back